Page 3,990«..1020..3,9893,9903,9913,992..4,0004,010..»

Review: In the Vale is full of characters who linger long in the mind – Nation.Cymru

December 27, 2019 | Author: admin

In the Vale. Background image, Parish Church, St Nicholas, Vale of Glamorgan/ Picture by John Lord (CC BY-SA 2.0)

Jon Gower

The eponymous vale of this evocative historical novel is the Vale of Glamorgan though at times it might just as easily be the Vale of Tears as children die prematurely, hunger stalks the land and the shadowy clouds of the Napoleonic Wars lengthen.

The central characters are George, a cash-strapped curate and his wife Sarah, who conveniently marries him after becoming pregnant with the child of a local landowner, Richard Aubrey. Hiding his paternity Aubrey pulls some strings and George is gifted the ancient church at Llantrithyd to look after, and thus a scant but secure living, as this is still a period when the church was granted tithes from its parishioners. They tilled the land and the churchmen prayed for them in turn, and took their scant money.

With the sure authority of Anthony Trollope writing about the clergy of Barchester, Adams details the life of the parish and a clergymans responsibilities therein. He is especially good on the patterns, rigours and terminology of the agricultural life. So we find George weeding a barley crop, His companion in labour was one of a pair of oxen from the hovel, which needed the flick of a long, thin whip on its flank as a reminder to lift one broad hoof after another with the same measured pace the share would spill out fresh furrows through the day.

On a warm day in August, the communal act of haymaking sees landowners and tenants alike working in tandem, having fallen into line and into the rhythm of cutting, the scythe close to the ground, arms straight, the body twisting left to right, slicing the grass neatly, adding stroke by stroke to the swathe lengthening across the field.

All this detail, all these rhythms of the farming year are delivered with quiet authority. Here is a novelist who knows how to employ his research without show or flourish, allowing his evocations of London life, or autumnal shooting parties out to bag hares and partridges, or the rituals of rural funerals to settle fully in the readers mind.

Defences

Sam Adams is a long-established poet as well as a novelist so naturally, the book is shot through with passages of quiet lyricism:

Nearing Penlline, the lane climbed steeply and passed between tall trees and hedges so high and weighted by foliage they bowed inwards, hiding the sky. In the damp warmth of May, blossoms on the hedge banks, primrose and dandelion, bluebell and celandine, strained up towards chinks of light in the canopy.

One of the unexpected subjects of the book is that of inoculation, as Jenners ideas for ensuring children should not be affected by the disfigurements and threat of death by smallpox are trialled by George and Sarah on their child Bloom, with tragic consequences. Life and death, plantings and harvests, blossoming and decay: these are the patternings of the novel.

As the story proceeds so too do Britains preparations to deal with Napoleons commandeering of Europe, and a threat to British shores. Richard Aubrey becomes the commandant of the Glamorgan Militia, which finds itself on the south coast of England, digging underground defences to ward off French invasion across the channel.

For a brief while, George joins him as a curate, where the learns the men are a different breed. When he asks them where they come from, which parishes and who are their vicars one of them replies No vicars, said the Dowlais man, chapel us. And, as work began, the deep voice from the gloom rose again in a hymn tune, in a moment taken up it seemed by the whole body of the men, and the tune, the strong Welsh words, followed the chaplain

Meanwhile, back in Wales, the effect of the war is felt deeply as bread prices rise and food shortages spread and many already poor people find themselves on starvation rations. A rebellious spirit spreads among them and George, in his role as magistrate, has to stand up to them and in particular to one of the ringleaders, his surly, obnoxious gardener who turns out to have the blackest heart of all the books characters.

The Vale offers an absorbing insight into life in both grand houses and near-derelict hovels, setting the lives of working folk in a small corner of Wales in the context of sweeping events such as wars in Spain or Napoleons attempt to annexe Austria.

Sam Adams has won his spurs as a writer about history with previous works such as the novel Prichards Nose and Where the Stream Ran Red, a memoir of life in Gilfach Goch, the mining village where he grew up. Here, once again he proves himself to be an artist who is happy to work with a broad and busy canvas, filling it with finely detailed landscapes and cityscapes and characters who linger a long time in the mind.

Sam Adams himself has been writing since the 1960s and this latest novel shows absolutely no signs whatsoever of his tale-tellers gifts diminishing. In fact, quite the opposite.

In the Vale by Sam Adams costs 9.99 and can be bought here.

See original here:

Review: In the Vale is full of characters who linger long in the mind - Nation.Cymru

Read More..
Posted in Deep Mind | Leave a Comment

Re: Your Account Is Overdrawn – Thrive Global

December 27, 2019 | Author: admin

Bigger, better, more and now.

This is the society we live in today. Christmas Trees up before Halloween, shopping, parties, spending, eating, drinking, rushing, worrying all in the name of holidays.

The word holiday comes from the word haligdaeg (holy day) and refers to a day of rest & relaxation, without work. And we work so hard for that day without work.

