AnnouncementTotal 24 articles, created at 2016-04-04 06:01

1 LG sells its G5 phone with a lot of Jason Stathams and alittle exaggerationTechnically Incorrect: A new ad for LG's modular G5 phone makes you believe that itsparts are quickly interchangeable. They're not. 2016-04-04 00:35 2KBcnet.com.feedsportal.com

2 10 Ways Administrators Can Harden Active DirectorySecurityA highly secured Active Directory environment can help prevent attacks and protect data.eWEEK examines how to harden Active Directory security. 2016-04-04 01:17 1KBwww.eweek.com

3 Managing Governance, Risk and Compliance with ECM andBPMMany of the elements involved in meeting compliance and regulatory requirements arebest managed by content and records management systems, particularly where2016-04-04 02:27 1KB www.itworldcanada.com

4 Introducing VR Day at HQWant to see what all the hype around virtual reality is about? We're opening CNET'sheadquarters in San Francisco so you can find out for yourself! 2016-04-04 01:22 1KBcnet.com.feedsportal.com

5 Optimize Application Life Cycle with a Hybrid Cloud StrategyIDC believes that NetApp's solution will resonate with LOB owners who are constantlystruggling to keep their head above water with tight 2016-04-03 21:35 1KBwww.itworldcanada.com

6 FBI to police: We'll help unlock iPhones when possibleThe letter was sent in response to inquiries from local police about whether the FBI wouldshare how it gained access to the iPhone belonging to one of the San Bernardinoshooters. 2016-04-04 01:22 1KB cnet.com.feedsportal.com

7 Cloud computing reaches co-opetition stageRepeat after me: A zero sum customer win is a cloud fallacy. One company's win may notbe a rival's loss. And we're in a world of cloud co-opetition. Thank the APIs.2016-04-03 22:00 3KB zdnet.com.feedsportal.com

8 Airbnb starts cracking down on illegal hosts in SanFranciscoHome-sharing site says it's acting on an earlier promise to keep "unwelcome commercialoperators" from using the site in violation of law in its home town. 2016-04-04 01:22 1KBcnet.com.feedsportal.com

9 April Fools' Day 2016: Hamburger Helper's Lefty drops hip-hop mixtapeThe mascot for Betty Crocker's ground beef enhancer releases an album onSoundcloud. It turns the sound of Jay Z and Kanye West into a slammin' declaration fordinner. 2016-04-04 01:22 1KB cnet.com.feedsportal.com

10 Intel Goes On Storage Offensive With SSD Blitz For DataCenter, Client And Embedded SegmentsIntel says its new solid state drives, unveiled at the Intel Solutions Summit Thursday, areoptimized for the channel so partners can better monetize the explosion of data.2016-04-04 01:19 3KB www.crn.com

11 IBM To Buy Salesforce.com Channel Superstar BluewolfIBM is continuing its services acquisition spree, saying Thursday that it plans to acquireSalesforce.com solution provider superstar Bluewolf for an undisclosed amount.2016-04-04 01:19 3KB www.crn.com

12 SNL reveals Trump's controversial tweets caused by hugehandsTechnically Incorrect: Saturday Night Live cannot help mocking the Republican candidateand his stance on women. 2016-04-04 01:22 2KB cnet.com.feedsportal.com

13 GNOME 3.20 Provides Shortcuts to the Linux DesktopThe latest milestone release of the open-source desktop environment provides improvedfeatures and new shortcuts to get them. 2016-04-03 19:15 1KB www.eweek.com

14 Apple's intensely moving film about a teen with autismTechnically Incorrect: Dillan Barmache is 16 and lives in California. He describes his lifeas "hell" and "lonely. " 2016-04-03 20:29 1KB cnet.com.feedsportal.com

15 HPE Adds Broadwell Processors, Persistent Memory ToGen9 ProLiant ServersHP's latest Gen9 ProLiant DL360 and ProLiant DL380 servers will include HPE's newpersistent memory technology, which turns memory into a high-performance storage tier.2016-04-03 19:50 3KB www.crn.com

16 Woman allegedly persuades neighbor to shoot down legaldroneTechnically Incorrect: In Oklahoma, a construction company is using a drone to inspect aproperty. A neighbor allegedly doesn't like that. 2016-04-03 20:29 2KBcnet.com.feedsportal.com

17 Windows 10 is on track for a billion users, but doindependent stats confirm Microsoft's numbers?Microsoft says Windows 10 is now running on 270 million devices, and that's in line withStatCounter's latest figures, but not NetMarketShare's. Their numbers may not be veryaccurate, but a widening divergence could raise suspicions... 2016-04-03 18:42 3KBzdnet.com.feedsportal.com

18 Research: Why CIOs fail and how to fix itThe relationship between the business and IT is complex and often difficult. Here ispractical and important advice to address challenges. 2016-04-03 18:01 2KBzdnet.com.feedsportal.com

19 Hands on: iPhone SE reviewIt looks like the iPhone 5S, but it's all-new on the inside 2016-04-03 17:05 7KBfeedproxy.google.com

20 Forgotten genius: the man who made a working VRmachine in 1957Wind, scent, vibration – Morton Heilig's Sensorama had everything but success2016-04-03 17:00 5KB feedproxy.google.com

21 Acer's new $799 Chromebase all-in-one PC is optimized forvideo conferencingThe desktop features a 24-inch touchscreen and can handle 25-person GoogleHangouts. 2016-04-03 16:48 2KB zdnet.com.feedsportal.com

22 UC Irvine gets into the esports game with a gaming arenaand scholarshipsThe university will build an esports arena and livestreaming studio, and offerscholarships to competitive gamers starting this fall. 2016-04-03 12:12 1KB www.itnews.com

23 Add-ins are coming to Microsoft Office for MacOffice for Mac's forthcoming add-in support is one of a number of new add-in featurescoming to Microsoft's productivity suite. 2016-04-03 11:17 2KB www.itnews.com

24 Computerworld UK Daily Digest - 3 April 2016 - Pen-testing- Centrica using Hadoop - Windows 10 for businessHere are all the latest tech trends, just for you. 2016-04-03 09:00 748Byteswww.computerworlduk.com

ArticlesTotal 24 articles, created at 2016-04-04 06:01

1 LG sells its G5 phone with a lot of Jason Stathams and a littleexaggeration

Technically Incorrect offers a slightly twisted takeon the tech that's taken over our lives.

