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The Week in IT news: CPU Merges with RAM and 2021 IT Spending

The week in IT news. CPU merges with RAM, CIO's top budget priorities for 2021, and cloud spending surpasses on-prem for first time

Here’s what happened this week in IT news.

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News story #1: CPU + RAM: the way ahead?

Computers will soon be faster thanks to the fusing of CPUs and RAM. This is accordingly to that’s what SK Hynix CEO Seok-Hee Lee thinks. 

The head of the world’s second-largest memory maker behind Samsung made this prediction during his keynote address at IEEE’s International Reliability Physics Symposium. Assuring that the central processing unit and the memory will eventually be integrated within a single die to deliver higher performance computing systems.

To achieve this feat, Lee, whose company only produces memories and not CPUs, believes the chip manufacturing industry will need to come together and adopt a collaboration model focused on open innovation.  

The Register

News story #2: Top budget priorities for CIOs

IDG’s annual State of the CIO survey clearly shows how the pandemic has affected IT spending. After a 2020 impacted by tightening budgets and a sole focus on mission-critical initiatives, the priorities for this year are somewhat widening.

This year’s three main business drivers for IT are transforming business processes, increasing cybersecurity protections and improving customer experience. 

To do so, CIOs will be putting most of their money into technologies. This will include data and business analytics, security and risk management, cloud-based enterprise applications and customer experience technologies. Global budgets are expected to increase by 6.2% to cover this broader spectrum. 

CIO

News story #3: Cloud spending (finally) surpasses on-prem

And speaking of spending —  enterprise cloud spending topped that made on data centers for the first time last year. Nothing too unexpected in terms of IT news of the week. But one thing is to know change is coming, and a whole different story is to have confirmation.

A global report by the Synergy Research Group reveals businesses spent 35 percent more on cloud-based solutions, taking the total up to almost $130 billion. Conversely, spending for on-premise solutions went down six percent to less than $90 billion. 

CIOs are spending most of their cloud budget on servers storage, security and software. When it comes to software, however, it is important to mention that the report mainly looked at server OS and virtualisation software — comparing software-as-a-service with on-prem business apps software would render way different results.   

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Weekly News: What Devs Hate Most

Weekly News: What Devs Hate Most
A look at the week in tech news with Mission Control Center. Coding, debugging, .NET skills, database, DevOps and what devs hate most.

A look at the week in tech news with Mission Control Center. Coding, debugging, .NET skills, database, DevOps and what devs hate most.

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I’d rather go to the dentist, tbh – what devs hate most

What do you enjoy doing the most on a daily basis? How about spending a whole afternoon paying your bills? 

Well, not entirely surprisingly. Over a quarter of developers (26%) would prefer doing exactly that; instead of devoting the same amount of time to identifying and fixing code bugs. And that’s not all. Over a fifth of coders (21%) would rather pay a visit to the dentist than debug a section of code. All according to a new survey by software firm Rollbar.

Existing error monitoring methods are far from perfect and often fail to detect vital errors. That results in a third of all software developers having to spend up to 10 hours a week manually fixing bugs; instead of producing new code. And that’s only so that some Internet crusader can kindly let you know you’ve missed a critical flaw just after releasing the product. 

As with many things tech, automation has a vital role in helping developers address this issue. Next-generation, AI-powered debugging tools are bound to become the programmer’s best friend.

Tech Republic / Harvard Business Review

The top-paying .NET skills

A new badge of reports by various tech industry actors has prompted Visual Studio Magazine to comb through the data to reveal the top-paying .NET and Microsoft-centric skills of the moment. 

Visual Basic occupies the fifth position in the list of top 10 programming languages of 2021, with C# being number 8.

Microsoft’s take on the SQL standard, Transact-SQL, is the top Microsoft-focused programming skill, with TypeScript, the company’s open-source take on JavaScript following next. 

When it comes to certifications, the Microsoft Certified Professional (MCP) badge is the second-most popular certification, right behind CompTIA’s A+. 

Visual Studio Magazine

The state of database DevOps

In today’s rapidly moving software development space, implementing a solid DevOps strategy has become a must for any team aspiring to be at the industry’s forefront. 

Automating and streamlining processes throughout the software life cycle permits greater agility in developing the product and ensures higher levels of quality. But that’s not the only area in which Agile and CI/CD philosophies can help. 

