Displaying items by tag: Cloud Services

steve_ballmer_apple_tabletMicrosoft has recognized a flaw in their plan for Windows 8. This is the enterprise space. Apparently they might have thought that because the majority of business and enterprises use Windows based networks and systems they were going to just get those sales again with Windows 8. Sadly most of the IT people I have spoken with (and that is a lot) do not want it in their shops. They view Windows 8 as a mistake that will eclipse Windows ME and Windows Vista together.

Published in Editorials

nas07As the push for cloud based storage and services becomes greater we have been taking a look at the value of these from not only a monetary view, but also from a privacy and security view. To this end we have been tinkering around with a few Network Attached Storage Devices (NAS). One of our first is the Synology DiskStation DS1512+. We have already dissembled the DS1512+ in the first part of our coverage and now have pounded on it for a good length of time to see how it performs using a few synthetic tests as well as real-world usage. So let’s take a look at our results.

84After the breaches and issues with passwords we saw last week we were not surprised to see the creator of a popular password hashing application md5crypt() come out and recommend against using this software. Now if you have followed security then you are probably already aware that the MD5 encryption scheme was broken quite a while ago (2004-2005) and is no longer recommended as an encryption algorithm. So why in 2012 are we only getting a recommendation to stop using md5crypt() now?

Published in Editorials

84There is more news about the LinkedIn Data Breach as security firm Sophos reports that roughly 3.5 Million of the hashed passwords have been cracked. This is about 60% of the 5.8 Million unique passwords that were grabbed from a password database on the popular business connection site. The speed in which the passwords were cracked is of concerning.

Published in Editorials
Tuesday, 05 June 2012 11:50

Are Cloud Services Really A Better Deal?

cloud-computing-badWhen we first started to hear rumblings about Microsoft’s next version of Windows we were told that it would be positioned as the center piece of a connected home. Now at the time we took this to mean an internal environment with connectivity to gaming consoles, media centers (or hubs) and of course Windows Home Server. What we did not expect was for Microsoft to shovel the cloud and their cloud based services down the consumer’s throats.

Published in Editorials

ms-office-logoNot that long ago (when Microsoft was still hammer out the details of their Office 15 offering) there was a small stir on the internet about the possibility of Office for the iPad and for Android based tablets. At the time Microsoft completely denied the rumors and stated that they were not working on working on office for iPad and that the pictures floating around were faked.

Published in News

News_manstealingdataTwo days ago we wrote an article that stated quite plainly that confidence in cloud services is actually beginning to fade as security and privacy concerns mount. At the time we talked very briefly about one of the leading reasons for the push to the cloud. That is “ownership” of your data in all of its forms. We are not just talking about files here though. We are talking about ALL of your data. This includes companies like Facebook, Google, Bing, and more. They want your information because it is worth money to them.

Published in News

cloud-computing-badEarlier today we talked about how AMD’s Rory Read is looking to cloud based services to help overcome the lack of processing power available to AMD’s APUs (and other CPUs moving forward) in that article we talked (very briefly) about some of the concerns that are keeping people out of cloud based services. Although one that is commonly talked about is privacy the other (and perhaps even more important) is security.

Published in Editorials

17As consumers are becoming less and less enchanted with their wireless carriers we are now hearing that Microsoft is trying to take a leaf from their book of tricks. With a wireless provider the way to get people in the door is to offer great phones (like the iPhone, Google Nexus, Galaxy III Etc) for amazing prices, but then to require a two year commitment for service. This is exactly what Microsoft might be doing with the next round or XboX hardware.

Published in Leaks and Rumors
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