Best of CES 2013: In pictures

Best of CES 2013: In pictures
Here’s what’s grabbing our attention right now at the sprawling CES 2013 gadget show in Las Vegas

CES 2013

Christmas, as usual, comes late for the serious phone addicts, tablet-o-philes and general gizmo junkies among us. Here’s a look at some of our favorites, so far, from CES 2013, which is happening right now in Las Vegas. We’ll be adding to this slideshow throughout the week as we come across cool new products from CES, so please check back.


Vizio MT11x-A1

Best known for its LCD TV line, Vizio announced a pure Windows 8 slate-style touch tablet, the MT11x-A1. (It previously offered an Android tablet). It’s powered by an AMD Z60 dual-core 1 GHz processor, with 2 Gbytes RAM, and AMD’s Radeon HD graphics. It’s just 0.4 inches thick, weighs 1.8 pounds. The 11-inch screen is 1920 x 1080 pixels. Other features: micro-HDMI port, 64GB solid state disk, 2-megapixel front camera, SRS Premium Sound HD. Availability, pricing not announced. Details on the Vizio web page are scant.

Samsung Exynos 5 Octa

Samsung announced its most advanced mobile system-on-chip: the Exynos 5 Octa, so called because it has eight ARM CPU cores. Four are ARM Cortex A15’s, designed for high performance, which are found in the earlier Exyno 5 Dual which powers the Nexus 10. Four are ARM Cortex A7’s, which are similar but designed for power efficiency. The setup lets the SoC shift different types of tasks among the cores for optimal efficiency. Using a 28 nanometer process, the new SoC is somewhat smaller than the Dual. Rivals Qualcomm and NVIDIA also announced new mobile chips. No word on whether Samsung will upgrade the companion GPU.

Panasonic ToughPad for Android

The second new Panasonic ToughPad is the JT-B1 running Android 4.0 with a Texas Instruments OMAP 4460 1.5GHz dual core CPU, 16 Gbytes ROM, 1 Gbyte RAM, micro SDHC; 7-inch, daylight viewable, 1024 x 600 pixel touch screen; rear 13 megapixel auto focus/LED cam, and front 1.3 megapixel fixed focus cam; 5,720 mAh battery, user-replaceable, with 8-hour life; 8.7 x 5.1 x 0.7 inches, 1.2 pounds; Bluetooth 4.0, 802.11n, optional embedded LTE or 3G; Micro USB; MIL-STD-810G spec. Ships in February, starting at $1,199

LaCie 5big external hard drive

The LaCie 5big external hard drive is a RAID monster that also includes a super-fast Thunderbolt connection. Aimed at video and photo professionals, this drive transferred a whopping 30GB of data in about a minute (at least in the demo we saw).


Lenovo IdeaPhone P770

Lenovo’s IdeaPhone P770 packs a high capacity 3,500 mAh battery with enhanced power management software, for up to 30 hours of talk time between charges. Native anti-virus software, and dual-sim capability. That’s about all the info in the press release. There’s not even a Webpage for “Ideaphone.” In November 2012, details were leaked or uncovered: 1.2GHz dual-core processor, 1GB RAM, Android 4.1 Jelly Bean; 4.5-inch (960 x 540 pixel) display; 5 MP camera on the back, front-facing VGA cam; 4GB storage. Ships: January, first in China; price not announced. See the P770 video ad.


Panasonic ToughPad for Windows

Panasonic announced two rugged ToughPad tablets. The first is the FZ-G1, running Windows 8 Pro. It has a third generation Intel Core i5 processor, at 1.9 GHz (up to 2.9, with Intel Turbo Boost); 128G-265GB solid state disk options; 4G-8GB, RAM; sunlight viewable 10.1-inch touch screen, user-replaceable battery runs up to 8 hours; 10.6 x 7.4 x 0.75 inches; 2.43 pounds; Bluetooth 4.0, 802.11n, optional 3G or LTE radio; full USB 2.0 and 3.0 ports, HDMI, Ethernet, serial port or dedicated GPS; complies with MIL-STD-810G spec; ships in February, starting at $2,899.


Qualcomm announced a fire breather

Qualcomm announced a fire breather: the Snapdragon 800 mobile processor series, aimed at “premium” mobile devices. The 800 uses a four-core Krait 400 CPU (based on ARM cores), the company’s Adreno 330 GPU, Hexagon v5 Digital Signal Processor, and its latest 4G LTE Category 4 modem. All components offer dramatic performance gains over the current generation Snapdragon S4 Pro, which is used in smartphones like the Google Nexus 4 and the HTC Droid DNA. Also new: the 600 series, which offers a lower performance level at a lower price, though still a major step up from the S4 Pro. See this blogpost for more information.