I'm not sure I want my phone to have lots ofadditional bits.

LG isn't sure I know what I want.

So it's released the G5, a so-called modularphone that has attachments you can insert -- suchas a camera grip, an interchangeable battery anda high-res audio pack.

The mere idea of a whole world of JasonStathams might fill some with queasiness. Somight this ad, as it rushes through scenarios inwhich the G5's bits are featured.

Here's Statham on the subway. There's Statham in drag. And there's Statham robbing a bank.

It's all frightfully exciting.

What's slightly less exciting is that he appears to insert each of the different modules with easeand then use the phone straight away.

This isn't quite how the G5 works. In fact, every time you insert a module, you have to wait for thephone to start up again.

This ad, then, is a Statham of intent, rather than a Statham of actual fact.

Indeed, in the subway scene, a Statham quickly inserts the battery module and starts to use thephone. A tiny caption beneath says: "Dramatization: a battery change requires the phone to beturned on manually. "

Still, you like Jason Statham, so you'll be mesmerized by his standing on top of Pamplona'sraging, rampaging bulls while holding a fire extinguisher.

Will it make you buy the phone, though?

2016-04-04 00:35 Chris Matyszczyk cnet.com.feedsportal.com

2 10 Ways Administrators Can Harden Active Directory

SecurityActive Directory is a data directory service using passwords that Microsoft developed decadesago for Windows domain networks. It is included in most Windows Server operating systems asa set of processes and services. Initially, Active Directory was only in charge of centralizeddomain management; it has since branched out to include cloud systems. For years, ActiveDirectory has been a target of cyber-criminals in their attempts to hack passwords and crackenterprise systems and steal, damage or obfuscate data. A highly secured Active Directoryenvironment can help prevent attacks from being successful and protect critical data, but do youknow where to start this hardening? The following 10 areas need to be verified, analyzed,

configured and monitored to ensure consistentsecurity for an Active Directory environment. ThiseWEEK slide show uses industry information fromDerek Melber, technical evangelist atManageEngine, a Microsoft Group Policy MVPwho helps Active Directory administrators, auditorsand security professionals understand the finerpoints of how to manage and solve issues thatoccur in Active Directory and Group Policy.

2016-04-04 01:17 Chris Preimesberger www.eweek.com

3 Managing Governance, Risk and Compliance with ECM and

BPMMany of the elements involved in meeting compliance and regulatoryrequirements are best managed by content and records managementsystems, particularly where core business processes are document-centric.ECM and RM also come into their own for the management of policy records,internal audit evidence, or documents related to an incident. BPM andworkflow systems can provide automated scheduling and approvals, management dashboardand reporting, and risk and compliance monitoring.

Download this white paper as it highlights many specific issues related to policy lifecyclemanagement, operational risk control, internal audit, and supply chain management, but acommon thread found is that key documentation is not stored in one place, processes areinefficient and manual, and systems are home-grown.

2016-04-04 02:27 www.itworldcanada.com

4 Introducing VR Day at HQ

But at CNET we serve the community's needs byhelping you figure out how technology fits intoyour current -- and future -- lives, and we havebeen for more than 20 years. And since VR isone of those things you really have to experiencefirsthand, we had an idea. Let's open our doors,gather up all of the VR gear we can find, and letyou, our community, come try it out!

Don't miss out on this opportunity to go hands on(eyes on?) with the Oculus Rift, Samsung GearVR and HTC Vive. We'll have some games andother VR experiences ready for you. Plus you'llget to meet CNET staff and editors and ask yourmost burning tech questions in person. We'll also

have some fun giveaways at the event.

2016-04-04 01:22 Jeremy Toeman cnet.com.feedsportal.com

5 Optimize Application Life Cycle with a Hybrid Cloud Strategy

IDC believes that NetApp’s solution will resonate with LOB owners who are constantly strugglingto keep their head above water with tight development and go-to-market timelines and who careabout what the infrastructure can deliver — application speed, competitive differentiation, better

understanding of customers, and so forth.

Download this white paper as it examines how NetApp understands theapplication landscape and is attuned to the challenges faced by lines ofbusiness. NetApp’s leadership in the data management and infrastructuremarket means that businesses can seek to partner with the company fordelivering the infrastructure solution for their future application strategy.

2016-04-03 21:35 www.itworldcanada.com

6 FBI to police: We'll help unlock iPhones when possible

The FBI has told local law enforcement agenciesthat it will provide technical assistance to unlockiPhones in criminal cases around the US whenpermitted by law.

In the letter to local law enforcement, the FBI saidthat it understood the challenges of suspectedcriminals "going dark" -- a metaphor the FBI hasrepeatedly used to describe its inability to readmessages and tap communications.

"The San Bernardino litigation isn't about trying toset a precedent or send any kind of message,"said Comey.

The FBI did not respond to a request for comment by the time of publication.

This story originally posted as " FBI tells local police it will help unlock iPhones when possible "on ZDNet.

2016-04-04 01:22 Zack Whittaker cnet.com.feedsportal.com

7 Cloud computing reaches co-opetition stage

Enterprise cloud computing rivals are teeing offon each other, but the reality is much morenuanced relative to vendor propaganda and asimple tally of wins and losses.

I touched on this point last week in an interviewwith Workday co-president Phil Wilmington andthe week before when I noted that Google CloudPlatform's big enterprise wins were also stickingwith Amazon Web Services to a large degree.See: Workday's Phil Wilmington: Cloud vendors'customer win claims murky | Google CloudPlatform courts enterprises and they'll bite ontried and true pitches

Now Okta's Business@Work report highlights how enterprises use multiple apps, clouds andvendors in the course of daily business. As Okta, which offers a cloud identity managementservice, has a nice ringside seat to what's going on in the enterprises. On-premise softwarevendors are reinventing themselves and sharing space with the alleged disruptors.