With 70% of companies using more than one database in their stack thanks to cloud hybridisation, automating database changes and deployments is attracting growing attention.

51% of businesses are already using some level of automation in their database deployments. These are lower adoption numbers compared to DevOps in software development, but a majority of companies plan on stepping up their continuous delivery efforts in the coming months.

DevOps.com

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Weekly News: One Algorithm to Save the World

Weekly News: One Algorithm to Save the World
Software development has been accelarated by the pandemic, and that's great news for technologists. Weekly news about one algorithm to save the world.

Software development has been accelarated by the pandemic, and that’s great news for technologists. Weekly news and one algorithm to save the world.

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Preparing for the next time around with an algorithm

So, was it a pangolin or not? 

At this point, the scientific community can more or less confidently say that the coronavirus that is wrecking havoc across the globe came originally from bats. But they are not so sure about which animal acted as the intermediary host.  

Identifying animal species that might become the source of the next pandemic is one of the main pillars of our strategy to future-proof our public health. It is, however, not an easy task, as the potential lines of investigation are just too many and new virus strains can be quite unpredictable. Well, it turns out AI can help with that too. 

A group of British researchers have built a computer algorithm that allows them to predict which animals are most susceptible to new coronavirus infections. The results of the algorithm were somewhat alarming, as many more mammals were identified as potential hosts when compared to previous studies based on screenings.

But hey — information is power. Better to know where to look for the next time around. 

BBC

How to develop software remotely

Software development has been accelarated by the pandemic, and that’s great news for technologists. But IT leaders have to juggle the rise in demand with other, more uncomfortable consequences of Covid-19. 

Not considered essential employees for the most part, software developers are largely working from home these days. As it is happening with other locked-down professional; coders and integrators are dealing with challenging situations, having to coordinate family duties with work assignments and falling victim to the isolation and the lack of direct contact. 

This of course, impacts overall team performance. Which is why development team leaders are coming up with new ways to work and support their teams. While there is no single best approach to the problem; a few common patterns emerge when interviewing some of these managers. 

These include greater, more frequent communication between team members. But also visibility over the current status of projects via collaboration tools like Slack and a profound revision of existing workflows. Fostering socialising among peers is also key.

Computer Weekly

The low-code explosion

According to a new forecast by Gartner, the need for more agile and decentralised software development brought about by the pandemic will continue to boost low-code adoption in the coming months.

Low-code platforms let non-IT experts develop solutions without requiring hardcore coding and technical skills. Something which, of course, is very advantageous in a time of rapid digital transformation and overclocked IT departments. 

Gartner estimates that 41% of all employees outside IT; the so-called business technologists; are customising or building digital solutions to accelerate their projects and integrate workflows. 

The firm predicts that half of all the demand for low-code applications will come from business users by the end of 2025. 

Information Age

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Weekly News: Robot Butlers and Virtual Influencers

Weekly News: Robot Butlers and Virtual Influencers
Robot Butlers and Virtual Influencers, Tech´s flashy new toys, A new logistics network, and Microsoft cloud comes to retail... Discover our weekly tech news.

Robot Butlers and Virtual Influencers – Tech´s flashy new toys, A new logistics network, and Microsoft cloud comes to retail… Discover our weekly tech news.

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Tech´s flashy new toys

CES; the world´s biggest technology show; is at full throttle since Monday, having changed its traditional Las Vegas setting for virtual presentations due to the pandemic.

The event is known for its outlandish new tech concepts and products. A way for consumer brands to show off and set the agenda for the upcoming year. And, although most of these technology predictions don´t end up panning out, there is always something to learn from them. 

These year´s big reveals include a robot butler that can both serve you dinner and wash the dishes afterwards. A smart pet portal that lets your cat in and out while keeping other neighbourhood animals out, and Reah Keem — LG’s new virtual influencer with around 6,000 followers on Instagram.

The Telegraph

A new logistics network

From ‘cloud kitchens’ that centralise all meal orders for a given area of the city, to more ubiquitous and smaller warehouses closer to the delivery location. The logistics infrastructure is changing. 

The pandemic has given e-commerce firms a boom, creating the need to update existing delivery networks to be able to keep up with demand. Furthermore, expected delivery times are narrowing, with costumers now being accustomed to delivery windows of less than 30 minutes. 

