Finland is among the world leaders in drone research. Researchers’ next goal is to develop the technology and test how a swarm of coordinating drones equipped with AI can detect and prevent forest fires.
How can a forest fire be detected early enough? How can up-to-date information on the progress of the fire and a forecast of how it will spread in the next hour be obtained? Geospatial data is crucial in preventing, monitoring and extinguishing forest fires. Information on current forest fires is already available using satellites, but there are no efficient methods to quickly detect small and recently started forest fires and monitor the fire in real time. The FireMan consortium formed by the Finnish Geospatial Research Institute (FGI) of the National Land Survey of Finland (NLS), the University of Jyväskylä, the University of Oulu and the researchers from VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland is taking up the challenge. The project will run from 2022 to 2024, funded by the Academy of Finland. 
“We’re developing a new AI-based drone technology to quickly detect forest fires and provide situational awareness when extinguishing the fires,” says Professor Eija Honkavaara from NLS, who is leading the project. 
There is a global demand for innovative solutions for preventing forest fires. According to statistics, more than 400,000 hectares of forest burned down in 2019, which was the worst year for forest fires in Europe. This grim record was broken last year: by the end of October, half a million hectares of forest had already burned down in Europe. Forest fires are expected to increase due to global warming. So forest fire control is also of interest in Finland – 75 per cent of our land area is forest. 
Communication must work even in remote areas
In the FireMan project, universities and research centres are developing solutions for forest fire control and simultaneously conducting scientific research in autonomous flying, digital modelling and communication. 
Continue reading: https://www.suasnews.com/2022/03/drones-help-detect-and-prevent-ever-increasing-forest-fires/

Drones would get the right-of-way over other aircraft in low altitude corridors established for long-distance deliveries and other commercial services, under a proposal that has been submitted to the Federal Aviation Administration.
Permitting flights that are beyond the sight of an operator on the ground will require computerized anti-collision systems, new qualifications for drone pilots and revamped rules for flying within 400 feet (122 meters) of the ground, an advisory panel told the FAA in its 252-page final report. 
The recommendations call for sweeping changes in FAA rules that now put the burden on pilots of hard-to-see drones to avoid other aircraft. They also call on the aviation agency to devise a new set of regulations to minimize the risks of long-range flights on aircraft with no humans aboard to avoid collisions.  
“The industry is ready and willing to provide resources, technology, and expertise” to foster beyond-line-of-sight drone flights, the report said. 
Multiple companies such as Alphabet Inc.’s Wing LLC and United Parcel Service Inc. have gotten permission from the FAA to fly drones autonomously beyond the view of ground operators in controlled test settings, but there are no rules permitting such flights routinely. 
Continue reading: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-03-11/long-distance-drones-would-get-own-right-of-way-in-proposal

Modern enterprises have to maintain a number of systems and applications to manage data on a variety of products and hundreds of thousands of customers. This makes data management inherently complex and fragmented. 
Table of contents

• What is master data?
• Master data management
• Importance and benefits of master data management
• Drives efficiencies
• Better data quality
• Revenue growth, improved customer experience
• Easy to back up
• Accelerated product launches
• Regulatory compliance
• Master data management framework: Key components
• Top master data management strategies for 2022
• Groundwork for discovery
• Look at the multi-domain approach
• Implement with transparency
• Training is important
• Observation and measurement are critical
• Triage data issues and prioritize

As critical business data can change from time to time, there can be instances of variance across all of these systems. For instance, if a sales rep adds an incorrect customer address for a new order, the incorrect information will go through multiple systems of the order fulfillment process until some layer, such as the accounting department, introduces a correction. This would leave two data versions for the same order across systems – one correct and the other incorrect. 
With thousands of transactions happening every day, acquisitions being made and customers updating their information, the issue is exacerbated multifold, leaving a large chunk of data out of sync and no way of determining which version is correct, incorrect or outdated. Using this data for analysis can lead to incorrect decision-making. This is where master data management (MDM) steps in.
What is master data?
Also known as a golden record, master data is a key organizational data asset that contains the most up-to-date and accurate information for day-to-day business operations. It supports transactional, non-transactional or analytical data and is usually shared across departments to help personnel conduct analytics and make decisions around service, sales, marketing and other areas. Master data serves as the source of common data and often includes application-specific metadata and corporate dimensional data (that directly participates in transactions like a customer ID or department ID), although the data type can vary depending on the organization and its needs.
Broadly, master data has to have three key qualities – less volatility, more complexity and mission-critical. Plus, it should be used and reused over and over again. A good example is contact numbers collected from customers. This kind of data is less volatile, mission-critical and can be very complex, meaning a slight error in numbers can result in a missed opportunity for the business.
Continue reading: https://venturebeat.com/2022/03/10/what-is-master-data-management-benefits-components-key-strategies/

