In today’s connected economy, working together towards a more secure connected future has never mattered more.
We are at a unique milestone moment where multiple vectors of change are converging, from a global acceleration in digital transformation and application development modernisation, to distributed ways of working, and evolved consumer and employee behaviours and expectations too. This is all supported by emergent technology and IT/OT integration, the rise of APIs, 5G and enterprise IoT, and an inevitable explosion in IoT devices. Indeed, by 2024, it is estimated that the number of IoT connections in the UK alone will increase to an incredible 39.9 million.
Whilst this has created dynamic new opportunities to innovate, it has also diversified the risks consumers face and created new risks for businesses, with IoT security now a leading C-suite priority, concerning silicon vendors, software providers and device manufacturers alike. So, what are the key issues and how can we better address them?
The Key IoT Security Challenges

Source: Science Direct
Whilst cyber threat surface areas continue to expand, the scope, scale and sophistication of attacks continues to escalate too. And with new levels of digital-physical convergence, endpoint choice, flexible workstyles and applications everywhere, we have a much wider perimeter to defend – indeed many of the traditional trust boundaries employing perimeter security just no longer exist. From SME to Enterprise, IoT devices with ever more complex anatomy now represent the most vulnerable part of the network – and are present in both employees’ homes and legacy end points. Coupled with expanded supply chains, IoT security is fast moving beyond a technology issue to one of business resilience and continuity.
On average, there are now 5,200 attacks per month on IoT devices, with 7 million data records compromised every single day. Taking healthcare as an example, some 82% of healthcare systems reported IoT cyberattacks in the last 18 months alone. And these breaches can lead to devastating impacts. The average cost of a successful IoT device attack is over $330,000 with losses extending beyond the financial, to data loss, tarnished reputation, and ultimately the risk of losing probably the biggest currency of our time – trust.
And the list goes on! Additional issues include turning data volume into the data value that drives security insights with active intelligence, the complexity of global legislation and resultant fragmentation of standards and regulations, accessibility and consistency across frameworks, testing and best practices, and ambiguity around liability – all highlighted as challenges in the PSA Certified 2021 Security Report. Indeed, tracking where a risk is coming from across the supply chain ecosystem and then identifying how to tackle it is becoming increasingly complex.
Continue reading: https://www.bbntimes.com/companies/changing-the-narrative-around-iot-security

The internet of things (IoT) has truly come of age, and innovative new use cases are emerging all around us. Each day, we’re seeing the IoT in businesses and factories, cities, vehicles and transportation systems—and in our daily lives. Studies show that in consumer markets like fitness, healthcare, automobiles, and the home, the IoT market is expected to register a CAGR of 17.52% during the forecast period of 2021-2026.
For commercial environments, 40% of participants in an Eclipse Foundation survey said that their organizations are using IoT solutions today, and 22% more plan to deploy IoT in the next two years.
However, if we take a closer look at the internet of things, some hidden threats emerge. It’s evident that many manufacturers rushing to get their products to market are bypassing the important step of security. Many are often taking shortcuts that are putting their devices at risk when they go into the field to support real-world use cases.
To complicate the issue, almost every IoT device has three key inherent vulnerabilities. The first is authentication. The IoT is all about connecting to other things, so authenticating the right users and anything the device connects to is essential. 
Confidentiality is the second common vulnerability in IoT devices. The IoT is also based on generating new data that becomes actionable. If that data is not protected, it’s useless, so ensuring confidentiality is a must.
Finally, it is important to know that the data that’s being generated and collected by these devices can be trusted. Additionally, knowing the device is operating in a state of integrity and configuration settings haven’t been manipulated is also important. Data integrity becomes the third common vulnerability amongst these devices. 
Continue reading: https://securityboulevard.com/2022/01/rising-above-complexity-to-secure-iot-devices/

