Updating the robots.txt standard for the AI era, the US government implements an IoT certification and labeling system, and the issues with fully encrypting a server.

Plugs

Support us on patreon

3 Advantages to Running FreeBSD as Your Server Operating System

News/discussion

Google suggests updating the robots.txt standard

Robots.txt is not the answer: Proposing a new meta tag for LLM/AI

ChatGPT Browse with Bing temporarily disabled

The Biden administration is tackling smart devices with a new cybersecurity label

Free Consulting

We were asked about fully encrypting a server.

The Klara article that Allan mentioned

Factor

Factor’s fresh, never frozen, meals are ready in just 2 minutes, so all you have to do is heat them up and enjoy. Go to factormeals.com/25a50 and use code 25a50 to get 50% off.

See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

Intel is giving up on NUCs and Asus is taking over the line, millions of classified US military emails are going to a Russian ally thanks to a common typo, and monitoring SSDs.

Plugs

Support us on patreon

Linux and FreeBSD Firewalls – Part 2

News

Intel is quitting on its adorable, powerful, and upgradable mini NUC computers

Intel and ASUS Agree to Term Sheet to Take Intel NUC Systems Product Line Forward

‘Millions’ of sensitive US military emails were reportedly sent to Mali due to a typo

Free Consulting

We were asked about monitoring SSDs.

Kolide

Kolide ensures that if a device isn’t secure, it can’t access your apps. It’s Device Trust for Okta. Watch the demo today to see how it works at kolide.com/25a

See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

Setting up a self-hosted alternative, what counts as a “removable” battery, and backing up a Windows machine to ZFS.

News/discussion

Practical ZFS

Making sense of the EU’s fight for user-replaceable smartphone batteries

(Jim was wrong about AirTags and their batteries. He’ll correct the record next time. No need to email us.)

Free Consulting

We were asked about backing up a Windows machine to ZFS.

HelloFresh

With HelloFresh, you get farm-fresh, pre-portioned ingredients and seasonal recipes delivered right to your doorstep. Get 50% off and free shipping at hellofresh.com/25admins50 using the promo code 25a50.

See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

Red Hat wants to limit redistribution of RHEL source code. We discuss their history with CentOS and the likely knock-on effects of taking direct aim at its customers’ GPL rights. Plus browsers doing port scans, and OpenWrt vs OPNsense.

Plugs

Support us on patreon

Practical ZFS

News

Red Hat’s new source code policy and the intense pushback, explained

Brave aims to curb practice of websites that port scan visitors

Free Consulting

We were asked about OpenWrt vs OPNsense.

Kolide

Kolide ensures that if a device isn’t secure, it can’t access your apps. It’s Device Trust for Okta. Watch the demo today to see how it works at kolide.com/25a

Factor

Factor’s fresh, never frozen, meals are ready in just 2 minutes, so all you have to do is heat them up and enjoy. Go to factormeals.com/25a50 and use code 25a50 to get 50% off.

See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

WD disks “warning” that they have been running for 3 years, a modern replacement for IMAP that no one seems to be using, the potential issues that arise when PC games require an SSD to run, alternatives to VMware, and verifying your backups.

News/discussion

“Clearly predatory”: Western Digital sparks panic, anger for age-shaming HDDs

JMAP

PC games are starting to require SSDs

Free Consulting

We were asked about alternatives to VMware, and verifying your backups.

The Traceroute Podcast

Catch up with the new season of the Traceroute Podcast on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.  Check out the website.

Tailscale

Tailscale is a VPN service that makes the devices and applications you own accessible anywhere in the world, securely and effortlessly. Go to tailscale.com and try it for free on up to 20 devices.

Linode

Simplify your cloud infrastructure with Linode’s Linux virtual machines and develop, deploy, and scale your modern applications faster and more easily. Go to linode.com/25a and get started with $100 credit.

See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

Reddit fails to see where its true value lies, Intel makes its consumer CPU lines confusing, and Microsoft’s “next generation” filesystem.

News

What Reddit Got Wrong

Reddit CEO tells employees that subreddit blackout ‘will pass’

Intel has new labels for its next major CPU architecture

Free Consulting

We were asked about Microsoft’s “next generation” filesystem ReFS.

Kolide

Kolide can help you nail third party audits and internal compliance goals with endpoint security for your entire fleet. Learn more at kolide.com/25a

Linode

Simplify your cloud infrastructure with Linode’s Linux virtual machines and develop, deploy, and scale your modern applications faster and more easily. Go to linode.com/25a and get started with $100 credit.

