Senet and SenRa announced several significant milestones in their partnership to design, deploy and manage highly scalable LoRaWAN networks globally.

These milestones build on a partnership formed in 2017 in which SenRa chose Senet’s cloud-based Managed Network Services for IoT (MNSi) to launch its LoRaWAN network rollout throughout India.

Since launching LoRaWAN connectivity services in India’s National Capital Region (NCR) in May 2017, SenRa has expanded its network operation to 74 cities across the country.

Paramount to SenRa’s growth has been the time-to-market advantages offered by Senet’s managed network services, reducing a typical 18 – 24 month network rollout to an average of 90 days.

This ability to rapidly roll out network coverage has allowed SenRa to focus on building strategic relationships with leading companies and across vertical markets such as Bosch in Industrial IoT, Smart Buildings and Smart Cities; Ripple Metering to deploy smart water and gas meters; PNI for smart parking and parking enforcement; and to support the India Government Smart City Mission.

SenRa’s most recent deployments include over 10,000 water meters connected at Pimpri-Chinchwad Smart City and more than 8,000 residential and commercial gas meters in Hyderabad, Bangalore and Ludhiana.

Global expansion and fostering innovation across the IoT ecosystem

Beyond its growth throughout India, SenRa is utilizing Senet’s MNSi platform to expand its network deployments globally.

SenRa has deployed or is in the process of deploying LoRaWAN networks in the Middle East, Southeast Asia and Africa, including in Kuwait, Oman, Singapore, and Somalia, among other locations.

In support of SenRa’s global growth strategies, the companies are collaborating closely to fulfill end user requirements for carrier-grade LoRaWAN network services, certified devices and application adoption through collaborative device testing, partner ecosystem development and co-marketing initiatives.

“While some network operators have struggled with the complexities of building and managing an IoT network from the ground up, SenRa has gained a significant competitive advantage by partnering with Senet to establish and expand our business,” said Ali Hosseini, CEO of SenRa.

“The rich feature set of Senet’s managed networks services platform deliver all of the tools necessary to design, deploy and maintain our network infrastructure, onboard and support a growing number of customers at scale, and ensure the delivery of carrier-grade LoRaWAN connectivity across markets.”

Senet network server advancements

Through a cloud-based architecture and by using a disciplined planned release process, Senet has implemented more than 45 major network server platform updates over the past 52 months, while consistently maintaining carrier-grade uptime.

This results in continuously adding functionality to support the needs of network operator, RAN partner and solution provider customers using the network as a critical ingredient of their end-to-end services.

Senet’s commitment to delivering market leading connectivity platforms allows network operators to offer carrier-grade SLA-backed services on an accelerated schedule to meet early demand, drive competitive prices through operating efficiencies and rapidly scale beyond their original footprint.

“We are extremely pleased to see the growth SenRa is experiencing across India and globally,” said Bruce Chatterley, CEO of Senet.

“This success is a reflection of the reliability, predictability of performance, versatility of business models and the efficiencies in network expansion that a growing number of LoRaWAN network operators, RAN partners, and applications service providers have come to expect from Senet’s network connectivity platforms.”

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Accenture has entered into an agreement to acquire Openminded, a France-based cybersecurity services company that provides advisory, cloud & infrastructure security, cyber defense, and managed security services. Financial terms of the transaction are not being disclosed.

Founded in 2008, and powered by a security operations center, Openminded helps clients anticipate and reduce cybersecurity risks, rapidly detect and respond to cyber incidents, and implement best practices in regulatory compliance.

Once completed, the acquisition would bring approximately 100 highly skilled cybersecurity professionals to Accenture Security’s workforce of nearly 7,000 professionals globally and extend Accenture’s cybersecurity presence and capabilities in France and in Europe.

“With cyberattacks becoming more complex, constant and costly every day, companies must fully embed cybersecurity into the different layers of their organizations to ensure resilience,” said Kelly Bissell, who leads Accenture Security globally.

