As partner conference kicks off, Microsoft details Win10 launch plans and more
With Windows 10 set to roll out in just two weeks, Microsoft on Monday shed some light on the marketing support it will put behind the launch: a worldwide, year-long “upgrade your world” ad campaign. And at its annual Worldwide Partner Conference that started in Orlando, Microsoft rolled out a new analytics tool that aims to democratize access to big data using the Cortana voice interface, as well as Project Gigjam, which can pull data from multiple applications into a shared workspace.
Flash attack: Hacking Team had unpatched exploits, Facebook wants it killed
The damage from the recent breach of Milan-based surveillance software maker Hacking Team continues to grow. The company had access to three different exploits for previously unknown vulnerabilities in Flash Player—and all of them are now out in the open, putting Internet users at risk. Meanwhile, Facebook’s security chief has added his voice to the call to banish Flash forever in a tweet last weekend that said, “It is time for Adobe to announce the end-of-life date for Flash and to ask the browsers to set killbits on the same day.” And Mozilla has now blocked all versions of Flash in its Firefox browser.
Thread gains ground as contender for home IoT protocol
Momentum is growing behind one of the lead candidates for the protocol that will rule Internet of Things devices in the home. The Thread Group released its IoT network specification on Tuesday, to a membership of more than 160 companies that have rallied around the Google-backed organization since its founding about a year ago. And in a development that could lead even more vendors to adopt Thread, it announced that wireless technology powerhouse Qualcomm is now a member and on its board of directors.
HP and Intel push HPC into new markets…
Hewlett-Packard is using new processor and network technologies from Intel to build server systems that aim to expand high-performance computing into new markets, including big data workloads at large enterprises. The new Intel technologies include an upcoming version of its many-core Xeon Phi processor code-named Knights Landing, a network fabric technology called Omni-Path, and Intel’s Lustre software for high-performance storage.
…While IBM, Nvidia rev HPC engines in next-gen supercomputer push
IBM and Nvidia have teamed up to launch two new supercomputer centers of excellence in the U.S., located at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and Oak Ridge National Laboratory. They will focus on development of the forthcoming Summit and Sierra supercomputer systems, which are expected to be delivered in 2017 and incorporate IBM’s advanced Power processors along with Nvidia Tesla GPU accelerators and the Nvidia NVLink high-speed processor interconnect.
Canceled DefCon talk about privacy tool raises questions
Privacy and security experts heading to Def Con 23 in Las Vegas next month may have been looking forward to learning more about a tool that helps protect privacy online, but now the presentation on ProxyHam has been cancelled under murky circumstances. Its creator has apparently been gagged from speaking about it, reports CSO Online. The talk at DEF CON 23 was planned to include a demonstration and the release of full hardware schematics for ProxyHam, as well as source code, but clearly someone doesn’t want the information out there.
Authors, book stores want US to go after Amazon in antitrust probe
A coalition of writers’ and booksellers’ organizations is sending letters to the U.S. Department of Justice this week, asking that it investigate whether Amazon is running afoul of antitrust laws and damaging the book industry, the New York Times reports. The letters and statements being sent to the DOJ state that “Amazon has used its dominance in ways that we believe harm the interests of America’s readers, impoverish the book industry as a whole, damage the careers of (and generate fear among) many authors, and impede the free flow of ideas in our society.”
Free-spending days are over at Google
Google’s new CFO is making her mark by reining in spending, the Wall Street Journal reports. Revenue growth is slowing and profit margins are shrinking, so under Ruth Porat’s eye, the company is cutting back on hiring and looking for efficiencies, the paper said. Google reports second quarter results on Thursday, and Porat is expected to give an update then.
Listen now
Video game music composer Hirokazu Tanaka wrote a song to honor Nintendo chief Satoru Iwata, who died of cancer this past weekend.
One last thing
Now there’s technology to help you deal with your addiction to technology. The New York Times rounds up the latest apps that put limits on those who can’t stop using their apps.