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The application security company Mend.io has introduced an enterprise version of its dependency management tool Renovate. Mend Renovate Enterprise Edition offers unlimited server scalability, dedicated support, and other premium features..  Renovate helps ensure the security and currency of applications by scanning software to identify external dependencies and automating updates to the latest versions.  According to Mend.io, while the free Renovate Community Edition and Renovate CLI work well for smaller development environments, they can cause delays for companies with a large number of repositories. The Renovate Enterprise Edition solves this problem by providing unlimited horizontal scaling of server resources, enabling organizations to process numerous repositories simultaneously and ensuring optimal responsiveness for developers. “Keeping dependencies up to date is one of the most effective ways to reduce technical debt and avoid software vulnerabilities, especially as mos

President Biden this morning introduced an Executive Order (EO) aimed at managing the risks associated with AI. According to the White House, this EO “establishes new standards for AI safety and security, protects Americans’ privacy, advances equity and civil rights, stands up for consumers and workers, promotes innovation and competition, advances American leadership around the world, and more.” The Executive Order outlined several standards and best practices to be created to ensure safety and security, including:   Requiring developers of AI systems to share safety test results with the government Establishing standards, tools, and tests to ensure safety, security, and trustworthiness of AI systems Making new standards for biological synthesis screening to prevent AI from being used to create dangerous biological materials Creating guidance and best practices for detecting AI-generated content Setting up a security program to develop tools that find and fix vulnerabilities

Codefresh is hoping to make it easier for development teams to manage applications throughout the software development life cycle with its latest update. It is introducing a new environments dashboard to pull in information about GitOps and Argo CD projects. Codefresh defines an environment as a cluster of applications, namespaces in a single cluster, or namespaces in different clusters. During a webinar demoing the new feature today, Kostis Kapelonis, senior developer advocate at Codefresh, explained that some of the negatives of using Argo CD alone are that it doesn’t have a concept of environments and doesn’t have context of applications, such as the fact that applications may be a part of a larger product. This new dashboard provides a single-screen experience that shows environments from left to right, from development to testing to production. It offers developers the ability to define what applications a product contains and to assign products to an environment.  Codefresh

Immuta unveiled a new product called Immuta Discover which automates the tagging and classification of data on cloud platforms, helping data teams maintain accurate metadata.  According to Immuta, having accurate metadata is important for data access control, monitoring, and regulatory compliance. Immuta Discover identifies structured data in cloud platforms and can use metadata from popular enterprise data catalogs, such as Alation , which is a data intelligence catalog.  Immuta Discover is a key component of Immuta’s Data Security Platform, streamlining manual processes, enhancing data security, providing data visibility, and enabling organizations to unlock data value. This visibility of sensitive data aids can help companies create data protection policies and analyze data usage. Immuta explained that effective data security relies on precise data discovery, tagging, and classification with detailed metadata. However, organizations face challenges due to the growing number of

IBM has launched its watsonx Code Assistant, which targets multiple use cases: IT automation and application modernization.  The product consists of two main components at launch: watsonx Code Assistant for Red Hat Ansible Lightspeed and watsonx Code Assistant for Z .  Watsonx Code Assistant for Red Hat Ansible Lightspeed uses generative AI to assist IT teams with things like network configuration or code deployment. Watsonx Code Assistant for Z uses the technology to help with mainframe application modernization and can translate applications from COBOL to Java.  RELATED CONTENT: IBM releases watsonx Code Assistant for Red Hat Ansible Lightspeed Watsonx Code Assistant for Z can help with application discovery, business services refactoring, and code transformation. It plans to add automated validation testing to the tool in the future.  IBM explained that the goal here isn’t to completely turn all the COBOL applications into Java applications, but rather enable a world where t

The Omnivore open-source project enables users to save articles, newsletters, and documents for later reading in a distraction-free environment. Users can also make notes and highlights, and customize their reading list while syncing it across all devices.  Users can streamline their newsletters by sending them directly to their Omnivore library, consolidating them in one place. This allows for uninterrupted, distraction-free reading at a time of their choosing, and reduces email interruptions. Users can also keep their reading organized and easily accessible with labels, filters, rules, and a comprehensive text search. Additional features include highlights and notes, syncing with popular Personal Knowledge Management systems including Logseq and Obsidian, the ability to listen to reading with text-to-speech, and more.  “Reading is a lifetime activity, and you shouldn’t have to worry you’ll lose your library after you’ve spent years building it. Our open-source platform ensures yo

