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Apple rehires prominent security pro as encryption fight boils

A 3D printed Apple logo is seen in front of a displayed cyber code in this illustration taken February 26, 2016. Reuters/Dado Ruvic/Illustration SAN FRANCISCO Apple Inc (AAPL.O), which has resisted pressure from U.S. law enforcement to unlock encrypted iPhones, this month rehired a top expert in practical cryptography to bring more powerful security features to a wide range of consumer products. Jon Callas, who co-founded several […]

Microsoft Grants Aid Delivery of Affordable Internet Access Worldwide

Tech giant Microsoft said today that it has awarded grants to entrepreneurs who want to expand Internet access across the world, especially in less prosperous areas that lack affordable access. The company’s Affordable Access Initiative awards grants to startup companies that are developing new technologies to improve Internet access to communities. The goal of the initiative is to “democratize access to the Internet through grants, commercial partnerships, […]

PwC Middle East report looks at how businesses are protecting assets at a time of heightened cyber-crime

UAE. Cyber-crime is not a new phenomenon, but it’s hitting the headlines as never before. According to PwC Middle East’s latest report, there is a renewed willingness among organizations to invest in security, with many organizations incorporating strategic initiatives to improve security and reduce risks. PwC Middle East’s Global State of Information Security survey 2016 looks at how the survey results from over 300 Middle East companies […]

Global internet inclusion could lift 500 million out of poverty, and add over US$6 trillion to global GDP

INTERNATIONAL. Global inclusion in the internet could bring seven percent of the world’s population – 500 million people – above absolute poverty levels, and add US$6.7 trillion (£4.6 trillion) to global economic output, according to a new study by Strategy&, PwC’s strategy consulting business. The study, for Facebook, encompassed 120 countries over a 10-year period and examines how barriers to accessing the internet could be removed, and […]

Skype Previews Business Developer Kit

To help Skype continue making inroads into the enterprise, Microsoft has launched Skype for Business SDK (software developer kit). The new product is a set of tools that lets iOS and Android developers integrate Skype’s messaging, audio and voice capabilities into their mobile applications. The goal of Microsoft’s Skype for Business SDK is to allow Skype to power the communications experience inside applications, so developers can focus […]

Adobe Spark Gives Marketers High-End, Do-It-Yourself Graphics

Despite the plethora of graphic design tools available to organizations, creating good visual content is often a labor-intensive process requiring many hours of work by highly trained professionals. A new suite of software by Adobe, however, is hoping to change that. The platform, called Adobe Spark, is designed to help non-professional designers create their own visual content. Besides being a fun tool for students and individuals, the […]

Can Buffett-backed bid unlock Yahoo growth where others failed?

Reuters/Denis Balibouse/File photo   SAN FRANCISCO Warren Buffett struck media gold with a 2012 investment in debt-laden Media General Inc. Now the famed investor may try to reprise that success by supporting a bid for Yahoo Inc’s Internet assets.   The Berkshire Hathaway Inc chairman is backing a consortium that includes Quicken Loans Inc founder Dan Gilbert, that is seeking to buy Yahoo’s online portfolio, Reuters reported […]

Apple, Chinese rideshare deal heats up race for tech-smart cars

SAN FRANCISCO Apple Inc’s (AAPL.O) $1 billion investment in Chinese ride sharing company Didi Chuxing intensifies a race to acquire technology, talent and market access in a rapidly evolving global personal transportation market. Apple’s investment comes as auto and technology industry executives and investors are placing bets that self-driving car systems, electric vehicles and ride sharing will eventually converge to allow companies to sell rides in self-driving vehicles, […]

Microsoft Study Shows Digital Infrastructure Overtaking Physical

A new study from Microsoft has found that organizations now rely more on digital infrastructures than they do on physical infrastructures. The findings indicate that cloud deployment models have now overtaken any other type of deployment in the technology sector, according to the company, which asked tech research firm 451 Research to conduct the study. “As organizations prepare for major business and technology changes, they will depend […]

SAP Boosts HANA Internet of Things Cloud Offerings

German tech giant SAP said that it will be expanding the enterprise offerings available on its HANA Cloud Platform for Internet of Things (IoT). Making the announcement at the IoT World 2016 conference being held in Santa Clara, Calif., this week, SAP said the new offerings will be focused on helping enterprises provide new customer outcomes. “SAP is helping customers map their journeys through digital transformation, and […]

Closer alignment between CFO and CIO is crucial to successful finance transformation, reveals new Oracle study

INTERNATIONAL. /PRNewswire/ — The CFO has never been held more accountable for the company’s success, and the ability of finance teams to extract value from company data is the key to delivering on the chief executive’s expectations. Oracle’s study, Modern Finance: Driving Transformation from Within, found that closer alignment between the CFO and CIO is crucial if finance leaders are to effectively help the business achieve its […]

Fed’s policy calculus and global financial markets

|By Matein Khalid| The April payrolls data demonstrated that US economic growth has hit a soft patch. The US economy only added 160 jobs in April, less than the expected 203,000 average in the first three months of 2016. One disappointing data point does not imply a macroeconomic trend reversal since the US economy added 2.8 million jobs between March 2015 and March 2016. Statistical and measurement errors […]

