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

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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

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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

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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

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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...

October 18, 2021

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Reading Time: 6 minutes

Cyber security is certainly turning out to be one of the buzzwords of the 21st century, or at least so far and depending on whether you’re in certain circles. It is also certainly something that anyone running a business would have never even heard of or had to consider in the days before businesses started to up shop along the Information Superhighway. But nowadays nearly all of them who have taken their business online will be all to familiar with terms like malware, ransomware, and the like. There’s always going to be bad actors but nowadays they’re a whole lot more inconspicuous in the digital space. There’s been plenty of documented cases where big businesses have taken big hits because of cyber attacks, but fortunately cloud computing technology has really stepped up to be a valuable and powerful ally in the fight against cyber crime. The reason this is noteworthy for us here at 4GoodHosting is the nature of what we do lends itself to taking an interest in something that will definitely be a forefront issue for those websites hosted and in operation because of e-commerce interests. We imagine this would be true for any good Canadian web hosting provider. So we figured this would be an excellent topic to delve into for this week’s entry, and explain in more detail how having the benefits of cloud computing on the side of Enterprise security is such a big plus for anyone who has reasons to be concerned about how air-tight their website and data related to their business operation is or is not depending on the circumstance. New Rules Enterprise organisations today have no choice but to play by a new set of cyber and physical security rules. There’s not stopping the advances hackers are making, and they will continue to find new and faster ways to get past security protocols. It’s fair to say now that traditional models where cybersecurity and physical security teams operate as separate entities can no longer ensure being defended against the most recent and revamped threats. Converged cyber and physical security teams are great, but a key piece of a successful security strategy...

October 11, 2021

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Reading Time: 5 minutes

Neither of the two giants in Apple and Microsoft do much in the way of making their devices easily repairable or upgradeable, and while trying to keep their stuff proprietary as much as possible is understandable it’s not good how so many PCs and other computing devices are discarded and end up as electronic waste instead of being repaired. The basics of electronic device repair aren’t that difficult to get, and you might be surprised what can be done with know how, a steady hand and some soldering skills. Working on devices that are able to access the web is a huge part of daily life for so many people, and it will be beneficial to try and limit the amount of e-waste we create when getting rid of ones that could still have a longer working life. This is why it’s good news that Microsoft has announced that they are going to make desktop and notebook PC repair much more accessible to people. This will also have huge benefits for providing fully functional computing devices to developing regions of the world where they will assist with education and other interests. Trying to minimize their environmental footprint is a priority for any quality Canadian web hosting provider in the same way it is for all businesses these days, and at 4GoodHosting we see the value in making people aware of news like this that is in line with environmental interests related to digital devices. E-waste is a problem, and it is going to be very beneficial if people can have their computers and other devices repaired more easily so they don’t have to keep buying new ones and furthering the cycle. Around a Trend A large portion of the carbon emissions associated with the devices we own are made during manufacturing. Replacing products before the more real end of their working life causes those emissions, pollution, natural resource use, and land degradation associated with extracting and refining raw materials go way up and there is more toxic e-waste polluting the environment in places like Agbogbloshie, Ghana and Guiyu, China. The White House is already moving towards legislation that will have...

October 4, 2021

Domain Related

Reading Time: 5 minutes

Ever since the web was in its infancy and URLs were just starting to be a thing, internet names that are TLDs (Top Level Domains) are administered by ICANN, a centralized organization that has outlived its usefulness for managing internet names in the opinion of many knowledgeable people in the industry. It’s only very recently that legitimate alternatives to this monopoly of-sorts have come into existence, but the one that’s really generating some buzz these days is Handshake. It is the exact opposite of ICANN, and in particular with the way it is a decentralized naming solution for the Internet that is powered by blockchain technology – another major disruptor in the industry that we’ve also touched on here on a number of different occasions. HNS is the abbreviation for the Handshake naming system, which is a peer-to-peer network and decentralized system using blockchain as a means of offering better control, freedom, and security of the domain and website. As you’d expect, this sort of development is the type that comes up immediately on radar for those of us here at 4GoodHosting in the same way it would for any good Canadian web hosting provider that likes to have its thumb on the pulse of web hosting technology and options that become available to people who need to claim their spot on the web and use it to their personal or business advantage. The appeal of HNS naming is that it is line with decentralizing the web and allowing for a more fair reorganizing of the Internet. So how does Handshake domain naming work, and what exactly make it better for individual users? That’s what we’ll look at this week. Handshake Domains – How Do They Work? Let’s start here with a basic refresher on domain names. All websites accessible on the Internet are found on servers identified using Internet Protocol (IP) addresses. Users aren’t expected to know IP addresses, so internet names are mapped to their corresponding servers by means of a domain name system (DNS). DNS is not centralized, but the ultimate control of names via the DNS system is held by a limited number of interest groups...

September 27, 2021

Domain Related

Reading Time: 5 minutes

There has been so many different types of constraints put on the digital operations of businesses during the pandemic that to list them all would be too much of a task. Ranging from inconveniences to full impediments, the problem with all of them was magnified so much by the concurrent new reality that so many people were changing the way they interacted with these businesses themselves based on their pandemic realities. There have been estimates that upwards of 80% of businesses in North America would have faced severe realities if they hadn’t been able to utilize cloud computing to get past these issues. Here at 4GoodHosting we’re like any reliable Canadian web hosting provider in that we are just as wrapped up in the shift to the cloud when it comes data. What’s true is that smaller businesses are now coming to terms with the way physical limitations related to data can slow their own operations and / or profitability too, and the rise in their numbers plus the demands that come with their needs has meant that new offerings like cloud data warehouses are a priority for those with the means of designing and offering them. Innovation is spurred in part this way, and there’s been so much of it over recent years when it comes to non-physical data storage and the applications of it as it pertains to business operations. Fortunately those responsible for these innovations tend to not be the type to rest on their laurels, and that’s why we’re seeing more and more value in cloud data being unlocked for use by businesses. Talking about these types of topics always comes with surprising and encouraging examples of how new technologies are being implemented, so let’s get right into some of them as well as talking more about how cloud data infrastructure and application continues to get better. Better Scaling, Better Speed It is also true that nowadays business leaders are under increasing pressure to make decisions with more in the way of speed and scale as well as collaborating in real-time to adapt to change with maximum effectiveness. Despite all of this, many companies are still...