March is Women’s History Month, and the fact that you’re reading these words on a phone, tablet or computer screen is partly due to the work of information technology professionals.
However, as recently as October, a study by the nonprofit AnitaB.org found that half of the women in the computing field were still feeling the effects of being a minority. In spite of that, more than 60 percent reported that they were seeing some signs of improvement. Credit for that on campus can go to Women in Technology at UCI, an advocacy group founded a year and a half ago by Shohreh Bozorgmehri, director of the Student and Academic Services Division of UCI’s Office of Information Technology.
“Women in Technology at UCI was created from the aspiration to bring awareness to the challenges and unique experiences of women and minorities working in tech on campus,” explains Bozorgmehri, who chairs WiT’s inaugural board of advisors. “Technology is integral to all aspects of the business of higher education, but right now only less than a third of tech professionals are identified as women. By working to develop a more gender-diverse and equitable workplace, we maximize the benefits of diverse perspectives and creative ideas that advance our institution’s mission.”
WiT held an “Allyship That Makes an Impact” webinar in February 2021 that drew 331 attendees for a discussion of how allies can support women and minorities in technology. These conversations inspired the development of the Better Allies Book Club, sponsored by UCI’s Office of Information Technology to support the creation of an inclusive workplace through everyday actions.
In March 2021, WiT launched Applause, an annual peer recognition program spotlighting women who are building a culture of inclusion, equity and empowerment in their IT workplace. The organization has also sponsored career coaching for high-potential women.
Continue reading: https://news.uci.edu/2022/02/28/tech-equity/

By embedding AI solutions into every aspect of the business, organizations can drive growth.
Artificial Intelligence has been around for a long time. AI is gradually becoming a part of our daily lives, from web search suggestions and auto-focus in cellphones to robot attendants at shopping malls and car cruise control. By embedding AI solutions into every aspect of the business, organizations may optimize processes, gain a competitive advantage, and ultimately drive growth. AI in business has immense potential for innovation and progress, and it will continue to change the world in a variety of ways in the future. Read on to learn about the 7 astonishing benefits of AI in business.
1. Automation
Automation is one of the most frequently mentioned advantages of AI in business, and it has had a considerable impact on the telecommunications, transportation, consumer goods, and service sectors. Automation not only increases production rates and productivity in these industries, but also provides for more efficient use of raw resources, improved product quality, shorter lead times, and improved safety. Automation can also help to free up resources that can be put to better use.
2. Smart Decision Making
AI in businesses helps make better decisions. To make the best judgments for the firm, AI technology can organize data distribution, assess trends, build data consistency, offer forecasts, and quantify uncertainties. As long as artificial intelligence is not built to mimic human emotions, it will remain objective on the subject at hand and will assist in making the best decision to enhance corporate efficiency.
Continue reading: https://www.analyticsinsight.net/top-7-unmatched-benefits-of-ai-in-business/

Artificial intelligence (AI) technology is a powerful asset in business, allowing machines to think for themselves – and at a faster pace than ever before. But AI systems can pose cybersecurity challenges, which can cause operational, financial, health and safety, and reputational damage.
BDO Lixar, which is BDO Canada’s national technology consulting business arm, helps organizations recognize and manage such risks. Partners Rocco Galletto, head of cybersecurity, and Daryl Senick, who is responsible for data and AI, as head of financial services, talk about the potential vulnerabilities of AI and what can be done to make these systems safe and secure.
How much is AI used in business systems, in what sectors and why?
DS: AI is no longer an emerging technology; it has truly become mainstream, whether it’s for cost and inventory optimization or the analysis of consumer sentiment and behavior. It’s used in contexts from manufacturing, for “shop-floor-to-top-floor” automation, to financial services, where it’s used to rate risk in credit and insurance products. Organizations that don’t leverage AI could lose their competitive edge.
Continue reading: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/adv/article-artificial-intelligence-and-cybersecurity-risks-take-steps-to-address/

