tech. blog. repeat.
If you have an e-commerce website, you can validate shipping addresses on the front end to reduce delays and minimize costly returns due to bad addresses. Going further, you can also script and automate address validation for batch imports into UPS Worldship. This process will only apply to addresses in the United States, since UPS…
Hyper-V Server is great and it’s also completely free. Yes, Windows 10 Pro comes with the option to install and run Hyper-V, but anyone running more than a couple of virtual machines will eventually gravitate towards a dedicated virtualization server. So how do you manage Hyper-V Server if it doesn’t have a GUI? Any Windows…
The dangers of exposing Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) to the internet are well documented. It’s no surprise that a tool designed for ease of use has become a prime target for scripted brute force attacks and other exploits, allowing compromised machines to serve as attack vectors for Ransomware. There are several practices for enhancing Remote…
I work with stepper motors a lot. My projects typically include multiple motors running off of a single microcontroller. Everything is great when you’re running all of them at the same speed. But what if you need each motor to run at a different speed? at a different time? or you need to do something…
Public Key authentication is one of the safest ways to log into a server. Instead of using a plain text password, Public Key authentication uses a Public/Private key pair to identify authorized users. The target server stores the Public Key while the user holds the Private Key. Step 1: Generating Public / Private Keys with…
If your business uses an e-commerce solution or ERP that records customer shipping information, then chances are you can integrate your shipping database with the UPS shipping platform, WorldShip®. Simply put, you can ship packages by keying in order numbers or any unique reference number. All relevant fields can be customized to automatically populate from…
Story time… In 2013, the company I work for acquired another company and everything that came with it. They had an e-commerce website using PayPal as the payment processor. It was an outdated site that needed work on both the front and back ends, but we were reluctant to touch it since it wasn’t broken….
I’ve long been a user of PDF::API2, a module available for Perl. I use it everyday at work and along with a few other modules, it has made Perl an invaluable tool for me. Being able to generate PDF’s for reports and documents allow for a bevy of automation shortcuts where traditional Data Merging, or…
A few months ago, I found myself needing a null modem cable to connect to a server, the Dell Poweredge R810. I had to figure out why it wasn’t booting (a RAID issue). At the time I didn’t have a VGA cable for video out, but luckily I did have a regular straight through serial…
You have two options for Linux. First is OSMC (https://osmc.tv/download/). Downloading the Apple TV images to a USB drive and booting is the easiest path to get Linux on the Apple TV. It is the method I would recommend. However if you’re like me and you want a vanilla Linux distro, there is option 2,…