The provider Cloudflare, which specializes in DNS and content delivery network (CDN) services, has announced the takeover of Linc. Linc sees itself as a front-end delivery platform that developers can use to manage CI / CD pipelines for their front-end applications. Linc is pursuing an alternative architecture approach to the widely used JAMstack via the so-called Frontend Application Bundles (FAB). In interaction with Cloudflare’s serverless services workers and pages, FABs are intended to bridge the gap between static and dynamic frontends.
FAB vs. JAMstack With the JAMstack (JavaScript, API, markup), which is based on Netlify, JavaScript code handles the communication with the server via web APIs, while the markup on delivery handles the content via generates a (static) site generator or a framework with template support. With the FAB approach, Linc is taking a different approach: A deployment artifact should cover support for all server-side requirements, from purely static sites to apps (which use API routes or cloud functions) to fully server-side streaming rendering.
When using FABs, web developers can work with familiar frameworks such as Angular, React, Next.js or Vue.js. The FAB compiler generates a fab.zip file that matches the respective framework. It contains two components: a server.js file that serves as the server-side entry point and a _assets directory that stores HTML, CSS, JS, images and fonts that are sent to the client. According to Linc, the approach not only works with the differently structured app types, but is also designed for common CDNs and serverless hosting platforms.
With the FAB approach, Linc and Cloudflare on load balancer and CDN.
(Image: Cloudflare)
Past Load Balancer and CDN Its specific advantages apparently only come into play in interaction with Cloudflares Workers and the underlying key value store (Workers KV). While most platforms provide the two components of an FAB separately – the assets can be stored on inexpensive object storage on the CDN and the server components transferred to the serverless host – Cloudflare workers enable the FABs to be installed directly at the edge without any upstream Run Load Balancer or CDN. Although all requests have to be made by the worker with the server.js in this configuration, the FAB approach offers performance advantages, assure the Linc managers. The assets stored in Cloudflare Workers KV would be available more quickly than those from third-party hosts that are connected via proxies.
Further information on the takeover of Linc by Cloudflare is provided in a blog post that also describes the Frontend application bundles explained in more detail. More details about frontend delivery via FAB can be found on the Linc homepage.
PASS, the community association originally founded by Microsoft under the name Professional Association for SQL Server, has announced that it will be 15. January 2021 ceases its business. This applies to PASS Global, but not to its German offshoot PASS Deutschland eV According to the board, the background is the desolate financial situation after what was known as the “annus horribilis” year. Those responsible at PASS Global name the economic effects of the COVID 19 – crisis.
as the cause of the imbalance. The liabilities for the next five years for hotel and seminar rooms (in the event of an uncertain event situation) were offset by 2020 loss of income at the community summits . The debts that had accrued at the end of the year and in the future could apparently no longer be absorbed. At the beginning of December, the resolution was resolved in an orderly bankruptcy procedure – with a heavy heart, as the blog announcement says.
PASS Global until 15. January 2021 online The SQL PASS Summit and the SQL Saturdays are mainly affected by the bankruptcy. Until mid-January, paying members (PASS Pro) can access the learning and knowledge resources of PASS Global such as recordings of past summits. The non-profit organization expressly calls for content to be accessed while this is possible. The article does not reveal whether there are download options for backing up the material. The operation is according to PASS until 15. January 2021 guaranteed – then the club servers go offline. At the moment all documents and live recordings on the topics of data architecture, data management, data analysis, all whitepapers and all blog entries are online.
PASS is a not-for-profit association and has existed as a network for the Knowledge exchange for IT people who work with Microsoft’s SQL server. The network is divided into regional user groups that were previously self-organized; numerous regional offshoots continue to be. Shortly after the insolvency of the US-American PASS Global became known, the Microsoft SQL server team took a position on the company’s cloud blog. Microsoft emphasizes the importance of the community for SQL Server and expresses its thanks to PASS Global for “the support given to the SQL family”.
What happens next for the global SQL Server Community? In order to absorb those affected, the SQL Server team is planning to set up a new landing page for local user groups. From there, resources for training on SQL Server and Azure Data should also be accessible. The previous structure of local groups and group leaders would obviously be retained; the individual group leaders should continue to have sovereignty over memberships and the content made available. Microsoft invites the SQL server professionals affected by the bankruptcy to join the Meetup Pro network. Microsoft Teams will in future be available to user groups for virtual meetings. Details will follow, group leaders concerned can contact the Microsoft Azure Data Tech Groups directly.
Further information can be found in the message in the PASS blog. The statement from Microsoft’s SQL server team can be read in their cloud blog.
The IT security of “intelligent” doorbells equipped with video cameras, which can be bought for comparatively little money on online marketplaces such as Amazon, eBay or Wish, is not well ordered. This was the result of a test by the IT security company NCC Group for the British online magazine “Which?” surrender. The identified weaknesses therefore range from logon information that is firmly encoded in the hardware, to authentication problems, to data transfer to China. In some cases, the devices are delivered without the latest security updates being installed and long-standing critical errors have been corrected The researchers should find out what smart bells are good for, which cost significantly less than the market leaders from Amazon Ring or Google Nest and mostly come from China. They examined models from Victure, Qihoo and Accfly as well as unbranded products with titles like “HD Wi-Fi Video Doorbell V5”, “Smart WiFi Doorbell (YinXn)” or “Smart Wifi Doorbell – XF-IP 007 H “.
Overall, the experts give the devices a bad rating, which is a” nightmare “in the area of the Internet of Things. The security problems beyond aggressive data collection are massive. In addition, some of the video bells turned out to be “clones” of the Victure model, which not only took over its flaws, but also made them worse. The original contained an undocumented HTTP service on port 80. This required login data which could easily be extracted by one of the “Copy Cats”. Unencrypted WLAN IDs and passwords were found in log files.
The smartphone apps for controlling the digital bells also rely on unencrypted communication, which makes life easy for hackers. “HTTPS was not enforced on a number of devices or did not even exist as a communication method for a number of mobile applications,” the analysis said. For example, the Victure mobile application requested a root certificate via an HTTP request. Sensitive information, user names and passwords could be recorded with simple test instruments.
