Daily Tech Briefing: April 17, 2014

Microsoft recently announced a limited public preview of the Microsoft Azure Intelligent Systems Service. This is a new service specifically designed to help customers embrace the Internet of Things and manage, capture and securely connect to machine-generated data from sensors and devices, no matter what the underlying operating system may be.

Barb Edson, general manager of marketing for Windows Embedded at Microsoft, explained that the Windows Embedded team created the new Microsoft Azure Intelligent Systems Service with software agents that allow various devices to interact with it.

The impact of the Heartbleed vulnerability on the IT community continues to become increasingly clear as officials from the Canadian Tax Revenue agency recently declared that Canadian taxpayer information was stolen as a result of the flaw.

Also, a new report has shown that 50 million Android devices are still at risk of being affected by the Heartbleed flaw. The Canada Revenue Agency shut down online tax filing services on April 8 when it became aware that Heartbleed had impacted the website. An estimated 900 Canadian taxpayers were directly affected by the flaw.

Advanced Micro Devices demonstrated its upcoming next-generation Opteron X APU running Fedora Linux at the Red Hat Summit 2014 in San Francisco on April 16. Opteron X chips are the first server processors based on AMD’s accelerated processing unit technology.

They are also the first chips to offer Heterogeneous System Architecture features. Furthermore, the demonstration proved that AMD and other members of the HSA Foundation are making efforts to build a strong software and service ecosystem around the architecture.

Finally, computer manufacturer Lenovo has introduced several PCs designed for consumers and business professionals. These include the A Series A540 all in one desktop for families, the B50 notebook for small businesses and the Z40 and Z50 entertainment-focused notebooks. The last two notebooks start at $579 and can provide an enhanced multimedia experience for users who are on-the-go. The new lineup of laptops also features Intel processors.