Repeat after me: Zero sum is a cloud fallacy. One company's win may not be a rival's loss. Infact, we're in a world where three vendors can all claim the same reference customer.

Digital marketing is an area where one customer will use multiple clouds. Is it all that odd to finda company that uses Google, Adobe and Salesforce (maybe Oracle too) for marketing cloudservices? Not really. You can thank the application programming interfaces for the new worldorder. It has never been easier to try a new application in your enterprise and pit it against a rivalon a daily basis.

Along those lines, you're going to see Oracle and Workday customers. AWS, Microsoft Azure,IBM and Google Cloud Platform may all share customers.

Okta's report illustrates the land of cloud co-opetition (or at least co-existence). The moneyfinding from Okta: More than 40 percent of Okta's network uses both Google Apps and Office365. That stat is absurd when you consider that most companies could get by with oneproductivity suite and call it a day. But Okta noted that "companies using both Google Apps andOffice 365 do so because different departments prefer different applications. "

Meanwhile, Okta's report also highlighted the fastest growing apps on its network for the secondhalf of 2015. Consider Tableau, New Relic and Lucidchart all play in the same ballpark andrhyme. Microsoft Azure and AWS are obvious competitors. And Slack and Bluejeans roughlyplay in the same space.

And when you look at what apps and cloud services are being assigned to users on Okta, thecloud co-existence game is even more clear. Zendesk is there with ServiceNow. Box lives withDropbox. GoToMeeting and WebEx co-exist. The list goes on and on.

Bottom line: Next time a cloud vendor touts customer wins without details or how it's being usedskip the grain of salt and go for the whole container.

2016-04-03 22:00 Larry Dignan zdnet.com.feedsportal.com

8 Airbnb starts cracking down on illegal hosts in San Francisco

A warning to those San Franciscans who'vegotten into the illegal hotel business by offeringshort-term rentals on more than one home:Airbnb is after you.

Airbnb is targeting 288 hosts for possibleexpulsion. They control 671 listings, about 7percent of all San Francisco listings. But theymade up 17 percent of the revenue brought in bySan Francisco hosts between March 2015 andMarch 2016.

Airbnb said it's already been purging illegallistings in San Francisco: almost 100 in January2016, 92 in June 2015 and 26 in September

2015.

"We know we have more work to do and this effort is just a first step of their single listing," thecompany said in a blog. "Land use, housing and real estate policies and challenges in SanFrancisco are unique. This new approach is specifically designed for San Francisco and we willcontinually look at this program to make sure it's working the way we intend. "

2016-04-04 01:22 Michelle Meyers cnet.com.feedsportal.com

9 April Fools' Day 2016: Hamburger Helper's Lefty drops hip-

hop mixtape

Lefty, the longtime mascot for Hamburger Helper, has dreams that go beyond the food industry.He also wants to be a mover and a shaker (that'sa great pun if you think about it for a second) inthe music industry. It's an admirable and loftydream for someone who's just a white glove witha face on it.

Here's the truly crazy part. Even though it's meantto be an April Fools' Day joke, the album isactually pretty good.

2016-04-04 01:22 Danny Gallaghercnet.com.feedsportal.com

10 Intel Goes On Storage Offensive With SSD Blitz For Data

Center, Client And Embedded SegmentsIntel Thursday unveiled an array of solid statedrives geared toward entry-level cloud and datacenter deployments, Internet of Things andenterprise PC applications.

Intel executives said the new SSDs, rolled out atthe Intel Solutions Summit this week in Orlando,Fla., are optimized for the channel so partnerscan better monetize the explosion of data.

“With the data explosion, there are massiveopportunities for everyone in the channel, fromintegrators to resellers who deal with value-

added solutions,” said Chris Tobias, director of channel marketing for Santa Clara, Calif.-basedIntel's Non-Volatile Memory Solutions Group. “Anyone in the channel will see a significantbusiness opportunity from this, which is why Intel’s investing in SSDs.”

[Related: Intel Channel Chief Todd Garrigues: We Want Double-Digit Channel Growth In 2016 ]

For the data center segment, Intel unveiled the P3520 and P3320 series, its first SSDs built on3-D NAND, a technology the company introduced a year ago as the “world’s highest-densityflash memory.”

Channel partners were specifically asking for 3-D NAND storage offerings as they make SSDsa more affordable option when deploying multiple NVMe storage arrays for processing largesets of data, said Tobias. These PCIe-based series are optimized for cost-effectiveperformance and are targeted at read-intensive applications in cloud and data analytics.

Partners applauded Intel’s new SSDs, particularly in the data center segment, as critical inhelping their customers keep up with the explosion of data in enterprise cloud and clientcomputing applications.

“Intel’s new line of SSDs are faster, more reliable, and have better value,” said Donna Shepard,senior vice president of Dallas-based M&A Technology, an Intel partner. “The range of SSDsinclude all the things customers have come to us saying they want for servers being built.”

Intel also released the 3700 and 3600 Series for partners focusing on the data center, toutingthem as its first dual-port PCIe-based SSDs. These SSDs, aimed at mission-critical cloud andenterprise storage solutions such as online transaction processing, work well in situations wherebusinesses need to ensure data is accessible at all times without interruption, even when thereis a single point of failure.

Beyond the data center, Intel unveiled SSDs designed for both consumer and enterprise clientapplications, including the SSD Pro 5400s Series, targeted at business client needs withenhanced security and manageability features. This series includes support for the TrustedComputing Group’s Opal 2.0 protocol and Microsoft eDrive, has storage capacities rangingfrom 120 GB to 1 TB, and is available in both the 2.5-inch and M.2 form factors.

Partners were particularly pleased by the 5400s Series’ remote secure erase feature, whichallows enterprises to wipe sensitive corporate data remotely on compromised devices, Tobiassaid.

