Category Archives: Cloud Servers
Cloud security continues to give IT managers headaches. Here’s why – SiliconANGLE News
Cloud security continues to vex corporate information technology managers, and new research indicates that the problems are both widespread and not easily fixable, thanks to a number of weak areas.
In many cases, the procedures to secure cloud workloads has been well-known for years but arent always applied consistently or reliably. Some old chestnuts, such as cross-site scripting and SQL injection attacks on web servers, still account for almost half of todays cloud vulnerabilities, for example.
The problems cover the waterfront and arent just structural issues. Secondary issues such as security alerts take too much time to resolve, and risky behaviors fester without any real accountability to prevent or change.
SiliconANGLE examined four cloud security reports that address these issues:
The reports show that despite reams of details on best security practices, organizations dont do well with their implementation, follow-through or consistent application. For example, consider well-known practices such as the usage of complex and unique passwords, collection of access logs and avoidance of hard-coded credentials.
Unit 42 states what should be obvious by now, that hard-coded credentials pose significant security risks because adversaries can use them to bypass most of the defense mechanisms. Yet it found that more than 80% of organizations still used them.
A similar majority of accounts analyzed in its report doesnt turn on the logging and auditing features across Amazon Web Services CloudTrail, the Microsoft Azure key vault audit logging and Google Cloud Platform Storage Bucket logging services.
The situation is slightly better when it comes to enforcing another best-practice safeguard: multifactor authentication. Even for cloud-oriented businesses, MFA has been slowly adopted within organizations. Datadogs research found that 45% of AWS organizationshad one or more users authenticate their main command consoleswithout using MFA.
Worse, only20% of Azure organizationshad all of their Azure Active Directory users authenticate with MFA. Unit 42s research concurs, with these findings: At least three-quarters of organizations dont enforce MFA for console users, and more than half of organizations dont enforce MFA for root/admin users. All of these numbers are pretty dismal, given the widespread dictums for MFA that have appeared along with the numerous breach statistics of accounts that relied on less secure methods.
Speaking of security credentials, Datadogs report found that static, long-lived credentials still cast a long shadow, and eliminating them has proven difficult. It found that across the three major cloud providers,roughly half of access keys are more than a year old, and more than one in 10 are more than three years old. This demonstrates that access keys tend to live for longer than they should, and many access keys arent being used and still havent been deprovisioned, the authors wrote.
IBMs X-Force team agreed with these statistics: It discovered plain-text credentials located on user endpoints in 33% of engagements involving cloud environments.
Datadogs report identified two other major issues:
When these technical challenges are combined with bad behaviors, cloud security becomes more difficult to enforce. As Illumios report said, The vast majority of organizations that use cloud-based services need more efficiency, visibility and capabilities to reduce risks in their environment and the survey found that nearly half the data breaches suffered over the past year originated in the cloud.
Part of the problem, according to Unit 42s research, is the difference between cloud and on-premises security: Traditional digital forensics and incident response techniques are not designed to handle these types of events because the tooling, processes, and data sources necessary for investigating security incidents are very different between on-premises and cloud environments.
Illumios report contains some dire language: Todays cloud security solutions are continuing to fail when it comes to safeguarding companies against cybercriminals who regularly cause massive disruption by exfiltrating data and demanding exorbitant ransoms.
Two solid recommendations come from the IBM report: Engage in adversary simulation exercises using cloud-based scenarios to train and practice effective cloud-based incident response. And use AI capabilities to help scrutinize digital identities and behaviors, verify their legitimacy and deliver smarter authentication.
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Cloud security continues to give IT managers headaches. Here's why - SiliconANGLE News
6 green coding best practices and how to get started – TechTarget
From server closets within businesses to massive server farms underpinning cloud service providers, data centers run applications all over the world. All that processing, writing to memory and other activities use a lot of power, as well as generate a lot of waste heat. While data center operators can tackle green initiatives at the physical hardware and facilities level, developers and testers can contribute with green coding.
Learn green coding techniques to program software with sustainability in mind, from reduced artifacts to slimmed-down CI/CD pipelines to solar-powered coding. Use the various benefits of a sustainable approach to development to get teams involved and start making change.
Anyone who has used a package manager, such as npm or HomeBrew, knows a major package installation often requires multiple minor packages as well. And those minor packages have dependencies. As best you can, limit the number of artifacts involved.
Operating systems vary widely in requirements. For example, Linux Mint, a popular Linux distribution based on Ubuntu and Debian, recommends 100 GB of disk space for comfortable operation. Alpine Linux, by contrast, is a 5 MB image built around musl libc and BusyBox for a Docker and Kubernetes containerized environment.
