Apple has primarily remained a hardware company, shifting impressively to consumer devices, and their most potent product is no longer the PC; it is the iPhone. Both companies embraced the then IBM model of lock-in and focused initially on revenue and market expansion, which isn’t unusual in a new company. Both also had an initial concern concerning those that pirated technology, even as they were accused of pirating technology from others.

But just as IBM faced challenges in the early 1990s, causing them to abandon lock-in as a strategy, so Microsoft did with a massive anti-trust loss that began a massive change in that company.  Apple faces one of many anti-trust issues as I write this, but they largely remain the hardware-focused, lock-in vendor that they always have been, which is at least partially to blame for their anti-trust problems.

In no place is this difference more evident than at Microsoft Build this week. The theme is again “developers, developers, developers,” but I doubt any firm can now match with the extra benefit of focus and execution.

Let’s contrast Apple and Microsoft this week.

Apple vs. Microsoft

We begin with the revenue model, which is still essentially hardware-based on Apple’s side but has always been more software-focused and now more cloud-focused on Microsoft’s.

For Apple, developers are a revenue source. With a lock-in strategy, the core vendor is king and everyone else is a potential revenue source, not a partner, not even a customer, just a source of money. Thus Apple focuses on charging as much as possible in their app store, is infamous for mistreating partners like Qualcomm and Intel, and finding new and creative ways to mine its users for more money.

Apple can’t do enterprise because volume discounting and critical platforms like Linux and practices like Open Source are mostly bad jokes to them. But Microsoft embraces the enterprise, has pricing models uniquely designed for them, and treats developers more like partners in terms of executing for the future. While Microsoft had anti-trust issues when they were practicing lock-in, just as Apple does currently, no one seems to consider them as a problem and their developers seem to love the company.

Apple is all about hardware churn and can seem to move faster to new concepts because they don’t care if they obsolesce the hardware still in place.   Microsoft, at Build, bragged you could still run obsolete products like Microsoft Money ’95.  The nice thing about a services model that Microsoft has been rapidly adopting is that churn often only increases costs, not revenue, so it isn’t a core part of decision making while backward compatibility remains critical.

At Microsoft, their Open Source efforts, interoperability, and acceptance of popular developer platforms like Linux make them not only very different from the old Microsoft but massively different from Apple as well. Microsoft seems to now grasp that their success is directly related to the users’ success, companies, and, yes, developers that use their platform, creating a symbiotic relationship with all three showcased at Build this week.

Apple is more focused on getting people to buy the latest Apple gadget and finding ways to monetize those that want to sell to their users.  Apple even argued in court that they should get the same subsidy from game developers that those developers pay to console companies even though, unlike those companies, Apple sells their devices below cost.

Wrapping Up

The difference between Apple and Microsoft is more than skin deep. While both companies started very similarly, focused on growth and excessively focused on revenue and profit, Microsoft fundamentally changed to focus more on services, developers, and the evolution of edge-to-cloud computing. Apple is still primarily focused on those old revenues, profit, and device churn. This lack of change on Apple’s side results in some initial developer revolt and an increased risk of a devastating anti-trust judgment, much like both IBM and Microsoft once endured.

The result is that Microsoft is undoubtedly a less stressful and more fun place to work than Apple is now because they don’t have the regulation and litigation exposure they once had. But, in the fight for the future, Microsoft’s strategy puts them in a more collaborative and less stressful place than Apple’s massive profit focus.

The firm’s fundamental difference is that Apple is still locked into the ugly model that created the company. At the same time, Microsoft has pivoted to the new Open Source, interoperable, and developer-friendly future that the rest of the tech market is headed.

In short, while Tim Cook as good or better a pirate than Steve Jobs ever was, Satya Nadella has moved on, and at Build this week, the Developers appear to prefer Satya’s more collaborative and cooperative vision of the future.

The post Microsoft Build: The Real Difference Between Microsoft And Apple appeared first on eWEEK.

The most significant announcements were the new version of the iMac and the new iPad Pro. The new iMac joins the growing number of Macintosh computers with Apple’s M1 processor chip. It has a new, much thinner 24-inch 4.5K Retina display, and it’s available in seven colors. The new iMac weights in at under 10 pounds, and has some cool features, including a combined power supply and Ethernet connector in which both power and networking share one magnetically-attached cable.

The new iPad Pro is probably the most substantial product announcement. While both iPad Pro models are getting upgrades, the larger 12.9-inch iPad is transformed. The screen on the 12.9-inch iPad Pro now sports Apple’s XDR technology, formerly only found in Apple’s Pro Display XDR. This new iPad display now includes a new LED backlighting system that has thousands of tiny diodes behind the screen, providing a new level of brightness and dynamic range. The screen features locale dimming sones and 1600 nits peak brightness in XDR mode (the 11-inch iPad has 600 nits).

Both of the new iPad Pro models get Apple’s M1 processor and both include a new 12-megapixel camera system, plus a 10-megapixel ultra wide camera on the rear, and another 12-megapixel ultra wide camera on the front of the iPad which is also use for Apple’s Face ID. The iPad Pros can record 4K and HD video up to 60 frames per second. They support high dynamic range and they have image stabilization.

Both iPads now support 5G, including millimeter wave in the cellular versions, as well as WiFi 6. They also support Thunderbolt 3 and USB 4. As has been the case in the last couple of models of iPad, the Lightening port is gone replaced with a USB-C port, and it comes with a USB-C charger. Despite Apple’s colorful trends elsewhere, the only colors available for iPad Pro is Space Gray and Silver.

Apple has held the line on pricing for iPad Pro, with the 11-inch WiFi model starting at $799 and the larger model going for $1099. A fully configured 12.9-inch iPad Pro with cellular and 2 terabytes of storage will cost $2399, not including accessories.

The M1 processor is a significant upgrade for iPad Pro. This is the same M1 chip that powers the Macintosh line (except for the remaining Intel-based Macs), and it brings a lot of compute power to this tablet. The M1 is an 8-core chip with four performance cores and four efficiency cores. There’s an eight-core GPU and a 16-core neural engine. Models with one or two terabytes of storage get 16 gigabytes of RAM, while the others get eight gigabytes.

You can order the new iPad Pros on April 30, with availability in the second half of May.

When you take a look at the new iPad Pro tablets, and compare them with the latest MacBook computers, you notice that there is a lot of similarity. The biggest differences, other than the obvious attached keyboard on the MadBook are things like battery life and weight. But the iPads seem to deliver almost everything the MacBook offers for less money and a lower weight.

But the Smaller MacBooks?

