Also: Headphones: A beginner’s guide to terminology and technology One of the biggest headphone decisions you have to make is between open or closed-back. What exactly does that mean and which ones are right for you? Read on. Open-back headphones: An overview Open-back headphones have an open structure – meaning the ear cans either don’t fasten on the headband or have some sort of perforation that allows air to more easily pass through....
While the rise of free software fundamentally changed how software was used, not everyone was happy with RMS, and his Free Software Foundation (FSF) took on software licensing. So, in 1998, Christine Peterson, in a meeting with Jon “Maddog” Hall, Larry Augustin, Eric S. Raymond, Bruce Perens, and other free software luminaries, came up with the term Open Source. The key difference, then and now, between the two is that free software is about the ethics of sharing code, while open source is focused on the practical benefits of sharing code....
Sophisticated attackers have figured out that the software supply chain is the soft underbelly of the software industry. Beyond the game-changing SolarWinds hack, Google points to the recent Codecov supply chain attack, which stung cybersecurity firm Rapid7 via a tainted Bash uploader. While supply chain attacks aren’t new, Google notes they’ve escalated in the past year, and has shifted the focus from exploits for known or zero-day software vulnerabilities. SEE: Network security policy (TechRepublic Premium) Google describes SLSA as “an end-to-end framework for ensuring the integrity of software artifacts throughout the software supply chain....
The connected fitness company has been branching out into new areas after demand surged during the COVID-19 pandemic. For instance, Peloton bought Precor to improve its supply chain and gain access to brick-and-mortar gym equipment. However, a foray into treadmills resulted in a recall and fourth-quarter charge. In addition, Peloton is facing competition on multiple fronts. Corporate wellness programs have been popular among digital health players, including Google’s Fitbit and Apple....
The new Joint Warfighter Cloud Capability contract is a multi-vendor Indefinite-Delivery, Indefinite-Quantity (IDIQ) contract. The federal government said it anticipates awarding just two IDIQ contracts – one to AWS and one to Microsoft. Among US hyperscale cloud service providers, only AWS and Microsoft “appear to be capable of meeting all of the DoD’s requirements at this time, including providing cloud services at all levels of national security classification,” the US General Services Administration said....
That’s certainly the case at PepsiCo, where experienced executive David Schwartz is helping the food and drinks giant to tap into talent that lies outside the enterprise firewall and inside some of the most innovative small firms across the globe. Schwartz is VP of PepsiCo Labs, which is a specialist team within the business tasked with harnessing the power of technological innovation. While PepsiCo employs about 250,000 people globally, Schwartz recognises no company can be expected to generate all of its best ideas internally....
Working alongside cybersecurity company Responders.NU, the Dutch National Police obtained 150 decryption keys from ransomware group Deadbolt. With the decryption keys now in the hands of law enforcement, some victims of Deadbolt ransomware attacks can retrieve encrypted files and servers without the need to pay cyber-criminal extortionists. According to the Dutch Police, Deadbolt ransomware attacks focus on networked-attached-storage (NAS) and have encrypted more than 20,000 QNAP and Asustor devices around the world, with at least a thousand of those in the Netherlands....
Interesting, right? As a result, anyone – not just Prime subscribers – can shop this particular sale. But there are also bundles on Ring devices and more. Check out the full sale to see all the deals!
For the past few years, Microsoft has been contributing to Faster Python, a project kicked off by Python creator Guido van Rossum in 2021, shortly after Microsoft hired him as a distinguished engineer, changing his previous plan to retire. The Python creator wanted the language to be more nimble than the lumbering giant it is. Van Rossum wanted it to be twice as fast but Mark Shannon, one of the key contributors to CPython (or Core Python), penned an implementation plan in 2020 for speeding up CPython by five times....
The merger is projected to close in the fourth quarter of 2021 or first quarter of 2022, subject to regulatory and stockholder approvals, said PropertyGuru in a statement over the weekend. It added that the merged entity would have an enterprise value of some $1.35 billion. Bridgetown 2 was established by Pacific Century Group, a private investment group founded by Hong Kong entrepreneur Richard Li, and Thiel Capital, which was founded by German-American entrepreneur, Peter Thiel....
