Artificial intelligence (AI) is a revolutionary technology disrupting virtually every sector of the economy, from manufacturing and retail to sports and entertainment.
The average consumer may not know that AI is all around them.
Companies can use AI to curate users’ social media feeds, make new drug discoveries, power digital voice assistants, and allow smartphone owners to unlock their phones with facial recognition.
One specific type of AI – generative AI – is an advancement in AI that holds great promise.
Take a deeper look at generative AI, examples of its common applications, and how it can drive growth for businesses of all types and sizes.
What is generative AI, and how does it differ from conventional AI?
 
In conventional AI models, algorithms classify, organize, or reason about the data it receives.
On the other hand, generative AI algorithms can create data using models from the real world to synthesize text, code, photos, videos, and sounds that often look highly realistic to the average person.
A generative AI model can detect the original pattern entered into the input and generate creative, authentic results highlighting training data features.
After the model identifies the fundamental properties of the input data, it uses a generative adversarial network (GAN), a variational autoencoder (VAE), or a transformer to produce the most accurate outcomes.
Generative AI models create synthetic personalities or presences, which must pass the Turing test.
This assessment determines whether a machine can engage in conversation with a human without being recognized as a machine.
If data from a generative AI model passes the Turing test, it demonstrates human intelligence.
Generative AI use cases
Generative AI is often associated with deep fakes, popular on social media and other online platforms. However, it’s playing an increasingly important role in various industrial applications.
Most of the time, generative models support various content creation activities. For example, movie makers could use generative AI for a few reasons, including filling narrative gaps in the plot or even carrying the entire storyline.
News organizations also use generative AI models to create stories about current events and financial or sports reports.
Continue reading: https://knowtechie.com/using-generative-ai-for-business-growth/

The world is powered by data and technology. With all the focus and new legislation on data privacy, organizations need to keep governance at the forefront when reconciling the use of emerging technologies with compliance and privacy considerations. One area where this becomes particularly important is when organizations utilize platforms, solutions, and other technologies powered by artificial intelligence (AI) for business purposes. Some examples include creditors automating decisions on consumer approvals or employers using AI technology to assist with hiring determinations. The question becomes what framework should be placed around these processes and how can organizations implement some level of governance to avoid violations under laws like the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand’s Personal Data Protection Act (PDPA), Korea’s Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA), or China’s Personal Information Security Specification or overall data mismanagement that can result in a myriad of other issues?
Keep reading for help on how to answer these big questions.
Getting a Better Grasp on AI
In order to make smarter governance decisions, the first step is expanding knowledge about how AI operates. While it is not necessary to be an algorithm expert, it is important to understand that this technology has the potential to bank an extremely large amount of consumer data that, in turn, can trigger various compliance obligations. Organizations using AI for business functions already understand the basics: this machine learning technology utilizes trained algorithms that grow to detect trends and automate a variety of human tasks. However, to improve AI governance, there needs to be a larger focus on the data that AI systems rely upon to make inferences. Where does this information come from? What are the collection and storage protocols? Are the resulting patterns accurate? Most importantly, what is happening with sensitive consumer data? These are all questions to evaluate to minimize the chance that AI usage runs afoul of legal obligations, especially those rooted in privacy. Having a handle on this aspect of AI will also contribute to stronger information governance practices. When an organization better understands the tools it deploys in the regular course of business, there is more insight into what data they collect and store. This will strengthen information governance, bring unknown obligations to the surface, and lessen the risk of noncompliant behavior.
Data Governance
As organizations navigate through the digital age and data boom, governance should be a top concern. When dealing with AI technology, there needs to be a greater level of accountability and transparency. Organizations can look to their general data privacy framework and expand it to consider unique AI challenges. Pay close attention to compliance obligations under privacy laws and determine how AI fits into that. One definite issue to address is that there could be a bunch of private consumer data living on a company server simply because an algorithm made an inference. If this data is accurate, then there is the concern of failing to obtain consumer consent (which violates the GDPR and other new privacy laws). If that data is inaccurate, then according to these laws consumers should be able to challenge the inferences made about them.
So, how can organizations remedy this moving forward? There needs to be a mixture of preventative measures and auditing deployed. As touched on above, the first step is setting a specific framework around privacy and AI to provide guidelines on how to handle collected consumer data and the resulting inferences. Proper responses – like whether to delete and retain data or provide consumer notification – will be situation dependent. Take the example of a company using AI to help with recruiting and hiring new talent. A process like this has the potential to acquire tons of sensitive data and make inferences about why someone is suitable or unqualified for a certain position. Including a data retention timeline or notification to potential applicants that a profile will be generated could be two key components of an AI privacy framework and help spark the creation of information policies for all people within the organization using these solutions to follow. In general, self-reporting can address several consumer privacy issues that AI usage poses for organizations.
Next, there needs to be some level of governance around what is done with sensitive data. One option is creating GDPR-type protocols that grant consumers the right to delete data collected by these solutions and to challenge inaccurate inferences that AI makes about them. Using the recruiting example, say some bad data is fed into the solution that then renders the individual unqualified for the job. Allowing potential applicants access to this information or the right to request human review are ways to uphold the principle of accuracy. It also allows a level of screening while still keeping the advantages of using AI for a task, like cutting down on the time it takes to completely manually review a project. Other suggestions for AI governance include conducting internal audits, creating steering committees, appointing individuals to review AI ethics within the organization, periodic check-ins with employees to ensure they are following AI privacy policies and protocols, updated education on new technologies or changing compliance obligations, performing risk assessments, and clearly defining objectives in AI project plans.
Continue reading: https://www.legalbusinessonline.com/node/83326

