Daily Tech Digest - December 08, 2016

OpenStack enterprise adoption still awaits full embrace

Every one of those critical area points -- image placement, compute distribution and load -- are fundamental things you figure would just work," Berisha said. Ultimately, Berisha decided on a managed services engagement with VMware Integrated OpenStack. Whether it is a vendor distribution or managed OpenStack cloud, the financial benefits of the open source cloud computing software might not always pan out, because the vendor distributions that eliminate the complexity may also diminish the anticipated cost savings. "A lot of these distros are incredibly expensive," Forrester's Nelson said. She pointed to a recent request for proposal for 30,000 VMs that required $4 million for software licensing.


Backdoor Accounts Found In 80 Sony IP Securtity Camera Models

Sony was informed about the issue in October and released firmware updates for all affected camera models on Nov. 28. Users are advised to install these updates as soon as possible, because security cameras have recently been an attractive target for hackers. "We believe that this backdoor was introduced by Sony developers on purpose (maybe as a way to debug the device during development or factory functional testing) and not by an 'unauthorized third party' like in other cases," the SEC Consult researchers said. The affected cameras can be attacked over the local network or over the internet if their Web interfaces are publicly accessible. A search via the Censys.io search engine revealed around 4,000 Sony security cameras connected to the Internet, but these are likely not all of them and it's unclear how many are actually vulnerable.


The world in 2045, according to Pentagon researchers

"Imagine a world where you could just use your thoughts to control your environment," Sanchez said. "Think about controlling different aspects of your home just using your brain signals, or maybe communicating with your friends and your family just using neural activity from your brain." According to Sanchez, Darpa is working on neurotechnologies that can enable this to happen. There are already some examples of these kinds of futuristic breakthroughs in action, like brain implants controlling prosthetic arms. Just last week Darpa demonstrated this amazing tech for the first time and gave a paralyzed man back the sense of touch — with brain implants that provided the feeling "as if his own hand were being touched," he reported. The future has more than just brain implants. Many other exciting things could change the buildings and other objects around us, says Stefanie Tompkins, a geologist and director of Darpa's Defense Sciences Office.


CIOs assess how Apple and Google approach enterprise apps

Google has a fairly robust strategy, whereas Apple's approach is designed to meet specific business objectives, according to Wiora. "I think what technology leaders are looking for is a platform that integrates easily and is secure," he says. "Both companies have historically had their challenges and overcome a lot of them." Many IT professionals are receptive to Android and Google, but businesses should be cautious about overreliance on Google partners because the company could eventually follow Microsoft's lead and supplant some third-party services with its own, Wiora says.  Apple's approach to enterprise development works best for large companies that require a more formalized program or have existing relationships with Apple's current partners.


The Digital Shift: Embracing New Technology and Engaging Your Employees

There are three main reasons why some companies find it difficult to leverage more digital technology within their organizations. First, “new and improved” to some people can feel like “change and work” to others. When digital aspects are introduced into a job function that has existed for years without them, the benefits to users aren’t always obvious. For instance, rolling out instant messaging, which is supposed to make collaboration easier, may feel like just another thing to monitor and respond to that didn’t exist before. Some employees are simply set in their ways. Putting tools like document management systems or portals in place to automate or simplify common tasks takes time. Tagging and uploading a document to SharePoint or Dropbox — so everyone in your company has access to it anywhere


While Circle Pivots Away from Bitcoin, Blockchain Doubles Down on the Digital Currency

In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire claimed the company’s fiat-denominated payments are growing many times faster than bitcoin payments on their platform. Allaire also claimed Bitcoin has not evolved quickly enough to support common, everyday payments, and he pointed to what he perceives as development gridlock among Bitcoin Core contributors as the main cause of this lack of progress. Although Allaire is frustrated with the Bitcoin Core development community, the reality is that they released their main scalability improvement,Segregated Witness, this past October. While Circle has continued their pivot away from bitcoin, Blockchain is doubling down on the digital currency.


Microsoft to turn millions of PCs and tablets into smart 'home hubs' 

'Home Hub is designed to run on Windows 10 PCs, mainly All-In-Ones and 2-in-1's with touch screens, but can work on any Windows 10 machine.,' it is claimed. As well as giving access to Microsoft's Cortana AI assistant, it will allow families to more easily create share accounts. 'There will also be a 'family account' that is always logged in,' Windows Central says. That account can see everything the 'family' is supposed to see, such as specific apps, calendar appointments, to-do's, and more. The new software will also be able to control smart home devices, including lights, doors, locks and more. It will use Microsoft's Cortana to allow voice control - much like Apple's siri HomeKit integration.  The firm is also expected to work with theird parties to create dedicated home hub devices, with talks already underway with HP and Lenovo.


Bluetooth 5 Is Out: Now Will Home IoT Take Off?

With Bluetooth 5, BLE matches the speed of the older system, and in time, manufacturers are likely to shift to the low-power version, he said. Range has quadrupled in Bluetooth 5, so users shouldn’t have to worry about getting closer to their smart devices in order to control them. Also, things like home security systems – one of the most common starting points for smart-home systems -- will be able to talk to other Bluetooth 5 devices around the house, Parks Associates analyst Tom Kerber said. Another enhancement in the new version will help enterprises use Bluetooth beacons for location. BLE has a mechanism for devices to broadcast information about what they are and what they can do so other gear can coordinate with them. Until now, those messages could only contain 31 bytes of information.


Where does India Stand in the Impact of Digital Technology on Businesses?

According to Sunil Mangalore, Managing Director, CA Technologies India, “India is at the cusp of a major revolution, as we see digital technologies being at the centre of business strategy for leading businesses. ... The need however for Indian CXOs, is to collaborate with a strategic partner and ensure adoption of digital technologies and practices that helps them grow their business revenues while enhancing customer satisfaction and retention.” ... Digital advancement in any field, least of all in businesses, can’t take place without sufficient supply of energy for daily living, for the industries and for the digital technology to function. India has to resolve this issue seriously, if it wants to make an overall transition to a completely digitised business model at par with the completely industrialised countries.


Cyber-insurance: What will you be able to claim for and is it worth it?

At the moment, CLIC can cover costs relating to the management of an incident, the investigation, the remediation, data subject notification, call management, credit checking for data subjects, legal costs, court attendance and regulatory fines. It can cover third-party damages, where these might include specific defacement of a website and intellectual property rights infringement. And would even cover losses due to a threat of extortion, and professional/legal fees related to dealing with the extortion. And the same goes for costs related to data lost by third-party suppliers and costs related to the theft of data on third-party systems. Simultaneously, some companies are attempting to provide a ‘guarantee scheme' of sorts, which promises to pay a specified amount of money should their product fail and a data breach was to occur.



Quote for the day:


"Great minds discuss ideas; Average mind discuss events; Small mind discuss people" -- Eleanor Roosevelt


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