News pops up everywhere, every day, like England’s coronation of King Chucky 3, the NBA playoffs overlapping the start of the WNBA season, and Martha Stewart’s Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition cover photo. But the most fun? Jizai Arms, a robotics company started by scientists at the University of Tokyo, created a wearable harness to control six robotic arms. Your Dr. Octopus Halloween costume is ready!
AI news. PaLM 2, Google’s upgrade to ChatGPT and similar systems, is a language model that speaks more than 100 languages, including a variety of programming ones, and includes power products like Med-PaLM 2 and Sec-PaLM for medical research and security.
Doubling down on the tools it announced in March, Google introduced Duet AI for Google Workspace (pictured making productivity dreams come true) to help you write, create original images inside Google Slides, dig into Sheets, and more.
Non-profits always need two things: funds and volunteers. The new Microsoft Cloud for Nonprofit will help with both, all powered by AI internals.
Information flows like concrete in some enterprises, but the UiPath Platform 2023.4 update will fix that, with OpenAI connectors for generative AI support and tools like Clipboard AI for non-techy knowledge workers who transfer data from one application and reformat it for another.
Zendesk AI adds an intelligence layer to power customer service agents with advanced pre-trained bots for messaging, agent assistance, and intelligent triage.
Security news. To improve security in general and hybrid security in particular, the Barracuda SecureEdge, a secure access service edge (SASE) tool, integrates Barracuda’s secure SD-WAN, zero trust network access, and more for businesses and MSPs.
Welcome Malwarebytes Mobile Security for OneView for MSPs guarding Chromebooks, as well as Android and iOS devices, against mobile threats.
The folks at Bitdefender just rolled out Mobile Security for Android, supported by Bitdefender App Anomaly Detection, which monitors for malicious behaviors.
Speaking of Bitdefender, its GravityZone endpoint protection product now integrates with KnowBe4’s SecurityCoach to spot users in need of a little extra security coaching.
You probably know ChatGPT bases some outputs on previous inputs, including confidential company information added by employees looking for a little AI polish to a document. ExtraHop Reveal(x) now tracks users that connect to OpenAI domains to monitor user input.
Now generally available, the Check Point Next-Generation Cloud Firewall natively integrates with Microsoft Azure Virtual WAN. Get threat prevention, integrated security, and other treats. But wait, there’s more! Check Point Harmony Endpoint expanded and joined forces with Ivanti Patch Management to assess and plug security holes.
New user intelligence capabilities in Rubrik Security Cloud employ time series data to proactively mitigate cyber risk before cyber criminals can take advantage of it.
Zerto, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company, launched a real-time encryption detection mechanism and air-gapped recovery vault as part of Zerto 10. But wait! The new Zerto 10 for Microsoft Azure launched as well.
IoT news. Two major players (namely NTT and Cisco) joined forces and a new IoT-as-a-service offering was the result.
The Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) is both an IoT project and delicate medical instrumentation patient care regimen. Here are some key considerations for IoMT networks.
IoT security has been, and will be, a critical discussion in most applications. Analytics Insight discusses whether cybersecurity certification can help the IoT industry.
Our friends at Parks Associates have a new white paper out on privacy in smart homes. Surprise, 72% of smart home product owners are concerned about personal data security. Nearly 50% reported at least one privacy or security issue in the past year.
AI is everywhere, part 212: Nozomi Networks rolled out Vantage IQ, an AI-based analysis and response engine add-on to monitor and provide actionable intelligence on IoT, OT, and IT networks.
News from ServiceNow and Nutanix. At Knowledge 2023, ServiceNow pulled the curtain on a variety of new products and upgrades, most pumped full of AI. Check out new finance and supply chain workflows (sample pictured) or the ServiceNow Generative AI Controller for proof.
Nutanix put their spotlights on new capabilities in the Nutanix Cloud Platform including data services for Kubernetes applications and cross-cloud data mobility. How about the just-announced Project Beacon, which delivers platform-as-a-service data-centric apps on Nutanix or on a native public cloud?
More tools means more management, so the company also announced Nutanix Central, a cloud-delivered tool with a single console monitoring across all platforms.
