The Hacks: Recent Episodes
The Hacks
Thomas Hatch and Jimmy Chunga are The Hacks!
Join them every week as they talk about nerd stuff. If you’re into cybersecurity, DevSecOps, SecOps, DevOps, all the Ops, infrastructure automation, network automation, configuration management, and open source then subscribe now. This will be your new favorite podcast! Because we know you’re thinking it...NO, they don’t live in their moms’ basements...this month.
Tom is a big fan of geneology, are you familiar with it? If not, it's the study of ones family history, and ancestors. Chunga's grandparents were big fans of geneology and created a hightly detailed blueprint of how Chunga became Chunga--or so he thought. Recently, he recieved a report from a company called 23&Me. That report was a bit different than his families documentation! Tom has also done extensive geneology work, and like Chunga has gotten a similar report from 23&Me. However, Toms was spot on, and virtually identical! Tom has been a big fan of 23&Me but they're a company thats on the decline. Why?
Its not because of minor, mis-match issues like Chunga's talking about, no. It's because they have a problem that he calls a "regressive gene" in their business model. Tom couldn't agree more! So, what is the regressive gene, and do you have a similar problem with your business? Listen NOW to find out!
Chunga is in a pickle. He doesn't know how to begin an episode where the beginning is the end!
This episode of The Hacks, he and Tom are talking about exits. The whole episode is about leaving things. First, Chunga has announcement to make. The time has come for him to make some life changes, but there's no need to worry! The Hacks podcast is going to continue as it has for the past 5-years! Be sure to listen every, single, Tuesday!
There's another exit on the agenda for this episode. It's not a big story yet, but it will be in the very near future. This exit already has a branded term associated with. Have you heard of "cloud exit" yet? If not, you will and very, very soon! Tom has been betting on, and warning people about cloud exit for along time now, primarily becuase he's been watching the trends, and the math for larger companies doesn't add up.
Recent reporting shows that 42% of all US companies are now moving some or all of their IT workflow, and data storage out of the cloud and back to on prem. Industry experts are also saying this is just the beginning. Are the days numbered for the cloud as we have come to know it? Listen NOW to find out!
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For some reason, across all industries, the term "right to repair" has become extremely controversial. The desire to take full control of your tech, car, home, and health is really causing a stir with with a huge cross section of society, including companies and the government!
Tom says he completely understands why, because its a complicated issue. Of course, if you buy something and pay taxes on it, it by all rights is yours! You should be allowed to fix it or modify it to your personal satisfaction, right? Afterall, Chunga and Tom have both been doing that very thing to computers for decades. Unfortunately it's not always that simple. Businesses have designed their products to function a certain way, to accomplish specific outcomes that align with their individual brands.
Then, there's your own body. Thats a political and social "hot potato" Tom and Chunga are afraid to even mention. Should you be allowed to manufacture your own medicine? Its your body and your life afterall? Tom has a lot to say on this topic, in this episode of The Hacks. Listen NOW!
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It's happened... The summer is officially over. It's time for all of us to buckle down and settle in to our normal, non-summer time routines. For some companies and organizations these routines can lead to complacency and laziness. Which is exactly what the enemy is counting on!
As ridiculous as this sounds, there is a growing fear that rogue nations, specifically North Korea are targeting American, and European corporations by having government spies infiltrate organizations by--getting jobs! Just applying for jobs and working like a normal employee. Turns out, they're virtually impossible to detect, let alone catch.
Tom says "It's comical how woefully unprepared we are to combat tactics of this nature". With that said, there are somethings that can be done to help a company determine if employees are legit! What are they? Listen NOW to find out!
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If we're to believe the press, things are looking really grimm in terms of global conflict. Over the past weekend, Chunga saw dozens of different media outlets all saying that we are closer to World War 3 than we have been since the 1960's. Some are even saying it has already begun, we just don't know it yet.
This coverage has Chunga asking a couple of questions, the largest of which is regarding the global digital network and infrastructure. Tom says he right to be worried! If global conflict breaks out, it's going to be catastropic. But, he says Chunga's worrying about the wrong things. It's actually going to be much worse for everyone than he's thinking. The real impact on tech and global infrastructure is going to bring about a total catastorphe. Tom breaks it all down in this episode of The Hacks!
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Your Social Security Number... If you live in the United States, you've been told, taught and trained, since you were about 12-years old, to guard this numeric form of personal identification with your life!
Whelp, congratulations, you just failed. No really, it's true. Your Social Security number is now out in the wild. Last week, a company called National Public Data announced that they had been hacked and every Social Security number, of every U.S. citizen had been stolen. So, what does this mean to all of us? Is this something thats really bad, or is it not that big of a deal? Tom and Chunga think they have a pretty good read on the situation and have some advice for everyone, in this episode of The Hacks! Listen NOW!
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After taking and extended summer holiday, Tom Hatch is back baby!
While he was away, Chunga came across and interesting article about "Singlularity". Do you know about the theory and concepts behind Singularity? If you're not familiar, Singularity is that singular moment in time when computers become self-aware, and merge their existence with humanity.
This article that Chunga found is from an American computer scientist and futureist named Ray Kurzweil. He claims that because of advancements in A.I., we will acheive Singlularity within the next 21 years. Chunga wants to know what Tom thinks about all of this, and if he agrees with Mr. Kurzweil. So... Does he? Listen NOW to find out!
Singularity within 21 years!
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In his other life, Chunga is a voice actor and is a member of several acting unions. Lately, that means he's always on strike for one reason or another. Well, its happening again... This time, voice actors are striking against the video game industry! At the center of this mess is A.I.--big shock.
A.I. seems to be a near constant threat to performers in Hollywood, and now there's a growing chorus of video game fans that are pushing back against A.I. being used in video games. They're saying A.I. is ruining the quality of video games! Chunga is curious and wants to know how dangerous is A.I. in video games, REALLY. Tom says unlike previous claims in past union strikes, there is very legitimate danger! He thinks this strike is most definately justified! Why? Listen NOW to find out!!
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Over the weekend, Tom was one of the millions of people that were affected by the massive IT outage caused by CrowdStrike! How about you? Were you affected the outage? Did you get stranded anywhere?
Chunga says, this is what happens when too many people rely on one singular thing. Tom "crushingly" agrees! He refers to a problem of this type as a "Banana Problem"! In this episode of The Hacks, Tom and Chunga will define what the banana problem is, breakdown the the CrowdStrike disaster over the past weekend, and discuss how this unprecedented event may end up changing the future of tech! Listen NOW!
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Tom has lost his wallet! This has never happened before! If you find it, will you please let him know?
Although his fresh back from his vacation, Tom is feeling anything but relaxed and recharged. In truth, he feels like he came home to a huge dumpster fire. There's several reasons for this. Sure, the lost wallet is one of the big ones, but he's also came home to multiple different cyber-attacks, each of them much different from the other, but all of them potentially having an affect on him, Chunga, and on all of you!
The most recent of these attacks was the data breach at AT&T. That, coupled with several others, including the dark web release of 10 billion plain text passwords, has Tom feeling a little unsettled. Chunga is surprised by this! Afterall, now that multi-factor authentication is becoming more and more common, having your passwords out in the wild isn't the catastrophie that it wouldve been a few years ago, right? Tom says, not so fast... Why? Listen now to find out!!
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Tom is taking a much needed break. Before he left on his extended holiday, he and Chunga had a chat about the decline of remote work in the tech space. This is one of those rare subjects of which Tom and Chunga passionately disagree. Recently, it has come to light that as many as 25% of tech companies have admitted to using a manditory "return to office" policy as a way of reducing staff, publicly avoiding the ugliness of announcing mass layoffs.
Chunga is someone that has worked from his home office / studio for the majority of his professional life, he loves it! Tom, on the other hand, not so much. With that said, he has some very strong opinions with regard companies and organizations that choose to use "return to work" as a method of staff reduction. What does he have to say? Listen NOW to find out!
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Chunga made an observation recently. He says we're in the tech industry "silly season"! Every single day, there's a new, completely crazy, earth-shattering story coming out of a big tech company, somewhere. Tom partially agrees with Chunga, it has been nuts, but he says when it comes to the tech space, it's always the silly season!
One of the biggest stories over the past few weeks has been Apple's announcement. Open AI is going to be added to anvupcoming OS release. In response, Elon Musk announced that his employees would be banned from using Apple iPhones for buisiness. They'll also be banned from his corporate property. What do you think about all of this? Is Apple making a mistake by adding Open AI to their iPhones? What about Elon Musk? Will other companies and organizations follow his lead? Tom and Chunga have lots of opinions about these quesions, in this episode of The Hacks!
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For a long time, Tom has wanted to do an episode of The Hacks that's centered around what he refers to as data center "bloopers". Chunga isn't entirely sure what he means by this.
Tom has always been amazed by the cathedral like way in which data centers are built. If you think about it, most data centers are built up and modified over a long period of time. Once your organization can realistically say that the data center is complete, the people that initially planned its construction, and worked on its development, are no longer around. Then, when you add corporate aquisitions into the mix, things become, in a word--chaotic.
Believe it or not, Tom says this confussion and chaos is much better than the real world alternative. What does he mean by this? Listen NOW to find out!
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Chunga saw an article a few days ago, and it really surprised him! This particular article said that agile software has had a 268% failure rate... 268%. While Chunga is shocked to his this news, Tom isn't surprised at all!
How is this possible from and industry perspective? In what world is a 268% failure rate ever accepted? For the record, Tom is NOT a fan of agile software development. To be frank, he hates it, always has! Tom says that agile software is at the core of many of the software industries problems and is the main reason software (generally speaking) doesn't run better.
Tom explains why and breaks it all down in this episode of The Hacks!
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Tom loves to innovate, it's who he is, and for him, its an unquenchable thrist. The pressure he puts on himself to create something new, is sometimes unhealthy. At the same time, Tom will also tell you that if he would've understood how hard it was going to be to turn Salt into what it is today, he wouldn't have done it.
Innovation from an emotional and psychological perspective, can be in a word--brutal. Creation is a terrifying task! So... how does one cope, and continue to stay productive? Does Tom have a method to overcome the emotional and psychological challenges that so many (if not all) creative thinkers and innovators face? He sure does! Listen NOW to find out what his methods are. Here's a hint, these things are really simple!
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Hey everybody, its Toms birthday! Happy Birthday old man!!
Today on The Hacks, Chunga wants to talk about tech's dirty little secret. This secret, by the way, is how much of the tech industry actually survives! He's talking about "shelfware" and the "cloud shell game".
Tom says between the two, the cloud shell game is actually worse, and more damaging to companies. He also says it's one of the biggest problems is tech. There's a bunch of really dumb reasons that this shell game is allowed happen the way it does, without anyone crying foul! What are Toms reasons? Listen NOW to find out!
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One thing that's constant in life is change... It's been a bittersweet few days to say the least. In this episode of The Hacks, Tom Hatch, the creator of Salt, talks with Chunga about the changes taking place in his life and announces his exit from Broadcom. Yep, the time has come for Tom to explore some new opportunities! In this episode of The Hacks, Tom wants to share his love, and gratitude for everyone thats been a part of this amazing adventure, including everyone in the Salt Project community. He also wants to talk about whats on the horizon!
Fans of The Hacks can rest easy! One things for sure, Tom and Chunga are going to continue to do The Hacks, and talk about all things tech, every single Tuesday!
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It looks like the rumors were true! Recently, IBM announced that they are buying HashiCorp (and Terraform) for a cool 6.4 billion dollars, in cash.
Tom and Chunga both find themselves asking the question, "Why did IBM choose to do this?" They already own Red Hat and Ansible. Did they buy HashiCorp / Terraform because they could, or did they buy it because the should? Chunga thinks it's definitely the former. He's also of the opinion that they made this purchase without having an actual plan. Tom, on the other hand, says it's not quite as simple and people think, altholugh Chunga may be right on this one. Why? Listen now to find out!
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Tom and Chunga both developed a passion for computers in a similar way. Neither one of them started out as a "software guy". Rather, they each got started by building and modifying their own custom built computers. They were "hardware guys", first! That just how it was back in the day.
Today, things seem to be much different, with modern engineers and developers cutting their teeth in software, and staying in that field for their entire careers. Tom says that most modern developers have little to no understanding of the hardware their creations actually run on! Is that a good thing? Tom will explain many of the reasons this can happen, and he has a bunch of opinions on wether or not it's good for both individuals and companies. Listen now!
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We live in strange and challenging times. When it comes to world events, one can find themselves, in a word, conflicted. Thats definitely the case for Chunga when it comes to todays topic.
Recently, the U.S. Government voted to continue the practice of warrantless surveillance of its own citizens. Interpol is also joining a growing chorus of law enforcers that want big tech to ditch its use of end to end encryption. What do you think about that? Do you think tech companies should give government agencies a "master key" to their encryption sofware, or end the practice all together? Are you on the otherside of the discussion? Is the government outrageously overstepping their bounds and violating the rights of its citizens?
Chunga is conflicted about this. Tom on the other hand isn't. As a former member of the U.S. intelligence community, he has a very thougtful and clear opinion about all of this! What does he think? Listen NOW to find out!
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Tom and Chunga are tired, TIRED of talking about AI! They need a dang break from talking about AI!! Are they going to get a break in this episode of The Hacks? Nope... Well, ok, kind of.
At the start of the year, Tom predicted one of the biggest stories of 2024 will be the failure and ultimate collapse of a whole bunch of AI focused companies and products. The most recent organization to proove Tom right, is Stability AI.
What did they do wrong? How could they botch things so badly? Will other companies make the bad mistakes? Tom says "Oh! Most definitely!" Listen now, to learn what those mistakes are and who may be making them next!
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Do you remember a few episodes ago, when Chunga said "The tech industry is terrible at this! We're the worst I've ever seen, in any industry, when it comes to taking 20-steps to do something, when it can be done in two!" This episode of The Hacks, is a perfect case study of what Chunga's talking about.
Recently, Terraform changed it's license. Shortly after, a group of open source community members forked Terraform and renamed it "Open Tofu". Last week, it looks like someone within the Open Tofu eco-system has caused an awful lot of trouble. Why? Well, there is a solid accusation that Open Tofu has stolen some new features of a recent release of Terraform. To make things even more contentious and embarassing, they didn't just steal the complete feature set, they also stole the line by line code of the Terraform copywrite itself. Tom is shocked, asking the question "How could someone be this freakin stupid?!?"
How does something like this happen? More importantly, whats going to happen next? Tom knows exactly why this kind of thing happens, and he has several different examples of what's going to happen next! Listen NOW
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Tom and Chunga have a good one for you today!
Late last week, news broke that an extremely dangerous backdoor CVE, built within the XZ compression library had compromised Linux Debian Unstable and Fedora 40-41. Fortunately, was discovered before it could hit an enterprise platform!
Tom says this particular CVE was especially dangerous and hard to detect because it was built deep into the XZ compression library. As dangerous as it was, it was also brilliant backdoor hack because nobody ever pays any attention to the compression library! Plus, the hacker took an extremely long time to execute his or her plan. It was so smart in fact, that Tom says we're all very lucky it was ever discovered.
Chunga has a theory that this is only the beginning when it comes to what this individual is actually planning. He's of the opinion that this person has several of these CVE's built into multiple open source software platforms. Does Tom agree with this theory? Listen NOW to find out!
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Tom tells people a lot... a lot. When you choose to pick up or "adopt" open source software, you take on a certain level of liability. If you choose to deploy open source software into your infrastructure you run the risk of that software going away!
We've seen this happen several times within the past year. Now things are changing at Redis.
Last week, Redis announced it's changing to a dual source license. What does this mean? Well... it basically means it's no longer free for most users. In this episode of The Hacks, explain why they think Redis chose to make this decision, and why Tom says we're going to see more and more of this type of thing within the world of open source. Listen NOW!
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Chunga noticed somehting recently, and he's wondering if it's symptomatic of a larger problem. A few weeks ago, a video game emulator company called "Yuzu" was sued by Nintendo. Yuzu folded and disappeared almost immediately. Since then, several other emulator makers have done the same thing. Many of them have scattered to the four winds! Unfortunately, Chunga is seeing more and more of this type of thing when it applys to other open source companies as well.
Tom says Chunga's observation is spot on, and it's a huge problem, a scary problem that will have far reaching impact in the world of open source. In fact, Tom is particularly worried about same thing, but from an infrastructure perspective. Infrastructure? Why? It seems to Chunga that infrastructure is on the rebound with more and more companies choosing to move away from the cloud.
Tom is deeply interested in something called DBOS, or Data Base Operating System. He says its brand new, and REALLY weird. It doesn't use the Linux kernel, and... it's in the cloud. Is this a revolutionary game changer? Tom doesn't know for sure, but he thinks it has the potential due to the fact that open source has always struggled to solve the "Last Mile" problem. Also, smaller open source operations are disappearing at a record rate, while the larger open source organizations are choosing to go "Proprietary".
Then... Tom drops a bombshell on Chunga with a huge rumor thats looking more and more real by the day! What is it? Listen NOW to find out!!
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Score another one for Tom Hatch! He and Chunga have been trying to get to this episode for weeks!
As all of you know, Nvidia is king. At the first of the year, Tom said that if AMD and Intel wanted to have any hope being competetive and gaining ground against Nvidia's AI strangle hold, they'd have to do something "Unthinkable", and team up. Good call Tom!
One of the main reasons Nvidia has been so dominant isn't because their chips are so fast (which they are), it's because the majority of their open source framework is built on top of CUDA. AMD and Intel have invested heavily in trying to come up with an answer to CUDA because their own open source offerings, HIP and ROCm, don't have an open source CUDA compatibility layer. They've both tried for years on their own, to develop one, with each company investing milliions and millions of dollars, only to come up short, and give up. Well, it sounds like both AMD and Intel have been listening to Tom, and their problems may be solved. Listen now to see what they've done!
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Tom is THRILLED!!! KDE 6 is out! (crickets). Sorry Tom, nobody cares.