Of course the MacBook has longer battery life at 18 hours versus 10 hours for the iPad. But the iPad has a touchscreen and Face ID. The MacBook runs Mac OS, while the iPad runs iPadOS. Even the screen size is similar between the smaller MacBooks and the 12.9-inch iPad Pro. You can actually get a better keyboard on the iPad versus the MacBook. And the 12.9-inch iPad has a much better display than the MacBook.

Of course the larger MacBook Pro 16” has a bigger screen, supports far more memory and storage, and costs a lot more. But the smaller MacBook Air and MacBook Pro 13” seem outclassed by the new iPad.

All of this makes one wonder about the continued existence of the smaller MacBooks.

The post Apple’s iPad Pro Announcement Raises Questions about MacBook appeared first on eWEEK.

This tactic is a slippery slope, though. A malicious actor who manages to infect your device and crack one such combination will be able to impersonate you by accessing your multiple accounts. Of course, you can keep a separate file with all your credentials or use similar characters in a different order, but these methods are not safe enough either.

The silver lining is that there are hugely convenient services you can use to step up your authentication hygiene. They are called–you guessed it–password managers. In a nutshell, these are tools that enable you to securely store numerous login-password pairs for various web resources.

How are password managers used?

Broadly speaking, there are two types of password managers to choose from: in-browser ones and standalone third-party apps. In this review, we will go over both categories. Regardless of the type, these tools store all your sign-in credentials for different sites and automate the authentication process.

This makes complex things easy and adds an extra layer of security to your data. Plus, it prevents anyone who compromises one account from accessing other accounts, thus helping you avoid the scourge of a single point of failure (SPOF).

Top in-browser password managers

To begin, let us dive into the password management features built into popular web browsers. One of their key advantages boils down to user-friendliness, because the browser prompts you to save a password and then allows you to view it in a dedicated interface whenever you want.

Another perk is the ability to synchronize your credentials between different devices. Passwords can also be encrypted and stored that way in the cloud. The browsers listed in the following rundown are free to use and so are their built-in password managers.

Google Chrome

Supported operating systems: Windows, macOS, Linux, Android.

Chrome’s built-in password manager offers you to store passwords under the umbrella of your Google account. It is convenient and easy for users with any level of tech skills to get the hang of.

This service can generate passwords for you, but keep in mind that the resulting combos are not as strong as the ones most commercial counterparts can create. For instance, there is no option to specify a larger number of characters than the default set-up offers or to use special characters.

Overall, this is a mainstream and very intuitive tool. The only caveat is that many security experts find it fairly unreliable because there is no master password, and if an account is hacked, the intruder may get hold of all the data in one hit.

Another thing worth considering is that user data is Google’s main product leveraged for targeted advertising and other sketchy things. Therefore, it might not be a good idea to store all your credentials using a single built-in password manager, especially when it comes to extremely sensitive information.

Mozilla Firefox

Supported operating systems: Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS.

Firefox allows you to encrypt your passwords with a single master key. Furthermore, it is open-source and does not share users’ data with a parent company as some competing web browsers do.

The tool is equipped with a classic feature set: storing login-password pairs, encrypting the master password and the option for Windows users to import passwords from Chrome and Internet Explorer. It uses the symmetric 256-bit AES algorithm to encrypt users’ sign-in details. The manager also includes a component that generates complex passwords.

Opera

Supported operating systems: Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS.

Although Opera’s built-in password manager is fairly rudimentary because it simply stores passwords and web forms, it has two significant advantages over some competitors. First, as is the case with the Firefox counterpart, it allows you to add a master password that will be required to unlock passwords in the browser’s storage. The master password matches the string used to log into the computer, though. The second advantage is the availability of a VPN.

Unfortunately, Opera is not immune to security incidents. In April 2016, the company reportedly suffered a breach in which hackers obtained more than 1.7 million Sync passwords and login credentials. However, the likelihood of such an attack occurring again is minuscule because Opera software engineers have since provided the option to add an extra passphrase to the Sync feature, which can now encrypt passwords, or all data synchronized between devices.

Safari

Supported operating systems: macOS, iOS.

Unlike Chrome or Edge, Apple does not allow its proprietary browser to handle sign-in credentials in isolation from the operating system. Passwords are kept in the iCloud Keychain, which functions seamlessly on Macs as well as iPhones and iPads.

Other than that, there are hardly any functional differences from the browsers mentioned above. Be advised, though, that you cannot specify a master password. The built-in password generator boasts decent efficiency: it distinguishes between authentication, registration and password change forms; moreover, it harnesses individual password creation algorithms for some sites.

The Safari browser is not available for PCs or Android devices, so this password manager is only suitable for those entirely committed to the Apple ecosystem.

Microsoft Edge

Supported operating systems: Windows, macOS, Android, iOS.

Since the redesigned Edge is based on the same open-source Chromium core as Google Chrome, the password manager configuration mechanisms in the two browsers are very similar. The browser has been recently enhanced with a password generator, which appears to work better than Chrome’s counterpart. Previously saved passwords must be deleted individually so that they are eliminated from Edge on other synced devices.

To sum it up, whereas built-in password managers are easy for the average user to master, they should be treated as a handy extension rather than as a separate solution that secures your passwords from different angles.

Their weakest link is that if someone gains unauthorized access to your computer and opens your browser, all passwords may be compromised in a snap because additional defenses such as extra user verification mechanisms are missing in most cases.

Best Commercial Password Managers

Password managers made by third-party developers offer more functionality. These products are cross-browser, provide more sophisticated mechanisms for generating passwords and have additional bells and whistles under the hood.

Dashlane

Price: $0 – $5.99 per month.
Supported operating systems: Windows, macOS, Android, iOS.

In addition to basic password management, this tool allows you to check your stored passwords for strength and have them automatically replaced with more complex ones in a single click if necessary. You also get 1GB of secure storage and a VPN service with no traffic limitations.

Dashlane supports Windows Hello, giving you the ability to log in with biometrics, including face and fingerprint scans. Plus, it allows you to check if your email addresses, passwords and financial information have been compromised and leaked on the dark web. The app has a free version, but with the caveat that it cannot store more than 50 passwords.

Keeper

Price: $2.91 – $6.01 per month.
Supported operating systems: Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS.

Keeper boasts a streamlined and user-friendly interface while providing 10GB of secure storage. Like Dashlane, Keeper supports biometric authentication with Windows Hello. This password manager additionally offers a two-factor authentication (2FA) mechanism dubbed Keeper DNA, which generates one-time passwords on mobile devices. Keeper has built-in dark web monitoring and encrypted chat features that allow users to share files securely.

1Password

Price: $3.99 – $7.99 per month.
Supported operating systems: Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS.

