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Submission + - Ask Slashdot: IT Personnel as Ostriches? (ostrichheadinsand.com) 2

Submitted by MonOptIt
MonOptIt writes: I'm a new IT professional, having recently switched from a different sci/tech field. My first FT gig is with a midsize (50ish) nonprofit which includes a wide variety of departments and functions. I'm the sole on-site IT support, which means that I'm working with every employee/department regularly both at HQ and off-site locations.
My questions for the seasoned (peppered? paprikaed? plum-sauced?) pros are:
Do you find yourself deliberately ignoring office politics, overheard conversations, open documents or emails, etc as you go about your work?
If not, how do you preserve the impartiality/neutrality which seems (to my novice mind) necessary to be effective in this position?
In either case: how do you deal with the possibility of accidentally learning something you're not supposed to know? E.g. troubleshooting a user's email program when they've left sensitive/eyes-only emails open on their workstation. Are there protections or policies that are standard, or is this a legal and professional gray-area?

Submission + - Google Chrome 64-bit available now (net4tech.net)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: With the release of Chrome beta 64-bit, Google goes one step further by enabling web applications to use more than 4GB of RAM. Performance should also be improved.

Last line for the 64-bit version of Google Chrome browser before its official release. Indeed, on Wednesday morning, Google has delivered a beta version of Chrome 64-bit. It is downloaded on a page dedicated to the new Google browser. The Mountain View company even promises that all stored information (passwords, bookmarks, etc.) will be automatically transferred to Chrome 64-bit. The announcement of 64-bit versions of Google's browser was made last June via the Dev and Canary channels.

Submission + - French provider Free could buy US branch of T-Mobile

Submitted by Guybrush_T
Guybrush_T writes: Iliad, the parent company of Free, confirmed today having made an offer to buy 56% of the US branch of T-Mobile. This could be very good news for the US, since the provider reduced significantly the average price of mobile plans in France since they entered the mobile market two years ago. Their disruptive strategy, featuring an all-inclusive €20/month plan and a €2/month plan gathered 11% of the French market in only two years and lowered the price of plans by a 5 to 10 factor.

Submission + - Brain-Inspired Computing Software Mimics Human Brain Patterns

Submitted by rjmarvin
rjmarvin writes: Microsoft's Project Adam, IBM's Watson, Google Now and an array of other technologies and brain-inspired computing methods are developing breakthrough algorithms and software that function like human brains http://sdtimes.com/computers-b.... Companies like Intel and Qualcomm are building neuron-inspired cores and chips, while others experiment with deep learning neural networks or the novel architecture approach of machine learning. According to developers, software engineers, tech analysts and academics, as scientific and technological knowledge of how the brain works continues to expand, the early stages of brain-inspired computing features like speech recognition, question-and-answer capabilities and predictive recommendations may evolve into unparalleled levels of computing and problem-solving power.

Submission + - Ask Slashdot: Future-Proof Jobs?

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: My niece, who is graduating from high school, has asked me for some career advice. Since I work in data processing, my first thought was to recommend a degree course in computer science or computer engineering. However, after reading books by Jeremy Rifkin (The Third Industrial Revolution) and Ray Kurzweil (How to Create a Mind), I now wonder whether a career in information technology is actually better than, say, becoming a lawyer or a construction worker. While the two authors differ in their political persuasions (Rifkin is a Green leftist and Kurzweil is a Libertarian transhumanist), both foresee an increasingly automated future where most of humanity would become either jobless or underemployed by the middle of the century. While robots take over the production of consumer hardware, Big Data algorithms like the ones used by Google and IBM appear to be displacing even white collar tech workers. How long before the only ones left on the payroll are the few "rockstar" programmers and administrators needed to maintain the system? Besides politics and drug dealing, what jobs are really future-proof? Wouldn't it be better if my niece took a course in the Arts, since creativity is looking to be one of humanity's final frontiers against the inevitable Rise of the Machines?

Submission + - Home Depot Begins Retail Store Pilot Program To Sell MakerBot 3-D Printers

Submitted by ClockEndGooner
ClockEndGooner writes: Looking for a 3-D printer to help you out with a home project or two? If you're in one of the 12 pilot program areas here in the U.S., stop into Home Depot to take a look at and purchase a MakerBot 3-D Replicator printer. "MakerBot printers have been available on Home Depot's website for about a month, and sales have exceeded expectations, said Mr. Pettis. The stores will put up specially-designed kiosks where shoppers can see the machines in 3-D action. Trained MakerBot retail staff will also be on-site for the indefinite future in order to put the machines through their paces."

Submission + - Chinese Hackers Infiltrate Firms Using Malware-Laden Handheld Scanners (securityweek.com) 1

Submitted by wiredmikey
wiredmikey writes: China-based threat actors are using sophisticated malware installed on handheld scanners to target shipping and logistics organizations from all over the world. According to security firm TrapX, the attack begins at a Chinese company that provides hardware and software for handheld scanners used by shipping and logistics firms worldwide to inventory the items they're handling. The Chinese manufacturer installs the malware on the Windows XP operating systems embedded in the devices.

Experts determined that the threat group targets servers storing corporate financial data, customer data and other sensitive information. A second payload downloaded by the malware then establishes a sophisticated C&C on the company's finance servers, enabling the attackers to exfiltrate the information they're after. The malware used by the Zombie Zero attackers is highly sophisticated and polymorphic, the researchers said. In one attack they observed, 16 of the 48 scanners used by the victim were infected, and the malware managed to penetrate the targeted organization's defenses and gain access to servers on the corporate network.

Interestingly, the C&C is located at the Lanxiang Vocational School, an educational institution said to be involved in the Operation Aurora attacks against Google, and which is physically located only one block away from the scanner manufacturer, TrapX said.

Submission + - An Anonymous Cell Pledges to Hack 'New CISPA'-Supporting Lawmakers

Submitted by Jason Koebler
Jason Koebler writes: A group of hackers affiliated with Anonymous vowed to target lawmakers who are championing the new cybersecurity bill currently making its way through the Senate, threatening to dox and hack them and any corporations who support the bill.
An operative with the group says that bill sponsors Dianne Feinstein and Saxby Chambliss are at the top of its list, as are "the NSA, AT&T, IBM, and other corporations who are lobbying for this bill."

Submission + - PCWorld magazine is no more (time.com)

Submitted by harrymcc
harrymcc writes: After slightly more than 30 years, PCWorld — one of the most successful computer magazines of all time — is discontinuing print publication. It was the last general-interest magazine for PC users, so it really is the end of an era. Over at TIME, I paused to reflect upon the end of the once-booming category, in part as a former editor at PCWorld, but mostly as a guy who really, really loved to read computer magazines.

Submission + - No U.S. college in top 10 for ACM international programming contest 2013

Submitted by michaelmalak
michaelmalak writes: The annual ACM International Collegiate Programming Contest finished up last week for 2013, but for the first time since its inception in the 1970's, no U.S. college placed in the top 10. Through 1989, a U.S. college won first place every year, but there has been no U.S. college in first place since 1997. The U.S. college that has won most frequently throughout the contest's history, Stanford, hasn't won since 1991. The 2013 top 10 consists entirely of colleges from Eastern Europe, East Asia, and India.

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