Upgrading operating systems has become almost automatic, as it’s a crucial element of security maintenance. However, rapid advances in computer hardware have made it easy to forget the need to also consider system resources when upgrading to any new operating system. Clearly, this becomes more of an issue with hand-held devices, which typically are far…
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In the past, the only people who were worried about their jobs being taken by machines were low-skill workers who did a very repetitive task. A robot – or more likely, a host of robots – can very easily be programmed to build a car. And with Panera announcing that it wants to replace all…
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One of the most potentially frustrating challenges in any technical IT field is that the people to whom you report may not understand why various tasks take as long or cost as much as they do. This is a very common problem, especially in companies that aren’t in the high-tech industry, since managers lacking an…
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A number of devastating attacks can be instigated by spoofing messages for some of the most fundamental network protocols, such as DHCP. For example, through DHCP spoofing, an attacker can create a fake DHCP server that’s privy to information it’s not supposed to have. This allows the attacker to carry out a man-in-the-middle attack to…
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Many websites use CDNs (Content Delivery Networks) to load external libraries and frameworks, on the theory that this will speed up performance, since the CDN resource may already be cached on the user’s machine. Unfortunately, this approach can backfire if there are connection problems that temporarily make the CDN unreachable. Fortunately, you can easily get…
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There are times when you have to share the spotlight with one or more fellow presenters. If it falls to you to act as moderator, here are a few points to keep in mind: 1. Plan a general outline for the presentation and alert each presenter of your need to do so. This will push…
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One of the most common myths about HTTP and REST Oriented Architecture is to think of the use of POST and PUT in terms of which one is used for a create operation, and which is used for updates. Depending on the source, you may hear it both ways. However, the actual distinction between POST…
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One oft-overlooked usability principle is the consistency of location of navigational elements. Violation of this principle can lead to massive user frustration. Imagine yourself clicking a button to advance on a web page, but after a few times, you’re just clicking on the screen and nothing happens. Then you notice that the button has moved…
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If an IPsec VPN tunnel doesn’t work, a common cause is typos in the configuration. These could include errors in typing the shared secret, policy, IP address, or subnet. Hence, removing the tunnel from both ends and reconfiguring it often solves the problem. In some cases, however, you may need to do further troubleshooting, especially…
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One of the latest trends in IT management is “private clouds.” At first, the term may seem like an oxymoron, since the using “cloud” typically means using a remote public service to provide certain IT needs. However, many of the technologies that have been developed to power cloud computing can be used internally. These include…
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