While many companies invest all their marketing dollars in digital marketing, leaders in the public relations (PR) space claim they can achieve similar or better results combining public relations with artificial intelligence. Artificial intelligence (AI) and other advanced technologies have penetrated every aspect of life. In a survey of 6000 consumers, 33 percent responded that they think they use AI technology; in reality, 77 percent were using AI.
Public relations is often an integral part of companies, big or small. But traditionally, most PR operations rely on humans. For instance, press releases, memos, and other written communication are done by PR specialists, either inside the company or hired through an agency.
AI is now making strides in the PR industry, with many impressive tools in the market utilizing AI to improve PR capabilities for PR agencies and businesses alike. Still, PR has a long way to go toward fully embracing AI.
Here are five ways AI can benefit and change PR:
Speech to Text Conversion
AI’s capabilities to transcribe speech can come in handy for PR teams immensely. This technology can be a big time saver because there’s a lot of use of audio speech in PR, from transcribing interviews to writing about podcasts.
PR agents can record interviews and speeches and transcribe them using AI-based tools. With natural language processing (NLP) technology, such tools may be able to not only transcribe audio but also translate it without losing context.
Contact Search and Recommendation
Perhaps the biggest benefit AI can offer PR is to identify and recommend contacts from media to pitch. In the State of PR 2021 report, 34 percent of PR professionals said that finding journalists is their biggest challenge. It’s time-consuming, and often unsuccessful.
Continue reading: https://www.forbes.com/sites/melaniefine/2022/10/02/how-leaders-are-investing-in-artificial-intelligence-to-improve-public-relations/?sh=79bf520327bb

If you’re currently in a transition period in your career, a good book may help you determine your next steps.
2022 has been a unique year for workers and job seekers alike. There are currently over 11 million job openings in the U.S., according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and approximately 4 million people are quitting their jobs each month. This has given employees the advantage in areas like salary negotiation, benefits and PTO.
No matter what stage of your career you’re in, self-help books can be a great guide to discovering yourself, finding your purpose, and navigating tough decisions.
CNBC Make It spoke with Joyce Guan West, career coach and founder of career services business, Coaching with Empathy, to find her book recommendations for four different scenarios in your career.
In “Designing Your Work Life,” authors Bill Burnett and Dave Evans help people who are disengaged in their roles to find meaning and purpose. By teaching readers about “design thinking,” described as exercising curiosity, reframing, radical collaboration and awareness, employees are able to transform their outlook and experience at work.
Released in 2020, “Designing Your Work Life” is the sequel to the pair’s first book, “Designing Your Life,” which teaches people how to craft a fulfilling life and became a #1 New York Times Bestseller.
What to read if: You’re having a tough time negotiating your salary and advocating for yourself
Book: Never Split The Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It
By Chris Voss and Tahl Raz
Written by a former hostage negotiator for the Federal Bureau of Investigation, “Never Split The Difference” provides readers with the skills Voss used during his career to be successful. The book explains nine strategies to help readers become more convincing and compelling.
“This book is great for understanding how to have influence and get what you want in general too, not just salary negotiation,” West tells CNBC Make It.
Shortly after its publishing in 2016, this negotiation guide became a Wall Street Journal Bestseller
What to read if: You’re starting a new job and could use a little help adjusting
Book: The First 90 Days, Updated and Expanded: Proven Strategies for Getting Up to Speed Faster and Smarter
By: Michael D. Watkins
“The First 90 Days” by Michael D. Watkins is a great tool for new hires dealing with anxiety around their new roles. Watkins, an expert on leadership in the workplace and negotiation, walks readers through creating 30, 60 and 90-day plans to get them up to speed on their new roles as quickly as possible.
According to Harvard Business Review, this book is useful in a variety of different situations.
“Whether you’re starting a new job, being promoted from within, or embarking on an overseas assignment, this is the guide you’ll need to succeed in your first 90 days — and beyond,” they said on their website.
What to read if: You’ve given up your 9-to-5 to pursue entrepreneurship
Book: We Should All Be Millionaires: A Woman’s Guide to Earning More, Building Wealth, and Gaining Economic Power
By: Rachel Rodgers
“We Should All Be Millionaires” is a collection of lessons author Rachel Rodgers has learned on her journey to wealth. As a Black woman, mother, lawyer and entrepreneur, Rodgers shares the truth, and lies, about being a self-made millionaire, and shares tactics people can use immediately to grow their bank accounts. 
Continue reading: https://www.cnbc.com/2022/10/02/4-common-issues-you-may-have-at-work-and-4-books-that-could-help.html

Web3.0, sometimes abbreviated as Web3, is bringing about an era of the internet that will consist of a more decentralized infrastructure, as well as a metaverse where users want more control over their data and online privacy. The companies that will succeed in the Web3.0 era will be the ones that create brand new models to solve or prevent some of our most entrenched problems.
Digital privacy, security and the unlikely contender of excessive carbon emissions are three of today’s problems that can be addressed using Web3 tools. Not only that but they can all be improved upon using the same platform. As we sit here today, very few people are worried about the carbon emissions created by the tens of billions of digital attachments sent around the world, but from my perspective, as someone who works at a blockchain smart document company, I see the amount of needless energy waste already taking place.
First, let’s look at the data. Studies show an average email attachment emits about 50g of CO2 into the atmosphere (from Mike Berners-Lee’s book How Bad Are Bananas?: The Carbon Footprint of Everything by Mike Berners-Lee ). This is largely due to the electricity required by the elaborate infrastructure of data centers around the world that process and store each message. Further calculations estimate the average office worker receives about 6,000 attachments that they ignore each year. This all adds up to the equivalent of a passenger car driving 1,093 miles for each office worker. Those numbers don’t even include the many more attachments that workers do open, so the total carbon impact is much higher.
The good news is we don’t have to keep going down this path. Blockchain platforms and immutable ledgers already have a preventative solution built right inside. By being able to access files—be they documents, contracts or multimedia—from a type of access point, which people can be sure hasn’t been tampered with, we can slash the amount of carbon created from sending attachments. I’ve taken to calling this concept the “single source of truth”—the idea that we can create immutable, secure records and send people to a single source instead of generating multiple copies of the original and sending those copies out into the world.
Continue reading: https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2022/10/03/why-web30-is-more-sustainable-than-you-think/?sh=208d27946e71

