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Today’s topics include cyber-exercises at the U.S. Department of Defense, speculation over the future of Google Glass, the launch of the Wireless IoT Forum and a new minicomputer from the BBC.
The U.S. Department of Defense wrapped up a 20-day series of cyber-exercises incorporating more than 100 federal and state organizations as well as private industry and academia, the DOD announced on July 1.The exercises, known as Cyber Guard 15, involved a closed network that allowed distributed access for participants across the United States and security experts posing as attackers. While the Cyber Guard exercises are intended to develop the response capabilities needed to deal with a widespread attack on critical infrastructure, participants gain needed experience in dealing with incidents, according to Peter Tran, senior director of RSA’s worldwide cyber-defense group.
Although Google quietly ended its eyeglass-mounted Google Glass program on Jan. 19, before it ever offered the devices to the public for retail sales, its recent filings with the Federal Communications Commission could be early evidence the company is working on a next-generation version of the devices. So far, very little is known about the product or the FCC application, but the GG1 suffix present in the FCC ID number could stand for Google Glass, leading some to suggest that this might involve the next iteration of Google Glass in the future.
The already-crowded field of industry groups developing standards for the Internet of things just got another member with the launch of the Wireless IoT Forum. The group, founded by Cisco Systems, BT, Accenture and others, wants to drive broad adoption of wireless wide-area networking (WAN) products for the IoT by developing a set of standards that can be used by tech vendors, application developers and network operators.
U.K. broadcaster BBC, more than 30 years after launching its first Micro computer aimed at helping kids learn the ins and outs of programming, is showing off the Micro Bit, a minicomputer that will be distributed to about a million school children in the country to teach them how to code and create hardware designs. The Micro Bit joins a growing array of minicomputers and development boards—such as Raspberry Pi and Arduino devices—that creators are looking to get into the hands of students, hoping to foster a lifelong interest in programming and hardware development.