And then, in the blink of an eye, its here. Christmas morning, the kids rush down the stairs, begging to open gifts. We desperately pour another cup of coffee, and act surprised by what Santa left under the tree. We watch as they tear open gift after gift. Through tired eyes, we smile from the inside out seeing the joy on their faces. And then, in an instant, its over. Were left with an empty tree, a floor covered in paper, and decorations demanding to be taken down. And despite all the smiles, we cant help but feel a little deflated.

But what if there was more? What if the end was only the beginning? What if weve been doing it wrong this whole time?

Now before you start saying, More??! No. Im done. I cant take any more, Alicia! Just hear me out. Id like to propose we start a new tradition in 2020. Bigger, better, longer. I call it Big Rest.

And heres how it works:

1. Question everything:

You know that obnoxious Christmas song about the 12 Days of Christmas that makes no sense? Did you know that the 12 days dont end on Christmas? The 12 days begin on Christmas day and last through January 6th (3 Kings Day). So what does that mean?

But I dont celebrate Christmas, Alicia.

Thats OK. Christmas came from the Yule Festival, a Nordic tradition celebrated in Scandinavia and other parts of northern Europe. It begins on Winter Solstice (roughly December 21 or 22) and lasts for. 12 days! Later, Christians adapted these traditions to the celebration of Christs birth.

The point is, this isnt about traditions or religion. Its about digging a little deeper into why we do the things we do. And just because weve always done things a certain way, doesnt mean we cant change. After all, dont we love bigger, better, faster and more?

2. Lean In:

Now that our holiday boundaries have expanded, lets take a deep breath, and lean into the season longer. We, in the Northern Hemisphere, are in the middle of the winter season. It neither begins or ends with the holiday.

The winter solstice time is no longer celebrated as it once was, with the understanding that this is a period of descent and rest like nature and the animal kingdom around us, this time of hibernation is so necessary for our tired limbs, our burdened minds people are left feeling that winter is hard, because for those of us without burning fires and big festive families, it can be lonely and isolating. But winter is kind. She points us in her quiet, soft way towards our inner self, towards this annual time of peace and reflection, embracing the darkness and forgiving, accepting and embracing the past year and then, just around the corner the new year will begin again, and like a seed planted deep in the earth, we will all rise with renewed energy once again.

-Bridget Anna McNeil

3. Rest:

In the month of December, we rush and eat and spend and consume, and suddenly, its all over in a day. Then we hit the ground running on January 1st and resume our busy lives. Pay off the credit card, lose weight, make more money, hit the quota.

What if instead of ending and beginning the year in a rush, we ended and began with rest? What if we embraced winter, from December through February, as a time of peace and renewal? What if instead of reacting to the previous year, we took time to prepare for the next one? To recharge, to listen, to read, to explore, to plan.

Everything in nature is cyclical phases of the moon, the seasons, even our own bodies. So why, then, do we constantly push and rush and drive without ceasing? The moon isnt full all the time. The earth isnt spring year-round (unless you live in San Diego). The sun doesnt shine 24 hours a day. No, the sun sets, and we rest. In fact, we should spend 30% of our day in rest (approximately 8 hours). And yet, we view it as a burden to productivity instead of the fuel that enables us to create.

When we sleep, our bodies perform very vital functions to recharge, replenish, and heal itself. And all of this without our conscious mind to plan, execute, manage and analyze when we rest, our bodies recharge with no effort from us.

So, if youre left feeling drained at the end of the year, like an overdrawn bank account, I challenge you to prioritize Big Rest in 2020. Let go of unceasing effort, lean in, and trust the power and process of rest. Bigger, better, more and now.

To help illustrate the power of resting a little longer, Ill leave you with this old, but relevant, 80s commercial featuring the kid from A Christmas Story.

Happy Holidays! May they be full of rest and last a little longer.

Read this article:

Re: Your Account Is Overdrawn - Thrive Global

Read More..
Posted in Deep Mind | Leave a Comment

2019 in review: Which altcoins performed the best vs Bitcoin? – Coin Rivet

December 27, 2019 | Author: admin

2019 has proved to be a roller-coaster year for the cryptocurrency market.

Bitcoin started the year at lows of around $3,150 before threatening to break its all-time high in the summer, surging all the way up to $14,000.

However, as can be expected with the volatility of the crypto markets, the worlds largest cryptocurrency is now around 45% down from that summer high and is currently trading at $7,500 at the time of writing.

But which altcoins grew the most against Bitcoin during 2019?

In this article, Ill take a look at the top three altcoins that have performed the most impressively over the course of the year.

Before I dive a bit deeper into each altcoin individually, let me take a moment to compare the gains among the top five coins vs Bitcoin.

Much to my surprise, the top altcoin of 2019 is Ocean Protocol (OCEAN). The OCEAN token grew a whopping 404% against Bitcoin over the year.

Next up is Chainlink (LINK) with an impressive 256% gain, followed closely by Egretia (EGT), Tezos (XTZ), and Ripio Credit Network (RCN).