IT organizations can reduce disk, memory and processing demands by considering the software for a given purpose. Curate a list of dependencies to do just what is needed. Compile binaries with just the needed dependencies. Consider cloud-based and virtualized deployments, as many virtual servers can run on shared physical hardware.
How much processing power should software use? In one school of thought, programmers build software to use all the available processing power. This approach assumes that advances in computing hardware will enable the software to run faster when it comes to market or enters production. Joel Spolsky, founder of Trello, Stack Overflow and others, promoted the idea that bloatware is good as far back as 2001.
Computer science schools, on the contrary, teach topics like memory consumption and Big O notation. Big O notation is a method to calculate the amount of processing power used by an algorithm. Big O optimization aims for processing demand to grow more slowly as the number of elements in a list, or leaves in a tree structure, increases. It might be time to give Big O notation another look.
Other Lean coding methods include using lower-resolution photos on the internet and moving lookups from databases to in-memory caches. Open source NoSQL databases such as MongoDB, Couchbase and Redis store and retrieve common information with less processing power than a relational database.
While opting for SaaS dev and test tools may be generally more efficient than installing them to run on servers, cloud apps can still suffer from bloat. Modern DevSecOps tools often create full test environments and run all automated checks on every commit. They can also run full security scans, code linters and complexity analyzers, and stand up entire databases in the cloud. When the team merges the code, they do it all over again. Some systems run on a delay and automatically restart, perhaps on dozens of monitored branches.
Observability tools to monitor everything can lead to processing bloat and network saturation. For example, imagine a scenario where the team activates an observability system for all testing. Each time network traffic occurs, the observability system messages a server about what information goes where -- essentially doubling the test traffic. The energy consumed is essentially wasted. At best, the test servers run slowly for little benefit. At worst, the production servers are also affected, and outages occur.
An audit of exactly how much activity takes place in the pipeline could yield both processing savings and lower consumption. For example, the team could have the build process produce a cloud-native image, yet do initial testing locally on a laptop.
Monolithic systems can require an expensive regression testing process on every build. Even if entirely automated, the build and automated check process will be largely redundant, redoing what has been done before, for every build. Microservices offer the opportunity to change, test, deploy and monitor just one section of the code at a time.
Other modern approaches include languages such as PHP where the code can be deployed one web page at a time. There are also tools that take interpreted languages like PHP and compile them, resulting in smaller files that run with less CPU and memory use.
Commonly, teams that subscribe to the continuous delivery approach actually have a three- to four-day cycle time between code commit and deployment. That's likely due to human delay and processing that may be redundant. An analysis of the CI/CD pipeline could yield both time and processing savings.
The ideas above focus on coding, development and test practices, but there are also similar changes operations teams can make.
While green coding largely focuses on software design and operation, developers and testers can make an individual difference for the environment, as can their employers. Short or nonexistent commutes reduce emissions from vehicles, as does choosing a green vehicle. Solar, wind and other renewable energy sources can power homes and businesses. Companies can provide incentives for their employees to work in this way. Many governments offer tax benefits and other rewards for sustainability efforts at the corporate and individual levels.
One great advantage of green coding practices is that you can start both globally and locally. Any individual worker can brainstorm ways to reduce the footprint of the systems and code. The team can commit to reviewing the CI/CD pipeline or to look into architecture best practices.
All it takes is someone to get started. Changes to a CI/CD pipeline, analyzing code practices, adding containers and refactoring microservices are all in the hands of a software development team.
Additionally, send larger, architectural green ideas up to leadership. To get buy-in for these initiatives, highlight the benefits to the business, which include the following:
Matt Heusser is managing director at Excelon Development, where he recruits, trains and conducts software testing and development. The initial lead organizer of the Great Lakes Software Excellence Conference and lead editor of "How to Reduce the Cost of Software Testing," Matt served a term on the board of directors for the Association for Software Testing.
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6 green coding best practices and how to get started - TechTarget
Nebulon continuing to focus on OEM channel-building | Microscope – ComputerWeekly.com
Nebulon has identified a growing opportunity to deliver public cloud services to a commercial audience through the channel.
The smart infrastructure player operates a model of selling products via OEM partners and their channels, including HPE, Lenovo, Dell and Super Micro.
Nebulon is pitching a controller, offering storage, network services and cyber security services, that can be plugged into servers and provide the functionality public cloud customers have been enjoying for the past few years.
Craig Nunes, chief operating officer and co-founder of Nebulon, said there was a gap in the market that could only be plugged through OEM hardware partners and the channel. What we want to do in partnership with our server providers, with our channel, is bring that hyperscale datacentre model to enterprises, he said.
