Data Security

Edward Snowden showed the government is dipping into data centers at will. That set off alarm bells. It's not just the government. There are many prying eyes.

The “Soft and Chewy Centers” That Put Your Data at Risk

More and more sensitive data is being entrusted to data centers connected to the Internet. ...... The interior of those complex networks is mostly unobserved or protected, meaning that attackers who manage to remotely access the computers can explore mostly as they please .... Servers inside modern data centers usually run multiple copies of Windows, or Linux-based operating systems at the same time. Illumio’s product works by attaching software “agents” to each of the operating systems inside every server. The data those agents send back to Illumio’s central control panel provide a global view of the data moving around inside a data center. Responses to suspicious activity can then be sent back to the software agents for enforcement—potentially shutting down hacking attacks as they happen. ..... “Overall, network security solutions haven’t evolved for the past 20-plus years”

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Ubuntu Out In The Open

Official Ubuntu circle with wordmark. Replace File:Former Ubuntu logo.svg. Español: logo de Ubuntu + marca denominativa Français : Logo officiel d'Ubuntu. Remplace File:Former Ubuntu logo.svg. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

There are billions of people in the Global South waiting to lay their hands on their first smartphone. Android, welcome. Ubuntu, welcome.

Ubuntu Smartphone Aims for Success in Developing Economies

the world’s most popular Linux-based operating system, Ubuntu ..... he expected to make the most progress with the Ubuntu Phone in the developing world, where smartphone sales are only just beginning to take off ..... Ubuntu is already a household name in some of these markets due to its use on desktop and laptops PCs. “We ship on 30 percent of Chinese PCs today” .... models from Dell, Lenovo, and HP. “If you go into a store in India, you will see Ubuntu branding” ..... Canonical coördinates development of Ubuntu and makes money by offering paid-for support to companies using it, with many companies around the world using Ubuntu to run Internet and Web servers. Shuttleworth intends to replicate that model for Ubuntu’s mobile version. .... Ubuntu’s software makes wide use of sideways swiping gestures .... Even though a high proportion of PCs bought in India and China are bought with Ubuntu installed, many are soon wiped, with pirated copies of Microsoft Windows installed instead ... Yesterday Intel announced it would release a new smartphone chip aimed at developing world markets

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Ubuntu: One Among Many

Blurring the line between the smartphone and the PC is yet another good thing. And touch can get more magical, sure.

Ubuntu to Offer Smartphone Operating Software

allows a handset to function as a PC when docked .... The new software appears to make even broader use of swipes and gestures than Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android mobile operating systems do .... dock it with a keyboard, screen, and mouse. .... a version of Ubuntu for the Samsung Galaxy Nexus phone will be available to download “with the next few weeks.”

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App Stores In The Way

Tux, the Linux penguin (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Bringing about the demise of the app store would be a welcome innovation. And with HTML5 the browser is at your service even when you are offline. But that is not to say Android can not swim into a HTML5 reality. Of course it can and will. Google is all about the web. But I am glad it is being pushed in that direction by the competition.

This development is a much bigger threat to Apple than to Google. If Apple loses the app store, what is it left with? Even the demand for iPhones - hardware - is on the decline. Lesson: Soviet control is not a good thing.

The phone will be lighter and correspondingly cheaper. That's good.

New Mobile OSs May Mean the End of the Closed App Store

Firefox OS from Mozilla, Tizen (which came out of Nokia’s MeeGo platform but is now the brainchild of Intel and Samsung), and Ubuntu Phone, based on the wildly popular Ubuntu desktop Linux distribution .... These operating systems are all open source, which means vendors can tinker with them as they see fit and create entirely unique offerings for their consumers. But what’s most important about them is that all will provide for HTML5 applications. Developers will have the ability to quickly port their apps between the platforms, creating a much easier path to revenue-generation. ..... Tizen, Firefox OS, and Ubuntu will attempt to eradicate that paper tiger of controls. The Web will become the basis by which all smartphone owners get their applications. And there won’t be a single entity that will ultimately decide the fate of a respective application. ..... Apple and Google, controllers of their domains, might need to accept that open Web standards truly are the future. And in the process, their control over mobile might ease. .... the Web could win the battle over application control.

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Mobile Operating Systems

Tux, the Linux penguin (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

It is hard to beat free. And Android is free. And the integration with the Google services is a blessing. So where's the space for new mobile operating systems? Actually there is room for Google to offer free or super cheap data. There is room for free or cheap hardware. But operating system?

Google is the leading software player. Ask Apple. And it would be hard to out innovate Google's operating system.

But HTML5 does change things. At that point the Apple and Google app stores are no longer barriers to entry in the mobile space. Competition is good. There's always the allure of new, better features.

The Underdog Operating Systems Set to Shake Up the Smartphone Scene

Android was originally seen as an unbiased player with no hardware or sales revenues from handsets—a software “Switzerland” .... Tizen, a platform that’s supported primarily by Samsung and Intel; Firefox OS, created by the Mozilla Foundation, which makes the Firefox Web browser; and a version of the free, open-source Ubuntu Linux operating system designed for smartphones .... Tizen, Firefox OS, and Ubuntu are all counting heavily on Web-based HTML5 apps ..... Tizen, which grew out of Nokia’s MeeGo platform and (like Android) is based on the open-source Linux operating system, may have the best chance of success. Along with Samsung and Intel, its supporters include the wireless carriers Sprint, Vodafone, and NTT Docomo; electronics maker Panasonic; and the Chinese telecommunications company Huawei. ..... novel features such as 3-D-type effects (photo browsing takes on the look of a spiraling cascade of images, for example). .... Firefox mobile apps are essentially Web pages, and the Firefox team came up with ways for Firefox OS to access all the hardware on a smartphone running the software. Even the phone’s dialer acts as an app ...... Firefox OS phones will be low on built-in memory at about 256 megabytes of RAM, and many will include a microSD slot so users can pop in their own memory card to store music, photos, and videos. He adds that the first phones are expected to cost around $100 ..... High-end smartphones running the OS will also be able to act as Ubuntu PCs when docked with a keyboard, mouse, and monitor. .... 56 percent of cellphone users to be swiping and tapping on smartphones by the end of this year.

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