text:
Click here to view Figure 1.
IT professionals often spend long working hours addressing employee concerns, implementing new systems, and exploring new technologies.
By the time you arrive home at the end of the day, it can be tempting to sit down and relax -- but there are often more things to do. Errands like grocery shopping, cleaning, laundry, and dog walking don't disappear because you were at the office.
It can be overwhelming to handle the mundane tasks of everyday life in addition to the pressures of a demanding job. Sometimes it seems there aren't enough hours in the day to handle it all.
[Planning a vacation? Take a look at these 9 high-tech cities around the world.]
Fortunately for stressed professionals, the Apple App Store and Google Play have several apps designed to help with chores and make your to-do list more manageable.
These services aim to boost your out-of-office productivity with handy features like suggesting cleaning tips, having someone pick up your mail or laundry, and reminding you to pay your bills on time.
Here, we recommend 10 mobile apps to help make your daily chores and errands easier and more manageable with your crazy work schedule. Have you used any of these apps? Are there any you would add to this list? We would like to learn your ideas in the comment section.]]>
Google is rolling out several changes to Google Maps that make the mobile navigation tool more useful. In addition to a new data-saving WiFi mode, Maps gains the ability to set specific alerts for mass transit delays.
Most smartphone owners subscribe to defined buckets of cellular data each month. Carriers' policies vary, but exceeding the monthly limit generally results in one of two scenarios: Consumers are hit with overage charges, or their data speeds are reduced to 2002-era 2G. Both are painful penalties.
A new tool being added to Google Maps should help cut down on data usage and prevent these scenarios from punishing mobile device owners.
First, Google is changing up its offline tools.
Click here to view Figure 1.
Google Maps has long allowed people to download certain map segments for offline use. The feature was originally intended to help travelers avoid data charges.
For example, before boarding the plane for your summer vacation to London, you could download the entire map of London to your phone. You could then use Maps in London without worrying about the app making use of costly mobile data when overseas.
Moreover, offline maps allow the app to work even when there's no connection at all. The new WiFi-only mode, first spotted by Android Police, still relies on previously downloaded offline Maps, but will only load new maps when on WiFi.
[Read about recent updates to Google Maps and Google Earth.]
Using the London example, this WiFi-only mode would be helpful if you take an unplanned day trip out to the coast to see the White Cliffs of Dover. You'd be able to stop in a coffee shop where WiFi may be available for free to load new maps of Dover and the surrounding area and remain safe from accidental data use. Google warns the app may still use some cellular data, but it would be minimal.
The second new feature to hit Google Maps should appeal to those who rely on mass transit to get to work every day. Maps will allow commuters to set up custom alerts so they may be warned when their usual trip to work is disrupted.
Screen shots of the new tool show the subway lines of New York City, their status (such as normal service, modified service, or significant delays). Users can subscribe to alerts for one or multiple lines. Such alerts can give commuters time to adjust their route into or around the city in order to avoid trouble spots.
What's not clear is how many metros areas will be covered by the mass transit alerts. The examples so far focus on NYC.
Google has not announced either of these features, but they appear to be rolling out slowly to select Android users.]]>
Ford is moving its connected car platform forward with the July 25 announcement that all 2017 model-year Ford cars, SUVs, light trucks, and electrified vehicles will offer the SYNC 3 voice-activated communications and entertainment system with Google's Android Auto and Apple's CarPlay platforms.
The automaker plans future over-the-air updates through WiFi that will help ensure drivers can keep up with the latest technology, and noted popular applications such as Spotify, Pandora, AccuWeather, and AAA member services have been added through SYNC AppLink.
SYNC 3 features updated hardware and software for better performance, and additional conversational voice recognition capabilities to help drivers connect to their smartphone and access a variety of features, including hands-free phone calls and navigation.
Android Auto provides information, including Google Maps, Google Play Music, and other apps that are projected onto the SYNC screen. The process allows for the integration of the smartphone into the car. Google voice search answers any questions customers may have while driving.
CarPlay, which is compatible with Apple's iPhone 5 and later models, works by plugging in the iPhone through a USB outlet. The CarPlay interface then appears on the touch screen.
In addition, CarPlay features Siri voice control. It integrates an iPhone with the car's built-in display and controls.
Click here to view Figure 1.
Ford's Escape, Fusion, Mustang, and Explorer vehicles are already available as 2017 models at dealerships. Others, like the F-150, the Focus, the Edge, and the 2017 Super Duty, will arrive later this year.
"Ford's promise that every new model now ships smartphone-ready is huge," Jeffrey Hannah, director of North America for global automotive technology research firm SBD, wrote in the announcement. "Ford is not taking the traditional approach of introducing CarPlay and Android Auto on a few piecemeal models or as an expensive option on luxury vehicles only."
The carmaker also runs the Ford Research and Innovation Center in Palo Alto, Calif., where mechanical engineers like Jennifer Brace focus on learning about customer needs and how they influence the user interface in Ford cars.
[Read more about Ford's autonomous vehicle.]
Brace's team of user experience researchers conducts studies on far-reaching technologies like autonomous driving, connectivity, and data analysis -- all of which have the potential to be integrated into user vehicles.
In addition to progress with connected cars, Ford is investing heavily in self-driving vehicle technology. In January, it started to test its self-driving vehicle technology on roadways slick with snow and ice.
The company uploaded a short video to YouTube featuring footage of Ford's self-driving fleet of Fusion sedans cruising the wintery roads of Michigan.
In April, a consortium of technology and automotive titans, including Google, Ford, Volvo Cars, Uber, and Lyft, announced the formation of the Self-Driving Coalition for Safer Streets in a move to accelerate federal regulations around the move toward driverless cars.
The coalition aims to work with government agencies, civic groups, and businesses to gain acceptance and support in prompting the federal government to adopt laws that allow the use of driverless cars on the nation's highways and roads.]]>
Verizon Communications announced that it's snapping up the core internet assets of Yahoo for approximately $4.83 billion, essentially ending the tumultuous history of the struggling dot-com pioneer.
For Verizon, the deal bolsters the telecommunications giant's efforts to develop its digital media business and advertising. Last year, Verizon acquired AOL in a $4.4 billion deal and operates it as a wholly owned subsidiary.
The sale, which is expected to close in the first three months of 2017, will result in Yahoo's business operations being integrated with AOL. Despite speculation that Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer would leave the company after the Verizon merger, she assured employees in a post that she plans to remain.
"For me personally, I'm planning to stay. I love Yahoo, and I believe in all of you. It's important to me to see Yahoo into its next chapter," Mayer stated.
The combined Yahoo-AOL will have more than 25 brands in its content portfolio. Yahoo brings to the table roughly 1 billion monthly active users, of which 600 million are monthly active mobile users.
Click here to view Figure 1.
"Just over a year ago we acquired AOL to enhance our strategy of providing a cross-screen connection for consumers, creators and advertisers. The acquisition of Yahoo will put Verizon in a highly competitive position as a top global mobile media company, and help accelerate our revenue stream in digital advertising," Lowell McAdam, Verizon CEO said in a statement.
AOL CEO Tim Armstrong added, in a statement, "This transaction is about unleashing Yahoo's full potential, building upon our collective synergies, and strengthening and accelerating that growth. Combining Verizon, AOL and Yahoo will create a new powerful competitive rival in mobile media, and an open, scaled alternative offering for advertisers and publishers."