The National Retail Federation held its annual NRF 2022 conference this week, and the tech industry was there in force. Qualcomm, for example, held a briefing ahead of the event to celebrate its third year of attendance where it outlined how it plans to build its IoT business with a large focus on retail customers. And at the conference itself, Twilio, Intel, Nvidia, PTC, Comcast, and scores of data analytics companies demonstrated how they’re using technology to make the physical retail experience as responsive and trackable as digital shopping.
Edge computing, targeted advertising, and computer vision solutions were made available, with various big tech companies showcasing partnerships that help retailers track shopping carts while also using them to deliver targeted ads, partnerships that leverage computer vision for loss prevention — even partnerships dedicated to dynamic pricing and truly accurate inventory management.
The tech industry has been wooing the retail industry for a decade, but the shift from e-commerce and providing cloud services to more IoT-enabled products has been happening for the last five years. And with the pandemic, the retail industry is wrestling with conflicting trends, such as more online shopping leading to the need to converge e-commerce and physical inventory, and in-person shoppers wanting to spend less time in physical places touching things. A rise in the number of thefts and continued pressure on margins are also leading some groceries, drugstores, and other shops to look at new loss prevention techniques and ways to make money on advertising or consumer data, respectively.
Continue reading: https://staceyoniot.com/the-future-of-retail-brings-digital-surveillance-to-the-real-world/

Digitization is transforming how businesses operate. This transition is often referred to as the Fourth Industrial Revolution or Industry 4.0 because it represents the fourth manufacturing revolution. The first industrial revolution was mechanization, the second was mass production and assembly lines using electricity, and the third was the adoption of computers and automation.
Now the Fourth Industrial Revolution is upon us, with the digital transformation of businesses largely consisting of automation, artificial intelligence (AI), and rapid technological innovation. Industrial processes and machines are becoming smarter and more modular, with automation and data exchange that include the Internet of Things (IoT) and the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT). These smart, always-connected devices provide real-time contextual information with low overhead to optimize processes and improve how companies and individuals interact, work, and live.
It's no wonder McKinsey estimated that investments in IoT technology would grow at a rate of 13.5% throughout 2022. This growth in IoT is contributing to an escalating explosion in production and industrial data. This data is being collected and analyzed to improve productivity, monitor activity, and enhance predictive maintenance. With so much business-critical data passing through IoT and IIoT devices, organizations must take measures to secure their technology.
Why is IIoT Security Important? Digital has not gone unnoticed by cybercriminals, who seek to exploit IoT and IIoT as weak links in the data chain. The increasing volume of structured and unstructured data being generated by these devices, and their oftentimes anomalous behavior spanning across global ecosystems challenges even the best organizations. Further complicating the situation is that many of these devices are wireless (WLAN or 5G) and often have communication channels to their manufacturers for maintenance and troubleshooting purposes, which can make them a potential backdoor into the production network.
Continue reading: https://menafn.com/1103595023/Key-Business-Risks-Behind-the-Internet-of-Things&source=29

With attacks against Internet of Things devices on the rise, threat researchers are warning companies to make sure they know their devices and have processes in place to maintain and defend them.

In a Jan. 25 blog post, threat intelligence firm Intel 471 stated a surge of attacks on IoT devices in 2020 and 2021 led to the theft of confidential information and creation of massive botnets for launching distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks. The company also saw main malware codebases Mirai and Gafgyt being used to compromise connected devices, with variants of Mirai the most popular way to sell illicit access to targeted firms on underground forums.
The threat will only grow this year as attackers shift to more profit-focused motives, says Michael DeBolt, chief intelligence officer for Intel 471.
“As IoT devices become more and more commonplace, and industries increase their dependency on these devices for their uptime and operations … we expect to see the shift to targeted ransomware and IoT botnet operators working with access merchants to identify potential targets,” he says.
Two trends in the IoT marketplace are converging to create a significant security problem. Manufacturers of a plethora of devices are adding connected functionality for management and updates, as well as to offer additional services, leading to a larger attack surface area in most organizations. However, management of these devices has not kept pace, leaving many of them vulnerable to attack.
Continue reading: https://urgentcomm.com/2022/01/25/as-iot-attacks-increase-experts-fear-more-serious-threats/

As the public safety sector grows, communities and departments want more information on how police use drones to protect and serve their communities.  In this guest post by a founding member of Ft. Wayne’s Air Support Unit: how drones are used, how they train, and how they work with the community.
The Fort Wayne Police Department Air Support Unit (ASU) started in 2017.  The team was a vision of Lieutenant Jon Bowers all the way back to 2015.  The original focus of the team was to provide over watch for the emergency services team (EST) operations.  At the time, the team was developed from two hostage negotiators and two licensed pilots on the police department.  As things progressed, it was decided that the group of four would be its own team falling under the Special Operations division of the police department and the official team was compromised of a Lieutenant, a Sergeant, and five patrol officers.
How Police Use Drones in Fort Wayne
Since 2017, the team has grown.  In 2022, the team will be comprised of 2 Sergeants and 8 patrol officers.  The team responded to 217 calls for service in 2021.  This included EST over watch, fatal crash team reconstruction, outdoor crimes scenes, subjects that were fleeing from the police, missing children and adults, and radio tower inspections.  The team also was apart of 29 demos for the public with community relations in 2021.
Continue reading: https://dronelife.com/2022/01/25/an-inside-look-at-how-police-use-drones-fort-wayne-indiana/

