Singapore government fines Consistel $223K for falsifying documents

Here is the latest Personal Tech News from ZDNet.

Singapore government fines Consistel $223K for falsifying documents
Systems integrator was fined S$300,000 (US$223,077) for breaching conditions in its licence to build and operate the telecommunications systems at the Singapore Sports Hub.

Salesforce Inbox Calendar launches via Tempo.ai acquisition
Salesforce takes another step toward integrating email and calendar into CRM and sales data for reps.

Sage data breach may impact hundreds of business customers
The data breach is believed to be an inside job.

20 top US hotels hit by fresh malware attacks
If you’ve stayed at these hotels and have taken out your credit card at shops, bars or restaurants, your financial data may be at risk.

Samsung teases Gear S3 launch
Samsung is ready to announce its next take on its popular smartwatch.

Census 2016: A case study in the confluence of failure
Rather than being its usual night of civic duty, the 2016 Australian Census was a failure of leadership, technology, and communications by government, the ABS, and IBM.

Huawei TalkBand B3 hands-on: Unique Bluetooth headset and activity tracking wristband
Huawei’s third generation activity tracker and Bluetooth headset combination wearable is an attractive option for those looking for such a combination.

Every day carry (EDC) pocket tools and gadgets
My pockets are always crammed with bits of kit. Here are just a few of the things that I carry around with me on a day-to-day basis.

Experian invests in tech innovation to reinvent Brazil business
The company is focusing on analytics initiatives to diversify revenue streams.

Brain-controlled robots and VR help paraplegic patients feel and move limbs again
The team behind the Walk Again Project wanted to teach paralyzed patients how to walk using robotic leg supports, but the results were much better than they expected.

Investments in robotics R&D are growing, and it’s about time
Industrial robots aren’t just for automotive manufacturing anymore. Global R&D spending in the robotics industry is predicted to grow at a CAGR of more than 17 percent during the next four years.

Zenefits settles licensing issues in South Carolina, Delaware
The company had been accused of allowing its salespeople to act as insurance brokers in a number of states despite lacking the proper licenses.

iPhone 7 rumor roundup: Release date, technical specs, and pricing
Here’s everything you need to know about the new iPhone.

Mirantis and SUSE support multiple Linux OpenStack clouds
OpenStack runs on Linux, but it has many moving parts. SUSE and Mirantis want to be your cloud integrator.

Microsoft gives partners their Windows 10 marching orders
Here’s how Microsoft is advising its reseller partners to sell Windows 10 to customers, especially enterprises.

These were the best hacks at Black Hat and Def Con this year
Weren’t in Vegas for the heat and hacking? Here’s what you need to know.

Microsoft to drop Azure RemoteApp in favor of Citrix virtualization technologies
Microsoft is dropping its Azure RemoteApp technology over the course of the next year and guiding customers to go, instead, with virtualization software and service from Citrix.

Storage looks inward: Today’s action is inside the server, not out on the SAN
Storage is no longer about SANs and big, fast arrays, though they aren’t going away. Here’s why you need to rethink the balance of internal and external storage.

3D printing hands on: Some fascinating Jedi-level PLA filament secrets
Do you know what a Tg is? Do you know what a Z-probe is? We didn’t either. But knowing about these and some other interesting secrets will help you make better 3D prints.

Facebook, Apple and Google are most-used mobile apps
According to Survey Monkey, 40 percent of the most used apps in the US are pre-loaded onto Android and iOS. But which app do we use the most on our mobile devices?

Mitsubishi Materials: Bring us your e-waste for recycling, we don’t mind what it is
Japanese corporation Mitsubishi Materials’ new recycling hub in the Netherlands is gearing up to receive e-waste from all over Europe.

Wearables, health tech impress at Microsoft’s 2016 Imagine Cup finals
Microsoft’s annual student competition recently had its finals in Seattle, with a diverse and inspiring set of competitors and projects.

South Korea eyes up Google over antitrust laws, again
Google is once again the focus of a probe into whether the company has violated South Korea’s anti-competition standards.

How an IP mapping glitch turned a farm into federal hell
Everyone from federal agents to ambulance staff and IRS collectors all ended up on the same doorstep for years due to one lazy IP setting.

New design could keep UAVs in the air
A researcher from the University of Texas at Arlington has invented a new way to control aircraft using weights that move within the wings. His design reduces drag and therefore conserves energy, which ultimately allows aircraft to remain in the air for longer periods of time.