Today at the Next.js Conf , Vercel announced the release of the latest version of the React framework for web development, Next.js .  According to Vercel, Next.js 14 offers significant performance boosts, including 53% faster local server startup and 94% faster code updates using Fast Refresh.  Additionally, 5,000 “next dev” integration tests have now passed with Turbopack, which is the underlying Rust engine for Next.js. Vercel says that developers should experience faster and more reliable performance using “next dev –turbo” now. The company also says that once 100% of tests pass with Turbopack, Turbopack will be moved to stable (currently 90% pass).  Also in this release, the Next.js team has improved the developer experience of authoring data mutations with the stable release of Server Actions , which allows you to define asynchronous server functions. You can use Server Actions to revalidate cached data, redirect to different routes, set and read cookies, and more.  Next.js

Google announced that Credential Manager will launch on November 1st, offering a more streamlined and secure authentication process for Android users. It aims to simplify the login experience for users by addressing the challenges of password-based authentication, which can lead to security issues, Google explained. The system will support various sign-in methods, including passkeys and traditional passwords while unifying them in one interface. This change is expected to ease the burden on both users and developers by offering a more convenient and secure way to access apps and websites. “Passkeys add an additional layer of security for WhatsApp users. Simplifying the way users can securely get into their account will help our users, which is why the Credential Manager API is so important,” Nitin Gupta, head of engineering at WhatsApp. Credential Manager simplifies the login process for users who often have different sign-in methods for the same account. It allows users to select

Companies in certain industries – banking, healthcare, and the like – are subject to many different regulations when it comes to things like how they store user data, required communications with customers, and what data can and can’t be collected.  For example, financial companies need to comply with Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Combating the Financing of Terrorism (CFT), as Ben Nguyen, sales engineer at data quality company Melissa , explained in Episode 2 of the six-part SD Times Live! Microwebinar series on data verification.  In Episode 3 , Nguyen introduced another tool these companies can use to prevent financial crimes from occurring. National watchlist screening is the process of identifying if an individual is found in sanctions lists or may pose a threat to national security.  In addition to traditional banks, other industries that need to pay attention to this are investment firms, payment service providers, and cryptocurrency exchanges. There are many watchlis

AUSTIN, TX, Oct. 24, 2023 –  Lenovo (HKSE: 992) (ADR: LNVGY) and NVIDIA (NASDAQ: NVDA) today announced an expansion of their partnership with new, hybrid solutions and engineering collaboration that supports their shared vision to bring the power of generative AI to every enterprise.    In close collaboration with NVIDIA, Lenovo will deliver fully integrated systems that bring AI-powered computing to everywhere data is created, from the edge to the cloud, helping businesses easily deploy tailored generative AI applications to drive innovation and transformation across  ​ ​ any industry.     The offerings were described by Lenovo Chairman and CEO Yuanqing Yang and NVIDIA founder and CEO Jensen Huang at the annual global Lenovo   Tech World  keynote held in Austin, Texas, where they discussed businesses’ need for end-to-end solutions that bring together accelerated systems, AI software and expert services to quickly build and run custom AI models using their own data.     Supported by

GitLab 16.5 was announced with updates to the Compliance Center, merge request target branch rules, resolvable issue threads, and more. A new tab for standards adherence reports was added in the Compliance Center. These reports show which projects in a group do not meet the check for GitLab’s best practices. These include approval rules that require at least approvers for merge requests (MRs), disallow the MR author to merge, and disallow committers to merge.  In addition to showing details on each of those checks, the report also includes information on when the check was run, which standard the check applies to, and how to fix problems that show up on the report.  The company plans to update this reporting feature in the future to include checks on more regulations and standards, and improve how the report can be grouped and filtered. A second major update in GitLab 16.5 is that developers can now set target branches for MRs, which can help ensure that the MR is targeting the rig

Altova announced the release of Version 2024 of its desktop developer tools, server software, and regulatory solutions with important new features. “We are excited to announce AI integration in multiple products to enhance developer productivity and creativity,” said Alexander Falk, president and CEO of Altova. “At the same time, we’ve added one of the most-often requested features to MapForce, which is support for PDF. The new MapForce PDF Extractor will be a game changer for unlocking the volumes of data previously trapped in PDF documents and accessing it for use in data integration and ETL processes.”  A new feature in XMLSpy is the AI Assistant, which enhances productivity for XML and JSON development by creating schemas, instance documents, and sample data through natural language prompts. The AI Assistant in XMLSpy can produce XSL, XPath, and XQuery code, which users can copy, open in a new document, or send to the XPath/XQuery window for further editing and examination. Ther

OpsMx has unveiled a new approach to application security with the launch of its Deployment Firewall . This firewall integrates into CI/CD pipelines and enforces application security policies when applications are deployed, blocking releases if there is a vulnerability or security issue.  According to OpsMx, recent application security efforts across the industry have been focusing on the application development process. While the company acknowledges this is an important part of application security, it can be difficult to then enforce security policies because responsibilities are spread between distributed development teams with differing toolsets and operating models.  “A deployment firewall gives organizations a simpler, more effective way to enforce their own software delivery process,” said Gopal Dommety, CEO and founder of OpsMx. “Organizations know what they need to do for application security and release compliance, but are too often stuck with siloed data and scattered te

