snydeq - Slashdot User

Submission + - The Trouble With Bringing Your Business Laptop To China (infoworld.com)

Submitted by snydeq on Tuesday December 04, 2012 @06:25PM

snydeq writes: InfoWorld reports on a growing trend facing business executives traveling to China: government or industry spooks stealing data from their laptops and installing spyware. 'While you were out to dinner that first night, someone entered your room (often a nominal hotel staffer), carefully examined the contents of your laptop, and installed spyware on the computer — without your having a clue. The result? Exposure of information, including customer data, product development documentation, countless emails, and other proprietary information of value to competitors and foreign governments. Perhaps even, thanks to the spyware, there's an ongoing infection in your corporate network that continually phones home key secrets for months or years afterward.'

Submission + - 10 Must-Have Features For Windows 9 (infoworld.com)

Submitted by

snydeq

on Monday December 03, 2012 @10:57AM

snydeq writes: "Desktop users deserve a significant rethink of the Windows 8 gaffes and omissions for the next version of Windows, writes InfoWorld's Woody Leonhard, offering 10 must-have features for Windows 9. From a "Get out of hell" modal dialog to prevent unwanted jumping to Metro, to a Control Panel that actually controls the kinds of things you would want a Control Panel to control, it's 'due time we diehards speak out.' What's your feedback for the Windows dev team as it puts together its Windows 9 (or "Windows Blue"?) specs."

Submission + - Bungled Mobile Bet Will Be Ballmer's Swan Song (infoworld.com)

Submitted by snydeq on Thursday November 08, 2012 @06:12PM

snydeq writes: 'If Windows 8 and the Surface tablet flop, you'll see a shareholder revolt that will send Steve Ballmer packing by this time next year,' writes InfoWorld's Bill Snyder. 'InfoWorld and I have been dumping on Windows 8 so much I'm not going to repeat the arguments. Maybe we're wrong, and buyers will decide that the new OS and the Microsoft's first serious venture into hardware are what they want. It would be a huge boost for the industry if it happens, but I'm not optimistic. ... There's been a string of bad quarters, and the stock has been frozen for nine years. At some point — I think we're getting really close — investors are going to demand a shakeup. When they do, it's going to be good-bye, Ballmer.'

Submission + - How To Cover Your Tracks Online (infoworld.com)

Submitted by

snydeq

on Monday November 05, 2012 @02:14PM

snydeq writes: "Steganography expert Peter Wayner discusses six techniques that help obscure the data and traces you leave online. 'The truth is, worrying about the trail of digital footprints and digital dustballs filled with our digital DNA is not just for raving paranoids. Sure, some leaks like the subtle variations in power consumed by our computers are only exploitable by teams of geniuses with big budgets, but many of the simpler ones are already being abused by identity thieves, blackmail artists, spammers, or worse.' What tools and techniques do you use to ensure greater privacy and better security of personal data on the Web?"

Submission + - Facebook Prism Pushes Beyond Hadoop's Limits (infoworld.com)

Submitted by

snydeq

on Thursday November 01, 2012 @06:05PM

snydeq writes: "Facebook has said that it will soon open source Prism, an internal project that supports geographically distributed Hadoop data stores, thereby removing the limits on Hadoop's capacity to crunch data. 'The problem is that Hadoop must confine data to one physical data center location. Although Hadoop is a batch processing system, it's tightly coupled, and it will not tolerate more than a few milliseconds delay among servers in a Hadoop cluster. With Prism, a logical abstraction layer is added so that a Hadoop cluster can run across multiple data centers, effectively removing limits on capacity.'"

Submission + - Army of IT Darkness: The 7 Scariest Monsters In Tech (infoworld.com)

Submitted by

snydeq

on Wednesday October 31, 2012 @09:02AM

snydeq writes: "'They're the stuff that nightmares are made of, the rude beasts that haunt IT pros' dreams and make them wake up in a cold sweat. Look closely and you'll start to see them everywhere.' From Warewolves to Keyboard Zombies to Frankenhackers, these seven IT hellions can turn your tech department into a horror show — quick."

Submission + - Quitting MacBook Pro For Chromebook (infoworld.com)

Submitted by

snydeq

on Friday October 26, 2012 @12:53PM

snydeq writes: "Simon Phipps provides an in-depth account of an ongoing shift from a MacBook Pro to a Chromebook. ' My experiences using a Chromebook for a month have been so good I believe it deserves serious consideration. ... The Chromebook line is probably the most successful Linux desktop/laptop computer we've seen to date. Most of the software on the device is open source and it relies heavily on open standards. The options for updating it yourself are openly discussed, and enterprising hackers have even loaded full GNU/Linux distributions onto it. ... It reminds me very much of the experience of adjusting to thin client computing five years ago. I can imagine it fitting easily into a corporate environment, especially using the administrative control features Google sells for business users. Businesses open to using a thin client desktop should be evaluating Chromebooks and Chromeboxes — they are today's open source equivalent of yesterday's proprietary thin clients and Sun Rays.'"

