Today, the tectonic rumblings of what Donald Trump might have done to whom probably drowned out a interesting news from a celebrity. He’s Pete Davidson, a funny guy who’s known for his SNL performances and currently being engaged to Ariana Grande. He quit the internet, and left a great message while signing off.
Internet Protocol (IP) is the general basis for all communications on local and Internet networks. These communications rely on some basic numbers that identify you to other computers on the local network, and to the world. Those numbers put together are what’s commonly called an IP Address. On occasion, someone in you IT department or support might ask you to provide this number format, and I’ll show you how to find it.
Early June of this year, I ordered five more drives for a client’s Dell PowerEdge VRTX server enclosure, This in addition to the currently installed seven 2TB drives that were humming along just fine. My only request from Dell is that these drives be the biggest we can get, and that they be compatible with the VRTX enclosure. Simple, right? So we ordered the $8,000 in hard drives, and waited. The drives themselves would kick of a strange saga of failure and support that I can’t recall since working on another blade system, one made by IBM.
Lately I’ve been utterly fascinated with books that detail alternative ways of thinking and mindsets that find success. I’ve become (at heart) a student of social sciences, so something like Levitt and Dubner’s Think Like a Freak is right in my sweet spot. My first introduction to this world came by way of the Freakonomics podcast, and its great start if you’re curious about how these guys think. It’s just a great listen in general. Once I dug into this book however, I was very pleased. Let me explain.
I found this passage from a recode podcast interview Mark Zuckerberg took part in about free speech and had some thoughts.
In business, I’ve heard it said that we must “Grow or die” (by who, I wonder?). This is one of the more pervasive business myths I see so many in those that run IT consulting companies supporting the SME space. They think that for the business to succeed, it needs to expand the revenue base and hire on a bunch of employees. Yes, this is one path, but there are many other well-worn paths to success in this business. Growth is important and achievable even if your a single person shop. How? By having a growth mindset.
Over the last few months, I’ve noticed the costs of AWS rising steadily I really hit an inflection point: High cost of AWS hosting, dwindling or nonexistent ad revenue, slower and slower Wordpress, and less blogging period. I’m not deserting this blog by any means, I guess I’m just being pragmatic about it
The (pervasive) and conventional wisdom seems to be that all MSP’s and IT solution companies need ticketing systems. All incoming service calls absolutely need to be routed through a ticketing system and not via phone calls or other means. If you seek out advice online in this regard, you’re pummelled with all the stern advice about ticketing systems and the various free (and not so free) options.
Recent news of how Google will mark web pages that are not HTTPS as “Not Secure” had me returning a subject that has held my interest for some time. I have commented on the idea (I’m pro HTTPs), and even switch my site to support this. Given that, you clearly know where I stand, but I also feel my view on this could be changed given a reasonable argument.
This year has been a great year to read books. Whether is was picking up Sapiens in Ireland this summer, or relaxing on a beach in Portugal reading another, I was not without a book in hand for many days this year. I thought I’d share the books I’ve read and feel are worth your time. These aren’t ranked in any particular order, as think they’re all worthy of your attention.