All in all, this new wave of e-commerce developments is quietly reshaping our cities in a time where their streets are mostly transited by delivery vans and bicycles. This expansion, experts say, is comparable to the laying of fibre-optic cable 20 years ago, and its effects will be long lasting.

Financial Times

Microsoft cloud comes to retail

Following the release of its cloud service for the healthcare market, Microsoft has made available on preview its second vertical cloud, this time around for the retail industry. 

The offering combines services and features from Azure, Microsoft and Dynamics 365 and the Power Platform to help the company’s retail customers provide an end-to-end shopper journey. 

Microsoft also announced new features for its Dynamics 365 Commerce, its app providing back-office, in-store, call centre and e-commerce solutions. The app will now offer both in-built B2C and B2B commerce on a single platform. 

Learn more about Microsoft Technologies Careers Overview

ZDNet

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Weekly News: Presenting Our New Podcast Mission Control Center

Weekly News: Presenting Our New Podcast Mission Control Center
Weekly News: Presenting Our New Podcast Mission Control Center

Say hello to our new podcast Mission Control Center

Because we know how busy you are, we are launching a podcast version of the newsletter from Mission Control Center, so that you can listen to it while you work.

Every week, our editor Miquel Morales will walk you through the most relevant tech news and share all sorts of career development advice. 

We’ll soon be having interviews with experts in all areas of IT, so make sure to follow us every week!

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AI cracks half-century-old problem

After having proven its worth with programs capable of beating humans at various games, the artificial intelligence group DeepMind has reached a major scientific milestone.

The group’s latest program, AlphaFold, has finally solved a problem that had kept researchers baffled for 50 years: predicting how proteins fold into 3D shapes. 

Protein folding patterns, which are unique to each protein and extremely complex, could until now only be unravelled through years-long lab work. It took AlphaFold just a few weeks to learn how to predict folding with greater accuracy than humans.   

The breakthrough paves the way for the design of more powerful drugs and vaccines to fight diseases, as well as for the production of more nutritious crops.

The Guardian

The key technologies for 2021

A new global IEEE survey of CTOs and CIOs reveals the top technologies and challenges for organisations in the upcoming year.

While overcoming the effects of the pandemic remains the biggest concern amongst technology leaders, AI and machine learning are cited as the game-changing tech trends for 202. Next-gen 5G solutions and IoT follow close behind. 

Manufacturing, healthcare, financial services and education are expected to be the industries in which technology will play a more pivotal role. 

One positive finding is that an overwhelming majority of IT leaders (92%) believe their company is now more prepared to respond to a catastrophic and sudden event like a natural disaster or a data breach.

TechRepublic

Mac minis are coming to AWS

Amazon Web Services kickstarted its yearly re:Invent conference with a big revelation: the company is bringing macOS to the AWS cloud. 

AWS will be making available Mac mini instances for developers to create apps directly on its Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2). 

It is a significant announcement for devs, who now can run Xcode and Swift tools in the cloud without having to maintain and patch custom-built Mac machines. 

However, the Mac minis being currently deployed in AWS data centres are still sporting previous-generation Intel chips. The company will be rolling out the new Apple-silicon machines early next year. 

TechCrunch

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Weekly News: Translating Cat Meows

Weekly News: Translating Cat Meows
Translating Cat Meows; what the EU could do about emissions; Quantum moves ahead; and an anti-poaching cloud cover... Discover our Weekly News.

Translating Cat Meows; what the EU could do about emissions; Quantum moves ahead; and an anti-poaching cloud cover… Discover our Weekly News.

Translating Cat Meows: Do you speak cat?

What did the cat just say? 

According to research, cats do not share a common language. Every cat is unique and tailors its meows to its owner (a.k.a. human servant). And, just like it happens with people, some cats are chattier than others.

Well, a former Amazon Alexa developer has created an app that leverages AI and machine learning to translate those meows into human language. 

MeowTalk already has 13 phrases in its vocabulary, including “Feed me!” and “Leave me alone.” 

You can bet you’ll be hearing the first one a lot more. 

BBC

What the EU could do about emissions

The use of renewable energies and other traditional approaches to curbing emissions are no longer enough if the EU wants to meet its 2050 climate-neutrality target. 

Enter technology.

From large-scale, data-powered simulations of the Earth’s climate to green data centers, there are plenty of emerging technology initiatives underway for which EU funding could be a game-changer.

The folks at Politico have compiled a shortlist for you to bring up over dinner. 

