Blogging Workflow

A lot of folks start out to blog, and then quit soon after. Since I started blogging mainly as a way to build some discipline in my writing, I was determined not to let my blog become a cob web, a page that was not updated on a regular basis, I started blogging determined to build a process, or a blogging workflow. I should emphasize at this point that blogging, as all writing, is a habit and a discipline. It’s not just “something that happens on its own.” If you are going to blog, start with the same mindset—focus on the habits and discipline first, the blog second.

I (mostly) build all the content for ‘net Work on Saturday mornings. Sometimes it slips to Sunday or Monday, depending on what is going on, but I normally spend no more than about 2 to 3 hours a week on keeping this blog up and running, including normal maintenance. There are times when I spend much more—for instance, if I’m switching platforms, or switching themes. There are other times when I need to spend time in code, or researching something specific, for a blog post (or a set of posts), but Continue reading

Critical flaw lets hackers take control of Samsung SmartCam cameras

The popular Samsung SmartCam security cameras contain a critical remote code execution vulnerability that could allow hackers to gain root access and take full control of them.The vulnerability was discovered by researchers from the hacking collective the Exploiteers (formerly GTVHacker), who have found vulnerabilities in the Samsung SmartCam devices in the past.The flaw allows for command injection through a web script, even though the vendor has disabled the local web-based management interface in these devices.The Samsung SmartCam is a series of cloud-enabled network security cameras that were originally developed by Samsung Techwin. Samsung sold this division to South Korean business conglomerate Hanwha Group in 2015 and the company was renamed Hanwha Techwin.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Critical flaw lets hackers take control of Samsung SmartCam cameras

The popular Samsung SmartCam security cameras contain a critical remote code execution vulnerability that could allow hackers to gain root access and take full control of them. The vulnerability was discovered by researchers from the hacking collective the Exploiteers (formerly GTVHacker), who have found vulnerabilities in the Samsung SmartCam devices in the past. The flaw allows for command injection through a web script, even though the vendor has disabled the local web-based management interface in these devices. The Samsung SmartCam is a series of cloud-enabled network security cameras that were originally developed by Samsung Techwin. Samsung sold this division to South Korean business conglomerate Hanwha Group in 2015 and the company was renamed Hanwha Techwin.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

FPGA Frontiers: New Applications in Reconfigurable Computing

There is little doubt that this is a new era for FPGAs.

While it is not news that FPGAs have been deployed in many different environments, particularly on the storage and networking side, there are fresh use cases emerging in part due to much larger datacenter trends. Energy efficiency, scalability, and the ability to handle vast volumes of streaming data are more important now than ever before. At a time when traditional CPUs are facing a future where Moore’s Law is less certain and other accelerators and custom ASICs are potential solutions with their own sets of expenses and hurdles,

FPGA Frontiers: New Applications in Reconfigurable Computing was written by Nicole Hemsoth at The Next Platform.

Cisco calls on Arista to stop selling products in US after agency reverses patent finding

The U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency has revoked its November 2016 finding that Arista’s redesigned products don’t infringe a key Cisco patent -- as a result Cisco called on Arista to stop importing those products and recall others sold with redesigned software.The finding is the latest round in a high-stakes battle between Cisco and Arista over patents and copyrights that has been going on since 2014. In the summer of 2016 the US Trade Representative began an import ban as well as a cease and desist order covering Arista products imposed by the International Trade Commission in June where it ruled that Arista had infringed on a number of Cisco’s technology patents.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Cisco calls on Arista to stop selling products in US after agency reverses patent finding

The U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency has revoked its November 2016 finding that Arista’s redesigned products don’t infringe a key Cisco patent -- as a result Cisco called on Arista to stop importing those products and recall others sold with redesigned software.The finding is the latest round in a high-stakes battle between Cisco and Arista over patents and copyrights that has been going on since 2014. In the summer of 2016 the US Trade Representative began an import ban as well as a cease and desist order covering Arista products imposed by the International Trade Commission in June where it ruled that Arista had infringed on a number of Cisco’s technology patents.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Cisco calls on Arista to stop selling products in US after agency reverses patent finding

The U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency has revoked its November 2016 finding that Arista’s redesigned products don’t infringe a key Cisco patent -- as a result Cisco called on Arista to stop importing those products and recall others sold with redesigned software.The finding is the latest round in a high-stakes battle between Cisco and Arista over patents and copyrights that has been going on since 2014. In the summer of 2016 the US Trade Representative began an import ban as well as a cease and desist order covering Arista products imposed by the International Trade Commission in June where it ruled that Arista had infringed on a number of Cisco’s technology patents.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Cisco calls on Arista to stop selling products in US after agency reverses patent finding

