2017年10月8日星期日

Apple open-sourced the kernel of iOS and macOS for ARM processors

Apple has always shared the kernel of macOS after each major release. This kernel also runs on iOS devices as both macOS and iOS are built on the same foundation. This year, Apple also shared the most recent version of the kernel on GitHub. And you can also find ARM versions of the kernel for the first time.

But first, it's time for some computer history. The first version of macOS (originally named Mac OS X) came out in 2001. It was built on top of NeXTSTEP, an operating system developed by NeXT. Steve Jobs founded NeXT in 1985 and sold the company back to Apple in 1997. And Apple decided to use NeXTSTEP as the foundation for Mac OS X.

NeXTSTEP itself is derived from open-source project BSD. That's why the Mac you might be currently using relies heavily on open-source technologies. And that's also why Apple releases a tiny, tiny portion of macOS every year. You can't compile it and run your own version of macOS, but other kernel developers probably care about the source code of this kernel.

What about iOS? When Steve Jobs first introduced the iPhone in 2007, he said that the operating system of the iPhone is a macOS fork. "Today, we're going to show you a software breakthrough. Software that is at least 5 years ahead on what's on any other phone. Now how did we do this? Well, we started with a strong foundation — iPhone runs OS X," Jobs said. "Why would we want such a sophisticated operating system on a mobile device? Because it's got everything we need."

Apple later called this operating system iPhone OS, and then iOS. It's not an exact copy as there are no floating windows on iOS. But iOS and macOS use the same Unix-based core named Darwin as well as many frameworks. The Apple Watch and the Apple TV also run variants of iOS that also rely on Darwin.

So the fact that you can now download ARM-optimized source code of Apple's kernel doesn't mean much. Maybe Apple wants to share the kernel of the iPhone to get feedback from the open-source community. Maybe it means that Apple is working on a version of macOS that runs on ARM chips. Maybe it was an accident. Maybe Apple just wanted to see the reaction on Twitter.

Russia Provides New Internet Connection to North Korea


A major Russian telecommunications company appears to have begun providing an Internet connection to North Korea. The new link supplements one from China and will provide back-up to Pyongyang at a time the US government is reportedly attacking its Internet infrastructure and pressuring China to end all business with North Korea.

The connection, from TransTeleCom, began appearing in Internet routing databases at 09:08 UTC on Sunday, or around 17:38 Pyongyang time on Sunday evening. Internet routing databases map the thousands of connections between telecom providers and enable computers to figure out the best route to a destination.

Until now, Internet users in North Korea and those outside accessing North Korean websites were all funneled along the same route connecting North Korean ISP Star JV and the global Internet: A China Unicom link that has been in operation since 2010.

Global Internet connectivity to Star JV. The orange denotes the China Unicom connection and blue the TransTeleCom. The graphic shows the Russian connection coming online around 0900 UTC, a short period of instability then a stable connection with two networks. (Dyn Research)
"The addition of Russian transit would create new internet path out of the country, increasing its resilience and international bandwidth capacity," said Doug Madory, who analyzes global Internet connectivity at Dyn Research.

After this report was published, TransTeleCom issued a brief statement that didn't directly address the link but didn't dispute it.

"TransTeleCom (TTK) has historically had a connection to the communication network of North Korea under the agreement with Korea Posts and Telecommunications Corp, which was signed in 2009," it said.

The new link comes at an interesting time.

On Saturday, The Washington Post reported that US Cyber Command has been carrying out denial of service attacks against North Korean hackers affiliated with the Reconnaissance General Bureau. The attacks attempt to overwhelm their computers and the Internet connection with traffic making them slow or impossible to use.

The US cyber attack was due to end on Saturday, reported the Post. That means the new Russian connection went online just after the US Cyber Command attack ended.

TransTeleCom, or TTK, is one of Russia's biggest telecommunications companies and a subsidiary of the Russian railway operator. Fiber optic lines are laid alongside the railway and, according to a map on its website, on a route from Vladivostok right up to the North Korean border.


A map of the TTK network shows a link running right up to the North Korean border.
That's presumably at the Friendship Bridge, a railway crossing over the Tumen River that connects Khasan in Russia with Tumangang in North Korea. It's the only connection between the two countries.


The Friendship Bridge connecting Russia (right) and North Korea (left). Photo: GoogleEarth.
This isn't the first time North Korea has had alternate routes for Internet connectivity.

From 2012 for about a year, a second link to Star JV existed via Intelsat, an international satellite telecommunications operator, but in recent years the Chinese link has been the sole connection to Star JV.

Relying on one Internet provider has always left North Korea in a precarious situation.

More than once the link has been the target of denial of service attacks. Most were claimed by the "Anonymous" hacking collective, but on at least one previous occasion, many wondered if US intelligence services had carried out the action.

North Korea has few Internet users, but access to the network is available at major universities, to foreigners via smartphone, at government departments and major companies. Elite families are also suspected of having access. The cyber units of North Korea's military also enjoy access.

The link is also vital for overseas researchers and academics who rely on access to North Korean state media websites for information.

Apple is looking into reports of iPhone 8 batteries swelling


Reports from a few iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus buyers have suggested there could be an issue with the battery inside some of the devices swelling, causing the case of Apple's new iPhone to split open and expose the smartphone's internals.

Apple has now confirmed it is looking into it, although a spokeswoman declined to comment further when asked how many devices are affected.

From what we've heard the number of reports so far is very few.

Yesterday CNET rounded up the handful of reports that have emerged — saying there are at least six different reports in at least five countries of the iPhone 8 splitting along its seams.

Today Reuters also noted a report in Chinese state media of an iPhone buyer claiming a newly purchased iPhone 8 Plus arrived cracked open on October 5, though apparently without any signs of scorching or an explosion.

Apple rival Samsung had big problems with smartphone batteries in its Galaxy Note 7 smartphone. In that instance some Note 7 batteries caught fire, and the problem was extensive enough that it led Samsung to recall all Note 7 handsets — at great expense.

In the case of the iPhone 8 the issue appears to be limited to batteries bloating/swelling, rather than catching fire — at least as reported so far.

Although the phone only went on sale on September 22 so it's still early days for the device.

Apple did not release figures for the first weekend sales of the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus, as it has in the past with new iPhones, so it's also not yet clear how many of these handsets are in the hands of buyers at this point.

