SaaS

• A single HPC-AI software environment is less desirable than you might think

  Every possible thing that can be tuned must be tuned – and tuned well
  Timothy Prickett Morgan Thu 9 Dec 2021 // 10:45 UTC

  Register Debate Welcome to the latest Register Debate in which writers discuss technology topics, and you the reader choose the winning argument. The format is simple: we propose a motion, the arguments for the motion will run this Monday and Wednesday, and the arguments against on Tuesday and Thursday. During the week you can cast your vote on which side you support using the poll embedded below, choosing whether you're in favour or against the motion. The final score will be announced on Friday, revealing whether the for or against argument was most popular.

  This week's motion is: A unified, agnostic software environment can be achieved. We debate the question: can the industry ever have a truly open, unified, agnostic software environment in HPC and AI that can span multiple kinds of compute engines?

  Our contributor today debating AGAINST the motion is Timothy Prickett Morgan, co-editor of The Next Platform.

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• Don't panic about cyber insurers pulling up the drawbridge, says Lloyd's

  New clauses are menu to pick from, not commandments of stone
  Gareth Corfield Thu 9 Dec 2021 // 10:00 UTC 2

  Infosec industry panic about new cyber insurance model clauses excluding cover for state-back intrusions is wide of the mark, the Lloyd's Market Association has told The Register.

  The LMA, a trade body for Lloyd's-affiliated insurance syndicates, published a series of model clauses last week that caused some disquiet among cybersecurity industry folk.

  Quite a few infosec people reading the four draft clauses worried that they didn't closely define cyber war – and wording suggesting that insurers wouldn't pay out for "cyber war" had some wondering if LMA syndicates would automatically refuse any claim based on a state-backed threat actor's activities.

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• More than half of UK workers would consider jumping ship if a hybrid work option were withdrawn by their company

  How to dodge The Great Resignation
  Richard Speed Thu 9 Dec 2021 // 09:15 UTC 22

  Research has shown that over half of UK workers would consider quitting their job if, in the future, a hybrid work option were pulled by their employer.

  The figures, produced by YouGov and published by Microsoft, come from a survey of 2,046 employees taken online over 7-15 October 2021. 504 "HR Decision Makers" (HRDM) were also consulted.

  The report is timely considering the UK government introduced its "Plan B" restrictions last night, which include advice to work from home where possible. Clearly for the time being employers cannot pull the option.

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• UK and USA seek new world order for cross-border data sharing and privacy

  They'll even run a competition to help this along
  Laura Dobberstein Thu 9 Dec 2021 // 08:16 UTC 5

  Officials from the USA and UK have signaled an intention to together shape a new world order for data sharing across borders.

  International Trade Secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan and Nadine Dorries, Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, met with US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo to hold discussions on cross border data flows, supply chains and tariffs.

  A joint statement released by Raimondo and Dorries on Wednesday said the two nations re-committed to “promoting the trustworthy use and exchange of data across borders” and plan to collaborate on the design and creation of next-gen tools that shape new global norms on data use.

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• Big Tech's private networks and protocols threaten the 'net, say internet registries

  APNIC and LACNIC worry about who will set the rules of future internetworking
  Simon Sharwood, APAC Editor Thu 9 Dec 2021 // 07:04 UTC 1

  The internet remains resilient, and its underlying protocols and technologies dominate global networking – but its relevance may be challenged by the increasing amount of traffic carried on private networks run by Big Tech, or rules imposed by governments.

  So says a Study on the Internet's Technical Success Factors commissioned by APNIC and LACNIC – the regional internet address registries for the Asia–Pacific and Latin America and Caribbean regions respectively – and written by consultancy Analysys Mason.

  Presented on Wednesday at the 2021 Internet Governance Forum (IGF), the study identifies four reasons the internet has succeeded:

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• PC market pulls past peak pandemic demand, and IDC says it will keep growing

  Lappies are leaping – albeit a little lower – and gamers are growing, but tablets are turgid
  Laura Dobberstein Thu 9 Dec 2021 // 06:02 UTC 1

  While the PC market is cooling following two straight years of double-digit growth spurred by the COVID-19 pandemic, analyst firm International Data Corporation (IDC) has predicted shipments will continue to grow over the next five years.

