Category Archives: Cloud Storage
Cyber Security Today Millions of files on Americans found open on Internet, and how to avoid juice-jacking – IT World Canada
Millions of files on Americans found open on Internet, and how to avoid juice-jacking
Welcome to Cyber Security Today. Its Monday January 13th. Im Howard Solomon, contributing reporter on cyber security for ITWorldCanada.com.To hear the podcast click on the arrow below:
Employees at companies continue to be sloppy at protecting personal data. Heres another example: Someone at Front Rush, a U.S. firm which provides management software for college athletics programs, left a server open to the Internet. That server had more than 700,000 files including athletes medical records, performance reports, drivers licences and other personal information. Often this is a configuration problem where the person creating a database or file forgets to check a setting, or an IT staffer doing maintenance or an upgrade does something wrong. Regardless, managers around the world arent doing enough to make sure this doesnt happen in their organizations. This incident was originally reported by Vice.com.
Heres a similar incident: According to The Register, a researcher found an open database with details on 56 million American residents including home addresses and phone numbers. The database appears to belong to a web site called CheckPeople.com, where, for a fee, you can look up peoples names and find addresses. Most of the information seems to be available from public sources. Still, why it was unprotected isnt known. The server is in China. We dont know if this was a database stolen from CheckPeople, or an employee put it there and misconfigured it. As of the recording of this podcast CheckPeople hadnt responded to questions.
Misconfigured cloud storage is a big problem for companies. If your firm uses Amazon AWS for storage, there are tools like AWS Security Hub and the new Identity and Access Analyzer that help track down mistakes. If you use Microsoft Azure, theres Azure Security Center. If your firm uses other cloud storage firms, find out what if any security tools they offer.
Lets talk about juice-jacking. No, its not a way to steal fruit drinks. Juice-jacking is slang for delivering malware through infected public USB charging stations in airports, hotels and conferences. These stations are offered as a convenience for you to charge mobile devices. But if theyve been compromised your smartphone, laptop or tablet will be too. Thats right, the power plug and charging cable can deliver malware. Thats theyre used for both delivering power and transferring data. Security researchers have demonstrated how it can be done. But how big a problem is it? Were not sure, writer Mike Elgan says on IBMs Security Intelligence blog. But its better to be safe by not using public charging stations. Nor should you charge your device through someone elses computer. Instead, carry your own charging adapter and cable. If you buy a duplicate, make sure theyre from a packaged brand name and not from an open box of adapters and cables in a store beside the cash register. Worried about running out of power? Buy and carry a rechargeable USB mobile battery.
Finally, tomorrow is Microsofts monthly Patch Tuesday, when it will release security updates for Windows and other company software.
Thats it for Cyber Security Today. Links to details about these stories can be found in the text version of each podcast at ITWorldCanada.com. Thats where youll also find my news stories aimed at businesses and cyber security professionals. Cyber Security Today can be heard on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts or add us to your Flash Briefing on your smart speaker. Thanks for listening. Im Howard Solomon
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Cyber Security Today Millions of files on Americans found open on Internet, and how to avoid juice-jacking - IT World Canada
Veeam CTO On Why Veeam Wanted To Be Acquired And What Comes Next – CRN: Technology news for channel partners and solution providers
Looking For Growth In All The Right Places
Veeam, since its founding in 2006, has grown to be one of the top providers of data protection technology, and has more recently invested heavily in the nascent data management market with an eye on the cloud, particularly in the Office 365, Amazon Web Services, and Microsoft Azure environments. The company is also committed to building stronger relationships with the top cloud providers.
However, Veeam has faced one key barrier to growth: While it is the leading provider in Europe, and is arguably one of the largest software vendors of any kind in the world, the Baar, Switzerland-based company has only a fourth-place rank in the all-important U.S. market.
Danny Allan, Veeam's new chief technology officer, told CRN that Veeam's pending acquisition by New York-based private equity company Insight Partners is the key to unlocking the U.S. market and future growth for his company. Insight Partners has expertise not only in helping strong private companies grow, it also has experience in the all-important software-as-a-service technology needed to build a strong cloud-focused business.
For deep insight into why Veeam, a billion-dollar-plus and profitable company, decided to go the private equity route to build a U.S. business, turn the page.
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Veeam CTO On Why Veeam Wanted To Be Acquired And What Comes Next - CRN: Technology news for channel partners and solution providers
Lost messages? Here’s how to recover deleted WhatsApp messages on Android and iOS devices – Free Press Journal
The most popular online chat app WhatsApp has over 1.5 billion monthly active users globally. The app has introduced several new features in the last few months to keep the users hooked.
One of the most-loved features of the app is the one that allows all messages to be deleted at once without having to select them all. However, this feature also has many accidentally deleting important messages.
To tackle the problem, heres a simple guide on how to recover deleted messages on Android and iOS devices.
Local storage backup
Only Android users can use the local backup to restore deleted messages.
Go to file browser.
Go to WhatsApp > Database
Select the msgstore.db.crypt12 file and long-press it to rename the file to msgstore_backup.db.crypt12. This will prevent the file from being overwritten.
