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Hewlett-Packard's newly announced Microsoft Surface-clone Elite X2 tablet is aimed squarely at business users. The Elite X2's keyboard magnetically detaches exactly like a Surface, but it`s slightly larger, a bit heavier, and far more repairable. The 12-inch screen is a 2:3 aspect ratio 1920x1280 and supports a Wacom pen and finger biometrics. RAM options include 4GB and 8GB, with storage offerings from 128GB to 512GB. As for repair ability, you can remove a few screws and replace the screen in minutes - no glue and heat gun required, as you must use to open most other tablets.
Benchmarking allows you to quantify your PC's performance and the Passmark Performance Test is a useful tool for baselining and benchmarking your system's performance. PerformanceTest does a good job of compiling a hardware inventory and then showing you how your system stacks up against other available hardware. e.g., you can use PerformanceTest to compare CPU performance or 2D graphics performance. You can download a free trial version for testing, but if you like it, Passmark PerformanceTest sells for $27.00.
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Nmap 7 has been released and comes with more than 330 enhancements. Short for Network Mapper, Nmap lets administrators find unauthorized, vulnerable, and infected devices on the network. Nmap is used to scan a subnet, query DNS from the host, see open ports on a device, and identify what a machine at a specific IP address is doing. The general availability of Nmap 7 comes days after the developers of Wireshark, a popular network protocol analyzer, released Version 2.0 that features a new user interface, new functionality, and API changes.
SaneBox is an email utility that automatically cleans up your email by moving unimportant messages out of your Inbox into a new folder called SaneLater. It work with most email services like Gmail, Microsoft Exchange, and Yahoo Mail. A new feature called SaneNoReplies detects which messages you sent and keeps track of whether anyone has replied. You can quickly see the “no replies” in one folder. The advantage is that you can quickly and automatically see which emails never led to a real conversation.
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Zumigo's solutions verify identity and location of a user`s mobile device to help prevent fraudulent transactions. India's HDFC Bank is working with the San Jose, CA-based company to pilot a system designed to prevent ATM fraud. The location of the ATM user's phone can be identified based on the telecom towers in that area and the bank can use that information to decide to decline the withdrawal or send a confirmation call to the user first before allowing it.
The "ATM Monitoring Technology for Omnichannel Banking Systems" guide is a new publication from ATM Marketplace that covers ATM monitoring technologies for use in conjunction with omnichannel banking services platforms. The report notes that the implementation of proactive ATM monitoring systems often results in three main positive results for ATM deployers: increased availability, improved ATM security and an overall optimization of ATM operations.
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While nontraditional mobile wallet/payment providers are making headway, most consumers are likely to use their primary FI`s mobile wallet, according to a CCG Catalyst Pro Group study. Moreover, 59% desired their primary FI`s products, debit or credit card, as a desired wallet feature. Meanwhile, Capgemini estimates that the segment including closed loop/mobile apps, digital wallets, mobile money and virtual currencies accounted for between 6.3% and 10.5% of global non-cash payments volume at the end of 2014.
LG Electronics is working to create its own payment service to take on Apple Pay, Android Pay, Chase Pay and Samsung Pay. The LG Pay service will be designed to work on all LG smartphones, while Samsung Pay is only compatible with the latest Samsung phone models. The LG Pay system comes on the heels of JP Morgan Chase's October announcement of Chase Pay which will be available to some 94 million Chase credit, debit and pre-paid card account holders. Chase is partnering with Merchant Customer Exchange LLC (MCX), which is building a mobile payments service called CurrentC.
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ThreatSTOP is a network security company offering a cloud-based threat protection service. The Carlsbad, CA-based company recently announced an upgrade to their software-as-a-service threat intelligence delivery platform. The ThreatSTOP service enables a physical or virtual firewall to deflect inbound attacks, and enables both firewalls and DNS servers to prevent infected hosts from communicating with threat actors trying to extract or alter data. The service is cloud-based, updates automatically and works with leading software firewalls and DNS servers.
Virtual Compliance Management, a Hayward, CA-based consulting firm, has come out with a list of the top five regulatory compliance concerns for 2016. They are:
- Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (Regulation C)
- Equal Credit Opportunity Act (Regulation B)
- Flood Insurance Rules (Regulation H)
- Unfair Deceptive Abusive Acts or Practices Act (UDAAP)
- Bank Secrecy Act
Sophos says that they have given traditionally separate products - firewall and end point security - the ability to directly share intelligence. The company`s security protection package is Sophos Security Heartbeat endpoint software coupled with the firm`s new XG Firewall family. Security Heartbeat sends continuous, real-time health information about the end point. If suspicious traffic is identified by the firewall, or malware is detected on the endpoint, security and threat information - such as the MAC address, computer name, username and process information associated with the threat - is instantly shared securely via between endpoints and the XG firewall.
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Core Systems:
Supporting Omnichannel Delivery with the Core System
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Google recently launched a new machine-learning component dubbed RankBrain. This software is a relatively new component of the overall Google search engine algorithm, which, since 2013, has been called "Hummingbird." RankBrain is one of Google's roughly 200 search "signals" that collectively determine the results that match keyword searches, as well as how those results should be ranked. While it is believed that RankBrain is Google's third-most important signal, some experts think that links are the most important signal, followed by words on Web pages (Google does not publicly reveal its most important signals). Others contend that click-through rates (CTR) are currently tied as the second most important Google ranking signals. The impact on marketers is not much changed, according to many experts. Thoroughly answering questions in your copy may help RankBrain recognize your articles as the best choices for specific keyword phrases. But overall, they still suggest that you should remain focused on filling your web pages with high quality content.
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Online Banking/E-Commerce/Website Design
According to research firm Aite, card-not-present (CNP) fraud is increasing, and now outpaces card-present fraud in the U.S. by a ratio of 3:1. Meanwhile, ACI Worldwide notes that global fraud rates by volume in the CNP space increased 30 percent during the first half of 2015 when compared with the same period a year earlier. Solutions to CNP fraud include better online authentication practices, tokenization, and enhanced real-time fraud monitoring and behavioral analytics.
Financial technology firm R3 is coordinating the efforts of thirty global banks to evaluate and apply emerging blockchain technology to the global financial system. The group's goal is to explore ways that blockchain can successfully meet banking requirements for security, reliability, performance, scalability and auditing. The consortium plans to develop a shared lab environment to test and validate ledger prototypes and protocols, and develop consistent standards and protocols.
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Cisco estimates that implementing concepts such as virtual mortgage advice through video collaboration can reduce cost-to-originate by 15% to 20%. They note that Nationwide Building Society, the UK`s largest mortgage provider, has realized sales growth of 66% through the use of video conferencing. System functionality includes the ability of the applicant to scan documents, submit IDs and documentation online and capture e-signatures all within the video session, while the loan officer can accept, sign and approve documentation in real-time in one screen while they are conducting the conversation in another screen.
The Dude network monitor is an application by MikroTik which can help improve the way you manage your network environment. It will automatically scan all devices within specified subnets, draw and layout a map of your networks, monitor services of your devices and alert you in case some service has problems. The utility is complimentary and supports SNMP, ICMP, DNS and TCP monitoring for devices that support it.
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In IDology`s 2015 Fraud Report, suspected call center fraud attempts rose from 2 percent in 2014 to 13 percent in 2015. The Atlanta-based company's report covers the most prevalent types of call center fraud:
- reconnaissance
- social engineering
- voice deception
- ANI deception
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