April 11, 2022

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Reading Time: 4 minutes

Patience may well be a virtue, but few of us have much of it when we’re doing whatever is we’re doing online. We all remember those ads from years ago when broadband internet was new where they compared the previous super slow speeds as sucking a milkshake through the narrowest of straws. We’re a long way from that, and while the standard 1.5 gigabyte-per second speeds have been quite nice if there’s improvements to be made well then let’s get right to that. Bell is one of the big players as a home broadband internet provider and they are the first to now be making 3 Gbps internet speeds available to Canadian consumers. We don’t need to talk about how this will appeal to people, and the needs for ever-better download and upload speeds is something that those of us here at 4GoodHosting will relate to in the same way any good Canadian web hosting provider would. We are tops for VPS virtual private server web hosting in Canada and we know that is sites like these with dynamic content that will be among the many that are better served this way. People with sites hosted are going to want to have uptime guarantees for sure, but let’s not forget that these faster Internet speeds in Canada are also going to pair exceptionally well with the new 5G networks, and what is most noteworthy there is what that will do for Internet of Things applications and all that is set to do for the welfare of humanity and more. Toronto is Canada’s most populous urban area, so it likely makes sense that the new 3-Gig internet speeds are going to be made available there first. Exciting news for anyone in Hogtown, so let’s use this week’s entry to look into this in greater detail. Sub-30 Seconds Downloading a 10GB file might not have necessarily been daunting in the past, but you would certainly understand you wouldn’t be viewing anything anytime soon. With this new type of high speed internet, it is a whole different story. Bell announced this new plan on April 6th, and as mentioned the fanfare expected for...

April 4, 2022

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Artificial intelligence making possible new computer technologies and businesses If there has been any time in human history where technological advances in computing have come as fast and furious as they have recently, we’re not aware of it and likely you aren’t either. What comes with so much promise also comes with some level of trepidation for people, but that has always been the case with any type of game-changer advance that’s been seen in human society. A.I. is a great example where we wouldn’t even think about slowing the speed of change it is promising but at the same time most of us hope this doesn’t go sideways in any regard. But one aspect of this where the potential positive ramifications absolutely must be encouraged is with making better use of data. This is something that any Canadian web hosting provider will be able to relate to, and here at 4GoodHosting we are no different. We understand the magnitude and potential for data management, but can also relate to a lot of shortcomings in how this data is understood and utilized properly. Which leads us to the topic at hand here today. Advances in AI research have made it so that the use of computer algorithms to differentiate patterns from noise in data is entirely possible, and we now have open-source software and many data scientists streaming into the field. All of this leads to the belief that computer science, statistics, and information technology can lead to a successful AI project with useful outcomes. Teaching humans to think like AI will have value, but will have more of it is teaching AI to understand the value of humans. Deep – and Deeper – Learning for Neural Networks One of the most notable ways deep learning neural networks are being put to use is in healthcare, and specifically with more accurately predicting health outcomes. What we are seeing now is state-of-the-art AI algorithms for predicting health outcomes fairly accurately. This could be for whether a patient should be readmitted to the hospital following a surgery, or any number of other very significant decisions that can be better made by AI...

March 28, 2022

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Two years ago this month was the first time that many of us spend more than a handful of days working remotely from home, and as we’ve learned since then a whole lot of people have remarked how its done very positive things for their lives. At the same time a lot of employers have said they haven’t seen any dip in productivity so – why not? Granted a whole lot of us have returned to the office for at least a portion of the week, but if you are able to continue working from home then a strong and reliable Wi-Fi connection is going to be a must. A report from Cisco that came out early this year has indicated that for a lot of people that lack of reliable internet connection is forcing them to reconsider the home office. There’s no getting around the fact it’s a deal breaker for most people if that can’t be counted on, although there are ways to improve your internet connection that may be doable here provided you aren’t too far out from a major city center. The problem there might be that people have relocated to these quieter locales to now find the internet connection just isn’t good enough. Here at 4GoodHosting we’re like any Canadian web hosting provider in that we can certainly relate to how that has to be all important. There are many of our customers with websites offering creative services and the like and they are among the thousands of Canadians nationwide who are 100% reliant on their internet to be able to work from home. So let’s look at everything this report had to say and perhaps get a look at how we’re maybe not entirely ready to have so many people working from home and demanding more than what can be provided when it comes to reliable Wi-Fi. Broadband Indexing The report is called Cisco’s Broadband Index, and it was a survey of 60,000 workers in 30 countries who provided feedback on their home broadband access, quality, and usage. It has indicated that today people value access to the internet more than ever and believe...

