*IT Exclusive News

Skype Translator breaks the barrier between different languages (video)

July 17, 2014July 17, 2014 enews

Earlier this year, Microsoft announced “Skype Translator”, a ground breaking feature which would allow two people speaking in different languages to have audio conversations. At the company’s Worldwide Partner Conference event, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella announced a development to that project — Skype Translator now facilitates video conferencing as well. On stage, a Microsoft executive demonstrated the feature by speaking to a German person through a Skype Video call in front of 16,000 people and the CEO. The demonstration showed real-time audio translation from English to German, and vice versa. Nadella hopes…

Microsoft ready to go head-to-head with Chromebooks and Android tablets

July 17, 2014July 17, 2014 enews

Microsoft COO Kevin Turner told an audience at the 2014 Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference that economy Windows 8 laptops and tablets are on the way. It’s no secret that the de facto dominance of the traditional PC — and by extension, that of the Microsoft Windows operating system — has been declining in recent years. Microsoft and its partners got caught sleeping as new tech trends chipped away at their relevance and market share. However, Microsoft COO Kevin Turner revealed at the 2014 Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference that Microsoft is…

Puls of the Planet

July 16, 2014July 17, 2014 enews

One purpose of prediction is not to know the future, but to be able to change it. That’s fine—but incomplete data or sloppy models inevitably lead to unintended consequences. There’s a human irony in the fact that a natural disaster is somehow less painful than one we cause inadvertently: once you mess with something, you are responsible for the outcome. For better or worse, Big Data is taking the concept of “messing with something” to a level that humanity has never experienced before. How much of what we put in…

To deploy cloud or not to deploy cloud, that is the question for SMBs

July 16, 2014July 16, 2014 enews

A new report offers a snapshot into the deployment preferences of some smaller companies when given the choice of on-premise or cloud-based software. Take a look at the numbers. Dr. Noel Radley, Managing Editor at Software Advice, wrote a report titled Cloud vs. On-Premise Software: Changes in Preference From 2008-2014. The report kicks off by saying, “There has been a radical shift in deployment preference over the past six years: 88 percent of buyers preferred on-premise solutions in 2008, while 87 percent preferred cloud solutions in 2014.” That’s quite a statement. What…

Amazon asks FAA permission to test delivery drones

July 15, 2014July 16, 2014 enews

Online retailer Amazon has petitioned the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)for an exemption from current aviation rules in order to fly its unmanned drones in American airspace. It is part of Amazon’s plan to deliver items to customers 30 minutes after they hit the “buy” button, a program its CEO Jeff Bezos first revealed to CBS News on “60 Minutes” last December. The aerial delivery service, called Amazon Prime Air, would dispatch a small GPS-equipped robotic helicopter — also known as an unmanned aircraft system, or UAS — to pick up an ordered item…

Fiber Networks: A Catalyst for Next-Generation Apps and Services?

July 15, 2014July 16, 2014 enews

Networks of the future may usher in bandwidth-intensive apps that can boost innovation, entrepreneurship and quality of life. What impact do you think fiber networks will have on innovation in the future? As the UK and the Balkans emerge from their wettest winter in over a century, debate is raging over how to respond to such patterns of extreme weather. But what if there was a way to predict floods and send detailed warnings directly to the people in harm’s way? A team of experts in the United States is…

CNET attacked by Russian hacker group

July 15, 2014July 16, 2014 enews

A Russian hacker group has attacked the news site CNET. It later said it stole usernames, encrypted passwords and emails for more than one million users. CNET was informed about the hack attack via a Twitter conversation CNET said a representative from the group – which calls itself ‘w0rm’ – informed it about the hack via a Twitter conversation. A spokeswoman for CBS Interactive – the owner of CNET – said the firm had “identified the issue and resolved it”. According to CNET, w0rm offered to sell the database for 1…

The rich list: Who are the wealthiest people in IT?

July 14, 2014July 14, 2014 enews

It’s all about the money as we run down the top ten richest people in tech For whatever reason, most likely because they wield various forms of power over the general populace, we remain obsessed with the wealthy. And humans love to categorise, hence the endless lists of stuff, including the richest persons inhabiting our little planet. Here’s our list of the top ten richest people in IT, which will be updated regularly. 10. Masayoshi Son (Worth: $18.2bn) Japan’s richest man, Masayoshi Son is founder and CEO of ISP and…

The End of SaaS?

July 14, 2014July 14, 2014 enews

It’s almost time to close down SaaS as a sector. Again. SaaS or “Software as a Service” businesses first appeared in the late 1990’s as Application Service Providers or ASPs. Part of the implosion of the Internet bubble in 2001 was the complete abandonment of the model because it made no money. After big investments in software services intended to replace on premises software for businesses (especially Microsoft and Oracle), ASP was retired. This time it’s different. SaaS is being overrun by data. I’ll explain, but first let’s review some…

Starbucks is also into IT

July 14, 2014July 14, 2014 enews

Every business must have a unique niche if you wish to separate yourself from others to compete in the marketplace. This is especially true if you are competing in an industry that is very crowded with competition and low price is a driving incentive for the customer. It used to be that a cup of coffee was just a cup of coffee. Then a company came along and completely changed the rules. They violated every marketing rule. They overpriced their product. They changed the language – a small is actually…