VI - Progress

06/09/2016

1. Learn & Implement Marketing Basics Start with a plan, not a prayer. No matter how many buzzwords, new paradigms, disruptive technologies, or innovative inventions are introduced, search engine optimization (SEO) at its most fundamental is marketing. Marketing on the web, with efforts, outcomes, m...

28/01/2016

Learn more about our IT Services!

VI–Progress Ltd. technology expertise and automation strategy knowledge empower us to provide customers with the first-class development&consulting services, which ensure improved business efficiency, increased cost-effectiveness and risks mitigation.

25/01/2016

http://vi-progress.com/visitalks-approved-for-patent

Visitalks – The World’s First Video Call Service for Deaf One of the most important stages in development of VisiTalks Project was to protect the idea and prove its novelty. Several months ago we submitted the VisiTalks technology description to the “Ukrainian Institute of Intellectual Property” (UK…

02/01/2016

DIGITAL MARKETING AND ECOMMERCE STRATEGIES (by Brendan Murphy)

A couple of days ago I met with a senior marketing executive working for a very large multinational. Their loyalty scheme was under-performing and wanted to see what could be done. It didn’t take too long to recognise the old, familiar story….the scheme wasn’t fully purposed, it was orphaned long ag…

02/01/2016

I thought to post this video because it covers our initial conversation with companies, organisations and owner managed businesses who contact us seeking websites, upgrades to existing sites or SEO. This article is about web development. I will post about SEO on another occasion. We are very differe…

02/01/2016

VI-Progress Ltd. & Bright Business Consultancy Services - Approach to websites (by CEO Brendan Murphy)

I thought to post this video because it covers our initial conversation with companies, organisations and owner managed businesses who contact us see

30/12/2015

Bright Business Consultancy Services & VI-Progress Ltd. - Business Approach (by Brendan Murphy CEO Bright Business Consultancy Services)

11/10/2015

MICROSOFT'S NEW XBOX ONE EXPERIENCE BRINGS WINDOWS 10 ONTO THE CONSOLE—WITH CORTANA

A tour of the New Xbox One Experience
What do you get when you combine the Xbox One gaming console with Windows 10? What Microsoft calls the New Xbox One Experience, or NXOE. And it’s beginning to roll out to testers right now.

Microsoft representatives were leery about reporters publishing previews of the experience, simply because of bugs and performance issues associated with early code. But I was actually surprised that it seems to work pretty well—it’s a little slower than usual, and my login information to Netflix vanished in the update. Otherwise, however, I haven’t noticed any major bugs.

Unfortunately, the update dropped as I was covering the unveiling of Microsoft’s other devices in New York, so I’ve spent just a few hours with it. But here’s a quick visual tour of what you can expect as the NXOE eventually opens up to a wider group of people.

22/09/2015

US legislation requiring tech industry to report terrorist activity dropped

The U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee has dropped a provision that would have required Internet companies to report on vaguely-defined terrorist activity on their platforms, a move that was strongly opposed by the industry and civil rights groups.

The controversial section 603 was included in the Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2016 but Senator Ron Wyden, a Democrat from Oregon, had put a hold on the bill, stating that he wanted to work with colleagues to revise or remove the provision so that the rest of the bill could move forward.

On Monday, Wyden said that the "vague & dangerous" provision had been removed from the bill and he would now be lifting the hold on it.

“Social media companies aren’t qualified to judge which posts amount to 'terrorist activity,' and they shouldn’t be forced against their will to create a Facebook Bureau of Investigations to police their users’ speech,” Wyden said in a statement.

The provision would have required Internet services companies, who obtain "actual knowledge of any terrorist activity," to provide to the appropriate authorities the "facts or circumstances" of the alleged activities.

Powerful tech industry bodies like the Internet Association, Reform Government Surveillance and Internet Infrastructure Coalition found the description "any terrorist activity" as vague and overbroad. In a letter to Senate leaders in August, the associations warned that the provision could result in "overbroad reporting to the government, swamping law enforcement with useless information, and potentially raising First Amendment and privacy concerns for the user who posted the item."

Over 30 civil rights groups and trade bodies also wrote to key senators warning about the chilling effect the provision would have had on constitutionally protected speech, as Internet communications services providers would tend to over-report on the activity and communications of their users to avoid violating the law.

The House of Representatives passed a version of the Intelligence Authorization Act in June.

The dispute over the provision may, however, be far from over. A spokesman for Senator Dianne Feinstein, a California Democrat and prominent member of the intelligence committee, told some news outlets that she had agreed to drop the provision if only to let the intelligence bill move forward, but still considers it important to block the use of social media by terrorists.

18/09/2015

MI5 chief Andrew Parker: Social networks have a responsibility to spy on users

In the first interview ever given by a serving British security chief, MI5 director general Andrew Parker called for more online surveillance powers to be signed into law as he warned that the UK faces its greatest terrorist threat in 30 years.

