Computing

Clive Sinclair, who invented the Sinclair ZX Spectrum, an early personal computer, died of cancer Thursday at age 81, his family confirmed . Sinclair was an inventor with an impressive list of electronic products to his name, some, like his pocket calculator, were quite successful, while others, like his Sinclair C5 “electric trike” vehicle, were decidedly not. Born in England in 1940, Sinclair had a knack for creating gadgets. The Sinclair Executive “slimline” pocket calculator, released in 1972, sold well (likely in large part due to its low price ), and at one point was displayed at the Museum of Modern Art. Sinclair’s ZX personal computers were priced lower than the then-popular Commodore 64, and well-liked by consumers in the UK. The ZX Spectrum (nicknamed “Speccy”) had a rubber keyboard and a color display, and eventually a library of thousands of games. The first model had 16KB of RAM and sold for £125 (roughly $170). The ZX Spectrum sold some 5 million units … [Read more...] about Clive Sinclair, inventor of the ZX Spectrum personal computer, has died

Edge computing is booming. The idea of taking compute out of the data center, and bringing it as close as possible to where data is generated, is seeing lots of traction. Estimates for edge computing growth are in the 40% CAGR, $50 billion area. Whether it's stand-alone IoT sensors, devices of all kinds, drones , or autonomous vehicles , there's one thing in common. Increasingly, data generated at the edge are used to feed applications powered by machine learning models. TinyML is a fast-growing field of machine learning technologies and applications that enable machine learning to work at the edge. It includes hardware, algorithms and software capable of performing on-device sensor data analytics at extremely low power, hence enabling a variety of always-on use-cases. In order for TinyML to work, a confluence of hardware and software is needed, creating an ecosystem built around the notion of frugal energy needs. This is a prerequisite for applications at the edge. … [Read more...] about Machine learning at the edge: A hardware and software ecosystem

A new study by academics from Carnegie Mellon University's Security and Privacy Institute (CyLab) has revealed that only a third of users actually change their passwords after a data breach announcement. The study, titled “ (How) Do People Change Their Passwords After a Breach? ”, is not based on responses from survey participants but on their actual browser traffic. To compile their study, the academics analyzed real-world web traffic collected by the university's opt-in research group Security Behavior Observatory (SBO) which collected the full browser history of those who signed up for the purpose of academic research. The research team then used information collected from the home computers of 249 participants between January 2017 and December 2018. This dataset not only included web traffic but also the passwords used to log into websites and those stored in participant's browsers. Malware turns Discord client into password stealer We all know reusing … [Read more...] about Data breach victims aren’t changing their passwords

Small and medium businesses (SMBs) looking to boost digital transformation initiatives are fueling an ever increasing demand for skilled open source workforce, according to a new survey. The 2021 Open Source Jobs Report, compiled jointly by the Linux Foundation , and learning platform edX , gives a nice overview of the demand for open source talent and emerging trends among open source professionals. The ninth annual edition of the report notes that cloud and container technology skills are most in demand by hiring managers, surpassing Linux for the first time in the history of the report, with 46% of hiring managers on the lookout for cloud skills. Here’s our collection of the best open source software Check our roundup of the best Linux distros These are the best Linux distros for business “Open source talent is in high demand, encouraging the most experienced pros to look for new opportunities while hiring managers battle it … [Read more...] about Open source talent is in seriously high demand

Japan's banking regulator will jointly oversee system management at Mizuho Financial Group's retail arm, as part of an administrative action against the bank following a series of technical failures, the Nikkei newspaper reported on Tuesday. The Financial Services Agency will take action against retail lender Mizuho Bank and its parent, Japan's third-largest lender by assets, as early as this week, the Nikkei said. While the regulator will jointly manage the system with the bank, it will order that system updates and maintenance be carried out under its control. The management structure of the system may also be reviewed if necessary, the Nikkei said. The regulator will determine where management responsibility lies after clarifying the cause of Mizuho's recent technical problems, it said. A spokesperson for Mizuho was not immediately available for comment. Mizuho has been hit by a series of high-profile technical meltdowns this year, … [Read more...] about mizuho: Japan regulator to oversee computer system at Mizuho, Nikkei says