Rename the most recent backup file to msgstore.db.crypt12.
Go to Google Drive, click on the three verticle lines from the top-right corner.
Go to the backup folder and delete the recent WhatsApp backup.
Next, uninstall and reinstall the WhatsApp app.
While logging in, select the restore messages option and select local backup as you dont have a cloud backup anymore.
Select the msgstore.db.crypt12 file and tap the Restore button.
Cloud storage backup
Deleted messages can be restored from the cloud backup on Android and iOS devices.
Uninstall the WhatsApp app from your device.
Reinstall and login with the same phone number.
Select the restore messages option from Cloud storage while logging in.
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Lost messages? Here's how to recover deleted WhatsApp messages on Android and iOS devices - Free Press Journal
Top five trends in IT for this year – TechRadar
Edge computing is not a new technology: many companies have been successfully deploying it for a number of years now and reaping its significant benefits, not least through greater reliance on cloud services. But the advancements in the tech sector mean every IT department has to work with constantly moving goal posts.
So, as we leave 2019 and we enter 2020, the technology sector will be greatly impacted by the capabilities of edge computing. Not only this, but advancements in things like IoT, AI, and the growing threat of ransomware will change the way edge computing evolves in the coming years too.
Alan Conboy, Office of the CTO at Scale Computing.
Below are my five predictions on how the hottest tech trends will impact, and be impacted by, edge computing in 2020.
According to Statista, the global Internet of Things (IoT) market will explode from $2.9 trillion in 2014 to $8.9 trillion in 2020. That means companies will be collecting data and insights from nearly everything we touch, from the moment we wake up and likely even while we sleep. As evidence of this, technologists have seen that the rise of edge computing and IoT was accelerated by the birth of the iPhone as far back as 2007. These precursors to what we now see as edge computing have opened eyes across the industry to the possibilities of computing at the point of data creation and are accelerating as we move forward into 2020.
Seeing what Apple and others have achieved, we are going to see a much broader perspective on this ability to put reasonable amounts of compute into a tiny form factor and move that into dedicated functions. In 2020, as a result, we can expect to see evolutionary expansion in the IoT space, not revolutionary. It will continue to evolve, driven by a need for more efficient, more compelling, cost-effective solutions, with edge computing at the forefront.
We are living in a world that is increasingly data-driven, and that data is being generated outside of the four walls of the traditional data center. With 2020 approaching, organisations are taking a much deeper look at their cloud storage and overall usage and how much it is aiding the business. Cloud was originally positioned as the answer to all problems, but now the question is, at what cost?
More organisations are turning to hybrid cloud and edge computing strategies, turning to solutions that process data at the source of its creation. In 2020, businesses will rely on hybrid environments, with edge computing collecting, processing and reducing vast quantities of data, which is then later uploaded to a centralized data center or the cloud.
For a long time, the conversation around edge computing has been focused on hitting the right buzz words without actually addressing the customers needs. Everyone has forgotten that the customers objectives dont revolve around the latest technology; what they care about is that their business apps are online and working correctly. When catering to these businesses in 2020, technology partners have to remember to think about their needs and wants versus whats currently trending among IT professionals.
Edge computing is about running mission critical applications outside the data center. There are varying use cases, workloads, and needs within that envelope, but at the root of the issue is the need to run applications somewhere other than the cloud or data center. Customers want a simple solution equipped with the right technology to manage their IT and decrease the two biggest costs affecting IT departments: downtime and people.
While IT professionals are concerned with the conveniences of data centers, customers care more about how physical size, noise and power consumption will affect the quality of their business and productivity. In 2020, businesses offering edge solutions should worry less about marketing and focus on what edge computing actually is delivering the solutions your customers actually want.
Most artificial intelligence (AI) technology today relies on the cloud, and makes decisions based on the collection of data that is stored in the cloud it is accessing. However, this can cause latency as data has to travel to data centres and then back to the device. This can be problematic for technologies such as self-driving cars, which cannot wait for the roundtrip of data to know when to brake, or how fast to travel.
As a result of this, more organisations are turning to hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI) and edge computing to capture data at the source of creation, specifically to support high-performance use cases, such as AI. The implementation of HCI and edge computing in AI will see the industry reduce form factors, since HCI allows for technology to operate within a smaller hardware design. In fact, some companies have already announced that they will be launching HCI edge compute clusters that are no bigger than a cup of coffee.
By 2020, it is expected that 80% of all devices will have an AI feature. While the cloud has provided AI with the platform it needed to grow to the level of being available on nearly every technological device, the combination of HCI and edge computing will give AI the tools to evolve to the next frontier, with smarter and faster decision making for organisations in 2020.
The recent news cycle has been flooded with organisations from airlines to banks and hospitals, even entire local governments, falling victim to ransomware attacks. Threats such as these are evolving at an accelerated pace, and they will continue to become smarter, more lucrative and increasingly devious in 2020. Where before organisations may have believed they could not afford to modernize their IT infrastructure management and defenses, there are now more diverse options on the market.
