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      Ubuntu will manually review Snap Store after crypto wallet scams

      news.movim.eu / ArsTechnica · Yesterday - 18:23 · 1 minute

    Man holding a piggy bank at his desk, with the piggy wired up with strange circuits and hardware

    Enlarge / One thing you can say about this crypto wallet: You can't confuse it for any other. (credit: Getty Images)

    The Snap Store, where containerized Snap apps are distributed for Ubuntu's Linux distribution, has been attacked for months by fake crypto wallet uploads that seek to steal users' currencies. As a result, engineers at Ubuntu's parent firm are now manually reviewing apps uploaded to the store before they are available.

    The move follows weeks of reporting by Alan Pope, a former Canonical/Ubuntu staffer on the Snapcraft team, who is still very active in the ecosystem. In February, Pope blogged about how one bitcoin investor lost nine bitcoins (about $490,000 at the time) by using an "Exodus Wallet" app from the Snap store. Exodus is a known cryptocurrency wallet, but this wallet was not from that entity. As detailed by one user wondering what happened on the Snapcraft forums , the wallet immediately transferred his entire balance to an unknown address after a 12-word recovery phrase was entered (which Exodus tells you on support pages never to do).

    Pope takes pains to note that cryptocurrency is inherently fraught with loss risk. Still, Ubuntu's App Center, which presents the Snap Store for desktop users, tagged the "Exodus" app as "Safe," and the web version of the Snap Store describes Snaps as "safe to run." While Ubuntu is describing apps as "Safe" in the sense of being an auto-updating container with runtime confinement (or "sandboxed"), a green checkmark with "Safe" next to it could be misread, especially by a newcomer to Ubuntu, Snaps, and Linux generally.

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      Tiny Undervalued Hardware Companions

      Slixfeed · Thursday, 21 March - 01:04 · 13 minutes

    After playing/working with computers for more then 25 years I started to appreciate small but handy valuable stuff – like adapters or handlers or … yeah – all kind of stuff. With many of them I did not even knew they existed until I find out about them – mostly accidentally or after long searching for some problem solution. Today I will share them with You – so maybe they will end up handy also for You.

    … and while they make my life easier – they are mostly very cheap too.

    The Table of Contents is below.

    • RJ45 Angle Adapters
    • RJ45 Angle Cable Adapters
    • RJ45 Join Adapters
    • SATA to USB-C or USB-A Adapters
    • Angle USB-C and USB-A Adapters
    • USB-A <=> USB-C Adapters
    • Tiny USB WiFi or Bluetooth Dongle
    • USB-C <=> Micro USB Adapter
    • USB-C <=> Laptops/Routers/5.5mmx2.5mm Adapters
    • Creative BT-W2 USB-A Bluetooth Adapter
    • External Microphone for SONY Headphones
    • Headphones Handle
    • Dual USB-C and USB-A Pendrive (SanDisk)
    • Tiny USB-A Hub
    • Quad USB-C / USB-A / Lightning / Micro USB Adapter with MicroSD Card Slot
    • Angle Power Adapters
    • C13/C14 Power Adapters with Additional C1/C2 or C5/C6 Sockets
    • HDMI 3in1 Switch with Remote Control
    • Cable Organizers
    • Mouse Jigger
    • FM Transmitter
    • Summary

    The whole article can ‘feel’ like a sponsored entry for the https://aliexpress.com portal – but it is not – its just the most cheap place I was able to find these gems. Feel free to share even cheaper one if You have one.

    ~

    RJ45 Angle Adapters

    I mostly use laptops to do various tasks and cables sticking out on the sides perpendicularly does not help. Not many laptops today have the RJ45 LAN socket – but if they do – they are mostly on the side of the laptop.

    Thanks to such angle RJ45 adapters it is no longer a problem.

    You can find them for about $2 – for example – on https://aliexpress.com page – with the RJ45 ANGLE ADAPTER keywords in their search.

    ~

    RJ45 Angle Cable Adapters

    The mentioned earlier RJ45 Angle Adapters are quite bulky – but as an alternative its possible to get a short 40cm cable with smaller plug.

    Not sure if its noticeable on the picture below – but I also cut the top ‘cover’ with knife of the plug – so its easier to detach.