Just like the apps described above, 1Password is compatible with Windows Hello and scans the dark web for leaks of your sensitive data. It provides 1GB of encrypted storage. One of the awesome things about it is the family account option that supports up to five users simultaneously with an unlimited number of devices. 1Password also comes with a built-in parental control feature that prevents your kids from changing passwords for important services.

LastPass

Price: €0-€3.9 ($4.73) per month.
Supported operating systems: Windows, macOS, Android, iOS.

The free version of LastPass provides the broadest range of features across the whole spectrum of commercial password managers. It allows you to store an unlimited number of passwords on an unlimited number of devices with an extra option of granting access to one more user. The premium version lets you give access to multiple users and includes biometric authentication features, 1GB of secure storage, as well as 24/7 email tech support.

How do you choose the best password manager?

Password managers make it much easier to work with web services and to secure your accounts. This way of handling passwords is definitely more secure than old-school approaches, such as reusing passwords or using terribly similar combinations. It comes as no surprise that these apps are gaining a good deal of traction among users these days.

Nevertheless, when choosing a password manager that suits you the most, be sure to scrutinize its features. In-browser services are convenient and understandable for most users. Still, they tend to lag behind their commercial analogs in terms of generating strong passwords, availability of two-factor authentication and the option of switching between browsers. As a result, most InfoSec professionals think of these tools as garden-variety browser extensions and advise against using them to store sensitive data such as e-banking credentials.

Commercial password managers offer overarching functionality and work as standalone apps. Although many experts consider them more reliable than those built into browsers, the vast majority of users prefer the latter for their day-to-day web surfing.

Amsterdam-based David Balaban is the founder of the Privacy-PC.com project and is a computer security researcher with more than 17 years of experience in malware analysis.

The post Comparing In-Browser-Based, Commercial Password Managers appeared first on eWEEK.

Let’s start the list with Facebook.

What could Facebook do to be viewed more positively?

We talk about abandoning Facebook often because of the amount of wrong information on the service. The advertisers take advantage of us by selling us crap. Because of the hostility and aggravation we often feel dealing with trolls, what services could Facebook provide to make it more attractive? That’s the topic; here are three of my ideas.

Global Gift Registry: Most of us are trying to figure out what to get our loved ones for Christmas, and lately, rather than force people to return stuff, I’ve defaulted to gift cards. But what if Facebook took what it knew about you and populated a gift registry that you could edit and that others could use to choose gifts. Like a wedding registry, when the person buying the gift could cross it off the list in a way where only third parties could see the result until after the holidays? You could restrict access to the list to only those you exchange gifts with to mitigate the risk of a hostile actor screwing with the list, and it could even provide a way for people to pool their money and ship you something more expensive than what any one person could have bought by themselves. An AI could also help you refine the list to favor the most highly rated products and score the items on how excited you’d be to get them. What else would you add?

Troll Alert: Some people enjoy spreading grief, and Facebook knows who they are. Once identified, they could provide a setting where you could automatically block or ban people who continuously attack others. It could be on a sliding scale, so you could choose just the right amount of pain you are willing to tolerate. Facebook could also provide several warnings before identifying the user as a Troll to change their behavior before being widely blocked. Facebook would own the score, but the users would choose what threshold they were willing to accept. This feature could also be applied to users who frequently spread inaccurate information. How would you deal with trolls at scale?

Electronic voting

During the pandemic, Cisco helped implement a congressional program so that members could interact and vote on measures. Given the uncertainty surrounding the last election’s mess, why not explore a digital approach to voting that would be somewhat like what Congress is using. It is safer, it is undoubtedly potentially more secure, and you could even have provisions so that people who voted early but changed their minds could change their votes. You could even get a digital report after the vote that confirmed your vote was counted correctly and provided you with your impact. 

Many people believe their vote doesn’t count and is done correctly; the system could expressly point out the impact of your vote on the result mathematically. In close elections, your vote might have a far more significant impact than you realize. We bank online, pay taxes, shop, now do much of our medical bookkeeping online; why not allow us to do like Congress does and vote online? 

What would it take for drivers to accept autonomous cars? 

The world of autonomous cars is fast approaching, and most people surveyed aren’t at all excited about this change–even though it could save hundreds of thousands of lives. So, what would it take to make them acceptable? Do we need to see them in races first, do we need a decade or so with them safely on the road, or do we need them to interact with us, much as an Uber driver does? We currently get into Uber and Lyft cars without any real idea if the guy driving the car is a safe driver, well (not infected with an infectious disease) or even sane. 

Maybe a popular updated series like “Knight Rider” could work, or broad trials where people could see the cars competing broadly in dangerous situations without accidents. What would it take to get you to accept a car taking over the driving responsibilities?

Wrapping up

The holidays this year are likely to be a little tense, given what is going on in the world and the uncertainty of the last U.S. election. Finding safe but exciting topics could be problematic. I’ve provided some about Facebook and social media, electronic voting, and autonomous cars to help get you started. 

Best of luck, and I hope you have a wonderful and safe Holiday Season!

Rob Enderle is a principal at Enderle Group. He is a nationally recognized analyst and a longtime contributor to eWEEK and Pund-IT.

The post Tech Topics to Safely Discuss Over the Holidays appeared first on eWEEK.

It seemed odd that decades after Windows and during a massive shift to the cloud, one of the most potent cloud vendors instead decided to redo Windows. Microsoft seemed like it was repeating the Netscape Office mistake, albeit with a massively bigger budget. 

Over time, Chromebooks did gain a following in education, which is a feeder market to the enterprise. Kids coming up on Chromebooks might prefer them for business, and while historically they are mostly lackluster devices, Chromebooks’ interest in business has been steadily increasing. The Chrome OS may still be, for many, the best platform for a cloud-native deployment, and the cloud has become far more prevalent during this pandemic event. IT organizations, because they are figuring out what they want to do long term with the cloud desktop, would prefer a bridge product rather than a full ChromeOS offering. 

That appears to be the HP Elite c1030 Chromebook. This Chromebook may be the perfect-storm bridge product, because it benefits from the macOS lessons. This laptop may not only be the ideal bridge product; it may also be a better alternative for enterprises than Apple products. 

Let me explain. 

Parallels 

Generally, what allows the Macs to work in enterprise accounts is the Parallels Desktop for Mac software. It allows Windows to run on an Apple product, and now Parallels Desktop for HP Chrome Enterprise comes bundled with this HP Elite c1030 Chromebook, enabling it to run Windows 10 directly on Chrome OS―even offline. If the notebook becomes compromised on the Chrome side, it may not become compromised on the Windows side and visa versa. In short, it should be more resistant against threats such as rootkits that target Windows machines, because the rootkit will typically try to get situated below Windows. But not even knowing there is another operating system below it–where additional security software and HP has a ton of it–can better identify the malware. 

