Xpertfeed

Summary: Google's new incubator could help it keep talent by providing new business plans with funding, but is it enough? Google headquarters Alphabet-owned Google is working to launch an in-house startup incubator that could prevent top tech talent from leaving to budding companies in Silicon Valley, according to a report from The Information. The startup incubator will be called " Area 120 ," and will be lead by Don Harrison and Bradley Horowitz. Employee's teams will be accepted into the program based on their business plans, where they can accept outside funding for their project or create a company under Google. The move would allow employees to work on Google's "special projects" full time. The company allots employees 20 percent of their work day to new projects, which have formed the beginnings of Gmail and other hit Google services. Retention is a widely discussed issue in the tech...

Summary: Newark Police Department in New Jersey was forced to spend four days cleaning up after a virus attack. A virus infected computer systems at Newark Police Department in New Jersey last week, taking four days to clean up. The police department said there was no evidence of any sort of data breach and that the attack "did not disrupt the delivery of emergency services to our citizens". "Through the efforts of the city's and the division's IT, as well as assistance from the Essex County Prosecutor's Office, New Jersey State Police and federal authorities, we were quickly able to get the system cleaned and operational in four days," said a police spokesperson . According to one report, the virus temporarily locked down the servers, blocking access to the program used to track and analyze crime data . In accordance to police protocols, Newark reported the breach to the FBI, New Jersey state police, and the county prosecutor...

Summary: As its Hadoop Summit Europe event ramps up in Dublin, Hortonworks makes several announcements. Much of the news furthers the schism in the Hadoop space, between Hortonworks' technology and Cloudera's. As Hortonworks' Hadoop Summit event kicks off in Dublin today, the Hadoop distribution vendor has a full slate of announcements. The announcements themselves are substantial and impressive, and I'll cover each of them here. As you read through them, however, keep in mind that they at once highlight and reinforce the idea that the "retail" Hadoop world is becoming split in two -- as Hortonworks and Cloudera each introduce unique components in their distros that often meet corresponding needs and requirements. Announcements, please First off, a bit of a bombshell. Pivotal , which entered the Hadoop distribution race over three years ago, with the introduction of Pivotal HD, will now be reselling Hortonworks Data Platform (HDP) , which...

Summary: There's the Internet of Things -- DVRs, refrigerators, and cars -- and then there's the Internet of civic things -- electrical power grids, oil and gas production facilities, and highway traffic management. Linux has a role to play in both. The Linux Foundation SAN DIEGO -- The Linux Foundation announced today at the Embedded Linux Conference & OpenIoT Summit a new project: The Civil Infrastructure Platform (CIP). This, an open-source framework, is meant to provide the foundation needed to deliver essential services for civil infrastructure and economic development on a global scale. And what, you ask, is a Civil Infrastructure Platform? According to the CIP FAQ , it's "Any technical systems responsible for supervision, control, and management of infrastructure supporting human activities, including, for example, electric power generation and energy distribution, oil and gas, wa...

Summary: Google downplays the importance of Java to Android, to disprove Oracle claims that it's owed $9.3bn in damages. Google has filed a rebuttal to Oracle's claim that it's due $9.3bn in damages for unlicensed use of Java code in Android. Google disputes Oracle's claim that the Java APIs got app developers on board with Android early. Google says its own damages expert "strongly disagrees" with the financial relief Oracle has demanded, ahead of the companies' May district court retrial over claims that 37 Java SE application protocol interfaces in Android infringed Oracle's copyright. Oracle has argued that the Java APIs were necessary to get app developers on board with Android early, which helped Google net billions in profits through app sales and mobile advertising. Oracle's damages expert estimated that Google has made $8.8bn in "profits apportioned to infringed Java copyrights" and that those profits should ...

Summary: Years in the making, the Supreme Court has agreed to listen to Samsung's appeal of Apple's design patent awards. At first it looked like Apple won its design patent wars over Samsung. As time went on, that "victory" started looking more like a defeat as Samsung won its appeals. Now, Apple is in even more trouble. The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) has elected to hear Samsung's appeal of the $548-million award lower courts gave Apple. In December 2015, Samsung agreed to pay Apple $548 million in damages over iPhone patents. But Samsung has also claimed "all rights to obtain reimbursement from Apple". So, Samsung appealed this loss to Apple to the Supreme Court . SCOTUS has agreed to address the issue. Specifically, Samsung is asking that the court decide that when a design patent is applied to only a component of a product, the award of infringer's profits should be limited to those profits attributable to the com...

Summary: Domino's has thought outside the box, prototyping what it claims is the world's first autonomous delivery vehicle that has already traversed Brisbane streets to deliver pizzas. Dominos Pizza has unveiled its plans for the first commercial autonomous delivery vehicle, the Domino's Robotic Unit, known as DRU. The four-wheeled driverless vehicle with pizza box-sized compartments has been designed for the pizza giant with help from Australian startup Marathon Robotics. Speaking in Brisbane on Thursday night, Domino's CEO and Managing Director Don Meij said that DRU had already successfully performed a number of customer deliveries in restricted streets in Brisbane under a special permit given by the Queensland Department of Transport and Main Roads. During these trials, DRU was operated in semi-autonomous mode to ensure the tests complied with current reg...

Summary: The software giant said the flaws could allow an attacker to remotely run malware if a user opens specially crafted media content that's hosted on a website. The vulnerabilities in how Windows handles media files could allow an attacker to remotely run malware. This month's bumper release of security patches has one bulletin that affects every supported version of Windows. Microsoft said on its regularly scheduled Patch Tuesday that users on Windows Vista and later -- including Windows 10 -- should patch as soon as possible to prevent attackers from exploiting a flaw in how the operating system handles media files. The "critical" bulletin ( MS16-027 ) patches an issue that could allow an attacker to remotely execute code or malware as the logged-in user. Those who are logged in as an administrator are at the greatest risk. An attacker would have to trick a user into opening a...

Summary: Credit card-based scams are nothing new -- but ransomware makes these campaigns far more dangerous. If you have a Visa credit card, be careful not to fall for a new ransomware phishing campaign which offers you benefits and rewards, researchers say. A new and unusual phishing campaign has caught the eye of Symantec. Tthe scheme relates to credit cards -- but attempts to lure consumers to download ransomware instead of handing over their financial details. While fraudulent credit-card based spam is nothing new, the introduction of ransomware into the mix is a new avenue cyberattackers are using to try and force people out of their hard-earned cash to keep their system files and content. The news follows the latest high-profile infection case to hit the headlines; that of two German hospitals which became victims of ransomware which booted the organizations out of their servers and IT systems. Neither hospital has bowed to the cyberattacker's demand fo...

Intel has used Mobile World Congress 2016 to attempt to position itself as a big player in the push towards 5G and the Internet of Things with a raft of product and partnership announcements. Intel said it will work with Ericsson, Nokia, LG and Verizon in order to speed up development, testing and ultimately deployment of 5G wireless networks in an effort to provide greater connectivity for computers, Internet of Things and mobile devices and even connected cities and driverless vehicles. "5G represents a significant shift for these networks and we think it's essential to get ready ahead of the curve," said corporate vice president and general manager of the Intel communication and services group, Aicha Evans, speaking in the run up to MWC in Barcelona. Intel will work with Ericsson and engage in joint trials surrounding 5G, while it will also work with Nokia to collaborate on 5G radio technologies "to meet the device connectivity requirements for future ...