AnnouncementTotal 22 articles, created at 2016-04-19 00:00

(2.00/3)

1 Why Big Data Analytics in the Cloud's Time Has ComeOrganizations need to become data-driven faster, and turning to the cloud will help getthem there. Here's why the timing is right for this to occur. 2016-04-18 10:23 1KBwww.eweek.com

2 Three million servers at risk of hijacking with ransomwaredue to out-of-date appsMore than three million easy targets for ransomware blackmailers,Security,security,Talos,Cisco,ransomware,server 2016-04-18 23:00 3KB www.computing.co.uk

3 Hadoop for the Enterprise: Making Data ManagementMassively Scalable, Agile, Feature-Rich, and Cost EffectiveMany business drivers—from the need to scale big data and traditional enterprise data,the need for more economical data platforms, a demand 2016-04-18 12:21 1KBwww.itworldcanada.com

4 Hadoop exemplifies the promises and the pitfalls of opensource - here's whyFast moving and flexible, Hadoop has emerged to meet the data processing challengesof today, but it's not without challenges of its own,Big Data and Analytics,Hadoop,Hortonworks,Internet of Things,Big Data,MapR,Cloudera,Doug Cutting,ApacheSpark,Analytics 2016-04-18 18:32 1KB www.computing.co.uk

5 World of Warcraft: Legion will arrive in AugustBlizzard announced the release date of the sixth WoW expansion today. 2016-04-18 18:091KB www.pcgamer.com

6 U. S. Buyers Rank IBM, Cisco, HP, AT&T, and Google asLikely Most Effecitve Top 5 Providers in Delivering IaasThe range of players competing in the market for providing cloud services are using abroad set of different types of business 2016-04-18 15:43 1KB www.itworldcanada.com

7 The Internet of Things – Finding the Path to ValueThe number of network-connected devices today is staggering, and estimates are itcould triple to 21 billion by 2020. This big data, 2016-04-18 14:07 1KBwww.itworldcanada.com

8 Drone crashes into plane at Heathrow AirportAs if millions of drone owners suddenly cried out in terror 2016-04-18 11:20 2KBwww.theinquirer.net

9 Apple: Thar's gold in them thar iPhones2,204lbs to be exact - about $40m worth 2016-04-18 10:54 2KB www.theinquirer.net

10 How to repair a broken gimbal mounting plate on a DJIPhantom 3If you've crashed your Phantom and broken the gimbal mount, here's how to replace it.2016-04-18 08:30 3KB www.pcadvisor.co.uk

11 HP may be building a powerful touchscreen Chromebookwith USB-C and VR supportHP's VR-capable Chromebook may be ready in the coming months. 2016-04-18 08:30 2KBwww.itnews.com

12 MTN introduces WebPhone app for smartphones, easinginternational calls to UgandaMTN has introduced a new mobile and web app called WebPhone that is an alternativecost-effective way of communication for frequent travellers and those living in thediaspora. The app is ideal for business travelers and those doing business outside thecountry that make frequent calls back home... 2016-04-18 08:27 2KB pctechmag.com

13 HP wants to turn your Mac into a 44-core Windows PCIf your Mac isn't fast enough to edit 3D video, HP is providing a workaround to make itpossible. 2016-04-18 06:00 2KB www.itnews.com

14 Is the patient the cure to AI healthcare ills?The expectations of big data and artificial intelligence disrupting the medical industry hasbeen less then impressive to date. Why is that? 2016-04-18 04:02 4KB www.itnews.com

15 EU investigating Google’s contracts with phone makers,operatorsThe European Commission is still investigating whether Google’s Android operatingsystem and Amazon’s contracts with e-book publishers have broken antitrust rules, itsCompetition Commissioner said Monday in Amsterdam. 2016-04-18 03:45 3KBwww.itnews.com

16 PlayStation Vue review: This is the skinny-bundle sweetspot (for now)PlayStation Vue gives you more than 50 cable channels for $30 per month, but are thoseprices built to last? 2016-04-18 03:00 10KB www.itnews.com

17 Deep-dive review: For the iPad Pro, smaller is bigApple's latest iPad Pro, the new 9.7-in. model, not only gets many of the architectureadvances from the larger version, but also a better camera and what may be Apple'smost advanced display yet. 2016-04-18 03:00 10KB www.itnews.com

18 5 more timeless lessons of programming 'graybeards'Youth may be what HR wants, but nobody bangs out code like a longtime programmingpro 2016-04-18 03:00 8KB www.itnews.com

19 Best cable-TV alternative: Which service should yousubscribe to?Playstation Vue and Sling TV “skinny” streaming-TV bundles try to woo cord cutters.2016-04-18 03:00 10KB www.itnews.com

20 The pain of training your replacementAt New York Life, IT employees are training overseas workers to do their jobs. It takes anemotional toll, and there are odd rules and processes to follow. 2016-04-18 03:00 8KBwww.computerworld.com

21 How a giant like GE found home in the cloudDuring the past few years, leaders at General Electric have been aggressively migratingthe 123-year-old company to the cloud. But it hasn’t been easy. GE’s CTO for IT explainswhat roadblocks the industrial giant encountered, and what he’s doing now to ensureother companies... 2016-04-18 03:00 8KB www.networkworld.com

22 New products of the week 4.18.16Our roundup of intriguing new products from companies such as Stratus Technologiesand A10. 2016-04-18 02:54 9KB www.itnews.com

ArticlesTotal 22 articles, created at 2016-04-19 00:00

1 Why Big Data Analytics in the Cloud's Time Has Come (2.00/3)

While CRM software and applications like payrolland expense reporting have moved steadilytoward the cloud, business intelligence (BI) and bigdata analytics have been slower to follow the lead.But as the cloud becomes more mainstream, allsigns point to "go" for analytics to get out of theshadows and step into the cloud. Research firmForrester predicts that by mid-2016 nearly three-quarters of companies will use cloud-based BI.While on-premise analytics deployments willcontinue for the foreseeable future, the tides arechanging when it comes to organizational comfortwith moving business-critical functions like BI andanalytics to the cloud. Whether the decision to move to the cloud is instigated by economics orthe ever-increasing speed of business, organizations need to become data-driven faster, andturning to the cloud sooner rather than later will help get them there. eWEEK recently spoke withStefan Groschupf, founder and CEO of big data analytics provider Datameer, to glean sixreasons why now is the prime time for BI and analytics to step into the cloud spotlight.

Network woes? The cloud is coming to the rescueitnews.com

2016-04-18 10:23 Darryl K www.eweek.com

2 Three million servers at risk of hijacking with ransomware

due to out-of-date appsMore than three million servers worldwide are at risk of ransomware due to out-of-date orinsecure apps, and inadequate updating and patching practices.

That is the warning from Cisco Systems' Talos security service, which warns that as many as 3.2million servers could be compromised due to a combination of lackadaisical systemsadministration and application security flaws.

" Targeting vulnerabilities in servers to spread ransomware is a new dimension to an alreadyprolific threat ," the company claimed in a blog posting.

It continued: "Due to information provided fromour Cisco IR Services Team, stemming from arecent customer engagement, we began lookingdeeper into the JBoss vectors that were used asthe initial point of compromise. Initially, we startedscanning the internet for vulnerable machines.

"This led us to approximately 3.2 million at-riskmachines. "

The company started examining JBoss servervulnerabilities following the Samsam ransomwarecampaign, which targeted servers for the first

time rather than end-user PCs.

In total, Talos says that it scanned already compromised machines, and found 2,100 backdoorsinstalled across some 1,600 IP addresses.

"Over the last few days, Talos has been in the process of notifying affected parties including:schools, governments, aviation companies, and more," it added, suggesting that many of theaffected systems were installed with some software called "Destiny", a library managementsystem produced by Follett Learning. Talos said that it spoke directly to this company, which haspromised to patch the offending software.

"Destiny is a Library Management System designed to track school library assets and isprimarily used in K-12 schools across the globe," said Talos.

"Follett technical support will then reach out to customers who are found to have suspicious fileson their system. It is imperative, given the wide reach of this threat, that all Destiny users ensurethat they've taken advantage of this patch. "

Follett promised to act fast: "Based on our internal systems-security monitoring and protocol,Follett identified the issue and immediately took actions to address and close the vulnerabilityon behalf of our customers," the company claimed.

"Follett takes data security very seriously and as a result, we are continuously monitoring oursystems and software for threats, and enhancing our technology environment with the goal ofminimizing risks for the institutions we serve. "

Talos added: "Our first recommendation, if at all possible, is to remove external access to theserver. This will prevent the adversaries from accessing the server remotely. Ideally, you wouldalso re-image the system and install updated versions of the software. This is the best way toensure that the adversaries won't be able to access the server.

"If for some reason you are unable to rebuild completely, the next best option would be to restorefrom a backup prior to the compromise and then upgrade the server to a non-vulnerable versionbefore returning it to production... As always, running a reputable anti-virus software isrecommended. "

2016-04-18 23:00 Dave Neal www.computing.co.uk

3 Hadoop for the Enterprise: Making Data Management

Massively Scalable, Agile, Feature-Rich, and Cost EffectiveMany business drivers—from the need to scale big data and traditionalenterprise data, the need for more economical data platforms, a demand forlonger data life span, greater competitive pressure and more—point toHadoop as a solution for the enterprise. That’s why the Hadoop adoption hasaccelerated over the past two years and continues to rise.

On a technical level, the need for a data platform that scales up to handle exploding volumes, ascalable extension for existing IT systems in warehousing, archiving and content management,and the need to get BI value out of non-structured data are pointing to Hadoop. Meanwhile, theneed for business to derive value out of big data is also causing enterprises to look at Hadoopas a computational platform for business analytics.

2016-04-18 12:21 www.itworldcanada.com

4 Hadoop exemplifies the promises and the pitfalls of open

source - here's whyVisitors to the Hadoop Summit in Dublin lastweek were confronted with a bewildering array ofunfamiliar "animals" - some new, some re-homed, others acquired, with still more lurking inthe hothouse incubators....

2016-04-18 18:32 John Leonard www.computing.co.uk

5 World of Warcraft: Legion will

arrive in AugustBlizzard has announced that World of Warcraft:Legion will be out on August 30.

