Category: Links and Quotes Page 19 of 25

Shared from elsewhere.

Who has my data?

On June 5, 2015

There has been a lot of debate among nerds about the privacy and security implications of Google and Apple. How much is privacy worth? Is Google going too far? Is Apple protecting us? Does it even matter anymore?

For me, this is not a debate I care to take part in. My information is already out in the world. Target, Carefirst BlueCross Blueshield, Chick Fil-A, Adobe and most recently, the Federal Government have been breached.

Since the incident was identified, OPM has partnered with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT), and the Federal Bureau of Investigation to determine the impact to Federal personnel. And OPM immediately implemented additional security measures to protect the sensitive information it manages.

I have worked as a contractor for two separate US Government agencies. I haven’t heard if my information was one of the 4,000,000 people leaked in the hack on the Office of Personnel Management. But it would not surprise me if it was.

It feels like every week there is some other places letting my information out into the world. It’s no surprise after looking at this list of data breaches in 2015. These reports cover 103,340,565 records. That’s about 1 in 3 US Citizens that could have had their information leaked into the world.

I’m not interested in having a theoretical debate over my privacy and what Google or Apple are or are not going to do with my photos when my credit card, social security number and every other bit of identifying, personal information about me have or may have already been exposed. I’d be much more curious to see if active security scans are being done and if security people are on staff at places I trust my with you

The Glitch Mob – Behind The Blade

By Carl

On May 18, 2015

In Links and Quotes

I don’t remember where I first learned about The Glitch Mob but it may have been the remixes from the Tron Soundtrack. I heard EDit’s Ants which is a spectacularly beautiful song and was curious to learn more. I found out he was 1/3 of The Glitch Mob so I gave them a listen and was hooked.

I saw them first at Bonnaroo at 2:15am and that was a magical experience. I saw them again in Washington, D.C. and really enjoyed them again. The music speaks to me and moves me.

Part of their act is The Blade. It’s an instrument / platform / space ship of music.

It’s something they’ve created themselves to house their instruments and program. I always wondered what went into it and now they’ve released a short documentary on it. Two laptops, two Mac minis, and 12 iPads are just the start of The Blade. I love knowing how things work and this didn’t disappoint.

2015’s Best Superheroine Movie

By Carl

On May 18, 2015

In Links and Quotes

This is (so far) the best superheroine movie of the year.

Featuring:
Taylor Swift
Selena Gomez
Kendrick Lamar
Lena Dunham
Hailee Steinfield
Serayah
Gigi Hadid
Ellie Goulding
Martha Hunt
Cara Delevingne
Zendaya
Hayley Williams
lily Albridge
Karlie Kloss
Jessica Alba
Ellen Pompeo(Luna) & Mariska Hargitay(Justice)
Cindy Crawford

With props to Tomiwa Aina’s comments for the list. Click through to get the timestamps and links to each appearance.

On Benefits and Baggage

By Carl

On May 7, 2015

In Links and Quotes

Sid talked about writing this post months ago. Before his foray into working for himself. And I am glad to see he wrote it and happier still to have been able to read it.

If you don’t understand that the Church is an organization entirely based on God, a being who holds our universe in being with his will, whose mind is unimaginable to us — if, in fact, your closest reference point is a secular business — you are not going to have the faintest opportunity of even beginning to make sense of its policies.

The Pope is not a CEO. Priests are not middle-managers. Making money is not the ultimate fulfillment of the human person. In fact, the pursuit of happiness on earth is not the reason we’re even here! If you’re arguing with someone who isn’t at least open to these realities — you’re going to have a bad time. – Crate of Penguins — Benefits and Baggage

As I wrote in my post yesterday, we all see the world in a different light. Religion isn’t for me. I tried it. I didn’t enjoy it. But I have no problem with others enjoying it and loving it.

That’s part of the beauty of the Internet. I can follow and befriend people from all walks of life and beliefs. I also do this to open my eyes wider to the world. There is more to the world than Macs or PCs. There is more to life than technology at all. I am still firmly in a niche, but I am slowly getting outside of myself.

I don’t know if he counts me among his atheist friends, but I’ve fallen under that label in my life. Also Agnostic, Mormon and Generally Apathetic About The Whole Thing.

People change throughout life and it’s much too short not to open myself up to different ideas. It pains me to see Sid having to defend his beliefs. It shouldn’t matter to other people what he believes. Just like it shouldn’t matter to other people what I believe.

But we’ve gotten to be experts at policing the thoughts and beliefs of others. To what end? What good has come from it?

Has it made anyone happier? Has it improved anyone’s life? What good has come from it? Nope. Nadda. None.

Evolve or Die: How IT Can Damage Your Company

By Carl

On April 30, 2015

In Links and Quotes

Recently I had a customer come to me with an HR problem – it was a bit odd, I admit, until they explained it to me. Due to their company’s policy of not offering Mac as a choice of computing platform for their employees, they’d had prospective employees turn down job offers and go to competing companies because they could not use the platform of their choice to get their job done. They also had seen an uptick in IT training spend due to new employees who were fresh out of college having never used Windows before. Let that sink in for a minute – employees that had never used Windows before. I thought it was an interesting problem and having given it some thought, there’s a few very good reasons as to why this has happened.

Source: Evolve or Die: How IT Can Damage Your Company | Nerdily

This entire piece sums up perfectly how large IT infrastructures are being left.

The very first paragraph of the post is true and if you don’t think it is, you’re deluding yourself.

Times change, users do, users can, and if you tell them, “no,” they’re simply going to see where you erected the last fence post and do an end-run around it.

I added the emphasis because this is such an important point. If you put up arbitrary roadblocks in front of people trying to get work done, they’ll find another way. The example has been 100% true in every organization I’ve ever worked in support.

For example, does your organization attempt to block services like Dropbox, Google Drive and iCloud? Very likely. Do you have an internal cloud so that users get that cloud functionality? Very likely not. In that case, I can guarantee that your corporate data is on Dropbox, Google Drive, iCloud and other services outside of your control.

In 2015, you can’t block services that help people get their work done and not offer a solution of your own. All of this is being done while asking more and more of people.

Blackberries and smart phones tether people to their corporate responsibilities longer and later in the day. Telework, laptops and VPNs mean working from everywhere, anytime goes from a luxury to an unspoken requirement.

Before, I worked at a place where Macs, Linux, Irix, Unix and Windows all worked in harmony to support an overall mission. Now, I’m in a place that views anything outside of Blackberries and Dells as alien technologies. I’d forgotten how limiting it is to try to pretend half a world of technology doesn’t exist.

My new role is no longer straight IT Support. I describe it as part event planning, part troubleshooting and part evangelism. And everyday I have struggles with technology here. I realize I am one of the edgiest edge cases because I work directly with all parts of the agency where I am. And it’s clearly not setup for that.

It’s 2015 and I’m still fighting battles in trying to move 1GB files across our network to other agencies. I’ve done my part in working around the limitations of my job to better serve my customers. But it’s a struggle that shouldn’t exist.