Kyle Ohme — In the life of a dot com

Today Marks the 8th annual System Administrator Day!

The idea for System Administrator Day was inspired by a print ad for a Hewlett-Packard laser jet printer.  The ad showed lines of employees bringing gifts for the IT guy who made the purchase.

System Administrators, in short, manage the computers systems, servers, network, data and all other tasks associated with making sure a company’s computer system is working properly.  SysAdminDay.com provides this explanation:  “…To take the staggering array of technologies, acronyms, protocols, networks, vendors, budgets, limited time, competing products, and threats to the computing network, assemble them all together in a working system. Their job is not only to be the geek in the corner who types all day. What they’re doing is bringing these diverse pieces of technology into order, and fitting them together to fill your needs at work and home; to translate the world of computing into human terms.”

So when you think of a sysadmin, think of the people who run the servers that help you clean it off, the people who run your backups to make sure your data is safe, the people who bring you the network, the people who monitor it for security — and yes, the person who cleans the virus off your computer and replaces your monitor.

http://www.sysadminday.com/aboutus.html

A guide for all employees on the proper use of your System Administrators time.
http://www.sysadminday.com/time.html

A little humor celebrating System Admin Day.

=)

I must have been under a rock for the past year, this is the first time that I have heard of a product like this.  I’m actually very amazed on how practical this could be in many scenarios. 

I have no shortage of PC’s running in my house (MAME, 2 Laptops, Media Center, Desktop and Server) so for me its harder to justify other then the geek factor.  (I have spent $100 in worse ways in the past).

I would guess the perfect scenario would be the individual with a laptop they take with them all day.  This device would sit on the network and continue the download even when the laptop is gone.

engadget has a nice write up on it.

The BitTorrent and HTTP / FTP server clients all reside in the box and are accessible through your web browser, allowing you to engage in all sorts of energy-saving activities — like downloading lots of “films” without the need for any computers around. According to the review, the whole package can be yours for around $100. Of course, you can get all the thrilling details if you simply hit the read link.

The AirLive WMU-6500FS BitTorrent NAS gets reviewed

I would guess this will be on my xmas list this year (hint-hint)

I have to pass this one on - its just way to funny to keep to myself.  So, for all of the A-Team fans still around - this one is for you.

“Mr. T1″ is a bandwidth meter detector that runs as a standalone, cross-platform (OSX, Linux, Windows) application. The project constantly checks the current speed of the connected network and if it reaches that of a standard T1 line (1.5mbit/sec) or higher then a Mr.T sound sample is triggered in the form of “I Pity The Fool” or one of Mr.T’s other various sayings. The project playfully examines the metaphorical connection between fictional characters from mainstream entertainment media and the naming conventions of modern communication systems such as the Internet.

Mr. T1 on Make.com

As many may know PDF spam seems to be taking the place of image spam in the last few weeks.  Increased amounts of email containing an attached PDF are tricking end-users into opening the message and attachment.

I was recently asked by Cara Garretson of Network World to comment on the changed landscape and she wrote a nice article titled “Image spam declining, PDF spam set to take its place” 

“Simply attaching a PDF to an e-mail and randomizing the size and name of the title, to me, does not seem all that impressive, but it seems to be working,” says Kyle Ohme, director of technology with W3i.com, an interactive marketing services provider.

“I’m interested to see how far this will go, as some may start to use some of the more advanced functions of Adobe to place beacons and other tracking mechanisms that have become limited in the past years,” Ohme says.

The link to her article can be found here: InfoWorld

Interesting article on the competitiveness of the IT industry sponsored by Business Software Alliance. 

Overall, the paper compares 64 countries in all areas of the world to index their competitiveness.

Top rated countries:
* United States
* Japan
* South Korea
* United Kingdom

The full report can be found here:
Full Report