The sixth World of Warcraft expansion will followthe events that unfolded in Warlords of Draenor ,as the betrayer Gul'dan unleashes a demonicinvasion “unlike any the Horde and the Alliancehave ever faced,” Blizzard said. Players will travelto the new continent known as the Broken Isles,wield new Artifacts, and forge alliances with theDemon Hunters of the Illidari, the “vengefuldisciples of the dreaded Illidan Stormrage.”

More practically, pre-purchasing World of Warcraft: Legion will grant players an immediateboost to level 100 for any one of their characters, so they can leap into the Broken Isles action assoon as the expansion goes live. Pre-purchasing will also unlock access to the new DemonHunter hero class ahead of Legion's launch, our impressions of which we wrote about last year.

Hopefully the rollout of Legion will go more smoothly than that of its predecessor, Warlords ofDraenor: The new content was pleasing , but Executive Producer J. Allan Brack issued anapology in November 2014 for what he acknowledged was a "sub-par launch experience. " Fulldetails on the World of Warcraft: Legion expansion are up at wowlegion.com .

2016-04-18 18:09 By Andy www.pcgamer.com

6 U. S. Buyers Rank IBM, Cisco, HP, AT&T, and Google as

Likely Most Effecitve Top 5 Providers in Delivering IaasThe range of players competing in the market for providing cloud services areusing a broad set of different types of business models and represent a widespectrum of different types of brands, according to IDC. But what are today’senterprise’s top buying choices and why?

This IDC study excerpt provides the results of a buyer/demand-side survey of

U. S. enterprises with 1,000+ employees, involving more than 400 respondents, on theirperceptions of the preferred business models and service providers–outsourcers from whichthey would want to procure private or public cloud & IaaS.

2016-04-18 15:43 www.itworldcanada.com

7 The Internet of Things – Finding the Path to Value

The number of network-connected devices today is staggering, and estimatesare it could triple to 21 billion by 2020. This big data, already old news formany manufacturers, is changing the way they make business decisions andproviding new and exciting ways to leverage the Internet of Things to findsuccess.

Manufacturers have always had a wealth of data at their fingertips, long before the terms “bigdata” and the “IoT” became coined, and yet many remain reactive and are missing hugecompetitive opportunities, according to the 2015 IndustryWeek Industrial Internet of ThingsAnalytics Research Study.

2016-04-18 14:07 www.itworldcanada.com

8 Drone crashes into plane at Heathrow Airport

A PERSON HAS crashed a drone into an airplane atHeathrow Airport as it came in to land, presumablypushing personal air vehicles back some way fromwider acceptance.

A report in The Guardian said that the plane wasapproaching the airport when the drone struck thewindscreen.

People can get into trouble, rightly, for shining laserpens at cockpits, so you would assume that sending aflying robot spider at one would lead to big trouble

indeed.

Those who have already considered the risk of drones that can be bought on the high street andoperated while riding one of those two-wheeled moron planks are not surprised by this meetingof drone and plane.

"Frankly it was only a matter of time before we had a drone strike given the huge numbers beingflown around by amateurs who don't understand the risks and the rules," Steve Landells, flightsafety specialist at the British Airline Pilots Association, told The Guardian .

"It appears that no serious damage was done on this occasion, but what is clear is that, whilemost drones are flown safely, sensibly and within the limits of the law, much more education ofdrone users and enforcement of the rules is needed to ensure our skies remain safe from thisthreat. "

Drone pilots in the US must follow the Dronecode or face five years in jail.

The Guardian said that the pilot informed the Metropolitan Police, and we have asked the forceto comment on the incident. We also asked Heathrow Airport if it has anything to add.

Planes are protected from flocks of birds at airports by the use of larger birds to scare themaway, but these birds do not generally work against a drone.

James Stamp, global head of aviation at KPMG, explained that regulation is the most apt

solution.

"People who fly drones in controlled airspace are potentially putting lives in danger, and shouldbe subject to the strongest possible sanctions available under the law," he said.

"A number of practical steps should be taken, including requiring drones to be registered,tougher penalties for irresponsible behaviour, and technology-based solutions that will preventthe drones entering restricted airspace in the first place.

"More research is also required into the potential impact of collisions because, while the impactof bird strikes has been well researched, drone impacts are less well understood. "

The Metropolitan Police has not yet replied, but The Guardian reported that no-one has beencharged over the incident. µ

2016-04-18 11:20 Dave Neal www.theinquirer.net

9 Apple: Thar's gold in them thar iPhones

APPLE EXTRACTED 2,204lbs of gold (yes,actual gold) from discarded iPhones and otherdevices over its past financial year. That’s worthabout $40m.

The information was released in the company'sannual Environmental Responsibility Report .

The cash-obsessed firm claimed that the hunt forthe gold was for altruistic reasons as it seeks toreduce the environmental impact of unwanteddevices by recycling as much of the materials aspossible.

To this end Apple also revealed that not only is there lots of gold inside its iPhones but that itextracted a huge amount of other key materials such as steel, glass, aluminium and copper.

The full amount of all materials is listed below, which we've taken from the report. We’re not surewhy Apple used such a tiny font for this information so if you have to squint, blame them, not us.

Lisa Jackson, Apple’s vice president of environment, policy and social initiatives, explained thatthe effort to pull materials from iPhones is central to the firm’s green agenda, touting the recentlyunveiled Liam machine as the latest in cutting-edge technology.

“We introduced Liam, a line of robots that can disassemble an iPhone every 11 seconds andsort its high quality components so they can be recycled, reducing the need to mine thoseresources from the earth,” she said.

“It’s an experiment in recycling technology, and we hope this kind of thinking will inspire others.”

Apple may pitch all this in positive, professional terms, but we prefer to picture Tim Cook in hisoffice, dressed in the bedraggled garb of a gold prospector, pick-axe in hand, eating beansfrom a tin by a fire made of key corporate documents, staring lovingly at his pile of shiny, shinygold as Jony Ive and Co back away slowly, hand reaching for the door handle. µ

2016-04-18 10:54 Dan Worth www.theinquirer.net

10 How to repair a broken gimbal mounting plate on a DJI

Phantom 3DJI designed the plastic gimbal mounting plate to break in the event of an impact rather than the

arms of the gimbal itself. If you're lucky enough tohave only damaged the plastic plate, here's howto replace it.

We've got a Phantom 3 Standard here, but youcan also use this guide for a P3 Advanced orPro, reviewed. The process it similar on thePhantom 2 as well.

The part you need is DJI Phantom 3 StandardCamera Vibration Board - Part No.83 , whichcosts around £7 and comes with replacement

screws.

If you have a P3 Advanced or Pro the part is No. 39 as it's slightly different. You should findsome spare anti-drop pins and rubber gimbal mounts in your Phantom box.

The first job is to clear a work area and get some tools: a small Philips screwdriver, a smallflatblade and a 2mm Allen key. You'll also need some wire cutters or strong scissors to cutthrough the anti-drop pins. Ideally you should use a plastic spudger to remove the antennaewires. but a fingernail or screwdriver will do.

Remove the props and lay your Phantom upside down. Cut through the anti-drop pins as thesecannot be removed and reused. You will damage the white rubber suspension pieces, but thereshould be spares in your original Phantom box.

Use a small flatblade to gently lever out the main ribbon cable connector. Don't force it. It mayhave even become disconnected in the crash.

If any wires popped out of the connector, it should be possible to push them back in. If they allcame out, reinsert them in order (making sure the ribbon cable is flat) starting from the left-handside of the connector when viewed from the front of the Phantom. On a P3 Standard, there willbe two spare holes on the right-hand side.

The remaining two wires are for the 5.8GHz video transmission system. Unscrew the two screwsholding each of the plastic covers in place and keep them somewhere safe, as they're easy tolose.

Take a photo for reference so you know which wire connects to which socket.

Using a plastic spudger or a fingernail, carefully lift up each of the cables to disconnect it from itsconnector. Do not force these as you are liable to break the connector off the circuit board.

Now the gimbal can be removed completely.

Unscrew the four Allen bolts and carefully feed the wires through the hole in the plate.

Before you screw on the new plate, fit the anti-shake rubber grommets to it. Slide one anti-droppin into the top-left hole as it's impossible to fit this on the P3 Standard once the mounting plateis screwed down.

Again, carefully feed the three wires through the hole in the mounting plate and screw in the fourAllen bolts. It should look like this.

Now you can carefully reconnect the wires to the gimbal and refit the two plastic covers.

With the repair complete, test out the gimbal and make sure your camera is working asexpected.

2016-04-18 08:30 Jim Martin www.pcadvisor.co.uk

11

11 HP may be building a powerful touchscreen Chromebookwith USB-C and VR support

The Chromebook Pixel may soon be challengedby some high-end competition. Swirling rumorsand Chrome OS code commits suggest that HP'screating a powerful new Chromebook, code-named Chell, which may even pack virtual realitycapabilities.

The bulk of the speculation about the upcomingChromebook comes from Chrome Story , aChrome OS-focused site. Diving into codecommits , which name Chell’s manufacturer, andother development information in recent months,Chrome Story has pieced together an idea ofwhat the new Chromebook is going to look like.

It appears likely that the HP-made laptop will have a touchscreen, 16GB of RAM, two USB-Cports, a standard USB Type-A port, Bluetooth, and an expandable storage slot for SD cards.The PC will be powered by an Intel “Skylake” Core chip and also offer a backlit keyboard.

Based on the high-quality specs, Chrome Story believes HP's new Chromebook may actually bea Pixel successor. If it’s not, and HP is working on its own high-end Chromebook, it certainlydoesn’t seem all that different from the current Pixel. The latest flagship Chromebook also has atouchscreen, Core i5 or i7 processor, two USB-C ports, an SD card reader, backlit keyboard,and an option for 16GB of RAM.

The big difference between Chell and the 2015 Pixel would be the addition of virtual realitysupport—but most PCs that can meet the demands of virtual reality have a discrete graphicscard. So far there haven’t been any hints that Chell would have that kind of hardware. If that’s thecase then the device would rely on Intel’s integrated graphics.