DoD CIO moving over to OPM
Office of Personnel Management still reeling from last year’s massive theft of 21 million records

Microsoft releases first Windows 10 ‘Redstone 2’ test build
Here comes the first Windows 10 ‘Redstone 2’ test build for PC testers on the Fast Ring.

Etsy inks integration deal with Intuit
Etsy and Intuit are partnering up to give Etsy sellers the option of importing sales and expense data directly into Intuit’s QuickBooks Self-Employed platform.

HPE acquires SGI for $275 million in high performance computing play
SGI’s business has stagnated in recent years, but HPE reckons the company can add high performance computing and big data products to its mix.

Microsoft answers critics on its Azure Stack hybrid cloud reset
Microsoft is trying to comfort customers upset by its Azure Stack hybrid-cloud OS delay and delivery-vehicle changes. Plus it’s starting to roll out slowly its second technical preview.

Nvidia touts record revenue on Q2 earnings beat
Once again, Nvidia credits strong sales of its GPUs and deep learning technology for the boost on its balance sheet.

Microsoft acquires game-streaming vendor Beam
Microsoft is acquiring game-streaming vendor Beam and plans to incorporate its technology with Xbox Live and Minecraft.

Now even your sex toys are spying on you
Is nothing sacred in this world?

Top 10 apps: These boast the most downloads so far this year
Survey Monkey has released its list of the most popular downloaded apps in the US on iOS and Android for the first six months of 2016. Pokemon Go was released in July so did not make it here.

Microsoft extends again support for Windows 7, 8.1 Skylake-based devices
Microsoft is tweaking its support cut-off dates again for Intel Skylake-based devices so that users can continue to get security updates until Microsoft’s original end-of-support dates.

AWS bolsters cloud platform with real-time analytics, gives more content controls to developers
Kinesis Analytics is a new service by AWS designed to make it easier to query real-time streaming data with SQL.

Linux TCP flaw lets ‘anyone’ hijack Internet traffic
What started as an attempt to secure TCP/IP in Linux ended up enabling an attack vector that can be used to break, or even hijack, Internet connections between Linux and Android systems.

Where AWS is headed: Every function as a managed cloud service
First there was Lambda to create a serverless approach to compute. Now there is Kinesis Analytics, a managed service for analytics. Years from now you’ll be buying managed services and functions from AWS instead of infrastructure as a service.

Microsoft and Boeing set a course for the Azure Cloud
Microsoft and Boeing are each leaders in their field; they’re also neighbors on the east side of Seattle. Here’s how these two peas in a pod are using Azure data technologies to make commercial flights more efficient and even (gasp!) more pleasant.

IBM gets R big data on-ramp for Watson via Columbus Collaboratory
IBM is looking to enhance its connection between Watson and data scientists via an R extension called CognizeR.

Brazilian banks discuss Samsung Pass rollouts
The South Korean firm is in talks with local institutions about possible trials of the iris scanning technology

Alibaba 1Q revenue climbs 59 percent to $4.84B
Fuelled by growth across several businesses including mobile, e-commerce, and cloud, Alibaba’s revenue for the June quarter hits 32.15 million yuan (US$4.84 billion).

Macy’s will close 100 stores so it can spend more on digital tech
The retailer on Thursday said it’s working to align its in-store and online shopping experiences by allocating more funds to its digital businesses and ongoing stores.

Windows 10: More free upgrade and activation questions answered
Here are a few more answers to some nagging questions about Windows 10 upgrades and activation in the post-Anniversary-Update era.

Swirlds releases software development kit for its blockchain alternative
Kit includes browser OS, source code, and guidelines for writing and running new apps

Know your enemy: This analytics startup aims to track rivals’ every online move
With its algorithm for collecting data on business rivals’ online activities, competitive-intelligence startup Kompyte is preparing for a new round of financing.

Researchers expose multiple security flaws in SAP CAR retail platform
The vulnerabilities can lead to privilege escalation or denial of service attacks.

Why Apple likes to keep secrets (and why it has a lot of secrets to keep)
Apple doesn’t like to talk about what it’s doing until it has products ready to roll, and spending on research and development suggests the Cupertino powerhouse is keeping a lot of stuff under wraps.

Is India headed for telecom wars or will Reliance keep the peace for now?
The manner in which Reliance Jio, Indian telecom’s newest entrant, choses to grow its subscriber base will determine the shape of pricing in the years to come.