Some analysts have suggested consumers may be holding off on upgrading their iPhone to buy the top-of-the-range iPhone X, which Apple also announced at the same time, but with a later release date.

Pre-sales for the iPhone X are due to begin on October 27, with the handset slated to ship on November 3.

AIM will shut down after 20 years

It's a sad moment: AIM, AOL's long-running instant messenger service that was core to many people's first social experiences on the internet, will shut down once and for all on December 15th. AOL announced the shutdown today, acknowledging that people now communicate in new ways online, so AIM is no longer needed.

"AIM tapped into new digital technologies and ignited a cultural shift, but the way in which we communicate with each other has profoundly changed," writes Michael Albers, communications products VP at Oath (the Verizon behemoth that consumed AOL).

TIME TO SET YOUR FINAL AWAY MESSAGE
AOL cut off access to AIM from third-party chat clients back in March, hinting at this eventual shutdown. It's hard to imagine that many people are still using AIM, so that change, nor this upcoming shutdown, are likely to make a huge difference.

AIM was one of the first and most successful instant messengers, widely used in the late '90s and even throughout the 2000s. I was still using AIM to chat with my friends throughout college at the end of the decade, including to stay in touch with my (not-yet) significant other while she was studying abroad.

But with the proliferation of smartphones, everything has changed. Text messaging has taken over for desktop instant messaging apps, and increasingly, we're seeing other social apps, like Snapchat and Instagram, take over for those in certain ways. For straight messaging, Facebook also makes things much easier, since you're already connected to everyone you know and can just start up a chat without exchanging arcane things like screen names. In fact, Facebook has multiple billion-user messaging services at this point, Messenger and WhatsApp.

Other classic chat apps have shut down in recent years, too. MSN Messenger shut down in 2014, and Yahoo Messenger shut down last year (although Yahoo also launched a new messaging service under the same name). It was only a matter of time until AIM joined them, but there's still some nostalgia in seeing it go.

With AIM on its way out the door, now's your last chance to write that perfect away message

Get ready for home internet prices to double

Been enjoying your reasonably-priced home internet connection recently? Don't get too comfortable. US cable companies, led by Comcast, are all set to start increasing broadband prices dramatically, with price hikes of double current rates expected in the future.

That's the conclusion of New Street Research and analyst Jonathan Chaplin, who released a new report that's good news for the cable industry, and bad for anyone who doesn't enjoy giving money to their local monopolist.

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"We have argued that broadband is underpriced, given that pricing has barely increased over the past decade while broadband utility has exploded," New Street's report said. "Our analysis suggested a 'utility-adjusted' average revenue per user (ARPU) target of ~$90. Comcast recently increased standalone broadband to $90 (including modem), paving the way for faster ARPU growth as the mix shifts in favor of broadband-only households. Charter will likely follow, once they are through the integration of Time Warner Cable." Those increases could be as much as double the current price, New Street notes.

The read-between-the-lines conclusion here is that cable companies will start leaning more heavily on broadband as a revenue generator, as cable packages start to decline — something's that's happening faster with every passing year. As people start eyeing internet-only cable packages combined with a live streaming service for TV, the cable companies can cut the price of the cable bundle to appear competitive with streaming services, but raise broadband pricing to compensate.

The sad truth is that only one in five Americans actually has a choice of provider for high-speed broadband, so if you want internet at home, you're going to have to pay for it. Cable companies will likely justify price increases by citing the cost of new investment in their networks, which is true in some sense. Running fiber (or experimenting with fixed wireless installs) is expensive and time-consuming, but it's also a gradual process that networks will profit from for decades. As New Street's report shows, price increases right now are happening because they can, not because they have to — and there's nothing you can do about it.

Google gets go-ahead to restore cell phone service in Puerto Rico with its balloons

Regulators have approved Google's application to provide emergency cell phone services to Puerto Rico using balloons in the wake of Hurriane Maria.

The US Federal Communications Commission announced its decision on Friday evening, one of a number of ways in which tech companies are helping rebuild services.

Communications remain patchy on the island. The FCC said that 83 percent of all cell sites remain out of service while wireless companies are rolling out temporary service sites.


Alphabet, Google's parent company which announced its Project Loon in 2013 to use solar-powered, high-altitude balloons to provide internet service in remote regions, said in an FCC filing it was working to "support licensed mobile carriers' restoration of limited communications capability" in Puerto Rico.

Earlier on Friday, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai announced he was forming a Hurricane Recovery Task Force with an emphasis on addressing challenges facing Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands.

 Less than 11 percent of Puerto Ricans have electricity and only 42 percent have working phones
Less than 11 percent of Puerto Ricans have electricity and only 42 percent have working phones CREDIT: GETTY IMAGES
"It is critical that we adopt a coordinated and comprehensive approach to support the rebuilding of communications infrastructure and restoration of communications services," Mr Pai said in statement.

Separately, Puerto Rico Governor Ricardo Rossello said in a Twitter posting late on Friday that he had a "great initial conversation with @elonmusk tonight. Teams are now talking; exploring opportunities. Next steps soon to follow."

Mr Musk, the chief executive of Tesla, said on Friday the company would send more battery installers to Puerto Rico to help restore power after Hurricane Maria knocked out all power on the island over two weeks ago.

