Practical Technology

for practical people.

June 7, 2011
by sjvn01
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The Top IT Certifications

It’s a rough job market out there. The U.S. unemployment rate was 9.4% in December 2010. That’s better than it has been, but it’s still not great. And while some groups, like the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), expect things to get better – “Overall, employers expect to hire 13.5% more new graduates from the class of 2011 than they hired from the class of 2010,” says the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) – anyone searching for an IT job needs to do whatever is possible to improve the chances that an employer will pick you. That’s all well and good, but what can you do to improve your chances of getting an IT job? Well, the right certification won’t hurt – and it might help.

The good news: IT is a good place to be looking for a job. According to CareerCast, two of the top ten best jobs in 2011 will be IT-related: software engineer and systems analyst.

Certification can give your resume an extra “oomph” but don’t expect a certification alone to have employers beating a path to your well-papered door. No certification, not even becoming a Cisco Certified Network Professional (CCNP), can get you a job without experience, and you likely can’t get a job without sensible job searching and networking.

Still, the right certification can help you get into IT or encourage a raise or a promotion.

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June 7, 2011
by sjvn01
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What is World IPv6 Day and why it matters

While you’ve been asleep in your beds with visions of iPad 2s dancing in your heads, network administrators have been wide awake getting ready for World IPv6 Day. And, what’s that?

As the The Internet Society explained, “The goal of the Test Drive Day is to motivate organizations across the industry – Internet service providers [ISP], hardware makers, operating system vendors and web companies – to prepare their services for IPv6 [Internet Protocol version 6) o ensure a successful transition as IPv4 addresses run out.”

Well, they’ve been motivated all right. Facebook, Google, and Yahoo! and important content delivery network (CDN) providers, including Akamai and Limelight Network will be offering IPv6 networking as well as the usual IPv6 on June 8, 2011.

We’ve been running out of IPv4 addresses for some time on the Internet, but few sites already offer their services via the next generation of Internet addresses, IPv6. Despite the fact that we’re now down to the last few IP addresses, indeed Asia is already out, of major sites, only some of Google’s sites; Netflix, to a degree; Germany’s Heise Online; Facebook at www.v6.facebook.com; and Limelight currently offer IPv6 addressing on a regular basis.

So it is that The Internet Society and others decided to star World IPv6 day. It’s both a way to encourage ISPs, CDNs, and Web sites to start moving to IPv6 and to see what, if anything goes wrong when they try to support both TCP/IP networking protocols at once.

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June 7, 2011
by sjvn01
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Is the iCloud the end of the Linux & Windows desktop?

I think a cloud-based operating system, like Google’ Chrome OS, has a bright future. But, when I look at Apple’s Lion, which will only be available as an upgrade by a 4GB download, and iCloud plans I begin to wonder just how much any fat-client operating system-Linux, Mac OS X, or Windows-have if Apple and Google have their way.

As Jobs put it, the PC centric data model is broken. And, so the digital hub will move from being the PC to the iCloud and the Mac will be “demoted.”

What did he mean by that? My fellow ZDNet writer, Andrew Nusca, put it well, “Mac vs. PC vs. Linux argument from the early days of consumer computing has lost a great deal of its luster in recent years with the development of cloud computing on the open web.” The operating system wars are far from over though. Nusca continued, “Concept of platform wars is quickly making up for lost ground with the development of cloud computing in the closed mobile space.”

I’ve always thought that thin-client computing has its place in technology. That’s one reason why I think Google’s Chrome OS has a real shot in dethroning the Window desktop in the office. By making the iCloud the center of everything, instead of the Mac, Apple is trying to wean consumers away from the fat-client PC model that’s served us so well since the day the first IBM PC rolled off the assembly line.

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June 7, 2011
by sjvn01
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If you don’t use it, lose it.

After decades in the technology business I can still make dumb mistakes. In my recent mis-step, I received a message from a Yahoo Group with a name that looked like someone had dropped a cat on a keyboard. What the heck?

My mistake wasn’t that someone had added me to a Yahoo group , or rather that wasn’t my real mistake. I discovered, much to my surprise, that the default on Yahoo accounts is to allow Yahoo groups administrators to add you to their groups without your permission.

To get rid of this problem, head to Yahoo Group E-Mail Preferences and switch “Allow Direct Adds” to “No.” It’s not just Yahoo though; Google Groups does the same thing. The default option is “Allow group managers to directly add me to their groups.” I don’t think so! To change this, go to Google Groups Manage your Membership and click the box for “Do not allow group managers to directly add me to their groups.”

Now back to my real mistake. I went to the Yahoo Group site to unsubscribe from it. Guess what happened? That’s right: It grabbed my password and all my friends in my Yahoo Mail address list started getting spam.

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June 7, 2011
by sjvn01
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Understanding Wireless Connectivity Options for Businesses

It used to be so easy. You either connected with Wi-Fi, or you looked for a place to plug in an Ethernet cable. That was then. This is now.

Today, your laptop, netbook, smartphone, or tablet may give you as many as four different wireless choices. What’s a user to do? Let’s take a look at the different technologies and what they bring to you.

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June 6, 2011
by sjvn01
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Do Security Right and Tick Off your Customers

LastPass had a fine idea. Like other security companies, such as 1Password and RoboForm, they’d enable users stuck with dozens, if not hundreds, of passwords to use one master password to rule them all.

OK, so that is putting all your password power in one ring and that, as Sauron found out in The Lord of the Rings can be a mistake. But, if you guard that one password with a lot of encryption—or keep it surrounded by orcs and a balrog—it should be fine. Right? Right??

Alas, a while back, LastPass’ system administrators noticed something odd going on on one of their servers. They were afraid that hackers might have cracked their system and be on their way to grab master passwords.

That wouldn’t do, so they shut down the one suspect server. That was a good idea. They then let everyone know that there had been a possible security breech by a blog message. That wasn’t such a bright idea. So, they decided on what sounded like a great idea: Now that the one server was off-line they would have everyone reset their passwords. Whoops.

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