Nunes added that the vendor was able to work with the security channel and those who were working with customers at the edge.
For those partners who are bringing a security value to their customers at the network and application layer, we offer a way to drive that down deeper into the infrastructure, inside the server, to protect ransomware attacks on the server operating system and recover within minutes, he said.
We have observed [the edge] is probably the fastest growing part of the enterprise, added Nunes. Its an area where I think customers need a lot of help from their partners, either from a design or ongoing management perspective. Whether its just teaming with a partner around design and deployment of an edge opportunity or the ongoing management you know, within that customers private cloud of that edge deployment it is a great opportunity.
Another area of interest is artificial intelligence (AI), and Nunes has noted there are a lot of partners trying to work out how they can bring additional value to AI infrastructure.
We have different solution blueprints that they can take to their customers, he added. Its for folks trying to find their place in serving AI infrastructure and managing AI infrastructure for their customers, a way to take advantage of that.
As well as arming the channel with attractive technology, the other focus has been on continuing to ensure those selling via OEMs are recognised and rewarded.
Back in September 2021, the firm launched its smartPartner programme, with the aim of supporting resellers and those that want to add further value to an OEM solution. Nunes said those efforts had been continuing over the past couple of years to foster further channel growth.
We focus on the partners who also are transforming themselves and those that see the value, he said, adding that they were already able to see a fairly substantial opportunity.
The most successful partners we have are in early at the design of the project, and they are also being asked to own it over time, said Nunes. Theyre sticking around for the management and maintenance of that, and for those partners, they are making a tremendous business. Theyre an extension of those customer accounts.
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Nebulon continuing to focus on OEM channel-building | Microscope - ComputerWeekly.com
CNBC Daily Open: Back to square one? – CNBC
Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on November 15, 2023 in New York City.
Spencer Platt | Getty Images News | Getty Images
This report is from today's CNBC Daily Open, our new, international markets newsletter. CNBC Daily Open brings investors up to speed on everything they need to know, no matter where they are. Like what you see? You can subscribehere.
Last burst before a breakU.S. stocks ended Wednesday in positive territory before going on break today for Thanksgiving. Treasurys briefly fell to a two-month low before inching up again. Asia-Pacific markets traded mixed Thursday. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 fell about 0.6% as flash estimates showed the country's business activity contracting at its fastest pace in 27 months. Meanwhile, Japan's Nikkei 225 added 0.3%.
Altman's backSam Altman has returned as the CEO of OpenAI, less than a week after he was ousted by the company's previous board. There's also a board reshuffle, with Bret Taylor, former co-CEO of Salesforce and Larry Summers, former U.S. Treasury secretary, joining. Separately, OpenAI researchers reportedly warned the board of an AI breakthrough ahead of Altman's ouster.
Binance outflowBinance has seen outflows of more than $1 billion in the past 24 hours and that figure doesn't even include bitcoin according to data from blockchain analysis firm Nansen. Still, more than $65 billion worth of assets remain on Binance, Nansen noted, and there hasn't been a "mass exodus" of funds. The withdrawals come after founder Changpeng Zhao pleaded guilty to criminal charges Tuesday.
Smartphone sales reboundGlobal smartphone sales rose 5% year on year in October, reversing a downward trend that lasted 27 months, according to data from Counterpoint Research. "The growth has been led by emerging markets with a continuous recovery in Middle East and Africa, Huawei's comeback in China and onset of festive season in India," the research firm said.
[PRO] New AI trendGenerative artificial intelligence relies heavily on computing power, typically hosted on cloud servers. Some companies are trying to change the way consumers use AI, which would save costs, reduce latency and help those companies' shares outperform in 2024 and 2025, according to Morgan Stanley.
A slow day in U.S. markets as investors turned their thoughts to turkey rather than Treasurys.
To be sure, it was exciting in Treasury land for a while. The 10-year Treasury yield fell to 4.369% during the day, its lowest since Sept. 20. But it rebounded to 4.41%, essentially unchanged from U.S. trading on Tuesday.
The same trajectory of sudden intensity followed by a reversion to the norm seems to have played out across various events this week.
Sam Altman's back as OpenAI's CEO less than a week after his ouster. Oil prices clawed back most of their losses after they slumped around 5% Wednesday on the news that the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries delayed their meeting by four days. Jack Ma's holding off his previously announced plans to sell Alibaba shares after they tumbled around 9% last week.
The dust seems to have settled for now but that doesn't diminish the volatility of those situations. Oil prices could shoot up again following the OPEC+ meeting. New developments could crop up at OpenAI.
Still, investors took a breather yesterday. Trading volume was muted: The SPDR S&P 500, which tracks the broad-based index, traded 59.3 million shares, below its 30-day average of 84.6 million.