So many attack possibilities We encountered the Qihoo device the auditors on an undocumented, fully functional DNS service. In principle, this could simply be misused as a channel for the spread of malware. Current indications of such an active “rabbit hole” were not detectable.
Another possible attack vector was the misuse of QR codes. According to the report, a hacker who has access to a user’s cloud-based camera backup could also get their hands on the device’s QR code. The attacker could decrypt it and read the WLAN data with a password.
According to the researchers, the bell hardware is often not securely attached. It was then easy to remove and manipulate. The devices would usually sit loosely in a screwed or glued-on bracket. They could be stolen within a few seconds. Only one of the camera systems had a pressure sensor, which triggered an alarm if tampered with. This can also be prevented by a 2.4 GHz jammer.
No good words Help me the hardware is an attacker in a position to access the videos recorded by the bell and stored on an SD card, the experts say. For example, he could research the typical behavior of residents. In addition, the firmware can be extracted in order to obtain the access data to a network again or to identify further weak points.
The researchers found that one of the devices was still used for “key reinstallation attacks” (Krack ) was prone. This WLAN gap should actually be sealed since 2019. It enables attackers to read encrypted data traffic in plain text, to steal information and – depending on the network configuration – to smuggle in malicious code. Accfly and Victure, the only ones to publish contact information, did not respond to inquiries from Which. US civil rights activists had previously criticized the fact that ring apps are also big data throws.
(Pocket-lint) – One of the many benefits to setting up a smart home can be a serious bump in your security – whether you want sensors to let you know when people are around, or to tell you if you’ve left a window open or any other number of things.
A key part of that can be played by smart cameras, not only to keep an eye on your house while you aren’t home, but to let you use a smartphone to check in on things, as well as get notifications when something isn’t quite how it should be.
You might also want to pick up all manner of other smart gadgets, from app-controlled lighting and heating to robotic vacuum cleaners, to flesh out your smart home, but choosing a smart camera can be hard enough in the first place.
Whether you are after a nice and simple model to watch the cat or dog while you are at work, or you want something a little more substantial, such as one with a siren or one that can sing a lullaby, here are the best indoor smart cameras available.
We also have a separate feature for the best outdoor smart home cameras.
Pocket-lint
Nest Cam IQ
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The Nest Cam IQ is the smarter of the two indoor cameras offered by Nest, with the other cheaper model being the Nest Cam Indoor. Featuring a similar design to the Nest Cam Outdoor with a white polycarbonate body, the Nest Cam IQ has a main body on a hinge that connects it to a stem hiding the cables and a base with a USB Type-C connector.
It is one of the more expensive cameras on this list but thanks to its 4K HDR sensor, it will offer a close up tracking view of a person or persons and it is able to distinguish between a person and a thing. It also has Google Assistant built in so you can ask it to turn up your Nest Thermostat or find out how old George Clooney is.
Users will also be able to have a two-way conversation through the camera, night vision has been improved over the Nest Cam Indoor and those who sign up to the Nest Aware subscription will also benefit from facial recognition features and customisable activity zones. For a cheaper option, Nest still offers its Nest Cam Indoor.
Nest Cam IQ review: Great home security lacks an intelligent asking price
Netgear
Netgear Arlo Essential Spotlight
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Netgear offers numerous smart home camera options, including this Arlo Essential Spotlight, which is a completely wire-free camera and weatherproof, meaning you can use it outside too.
The Arlo offers night vision and motion alerts like the rest of the cameras on this list and it has 1080p Full HD resolution. The Arlo Ultra offers video 4K recording and a 180-degree FoV so there are other options in the range to suit various needs.
One of the great things about the Arlo is it provides seven days of viewing, downloading and sharing without a subscription. Most other smart home cameras, aside from the Netatmo Welcome require a monthly subscription to access video recordings over 24-hours old, whereas with Arlo it’s only a requirement for videos over seven days old or if you want a couple of extra features.
Ring
Ring Stick Up Cam
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Ring, best known for its video doorbells, has a couple of different security cameras but the Ring Stick Up Cam is the one recommended for indoor use. It comes in a wired option, battery option and solar-powered option so there are a couple of models to suit different requirements.
The Ring Stick Up Cam has night vision and two-way talk like other cameras on this list and it also comes with a siren. There are no fancy features like facial recognition but the Stick Up Cam is waterproof so it could be used outside too. It is also compatible with Amazon Alexa so if you have an Echo Show or Echo Spot, or a Fire tablet, you will be able to ask Alexa to show the view of your Stick Up Cam.
Unlike some others on this list, you’ll need the Ring Protect plan to see any video history with only live recording viable without a subscription. For those with more than one Ring camera, you might want to consider the Ring Protect Plus subscription, which covers all Ring devices a monthly fee.
Hive
Hive View
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British Gas-owned Hive offers two smart home camera options, including the latest model – the Hive View. It offers 24-hours rolling camera history on the cloud, and it comes in two colour options comprising a black and brushed copper model and a champagne gold and white model.
Although it doesn’t offer as many of the fancy features of some of the others on this list, such as facial recognition, it does have two-way audio, as well as zooming and it offers person detection too, along with sound and motion.
One of the best things about the Hive camera is that it joins the company’s other smart home products, which includes heating, lighting, motion detectors and smart plugs, making creating a smart home far simpler.
Hive View review: Great looks, great performance
Netatmo
Netatmo Welcome
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The Netatmo Welcome camera features facial recognition technology and it is one of the only smart home cameras to do so, aside from the Nest Cam IQ, though that requires a subscription for the privilege. Welcome will capture images of people and allow you to create profiles, after which the camera will send the names of the people it recognises, whilst also notifying you when it detects an unknown face.
It’s possible to customise profiles so if you don’t want it to record your partner at any time for example, you can set it to make sure it doesn’t and you can stop notifications coming through when you are at home too.
Unlike some smart home cameras, Welcome doesn’t offer a speaker for two-way talk, or a siren, night-light or music capabilities, but there are no subscription charges so the price you pay for the camera is all you pay to access your videos. The included 8GB SD card will store up to 100 videos and once storage runs out, the oldest videos will be replaced.