    There are of course all four angles to choose from.

    One may also use the end of that 40cm cable-adapter as a ‘stopper’ to not fall inside the desk hole as shown on the image below.

    You can find them for about $2 – for example – on https://aliexpress.com – with the RJ45 ANGLE ADAPTER CABLE keywords in their search.

    ~

    RJ45 Join Adapters

    Often I found myself in a situation that the currently available LAN cable was too short to reach and it needed a lot of work to plot another – longer one.

    With these simple ‘join’ adapters it is no longer a problem. You would not use them in a serious Data Center with 10+ GE speeds – but for home 1.0-2.5 GE speeds its more then enough.

    You can find them for about $1-$2 – for example – on https://aliexpress.com – with the RJ45 JOIN ADAPTER keywords in their search.

    ~

    SATA to USB-C or USB-A Adapters

    Multiple times I needed to clone some old disk to new SSD – just to make an old system faster.

    I usually boot from some USB drive with FreeBSD and while new SSD is attached with these adapters – I then execute dd(8) command to clone the old HDD disk to new SSD drive … and then just swap them out.

    You can find them for about $1-$5 – for example – on https://aliexpress.com – with the SATA USB ADAPTER keywords in their search.

    ~

    Angle USB-C and USB-A Adapters

    As we already talked about RJ45 angle adapters … there are also USB-C and USB-A angle adapters.

    The do the same good job with cables to not stick out on a side of a laptop.

    You can find them for about $1-$3 – for example – on https://aliexpress.com – with the ANGLE USB ADAPTER keywords in their search.

    ~

    USB-A <=> USB-C Adapters

    In the progressing and always changing world yesterday the USB-A was king and tomorrow the USB-C will be.

    There are multiple cases in which you will need these – from simple USB headphones to USB pendrives and other stuff.

    You can find them for about $1-$3 – for example – on https://aliexpress.com – with the USB-C USB-A ADAPTER keywords in their search.

    ~

    Tiny USB WiFi or Bluetooth Dongle

    Multiple times I have found myself in a situation where it was very convenient to just add some WiFi or Bluetooth chip over USB port and do the job instead of trying to achieve the same without such chips.

    While I usually omit Bluetooth I can not say the same about WiFi … and as FreeBSD lacks a little in that department – using a very tiny chip such as Realtek RTL8188CUS often does the job done.

    You can find them for about $1-$3 – for example – on https://aliexpress.com – with the WIFI USB or BLUETOOTH USB keywords in their search.

    ~

    USB-C <=> Micro USB Adapter

    In the past – in the USB Micro times – I remember using an adapter to be able to charge – then new and uncommon – USB-C devices.

    Fast forward several years and now the situation is the other way around (as expected). The USB-C is the standard and USB Micro devices are less and less common … but there are still here. To not have to keep separate dedicated USB Micro cables I use a small USB-C to USB Micro adapters.

    Such adapter takes USB-C as input power and is able to charge USB Micro devices.

    You can find them for about $1-$2 – for example – on https://aliexpress.com – with the USB-C USB MICRO ADAPTER keywords in their search.

    ~

    USB-C <=> Laptops/Routers/5.5mmx2.5mm Adapters

    When it comes to delivering power to my (and not only) laptops – the new standard seems to be the USB-C connector with ‘requirement’ of 45W or more (it depends).

    Not that long ago I discovered that even laptops as old as 13 years – ThinkPad X220/T420s/W520 – can be powered the same – but with simple and very cheap adapter cables – such as these below. From the left there is 5.5mm/2.5mm typical router socket – then more modern ThinkPad X270/T470s (and many more) – then oldschool models from 2011 year – ThinkPads such as X220/T420s/W520 models.

    All they need is a USB-C power input.

    You need to only meet two requirements – the USB charger that will make enough power for example 20V at 3.25A for 65W that would power ThinkPad X220/T420s or 20V at 6.75A for 135W that would power ThinkPad W520. While the official power supply for ThinkPad W520 is 170W – its perfectly fine to use the 135W power adapter from ThinkPad W510 to power ThinkPad W520 laptop.