Is that what Tom and Chunga are talking about today? KDE 6? Uh... No. Chunga doesn't really care either.
Instead, they're talking about something everyone loves, video games! More specifically, video game emulators. Tom & Chunga are both big fans of emulators & have owned them for years. However, they both have a rule, they don't have a video game on an emulator unless they've already purchased it at some point. Historically, game emulators have somehow managed to recieve a substantial amount of legal protection, but a new lawsuit may change all of that.
Nintendo has just filed suit against a popular video game emulator called Yuzu. Do you own one? According to Chunga, unlike other emulator companies, Yuzu is in serious trouble. Tom doesn't disagree. Why? How is it that Yuzu can be in serious legal trouble, while others have been able to not only survive law suits, but set legal precedence as well?
Listen NOW to find out!
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Nividia is big. It's been really big for a long time. Last week it got even bigger!
Nividia had their earnings call late last week and caused quite a stir, in a good way, on Wall Street and it made their stock rise 16% in one day. While Nividia is the big dog, they're definitely not alone. There are more than just a handful of big tech companies that are no longer "big", they're gigantic!
There are some in the media and tech experts are saying that these companies like Nividia, Broadcom, and AMD have become too big. So big that their stocks could cause problems with an individuals investment portfolio or greatly affect the overall economy. Some are even using a phrase that we all heard repeatedly during the housing crisis of 2008, "Too big to fail". Do you agree with that statement?
Tom has some very strong opinions about some of the things being said about these big tech companies. Does he think their stock prices are too inflated? Does he think they're too big to fail, or are things only going to get bigger and better? Listen now to find out!
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Its embarassing. Did you see the recent story about how hackers turned 3 million toothbrushes into a botnet in order to steal a bunch of money from people in Europe?
Lots and lots of people including Tom and Chunga saw this story and thought it was amazing! Unfortunately, there was a problem... It wasn't real. The story was completely fake. As an industry, smart, learned people, we all bought it. Why? How does something like this happen? This isn't the first time either.
Tom says its completely understandable. Ferris Bueller said it the best, "This world moves pretty fast." The pressure to produce and get product and information into the marketplace is incredible. We have an unquenchable thrist to be new, shiny and above all things--first. Chunga says this type of environment has caused a dangerous lack of critical thinking. Not only by innovators and content creators but by customers and consumers as well. Whats more, this is a problem that goes way beyond the tech space.
In this episode of The Hacks, Tom & Chunga have some opinions that may be considered by some to be controversial. Regardless, Tom says it's long past time for each of us to start thinking as individuals, and stop buying into group ideologies because their popular or simply created by a like minded group of "experts". Do they think we as both an industry and society ever start pushing back and questioning "the best way"? Listen NOW to find out!
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Recently, Chunga was talking with a guy in his teens who was really struggling, and having a hard time with some life and career choices. To many, it appeared that he had simply given up on his interests and goals. During his discussion, Chunga learned that this young man had a strong interest in cybersecurity and "counter-hacking". Sadly, he was of the opinion that it wasn't possible to make his interests a legitimate career choice without first going underground and becoming one of the bad guys, first. This was obvoiusly causing some problems for both him and his parents!
Tom has heard this perception and logic many times before. It was then, and is now, very concerning to him. He says the world is desperate for talented people like this kid, and we, as an industry aren't doing enough to show interested individuals that there are lots of ways to become an expert in cybersecurity, without getting anywhere the "darkside".
In this episode of The Hacks, Tom and Chunga talk about how to start from ground zero. They discuss the various ways that interested people of all ages can get the right education and certifications. They also chat about why the tech industry, including Government and corporate spaces are desperate to find qualified counter-hackers and cybersecurity experts!
You want to make a ton of money, in an exciting field, with incredible job security? The Hacks are going to tell you how to get started! Listen NOW
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Chunga is thinking there is going to be a prominent theme for the 2024 season of The Hacks. Last week, the FBI and additional government agencies, announced an imminent attack on United States infrastructure and corporate entities. The group responsible is a Chinese nation state hacker group called "Volt Typhoon".
The FBI has been very public about the extreme urgency related to these incoming attacks, and Chunga has a bunch of questions as to why. For example, why is China being so aggressive, right now, and why is the Federal Government being so vocal and public about it? Is the Chinese Government more desperate, and perhaps less stable than we think they are? Tom says "ABSOLUTELY"! He'll give us an explination why they have chosen to ramp up their nation state cyberattacks at this moment, and help us understand what Volt Typhoon actually is! Is the Federal Government legitimately worried about this group or are they using the American public to play cat and mouse with China? Listen now to find out!!
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Have you been following the news story about the airplane that lost one of its doors shortly after take off?
Tom has been fascinated with this story. Chunga has been following it closely, as well. He's honestly shocked that in todays world, something thats as important to a passenger jet as an air tight door, can fall through the cracks and create a potential tragedy. Luckily, nobody has hurt, let alone killed.
Think about it for a minute. All of those check and balances, all of the goverment regulation, all of the human oversight and still... Tom looks at this scenario much differently and is frankly suprised that in our world, disasters like this don't happen more! Especially in our tech industry. In this episode of The Hacks, Tom and Chunga talk about how to prepare for when-not if-but when something falls through the cracks and what to do when it happens. They also talk about the tech industry's acceptance of catasrophic mistakes and how they can be evey bit has tragic as this recent story with the airplane. Listen NOW!
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Typically, when Tom accurately predicts the outcome of a large event or the large event itself, Chunga will tactfully remind everyone that Tom had previously said something was going to happen. This time however, he feels that Tom really does need to celebrate and take a victory lap, which he would indeed do, if the circumstances weren't so dire.
About a year ago, as conflicts around the world were starting to intensify, Tom said there would also be a "ridiculous uptick in corporate, and financial institution cyberattacks". These attacks would nation states and Russia, in particular.
Did you hear the news last week about J.P. Morgan & Chase? They've revealed that they're currently dealing with billions of cyberattacks, every day--every, single, day. In this episode of The Hacks, Tom and Chunga talk about why and how these attacks on financial institutions in particular are happening, how thousands of top-teir SecOps professionals are defending against them, and what our world will look like if they fail. Are we, as an industry, doing enough to keep defending against attacks of this volume? Listen now to find out?
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Tom Hatch has long thought that as creators and members of the open source world, the current dogmatic views that are shared by so many, need to change.
In this episode of The Hacks, Tom and Chunga talk about all of the foundational "stuff" that Tom says isn't working. He says the open source model that we've been using for so long has already started to collapse and will eventually fail. Tom isn't alone in this way of thinking. There are many other thought leaders and open source creators that are saying the same exact thing! Who else is saying this? By this time next year, how different are things going to be? Listen now to find out!!
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Happy New Year! Tom and Chunga are back from their extended holiday break!
During their time off, Tom went on on a cruise! He also took a trip to Las Vegas to hang out his old buddy Chunga. They had a great time relaxing and doing things that had nothing to do with work. Althought they tried their best, they eventually did end up talking about the world of tech and what people will be focusing on in the new year.
Tom has previously said on The Hacks that he thinks 2024 is going to be a "nuts and bolts" year, where people and the tech industry is going to focus heavily on the essentials and simplicity. With that said, he thinks this focus will lead to 2024 being a transformative year. It will be a year that will get credit for creating a foundation for the future of tech, for the next 12 to 15 years! Why does Tom think 2024 is going to such a milestone for the tech industry? Why does he think its going to set the table for nearly two decades of transformation? Listen now to find out!
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HAPPY HOLIDAYS from The Hacks!
Tom and Chunga are getting ready for their year end holiday break! Wow, what an incredible and chaotic year its has been for both of them.
As the year comes to a close, The Hacks has historically chosen to spend their last episode reviewing the biggest events of the past 12-months, etc. This year however, Tom has asked to change things up a bit and focus on something super nerdy. He wants to have fun getting into the weeds of a process hes known about but hasn't bothered doing for decades. It's called "Compiler Optimization". Chunga has no idea what that is, but ok! He's all in to talk about it!
As most of you know, Tom loves Arch Linux. It's been his preferred for as long as he can remember. Recently, he learned about a new system that recompiles all of the Arch Linux packages, and optimizes them to current and/or different benchmarks, so that everything runs faster and simply put, better on x86, 64-bit, CPU's.
How does it work and is it something that you should try? Listnen NOW and decide for yourself!
Tom and Chunga would like to thank each and every one of you for listening to The Hacks! They hope you have a wonderful holiday season and wish you all a Happy New Year! See you in 2024!!
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Here on The Hacks, Tom Hatch has had a near perfect record when predicting what the coming year is going to look like.
In the past, he's delivered all kinds of predictions that were often times completely different than what many of the industry experts were forcasting for that particular year! Much to Chungas dismay, Tom accurately predicted that the past two years were going to be extremely volatile and challenging. He also correctly predicted record layoffs all accross the tech industry.
So... What does he think is going to happen in 2024? Will the coming year be as crazy as the previous two? Will the mass layoffs and volatility continue for another 12-months? Or, is 2024 going to give us all some much needed relief? Listen NOW to find out?!
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2023 has been a wild ride! That statement has been especially true for Tom Hatch and Chunga. Afterall, they were each part of one of the largest tech acquisitions in history! Yep, they're both overwhelmed and exhausted.
To say 2023 had a lot of drama and surprises would be a colossal understatement, so the timing our annual "Toms Biggest Surprises" episode is perfect! Toms biggest surprises for this year may feel a little bit different that they have in years past. That could be because he accurately predicted many of this years larger events, including the increase in political conflict around the world. Tom was surprised not by the events and outcomes themselves, he was instead surprised by the decisions and actions that precipitated and ultimately lead to the events he predicted at the end of last year. So, where did he screw up and where did he get it right? Listen now to find out!
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The holidays are here!! Tom and Chunga couldn't be more excited and they're proud to present The Hacks 2023 Holiday Gift Guide!
Are you looking for techie gadgets and gifts for family members, co-workers, bosses, or maybe your own employees? If so, this episode is perfect for you! Tom and Chunga have some of their favorite tech based items that are virutally guranteed to brings smiles to even the hardest person to buy for on your list! They have goodies in almost every price range and they personally own and use everything that they've put in this years list!
Get a solid jumpstart on this years holiday shopping with The Hacks! Listen NOW!
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Tom and Chunga would like to wish all of you, no matter where you are, a Happy Thanksgiving!
It's become a tradition here on The Hacks! Every year at this time, Chunga sits down with Tom for a special Thanksgiving episode called "Things Tom Is Thankful For"! Historically, this episode is one of the more popular episodes of the entire year, thanks to Toms unique and somewhat quirky answers!
This year however, Tom may surprise you. Rather than spending the time talking about tech, Tom has chosen to be more personal. 2023 has been an interesting and challenging year. Maybe thats what makes this particular episode so special. What is Tom thankful for in 2023? Listen NOW to find out!
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A few months ago, Red Hat made the decision to restrict it's source code. As much as it pains Tom to say, he thinks Red Hat was smart to do it, even though its a move thats been fairly unpopular with its own community and users. It proves that Red Hat understands something Tom calls the "Trinity of Open Source".
Chunga is curious about the impact these decisions will have over other open source projects and companies. Additionally, he wonders how much influence Red Hat actually has in the open source space in todays world. Tom has many opinions and thoughts to answer Chunga's curiosity about this area.
For years, Red Hat has been the example and model of how open source companies choose to operate. However, as companies have evolved over the years, that may no longer be the case according to Tom. Why? Listen now to find out!
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Tom and Chunga are both gearheads. They both love getting into the weeds, and learning everything they can about pretty much anything, not just computers! No matter what it is, they love to do their research.
When it comes to research, data, and benchmarks, unfortunately there's a problem. Depending on where you look and how look, research can give us a mountain of conflicting information. This data can oftentimes be greatly skewed to favor a desired outcome, and it can be done without being deceptive, even though its inaccurate!
In this episode of The Hacks, Tom and Chunga talk about the importance of conducting proper research and how to look at benchmarks and data in order to accurately formulate an opinion or result. Listen NOW!
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A.I., Artificial Intelligence. When you look back on 2023, A.I. will definetely be remembered as the biggest industry term of the year--but, can companies actually make money with it?
From a business perspective,A.I. is fairly counter intuitive according to Tom Hatch. Companies are dumping massive amounts of money into video cards and assorted hardware, and they're not making money with any of it! Why?
Simply put, A.I. has yet to deliver a substantive, targeted, solution. Chunga says while A.I. is cool, and very exciting, it's still a mess. Its potential is a long way from being truly understood. Does Tom have an opinion on how the industry can make that happen? He sure does, listen now to find out what he says!
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Nvidia is a beast. It has become an absolute monster. Chunga isn't surprised at all, he's been an Nvidia fan boy for decades! The industry on the other hand, seems to be very surprised at how quickly Nividia has been able to become the top dog, in the chip space. This rise has some industry experts asking if it's even possible for competitors like AMD and Intel to compete.
Tom says it's very possible and he has the answer on how AMD and Intel can catch Nvidia very quickly. Not only that, he says that he has a way AMD can double their stock price in just 18-short months and it's easier and cheaper than they may think it is. Here's a hint, Tom says the key to winning is Open Source. How? Listen NOW to find out!
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Tom and Chunga are kind of stuck. Over the weekend, the whole world changed its focus. In light of everything that is currently happening in Israel, they're having a hard time trying to talk about anything unrelated without sounding incredibly tone-deaf.
Because of this, Tom & Chunga--while being ultra cautious and respectful to those that are suffering--have chosen to talk about something that's safer. It's something that Chunga is seeing, and says the media is getting completely wrong. Throughout this tragedy, there have been tons of reports about how this war was started in part due to an "intelligence failure". Chunga disagrees with this. He says this narrative is highly inaccurate, if not completely wrong altogether.
Tom, who has a long history as a member of the U.S. intelligence community says Chunga is 100% correct. He believes the media should work harder to understand the complexities of how Governments gather intelligence, in order to better inform the public about how horrors, like the ones we're all currently seeing can happen; despite the best efforts of extremely smart, hard working, dedicated professionals. In Toms opinion, the attacks that were started in Israel over the weekend were not the result of an intelligence failure, becuase sometimes is not possible to get intelligence to begin with.
In this episode of The Hacks, Tom talks with Chunga about the differend types and methods governments use to gather intelligence about an enemy, and explains how that information can often times sketchy, incomplete and or completely non-exsistant.
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Somehow, while watching Tom eat a sandwich, Chunga managed to equate Toms lunch to Kubernetes and containerization. Once again proving--Chunga is a genius.
Tom says Kubernetes has its place and purpose, but it has fallen far short of the intense hype that surrounded it when it first came on to the scene. He remembers a time, back in 2015, when people boldy declared that "all infrastructure will be Kubernetes!" This is something that Tom has never believed. Furthermore, he says universal distributed computing is still a long way from being realized. Why is that?
After all this time and evolution, one would think that distributed computing, and data centers would be simple and common place in todays world. Tom has a singular reason why this is not the case. He also says that distrubuted computing is a unicorn, and going to remain so until this one, single, reason is standarized. What is it? Listen NOW to find out!
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Have you been following this story in the news? A few days ago, MGM Resorts and Ceasars Palace suffered massive cyber-attacks, just days apart! Although they were close in timing and proximity, each company handled their respective attack differently. Both intrusions were ransomware attacks, executed by using social engineering. Ceasars Palace chose to pay millions in ransomware, while MGM refused.
In this episode of The Hacks, Tom and Chunga discuss who made the right decision. Was it MGM or was it Ceasars Palace? The also talk about social engineering and why Tom says it's the least understoon, most mysterious, and often times most effective method of cyber-attack. How did these attacks happen? Which company was ultimately better off, based on their strategies and decisions? Listen NOW to find out!
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Last week, Tom lost someone who was central figure in his life. Dr. Micheal Grady was a professor of at Southern Utah University and was a personal mentor of Tom's. In truth, he wasn't just a mentor. Dr. Grady was the first person to recognize Toms early potential to become an innovator in tech.
When Dr. Grady passed away, his wife called Tom and asked him to come to their current home in New Mexico to help her go through his personal office in order to catalogue and organize his personel effects. While going through his mentors notes and writings, Tom was amazed to see the empasis he had placed on having longevity as an innovator, right up to his death. It's something that has really stuck with Tom since he's been back home.
In this episode of The Hacks, Tom pays tribute to his mentor, Dr. Grady and talks with Chunga about the importance of pushing yourself forward, every day, regardless of success and/or level of experience. Spoiler: Tom uses Mick Jagger and The Rolling Stones as an example! Listen NOW!
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WOW! The Hacks has been extra technical lately! With all the drama surrounding changes to open source licensing at HashiCorp, and source code restricitions at Red Hat, recent Hacks episodes have been...well, complex and heavy. Tom and Chunga would like to lighten things up a bit. Maybe have an episode thats more light hearted and fun! Tom has the perfect topic to talk about, Quantum Resistant Cryptography and Quantum Computing! (Chunga starts to "ugly cry").
Tom loves quantum computing and is surprised how little its understood by professionals within the tech space. In this episode of The Hacks, he's going to show everyone (including Chunga) how easy quantum computing actually is! Tom says it represents a wholesale shift in modern day computing. Not only that, he's saying it will be much sooner than people think!
How soon? How big? Listen to this episode to find out!!
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As you all know, the U.S. Government has announced a crackdown on Chinese computer chip manufacturers. There is currently an effort underway to restrict and in some cases completely eliminate the sale of Chinese made computer chips to U.S. owned companies. Some experts claim that this quasi-embargo is going to cripple American commerce!
Tom is predicting a different potential outcome. He says these restrictions are going to be devastating to the Chinese government interests and businesses. So much so, that it could potentially be a precursor to conflict. History has proven that all nation state conflict is ultimately based on economics! When the economic balance of rival nations shifts too far to one side or the other, conflict becomes a viable equalizer. Listen to this episode to learn more!