With the sheer volume of unstructured data yet to be created and used in the years ahead, it’s safe to say that the way organizations manage their data will need to evolve.
IDC’s Research VP of Infrastructure Systems, Platforms and Technologies Group Eric Burgener authored an IDC Analyst Brief.
In the analyst brief, Burgener urges organizations to implement a comprehensive data management strategy to confront this increasing influx of data, noting that a data mobility engine provides the foundation for an effective data management strategy and can drive significant benefits for the hybrid multicloud enterprise.
“A good [data management] strategy takes into account not only the heterogeneity of storage in most enterprises, but also a number of other areas, including on-and off-premises deployment models, application availability, data integrity, security, compliance and regulatory needs, efficient resource utilization and the fact that more than 80% of the data created over the next five years will be unstructured (i.e., file and object-based),” writes Burgener.
Five main components of an effective data mobility engine
1. Vendor-neutral interoperability
The data mobility engine must focus on data, not systems, and be able to move data between different types of systems as well as cloud targets. Both file (NFS, SMB) and object (S3) access methods should be supported, preferably in a multiprotocol manner to support efficient capacity utilization when data must be shared across different types of applications.
2. Insights and intelligence
The data mobility engine must provide visibility into data metrics, access patterns, and usage activities that can provide the basis for classification, and this visibility must be comprehensive. It should also include AI-driven intelligence that can analyze these metrics to make policy recommendations that drive an effective data management strategy around storage location, data protection, security, compliance, migration and, ultimately, storage cost reduction. With more complete metrics, data residency can be managed to ensure that data is kept in the “best” location (given corporate objectives) and obsolete data is identified and deleted.
Continue reading: https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/03/11/effective-data-management-strategy/

As I filled my tank at the local gas station this weekend, I noticed a “Get Bitcoin Here” sign staring at me. I quickly realized how conventional the exchange of digital assets has become. Back in 2014, the IRS issued guidance on the tax treatment of some early forms of digital assets. Now, the disclosure of virtual currency transactions is required on all individual income tax returns. But limited guidance exists today on the tax treatment of the breadth of virtual currency transactions that have emerged.
With the introduction and growing popularity of new types of virtual currency (from Bitcoin to Ethereum to Tezos tokens, for example), taxpayers are eager for more direction. That’s the case with Jessica and Joshua Jarrett, who are trying to forego a tax refund in exchange for clarification on the tax treatment of staking rewards acquired in 2019. With existing tokens and a home computer, Mr. Jarrett employed a staking process to validate transactions on a proof-of-stake (PoS) blockchain that uses Tezos tokens. In the process, Mr. Jarrett created 8,876 new Tezos tokens which he maintained in his digital wallet throughout 2019.
On Form 1040 for 2019, the Jarretts reported the fair market value of the newly created Tezos tokens as income under IRC Sec. 61. Subsequently, in July of 2020, the Jarretts filed an amended return claiming a refund of $3,793 on the basis that the created tokens were not subject to tax because they had not been exchanged so no realization event occurred.
As permitted under IRC Sec. 6531, once the government did not act on the refund claim for six months, the Jarretts filed a refund suit in District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee, Case No. 3:21-cv-00419. Therefore, we will never know if the government would have disallowed the refund claim had the taxpayers waited for the IRS to process the amended return (the coronavirus pandemic has delayed the processing of millions of amended returns filed during the same period of time). Interestingly, in the answer to the taxpayers’ complaint, the Department of Justice denied that “virtual currency is in all instances property for the purpose of U.S. tax law,” keeping taxpayers in the dark about the tax treatment of assets created through staking.
In December of 2021, the Department of Justice informed the Jarretts that the IRS authorized the issuance of the refund, which appears to render the refund suit moot and the tax treatment a non-issue for the Court. Yet the Jarretts believe they can now forego the refund to push the government for clarity on how staking rewards are treated for federal tax purposes.
Continue reading: https://www.eisneramper.com/staking-blockchain-tax-0322/

