Staff Writer - itbusinessdirect

Satya Nadella Is Officially Microsoft’s New CEO

February 4, 2014March 3, 2016 Staff Writer

Microsoft has made official what we all pretty much expected: Its new CEO, replacing Steve Ballmer, is Satya Nadella. Nadella has spent 22 years at Microsoft, and was previously Microsoft’s Executive Vice President of Cloud and Enterprise. Nadella also takes a position on Microsoft’s Board of Directors. Nadella is credited with being a key leader in moving the company towards cloud services, around products including Bing, Xbox and Microsoft Office. His time at MS oversaw a period of huge growth for Microsoft Business Services, too, growing that segment of the…

Businesses’ biggest barrier to implementing their big data strategy is identifying what data to collect

January 29, 2014 Staff Writer

KPMG Report: Going beyond the data: achieving insights from data and analytics Long before the term big data first appeared in 1997, organizations were already struggling to make sense of all of the information piling up in their databases and warehouses. But over the past five years, the focus on big data has started to shift: today the issue is no longer about owning the most data but rather about how to gain the most insight from that data and – in turn – how to convert those insights into…

Wall Street: The U.S. will borrow less money this year than at any time since 2008

January 27, 2014 Staff Writer

Wall Street Dealers See Treasury Sales Falling to Six-Year Low By Susanne Walker The U.S. will borrow less money this year than at any time since 2008, validating the nation’s decision to go deeper into debt to combat the financial crisis as faster growth shrinks the deficit, Wall Street’s biggest bond dealers say. The government will sell $717 billion of notes and bonds on a net basis, 14 percent less than last year, according to a survey of primary dealers which are obligated to bid at Treasury auctions. Issuance has fallen…

US playing catch-up in Africa

January 27, 2014January 28, 2014 Staff Writer

African consumer spending is projected to rise from US$860 billion in 2008 to US$1.4 trillion in 2020. No other region in the world boasts such numbers. ADDIS Ababa, the rapidly modernising capital of Ethiopia, is on track to host the tallest building in Africa by 2017. That landmark building, which will boast 99 floors of offices and hotel rooms, has a distinctly un-African name: Chuan Hui International Tower. The tower, together with a host of other skyscrapers in the city – including the US$200 million (S$255.7 million) African Union headquarters…

‘.brands’ become reality as first branded gTLD delegations take place

January 24, 2014January 24, 2014 Staff Writer

This weekend ‘.brands’ became a reality with Monash University making a little bit of history, becoming the first such application to be delegated to the DNS root. In October, WTR reported on the delegation of the first new gTLD applications to the root zone. These related to IDN applications, and subsequent delegations (and sunrises) have centred on generic strings. The announcement that Monash University’s branded TLD is now live, then, is notable for making ‘.brands’ a reality. In its application, the Australian University states that registrations in the TLD will…

Obama proposes changes to NSA surveillance

January 22, 2014 Staff Writer

U.S. President Barack Obama called for changes to U.S. National Security Agency surveillance, with new privacy advocates assigned to a surveillance court and a transition away from a controversial telephone records collection program in the U.S. U.S. President Barack Obama called for changes to U.S. National Security Agency surveillance, with new privacy advocates assigned to a surveillance court and a transition away from a controversial telephone records collection program in the U.S. However, Obama stopped short of major changes advocated by his own surveillance review panel and civil liberties groups.…

DotConnectAfrica Trust takes its case with ICANN to Independent Review Process (IRP) Panel

January 22, 2014 Staff Writer

The Arbitration Process between DCA Trust and ICANN (‘DCA Trust vs. ICANN’) shall be governed by the International Dispute Resolution Procedures of the ICDR and the Supplementary Procedures for ICANN IRP Process. Jan. 22, 2014 – New York, USA: On Jan. 10, 2014, DCA Trust submitted an Amended Notice of Independent Review Process (“IRP”) to the International Center for Dispute Resolution (ICDR). DCA Trust sent its Notice of IRP in October 2013. The IRP is a proceeding provided for in Article IV, Section 3 of the ICANN Bylaws, by which…

Fridge sends spam emails as attack hits smart gadgets

January 20, 2014 Staff Writer

A fridge has been discovered sending out spam after a web attack managed to compromise smart gadgets. The fridge was one of more than 100,000 devices used to take part in the spam campaign. Uncovered by security firm Proofpoint the attack compromised computers, home routers, media PCs and smart TV sets. The attack is believed to be one of the first to exploit the lax security on devices that are part of the “internet of things”. Poor protection The spam attack took place between 23 December 2013 and 6 January…

Bitcoin Will Collapse In 2014 says BYRON WIEN

January 9, 2014 Staff Writer

Blackstone Group vice chairman Byron Wien does not have a lot of faith in Bitcoin. Included on his list of annual “surprise” predictions is the possibility that acceptance of the digital currency collapses this year. “In 2½ years the price of a Bitcoin has increased from $25 to $975,” says Wien. “The supply of bitcoins is fixed at 21 million with 11.5 million in circulation. Bitcoins lack gold’s position as a store of value over time. During the year Bitcoin’s acceptance collapses as investors realize that it cannot be used…