“The acquisition of Openminded supports our commitment to leveraging technology and human ingenuity to help clients be confident and secure in the face of constant change.

“We look forward to welcoming Openminded’s team to Accenture and helping clients defend against cyber threats more effectively across their entire ecosystem—now and in the future.”

Olivier Girard, market unit lead for Accenture France and Benelux, said, “Our intent to acquire Openminded is aligned with our global strategy to provide differentiated robust services to our clients in their local markets.

“It would accelerate our growth in France and scale our cybersecurity capabilities within the market unit and across Europe. It underscores our commitment to helping clients manage the constantly changing cyber risk environment by bringing the right technology, industry understanding, and talent tailored to a company’s specific needs.

“We look forward to leveraging our combined expertise to help clients have the right controls in place to protect their critical assets.”

Hervé Rousseau, Openminded’s founder and CEO, said, “Joining forces with Accenture is a great opportunity for our teams and our clients. The alliance of our talent and capabilities perfectly leverages our expertise and would allow us to deliver on a global scale.

“Today, the fight against cyberattacks requires the implementation of the most advanced technologies, as well as the human resources to make them efficient. This is the synergy we are going to build and put at the service of our clients.”

Accenture became one of the leading global providers of managed security services as a result of its January 2020 acquisition of Symantec’s Cyber Security Services business.

Accenture further strengthened its cyber defense capabilities through its acquisitions of Context Information Security and Revolutionary Security in March and April 2020, respectively, and of Real Protect in January 2021.

The acquisition requires prior consultation with the work council and would be subject to customary closing conditions.

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Opsera announced $15 million in Series A funding led by Felicis Ventures. Existing investors Clear Ventures, Trinity Ventures and Firebolt Ventures, and new investor HMG Ventures, also participated.

With a total of $19.3 million in funding since it was founded in 2020. Opsera will continue to grow its engineering team, and accelerate its global sales, marketing and customer success initiatives.

DevOps is the force multiplier for digital transformation and accelerating software delivery.

As DevOps matures, many organizations struggle with increasing costs, fragmented teams and data, and an explosion of disconnected tools.

Teams must deliver applications faster, on multiple platforms and across multiple cloud environments. Engineering leaders also face unknown security and compliance risks due to poor visibility and reporting.

Opsera aims to change the status quo. Through its self-service, no-code DevOps orchestration platform, engineers can provision or integrate their CI/CD tools of choice from a common architectural framework, and build declarative pipelines for a variety of use cases including SDLC (software delivery lifecycle), IaC (infrastructure as code) and SaaS application releases e.g. Salesforce, Workday, etc.

Opsera simplifies the set-up, use, and management of commercial and open-source tools across the DevOps ecosystem, and correlates and unifies data to provide contextualized diagnostics, metrics and actionable insights.

With Opsera, customers can significantly shorten software delivery cycles, go to market faster, enhance quality and security of pipelines, lower total cost of operations, and better align software delivery performance to business outcomes.

“Opsera’s continuous orchestration is a breakthrough for software delivery teams that need simplicity, integration and automation in a single, unified DevOps platform,” said Wesley Chan, a managing director for Felicis Ventures, who will join the Opsera Board.

“We invest in leading-edge companies that help their customers work better and deliver value faster. Opsera’s out-of-the-gate success helping enterprises build applications smarter and more efficiently make it a great addition to the Felicis investment portfolio.”

“Today’s enterprise software organizations find themselves overloaded with disparate tools or locked into a single-vendor solution that unnecessarily hinders DevOps teams and slows the release of applications to customers,” said Rajeev Madhavan, founder and general partner for Clear Ventures.

“Opsera helps teams break free from DevOps tool chaos with a new approach that accelerates time-to-value like no other solution available today.”

“Our mission is to democratize software delivery by abstracting any CI/CD tools into a common framework that can empower engineers to build pipelines in minutes, not days or weeks,” said Chandra Ranganathan and Kumar Chivukula, co-founders of Opsera.