The organization behind the Raspberry Pi has managed to secure a $45 million (£33 million) investment riding on the success of its recent devices, including the Raspberry Pi 400 and the Raspberry Pi Pico . The Raspberry Pi was originally conceptualized as an affordable computer to lower the barrier of entry for computer education . However, it has also reinvigorated interest in do-it-yourself (DIY) computing and ushered in a whole generation of single-board computers (SBC). Eben Upton, inventor of the Raspberry Pi, doubles up as the founder of the Raspberry Pi Foundation and CEO of its commercial subsidiary, Raspberry Pi (Trading), that was spun in 2013 as a for-profit fully-owned subsidiary to pump back profits to fund the work of the foundation. Check out our list of the best Linux distros Interested in learning Linux? Check these best Linux training providers These are the best Linux laptops for running Linux There has been no official word … [Read more...] about Raspberry Pi nets major funding as PC demand grows during lockdowns

The arrival of commercial quantum computing promises substantial opportunity for growth and is driving major investment as governments across Europe and the world strive to make their economies ‘quantum-ready’. The UK, for example, built its first quantum computer last year while also unveiling the national quantum computing center, due to open in 2023 and intended to be a world-class facility which places the country at the forefront of quantum computing. Elsewhere, Germany has committed €2 billion of Covid-recovery funding into quantum technologies – supplementing wider EU plans to put a further €1 billion into the technology between now and 2028. About the author Andrew Shields is Head of Quantum Technology at Toshiba Europe . Certainly, quantum computers offer an unparalleled opportunity given their power. But, simply put, this same potential brings with it a cybersecurity threat which makes the technology unviable without a way of securing the quantum threat. … [Read more...] about What’s next to enable a ‘quantum-ready’ economy?

The Australian Academy of Science has published a policy primer calling for the federal government to place emerging digital technologies higher up the priority list. "Australia risks falling behind as a technologically-driven nation unless we recognise emerging digital technologies as a central, independent sector in its own right, warranting investment in the core aspects of research, innovation, and workforce development," the organisation wrote. In the policy primer [PDF], the government-endorsed, not-for-profit organisation warned that Australia could potentially lag behind global peers, saying other nations such as Canada, France, the UK, and the US have placed more resources towards prioritising digital technologies as a strategy to bolster competitiveness. Australia's digital innovation earnings relative to its GDP was almost four percentage points lower than the OECD average of 11.2%, the organisation said. To address this, the organisation put forward three … [Read more...] about Industry once again warns Australian government about falling behind in tech

For more than three decades, the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh has been at the heart of many disagreements between the neighboring Caucasus nations of Armenia and Azerbaijan. Internationally recognized as a part of Azerbaijan, until recently the majority of the territory was governed mostly by ethnic Armenians. In the first Nagorno-Karabakh war that began at the end of the 1980s and lasted until 1994, Armenia managed to take hold of the region and most of those surrounding it. In the years that followed, with a ceasefire agreement in place, there were occasional flare-ups between the two sides. However, at the end of September last year, a full-scale conflict erupted once again between the two former Soviet republics. This time, in a war that lasted 44 days, Azerbaijan recovered nearly all the territories it had lost in the previous war. Since it began in 1988, the conflict over the region has also produced more than a million refugees and internally displaced people … [Read more...] about Smart cities: How technology is helping to rebuild war-torn regions

Una buona webcam è indispensabile per fare video oppure streaming online, ma molti modelli hanno un problema di sicurezza: visto che video e microfono si controllano via software, possono cadere vittima di attacchi informatici. Il problema è così comune che ha anche un suo nome: camfecting. Se volete essere assolutamente sicuri che la vostra webcam non vi metta a rischio, avrete bisogno di una Arozzi Occhio - la prima webcam nella sua categoria dotata di una funzione che Arozzi chiama True Privacy. Non permette ad altri di controllare la vostra videocamera Come racconta il sito Wizcase, specializzato in sicurezza, un singolo ricercatore è riuscito a identificare oltre 15.000 webcam potenzialmente accessibili via Internet, che si potevano attaccare. In molti casi, poi, è stato facile ottenere informazioni aggiuntive per determinare la posizione del portatile. È un dettaglio particolarmente inquietante: non solo uno sconosciuto vi può spiare a casa o al lavoro, ma può … [Read more...] about Stream in sicurezza con l’unica webcam che offre vera protezione della privacy