Lets take a closer look at the biggest movers individually: Ocean Protocol, Chainlink, and Tezos.

Above we can see the chart for OCEAN vs Bitcoin, courtesy of TradingView.

What the chart shows is a fairly straightforward positive trend line since the summer. From mid-August 2019 to December 2019, Ocean Protocol grew over 400%.

Moreover, looking at the EMAs, price is still performing quite well. It is currently sitting at 621 sats and is looking to break 700 sats soon.

Ocean Protocol claims it is kickstarting a data economy by breaking down data silos and equalising access to data for all.

OCEAN provides an ecosystem for the data economy and associated services, with a tokenised service layer that securely exposes data, storage, and algorithms for consumption.

However, since its inception, the OCEAN token is down quite a lot from its original IEO price.

I personally believe the rally this year has been led by early investors who got a 22.5% discount rate from the IEO price. As such, I cannot vouch for the fundamentals of the project since it has only recently started trading to the public.

Depending on the behaviour of OCEAN whales (institutional investors who bought in during the pre-seed stage), the token could continue to increase in price.

However, since so much of the supply is locked away with big players, I do expect a major dump to take place sometime in the near future -much like what happened with Matic and other IEOs.

Here we can see the chart for Chainlink vs Bitcoin, courtesy of TradingView.

Fundamentally, the Chainlink network provides reliable tamper-proof inputs and outputs for complex smart contracts on any blockchain.

LINK is currently trading above 25,500 sats. Until fairly recently, LINK was the top performing altcoin of the year. However, a substantial dump in November took the altcoin below its 20-day and 50-day EMAs.

At the moment, its looking grim for Chainlink as price is almost touching the 200-day EMA, near 24,000 sats.

Despite this latest downtrend, LINK is still up over 230% against Bitcoin since the start of the year. At its peak, Chainlink was up over 330% versus Bitcoin.

However, LINK hasnt been able to hold its gains and the volume profile shows the coin could be in dire straits. If LINK is unable to hold support near 24,000 sats, it could drop further down towards the next levels of support at 20,000 and 12,000 sats.

Its important to underline though that Chainlink dumped over 50% between July and September before making its way to new all-time highs.

This means we could see LINK drop below 18,000 sats before pumping again.

If buyers remain in control, I expect LINK to pump sometime during Q1 2020. The altcoin historically reaches new all-time highs every 115 to 130 days, so we could see a new high during February or March 2020.

On the other hand, if price drops down further below 12,000 sats and is incapable of pushing towards the 200-day EMA, I would switch my position and avoid LINK.

Next we can see the chart for Tezos vs Bitcoin, once more courtesy of TradingView.

That November pump looks quite impressive, doesnt it? Thats because Tezos mainnet was released around that time.

Fundamentally, Tezos is an open-source platform for assets and applications backed by a global community of validators, researchers, and builders.

At the moment, XTZ is trading at around 22,800 sats. The altcoin has grown over 170% against Bitcoin since early November.

From March 2019 to the end of April 2019, XTZ grew over 150% versus BTC. However, the pump convinced investors who had been holding Tezos since 2017 to start selling.

Tezos dropped below all its EMAs, and the ensuing death cross saw XTZ touch a low of 8,000 sats. Essentially, the altcoin fell close to 70% in just over 60 days.

From July to November, there was a strong consolidation period while sellers remained in control. XTZs year was saved by the November pump and Tezos once again finds itself above all its EMAs.

However, the volume profile doesnt show a major support interval until the 12,000 sats range, meaning we could see substantial drops even during bullish rallies.

My current analysis is that if XTZ isnt capable of breaking the 26,000 sats level and drops below its 20-day and 50-day EMAs, Im expecting Tezos to consolidate between 10,000 and 12,000 sats for quite some time.

Nevertheless, it seems a great time to wait for XTZ to cool down before making any serious moves.

Safe trades!

Link:
2019 in review: Which altcoins performed the best vs Bitcoin? - Coin Rivet

Read More..
Posted in Altcoin | Leave a Comment

Privacy-Focused and Privacy Centric Blockchains – Altcoin Buzz

December 27, 2019 | Author: admin

This is a special article about privacy blockchains brought to us by David Freuden, a blockchain advisor at Monsterplay.

While encryption is the best way to protect your privacy, you should be the one making the first move.Only through the lens of data ownership can we begin to answer the question of: Who/What will protect my privacy? It wont be legislation, as governments themselves are often those who are seeking more information on their citizens. This may be taking place either directly or indirectly via coercion, legislation or subpoenas directed at the ever-growing number of corporations that collect, store and share your personal information.

The new field of blockchain-enabled encryption offers significant opportunities to improve privacy and the controls around it. However, it is important to understand that not all blockchains are privacy-conscious, and fewer still are those that are privacy-centric.

Looking at blockchain through the lens of privacy, two categories are to be discussed.Transparency and Privacy.

Transparency: Bitcoin & Ethereum hide no information. This is good for blockchain analysis and honesty, but it is bad for user protection and privacy. Block Explorers, an open-source web tool, allows anyone to view information about blocks, addresses, and transactions on these blockchains.