The deal does not include Yahoo's investment stakes in Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding and Yahoo Japan. Those assets will remain with Yahoo, which will change its name and will become a publicly traded investment company after the sale closes, according to Verizon.
"The sale of our operating business, which effectively separates our Asian asset equity stakes, is an important step in our plan to unlock shareholder value for Yahoo. This transaction also sets up a great opportunity for Yahoo [as part of AOL] to build further distribution and accelerate our work in mobile, video, native advertising and social," Yahoo CEO Mayer said in a statement.
[Read Yahoo Mail Ad-Blocking Move Angers Users.]
The Alibaba investment accounts for the bulk of Yahoo's estimated $36 billion market cap, and the internet pioneer will also be left with roughly 3,000 patents after the Verizon deal closes, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal. The former internet darling is expected to unload its patents in a separate auction that may generate in excess of $1 billion in bids, according to the Journal.
The deal for Yahoo, which was founded in 1994, ends its lengthy struggle and failed attempts to turn around its core internet operations that date back to 2001, when it hired high-profile Hollywood executive Terry Semel as CEO to recast the advertising-supported company into a content company. But the company fell further behind fierce competitors Google and an emerging Facebook, and Semel was pressured to step down in 2007, according to a New York Times report.
Yahoo underwent several other CEO changes in the subsequent years. It hired respected technologist CEO Carol Bartz, former CEO of Autodesk, in 2009. But Bartz struggled to turn around the advertising portion of Yahoo's business -- its bread-and-butter for revenue -- and was ousted in 2011.
In 2012, Yahoo wooed Google veteran Mayer to take its CEO post, a move that was widely viewed as a coup from industry observers and Wall Street. But even Mayer could not shift the tide of Yahoo's declining advertising base, and its customers increasingly continued to place their business with rivals Facebook and Google.
In February, Yahoo, facing pressure from activist shareholders, announced it would form a committee to explore its options for selling its assets.
In addition to Verizon, other bidders included AT&T, a group led by Quicken Loans founder Dan Gilbert, Vector Capital Management, and private equity firm TPG, according to a Bloomberg report.
Yahoo, according to The Journal, will next work on its patent auction and still has to figure out what it will do with its investment stakes in Alibaba and Yahoo Japan.
Verizon's decision to buy Yahoo's core internet business was panned by analyst Trip Chowdhry of Global Equities Research, who pointed to Verizon's disappointing effort to challenge rivals in the cloud computing business with its Terremark purchase in 2011 for $1.4 billion.
"Remember all the nitwit analysts and industry visionaries coming on the media and touting Verizon and Terremark deal as 'ground breaking'?" Chowdhry asked in a research note. "These clueless Verizon executives at that time said, 'We will accelerate everything-as-a-service cloud strategy.'"
Amazon Web Service (AWS) is consistently increasing its revenues at more than 45% on a year-to-year basis, with a base of $10 billion in revenues currently, while Verizon may be trying to sell its data center cloud portfolio that includes Terremark's data centers, Chowdhry said. In 2015, however, Verizon's chief financial officer denied the telecom giant was looking to sell its cloud business, according to a report in Fortune.
"Basically, we are seeing a replay of the previous movie, Verizon buys Terremark, but with a different actor, Yahoo replacing Terremark," Chowdhry said. He pointed to Yahoo being a "non-event" in various internet trends from live streaming, to social payments, to going mobile and real-time messaging.
[Editor's Note: This story has been updated to include comments from analyst Trip Chowdhry.]]]>
IT spending is undergoing a shift from traditional sources, such as direct server and software license purchases, into public cloud computing. The amount of money IT will spend on cloud services this year is $114 billion, and will grow to $216 billion in the year 2020, according to a report released by Gartner.
That means the impact of the shift will amount to a total of $1 trillion over the course of the next five years. The transition is occurring at a rate of about 2% a year, with IT budget dollars moving away from the enterprise data center assets and into the public cloud.
Such a shift will still leave on-premises IT spending predominant for several years to come. Compared to that $216 billion to be spent on public cloud services in 2020, Gartner sees total IT spending that year amounting to $3.9 trillion.
Gartner also projects that IT budgets as a whole will grow at a 2% compound annual growth rate between 2015 through 2020. The firm also projects traditional IT spending will remain essentially flat after 2016, while cloud spending continues to grow.
Click here to view Figure 1.
The fact that cloud spending is growing comes as no surprise. Every analyst group has pointed out that fact over the last three years, but the Gartner report, issued to subscribers May 18 and made public July 21, quantifies the shift in terms of the IT budget more precisely than has been done before.
That $1 trillion shift "makes cloud computing one of the most disruptive forces of IT spending since the early days of the digital age," according to Gartner's summary on the report. Gartner aired the report summary as part of its build-up to the firm's IT Financial, Procurement & Asset Management Summits 2016 in London Sept. 12-13. (InformationWeek obtained a full copy of the document.)
"The market for cloud services has grown to such an extent that it is now a notable percentage of total IT spending," said Ed Anderson, Gartner research vice president and author, along with analyst Michael Warrilow, of "Market Insight: Cloud Shift -- The Transition of IT Spending from Traditional Systems to Cloud."
On average, cloud spending will represent 24% of the IT budget by 2020, according to the report.
For some companies, the IT spend in the cloud is greater than for others, particularly among young companies and the startup set. The expansion of IT services in the cloud is "helping to create a new generation of start-ups and 'born in the cloud' providers," Anderson wrote in the announcement of the report.
The dollar figures draw the shift in broad strokes, but the transition will occur at different rates for different companies, and at different rates for different regions around the world, the report found. For that matter, not all forms of cloud services will be growing at the same pace.
For example, Gartner sees infrastructure-as-a-service, the core competency of Amazon Web Services, growing at 30.5% a year, from the perspective of the cloud service providers.
Business process as a service, which might include procurement or IT help desk and other forms of customer services, such as those provided by ServiceNow, will grow at a much slower rate of 9%, according to the report.
[Want to see another analyst group's take on the cloud? Read Forrester: In the Cloud, the Big Get Bigger.]
Both software-as-a-service, as provided by Salesforce, and platform-as-a-service, as provided by Microsoft on Azure or Google on AppEngine, will grow at the nearly identical rates of 17.9% and 17.8%, respectively, the report found.
Within IT organizations, the shift will be most evident in three areas:
It will be IT's responsibility, as the shift occurs in a team's own organization and in those of its competitors, to figure out where the organization's risks and opportunities lie among the cloud service providers, and then to capitalize on them. Among other things, IT managers will be choosing and managing vendor relationships as much as they do internal staff.
They will be developing skills in cloud monitoring, cloud workload performance management, and cloud capacity management, instead of procuring equipment and systems management software for their own data centers, the report found.]]>
Technology is arguably the most critical component of business today. As businesses embrace digital models, innovate on new technology, and look for ways to get ahead of the competition, technology must take center stage. Business leaders are demanding more and asking for it faster than ever before.
In 2015, CEB released the results of our IT Clock Speed Survey, which polled 3,263 of our business partners across 17 business functions and five seniority levels. Respondents were from the US, UK, Canada, and Australia. The vast majority of respondents (77%) indicated C-suite priorities today rely on technology, and more than three quarters of respondents agreed quick delivery by IT is critical to their ability to meet business goals.
CIOs have historically responded to demands for speed in two ways. First, they have relied on standards to streamline IT, introducing enterprise processes and architectures and locking down requirements early.