Today’s Woman in Tech: Carolin Solskär, Community Manager at Detectify Crowdsource
Carolin Solskär is the Community Manager of web security company Detectify’s Crowdsource ethical hacking community. She has a background at Microsoft and as Head of Innovation at Nordic startup factory Nordic Tech House, and she is passionate about making the tech industry more equal. In 2017, Carolin initiated the Swedish #MeToo movement, and in 2019 she was named IT Woman of the Year in Sweden.
When did you become interested in technology? What first got you interested in tech?
When social media was in its infancy in the early 2000’s, there were some internet communities for teens where you built your own profile page using simple coding. I loved it, but I didn’t realise back then that I had an interest in HTML and CSS.
How did you end up in your career path? What obstacles did you have to overcome?
I’ve always been a curious person who is interested in a lot of different things, so it wasn’t obvious that I would work in tech. Between the age of 14 and 23 I was actually sailing around the world as a sea chef. Somewhere on the Atlantic I had a bit of a life crisis and realised I wanted to go back to school. A friend of mine suggested I look into a career in IT, because, as he said, “it’s the future.” After graduating university with a degree in Computer and Systems Science, I started working at Microsoft. Quite quickly, I realised that big corporations weren’t my thing though. I wanted to be part of building something from scratch, work with a variety of things and use my creativity to solve problems. I took on a more entrepreneurial role as Head of Innovation at a Nordic tech incubator called Nordic Tech House. That’s how I got into the startup scene.
Like many women, I never saw myself as someone working in tech. It took me a while to overcome my own illusions of what working with technology really means and realize that I could contribute just as much as anyone else.
Continue reading: https://jaxenter.com/women-in-tech-solskar-176451.html

As a business active in the world of blockchain and cryptocurrency, figuring out the next marketing strategy remains crucial. Reaching a global audience requires an ongoing shift of ideas and plans to make the most of the tools at one's disposal. The following crypto marketing trends will shape the landscape in 2022.
Metaverse And NFT Technology Are Your Friends
Every business should pay attention to solidifying brand awareness in the metaverse and NFT industry. The metaverse will be the next frontier to tackle from a crypto marketing perspective. Establishing a presence in the virtual world will become as crucial as it is on the internet or in the real world. 
Moreover, metaverses give crypto projects a new start in targeting audiences through different methods. One example is the advent of GameFi protocols: a combination of gaming and decentralized finance within the same ecosystem. Metaverses provide the visual elements required for gaming while introducing users to decentralized finance concepts such as the popular play-to-earn model. 
Additionally, in-game items are created as NFTs - or non-fungible tokens - to introduce a degree of scarcity to every item, as they are all unique. Every user in the metaverse can acquire these NFTs to personalize their experience and directly engage with your brand. Innovative technologies elevate crypto marketing efforts to a new level.
Continue reading: https://cryptonews.com/news/marketing-trends-crypto-projects-should-pay-attention-2022.htm

Generally, people know that blockchains consume huge amounts of energy but the reasons why and how to reduce it will be key to discussions of blockchain-based applications and Web3 in a time of climate crisis.
Why it matters
It is no longer controversial to say that economies, businesses, and technology must try to reduce their emissions to net zero as soon as they can if humanity, as a species, is to avoid ecological devastation and the social and political chaos it will unleash.
And yet, almost ironically, a technology is going mainstream that appears to consume as much energy as it’s feasibly possible to consume. Single transactions use the same amount of energy as an American household would use over months. 
These transactions are now becoming a more and more important part of the marketer’s world, as brands start to get involved with digital tokens (NFTs) and begin to think about the possibilities that blockchain technology holds for them.
We need to understand what’s happening and what to do about it before investing in gimmicks that quite literally cost the earth.
Continue reading: https://www.warc.com/newsandopinion/opinion/how-to-understand-blockchains-environmental-impact/en-gb/5574