    This makes organizing cables (and chargers) a lot easier – for example – I would not be able to fit 3 ‘dedicated’ ThinkPad chargers in that white cable organizer behind laptops – but I will fir there two powerful 65W and 85W USB-C chargers perfectly fine.

    You can find these power adapters for about $1-$3 – for example – on https://aliexpress.com – with the USB-C ADAPTER LAPTOP ROUTER keywords in their search.

    ~

    Creative BT-W2 USB-A Bluetooth Adapter

    When I have to cope with Bluetooth technology – its ‘tolerable’ on Android devices such as phones/tablets and mostly nowhere else. After bad audio (just not working) Bluetooth possibilities on FreeBSD I decided to try the hardware solution instead. The audio related Bluetooth on FreeBSD have failed me too many times – to the point called enough is enough – that also means I do not want to waste any more time trying to figure the way using FreeBSD Bluetooth stack devices anymore – at least for audio related devices.

    Not so long ago I got the Sony WH1000XM4 headphones. I am/was a big fan of the Technics RP-F290 cable headphones (Jack or Mini Jack based). They have so much BASS and ‘power’ that I could not ask for more … and their cost is very low – like $24 or less. The only ‘downside’ of the Technics RP-F290 headphones is that they are audio only – they do not have any microphone at all – they are dedicated for music only – and that is OK – they do GREAT in that role.

    I have tried some Bluetooth based headphones in the past – and they were SHIT to say the least. Not enough ‘power’ – not enough BASS etc. After reading multiple reviews I decided to give Sony WH1000XM4 headphones a chance … and I was not disappointed. Its the first time after Technics RP-F290 cable headphones that ANY Bluetooth based headphone delivered. I was (and I still am) really satisfied with them.

    This is where the USB powered Creative BT-W2 comes handy. Its also relatively cheap as the cost of used unit is less then $20 – at least that is the price I payed for mine in Poland. The Creative BT-W2 allows to connect Bluetooth audio devices everywhere – even on OpenBSD – on the system that cut off Bluetooth stack entirely – and it works well on FreeBSD too. The ‘downside’ of the Sony WH1000XM4 headphones is that they do have microphone – but only in Bluetooth node – they have Mini Jack connector – but for audio only …

    This is also only downside of the Creative BT-W2 solution – it transmits only audio – but w/o microphone. Its more then OK for listening music – but if You have to do live conferencing/meetings on FreeBSD as I do – its a dead end.

    I have tried to find a solution to this problem – to the point that I wanted to abandon Sony WH1000XM4 headphones entirely and find some Mini Jack (or Jack) based BASS oriented headphones that will also have a working microphone.

    On my journey I have found a solution that I did not expected at all – and that was the solution that solved all my problems – and allowed me to enjoy the Sony WH1000XM4 headphones – but more about that in the next ‘subsection’.

    ~

    External Microphone for SONY Headphones

    You already know the downsides of the Sony WH1000XM4 headphones that were giving me headaches. Now its time to address them.

    After many hours of searching the Internet I have found a very ‘usable’ Mini Jack cable. A cable that came with microphone and a one that perfectly integrated with Sony WH1000XM4 headphones … and FreeBSD as well.

    Its available to buy for $22 on amazon.de (and possible other locations) and its called Boom Microphone Cable. Thanks to the knowledge that Sony WH1000XM4 headphones have Mini Jack port with microphone part – the Boom Microphone Cable cable even comes with volume controls and even come with physical kill switch for microphone.

    After You attach this Boom Microphone Cable to the Sony WH1000XM4 headphones it looks (and works) like a natural solution.

    The only ‘downside’ is generally the downside of the Sony WH1000XM4 headphones – that You CAN NOT disable their silencing while you speak – so using them in ‘passive’ mode with Boom Microphone Cable is preferred to meet all needs.

    ~

    Headphones Handle

    I got used to the fact that I just put my headphones on the desk … but I wanted something more useful – after some searching it was obvious to me that I needed just some headphones handle that I could attach somewhere.

    After another several hours of browsing I have found a ‘part’ that would fit perfectly – a $4-5 part from https://aliexpress.com that I could find with the HEADPHONES HOLDER keywords in their search.

    Here is how it works on my desk.

    … and its 360 degrees adjustable as well.

    Above the headphones handle You can see the ‘hero’ of the AMD Based FreeBSD Desktop article.