Intel Haswell

Intel banged the drum for a new generation of lighter, thinner, and cheaper ultrabooks: shown is this sleek prototype, dubbed Northscape, running Intel’s next-generation, ultra low-power Haswell mobile processor. Haswell is due out in mid-2013, several months earlier than expected. Press a button and the 13-inch display is released, to be used as an 11-inch touch tablet (the change in screen size lets you hold the bezel-less tablet). The 0.67-inch thick ultrabook has 13 hours of battery life; the tablet, 10 hours.


A company called TrackingPoint (currently only showing a video and countdown clock) combined an array of sensors, a processor, digital tracking display, an optical scope, laser, digital signal processor, and even Wi-Fi, along with something never before seen at CES: a custom-built, bolt-action rifle from Surgeon Rifles. The result: the $20,000 Precision Guided Firearm. Data on temperature, barometric pressure, distance to target, orientation of the barrel, let you lock on to the target, with a big red dot that dynamically compensates for a battery of variables. The Wi-Fi link lets the scope’s image appear on an iPad mini (included). PC World has details.

Samsung LED curved TV

We thought we’d left curved TVs behind with cathode rays, but no: Samsung announced a prototype 55-inch concave organic LED TV, with a gently curved surface. The curve makes all viewing angles equal in terms of the eye’s distance to the screen. Gizmodo’s Brian Barrett says the effect is enveloping, and both “disorienting and majestic.” No information on price or on when, or whether, it will be available.

 


MCTS Training, MCITP Trainnig

Best Microsoft MCTS Certification, Microsoft MCITP Training at certkingdom.com

 

 

 

Why I abandoned Windows Phone 8

I recently acquired a Nokia Lumia 920 to experiment with Windows Phone 8. But a few weeks in, I’m already back to my Android-based device.

A few months ago, I forced myself to switch to Windows 8 on my desktop system (and laptop) and ended up liking the operating system very much. Once I got used to the quirks and garish look of the new Start screen and learned many of the shortcuts built into Windows 8, I found myself enjoying the operating system and was more than pleased by its myriad of enhancements and performance improvements.

I initially made the switch to Windows 8 because I wanted to fully immerse myself into the OS before formulating any strong opinions. Considering how much I ended up liking Windows 8 on my desktop, I thought I would conduct a similar experiment with my smartphone. For the last few years, I have been deeply entrenched in the Android ecosystem and have experience with a multitude of devices. I enjoy installing custom ROMs on the devices and have experimented with countless apps and utilities. At this point my smartphone is an integral part of my day-to-day computing, and I’ve grown fond of a handful of apps and the convenience of always having my inboxes and access to the web in my pocket.
I picked up a [Windows Phone 8-based Nokia Lumia 920 and was initially impressed. The hardware itself is excellent. The Lumia 920’s camera is top notch. The device is obviously well-built. The screen looks great, and navigating through Windows Phone 8 was smooth as silk. At first, my Android-based device (currently a Samsung Galaxy Note II) remained my daily driver. I kept the Lumia 920 handy until I felt I was comfortable using its email client, browsing the web. But eventually I customized the Start screen to my liking and got a good feel for what Microsoft and Nokia were trying to accomplish with the phone. I installed only a couple of apps and got comfortable with them too.

After a couple of weeks and a good initial impression, I decided to dive in head-first and make the Lumia 920 my daily device. At first, I was happy with the decision. I dug the Live Tiles and the Lumia 920 never lost its luster; it’s a great phone.

But as I started to install more and more apps and dig deeper into the Windows Phone App Store, I was regularly disappointed. There seemed to be three kinds of apps available for Windows Phone 8:

Apps specifically designed for the OS that showed signs of greatness
Quick-and-dirty ports of apps obviously designed for other platforms
Kludges that were nothing more than wrappers for mobile websites

The apps designed with Windows Phone 8 in mind were mostly great. I especially liked the IMDB app, which blows away its counterparts on other mobile platforms. The Facebook app was also very fast and responsive, but it wastes a TON of screen real estate with larger-than-necessary fonts in the navigation menu and wasted white space in the feed. There were times when I could only see a single post in my news feed because of all the wasted screen real estate. I’m not sure what the app developers were thinking with that one.

