Google acquires media streaming and monetization platform Anvato

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End-to-end video streaming and monetization platform Anvato announced recently that it has been acquired by Google, and that it will be joining the Google Cloud Platform team.

Anvato is a video processing software solution, offering encoding, editing, publishing and distribution of videos on various platforms. The company’s clients include NBCUniversal, MSNBC, CBS, Univision, HGTV, Bravo and Fox Sports, and they use their services to power live streams, to edit videos directly in the cloud, and insert ads.

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Microsoft launches AppSource and Dynamics 365 enterprise apps

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Microsoft has introduced new business apps and services aimed to be intuitive, deliver helpful assistance, and improve the lives of their users. The new offerings are called Dynamics 365 and AppSource.

Dynamics 365, available this fall, will unify the current CRM and ERP solutions into a single cloud service, with new apps to better manage specific business functions. Power BI and Cortana Intelligence are also integrated, to offer customers predictive analytics and prescriptive advice. Dynamics 365 will be deeply integrated with Office 365.

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Our private data is worth less than we think

Gold Coins

Brits think their personal data is really, really valuable. There is nothing wrong with that, and private data should be valued highly, and guarded as such. However, once criminals get a hold of such data, they’ll sell it for such a low price you simply won't believe.

According to a new TotallyMoney.com report, based on a poll of 1,000 consumers, we value an email address at £983. In reality, it is being sold for five pence. A similar thing is with the browsing history. Its actual price on the black market is a ridiculous £0.0014. On average, we value it at £934.

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Mozilla is working on a StumbleUpon-like feature

Mozilla Context Graph Better Forward Button

Mozilla has announced the creation of a new content recommendation system, which hopes will help people find better and more relevant content, easier.

The new product is called Context Graph, and the company’s VP of Products, Nick Nguyen, describes it as a "better forward button".

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Google buys Moodstocks for its object recognition technology

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Google has announced that it is be acquiring French startup Moodstocks, which has developed technology that aids smartphones in identifying the objects captured by their cameras.

In 2012, the startup introduced on-device image recognition and has spent its time since working on object recognition through the use of machine learning and computer vision. This is what initially intrigued Google about the company as it, along with many other companies in Silicon Valley, has invested in teaching computers to better see and understand the world.

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Government IT pros overconfident about detecting insider threats

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Federal government IT professionals are overconfident in their ability to detect insider threats, endpoint security firm Tripwire has found. Analyzing the confidence of IT experts regarding their efficiency in seven key security controls, it polled 763 professionals from various industries.

Almost a third say they would not be able to detect every time a non-privileged user attempted to access files. Almost three quarters (73 percent) assume their system would generate an alert or email within hours if a user inappropriately accessed file shares.

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Microsoft introduces free Skype Meetings

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Microsoft has launched Skype Meetings, a new and free version of its popular video and audio conferencing software designed with small businesses in mind.

The company’s latest release will feel quite similar for users already familiar with its Skype for Business solution, albeit stripped down. Whereas Skype for Business allows for meetings with up to 250 people, Skype Meetings limits the maximum participants to 10 people. However after the initial two months of using the product, that number drops down to three people.

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Facebook malware infects 10,000 users in two days

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A new malware was spotted by security researchers at Kaspersky Lab, targeting Facebook users. According to the researchers’ new report, there have been 10,000 victims in two days.

The malware has two stages: firstly, an unsuspecting victim gets a message from a Facebook friend, saying they had mentioned them in a comment. But when the victim clicks to see the comment, they instead download a bunch of malware, including a Chrome add-on which can take over the victim’s Facebook account, once they log back in.

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Cost is not the main reason behind cloud adoption

Cloud elephant

The notion that cloud computing solutions are being driven primarily by reduced costs, and that they’re causing IT teams to shrink everywhere seems to be significantly in the myths area.

A new report by Six Degrees Group (6DG) points out that there are other, more important reasons, businesses opt for cloud solutions, and that teams are not necessarily shrinking, but reshaping mostly.

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IT teams of the future will have non-tech members

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Leadership, understanding of business objectives and project management are the three most important skills among businesses, a new report by IT resourcing company Experis says.

In the report, entitled "Tomorrows Tech Teams", it was also said that IT teams will see an influx of people from a non-tech background, further complicating the existing IT skills shortage.

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Workers at fault for most cyber attacks

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Here’s another solid proof of what security experts have been buzzing about in the past few years -- that people are the single greatest cyber-security threat to businesses.

This time, proof comes from Transputec and Business Continuity Institute, which have polled 369 business continuity professionals from all over the world into enterprise cyber-security.

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Academics create algorithm that can detect if you're lying in emails

Pinocchio Liar

A lie has no legs, the saying goes, but when you’re online, you don’t need legs. You can cruise through the Internet, lying to people free of the little signals which could give you away, such as body language.

This is a topic academics from the Cass Business School tackled, ultimately creating an algorithm that can detect lies in an email. I’m totally serious.

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BMW, Intel and Mobileye team up to make self-driving vehicles

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It seems that the recent tragedy in which a person was killed while riding an automated Tesla vehicle isn’t discouraging car makers from pursuing their dream of fully autonomous vehicles on our roads.

BMW Group, Intel and Mobileye have teamed up to bring fully autonomous vehicles to mass production within the next five years. That’s quite the triumvirate.

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Bitcoin is a 'safe haven' in a period of economical and political instability

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Bitcoin’s transaction value has increased drastically over the past year, mostly because of both political and economic instability we’ve been witnessing in the past few years, according to a new Juniper Research report.

Total value of the cryptocurrency’s transactions is expected to hit $92 billion (£69.3bn) this year, up from less than $27 billion in 2015.

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BlackBerry readying three new Android smartphones

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In what might be a last ditch effort to regain some of its former glory, BlackBerry is planning to release three new smartphones running Google’s Android OS.

Last year, the Canadian company launched its first smartphone running Android, the BlackBerry Priv. While it was well-received by critics for its implementation of Google’s OS, the smartphone with a slide-out keyboard was unable to sell well enough to turn the tide for BlackBerry, which has steadily declined since the release of Apple’s original iPhone.

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