3 things to know about IPv6 as World IPv6 Day approaches

World IPv6 Day, is almost upon us. On that day, many major ISPs and Web sites will add IPv6, the next generation Internet protocol, to their existing network stacks. So: Should you start panicking now or should you wait a bit?
Actually, you don’t need to panic at all. Come the morning of June 6, the sun will still rise in the east, kitty cats will still purr in your lap when you pet them, and the Internet will continue to work just fine after you boot up your computer.
What will have happened on that day is that numerous major ISPs, such as Comcast and Time-Warner Cable, and Web sites, including Facebook, Google, and Microsoft, will offer their services with IPv6 in additional to “classic” IPv4. All these major Internet powers have been working on deploying IPv6 for years, and there’s no reason to believe that a mass roll-out of IPv6 is going to cause any Internet trouble.
Specifically, on World IPv6 Day:
1) Many major ISPs will offer IPv6 to a few residential users.
The ISPs participating in the World IPv6 Launch have promised to enable IPv6 for enough users so that at least 1% of their residential wireline subscribers who visit participating Web sites will do so using IPv6.
Why only 1%? It’s because the Internet Society knows most people aren’t ready yet. As the Society explains, “The goal is to reach 1% by June. In many cases, users may need to upgrade or replace hardware and software, such as operating systems or home routers, to use IPv6. Over time, as users upgrade, IPv6 adoption will increase without any changes in the ISP’s service or equipment.”
Don’t let all that “upgrade and replace” talk scare you. The Internet will work the same on June 6th as it does on June 5th. To quote Sampa Choudhuri, a Cisco small business marketing manager, “Your current network running IPv4-based devices won’t be obsolete for some time.”
Don’t believe us? Check out your PC on OMG! World IPv6 Day and you’ll probably feel much better.
Eventually, you do need to move to IPv6. But for many of you the transition won’t even happen this decade. As Leslie Daigle, the Internet Society’s chief technology officer recently said, IPv6 is becoming “the new normal.”
She’s right. So, while there’s no need to get worried as an Internet user about IPv6 yet, it is time for you to start checking your system and connection to see if you’re IPv6 ready. The best way to do that is to use the Test Your IPv6 site.
2) SOHO networking Original OEMs will offer IPv6 compliant equipment.
Most up-to-date corporate networking equipment already either supports IPv6 or can be upgraded to support it. Home IPv6 hardware… not so much. Starting on June 6th, however, several home networking equipment manufacturers will begin to enable IPv6 by default across their range of home router products.
That sounds good, but at this point only Cisco/Linksys, D-Link, and ZyXEL have signed up. Other SOHO network vendors, like NETGEAR, has IPv6 for some, but not all, of their network equipment lines.
3) Major Web sites will offer IPv6 on their main Web sites.
Many of the world’s top Web sites, including Bing, Facebook, Google, and Yahoo, will permanently support IPv6 on their main sites They are not, let me repeat myself, not turning off IPv4.
The only people who are likely to have trouble reaching these sites are those who’ve already installed IPv6, “but are either using a public tunnel that is currently giving poor performance; or otherwise have a route that is installed but broken or suboptimal.” You can find out if that might happen to you by visiting the aforementioned Test Your IPv6 site.
To learn if you need to worry, on June 6, go to a Web site, such as Google or any of the others that are supporting both IPv4 and IPv6. These offer DNS (Domain Name System) records for IPv4, A, and IPv6, AAAA. If you have a bad IPv6 connection such “dual stack” Web sites will appear to time out on you.
There are numerous foul-ups that can cause this hang-up. Fortunately, there’s an excellent guide, What to do if you’re broken… that can help you find and fix your particular problem.  If worse comes to worst, you can always just turn IPv6 off. After all, like I said, at there’s no reason for anyone to panic about IPv6… yet.
If you’re a CIO, CTO, or network administrator, it’s a different story. It’s well past time for you to get serious about IPv6, but that’s a story for another day.
Related Stories:
IPv6: It’s the end of the Internet as you know it, and I feel fine
Facebook enabling IPv6 on beta site next month
First IPv6 Distributed Denial of Service Internet attacks seen
All IPv6 Internet, All the time