“When the mafia kidnapped me, I had the choice to pay the ransom in either fiat money or Bitcoin. I did not hesitate before choosing the latter. Had I picked the first option, the criminals would have held me in a dark, damp cell for days in the Pacific Islands until the funds went through KYC, identity check, or, God forbid, the bank placed a hold on the funds. But after I paid, I was let go instantly. Who knew the network’s 10-minute transaction time and cross-border anonymity could be such a lifesaver?”
— Dr. Anon
According to a recent report compiled by Chainalysis, the intersection between cryptocurrency and crime has grown to become a $14 billion industry in 2021. Regrettably, societies worldwide are far from perfect, and the rapid rise in the market capitalization of digital currencies has led to an explosion of crime targeting blockchain enthusiasts. The good news is that the money lost in criminal activities as a percentage of crypto’s overall market cap is actually going down.
While there is a wide range of variance in tactics, the common theme is the exploitation of individuals’ naivety and blind trust in the legitimacy of the crypto services they sign up for. The first step toward compounding gains with crypto investments is to be super diligent and to avoid losing your vigilance.
We’ve spoken to three experts to get their advice on protecting one’s hard-earned capital. First up is Dr. Anon, a Cointelegraph staff member, who, long before joining the firm, was targeted by the mafia out in the Pacific Islands for his expertise in crypto (as you may have gathered, his first security tip is to remain anonymous online to avoid letting bad guys know you even have crypto). Dr Anon is frequently abroad for work and had to think quickly to get out of quite a few dangerous situations. He explains why it’s essential to keep a low profile.
Continue reading: https://cointelegraph.com/magazine/2022/01/25/security-experts-reveal-how-keep-crypto-safe

The modern financial system is usually traced back to the Bretton Woods accords, which were negotiated in the shadow of World War II. It was a system designed for great power politics to solidify alliances and prevent another World War through shared financial incentives. Beginning with the financial crisis of 2008, and again after 2020, global leaders have called for a second Bretton Woods. But in the blockchain industry, we think that moment already happened when Satoshi Nakamoto published the Bitcoin whitepaper in 2008.
If we are going to create a new system that banks the unbanked, works across borders, and treats everyone fairly, it needs to come from the ground up. We can’t rely on great power politics in the modern era—businesses and individuals need access to an open system with clearly defined rules and logic that they can understand and trust.
Public blockchains, like Bitcoin and Ethereum, are the first truly fair and open global financial system that’s proven to be safe and effective for trillions of dollars worth of transactions across every nation in the world. The next phase of this evolution is decentralized finance (DeFi) technology—rebuilding banking functions like lending, borrowing, and market-making as smart contracts that anyone can use.
Continue reading: https://www.fastcompany.com/90715501/how-blockchain-can-become-the-financial-system-the-world-needs

A computer scientist who said she was pushed out of her job at Google in December 2020 has marked the one-year anniversary of her ouster with a new research institute aiming to support the creation of ethical artificial intelligence. 
Timnit Gebru, a known advocate for diversity in AI, announced the launch of the Distributed Artificial Intelligence Research Institute, or DAIR. Its website describes it as “a space for independent, community-rooted AI research free from Big Tech’s pervasive influence.”
Part of how Gebru imagines creating such research is by moving away from the Silicon Valley ethos of “move fast and break things” — which was Facebook’s internal motto, coined by Mark Zuckerberg, until 2014 — to instead take a more deliberate approach to creating new technologies that serve marginalized communities. That includes recognizing and mitigating technologies’ potentials for harm from the beginning of their creation process, rather than after they’ve already caused damage to those communities, Gebru told NBC News.
“If those are our values, we can’t achieve them without slowing down and without putting in more resources per project that we’re working on,” she said. 
Gebru said she learned from a December 2020 email from her manager’s manager that she had apparently resigned from her high-profile position as a co-lead of Google’s ethical AI team.
Continue reading: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/timnit-gebru-part-wave-black-women-working-change-ai-rcna13339

There is enormous interest in and momentum around using AI to reduce the need for human monitoring while improving enterprise security. Machine learning and other techniques are used for behavioral threat analytics, anomaly detection and reducing false-positive alerts.
At the same time, private and nation-state cybercriminals are applying AI to the other side of the security coin. Artificial intelligence is used to find vulnerabilities, shape exploits and conduct targeted attacks.
But what about the AI tools themselves? How does an enterprise protect the tools it is building and secure those it is running during the production process?

