Silicon Valley Debates Thiel's Money Man Role in Gawker Suit

The digital media world was abuzz last week when news surfaced that billionaire Peter Thiel had provided financial backing for a defamation lawsuit against Gawker Media. The suit stemmed from Gawker's publication of a sex tape involving ex-WWE superstar Terry Bollea, better known as "Hulk Hogan." A Florida jury awarded Bollea $140 million in March. Thiel, a Facebook board member and longtime financial supporter of the Committee to Protect Journalists, confirmed that he backed the Hogan case in part due to his concerns about Gawker's tactics.

from TechNewsWorld http://ift.tt/1TWbVf1

The Rise of Drone Racing, Part 2

With lucrative broadcast deals and cup competitions now crowding calendars, the sport of drone racing has become one of the primary factors driving the surge in demand for consumer drones. Mountain Dew and DR1 Racing earlier this month announced a special DR1 Invitational presented by Mountain Dew. The one-hour broadcast will air on Discovery Communication's Discovery and Science channels this August. That's just one example of the forces driving a consumer drone market that's expected to be worth $4.19 billion by 2024.

from TechNewsWorld http://ift.tt/1TVeNrk

What Will HPE Sell Next?

I joined a bunch of analysts in discussing Hewlett Packard Enterprise's next move at a secret conclave last week. The company had just announced the sale of its IT services, which basically undid much of Mark Hurd's work as CEO. It already had sold off PCs and printers, more than undoing Carly Fiorina's earlier efforts. Granted, HPE spun it like it was an acquisition, but this move leaves the firm even more crippled, suggesting there's more to come. To hear Meg Whitman speak, it was like she had completely lost touch with reality.

from TechNewsWorld http://ift.tt/25tloP3

Gadget Ogling: A Homier Google, Flicking Lamps, and Busy Earbuds

Not quite content with Nest controlling how warm your domicile is and Chromecast taking charge of what you watch, Google is moving further into your physical world with its connected home hub, the creatively named "Home." Taking a page or 10 out of Amazon Echo's book, Home is a blend of a smart speaker and a personal assistant, which you control using your voice. It can handle the types of queries Google Now and its successor, Google Assistant, can take on -- from questions like what's on your schedule for the day to trivia about your favorite sports team.

from TechNewsWorld http://ift.tt/20KZFyI

Tiny HopperGo Neatly Stashes Loads of Mobile Entertainment

Dish Network continues to change the way we view recorded TV. The company made location-shifting as easy as time-shifting via its Sling technology, and its Hopper let users transfer recordings to a mobile device, which has allowed for offline viewing of content. Now the company has introduced yet another option for taking recorded content just about anywhere: the Dish HopperGO, a compact DVR hard disk drive that allows users to transfer content from a Dish Hopper 2 or Hopper 3 set-top box to the portable unit.

from TechNewsWorld http://ift.tt/1TYL1zi

Twitter Loosens Tweet's Leash

Twitter on Tuesday announced a number of changes to tweets, including what will be included in a message's 140-character count. The changes will be rolled out in the coming months. When replying to a tweet, tagged @names at the beginning of the reply no longer will be included in the character count. Photos, GIFs, videos, polls and quote tweets no longer will be counted against the character limit. Tweets that begin with a username will be delivered to all followers of that user, and users will be able to retweet and quote tweet themselves.

from TechNewsWorld http://ift.tt/1NNr6Xp

OnePlus Offers Free Headsets to Lure Crowd to VR Smartphone Launch

The 30,000 virtual reality headsets OnePlus announced it would give away as part the unveiling of its OnePlus 3 smartphone were snapped up Monday, the day they became available. OnePlus has set up a VR space called "The Loop" in which it will unveil the OnePlus 3. The Loop can be accessed only by users of the OnePlus Loop VR headsets, made by AntVR. "We believe we, and the tech industry as a whole, have only scratched the surface of what can be done in VR," OnePlus cofounder Carl Pei said.

from TechNewsWorld http://ift.tt/1Tyx54w

Google's Abacus May Count Out Passwords

By the end of the year, Android devs will be able to use a trust API from Google's Project Abacus in their apps, Google ATAP Director Dan Kaufman suggested at last week's I/O conference. The API, which will run in the background continually, is aimed at doing away with passwords. It will use a smartphone's sensors to check users' current locations, typing patterns and voice patterns, as well as for facial recognition. It will create a cumulative trust score that will authenticate users so they can unlock their devices or sign into applications.