Then there were the obvious ports that just didn’t look right on Windows Phone 8. One in particular, Words with Friends, comes to mind. I know it’s an older title and games aren’t a necessity, but I enjoy playing Words with Friends; it’s a nice break in the day. Anyway, fonts (like the one used to display the score) were nearly illegible and the game is just plain broken. As of a couple of weeks ago, you couldn’t use words with the letter “Z” and the main screen wouldn’t update when it was your turn. You’d think with the amount of complaints logged in the app store someone at Microsoft would fix the game, but no such luck.

And then there’s apps like YouTube, which seem to be little more than wrappers for the YouTube mobile site. Minimal effort was put into optimizing the app for Windows Phone 8, and it shows.

As you probably guessed by now, my little experience was a failure. I’m back to my Android device and don’t plan to give Windows Phone 8 another try for a few months. If Microsoft wants people to give Windows Phone 8 serious consideration, they’ve got to get serious about offering quality apps for the platform. It’s not just about the number of available apps, it’s about the quality, and at this point in time Windows Phone 8 trails in both departments.


MCTS Training, MCITP Trainnig

Best Microsoft MCTS Certification, Microsoft MCITP Training at certkingdom.com

Symantec links latest Microsoft zero-day with skilled hacker gang

The Elderwood group appears to be living up to its reputation of finding serious software vulnerabilities

Symantec is crediting a hacker group with an impressive track record as responsible for finding the latest as yet unpatched vulnerability in older versions of Microsoft’s Internet Explorer browser.

Microsoft issues quick fix for critical zero-day hole in IE

A gang Symantec calls the Elderwood group appears to have found the latest zero-day vulnerability in IE, which can allow a malicious website to automatically infect a person’s computer.

Analysis of the attack code used to exploit the vulnerability has similarities to other code used by the Elderwood group to exploit other zero-day vulnerabilities in Microsoft’s software, the company wrote on its blog.

In one example, Symantec found the phrase “HeapSpary” inside several samples of attack code.

“HeapSpary is a clear mistyping of Heap Spray, a common attack step used in vulnerability exploitation,” the company wrote. “In addition to this commonality, there are many other symbols in common between the files.”

In September, Symantec published a research paper saying that the Elderwood group appeared to have an “unlimited supply of zero-day vulnerabilities.” A zero-day vulnerability is rare and highly valuable to hackers, as it means it has not been patched by the affected software vendor yet.

The Elderwood group may have possessed as many as nine zero-day exploits since 2009 when Symantec began first monitoring the group. Their attack codes have been distributed through targeted emails, known as spear phishing, and planted on hacked websites.

When someone with a vulnerable browser visits a hacked website, the malicious software is delivered. The Elderwood group has planted its malware on sites that indicate the group is targeting certain types of users, which Symantec calls a “watering hole” attack.

The Elderwood group appears to favor targets associated with defense contractors, human rights groups, non-governmental organizations and IT service providers, according to Symantec’s September report.

Amnesty International’s Hong Kong website was compromised in May 2012 in an attack linked to Elderwood, Symantec wrote.

An exploit for the latest IE vulnerability was found last month on the website of the Council on Foreign Relations as well as that of Capstone Turbine Corporation, a U.S.-based manufacturer of gas microturbines used for power generation.

Microsoft issued a quick fix earlier this week for the IE software problem but will not distribute a patch for it on Jan. 8, the company’s next scheduled patch release.

 


MCTS Training, MCITP Trainnig

Best Microsoft MCTS Certification, Microsoft MCITP Training at certkingdom.com

 

 

IT investments will increase in 2013 thanks to software and device spending

Gartner expects worldwide IT spending to total $3.7 trillion

Enterprises buying new mobile devices and investing in security and storage management will give IT spending a boost in 2013.

Worldwide IT spending is projected to total US$3.7 trillion in 2013, a 4.2 percent increase from 2012 spending of $3.6 trillion, according to research firm Gartner, which is becoming a bit more optimistic about the global economy.

The company divides IT spending into five segments: devices, data center systems, enterprise software, IT services and telecom services.

All five segments will grow in 2013, but devices and enterprise software are the two segments that will see the biggest increases in spending during the next twelve months, according to Gartner.

Worldwide device spending, which includes PCs, tablets, mobile phones and printers, is expected to reach $666 billion in 2013, up 6.3 percent from last year. That compares to 2.9 percent growth in 2012, according to Gartner’s data.

However, the current estimate for this year’s growth is lower than Gartner had previously forecast.