Major indexes managed to end the day in positive territory. The S&P 500 added 0.41%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.53% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite rose 0.46%, despite Nvidia dropping 2.46% after reporting earnings.
U.S. markets close for Thanksgiving on Thursday, and return for a shortened session the next day. Investors might be thankful for that, too, after a hectic week in markets and business.
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CNBC Daily Open: Back to square one? - CNBC
Scots victims could be illegally compromised by 33m criminal justice IT system – Daily Record
A 33 million criminal justice IT system could illegally compromise the personal data of thousands of Scots victims.
Watchdogs have raised serious concerns about trials of the Digital Evidence Sharing Capability (DESC) service by Police Scotland and said the Crown Office could already have broken the law.
The system bought by the Scottish Government from US firm Axon allows witness statements, body-cam footage, fingerprints and other details to be uploaded and shared with other agencies. But the Sunday Mail can reveal the Scottish Police Authority (SPA) and biometrics commissioner have given formal warnings over its legality and security.
They have raised fears it could lead to class action lawsuits, hacking and the prospect of the US government snooping on citizens.
Opposition politicians have demanded a halt to the roll-out until concerns are answered.
Scottish Tory shadow justice secretary Russell Findlay said: SNP ministers cannot press ahead with this system without seeking categorical assurances about the security of the highly sensitive and personal data of crime victims and witnesses. It appears these concerns have already been flagged within Scottish policing, so it would be grossly irresponsible, and financially improper, to proceed without ensuring they are addressed.
Scottish Lib Dem justice spokesperson Liam McArthur said: These documents raise real questions about why Police Scotland has pressed ahead with this scheme while the legal status is still up in the air. Its an approach that opens up the risk of legal challenges bogging down the service in litigation for years.
Concern revolves around files being held by a US firms cloud servers. This could leave Scottish authorities unable to comply with UK data protection laws.
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Axons system is being hosted on Microsoft Azure. But in an impact assessment drafted by the SPA and seen by the Sunday Mail, the watchdog warned transfers to overseas cloud providers are likely to be illegal. It added its concerns relate to the provider, a wholly owned US company, and its sub-processor, Microsoft Azure.
The document said US law allows its attorney general and intelligence services director to jointly authorise targeted surveillance of people outside the US, as long as they are not a US citizen.
US law also allows its government to access any data, stored anywhere by US firms in the cloud. While the data protection impact assessment said the risk of US government access via the Cloud Act was unlikely, it added the fallout would be cataclysmic.
Scottish biometrics commissioner Brian Plastow also raised concerns. He served Police Scotland with a formal notice in April requiring it to demonstrate its use of the system was compliant with the Data Protection Act.
Police Scotland confirmed in July it had uploaded significant volumes of images to DESC during this pilot, while insisting appropriate encryption was in place. But Plastow said this did not ameliorate specific concerns.
He is now reviewing whether Police Scotland is complying with a data code of conduct.
The SPA said: There are often associated risks when introducing new digital solutions and it is satisfied Police Scotland is taking all necessary steps to address and mitigate these before rollout.
Police Scotland said it was continuing to identify, assess and mitigate any risks relating to data sovereignty. The Scottish Government said: We take the privacy of citizens data very seriously.
Axon said it has established and continues to enhance data protection measures to support customers, including our contract with the Scottish Government.
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Scots victims could be illegally compromised by 33m criminal justice IT system - Daily Record
Samsung Electronics to Lead Autonomous Driving Era with New … – BusinessKorea
Samsung Electronics recently presented a number of memory strategies to prepare for the AI Big Bang era at the Investors Forum 2023 in Hong Kong.
The company aims to dominate the automotive memory market by 2025, with plans to roll out AI-related products starting next year. The AI market is expanding from cloud servers to on-device technologies in smartphones and PCs. Samsung Electronics plans to meet the demand for the upcoming autonomous driving era with a range of solutions.
According to industry sources on Nov. 22, Samsung Electronics introduced these strategies at the Investors Forum 2023 in Hong Kong, highlighting its proactive response to the impending automotive AI era. The automotive system semiconductor market, currently at US$50 billion, represents only 4% of the total US$1.34 trillion market. However, it is projected to grow at an average annual rate of 17% over the next five years (2023-2028), outpacing the mobile (6%) and high-performance computing (12%) sectors.
