Finding yourself awake within a few hours of sleep is a common problem faced by men of all ages. An estimated 50 to 70 million adults in the US are facing sleep-related problems, according to the CDC. This is partly because we are over-stimulated and stressed all the time and this carries over to our sleep as well. A lack of good night sleep makes us feel tired and groggy the next day which in turn, affects our professional and personal life.

One way to ensure you have a good night sleep is to have a happy and healthy life. Some tech apps and gadgets are also helpful to fill in the gaps. We have presented some sleep tech for you below to help you get more zzzz.

Wake-Up Light

Most alarm clocks use sound to wake you, but the Wake-up Light uses light to do it. This device works with the circadian cycle of the body to “tune” your body to nature’s day and night cycle. This device stimulates the conditions of dawn using a UV-free halogen bulb that gradually becomes brighter about half an hour before your alarm goes off. Such a mechanism helps your body to work with nature’s rhythmic pattern of sleep and wakefulness and over a period of prolonged use, it improves your sleep pattern. An added bonus is a USB port you can use to load your song play-list, so you can wake up to your favorite song every time. The Wake-Up Light is most helpful for those men who travel frequently across timezones.

Pzizz

Pzizz is a unique sleep app that creates a hypnotic sound to put you to sleep. Unlike other sleep devices, it does not play your favorite songs or reads out a boring story to put you to sleep, but rather it has soothing and modulated voices that slowly ease your brain and body into sleeping mode. This hypnotic effect is sure to work like magic on any insomniac.

Zeo Sleep Manager Pro

If you have been feeling groggy even after a good night’s sleep, then Zeo Sleep is the device for you. It measures brain waves through a headband and records your sleep patterns at night. In the morning, Zeo analyzes your sleep patterns to give you a breakdown of your sleep cycle and it even rates the quality of your sleep. This is particularly useful for men who feel tired all the time.

FitBit Ultra

FitBit Ultra is one of the coolest devices available today for sleep and fitness. The makers of FitBit sure know to pack a whole lot into this ultra-thin and handy device. It comes with a wristband that you wear at night to monitor your sleep patterns and through the day, the same wristband is used to count the number of steps you have walked or climbed including the amount of calories burned. Think of this device as a digital trainer that helps you to stay healthy during the day and night.

These sleep devices help you to get the most out of your night’s sleep, so you are refreshed for a new day of work and fun!

The post Best Sleep Tech For Men appeared first on Cloud News Daily.

Drones have given us a greater understanding of the world, thanks to its capability to provide information from the remotest corners of the world where human inhabitation is impossible. In fact, drone photography has caught on in a big way, and it’s being used to capture moments from disaster zones, sporting events, concerts, nature and so much more. There are also some funny moments captured on quadcopters that is sure to bring a smile on your face.

To get a glimpse of the power of drones, we have compiled a list of the coolest drone videos for you.

Dolphin Stampede and Whales:

This jaw-dropping footage of a mega-pod of thousands of dolphins stampeding off the coast of Dana Point in California gives a rare glimpse into the life of dolphins. Also in this video, is a heartwarming close-up of a new humpback whale snuggling with its mother.

Dji Phantom flies into volcano:

This drone was sent straight into the Yasur volcano on the island of Tanna in the Pacific nation of Vanavatu. This volcano has been erupting continuously for eight centuries, so this drone brought back some spectacular images of this phenomenon to give geologists a better understanding of what’s going on here.

Angry ram takes down a drone and its owner:

In this hilarious video, a confused ram uses its horns to take down a drone hovering over it. The owner also has a close escape as he was knocked down into a bush by the raging ram.

Aerial video of tornado damage in Vilonia and West Pulaski county in Arkansas:

A tornado struck near Little Rock, Arkansas on April 27, 2014. This drone video shows the images of the disaster, including a heartbreaking footage of a home that was wiped off its foundation.  Such videos can greatly help with rehabilitation and emergency response systems.

Beijing from above:

In this drone video, Trey Ratcliff caught an aerial view of Beijing with his drone. However, he was detained by the police as drones are forbidden in the Chinese capital. He was later released and was allowed to keep the video because it gives a fresh perspective of Beijing and the everyday life here.

