iPhone laser dongle makes measuring a snap

iPhone dongles can do everything from high-speed data transfers to testing for HIV.At Computex 2015 in Taipei this week, a local manufacturer is showing off a laser pointer for the Apple phone that can precisely measure short distances.The iPin Laser Ruler is a thumbnail-sized dongle that fits in the iPhone’s audio jack. It houses a class 2 laser pointer that shines a dot of a light on a nearby object, such as a wall or piece of furniture. An app on the phone uses the camera to focus on the dot to determine the distance.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Jesse Jackson wants Google to invest in startups led by Blacks, Latinos

Civil rights leader Rev. Jesse Jackson asked Google to make an amendment to its governance byelaws to make a search for women and people of color a must before filling board positions, as part of his push to get higher representation for women and certain ethnic groups in tech companies.Addressing a Google shareholder meeting Wednesday, Jackson also asked the Internet giant if it would invest in early-stage Black and Latino-led tech startups.“Google reportedly has over $35 billion parked overseas,” Jackson said. “Would you consider repatriating some of this offshore money back to America to fund an Innovation Investment Development Bank? And in return, receive tax credits or a reduced tax rate on foreign profits?”To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Dish Network, T-Mobile US reportedly in merger talks

Satellite TV service provider Dish Network and wireless carrier T-Mobile US are reportedly in talks for a merger, which could be the latest in a wave of consolidation in the media and communications industry.The two sides are said to have agreed that Dish CEO Charlie Ergen, will become the chairman of the merged entity, while T-Mobile CEO John Legere will be appointed as the CEO of the combined companies, The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.The talks were described to the newspaper as in “the formative stage,” with no guarantee that a deal will be finally done. Key issues such as the purchase price and the mix of cash and stock that would be used to pay for the deal are still unresolved, people familiar with the matter told the newspaper.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Dish Network, T-Mobile US reportedly in merger talks

Satellite TV service provider Dish Network and wireless carrier T-Mobile US are reportedly in talks for a merger, which could be the latest in a wave of consolidation in the media and communications industry.The two sides are said to have agreed that Dish CEO Charlie Ergen, will become the chairman of the merged entity, while T-Mobile CEO John Legere will be appointed as the CEO of the combined companies, The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.The talks were described to the newspaper as in “the formative stage,” with no guarantee that a deal will be finally done. Key issues such as the purchase price and the mix of cash and stock that would be used to pay for the deal are still unresolved, people familiar with the matter told the newspaper.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Uber CEO admits company is not perfect

Uber has made enemies in the five years its cars have been on the road. Safety concerns have sparked lawsuits from regulators, its data collection practices have landed it in hot water, and CEO Travis Kalanick cant seem to shake his spoiled brat image.Hes aware of that. I can come off as a fierce advocate for Uber. I also realize that some have used a different A-word to describe me, he said on Wednesday.Im not perfect, and neither is this company, he said during an event at Ubers headquarters in San Francisco to commemorate the fifth anniversary of its launch in that city.During a talk attended by employees of the company and Uber investors, Kalanick painted an idealized picture of the company not so much as a mobile app service, but as a benevolent force for society.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Uber CEO admits company is not perfect

Uber has made enemies in the five years its cars have been on the road. Safety concerns have sparked lawsuits from regulators, its data collection practices have landed it in hot water, and CEO Travis Kalanick can't seem to shake his spoiled brat image.He's aware of that. "I can come off as a fierce advocate for Uber. I also realize that some have used a different A-word to describe me," he said on Wednesday."I'm not perfect, and neither is this company," he said during an event at Uber's headquarters in San Francisco to commemorate the fifth anniversary of its launch in that city.During a talk attended by employees of the company and Uber investors, Kalanick painted an idealized picture of the company not so much as a mobile app service, but as a benevolent force for society.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

AWS customers want more information on its renewable energy plans

Amazon Web Services customers have sent a letter to the cloud services provider requesting that it disclose more information about its sustainability practices.The 19 companies, including Tumblr, Change.org and the Huffington Post, said they want to convey the information to their users, customers, employees and other stakeholders.While lauding Amazon’s commitment to get its entire cloud operation running on renewable energy, the companies wrote to AWS chief Andy Jassy last week that they want to see Amazon disclose more about its current carbon and energy footprint, its progress towards renewable energy goals, and its strategy for increasing its use of renewable energy. The letter also requests that Amazon share how it defines renewable energy and what energy sources the company will prefer going forward.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

