The Official GEN Blog

Privacy - What is it, and Why do you want it?

Explore the concept of privacy in the digital age, why it matters, and how various technologies and companies impact your personal data. Learn to protect your online privacy

Asterisk - A Communications Powerhouse

Asterisk is a mature open-source telephony platform that allows extremely powerful features to be used easily

Free Email - A Real World Disaster

Why free anything presents a significant business risk that cannot be underestimated

Social Engineering Attacks

Social engineering poses a significant threat to companies, particularly in compromising email accounts for money interception scams and data breaches

Cloud Backup Strategies

Explore comprehensive cloud backup strategies for virtual machines and containers. Learn about image vs. content backups, considerations for different server types, security measures, and best practices for disaster recovery

Incident at the Paper Mill

Discover an intriguing '80s tale of troubleshooting a massive automated paper mill tractor. Follow the investigation of mysterious stops and software challenges in industrial automation

Apple Under Fire for Closed Ecosystem

Explore the growing antitrust challenges facing Apple's App Store exclusivity and the potential shift towards allowing third-party app stores on iPhones, as regulators worldwide scrutinize the tech giant's practices

Value Added Cloud (VAC) Providers

Explore value-added cloud providers who offer more than just infrastructure. Learn how they support systems and applications, including open-source solutions, to enhance your cloud experience.

Firefox`s 20th Anniversary

Explore the 30-year journey of web browsers from Netscape Navigator to Firefox. Learn about the browser wars, open-source developments, and Firefox's role in internet history.

Platform Diversity in IT Maintenance: Supporting Legacy to Modern Systems

Explore GEN's comprehensive IT maintenance services covering a wide range of platforms from legacy to modern systems. Learn about Linux dominance

Cold and Hot Spares in Cloud Computing

Explore cold spares in cloud computing: their role in disaster recovery, cost-effectiveness, and implementation strategies. Learn how they are used and work

The Dark Side of Google Chrome: How Your Browser Betrays You

Discover why Google Chrome is a privacy nightmare. Learn how it tracks your every move, exploits your data, and compromises your online freedom. Explore alternatives for a safer browsing experience

The Rise of Automated Pestering: When Marketing Goes Too Far

Explore the growing trend of automated hassling in marketing, its impact on user experience, and how businesses can strike a balance between engagement and annoyance

Effective Strategies to Prevent Contact Form Spam

Learn powerful techniques to stop automated form submissions, reduce spam, and improve website security. Discover best practices for contact form protection.

UK Business Energy Market

Explore UK energy pricing mechanisms, wholesale gas trends, and their impact on business costs. Analyse energy companies profits and sustainability

I've Been Hacked!

A discussion around the reasons for and the failures for getting 'hacked' either business or personal

Cloud Hosted Options, Virtual vs Dedicated

Explore the differences between virtual and dedicated cloud hosting options. Learn about their advantages, flexibility, cost factors, and how to choose the right solution for your needs

Advances in Remote Support over the last 30 years

Exploring how things have changed over the years with remote support and other instant support options.

Protecting Your Digital Content: Copyright Challenges in the Age of AI and Web Scraping

Explore the complexities of copyright protection for online content creators in the face of AI training, web scraping, and global jurisdiction issues. Learn about fair dealing, practical protection methods, and the limitations of current safeguards.

Email Threats and Extortion - A review

Discover how email extortion scams use clever encoding to bypass spam filters. Learn to identify and protect yourself from these threats

From Defender to Offender: CrowdStrike's Billion-Dollar Blunder

In the wake of the crowdstrike disaster, are there better options available

UK Broadband; ADSL, FTTC, FTTP, BT, Openreach and the future

Explore the evolution of UK broadband from ADSL to FTTP. Learn about the history, technology, and future of internet connectivity in the UK, and the transition to fiber

Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity in 2024

How can we protect our business and systems from catastrophic events

The Software you own, the Software you don't

The current trend of rent to use software across the spectrum is really bad, for you