The growth in the automotive sector is expected to accelerate with advancements in autonomous driving technology. Autonomous driving levels, classified from levels 0 to 5 by the Society of Automotive Engineers, are currently at level 3, or conditional automation, which still requires human intervention. But as the technology progresses to levels 4 and 5, AI capabilities are anticipated to advance significantly. The number of sensors in vehicles is expected to increase from around 15 to 25-30, and AI computing performance could surge from 24 trillion operations per second (TOPS) to between 320-1000 TOPS. This is why the memory industry is focusing on on-device AI, so AI can be anywhere at any time without the need for network connectivity.
Samsung Electronics announced that it is developing various automotive memories to meet future demands in the industry. The company will release a new 561-ball package Low Power Double Data Rate 5X (LPDDR5X) automotive memory module in the first half of next year. This new memory is half the size of the previous generation (441-ball package) but offers 20% greater power efficiency. It utilizes a higher-density flip-chip ball grid array (FC-BGA) substrate. Despite its smaller size, it can process data at a speed of 68 GB per second, equivalent to handling 13 full-HD movies in one second.
Additionally, Samsung Electronics plans to release a detachable Auto Solid State Drive (SSD) next year. This product increases data efficiency by enabling storage virtualization, allowing a single SSD to be partitioned for use by multiple Systems-on-Chip (SoCs). It supports a maximum continuous read speed of 6500 MB/s and offers a capacity of 4 TB. The detachable design facilitates easy SSD replacement, making performance upgrades convenient.
In 2025, Samsung Electronics also plans to release the GDDR7 high-speed Graphic DRAM, capable of 32 Gbps. This product, developed by Samsung Electronics this year, allows for the transfer of large data volumes at 128 GB/s and is suitable for applications such as autonomous vehicles. It also supports ultra-low-voltage options to match the requirements of its applications.
Samsung Electronics aims to launch its automotive GDDR7 by 2025, coinciding with the expected commercialization of level 4 high autonomous driving, and plans to become a leader in the automotive semiconductor industry by then. The company aspires to lead the era of complete autonomous driving (level 5) by 2030.
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Samsung Electronics to Lead Autonomous Driving Era with New ... - BusinessKorea
Where to Watch National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation in 2023 – Cloudwards
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If youre looking for a classic comedy film for the festive season, look no further than National Lampoons Christmas Vacation, starring Chevy Chase and Beverly DAngelo. It may be more than 30 years old, but the dysfunctional Griswold family may be relatable for some even now. Heres how and where to watch National Lampoons Christmas Vacation online from anywhere.
No matter what Clark (Chevy Chase) does, his bad luck follows. From Christmas lights not working to causing an awful amount of damage to the house, to his wifes cousin Eddie showing up unexpectedly, Clarks hopes of a traditional family Christmas dont quite go to plan.
We found Christmas Vacation on Max in the U.S. and other streaming services outside the U.S. If you want to watch it outside of your country, youll need to use a top VPN like ExpressVPN to bypass geoblocks. There are other movies in the franchise too, and this guide will show you where you can watch them all including Christmas Vacation 2 (2003) and Vacation (2015).
If you have cable TV, you can watch Christmas Vacation on the TBS or TNT channel on select days. We dont have access to the TV schedule for December right now, but we can tell you that the film is available to watch on the following dates and times on TNT (note that times are in ET).
If you dont have cable, you can use a live TV streaming service that has the TNT channel, such as Sling TV, Hulu + Live TV or YouTube TV. If youre outside the U.S., youll need the help of a virtual private network (VPN) to get access.
You can watch National Lampoons Christmas Vacation on Max in the U.S. Max (formerly known as HBO Max) is only available in the U.S. If youre traveling outside of the country, youll need to use a VPN to unblock it. Keep in mind that Max requires a U.S. payment method to sign up. If you dont have one, you can use a prepaid card like StatesCard.
National Lampoons Christmas Vacation is available to watch on Max in the U.S.
Weve provided a table to show you where else you can stream Christmas Vacation online.
You can also buy or rent Christmas Vacation on services like Apple TV, Google Play, YouTube and Vudu.
No, we didnt find National Lampoons Christmas Vacation in any Netflix library. The only movie in the franchise we found on Netflix is Vacation (2015), which is available on Netflix in Canada, Austria and Germany.
Thats not to say Christmas Vacation wont ever be available on Netflix, though, since the platforms content is always changing. Thats why its a good idea to manually check for the content you want every now and then, and not only on your local library.
Netflixs content varies by region, but you can easily switch to another countrys library by using a VPN. Just connect to a server in a different country and log in to your Netflix account like you normally do. Your connection will fool Netflix into thinking youre located in that country and show you the content available there.
This section provides steps to show you how to watch National Lampoons Christmas Vacation on Amazon Prime Video for free using its free trial. The platform is available in most countries, but the free trial duration varies (30 days in the U.S. vs seven days in Norway), so its a good idea to sign up first and then use a VPN to switch to a different country library that includes Christmas Vacation.
