Mathew Schwartz:
In particular, he promised both local and remote attacks on two ATMs from “major” but as yet unnamed manufacturers, and to demonstrate “a multi-platform ATM rootkit.” In addition, he said he will detail “protection mechanisms that ATM manufacturers can implement to safeguard against these attacks.”
So many things I could do with this – for testing only ofcourse.
J. Nicholas Hoover:
Currently, according to a statement of objectives also posted online, GSA uses IBM Lotus Notes 7 for its 18,500 e-mail accounts, Blackberry Enterprise Server for mobility for about half of those accounts, and a number of other Lotus tools like Connections, Sametime, and Quickr for collaboration. It also has the option to use a number of Cisco collaboration tools — Cisco hardware and software powers the agency’s voice-over IP implementation, which is in the middle of being rolled out.
This is going to be the new outsourcing trend in large agencies and corporations. This is no small amount of emails to move to the cloud.
Eliot Van Buskirk:
That means HiFiMan not only plays lossless files that sound as good as CDs but also 24-bit files that sound better than CDs, with much wider frequency and dynamic ranges. That equates to reproducing very high pitches (even ones outside the human hearing range, which some say colors the sound we can hear), and music with more gradations in volume that allow dynamic nuances to shine through.
On my Christmas list.
Niraj Sheth:
Verizon Wireless declined to discuss details on the timing or the manufacturer of a such a tablet. Google’s role in the tablet wasn’t immediately clear, though Mr. McAdam mentioned it in the context of the discussions the two companies have about bringing new smartphones to market.
First when is Google going to stop playing catch-up in regards to Apple and start innovating and leading? A business that is constantly chasing competitors is never in the lead, ever.
Second, I hope they do make this, I would love to see more iPad like devices on the market.
Stephen M. Hackett:
I got several questions and looks from people when I took the iPad out of my bag, both on the plane and at the Salvation Army facility. That’s to be expected when you carry a new hot piece of tech, I suppose. Not a big deal, as long as no one is creepy about it.
All in all, the iPad served as a moderately useful laptop-replacement on this trip. It really shined in the areas of battery life and portability. The weight difference alone in my carry-on made carrying the iPad instead of my MacBook Pro worth it.
I have yet to get to travel with mine. This is about what I would expect.
Businesses have a huge problem, managers don’t know enough about technology and because of this they are hiring the wrong people to help them manage it. This is more than just who they hire because it effects every facet of business.
Technology is every where, we scan and email, instead of fax and send. Most businesses rely on mobile communications such as, email, cellphones, wireless internet, instant messaging, video chat, WebEx and more. Who cares if a potential new hire has 30 years experience, but knows nothing about technology (they still email in all caps and check it once a week).
The saying ‘you can’t teach an old dog new tricks’ exists for a reason – it is mostly true. I would rather hire a fresh college graduate than the experienced candidate because at least I don’t have to teach them how modern business is conducted. Knowing nothing about technology, coming to a company and expecting them to teach you is akin to coming into a company 30 years ago, not knowing how to write or dial a telephone. No one would hire you then, yet people today are hiring people who know nothing about technology.
Technology is at the core of every business, the people at the top need to be masters at it. They don’t need to know how to fix it, but they do need to know how it works.
I was recently told about a company where the person in charge of IT was also the Controller/CFO at the company. Now there is nothing wrong with this, especially given the companies size – except for the fact that the CFO knows nothing about IT. And by nothing I mean, this person calls IT to fix every one of his problems – he knows nothing.
This is a huge problem for obvious reasons, the biggest is the most simplest: the boss/director of any department should be seen as a mentor/smartest guy in the room for everyone else in that department. When you don’t have this kind of hierarchy then you have employees who don’t respect their boss and, by extension, their company.
