Although I’m not a programmer, the need has occasionally arisen for me to write some code. These essential tools from my technical toolbox are included here.
Understanding the accumulation of data
Latest Content
Live DR Replicas On-Demand
Ideas in IT come in waves, and recently I’ve been hearing about a great capability: On-demand live replicas of production virtual machines. Want to test your DR environment? Spin up a live sandbox in the cloud or at a service provider using VMware ESX. And if there’s a real disaster, you can always run there for real!
Repurposing an Older iMac As a Monitor and Server
Long-time readers of my blog may remember my adventures with my 2009 27″ iMac – adding eSATA, displaying all of Hamlet, and turning it into a monitor. That last bit has become increasingly handy lately, as I’ve repurposed that now-old iMac as a monitor and server. Here are some tips, tricks, and lessons if you’d like to do the same!
How Does OpenFlow Impact The Daily Life Of Networkers?
What does OpenFlow mean for networking and networkers? This is far from resolved, and the rise of “software-defined storage” and the greater “software-defined” datacenter movement makes it relevant beyond networking. Are we infrastructure folks to become programmers? Will SDN lead to a shift towards the DevOps mentality? And is any of this really relevant to non-service provider enterprise IT?
It’s Time To Speak Out Against Sexism In IT Recruiting
I have waged a long-standing battle against the sexist and offensive use of scantily-clad, non-technical “models” at technical trade shows. Sometimes known as “booth babes”, the use of women in this way harms our entire industry and makes companies look stupid, to boot. But when a recruiting firm uses such offensive tactics, it does even more harm, verging on illegal!
Replacing Google Reader With Feedbin and Reeder
I am an avid Google Reader user, so I’m thoroughly annoyed by Google’s decision to kill it as of July 1. But there’s no stopping the tide, so I’ve made the move to Feedbin as a Reader replacement as of today. It’s a slick, snappy web application with a committed developer and, critically, support for Reeder, my favorite offline RSS reading application. Let’s hope this works!
Storage Field Day 3 Is Here!
As most of my readers are probably aware, I run the Tech Field Day event series, bringing in a panel of independent IT folks like myself with cool companies. This week is Storage Field Day 3, and I thought you might like to know a bit about what we’ve got planned!
What’s (Still) Wrong With Dropbox For Business
I am a heavy (and paying) user of Dropbox, using it both for business and personal storage and synchronization. Although I find the service incredibly useful, Dropbox is far from perfect, especially for business users. So I thought I would take a few moments to talk about what I’d like to see Dropbox improve.
Mophie Juice Pack Air for iPhone 5: Hands-On Review
The iPhone 5 gets decent battery life, considering how thin it is, but it certainly doesn’t last all day. That’s why I decided to pick up a Mophie Juice Pack Air battery case for it. How does this compare to the Juice Pack for the iPhone 4? And is it worth $99? Read on for my full review!
How to Encrypt Your Nifty MiniDrive
I am lucky enough to have received a Nifty MiniDrive for my Retina MacBook Pro, and am in process of putting it through its paces with a SanDisk 64 GB SDXC card. One of the first concerns I had is the steal-ability of such a small, valuable, content-rich item. So I decided to protect it using Mac OS X’s FIleVault 2 full-disk encryption technology. Here’s a step-by-step guide and my post-encryption thoughts!
Storagebeers, Joey Bellevue, Tuesday, Feb 19
Do you love storage? Are you in the Seattle area? Join us for Storagebeers tonight at Joey Bellevue!