Technical Tidbits
July 21st, 2009 Volume I Issue VI
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Dear Debbie,
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Never trust a computer you can't repair yourself.
Source: http://phd.pp.ru/Texts/fun/signatures.txt
Thanks to all the readers
who extended me birthday wishes this past week. It was indeed an interesting
birthday to put it mildly! But you can read more about some of that in the Not
for Beginners Only section!
Vacation was great! Spent
quality time with my granddaughter doing fun things together. Saw the
Transformers and Ice Age 3D. As someone involved in computer graphics, I was
fascinated by both movies! The way 3D has evolved is truly amazing! And the CG
animation is incredible. I wonder if I can deduct the movies as an expense for
research? (GRIN)
If you aren't receiving
your free month of the Security Digest, click the link at the bottom to update
your profile and make sure you add that free month to your preferences. I am
adding a permanent section in the next issue to cover recalls in light of my
birthday mishap.
You will also find a new
list added for notices of our upcoming re-launch of our classroom and the new
security courses with our co-instructor, Anthony Valente CEH, from Network
Defense Solutions.
Enjoy this issue.
Remember:
"The
early bird catches the worm,
the second mouse ALWAYS gets
the cheese,
but the WISE mouse
knows where the refrigerator is!"
Debbie
Mahler
Follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/debbiemahler
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Not For Beginner's Only
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This article has been prompted by an unfortunate event
that occurred on my birthday. Please, read this and take the appropriate action
for your own safety!
Everything we touch in our life is related to technology - from the PCs
and wireless devices we use, to common household appliances. While our cell
phones may not have us plugged into an electrical outlet all the time, we do
charge them and have to plug them in periodically. And nearly all of our other
household devices require electrical energy to make them run.
On the afternoon of Friday, July 17, I proceeded to turn on our oven to
make some brownies for after dinner in honor of my birthday. I was speaking
with my sister on the phone while I mixed them and had started the oven
preheating when I heard a strange pop come from the direction of the oven.
Thinking my roommate may have put an empty pan back into the oven, I opened the
door to see if the oven was in fact empty.
What I found was a white powder in the back, right section of the oven
near the lower electrical coil. I also noticed that the coil was burning red
hot in a section near the white powder, and a spark of white and white glowing
heat was spiraling slowly toward the front of the coil leaving nothing but
charred remains in its path. The oven was unusually hot for only 350 degrees. I
immediately shut the oven off using the push button but the glow of red and
white continued.
I called for my roommate, Jeff @haumanadao) and asked him to take a
look. I know computers; I know electronics as they relate to computer peripherals,
motherboards, and wireless devices. I do not know the way electrical stoves
work. Jeff has studied electricity and worked in an electronics factory early
in his career.
To make a long story short, the coil had actually shorted out and was
burning. It required shutting off the circuit to the oven itself or the coil
would have burned all the way around to the back of the oven and the electrical
short would have gone into the wall following the wiring.
It just so happens, that a few months ago, we had a free electrical
inspection as part of our club membership we belong to with our local plumbing
& heating company - Amy's (Carpentersville, IL). During the inspection, the
electrician pointed out that the oven was not grounded, and the exact location
of the circuit that controlled it. He pointed it out not to tell me how to shut
it off, he was showing me how it was not grounded.
Had the electrician not shown me through the inspection where the
circuits were for everything, I would not have easily shut down the oven and
stopped the burning short.
But that led me to think about my readers. How many of you know what
circuits or fuses in your home or office govern your electricity? Would you be
able to avert a disaster by calming cutting off a circuit or removing a fuse?
We love technology! We love how easy it makes our life, but with it
comes a responsibility that we often forget until an incident like this
happens.
So, I challenge each of you to find out about your electrical box! Know
what circuits govern what equipment and outlets in your home or office. Learn
about your equipment, know the hazards, and learn how to respond in the case of
an emergency.
My birthday could have resulted in a damaged home had it not been for
Amy's Club electrical inspection and my roommate's knowledge to shut the oven
off at the box because even though the off button had been pressed, the short
continued to move.