Second, they have carved out specific teams or methodologies designed for speed. Neither approach has long-term sustainability. The first is hard to keep up in an era of fast-changing digitization. The second is hard to scale, and is slowed by interdependencies with other, slower parts of IT.
[Having trouble finding the right employees? Find out why it's time to dump your old-school hiring practices.]
These drawbacks are a challenge for IT. According to a 2013 article in the MIT Sloan Management Review -- which was based on a survey of 1,559 business leaders in 106 countries -- more than 60% of respondents felt their organizations are too slow to exploit technology-enabled opportunities.
To meet business-leader expectations for speed, CIOs must move beyond these approaches and equip their teams to be adaptive. In adaptive IT organizations, the entire team collaborates, flexes, and applies judgment based on context.
The result is faster clock speed -- the end-to-end pace at which IT understands business needs, decides how to support those needs, and responds by delivering capabilities that create value.
Our IT Clock Speed Survey revealed that 17 of the top 20 opportunities to accelerate IT speed occur in the early stages of a project, before any development activities. The opportunities include activities such as approving project plans, negotiating with vendors, and estimating the project costs and effort. Taking advantage of the top 20 acceleration opportunities (by employing the tactics suggested in the article) can cut up to five weeks from a six-month project.
Click here to view Figure 1.
Luckily, IT leaders don't need to do 20 things differently in order to capitalize on time savings. There are three common themes that cut across all the opportunities to save time: improving handoffs between different teams, streamlining bureaucratic processes and methodologies, and avoiding over-escalated decision-making. Progressive CIOs with whom CEB works are accelerating IT's clock speed by taking steps to do each of them:
These steps involve changes to processes and methodologies, but speed also requires changes in organizational culture. To drive cultural change, CIOs can use town hall-style meetings, newsletters, and scorecards to help their teams think about their contribution to overall speed, rather than simply trying to be as fast as possible. They can also encourage their employees to become comfortable with lighter-weight processes and avoid second-guessing decisions.
By reworking IT processes, and driving change in team behavior and mindsets, CIOs can position IT to make a great contribution to their company's competitive advantage -- and can do so faster than ever before.]]>
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) filed suit against the US government on July 21 to overturn a provision of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) which forbids bypassing digital locks.
Undoing digital access controls, or technical protection measures (TPMs) -- often referred to as digital restriction management or digital rights management (DRM) -- is unlawful under Section 1201 of the DMCA. Distributing tools that circumvent TPMs is also illegal under the law.
Supporters of Section 1201 insist it's necessary to criminalize the cracking of digital locks to prevent the unlawful copying of digital content, otherwise known as copyright infringement.
[ How can you keep your data safe? Read 10 Hot Security Technologies Enterprises Need Now. ]
While the relevance of Section 1201 to copyright protection remains a matter of dispute, the EFF suit argues the law criminalizes lawful copying, the modification and repair of devices that employ DRM, and security research on protected devices. The law casts a cloud over the public's right to tinker, the organization says.
For anyone managing information technology, Section 1201 has the potential to limit access to data, to weaken security, and to impose unnecessary burdens, costs, and liabilities.
The EFF is suing on behalf of Andrew "bunnie" Huang, who, through his company Alphamax, is developing devices for editing digital video streams. These devices allow people to alter video content by, for example, adding a dynamic Twitter comment field over a presidential debate. Selling such technology could be challenged under Section 1201.
"Section 1201 means that you can be sued or prosecuted for accessing, speaking about, and tinkering with digital media and technologies that you have paid for," Huang wrote in a blog post explaining why he has sued the government. "This violates our First Amendment rights, and I am asking the court to order the federal government to stop enforcing Section 1201."
Click here to view Figure 1.
The EFF is also representing Matthew Green, an assistant professor in the computer science department at Johns Hopkins University, who specializes in cryptography and computer security. Green had to seek a DMCA exemption last year to be assured that his security research was lawful.
The government tries to differentiate between unlawful and lawful copyright infringement (fair use) through triennial rulemaking by the Librarian of Congress. The Librarian considers applications for exemptions to the law every three years and grants some of them. Last year, the EFF celebrated the granting of exemptions for activities such as jailbreaking mobile devices to run third-party software.
In its complaint, the EFF argues this process is flawed because it places onerous requirements on applicants, which fall outside the scope of copyright law.
The cyber rights group's complaint also contends exemptions are inconsistent. Previous exemptions have not been renewed for activities such as researching internet block lists, for testing TPMs for malware, and for allowing mobile phone owners to change carriers. The EFF complaint argues the public cannot rely on exemptions as assurance that lawful activities, such as recording a digital movie on a DVR, will remain lawful.
Google's Nest provided a recent example of the potential problem. In late 2014, Nest acquired Revolv, which made an internet of things (IoT) hub. In May, Nest shut down the backend service supporting the Revolv Hub. Ideally, Revolv owners could simply reprogram their devices with different software. But if those devices were protected, then owners would not have a clear legal path for making modifications.
The EFF complaint contends Section 1201 interferes with the First Amendment right to free speech by limiting legitimate efforts to repurpose protected content through activities such as documentary filmmaking, ebooks that excerpt digital content for analysis and criticism, integrating digital content into online courses, content format conversion for those with impairments, and restoration of content such as games that are no longer supported.
"The government cannot broadly ban protected speech and then grant a government official excessive discretion to pick what speech will be permitted, particularly when the rulemaking process is so onerous," said EFF attorney Kit Walsh in a blog post. "If future generations are going to be able to understand and control their own machines, and to participate fully in making rather than simply consuming culture, Section 1201 has to go."]]>
Click here to view Figure 1.
Microsoft is celebrating the one-year anniversary of its Windows 10 operating system, which originally launched on July 29, 2015. Since then, the OS has grown to run on 350 million devices.
For its initial release, Windows 10 was promised to deliver a series of upgrades from Windows 8.1. It centered on mobility of experience, security, and natural interaction. Those who downloaded the new OS got Cortana, new security measures, and new desktop design.
As part of its Windows 10 transformation, Microsoft adopted a new Windows-as-a-Service model. Through its Windows Update service, the company delivers regular system updates that bring new features and fixes to Windows 10.
[Read: Forced Windows 10 Upgrade Costs Microsoft $10,000.]
Over the past year, Microsoft has tested new Windows 10 builds within its pool of Windows Insiders before rolling them out to the general public. To help users keep track of changes as they are released, it launched a website containing the OS update history.
Microsoft will continue churning out new features with the Windows 10 Anniversary Update, which was first announced at its Build 2016 conference and is currently being tested by Insiders. The update will roll out to the public on August 2, shortly after Microsoft pulls the plug on its free Windows 10 upgrade offer. If you want to get the newest wave of updates for free, you must upgrade to Windows 10 before then.
Given all the changes that have been released, the version of Windows 10 that exists today is very different from the one that launched one year ago. Here we take a closer look at some of the ways Windows 10 has changed since July 2015.
Does your PC run Windows 10? How have these changes affected you? If you don't use Windows 10, are you planning to upgrade? We'd like to hear your thoughts in the comments.]]>
Click here to view Figure 1.
Have you heard of this new game everyone's playing? "Pokémon Go," I think is what they're calling it. I had read about it, but it really came into focus when I saw a group of people with smart phones held at arm's length wandering around the lawn outside a nearby hospital. This is a serious game with serious implications ... for agile development.