AI security threats
AI is software, so threats to AI systems include compromises to get to money, confidential information or access to other systems via lateral attacks, as well as denial-of-service (DoS) attacks.
AI systems are vulnerable to a different kind of attack called a corruption of service attack. An adversary may wish not so much to disable an AI system as to reduce its effectiveness. If your competitor uses AI to time trades, throwing the timing off could make the program less effective without making it wholly useless.
Continue reading: https://www.techtarget.com/searchenterpriseai/tip/Securing-AI-during-the-development-process

Retail executives are grappling with the impact of record-level inflation, knowing their actions will play a major role in their businesses' success for the foreseeable future. While cost increases are not distributed equally across categories, no retail sectors have been spared. 
During this inflationary period, winning strategies in each retail sector, even down to each product subcategory, will vary wildly. Inflation alone is only one part of it. Retail experts are also facing the acceleration of consumer activity online, which is known to lead to diminished brand loyalties. They are moving from regional pricing and in-store promotions to integrated online/offline pricing and consumer experiences tailored to optimize customer lifetime value. Inflation's prevalence dramatically reduces the margin for error during an already turbulent time.
In the current environment, consumers' perceptions of prices are also changing as diminishing purchasing power affects what they can afford. Additionally, retailers' price positions relative to competitors' are shifting with higher frequency than in past years. This helps explain the top three pricing challenges cited by retailers in a Retail Systems Research (RSR) study, commissioned by company: increased competitor pricing aggressiveness (64%), changing consumer price sensitivities (40%) and consumer demand for personalized prices (34%).
Continue reading: https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2022/01/25/five-tips-for-retailers-to-tap-into-ai-to-combat-inflation/?sh=74ecd5b16542

The past two years have brought a torrent of challenges for the automotive supply chain. Even beyond Covid-19, there have been blocked canals, congested ports, driver shortages and multiple natural disasters that have surprised OEMs and suppliers around the world. The pandemic exacerbated these issues and created new ones, most notably a critically restricted supply of semiconductor chips. 
A key culprit is making these challenges worse: outdated software. 
“If you’re reacting to a supply chain crisis with old and inflexible software written in the 1990s, it's a bit like playing a game of chess where you can only see some of the pieces,” says Liam Mawe, Global Head of Automotive and Mobility at Palantir Technologies. “Data and analytics in the supply chain should light up the entire chess board and guide decision-makers in the supply chain to make moves with the full available context towards the strategic goals of the company.”
For many business leaders today, it’s becoming increasingly clear that data technology needs to bridge the gap between analytics and operations. Companies like Palantir lead the way by integrating data in common operating platforms designed for operational decision-making. This creates creating environments where supply-chain crises can be managed intelligently with contextual detail or prevented altogether.
This approach is part of a broader push to revolutionize the automotive industry supply chain by introducing new tools harnessing the power of data and AI technology. Two of the key avenues towards making this happen: leveraging enterprise-wide data and the power of artificial intelligence (AI).  
A unified semantic layer
According to Mawe, data tends towardentropy. There are potentially billions of nodes to map across a supply chain and many of them can be concealed in siloed departments or dated pieces of software, both of which hinder transparency.
“The antidote to this challenge is an enterprise-wide semantic layer that effectively translates raw data into a recognizable language for end-users,” says Mawe. 
Palantir calls this common language an "ontology,”and it’s the first step towards building a digital twin of an enterprise, a simulation that allows decision-makers to understand complex systems within their organizations. By integrating siloed data systems, Palantir creates a common operating picture from which users can run AI models, test scenarios and prevent problems before they happen. 
According to a study by McKinsey & Co., a global consulting firm, “Successfully implementing AI-enabled supply-chain management has enabled early adopters to improve logistics costs by 15 percent, inventory levels by 35 percent and service levels by 65 percent.” 
Continue reading: https://www.autonews.com/sponsored/harnessing-data-analytics-and-ai-powered-decision-making-supply-chain-resiliency

While some reports have gotten caught up with the potential of the drone market, the team at Drone Analyst has always been committed to sorting out the hype versus the reality. Their fifth annual market report provides our most comprehensive look at drone buyers, service providers, business and public agency users, and software services.
David Benowitz is the Head of Research at DroneAnalyst. He laid out the key takeaways from this report, but Commercial UAV News Editorial Analyst Danielle Gagne wanted to further explore the insights as part of the Beyond Part 107 podcast. The two connected to dive into the health of the drone industry in 2021, what this year's report has to say about DJI's market share, how consolidation will take shape across the industry and much more.
The following is an abbreviated version of their discussion that has been edited for clarity by the Commercial UAV News team. You can listen to the whole episode here or download it via iTunes.
 
