The executive director of Utah’s Department of Technology Services has resigned over a data breach two months ago that exposed the Social Security numbers of about 280,000 Medicaid recipients.
Computerworld News
Tag Archives: data
Utah CTO takes fall for data breach
Posted by Gsurface
on May 17, 2012
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“Data Killer” Erases the Evidence
Posted by Gsurface
on May 16, 2012
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Zeus variant tricks Facebook users into exposing card data
Posted by Gsurface
on May 16, 2012
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A new variant of the Zeus trojan tricks users into exposing their debit card details by displaying rogue offers when they visit Facebook, Gmail, Yahoo and Hotmail, according to researchers from security firm Trusteer.
Computerworld News
Defining ‘big data’ depends on who’s doing the defining
Posted by Gsurface
on May 10, 2012
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Big data is an IT buzzword nowadays, but what does it really mean? When does data become big?
Computerworld News
Twitter resists subpoena to release user's data without warrant
Posted by Gsurface
on May 9, 2012
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Twitter is contesting a court order requiring it to turn over private data on a user charged with disorderly conduct during the Occupy Wall Street protests in New York last year.
Computerworld News
Big Oil Goes Mining for Big Data
Posted by Gsurface
on May 9, 2012
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As petroleum production gets trickier, digital innovation becomes more crucial.
The world isn’t running out of oil and natural gas. It is running out of easy oil and gas. And as energy companies drill deeper and hunt in more remote regions and difficult deposits, they’re banking on information technology to boost production.
The Rise of Big Data Apps And The Fall of SaaS
Posted by Gsurface
on May 5, 2012
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With the influx of information flooding the web – 90% of the web having been created in the last two years alone – web businesses are looking for ways to understand and use big data to drive their business. Just as SaaS and the cloud completely revolutionized the way businesses operate, so will Big Data applications (BDAs). BDAs are web-based applications that interpret and use massive amounts of enterprise and web-scale data to deliver more intelligent results for their subscribers. BDAs leverage the best of the cloud; they’re web-hosted, multi-tenant and use Hadoop, noSQL and a range of recommendation and machine learning technologies.
But the real question is – so what? So what if the underlying data structures use Hadoop or noSQL? No CEO of a major business gets excited about a value proposition around more scalable data structures. That’s where BDAs come in. BDAs don’t just repackage your data in a cool interface or offer productivity improvements in data scalability, they harness the world’s data to deliver you a better outcome – like more revenue.
TechCrunch
US Cellular joins other carriers in ending absurd overage data fees
Posted by Gsurface
on May 5, 2012
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US Cellular has finally woken up to reality and ended its exorbitant fees for customers who consumed more data on their mobile device than their monthly plan allowed. Of course, if you’re a US Cellular customer, you’ll still be smacked with a fee if you exceed what your plan allots, but it won’t be nearly
Investors are pouring funds into big data
Posted by Gsurface
on May 4, 2012
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Surging enterprise demand for big data tools that can manipulate and analyze massive volumes of structured and unstructured data has caught investor attention in a big way.
Computerworld News
Is There Big Money in Big Data?
Posted by Gsurface
on May 3, 2012
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Many entrepreneurs foresee vast profits in mining data from online activity and mobile devices. One Wharton business school professor strongly disagrees.
Few ideas hold more sway among entrepreneurs and investors these days than “Big Data.” The idea is that we are now collecting so much information about people from their online behavior and, especially, through their mobile phones that we can make increasingly specific predictions about how they will behave and what they will buy.
Microsoft’s New Lab Hunts for Value in User Data
Posted by Gsurface
on May 3, 2012
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How A Private Data Market Could Ruin Facebook
Posted by Gsurface
on May 3, 2012
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The growing interest in a market for personal data that shares profits with the individuals who own the data could change the business landscape for companies like Facebook
To justify its sky-high valuation, Facebook will have to increase its profit per user at rates that seem unlikely, even by the most generous predictions. Last year, we looked at just how unlikely this is.