For those who want Chrome, this potentially provides the best of both worlds; it provides a Chrome experience, which remains one of the better front ends for a cloud-connected deployment. It has a full Windows Desktop for applications such as Microsoft 365, which have been enterprise standards for a long while. 

The Hardware

This laptop is no stripper. This laptop has the same build quality as other HP laptops, which means it will resist better than most things like being wiped down with disinfectant (many, if not most, laptops aren’t yet built to handle high alcohol content disinfectant). It has a 90.1% screen-to-body ratio, and the 3:2 screen aspect ratio that is increasingly the industry’s preference. You can also specify the industry’s best screen, a 1000-nit, daylight viewable and privacy screen (Sure View Reflect). These are awesome for working outside, which has become rather important during this COVID-19 event. It is in the ultralight category at under 3 pounds and, like most HP commercial products, is tested to the 19-STD 810H military durability tests. 

It has dual microphones for audio quality, a wide-angle HD camera for video conferencing, and a Bang & Olufsen sound system–that you’ll likely appreciate more for movies and music than for Microsoft Teams meetings–helps there as well. Based on Intel’s Project Athena, this is a tuned laptop, meaning you should get every bit of performance you paid. That includes a fast SSD and Wi-Fi 6. It has a fast charge, a high capacity battery providing up to 12 hours on a charge, and recharge to 90% in 90 minutes. If you are into green, this laptop meets the most rigorous EPEAT Gold standard in 19 countries because it has 50% recycled plastic in the keyboard and 75% recycled aluminum in the case. 

Wrapping Up: Ideal Use Case

This laptop is the equal of most any premium enterprise laptop out there with one big differentiator: It runs Windows 10 using Parallels Desktop on the Chrome OS. This statement means the ideal user group is likely the most common right now; that is, users are in the midst of a cloud transition. 

This laptop is a bridge product that enables its user to retain the same hardware he/she has before migration to the cloud and then afterward while providing failover for those times when the cloud is out of reach. 

We are likely to be in this cloud transition period for another three to seven years. This timeline suggests that those firms that are putting together a transition plan, and executing it will likely prefer this product, depending on how they want their desktop to look post-migration. They aren’t yet sure if they want Windows clients or Chrome clients when they are done. 

We all learned from this pandemic that flexibility is likely your most important technology requirement, because we still don’t know where to end up post-pandemic. This HP Elite c1030 may be the most flexible in “cloud vs. desktop” use cases of any laptop currently in the market. So if you are looking for a bridge product to the cloud, check out this HP Elite laptop. It may be just what the doctor, or this analyst, ordered. 

Rob Enderle is a principal at Enderle Group. He is a nationally recognized analyst and a longtime contributor to eWEEK and Pund-IT.

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Well, if you had been holding a Samsung Galaxy XCover Pro instead of one of those others, you’d need not worry. This phone is made to be dropped; in fact, I think it likes being dropped. A big advantage is this: It doesn’t look or feel like one of those bulky, heavy, “rugged” phones you would use out on an oil rig; it looks like a regular business or personal phone that you’d be comfortable showing off to a friend.

I have been using an XCover Pro as my go-to smartphone for a couple of months. I don’t make a habit of dropping phones, but if I did drop this one, I feel I’d be OK with it. These are fortified just well enough to put your mind at ease at all times. You can drop one into water, and it will keep on working. A kid could drive over one with a bike, and it’ll be OK. It might even be able to survive being dropped in a campfire, although I don’t know that for sure. And, no, I’m not going to do that test.

You can’t have those things happen to an iPhone or most other devices, that’s for sure. With the XCover Pro, you have a fighting chance of surviving these mishaps and have the phone live to see another day.

Yes, the Galaxy XCover Pro can take a beating. This phone is dust- and water-resistant and proudly sports an IP68 rating. Devices backed by an international standard rating of IP68 are deemed fit to withstand dust, dirt and sand, and are resistant to submersion up to a maximum depth of 1.5 meters underwater for up to 30 minutes. The phone can be cleaned under running water, if need be. Naturally, you should avoid these things with a standard smartphone. Thus, you can use the XCover Pro basically anywhere in the world you can get a signal, no matter what environment you happen to be in.

What is the Processing power of the Galaxy XCover Pro?

The Exynos 9611 processor isn’t the biggest engine in the garage, and perhaps the most notable drawback of the XCover Pro is its 4GB of RAM. If you’re doing most routine business duties, such as email, texting, word document creation, net surfing, social networking and so forth, you’ll be fine with this. However, if you’re planning to use heavier business apps—such as network portals, spreadsheets, accounting apps, analytics tools, creative apps—I wouldn’t recommend it. For those, you need 8GB to 12GB of RAM at minimum; otherwise, you’ll be spending too much time watching arrows spin around as the app tries to get functioning.

I read a review of the XCover that claimed the phone was slowing down with each passing week. Although I didn’t experience that problem—and it IS a problem when it happens—the 4GB memory can cause that issue. It’s not unlike a 4-cylinder engine in a car; it’s fine for running around town and for traveling on flat surfaces for long distances, but as soon as you need power to go up a steep grade, forget it. We had a Toyota van years ago with a 4-cylinder power plant, and it could only hit 50 mph tops going up a mountain grade. Very frustrating, and I wouldn’t buy that type of vehicle again. Sometimes you just need a little extra power in the plant to help you get over a spike in your work.

Power Source of the XCover Pro

The XCover Pro has a battery purported to last six to eight hours of continuous heavy usage. I only had to charge the phone up once every two days or so, because I don’t use that phone to that extent. The backside of the device is made of heavy plastic and can be removed, so it’s possible to swap the battery without taking it to the Samsung store. The battery can be revved up using either a quick charger or a wireless charger. Overall, good ratings on battery life.

Is the Galaxy XCover Pro good for security?

The XCover Pro has good biometric software: face recognition, a fingerprint scanner and Samsung Pass for protection. You can encrypt or decrypt the SD card. It carries a special secure folder for top-secret files, so if you work for the CIA, that’s a good thing.

It also features the manufacturer’s standard Knox (as in Fort Knox) security system, and that’s a respected process that provides a distinct advantage. The mobile device management solutions of Samsung (and third parties) can completely secure this device and ensure that it is only usable for working with business applications. Encryption can also be applied, and the device can be managed remotely.

Push-to-Talk Integration

In a recent development, ESChat announced that it has integrated its Push-to-Talk (PTT) solution into the Galaxy XCover Pro. Now, users on carrier and enterprise LTE networks can take advantage of XCover Pro’s dedicated PTT buttons and have access to secure communication.

For remote areas where communication is still a priority, users can deploy Samsung’s XCover Pro with the ESChat package to access Samsung’s Enterprise LTE network solutions and Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) frequency band. More details are available here.

