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Introduction Tech Topics from the Web is in Holiday mode! We're sharing fun, interactive, and educational links for you and your family to enjoy. As a parting gift, we hope that our third link, from the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR), will help raise environmental awareness. Enjoy and have a great holiday season!   ASCII Theater   Type: Art and Culture   URL: https://ascii.theater/ Are you a movie buff? What’s the last movie you watched? What’s the size of your TV, and what technology does it use to render those fantastical images. Do you have a soundbar or a full surround sound system? Well, it might be time to call in the recyclers, because we’ve got something a little different for you: the ASCII Theater, the next-gen (or maybe retro-gen?) streaming service! Forget high-definition. ASCII Theater delivers movies in text characters. Think The Matrix on an old-school CRT monitor from the 1980s. And get this—there’s no sound! You'll h...

Clarification There are many ways to distribute Python solutions, and this describes one method. For more information on alternatives, jump to the end of this article. Assumptions [DEV] and [PROD] are used to represent the development and production environments. The code is transferred from the [DEV] to the [PROD] environment. The solution will be run when no one is logged into the computer (via Windows Task Scheduler). Also, the [PROD] environment is a server environment where certain restrictions may apply. The account of the installer may differ from the account running the code. A requirements.txt file was created on the [DEV] side. If you are not familiar with this file and its purpose, visit https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/python-requirementstxt-explained/. The command is: pip freeze > requirements.txt During development, unused packages can accumulate in requirements.txt . This can occur, for instance, when evaluating similar packages. These redundant packages i...

Introduction The technology landscape has witnessed a whirlwind of hype-driven innovations, many of which have subsequently faded into obscurity. Cryptocurrency, blockchain, virtual reality, and the Internet of Things once captivated the world’s imagination, but their initial fervor has waned.   Shifting Focus While the early 2000s were preoccupied with miniaturization, recent years have seen a dramatic shift, primarily fueled by advancements in cloud computing and artificial intelligence. These technologies have revitalized the tech industry, reshaping the way businesses operate and individuals interact with technology. Cloud Computing: The Backbone of Modern Technology Cloud computing has fundamentally transformed the business landscape. By enabling remote data storage and processing, it fosters collaboration and efficiency. The rise of Software as a Service (SaaS) has democratized access to powerful software solutions, empowering startups and small businesses. Moreover, cl...

Obsolescence Management is the process of identifying, mitigating, and managing the risks associated with the obsolescence of materials, components, processes, skills, and software throughout the lifecycle of a product or system. It involves planning for and managing the entire lifecycle of a product or system, from design to end-of-life thereby ensuring that products remain functional and supportable despite the inevitable changes in technology and market conditions. How Obsolescence Comes About Obsolescence can occur due to several factors: Technological Advancements : New technologies can render existing ones obsolete. Business Changes : Existing solutions no longer meets current functional requirements or standards. Furthermore, newer solutions may be cheaper to operate than existing ones. Availability of skills : The skills needed to operate and keep systems operational no longer exist or are hard to find. Supply-chain issues : Suppliers may go out of business or st...

In a quaint garden nestled amidst an array of vibrant vegetables, a small courgette seed lay in the earth next to its siblings. One day, it noticed a garden fairy who had come to visit. The courgette caught the fairy's attention, and when asked, "What would you wish for most?", the courgette replied in its gentle voice, "Make my children the biggest and tallest there ever was!" 🎃✨ The fairy said to the courgette, "Very well. But remember, every gift has its price. I can help make your dream come true, but you will only have one child, unlike your brothers and sisters who will have many." The courgette eagerly accepted this wish. With a sprinkle of stardust, the fairy instructed it to live a healthy lifestyle: drink up every drop of water it could find, stretch its leaves wide to soak up every ray of sunshine, and only eat unprocessed nutrients from the soil. 🌱☀️ Before long, the courgette had grown massive, towering over all the other vegetables in t...

Maintenance and Snapshots Another step has been added to the Proxmox-NUT HomeLab HowTo (PNHH) project, focusing on maintenance and introducing snapshots. Password used throughout this HowTo: 1234..qwertY Update Debian Proxmox automatically checks for updates by default, covering both Debian and itself. If you do nothing, the system will update itself. However, I prefer to perform periodic updates to my HomeLab setup. This approach allows me to ensure no events are missed and gives me the opportunity to restart the system periodically. For production environments, the needs will differ. A stricter and more formal regime would be in place to monitor and manage Proxmox, along with its VMs and containers. Production environments may also have multiple nodes that replicate one another, allowing for a node to be taken down without impacting users. Others may achieve this through High Availability (HA) configurations. This discussion is outside the scope of this step. As mentioned, I ...

We've all experienced adolescence. For some, it may have been relatively recent, while for others, teenage years are a distant memory. Some of us are parents or guardians of teenagers, keeping the experience fresh in our minds, albeit from a different perspective. Teenagers typically go through a phase of questioning and challenging everything. As the teen years fade into the rear-view mirror of time, we become satisfied with everything around us; we become complacent. In today's electronically connected world, our digital lives are integral to our existence. Our digital footprint encompasses both government-operated and commercial systems. Without the digital tokens that represent us, we cannot access or consume countless services critical to our daily lives. The proliferation of our digital presence across computer systems has given rise to a criminal industry that trades in information stolen from systems or the hijack of the same. This lucrative form of crime can be perp...