Birst Lands $26M From Sequoia, Hummer Winblad To Bring Big Data Analytics To The Masses
Posted by Gsurface
on May 2, 2012
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Birst, a San Francisco-based startup that offers on-demand business intelligence and analytics solutions for companies big and small, has raised $ 26 million in series D financing, led by Sequoia Capital. Existing investors, including Hummer Winblad and DAG Ventures, also participated in the round, bringing Birst’s total funding to $ 46 million.
TechCrunch
Big Data may be hot, but ‘little data’ is what makes it useful
Posted by Gsurface
on May 1, 2012
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When it comes to using data to manage your business, it’s the little things that matter first.
[Read more]
CNET News
A Stock Exchange for Your Personal Data
Posted by Gsurface
on April 30, 2012
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Report Finds Google Supervisors Knew About Wi-Fi Data Harvesting
Posted by Gsurface
on April 30, 2012
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bonch writes “According to the FCC report, Google’s collection of Street View data was not the unauthorized act of a rogue engineer, as Google had portrayed it, but an authorized program known to supervisors and at least seven other engineers. The original proposal contradicts Google’s claim that there was no intent to gather payload data: ‘We are logging user traffic along with sufficient data to precisely triangulate their position at a given time, along with information about what they were doing.’”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Data Driven Decisions for Startups
Posted by Gsurface
on April 29, 2012
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“If you don’t have any facts, we’ll just use my opinion.” – Jim Barksdale (former president and CEO of Netscape).
Startups are the sum of the decisions made by the people who run them. Should you raise money? Who should you raise money from? What should be your marketing strategy? What are the next features you should build? Who should you hire? Ok.. you get the point.
If decisions are so important then it might be worthwhile to think about how to make them better. A lot of research has been done on this subject and you can literally spend years going through the books, papers and the various theories and schools of thought in decision-making. Needless to say, that will probably be a bad decision by itself. Instead, it is more important to understand why data driven decisions work and to instill such a culture in your company.
TechCrunch
Does Google Drive own your data? Policy actually no worse than rivals
Posted by Gsurface
on April 25, 2012
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Why ‘big data’ is here to stay
Posted by Gsurface
on April 25, 2012
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The demand for so-called big data among business, government, and scientific leaders has been building for years. They can now turn to IT and say “make it so.”
[Read more]
CNET News
Sprint confirms unlimited data plan for next iPhone
Posted by Gsurface
on April 25, 2012
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Sprint won’t be moving away from its unlimited data plan even if the next iPhone is 4G LTE.
[Read more]
CNET News
Verizon’s Global Data Package: $25 for 100MB of usage
Posted by Gsurface
on April 24, 2012
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The carrier says that when customers use up all of the 100MB of data in one month, they’ll be given the chance to buy more for an additional $ 25.
[Read more]
CNET News
Canada’s CTV gets a grip on international roaming voice, data costs
Posted by Gsurface
on April 23, 2012
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International voice, text and data costs can get expensive for vacation and business travelers alike, something Canadian news operation CTV found out the hard way. Now it’s cutting costs with a telecom expense management system.
Computerworld News
IBM Fellow Jeff Jonas on the evolution of Big Data
Posted by Gsurface
on April 21, 2012
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Recently named IBM Fellow Jeff Jonas is one of the most interesting big data thought-leaders. He spoke to CNET about the increasing value of data-driven decisions.
[Read more]
CNET News
Facebook flips the swtich on its North Carolina data center, cooled with balmy mountain air
Posted by Gsurface
on April 21, 2012
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Since breaking ground in Western North Carolina some 16 months ago, Facebook has been running at full speed to get its newest data center online. This week, Zuckerberg & Co. flipped the switch. The new facility, located in Forest City, touts the “first major deployment” of the outfit’s Open Compute Project web servers and will be the first “live test” of the OPC’s outdoor air-cooling design. It tends to get pretty warm around those parts and humidity levels are a bit outside of ideal data center conditions. The Carolina facility will mirror the projected power utilization effectiveness (PUE) of FB’s Oregon data center at just a smidge above 1 – somewhere between 1.06 and 1.08 to be exact. In other words, this means the ratio of power used by the structure and the actual power sent to the hardware is almost perfect with minimal energy loss. No matter, it’ll still be using plenty of power. A second identical building is slated to open on the site later this year, but for now, hit the source link for a bit more info on the initial launch.