The “new normal” is unsettling chief executives and business executives everywhere. A post-lockdown global survey by the Gallup Group shows that only 21% of employees are engaged in their jobs. By contrast, start-ups are promising purpose and flexibility — and with funding boosted by Covid-era stimulus packages, they are attracting top talent away from traditional businesses. 
Inflation, resulting from high energy prices, cheap cash and low productivity, reduces companies’ profits and increases the cost of capital. Even technology is turning into a terrible foe, producing nimble and innovative new vessels, able to outrun and outmanoeuvre yesterday’s finest.
Further out on the horizon are blockchain applications — the submarines prowling for legacy vessels steered by chief executives asleep at the wheel. The battle lines have been drawn in no uncertain terms, and many experienced executives are feeling insecure, worrying whether their traditional values of consistent hard work and integrity in leadership will be able to stand against these new and unfamiliar threats.
But when the going gets tough…
We can begin the story of blockchain with the pivotal technology breakthrough of World War II. Alan Turing believed that he could break Enigma — the cypher machine encoding communication for the German fleet — through more computing power and smarter programming. Through his unwavering focus, coupled with the actions of brave servicemen, the U-boat threat was undone and the Allies won the Battle of the Atlantic.
Turing is regarded as the father of modern computer science, which has driven a period of historically unparalleled innovation, efficiency and economic growth. We are still grappling with many concepts that were introduced by this genius. Artificial intelligence (AI) machines are judged — and only a few succeed — on their ability to pass the Turing test, the imitation game engineered by Turing in 1950. And the concept of Turing completeness is key to understanding the power of blockchain applications.
Turing completeness implies that every plausible design for a computing device can be emulated by a universal Turing machine. This basically means that, given the same sets of inputs, multiple algorithms are considered “Turing complete” if we can verify that they will, under all circumstances, come to the same answer.
Blockchains using smart contracts are Turing complete and therefore contain a fundamental mechanism for trust — they are designed to achieve universal consensus so that the status of a contract will never be disputed. This may sound trivial, but the implications are astounding. 
What it means fundamentally is that we no longer require middlemen to be our trusted intermediaries — we need no checking, verifying or auditing. By universal consensus, everyone agrees on the outputs generated by transparent contracts entered into by any parties, at any stage, anywhere in the world. Such contracts will execute and conclude in a good and proper, expected way.
I am often astounded to hear corporate leaders confuse the term “crypto” with the blockchain technology that underpins it, and then dismiss the entire category by means of a straw man argument, treating crypto as something that resembles currency, just with no underlying or fundamental value. 
For any executive looking to move their business forward into the next generation computing paradigm, a failure to understand the power of a Turing complete machine that can pay its network based on a consensus mechanism — with zero input from middlemen — is unforgivable naïveté.
Consider that the $1-trillion capitalisation of the crypto market represents an enormous amount of capital which is allocated to developing these novel concepts. Add to that the presently unconstrained nature of the space as well as the fact that a disproportionate number of engineers, data and computer scientists are dedicating themselves to this field. The result is crystallising in front of our very eyes — the infrastructure of the future is being developed today, and some of it is already sufficiently mature for large-scale adoption.
Continue reading: https://mg.co.za/opinion/2022-10-03-blockchain-and-the-battle-for-the-future-of-business/

Shodan is like Google but more like an archive of Internet of Things (IoT) devices. While Google indexes the websites on the world wide web and the content on these websites, Shodan indexes every device directly connected to the internet.
The publicly available information available through this search engine seems innocuous enough. To the ordinary user, the strings of IP addresses and coding terms don’t mean much. But to a hacker looking for a vulnerable device, there’s more than enough to cause harm. But what if you could understand the most important data and how to use Shodan to improve your cybersecurity?
What Is Shodan Exactly?
Shodan is a cyber search engine that indexes devices connected to the internet. The search engine started as a pet project for John Matherly. Matherly wanted to learn about devices connected to the internet, from printers and web servers to particle accelerators—basically anything with an IP address.
The goal was to log device specifications and have a map showing device locations and how these are interconnected. Since 2009, when it became available to the public, Shodan’s purpose has barely changed. It still maps the exact location of internet-enabled devices, their software specifications, and locations. Indeed, Shodan has grown to become a cyber all-seeing eye.
How Do Hackers Use Shodan?
Shodan was not originally designed for hackers, but the publicly available information that the search engine collects can be useful to hackers looking for vulnerable devices.
Find IoT Devices With Security Flaws
Shodan collects IoT devices’ digital banners. A banner is like a CV that IoT devices submit to web servers when requesting data. Reading the banner is how a web server knows the specific device, and how and what data packets to send to the device. Just like the content of everyone’s CV would be different, so are the banners of different IoT devices.
Continue reading: https://www.makeuseof.com/what-is-shodan/

Amazon India launched the ‘AmazeWIT Circles’ for reiterating its commitment for upskilling and also providing a meaningful career opportunity to women in tech space.
The Inner Details

This is a dedicated event for networking that educates women to make them ready for technology careers. ‘AmazeWIT Circles’ is actually curated for Software Development Engineers. This is being headed by tech leaders at Amazon for covering topics related to upliftment for a sustained development of career. ‘AmazeWIT Circles’ will be a connect that is cohort-based and aims to help women refine skills and address challenges that working women face.
Continue reading: https://www.techthirsty.com/amazewit-circles-from-amazon-aims-at-upskilling-women/