And while you're at it, shut off your computer, unplug everything and
get a can of duster or air and blow out your PC case. Dust bunnies can gather
in fan vents and around the case, which can cause electrical shorts inside that
can fry your motherboard.
When you reattach everything and plug it back in, smell it. Yes, smell
it. If your PC ever smells any different than what you're smelling now, you
will know something is wrong and to unplug it immediately!
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The Technical
Tidbits
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Well,
Redmond is up to it's usual tricks. They launched the Office 2010 website full
of videos and guess what? You have to install Silverlight to view it. Thanks
but no thanks Microsoft! I have enough of your crap on my machine that I'm
trying to get rid of.
Stu,
the editor of WServerNews stated: "The
site has cute videos but not much substance."
But
if you are so inclined to check out their upcoming Office version and you have
Silverlight installed, you can see the site here: http://www.office2010themovie.com/
How
many times have you wanted to download a YouTube video and save it?
Well,
there's several ways to accomplish that and one requires no installation! Just
visit: http://deturl.com/ and type in the URL
of the video and viola! Mission accomplished!
Now,
if you're a Firefox user as I am, you can add a very awesome plug-in called: Video DownloadHelper. This bad baby not only
downloads any type of video or audio, it also allows you to download and
convert to a file compatible with your system.
For
example, you can click the icon in Firefox and select download and convert and
it will download an .flv file and convert it to an .MOV file, or .WMV, to name
a few! So even flash files are downloadable!
The
Downloadhelper website is located here: http://www.downloadhelper.net
The
plug-in is located here: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/3006
If
you're a techie and you like Political intrigue, read the article by Paul
McDougall, Editor at Large for InformationWeek about the suspicious outsourcing
deal in Virginia! http://www.informationweek.com/blog/main/archives/2009/07/call_to_probe_v.html
I
could write my own review for the new Firefox but Mitch Wagner and
InformationWeek did a great job of saying everything I would say! I love the
new Firefox! I don't get slowed down as I used to.
Although
I did have problems with Trend Micro's add-on. I had to totally disable Trend's
toolbar - or whatever it is called - in Firefox. In fact, I didn't even know they had
installed the bugger until I went to look in my extensions and plug-ins!
I've
also had some issues with the supposed "crash management" and I don't know why.
But Firefox occasionally doesn't save my open tabs.
If
you'd like to know what Mitch and I think about the new Firefox, read it here:
http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/browsers/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=218500135&cid=nl_IW_daily_html
Now
that I'm fully back from vacation, don't forget to follow Technical Tidbits
Blog at: http://mice.org/blog/
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Trivial Fact
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WHAT WAS THE LOGIC BEHIND VAN HALEN'S "BROWN
M&M" CONTRACT RIDER?
The "brown M&M"
line in Van Halen's contract rider was a ploy the band used to determine
whether concert venue promoters and managers had actually read every line of
the contract. Specifically, one article of the rider read, "There will be
no brown M&M's in the backstage area, upon pain of forfeiture of the show,
with full compensation."
While this may seem like an
extravagant method of gauging a promoter's attention, the band had good reason
to go to such trouble. Van Halen was among the first musical groups to take a massive
and elaborate stage and lighting apparatus on tour, yet still play so-called
secondary and tertiary venues, such as college amphitheatres.
In many cases, the
buildings the band was booked to play in simply weren't able to handle the
structural demands of the traveling stage. The band's lengthy contract rider
clearly spelled out the specifications and safety requirements for the stage,
but many of the smaller venue administrators simply didn't bother to delve into
this intimidating legal document.
Thus, if Van Halen got to
the dressing room and found brown M&Ms in the candy dishes, the band knew
that a problem might exist with the stage. In many cases, the problem was worth
canceling the show, for safety or liability reasons. From such cancellations
sprang the rumor that Van Halen would back out of a concert date simply because
the band found brown M&Ms backstage.
In fact, this reputation
grew so well known that at one point The Rolling Stones, which was headlining a
tour that included Van Halen, wrote into its own contract rider a request for
all the brown M&Ms that Van Halen threw out. It's ironic, considering that
the brown M&Ms were merely a red herring, but such is the basis for great
Geek Trivia.