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Open Source madness continues! With all of the changes taking place within a few of the worlds largest open source offerings, many are starting to ask lots of questions. A bunch of those questions are about long term maintainership and how their own infrastructure will be affected. On the heels of two huge announcements from Red Hat and HashiCorp, there are now two large, promised communities that are asking "what are we going to do"? Tom says these questions have already led to discussions about "consortium forking".
Back in the day, forking open source software was often times viewed as a threat, leveraged by community members to get what they want from an open source software provider. According to Tom, forking open source software can be a good thing--sometimes. This primarily if you're forking the software to accomplish specific internal needs of your infrastructure. However, when a decision is made to fork a large, consortium based, open source entity, things get much more difficult--thanks to long term maintainership--and ultimately ends with the wholesale splintering of a community. Why is it assumed that this will happen, and is there a way to prevent it? Listen to this episode to find out!
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There's been a ton of craziness in the open source space lately. In the last episode of The Hacks, Tom and Chunga were talking about the fallout from Red Hat and HashiCorp making changes to their source code access, and licensing. During that episode, Chunga asked the question, "How did we get into this mess in the first place?!" Well, in this episode of The Hacks, Tom has the answer in the form an open source history lesson!
Back in 2008, something insane happened that kicked off a fundamental shift in the way open source software was funded, viewed and ultimately developed. What is it? What happened? Here's a hint--It was the first time an open source company was acquired for a ridiculously large amount of money. This acquisition changed the very fabric of open source! Listen NOW to learn how!
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In this episode of The Hacks, Chunga wants to talk with Tom about what he calls "the open source elephant in the room". Recently, there's been a dramatic shift in the way open source software is licensed, funded and consumed.
A few weeks ago, Red Hat announced a decision to start restricting their source code. Now, just last week, HashiCorp is going to change their licensing model to the business source license! When Tom heard this news, the only thing he said was "I told you so".
Why are these two companies, and so many others, choosing to change their licensing and source code access? Will the same thing happen to Salt? Tom has a very clear explination about why this is happening, and why it's happening right now. He says it all comes down to a couple of simple open source catagorizations and corporate expectations. Listen NOW to find out what they are!
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There's a lot going on in the world right now. Tom and Chunga almost have too much to talk about, and they don't know where to start! Tom says they should start with what he thinks is the biggest, most important, potentially life changing thing that's happening right now. It's behing called LK-99.
What's LK-99 you ask? Well, Tom says it may very well be the biggest breakthrough in modern science since the transistor, maybe even bigger than that--IF it's real. A few weeks ago, scientists in South Korea claimed to have discovered the technology to create a super conductor that can operate at room tempature and generates almost no resistance or heat! Again, if this thing is legit, it will virtually everything about the way modern society lives and operates. Listen to this episode of The Hacks to learn all about LK-99 and all of the amazing claims that are being made. Do Tom and Chunga think it's for real? What about you? Let us know!
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When Chunga was a kid, he was the biggest computer geek he knew. Tom (obviously) was exactly the same way. They used to love the days when new computers would hit the market so they could get one, and mod the crap out of it!
In todays world, that level of excitement seems to faded into history. Sure, people get excited about new tech, but not like Chunga and Tom did back in the day. Now, when people buy the newest and coolest computer, they tend to use it "as is" until it slows down to the point of being an annoyance. When that happens, they throw it away and get a new one.
Chunga says it's sad to see that computers have truly become utilitarian, making them--in a word--boring. Tom agrees but says thats not entirely true. He knows of a few start up computer makers that are designing computers in a completely different way, and these scrappy, disruptive new innovators are blowing his mind! What are they doing that has Tom so impressed? Listen now to find out!!
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For the record, Tom and Chunga are not fans of two part episodes. Unfortunately this Hollywood strike issue is so big, and impacts the tech industry in a large enough way that it requires two episodes just to cover the main concerns!
In part two, Tom and Chunga are talking about Hollywood's extreme worry over A.I. and Chat GPT. On one side, you have the movie exec's that love it, because it's fast and really cheap. On the other side, you have the actors and writers who HATE it. They're afraid its going to cost them jobs. Because of this, A.I. and Chat GPT are two of the core issues of the strike.
Are writers and actors right to be fearful? Tom says "well--kind of". There are many areas where A.I. is going to become common place in film making and it could end up costing people their jobs. Thats assuming Hollywood will use A.I. the right way, which they won't.
So, is Hollywoods fear of A.I. going to create a long lasting, negative impact in the tech industry? Listen to this episode of The Hacks to find out!
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Tom and Chunga spent last week hanging out in Utah, with the entire Salt Project Core Team! They had a fantastic week and both of them are very excited all the amazing things that are coming soon for Salt Project!
While they were in Utah, discussing all things Salt, there were some big events unfolding in Hollywood. In short, everyone has gone on strike! Some of you may think, so what! Whats the big deal? I work in tech, why does that have anything to do with me? In truth, Hollywoods problems are also a huge issue for everyone in tech as well! The tech industry is actually one of the main reasons everyone is one strike.
If the actor and writer strikes continue for a prolonged period of time, could tech jobs and company stability be negatively impacted? Tom says ABSOLUTELY, especially when talking about the video game industry and media/streaming companies. Listen to this episode of The Hacks to find out how, and when, the strike will start to affect the world and industry of tech!
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Tom and Chunga want to give Derek Ardolf a huge shout out! Recently, Derek requested that The Hacks do an episode focused on "Shadow IT".
Tom loved this idea because shadow IT runs the world! Simply put, the tech industry wouldn't be able to function without it, and that's NOT a good thing. If you're not familiar with the term, shadow IT is a piece of software that used or deployed with in a company's infrastructure without having vetting, approval, or tracking. Tech professionals frequently deploy shadow IT because they need a specific tool that helps them meet a deadline and/or accomplish a team goal quickly. They choose this action primarily because the corporate vetting and approval process for new software addition can take months.
Tom says 90% of all shadow IT is open source and--like it or not--is a key component to accomplishing tasks in a corporate environment. At the same time its a massive problem and a critical risk to any corporate infrastructure. So... how does one find a solution to this issue? Listen NOW to find out!
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Tom and Chunga have breaking news!
Late last week, open source giant Red Hat announced that they have decided to restrict its source code. To say it's a move that has raised eyebrows around the world, would be an understatement.
Before he invented Salt, Tom was a Red Hat wizard, who would fly around the country, teaching people how to use Red Hat for Linux. He says this is something that Red Hat has been wanting to do for a very long time. So, why did they do it?
Tom says there's a variety of reasons. In the short term, all of them will benefit Red Hat, even though thousands and thousands of companies and community members are going to feel like the rug has been pulled out from under them. When all of this shakes out, how angry are Red Hat open source users going to be? Has Red Hat just opened the door to new breed of competitors as a result of this decision? Listen to this episode to find out!!
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Chunga is doing this episode of The Hacks for one reason and one reason only. It's purely so Tom can take a victory lap!
Recently, Tom sent Chunga a colorful infographic showcasing the worlds largest chip manufacturers and their market cap. As Tom predicted on The Hacks a few years ago, AMD has become a larger and more powerful chip maker than Intel. As a long time fan-boy and advocate of AMD, Tom is very excited! In this episode of The Hacks, Tom doesn't just his victory lap, he and Chunga also talk about all of the chip makers listed in this infographic like Nvidia, Broadcom, Intel and others to find out each has become so successful and valuable. Listen now!
Here's Tom's "colorful infographic"
Tom is back from phase one of his paternatiy leave! Chunga couldn't be happier, to have Tom back. He's also bouncing off the walls because the Vegas Golden Knights are one win away from the Stanley Cup! Although he hasn't been the biggest fan of VR headsets, Chunga thinks it'd be cool to watch the game in VR without actually having to go to the arena.
While Tom was out, Apple unveiled their new "Vision Pro" VR headset that, raised a lot of eyebrows. In past episodes of The Hacks, both Tom and Chunga have repeatedly said that VR is in a word--ridiculous. They've long believed its a passing fad and is doomed to fail, HTC tried to do it, Meta is still trying to do it, and both companies have lost hundreds of millions of dollars! So why is Apple attempting VR now, at a time when consumers have shown that they just don't want it--or do they?
In this episode of The Hacks, Tom and Chunga take a look at Apple's new, $3700 VR headset and tell you why they think it may be a huge game changer that changes everyones preception about VR technology. Listen Now!
Tom and Chunga are feeling nostalgic! Recently, Tom was trying to explain to his daughters that music used to be fairly diffucult to get your hands on. It took effort and commitment to find certain albums or CD's!
Now days, getting music, now matter how new or old is a very easy thing to do thanks to an open source offering called Napster! Both Tom and Chunga were huge fans of this decentralized, distributed file sharing platform. Although it was extremely popular, the very things that made it successful, also brought about it's eventual downfall. In this episode of The Hacks, Tom and Chunga talk about the seeds of chaos that were planted by the Napster business model and how it changed virtually everything we do in todays world! They also talk about if other decentralized, distributed computing platforms are doomed to suffer the same fate!
Tom loves learning new programming languages, always has. He even likes learning about the ones that he thinks are--in a word--crap! Even though he has this obsession, he's always maintained that his favorite is Python.
Recently, Tom came across a brand new programming language called "Mojo"! Like Tom, it's safe to say that we're all fans of Python, generally speaking. However, Python is not without it's faults. Thats where Mojo comes in. The Mojo development team is present it to the world as kind of a "Python + +". Simply put, it addresses Pythons bigges problem, which is speed and takes actions to make it fast... Ok, ok, faster. It also claims to make a number of additional improvements, as well.
In this episode of The Hacks, Tom and Chunga everything they know so far about Mojo and they'll throw in a few other new programming languages for good measure. Listen NOW!
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Every so often, Tom and Chunga like to have an episode that pays tribute to innovators that have not only changed the tech industry--they've changed the world. They call these special episodes, Super Nerd Spotlights!
In this episode of The Hacks, Tom & Chunga are showcasing an amazing woman named Hedy Lamarr! Does that name mean anything to you? Once upon a time she was a very famous actress, that had become a household name, worldwide.
She was also a brilliant, self taught innovator! In fact, all of us, nearly every person on Earth, uses her inventions all day, every day. What was it? What is this world changing innovation that we should all be thanking her for? Listen now to find out!
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Toms life has changed significantly over the past few days. Now that he has a new baby, he's spending more time at home and in his downtime, he's getting the chance to play some video games!
For reasons they can't quite figure out, Tom and Chunga haven't talked about video games for on The Hacks for a very long time, even though it's a massive segment of the tech industry. One of the games that Tom is most excited about right now is the new Legend of Zelda game! Experts are saying its going to take hundreds and hundreds of hours to complete.
In this episode of The Hacks, Tom and Chunga talk about the evolution of video games and how incredibly complex their construction and development has become. They also explore why some video games become legendary, billion dollar, classics and why others don't stand the test of time. Here's a hint, they both agree that the reasons have nothing to do with the actual tech. What are they? Listen now to find out!
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You may have noticed that The Hacks missed an episode last week. We are proud to announce that Tom Hatch and his beautiful wife Melissa have had a baby!! Everyone is doing great and adapting quickly thanks to an abundance of new tech. Now days, even baby stuff is loaded with crazy new tech!
Technology is moving fast, everybody knows this. There a growing number of innovators and thinkers that believe it's moving way too fast, especially when it comes to A.I.. Jeffery Hinton is one of these people. He's considered to be the "Godfather of A.I." and he just resigned from Google in order to speak out against his own creation. He says he regrets his entire life's work. He also says the world needs to slow down and treat A.I. with extreme caution.
What do Tom and Chunga think? Do they agree? Are these brilliant innovators right, and we're headed for disaster at the hands of A.I.? Listen NOW to find out!
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Odd's are, if you're working in the tech industry, you're also one of those people that still gets really nerdy when is comes time to get a new computer. Tom and Chunga are no different!
Chunga is really jealous today. Tom just purchased a ridiculously cool new laptop! Plus, it has a new AMD processor that Tom claims is superior to Intels i9.
In this episode of The Hacks, Tom and Chunga are allowing themselves to be gear heads and talk about stunning new laptop hardware. During his search for this new laptop, Tom discovered that a lot of claims made by laptop manufacturers--while not completely false--are indeed very misleading! How powerful is your laptop? Are you sure? Listen now to learn how to find out!
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The whole of the United States population has been scratching their collective heads for about a week now. Everyone wants to know how it's possible for a 21-year old IT guy to have access to the nations most sensitive and secret information. Some of this information is extremely damaging to the U.S. Government.
Tom Hatch has a background in the U.S. Intelligence Community and feels a strong need to apologize on behalf of his former colleagues, who he says are honest, dedicated and very hard working professionals. He also has an explanation of how this time of thing happens. Here's a hint, over one million Americans have a top secret security clearance.
In this episode of The Hacks, Tom answers Chunga's questions about what it takes to gain and maintain a Government security clearance, and how its even possible for someone as young as 21 to have access to highly secret, and classified information. They also discuss the charges and punishment thats associated with a crime of this magnitude and what--if anything--can be done to prevent this sort of thing from happening again.
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Tom and Chunga were highly confused by last weeks episode of The Mandalorian. They came away from the story annoyed and wondering what happened!
This confusion reminded each of them about a situation thats currently happening with Idem Project. In the world of open source software, there are always two distinct masters that need to be served. There's the open source community, and then there's the customer. Sometimes their needs align--most of the time they don't.
In this episode of The Hacks, Tom and Chunga talk about the respective challenges of trying to serve the needs of an open source community, while trying to please the software customers that are required in order for the project to succeed. Listen NOW!
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Tom Hatch has had an incredible life! To be clear, his life has been no bed of roses but it has been remarkable. He's also had an amazing career as an innovator and thought leader. There are many who would say that Tom Hatch has changed the world.
Tom loves meeting and talking with people at trade shows, conventions and while lecturing around the world. One of the most common questions that people ask when the meet Tom is "If you could, what would you do differently"?
In this episode of The Hacks, Chunga asks that very question! If he could, what would Tom change about his life and do differently. You may find the answers very surprising--shocking even. Listen now to find out what he said!
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Tom and Chunga have a problem. It's a problem they haven't had to face before on The Hacks. They're both--at the same time--dealing with a creative "block". For some reason, even though they're working hard to create a great episode for you to listen to, it isn't coming together! So... Lets make that the topic of todays episode!
Writing software is an art form. For programmers, developers, and engineers, a creative block can be a serious problem. It can also be an issue that becomes more and more common if one doesn't address their creativity struggles the right way. Ultimately, it can negatively affect deadlines, releases and relationships among team members.
While its both scary and frustrating, writers block is something that can be fixed almost immediately if you know the proper steps to take. Tom and Chunga have each spent decades overcoming this problem and the solve, in most cases can be really easy with just a few simple tricks. What are they? Listen now to find out!!!! Join the Salt Project Community! We'd love to have you!
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For the longest time, Tom and Chunga have talked about the potential of a large scale breach of U.S. Government Infrastructure by a foreign country, and what the fallout would look like. Ultimately, Tom and Chunga were of the opinion that this type of intrusion would end up hurting the offending country economically and as a result, wouldn't be worth the effort.
This past weekend, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency announced that the Federal Government has been hacked by an un-named nation state. They were able to successfully breach U.S Infrastructure by exploiting a 4-year old CVE, from 2019 with a severity level of 9.8 out of 10.
There are many questions that still have not been answered. Such as, which government agency's have been compromised and how bad is the damage. Currently, those questions have not been answered. All Chunga wants to know is, who was responsible and what were they trying to find? Tom says it's a more complex issue that that and they're most likely trying to accomplish several things as opposed to just a few. What does he thing those things are? Listen now to find out!
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Tom and Chunga had just entered their respective studios to record this weeks episode of The Hacks, when BOOM! Breaking news reports started coming in saying that Silicon Valley Bank had just collapsed, which immediately changed the topic of the show!
Tom has used SVB many times throughout his career. He even used it to start SaltStack! He's certainly not alone, most tech startups use this bank to launch their businesses.
The failure of Silicon Valley Bank has sent shockwaves through the tech industry and the U.S. economy as a whole! Experts and officials will no doubt say that this failure isn't a big deal and every thing is fine... It's just fine. Do you agree with them, or do you think this is a sign of things to come? Tom and Chunga have an opinion of what they think is going to happen. Here's a sneak peak, they both say this problem goes all they way back to the fall of Rome!
Chunga wants to give a quick shout out to programmers in the U.K.! Once again, a guy in England developed a scanning tool, and found 57 API access keys for AWS and a bunch of Malware in PyPi.
Tom Forbes built this tool in Rust to automatically scan new packages released in PyPi, and many of the AWS keys he found grant full admin access to the key holder.
Tom Hatch says there's a lot of similarities between the open source pipeline attacks back in the 1990's and whats happening with PyPi today. So, who's responsible for issues like this? Is it the programmer? Is it PyPi? Or, is it the responsibility of the software user?
Tom Hatch and Tom Forbes disagree on where the responsibility lies. Listen now to find out what each one of the say!
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It's been a long, hard winter. The western U.S. is suffering from record breaking arctic weather and everyone is getting sick. Somehow Chunga has managed to avoid it--until now. He hasn't been sick since he had Covid 2-years ago!
Tom says his timing is perfect because he's been following recent reports from the U.S. Intelligence Community that claim the Covid outbreak was the result of an "intended leak" from a research lab in China. Tom can draw a lot of parallels between this disaster and the tech industry as a whole.
If you look at some of the biggest challenges tech professionals face, virtually all of them start with a single, unintended, mis-step that often times leads to catastrophe. What do you when this happens? You adapt! Disasters are going to happen; at the end of the day, we're all just people.
In this episode of The Hacks, Tom and Chunga talk about how important it is for tech professionals to have robust adaptation skills in order to avoid tunnel vision and bad decision making.
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If you've been listening to The Hacks for any length of time, you know that Tom and Chunga LOVE a good conspiracy theory. So far, 2023 has given them a fountain of strange happenings, to keep their tin foil hats happy!