Every time someone invents a new standard, the rest of the world is compelled to comply: VHS to DVD, DVD to Blu-ray, or Blu-ray to streaming. Change is inexorable, but it can also be glacially slow. Converting the tech geeks and conspicuous consumers is easy, but getting the long tail of ordinary users to embrace the “new paradigm” is fiendishly hard — and so, it is with Web3.
We’re living through a transitional time when the slow deprecation of one standard is being countered with the mainstreaming of another. To say that red pilling the masses on the wonders of Web3 has been tough would be an understatement, however. At this stage, it cannot even be said for certain that Web3 will replace its numerical predecessor — rather, it is more of an if. For Web2 to go the way of the VHS and fully transition to a new format — much needs to happen first.
The promise and the problem
The current internet is, if not broken, extremely patchy. What started out as an information superhighway to connect people and ideas has degenerated into a siloed series of walled gardens where speech is metered and access is permissioned. Censorship, de-platforming, rent-seeking behavior by monopolistic tech giants and opaque data sharing — you name it, Web2 is guilty of it.
Web3 has the potential to, if not eradicate these problems, certainly ameliorate them. Distributed storage can provide redundancy, censorship resistance and mitigation of hacks. Digital IDs can support secure authentication. Blockchain can route assets and currencies and facilitate micropayments while circumventing the geo-restrictions that have caused Balkanization.
There are just two problems. The case for Web3 may be compelling to the tech-savvy, but to mass market users, it is nothing of the sort. Additionally, the average user simply cannot deal with Web3’s peculiarities, such as having to securely store a 24-word seed phrase in a way that is accessible for them but impossible for anyone else. 
Continue reading: https://venturebeat.com/virtual/converting-web2-to-web3-wheres-the-on-ramp/

Women in Web3: Web3 has better jobs in 2023 for women to participate in projects
A KuCoin report shows female Web3 professionals are generally more active career-wise than their male counterparts. This report proves that web3 has better jobs for women.
The work culture in the Web3 industry is highly flexible and provides a level playing field to everyone, especially women who had to choose between raising a child and their career are now looking at the relaxed work culture of the Web3 industry positively. There is a general consensus that the gender ratio is very skewed in deep tech. Web3 being in its nascent stage and being deemed as too risky has an inferior balance.
Web3 even has career opportunities for women coming from different industries. However, they will have to unlearn a few things to learn about the newer technologies of the Web3 world. It is easy to learn about the new operations model of the Web3 industry if you have an open mind with a zeal to create new experiences for the masses.
Continue reading: https://www.analyticsinsight.net/web3-has-better-jobs-in-store-for-women-to-take-a-hold-in-2023/

Bulgaria ~
At a global level, the numbers dictate that the IT sector is a male-dominated industry. However, you may (or may not) be surprised to hear that Bulgaria fares well in women in IT rankings compared to other European countries, as we showed in a previous analysis. 
To share some of the inspiring industry stories with our audience, The Recursive has partnered with DEV.BG to celebrate the senior developer ladies in the Bulgarian IT industry. 
The Recursive spoke to three women in IT, specifically three senior software engineers from LeanPlum, OfficeRnD , and LimeChain to learn how they entered the tech world, what inspired them to stick around, and how do they imagine their future career trajectory:
• Silvia Bakalova, Software Engineer @Leanplum: “I was born in Sofia, I graduated from Sofia University, majoring in Engineering Physics. I did my PhD in Physics at Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. I worked for 3 years at the University of Bristol, England. After returning to Bulgaria, I worked for several years for an American startup dealing with ML. For a short time, I was part of the Connecto team – a Bulgarian startup for the development of chatbots with AI. After Connecto was bought by Leanplum I joined the team here as a Data scientist. And now Leanplum has become part of an even bigger organization – Clevertap. I have two children and love the mountains and being in nature.”
• Iskra Lumbeva, Software Engineer @OfficeRnD: “My name is Iskra, I am 27 years old and I have been working as a full stack developer at OfficeRnD for the last 4 years. I have a technical education partially related to IT, but curiosity is what brought me here.”
• Meglena Lukanova, Team Lead @LimeChain: “Born and raised in Sofia, studied in the greatest high school there is – Sofia High School of Mathematics. Dealing with tech problems since 2011. Currently I’m Team Lead in Limechain.”
 
What inspired you to pursue a career in computer science? Was it a personal ambition, somebody that you admired, who motivated you, or was it a pivoting moment?
Silvia Bakalova, Leanplum: It was not my original idea to work in the computer science field. I have a PhD in Physics and worked as a researcher in the UK for some time. Certainly, I have used computers and programming for simulations and automatization during my research but at some point the machine learning field grabbed my attention and inspired me to start learning about ML algorithms and their applications. My motivation for working in the IT domain is the zillions of optimizations one can do with the amounts of data we have nowadays.
Iskra Lumbeva, OfficeRnD: During my university studies I had taken some programming courses here and there and I have always been interested in the matter. I was not convinced that this was what I wanted to do, though. So I decided to sign up for Telerik Academy in order to explore the topic a bit deeper. I met some really cool people there and I realized that this is the environment that I want to spend my time in, surrounded by smart people that want to develop themselves and are eager to learn new things every day.
Continue reading: https://therecursive.com/3-women-in-it-share-what-drives-success/