Best Use Cases for the Galaxy XCover Pro

For workers in construction or the hospitality industry, the XCover Pro can be a very workable device. Project managers at a construction site or a floor manager at a hotel, for two examples, might find the XCover a good choice for their staff. They also get the benefits from its toughness and water resistance.

Galaxt XCover Pro Cameras

The Galaxy XCover Pro has three cameras, two on the back and one on the front. The camera isn’t designed to be a tool for creatives; it can take basic pictures. It’s aimed to be used to take work-related photos; better to use a higher-end smartphone for sunsets, vacations and family photos you want to keep.

Configurable Buttons

The Galaxy XCover features additional physical buttons on both sides that users can configure with Samsung’s software. For example, you can choose to use a button for a walkie-talkie function or to launch a particular app quickly. In certain situations, this can improve the efficiency of a work process quite a bit, something that can be very useful in the earlier mentioned scenarios.

Is the Galaxy XCover Pro right for you?

The Samsung Galaxy XCover Pro is not designed as a replacement for a high-end device. It is aimed at a specific use case, valuable for people working in sectors where sturdiness and durability are important.

It would be cool to see Samsung issue a high-end smartphone in an XCover version, one more able to take a drop to the sidewalk or in the toilet and come away unscathed.

Galaxy XCover Pro Price

You get what you pay for, generally. The Samsung Galaxy XCover Pro, with prices ranging from $425 to $568, generally costs about half of a high-end iPhone or other Galaxy smartphone. That’s a huge consideration, especially if a company is buying a fleet of them.

Galaxy XCover Pro Specs

Product Name: Samsung Galaxy XCover Pro
Screen Size: 6.3″
Broadband Generation: 4G
Cellular Network: CDMA, GSM
Connector Type: Headphone jack
Features: Quad-band, smartphone, unlocked, water resistant, fast charging
RAM: 4GB
Security: Fingerprint scanner
SIM Slots: Dual SIM
Front Camera Resolution: 13 MP
Operating System: Android 10
Rear Camera Resolution: 25 MP
Display Resolution: 2,340 x 1,080
Storage Capacity: 32GB, 49GB, 64GB, 512GB
Weight: 7.69 ounces

The post Samsung Galaxy XCover Pro: Durability for Tough Work Stations appeared first on eWEEK.

But perhaps that doesn’t sound like you. Perhaps you think you’re a practical, thoughtful professional with some very real communications needs. Perhaps like many such professionals, your communications needs can be helped by higher bandwidth and lower latency tied to a powerful computing environment. In that case, Apple’s iPhone 12 can solve some real business needs, even if you remain just as old and boring as you were last year.

iPhone 12 Pro: 5G Capability

I tested an iPhone 12 Pro using T-Mobile’s network to see how it would perform in a real 5G environment. I also tried out its other features to see what might be compelling for a business user, given the price of the phone, which is going to be more than $1,000. I tested the operation in downtown Washington, D.C., near the White House, as well as in the DC suburbs. T-Mobile has both low-band 600MHz and midband 2.5GHz coverage in Washington in enough places to be meaningful.

It’s worth noting that Verizon has its millimeter-wave 5G in Washington as well, but coverage is best described as sparse. It exists on a few street corners. Verizon has midband 5G in spots, and AT&T has some coverage as well, but neither carrier has anything you’d call ubiquitous. Ubiquitous is what you find with T-Mobile’s 5G, which was essentially everywhere, including in basements of some buildings, inside tunnels and out in the distant suburbs.

The iPhone 12 was set to use 5G when available with a fall back to 4G LTE. The only areas where I couldn’t test 5G throughput were in mountain areas far from Washington. Otherwise, I used the official FCC speed test app to measure how well 5G worked. In areas with 600MHz 5G coverage, download speeds averaged slightly over 125 megabits per second. In areas with 2.5GHz midband coverage, download speeds were over 300 mbps. T-Mobile says that speeds of a gigabit per second are possible, but I didn’t do them in my testing.

What I did find is that 5G on the iPhone appears to have somewhat greater range than 4G LTE. I was able to find a usable 5G signal in areas where no LTE signal was available. This may have some relation to what Apple says are redesigned antennas on the iPhone 12 versus the similar iPhone 11.

LiDAR on the iPhone 12 Pro

Another much-discussed feature of the iPhone 12 Pro is the new LiDAR capability, which is able to provide precise measurements from a distance. This feature was originally developed for use with augmented reality, so that you could have a game take place in your own living room. Since the phone was released a wealth of apps have been released that take advantage of the LiDAR feature. These apps include 3D scanning designed to interface with a 3D printer, for example. There are also measuring apps, speed-detection apps and apps designed to accurately determine furniture placement.

iPhone 12 Camera Upgrade

The iPhone 12 Pro LiDAR also ties in with the upgraded camera. The ability to measure distances means that the phone’s autofocus works in the dark, which means you can get properly focused photos in low light. Apple supports its Portrait Mode with the wide-angle and ultra-wide angle cameras using LiDAR focusing. There are a number of apps available that use this capability to precisely focus the camera.

The new iPhone Pro camera includes a form of optical stabilization that shifts the location of the sensors to compensate for camera movement. This means that videos should exhibit less shaking due to camera movement. Couple this with the improved optical zoom lens, and the iPhone 12 Pro photography is as capable as any.

The iPhone 12 comes with a new A14 Bionic processor that includes improved neural engine, motion processing and an improved GPU. The A14 is a six-core processor that includes cores for performance and for energy saving. Apple contends that it’s the fastest CPU in a smartphone.

This phone comes in four versions. The iPhone Pro and Pro Max have the upgraded camera system, with the Max having a larger screen and better battery life. The iPhone 12 is similar but without the upgraded camera, and it’s available in two sizes, one is the same size as the iPhone Pro and the other is a smaller version called the iPhone 12 Mini.

While the iPhone 12 looks very similar to the iPhone 11, it’s actually slightly larger with a 6.1-inch OLED screen. This makes the phone itself slightly larger than its predecessor, so your old case won’t fit. But the better display is a worthwhile upgrade.

The incorporation of 5G into the iPhone is a significant improvement, and for some users that alone will make it worth the upgrade. The LiDAR feature could be significant in some industries. It’s also an excellent phone.

iPhone 12 Pro Specs

The iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro, 12 Pro Max and 12 Mini are all now available at the Apple Store.

