The glue that binds smart cities together
The visage of our 'smart' or 'connected' destiny is often presented to us in broad strokes: self-driving vehicles, connected homes, logistics, wearables -- the list continues on with each piece of evolving and maturing technology.
Smart cities have a bright future, and the application possibilities seem expansive, but often lost in the conversation is the technology that actually enables the connected world. Within a smart city -- or even at a micro level -- within one specific industry deploying smart technology, are a wide range of considerations:
Businesses struggle to prevent data breaches
Data breaches are everywhere, and companies feel they’re not doing a good job at preventing them. They are, however, taking steps to try and counter the trend. This is according to a new report by business documents management organization M-Files Corporation and the Association for Information and Image Management (AIIM).
According to the report, more than a third (38 percent) of organizations have suffered at least one data breach in the past 12 months. Almost a third (31 percent) feel their company isn’t doing all it can to protect sensitive information, and 36 percent say their company doesn’t have a "formally documented policy" regarding data storage, management and sharing.
Smart plugs have major security issues
Plugging things into a smart electrical plug might not be the wisest of choices at the moment, because they could easily be hacked, putting both your physical and digital life at risk.
This is according to a new report by Bitdefender, which says that smart electrical plugs could be hacked, and the attacker could not only gain access to your personal data, but also reprogram the plug.
Nvidia slams Intel for fudging CPU vs GPU benchmark results
Intel’s recent claims that CPUs are better than GPUs when it comes to deep learning on neural networks has sparked a rebuttal from Nvidia. In case you don’t know what this is all about, here’s a short recap:
Machine learning is currently a really big deal. It’s a huge market with untapped potential in many industry verticals, which is why a lot of different companies are trying to get in on the action. It is widely taken as a fact that GPUs are a better solution than CPUs when it comes to deep learning, because neural networks require low precision computation, and not high-precision, which is what CPUs are usually made for.
Security researcher accuses Microsoft of 'sneaky data mining' in Windows 10
Ah, you can never get enough paranoia nowadays, can you? Security researcher Mike Patterson -- founder and CEO of security analytics organization Plixer -- says Microsoft's Windows 10 sends encrypted data from your machine every five minutes, and there’s basically very little you can do to stop it.
Even when he opted out of everything he could find, regarding data transfer, the OS still continued to do it. The weirdest part about it is that you can’t really determine what is being sent. The content was encrypted so that it is impossible to know what’s going out, essentially hiding this information from the end-user.
UK tech salaries continue to grow
Salaries for tech jobs in the UK are still rising in the second quarter of the year, despite the fact that the number of jobs in the industry is slowly declining. This is according to a new report by Dice, the online career site for the technology community.
Together with Watch, it lists the most wanted jobs and skills in the industry. The two companies say cloud and security skills are still most wanted, both in permanent and contract roles.
Cisco will cut 5,500 jobs
According to reports, Cisco Systems is planning a mass jobs cull with 5,500 jobs in danger -- or around seven percent of its global workforce.
Cisco, the world’s biggest networking equipment company, is expected to announce more details of any potential cuts in the next few weeks a part of an ongoing transition to a more software and cloud-orientated strategy.
Finance organizations rely too much on spreadsheets
Pretty much every finance organization in London (97 percent of them) is worried about how reliant it is on spreadsheets. These are the results of a new research by finance function solutions provider, Accountagility.
The worry stems from faults experienced when using it for both planning and reporting, as four out of five (80 percent) of organizations have had such experiences. Just under half (49 percent) also consider a problem the fact that manual effort is needed to both validate and analyze Excel data.
Finding the right tools to manage data in today's modern world
A common concern among companies is if their resources are being used wisely. Never before has this been more pressing than when considering data storage options. Teams question the inherent worth of their data, and often fall into the trap of viewing it as an expense that weighs too heavily on the budget. This is where wisdom is needed with respect to efficient resource use and the task of successful data storage. Companies must ask themselves how storing particular data will benefit their business overall.
Incorporating a data storage plan into a business budget has certainly proven to be easier said than done. Many companies fail at carrying out their desires to store data once they recognize the cost associated with the tools that are needed. You may be wondering why the failure to follow through on these plans is so common. After all, who wouldn’t want to budget in such an important part of company security? The truth of the matter is that it can all be very overwhelming once the VAST amount of data that actually exists is considered, and it can be even more stressful to attempt to manage it all.
Advancing call center technology: The importance of integration
Cloud-based technology is becoming a universal means for storing data across various fields of IT, and it is no different within the call center industry. Cloud-based call center solutions are transforming customer service, while at the same time helping companies become even more efficient. The introduction of the cloud has also allowed small and medium-sized businesses to compete with larger enterprises while also providing these larger corporations with the bandwidth to expand globally.
Cloud-based call center technology has created a more effective and efficient solution for call centers. However, that’s not where the efficiency should end. It would benefit companies to use the cloud-based technology in collaboration with other platforms to establish a long-running, favorable impact. Here are a few ways that call centers can leverage other tools and integrate them into their existing cloud-based call center technology.
Ransomware: How to identify the threat and protect yourself against it
Ransomware has affected over 13.1 million US citizens. That’s 4 percent of the entire US population. Half of those people will pay a steep ransom of up to $500 to retrieve their information.
Do not let this be you. Arm yourself against the epidemic and read on to find out how keep yourself from being a part of the statistic.
Users know the risks, but connect to Wi-Fi hotspots anyway
People are risking a lot when they connect to a free Wi-Fi, which is particularly important knowing how many people use mobile devices for work. According to a new report by NordVPN, a company selling VPN services, Wi-Fi networks can be hacked easily and attackers could steal valuable data, including corporate information, credit card information or identities.
"Hackers often position themselves as Wi-Fi hotspots and easily steal personal information of each individual that logs in", says NordVPN. "In addition, identity thieves have lately been using wireless sniffers, a software designed to intercept and decode data when it is transmitted over a network".
Cisco Meeting Server enables Skype for Business users to connect with other platforms
Skype for Business users have had a pretty rough time connecting with other platforms (like Cisco or Avaya), but that’s no longer the case as the Cisco Meeting Server gets released.
Cisco's new product will allow Skype for Business users to easily connect to users on other platforms by clicking a link. The company believes its product will completely reshape office collaboration, and the impact will be "huge".
Blockchain startups raise $290 million worldwide
Blockchain and bitcoin start-ups have raised almost $300 million in funding in the first half of 2016, Juniper Research claims. This goes to show just how important the new way of doing business and paying for goods and services is.
There are more than 30 startups in the world which Juniper looked at for this research.
Failing to attract security experts may prove costly for businesses
A new report from Kaspersky Lab has found that large businesses that struggle to attract sufficiently skilled security experts end up paying up to three times more to recover from a cyber security incident.
The much talked-about skills gap in the security industry continues to cause problems for businesses, as increasing wages, a general shortage of expert availability and the need for more specialists are all prevalent.
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