Using the power of big data to understand customers
Companies are increasingly tuning into the importance of understanding their customers in order to make their marketing more effective and big data has a key role to play in providing them with the information to do so.
A new infographic produced by big data analytics platform Datameer looks at how companies are using big data to build their brands and boost revenue.
Facebook can put users on suicide watch
A few months ago Twitter was criticized for teaming up with suicide prevention charity Samaritans to automatically monitor for key words and phrases that could indicate that someone was struggling to cope with life. Despite the privacy concerns that surrounded Samaritans Radar, Facebook has decided that it is going to launch a similar venture for Compassion Research Day in a bid to prevent suicides.
Working with mental health organizations including mental health organizations Forefront, Now Matters Now, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, Save.org, Facebook aims to provide greater help and support for anyone considering suicide or self-harm.
Yet more aggressive Android adware found on Google Play
Google Play is supposed to be the safe place to download Android apps from, but that’s increasingly not the case. Three weeks ago security firm Avast detailed how it had found three popular Android apps riddled with Adware in Google’s store.
Today Bitdefender reports that it has found ten Google Play apps that are packed with aggressive adware that can do all sorts of nasty things.
Lack of employee context hinders protection efforts
Even with significant security solution spend, program maturity and external third-party certification efforts, organizations continue to struggle to adapt and protect themselves from attackers employing new and innovative approaches that take advantage of the very systems put in place to thwart them.
Today’s attackers are very sophisticated, well-funded and patient. They act more like detectives and scientists as they follow a systematic approach to understand their targets’ environments, their nuances and day-to-day operations even better than you do. They know that security point solutions have an important role to play in protecting your environment but that they also have their limitations. Attackers test these to understand exactly when an organization reacts and when it does not. But it doesn’t end there.
You can now download Windows 7 ISOs directly from Microsoft -- here's how
Can’t find your Windows 7 disc but need it to do a fresh install or run a copy of Windows in a virtualized environment? The obvious solution is to download a copy of the operating system in ISO format.
Oddly though, Microsoft has avoided offering Windows 7 ISOs for download -- the only solution previously was to grab a copy from Digital River, Microsoft’s official content delivery partner for Windows 7. That’s all changed now though, as a new Microsoft Software Recovery center lets you download Windows 7 directly from the software giant itself.
Samsung's 128-Gigabyte UFS 2.0 memory promises faster smartphones
Samsung has announced that it has started mass-production of 128 GB ultra-fast embedded memory. Described as an industry first, the memory is based on the Universal Flash Storage (UFS) 2.0 standard and is 2.7 times faster than the commonly used eMMC 5.0.
With performance of 19,000 IOPS (input/output operations per second), the memory offers sequential read and write speeds comparable to SSDs. Despite this, the memory draws half the level of power of existing mobile memory.
China drops leading western tech brands for state purchases
China has decided to remove some of the world’s leading technology brands from its state approved purchase lists and replace them with thousands of locally built products.
Some say this move comes as a response to revelations of widespread cyber-surveillance conducted by the West, while others believe this is more of a way for China to protect domestic technology industry from fierce competition.
Control Explorer’s 'Send To' menu with Send To Manager
Windows Explorer’s "Send To" menu can be a convenient way to copy, send or open files. Just right-click, select "Send To", and chose whatever drive or application you need.
Most programs don’t make use of the menu, unfortunately, but grab a copy of Send To Manager and you can easily tweak it yourself.
Google aims to secure enterprise BYOD with Android for Work
Android has successfully secured its place as the most used mobile operating system. With this in mind it should come as little surprise that more and more people are bringing Android devices into the workplace -- and for IT departments this can be something of a security nightmare. Today Google announces Android for Work with the aim of grabbing the BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) market and making Android more secure and manageable in the workplace.
What does this mean? Work profiles are being introduced to keep business apps and data separate from each other, so employees can use a single device to manage their personal work life. For both employer and employee this brings a number of advantages.
Microsoft technology invites non-human nurses into your home -- will you let it in?
Technology is increasingly changing our lives. It seems like every day, a new technological advance is revealed that impacts humanity. Virtual reality masks like Oculus, Samsung Gear VR and Google Cardboard, for example, are changing the way we look at the world. You can travel anywhere by simply looking through a face-mask -- you can take a vacation without leaving your living room.
As the world's population lives longer, and continues to engage in self-destructive behavior, healthcare is one of the few industries guaranteed to never slow down. Unfortunately, as more and more people become insured by Obamacare, getting an appointment with a healthcare professional is getting increasingly difficult. If we can't produce more doctors and nurses, we could have a crisis. What if, however, nurses and doctors didn't have to be human? What if a non-human could come into your home and examine you? A popular Microsoft technology is making this a reality.
Microsoft Malware Protection Center helps take down Ramnit botnet
Ramnit, a botnet that infected millions of computers around the world, has been tamed, thanks in part to Microsoft Malware Protection Center. The takedown operation was a collaboration between Microsoft, Europol, Symantec and others, and it successfully stopped the malware which worked by disabling virus protection before stealing banking details and personal information from infected machines.
With an estimated 3.2 million computers infected globally, Ramnit has been used by cybercriminals the world over, but the majority of infections were found in Britain. The botnet was brought under control by shutting down several servers used by the group responsible for Ramnit.
Mobile transfer speeds hit 1Tbps over 5G
If you curse the speed of your mobile data connection, prepare to shake with fury, turn green with envy, and yearn for a time machine. Forget 3G, forget 4G; at the University of Surrey in the UK, researchers have harnessed the power of 5G to establish a data transfer rate of one terabit per second.
At this speed it would be possible to download a Blu-ray quality video in under a second, but it's likely to be some time before we have the chance to experience these sorts of speeds via our handsets.
Microsoft releases the first major Band update
Microsoft Band, the wearable fitness tracker, and its accompanying Health app have received their first major update, some four months after the initial release.
With the latest update, the band is getting some new features -- enabling it to monitor biking (yes, even stationary biking), a quick read feature for notifications and -- (you’re not going to believe this) -- an on-screen keyboard.
Google REALLY wants you to see ads -- Adwords automatically converts Flash to HTML5
Advertisements make the world go around. I understand they can sometimes be unpopular on the web, but using ad-blocking software is counter-productive, as it can harm the site that you are visiting. True, some ads can be intrusive and inappropriate (depending on the site), but they can be good too, as they educate you on new products. If there were no ads on TV, the radio or the Internet, how would you learn about new products on the market? Sometimes I don't even fast-forward on my Tivo, so I can learn about new products.
Today, Google announces that Adwords will be automatically converting Adobe Flash-based advertisements to HTML5. This will increase visibility of the ads, especially on mobile platforms where Flash is very rarely used nowadays.
Entrepreneurism and the politics of hope
I’m an older guy with younger kids so to some extent I live vicariously through my friends, many of whom have children who are now entering the work force and some of those children can’t find jobs. We’re not in a recession, the economy is expanding, new positions are supposedly being added every day, but the sons and daughters of my friends aren’t generally getting those jobs so they are staying in school or going back to school, joining the Peace Corps., whatever. Everyone is rattled by this. Kids don’t want to move home and parents don’t want to have them move home. Student debt continues to increase. Everyone wants to get on with the lives they thought they were promised -- the lives they’d signed up for and earned.
What changed?