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Category Archives for "Networking"

6 vulnerabilities to watch for on the factory floor

 Industrial control systems (ICS) that run the valves and switches in factories may suffer from inherent weaknesses that cropped up only after they were installed and the networks they were attached to became more widely connected. FireEye iSIGHT Intelligence Sean McBride The problems are as far ranging as hard-coded passwords that are publicly available to vulnerabilities in Windows operating systems that are no longer supported but are necessary to run the aging gear, says Sean McBride, attack-synthesis lead analyst at FireEye iSIGHT Intelligence and author of “What About the Plant Floor? Six subversive concerns for industrial environments.”To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

BlackBerry wins $815 million in overpaid royalty to Qualcomm

BlackBerry said Wednesday it has been awarded US$815 million in an arbitration decision for excess royalties it had paid to chip company Qualcomm.Qualcomm and BlackBerry had entered into an agreement in April last year to arbitrate a dispute over whether Qualcomm's agreement to cap certain royalties applied to payments made by BlackBerry under a license agreement between the two companies.Qualcomm has faced charges of excessive royalty rates by regulators as well as other companies. Apple filed a lawsuit in January in a U.S. federal court in California against Qualcomm, objecting, among other things, to the chip company charging a royalty on the selling price of phones rather than on the value of the specific baseband chipset supplied for the iPhone.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Why you should (sometimes) let software run your business

Changing your business processes to match your software sounds like a classic case of the tail wagging the dog. After all, business leaders are responsible for deciding how their company is run, and software is supposed to support that, helping the company run as efficiently as possible.Yet this is exactly what is happening in 82 percent of enterprises, according to a survey by TrackVia, maker of a low-code software development platform. These companies report changing a part of their business operations or processes to match the way their software works.Is allowing corporate software to dictate how a company is run an abrogation of management's duty to manage, or can it sometimes be the best way to manage a company?To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

How IoT helps insurers mitigate the risks of climate change

Insurance companies are on the front lines when it comes to exposure to the financial risks of climate change. The internet of things (IoT) is shaping up to be a key component in mitigating those risks."Insurance companies rely upon historical loss records to guide their underwriting and set their prices," Washing Insurance Commission Mike Kreidler and California Insurance Commission Dave Jones wrote in the forward of Insurer Climate Risk Disclosure Survey Report & Scorecard: 2016 Findings & Recommendations by nonprofit organization Ceres. "More and more frequently, the climate is behaving in ways that we can't predict. Weather patterns are shifting, and the severity and breadth of damage are intensifying, resulting in more costly disasters than we've ever seen. There is no basis in historical data for events like Hurricane Sandy, the Joplin, Missouri tornado, the Oso landslide in Washington state and record-breaking landslides in Western states. In 2016 alone, 31 major disaster declarations were reported to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) by the end of August."To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Microsoft to host education event May 2

Microsoft is hosting an education-focused event in New York City on May 2, and the tech titan is expected to reveal new software and hardware. The company sent out invitations a day after it launched the Windows 10 Creators Update, the latest major feature release for its current operating system.Microsoft is working to make its devices and services appeal to educators, especially as the company faces increased competition from Google’s G Suite and Chromebooks. Both companies are locked in a war over which business will power the future of productivity, and education is a major battleground for each. Microsoft Microsoft attached this image to the email it sent inviting journalists to its May 2 education event.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Issue deploying CSR on ESXi vSphere 6.5

I recently ran into a slight bump when deploying the Cisco Cloud Services Router 1000v (CSR) on ESXi vSphere 6.5.  The error message I received when trying to deploy the CSR OVA was: VALUE_ILLEGAL: Value “VMXNET3 virtio” of ResourceSubType element not found in [E1000, VmxNet2, VmxNet3]. I Googled this message and found nothing. Great, well […]

The post Issue deploying CSR on ESXi vSphere 6.5 appeared first on Overlaid.

Managing Your Time When You Have Too Many Things You Want To Do

A friend of mine asked me the following.

“How did you manage your time and schedule for 5 years with everything you wanted and needed to do?”

Here’s the context for that question. For about 5 years, I had a full-time job as a global network engineer for an e-learning company. Later, I transitioned to a similar role for a medical startup, again full-time. At the same time I was employed in those roles, I was blogging and podcasting as the Packet Pushers community grew.

As Packet Pushers ramped up, it turned into a second full-time job, a state I maintained until I was able to transition to working for myself exclusively.

Managing time and schedule.

Let’s get into the meat. How did I manage my schedule with ever so much to do?

First off, I had understanding employers that let me blog and podcast during traditional work hours, as long as it did not interfere with my regular work duties. I was always upfront about this. I never snuck off during the day to work on my side business. My boss always knew exactly what was up.

