Category: Domain Related

December 21, 2021

Domain Related

Reading Time: 4 minutes

There’s the old expression ‘take only what you need’ and it’s good advice to follow in all sorts of situations. It may be followable when you’re at an all-you-can-eat buffet and you’ve eaten all you can, but when it comes the processing power in your computers at home you get what’s given to you when the device was put together. Some people put the entirety of that processing power to work for them, but most people don’t use anywhere near the total of it. And in truth the majority of people may not even know what it is they actually have at their disposal. Some will though, and it’s these people who will want to take note of a new decentralized Internet platform that will let people pay for their apps and services by making their idle computing power available to those who could put it to use. As a quality Canadian web hosting provider, this is something that resonates with us here at 4GoodHosting because like any host we can relate to what it’s like to have real constraints based around this and in the industry there’s been much in the way of roundabout talk along the lines if something like this might become possible someday. It has made a lot of sense for a long time, but like many things it takes time to get the wheels sufficiently in motion to see things start to happen. But that’s what’s happening now with Massive, an app monetization startup that’s set to make some serious waves. Smart Decentralization Massive has just recently closed a $11 million seed round, which will let it move forward with a monetization software development kit that will be able to support the project and move forward with s small yet noteworthy step in decentralizing the internet and making it possible for people to pay for apps using their idle compute power. This is an impressively unique potential solution, one that will benefit the individual consumer but also improve on how app developers and service providers make money for the work they do. As it is now they usually charge users money, and it’s fairly standard...

December 13, 2021

Domain Related

Reading Time: 4 minutes

It has certainly been a while since we’ve had a nasty bug making enough of a stink that it warrants being the subject of one of our weekly blog posts, but here we are again. The good thing has always been that these software vulnerabilities are usually quite limited in the scope of what they’re capable of, and that means they usually don’t get much fanfare and they’re also usually fairly easily dealt with via patches and the like. The problem becomes when the bug is rooting in software that is ubiquitous as far as being used in cloud serves and enterprise software used as much for government as it is in industry. That’s the scenario with the new Log4Shell Software Vulnerability that has the Internet ‘On Fire’ according to those who are qualified to determine whether something is on fire or not. All joking aside, this is apparently a critical vulnerability in a widely used software tool, and – interestingly enough - one that was quickly exploited in Minecraft. But now it emerging as a serious threat to organizations around the world, and here at 4GoodHosting like most quality Canadian web hosting providers we like to keep our people in the know when it comes to anything that’s so far-reaching it might apply to a good number of them. Quick to be Weaponized Cybersecurity firm Crowdstrike is as good as any for staying well on top of these things, and reading what they have to say about Log4Shell is that within 12 hours of the bug announcing itself it’s been fully weaponized. That means that tools have been developed and distributed for the purpose of exploiting it. Apparently all sorts of people are scrambling to patch, but just as many are scrambling to exploit. It’s believed this software flaw may be the worst computer vulnerability to come along in years. As hinted at, it was discovered in a utility that’s ubiquitous in cloud servers and enterprise software used across industry and government. If allowed to continue unchecked it has the potential to enable criminals, spies, pimps and programming novices alike for no-hassle access to internal networks. Once in they...

December 7, 2021

Domain Related

Reading Time: 6 minutes

Android and iOS are definitely two entirely different worlds when it comes to the default choices between mobile devices, and you’d have trouble finding any more than just a few people who don’t take advantage of apps for their smartphones nowadays. Depending on who you are that may be for entertainment or personal pursuit aims, or it may be for making your workdays that much more productive and streamlined. All sorts of possibilities out there for what you can do with apps and it sure is a whole lot different from where we were just 10 or so years ago. Once you’ve got a taste for them it’s hard to go back, and you won’t want to be thwarted in your attempts to get one into your device if you see the need for it. The reason that sideloading apps – installing apps without getting them from office ial sources (namely Android Market or the App Store) – is as popular as it is because both Google and Apple have been fairly free with allowing certain carriers to block certain applications based on model and network. There’s plenty of people with phone only a couple years of old that are already encountering roadblocks, and sideloading the app allows them to get around that. In the bigger picture though it’s not good for the development of better app versions in the future, as those developers don’t get what they should for their work and that’s something we can relate to in a roundabout way as a good Canadian web hosting provider. We certainly know all that goes into allowing people to enjoy the digital connectivity they do nowadays. So not to pick sides, but recent information seems to suggest that sideloading apps for Android is not so bad as it might be for iOS devices. Let’s look at why that is. Privacy & Security Concerns Apple has come right out and made it clear that there’s plenty of evidence indicating sideloading apps through direct downloads and 3rd-party app stores would weaken privacy and security protections that have made their iPhone as secure as it’s been regarded to be all these years....

