Change Your LinkedIn Password, 6.5 million leaked, 576 news articles

I've changed my LinkedIn password.  Have you?

There are 576 news articles on the leak.

6.5 million LinkedIn passwords reportedly leaked online ‎ CNET - 6 hours ago A hacker says he's posted 6.5 million LinkedIn passwords on the Web -- hot on the heels of security researchers' warnings about privacy issues ... by Lance Whitney - More by Lance Whitney Highly Cited: Millions of LinkedIn passwords reportedly leaked - take action NOW‎ Ars Technica Blog: 6.5M LinkedIn Passwords Posted Online After Apparent Hack‎ PCWorld (blog) LinkedIn investigating reports of stolen passwords‎ The Associated Press All Things Digital - Computerworld (blog)  all 576 news articles »

I received this e-mail through LinkedIn which was suspicious.

LinkedIn

xxxxxx has sent you a message.

Date: 6/04/2012

Subject: How are you?

Dave,

It is good see that you are in a new adventure and I am sure you will do well. Can you say what you are doing? I hope they know they have a quality person like you! All the best to you and your family.

Group-think most likely big contributor of Stevens Pass avalanche disaster

This year my family switched to Crystal Mountain Ski resort, but for the last 4 years we skied at Stevens Pass where the Avalanche disaster took three people's lives.

Avalanche killed experienced backcountry skiers

Three skiers killed in a Washington state avalanche on Sunday were highly experienced at backcountry skiing, according to media reports, and one was the head judge of the Freeskiing World Tour, a competitive circuit for extreme skiers in the United States, Canada and South America.

The three, ski tour judge Jim Jack, Chris Rudolph and John Brenan, were among a group of a dozen or so skiers who were attempting to ski down a slope near the Stevens Pass ski area in the Cascade Mountains, about an 80-mile drive from Seattle. Among the group were staffers of both ESPN and Powder magazine, who identified the victims and gave accounts of the incident.

We checked with some of our Stevens Pass friends it was a somber day on the mountain as many knew someone in the group.

One of the points made in the CNN article

Doug Schnitzspahn, editor-in-chief of Elevation Outdoors magazine, told CNN that a kind of group-think takes over in these situations, with skiers wanting to be there with their peers.

"You think, 'All these people are either professional skiers or they knew what they're doing, they are out here,'" he said. "You're trained to make certain decisions, but it's not always humanly possible. If I had been there, I would have skied that line with those guys. That's what shakes me up."

Think about this, the editor-in-chief of Elevation Outdoors would be with these people skiing.  Is this a decision or a group-think mindset?

Identifying group-think-

• Group members stereotype non-members and label them as enemies or outsiders not worth negotiating with or worrying about
• People hesitate to air any discomfort, doubts or uncertainties they feel about the group decisions or policies, so that consensus seems unanimous
• Reluctant to shatter complacency group members do not bring information or evidence that does not conform to the groups expectations and stereotypes to the groups attention
• The group discusses only a few alternatives and reaches a decision quickly concentrating only on good points
• The group feels invulnerable leading to excessive optimism and risk taking
• The group ignores or rationalises warnings or signs that it is operating under false assumptions, making poor decisions or developing poor strategy
• There is strong pressure on group members to conform to group norms

Many disasters are caused by group-think.  Consider this when you build your data center teams.  How many data center disasters have group-think as a major cause?

My wife and I never ski back-country, because it is not worth the risk.  I don't think we have super human strength, and no technology is going to save you if something really bad happens.  Skiing fresh powder in low traffic areas may be a thrill, but other than your ego being satisfied, does it do any really good?

When we ski with our kids we are always telling them they need to ski with a buddy and be safe.  and, they are skiing faster than mom and dad now.

Interest in Google Data Center goes from Wired -> Gizmodo and Slashgear

I wrote about Wired picking up on Google's Hamina Data Center.

Today I saw two other publications that reference the Wired post.

Google's New Data Center Is An Abandoned Paper Mill In Finland

Gizmodo Australia - ‎8 minutes ago‎

I don't know what it is about new data centres, but they all seem to resemble the evil lairs of Bond-movie villains. Google's latest, based in a disused paper mill in Finland, is no exception. According to Wired, Google acquired the site for $US52 ...