From automation to advanced security features, artificial intelligence has become a crucial component of business processes across all industries. Organizations are increasingly using AI to enhance the customer experience and boost consumer loyalty.
Because AI holds so many possibilities, it may be difficult to pinpoint how it can work for your customers, especially if your business is just beginning to take advantage of this technology. To help, 14 members of Forbes Business Council discussed some ways your organization can use AI to increase customer satisfaction.
1. Identify Unhappy Customers
In the loyalty management market, AI and machine learning are often used for churn prediction. By identifying unhappy customers based on purchase and behavioral patterns, you can reactivate them by sending them a nice personalized message with a loyalty reward like bonus points. AI can also be used to determine what the value of the reward should be for each customer or segment. - Zsuzsa Kecsmar, Antavo Loyalty Management Platform
2. Add Auto-Merchandising
We have more user-experience data, but manually sifting through it is challenging. It’s early days for automated insights. Adding auto-merchandising—which uses purchase history to drive layout, showing popular products first for example—is a quick win. Automated performance-tuning systems are as well since they use user-experience data for automated site optimizations or pre-fetching to improve site speed. - Jacob Loveless, Edgemesh Corporation
3. Pinpoint Preferences
With the benefit of millions of successful customer interactions, AI allows organizations to go a step further in serving customers. Within healthcare, organizations can use AI to understand and apply consumers’ demographics and preferences to the digital experiences they are creating, allowing them to surface the most useful resources and recommendations to keep consumers engaged and motivated. - Greg Samios, Wolters Kluwer Health
Continue reading: https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesbusinesscouncil/2022/02/28/14-strategies-for-leveraging-ai-in-your-customer-experience/?sh=326ce93225e5

There’s strong support for analytics and data science and the capabilities it offers organizations. However, the people charged with developing analytics and artificial intelligence feel resistance from business executives in getting fully on board with data-driven practices. In addition, efforts to ensure fairness in AI are lagging.
That’s the word from a recent study of 277 data managers and scientists out of SAS, which finds that overall, more than two-thirds were satisfied with the outcomes from their analytical projects. At the same time, 42% say data science results are not used by business decision makers, making it one of the main barriers faced.
A lack of support from above is cited as the leading challenge to getting data analytics initiatives off the ground, the survey shows. Data quality issues ranked second, followed by lack of adoption of the results by decision-makers. It’s interesting that “explaining data science to others” is also seen as a challenge, suggesting that a big part of managers’ jobs needs to be evangelizing and educating their business counterparts on the benefits data analytics can deliver to their organizations, and how to do it right.
Continue reading: https://www.forbes.com/sites/joemckendrick/2022/02/28/responsible-artificial-intelligence-is-still-out-of-reach-for-many-organizations/?sh=451caf85231f

Artificial Intelligence
Artificial intelligence, or AI, and machine learning refer to the ability of machines to learn and act intelligently, meaning they can make decisions, carry out tasks, and even predict future outcomes based on what they learn from data.
AI and machine learning already play a bigger role in everyday life than you might imagine. Alexa, Siri, Amazon's product recommendations, Netflix’s and Spotify’s personalized recommendations, every Google search you make, security checks for fraudulent credit card purchases, dating apps, fitness trackers... All are driven by AI.
AI is going to revolutionize almost every facet of modern life. Stephen Hawking said, “Success in creating AI would be the biggest event in human history.” And Hawking immediately followed that up with, “Unfortunately, it might also be the last, unless we learn how to avoid the risks."
There are potentially huge risks for society and human life as we know it, particularly when you consider some countries are racing to develop AI-enabled autonomous weapons. AI and machine learning are the foundation on which many other technologies are built. For instance, without AI, we wouldn't have achieved the amazing advances in the Internet of Things, virtual reality, chatbots, facial recognition, robotics, automation, or self-driving cars, just to name a few.
AI is also going to transform human jobs. AI-enabled automation will have a particularly significant impact and may lead to the displacement of many jobs. But rather than subscribing to a vision of a dystopian future where all human jobs are given over to robots, I believe AI will make our working lives better. AI will enhance the work of humans, and new jobs will arise to replace displaced jobs.
What's more, as machines become more intelligent and capable of carrying out more human tasks, I believe that our uniquely human capabilities, things like creativity, empathy, and critical thinking, will become all the more precious and valuable in the workplaces of the future.
Continue reading: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/5-technologies-change-future-human-race-bernard-marr/

