Cisco planning a shed off of 5,500 jobs Not the rumored 14,000

So the economic downturn is still causing damages in most blue chip companies. The rumored news of Cisco planning to lay off a whopping 14000 of its employees is seriously not a pleasant news to behold. So according to a tech news site, CRN, they rumored that Cisco is making plans to reduce headcount in a few weeks.

This latest news is really huge, considering that Intel corporation had earlier announced of its plans to do same, in equally large scale. Well the 'rumor' has it that Cisco cited reason for it as a result of global economic effects on enterprise business low patronage of its Routers and Switches which constitute the bulk of what Cisco produce.

Though Cisco has always maintained that it is majorly a software based company with its range of software based products and services being rolled out consistently. According to the news source,CRN, one of the analysts interviewed said that if the rumored lay off was true, that would be a bit of a catch-up, as the company is moving away from hardware.

He went ahead saying, "I do not think that they are going to be done after this." The tech site went further to say that the company has already offered many early retirement packages to the employees. This news was flying around before Cisco came out to announce the actual number of employees to be laid off on Wednesday press conference. 

Cisco denied ever releasing or leaking any documents concerning the number of employees to be laid off being carried on on most tech news sites.
CRN reporter Mark Haranas also denied that the information came from Cisco, and added that his report said that the cuts would come over the next few weeks, suggesting Cisco could still add to its total beyond what was disclosed.

In trying to calm things down a bit, Cisco Chief financial Officer, Kelly Kramer said that "We are going to continue to do acquisitions, and we will continue to hire to get the right people” this year despite the restructuring.So according to her, Cisco had added about 1,600 employees through acquisitions in the fiscal year that ended July 30, and hired employees mostly focused on the company’s software and services businesses.

Sounds from your Hard drives now make systems vulnerable?

Is it time to re-adjust the type of Hard drive one uses? Going by the research result coming out from Isreal, PCs can actually be hacked with the help of the sound coming out from the hard drive.

So it may not just be enough to have a strong password to protect one's system from hackers but now sounds from one's hard drive and the cooling fans make the system vulnerable to hackers.

Great! According to PC world, Researchers have found a way to steal a PC’s data by using the mechanical noise coming from the hard disk drives inside.
It’s not a very practical hack, but the scheme has been designed for “air-gapped” systems, or computers that have been sectioned off from the Internet.
The researchers at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Israel have been studying how to use sound to extract information from air-gapped computers.

In June, they showed that even a PC’s cooling fans can be controlled to secretly transmit data, including passwords and encryption keys.

In a new paper, the researchers found that a PC’s hard disk drive could also generate enough noise to do the same. They did this, by manipulating the drive’s internal mechanical arm, to generate binary signals.

Typically, the mechanical arm only reads and writes data within the hard drive. But when in use, it also creates a good deal of sound at different frequencies -- which the researchers decided to exploit.


They developed a piece of malware called “DiskFiltration” which can infect a Linux-based PC to control a hard disk drive’s operations. To record the emitted noise, the researchers placed a Samsung Galaxy S4 phone nearby to log and decrypt the signals.

They found that their hack could transmit enough 0s and 1s for a stream of data, including passwords. However, the transmission rate is quite slow at only 180 bits per minute, and the range is only effective at up to six feet.
Nevertheless, the method is covert.

A hacker could infect an air-gapped system with a USB stick, and then secretly extract the data, by simply recording the nearby sounds.

To prevent this kind of hacking, owners of air-gapped owners can consider using solid-state drives, which have no moving parts, the researcher said.

Microsoft reduces Windows 10 roll-back grace period

This is surely a drastic change of mind from Microsoft on their I changed-my-mind grace period extended in windows 10 from the initial 30 days to a shorter period of 10 days confirmed by the company.Users who upgraded to Windows 10 were able to roll back to the preceding Windows as long as they did so within 30 days.

To make that possible, Microsoft stored the older operating system in a special folder on the device's drive, consuming up to 5GB of storage space. After the grace period expired, the folder's contents were deleted.
With last week's Anniversary Update, aka version 1607, the 30 days were reduced to 10.

Microsoft said that the behind-the-scenes change had been triggered by data gleaned from the voluminous telemetry it collects from Windows 10 devices.

"Based on our user research, we noticed most users who choose to go back to a previous version of Windows do it within the first several days," a spokesman said in an email. "As such, we changed the setting to 10 days to free storage space used by previous copies."

Meanwhile, since the grace period for the free upgrade of windows elapsed on July 29, it is expected that the retail prices for an upgrade will be between $110 and $200.

Apple watch 2 to come with much faster Processor, GPS and some other features

So much improvement for a watch from apple, going by the rumors and prediction for the next apple watch 2 release, which promises to be a really well  built watch with improved processor, GPS, Barometer and some other great features.

Well according appleInsider, a well connected analyst by name Ming-Chi Kuo, from his note, said that he believes Apple is planning to launch two new Apple Watch versions in the second half of 2016, both of which offer moderate improvements over their predecessor.