(Source: http://articles.techrepublic.com.com/5100-10878_11-5198639.html)
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Tech Humor of the Week
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If you don't think the
inventors of the Internet had a sense of humor, read: Twas the Night
Before Start-up, a Request for Comments
(RFC) written in December 1985, by Vint Cerf - one of the early architects of
our current Internet.
ftp://ftp.rfc-editor.org/in-notes/rfc968.txt
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Business Bits
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Cloud Computing & Business Survey Results!
Nearly 300 participated in the Sunbelt/ITIC IT Performance
Trends Survey expressing frank and forthcoming responses and pulling no punches
in expressing opinions in the Essay Comments of the survey.
Cloud computing was one of the hottest survey topics.
An overwhelming 85% majority indicated their companies will not implement a
private or public cloud computing model in 2009 because of fears that cloud
providers may not be able to adequately secure sensitive corporate data.
Concerns about how quickly cloud providers may or may not respond to technical
troubles top the list of reasons why companies are hesitant to embrace cloud
computing - at least within the next 12 months. However, about one-third -- 31%
-- of respondents said their firms are studying the issue but have made no
decision yet and another 7% are "Unsure".
Security topped the list of concerns and guarantees that companies would demand
from a cloud services provider, if and when their companies implement a cloud
model. An overwhelming 83% of respondents said they would need specific
guarantees to safeguard their sensitive mission critical data before committing
to a cloud model. Additionally, almost three-quarters or 73% of respondents
would require guaranteed fast response time for technical service and support.
Another 63% of respondents want minimum acceptable latency/response times and
62% of those polled say they would need multiple access paths to and from the
cloud infrastructure.
The survey yielded several other surprising results as well. The responses and
subsequent first person customer interviews indicated that IT managers are
finding it difficult and challenging to track basic IT performance metrics such
as security; compliance with their SLA agreements and the ability to quantify
the hourly cost of downtime. These are pivotal issues that have direct impact
on daily network operations as well as strategic goals like lowering total cost
of ownership (TCO), managing risk and achieving tangible return on investment
(ROI).
Among the most stunning revelations was that 48% of IT departments - nearly
half - do not track security performance metrics. Only 43% of businesses have
SLA metrics with clients that are discussed and agreed upon yearly and 51% of
organizations are unable to quantify the cost of an hour of unplanned downtime.
Based on the responses across a wide range of survey topics, it's obvious that
the chief focus of hard working, under-staffed and under-budgeted IT
departments is to keep their networks up and running.. Among the other survey
highlights:
- Over four out of 10 organizations - 44% - indicate
that management holds IT responsible for meeting defined performance
metrics; 31% say that upper management only holds them accountable or
voices displeasure when something goes awry and 19% of respondents say
their companies do not have formally defined performance metrics.
- On the subject of how businesses track performance,
28% of respondents indicated they do so by the amount of planned and
unplanned downtime experienced by IT; another 24% measure performance
according to a specific subset of IT operations and systems; 11% are
reactive and monitor performance by the time it takes to recover following
a service outage; an additional 11% are proactive, monitoring performance
in a continuous, programmed fashion throughout the enterprise. Most
alarming however is that more than a fifth of the firms represented - 21%
- revealed that they don't keep track of performance.
- In another somewhat surprising disclosure, 46% of
survey respondents do not have service level agreements (SLAs) in place
compared to 43% who do; 11% of respondents were unsure. However, the ITIC
survey responses showed that an overwhelming 84% majority of large
enterprises with over 3,000 end users do have SLAs in place. However even
in those businesses, collaboration and communication among C-level
executives and IT departments is poor. Only 16% of survey respondents
noted any regular, proactive communications between IT and upper
management.
Laura
DiDio, is Principal of ITIC, a primary research and consulting firm in Boston.
Source: http://blog.wservernews.com/post/2009/07/17/IT-Performance-Cloud-Trends-Survey-Results.aspx
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MICE Exclusive: Busted! |
This
week there is no item for this section! Sorry!
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