2016-04-04 01:19 Lindsey O www.crn.com

11 IBM To Buy Salesforce.com Channel Superstar Bluewolf

IBM is continuing its services acquisition spree, disclosing plans Thursday toacquire Salesforce.com solution provider superstar Bluewolf.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed, although Re/code is reporting the priceto be a little more than $200 million.

New York-based Bluewolf, No. 240 on the 2015 CRN Solution Provider 500 list , is one of thecountry's top and longest-standing Salesforce partners, growing organically over the pastdecade and a half to more than 500 employees and 12 offices. The company has made a namefor itself in that time for its leading Salesforce.com consulting practice and for driving the marketaround cloud consulting services.

[Related: Channel Co. Exclusive Research: Strategic Service Providers Are Driving A New EraOf Business Outcome-Based Cloud Services Growth ]

Bridget van Kralingen, senior vice president of IBM Global Business Services, said in astatement that the addition of these types of capabilities will help propel IBM's services andcloud-based capabilities to the next level, in particular helping it capture a piece of themultibillion-dollar midmarket and enterprise business in the Salesforce.com professionalservices industry.

“There is no question that the consumer-grade experience has emerged as a fundamentalelement in modern business strategy,” van Kralingen said in the statement. “Meeting thatexpectation defines next-generation differentiation and competitive position, and with Bluewolf,we add expertise to scale that capability to the cloud-based capabilities of Salesforce.”

The move to acquire Bluewolf comes just two weeks after IBM's purchase of U. K.-basedconsulting firm Optevia , which specializes in solutions and services around Microsoft Dynamicsfor government agencies.

As part of the planned acquisition, Bluewolf will be folded into IBM's Interactive Experience (iX)practice, which is part of IBM Global Business Services, which IBM touts as offering hybridconsultancy and digital agency solutions. As part of that group, Bluewolf will develop solutionsaround Salesforce.com implementations, according to IBM, Armonk, N. Y.

For Bluewolf, working with iX will help propel the company's solutions to a more global scale,said Bluewolf CEO Eric Berridge in the statement.

“I believe we have the perfect alliance as part of the IBM iX team -- equally sharing our passion,discipline and desire to be a global leader in the Salesforce partner ecosystem with the scale,skills and expertise of IBM iX to catapult us there," Berridge said.

Some solution providers see the deal as a reaffirmation of the value of strategic serviceproviders charting a path for customers to derive high-impact, business outcomes from cloudofferings.

"This shows bigger companies like IBM are looking to smaller, more nimble organizations totransform themselves to grab a bigger piece of the cloud market," said Chris Pyle, CEO ofChampion Solutions Group, No. 215 on the 2015 CRN Solution Provider 500 list. "For me, thisshows the market for companies willing to buy solution providers just got bigger. If anything, itshows the value of the channel. Companies like IBM are no longer focusing on buying $1 billioncompanies. They are buying small integrators specializing in the cloud. "

2016-04-04 01:19 Sarah Kuranda www.crn.com

12 SNL reveals Trump's controversial tweets caused by huge

handsTechnically Incorrect offers a slightly twisted takeon the tech that's taken over our lives

Donald Trump is a big hit with women.

Well, at least in his own mind.

He's also big on Twitter. Sometimes, though, heemits tweets -- especially those about women,strangely enough -- that cause a little controversy.This was actually Cecily Strong, offering a parodyof some of Trump's more strikingly articulatespokespeople.

Asked how she could defend Trump's retweets ofsexist images, she replied: "So actually, that was

an accident, OK. Because Donald's hands are just so big, he can't see every little tweet hisfingers retweet. "

"You know his hands are THIS big," continued Hughes, showing at least a 12-inch spreadbetween her two palms.

The CNN interviewer, played by Kate McKinnon, sat aghast. But Hughes continued by handilyexplaining away Trump's apparent antipathy toward women.

She offers a Yo' Mama joke. She suggested that Trump's musing that women who haveabortions should be punished was merely an April Fool's Joke.

The evidence does, though, mount against her cause in this skit -- especially in a scene from aTrump rally in which the Republican candidate offers a pro-women chant that isn't as pro-womenas, say, women would like.

Still, you'll still be focusing on his hands. Can it be that the man is simply overly endowed in thefinger regions?

In this presidential campaign, everything is possible. Just as every explanation for somethingsaid or tweeted seems more absurd than the last.

2016-04-04 01:22 Chris Matyszczyk cnet.com.feedsportal.com

13 GNOME 3.20 Provides Shortcuts to the Linux Desktop

GNOME 3.20 is the first major update to the GNOME desktop environment in 2016, officiallybecoming generally available on March 23—and since that date it has been slowly trickling intothe repositories of Linux distributions. GNOME 3.20 is code-named Delhi in honor of theGNOME. Asia event that will be held in Delhi, India, April 21-24. The new GNOME release is thefirst since GNOME 3.18 in September 2015, and it provides incremental improvements. An

overarching update across multiple applications inGNOME 3.20 are new shortcut screens thatprovide users with a simple list of keyboardshortcuts to perform common actions in a givenapplication. As was the case with GNOME 3.18,the File utility in GNOME 3.20 benefits fromusability improvements. This time, theimprovements are around searching and findingfiles on the system. The Web application is alsoimproved, with improved session restorecapabilities. In this slide show, eWEEK takes alook at the key features of the GNOME 3.20desktop update.

2016-04-03 19:15 Sean M www.eweek.com

14 Apple's intensely moving film about a teen with autism

Technically Incorrect offers a slightly twisted takeon the tech that's taken over our lives.

He was "that kid. "

That's how Dillan Barmache's therapist andcommunication partner Deborah Spenglerdescribes their first meeting.

In her field, he was that kid who was "the mostchallenged. "

You have to forget your standard notions of whatcommunication really means. Just becausesomeone isn't making eye contact with you, itdoesn't mean they don't hear you or understand

you.

"If you're just going off of what you see on the outside," says Tami Barmache, "the assumption isoften that there's a lack of intelligence. "

She says of her 16-year-old son: "Not being able to speak isn't the same as not havingsomething to say. "

This helps him tell the world what he's feeling. What he's feeling isn't always good. He describesautism and "lonely" and "hell. "

But this isn't a pessimistic film.

