Bell Sponsors The Commemoration Of The 25th Anniversary of Vince Carter’s Iconic Dunk

Posted in Commentary with tags on February 10, 2025 by itnerd

Bell has announced that it is sponsoring the Toronto Raptors’ commemoration of the 25th anniversary of Vince Carter’s legendary between-the-legs dunk from the 2000 NBA Slam Dunk Contest. 

This momentous occasion will be commemorated during a special “GOAT Night” game at Scotiabank Arena this Wednesday, February 12th, featuring the Raptors versus the Cleveland Cavaliers. Bell is presenting this “Dunkaversary,” a tribute to Carter’s enduring legacy and his impact on Toronto basketball.

As part of the sponsorship, Bell has developed an innovative augmented reality (AR) experience, Bell SkySlam. Fans across Canada can use the Raptors App or BellSkySlam.ca to virtually place Carter’s iconic dunk onto any city skyline, experiencing this historic moment in stunning 3D.

You can read the press release here for more details. 

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Other World Computing (OWC) and ARCHIWARE Partner Up

Posted in Commentary with tags on February 10, 2025 by itnerd

Other World Computing and ARCHIWARE, a leading provider of data management software, today announced a strategic partnership to deliver seamless shared storage, cloning, backup, and archiving for collaborative workflows. Under the terms of the partnership agreement, the ARCHIWARE P5 platform will now be natively integrated with the OWC’s Jellyfish Shared Storage for Video Production to enhance collaboration capabilities, ensure data protection, and future-proof asset management.

With the new Jellyfish Manager 3.0, using ARCHIWARE P5 with Jellyfish storage products to protect production data is now easier than ever. Users can install, activate, and launch ARCHIWARE P5 directly within the Jellyfish Manager interface with just a few clicks – no additional P5 server is required. Running natively on all Jellyfish NAS solutions, P5 can be enabled simply by toggling a switch in the Jellyfish Manager. Once activated, users can seamlessly access and manage ARCHIWARE P5 without ever leaving the Jellyfish Manager UI, ensuring a streamlined and efficient workflow.

The Perfect Fit to Keep Your Media Safe and On Hand in A Collaborative Workflow

  • P5 Synchronize clones data from Jellyfish to secondary online storage and creates an identical file system for high availability. If needed, file access is instantaneous without restore.
  • P5 Backup creates security copies of files and projects on disk, LTO or Cloud storage so they can be restored in case of accidental deletion, file corruption, or technical failure. At least one of these periodic security copies can and should be kept offsite, so data is safe even in case of natural disaster.
  • P5 Archive comes in when long-term storage and preservation are required. Archived media and projects are comprised in the P5 Archive catalog, including previews for visual browsing. User-definable metadata fields and extensive search features make it incredibly easy to find relevant media and restore it quickly and easily with just one click.
  • The flexible Archive with the P5 Data Mover add-on to P5 Archive: everything archived can be migrated or replicated to a different storage anytime. This way, the Archive can adapt to changing policies, requirements or price points and stays flexible and future-proof. Like P5 Backup, P5 Archive is compatible with numerous cloud services such as Amazon S3, Glacier, Microsoft Azure, Backblaze, and Wasabi. If you prefer a local Archive, you may choose virtually any disk or LTO tape storage on the market.

Jellyfish High-Performance Shared Storage for Modern Post-Production

  • Purpose-built for creative professionals, by post-production professionals, Jellyfish delivers turn-key high-speed production storage optimized for film, television, corporate communication, live events, broadcasting, government, and education.
  • Scalable and versatile shared storage for any workflow – offering HDD, SSD, and all-flash configurations in both desktop and rack-mounted systems. From compact solutions for small teams to petabyte-scale Full Flash and Hybrid options for enterprise and mission-critical applications, Jellyfish adapts to evolving workflow needs.

