A New Year’s Resolution for your Intranet: Do an IA Health Check!

I spent a lot of time in 2016 working on more information architecture (IA) projects than usual – from designing comprehensive information architectures as part of intranet migrations or upgrades to small IA usability engagements and everything in between. Here are six key lessons that I learned that can form the basis of your new year’s resolution to give your intranet IA a health check.The Information Architecture for your intranet provides the strategy and plan for information access. It informs how users will navigate through the solution and how information managed by the solution will be organized. A good intranet information architecture is 100% focused on the people who need to process, find, and interact with the content. We mostly think of IA as supporting the “browse” experience. But, given the fact that search depends on metadata, which is part of your IA, a good IA is also supports search. If you get it right, your information architecture will help users find content in three critical content-finding scenarios:To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Looking Back, Looking Forward

On this, the first “real” post of 2017, I thought it would be useful to reflect on the year that has passed, and consider the year that is coming. First off, 2016 in numbers—

  • Read 58 Books (15333 pages)
  • 115,739 blog visits (according to WordPress)
  • Wrote 110,000 words for blogs, technical papers, etc.
  • Wrote 25,000 words for PhD seminars, etc.
  • Created 850 slides
  • Recorded 14 hours of videos/webinars

These are all conservative numbers for the most part… I’ve not included journal and blog reading, nor have I tried to accurately count my writing output, as I often find it more frustrating than worthwhile. In the coming year, I plan to finish a book with Pearson, record at least one more video series (potentially more), and continue apace with blogging and other writing.

In 2016, I think we started to see the future of the networking market actually take shape. There seem to be three prongs developing; either companies will move their processing to the cloud, they will move to more hyperconverged/vertical solutions (essentially outsourcing design and architecture to vendors and consulting firms), or move to disaggregation. The day of the router as an appliance is done; we are moving to Continue reading

Donald Trump offers cybersecurity warning: ‘No computer is safe’

Donald Trump showed off his IT security credentials at a New Year's Eve party, suggesting that the best way to keep secrets from hackers is a huge air gap."No computer is safe," he told journalists gathered at his Mar-A-Lago resort in Florida, a warning many computer security professionals would probably endorse.Trump also shared his advice on managing data security risks. Forget switching to TLS or quantum key exchange: "If you have something really important, write it out and have it delivered by courier," he said, according to a report from Associated Press.Trump's suggestion -- echoing his July 29 infosec advice for military commanders -- would put the biggest of airgaps around secret communications, ensuring that they could not be hacked into from afar. If he were to apply it to government communications, though, it would leave officials needing a veritable army of trustworthy little hands to carry messages.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Donald Trump offers cybersecurity warning: ‘No computer is safe’

Donald Trump showed off his IT security credentials at a New Year's Eve party, suggesting that the best way to keep secrets from hackers is a huge air gap."No computer is safe," he told journalists gathered at his Mar-A-Lago resort in Florida, a warning many computer security professionals would probably endorse.Trump also shared his advice on managing data security risks. Forget switching to TLS or quantum key exchange: "If you have something really important, write it out and have it delivered by courier," he said, according to a report from Associated Press.Trump's suggestion -- echoing his July 29 infosec advice for military commanders -- would put the biggest of airgaps around secret communications, ensuring that they could not be hacked into from afar. If he were to apply it to government communications, though, it would leave officials needing a veritable army of trustworthy little hands to carry messages.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Efficient storage: how we went down from 50 PB to 32 PB

As the Russian rouble exchange rate slumped two years ago, it drove us to think of cutting hardware and hosting costs for the Mail.Ru email service. To find ways of saving money, let’s first take a look at what emails consist of.

Indexes and bodies account for only 15% of the storage size, whereas 85% is taken up by files. So, files (that is attachments) are worth exploring in more detail in terms of optimization. At that time, we didn’t have file deduplication in place, but we estimated that it could shrink the total storage size by 36% since many users receive the same messages, such as price lists from online stores or newsletters from social networks containing images and so on. In this article, I’m going to describe how we implemented a deduplication system under the supervision of Albert Galimov.

Worth Reading: Getting started with coding

If you work with computers in any aspect of your life, being able to code can be a very powerful tool. All too often however, I hear people say things like “it’s too difficult” or “I’m not a developer” and they never take more than their first few steps. This post, the first in a series on getting started with coding, addresses both the fears of taking your first steps and the benefits of starting that journey. The remaining posts then give you all the help you need to overcome those perceived obstacles and have some fun along the way. —vegaskid

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50% off Bose SoundTrue around-ear headphones II – Deal Alert

Bose Sound True around-ear headphones II were engineered with advanced Bose technologies. They feature exclusive TriPort technology so your music sounds deep, clear and full of life. They don't just look good, they feel good, too. The headphones feature a softly padded headband that distributes weight evenly across your head, and memory foam creates a gentle cushion around your ears. So they stay light and comfortable--no matter how long your playlist is. The fold-flat ear cups and matching carrying case make them easy to put away anytime and take with you anywhere. The inline microphone and remote let you switch easily to calls on your iPhone, and provide control for select iPod, iPhone and iPad models. Included: Sound True around-ear headphones; inline remote and microphone cable (66"); carrying case.  The Bose SoundTrue headphones receive 4 out of 5 stars from over 700 customers (read reviews). Right now its list price has been reduced by 50% to just $90. See it now on Amazon.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Cops to increasingly use digital footprints from IoT devices for investigations