Speaking to Radio 4’s Today programme, Parker said that, with organisations such as so-called Islamic State regularly exploiting the power of online social networks to recruit members and plot attacks, Facebook, Twitter and other platforms collectively had a responsibility to report extremist activity and other forms of online criminality to the authorities.

“There is a real question here about responsibility for those who carry this information,” said Parker. “Some of the social media companies operate arrangements for their own purposes under their codes of practice, which cause them to close accounts sometimes because of what is carried.

"I think there is then a question about why not come forward? If there is something that concerns terrorism, or child s*x exploitation or concerns some other appalling area of crime, why would the company not come forward?”

In 2014 it emerged that Facebook knew one of fusilier Lee Rigby’s killers had discussed planning the murder on its platform with fellow extremists.

Facebook shut down the account after automated systems detected extremist activity, but no feedback loop existed to notify the appropriate authorities and prevent the attack.

MI5 said its ability to analyse communications data had already proved instrumental in disrupting terrorist activity. In 2010 it identified crucial links between seven persons of interest who were in the final stages of planning to blow up the London Stock Exchange and other symbolic locations.

Parker issued a warning over online encryption, saying he feared that technological advances by security firms and social networks could cause terror suspects to “go dark” and disappear.

In comments made after his BBC interview, Parker said: “The way we work these days has changed as technology has advanced. Our success depends on us and our partner agencies having sufficient, up-to-date capabilities, used within a clear framework of law against those who threaten this country.

“I welcome government’s intent to update the legal framework accordingly and to make our powers more transparent. Keeping our laws up to date in this area can only be a good thing in a free, democratic country – the very thing MI5 exists to protect. We need to be able to operate in secret if we are to succeed against those who mean the UK harm. But the capabilities we use can be described more fully in law.

“We take our legal and ethical duty to use these powers proportionately extremely seriously. We never use them for the sake of it and do not trawl at will through people’s private lives.”

Earlier this week home secretary Theresa May held a meeting with US internet service providers and UK telcos to garner support for her revived surveillance bill – also known as the Snooper’s Charter – which could see surveillance powers extended further into the realm of social media. According to The Guardian the government wants a draft bill in the next 30 days.

17/09/2015

Microsoft extends Azure Active Directory to support Facebook, Google

Microsoft's Azure Active Directory identity management platform now allows businesses to authenticate customers using popular consumer applications, such as Facebook and Google's suite of services.

Research firm Gartner's recent Magic Quadrant named Azure AD one of the leading products for businesses to verify the identity of their employees; Microsoft says 6 million customers use the cloud-based SaaS.

[ Deep Dive: How to rethink security for the new world of IT. | Discover how to secure your systems with InfoWorld's Security newsletter. ]
+MORE AT NETWORK WORLD: 11 Reasons you should upgrade to iPhone 6s +
Today Microsoft announced new functionality so businesses can verify the identity of customers and partners in addition to their own employees.

"Providing a secure identity platform to underpin your consumer-facing apps is a fundamental part of maintaining customer trust, satisfaction, and retention," says Microsoft corporate Vice President Brad Anderson in a blog post announcing the new features. As an example, Microsoft said the Real Madrid sports team has been a private beta tester of the service and has used it to allow fans to sign into the team's mobile app via a Facebook login.

Microsoft also today announced Active Directory B2B Collaboration. This feature allows the identity management platform to authenticate a company's partners. "These new capabilities make it easy for organizations to create advanced trust relationships between Azure AD tenants so they can easily share business applications across companies without the hassle of managing additional directories or the overhead of managing partner identities," a blog post describing the new functionality states.

Both new features are available today in public preview. Microsoft did not announce specific pricing, but said it is billed on a pay-per-use basis. The first 50,000 consumer identities are free and additional authentications are "a fraction of a cent" per stored identity.

This story, "Microsoft extends Azure Active Directory to support Facebook, Google " was originally published by Network World.

14/09/2015

Prosthetic Hand Lets Paralysed Man 'Feel'
A breakthrough in prosthetic technology lets a paralysed man feel physical sensations for the first time.

It is the first time a person has been able to feel physical sensations through a prosthetic device.

The technology is so advanced the 28-year-old man could even identify which mechanical finger was being gently touched.

The system was designed by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), which is part of the US Department of Defense.

Programme manager Justin Sanchez said: "We've completed the circuit.

"Prosthetic limbs that can be controlled by thoughts are showing great promise, but without feedback from signals travelling back to the brain it can be difficult to achieve the level of control needed to perform precise movements.

"By wiring a sense of touch from a mechanical hand directly into the brain, this work shows the potential for seamless bio-technological restoration of near-natural function."

Wires were run from the anonymous volunteer's motor cortex to the mechanical hand, which allowed him to control it with his thoughts.

But because the hand contains "sophisticated" torque sensors, physical touch sensations were also transmitted to the participant's brain.

The volunteer was blindfolded and the researchers gently touched his finger intermittently.

He reported their touch with close to 100% accuracy.

He added that it felt like his own hand was being touched.