T-Mobile (Tom and Chunga are both long time customers) suffered a major outage a few days ago that affected tens of millions of people. There were several additional wireless providers that got caught up in the mess as well. Normally, when an outage takes place, even when it's only for a few minutes, a wireless provider will fall all over themselves trying to explain what happened and why. This time however, nobody is talking about it--nobody. The only explanation offered was a cryptic statement in the middle of the night.
In this episode of The Hacks, Tom and Chunga talk about the difficulties in protecting an infrastructure as complex as a wireless network and if they think this was a large scale attack and/or dress rehearsal by a nation state. Listen now to see what they think!
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In this episode of The Hacks, Tom and Chunga are talking about something they probably should've discussed before now.
Chat GPT is taking the world by storm. It launched in early December 2022 and is already boasting more than a million users. Depending on who you talk to, Chat GPT is either a fantastic, world changing piece of software, or it's horrible. It's for dishonest cheaters and it's going to put army's of programmers out of work. So... Which is it? What do you think?
Tom and Chunga have lots of thoughts and opinions when it comes to Chat GPT, and they'll tell you if they ultimately think it's a good think or a bad thing! LISTEN NOW!
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Tom and Chunga have learned something about you! You REALLY don't like it when we talk about self driving cars. Sorry! A bonus episode to make up for it is coming soon!
This episode of The Hacks however, is much more serious. This past week, the FBI has announced it was able to stop and large scale, simultaneous attack on 5 power plants in the Washington DC area. Experts say had this attack been successful, it would've devastated several cities.
As many of you know, Tom has a previous life as a member of the U.S. Intelligence community. Together, he and Chunga talk about how these individuals planned to carryout these attacks, how the FBI was able to catch them, if this victory make us all safer in the long run. Listen now!
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Car lovers this episode is for you! Everyday in Chunga's city, (Las Vegas) there's a news story about some poor, unfortunate, soul crashing their electric car, while its in self drive mode. Because of this, Chunga is of the opinion that self driving cars are, in a word, a novelty. Toms opinion of them is even worse, and he owns a Tesla! He has said many times that self-driving cars can't be trusted and that he's completely lost hope that they ever be anything more that a gimmick.
Well, this week, Mercedes is making Tom eat his words and he couldn't be happier about it! Mercedes has announced that they have the worlds first "SAE-3" certified self-driving car. What does that mean? According to Tom, it means Mercedes is going to change the world--eventually. Not today, and not with this particular model, but eventually, this announcement will change the way we all commute from one place to the other! Listen to this episode of The Hacks to find out!
Mercedes has the first certified SAE 3 vehicle!
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Tom has made a trip to Las Vegas to hang out with Chunga at Hacks HQ!
It's too bad they couldn't be talking about something more fun. It's a scary time to be working in tech, we all know this. Layoff's are all too common and tech industry professionals, at every level, are worried. Ten of thousands have been laid off so far in 2023, with more no doubt on the way.
Tom and Chunga have each been laid off at different times of their lives, and Tom has unfortunately had to be someone that has conducted them as well. Because of this, he has a unique perspective when it comes to making it through this rough climate.
In this episode of The Hacks, Tom and Chunga talk about the varied reasons, layoffs become necessary, the appropriate and ethical ways to conduct them and how to deal with the shock and disruption if you've been laid off yourself. Listen now!
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You're going to see a lot about this in 2023. Experts in this field are predicting that this year is going to be a record setting year, when it comes to cyber crime.
Tom agrees with this opinion. He says 2023 is going to be really rough for both businesses and individuals. In this episode of The Hacks, Tom and Chunga are going to discuss the top 5 cyber security threats in 2023. Some of them may surprise you!
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Tom and Chunga are back from their holiday break!
As they get 2023 underway, Chunga has been noticing that there's been a lot of talk in the media about cybersecurity and related issues that will be facing all of us in 2023. One of the articles Chunga read was focused on VPN's.
Tom says that he and Chunga haven't nearly enough time talking about VPN's. One of the things Tom finds most interesting is how many people use a VPN everyday without even knowing it, or understanding what it does. Come to think of it, Chunga may not truly understand why VPN's are so important.
Consumer Reports is saying that VPN's may be creating a false sense of security and some of them may actually make you less safe! In this episode of The Hacks, Tom and Chunga debunk some of the more common myths about VPN's and give you some key things to watch out for, as well!
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It's the last show of 2023! Tom and Chunga are ready to start their holiday break!
As they look forward to 2023, Tom says there's a term that is going to be a huge factor in wether or not you and/or your business is going to be successful next year. That term is "due diligence".
Due diligence is something that Chunga feels has been severely lacking in virtually every area of tech, and the fallout from and industry perspective has been severe. Tom completely agrees and says it's something he's been worried about for years. He feels that this problem rose from tech companies being too over confident when the economy was good and chose to grow too fast.
Both Chunga and Tom have some advice for 2023 and how you can make due diligence a higher priority on every level of your live and in every area of your business! HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!
What a year 2022 has been! You may remember that Tom predicted this year was going to be rough and he was 100% right. Even though 2022 was discouraging and challenging for most of us, especially with layoffs, and reorganizations, there were an awful lot of lessons for each of us learn.
In this episode of The Hacks, Tom and Chunga look back at the this past year, talk about what it meant for tech. They also discussed what they learned and what they think others could learn from everything that happened in 2022! Listen now!
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2022 is coming to a close. November and December are always the months where we each tend to reflect on the past year and look forward to what the new year could bring. Tom and Chunga are no different!
In this episode of The Hacks, Chunga talks with Tom about the things Tom is the most excited about in 2023! What is he most looking forward to in the world of tech, business, and what is he most looking forward to professionally. He also talks about what he's excited about personally! Listen now!
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Over the Thanksgiving holiday, Tom Hatch saw a fantastic new movie called "Glass Onion". One of the main themes of this movie is that an awful lot of the professionals working in the tech industry aren't nearly as smart as everybody thinks they are.
Tom says that is very much the case in the real world, as well! The most recent example of this is a crypto-currency exchange company called FTX. Somehow this company and its owner, a guy named Sam Bankman Fried managed to lose 16 billion dollars in crypto, literally overnight! How is it possible for something like this to happen? Will a disaster like this, have a large, negative effect on the tech industry as a whole?
Chunga has some opinions, Tom has some observations, and he also has some predictions about how things will shake out. Here's a hint, it's not good! Listen NOW!
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Tom Hatch & Jimmy Chunga would like to wish everyone in the United States a Happy Thanksgiving!
Tom is especially thankful this year, and he has a special announcement to share with all of you to explain why! In addition, this specific episode of The Hacks has become a tradition. It's the episode where Tom shares the top things his thankful for this year! Last year, he declared that he was most thankful for "modern synthetic fabric"! What will be the thing he's most thankful for in 2022? Listen now to find out!
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Tom Hatch is just back from VMware Explore Europe. Thanks to everyone who came to see Tom speak about Salt Project!
Wow, the tech industry is really taking its lumps in 2022. Admittedly, Chunga hasn't worked in the tech space nearly as long as Tom, but he's never seen things so unsettled and messy during his time. While Tom is definitely a veteran in this industry, he agrees with Chunga. He's never seen it so crazy.
One of the most significant hot-button issues over the past few weeks has been drama surrounding identity verification and the software used to make it possible. Chunga is a bit perplexed as to why there's so much confusion and noise around this process and how to do it effectively. Tom on the other hand isn't surprised and has an explanation. Simply put, it's hard. Much more difficult than most people--even in tech--may realize.
In this episode of The Hacks, Tom explains the problems, the drama, and why it's so hard to get identity verification right. Listen now!
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Are you in control of your cloud-based infrastructure? Are you really? Most people would say, yes! They also probably think it's a well-oiled machine, something that's state-of-the-art. The reality is, it may have started that way, but as technology spreads out, things tend to shift from Star Trek to Star Wars.
Tom uses this analogy to explain that reality is messy. Your cloud needs to function the way you need it to, right now. The work needs to get done and it will only get more complex. The grim reality, according to Tom, is that most cloud-based infrastructure is on life support. It works just well enough for you to think that everything is fine! It feels like you're on the Starship Enterprise when in reality, your cloud is more like the Razor Crest from The Mandalorian.
Why does this happen? Why is the cloud so dangerously dirty, and some would say unstable, even for the top tech companies in the industry? Tom says there's a common reason for these issues, and these reasons aren't going to change anytime soon. What are they? Listen now to find out!
Tom and Chunga are taking a cold, hard look at social media software and the industry as a whole. We all use some type of social media, multiple times a day. It has become part of the fabric of our lives and identities! With all this common usage, Tom and Chunga are confused and curious why it seems to be struggling so badly in a variety of different areas.
People never seem to be happy with the software, investors never seem to be happy with the progress and future direction of each platform and to make things worse, the platforms tend to make all of us unhappy with each other!
Tom and Chunga will talk about these problems, look at possible solutions and ask the question "Is social media doomed to fail"? Listen now!
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You're no doubt hearing about it everywhere you go. The global economy is having some issues and financial experts are all saying it's about to get much worse. What does that mean for open source projects? After all, people use open source software for free! What does a bad economy mean for tech jobs in general?
Chunga is relatively new to the tech space and has a bunch of these types of questions for Tom Hatch. He should know, he's worked in tech his entire adult life. Unfortunately, Tom says the financial experts are correct, we are in for a rough ride. He also says that open source and the tech industry, in general, are far from being immune to a bad economy. With that said, there's an awful lot that tech professionals can do to minimize the effects of a recession!
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It's a weird time of the year. Everyone seems to be taking vacation time before things start getting cold. Tom and Chunga are no different. Chunga is just getting home from his break and Tom is on his way to start a cruise!
Thankfully, as their paths crossed, they were able to record a brand new episode of The Hacks, and use their time wisely to talk about something really important like Chungas utterly irrational fear of hard drives. It's true, he's terrified of them! He says they're too complex for what they are, they're temperamental and way too fragile. He crashes hard drives all the time! What about you? Do you have bad luck with your computer hardware?
Tom says hard drive tech has changed significantly in the past few years and there's no reason Chunga should continue to have these fears. He also breaks down the problems, looks at the tech and tries to determine if these issues are legit or if Chunga is creating these problems himself. Listen NOW!
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Tom is losing his mind. Chunga has been bugging him to do a new Super Nerd Spotlight episode of The Hacks. Tom has been insisting that the two of them have done one of these recently. Much to Chunga's delight, Tom is wrong!
For today's episode, they've decided to focus on a group of men that Tom calls "The Origin Guys". They're a small group of dudes, who are largely credited with creating modern computing as we know it. Tom and Chunga will look all the way back to the 1960s and '70s and talk about guys like Dennis Ritchie, Rob Pike, Ken Thompson, and many more!
It'll be fun to take at how far we've come from the first day until now! Believe it or not, it's a really short period of time, and most of these guys are still alive and well! Can they still be credited for the way we're using computers today? Listen now to find out!
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Tom is losing his mind. Chunga has been bugging him to do a new Super Nerd Spotlight episode of The Hacks. Tom has been insisting that the two of them have done one of these recently. Much to Chunga's delight, Tom is wrong!
For today's episode, they've decided to focus on a group of men that Tom calls "The Origin Guys". They're a small group of dudes, who are largely credited with creating modern computing as we know it. Tom and Chunga will look all the way back to the 1960s and '70s and talk about guys like Dennis Ritchie, Rob Pike, Ken Thompson, and many more!
It'll be fun to take at how far we've come from the first day until now! Believe it or not, it's a really short period of time, and most of these guys are still alive and well! Can they still be credited for the way we're using computers today? Listen now to find out!
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It seems like software companies are doing this more and more lately. Have you noticed it? For reasons that are often unknown to the masses, a software company will pivot and change not only their entire business model but their product as well! When companies choose to do this, more often than not, it's a surprise and it's highly disruptive to their customers/users.
Tom has been through a few of these pivots and he also wanted to do it himself, once upon a time. He says this decision can be the right move but it's far from a sure thing. If fact, even under the best conditions, it can be perilous.
In this episode of The Hacks, Tom and Chunga take a serious look at the reasons that would lead a company to change in this manner and discuss how often it actually works.
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It seems like software companies are doing this more and more lately. Have you noticed it? For reasons that are often unknown to the masses, a software company will pivot and change not only their entire business model but their product as well! When companies choose to do this, more often than not, it's a surprise and it's highly disruptive to their customers/users.
Tom has been through a few of these pivots and he also wanted to do it himself, once upon a time. He says this decision can be the right move but it's far from a sure thing. If fact, even under the best conditions, it can be perilous.
In this episode of The Hacks, Tom and Chunga take a serious look at the reasons that would lead a company to change in this manner and discuss how often it actually works.
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Shout out to Derek Ardolf! He's one of the rock stars on the Salt Core team. A few days ago, he sent Chunga a handful of different blogs and news articles about PyPi, which sent Chunga into a massive rabbit hole. The articles and blogs were all about legitimate projects that have been compromised by phishing and malware attacks through PyPi.
Everybody loves PyPi, including Tom and Chunga. With that said, they have both been sounding the alarm on The Hacks about these types of channel attacks for years! Why hasn't more been done about this type of vulnerability? Tom says it simply comes down to the extreme size of open source projects vs. available resources. He also says as far as this type of problem is concerned, we're still in the wild west! So, is there anything that can be done to deal with these kinds of intrusions? Listen to this episode of The Hacks to find out!
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Shout out to Derek Ardolf! He's one of the rock stars on the Salt Core team. A few days ago, he sent Chunga a handful of different blogs and news articles about PyPi, which sent Chunga into a massive rabbit hole. The articles and blogs were all about legitimate projects that have been compromised by phishing and malware attacks through PyPi.
Everybody loves PyPi, including Tom and Chunga. With that said, they have both been sounding the alarm on The Hacks about these types of channel attacks for years! Why hasn't more been done about this type of vulnerability? Tom says it simply comes down to the extreme size of open source projects vs. available resources. He also says as far as this type of problem is concerned, we're still in the wild west! So, is there anything that can be done to deal with these kinds of intrusions? Listen to this episode of The Hacks to find out!
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Tom and Chunga have just returned from their first in-person convention in 3-years! VMware Explore was held last week in San Francisco and what a crazy and educational week it was! For both of the Hacks, the experience was both weird and amazing. For Tom, it was also more emotional than he had anticipated.
VMware Explore was their first chance to meet many of their friends and colleagues in person for the very first time. This convention was also their first chance to talk about and do a presentation for the brand new Idem Project. Tom and Chunga got to see some cool new tech as well. What did they see? Listen to this episode to find out and get the full download of their first in-person convention in 3 years!
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Tom and Chunga have just returned from their first in-person convention in 3-years! VMware Explore was held last week in San Francisco and what a crazy and educational week it was! For both of the Hacks, the experience was both weird and amazing. For Tom, it was also more emotional than he had anticipated.
VMware Explore was their first chance to meet many of their friends and colleagues in person for the very first time. This convention was also their first chance to talk about and do a presentation for the brand new Idem Project. Tom and Chunga got to see some cool new tech as well. What did they see? Listen to this episode to find out and get the full download of their first in-person convention in 3 years!
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Don't make Tom Hatch angry. You wouldn't like him when he's angry...
Do you want to know what really sends him into a rage? Packaging and distributing Python software. Tom says this process is an all-encompassing disaster! It's something that has plagued Salt Project from day one.
Why is this? We all know how amazing Python is to create and build in, right? How can the same programming language be so clanky, and troublesome on the back end? Tom and Chunga discuss the various factors that make people so frustrated. Are there any options to fix these issues? Listen NOW to find out!
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Don't make Tom Hatch angry. You wouldn't like him when he's angry...
Do you want to know what really sends him into a rage? Packaging and distributing Python software. Tom says this process is an all-encompassing disaster! It's something that has plagued Salt Project from day one.
Why is this? We all know how amazing Python is to create and build in, right? How can the same programming language be so clanky, and troublesome on the back end? Tom and Chunga discuss the various factors that make people so frustrated. Are there any options to fix these issues? Listen NOW to find out!
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The pandemic is slowly inching its way into the history books and becoming a chapter that is part of our generation. Companies are starting their slow return back to the way they did things before all of this happened. This includes conferences, tradeshows, and in-person meetings.
For Tom and Chunga, their return starts next week at VMware Explore! Thousands and thousands of people will descend on San Francisco in order to meet and network, face to face, for the first time in years. Of course, Tom and Chunga will be on hand as presenters, speaking about Salt Project and Idem Project!
Chunga is curious to see if either one of them will have any rust. Tom says he's far more worried about his imposter syndrome. It's always been something that he's had to battle.
Imposter Syndrome... What is it? Do you have it? In this episode of The Hacks, Tom and Chunga will talk about what it is and discuss ways that you can overcome it as we all start getting back to normal.
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Tom has been searching for something most of us don't really think about. He's looking for space in a data center. It may come as a surprise, but it's a much more involved process than you may think!
Chunga finds that statement fascinating. For most tech professionals, a data center is just something that people use, they know it exists and that's about it. He's curious about why this process requires the careful selection process that it does. After all, a data center is just a big room with a lot of plugs and servers, right?
Tom says that's actually true--kind of. Not all data centers are created equal and you'll need to consider several factors before selecting the one that is best suited to your needs or your business. What are those factors? Listen now to find out!
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Tom and Chunga learned something new about you recently. You don't like it when they talk about fitness! They are both very, very, sorry! They'd like to make it up to you with a bonus episode.
Today, Tom and Chunga are talking about something much more in line with what they should be talking about on The Hacks. Last week, Tom's nephew asked him to help build a new desktop computer. Chunga wonders why people don't build their own machines as much as they did back in the day. Sure, people still build their own computers, but it really isn't as common as it used to be--not even close.
Tom agrees with Chunga and says there are a couple of very simple reasons why people are not investing in custom computer builds anymore. What are they? Listen to this special bonus episode to find out!
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Wow, what a difference a few weeks can make! Do you remember when everyone was talking about, and participating in the "great resignation"? Everyone was quitting their jobs and jumping to new opportunities that offered better benefits and more money.
