Amazon bestows free Prime memberships on townspeople who need them not at all

Free is free and it’s probable that even the well-to-do of Manchester-by-the-Sea, Mass., would rather have a free year’s worth of Amazon Prime – retail: $99 per year – than not have a free year’s worth of Amazon Prime.But it would be difficult to find a less needy population for such a gift.Nevertheless, Amazon announced today that it is bestowing the free year – plus some free popcorn – upon the town to mark the streaming release on Prime of the Oscar-winning movie, yes, you guessed it, “Manchester-by-the-Sea.”From a press release:“Oscar winning ‘Manchester by the Sea’ is coming to Prime Video on May 5, and we wanted customers in the town to enjoy popcorn and a movie on us,” said Greg Hart, Vice President of Amazon Video, worldwide. “Manchester by the Sea is a masterpiece representing the best of cinematic storytelling. In other words, it is wicked awesome.”To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Trump seeks to upgrade US government IT services

President Donald Trump is launching a special council to upgrade the U.S. government’s IT services at a time when some systems more than 50 years old. Americans deserve better digital services from their government,” the"Americans deserve better digital services from their government," said an executive order from Trump, released on Monday.The order seeks to "promote the secure, efficient and economical use" of IT. As part of that goal, Trump is establishing the American Technology Council, which he will chair.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Trump seeks to upgrade US government IT services

President Donald Trump is launching a special council to upgrade the U.S. government’s IT services at a time when some systems more than 50 years old. Americans deserve better digital services from their government,” the"Americans deserve better digital services from their government," said an executive order from Trump, released on Monday.The order seeks to "promote the secure, efficient and economical use" of IT. As part of that goal, Trump is establishing the American Technology Council, which he will chair.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Class of 2017 may be in for a rude awakening

The Class of 2017 graduates in just a few weeks and will enter the IT job market, but they may be in for a rude awakening, as new iCIMS research reports that their skills and education aren't aligning with what recruiters and hiring managers are looking for in entry-level talent.The research, the Class of 2017 Job Outlook Report, which polled 401 U.S. college seniors and 401 recruiting professionals between March 6 and 17, 2017, reveals that while 91 percent of college seniors polled think they have the skills necessary to land the job they want, a whopping 98 percent of recruiters receive resumes from unqualified applicants.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Report: Bad policies and practices put data at risk [Infographic]

Almost every company has data stored in its systems that is overexposed and at risk. That’s the finding of the recently released 2017 Varonis Data Risk Report. The report is based on assessments that Varonis conducts for its customers and prospects to determine which data is at risk. The report data is aggregated and anonymized.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)

Report: Bad policies and practices put data at risk [Infographic]

Almost every company has data stored in its systems that is overexposed and at risk. That’s the finding of the recently released 2017 Varonis Data Risk Report. The report is based on assessments that Varonis conducts for its customers and prospects to determine which data is at risk. The report data is aggregated and anonymized. download 2017 Varonis Data Risk Report Highlights Varonis What this year’s report revealed is that much of the risk is due to bad policy or failure to follow an established policy. For example, files were accessible to people who should not have access, complex permissions rules negatively impacted enforceability, and some companies fail to properly audit data for risk. The report also found that these risks were consistent across geographies and industries.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)

The NSX Mindset

NSX Mindset The NSX Mindset: one’s mental capability to be a determined leader and catalyst for change in the way a company designs, implements, manages, and operates networking and security.

The NSX Mindset

The NSX Mindset: one’s mental capability to be a determined leader and catalyst for change in the way a company designs, implements, manages, and operates networking and security.

Change isn’t easy.  Especially when it involves something personal.  Unfortunately, though, it happens whether we like it or not.  In the world of information technology change is upon us.  IT Automation, micro-segmentation, application availability, and cross cloud services are no longer buzz words in marketing materials and executive meetings.  These are realities designed and deployed in some of the world’s largest IT environments.  The common thread among these concepts is the new capabilities in networking and security brought to life by VMware NSX.

VMware NSX is a platform for the next generation data center architecture.  The capabilities are transforming the way enterprises approach traditional business problems and it is solving new business problems brought about by a company’s digital transformation.

As an IT professional your long term success hinges on your ability to adapt to new technologies and solutions.  While VMware NSX is disruptive to the status quo, it is at the same time an opportunity for admins, engineers, and architects to become leaders Continue reading

20% off Site-Wide At Griffin.com With Code, For Mother’s Day – Deal Alert

Protect, power and connect Mom's tech with products from Griffin. Get 20% off anything you find at Griffin.com with this Mom's day code applied at checkout: LUVURMOM. This site-wide Mother's Day promotion runs for a limited time and is good for Griffin tech products in categories such as (click a category to see more) Cases, Power, Cables, In-car, Wearables Accessories, Stands & Mounts, Audio, Stylus & Keyboards, Toys, and more. Visit Griffin and get your shopping done now while there's still time. Don't forget the code LUVURMOM should be applied at checkout for 20% off your order.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

The AdStage Migration from Heroku to AWS

This is a guest repost by G Gordon Worley III, Head of Site Reliability Engineering at AdStage.

When I joined AdStage in the Fall of 2013 we were already running on Heroku. It was the obvious choice: super easy to get started with, less expensive than full-sized virtual servers, and flexible enough to grow with our business. And grow we did. Heroku let us focus exclusively on building a compelling product without the distraction of managing infrastructure, so by late 2015 we were running thousands of dynos (containers) simultaneously to keep up with our customers.

We needed all those dynos because, on the backend, we look a lot like Segment, and like them many of our costs scale linearly with the number of users. At $25/dyno/month, our growth projections put us breaking $1 million in annual infrastructure expenses by mid-2016 when factored in with other technical costs, and that made up such a large proportion of COGS that it would take years to reach profitability. The situation was, to be frank, unsustainable. The engineering team met to discuss our options, and some quick calculations showed us we were paying more than $10,000 a month for the convenience of Continue reading

The differences among the white, grey, and black hats

The infographic below provides good, entertaining definitions of the terms white hat, grey hat and black hat hackers courtesy of Exigent Networks. As the infographic explains, there are some, well, grey areas between categories—for example, there is sometimes a fine line between grey hats and black hats.Some might also disagree with the choices of white hat hacker examples. The telecom industry, for example, might consider Steve Wozniak’s early hacking exploits theft of services rather than hacking for the greater good. And Julian Assange’s qualifications will be tinted by whatever political lens through which an individual judges his actions.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)

The differences among the white, grey, and black hats

The infographic below provides good, entertaining definitions of the terms white hat, grey hat and black hat hackers courtesy of Exigent Networks. As the infographic explains, there are some, well, grey areas between categories—for example, there is sometimes a fine line between grey hats and black hats.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)