How to use Google Maps offline mode on iOS, Android

Save Google Maps for offline access, so you can navigate the roads even when you're off the grid.

The moment your phone reads "No service," Google Maps suddenly drops out. That is, unless you've saved your maps for offline access. With this feature, you can store large map areas for guidance, even when you're stuck without reception.

11 open source tools to make the most of machine learning

11 open source tools for making the most of machine learning 

Spam filtering, face recognition, recommendation engines -- when you have a large data set on which you’d like to perform predictive analysis or pattern recognition, machine learning is the way to go. This science, in which computers are trained to learn from, analyze, and act on data without being explicitly programmed, has surged in interest of late outside of its original cloister of academic and high-end programming circles.

This rise in popularity is due not only to hardware growing cheaper and more powerful, but also the proliferation of free software that makes machine learning easier to implement both on single machines and at scale. The diversity of machine learning libraries means there’s likely to be an option available regardless of what language or environment you prefer.

These 11 machine learning tools provide functionality for individual apps or whole frameworks, such as Hadoop. Some are more polyglot than others: Scikit, for instance, is exclusively for Python, while Shogun sports interfaces to many languages, from general-purpose to domain-specific.

When iPhones fly? Don't put it past Apple

You can have your bigger screens and better battery life -- Apple is too busy taking future iPhones to the skies

Last week, I was feverishly working on a post exploring the relation between success as a software engineer and mammary size, inspired by Barbie’s recent message to today's youth. It appears I’ve missed my window, though it generated fabulous links. The delay was unavoidable; long story short, my home office furniture and my new, dangerously obese 25-pound tuxedo cat arrived at the same time. Adopted from a French guy, I originally planned to call him Wine Sucking Surrender Gremlin, but that’s too many syllables after my nightly bucket o' scotch -- instead, meet Maginot.

Windows Phone is heading back to death's door

Microsoft's focus on the low end is likely to make matters worse, argues analyst Jan Dawson

After BlackBerry's market share collapsed a couple years ago, Microsoft's struggling Windows Phone became the new hope for people who didn't want to see the mobile world split between only Apple's iOS and Google's Android. Windows Phone's market share began to rise, hitting 3.4 percent a year ago, up from 2.1 percent a year before.

Home automation is a solution in search of a problem

The best-known part of the Internet of things is full of dubious products and notions

For almost everyone and for most technology providers, the Internet of things is all about home automation. Gizmos that have mobile apps, Internet connectivity, and local direct access via Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, or other local radio network seem to be announced every day. But almost none makes much sense, suggesting that the current IoT mania may come to a crashing halt soon.

Google revs Dart, but questions about language's goals remain

Version 1.8 of Google's JavaScript contender adds new libraries and experimental support for enum types

Google released a revision of its Dart language with minimal fanfare the day after Thanksgiving. Dart 1.8 has new programming and library features, but still conspicuously missing from the language is a sense of where it's meant to fit in and what needs it's meant to address.

A cloud move raises security fears -- and a chance to improve

In a year of breaches both on premises and in the cloud, security issues should trouble you. But the cloud can also help

A new study from CloudEntr of 438 people from industries that include financial and manufacturing found that 75 percent of smaller businesses are worried about their employees when it comes to securing data in the cloud. Larger companies are more concerned about hackers using employee credentials to access and steal data from the cloud. Of course, most highly regulated companies, such as those in health care and finance, are more concerned about compliance than security.

Why developers love and hate PHP

The language has a substantial stake in Web development, but it is marred by design flaws

PHP, the venerable server-side scripting language, is famous for its use in Web development. First released in 1995 by Rasmus Lerdorf, it has been leveraged by the likes of WordPress and Facebook and reportedly is used in 82 percent of websites whose server-side programming language is known, according to W3Techs. The language is slightly behind Java in the PyPL Popularity of Programming Language index, and it ranks sixth in the rival Tiobe index. A high-performing upgrade, PHP 7, is due in 2015.

Like any technology, however, it has its devotees and bashers. Here's why advocates swear by PHP and why some dissenters might swear at it.

New IBM service shines a light on mobile device and app performance

The company is also unveiling cloud-based virtual desktops for mobile devices

With mobile devices rapidly becoming the tools of choice for enterprise work, IBM wants to help IT departments make sure they can serve all users.

Developing and delivering software to laptops and desktops is only part of the battle these days. IBM has signaled that mobile is a big part of its enterprise future through the partnership it announced with Apple in July. No new products from that deal have surfaced yet, but on Tuesday, in a separate development, IBM added to its Mobility Services portfolio.

7 commonly overlooked ways to tighten cyber security

It's OK to be paranoid about every last detail when it comes to security.

Tighten that cybersecurity belt

When you setup your network's security plan, quite often you have the big picture covered but some times there are those minute details that get shelved or forgotten. Here are a few items IT security officers should make sure they have covered.

Microsoft cold-shoulders Server 2003 and XP users hit with Microsoft Update error 0x80248015

Microsoft has yet to provide a solution for customers who can't connect to Microsoft Update to install last week's out-of-band patch KB 3011780

The causes of the problem remain cloudy, but the symptoms are quite clear. Starting on Nov. 18, some Server 2003, Windows Home Server 2003, and Windows XP SP3 machines suddenly refused to connect to Microsoft Update. As best I can tell, Microsoft has not responded to the problem, not documented a workaround, and is doing nothing visible to fix it.

Google to Apps users: take more responsibility for protecting your accounts

Changes to the suite's security features should make it easier for employees to become more active in protecting themselves from hackers

To get employees more involved in securing their Apps accounts, Google has tried to simplify how they monitor log-in activity and configure security settings.
It's key for Apps users to get more engaged in this manner, because that way they complement the efforts of their company's IT department and of Google itself.
"Security in the cloud is a shared responsibility," Eran Feigenbaum, security director at the Google for Work team, wrote Monday in a blog post. "By making users more aware of their security settings and the activity on their devices, we can work together to stay a step ahead of any bad guys,"
A new dashboard gives users a snapshot of all the devices that have been used to access their account in the past 28 days, including any currently signed in, along with their approximate location, and displays prominently a link for changing their password if they notice any suspicious activity. Users can also revoke a device's access to the account.
In addition, Google has rolled out a wizard designed to guide users through the steps to activate or adjust security settings and features. The wizard takes into account domain settings and preferences established by IT administrators for their employees, so that users are only able to make choices based preset permissions.

Source: http://www.infoworld.com