Google today announced an early-stage open source plugin called Google Chrome Frame that aims to seamlessly allow use of open web technologies and faster JavaScript engines within Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser. In a blog post today Google says: "One challenge developers face in using these new technologies is that they are not yet supported by Internet Explorer. Developers can't afford to ignore IE -- most people use some version of IE -- so they end up spending lots of time implementing work-arounds or limiting the functionality of their apps." more
Data generation is all the rage these days. But are you utilizing it to maximize your outcomes? You know that data is indispensable for your business to keep up and outpace the competition. And most leading corporations agree, since statistically, the speed that companies are producing and collecting data is only increasing with 40 zettabytes expected to be created by 2020. The majority of these organizations are then tossing all of this data into data lakes without any real structured methods of extracting some value from it. more
There's been a lot of discussion of whether the November 2016 U.S. election can be hacked. Should the U.S. Government designate all the states' and counties' election computers as "critical cyber infrastructure" and prioritize the "cyberdefense" of these systems? Will it make any difference to activate those buzzwords with less than 3 months until the election? First, let me explain what can and can't be hacked. Election administrators use computers in (at least) three ways... more
One of the many consequences of the coronavirus is that networks are going to see a shift in busy hour traffic. Busy hour traffic is just what it sounds like -- it's the time of the day when a network is busiest, and network engineers design networks to accommodate the expected peak amount of bandwidth usage. Verizon reported on March 18 that in the week since people started moving to work from home that they've seen a 20% overall increase in broadband traffic. more
From software to network architecture, the internet is shifting from ownership to on-demand access. Subscription models now underpin the digital economy, offering scalability and agility while raising fresh questions about control, cost and compliance. more
In open letter issued today, Senator Al Franken has urged the new Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Ajit Pai to join the fight to preserve net neutrality. more
In a press release yesterday evening, retailer Eddie Bauer confirmed a point-of-sale malware infection suspected by some sources as early as beginning of last month. more
The Internet Society today announced that it has been awarded a grant by Google.org to extend its Internet exchange point (IXP) activities in emerging markets. The grant will build on the Internet Society's previous efforts and will establish a methodology to assess IXPs, provide training for people to operate the IXPs, and build a more robust local Internet infrastructure in emerging markets. more
Iran is finalizing a nationwide internet isolation system that would allow authorities to disconnect from the global web, as protests continue and external equipment sources, including Huawei, remain shrouded in secrecy. more
Nancy Scola reporting in the Washington Post: "The latest battle over who should run the Internet will be waged in the South Korean port city of Busan over the next three weeks. For U.S. officials headed to the United Nation's International Telecommunication Union's Plenipotentiary Conference, the goal is simple: prevent a vote. In short, the State Department's approach is this: Convince the representatives of the other 192 member countries attending the conference that the 150-year-old U.N. technical body is the wrong forum for existential questions about how the Internet should work." more
Two and a half months ago, shortly after the ICANN66 meetings in Montreal, the ICANN stakeholder community was jolted by the announcement that the Internet Society (ISOC) had entered into an agreement to sell the wholly owned PIR non-profit that holds the .org registry contract. The sale was to be for $1.13B USD to the hastily assembled venture capital company Ethos Capital. The sale was presented as a done deal awaiting approval by the ICANN Board. more
Most households experience poor WiFi performance, yet ISPs routinely overlook in-home coverage gaps. A new survey reveals that customers increasingly conflate WiFi with broadband itself, and many are willing to switch providers for better service. more
Communication service providers around the world are about to embark on an epic journey. A journey which has the potential to be a major game changer for hardware and software vendors alike. The simple concept of decoupling software from hardware, referred to as network functions virtualization (NFV), promises to improve an operator's ability to differentiate themselves from the competition by moving network functions from dedicated appliances to generic commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) servers. more
Researchers in China have proposed a plan to establish a large satellite network in near-Earth orbit to provide internet services to users worldwide and to stifle Elon Musk's Starlink project. The project, referred to as the GW constellation, would include 12,992 satellites owned by the newly established China Satellite Network Group Co more
Kieren McCarthy reporting in .nxt: "An extraordinary series of policy papers drawn up by the European Commission and seen by .Nxt have called for greater governmental control over the Internet's domain name system. ...the measures would provide governments with de facto control over the Internet's naming systems and bring an end to the independent and autonomous approach that has defined the Internet's domain name system since its inception." more