As with so many aspects of life, it only took a few days before articles started appearing on the web with advice on how to be a better Pokémon Go trainer. It was only a couple of days later we began to see ads for people willing to catch and train Pokémon for you, but we're not here to talk about PaaS (Pokémon-as-a-Service).
Instead, we're here to talk about how becoming a better Pokémon trainer can help you become a better product owner or scrum master within the agile development discipline.
I know that there are many who will see absolutely no parallels between running around the landscape chasing imaginary monsters with a smartphone and leading an agile team developing enterprise software.
I think those people haven't looked deeply enough at the process of catching and training all those pocket monsters now scattered about the landscape. The link between the two is strong, with deep lessons for scrum masters to be taken from the exercises necessary to "catch them all" in the Pokémon universe.
[See Agile vs. DevOps: 10 Ways They're Different.]
I went around the internet looking for tips on becoming a better Pokémon Go trainer and found a bunch that translate directly into ideas that will help you be a better product owner or scrum master. Out of that group, I've chosen 10 that you should be able to put to use very quickly in order to make a real impact on your next sprint.
Have you become a great Pokémon trainer? Is Pokémon Go taking over your office? I'd really like to hear about your experience with Pokémon Go -- and about all the ways that the game has helped you with your agile experience. The links are out there. Let's hit the parks and catch those Pokémon -- and the lessons they carry!]]>
Retailer Macys is the most recent beneficiary of IBM's AI Watson cognitive computing capabilities. Google's AI investment pays off in energy savings. The search giant introduces a couple of new machine learning APIs. SaaS-based enterprise applications upstart Workday has made a new acquisition in the analytics and big data realms.
Let's start with IBM and Macy's.
This week the retailer announced a pilot of "Macy's On Call," a mobile web tool that lets customers interact with an AI-powered platform via their mobile devices. Think of it as Siri for Macy's customers. Except this is via Satisfi, the location-based intelligent engagement platform.
Click here to view Figure 1.
The solution will be rolled out to enhance the customer in-store shipping experience at 10 test locations nationwide. Will it help you locate your size instantly so you can get in and out of the store before you are sprayed by perfume-wielding store workers? Unclear at this point. We haven't tested it.
What the companies say it will do is enable customers to ask a question about products, services, or facilities, and receive a customized response.
The companies noted that a customers may ask for the location of women's shoes, and may also specify a particular brand of shoes. That customer will then receive a relevant response with the location of matching products in the store, according to the two companies.
The pilot will include a Spanish language feature to reach a broader set of customers in select stores, Macy's noted.
[How some sports teams are getting the edge with analytics. Read Hudl Sports Video Analysis Service Grows Fast on Amazon.]
"This particular use case takes Watson beyond helping consumers evaluate purchasing decisions, and influences another, equally important aspect of the in-store experience -- ease of use in locating products, facilities, and services," said David Kenny, general manager of IBM Watson, in a prepared statement.
"As more developer partners like Satisfi continue to build with the technology, we see Watson more frequently being delivered into the hands of consumers, and we're looking forward to learning more from this pilot with Macy's and Satisfi."
Google has cut its energy use for data centers by up to 40%, thanks to the insights delivered by its DeepMind artificial intelligence. The company reported that it had begun using machine learning two years ago to help it save energy at its data centers, and more recently added artificial intelligence from its DeepMind research, significantly improving the results.
The energy savings come from improving power usage effectiveness by 15%, which includes accounting for non-cooling inefficiencies and electrical losses.
Google also said it has focused on reducing data center energy usage over the past decade by investing in green energy resources and building its own efficient servers. Google notes that its ultimate goal is to power its data centers completely with renewable energy.
Meanwhile, Google also announced two new beta versions of Cloud Machine Learning product APIs, Cloud Natural Language, and Cloud Speech. Google unveiled the news in a blog post this week. The Google Cloud Natural Language API enables revealing the structure and meaning of text in languages including English, Spanish, and Japanese. It includes sentiment analysis, entity recognition, and syntax analysis.
The Cloud Speech API gives enterprises and developers access to speech-to-text conversion in over 80 languages for both apps and IoT devices, Google said. Cloud Speech uses the voice recognition that powers Google Search and Google Now.
Software-as-a-service enterprise applications company Workday announced via a blog post on July 21 that it will acquire Platfora, a provider of operational analytics and data discovery tools that let companies make sense out of huge amounts of data (on the scale of petabytes) instantly.
"With the Platfora team and its technology unified within Workday, we will continue enriching the analytics in Workday Financial Management and Workday Human Capital Management so our customers can be even more prepared to tackle business problems and seize opportunities today and into the future," the company announced in its post.]]>
Former National Security Agency (NSA) contractor and government whistleblower Edward Snowden is collaborating with well-known hacker Andrew "Bunnie" Huang to create an iPhone add-on device designed to alert users when they are being spied on.
The research was announced this week at an invitation-only video webcast featuring Snowden that was produced by the MIT Media Lab for a conference entitled Forbidden Research, according to a report by the New York Times. Snowden spoke via a video connection from Russia, where he is living in exile.
Snowden said that he was concerned that cellphones and smartphones serve as tracking devices that automatically create electronic dossiers that give third parties, such as governments, detailed information on the owner's location.
That's likely how Syrian forces located and killed journalist Marie Colvin, alleges a lawsuit filed by Colvin's family against the Syrian government.
Snowden's presentation included the story of Colvin, a journalist from New York, who entered the city of Homs, Syria, while reporting for The Sunday Times of London. Colvin reported from inside this city, but Syrian forces bombed her base there, killing her and another journalist and injuring two others.
A report in the Intercept, the news site startup spawned by Snowden's work with The Guardian journalist Glenn Greenwald and others, noted that a lawsuit filed by Colvin's family says that Syrian forces may have found Colvin by tracing her phone.
Click here to view Figure 2.
In the Forbidden Research webcast, Snowden said it's become increasingly difficult for users to trust their smartphones. These devices may even be carrying malware that transmits location information, even when the user thinks the phone has been placed into a safe "airplane mode."
That's particularly dangerous for journalists, and should be an issue at the top of mind for the IT departments that protect them.
"One good journalist in the right place at the right time can change history," Snowden told the MIT Media Lab audience, according to a report in WIRED. "This makes them a target, and increasingly tools of the trade are being used against them."
To protect them, Huang and Snowden designed the device. The work aims to give journalists the ability to know when their smartphones are tracking or disclosing their location when the devices are supposed to be in airplane mode, according to a detailed document written by Huang and Snowden.
"We propose to accomplish this via direct introspection of signals controlling the phones' hardware," they wrote. "The introspection engine will be an open source, 'user-inspectable' and field-verifiable module attached to an existing smart phone that makes no assumptions about the trustability of the phone's operating system."
[Should corporations side with government on breaking encryption? Read Tim Cook vs. FBI: Why Apple Is Fighting the Good Fight.]
For their research, Snowden and Huang focused on the 4.7" iPhone 6 design by Apple.
From the outside, the introspection engine looks and behaves like a typical battery case for an iPhone 6, but inside it also includes independent electronics and an independent screen to provide the user with updates on radio status.
Huang and Snowden said in their paper that they hope to prototype and verify the introspection engine's abilities in the year ahead. The techniques used to develop the design for this prototype may also be applied to other makes and models of smartphones.