Danielle Gagne: Can you tell us about what you do and why you do it for anyone who may not be familiar with Drone Analyst?
David Benowitz: Drone Analyst is one of the first consulting and research agencies in the drone industry. We've been active since 2016, and we've always been focused on providing realistic analysis and insights into the drone industry and how it's performing. We work with stakeholders and brands to really understand their position in the market and where opportunities exist. Every year, we've released a big report that details market share data and contains tons of other valuable insights for drone industry stakeholders.
Danielle Gagne: You recently came out with the 2021 version of that report, so can you talk a little bit about how you compile those reports? What types of people in the industry do you look to have participate in them? And how do you process all of that information to deliver insights?
David Benowitz: This is our fifth annual report. It's the biggest one we've ever released, but what's in it is connected to our fundamental commitment to conducting industry-based surveys.
We had over 1,800 respondents this year. Those are mostly people in the drone services space as well as the people buying drones across numerous commercial segments. We take all of that data, analyze it and break it down by sector. We also interview key stakeholders and key users across each vertical. We've also started looking at critical data like public corporate financial data as well as things like Chinese customs data to really understand what the whole market is doing. We look at all of these elements from both the consumer and the commercial side since our data tends to be a little bit biased towards commercial. We want to be able to understand the whole spectrum.
Continue reading: https://www.commercialuavnews.com/surveying/analyzes-drone-industry-hardware-shakeups-consolidation-strategies-robotic-integration-and-more

In the past year, drone software start-up Auterion has grown its customer-base of drone manufacturers from five partners to one hundred, according to founder and CEO Lorenz Meier. The four year-old Swiss-American startup has produced drone software from the beginning, but Lorenz ties the recent inflection point to its Skynode reference hardware.
“A manufacturer can bolt Skynode onto aerial hardware to create a drone, with Skynode as the brains. This is our analogy to the original Google Nexus phone that ran Android. We don’t intend for Skynode to be the final gold standard, but rather an example that’s already jump-starting the industry,” says Meier.
Although Auterion views itself as fundamentally a software company, its strategy is to provide Skynode as a complete package, so as to demonstrate to drone hardware companies what they can do with an integrated suite of AuterionOS software. The hope is that hardware manufacturers will see Skynode as an inspiration to build their own integrated Flight Control Units running AuterionOS.
Leveling Up The Industry
Over a decade of experience in the drone industry has led Lorenz to believe that most drone startups have squandered investment capital, re-engineering the same robotics functionality over and over again. The goal of Skynode and its potential successors is to become a standardized platform for drone software, allowing other startups to focus on applications.
“AuterionOS provides everything from the operating system kernel to device drivers to photo management,” explains Meier. “But we’re not building business applications like cargo scheduling, 3D mapping, or visual inspection of buildings. We leave those to the application-level companies who specialize in those areas.”
Continue reading: https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidsilver/2022/01/24/auterion-predicts-its-skynode-hardware-will-propel-the-drone-industry/?sh=27bdf62a4942

Only 8% of all commercial industries are now using drone technology, putting companies like FlyGuys of Lafayette in a position for significant growth.
The agriculture industry is projected to be a heavy user of drones, company CEO Adam Zayor said, since they can go as far as detecting the height and health of plants and the projected crop yield as a drone can fly as close as 5 feet away from a plant. He talked about the company and other topics with Jan Swift of the Discover Lafayette podcast.
You can listen to their conversation here.
The insurance industry also benefits from drone services, particularly after natural disasters such as hurricanes, tornadoes, and fires. Instead of sending out people to individually inspect thousands of homes in a large area, a drone can map out an area for adjusters to inspect by computer.
While drones can replace humans in ways, they are still necessary to collect critical data, he said. FlyGuys has in-house project managers who collect and analyze data.
Continue reading: https://www.theadvocate.com/acadiana/news/business/article_ddbb0246-7d2b-11ec-95b0-130594c31097.html