By Kaulana Akamu, Industrial Network Specialist, Fiberroad IIoT

Industry 4.0 is a complex journey, with many variables. Many of the new technologies are not readily available to all organizations. It will take time, dedication, and money to implement these technologies and make a company successful in Industry 4.0. The key is to embrace the concepts and strategies of Industry 4.0.
There are several opportunities to improve the process of manufacturing. This includes the creation of autonomous production, real-time information transparency, and decentralized decision-making. By implementing these technologies, businesses can achieve the dream of digital transformation. In addition, they will be able to increase productivity in the process. Some of these technologies are already being utilized in a variety of sectors.
Industrial IoT has many potential applications, ranging from manufacturing to consumer services. For example, predictive analytics can help companies reduce maintenance costs. By monitoring millions of vibrations made by machines in a day, companies can determine when a machine is due to break down. By using this data to anticipate problems before they arise, companies can avoid costly repairs and downtime.
Industry 4.0
Industry 4.0 is a process of digitalization, merging manufacturing and IT operations. This transition is being characterized as the fourth industrial revolution and represents a complete shift away from centralized to decentralized manufacturing. The transformation requires new business models, talent, and technology. Advanced robotics and intelligent machines are part of this next industrial revolution.
The Industrial Internet of Things is a key enabler for Industry 4.0. By leveraging the power of data and connectivity, businesses can create intelligent products and processes, improve employee productivity, and create more efficient supply chains.
Industry 4.0 is a trend that spans multiple industries. It incorporates data analytics, machine-learning algorithms, and automation to reduce human work. This helps increase production efficiency, while allowing human operators to focus on monitoring systems instead. It also improves profitability through predictive maintenance and reduced capital expenditures.
A major evolution of IoT and industry 4.0
The Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) and Industry 4.0 are two emerging industrial technologies that share many common features. Both are focused on the creation of new business models and cyber-physical systems to make production more efficient. Both are evolving in tandem, so that companies can take advantage of their benefits while collaborating to meet business goals.
The fourth industrial revolution (also known as Industry 4.0) is an information-intensive transformation of manufacturing. It is the development of connected systems that combine big data, embedded software, and industrial assets. The technology is used to connect and monitor industrial assets, and it is also used to create more intelligent processes.
Continue reading: https://techbullion.com/how-will-industrial-iot-drive-industry-4-0/

CB Insights predicts that digital twins will take off in 2022 as organisations seek to hedge against supply chain disruption.

“Moving from the cloud to the factory floor, some manufacturers are turning to a micro-factory model, which relies on automation and robotics to create more flexible manufacturing frameworks that can be deployed in a fraction of the time and at scale.” CB Insights

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IoT Analytics forecasts the Internet of Things (IoT) market will grow by 18% to 14.4 billion active connections. It also posits that by 2025, as supply constraints ease and growth further accelerates, there will be approximately 27 billion connected IoT devices.
These billions of connections are a natural magnet luring cybercriminals looking for new targets and new opportunities.
According to CB Insights this “plunging deeper into virtual worlds opens up the playing field to more cybercrime: security solutions will become a major priority, especially as crypto hype and data privacy controversies continue to boom.”
Creating awareness about IoT vulnerabilities
BlackBerry EVP and CTO, Shishir Singh says the massive network of connected things will require interoperability between systems. He posits that organisations need to sensitize employees to the fact that IoT introduces unprecedented safety and privacy risks.
He believed that employees in government and enterprise organisations need to wake up to the fact that bad actors can now access records from any device, anywhere, in real-time, and cautioned that more worrisome is the fact that IoT device makers oftentimes omit rigorous testing and support just so they can get products out to the market sooner.
“They also frequently abandon development of software and security updates the moment products are released, leaving customers—both enterprise and consumers—with an ever-increasing number of unsecured devices in their environments,” Singh continued.
But while IoT is proliferating in any enterprise, it is on production floors of industrial operations where industrial IoT (I-Iot) is rapidly becoming an integral part of the Operational Technology (OT) landscape,” said Rafael Maman, vice president of OT security at Sygnia.

Rafael Maman
He posits that it is this risk related to I-IoT that is not well articulated, resulting in low awareness.

“These I-IoTs must be considered as part of the OT environment, both to work towards better cyber preparedness and resilience, and organisational awareness." Rafael Maman

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According to Srinivas Kumar, VP of IoT solutions at DigiCert, vulnerabilities in IoT extend beyond published exposures and exploits. He noted that the “closed” and “siloed” nature of OT/IoT ecosystems provide limited visibility through on-device logs or control through third-party intervention.

Srinivas Kumar

“OT/IoT devices are micromanaged by the original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) in production environments. This creates a blind spot for NOC/SOC supervision and mitigation. Application security by design and a security profile for device field operations are essential to qualify and certify IoT devices for compliance and achieve cyber resilience in connected systems.” Srinivas Kumar

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“A comprehensive approach to digital trust ensures that all access points and data are properly authenticated and encrypted, and that identity- and access-based attacks are given an extra layer of protection that can be enforced and monitored throughout the organisation,” said Kumar.
Continue reading: https://futureiot.tech/creating-cybersecurity-awareness-for-iot/