IT organizations have a vested interest in being able to track end-user devices and monitor how those devices are used. For instance, a trucking company may include dispatch apps on its drivers' iPhones.
But if an iPhone is issued to an employee in the field in a war zone, that phone's own tracking and monitoring features can be used against the worker and perhaps even endanger his or her life.
In that case, IT would most likely want to enable technology to disable tracking and monitoring. The idea takes mobile device monitoring to a whole new level.]]>
Michigan police are taking an unusual tactic to solve a murder case. In hopes of revealing his killer, they're working with a university to create 3D copies of the victim's fingers in order to unlock his smartphone.
The victim's fingerprints were already on file with the police department from an earlier, unrelated incident. However, the prints alone are not enough to unlock the phone. The victim's own fingers cannot be used, for reasons that will make you cringe. So, according to a report in the Daily Mail, police are working with Michigan State University to recreate the victim's fingers using the university's 3D printing lab.
The desire by law enforcement to access a locked smartphone has come up before, most notably in the high-profile case involving San Bernardino terrorist Syed Farook. In that case, FBI officials sought to unlock his iPhone. Farook, however, did not have a fingerprint reader, or Touch ID, on his iPhone 5C.
[What you need to know about Apple and the FBI. Read Apple, FBI, Congress: 5 Burning Questions.]
In the Michigan murder case, the victim's smartphone does have a fingerprint reader. However, the victim's actual fingers cannot be used to swipe across the reader for several reasons. According to The Verge, the victim's body is badly decomposed. According to the Daily Mail report, fingerprint readers may need more than the tissue ridge pattern of a user's fingerprint.
While it is not clear whether the Michigan victim used an iPhone, recent versions of the device require the presence of an electrostatic charge when Touch ID is pressed, according to the Daily Mail. Humans who are deceased do not emit an electrostatic charge.
As a workaround, Michigan State University Professor Anil Jain and his PhD student Sunpreet Arora have been able to create 3D copies of the victim's fingers with a thin layer of conductive metallic particles coating the plastic digits. This metallic material is designed to emit an electrostatic charge, the Daily Mail reported. Currently, the 3D fingers are being tested in the lab, and the results are not known.
Click here to view Figure 1.
3D fingers are the only the latest effort to potentially fool a fingerprint scanner. Other techniques have been used with more primitive materials, The Verge reported. Unlike Apple's more recent iPhones, older versions of smartphones reportedly do not necessarily need the presence of an electrostatic charge to unlock a phone.
Even as the technology advances, legal precedent about unlocking devices in the event of a criminal case continues to evolve. For example, a recent court case in Los Angeles came down in favor of the FBI, which sought to compel a woman to use her fingerprint to unlock an iPhone. The court ruled that doing so would not violate the Fifth Amendment, which is designed to protect individuals from self-incrimination.
There will likely be no opposition to the use of the deceased victim's fingerprints -- either from the courts or the victim. Dead men don't talk, after all.
The real question is what this means for the privacy of the individuals whose personal details, communications, and other information might be contained on the victim's phone. Does finding his killer override the expectation of privacy for those who communicated with him? Tell us what you think in the comments section below.]]>
Microsoft this week released the financial results for its fourth fiscal quarter and 2016 fiscal year. Revenue for the company's fourth-quarter results totaled $22.6 billion (non-GAAP), beating Wall Street's expectations of $22.1 billion, and net income totaled $5.5 billion.
Cloud was the primary driver behind revenue growth. Microsoft's Intelligent Cloud division hit $6.7 billion, an increase of 7%, and Microsoft Azure grew 102%, more than doubling its usage year-over-year. Office commercial products and services also had a strong quarter with 5% growth.
The More Personal Computing division dropped 4% to $8.9 billion, largely due to poor phone sales, which fell 71%. Windows OEM Pro and non-Pro revenue increased 2% and 27%, respectively. Surface revenue was up 9%, driven by Surface Pro 4 and Surface Book.
[Read: Microsoft moves Skype to Azure, abandons P2P.]
Microsoft wrapped up its 2016 fiscal year on June 30. Final numbers totaled $92 billion in revenue (non-GAAP) and $22.3 billion in net income.
Windows 10 news for this week included Preview Build 14393 for PC and Mobile, which hit the Fast ring on July 18 and the Slow ring on July 20. This build doesn't introduce any new features, but addresses several problems for PCs and smartphones.
For PC users, this build brings more reliability for Start, Cortana, and Action Center. Users should also be able to mount iPods as USB mass storage devices.
On smartphones, Build 14393 addressed a couple of problems with battery drain, specifically on older devices and during Visual Voicemail sync on Dual SIM devices. It fixed a few issues affecting Dual SIM capabilities; using a Dual SIM device should now work as expected.
This week marked the launch of the Microsoft Stream preview. Stream is a new video service targeting the enterprise that helps organizations upload and share videos to improve communication and engagement across the business.
Users can upload encrypted videos to share with the whole company and drive collaboration over topics like product research, brainstorming, and company events. They may also create custom channels so it's easier for colleagues to learn and teach corporate information.
Another new service to launch this week is Microsoft Bookings. This tool aims to simplify the process of scheduling appointments with customers, a process Microsoft notes can often be hectic with back-and-forth email, phone tag, and reminders.
Click here to view Figure 1.
With Bookings, each business has a unique web page their customers can use to set appointments without having to call or respond to an email. They simply choose the service they want and a select a window of availability based on options provided by the business.
If you haven't downloaded Windows 10, you now have less than seven days to do so for free. Microsoft is terminating its free upgrade offer on July 29, exactly one year after it originally released the OS to the public.
A few days later, Microsoft will roll out the Windows 10 Anniversary Update and deliver several new features affecting Cortana, Microsoft Edge, and digital inking capabilities. The additions aren't groundbreaking, but they are handy. Once you have Windows 10 you'll be able to continue receiving both major and minor updates.]]>
Shipments of smartwatches declined a significant 32% during the second quarter of the year, according to a July 21 report from IDC that lays the blame at Apple's feet. Shipments of Apple's wearable sank from 3.6 million units in the year-ago period to 1.6 million units in the three months ending in June.
The numbers may look bad, but IDC cautions against panicking.
At 47%, Apple is still far and away the smartwatch leader. With 1.6 million units shipped during the second quarter, it more than doubled the 600,000 million units that Samsung shipped.
Samsung's Gear S2 lineup, in particular, is doing well. It helped propel Samsung to 16% of the market. The S2 includes cellular connectivity, allowing the watches to be used independent of a smartphone. Lenovo, LG, and Garmin round out the top five vendors with shipments of 300,000 million (9%), 300,000 million (8%), and 100,000 million (4%) units, respectively.
Every vendor but Apple enjoyed significant growth year-over-year, with Lenovo leaping up 75% and Samsung springing up 51%. LG followed with 26% growth, and Garmin brought up the rear with 25% growth.
Click here to view Figure 1.
The refresh cycle is weighing heavily on consumers' minds, according to IDC, which likely played a role in the slowdown of Apple's smartwatch. Recent price cuts seem to suggest new hardware is on the way.
"Consumers have held off on smartwatch purchases since early 2016 in anticipation of a hardware refresh, and improvements in WatchOS are not expected until later this year, effectively stalling existing Apple Watch sales," Jitesh Ubrani, senior research analyst for IDC Mobile Device Trackers, wrote in the report.