Want to learn more? Please join this live webinar:

Webinar: Effortless Video Storage and Backup: Jellyfish Manager 3.0 and ARCHIWARE P5 Integration Made Simple

About: With OWC Jellyfish, you don’t need to be an IT expert in order to use shared storage for your video projects. With ARCHIWARE P5, professional backup, archive, and replication are also simplified. P5 and Jellyfish come together in the latest Jellyfish Manager 3.0 release, where P5 is integrated and enabled with a single click. In this webinar, OWC’s Luke Marchant and ARCHIWARE’s David Fox run through the joint solution, showing how to access P5 and explaining some simple archive and replication workflows. Register now for what promises to be a highly informative 40 minutes.

When: 

Wed, Feb 19, 2025, 2:00 PM – 2:40 PM Central European Time (CET)

Register here: https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/8008420929092270941

Wed, Feb 19, 2025, 1:00 PM – 1:40 PM Eastern Standard Time

Register here: https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/6959993711078798679

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Samsung Galaxy S25 Series Is Now Available

Posted in Commentary with tags on February 8, 2025 by itnerd

The newly unveiled Samsung Galaxy S25 Series is officially available for purchase at Samsung.com/ca as of yesterday. 

The Galaxy S25 Series also pairs seamlessly with the new Galaxy Book5 Series. For example, through Storage Share you can directly access files from connected devices without having to download them individually, using your phone, tab and PC as one device. You can also multi-task across devices thanks to Multi Control, as well as Quick Share files quickly and easily between devices.

For more on the Galaxy Book5 Series, please see here.

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PSA: If You Are Using DeepSeek, Dump It ASAP

Posted in Commentary with tags on February 7, 2025 by itnerd

Last week I brought you a story about DeepSeek having a database that for a brief period of time was publicly accessible. That was on top of the fact that DeepSeek was under attack, and two reports of successful jailbreaks popped up. Now there’s news that the iOS version of DeepSeek seriously fails at basic security:

A NowSecure mobile application security and privacy assessment has uncovered multiple security and privacy issues in the DeepSeek iOS mobile app that lead us to urge enterprises to prohibit/forbid its usage in their organizations.

And:

Key Risks Identified:

  1. Unencrypted Data Transmission: The app transmits sensitive data over the internet without encryption, making it vulnerable to interception and manipulation.
  2. Weak & Hardcoded Encryption Keys: Uses outdated Triple DES encryption, reuses initialization vectors, and hardcodes encryption keys, violating best security practices.
  3. Insecure Data Storage: Username, password, and encryption keys are stored insecurely, increasing the risk of credential theft.
  4. Extensive Data Collection & Fingerprinting: The app collects user and device data, which can be used for tracking and de-anonymization.
  5. Data Sent to China & Governed by PRC Laws: User data is transmitted to servers controlled by ByteDance, raising concerns over government access and compliance risks.

Implications for Enterprises & Government Agencies:

  • Exposure of sensitive data, including prompt data; intellectual property, strategic plans, and confidential communications.
  • Increased risk of surveillance through fingerprinting and data aggregation.
  • Regulatory & compliance risks, as data is stored and processed in China under its legal framework.

Recommended Actions:

NowSecure urges enterprises and agencies to:

Continuously monitor all mobile applications to detect emerging risks.

Immediately remove the DeepSeek iOS app from managed and BYOD environments.

Explore alternative AI platforms that prioritize mobile app security and data protection.

This is pretty bad. In fact it’s horrific. Thus I am going to say that if you have the DeepSeek app installed on any device, delete it ASAP. It’s clearly risky to have on your device based on what we see with the iOS version of their app. And to be clear, there are risks when using any AI as data that you may not want to be out in the public eye might be used for purposes like training the AI or it might be exposed to third parties like this example. But this example with DeepSeek is way worse. Hopefully DeepSeek gets investigated to see how far the rabbit hole DeepSeek’s security issues go.

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Love, Money, and Disagreements: New Survey By Wise Reveals All

Posted in Commentary with tags on February 6, 2025 by itnerd

With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, Wise, the international money account, has conducted a revealing survey that sheds light on how couples navigate financial discussions and challenges. 

These findings offer a fascinating glimpse into the financial dynamics of modern relationships. 