It is relatively easy usingsolely blockchain analysis and the addresses of known public entities (businesses, organizations) to discern what address a person may be associated with, and where the funds are coming from/going to. Worse yet, when you pay someone from an address owned by you, reverse lookups are possible using a blockchain explorer. This means anyone you send bitcoin to can then look-up your address and, in turn, know precisely the amount of bitcoin stored at that address.

Privacy:Monero & Zcash. These use different approaches in comparison with Bitcoin and Ethereum, but it is worth noting that they both need a certain degree of transparency. This transparency is necessary for the logistics of:

a) Ensuring that transaction gets from A-B (and related auditing by third parties);

b)Preventing double-spends and counterfeiting.

The privacy-focused blockchains, regardless of approach, are bound together by a common value:Privacy should be a choice. All projects actively pursuing a means to keep information private view Bitcoins transparency as problematic. In a way, this is the closest realization to a tangible use case that exists in crypto, apart from the concept of a decentralized ledger.

Opt-In Privacy:For example,Zcash, where all transactions are transparent by default. This results in (as of Nov 19th, 2019) roughly 87% of the Zcash networks daily transaction volume being completely transparent. As a result, analysts can easily deduce the latter 13%. You can see this on the Zcash explorer.

With the Opt-In approach, transparency is the default. Privacy is an elected option.

Opt-Out Privacy:For example, Monero, where all transactions are opaque by default.

This results in the network being opaque to onlookers with the exception of users choosing to share their information. Users may choose to do this for various reasons such as the need for a third-party audit. To do this on Moneros network, users would provide a recipients address and a transaction-specific private key to that third party. These actions will make that transactions data visible to the party that receives access to this info.

With the Opt-Out approach, privacy is the default. Transparency is an elected option.

Blockchain projects taking different approaches toward the solution of establishing of choice-centeredprivacy is critical. Not just with blockchain but for privacy globally. The topic of individual privacy continues to make headlines around the world and is already influencing governments to enforce new legislation that is designed to protect privacy, such as the GPDR that was introduced in May 2018. As blockchain continues to grow and be adopted around the world its important that this new technology provides improvements in privacy and control of privacy.

As noted in my article Privacy Matters: How to Protect Information in a World of Data Brokerage,one of the most recent advances in technology that offers a significant advancement in privacy and security is blockchain.

The two examples mentioned previously, Zcash and Monero, are the two most well-known privacy coins in the market. Their end goal is the same, but they use different mechanisms and approaches.

Zcash (ZEC)is a fork of the Bitcoin protocol and attains privacy via the use of zk-SNARKS, a zero-knowledge privacy protocol.

Monero (XMR)is a fork of Bytecoin, which has a completely different underlying protocol that Bitcoin called CryptoNote. Monero maintains the privacy of its senders, its transactions, and its receivers via ring signatures, ring confidential transactions, and stealth addresses respectively.

There are many other privacy-centric blockchains, most of which are forks from either Zcash or Monero. Developers may choose to fork because they believe there are significant improvements or advantages that can be offered to users. Forking into a new project from an existing protocol enables new projects to keep the best of what exists and add new features and functionality. As a result, the most innovative projects are often more agile as a project than the blockchain titans they are forked from. Having a smaller user-base and ecosystem, they are able to react more quickly to issues and make changes.

Komodo [KMD]: Komodo was launched prior to ZEC, after Zcash source code had been made public. Komodo has rolled out the Antara Framework for launching new blockchains and a full-featured test environment for blockchain development (KMD Labs). They also pioneered a mechanism called Delayed Proof of Work (DPOW) that secures smaller chains with the security of bitcoin. Komodo has launched its public beta version of its AtomicDEX, making it available for both Android and iOS users.

Komodo enables projects to build their own chains, dubbed Smart Chains. These smart chains have the option to include a privacy module, alongside a host of other features, but this is entirely optional.

It is important to note that whilst Komodo is a fork of Zcash, and offers optional privacy features, it is not itself a privacy blockchain.

Visit Komodowebsite

Hush [HUSH]: Hush recently migrated their codebase from ZEC-forked code, to a codebase derived directly from KMDs prior work. Hush has created Hushlist, a means for users to communicate using zero-knowledge technology, similar to mailing lists. Journalists, whistleblowers, or anyone needing to communicate with many others, in a privacy-sensitive way can use it. According to Hushs lead developer, Duke Leto: Hush was the first Zcash Protocol coin to remove the 1.6GB download requirement prior to syncing, which in addition to it having the smallest on-disk chain size of ~1GB, makes [it] the most bandwidth-efficient fork.

Visit Hushwebsite

PirateChain:PirateChain boasts the largestanonymity setof any functioning network, and are currently the only ZEC-derived codebase that takes on privacy from an Opt-Out perspective (i.e. by default users must opt-out by sharing a viewkey). PirateChain is also a member of the KMD ecosystem.