Netatmo Welcome review: Big Brother is watching and knows who you are
Swann
Swann Wire-Free Security Camera
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This Full HD camera boasts an IP65 weatherproof rating so it can withstand everything the weather can throw at it including driving rain, snow and summer heatwaves.
A magnetic mounting stand means you can point it any way you want and the kit includes mounting plugs and screws as well as an adhesive strip.
As with many other cameras, there’s also a microphone and speaker so you can have a two-way conversation with a delivery driver or intruder near to the camera if it’s placed outside.
Unlike several others, Swann’s camera has free local and cloud storage so the footage is saved (seven days) and locally backed-up (two days). You can add extra storage via a subscription should you wish. Video and data is encrypted, while two-factor authentication is in place, too.
TP-Link
TP-Link Kasa Cam KC120
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The TP-Link Kasa Cam KC120 has an easy-to-use app interface, coupled with good quality 1080p video footage. It offers decent night vision, two-way talk functionality and it is compatible with Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa, meaning you’ll be able to stream the Kasa Cam’s feed on an Amazon Echo Show or Google Home Hub if you have one.
You get two days of video history without a subscription and there are plenty of customisation options, while this camera also offers a strong and stable connection. It does have its downsides though, with recordings sometimes limited, the push to talk function featuring some lag and notifications a little overwhelming at times.
Niggles aside however, the 48 hours of free footage storage is certainly a reason to consider this indoor smart camera – especially as top tier competitor Nest only offers clip storage in the cloud for up to three hours unless you pay more.
TP-Link Kasa Cam KC120 review: Smart home camera is affordable yet imperfect
Logitech
Logitech Circle 2
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The Logitech Circle 2 replaces the Circle smart home camera, bringing the choice of wired or wire-free, weatherproofing and a wider field of view over its predecessor.
It is compatible with Amazon’s Alexa, Google Assistant and Apple’s HomeKit and there are a range of mounts and accessories available for it, allowing you to mount it where you want. The Circle 2 has a 180-degree field of view, it records video in 1080p and it offers night vision up to five-metres.
Additionally, the Circle 2 has a two-way talk and listen function and for those that opt for the Circle Safe Premium subscription, you’ll have access to person detection, motion zones and advanced event and alert filter options.
Logitech Circle 2 review: The best home security camera?
Canary
Canary View
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The Canary View all-in-one security camera can be set up in a matter of minutes and it will learn over time to deliver you smarter notifications. It is capable of Full HD video recording, HD audio recording and you will get instant alerts when activity is detected, along with the ability to view the recorded video. It also offers person detection without subscription, and two-way talk and desktop streaming with a subscription.
There is a 90-decibel siren on board to scare off any unwanted visitors, which can be controlled remotely, and Canary also monitors air quality, temperature and humidity to give you a better idea of your home.
For those after a weatherproof option, Canary also offers the Canary Flex, which can be installed wire-free or plugged in, inside or outside of your home. It’s a smaller device than the standard Canary and it doesn’t have a siren, but it does have a built-in speaker. Bear in mind that the 24 hours of free recording access is shared between all the Canary devices you have.
Pocket-lint
Somfy One
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The Somfy One offers some impressive features including a capable camera that works well in all lighting conditions, a physical privacy shutter and motion-based siren alarm system.
It’s compatible with Nest thermostats, Alexa, Google Home and IFTTT too, making it highly flexible and adaptable to your smart home needs.
Its free plan isn’t quite as good as others – it will only notify and capture footage when the alarm is set, but the subscription costs are cheaper than some others too. There is also a Somfy One+ that comes with a badge key fob and a door or window sensor, as well as a built in battery pack.
Somfy One review: Sound the alarm, smart home security gets serious
Pocket-lint
Withings Nokia Home
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Withings, which was sold to Nokia and then bought back, offers the Home camera. The camera records what is happening in your house, monitors air quality and it will also play a lullaby when the night light is turned on.
The bottom of the stylish-looking camera doubles up as the night light, while the top features environmental sensors to measure temperature, humidity and levels of volatile organic compound (VOC). There is a 5-megapixel CMOS sensor, two digital microphones, a HQ speaker, 135-degree wide angle zoom and night vision on the Home camera.
Any note-worthy thing that happens will be recorded to a cloud-stored video and sent to your smartphone in notification form, while any of the images and videos will then be put into an interactive timeline that turns into a home diary. You get 48-hours free access to your timeline, while anything beyond that requires a subscription.
Withings Home review: More than just a smart camera
Writing by Britta O’Boyle. Editing by Dan Grabham.
For expansion on a global scale of the Cybereason Defense Platform, the company relied on Oracle. The partnership between the two companies will allow them to jointly sell the solution, also available on Oracle Cloud Marketplace
of Alberto Falchi published on 22 December 2020 , at 16: 10 in the Security channel Cybereason Oracle
Oracle and Cybereason , a Boston-based company that develops cybersecurity solutions, have announced that they have signed a partnership. Under this agreement, Oracle Cloud Infrastructure will be the preferred platform to support the expansion of the a Cybereason Defense Platform, which offers tools based on behavioral analysis to prevent threats and intrusions.
Cybereason chooses the Oracle cloud
Cybereason has chosen the Oracle cloud as a platform for its technical characteristics, which go well with the security solution . The Oracle Cloud Infrastructure guarantees the scalability and, above all, the latency necessary (we are talking about microseconds) to take advantage of the tools for the detection and prevention of threats that leverage behavioral analysis and contextual correlations. The Cybereason Defense Platform is able to protect both individual endpoints and the entire corporate infrastructure and, unlike other solutions, it is not focused on alerts , but on operations : Cybereason’s solution saves security teams from chasing tons of alerts, allowing them to focus on potentially dangerous activities.
A what the company declares, a single analyst is enough to control 200. 000 endpoint, reducing the time it takes to identify and respond to problems to a few minutes (instead of days).
“ We are excited to partner with Oracle to strengthen the cloud infrastructure dedicated to our security platform. one unified “- commented Lior Div, CEO and co-founder of Cybereason – “ We chose Oracle Cloud Infrastructure for the security approach- first and for its performances. Together we will offer our global clientele an unparalleled level of visibility and an ability to reduce risk. Additionally, Oracle Cloud’s global presence will allow Cybereason to offer localized hosting services in multiple countries to comply with data sovereignty regulations “.