“We offer the only DevOps platform that connects and orchestrates the entire tool stack with complete choice and visibility.

“Our customers can focus on their core product and will never waste time and resources building and managing toolchains and pipelines in-house or be stuck with single-vendor solutions.

“Having the support of Felicis and all of our investment partners will accelerate how we help customers along their DevOps journey.”

Launched just six months ago, the Opsera platform has a growing client roster, and is trusted by several Fortune 500 customers and an increasing number of companies across Industries worldwide.

It has forged key technology and SI partnerships and has been recognized as 2020’s Best New DevOps Tool/Service Provider by DevOps.com.

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Remapping a video game’s buttons is an important feature that can make gaming sessions more comfortable, make you a better gamer, and open the experience to new players. Unfortunately, not all games support customizable controls, and some only offer a limited range of options. And even if a game does offer robust input adjustments, changing the settings in every game gets tedious.

Luckily, almost every modern gaming platform includes native accessibility options to remap controls across all the games and apps you use on the device—even those that don’t normally support customized inputs.

Below you’ll find simple steps for remapping button inputs on the: 

Before we get to the instructions, a quick note: While mapping your controls at the system level is convenient, it can cause confusion within a game. Some newer games will automatically change the in-game directions based on your system settings, but for older titles, remapping your controls won’t change any on-screen directions or guides.

For example, if you change your controller’s “X” button to be the “R1” trigger, in-game text will still tell you to press the “X” button, which can be confusing. The input changes will still apply—even if the game says “push X,” you will press the R1 trigger instead to perform the same action—but it’s important to keep this in mind before starting up a game after modifying the system controller settings.

Nintendo Switch

These instructions work with Switch Joycons, the Pro Controller, and the Switch Lite.

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1. Press the Home button, then select the cog-shaped Settings icon from the bottom menu.
2. Go to System Settings > Controllers and Sensors > Change Button Mapping.
3. Select the controller you want to remap from the list, then select “Change.”
4. Use the on-screen guide to remap your Switch controller’s buttons (Note: the Home, Sync, and power, and volume buttons cannot be remapped or disabled).
5. When you’re satisfied with your new layout, select “Back,” then “Done” to confirm and save your changes.

Xbox Series X/S and Xbox One

Standard controller

1. Press the Xbox button to call up the Xbox Guide menu.
2. Select Profile and System.
3. Go to Settings > Ease of Access > Controller > Button Remapping.
4. Use the guide to remap your controller’s buttons.

Xbox Elite controller and Xbox adaptive controllers

1. Press the Xbox button to call up the Xbox Guide menu.
2. Go to My games & apps > See all > Apps.
3. Open “Xbox Accessories.”
4. Scroll to the controller, then select “Configure.”
5. Select a profile or create a new one.
6. In the profile menu, select the “Mapping” tab, then use the on-screen guide to remap the controls.

PlayStation 5

1. Press the DualSense controller’s PS button to open the PS5 home screen.
2. Scroll over and select “Settings.”
3. Go to Accessibility > Controllers > Custom Button Assignments
4. Toggle on “Enable Custom Button Assignments.”
5. Select “Custom Button Assignments” and remap your button layout using the on-screen guide.
6. You can also select “Switch the Left and Right Analog Sticks” to swap their in-game functions.

PlayStation 4

1. Press the PS button on your DualShock 4 controller, then go to Settings > Accessibility.
2. Select “Customize Button Assignments.”
3. Use the menu to remap your controller’s buttons.
4. Select “Confirm” to save the changes.

Apple (iOS, iPadOS, Apple TV)

Apple’s products support numerous Bluetooth gaming controllers, and the company is slowly adding helpful features like button remapping to the Settings app. Xbox controllers are the latest devices to receive full button customization options in iOS, but many other gamepads can also be remapped.