As the malicious momentum of attacks snowballs into next year, businesses must realize that traditional legacy tools are not only slowing their digital journey down, but leaving them vulnerable to tactical and well-organised criminals. We will see organisations taking advantage of highly-available solutions, such as hyperconvergence and edge computing, that allow them to not only keep up with changing consumer demands, but deploy the most effective cyber defenses, disaster recovery, and backup.
The way organisations approach the aftermath of data being corrupted will likely change too, as insurance companies will begin to take an active role, not just in the recovery of data, but in the decision making when it comes to whether or not to pay the ransom demand. The overall cost of doing business will rise in conjunction with the growing threat of cyber-attacks, and every business should be bracing themselves for the impact.
Developments in these key areas of the IT industry are happening with perpetual force. With 2020 around the corner, it would be wise for businesses to start considering edge computing and HCI as those technologies that will enable their organisations to make better use of technologies like AI and IoT, and remain competitive.
[Case Study] How This Maternity Hospital Chain Moved Its Technology Infrastructure To A Cloud Platform – Analytics India Magazine
In the current scenario, the healthcare industry is witnessing imminent problems arising due to the data crisis. Making the right and accurate decisions, getting real-time data insights, and complying to patients needs have become imperative for hospitals to survive in this competitive era. Here is one such organisation that overcame this problem right.
With operating a chain of more than 20 hospitals across the country, Cloudnine Hospitals aims at delivering maternity and neonatal care to hundreds of patients on a daily basis, and having a reliable model to handle the vast amount of data is of vital importance. The network of Cloudnine Hospitals is required to store enormous volume of patient data which is generated on a daily basis on an online archive, and therefore It became very crucial for the hospital to get complacent about data in order to provide a better service to its customers.
When asked, Jitendra Shrivastava, senior manager IT at Cloudnine Hospitals explains, how their organisation was growing at a rapid pace and how the data generated was acting both as a challenge as well as an opportunity.
Shrivastava recalls We were growing very rapidly. In 2006, we were just with one hospital, but by the end of 2016, we were with 10 or 12. We also never thought the data would grow at such speed, and thats why we had to put a stopgap in order to find a new technology to manage it.
As a maternity service provider, we had the mandate of the government to preserve the patient data for approximately a period of 7-21 years, which indeed raised the concern of how to preserve such a huge volume of data generated on a daily basis, in the form of scans, x-rays, lab reports, etc., he explained.
Now that the problem was detected by the hospital, another serious concern had arisen, that was of the selection of the right technology to mend the problem.
Cloudnine realised the importance of the right technology in order to have any sort of benefits. Unless the technology is readily available to the ground staff as well as doctors, the implementation would not add value to the business. Being a maternity hospital dealing with newborns and life-and-death situations, having data on the fingertips without any nanosecond lag for doctors, along with on-the-fly access of resources to the ground staff was on top priority while selecting a solution.
Since it was mandated by the government to restore patients records for a long period of time, Cloudnine wanted to build an infrastructure with heavy storage space, in order to store the enormous volume of data generated every day. However, such a massive upfront investment required to build the facility had become a significant challenge for the hospital.
With the nature of operations and the expansion plan of the hospital, another concern that came in the limelight was the scalability issue. Cloudnine has been constantly looking to expand to new locations and being a healthcare service provider, it did not want to invest heavily in internal IT resources. Rather, Cloudnine was looking for a third-party IT solution as a catalyst to help the hospital improve its service delivery.
Cloudnine was looking for a robust and scalable storage solution that does not consume huge resources. And, after approaching a number of vendors in the market, Cloudnine realised that most of the solutions available in the market require a huge upfront investment of several thousand dollars, which definitely wasnt the right option for the hospital.
Cloudnine then managed to find exactly the right answer with Hitachi Vantara and its IT partner, NxtGen.
Explaining the process, Shrivastava said, Initially we explored several traditional NAS or SAN storage options available in the market, but none of the OEMs was able to provide a solution correctly matching our requirements. And, thats when we found the solution offered by Hitachi and NxtGen the best, as it offered a flexible architecture with almost zero capital investment. Perfect for us.
He further added, NxtGen, our IT partner, has already been delivering cloud solutions to us since a long time, and therefore the choice was logical for us. Together, Hitachi Vantara and NxtGen have now been offering a highly scalable cloud storage platform with no upfront investments.
Hitachi and NxtGen proposed a core and edge model with HCP in NxtGen data centre at the core and all the 20 hospitals at the edge, which ended up having the requirement of minimal hardware investment. All we needed was a small server that goes into a standard rack at each centre, explained Shrivastava.
When asked Sanjay Agarwal, Technology Head at Hitachi Vantara about the solution, he explained, The solution set provided to Cloudnine included Hitachi Content Platform (HCP) with NxtGen Data Protection as a Service, along with Hitachi Data Ingestor (HDI) which acted as a local caching device.