Visit PirateChainwebsite

Swap [XWP]: Swap is also derived from Monero and inherits privacy from RingCT and the CryptoNote protocol. Swaps most innovative contribution is its implementation of a completely different mining algorithm, Cuckaroo29s. Cuckoo cycle (PoW algorithm) is only 42 lines of code in its complete specification. This means that external parties can more easily audit Swaps code. It also means that block verification is much faster than those based on the CryptoNight PoW algorithm. Visit Swap website

Other Forks:Even Monero developers acknowledge the advantages of smaller, light-weight forks in making innovative changes. The internal group of XMRs main contributors develop most of the Monero Forks. Many of these function as testing beds for prospective features on Monero. Projects in this subgroup include Masari,Aeon, andWowneroto name only a few.

Blur [Blur]: is a fork from Moneros codebase. As a result, both chains choose Opt-Out privacy by default. Blur provides a refreshingly different perspective on the issue of specialized mining hardware than the typically-seen ASIC-resistance ideal. ASIC-resistance is something that has attractedcriticism from entities like Coinbase, recently.

Blur plans to feature a multi-PoW ecosystem, incorporating multiple self-similar proof-of-work blockchains. The idea is to create separate faction-based chains for specialized hardware. The respective devices mine them in a more advantageous way. Targeting key differences in chip design, and using independent chains to isolate hardware with incentives, The Blur Network plans to provide an inclusive ecosystem for all mining hardware, in a more logically competitive manner.

According to Biz, lead developer of Blur, What we see going on within privacy coins is an illogical battle between hardware and developers. We see developers overly focused on building ever-higher fences, that only they were tall enough to see over. This does not solve the problem. It creates it. So, we are designing a new solution; one that includes not only specialized mining hardware, but a means to keep CPU mining logical, for a longer period of time.

In addition, BLUR will become the first-ever cross-chain communication between the worlds of BTC, ZEC, and XMR.

Visit Blurs website.

The 2019 Netflix document,The Great Hack, shone a very bright light on how little privacy and control we have over our personal information.

In this documentary, it showed how Cambridge Analytica got their data from the Facebook developers, who created a survey app, This Is Your Digital Life, harvested data not just on the (270,000) Facebook users of the app, but on the87 million U.S. Facebook users who were friends of friends. They were able to do this through default permissionsthat few users knew about. At the time, users needed to opt-out by going deep into privacy settings and clicking a button that said, Dont let developers share my friends data.

In our technology-enabled world, privacy, and the right to privacy will continue to gain momentum as a human-rights issue. The combination of privacy-focused technology, government regulation and legislation, expensive but necessary court cases and consumer action will create the catalyst of change.

There is no doubt that the ongoing development and advancement of privacy-focused and centric blockchains will play an integral role in solving the technical aspects of this issue.

View post:
Privacy-Focused and Privacy Centric Blockchains - Altcoin Buzz

Read More..
Posted in Altcoin | Leave a Comment

NULS Hacked. $480 Worth of NULS Token Stolen – Cryptocurrency Regulation – Altcoin Buzz

December 27, 2019 | Author: admin

NULS is the latest hack victim in the crypto space. The blockchain platform has lost about 2 million of its native token NULS to hackers, estimated to be about $480,000.

NULS confirmed this unfortunate occurrence via a twitter update. In which, NULS confirmed that it recently discovered that 2 million tokens have been stolen. Also adding that about 548,354 which is approximately $131,600 is now in the market and so untraceable.

In a bid to mitigate the effect of the hack, NULS has proposed a hard fork. The fork is scheduled to take place at block height 87,800. Speaking on the hard fork, NULS pointed out that the remaining 1451645.65303905 NULS that has not entered the trading market will be destroyed in a permanent freeze This will help prevent the influx of the stolen token into the market.

NULS believes the hard fork is the best course of action to take after the hack. According to the team, the hard fork will help avert huge losses to NULS users. The hardfork will be taking place as soon as possible. The team has also informed all its node operators of the proposed upgrade.

NULS revealed that hackers exploited a security vulnerability on its network. The hack took place on the NULS 2.2. version. The exchange, however, alleges that the vulnerability has been fixed. A large number of crypto exchanges have also rallied round NULS. With many actively working hand in hand with the NULS team to help recover the funds. The stolen tokens represent about 2% of the total NULS in circulation, which is about 73 million.

Fast-rising blockchain platform NULS, plans to break the technical barriers of technology to help boost adoption on a large scale. The platform also recently launched a new reward model.

Several other exchanges have also suffered being hacked. While some recovered, others are still finding it difficult to get back on their feet. Early this month, VeChain Foundation also suffered a similar fate. It lost about 1.1 billion VET tokens, priced at about $6.5 million.

Read the original here:
NULS Hacked. $480 Worth of NULS Token Stolen - Cryptocurrency Regulation - Altcoin Buzz

Read More..
Posted in Altcoin | Leave a Comment

What are the Top 3 Trends in Cloud Computing? – CIOReview

December 27, 2019 | Author: admin

Cloud computing changes the way enterprises think about data, businesses think about the operations, and engineers think about building.