Parasoft’s Continuous Quality Platform updates in version 2023.2 cover three main themes – a focus on continuous innovation, continuing to strengthen its core components, and addressing customer feedback and loyalty. Under the theme of continuous innovation, Grigori Trofimov, a senior solutions engineer at Parasoft, the update introduces integrations with generative AI capabilities through LLMs and OpenAI, to build upon the company’s implementations of AI for UI testing, static analysis and API testing, among other things. “Now,” he said, “users can use their own definition files and text-based instructions or natural language instructions,” enhancing the test creation process. And, he noted, as far as API testing is concerned, the update provides a clean sequence of API calls to work with, so testers don’t have to manually stitch together API calls. All of this, he said, brings new capabilities to SOAtest, the company’s API functional, load and security testing tool. “SOAtest alread

Databricks, a data and AI company, is acquiring Arcion, a company that provides enterprise databases, data warehouses, and cloud analytics platforms using change data capture (CDC), in a transaction valued at over $100 million.  This acquisition aims to enhance Databricks’ capabilities by enabling Databricks to efficiently replicate data from a variety of databases and SaaS applications into its Lakehouse Platform. According to Databricks, this is significant because Data Lakehouse Platforms are essential for enterprise data and AI, but the process of ingesting data from different sources is currently complex and costly. Arcion’s technology will streamline this data ingestion process and enhance Databricks’ offerings. Data Lakehouse Platforms have become the standard for enterprise data and AI, but their value depends on the data they contain, according to Databricks in a post .  Ingesting data from existing databases and applications has been a challenge. With Arcion’s technology,

Intel is launching the AI PC Acceleration Program with the hopes of accelerating the speed at which developers build AI applications.  “Intel recognizes that software leadership is key to the AI PC experience, and we’re uniquely positioned to lead the industry with an open ecosystem approach. With a long history in AI development and a deep network of ISV engineering relationships, Intel will take an active role in fostering connections and innovations that propel new use cases and experiences on the PC,” said Michelle Johnston Holthaus, executive vice president and general manager of the Client Computing Group at Intel. The company believes that this initiative will enhance PC experiences like audio effects, content creation, gaming, security, streaming, video collaboration, and more.  The AI PC Acceleration Program will help connect hardware and software vendors with Intel resources to enable developers to take advantage of the Intel Core Ultra technology and its corresponding h

What is software development? Is it engineering, science, or art? The Software Craftsmanship  movement thinks it is a trade closer to carpentry or blacksmithing. They mark their communities  on maps with heraldry, publish books with covers featuring pictures of old tools, and discuss the  “Scribe’s Oath” at conferences. Their ideas have influenced the entire industry, but why do so  many developers embrace ideals and imagery that belong more at a Renaissance fair? The  movement’s increasing popularity in the past two decades, and its striking similarity to a  150-year-old artistic movement, tells the story of how we see ourselves as developers and how  our relationship with work shapes the tech industry. The 1980s and 90s was the first time people had tried to produce software rapidly at scale, and  no one was quite sure how to do it. So the industry reached for the industrial techniques that  had, over the last 200 years, made the world very good at producing physical objects.  Compa

The Microsoft Azure Incubations Team has launched Radius, a new open application platform for the cloud.  Radius is designed to facilitate collaboration between developers and platform engineers in delivering and managing cloud-native applications while adhering to corporate best practices for cost, operations, and security.  It addresses several cloud-related challenges in development and operations.  It can deploy applications across private clouds, Microsoft Azure, and Amazon Web Services, with support for more cloud providers to be added in the future.  It supports established technologies like Kubernetes, integrates with infrastructure tools such as Terraform and Bicep, and works with CI/CD systems like GitHub Actions. Radius also accommodates multi-tier web-plus-data and complex microservice applications. Other compatible technologies include Docker and Redis.  Radius aids developers in understanding their applications comprehensively, connecting new components seamlessly

Netlify has introduced the launch of a new platform that will enable developers to build “modern, composable web architectures.”  The Netlify Composable Web Platform connects content, data sources, code, and infrastructure, providing development teams with everything they need to build and ship modern websites. According to the company, some of the benefits the platform provides include simplified orchestration for composable architectures, faster time-to-market, faster web content load times, higher developer productivity, the freedom to build anything you want, and a foundation that’s future proof.  The platform has three main components: Netlify Connect, Netlify Core, and Netlify Create.   Netlify Connect is the data unification layer, Netlify Core provides a unified development workflow, and Netlify Create is a visual editor for creating, editing, and publishing content.  “As web technology has advanced, consumers have come to expect great things on the web and across a