    ~

    Dual USB-C and USB-A Pendrive (SanDisk)

    With all my ‘bad’ experiences with PTP connections for Android based devices (and other places) I really liked the SanDisk Ultra Dual Drive.

    Its really handy for many transfers … and its more fast then slow as well.

    ~

    Tiny USB-A Hub

    When You need to connect several USB-A devices the USB ports count often come short fast – this is where this tiny USB-A hub comes handy.

    With its dirt cheap $1-2 price (at https://aliexpress.com with USB HUB keywords) its a ‘steal’ … and it is a 3 port hub – there is another USB-A port at the end of it – the one that is not visible.

    ~

    Quad USB-C / USB-A / Lightning / Micro USB Adapter with MicroSD Card Slot

    … as we are talking various USB-A or USB-C solutions I could not mention this quad port adapter with MicroSD card slot.

    I do not even remember how many times I have used it to copy/backup contents of my phone(s) and/or tablet(s).

    Nowadays I believe I use the Dual USB-C / USB-A Pendrive more … but not always.

    For $8-9 on its not a bad solution to have.

    Batteries … I mean SD card – not included 🙂

    ~

    Angle Power Adapters

    I have often found that the angle with which the power cord sticks out of a PC is definitely not ideal – this is where angle power adapters come handy.

    Here is how it looks (being used) on my PC.

    They are available for about $1-2 on https://aliexpress.com with ANGLE C13 CABLE keywords on the search box.

    C13/C14 Power Adapters with Additional C1/C2 or C5/C6 Sockets

    After You have spent some time to lay down the C13/C14 power cables just to power your PC its really annoying to do the same for another set of C1/C2 or C5/C6 cables/sockets … but not anymore.

    Now with single cable adapter You are able to power more then one computer – depending on the needs with additional connectors.

    They are available for $1-2 on https://aliexpress.com with DUAL C13 CABLE keywords on the search box.

    ~

    HDMI 3in1 Switch with Remote Control

    I happen to have a 2010 FullHD 50 Inch TV that has ONLY ONE port of HDMI kind … and it was pretty annoying to say the least … up to the time I added a HDMI switch/hub to it.

    The HDMI switch along with its remote below.

    For the record – I have used the UGreen 3in1 HDMI Switch with 4K @ 30Hz Capability and Remote and I was able to get one for $16.

    ~

    Cable Organizers

    To not have a mess in the cables its useful to have them organized in some way.

    I use multiple solutions for that.

    Lets start with simple organizers.

    … and a larger/taller one for more capacity/possibilities.

    They are available for $3-9 on https://aliexpress.com with CABLE ORGANIZER keywords on the search box.

    I also use some IKEA containers …

    … and smaller boxes in which I keep the tiny things.

    I do not even remember after what product these boxes are … and that does not even matter I think.

    ~

    Mouse Jigger

    While there are many software settings or solutions to prevent screen from locking up – there is one bulletproof solution what just always works – a hardware USB mouse jigger.

    I use a very simple one with 3 modes – but its more then enough for me needs.

    Feel free to check other offers with USB MOUSE JIGGER at https://aliexpress.com search box.

    ~

    FM Transmitter

    Last but not least – the car FM transmitter.

    My daily ‘real’ driver (I mean on the real road outside) is the 2006 Dodge Magnum car. I really love it for the simplicity and calm that it provides during the ride – but on the audio side it only has an old FM/AM radio and a CD slot … and not MP3 support in that one.

    This is where the FM transmitter such as mine Blow comes really handy.

    It supports two modes. One is being a Bluetooth slave of your phone – it just plays on the car speakers anything you are currently playing on your phone – it also has microphone builtin – so You can also use it as a ‘loud’ phone talking device.

    I use it in a more simple mode – I just attach a tiny Lexar S47 32GB pendrive to it – and play a random song of it.

    Besides these features it also has additional USB-A port available to attach a cable to it and charge some device.

    I was able to get one a new one for about $19.

    ~

    Summary

    The mentioned devices above are probably not the only ones that make my life easier – but definitely the most crucial ones.

    Feel free to share your ‘helper’ hardware in the comments.

    Regards.