November 29, 2021

Domain Related

Reading Time: 4 minutes

The promise of what 5G will be capable of doing with regards to revolutionizing the digital world has the entirety of the planet clamouring for it to be rolled out in full as soon as possible. As is the case with any major game-changer though, there’s the potential for collateral damage if that’s not done in a calculated way. Putting airline passengers at risk because of signal interference related to 5G is exactly the type of risk that wouldn’t be acceptable, and that’s why earlier this month Canada’s Department of Innovation, Science, and Economic Development (ISED) introduced restrictions on certain 5G services in and around airports. This is because they would interfere with radio altimeters, which are a very important component of aircraft navigation systems that tell pilots where their planes are relative to Earth. Everyone gets the importance of safety in this regard, but that isn’t going to do much to quell the displeasure for those with a 5G-enabled device who finds themselves in a bind due to something work related in the departure lounge before flying out. Or any other of many different possible scenarios. Here at 4GoodHosting we’re like any other quality Canadian web hosting provider in that we’re as keen as any to dive into what 5G is going to be capable of, and given that the majority of you who’d be reading this are likely to be tech savvy and forward looking in that way too we thought we’d share some positive news with this week’s entry – chip giant Qualcomm may already have a potential work around for this problem that may mean the ISED’s restrictions are going to be short lived. Band Exclusivity is Key What they have developed is a new set of filters called UltraBAW, which are capable of making sure sure C-band receivers and transmitters only work on the C-band. While it is true that such filters already exist, and that existing C-band devices and transmitters already have filters these new filters will have a sharper cut off for frequencies over 3GHz than existing ones. This means the guard bands won’t need to be as broad as there are now...

November 22, 2021

Domain Related

Reading Time: 4 minutes

Safe to say audiophiles of today aren’t cut from the same cloth as those that came well before them, and it’s also true that there’s less of a focus on good and pure sound today than there was even a couple of decades ago. It is whf4at it is, and in fairness all of this has nothing to do with new technological advances related to the devices we love to use or need to use. Where we’re going with this is Solid State receivers - the ones with the tubes inside that would give off a light orange glow when lit with power – delivered clear, crisp, and authoritative sound in a way that lesser receivers couldn’t even come close to. Solid State amplifiers have long been the preferred choice for professional musicians too for the exact same reason. They just sound a whole lot better, and it seems that all the power goodness that comes with Solid State electrical engineering is about to flip reality on its head once again with batteries for digital devices. Mass produced solid-state batteries are going to change everything, and we’re all going to be thrilled with it. Any quality Canadian web hosting provider is going to be able to appreciate what it is to need big power, and look no further than the fact that most of the others will be just like us at 4GoodHosting in that we know what goes into powering massive data centres and the like. That’s macro scale stuff for sure, but there is plenty we already know about these solid-state batteries that are just around the corner and it is really promising stuff for sure. Meeting CPU Needs There is no getting around the fact that even the most power frugal processor is going to put serious demands on battery power. From phones to cars to cameras and beyond, battery power is usually going to be an issue and more of than not because there’s just not enough of it in 1 full charge. Lithium-ion batteries aren’t as safe as they need to be and producing them is nasty for the environment with all the rare earth...

November 15, 2021

Domain Related

Reading Time: 5 minutes

Artificial Intelligence has been a work long in progress, but in recent years we are definitely starting to see it begin to make more of a mark. The capacities of it were never in question, but the speed with which those capacities could be undertaken were sometimes. Not that performance speeds are always necessary with AI-related tasks, but sometimes their speediness is definitely of the essence. For example AI is earmarked for an extensive role in healthcare in the future and that’s one area where both accuracy and quick results are definitely going to be required. Recent AI performance testing results came out over a little more than a month back, and what they’ve shown is that AI is getting faster, and that’s something that is great news for the increasingly digital modern world. The future of it is something that is of great interest to us here at 4GoodHosting, and in the same way it would be for any Canadian web hosting provider who enjoys having an eye on the future and what it will entail for IT and all that grows along with it. This measuring of general AI performance follows the first official set of benchmarks much earlier and lays out 350 measurements of energy efficiency. Most systems measured improved by between 5-30% from previous testing, and some were more than 2x better than their previous performance stats. So what is the significance of this, and what will it mean in relation to development? That’s what we’ll look at here this week. 6-Way Performance Testing This testing involved systems made up of combinations of CPUs and GPUs or other accelerator chips being tested on six different neural networks and performing an array of common functions—image classification, speech recognition, object detection, 3D medical imaging, processing of natural language, and ability to make logical recommendation. Computers meant to work onsite instead of in the data center had their measurements made in the offline state to recreate their receiving a single stream of data to measure against least ideal pathway instances. When it comes to AI accelerator chips used in the tested machines, most notable were software improvements to them...

