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A new report suggests that faced with mounting competition and economic uncertainty, 92 percent of global enterprises are changing course to retain mainframes as part of pragmatic hybrid strategies, rather than pursuing wholesale cloud shifts.

The latest Mainframe Modernization Business Barometer Report from Advanced, based on a survey of 400 IT leaders worldwide, reveals hybrid infrastructure strategies taking hold to balance workloads across cloud and mainframe. In fact, only six percent expect outright mainframe replacement anytime soon.

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IBM is launching a new version of its LinuxONE system, engineered to deliver cybersecurity, resiliency, scalability and AI inferencing for hybrid cloud environments, and making the technology more accessible for smaller and medium businesses.

IBM LinuxONE 4 Express is a pre-configured rack mount system designed to extend IBM LinuxONE to startups and small and medium sized businesses and within new data center environments.

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Part 1. In an ever-changing world, today’s organizations must have the technology in place to evolve along with it. In the government, agencies need to remain adaptive to achieve their missions in the face of policy changes, geopolitical conflict, and private sector advancements.

For years, enterprise teams have implemented agile software development methodologies to improve their ability to service their users rapidly and reliably; government agencies must follow suit. However, for organizations using or considering agile software development methodologies -- private or public sector -- the security architecture that protects their assets must be equally adaptable. 

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Data is the lifeblood of modern business and enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems are where it's likely to live. ERP software integrates data and business functions across departments like finance, manufacturing, marketing, sales and more, and of course this makes it an attractive target for cyber criminals.

So what threats do ERP systems face and what can enterprises do to defend against them? We spoke to Kellie Synder, CCO of Onapsis, to find out.

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If you’re currently using Windows 10 or Windows 11, but hanker after the days of Windows 7, then there is a very clever, but simple way to transform your newer OS into the older one. This method can be used to turn Windows 8 or above into Windows 7, or Vista.

This process takes a while to complete, but all you have to do is type a command into the Run box and most things will be handled automatically for you, although you can add extra features (such as Windows Media Player 11) if you wish.

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The draft EU Cyber-Resilience Act (CRA), backed by MEPs in July, is intended to reduce the risk of European citizens experiencing data breaches and malicious attacks on their devices. The CRA aims to achieve this by mandating security best practices across Europe’s tech industry. As part of this, it will enforce minimum security standards for end-user tech products sold across the EU, such as IoT devices, desktop computers, and smartphones. 

To realise its goals, the CRA also needs to apply these standards to the software and hardware that make up the supply chains behind end-user products. However, along with commercial solutions within the software supply chain, the CRA is looking to apply these strict security standards to non-commercial open source projects and communities. This could place tens of thousands of volunteers at risk of legal action and do significant harm to the continent’s tech sector. The legislators behind the CRA need to urgently revisit how they treat open source software.

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Confusion surrounds Microsoft's plans for Windows 12, with conflicting rumors suggesting different launch dates. Development is clearly well underway at Microsoft, and Qualcomm has just added strength to idea that Windows 12 could launch later this year.

While we've heard that Microsoft only plans to release the Windows 11 24H2 update this year, holding off releasing Windows 12 until 2025, Qualcomm's suggestion of a mid-2024 launch for Windows 12 is not the first time this release window has been suggested.

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Generative AI has gone from zero to a hundred in under a year. While early, it’s shown its potential to transform business. That we can all agree on. Where we diverge is on how to contain the dangers it poses. To be clear, I am pro innovation, and far from a fearmonger. But the recent uptick in misinformation -- largely aimed at polarization around controversial issues of the moment -- has made it clear that, if left unchecked, gen AI could wreak havoc on societies.

We’ve seen this movie before with social media, but it took years and hard lessons for us to wake up to its flaws. We’ve (presumably) learned something. The question today is who will help stem the tide of reality distortion from gen AI, and how? 

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You know that game where kids dive to the bottom of a pool to pick up toys? It is hard to see what the toys are when they are sitting there on the floor of the pool. It’s only when the kids fish them out of the water that it becomes clear what each toy really is.