Intel’s HD or Iris graphics may be enough to run VR for platforms like Google Cardboard orSamsung's Gear VR, but they definitely wouldn’t be able to power the sort of AAA VR gamesfound on the Oculus Rift. Speaking of which, it’s far from clear what kind of accessory HP's newChromebook would need to take advantage of its VR features. HP has publicly stated it plans tobring VR to Chromebooks via the power of the web, however.

2016-04-18 08:30 Ian Paul www.itnews.com

12 MTN introduces WebPhone app for smartphones, easing

international calls to UgandaMTN has introduced a new mobile and web appcalled WebPhone that is an alternative cost-effective way of communication for frequenttravellers and those living in the diaspora.

The app is ideal for business travelers and thosedoing business outside the country that makefrequent calls back home; and offers the samecall rates as local call charges, to any network inUganda.

Users can make calls over the internet either froma PC, laptop, tablet or smartphone, by signing up

for a virtual “WebPhone number” (032), which then becomes the username that is used to sign in

to the mobile or PC application.

The mobile app’s sleek interface offers the user quick access to their phone contacts, as well asthe option to make calls using either the WebPhone number (Phone Call) or the number of theSIM used in the mobile device (Regular Call).

The benefit of using the WebPhone number while calling from outside Uganda is that it issignificantly cheaper than any of the currently available alternatives for making international callsto Uganda, making it the ideal solution for the business traveller

“We are pleased to introduce a product that offers convenience to our customers outsideUganda while dramatically reducing the cost of communication. This is inline with ourcommitment to offer our customers more value on all offers,” said the General Manager, MTNBusiness, Mr. Reginald Kafeero.

Ability to call non-smartphone users

While WebPhone relies on the Internet, its users have the unprecedented advantage of makingcalls to people without smartphones. This offers a key difference between WebPhone and otherexisting Voice over IP (VoIP) apps.

“With MTN WebPhone you can use the Internet to make calls to any Ugandan number fromanywhere in the world at local rates, allowing you to spend only as much as you would spendwhile calling from an MTN fixed line in Uganda,” she added.

To get started, contact talkbusiness@mtn.co.ug to sign up for your 032 number, register andthen start using the service. Alternatively you can visit the MTN Business centre at Plots 1 – 4Nyonyi Gardens, Kololo to get signed up for the service.

The MTN WebPhone app can be downloaded from http://mtn.co.ug/mtnwebphone and isavailable for Windows PC, Android and iOS devices.

2016-04-18 08:27 PC Tech pctechmag.com

13 HP wants to turn your Mac into a 44-core Windows PC

If your Mac isn't fast enough to edit 3D video, HPhas a workaround to make it possible.

HP's new remote graphics tool will allow Macusers to tap into the massive computing power ofHP Z workstations, which can have up to 44 CPUcores.

The Remote Graphics Software (RGS) turns theMac into a remote desktop tuned for graphics. A"sender" plugin on the HP Z links to a receiver onthe Mac, allowing the computers to share screensand applications.

"HP is upgrading your Mac," said Christian Jones, worldwide product manager for remotedesktop software at HP.

The Mac receiver is being released as HP announces new workstations with the latest CPUsand GPUs. The high-end HP Z840, equipped with Intel E5-2600 v4 chips and Nvidia QuadroGPUs, can outperform any Mac.

Mac users will be able to run 4K video-editing applications hosted by the HP Z via the RGSplugin, HP representatives said during a conference call. The company later clarified that whiletrue 4K video will be visible on the host Z PC, the stream to the remote Mac could be lowerresolution depending on bandwidth and other factors. So a Mac user would be editing a 4K

video without actually seeing the video in 4K.

RGS is based on HP's proprietary codec called HP3, which provides deep compression. HPdeclined to provide a clear outline of what Mac users will be able to do with RGS at differentInternet and network speeds, but streams can adjust to the best resolution available, Jones said.HP's announcement is part of a campaign being waged by PC makers to draw users,particularly creative professionals, away from Macs. Apple hasn't upgraded the Mac Pro since2013, and RGS will provide access to new video editing software on the Z.

RGS is also a way to keep data safe in a centralized computer, Jones said.

Other competing remote protocols include Teradici's PCoIP and Microsoft's RemoteFX.

The RGS receiver for Macs is free, and the sender plugin is installed in every Z workstation. TheRGS technology will work on any other non-Z workstation PC, but users will have to pay for thesoftware.

2016-04-18 06:00 Agam Shah www.itnews.com

14 Is the patient the cure to AI healthcare ills?

Machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI)works best on large volumes of data. One wouldthink that with all its complexity and itsmountainous volumes of data, the medicalindustry would be the perfect place for AI to be adisruptive force.

In 2014, the U. S. Government AccountabilityOffice reported $77.4 billion in improperpayments of Medicare and Medicaid collectively.These payments, that were made in an incorrectamount or should not have been made at all, arecontributing to excessive health care costs.

Which brings to light the real issue within the medical industry, that there is a silo of informationnot being shared between the providers and the payers. What incentives are there in place foreach of these parties to work together? Competition is focused on the wrong things. Providersare maximizing the number of procedures, whether they are medically necessary or not.Likewise, payers are insisting on lower reimbursements with no consideration of the impact onthe quality of care.

This issue is one of the main goals of President Obama’s Patient Protection and AffordableCare Act, to move from a fee-for-service model to a value based model. Providers under thefee-for-service model are paid based on service rendered with no real incentives to affect theoutcome of the patient. The value based model addresses this issue by incentivizing providersto cure the patient more effectively through bonuses

The Boston Consulting Group in its white paper “Competing on Outcomes Winning Strategiesfor Value-Based Health Care” articulates the point that “transparency of patient results can alignincentives so that payers, providers, suppliers, and patients all work towards the same goal.”

Having transparency of patient outcomes is a monumental step in providing AI with the rightdata. The International Consortium for Health Outcomes Measurement (ICHOM) is a non-profitorganization founded by the Boston Consulting Group, Michael Porter’s Institute for Strategy andCompetitiveness at Harvard Business School, and the Karolinska Institutet with the purpose oftransforming the health care systems worldwide by measuring and reporting patient outcomes ina standardized way.

Additionally, the U. S. Department of Health & Human Services Agency for Healthcare Researchand Quality (AHRQ) has created an Outcome Measures Framework (OMF). The framework is toserve as a conceptual model for developing standard outcome measures for evaluating thesafety, effectiveness, or quality of medical treatments.

Having comprehensive patient outcomes is critical for building A. I systems that provide value atall levels of the health care ecosystem. Pooling data outcomes at a national or international levelwill allow for identifying fraud, waste and abuse against such standards.

Collecting patient-reported outcomes, however, can be challenging. Capturing certain outcomesdirectly after a procedure is relatively straightforward, but following a patient over time to trackthe evolution of his or her condition can be far more difficult.

Application developers should become ICHOM certified to assure data compliance with ICHOMGlobal Health Outcomes Benchmarking (GLOBE) program. The GLOBE program will create acentral place where data, collected in accordance with the ICHOM standard sets, are securelycompiled and stored. The GLOBE program will begin in Q2 of 2016.

AI solutions will benefit from having access to the best data and information. The greatestpossible competitive advantages stem from having knowledge of customers that yourcompetitors lack. Companies can’t be competitive if they can’t stay ahead of the disruptiveforces that are changing customer experience, which is changing customer expectations.

2016-04-18 04:02 Mitch De www.itnews.com

15 EU investigating Google’s contracts with phone makers,

operatorsThe European Commission is still investigatingwhether Google’s Android operating system andAmazon’s contracts with e-book publishers havebroken antitrust rules, its CompetitionCommissioner said Monday in Amsterdam.

Margrethe Vestager’s remarks come amidreports that the European Commission couldformally press charges in the form of a "statementof objections "against Google as early as thisweek. Her speech suggests that formal chargesinto both Google’s Android operating system andAmazon could still take some time.

“Of course, our investigations into Google and Amazon are still going on ,” Vestager said in thetext of a speech set to be delivered Monday at a conference held by the Dutch competitionauthority. “So I can't yet say if either of them has broken the rules.”

The European Commission is looking closely at Google’s contracts with phone makers andoperators which use the mobile Android operating system. The Commission began itsinvestigation into Android in April last year on the same day it announced formal chargesagainst Google in an investigation that its Internet search in Europe favored its own comparisonshopping product.

The Commission said it was investigating Google of abusing its dominant position by, amongother things, requiring device manufacturers to pre-install its own services and applications withthe open-source Android operating system. In Vestager's speech the focus was on preloadedapps and services.

“We need to be sure that big companies don't try to protect themselves by holding backinnovation,” Vestager said.

While the EU antitrust chief expects that a smartphone should be ready to go when removedfrom the box, with its own basic apps such as a search engine app pre-installed by the vendor ornetwork operator, her concern is that, by requiring phone makers and operators to preload a setof Google apps, rather than letting them decide for themselves which apps to include, "Googlemight have cut off one of the main ways that new apps can reach customers. "

Android has an over 66 percent share of the European mobile device market in March,according to StatCounter.

If found guilty, Google may have to pay up to 10 percent of its annual worldwide revenue in fines,which could go to as high as US$7.5 billion on its last year revenue of close to $75 billion.

"Anyone can use Android, with or without Google applications," said a Google spokeswoman inresponse to Vestager's speech. "Hardware manufacturers and carriers can decide how to useAndroid and consumers have the last word about which apps they want to use on their devices.We continue to discuss this with the European Commission. "

In June last year, the European Commission also started an investigation into Amazon.com'scontracts with e-book publishers that require them to inform the online retailer if they offer abetter or even a different deal to its competitors. Publishers have to offer "at least as good"terms to Amazon, Vestager said.

“That could discourage e-book sellers from coming up with innovative business models thatcould compete with Amazon,” Vestager said. “Because they know that any deal they strike withpublishers will immediately be offered to Amazon as well.”

Amazon could not be immediately reached for comment.

2016-04-18 03:45 John Ribeiro www.itnews.com

16 PlayStation Vue review: This is the skinny-bundle sweet spot

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By Jared Newman

TechHive | Apr 18, 2016 3:00 AM

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Sony seemed a little crazy when it first launched PlayStation Vue a year ago.The company offered a big bundle of streaming-TV channels at high prices,which is exactly what people are trying to escape by cutting the cable-TV cord.Even worse, the service lacked some popular channels, such as ESPN; it wasonly available in a few U. S. markets; and it only worked on PlayStation gameconsoles. Not surprisingly, few people bothered to sign up.

