May 2 2008 5:20AM GMT
Posted by: Amy Kucharik
Network,
Mazu,
Interop,
IT humor,
It's the network
One of the more entertaining exhibits on the Interop Las Vegas 2008 show floor this year was Mazu’s “MacGyver Challenge,” which pitted attendees against timed puzzles which could be solved with the help of the “Mazu Profiler.” Mazu tweaked some kids’ games to represent network problems. MacGyver sported a great mullet. Check it out.
Apr 2 2008 3:29PM GMT
Posted by: Michael Morisy
Terminator,
IT humor,
Networking,
Cisco
So I’m not going quit my day job and run off to The Onion anytime soon, but my recent efforts at spoofing a Cisco announcement did at least fool someone, some of the time. The article stated Cisco was planning on replacing current “carbon-based” layer 8 appliances with sturdier, less fault-prone, and less human counterparts. A confused reader with an India Times e-mail address (reporter?) sent a follow up e-mail to me:
***Kindly put some Lights***
Dear morisy,
I read the artical from tech target on Cisco re-thinks Layer 8 networking with green components . But its diffcult for me to understand what actually u are going to tell us.
The only thing that i understood is that cisco is going to launch T-Series products which are based on layer 8 . And which are environment friendly. Kindly can you put some lights on the same in brief….
Regards,
–Name Removed–
The “layer 8″ I was referring to, of course, was a reference to the 7 layer OSI model, though even some experts think users should count as an eighth level, given how many problems they cause in the network. No BitTorrenting! No streaming music! If only there were a way to patch and re-boot …
Fake news aside, if you ever have questions about an article, really wish we’d cover something, or think my writing is unclear, wishy-washy, and unfit for print, e-mail us! I love hearing from readers, and the more feedback we get the more on target we can make our coverage. I can be reached at mmorisy at techtarget.com.
If fake news is more your thing, though, check out Alex Howard’s blog post recapping yesterday’s April Tomfoolery.
Apr 2 2008 2:53PM GMT
Posted by: Amy Kucharik
contests,
ITKE,
IT humor
Yesterday was April 1, better known in U.S. office culture as April Fool’s Day. Internet news pranks abounded, including the sighting of a Steve Jobs slime mold. On SearchNetworking.com, Michael Morisy revealed how Cisco was re-thinking Layer 8 networking with “green” components — in other words, replacing poorly functioning end users with efficient T-series robots. Check out what he says about Al Gore.
ThinkGeek.com, up to their usual tricks, (their 8-bit tie prank was such a hit that now it’s a real product!) launched a handful of what I can only assume are spurious products, including the Personal Soundtrack T-Shirt, which “features a working speaker on the front and can play background music and sound effects at your command,” including “exciting chase music” for walking your dog.
So maybe you can’t (yet) buy a T-shirt to provide a personal soundtrack. But you could get an iPod shuffle, upload all your favorite music, clip the iPod on your 8-bit tie, and he
ad to work. In no time you could be plugging in cables to the Peter Gunn theme… sneaking through the server room with some pizzicato strings… opening up a malfunctioning server with P-Funk’s “Give Up the Funk (Tear the Roof Off the Sucker)”… tossing back a cold Red Bull to some Twisted Sister… Well, you get the picture.
Suppose you don’t want to shell out for the iPod. Well, then… Take a look at the IT Knowledge Exchange’s April iPod contest. They’ll enter you in a drawing to win an iPod shuffle just for linking to them (see full details in their blog). And that’s no joke!
Mar 19 2008 4:00PM GMT
Posted by: Amy Kucharik
disaster recovery,
Geek culture,
Cartoon,
The IT Guy,
IT humor
 |
| The other bad news is that the backup systems in the data center were not yet operational… |
> Interested in disaster recovery? You can learn more in the Storage Decisions Disaster Recovery Virtual Seminar, March 27th from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. ET. Registration is open now.
> View all our IT Guy cartoons on SearchNetworking.com.
Oct 30 2007 7:25PM GMT
Posted by: Amy Kucharik
Network,
Cartoon,
Geek culture,
IT humor,
Network cable,
Technology,
The IT Guy
> View all our IT Guy cartoons on SearchNetworking.com.
This cartoon is partially based on an idea suggested by our reader, Jim Shumaker. Jim will receive The Cubes IT Guy playset (not affiliated with The IT Guy or TechTarget) for his suggestion. Thanks, Jim!
Sep 27 2007 3:38PM GMT
Posted by: Amy Kucharik
Science fiction,
Geek culture,
IT humor,
Technology
It’s a banner week for geeks, at least for geek-themed pop culture. Between the release of Halo 3 on Tuesday and all the geek-friendly TV shows premiering all week long, I wonder how many people are able to concentrate on work.
My work week has been consumed with two activities: editing a screencast for SearchNetworking.com and launching this blog. Screencasts and blogs… two media forms that didn’t even exist just a few years ago, but have already become pretty mainstream. Even sportscasters these days are routinely rallying viewers to “check out the blog!”
Monday, Wired ran a story about the TV mainstreaming of geek chic phenomenon. I watched NBC’s Chuck this week (it’s the story of a retail tech support dude who unwittingly learns encrypted government secrets through an email attachment). Frankly, the show was entertaining, but less a celebration of the geek life and more a mainstream action/spy story with an underdog hero and some geek-friendly eye candy sprinkled on top — a Tron poster here, a Matrix-looking set there, a Zork reference in the first five minutes.
Still, tech and techhie references abound. Have geeks taken over the world?
Actually, I have this theory about marketers and geeks. There’s some kind of triggering mechanism in the modern psyche trained to tweak out at the mention of key concepts, the way mine does when I hear “Time Lord” or the first few measures of a Black Sabbath song. Like Pavlov’s dog, you start to salivate; you can’t think straight from the excitement. It’s that thing! That thing I like! That thing is me! I must own it! Your elven sword glows blue. Your processor crashes. And you open your wallet.
If you think about it, everybody has their trigger, whether it’s “shoe sale” or “baby back ribs.” But for geeks, I think there’s an especially mouth-watering hook that marketers can dangle out there because the geek concepts are mainly man-made technology items and pop-culture references… and there are so many diverse, yet specialized triggers (”wireless-G router,” “TIE fighter,” “20-sided die.”)… Stuff that can be sold. And geeks are buying.
What, you don’t know a precise number? Then get over to RateMyNetworkDiagram.com and find out exactly how pretty your peers think your network diagram is on a sliding 1-10 scale. It’s HotOrNot.com for the networking set.