Run Android apps on Windows with BlueStacks

LINK : http://cdn.bluestacks.com/bstk-download-success-2.htm

So you love Draw Something, Air Attack HD, or some other Android application? If you wanted to run that or any other Android app on your Windows PC, you were out of luck – until recently. BlueStacks now makes it possible to run Android applications on Windows systems.
While still in beta, the BlueStacks App Player delivers the goods. I’ve only tinkered with it myself, but everyone I know who uses it a lot think it’s great.
It’s not just we techies who like BlueStacks. What’s more telling is that PC-giant ASUS has signed a deal with BlueStacks to include its Android app player on the company’s next generation PCs, including the models running Windows 8,
Since Microsoft plans to make it difficult to dual-boot or root any other operating system on Windows 8 systems and to make it impossible to add or switch operating systems on Windows RT (Windows 8 on ARM) tablets and phones, BlueStacks likely will be the only way to run Android applications on Windows 8 PCs, tablets, and smartphones.
BlueStacks does this not by using a virtual machine (VM) as such but by running an emulation of the Android Davlik (also a VM) on top of Windows. While BlueStacks plans to patent some of the technology in its Android emulator, LayerCake, the technique dates back for decades.
The most well-known modern emulator is Wine. This popular open-source program, along with its commercial brother, CrossOver, enables Linux, Mac OS X, and other Unix users to run Windows applications. It does this by bridging the gap between the Windows program’s application programming interface (API) calls and the underlying operating system.
Like Wine, BlueStacks doesn’t emulate the actual hardware of a device. Instead, it emulates just enough of Android Davlik to server as a bridge between the application and Windows’ APIs. Besides leveraging the Windows device’s processor, be it x86 or ARM, BlueStacks can access the system’s graphics hardware to accelerate the program’s graphics processing. LayerCake also duplicates Android device’s accelerometer tilting in applications and games that utilize it with the mouse or arrow keys. Pinch-to-zoom is also supported on mouse trackpads.
BlueStacks also has a related application, Cloud Connect, which lets you sync Android apps from your phone or tablet to a PC running BlueStacks App Player.
While this sounds pretty spiffy—and indeed it is—I have to add that it raises security concerns. True, BlueStacks has its own App Store, but we all know that people find a way to install other applications. Indeed, Cloud Connect, while very useful, is also an easy road for malware. And, in case you haven’t been paying attention, there’s a lot of Android malware on the loose.
Still, if you’re careful with your Android downloads and you really like the idea of having your favorite Android apps on a Windows PC, BlueStacks can’t be beat. The company also plans to bring its technology to Mac OS X as well, though I wouldn’t count on seeing that anytime soon. BlueStacks will have its hands full getting ready for the launch of Windows 8.

Cognizant Supports Citizen Schools as National Leadership Partner - MarketWatch (press release)

Cognizant Supports Citizen Schools as National Leadership Partner - MarketWatch (press release)

Cognizant Supports subject Schools as National activity Partner MarketWatch (press release) Funding for Citizen Schools is made through the Cognizant Technology Solutions gift Fund at the army unit Charitable Endowment Program. subject Schools is a star national education initiative that partners with middle schools to expand the ... WATCH FOR SHARES OF COGNIZANT TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS ( CTSH ) TO plan of attack ... Zacks.com all xi news articles

Steve Jobs Resigns as CEO of Apple

Tim Cook Named CEO and Jobs Elected Chairman of the Board 

CUPERTINO, California—August 24, 2011—Apple’s Board of Directors today announced that Steve Jobs has resigned as Chief Executive Officer, and the Board has named Tim Cook, previously Apple’s Chief Operating Officer, as the company’s new CEO. Jobs has been elected Chairman of the Board and Cook will join the Board, effective immediately.

“Steve’s extraordinary vision and leadership saved Apple and guided it to its position as the world’s most innovative and valuable technology company,” said Art Levinson, Chairman of Genentech, on behalf of Apple's Board. “Steve has made countless contributions to Apple’s success, and he has attracted and inspired Apple’s immensely creative employees and world class executive team. In his new role as Chairman of the Board, Steve will continue to serve Apple with his unique insights, creativity and inspiration.”

