Latest Technology News

We've seen quite a bit recently about the difficulties of recruiting cyber security personnel, and how the skills needed for the role have changed.

In a new initiative, IBM in the UK is teaming up with ex-forces employment specialist SaluteMyJob and non-profit education body the Corsham Institute to offer a free cyber security training course for military veterans.

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Game of Thrones is a hugely popular show, and every year we see statistics regarding how many times different episodes have been downloaded illegally.

Season 7, which has just finished on HBO, was easily the most pirated yet, helped in no small part by leaks from hackers which saw episodes available to stream through Kodi, and download on pirate sites and BitTorrent before they were even broadcast.

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Facial detection technology is usually used to identify individuals for the purposes of crime prevention, or as a biometric security method. But a paper published by Stanford University -- entitled simply "Deep neural networks are more accurate than humans at detecting sexual orientation from facial images" -- shows that it could also be used to determine people's sexuality.

Using AI and deep neural networks, algorithms have been shown to have a far better gaydar than people. Working with a sample of more than 35,000 photographs, the system was able to correctly determine whether individuals were gay or straight with staggering accuracy -- 81 percent of men and 74 percent of women. While on one hand the results are impressive, there are also ethical concerns.

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Data breaches are fairly common nowadays. This is unfortunate, as it exposes sensitive information to evil hackers and other nefarious criminals. Look, people are doing their best to make it through the day -- working long hours and struggling to make ends meet. Then, some computer nerd comes along and adds to life's difficulties by stealing identities. Sigh.

Today, another data breach comes to light, but this time it is particularly bad. In fact, it could quite possibly be the worst such hack in history. You see, credit agency Equifax -- a company you'd expect to be very secure -- had consumer information stolen. Now, it isn't just a handful of people that are affected. No, it is a staggering 143 million consumers in the USA! To make matters worse, it includes the holy grail of personally identifiable information -- social security numbers. Besides SSN, the hackers got birth dates and addresses too. For some of these unfortunate folks, even credit card numbers and driver's license numbers were pilfered.

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Hewlett-Packard Enterprise (HPE) has announced it is acquiring Cloud Technology Partners, a born-in-the-cloud services company. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Cloud Technology Partners helps sophisticated IT organizations move to the cloud. It does it by determining optimal apps for both public and private clouds. The company also executes migrations and help clients transform their organizations as needed.

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The AWS Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) service has many advantages, including easy scalability, pay-for-what-you-use, as-you-go pricing, and an enormous array of options and upgrades -- so many that your AWS bill may become quite complicated.

Have you been suffering from sticker shock but have no idea which of the literally thousands of line items on your invoice are the culprits? Here are seven hidden AWS costs that could be breaking the bank.

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Onecom and Vodafone have signed a five-year deal aimed at expanding the choice of IoT services available to UK businesses.

The two companies will jointly "develop, launch and manage" a range of tools going forward. Onecom, a unified communications platform, will deploy Vodafone’s global IoT managed connectivity, platform and services, so businesses can use connected solutions within their organizations.

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If you are a student, you are probably back in school by now. Yeah, going to class can sometimes be a drag, but learning new stuff can be fun too. Heck, it is also a great way to socialize and meet new people. Not to mention, wearing freshly bought clothes and carrying a new backpack can be an exciting experience.

But what if you want to listen to music when you aren't doing school work? Yeah, you can play your favorite jams using your smartphone, but really, a Bluetooth speaker will provide more volume, and probably, better sound too. Today, Bose unveils a new model that should be ideal for students or anyone, really. It is incredibly small at just 1.5 inches high and 3.75 inches wide, making it perfect for tossing it into a backpack. Heck, thanks to the integrated strap, you can easily attach it to your bag too. If you are rough on your gear, do not worry as it is durable -- it has an IPX7 waterproof rating.

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As society continues to grow and develop more eco-friendly and sustainable values, the pressure on data centers to become more energy efficient has greatly increased. Recently, the data center industry has been making significant progress in developing new, energy efficient approaches in the design and manufacturing of data centers.

Basically, what we are seeing is the overall solution of deploying racks and aisle containment structures at the same time, versus the traditional model of filling a data center full of hardware and then bringing in someone to help with efficiency and containment. Data center operators are having these conversations earlier in the design and manufacturing process, eliminating the need to make energy efficient changes in bits and pieces.

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Most people don't hold onto their mobile devices for very long. New models boasting higher resolution cameras, sharper screens, and an abundance of new features, make buying new and getting rid of the old an annual tradition. However, before you turn it into the carrier for a price rebate, you want to be sure you eliminate all of your personal data first.

If you are selling your device, then you need to take additional precautions, as there may be another consumer utilizing your device and possibly accessing any information that may have been inadvertently left on the device. Mobile devices are built for synchronicity and convenience, so many functions are occurring in the background to offer you a personalized experience. This personalization should be stripped away.

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New technology can be exciting, but it tends to be confusing as well. Those of us who grew up in in the 90s may remember the new fad of installing high-tech security systems with cutting-edge motion sensors and state-of-the art wall panels. Every one of those worked great… for about a week. What began as a flurry of excitement and restful nights quickly turned into a big hassle, as false alarms woke the neighbors, and parents struggled to remember the right key combinations to get things back to normal. After a few short months, those once-exciting upgrades gathered dust, and the home of the future seemed even further from reality.

As you consider making security upgrades to your home today, you might have some reservations due to the technological promises of the past. The good news is that a renaissance of inexpensive technology and consumer-friendly tools has made home security and automation one of the most impactful upgrades you can make for your family.

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It may seem like a no brainer to migrate your enterprise to the Windows 10 operating system given its many improvements over previous versions. From the enterprise point of view, the new operating system provides increased corporate network and data security, with features such as Device Guard and Windows Hello; enhanced cloud integration capabilities; and improved IT management. Users benefit from easier navigation through the familiar "Start" menu, a better overall user experience, and a unified platform across all the devices.

If you join the migration bandwagon, you’re not alone. According to Gartner Research, by the end of the year, 85 percent of enterprises will have begun the migration process. But procrastinators beware -- the clock is ticking with Windows 7 support set to expire in January 2020.

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Bern software developer iterate GmbH has released Mountain Duck 2.0 for Windows and Mac. Mountain Duck is designed to make it easy for users to mount server and cloud storage through File Explorer and Finder.

Version 2.0 adds several new features, most notably support for transparent client-side encryption of data using Cryptomator. It also adds support for Microsoft OneDrive accounts.

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This Sunday -- September 10 -- is World Suicide Prevention Day. Facebook is using the global event to draw attention to the help it offers to those contemplating suicide.

The social network is planning to run ads in users' newsfeeds throughout the month, highlighting the supportive groups and suicide prevention tools that are available. Facebook is also launching a new Online Well-being portal which features advice about suicide prevention and how to resolve problems.

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Analytics is now an expected part of the bottom line. The irony is that as more companies become adept at analytics, it becomes less of a competitive advantage. Businesses are now being forced to look deeper into their data to increase efficiency and competitiveness.

Enter machine learning. Recent advances have led to increased interest in adopting this technology as part of a larger, more comprehensive analytics strategy. But incorporating modern machine learning techniques into production data infrastructures is not easy.

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