Another company that I know well (very small business) has a one person IT department with a boss that acts like he knows everything. This leads to a lot of downtime and problems that go unresolved at the company. as the IT person bullshits the boss with the problems, that the boss may or may not believe, and so he takes it upon himself to fix the problem. Now the boss is very busy, so guess what? The problem is drug out for weeks before the decision is made to bring in outside help for the problem that the internal IT person has deemed impossible to fix.
Everyone hates fixing IT problems, even most IT support staff. So commonly at a small company like the one above the boss will make it the job of the person they think knows IT the best (by any random metric they so deem). This only exacerbates the issue. Doing this leads to:
There is a private club that I know about who had their website redesigned recently. I was very happy to hear that they were doing this – until I saw the site. It was designed “professionally” in Apples iWeb program. Meaning there is no CSS or CMS, just static HTML that renders poorly on anything but Safari. I checked out the “web developers” site and it too was in iWeb. In fact the site (both the web developer and private clubs site) have password protected areas that redirect you to an Apple MobileMe account (only way you can password protect an iWeb site). What a joke.
This is an example of people who don’t know anything about IT hiring people, yet claim they do. You get what you pay for, every 15 year old and their mom is trying to make a buck designing a site or fixing your IT issues, but you are better off paying a real pro then you are hiring these people. In the end you will never be happy with their work.
Our managers need basic courses in implementing and maintaining todays technology. This should be done in b-school, it should be continued with employers. Technology is here to stay, it is about time we learn it because the excuse “technical issues” is pure B.S. and we should not have to hear it.
At the very least businesses need to implement more backup systems. I am never without a backup way to get on the Internet. I always have a backup phone/communication system nearby. You would not just want one 911 operator, what if they are sick? Nor should you rely on just one piece of technology if it is core to what you do.
Michael Weissenstein:
Galaxy 15 continues to receive and transmit satellite signals, and they will probably block or otherwise interfere with signals from the second satellite, known as AMC 11, if Galaxy 15 drifts into its orbit as expected around May 23, according to AMC 11’s owner, SES World Skies.
No cable TV in the U.S. for a day or so might not be a bad thing.
Lots of them.
I have very mixed feelings about the design.
The Atlantic has this great piece up that talks about how Google is investing time and resources to work with News outlets to help them make money.
James Fallows:
In part, he said, today’s discouraging ad results simply reflect a lag time. The audience has shifted dramatically from print to online. So has the accumulation of minutes people choose to spend each day reading the news. Wherever people choose to spend their time, Mohan said, they can eventually be “monetized”—the principle on which every newspaper and magazine (and television network) has survived until today. “This [online-display] market has the opportunity to be much larger,” he said. It was about $8 billion in the U.S. last year. “If you just do the math—audience coming online, the time they spend—it could be an order of magnitude larger.” In case you missed that, he means tenfold growth.
I have long held that having more than one monitor makes you more productive. For the past year I have been using a dual monitor setup at work where I have a 24″ LED Cinema Display and a 15″ Macbook Pro screen to compute with.
Today I decided to see what it would be like with only the 24″ screen. I made this decision after looking at the way I use my setup, with the Macbook Pro where it is I feel cramped and cannot comfortable look at both monitors. Meaning that 98% of the time I only use one monitor, the 24″. The resolution is so high that I don’t really need extra screen real estate – I just need to make better use of the 24″ screen.
A couple of hours into it and I feel liberated. I don’t feel cramped, and I get a little more light and room on my desk.
Maybe dual monitors that are both huge and the same work wonders for productivity, but having a laptop protrude into your work area and not align with your monitor does nothing for it.
Chris Foresman:
However, a number of readers have alerted Ars that it seems the battery life isn’t living up to the promises, and many suspect that the automatic graphics switching is the culprit. So we set out to investigate the issue.
and:
While it’s no surprise that Aperture, iMovie, or Photoshop cause the system to switch on the NVIDIA GT 330M in the Core i5 and Core i7 MacBook Pros, some rather “pedestrian” apps can cause the discrete GPU to turn on as well: Tweetie, Transmit, PathFinder, Skype, and NetNewsWire, to name a few. These apps aren’t graphics intensive, but they are the kind of apps that most people leave running all the time.