Facebook flips the swtich on its North Carolina data center, cooled with balmy mountain air originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 21 Apr 2012 03:05:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Workers did not exceed authorization when data stolen, says appeals court
Posted by Gsurface
on April 20, 2012
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In a somewhat startling decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit last week ruled that several employees at an executive recruitment firm did not exceed their authorized access to their company’s database when they logged into the system and stole confidential data from it.
Computerworld News
Google’s New “Gmail Meter” Crunches Data About Your Email Use
Posted by Gsurface
on April 19, 2012
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Similar to Google’s new Account Activity dashboard, the company is now expanding its data-crunching ways to another popular Google service: Gmail. With a new tool called “Gmail Meter,” you can now know everything there is to know (well, almost) about your Gmail usage.
Using the Meter, you can learn about things like how many emails you’ve sent, received, starred, replied to, and you can see your daily traffic charted out, which can help identify spurts and drops.
TechCrunch
Europe’s high court says ISPs can hand over alleged pirates’ data
Posted by Gsurface
on April 19, 2012
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The European Court of Justice says that Sweden’s laws have no barriers in place that would preclude an ISP from sharing an alleged pirates’ data with rightsholders.
[Read more]
CNET News
Two Views on Apple’s Coal-Powered Data Center
Posted by Gsurface
on April 19, 2012
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Apple is feeling heat from Greenpeace today. The environmental group singled out the image-conscious IT leader for building data centers in regions that rely heavily on coal in its yearly report rankings of cloud computing companies. Apple gets 55 percent of its power from coal, according to Greenpeace, which is about the same as the nation’s overall energy mix, but higher than all other 14 ranked companies.
Using Foursquare Data to Redefine a Neighborhood
Posted by Gsurface
on April 18, 2012
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Carnegie Mellon researchers believe they can capture the essence of an area based on what Foursquare users do there.
Defining the makeup of a particular neighborhood can be tricky. Locals may agree on the general area and character of, say, Manhattan’s Upper West Side, but we all have different opinions about what really goes on there, or even what its precise boundaries are.
AT&T boosts prepaid GoPhone plans with more data
Posted by Gsurface
on April 18, 2012
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AT&T has revamped its GoPhone plans to be more competitive in the fast-growing prepaid market. Its new GoPhone data plans will now offer at least double the data, while remaining at the same price. There are three tiers, including a 50MB plan for $ 5 per month, a 200MB plan for $ 15 per month, and a
Netflix CEO criticizes Comcast on Net neutrality, data caps
Posted by Gsurface
on April 16, 2012
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Reed Hastings denounces the cable giant for not treating its own Xfinity traffic the same way it does traffic to other Internet video services.
[Read more]
CNET News
Reed Hastings slams Comcast on Net neutrality, data caps
Posted by Gsurface
on April 16, 2012
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The Netflix CEO criticizes the cable giant for not treating its own Xfinity traffic the same way it does traffic to other Internet video services.
[Read more]
CNET News
Band Pro seeking damages against ARRI and Michael Bravin, expects to get its data back
Posted by Gsurface
on April 15, 2012
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Should you ever get the itch to illegally peek at a former employer’s servers, take a lesson from Michael Bravin: don’t. The former ARRI executive’s adventures in cooperate espionage have landed him nothing but trouble. Although Bravin’s previous plea agreement required him to pay back Band Pro for damages and legal fees, the outfit is now seeking punitive damages against both ARRI and Bravin himself. “Band Pro is informed and believes, and thereupon alleges that Glenn Kennel and Bill Russel, executives of ARRI, had firsthand knowledge of Bravin’s hacking activities,” asserts the recently filed complaint. In addition to damages, Band Pro is seeking orders requiring ARRI to return all information acquired from the said hacking and the destruction of “all business plans and strategies developed in reliance” of that information. Check out the PDF yourself for Band Pro’s full list of demands and a detailed outline of its thirteen accusations against ARRI — we’ll let you know how things go down if the trial pans out.
