Grazed from AP. Author: Chidanand Rajghatta.

Cloud storage and computing, bruited as the electronic world’s big advance that enabled storage of your videos, music, photos, and other heavy data in remote servers, has come under a cloud. Turns out the of secure remote servers, including iCloud pioneered by Apple Inc., may be a pie in the sky after all; a hacker has broken into the iCloud system and siphoned off private photos of actresses that are now being slobbered over on social media by lascivious celebrity stalkers.

The anonymous hacker posted nude photos of 100s of Hollywood celebrities that were claimed to have come from their iCloud accounts using an iCloud security vulnerability. Victims of the hacking include actress Jennifer Lawrence, Kate Upton, Kirsten Dunst and Mary Elizabeth Winstead…

Grazed from CloudComputing. Author: Jim Boulton.

Every minute, 2 million searches are made, half a billion links are shared and 48 hours of footage are uploaded. That is a lot of data. And yet, in terms of how much is being produced worldwide, it barely scratches the surface. That is Big Data. Big Data is the term used to describe data sets that are so large and complex that it takes a phenomenal amount of processing power to interrogate them. So why do it?

Fourteen seconds before the 2011 earthquake in Japan, every bullet train and every factory came to a halt. Many lives were saved thanks to the Quake-Catcher Network. This network is made up of thousands of laptops with free software running in the background. The software makes use of the built-in sensors designed to protect the hard drive if the laptop is dropped. If there is an earthquake, all the sensors go off at the same time. By continuously aggregating and processing the data produced by all the sensors, it is possible to brace for impact before the earthquake strikes…

Grazed from Forbes. Author: Ben Kepes.

As organizations get more comfortable using cloud services, there is a corresponding increase in the number of services that not only take an existing process and deliver it via the cloud, but that also take advantage of the fact that business processes are now exposed to derive some insights from the data contained within them.

An interesting example of this is from cloud procurement vendor Procurify. Procurify is a cloud-based procurement software solution that is used to manage both direct and indirect company spending. By exposing these procurement processes, Procurify can deliver some additional value, giving control and visibility of where company money is going in real-time, using simple-to-generate reports and analytics…

Grazed from ITWeb. Author: Editorial Staff.

Citrix and Google have extended their relationship with the unveiling of a new Receiver for Chrome, which the companies say offers improved user experience. A Chromebook is a laptop running Chrome OS as its operating system. The devices are designed to be used primarily while connected to the Internet, with most applications and data residing in the cloud.

Citrix Receiver is a client software that provides access to XenDesktop and XenApp installations. With this download, users can access applications, desktops and data from any device, including smartphones, tablets, PCs and Macs. According to market research firm Gartner, by 2017, sales of Chromebooks are set to nearly triple to reach 14.4 million units…

Grazed from ComputerWeekly. Author: Karl Flinders.

In the on-premise versus in the cloud debate it is always the subject of security that swings people in favour of on-premise. People feel safer if their software is on their own premises, but does that mean it is safer. Everybody is connected to the internet so bricks and mortar is no protection. You could argue that if it is on your own premises you have better control of physical security. Anyway the point of this post is to highlight research from analyst firm Pierre Audoin Consultants (PAC), which states that: "Cloud [is] more secure than on-premise IT"

"Rapid development in cloud-based security, including physical security within the data centres, means that, for many firms, it is more effective and cost efficient to locate IT systems in the cloud than on on-premise equipment. CIOs and CISOs should consider the cloud for many of their IT systems, while for SMEs and local government PAC recommends that it should be the default architecture," said PAC…

Grazed from Computing. Author: Sooraj Shah.

Microsoft is continuing its fight against a US federal court order that demanded that the software giant hand over email data held in a data centre overseas to US federal authorities. The company has said that it would not release any information as it waits for the case to make its way through the appeals process, according to WindowsITPro.

The judge is now asking both Microsoft and federal prosecutors to advise her how to proceed by 5 September – this Friday. A Microsoft spokesperson said that the company "will not be turning over the email and plans to appeal". "Everyone agrees this case can and will proceed to the appeals court. This is simply about finding the appropriate procedure for that to happen," the spokesperson added…

Grazed from DataCenterDynamics. Author: Nick Booth.

Telco Zayo has launched a Connect to the Cloud program that links cloud providers – including Amazon web services (AWS) and Softlayer – with 500 data centers worldwide. The aim is to simplify shopping for cloud connections and help customers to operate a hybrid cloud, according to Zayo, which uses its own network rather than the public internet in order to offer high service levels.

In 2011, Zayo became one of the first providers to offer direct bandwidth up to 10G through the AWS Direct Connect portal. In 2013 it became an Amazon Partner Network (APN) Technology Partner. Zayo provides private networks with circuits to enable connectivity to each AWS Direct Connect location…

Grazed from ComputerWeekly. Author: Archana Venkatraman.

IT is seen not just as a business enabler, but also as a division that can help the business identify new revenue streams. So when IT was becoming a limiting factor at Holiday Extras, a UK travel add-ons service provider, its IT team knew it had to act fast. Holiday Extras provides add-on travel services, such as airport hotel bookings, parking and insurance services to British holidaymakers. Its most critical business application is its website.

The company’s in-house datacentre, which has been operational since its launch in 1983, powered its web applications, television campaigns and business operations. It was a regular facility full with blade servers, firewall infrastructure, load balancers and massive infrastructure around its web system…

Grazed from Winsupersite.  Author: Paul Thurrott.

While Microsoft’s business offerings have long dominated the conversation around the software giant, I’m increasingly excited by the firm’s growing set of integrated consumer services that work via apps on all popular mobile device platforms. It is here, I think, that Microsoft’s "mobile first, cloud first" mantra is most clearly seen, because the services that impact end users directly are those that make the most sense on mobile devices.  But here’s the tragedy: Most consumers, I bet, rarely even consider Microsoft’s mobile app and web services offerings. Most don’t even know they exist.

Part of the reason for this is no doubt because of Microsoft’s reputation as a provider of business technology products and services. And while it’s fair to point out that the majority of the firm’s revenues do come from business customers, that doesn’t diminish the quality of its consumer-oriented offerings, or the impact this company has with individuals, through apps and on the web…

Grazed from BDLive.  Author: Willie Oosthuysen.

THE ever-accelerating evolution of technology keeps making real the stuff of science fiction.  Just 30 years ago, cellphones, the internet and GPS were predictions. Now we carry instruments in our pockets that can do all those things, and more.  Technology predictions for 2014 give us a tantalising glimpse of what’s in store — and some of it is mind-boggling.

1. The internet of everything

This is the idea that, eventually, every device in the world can be connected to every other device.  You already have aspects of the internet of everything in your life, such as synching your calendar across devices…