MC Press Magazine May 2017 Issue

It’s not just software that gets upgraded and enhanced!

Greetings, readers! Welcome to the first edition of MC Press Magazine. As you can see, we’ve been busy making changes to ensure that your reading experience is convenient, productive, and pleasurable.

We revised the MC Press Online website in January 2017 (MCPO V2.0) Now, we’re bringing you this new format, an e-magazine that you can read on your desktop, laptop, tablet or smartphone...or even print out if, like me, you still have a passion for paper.

Enjoy the read!

MC Press Magazine June 2017 Issue

Magazines or books? Hard copy or digital? What and how do you prefer to read?

It’s summer! It’s the time for taking vacations, putting meat on the grill, and eating fresh peaches.

It’s also time to relax with your favorite reading material while you’re hanging out at the pool, lake, or beach. Back in the day, you’d grab your magazines and/or books and stuff them into your tote bag along with your towel, a hat, your beverage of choice, and some snacks. But these days, instead of hard copy, you’re more likely stuffing a laptop, tablet, or smartphone into your bag because that’s where your reading material resides.

Your digitial edition of MC Press Magazine is here so enjoy the read!

MC Press Magazine July 2017 Issue

The late, great David Bowie came to mind as I thought about the topic for this column. Turn and face the strange.

The inadvertent theme of this month’s issue of MC Press Magazine has revealed itself to be changes.

For starters, you may have noticed that the MC Press Online website underwent a total remodel in July. Positive comments from readers indicate that they’re pleased with the new look and functionality. If you haven’t looked at it yet, I encourage you to do so. The email format of our newsletters has been updated, too. And, of course, we have here the third issue of MC Press Magazine. Everything about the look and feel of MC Press Online is nice and fresh and bright now.

Enjoy the read!

MC Press Magazine Aug 2017 Issue

“Analysis” is arguably the tech buzzword of the day for businesses.

Summer’s over. Everyone who is still in school has gone back to focusing on their studies. If you have kids in college, they may be taking some analytics classes—maybe topics about data mining, predictive modeling, data visualization, or business statistics.

A quick search of available college classes turned up course titles such as Machine Learning and Optimization in Analytics, Social Network Analytics, Web Analytics, Data Management and Visualization in Analytics, and Computational Techniques for Large Scale Data Analysis.

Does any of this sound familiar to you?

If you’re racking your brain to think back to your own college days, you’re trying too hard. What I’m talking about should come up easily in recent memory. Think “Watson.”

All of those course titles represent things a Watson app or service can do for you. You don’t have to spend a whole semester learning how to do it yourself.

Enjoy the read.

MC Press Magazine Sept 2017 Issue

Lots of people love this time of year…for one reason or another.

It’s autumn! Although I now live in the Southwest, I have nostalgic memories of the Northeast autumns of my youth. There is nothing (to me) as breathtakingly amazing as the beauty of trees’ leaves turning crimson, gold, and orange.

Many people enjoy the spectacle of autumn foliage, but many, many more get excited about this season for a completely different reason: It’s football season.

Let’s watch a fantasy football game.

The MC Presstige is suited up, but instead of being on the gridiron, this all-star team is playing between the front and back covers of MC Press Magazine.

The Presstige wins the toss. Game on!

MC Press Magazine Oct 2017 Issue

Ghosts and witches—they’re kid stuff. But there really are other things to be afraid of.

By Victoria Mack

This being October, Steve Pitcher has a bit of a Halloween scare for you. But this goblin isn’t a fantasy. It’s real. IBM has announced end of support for the exceptionally popular POWER7 machines. Will IBM offer extended hardware maintenance? Who knows? It hasn’t happened yet. Read Steve’s article to see his perceptions of what some may consider a truly horrifying announcement.

If news of the Equifax breach left you quivering with fear, you’re not alone. Many, many people are wondering if they were affected. More importantly, many more are wondering how such a thing could have happened. News sources reported that a database hack was conducted on a “legacy” environment. Hmmm…legacy. You’ve heard that word used to describe the IBM i. Could it have been an IBM i that was hacked? Maybe. Carol Woodbury comments on that possibility and discusses the multiple layers of defense that are available to IBM i sys admins to ensure security breaches don’t happen to their company.

But there’s more good news than bad news in this issue of MC Press Magazine.