"Apple still maintains a significant lead in the market and unfortunately a decline for Apple leads to a decline in the entire market. Every vendor faces similar challenges related to fashion and functionality, and though we expect improvements next year, growth in the remainder of 2016 will likely be muted."
[Read about recent Apple Watch price cuts.]
The Apple Watch landed in the market in April 2015. Unchanged for 14 months, consumers are waiting to see if Apple reveals new Watch hardware in September. The company is believed to be working on a sequel device that may show up alongside the iPhone 7 this fall.
Details about the device are few and far between. Perhaps the biggest improvement will come in the form of connectivity. Apple has already made significant improvements to apps, allowing them to run without a nearby iPhone.
With LTE aboard, a refreshed Apple Watch could be a powerhouse device. Advancements such as these are needed to generate interest in smartwatches.
"What will bear close observation is how the smartwatch market evolves from here," wrote Ramon Llamas, research manager for IDC's Wearables team.
"Continued platform development, cellular connectivity, and an increasing number of applications all point to a smartwatch market that will be constantly changing. These will appeal to a broader market, ultimately leading to a growing market."]]>
On the heels of its announcement this week for a laser-based solution to routing the wireless web, social media titan Facebook completed the first successful flight of Aquila, the company's solar-powered plane designed to beam the internet to remote parts of the world.
The flight, which took place before dawn in Yuma, Ariz., on June 28, was only meant to last for 30 minutes, but the test went so well that the team decided to keep the plane flying for up for 96 minutes.
The eventual goal is to have a fleet of the drones flying at 60,000 feet, communicating with each other with lasers and staying aloft for months at a time. That duration would allow Facebook to break the record for the longest unmanned aircraft flight.
While Aquila has a wingspan wider than a Boeing 737, it has to weigh as little as possible to stay up for as long as possible. The design team solved the problem by constructing a carbon fiber composite body. This means the drone weighs less than 1,000 pounds.
Click here to view Figure 1.
Although the drone is in some ways self-piloting, Aquila relies on a ground crew of about a dozen engineers, pilots, and technicians who direct, maintain, and monitor the aircraft. The team controls the craft through software that allows them to determine heading, altitude, and air speed, or even send Aquila on a GPS-based route.
Aquila's communications payload uses lasers to transfer data, and will be able to aim its beams accurately enough to hit a dime more than 11 miles away while in motion.
"Over the next year we're going to keep testing Aquila -- flying higher and longer, and adding more planes and payloads," Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg wrote in a July 21 blog post. "It's all part of our mission to connect the world and help more of the 4 billion people who are not online access all the opportunities of the internet. As we make progress, we'll continue sharing what we learn."
The company is not alone in its quest to bring WiFi to the sky.
Google is expanding its ambitions for WiFi in the sky with Project SkyBender, which aims to deliver 5G wireless internet from solar-powered drones, according to a January report in The Guardian.
Earlier this week Facebook announced it had developed a laser-powered internet connectivity technology that detects optical communication signals traveling through the air.
[Read more about Facebook's other projects to create high-speed internet access.]
The development, announced on July 19 by the company's Connectivity Lab and published on The Optical Society, indicates there may be a future for license-free communications systems.
The experiment offered data rates of more than 2 gigabits per second (Gbps), but Tobias Tiecke, the leader of the research team, wrote that the new approach could theoretically allow free-space optical data rates of more than 10 Gbps if materials were developed that operate in the infrared part of the spectrum, invisible to human eyes.
The research team plans to move the technology out of the lab and into the real world through the development of a prototype that could eventually lead to a commercial product.]]>
Hudl, a unit of Agile Sports Technologies, offers a coach the chance to huddle with an individual player, review video, and have a conversation over what they see and how a player can improve.
The service is so useful that it's growing fast as an Amazon cloud-based company.
Hudl takes customer-generated video of practices, scrimmages, and games, and then loads all that data onto the Amazon cloud, where -- for a fee -- it can be analyzed, based on the rules and best practices of the sport in question. The video can be used to pull out highlights and annotate segments with coaching comments.
Notes can be added as audio, text, or lines and arrows on the video itself via telestrator. Statistics on individual players can be pulled out as well.
Coaches may attach comments and send them to a player's smartphone or tablet. Coaches can also upload amateur video of opposing teams or film from scouting reports for analysis. Athletes can use Hudl to send samples of their play to prospective colleges.
Click here to view Figure 1.
Founded in 2006 by CTO Brian Kaiser, now 33, and two other recent University of Nebraska graduates, Hudl has quickly grown to 450 employees. But this member of the startup set has never built a data center.
It does all its video upload, analysis, and storage on Amazon Web Services, in a move that Kaiser said was instrumental in allowing the company to grow as quickly as it has. In 2014, it garnered $30 million in revenues, mainly from high schools and colleges using its services. But every NFL team and 29 NBA teams find Hudl's video analysis a valuable tool as well, Kaiser said.
Football was the three founders' first love, and it was close cooperation with the coaching staff of the University of Nebraska Cornhuskers that gave the trio their start.
"I was computer science major. None of us were coaches. We knew technology and we knew sports -- from the outside," Kaiser recalled in a recent interview with InformationWeek.
"The Cornhusker's staff gave us hours of their time, what insights to look for in the video, what information was needed by coaches. It was the best insight we could have ever gotten" for how to build a digital system that supplemented what they were doing, recalled Kaiser during a break in the Amazon Summit 2016, July 13 in Santa Clara, Calif.
Kaiser visited the summit from Hudl's Lincoln, Neb., headquarters in order to be one of its featured speakers. The company received $72.5 million in funding in 2015, more than all the startups in the state received between 2011 and 2014.
The figure "was a whopper by Nebraska standards," according to The Wall Street Journal.
The service has gotten so popular that Hudl uploads 35 hours of video a minute from its customers during peaks in the active fall sports season, said Kaiser. It's being used by 45 million coaches and athletes at this time, he estimated.
Needless to say, Hudl is a big user of Amazon S3 storage. It will pass 10PB of accumulated data later this year. S3 "is a rock. It's the most low-maintenance thing I've ever worked with. I haven't touched it in nine years," said Kaiser.
Due to the high rate at which the company sometimes amasses video, Kaiser asked S3 managers how often Hudl data transfers show up on their traffic counter during peak periods. "They said we don't show up at all on their load chart. We're nothing to them and that's reassuring," he said.
Meanwhile, Hudl keeps adding features to what customers can do with their video once it's uploaded. Hudl is trying to provide a platform on which an athlete's video can be isolated for viewing in slow motion and analysis in relation to everything going on around him or her.
The service is particular helpful for team sports with many players in motion on the field, such as football, basketball, and soccer.
Click here to view Figure 2.
The English Premier League of soccer teams is another user. "We want to be able to explain the details of the game that are not necessarily evident. When he performed that cross, was it a good idea?" Kaiser was not an athlete on such teams himself but he was an avid tennis player in high school, he said.
[Where does S3 storage rank among AWS services? Read AWS S3, Data Transfer Among Its Most Popular Services: Report.]
The founders are trying to keep their product inexpensive enough to be used by budding athletes everywhere.
There's a limited free use of the upload and analysis service that would give a tennis, baseball, or golf player enough time to review and analyze his or her swing. The service can be purchased as different programs, such as Hudl Assist, Hudl Sideline, Hudl Technique, or Hudl Combine.