Now, things are different. The tech industry has gone from big signing bonuses and tons of open positions--to hiring freezes and large-scale layoffs.
In this episode of The Hacks, Tom and Chunga are talking about your job! Do you feel like you have job security? Are you wondering if you should be worried about your position within your company? Tom has years of experience with this issue and has some insight into what he thinks the next few months will look like on the employment front, in tech. Listen now!
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Tom is still recovering from Covid. Somedays he feels great, and other days, he feels horrible. This has been really tough for him, because even though he's "better", he still can't exercise like he usually does. To make things worse, the less he exercises, the more he thinks about it. To be clear, Tom is NOT a "gym guy", not even close, but he is really starting to notice the effects of not exercising in his work!
In this episode of The Hacks, Tom and Chunga talk about the importance of fitness in the tech world. Tom has some recommendations for all of us "computer nerds" that will help keep us focused, happy and more productive. He and Chunga will also talk about the importance of tech in the fitness industry!
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Tom Hatch is still waging a valiant battle against Covid! Nevertheless, he's excited to be doing this episode of The Hacks.
Today, He and Chunga are talking about what a Chief Open Source Officer actually does. It's a mysterious position for people, even if they have a career in the open source world! Do you work closely with a Chief Open Source Officer? Would you have an interest in holding that title? Tom and Chunga break down the various responsibilities, liabilities, and pressures that a Chief Open Source Officer will face on a daily basis. LISTEN NOW!
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Tom is back from his long, super summer vacation! How did it go? Not well, not well at all...
Now that he's back, Chunga has a bunch of questions about an article that Tom sent him. It's about the dangerous vulnerabilities of open source software. It's a technological truth, open source software runs the world and affects the lives of every, single, human in the civilized world—the U.S. Government is exceptionally concerned about this truth. The article in question claims open source is all dominating and dangerously vulnerable, which means we're all equally vulnerable!
In this episode of The Hacks, Tom and Chunga discuss this article and whether or not they agree with any of its claims.
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Tom and Chunga have wanted to try a special bonus episode like this, for a while. The idea is simple. Release a bonus episode on a Friday that has nothing to do (or at least very little) with tech or the tech industry. After all, there is life outside of code, cloud automation, or config management, right? We're calling these episodes Free Flow Friday!
In this bonus episode, Tom and Chunga are talking about an amazing new streaming series on Paramount + called The Offer. It's a series about the people who made the movie The Godfather! Chunga has spent pretty much his entire professional life working in the entertainment industry and he says that this series perfectly captures what it's like to work in showbusiness. Tom has always had an interest in acting, writing and producing films, so Chunga told him to watch it--he was blown away. Not only because of how well written it is, but because of what professionals--in any industry--can learn about what it really takes to become successful from The Offer! Tom says it's incredible and everyone needs to see it! What about you? Have you seen The Offer? Let Tom and Chunga know what you thought about it! Listen now, and have a great weekend!
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We all love them--maybe it's human nature. Regardless of whatever it is, that's pushing our buttons, we can't seem to get enough when it comes to conspiracy theories. There are a billion of them out there and a sizeable amount of them are focused on tech!
Lucky for us, Tom Hatch is a former member of the U.S. Intelligence community and has an abundance of knowledge when it comes to this type of subject matter. What he has to tell you may not be as fun as some outlandish conspiracy, and it may ultimately disappoint you. Tom says that the vast majority of all conspiracy theories are complete rubbish and most of them are physically impossible! What specifically is he talking about? Listen NOW to find out!
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Every so often, Tom comes up with an idea for The Hacks that, at first, seems pretty wacky, only to find out later that he's kind of a genius. This is one of those episodes.
Tom has made an observation that ancient Egypt and the modern-day tech industry are virtually identical when it comes to the problems that each has had to face. The issues that brought about the decline of dynasties and pharaohs are-at their core-the exact same issues. Does this mean that these problems could do the same thing to the tech space? Tom says, without a doubt, yes! To make things even more ominous, he also says it's already started to happen!
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It's been a rough few weeks for Tom. First, it was building temperamental servers, and then--he got a cat. Anyone who knows Tom knows he's just not an "animal" type of guy.
To make things even more challenging, Crypto has crashed--yet again. This latest crash has been bad enough that it has people selling off video cards and other types of computer hardware. It has others walking away from Crypto Currency completely. Are they making the right decision? Could this be a bit of an overreaction? Even though Crypto is extremely volatile, it'll always be around, right? Well... not necessarily, Crypto Currencies can and do fail!
Regardless of these crazy swings, Tom says that if you're a tech professional, whether you like it or not, it's going to be vital for you and everyone else to become fluent in understanding Crypto Currency, how they work, and how they're utilized within the tech industry. Tom says it, along with Blockchain is the way of computing in the future.
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It's something we should all come to grips with, and prepare for. If you choose to build a career in the tech industry, you will--at some point--go through the acquisition process. Odds are, many of you have been through it already.
Because of this, Tom and Chunga thought it would be a good idea to talk about why big corporations buy other big corporations. What is the motivation? Why do companies choose to go through this intense, time-consuming, and intricate process? Tom says the motivation for acquisition is often times much different than what most people think. Not only that, the actual reason may surprise you! Listen now to find out what they are!
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While Tom and Chunga were working away on a project earlier this week, Tom mentioned a computing term that Chunga hadn't heard before. He used the word "demon" and said that it wasn't working in his new, custom-built servers.
Demon as a computer term was something that surprised Chunga and was curious about what it meant in context. Was Tom saying his computer hardware is evil?
In this episode of The Hacks, Tom talks about the historical origin of the word Demon as a computer term. The story is pretty crazy and goes back to the very beginning of the computer! It also helps explain why some modern computer terms have been problematic as well. Listen now!
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Tom and Chunga have heard from many of you about how hard it is to build and maintain real, substantive, relationships within the tech industry from the beginning of the pandemic.
Whether you prefer to work remotely or not, networking in this new environment of ours is still something that we're trying to master. Tom and Chunga are quite sure that you're all currently building relationships with great co-workers that you've never actually met in person!
In this episode of The Hacks, Tom and Chunga have some ideas and thoughts on how you can represent yourself better while continuing to build strong, and long-lasting relationships with your superiors and co-workers in this unique industry. They also talk about whether or not virtual employment really is here to stay. Listen now!!
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It's impossible not to notice how insanely expensive video cards have become over the past few years. There's a variety of reasons for this, supply chain issues, the pandemic, etc. Perhaps one of the biggest reasons is the explosion in crypto popularity.
Over the past few weeks, cryptocurrency has taken a substantial dip in value. This dip has also triggered a possible market correction for video card prices. AMD is now taking steps to ensure that its video cards remain at the suggested retail price to make things even more appealing for the consumer!
Will competing video card manufacturers be forced to follow suit? Will product quality take a hit? Listen now to find out!!
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May is mental health awareness month and in this episode of The Hacks, Tom and Chunga have a question for you--Do you have "the storm"?
The Storm is a term that Chunga uses to describe something that happens internally to some people. It's an internal urgency that creates a high level of discomfort and an almost unquenchable thirst to push yourself forward. It's especially common among people who strive to innovate, think outside the box, and create. Ultimately, the storm can be a good thing, but it can also be destructive. If it's not controlled the right way, the storm can take a heavy toll. Not only on you as an individual, but on family, friends, finances, and the very thing you're working so hard to create.
Tom and Chunga talk about the storm, how they've struggled with it, how they've learned how to deal with it, and used it to make their lives and careers better.
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After a week off, Tom and Chunga are back! Tom is really excited about a new project he's getting started on. For the first time in over a decade, he's going to build his own servers! He's really interested in participating in some new networks and areas of computing. In order to do that at the level he wants, he needs some fairly powerful new servers. Sure, Tom could just head to the store or order some completed servers online, but no--that would be beneath him!
Although he's beyond thrilled to be starting on this, there's a problem, it's not going well. In truth, it's not going well at all! It seems that Tom is extremely rusty, the pain is real! Is Tom in over his head trying to build these servers? Is he going to need help from you and the listeners of The Hacks? Listen now to find out!
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Last week, Tom and Chunga kicked off a two-part series, that focused on everything that's wrong with Crypto. In part one, they talked about the concept of Cryptocurrency and whether or not it will stand the test of time as a legitimate form of money.
In part two, Tom and Chunga discuss the limitations of using Crypto as a utility and why that process is so slow. It's also extremely confusing. Tom says that while speed, is one of the biggest problems people face when using Crypto, it's far from the only core problem! Listen now to learn about all of his concerns in this episode of The Hacks!
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A few weeks ago, Tom and Chunga did a couple of episodes about CryptoCurrency. Although these shows were generalized and neutral, there were a few people that felt that The Hacks was in some way being a "shill" for crypto companies. While that couldn't have been further from the truth, the feedback did give Chunga an idea. Why not do a couple of episodes about everything that's wrong with crypto!
We all know that when it comes to NFTs, the blockchain, and various types of crypto, they have an awful lot to discuss when it comes to the negatives. In part one of this two-part series, Tom and Chunga talk about the comparisons between traditional and cryptocurrencies, and how each has had to evolve in order to maintain worth. Will crypto evolve in a way that makes it less volatile and easier to understand, or will it become the next Blockbuster Video business? Listen now and decide for yourself!
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Chunga is asking for Tom's help. He's wondering about something and he feels like it's something that he should already know about. He's also curious to know if this is something that everyone claims to understand but in reality, experts are more like him, and they don't understand as well as they should. In this episode of The Hacks, Chunga asks "what is a botnet"?
Botnets have been mentioned a lot in the news lately. The FBI has caught and shut down two major Russian botnets just in the past week! Tom knows a ton about botnets and gives a full rundown about what they are, how they operate, and IF they're actually as dangerous as the media would have us believe. Listen now!
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Tom is hanging out in Las Vegas with Chunga! They're working on a writing project together and while they were diligently grinding away, Tom came up with a great idea. Every so often, he wants to do an episode of The Hacks that focuses on an individual that has changed the face of technology and made a massive impact on the way society works! They're going to call these special episodes the "Super Nerd Spotlight"!
For the first official episode, Tom and Chunga have selected legendary mathematician, software engineer, and cryptographer Dan Bernstein! You may not know his name, but you have definitely been a benefactor of his genius. If you have an interest in ciphers, cryptography, and cybersecurity, this is your episode!
So who is this guy and why is he so important? Listen to this episode of The Hacks to find out!
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Tom is in the process of writing a new book and (big shock) it's about open source! More specifically, it's called "The Trinity of Open Source". So, what does that mean?
Simply Put, The Trinity of Open Source is all about the natural balance between three components that are essential to any open source project! Tom says that most corporations don't get the balance right, and because of this very few corporate-owned open source projects ever live up to their potential or become successful at all! What are these components? How do you keep them all in balance with each other? Tom and Chunga have all of the answers in this episode of The Hacks!
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Tom has wanted to do this episode for weeks! Shortly before the Ukraine conflict broke out, he read a news article announcing that AMD had passed Intel in terms of market cap and now he wants to take a victory lap. Chunga says "they'll be no shutting him up about this".
As many of you know, Tom has been an AMD "fanboy" for decades, and this news doesn't surprise him a bit. So what does all of this really mean? Does it mean AMD chips have become better than Intel chips? Does it mean Intel is on the decline and they've had their day in the sun? Listen now and find out!
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In this episode of The Hacks, Tom and Chunga are talking about Tom's latest innovation called IDEM and how this powerful new software is designed to solve what many are calling an SRE (Site Reliability Engineer)crisis and several other fundamentally different problems.
The infrastructure that SRE's are being asked to deal with are getting much more complex and keeping up with all the requirements is extremely difficult, if not impossible in many cases. According to Tom, the amount of infrastructure SRE's have to maintain has become untenable. IDEM is going to change that! Tom and Chunga will talk about it and give you a rundown of how it all works. Listen now!!!
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For the first time ever, The Hacks are releasing a bonus episode!
Over the course of the past few episodes, Tom and Chunga have been talking about the history of technology in human conflict. They've also been discussing the role cyberattacks are playing in the current invasion of Ukraine.
In this episode of The Hacks, Tom and Chunga will explore the most effective ways to use a cyberattack. Tom says the best way to use an attack of this type is much different than what people may think! He says it's all about inspiring revolution from the inside out. Listen now to learn more!
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As you all know, we are living in historic times. In the last episode of The Hacks, Tom and Chunga started talking about the current conflict in Ukraine and how cyberattacks are predicted to play a major role.
In this episode, They're talking about the blueprint of a cyberattack and which areas of infrastructure would most likely be targeted. Tom and Chunga also talk about what would need to be done for a nation-state to actually take these targets offline. Tom says although a large-scale cyberattack could be devastating, it's actually much harder than everyone thinks to accomplish. With that said, the smaller scale cyberattacks are bad enough and their impact will be felt for years, if not decades.
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(Chunga's Note: This episode of The Hacks was recorded last week, on 2/23/22. From the time of this recording, as you are no doubt aware, there have been some significant changes with regard to world events. As a result, some commentary may seem slightly dated or inaccurate. Thank you for choosing to listen to The Hacks!)
So... anybody been watching the news lately? With the tragedy and humanitarian crisis that's taking place in Ukraine, one of the many threats that continues to be raised is the threat of a nation-state-sponsored cyberattack. There has been a multitude of news reports that say a Russian cyberattack on the U.S. and/or western Europe is imminent. Because of these claims, many in the west are suggesting a preemptive cyber attack of our own.
In this episode of The Hacks, Tom and Chunga what could actually happen in the aftermath of a full-scale cyberattack and why a preemptive strike may not be such a good idea.
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Chunga is jealous of Tom today. Last week, Tom was invited to give two lectures at Utah State University. Both of these lectures were centered around writing software that will actually get used. Seems like a pretty simple concept, right? Don't be so sure!
It may surprise you, but this is a huge problem within the tech space, particularly with engineers. Tom says they rarely have a full understanding of the people that will actually use their software and the problem they'll want it to solve. Tom was taken back a bit by how new this concept seemed to the students he was talking to! In this episode of The Hacks, Tom talks about how we're getting things so terribly wrong when it comes to writing software and what you can do to avoid becoming part of the problem.
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Tom Hatch has two, young daughters. While he does his best to control, and carefully monitor what they're doing on the internet, he knows that there's only so much he can do to keep his family, home, and infrastructure protected.
Sadly, there are a ton of similarities between digital parenting at home, and having robust cyber-hygiene at work. Tom says in both worlds digital parenting isn't going far enough, not far enough at all. In today's world, it's about as effective as when Tom's parents would lock up his Nintendo controllers.
So, what can we all do to be more careful? Tom has some ideas that may surprise you. Listen now!
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In part two of this two-part series, Tom and Chunga continue their discussion about cryptocurrency!
In their previous episode, The Hacks gave an overview of cryptocurrency and why they think crypto has become so popular. In this episode, Tom and Chunga talk about NFT's and some of the problems associated with all types of cryptocurrency like its extreme volatility, security issues, and more! Would the world of cryptocurrency be a good or bad thing for you? Listen to this episode and decide for yourself!
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In case you didn't already know, in addition to the work that Chunga does with Tom on Salt Project, he also works as a voice-over artist.
A few days ago, Chunga was booked to do a commercial for a cryptocurrency that specializes in content management & NFT's. While reading the script, he realized that he doesn't know nearly as much as he should about crypto, how it operates, etc. Thankfully, Tom does! He says that crypto is dramatically changing the way we look at software infrastructure because it gives us an entirely new distribution and asset base that decentralizes most of our traditional platforms. In part one of our two-part episodes Tom talks about how cryptocurrency and mining crypto is going to change the way we all operate, whether we like it or not. Listen now!
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Automation is a term that goes all the way back to the bronze age. Throughout human history, we have sought different types of automation in order to manipulate the world around us into making things easier. Simply put, automation makes the complex--simple.
At their core, computers are the very definition of automation. That's why they were created in the first place! Computing technology has been around for decades, you wouldn't think automation would continue to be as difficult as it is, right? Wrong! Tom has the answer to why automation is so hard.
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Chunga has had a bit of a scare recently. His sister-in-law has a serious case of Covid, which is causing several problems including issues with her brain. As he's been helping where he can and trying to be a supportive member of the family, he's been surprised to discover how much medical experts still don't understand about the human brain.
Tom says there are some staggering similarities when it comes to computers! He calls this issue "the acceptance of ignorance", which is an even bigger problem when it comes to the world of open source. So, when Tom says that phrase, what does he mean specifically? The answer may scare you. Listen now to find out!
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2021 was a crazy year. Chunga called it a "transformational year" for him personally. It was a year full of challenges, growth, and change. The same could be said for Tom! After all, he got married this past year and bought a new house.
What about the tech industry? Was it a year full of challenges, growth, and change? In this episode of The Hacks, Chunga talks with Tom about the biggest surprises in tech over the past 12-months. Tom also gives his overall review of the past year within the tech industry. Does he view 2021 as a positive? Will we all look back on it favorably? Listen now to find out!
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Happy New Year! The Hacks have returned from their holiday break!
Speaking of which, over the New Year holiday, Tom decided to take a short trip to Las Vegas and hang out with his old pal Chunga for a few days! One of the reasons he wanted to do this was to fulfill his promise to get Chunga all set up and using Linux. As you all know, Tom is a huge fan of Linux and KDE. He's definitely someone who thinks Linux is superior in many ways to both Apple and Windows. Chunga is curious about that. After all, if Linux was really that good, then why wouldn't everyone be using it? Tom explains that it's most likely due to a variety of popular and completely false misconceptions. In this episode of The Hacks, Tom and Chunga discuss these misconceptions and the actual truth in contrast. Listen now!
As 2021 comes to a close, it's commonplace for news outlets, TV shows, and podcasts to do "Year In Review" type episodes and The Hacks is no different!
