404 Tech Support

On February 16th, the United States government participated in a war game that was different from any others in recent years. Moving from the conventional attacks, threats, and worries of the past this most recent war game started with our digital infrastructure. An app was downloaded by over 20 million smart phones called March Madness. This app activated a malicious bit of code right before this simulation began and proved itself to be a worm that spread to other phones through your contact list. Meanwhile, the president’s “cabinet members” (played by former senior administration and national security officials) have convened to advise the president and plan a reaction as more intelligence and news is presented in real time.

I’m in no way a die-hard Twittard, but I do use it to promote new articles and spout off random comments (140 characters or less) every once in a while. That being said, I did find the free application Seesmic Look to be very helpful in understanding and organizing all the information in Twitter to be a bit more functional and informative. I have a guest article over at Freewaregenius that highlights this application and its highs and lows. Check out the full article at Freewaregenius: Seesmic Look – A Polished, Functional Twitter Client.

One of the things I find most fascinating about technology is old-school, military-industrial complex style R&D. Research and Development differs from even the coolest and most innovative products that tech companies come out with because their commercial products are expected to turn a profit, R&D products don’t have that expectation though they’re supposed to have potential in the long-term. R&D in the tech industry seems to take some of the best and brightest minds and sets them loose on their passions with all the creative energy they can muster. That’s why R&D is the thing to watch in my opinion and has the most interesting products. Microsoft Research is one of those organizations that is more  than just a think-tank and comes out with cool new products all the time.

Although it’s a tough argument in a recession, some people are looking for an opportunity to invest. Some times, it’s not about making money or earning interest with your money, but instead it’s about doing good. Kiva, FINCA, Kickstarter, and more websites can provide this option if you’d like to make a difference in your community or around the world.

Kickstarter

Kickstarter is the place for creative and ambitious entrepreneurs to test their ideas and get the funding they need to see them lift off the ground. All sorts of projects can be hosted on Kickstarter from getting a book published to making a national concert tour to creating a revolutionary new engineering method and on to an even wider variety of projects.

A few weeks back, my wife went shopping at Wal-Mart and came home with a bunch of groceries and a fantastic story. According to her, it went like this:

She had parked her empty cart at the end of an aisle while she walked away to pick up an item in a crowded section. Upon returning to her cart, she noticed that it was a different cart than the one she had left there. As she went about her shopping with her new cart, she kept getting shocked as she pushed the cart or returned to it. The shocks were also frequent and painful enough that she ended up putting her gloves on to prevent the shocks from reaching her. At this point, she began to get suspicious that her cart hadn’t been replaced accidentally but quite intentionally by the original owners, whom she speculated were fellow shock victims.

Since I could not have said it better myself:

The IT Dashboard provides the public with an online window into the details of Federal information technology investments and provides users with the ability to track the progress of investments over time. The IT Dashboard displays data received from agency reports to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), including general information on over 7,000 Federal IT investments and detailed data for nearly 800 of those investments that agencies classify as “major.” The performance data used to track the 800 major IT investments is based on milestone information displayed in agency reports to OMB called “Exhibit 300s.” Agency CIOs are responsible for evaluating and updating select data on a monthly basis, which is accomplished through interfaces provided on the website.

There’s been an interesting flurry of news lately regarding the way battery life is measured. Almost any consumer that has purchased a notebook or netbook lately has likely realized that the battery life (measured in hours) that was advertised to them has been at least slightly exaggerated. That circumstance is the topic of a number of blog posts on the official AMD blog which fanned the flame of this whole thing in the first place:

• There has to be a Better Way
• Objects in the Toolbar May Be Further Away Than They Seem
• Objects in the Toolbar May Be Closer than They Seem
• MobileMark 2007, 60 nits, One Nit-Picker and You
• MobileMark 2007, the Apps, and your Notebook

I agree with the general philosophy behind these articles and trying to get away from “benchmarketing” and more towards realistic, practical numbers that are relevant to consumers. The analogy that’s been getting thrown around quite frequently is comparing battery life numbers as a car’s gas mileage being tested in neutral on a downhill track. The industry standard is currently to use BAPCo MobileMark 2007 to put a computer through a variety of tasks, but much of the time the laptop is left idle, WiFi is turned off, and the screen is very dim. MobileMark 2007, at its cheapest, costs $749. For a full perspective, you can read the full white paper that BAPCo has put out on its MobileMark 2007.

It was just under 200 posts ago and a year ago (the last Friday in July) that I was wishing you a happy sysadmin day back in 2008. Hopefully the past year has gone smooth for you and we’ve all learned a thing or two thousand in that time to perform the demanding tasks in IT better.

If you’re not in Information Technology, be sure to wish your IT department a Happy SysAdmin Day. If you are in IT, Happy SysAdmin Day and be sure to pass along the wishes to your colleagues.

Donuts are in the break room and here’s to another great year! Post some of your goals and aspirations for the next year in the comments.

Find out more about SysAdmin Day at the official website.