Indeed, if you're not moved to at least the trace of tear entering your eyes, I'll be surprised.

This film is a fitting and beautiful tribute to his fight to be heard.

2016-04-03 20:29 Chris Matyszczyk cnet.com.feedsportal.com

15 HPE Adds Broadwell Processors, Persistent Memory To

Gen9 ProLiant ServersHPE ProLiant DL380

HPE Thursday updated its ProLiant Gen9 server portfolio with the introduction of Intel's newest

Broadwell processor as well as its new persistent memory technology, whichallows the server's memory to serve as a high-performance storage tier.

The latest versions of HPE's Gen9, or ninth generation, ProLiant DL360 andDL380 servers also include new management, security and storagecapabilities aimed at helping customers tie on-premise data centerinfrastructures to the cloud for running mission-critical applications, said Tom Lattin, HPE's vicepresident of server options.

"This is an introduction for a new set of capabilities for our ProLiant Gen 9 servers," Lattin toldCRN. "We're bringing in a new memory architecture, a new architecture for migrating solutionsto the cloud, higher performance and higher security, in addition to our new persistent memorytechnology. "

[Related: HPE Intros 'Persistent Memory,' Combining DRAM Speed With NAND FlashPersistence ]

The new servers come as HPE is really making its presence felt in the server market, said MikeCarter, president and founder of eGroup, a Mt. Pleasant, S. C.-based solution provider and HPEchannel partner.

"In general, we've seen a heightened and pronounced presence from HPE in the last sixmonths," Carter said. "HPE had almost been invisible for a while as Cisco UCS and VCE tookthe center stage. "

The updated ProLiant DL360 and ProLiant DL380 servers are based on Intel's new Xeon E5-2600 v4 processors, which were formally introduced Thursday by Intel at the Intel SolutionsSummit , held this week in Orlando, Fla.

The new Xeon E5-2600 v4 processors, code-named Broadwell, give the new Gen9 ProLiants asignificant boost in performance, Lattin said.

The servers also come with the first implementation of HPE's persistent memory technology .

Introduced Tuesday, persistent memory brings together standard DRAM along with NAND flashmemory and a micro controller with an integrated battery on a module that fits in a standardmemory slot, said Bret Gibbs, persistent memory product manager at HPE, Palo Alto, Calif.

"We're looking to deliver the performance levels you see with DRAM, but in the realm of meetingstorage requirements," Gibbs told CRN.

2016-04-03 19:50 Joseph F www.crn.com

16 Woman allegedly persuades neighbor to shoot down legal

droneTechnically Incorrect offers a slightly twisted take on the tech that's taken over our lives.

Now that drones have to be registered with the Federal Aviation Administration, everything'sgoing to be fine, isn't it?

Ordinary people will look up to the sky and mutter, "Ah, yes. There flies a registered drone. "

Or perhaps they'll still look up, fear that the drone is spying and shoot the darned thing down.

This is what allegedly occurred in Edmond, Oklahoma, on Wednesday.

"What we've been able to gather: The drone is registered with the FAA and was being used tosurvey a home for a construction project," Mark Opgrande, a spokesman for the OklahomaCounty Sheriff's Office, told me.

He said a woman saw the drone and "thoughtsome kids might be using it to spy on theneighbors. " Kids, they're natural spies thesedays. Gadgets have made them that way.

The woman allegedly alerted another neighbor,who pulled out his gun and shot the drone down.There had been some issues with teens flyingdrones in the neighborhood in the past,Opgrande told me.

An investigation is ongoing, but the allegedshooter and the drone owner have, Opgrandetold me, come to "a mutual understanding andworked out arrangements to repair the drone. "

This isn't the first time a drone has been shot out of the sky by someone who suspects nefariousintent.

Oklahoma has already seen one case, last week, in which drones were being used forespionage purposes.

These days, it's a difficult dilemma for Oklahomans when they hear a buzzing sound in the air:Friend or foe? Shoot first and ask questions later may not, however, be the best solution.

2016-04-03 20:29 Chris Matyszczyk cnet.com.feedsportal.com

17 Windows 10 is on track for a billion users, but do

independent stats confirm Microsoft's numbers?(Image: ZDNet)

In the opening keynote at Microsoft's Buildconference in San Francisco, Terry Myersonannounced that Windows 10 was now running on270 million devices, as my colleague Ed Bottreported. Web developer Michael Gillett dulyentered the number into his progress-trackingsite (above), which shows that Windows 10 isrunning slightly ahead of target to reach a billionusers in three years.

But is Microsoft's claim confirmed by the statsfrom NetMarketShare and StatCounter? Let'slook at the numbers.

In the March results published on April 1, NetMarketShare credits Windows 10 with a marketshare of 14.15 percent. This shows above-average growth - 1.33 points - from February's figure,which was 12.82 percent.

Unfortunately, we have to guess how many active PCs there are, because nobody knows.However, it's generally accepted that there are around 1.5bn or 1.6bn, and you can adjust thetotal if you think it's too high or too low.

If we assume it's 1.6bn, then each percentage point represents 16m PCs, so 14.15 percentrepresents 226.4 million PCs. This is some way short of 270 million. In fact, on NetMarketSharenumbers, we wouldn't expect to reach 270m for another couple of months.

StatCounter comes much closer. StatCounter's monthly figures give Windows 10 a usage shareof 16.85 percent. Assuming there are 1.6bn PCs, this implies that 269.6 million PCs are running

Windows 10, which is within a rounding error of Microsoft's claim.

On the other hand, StatCounter shows no significant growth from its March figure of 16.53percent. That probably should not be the case, because this year, Microsoft extended itsupgrades to domain-attached PCs, leading to some "unexpected" installations.

Of course, the stats are not directly comparable because the two companies are measuringdifferent things. NetMarketShare is counting unique users, based on website visits, whereasStatCounter is counting website visits. People who spend all day on the web will be countedmore often than those who use it once a week or once a month. In both cases, PCs restricted tocorporate intranets, or permanently offline, won't be counted at all.