The series that reigns supreme

It was first released for PC, PlayStation and GameBoy in October 1997. The first version of the game was set across three fictional cities in the US. Such was the impact that many outlets called for an outright ban of the game as it was percieved to be too violent. As a player you had to choose a mission to progress and GTA had everything - from car chase, racing, underworld characters - that makes a game exciting to play.
Two years after the rip-roaring success of GTA, GTA 2 was released. The game now moved to a single city but retained all the other elements. The first version had three cities: Liberty City (based on New York), Vice City (based on Miami) and San Andreas (based on San Fransisco). GTA was set in a fictional city called "Anywhere City".
By the time the third version - GTA III - rolled out in 2001, the game went into 3D mode and was criticised by a lot of people for glorifying violence. But that didn't affect the popularity of the game. In a 3D universe, the third-person camera, unlimited car-stealing and hidden rewards; and other features made it one of the most popular titles of the franchise.
A year later GTA: Vice City came out and had celebrity appearances in the game. Ray Liotta's voice featured in the game whereas Phil Collins was also a part of the game. In fact, over the years many celebrities including Samuel L Jackson, Dennis Hopper and Guns'n' Roses frontman Axl Rose, all have been a part of the game.
In 2004, GTA: San Andreas was released and was lapped by gamers all over the world. This edition saw BMX backflips and the sighting of mythical Big Foot. The graphics and gameplay kept on getting better and GTA continued to dominate gamers' mindspace.
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There were a few follow ups to GTA III which really didn't work out. It lacked the excitement and felt like forced extensions. But all that changed in 2008 with Grand Theft Auto IV. It introduced online multiplayer to the series and had fantastic gameplay. GTA was back with this variant and broke sales records in the UK and US.
GTA V came out in 2013 and got a record number of pre-order sales of 2.5 million. Set in the fictional city of Los Santos, the game featured the characters who work together on a series of missions. It was reported in May 2017 that GTA V had sold more than 80 million copies around the world.
The gaming industry, in the last 20 years, has undergone a sea change. Games have come and gone; franchises were built and went in the ground and the platforms have seen a widespread change but there is one thing that has remained consistent: the popularity of Grand Theft Auto. The game that reigns supreme and remains the undisputed champion of action adventure games.

2017年10月6日星期五

MasterCard's new effort in virtual reality

One of the most powerful attributes of e-commerce today is its relatively effortless due diligence, where a customer can easily see rival offerings, compare pricing based on the exact model number and/or specifications, and browse the comments left by customers (which may not always be valid, but that's another issue).

That due diligence nicety was swept aside by a MasterCard move last week to integrate purchases within mobile virtual reality (VR) environments. To be fair, this mobile VR purchasing effort by MasterCard is one of the first industry efforts to allow anything other than "sit and watch" in a VR app, so the effort should be encouraged. They may intend to add due diligence capabilities later on — remember what Amazon's initial homepage looked like — but such user-friendly efforts are not typical from MasterCard.

[ Further reading: How IT can prepare for VR, AR and MR in the enterprise ]
Here's how MasterCard described the experience:


"The app immerses consumers in a tastefully decorated home where they can browse and purchase the pieces with Masterpass, Mastercard's digital payment service. This new shopping app highlights the value of the pieces, the story behind the inspiration, the complex manufacturing process, and the designers' creative journeys in a new and engaging way. Masterpass enables consumers to check out from within the VR experience without having to add payment details."

So far, so good. But MasterCard then described the mobile payment methodology, which is where things get a bit scarier.

"Upon launching the app, consumers will be prompted to log in and begin an authenticated, secure session by using their Masterpass account credentials. After starting a session, consumers will be able to navigate through the home's different rooms and browse through the collection by moving their heads left to right or up and down.

"Once the consumers decide and select the piece from the collection that they want to purchase, they can add it to the cart and checkout by focusing their gaze on the Masterpass button that appears at the bottom of the product description. When the consumer exits the application or the session detects that the headset has been removed, the consumer will be automatically logged out of their Masterpass account to protect against unintended purchases."

I am so glad MasterCard mentioned allowing shoppers to log out "to protect against unintended purchases," but unintended purchases are exactly what I envisioned when I saw their trigger for a shopper to "add it to the cart and checkout by focusing their gaze on the Masterpass button."

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Everything in this environment will be new to shoppers. If I just look at their button for a few seconds, that constitutes authorizing a checkout? The fact that shoppers have to activate their credentials before going into the environment is heads-up number one. (This is akin to a free subscription that insists on full payment card details beforehand just in case the user opts to not cancel. How about letting the free trial run out in 30 days and allowing the customer to enter credentials at that point to subscribe?)

Yes, this is MasterCard just making purchases as easy as possible. But if it also makes unintended purchases easy, I don't see that as a win.

And the absence of any of those shopping due diligence mechanisms means MasterCard is replicating the worst part of the in-store experience rather than integrating the best of online and bringing it into a VR environment.

MasterCard's intent is admirable, but their implementation is lacking

That all said, I get the intent here. MasterCard is saying, "Let's see how easy we can make purchases in VR," which is an admirable goal. But they neglected what makes experiences good and attractive for shoppers.

Another concern is that these VR demos showcase products in a vendor-selected ideal environment. One of the best aspects of VR demos is to show these items in the shoppers' own environment (their home or office). Fortunately, that shortcoming may end by next December, according to Abi Mandelbaum, CEO of YouVisit, which is a MasterCard partner on this rollout. By the end of 2018, he expects the MasterCard experience to include "everyone's own environment, to get a lot closer to the product in the environment that is going to be used."

In short, this initial effort skips the best attribute of VR (seeing these items in your home or office), skips the best attributes of online (comparison shopping, comments), incorporates the worst element on instore ("Here's the product and the price. Take it or leave it.") and throws in a good chance for generating an unintended purchase.

Applause for MasterCard taking this early step, but not so much for what it includes.

Enterprises must think about how augmented reality, artificial intelligence and robotics may impact the hopes and expectations of Generation Z

 Apple's platform innovations are opening new frontiers in childcare and education, with iOS-friendly augmented reality (AR) toys and child-focused hospital systems showing the impact of digital transformation, from the cradle to the grave.

Blending real and virtual experiences

"Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast," said the White Queen in Alice Through the Looking Glass.


In tomorrow's world, your children will also believe impossible things, as the boundaries between their real and virtual experiences dissolve.

Tech firms will need to work hard to convince the public that these new merged experiences can be trusted — take a look at reaction to Mattel's Aristotle device, which prompted Jeff Chester, executive director of the Centre for Digital Democracy, to warn: "The kid tech industry sees kids' bedroom as an economic bonanza."

However, interesting examples of iOS-based child-focused technology solutions abound, from iTunes U to Apple School Manager. Apple's iPod (and iMac) kick-started a boom in digital literacy in schools, spawning a multitude of research that seems to prove that when children use familiar digital tools they like, their educational attainment improves.

More recently, we've seen consensus across enterprise users that productivity among grown-ups also improves when they get to use equipment they like.

The Bungie Foundation provides devices for hospitalized children

With a growing presence in enterprise IT, Jamf today announced a new partnership that puts its device management tools to work helping the Bungie Foundation reduce the stress and suffering felt by hospitalized children using technology.