from TechNewsWorld http://ift.tt/1szjduM

Versatile iBot Wheelchair to Make a Comeback

Toyota and DEKA Research and Development last week announced an agreement that will revive development of the iBot, a wheelchair that can climb stairs. The companies revealed their pact to develop mobility solutions for the disabled community at the annual convention of the Paralyzed Veterans of America. One of the first initiatives under the agreement will be to resurrect the iBot, which uses a balancing technology similar to the Segway's that allows it to perform tasks such as climbing stairs.

from TechNewsWorld http://ift.tt/1qHF4Pm

Rebellin Linux Offers Best of Both Gnome Worlds

Rebellin Linux is a smart-looking, fast distro that is both lightweight and secure. It is well worth checking out. The Rebellin line avoids the pitfalls that befall many Debian GNU/Linux derivatives. It does not maintain a warehouse full of desktop versions. It is neither a minimalistic Linux line nor a distro stuffed with bloat from packages typical users will never need. Instead, it comes well loaded with essential applications, drivers and codecs to provide a very uncomplicated out-of-the-box user experience.

from TechNewsWorld http://ift.tt/1Tvv60R

The Rise of Drone Racing, Part 1

Tearing through open spaces and timing each turn to burst out of them, a seeming continuum of drones weaves through a set of obstacles lap after lap, until the stutter of a pilot's joystick breaks the cadence of this competitive concert and destroys the illusion. It's the drama -- anticipating and reacting to those human moments -- that has propelled drone racing from an underground scene in Australia four or five years ago to vying for a place in the sports mainstream today. Drone racing is more than a group of pilots pushing their cinematographic drones from point A to B.

from TechNewsWorld http://ift.tt/1qGKHNJ

Microsoft Tightens Screws on Terrorists Posting Online

Microsoft last week announced plans to crack down on terrorist content, perhaps in response to the Obama administration's intense effort to get Silicon Valley's help in preventing organizations like ISIS from using social media as a recruiting and fundraising tool. Microsoft has amended its terms of use to prohibit the posting of terrorist content on its various platforms, extending the existing prohibition on hate speech and advocacy of violence against others.

from TechNewsWorld http://ift.tt/1Vg5OmP

Google's New Custom Chip May Not Live Up to the Hype

Google last week announced the Tensor Processing Unit, a custom application-specific integrated circuit, at Google I/O. TPU was built for machine learning applications and has been running in Google's data centers for more than a year. Google's AlphaGo software, which thrashed an 18-time international Go champion in a match earlier this year, ran on servers using TPUs. TPU is tailored for TensorFlow, Google's software library for machine intelligence, which it turned over to the open source community last year.

from TechNewsWorld http://ift.tt/1qFrI68

Using the Scientific Method to Pick the Best US President

I've been thinking a lot this week about what it takes to select a strong CEO and being annoyed by robocalls from the different campaigns. On one such call, when asked what I'd do if given the choice between Clinton and Trump, my response was "move to Canada." That apparently wasn't what they were looking for. Boards often have to select from a very small pool of CEO candidates, and they don't get the "move to Canada" option. I thought it would be interesting to apply my recommended process for CEO selection, which is based roughly on simplified scientific method, to Clinton, Sanders and Trump.

from TechNewsWorld http://ift.tt/1TGvQ1w

Hyperloop Dreams Are Getting Real

The Hyperloop -- the high-speed transportation concept Elon Musk has promoted heavily -- is edging closer to becoming a reality. Russia plans to develop a Hyperloop network for freight transportation, the country's transport minister announced Friday. MIT last week unveiled its Hyperloop Pod, a prototype of its award-winning design concept intended for human travelers. Hyperloop One recently announced $80 million in Series B financing and demonstrated its groundbreaking technology. When completed, its system will be able to transport passengers from Los Angeles to San Francisco in half an hour.

from TechNewsWorld http://ift.tt/20jLKiO

Gang Surrenders Key to TeslaCrypt Ransomware Kingdom

Eset on Wednesday announced that it has fashioned a free tool that victims of all variants of the TeslaCrypt ransomware can use to unlock affected files. After the criminal gang behind TeslaCrypt recently abandoned support of the malicious software, an Eset analyst contacted the group anonymously, using the channel TeslaCrypt's operators offered to ransomware victims, and asked for the universal master decryption key, the company said. To Eset's surprise, the operators made it public.