March 21, 2022

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It’s likely that no one who has business interests online will be unaware of the size of risk posed by cyberattacks these days. It seems like there’s a new high-profile, large scale one every month or so now and it shows that even though major corporations are spending plenty on cybersecurity it continues to not be enough depending on the nature of the threat and how advanced it may be. Another aspect of it that the average person may not grasp as readily is the fact these attacks often have repercussions that go far beyond just leaked data itself. The one that maybe doesn’t get talked about enough is reputation, as if you’re big enough to be newsworthy when a cyber attack occurs then you’re big enough to have real interests in how your company is regarded in the big picture. There is definitely a risk to your reputation if a cyber attack of any magnitude occurs and you’re left needing to explain how you didn’t have the right level of security in place. Here at 4GoodHosting we’re like any reputable Canadian web hosting provider in that we fully relate to the need for security, and for businesses like ours that has everything to do with servers. One newer solution that businesses can consider is web filtering and using the new SafeDNS service that promises to reinforce your web security efforts in a big way. That’s what we’ll look at here today and go into greater detail about why it is so highly recommended for anyone who would have a lot to lose if a cyber attack were able to make its way through their current defenses. Thwarting Malware Security has to be a foremost concern for businesses of all sizes, especially with more present risks of malware or others when the business is in the process of growing and expanding. And the number of these threats is growing all the time, and the sophistication of them means keeping your business protected online has never been as challenging as it is now. However, there are smart moves you can make. Moves you should make, if we’re going to be plain...

March 14, 2022

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Uniformity tends to be a good thing the majority of the time, and that can be said no matter what it is we’re talking about. The biggest reason that is true is because it allows people to have expectations about what they’re to experience, and to be able to rely on that experience in and out with every interaction. When it comes to web browsing you don’t even have to be a savvy individual to pick up on how not every page displays or behave the same way based on what browser you’re using. Now of course that would be dependent on you using a different browser, so if you use only one exclusively then this may be something you don’t pick up on. But most of us will move between them for whatever reason, and when we do we notice that it’s rare for pages to be the same based on browser choice. This is something that has been the norm for well over 20 years now, and while it’s not a deal breaker to have this happen there would be something to say for a more consistent web standard. Here at 4GoodHosting we are like any Canadian web hosting provider who can see the appeal of that based on simple visual comfort levels. Even if we are not aware of it there is a calming and soothing part of seeing what we expect to see each time, and we can also understand that if there is any level of new exploration required because a page is displaying / behaving differently then that is definitely undesirable too. So the reason that we’re making this newsworthy is because there is a new 4-way effort underway to establish a more consistent and better web standard. New Standard Apple is working with browser developers Google, Microsoft, and Mozilla to make web design technologies more consistent, and consistent that way independent of what browser people are using. The problem here is that some browsers will have different built-in ways of handling web technologies. So in this sense there isn’t a standard of any sort for the web, and we then have developers, attempting...

March 7, 2022

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With growing populations come growing demands for resources, and energy is far and away the one of them that humanity is struggling to come up with and allocate fairly here in the 21st century. Much has been made of how power grids are under real strain and particularly in dense urban areas. We know full well that there’s no stopping progress, and so the electricity demands of the digital age need to be accommodated in step with that progress. There are plenty of things your devices – and the data centres behind them – do on a daily basis that adds to a larger ecological footprint because of the amount of power required for them. The data centre part of that is front and center with how those of us here at 4GoodHosting can relate to all of this and in the same way any other good Canadian web hosting provider would. We certainly know how power-intensive data centers can be, and how it’s hard to cut back on power usage when so much of what we rely on is brought forth from those data centers. Which is why this news about Windows Insider build 22567 is noteworthy enough for us to make a blog entry about it. System updates are well know as being major power eaters and there’s a reason you are prompted to have your notebook plugged in before beginning one. What this new Windows 11 update will do is schedule updates for times when the local power grid in your area is drawing energy from more reliable sources, and avoiding times when it is getting them from more traditionally harmful sources. Definitely qualifies as ‘smart’ technology and something that is in line with what most people put a lot of importance on these days, so let’s look at in greater detail. Informed Decisions This will be made possible by Microsoft taking regional data on carbon intensity from sources that publish large-scale electricity use-rate data, and all of this is only possible if your laptop or PC is plugged into an outlet. It can be overruled by choosing to install updates immediately by navigating to Settings >...