Cloudnine agreed with the OPEX model without spending any unnecessary money. The model was then streamlined in such a seamless way that the organisation could enjoy the service as a monthly-package for three years and thereafter, assume ownership exclusively.
Agarwal further explained, The centralised storage provided by HCP not only reduced the data management complexity but also allowed efficient local data access. The HDIs installed at each of the branches of Cloudnine allowed convenient local storage without utilising much of the internal resources. The hospital is also benefitted from the cloud management service that covers round-the-clock security and software upgrades.
On the first phase, the migration started out with nine hospitals, which was later expanded to five more, as the solution started to develop its roots and the hospital staff started to get used to the change. Today, Cloudnine is aiming to progressively migrate the data to its other hospitals as well to get benefitted.
With HCP on NxtGen, Cloudnine was able to build an OPEX-based storage infrastructure that eliminated the CAPEX associated with building an in-house storage system. Also, since the data centre, networks and other aspects of the cloud services are managed by a third party, in this case, the OEM, the Cloudnine didnt require any internal resources to handle or manage them.
With the solution, the hospital staff started enjoying easy and in-depth access to data for providing greater service to expectant mothers. The patient-records were also secured and capped well for compliance requirements on retention and preservation. Cloudnine was able to be benefitted with all such capabilities in the most scalable way and also at a reduced cost. The scalable architecture was aimed at supporting the hospitals future expansion goals without incurring any additional expenditure.
Explaining that, Shrivastava said, We had two options to choose from the CAPEX and OPEX (operating expenditure) model. And, we chose the OPEX model wherein we dont have to spend anything on day one, and for three years, we would receive the service delivered, as a monthly package, and after three years we will become the exclusive owners.
Post the implementation of the solution, the monthly billing model ensured that Cloudnine is only charged for resources that have been utilised during the month. And, the future-ready infrastructure thus paved the way for resource optimisation and cost savings.
The solution not only improved the service delivery but also eliminated process delays due to poor management of records. To safeguard entire journey of expecting mothers, Hitachi Vantara and NxtGen offered a secure, private cloud, in which all of our patient records are kept private, said Shrivastava.
With the solution, Cloudnine was able to archive all our files with 20% compression, which is the industry-best practice to follow. And, even after the compression, we are able to deliver the reports to doctors with the same ratio and pixel quality, concludes Shrivastava.
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[Case Study] How This Maternity Hospital Chain Moved Its Technology Infrastructure To A Cloud Platform - Analytics India Magazine
Get $30 off a year of Adobe’s Creative Cloud Photography plan – Macworld
Get $30 off a year of Adobe's Creative Cloud Photography plan | Macworld ');consent.ads.queue.push(function(){ try { IDG.GPT.addDisplayedAd("gpt-superstitial", "true"); $('#gpt-superstitial').responsiveAd({screenSize:'971 1115', scriptTags: []}); IDG.GPT.log("Creating ad: gpt-superstitial [971 1115]"); }catch (exception) {console.log("Error with IDG.GPT: " + exception);} }); Newegg's selling Adobe's Creative Cloud Photography plan for $90 if you know the right code.
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Adobes products are some of the best in the business for photographers and designers, but getting everything you need for a full photographer-friendly suite can get a little pricey. Today, though, you can get a one-year subscription to the Adobe Creative Cloud Photography plan on NeweggRemove non-product link for just $90 with the code EMCUVWU26, dropping it down from a list price of $119.88.
This subscription will give you a years access to a solid lineup of image editing software, which can be used across devices for editing at a desk or on the go. Adobe Photoshop CC and Adobe Lightroom CC bring you plenty of editing capabilities, while Adobe Spark and Adobe Portfolio allow you to share your photos everywhere from social media to your own website. In addition, 20GB of included cloud storage will give you space to store all your creations.
If you want to work on your photography skills in the new year, this is a great way to get access to some awesome tools on the cheap.
[Todays deal: Adobe Creative Cloud Photography plan from Newegg for $90 with code EMCUVWU26Remove non-product link]
This story, "Get $30 off a year of Adobe's Creative Cloud Photography plan" was originally published by PCWorld.
Alexandria is a freelance deal hunter for the TechConnect editorial team.
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Get $30 off a year of Adobe's Creative Cloud Photography plan - Macworld
Google Photos: The Best Tips and Tricks – Digital Trends
Ever since it launched back in 2015, Google Photos has been among the most popular cloud-based photo backup and storage apps for both iOS and Android. Combining cloud storage, image hosting, and image sharing, it competes with iCloud, Dropbox, OneDrive, and a host of other specialty apps.
Not only does it provide a historical repository and immediate backup for every shot you take, but it also allows you to immediately free up precious storage space on your phone. Its free of charge for everyone with a Google account, unless your images top resolutions of 16MP and you choose to save them on the service in full resolution. It also stores HD videos up to 1080p and supports Apples Live Photos. You do have the option of paying extra for high-resolution photo storage beyond 16MP after you hit Google Drives 15GB storage limit but most smartphone camera photos weigh in at less than that.