Sony took the gloves off last month: PlayStation Vue is now available across the U. S. at muchlower prices. ESPN and other Disney-owned channels have joined the bundle, and the servicenow works on other devices, including the Amazon Fire TV and Fire TV Stick, and Google'sChromecast. PlayStation Vue has become a direct competitor to Dish’s Sling TV streamingbundle, and—as noted in our head-to-head comparison—is superior in almost every aspect.

The big question is whether Sony can keep it that way over the long haul.

For $30 per month in most markets, PlayStation Vue subscribers get 57 live TV channels, fromESPN to CNN to TBS to Comedy Central. (The price rises to $40 per month in Chicago, Dallas,Los Angeles, Miami, New York City, Philadelphia, and the San Francisco Bay Area, where livelocal feeds from ABC, NBC, and Fox are part of the package.)

Want more channels? Another $5 per month gets you roughly nine more, including regionalsports. Another $15 per month ups the package to more than 90 channels. Showtime isavailable with any bundle for $11 per month. Compared to cable, the only major holes areleague-specific sports networks (such as NFL Network and MLB Network), A&E Networks (suchas History and Viceland), and HBO.

Beyond the live programming, Vue also includes a smorgasbord of on-demand video and a“Cloud DVR” that saves your favorite shows for up to 28 days. Access to nearly 60 “TVEverywhere” authenticated apps, such as WatchESPN and FXNow, are included as well.

Pay little attention to the name: PlayStation Vue does not require a PlayStation console towatch, as you can also sign up with an Amazon Fire TV or Amazon Fire TV Stick. Once youhave a subscription, you can install the Vue app on your iPhone and iPad, send video toGoogle’s Chromecast dongle and Android TV devices.

That said, the viewing experience is better on a PlayStation 4. The interface runs faster, andsports programming is smoother, running at a maximum 60 frames per second. The PlayStation3, by comparison, can’t maintain that steady frame rate, and other devices such as Amazon FireTV deliver 30 frames per second across the board. The PlayStation 4 can also time-shift up to30 minutes of live TV, while other devices resume playback after just a few minutes.

Time-shifting is built into every Vue channel (though some won’t let you fast forward).

As for viewing restrictions, Sony supports up to five streams at a time, though you can only havea single PlayStation 4 and a single PlayStation 3 streaming at once. Sony also requires that allTV devices connect to the same home network at the same address—no sharing passwordswith faraway friends—and you can only change your own address once. You are free to travel thecountry with Sony’s iOS app, but some channels don’t support mobile viewing.

(Our chart at the bottom of this review lays out all the channels and pricing.)

What’s it like to use PlayStation Vue? Depending on what you’re used to, it’ll either be acomplete shock or a refreshing take on the TV bundle.

Unlike a traditional set-top box, Vue emphasizes personalization. Up to five people can createtheir own profiles for specifying favorite channels and TV shows. The main menu then bringsthese preferences to the surface in its “My Shows” and “Favorite Channels” sections. It alsomakes recommendations based on what you’ve watched. Once you’ve built up a stable offavorites, you’ll spend less time flipping around and more time watching TV.

PlayStation Vue’s interface is far from familiar, but it’s a better way to think about TV.

Sony reinforces this idea throughout the PlayStation Vue interface. Every TV listing includesrecommendations for similar shows, and you’ll find popular picks from viewers on every channelpage. This is a smarter way to think about the TV bundle, which is bound to have plenty of showsand channels you don’t care about. Vue is smart enough to tune those out and focus on thingsyou might like.

That’s not to say Vue is without any creature comforts for cable converts. The service doesinclude a guide view, which lists channels and showtimes in an alphabetical grid, similar to whatyou’d find on a cable box. But even here, favorite channels appear first and the guide itself isplaced so inconspicuously in Vue’s menu system that you get the sense Sony doesn’t really wantyou to use it.

Vue still has an old-fashioned channel guide, but with the axes reversed.

Aside from its personalized interface, PlayStation Vue’s other key feature is the cloud DVR,invoked by hitting the “Add to My Shows” button from any TV listing. Instead of saving shows to alocal hard drive, like a traditional DVR, Sony records them to its own servers, where they remainavailable for up to 28 days.

Saving to the cloud has its benefits. Users don’t have to deal with scheduling conflicts or worryabout storage space, and recordings are automatically available on all devices throughout thehouse (recordings are not available outside the home when using Vue’s iOS app).

Still, it’s not a perfect system. Sony errs on the side of caution with its recording blocks,grabbing 32 minutes for a half-hour program, and while that’s better than recording too little, itdoes tend to require some fast-forwarding through commercials when an episode starts. I alsohad an instance where Vue failed to make a pristine recording, skipping over a couple secondsof video in a couple of spots.

DVR diehards might also get frustrated by Vue’s all-or-nothing approach to recording. Onceyou’ve added a program to “My Shows,” Vue will grab every episode it can. There’s no way toset up one-off recordings, or eliminate recordings past a certain date, which means you mightbe wading through dozens of episodes of SportsCenter when you only wanted to watch lastnight’s broadcast. PlayStation Vue’s 28-day time limit is also a major downside for people wholike to keep a months-long backlog of shows to watch.

To take a step back, however, it’s clear that the DVR is an antiquated concept in the age ofstreaming video. In a perfect world, TV networks would simply make all of their recentprogramming available on demand, with no scheduling or recording required. Users couldbookmark the shows they care about for easy access, and the TV service would give clearfeedback as to how long those programs will remain available.

While Sony roughly approximates this ideal with its cloud DVR, the recording aspect shouldn’teven be necessary anymore. At best, it’s a holdover technology until the TV industry gets a clue.

Having one foot in the past isn’t all bad. With PlayStation Vue, Sony has come up with anintriguing cable alternative, combining familiar TV channels with new ways to peruse and accessthem. And it does so at a price that may be cheaper than a cable bundle, especially once youfactor in cable’s hidden fees and equipment rental costs.

Still, I can’t shake the feeling that Sony’s prices aren’t built to last. When PlayStation Vue firstlaunched a year ago, the base price was $50 per month, and that was before Disney and ESPNnetworks joined the package. The price has since dropped to $40 per month in markets with livelocal stations, and $30 per month everywhere else.

For some users, not having to pay local broadcasts is a blessing, since they’re also available forfree with an antenna. But as Sony makes more deals with local affiliate stations, it’s unclear if the$30 per month option will remain available.

Even at $40 per month, I wonder if Sony is using loss-leader prices to get people on board. Oneyear from now, will PlayStation Vue return to its original base price? Will prices shoot up evenhigher from there? If that happens, Vue will be no better than a traditional bundle with its teaserrates.

Fortunately, there’s competition. Sling TV has remained firm with its $20-per-month startingprice for more than a year, and AT&T is readying its own streaming service under the DirecTVbrand. That’s not to mention other streaming services that aren’t based on traditional TVpackages, such as Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime. Because PlayStation Vue is so easy tocancel compared to cable-TV service, competition stands a better chance of keeping Sonyhonest.

For now, Sony has found a sweet spot between big cable bundles and standalone streamingservices, while doing an admirable job of balancing live and on-demand viewing. Let’s hope itstays that way.

This table lists all the programming availabble on PlayStation Vue (click to enlarge).

This story, "PlayStation Vue review: This is the skinny-bundle sweet spot (for now)" wasoriginally published by

TechHive .

Jared Newman

Jared writes for PCWorld and TechHive from his remote outpost in Cincinnati.

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2016-04-18 03:00 Jared Newman www.itnews.com

17 Deep-dive review: For the iPad Pro, smaller is big

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By Michael deAgonia

Computerworld | Apr 18, 2016 3:00 AM

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Over the last few years, Apple's mobile productcycle has revolved around "bigger and thinner. "Now that mantra has been flipped on its head by Apple's latest releases -- the 9.7-in. iPad Proand the 4-in. iPhone SE -- that emphasize the notion that smaller might just be better.

First up is the new iPad Pro , which Apple unveiled on March 21st. This iPad Pro starts at $599( vendor price ), $200 less than its larger 12.9-in. sibling.

I've been an iPad user from 2010, when it first shipped ; the 9.7-in. screen has been a hallmarkof the iPad since it was introduced by then-CEO Steve Jobs. Since then, the screen hasundergone numerous revisions and improvements, most notably, adopting the Retina displaytechnology that first appeared on the iPhone.

This latest model not only gets many of the architecture advances from the larger iPad Pro --such as an updated processor and a new, much-improved speaker design -- but also a bettercamera and what may be the most advanced display Apple has shipped. That's no small featconsidering how advanced the larger iPad Pro was when it was announced last fall.

This particular model is officially known as the 9.7-in. iPad Pro. Built around a 2048 x 1536-pixel

Retina display, it weighs just 0.96 lbs. and is 6.1mm thick. It borrows some features (such as thecamera system) from the iPhone 6S, and comes with all of the advances that made the 12.9-inmodel so compelling : a custom 64-bit A9X processor with an M9 coprocessor, as well as agraphics system that's twice as fast as the iPad Air 2 it replaced; a four-speaker setup thatautomatically shifts higher frequencies to the top speakers and lower frequencies to those at thebottom, no matter which way you orient the tablet; a Smart Connector for attaching accessoriesand for providing power and data without physically plugging anything in; and Apple Pencilsupport. (This last involves dynamically switching to 240 scans per second for low-latencyonscreen drawing with the Pencil, along with palm- and finger-rejection technology to avoidinadvertent input while sketching or taking notes.)

The particular model I've been testing is a 256GB version in silver and white with Wi-Fi andcellular/GPS capabilities, priced at $1,029 (without the cellular/GPS, it costs $899). I'm glad256GB of storage is now an option -- I like to have with me my entire library of music as well asall of the video projects I have worked on; it's like a digital life resume. (A similarly configured12.9-in. iPad Pro is now also available for $1,229.)

While, on the whole, the iPad looks pretty much like the iPad Air 2 , the cellular model sports anew look. The back side now has antenna lines like the iPhone instead of the black plastic patchApple used on previous models of its tablet. This gives the rear of the iPad a much cleaner look.