Drone’s eye view of Burning Man 2013:

Once a year, artists come together to create Black Rock City, a temporary city on Nevada’s Black Rock Desert. The incredible creativity and energy of this event was captured by drones to give an idea of what 70,000 people can do together.

Postcards from Pripyat, Chernobyl:

A city called Pripyat was evacuated in 1986 due to the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. Almost three decades later, Danny Cook of CBS TV visited this place. The video footage he filmed using drones showed how the city had frozen in time, allowing nature to take over much of the city’s open spaces.

Koh Yao Noi:

Philip Bloom went to a Thai island called Koh Yao Noi near Phuket to showcase the beauty of this island to the rest of the world. This enchanting video is different from other drone videos as it’s shot very close to the ground to give a whole new perspective to viewers.

Drone hits groom in the head:

Drone videos like this are sure to give you a hearty laugh. During a couple’s bridal shoot, the drone hit the groom’s head and knocked them down to the ground, right when he was about to kiss his bride-to-be!

OK Go – I won’t let you down:

This rock band called OK Go used a drone camera to capture the entire dance sequence performed using umbrellas, Honda unicycles and school girls. The camera starts inside a building and zooms out into the air to provide the most entertaining dance ever. No wonder it’s one of the coolest drone videos at more than 28 million views on YouTube.

Have you come across any interesting drone videos? Do let us know by commenting below.

The post Coolest Drone Videos appeared first on Cloud News Daily.

We hear so much about the public cloud industry. Amazon Web Services, Microsoft, Google and Oracle are in the news almost every day for a new service, data center or even a new partnership or acquisition. Of late, we’ve also been hearing a lot about a hybrid cloud strategy where some data and applications are in the public cloud while the rest, mostly mission-critical data, is stored in a company’s data center. But what about private cloud? Where does it stand?

Well, to start with, private cloud is an infrastructure that offers the same benefits as that of a public cloud service, but the underlying architecture is proprietary and is designed for the use of a single company only. For example, Walmart has its own private cloud architecture and doesn’t use any of the public cloud services offered by companies like AWS and Microsoft. IN fact, it’s even urging some of its vendors to stay away from public cloud thereby triggering a war of words between Walmart and AWS.

Private cloud is more prevalent than we think. In fact, a report by Yankee Group shows that twice the number of companies prefer a private cloud than a fully managed public cloud system.

Why?

Simply because private cloud offers the best of both worlds. You get the benefits of public cloud such as scalability, uptime and reduced maintenance and at the same time, your data is more than secure than a public cloud environment. Due to these increased benefits, many companies are moving to the private cloud sphere.

If you’re one such company looking to transition to private cloud, here are some things to keep in mind while building your own private cloud.

Start with a vision

Write down the goals of your private cloud strategy as that’ll always guide you towards the right implementation. Work with different teams, understand the existing problems for your developers and IT administrators and create a set of solutions to mitigate these problems.

Create a flexible private cloud

A common problem with many private cloud architectures is the lack of flexibility. Eventually, this is what causes the cloud to fail completely. So, have a clear idea for your architecture and more importantly, make sure it is flexible enough to accommodate unknown challenges and complex failures.

Automate your infrastructure

One of the pain points of private cloud is maintenance. To avoid this, try to automate many of your routine maintenance tasks. Also, have a plan to maintain your data center, network and procurement, as these are potential bottlenecks that can slow down your overall implementation.

Test, test and test

It’s absolutely important that you build out a stable private cloud. So, test your cloud multiple times and plug in all the loopholes that comes with it. If you overlook a known bug or fail to fix something due to lack of time, then there’s a possibility for your entire system to collapse.

Overall, building a private cloud is a journey by itself that comes with pitfalls. Steer away from these pits with our suggestions.

The post How to build a successful private cloud? appeared first on Cloud News Daily.

Firewalls are an integral part of a network’s safety and security, and this is why they are often considered as the pillar of any cyber security program. Firewalls constantly face a barrage of attacks from different sources ranging from automated programs to experienced hackers. Though the firewall is constantly blocking unauthorized attack from unknown sources, it is nevertheless important for network managers to stay on top of their firewall performance. This helps them to identify and mitigate the effects of potential malicious attacks.