Exploit broker steals Apple thunder, offers $500,000 for iOS zero days
Now $200,000 seems like small change.

Non-IT execs need to engage with the IT department, too
It’s time to take a new approach when talking about tech to the business — here’s how.

HP updates Stream laptops, adds 14-inch, education models
The budget Windows 10 notebooks will now come with dual-antenna Wi-Fi, improved battery life, and an update processor. The Stream 11 will keep its $199 price, while the new 14-inch version will cost $20 more.

IDC: Global public cloud spending will hit $195B by 2020
By then, cloud software will account for more than a quarter of all software sold, according to the research firm.

Digitally enable the businesses – don’t just digital transform
Let’s look at the brand new dirty word at the moment – digital transformation.

DisrupTV: Building an internal culture that reflects positively on the brand
President of SAP SuccessFactors, Mike Ettling, on creating an internal culture that strengthens the brand; David Cancel, CEO of Drift shares tips for leading a cloud-based company; and Shep Hyken discusses the importance of defining the organization’s ‘brand of customer service’.

Facebook unveils new metrics, engagement tools for video
The tools should help publishers on Facebook move closer to CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s vision of creating “a world where video is at the heart of all our services.”

Seven reasons to pay double for Samsung’s Galaxy Note 7
There are some fantastic Android smartphones available for $400 or less, so why did Matthew Miller pay double for Samsung’s latest and greatest?

Square Capital is now offering loans to non-Square merchants
For the first time, Square’s lending program Square Capital is available to small businesses outside of the Square ecosystem.

Top 25 accessories for your MacBook
Do you own an Apple laptop? Here are a range of accessories to boost your productivity when you’re using your MacBook, MacBook Air or MacBook Pro.

Palantir acquires data visualization startup Silk
The Silk product will be phased out after the acquisition.

Mesosphere + DataStax + Confluent + Lightbend = Container 2.0… But is it complicated?
Last week Mesosphere announced a number of strategic partnerships that comprise a comprehensive ecosystem and spearhead its initiative for what it calls Container 2.0. We take a look at what this means for the industry.

Globo.com ramps up live streaming for Olympic Games
The Internet arm of the Brazilian TV giant has partnered with Apache Cassandra database firm DataStax to improve its streaming capabilities and cope with increased demand.

Texting for votes: How Clinton campaign uses legal loophole to reach mobile phones
Is Hillary Clinton’s campaign skirting communications regulations to reach mobile-centric users? Once again, technology drives politics to the bleeding edge.

Box expands Box Zones, sees strong demand
The cloud content management company is bolstering its global story by meeting data sovereignty laws and standards in more regions.

12 of the best software utilities for your Mac
There’s little doubt that OS X ‘El Capitan’ is a fully-featured operating system that helps you to get a lot done, but by adding a few extra utilities will allow you get an awful lot more from the platform with very little extra effort.

Windows 10 tip: Find your PC’s original product key
If you’ve purchased a new PC with Windows pre-installed in the past few years, chances are it has a product key embedded in its BIOS. With a little PowerShell wizardry, you can find that well-hidden key and learn more about your current licensing status.

Apple’s new MacBook Pro to feature Touch ID, OLED touch strip: Report
While not expected until later this year, Apple is rumored to have big updates in store for its flagship notebook.

Microsoft Secure Boot key debacle causes security panic
Security failures have created “golden keys” which unlock Windows devices protected by Secure Boot.

Tableau 10 set to launch as Tableau invests big in R&D
The data visualization company will use Tableau 10 to drive the next wave of customers, but it has its sights set farther down the horizon.

MapR and Hortonworks: Hadoop market in midstream
MapR and Hortonworks have just unleashed a spate of announcements that provide a good reflection on where the Hadoop market is today.

5000 robots set to map millions of galaxies in 3D
The robots will provide a picture of how dark energy impacts our universe.

Data theft rises sharply, insiders to blame
A new study suggests many data breaches are caused by insider threats — whether through malice or accident.

SAP blasts critical software problems in patch update
The security fixes deal with a range of problems including cross-site scripting flaws and SQL injection vulnerabilities.

Hybrid cloud is the future, even if executives don’t quite know what to make of it
Survey reveals full embrace of the hybrid cloud model, tempered by low understanding.

Panasonic snaps up remaining OpenSynergy stock
Cockpit technology provider OpenSynergy will become a subsidiary of the tech giant in the coming months.