During women’s month, many people want to know how to support women—in their careers, in their work and in their lives. It’s a great question to ask, and not just during women’s month. Because women need and deserve support, empowerment and community always.
Of course, all genders need support, not just women. But it is a statistical fact that the pandemic has been disproportionately hard on women in terms of mental health, career advancement, pay, morale and wellbeing. So the time is perfect to consider how to support women, and help them be their best.
Solutions for women are about both agency and structure. Agency suggests women are agents of their own lives and futures—and can take actions which create the conditions for happiness and success. But structure is also important—the context for women’s success. People have power over each of these: Taking personal action and also influencing systems.
How to Help Women
Here are the five ways to support and empower women.
Manage Yourself
One of the first ways to help women is to manage your own biases. Listen to your own inner dialogue and push back on yourself when you hear prejudice. Also manage your own language and expression. Linguistic determinism suggests the way people express themselves has significant influence on thinking, behavior and choices. So pay attention to what you’re saying (and doing) and ensure you’re reinforcing equity and fairness toward women in all things.
Continue reading: https://www.forbes.com/sites/tracybrower/2022/02/27/5-powerful-ways-to-support-women/?sh=64148f218f3b

It is critical for us, as individuals, to question our role in maintaining the status quo in the tech industry.  Advancing change starts with us which means asking yourself: •    How can I reimagine systems and institutions so that they no longer facilitate         oppression, injustice, or harm? •     How do these systems function through my life, identity, and emotions? •     How should I interrogate myself and the roles my varied identities play in the study and use of technology?  
These are the questions the Beeck Center at Georgetown University sought to answer in Technology + Belonging, a 6-week seminar series they hosted in March and April 2021. Folks came together to critically examine the oppressive structures that technology upholds and creatively ideate on how to dismantle them. Check out their key takeaways. https://beeckcenter.georgetown.edu/technology-and-belonging-key-learnings/

Digital currencies have been in circulation for a long time. Ever since they were invented, many people have developed an interest in the crypto world. In fact, over the past two years, exchange sites like Binance have recorded a huge number of new accounts.
As cryptocurrencies became popular, different industries started to offer the coins as payment methods. Online betting is one of the industries that have widely accepted the digital currencies as deposit/withdrawal options. It’s now easy to use any of the common coins like Bitcoin and Ethereum to wager at an online casino. You can learn more about crypto gambling, one of the most trusted sites like Cryptogamble.tips.
What is online crypto gambling?
In simple terms, online crypto gambling is wagering at a casino using digital currencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum, or Dogecoin. The popularity of these digital currencies has been on the rise over the past few years. Especially now, with a global pandemic, people have been forced to look for alternative online payment options across different industries.
In online gambling, we were used to playing with the dollar, the euro, or the pound. But now, you can use any of the popular cryptocurrencies to deposit and withdraw from your casino accounts. But why exactly are cryptocurrencies so popular in the online gambling industry? Well, read on to find out.
Continue reading: https://www.jpost.com/special-content/why-crypto-gambling-is-a-booming-industry-698803

Today, there are several businesses across the world. This implies high competition for firms providing similar or identical products.  It also poses a great challenge to any beginner trying to penetrate an industry. If you’re one of them, you can leverage the power of marketing and compete effectively with giants in the market.  
You can conduct marketing by yourself. However, you can reap more benefits by hiring a blockchain marketing agency.
Aside from its benefits, here are some of the ways a blockchain marketing agency can transform your marketing efforts:
It Aids In Adopting Modern Technologies Quickly:
If you want to enhance your marketing efforts, you must utilize some of the latest technologies. This involves using software, automated tools, and techniques to simplify your marketing process. 
With the right technologies, you can reach a wider audience worldwide. Besides, new technologies enable you to utilize fewer resources to send promotional messages to customers. This allows you to maximize your profits.  
The world of technology is moving faster. For instance, the tactics that may have worked wonders in the past few years may not be helpful today. However, you might not be aware of these changes. 
With an experienced blockchain marketing company, you’ll be able to adopt the latest technologies faster. Some of them have been in the game for several years. They’ve gone through various blockchain technological changes. For that reason, they can advise you on the best tools and strategies to include in your marketing efforts. Using modern technologies allows you to transform or streamline your marketing efforts.  
Continue reading: https://techgraph.co/blockchain/4-ways-blockchain-marketing-agency-transform-marketing-effort/