1. Connect a supported controller to your Apple device via Bluetooth.
2. Open the Settings app and go to General > Game Controller > Customizations.
3. Select “Enable Customizations.”
4. Use the menu to customize the input options. The available settings will vary depending on the controller you’re using. For example, the menu will list the A, B, X, and Y buttons for Xbox controllers, and the triangle, square, circle, and cross buttons for a PlayStation controller.
5. You can also create custom input profiles for individual games from this menu as well—just scroll to the bottom of the controller customization menu, tap “Add app,” then select an app or game from the list.

Android

Unfortunately, there aren’t many built-in controller options on Android, and there is no way to natively change a button’s functions in the Android Settings app. Fully remapping your Bluetooth controller on Android requires a third-party app such as Mantis Gamepad or 8bitDo’s remapper app (usable with its controllers).

PC

There are many ways to remap your controls on PC. To keep things simple, we’ll focus on the two easiest methods: using Steam’s controller settings and the Windows 10 Xbox Accessories app. Both options should cover most of the games and controllers you’ll be playing. That said, if these methods don’t work for you, there’s likely another solution out there, from official (and unofficial) apps to checking the in-game settings.

Remapping controls in Steam

Note: Steam makes it easy to apply custom controls from Steam’s settings, but the changes must be applied for each game you play.

1. Connect a Steam-supported controller to your PC via USB or Bluetooth (a list of controllers Steam supports is available here).
2. Open Steam and enable Big Picture Mode. If this is your first time using the device, go to Settings > Controller Settings > Add Controller, then follow the instructions to use the controller in Steam.
3. Go to the Library tab, then highlight a game.
4. Select Manage Game > Controller Configuration.
5. Modify the layout to your liking, or select “Browse” to import a custom layout uploaded by another user.
6. Save your changes then repeat these steps for any other games you are using the controller with.

Customize button layout in the Xbox Accessories App for Windows

This works for Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox Elite, and Xbox Adaptive controllers connected to your PC.

1. Download the Xbox Accessories app from the Microsoft store.
2. Connect your Xbox controller to your PC.
3. Open Xbox Accessories app and select the controller.
4. Click “Configure.”
5. Select a profile or create a new one.
6. In the Configure menu, use the drop-down menus to create your preferred controller input, or select one of the pre-defined button mappings.
7. Select “Back” when you’re done. Your changes will be saved.
8. Make sure the controller profile is set to Slot 1.
9. You can now close the app and start playing.

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Garlic powder gets no respect. Sure, the aroma and taste of fresh garlic is hard to beat, but in some situations, the dried stuff doesn’t just measure up, it flat-out wins. If you need a garlicky vinaigrette, marinade, or dip to taste great for longer than 24 hours, powdered or granulated garlic is the way to go.

The best reason to use dried garlic in sauces is that it actually improves with time. You know how anything with minced raw garlic gets that distinctive “old garlic smell” after a couple days in the fridge? That doesn’t happen with granulated or powdered garlic. (As a bonus, neither does botulism.) The dried stuff still tastes and smells plenty garlicky, but the sharpest, most aggressive flavor compounds—which also happen to go off the fastest—don’t survive the drying process. Thus, using granulated or powdered garlic (or both) gives you all the benefits with none of the downsides.

And you should definitely use both. Believe it or not, there’s a big flavor difference between granulated and powdered garlic. Granules add a potent, super-garlicky punch that’s similar to raw minced garlic, while garlic powder has a deeper, rounder, more savory flavor. Using some of each adds a ton of complexity with basically zero effort, which is why I always keep both on hand.

Swapping granulated or powdered garlic for fresh is pretty easy, but when it comes to quantity conversions, you’ll have to fake it ‘til you make it. No two garlic cloves are exactly the same size, and the potency of dried garlic varies wildly by brand and age; figuring out an exact formula is basically impossible. As always, season to taste until you get a feel for what you like. Just keep in mind that a little goes a long way, especially with garlic powder, which is about twice as dense—and twice as intense—as granulated.

