Articles by Jack M. Germain

With the holidays approaching and the pandemic surging, clickwrap transaction platforms (CTPs) are emerging as a valuable tool to help businesses navigate the increased volume of online transactions. CTPs help companies secure transactions that are, or have moved, online. These business transactions are purpose-built for high volumes of agreements...

The antiX distro offers a solid operating system that many other Linux communities fail to deliver. It is unassuming but reliable and focuses on performance rather than prettiness That last element goes a long way to giving users distraction-free computing power. That does not mean antiX is not visually appealing. This distro has a no-nonsense appe...

The 2020 holiday season is upon us, and it should be prime time for shopping, but the pandemic has forced many consumers to tighten their purse strings. Besides trying to avoid crowds to dodge COVID-19, this year's digital holiday shoppers have to be wary of counterfeit sellers lurking within e-commerce stores It's projected that about one-third of...

The @ Company wants to give you a more secure and human-centric Internet built on providing you with true ownership and control of your personal data To that end, the company on Oct. 27 launched an app built on its new privacy protocol. This new standard will attempt to change how online vendors and companies wheel and deal with the personal infor...

The Linux Foundation today announced at KubeKon that it is hosting the Servo web engine, an open-source, high-performance browser engine. KubeKon is the Cloud Native Computing Foundation's flagship conference for adopters and technologists from leading open source and cloud-native communities. The conference is being held virtually this week.

The lack of standard practices in the DevOps communities is causing growing friction as security teams line up against developers. This internal friction leaves the software they develop and organizations that use the apps vulnerable to attacks and breaches A report released Sept. 30 by open source security and license management company WhiteSourc...

The grocery industry seems to have a foot in two worlds as it faces unique challenges of an accelerated transition to online retail during the pandemic. One is the realm of the traditional grocery marketplace in pre-COVID times, when the majority of consumers shopped in stores for groceries. The other is today's marketplace where shoppers flock on...

Online shoppers face myriad basic obstacles, including not being able to complete a purchase transaction A survey by customer engagement firm goMoxie shows that consumers struggle to complete basic tasks on retail websites. Most are more likely to abandon the experience or switch to a competitor rather than seek assistance....

The rise in consumer adoption of e-commerce in the wake of the pandemic is pushing the rebirth of brick-and-mortar stores as potential bastions of interactionless in-store shopping that resembles an e-commerce experience. But these redesigns are not for all shoppers. Some prefer no brick-and-mortar shopping at all That consumer reaction is pushing ...

More consumers are shopping via phones and other mobile devices, and companies that use chat with commerce are reaping rewards while improving the customer experience New commerce research reveals that at least two-thirds of firms using chat apps such as WhatsApp and WeChat see greater commerce gains than competitors that do not. These gains includ...

Partly as a result of the continuing pandemic's hit on retail sales, email is proving to be a vital marketing tool -- with social media a close second The "2020 State of Email, Fall Edition" report from email marketing firm Litmus found that 77 percent of marketers said email is one of their two most effective marketing channels. Additionally, 78 p...

The Linux Foundation is doubling down on open-source collaboration to drive more innovation in technology that uses artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), and deep learning (DL). The LF AI Foundation and ODPi merged on Oct. 25 to form the LF AI & Data Foundation This new organization, under the auspices of the LF, will build and suppo...

The Activ5 fitness system by Activbody could be a perfect solution for digital-based exercising. This Bluetooth-enabled portable workout and strength training device for men and women coaches users through five-minute full body workouts and measures data such as strength, precision, and other personal metrics No sweat and no gym required. That phra...

A Cloud Guru (ACG) in September released the "State of Cloud Learning" report which shows that cloud expertise, measured via certifications and hands-on proficiency, is growing in value for both companies and the individuals who work for them. ACG analyzed cloud learning priorities among enterprise teams and individual learners. The report found w...

Artificial intelligence has made noticeable changes to technologies around the world. Perhaps AI's most notable potential, however, is its role in the supply chain industry. AI has changed the supply chain process from reactive to proactive, which creates a larger change in how data-driven processes will operate in the future. The true role of AI ...

The Linux Foundation and learning platform edX on Monday released the latest open source jobs report which updates technology hiring since the last report two years ago. The research shows that, despite the pandemic, demand for open source technology skills continues to be strong. The 2020 Open Source Jobs Report reveals a spike in demand for DevO...

With the shift to remote everything in the continuing wake of the pandemic, businesses must refocus on the essential question: what makes a customer loyal? Many organizations continue to push for client loyalty and success by adequately adapting to meet their needs while working in remote environments. Others cling to outdated methods and flounder....

The BizOps Coalition hopes to bridge the gap between technology investments and business outcomes through an effort called the BizOps Manifesto, which offers numerous guiding principles to help organizations achieve business outcomes based on trust, confidence, and collaboration The group published the document on its website Oct. 13 as a framework...

Red Hat, a major provider of open source solutions, has never had a comprehensive document guiding associate participation in open source projects, until now. In an ongoing oversight, the company had only a few related processes written down. Much of how the company and its workers interacted with open source contribution was known only in long-st...

Amazon reported recently that online grocery sales tripled during the pandemic. The company also saw a 160 percent increase in delivery capacity and tripled the number of Whole Foods pickup spots This is all great news if you live in a city with Whole Foods or where grocery delivery services are easily accessible. But if your food and home supplies...