Issa bill would kill a big H-1B loophole

In 1998, Congress raised the H-1B cap and then set some controversial H-1B visa rules. It prohibited the largest users of H-1B visa -- firms employing 15% or more visa workers -- from displacing U.S. workers. They also are required to make a "good faith" effort to recruit a U.S. worker for a position. Congress then inserted a massive loophole. U.S. workers can be displaced by H-1B-dependent employers -- such as IT outsourcing firms -- provided the visa holder has a master's degree or the company pays visa workers at least $60,000. This salary level has not changed in 18 years. Rep. Darrell Issa, (R-Calif.)To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IDG Contributor Network: How new ad hoc networks will organize

Ants figure out details related to the size of their colonies by bumping into fellow ants while they randomly explore. But the ants don’t have to traverse the entire colony to know how many fellow ants they’re living with. The insects can figure it out through the number of nearby encounters they have.Ad hoc wireless networks could use the same technique, say scientists from MIT. Just like ants learning about population densities help the creatures decide communally whether they need to build a new nest or not, the same could be true for sensors strewn around IoT environments.+ Also on Network World: Using IoT-enabled microscopes to fight epidemic outbreaks +To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IDG Contributor Network: How new ad hoc networks will organize

Ants figure out details related to the size of their colonies by bumping into fellow ants while they randomly explore. But the ants don’t have to traverse the entire colony to know how many fellow ants they’re living with. The insects can figure it out through the number of nearby encounters they have.Ad hoc wireless networks could use the same technique, say scientists from MIT. Just like ants learning about population densities help the creatures decide communally whether they need to build a new nest or not, the same could be true for sensors strewn around IoT environments.+ Also on Network World: Using IoT-enabled microscopes to fight epidemic outbreaks +To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Researchers release free decryption tools for PowerWare and Bart ransomware

Security researchers have released tools this week that could help users recover files encrypted by two relatively new ransomware threats: Bart and PowerWare.PowerWare, also known as PoshCoder, was first spotted in March, when it was used in attacks against healthcare organizations. It stood out because it was implemented in Windows PowerShell, a scripting environment designed for automating system and application administration tasks.Researchers from security firm Palo Alto Networks have recently found a new version of this threat that imitates a sophisticated and widespread ransomware program called Locky. It uses the extension .locky for encrypted files and also displays the same ransom note used by the real Locky ransomware.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Researchers release free decryption tools for PowerWare and Bart ransomware

Security researchers have released tools this week that could help users recover files encrypted by two relatively new ransomware threats: Bart and PowerWare.PowerWare, also known as PoshCoder, was first spotted in March, when it was used in attacks against healthcare organizations. It stood out because it was implemented in Windows PowerShell, a scripting environment designed for automating system and application administration tasks.Researchers from security firm Palo Alto Networks have recently found a new version of this threat that imitates a sophisticated and widespread ransomware program called Locky. It uses the extension .locky for encrypted files and also displays the same ransom note used by the real Locky ransomware.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Pokémon Go launches in Japan with McDonald’s as first sponsor

Pokémon Go has launched in Japan with a new revenue stream -- corporate sponsorship from McDonald’s.The free-to-download augmented reality smartphone game already earns money from in-game purchases.“Trainers in Japan, thank you for being patient. Pokémon GO is now available to download in Japan!,” the Pokémon Go Twitter account wrote on Friday.The game developed by Niantic, in which Google, Nintendo and the Pokémon Company are investors, has been a runaway success in many countries including the U.S., but its launch in its home-turf Japan was delayed reportedly amid worries that huge local demand could find the game servers wanting. Server problems have been frequently reported as the game was offered in more countries and more users got on to the game.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

My Raspeberry Pi cluster

So I accidentally ordered too many Raspberry Pi's. Therefore, I built a small cluster out of them. I thought I'd write up a parts list for others wanting to build a cluster.

To start with is some pics of the cluster What you see is a stack of 7 RPis. At the bottom of the stack is a USB multiport charger and also an Ethernet hub. You see USB cables coming out of the charger to power the RPis, and out the other side you see Ethernet cables connecting the RPis to a network. I've including the mouse and keyboard in the picture to give you a sense of perspective.


Here is the same stack turn around, seeing it from the other side. Out the bottom left you see three external cables, one Ethernet to my main network and power cables for the USB charger and Ethernet hub. You can see that the USB hub is nicely tied down to the frame, but that the Ethernet hub is just sort jammed in there somehow.