Clubs and youth services start at $99 and $299 a year. High school and college start at $800 to $2,400 a year, depending on the number of programs used. Professional teams can ask for custom tools and analysis features, and pay a higher rate.
"I think our kids were always ready and prepared for the next game. We beat two teams in the sectional semis and the sectional championship that should have beat us nine out of ten times," head coach A.C. Clouthier, of the Hawks girls' basketball team at Xavier High School is quoted on the Hudl website. Clouthier is a user of the cloud-based coaching program, Hudl Assist.
"We wouldn't have gone to state if it wasn't for (Hudl Assist). We won a lot of basketball games because of it," he added in comments on Hudl.com.]]>
Continuing its evangelism of machine learning, on Wednesday Google said two of its machine learning APIs introduced in March have advanced into open beta status.
The first of these is the Cloud Natural Language API, which lets developers parse the meaning and structure of text. With initial support for English, Spanish, and Japanese, the API provides tools to understand the sentiment expressed in text, the relevant entities discussed (e.g. people, places, events, products, and media), and the syntax of the text.
It is, in short, a way to help software understand. For companies, potential applications might include understanding how people feel about a product based on the sentiment expressed in online reviews, or how customers feel about support interaction based on analysis of transcribed calls.
As an example of how sentiment analysis can be applied, in a separate blog post Google explored sentiment analysis data for stories published in The New York Times over the first two weeks of July. Google's Cloud Natural Language API found US news stories had the most negative sentiment, while arts stories were the most positive. This lends support to arguments that news consumption is bad for you.
Click here to view Figure 1.
The second is the Cloud Speech API, which offers a way to turn spoken content into text in over 80 languages. Speech-to-text transcription enables voice-based interaction with devices like Amazon Echo, Apple Siri, and the forthcoming Google Home. It offers app developers a way to accept commands by voice and to direct those commands at any network-accessible device.
Google product managers Apoorv Saxena, Dan Aharon, and Dave Stiver note in a blog post that since the alpha version of Cloud Speech API was introduced March, over 5,000 companies have signed up to try it, including video chat app HyperConnect and speech analytics service provider VoiceBase. They also said that Ocado Technology, which builds systems for online grocery retailer Ocado, has been using the Cloud Natural Language API as an alpha customer.
Google has made it clear that machine learning plays a critical role in the company's future. "Machine learning is a core transformative way by which we are rethinking everything we are doing," said CEO Sundar Pichai during the company's Q3 2015 earnings call last year, and he reiterated the promise of machine learning and artificial intelligence in his contribution to the 2016 Google Founders' Letter.
[See Google Cloud Conundrum: 7 Questions That Need Answering.]
Google has tried to amplify excitement about machine learning through the open source release of technology like SyntaxNet, Parsey McParseface, and TensorFlow, even as competitors like Amazon, Baidu, Facebook, and Microsoft have made similar moves.
These companies are interested in benefiting from community support for software used internally. They're also interested in seeding interest among companies that could become customers of their respective cloud services. Open source machine learning tools are widely available, but running them with a large data set can lead to a significant cloud computing bill.
In anticipation of such business, Google announced an expansion of its Cloud Platform in the North American West with the opening of the Oregon Cloud Region (us-west1). By expanding its geographic presence, Google's Cloud Platform can deliver better service to customers in the area. Google plans to broaden its Cloud Platform footprint to the Tokyo region later this year, followed by 10 more regions in 2017.
(Cover Image: cliffwass/iStockphoto)]]>
Click here to view Figure 1.
This week marked the 47th anniversary of NASA's first successful moon landing, a momentous event that redefined the limits of impossibility.
Landing on the moon never gets old -- except that it did, as American audiences got bored with consecutive moonshots -- and NASA's mandate shrunk after Apollo 17.
Nevertheless, the significance of the first voyage to Earth's only natural satellite -- where a team of intrepid astronauts hurtled through space to orbit, and eventually descend, on the ghostly, dusty surface of the moon -- seems to grow more profound with each passing year.
With that in mind, we've assembled a selection of the most astounding images from humankind's first expedition to the moon, documenting the launch, the landing, and the splashdown in the Atlantic Ocean.
While subsequent missions to the moon afforded new and more complex analysis of the lunar surface, nothing will ever surpass the breathtaking images gathered on that initial flight. They document a time of audacious exploration that has never been equaled.
[See images of NASA's Apollo missions through the years.]
In a time when trepidation and uncertainty threatens to unweave the very fabric that binds us together as a society, these images may remind us of what we can achieve together.
This is doubly important in recognizing that rudimentary tools and equipment that pale in comparison to today's smartphones and notebook computers we use on a daily basis allowed humankind to take a new, bold step forward.
As Neil Armstrong memorably, if haltingly said, upon setting foot upon the moon, "That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind," if that's what he actually said.
(All Images: NASA)]]>
Microsoft is nearing the completion of its Skype migration to the cloud from its peer-to-peer backbone, a move the company says will allow it to offer a number of new services and improve the performance of some of its older features.
Microsoft, which acquired Skype in 2011, has recently been focusing on migrating its VoIP service to a mobile-friendly cloud architecture, according to a blog post from Gurdeep Pall, a Microsoft vice president who oversees Skype.
"By moving to the cloud we have been able to significantly improve existing features like file sharing and video messaging, and launch new features like mobile group video calling, Skype Translator and Skype Bots to name just a few," Pall said in a statement.
Although Pall's blog did not mention Microsoft's cloud platform specifically, he told ZDNet that most Skype consumers will be migrated to Azure in the near future.
Click here to view Figure 1.
Microsoft says it expects to complete its Skype transition in the coming months and notes support for some devices and operating systems will cease after Oct. 2016, according to its Skype support page.
For example, support for Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard will be discontinued, but users can still access the service via Skype for Web directly from a browser. However, Microsoft notes, support for Yosemite on the Mac, iOS 8, Android 4.03, and Windows 7, 8, XP, and Vista will continue, and that users should update Skype when prompted by the service.
"Our focus will be on the newly released lighter, faster and more responsive UWP app for Windows 10, Skype for iPhone, iPad and Android as well as a web-based native version of Skype for other supported platforms like previous Windows operating Systems, Mac and Linux, which will benefit from the latest ORTC or WebRTC technology that we've been working on for the last year," Pall said.
He added that during the transition, Skype users may find the service encounters such hiccups as messages that do not sync across user's devices, or delayed notifications.
[See 9 Skype Alternatives Worth Considering.]
These bumps have been noted over the past couple of years as Microsoft started to pull away from P2P. As far back as 2012, the Redmond giant had started to push some of Skype's infrastructure to its data centers, according to a ZDNet report.
The following year, Microsoft had touted that 50 billion Skype-to-Skype call minutes had passed through its Azure cloud, according to ZDNet. Only been more recently has this migration to the cloud has taken on the flavor of a mobile-friendly cloud.
"Skype's transition to the cloud is a huge technical endeavor, but one that is necessary and one we firmly believe in," Pall said. "Our users are at the core of everything we do and this transition will enable us to meet their needs in the years to come."]]>
Samsung has not had a good track record with its supposedly waterproof, Active-branded Galaxy S smartphones. The 2013-era Galaxy S4 Active famously failed dunk tests, and now the brand-new S7 Active has suffered from similar failures. Samsung says it's all good, though, and no one should worry. Do we believe what Samsung says?
