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Chaos Lever examines emerging trends and new technology for the enterprise and beyond. Hosts Ned Bellavance and Chris Hayner examine the tech landscape through a skeptical lens based on over 40 combined years in the industry. Are we all doomed? Yes. Will the apocalypse be streamed on TikTok? Probably. Does Joni still love Chachi? Decidedly not.
[01:00:00.00]
Announcer: Welcome to Tech News of the Week with your host, The Amazing Spider-Man's cousin, John Rucluse.
[01:00:08.25]
Ned: Welcome to Tech News of the Week. This is our weekly Tech News podcast, where Chris and I get into four interesting articles that caught our attention. Chris, why don't you kick us off?
[01:00:20.23]
Chris: Our long national nightmare is over. The Internet Archive is back. Oh, thank God. I say that, I'm afraid to click on it. I just can't be heard again. Fair. So for the past two or three or four weeks or who the hell knows, the Internet Archive has been under attack by hackers. The Archive's famous wayback machine has been on and offline a couple of times, and sensitive data, including usernames and passwords to the Internet Archive, have been leaked. Was my personal username and password exposed as a part of this? Why, yes, of course. Why wouldn't it be? And apparently, my personal username and password information have been breached 35 other times.
[01:01:09.09]
Ned: Awesome.
[01:01:10.05]
Chris: And that's just the public breach data. That's just the stuff we know about. Boy, do I feel safe? Some of these I don't even understand. Why was my email in the fashion fantasy game breach? Actually, don't answer that. Let's just move on. Okay. The Internet Archive breach, according to the Internet Archive, is fixed, and their defenses have been strengthened, which is good. The Archive does suggest that the attack is not just about losers with too much free time on their hands, though, although, honestly, I'm sure that's a lot of it. They allege that the attack is part of a larger attack on knowledge and libraries in general, which could be true, but maybe not for the reasons that they think. Many, many other public libraries or institutions like this have been victimized in the same way, including the Calgary Public Library and the Seattle Library System just this year. Now, in this case, it is good to see the attack be finally resolved, and it is a solid reminder that if you are on the internet, you are going to be a target. So it's best to assume that and plan accordingly.
[01:02:29.14]
Ned: While the internet archive is back up, the wayback machine does not seem to be fully operational. I'm so sorry.
[01:02:37.20]
Chris: This is why I didn't check.
[01:02:38.14]
Ned: You can't find your My Little Pony fanboy blog from 2007. Ibm sees slump before Z17 drops. Ibm released their third quarter numbers, missing their targets for both revenue and net income. Of particular note the massive drop in mainframe sales of 19% from the previous quarter. As we discussed in our mainframe episode, the newest generation of the IBM Big Iron is the Z17, slated to go on sale next year. It is likely most organizations are holding out for the newer model. A brighter spot was in the software division, with Red Hat leading the pack at 14% growth and automation, which includes Turbonomic and Instana, at growth. The HashiCorp acquisition is expected to close in Q4 of this year, which will bring additional growth to that software segment, probably under the automation category. Their consulting and finance were also both down, possibly due to the cost of money at the moment. Not as many companies are looking to borrow money at the interest rates currently on offer. Nevertheless, I have to say that IBM's acquisition of Red Hat is probably the The best idea they've had in the last 50 plus years. Since the acquisition five years ago, IBM's stock has doubled in value, and IBMers I've spoken to feel a renewed sense of vigor at the company.
[01:04:14.08]
Ned: They may never They don't ever have a Hyperscale cloud, but they can ride the coattails of the cloud headwinds, headwinds, headwinds, headwinds into the future.
[01:04:24.14]
Chris: Headwind and the angry inch? Well played. Broadcom fixes critical flaws in vCenter. Again. So stop me if you've heard this tale before, a few weeks ago. Broadcom published a massive, massive security flaw present in many versions of vCenter, vSphere, and/or VCF. A flaw that is so bad that it effectively allows you to get root immediately by sending the unpatched system a network packet. Of course, Broadcom issued a patch. Second verse, same as the first. This week, Broadcom published a massive, massive security flaw in many versions of vCenter, vSphere, and/or VCF, a flaw that is so bad that it effectively allows you to get root immediately by sending the unpatched system a network packet. Of course, Broadcom issued a patch. Amazingly, and I am sure you, our wisened and winsome readers, I mean, listeners, watchers, stalkers. All the above? Auto mechanics. Possibly. You all have figured this part out already, but amazingly, it's the same bug. That first patch just didn't patch anything. Cve 2024-38812, as the kids call it, continues to have a staggering 9.8 out of 10 CVSS score and continues to require your attention in implying the now brand new, fresh from the oven.
[01:06:05.18]
Chris: They might even have the raspberries. It's totally going to work this time. We promise, patch. Patch, which is a long name for a patch, but under the circumstances.
[01:06:18.23]
Ned: I'll allow it.
[01:06:19.22]
Chris: Just please apply the patch.
[01:06:24.02]
Ned: One has to wonder to what degree the acquisition has impacted their to respond to security issues.
[01:06:32.02]
Chris: Does one.
[01:06:33.24]
Ned: No, one doesn't. One just knows. Blue sky raises $15 million as membership sores into the skies like a bird, but not But not at Twitter. If you haven't signed up for Blue sky or haven't logged in since you opened up your account a year ago, looking at myself on that one, then hey, you might want to. That is, if you're tired of the Nazi-filled sesspool that is Twitter and you feel wistful for what the platform once was. Blue Sky's strategy appears to be doing the opposite of whatever the hell X is doing today, making blocking easier, barely showing you any ads, embracing a decentralized operational model, investing in trust and safety with their users. While they do have plans to introduce a subscription model, developer Paul Frazze posted, The way Twitter did subscriptions was basically a blueprint for how Blue sky shouldn't do them. Regarding the Series A Funding Round, it was led by blockchain capital, which might make you wonder if Blue sky is about to pivot to some weird Web3 cryptocurrency bullshit. The funding announcement addresses that concern by stating, The Blue sky app and the @ protocol do not use blockchains or cryptocurrency, and we will not hyperfinancialize the social experience.
[01:08:10.06]
Ned: Never heard hyperfinancialize before. I think I love that term. Just prior to the funding announcement, well-known technology human, Kelsey Hightower, announced that he was leaving Twitter and his 245,000 followers on the platform for Blue Sky permanently. At least the world of tech, that's a big deal, and I don't think he's the last one. If you're not a Maga Chud or an Elon fanboy, come on over. Blue sky is fun, and you get to relive the glory days of the mid-2010 Twitter all over again. All right, that's it. We're done now. Go away. Bye.