lockchain technology is becoming a more well-known area in the technology space thanks to its crucial role in cryptocurrency systems, like Bitcoin, as it keeps a secure and decentralised record of transactions.
What blockchain brings is the chance to guarantee the fidelity and security of a record of data and generates trust without the need for a trusted third party.
However, it is not all positive, as the economist Nouriel Roubini explains.
"As for the underlying blockchain technology, there are still massive obstacles standing in its way, even if it has more potential than cryptocurrencies," said Roubini.
"Chief among them is that it lacks the kind of basic common and universal protocols that made the Internet universally accessible.
"More fundamentally, its promise of decentralised transactions with no intermediary authority amounts to an untested, Utopian pipedream. No wonder blockchain is ranked close to the peak of the hype cycle of technologies with inflated expectations.
"So, forget about blockchain, Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies and start investing in fintech firms with actual business models, which are slogging away to revolutionise the financial-services industry. You won't get rich overnight; but you'll have made the smarter investment."
Disadvantages of blockchain
Some of the reasons that there is some hesitation towards blockchain, as blockchains use excessive energy. Another is that it is not a hugely distributed computing system.
There is also the fact that mining does not offer network security, and blockchain entries are not forever lasting and are not immutable.
Continue reading: https://www.marca.com/en/technology/2022/03/10/622a292146163f62688b45ce.html

With apologies to Peter Drucker, it is no longer simply what you measure that determines what you manage. It’s how you discover what to measure that determines how you manage. In industry after industry, we see innovative measurement systems leading to innovative metrics and new organizational behaviors that drive superior outcomes. More organizations are recognizing that benchmarking and executive expertise don’t always determine the best key performance indicators (KPIs). These data-driven companies employ predictive analytics such as machine learning, along with leadership acumen, to identify and refine key strategic measures. More finely tuned measures lead to better alignment of behaviors with strategic objectives.
Increasingly, business leaders are asking their teams: Do our metrics fully capture what drives value creation in our business? How can we use technology to improve our system of measurement — that is, how we create, assess, and use our metrics — to better discern these drivers and identify better KPIs? They are rethinking their approaches to measuring success, to developing metrics, and building organizational alignment.
In the technology sector, for example, losing talent can constrain growth, and, conversely, retaining talent can enable growth. Identifying and addressing attrition risks is therefore a strategic matter.
Continue reading: https://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/ai-can-change-how-you-measure-and-how-you-manage/

Encouraging women in AI has never been more urgent. A study by the World Economic Forum noted a gender disparity of 78 percent male versus 22 percent female in AI and data science. This disparity isn’t just a challenge within the workforce. It reflects a highly nuanced issue that goes beyond any single workplace and if not addressed will have highly negative implications for society.
We have seen a lot of work to encourage girls and women to become interested in STEM and address gaps in digital skills at an earlier age than in the past. Yet now, there appears to be less effort to support women as they transition from higher education into a sustainable career in tech. This is a challenge for the industry. But the real problem is that as AI becomes ubiquitous in daily life, without a technology workforce that accurately reflects the structure of society, AI-based decisions are constrained by the limited societal and cultural biases of their designers. The impact of such homogeneity in AI decisions and bias has already been seen in examples such as the automation of credit card and mortgage applications, to resume screening and other areas. 
The industry challenge is not due to a lack of skills. Research from the Turing Institute suggests women are trailing behind men with industry-relevant skills such as computer science, data preparation and exploration, general-purpose computing, databases, big data, machine learning, statistics, and mathematics. Yet much of this is not due to formal skills, but rather confidence by women in stating these abilities during recruitment and in the workplace. In the tech world where technical skills are needed, soft skills are sometimes dismissed but in order to move forward, there needs to be a greater focus on leadership and mentorship to build confidence and encourage a more diverse workforce. We say that stereotypes must be combatted from a young age yet a gap remains. For example, within the tech sector, women generally have higher levels of formal education than their male counterparts yet academic citations are fewer suggesting there is a lack of confidence in sharing academic knowledge. The Turing Institute finds that only 20 percent of UK data and AI researchers on Google Scholar are women. Of the 45 researchers with more than 10,000 citations, only five were women. 
Continue reading: https://bdtechtalks.com/2022/03/08/encouraging-women-in-tech-is-essential-to-protect-society-against-ai-bias/

