David L. Farquhar on technology old and new, computer security, and more
I closed down Micro Center last night.
I wasn’t having any luck getting my new motherboard working, even after working with Asus and with Micro Center’s online support. Micro Center’s web site said that if you take a system in to their knowledge bar, at the front of the store, someone with an A+ certification will help you. So I took them up on the offer.
A nice, knowledgeable technician named Eric spent two hours working with me.
Read more
Slashdot is reporting that selling used MP3s has been ruled legal. Unfortunately, Slashdot jumped the gun on that–it’s not quite what happened. Capitol Records asked a judge to shut down Redigi, and the judge refused. So Redigi can continue to operate, at least until the case goes to trial.
That in itself is a victory. But this isn’t the Super Bowl, where it’s just one game. More like the World Series.
Read more
I got a comment over the weekend suggesting that I could really take things to the next level with photos, illustrations, and videos. I don’t know if it was a serious comment or spam (the link provided looked very suspicious), but I’ll address the comment.
Read more
I took my family to a train show–The Great Train Expo–this past weekend. I’ve been going to shows for about 8 years or so, and while we had fun, I ended up not spending any of the money I brought with me. At least not on myself. I think I have an idea why. There’s a difference between local and traveling train shows.
Read more
Studying for a certification? Here’s a useful site: http://www.techterms.com/quiz/
They post a new tech term every day. You may not necessarily see questions just like them on any given certification, but they’ll help you keep your vocabulary current. Understanding the questions is more than half the battle.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch ran a story this week about vintage baking. It profiled Chris Leuther, an area baker with 30 years in the business who collects old bakery equipment and recipes from long-gone, but beloved and not-forgotten bakeries such as Lake Forest Pastry Shop.
The money quote: “I’ve worked in a lot of bakeries and talked to a lot of bakers, and when it comes right down to it, so many of these places worked from almost exactly the same formula… A lot of times different places made exactly the same cake. It seemed special because it made a special memory — but that’s all it is, a memory.”
Intel’s new SSD 520 uses a Sandforce controller. Very interesting. Both Tom’s Hardware and Anandtech have reviews posted.
So you’ll have Sandforce performance, hopefully coupled with Intel reliability. That’s the theory. They aren’t shipping yet, and you’ll pay a premium for the Intel name.
Read more
This is inspired by a comment I received a couple of days ago. It’s one of those questions that if you know to ask, you probably already know the answer. But I’ll say it anyway.
No, it’s not OK to staple an SD card, a compact flash card, or any other kind of flash media to an envelope, a piece of paper, or anything else.
Read more
One of my former classmates sent out a query, asking what we’d tell someone who was thinking about studying journalism today. Predictably, a lot of people wrote “Don’t do it!” or “Newspapers aren’t hiring anyone,” or something similar. I never had time to change careers; my IT career essentially started a week after I started taking journalism classes and I was working full-time in IT a good three months before the dean of the school shook my hand and gave me my diploma.
Although I’ve had to explain my education virtually every time I’ve been interviewed for a job, I don’t regret it.
Read more
You may have a question about open-source licenses on your CISSP exam. I don’t remember the specifics and wouldn’t be able to repeat them anyway, but I had a question on my exam where knowing the differences was helpful in finding the right answer.
And I had to deal with an issue this past week involving open-source technologies where the licenses made a big difference.