The steps are pretty much the same for unblocking the film on any other service, including Netflix if its ever available there.
Go to ExpressVPNs website and sign up for one of its plans. All plans are covered by a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Download and install the VPN app onto the device you want to stream on. ExpressVPN is available for most devices. Once installed, open the app and log into your account.
Connect to a server in a country where Christmas Vacation is available on Prime, such as Norway, Denmark, Finland or Austria. You can search through ExpressVPNs full server list by clicking the dots next to the country name.
Go to the Amazon Prime Video website and sign in to your account (or sign up for the free trial if you havent already).
Search for National Lampoons Christmas Vacation and start watching it on Amazon Prime Video.
Whatever you intend to stream online, its crucial to opt for a VPN that has fast speeds, plenty of servers and the ability to unblock your streaming platform of choice. If youre in a restricted country, security and obfuscated servers are also important. Here are our top recommendations.
ExpressVPN has plenty of servers and no problem unblocking streaming services.
Pros:
ExpressVPN is capable of unblocking any streaming platform. So whether youll be streaming Christmas Vacation on Prime, tuning into it on TNT with Sling TV or maybe youre traveling outside of the U.S. and want to watch it with your Max account, ExpressVPN has you covered.
It has servers in more than 100 countries, so you can watch it pretty much anywhere its available. Plus, its servers automatically include obfuscation and is one of the most secure VPNs, which means you can access the movie or other content from a restricted country without fear.
ExpressVPN is also easy to use and available on most devices, it just doesnt have a very appealing price. You can bring the cost down by signing up for a year, though, and theres a money-back guarantee in case you decide you dont like it. Read our ExpressVPN review for more details.
ExpressVPN Plans
NordVPN has the fastest speeds and an affordable price.
Pros:
Cons:
NordVPN is another VPN that can easily unblock streaming services, and it has servers in 60 countries for doing so. It also includes top-notch security, but obfuscation is only available on certain servers. All of NordVPNs servers can be accessed via the usual server list or on its interactive server map. Just keep in mind that smaller screens can make it difficult to use.
As shown in our daily speed tests, NordVPN has the fastest average speeds, so you wont have to worry about video quality or buffering. It also offers an affordable two-year plan, making it a better option if youre on a low budget. Theres also a 30-day money-back guarantee to fall back on. You can learn more by reading our NordVPN review.
Standard
Christmas Vacation is the third film in the Vacation series by National Lampoon magazine, following the Griswold family once again. As the Holiday season draws in, Clark wants nothing more than a traditional, family Christmas. He drags his wife, Ellen, and two children to pick out a perfect Christmas tree and sets about decorating their house with a tremendous number of lights and decorations.
It doesnt take long for things to go awry, with the tree being too big, the Christmas lights failing to work, Ellens cousin Eddie arriving unannounced in his run-down RV and Clark not receiving his Christmas bonus as expected. Instead of a calm and cozy Christmas, its complete chaos, with freak accidents, explosions, the Santa Claus decoration catching fire and even a visit from the S.W.A.T. team.
It has just the right amount of slapstick humor, wit, satire and relatable circumstances with zany relatives. Heres the cast list for Christmas Holiday.
Though National Lampoons Christmas Vacation (1989) is one of the most recognizable movies of the franchise, its actually the third installment. There are five original movies, a 2010 short and a 2015 reboot. Only two of them are Christmas editions and Chevy Chase stars in all but Christmas Vacation 2: Cousin Eddies Island Adventure.
Weve provided a table to show you where you can watch all of them. Note that European Vacation (1985) is available for free with ads on the Polish website VOD.PL. Its in Polish, but you can set the language to English in the settings. Its also geoblocked, but a Polish VPN server will help you access it. The 2010 short Hotel Hell Vacation is 14 minutes long and can be found on YouTube completely free.
We hope our guide has helped you catch some family humor for the festive season. The Griswold family is sure to bring some laughter, and you can watch it entirely free by using an Amazon Prime Video free trial and a VPNs money-back guarantee ExpressVPN is the best choice.
Whats your favorite National Lampoon film? Will you need to use a VPN to watch Christmas Vacation? Let us know which one you pick in the comments section and, as always, thank you for reading.
Yes. Its on Max in the U.S. and Australian services Binge, Stan and Foxtel Now. You can also watch it on Prime in Nordic countries.
Christmas Vacation is available on Prime in certain countries, such as Austria, Norway, Finland and Denmark. If youre not in any of those countries, you can use a VPN to unblock it.