Google Photos also lets you edit and crop your shots, share them with whoever you want, and archive screenshots and informational shots out of the main feed, if you prefer. Its built-in assistant uses artificial intelligence to enhance certain shots with filters, slideshows, and animations subject to your approval. Even if you already have an elaborate backup plan for your photo collection, storing your photos in Google Photos as an extra precaution cant hurt. Google Photos comes with most stock Android phones and the interface on both platforms is similar.Here are some tips on how to get the most from the service.
One of Google Photos primary features is its ability to immediately back up photos to the cloud, allowing you to free up space on your phone. As soon as you download the Google Photos app and sign in to your Google account, you will get a prompt to enable the Back up and Sync function. This automatically saves every photo and video recorded to your phone to your Google Photos library, when you have internet access.
To initiate a backup, just launch the Google Photos app and swipe down to start the upload to your Google cloud. Once images are backed up in the cloud, the app can delete the local version from your phone or tablet. If you opt to do that, Google may now hold your only copy of the image.
If you are not comfortable with that, you do not have to delete photos off your phone or tablet immediately. You can first download them to your hard drive and save them locally on your computer or in a separate storage disk or even a thumb drive. Or you can use other utilities for backing up and storing your images, such as Dropbox or iCloud. You can never have too many photo backups.
One of Google Photos recently launched features specifically lets you message individual photos to your Google contacts. Its a great help for folks who just want to share a single image with one person. This allows users to build a threaded response to one or a series of images without leaving the app.
Before the new messaging feature, the only way to share a photo within the app was to create and share an album containing a single photo. Theres a small catch in that the recipient must also have a Google account, but creating one is a free, easy process. For those who eschew a Google account, Google Photos users can still share images viatext, iMessage, or email all available options are presented as choices when you select a photo to share. Theres an option to share with a group of people if you tap the New Group icon, which will let you access all your contacts.
Google Photos arranges uploaded images by date and location, and with its advanced image recognition capabilities, it easily classifies the subject of your photos. Search photos for items you shot leaves, trees, birds, your cat and enter them as search terms. Sometimes, the app will prompt you with geographical hints, or if you already tagged your cats name, it will display all the images you have of her. You can enter multiple search parameters and tap the search button at the bottom of the window, and the app will present all images that include both search terms.
Google Lens now features optical character recognition (OCR) that can recognize text inside an image, so you can now search for text in a document as well as objects, people, and locations. Then, once you find the targeted image, you can tap on the Lens button to easily copy and paste the text you find.
You can easily find photos of anyone by tagging the faces of people and pets and then locate them using the apps Albums sheet. Click on Albums and at the top of the screen, youll see preset options like People & Pets, Places, Things, Videos, Collages, Animations, and Movies.
Tap on People & Pets, and youll see headshots derived from all your photos. Click a person and enter their name. If you already have that person in your contacts, their name might pop up for you to tap, and if you dont, you can enter that name in the album. That immediately brings up a reference to all the other photos of that person or pet within your Google Photos library.
Googles face recognition can span decades, so if you have a photo from high school and then one taken 20 years later, theres a good chance that Googles A.I. face matching engine will recognize it and make the photo easier to find in a future search. If you tend to shoot in public places, faces will likely include many people you dont know.
Google Photos Memories pulls old content taken on a specific date in previous years. But unlike social media outlets like Facebook, Google Memories shows you unshared pictures and videos.The feature displays images from previous years in a familiar full-screen format where users tap to advance to the next image. The apps machine learning engine removes duplicate shots, showing only the highest quality images with sharp content or smiling subjects. But you dont always have to see everything. Google lets you hide certain people and time periods, or you can disable Memories altogether. Just tap a Memory module, then tap the three-dot button on the top right, tap Settings, and either choose to show or hide Memories or tap People and Pets, and tap anyone you never want to see.
Google Photos is an excellent app for editing smartphone photos. You can rotate and crop a photo, adjust light levels and color, or use built-in filters to enhance your photos for sharing with friends and family or posting on social media.
You can share an album of photos with groups of people, who can also add to a common photo collection for ongoing updates of events and memories.You can share directly to anyone with a Google account. For everyone else, you can create a sharable link.
When you share photos or albums, a link will be sent to the people you share with, but anyone who has the shared link can view the shared album or photos.If you share an album that automatically adds photos, anyone with the album link can view added photos in real time.
Smartphone camera apps are used for many purposes in addition to photographing friends, family, pets, and outings. Its likely that you also have street signs, storefronts, parking locations, merchandise tags, and other informational images stored in your Gallery or Camera Roll. Do you want to constantly view these kinds of images in your photo stream? Not likely.
Google Photos is smart enough to know what to do with those photos. The Google Photos Assistant may suggest that you archive this nonpictorial material so that you can have it on hand when you need it and find the image you need via a search later on. Alternately, you can choose the photos you want to archive, tap the three-dot icon in the top right corner, and select Archive. If you need to see that document again, you can go directly to the Archive folder.
Another recent feature for Google Photos is same-day printing of photo favorites from 11,000 Walmart and CVS locations around the United States. This gives customers immediate options to print 4 x 6, 5 x 7, or 8 x 10 photos as an alternative to ordering Photo Books.