One of the most widely used buzzwords in the logistics sector in 2022 is “digitalization.” The word is a useful umbrella term for the evolution to computer-based processes from manual procedures that relied on pencils and clipboards in the warehouse or printed manifests at the loading dock.
But references to the trend nearly always ignore the tactical steps needed to make digitalization happen. Your DC probably doesn’t have a magic wand that transforms basic paper checklists into cloud-based software platforms. So how are practitioners driving toward the goal of pulling logistics processes into the 21st century?
The answer in many cases is the internet of things (IoT), a network of web-connected sensors that can be attached to anything from crates and cases to forklifts, conveyors, and locomotives. Sure, it’s another industry buzzword, but the IoT has accelerated out of the garage and onto the racetrack in recent years, fueled by the falling price of sensors and the blazing speed of fifth-generation (5G) cellular data networks. A quick look around the supply chain sector reveals many examples of ways in which the IoT is already earning its keep, helping to speed deliveries, save money, and—yes—digitalize logistics. 
MAKING THE RIGHT CONNECTIONS
One of the prime use cases where IoT solutions can deliver digitalization is in trucking—a sector in which sensors are fast becoming a critical tool for monitoring far-flung operations. So it’s no surprise that a recent report from the Swedish information technology (IT) specialist Ericsson found that cellular IoT connections continue to grow exponentially in the transport industry, where they’re expected to increase to 292 million in 2030 from 100 million in 2020. 
That improved connectivity has the potential to ease the complexities brought on by disruptions in the logistics supply chain, according to the “Connected Truck Transport” report, which Ericsson prepared in partnership with ZF, Orange Belgium, and Arthur D. Little. With better data from IoT sensors, truck fleets could operate more efficiently and help offset the impacts of high fuel prices, driver shortages, and government regulations, the report said.
The number of IoT connections will grow as older trucks are retrofitted with sensors and new trucks are equipped with fleet telematics, the report also said. In both cases, the new cellular IoT connectivity will give fleet managers and drivers access to data from an array of onboard sensors. According to Ericsson, the investment could pay off through overall cost savings of more than 6% for a mid-sized trucking company, with one-third coming from driver-assistance capabilities like accident and traffic avoidance, and two-thirds from truck and trailer monitoring.
DUDE, WHERE’S MY TRAILER?
One such asset-monitoring solution is the IoT system developed by telecommunications vendor Globalstar in partnership with TGI Connect, a Canadian company that provides asset-management solutions to the transportation industry. Under the arrangement, TGI uses Globalstar’s tracking devices and satellite network to map the locations of clients’ freight trailers.
Globalstar says the savings add up quickly, since millions of trucks crisscross North America every day. And every time a load is late or lost, carriers must walk through their yards looking for available trailers, call customers to see if they are detaining trailers, or lease extra trailers to ensure on-time delivery. To help clients avoid those extra costs, the partners keep tabs on the global positioning system (GPS) coordinates of each trailer through a solar-powered sensor attached to each unit.
Railroads are also using sensors to digitally track and monitor freight movements, according to Nexxiot, a Swiss provider of IoT hardware, software, and analytics. Rail networks span vast distances, with 140,000 miles of track across the U.S. freight network alone, and that sheer distance has traditionally made it difficult for rail operators to monitor their locomotives, cars, rails, and freight. But attaching connected IoT sensors to those assets now allows companies to monitor their operations in real time and identify opportunities for trimming costs as well as improving sustainability and safety, a Nexxiot white paper says.
Continue reading: https://www.dcvelocity.com/articles/55596-iot-the-fast-track-to-digitalization

My Name is Hanu; Fejiro Hanu Agbodje. I am the Founder and CEO of Patricia. Patricia started as an exchange for gift cards and has swiftly metamorphosed into a crypto exchange that has grown to become one of Africa’s leading crypto and infrastructure providers.
We at Patricia believe that a critical utility of Blockchain lies in its ability to solve inherent, Africa-specific problems to democratize the financial landscape. As a company, we have tackled some of those problems for 900,000 Users and Merchants. In doing so, we have contributed to financial inclusivity, job creation, the development of a talent-based economy, and the creation of new wealth amongst young Africans.
Being different makes you stand out, and taking the path less traveled is crucial to greatness and impact, a trait the typical African youth possesses. I write this memo, ‘The state of Blockchain in Africa, that I might pay forward some of the knowledge I have garnered with other brilliant, disruptive, “typical” young Africans, who also might want to do the most.
African problems, particularly problems in African finance, require ingenious solutions for real change. In most instances, change in the ecosystem often requires large degrees of disruption; the more disruptive you are, the more reward there appears to be. For substantial advancement to be made on the continent, we must drive innovative and disruptive solutions that allow for leap-frogging and transformation. It is this transformative power that blockchain technology possesses. We have seen some level of this disruption in the eastern African finance ecosystem with notable successes around MPESA (mobile money).
Aside from transparency and accountability, the Blockchain can provide high levels of financial inclusion and accessibility that is not currently available on the continent and could be applied in other systems. In a few weeks, I will turn 27 years old. Over the past 27 years, most African nations have suffered from high inflation rates, corruption, poverty, resource misappropriation, unemployment, and many more afflictions that rob citizens of wealth and purchasing power. Currently, the Sustainable Development Goals for 2030 goals seem unrealizable due to the constant depletion of infrastructure and human development on the continent.
Continue reading: https://techcabal.com/2022/10/02/blockchain-memo-the-state-of-blockchain-in-africa/

If you’ve been shopping recently and found an empty shelf where your favorite cereal or ice cream is usually stocked, you know that the global supply chain is facing some serious hiccups right now.
The global supply chain has always been a delicate and complex system, which has only been further complicated recently by an ongoing global pandemic and war. An estimated 90 percent of the world’s goods are shipped by sea via roughly 60,000 cargo vessels. The largest cargo vessels carry 24,000 containers. At that scale, it’s not hard to understand why everything from the coffee you drank this morning to the microchip in the device you are reading this on can be lost or delayed.
There have been problems with supply chains long before the COVID-19 pandemic. Over the past few decades, businesses made investments in information technology that helped improve the flow of goods around the world. IT investments in ERP systems, EDI exchanges, and standards such as ISO 9001 helped make global supply chains more efficient. But as the modern-day shopper can attest, there is more work to do.
Supply chain adaptability, agility
Today, up to 80% of critical business data now lives outside a company’s four walls. Suppliers, manufacturing sites, distributors, wholesaler dealers — there are too many parties trying to coordinate their transactions using disparate systems that don’t communicate well with each other. This situation creates a host of problems, because every one of these businesses requires critical, accurate and timely data about the goods they’re transacting, as well as information on any incidents that could have serious implications for their supply chains, customers and individual brand reputations. With the increased complexity of the global supply chain and deep dependencies among suppliers and manufacturers, companies are experiencing new backlogs and information breakdowns on a regular basis, with empty store shelves and lower profits among the inevitable results.
Continue reading: https://venturebeat.com/datadecisionmakers/blockchain-could-repair-our-broken-global-supply-chain/