Logs Have All the Information

The first place to look for in case of an attack is the logs. Every login and activity performed on the network is recorded in the log files, therefore, look for the source of the problem in these log files. This will give more insight into the nature of attack and from this information, it is possible to know which parts of the network could be possibly compromised. Further, these log files will have information about the source of attack and this can help to identify the perpetrator as well.

Port Scanning

Hackers use port scanners to identify open ports on the firewall through which they can attack the network. In the case of potential malicious attacks, you should scan the log files for requests that came from the same IP to multiple ports. The firewall system is designed to block multiple requests from the same IP and information about these requests will be available in the log files. This will give you more insight on the source of the attack and more importantly, you can block this IP from accessing any part of your network in the future.

Understand Traffic Patterns

It is easy to identify whether the network is compromised when you know the traffic patterns. Knowing the regular bandwidth usage and the number of connections or packets transmitted per second gives a good idea about the normal traffic on the network. When these rates are much higher than normal, then it is time to examine the network for a possible security breach. To get more information about the nature and source of attack, you can go back to the log files again.

Intrusion Detection Systems

Intrusion detection systems constantly monitor the network and alert you when there is a breach. It monitors user and system activity, assesses the integrity of critical information, analyzes traffic patterns, audits the system to identify problems with configurations and its resulting vulnerabilities and provides a statistical analysis of patterns that match previous attacks.  It creates an alert immediately after it detects an attack. However, it does not block traffic even if the request is from an unauthorized source.

The post How to Identify Potential Malicious Attacks on Firewalls appeared first on Cloud News Daily.

Open any tech site and you’ll have at least a dozen articles that talk about artificial intelligence. Undoubtedly, it’s the next big wave of technology that could alter the way we live, just like how Internet, social media and smartphones changed lives for us.

But this time though, it’s not just the positive thoughts and impact that’s being discussed. In fact, no piece on AI is complete without the user having to read through the negative impact of it. To top it, there are hundreds of discussions and interviews about how artificial intelligence could destroy human jobs, cause unemployment and maybe even wipe us off the planet. It’s touted as machines that can take over the human race, just like what happened in the Matrix series.

But is this reality? Will artificial intelligence really harm us so much?

Well, if you’re a pragmatist who goes by facts, the answer is a big no. Artificial intelligence is not a apocalypse that can control us or even worse, wipe us off the planet simply because it is something we’ve created and we always have the power to destroy it.

To top it, machines can never show complex emotions like empathy, decisiveness based on emotions, love, anger, stress and more. All this means, they will remain only as machines and can never replace humans as the next race to rule earth.

So, going back to our question – is artificial intelligence an apocalypse or just noise? Well, it’s definitely not an apocalypse, but it’s a lot more than just noise.

There’s some concrete and good work happening in this field and that could possibly wipe out some jobs, especially in the manufacturing and travel industry. We’ll have to view AI more as a technology like Internet, rather than one that can potentially harm us. If you look back, every major invention did bring about a shift in the nature of jobs, and AI will also be one such technology. But that’s where it ends.

We have to adapt to new jobs and a new work environment, like we’ve always done in the past. That’s it because artificial intelligence is not anywhere close to the capabilities of the human brain. In fact, John Giannandrea from Google says that AI machines are worse off than the four-year olds in terms of what they can do and understand.

But, will it get better? Yes, hopefully we’ll have AI systems that have the brains of a mature adult, minus the teenage ramblings. But by when, humans would have evolved to become more intelligent and capable to handle these machines.

To answer our question, artificial intelligence is nowhere near an apocalypse, but definitely a lot of people are generating noise around it. In reality though, the developments are concrete and happening, so it’s not just talks about intelligent systems.

So, don’t worry. Just sit back and embrace this wave as it comes.

The post Is artificial intelligence an apocalypse or just noise? appeared first on Cloud News Daily.

A few years ago, a lot of our systems were highly centralized and they acted as single points of access for different resources. That’s when cloud computing entered the tech world and dramatically transformed these centralized systems into a more distributed and decentralized architecture.

Such an architecture called edge computing takes cloud computing closer to the consumers. In other words, you can visualize this infrastructure to offer the functions of compute, storage and computing in blocks present at the edge of networks.