As we mark International Women’s Day and recognize the hugely important role women play across business, I am encouraged by signs that the gender disparity in tech is starting to be rebalanced.
Our own research in the Harvey Nash Group Digital Leadership Report, based on feedback from 87 countries, found that the proportion of women in leadership roles in tech remains stubbornly low, at just 12%. However, the number of women across the tech workforce as a whole is rising, with Deloitte predicting that it will nudge up to one-third in large global technology firms this year.
Indeed, looking at the UK, which is broadly representative of many developed markets, we are seeing some significant shifts. Data from the UK’s Office of National Statistics (ONS) released in February revealed that more than 150,000 women have been recruited into tech roles over the past three years. That’s an uplift of 44% – more than double the increase in men (19%) over the same period. There are now over half a million women working in the sector.
More broadly, it was also heartening to see that almost 40% of UK FTSE 100 board roles are now held by women, according to data from the FTSE Women Leaders Review. A total of 414 women held FTSE 100 board roles last year, up from 374 in 2020. There’s a similar picture of rising female representation at the top table in countries around the world.
Continue reading: https://www.computerweekly.com/opinion/Why-we-need-to-keep-up-the-charge-on-women-in-tech

March 8, 2022When Gayatri Shenai was a new partner in McKinsey Digital, she faced some tough questions about her qualifications in a meeting with a CEO. She was there as a subject-matter expert, and the CEO grilled her about her knowledge and experience. Eventually, one of Gayatri’s senior partner colleagues, who knew the CEO for decades, stepped in.
“He interrupted the CEO and said, ‘Look, she’s amazing, she’ll do a great job, you need to trust me that she knows what she is doing,’” says Gayatri. “That moment of sponsorship changed my destiny.”
 
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Gayatri went on to work with the CEO in a long and successful relationship. But that early moment underscores how important it was to have sponsors guiding her career.
While women earn about half of science and engineering degrees, they make up less than 20 percent of people employed in these fields. And for many who choose this career path, they are commonly the only person of their gender in a room.
This International Women’s Day, we’re looking at one workplace element that can help reverse those trends for women in tech: connecting with a sponsor who creates opportunities for them and advocates for their advancement.
Choosing and working with sponsors
Expert associate partner Devon Chen has worked with several sponsors throughout her McKinsey career, and she’s now in a place to sponsor others. She says that a successful sponsorship is all about personal chemistry.
Continue reading: https://www.mckinsey.com/about-us/new-at-mckinsey-blog/putting-women-at-the-forefront-of-technology

Stereotypes start early
The London Tech Week survey also found that stereotyping and lack of support during schooling (60% and 48%) are the biggest barriers to entry for women getting started in tech. Almost six in ten (57%) would like to see more initiatives from companies to educate girls at school to help redress the balance. The figures correlate with a survey carried out by creative agency CPB London during February 2022. It found 60% of 1,000 UK children aged 5-11 believed that being a plumber or electrician is “a man’s job” and that 46% said "men make better engineers". Helen James, Managing Director of CPB London: "For all the progress made, it's shocking to see how deeply entrenched views can still be about women and men's roles. That tells us we have so much work yet to do to create a world where your gender makes no difference to what you can achieve."
Perception gaps and funding shortfalls 
One respondent to London Tech Week’s survey, said: “I have watched women and men join in the same roles and be treated completely differently. Men are thrown in at the deep end and challenged, women are faced with the attitude ‘I don’t want to give her anything too difficult’ from men at a lower skill level. “The perception is always that women must first prove that they are capable, and this attitude is persistent.” Another said: “The roles are there, there just aren't enough women applying, let alone women with the right skills; these are more senior tech roles.” Continue reading: https://www.relocatemagazine.com/news/iwd2022-hr-talent-management-leadership-stereotyping-biggest-obstacle-for-women-in-tech-rholmes-0322

On Friday 25th February, along with several of my colleagues from Bazaarvoice, I attended the 5th Women in Tech conference at the Titanic Belfast, hosted by Women in Business NI and sponsored by MCS Group. With the iconic Titanic staircase as its backdrop, the stage saw several inspirational talks and captivating panel discussions throughout the day. These were interspersed with comedic hosting from Strabane’s greatest export, Emer Maguire, who kept the crowd entertained all day, even when the smoke alarm started playing up (“That’s the AI coming for us”).
 This year’s conference theme was Transforming Tech Together and there was a clear thread running throughout the different talks and panel discussions: how can we get more women into tech, and make them want to stay? For those of you who missed the conference, or who want to revisit the ideas discussed on the day, I’ve put together a short list of ideas stemming from Women in Tech of how we can continue to grow the number of female employees within the tech sector.
1.   Teach girls and young women about the tech industry
As part of the Jobs in Tech – Let’s change the stereotype panel discussion, panelists advocated for making computer science a compulsory subject in schools, therefore giving all children the opportunity to learn about and discover a passion for computing. Sapphire Duffy from Women who Code also provided several great ideas for women who are already in the tech industry: reach out to your old school and offer to give a talk about your career; volunteer with organizations like the STEM Ambassador Program, Coder Dojo or Women Who Code; create a TikTok reel showing a day in the life of a real-life woman in tech. If girls are made aware of tech from a younger age and start developing relevant skills, it will be easier for them to pursue a career in the industry when the time comes.
Continue reading: https://syncni.com/view/8821/let-s-have-more-women-in-tech