The Bungie Foundation provides Seattle Children's Hospital with iPads and fully customized, age-appropriate entertainment that child patients can use to distract themselves, helping normalize what may otherwise be frightening hospital experiences.

Jamf's solution means hospitals can wipe loaned iPads remotely once the patient leaves hospital — but no one ever needs to touch the device or see what the child was doing. This remote management helps the Bungie Foundation meet strict security and HIPAA requirements, and it also means it will be able to better support rollout of the scheme across more hospitals.

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Parker the bear teaches digital literacy, empathy

AR also seems set to enter everyday life. One of the more interesting examples of this is the recently-introduced Parker, an AR soft teddy bear designed to teach children digital literacy and empathy.

The bear works in conjunction with a free AR app and accessories, including a doctor's kit and backpack. The app shows children how the bear is feeling and presents them with problems, games and puzzles to solve using the accessories.

It's an interesting combination of the compulsive obsession of virtual pets, such as Pokémon or Tamagotchi, with the iconic child's toy that is a teddy bear.

The idea is that the more children interact with the bear, the happier the bear becomes. Children are kept motivated to interact with the bear with engaging animations and new games designed to teach those children real-world skills. Conceptually, this is quite interesting, and I can't help but imagine AR/connected toys like Parker also lay the foundations for future public acceptance of AI and robotics.

Engaging digital-savvy employees

You can't underestimate the pester power of new generations. Enterprise chiefs already recognize the changing needs and expectations of increasingly digital-savvy millennials entering the workplace.

Digital transformation isn't solely about putting AI inside invoicing systems; it is also about ensuring those technologies incoming employees do use are engaging, familiar and acceptable.

Sophisticated businesses understand that creating tech friction among tech-savvy staff has negative consequences in productivity, recruitment and staff retention.

Changing audiences

The extension of technology into everyday experience is entering a new chapter before our eyes.

Once dumb objects, including (but not confined to) televisions, lightbulbs, utility meters and locks, are becoming connected machines, changing the way we interact with those objects in our lives.

Spoken assistant-based technologies such as Alexa or HomePod are also becoming part of daily life, particularly among millennials who like to use them for music playback.

However, implementations like Parker the bear mean new technologies such as AR, AI, and a range of interactive experiences through digital devices (from iPads to connected kitchen kit) are becoming part of the daily lives not just of millennials (born c.1982-2002), but also of the next generation, Generation Z (those born since 2002).

This will have consequences on the hopes, aspirations and expectations enterprise CIOs must plan for as these new users begin entering employment over the coming few years.

These truly digitally native users also present fresh opportunities for innovative use of new technologies, such as AR, as the virtual and physical worlds combine. 

Google+? If you use social media and happen to be a Google+ user, why not join AppleHolic's Kool Aid Corner community and join the conversation as we pursue the spirit of the New Model Apple?

Got a story? Drop me a line via Twitter or in comments below and let me know. I'd like it if you chose to follow me on Twitter so I can let you know when fresh items are published here first on Computerworld.

Understanding the emerging world of 'fake everything' is vital


 "Information wants to be free."

That was the motto of truth-seeking digital activists in the '80s and '90s.

The motto today is: "Information wants to be fake."

Just look at the news this week for a glimpse of how much chaos fake news is causing.


Facebook, Twitter and Google are being dragged before Congress to tell what they know about fake news, trolling and propaganda funded by the Russian government on those social networks.

It appears that the Russian government bought hundreds of thousands of dollars in advertising on Facebook and Twitter aimed primarily at exacerbating existing social and political conflict within the United States. It also appeared to have maintained fake user accounts designed to influence voters in key swing states leading up to the presidential election.

The activity, however, isn't just an election-cycle phenomenon. It continues.

Senator James Lankford (R-Okla.) pointed out this week that Russian troll farms are stoking both sides of the debate over NFL players protesting during games, urging Americans to join kneeling players in protest, and also to boycott the NFL over kneeling players.

One recent tweet on a Twitter account called "Boston Antifa" came from a poster who apparently forgot to remove the location stamp. The location wasn't Boston, but Vladivostok, Russia.

Such is the nature of our age that some said even the time stamp may have been faked to smear Russia.

Nobody knows what's true.

Buzzfeed reported this week on the rising readership of content farms based overseas in places such as the Philippines, Pakistan and Macedonia. Such "publications" exist solely for profit. They don't care what's true. They just care what goes viral.

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The article points out that genuine publications by Native Americans about Native American matters are being driven out of business by online "Native American" news sites based in Kosovo and Vietnam. These foreign sites make their money in part by selling merchandise based on images stolen from actual Native American artists.

Fake online information by its very nature either degrades or exploits trusted sources of information.

The president of the United States, for example, has reportedly quoted bots — fake humans with fake accounts — on Twitter at least 152 times. The president himself is often the source of false information.

Fake information goes beyond false news published as truth. Brand counterfeiting also presents threats to enterprises.

LEGO sets sold in China are often fake — not made by LEGO. But a counterfeit LEGO set recently went too far with ISIS themes, with one set including a plastic decapitated head.

The world's consumer markets are flooded with everything from fake honey to fake sneakers.

Google recently announced refunds to advertisers over fake traffic.

Some fake-information sources benefit from the existence of trusted sources of information. Because you trust a source, they can cause mayhem by using your trust to socially engineer you into doing something.

Hackers hide malicious code inside fake security updates. If you believe it's an authorized security update, you'll install unknown code on your system or network.

A fake law firm recently convinced Amazon to remove a product, costing the seller some $200,000.

You can't even trust people selling adorable puppies. Up to 80% of online ads for puppies are fake, according to the Better Business Bureau.

Fake news is such a "thing" that Dictionary.com is even adding an entry for it in its next update.

What's driving the rise in fake information

The rise of false information online is caused by five factors:

1. The Internet allows anyone anywhere to publish anything everywhere.

2. Digital content is easy to counterfeit or modify.

3. Many people have powerful incentives to spread false information.

4. It's easier for social network algorithms to favor emotionally reactive content than true content.

5. The public increasingly relies upon digital internet content for "knowledge."

Facebook, Twitter and Google claim that they're taking active measures against the rise of fake information. But previous efforts have failed.