Politico

Quantum moves ahead

Several of the world’s leading research institutions and tech companies have been working on their own take on quantum computing for a while now.

One of the key differences between the various approaches out there is what is used as the basis of the computer’s qubits, the basic units of information on which quantum computers operate.   

While technology juggernauts like IBM and Intel had traditionally opted for using tiny superconducting loops as qubits, the use of trapped-ion systems remained marginal. 

Now that is changing. Ion traps have gained traction, which is good for competition.

Nature

An anti-poaching cloud cover

The Zoological Society of London (ZSL) has revealed how its collaboration with Google Cloud is helping protect endangered species from poachers.

Beyond developing custom machine learning models to identify and track threatened animals across the globe, ZSL used a network of acoustic sensors to listen for gunshots in a nature reserve in Cameroon. 

The organisation then used the data collected to generate insights on poacher activity, revealing key details like what time of day poachers tend to be more active and where. 

ZSL hopes to evolve these insights into a monitoring system that is able to provide alerts in real time.  

ComputerWeekly

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Weekly News: High Speed Levitating pod

High Speed Levitating pod
High Speed Levitating pod

Hyperloop’s first passenger ride

Richard Branson’s Virgin Hyperloop completed this past weekend the world’s first passenger ride on a high-speed levitating pod. 

The successful test marks a key milestone for the technology. It indeed promises to revolutionise human and cargo transportation by using magnetic levitation to hurtle vehicles through vacuum tubes. 

Although the Hyperloop executives involved in the trial only reached a top speed of 172 km/h, the technology promises to deliver speeds of 966 km/h and faster. That’s twice as fast as a commercial jet with a fraction of the emissions. It could be a reality by 2030.

The Guardian

High Speed Levitating pod: Updates from Microsoft

Microsoft has released the .NET 5.0 developer platform, introducing among other features the new C# 9 and F# 5 programming languages.

.NET 5.0 allows developers to unify their toolset across platforms and operating systems, whether they are building for desktop, mobile, cloud or IoT applications. The new programming languages offer easier, more expressive top-level coding.

Additionally, the Redmond, Virginia company released on Tuesday its November security patch, addressing 112 vulnerabilities. The Windows zero-day vulnerability revealed last month is among them.

TechRepublic / ZDNet

High Speed Levitating pod: Tougher EU tech export rules

European law-makers are tightening rules for the export of dual-use technology products, a category of technologies that can be used both by civilians and the military.  

The technologies involved to improve high-speed levitating pod include high-performance computing (HPC), drones and facial recognition software, will now require vendors to meet a much higher set of conditions when closing licensing deals. 

The rules focus on protecting democracy and human rights and can be easily and quickly amended to cover any new emerging technologies that may appear in the future.    

ITPro

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Weekly News: The Funny Side of AI

Weekly News: The Funny Side of AI
We are often discussing the dangerous implications of AI: bias, job losses... So it's refreshing to be able to talk about the funny side of AI.

We are often discussing the dangerous implications of AI and what we can do to address them: bias, job losses… So it’s refreshing to be able to talk about its more benign side effects. Discover the funny side of AI.

3 stories to discover the funny side of AI

Football or bald head?

Do you enjoy football? How about bald heads?

Since the start of the pandemic, the world of sports has had to forgo live audiences in favour of live streamings. Bigger teams and leagues can afford proper TV crews to cover their matches, but smaller teams need to be more creative.   

A football team in Inverness, Scotland decided to use an AI-enabled camera to track the football’s movements. Unfortunately, and to the delight of the whole world, the camera tracked the referee’s bald head instead of the ball. Best match ever.

TNW

IT Job Hunting Done Well: A Step-by-Step Guide

What drones are really for

Few technologies have received as much public hype as drone technology. We all have a friend who enjoys chasing flocks of sheep with their little quadcopter. If you don’t, then you might be that friend.

But what are drones actually good for?

The non-consumer applications that first come to mind tend to be rather pessimistic. Surveillance, warfare… There is an understandable trust deficit when it comes to drones, but the technology’s potential is huge if we manage to overcome it.

From humanitarian aid in dangers zones to remote delivery and agriculture, drones can be extremely helpful in helping us get where we need to get more easily and in time. 

TechRadar

Funny side of AI: Game over for 1809

Microsoft is discontinuing service for Windows 10 version 1809 starting on November 10, so make sure all your systems are upgraded accordingly.