It's never easy being the only woman in the room. 
It's even harder being the only woman in most rooms. Shamefully, that's still the case for many women working in tech—women hold only 25% of professional computing occupations in the U.S. and just 28% of STEM jobs in general.
And, from our annual survey on women's representation in the tech industry, Techopedia learned one of the major things pros think holds women back from the field is education—or lack thereof. In other words, many of our respondents said they believe schools and universities don't sufficiently promote tech-related career paths to women.
There's no better way to learn how to get a job in tech than to look to those who've done it. So, we asked trailblazing women in the industry to share their advice for those just getting their feet in the door. These women haven't just "gotten a job" in tech—they've built careers, companies and cachet.
Here's who we talked to:
Our conversations centered around each of these women's individual journeys breaking into the field and their advice for young women who dream in binary code. When we asked them what they wished they could tell their past selves, when they were just starting their first tech jobs, four common themes emerged.
Here's what successful women in tech want students to know:
Continue reading: https://www.techopedia.com/4-things-successful-women-in-tech-want-students-to-know/2/34709

As we celebrate International Women’s Day on March 8, 2022, we face a sobering conclusion in technology: we’re not doing enough. And there are lots of studies to show how badly we’re doing.
Take this observation from a Forrester report, “Advance Your Organization By Improving The Workplace Experience For Women,” by analysts Fiona Mark with Katy Tynan, Nick Monroe, Matthew Guarini, Gordon Barnett, and Kerstin Wehmeyer.
The analysts note that women’s representation in the tech workforce in the last 15 years has been stagnant even though they control 80% of all purchasing decisions. And while women make up nearly 48% of all workers since 1990, the report continues, only 25% of them end up as technology workers. We've not just stagnated when it comes to IT; we’ve regressed since 1990.
In reality, this percentage will be smaller if you consider that many STEM-educated women end up teaching or joining healthcare and shy away from tech or engineering fields. And even those who are in tech positions drop out of the workforce midway in their careers for various reasons.
We can’t keep finding excuses for these issues. Blaming it on a small pool talent is short-sighted. If we’re to improve women's representation in technology (and plenty of research says we should for success), we need to think broader.
Trouble at the top
Gender imbalance in tech begins at the top. We unknowingly create toxic cultures and non-conducive environments for women because they’re underrepresented in leadership. The team at the top is often seen as a “bro culture,” and only 18% of women are CIOs and CTOs.
Continue reading: https://www.cdotrends.com/story/16259/women-tech-we-need-better-plan?refresh=auto

The theme of this year’s International Women’s Day is “Break the Bias,” a nod toward overcoming challenges associated with stereotypes and discrimination in the workplace. CompTIA has many resources to help female workers support each other and provide guidance to advance their careers and businesses, including the Advancing Women in Technology Interest Group and the Advancing Tech Talent and Diversity community.
We asked several CompTIA volunteer leaders to share their stories and offer encouragement while trying to bring about change. Here’s what they had to say:
Numbers Don’t Lie: Surpassing Sales Quotas Earned Promotions
“I worked in sales which can be a great equalizer. Since sales requires you to make a number based on a quota, if you do that, you could be different. In my case, I believe I was accepted into technical sales (which was made up predominately of white males) because I was able to excel based on pure numbers. There was no objectivity, just subjectivity. No bias when can deliver 200% of quota or more. I was blessed to come up through the ranks in technology sales, it would have been different for me in other disciplines I am sure of it.” – Tina Gravel, senior vice president of channels and alliance, AppGate, and member of CompTIA’s Advancing Tech Talent and Diversity Community’s executive council
Mentorship Can Bring Change, Much-Needed Support
“Women continue to make major advances in the workplace. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, women accounted for 51.8% of all workers employed in management, professional, and related occupations in 2019. To continue this positive progress, we need to make a proactive effort to elevate other women and act as role models.
“I am 10 years into my IT career and got to where I am today through quality leadership. It is important that we provide that same mentorship to other women who are starting their career. For women out there that have already advanced in their career, make a conscious effort to support other women. Give them guidance and a voice. Working together we can break the bias and drive positive change!” – Hannah O’Donnell, director of sales at Collabrance and a CompTIA Managed Services Community executive council member
Don’t Be Afraid to Ask for Help to Find Your Strength
“When it comes to breaking the bias, my biggest piece of advice is that when you can’t see your own successes, find someone that can lend you their strength and belief for a bit until you can find it yourself. I will always be that cheerleader for anyone who needs it because I believe that everyone has great potential to do big things” – Carrie Green, vice president of strategy at Alt-Tech, a Sherwood Park, Alberta-based solution provider, and an executive council member of CompTIA’s Canadian Business Technology Community
Continue reading: https://connect.comptia.org/blog/breaking-the-bias-female-tech-leaders-share-how-they-overcame-adversity-to-find-success