As everyone's big holiday break approaches, Tom and Chunga are talking about tech that you won't see 2022. Chunga thinks this topic is way too broad but Tom is confident that he's narrowed it down to tech that everyone has been begging and hoping for, but still won't happen within the next year. Is Tom right, or is he completely wrong? Listen now to see what you think!
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A story has been playing out in the media recently that Chunga calls his "nightmare scenario". It's happening with a popular programming language and open source community called "Rust". a few days ago, the entire Rust open source moderation team resigned--all at once. The reason for this is they claim that the Rust core team has no accountability and can basically do whatever they want without any checks and balances.
Tom says when things like this happen, it's complicated and it's almost always because the open source entity is operating from a "foundational" business model, rather than from a BDFL model. What does BDFL mean? Listen now to learn about the key differences!
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A few weeks ago, Tom and Chunga did an episode of The Hacks that focused on 3-different management styles. To date, it's one of the most popular episodes in the history of the show!
You have also asked for more episodes that focus on navigating the pitfalls of the modern corporate environment. So in this episode of The Hacks, Tom and Chunga are taking some time to talk about solid leadership and when it's necessary to be the office tough guy.
Tom says accountability is becoming more and more of an issue in the workplace, making it easier for toxic people to keep their jobs while behaving poorly. Because of this, being an office tough guy is a more valuable role now than ever before!
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It's Thanksgiving week! The holidays are upon us and The Hacks are feeling festive! Tom and Chunga have both had an amazing year and they have an awful lot to be excited about.
In this episode of The Hacks, they're going to get a little personal, and Chunga is going to ask Tom about the technology that he's most thankful for. Now, technology is a very broad term, so Chunga isn't limiting Tom to just computer tech! After all, technology is everywhere and some of Tom's answers may really surprise you! Listen now and HAPPY THANKSGIVING!
It's a fun, and lighthearted episode of The Hacks!
Tom and Chunga are exhausted. Now that SaltConf21 is over, they both need a small amount of time to talk about something that doesn't make their heads hurt! Well, the holidays are rapidly approaching, and as many of you already know, both Tom and Chunga are huge gamers. The timing seems perfect to do an episode on video games!
In this episode, they'll talk about the history of video games, their impact on culture and society as well as the future and security of video games as an industry!
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SaltConf21 has ended and it was a huge success! It took place on November 3rd and 4th, and featured over 40 different events and sessions!
Every year, SaltConf focuses on new ideas and the latest Salt updates and offerings. This year was no different. However, this years SaltConf seemed to be more focused on innovation than previous years! Because of this, Tom and Chunga wanted to spend some time in this episode of The Hacks talking about the Top-5 innovations that impressed and surprised Tom the most!
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SaltConf21 "Bigger, Better, Faster, Stronger" is coming your way on November 3rd and 4th, and you're all invited to attend for FREE! Register HERE to get your free SaltConf21 T-shirt!
In this episode of The Hacks, Tom and Chunga give you the rundown on what's happening at this year's SaltConf, what brand new innovations are going to be announced, who's going to be presenting, and what the sessions are going to look like!
Tom and Chunga also give you a sneak peek at an amazing new product, created by Tom that will be unveiled at SaltConf21! Again, be sure to get signed up and grab your snappy new SaltConf T-shirt!
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Tom Hatch has always wanted to be a stand-up comic. He thinks he'd be amazing! Chunga, on the other hand, is far less confident in Toms's comedic abilities. That said, he still thinks they should have Tom do an hour of tech based stand-up comedy at SaltConf on November 3rd and 4th! Be sure to get your free registration at saltconf.com
Over the past few months, Tom & Chunga have devoted a few episodes to the business of tech and the management of people. These episodes have been extremely popular, and you have asked for more! Consider it done!
In this episode of The Hacks, Tom & Chunga are talking about 2 things that they feel are a massive problem in today's professional workspace; those 2 issues are silos and personal accountability. Do you feel that silos are creating a toxic, ultra-competitive work environment? Do think it's simply too easy to make excuses for poor work and get away with it every time? You're not alone! Listen to this episode of The Hacks to learn how you can help break down silos and overcome workplace drama and poorly performing team members.
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The Halloween season is upon us! Chunga thinks the timing is perfect to do an episode about things that are scary.
When it comes to the tech industry, there's plenty of things that Tom is deeply afraid of! Obviously, Chunga is well aware of Toms tech anxieties, so he's going to throw different topics at Tom in order to find out what--within that topic--scares the daylights out of him!
What scares Tom the most about open source? What scares him the most about cloud technology? What about cyber security? Tom has much to say when it comes to his tech fears! Listen NOW to hear what he's afraid of and why!
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Chunga and Tom have talked about operating systems before and how each OS has a Kernel.
That Kernel is basically what controls access to the hardware of the computer. It also gives you a platform to build applications. Every now and then, something will get added to a Kernel that can create a deep change in how applications are built. One such application is called Epoll.
Simply put, Epoll makes everything run faster and makes you wait less. Tom created the core of Salt based on this technology! Tom (as you can imagine) is fascinated with this type of technology, which leads us to something called "memfd_secret". Chunga thinks memfd_secret is basically Kubernetes on steroids... Does Tom agree with him? More importantly, do YOU agree with him? Listen now to find out!
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Tom Hatch is an innovator. That's what he does best and where he is the happiest. He lives to create, refine, and repeat.
For the past couple of years, Tom has been working new and very, very big--He calls it IDEM. Chunga says that in the world of tech, IDEM is very sexy and going to be a game-changer. In this episode of The Hacks, Tom and Chunga offer a solid, introductory explanation of what IDEM is, how it functions and what makes it different than Salt! Here's a hint, IDEM isn't part of Salt at all, it's a sibling! Listen NOW!
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It's been a long time since Tom and Chunga have told a good heist story on The Hacks. Needless to say, they're both very excited!
Have you heard about the guys who used an Apple Watch to track their victim and steal 500 thousand dollars? Yep, a group of seven guys used an Apple Watch to steal a half-million bucks!
Were they brilliant, criminal masterminds for pulling this off? No--not even close. In this episode of The Hacks, Tom and Chunga play cops and robbers! Tom is the bad guy and Chunga plays the cop that has to catch him.
Tom walks everyone through his evil master plan to show you how these guys should've committed this crime from beginning to end. SPOILER ALERT: He screws up and Chunga catches him! Listen NOW!
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In this episode of The Hacks, Tom & Chunga are talking about freemium software. When you think of freemium software, what comes to your mind? Is it Google? Maybe Facebook or a different social media platform?
In the world of open source, there seems to be a constant, never-ending issue that Tom spends an enormous amount of time talking to business owners and software developers about. The problem is that owners of open source software products killing themselves trying to get open-source users to spend money on their free product!
Tom is saying STOP! Stop right now, you're doing it wrong. He has some different options and strategies that you may want to consider. Listen NOW!
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Chunga is really surprised that he and Tom have never talked about Tiamat on The Hacks before. Especially considering how valuable it is within the world of Salt!
Tiamat solves a fundamental problem with Python. As many of you know, Python is an interpreted language. This means that if you want to run a Python program, you have to have Python installed on your computer, which can be a serious hindrance when it comes to building and distributing Python-based software. Tiamat solves this problem! Tom Hatch will give you the rundown. Listen now!
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SaltConf21 is happening on November 3rd and 4th this year, and once again, it's going to be virtual. Registration is completely FREE and you reserve your spot right now at saltconf.com!
In this episode of The Hacks, Tom and Chunga talk about why SaltConf is so important to both Salt open source software and the Salt Project community. Tom says one of the main reasons is that open source is where most true tech innovation happens. If one is to truly get a grasp of innovation on that scale, they need to attend events like SaltConf to learn and network with other like-minded innovators!
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Tom Hatch has been around the block. When it comes to the world of Tech, he's seen it all. Especially when it comes to the business side of the industry.
Because he has so much experience, Tom has broken down corporate managers into three separate categories. Two of these categories are pretty bad, and one is great!
In this episode of The Hacks, Tom goes through each of these groups with Chunga and explains why it's essential for you to be able to understand them. This podcast may end up saving you an awful lot of heartburn! Listen now!
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You've seen it happening across all industries--companies are having substantial staffing problems and labor shortages. The tech industry is certainly not immune to this problem. Sadly within our space, it's even worse. Currently, there are thousands of high-paying tech jobs that are available and desperately need to be filled!
Why is this problem happening? Is it because of the pandemic or is it because of a larger problem? Tom talks with Chunga about how dire this situation actually is and why he thinks the problem is going to get much worse! Listen now!
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Tom wants to talk with Chunga about something called "Resource Gravity". Have you ever heard of it?
Simply put, resource gravity is a problem. It starts when a large piece of software is conceptualized and the construction of that software is too heavily influenced by the source of the funding of that software. This creates a gravitational pull with regard to priorities. Because of this, companies and product get painted into a corner and are unable to evolve and scale. In many cases, it ultimately leads to the failure of the company, the product, or both!
Is it possible for open source software to suffer from resource gravity even if revenue isn't the main influencer? Tom says absolutely and he'll explain how in this episode of The Hacks!
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We all know Tom Hatch is the guy who created Salt. Salt is arguably one of the most powerful automation & configuration management platforms ever created. However, most of us don't really understand what the philosophy behind the product was when it was created.
In this episode of The Hacks, Chunga talks with Tom about the thought process and decisions that made Salt so powerful. They also talk about "the children of Salt"! These are the programs that were created throughout the evolution of Tom's most successful creation. Listen now!
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In the last episode of The Hacks, Tom Hatch made a reference to a specific type of thought process. He was talking about 2D vs. 3D thinking.
Tom first heard about this in the film Star Trek 2 "The Wrath of Kahn". Ok, sure... It's easy to laugh at, but there's something legitimate and very serious that stuck with Tom. He says that our industry is filled to the brim with people who only choose to think in two dimensions; when they should be thinking in three! What does it mean to think in three dimensions? Are you a 2D or a 3D thinker? Listen now to find out!
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Recently, Tom Hatch was invited to the U.S. Army War College for a seminar focused on national security. While he was there, he attended a presentation from an author who was speaking about forming and asking better questions.
The core of this speech was centered around education and how modern society has been trained through standardized learning to solve problems a certain way. Because of this, people no longer have the ability to seek out robust and creative solutions to challenges. The byproduct of this way of thinking is bland and average solutions to oftentimes complex problems.
In other words, as an industry, we're too normal. Being normal creates weak and uninspired products.
In this episode, Tom talks with Chunga about how we can all overcome this standardized way of thinking, and solving problems. Listen now!
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Developers are under constant pressure. Pressure to innovate, pressure to maintain, pressure to create something bigger and better than their previous offering, and on top of that--pressure to do all of it faster.
Unfortunately, for many, that level of stress is simply unsustainable. Have you ever heard of John McAfee? At one point in his life, he was one of the world's most successful developers, until it all came crashing down. How can you avoid a crash of your own? Tom Hatch has some thoughts and ideas that may help ensure that you don't get crushed under your own stress. Listen NOW!
Did you know that every operating system is born from the chaos of open source software?
Chunga and Tom had a completely different show planned for today until Chunga started complaining about his MacBook Pro. No, there's nothing wrong with it, he just doesn't like the way it "feels" when he uses it. Tom thinks Chunga's choice of words is interesting. He says feel actually means operating system!
Because of this, everything in this episode was changed to talk about how operating systems are built and why each one "feels" the way it does. Tom thinks that there are tons of professionals within the tech industry that don't have a clue when it comes to the decisions that create an operating system, do you? Listen now to find out!
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A few days ago EA Games, one of the world's most successful video game companies was hacked by a group that stole the source code for a video game called FIFA 21. They also swiped the source code to a popular game engine called Frostbite. Currently, this group is trying to sell both on the black market.
Tom and Chunga are fascinated by this story for several reasons, the biggest being that these hackers are actually talking! Believe it or not, they even have an official "representative" that's talking to the press and telling everyone how they did it! The Hacks will discuss the specifics of this whacky caper and whether or not it's even worth trying to buy the source code back. (Spoiler: Chunga says if it were up to him, he wouldn't) Listen now!
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Building corporate open source muscle... What does that mean?
Every company carries a culture with it. In some cases, that culture is very long-term, which can make a change in direction--regardless of the reason--difficult. Sure, some companies can do it better than others. For example, there are many companies that have an open source offering as part of their business model. While they may have an open source platform, that doesn't mean they have open source muscle. In short, Tom says that just because you have open source, doesn't mean you use and build it effectively!
In this episode of The Hacks, Tom and Chunga become your open source personal trainers and give you some ideas to build that muscle!
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This episode of The Hacks may go down as Chunga's all-time favorite!
Have you heard the recent news story about a group of hackers that breached the infrastructure of a major casino? They were able to steal the personal information of many of the casino's top "whales" and high net worth individuals. Not only that, but they were also able to use the casino's infrastructure to gain access to many additional companies.
While this information alone is really scary, it's the way that they were able to breach the casino's data center that is truly terrifying. This group of cyber-criminals got in by hacking a thermometer in a casino aquarium! Is this the craziest hack Tom has ever seen? He says no, but it's certainly up there.
Tom and Chunga discuss these crazy hacks and talk about what can be done (if anything) on a wholesale level to prevent these types of odd IOT intrusions.
The Secret To Winning IT Security Roulette.
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It doesn't happen often, but occasionally, Tom and Chunga will talk about their personal lives on the show. Next week is a big week--Tom is getting married!
Even though he's completely preoccupied with last-minute wedding preparations, He's making to have some fun and talk about the evolution of DevOps! Remember when DevOps was the term that everyone loved to abuse? Well today, you don't hear it said much at all. Chunga thinks that needs to change! Even though DevOps as a philosophy has been around for over a decade, there a ton of people who are just starting to understand it. Tom on the other hand thinks the reason people don't use the term as much anymore is because DevOps has evolved. What does he mean by that? Listen now to find out!
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Have you heard about the professor from the University of Minnesota? Apparently, this guy thought it would be a good idea to submit code, with known security vulnerabilities, to the Linux Kernel in order to show how easy it is to get potentially malicious code through the Linux approval process.
It goes without saying that Linux is furious. Now, this professor may be in an awful lot of trouble, and the University of Minnesota is banned from submitting any further code.
These types of actions scare Tom Hatch to death. He has some strong opinions about all sides of this story, as well as other bad apples within open source communities throughout the tech space.
It's time for part-2 of a conversation that was started in last week's episode of The Hacks.
Last week, Tom and Chunga asked the question--why is SAAS so misunderstood? In part-1, it was decided that at one point or another, everyone in the tech space will get the definition of SAAS wrong. This happens because SAAS is such a broad term.
In this episode, Tom and Chunga are going to specifically talk about SAAS as it applies to enterprise and the corporate environment. It's no secret that Tom is an authority on enterprise-level SAAS and can help clear up the confusion. Listen now!
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Today on The Hacks, Tom and Chunga are talking about something that Chunga says is the most confused and misunderstood segment of the tech space.
Why is this thing so misunderstood? Primarily because it's so broad that everyone has their own definition of it! In this episode of The Hacks, Tom and Chunga are talking about SAAS.
SAAS (software as a service) can mean many different things. It's a philosophy, a product type, and a technology, amongst other things. Tom says that the proper definition of SAAS starts with you understanding your own business model and that's why the vast majority of SAAS offerings fail. Listen now to learn more!
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Chunga feels a little intimidated about this episode. Today, he and Tom are going to climb into the dark recesses of the mind of a software engineer! They're talking about the balance of product and engineering.
Where do most engineers start their process of innovation? Do they start with a big imagination and a blank piece of paper, or do they start with a specific goal in mind? Tom says that question has no answer. Sometimes an engineer can start a project with one goal or product in mind, and it ultimately winds up becoming something else entirely. It's almost as if the project takes on a life of its own. A talented engineer will have the ability to feel and hear what this new product needs or wants from its creator. It may sound corny but it's true! Tom also says if you fail to find the true balance between innovation and what the product needs, you'll fail. Most likely because the product will be over-engineered.
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After taking a short break, thanks to Chunga getting the CoronaVirus, The Hacks has returned!
In this episode, Tom and Chunga are talking about something we've all had to go through--a launch that goes bad. It's happened to all of us, Chunga thinks that most launches tend to either go sideways or at the very least don't go as expected.
So, what do you do when this happens? Since every launch is different, there's not really a playbook or checklist to help fix things quickly! Tom says that's actually a good thing. When fixing a bad launch, "quick fixes" often leads to bigger problems and makes things much worse. With that said, he does have some advice for the next time you have to deal with your own bad launch. Listen now!
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Chunga can tell Tom hasn't slept well over the past few days. Typically, when he's sleep-deprived, his brain tends to drift and focus on strange things like conspiracy theories.
This time, Tom is obsessing over passwords. Thanks to his history in the U.S. intelligence community, he knows all too well how inaccurate and off-the-mark most conspiracy theories actually are. In truth, the real stuff is much, much worse--especially when it comes to passwords.
Do you know how all of your secret data is managed? Do you really? In this episode of The Hacks, Tom and Chunga talk about how fragile and vulnerable your passwords are! Listen now to find out!
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Tom and Chunga are breaking their own cardinal rule on this episode of The Hacks!
You all know they both love open source and that Tom is a bit of a rock star in the space, but that doesn't mean that they believe open source is perfect; quite the contrary. The truth is, they think there are several things, and one in particular the open source does very poorly.
Tom and Chunga take the to talk about that "one thing" and break down all the reasons why open source will never be able to do it correctly. Listen now!
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Tom and Chunga have a question for all of you. A few days ago, they saw a news story that talked about the rapid decline of covid cases around the U.S. The main focus of this story was the growing concern over mental stability as people start returning to the workplace. Do you think tech professionals, such as yourself, effectively go back to working in an office?
The position taken in this news story was that no, it's a bad idea to go back to a traditional office environment. Productivity would suffer, quality of work would suffer and employee psychology would take the biggest hit of all. Do you agree?
Chunga agrees with this assessment entirely. What does Tom think? As you know, he hates dealing in absolutes and making blanket statements but he does have some strong opinions about this subject that may surprise you. Listen now!