Christmas Vacation is a comedy film built around sexual references and nudity, bad language, mild violence, and some references to alcohol, smoking and drugs, hence why it is rated a PG-13.
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Where to Watch National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation in 2023 - Cloudwards
December 2023’s Top 10 AI Tools To Experience Rapid Growth – Analytics Insight
December 2023 brings a slew of cutting-edge AI tools poised to redefine industries and push the boundaries of innovation. From enhanced natural language processing to advanced machine learning algorithms, these AI tools are at the forefront of driving rapid growth and transforming the way businesses operate. Lets delve into the top 10 AI tools making waves this December.
Explore the latest iteration of OpenAIs powerful language model, GPT-4, designed to comprehend and generate human-like text. Witness how its revolutionizing content creation, chatbots, and language-based AI applications.
TensorFlow, Googles open-source machine learning framework, takes a giant leap with version 3.0. Discover its new features and enhancements, empowering developers to build and deploy robust deep learning models.
Witness the latest advancements in AutoML (Automated Machine Learning) tools that are making machine learning accessible to non-experts. Explore how these tools automate the model-building process, enabling businesses to leverage AI without a deep understanding of the technology.
Dive into PyTorch Lightning, a lightweight PyTorch wrapper designed to simplify the training and deployment of complex neural network models. Learn how it accelerates AI development and fosters collaboration among researchers and engineers.
Explore the evolving landscape of reinforcement learning frameworks, such as Dopamine and Rllib, and their impact on training AI models in dynamic, real-world environments. Uncover the potential applications in robotics, gaming, and autonomous systems.
Delve into the realm of AI-driven cybersecurity tools that leverage machine learning algorithms to detect and thwart cyber threats. Understand how these tools are enhancing the resilience of organizations against evolving security challenges.
Witness the latest breakthroughs in computer vision, including advancements in object detection, image recognition, and scene understanding. Explore how these innovations are reshaping industries like healthcare, retail, and autonomous vehicles.
Uncover the role of NLG in business intelligence tools, transforming raw data into actionable insights. See how NLG is being utilized to generate human-like narratives, making data-driven decision-making more accessible for businesses.
Examine the transformative impact of AI tools on healthcare diagnostics. From medical image analysis to predictive analytics, discover how AI is enhancing diagnostic accuracy, optimizing treatment plans, and ultimately improving patient care.
Explore the rise of Edge AI, where AI computations are performed locally on devices rather than relying on centralized cloud servers. Understand its implications for real-time processing, reduced latency, and enhanced privacy in various applications.
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December 2023's Top 10 AI Tools To Experience Rapid Growth - Analytics Insight
Artificial Intelligence and sustainability at forefront as industry turns … – Intelligent CIO
Vertiv trends forecast sees intense focus on AI enablement and energy management.
Intense, urgent demand for Artificial Intelligence (AI) capabilities and the dueling pressure to reduce energy consumption, costs and greenhouse gas emissions loom large over the data center industry heading into 2024.
The proliferation of AI (as Vertiv predicted two years ago) along with the infrastructure and sustainability challenges inherent in AI-capable computing can be felt across the industry and throughout the 2024 data center trends forecast from Vertiv, a global provider of critical digital infrastructure and continuity solutions.
AI and its downstream impact on data center densities and power demands have become the dominant storylines in our industry, said Vertiv CEO Giordano (Gio) Albertazzi.
Finding ways to help customers both support the demand for AI and reduce energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions is a significant challenge requiring new collaborations between data centers, chip and server manufacturers, and infrastructure providers.
These are the trends Vertivs experts expect to dominate the data center ecosystem in 2024:
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Artificial Intelligence and sustainability at forefront as industry turns ... - Intelligent CIO
Nothing tries to bring iMessage to Android, forced to pause all that – Technology Zimbabwe
A smartphone that does not support WhatsApp is as good as a kambudzi (feature phone) to most Zimbabweans. Imagine trying to take over the Zimbabwean market with such a smartphone. It would have some takers if it had solid cameras, batteries, design etc. but most would laugh it off.
Thats increasingly how it feels for smartphone manufacturers trying to take on Apple in the United States. Apple dominates the important US market with a 57% market share.
Thats nothing though compared to the following crazy stat: 87% of American teens use an iPhone with 88% expecting their next phone to be an iPhone too.
You can see how Android is doomed in the US. Gen Xers and older generations are dying off whilst millennials are greying out. Who is going to use Androids in the US in the future?
One major reason why Androids are failing to convince US teens to switch is iMessage. That instant messaging app, which is exclusive to Apple devices is their version of WhatsApp. So, imagine being a teen in the US and not being able to participate because you went for a fancy folding Samsung.