    EOF
    • In chevron_right

      Machine learning for Java developers: Machine learning data pipelines

      pubsub.slavino.sk / infoworldcom · Wednesday, 31 January - 10:00 edit

    The article, Machine learning for Java developers: Algorithms for machine learning , introduced setting up a machine learning algorithm and developing a prediction function in Java. Readers learned the inner workings of a machine learning algorithm and walked through the process of developing and training a model. This article picks up where that one left off. You'll get a quick introduction to Weka, a machine learning framework for Java. Then, you'll see how to set up a machine learning data pipeline, with a step-by-step process for taking your machine learning model from development into production. We'll also briefly discuss how to use Docker containers and REST to deploy a trained ML model in a Java-based production environment.

    To read this article in full, please click here


    Značky: #Rozne, #Java, #Containers

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      Canonical wants better Snap support outside Ubuntu, based on latest hires

      news.movim.eu / ArsTechnica · Monday, 8 January - 22:25

    Snap icons from the Snap store

    Enlarge (credit: Canonical/Ubuntu)

    Snaps, the self-contained application packages that Ubuntu has long seen as a simpler app store and a potential solution to dependency hell , could be getting better support outside Ubuntu itself, based on one recent hire and potentially more.

    As spotted by the Phoronix blog , developer Zygmunt Krynicki , who worked at Ubuntu distributor Canonical from 2012 through 2020 , posted Friday on Mastodon that he was "returning as a snap developer later this month." His main focus would be "cross-distribution support," Krynicki wrote, and "unlike in the past this will be my full time job. I'm very excited for what is ahead for snaps." He also noted, in a later reply , that he was "not coming back alone."

    Krynicki, reached Monday on Mastodon, noted that he was at a very early stage in his work. But he intended to look at the state of support across distributions, determine which long-term and short-term work to focus on, and "work on the internals and get things progressively better, even if that is not flashy."

    Read 5 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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      How we host Ars, the finale and the 64-bit future

      news.movim.eu / ArsTechnica · Wednesday, 9 August, 2023 - 13:00

    How we host Ars, the finale and the 64-bit future

    Enlarge (credit: Aurich Lawson | Getty Images)

    Greetings, dear readers, and congratulations—we've reached the end of our four-part series on how Ars Technica is hosted in the cloud, and it has been a journey. We've gone through our infrastructure , our application stack , and our CI/CD strategy (that's "continuous integration and continuous deployment"—the process by which we manage and maintain our site's code).

    Now, to wrap things up, we have a bit of a grab bag of topics to go through. In this final part, we'll discuss some leftover configuration details I didn't get a chance to dive into in earlier parts—including how our battle-tested liveblogging system works (it's surprisingly simple, and yet it has withstood millions of readers hammering at it during Apple events). We'll also peek at how we handle authoritative DNS.

    Finally, we'll close on something that I've been wanting to look at for a while: AWS's cloud-based 64-bit ARM service offerings. How much of our infrastructure could we shift over onto ARM64-based systems, how much work will that be, and what might the long-term benefits be, both in terms of performance and costs?

    Read 50 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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      Hosting Ars, part three: CI/CD, or how I learned to stop worrying and love DevOps

      news.movim.eu / ArsTechnica · Wednesday, 2 August, 2023 - 13:00 · 1 minute

    Image of devops

    Enlarge / DevOps, DevOps, DevOps! (credit: ArtemisDiana / Getty Images)

    One of the most important things to happen in the evolution of development over the past many years is the widespread adoption of continuous integration and continuous deployment , or CI/CD. (Sometimes the "CD" stands for "continuous delivery," depending on who you're talking to.)

    It's a concept that jettisons a lot of older ideas about how systems should be managed and instead gives you a way to update code and integrate changes as live rolling deployments while ensuring that the new code is tested and slots in smoothly with stuff that's already running. A properly architected CI/CD pipeline means you can get code changes into production faster and with fewer errors. But what does that look like in practice?

    It looks like Ars Technica, because we've adopted a CI/CD workflow to take full advantage of the flexibility afforded us by serverless cloud hosting. Welcome to part three of our four-part series on how we host Ars—here, we’re going to swing away from the "ops" side of "DevOps" and peer more closely at the "dev" part instead. Join us for a look behind the curtain at how Ars uses CI/CD in both our deployed applications and our infrastructure management!