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Not too long ago, there was a story that made all of the industry trade publications. Elasticsearch created a huge stir by moving the core of their stack from Apache 2 to a registered license. Every time a large company does something like this, people instantly begin asking the question "are open source databases dead?"
When experts pose this question, are they doing it to garner attention and create drama for the sake of their publication? Tom Hatch has some opinions about that and he explains why these kinds of shifts happen within our industry, to begin with. SPOILER, Tom says this is nothing new and has been taking place since the 1980s. While that may be the case, are things different nowadays? In today's world, can these shifts signal the death of the open source database? Listen NOW to find out!
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In the last episode of The Hacks, Tom & Chunga were about programming languages that Tom feels are the best--the ones that everybody needs to know fluently.
This week however, it's time to explore the seedy underbelly of the bad programming languages. The ones that turn Tom Hatch into a hater! He gets a rare chance to reveal the program languages that he feels are really awful and a waste of everyone's time!
Why does Tom hate them so bad? Why does he think these languages are such a waste of time? Listen now to find out!
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Chunga is going to force Tom to do something he hates and typically avoids at all costs. He's going to make Tom voice a strong opinion and talk about programming languages he thinks everyone needs to learn.
Surprisingly, this won't be a problem for Tom because there are a few he loves and encourages everyone to embrace. There are also many more that horrible and drive him crazy! His opinions are so strong on this matter that The Hacks will have to split this topic into two parts!
In this first episode, Tom and Chunga will discuss the programming languages that are (according to Tom) essential to know because of their popularity and performance as well as their ability to make you look more attractive to potential employers. Listen now!
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Last week, Tom and Chunga promised to do an episode that explored the vast differences between Tactics and Strategy. The truth is, most people get the two confused. Are you one of those people? It's totally ok if you are!
This problem goes back nearly 4,000 years. When it comes to the varied principles of tactics and strategy, even people who would consider themselves to be versed in the subject typically get a few things right and almost everything else wrong. However, in today's business environment, failure to understand the difference can result in potentially catastrophic results.
In this episode, Tom and Chunga breakdown the core definition of each and provide an in-depth look into which is more important, tactics or strategy.
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Thomas Hatch has worn many hats throughout his young life. He's a former member of the U.S. Intelligence community, he's been a school teacher, started his own successful software company and invented Salt, one of the most popular open source platforms on earth!
It's because he's worn so many hats that Chunga wants to throw him a curveball. In this episode of The Hacks, Tom has no clue what they're going to talk about. Chunga is calling this episode "The Zen of Collaboration". Working in groups, even small ones can be very challenging for human beings. History has proven over and over again that small differences can become huge problems almost instantly for (in most cases )inconsequential reasons.
The modern workforce--especially in the tech space-- relies very heavily on the practice of collaboration. In this episode, Tom and Chunga discuss the pitfall and more common challenges when it comes to working with people who think and operate differently than you do. Tom has some ideas and strategies that you can employ instantly to deal with difficult co-workers or a toxic boss. Listen now!
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We're living in crazy and tumultuous times. 2021 has not gotten off to a great start. Because of this, Chunga wants to talk about something that he thinks is loved by everyone--open source. It's like comfort food! Chunga calls open source the "roast beef" of the technology space; but is that accurate? The short answer is no according to Tom. In fact, he claims that open source is more of a double edge sword!
Sure, there are tons of positives that are easy to see and talk about. Tom says "open source is the tide that raises all ships". However, open source as an industry and philosophy also comes with a fair amount of negative baggage that's given him a serious case of PTSD.
Why would Tom say that and what are the pitfalls? Listen now to find out!
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Tom and Chunga are back from their long holiday break and they're kicking off another exciting year of The Hacks! As you're getting 2021 underway and settling back into your daily routine, now would be the perfect time to talk about building a culture of cyber awareness within your organization.
January is the perfect time of year to focus on cyber awareness in order to set the right tone for the entire year. Tom Hatch has enormous experience in this area and as a result, he has some great ideas, opinions, and tactics to focus on and get 2021 started the right way.
Where does it all begin? Not surprisingly, Tom says it starts where all good tech practices start--with people! Listen now to learn more.
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It's the final show of 2020 and WOW, what a crazy year it's been!
What are Tom and Chunga talking about for their final episode of the year? Are they doing a big "2020 year in review"? No... Who wants to review 2020?!?
In this final episode before the Christmas break, The Hacks are talking about something much more exciting--Zero Touch Automation for DevOps. Tom also talks about driving a tank over a car!
Chunga thinks Zero Touch Automation is going to be one of the big, buzz-phrases of 2021. We all know that DevOps is the core of any successful automation platform; so what is Zero Touch Automation? Simply put, it gives professionals the ability to explore, develop, and test programs faster than ever before.
Tom says that we've always had Zero Touch Automation, hello?! What do you think computers are? If that's the case, then why is it starting to become a branded term now? Tom has an answer to that question and more, listen now!
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The holidays are upon us and The Hacks are having a hard time concentrating. Because of this, Tom and Chunga want to change things up a bit. They're putting on their tinfoil hats and talking about Spy Games.
Nation-states spy on each other. Let's be honest, they spy on everyone, enemies, and allies. While spying on your enemies is a given; should it be acceptable to spy on your closest friends and allies? What about countries spying on their own people? Every time a story breaks in the press, everyone seems to act shocked and amazed that a nation would take such action.
In truth, allies and have always spied on each other. Tom Hatch is a former member of the U.S. intelligence community and he says that the only way to truly eliminate confusion, deception, and the "fog of war"--is to spy. Yes, even on those you trust. Does Tom have the same opinion when it comes to spying on its own citizens? Does he think whistleblowers like Edward Snowden are heroes or villains? Listen now to find out!
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Tom and Chunga are fresh back from the Thanksgiving holiday and they're talking about something that most tech industry executives claim to understand, but really don't.
Today's episode is all about open source. It seems counter-intuitive to create a piece of software, give it away for free, and then try to make money with it!
Why would anyone in their right mind choose to do that?
The trick is to understand the larger strategy when it comes to open source. The Hacks discuss the tremendous benefits of having an open source community and strategy as a component to any tech industry business model. They also talk about how most businesses that have an open source offering and community are actually getting things wrong.
Listen now to find out why Tom Hatch says open source is the most misunderstood area of tech!
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Recently, Tom and Chunga watched a viral video of a soccer (football) match being played in the U.K.
This particular game was unique because they decided to replace the highly skilled, human, TV camera operators with robotic cameras. These cameras were all controlled by AI or artificial intelligence. Everyone thought this would be a groundbreaking decision, especially considering the goal pandemic.
Their logic at the time was sound. Simply program the TV cameras-which were positioned around the stadium-to follow the soccer ball as it made it's way up and down the field. Sadly, they failed to consider every possible scenario and the televised broadcast was a complete disaster. What went wrong?
One of the match referees was bald... The AI responsible for controlling the TV cameras mistakenly thought the official's bald head was the soccer ball!
What is the problem here? Why can't smart, hard-working people, seem to get a grip on artificial intelligence? After all, the concept isn't exactly new. It should be easy by now, right?
Tom and Chunga have some thoughts and opinions about why artificial intelligence continues to struggle. They may surprise you!
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In this episode of The Hacks, Tom and Chunga are talking about a group of people that aren't very popular within the tech industry. At a minimum, most of these people are looked at with skepticism and raised eyebrows. In some cases, they're actually treated with contempt. Today, Tom and Chunga are talking about ethical hackers.
Chloe Messdaghi is an infosec advocate and CEO of WoSEC. She's been getting a lot of attention lately because of her efforts to de-stigmatize professionals in this line of work. The Hacks discuss her advocacy and whether or not people are right to treat ethical hackers differently than their more conventional counterparts.
What does it take to become an ethical hacker? How does one start their journey? Why would someone choose to make this type of work their chosen profession? Listen now to find out!
To learn more about this episode:
https://www.chloemessdaghi.com/
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Once again, Tom and Chunga are proud to welcome Janae Andrus as their special guest for this episode of The Hacks. You may have heard that SaltConf20 is happening this Thursday, October 29th! Registration is completely FREE and you can get yourself signed up HERE
Janae gives Tom and Chunga an in-depth rundown of what people can expect from this year's SaltConf virtual conference. Plus, she'll also give everyone the details on how they can win a bunch of killer SaltConf20 SWAG. Listen now!
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This episode of The Hacks may seem a little bit different. Are Tom and Chunga talking about some new, groundbreaking, innovation in the world of tech? Are they talking about cybercrime and ransomware attacks? Nope...
Tom has a "fire in his belly" over a fight/rivalry that's been simmering for a long time between Intel and AMD. He picked sides a long time ago and now he wants all of you to join him!
For some context, Tom and Chunga go all the way back to the beginning of this issue and chat about processor history and how this bitter rivalry began in the first place. They also explore whether or not Intel is really superior to AMD. The Hacks would love your opinion! Are you loyal to one brand over the other? Is the Intel hype deserved? Send us an email or let us know on Twitter!
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The Dark Web. It doesn't have the best reputation. In truth, most people don't even know it exists but for those who do, it's largely considered to be the seedy underbelly of the internet. It's a rotten, dirty place full of thieves, hackers, and predators of all types; or is it? Does the Dark Web deserve the reputation that it has?
In this episode of The Hacks, Tom and Chunga start at the very beginning. They talk about the origins of the Dark Web and why it was created in the first place. You may be surprised to find out that the Dark Web isn't so dark after all.
Sure, all of the bad things do indeed exist but there's much more to it that you should understand when it comes to the Dark Web. Why would someone choose to use the Dark Web over other more conventional platforms? Listen now to find out!
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Chunga came across an article ZD Net a few days ago. It was about cybercrime and contained a list of ten disturbing facts that they claim will keep you up at night.
While Chunga was glued to this article, he thought it'd be a great idea to share these disturbing facts with Tom and see if any of them would indeed cause him to lose sleep.
In this episode of The Hacks, we'll see (according to Tom) just how accurate this journalist is when it comes to the growing and increasingly active underworld of cybercrime. What's the most common type of brute force attack now that the world has shifted to a largely remote workforce and how much have they increased? Are cybercriminals exploiting Zoom to spy on your everyday activities? How many unsecured remote desk-top machines are jeopardizing organizations around the world?
Tom and Chunga answer these questions and address many more security-related concerns. How many of these statistics would keep Tom awake at night? Listen now to find out!
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ZD Nets article "10 disturbing Stats"
ZD Net "10 Disturbing Stats"
During this year’s VMworld question and answer, VMware CEO Pat Gelsinger announced the company’s intention to acquire SaltStack!
In this unique episode of The Hacks, Tom and Chunga take a personal look back to the very beginning. Back to a time when Tom sat by himself, in his basement, developing a computer program that would end up changing his life and ultimately be used by millions of people around the world. How did Salt and eventually Saltstack shape the person that Tom is today? Did it change the way he looks at himself? Is he satisfied with the work he’s done?
They also take a look at what the future holds for both SaltStack and VMware and discuss how they plan to grow and champion the Salt open source community that has been so vital to SaltStack’s success story!
To learn more about this episode:
Tom's VMware Acquisition Statement
Come prepared to connect with Tom's Zen in this episode of The Hacks.
Recently, Tom did a webinar about something he's been really focused on and he wants to discuss it with Chunga. He has a theory called "Top Down, Bottom Up Change".
What does that mean? Well, from one end of the spectrum bottom up change means that you have an entire eco-system that is already established; it's evolving and growing almost as if it has a life of its own. This eco-system could be everything from a corporate digital infrastructure, to something macro, like the corporation itself.
An example of top down change would be to enter into an existing eco-system and then attempt to exact your will upon it. Tom's theory is when a project or company is failing, more often than not, it's happening during a top down phase of maturity. After all, change is going to happen regardless and if you try to impose your will in the wrong places or the wrong time, failure is inevitable.
This is even more true when it comes to the tech industry, where these changes typically come faster and are far more volatile. So...which is better, top-down or bottom-up? Where should you position yourself? The answer may change throughout the evolution of a project or specific eco-system.
Tom and Chunga break all of this down by using IOT and the video game industry as examples of the right and wrong ways to affect bottom up, top down change. Listen now!
Tom Hatch is many things, to many people. He's the creator of Salt, He co-founded SaltStack and he's also the company's CTO. Once, while teaching his new students at some college somewhere, he even pretended to be Canadian for a full week, just because he loves the movie "Strange Brew"!
Although he's been given many titles, nobody (much to his dismay) has ever given him Royal status--until now. Chunga has proudly crowned Tom Hatch as "The King of SaltConf"! Every year, SaltStack hosts a special gathering of IT Operations and SecOps professionals that are focused on building and maintaining a more secure and reliable digital infrastructure.
SaltConf20 will be the 7th annual SaltStack user conference and this year, for obvious reasons, it will be virtual. FREE registration is open now and the first 100 people to sign up get a free SaltConf20 T-Shirt!
Every year, one of the most common things people say is "We want more Tom"! This year, that's exactly what we're going to give you. Janae Andrus is our special guest for this episode of The Hacks. She'll give you a rundown of what to expect at SaltConf20, how to reserve your space and how you can get your hands on some brand new SaltConf20 SWAG! Be sure to listen for the secret code as well.
Also, in this episode of The Hacks, Chunga reads some listener and feedback. Listen now!
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Chunga has been complaining for years that the U.S. Power Grid is extremely vulnerable and could easily be hacked or destroyed. He says every time he tries to talk about it, everyone looks at him like he's crazy... Everyone that is, except Tom.
The vulnerabilities that surround the Power Grid are something that has worried Tom for a long time as well and he says Chunga is right to be so concerned. In fact, the U.S. Power Grid is more vulnerable right now, in 2020, than at any other time in our nation's history.
It's not something that people really think about. Our electricity is something that's always just--there! We flip a switch and it works; we don't imagine that it couldn't. However, if someone crashes it, much of the compromised infrastructure couldn't just be repaired. It would have to be rebuilt entirely.
Why is the U.S. Power Grid so vulnerable in 2020? Is it because of how divided the American people are currently? Is due to a lack of funding? Actually, no! The real reason it's so vulnerable is something quite different. Listen now to find out!
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The North Koreans are stealing lots of money. They're very good at it. The truth is if you don't have SecOps (Security Operations) dialed in, and buttoned up from top to bottom, you could be their next target!
The world got their first taste of what the North Koreans are capable of back in 2016 when they attacked the Bangladesh Central Bank and nearly stole just under a billion dollars.
Because the Central Banks SecOps and IT Operations teams weren't properly aligned, a group of North Korean hackers known as the "Beagle Boyz", were able to breach the bank's infrastructure by sending one email... That's all it took, one email.
Although there were fail safe's in place (in NYC) that prevented several of the fraudulent transactions from taking place, the Beagle Boyz were still able to get away with an enormous sum of money.
The North Koreans have continued these kinds of attacks ever since and there are several new reports claiming they're going to become more frequent due to increased infrastructure vulnerabilities created by remote or work from home situations. They're robbing banks and corporations around the globe by draining ATM's and initiating fraudulent financial transactions by using spear phishing attacks with infected emails.
In this episode of The Hacks, Tom and Chunga talk about SecOps and discuss different strategies that can be used to protect your digital infrastructure. Implementing many of these defenses is much easier than you may think. Listen now to learn more!
To learn more about this episode:
U.S. Warns of Global Bank Heist Campaign by North Korean Hackers.
https://www.saltstack.com/products/secops/
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Tom and Chunga are talking about IOT (Internet of Things) in this episode of The Hacks!
Recently, Chunga read an article which featured industry experts claiming that regardless of size, virtually all IOT development projects will take at least twice as long as originally planned.
Tom isn't surprised by this assessment at all. He says people are notoriously bad at understanding the scope and conditions of IOT projects. They're also really bad at understanding how their product will actually be used in everyday life.
A big reason for this is simply because IOT designers have to imagine what the world will look like when the project is completed rather than what it looks like in present day. Oftentimes, the technology required to finish a specific product doesn't even exist at the time the project is started.
Why would anyone in their right mind choose to get into the business of creating IOT devices? Tom says "it's because of fame and fortune man!!" For many people, IOT is the modern-day gold rush.
While this pursuit may be irresistible for hordes of businesses, Tom says the issue and complexities surrounding IOT are only going to get worse. Chunga on the other had is skeptical and feels that most of the IOT devices that are currently being pushed to market are gimmicks, nothing more. Is Chunga right? Listen now!
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Visit SaltStack
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In this episode of The Hacks, Tom and Chunga are talking about cyber hygiene.
Recently, at Black Hat Virtual, Tom gave a speech about how most companies are focused on dealing with infrastructure vulnerabilities in a way that doesn't actually protect their organization as much as it should.
Unfortunately, Tom says when most people look at their digital infrastructure, they build a defense strategy from the outside in; which is the exact opposite of how it should be done. When an organization scans for vulnerabilities, oftentimes they do so without any actual method to fix them.
What percentage of companies are practicing a legitimate level of cyber hygiene? Tom says it's very low. That said, he has some ideas and steps that can be taken right away that can help. Listen now!
For more about this episode:
Tom Hatch speaking about cybersecurity at Black Hat Virtual
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There have been some rumblings. To be honest, you could safely say that they're straight-up accusations. Some have even gone as far as to say that there's a conspiracy. There's a growing chorus of tech industry experts that are claiming the cloud is destroying open source.
To add fuel to the fire, these accusations aren't just coming from members of open source communities; they're also coming from large companies within the technology industry.
The main complaint is that large cloud providers (AWS & Azure) are making open source creators and contributors pay a subscription to use products that they've created in the first place. Basically, the cloud vendors are making tons of money on open source and the open source contributors are making very little or nothing at all.
Chunga and Tom an impartial look at these complaints and draw some parallels/comparisons to similar types of problems in other industries. Does Tom agree with the accusation that open source is being destroyed by the cloud? Listen now to find out!
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Salt Open Community
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In this episode of The Hacks, Tom and Chunga are talking about the most common type of breach so far this year.