The U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency has revoked its November 2016 finding that Arista’s redesigned products don’t infringe a key Cisco patent -- as a result Cisco called on Arista to stop importing those products and recall others sold with redesigned software.The finding is the latest round in a high-stakes battle between Cisco and Arista over patents and copyrights that has been going on since 2014. In the summer of 2016 the US Trade Representative began an import ban as well as a cease and desist order covering Arista products imposed by the International Trade Commission in June where it ruled that Arista had infringed on a number of Cisco’s technology patents.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Surfed to a 404 or page not found? Here’s how to automatically view archived page

If you hate hitting a digital dead end, such as by surfing to a 404 or “page not found” error, then Chrome and Firefox users should consider doing away with them altogether…that is, as long as there is an archived copy available.When you surf to a dead link, both browsers have an extension/add-on which will automatically offer to serve up a preserved copy of the page via the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine. It’s one way to push back against “link rot,” meaning all those URLs that return nothing of value since sites are redesigned and undergo structural changes that result in broken links.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Shopping goes high tech and hassle-free with new Intel technology

Shopping can be fun but also harrowing, especially in electronics or shoe stores. You can't find help or can't figure out if a specific product is in stock.In the future, the shopping experience should be much better thanks to technology. The store will recognize you, dig into your shopping habits, and guide you in the right direction. If your favorite product is in the store, retailers will make sure you know through messaging.That Minority Report-type technology is still many years away but will be possible with the magic of sensors, cameras, and data analytics. But some retailers have an early start: Some furniture stores are already using virtual reality so buyers can preview how furniture will look in a room.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Happy New Documentation!

The oVirt Project is pleased to announce the availability of all-new principal documentation for the oVirt 4.0 branch.

There are many people out there who are content to use software without documentation, preferring to muddle through the software based on past experience with similar software or just the desire to put the software through its paces.

We all do this; I could not tell you the last time I looked at documentation for Firefox or Chrome, because I've been using browsers for over 20 years and seriously, what else is there to learn? Until I learn about a cool new feature from a friend or a web site.

In a software community project, one of the biggest things a community must do is to provide proper onboarding to the project's result. This means:

  • Explaining what the software is

  • Providing a clear path to getting the software

  • Demonstrating how to use the software

All three of these onboarding requirements must be done right in order for onboarding to work successfully. Documenation, then, fulfills the third requirement: showing how software can be used. Not every one will need it, but for those users who do need it, it is very nice Continue reading

How I Relearned the Consequences of Improper Monitoring

I had just lost the RAID array that hosts my ESXi data store. I didn’t yet know that’s what had happened, but with some investigation, some embarrassment, and a bit of swearing, I would find out that an oversight on my part three years ago would lead to this happening.

I first realized there was trouble when every VM on the host became unresponsive. Most notably, the Plex Media Server fell off the network which caused the episode of Modern Family that we were watching to immediately freeze. What was odd to me is that while the VMs were unreachable, the ESXi host itself was fine. I could ping it, ssh to it and load it up with the vSphere client. The first wave of panic hit me when I found messages like this in the host’s event log:

RAID Volume is Disconnected
RAID Volume is Disconnected

This was quickly confirmed from the ssh shell by looking for the data store and finding that a) the symlink for the volume (RAID1) pointed to a non-existent directory and b) the reported size of the volume was a paltry 450MB compared to the 930GB I expected.

RAID1 Volume isn't Mounted
RAID1 Volume isn’t Mounted

Since I knew from prior experience Continue reading

4 reasons Microsoft Teams will kill Slack… and 4 reasons it won’t

Microsoft Teams is nearing its official debut. Designed as a hub for teamwork, the cloud-based Teams gives employees access to content, tools, people and conversations within the Office 365 environment. Groups and subgroups can communicate and collaborate using text-based chat, file sharing, and video and voice chats.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)

51% off Foval 150PSI Car Digital Tire Pressure Air Gauge – Deal Alert

This tire pressure guage from Fovsal features a lighted nozzle and display screen for ultimate visibility in low light, and doubles as a vehicle emergency tool with LED flashlight, car window breaker, seat belt cutter, and red safety light.  It averages 4.5 out of 5 stars on Amazon, where its typical list price of $20 has been reduced 51% to just $9.87. See it now on Amazon.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here