Practical Technology

for practical people.

January 25, 2019
by sjvn01
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How the Air Traffic Control system works and fails

On Friday, Jan. 25, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued a ground stop at New York City’s LaGuardia (LGA) airport. In other words, if you’re trying to fly to or from LGA: Forget it.

The reason? Thanks to President Donald Trump’s government shutdown, unpaid air traffic controllers were calling in sick in unprecedented numbers. Without enough air traffic controllers at their desks, the FAA shut down traffic to LGA. Simultaneously, airports across the Eastern seaboard saw flight delays increase, as the Air Traffic Control (ATC) system strained under the load. The FAA reported 7.6 percent of TSA workers had an “unscheduled absence” on Thursday.

Trump has now backed down, deciding to temporarily reopen the government. For a few weeks, at least, the ATC controllers will be back on the job, and planes will be flying as usual.

But here’s why LGA closed, and why the entire commercial air system was in danger of falling apart like a row of dominos.

How the Air Traffic Control system works and fails More>

January 24, 2019
by sjvn01
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Patriots vs Rams: How to stream Super Bowl 2019

If you can’t afford $7,500 for a Super Bowl ticket, chances are you’ll watch it on TV.

In the US, you’ll find the game on your local CBS (ZDNet’sparent company) channel. But say you’re not home or you can’t watch it on cable or your significant other insists on watching the Puppy Bowl instead.

Fear not, you can stream the game over the internet.

Patriots vs Rams: How to stream Super Bowl 2019 More>

January 24, 2019
by sjvn01
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OpenStack–uh Open Infrastructure? OpenDev?–remains popular

If you read the OpenStack User Survey Report you’ll find OpenStack, the open-source Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) cloud, is growing ever more popular. But at the same time OpenStack‘s branding is getting a little confusing. While the IaaS cloud name remains the same, its branding is pivoting to Open Infrastructure, or is it OpenDev?

OpenStack–uh Open Infrastructure? OpenDev?–remains popular More>

January 23, 2019
by sjvn01
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Nasty security bug found and fixed in Linux apt

If you want to install a program on the Debian/Ubuntu/MintLinux distribution family, you almost always end up using the core software installer program Advanced Package Tool (apt). It works well, but security researcher Max Justicz recently found a nasty way to make a man-in-the-middle attack on apt.

Adding salt to this wound, Justicz found the hole would enable a remote attacker to execute arbitrary code as root on any system installing any package. To understand how it attacks, you need to understand how apt works.

Nasty security bug found and fixed in Linux apt More>

January 23, 2019
by sjvn01
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5G or faux G?

I am so, so tired of reading stories proclaiming the mobile wonders of the world of tomorrow. 5G will bring up 8K videos to our self-driving cars, and it will do it 100 times faster than 4G! Give me a break.

I am not cynical. I am realistic. And the reality is that 5G will not be that fast. And at least for the next few years, it will be available in just a few cities, and only in a few square blocks of those. In other words, it would be foolish this year to pay extra for any of the handful of 5G phones that will be available. Same goes for 2020. And, for that matter, 2021.

Let me tell you why.

5G or faux G?

January 22, 2019
by sjvn01
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Ubuntu Core doubles down on Internet of Things

Canonical‘s Ubuntu is best known for its Linux desktop, but the company really makes it money from the cloud. And, founder Mark Shuttleworth has said, the Internet of Things (IoT). So, it comes as no surprise that Ubuntu Core is bringing Ubuntu 18.04 Long Term Support (LTS) codebase to embedded devices.

Ubuntu Core doubles down on Internet of Things More>