NetMarketShare balances its numbers to reflect global usage, which obviously varies fromcountry to country. For example, Windows 10 has roughly twice the market share in the USA asit does in China, where (according to StatCounter), Windows XP still has 25 percent of themarket.

Further, Microsoft has introduced another unknown by using the word "devices". This is perfectlyreasonable because Windows 10 is a converged operating system that runs on PCs andtablets, smartphones, and the Xbox One games console, not to mention there's an Internet ofThings version. There probably aren't a lot of non-PC devices running Windows 10 at themoment, but it does mean that counting PCs is no longer enough.

It will be interesting to see what happens to NetMarketShare's numbers over the next six months,especially after Microsoft stops offering free upgrades. A widening divergence betweenMicrosoft's numbers and NetMarketShare's is bound to raise suspicions.

2016-04-03 18:42 Jack Schofield zdnet.com.feedsportal.com

18 Research: Why CIOs fail and how to fix it

Digital transformation has placed CIOs undertremendous pressure. As expectations of ITincrease, CIOs must adapt to a businessenvironment where innovation, speed, andsolution precision are essential.

Unfortunately, the historical relationship betweenIT and the business has been fraught withdifficulty. With IT failure rates estimated between30- and 70-percent , CIOs have significantbaggage to overcome.

The problem is especially acute when a new CIOtakes the reins. For this reason, conventionalwisdom describes the importance for CIOs to

make a mark during their first several months on a new job. Gartner , McKinsey , recruiters andothers all explain why the CIO's initial 100 days are so important.

The paper describes five reasons that cause CIOs to fail - they call it "derail. " Semantics aside,the point is creating situations where the CIO meets business expectations.

In my experience studying IT failures, success is defined by how well the CIO and IT meetcustomer and business goals. Regardless of any other measure, if the business perceives IT asachieving its objectives to a sufficient degree, then the CIO is successful by definition.

Here are the causes of CIO derailment presented in the report:

To achieve success, the CIO must establish rules of engagement, or:

Some non-IT business executives:

In my own research into the issue of CIO relationships in higher education , we offered thisadvice:

As with all organizational issues, there is no silver bullet for addressing the points raised here.However, the authors suggest:

For many CIOs, these issues may seem obvious and hardly worth research or thoroughevaluation. However, in my discussions with many CIOs on the CXOTALK platform and inadvisory situations, it is precisely these organizational issues that deserve the greatest attention.Buying technology products and capabilities is easy; developing strategic clarity and the politicalsavvy to execute an innovation agenda requires far greater subtlety and skill.

2016-04-03 18:01 Michael Krigsman zdnet.com.feedsportal.com

19 Hands on: iPhone SE review

Update: Our full iPhone SE review is comingsoon, as we just finished an unboxing video ofApple's small, but brand new phone. Here are ourthoughts so far - now with more picutures!

When the world zigs, you zag. Buy low, sell high.When the entire smartphone universe skews big,you reinvigorate the small. That, in a nutshell, isthe mentality behind the iPhone SE. It's a phonefor those that love the smaller size but really wishthey could have the power of a flagship phone.

There's a big question on the lips of some smartphone fans at the moment - especially theAndroid ones: why does Apple seem to get such a huge interest level for re-releasing its oldersmartphone?

Having used the iPhone SE for a few days now, there's nothing to choose between it and theiPhone 5S cosmetically. It's precisely the same phone on the outside (and quite substantially onthe inside too, it turns out) so is it fair to give the new handset so much attention? After all,Samsung throws out so many small phones a year it's hard to keep count - and they get nowherenear as many pixels to read through.

Check out our iPhone SE reaction video:

But just casting an eye around the train on the morning commute tells you all you need to know:there are hordes of people still using the iPhone 5S and iPhone 5, and the amount of times I'veheard anecdotally the reason they're holding onto the older phone is because they 'don't want aphone with a big screen' is too many to number.

The iPhone 6/6S (4.7-inch) and 6 Plus/6S Plus (5.5-inch) have dominated the landscape overthe past two years, creating an opportunity for a brand to recapture the market for non-gargantuan phones.

What's particularly special about the iPhone SE is its newness. Rather than Apple introducing anew hero device and pushing an older phone down-range (as it did when the iPhone 5S founditself selling for $0 on contract), the iPhone SE is a purpose-built device. It's small, relativelyspeaking, but it's also mighty.

It exists out of kilter with Apple's usual release cycle. It's not a phone that rivals the iPhone 6S or6S Plus, but is a 'bonus' option that is designed to serve a specific demographic - somethingonly Apple seems to be able to do successfully.

Watch our iPhone SE unboxing video:

The camera has been overhauled and upgraded, boasting a 12-megapixel sensor and TrueTone flash that puts it right up there alongside the snapper on the iPhone 6S. There's also apotent 64-bit A9 chip, Bluetooth 4.2, a display that gets hella bright when you need to take aselfie in a dimly-lit room, and a starting price point of just $399 (16GB).

The exterior is svelte and sleek – every inch an iPhone, as we're surmising Apple would say.The same exemplary precision found on the high-end iPhones is also found on the iPhone SE.At last, you don't have to feel that you're settling just to get a phone that's easier to handle.

Handling the iPhone SE is a lovely affair, particularly if you're coming from the iPhone 6S Plus.It's dainty – cute, even – and although, obviously, it feels exactly as if you're handling the iPhone5S, there's something extra novel about it now. It's no longer the norm; the 4-inch form factor isnow the exception.

It's also bead-blasted aluminum on the outside too, which does give it a slightly different feel inthe hand to the older, past-generation handset, although not by much. Wait, have we got to thepoint where a phone from 2013 is now considered retro?

The fit and polish are just like the iPhone 5S though, and if you were just looking at them on thetable, there's very little way to tell the difference.

The same sharpness, the same rounded buttons on the side - it's as if Apple opened a door inone of its warehouses and found a million boxes with the 5S chassis sitting around doingnothing.

It's a shame that Apple hasn't updated the design. While it should be lauded for offeringsomething really viable for the reams of people still craving a phone you can use in one hand,there's no reason the iPhone SE couldn't have taken on the rounded form factor of the 6S duo,other than Apple wanting to save money.