Blockchain has become a buzzword we are hearing more and more. The technology has been available for over a decade, but it has gained significant popularity only in the past few years, with more people actively recognizing its power to revolutionize the digital world as it expands from fintech institutions to advertising, energy, and healthcare across the globe.
Michela Menting, Research Director at ABI Research famously said: “The success of Blockchain in fintech has prompted significant investment in deploying the underlying infrastructure for application development and testing in other industries. Tech giants such as IBM, Microsoft, Amazon, SAP, HPE, and Oracle, among others, are pushing Blockchain-as-a-Service for first movers, often enabling integration with their existing enterprise software and cloud services.”
With the demand for Blockchain technology increasing, having the skills and expertise required to thrive in the evolving crypto ecosystem will allow individuals to embrace a broader scope of career opportunities. Thus, it is crucial to start learning about Blockchain to have a competitive edge.
Here are ten significant Blockchain resources available this year:
Continue reading: https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/421611

At the 2018 North American Bitcoin Conference, only three of the 88 speakers were female. Blockchain had a diversity problem. Since then, women-led companies and non-profit organizations such as Women in Blockchain have arisen to help increase female representation – just in time for the explosion of interest in blockchain due to the emergence of Web3. Rosa Shores, cofounder and CEO of BlockSpaces, and Macrina Kgil, CFO of Blockchain.com, are two women at the forefront of this exciting, still male-dominated space.
BlockSpaces, founded by Shores and Gabe Higgins in 2017, allows enterprises to seamlessly integrate their applications with blockchain networks by combining no or low code, drag-and-drop workflows, performance analytics, and managed blockchain infrastructure for optimal security and monitoring. Over the past 12 months, BlockSpaces revenue grew by 40% and customers increased twenty-fold. In January, the company announced the close of a $5.75 million venture seed round.
Blockchain.com is a $5 billion company that allows people to buy, sell, and trade crypto. With more than 73 million wallets, the company has handled nearly a third of all bitcoin network transactions since 2012. Kgil is one of the rare women CFOs of a unicorn company, let alone in the finance and crypto space. Since joining Blockchain.com, she has led a $300 million series C funding round, and seen the company double in size and surpass $1 trillion in transactions.
 
Continue reading: https://www.forbes.com/sites/meimeifox/2022/03/07/two-women-at-the-forefront-of-the-blockchain-industry/?sh=4cf340a71ce6

A blockchain bridge is a tool that lets you port assets from one blockchain to another, solving one of the main pain points within blockchains – a lack of interoperability.
Since blockchain assets are often not compatible with one another, bridges create synthetic derivatives that represent an asset from another blockchain.
If you use a bridge to send one Solana coin to an Ethereum wallet, that wallet will receive a token that has been “wrapped” by the bridge – converted to a token based on the target blockchain. In this case, the Ethereum wallet would receive a "bridge" version of Solana that has been converted to an ERC-20 token – the generic token standard for fungible tokens on the Ethereum blockchain.
While bridges open up new markets and work toward a brighter multi-chain future, they come with their own security challenges, as proven by a huge $326 million exploit on the nascent Wormhole bridge in February 2022.
Types of blockchain bridges
Some bridges, known as unidirectional or one-way bridges, allow you to port assets only to the target blockchain and not the other way around. For instance, Wrapped Bitcoin allows you to send bitcoin to the Ethereum blockchain – to convert BTC to an ERC-20 stablecoin – but it doesn’t let you send ether to the Bitcoin blockchain.
Other bridges like Wormhole and Multichain are bidirectional, or two-way, meaning you can freely convert assets to and from blockchains. Just as you can send Solana to Ethereum’s blockchain, you can send ether to Solana.
Continue reading: https://www.coindesk.com/learn/what-are-blockchain-bridges-and-how-do-they-work/