You can order prints directly from the Google Photos app with prints sent to the nearby Walmart or CVS of your choice. Prices start at 25 for a single print. You can also order canvas prints of any photo in your library. These start at $19.99 for sizes of 88, 1214, and 1620. These prints are shipped directly to your home, and Google even recommends which photos are best suited for canvas printing in the app.
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Google Photos: The Best Tips and Tricks - Digital Trends
There’s now a new way to experience your favorite shows thanks to the Astro Ultra Box – Mashable SE Asia
Do people even watch television in this day and age?
Depending on who you ask, your answers might differ. But chances are many still do but not in the conventional sense.
While online streaming is all the rage these days, Malaysian television network Astro has taken watching television to a whole new level.
It's hard to put the Astro Ultra Box into a box. Pun not intended.
It's not a streaming platform, yet it behaves as one. What's more, it has a cloud storage system which allows you to record more than a hundred hours of your favorite shows to be watched later.
Unlike the previous Astro decoders, this one has numerous major updates that'll give big online streaming sites a run for their money.
Here's what makes the decoder a turn on for older and younger generations alike.
The first thing you'll notice when powering up the Astro Ultra Box is how simple, easy to use and intuitive the New Home Screen is. It's a breath of fresh air!
The box is also pretty advanced in that it studies your viewing behaviour and recommends programs based on what you like. There's also a Store function which allows you to rent the latest blockbusters at an affordable rate which is really swell.
The Search function has also been given an upgrade, allowing you to find a particular program or show with so much ease. Simply type in the title, actor, director, or even a specific channel's name and you'll be able to find what you're looking for.
Be careful though, because sometimes you can also discover hidden gems that'll get you hooked for hours. Speaking of which...
Astro is now Malaysia's first television network offering its users 50,000 videos to be streamed.
From the latest films, hit television series, your kid's favorite cartoons, important documentaries and yes, even the weekend's English Premier League matches can be enjoyed in crystal clear, sharp resolutions thanks to the Astro Ultra Box.
Among the films that are available for streaming through the box's Video On Demand are Aquaman, The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part, The Kingdom, Mission Impossible Collection, The Lord of the Rings Trilogy and more. Nice!
True to its tagline, 'Truly Yours, Truly U', what's amazing about the Astro Ultra Box is that it's a perfect companion for a person on the go.
Say you're watching a show on the television and you need to head to class, all you have to do is pause the video and turn on the Astro Go app on your smartphone and continue watching your favorite series there while commuting on the train.
Like a particular series? There's also a Cloud Storage function that gives you 200 hours of HD recording for free. Yes, you'll also be able to record multiple number of shows at the same time as well.
In case you need more storage space, you just need to fork an additional RM12 a month for 400 hours. And if that's not enough, the RM15 a month for 1,500 hours of HD recordings might be up your alley.
But wait, what if you missed the first 20 minutes of your favorite cooking show? No worries, you can simply restart the show. We're serious, you can really do that directly via the remote.
Before you sign up, there are some requirements to fully enjoy the Astro Ultra Box for what it's worth:
If you don't have an internet connection? That's okay, the Ultra Box also comes bundled with Astros broadband package with rebates of up to RM30 a month. More details on the packages here.
Installing the Astro Ultra Box is free for those who have a monthly bill of RM100 or more. But it'll cost RM199 to install the box if you're paying below RM100 for your Astro bill.
Ready to take your binge watching to the next level? Head over to the Astro Ultra Box website to sign up.
P/S: There's only one downside from using the Astro Ultra Box: You'll lose sleep. So don't say we didn't warn you!
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There's now a new way to experience your favorite shows thanks to the Astro Ultra Box - Mashable SE Asia
Age of Innovation: Learning from Infinity and Beyond – Porterville Recorder
The first thing that comes to mind in education here in Porterville in the past 10 years is the sheer advances in technology. The Pathways and the Academies in Porterville Unified and Burton districts have brought middle and high school students many choices in technological learning.
All the Pathways and Academies in both local school systems all have acronyms, and theyre all ways for students to get involved in learning new career options. The PUSD Pathways were originally implemented in Fall of 2011, and there are now 14 Pathway choices.
The new Pathways or Linked Learning, gives students additional opportunities to explore career possibilities. There are Pathways at the high schools in environmental science, business, health, emerging agriculture technology, performing arts, engineering, manufacturing, construction and technology, Academy of Energy and resource occupations, computer operations, and Academy of Career in Education, Law, Justice and Ethics, Multimedia and Technology, and Hospitality.
Big impacts on education in PUSD, Erik Santos, Pathways Learning Director, describes as:
PUSD Pathways expanding to 14 open-choice career-themed pathways, preparing students for both college and careers.
Qualcomm technology partnering with PUSD to create the Future Ready Lab, giving all students in the community engineering and coding experiences at an early age.