So, that means teens who arent necessarily fans of the iPhone end up using it just so they can be a part of the group chats.
Do note though that non-iPhone users can message their sheep iPhone-toting friends. To understand how, imagine WhatsApp being combined with the SMS app.
That way, if someone does not have WhatsApp their message would get to you and you could respond to them with WhatsApp converting your message to a simple SMS so they can deliver it. I wish WhatsApp had this feature.
Of course, your SMS-using friend would not be able to access some WhatsApp features like blue ticks, typing indicators, the ending of images and videos etc.
Thats how it is for Android users sending messages to iMessage users. They can only send SMS and MMS, meaning that even the videos they send are compressed to a crazy degree and get to the iPhone users all pixellated and low quality.
If youve ever heard these teens talk about Androids taking garbage pictures, its because they really think so because when Androids send those images via iMessage (MMS) they get to the recipients in a terrible state.
This is why Google kept pressing Apple to adopt RCS, which to put it simply, is a new SMS standard that gives SMS some of the features we have come to expect from WhatsApp, iMessage and the competition.
Using RCS, iMessage users can receive pictures and videos in HD quality from their Android-using friends.
This is why we talked about: EU doing the lords work. Apple now bringing RCS support to iMessage.
Nothing is an exciting new Android phone manufacturer. I like their offerings even though I believe they try to model themselves after Apple a little too much for my liking.
Now, Nothing saw this teen iPhone usage in the US and realised it didnt matter how good their phone looked, or how much they innovated, they were not getting the American teen. Which meant losing out on a whole generation and a bleak future.
They decided to bring iMessage to Android by hook and crook. They partnered with a company called Sunbird to make that happen.
Of course, this was not all above board, Tim Cook would never release iMessage on Android. Here is what Sunbird and others do.
It works by combining cloud-based servers and Android software. To start using Sunbird, you need to set up an iCloud account on a cloud server. Once you have done that, Sunbird uses a VPN to connect to the iCloud account. This connection is used to create a virtual iPhone on the server, which allows you to send and receive iMessages on your Android device.
The Android software works by intercepting SMS and MMS messages and then converting them into iMessages. The converted iMessages are then sent to the virtual iPhone on the cloud server, where they are relayed to the intended recipients iPhone.
Nothing decided to skin and rebrand Sunbird as Nothing Chats and announced that they had iMessage on an Android. On this announcement, many people raised privacy concerns but Nothing and Sunbird assured us that all was in order.
Except it wasnt. Sunbird misrepresented the security of their services. Multiple investigators claimed that the full contents of messages sent through Sunbird were accessible in plain text to both Sunbird and any quarter-decent hacker.
Your pics arent safe either. The investigators say All the documents (images, videos, audios, pdfs, vCards) sent through Nothing Chats AND Sunbird are public. Nothing Chats is not end-to-end encrypted.
Sunbird dismissed this and gave their own evidence but those who know this stuff dismantled everything they said.
As a result, Nothing decided to pull Nothing Chats from the Play Store talm bout Weve removed the Nothing Chats beta from the Play Store and will be delaying the launch until further notice to work with Sunbird to fix several bugs.
Youre thinking, those are not bugs. Whats great is that the Community Note below that X post by Nothing reads, The bugs are security issues. The app logged every message in plain text and stored unencrypted data like text messages, images and videos.
You gotta love Community Notes.
To top it all off, Sunbird decided to put their service on hold talm bout they are investigating security concerns.
This could be the end for Sunbird and Nothing Chats.
So, dear Android user, you can rest easy knowing that RCS is coming to iMessage and so you wont need to deal with sketchy services like these.
However, do note that Sunbird allowed you to send blue bubble messages. I dont think Apple will change the colour of the bubble just because its RCS but if you care about the colour then thats on you.
Youll be able to send high-quality pics and vids using RCS, who cares if the text bubble is green? I know people care and it is what it is.
In all this I am reminded of how I hate some aspects of how Apple. They actually like the bullying that Android-using teens get. They believe it creates an incentive for teens to choose the iPhone. It does and its just not okay in my book.
They have every right to do this but I dont have to like it. I believe the iPhone can compete on its own merits without artificially restricting access to an app.
Think of a world where Samsung acquires WhatsApp and makes it a Samsung exclusive. Nobody wants that but its what the Americans are living through.
Thank God iMessage is not popular in these parts. Over here we can actually compare it to the competition and make our choices accordingly.
Apples iMessage not bothering with RCS. Android brings iMessage support to Google Messages instead.
EU to force WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger to interoperate with smaller platforms. Sasai must be giddy
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Nothing tries to bring iMessage to Android, forced to pause all that - Technology Zimbabwe