It’s the same thing with data. It’s not humanly possible to read through terabytes of text in a few sittings. But let’s say you try. You can retrieve email after email in an email reader, "Office" file after "Office" file in each’s native application, and still miss something that enterprise search can reveal.

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Transcend has unveiled its new CFexpress 860 Type B memory card, targeting professional photographers, videographers, and filmmakers. The card is tailored for high-end cinema cameras, DSLRs, and mirrorless cameras, offering impressive read/write speeds of up to 1,750/1,500 MB/s. This performance makes it ideal for capturing continuous burst shots and 8K videos, promoting a seamless creative process.

The CFexpress 860 Type B memory card adheres to the CFexpress 2.0 standard, ensuring high-speed data transfer and backward compatibility with selected XQD devices. Its capability to handle 8K RAW video and high-resolution, continuous burst shots without quality compromise is a significant advantage for multimedia professionals.

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The Tails project has launched a release candidate for the upcoming Tails 6.0 Linux-based operating system, inviting the community to participate in testing before the official launch slated for February 27.

Tails 6.0 RC1 is based on Debian 12 (Bookworm) and uses GNOME 43 as the desktop environment. This pre-releases version of the operating system promises a ton of new features, alongside significant security and usability enhancements.

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Many Windows users have access to Microsoft Copilot, a built-in AI tool. This tool is free to use. Microsoft created Copilot Pro as an optional subscription-based service. Available for $20 per user and month, Copilot Pro promises "priority access to GPT-4 and GPT-4 Turbo during peak times". A subscription delivers answers, content, and generated AI images faster, according to Microsoft's description of the service.

Subscribers get two additional benefits. Designer, which allows users to use AI to generate images, gets 100 boosts per day. Boosts prioritize requests so that results are returned faster. Designer still works without boosts, but it may take longer to generate and return image creations to the user.

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Make no mistake, the world of work is experiencing a boom in audio content. In addition to the widespread use of workplace video and audio conferencing and collaboration tools, the volume and range of audio assets that organizations now generate and distribute is expanding. As a consequence, audio is playing an increasingly central role in the business communications mix.

Today’s IT professionals now need to manage an expanding array of audio content; everything from corporate podcasts to AI-driven customer training and sales interactions that are delivered via apps or the web. To harness and gain maximum value from this increasingly valuable resource, IT leaders will need to master every aspect of the art of efficient audio data management. By optimizing the organization and storage of audio data, they’ll not only be able to boost its accessibility and discovery so that teams can quickly leverage the assets they need. They will also be able to initiate streamlined workflows that enhance productivity and uncover and unlock the inherent value contained within audio data. Let’s take a look at just some of the ways IT leaders can reinvent their audio data management capabilities.

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According to Gartner the use of generative AI within enterprise applications will be a defining factor in the 2024 tech landscape. But this isn’t the only force that will impact how technology is deployed and consumed.

Geopolitical disruption, economic uncertainty, and the energy transition imperative are all key drivers. As such, decision-makers will be motivated to bring their business, technology, and operations closer together with a few key things in mind: Elevating business performance, productivity, and sustainability. Let’s look at some of the key trends IT professionals need to keep an eye on in 2024.

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The highly anticipated third beta version of Deepin V23 has finally been released. This pre-release variant of the Chinese-made Linux distribution is much more than just an incremental update; it introduces a comprehensive upgrade with over 1,400 package enhancements pre-installed and an additional 250+ system updates.

Deepin V23 Beta 3 isn't just about fixing bugs and enhancing performance. It shows the developers' commitment to providing a beautiful and user-friendly operating system. The release comes packed with new features and improvements that cater to a wide range of user needs. From system and installation enhancements such as added explanatory text on the Grub page, support for multiple screen resolutions, and driver support for i386 devices, to significant updates in system repositories with 4000+ software package updates, the upgrade is substantial.

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