NGINX™ is a high performance edge web server with the lowest memory footprint and the key features to build modern and efficient web infrastructure.
Today NGINX is the 2nd most popular open source web server on the Internet.
via NGINX, Inc..
HBGary’s high-volume astroturfing technology and the Feds who requested it
This time, it’s internal emails detailing the creation of “persona management” software to simplify the process of pretending to be several people at once online, in order simulate widespread support for a point of view — astroturfing automation software. The software appears to have been developed in response to a federal government solicitation seeking automated tools for astroturfing message boards in foreign countries.
via HBGary’s high-volume astroturfing technology and the Feds who requested it – Boing Boing.
This allowed the human actor to open a virtual machine or thumb drive with an associated persona and have all the appropriate email accounts, associations, web pages, social media accounts, etc. pre-established and configured with visual cues to remind the actor which persona he/she is using so as not to accidentally cross-contaminate personas during use…
An Excerpt From “Killing the Competition: How the New Monopolies Are Destroying Open Markets”
Over lunch in San Francisco, Hariharan, dapper in a stylish sport coat, starts by telling me all the reasons he loved his job, especially the opportunity to take part in sprawling, complex projects. Sure, the pace was grinding, the hours crazy. One team, he recounts, worked for 110 hours per week for nine months straight. But “everyone believed they were making something important.”
Hariharan says his attitude began to sour after Lucasfilm completed a particularly ambitious project. The very next day, he says, shaking his head, executives came in and “fired almost everyone.” These were employees who hadn’t had a day off in months. “People were running around the office,” says Hariharan, whose own job was not affected. “They were running around crying. It was a bad sight.”
This linked to article is just an excerpt but still a fascinating read.
Construction firm aims at space elevator in 2050
It may be possible to travel to space in an elevator as early as 2050, a major construction company has announced.
Please Steal These webOS Features
Document management on iOS is a mess. Every application implements its own scheme. They all work differently. Some allow you do open documents in other applications that support a matching file format. Others don’t. Some support Dropbox, or other services. Others don’t. Some allow you to organize your documents hierarchically or spatially, others don’t.
In webOS, you can set up different system-wide accounts.
EVE Online Saw $66M In Revenue Last Year, Mulls IPO
The game, a science fictional adventure set in a star cluster dominated by five major civilizations, first launched in 2003, and its subscriber base (currently about 400,000) has grown every year since launch. Revenue has been growing too, at a compound annual growth rate of 53 percent, bringing in total revenue of $300 million over the game’s lifetime. As for profits, CCP would only say that it has “very healthy margins” — a claim backed up by the fact that it has grown to more than 450 employees despite only raising $3 million in seed funding.
via EVE Online Saw $66M In Revenue Last Year, Mulls IPO | TechCrunch.
This game made the tech news many years ago.
Recommended system configuration for running EVE Online:
- OS: Windows® XP Service Pack 2 / Vista / 7
- CPU: Intel Pentium® or AMD dual core @ 2 Ghz or greater which supports SSE2
- RAM: 2 GB
- HD space: 20Gb Free Space
- Network: ADSL connection or faster
- Video: ATi Radeon 5750 or NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460
- Drivers: DirectX® 9.0c (included) and latest video drivers
- DVD-ROM : 2 speed DVD reader or greater required.
The minimum screen resolution for EVE is 1024×768.
Audio hardware must support SSE and be Direct Sound compatible. For optimum performance, use latest drivers available.Please note that Windows 95, 98, ME, NT and 2000 are not supported.
I don’t think this will work in a VM due to the graphic requirements.
H.323 Mediated Voice over IP: Protocols, Vulnerabilities & Remediation
Voice over IP (VoIP) can be a complex subject. Network security professionals may find the terminology foreign, and VoIP vulnerabilities are often misunderstood. This paper provides an overview of the H.323 protocol suite, its known vulnerabilities, and then suggests twenty rules for securing an H.323-based network.
via H.323 Mediated Voice over IP: Protocols, Vulnerabilities & Remediation | Symantec Connect Community.
The primary components of an H.323 network include: endpoints, gateways, gatekeepers, and MCUs (Multipoint Control Units). Endpoints (telephones, softphones, IVRs, voicemail, video cameras. etc.) are the devices typically used by end-users in the normal use of the system. Gateways (gateways and controllers) handle signaling and media transport, and typically serve as the interface to other types of networks such as ISDN, PSTN and or other H.323 systems. Gateways which focus primarily on converting between IP and other forms of media (such as PSTN) are termed Media Gateways. Gatekeepers are the logical entity with which endpoints register and are administered. They also manage call setup, teardown, and status and can assist in address resolution. MCUs are designed to support multi-party conferencing.
Electric Rockets Are Set to Transform Space Flight
Charged Up: Electric Rockets Are Set to Transform Space Flight | Txchnologist.
NASA’s Dawn space probe, which is now exploring the asteroid Vesta, was among the first interplanetary craft to employ solar electric propulsion (SEP) for primary propulsion. But Dawn’s three electric engines are rated at only 2.3 kW each (3 horsepower), about the power of a small lawnmower engine, which means which means they had to produce their low thrust for years to build up the high velocity needed to travel to the distant asteroid in a reasonable time.
This tech is so cool.
Why corporate cloud storage doesn’t add up
As IT continues in a zigzag path of figuring out what to do with this “cloud” stuff, it seems that some companies are getting ahead of themselves. In particular, the concept of outsourcing storage to a cloud provider puzzles me. I can see some benefits in other cloud services (though I still find the trust aspect difficult to reconcile), but full-on cloud storage offerings don’t make sense outside of some rare circumstances.
via Why corporate cloud storage doesn’t add up | Data Center – InfoWorld.
there’s already storage in the data center running the servers. That means there’s already a backup solution in place, and adding local file storage is trivial.
And one more interesting tidbit from the author of the linked to article.
Don’t forget that fast, reliable storage is very cheap these days. You can pick up 24TB of raw storage for less than $7,000, and even though they’re SATA drives, they’ll be more than sufficient for most general business purposes.
I kind of agree. My worry is the reliability of the cloud provider.
“A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush”
doc/TorFAQ – Tor Bug Tracker & Wiki
Tor may attempt to connect to any port that is advertised in the directory as an !ORPort (for making Tor connections) or a DirPort (for fetching updates to the directory). There are a variety of these ports, but many of them are running on 80, 443, 9001, and 9030.