from TechNewsWorld http://ift.tt/1sHM8NP

Google Patents Tech to Limit Injuries in Vehicle-Pedestrian Accidents

The United States Patent and Trademark Office earlier this week granted Google a patent for "Adhesive Vehicle Front End For Mitigation of Secondary Pedestrian Impact." The patent application, filed a year and a half ago, credits Google employees Alex Khaykin and Daniel Lynn Larner as the inventors of the new technology. The patent grant is for a system that includes an adhesive layer covered with a thin membrane that becomes exposed during a collision with an object, so that the colliding object will adhere to the vehicle.

from TechNewsWorld http://ift.tt/1sHC5sj

Gadget Ogling: Speedy Tortillas, Racing Robots, and Real-Time 3D

Flatev is a pod-based system for instant tortillas in the mold of a Keurig coffee maker. Insert a pod of fresh dough -- you have several choices, all organic -- then adjust settings for type of dough and desired crispiness, and 90 seconds later you'll have a fresh, warm tortilla. There's a heated drawer to keep your tortillas warm while you make as many as you need. Starting at around $200 for backers of its crowdfunding campaign, the machine itself seems a fair price.

from TechNewsWorld http://ift.tt/1YJyUKr

Apache Guru Behlendorf to Helm Hyperledger Project

The Linux Foundation on Thursday announced that Brian Behlendorf, a primary developer of the Apache Web server and a founding member of the Apache Software Foundation, has joined the Hyperledger Project as executive director. The project is a collaborative effort to advance blockchain technology by identifying and addressing important features for an open standard for distributed ledgers that will apply across industries. It aims to transform how businesses transactions are conducted worldwide.

from TechNewsWorld http://ift.tt/1YJ9dtq

Flaw Puts a Billion Wireless Mice at Risk

Wireless mice and keyboards are the perfect accessories for a world in which devices increasingly are shuffling off their connection coils, but those accessories -- especially untethered rodents -- also can create new threats for those who use them. One such threat is Mousejack. The attack exploits a vulnerability found in 80 percent of wireless mice. With $15 worth of off-the-shelf hardware and a few lines of simple code, a wireless mouse can be turned into a hacker's portal for all kinds of mischief.

from TechNewsWorld http://ift.tt/20eJLMM

Google Plots Home Invasion

Google CEO Sundar Pichai kicked off the company's annual I/O developers conference on Wednesday with a keynote address that included previews of a batch of new products. Among those showcased were Google Assistant, a tool that can understand and respond to complex questions in real time; and Home, Google's highly anticipated response to Amazon's Echo speaker. Google VP of Product Management Mario Queiroz took the stage to demonstrate some of Home's capabilities. "What makes Google Home really shine is that it has Search built in," he said.

from TechNewsWorld http://ift.tt/254hagt

BitTorrent Live Aims to Iron Out Live-Streaming Kinks

BitTorrent on Tuesday announced at the Internet & Television Expo an application called "BitTorrent Live" that applies its distributed file-sharing technology to video streaming. BitTorrent is able to speed up file downloads by storing pieces of a file on computers throughout the Net and reassembling them when a request is made for the file. BitTorrent Live does the same for streaming live video, the company said. It targets two big problems with streaming live events over the Net: latency and cost.

from TechNewsWorld http://ift.tt/1Tmvsld

Otto Kits Out Big Rigs With Aftermarket Self-Driving Tech

Otto on Monday introduced a self-driving kit designed to help those behind the wheel of big rigs drive more safely and efficiently. The company is developing a suite of sensors, software and other truck-related enhancements that could be retrofitted into existing vehicles. The technology has been tested in Otto's research fleet, and the company recently completed an autonomous demo of its technology on public highways. The initiative aims to enhance the capabilities of the Otto truck as well as collect safety data.

from TechNewsWorld http://ift.tt/1rUECyl

Motorola Shows Off New Moto G Collection

Motorola on Tuesday unveiled three new smartphones: the fourth-generation Moto G, the Moto G Plus and the Moto G Play. The Moto G and Moto G Plus can be customized using Moto Maker, while the Moto G Play can not. All three run Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow. The Moto G and Moto G Plus became available Tuesday in Brazil and India. They will be rolled out across North America, Europe, Latin America and Asia over time. The lower-end Moto G Play will be available globally this summer, Motorola said.

from TechNewsWorld http://ift.tt/27AyiwB

Forked Debian Beta Is Rough Around the Edges

The Devuan GNU/Linux community's much-awaited Devuan Linux Jessie 1.0 beta release is available. It took two years for disgruntled Debian community members to make good on their promise of a systemd-free Debian distro. They rejected a Linux-wide trend to replace older init processes such as Upstart and System V with systemd. The process of forking Debian into Devuan took much longer than the Devuan leadership expected, according to Devuan.org. Despite that delay, Devuan Jessie is a safe upgrade path from Debian Wheezy.