The latest iPad Pro (9.7-in.model) on top of the larger 12.9-in. iPad Pro. Note the design changeat the top where the cellular antenna is located.

Out of the box, I couldn't believe my eyes. After spending the past few months with the 12.9-in.model, the 9.7-in. iPad felt and looked like an iPad mini. I even felt comfortable two-thumb typingwith the split keyboard in the Messages app, as if the iPad was a slightly bigger iPhone Plus.(Like an iPhone Plus Pro SE?)

Moving from one Apple device to another is pretty seamless on the Apple mobile platform. I wasable to restore my apps and data from a backup, allowing me to just pick up from where I left offon the other iPad. Everything successfully synced over: bookmarks, notes, contacts, documentsand apps were correctly restored from the iCloud backup. (To bring over my movies, music andTV shows, I had to connect the iPad to my Mac via iTunes.)

I brushed this off as just another great iPad display during my Mingis on Tech chat (see videoabove), but boy, do I wish I had a do-over. This display is better than I originally gave it credit for,featuring a screen that's up to 25% brighter than the Air 2 and 40% less reflective, according toApple.

I thought the iPad Pro's Retina display was bright and crisp, offering vibrant colors and greatpixel density. I was more right than I realized. According to DisplayMate , a company whichevaluates displays, "It is the most color accurate display that we have ever measured. It isvisually indistinguishable from perfect, and is very likely considerably better than any mobiledisplay, monitor, TV or UHD TV that you have. "

One new display feature that I really like is called True Tone. It dynamically adjusts the display'swhite point and intensity based on readings from four ambient light sensors. The idea is toreplicate the behavior of surrounding light on a piece of paper; in reality, I found that this featureworks really well and is largely invisible. I didn't really recognize it was working until I turned thefeature off in a warmly lit room and the display shifted back to a cooler color spectrum.

Having now grown accustomed to this feature on this iPad, I really wish my Mac, iPhone and12.9-in. iPad Pro had it too.

The 9.7-in. iPad Pro borrows the iPhone's 6S's color scheme and camera. The new modelscome in four color options: silver, gold and rose gold with a white bezel around the screen; andspace gray, which continues to be the only model with a black bezel.

Although the larger iPad Pro ships with an 8MP iSight (rear-facing) camera and a 1.2MP

FaceTime HD (front-facing) camera, the 9.7-in. model comes with 12MP iSight and 5MPFaceTime HD cameras. Both cameras support Live Photos, and the iSight camera supports tapto focus with Focus Pixels (for faster focusing), 63-megapixel panoramas (up from the 12.9-in.model's 43 megapixels) and True Tone flash (for more natural colors when using the flash).

It also has better video support for the iSight camera: 4K HD recording with 240fps at 720p (and120pfs at 1080p), cinematic stabilization and continuous autofocus. The front-facing cameraalso supports Retina Flash: A hardware design that allows the display to instantly operate atthree times the typical brightness to act as a flash in low-light situations.

Rounding out this iPad's features: There's TouchID (for securely authenticating apps andunlocking your phone using fingerprints); up to 10 hours of battery life; ApplePay support (withinapps, though, so don't expect it to work in stores like the Apple Watch and iPhone do); always-on Siri; and, for $130 over the base cost, Wi-Fi/cellular with built-in GPS.

As for those cellular models, the new iPad supports 23 LTE bands (three more than before) andoffers a maximum of 300Mbps LTE Advanced download speeds. That's double the 150MbpsLTE speeds offered in the 12.9-in. iPad Pro.

Apple boasts that the new iPad is almost twice as fast as the iPad Air 2 in processing speedand says graphics performance is fully double that of the Air 2. That's certainly how it's felt usingit day to day, though the Air 2 continues to be a smooth running tablet, even with hardware thatarrived in 2014.

Even though the larger tablet has 4GB of RAM and the 9.1-in. version has 2GB, I saw nodiscernible difference in performance. The 9.7-in. iPad felt as responsive as its larger sibling.Games, tasks and even editing 4K drone-produced video on the fly worked without issue. Andthe four-speaker design sounds really rich, with better highs and lows than the Air 2.

I also used the Apple Pencil ( $99 ), the Lightning to USB 3 Camera Adapter ( $39 ), theLightning to SD Card Camera Reader ( $29 ) and the Smart Keyboard ( $149 ). These are theaccessories that truly make an iPad Pro, big or little, a competitor. That said, the Apple SmartKeyboard for this model requires some getting used to due to the keyboard's smaller size. Onthe other hand, it doesn't add much bulk.

For videographers on the go who don't want the bigger iPad Pro, this one serves nicely in thefield for quick editing. I used the SD card reader to transfer 4K video taken with my Phantomdrone directly to the iPad and then edited it in iMovie. The process was all very seamless, verywell executed.

With this latest update, Apple again shows that each generation of iPad is edging closer to thecapabilities that not long ago were limited to traditional desktops and laptops. The iPad actuallysurpasses a PC in some ways with features like the True Tone display; support for the ApplePencil as a note-taking and sketching accessory; automatic backups to iCloud; the one-twosecurity punch built into iOS 9 and TouchID; the still-growing App Store; and a burgeoninghardware accessory ecosystem.

If you’re looking for a tablet, and the 12.9-in. iPad Pro is too big for you, this one is highlyrecommended.

Apple

Price: $599 ( vendor price )

Pros: Updated processor; improved speaker design; incredible display; great cameras; varietyof useful accessories

Cons: Optional keyboard can feel a bit cramped

This story, "Deep-dive review: For the iPad Pro, smaller is big" was originally published by

Computerworld .

Michael deAgonia — Contributing writer

Michael deAgonia , a contributing writer for Computerworld , is a computer consultant andtechnology geek who has been working on computers since 1993, with an emphasis on Macs,OS X, and iOS. For more Apple insights, follow him on Twitter.

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2016-04-18 03:00 Michael deAgonia www.itnews.com

18 5 more timeless lessons of programming 'graybeards'

The HR departments and hiring managers inSilicon Valley have a challenge. They can’t askan applicant’s age because their companieshave lost brutal discrimination lawsuits over theyears. Instead, they develop little tricks liketossing in an oblique reference to “The BradyBunch” (“Marcia, Marcia, Marcia!”) and seeing ifthe candidate gets the joke. Candidates whochuckle are deemed a poor cultural fit and aretossed aside.

Alas, the computer industry has a strange, cultishfascination with new technologies, new

paradigms, and of course, new programmers. It’s more fascination than reality because old technever truly dies. Old inventions like the mainframe may stop getting headlines, but they run andrun. As I write this, Dice shows more than five times as many jobs postings for the keyword"Cobol" (522) than "OCaml," "Erlang," and "Haskell" combined (11, 52, and 27, respectively).

The stories of age discrimination are common, as are the rationalizations. Youngerprogrammers’ heads aren’t filled with old ideas, so they learn faster. Whippersnappers are morefocused and diligent. They don’t suffer distractions, like having families, or at least theirdistractions keep them yoked to their PCs and smartphones.

Even if these are true -- there’s evidence they aren’t -- programming geezers have valuablewisdom you can’t absorb simply by watching a TED talk on YouTube or fast-forwarding througha MOOC. They understand better how computers work because they had to back whencomputers had front panels with switches. They didn’t have the layers of IDEs, optimizingcompilers, and continuous integration to save their bacon. If they didn’t build it right from thebeginning, it wouldn’t run at all. The young punks won’t know this for years.

Our last story on “ 7 timeless lessons of programming ‘graybeards’ ” generated manyresponses, so we’re back with five more lessons everyone should learn, or relearn, from theirwizened, hardened colleagues.

Most people younger than 50 can’t recognize a statement like mov ah, 09h or cmp eax, ebx.Many probably think that computers naturally demand lots of curly brackets because the majorlanguages use them to delimit blocks of code. Even those who understand that languages likeJava or C must be translated into binary often have little to no experience crafting it.

Many older programmers spent their days writing assembler code, the name given to thehuman-readable version of raw binary machine code. Some could actually convert the assemblycode by hand and turn it into hexadecimal bytes. The very best could then flip the toggle switcheson the front panel to program the computers.

It’s not that writing assembler is great or essential. It’s a long slog filled with repetition and lots ofopportunities to make sloppy mistakes. The compilers have become good enough to recognizecomplex patterns that can be optimized; in fact, some compiler creators like to brag that theycan create better code than humans can.

That may be true, but the advantage of learning even a sliver of assembler is that you understandhow a computer works. The higher-order languages may offer lots of quick shortcuts forstandard operations, such as concatenating strings, but these can be a trap becauseprogrammers start to think that the plus operand (“ + ”) takes the same amount of time whetherit’s adding two integers or concatenating two strings. It doesn’t. One operation takesdramatically longer, and people who understand assembly code and the way the JMP (jump)operation works are going to make the right decision.

Understanding how objects are packed in memory and loaded into the CPU when necessary isa big help in minimizing the copying and overcalculation that can produce slow code. Folks whogrew up on assembler may not remember much about writing x86 code, but they still haveinstincts that tingle when they start to do something inherently slow. The whippersnappers don’thave these instincts, unless they train themselves through experience.

A long time ago, a programmer told me he hated Unix. Why? He started out programmingsingle-user microcomputers like the Altair or the Sol 20 that only ran one block of code at a time.

“A Unix computer will start running something else at any time,” he told me. “You’ll hear the floppydisks start up and you’ll have no idea why.”

This upset him because he was losing a powerful means of understanding what the computer isdoing. No one really knows what’s going on in a modern computer. There are countless layers ofsoftware running on four or eight cores. Viruses and worms can live forever without the usernoticing the lag.

Old programmers still watch for visual and auditory clues that help them understand and debugthe code. They watch the light on the RJ-45 Ethernet jack that flickers when data is flowing. Theylisten to the hard disk and can hear when the disk starts to change tracks, an indication thatsomething is either reading or writing to the disk. The really good ones can tell the differencebetween the paging that happens when memory is full and the sustained reading and writingthat’s part of indexing.

The value of these clues are fading as the hard disks are replaced with solid-state drives andmore and more data move wirelessly instead of through routers with blinking lights. But as longas the smartphones have little indicators that show when data is flowing, there will be value insleuth skills like these.