The concept is to get things as cheap as possible, on per unit basis. Otherwise, one might as well just buy more expensive computers. My parts Continue reading

Salesforce to acquire data center optimization startup Coolan

Salesforce.com has signed a definite agreement to acquire Coolan, the developer of a platform for data center hardware analysis and optimization.The acquisition appears to be designed to help Salesforce boost its own infrastructure for its customer relationship management software.“Once the transaction has closed, the Coolan team will help Salesforce optimize its infrastructure as it scales to support customer growth around the world,” Amir Michael, Coolan’s cofounder and CEO wrote in a blog post on Thursday.A Salesforce spokeswoman confirmed the acquisition. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Technology Short Take #69

Welcome to Technology Short Take #69! In this post, I’ve collected a variety of links related to major data center technology areas. This episode is a bit long; sorry about that!

Networking

  • Lindsay Hill recently noted that he’s been working to add support to netmiko for the Brocade ICX and MLXe, and is looking into support for VDX. Netmiko, if you haven’t heard, is a fantastic Python library that’s really useful when writing Python-based network automation scripts.
  • I mentioned a while back that I was taking a deeper look at MPLS (to which my colleague Bruce Davie—one of the creators of MPLS—jokingly quipped, “Why are you looking at legacy tech?”). Honestly, I haven’t had a great deal of time to make much progress, but I did come across this article by Sudeep Goyal which helped reinforce some of the basics I already knew. It may prove useful to others who are also seeking to improve their knowledge of MPLS.
  • Peter Phaal has been writing some really interesting stuff (interesting to me, at least). First up, there’s a great article on using IPVLAN with Docker and Cumulus Linux (with a tie back to sFlow, naturally!). I’m really eager to Continue reading

Datacenters, Poised To Spend, Take A Breather From Intel

Would you rather have tens of thousands of customers who collectively spend a lot of money but their spending rises and falls with the gross domestic product, or a couple of dozen customers who spend almost as much on your product but who do so with massive checks that are not always predictable?

For Intel, this question is moot because it has both kinds of customers, and sometimes they both take a slight pause at exactly the same time. This is precisely what happened for Intel’s Data Center Group in the second quarter of 2016, as revenue growth slowed as …

Datacenters, Poised To Spend, Take A Breather From Intel was written by Timothy Prickett Morgan at The Next Platform.

At Black Hat: A free tool for spear phishing Twitter

A spear phishing tool to automate the creation of phony tweets - complete with malicious URLs – with messages victims are likely to click on will be released at Black Hat by researchers from ZeroFOX. Called SNAP_R (for social network automated phisher with reconnaissance), the tool runs through a target Twitter account to gather data on what topics seem to interest the subscriber. Then it writes a tweet loaded up with a link to a site containing malware and sends it. More on Network World: FBI needs to beef-up high-tech cyber threat evaluations says DoJ Inspector General+To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

At Black Hat: A free tool for spear phishing Twitter

A spear phishing tool to automate the creation of phony tweets - complete with malicious URLs – with messages victims are likely to click on will be released at Black Hat by researchers from ZeroFOX. Called SNAP_R (for social network automated phisher with reconnaissance), the tool runs through a target Twitter account to gather data on what topics seem to interest the subscriber. Then it writes a tweet loaded up with a link to a site containing malware and sends it. More on Network World: FBI needs to beef-up high-tech cyber threat evaluations says DoJ Inspector General+To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Tesla wants to end fossil fuel use, make self-driving cars 10X safer

Tesla CEO Elon Musk today posted the second phase of his company's master plan for the future, which includes integrating rooftop solar power with battery storage, expanding auto sales to all markets and making self-driving cars 10 time safer than those driven by humans.The new phase of the company's vision comes a decade after his first, which outlined creation of a low-volume vehicle that would "necessarily" be expensive in order to fund future "affordable" vehicles and to provide solar power.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Facebook takes a step forward with its Net-connectivity plane

Facebook is one step closer to bringing Internet connectivity to remote, underserved areas of the world. The company’s Connectivity Lab completed the first full test of Aquila, a high-altitude, solar-powered, unmanned aircraft that would beam Internet connectivity down to Earth using laser technology. The aircraft would circle an area up to 60 miles in diameter while flying at 60,000 feet. Flying for as long as three months, the energy-efficient aircraft is built to use only 5,000 watts — the same amount as three hair dryers, or a high-end microwave – when at cruising speed. “We’ve been flying a one-fifth scale version of Aquila for several months, but this was the first time we’ve flown the full-scale aircraft,” wrote Jay Parikh, Global Head of Engineering and Infrastructure at Facebook, in a blog post. “To prove out the full capacity of the design, we will push Aquila to the limits in a lengthy series of tests in the coming months and years.”To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

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