from TechNewsWorld http://ift.tt/1TiGR5D

Google to Dim Flash Player in Chrome Browser

Google last week announced that it would minimize use of Adobe's Flash Player in its Chrome Web browser by the end of the year by turning off its default status. When Chrome encounters a Web page, it will report the presence of Flash Player only if a user has indicated that the domain should execute Flash or if the site is in one of the top 10 domains using Flash, ‎Google's Anthony LaForge said. When a Web surfer using Chrome encounters a site offering HTML5, the change in Google's browser will make that the primary experience.

from TechNewsWorld http://ift.tt/1ODVjIF

Facebook Looks Into Bias Claims

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg last week announced that the company would investigate allegations that its Trending Topics feature had an anticonservative bias. "We have found no evidence that this report is true," he said, referring to a news report earlier this month that kicked off the storm. The company is "conducting a full investigation to ensure our teams upheld the integrity" of Trending Topics, Zuckerberg asserted, adding that he would hold discussions with "leading conservatives and people from across the political spectrum."

from TechNewsWorld http://ift.tt/1Tiw9Mi

Could the Next Disruptive Consumer Product Be a Flip Phone?

Smartphones appear to be losing their luster, and the king of smartphones -- Apple -- clearly is not having a good year. Suddenly, I'm hearing that there is an upswing in flip phones, making this feel a bit like a Game of Thrones episode, when a believed-dead king returns to seize the throne by surprise. Clearly, the market is looking for the next big thing. There was a lot to love about the flip phone, and phones have been a rather fluid environment for a time.

from TechNewsWorld http://ift.tt/1TSrkIQ

Docker Ramps Up Container Security

Docker this week announced the rollout of security scanning technology to safeguard container content across the entire software supply chain. Docker Security Scanning is an opt-in service for Docker Cloud private repository plans. It provides a security assessment of the software included in container images. It enables detailed image security profiles, continuous vulnerability monitoring, and notifications for integrated content security across the entire software supply chain, Docker said.

from TechNewsWorld http://ift.tt/1ZOF9gb

Google's Chirp May Try to Drown Out Amazon's Echo

Google is rumored to be developing a direct competitor to Amazon's Echo, code-named "Chirp." The device, which might resemble the OnHub router, would incorporate its Google Now voice assistant technology. Google likely will launch the product later this year, although it's expected to preview it at I/O. The Echo, one of Amazon's biggest product launches in years, combines a speaker with the Alexa personal digital assistant -- voice recognition software that answers questions, maintains lists, controls home automation systems, and more.

from TechNewsWorld http://ift.tt/1ZOq6mK

Opera Browser Sips Laptop Juice Rather Than Slurping

Opera on Thursday announced a dedicated power-saving mode in the developer version of its Web browser. Tests showed it extended laptop battery life by up to 50 percent against Google Chrome, the company said. The browser will suggest that users enable the power-saving mode when their laptop battery has 20 percent of capacity left. Clicking on the battery icon after a laptop is disconnected from its power cable activates it. "To some degree, this is about allowing savvy browser power users to kick the tires," analyst Al Hilwa said.

from TechNewsWorld http://ift.tt/1XprU6Z

Battlefield 1 Balances Gaming Fun With WW1 Realism

The latest title in the long-running Battlefield series made its debut last week. Instead of another near-future setting with the latest high-tech body armor and assault weapons, DICE and Electronic Arts are putting players in the trenches of the First World War and outfitting them with bolt-action rifles, horses and gas masks. The series, which launched in 2001 with the World War 2-themed Battlefield 1942, has moved forward in time up to now, with a sequel set during the Vietnam War and subsequent follow-ups set in the modern day or even in the future.

from TechNewsWorld http://ift.tt/1TextlG

Google Gives iOS Users 1st Crack at Gboard App

Google on Thursday introduced Gboard, an app that combines search with a new soft keyboard for mobile devices running iOS. Gboard, which supports glide typing, allows users to perform searches from the keyboard without leaving the application they're in. Once the information is found, they can paste it into their application without leaving the keyboard. Information from searches appear as cards on the screen. With a single tap, the information on the card can be pasted into an app such as iMessage.