  The analyst firm's latest Worldwide Quarterly Personal Computing Device Tracker predicts the PC market will enjoy a five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 3.3 per cent. Notebook PCs will drive the growth, but tablets will decline.

  "The market has pulled past peak pandemic PC demand," alliterated Jitesh Ubrani, research manager with IDC's Mobility and Consumer Device Trackers. Gaming will be partly responsible for the uplift, but the education segment is saturated and therefore tapering the market growth.

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• Alibaba the biggest, but more clouds on China's horizon

  Huawei, Tencent, and Baidu all growing fast, and Americlouds are about to expand
  Simon Sharwood, APAC Editor Thu 9 Dec 2021 // 04:54 UTC

  Alibaba continues to dominate China's cloud market, according to analyst firm Canalys.

  In its assessment of Chinese cloud services spending, published today, Canalys asserted that Alibaba won 38.3 per cent market share in Q3 2021 and scored annual revenue growth of 33.3 per cent.

  Huawei's market share declined, but it remained ahead of Tencent.

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• Oz Feds reveal distribution model behind backdoored 'An0m' chat app spread by crims

  Resellers were given exclusive territories to target, and offered tech support
  Simon Sharwood, APAC Editor Thu 9 Dec 2021 // 03:43 UTC

  Australia's Federal Police force has revealed more about how it distributed a backdoored chat app to criminals.

  The app, named An0m, was revealed in June 2021 when Australia's Feds (AFP), the FBI and European authorities revealed they'd combined to convince crims the software allowed secure communications. The app ran on conventional Android smartphones modified to run An0m and nothing else.

  The AFP today revealed a little more about how the app, and phones running it, were seeded. The Force described the following four steps:

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• Apple wins Epic court ruling: Devs will pay up for now as legal case churns on

  Previous injunction that ordered company to allow non-Apple payments systems is suspended
  Katyanna Quach Thu 9 Dec 2021 // 02:30 UTC 12

  Apple will not be required to implement third-party in-app payments systems for its App Store by 9 December, after a federal appeals court temporarily suspended the initial ruling on Wednesday.

  As part of its ongoing legal spat with Epic, a judge from the Northern District Court of California said Apple wasn’t a monopoly, but agreed it’s ability to swipe up to a 30 per cent fee in sales processed in iOS apps was uncompetitive. Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers ordered an injunction, giving the iGiant 90 days to let developers add links or buttons in their apps to direct users to third-party purchasing systems.

  Those 90 days were set to end on 9 December. If developers were allowed to process financial transactions using external systems they wouldn’t have to hand over their profits to Apple, they argued. When Apple tried to file for a motion to stay, which would pause the injunction until it filed an appeal, Rogers denied its request.

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• Meg Whitman – former HP and eBay CEO – nominated as US ambassador to Kenya

  Donated $110K to Democrats in recent years
  Simon Sharwood, APAC Editor Thu 9 Dec 2021 // 01:45 UTC 15

  United States president Joe Biden has announced his intention to nominate former HPE and eBay CEO Meg Whitman as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Republic of Kenya.

  The Biden administration's announcement of the planned nomination reminds us that Whitman has served as CEO of eBay, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, and Quibi. Whitman also serves on the boards of Procter & Gamble, and General Motors.

  The announcement doesn't remind readers that Whitman has form as a Republican politician – she ran for governor of California in 2010, then backed the GOP's Mitt Romney in his 2008 and 2012 bids for the presidency. She later switched political allegiance and backed the presidential campaigns of both Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden.

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• Ex-Qualcomm Snapdragon chief turns CEO at AI chip startup MemryX

  Meet the new boss
  Agam Shah Wed 8 Dec 2021 // 23:35 UTC

  A former executive leading Qualcomm's Snapdragon computing platforms has departed the company to become CEO at an AI chip startup.

  Keith Kressin will lead product commercialization for MemryX, which was founded in 2019 and makes memory-intensive AI chiplets.

  The company is now out of stealth mode and will soon commercially ship its AI chips to non-tech customers. The company was testing early generations of its chips with industries including auto and robotics.

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