If you’re wondering whether all of this also applies to dried onion products, it does—kind of. I just don’t think dried onion products work any better than fresh in this specific application. The flavor you get from using a combination of sweated, caramelized, and straight-up burnt onions is way more interesting than onion powder, and raw onions tend to age gracefully in acidic vinaigrettes. Your mileage may vary, but personally, I’d save the onion powder for Live Más Dust.

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Before they have kids, everyone has a different image in their head of the type of parent they think they’ll be. Maybe you’ll be a free-range parent, or the parent who prioritizes family dinnertime above all else. Or—better yet!—you’ll be the fun parent, the parent every other kid wishes they could have. But then you have kids, and not everything goes according to plan. Add in a pandemic, and you may one day wake up to the realization that your kids are not free-ranging anywhere, a home-cooked meal is but a pipe dream, and you’ve become decidedly un-fun.

It’s not just the mood in the home that suffers when we stop being playful with our kids—play has all kinds of benefits for them and for our relationship with them, as Lawrence Cohen, a psychologist and the author of Playful Parenting, told Today’s Parent:

Cohen says it’s the most productive way for them to learn about the physical and social world around them. “It is also the best bridge to connection between people,” he adds, pointing to the simple, disarming act of playing peekaboo.

What’s more, it’s easier to discipline kids when you have that sense of connection, Cohen says.

If you’re looking to add a little playfulness back into your daily routine (or you were never particularly playful to begin with and you’re eager to up your game), there are some easy ways to have more fun with your kids that don’t require a ton of time or energy.

Be goofy

This is probably the easiest way to delight a small child. Kids love some parental goofiness, especially when they’re not expecting it. One of the best times to implement some silly faces, voices, or games is when you can see them starting to lose their cool over something pretty minor and they need help snapping out of it.

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You don’t want to belittle their feelings, but when they’re pushing back over a small task, a little goofiness can go a long way. For example, when they declare they don’t want to take a bath, and you let out a giant gasp of surprise and say, “But it’s not a bath, it’s the world’s tiniest pool, and you can’t swim in it anyway because I’m going to beat you there,” and then you take off running—they are going to squeal and run after you.

Have an impromptu dance party

When the kids have bounce-off-the-walls level energy, there’s really only one thing to be done: Crank up some music and start dancing like a fool. Grab whatever props are nearby (soup ladles become microphones, scarves become feather boas) and twirl around the dining room, belting out the song—and all the better if you don’t know the words and are making them up as you go along.

Little kids love to dance, they love to watch their parents having fun, and they are unable to resist a dance party.

Turn it into a game

And by “it,” I’m referring to whatever part of your daily routine has become a pain point for the family. You are no longer cleaning up toys; instead, you’re all giant vacuum cleaners that are vacuuming up the toys. You’re not brushing their teeth; you’re polishing up rare and precious jewels (make sure to “oooh” and “ahhh” over each one). You’re not getting dressed for bed, you’re racing to see who can get in those pajamas first.

Do you run the risk of whatever game you create becoming the new default that you must do from now until the end of time? Yes, you absolutely do, so choose wisely. (It’s still better than all the whining, though—usually.)

Steal the thing they’re fighting over

This is one of my favorite suggestions from Cohen for tackling a very specific problem you likely run into often if you have more than one child: siblings fighting over a toy.

“When children are fighting over a toy or object, just grab it and run,” Cohen says. “Say: ‘I never get to play with this! No wonder you’re fighting over this!’ And then: ‘Wow! Even the two of you working together can’t get it away from me.’ Kids can’t resist this; they will always co-operate to get it away from you,” he says.

And if it’s you they’re fighting over, he says to stick out your arms and let them have a literal tug of war over you. You’ll be connecting physically and emotionally with them, and it will ease the tension because it’s sure to make you all laugh.