High school students obtaining internships all across the valley, gaining real-world experience before even going to college. And the creation of STEAM (science, technology, electronics, art, and math) Labs in all 10 PUSD elementary school sites, allowing hands on learning for every student.
Local and statewide business and community leaders engaging as partners with PUSD in Career Technical Education (CTE).
And the partnering of PUSD withPorterville College to allow dual enrollment with college credit courses at every high school site.
The opening of Porterville Military Academy (PMA), bringing the total to 6 PUSD high school sites.
And the Pathways programs being recognized at the national level for their strong impact on students and education (numerous NAF Distinguished Academies, National Blue Ribbon School for Harmony Magnet Academy, and the Sandy Weill Award).
The creation of high tech, state of the art, CTE Labs at PUSD high school sites, such as Engineering lab at HMA, CODE Lab at Granite Hills High School, Forensics & Courtroom Lab at GHHS (in construction), Environmental Science labs at Monache High School, and Health Science labs at Porterville High School.
Also the district partnering with Garner Holt Productions to bring an Animaker Space Lab to Porterville, where students learn the ins and outs of programming animatronic figurines, just like those at Disney and other amusement parks lab will be in construction in 2019.
The Academy of Digital Design, (ADDI), is the newest academy addition to Summit Charter Collegiate Academy (SCCA), and its designed for students to develop creative and technical skills to spark innovation. The goal of the academy is to give students confidence and the skills necessary to create a business and organization proposals by the end of their senior year.
ADDI is an interdisciplinary and cross-curricular approach designed for students in media arts, to empower students to believe, design, and manifest their ideas for the future and graduate leaders who collaborate, communicate, and problem-solve and create.
Then there are the new buildings that go with them, such as the Law, Justice, and Ethics Center thats being built at Granite Hills High School.
Then there are the schools, that 10 years ago, people might have thought about, such as the Porterville Military Academy (PMA), thats changing the way some young people are taught, with an emphasis on leadership by example and skills based learning and academic excellence.PMA cadets dont have to go into the military, but they do wear military style uniforms, and drill and maintain physical fitness and well being. The schools mission is to develop 21st century leaders, who will be agents of change in business, politics, and public service. The school instills civic responsibility in students.
Also the Summit Charter Lombardi Campus and the one year old Summit Charter Intermediate Academy are both International Baccalaureate (IB) schools in the Burton School District, schools that were built between 2009 and 2019.
Summit Charter Intermediate Academy (SCIA) built in 2018 students is designed to provide a well-rounded education, plus students study Spanish in 6th, 7th, and 8th grades, with classes focused on conversational Spanish, learning about Hispanic culture, traditions. The overall education aims to develop perspectives targeting international-mindedness.
Robert Styles, from the Multimedia and Technology Academy at Monache High School explained the various technical innovations being used in the Porterville school system, technologies. They are as follows:
Career Technical Education is expanding, and the classes teach students a technical skill. This includes a variety of courses including culinary, welding, and video production. These classes prepare students for a career in one of these fields, and often include certifications as part of the process. CTE classes have been steadily expanding over the last decade. Students get to use industry-standard equipment and work with industry professionals in various internship and work-based learning opportunities.
Smartphones can be used in the classroom for educational purposes. One website in particular, Kahoot, benefits from the use of phones. Its a website that allows teachers to create quizzes and students use their phones as a sort of buzzer to submit their responses. The top scores in the class are displayed on a projector screen in front of the entire class.
Cloud storage such as Google Drive is beneficial because students can collaborate with their peers and work on assignments in various locations. Students can upload files to Google Drive, share the file with another student who needs to receive the file, and it does all this with a great amount of ease. Cloud storage also allows students to begin working on an assignment in one location, and then pick it up and finish it in an entirely different location on a different computer.
Using a computer or a smartphone, students can now access class materials that are available online and work remotely from any location.
Monache High School has an AP Computer Science class in which students learn how to do computer coding. Coding is required to make any computer program or phone app work, and the behind the scenes aspect of these apps/programs are necessary but often unseen. Students learn to create their own apps during their time in this class.
REMIND is a communication app for educators, Styles says is helpful. It allows teachers to send messages to an entire class of students straight to their smartphones. And through the app, messages can be sent and received, without the educator or student seeing the other persons phone number. This way privacy is maintained, while also opening the opportunity for more communication between educators and their students, as well as their parents.
Google Classroom is a website that allows teachers to create their own classes online, and it gives them a space to post announcements, assignments, quizzes, discussions, and other class-related information thats relevant for students. It integrates well with Google Drive and Google Docs, and does so in an organized way that makes its use intuitive for teachers and students alike.
The Multimedia & Technology Academy at MHS, received a grant for an Oculus Rift, which is one of the top Virtual Reality devices available. This headset allows users to enter into a new world, and it can be used in a variety of ways including simulation of surgery for aspiring medical students and exploring a museum students wouldnt otherwise have access to because its on another continent.
There are 3D printers at Monache High and Harmony Magnet Academy, and the new technology allows students to access their full creative potential, said Styles. Our Graphic Design students can transform their concepts into physical objects that occupy space in reality. Architectural design students can create models of their concept as well. The possibilities are limitless with this new technology.
