The Dark Web:  the name conjures up visions of nefarious characters doing despicable things under the cover of specialized technology that keeps them a step ahead of the law, who are hopelessly outnumbered.  Many people believe the Dark Web is like dark matter:  mysterious, undetectable, and vaster by far than our customary world.

I recently posted how you can adjust AutoCAD’s Ribbon and its Quick Access Toolbar. Here I am going to wrap it up with going through the other tweaks I do when I install AutoCAD on my laptop.

Whether seeking solutions to pressing problems, networking with like-minded professionals or researching products, professionals across nearly all industries benefit from participating in communities every day. For federal IT professionals specifically, online communities can be a goldmine of resources to help keep up with the constantly changing federal technology landscape.

The first order of business in cybersecurity, indeed in IT management in general, is to have a reliable system inventory:  physical systems, virtual machines, software and associated configurations and vulnerabilities, and – most importantly – data.  Asset inventory is not just common sense, though, it’s the law.  The NIST 800-53 sec

As straightforward and commonplace as patch management might be, it is still a big security hole for many organizations.  The 2015 Verizon threat report states, “…99.9% of the exploited vulnerabilities had been compromised more than a year after the associated CVE was published”.  In other words, completely preventable exploits were succe

Exciting new for Autodesk Revit software subscribers.  Autodesk is making an updated release of Revit software for Building Information Modeling (BIM) available as of October 22, 2015 to both Maintenance Subscription and Desktop Subscription customers.

The problem with 3D printing is that it . . . well . . . kinda sucks right now.

Don’t get me wrong. There are a lot of things that are cool about 3D printing. It gives us the ability to handle any level of complexity. It ensures pinpoint accuracy. The things we can make are limited only by our imaginations. And it delivers the promise of mass customization.

But I just don’t think it’s quite right. This technology was supposed to revolutionize manufacturing. Put creativity in everyone’s hands! Disrupt the production model! A printer in every home!

I’ve recently returned from my first AWS re:Invent conference and yes, I feel initiated.  Not only were there over 24,000 attendees and over 250 sponsors, but there were 8 new services announced by Amazon including Internet of Things, Analytics, Databases, Storage & Content Delivery, and Mobile Services, just to name a few.

At this point, it probably seems like there’s almost as much information out there about how to combat cybersecurity threats as there are threats themselves. Every day there’s a new report that contains a wealth of valuable – and sometimes, disturbing – information. It’s enough to make a federal IT pro feel overwhelmed.
Like so many other things, though, it’s helpful to remember that the foundation for a successful approach to defending against cyber threats can ultimately be boiled down to a few core best practices:

If you’re involved in transportation infrastructure design or engineering then you’ll be excited about a new Transportation Extension for AutoCAD Civil 3D. It also benefits anyone working on a project that involves a road or rail corridor. The extension is available to Subscription customers as well as Infrastructure Design Suite Premium and Ultimate Subscribers and can be added to the Civil 3D deployment.

What’s Included?

The new Transportation Extension includes two key features areas – reporting utilities and general productivity tools.