Apple’s two higher-end devices are the 6.7-inch Pro Max (starting at $1,099) and the 6.1-inch iPhone 12 Pro (starting at $999). Features include:

• Stainless steel bands
• Available in silver, graphic, gold, Pacific blue
• Three rear-facing cameras
• LiDAR for depth mapping, AR and low-light autofocus
• The 12 Pro has a telephoto lens with optical zoom of 2.5x
• The Pro Max has a telephoto lens with 5x optical zoom
• Both phones offer 128GB, 256GB and 512GB storage options

The 6.1-inch iPhone 12 starts at $799 and is available now. Specs:

• Available in black, white, red, green and blue
• Ceramic shield protection with four times better drop performance
• OLED Super Retina XDR
• A14 Bionic chip
• 5G capabilities
• Dual camera (12 megapixels) with an f2.4 ultrawide and f1.6 wide, Night Mode available on all cameras and night time lapse
• Wireless charging (no charger or earphone ports)
• Offers 64GB, 128GB and 256GB storage options

The 5.4-inch iPhone 12 Mini has similar specs to the iPhone 12; it’s just smaller and lighter. Starting price is $699.

• Available in black, white, red, green, blue
• Ceramic Shield protection with four times better drop performance
• OLED Super Retina XDR
• A14 Bionic chip
• 5G capabilities
• Dual camera (12 megapixels) with an f2.4 ultrawide and f1.6 wide, Night Mode available on all cameras and night time lapse
• Wireless charging (no charger or earphone ports)
• Offers 64GB, 128GB and 256GB storage options

Wayne Rash, a former executive editor of eWEEK, is a longtime contributor to our publication and a frequent speaker on business, technology issues and enterprise computing.

The post Why iPhone 12 Pro Makes Sense for Business appeared first on eWEEK.

No, of course not; we’re just kidding. But we have to say that Samsung definitely has been the most productive smartphone developer and producer in the world here in this strange year 2020.

Samsung brought out three new Galaxy models earlier this year, with the main difference being size. The Galaxy S20 is the point guard with a 6.3-inch display; the Galaxy S20+ is the power forward at 6.7 inches, and the S20 Ultra is the center at 6.9 inches (um, I’m also a basketball writer in my spare time). Pixel density varies a bit between models, but you almost certainly won’t be able to spot the difference right off the top.

I’ve had one of the Note20 Ultra 5Gs since August and have come to love it, and for a lot of reasons. (So have many other users; last time I looked on Nov. 12, Google listed 5,702 reviews with an average score of 4.4 out of 5 stars). Its touch handles excellently, is thinner than its predecessors, feels substantial but is not heavy, is faster on the draw and has way-improved cameras. It looks impressive lying on a table. Even voices are noticeably easier to understand–for those quaint folks who still use smartphones for actual phone calls.

Battery power impressive, to say the least

For me, however, there is one attribute I admire above any other, and it’s due to my practical nature: how long the powerful, 5,000 milliampere-hour (mAh) battery lasts. I didn’t have to charge my phone for two entire days on average–but I also don’t do gaming or movies, either. A lot of good smartphones from several manufacturers boast excellent cameras, great touch performance values, fast computing power, more than enough storage and RAM, cool and useful personal assistants and thin, easy-to-store design, and the Galaxy Note20 Ultra has all these features. But they can’t work without power, and if you’re out and about and away from power, being worried about your phone going dead any minute is no good for anyone. Been there, done that–and on deadline. No, thanks!

Samsung is very aware of device power conservation, and its display affiliate has found a good solution: a low-power OLED adaptive frequency technology, commercialized for the first time in the Note20 Ultra. This new adaptive frequency technology can curtail the operating power of a phone’s display by as much as 22 percent over existing smartphones now in general use. This calibrates refresh rates in line with the requirements of a specific application and therein more precisely allocating available power. This frees up time and energy for other smartphone operations.

The power-saving technology allows the display panel to utilize variable refresh rates that consume the least possible amount of power for each type of application. The adaptive frequency technology supports a 120Hz scan rate for playing mobile games that require speedy frame changes, a 60Hz rate for movie streaming, a 30Hz rate for email correspondence, and a 10Hz rate for viewing still images or browsing social networking services. Existing smartphone panels offer only a fixed refresh rate for whatever app you’re using.

This all adds up over time to add 20 to 22 percent more time on the battery. Adding an extra hour after a half-day of use is a good result. That additional power isn’t to be sneezed at.

Three cameras: One has a wide-angle, deep-zoom capability

The Galaxy S20 Ultra has a 108 MP camera with a 100x Space Zoom. Yes, you can go from 0.5x wide-angle to 100x blow-up, but in the real world use cases, you’re probably not going to be doing that very often–unless you work for the CIA, and even then, they have specialized devices for THAT kind of observation. But it’s a nice feature to have when you need it.

Video quality is among the best of Android smartphones, because as the light levels go down, the softness of the footage begins to increase. Overall it’s a very good video camera, but if you shoot a lot of 4K footage, you should know that there is no stabilization and you will get some bumpy video.

On the front, the S20 Ultra houses a 40 MP selfie camera with an f/2.2 aperture. It produces good-looking selfies outdoors. Even when shooting against light, the camera is able to capture ample details on your face.

Both the front and the back of the S20 Ultra are protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 6, which provides a sturdy package. The 6.9-inch display has only the slightest curve around the edges, similar to the really thin (but also underpowered) Galaxy 6 a while back.

Samsung now offers an in-screen fingerprint sensor, so it doesn’t need a face scanner. There’s only a selfie camera on the front of the otherwise end-to-end display.

While the left-hand edge is clean, the volume rocker and the power/standby button is on the right-hand side. At the base, you have the USB Type C interface in the middle, with a speaker grille on its left. At the top edge, on the left-hand side is the hybrid SIM card slot. There is no 3.5mm audio jack on the phone, but Samsung adds an AKG in-ear headset with USB Type C interface.

The S20 Ultra comes with IP68 dust/water resistance for up to 1.5-meter submersion for 30 minutes under water. While the device is only 8.8 mm thick, thanks to the curved edges on the back, it feels solid. One-handed operation isn’t possible, and it also weighs a hefty 7.34 oz. It’s well-built; I’ll take that tradeoff any day.

Display, overall performance is something to behold

The Galaxy S20 Ultra’s 6.9-inch display is large, crisp and very easy to read; users with weaker eyesight will appreciate it right off the bat. Colors are spectacular. In the display settings, you can set the display to either HD+ (1600 x 720 pixels), FHD+ (2400 x 1080 pixels) or the max WQHD+ (3200 x 1440 pixels) in addition to setting the refresh rate at 60 Hz or 120 Hz.

Overall performance is top-notch, although the phone does get a bit warm with extended use at times. The S20 Ultra sports the top-of-the-line Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 central processor paired with a Mali G7 MP11 graphics processor. When compared to the Apple iPhone 11 Pro Max, the Ultra’s Geekbench score is slightly lower. But this means little in real-life usage.