from TechNewsWorld http://ift.tt/1TIN8Xr

Data Breaches Chip Away at IT Pros' Confidence in Security

The daily barrage of data breach news appears to be eroding confidence in security solutions. Fifty percent of IT pros aren't confident about the ability of their security measures to protect their data, according to a survey released last week by Barkly. The high percentage of IT pros with doubts about their security systems caught Barkly CTO Jack Danahy off-guard. "Organizations are investing because they know they should be doing something for security, but their expectations are low," he said.

from TechNewsWorld http://ift.tt/27hAMQk

Simplicity Linux Digs Deeper Than Its Puppy Linux Pals

Simplicity Linux delivers a simpler way to run a fully powered Linux desktop on any computer you touch. It is derived from Puppy Linux. Two beta versions released in March offer experimental approaches that stray from the distro's standard releases. If you're familiar with Puppy Linux but have not yet taken Simplicity for a walk, you're missing out some interesting Linux computing experiences. Puppy Linux is a unique distro brand made for both new and old home-user computers. Simplicity Linux is more than a Puppy Linux clone.

from TechNewsWorld http://ift.tt/1T8PzmG

Reddit Tech Forum May Ban Sites That Circumvent Ad Blockers

A forum on Reddit, /r/ Technology, on Monday announced it was considering blocking links to websites that require visitors to turn off their ad blockers before viewing content on the site. "It has come to our attention that many websites such as Forbes and Wired are now requiring users to disable ad blockers to view content. Because Forbes requires users to do this and has then served malware to them, we see this as a security risk to you, our community," said creq, the moderator of the site.

from TechNewsWorld http://ift.tt/1T5umO7

Feds to Take a Hard Look at Mobile Device Patch Practices

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission and the Federal Communications Commission on Monday announced a joint investigation into the issue of mobile device security updates. The FTC issued an order requiring eight mobile device manufacturers -- Apple, BlackBerry, Google, HTC America, LG Electronics USA, Microsoft, Motorola Mobility and Samsung Electronics America -- to provide information about how they issue security updates to address mobile device vulnerabilities. FTC members voted unanimously to issue the order under Section 6(b) of the FTC Act.

from TechNewsWorld http://ift.tt/1X1sJlS

iPhone 7 Rumors Blunt Anticipation

It appears there won't be a lot of design changes in the next iPhone, according to a schematic photo published online Monday. It shows what's purported to be Apple's upcoming iPhone 7 to be the same size as the 6s. "They've done a lot with the design already. They're keeping multiple design languages to keep their customer base happy. The SE, for example, has the old design language, while the 6 and 6s have the new design language," said Kevin Krewell, an analyst with Tirias Research. "That mix is something they'll do more of."

from TechNewsWorld http://ift.tt/1rWulkV

IBM to Drill Watson in Cybersecurity

IBM on Tuesday announced Watson for Cyber Security, a cloud-based version of its AI technology, trained in cybersecurity as part of a year-long research project. "This technology is about using Watson's learning capability and ability to understand the meaning and context of human language, and applying that to the massive amount of unstructured security data -- blogs, research papers, etc. -- that isn't accessible by current security technologies," said Chief Watson Security Architect Jeb Linton.

from TechNewsWorld http://ift.tt/1TESPFW

Google, Fiat Chrysler Team on Self-Driving Minivans

Google's Self-Driving Car Project and Fiat Chrysler last week announced that they would integrate autonomous vehicle technology into 2017 Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid minivans as part of Google's testing program. It is the first time Google has worked directly with a car manufacturer to integrate its self-driving technology into a passenger vehicle. It will add 100 Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid vehicles to its existing self-driving test program -- more than doubling the number of cars participating in the program.

from TechNewsWorld http://ift.tt/23FNoMn

Clock Is Ticking for Free Windows 10 Upgrade

Microsoft last week announced that Windows 10 was running on 300 million PCs and reminded customers that its free upgrade offer would end July 29. After that date, the price to upgrade to Windows 10 Home will be $119. "We're pleased to see Windows 10 become one of the largest online services in less than a year," said Yusuf Mehdi, corporate VP of Microsoft's Windows and Devices Group. Additional Windows 10 services will be "coming in the upcoming Windows 10 Anniversary Update this summer," he added.

from TechNewsWorld http://ift.tt/1ZBD9HU

IBM Extends Open Invitation to Play With Its Quantum Computer

IBM last week announced that it would allow researchers and scientists to run experiments using its quantum processor. The IBM Quantum Experience runs on the IBM Cloud. Users will be able to run algorithms and experiments on the quantum processor; work with individual quantum bits, or qubits; and explore tutorials and simulations on the possibilities opened up by quantum computing, it said. The processor consists of 5 qubits made with superconducting metals on a silicon chip.