Amazon takes aim at YouTube with new video service

Amazon boxes are seen stacked for delivery in the Manhattan borough of New York City, January 29, 2016. Reuters/Mike Segar/File Photo Amazon.com Inc launched a service on Tuesday that allows users to post videos and earn royalties from them, setting up the world’s biggest online retailer to compete directly with Alphabet Inc’s YouTube. The service, called Amazon Video Direct, will make the uploaded videos available to rent […]

Siri Creators Introduce New AI Assistant Viv

One of the creators of the artificial intelligence (AI) behind Siri, the digital assistant acquired by Apple in 2010, today demonstrated a next-generation AI called Viv that he said could eventually let people “converse” with any smart device in the Internet of things. Siri creator Dag Kittlaus currently runs a San Jose startup called Viv Labs, founded with fellow Siri creator Adam Cheyer. (Another Siri creator, Tom […]

UAE is fastest growing market for card transactions

|By Arabian Post Staff| The UAE has earned the distinction of being the fastest growing market in the world for card transactions. The UAE is a clear front runner in a rapidly expanding regional payment environment as card transactions experienced an estimated 10 percent growth in 2015 compared to the previous year, amid a total 24 per cent growth in the MEA region, making it the fastest expansion rate in card transactions in […]

Canada minister urges new media laws to boost local content – paper

TORONTO Canada’s Liberal government is prepared to overhaul the country’s laws governing broadcasting, media and cultural industries to support local content, Heritage Minister Melanie Joly told the Globe and Mail in a report on Saturday, announcing a new policy direction in what she called a broken system. Canada’s broadcast regulator has long had requirements for networks to carry certain amounts of local content. But it cut that […]

Microsoft Looks to the Cloud as Phone and PC Businesses Drag

Cloud-based and digital transformation-related services are making strong contributions to Microsoft’s bottom line, while its PC sales have proven to be a drag and Windows Phone revenues are crashing, the company reported yesterday. Microsoft’s financial results for the third quarter of its 2015-2016 fiscal year showed the company with revenues of $20.5 billion, a six-percent decline over earnings in the same quarter last year. Those figures included […]

Basic rules to maintaining your LinkedIn account

LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional network and most of us have an account. Let’s face it, no one actually reads 95% of the stuff that appears on the feed but there is so much of sharing done that LinkedIn is slowly inching closer and closer to the top of the list of largest content aggregators. There are 3 main types of users of the platform and […]

CRM Still a Driving Force for Business Success

If the customer is “at the center of everything,” so, too, should be a company’s system for managing customer relationships, according to a recently published white paper. In other words, customer relationship management software (CRM) needs to be more than just a way to handle queries about products or fielding feedback from clients. It needs to be used as a central platform for connecting people, processes and […]

NAVEEN PATNAIK GETS SMART CITY NOD

ALL EYES ON BHUBANESWAR OF FUTURE

By Ashok B Sharma

The mantra of maintaining equidistance from the Congress and the BJP has played well for the Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik. He gets a certification of appreciation from the NDA government at the Centre for urban development. Another feather is on his cap as Bhubaneswar becomes the number one choice for development of Smart City under an ambitious flagship programme mooted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2014.

The central government is slated to release appropriate funds for development of Bhubaneswar from the upcoming Budget which will be operationalized from April 1 – the day celebrated as Odisha Dibas in remembrance of the formation as a separate state in 1936.

Other major urban infrastructure developments on the anvil are the development of Paradeep as a port city and upgrada

Among White House hopefuls, Trump least likely to hit "follow" button on Twitter

U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump waits to speak at a campaign town hall in Davenport, Iowa January 30, 2016. Reuters/Rick Wilking NEW YORK The millions of Twitter users following Donald Trump shouldn’t expect a “follow back” from the Republican presidential front-runner anytime soon. Trump’s campaign account @realDonaldTrump has nearly 6 million Twitter followers, the most of any candidate running for president. But he is picky about […]

‘Made in China’ global equities crash

|By Matein Khalid| This was the ghastliest week for global risk assets since September 2011. Not even 290,000 new US jobs in December could negate the raw fear on Wall Street generated by the 10% fall in Shanghai, a yuan depreciation, market meltdowns of 6 – 7% in Tokyo, Hong Kong, Frankfurt, Mumbai and New York. Four months ago, I had published a KT article titled “History’s […]

Oil crash hits UAE insurance industry

|By Arabian Post Staff| The UAE insurance industry has recently started to show signs of impact due to lower oil price and the challenging economic environment. The shifting regulatory landscape, increased competitiveness and light regulatory enforcement were some of the key topics of discussion at the recent Business Breakfast organized by EY, attended by key insurers and market players in the UAE insurance industry. “The UAE insurance […]

Wi-Fi HaLow To Power Internet of Things

Lower power. Longer range. That’s the story behind Wi-Fi HaLow, a new technology the Wi-Fi Alliance has just introduced to help tap into the momentum around low power Wi-Fi solutions that cater specifically to the Internet of Things (IoT). The Wi-Fi HaLow designation, which aims at products leveraging IEEE 802.11ah technology, works at and below the one gigahertz frequency band without sacrificing range. In fact, HaLow promises […]