Band Pro seeking damages against ARRI and Michael Bravin, expects to get its data back originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 15 Apr 2012 15:48:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Engadget
Saying goodbye to my iPhone, the data hog
Posted by Gsurface
on April 15, 2012
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After flirting with an iPhone for a month, here’s why I switched back to a BlackBerry.
[Read more]
CNET News
Facebook Lets Users Download More of Their Data
Posted by Gsurface
on April 13, 2012
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AT&T or Verizon: Which offers the best deal on 4G iPad data?
Posted by Gsurface
on April 13, 2012
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In this Ask Maggie, I help a reader determine which LTE-enabled iPad to buy. I also offer some guidance to a Sprint customer wondering about the future of Sprint’s WiMax network.
[Read more]
CNET News
U.S. tries to silence MegaUpload lawyers on issue of user data
Posted by Gsurface
on April 13, 2012
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There’s a real chance that MegaUpload’s lawyers may not get a chance to address the court about what should happen to the company’s servers.
[Read more]
CNET News
Wavii Launches In Public Beta, Aiming To Be Your Big Data News Aggregator Of Choice
Posted by Gsurface
on April 11, 2012
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After years, yes years, in various states of stealth mode, Seattle-based personalized news aggregation startup Wavii is finally launching to wide scale public consumption. Backed with a list of angel investors that reads like a who’s who of today’s tech industry — Ron Conway, Aydin Senkut, Mitch Kapor, Dave Morin, Shawn Fanning, Keith Rabois, Max Levchin, Paul Bucheit, Rick Marini, Joshua Schachter, and Mike Arrington’s CrunchFund to name just a few — Wavii is built upon some big ideas, and naturally is going to be greeted with some high expectations. Will it possibly be able to live up to them? In short: Maybe yes, maybe no.
But first let’s talk about what exactly it is.
But first let’s talk about what exactly it is.
TechCrunch
Iceland Exports Energy as Data
Posted by Gsurface
on April 11, 2012
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Intelligence Map Made From Brain Injury Data
Posted by Gsurface
on April 10, 2012
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An anonymous reader writes with this news out of the University of Illinois:
“Scientists report that they have mapped the physical architecture of intelligence in the brain. Theirs is one of the largest and most comprehensive analyses so far of the brain structures vital to general intelligence and to specific aspects of intellectual functioning, such as verbal comprehension and working memory. Their study, published in Brain: A Journal of Neurology (abstract), is unique in that it enlisted an extraordinary pool of volunteer participants: 182 Vietnam veterans with highly localized brain damage from penetrating head injuries. … The researchers took CT scans of the participants’ brains and administered an extensive battery of cognitive tests. They pooled the CT data to produce a collective map of the cortex, which they divided into more than 3,000 three-dimensional units called voxels. By analyzing multiple patients with damage to a particular voxel or cluster of voxels and comparing their cognitive abilities with those of patients in whom the same structures were intact, the researchers were able to identify brain regions essential to specific cognitive functions, and those structures that contribute significantly to intelligence.”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Microsoft to build new data center in Wyoming
Posted by Gsurface
on April 10, 2012
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Microsoft plans to build a new data center, this time in Cheyenne, Wyo.
Computerworld News
Google responds to European questionnaire on data protection
Posted by Gsurface
on April 7, 2012
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Google has responded to questions from European privacy regulators about its new privacy policy, but only managed to answer 24 of the 69 questions, according to a copy of the letter published by Google.