Key Findings:

Canadians Are More Comfortable Discussing Finances Than Americans

  • A striking 75% of Canadian couples feel comfortable discussing finances with their partners, compared to only 32% of Americans.
  • Over half of Canadians (56%) engage in regular financial discussions, yet 81% of them experience disagreements during these conversations.
    • Cross-border couples are more prone to financial disagreements and often seek advice from close ones, consulting their mom (31%), dad (31%), friends (38%), and co-workers (27%) about financial matters 3-5 times or more per month.

Top Areas of Financial Disagreement Among Couples

  • Spending on non-essential items like streaming subscriptions and vacations (30%).
  • What’s considered a necessity to spend on each month (29%).
  • Savings in relation to income each month (25%).
  • Cultural differences make financial conversations uncomfortable for 24% of those in cross-border relationships.

Reasons for Discomfort in Financial Discussions

  • Fear of causing disagreements (28%).
  • Different ideas about spending and saving (26%).
  • Differences in perceived financial responsibility (25%).

Impact of Living Situations on Financial Discussions

  • One-third of couples not in long-distance relationships see cross-border distance as a potential barrier due to the cost of maintaining places in two countries (32%) and travel expenses (31%).
  • Cross-border couples face higher levels of uncertainty about their future (22% vs. 9% of those living in Canada) and are more unsure about which financial tools to use (22% vs. 9% of those living in Canada).
  • Managing different currencies and transferring money is a concern for 29% of cross-border couples, compared to just 5% of those living in Canada.

Striving for Financial Harmony

  • Canadian couples report higher satisfaction with shared financial responsibilities (75%), likely due to similar philosophies about money (66%).
  • This indicates a strong desire for financial transparency and mutual understanding within Canadian relationships.

Strategic Financial Discussions and Planning

  • Canadians are strategic in their financial discussions and planning with their partners.
  • Both Canadian and cross-border couples believe the right time to begin sharing expenses is when planning a future together (37%) or moving in together (34%).
  • Canadians prioritize important financial discussions within the first year of their relationship, focusing on existing debts (70%), sharing expenses (69%), budgeting strategies (66%), and major planned purchases like a house, car, or education (62%).

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Ivo Raises $16M In Series A Funding

Posted in Commentary with tags on February 5, 2025 by itnerd

Contract negotiation remains the most challenging bottleneck in the contract lifecycle, with legal teams spending hours on manual redlining and revisions while ensuring perfect accuracy. As contract volumes surge, in-house lawyers face mounting pressure to review more agreements than ever before – yet traditional automation tools prioritize speed over accuracy, forcing legal teams to choose between efficiency and reliability. Today, Ivo announces a $16 million Series A funding round to scale its AI-powered contract review solution that has already helped over 150 corporate legal teams negotiate their agreements. Ivo’s customers include companies like Canva, Fonterra, Pipedrive, Weightwatchers, Eventbrite, Blue Cross Blue Shield Kansas City, and several Fortune 500’s.

The Series A funding round is led by Costanoa Ventures, with participation from Fika Ventures, Uncork Capital, NFDG, Blackbird VC, GD1, and Phase One Ventures. It brings Ivo’s total funding to $22.2 million, following early backing from Daniel Gross and a $4.8 million seed round led by Fika Ventures and Uncork Capital. 

Ivo has developed a breakthrough approach to contract review that sets new standards for accuracy. The platform automatically checks agreements against company requirements, generates specific suggestions for resolving discrepancies, and creates compromise language between conflicting clauses. Unlike competitors that treat legal review as a simple automation problem, Ivo’s sophisticated AI produces naturalistic redlines that mirror the work of experienced attorneys, maintaining consistent terminology and making minimal necessary changes. 

The timing of Ivo’s expansion is critical. As artificial intelligence emerges as potentially the most transformative technology since the internet, legal teams face mounting pressure to adopt solutions that can scale their capabilities. Yet most AI tools lack the sophistication to handle complex legal analysis, creating more work for lawyers who must double-check every output. With its team of in-house lawyers continually refining and enhancing the platform, Ivo has developed an approach that augments rather than replaces legal judgment – acting as a “powerful force multiplier” for teams handling increasingly large volumes of contracts.