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      How we host Ars Technica in the cloud, part two: The software

      news.movim.eu / ArsTechnica · Wednesday, 26 July, 2023 - 13:00 · 1 minute

    Welcome aboard the orbital HQ, readers!

    Enlarge / Welcome aboard the orbital HQ, readers! (credit: Aurich Lawson | Getty Images)

    Welcome back to our series on how Ars Technica is hosted and run! Last week, in part one , we cracked open the (virtual) doors to peek inside the Ars (virtual) data center. We talked about our Amazon Web Services setup, which is primarily built around ECS containers being spun up as needed to handle web traffic, and we walked through the ways that all of our hosting services hook together and function as a whole.

    This week, we shift our focus to a different layer in the stack—the applications we run on those services and how they work in the cloud. Those applications, after all, are what you come to the site for; you’re not here to marvel at a smoothly functioning infrastructure but rather to actually read the site. (I mean, I’m guessing that’s why you come here. It’s either that or everyone is showing up hoping I’m going to pour ketchup on myself and launch myself down a Slip-'N-Slide , but that was a one-time thing I did a long time ago when I was young and needed the money.)

    How traditional WordPress hosting works

    Although I am, at best, a casual sysadmin, having hung up my pro spurs a decade and change ago, I do have some relevant practical experience hosting WordPress. I’m currently the volunteer admin for a half-dozen WordPress sites, including Houston-area weather forecast destination Space City Weather (along with its Spanish-language counterpart Tiempo Ciudad Espacial ), the Atlantic hurricane-focused blog The Eyewall , my personal blog, and a few other odds and ends.

    Read 55 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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      Behind the scenes: How we host Ars Technica, part 1

      news.movim.eu / ArsTechnica · Wednesday, 19 July, 2023 - 13:00 · 1 minute

    Take a peek inside the Ars vault with us!

    Enlarge / Take a peek inside the Ars vault with us! (credit: Aurich Lawson | Getty Images)

    A bit over three years ago, just before COVID hit, we ran a long piece on the tools and tricks that make Ars function without a physical office . Ars has spent decades perfecting how to get things done as a distributed remote workforce, and as it turns out, we were even more fortunate than we realized because that distributed nature made working through the pandemic more or less a non-event for us. While other companies were scrambling to get work-from-home arranged for their employees, we kept on trucking without needing to do anything different.

    However, there was a significant change that Ars went through right around the time that article was published. January 2020 marked our transition away from physical infrastructure and into a wholly cloud-based hosting environment. After years of great service from the folks at Server Central (now Deft ), the time had come for a leap into the clouds—and leap we did.

    There were a few big reasons to make the change, but the ones that mattered most were feature- and cost-related. Ars fiercely believes in running its own tech stack, mainly because we can iterate new features faster that way, and our community platform is unique among other Condé Nast brands. So when the rest of the company was either moving to or already on Amazon Web Services (AWS), we could hop on the bandwagon and take advantage of Condé’s enterprise pricing. That—combined with no longer having to maintain physical reserve infrastructure to absorb big traffic spikes and being able to rely on scaling—fundamentally changed the equation for us.

    Read 51 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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      How to get started with event-driven microservices

      pubsub.slavino.sk / infoworldcom · Wednesday, 26 April, 2023 - 09:00 edit

    Many organizations reach a stage in their growth where the monolithic applications that once served them well start to hold them back. Perhaps the business needs new functionality that the existing architecture can’t support, or more flexible ways to store and access data for their apps. Team growth, conflicting performance requirements, and new competitive technologies can also pose a challenge to a singular, monolithic codebase. Adopting an event-driven microservices architecture can help you address these challenges.

    Microservices overcome the limitations of monolithic apps by dividing those apps into small, purpose-built services, which can be custom tailored to the business problem they’re meant to solve. They provide you with the freedom to choose your own programming languages, frameworks, and databases as you see fit. Microservices can remodel, manage, and store data according to their own needs, providing you with complete control over how best to solve your business problems.

    To read this article in full, please click here


    Značky: #Rozne, #Microservices, #Containers, #Kubernetes, #Analytics