FREMONT, CA: Cloud computing is considered as the powerful remote server that allows enterprises to access files, house databases, and share software. It is a computer platform that can be accessed from a local machine using the internet. Its benefits include access to powerful machines that do not have to install costly hardware by going out of the budgets.

Cloud is scalable, robust, and cost-efficient. It is beneficial for app development, and the use of the cloud for custom application development has proved to be superior. Below given are the top 3 trends in the cloud that will transform enterprises in 2020.

Cloud to the Edge, and Back:

Edges are getting more intelligent, as the users look for real-time access to data in the internet of things age. Edge computing is widely distributed, with data processing happening at the edge where the data is made or consumed. Edges are the opposite of cloud that deals with centralized processing. In the coming years, as edge computing moves to the mainstream, the enterprises will see it complementing cloud technologies for secure back and forth of data.

AI, ML, and Cloud:

Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) will continue to be the focus of every firm. While AI and ML drive a lot of investment, most projects remain fragmented and distributed. In the coming year, the organizations will focus mainly on centralizing the initiatives into a more robust platform, thus making cloud position as a primary standard.

Cloud Security Back in the Spotlight:

Checking the security of data in the public cloud might be a significant focus in 2020. To a greater extent, cloud security discussions have been limited when it comes to the control of access and creation of policies, so far. As the enterprises move more critical workloads to public cloud environments, aspects like cloud workload security, data encryption, and threat intelligence are most likely to take center stage. Nevertheless, shared responsibility models and privileged access management will further raise the bar for cloud security.

Read the original:
What are the Top 3 Trends in Cloud Computing? - CIOReview

Read More..
Posted in Cloud Computing | Leave a Comment

This Cloud Computing Stock Is Transforming the $1.2 Trillion Drug Industry – Money Morning

December 27, 2019 | Author: admin

By Stephen Mack, Associate Editor, Money Morning December 24, 2019

Cloud computing is one of the most profitable niches in the tech industry.

It's the primary driver of earnings growth for both Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) and Microsoft Inc. (NASDAQ: MSFT). Those stocks are up 53% and 81% in the past two years, respectively.

Some pure-play cloud computing stocks have performed even better

First Trust Cloud Computing ETF (NASDAQ: SKYY), which includes a broad range of companies in the cloud computing segment, has grown 106% over the last five years. That's double the gain of the S&P 500 in that time.

And Gartner Group estimated that $111 billion in IT spending shifted to the cloud in 2016. And that figure is expected to be $216 billion by 2020. That's a 95% jump in four years.

In other words, even an average pick in this space is likely to give you strong returns.

But we can do a lot better than average.

The cloud computing stock we're bringing you today doesn't just benefit from tech. It also taps into the $1.2 trillion pharmaceutical industry.

This is an industry that can be enormously profitable. EvaluatePharma expects 10 drugs launched this year will reach billion-dollar annual sales.

But it's also hit-or-miss. Only about one in 10 drugs in development make it to market, according to Biotechnology Innovation Organization.

Getting a drug to market typically takes about 12 years and $1 billion.

When you factor in all the failures, though, the Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development found that the cost balloons to $2.5 billion.

No wonder prescription drug costs are through the roof.

That's where our cloud computing stock comes in.

This company specializes in providing Software as a Service (SaaS) solutions to the pharmaceutical and life sciences industries.

The result is increased efficiency and faster development times. In some cases, drug makers have more than doubled their productivity through cloud-based products.

In other words, more drugs are making it to market quicker at a lower cost.

But you don't need to be a patient to benefit from this productivity. If you pick up this cloud computing stock today, Money Morning Defense and Tech Specialist Michael Robinson says you could double your money in three years or less.

And that's a conservative estimate, he stresses.

Join the conversation. Click here to jump to comments

About the Author

Stephen Mack has been writing about economics and finance since 2011. He contributed material for the best-selling books Aftershock and The Aftershock Investor. He lives in Baltimore, Maryland.

Read full bio

Read the original here:
This Cloud Computing Stock Is Transforming the $1.2 Trillion Drug Industry - Money Morning

Read More..
Posted in Cloud Computing | Leave a Comment

Debunking the Myths Associated with Migrating to the Cloud & Cloud Visibility – Security Boulevard

December 27, 2019 | Author: admin

Gartner lists cloud computing as one of the top technology investments for the next five years, and the global public cloud computing market is set to reach $258 billion in 2019. The ability to access data from anywhere is the top reason for cloud adoption, with about a third of companies IT budgets going to cloud services.

However, many enterprises transitioning to an only cloud or hybrid cloud environment are unnecessarily hitting roadblocks on issues of security and privacy. There is a common misconception that organizations can fit old security practices into the new cloud environments and when they fail to do so, the cloud environment is blamed. In fact, the cloud is inherently secure if you follow best practices to secure it. In this blog we separate myth from reality when it comes to cloud adoption.