“The Board has complete confidence that Tim is the right person to be our next CEO,” added Levinson. “Tim’s 13 years of service to Apple have been marked by outstanding performance, and he has demonstrated remarkable talent and sound judgment in everything he does.”

Jobs submitted his resignation to the Board today and strongly recommended that the Board implement its succession plan and name Tim Cook as CEO.

As COO, Cook was previously responsible for all of the company’s worldwide sales and operations, including end-to-end management of Apple’s supply chain, sales activities, and service and support in all markets and countries. He also headed Apple’s Macintosh division and played a key role in the continued development of strategic reseller and supplier relationships, ensuring flexibility in response to an increasingly demanding marketplace.

Apple designs Macs, the best personal computers in the world, along with OS X, iLife, iWork and professional software. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store. Apple has reinvented the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App Store, and has recently introduced iPad 2 which is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices.

HP: Where is it going?

It is clear HP is in trouble. But what of that? How bad is it and what should any of us do who follow this company?

I am gobsmacked at the amount of back channel conversations I’ve been hefting around HP. Mostly from people that truly want to understand what the heck is going on at this beleaguered company. I cannot provide direct insight except to the limited extent I receive Twitter DM’s on this topic from people who claim special knowledge. That usually means they’ve had coffee with a pissed off VP. It does include well placed HP insiders who are scrambling for position. Be that as it may be and understand that stress does odd things to otherwise rational people.

Let’s make no mistake. HP is the first in what could be a who’s who of Silicon Valley titans that are/will be blasted by the chill wind of change. Unlike the past where temporary hiccups could be overcome, even the usually intellectually challenged Wall Street analysts are smelling blood in the water as they scramble to realise their models are not what Excel was telling them. As for the rest, it feels as though everyone has an opinion about HP. But then everyone has an a$$hole. And most of them stink. Can we all please step back and think for more than the required attention span of a passing Tweet?

Let’s get it out on the table - HP is a mess. Are they alone? Not at all. I can count at least Microsoft and Cisco that are on PR disguised life support. Dell likes to quip at HP’s expense but I sense its CEO needs to take a long hard look at its defensible business before getting a cheap laugh at anyone else’s expense. There are many others. But let’s deal with what we see.

When Leo Apotheker, CEO HP was appointed who else was there to pick up the poisoned chalice Mark Hurd left behind? No-one. Hurd had done exactly what the financial markets expected of him without thinking for one nanosecond about the long term future or viability of this once great company.

Six big trends to watch in 2011

1. Mainstream means mobile

For many years, mobile has been a peripheral afterthought when developing enterprise applications. Even when running in a browser, the laptop or desktop PC has been the primary user platform, and a mobile client was always an option at best. In 2011, there’s going to be seismic shift. Significant numbers of enterprise software vendors will upend their development priorities and develop for mobile first, desktop second.

2. Fake cloud #fails the crowd

It should be no surprise to find me predicting that so-called ‘private cloud’ will disappoint. Cloud computing has ridden to the peak of the Gartner hype cycle, and fake cloud is now leading the way into the trough of disillusionment. Vendors and enterprises seeking to capture the benefits of cloud computing without understanding the core principles will come a cropper, and cloud’s reputation will suffer accordingly, even if undeservedly.

3. IT management gets wired to the cloud

The days when cloud computing came in an unaccountable black box are drawing to an end. Enterprise buyers rightly demand oversight and governance of their computing, even if hosted by a provider. Instead of take-it-or-leave it service levels, there’s a new trend towards visibility and accountability. Examples include RightNow’s Cloud Services Portal or the detailed reporting and governance built into managed cloud offerings from the likes of OpSource and Rackspace. 2011 will see instrumentation bringing new depth and detail to cloud and SaaS offerings.

