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How big is big data?
How big is big data? In a single word: huge. Scientists studying big data have moved far beyond terms like gigabyte or terabyte. Now they use words like exabytes (20 zeros) and quintillion. In their paper “The World’s Technological Capacity to Store, Communicate, and Compute Information,” (PDF) researchers Martin Hilbert and Priscila López found that [...]
Full StoryProject Euler Demonstrate Important Social Change In The Coming Role Of Software Developers
Up until the late 1990s, computer programming was an attractive career choice. A young, self-taught programmer with no formal training could easily build a lucrative career by developing custom applications for clients on a freelance basis, by working full-time at a VC-rich silicon-valley start-up, or by getting employed by large company that wanted to automate [...]
Full StoryCoreVault Video Series: Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About IaaS
Our friends at CoreVault have recently put together a fascinating in-depth video series about the inner-workings, features, and benefits of Infrastructure-as-a-Service cloud server hosting. In an interesting change of pace, CoreVault has crafted an entire series which looks at IaaS from the view of the IT administrator. To do this, they brought in a real-world [...]
Full StoryKeep Up To Date On Your Personal Data Ecosystem With The Personal Data Journal
Anyone who’s been reading this blog for a while knows that we focus a lot on the effects that information collection, data mining and social media are having personal privacy. And we’re not alone. Many grass-roots organizations and self-regulating industry groups have emerged in order to set guidelines and impose ethical behaviour when it comes [...]
Full StoryUbuntu Linux is Great for Privacy
Ubuntu Linux 12.04 “Precise Pangolin” is due out in late April, and presently the second and final beta edition is out now. There are a lot of things that make this new version of Ubuntu Linux even better than the previous version, and many of these notable features are creating a lot of buzz with [...]
Full StoryLarge-Scale British Teleworking Experiment Shows Promising Results for the Future of Flexible Working
British Telecom company O2 has launched a 3-year sustainability plan in which they aim to help business employees collectively eliminate 160 million tonnes of carbon emissions by eliminating half a million miles of unnecessary driving through teleworking and flexible working practices. In order to help meet these goals, they’ve recently launched a very ambitious experiment [...]
Full StoryWhy ecommerce needs SaaS applications
We live in fast-moving times, where people do their grocery shopping on the train via a smartphone, pay their bills using Wi-Fi at the local coffee shop or book their next holiday while already overseas. Being able to access the internet to carry out such tasks wherever and whenever we please is not only convenient, but it also encourages people [...]
Full StoryThe Magnificent 7: No Spaghetti Western, Dynamics NAV 2013 is pure class!
Some 900+ Microsoft Dynamics NAV Professionals assembled in Rome at the end of April to discuss all things Dynamics NAV and in particular, the long-awaited announcement of the launch of NAV 2013. Unlike the other main Microsoft events, Convergence and WPC (World Partner Conference), Directions EMEA is organised by NAV Value Added Resellers and the [...]
Full Story4 Leading Internal Threats To Network Security
Network administrators invest heavily in fortifications that keep out unwanted elements or prying eyes. And now that employees and other authorized parties are increasingly accessing internal resources from outside of the network, these precautions are more important than ever. Network security is a highly developed field, and current technologies are fairly resilient against external threats. [...]
Full StoryHow a Global Supply Chain Now Drives More Risk in the Enterprise
Supply chain is the lifeline of any manufacturing company. With the onset of globalization, managing supply chains have become more complex and business critical than ever before. The recent disasters in Japan and Thailand have highlighted the need for effective risk management along the supply chain for manufacturers to minimize disruptions and resume normal business [...]
Full StoryHow AIS (Automatic Identification System) Is Replacing Conventional Radar In Marine Navigation
The Automatic Identification System is a major component of vessel traffic services and assists the use of marine radar in identifying maritime dangers for ships and submarines at sea. As we will see, AIS tools are also used for navigation, AIS applications are used to provide information related to the position, course and speed of [...]
Full StoryGoogle Becoming the Biggest Cloud Based Provider
The cloud has come to stay in our cyber-world. As the internet becomes bigger and more available everywhere, we would soon be working in a totally different computing paradigm, encompassing our work, pleasure and other aspects of our lives. The term “cloud computing” could be new but it had started long back with the email [...]
Full StoryHow A Cutting-Edge Email System Can Save Your Company
In 2005, UBS AG was forced to pay $29.3 million in damagesafter they had lost a discrimination case which had been filed by a former saleswoman named Laura Zubulake. The exceptionally large amount was prompted by the “disrespect for the law” displayed by the company after they’d failed to produce historical emails which they were [...]
Full StoryTop Sources Of Worldwide Data Growth
It’s no surprise that data is growing exponentially. After all, Moore’s law has been steadily increasing the speed and power with which organizations and users can produce, copy, share and store information. And within the past few years, many experts estimate that the amount of data we produce annually has exceeded the worldwide hardware capacity [...]
Full StoryWhy Low-Traffic Web Sites Need Dependable Web Hosting
When most of us think about web site uptime and availability, we usually assume that this is a problem that only large blogs and high-traffic e-commerce sites have to worry about. Most businesses today have simple, low-traffic web sites which don’t have the rigorous traffic and uptime requirements that these other sites do. But I’m [...]