It took more than ten years for enterprises to grasp the concept of the cloud and to embrace it. Artificial intelligence is no different. While some organizations have heartily embraced AI and what it can do for information management and decision support, more companies are still in the process of maturing their understanding so they can make the best use of AI.
There is one thing that we already know: AI will be an integral part of how business is conducted in the future, and its impact is already being felt.
“We are facing a new digital divide,” said Prashant Natarajan, vice president of strategy and products at H2O.ai. “Unlike the previous ones, this divide is not between geographies or economic systems but one that exists within businesses and enterprises—locally, regionally and nationally. This new digital divide separates the haves and the have-nots of digital transformation, namely those that are putting their data to work for them (via AI) and those that are not.”
Today’s AI use cases support this. Forty-one percent of professional marketers surveyed in 2021 said that the use of AI increased their revenues; and in healthcare, AI is sharpening the degree of accuracy in medical diagnostics and making suggestions and recommendations that are assisting in lowering mortality rates and increasing patient satisfaction.
“Human and organizational needs, business trends, evolving customer behaviors and rapid data and technology innovations are some of the key drivers that are making AI an essential foundation of the modern enterprise,” Natarajan said. “In a business landscape that is increasingly informed by both global and local trends, the need to put data to work is more important and relevant than ever before.”
Continue reading: https://www.techrepublic.com/article/success-in-implementing-ai-depends-on-how-well-companies-define-interactions-between-man-and-machine/

Intelligence is something we humans thrive on. We think of ourselves as the most intelligent beings, certainly on this planet but possibly in the entire universe.
However, it is a notoriously difficult task to define what “intelligence” really is.
Among various definitions, perspectives, and outlooks, the standard consensus is that a being is intelligent if “it” can respond to events and stimuli around it and be able to manipulate either the surroundings or itself to make things better for itself.
This definition suits artificial intelligence nicely since it can be adapted to non-living beings almost readily.
Artificial intelligence, more commonly known by its abbreviation “AI,” is the field of study that analyses this process of understanding or gaining intelligence; it is also concerned with building systems or agents that display such intelligent behavior.
Given today’s pervasion of AI in almost every field of innovation and development, starting from driverless cars to the recommendation of products online to personalized healthcare to natural language conversations, it is important to understand what artificial intelligence really is, and its capabilities and inabilities.
Continue reading: https://swarajyamag.com/science/what-is-ai-and-how-does-it-work-your-guide-to-artificial-intelligence

In regard to automation, I’m sure we’re all familiar with the bank teller adage. When the ATM was invented, there was an assumption that bank tellers would go the way of the dodo. It was a terrifying time to be a bank teller, with automation nipping at the leg of your khakis. The outcome, though, wasn’t terrifying at all. Bank tellers did not disappear; in fact, the story goes, the number of bank tellers nationwide has dramatically increased post-ATM. Why?
The ATM did not replace the bank teller. Instead, it merely altered the job description. Instead of spending time counting and dispensing money, the bank teller took up more complex and stimulating tasks—like dealing with customers and accounts. The added efficiency from ATMs allowed banks to open more locations, subsequently hiring more bank tellers. People often bring up this story today, applying its Aesopian morals to our 21st-century fears about AI and automation. It’s a relatable story with a comfortable twist. It’s also wildly inapplicable.
I do not want to overstate the novelty of the artificial intelligence (AI) predicament. We, as a species, have endured many technological advancements and industry disruptions. With each industry-shattering technological revolution, there has always been a Chicken Little sentiment. The scribes have been displaced by the printing press! The sky is falling!
Continue reading: https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescoachescouncil/2022/03/07/the-sky-is-falling-the-difference-in-todays-automated-ai-revolution/?sh=3f772de7d5de

Virtually every enterprise decision-maker across the economic spectrum knows by now that artificial intelligence (AI)  is the wave of the future. Yes, AI has its challenges and its ultimate contribution to the business model is still largely unknown, but at this point it’s not a matter of whether to deploy AI but how.
For most of the C-suite, even those running the IT side of the house, AI is still a mystery. The basic idea is simple enough – software that can ingest data and make changes in response to that data — but the details surrounding its components, implementation, integration and ultimate purpose are a bit more complicated. AI isn’t merely a new generation of technology that can be provisioned and deployed to serve a specific function; it represents a fundamental change in the way we interact with the digital universe.
Intelligent oversight of AI
So even as the front office is saying “yes” to AI projects left and right, it wouldn’t hurt to gain a more thorough understanding of the technology to ensure it is being employed productively.
One of the first things busy executives should do is gain a clear understanding of AI terms and the various development paths currently underway, says Mateusz Lach, AI and digital business consultant at Nexocode. After all, it’s difficult to push AI into the workplace if you don’t understand the difference between AI, ML, DL and traditional software. At the same time, you should have a basic working knowledge of the various learning models being employed (reinforcement, supervised, model-based …), as well as ways AI is used (natural language processing, neural networking, predictive analysis, etc.)
Continue reading: https://venturebeat.com/2022/03/07/artificial-intelligence/