Today’s launch of Ivo Search Agent marks another milestone in the company’s mission to transform how legal teams work. This new capability revolutionizes contract search and analysis by eliminating the need for manual metadata tagging — a significant pain point in traditional contract lifecycle management systems. Legal teams can now search and generate reports across their entire contract portfolio regardless of where documents are stored, whether in cloud storage solutions like Box and SharePoint or local computers. The system works seamlessly across various data sources, including CLM integrations, requiring minimal implementation while delivering comprehensive insights.

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Nikon Releases the COOLPIX P1100 Compact Digital Camera

Posted in Commentary with tags on February 5, 2025 by itnerd

Today Nikon Canada Inc. has announced the COOLPIX P1100, a compact digital camera that features an incredible 125x optical super-telephoto zoom, with creative features that help users to create amazing photos and videos from the most extreme distances. 

The COOLPIX P1100 is a compact digital camera that offers further improvements in usability and connectivity. It covers a vast range of focal lengths beginning at the wide-angle 24mm equivalent, extending to the super-telephoto 3000mm equivalent. The P1100 is capable of going even farther, with up to a 250x  zoom when Dynamic Fine Zoom is enabled.

The COOLPIX P1100 makes it easy to enjoy the world of super-telephoto shooting with the ability to capture dynamic images of subjects that are difficult to approach, including birds and celestial bodies. The camera features Dual Detect Optical VR, which achieves a level of vibration reduction equivalent to 4.0 stops at the centre of the frame, effectively suppressing camera shake when handheld shooting. The P1100 is also able to capture 4K UHD/30p and superlapse movie recordings, helping the user make creative videos of nature and the night sky.  

Further enhancements include a selectable AF-area mode in Bird-Watching Mode, and the same functions that can be assigned to the camera’s Fn button can now be assigned to the Fn1/Fn2 buttons on the optional ML-L7 Remote Control. What’s more, a Fireworks option has been added to [Multiple exp. Lighten] scene mode. This function reduces instances of blown-out highlights that often occur when shooting long exposures, making it easier to capture impressively clear scenes of fireworks displays in which the brightness of the foreground or the background differs.

Primary Features of the Nikon COOLPIX P1100

  • Incredible 125x optical zoom for super-telephoto performance up to a 24-3000mm equivalent.
  • Super ED and ED lens elements provide superior chromatic aberration compensation and deliver outstanding rendering capabilities across the entire zoom range, even with super-telephoto shooting.
  • Dual Detect Optical VR accurately suppresses the effects of camera shake with super-telephoto handheld shooting. This enables the capture of sharp and clear images of birds, celestial bodies, and other distant subjects at dynamic angles of view.
  • Bird-Watching and Moon modes can be accessed directly using the mode dial. 
  • Support for 4K UHD/30p movie recording lets users beautifully record subjects with the power of super-telephoto 3000mm equivalent. Frames from movies recorded in 4K UHD format can also be saved as still images.
  • Massive zoom, small size: Despite coverage of focal lengths up to 3000mm equivalent, the camera weighs only approximately 3.1 lbs (1,410g), allowing users to enjoy super-telephoto shooting more comfortably than with DSLR and mirrorless camera systems. 

Additional Features of the COOLPIX P1100:

  • The camera is equipped with a focus mode selector that can be used to change the focus mode even after it has been acquired, along with a control ring that enables the adjustment of settings such as white balance and manual focus.
  • Optional accessory ML-L7 Remote Control connects to the COOLPIX P1100 via Bluetooth®︎, and the same functions that can be assigned to the camera’s Fn button can be assigned to the remote.
  • A 3.2in. TFT LCD Vari-angle monitor with a wide viewing angle makes it easy to compose handheld or on a tripod. 
  • Compatible with Nikon’s exclusive RAW (.NRW) format.
  •  COOLPIX Picture Control5, which can be used to make adjustments in accordance with the subject, shooting situations and intentions.
  • Capability to record superlapse and time-lapse movies.
  • Support for Clean HDMI output6, which cleans the information display from the image output to an external monitor during recording.
  • The ability to set long-exposure noise reduction to [Auto] or [Off].
  • Adoption of a USB Type-C input/output connector.
  • Compatible with the optional DF-M1 Dot Sight that facilitates image composition during telephoto shooting.