The internet has given rise to a new era of data security and privacy predicaments. As more people continue transitioning to digital technologies, issues relating to digital security, privacy, and data integrity have taken center stage. To illustrate the scope of these issues, the 2021 Javelin Strategy & Research Identity Fraud Study reveals that identity fraud losses topped $56 billion in 2020.
Traditional identity management systems of today are heavily centralized, resulting in several third-party service providers controlling your data. This problem can be clearly seen across several existing social media and eCommerce platforms where users no longer have sole control over their personal information, resulting in their confidential data often being leaked and misused.
The Current Scenario
Currently, every online platform requires users to provide verifiable credentials for accessing products and services. This ‘digital identity’ contains all the relevant information pertaining to an individual. 
Centralized platforms often collect sensitive and personal data related to ‘digital identity’ about their users, then store them alongside regular data in centralized servers. By design, the centralized ecosystem is fragmented, offering minimal transparency for users, and is becoming increasingly insecure. 
Additionally, centralized identity management systems lack the feature of self-sovereign identity management, resulting in redundant processes to verify, validate, and manage a user’s digital identity throughout their lifecycle. These operations quickly become excessively expensive, repetitive, and tedious, needing manual data reconciliation and validation.
Therefore, we need a trustworthy and reliable solution that enables users and businesses to interact digitally with each other while preserving data privacy and security.
Continue reading: https://zycrypto.com/how-can-blockchain-technology-protect-digital-identities/

The seizure by the U.S. Department of Justice of $3.6 billion worth of Bitcoin (BTC) lost during the 2016 hack of Bitfinex’s cryptocurrency exchange has all the ingredients of a Hollywood film — eye-popping sums, colorful protagonists and crypto cloak-and-dagger — so much so that Netflix has already commissioned a docuseries. 
But, who are the unsung heroes in this action-packed thriller? Federal investigators from multiple agencies including the new National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team have painstakingly followed the money trail to assemble the case. The Feds also seized the Colonial Pipeline ransoms paid in crypto, making headlines last year. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) seized $3.5 billion worth of crypto in 2021 in non-tax investigations, according to the recently released Chainalysis cryptocrime 2022 report.
The trends point to the diminishing ability of nefarious criminals and terrorists to use cryptocurrencies as safe havens to stash their ill-gotten gains, illicit profits, donations and funding away from law enforcement officials. For example, the Bitfinex hackers are reported to have moved a small portion of Bitcoin to darknet exchange Alphabay and from there to regular crypto exchanges. This is one of the leads that the Feds used to apprehend the defendants.
Law enforcement agencies are getting better at investigating crypto crimes
Regulators and law enforcement agencies in a select few countries have really upped the ante on blockchain forensics. Although initially lost at sea, some G-men and women have honed the playbook on the search and seizure of assets, prosecution in courts and disposal of seized digital currency after winning the case. Each of these specific steps demonstrates a deep understanding of this disruptive technology.
Continue reading: https://cointelegraph.com/news/blockchain-forensics-is-the-trusted-informant-in-crypto-crime-scene-investigation

The Internet as we perceive it is excellent for cooperation and communication, but it has significant flaws in terms of commercial activity and confidentiality.
Blockchain technology enables peer-to-peer payments without the need for a middleman such as a bank or the government. Blockchain certifies and retains a persistent public ledger of all activities, while keeping the user’s identity confidential.
This implies that your personal information is protected, and all activities are transparent and irrefutable, verified through mass collaboration, and recorded in code on a digital ledger. You won’t need to trust the other person in the conventional way once it’s in place, since trust is built into the system itself.
When it comes to the Blockchain revolution, Gerry Sanchez, a blockchain and NFT expert, argues that the technology is still in its early phases of implementation, which allows for a lot of innovation. In the coming years, as people get more inventive and start “plugging” objects into the blockchain, the public will see many more novel applications. “It’s a great time to be alive” Gerry quotes.
He believes that smart contracts, dapps, and NFTs are just the beginning of blockchain applications and that the public may see two, three, or even more generations of innovation in this field.
Continue reading: https://www.influencive.com/blockchain-revolution-the-future-is-highly-promising-gerry-sanchez/