Cybereason Defense Platform is also available on Oracle Cloud Marketplace .
“ Cybereason joins an increasingly large group of companies adopting Oracle Cloud Infrastructure because of its superior level of security and the benefits it offers in terms of price and performance from a cloud infrastructure available worldwide “- he said Clay Magouyrk, executive vice president of Oracle Cloud Infrastructure – “ Adopting OCI will enhance Cybereason’s ability to go deep to defend thousands of endpoints from threats and enable customers to be one step ahead i compared to the most dangerous cyber attacks in the current scenario “.
Emails remain an important part of business and the market offers countless solutions for their management. The Italian Qboxmail offers a service with advanced features that meets the needs of both users and system administrators, thanks to a clear and simple interface and numerous configuration options
by Riccardo Robecchi published on 22 December 2020 , at 13: 31 in the Cloud channel
The death of the emails has now been declared several times, but in all cases these predictions turned out to be inaccurate. Even today, emails are the tool that companies choose for their internal and external communication due to their reliability and simplicity. The market offers numerous options to choose from to manage company emails and among these there is Qboxmail , an Italian company which proposes an easy, intuitive, economical business email management model with many advanced features that satisfy even the most demanding users.
Whether you like it or not, emails remain the main communication tool inside (and outside) companies. Precisely for this reason they are of capital importance in business activities, but the right weight is not always given to this aspect in the choice of the service provider. In other words, the problem is that companies do not always have the right tools to manage their emails.
Qboxmail provides a service that we could define as “complete”, in the sense that offers simple but powerful tools for corporate e-mail that can meet the needs of any user. From a web interface that competes with market leaders to advanced tools for analyzing activities and managing individual accounts, Qboxmail has created a service that is able to meet the needs of both users and administrators of system.
Switching to Qboxmail: an easy and painless procedure
To try Qboxmail I decided to migrate the email address I use for my personal blog. The process was extremely simple and took only a few minutes. Once the account on Qboxmail was created, it was a matter of setting up the domain: it is necessary to create one in the settings page and then follow the instructions to actually activate the reception and sending of emails. Specifically, it is necessary to set a type A record and modify the MX records in the DNS of your domain: it is therefore necessary to be able to access the DNS configuration in order to use Qboxmail, but this is not a problem in the vast majority of cases.
Once this step has been carried out it is possible to create the accounts : in addition to the address, it is possible to specify name, surname, space available (between 1 GB and 8 GB) and type of possible connections (POP, IMAP, SMTP, webmail and DAV). You can also activate accounts from 16, 25 is 50 GB by paying extra. In the case of Enterprise accounts, it is also possible to take advantage of connections Exchange ActiveSync and storage space until 100 GB .
Among the options available to facilitate the initial setup process we find the possibility of import the configuration of domains, domain aliases, email accounts and account aliases using a CSV file , so you don’t have to manually perform all the operations. In the same way, it is possible to automatically carry out the migration of emails from the previous provider using the IMAP protocol. Supported providers include Office 365, Gmail, Exchange and generic providers (both that support SSL whether or not they do).
The administration interface provides numerous tools to keep the situation under control at every point. In addition to a dashboard that allows you to see the situation at a glance (active domains, split email boxes by capacity and status of activity, alias etc.), there is also ETLive , a tool that analyzes in time real email traffic. Thanks to it you can see the sender and recipient of each incoming email, view the technical details (IP of the origin server, email ID, size, etc.) and download a PDF report containing all the information. This tool can be particularly useful for carrying out technical checks and settling disputes.
There is also the possibility to define team member who have the ability to access domain and email address settings, restricting these permissions as needed. For example, it is possible to assign only the management permissions of a specific domain.
Point of particular interest is the possibility to activate (for a fee) the email archive : it is a service that allows you to keep for 10 years all messages received and sent automatically. The archive is available in read-only mode, so that no changes can be made: it is a particularly useful tool for compliance with the GDPR. However, Qboxmail recommends that you contact legal experts before activating the functionality, so as to evaluate together with them the actual need for the service and the additional requirements it entails (such as, for example, the need to communicate its operation to employees and collaborators ). It is also possible to define delegates who can access messages stored in one or more accounts for a period of time default.
The register allows you to view all operations performed within the account by all users: you can view access to users’ webmail, change of settings both at a general level (with the user responsible for the changes that is reported) and in individual accounts. The reporting is quite complete and also includes the IP address, the country from which the connection is made and the operation performed. In this way you are always aware of the fateful “who did what”, especially important in the event of malfunctions to understand the origin and avoid repeating mistakes.
Lastly, there is the possibility to download reports containing details on domains, domain aliases, domain limits, email accounts, email aliases and the email archive. These reports are provided in CSV format in order to facilitate their use and manipulation.
The Qboxmail web interface: easy to use and feature rich
One of the most interesting aspects of the Qboxmail Web interface is the presence of many features that could be defined ” advanced “, such as the unsubscribe , the real-time notifications , integration with a calendar and the ability to customize the user interface . These features represent one of the strengths of Qboxmail because they bring it to the same level as competing solutions such as Gmail: if you are used to the latter, the transition to Qboxmail is definitely painless. The positive comparison with the market leader solution shows how much Qboxmail’s investments in creating a functional and pleasant to use webmail have hit the target.
The interface is, indeed , even better in some respects . Calendar and address book are accessible with a click directly in the same browser tab, which makes it easier and faster to switch between functions without interrupting your workflow.
IS You can choose between three settings to view emails (vertical division between list and email, horizontal division or full screen view), so as to satisfy almost every preference in this regard.
One aspect particularly interesting is the possibility not only to divide the emails into folders, but also to apply labels to them to help to categorize emails beyond folders, for example by themes. However, these labels are not equivalent to those used, for example, by Gmail, since they remain distinct from the folders. customizable cancellation time that allows you to cancel the sending of the message: this function is especially useful if you realize you have made a mistake and
Each box gives the possibility to create antispam filters thanks to black and white lists that can be customized by the user.