The HP split by the numbers: 2,800 apps and 75,000 APIs

Hewlett-Packard has given a glimpse of what the company’s separation looks like from an internal IT perspective, and not surprisingly, there are some big numbers involved.The ongoing task involves dividing up or retooling 2,800 applications and 75,000 APIs (application programming interfaces) before the company becomes Hewlett-Packard Enterprise and HP Inc. on Nov. 1.Before the transformation began, HP had 50,000 servers in six data centers. Five thousand IT staff are working on the transition at any given time, said John Hinshaw, head of HP technology and operations, at the HP Discover conference Wednesday.HP has been preparing for the split since it was announced last October. The work is 80 percent complete, according to Hinshaw, and HP will actually start to operate as two companies on Aug. 1, he said.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Enterprise IP Routing Best Practices

What motivated me to write this post is a state of the IP routing of some of the enterprise networks I’ve seen. A quick show ip route command reveals a non-disentanglable mixture of dynamic and static route with multiple points of redistribution and complex, rigid filtering rules, something you’d only see in your bad dream or a CCIE-level lab. It certainly takes a good engineer to understand how it works and even that can take up to several hours. I think the reason for that is that people have generally been concentrated on learning about the routing protocol, how it works, all the knobs you can twist to influence a routing decision logic. However, one thing often overlooked is the routing protocols best practice design, i.e. when and how to use a particular protocol. And since the latter is often an acquired skill, a lot of not-so-lucky engineers end up with wrong ideas and concepts in the heads. Below I’ll try to list what I{:.underline} consider a best practice design of today’s enterprise networks.

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Enterprise IP Routing Best Practices

What motivated me to write this post is a state of the IP routing of some of the enterprise networks I’ve seen. A quick show ip route command reveals a non-disentanglable mixture of dynamic and static route with multiple points of redistribution and complex, rigid filtering rules, something you’d only see in your bad dream or a CCIE-level lab. It certainly takes a good engineer to understand how it works and even that can take up to several hours. I think the reason for that is that people have generally been concentrated on learning about the routing protocol, how it works, all the knobs you can twist to influence a routing decision logic. However, one thing often overlooked is the routing protocols best practice design, i.e. when and how to use a particular protocol. And since the latter is often an acquired skill, a lot of not-so-lucky engineers end up with wrong ideas and concepts in the heads. Below I’ll try to list what I{:.underline} consider a best practice design of today’s enterprise networks.

Continue reading

What apps sell or steal your data or take over your phone? PrivacyHawk can tell you

Did you know "the U.S. accounts for more than 42% of the world's most dangerous mobile apps targeting non-jailbroken and non-rooted devices? These apps aren't found on shady third-party stores—they're found right in the trusted Apple App Store and Google Play—putting the everyday consumer at higher risk for privacy violation than they likely realize." That's just one nugget from Marble Security's threat stats after the firm's analysts, cryptographers, and cybercrime specialists analyzed over 3.5 million iOS and Android apps from more than 650,000 publishers. They scored each app "against 1,000 potentially malicious and privacy-leaking behaviors to determine whether it is risky or safe."To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Prototype of HP’s futuristic ‘Machine’ coming next year

A prototype of Hewlett-Packard’s futuristic Machine computer will be ready for partners to develop software on by next year, though the finished product is still half a decade away.The single-rack prototype will have 2,500 CPU cores and an impressive 320TB of main memory, CTO and HP Labs Director Martin Fink told reporters at the HP Discover conference Wednesday. This is more than 20 times the amount of any server on the market today, he claimed.But there’s a catch: the prototype will use current DRAM memory chips, because the advanced memristor technology that HP eventually plans to use is still under development—one of the big reasons The Machine remains several years away.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

My CLUS 2015 Schedule

I’m lucky enough to be heading to Cisco Live in San Diego this year to host customers from my area. When I’m not with a customer during the day I plan on attending these sessions:

Monday

  • Coding 101: How to Call REST APIs from a REST Client and Python
  • IoT Solutions – Connecting Oil and Gas Pipelines
  • An IoT Security Model & Architecture for Securing Cyber-Physical and IT-OT Converged Assets
  • Keynote

Tuesday

  • APIC-EM: Controller Workload and Use Cases
  • Designing for the Secure Convergence of Enterprise and Process Control Networks
  • Emerging Threats – The State of Cyber Security

Wednesday

  • IWAN Customer Case Study
  • Industrial Keynote – IoE and the IT Mindset Shift – The Evolution of the IT Career
  • Ethernet Evolving – Ethernet at New Speeds, Deterministic Networking, and Power over Everything!
  • Advanced Malware Protection

Thursday

  • Snort Implementation in Cisco Products
  • Cloud Consumption in North America
  • No Lights, No Power, No Service? – Defending IoT
  • Closing Keynote

My main themes for picking sessions were industrial connectivity (due to the customer base I cover) and cyber security with a sprinkling of strategically chosen sessions to fill the gaps.

I plan on blogging my notes from each session soon after the session ends. Continue reading

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