Business data is getting bigger
It probably comes as no surprise that we're all storing more data. But just how much of an impact is this having for businesses.
Enterprise file sharing specialist Egnyte says 82 percent of businesses are hybrid-enabled, keeping their data both physically backed up and in put into cloud storage. This is up from 76 percent in 2016.
Despite challenges, mainframe use is still central to large enterprises
Mainframes are still vital to many larger businesses and a new report from Syncsort highlights some key trends including the mainframe’s role in strategic projects.
The results show the mainframe remains strategic to businesses, with 57 percent of respondents saying it will continue to be the main hub for business-critical applications this year. It will run revenue-generating services for 43 percent. Cost control is a priority though, 51 percent say they plan to cut IT costs by optimizing mainframe resources.
Lara Croft explores Windows 10 alternatives -- Rise of the Tomb Raider coming to Linux and macOS
While Windows remains the dominant platform for PC gaming, Microsoft’s stranglehold is slowly eroding. True, Linux and macOS won’t overtake Windows 10 on the desktop anytime soon, but as developers are learning, you can make money by supporting alternative operating systems. With Linux in particular, users are very loyal -- many won’t dual boot with Windows for gaming. The only way to get their dollars is to embrace the penguin.
Developer Feral Interactive has seemingly gotten the message, as it is bringing one of its top-tier titles to both Linux and macOS. The game to which I’m referring is Rise of the Tomb Raider, featuring the iconic cave-explorer Lara Croft.
The UK government reveals AI software that automatically blocks extremist content online
Continuing its drive to take control of the internet, the UK government has unveiled a new tool that it says can block extremist content "on any platform" with astonishing accuracy. The system -- as yet unnamed -- was unveiled by Home Secretary Amber Rudd and cost £600,000, paid for with public funds, and has been designed to detect jihadist content.
The government says that the algorithms can automatically detect "94 percent of Daesh propaganda with 99.995 percent accuracy." Speaking to reporters in London, Rudd said that "we're not going to rule out taking legislative action if we need to do it," opening up the possibility that the likes of Facebook, Twitter and Google could be forced to use the system.
Start and manage a new business from your smartphone with these four essential apps
The way we view work has changed hugely in the last few years, with everyone keen to do their own thing, start a business or simply become the 'next big thing' online.
Either way, there’s a shift to self-employment and being your own boss and being able to work from just about any location. With flexibility in mind, what are the best apps you can use on your smartphone to start and maintain your new business?
Google Summer of Code 2018 mentor organizations revealed! Kodi, Fedora, GNOME, LibreOffice, and more
Learning can be fun. Actually, scratch that -- learning should be fun. If a child or adult is bored while studying or being taught a new lesson, something is wrong. True, not all subjects are interesting to all students, so that is why it is imperative to match students with topics that truly interest them. In other words, it can be better to focus on strengths rather than weaknesses.
If a college student is interested in coding, for instance, there is no shortage of curriculums to support that -- depending on the university, of course. The thing is, you can only learn so much from books and lectures. Like anything in life, hands-on experience can trump everything. That's why Google's "Summer of Code" program is so important. If you aren't familiar, it gives university students the opportunity to work on an established open source project. The mentor organizations that are participating aren't third-rate either. For example, students can work with Kodi, GNOME, and LibreOffice, to name a few.
Microsoft to bring Windows Defender Advanced Threat Protection to Windows 7 and 8.1
Formerly a Windows 10 exclusive, Microsoft today announced that Windows Defender Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) is coming to Windows 7 and Windows 8.1.
That's not to say that the older operating systems are set to gain the full benefit of ATP, however. Microsoft says that it is the Endpoint Detection & Response (EDR) functionality that will make its way to Windows 7 and 8.1 at some point this summer. This cloud-driven feature will be made available as a preview in the spring.
Android P will support iPhone X-style notches and feature a dramatic redesign
The number of people running Oreo may well be very small, but there's already talk about the next version of Android -- Android P. Reports about what has been named internally as Pistachio Ice Cream promise not only a design overhaul, but also iPhone X-style notch support.
