As I study tech sector innovations, I see signs that the old traditions are fading. I'm not one to sanctify tradition for tradition's sake, but I see merit in maintaining a traditional approach to computing tasks that encourages shrewdness. To illustrate what I mean, these are some ways we are straying from the Unix way, and my view on why we should return to the path.

We are in the midst of what many are calling the Fourth Industrial Revolution. This is a time of disruption, massive change, opportunities, and significant risks. Fortunes will shift, companies will fail, and new companies will rise from the ashes. Let's look at where we are in this latest Industrial Revolution, and where we'll likely be when this wave ends in 10 to 40 years. We'll close with the product of the week, a new conferencing camera/speaker from Poly.

Apple's plan to release its App Tracking Transparency (ATT) privacy enhancement feature in early spring has set the ad industry on its ear. ATT requires apps to get a consumer's authorization before tracking them or the devices they are using. Ray Wang, principal analyst and founder at Constellation Research, told the E-Commerce Times that "at least 40 percent of consumers will say no."

Nearly 30,000 Macs have been infected with a new malware strain. Discovered by researchers at Red Canary, the malware has been sitting on it hosts waiting for a payload that never arrived. In a statement provided to TechNewsWorld, Apple said that upon discovering the malware, it revoked the certificates of the developer accounts used to sign the packages, preventing new machines from being infected.

This emerging building method is far less wasteful, far faster, and far cheaper to build much sturdier homes. The only real downside is that the skills and technology to build these houses aren't widely available yet. Still, a shift to 3D printed building could create many new jobs, and the training required isn't considered exceedingly difficult. Let's talk about 3D printed homes, and we'll close with the product of the week, the ARM-based HP Elite Folio.

Desktop as a Service provider Shells offers a new component to virtual cloud computing. It brings Linux distros and Windows 10 to any computer, mobile device, and some game consoles, via any Web browser. The U.S.-based startup went online in the first quarter of last year. Since then, CEO and founder Alex Lee has been drumming up favorable responses from businesses, casual users, and Linux developers.

Oracle's continued strides in the tech space say a lot about perseverance and deep pockets. It was a darling of the 20th century tech era, rising from a startup in the database wars and becoming the sole surviving independent database company. But at some point, success leveled out its rise and it became just another big company. Then came the challenge of cloud computing.

Linux began its life as a humble experiment in Unix porting, but from there it quickly became a popular kernel for server OSes due to its low cost and customizability. From there it morphed to power network appliances and Android, proving it was lean enough for a whole gamut of embedded systems. It's easy to forget that Linux's proliferation to every class of computing device has not concluded its evolution.

Jeff Bezos last week announced he will be stepping down from his role of CEO Amazon. Bezos is following Microsoft's lead and putting his cloud executive Andy Jassy in charge of the company. Given that Microsoft was exceedingly successful with putting Satya Nadella in the same role, it would seem that this would be a slam-dunk success. But the issue is that Amazon is not Microsoft.

Cyberattacks are increasing in frequency, ramping up the data privacy threats they pose to government agencies and businesses alike. Governments both domestic and foreign need to step up efforts to pass legislation that bolsters technological defenses this year, warn privacy groups. Stiffer privacy laws are gradually being reviewed and signed into the U.S. market. But that process is mostly taking place at the state level.

A team of scientists and engineers has invented a cryogenic computer chip capable of functioning at temperatures near absolute zero, which could enable a new crop of high performance quantum computers capable of performing calculations with thousands of qubits, or more. Quantum computers, up to now, could only accommodate a few dozen qubits. That's why the new cryo chip is such a breakthrough.

Finding the right productivity system means understanding one's situation, goals, and needs -- and then using that system consistently until it starts to have beneficial results. The E-Commerce Times spoke with productivity experts to get their perspective on apps, platforms, and techniques that help organizations and individuals become more efficient.

GeckoLinux is a unique distribution that goes a long way towards unifying the often-confusing array of workstation choices available to business and mainstream consumers looking for an alternative to other computing platforms. This distro is fully functional, offers some of the best Linux desktop environments available, and avoids the pitfalls of distros that make using Linux bothersome.

In spite of being a beloved companion to computer hobbyists the world over, the Raspberry Pi doesn't get enough credit. In fact, single-board computers of all stripes haven't gotten their due -- I just happen to have a Raspberry Pi. It was upon casting a stray glance into the corner of my room where my Pi is, churning away on the previous task I assigned it, that I pondered all the loftier projects I have in mind for it.