The S20 Ultra, with its powerful infrastructure and optimized OneUI 2 user interface, makes the phone a smooth operator. It can get a little warm with extended use, but it’s nothing to be alarmed about.

While the phone has a 5G radio, it’s not going to be noticeable for at least another year until all the networks are at full power. The audio sound of the UItra is remarkably good. You can easily watch a video or listen to audio without earphones, because the volume can go pretty loud. Samsung has bundled AKG in-ears with a Type C interface, which come with a braided cable and have better-than-average sound quality.

The in-screen fingerprint scanner is still a work in progress. Several times I was told to press harder, or it just wouldn’t unlock the phone despite multiple presses. It definitely needs some optimization, or perhaps Samsung should simply go back to its standalone print scanner, which works just fine on my other phones.

By the way, the Ultra has highly regarded download speed ability. Ookla’s Q3 U.S. Market Analysis report said Samsung’s five flagship phones swept the Ookla Device category with the fastest median download speeds in the U.S. The report can be found in its entirety here.

Excellent user experience overall

OneUI 2.0, the Samsung skin on top of Android 10, offers a good user experience (UX). I did appreciate the phone asking me which apps I want on my phone at the first bootup. The walk-through wizard to start it up has been edited somewhat and doesn’t take as long to finish as in previous products.

The Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra starts at $1,099, which is a little steep compared to the regular S20 series. It’s still less than the Apple iPhone 11 Pro series of smartphones, but I believe all the features this phone offers make the price well worth it.

For more product information from Samsung, go here. The company, naturally, is offering some Black Friday deep discounts on Nov. 27.

Specifications

Model: Samsung Galaxy Note20 Ultra 5G (issued August 2020)
Display: 6.9-inch Dynamic AMOLED with 3200 x 1440 pixels w/ pixel density of 511 PPI
Chipset: Exynos 990 (2x 2.73 Ghz Mongoose M5 + 2x 2.5 GHz Cortex A76 + 4x 2 GHz Cortex A55)
Graphics: Mali G77 MP11
RAM + Storage in GB: 12 + 128; 16 + 512 GB
Operating system: Android 10
Expandable storage: Yes
Primary Camera: 108 MP camera with f/1.8 aperture, 1/1.33-inch sensor, OIS (Samsung ISOCELL Bright HM1 sensor)
Secondary cameras: 48 MP periscope telephoto camera with f/3.5, 1/ 2.0-inch sensor, OIS, 4x optical zoom and 10x Hybrid zoom + 12 MP Ultrawide camera with f/2.2 + 0.3 MP TOF sensor with f/1.0
Selfie Camera: 40 MP camera with f/2.2 aperture
Battery: 5,000 milliampere hour (mAh)
Software: Android 10 (Nov. 10, 2020 patch) with OneUI 2.1 skin
Colors: Mystic Black, Mystic White, Mystic Bronze

The post Samsung Galaxy Note20 Ultra 5G: Solid, Elegant, High-Performing appeared first on eWEEK.

This SoC, or System on Chip, is an exciting part of the equation because, as Microsoft did with its HoloLens, Apple has also added an AI accelerator. At the launch, Apple made some impressive claims about performance. But as with all platform pivots, the devil will be in the details. Some of these details we don’t yet know.  

We don’t do these platforms often because they get more complicated; the more extensive the installed base and the larger the application portfolio you have. Microsoft tried a platform pivot when they ported Windows to ARM for their Smartphones. They started with few apps and a small installed base, and yet the pivot arguably failed. They have since returned to a multi-processor strategy using ARM, where it makes the most sense (in solution tuned for connectivity called the Always Connected PC), which has had moderate success. Still, it took first doing this wrong to get it right finally. 

This move to ARM for PCs is Apple’s second big pivot; the first was pivoting to x86 from PowerPC, which eventually damaged both IBM and Intel (I wonder why firms do business with Apple, given their abusive history). Now with their M1 part, they are going to try to go it alone. Let’s drill through all the BS and see what’s really there to discover.

Fake News?

Apple’s opening claim with their M1 SoC is that it results in a platform that is faster than 98% of laptops. A number of us are having issues with this claim, really a lot of us. It could be accurate if you don’t measure actual work and use some for the artificial benchmark. There have been several processors–Transmeta comes to mind–that could, on an artificial benchmark, outperform x86. The problem has always been the existing code base; it doesn’t run natively on the part. Once you apply virtualization or emulation, performance drops. If the application calls features or capabilities that x86 parts have, and ARM doesn’t, you’ll likely see a crash or additional performance degradation. 

Besides, if the part were good with existing code, why not transition the entire product line? Why leave the more performance-oriented products on x86? A split migration like this means that the ARM-based laptops will have compatibility and reliability problems, while the x86 products will have a relatively short service life. When Apple migrated from PowerPC, it only supported the older platform for three years, when the more common service life now between four and five years.  

Now that doesn’t mean the product will suck; Apple does own its ecosystem. They can get the platform to work, but maintaining two codebases for a relatively small market share will be expensive and painful. And things like broad application support, driver and peripheral support (particularly for older peripherals) and reliability will undoubtedly initially be problem areas. 

ARM does have advantages in terms of battery life. On the Windows side, it does come with Qualcomm’s superior connectivity solution. Still, there also may be issues because Apple isn’t just divorcing itself from Intel; it is divorcing itself from Qualcomm as well. We’ll know better just how painful this will be when products get into the hands of reviewers.

Rob Enderle is a principal at Enderle Group. He is a nationally recognized analyst and a longtime contributor to eWEEK and Pund-IT.

Migration Timing

Right now, the writing is on the wall that, if you are on a Mac, you’ll need to migrate to this new M1 platform. But you don’t need to do that now. X86 support will continue if they follow their aging process, three years. Keep your existing Mac until you are sure the applications you need to work will run natively on the new platform and not in emulation unless they are Windows apps. In that case, you’ll want to ensure that the new platform can run those apps, either virtualized or under emulation. Or another option is to run them in the cloud, which is a lot easier now that most of us are stuck at home and on Wi-Fi.  

There is an old saying that “Prospectors get the arrows, and settlers get the land.” Nothing is making you migrate immediately to a new laptop, and you can buy decent used Macs if yours has broken. When you move to the ARM product, it will be a more mature offering, and your apps will move with you, potentially eliminating what could be a very aggravating experience. 

Lock-In Risk

Do remember Apple employs a lock-in strategy, so you don’t get a ton of choice. With Lock-In, the vendor doesn’t have to price competitively and can more easily lift prices to increase margins. This strategy drives vendors to cheapen products while increasing prices until their customer base revolts.  In effect, it layers on an Apple tax where you pay a premium to be part of the club. The M1 part should be substantially less expensive than the Intel x86 part it replaces, and Apple has priced their offering between $100-$400 more than the comparable ARM-based Windows laptops. 