Price and Availability
The new Nikon COOLPIX P1100 will be available in late February 2025 for a manufacturer’s suggested retail price of $1,449.95. For more information about the latest Nikon products, including the large collection of NIKKOR Z lenses and the entire line of Z series cameras, please visit www.nikon.ca

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SafeBreach Launches the SafeBreach Exposure Validation Platform 

Posted in Commentary with tags on February 5, 2025 by itnerd

SafeBreach, the leader in enterprise security validation, today announced the launch of the SafeBreach exposure validation platform, which combines the power of its time-tested breach and attack simulation (BAS) product—now called Validate—and its new attack path validation product, Propagate. Together, they provide enterprise security teams with deeper insight into threat exposure and a more comprehensive view of cyber risk, a concept most recently described by Gartner® as “adversarial exposure validation.”

According to Gartner, “Adversarial exposure validation technologies offer offensive security technologies simulating threat actor tactics, techniques and procedures to validate the existence of exploitable exposures and test security control effectiveness.”

Attack path validation specifically can play a significant role in combatting the ongoing challenge of cyber attacks—including ransomware and nation-state attacks whose primary goal is to gain a foothold within large organizations and move laterally to steal critical information and assets. Products like SafeBreach Propagate can help enterprises proactively understand these real attack paths and take preemptive action to close them off. However, large enterprises have had legitimate concerns about the inherent risks that some solutions present to their environments.  

Facing increasingly severe cybersecurity incidents, tool fatigue, deployment complexity, and alert overload, enterprise CISOs need a single exposure validation platform that combines multiple critical security capabilities to provide a more holistic view of cyber risk and empower them to make data-driven decisions to manage it.

To address this need, SafeBreach has launched the SafeBreach exposure validation platform, a suite of exposure validation tools that provide end-to-end visibility into the effectiveness of security controls and the potential impact of a successful breach. The platform draws on SafeBreach’s ten-year history working with the world’s most mature enterprise organizations to offer: 

  • Enterprise-Grade Safety: The platform is purpose-built to meet the stringent safety and privacy requirements of large enterprises, enabling comprehensive security testing without impacting customer environments.
  • Predictable Scalability: Regardless of the environment or deployment model, the SafeBreach platform allows clients to get started with a breadth and depth of testing that provides immediate value—then scale up when they are ready. 
  • World-Class Support: The SafeBreach platform is backed by world-renowned threat researchers and an award-winning customer success team who provide a level of service and support not available anywhere else. 

The SafeBreach exposure validation platform enables clients to leverage Validate to identify security gaps, then dig deeper with Propagate to understand what an attacker could accomplish by exploiting them to develop a more comprehensive understanding of cyber risk—all from one convenient management console.

Looking toward the future, SafeBreach plans to continue to develop not only its existing capabilities in Validate and Propagate, but also new capabilities within the SafeBreach exposure validation platform to continue serving the needs of the enterprise market.

Schedule a customized demo here.

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Arcitecta Named a Leader in Coldago Research’s Map 2024 for Unstructured Data Management

Posted in Commentary with tags on February 5, 2025 by itnerd

 Arcitecta, a creative and innovative data management software company, has been named a “Leader” in Coldago Research’s Map 2024 for Unstructured Data Management report. This recognition marks a dramatic leap, notably advancing the company from the Specialists category in 2022. 

Arcitecta earned the top spot in Vision and Strategy, illustrating its astute market insights and go-to-market models that continue to drive its success. It also ranked second in Execution and Capabilities, demonstrating an exceptional ability to transform visionary concepts into innovative products and solutions based on clear directions and talented teams. 

“Leaders in the data management space are champions in their field, and Arcitecta has proven its status through strong technology direction, market vision and strategy, especially with key innovations for its highly scalable metadata database and global namespace capabilities,” said Philippe Nicolas, founder and lead analyst, Coldago Research. “The 2024 Map results highlight Arcitecta’s leadership with a strong ranking in areas of Vision and Strategy and Execution and Capabilities.”

