Category Archives: Computer and Internet

Does per-incident support make sense in the cloud?

Posted on November 4, 2017 by halberenson

Although I haven’t looked at this deeply I know that AWS, and it appears Azure as well, only offer subscription-based support models.  On-premises Microsoft offers both subscription-based models and per-incident support.  So does per-incident support make sense in the cloud?  … Continue reading →

Posted in Amazon, Cloud, Computer and Internet, Microsoft | Tagged , | 2 Comments

A newfangled buggy whip is still a buggy whip

Posted on October 28, 2017 by halberenson

One of the downsides of falling in love with a technology is that you miss it, really really miss it, at times when it isn’t available to you. Take your smartphone. I wonder how many people have popped a Xanax … Continue reading →

Posted in Computer and Internet, Mobile | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on A newfangled buggy whip is still a buggy whip

Sonos and Alexa, now for Niles…

Posted on October 12, 2017 by halberenson

It seems like I’m on a continuous journey of how to play music at home.  It all started when we built our ranch back in 2003-2004 and I had the bright idea of doing a whole-house A/V system.  Our timing … Continue reading →

Posted in Amazon, Computer and Internet, Home Entertainment | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

Finally a Brand New WINDOWS PHONE!

Posted on September 13, 2017 by halberenson

Ok, I lied.  There is no Windows Phone, this is about the Apple iPhone X.  It isn’t even about the iPhone X, it is about clairvoyance.  One of the signature features of the iPhone X is Windows Hello.  Oh, sorry, … Continue reading →

Posted in Cloud, Computer and Internet, Linux and Android, Microsoft, Mobile, Windows Phone | 5 Comments

CUJO Firewall: Approach with Caution

Posted on September 3, 2017 by halberenson

In my previous post I did an introduction to whole-home Internet security.  For the last few months I’ve been trying to get one of the early devices in this category, the CUJO working.  I have now tried CUJO in two … Continue reading →

Posted in Computer and Internet, Security | Comments Off on CUJO Firewall: Approach with Caution

Whole-home Internet Security

Posted on September 3, 2017 by halberenson

Over the next several months I’ll be returning to blogging about one of my favorite topic areas, Internet Security and Privacy.  For this post I’ll do some background on the new generation of whole-home internet security devices.  Then I’ll do … Continue reading →

Posted in Computer and Internet, Security | 2 Comments

Maybe Consumer Reports is right about the Microsoft Surface family

Posted on August 20, 2017 by halberenson

I’ve been watching all the uproar, and denial, from Consumer Reports (CR) dropping its recommendation of Microsoft’s Surface line, but I have to tell you I think CR might be on to something.  Sure there are plenty of power users … Continue reading →

Posted in Computer and Internet, Microsoft | Tagged , | 8 Comments

Does Intentional finally have clear intent?

Posted on April 18, 2017 by halberenson

Reminder: This represents personal views, not those of my employer Almost 16 years ago, while at Microsoft, I was asked to take a look at the work Charles Simonyi was doing on Intentional Programming (IP) to see if I could find … Continue reading →

Posted in Computer and Internet, Microsoft | 2 Comments

The beauty of Amazon RDS Multi-AZ

Posted on April 3, 2016 by halberenson

I’m working on a blog post that tracks advances in high availability from the 1950s until today.  It will be way too long for most to read, but I’ll eventually finish writing it since it amuses me.  In the mean … Continue reading →

Posted in Amazon, Cloud, Computer and Internet, Database, SQL Server | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

Amazon RDS Customers: Update Your SSL Certificates by March 23, 2015

Posted on March 18, 2015 by halberenson

Amazon RDS customers who use SSL to connect to their databases should read this post on the AWS Security Blog.  X.509 certificate expiration may not be a topic database professionals typically worry about, but in this case you need to.

Posted in Computer and Internet | Comments Off on Amazon RDS Customers: Update Your SSL Certificates by March 23, 2015