It may very well be worth it to pay the extra money, but you should at least be aware that you are doing it.  One obvious option, given you, are likely working at home anyway, is to buy the Mac mini, which at $699 won’t hurt nearly as much as either laptop. Why pay for portability you are likely not going to need until July of 2021 (another reason to wait a while, so you know you’ll be using the extra battery life). 

Wrapping Up

I do think Apple will eventually get this ARM pivot done and that the result will be impressive. Whether it will be competitive or not, well probably not, but that’s often been the case with Apple products which sell more on status than performance. With many, we worried about our jobs, covering rent, and juggling work, and homeschooling for our kids. We don’t need more aggravations. 

With any tool you buy when your need demands it, no one was demanding an ARM-based MacBook, this move was made to increase Apple’s margins, and while that is great for investors, users may find this tradeoff less than ideal, at least initially. Hold off on this platform until your need for a more portable product is again pronounced and give the ecosystem time, particularly the developers of the apps you need to use, more time to come to terms with it. 

Apple has made some pretty bold claims; I’d suggest waiting until those claims are proven before spending your hard-earned cash on this new platform. Remember, it generally takes Apple 3 times to get a new product right, and these new M1 laptops are brand new. 

Rob Enderle is a principal at Enderle Group. He is a nationally recognized analyst and a longtime contributor to eWEEK and Pund-IT.

The post Apple ARMs its PCs: Drilling Through the Spin to See the Future appeared first on eWEEK.

Some quick facts:

Topic: “New Tech to Expect in 2021”  

Date/time: Tuesday, Nov. 10, 11 a.m. PDT / 2 p.m. EDT / 7 p.m. GMT

Participation: You can use #eWEEKchat to follow/participate via Twitter itself, but it’s easier and more efficient to use the real-time chat room link at CrowdChat. Instructions are on that page; log in at the top right, use your Twitter handle to register, and the chat begins promptly at 11 a.m. PT. The page will come alive at that time with the real-time discussion. You can join in or simply watch the discussion as it is created. Special thanks to John Furrier of SiliconAngle.com for developing the CrowdChat app.

Our in-chat experts this month are Don Foster, Global Vice President of Sales Engineering at Commvault; Michael Ringman, CIO of TELUS International; Kobie Botha, Chief Product Officer at JourneyApps.

Chat room real-time link: Usehttps://www.crowdchat.net/eweekchat. Sign in with your Twitter handle and use #eWEEKchat for the identifier.   

Innovation: Where is it happening?

“First,” “only” and “new.” These are three words all tech journalists want to hear–as long as they’re not spin. If one or more of these words are included in a new product description, that’s cause for readability; if all three are relevant, then that probably signals a legitimate news story.

We love breaking news and analysis of valuable new products and services in eWEEK. This is a key part of our value proposition in this venerable publication, which began life as PC Week in 1984, the first year of the Macintosh PC. 

Here are just a few recent examples of IT innovation topics eWEEK has covered in this crazy pandemic year 2020:

IBM Z and Linux Innovation: 20 Years and Counting

HP Innovation Summit: From Consumer Products To MicroFluidics

How Cisco Systems Has Revved Up its Webex Innovation Engine

Pro Hearing Tech Reaches the Masses Through Earbuds

Celonis Launches IT’s First Execution Management System

Highlights from NVIDIA’s Landmark GPU Technology Conference

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Fold: Literally the Most Flexible Notebook

There are a lot more examples like this in the pages of eWEEK. This is what we do at our publication; we’re in constant contact with companies, thought leaders, investors, entrepreneurs and inventors to serve as a conduit for distributing cool IT product and service facts and figures. We also have a team of accomplished analysts (Rob Enderle, Charles King, Zeus Kerravala, Frank Ohlhorst, Roger Kay, Peter Burris, Brian Solis, Eric Kavanagh, Laurie McCabe and several others) who explain the business and technical values of new and innovative products and services.

In this next #eWEEKchat, we’ll discuss stories like those noted above and also talk about what we might expect from the IT world in 2021. With the continued addition of AI and ML in more and more apps and devices and 5G connectivity about to supercharge the engines we all use, the anticipation of even more great products is very high indeed.

The fact is, most of the IT innovation right now is coming from cloud-service providers such as AWS, Microsoft Azure, Zoom, Facebook, Google, Slack, TigerGraph, C3.ai, Atlassian and others. Innovation is also coming from IT-related companies in specific sectors, such as Tesla, Oracle, Accenture, Dell EMC and from a whole new crop of startups.

Remote workplaces forcing innovation

More and more enterprises are moving toward remote infrastructure–especially during the current global pandemic–indicating that a cloud-powered future is taking root and becoming standard. Managing cloud adoption is one of the enterprise’s top priorities for 2021 and for the next few years. A boom of new cloud services is, therefore, imminent. Most of these new apps will include some sort of automation and/or artificial intelligence as a component.

Seed questions

Here are examples of seed questions we’ll pose to our audience on Nov. 10:

• In what sectors of IT are you seeing real innovation at this time?
• What new products did you see this past calendar year that were particularly useful for you?
• What one product or service would you like to see come into the markets in 2021?
• Who are some of the young startup “stars” in the cloud-service sector and what innovation do they bring to the table?
• Identify some companies–older or younger–that you see innovating new products and services.
• Name some companies that you wish would show innovation in their sectors.
• Name an innovative product you use on a regular basis that didn’t exist five years ago?
• How is your own company innovating in its sector? Offer some specific examples.

Join us Tuesday, Nov. 10 at 11 a.m. Pacific / 2 p.m. Eastern / 7 p.m. GMT for an hour. Chances are good that you’ll learn something valuable.

#eWEEKchat Tentative Schedule for 2020*

xJan. 8: Trends in New-Gen Data Security
xFeb. 12: Batch Goes Out the Window: The Dawn of Data Orchestration
xMarch 11: New Trends and Products in New-Gen Health-Care IT
xApril 8: Trends in Collaboration Tools
xMay 12: Trends in New-Gen Mobile Apps, Devices
xJune 9: Data Storage, Protection in a Hypersensitive Era
xJuly 14: Next-Gen Networking
xAug. 11: Next-Gen Cloud Services and Delivery
xSept. 8: Confidential Computing and Next-Gen Security
xOct. 13: Innovation at Legacy IT Companies
Nov. 10: New Tech to Expect in  2021
Dec. 8: Predictions and Wild Guesses for IT in 2021

*all topics subjects to change
x=completed

The post #eWEEKchat Tuesday, Nov. 10: New Tech to Expect in 2021 appeared first on eWEEK.