Practical Technology

for practical people.

July 19, 2013
by sjvn01
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Puppet: An easy way to build servers on your cloud

Anyone can set up and run a single server instance on a cloud. That’s easy. Few people can set up multiple server instances on a cloud that can efficiently and automatically shift gears to match the rise and fall of user demand. That’s hard. And that’s where cloud configuration management programs such as Puppet, Chef, and Ansile come in.

Puppet: An easy way to build servers on your cloud. More >

July 19, 2013
by sjvn01
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Can any tablet OS challenge Android and iOS?

Based on Microsoft’s latest earnings report, its Surface RT is a flop. This, in turn, means that Windows RT has failed. But, there are many other would-be tablet operating system challengers to Google’s Android and Apple’s iOS. Seriously, though, do any of them have a real shot?

Can any tablet OS challenge Android and iOS? More >

July 19, 2013
by sjvn01
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Happy Birthday OpenStack! How did you grow up so fast?

Three years ago, on July 19th, 2010, Rackspace and NASA introduced OpenStack. Then, it was just another cloud stack project, a promising one but only one among many. Fast forward to today and OpenStack’s list of backers is a technology giant’s who’s who: HP, IBM, Red Hat, VMware, the list goes on and on. How did this happen?

Happy Birthday OpenStack! How did you grow up so fast? More >

July 18, 2013
by sjvn01
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GitHub improves open-source licensing polices

Simon Phipps, director of the Open Source Initiative, pointed out a problem late in 2012 with GitHub, the popular open-source development community site. Most of the GitHub-hosted projects did not have any license. By default, that made the programs subject to copyright protection with all rights reserved exclusively for the author. This means it’s not open source at all! Months later, GitHub’s executives have finally addressed this glaring problem by adopting a new policy to encourage developers to use proper open-source licenses.

GitHub improves open-source licensing polices. More >

July 17, 2013
by sjvn01
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Third-party app released to fix Bluebox Security Android hole

Almost two-weeks after Bluebox Security announced a vulnerability in Android’s security model that could enable attackers to convert most Android applications into Trojans, and more than a week after Google released the fix for it, the vast majority of Android OEMs has yet to patch the hole. So, Duo Security and Northeastern University’s System Security Lab (NEU SecLab) have released an app, ReKey, which fixes it for you.

Third-party app released to fix Bluebox Security Android hole. More >