The reality is that fake information will continue to be spread online. And that could be a problem for you and your company.

Consider a recent report in the Financial Times about a "Chinese edition" of The Wall Street Journal. The site copied the look and feel of the Journal's legitimate website, and used the Journal's reputation to attract Chinese-speaking intellectuals globally. The articles themselves were copied from China's state-run Xinhua news agency, which is supervised by the Chinese Communist Party's propaganda arm.

The Wall Street Journal's hard-won reputation was being used as a spoonful of sugar to help the propaganda go down.

Here's the bad part: The Journal wasn't even aware of the fake site until contacted about it by a reporter.

What can be done about fake information?

It's time for enterprises of all kinds to come to terms with the new reality of fake information online. The worse the fake information problem gets online, the more valuable trusted sources of information become.

The most important action is to make sure you, your department and your company are purveyors of factual information in marketing and in all business communication. It's important to understand that the role of a brand as a trusted source of information is more important than ever. Aggressively seek out fake information falsely attributed to your company, and do all you can to stop it from happening.

Don't fall into the nothing-has-really-changed complacency of believing that today's fake-news problem is comparable to yesterday's. Fake information is different now because it's computer-assisted, global and massively crowdsourced. Fake news is a tech problem.

Boycott the companies, including the social networks, that are acting as part of the problem, rather than part of the solution.

Support the companies that fight for facts, including media publishing companies. You can do this with advertising dollars, subscriptions and other forms of support.

Pressure the government to crack down on fake sources of information.

Fake news is bad for business. And it's everybody's problem. The solution starts with you and your company.

Google's once-groundbreaking home for predictive intelligence has devolved into a clumsily constructed shell of its former self

 Not long ago, the Google feed — the stream of card-based info at the left-most side of your Android home screen and/or inside the Google mobile app — was something uniquely spectacular.

"The predictive future of search," proclaimed The Verge — a "sign that all the different parts of Google are finally working together in a cohesive way."

"A service that shows users vital information before they actually go searching for it," noted Time — with info that's "increasingly sophisticated."

"Android's new secret weapon," said some strikingly handsome guy — "a natural progression in putting our devices one step ahead of us and making them feel like extensions of ourselves."

High praise, all around. And rightfully so.


For years, the Google feed — known formerly as Google Now — brought the countless tidbits Google knows about our lives and our world together in a fantastically useful way. You could glance at the feed from your phone with a single touch of your finger and see all sorts of genuinely helpful info, catered specifically to what was relevant to you at any given moment.



Google Now Overview Google/Archive.org
Google Now, circa 2014: Predictive intelligence at your fingertips (click image to enlarge)
The service combined bits and pieces from your email, calendar, search history, and location data to create a powerful cocktail of personalized, predictive assistance no other company could come close to providing. You might see a card letting you know when you needed to leave for an upcoming appointment, for instance, based on details from your Google Calendar along with location data from your phone and current traffic conditions from Maps.

You might get up-to-the-minute info on a flight you searched for earlier from your computer — or status updates for an upcoming flight you booked months ago, thanks to the confirmation email that landed in your Gmail inbox at the time. You could see info about restaurants near your current location or the commute time to a place you typically visit on a certain day and time. The list goes on and on.

Google Now Cards Google/Archive.org
Some of the many practical and predictive cards in Google Now's earlier incarnation
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Now? The Google feed, at its core, has basically become a glorified news stream. Open up the feed, and what you'll find is a series of stories presented in cards. It's a reasonably nice news stream, mind you — one that uses your past searches and stated preferences to show a personalized blend of content intended to match your interests — but at the end of the day, it's just yet another place where you can scroll through headlines.

Google Feed: Android Google App JR
Wait — what?
As for all the stuff that made Google Now and the Google feed special — all the sophisticated predictive info based on Google's unmatched repository of personalized and real-time data — it's been relegated to an out-of-the-way secondary panel most folks will likely never even notice, let alone look at with any regularity. Instead of being front and center and part of the service's raison d'etre, the predictive cards' presence feels like an awkwardly tacked-on element to a clearly pivoted product. One seemingly simple shift dramatically changed the app's very nature and primary purpose.

And the new arrangement isn't even consistent: In the main Google app, the predictive cards are accessible via a cryptic hieroglyph at the bottom of the screen. (See below. Seriously, what's that icon supposed to be?!) On Android phones where the Google feed is built into the home screen itself, meanwhile — including Google's own flagship Pixel devices — that same ambiguous icon is inexplicably in the top-right corner of the screen.

Google Feed: Google App vs Home Screen JR
The Google feed in the Google app, at left, and on the home screen, at right
The clunky implementation gets even more confusing from there: Tap the predictive info icon in the home-screen-based feed, and you'll be taken to the similar-yet-just-different-enough-to-disorient-you Google app interface — where all the icons suddenly shift around on the screen.

Google Feed: Upcoming Tab JR
Predictive intelligence: The Google feed's inconsistent interfaces are going to drive you batty
Getting a headache? Yeah — me, too.

Interface oddities aside, the big-picture reasoning for Google's repositioning of the service isn't tough to suss out. As my comrade Casey Newton put it back when the newly refocused feed first debuted:

With each passing year, we have had fewer reasons to open the Google app. Native apps from Facebook, Amazon, Apple, and others command more of our attention, making us less likely to begin our queries at the search bar. More recently, Siri, Alexa, and Cortana have been built into our device hardware, allowing us to bypass Google and search with our voice. Financially, Google is still on solid footing. But the trends are worrisome.

Google, in other words, is chasing its competitors in the race for our attention and trying to make sure it remains relevant as a "starting point" in our increasingly crowded digital lives. And sure, on the surface, such an effort makes sense. But is parroting what everyone else is doing while downplaying its own singular strengths really the path to success?

After all, pushing the feed's once-prominent predictive intelligence element into the background redefines what the service is all about. For all practical purposes, the Google feed isn't a productivity-oriented predictive intelligence provider anymore. It's a news reading service, with a few other bells and whistles sprinkled in. It's lost its soul, its identity. It doesn't seem to know what it wants to be.

