As billions more devices get connected to the internet, there will be a huge infrastructure transformation on the backend. Cloud computing will play a major role in how the world takes advantage of that device-driven data explosion. Estimates vary about the number of connected devices there will be as the internet of things shapes up – a recent Gartner estimate was 26 billion by 2020 — but everyone agrees there will be a ton. The numbers are staggering even when it comes to personal electronic devices like smartphones, tablets and game consoles. Just five…

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For Farmers of the Future who will be feeding nine billion mouths by midcentury, the challenges are these: How to maximize the harvest, given the variables of soil, seed, water, and weather? And how to cope with droughts and severe storms that threaten to destroy your crops? Today the people who feed the world are armed with modern analytical tools offering far greater precision than hoes, hunches, and luck. For example, companies such as Monsanto and DuPont are creating hardware and software that allow for planting and fertilization with surgical…

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Unique cloud services web store Pilvi.com launched today – Users can buy, compare and manage leading cloud services The Finnish start-up Pilvi Cloud Company launched today at the WorldHostingDays 2014 -event in Germany a unique cloud services web store at Pilvi.com. The Pilvi™ Shop offers companies a user-friendly market place for buying and managing cloud services from e.g. Amazon, Google and local cloud service providers. Users receive one invoice including all the services being used and can manage cloud costs and risks efficiently. Pilvi.com is a market place for purchasing…

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CERT-UK to co-ordinate the UK’s cybersecurity defence The UK Cyber Emergency Response Team (CERT-UK) has launched, bringing together the Cyber Security Incident Response Team and the Cyber Security Information Sharing Partnership to take the lead in coordinating the management of national cyber security incidents. In addition to protecting companies from cyber attacks, it will also share information with businesses to promote awareness and effectively mitigate threats. Cabinet Office Minister Francis Maude explained the severity of some of the attacks in the UK at the launch. “Ninety-three per cent of large corporations…

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The TV industry is undergoing dramatic change, driven by the speed of technical innovation and globalisation. Especially here in Europe, where the traditional players maintain that they are well positioned for the changes to come, while complaining about the tight, multilayer regulatory framework that limits their capacity to react to the fast-moving ”new entrants” from across the ocean – coming out of nowhere or, better said, out of the non-regulated www. What with Google, Apple, Amazon, Facebook, the internet is, without doubt, US-dominated, and they continue to flood their European…

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Full or partial blindness due to retinal disease affects an estimated 25 million people around the world. Macular degeneration and other diseases destroy the photoreceptors in the eye that detect light and relay that data through the ganglion cells in the optic nerve to the brain. But even when the photoreceptors are damaged, the ganglion cells typically remain alive and functional. It occurred to Sheila Nirenberg, an associate professor at Weill Cornell Medical College, that if there were a way to artificially reproduce the complex code that a healthy retina…

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Imagine this scenario: You live in Ghana. Your six-year-old child has malaria, so you pick up a prescription at a local pharmacy. And then, before you place the pill in your child’s mouth, you cross your fingers. In Ghana, as in much of the developing world, neither the patient nor the pharmacist can be sure the pills are real. The World Health Organization estimates that more than half of the drugs on shelves in many parts of Africa are counterfeit. The pills are sold in shrink-wrapped, sealed bottles that appear…

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