Infragistics, a leading global provider of tools and solutions to accelerate design and development, has announced a new  App Builder   Design Contest  where developers, designers and non-designers alike can unleash their creativity and win prizes. The competition provides participants with free access to the App Builder drag & drop tool, which allows designers and developers to collaborate in a single platform. It includes a complete design system, which is compatible with Sketch and Adobe XD and generates code in Angular and Blazor. Infragistics’ companys’ mission is to create simplicity and beauty in the world one app at a time. With this creativity contest, they are encouraging others to take on this mission and create a simple, beautiful application with App Builder , a web-based WYSIWYG design tool that allows anyone to create apps. “App Builder makes it easy to be creative and customize apps to meet unique needs,” said Jason Beres, SVP, Infragistics. “With App Builder,

Gartner is predicting that in 2024, companies will be exploring methods that will help ensure their investments are protected for years to come. Every year the company puts together a list of 10 trends it believes will take hold in the tech industry in the following year. This year, five of those trends fall into the category of protecting technology investments. According to Gartner, the key to achieve this protection is to be deliberate by stopping uncontrolled experimentation without sufficient direction, be realistic by calculating the ROI of projects, and tailor innovations with reuse in mind.  Trends that align with this include AI Trust, Risk and Security Management; Continuous Threat Exposure Management; Industry Cloud Platforms; Sustainable Technology; and Democratized Generative AI. The company grouped trends into two other categories as well: “Rise of the builders” and “Deliver the value.” Gartner believes companies can unleash the creative power of everyone building so

The team behind Node.js has announced the release of Node.js 21 . Node.js is a JavaScript runtime that is built on the JavaScript engine that Chrome uses, V8.  One of the main updates in this release is that the V8 engine was updated to version 11.8.  “Updating the V8 engine offers crucial benefits: bug fixes enhance stability, performance  improvements boost speed, and new features expand capabilities. It ensures a more reliable,  faster, and feature-rich JavaScript runtime environment,” explained Rafael Gonzaga, Node.js Core Member.  There were also a few updates to test runner, which is a feature that enables functional testing and exporting of results. Updates include support for passing globs and a new cli flag that controls parallelism.  Another update is that WebStreams is now stable. WebStreams help process data in small sizes for browser applications, the team explained. The team also added a new experimental flag that flips module defaults. According to Gonzaga, N

GitGuardian introduced a free tool called ‘HasMySecretLeaked’ to assist security engineers in proactively checking if their organization’s confidential information has been exposed on GitHub.com.  This tool addresses the challenge of safeguarding secrets in the cloud-native application development realm, where organizations struggle with secrets spreading across developer tools. According to the company, these secrets are also at risk of being leaked, especially during off-hours, and might end up in personal GitHub repositories outside the organization’s reach.  “HasMySecretLeaked” is a private database with over 20 million records of hashed secrets leaked in public sources, including GitHub.com. Users can query the database by submitting a hashed version of their secret in the search console, and GitGuardian will look for their perfect matches without revealing any other secrets or their locations. “Knowing whether your ‘vaulted’ secrets have leaked publicly is just one API call aw

Zenhub has introduced the latest version of its project management solution. Zenhub Enterprise 4.0 includes features that are tailored for businesses that need to store essential data on-site instead of in the cloud.  Zenhub Enterprise 4.0 offers various productivity-enhancing integrations and a new platform experience, eliminating the requirement for users to possess a GitHub account to utilize Zenhub. “While the cloud has taken the enterprise by storm, many of our largest customers still run a hybrid model with mission-critical data kept on-premise. Zenhub Enterprise 4.0 is designed specifically to support this requirement,” said Aaron Upright, Zenhub’s co-founder. “We’re excited to bring all of the innovation that we’ve recently launched in our cloud product to our on-prem customers. In particular, we think our new platform capabilities will address a growing need we see in larger organizations to consolidate technical and non-technical teams into the same project management solut

WebAssembl y ( Wasm) began its journey in the web browser. However, it has since expanded, becoming a sought-after technology for server-side environments, Internet of Things (IoT) systems, and synchronous plugins. With this kind of horizontal expansion, even reaching into multi-tenanted cloud environments, it is clear that Wasm has some desirable attributes. One additional innovation, on the Wasm side, elevates the technology beyond just being desirable. Wasm has the potential to change the game for software developers, revolutionizing the landscape of software development. What is this new thing that makes Wasm so exciting and special? It’s a technology that hides behind a deceptively boring name: The WebAssembl y Component Model . Before diving into the Component Model, though, let’s trace Wasm’s journey from the web browser to the cloud. Why Wasm Moved Beyond the Web Browser Wasm was developed for a very specific purpose: A consortium of developers from Mozilla, Apple, Micr