Richard St. John answers “What leads to success?”

Published on December 11, 2011

I found this on TED.com. Richard John has interviewed 500 successful people (like Bill Gates and Rupert Murdoch) and asked them “What leads to success?”.

He explains in 3.5 minutes that to be successful you need these 8 points:

  1. Passion, do it for love not money.
  2. Work, work really hard.
  3. Good, you have to be damn good at what you do.
  4. Focus, focus on one thing.
  5. Push, you must be pushed physically and mentally.
  6. Serve, serve others something of value.
  7. Ideas, follow a good one.
  8. Persist, even through failure.

More info on ‘Success Analyst’ Richard St. John:
http://www.ted.com/speakers/richard_st_john.html

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Seth Godin: This is broken

Published on November 20, 2011

Excellent talk I found on TED.com on why things are broken by Seth Godin ~ http://www.sethgodin.com

Seven reasons why things suck

  1. Not my job
  2. Selfish jerks
  3. The world changed
  4. I didn’t know
  5. I’m not a fish
  6. Contradictions
  7. Broken on purpose

More info:

http://www.ted.com/speakers/seth_godin.html

This Is Broken website (new version): http://goodexperience.com

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Surprise you need a Client Access License!

Published on November 20, 2011

There is a safe in the office where I work. Inside it, among valuables like petty cash and sensitive documents, are our CAL’s from Microsoft. We had to buy them when we upgraded the Windows Small Business 2008 Server.

What is a Client Access License?

“A CAL is not a software product; rather, it is a license that gives a user the right to access the services of the server.” – Definition from Microsoft

A CAL is a piece of paper you are legally required to have purchased for each individual user which will be connected to your Windows Domain at one time. They came in brown envelopes and are size A4.

When we upgraded in early 2011 they cost us £60 each. 5 came “free” with SBS and the rest we bought from a Microsoft reseller. Currently $168 for a pack of 5 on Amazon.

There is a second kind of license, Device Client Access License. This is so that if you have more computers than people then you save by getting CAL’s otherwise if there are more people than computers its cheaper to use DCAL’s.

Paradigm shift

Our most recent upgrade was the first time we were required to purchase licenses in this way. It marks a paradigm shift; the software, even though it has a financial cost, has no value. The value (for Microsoft) is in licensing on a per user or device basis. Whats messed up is that both Small Business Server and the Licenses cost money despite one being totally worthless.

This came as a surprise. For the previous version this was not required and there were no extra costs. But thats tough luck for anyone dependent on propitiatory tech.

Even better the latest version of SBS comes with a “Vista Home Premium” style Essentials edition which only supports 25 clients but doesn’t require CAL’s. Thats pretty dumb because as soon as you’re business grows above 25 then you need an upgrade and at least 20 CAL’S to go with it.

Proprietary Madness

By purchasing SBS 2008 we got Windows Server, Exchange (office file sharing and email) and 5 CAL’s. We purchased more packs of CALS so now 30 computers can join the domain. Legally that is, technically nothing stops you.

The majority of companies are dependent on Microsoft products. So are all our schools (in the UK) and government.. but why?! The most common reason I’ve heard when debating/arguing a switch is that “its the industry standard” or you get technical support with Windows and any employee we hire will know how to use it.

Alternative Operating Systems

Windows is not the only OS and it is not the most fit for purpose. Seriously, if you are willing to buy software and licenses for each user/device every 4-5 years, just so your company can share files and use email, then good luck to you.

 

I recommend the Ubuntu distribution of Linux.

 

More info:

http://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/633184-cals-wtf/

http://www.microsoft.com/licensing/about-licensing/client-access-license.aspx

http://blog.montopolis.com/2008/03/05/microsoft-windows-server-user-cal-versus-device-cal/

http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/10things/10-things-you-should-know-about-microsoft-small-business-server-2011/2339

http://www.eweekeurope.co.uk/news/government-cost-cutting-strategy-embraces-open-source-25311

 

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Lectures on Computer Programming from Stanford University

Published on November 19, 2011

Stanford University is brilliant.

Hundreds of their lectures, entire computer science modules, have been uploaded to Youtube!

Programming Paradigms (CS 107)
27 Lectures
Languages: C, C++, assembly, Python, Scheme.
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9D558D49CA734A02

Programming Abstractions (CS 106B)
27 Lectures
Languages: C++
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFE6E58F856038C69

Programming Methodology (CS 106A)
28 Lectures
Languages: Java
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL84A56BC7F4A1F852

 

Also of interest:

Introduction to Robotics (CS 223A)
16 Lectures
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL65CC0384A1798ADF

Machine Learning (CS 229)
20 Lectures
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLA89DCFA6ADACE599

 

Above are just the play lists related to writing software, theres a few more subjects but also talks and debates. One good talk is The Future of Robotics and Artificial Intelligence.

Stanford University Youtube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/StanfordUniversity

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Change interface in ntop and jsvnstat

Published on November 1, 2011

At work I built a router box to monitor network traffic. Its just an older PC running Ubuntu server and uses vnStat and ntop. Both tools have website front ends so I can check the logs from another maching over LAN.

old pc now running ubuntu

The default setting for most monitoring tools is to look at eth0. I set the box up in such a way I needed eth1 to be monitored. Below are the config files you need to edit.

Jsvnstat is a javascript front end for vnStat.

vnStat & jsvnstat – http://<ROUTER-ADDRESS>/jsvnstat/
/etc/vnstat.conf
/var/www/jsvnstat/settings.php

Ntop – http://<ROUTER-ADDRESS>:3000/<HOST-ADDRESS>.html
/var/lib/ntop.cfg


Router box tutorial ~
How to build a Linux Router, Linux Format magazine

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Quickly copy a PostgreSQL database

Published on October 10, 2011

Often I need to create copies of databases so I can test a new stored procedure or if what I’m doing could get in the way of other developers.

The easiest way I’ve found to make a personal clone of a PostgreSQL database is by command line using psql, pg_dump and pg_restore. First back up the database using dump, create a new database in psql then restore the dump file to the newly created database.

 

$ sudo -u postgres pg_dump -Fc coolProject > coolProject.dump
$ sudo -u postgres psql
psql (8.4.8)
Type "help" for help.

postgres=# create database coolProjectClone;
CREATE DATABASE
postgres=# \q
$ sudo -u postgres pg_restore -d coolProjectClone coolProject.dump

 

psql – http://linux.die.net/man/1/psql
‘sudo -u postgres…’ means run this command as the postgres user.
‘postgres’ – the datbases user (set at install as default).

pg_dump – http://www.postgresql.org/docs/8.4/static/app-pgdump.html
-Fc creates a ‘custom format’ which is compatible with pg_restore, see the postgres docs for more info.

pg_restore – http://www.postgresql.org/docs/8.4/static/app-pgrestore.html
 -d database name
-s restore schema only and don’t insert the data
-t restore only this table

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