4. Data just wants to be mined

The volume of data being accumulated every day is exploding, and it’s yielding huge new value for those who know how to mine and refine it. This emerging new value equation is changing the relationship between data and security, as Wikileaks has shown. Governments and corporations today (not to mention consumers) are sitting on rich seams of data whose value they have barely realized. Others are mining that wealth, whether openly or surreptitiously. I can’t put it better than I wrote back in 2006: “Value comes from the views that you create to filter, join and represent data — whether it’s your data or someone else’s (more often the latter).”

5. Social technologies remake enterprise apps

The ability to collaborate in real time, to instantly initiate conversations or to develop a thread across follow-the-sun timezones — all these capabilities are bringing people together in new ways that cut across the old business processes of industrial-era enterprise applications. The old way was to put the organization and its process automation first. Now applications are being remade to put people at the center of process and have automation serve their needs. The outcome will break down the old silos of resource-centric process management, to replace them with new, people-centric automation stacks.

6. Business transformation becomes the big story

The tech industry is obsessed with its pursuit of the new, new thing. In 2011 the new, new thing is not a technology at all, but a new way of doing business that’s enabled by all of the above. The new year’s most telling innovations will not be in mobile, cloud or social technologies but in how smart, entrepreneurial business people adapt to the potential that blossoms from those technologies.

Govt Can't Access Encrypted Data: RIM

Research In Motion (RIM), the Canadian parent company of BlackBerry, has rubbished recent media reports which said RIM will allow Indian Government access to messages and e-mails sent by India's 400,000 BlackBerry users. It said that only an account holder has the necessary key to decrypt the messages. However, it revealed that security authorities and mobile operators would be granted "lawful access" to the popular BlackBerry Messenger chats. RIM has a January 31st deadline to provide the security agencies with keys to lawfully access its e-mail and messaging service. The Government has become strict in its pursuit for a solution after reports appeared that Mumbai attacks were plotted using BlackBerrys.

Hacktivists Attack Zimbabwe Govt Website

Cyber activists have brought down Zimbabwean Government websites after their President Robert Mugabe's wife sued a newspaper for publishing a WikiLeaks cable linking her with illicit diamond trading. The Zimbabwean Government Web portal (www.gta.gov.zw) was unreachable on Thursday while the Finance Ministry's website (www.zimtreasury.gov.zw) displayed a message saying it was under maintenance, as reported by the Register. The president’s wife Grace is suing a private newspaper for $15 million for publishing details from US cables on WikiLeaks which reported that she gained tremendous profits from illicit diamonds. The activists, acting under the name Anonymous, are targeting Mugabe as they feel he has outlawed the free press by suing the newspaper. Anonymous previously shut down the sites of Visa and Mastercard after they restricted payments to WikiLeaks.

Mukesh Ambani, India's Steve Jobs?

Probably not as charasmatic on stage but when it comes to revolutionary mobile products for India, Mukesh Ambani sure seems to be getting it right.

Reliance Industries under Mukesh Ambani redefined the Indian telecom market with their affordable CDMA-based mobile call rates, what followed was Mukesh Ambani having to relinquish rights to his telecom venture to younger brother Anil Ambani as part of a peace treaty between the two.

The battle between the brothers was fought in the media with each camp making statements. Much like Hindi cinema, their mother stepped in and arranged truce. Reliance Communications (formerly Reliance Infocom) was Mukesh Ambani’s brainchild and he had to give it up. Soon after, Mukesh Ambani invested in Infotel Broadband ensuring that he planned to stay in the telecommunications arena.

A while back there was news that Reliance was testing their 4G network and a new wireless broadband benchmark in the market is expected. According to reports, Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Infotel is planning to release an affordable tablet PC. The tablet is rumored to be priced at Rs. 8,000 INR (~$177) and will run on Android.

One of the most important features of the tablet PC is the user interface and it will be interesting to see what the engineers at Reliance come up with. Reliance’s approach is reduce the price to as low as possible and sell to as many as possible. The upside is very much like the mobile phone market explosion is the remote areas of India, 4G and possibly tablet PCs will reach a wider audience.

Be born to a businessman, drop out of college to work, a big family feud after a tragedy, give up your (successful) brainchild, restart it in a new form and all set to define mobile computing in India, I’d say we have a visionary in the consumer technology space with as a good a story to tell as Steve Jobs.