The heading is divided into two areas: the corporate and the personal. This makes it particularly easy to have access to company contacts to contact colleagues and collaborators. The personal area is easily customizable with the addition of contacts in which it is possible to specify, in addition to the classic information, also the role of the contact within the company and his work team (respectively “boss” and “expeditions” , for example).
The calendar offers a large number of features: in addition to all the classic event creation features, you can specify the type of event (confidential, private or public), set two alerts at different times, prioritize the event and apply a ‘label to better categorize the events.
Inside the calendar there is the integration with Zoom that allows you to create new meetings on Zoom directly from the Qboxmail interface: simply select “Zoom” as the location for the system to automatically schedule the meeting and
A particularly interesting aspect is the possibility of enabling the two-factor authentication : using an application for generating “disposable” passwords (we used FreeOTP for Android, for example) it is possible to make access more secure and thus protect yourself by tempted vi of account compromise.
Overall, therefore, the service offered by Qboxmail constitutes a truly complete and effective solution . It gives its best if used directly from the site, which is extremely easy to use and feature rich, but can also be used with clients such as Outlook and Thunderbird. available on the official website at low prices starting from 1.5 ?? per month per account (or 15, 3 ?? the year). There are three bands: “basic”, which offers boxes up to 25 GB and contains almost all the features listed in this article with the exception of the calendar and integration with Zoom; “professional”, on which we based this piece and which allows you to go up to 50 GB; “enterprise”, offering boxes up to 100 GB, the access via Exchange ActiveSync and the ability to enforce policies on changing passwords, logging in with two-factor authentication, etc.
From Phil Spencer come promising statements for what concerns the future of Xbox Game Pass, an on-demand service that offers access to hundreds of games for consoles and PCs, at the cost of a simple monthly subscription. Microsoft would also have considered a Family plan: what’s new?
by Pasquale Fusco published 22 December 2020 , at 12: 21 in the Videogames channel Xbox Microsoft
Offering dozens of games and benefits to its subscribers every month, Xbox Game Pass is undoubtedly one of Microsoft’s most successful products. The platform continues to grow, preparing to welcome the EA Play library – whose debut has just been postponed – and much of Bethesda productions, thanks to the recent acquisition of Zenimax Media.
The evolution of the service also passes through the subscription methods. According to the latest statements by Phil Spencer , Xbox boss, Game Pass may soon offer a plan dedicated to the family , which will allow more users to use the service on demand.
Xbox Game Pass: a family plan for multi-account access
Xbox Game Pass currently offers three different types of subscriptions: a Console plan and a PC, both offered at approximately 10 euro per month, and finally that Ultimate – considered by Microsoft to be the “best offer” – supplementing the Xbox Live Gold subscription, future access to EA Play titles and, most importantly, the ability to play in cloud mode.
Coming soon, a fourth option could join the current Game Pass proposals. Phil Spencer himself, head of the Xbox division, suggests it, answering a question from a user on Twitter: “Have you ever considered a Family per Game plan Pass? “.
We have. It’s something we’d like to do. There is Home console feature for one console household but for multiple family members with consoles a family plan would help. Really appreciate the feedback.
– Phil Spencer (@ XboxP3) December 9, 2020
Spencer confirms that his team has actually evaluated a similar option, which, we recall, is already offered by other on demand services – such as the aforementioned Spotify and Apple Music .
The Xbox boss also reminds us that a console user can share their Game Pass subscription with another family member, thanks to the Home feature. In this case, however, sharing is limited to two users: the solution can be a Family plan, which would extend this limit to four or more players belonging to the same household.
Of course, we are talking about a simple comment by Phil Spencer and we are still far from an official confirmation. Microsoft has however shown that it wants to invest in its on-demand service, so let’s expect new announcements in view of the 2021 – year which, among other things, will feature the new Xbox Series X and Series S , recently landed on market.
Cyberpunk 2077 is currently not only notorious because of its many bugs, but also for its exorbitant hardware requirements: If you want to play with ray tracing, for example, you not only need an Nvidia graphics card, but in most cases also have to switch on the AI upscaling DLSS – otherwise it will even jerk on an RTX 3080.
Stadia not only shows a blurred image, but also more unrealistic reflections on the glass due to the lack of ray tracing .
(Image: c’t Magazin)
The hour for cloud streaming platforms strikes: Services such as Google Stadia, Nvidia GeForce Now or Shadow run the game in data centers on server hardware and stream the Video output to customers. This doesn’t even require a computer, so all three services also run on iOS and Android mobile devices or even on streaming boxes for the television (Stadia on Chromecast Ultra, GeForce Now on Shield TV). For all services you have to buy Cyberpunk 2077, but the conventional GOG runs on GFN and Shadow – or Steam version (you just log into your own account), you have to buy the game on Google on the Stadia platform – if you have it on Steam or GOG, this doesn’t do you any good.
Latencies are not a big problem with proper Internet access, as several c’t tests have already shown, for example this one here (for a fee).
From 16 watch we stream live with GeForce Now and Google Stadia.
Video live stream: We play Cyberpunk 2077 on Stadia and GeForce Now
GeForce Now impresses: Raytracing Ultra with 60 fps We to have Cyberpunk 2077 (Version 1. 05) tried on Stadia and GeForce Now (GFN) and were positively surprised, especially by the Nvidia service GFN: With a chargeable “founder” account (currently 27, 45 Euro for 6 months) we could play the game with all (!) Settings on the maximum value without any problems in 1080 Use p-resolution (“Raytracing Ultra”) – at least if DLSS is activated (“Auto”). Without the AI-supported upscaling function, you could still play reasonably well, but with it it was much more fun and feels like 60 fps. Unfortunately, with the GOG version we tested it is currently not possible to display the frame rate calculated by the server. For comparison: On a local gaming PC with a GeForce RTX 2070 and AMD Ryzen 3700 x the game ran significantly worse with the same settings. There is also free GFN access, but there always seems to be long waiting times. With the chargeable founder account, we never recorded waiting times on several test days.
