65877395
submission
alphadogg writes:
A reporter got chipped together with nine other volunteers during an IT Innovation Day organized by IDG Netherlands. The volunteers will spend the next 12 months testing the use of an NFC chip in their daily lives to see whether having the chip implanted in their bodies is more useful than using a chip embedded on a card or in a smartphone.
65822785
submission
alphadogg writes:
University of Massachusetts Amherst researchers have released a tool designed to spot all-too-common errors in Microsoft Excel spreadsheets that could lead to big problems. CheckCell, available as a free Excel software plug-in on GitHub, https://github.com/plasma-umas... is the brainchild of a computer science team whose approach uses "a threshold of unusualness" in which questionable data points are marked for spreadsheet designers to double check.
65749355
submission
alphadogg writes:
he contentious debate about net neutrality in the U.S. has sparked controversy over a lack of funding transparency for advocacy groups and think tanks, which critics say subverts the political process. News stories from a handful of publications in recent months have accused some think tanks and advocacy groups of "astroturfing" — quietly shilling for large broadband carriers. In a handful of cases, those criticisms appear to have some merit, although the term is so overused by people looking to discredit political opponents that it has nearly lost its original meaning. An IDG News Service investigation found that major groups opposing U.S. Federal Communications Commission reclassification and regulation of broadband as a public utility tend to be less transparent about their funding than the other side. Still, some big-name advocates of strong net neutrality rules also have limited transparency mechanisms in place.
65746295
submission
alphadogg writes:
Days after the launch of Apple Pay, Rite Aid has stopped accepting the payment system at 4,600 stores across the United States. The company, which is one of the biggest drug store chains in the country, said it is currently not accepting Apple Pay or the competing Google Wallet. Posts from customers on Twitter indicated that Apple Pay worked successfully when the system launched on Monday, but it was subsequently disabled by the retailer later in the week.
65721719
submission
alphadogg writes:
It's been a bit over a month since Microsoft shuttered its Microsoft Research lab in Silicon Valley as part of the company's broader restructuring that will include 18,000 layoffs. This week, Harry Shum, Microsoft EVP of Technology & Research, posted what he termed an "open letter to the academic research community" on the company's research blog.http://blogs.msdn.com/b/msr_er/archive/2014/10/21/harry-shum-open-letter-to-academic-research-community.aspx In the post, Shum is suitably contrite about the painful job cut decisions that were made in closing the lab, which opened in 2001. He also stresses that Microsoft will continue to invest in and value "fundamental research".
65693951
submission
alphadogg writes:
WIkimedians — those people who contribute to the free Wikipedia website — were recognized for their selfless work on Wednesday in Slubice, Poland with the unveiling of a monument. The fiber-and-resin sculpture, designed by Armenian Mihran Hakobyan, depicts the Wikipedia globe held up by four people. Consistent with the Wikipedia logo's globe, the world is shown as being unfinished, ready to accept more knowledge. The sculpture stands 5-and-a-half feet high in Frankfurt Square.
65683651
submission
alphadogg writes:
EMC confirmed on Wednesday that its VCE converged infrastructure joint venture with Cisco and VMware is heading into a new phase, with EMC taking control of the business and Cisco drastically cutting its stake in it. "Expected to be finalized this quarter, VCE will become an EMC business. Cisco and VMware will continue as strategic partners and investors, with Cisco having an approximately 10% equity interest in VCE," according to an EMC statement, http://newsroom.cisco.com/pres... which emphasizes VCE's focus on helping customers deploy hybrid clouds.
65670063
submission
alphadogg writes:
A press alert from EMC that it will be announcing a "new business development" on Wednesday has triggered reports that the company plans to buy out most of Cisco's stake in their VCE converged infrastructure joint venture.
Melding VCE's revenues with its own could give EMC a much-needed financial boost, according to Bloomberg, which first reported Tuesday on the anticipated split. While neither Cisco nor EMC is commenting yet on the nature of Wednesday's announcement, it wouldn't surprise anyone if Cisco is backing away from VCE given that it increasingly is competing with EMC and its VMware virtualization/cloud subsidiary, another VCE partner that helped form the venture in 2009.
65663185
submission
alphadogg writes:
(Sorry, earlier sub mistakenly said 100G, not 1G, which is correct)
"The emerging G.fast standards for boosting last-mile broadband connections took a step forward this week with the establishment of a formal testing lab, plans for interoperability tests and the formation of an industry consortium at the University of New Hampshire Interoperability Lab. https://www.iol.unh.edu/ G.fast could give service providers a cheaper alternative to fiber for connecting to homes and businesses. The news about the 1Gbps technology was revealed at the Broadband World Forum in Amsterdam."
65662455
submission
alphadogg writes:
The emerging G.fast standards for boosting last-mile broadband connections took a step forward this week with the establishment of a formal testing lab, plans for interoperability tests and the formation of an industry consortium at the University of New Hampshire Interoperability Lab. https://www.iol.unh.edu/ G.fast could give service providers a cheaper alternative to fiber for connecting to homes and businesses. The news was revealed at the Broadband World Forum in Amsterdam.
65653293
submission
alphadogg writes:
The first products from Apple’s mobile enterprise partnership with IBM will roll out next month, according to Apple CEO Tim Cook, who said the partnership “could change the way people work.” In July, Apple announced an “exclusive” deal with IBM in which iPhones and iPads would be sold to enterprises backed by IBM’s cloud and analytics services. The first products will be for the banking, government, insurance, retail, telecommunications and travel and transport sectors, Cook said on a Monday earnings call. IBM is creating iOS-specific security, analytics and management tools and will resell iPhones and iPads. Apple will roll out new support services for businesses.
65551745
submission
alphadogg writes:
The engineering reorganization currently underway at network giant Cisco Systems is intended to streamline product development and delivery to customers. That it is prompting some high profile departures is an expected byproduct of any realignment of this size, which affects 25,000 employees, says Cisco Executive Vice President Pankaj Patel, who is conducting the transformation. “People leave for personal business reasons,” Patel said in an interview with Network World this week. “Similar transformations” among Cisco peers and customers “see personnel change of 30% to 50%.”
65526537
submission
alphadogg writes:
Drupal has released a patch for a highly critical flaw in its content management system, which could allow rogue code to run.
Drupal, which is a volunteer open-source project whose software is used by websites such as The White House and the Economist, said all of 7.x releases prior to 7.32 are affected, according to an advisory. Administrators should update to version 7.32. If that is not possible, a patch is available for the “database.inc” file that fixes the problem.
65333195
submission
alphadogg writes:
Even though use of handheld devices while driving has become a dangerous and growing epidemic in the US, many states still have not enacted nor enforce a usage ban. Engaging in visual-manual subtasks — such as reaching for a phone, dialing and texting — associated with the use of hand-held phones and other portable devices triples the risk of getting into a crash, according to a study by the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute. Yet talking on a hand-held cellphone while driving is banned in only 14 states and the District of Columbia, according to The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. Says Russ Rader, senior vice president for communications at IIHS: “It’s an easier task politically to enact a texting ban. There aren’t very many powerful constituencies that oppose a texting ban.”
65304117
submission
alphadogg writes:
A rundown of open source, free software and freeware projects that have been killed off so far this year