The eight steps in the blockchain development lifecycle:
Define the problem to be resolved with blockchain applications;
The first step of this process involves identifying a problem that a blockchain can resolve successfully. It can be both costly and unnecessary to use a blockchain when it is not required. Therefore, it's critical to identify a real-world problem that a blockchain can resolve.
Choose the best-fitting consensus mechanism
Each blockchain project utilizes its own consensus mechanism. The most common are proof-of-work (PoW) and proof-of-stake (PoS). Other consensus mechanisms like practical Byzantine fault tolerance, proof-of-burn, proof-of-activity and proof-of-capacity can be adopted only if they are better suited for the project.
Decide on a programming language and blockchain
At this point, focus on designing the user interface of the application. The chosen blockchain to be built on will affect the programming language used, which in turn will influence how users interact with the chain. Moreover, interoperability is an additional consideration when thinking of languages. But, which programming language is used for blockchain technologies.
Some of the popular programming languages for blockchain developers are as follows:
After selecting a language, a blockchain developer should pick a database to work with. MongoDB and MySQL are two popular choices.
Continue reading: https://businessblockchainhq.com/business-blockchain-news/an-overview-of-the-blockchain-development-lifecycle/

It is a typically cold day in February and the peak of the flu season. Let alone the never-ending pandemic that seems to have been haunting this world forever. And it got me thinking – can technology help battle all these nasty diseases and improve patient outcomes? And most importantly, will artificial intelligence have a hand in it? It seems so.
In 2021, we’ve reached another milestone in Artificial Intelligence adoption – $6.9 billion of market size and counting. By 2027, the intelligent market in healthcare will grow to 67.4 billion. Hence, the future of AI in healthcare certainly looks bright, yet not serene.
Today, I’ll walk you through the state of artificial intelligence in healthcare, its main application areas, and its current limitations. All these will help you build a holistic image of this technology in medical services.
The State of AI in Healthcare Today
Artificial Intelligence is now considered one of the most important IT research areas, promoting industrial growth. Just like the transformation of power technology led to the Industrial Revolution, AI is heralded today as the source of breakthrough.
Within the healthcare continuum, COVID-19 has accelerated investments in AI. Over half of healthcare leaders expect artificial intelligence (AI) to drive innovation in their organizations in the coming years. At the same time, around 90% of hospitals have AI strategies in place.
Now let’s have a look at the top impacts of intelligent algorithms in medicine.
Current Technological Impacts in Medicine
Today, only specific settings in clinical practice have welcomed the application of artificial intelligence.
Patients have been waiting for the deployment of augmented medicine since it allows for greater autonomy and more individualized care. However, clinicians are less encouraged because augmented medicine requires fundamental shifts in clinical practice.
Nevertheless, we already have enough AI use cases to assess its potential.
Continue reading: https://readwrite.com/artificial-intelligence-in-healthcare/

The number of companies using AI has grown significantly in recent years, from small companies up to giants like Google and Facebook. The rise of AI can be attributed to advancements in machine learning, big data analytics and cloud computing.
But there is a lot of misinformation about what exactly AI means. Let’s take a look at what it is all about and why you should care about it as an individual or as a business owner.
What are AI writing assistants and how have they changed marketing?
An AI writing assistant is software that automates one or more phases in the process of generating content for marketing purposes. AI writing assistants can help with ideation, structure and even tone and style, giving marketers more time to focus on their unique skills and to brainstorm new ideas.
Due to its wide range of capabilities, an AI writing assistant can potentially make marketers' jobs easier: It can generate content at scale while also making sure that every post has the right tone and structure according to client specifications. In addition, it can also take care of error-prone tasks such as copy editing
Many copywriters are now using AI writers to create content because software can identify the best structure and vocabulary to use, which can be a time-consuming process for copywriters. It also helps them with writer’s block by giving them new ideas on what they should write about.
AI writers are also much cheaper than human copywriters and can generate content at scale. This is thanks to their ability to learn from large sets of data and perform efficiently.
Continue reading: https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/402790

