Internet of Things: A Survey on Enabling Technologies, Protocols, and Applications

This paper provides an overview of the Internet of Things (IoT) with emphasis on enabling technologies, protocols, and application issues. The IoT is enabled by the latest developments in RFID, smart sensors, communication technologies, and Internet protocols.

The basic premise is to have smart sensors collaborate directly without human involvement to deliver a new class of applications. The current revolution in Internet, mobile, and machine-to-machine (M2M) technologies can be seen as the first phase of the IoT. In the coming years, the IoT is expected to bridge diverse technologies to enable new applications by connecting physical objects together in support of intelligent decision making.

This paper starts by providing a horizontal overview of the IoT. Then, we give an overview of some technical details that pertain to the IoT enabling technologies, protocols, and applications. Compared to other survey papers in the field, our objective is to provide a more thorough summary of the most relevant protocols and application issues to enable researchers and application developers to get up to speed quickly on how the different protocols fit together to deliver desired functionalities without having to go through RFCs and the standards specifications.

We also provide an overview of some of the key IoT challenges presented in the recent literature and provide a summary of related research work. Moreover, we explore the relation between the IoT and other emerging technologies including big data analytics and cloud and fog computing.

We also present the need for better horizontal integration among IoT services. Finally, we present detailed service use-cases to illustrate how the different protocols presented in the paper fit together to deliver desired IoT services.

Download the Full paper

Five applications for easy password recovery

Few things in life are more frustrating than needing to open a file, but not being able to remember the password that will allow it. Thankfully, there are a variety of utilities designed to help crack forgotten passwords.

1. Ultimate ZIP Cracker
2. Free Word Excel Password Recovery Wizard
3. Word Password Recovery Master
4. Wondershare PDF Password Remover
5. Windows Password Recovery Bootdisk

Read the full post

10 things to try when applications won't work with Windows 8

Windows 8 is more forgiving with regard to application compatibility than some of the previous versions of Windows were, but some applications just will not work with it. Thankfully, you don’t always have to accept defeat. Although there is no silver bullet that guarantees application compatibility, you can use a number of tricks to improve your odds of getting a stubborn application to run in Windows 8.

1: Create a virtual machine
2: Turn off User Account Control
3: Install .NET Framework 3.5
4: Check for application patches
5: Upgrade to the next version
6: Upgrade your hardware drivers
7: Let Windows troubleshoot the problem
8: Trick the application into thinking it is running on an earlier version of Windows
9: Provide the application with extra permissions
10: Check the Compatibility Center

Read the full post

Open Source Compliance in the Application Development Space

This white paper will take an objective, neutral look at app development today and discuss open source license obligations that must be considered by app developers and app stores. We’ll highlight some of the compliance challenges and point out some of the resources available to assist those companies and app developers committed to respecting the open source community and fulfilling responsibilities.

Download it

Interesting articles to read -- 08-09-2012

Interesting articles to read -- 08-09-2012

Corporate leaderspeak: ‘The Best advice I ever got’ Read

Young Entrepreneurs: Super Starts -- What’s fuelling entrepreneurship in India By Kripa Mahalingam Read

10 Time-Saving Apps for Moms Read

Archives

10 Key Questions to Assess Application Outsourcing Maturity

As more companies look to external IT service providers to help them both innovate and optimize, many are initially surprised by the amount of change required for a relationship to work successfully -- issues that extend well beyond onboarding supplemental, temporary staff. Many companies think that the key to outsourcing success is selecting the right partner, but even the best partner will disappoint you if you are not prepared and organized for an outsourcing arrangement.

In Forrester's Services Sourcing Playbook research, my colleagues and I maintain that it is critical for companies embarking on an outsourcing journey or trying to optimize their existing outsourcing relationships to ask themselves the following 10 questions in order to assess maturity and identify weaknesses. Without effective project and program management, internal process consistency, management and change control processes, and a mature vendor management function, it will be difficult -- or nearly impossible -- for organizations to work with external IT services suppliers effectively.

1. Project management track record.
2. Project management expertise.
3. Central program management.
4. Communication and collaboration tools.
5. Internal process consistency.
6. Software development process maturity.
7. Requirements definitions and management capability.
8. Managing to SLAs.
9. User acceptance testing rigor.
10. Vendor management function.

Read the full post

The best free IT tools for cheapskate admins

Jack Wallen lists 11 free applications that can be useful to any IT admin adhering to a strict budget. From antivirus software to a backup utility and more, we’ve got you covered.

Okay, so you don’t have to be a cheapskate to appreciate a useful free admin tool–you might just be working with a tight budget and cannot drop the coin for the IT tools the big boys use. If that is the case, these 11 tools are necessities. Some of these tools even work better and are more efficient than their costlier alternatives.

ComboFix
ProduKey
Hiren’s BootCD
Microsoft Security Essentials
WinDirStat
CCleaner
Defraggler
7-Zip
SyncBack
FileZilla
Foxit PDF Reader

Read the full post

Five apps for your portable security kit

Portable apps do one thing for the system and network administrator — make the job easier. The better (and more diverse) your portable apps, the more jobs are made easier. Security is one area where portable apps can make a big difference. But there are so many to choose from, it’s hard to piece together a collection of tools that best fit your needs. To that end, the author, Jack Wallen wants to introduce you to some portable security apps you might never have heard of. Even if you only take away one or two of these tools, your portable security toolkit will have improved significantly. Here are five lesser-known apps worth checking out.

SmartSniff: enables you to capture TCP/IP packets traveling on a network adapter and view the packets between source and destination.

Omziff: is an encryption utility that can encrypt, split, and securely delete files, create file hashes, and generate random passwords.

Eraser Portable: is a secure data removal tool that can remove data from a drive with multiple wipes, pattern writing, and more.

Remove Fake Antivirus: checks for any fake antivirus and removes it.

BleachBit: is one of the best tools for freeing up hard disk space and guarding privacy.

Read the full post

Keeping Dead Products Alive: Tips for Supporting Legacy Software

Nearly 80 years ago, the term "planned obsolescence" was coined by Bernard London, a New York City real estate professional and amateur economist. The idea, which London thought was a darn good one, was to design products with a limited lifespan so consumers regularly had to get new ones, thus keeping the economy going.

This is why you don't see many 1983 Ford Escorts tooling around. While cheap old cars rust out or fall apart, software should keep chugging. "Unlike hearts, lungs, knees, eyes or kidneys, software just doesn't wear out or get weak," says reader Fred Linton. But old software ends up just as obsolete as your junk Ford. That's because vendors choose to make it that way.

Even though code doesn't stop working unless corrupted, software goes out of date in a variety of ways. The biggest death blow strikes when vendors stop support. No more features but, more critically, no more security updates.

Another problem is when new environments won't run old products. Even if a new version of Windows looks and acts largely the same, many older applications and hardware no longer operate.

Redmond magazine heard from some 30 readers -- all IT pros -- about their frustrations with unsupported software and how they deal with them.

Read the full post