Practical Technology

for practical people.

March 14, 2012
by sjvn01
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Good-bye Encyclopedia Britannica: Good-bye to the printed record

Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears; I come to bury the print Encyclopedia Britannica, not to praise it. The evil that books do lives after them; The good is oft interred with their bones.”

Oh I could praise it, but what good would that do? After 244 years, dozens of editions and millions of sets sold, no new editions will be placed on paper. We knew this would happen. E-books sales are sky-rocketing and encyclopedia sales have dwindled to next to nothing. Today, the print edition counted for less than 1% of ’s revenue.

True, the Britannica will live on online, but it’s long been over-shadowed by Wikipedia. Its days are numbered.

Good-bye Encyclopedia Britannica: Good-bye to the printed record

March 13, 2012
by sjvn01
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16 Linux Server Monitoring Commands You Really Need To Know

Want to know what’s really going on with your server? Then you need to know these essential commands. Once you’ve mastered them, you’ll be well on your way to being an expert Linux system administrator.

Depending on the Linux distribution, you can run pull up much of the information that these shell commands can give you from a GUI program. SUSE Linux, for example, has an excellent, graphical configuration and management tool, YaST, and KDE‘s KDE System Guard is also excellent.

However, it’s a Linux administrator truism that you should run a GUI on a server only when you absolutely must. That’s because Linux GUIs take up system resources that could be better used elsewhere. So, while using a GUI program is fine for basic server health checkups, if you want to know what’s really happening, turn off the GUI and use these tools from the Linux command shell.


16 Linux Server Monitoring Commands You Really Need To Know. More >

March 13, 2012
by sjvn01
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Homeless and wireless at SXSW

When I first read that homeless people were being used as mobile Wi-Fi hotspots at Austin Texas’ South by Southwest Interactive (SXSW) festival, I didn’t believe it. Believe it.

BBH Labs, a self-proclaimed skunkworks innovation branch of the marketing firm Bartle Bogle Hegarty brought Homeless Hotspots, to SXSW they claim, as a “charitable experiment.”It works by giving the homeless 4G Mi-Fi devices. You, a SXSW tech. hipster are then supposed to “introduce yourself, then log on to their 4G network via your phone or tablet for a quick high-quality connection. You pay what you want (ideally via the PayPal link on the site so we can track finances).”

How can you tell if one is within range? By as BBH puts, :as you wander between locations murmuring to your coworker about how your connection sucks and you can’t download/stream/tweet/instagram/check-in, you’ll notice strategically positioned individuals wearing “Homeless Hotspot” t-shirts.”

Excuse me as I throw up.


Homeless and wireless at SXSW. More >

March 13, 2012
by sjvn01
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Google extends secure search

Over a year ago, a little Firefox add-on program called Firesheep showed just how easy it was to snoop on people on the same Wi-Fi network. Since then, more and more Web sites, like Facebook and Twitter, are securing their Web sites by default. Now, Google is continuing its own push into making its search sites more secure.

Google began late last year by using SSL (Secure Socket Layer) security for signed-in users using Google Search. That means, as some of you have noticed, if you’re signed into Google instead of going to http://www.google.com, you’re ending up at the secured https://www.google.com site. Your search results come back to you, in turn, via a secured HTTPS page.

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March 12, 2012
by sjvn01
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A Linux desktop and tablet user and Windows 8

Some people think I dislike Windows in the same way some people dislike sports teams-I’m just prejudiced against the New York Yankees, Manchester United, Duke Blue Devils, whoever. Nope. I just dislike operating systems and programs that don’t run well. Over the years, though, Windows has improved. These days, in addition to my Mint Linux desktops, I happily run Windows XP SP3 and Windows 7 SP1. Windows 8 though? Oh Lord!

When I installed the Windows 8 Consumer Preview in VirtualBox and natively on another PC, I didn’t have high hopes for it. I’ve been playing with Windows 8 alpha releases for a while now and I found Windows 8, like Vista before it, to be pretty awful. But, I decided to give this latest sample of Windows 8 a fair chance to show me its stuff. Well, I’ve been kicking its tires for almost two weeks now and I’m here to tell you Windows 8, and its Metro interface are as awful as I feared they be.

A Linux desktop and tablet user and Windows 8. More >

March 12, 2012
by sjvn01
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What’s the best Linux server for you?

When it comes to clothes, I’m a normal guy. I just want to walk into a store, grab something that fits, buy it (What, try it on? Are you kidding!?), and head home. Well, that’s what I want to do. I’ve learned over the years that just because something should fit doesn’t mean that it will fit. It’s the same with Linux servers. Sure, they’re all built on the same code base and can run the same applications, but one may fit you perfectly while another may make you look like a clown.

Well, let’s start with that basic question you should bring to any computing decision: “What is it that you really want to do?”

Let’s say you have a company with several hundred to several tens of thousands of users. What do you want? This one is actually a pretty easy call. Your first choice should be Red Hat Enterprise Linux.

Red Hat has big business support down to a fine art, and it’s easy to find certified technicians, administrators, and engineers who know their way around RHEL. It’s also supported on a wide variety of hardware. Whether you’re running x86 servers on racks, blade servers, IBM POWER systems, or mainframes, there’s a RHEL for you. In short, Red Hat is the gold standard of business Linux.

Is RHEL is too expensive for your taste? Well, you get what you pay for, but there are two other worthy business Linux distributions that deserve corporate attention. These are Oracle Linux and SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES).

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