Submission + - Developer Gets openSUSE Running On $249 Google Chromebook (muktware.com) 1

Submitted by sfcrazy on Thursday October 25, 2012 @03:27PM

sfcrazy writes: Andrew Wafaa an ARM developer who is responsible for porting openSUSE to ARM just got his hands on the Chromebook and he managed to run openSUSE on it.

Submission + - Forget Windows 8: Give Us Windows 7.8 (infoworld.com)

Submitted by

snydeq

on Thursday October 25, 2012 @02:16PM

snydeq writes: "A billion users don't have the right hardware to run Windows 8, even if they wanted to. Here's how Microsoft could give them the best of Win8: 'Microsoft needs to get real and bring us a better Windows 7 ASAP, even as it works on the more-Metro Windows 9 that's a good two or three years away. Call it Windows 7.8. The truth is that the new Windows 8 Desktop has some very cool features for those living in the "legacy" touch-insensitive, keyboard-and-mouse environment. Maybe Microsoft can make money by selling us an upgrade to what we already have: a Windows 7.8 that brings the key new Windows 8 Desktop features home to Windows 7.'"

Submission + - Why Admins Should Know How To Code (infoworld.com)

Submitted by

snydeq

on Monday October 22, 2012 @06:19PM

snydeq writes: "You don't need to be a programmer, but you'll solve harder problems faster if you can write your own code, writes Paul Venezia. 'The fact is, while we may know several programming languages to varying degrees, most IT ninjas aren't developers, per se. I've put in weeks and months of work on various large coding projects, but that's certainly not how I spend most of my time. Frankly, I don't think I could just write code day in and day out, but when I need to develop a tool to deal with a random problem, I dive right in. ... It's not a vocation, and it's not a clear focus of the job, but it's a substantial weapon when tackling many problems. I'm fairly certain that if all I did was write Perl, I'd go insane.'"

Submission + - 7 Apps Making The Most of HTML5 (infoworld.com) 1

Submitted by

snydeq

on Monday October 22, 2012 @02:14PM

snydeq writes: "InfoWorld's Peter Wayner offers a look at how seven powerful apps are implementing the HTML5 vision and how one high-profile detractor lost its love for the Web's next big thing. 'All provide insights on how to make the most of HTML5, JavaScript, and CSS, while avoiding the hard truths of relying on Web technologies to deliver your treasured app to your users.'"

Submission + - 10 Things You Don't Have To Worry About In 2013 (infoworld.com)

Submitted by

snydeq

on Friday October 19, 2012 @07:05PM

snydeq writes: "Andrew Oliver provides a quick take on 10 things you won't have to worry about in tech in 2013 — including Windows Server 2012, a shortage of PaaS vendors, spending any time developing for Microsoft Surface, and Yahoo or HP doing much of anything."

Submission + - 7 Ways Windows Server 2012 Pays For Itself (infoworld.com)

Submitted by

snydeq

on Wednesday October 17, 2012 @02:13PM

snydeq writes: "InfoWorld's Paul Ferrill outlines seven new and improved 'supersaver' features that will offer IT admins the biggest return on their Windows Server 2012 investment. 'Windows Server 2012 is a monumental release packed with new features that touch every facet of the operating system. ... I've identified seven Windows Server 2012 features you might call "supersavers." Listed in order of impact, these features commodify high-end functionality, eliminate the need to purchase third-party software, reduce OS care and feeding, or in the case of PowerShell, offer the potential to save vast numbers of man-hours.'"

Submission + - How Much Can Your Business Trust Apple? (infoworld.com) 1

Submitted by

snydeq

on Wednesday October 17, 2012 @02:07PM

snydeq writes: "Apple's recent shift to the iPhone 5 Lightning connector may not have impacted many businesses, but it does call into question the company's credibility in business environments, writes Advice Line's Bob Lewis. 'Apple's decision to "update" its connector to a new, proprietary replacement instead of the ubiquitious mini-USB alternative leaves those of us who work in business organizations with an important question: Can we entrust any part of our enterprise technical architecture to Apple?' Lewis writes. 'When vendors choose to ply their IT wares to business organizations, their customers have every right to expect continuity — that changes, especially interface changes, will happen only when there's a good reason, and the vendor will support older products and versions for a considerable period of time. ... What matters is the thought process that led to the new connector. What we can infer is that when it comes to respecting specifications its customers rely on, Apple can't be counted on to do so.'"

Submission + - The Perils Of Impromptu Housecleaning In The Datacenter (infoworld.com)

Submitted by

snydeq

on Monday October 15, 2012 @02:24PM

snydeq writes: "It's an impulse almost every admin has faced when replacing hardware in a 'mature' datacenter: The itching desire to launch into an impromptu cleanup of the snake next of cabling that has built up over the years. 'Eventually there comes a point when the mess begins to make every task more difficult — when you need to take a step back and decide to rip everything apart and put it back together again. Sure, you can try to bend space and time to replace that switch by removing rack side panels and shoehorning it out of there, but it might be a better plan to suck it up and fix the source of the problem. Congratulations, your 10-minute project turned into several hours at best and an entire weekend at worst. Then again, this isn't always a good idea. However tempting it may be to rework objects off the cuff, you need to be cognizant of the potential threat of an unplanned housecleaning.'"

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