The obvious advantage with this architecture is that the latency time is reduced because requests and responses don’t have to travel very long. This short latency time has given a big boost to new technologies like Internet of Things (IoT), virtual reality and augmented reality. Even rapid strides made in the worlds of artificial intelligence and machine learning can be attributed to some extent to the emergence of edge computing.

That said, let’s get to the central question of this piece- what’s the difference between a device edge and a cloud edge?

Broadly speaking, edge computing is  in its nascent stages, so many companies are trying to identify a niche for themselves in this growing market. They have come up with two models in edge computing.

Device edge computing

In this model, customers have the choice to run any kind of edge computing software in existing software environments while the hardware is shared with other resources or can be dedicated, depending on the needs of edge computing applications. This model is most ideal for running low-powered devices such as an embedded system on chip software in vehicles.

Also, this is best in cases where sensors have to talk to cloud blocks often, as is the case of machine to machine (M2M) communication. Sensors need to communicate quickly and frequently to update information to these device edges, that in turn can be sent to the cloud. So, in all these scenarios, you need a device edge.

Cloud edge computing

Cloud edge computing, also known as fog computing, is a concept that surrounds the implementation of IoT. For this, a device known as fog computing device or cloud edge gateway is placed between the sensors and the cloud, and this device is what provides connectivity between the two.

In other words, this device analyzes the data first, decides if it needs to be compressed or cut, and the remaining is sent to the cloud. This way, network traffic is greatly reduced. Besides this advantage, you can perform calculations on your data and do real-time processing before sending the data to your cloud storage.

This is most ideal when you have to gather and process large amounts of data in a limited bandwidth situation.

Thus, these are the differences between device and edge computing. The right choice of technology depends on your requirements.

The post What’s the difference between device edge and cloud edge? appeared first on Cloud News Daily.

Disruptive technology, as the name suggests, is an emerging technology that will create a new market and value network, and eventually, disrupt the markets and uses of existing technology. This is a broad term used to describe any new technology that’s overpowering enough to affect the existing technologies.

If you look back, this is not a new concept. When emails became popular, it eventually disrupted the system of letter writing. Likewise, the emergence of cloud changed the way we store data and it eventually caused a decline of the physical storage market. These are all disruptive technologies in their own way.

It’s just that the term “disruptive” is becoming popular now because of our understanding and the way we are embracing technology. Also, these technologies have the power to change the way we live and work.

Let’s now look at a few examples of disruptive technologies.

Internet of Things (IoT)

The Internet of Things is a technology that connects our everyday devices like watches and alarm clocks, so we can get more out of them. For example, this technology can power our refrigerators to monitor milk levels and if it goes below a threshold level, it can send a message to our smartphone to order milk right away!

Artificial intelligence

This technology mimics the cognitive powers of the human brain to solve real-time problems. Machines with this artificial intelligence can be programmed to learn from the environment just like how humans do, and based on it, they can make the right decisions and take necessary actions.

This is a truly disruptive technology as it take away the routine jobs that are now being done by humans.

3D printing

Imagine how convenient it would be if you can print a Mercedes sports car right from a printer? Well, that’s exactly what a 3D printer can do for you. We can print buildings, clothes, food, body parts and so much more, which means, almost every traditional industry has a potential to be affected by it.

High speed travel

How convenient it would be if we can travel from Japan to the U.S within minutes? That’s the power of high speed travel. Already, the presence of Hyperloop between Dubai and Abu Dhabi has set an example. If this picks up, then our airplane industry could go out of business soon.

Robotics

Robotics is another interesting disruptive technology, as these robots could potential change our manufacturing and hospitality industries. In fact, the possibilities for robotics are endless and can extend to other industries as well.

Self-driving cars

Self-driving cars may be a reality sooner than we think. It also means, the existing car and oil industry will be down on its knees when this happens.

In short, disruptive technologies have the power to change the way we live and can have a profound impact on our economies. While they are for the larger good for mankind, this disruption is something that we have to anticipate and take it in our stride.

The post What is disruptive technology? appeared first on Cloud News Daily.

