IBM announces new data centers in Australia, California and England as cloud revenue goes up
IBM has announced today that it will be launching four new data centers in England, Australia and California that will allow its customers to take advantage of its blockchain, big data and IoT offerings as well as have low-latency access to its cognitive services.
The firm reported its quarterly earnings this week and despite the rest of its business performing below expectations, its cloud division saw revenue increase by 15 percent year-over-year and accounted for $3.9 billion of its total revenue.
Intel reportedly shutting down its once-thriving wearables division
Despite previously being one of the most vocal champions of the wearable technology market space, semiconductor giant Intel has virtually (and quietly) shut down the business unit that was responsible for its once emerging line of smartwatch and fitness tracker components.
The dedicated unit was created after Intel acquired a little-known smartwatch company called Basis in 2014. The writing may have been on the wall after the company had to recall all Basis products late last year after multiple incidents of them overheating, causing users' wrists to become burned.
Following NSA endorsement, the US government can buy secure messaging tools from BlackBerry
BlackBerry has announced that it is now able to sell its secure messaging solutions to the US and Canadian governments. The news comes after the company received endorsement from the NSA's National Information Assurance Partnership for SecuSUITE for Government.
BlackBerry points out that governments have long had to contend with wiretapping and other forms of surveillance, and says that SecuSUITE for Government offers effective end-to-end encryption for voice calls and text messages.
Petcube Bites Treat Cam lets you reward your doggo or kitty when away from home
Dogs are the best; certainly better than cats. I mean, litter boxes -- am I right? OK, cats are pretty cool too. Hell, all pets are wonderful -- except maybe snakes. Pets bring joy to our lives and provide unconditional love. After a hard day at work, petting your doggo or kitty can release stress and make everything feel alright.
Sadly, we can't be with our pets all the time -- we have to leave the house to earn money so we can buy them treats and toys. It can be heartbreaking to walk out the door while they look at you with sad eyes. Thankfully, Wi-Fi cameras allow us to see our furry friends even when we aren't home. Some models even let you interact with two-way audio. Today, a new product takes this a step further. The "Petcube Bites Treat Cam," as it is called, quite literally is a camera that remotely dispenses treats. While not the first such product to do so, it looks particularly elegant.
Apple greenlights Dash cryptocurrency in the App Store
Apple has a selective approach towards cryptocurrency, which is why iOS users only have access to a handful of coins in the App Store. You can find players like Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin and Ripple, but most others are pushed aside.
There is no official position, but it is believed that Apple only accepts cryptocurrencies that are reputable. And Dash just rejoined that list. The sixth-largest cryptocurrency is back in the App Store, after being banned last year.
Elementary, my dear Watson -- IBM's cognitive system learns to spot differences in tone
Human conversations are littered with subtle indicators, like tone of voice or slang, which can make the meaning of the dialog very different from what the words actually say. Online the situation is made more complex still by the increasing use of emojis.
All of this can leave automated chatbots and customer service systems floundering when interacting with unhappy or frustrated individuals.
Goldeneye attack is not ransomware
On June 27, reports of a rapidly spreading ransomware attack started to emerge from Ukraine. The speed at which critical infrastructure networks were shutting down pointed to a ransomware application with a wormable component, whose virality called to mind the WannaCry ransomware. In less than three hours, the infection crippled banks, ATMs, public transport and an airport, as well as utilities provider Kyivenergo. Then it spread outside the Ukraine.
As multiple critical infrastructure networks reported major blackouts, Bitdefender started an internal investigation over isolated malware samples to trace the attack’s origin and better understand what it targeted, and how.
Data breaches are down but retailers still think they’re vulnerable
US retail data breaches have dropped from 22 percent last year to 19 percent this, but 88 percent of retailers still think they’re vulnerable according to a new report.
The latest retail edition data threat report from cyber security specialist Thales e-Security, in conjunction with 451 Research, shows that 52 percent of retailers have suffered a data breach in the past. However, retailers may not be learning from past mistakes, with more than half of the 19 percent that were breached this year having also experienced a breach previously.
If you're downloading Game of Thrones, HBO has its eye on you
As the new season of any major series kicks off, torrent traffic for episodes clogs up internet pipes around the world. This has been true of everything from True Blood to Lost, and it's no different with season seven of Game of Thrones.
Clearly the networks behind shows that are shared via BitTorrent and through other means are keen to clamp down on piracy, and anyone planning to download Game of Thrones is cautioned that HBO is actively monitoring people pirating the series, and warnings are being sent out.
Amazon Spark is a shopping social network for iOS
Over the years Amazon has spread its wings in various directions, and the latest venture sees the online shopping giant dipping its toe into the waters of social networking. While not strictly a social network, Amazon Spark has many of the hallmarks of one.
Borrowing heavily from Instagram and Pinterest -- among others -- Amazon Spark is available for Prime subscribers using iOS. There is, of course, a strong emphasis on shopping, and members are able to post photos of items for sale, and can click through to buy, post comment, and leave "smiles" -- Spark's take on likes.
Department of Homeland Security lifts airline laptop ban
The Department of Homeland Security has lifted the ban on laptops on flights into the US from Middle Eastern and North African countries. The controversial ban, introduced by the Trump administration back in March, was almost extended to all international flights, but has now been scrapped altogether.
Airports have introduced enhanced security measures, and this means that the restrictions on portable electronic devices is no longer considered necessary.
Windows 10 systems running Atom Clover Trail CPUs can't upgrade to the Creators Update, but there is some good news
Earlier in the week, I wrote about how the Windows 10 Creators Update was incompatible with certain PCs already running Windows 10. Devices powered by Intel’s Atom Clover Trail CPU couldn’t install the latest feature update, even though upgrading from Windows 8x to Windows 10, and the Anniversary Update, worked fine.
A post from Acer suggested that it was a temporary glitch and that Microsoft was working to address the incompatibility, providing a glimmer of hope for users of the affected devices, but it turns out that’s not the case. Atom Clover Trail processors won’t be supported in the Creators Update or any future feature updates.
Dow Jones server leaks personal info of 2.2 million customers
Private information of more than two million customers of the Dow Jones publishing agency have been exposed online.
According to the IB Times, a configuration error on the Dow Jones & Co. cloud storage server led to sensitive information including names, addresses, account information, emails and the last four digits of credit cards for almost 2.2 million people becoming available to anyone with an Amazon Web Services Account.
Qualcomm CEO: Apple dispute will be settled out of court
Apple and Qualcomm might be fighting hard in the courtroom, but that's not where the battle is going to end.
That's according to the latter company's CEO, who believes the issue will most likely be settled out of the court.
There is no Windows 10 Autumn Creators Update
Calling the next big Windows 10 feature update the "Fall Creators Update" always seemed like a bit of an odd decision when countries outside of the USA and Canada use Autumn, and not Fall, to describe the season that follows summer.
So when it was reported, earlier in the week, that the update would be called the Autumn Creators Update for some parts of the world, we weren’t entirely surprised. The new name appeared on Microsoft’s regional pages, so it seemed pretty official. But, as it turns out, that’s not the case at all.
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