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In Defense of the Flash Memory Summit (FMS)

In Marketing, Storage, Technology by J Michel Metz2 Comments

On August 22, Storage Newsletter published an article written by Jean Jacques Maleval that accused the 2022 Flash Memory Summit as being “deceptive.” This is a very serious accusation. The Newsletter sent it out in its digest as the lead story. Obviously this warranted some immediate attention, particularly as I’ve been part of the Flash Memory Summit as a panelist and …

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Storage Short Take #48

In Storage, Technology by J Michel MetzLeave a Comment

How’s Your Appetite for Controversy?As if the announcements of Flash Memory Summit weren’t enough (there’s a lot to consume!), the industry is full of drama over the past couple of weeks. Nutanix has stepped in it (again!), Infinidat has its own employee problems, and OpenCAPI was annexed by CXL. As always, links were live at publication time.Storage Media and TechnologyMan, …

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Storage Short Take #47

In Storage, Technology by J Michel Metz2 Comments

A Minor Memo For LinkedIn RequestsLinkedIn spam has gotten pretty bad. But as this Short Take will be published  just before the 2022 Flash Memory Summit, I’ll say it here in case someone has a legitimate reason to contact me through that platform: Unfortunately, due to prior obligations, I will not be in attendance for this year’s FMS. I do …

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Storage Short Take #46

In Storage, Technology by J Michel MetzLeave a Comment

So Much News, So Little Time!Sometimes the weeks go by uneventfully. Sometimes it’s packed with news and updates. It just so happens that this Short Take is more the latter than the former. As always, links were live at the time of publication.Storage Media and TechnologyLast time I mentioned that the DNA Storage Alliance has joined SNIA as a Technical …

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Review: I Think We’re Alone Now (2018)

In Entertainment, Reviews by J Michel Metz6 Comments

I Think We’re Alone Now isn’t a bad movie, per se. It has its moments of great potential, so perhaps its greatest sin is that it never has the bravery to tackle some of the subject matter it brings up. Slow and plodding (as opposed to methodical, which would have been forgivable), the movie wastes brilliant actors and a strong indie …

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Storage Short Take #45

In Storage, Technology by J Michel MetzLeave a Comment

Unintended Consequences of Good IntentionsWell, I made a little mistake this week. I put a post on LinkedIn saying that I was willing to promote independent bloggers by including them in my Storage Short Take. Unfortunately, I wasn’t clear enough, and people thought that I was trying to hire bloggers for this blog. Ooops. While I can’t hire anyone (I don’t …

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Storage Short Take #44

In Storage, Technology by J Michel MetzLeave a Comment

Striving for Independence!A lengthy one today. I’m trying to find more independent sources of news, rather than just the press releases that many vendors put out. If you happen to know of anyone who is writing good storage material, please feel free to let me know either through the contact form or via twitter. As always, links were live at time …

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Worst Nightmare

In Customer Service, Philosophy by J Michel MetzLeave a Comment

Photo by David Spiers on UnsplashThe thing about dreams is that there’s no way to tell what they’re like for anyone else. Trying to explain what happens in your dreams seems nearly impossible, as words don’t often seem to capture the sense of scope or scale. The XKCD comic is absolutely perfect: https://xkcd.com/430/ My dreams are vivid. The colors are …

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Storage Short Take #43

In Storage, Technology by J Michel MetzLeave a Comment

A short one this time…As always, links were active at the time of publication.Storage Media and TechnologyHere’s another article on using liquid media for storage capacity. Interestingly, there’s no discussion about the effect of temperature on a liquid-based storage medium. Micron has announced that their 232-layer SSD technology could have chip-level controller functions. What this means, in plain English, is that …

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Storage Short Take #42

In Storage, Technology by J Michel MetzLeave a Comment

Back With Another Short TakeAfter a much needed rest, we’re back with another Storage Short Take. But, first things first. In case you missed it, I’m very pleased to have been selected as a “Top 50 Tech Blog” winner by the voters of the 2021 Poll run by Cisco. Storage blogs don’t often get much of a mention, so I’m …

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Beaten By Cliffhanger

In Jeep, Travel by J Michel MetzLeave a Comment

It was the last trail of the week, and the most difficult. After the set of crises earlier in the week, I had been dreading this trail more than ever. Cliffhanger. I still hadn’t forgiven myself for the swaybar SNAFU, and was feeling particularly gun-shy about trying difficult and dangerous obstacles that this trail would provide. Dave had been talking …

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Damn Near Wrecked It

In Jeep, Travel by J Michel MetzLeave a Comment

(photo credit: Craig Carlson)I’d conquered worse. It really shouldn’t have been a big deal. And yet, here we were. On approach to the Waterfall obstacle (photo credit: Craig Carlson)It’s called “The Waterfall,” a multi-staged ascent on a trail called Gold Bar Rim, which is a part of the Golden Spike trail. It was a couple hours after the spacers broke …

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Disaster! Disaster!

In Jeep, Travel by J Michel MetzLeave a Comment

“Disaster! Disaster!” Unintentionally, my voice over the radio came across as snark, not panic. I’m not sure that was better, though. It was, after all, a disaster. Dave had already crested the next obstacle, and I could see him out of the passenger side of my Jeep, which had no doors. He was looking down at me from the ledge, …

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More Than Just A Jeep

In Jeep, Philosophy, Travel by J Michel Metz2 Comments

“That’s a boss rig, man.” I was coming out of the gas station, back towards my truck that was sitting at the refueling pumps, my trailer carefully parked so that others could get their own cars and trucks in between the pumps. My Jeep sat high on top of the trailer, immovable via 3” straps from the axles to giant …

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Storage Short Take #41

In Storage, Technology by J Michel MetzLeave a Comment

Ugh, too long, too long…Sadly, time has flown by while life got in the way. Nevertheless, here is the 41st installation of the Storage Short Take.Storage Media and TechnologyThis is a really good article on ransomware, particularly the long-term risks for victims. Containers are an interesting technology, and are the foundation for a huge number of evolutionary developments in data …