Using the phone, however, is a markedly different experience to using the iPhone 5S, and that'sprecisely what Apple needs to push.

The A9 chip enables the iPhone SE to open apps just as quickly as the iPhone 6S. It's honestlyquite refreshing to feel this much power in a phone this small – we just haven't been privy toApple's top-end hardware in its smallest iPhone in a few years, and the glut of people still buyingthe iPhone 5 and 5C second-hand are a testament to the desire for this spec combination.

By shoving in the M9 co-processor, there are all the same specs and abilities that you're gettingon the newer phones too. So whether that's monitoring your steps, or flights of stairs climbed, orjust letting the phone note when it's resting quietly on the desk, it's all handled simply.

This means Hey Siri, the auto voice recognition function, is enabled - although whether you'll useit more than three times during the life of the phone will depend on what kind of committed tech-fiend you are.

The revamped 12MP iSight camera is present and correct onboard, and while it's every bit asgood as the one found on the iPhone 6S, it's not as easy to use thanks to the smaller form factor.It's odd to think that a more ergonomic phone makes framing pictures harder, but it was justharder to work out the picture with the more cramped screen.

In terms of spec though, you're getting the same camera mix as on the iPhone 6S. That means4K video recording, the Focus Pixels to get the sharper autofocus, a True Tone flash - in short,all the bits that Apple has shouted about on the newer iPhones in the smaller package.

And by making the iPhone SE thicker, the camera bump is gone, which is great news for thosethat hated the ruined aesthetic from the raised section on the rear of the phone.

Notably, the iPhone SE looks and feels just like the iPhone 5S before it. It didn't get slimmer, or

more round, but we kind of dig it. There's something novel about maintaining a tried-and-truedesign motif while overhauling everything within; indeed, that's exactly the model Apple followedwhen transitioning from the iPhone 6 to 6S.

It's the iPhone 5S but with the brains and brawn of the newer models, which will likely appeal to agreat many iPhone fans - and many in the Android world looking for this size-and-power combo.Some have pointed to the Sony Xperia Z5 Compact as a perfectly good smaller alternative tothe behemothic flagship phones in the Android world, but even that 'smaller' phone is muchbigger than the SE.

Sure, you could still nab a 5S now if you wanted and save a whole lot of cash, but in terms ofperformance and longevity of upgrades the SE is leaps and bounds ahead of that ageinghandset - stay tuned as we give our definitive verdict on whether the new iPhone really standsshoulder to shoulder with the new 6S and 6S plus... metaphorically speaking, of course.

2016-04-03 17:05 Not yet feedproxy.google.com

20 Forgotten genius: the man who made a working VR machine

in 1957When we talk about the history of virtual reality,we usually refer to the promise of the eighties: thesci-fi movies and experimental products that firstmade us believe in a virtual world.

From there to here seems an eternity in terms ofhow far VR has come, but in truth, there havebeen working VR products since as far back asthe 1950s. And one of the earliest still workstoday.

To call Morton Heilig a visionary would be tosorely undersell his brilliance. At a time when most people still owned a black-and-white TV, hehand-built a fully-functioning 3D video machine that allowed you to ride a virtual motorbike whileexperiencing the sounds, winds, vibrations and even smells of being on the road.

He called it the Sensorama Simulator, and it failed spectacularly.

What Heilig had built was so ahead of its time that it sat unloved by his swimming pool, hiddenunder a tarpaulin, for generations. His wife Marianne Heilig, who worked with him on manyinventions, took on enormous debt to fund his ideas – so much so that she's still paying it offalmost a decade after his death. So who was her husband, referred to by many as the Father ofVirtual Reality?

"He called himself a Renaissance Man," Marianne told techradar, "because he had so manydifferent talents. When he took me up to the apartment where he had the machine, I kind ofoohed and aahed – but I didn't understand the significance of it at the time. "

Morton Heilig using his Sensorama machine in 1984. Credit: Itsuo Sakane via YouTube

She wasn't the only one. An accomplished cinematographer, Heilig had created the Sensoramaout of a desire to build the "cinema of the future. " But a 3D cinema required 3D films, whichwere not easy to come by in the late 1950s.

So Heilig invented a 3D camera and projector in addition to his viewing machine, and producedfive films to demonstrate the Sensorama's capabilities. These were mostly passive ride-basedexperiences: a helicopter, go kart, bicycle and that motorbike.

Despite the lack of user control, the films still felt real: Howard Rheingold tried the still-workingSensorama in the eighties and commented that "the motorcycle driver was reckless, which

made me very mildly uncomfortable, much to my delight. "

The fifth film proved popular with investors, Heilig once joked: it was a raunchy number starring aNew York belly dancer. Rheingold notes that the Sensorama would pump out cheap perfumewhenever she was near the camera, and the sounds of the cymbals on her fingers could beheard in the appropriate ear. As adult video in virtual reality takes off in 2016, it seems Heiligknew what people wanted before they did.

Morton Heilig could clearly see the commercial potential for his invention, going to great pains todetail potential uses and benefits in his 1962 patent application. The inventor envisioned hismachine being used to train the armed forces, industry labourers and students, explaining that"there are increasing demands today for ways and means to teach and train individuals withoutactually subjecting the individuals to possible hazards of particular situations. "

Giving the example of a supersonic jet, Heilig comments that actually flying the jet is a betterlearning experience for students than just hearing about it, but would be "impossible ordangerous," and therefore his invention would give a better idea of the situation without puttinganyone in danger.

"If a student can experience a situation or an idea in about the same way that he experienceseveryday life, it has been shown that he understands better and quicker, and if a studentunderstands better and quicker, he is drawn to the subject matter with greater pleasure andenthusiasm.

"What the student learns in this manner he retains for a longer period of time," the patent goeson to say – almost as if Heilig was expecting to sell the machine directly from the filingdocument.

