Today’s Tech Sightings:
Emerging ‘Gen M’ Workforce Requires a Rethink of IT Strategy
A new, independent study from MobileIron that polled more than 3,500 professionals about work and personal life has uncovered an emerging demographic called “Generation Mobile” or “Gen M” that likely will require a review of traditional IT strategies. This demographic is described as males between the ages of 18-34, and people with children under 18 who live at home who do 26 percent of their work on mobile devices and use the same devices to switch between work and personal tasks.
A new report from the McKinsey Global Institute foresees great economic potential for always-connected Internet of Things devices that could generate global profits ranging between $4 trillion and $11 trillion by 2025.
Japanese engineers have printed electrodes and wires on a prototype wrist band made of stretchable fabric. Elastic conductors, usually made by mixing conductive fillers and rubber, lose conductivity when the ink is stretched. But the researchers have developed new, highly conductive ink that is both stretchable and printable.
The recent revelation that Samsung has been blocking Windows update from running on some of its devices has prompted a condemnation from Microsoft. A company statement said “Windows Update remains a critical component of our security commitment to our customers. We do not recommend disabling or modifying Windows Update in any way as this could expose a customer to increased security risks.” Samsung had said the blocking was meant to prevent overwriting of incompatible drivers.
In case you didn’t know, Google had loaded its open source browser Chromium with closed-source code that enabled listening in to a computer’s microphone. Google’s other browser – Chrome – has had similar issues. Now, the company has bowed to user pressure and removed the snooping code from Chromium.
Be careful when you next update your Java software. A deal between Java maker Oracle and Yahoo to promote Yahoo search will have the next Java update, beginning this month, ask users if they want Yahoo to be their default search engine on Chrome and Internet Explorer browsers. If you are not careful, the software will make the choice for you.