Five years ago, Google Now felt like the future. Today, the Google feed feels like the past — like a mildly different spin on a ubiquitous concept and a step backwards from what Google achieved when it put the full power of its resources front and center. It comes across as more desperate than daring. And for those of us on Android in particular, where predictive intelligence was once an exciting marquee element of the operating system, that's a damn shame to see.

facebook faces stiff competition on multiple fronts


 Facebook launched Workplace last October with the aim of bringing its immensely popular social network to the world of business. The service combines the look and feel of Facebook's consumer app with features targeted toward enterprise users.

Its main advantage lies in its instant familiarity among end users. With 240 million Facebook users in the U.S. alone, chances are employees will already know their way around the application. From a business perspective this has a number of benefits. It means that there is less time spent training staff to use a new tool, and, in theory at least, increases the likelihood of strong uptake across an organization.



Of course, breaking into the fast-changing and increasingly crowded collaboration market brings its own difficulties. The social network has led the way in connecting families and friends, but convincing large organizations that it is ready to do the same job for staff is a much bigger challenge. And with Workplace, Facebook has come up against both established enterprise software firms such as Microsoft, Cisco and Google as well as a range of new chat platforms focused on team-based collaboration, such as Slack.

So how has Workplace fared in winning over corporate customers 12 months after its official launch?


According to 451 Research senior analyst Raúl Castañón-Martínez, despite some challenges in moving into the enterprise market, Workplace has achieved "remarkable growth" in the relatively short time it has been available.

The application is currently used by more than 14,000 organizations globally, according to Facebook, up from 1,000 at the end of its private beta. Royal Bank of Scotland was one of the big corporate users announced before the service's full launch — back when Workplace was named Facebook at Work — with the multi-national bank rolling out the software for its 100,000-strong workforce in late 2015. Last week, Facebook announced Walmart as its latest customer win, a significant deal with a retail giant that employs 2.2 million staff globally.

And with interest in collaboration software booming, there is plenty more room for growth. "It might seem like Workplace was a bit late to launch, but the party is just getting started," said Castañón-Martínez. "Slack has experienced phenomenal growth and has not been around for that long. If you look at the total addressable market, they've just begun scratching the surface. This means the market is still growing and is up for grabs."

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How does Workplace work?

Workplace has a similar look and feel to its consumer-focused equivalent — including the familiar central News Feed — making it easy for new users to pick up. Its instant messaging tool, Work Chat, allows colleagues to chat or set up 1:1 video calls. Groups can be created to focus on specific projects, while a multi-company feature enables staff to communicate with external teams. Live video streaming allows organizations to engage with a large number of employees at once.

And the differences between Facebook's consumer application and the enterprise version go deeper than swapping the familiar blue interface for a businesslike gray. There are additional features targeted towards IT admins, including an analytics dashboard, single sign-on capabilities and two-factor authentication.

Workplace faces competition from a variety of companies, such as the enterprise social networks that Facebook to some degree inspired, including Jive, Microsoft's Yammer and IBM Connections. Its functionality also overlaps that of team collaboration tools such as Slack, Microsoft Teams and Atlassian Stride, though there are differences in focus.

"Slack is more closely associated with traditional team collaboration, where people constantly work with each other, communicate often and need to coordinate their efforts. Social networks can certainly fill that role, but they have a stronger affinity to broader, less formal conversations," said Gartner research director Larry Cannell. "Workplace's focus on groups has tried to bring it closer to team collaboration, but their heritage as a social network still influences assumptions people make about them."

Workplace pricing

Facebook offers two tiers for its product, Workplace Premium and a free Standard tier unveiled earlier this year. The free tier provides limited functionality and support but includes the full range of communication features, such as live video streaming, voice and video calls and group chat. 

The premium tier adds various enterprise-level features and costs $3 per user for the first 1,000 active users, $2 per user for the next 9,000 active users and $1 per user thereafter. It is free for nonprofit organizations and staffers at educational institutes.

Castañón-Martínez said that Facebook has targeted large-scale "volume adoption" across enterprises with Workplace. "The same can be said of other competitors, but Facebook is particularly aggressive about this approach," he said, adding that Facebook's pricing reflects this. "It is similar to Atlassian's — and to a certain extent, Slack's, whose products have been successful with viral adoption and are known for low price/high volume pricing strategy."

With the introduction of its free tier, Facebook has arguably courted smaller businesses as well. "For some small companies, Workplace could effectively become their social network, intranet and group messaging system," said Cannell.

Gaining a foothold in the enterprise

Facebook's name recognition has helped it attract some big-name customers to Workplace early on. However, it does not have the legacy of deep enterprise relationships that some rivals do, and building credibility with a corporate customer base is not straightforward.

"Workplace by Facebook has nailed usability but not enterprise trust," said Craig Le Clair, vice president and principal analyst at Forrester. Several companies that conducted pilot deployments of Workplace subsequently ended them "due to inflexible terms and conditions that indicate a lack of maturity in enterprise agreements," he said. 

"Others do not trust Facebook with internal proprietary communication," Le Clair added. "Still others have not overcome Facebook's association with fun rather than work."

One way Facebook has improved Workplace's appeal as a business application is with the addition of integrations with third-party software tools, available at the premium pricing tier. While these were thin on the ground at launch, in April of this year Facebook announced a series of integrations with the likes of Salesforce, Dropbox and Microsoft Office, making it easier to share information and collaborate within Workplace.

It also recently announced an integration with videoconferencing firm BlueJeans. "This brings Workplace closer to the unified communications and audio/video conferencing players," said Castañón-Martínez. "It also makes it a close competitor for Stride, Atlassian's new business communications product."

That said, Workplace still lags Slack in the number and variety of integrations it supports. "Workplace could probably expand their value proposition with further integration to third-party applications, which is something Slack has been particularly good at," Castañón-Martínez said.

While Facebook is attempting to become more enterprise-friendly, Castañón-Martínez said, its main strength remains in its position as the owner of the world's largest social network, as well as social messaging apps such as Messenger and WhatsApp.

"The popularity [of these consumer apps] will not automatically translate into user adoption for Workplace, but it is undeniable that the company has acquired extensive experience in the messaging space," he said. "It is precisely the ease of use and viral adoption of these apps that enterprise messaging applications have tried to emulate from the beginning."



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lean tips about mobile device repair

As mobile devices become a primary computing platform for many enterprise employees, repairing or replacing smartphones and tablets at the local Apple or Microsoft store isn't a viable option for large enterprises.

