February 23, 2016

5G may be the future of mobile: But a couple of things have to happen first

The trouble is this next-gen mobile technology is still not ready for use, even though it may well be by 2020. In the meantime, operators and developers have to maintain a high level of expectation about what 5G will bring. ... Ping also pointed out the need to shift from a supply-driven business model to a demand-driven one, and the necessity to support a software-defined architecture, spawned from software-defined networking and introducing a certain level of virtualization between software producers and consumers. "Before 5G, we need to better understand the needs of verticals, support them during their integration, thus driving forward a digital revolution," he said. "It's important to act rather than wait for a new technology."


U.S. sees robots taking well-paying jobs

"Business dynamism -- the so-called churn or birth and death rate of firms -- has been in persistent decline in the United States since the 1970s," the report said. Young firms that survive "grow faster than older, established firms," the report says. But "there are fewer young firms in the economy today than in the 1980s." The reason for the decline in startups is not clear, but it may stem from a decline in innovation and productivity. This could be due to the increases in government regulation, and a consolidation of market power by mergers and acquisitions. Lower rates of job creation and destruction may be reducing the labor churn in the marketplace, "by which workers find jobs best matched to their skills and vice versa, lowering overall productivity for all firms -- young and old."


Docker announces Container-as-a-Service to bridge the DevOps gap

The portability of Docker means that Dockerized apps can run on any infrastructure. The only dependency is a Linux kernel, and that is a big part of the CaaS play that Docker wants to make with DDC. "You can deploy these workloads on bare metal," Johnston said. "You can deploy them to VMs in the data center, or deploy them to cloud nodes—all without breaking the application or forcing a [rewritten] application." The flexibility extends to cloud environments as well, with providers like AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platform. The idea with containers is that you are able to write an application once and move it wherever you want, giving users the flexibility to drive workload placement based on business requirements instead of tech lock-in.


Countless computers vulnerable to MouseJack attack through wireless mice and keyboards

Attackers could write scripts that fire off malware to be uploaded to the target that allows any number of further attacks, Newlin says, or to access resources the user’s login authorizes. These devices use chips made by Nordic Semiconductor, some that support encryption and some that don’t. Newlin says those that do can be patched to implement the encryption. The others would have to be removed from the host machine when the keyboard and mouse are not in use and the machine is turned on and unattended. In response to an email about the vulnerability Microsoft sent this statement via its PR firm: “Microsoft has a customer commitment to investigate reported security issues, and will proactively update impacted devices as soon as possible.”


The UNIX® Evolution: An Innovative History

What started out as a communal programing environment or even an early word processor, the UNIX system turned out to be a more durable technology than Thomson and Ritchie could have imagined. It’s not only a durable operating system, but it is adaptable, reliable, flexible, portable and scalable. Ultimately, the UNIX OS would end up being supported across multiple systems, architectures, platform vendors, etc. and also spawn a number of look-alike compatibles. Lastly, UNIX technology would be the engine that drove innovation even beyond programming and data processing to markets and technologies beyond the realm of computer science. The academic and commercial take-up of UNIX systems would help germinate the growth of many existing and new technologies.


Platform business model picks up steam -- what's the CIO role?

The CIO's role in the early phases of a developing platform may be minimal, as the business focuses on cultivating the community the platform hopes to attract. John Hagel III, co-chairman of Deloitte LLP's Center for the Edge and author of the recent report, The Power of Platforms, points to the example of Li & Fung, whose platform orchestrates supply networks in the apparel industry. In its early days, the Li & Fung platform relied mainly on the telephone and fax to get off the ground. "Some of the most sophisticated platforms we see, particularly around orchestration, are actually being done today with limited technology," he said. Instead, emerging platforms tend to focus much more on defining a governance structure, Hagel explained.


The future of mobility

There’s no mystery about why we pay such close attention to the ups and downs of the auto industry—its extended value chain is an essential engine of global economic growth. ... There are two profoundly different visions of the future of mobility. Fundamental differences center around whether today’s system of private ownership of driver-controlled vehicles remains relatively unchanged or whether we eventually migrate to a driverless system of predominantly shared mobility. There is also a critical difference about the pathway forward. The “insider” view believes that today’s system can progress in an orderly, linear fashion, in which the current industry assets and fundamental structure remain essentially intact. The “disrupter” view envisions a tipping-point approach to a very different future, one that offers great promise and potential societal benefits


The Demise of Passwords and the Rise of Authentication Technologies

Cyberattacks dominated the news in 2015, and it’s likely that 2016 will be no different. Cyber criminals are relentless in their efforts to find and take advantage of security weaknesses, which often include privileged user credentials. As computing processing power continues to increase, it’s becoming possible to break even the most complex passwords, putting every organization at risk of devastating breaches. Rather than requiring customers and employees to memorize 20-character, non-dictionary passwords, security and risk professionals need to start plotting the demise of the password and improving the security of privileged accounts. This webcast will highlight the technologies, such as privileged access and account management tools, best suited for securing your most sensitive systems and data.


4 Ways Good Project Leaders Create Cultures of Success

Who has the greatest impact on projects as a whole? The simple answer is everyone (executives/sponsors, vendors, customers, consultants and especially employees). If any one of these individuals is dissatisfied, the project suffers a loss in terms of participation, productivity and buy-in. These losses can be tangible or intangible, and are not always easily or successfully quantified. The one thing that’s certain is that dissatisfaction will imprint itself on project success or failure in one way or another. This can be through low morale, decreased productivity, conflict, absenteeism, an increase in turnover and so on. The end result is project teams and companies as a whole operating at greatly reduced competence due to various forms of dysfunction.


Can large companies adopt the agility of startups?

The slang term that is going around for this phenomenon is uberization. It is a derivative from ride sharing service Uber, which revolutionized the taxi and chauffeur industries instantly and now threatens their existence. The idea of bullet-proofing your organization from uberization by becoming fleet of foot with innovation is tantalizing in whiteboard discussions—but how easy is it to do for large companies with layers of product and idea vetting processes, regulatory and political constraints? In a LinkedIn post, entrepreneur and investor Yann Girard, wrote that corporations are too riddled with red tape, regulations, protocol, politics, CYA and fear of risk for their employees to take on the unknowns associated with the practices of startups, where immense rewards loom on the distant seashore but the waters that must be traversed to get there are laden with sharks.



Quote for the day:


"Not being able to quit your job shouldn’t mean you have to quit your dreams" -- Richard Branson


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