Modern information systems are quite complex. Their complexity is largely due to the intricacies of the data being processed within them. The complexity of the data often lies in the variety of data models used. For example, when data becomes 'big', one of the troublesome characteristics is not only its volume ('volume'), but also its variety ('variety'). If you don’t yet find a flaw in this reasoning, then […]
When people hear the word 'cryptography,' some might think of their WiFi password, the green padlock next to their favorite website's address, and how difficult it is to access someone else's email. Others might recall the series of vulnerabilities from recent years with alarming abbreviations (DROWN, FREAK, POODLE…) and stylish logos, accompanied by urgent warnings to update their browser. Cryptography encompasses all of this, but the essence lies elsewhere. It resides in the delicate balance between […]
Geoff Huston, chief researcher engineer at the internet registrar APNIC, predicted that IPv4 addresses would run out by 2020. In this new series of materials, we will refresh information about how the addresses were depleted, who still has them, and why this happened. / Unsplash / Loïc Mermilliod Why Addresses Are Running Out Before delving into the story of how the pool was 'drying out' […]
The source code of the BlazingSQL SQL engine, which utilizes GPUs to accelerate data processing, has been announced. BlazingSQL is not a full DBMS, but rather positioned as an engine for analyzing and processing large datasets, comparable in its tasks to Apache Spark. The code is written in Python and is open under the Apache 2.0 license. BlazingSQL is suitable for executing single analytical queries on […]
The developers of the OpenBSD project have announced the release of the portable edition of the LibreSSL 3.0.0 package, which is the fork of OpenSSL aimed at providing a higher level of security. The LibreSSL project focuses on effectively supporting SSL/TLS protocols by removing unnecessary features, adding additional security measures, and undergoing significant cleaning and reworking of the codebase. The release of LibreSSL 3.0.0 is considered experimental, in which […]
The Webalizer utility and Google Analytics tool helped me for many years to get an idea of what happens on websites. Now I understand that they provide very little useful information. With access to my access.log file, figuring out statistics is very simple and requires only basic tools such as sqlite, html, SQL, and any scripting […]
We often discuss energy-saving opportunities in data centers through thoughtful equipment placement, optimal cooling, and centralized power management. Today, we will talk about how to save energy in the office. Unlike data centers, electricity in offices is needed not only for equipment but also for people. Therefore, achieving a PUE ratio here around […]
This is a completely useless, impractical, yet amusing little post about directories in *nix systems. It’s Friday after all. During interviews, boring questions about inodes and everything-is-a-file often arise, which few can answer sensibly. But if you dig a little deeper, you can find some interesting things. To understand the post, here are a few points: everything is a file. A directory is also […]
At the end of July, developers released the long-awaited version of one of the best content management systems—Plone. Plone is a Python-based CMS using the Zope application server. Unfortunately, it is relatively unknown in the post-Soviet space, but widely used in educational, governmental, and scientific circles worldwide. This is the first release fully compatible with Python 3, and work on […]
If I were to award a Nobel Prize to Jean Tirole, I would do so for his game-theoretical analysis of reputation, or at least include that in the description. I think it’s one of those cases where our intuition aligns well with the model, even though it's hard to validate that model. It falls into the category of models that are difficult or impossible to verify and falsify. But the idea seems completely […]
A collection of interesting statistical facts inspired by posts from my Telegram channel Groks. The research results described below once changed my perception of venture capital and the startup environment. I hope these observations will be useful for you too, especially for those who view capital from the perspective of founders. 1. The startup industry is fading in the face of globalization. Young companies aged less than […]
The biggest transport problem in St. Petersburg is the bridges. At night, you have to rush out of the pub before finishing your beer because of them. Or pay twice the usual taxi fare. In the morning, you need to carefully calculate your time so that as soon as the bridge opens, you can quickly make it to the station like a nimble mongoose. The option of ‘staying somewhere in the center near the station’ is not […]