Kindergarten through 12th grade students no longer paper-pencil tests, theyre all taken electronically on computer. And state tests, like Californias statewide student assessment system (CAASPP) and The English Language Proficiency Assessments for California (ELPAC), are taken electronically.
No Child Left Behind Ended in 2015, said Stuemky, and the Dashboard Accountability System is now in place. Californias accountability system is based on multiple measures that assess how local educational agencies (LEAs) and schools are meeting the needs of their students.
Hand held devices are used in K-12 grades in all PUSD classrooms.iPads and Chrome books are now used for classroom use and testing purposes.
Blackboards are no longer used in classrooms.Teachers have Interactive whiteboards allowing them to use technology to support different learning modalities of students.
Most PUSD teachers are using Google Classroom to implement student remote learning.Google classroom is a web-based service allowing a streamline process of sharing files between teacher and students.
Dictionary and encyclopedia use has changed, said Stuemky. Students use the Internet, google search, and they use Google translate, which helps support English Learning students from kindergarten to 12 in their efforts to be fluent in English.
College Dual Enrollment Courses are available to high school students, where they can earn up to 11 credits per semester starting their sophomore year.
Read more from the original source:
Age of Innovation: Learning from Infinity and Beyond - Porterville Recorder
Why your business should be using backup as a service – ITProPortal
Data has become a companys lifeblood, as essential to the functioning of a business as utilities like email. It is the key ingredient for making more informed business decisions that will drive innovation - so its no wonder that data storage needs are increasing rapidly, with recent IDC research indicating that the amount of data stored will reach 163 zettabytes by 2025.
When it comes to managing all that data, the development of cloud technologies has driven many businesses away from onsite storage, removing the need for businesses to manage their own infrastructure. Backup as a service (BaaS) solutions offer more flexibility and much better value to companies willing to make the jump. Heres why.
In a world where data has become such a commodity, the decision to keep or remove a block of data shouldnt need to come down to server availability. On-premise solutions are expensive and difficult to upgrade when they inevitably run out of room - which is not what your finance director wants to hear when youre reviewing the IT budget together! A cloud based, BaaS option is designed to scale to exabyte levels, so there are virtually no limits to how much data you can store, and its not going to cost you.
The as a service business model is founded on the principle that you only pay for what you use. So a BaaS typically bills organisations based on the amount of data being stored in the cloud (and, in some cases, how much data is being taken out). This flexibility is an important feature for a fast-growing company that needs its storage capabilities to be scalable in line with its business growth. On the same point, its worth watching out for some of the larger cloud providers that charge high (and often hidden) egress fees to make sure youre not paying more than you need to.
Also, one cost that can often be overlooked when you have to play with hosting your back-ups offline is the maintenance cost. Since on-premises backup requires continual upkeep and coordination to achieve the same level of redundancy as a cloud-based BaaS, it also involves additional hiring costs youd need at least one employee to take care of your offline storage infrastructure and server array upkeep. Meanwhile, a BaaS solution will take care of maintenance at no extra cost.
Data loss caused by equipment failures, natural disasters, human error, ransomware and malware can occur when you least expect it. But no matter how many terabytes of data you have stored, keeping backups of your data off-site will protect primary infrastructure should disaster strike.
A smart data storage strategy involves having multiple backups in various locations. The 3-2-1 rule is recommended, where you place three copies of your data on two different types of storage media, with one copy kept offsite. Achieving this using a traditional, on-premise backup solution can be tricky as it requires the coordination of couriers and the handling of multiple pieces of storage hardware and media, such as tape and disks, to achieve effective redundancy. All the hardware has a limited lifetime and requires careful maintenance and manual backups, costing huge amounts of time and money.
Alternatively, a cloud-based disaster recovery (DR) service can be brought online very quickly within seconds or minutes compared to an off-site DR solution which could take hours, the latter leaving more room for vulnerability since data loss is directly related to downtime. Many cloud-based disaster recovery services can also be triggered remotely using wireless internet connections, so unnecessary downtime is avoided. Restoring from off-site data centres through the power of the cloud is the quickest way to recover your data with limited service interruptions.
Businesses are always beset with competing priorities and removing back-up from the list of concerns can be a huge weight lifted. As the BaaS model typically bills your company based on the amount of cloud storage your data takes up, it shifts the back-up consideration from a capital expenditure (CAPEX) to an operational expenditure (OPEX). In this way, the OPEX model removes the upfront cost of IT budgeting, spreading the cost over time as and when needs arise.
The result is that resource that was previously focused on backup can be freed up for activities that will help develop the business: from AI and machine learning to digital transformation projects and beyond. The idea is that companies treat backup as a service as an automatic process that they dont have to think about, streamlining whats become a critical business need.
Just as it would be crazy for a business to bring its electricity or water supplier inhouse, the same can now be said of data storage a utility of the internet age.
David Friend, co-founder and CEO, Wasabi Technologies
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Why your business should be using backup as a service - ITProPortal