Another $25 Amazon card is up for grabs

Go to https://giveaway.thetechfirm.com for rules and to submit your ballot or ballots ;)

Quite a few people weren't followers or on the email list, so double check.

Draw date is May 1, 2026

Why ???

 I have done countless videos about how important it is to supervise and check on your cabling contractors.

In this example, the team and I are wondering why the contractor decided to route this cable up into the ceiling and hang the drops. Yes, we provided specific install instructions...

There will be no projector or access point here. Its a break room and we wanted a few drops for a phone, smart TV and 2 extras.

Did you have a Science Fair 150-in-1 Electronic Project Kit growing up ? I did...

This vintage item is the Science Fair 150-in-1 Electronic Project Kit. Released in 1976 by Radio Shack (Tandy Corp), it was a popular educational tool designed for children aged 8 and up to explore basic electronics and electricity. 

Key Features and Capabilities 

Components: The kit includes various breadboard-mounted parts like resistors, capacitors, transistors, diodes, a solar cell, an LED digital display, and a relay. 

Assembly Method: It uses spring connectors to join wires between components, allowing users to build circuits without soldering. 

Project Variety: The accompanying "Giant Lab Type Manual" provides instructions for 150 different projects, such as building a burglar alarm, light dimmer, or transistor radios. 

Educational Value: It was designed to teach circuit fundamentals and component characteristics, often sparking lifelong interests in electrical engineering. 

Current Status 

Today, this kit is considered a vintage collector's item. It is frequently found on secondary marketplaces like eBay, where it is often sold "as-is" due to its age. While the original kits are retired, digital copies of the instruction manuals are sometimes available online for those looking to restore or use them.

🔐 Lock It Down Like a Pro: The Ultimate Cisco IOS XE Hardening Playbook

When it comes to securing your network, leaving your devices in their default state is basically rolling out the red carpet for attackers. This guide from The Network DNA dives deep into hardening Cisco IOS XE devices, walking through the critical steps every network admin should take to reduce vulnerabilities and tighten control. With threats constantly evolving—and real-world exploits targeting IOS XE services like web interfaces and management planes —this isn’t optional anymore; it’s essential.

At its core, the article emphasizes a layered security approach across the management, control, and data planes. That means locking down access with AAA, disabling unused services, enforcing strong password policies, and ensuring secure management protocols like SSHv2 are used instead of legacy options. These best practices align with long-standing Cisco hardening guidance, which highlights securing access, encrypting communications, and limiting exposure as foundational defenses .

The guide also digs into service and protocol hardening—one of the most overlooked areas. This includes disabling insecure protocols (like Telnet or older TLS versions), tightening SNMP configurations, and removing weak cryptographic ciphers. Even seemingly minor misconfigurations—like leaving outdated SSH settings enabled—can create major attack surfaces, making it critical to modernize crypto settings and keep IOS XE versions up to date .

Finally, the article reinforces the importance of continuous monitoring and maintenance. Hardening isn’t a “set it and forget it” task—it requires regular audits, log analysis, patching, and reviewing Cisco security advisories. With new vulnerabilities surfacing regularly, staying proactive ensures your network devices remain resilient, not just configured securely on day one.

Click here or the image above to read the full article

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#ekahau Wi-Fi in Challenging Environments: Hospitals and Healthcare

Why Should I Bother With A Site Audit

After working this contract for over a year, I feel like I've got a pretty good idea of the current equipment, installation standards, some of the exceptions and some of the chronic issues support staff face. I even had the opportunity to visit a few sites to see the office culture, politics and equipment limitations that we have to work with.

Even though the bulk of the installations were done around the same time period with some really good installation standards like what goes to what port, IP addressing standards, etc..  things change over the years for a multitude of reasons:

- replacing equipment due to upgrades or failure