Full StoryTangible Business Benefits Of Going Paperless
Many companies today are implanting electronic records management, document management, collaboration and other systems in order to minimize the amount of paperwork that needs to be stored and filed. Going paperless promises to offer organizations opportunities for cost-savings and efficiency improvements, while also helping them adhere more strictly to internal controls compliance requirements. And the [...]
Full StoryThe Key to Great Customer Service in the Multichannel World
You’ve no doubt heard the old expression the customer is always right. Clichéd I know but often clichés have arisen for a good reason. Irrespective of whether you agree or not as a retailer you need to cater to their needs. As we move deeper in to the internet age consumers are becoming much more [...]
Full Story3 Biggest Risks Associated With Unsecured Networks
These days, it seems like free WiFi hotspots are everywhere. And too often, these networks are installed and configured by low-salaried employees with little or no IT training. This is a recipe for disaster. But despite all of the warnings, these free conveniences are simply too tempting to resist. So at this point, you may [...]
Full StoryThe Disadvantages That Make Biometrics Impractical
It seems like every science fiction and spy film features some form of biometric security mechanism in order to guard access to precious jewels, powerful weapons or life-changing secrets. If we are to believe what Hollywood has been telling us, then the future of computing should be dominated by retinal scans, fingerprint scans, and voice [...]
Full StoryProtecting Cloud-Based Contact Centers
Cloud-based contact centers use home-based agents to provide high-quality customer care for clients across all industry types. Over the years, these virtual companies have shown they can deliver better service than traditional brick and mortar centers with results such as higher top box customer satisfaction scores, faster handle time metrics, lower attrition and improved employee [...]
Full StoryHow Your Business Can Benefit From An Internal Social network
The social media revolution has certainly impacted how enterprises communicate with their client base. Instead of using surveys to get feedback or traditional advertising approaches to gain exposure, businesses can now use platforms such as Twitter, Facebook and Google Plus to accomplish both of these objectives through the two-way street that is social networking. The [...]
Full StoryThe Difference Between Supervised Learning and Unsupervised Learning
Thanks to big data and the rapidly dropping cost of processing power, there is a growing interest in the potential for data analysis which is empowered by artificial intelligence. Many new start-ups are emerging, which are promising fresh new ways of extracting value from business data. Machine learning will become more important within the next [...]
Full StoryWhat Is An “Open Cloud”, And How Will It Change The World?
Despite the popularity and growth of cloud computing, there are still a number of drawbacks which have prevented this new technological trend from reaching its full potential. These include problems having to do with security, privacy, reliability, vendor lock-in and portability. In order to take cloud computing to the next level, there needs to be [...]
Full StoryHow Location Tracking Will Change Your Life For The Better
One of the most interesting things about the social media revolution is how it’s changed our attitudes about privacy. On one hand, we’re angrily fighting to keep the government’s nose out of our personal business. But on the other hand, we’re freely sharing all of the most embarrassing and intimate moments of our lives onto [...]
Full StoryIntangible Benefits Of Going Paperless
With easy access to cloud applications, collaboration tools, email, messaging, Wikis, document management, record management and other computerized tools, operating in a paperless office presents some attractive opportunities for businesses. Aside from the tangible benefits of doing away with the messy bulk of file folders and wasted office supplies, there are some other important benefits [...]
Full StoryWhy Is So Difficult to Track Down and Identify Cyber Criminals?
If you want to make a career as a criminal, the Internet is where you want to be. In the “real world”, you’d have to take a personal risk in order to enter someone’s house and steal their TV. But on the Internet, you can do all of your dirty work from the safety and [...]
Full Story4 Reasons Macs Still Trump PCs
The wheels of commerce are greased by rapid utility and competent software. Business professionals are soundly reliant on technological upgrades and the efficiency of software and hardware. Accordingly, entrepreneurs in all avenues of business and investing turn to Macs every year in order to secure their files, enhance their system settings, and accomplish cloud syncing [...]
Full StoryRecommended Best Practices and Advice For Business Email Correspondences
Email is a fast, simple and convenient way of interacting with customers and other employees, but that doesn’t mean it should be treated with a lower degree of professionalism. You should take the same care when composing an email as you would with any other formal business correspondence. Here are a few best practices every [...]
Full Story5 Situations Where a Desktop Computer Is Better Than a Laptop
Laptops have become quite popular over the years because they have a lot of advantages for users. Desktop computers have faced many challenges since the laptops were launched and in many cases have been replaced. However, there are some situations where desktop computers are still considered better than laptops. This is because laptops have certain [...]
Full StoryNew CoreVault Video: Virtualization Marries Backup
Our friends at CoreVault have released a brand new video which outlines the benefits and advantages of marrying virtualization and backup. CoreVault is a word-leader in cloud-based backup and Infrastructure-as-a-Service server hosting. And now, they’ve produced a video which showcases how they’ve merged their expertise in data backup and managing of virtualized environments to create [...]
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