Don’t walk

Have you ever watched a young child walk from Point A to Point B? No, you haven’t, because young children don’t walk anywhere. They hop, skip, jump, run, or spin their way from here to there. If it’s been a while since you skipped, I recommend you start there. The next time you head out on a walk with them, or they’re complaining their legs are so tired at the end of a long afternoon at the park that they need to crawl back, start skipping to the car.

First of all, they won’t be able to resist skipping along with you, and second of all, I guarantee you have forgotten how fun it is to skip.

Go on spontaneous adventures

One of the reasons childhood seems to last forever (whereas, as we get older, time seems to fly by at an ever-increasing pace) is because kids are constantly having brand new experiences and creating fresh memories. And you can add to that phenomenon—and slow time down a bit for yourself—by creating some spontaneous fun once in a while.

That might mean packing up the kids at the crack of dawn to take them to the beach to watch the sunrise or calling them out of school one day to take them to see a movie (when such things are a safe option). Kids love to be surprised with an adventure, and the memories you make are likely to stick with all of you for years to come.

 

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The Institute for Security and Technology’s Ransomware Task Force (RTF) has released a comprehensive strategic framework to help worldwide organizations fight against ransomware and will be delivering it to the U.S. President’s team.

The 81-pages-long report includes an overview of the ransomware threat, its impact, how the cyber insurance and the rise of cryptocurrencies influenced its proliferation, the current situation in regard to threat actors that use the malware (and how), and existing efforts to mitigate these attacks.

More importantly, the report lays out recommendations for a coordinated global action to tackle this threat to critical infrastructure, public health, education institutions, and the economy, society and national security in general.

The framework

“Ransomware has become too large of a threat for any one entity to address; the scale and magnitude of this challenge urgently demands coordinated global action,” the RTF noted.

“This strategic framework aims to help policymakers and industry leaders take system-level action – through potential legislation, funding new programs, or launching new industry-level collaborations – that will help the international community build resistance, disrupt the ransomware building model, and develop resilience to the ransomware threat.”

Compiled by 60+ volunteer experts from top tech and cyber security companies, government agencies, law enforcement, civil society groups, cybersecurity insurers and international organizations, the report spells out 48 recommendations, organized around four goals:

“These goals are interlocking and mutually reinforcing,” the RTF says, and notes that “the framework should be considered as a whole, not merely a laundry list of potential disparate actions.” Also, that agencies and organizations in other nations should “adapt the recommendations to their own context, and work across borders to coordinate and tackle what is truly a global challenge.”

Recommendations: Fight against ransomware

The report recommends actions such as:

• Establishing an international coalition to combat ransomware criminals
• Creating a global network of ransomware investigation hubs
• Conducting a sustained aggressive, public-private collaborative anti-ransomware campaign
• Exerting pressure on nations that are complicit or refuse to take action
• Developing new levers for voluntary sharing of cryptocurrency payment indicators
• Establishing an insurance-sector consortium to share ransomware loss data and accelerate best practices around insurance underwriting and risk management
• Developing a clear, actionable framework for ransomware mitigation, response, and recovery
• Updating cyber-hygiene regulations and standards
• Creating a Ransomware Response Fund to support victims in refusing to make ransomware payments, and so on

They estimated a time-frame for the implementation of each action, and spelled out which organizations should take the lead on carrying them out.

The RTF could not agree on whether or not ransom payments should be prohibited, because there are valid arguments for each position.

“The imperative could not be more clear; it’s time to increase prioritization of action and limit the damage inflicted by these attacks,” said Philip Reiner, Executive Director of the RTF and IST CEO.

“In the past 12 months alone, we’ve seen ransomware attacks delay lifesaving medical treatment, destabilize critical infrastructure, and put our national security at risk. We felt an urgent need to bring together world-class experts across sectors to create a framework that government and industry can pursue to disrupt the ransomware business model and mitigate the impact of attacks.”

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