The Actuator – September 5th

Back from VMworld and it's hotter here at home than in Las Vegas. I've no idea how that is possible. VMworld was a wonderful show, and it's always good to see my #vFamily.

As always, here are some links from the Intertubz that I hope will hold your interest. Enjoy!

AWS announces Amazon RDS on VMware

There were lots of announcements last week at VMworld, but I found this one to be the most interesting. AWS and VMware are bringing the cloud to your data center. I expect Microsoft to follow suit. It would appear that all three companies are working together to control and maintain infrastructure for the entire world.

Earthquake early-warning system successfully sent alarm before temblor felt in Pasadena

I applaud the effort here, and hope that these systems will allow for more advanced warnings in later versions. Because alerting me 3 seconds before an earthquake strikes is not enough of a warning.

Two seconds to take a bite out of mobile bank fraud with Artificial Intelligence

OTOH, alerting within two seconds seems reasonable for detecting fraud, because fraud usually doesn’t involve a building falling on top of me. And this is a great example of how AI research can make the world a better place.

Video games that allow in-game purchases to carry Pegi warning

I think this is a great first step, but more work is needed. I’d like to see video games publish the amount of time and/or money necessary to complete the game.

World's Oldest Customer Complaint Goes Viral

After reading this, I do not recommend shopping at Ea-nasir’s store. Avoid.

Major Quantum Computing Advance Made Obsolete by Teenager

Ignore the clickbait title. The kid didn’t make anything obsolete. But he did stumble across a new model for recommendations. The likely result is that when quantum computing finally lands, researchers will be able to focus on solving real issues, like global warming, and not worry about what movies a person wants to rent next.

How to Roll a Strong Password with 20-Sided Dice and Fandom-Inspired Wordlists

The next time you need to rotate a password, start here.

Adding this to my conference survival guide: