IT

FCC Buckles on Cybersecurity
March 20, 2013

Internet service providers are resisting the Federal Communications Commission's recommendations for implementing security best practices, the agency has reported. The ISP members of the Communications, Security, Reliability and Interoperability Council (CSRIC) say they believe additional evaluation is required to determine whether those best practices should apply to their industry.

Locking Up Big Data to Unlock Its Value
March 18, 2013

The bad news about Big Data: This business trend means enterprises now have more valuable information within their systems that must be protected. The good news about Big Data: The analytics and business intelligence that come along with the trend can also be used to improve risk management within organizations.

5 In-Demand Skills for Landing a Dream IT Job
March 16, 2013

There is no denying it -- the technology sector is on the rise and jobs are ripe for the taking. Demand has shifted from the mainframes of 30 years ago to virtualization, opening up ample opportunity in the field. Today, it's all about optimization and collaboration, and IT decision makers are investing heavily in these new infrastructures.

Android Mastermind Rubin to Turn His Thoughts Elsewhere
March 14, 2013

Andy Rubin, the man who helped maneuver Android into the No. 1 mobile OS position, is stepping down as head of Android at Google. Taking Rubin's place will be browser and applications chief Sundar Pichai. The reshuffling effectively folds Google's mobile OS, applications and Chrome browser into one operation.

PM's Stabs at Visa Program Ignite Furor in Aussie Tech Industry
March 14, 2013

Australian prime minister Julia Gillard is taking flak from the nation's tech industry for accusing IT firms of abusing the nation's skilled migration program. The "457 visas" program is designed to facilitate the immigration of skilled overseas workers to fill voids in the labor force.

Philips Wants Devs' Bright Ideas for Its Web-Connected Light Bulbs
March 11, 2013

Dutch electronics giant Philips, which launched its Hue Web-connected LED home lighting system in October, released a development kit Monday in the hopes of integrating official applications -- and more possible home uses -- for its technology. Developers can use the API as they choose, and can keep all their earnings from commercializing products.

Reports: US Cybersecurity Firewalls Built on Shaky Foundations
March 08, 2013

A pair of new reports suggest that despite repeated attempts by the Obama administration to beef up U.S. cybersecurity, the nation is not ready to handle a major attack, and government agencies lag far behind deadlines for showing security improvements. Those conclusions are reached by the Office of Management and Budget and the Defense Science Board Task Force.

Open Source's Deep Dive Into the Enterprise
March 06, 2013

Server provisioning and configuration management and automation are the latest examples of where the tech industry is being driven, largely by open source software. The leading open source server and IT infrastructure automation frameworks, Opscode Chef and Puppet Labs' Puppet, sit on the leading edge of significant trends under way in enterprise IT.

Hackathon's Goal: A Smartphone Game That Scores Points for Cancer Research
March 02, 2013

A UK-based charity is sponsoring a weekend hackathon, but those invited won't be using their coding talents to advance any business causes. The 40 programmers, gamers, graphic designers and other specialists will spend the time designing a smartphone game that can let average users help with cancer research.

Linux Admin Tips, Tricks and Tools of the Trade
February 28, 2013

Here in the Linux community, most of us enjoy high-level debates about strategies and trends just as much as the next technology enthusiast does. At the end of the day, however, it seems safe to say that what we tend to relish most of all is a good ol' nuts-and-bolts discussion of the tools and tricks of the trade.

Federal Cloud Initiatives Starting to Take Shape
February 26, 2013

Three to five years in the information technology business may seem like a long time, so it may appear that U.S. government agencies have been pursuing cloud technology for ages; incipient projects began as far back as 2008. It was also more than two years ago that the White House initiated a program to pick up the pace of federal cloud adoption by mandating agencies to deploy cloud solutions for at least two components of their IT operations.

Keeping Up With the Future: Risk Management for Rapid Technology Adoption
February 22, 2013

Everyone knows that protecting an organization's technology footprint has always been a delicate balancing act. Nowadays, literally everything about a given organization's technology portfolio is in a near-constant state of change; technologies change, usage changes and the threat landscape changes.

BofA Service Outage Opens Window for Small Banks
February 05, 2013

Bank of America's online banking operations crashed last Friday, cutting customers off from their accounts and reportedly disrupting the customer phone service to boot. It was the 1st day of the month -- a day when customers typically access their accounts to make sure paychecks have been deposited and to pay bills. Customers took to social media to gripe.

Google Adds Cross-Platform Notifications Brick to Chromium Build
February 01, 2013

Google appears to have taken a step toward integrating Android's Google Now notification feature into Chrome. French programmer Francis Beaufort revealed Thursday that he spotted a new notification center in the latest Windows Chromium build that includes rich templated notifications.

Facebook's Relationship With Developers: It's Even More Complicated
January 31, 2013

Facebook dropped a bombshell on its developer community last week with the rollout of a clarified platform policy -- one that de-friends certain apps. The new policy spells out which types of apps can use its data. Namely, developers must show "reciprocity"; their apps must let users post content to Facebook if they want to use the vast social network's friend-finding features.

Google Open Source Program Manager Chris DiBona: Best of Both Worlds
January 29, 2013

In 1996, two Stanford University students, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, created a unique search engine called "BackRub" that ran on the school's server. After one year, BackRub's bandwidth outgrew the university's needs. Its creators rebranded BackRub into Google, a respelled reference to "googol." It is a mathematical term for the number represented by the numeral 1 followed by 100 zeros.

Mozilla Lures Devs to Firefox OS With Shiny New Toys
January 23, 2013

The Mozilla Foundation on Tuesday announced that smartphones running its Firefox OS will be available to developers in February. The preview phones are being produced in collaboration with Geeksphone and Telefonica. The idea is to entice devs to create apps for the Firefox OS. "These devices have not been designed for consumers," said Mozilla spokesperson Diane Zuniga.

RIM Releases BYOD-Friendly IT Management Software
January 23, 2013

Research In Motion released a new version of its BlackBerry Enterprise Service mobile device management software on Wednesday. This comes just over a week before the official launch of the new BlackBerry 10 OS and compatible handsets, and just days after RIM CEO Thorsten Heins suggested the company might abandon the hardware market and sharpen its focus on software.

Cisco Lets Virtual Desktop Users Get In on Its Jabber
January 17, 2013

Cisco on Thursday announced the Virtualization Experience Media Engine, new software that will extend its Jabber unified communications application to virtualized workspace environments. VXME will initially be available on thin clients from Cisco. Support for Dell Wyse thin clients, Windows-based thin clients and Windows PCs will follow.

Google Denies Killing Donkey on Street View Expedition
January 17, 2013

Google seems to have had a dustup with a donkey -- literally. Images plucked from Google Street View have raised questions about whether a Google Street View car ran over a donkey in the African nation of Botswana. Images culled from Street View show a donkey lying in the road. One of the images also shows dust hovering over the donkey, possibly suggestive of a recent tumble.