Hardware news. You can now buy the Google Pixel 7a phone (pictured), the latest version until their foldable model comes out, for an “affordable price.” Lots of new goodies, many boosted with AI.
Tired of buying ink cartridges for your greedy printer? Try the new Epson EcoTank ET-4810 All-in-One Cartridge-Free Supertank Printer. Just refill an ink tank when necessary and keep printing.
Check out the new Supermicro X13 Multi-Processor Servers, available in 8-socket and 4-socket versions, with up to 32 TB of memory for applications like SAP and Oracle.
You can now get some Lenovo devices, with AMD or Intel CPUs, pre-loaded with IGEL OS.
Dell’s been busy adding more goodies to its storage software products to the tune of 2,000 new upgrades for PowerMax, PowerFiles, CloudIQ, and more.
Other product news. N-Able expanded the continuity features in Cove Data Protection and introduced a Microsoft Azure Recovery option.
Lenovo Solutions and Services Group (SSG) launched Digital Workplace Solutions, a suite of managed services for intelligent tools and advisory services.
Hear that bell? It’s RingCentral for Teams 2.0 (pictured). Couple it with RingCentral Contact Center for call recording and more.
Ooma Office turbocharged its phone service with new treats like call screening, distinctive ring tones, and other audio surprises.
The omni-channel Intermedia Intelligent Contact Center worked with leading healthcare providers such as Epic, Cerner, and MEDITCH for integrations helpful for doctors and patients.
Extreme Networks calls its AP3000 the industry’s smallest and most power-efficient Wi-Fi 6E access point, and has extended its Universal Switch series with the new 7520 and 7720 models built for enterprise core and aggregation uses. Looking for something a little edgier? Try their new ExtremeCloud Edge “networking cloud continuum”
Schneider Electric powered up its new EcoStruxure Microgrid Flex to help business meet their energy strategy needs with onsite renewables.
Non-product vendor news. The red carpet to the front door at CyberFOX was for new Vice President of Cybersecurity Strategy Wes Spencer (pictured).
Change your contact info for Shiva Pillay at Veeam to reflect his new job, general manager and senior vice president of Americas.
The Welcome Wagon at CloudBolt greeted Pritesh Upadhyay, joining as chief revenue officer.
The new face at Aryaka is the Chief Revenue Officer Pete Harteveld.
Riverbed launched its new managed service provider program, which includes a partner-managed SaaS Digital Experience Management service.
D&H Distributing upped its agreement with AMD to offer Ryzen and Athlon processors, graphics products, and other computing solutions as components rather than just inside branded computers.
This week’s stats ticker:
The State of Generative AI in the Enterprise, a report from Writer.com, found that 50% of companies have purchased, or plan to, at least one generative AI tool this year, and that generative AI is used in every function of the enterprise. ChatGPT is both the most used and most banned tool, and 46% of respondents believe someone in their company may have inadvertently shared private corporate data. It may be worth it, however, since 56% say AI boosted productivity by at least 50%.
The Voice of the CISO, an annual report from Proofpoint, shines a light into some dark security corners and nervous execs. 68% of CISOs feel at risk of a material cyber attack in the next 12 months, up from 48% last year. Worse, 61% feel their organization is unprepared to cope with a targeted cyber-attack, compared to 50% a year ago. The top of the danger chart is email fraud, or business email compromise, which moved up from the fourth spot. Insider threats are their next largest worry, and they view human error as their biggest cyber vulnerability. If hit, 62% believe executives would pay the ransom to restore systems and prevent data release.
Man bites dog. Dog parks are great, right? Dogs in the city get to play, and single dog owners get to replay the meet-cute scene from a dozen Hallmark rom-coms.
Except in Montreal. Who knew Canada, the politest country in the world, would put up a sign that declares, “It is forbidden to let your dog bark, whine, or howl.” At a dog park.
Residents nearby were the reason, said an unnamed city spokesperson, blaming the sign on the need to reduce the nuisance factor for people living close by.
Another Canadian city pulled the same stupid stunt earlier this year and was so embarrassed by public comments that it took the signs down. Guess Montreal execs have some secret way to keep dogs from barking, or at least keeping dog owners from complaining. Good luck, Montreal Parks Department. You’ll need it.