In the good old days, the programmers would pack as many as eight different Boolean valuesinto one byte. They flipped the individual bits because they didn’t want to waste any of them.

The modern data structures are incredibly wasteful. XML is filled with tags with long names, andeach has a matching closing tag with an extra slash. It’s not uncommon to see modern XML filesthat are more than 90 percent fluff added to meet strict parsing rules.

JSON is considered an improvement because it’s a bit smaller, but only because there are no

closing tags -- just curly brackets. There are still too many quotation marks on all the tags andstrings.

That detail from MS-DOS 3.0 dates from the early 1980s, a time when the personal computerwas already common and the computer revolution was well past its infancy. If you go back a bitmore, the code from the 1970s was even leaner. The code from the 1960s was amazing.

The operations for testing and flipping bits weren’t merely novelties for early programmers; theywere necessities. Some operations were so slow that programmers had to look for anyadvantage they could find. The best was understanding that dividing by two was equivalent toshifting a binary number to the right, like dividing by 10 is the same as shifting a decimal numberto the right.

Shifting all of the bits is a standard operation on CPUs, and it was often blazingly fast comparedto basic division. The good programmers used this advantage to write faster code that didn’tneed to wait for multiplication and division when a shift could do the same.

We’re losing the connection to powers of two. It used to be that designers would instinctivelychoose numbers that were powers of two because they would lead to greater efficiencies.Numbers like 512 or 4,096 appeared frequently because it was easier to work with limits thatare powers of two.

On many early processors, some operations took much longer than others. On the original 8086,dividing a number took anywhere from 80 to 190 times clock cycles, while adding two numberstook only three cycles. Even when the CPU could run at 5MHz, that could still make a bigdifference when doing the operation again and again.

Older programmers know that not every line of code or every instruction will execute in the sameamount of time. They understand that computation is not free, and not every line of code isequivalent. Choose the wrong kind of operation and your machine will dramatically slow down.

People forget that choosing the wrong data type can also have consequences. Using a doubleor a long variable can still be slower on some chips. Using the wrong data structure can turn theprogram into sludge when you scale.

Too many youngsters think that computation is instantaneous and CPUs can do an infinitenumber of calculations in the blink of the eye. Their elders remember the slow CPUs that wouldputter along doing addition and seize up when asked to divide. All of the little details gatheredover the years of hacking, debugging, and rehacking their code add up. The only way you getthis knowledge is with time.

2016-04-18 03:00 Peter Wayner www.itnews.com

19 Best cable-TV alternative: Which service should you

subscribe to?Ever wished you could build your own TV package with only the channels you actually watch?

Too bad. In 2016, the TV industry is not yet sufficiently rattled by the rise of streaming video toproduce the a la carte video plans people really desire. For now, we’re getting a proliferation ofso-called “skinny bundles,” smaller TV plans that occupy a middle ground between choosing theexact channels you want and paying for hundreds of channels you don’t.

Some cable and telco operators, such as Verizon , now offer these skinny bundles directly totheir TV subscribers. But if that’s not an option where you live—or you’d rather not deal with thehidden fees and contract shenanigans of traditional TV service—you can opt for a streaming-video bundle instead. Right now, those options come down to Dish Network’s Sling TV andSony’s PlayStation Vue.

If you're looking for an instant recommendation, Sony's PlaySation Vue is the better of the two

services. But that doesn't mean it's the right choice for every cord cutter. Readon to understand why.

Sling TV launched about a year ago. It costs $20 per month, though the exactnumber of channels depends on which package you get. The “single-stream”plan, which lets you watch on one device at a time, has 24 channels, includingESPN, CNN, TNT, and AMC. Sling also sells $5-per-month add-on channelpacks revolving around themes such as Kids, Sports, World News, andLifestyle, plus with a trio of Spanish-language add-ons. Add-ons for HBO andCinemax are available for $15 per month and $10 per month, respectively.

As of this month, Sling offers a separate “multi-stream” bundle, also for $20per month, that lets you watch on up to three devices at the same time. It hasmore channels—27 in total—including Fox, FX, and regional Fox Sportsnetworks. This plan, however, doesn’t include ESPN or Disney channels, and itdoesn’t allow add-ons for Kids and Sports.

Sling TV was the original skinny bundle.

PlayStation Vue is similarly complicated. In most U. S. markets, plans start at $30 per month for57 channels. But in a handful of cities—Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, Miami, New York City,Philadelphia, and San Francisco Bay Area—the minimum price jumps to $40 per month. Inthose cities, Sony offers live local feeds from ABC, NBC, and Fox. All other markets are limitedto on-demand programming from those three networks, which means no local news or livenetwork-sporting events. There’s no option to pay more for those live feeds, either (although youmight be able to get them free with an antenna).

In any case, Vue subscribers can tack on roughly nine more channels—including regional sportsnetworks such as Fox Sports—for another $5 per month, or add 40 channels for $15 per month.Showtime is also available as an $11 per month add-on (an option you can’t get on Sling TV).

This is bundle economics 101, where the more you pay, the more “value” you get: Sling TV ischeaper and more flexible overall, but PlayStation Vue offers more channels for your money,including some you can’t get with Sling. (For a full comparison of Sling TV and PlayStation Vuechannels, head to the bottom of this story.)

To watch Sling TV or PlayStation Vue, you need a streaming device that runs their respectiveapps. Sling TV is far ahead on this count, with apps for Android TV, Chromecast, Amazon FireTV (and Fire TV Stick), Roku, Xbox One, iOS, Android, PC, Mac, and Channel Master DVR.

PlayStation Vue’s app support is, again, more complicated. Without a PlayStation 3 orPlayStation 4, you can only activate a subscription through an Amazon Fire TV or Fire TV Stick.Existing subscribers can also watch on iOS devices, which can then use Google Cast to streamon Chromecast and Android TV devices.

This table shows all the options for each service (click to enlarge).

So what’s it like to use Sling TV and PlayStation Vue? Both services try to combine the live-TVaspects of a cable bundle with the kind of on-demand viewing people expect from streamingvideo. It’s an unenviable job, but overall PlayStation Vue handles it better.

With either service, you get live feeds from most channels, just like you’d get from cable. Bothalso offer a smattering of on-demand video from certain channels, and both offer “catch-up” or“replay” programming that lets you watch shows that recently aired on some channels.

But PlayStation Vue has a secret weapon in its cloud DVR feature. This lets you save anyprogram to a list of favorites, and Sony will automatically store new episodes to its own servers.You can then watch those programs from any device with the Vue app for up to 28 days. DVRdiehards may scoff at the time limit, or the inability to record individual air dates, but the cloudfunction also eliminates the hassles of storage management and scheduling conflicts. Basically,

it’s a short-term way to keep a fully-stocked on-demand library. Sling TV offers nothing similar.

Sony’s cloud DVR lets you easily save and get back to your favorite shows.

Unlike Sling TV, Sony also allows you to bookmark your favorite channels, so they appear firstwhen viewing Vue’s channel guide. Between the bookmarks and shows saved to cloud DVR,Vue feels a lot more personalized than Sling. You spend less time flipping through channelsbecause everything you like is just a few remote clicks away. Vue even supports multiple userprofiles, so each family member can have their own list of channels and recordings.

In fairness, Sling TV is working on a big redesign that should make favorite shows and channelseasier to access, but it hasn’t said when the new interface will arrive. And with no cloud DVR,you’re far more likely to end up missing shows you wanted to watch.

At least on paper, Sling TV and PlayStation Vue offer similar video quality. Vue video resolutionis 720p across the board, and I suspect the same of Sling TV. (Dish has not confirmedstreaming resolution to me, but one third-party test by CuttingCords has shown 720p resolutionon most live channels.)

When you dig in, the issue of video quality is not so simple. PlayStation Vue, for instance, offerssmooth 60-frames-per-second-video playback for live sports across a wide range of channels,including ESPN, TBS, Spike, and NBCSN—but that’s only if you’re accessing the service on aPlayStation 4. On Fire TV, the framerate drops to 30 frames per second on all channels, whichis fine for most TV shows, but not ideal for sports. PlayStation 3 seems to bounce between thetwo framerates, which is more distracting than a consistent signal.

Both services must also deal with the reliability issues inherent to online video. With Sling TV, forinstance, I’ve experienced audio-sync issues on some channels, including HBO and HGTV.With PlayStation Vue, a boxing match I was watching froze up, forcing me to hit pause and thenplay to keep watching. I can’t say definitively if one service is more reliable than the other, butyou’re far less likely to have these issues with traditional cable TV.

Like most streaming services, Sling TV and PlayStation Vue come with viewing restrictions.

With Sling TV, you’re limited to viewing on one device at a time if you choose the single-streampackage with ESPN and Disney channels, making it a non-starter for some families. The multi-stream package allows viewing on three devices at a time, but local feeds of Fox are onlyavailable in a handful of markets (Atlanta, Austin, Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas, Detroit,Gainesville, Houston, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, New York, Orlando, Philadelphia, Phoenix, SanFrancisco, Tampa, and Washington D. C.). Those feeds won’t be available if you travel outsidethose cities.

PlayStation Vue’s restrictions are even thornier. Although the service allows five streams at atime, only one PlayStation 4 or one PlayStation 3 can be streaming at the same time. All TVdevices (such as PlayStation consoles, Fire TVs, and Chromecasts) must also be under thesame roof. If Sony detects an anomaly in IP addresses, you could get blocked from the service.Mobile viewing is also restricted, with certain channels unavailable on Vue’s iOS app in yourown house; even more get blocked when you're on the go.

One area where Vue excels is support for TV Everywhere apps such as WatchESPN, ComedyCentral, and FXNow. Sony’s service lets you authenticate with 60 of these apps, even onplatforms where there is no Vue app available. Sling TV provides authentication only toWatchESPN, making it feel less like a bona fide pay-TV package.

Are Sling TV or PlayStation Vue worth using instead of traditional TV service? That depends onseveral factors. You might not save money with either service, for instance, if your Internetprovider offers attractive bundle deals or skinny bundles of its own. Streaming round-the-clockvideo channels might also not be feasible if your Internet provider enforces data caps , as bothservices can consume up to 2.25GB of data per hour. (Sling TV, at least, lets you dial-downstreaming quality in its settings menu.)