See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

Sloppy practises by Gigabyte reveal one of the problems with UEFI, why Slack refuses to implement end to end encryption, a familiar bug ruins people’s uptime, and XFS vs ext4.

Plugs

Support us on patreon

FreeBSD or Linux – A Choice Without OS Wars

News/discussion

Millions of Gigabyte Motherboards Were Sold With a Firmware Backdoor

Millions of Gigabyte PC motherboards backdoored? What’s the actual score?

90+ orgs tell Slack to stop slacking when it comes to full encryption

AMD’s EPYC Rome Chips Crash After 1,044 Days of Uptime

Free Consulting

We were asked about using XFS vs ext4.

HelloFresh

With HelloFresh, you get farm-fresh, pre-portioned ingredients and seasonal recipes delivered right to your doorstep.  Get 16 free meals plus free shipping at hellofresh.com/25admins16 using the promo code 25admins16.

Tailscale

Tailscale is a VPN service that makes the devices and applications you own accessible anywhere in the world, securely and effortlessly. Go to tailscale.com and try it for free on up to 20 devices.

Linode

Simplify your cloud infrastructure with Linode’s Linux virtual machines and develop, deploy, and scale your modern applications faster and more easily. Go to linode.com/25a and get started with $100 credit.

See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

We are unimpressed by Apple’s new headset, a particularly bountiful watering hole attack, misdirection from the AI industry, and connecting hard disks via a PCIe card.

Plugs

Support us on patreon

OpenZFS, Your Data and the Challenge of Ransomware

News

Apple Vision Pro

Hololens dev Twitter thread (archived version)

Some Curseforge accounts might be compromised/hacked, and are uploading malicious files

Statement on AI Risk

WordPress has a new AI tool that will write blog posts for you

Air Force denies running simulation where AI drone “killed” its operator

Free Consulting

We were asked about connecting hard disks via a PCIe card.

Axiom

Axiom unlocks observability at any scale. Go to axiom.co/25a, create an account, and start your 14-day free trial. You can do better than legacy logging, with Axiom.

Kolide

Kolide can help you nail third party audits and internal compliance goals with endpoint security for your entire fleet. Learn more at kolide.com/25a

Linode

Simplify your cloud infrastructure with Linode’s Linux virtual machines and develop, deploy, and scale your modern applications faster and more easily. Go to linode.com/25a and get started with $100 credit.

See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

An unfixable bug shines a light on a fundamental issue with Windows, why M.2 is a terrible connector for SSDs, the pros and cons of 2.4Ghz Wi-Fi, and the state of ZFS encryption.

Plugs

Support us on patreon

OpenZFS For HPC Clusters

News/discussion

Windows 11 is so broken that even Microsoft can’t fix it

You know M.2 SSDs suck, right?

Why 2.4GHz Wi-Fi is both the savior and the scourge of the smart home

Free Consulting

We were asked about the state of ZFS encryption.

Factor

Factor’s fresh, never frozen, meals are ready in just 2 minutes, so all you have to do is heat them up and enjoy. Go to factormeals.com/25a50 and use code 25a50 to get 50% off your first box.

The Traceroute Podcast

Listen and subscribe to the new season of the Traceroute Podcast on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.  Check out the website.

Linode

Simplify your cloud infrastructure with Linode’s Linux virtual machines and develop, deploy, and scale your modern applications faster and more easily. Go to linode.com/25a and get started with $100 credit.

See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

Google’s new TLDs are silly but not as dangerous as some people think, whether we should cling on to AM radio, Microsoft scans password-protected zip files, and how to assess open source software for its trustworthiness.

Plug

Support us on patreon

News

Google pushes .zip and .mov domains onto the Internet, and the Internet pushes back

Google’s .zip and .mov domains aren’t the end of the world

Congress wants AM radio in all new cars—trade groups say that’s a mistake

Ford decides it won’t kill AM radio after all

Microsoft is scanning the inside of password-protected zip files for malware

Free Consulting

We were asked about how to assess open source software for its trustworthiness.

Kolide

Kolide can help you nail third party audits and internal compliance goals with endpoint security for your entire fleet. Learn more at kolide.com/25a

Tailscale

Tailscale is a VPN service that makes the devices and applications you own accessible anywhere in the world, securely and effortlessly. Go to tailscale.com and try it for free on up to 20 devices.

Linode

Simplify your cloud infrastructure with Linode’s Linux virtual machines and develop, deploy, and scale your modern applications faster and more easily. Go to linode.com/25a and get started with $100 credit.

See our contact page for ways to get in touch.