The first unit will be an iterative upgrade on the original Apple Watch and is expected to sport the same aesthetics, but with improved intervals like a TSMC processor built on the 16nm process. Waterproofing should also be slightly improved.

A second version, dubbed "Apple Watch 2," is also expected to share the same general design as current models, but will include a GPS radio and barometer for improved geolocation capabilities.

A higher capacity battery will be included to power the advanced components, but its size will prohibit Apple's usual generational device slimming.

IoT Becomes Ever Close With Microsoft Windows 10 Smart-home Centerpiece Deal

This is a huge news to the world of technological innovation, with IoT, life can get really interesting, so according to PC world, Microsoft wants to put Windows 10 at the center of smart homes. The company wants users to be able to tell the operating system's Cortana voice assistant to switch on a light, open a door, release food for a cat, and even check the contents of a refrigerator.

For Windows 10 to be successful, the OS will have to work with a wide range of smart home and IoT devices, and that goal has taken a big step forward thanks to a recent agreement between standards bodies the Open Connectivity Foundation (OCF) and the Thread Group. The two organizations will work together on improving interoperability between smart home and IoT devices.

This means devices running Windows 10 will be able to connect with most smart home products and program home automation tasks based on events or times of the day.
The new alliance will see the major IoT standards-settings groups working together to make it easy for devices to discover and communicate with one another.

"As members of OCF, we are very excited by this development and look forward to moving closer to a world where smart home devices ‘just work’ together regardless of brand or make,” a Microsoft representative said in an email.

The alliance will benefit smart-home customers, with less guesswork involved in getting devices to work together. The alliance between OCF and Thread Group will help Windows 10 devices natively support and communicate with products from companies like Nest Labs, an Alphabet company.
Multiple IoT standards have hurt interoperability between devices, and the alliance gets rid of the fragmentation in standards that's threatening the IoT and smart home markets.

Founders of the Thread Group include ARM, Samsung, Qualcomm, and Nest. The OCF brings together security, discovery, and connectivity tools from the Microsoft-backed AllSeen Alliance and the former Open Interconnect Consortium (OIC), with key members including Intel, Samsung, and Dell. The OIC was renamed OCF.

Microsoft's plan is to integrate OCF protocols -- which are due to be released in 2017 -- into Windows 10. The integration will ultimately bring the Thread Group protocols and network transports to Windows 10.

Users could then automate tasks using a Windows PC, mobile device, Xbox console, or Raspberry Pi 3. Users will be able to create profiles and assign actions for smart home devices. For example, users could establish a specific profile in Cortana like "activate smart home," which would trigger actions like switching on lights and air conditioning.

Microsoft will have to incorporate Thread APIs into its plans for OCF tools. Microsoft has already released an open-source bridge to connect OIC tools, called IoTivity, with the AllSeen Alliance's AllJoyn APIs. It will help AllJoyn devices talk to OIC-compatible IoT devices.

Source : PCworld

Popular apps with weak encyption is always a disaster, ask Turkey coup plotters

Morning after coup attempt

 When a developer forgets to give maximum attention to the encryption of apps keeping storage of sensitive data of its users, then what happened in Turkey is obviously the result in a very scale.

According to the Guardian, "Turkish authorities were able to trace thousands of people they accuse of participating in an underground network linked to last month’s failed military coup by cracking the weak security features of a little-known smartphone messaging app.

Security experts who looked at the app, known as ByLock, at the request of Reuters said it appeared to be the work of amateur software developers and had left important information about its users unencrypted.

A senior Turkish official said Turkish intelligence cracked the app earlier this year and was able to use it to trace tens of thousands of members of a religious movement the government blames for last month’s failed coup.

Members of the group stopped using the app several months ago after realising it had been compromised, but it still made it easier to swiftly purge tens of thousands of teachers, police, soldiers and justice officials in the wake of the coup." In case you want to  Read more at The Guardian

Dropbox Paper, the latest in the line of Dropbox Innovations

Dropbox is certainly innovating, with the latest release, Dropbox Paper, which allows users to collaborate or brainstorm on documents in real time.

The app which was previously limited to certain users, has been made public for anyone to try. "We built Dropbox Paper to help fast-moving teams create collaborative docs and share important information. It’s a big part of how we’re reimagining the way people work together.

We originally launched Paper to a limited number of teams in private beta. And now we’re excited to open up the beta so anyone can sign up—without the waitlist.

Plus, we have new Paper mobile apps for iOS and Android that you can use for on-the-go access." writes Christina Cacioppo of Dropbox blog. You can join the beta at dropbox.com/paper . and download at the Play store or the App store.

According to her, "Early Paper users have already created over a million docs and given us a ton of useful feedback. With that input, we’ve made improvements like enhanced tables and image galleries; desktop, web, and mobile notifications; and powerful search to help you quickly find the docs you need.
And our new mobile apps let you get project updates, make edits, and respond to feedback—any time, anywhere."



Source : Dropboxblog.