Articles by Jack M. Germain

The marketing technique called clienteling is used by retail workers to establish long-term relationships with key customers. When applied to e-commerce, the practice is based on having access to data about their preferences, behaviors, and purchases A relatively new variation of this concept is digital clienteling. It follows many of the establish...

Russian authorities on Friday reported that they shut down the REvil ransomware operations and arrested a dozen or more gang members The Federal Security Service (FSB) of the Russian Federation said it shut down the REvil ransomware gang after U.S. authorities reported on the leader....

Few desktop environments -- and Linux is both blessed and cursed with a plethora of them -- can be inviting enough to fit the computing needs of all user scenarios. KDE is one of them. Even better, the October release of KDE Neon 5.23 makes it a fitting choice over other distros running KDE This release has a double claim to fame. KDE Neon 5.23 h...

CES 2022 officially runs Jan. 5 to 7, but many of the big press conferences took place on Monday, Jan. 4, one day earlier than originally planned. Consumer Technology Association (CTA), owner and producer of CES, put the number of companies canceling at 72 but noted that it added 60 new companies The hybrid arrangement allowed CES to muster a globa...

As the New Year rolls in, consumers are strengthening their voices to tell brand marketers how their support can win more of their dollars. Their message is clear: make your purpose about more than corporate profit Deloitte's 2022 Global Marketing Trends report pinpoints key trends unfolding in the marketing function. It uncovers how high-growth br...

Welcome to 2022 in Linuxland. Last year closed out with solid developments in the open-source world. Expect that progress to continue as this new year moves forward 2022 arrived on the heels of three key European rulings that lend support to the open-source concept:...

Next week's Consumer Electronics Show (CES) will not be canceled despite a surge of new Covid-19 infections. Though last-minute plans have made it a hybrid event with a physical show in Las Vegas and a digital component for those unable or unwilling to attend in person In the weeks leading up to the mega event, numerous companies reconsidered healt...

The global remote work revolution the pandemic caused has accelerated and reinforced the need for companies to prioritize the employee experience. This necessity includes providing tech equipment and consumer products from select retailers via a "choose your own device" (CYOD) reimbursement program That is the view from two top suppliers of compute...

Not everyone who knows how to code software gets rich quickly, if at all. But extra money can be generated from software coding as passive income from side projects or independent distribution of mobile apps and more Software coders typically work for commercial entities developing internal applications. Some coders contract software creation proje...

Beware of the Log4j vulnerability! This nasty software bug has much of the IT world in a panic as it follows us into the New Year No doubt, many organizations and SMBs with no IT staff are clueless about its existence. But ignorance of Log4j only makes them more susceptible to an attack. They remain defenseless....

The Linux Foundation (LF) has little concern from within the open-source community over diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), according to the first open-source DEI study in at least four years LF, the nonprofit organization enabling mass innovation through open source, on Dec. 14 announced the release of its latest LF Research study, "Diversity,...

As 2021 comes to a close, here's a roundup of some of the latest developments in the world of Linux and open-source software » Linux Foundation training courses, both free and low-cost, continue to open opportunities for IT tech jobs and corporate training for open-source licensing....

Firmware security firm Eclypsium and the Synopsys Cybersecurity Research Center (CyRC) last week issued reports about global hardware flaws and multiple API holes discovered in a call center software suite The separate reports come on the heels of news from F-Secure that 150 different HP multifunction printer (MFP) products are loaded with se...

HP's Chromebase 22-aa0012 is a unique form factor with a spinning 21.5-inch display, striking performance, and clean aesthetics that make it a game-changing alternative for desktop computers Launched in July, the HP Chromebase all-in-one desktop is the first and only Chrome OS-powered desktop to feature a fully rotating display. It could also serve...

New research from cloud security firm Ermetic shows that nearly all businesses have identities that, if compromised, would place at least 90 percent of the S3 buckets in their AWS account at risk Ermetic conducted the study to determine the circumstances that would allow ransomware to make its way to Amazon S3 buckets. The research revealed a very ...

Software industry revenue models are changing. Complex and hybrid monetization models will dominate the market to deliver flexibility for producers and end customers That assessment comes from technology firm Revenera's Monetization Monitor: Software Monetization Models and Strategies 2021 report. Part of an annual series, this report provides prod...

Here are some of the latest developments in the world of open-source software - A German state is using the Linux OS to push Microsoft out the window over the next four years. Other governmental agencies on numerous continents have toyed with replacing Microsoft Word with the OpenOffice suite. Some succeeded; others failed....

Weight loss and health products are often tied to unfounded hype Lumen, a high-tech solution to help manage your body's ability to control weight and nutritional awareness, puts the science backing its metabolism monitoring product up front and center....

Software company Freshworks on Nov. 11 debuted Freshstack, a customer relationship management suite of products built for the unique needs of startups. The new platform unifies customer support, sales, and marketing teams The Freshstack product suite offers a trifecta of support, combining Freshworks' products -- Freshdesk, Freshsales, and Freshmar...

Beware of your HP printers. They are hackable Finland-based security consultancy F-Secure on Tuesday announced the discovery of vulnerabilities affecting more than 150 different HP multifunction printer (MFP) products. HP has since issued patches for these vulnerabilities, essentially improving the security of a significant portion of its MFP units...