Earlier this month, Consumer Reports said not one, but two Galaxy S7 Active handsets failed its water tests. The phone carries an IP68 rating, which means it is should not sustain damage if it sits in up to five feet of water for up to 30 minutes. Technically, Samsung says the smartphone is water-resistant, not waterproof. For many, that's probably a distinction without a difference -- especially when a commercial for the phone shows it being drowned in champagne.
From its original report:
Consumer Reports technicians placed a Galaxy S7 Active in a water tank pressurized to 2.12 pounds-per-square-inch, the equivalent of just under five feet of water, and set a timer for 30 minutes. When we removed the phone, the screen was obscured by green lines, and tiny bubbles were visible in the lenses of the front- and rear-facing cameras. The touchscreen wasn't responsive.
Following our standard procedure when a sample fails an immersion test, we submitted a second Galaxy S7 Active to the same test. That phone failed as well.
I tested the Galaxy S7 Active myself. I let it sit in the river that runs near my house for a bit more than 30 minutes, although at a depth of about two feet. I also held it under running water and briefly dunked it in my pool. My review unit sustained no damage.
Click here to view Figure 1.
Following Consumer Reports' findings, Cnet performed a series of its own dunk tests and found that two of four Galaxy S7 Active handsets succumbed to the deep.
So that's not good.
Samsung was quick to respond to the issue. "The Samsung Galaxy S7 active device is one of the most rugged phones to date and is highly resistant to scratches and IP68 certified," the company said in a written statement supplied to Consumer Reports. "There may be an off chance that a defective device is not as watertight as it should be."
Lo and behold, about one week after Consumer Reports published its initial findings July 8, Samsung said it launched an investigation and identified a manufacturing defect that impacted a small number of devices. That manufacturing defect has since been corrected.
[See Samsung Selling Unlocked Galaxy S7, S7 Edge in US.]
Samsung did not say how many units were affected, nor is the company recalling the phone. Instead, it said that consumers whose devices sustain water damage can return them to the point of purchase for a refund or replacement.
It is important to point out that Galaxy S7 Active is not meant to be a scuba diving companion. The IP68 rating means the device is watertight enough that it should not sustain damage in the event of an accidental dunking. The phone was not designed for underwater use.]]>


text:
Social awareness campaign - student project
This is an awareness campaign that I submitted for a bachelors degree. The motivation was to expose various myths by deconstructing social ideals that are reinforced within the advertising industry. I worked with a student photographer for the photo shoots. for the completion of this campaign i managed the photo direction, photo editing, layout, logo design, props & models, as well as copywriting.
The logo emerged from an idea i had, to create a villainous character that would shred the 'happy endings' that are rife in the fantasy world of advertising, So the fantom cat was the character i imagined up. The villain that would trap in its snare, the cock and bull stories or mythologies that reinforce the aspirations and values of capitalist society.
To anyone interested in viewing the rest of this campaign, an alternate means would need to be arranged as i do not have photo release forms from the models, and therefore i can not display them on a public site.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Your Company regards its employees as one of the key drivers of growth by providing a congenial work environment.
The total manpower of your Company as on 31st March 2015 was 1628, comprising of 744 supervisors and 884 non-supervisors (1688 as on 31st March 2014, comprising of 778 supervisors and 910 non-supervisors).
During the year, to promote cordial industrial relations climate, the Functional Management conducted 9 meetings with the Office Bearers of Union and Officers Association on various occasions. Further, 11 structured communication meetings with Office bearers of Welfare Associations were conducted. Memorandum of Settlement under section 18(1) and 2(p) of the Industrial Disputes Act 1947 on work related Allowance/facilities, Cafeteria approach and on Career Progression Policy for workmen was signed between Management and recognized union.
Further, during the year, communication meetings with the Functional Management were conducted wherein physical and financial performances of the Company were discussed. Suggestion for productivity and profitability improvements were received from the employees.
Your Company has been taking continuous effort for developing its human resources by organizing training programs for employees at all levels. During the year, 2.5 Man-days per employee for training was achieved meeting the target and in total 4120 Man-days training were provided to employees in various training programs. In order to develop the technical knowledge, the Core course Program was conducted at Refinery Engineering School of Training (RESOT) for Supervisory employees.
Training Programs on Leadership Development including Risk Management were conducted. In addition to the formal training, programmes aimed at developing the technical and non-technical skills of the employees, innovative programs on physical and mental health of the employees like yoga, meditation, etc were also conducted
Your Company has been meticulously following the Presidential Directives and various instructions of the Government relating to the welfare of the SC, ST, OBC, and differently abled persons. Out of the total manpower, there were 396 SC employees (previous year: 414) and 37 ST employees (previous year: 38) as on 31.03.2015 constituting 24.32% and 2.27% of the total manpower respectively.


text:
WASHINGTON (April 24, 2013)-- America's tech industry is finalizing voluntary disclosure standards on the sensitive information that's sucked from smartphones such as location, surfing habits and contacts.
U.S. Senate Democrats are pushing for a clearer opt-out button for all online tracking, and Microsoft is offering a new browser that encourages people to block the technology that enables tracking.
Industry officials say they understand some people want greater control, but they are betting that consumers don't really mind trading some basic information about themselves for free access.
A Senate hearing Wednesday focused on a proposal to subject companies to penalties by the Federal Trade Commission if they violate a consumer's "do not track" request.


text:
News 8's Marcella Lee emcees business diversity conference
The San Diego International Airport is hosting the airport business diversity conference and News 8's own Marcella Lee was Monday's emcee.
RAQUEL: Accomplishments? Let's see, defended a group of black panthers for killing a police officer, was discharged by her liberal superior from Watergate legal team for for being dis-honest, gave away mineral rights (uranium) to the Russians for who knows what (Clinton Foundation). Lies about World Trade Center, daughter was jogging around it when it occurred. Was one of a group of two responsible for American deaths in Benghazi then lied to family members and to the country about what actually happened! removed items (stole) from White House when leaving with her cheating husband. Threatened how many women?? to cover up Slick Willie's many affairs while in the Oval Office! Kept secret documents on her private e-mail accounts and then destroyed evidence when it was discovered that she had them this would have and in the past has landed the average American in jail! Treats people around her like #$%$ talked to too many secret service officers in past and listened to absolute horror stories about her. All these are just the tip of the ice berg in her long line of lies, deception and outright dishonesty!!! God help America!!


text:
Totally radical dude
by Kaponofor3 December 16, 2010
Trending Now
Can you define these popular missing words?
Top Definition
Typical Rockhurst Douche Bag. Describes an asshole who thinks he is better than everyone else. Usually seen with a backwards hat, a popped collar and his varsity letterman jacket. Usually a jock you just goes to the school to play sports and is not really Catholic.
1.(TRD)- Hey you kids from North, get the fuck out of here this is a Rockhurst party only.
2. I'm sick of that guy's shit. Lets go knife that TRD's cunt ass.
2. I'm sick of that guy's shit. Lets go knife that TRD's cunt ass.
by Nick C. W. April 20, 2008
Toyota Racing Development
a subdivision of toyota that makes aftermarket parts for toyota vehicles.
by s6arface April 05, 2004
TRD stands for ' the real deal'
Ever spend any time in So-Cal--The Real Deal-- this is a term you need to know--not just for text, it's really used in everyday speech- Q: " did you see that chicks rack?" A: "Yup TRD!"
by dagodog November 04, 2009