If Mark Stokes, Scotland Yard’s head of digital, cyber and communications forensics unit, is correct, then IoT devices will play an increasingly important role in crime scene investigations. “The crime scene of tomorrow is going to be the internet of things,” Stokes told the Times.The police are being trained to look for “digital footprints” – IoT gadgets that “track or record activities” which might prove or disprove alibis and witness statements as well as record what occurred during a murder victim’s final moments.Cops will be relying on evidence from smart devices which spy on you – such as internet connected refrigerators, light bulbs, washing machines, vacuum cleaners, coffee makers and voice-controlled robotic assistants.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Cops to increasingly use digital footprints from IoT devices for investigations

If Mark Stokes, Scotland Yard’s head of digital, cyber and communications forensics unit, is correct, then IoT devices will play an increasingly important role in crime scene investigations. “The crime scene of tomorrow is going to be the internet of things,” Stokes told the Times.The police are being trained to look for “digital footprints” – IoT gadgets that “track or record activities” which might prove or disprove alibis and witness statements as well as record what occurred during a murder victim’s final moments.Cops will be relying on evidence from smart devices which spy on you – such as internet connected refrigerators, light bulbs, washing machines, vacuum cleaners, coffee makers and voice-controlled robotic assistants.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Hands on: Dell twists the XPS 13 into a 2-in-1

Dell has just improved its already brilliant XPS 13 -- it will now be available as a 2-in-1, which means the device has the versatility to be a laptop or a tablet. I had the chance to play around with the device prior to CES. It has a clever design and wowed me with its sleek design and edge-to-edge screen, but it won't come cheap. The starting price of the XPS 13 2-in-1 is US$999, and it'll start shipping this month. That's about $200 more than the starting price of the XPS laptop. You are paying more for the versatility of the XPS 13 2-in-1. On the outside, the XPS 13 2-in-1 looks like the XPS 13 laptop, but Dell has changed the hinge connecting the keyboard base and screen. The screen can be rotated 360 degrees to turn the device into a tablet.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Face-off: Oracle vs. HPE for data warehousing

IT buyers seeking a data warehouse often compare Oracle's Exadata system with Hewlett Packard Enterprise's Vertica system, according to IT Central Station, an online community where IT managers review enterprise products. And both systems have their fans.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)

How to hang on to Windows 7 for the long run

If Windows 7 represents peak Windows for you, you’re not alone. Twice as many people use Win7 as use Win10, even after 18 months of Microsoft pressure to get you to give up Win7 and jump to the shiny new version as your operating system of choice.Your reasons for staying with Win7 may range from mere convenience to mental inertia to an abject fear of the Win10 info borg. Whatever your reasons for remaining with Win7, there are steps you can take right now to ensure Win7 keeps working -- at least until Microsoft pulls the plug on security patches, on Jan. 14, 2020. (Yep, that’s a Patch Tuesday.)[ Give yourself a technology career advantage with InfoWorld's Deep Dive technology reports and Computerworld's career trends reports. GET A 15% DISCOUNT through Jan.15, 2017: Use code 8TIISZ4Z. | The essentials for Windows 10 installation: Download the Windows 10 Installation Superguide today. | Stay up on key Microsoft technologies with the Windows Report newsletter. ] The key, as you might expect, is to stow away a solid “ground zero” full backup. From that point, you should patch judiciously, use incremental backups scrupulously, and tend to the maintenance jobs Continue reading

How to handle business continuity in a crisis

Keeping the lights onImage by ThinkstockMost businesses are critically reliant upon their IT systems. If these systems go down due to a natural disaster, temporary power outage, loss of data center, ransomware or hacker attack, lost or corrupted files, or an application failure due to a software virus, the results can inflict significant financial harm. In the worst case, the business will be unable to continue functioning.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

How to handle business continuity in a crisis

Keeping the lights onImage by ThinkstockMost businesses are critically reliant upon their IT systems. If these systems go down due to a natural disaster, temporary power outage, loss of data center, ransomware or hacker attack, lost or corrupted files, or an application failure due to a software virus, the results can inflict significant financial harm. In the worst case, the business will be unable to continue functioning.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Why employees don’t use collaboration tools

Slack exploded onto the scene three years ago, and since then just about everyone from industry giants like Facebook to small groups of open source developers have been getting in on the team collaboration software act.Today the pace of collaboration software development and innovation is frenetic, and according to research by G2 Crowd, a peer-to-peer business review platform, the boom in corporate adoption shows no sign of slowing down in the near future. It found that more than half of all companies have already implemented team collaboration solutions of one kind or another, and 31 percent plan to adopt one in the next two years.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Yang Explorer in a Docker container

I would like to see a day come true where all major vendors’ boxes (even small & cheap ones) will be 100% covered by YANG models. Can’t say I believe that it is possible for IETF to standard all the things in vendors domain, but we will manage as long as vendors will stick to standard
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