This translated roughly to flexible hours. There was also the understanding that I was always Continue reading

Just for fun: Program Commodore 64 games for Windows 10 PCs

You don't need to go searching for a Commodore 64 on Ebay to relive the vintage PC's glory days.Avid gamer Petri Wilhelmsen is providing a way to write and run C64 programs on Windows PCs for tech-savvy gamers who want to go old-school.Wilhelmsen has put up a primer on Github for coding Commodore 64 applications for Windows PCs. Wilhelmsen holds a day job as a senior program manager for gaming at Microsoft.The guide provides basic instructions on how to put a game together by writing applications, creating graphics and compiling music.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Containers are growing up

Microsoft made a splash in the application container market this week with its purchase of Deis, a company that helps customers manage clusters of containers.The move is significant for a number of reasons. First of all, it shows Microsoft’s commitment to supporting Linux containers and specifically its willingness to invest in making it easier for customers of its Azure cloud platform to use containers at scale. Microsoft is also seemingly giving customers multiple options in how they can use and manage containers in the Azure cloud. Choice for end users is always a good thing.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Researchers developing autonomous robot surveillance

Oh, now this is peachy. Thanks to a four-year, $1.7 million grant from the U.S. Office of Naval Research, Cornell University researchers plan to develop a robot surveillance system that would involve robots sharing “information as they move around, and if necessary, interpret what they see. This would allow the robots to conduct surveillance as a single entity with many eyes.” This would be done allegedly to “protect you from danger.”According to the robot surveillance project paper "Convolutional-Features Analysis and Control for Mobile Visual Scene Perception,” researchers want to develop a surveillance method that could do more than any surveillance to date, as it would “operate autonomously and robustly under unknown, and possibly disconnected, topologies.”To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Researchers developing autonomous robot surveillance

Oh, now this is peachy. Thanks to a four-year, $1.7 million grant from the U.S. Office of Naval Research, Cornell University researchers plan to develop a robot surveillance system that would involve robots sharing “information as they move around, and if necessary, interpret what they see. This would allow the robots to conduct surveillance as a single entity with many eyes.” This would be done allegedly to “protect you from danger.”According to the robot surveillance project paper "Convolutional-Features Analysis and Control for Mobile Visual Scene Perception,” researchers want to develop a surveillance method that could do more than any surveillance to date, as it would “operate autonomously and robustly under unknown, and possibly disconnected, topologies.”To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

33% off Corsair Gaming M65 Pro RGB FPS Gaming Mouse – Deal Alert

The M65 PRO RGB is a competition-grade FPS gaming mouse with the technology you need to win, the flexibility to make it your own, and the build quality to last. The high-accuracy 12000 DPI sensor provides pixel-precise tracking and advanced surface calibration support, and the aircraft-grade aluminum frame gives it low weight and high durability. Use the advanced weight tuning system to set the center of gravity to match your play style, and harness the power of CUE for advanced button configuration, macro programming, and three-zone RGB backlighting customization. The gaming mouse averages 4.5 out of 5 stars from over 520 people on Amazon (read reviews), where its typical list price of $59.99 has been reduced 33% to $39.99. See this deal on Amazon.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Microsoft’s new software tool helps enterprises evaluate cloud move

IT professionals who want help getting a handle on a potential cloud migration have a new tool from Microsoft. The company is offering a Cloud Migration Assessment service that walks customers through an evaluation of the resources they currently use, in order to determine what a move to the cloud would cost.Microsoft’s cost calculation is driven in part by the Azure Hybrid Use Benefit , which lets customers apply their existing Windows Server licenses with Software Assurance to virtual machines running in Microsoft’s cloud. That means customers only have to pay the base price for the compute resources they use.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

17% off UBTECH Jimu Robot DIY Buzzbot/Muttbot Robotics Kit – Deal Alert

Build and program your own robot. The Jimu Robot BuzzBot & MuttBot Kit is a do it yourself, robotics building kit with Bluetooth. The BuzzBot & MuttBot Kit includes a central control unit, six digital servo motors that allow movement, wiring, a rechargeable lithium battery and power adapter, 249 interlocking parts with easy snap-in design and quick links to the Jimu App that shows you how to build and program easily. The Jimu App gives you step-by-step building instructions with 360 degree pan, tilt, and zoom capability. The models provided in the App will help you learn how to build all the robots, from beginner to advanced robots. There are pre-programmed actions for you to choose from, manipulate, and make uniquely your own. The App works with both iOS and Android devices. The digital servo motors allow the robot to perform amazing movements from the menu of pre-programmed actions or new actions you create and save with the action capture function in the app. The kit's typical list price of $149.99 has been reduced 17% to $124.99. See the deal now on Amazon.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here