The Coldago Research recognition is the latest achievement for Arcitecta, which made significant strides in its mission to transform how organizations manage and utilize their data. Arcitecta achieved exciting milestones in 2024, including: 

  • Strategic Partnership with Wasabi Technologies: Arcitecta partnered with cloud storage company Wasabi Technologies to integrate its cloud storage into workflows, allowing users to access their data through a single, unified view via Arcitecta’s Mediaflux data management platform – regardless of where the data resides.
  • New Markets and Partnerships: The Powerhouse Museum chose Arcitecta as its new digital asset management solution (DAMS), extending its reach into the museum/gallery/cultural asset market alongside its presence in higher education, government, media and entertainment, and life sciences.
  • Expansion of Mediaflux Solutions: The launch of Mediaflux Multi-Site, Mediaflux Edge, and Mediaflux Burst demonstrated Arcitecta’s commitment to addressing today’s dynamically changing and increasingly distributed data and workflow environments. The company showcased these new solutions at SC24 and IBC2024 in collaboration with Dell PowerScale and ECS/ObjectScale. 
  • Recognition as a Coldago Gem: Arcitecta was named one of Coldago Research’s Gems 2024, one of five innovative companies that have demonstrated exceptional vision and product development.
  • Game-changing Mediaflux Livewire Enhancements: Arcitecta unveiled Mediaflux Livewire solution enhancements to tackle the challenges of transmitting data over low-bandwidth and unreliable network connections, enabling the secure global transfer of massive file volumes around the globe.
  • Award-Winning Technology: Mediaflux Livewire was named “Most Complete Architecture” at the International Data Mover Challenge (DMC) at SuperComputingAsia 2024, highlighting its role as a leading solution for secure, high-speed file transfers.

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Foxit and Pax8 Announce Strategic Partnership

Posted in Commentary with tags on February 5, 2025 by itnerd

Foxit, a leading provider of innovative PDF and eSignature products and services, helping knowledge workers to increase their productivity and do more with documents, and Pax8, a leading cloud commerce marketplace, today announced they have entered into a strategic partnership. Foxit’s industry-leading PDF and eSignature solutions will now be offered via the global Pax8 Marketplace, backed by Pax8’s expertise. Pax8’s MSP partners will now be empowered to deliver Foxit’s cutting-edge technology with unmatched flexibility, scalability, and efficiency to their end customers, who will in turn benefit from significant cost savings, elevated productivity, unprecedented security, and reduced business risks.

This announcement comes at the ideal time – when countless MSPs are facing extreme challenges around the complexity of managing diverse software solutions and providing flexible, cost-effective tools that meet the evolving needs of their clients. At the same time, end users are struggling with rising licensing costs, limited scalability, and risks from unauthorized software use. This partnership overcomes these challenges by combining the most advanced and secure PDF and eSignature solutions from Foxit with Pax8’s streamlined intelligent distribution platform, delivering simplified license management, unmatched flexibility, and access to cost-effective, best-in-class tools that equip both MSPs and their end customers to succeed.

The following four Foxit solutions are now generally available through the Pax8 Marketplace:

  1. Foxit PDF Editor – A powerful tool for creating, editing, and managing PDF documents with ease and efficiency, featuring an AI Assistant that enables users to summarize complex documents, enhance writing, and translate documents in more than 30 languages.
  2. Foxit PDF Editor+ – An enhanced version of the PDF Editor with advanced features for professional users – including 80+ Smart Commands, legally binding eSign, and AI-powered Smart Redact.
  3. eSign for Business – A secure, seamless eSignature solution that enables users to break away from cookie-cutter eSign solutions and enable businesses to get documents signed, collect payments, and keep workflows moving.
  4. Foxit AI Assistant – An intelligent assistant that leverages AI to enhance productivity and streamline document workflows, providing its users with the ability to summarize documents in seconds, quickly rewrite documents with clarity and precision, and to chat naturally to make more informed decisions, faster.

To learn more, please visit https://www.pax8.com/vendors/foxit/.  

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