Archives for December 2023

Happy Tuesday! We hope you’re having a wonderful week. If we can be praying for you in any way this week, please let us know!

In This Issue: On the 7th Day of Bundlemas… | Alternatives to Rack Mount Kits | News to Start Your Day

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The CK Daily – On the 7th Day of Bundlemas…

We will unveil a new bundle for you to take advantage of each day. We hope you enjoy!🎄 If you don’t see a bundle you’re looking for, reach out! We’re happy to build one for you.

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On the 7th day of Bundlemas, CK gave to me… a 10-pack of 7m LC-LC OM3 Corning Multimode Duplex 50/125 Fiber Optic Cables.

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Learning Center Article – Alternatives to Rack Mount Kits

In server settings, it’s common to use standardized racks to hold and house all of the equipment. These racks are made strong and stable. They allow you to stack all of your devices in ways that support the task and configuration at hand, and they provide safe conditions that also help you manage heat and airflow.

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Today’s News to Start Your Day:

• Apple will pause sales on two of its latest Apple Watches. The decision stems from an intellectual property disagreement between Apple and Masimo over the Blood Oxygen feature.
• Meta’s stock is poised to have its best year ever, having gained 178% in 2023 as of Friday’s close.
• Tesla is planning a 10% or higher hourly pay rate increase for some workers at its Nevada battery factory. The pay increases could help Tesla stave off workers’ appetite to form a union and push for a collective agreement in the U.S.
• Starbucks is trying to brighten your holiday season by giving away free hot chocolate every weekend for the rest of December with the purchase of any other grande drink in the store.

Happy Friday! It’s officially the last weekend until Christmas. Have you finished your shopping?

In This Issue: On the 5th Day of Bundlemas… | Understanding Wavelengths | News to Start Your Day

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The CK Daily – On the 5th Day of Bundlemas…

We will unveil a new bundle for you to take advantage of each day. We hope you enjoy!🎄 If you don’t see a bundle you’re looking for, reach out! We’re happy to build one for you.

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On the 5th day of Bundlemas, CK gave to me…a Cat6 Ethernet Installer’s Deployment Kit.

This kit offers professional-grade tools for efficient cable installations, simplifying Keystone termination, and accommodating diverse networking layouts. The uniform white color of components ensures a clean and professional finish in any installation, suitable for both residential and commercial environments.

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Learning Center Article – Understanding Wavelengths

No one ever accused fiber optics of being simple technology. Instead, we tend to acknowledge that this powerful technology is difficult to design and complicated in its application. Mastering those complications is often worth it because it enables us to build better networks and do a better job with those networks. In that endeavor, we can tackle a brief tutorial on wavelengths and how they impact fiber optic designs.

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Today’s News to Start Your Day:

• Warner Bros.′ “Wonka,” starring Timothée Chalamet, is expected to drum up between $35 million and $45 million during its domestic opening weekend. Expectations are high that “Wonka” will deliver families to theaters, as the film has already generated goodwill with critics, scoring a clear “Fresh” rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
• Amazon says it tested the laser link tech successfully during its recent Protoflight mission. They will include a key speed-boosting technology in its coming Project Kuiper internet satellites.
• Cadillac plans to round out its upcoming lineup of all-electric SUVs with a three-row vehicle called the Vistiq.
• As part of its Privacy Sandbox project, Google has announced it will soon start winding down support for third-party cookies in its Chrome web browser. It’s a move designed to improve user privacy and stop websites from tracking you as you visit different URLs.

Happy Thursday! We hope you’re having a great week so far. The weekend is just around the corner and it’s the last one before Christmas! Do you have plans?

In This Issue: On the 4th Day of Bundlemas… | What is a VLAN? | News to Start Your Day

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The CK Daily – On the 3rd Day of Bundlemas…

We will unveil a new bundle for you to take advantage of each day. We hope you enjoy!🎄 If you don’t see a bundle you’re looking for, reach out! We’re happy to build one for you.

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On the 4th day of Bundlemas, CK gave to me… a 10-pack of Cisco 10GBase-SR SFP+ Modules!

The Cisco SFP-10G-SR module gives you a wide variety of 10 Gigabit Ethernet connectivity options for your data center, enterprise wiring closet, and service provider transport applications.

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Learning Center Article – What is a VLAN?

As you get deeper into networking, you’ll learn about additional tools and techniques that grant you more freedom and flexibility. As networks grow in capacity and complexity, freedom and flexibility become invaluable.

On that journey, one of your most valuable tools is the VLAN. It’s a way to group devices in a network pretty much however you want, giving you more control over the flow of information across your whole network.

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Today’s News to Start Your Day:

• Tesla is recalling more than 2 million of its vehicles, nearly all its cars on the road in the U.S., after an investigation found its autopilot safety system was “not sufficient to prevent driver misuse.”
• OpenAI said that a major outage on its artificial intelligence chatbot ChatGPT was resolved. ChatGPT had issues for around 40 minutes, during which service was “intermittently unavailable.”
• The valuation of Elon Musk’s space and internet company SpaceX hit $180 billion based on an ongoing secondary share sale.
• Mortgage rates dropped again last week, prompting a 19% jump in refinance applications.