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is disrupting businesses and job roles in every industry, causing concerns about long-term job security for low-skill manual jobs and management roles alike.
To prepare for this AI-driven economy, many experienced managers and seasoned executives are turning to MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) to upskill in foundational data analytics and AI. This trend is unlikely to slow down anytime soon: The global MOOC market is expected to grow from $3.9 billion in 2018 to $20.8 billion by 2023, a CAGR of 40.1 percent.
Business and technology-related courses make up 40 percent of these online courses. Many universities have also joined the drive to fill the AI leadership gap by offering high-touch executive education programs.
While upskilling programs are easily accessible, many executives are unsure how to leverage their newfound skills to advance their careers. Becoming an AI “practitioner” may not be the right option for some given the high technical bar for these roles. Others may rule out “juniorizing,” which could take them a few steps back in their career.
Continue reading: https://enterprisersproject.com/article/2022/3/artificial-intelligence-advance-career

Blockchain is fast becoming one of the most relevant terms in the financial world, with the shift towards this type of technology accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Here, we give you a complete guide as to all things blockchain.
What is blockchain?
Blockchain is a digitally distributed, decentralized, public ledger that facilitates the process of recording transactions online.
The sole aim of blockchain is to store and share data, and the blocks contain all of the transactions that have taken place on the network.
In a blockchain, a request for a transaction is made and then the system authenticates this request. This leads to the creation of a 'block' representing the transaction, which is forwarded to every participant on the network.
The participants compete to validate the transaction, and when it is validated, the block is added to existing blocks, which in turn forms a chain.
This process whereby the various participants compete to authenticate a block and verify a transaction is known as "mining".
Continue reading: 
https://www.marca.com/en/technology/2022/03/05/62237556268e3e8b308b45ec.html

At first, everyone is overwhelmed by new technology. Blockchain technology has been equated to when the internet was invented or even the wheel. It’s a booming industry that is going to revolutionize the world as we know it.
This will be a basic level intro into the world of decentralization, technological revolution, and being in control of your own financial future. You can do anything from tracking the food you eat from farm to table (ripe.io https://ripe.io/about ) to being able to pay anyone anywhere in the world in seconds basically fee-free (Ripple XRP, https://xrpl.org/). There are endless use cases for blockchain technology and we are just now getting started.
So the news is now being bombarded with new cryptocurrencies, ICO/ IFOs, blockchains, and NFTs. I am sure you have seen headlines of digital art ( that you would think you could just download from anywhere ) going for >$60 MILLION USD, or that even Charmin and Taco Bell( yeah that toilet taco combo https://decrypt.co/62411/taco-bell-to-charmin-10-big-brands-jumping-on-nft-bandwagon) is getting into the NFT game, but I’m not really here to get into the ins and outs of NFTs. I here to give you a breakdown of how to start down this wild rabbit hole that is Crypto. I’m going to give you a birds-eye view of what makes blockchain technology work and the rundown of crypto investing in general. I’m just an average guy who can break it down in easy-to-understand terms (hopefully at least). I wholeheartedly believe that the new phase of people investing in crypto is here to stay and keep rising. If crypto is something that I am seeing people in their 60s and 70s start investing in, when they have trouble with their Gmail account, I know damn well we have something of note on our hands. Now, I am not a full-on expert in blockchain programming, nor am I a financial advisor, but I have been in the game for long enough to understand what is happening and why. At the moment, I work for an investment/ stock market media company. In my role, I interact with our user base on a day-to-day basis, so I get a good sense of what people are watching and investing in as a whole. I am super passionate about crypto and blockchain technology, and as I said, I am just here to give you a breakdown of what’s going on. I will give ideas on what to look out for, how to stay safe, and maybe get a better understanding of this whole new space, so you can finally understand what your grandson/ daughter or nephew/ niece has been going on and on about.
Continue reading:
https://www.benzinga.com/markets/cryptocurrency/22/03/25949369/where-do-i-even-start-with-blockchain-technology-or-cryptocurrency-investing