Predictions are hard to make in any area of life, however short term forecasting is not impossible. Ask a meteorologist for the weather in the next twenty-four hours and you will get a fairly accurate prediction. Ask for the outlook over the next 30 days and you will...
Engineering Operations
7 Ways to Fight Feature Creep
I was recently involved in a project in which the goal was to streamline and automate a manual software deployment process using Electric Cloud's product ElectricCommander. The Scope of Work was laid out, development was underway, and my coworker and I felt very...
Alternative Ways to Deploy Web Services Other Than the Cloud
During 2012, the shining star for cloud services has once again been Amazon’s web service (AWS) offering. It success and popularity has made it an almost household name for cloud based web services. However AWS, or any other web services cloud offering, isn't the only...
Gain Greater Insight into Storage Device Operation with HD Tune
This week we have a look at HD Tune, which analyzes and benchmarks storage devices. HD Tune can be used on either hard disk drives (HDD) or solid state drives (SSD), which allows for comparisons between these different types of devices. Here are some useful features...
Are you Paying too much for your Application Licenses?
Unfortunately, it is all too common for companies to overspend on their software licensing. It can be easily done, especially if licensing is handled in an ad-hoc or de-centralized manner. A license is need by one part of the business and so a bundle of licenses is...
How to Setup rsnapshot and rsync to Make Simple Snapshot Backups
Most enterprise-grade network storage systems allow you to take "snapshots" of the filesystem stored on it so you can quickly restore a single file or directory...or even restore the entire filesystem to that point in time if need be. So, what do you do if you're a...
Remember Everything with Evernote!
Evernote has changed my life for the better since I first tried it out a month ago. I have spent much of my life wishing I could keep a little notebook on me at all times to record odd bits of information that I think I might like to remember. Little things. When...
How to Ramp Up Your New Product Development While Servicing Your Existing Customers
To succeed in any market, a company needs to innovate, pioneer and push out the borders. The recent one-year anniversary of the death of Steve Jobs reminds of one of the tech industries greatest comeback stories. Apple's key to success, other than the charisma of Jobs...
Outsourcing of Vital IT Tasks to Grow in 2013
In 2013, roughly one third of businesses will increase their IT outsourcing budgets. Chief Information Officers and CEOs, from small businesses to large enterprises, are planning to up their spending on the outsourcing of web/e-commerce platforms, application...
Troubleshoot Common Application & Network Issues with tcpdump
Here's a common situation: you manage an application; you haven't gone through a release; no patches have been applied (to your knowledge); and the infrastructure guys say that they haven't touched the network in ages. But a user calls, and to your...
5 Reasons You Want Windows 8 Now
Enjoying Windows 8, yet? I had been running Developer Builds and Consumer Previews for some time; I was super excited when I finally upgraded to the Windows 8 Pro Release build (for a promotional $15, I might add). Despite recently writing a guide on accessing...
Top 5 How-to Posts of 2012
The need and desire to learn, understand and develop skills in new areas applies equally to all aspects of daily life including the use and mastering of technology. To this end, how-to tutorials continue to be a fantastic tool for passing on key information. How-to...