Articles by Jack M. Germain

In today's high-tech world, nearly all businesses are driven by the best combination of management and productivity tools. Knowing which software works better than other solutions can give business leaders a competitive edge in growing their company's efficiency and bottom line The increasing number of software and vendor options in today's rapidly...

The White House on Monday urged American companies to bolster their cybersecurity defenses in the wake of intelligence reports citing possible plans by the Russian government to target critical U.S. infrastructure Government officials later clarified that a lack of evidence exists of any imminent attacks....

Corporate assets being moved to cloud storage are straining IT security management to the breaking point as larger attack surfaces are created to increasingly expose organizations to cyber risk The enterprise technology ecosystem is being rapidly reshaped by API-first, cloud-first, and digital transformation initiatives. This, in turn, comes at a h...

An unintended consequence of Russia's invasion of Ukraine is the loss of technical talent that will impact supply chain and software innovation for years to come With more than 300,000 technology professionals, Ukraine boasts one of the largest developer communities in Europe. The region is known as Eastern Europe's Silicon Valley....

The InnoView 15.8" portable monitor is one of the latest entries in the China-based manufacturer's growing inventory of affordable, lightweight monitors Carry-around monitors can be a frustrating accessory. Too many variables risk product dissatisfaction. Performance and features can be lacking, and they might be compatible with only some of your d...

Welcome to a strange new working world. Soon, donning a virtual reality headset could be standard office attire for work-from-home employees This new "home office" virtual concept was born from the rapid transition the pandemic forced onto a remote-first work experience that left many remote workers feeling isolated and solitary. For many remote em...

Contact centers have been challenged the past year, most notably from labor shortages that have forced the industry into changing how it operates, how it staffs, and how it improves customer satisfaction and experience In response, many in the industry are turning to different methods that help automate their operations. Two key tools are interacti...

Old-time Linux is back again. It is not uncommon for open-source software to stop in its tracks. Community and team-based projects sometimes lose developers, enthusiasm, or funding. Hundreds of Linux distributions exist. Some come and go all the time, often unnoticed Usually, others take their place and the open-source software world goes on. It is...

Don't lose your shirt while betting on teams competing in the March Madness NCAA basketball tournament. If you ignore the Ps and Qs of cybersecurity this year, you might well shell out a lot more than what you bargained for The 2022 men's' March Madness tournament tips off with "Selection Sunday" airing on CBS March 13 at 6 p.m. ET, followed by the...

Internal documents recently leaked by a member of the Conti ransomware group reveal the gang's status as a multi-layered business organization Researchers at BreachQuest, a cybersecurity and incident response firm in Dallas, on Wednesday published its analyses of chat logs a disgruntled group member posted first on private channels and then on Twi...

Digital retailers are ramping up their social media advertising budgets to pitch products where shoppers gather socially. However, according to a report on the growing adoption of social advertising, brands need to employ automation strategies to replace traditional manual steps and add multi-platform approaches to remain successful New research fr...

Stand-alone automation platforms and low-code software tools in recent years have enabled vendors to increase sales of products designed for specific roles and functions directly to business users Often, this puts IT management at arm's length from enforcing governance and security standards....

Hours before Russia began its Ukraine invasion on Feb. 24, Microsoft found a new malware package, which it dubbed "FoxBlade." As more concerns about malware fallout from the war spread, several cybersecurity firms announced protective measures for potential victims Microsoft's Threat Intelligence Center (MSTIC) detected a new round of offensive and...

A surge in the use of the new marketing channel called social commerce requires online retailers to adapt their selling strategies to succeed. For that new marketing platform to get results for sellers, however, brands must recognize that traditional e-commerce and social media marketing are not the same Years of research optimized the e-commerce c...

ExTiX is a Linux distribution that knows where it is going but falls short of being there yet. It is, however, well on its way The ExTiX developers published a new release, Jan 15. The new version, ExTiX 22.1, features the Deepin desktop environment and can be run from RAM as a handy portable Linux platform....

One bad consumer experience can cause a customer to stop using a product, which is why the customer journey revolution is taking center stage at smart businesses While customer experience analytics can rescue businesses struggling to effectively manage their customer journeys, real-time insights are needed to help brands correct their CX difficulti...

With Russian military forces invading Ukraine, Atlas VPN is offering journalists in that war zone heightened online security using its virtual private network (VPN) free of charge The company on Thursday announced its support to journalists and media personnel in Ukraine. Media representatives in Ukraine needing a premium VPN subscription should e...

Government agencies have discovered a deadlier new home and office network device killer malware that replaces weaker VPNFilter code U.S. and U.K. governments published a joint report Wednesday detailing a new malware strain developed by Russia's military cyber unit deployed in the wild since 2019 and used to remotely compromise network devices, pr...

The power of open-source software and the flexibility of Linux computing consume a significant share of news space each month Increasing numbers of technical jobs continue to go unfilled due to a lack of Linux skills. Many of those vacant jobs no doubt make it more difficult to stem the tide of cyberattacks by digital criminals who do not lack the ...

In Neal Stephenson's popular 1992 sci-fi novel "Snow Crash," the author introduced the term metaverse to portray a futuristic world where people interacted in virtual 3D worlds using avatars. While his avatar-laced society is a familiar playing field for virtual game fans, few others but forward-looking marketers envisioned much usefulness in the realities of e-commerce...