MDS BLOG

OpenStack was founded by Rackspace Hosting Company and NASA, and is a new open source software for creating private and public clouds. OpenStack was borne out of a necessity for corporations, researchers, global data centers and other organizations to deploy large cloud operations for private or public clouds. They are also offering a new trial called Whiskey.

As Node.js is becoming more and more known, there are more tools needed to test the applications that it is built upon. Rackspace started to use Node.js so they wrote their own testing tool for Node.js called Whiskey. It was named Whiskey because it was the developer’s favorite beverage.

Rackspace has announced the release of its open source test framework called Whiskey. Whiskey is a suite for testing applications written in Node.js, which is a very popular JavaScript application framework that uses Google’s JavaScript engine. Rackspace created Whiskey because they found that test frameworks were limited. In using Whiskey, the code coverage module gives them much more flexibility and features. It has three reporters, text, json, and html, and also supports aggregating code and coverage reports. Whiskey also supports async tests, tap output, generates Makefiles, and reports variables that leak into the global scope.

You can currently run Whiskey in single processes, but the platform has one master process with many child processes that communicates with each other through TCP. There is a plan to enable a Whiskey Node.js that will run over multiple servers in the near future.

Whiskey also has the functionality to report on variables, which makes it easier for the developer to find errors that have been created. For example, if you define a variable and then forget the var keyword, you can run a report on the variables to find the error. You can find the error much quicker using this process in Whiskey.

Whiskey can be downloaded and installed on your system and the source code is available online. You can also find test file examples online to view.

There is also an Android app by Rackspace that allows IT managers to access the cloud server from almost anywhere. You can use this app to quickly and easily administer your cloud servers and cloud files. To use this app you simply log in and enter your API key. This app supports multiple accounts, supports US, UK and custom API endpoints, and lists all cloud servers in your account. You can also use this app to create new cloud servers, delete existing cloud servers, and resize Cloud Servers. This app will also allow you to perform soft and hard reboots, manage backup schedules, ping cloud servers, rename or rebuild the cloud server, change the root password for the cloud server, and create and view cloud file containers. You can upload text files to the cloud files, and download and preview Cloud files. You can also secure your Cloud server with a pass code lock. With this app your Cloud can move with you anywhere you go.

In essence, the Rackspace Cloud app puts an impressive amount of the functionality of a full-featured server management setup into the palm of your hand; no small feat considering the suite of processes that running a server takes. Using the cloud to administer the cloud is a feat on ingenuity, but it is just the tip of the iceberg for what is to come with cloud integration in our society.

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If you cant get your printer to  print well aligned  labels done in  the Microsoft word 2007, this may simply be  the case of printer settings but please before you go ahead , make sure you are using the correct paper specification by the manufacturer, in this case we are talking about Avery L7160.

Ok here we go, see the following ;

1. Click the office button on Microsoft word.

2. Select Print and then select print again.

3. In the printer set up page, look in the “zoom” section

4. Adjust “Scale to Page size to A4″

5. Click on “properties”, Adjust the “paper size” to A4.

6. Click OK and return to print page,

7. Click “ok” to print and you should be fine.

Note: Re adjust your margin to normal if you had altered it due to following other  instructions on the net.

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5 Apps for online college students

In the age of digital textbooks, smartphones and online degree programs, having a list of must-have phone apps for your college experience can be a big help. Here are five course-related we rate as most useful.