The benefits of cloud are there for everyone to see. Right from improving productivity to reducing costs, cloud has been providing a ton of advantages to companies. With so many benefits, it’s only right that companies want to make the most of them. Wall Street is no exception to this rule.

Many large financial institutions that are a part of Wall Street have started thinking of using the cloud to get a competitive advantage in a fairly tough market. They want to make the most of cloud to drive innovation and to stand out as a preferred institution among customers.

Some companies like CapitalOne have been using cloud services for some time now, while others like JP Morgan and ANZ Bank have announced that they will be moving to a cloud platform fairly soon. Other smaller companies are likely to follow suit too.

Reliable sources confirm that these financial institutions are considering the top three players, namely, Amazon Web Services, Google and Microsoft, for this shift to the cloud. Long years of effort in laying an extensive and strong infrastructure is touted to be the reason to consider only these three providers.

All the three companies have an expansive network and have all the necessary tools and services in place to cater to Wall Street. Using this infrastructure, JP Morgan and other financial institutions are improve their technical capabilities and in the process, drive up efficiency and bring down costs.

In many ways, it’s a surprise that the larger financial institutions haven’t turned to the cloud yet. Small organizations like credit unions moved their operations to the cloud a few years ago, but the larger organizations have started this move just now.

Why?

Security was one of the major concerns that held back these companies from making a shift because even the smallest of breaches can prove to be an expensive affair. But now, cloud security has improved and there’s more confidence in the cloud than ever before.

Also, the fact that hackers were able to breach into the so-called “secure” systems of these companies led them to reconsider their choices, and soon they found that cloud is a tenable option. They not only get other benefits such as improved productivity and lesser costs, but also the security is at least on par with what they have, if not better.

To top it, regulators are also going easy on the idea of moving data to the cloud because they also understand that this is the future and it’s only right for banks to make this transition too.

This is why asset managers, insurance companies and large banks are running different tests, talking to vendors and even modifying their existing policies to ensure that their transition to the cloud is smooth and easy.

Overall, wall street is moving to the cloud soon and it won’t be long before customers can enjoy more services while banks stand to gain financially and from an operational standpoint through this transition.

The post Is Wall Street Moving to Cloud? appeared first on Cloud News Daily.

Back office tasks are often seen as routine ones, but have you ever realized how much more streamlined these operations will be when you move them to the cloud?

Let’s look at some reasons why cloud is critical for your back office operations.

Embracing change

What we did 10 years ago is hardly relevant today. Many enterprises continue to have legacy systems that put tremendous load on the infrastructure and consume way more resources than they should.

We had to use legacy systems then because that was all that was available. But today, cloud and other technologies have outdated these systems, so it’s only right that we are in tune with these changes.

Today, cloud is seen as the best bet for back office operations because a lot of it can be automated and you can save time and money on it.

Cost

You’re sure to have heard this before, but there’s no harm in saying it again considering that your business can really save tons of money.

Yes, with cloud, you no longer have to spend on infrastructure or updating your hardware components. You can simply hire whatever specifications you want, move your data to the cloud and enjoy all the benefits that come with it. The annual subscription fee that companies charge for using their infrastructure will be only a fraction of what it will cost you to setup your own.

Hassle-free Management

With cloud, you no longer have to allocate time and resources for management. No more security updates and patch installations, as all that is taken care of by the cloud service provider. This means, you get to focus more on your core business without having to worry about the surrounding infrastructural challenges.

 Analytics

Another huge reason to move your back office operations to the cloud is the additional value you can glean from your data.

Technologies like big data make it easy to identify different data patterns from varied sources, so you can get a better understanding of who your customers are, what they think of your product, what do they expect out of it and more. Armed with such information, you can make the necessary changes to your product and operations to satisfy them better. Such proactive measures is sure to help you get a wider customer base and you can actually be more connected to your customers.

Such analytics require heavy infrastructure as you’ll have to collect data from different sources, store and analyze them to identify patterns. This is where cloud makes it easy for you.

In fact, back office is where the bulk of data is handled, so cloud is more relevant here than in other aspects of your operations.

Overall, cloud can give a big boost to your back office operations, so make the move today if you haven’t do so already.

The post Why Do You Need Cloud for Back Office? appeared first on Cloud News Daily.