Women and other minority identity groups remain underrepresented in the uncrewed aircraft system (UAS) and advanced air mobility industry, particularly in leadership positions, according to research from a triad of women-owned businesses, Women And Drones, P3 Tech Consulting and the Diversity Development Network of Canada (DDNC).
Data collected through the Women and Drones – DDNC – P3 Tech 2021 UAS/AAM Industry DEI Survey conducted between August 6 and September 17, 2021, shows that when asked “Please indicate the percentage ranges of leadership positions among the following diverse groups you employ in your UAS/AAM or UAS/AAM-related Business or Organization” the following results were noted:

1. The highest rankings of diverse groups of leadership positions representing under 20% of senior management positions within respondent organizations were the Asian Racial Category at 57.53% followed by Native American or Alaska Native Racial Category at 56.8% and Black or African Racial Category at 55.88%.
2. The highest rankings of diverse groups of leadership positions representing 21% to 50% of senior management positions within respondent organizations were the Female Gender at 31.51% followed by Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish Origin Ethnic at 31.38% and Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander 29.72%.
3. The highest rankings of diverse groups of leadership positions representing 71% to 85% of senior management positions within respondent organizations were the White Racial Category at 9.98% followed by LBTGQ Community at 8.37% and Female Gender at 8.23%.
   [/LIST=1]
   Meanwhile, almost 75% of respondents said they also felt moderate to extreme concern about the lack of diversity, equity, and inclusion in the UAS/AAM industry in general.
   More than 80% of respondents expressed concern, ranging from moderate to extreme, about the lack of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in their own UAS/AAM or UAS/AAM-related Business or Organization.
   A slightly higher percentage (81%) expressed moderate to extreme interest in increasing DEI in their companies.
   Read more: https://womenanddrones.com/uas-and-aam-industry-expresses-concern-over-a-lack-of-diversity-seeks-change/

Tethered drones have become an integral part of most satellite surveillance centers, border patrol and defense centers, and temporary communication towers. These devices are user-friendly and offer longer flight times with a lower risk of accidents. They’re applicable in many everyday situations, including monitoring of crowds, festivals, and natural emergencies. The following are incredible uses of drones with tethering capabilities and why you should buy one.
Defense Industry One industry that reaps massively from these drones is the defense industry. Our guys in the military consider these powerful, useful, and lifesaving tools. The drones provide the flexibility and reliability military men need to seamlessly survey expansive borders, despite their terrain demarcations and geographical stretch. These drones enable military men to track drug traffickers, criminals, and illegal immigrants and destabilize other illegal activities across the borders. Military guys also need the drone types to watch over the forward operating bases. Drones make it possible for military men to identify threats and take prompt preventive measures before the enemy attacks.
Tactical Communications                                                                                      Tethered drones are also high-in-demand in the tactical communication industry. Areas under military personnel control, including FOBs, borders, and other crucial areas under the risk of facing attacks and intrusion, if not manned proficiently, benefit massively from using drone systems. Drones with tethering capabilities can rarely be jammed, hacked, or infiltrated by hackers because they’re connected to the bases from where the military is operating. They can easily tell when they are infringed. In simple words, these drone types can’t be affected by counter-UAS or cyberattack systems. They are efficient enough to guarantee the proper and timely transmission of data signals to the central bases.
Continue reading: https://www.tidewaternews.com/uncategorized/https-www-unmannedsas-com/

Teledyne FLIR‘s VUE TZ20-R is a game changer for commercial drones, for applications from search and rescue to solar inspection.  In a recent webinar, Teledyne FLIR’s Kelly Brodbeck gives 4 reasons drone pilots need radiometric thermal zoom capabilities.
The VUE TZ20-R’s radiometric thermal zoom capabilities are the result of careful market research.  Since FLIR was acquired by Teledyne last year, “We’re a much bigger company these days,” says Brodbeck.  “Our combined companies really do address all of the measurement, imaging and data gathering you can do across the magnetic spectrum.”  Teledyne FLIR’s products are working on land, air and sea all around the world, and even on other planets – but some elements of imaging are constant.
“Getting closer to your subjects is always a good thing,” Brodbeck says. “On a drone, when you can’t be very close to your subject, it’s essential.”
What is Radiometric Thermal Zoom?
All photographers understand what it means to zoom in on an image.  Radiometry, explains Brodbeck “is the process of taking the information at every pixel in a thermal image and associating that information with something the human brain can understand, like a temperature.”
The ability to get absolute temperature information, rather than simply an understanding that an object is warmer or cooler than the surrounding environment, brings a new level of utility to the data.  “You get a lot more information out of thermal imagery,” says Brodbeck.
Continue reading: https://dronelife.com/2022/01/24/4-reasons-drone-pilots-need-radiometric-thermal-zoom/

