Новости за 06.04.2017

My last blog discussed the use of VPNs on a Chromebook. As a Chromebook fan, I had to look long and hard to find a VPN provider that supported Chromebooks. I'm not sure why this is. Chrome OS supports the two most popular VPN flavors: OpenVPN and L2TP/IPsec (often referred to simply as L2TP).

Attackers are exploiting a vulnerability patched last month in the Apache Struts web development framework to install ransomware on servers.

When I reviewed self-service exploratory business intelligence (BI) products in 2015, I covered the strengths and weaknesses of Tableau 9.0, Qlik Sense 2.0, and Microsoft Power BI. As I pointed out at the time, these three products offer a range of data access, discovery, and visualization capabilities at a range of prices, with Tableau the most capable and expensive, Qlik Sense in the middle, and Power BI the least capable but a very good value.

More than a year after introducing a virtual assistant in its Messenger app, Facebook is launching M to the masses. While it was originally conceived as a bot that users would chat with, M now only offers a set of suggestions that are supposed to help with the conversation being carried out.

In a very unusual move, Apple this week renounced its usual secrecy about future products to counter questions about its commitment to the Mac, analysts said today.

If you plan to buy a new PC or mobile device this year, you'll likely shell out more cash than in previous years. Prices are going up, and expensive devices are in demand.

The U.S. government is taking action that will likely increase the visa denial rates of H-1B programmers, a move that could help U.S. nationals, both in terms of wages and jobs.

Microsoft has expanded its diagnostic data collection with Windows 10, making mandatory what had been a voluntary telemetry program.

Congress’s recent decision to roll back privacy protections that were put in place by former FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler has caused many privacy advocates a great deal of concern.

A group of what appears to be Chinese hackers infiltrated a U.S. trade-focused lobbying group as the two countries wrestle with how they treat imports of each other's goods and services.

Western Digital today introduced its first portable SSD, the My Passport SSD.

Tableau is making a big change in the way it sells its business intelligence products. The company announced Thursday that all of its software will be available as a subscription, rather than a single license plus a service fee.

Is your company using a VPN -- or just letting it all hang out?

A VPN, or a virtual private network, is a technology that lets you create a secure network connection while using a public network. Using one might seem like something as obvious as "the internet" as a tool that businesses should have in the bag.

And with security issues like Wi-Fi spoofing, Firesheep and more, it's more important than ever to keep your online activity safeguarded. Plus, with telecommuting and virtual offices becoming more and more mainstream... Читать дальше...

With all the stuff our smartphones can do these days, it's easy to forget that they're also still phones -- y'know, things we use when we want to speak to other humans. (A crazy notion, I realize.)

With attacks against Mac users growing in number and sophistication, endpoint security vendor F-Secure has acquired Little Flocker, a macOS application that provides behavior-based protection against ransomware and other malicious programs.

Echo Dot is a hands-free, voice-controlled device that uses Alexa to play music, control smart home devices, provide information, read the news, set alarms, read audiobooks from Audible, and more. In fact, new Alexa "skills" are being created all the time. Tell Alexa to start your usual order at your favorite Starbucks. It will be paid for and ready to pick up in minutes. Amazon has quietly published a special code that will apply a $20 discount when you buy 3 Echo Dots. Just put them in your... Читать дальше...

Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has started proceedings in the Federal Court against Apple Australia and its U.S.-based parent company, Apple, for allegedly making “false, misleading, or deceptive representations” about consumers’ rights under the Australian Consumer Law.

One of the world's highest capacity portable chargers. Charge Zendure while charging your devices at full speed with a single wall charger, a feature rarely seen in other power banks. The QC port outputs 5-6V/3.0A,6-9V/2.0A,9-12V/1.5A (18W Max) when connected to a compatible device. Charges an iPhone 6s 9 times and the Galaxy S6 over seven times. Durable, stylish, and built to retain 95% of its charge after 6 months without use. An LED digital display accurately shows the remaining capacity. The... Читать дальше...

A trusted channel

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Email is a critical enterprise communication tool synonymous with sending important documents quickly and efficiently between employees, managers, HR, finance, sales, legal, customers, supply chain and more. That said, organizations often don’t understand that the file types used every day to share important information – standard files like Word docs, Excel spreadsheets and PDFs – are also the most common attack vectors widely used for the distribution of malware. Читать дальше...

Potentially difficult times

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In tech, divestitures are a fact of life and solutions are bought and sold all the time. But that doesn’t change the fact that when it happens to a solution that your company uses, it can make things difficult for you. Although your vendor’s divestiture is out of your control, you can at least do your due diligence in limiting any negative impact to your company. With that in mind, ZL Technologies lists 10 things you should worry about if your vendor divests. Читать дальше...

Not every Apple decision is great. Its attempts to force customers to cough up cash for simple iPhone repairs is an example of a bad one. Now it’s in big trouble in Australia, where local consumer regulators say Apple can’t tell its customers:

In another of its big digital book bundles, Humble Bundle has just partnered with No Starch Press and come into the ring with a round of digital books focused on Python. Whether you jump in for four books for $1 or grab all ten for $15 or more, this is a good deal and it includes some of the best Python books available. And this offer will be available for nearly two weeks. Here are some details:

I’m a frequent visitor to the Crunchbase site. Crunchbase’s purpose in life is to surface information about companies -- as someone who covers technology companies, Crunchbase is my go-to location for information about management, funding rounds and other relevant corporate data.

When you choose a productivity platform like Microsoft’s Office 365 or Google’s G Suite, the main focus is on the platform’s functionality: Does it do the job you need?

CIOs in the U.S. and Europe are increasing their IT budgets thanks to an uptick in optimism, said Morgan Stanley in a new report.