Gas and electric lines were mostly checked by helicopter. A company in Schwechat is now integrating drone flight with the use of artificial intelligence. Gas Connect Austria is now testing this in a pilot project.
02.10.2022 16.31.2007
Online since today at 4:31 pm
 
Infrastructure such as gas and electricity lines, as well as railways are the backbone of every country. So far, these have been monitored by a helicopter, but in the future they will take over by drones from the company Schwechat Bladescape (Bruck an der Leitha) – a high-tech device that can cost several hundred thousand euros, depending on the installed sensors.
Austrian long-distance gas pipeline operator GasConnect is now testing its network using drones in collaboration with technology company and aviation authority Ostro Control. Unmanned aerial vehicle systems should enable accurate and reliable inspection of pipeline routes.
Continue reading: https://www.aviationanalysis.net/drone-searches-for-damage-to-gas-pipelines/

Airborne Response a leading provider of mission-critical aerial intelligence using small uncrewed aircraft systems (sUAS), has completed more than 500 drone flights in Florida on behalf of enterprise customers supporting response, relief, and recovery efforts in the aftermath of Category 4 Hurricane Ian.
Overcoming immense logistical challenges associated with rising floodwaters and damage to critical infrastructure including closed roads and widespread power outages, Airborne Response teams are working with customers to restore electric service, telecommunications, and shelter to millions of Floridians affected by the storm.
“The type of support we are providing in the wake of Hurricane Ian is exactly why Airborne Response was created back in 2016,” says Christopher Todd, Founder and President of Airborne Response. “I am incredibly proud of the resiliency of our flight teams as they battle immense challenges and obstacles, working to provide the mission-critical aerial intelligence needed by our customers to safely restore services to millions of Floridians impacted by this unprecedented storm.”
Immediately after the storm, Mr. Todd personally toured Charlotte, Collier, Lee, Manatee, and Sarasota counties to assess damage from the storm and how it will impact UAS flight operations. Airborne Response continues to work with its enterprise customers in property insurance as well as those responsible to managing critical infrastructure including utilities and telecommunications, to improvise and implement new tactics to provide flight services in the hardest hit areas.
“We need to ensure the safety and security of our personnel while also exceeding service expectations of our customers,” says Todd. “This can be a difficult process in the wake of a major disaster, but we are starting to see early signs of stabilization in the area which will allow us to ramp up the pace and scope of our operations.”
Continue reading: https://dronelife.com/2022/10/02/drones-for-hurricane-ian-recovery-airborne-response-completes-more-than-500-flights/

Corrections officers have become so difficult to hire and retain that robots may end up doing the job.
Employers are scrambling to find teachers and health care professionals but nearly all 50 states have long struggled to bring in enough security guards to oversee the nation’s prison population of 1.2 million people. And in recent months the vacancy rates have skyrocketed as officers — frustrated by low pay, violent conditions, long hours, isolated work locations and routine exposure to Covid-19 — quit in droves.

It’s a difficult situation that’s been brewing steadily for decades, as a tough-on-crime attitude among politicians and the public led to longer sentences, dramatically growing prison populations. Then states were slow to invest in maintaining staff, the quality of facilities or programming that reduces recidivism.
Factors like that are driving Nevada toward a novel approach: deploying drones to patrol the state’s prisons and fitting the people serving time with surveillance bracelets.


Despite special bonuses and other incentives approved by local lawmakers and governors from Minnesota and South Dakota to Pennsylvania and Tennessee, some prisons are seeing at least a quarter of their correctional jobs sit unfilled.
“I did 40 years in law enforcement but I couldn’t have done 40 minutes in a correctional facility,” said Nevada Assembly member P.K. O’Neill, a Republican who is open to the drone proposal. “It’s a very, very difficult job to do.”
Conditions have grown so dire that governors in Florida and West Virginia have declared states of emergency in recent weeks and called in the National Guard to help staff prisons. Some states have resorted to closing prisons, like in Florida, where three of its main facilities shut down indefinitely last year.
Continue reading: https://www.politico.com/news/2022/09/28/corrections-officers-shortage-drones-00059140

The underlying technologies that enterprises use to build and deliver their goods and services have undergone profound changes over the past 50 years.
The commercialization of computing in the 1960s through to the 1970s allowed for automation of manufacturing process—payrolls, billing, procurement, accounting, inventory management, and factory production lines.
The emergence of personal computers, private networks and then the internet in in the 1980s to mid-2000s led to a transformation of white-collar work outputs driven by commercial off-the-shelf systems including document and content management, office automation networks, email, intranets, and enterprise resource management.
The emergence of distributed processing and cloud-based development platforms by the mid-2000s turned technology into a service and allowed enterprises to pay-as-they-go in terms of infrastructure and application development, supported by a growing set of artificial intelligence tools and big data processing abilities that shifted business delivery to platform-based ecosystems driven by powerful network effects and behavioral algorithms.
Realizing how profoundly each period of technology innovation has changed commerce and the way that businesses deliver their goods and services is crucial as we stand on the verge of a new wave of tech innovation that has the potential to be perhaps the most disruptive yet.
Continue reading: https://www.marketsmedia.com/the-coming-web3-digital-asset-revolution/