November 8, 2021

Domain Related

Reading Time: 6 minutes

There’s always been two tribes when it comes to computing device preferences, and you’re either a Mac or a PC. Those who prefer Macs will usually have a long list of reasons why they prefer to them, and some will point out their perception of more solidity when it comes to defending against web-based threats. They’re ones you are not going to be able to steer clear of if you’re accessing the web, and that’s why robust virus threat protection and other types of protection are super important no matter when type of device you’re using. Whether Macs are more secure than PCs certainly hasn’t been proven definitively, and people who prefer PCs will have their own long list of reasons as to why they prefer them. Neither type is completely impervious to threats of these sorts, but recently a lot has been made about the shortcomings of Windows 11 when it comes to device security. Here at 4GoodHosting we are definitely attuned to how this is a top priority for a lot of people, and like any other Canadian web hosting provider we can relate to how it’s not something your brush aside if operating your business means collecting and retaining sensitive data. Which leads us to the good news we’re choosing to dedicate this week’s entry to – there are ways that users can improve threat protection for Windows 11 devices and they are not overly challenging, even for people who aren’t the most tech savvy. Minimal Protection Built In Windows 11 is an upgrade on its predecessor when it comes to devices security, and particularly with TPM and Secure Boot plus the guarantee of future security updates that come with them. The problems is that TPM and Secure boot only protect against two types of threats, and the effectiveness of it is entirely related to hardware configuration. If detection can’t be done based on the signature of the BIOS drivers and their relation to the OS then you’re out of luck when it comes to threat detections. So here are the threats, and what you can do to improve security on a Windows 11 device to defend...

November 1, 2021

Domain Related

Reading Time: 5 minutes

Obsolescence is real, and it’s an unavoidable reality for nearly all type of technology eventually. Even what is especially practical today will likely one day become useless, and as it has often been said ‘you can’t stop progress.’ When it comes to the digital world and the ever-greater demands we have for data storage, the way the Cloud has started physical storage down the road to obsolescence is definitely a good thing, and especially considering that physical data storage comes with a whole whack of costs that go profoundly beyond what it costs to lease the space. The migration from tape storage to cloud has been underway for the better part of 2 decades now, and here at 4GoodHosting we are like any good Canadian web hosting provider in that we know all about the pros and cons of data storage means given the nature of what we do for our customers and the fact that we have 2 major data centers of our own in both Vancouver and Toronto. Cloud storage is the way of the future, and all things considered it 100% is a better choice for data storage. The merits of tape storage for certain types of data continue to exist, however, and in particular it has a lot going for it when it comes to storing petabyte data. If you don’t know what that is, we can explain. You almost certainly know what a gigabyte is, and how there’s 1000 of them in a terabyte. Well, a petabyte is 1,024 terabytes. So needless to say we’re talking about a very large amount of data, but what is that makes tape storage preferable in some instances with this data? Is it just the sheer size of it that is the primary factor? This is what we’ll look at with the week’s entry, and why the use of tape storage resists going entirely extinct. Slow to Dwindle Here in late 2021 only 4% still use tape as their only backup method, and all the while the use of cloud and online backups has gone up to 51%. It is estimated that 15% use a combination of disk and...

October 25, 2021

Domain Related

Reading Time: 8 minutes

151 isn’t the biggest number in the world, but it’s not the smallest either. 10.5 million? That’s a big number indeed and where we are going with this is that there in an ongoing fraud campaign making its way around the web right now called Ultima SMS that people should be made aware of given the sheer scale of it and just how many people could be affected. 151 is the number of Android apps that this campaign has been identified with (so far) and that 10.5 million figure is the number of times those specific apps have been downloaded. Most malware is much more deliberately malicious, but that’s not to take away from the seriousness of Ultima SMS and why people should be made aware of it (and why we’re choosing to make it our subject this week). Here at 4GoodHosting we’re like any good Canadian web hosting provider in that we know that people don’t like surprises when they’re the type that end up costing them more money. That’s what makes the Ultima SMS subscription scam so noteworthy – it upgrades users to premium subscription memberships without them being aware of it. Now the question obviously becomes what would be their gain in doing this. They get a cut from the monies gained by increasing subscription rates involuntarily. Instead let’s look at those very newsworthy scam, as security concerns related to apps downloaded 10+ million times definitely makes it newsworthy. Gone – Just Not Quickly Enough The good news here is that Google wasted no time in removing the apps, but those multi-million downloads have worked out to millions of dollars in fraudulent subscription charges already. The way they drew unsuspecting users to the bait was with discount apps, games, custom keyboards, QR code scanners, video and photo editors, spam call blockers, camera filters, and more. Once one of the affected apps was launched for the first time and using mobile data, the location and IMEI is changed to match the language of the country. The app would then prompt the user to enter their mobile phone number and email address to become aware of the program's features...