While managed mobility services (MMS) have been around as long as mobile devices, until recently such services tailored to repairing and replacing mobile devices were immature. The consumerization of IT and the growth of bring-your-own-device (BYOD) policies as well as corporate-issued smartphones and tablets had left them unable to scale at an enterprise level.


At the same time, the myriad of mobile devices and mobile operating systems has made it difficult for IT shops to address issues associated with them. For example, Android fragmentation — both hardware and software — has led organizations to farm out device management in order to free up corporate IT resources for business projects.


Having internal IT shops support smartphones and tablets doesn't make sense for most enterprises — very large or very small, said Eric Goodness, a vice president of research in Gartner's Technology and Service Providers unit. Forward and reverse logistics — or the purchasing of new devices and the reuse of existing ones — are critical to enterprises, but it's simply too expensive to address these functions internally for a mobile workforce, Goodness said.

"It is so much easier and less expensive to push the sourcing-to-disposition life cycle to a third party," he said, citing "Genius Bar"-style services on enterprise campuses as a growth area for MMS providers.

repair and replace broken mobile devices managed mobility solutions Thinkstock
Jonathan Nikols, global head of HP's Device-as-a-Service, said he has seen an explosion of mobile devices among enterprise customers. "There are estimates that by 2020, there will be four devices for every employee," Nikols said.

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"The question becomes how do you secure them all? They're multi-vendor in nature," he continued. "Apple and Android rule the smartphone market, but then there are multiple variations of Android hardware... and multiple OSes. How do you address all that with finite resources?"

For example, while one service provider may repair and replace hardware, it may not address software provisioning on new smartphones or tablets, or cover the onboarding of new employees. The employee may still need to go to IT to ensure all critical business applications and security protocols are applied to a device.

"Companies may look to an EMM [enterprise mobility management] integrator to secure devices, but that's not necessarily the same company you'd look to for repair and replace strategies," said Chris Marsh, a research director at 451 Research.

"The issue with mobility that we still have, even a decade after the first iPhone... is that software and hardware are still not integrated," Marsh said. "And, of course, business apps for use on those devices likely came from a whole different set of providers. There are just too many pain points."

[ Further reading: How to choose the right enterprise mobility management tool ]
Managed mobility services vendors have matured

In 2013, Gartner described the MMS marketplace as having no leaders or challengers, stating that "providers need to invest more in people, processes, tools and awareness to better serve a growing global demand."

Over the past few years, however, the MMS market has matured and scaled to the point where some providers offer both hardware and software services.

MMS providers can now address pools of globally distributed, corporate-liable and BYOD users, according to Gartner. Along with replacing or repairing hardware, services include acquiring mobile devices for employees, provisioning them with job-specific business applications, and ensuring that security protocols are in place.

In 2016, Gartner evaluated 14 vendors for its Managed Mobility Services Magic Quadrant. IBM and smaller, pure-play MMS vendor Digital Management Inc. (DMI) led the pack in their ability to execute on six deliverables, three of which specifically addressed repair and replace capabilities for smartphones, tablets and field service equipment with a focus on corporate-liable devices as well as BYOD users:

Sourcing and logistics management — the systems and services used to purchase, provision and activate mobile network services and mobile devices
Mobile service management — the systems and services to inventory and audit mobile network contracts and mobile devices; may also audit and log users' mobile network service usage and related performance and availability
Program and financial management — the ability to act as an agent on behalf of an enterprise with third-party providers, such as mobile network operators, independent software vendors, device manufacturers and device resellers, to conduct ongoing and project-based services on behalf of the user
In its short list of small vendors to consider, Gartner recommended VoxMobile and Mobi, along with DMI. In its list of large vendors, Honeywell, Vodafone, and HPE were included with IBM.

Managed Mobility Services Magic Quadrant Gartner
Gartner
Gartner's 2016 Managed Mobility Services Magic Quadrant.
MMS providers typically price their services as a monthly recurring charge per device, per user. Some providers also bundle project-based services (such as consulting), which generally are nonrecurring charges, into the monthly recurring charge.

"It is quite typical for MMS proposals to come in the form of a bill of materials, where each discrete service charge (for example, help desk, kitting, and sourcing and software release management) is presented as an individual charge," the Gartner report stated. "This is also the preferred model, as it offers cost transparency."

Businesses may still be challenged to find a single service provider that consistently delivers all the IT and business process services they may require at a global level. Enterprises may need multiple service providers or third-party program management where multiple services are integrated under one umbrella, according to Gartner's report.

How managed mobility services work

Some vendors offer MMS as part of general device-management programs. Last year, HP launched its Device-as-a-Service (DaaS) offering, which can provide and manage desktops, laptops, phones and tablets for its customers through partnerships with various hardware and software providers.

"In our DaaS program, a customer will select a device... and then we have a support plan that provides the break and fix maintenance attributes, the implementation and installation, accidental damage and recovery and media retention," Nikols said.

HP determines the contractual relationship enterprises want to have, whether it's with a value-added reseller, a global systems integrator or a direct relationship with HP, "and then we provide it back to you within a utility model or a per user, per device pricing model," he said.

For example, the cost of a contract would include an SLA on how fast the turnaround time on a device repair and replacement is — whether it's next day or four days.

When an end user's device breaks or is in need of replacement, they file a help-desk ticket just as they would with any IT shop, but the ticket is automatically routed to the HP DaaS service.

HP's DaaS service also handles employee onboarding an offboarding.

"If it's a new employee, they would go through their HR onboarding processes, and through our relationship, the requirement for that order would be triggered into our systems, and we'd work through our contractual obligations based on SLAs," Nikols said. "So, we'd have that ready for them at their desk day one as a business-ready device."

The device comes from HP with all the latest patches and firmware.

HP can also provide analytics to collect data on how mobile devices are being used. For example, the cloud analytics can detect how heavily a device's processor is being used, what applications have been downloaded to the device and which ones are used most often, and even the last time an application was opened.

"We then provide that information to customers in the form of different reports," Nikols said. "That helps with security monitoring. Did the employee disable the firewall, for example? Are they aware that certain apps are causing a device to crash?"