Google Stadia: Runs okay, but graphically slimmed down There is also Google Stadia in a free version, we could use it without any problems. It runs with a maximum of 1080 p-resolution and stereo sound. 4K, HDR and 5.1 sound are reserved for the Pro version (9, 99 euros per month). We also tested with this. Unlike GFN, Stadia runs a specially adapted version that has significantly fewer setting options. So there is only one option under “Graphics” between a 60 – fps mode (“high frame rate”) and a 30 – fps mode (“graphics”). Otherwise you can only set chromatic aberration, depth of field, lens flare and motion blur. Both Stadia preset modes are significantly slimmed down compared to the PC or GeForce Now version: For example, there does not seem to be any ray tracing effects, not even in the 30 – fps mode.
Cyberpunk 2077 in the cloud: image quality in comparison (10 Pictures) PC native (Raytracing Ultra)
(Image: c’t Magazin) In our test runs, the game always ran smoothly under Stadia and also worked without any problems via a Chromecast Ultra with a Stadia controller. However, the image sharpness varied significantly, especially when we used a browser instead of Chromecast. In one case – Edge was running under Windows 10 – the picture worked especially in 60 – fps mode very washed out. After a restart there was more sharpness in the picture. We didn’t have these problems with Chrome. Incidentally, it didn’t seem to be due to the video codec used: With the browser extension “Stadia Enhanced” we had manually preset VP9, the codec is more efficient than the H otherwise used. 264. During the two-hour test run, the Stadia version crashed twice.
All tests ran on a gigabit cable connection (1000 Mbit / s down, 50 Mbit / s up), the Windows – 10 – test computer was connected to the router by cable. We didn’t test Shadow because it currently takes around six months to get an account.
Conclusion The free version of GeForce Now requires a lot of waiting.
Cyberpunk 2077 is more fun in the cloud than on many gaming PCs – especially with GeForce Now you can get into that Enjoy the full graphic splendor, including ray tracing effects. At first glance, these are subtle, but make for a much more realistic overall impression. The unfortunately ray-tracing-free Stadia version is well suited for people who have a Chromecast Ultra but do not have a gaming PC. If you are not too impatient, you should wait a few months anyway until CD Projekt Red has eliminated the most violent bugs.
From Santa’s sleigh to celestial objects leading kings to babies, this is a big week for unexpected things showing up in the night sky. What’s not so unexpected are the small meteor showers that hit Earth on a daily basis. These tend to only catch our attention when the meteors are big enough to see and plentiful enough to last a while, but there’s actually enough debris in our solar system that it pelts the Earth every night. And if you have a Raspberry Pi, you can set it up to detect meteor showers even when they’re too small to get major coverage.
We have BBC’s Sky at Night magazine to thank for this project, which has two goals: The first is to allow you to record video and stills of meteor showers even when you can’t stay up to watch them, and the second is to send data to a global database to help researchers learn more about the behavior of meteorites and other satellites.
To build this project, you’ll first need at least a Raspberry Pi 3B+ (for Wi-Fi) with a case, fan, and power supply. After that, you’ll need a micro-SD card with at least 128GB of storage, a 1080p camera module (Sky at Night suggests to IMX291), a 5V power supply and cable, plus ethernet and PoE injector cables. Oh, and you’ll want a security camera housing and mounting bracket to conveniently attach it to an outside surface.
Once you have everything in hand, just follow the instructions in Sky at Night’s guide to put everything together- it shouldn’t take much more than a screwdriver and perhaps a drill, depending on where you mount it.
On the software side of things, you’ll want to download the free Raspberry Pi Meteor Station (RMS) software from the Global Meteor Network to your microSD card, which will both help set up your Pi to record and will configure it to send data back to the Global Meteor Network. You will need a camera code to use the software, which you can get by emailing the GMN team at denis.vida@gmail.com.
After you get everything set up, your new meteor detector will run continuously to capture data for researchers, but it will also help you make sure you don’t miss any cloud breaks ever again.
Whether or not you might detect a certain jolly old elf on the evening of the 24th, we cannot say.
Microsoft has evidently formed a group of companies that creates its own processor designs with ARM computing cores. This is reported by the news service Bloomberg , citing internal sources. The CPU group is subordinate to Jason Zander, the head of Microsoft’s cloud division Azure.
According to their own According to Bloomberg ARM processors are primarily intended for Microsoft’s data centers. But there should also be considerations to incorporate experience with ARM CPUs in mobile processors for the Surface division.
Advantage thanks to tailor-made specifications In-house chip designs would have several advantages compared to “off the shelf” from AMD or Intel: Microsoft could tailor the processors to its own needs, which potentially increases efficiency and reduces costs. Amazon shows with its own Graviton CPUs that this can work well: A tenth of the bookable AWS CPU instances come from Graviton and Graviton2 CPUs, which are cheaper than AMD or Intel variants.
CPU-Designer ARM makes it easier to design your own processors with licensable cores. The Neoverse N1 cores, which Amazon also uses for Graviton2, are currently intended for servers. Companies take such a core in multiple versions, connect all of them with an interconnect and attach storage controllers plus I / O connections – ARM and other design companies help.
High performance with license cores The website Anandtech recently opened Amperes 80 – Looked at Kerner Altra, who is the first Neoverse N1 offshoot to be available in free trade in the form of servers and is still up-to-date with AMDs 64 – Kernern based on Zen-2 (Rome, Epyc 7002) can create.
The improved Neoverse-V1 cores are already in the starting blocks – the European Processor Initiative (EPI) of the EU is building its own 72 – Kerner Rhea HPC with it. In addition, ARM has a Neoverse N2 on offer.
In the meantime, Microsoft could make itself independent of Qualcomm for Surface notebooks and tablets. Qualcomm’s SQ1 and the minimally improved SQ2, both of which are derived from the Snapdragon 8cx, are in the only ARM offshoot Surface Pro X so far. The chip manufacturer announced the latter two years ago, a successor is not yet in sight – but would be sorely necessary in view of Apple’s ARM advance on Macs.
ARM recently in the run-up to the ideas of Apple M1, Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 and Samsung Exynos 1080 use the Cortex computing core -A 78 C is presented, which should therefore be particularly suitable for octo-core SoCs for notebooks.