from TechNewsWorld http://ift.tt/1XjfBsC

Vivaldi Browser Is a Breath of Fresh Air

The Vivaldi browser provides a refreshing approach to traveling along the Internet. It offers something beyond the same old thing in a different skin. Vivaldi is the brainchild of former Opera CEO Jon von Tetzchner. The developers built the Vivaldi browser on top of Chromium, which is open source, but added their own proprietary skins. Therefore, Vivaldi's code is not available for review. That tiny licensing glitch aside, the Vivaldi browser has the same affliction as the Google Chrome browser: It is not completely open source.

from TechNewsWorld http://ift.tt/24I4jUu

Futuristic Digital Assistant Viv Takes the Stage

Viv Labs CEO Dag Kittlaus on Monday demonstrated at Disrupt NY 2016 technology that was designed to make people-to-machine interactions as natural as people-to-people interactions. Kittlaus, the former CEO of Siri, and other Siri vets cofounded Viv in 2012. The artificial intelligence-enabled interface no user manual and can handle complex tasks via simple commands, he said. It eventually will make many of the most tedious aspects of existing apps, sites and services obsolete, Kittlaus said.

from TechNewsWorld http://ift.tt/21Q4ckt

The Interesting Dell + EMC Stories You Haven't Heard

I spent last week at EMC World talking to customers and both Dell and EMC employees, on the lookout for interesting stories that others hadn't picked up. I got a bunch that I think are fascinating -- stories about women in technology, billions of dollars of currently untapped revenue, and why every EMC and Dell sales rep effectively will have a dartboard with Meg Whitman's picture on it. One difference between Dell and EMC is that EMC is a typical male-driven, male-dominated firm where engineers are king. At Dell, Michael Dell personally has made it his mission to get more women into technology.

from TechNewsWorld http://ift.tt/1YibATJ

4th Time's the Charm for Uncharted

The final chapter in Sony's PlayStation 4 exclusive Uncharted 4: A Thief's End brings the story of treasure hunter Nathan Drake to a satisfying conclusion, suggest early reviews. The game will hit retail outlets Tuesday. The game is the final title in the series, developer Naughty Dog has said. It seems that the studio went out all to ensure that the saga ended on a high note. It is not only among the best of the Uncharted titles, but also among the best yet released exclusively for the PlayStation 4, according to reviews.

from TechNewsWorld http://ift.tt/1SUJ1eM

Aging at Home, Part 2: Some Tech to Watch Over Me

When road maps for advanced care terminate in the familiar surroundings of one's home, as opposed to assisted living facilities and hospitals, technology can be as critical and comforting as human caregiving. Neither can replace the benefits the other brings. For individuals who would like to age in place -- their home or a loved one's residence -- it's critical to factor in new and upcoming technologies when having end-game conversations. They could make the difference between aging in place or in an institution.

from TechNewsWorld http://ift.tt/21F0U3u

ISIS Cyberthreat: Puny but Gaining Power

The Islamic State group's cyberwar capabilities are unsophisticated, but they won't be that way for long. That was the conclusion of a 25-page report released last week by Flashpoint. The report, "Hacking for ISIS: The Emergent Cyber Threat Landscape," found that the Islamic State's "overall capabilities are neither advanced nor do they demonstrate sophisticated targeting." However, the severity of the attacks by the groups supporters isn't likely to remain unsophisticated, it added.

from TechNewsWorld http://ift.tt/1T1sIvE

Microsoft Challenges Oracle With SQL Server 2016

Microsoft this week announced that SQL Server 2016 will be generally available June 1. It will deliver an end-to-end data management and business analytics solution with mission-critical intelligence, according to the company. Built into the software are end-to-end mobile business intelligence on any device, in-database advanced analytics, in-memory capabilities optimized for all workloads, and a consistent experience from on-premises to the cloud, Microsoft said.

from TechNewsWorld http://ift.tt/1XaGD5y

For the Aging, Home May Be Where the Technology Is

Medicare started off the year putting into action a program to encourage more doctors to discuss end-of-life and advance care plans with patients. While the details tend to focus on the hard choices on the far side of those arrangements, new and near-future technologies could preserve life's simple pleasures on their front end. End-of-life conversations are meant to cover more than the final days or weeks. There's a growing movement to include in those discussions options for the elderly and infirm to "age in place."

from TechNewsWorld http://ift.tt/1NZ5vLv