Computerworld News
Data Safety In a Time of Natural Disasters
Posted by Gsurface
on April 7, 2012
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CowboyRobot writes “The National Weather Service has begun testing the way it labels natural disasters. It’s hoping that the new warnings, which include words like ‘catastrophic,’ ‘complete devastation likely,’ and ‘unsurvivable,’ will make people more likely to take action to save their lives. But what about their digital lives? Recommendations include: Keep all electronics out of basements and off the floor; Unplug your hardware; Buy a surge protector; Enclose anything valuable in plastic. If the National Weather Service issued a ‘complete devastation’ warning today, would your data be ready?”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Here’s What A Facebook Response To A User Data Subpoena Looks Like
Posted by Gsurface
on April 7, 2012
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Last year, Facebook got a little more transparent explaining what kind of data it would provide to law enforcement officials when they made formal subpoenas for user profiles. Now, we can have a look at exactly what that Facebook account report looks like, perhaps for the first time.
The document comes by way of the newspaper the Boston Phoenix, which this week published a long feature on how digital sleuthing led to detectives tracking down Philip Markoff, a man accused of robbing two women and murdering a third, having initially made contact with them through Craigslist. (Markoff committed suicide before his case went to trial.)
The feature is worth reading in itself, but what’s equally interesting is that the Phoenix has taken the opportunity to also make public an extensive amount of evidence that was used in the case, covering things like CCTV footage, audio of police interviews… and all of Markoff’s Facebook data.
TechCrunch
Open-source data mapping tool CartoDB provides customizable views
Posted by Gsurface
on April 5, 2012
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Vizzuality launched an open-source data-mapping tool CartoDB this week, promising an easy and customizable way for users to display their geospatial data.
Computerworld News
FTC Fines RockYou $250,000 For Storing User Data In Plain Text
Posted by Gsurface
on April 3, 2012
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An anonymous reader writes “You probably don’t remember the RockYou fiasco as it happened in late 2009. In case you don’t, social game developer RockYou suffered a serious SQL injection flaw on its flagship website. Worse, the company was storing user details in plain text. As a result, tens of millions of login details, including those belonging to minors, were stolen and published online. Now, RockYou has finally settled with the Federal Trade Commission.”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
MetroPCS raises unlimited LTE data plan to $70, starts throttling others
Posted by Gsurface
on April 3, 2012
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Enjoying those quick, all-you-can-browse speeds on your LG Connect 4G? Well, it looks like soon you’ll have to shell out a bit more cash to hold onto that beloved unlimited service. Earlier today, MetroPCS laid out the scheme to hike the pricing on its no-limits LTE offering, adding an extra $ 10 to the monthly fee. As for the others, the new $ 60 plan will now be capped at 5GB of LTE data, while the lesser $ 50 and $ 40 deals are set to include 2.5GB and 250MB, respectively — both of which are said to get a multimedia streaming throttle at 1GB on the former and 100MB on the latter. MetroPCS says you shouldn’t worry, though, and that things “like Facebook, web surfing, etc., should continue to be solid.” Good thing “solid” is unambiguous, right?
MetroPCS raises unlimited LTE data plan to $ 70, starts throttling others originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 03 Apr 2012 15:23:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Engadget
Cisco, EMC, VMware unite behind big data, cloud training initiative
Posted by Gsurface
on April 3, 2012
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As the IT silos come down, tech pros need to beef up their skills to stay relevant and maximize the business benefits of cloud computing, virtualization, unified networking and big data, according to Cisco and EMC, which have teamed to offer training targeted at tech's hottest data center disciplines.
Computerworld News
British Government To Grant Warrantless Trawl of Communications Data
Posted by Gsurface
on April 2, 2012
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First time accepted submitter cardpuncher writes “Having opposed the previous government’s attempts to introduce mass surveillance of Internet communications, the Conservatives are planning to introduce the very same policy they previously described as a ‘culture of surveillance which goes far beyond counter terrorism and serious crime.’ The plan is essentially to allow stored communication data to be trawled without the inconvenience of needing a warrant or even any reasonable suspicion.”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Visa, MasterCard acknowledge data breach
Posted by Gsurface
on March 31, 2012
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Both Visa and MasterCard Friday are acknowledging a possible data breach of a payment-card processing company network that, once an investigation is completed, could show that sensitive data from cardholders was stolen and payment fraud committed due to the break-in.
Computerworld News
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