2020: Science stories, moments, memories, and ephemera
_README.txt
_VERGE_SCIENCE_YOUTUBE_SHORTCUT
artemis_accords.pdf
bank_message.mp3
DM_2_Goodbye.mp4
dream_nightmare.mp3
essential_workers_1
essential_workers_2
nature_meme_1.jpg
nature_meme_2.gif
nature_meme_3.jpg
nature_meme_4.jpg
phosphine_1.xlsx
phosphine_2.jpg
ppe_design
quarantine_cheer_1.mp4
quarantine_cheer_2.mp4
Robot_swab.mp4
slack_montage.jpg
smoke_cyclones.jpg
smoke_san_francisco.jpg
zoom_team.gif
zoonotic_virus_associations_1.jpg
zoonotic_virus_associations_2.xlsx
2020: SCIENCE STORIES, MOMENTS, MEMORIES, and EPHEMERA
Compiled by The Verge, a science and technology news website that existed in 2020
The following files were selected by Verge staff in November 2020. The stories contained are by no means exhaustive; they are a few snapshots of life in 2020.
Within this file folder are the original assets included in the time capsule, as well as a video exploring the capsule’s storage medium: synthetic DNA.
————————
artemis_accords: Established a common set of principles to govern the civil exploration and use of outer space; signed October 13th, 2020.
bank_message: Bank phone menu recording, October 2020.
DM_2_goodbye: Astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken saying goodbye to their families before launching to space.
dream_nightmare: Audio from interview with Black aerospace engineer Kayla Watson. Captured during a conversation concerning the simultaneous launch of the NASA / SpaceX DM-2 mission and widespread protests in response to the death of George Floyd.
essential_workers: Self-portraits of health care professionals after working a shift while wearing personal protective equipment (PPE).
Nature_memes: Nature returning to urban settings during COVID-19 lockdowns, real and imagined.
phosphine: Alleged detection of phosphine gas in cloud layer of Venus suggestive of extraterrestrial life (full paper).
ppe_design: Open-source design for 3D printable face shield, designed to protect health care workers from COVID-19 during nationwide equipment shortage (Prusa Research).
quarantine_cheers: Community ruckus in London to support frontline health care workers during coronavirus lockdown, spring 2020. Captured by Verge senior editor Tom Warren.
Robot_swab.mp4: Prototype robot auto-swabber for COVID-19 nasopharyngeal swab test (Brain Navi).
slack_montage: Series of messages within Verge Science team from late January 2020.
smoke_cyclones: Confluence of wildfire smoke and multiple tropical cyclones over North America, September 14th – 16th, 2020.
smoke_san_francisco: Apocalyptic skies over San Francisco, September 9th, 2020. Photo by Verge senior video director Vjeran Pavic.
zoom_team.gif: Verge Science team self-portrait, October 2020.
zoonotic_virus_associations: Map of virus-sharing “network” among wild and domesticated mammalian species (full paper).
Home/Component/CPU/Microsoft said to be developing ARM-based processors for servers and Surface PCs
João Silva 1 hour ago CPU, Featured Tech News
Recently, Apple announced plans to move away from Intel CPUs and replace them with ARM-based SoCs designed in-house. Now, it would seem that Microsoft is following a similar path for its Surface line of devices, with plans to develop its own ARM-based processor. These new ARM-based processors will also be used on the servers powering Microsoft’s cloud services.
On the cloud market, Amazon has already started to use its own ARM-based processors, but Apple also has decided to power its own devices with Apple Silicon (Apple M1). Now, it seems Microsoft will follow the trend, producing its own chips, although it’s more likely to see them being used on servers than on Surface devices, according to Bloomberg.
Microsoft cloud services are powered by Intel and AMD CPUs, while Surface devices use Intel, Qualcomm, and AMD chips, depending on the model. With Microsoft’s decision to produce its own processors, chip providers like the ones mentioned are expected to lose some of their share in their respective markets.
When asked about Microsoft ARM-based processors, Frank Shaw, communications chief at Microsoft, commented that due to the silicon’s importance to the technology that they develop, the company has been continuously investing in “areas like design, manufacturing and tools”.
Windows 10 on ARM-powered devices such as the Surface X shows that these processors are a good alternative to other chips, but their performance still has room for improvement. On the server market side, Microsoft has only just given its first steps by releasing a Windows Server that runs on ARM in September 2020. If Microsoft starts to produce ARM chips for itself, we might see the company invest more in Windows compatibility with ARM processors, be it servers or client platforms.
KitGuru says: Would you like to see Microsoft developing its own ARM-based CPUs? When do you think will Microsoft launch the first Surface devices powered by their own ARM-based processors?
Under the agreement, Tech Data will build specialized local sales and technical teams on AWS in all EU countries where the company is present. The collaboration is already active in the UK, Italy, Turkey and Spain, and will soon be extended to other countries
by Alberto Falchi published on 21 December 2020 , at 13: 21 in the Cloud channel Techdata AWS
The partnership between AWS and Tech Data gets tighter and tighter. The two companies have in fact announced a strategic collaboration agreement to push the adoption of the cloud among European SMEs . This is a multi-year agreement, on the basis of which the system integrator will invest in technical and sales teams specialized in AWS in each country where it is present. These units will be coordinated by a central working group comprising service experts and solution designers.
The role of Tech Data’s StreamOne platform
The agreement with AWS allows Tech Data to offer managed services and multi – vendors that revolve around the Amazon cloud. StreamOne, the Tech Data platform for managing subscriptions, renewals and billing for cloud services, plays a key role in this area. Finally, Tech Data announced the creation of a series of training courses dedicated to AWS, aimed at offering company partners the skills and tools to drive the adoption of cloud services among SMEs across Europe. The collaboration just announced is currently active in Italy, Turkey, Spain and the United Kingdom, but in the next it will be extended to other EU countries where Tech Data has a presence.
“ This is a pioneering and transformative agreement. AWS and Tech Data’s shared goal is to empower SMBs across the region, helping them to grow and innovate faster and better serve their customers “ – declared Patrick Zammit , President for Europe of Tech Data – “Our collaboration enables end customers to realize the benefits of AWS, including increased security, cost efficiency, reliability, innovation, and accelerated time-to-market thanks to off-the-shelf solutions provided by the Cloud Solutions Factory of Tech Data for AWS “.