Natural disasters – hurricanes, wildfires and tornados – leave a path of destruction in their wake, creating scores of victims, humans of course, but also animal victims.
Rescuing animals lost or stranded in the wake of disasters has become the life work of drone pilot and aerial photographer/cinematography Douglas Thron. Using a Matrice 210 V2 drone, outfitted with a FLIR XT2 camera, which integrates a high-resolution thermal sensor and a 4K visual camera, and a spotlight, Thron has found and rescued distressed animals in far-flung locals from Kentucky and Colorado to the Bahamas and Australia.
Thron’s rescues are chronicled in a TV show, “Doug to the Rescue,” produced by Lone Wolf Media for Curiosity Stream and available on HBO Max.
“I always had a love of animals,” Thron said in an interview. “As a kid growing up in Richardson Texas, outside of Dallas, I raised orphaned baby possums, squirrels, raccoons and beavers.”
While working as an aerial cinematographer, shooting footage from manned aircraft, such as Cessna planes and helicopters, he became an early adopter of drone technology.
Continue reading: https://dronelife.com/2022/01/23/drones-for-animal-rescue-doug-thron/

The digitalization of everything around us is the growing trend that the globe is experiencing in the current scenario. The Internet of Things (IoT) refers to the physical devices across the globe that can be connected to the internet for collecting or sharing data. Computer chips and wireless networks play a crucial role in the efficient use of the Internet of Things (IoT). It involves connecting various devices leveling up the digital intelligence of the devices without human involvement.
Automation technologies are making their way through number of sectors and businesses. Technological advancements are helping a large number of sector industries. The advent of the Internet of Things (IoT) in many applications is revolutionizing the working mechanism of various businesses and sectors. Thus, based on these aspects, the global Internet of Things (IoT) market is expected to invite good growth opportunities.
The novel coronavirus pandemic has changed the working mechanism of the worldwide markets. The use of the Internet of Things (IoT) in various applications and end-use industries has increased in the current scenario. Thus, based on all these aspects, the Internet of Things (IoT) market will observe profitable growth.
Continue reading: https://techbullion.com/everything-you-need-to-know-about-internet-of-things-iot/

Mary Awodele boasts an impressive career in tech. She started as a specialized systems administrator and had roles as a ServiceNow engineer and business analyst. She received a promotion as a tech consultant, but she has her eyes set on the Head of People Operations role. 
Undoubtedly, with her in-demand skills and expertise, she is highly qualified for any position. She holds certifications in database, cybersecurity cloud, and software. 
She had many industry colleagues asking her for advice and seeking her out for tech job opportunities during her tech career. She decided to launch a business to address the demand.  
In September 2020, Awodele founded MyTechBestfriend academy, which focuses on career development, résumé review, and certification instruction. 
Once clients complete the boot camps, they attain gainful employment within four months, with high-paying salaries at companies like Pinterest, Playstation, Salesforce, and Amazon, to name a few. 
Continue reading: https://www.blackenterprise.com/meet-mary-awodele-helps-people-land-high-paying-tech-jobs/

The big idea
One factor that influences the use of the labels “soft science” or “hard science” is gender bias, according to recent research my colleagues and I conducted.
Women’s participation varies across STEM disciplines. While women have nearly reached gender parity in biomedical sciences, they still make up only about 18% of students receiving undergraduate degrees in computer science, for instance.
In a series of experiments, we varied the information study participants read about women’s representation in fields like chemistry, sociology and biomedical sciences. We then asked them to categorize these fields as either a “soft science” or a “hard science.”
Across studies, participants were consistently more likely to describe a discipline as a “soft science” when they’d been led to believe that proportionally more women worked in the field. Moreover, the “soft science” label led people to devalue these fields – describing them as less rigorous, less trustworthy and less deserving of federal research funding.
Why it matters
Over the past decade, a growing movement has encouraged girls and women to pursue education and careers in science, technology, engineering and math, or STEM. This effort is sometimes described as a way to reduce the wage gap.
Continue reading: https://theconversation.com/more-women-in-a-stem-field-leads-people-to-label-it-as-a-soft-science-according-to-new-research-173724