Oracle: Switch now from Nashorn JavaScript engine

With plans to deprecate the Nashorn JavaScript engine in the upcoming Java Development Kit (JDK) 11, Oracle is encouraging developers to take a look at GraalVM virtual machine instead. Oracle says it’s more capable than Nashorn, and it has laid out a migration path from Nashorn to GraalVM. Oracle does plan to support Nashorn for a few years to provide time to migrate.

Like Nashorn, GraalVM supports JavaScript on the JVM. But GraalVM is independent of Java itself.

Oracle cited multiple advantages GraalVM has over Nashorn:

Why Windows 7 updates are getting bigger

Microsoft’s monthly security rollups for Windows 7 have grown by 91% since the company revised the still-popular operating system’s update regimen in 2016.

Windows 7’s security rollups, the most comprehensive of the fixes it pushes out each Patch Tuesday, have doubled in size since Microsoft revamped the veteran operating system’s update regimen in 2016.

According to Microsoft’s own data, what it calls the “Security Quality Monthly Rollup” (rollup from here on) grew by more than 90% from the first to the twenty-first update. From its October 2016 inception, the x86 version of the update increased from 72MB to 137.5MB, a 91% jump. Meanwhile, the always-larger 64-bit version went from an initial 119.4MB to 227.5MB, also representing a 91% increase.

IT buyer’s guide to business projectors

Confused about which projector to get for your company? Here’s a look at the major categories, technologies and specs, along with buying advice.

When it comes to effectively communicating with potential customers, training employees or collaborating on your company’s next-gen gadget design, a good projector setup can help you put your best business foot forward. With the ability to send anything from a computer, phone or tablet across the room and onto a screen, projectors have the power to put your company in the best possible light.

The good news is that there is an extraordinary variety of projectors available today that can put a sharp and bright image onto a screen to get your company’s message across. From miniature marvels not much bigger than a smartphone to 90-pound monsters that can light up an auditorium’s screen, there’s a business projector for every purpose and budget.

Why your smartphone needs 5 cameras

By the end of next year, five cameras will be standard on flagship smartphones. Because AI and AR.

Who knew that the camera in your phone would turn out to be the most popular, useful and important technology in your life?

The human race will take 1.3 trillion photos this year, according to Keypoint Intelligence/InfoTrends. Smartphones will be used for 87% of them.

Most of these pictures are useless and frivolous — not only selfies, but bad selfies that will never even be posted. Don’t even get me started about videos. Smartphone cameras are responsible for the biggest waste of storage space in history.

But a huge number of these photos are valuable for business or professional uses.

Google flips switch on Chrome’s newest defensive technology

With ‘Site Isolation’ in use, the browser should be better protected from Spectra-like attacks designed to steal info such as log-on credentials.

Google has switched on a defensive technology in Chrome that will make it much more difficult for Spectra-like attacks to steal information such as log-on credentials.

Called “Site Isolation,” the new security technology has a decade-long history. But most recently it’s been cited as a shield to guard against threats posed by Spectre, the processor vulnerability sniffed out by Google’s own engineers more than year ago. Google unveiled Site Isolation in late 2017 within Chrome 63, making it an option for enterprise IT staff members, who could customize the defense to shield workers from threats harbored on external sites. Company administrators could use Windows GPOs – Group Policy Objects – as well as command-line flags prior to wider deployment via group policies.

Oracle rolls out its own blockchain service

Oracle joins IBM, SAP, and Microsoft in offering blockchain-as-a-service for companies hoping to deploy the distributed ledger technology without the expenses associated with embracing the technology in-house.

Oracle wants in on the blockchain-as-a-service game, too.

The company on Monday announced the availability of a fully-managed blockchain service over which businesses can automate processes over an immutable electronic ledger, such as tracking goods in a supply chain or handling customer financial transactions.

Blockchain-as-a-service {BaaS) offerings have grown over the past three years, enabling businesses to launch proof-of-concepts to test the distributed ledger technology without the capital costs required by an internal deployment. Other BaaS providers include IBM, Hewlett-Packard Enterprise (HPE), Microsoft, SAP and Amazon Web Services.