This is one of the most persistent myths about cloud security that just wont die.

The notion that an on-premise data center and its security is more robust than cloud security is fundamentally flawed. On the contrary, the cloud can be more secure than on-prem. However, this requires following the best practices made for the cloud, and leaving behind the checks and balances we had in the pre-cloud world.

Since the cloud is made up of software, it is much more malleable than the physical infrastructure. It can be updated, audited, and secured in a more complete way than was possible with the physical nature of the pre-cloud environment.

This malleability however, is a double-edged sword. The main problems facing cloud security are still security misconfigurations and human errors. It is these glitches and configuration errors that lead to the notion of an inherent insecurity of cloud buckets.

In a recent survey of cloud professionals, nearly 22 percent of respondents linked a data breach to compromised credentials. That is why Identity and Access Management (IAM) policy for cloud apps is one key area that must be prioritized in cloud adoption strategies.

Cloud is inherently safer by design, but only when the best practices of cloud adoption are followed to a T. When set up and maintained correctly, the cloud can be much more secure than on-prem environments.

The cloud is made up of physical servers. While cooling, power, fire suppression, physical security, and server maintenance are someone elses headache, aka, the cloud service providers, the need for backups is still your responsibility.

Bugs, human errors, cyberattacks that corrupt or damage data etc, require the possibility to revert back to a previous known sound version. This is something that youre responsible for, and the cloud provider wont do it for you. Setting up backups is something that you need to handle.

A cloud service provider can support you in your efforts to be secure and compliant. Still, its up to you and your organization to do everything necessary to meet regulatory and compliance requirements. That is why it is crucial to deploy continuous monitoring of both technical and non-technical cloud compliance requirements.

Your cloud provider is responsible for the security of the cloud, while you, as a customer, are responsible for security in the cloud.

The cloud vendor is responsible for managing the host Operating System (OS), the virtualization layer, and the physical security of its facilities. But it is up to the customer to ensure security within a given cloud environment.

Dont forget about your share of responsibilities. You are responsible for configuring and managing the security controls for the guest OS and other apps (including timely updates and security patches), as well as, setting up the access control. Additionally, you are responsible for encrypting data in-transit and at-rest.

One of the most pervasive myths is that data cant be audited as effectively in the cloud as it could be on physical servers. This simply isnt the case. As the CTO of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs states with proper tooling, you can conduct much better audits in a cloud-based environment.

To power up your audits, you need to combine training with tools. Spend time with personnel who conduct audits to see how their work is carried out. Then walk them through your companys tool capabilities and how to utilize these to alleviate some of their pain points.

When set up and maintained properly, cloud can be more secure compared to pre-cloud environments.

It is tempting to sign off and just let your cloud service provider handle everything in the cloud. Providers bring with them powerful capabilities and also take on some parts of the security, such as updating the physical layers, and virtualization layers. But properly conceived security wont be provided straight out of the box, and it never will be.

Your developers and DevOps teams are ultimately the ones who build the cloud environment. If they run wild and you dont have visibility and necessary controls in place, you wont be secure. However, if you handle the cloud the way it should be handled you will be secure. Its as simple as that.

Due to the intertwined and complex nature of cloud environments, the basic foundation of securing a cloud environment is gaining full-stack visibility into all its assets. This entails a complete understanding of what is happening in the entire cloud environment across all of its layers: the cloud infrastructure level, operating systems, applications, and data.

Orcas Cloud Visibility Platform was built for the cloud. Not only does it provide you with full-stack visibility, but it also makes audits easier when compared to pre-cloud environments.

Read the original post:
Debunking the Myths Associated with Migrating to the Cloud & Cloud Visibility - Security Boulevard

Read More..
Posted in Cloud Computing | Leave a Comment

Protect the cloud with essential security training – Android Authority

December 27, 2019 | Author: admin

Cloud computing is already a huge industry, and its only going to become more essential in 2020 with new tech jobs being generated every day. If you want to ring in the New Year with some brand new tech skills, you can pick up the Essential Cloud Security Certification Bundle for just $39 with a new 2020 promo code.

You can dive into over 60 hours of content and pursue the area of cloud computing that most interests you. The whole learning kit is based on hands-on practice in cloud security, CCSP, CISSP, and AWS SysOps. The introduction to cybersecurity provides foundational knowledge to set up the rest of the modules, so its a perfect place to start.

The Essential Cloud Security Certification Bundle not only provides you with a certificate of completion, but it also helps you prepare for other certification exams in this industry. Youll gain experience deploying, managing, and operating scalable systems and master the skills to become a networksecurity professional.

The Essential Cloud Security Certification Bundle has a retail value of $2,000 but you can ring in the new year with massive savings. Use the promo code 20SAVE20 at the Tech Deals checkout to get all of the content for just $39.20.

This deal will only be around for a few more days so hit the widget below to check it out.

$39 .20

Essential Cloud Security Certification Use offer code: 20SAVE20

Save $1960 .80

Is this deal not quite right for you? To see all our hottest deals, head over to the DEALS HUB.