On the other hand, a cable-TV subscription can get pretty expensive once you start rentingDVRs for multiple TVs, and those promotional bundle deals tend to disintegrate after a coupleyears. Part of the allure with streaming services such as Sling TV and PlayStation Vue is theirfreedom from hardware rental fees, hidden costs, and complex cancellation procedures.

As for which service is better, that distinction goes to PlayStation Vue. It offers more channelsfor the money, better personalization, easier access to your favorite shows, and higher-qualityvideo for sports. Sling TV is only worth considering if you really want to limit your spending, ordon’t own a device that Vue supports.

In a way, this is the cord-cutting trade-off encapsulated: The more money you want to save, theless cable-like your experience becomes.

This table lists all the channels available on each service (click to enlarge).

2016-04-18 03:00 Jared Newman www.itnews.com

20 The pain of training your replacement

At New York Life, IT employees are trainingoverseas workers to do their jobs. It's a difficulttask that takes an emotional toll, and there areodd rules and processes to follow.

The training starts with sessions over the Webwith the offshore contractors. Eventually, the ITemployees expect to train the contractors in-person.

One IT employee, who is training replacementcontractors, said she has been told bymanagement not to ask the contract workers any

questions. Even simple queries, like, "Did you have a chance to read this document? " or, "Areyou familiar with this technology? " to the contract workers, from India-based Tata ConsultancyServices, are not allowed.

"We should have the understanding that [the offshore contractors] have all the skill sets," saidthis IT employee, whose name cannot be disclosed because of the risk to her job. Askingquestions is "like insulting the process. "

There's also a regular survey process that seems like a Catch 22 system. As the replacementtraining moves along, the IT workers have to rate the offshore contractors on a scale of one tofive, with five being the highest. If the contractor receives the highest score, the thinking amongthe employees is it may accelerate their replacement. If the contractor gets a low score, the ITemployee may be blamed for providing poor training, which may also accelerate job loss.

"The employees are playing this game, playing defense, trying to figure out what to do," shesaid.

The IT employees also must be pleasant on the calls with contractors, not just matter-of-fact, butpleasant. The process is anything but that. As this IT employee, a computer science graduate,grappled with the reality of it, she said, "I break down. It's so hurtful. "

Meanwhile, the offshore contractor on the calls is beginning to use possessive pronouns, saying"our" or "my" to show he is taking ownership of her job. "It's bad for my heart when I hear that,"she said.

There was a time when working in IT was a good job, she said. Back then, there was promise,and computer science was a worthwhile major.

"I've been telling high school students and college students that you should not major in computerscience anymore," she said. IT work has "turned into a factory job. "

Two female employees were interviewed at the company and both are training theirreplacements. The interviews were arranged by Sara Blackwell, a Florida attorney who isrepresenting Disney IT workers who were also replaced by offshore workers.

What New York Life is doing is no different than what goes on at many other companies. Theemployer offers a severance package to laid-off workers contingent on a successful "knowledgetransfer. "

In New York Life's case, the severance pay for the laid-off IT workers was described as threeweeks' salary for the first year of employment, and two weeks for each year afterward, withreports of bonuses above that amount, according to employees. The company said it is offering"a generous severance package," and that employees are given 90 days' notice, and oftenmore. There's a lump sum benefit, and for workers 50 and over, an early retirement benefit. Thecompany's retirement benefit normally begins at 55.

New York Life employees were told in 2014 that the IT department was undergoing a transition.Last December, IT employees were informed specifically which technologies would beoutsourced. It was a long list, according to a tape recording of the announcement made byanother employee. The workers weren't told how many of them would lose their jobs, but theestimates they offer is higher than the company's report.

A New York Life spokesman said the company began last year with about 1,400 IT employees.By the end of the transition process in 2018, it expects that number to decline to about 1,000, including departures and new hires.

"So to be clear, we will be adding hundreds more New York Life employees with cutting-edgeskills in analytics and big data, and complementing internal hiring with partners staffed forcertain functions," said William Werfelman, a company spokesman.

New York Life is "a thriving 171-year-old life insurance company, not a technology company," hesaid.

"While we would prefer to control all of our technology capabilities in house and on-shore, weare not going to distinguish ourselves in technology by staying wedded to that concept,"Werfelman said. "Even the expertise required to maintain our legacy systems has movedoffshore," he said.

“In order to maintain our position as a leader in our industry, we need to materially upgrade ourcapabilities,” Werfelman said.

The company knows that "there will be pain along the way," Werfelman said, adding that it alsoknows that "parts of our business can now be performed by others who have made a specialtyof certain capabilities. " The contractors are also bringing in proprietary technology skills theydon't have, he said.

Werfelman said throughout this process, New York Life, which employs 9,000 and also has12,000 agents in the U. S., will continue hiring hundreds of employees.

"This is an important point, because to maintain our position as a vibrant and growing company,we must make decisions that allow the majority of our employees to remain active and thriving inour company," he said.

Werfelman said the company is treating the laid-off employees "with great respect. " Some willbe hired by the contractor firm, and "a few have been offered other jobs" at the company. Theycan also apply for other openings at the firm, he said.

The technologies put "under scope," or under consideration for outsourcing, include somenetworking functions, Windows, storage, disaster recovery, databases, VMware, Citrix and

messaging. The belief among employees is that the majority of the work is being shifted tocontractors.

The fate of women in the IT workplace is a public policy issue. Less than 15% of the bachelor'sdegrees awarded in 2014 in computer science and computer engineering went to women,according to the Computing Research Association's annual survey of enrollments at Ph. D-granting institutions.

President Obama has spoken about the need to increase women in STEM fields, but the WhiteHouse has put a special emphasis on computer science.

In January, the Obama administration announced a $4 billion computer science traininginitiative. The corporate contributors to it included two of the largest IT offshore outsourcingfirms, Infosys and Tata Consultancy Services. Both are major users of H-1B visa workers. Thatvisa is heavily used by offshore firms.

A second IT employee, who is also training Tata employees, said she had written to hersenators and members of Congress about what was going on. "I didn't hear anything," she said.

"It's very devastating to see your friends saying good-bye. It's very devastating to see yourfriends crying. It's devastating to have to talk to [the contractors] -- to give them your job," thisworker said.

For women, the experience of training offshore contractors may be particularly difficult.

Karen Panetta, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at Tufts University, hastestified in Congress on behalf of IEEE-USA on the impact of the H-1B program on women.

The vast majority "of imported STEM workers" are men, and they "do not treat U. S. women well,or any other woman in the workplace well, because they come from cultures where women arenot treated as equals," Panetta said.

"We are importing bad work cultures along with this cheaper labor. U. S. women will walk off thejob rather than be treated like dirt," Panetta said.

"This is just another added barrier that helps justify to girls another reason why STEM careersare not for them. It hurts," she said.

2016-04-18 03:00 Patrick Thibodeau www.computerworld.com

21 How a giant like GE found home in the cloud

For Jim Fowler, CIO of General Electric, there’s asimple reason he is marching the companytoward the cloud: “I’m not going to sell anotheraircraft engine because I run a global computefactory very well; I’m not going to sell anotherlocomotive because I figured out how to engineerthe user experience really well for my developers;I’m not going to sell an oil and gas pump becauseI’ve figured out how to do self-service,” he said atlast year's Amazon Web Service’s re:Inventconference. “That’s AWS’s differentiator. That'swhat they do well.”

GE, the 123-year-old staple of the global industrial sector, is going all in on the cloud. Thecompany plans to migrate 9,000 applications to public IaaS over the next three years. It isreducing its data centers from more than 30 to the single digits.

But for a company with $117 billion in annual revenue; tens of thousands of apps; hundreds of

thousands of servers; petabytes of storage and networks in hundreds of countries around theworld, migrating to the cloud isn’t as easy as lifting and shifting.

Chris Drumgoole, CTO of IT, General Electric

Vice President and Chief Technology Officer of GE Information Technology Chris Drumgoolesays it’s been a complicated process with many bumps along the way. And Drumgoole saysthere’s more that vendors, regulators and members of the open source community could do tohelp ease this process for others.

GE is a multi-billion dollar buyer of IT services, so what their executives say has sway in themarket. But teaming up with other customers only amplifies that voice. That’s why Drumgoolehas joined the Open Networking User Group and specifically ONUG’s recently formed HybridCloud Working Group. The group is preparing a list of recommendations that it will take toleading cloud and technology vendors. Drumgoole is hoping that aggregating concerns fromcustomers across different industries will help alleviate some of the leading issues thatcompanies moving to the cloud are facing.

“What we’re using to drive IT here is simplicity,” Drumgoole says. But fundamentally, many ITvendors thrive on complexity and helping customers manage it. “We’ve taken a step back andsaid instead of trying to manage the complex environment better, why don’t we simplify theenvironment?”

GE isn’t alone in advocating for a simpler world of IT. Facebook three years ago founded theOpen Compute Project , which gives big users a way to assemble their own customizedhardware instead of buying into proprietary hardware stacks. “The money is following simplicity,”Drumgoole says. “We don’t want to buy complexity we don’t need.”

Just because GE’s executive team made a strategic decision to embrace the cloud years agodoesn’t mean that its regulators, internal operators, partners and customers have been onboard.

Some of GE’s core industries – energy, health care and finance – are heavily regulated byprotocols that were written for a different era. “They assume the construct of a client-serverworld,” Drumgoole says. “The regulations are written in a way that assumes there’s a server, ahypervisor and a physical data center that you control. Fundamentally, those don’t apply in thecloud world.”

The whole point of the public cloud is that vendors – like AWS - provide those components as aservice to customers. “The constructs of the regulations haven’t taken into consideration theadvances in technology,” he adds. Through the ONUG working group, Drumgoole is hoping asingle, more modern nomenclature across various providers that regulators can use could bedeveloped for the next generation of policies.

Embracing a cloud-first mentality across the organization required adjustments internally, too.Drumgoole arrived at GE two years ago to find the traditional angst between softwaredevelopers and infrastructure operators. Devs can’t get the infrastructure they need; ops folksdon’t know what the software teams need. Cloud seemed like the natural answer to thisproblem.