Ars concluded that the use of Apple’s Core Animation is what is causing these relatively small applications to turn on the high-powered graphics cards. My guess is that they are right, the fix though does not seem to be that simple. I would like to see Apple make a seamless fix for this, however if they can’t here is an idea: take a Spaces approach.
Currently with Spaces (Apple’s multiple desktop preference) you can select which apps show up on which screen, or every screen. Why not build in a preference for the auto graphics switching that allows the user to essentially ignore an app when it wants to switch to the higher powered card? That’s what I would do short-term.
Mac Daily News is reporting that they have tip that MobileMe will become free. I would not doubt it, I have the service and it is hardly worth paying for. iDisk is almost not useable.
However MobileMe would be a perfect compliment to the iPad, all they have to make is some tweaks to the service. If MobileMe were tweaked and made free, it would become something that propels the iPad forward very quickly.
Peter Kafka:
The consumer research shop says U.S. sales of smartphones using Google’s mobile operating system climbed past Apple in the first three months of this year. Google (GOOG) nabbed 28 percent of the market, while Apple (AAPL) claimed 21 percent, NPD says. Less surprising is that BlackBerry maker Research in Motion (RIMM) still leads the market, with 36 percent.
I am waiting for my Verizon loving friend to call and boast. Here is the thing though, it doesn’t matter. Competition is great, it propels platforms forward. I don’t believe Apple is in it for market share, they are in it to be the best, and they are.
Om Malik:
U.S. cable companies expect that by 2015, nearly 100 million of the nation’s homes will be able to send data upstream at speeds of around 20 Mbps. This will eventually be followed by further upgrades to 50 Mbps, by way of enhancements to DOCSIS 3.0 tech. That compares to current upstream speeds of 6-28 Mbps (shared).
Oh yeah.
MG Siegler (best TechCrunch Reporter) has a great read about speculating on the AT&T contract with Apple. Basically it is believed that at the end of 2010 no more iPhone exclusivity, but maybe getting Apple products first.
I have no clue. However I still stand by the fact that the iPhone on Verizon would be less than stellar. If you can’t get simultaneous data and voice on the iPhone, then there is no way I switch from AT&T, even though I dropped 3 calls already today.
Updated [5/10/10 @ 6:57pm]:
Engadget seems to think that it is still until 2012 unless they cancelled or modified it. The only reason this would happen is if Apple got out of it because of service quality issues, I doubt AT&T would want to shorten the deal.
Miran Pavic:
The i-Limb Pulse is customizable with software. Doctors and users can tweak i-Limb Pulse’s behavior, programming it with specific grip patterns to fit the customer’s needs. They then beam the new patterns to the hand with Bluetooth.
Looks really cool, and it is great to see advances made in this field given the elongated wars our country is involved in.
Chris Foresman:
Ars decided that if Apple was too preoccupied with mobile devices to recognize noteworthy software on the Mac, then we would pick up the torch. As such, we are announcing the first ever Ars Design Awards.
We are giving you, our readers, the opportunity to nominate your favorite Mac OS X applications to receive an award in one of five categories: Best New App, Best User Experience, Most Innovative App, Best K-12 Education App, and Best Student-created App. We will accept nominations until Friday, May 21.
Very cool.
Ernesto for TorrentFreak.com:
Not only can downloaders choose the amount they want to pay, they can also decide whether they want the money to go to the developers, charity or any combination of both. The minimum amount required to get a download link is a penny.
Thus far the project has been a great success. The games have been downloaded more than 80,000 times and have raised $683,090 at the time of writing. Linux users have been the most generous with an average donation of $14.01, while Windows users are stuck at $7.31.
Very interesting that even though all you have to pay is a penny, there are still a lot of people pirating the software. Also it is very cool how well this model is working for them.