Black Hat Virtual is underway and as part of SaltStacks coverage, we are taking a new look at a report we did at the end of last year called "The State of XOps". When looking at infrastructure security, are things different than they were in 2019? The short answer is yes! Things are very different. The truth is, 2020 is considerably more dangerous. This year, Microsoft, Estee Lauder, T-Mobile and many additional organizations have all suffered security breaches caused by the same type of vulnerability. What is it? Listen now to find out and click the link below to get your own copy of the State of Xops Report: Redux!
To learn more about this episode:
The State of XOps: Redux
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As most of you already know, Tom Hatch created a very popular and widely used open source platform called "Salt". He didn't create this platform with the goal of starting a company. Tom simply created an answer to a problem that he was having.
Salt became popular very quickly and as that popularity continued to grow, he began to wonder if it was something he could use to create a business and generate income. So, how did he do it?
Creating an open source business model is both dangerous and extremely difficult. Not many people in their right mind would try to make money by leveraging a product the people can get for free, right? Well, that's exactly what Tom did. In this episode of The Hacks, Chunga and Tom discuss the dangers and potential upside of building a business model for an open source product. Listen Now!
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https://www.saltstack.com/resources/community
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Tom Hatch loves to create his own terms for different things. Chunga refers to these terms as "Hatchisms"! One of the more commonly used terms that Tom loves is "The Banana Problem".
What is the banana problem? Simply put, the banana problem is what happens when too many things are engineered to be very similar to one another. The tech/software industry has a huge banana problem! Software is omnipresent and most of it--outside of a few small variances--is very similar. It's one of the main reasons hackers are able to target companies like Microsoft, Twitter and well... everybody!
Is the banana problem something that can be solved quickly or is it something that will take a long time to fix? Tom has some ideas on what can be done to deal with this issue and perhaps speed things up a bit. Listen now!
To learn more about this episode:
Twitter's Massive Hack May Be Worse Than It Seems
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Tom and Chunga are excited to welcome Janae Andrus to The Hacks!
Janae is a Live Events and Field Marketing expert! As you already know, one of the biggest Covid-19 casualties in the business world has been the live event. Trade Shows, Conferences and Industry Expo's have all been either forced into the digital realm or cancelled altogether.
Business and marketing executives in all industries are now scrambling to gain an accurate perspective/opinion about Virtual Conferences in comparison with live, in-person, events. Are Virtual Conferences better because they're more convenient? Are they worth the cost of sponsorship and/or attendance? Janae answers all of these questions and many more, in this episode of The Hacks!
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Virtual SaltStack
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The Cloud... It is quickly becoming the standard for modern business.
In this episode of The Hacks, Chunga asks Tom the question: "How much does CX (customer experience) matter when it comes to enterprise cloud technology?" After all, it's being used by everyone and yet, for some reason, customer experience doesn't really seem to exist on any widely used or universal level. Why is that?
Tom has some theories on why CX has somehow managed to fall through the cracks. Will CX ever become a "thing" for enterprise cloud technology? Listen now to find out!
For more about his episode:
Forrester report on Enterprise Cloud CX
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Tom and Chunga are putting on their tin hats for this episode of The Hacks!
They're talking about facial recognition conspiracy theories and a recent event at the Rose Bowl where 30,000 people had their faces scanned and cataloged without their knowledge or consent.
While Tom is an expert on info-capture technology, he admits there's a lot he needs to learn when it comes to facial recognition. That said, he does know enough about it to confidently tell people they should be very concerned.
How often is your face being scanned without your knowledge? What types of activities are you engaging in that could be impacting your life without your knowledge? Listen now to find out!
For more about this episode:
30,000 Unsuspecting Rose Bowl Attendees Were Scooped Up in a Facial Recognition Test
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Tom and Chunga welcome a special guest to this episode of The Hacks!
SaltStack has just announced the release of Enterprise 6.3 and Mehul Revankar is here to talk about all of the updates and the many new features that are packed into the biggest and best Enterprise release yet! Tom, Chunga and Mehul will also tell you how you can get early access. Listen now!
For more about this episode:
Reach New Heights With Enterprise 6.3
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In this special Star Wars episode of The Hacks, Tom and Chunga debate the most catastrophic cybersecurity and IT Operations fail in the history of the Universe!
The Death Star was the Empire's ultimate secret weapon--a terrifying, moon-sized, military battle station armed with a planet-destroying super laser. It was 120-kilometers (75-miles) in diameter and when fully staffed, housed approximately 2-million people... It should have been indestructible.
Who (internally) was responsible for this disaster? How was the smallest weakness exploited to create a catastrophic failure? Tom and Chunga break it down, offer their opinions and comparisons to today's tech-filled business environment!
Read Chunga's article and get your FREE Death Star Poster!
Death Star CIO Breaks His Silence
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This is the episode where Chunga gets to help everyone gaze into the spook alley that is the mind of Thomas Hatch.
The Hacks are getting philosophical and asking the question, "Why Do Programming Paradigms Matter?" Why does the language of software and it's many variances matter so much to developers and engineers? They also talk about the specifics of what a programming paradigm actually is.
For the most part, Tom believes programming paradigms are learned and viewed in a "bottom-up" type of way; which is actually backward. He's also of the opinion that this practice is limiting to innovation.
To learn more about this episode:
Read Tom's free book about "POP"!
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The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), the FBI and the broader US Government have conducted and concluded a multi-year study, beginning in 2016.
The purpose of this study was to alert and provide better technical guidance for IT Operations and security professionals, in order to patch the most commonly known vulnerabilities exploited by cybercriminals.
Tom and Chunga discuss the findings in this report and talk about why one company, in particular, was singled repeatedly in this report.
For more about this episode:
The Top 10 Routinely Exploited Vulnerabilities
www.saltstack.com
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Tom and Chunga may have just created the next, big, industry buzz term called "XOps"
So... What is it? What does it mean? Basically, XOps is an umbrella term used to describe the generalized factions of all IT disciplines. Xops goes back to the root, core DevOps philosophy which encourages industry professionals to prioritize communication over tools.
Tools are mandatory but need to exist only to facilitate communication between these different groups and teams. XOps is all about getting teams to communicate with each other better. After all, if teams don't communicate effectively--the tools won't work anyway!
To learn more about this episode:
The Q-2 State of XOps Report
What is XOps?
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Chunga got an email from a listener a few days ago asking Tom a question. This person some advice on becoming a rockstar software developer.
The global pandemic has changed the lives of every single person on this planet in just a few short weeks. For many, these changes include having to find a new job or switching to a different career entirely.
Tom and Chunga discuss some of the more common questions people have nowadays when it comes to the field of software development. Are there some people who shouldn't even consider a job in this industry? Is a college degree really necessary? If you're older, is this still a field you can get into? Tom offers up a lot of advice and has answers to the questions many current and future software developers have.
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www.saltstack.com
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Chunga is fairly new to the IT Automation industry. Even though he's new, he can still hold his own in most cases.
However, this episode of The Hacks has him feeling like he's completely out of his league, why? He and Tom are talking about which aspects of software development matter the most. It's a very broad topic. Tom completely disagrees and says Chunga is closer and more in tune with this topic than he knows! So which aspects of software development does Tom think matters the most? Listen now to find out!
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www.saltstack.com
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It really is horrible. Low life, cybercriminals are using the global pandemic and the chaos surrounding it as cover to launch ransomware and other types of cyberattacks against the healthcare industry. In many respects, these attacks have been very successful.
Tom and Chunga discuss where, within the healthcare industry, these attacks are most frequent and how this industry can better defend against them.
Are your private medical records as vulnerable as experts say they are? Could these cyberattacks cause fatalities in medical facilities? How often do these perpetrators get caught? Listen now to find out!
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Coronavirus has created an even greater need for infrastructure automation and security.
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A few weeks ago, our world was a much different place. Now things are different thanks to Covid-19. As of this episode, more than 7-million people are unemployed... How is this virus and the economic fallout affecting IT and InfoSec jobs in the tech industry?
Tom and Chunga spend this episode of The Hacks discussing the impact that Covid-19 and the predicted recession will have on the tech sector, specifically IT and InfoSec jobs. Are these positions safe? Is the industry going to continue to drop even after the crisis is over? Tom says there's no need to panic. That said, things are going to be much different. How different? Listen now to find out!
To learn more about this episode:
Add Capability, Ensure Security, Manage Cost With Automation. By Marc Chenn
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It may be hard to believe for some of you but there's a 60-year old computer code called COBOL that's still in use today and now it's having some "serious" problems.
For the past week or so, it seems like every trade publication or industry website is sounding the alarms because COBOL is falling apart. To make things worse, there's a considerable skills gap when it comes to this ancient code.
In this episode of The Hacks, Chunga and Tom discuss whether or not there's reason to panic over COBOL. They also talk about the possibility of other, old computer codes having a similar problem. Listen now!
To learn more about this episode:
IBM Scrambles To Find More COBOL Programmers
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For the second time, Alex Peay, Senior VP of Product and Marketing at SaltStack joins Tom & Chunga. The Hacks have asked Alex to return to talk about a blog he wrote called "3-Lies SecOps Teams Tell Themselves".
Alex wrote this blog after attending this year's RSA Conference in San Francisco. After attending several meetings and speeches, he started noticing a common narrative that was threaded throughout all of the presentations; regardless of who was talking.
This narrative had a problem--it wasn't accurate. Actually, it wasn't even true! Over the course of this conference, Alex determined that he was hearing 3-lies, over and over. What were they? Listen now to find out.
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Alex Peay's blog "3-Lies SecOps Teams Tell Themselves So They Can Sleep At Night"
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Tom and Chunga are pleased to welcome Alex Peay as their very first guest on The Hacks! Alex is the Senior VP of Product and Marketing at Salt Stack and he's here to talk about how IT Automation can help businesses of every size function more safely and effectively during the Covid-19 crisis.
Typically, when people hear the word automation, they immediately think less-people and downsizing. For hard-working men and women, automation can have a very negative connotation.
The truth is, automation actually secures jobs, protects businesses from cyberattacks and helps virtually every aspect of your operation run more smoothly. Do you know how many companies are actually employing automation correctly? Listen now to find out!
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https://www.saltstack.com/solutions/it-operations/
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Chunga and Tom are breaking the rules!
They have chosen to sneak into the office and record a new episode of The Hacks. They'll continue to deliver a new episode every, single, Tuesday for as long as they possibly can!
This week, The Hacks are talking about cybersecurity in the Corona Virus pandemic. Rumors are flying everywhere, Chunga recently saw a news story where the reporter was predicting a 700% increase in global cybercrime. While Tom is somewhat skeptical of that assessment, he says it does make sense. Hackers do indeed have an unprecedented window of opportunity.
Companies have been forced to shift the way in which they operate on a global scale. Their infrastructure is being required to shift as well; very quickly. To make things worse, the internet itself is seeing record-breaking traffic and stress. Could this burden on infrastructure be creating massive vulnerabilities not only to businesses but individuals as well? Listen now to find out.
For more about this episode:
Elite hackers target WHO as coronavirus cyberattacks spike
Why cybersecurity matters more than ever during the coronavirus pandemic
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Tom is always excited when he gets to talk about things in the tech industry that are messy. When Chunga brought this topic to The Hacks, he lit up like a Christmas tree.
The IOT (internet of things) market is huge and shows no sign of slowing down. With speed comes mistakes as innovators rush-faster and faster-to push products into the market place.
Chunga is highly skeptical of most new IOT devices. He doesn't have a Ring Doorbell, he's not a fan of Apple products and his Alexa "creeps him out". Tom has some strategies to help with "digital fatigue and show everyone how to avoid IOT hype and save you a ton of money at the same time.
Tom also gets philosophical and as everyone if its IOT that's a mess or is it actually the consumer?
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Out of all the episodes Chunga and Tom have recorded, this is the one Chunga is afraid to record. It's the one he and Tom can't afford to screw up! The entire podcast is about SaltStack Enterprise and Salt Open. Tom can't really figure out why he's so worried. After all, Tom is the guy who created both of them!
So... What's the difference between the two? Sure, one is an open source program and the other is enterprise-based, proprietary software but are they really that different? Actually, they are. Listen now to find out just how different they actually are.
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Throughout history, there have always been certain groups that - for whatever reason - can't or won't get along. There are several that come to mind. The Red Sox and the Yankees, Republicans and Democrats, cats and dogs... The list goes on and on. Sadly, IT Operations and Security teams would have to be included in this list. There's not a good history there.
In this episode of The Hacks, Tom and Chunga talk about the natural friction that takes place between these two groups of professionals. At the end of the day, everyone on each side of the fence is hard working and well intended. They're all trying to do the best job they possibly can!
If something goes wrong and the infrastructure gets hacked, which one of these groups is responsible? Tom has some thoughts about individual responsibilities. He also has some ideas and opinions on how organizations can help lower the tension between the two sides.
To learn more about this episode:
The Secret To Winning IT Security Roulette / Part -1
The Secret To Winning IT Security Roulette / Part -2
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Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning. In 2020, these two terms just may be the most trendy terms in tech but are they really as revolutionary as people say they're going to be?
Historically speaking, the AI and ML hype machine revs up and comes around every 10-years or so. Alan Turing was the first innovator to talk about AI in 1950 and by his standards, the computer industry has completely accomplished Artificial Intelligence.
Tom Hatch has some very strong and wide-ranging opinions when it comes to AI and ML. In this episode, he talks with Chunga about the future possibilities and whether or not AI and ML are deserving of all the hype.
Are Chunga and Tom on the AI and ML revolution bandwagon? Listen now to find out!
To learn more about this episode:
AIThority Interview With Thomas Hatch
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SecOps. It's something that Thomas Hatch is very passionate about. What exactly does that term mean?
SecOps is the practice of automating IT and security operations in order to get the two departments to work more efficiently with one another. There's always been varying degrees of friction between security and IT operations teams. Why is that?
It's the security teams job to find and vulnerabilities within an infrastructure. Once they do, those risks are reported to the IT operations teams so they can be fixed. IT operations teams are under tremendous pressure to move quickly and maintain "up-time". Fixing infrastructure vulnerabilities requires an uncomfortable amount of both time and money which slows down the entire operation. Oftentimes, these problems never get fixed for that reason. Unfortunately, if the problem doesn't get fixed and there's a breach, it's the security team that is held responsible.
This is where SecOps becomes the solution!
To learn more about this episode:
What Is SecOps - Thomas Hatch
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In today's world, cyber threats are constant and the criminals are getting smarter. At the same time, companies are being pressured in a variety of ways, to grow and create more, faster! Unfortunately, the faster they move, the more vulnerable they become.
It's not just companies that are at risk. We all are! So... how safe are we really? Is our Government actually secure or do we just want to believe it is? What about our power grid? The cybersecurity vulnerabilities stretch way beyond the nations largest corporations
Tom Hatch fills Chunga in on the overall risk of a cyber meltdown in the United States and offers his best tips on how to keep your home and business from being hacked.
To learn more about this episdoe:
"The Secret To Winning IT Security Roulette" - Part 1
"The Secret To Winning IT Security Roulette" - Part 2
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In 2011, Thomas Hatch created an open-source program called Salt. In the years since Salt has become a program that's used by millions of people. It's gotten big... Very, very big.
As software grows, it becomes more brittle and less flexible. It's because of this that Tom created a brand new program called POP. POP stands for "Plugin Oriented Programing". It's brand new and revolutionary in the way a person can build new software on top of it. Simply put, all programs written in POP are compatible or "pluggable" with each other!
While Tom was in the testing phase of POP, he created 3 additional products just to see how pluggable POP could be. Those the products are called Heist, Umbra and Idem.
In this episode, Chunga and Tom talk about all of these products. What do these products do? How do they work? Listen now to get all the details.
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https://www.saltstack.com/open-source-projects
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The open-source community is interesting. It's massive and made up of brilliant men and women. It's also incredibly transient. What is it about open-source that makes people flock to it the way they do?
Tom initially went to open-source so that he didn't have to re-build his work every time he switched jobs. Even though he wasn't well connected to people within the open-source community, his work quickly gained popularity. Why did this happen? Tom thinks it happened because found they could use his program Salt to solve their own individual problems.
Most people in the open-source community are there for completely selfish reasons which is actually a great thing! This selfishness leads to community contributions, those contributions help each piece of software evolve and get better. Tom and Chunga each have a favorite piece of open-source software. What are they? Listen now to find out!
In episode #2 of The Hacks, Chunga talks with Tom about the evolution of the open-source environment and whether or not Tom created a monster in his own open-source program called Salt.
Back in the '70s and '80s, open-source was (for most developers and engineers) the standard way of doing things. As software larger and more complex, we started to see the introduction of proprietary software.
Before that happened, people created software with the intent of it being consumed by others in the same way someone would write a book for compose a song. They wanted to get it in the hands of as many people as possible.
In today's world, open-source has become a fantastic environment where engineers and developers can experiment and create programs that receive community input, evolve, become monetized and change the world. Tom's open-source program Salt is used by millions of people around the globe!
It's gotten very big over the past few years which has created some unique challenges. Tom & Chunga discuss the challenges related to managing a massive program like Salt.
Did Tom create a monster? Listen now to find out!
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https://www.saltstack.com/resources/community/
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Welcome to the inaugural episode of a brand new podcast called "The Hacks" and it's hosted by 2 guys that make an unlikely team!
Thomas Hatch obsessed with computers and is the creator of a world renown, open source program called Salt. He's also the Co-founder and CTO of SaltStack
Jimmy Chunga is a writer and media personality who loves video games but knows almost nothing about computers!
Every week, Tom and Chunga will discuss a wide variety of topics, ranging from cybersecurity and infrastructure automation to current events and history.
In this first episode, Chunga interviews Tom to find out more about his life, how he became so obsessed with computers, coding, the open source community and why he created Salt. He also talks with Tom about his love of video games and his history in the U.S. Intelligence community.
To learn more about this episode:
www.saltstack.com
Salt Open Source Community
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