Practical Technology

for practical people.

April 3, 2020
by sjvn01
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Huawei changes its patent story

On the one hand, Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei is warring with the US over trade sanctions, including suing Verizon over its misuse of its patents. Verizon has replied that Huawei is taking “credit for American innovation” with baseless suits over “outdated and valueless” patents. But, on the other hand, Huawei just opened up its more than 56,000 patents to Linux and open-source companies by joining the Open Invention Network (OIN). What’s going on here?

Huawei changes its patent story More>

April 2, 2020
by sjvn01
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How to protect yourself from coronavirus phishing threats

I just got an e-mail from the World Health Organization (WHO) asking for a donation to help fight coronavirus. It looked good. It sounded good. It was a fake. Asking for a donation in Bitcoin set off my alarm. Anytime, anyone asks you for Bitcoin in an email they’re trying to scam you. We may get sick, but phishing, the art of conning people via email or texts, is as healthy as ever.

How to protect yourself from coronavirus phishing threats More>

April 2, 2020
by sjvn01
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Zoom safely: How to password-protect your meetings

No one wants a naked man barging into a virtual classroom video conference, but that’s what happened in Norway-based class using the WhereBy service. Here, in the US, the enormously popular Zoom video-conferencing service meetings are getting attacked so often there’s even a phrase for it: Zoombombing.

Zoom safely: How to password-protect your meetings. More>

April 2, 2020
by sjvn01
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Huawei joins major US-based open-source patent protection consortium OIN

When you think of Chinese 5G smartphone superpower Huawei and intellectual property (IP), your first thoughts are of the US Department of Justice charging Huawei with racketeering and conspiracy to steal trade secrets. Or, if you follow intellectual property (IP) issues closely, you’d recall that Huawei has made $6 billion in patent royalties since 2001 with nearly 80% of that coming from US companies.

Huawei joins major US-based open-source patent protection consortium OIN More>

March 31, 2020
by sjvn01
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Content Delivery Networks and clouds join MANRS internet security effort

So far, the internet is holding up underneath the unprecedented demands being put on it by the coronavirus pandemic. But, as the recent Google services failure from a single router failure showed, the internet remains fragile. That’s why the Internet Society and the Mutually Agreed Norms for Routing Security (MANRS) initiative have started the Content Delivery Network (CDN) and Cloud Programme “to help secure large hubs of the Internet from common routing problems.”

Content Delivery Networks and clouds join MANRS internet security effort More>

March 30, 2020
by sjvn01
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Linux’s WireGuard VPN is here and ready to protect you

Linus Torvalds has released the newest version of the Linux 5.6. It includes many new and neat features like USB4 support, a fix for the 32-bit Epoch problem, multi-path TCP, and numerous driver patches. The biggest news of all s that Linux now has the popular open-source Virtual Private Network (VPN) WireGuard baked in.

WireGuard is a radical new approach to VPNs. With its minimal codebase — about 4,000 lines of code — it’s much easier to debug and secure than its rivals such as OpenVPN with its over 100,000 lines.

Linux’s WireGuard VPN is here and ready to protect you More>