Category Archives: Uncategorized

U.S. and China race to shield secrets from quantum computers.

The encryption guarding digital communications could someday be cracked by quantum computers. Dubbed ‘Q-day,’ that moment could upend military and economic security worldwide. Great powers are sprinting to get there first. In February, a Canadian cybersecurity firm delivered an ominous forecast to the U.S. Department of Defense. America’s secrets – actually, everybody’s secrets – areContinue reading “U.S. and China race to shield secrets from quantum computers.”

How organizations can keep cloud costs under control.

Cloud spend is on the rise, and so is cloud waste. Here’s how to keep them down. The sky’s the limit for public end-user cloud spending—a recent Gartner report projected worldwide spend will hit almost $700 billion in 2024. That explosion in cloud-related expenditures is driving tensions between tech departments and finance leaders antsy about spiraling costs.Continue reading “How organizations can keep cloud costs under control.”

How thermal management is changing in the age of the kilowatt chip.

Air cooling holdouts take notice, the fun stuff is all liquid. As Moore’s Law slowed to a crawl, chips, particularly those used in AI and high-performance computing (HPC), have steadily gotten hotter. In 2023 we saw accelerators enter the kilowatt range with the arrival of Nvidia’s GH200 Superchips. We’ve known these chips would be hotContinue reading “How thermal management is changing in the age of the kilowatt chip.”

Injection of “smart insulin” regulates blood glucose levels for one week.

Tests in animals show the material works like the body’s own system. People with type I diabetes have to inject themselves multiple times a day with manufactured insulin to maintain healthy levels of the hormone, as their bodies do not naturally produce enough. The injections also have to be timed in response to eating andContinue reading “Injection of “smart insulin” regulates blood glucose levels for one week.”

WTF is ASPM?

Analyzing the current state of ASPM and its future. Application Security Posture Management (ASPM) is the latest Gartner-fueled buzzword to take over cybersecurity, but no one knows exactly what it is. On the one hand, it’s a fancy name for vulnerability management: helping ingest and prioritize vulnerabilities from third-party tools. On the other hand, it’sContinue reading “WTF is ASPM?”

Shampoo, dead lizards, and other unexpected happenings at the help desk.

IT pros who began at the help desk share stories of some memorable requests. Who says the help desk is just a place for young IT professionals to do password resets all day? The help desk can be a career-stop full of adventure—with repetitive and reptilian questions. IT pros who started their careers at theContinue reading “Shampoo, dead lizards, and other unexpected happenings at the help desk.”

The unfortunate math behind consulting companies.

Hiring even one person creates a lot less profit than you’d think, and launching a product rarely works out. Here are some tips for consulting companies. Consulting can be a great way to fund a startup or make a bunch of cash. It’s easy to start; Just pick an hourly rate and jump in. ThereContinue reading “The unfortunate math behind consulting companies.”

Want to Build? Technical Excellence Won’t Be Enough.

This new era of startups requires a founder baptized in the humanities. “Technology alone is not enough—it’s technology married with liberal arts, married with the humanities, that yields us the results that make our heart sing.” I’ve been reflecting on this quote from Steve Jobs, which he said during the unveiling of the iPad 2 in 2011,Continue reading “Want to Build? Technical Excellence Won’t Be Enough.”

Advice for new software devs who’ve read all those other advice essays.

From a person who really shouldn’t be giving others advice. Someone recently asked me if I had advice for early-career programmers. At first, I thought this was a silly question. I only entered the programming world a few years ago; many of my newsletter subscribers have been programming for longer than I’ve been alive! ThenContinue reading “Advice for new software devs who’ve read all those other advice essays.”