The cut will affect Windows 10 1809 for Home, Pro, Pro for Workstations, and IoT Core, which will stop receiving security updates and support.

Support for Windows 10 1803 for Enterprise, Education and IoT Enterprise will be extended until May 2021, as will the Enterprise and Education versions of 1809.    

TechRepublic

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Weekly News: The Rise of The Machines

Weekly News: The Rise of The Machines
Due to the rise of the machines, new jobs will emerge, especially in the areas of healthcare, big data and the green economy.

Weekly news. Discover our news about IT: the rise of the machines, Bitcoin goes mainstream and Robin Hood strikes back

The rise of the machines

New report by the World Economic Forum (WEF) has forecasted that as much as half of all work tasks could be handled by machines by the year 2025. The rise of machines.

The think tank’s research, which spanned 300 of the world’s biggest companies, estimates that the so-called “robot revolution” will create 97 million jobs around the globe but destroy almost as many. 43% of respondents felt they were likely to cut jobs due to technological transformation in the near future.

Yet new jobs will emerge as a result, especially in the areas of healthcare, big data and the green economy. However, the Forum is calling for a conscious effort to ensure that no sectors of society are left behind.

BBC

Bitcoin goes mainstream

PayPal has announced that it will start allowing transactions in Bitcoin. The firm will also provide support for other cryptocurrencies including Ethereum and Litecoin.

The new features, which will debut in the U.S. shortly and worldwide next year, mark an important milestone in the normalisation of cryptocurrencies. 

The company sees the economy’s shift to digital currencies as inevitable, and it is committed to helping make them easier to use by the broader public. 

TechRadar

Robin Hood strikes back

A new emerging trend has cybersecurity and legal experts baffled: charitable cybercrime.

Also read our article & discover our interview: Leadership Failure: The Real Human Element Behind Cyber Attacks

The ransomware-as-a-business group DarkSide introduced itself to the world earlier this year, issuing a press release where they detailed how they picked their victims and pledged to leave non-profits, healthcare and governments alone. 

Well – these cybercriminals with a strong moral code are now taking it to a whole new level: they are donating their profits to charities.   

Two US-based organisations received equal payments of 0.88 bitcoin (or $10,000) in mid-October, money they say they will return as soon as possible. The authorities are warning NGOs around the globe to not accept donations from these cyber schemes, as that would make them legally liable for profiting from crime.  

ComputerWeekly

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Weekly News: Windows Made With Linux

Weekly News: Windows Made With Linux
Discover 3 IT lastest news. Windows made with Linux. Linux the new Windows? - AI: behind the screens - The pandemic and S/4HANA implementation

Is Linux the new Windows?

The renowned open-source champion Eric Raymond has always been a huge Linux believer. 

Raymond has long argued that the OS is destined to rule the desktop market. Now he’s gone a step further by saying that it won’t be long before Windows 10 becomes a simple emulation layer on top the Linux kernel. 

According to Raymond, Microsoft’s latest investments in the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) reveal that the Redmond, Virginia company might be quite aware of this impending shift. The company also has recently unveiled a Linux version of Edge for IT pros to test websites. 

But there’s more: the Windows emulation might ultimately disappear altogether, leaving us with a Microsoft shell that is basically all built on Linux.

ZDNet

AI: behind the screens

Despite the media buzz around AI, it can be difficult for someone who is not immersed in the technology to precisely tell you how and where it is being applied. 

Well, this week we got a behind-the-screens look at what developers are doing in both the public and the private sector.

The city of Amsterdam debuted the Algorithm Register, a portal where everyone can learn more about the various AI initiatives being implemented across the city. 

Also, Alexa developers unveiled how they get Amazon’s smart home assistant to interpret what users mean rather than what they say. Here’s more. 

The pandemic and S/4HANA implementation

S4HANA implementation was ramping up before COVID-19 hit the global business community. Now, as uncertainty piles up, some organisations might consider postponing their migration to SAP’s next-gen ERP until things settle down a bit. 

But should they? 

In an interview with TechTarget, S/4 experts recommend taking advantage of the current disruption. The slowdown in activity offers a great opportunity for IT departments to undergo a more thorough examination of their legacy ERP and come up with a better ecosystem that delivers greater business value.

The biggest challenge they face: convincing business leaders their S/4 project should move ahead.

TechTarget

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