1. Evernote
   First on our list is an app that allows students to copy classroom notes and record course lectures.  Evernote can be a life saver for students who want to replay a class session. The audio and visual files are searchable and easy to organize.
2. Dropbox
   Next is Dropbox, the most popular cloud technology app for computers and smartphones which allows users to synch files from multiple devices while reducing, or even eliminating, the need for flash drives which can be easily lost or compromised. For students using one computer at home, another at the library, and a smartphone while travelling, Dropbox provides a simple means to keep up with classwork and juggle various versions of one document for group projects.
3. My Class Schedule
   Students have a lot to juggle. Keeping track of tests, assignments, projects, and personal events makes a mobile time management app number three on our list. My Class Schedule is an Android-only app that can keep your entire life on track with easy reminder features that prevent last minute due date surprises that can rob you of sleep and GPA. The app has a free version with ads, but an ad-free version can be purchased for a nominal fee.
4. InClass
   iPhone users have their own excellent time management app that is highly comparable to the Android app, My Class Schedule. With a different user interface than the Android app, InClass still offers the same capabilities to organize the various events in your life.
5. Thinking Space for Android devices, SimpleMind+ for the iPhone
   Each term paper, class project, and synopsis a student writes involves organizing concepts and ideas and then breaking those down to subordinate thoughts. These brain mapping apps are both free and extremely helpful in organizing thoughts into visual representations you can use on the go. Long after you graduate, the apps will remain relevant well into your career.

About the author: Derrick Cruise is a professional writer living in the Indianapolis area. He specializes in technology and education articles. In his spare time, he contributes to stand-up comedy routines.

Website: http://skyesartwork.com/

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All of a sudden, a computer monitor that works perfectly well and shuts itself down when the mains had been put off  suddenly starts showing you this red , green , yellow etc stripped box floating around your monitor with the text ” Self Help Feature Check”. I know how this gets into your head especially if you are the type that care about your computer .

• Please take your time and check the following:
• Make sure your DVI cable is well plugged in
• Make sure you VGA cable is plugged in directly into the port, some splitters or bridge may be causing this problem.

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Recently i had a problem with a very stubborn virus and was almost messed up if not for Malwarebyte antivirus software, this is highly recommended as it offers free and commercial version. The protection offered in it’s free version is highly commendable when compared with some antivirus programs .

Scanning with Malwarebytes is extremely fast and well detailed, please read the extract from it’s website below.

“Malwarebytes Anti-Malware helps you defeat Malware once and for all.”

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Recently i had problem with an oscommerce shop that belongs to one of my clients, It is so disturbing these days how oscommerce based shops are being hacked. One major advice i would give any shop owner running on oscommerce platform is to make sure you have a clean copy of your files backed up and be very careful not to mix that copy  up with subsequent backups.

Actually this is the second time i have had this problem with an oscommerce script, but just incase you want to use oscommerce, do not forget to use any good available security that has been provided as an approved contribution.

One good security for people is to try and use the oscommerce security pro,  but if you find your oscommerce website hacked, just don’t bother looking for the malicious codes as most times the hacker must have corrupted a lot of  files with malicious codes like mixing javascript in php codes etc. Just go ahead and re-upload the whole site again(home directory) you must be careful about re-uploading the database file, if it’s not harmed , just leave it.

Afterwards try to test every aspect of your site , and lastly do not forget to change your passwords again both at the site admin and server.

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If you are considering uploading videos to youtube , then please consider Leawo free mp4 converter. There are loads you can do with this if you go to the pro version.

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Have you ever tried to open up a file with the extension .rar , .tar or .zip  with no luck, well that has been handled now with the 7-ZIP file management software, it can open up all files with rare extensions. All you need to do is download the program and then go to tools ->Options and then choose the files you would like it to open automatically. This is a free software (open source) and you cant get anything  free and better.

The main features of 7-Zip

• High compression ratio in new 7z format with LZMA compression
• Supported formats:
  • Packing / unpacking: 7z, ZIP, GZIP, BZIP2 and TAR
  • Unpacking only: ARJ, CAB, CHM, CPIO, DEB, DMG, HFS, ISO, LZH, LZMA, MSI, NSIS, RAR, RPM, UDF, WIM, XAR and Z.
• For ZIP and GZIP formats, 7-Zip provides a compression ratio that is 2-10 % better than the ratio provided by PKZip and WinZip
• Strong AES-256 encryption in 7z and ZIP formats
• Self-extracting capability for 7z format
• Integration with Windows Shell
• Powerful File Manager
• Powerful command line version
• Plugin for FAR Manager
• Localizations for 74 languages

7-ZIP

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