“ We are happy to partner with Tech Data to enable channel partners across Europe to support SME’s digital transformation business needs ” – he has declared Amanda Sleight, AWS SI Partner Lead – “ This collaboration brings together AWS cloud services and Tech Data’s network so that SMBs can focus on innovation, drive business growth and remain competitive in today’s digital economy “.
“ For the Italian Ecosystem – already today one of the spearheads of the worldwide collaboration between AWS and Tech Data – these additional investments in skills, services and solutions represent a very important asset to be shared with our partners, whether they are System Integrators, Service Providers or Independent Software Vendors to provide Italian SMEs with solid foundations on which to build their path of digital transformation “- explains Vincenzo Bocchi , Tech Data Advanced Solutions Director – “ Enrich our proposal with new technical skills and of Business Development, new services and solutions for customers and making international competence centers available to the Italian market is an opportunity for growth for everyone. The two Italian teams AWS and Tech Data are already cohesive and ready to start with activities on an even larger scale than in the past “.
Google returns to the topic of inefficiencies , explaining the causes that caused the malfunctions of last week
by Nino Grasso published 21 December 2020 , at 10: 41 in the web channel Google YouTube
Last week the whole world suffered severe disruptions on all Google services, and the company promptly returned to the subject by officially declaring that the damage was caused by a bug in automated system for the management of memory quotas of Google User ID Service . The bug involved the Google account log-in system, preventing users from authenticating on all online and Cloud services.
In short, who tried to access company services, such as Gmail , YouTube , Google Drive , Google Maps, Google Calendar and many other services, the 14 last December, for about an hour, was greeted by an error screen. During the outage, users could not send emails through the Gmail mobile apps, or receive emails via POP3 on the desktop, or YouTube users received error messages (503), with an invitation to try again (in vain).
Google describes the causes and impact of the outage
“Monday 14 December 2020 from 03: 46 at 04: 33 US / Pacific, all operations for issuing credentials and the account metadata searches did not work “, the company explained on an error report page. “As a result, we were unable to verify user authentication by providing 5xx errors on all authenticated traffic. Most of authenticated services had an impact: high error rates across the entire Google Cloud Platform, and the Google Workspace API and Consoles “.
At the root of the problem there was the decreased capacity to access the storage space by the central system of the Google authentication system , all due to a bug in the memory quota management system. Due to the error the authentication requests from users failed, referring to errors on “virtually” all attempts.
For authentication in its services Google uses the Google User ID Service , a system that stores unique identifiers for each Google account managing the authentication credentials for both OAuth tokens and cookies. Furthermore, it also stores user data in a distributed database that makes use of Paxos protocols to coordinate updates during authentication. The Service automatically rejects all access attempts that make use of obsolete data, which is why during the disruption all the authentication that required a Google OAuth access were rejected.
The bug is was introduced in the systems in October as part of a “migration process of the User ID Service to a new management system of quotas “, explains Google, with parts of the previous system that have remained in use and have set the use of the storage provided for the User ID Service. Once the new criteria were enabled (last week) access to writing on Paxos protocols was immediately forbidden and in short all operations in reading have become obsolete preventing all access attempts running on the platform.
Two outages on Gmail on the same day
On Gmail, the problems continued for about seven hours after the failure in the authentication system was resolved, with several users of the platform not being able to deliver their emails. Google always talks about it in another article: “The error message indicated that the email address did not exist and, therefore, some emails were never delivered. Affected users should have received a bounce email generated by an intermediary SMTP service. In some cases the SMTP error message was quoted in the email, based on to the configuration of external SMTP clients in connection with the Google SMTP service “.
Google also explained the causes of the second disruption, also caused by an operation being migrated, in this case, however, of the configuration system underlying the Gmail SMTP incoming service.
He showed Caspar, Melchior and Balthasar the way to Jesus. According to the Bible, the three wise men found the child’s crib through the Star of Bethlehem. It is unclear whether this heavenly phenomenon existed or whether it is just symbolism. A comet, a star explosion that can be seen on Earth or even a special constellation of planets: the latter is at least a more likely possibility and can be seen right on time for Christmas this year. In the evening sky of 21. December the two largest planets of our solar system Jupiter and Saturn merge for our eyes.
“The best that the universe for us has to offer for a long time ” With this so-called conjunction, the two planets of the Union of Star Friends come very close when viewed from earth. The reason: Both are traveling around the sun at different speeds. The faster Jupiter then overtakes the more distant Saturn. “This year’s overtaking maneuver is something special. The two planets will almost merge into a common point of light”, says the chairman of Sternfreunde Sven Melchert.
The overtaking comes all 20 years ago. But there will be a similarly close meeting again in the year 2080. And you can’t always see the spectacle. Years ago 20 years ago the giants were not visible in the night sky during the conjunction. And 2080 the closest approach will only take place in bright dawn. “The conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn is on 21. December 2020 is the best that the universe has to offer us for a long time, “emphasizes Melchert.
The weather doesn’t play along The two planets would currently be in the southwest sky in the evening. A telescope is not necessary for observation. The bright Jupiter will then stand to the left below the ring planet Saturn and with the naked eye one will no longer be able to separate the two from one another. With binoculars one can then see not only Jupiter but also some of its four large moons. The ring system of Saturn can also be seen with at least 30 – times magnification.
The weather on the evening of 21. December, however, will put a spanner in the works when looking at the rare drama in large parts of Germany. “It doesn’t look so good,” says a spokesman for the German Weather Service. The cloud cover will thicken in the western half. Fog and clouds prevented a view of the evening sky. Regionally, however, there are opportunities in the east and south-east. As well on 22. December, when the two planets are still close together, the weather doesn’t play along. “You need a lot of luck.”
Speculations about the Star of Bethlehem There was a similar meeting of the two planets at the turn of the ages. “But that is only one of the possibilities,” said Carolin Liefke from the House of Astronomy in Heidelberg about the speculations about the star of Bethlehem. Jupiter and Venus would also have had a similar constellation. Although the star has often been shown with a tail since the Middle Ages, a comet can very likely be excluded. It was considered a bad luck charm and that would certainly not have been written down. A supernova or a star explosion is also unlikely. Remnants should have been found there. “The Gospels were written much later.” Maybe it’s all just symbolism.
(bme)
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