“The main reason [for the lowered growth estimate] is that the shift away from the traditional PC form factors, the desktop and the laptop, toward new form factors, most notably the tablet, is happening a lot faster than we thought,” said Richard Gordon, managing vice president at Gartner.

For example, there is a growing trend in emerging markets where users are getting a tablet as their first device, and not bothering with getting a PC, according to Gordon.

Last year also saw the ascent of cheaper tablets such as the Android-based Nexus 7 from Asus and Google. That was and continues to be good news for consumers and enterprises, but also puts pressure on overall spending.

Worldwide enterprise software spending is expected to end up at $296 billion in 2013, a 6.4 percent increase from 2012. This growth will primarily be driven by security, storage management and customer relationship management, according to Gartner.

Enterprises are trying to get more value out of their IT spending with investments in supply chain and customer relationships, while at the same time trying to handle an exponential growth in the amount of data coming in, Gordon said.

Telecom services, on the other hand, will see just a 2.4 percent increase in 2013, which may not measure up to the other segments but is still better than the 0.1 percent drop it recorded last year.

Growth will be flat over the next several years as revenue from mobile data services struggles to make up for the declines in spending on fixed and mobile voice, according to Gartner.

Telecom services are by far the biggest segment of total IT spending at $1.7 trillion this year.

In 2014 spending growth will slow down somewhat with overall spending increasing by 3.8 percent.

Growth will once again be powered by investments in software, as enterprises spend more on big data and other information management initiatives, Gartner said.

 


MCTS Training, MCITP Trainnig

Best Microsoft MCTS Certification, Microsoft MCITP Training at certkingdom.com

 

 

10 hot IT skills for 2013

Want to snag a pay premium? Check out the IT skills that will be in high demand in 2013.

The number of companies planning to hire tech professionals continues to grow, with 33% of the 334 IT executives who responded to Computerworld’s 2013 Forecast survey saying they plan to increase head count in the next 12 months.

This is the third year in a row that the percentage of respondents with hiring plans has risen — up from 29% last year, 23% in 2010 and 20% in 2009.

“When you look at just about any research or market trend, IT is one of the top two or three always mentioned as a bright spot in the job market, and it’s pretty simple why,” says John Reed, senior executive director at staffing firm Robert Half Technology. “When you look at technology, it drives so much of what business does, from productivity to communication to improving speed to making better business decisions. So companies are investing in that, and you have to have the people experienced in doing that.”

Of course, IT leaders aren’t hiring technologists indiscriminately. They’re seeking specific skills to deliver what the business needs to compete today. Here’s a look at the top 10 skills for 2013.

1. Programming and Application Development

• 60% plan to hire for this skill in the next 12 months.

Companies put off projects during the recession, but now they’re playing catch-up and looking for staff to keep up, according to Reed.

“Technology and software are great ways for companies to improve productivity, lower costs and create better Web presence,” he says, adding that companies will need staffers to create new and better technology to do those things.

That’s the case at San Francisco-based Wells Fargo, says Jason Griffin, vice president and technology talent acquisition manager. “Our top needs are in programming and application development,” he says. “We’re just looking for more to meet the business need. The business [units] are investing in new products, they’re looking for ways to provide products and services to meet customer needs.”

Griffin, like others, says he’s specifically looking for people with experience in Java, J2EE and .Net.

2. Project Management

• 40% plan to hire for this skill in the next 12 months.

The ongoing need for project management skills tracks with the continuing need for programmers: Both are responses to the demand for new applications that businesses need to compete.

“More projects mean more project managers,” Reed says, noting that companies want experience as well as credentials, such as the Project Management Professional designation.

Jamie Hamilton, vice president of software engineering at Detroit-based Quicken Loans, says project manager jobs will be among the 100 new positions his company plans to add to its 800-strong IT team.

Hamilton says demand for project managers is strong in part because projects are growing more complex as the connectivity between applications increases.

Successful candidates need to have proven track records. “Three things are key for us, and they’re more around behavior: Are you a leader, and do you operate as a leader? Do you have a history of executing? What’s your behavior around detail?” Hamilton says.

3. Help Desk/Technical Support

• 35% plan to hire for this skill in the next 12 months.

Jack Wolf, vice president and CIO at Montefiore Medical Center in New York, says he has a list of initiatives to pursue, including deployments of new radiology systems and electronic health record applications. To ensure success, he’s looking not only for people to build and implement the systems, but also for tech support workers to help employees use them.

“New systems mean you need more help desk people to handle the increase in calls we expect,” Wolf says.

He’s far from the only one searching for such skills. Tech staffing firm Modis reports that help desk technician is the job title that companies most often seek help filling.

