IT Insights Blog

Besides LabSim, the folks over at TestOut are known for their fun-loving natures. The company holds an annual bowling event (that is hotly contested); goes running, biking, and hiking together each summer; tackles cooperative fitness challenges; and sits down to a classy Christmas party where everyone is puttin’ on the Ritz.

It's the end of National Cyber Security Awareness Month as we know it. Do you feel fine? Once every year, there are four weeks set aside on the calendar for those of us in IT — and, really, for all people everywhere — to focus on the importance of both improving our knowledge of information security best practices, and improving our actual implementation of said best practices. Your passwords, for example, aren't going to change themselves.

It's been a good long while since the age of imperial Rome, and even longer since the halcyon years when the empire bestrode the ancient western world and the decrees of its rulers were law. The best known of the ancient Romans were figures of enormous historical consequence. Even great world powers only last so long, of course, and the rulers of the late empire were often forgettable in their own time, and have been almost entirely forgotten in ours.

I recently returned from Austin, Texas, where I attended my first tech conference — SpiceWorld, the “most happenin’ tech conference around!” I admit, it was a lot of fun; three jam-packed days rubbing shoulders with thousands of IT pros, dozens of sponsoring vendors, hundreds of tech marketers and all the networking one could handle. There were a plethora of learning opportunities for energetic and eager IT professionals looking to hone their skills and insights with break-out classes on more IT topics than I knew existed.

There's a contest of sorts currently underway in which cities large and small, scattered across the United States from sea to shining sea, are desperately seeking to outdo each other in courting the favor of one of America's most dynamic companies. Everything e-tailer Amazon, which has numerous other ventures under its corporate umbrella, will soon choose from among its many suitors a city or county to serve as the site of its second U.S. headquarters.