February 28, 2022

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Reading Time: 7 minutes

There’s been plenty of instances where we’ve joined in with the consensus and stated that you can’t stop progress, and truth be told we’re of the mindset you wouldn’t want to anyway most of the time. Especially when it comes to anything that can make our workday better and up our productivity – something that is important if you’re working for yourself or for somebody else in an employee capacity. And for so many of us that involves working in the digital realm on personal computing devices. So it’s here that we are looking at the benefits of a USB-C Hub Monitor, and of course the primary and most obvious reason they are a practical choice at the very least is because nowadays so many of us need to run peripherals from our main device. External power bricks may have been the norm for a while now, but we’re willing to guess they’re going to start making their way towards obsolescence. And that’s a good thing as less is always more and preferable when it comes to any desktop workstation. All this resonates with us here at 4GoodHosting in the same way it would with any Canadian web hosting provider given the way our work puts the same premium on efficiency and getting a good job done as quickly but thoroughly as possible. So let’s spend this entry looking at what makes USB-C Hub Monitors such a good choice for anyone who’s not sitting at their desk because they could be doing something different. Smart Upgrade A USB-C hub monitor is every bit a smart upgrade for your home office. They remove the need for numerous cords from your desk and rather than connecting peripherals to your PC, you can instead connect them directly to the monitor to connect to your PC over USB-C. Desktops get added functionality too, but it is laptops that benefit most from USB-C. They can act as both a video cable and power cable in and that means you don’t have to have the device’s standard power adapter resting on the desktop or hanging to floor beside it. Most who own a USB-C compatible laptop...

February 21, 2022

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To lean on something means to rely on it, and with that understood it is fair to say companies are leaning on big data more and more by the day. All of this was foreseen with the way digital connectivity was revolutionizing business 20+ years ago, but here we are now with data centre capacity being more of an issue than ever before. The demand for chips that can meet to those capacity needs has been negatively impacted by the worldwide chip shortage going on right now, and that’s a reflection of just how much of private, public, and municipal life has gone digital. This is something that any web hosting in Canada provider can relate to, as most will be like us at 4GoodHosting in that we’ve invested in data centre expansions so that we have them in different major regions of the country, and BC and Ontario when it comes to us. It’s an essential part of us being able to offer the uptime guarantees we do with our Canadian web hosting packages. It’s elementary that we have an understanding of the data and collocation centres, and as such recent news of Intel’s new Xeon roadmap is definitely something given what the chipmaker giant is aiming for. Intel has revealed ambitious plans to establish a degree of dominance in the data centre chip landscape in the immediate future. They have recently revealed their multiyear Xeon roadmap for the next few years, including the heralded Sapphire Rapids, with a ground breaking new chip built on Intel's 7 process which is estimated to boost AI performance by a massive 30x. Better serving tech always sound really good around here, so let’s spend this week’s entry looking at the new Intel data center chip and all that it may offer to improve user experiences. Rapid Expansions This new chip is going to be an introductory offering that will be followed by Emerald Rapids. The follow-up Emerald chip is also built on Intel 7 and should arrive in 2023, and then again with Sierra Forest built on Intel 3 set to come out in 2024. We’re also seeing Intel planning to move...

February 14, 2022

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There’s seemingly no stopping the trend that every new day we are facing the greatest risks ever seen when it comes to being online, and that’s why cybersecurity in an ongoing big deal for both individuals and organizations. No one likes to be the recipient of malware or to have their private information exposed when they are just going about their day to day online, but it’s a very real possibility. Companies that make digital products should be proactive in making sure those products are safe to use when connected to the web, but that is something that’s been slow to come around on a grander scale. Fortunately now it is though, and major ones like Google, Apple, and Microsoft have been much better about finding the right preventative fixes and making them available to people in a timely manner. Here at 4GoodHosting we are like any quality Canadian web hosting provider in that we can relate to the importance of security patches being made available, especially for ones that have no choice but to handle sensitive data provided by customers or business associates when working together with them. Nowadays as cybersecurity threats becomes more pronounced and far reaching, the means of addressing and thwarting them is advancing in step better than at any time before. 93.4% Fix Rate New research from Google indicates companies are getting much better at fixing security vulnerabilities found in their products. Many firms also now taking less time to address various issues along with going past their established deadlines for patch fixes less frequently than in previous years. Project Zero is Google’s team of security analysts tasked with finding zero-day vulnerabilities. These are unknown or unpatched flaws that can be abused through malware. The team recently published a blog post pointing out 376 issues it found between 2019 and 2021 and then detailing how vendors responded to the findings, and what the overall successes of those responses meant for overall cybersecurity in the digital realm. Of those 376 issues, 351 of them (93.4%) have been fixed and only 14 (3.7%) have not had any type of fix applied to them. 11 (2.9%) remain active...