GE invested in building tools, creating systems and processes for managing it and ensuringregulatory compliance. When GE’s IT team introduced the cloud services, some of thosesoftware developers and ops teams didn’t want to use it. “Some of the legacy, single-technologydevelopers struggled with deploying and moving apps when we took away the support envelopeof a traditional infrastructure team,” he says, adding that the challenge has largely beenovercome, though it required a shift in mindset.

So on the one hand, GE wants to enable developers to work as quickly as possible creating newapplications and not being held back by needing infrastructure. At the same time, that has to bedone in a sanctioned way that complies with regulations and customer priorities. Developers

can’t be running up unnecessarily large bills for IaaS public cloud services, or being exposingsensitive data without proper protections.

Drumgoole says there aren’t good tools in the market for this. Many cloud managementplatforms amount to putting up gates and checks, with people checking those processes andother people checking the checkers’ work, creating audit logs that basically amount tooverwhelming data dumps. “That wasn’t going to work,” Drumgoole says.

So what did GE do? It made its own tools called the Bot Army. It’s a series of small softwarecomponents developed internally that automatically enforce behaviors behind the scenes. TheReaper Bot is one, it searches cloud environments for customer, financial or other sensitive dataand takes immediate actions of shutting down a cloud service or quarantine the data or a user.

Drumgoole says the Bots work, but he’s disappointed the market doesn’t have better proprietaryor open source tools to manage these issues.

Some people may assume that going to the cloud is a substantial cost savings. But Drumgoolesays it’s not significantly less expensive to use the cloud for a company the size of GE. “And ifyou do it wrong, the cloud can be a lot more expensive,” he says.

GE has found a way to save up to 35% or more by running in the cloud though. The key is thatit’s not just infrastructure savings. Drumgoole says users can only achieve those savings byfundamentally changing the process involved in managing infrastructure and applications.“Instead of 10 people involved in a deployment cycle, it’s one, with a Reaper Box making surethey’re doing it right,” he says. “When you take out all of that outsourced contract labor, that’swhere the real savings come in.”

Instead of having to build the Bot Army, Drumgoole says he would have loved to have been ableto use an open source project, backed by a major technology vendor, that manages thoseissues.

There are other things vendors could be doing better too. Software makers are taking too longto evolve their platforms to a true SaaS model, he says. Just hosting the application andcharging for it monthly does not make it a true cloud app, Drumgoole contends.

On the IaaS public cloud side, Drumgoole still believes AWS is a more feature-rich platformcompared to any other in the market, but Microsoft has been investing heavily in Azure, makingthe gap between the two “smaller rather than bigger.”

Still, given GE’s international presence, Drumgoole says he’d like to see another non U. S.-based cloud provider of significant scale in the market to satisfy customers, particularly those inforeign countries, who may not be comfortable with the company’s cloud provider being subjectto U. S. law.

If there’s one thing Drumgoole has learned, it’s that when it comes to the cloud, it pays to go allin. “If you want to stick your toe in the water, then you’re probably going to be disappointed,” hesays. “If we weren’t all in, we wouldn’t get the real benefit of the cloud.” Now, through ONUG,Drumgoole is hoping to make this process easier for others to decide to go all in too.

2016-04-18 03:00 Brandon Butler www.networkworld.com

22 New products of the week 4.18.16

Our roundup of intriguing new products. Read how to submit an entry to Network World'sproducts of the week slideshow.

Key features: Altify Max is the first "augmented intelligence" platform that combines human andmachine intelligence. Altify Max includes more than 30 years of sales knowledge built-in andcombines the deep muscle memory of a million sales engagements, knowledge of the world’sbest sales methodologies and insights from each individual business to create instant, real-time

recommendations about how to progress eachopportunity. More info.

Key features – Accellion’s new security features,including a number of "industry first" offerings,better enable enterprise employees to handleenterprise content securely. It does not matterwhether employees are working remotely oronsite, collaborating with colleagues or externalpartners, or accessing content that is stored onpremises or in the cloud; enterprise content canbe retrieved, edited and shared securely withinkiteworks. More info.

Key features: Apcera CE is the only cloudplatform that lets developers and ITOps build a working compute cluster in 15 minutes on alaptop, or in a small cloud computing environment. More info.

Key features: Asigra is now offering a freemium software tool, AWS Snapshot Manager, in theAWS Marketplace that automates the process of performing and managing EBS images ofvirtual machine volumes in EC2 environments. More info.

Key Features: Audit provides detailed discovery and visibility into usage of sanctioned andunsanctioned cloud apps, while delivering intelligence feeds to Blue Coat proxies for policycontrols to manage shadow IT risks. More info.

Pricing: Cloudera offers three main ways to purchase Cloudera Enterprise: Basic, Flex andData Hub editions. Each edition is priced per node, with Basic being the lowest starting pointwhere the typical cluster is sized in the 10's of node. Each Cloudera Enterprise edition is pricedin the $1000's, scaling up from Basic to Data Hub edition.

Key features: Cloudera Enterprise 5.7 provides leading performance across key workloads -including an average 3x improvement for data processing with added support of Hive-on-Spark,and an average 2x improvement for business intelligence analytics with updates to ApacheImpala (incubating). More info.

Key features: CSG unveiled security and functionality updates to its real-time messaging andencrypted voice/conference call app Cellcrypt, making it more secure and cost-effective for long-distance calls for enterprise communications. More info.

Key features: HyperStore 6.0 simplifies and automates data management for petabyte-scalecloud storage. New features include proactive repair, Amazon S3 cross-region replication fordisaster recovery, and smart storage analytics. More info.

Key features: Distil API Security provides an easy-to-use service which tracks API usage acrossboth identification tokens and IP addresses to detect and block malicious activity, developererrors, and abuse. More info.

Key features: FlexNet Manager for Cloud Infrastructure extends Software Asset Management toInfrastructure-as-a-Service by providing enterprises with comprehensive, accurate, actionableinsight into cloud infrastructure usage to optimize use and spend on these services. More info.

Key features: GreySpark leverages existing tools and sensors within an enterprise to measureIT security health and report a simple, up-to-date score reflecting the overall IT risk present in anorganization. More info.

Key features - adds features including EZXploit, a simulated phishing attack, which whenclicked, comes up with a secondary ruse like a Java popup. A USB Drive Test provides aspecial "beaconized" Microsoft Office file on a USB drive which can then be dropped at an on-site, high traffic area and GEO-location which allows admin to see where simulated phishing

attack failures are on a map, with drilldown and CSV-export options. More info.

Key features: Lucidworks View is a front-end for Fusion, Lucidworks’ flagship search platform,for quick and easy development of custom search-driven applications leveraging Apache Solrand Apache Spark. More info.

Key features: Mimecast’s industry-first Impersonation Protect uses advanced scanningtechniques to combat whaling and CEO fraud, protecting organizations from this multi-billiondollar cybersecurity threat that tricks users into sending fraudulent wire transfers. More info.

Key features - Keylight 4.4 extends the patented Dynamic Content Framework across the entireplatform to provide the context, efficiency and flexibility organizations require when strugglingwith new risks and compliance requirements. More info.

Key features – VSkyCube is a hyperconverged infrastructure solution for flexible, streamlineddata center and IT operations. It encompasses compute, networking and storage virtualizationtechnologies. More info.

Key features: Qumulo Core has real-time data analytics built directly into the file system, givingenterprises a view of their data and storage resources at scale. It provides greater visibility intowhich data is most valuable, where it is stored, which users or applications are accessing whatfiles, what should be archived, backed up or deleted, and why it grows. New features andbenefits in Qumulo Core 2.0 include scalable, efficient, and resilient data protection with erasurecoding, and capacity trends analytics. More info.

Key features: Spare5’s Intelligent Crowdsourcing Platform offers data enrichment, data clean-upand data labeling. Qualified specialists clean up, label and improve companies' data withspeed, scale, and unprecedented quality. More info.

Key features: This patch management platform adds search and customization features andsupport for cross referencing vendor patch bulletins with Department of Defense alerts. Itenables use of Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager’s console to re-signcertificates, delete/republish updates and manage products published to Windows Serverupdates. More info.

Key features: Robin’s application-defined data center software has container-based computeand storage, which simplifies application lifecycle, enables no-compromise applicationconsolidation, and maximizes the performance of data-centric applications. More info.

Key features: ftServer streamlines and simplifies the continuous availability and management ofindustrial applications in three ways. Integrating Sightline Assure, adopting the OPC standard,and consolidating traditionally disparate systems. More info.

Key features: The Thanx Branded App equips businesses with Thanx’s suite of mobilemarketing tools. More info.

Key features: Remote Desktop Access drives efficiency for end users with worldwide access toendpoints through any Internet browser given its critical components that include accessibility,security, rapidity and compatibility. More info.

Key features: An Out-of-Band serial console port management solution for Gigabit Ethernetapplications. Features 10/100/1000 Base-T Ethernet port plus v.92 internal modem withcallback security. Also includes event monitoring and alarm functions. More info.

Key features: Wowza Streaming Cloud is a complete, straightforward solution that deliversprofessional-grade live streaming to viewers around the world. With its enhanced featurescustomers now benefit from new REST API that creates workflow options and enables on-demand use, significantly reduced latency and easy-to-use stream health monitoring. More info.

Key features: Adds object storage, flash cache, Fibre Channel. Common platform for anystorage type (object, file block); protocol (FC,iSCSI, iSER, NFS, CIFS, S3) ; location (on-

premise, public, private or hybrid cloud). More info.

Key features: A10 Networks released six new Thunder Series appliances, including theindustry’s fastest single rack unit ADC. The new fourth-generation offerings expand customerchoice for entry-level, upper mid-range and high-end appliances. The company’s portfolio ofappliances provides even greater price/performance –with scalability to 220Gbps of traffic persecond, 10.5 million connections per second, and defense for over 300 million DDoS attacksper second. The fourth-generation Thunder appliances scale and secure the most demandingdata center applications and networks. More info.

Key features: Proofpoint Email Protection’s new dynamic impostor classifier quarantinesbusiness email compromise attempts—and helps organizations protect against malware andmalware-free threats. More info.

2016-04-18 02:54 Ryan Francis www.itnews.com

Total 22 articles.

Created at 2016-04-19 00:00