Why Sonicwall cant do one size fits all

You should notice all the features in the sections on the right that say "Licensed" - this thing sounds like (guess thats where "sonic" comes in) a pretty feature rich appliance, but look under the arrow...

WELL that is like saying a Ford Pinto with power windows and AC is a high performance vehicle! -Sonicwall does not put the motor or framework in there to handle all these features properly - otherwise a network with 8 whole users on it should not max out the CPU on this "enterprise firewall" that could potentially be used by "unlimited" users if they upgraded the license.

You will see in the picture above that it has a 299mhz CPU and 128 mb of RAM - and it is performing all these tasks poorly:

• Firewalling and Routing
• Web Content filtering
• Intrusion Prevention System (IPS/IDS)
• Antivirus filtering
• Spam filtering (woops its not even on)
  
• Spyware blocking
• VPN
• Advanced logging and reporting
• Proxy server
• Network load balancing or DMZ
  

With all that going, it just does not have the horsepower to keep up with 8 users.

I would say our base Smpl-Route router does not even have the horse power to keep up with all that, and it has a 500mhz CPU, 256 mb RAM, and a dedicated VPN encryption accelerator - nearly double the capacity of the Sonicwall; yet at this size, we only enable 2-3 of the above features - if more are needed, we use the properly sized hardware for the task, and provide all of the above and more with no licensing fees.

And besides that - while our firewall might be capable of something we wont shuv it down your throat, when something else may do it better - for instance if you want spam filtering for your Exchange server - get the best, get ORF, its cheap and far more capable at this simple task - and there's still no annual fee.

So while the hardware sometimes (rarely) costs more than a Sonicwall, the annual fee is much less at $0, and it is the proper vehicle for your network's demands - rather than some spiffed out Pinto with a sweet dealer program - we don't get a cruise to the Bahamas for selling 50 SmplRoutes.

Open Source auto maker opens in Arizona

I had the privilege to actually see LMRF0002 on Interstate 10 this weekend - the USA's answer to the Ariel Atom (UK):
Funny - I read an article about Local Motors about 3 weeks ago, an Open Source manufacturer opening "micro factories" (goes well with micro brew), across the US. They make community designed vehicles to spec that meet DOT and other regulations for legal highway or offroad driving. For instance their Rally Fighter is SCORE legal to race in the Baja 1000, and 50 state emission legal. They currently have 5 major models in design.

You can purchase a Rally Fighter for under $60k, and you are then invited to not only customize it to your liking, but also actually come and build it with your own "personal mechanic trainer" to get you into shape if your wrenches are rusty.
The Rally Fighter is available with a BMW 3.0 liter turbo "clean diesel" cranking out 425 ft/lb of torque (capable of 30-35mpg), or a 6.2 liter 430 hp gas V8. It seems to come in 2 basic flavors, a kind of sports car model that is off road ready but really performs well on the highway, and a slightly higher slung model to really catch some air and blow mud.

The Rally Fighter styling was designed by community member Sangho Kim, a 2010 graduate of Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, and overall design and engineering was completed by over 160 community members - pretty impressive example of "power of the people". This vehicle may sound expensive, but you have to imagine- it uses cutting edge technology, and is nearly bullet proof, if it was made by a leading auto maker it would probably cost in excess of $100k. And while its not a trophy truck, it could probably keep good pace with a trophy truck which will often cost $200-400k.

To make an example of its capabilities - LM pinned the Rally Fighter against a Ford F-150 Raptor which is intended to be a factory "race ready" (not really) off road truck with a 6.2 liter 411 horsepower V8, long travel Fox Racing off road shocks and 4x4. The 2 vehicles took the dirt path from Pheonix to Flagstaff, it took the Ford 8 hours to arrive at the top of the mountain, while the Rally Fighter had been resting at the bar in Flagstaff for nearly 5 hours waiting for the Ford to arrive - obviously the Ford is not as well equipped, but who would have thought it would take more than double the time to complete the same course.

Local Motors is really innovating design, using things like carbon fiber, full roll cages, and no paint - they found out vinyl is stronger/lighter than paint- saved 12 lb on the car's weight, and its easier to customize and repair. Designs are freely downloadable on their site, so anyone can easily contribute and improve upon it.

Here is a great video showing how the car can seemingly float across nasty terrain over which I would normally drive my truck at no more than 10 mph:


If you are ever in Pheonix - LM has a monthly "show-off" bar-b-q event every 2nd Tuesday of the month - more on the car here. More on Open Source auto here.

100 mpg available to the government

- wonder if/when it will hit the public? Achates (a San Diego company) has created a revolutionary new/old engine design - 2 pistons per cylinder that is estimated to be capable of 100 mpg!!! In the 1930s some aircraft engines used this design, but they disappeared. Now they are back using diesel and 2 stroke technology. The 2 cylinders collide into each other, and at the very last moment the fuel fires and pushes the 2 cylinders back apart.

Instead of conventional intake/exhaust valve technology, they are using 2 stroke technology which is simple port holes cut into the cylinder walls, as the piston slides up/down, certain ports are uncovered allowing air to pass thru the port - this greatly reduces moving parts and mass (theres no cylinder head), and increases the amount of power output per cylinder movement using a much smaller lighter engine.

See the video here: http://www.achatespower.com/opposedpiston.php

Now - by doubling up the pistons per cylinder with 2 stroke technology we achieve 4 times the power per firing sequence of a conventional engine.

I wonder if/when this will hit the public, or do they call it "classified" - Achates' A40 prototype has been used by the government since 2009, they have built a vehicle using the 1 cylinder 2 piston motor, probably one of those un-manned recon-rovers, and still we hear very little about it.

Here is a detailed document on the A40:
www.achatespower.com/pdf/2011_SRM_Winter2011.pdf

MS pulls the Skype right out of the open

sores that is... funny - microsoft buys skype, skype gets closed - hmmm, does someone think they will compete with google voice - that would be a dream rather than a thought. - from one of my favorite sites

How an antivirus SHOULD look

Like real men wear pink (not sure where that came from) - real antivirus dont need to use 30% of your ram! This is Vipre in a FULL scan - less than 15mb ram!!!

This is amazing compared to MS Security Essentials' 200mb @ idle (dont even start to scan).

Vipre - 7mb ram @ idle