REvil is one of the most notorious and most common forms of ransomware around and has been responsible for several major incidents. The group behind REvil lease their ransomware out to other crooks in exchange for a cut of the profits these affiliates make by extorting Bitcoin payments in exchange for the ransomware decryption keys that the victims need. But it seems that cut isn’t enough for those behind REvil: it was recently disclosed that there’s a secret backdoor coded into their product, which allows REvil to restore the encrypted files without the involvement of the affiliate....
This union’s result is a unit nearly identical to LoupeDeck’s most recent launch, the LoupeDeck Live. This is appropriate given that LoupeDeck made it clear that the LoupeDeck live was aimed at the streamer crowd, with its smaller size, simpler design, and lower cost. LoupeDeck’s existing offerings and Razer’s new entry are all competing with the Stream Deck line from Elgato, a line of dedicated hardware controllers aimed directly at streamers looking for a quick, one-touch way to perform tasks such as controlling face cams, launching overlays, and switching scenes....
Following on from its remote code execution hole in vCentre in May, VMware has warned of a critical vulnerability in the analytics service of vCenter Server. “A file upload vulnerability that can be used to execute commands and software on the vCenter Server Appliance. This vulnerability can be used by anyone who can reach vCenter Server over the network to gain access, regardless of the configuration settings of vCenter Server,” the company said in a blog post....
RHEL 9 Customers want better security, and Red Hat will deliver it. Beyond the usual RHEL hardening, testing, and vulnerability scanning, RHEL 9 incorporates features that help address hardware-level security vulnerabilities like Spectre and Meltdown. This includes capabilities to help user-space processes create memory areas that are inaccessible to potentially malicious code. The platform provides readiness for customer security requirements as well, supporting PCI-DSS, HIPAA, and more. Specific security features:...
A survey of 2,000 UK tech workers and employers on jobs marketplace Hackajob found that 50% of employers found it more difficult to build and maintain a strong team working remotely, while 54% said having a distributed workforce had a negative impact on office culture. Technology professionals, on the other hand, are of a different opinion. Just 22% of tech workers surveyed by Hackajob agreed that remote working had a negative effect on workplace culture, with the majority (44%) feeling that it had no impact at all....
Some 74 million people were employed in Brazil in 2020, of which 8.2 million (11%) in total worked remotely, accordin g to the research carried out by the Institute for Applied Economic Research (Ipea). However, the research points out that realities across the country’s 27 states and the Federal District, where capital Brasília is located, varied significantly. While over a fifth (23.6%) of those employed in the Federal District of Brazilians in formal employment were working remotely, the percentage in the state of Pará, in the north of the country, was 3....
But academics have suggested that whoever is in charge of a relatively modest piece of office software could have a major influence on an organisation’s decisions. Professor Sotirios Paroutis and Professor Loizos Heracleous, from Warwick Business School, and Dr Eric Knight, from the University of Sydney Business School, have investigated the use of PowerPoint slides in business. They found that the people who designed and edited the slides strongly influenced the direction a company’s strategy took, and have suggested that employees who want to influence company strategy should help to design the firm’s presentations....
Hi-Fi 24bit Audio will offer a high-dynamic range to give you a crystal clear resolution while listening to your favorite music or podcasts. They also use Samsung seamless codec and coaxial 2-way speakers to help ensure that your music is top-notch no matter where you’re listening. After all, when you transfer your sound from your smartphone to your laptop or other devices, it’s a seamless transition with a designated Auto Switch built into the earbuds, making it easy to swap to any Samsung device – TVs included....
It is an increase of 52.5% and 23.5%, respectively, from the same time period a year prior. South Korean analysts expect Samsung’s chip business to have contributed the most to the high earnings. The business unit is expected to report its best performance to date from strong demand for memory chips, according to analysts. Solid performance from the South Korean tech giant’s mobile business, thanks to the increasing popularity of its foldable phones, is also expected to have contributed to the growth....
(A screenshot from the Samsung ad.) Until a few years ago, most tech companies thought of privacy as something that was, well, dead. We all wanted to share and bare ourselves to the outside world. It was liberating, entertaining, and so utterly fulfilling. Slowly and sadly, the consequences of such open living began to dawn on one or two minds. In one or two tech companies. People aren’t always so lovely....
