46974117
submission
jfruh writes:
U.S. IT workers are finding many of their traditional roles made less and less important by the availability of outsourcing shops and cloud computing resources. If you want to avoid becoming obsolete, there's a role for you: business analyst, helping your company make the most out of the IT services it pays for. The catch, of course, is that being a business analyst means spending less time playing with computers and learning more about how your company actually makes money.
46973711
submission
itwbennett writes:
'The takedown of Liberty Reserve and the arrest of Mr. Budovsky, didn't eliminate a spam-spewing botnet, dismantle a shadowy cyber crime group or stop China's Unit 61398 – it's true. But its impact on the cyber crime world may be far more profound,' writes security blogger Paul Roberts. And here are a couple of key reasons why: 1) Unlike other botnet takedowns, this one got to the gooey center of how criminals move money; and 2) There was international cooperation — even including a 'see no evil' south American government.
46949883
submission
snydeq writes:
The Squeaky Wheel's Brian Katz offers a refreshingly simple take on the buzz around BYOD in business organizations these days: 'BYOD is only an issue because people refuse to realize that it's just about ownership — nothing more and nothing less.' A 'hidden issue' hiding in plain view, BYOD's ownership issue boils down to money and control. 'BYOD is pretty clear: It's bringing your own device. It isn't the company's device or your best friend's device. It's your device, and you own it. Because you own the device, you have certain rights to what is on the device and what you can do with the device. This is the crux of every issue that comes with BYOD programs.'
46948649
submission
itwbennett writes:
Despite some backlash against Google's hands-free wearable computing device, the use cases for such technology are mounting. Mobile device management (MDM) specialist Fiberlink, for example, is betting big on 'wearable tech being used and proliferating in the post-PC era,' says Jim Szafranski, senior vice president of Customer Platform Services. 'Even though we're in the beginning days, we've got a lot of field applications that our customers are interested in,' he says. 'Right now, we've got guys climbing telephone poles holding tablets.'
46944431
submission
itwbennett writes:
In follow-up to 17-year old Robert Kugler's claim that PayPal denied him a bug bounty because he was under 18, the company now says that it is 'investigating whether it can lower the qualifying age for vulnerability rewards for those who responsibly report security problems.' The company also said that the vulnerability had already been reported by another researcher — although they didn't mention that in the email to Kugler telling him he wouldn't be receiving payment.
46942595
submission
jfruh writes:
Google has for years released its Nexus line of phones, Google-branded Android handsets that lack phonemakers' "value-added" cruft. But at the recent Google I/O conference, the search giant announced that it would also be offering a vanilla-Android version of the Samsung Galaxy S4 for $650 unlocked. The question is: beyong a small community of developers and Android purists, who would care enough to buy these phones? And are there are enough potential buyers to make it worth Google's trouble?
46916423
submission
itwbennett writes:
Are good developers really that hard to find? Cambridge, MA-based inbound marketing company HubSpot seems to think so. The company has upped its developer referral bonus from $10,000 to $30,000 — and you don't have to be an employee to get in on the deal. Beats a free puppy.
46914109
submission
itwbennett writes:
You have to be 18 to qualify for PayPal's bug bounty program, a minor detail that 17-year old Robert Kugler found out the hard way after being denied a reward for a website bug he reported. Curiously, the age guideline isn't in the terms and conditions posted on the PayPal website. Kugler was informed by email that he was disqualified because of his age.
46778529
submission
jfruh writes:
Social networks like Twitter and Facebook have long hoped that the information they've gathered about you will help them create better targeted and more lucrative advertising, even though advertisers never see your personal data directly. But now Twitter is upping the ante, creating a new kind of card that encourages you to give your contact information directly to people who want to sell you things. For instance, Priceline has a new card with a "sign up and save" button that saves you 10% on a hotel — and, though it isn't made explicit, adds your Twitter handle and contact information to a Priceline mailing list. There's nothing to stop Twitter from handing this info — including your phone number, if you've registered it with the service — to salesmen.
46775711
submission
itwbennett writes:
According to an announcement on a French government webside, police have stopped current searches for missing adults and will not accept new search requests. 'Such 'searches in the interests of the family' were conducted under an administrative procedure almost a century old, introduced to help families separated during the upheavals of World War I to find missing relatives,' according to the French Ministry of the Interior. In a letter to police chiefs announcing the changes, the Ministry advised them to instead 'direct people towards social networks on the Internet, which offer interesting possibilities.'
46774161
submission
jfruh writes:
Microsoft revealed the Xbox One to the world yesterday, though it won't actually be available until sometime later this year. Despite all the information already shared, gamers are a curious lot, and there's a lot they'd like to know that they don't yet, such as: How often does the console need to connect to the Internet to phone home? What information does the mandatory Kinect sensor record, and what does it store? Will you need an Xbox Live Gold subscripiton to access some of the content laid out at Microsoft's show? About the biggest thing we do know: your old Xbox games and controllers won't work with the Xbox One.
46703767
submission
itwbennett writes:
From the article: 'Speaking at The Security B-Sides Boston security conference on Saturday, independent researchers Allison Nixon and Brandon Levene said that their investigation of booter sites found that many rely on legitimate online services, including Paypal to accept payment on behalf of customers interested in attacking web sites they do not own, and Cloudflare, a DDoS prevention service.'
46703327
submission
jfruh writes:
The story of Intel over the past half-decade or so has been its persistent inability to get its chips into the mobile devices that represent almost all of the computing market's growth. But that may be about the change. Some rumors and emerging benchmarks seem to indicate that Samsung's upcoming iteration of its 10-inch Galaxy Tab will be powered by an Atom chip, not the ARM chips that have driven almost the entire Android market to date. With Samsung representing almost all of the Android market's profits, this is a huge get for Intel.
46679871
submission
itwbennett writes:
Last week, Dell said that it would be 'refining' its OpenStack plans. Now we know that 'refining' means 'backing away from'. Although the company wouldn't answer direct questions on the subject, a press release spells it out like this: 'Sales of Dell's current in-house multi-tenant public cloud IaaS will be discontinued in the U.S. in favor of best-in-class partner offerings.' Interestingly, none of Dell's initial partners, including Joyent, ScaleMatrix and ZeroLag, have platforms built on OpenStack.
46597041
submission
itwbennett writes:
Whoever said 'everyone has to start somewhere' has clearly never tried contributing to an open source project — the Linux Kernel development team in particular is known for its savagery. But if you're determined to donate your time and talents, there are some things you can do to get off on the right foot. Of course you should pick something you're interested in and that you use. Check, and double check. You should also research the project, learn about the process for contributing, and do your utmost to avoid asking questions that you can find the answers to. But beyond that there are some hallmarks of beginner-friendly open source projects like Drupal, Python, and LibreOffice — namely, a friendly and active community, training and mentorship programs, and a low barrier to entry.
