Image Optimization – ShortPixel for WordPress

ShortPixel: Of course size matters - nobody wants a small cup of coffee (or large images)

ShortPixel – (Image) Size Does Matter The majority of this website is related to my photography obsession hobby. I’ve always walked a fine line on image optimization – trying to get the smallest images with the best quality and retain the EXIF/Metadata of the images. Until recently, I have been using a mix of  EWWW Image Optimizer […]

Photography backup and archiving – plan for disaster

Photography Backup - Meme

Protecting your work with a successful photography backup plan I’ve been asked how I protect my artwork, images and related information with a dedicated photography backup plan. I take a belt and suspenders approach with multiple copies on and off site using both free and subscription services. When approaching a backup solution or plan, first […]

WannaCry as a security belweather?

Ransomware

WannaCrypt: A test for an organization’s security posture? A week after the news about the WannaCry (WannaCrypt) ransomware attacks, the security companies FUD and the general misunderstanding of the root cause of this supposed nightmare – where are we and what exactly have we learned? Other than I am ranting more about it? Where are we? […]

WannaCry in my beer

WannaCry aka WannaCrypt ransomware

WannaCry or the Cyber-Event that should never have happened Ok, the WannaCry tears are drying and InfoSec and IT professionals around the world are catching up on sleep lost over the weekend. A fair number of them are probably, like me, wondering how this became so ugly and so widespread. While I know this cyber event had […]

Thoughts on Alexa and SmartThings Smart Home Integration

Smart Home Automation and IoT

What’s in a Name? Ok, while I may have a Smart Home, my brain is getting fuzzy so I am writing this wall of text more for my own head than anything else. If things here help you in any way, all the better… In my last post I went into some of the bits […]

The more things stay the same …

Amazon Web Services Lightsail logo and robot

The more they change … In the previous post I vented a bit about how Microsoft was starting to seriously eat Apple’s lunch … I have used the same shared hosting service for over ten years now, and while they are amazing people and always have gone above and beyond for me … I needed […]

Confessions of an Apple “Fanboy”

Apple Think Different campaign and logo

I’m probably going to “Think Different” … Ok it should come as no surprise to anyone that knows me, whom I’ve helped with their personal (or sometimes business) computer issues, or asked me for a recommendation on what they should do … Get the latest Apple device. Spend as much on upgrades (RAM, Disk, CPU, […]

Albrightsville Pennsylvania Weather Station

weather station image

Albrightsville Pennsylvania Weather Station UPDATE: Due to reasons beyond my control, the weather station is down until further notice … One of my hobbies/interests outside of photography is meteorology and weather tracking. Living in Albrightsville Pennsylvania up in the Poconos we have many microclimates. It is so bad the weather reports on the news are hardly ever close to accurate […]

Testing New Content Delivery Network (CDN)

Half Speed Ahead by RyanRenaissance - Used with permission Creative Commons License http://ryanrenaissance.deviantart.com/art/Half-Speed-Ahead-128867293

CDN (Content Delivery Network) and the Need for Speed So, I host my blog and other websites with Hosting Matters, the folks have been great to me over the past decade and prices I have locked in are absolutely phenomenal (seriously – they are great). As with anyone who is on a shared hosting plan, […]

Site Upgrade – WordPress 4.6, Plugins & More

Upgrade: Maintain Speed

Upgrade – Maintain Speed! Installed the WordPress 4.6 upgrade, as well as a couple other changes and tweaks this evening. Firstly, updated the backend to the current version. This caused its share of issues with a couple plugins – so I chased down a few more updates and re-applied further custom tweaks I’ve made to tie a few […]