Tangoe, an MMS-specific provider, purchases hardware up front, which it warehouses in order to use as replacement units for its customers while it sends out mobile devices for repairs or permanent replacements. The company refers to its service as "technology lifecycle management," and it takes a "fleet approach" where it's both carrier- and OS-agnostic.

"You have to look at simplicity," said Craig Riegelhaupt, Tangoe's director of product marketing. "Can my end user activate this without having to go through a huge amount of internal approvals or handshakes? In other words, is there a procurement system embedded?"

As with HP, Tangoe has the ability to image a mobile device with all the business applications and permissions a corporation requires based on an employee's role.

It can provide service contracts for corporate-issued devices as well as a choose your own device (CYOD) policy, where the end user chooses the device they want but it is still under the scope of a corporate mobile device management strategy.

"It's basically the ability to provide a level of service based on the entire mix of equipment an employee has," said Kenneth Noel, director of operations at Tangoe.

As with some other MMS programs, Tangoe monitors the mobile device throughout its life cycle, so if it's lost or stolen, it can be tracked and reported back to the corporate IT department. And at the end of a device's life, when it's turned in, Tangoe can furnish certificates to show it's been wiped of all corporate apps and data.

Gartner's Goodness pointed to Sprint's Mobility-as-a-Service offering, launched in 2015, as having "nailed it" as a "straightforward proposition" in MMS. Through its MaaS program, Sprint owns the mobile device, the management systems and even the network (cellular) contracts, and the customer just pays a monthly recurring charge per device. There are no mobile network contracts to manage, so there's no service desk to resource and no software entitlement issues to manage, Goodness said.

"Capital expenses and headcount disappear in favor of an operating expense," Goodness said. "We are now seeing MaaS providers look to bundle in [Microsoft] or Google or other collaboration and productivity apps as part of the bundle. Frictionless mobility. That is the future."

Five steps for developing an MMS strategy

What should enterprises do when developing a repair and replace strategy? Marsh from 451 Research recommends these steps:

Do an inventory of devices. Make sure you know the devices deployed and what their status is. Are they company-issued devices, stipend-based BYODs or CYODs that are under the scope of your corporate mobile device strategy?
Segment users and devices. Know whether mobile devices are for field service jobs with critical business apps running or for general knowledge workers who may not need expedited repairs or replacements.
Evaluate the capabilities of potential service providers. Do they offer hardware, software or both? Fundamentally, you'd like both. Check to ensure that providers offer SLAs that include not only turnaround times on hardware repairs and replacements but also software provisioning.
Educate the workforce on what their expectations should be. Should they expect next-day turnaround, or will you be providing a loaner device while theirs is being repaired or replaced? Standardize rules around how that works for your employees.
Ensure that the service pricing model is right for your company. Look for flexible pricing models. Some companies may want to consider a finance arrangement where they don't buy a device outright but pay it off over its life cycle to avoid heavy up-front costs. Others may want to consider the total cost of ownership and whether it's more advantageous to allow the service provider to own the hardware.

Open source and Linux become new security headache

Windows has long been the world's biggest malware draw, exploited for decades by attackers. It continues today: The Carbon Black security firm analyzed 1,000 ransomware samples over the last six months and found that nearly 99% of them targeted Windows.


That's not news for IT administrators, of course. But this might be: Linux and other open-source software are emerging as serious malware targets. Several recent highly publicized attacks exploit holes in open-source software that many enterprise admins once considered solidly safe.


Let's start with the big one: the recently disclosed Equifax break-in that resulted in the private information of 143 million people being stolen, including Social Security numbers, birth dates, addresses and more. Typically, when you find the cause of a breach like this, it involves Windows. That's not the case with the Equifax hack, though.

A web application vulnerability in the widely used open-source Apache Struts web development framework allowed attackers to break into Equifax and do their damage. The framework is used by many enterprises in education, government, financial services, retail and media. Even though the vulnerability was first discovered and patched back in early March, Equifax didn't install the patch until after it found it had been hacked.

Sound familiar? It should. That's typically how Windows attacks proceed — enterprises don't get around to patching Windows to close security holes, and hackers take it from there. A recent study by Adaptiva, which offers security and management solutions for network endpoints, found that 49% of all enterprises surveyed said that their biggest security challenge was keeping Windows and Windows applications updated. And 59% said it takes a month or more to update Windows throughout their enterprise.

It appears as if Linux and open source are becoming a similar security headache for companies. Ian Folau, CEO of GitLinks, which specializes in security for open-source software, warns in an InfoWorld blog that at least half of all Fortune 100 companies use Struts. He adds, "Less than 10 percent of companies are monitoring open source in their company, so even if these companies wanted to update their versions of Struts, they would have a hard time figuring out which applications were using Struts." He believes that many other attacks will be launched using the Struts vulnerability because it will remain largely unpatched.

The Equifax attack isn't the only big one involving open source or Linux to have emerged recently. The "BlueBorne" attack vector exploits vulnerabilities in Bluetooth implementations. It can be used to take over a device and use it to spread malware or ransomware and become part of a botnet. At risk are almost 5.3 billion devices worldwide that use Windows, iOS, Android and Linux-based operating systems.  Among the Linux devices that are at risk are Samsung's Gear S3 smartwatch, a number of Samsung televisions, some models of drones and many Tizen devices, as well as some Linux desktop PCs and servers.

[ Further reading: Ransomware became one of the top threats to enterprises in 2016 ]
Some industry watchers predict even more attacks targeting open source and Linux in the enterprise.  A Carbon Black blog post, "7 Predictions for Ransomware's Evolution," warns, "We believe ransomware will increasingly target Linux systems in an effort to further extort larger enterprises. For example, attackers will increasingly look to conduct SQL injections to infect servers and charge a higher ransom price. We have already observed attacks hitting MongoDB earlier this year, which provide an excellent foreshadowing."

The attacks Carbon Black mentioned happened this past January, when open-source MongoDB databases around the world were hacked and data was taken from them and held for ransom.

All this isn't to say that Linux represents a greater threat to enterprises than does Windows. Windows is dominant in the enterprise, and as long as that's the case, it will remain the primary target. But attackers have a way of going after low-hanging fruit, and IT admins aren't as used to open-source software being under attack as they are Windows. So expect more, larger attacks on open source and Linux in the enterprise as IT admins try to figure out how to protect them as well as Windows.