4. Security

• 27% plan hire for this skill in the next 12 months.

Security has long been a concern of IT leaders, and demand for specialized security professionals is growing as the task of safeguarding systems and data becomes increasingly complex.

Consider the case of Netherlands-based Royal Philips Electronics, which has U.S. headquarters in Andover, Mass.

Cynthia Burkhardt, vice president of talent acquisition, says the company is building its IT security department internationally. It hired a chief information security officer, who is based in the Netherlands, and it’s adding four more IT security executives — two of whom will be based in the U.S. She says the company expects to continue building its IT security team from the top down.

Burkhardt says Royal Philips wants experienced IT security professionals who have business acumen in addition to expertise in deploying firewalls, threat detection tools, encryption technology and other security systems.

5. Business Intelligence/Analytics

• 26% plan to hire for this skill in the next 12 months.

Big data is one of the top priorities for many companies, but getting the right people to analyze all that information is challenging, says Jerry Luftman, managing director at the Global Institute for IT Management and a leader in the Society for Information Management.

The best candidates have technical know-how, business knowledge and strong statistical and mathematical backgrounds — an uncommon mix of skills, Luftman says. In fact, some companies are hiring statisticians and teaching them about technology and business.

Joe Fuller, CIO at Dominion Enterprises, a marketing services company in Norfolk, Va., says he anticipates hiring data scientists or data analysts in the future but acknowledges that it will be a challenge.

“We’re missing that person who thinks outside the box, who understands the link between this behavior now and this behavior later,” Fuller says. “I don’t know who to look for there, so I think it’s [going to be] a team. I can’t imagine finding that in one person.”

6. Cloud/SaaS

• 25% plan to hire for this skill in the next 12 months.

Fuller’s staffing plan at Dominion Enterprises is also a case study for skill No. 6, which didn’t even crack the top 10 in the 2011 survey: He says the company will need cloud computing experts as it moves beyond its two existing data centers.

“We’re going to need a cloud architect who knows how to leverage and how to architect without breaking the bank,” he says. “We’re going to need to know where we should host it, how to configure it, how to negotiate the [service-level agreements], and to make sure we’re backed up properly.”

7. Virtualization

• 24% plan to hire for this skill in the next 12 months.

Jon A. Biskner, assistant vice president of IT at Nicolet National Bank in Green Bay, Wis., says he wants to create a virtualization administrator position.

“It’s hard to find someone who is fully skilled in virtualization,” Biskner says. “They have to understand the storage and clusters behind the virtual server because before the connection was more physical; now it’s more logical.” IT professionals talk about virtualization, he adds, but often they don’t have a breadth of experience with it.

8. Networking
• 19% plan to hire for this skill in the next 12 months.

Networking expertise remains a perennial top 10 most-wanted skill, although demand has dropped from 38% in the 2010 survey to 19% in the 2013 survey. Despite the decline, however, IT leaders say they still need networking professionals who have solid experience.

In Robert Half Technology’s third-quarter IT Hiring Index and Skills Report, network administration was the No. 2 most sought-after skill set, cited by 48% of the 1,400 CIOs surveyed. It was second only to data/database management, which was cited by 55% of the respondents.

9. Mobile Applications and Device Management


• 19% plan to hire for this skill in the next 12 months.

As consumer and business use of smartphones and tablets expands, employers are looking for workers who can handle the demands related to the proliferation of such devices, says Motti Fine, managing director of TreeTop Technologies, an IT staffing and consulting firm. Case in point: Kathy Junod, senior director of IT at Auxilium Pharmaceuticals in Malvern, Pa., plans to create a new job with the title mobile manager to add to her existing staff of 22. She says she needs an experienced manager to oversee building the niche mobile apps the business needs.

10. Data Center

• 16% plan to hire for this skill in the next 12 months.

Core technical skills remain in high demand, so it’s not surprising that data center skills still make the top 10. In fact, CompTIA reported in its February State of the IT Skills Gap study that server/data center management and storage and data backup remain high on the list of IT skills that employers are seeking. Some 61% of the IT and business executives surveyed by CompTIA rated server/data center management as a very important skill, while 57% rated storage/data backup as such.

However, Robert Half Technology’s third-quarter IT Hiring Index and Skills Report found that CIOs listed data/database management as No. 2 among the “functional areas” in which it’s most challenging to hire IT professionals.


MCTS Training, MCITP Trainnig

Best Microsoft MCTS Certification, Microsoft MCITP Training at certkingdom.com