Happy Wednesday & Happy National Cocoa Day! What better way to warm up after a cold day outside? ☕

In This Issue: On the 3rd Day of Bundlemas… | Best Practices for Cable Management in Data Centers | News to Start Your Day

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The CK Daily – On the 3rd Day of Bundlemas…

We will unveil a new bundle for you to take advantage of each day. We hope you enjoy!🎄 If you don’t see a bundle you’re looking for, reach out! We’re happy to build one for you.

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On the 3rd day of Bundlemas, CK gave to me…a 100-pack of 7ft. Cat6 Ethernet Patch Cables!

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Learning Center Article – Best Practices for Cable Management in Data Center

Every network administrator in the world has a horror story about cable management. In data centers, those horror stories grow into genuine nightmares. If enough people work on a system for a long enough period of time, the cables will eventually turn into some type of Ethernet vine monster.

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Today’s News to Start Your Day:

• Netflix is increasing transparency for almost all of the movies and shows on its service. Netflix will release “What We Watched” reports every six months.
• Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin is preparing to launch its New Shepard rocket for the first time in over a year.
• Ford Motor will cut planned production of its all-electric F-150 Lightning pickup roughly in half next year. It marks a major reversal after the automaker significantly increased plant capacity for the EV in 2023.
• Apple will introduce a new security mode for iPhones that can protect users when thieves or other attackers learn the user’s private passcode. The setting, called Stolen Device Protection, will use the device’s location to determine whether the user is at home or work.

Happy Tuesday & Happy Gingerbread House Day! We can imagine that the gingerbread house competitions are in full force or will take place soon. Send us photos of your best gingerbread house!

In This Issue: On the 2nd Day of Bundlemas… | Tips for Maintaining Your Server | News to Start Your Day

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The CK Daily – On the 2nd Day of Bundlemas…

We will unveil a new bundle for you to take advantage of each day. We hope you enjoy!🎄 If you don’t see a bundle you’re looking for, reach out! We’re happy to build one for you.

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On the 2nd day of Bundlemas CK gave to me… a Cable Management Bundle!

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Learning Center Article – Tips for Maintaining Your Server

Servers are powerful in every sense of the word, in fact, they can hum for 24 hours a day, seven days a week without having any issues. However, their efficiency can be reduced drastically or even cut short completely if they are deprived of proper maintenance. You can avert server failure or a major disaster by simply having a regular check-up on them.

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Today’s News to Start Your Day:

• Hasbro said it would cut 1,100 jobs as it struggles with slumping toy sales.
• A federal judge in New York dismissed a lawsuit challenging the ownership of a dress worn by Judy Garland when she played Dorothy in “The Wizard of Oz. The suit had delayed The Catholic University of America’s planned auction of the dress for more than a year.
• Apple released an AI-powered journal app for iPhones as part of the iOS 17.2 update. When you tap the magic wand icon, it suggests things to write about based on what it knows from your phone, such as the music you were listening to or where you were.
• Microsoft announced that it would team up with labor unions to create an “open dialogue” on the future of artificial intelligence and the workforce. The partnership comes as Microsoft and other AI providers face increased pressure from labor groups and regulatory bodies over how AI will displace workers.

Happy Monday! We hope you had a wonderful weekend and hope you have a great week ahead!

In This Issue: On the 1st Day of Bundlemas… | Cisco Stackwise Stacking Cable | What is a Cat8 Ethernet Cable and How is it Different? | News to Start Your Day

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The CK Daily – On the 1st Day of Bundlemas…

“Bundlemas” is here! Each day we will unveil a new bundle for you to take advantage of. We hope you enjoy!🎄 If you don’t see a bundle you’re looking for, reach out! We’re happy to build one for you.

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On the 1st day of Bundlemas CK gave to me… a Cisco 3850 Series Deployment Kit!

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Learning Center Article – What is a Cat8 Ethernet Cable and How is it Different?

Cat8 is the most modern, fastest Ethernet cable standard available today. Although Google tried to make fiber optics the standard for home internet connections, Ethernet has maintained a presence, and every few years new iterations are released that offer better performance. Let’s see how Cat8 stacks up to previous iterations of Ethernet.

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Today’s News to Start Your Day:

• “Project Ellmann” is an internal Google proposal to use artificial intelligence to help users get a “bird’s-eye view” of their life stories. The idea would be to use LLMs like Gemini to ingest search results, spot patterns in a user’s photos, create a chatbot and “answer previously impossible questions” about a person’s life.
• Shares of Cigna jumped Monday following reports that the health-care giant has scrapped its plans to buy rival Humana due to disagreements on price, putting an early end to what would have been one of the largest deals of the decade.
• Apple has blocked Beeper Mini, which lets Android users send blue-bubble texts to iPhones.
• The U.S. blocked efforts at the U.N. to pass a resolution calling for an immediate cease-fire in Israel this week. Israeli forces are hunting Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, who is believed to be hunkered down in the terrorist group’s labyrinth of tunnels beneath the city of Khan Younis.