The Oreo successor is due for release later this year, and a Bloomberg report shed some light on what we can expect, including tighter Google Assistant integration, support for different phone formats, and improved battery life.
German court says Facebook's privacy settings and use of personal data are illegal
Facebook is no stranger to privacy-related controversy, and now a German court has ruled that the social networks' use of personal data is illegal. The court in Berlin also said that Facebook's default privacy settings violate German consumer law.
The case was brought by the federation of German consumer organisations (VZBV) which said Facebook failed to provide its users with sufficient information, and also that people were automatically opted into features.
New edge computing platform helps industry handle IIoT data
Growing amounts of data from Industrial Internet of Things devices is placing increased strain on conventional network infrastructure.
One way of dealing with this is to move computing resources closer to the edge, and Stratus Technologies is launching a new virtualized and self-protecting edge computing platform that’s specifically designed for industrial environments.
Low-cost Nokia 2 comes to the UK with two-day battery life
Nokia is a name -- for more seasoned mobile users, at least -- that's synonymous with phones that seem to last forever between charges. Now HMD Global is bringing the Nokia 2 to the UK, complete with impressive two-day battery life.
Powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 212 Quad-core processor, the Nokia 2 boasts a 5-inch screen and 8GB of memory -- which can be increased by up to 128GB with a MicroSD card. The phone ships with Android Nougat 7.1.1 (it's described as being "Oreo ready" although there's no word on when an upgrade might appear), and it will be available in two weeks for just £99.
Security service providers suffer from false positive alert overload
A new survey of managed security service providers (MSSPs) reveals that they are suffering an avalanche of false positive security alerts.
The study from Advanced Threat Analytics reveals that 44 percent of respondents report a 50 percent or higher false-positive rate, half of those experience a 50-75 percent false-positive rate and the remainder a startling 75-99 percent rate.
Tests show how much Meltdown fixes will hit Linux system performance
Now that the initial shock about the Spectre and Meltdown chip vulnerabilities has died down, the focus is very much on getting the problems sorted. As has been noted already, there has been concern about the impact on performance that the bug fixes will bring.
Intel has been eager to downplay any suggestion of major slowdown, but the exact performance hit will vary from system to system depending on the tasks being performed. Brendan Gregg -- a Netflix engineer whose work involves large scale cloud computing performance -- has conducted some tests into the impact patches will have on Linux systems, concluding that "patches that workaround Meltdown introduce the largest kernel performance regressions I've ever seen."
Government websites in US, UK and Australia hacked to run secret cryptocurrency miner
Thousands of government websites around the world have been hijacked to mine the cryptocurrency Monero. A commonly-used accessibility script was hacked to inject the Coinhive miner into official sites in the US, UK and Australia. One security researcher described it as the biggest attack of its type that he'd seen.
In the UK, websites for the NHS and Information Commissioner's Office were affected; in the US, the United States Courts' site was hit; in Australia, government sites including that of the Victorian parliament were hit by the cryptojacking code. What all of the sites had in common was the fact that they included the text-to-speech accessibility script Browsealoud from Texthelp.
Kodi 18 'Leia' development coming along swimmingly
Kodi is excellent software. I mean, an open source and cross-platform media center -- what's not to love? Hell, it can even be used to emulate classic video games! And even though I don't do it, I know it is popular with the piracy crowd, thanks to easy-to-install add-ons that allow free streaming of paid content. I'm not judging -- I know many of y'all are hurting financially, so do what you've got to. I prefer to just watch movies when they come on TBS, TNT, and the like, but I digress.
The next version of Kodi is called "Leia," and it is currently under development. With that said, you can run pre-release versions now with great success. If you are waiting for an official "stable" version of Kodi 18, however, you are probably wondering how the development is going. Well, according to a new blog post from the developers, everything is coming along swimmingly. In fact, they have shared some details and statistics about version 18. Some particularly interesting aspects? Kodi 18 will get Google Assistant support for Android and the ability to handle 8K video.
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