Yonas Tibebu

Smoke testing, also called build verification testing or build acceptance testing, is nonexhaustive software analysis that ascertains that the most crucial functions of a program work but does not delve into finer details. Smoke testing is the preliminary check of the software after a build and before a release. This type of testing finds basic and critical issues in an application before critical testing is implemented. The term smoke testing originates from a similarly basic type of hardware testing in which a device passes the test if it doesn't catch fire the first time it turns on. Daily build and smoke tests are among industry best practices advocated by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers in Code Complete by former IEEE editor in chief and software engineer expert Steve McConnell. How smoke testing works Quality assurance (QA) testers perform smoke testing after the developers deliver every new build of an application. If the code passes ...

Deep packet inspection (DPI) is an advanced method of examining and managing network traffic. It is a form of packet filtering that locates, identifies, classifies, reroutes or blocks packets with specific data or code payloads that conventional packet filtering, which examines only packet headers, cannot detect. Usually performed as a firewall feature, deep packet inspection functions at the application layer of the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) reference model. How deep packet inspection works Deep packet inspection examines the contents of packets passing through a given checkpoint and makes real-time decisions based on rules assigned by an enterprise, internet service provider (ISP) or network manager, depending on what a packet contains. Previous forms of packet filtering only looked at header information, which, to use an analogy, is the equivalent of reading addresses printed on the outside of an envelope. This was due partly to the limitations of tec...

Passwordless authentication is a verification process where a user confirms his or her identity without the requirement of manually entering a string of characters. Authentication methods include biometrics, security tokens and piggybacking off of another application, service or device which has already authenticated the user. Passwordless authentication is commonly used on mobile devices such as smartphones, tablets or laptops and applications such as Slack or WhatsApp. The benefits of using passwordless authentication include: Improved user experience (UX). Faster login times into applications or devices. Less maintenance of passwords required for IT staff. Reduced chance of phishing attacks, password re-use or password leaks. Types of passwordless authentication With passwordless authentication, users are presented with one or multiple methods of signing into an application or device without the need to enter a password. Common types of passwordless...

A social robot is an artificial intelligence (AI) system that is designed to interact with humans and other robots. In the workplace, social robots have the potential to take over entire job functions, such as greeting and basic customer service. In the home, social robots could become functional enough to serve as a member of the family and be purposely designed with unique personalities and quirks to engage family members. Examples of social robots include: hitchBOT - a social robot that attempted to hitchhike across the United States in 2014. Kismet - a robot head that understands and exhibits emotion when interacting with humans. Tico - a robot developed to improve children's motivation in the classroom. Bandit - a social robot designed to teach social behavior to autistic children. Jibo - a consumer-oriented social robot. Jibo understands speech and facial expressions and seeks to form relationships with the family that adopts it. A social rob...

Metadata management is the administration of data that describes other data. It involves establishing policies and processes that ensure information can be integrated, accessed, shared, linked, analyzed and maintained to best effect across the organization. Metadata is generated whenever data is created, acquired, added to, deleted from, or updated. For example, document metadata in Microsoft Word includes the file size, date of document creation, the name(s) of the author and most recent modifier, the dates of any changes and the total edit time. Further metadata can be added, including title, tags and comments. The goal of metadata management is to make it easier for a person or program to locate a specific data asset. This requires designing a metadata repository, populating the repository and making it easy to use information in the repository. Benefits of metadata management include: Consistency of definitions of metadata so that terminology variations don't...

VM automation is the ability for a virtual machine (VM) to perform basic functions and optimize performance on its own or with minimal manual input. An important goal of VM automation is to minimize human errors and reduce the amount of time it takes for information technology administrators to manage a large, logical infrastructure. VM automation tools can help with the completion of routine tasks, as well as the migration and placement of VMs. Placement is the process of determining where each virtual machine will operate and who will be its host. Migration involves balancing data and processing loads by moving VMs to optimize the use of host memory and processing power. VM automation has many benefits but it's not suited to every workload or environment. While it works well for the creation and management of large numbers of VMs but for smaller organizations, the work and cost of tools required to implement VM automation can be detrimental to the cost-efficiency of th...

Business analytics (BA) is the iterative, methodical exploration of an organization's data, with an emphasis on statistical analysis. Business analytics is used by companies that are committed to making data-driven decisions. Data-driven companies treat their data as a corporate asset and actively look for ways to turn it into a competitive advantage. Successful business analytics depends on data quality, skilled analysts who understand the technologies and the business, and an organizational commitment to using data to gain insights that inform business decisions. Specific types of business analytics include: Descriptive analytics, which tracks key performance indicators to understand the present state of a business; Predictive analytics, which analyzes trend data to assess the likelihood of future outcomes; and Prescriptive analytics, which uses past performance to generate recommendations about how to handle similar situations in the future. How busine...