Free CV Critique, a great example of machine generated nonsense

Many job sites offer a 'free' CV Critique or Review, but actually its nonsense and just a lead generation tool

Programming languages over the last 40 years

Analysing the popularity of programming languages over the last 4 decades

Trustpilot censors their own Bad Reviews

How can we trust the company claiming to be impartial when they censor their own reviews

AI Generated Code and its Impact on Code Stability

AI can be good for many things, but code generation is not one of them, we'll discuss this and the impact on stability and security

Artificial Intelligence and the Carbon Cost

An article on the environmental impact of AI on the climate in terms of energy

Using Telnyx S3 Storage with Synology Cloud Sync

Telnyx provides a cost effective and functional NAS backup solution with 10GB Free

Deliveroo Accused of Violating GDPR by Selling Customer Data to Restaurant Chains

Discover how Deliveroo allegedly violated GDPR by selling customer data to restaurant chains, and learn about the implications for data privacy and protection

GDPR and Cloud Hositng Considerations

Explore key considerations, data protection principles, and best practices for ensuring data security and regulatory compliance with GDPR in the UK

Don't let your Chatbot land you in Court

Discover the pitfalls of using chatbots for customer service, including real-world examples and insights on why poorly implemented chatbots can harm your business

Migrating away from VMWare to ProxMox before its too late

Explore the benefits and steps of migrating from VMware to Proxmox. Learn about cost efficiency, flexibility, and comprehensive features of Proxmox and migration

ClaudeBot and a Pandemic of inconsiderate coding

Learn how inconsiderate bots can negatively impact your website's performance and bandwidth. Discover known bad bots and effective methods to block them using apache

Leveraging AI for Real World Commercial Benefits

Explore how AI enhances business analytics with use cases in call transcription and CRM data analysis to predict customer re-purchase likelihood

Synology Active Backup for Business

Explore Synology's Active Backup for Business, its challenges, and how it compares to competitors like Veeam, Acronis, and UrBackup in the backup space

Information Blackmail - Microsoft Style

Discover how Microsoft uses information blackmail to extort mobile numbers, the impact on user privacy, and ways to protect your personal information

Leaving the sinking ship that is RedHat

Discover why we are leaving RedHat in 2024, citing issues with CentOS, paywalls, and website usability, and explore alternatives like Rocky and Alma Linux

Why Email Housekeeping is a must

Discover why email housekeeping is crucial. Learn about impacts of large mailboxes on performance and security. Explore solutions for effective email management

Why does trustarc.com damage your traffic?

Learn how trustarc.com impacts website usability, causing delays and errors on sites like RedHat, Oracle, and DigitalOcean, and explore alternatives to avoid it

The new site finally arrives

A blog article written by GEN UK Staff or clients

Finally leaving HomeSeer for HomeAssistant

Discover why we transitioned from HomeSeer to Home Assistant in 2023, overcoming challenges with Z-Wave and Sonoff devices, and achieving a reliable smart home setup

Torrent Sites - The History, Mistakes and Failures

Explore the history of torrent sites, their rise with BitTorrent, key mistakes, and failures, including legal battles and the impact of DNS blocks on file sharing

Protecting Your Synology NAS from Internet Threats

Your Synology NAS should be fine on the internet, as long as you follow the recommendations and setup the firewall correctly

Amazon and Ebay for Business Procurement

Comparing the platforms and assessing their suitability for business use

A VPN is unlikely to protect you

NO matter what the internet says, a VPN isn't going to make you anonymous without some careful considerations

How to annoy your customers with Google ReCaptcha

Discover why Google ReCaptcha annoys users, its privacy concerns, and explore effective, user-friendly alternatives to improve your website's user experience

The Food Delivery War (Deliveroo, Just-Eat, UberEats) Comparison and Analysis

The curious case of Traffic Exchanges

Explore the pros and cons of various traffic exchange sites, their impact on SEO, and the potential risks involved in using these services for website ranking

FreePBX as a route to a Data Breach

FreePBX has a long established history, from Schmooze to its buyout by Sangoma and their commercialisation of it, but its weak as products go