Google's recycled paper mill datacenter uses seawater for green cooling

SlashGear - ‎2 hours ago‎

We all know that Google is big on green. The company has huge investments in solar power, wind power, and more green sources of renewable energy. This green push isn't something new at Google; it's been going on for years.

You can argue with the accuracy or newsworthiness of these posts from your data center expertise, but keep in mind for the data center curious articles like these new to them and the facts.

Are Trade Shows reaching the Tipping Point, MacWorld example

Microsoft is pulling out of CES after being there for so long.  Apple pulled out of MacWorld and it has transformed the trade show into a non-tradeshow.

I was in SJ last week, and out nostalgia I went by the Apple store and picked up a apple logo t-shirt that was green.  Am I an Apple fanatic? no.  Did I work there for 7 years (1985-1992)? yes.  Do I have an iPhone 4S and MacBook Air? Yes. What is my next tech purchase? a Verizon Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich version phone. :-)

Going through airport security at SJC a guy asked me if I was at MacWorld.  I was thinking hell no.  Why would I go there?

Here is a Gizmodo article on how MacWorld is now.

Macworld Is Weird Now

I love Macworld Expo. I've gone more years than I haven't out of the last dozen. But for most of those years, Apple was presenting. That's changed.

One of the indicators on how big the event was is the media coverage.  Check out the press room picture.

What is interesting is the guy writing this article for Gizmodo doesn't think of himself as media.

In the past decade and change, Expo went from technology side show to main event. Post-iPod, the press arrived in greater numbers. By the time the iPhone launched, they began showing up in troop trucks. It became impossible to get a good seat. The number of exhibitors likewise swelled. It was chaos. And too normal. All the weirdos left. Or at least, there were so many normal people, the big old nerds weren't as evident. I hated that. And I especially hated the media. Fuck the media.

But then Apple pulled out. And so too did all the hangers on in the media.

One of the top things that exhibitors want besides end users at trade shows is media coverage.  If writers like above hate the media who does like the media?

Is Gizmodo the media?  The author of this post is an editor.  I am confused. :-)

Mathew Honan

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Google's Pulp NonFiction Data Center, Wired Magazine's article on repurposing a pulp mill

Wired has an article on Google's Hamina Data Center.

Google Reincarnates Dead Paper Mill as Data Center of Future

• 38
  in Share

• By Cade Metz
• Email Author
• January 26, 2012 |
• 6:30 am |
• Categories: Data Centers,Hardware, Secret Servers

Google's Finland data center is the ultimate metaphor for the Internet Age (Photos: Google)

Joe Kava found himself on the southern coast of Finland, sending robotic cameras down an underground tunnel that stretched into the Baltic Sea. It’s not quite what he expected when he joined Google to run its data centers.

In February of 2009, Google paid about $52 million for an abandoned paper mill in Hamina, Finland, after deciding that the 56-year-old building was the ideal place to build one of the massive computing facilities that serve up its myriad online services. Part of the appeal was that the Hamina mill included an underground tunnel once used to pull water from the Gulf of Finland. Originally, that frigid Baltic water cooled a steam generation plant at the mill, but Google saw it as a way to cool its servers.

Not anything really new that hasn't been covered already, but it is worth noting that Wired's coverage reaches an audience maybe 100x bigger than a data center publication.

It does sound like the author was frustrated not getting more info, and closes with this.

The complaint, from the likes of Facebook, is that the Google doesn’t share enough about how it has solved particular problems that will plague any large web outfit. Reports, for instance, indicate that Google builds not only its own servers but its own networking equipment, but the company has not even acknowledged as much. That said, over the past few years, Google is certainly sharing more.

We asked Joe Kava about the networking hardware, and he declined to answer. But he did acknowledge the use of Spanner. And he talked and talked about that granite tunnel and Baltic Sea. He even told us that when Google bought that paper mill, he and his team were well aware that the purchase made for a big fat internet metaphor. “This didn’t escape us,” he says.

By inference is the author complaining by referencing Facebook?