We still seem to do these remote activities as we did when we met in person. Streaming and video conferencing tools we are using still don't allow us to do what we once did face-to-face, but they have other advantages that aren't being utilized to make the experience better. Let's talk about who did a great job, and what worked at CES; and then what sucked at the event. We'll close with a look at a promised new vehicle from GM: the Cadillac Lyriq.

If you want to smooth over irate clients and offer more efficient customer services, consider conversational bots instead of a roomful of human company reps. Researchers see consumers' comfort levels with a variety of chatbot technologies softening towards customer service, scheduling, banking, and therapy.

Oracle learned a lot from its customers and plowed its findings back into its core product just as others were getting restless and seeking alternatives. Oracle is now calling its product a "converged database" to help with differentiation by highlighting that many businesses don't often only focus on OLTP or AI, but that their businesses require a bit of everything.

The PC market ended 2020 with a big bang, as shipments during the final quarter rose 25 percent over the same period in 2019, according to a report by research firm Canalys. Much of the market growth during the year was driven by notebooks and mobile workstation shipments, which increased 44 percent over 2019, reaching 235.1 million.

An international group of scientists is demanding scientific journals demand more transparency from researchers in computer-related areas when accepting their reports for publication. They also want computational researchers to include information about their code, models and computational environments in published reports.

Buying Linux-powered laptops should be easy, especially on big-name manufacturers' websites. But it isn't. You must employ workarounds to succeed or spend caches of money! Some computer makers sell Linux-only hardware. Only a few of the major computer manufacturers cater to providing Linux Inside. The challenge is finding both those that do and being willing to pay a higher buy-in price.

A new mobile processor announced by Qualcomm Technologies is expected to spawn a wave of economically priced 5G smartphones. Kedar Kondap, vice president for product management at Qualcomm maintained in a statement that the Snapdragon 480 5G Mobile Platform will exceed OEM and consumer expectations in delivering high- and mid-tier features at an affordable price.

TechNewsWorld columnist Rob Enderle looks back at all of the Products of the Week he selected during the year and picks the one that made the most significant impression to crown the Product of the Year. Let's look at the contenders that made the initial cut, and then he'll rank the top four products leading up to the 2020 Product of the Year.

This piece is a demonstration of one means of setting up file-level encryption which is widely available for Linux desktop users. To offer a similar encryption scheme to as many users as possible, we'll walk through how to use fscrypt to create an encrypted filesystem. While simple, fscrypt offers multiple configuration modes.

Sometime in the 2030s PCs and phones will merge, if they hadn't already. In the 2040s people and personal technology will merge as humans and robotics evolve into hybrids of each other. Since we're approaching the end of 2020, let's talk about what's on the way over the next three decades, and build up to what's in store for personal communications technology in 2050.

Downtime can cost enterprises that depend solely on a data center's ability to deliver IT and networking services to customers -- such as e-commerce companies -- up to $11,000 a minute. The cost to businesses, entrepreneurs and individuals who use subscription services in their work has yet to be calculated.

The antiX distro offers a solid operating system that many other Linux communities fail to deliver. It is unassuming, but reliable, and focuses on performance rather than prettiness. That last element goes a long way to giving users distraction-free computing power. That does not mean antiX is not appealing visually. This distro has a no-nonsense appearance.

Qualcomm last week launched its Snapdragon 888 platform which will show up in premium phones next year. This promises to take the high-end of Android smartphones to levels of performance they've never seen before. Let's talk about what is coming to market in Android phones -- and likely iPhones -- next year, because you've got to believe Apple watched this launch and is now furiously working to create similar functions.

Mobile shopping apps have in the midst of the pandemic become central to online retail operations, and they're clearly here to stay. The E-Commerce Times spoke with m-commerce specialists to find out what's behind the rapid growth of consumers shopping on mobile devices, what mobile shoppers require from shopping apps, and how retailers can provide a better experience for their customers who shop on mobile devices.

Machine learning, which has disrupted and improved so many industries, is just starting to make its way into software testing. Heads are turning, and for good reason: the industry is never going to be the same again. Let's delve into the current state of affairs, and explore how ML techniques are radically changing the software testing industry.

Today is Cyber Monday, which doesn't mean as much this year because the related sales have been going on for much of November as retailers try to bring in every available dollar they can. This week, let's look at some of the best deals or products that stand out as game changers in their segment.