TRENDnet recently released an innovative new solution that creates dead-spot-free home Wi-Fi by leveraging a home's existing electrical system. TRENDnet's WiFi Everywhere Powerline 1200 AV2 Access Point adapter, model TPL-430AP, uses existing electrical lines to create a wired home network and doubles as an access point to deliver a wireless signal from nearly any power outlet. The adapter supports Powerline 1200 networking with a built-in dual-band wireless AC1200 access point and features MIMO with Beamforming technology to enhance performance and range. WiFi Clone support duplicates one's existing wireless network settings, reducing Wi-Fi setup time from minutes to just seconds. Powerline range functions up to 984 feet (300m) over existing electrical lines.
Two new NETGEAR, Inc., Power-Over-Ethernet (PoE) switches feature a novel “Virtually Anywhere” mounting system that delivers modern high-power PoE+ to devices that others cannot. The mounting system on the two models—the ProSAFE 8-port Gigabit Ethernet Web Managed PoE+ Click Switch (GSS108EPP) and the ProSAFE Easy-Mount 8-port Gigabit Ethernet PoE+ Web Managed Switch (GS408EPP)—offers ultimate flexibility in placement so that PoE+ ports are available exactly where needed to power WAPs, VoIP phones, IP surveillance cameras and IoT devices. In any orientation, they can be mounted on a wall, strapped to a pole or tucked under a desk or tabletop. In addition, the GS408EPP's unique design allows for two switches to be mounted in a single 1U rack slot, saving valuable rack space while allowing for future expansion. Both switches also provide configurable, advanced Layer 2 network features.
Minifree Ltd.—doing business as “Ministry of Freedom”—exists mainly for reasons Linuxers will like: to make it easier for people to get computers that respect their freedom and privacy, and to provide funding for a meaningful project, called Libreboot. Minifree describes Libreboot as a free (libre) and open-source BIOS/UEFI replacement that offers faster boot speeds, better security and many advanced features compared to most proprietary boot firmware. Minifree recently announced availability of three computers: the Libreboot C201 laptop, the Libreboot D16 Desktop and Libreboot D16 Server. All come with the Libreboot firmware and Debian GNU+Linux operating system preinstalled and are free of unwanted bloatware, DRM, spyware or restrictions on computer usage rights. The Libreboot C201 laptop is a configurable, lightweight and portable laptop ideal for anyone needing a small, lightweight computer for travel, work or general entertainment purposes. The Libreboot D16 Desktop is a configurable, high-end, business-grade, secure owner-controlled workstation free of backdoors implanted by the NSA and other agencies. Finally, the Libreboot D16 Server is a configurable, high-end, business-grade, secure owner-controlled server, also free of the aforementioned backdoors. Minifree ships its machines worldwide from the United Kingdom.
In William Gurstelle's ReMaking History series from Maker Media, Inc., readers get exponentially closer to the inventors who shaped our modern world compared to other histories of technology. This is because Gurstelle doesn't merely tell the stories of remarkable inventors from the past, he gets into their fascinating minds by illustrating how to make one's own version of the inventor's handiwork. The new Volume 3 of ReMaking History bearing the subtitle Makers of the Modern World explores the early modern era and builds on the earlier two volumes covering pre-modern history to the Industrial Age. In this volume, seven inventors and their technologies—destined to fill basements and garages everywhere—include Alessandro Volta and electroplating; Humphrey Davy and the first electric light; George Cayley and the aeronautical glider; the Lumiere Brothers and the movie projector; Rudolf Diesel and the automobile engine; Hans Goldschmidt and the thermite reaction; August Möbius and the Möbius Strip; and Louis Poinsot and loads, moments and torques.
Watch William Rothwell and Nick Garner's new Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH) Complete Video Course and learn everything you need to know to ace the CEH exam in less than 11 hours. Divided into five modules and containing a complete overview of the topics in the EC-Council Blueprint, Rothwell and Garner's intermediate-level video-training course helps viewers master the essentials needed to pass the exam. The course commences with a general overview of security essentials, followed by an exploration of system, network and web services security, and a dive in to wireless and internet security. To test one's chops, the course offers quizzes, exercises and two full practice exams. By providing the breadth of coverage necessary to learn the full security concepts behind the CEH exam, this video course helps prepare viewers for a career as a security professional.
An important need for today's CIOs is gaining greater granular visibility into hybrid cloud and on-premises environments to maximize the business value of their IT assets. To make progress in this arena, two natural allies—managed cloud services provider HOSTING and hybrid IT monitoring specialist ScienceLogic—teamed up to develop HOSTING Monitoring Insights, an innovative hybrid cloud monitoring solution that delivers “the industry's first holistic and comprehensive view of hybrid cloud environments”. A view into today's situation for many organizations reveals the use of multiple platforms to monitor devices across disparate cloud and on-premises environments. The core customer benefit from Monitoring Insights is capacity to manage the health of critical business processes proactively across the whole environment and significantly reduce the quantity of monitoring tools required. Monitoring Insights is available both directly from HOSTING or through a HOSTING partner, and at various service levels based on customer need.
Historically, data replication has been available only piecemeal through proprietary vendors. In a quest to remediate history, SUSE and partner LINBIT announced a solution that promises to change the economics of data replication. The two companies' collaborative effort is the headliner in the updated SUSE Linux Enterprise High Availability Extension, which now includes LINBIT's integrated geo-clustering technology. Providing a new capability to replicate data across unlimited distances, LINBIT has enhanced SUSE's high availability solution that is built on open-source software and runs on commodity hardware. The LINBIT solution guards against failures or disasters by providing policy-driven mechanisms for customer applications, and data, to continue operations in another geographically dispersed data center. SUSE Linux Enterprise High Availability Extension is an integrated suite of open-source clustering technologies—from LINBIT and others—that enables customers to eliminate single points of failure, thus helping to maintain business continuity, enable compliance, protect data integrity, maintain isolation for multiple tenants and reduce unplanned downtime for mission-critical workloads.
suse.com and linbit.com
Although Linux Journal readers might not equate Milwaukee with tech, a new Briggs & Stratton product portends the bright future of smartened “legacy” devices from the industrial heartland. The Wisconsin-based maker of engines and industrial products recently announced a smarter—and “techier”—way to produce on-demand power in the form of the new Briggs & Stratton 8,000 Watt Elite Series Portable Generator with StatStation Wireless, featuring Bluetooth technology. The accompanying StatStation app for Android and iOS, with support from Bluetooth connectivity, provides valuable remote visibility into key metrics, such as fuel level and remaining runtime, runtime meter, percent of available Watt consumption, maintenance reminders, dealer locator, reference guides and how-to videos.