Heilig's 1962 patent for the Sensorama simulator. Credit: Google Patents

In reality, the Sensorama was pitched by leaflet to large corporations including Ford andInternational Harvester, described as a revolutionary new showroom display. Again, Heiligpredicted the future: scores of companies now use VR as a way to showcase their products andexperiences.

But in the fifties, corporations just weren't ready, and the Sensorama failed to secure sufficientinvestment or sales.

An alternate route to riches was to use it as an arcade machine. A coin-operated unit wasinstalled at Universal Studios "and was making tonnes of money with the quarters people werepumping into it," Marianne recalls, "but the management at Universal Studios at the time thoughtit was too much for a family company, so we had to take it out and put it on piers. It was on SantaMonica pier, in Times Square, and all over. It was a good little cash machine, I tell you that! "

But quarters weren't enough to sustain an invention that had cost a fortune to produce, and soHeilig sought investors. He arranged to meet in California with one interested party, introducedto him by "a guy who owned half of San Francisco at the time," Marianne comments, "but Mortwas ten minutes late and the investor just left. "

The powerful man who arranged the meeting did eventually put money in himself, but "Mort justcouldn't get it going" - the machine was made of many pieces he had created himself, andwasn't especially robust: when it was put into an arcade, it promptly broke.

2016-04-03 17:00 By Holly feedproxy.google.com

21 Acer's new $799 Chromebase all-in-one PC is optimized for

video conferencingChromebooks compared: New and upcoming Chrome OS laptops

While others have fallen by the wayside, Acercontinues to support the Chromebase all-in-onePC platform, but with its latest Chrome-runningdesktop, the company is shifting its approachfrom the home to the enterprise.

Dubbed Chromebase for meetings , the systemhas been fine-tuned to support videoconferencing. The unit features a 24-inchtouchscreen full HD display (1,920x1,080resolution) with an integrated adjustable HDwebcam and quartet of microphones to capturethe voices of one or two participants at eachlocation. The Chromebase can host GoogleHangouts for up to 25 people while using GoogleApps, though you don't need a Google account to join a conference.

Video chats aside, the Chromebase operates like any computer running Chrome, It includes anIntel Celeron 3215U dual-core processor, 4GB of RAM, 16GB of solid-state storage, 802.11acWi-Fi, and three USB 3.0 ports. Data security is provided by the integrated TPM (TrustedPlatform Module) 1.2 chip and the Verified Boot technology that runs each time the Chromebaseis started up.

At $799, the Acer Chromebase for meetings is priced a little higher than you might beaccustomed for a Chrome-based system, but that price includes a year's worth of managementand support fees. Management tools allow IT departments to remotely monitor numerousChrome-running devices deployed across an enterprise.

However, the cost is less than Google's previous attempt at a Chrome-based video-conferencing solution. Chromebox for meetings rolled out in 2014 as a sum of parts -- theChromebox unit, webcam, and microphones and other accessories for $999. Chromebase formeetings bundled these items into a single package (though with a slower processor than theChromebox had) at a lower price point -- though it won't provide the coverage necessary inlarger conference rooms than the expanded Chromebox for meetings option Google rolled outlast week.

2016-04-03 16:48 Sean Portnoy zdnet.com.feedsportal.com

22 UC Irvine gets into the esports game with a gaming arena

and scholarshipsWhen ESPN broadcasted a collegiate esportsmatc h last spring, my Twitter timeline—heavilypopulated by fans of “traditional” sports likebaseball and football—erupted with a mix ofsnarky jokes and comments along the lines of, “Ican’t believe I’m watching this.” Regardless ofwhether or not you like esports, they aren’t goingaway. In fact, one university is about to make abig push into the realm of esports.

Last week, the University of California, Irvineannounced what it claims is a “first-of-its-kindofficial e-sports initiative” that will kick off this fall.

The plan includes the construction of an “esports arena” in the student center—complete with astudio for livestreaming competitions—and the school will offer up to ten scholarships tomembers of UC Irvine’s esports team.

The 3500-square-foot esports arena will feature 80 gaming PCs, and will be used for classes inaddition to gaming, according to UC Irvine.

It looks as though UC Irvine’s esports team will have plenty of support on campus, too: accordingto the university, “a recent survey of students found that 72 percent identify as gamers and 89percent support the creation of an e-sports team.”

So the next time someone tries to tell you that gaming is a waste of time, here’s another piece ofevidence that suggests otherwise .

2016-04-03 12:12 Nick Mediati www.itnews.com

23 Add-ins are coming to Microsoft Office for Mac

Microsoft’s 2016 Build Developers Conferencejust wrapped up, and although the conferencefocused heavily on Windows 10, Office for Macgot some love as well.

According to Microsoft’s Office Dev Center , thecompany is bringing its add-ins feature to theMac version of its Office suite. Add-ins, whichallow third-party developers to add functionalityand features to Office, are already a key featureof Office on Windows and iOS, as well as theOffice Web apps, so their arrival on the Mac willbring that suite more in line with the rest of theOffice universe.

Add-in support for the Android version of Office is still “ in the works ,” according to Microsoft.

Examples of add-ins currently available include one that lets you look up information onWikipedia , another that translates text from within Word , and another that lets you save items toEvernote while you’re using Outlook.

Of course, Office add-ins for the Mac aren’t the only developer goodies Microsoft is adding to itsproductivity suite.

Add-in developers will soon be able to create toolbar buttons and drop-down menus for add-ins(making them more seamless with the rest of the app), new add-in deployment tools for ITadministrators, add-ins for OneNote, and the ability to install add-ins that aren’t available throughthe Office Store (a process known as “sideloading”). Check out the Office Dev Center if you’reinterested in learning more.

2016-04-03 11:17 Nick Mediati www.itnews.com

24 Computerworld UK Daily Digest - 3 April 2016 - Pen-testing -

Centrica using Hadoop - Windows 10 for businessCentrica said the move would lead to improved operational performance and enhanced overalluser experience

The energy sector is starting to embrace open source to solve its big data problem

Five-year applications management contract

2016-04-03 09:00 ComputerworldUK staff www.computerworlduk.com

Total 24 articles.

Created at 2016-04-04 06:01