The world is still figuring out what blockchain and cryptocurrency are, and what societal applications the emerging technologies have.
If society at large is still trying to figure it out, so are credit union members. Dr. Lamont Black, an associate professor of finance at DePaul University, believes credit unions can live up to their mission of financial well-being for all by helping members through this process.
“Credit unions’ key value proposition regarding crypto is as a source of trust. There are people that want to engage with crypto, but it’s difficult, it’s scary. Many of them may look to you to say, ‘Hey, can you help me figure this out? Should this be part of my portfolio?’ ” says Black, who spoke Sept. 23 at the 2022 CUNA Operations & Member Experience Council and CUNA Technology Council Conference in Las Vegas. “Help them learn and explore.”
While credit unions can immediately begin teaching members about cryptocurrency and how it fits into a wealth management strategy, education and investment aren’t the only applications.
“It’s not just a number that goes up and down on my phone and then I’m either happy or sad,” Black says. “That’s not crypto. It’s so much bigger than that.”
Cryptocurrency is just an application on a platform. The platform—and what Black considers the true technological advancement—is the blockchain. The decentralized ledger allows for shared recordkeeping that opens possibilities for many more applications.
Continue reading: https://news.cuna.org/articles/121559-looking-down-the-blockchain

Having women in leadership roles inspires other women to pursue and grow in their careers and also it will give them encouragement to study about technology and women’s participation in the workforce has been adding immense value to the economic world.
In a recent chat with Vanitha Ponnarasi, Senior Director of Engineering, Build A Sign (a cimpress business) shares her insights about women in leadership. She talks about how women being in tech sector changes the dynamic of work. What role do women play at Cimpress and the set of challenges a woman faces while working in the tech sector.
Why is it important to have women leadership?
If asked whether women provide value to the workplace, I am confident that most people will respond with a strong affirmative.  People will also agree that right now, women do not have equal representation in most companies. The good news is that many women – and men are working diligently to solve this. While there are numerous noteworthy efforts underway to provide more opportunities for women to enter the workforce, our progress is slow.  It is clear that the magnitude of the problem calls for strong measures.
One possible solution – and one which I think will have maximum impact – is by increasing the representation of women in leadership roles. Having more women in leadership roles will not only help towards proving the benefit of the unique perspective and skills that women bring to the table, but it will have other far-reaching effects like organically increasing the number of women hires as well as encouraging career growth for women in the organization.
Continue reading: https://www.ciol.com/women-tech-importance-women-leadership/

Women in tech leave the industry because of discrimination. Others just get better options.
In an interview with the BBC, Apple CEO Tim Cook decried the lack of women in tech. He even said that no excuse can justify it. Many have attributed the statement as PR for Apple’s recent iPhone products. However, the subject has long been a hot-button issue in the tech industry.
The following statistics paint the picture of where things stand in the US on women in tech. Women comprise:

• 33% of the tech workforce
• 25% of technical roles 
• 10% of tech founders

These figures might not sound like much of a problem for small sectors of the economy. But, for a large sector such as tech, it’s a huge gap.
Comparatively, sales have 45% female representation in its workforce. An increase in the number of tech jobs for women can boost equality.
Nice Words and Platitudes
Activists and researchers say industry CEOs have long been making positive comments about women in tech. But, the high-talk means little if CEOs don’t back this with plans to increase tech jobs for women. 
Diversity and equality are today’s buzzwords but remain mere symbolic gestures. It’s harder for women to get tech jobs and retain them.
In Apple’s case, the recent return to office order was bad news for its female employees. 
The work-from-home arrangement removed many of the obstacles for women in tech. Return to office orders may force women to leave their jobs for roles with better work-life balance.
Continue reading: https://techgenix.com/tim-cook-calls-for-more-women-in-tech/

As business leaders, we inevitably find ourselves quoting Tom Cruise’s line from Jerry Maguire: “Show me the money!” And it’s our job to lead our teams to where the money is.
Business leaders need to remember that making money is not only about bringing in more of it; learning how to stop losing it due to operational inefficiencies is equally important. This is true for any company, but especially those involved in any part of the supply chain, such as big manufacturers, distributors, retailers and e-commerce players that need to juggle thousands, and sometimes millions, of planning items.
One of the most effective ways to generate more revenue and to stop leaving money on the table is to hit two birds with one stone by streamlining sales and operations planning. Companies that have mastered the sales and operations planning process report an up to 31% revenue growth, an up to 46% inventory reduction and an up to 39% uptake in customer satisfaction. Using artificial intelligence (AI) plays an essential role in this upgrade.
How To Streamline Sales And Operations Planning
Improving sales and operations planning is strategically beneficial as it influences major business and process KPIs. These include but are not limited to fill rate, working capital, demand forecast accuracy, manufacturing and sales costs and inventory turnover. So, how can you learn to plan better?
Continue reading: https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2022/09/29/how-ai-can-streamline-sales-and-operations-planning/?sh=205532bf7e60

A Telecom major was grappling with high customer attrition. The firm was one of the largest Telecom companies in the world and a market leader in Asia.
The marketing team’s heuristics-driven approach to customer retention was dated and ineffective. Reviewing the business performance in a weekly huddle, the CEO knew they had to do something different.
The firm turned to data science to solve this challenge. Machine learning (ML) algorithms were trained to predict customer churn. Simple algorithms such as decision trees used attributes such as “bill amount” and “outgoing call pattern” to improve customer retention by 39%.
While the marketing team was thrilled with these results, the data science team turned to advanced black-box algorithms such as Neural Networks that pushed accuracy even higher. Pilot tests run on high-value customers turned out to be a resounding success – Artificial Intelligence (AI) delivered 66% higher customer retention than the traditional approach.
The solution was ready for rollout, or so it seemed. Then, things turned south.
The marketing product managers flatly refused to use the solution. They found it hard to trust an algorithm that spat out a set of customer names with little explanation. Many of these recommendations were counter-intuitive and the entire process felt wrong.
Despite the data-backed results, they gave the data science solution the cold shoulder. The graveyard of AI projects is filled with such advanced, accurate, and well-meaning yet unused solutions.
Continue reading: https://www.forbes.com/sites/ganeskesari/2022/09/29/want-to-get-your-team-to-adopt-ai-follow-these-8-critical-steps-for-success/