Dota 2 forum breach leaks 2 million user accounts
The unnamed hacker took usernames, email addresses, and passwords.

Intel to acquire machine learning startup Nervana Systems
Nervana’s engine and silicon expertise will enhance the deep learning performance of Intel’s Xeon and Xeon Phi processors.

Microsoft rolls out several new Windows 10 cumulative updates
Microsoft is making a number of fixes and reliability and performance improvements available across a variety of different flavors of Windows 10 via new Cumulative Updates.

Why every iPhone 7 spec and rumor points to virtual reality
Perhaps Apple’s iPhone 7 isn’t just a smartphone, but part of an integrated system that is something else entirely? Meet iPhone 7 Pro, the VR machine.

Google refreshes Inbox with new integrations to boost efficiency
Google’s Inbox email service now has the ability to attach files stored in Google Drive directly into emails.

Samsung is all talk, no fix after researcher finds Pay flaw
Opinion: How secure is “secure enough”?

Delta outage highlights how airline industry needs new IT approaches
The airline industry is plagued by legacy systems and single points of IT failure. How’d we get here? Mergers, bankruptcy restructurings, and falling behind the cloud curve.

Adpow launches to help marketers and SMBs extend their social media base
59 percent of SMBs see ‘little or no return’ from social activities but are looking to grow their social presence with this new marketing tool.

#CXOTALK: Conversational bots and the future of HCM
ADP’s combined CIO and CTO explains challenges of HR technology and discusses where this industry is headed. A must-read for anyone interested in Human Capital Management.

DisplayMate analysis: Samsung Galaxy Note 7 continues Samsung’s dominance in display technology
As some lament the lack of smartphone innovation, Samsung shows it continues to offer new features in its industry-leading OLED smartphone displays.

Lenovo, partners unveil solid state storage prototype for datacenter
Lenovo, Seagate, NxGn Data, and Amphenol team up on Project Spark, an SSD the size of a memory stick that can hold up to 8TB of data.

Facebook rebuffs ad blockers, enhances its own ad controls
The social media site is attempting to improve the ads it shows users, to address the core reasons people turn to ad blockers.

Google makes preemptible VMs more efficient
The internet giant is lowering the prices on its already-cheap way to access the public cloud.

This Dutch hacker can fly a million miles on his United Airlines bug bounty
A 19-year-old hacker has flown to Las Vegas, barely dipping into his huge reserve of airline miles earned by finding security flaws in United Airline’s website.

Microsoft releases its Common Data Model database to testers
Microsoft has made a promised public preview of its Common Data Model (CDM) entity database available to testers. CDM is at the heart of the coming Microsoft Dynamics 365 bundle.

It’s not just Macs: Almost everything Apple sells is old and stale
Right now, there’s hardly a thing I’d buy from Apple, because everything is old, outdated and in desperate need of a refresh.

Romanian spies want to spot faces in a crowd – illegally, say human rights groups
Romania’s intelligence agency and local human-rights groups aren’t seeing eye to eye over a new facial recognition system that’s officially for fighting terrorism and tax evasion.

Skully smart helmet firm founders smacked with fraud lawsuit
The case alleges cash was spent on strippers and sports cars, rather than software.

Google, Stanford team up in genome research push
The teams hope to one day be able to process a patient’s genome in a fraction of the time it takes now.

Tesla’s Autopilot takes the wheel as driver suffers pulmonary embolism
Miraculous — or dangerous?

Is the role of training and user guides for collaboration tools becoming extinct?
Will shifting our focus to ‘coaching’, rather than training become the most effective way to help our users grasp what is right for them…among a growing myriad of collaboration options?

HTC launched JBL Reflect Aware C, includes these $200 headphones with HTC 10 purchase
HTC continues to post compelling offers for potential HTC 10 buyers. These new high end noise-cancelling headphones connect via the USB Type-C port.

Google acquires commerce platform Orbitera
The acquisition underscores Google’s commitment to supporting enterprise in a multi-cloud world.

Brazil and UK sign tech innovation agreement
The cooperation will see both countries supporting projects from areas including Big Data, Internet of Things, and smart grid technology.

CYA: Drone insurance by Verifly starts at just $10 per flight
Many drones are buzzing through the air for work and play, but what happens if something goes wrong? Verifly now offers on-demand liability insurance to protect recreational and commercial drone pilots.