My international students taking Ethical Hacking could create driver's licenses for any country they like. Local police would have no timely way to check.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/delaware-aims-to-beat-out-iowa-be-1st-with-digital-licenses/2015/01/28/6f90f490-a6e8-11e4-a162-121d06ca77f1_story.html

Delaware aims to beat out Iowa, be 1st with digital licenses

Delaware is hoping to be the first to state in the country to allow drivers to use an app on their smartphones as their official driver’s license.

The Daily Times reports (http://delmarvane.ws/1zaU1ts) that the Delaware Division of Motor Vehicles is studying the issue after the Legislature adopted a resolution last week.

State officials say digital driver’s licenses won’t eliminate hard plastic licenses, [Why not? Bob] but would give drivers more options and convenience.

Only took them 14 months! “We need new laws because the one's we have are not flexible and technology-neutral.”

http://thehill.com/policy/technology/230841-in-light-of-smart-devices-feds-call-for-privacy-bill

In light of ‘smart’ devices, feds call for privacy bill

Federal regulators are concerned about how the billions of “smart” bracelets, cars, thermostats and other devices are creating new avenues to threaten people’s privacy.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) on Tuesday unveiled a 71-page report calling for new legislation to help it crack down on companies who may abuse or fail to protect people’s data.

"Such legislation should be flexible and technology-neutral

… The report is an outgrowth of a 2013 workshop the FTC hosted on the rise of connected devices, which are expected to reach 50 billion worldwide in the next five years.

Apparently, this is not a large enough drain on Russian resources to be a concern – and they might wind up with another chunk of territory or even the whole country.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alexander-motyl/russia-ukraine-point-of-no-return_b_6543942.html

Has Russia's War Against Ukraine Reached a Point of No Return?

… The head of the so-called Donetsk People's Republic has officially stated that he intends to capture all of Donetsk province and that he rejects all forms of a ceasefire. Since, at present, his fighters control over a third of the region, his combined statements amount to a declaration of war on Ukraine and a determination to pursue the fight to the finish.

… Western hopes of a negotiated settlement of the conflict are thus effectively dead. Although there is photographic proof of a Russian military presence in eastern Ukraine (over 9,000 regular troops) and of continued Russian military equipment being brought into the region, the Kremlin continues to deny that it is present in or in any way connected to the fighting. In effect, that's another way of saying that it has no interest in anything but a proxy victory.

Anything strike you as off kilter here?

http://www.techhive.com/article/2876180/statistics-suggest-super-bowl-49-has-kicked-off-a-boom-in-4k-tv-sales.html?google_editors_picks=true

Statistics suggest Super Bowl 49 has kicked off a boom in 4K TV sales

When we look back on this year’s Super Bowl, we might see the spark that ignited a boom in sales of 4K TVs—at least in the U.S. market. Nevermind that the Super Bowl isn’t being broadcast in 4K (maybe next year, when it comes to Silicon Valley?)

For my Analytics students.

http://www.enterpriseappstoday.com/business-intelligence/finance-departments-need-more-advanced-analytics.html?google_editors_picks=true

Finance Departments Need More Advanced Analytics

… "Finance departments are demanding more self-service analytics, more use of advanced analytics, and easier access to finance and operational data in order to analyze it," said Robert Kugel, senior vice president and research director at Ventana Research. "Advances in the tools for analyzing and reporting the data have made it possible to assess financial performance, process quality, operational status, risk and even governance and compliance in every aspect of a business."

… Most CFOs are good at the basics: financial statement analyses, modeling, forecasting and planning. Only a relative handful, however, apply economic and market indicators, price optimization techniques or profitability analysis on a regular basis. The result is that the bulk of finance departments are not harnessing predictive analytics in planning and forecasting.

For my Data Management students.

http://www.enterpriseappstoday.com/data-management/5-alternatives-to-the-traditional-relational-database.html?google_editors_picks=true

5 Alternatives to the Traditional Relational Database

The ongoing popularity of the Hadoop approach to data management should not blind us to the opportunities offered by other database technologies – technologies that, when used in the proper mix, can deliver adequate scaling to meet the demands of the endless 50 percent-plus yearly growth in data to be analyzed, along with higher data quality for better business decisions. The new(er) technologies basically can be categorized as follows:

• In-memory databases
• Hadoop/NoSQL
• Virtualized or "federated" databases
• Columnar databases
• Streaming databases

An interesting article for all my students?

http://www.smallbusinesscomputing.com/biztools/top-3-small-business-tech-trends-for-2015.html?google_editors_picks=true

Top 3 Small Business Tech Trends for 2015