See the original post:
Protect the cloud with essential security training - Android Authority

Read More..
Posted in Cloud Computing | Leave a Comment

Hybrid Cloud to Gain Traction in 2020: 5 Stocks in Focus – Zacks.com

December 27, 2019 | Author: admin

The hybrid cloud concept is based on the notion of making public and private clouds co-exist, thereby allowing companies to maximize the benefits of both public and private cloud environments. In hybrid cloud computing, IT resources are deployed and managed through a combination of on-premise and third-party cloud computing services.

Notably, hybrid cloud has been one of the most-talked about concept within the cloud computing space. According to an insight from GlobalData, during the third quarter of 2019, hybrid cloud garnered the highest percentage of Twitter mentions in discussions among cloud computing experts. Notably, this was closely followed by multi cloud.

According to IDC, the key features of hybrid cloud are protection, security and compliance, integration and orchestration, and data location optimization.

Speaking of security, hybrid cloud allows organization to choose dedicated servers or network devices that can facilitate isolation of data and ensure better control over critical operations. Although the hybrid cloud isnt faster than a multi-cloud or a public cloud environment, it does however enable network optimization to minimize latency.

Scalability is another advantage as hybrid computing makes use of the public cloud platform. Notably, public cloud resources facilitate development of new applications and can run powerful analytics programs that are beyond the capacity of small organizations.

Hybrid Cloud to Gain Momentum in 2020

Per a TechTarget report, although hybrid cloud has been a popular trend in the cloud computing in the past few years, 2019 witnessed key changes as to how the platform was marketed and sold.

Moreover, hybrid computing is likely to be widely adopted during 2020 as interoperability between cloud systems and private networks take center stage. Further, widespread adoption of AI, ML, IoT and need of high capacity storage is driving the demand of hybrid cloud.

In fact, according to IDC, more than 90% of enterprise IT organizations will commit to multi-cloud architectures. Moreover, 70% of enterprises will integrate their public and private clouds by adhering to hybrid and multi-cloud management technologies, tools, and processes by 2022.

Focus on Top Hybrid Cloud Players

Microsoft (MSFT - Free Report) is a dominant hybrid cloud solutions provider. The company is a pioneer in delivering a consistent private cloud experience using Azure Stack, enabling enterprises to build innovative hybrid cloud solutions. You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

In November, Microsoft introduced Azure Arc, which extends Azure management tools to on-premises and cloud platforms beyond Azure.

Microsoft currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) and a long-term earnings growth rate of 11.9%.

Intel (INTC - Free Report) is investing heavily in hybrid cloud development to ease workloads for client companies. The company is working closely with other industry leaders to accelerate cloud computing solutions and innovations such as Xeon Scalable processor platform, Optane technology, and Omni-Path Architecture.

The company is also extending virtualization from individual servers to the data centers via SDI, enabling a critical on-ramp for scalable hybrid clouds.

Intel currently has a Zacks Rank # 2 and a long-term earnings growth rate of 7.5%.

Year-to-Date Performance

Intel and Alphabets (GOOGL - Free Report) Google Cloud deal in April 2019, in a bid to accelerate deployment of applications on hybrid cloud and on-premise infrastructure, is worth noting. The deal has enabled the development of Anthos reference design by utilizing Intels 2nd-Generation XeonScalable processors.

Markedly, Alphabets acquisition of CloudSimple in November 2019, is another significant step toward bolstering Google Clouds presence in the hybrid space. The company currently has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) and a long-term earnings growth rate of 16.7%.

Amazon (AMZN - Free Report) has been a crucial hybrid cloud solutions provider in some way or the other, since the inception of AWS. Markedly, AWS recently made Outposts, a managed service that puts AWS-built server racks integrated with AWS software inside customer data centers, generally available.

Amazon currently has a Zacks Rank #3 and a long-term earnings growth rate of 16.7%.

International Business Machines Corporation (IBM - Free Report) has also been taking steps to adhere to the hybrid-shift. Through its Cloud Pak for Security feature, IBM is facilitating locking of data speed and applications across multiple private and public clouds and on-premises locations.

Markedly, the companys acquisition of Red Hat in 2018 is considered by some industry experts to be an important move considering its strategy to shift to hybrid cloud. In fact, IBMs Cloud Paks are bundles of Red Hats Kubernetes-based OpenShift container platform along with Red Hat Linux and a variety of connecting technologies.

IBM currently has a Zacks Rank #3 and a long-term earnings growth rate of 5%.

Zacks Top 10 Stocks for 2020

In addition to the stocks discussed above, would you like to know about our 10 top tickers for the entirety of 2020?

These 10 are painstakingly hand-picked from over 4,000 companies covered by the Zacks Rank. They are our primary picks to buy and hold.

Start Your Access to the New Zacks Top 10 Stocks >>

Read the original here:
Hybrid Cloud to Gain Traction in 2020: 5 Stocks in Focus - Zacks.com

Read More..
Posted in Cloud Computing | Leave a Comment