An AI virtual assistant can do more than process data. It can play a crucial role in redesigning the business
There is proliferating popularity for virtual assistants in enabling a smart and efficient work environment. Amazon’s Alexa, Apple’s Siri, and Microsoft’s Cortana are the best examples of how people find virtual assistants are aiding in streamlining their everyday activity. On the work front, Virtual assistant tools are in place to help with mundane tasks. As technologies advance, their sphere of influence also widens. According to a report by Gartner, both consumers and businesses will be spending $3.5 billion by end of 2021 on Virtual Personal Assistants. Therefore, the user has to be smart enough to have an optimized experience and derive maximum results from Virtual assistants. Here are a few tips to follow when employing AI virtual assistants. 
Choose the Right Fit
Different virtual assistants come with different features. Not all your business functions would need their services nor all their features can fulfill your specific requirements. It is a case of choosing the right permutation and combination to leverage its full potential. In order to arrive at the right decision, you should educate yourself to know the latest upgrades and features. Instead of thinking about conventional ways of using virtual assistant features, you can find ways in which the existing features can be applied to other problem areas in business. 
Continue reading: https://www.analyticsinsight.net/five-ways-to-make-an-ai-virtual-assistant-work-for-you/

Artificial intelligence can provide some serious perks to your business. Despite this, knowing where to apply it can be difficult to figure out. If you’re looking to launch your business’s journey with AI, consider implementing it in these three areas. 
Artificial intelligence is enjoying its moment in the spotlight. However, many business leaders remain uncertain on how best to use this emerging technology fully, responsibly, and profitably. What they crave is direction when it comes to implementing AI in ways that will reap both immediate and long-term benefits.
Perhaps you share this hesitation to embrace AI in all its forms, which makes sense. Without a doubt, though, AI adoption has skyrocketed: Recent PwC research showed that 86% of companies felt AI would be a mainstream component of their tech. Similarly, a 2020 study indicated that about half of organizations have further accelerated their AI endeavors. Still, even if you’re like the 72% of executives who told The AI Journal they felt good about the future role of AI, you might not be certain where it fits into your operational workflows.
The answer is that how you use AI will depend greatly on your business’s unique needs and goals. AI offers plenty of advantages, but it comes in numerous forms. Consequently, the way an automotive manufacturer utilizes AI-fueled solutions will vary from the way a financial institution might. In other words, your job is to determine the right AI mix for your organization’s aspirations. Below are some use cases to consider:
Continue reading: https://ceoworld.biz/2022/02/28/are-you-leveraging-ais-advantages-in-these-3-places/

Contracting is a widespread activity, yet it is one that only a few businesses execute well. In fact, it’s been estimated that inefficient contracting costs businesses anywhere from 5% to 40% of the value of a deal, depending on the conditions. However, new technical advancements such as artificial intelligence (AI) are now assisting businesses in overcoming many contracting issues. 
The biggest problem businesses confront when it comes to contracting is the vast amount of contracts they must keep track of; these contracts are often inconsistent and difficult to organize, maintain, and update. Because most companies don’t have a database of all the information in their contracts – let alone an effective means to extract it – there’s no easy way to evaluate complex outsourcing agreements or compare how a condition is worded across divisions. Not only does it take a lot of labor to create, execute, and improve contracts, it also takes a lot of manpower to draft, execute, and improve contracting processes and the transactions that these contracts regulate.
How AI is revolutionizing the concept of contract management 
If a large tech company, for example, has a high volume of procurement contracts with various renewal dates and renegotiation terms, reviewing and tracking all of this information would take hundreds of hours and a staff of contract managers to ensure that no renewal or opportunity is missed. 
AI software, on the other hand, can readily extract data and explain contract content. (Any number of contracts’ renewal dates and renegotiation clauses might be rapidly pulled and organized.) As a result, it can help businesses evaluate contracts faster, organize and locate vast amounts of contract data more readily, reduce the risk of contract disputes (and adversarial contract negotiations), and improve the number of contracts they can negotiate and sign.
Continue reading: https://analyticsindiamag.com/how-ai-is-revolutionising-contract-management/

The idea of what the edge means to infrastructure continues to evolve. In the hybrid environment that the world has had to adopt rapidly these past two years, it has fundamentally come to mean supporting secure computing wherever your organization’s users and devices happen to be — at any moment.
In truth, the military services have long had this view of their infrastructure because deployments make that agile need a reality, but they too are expanding how they define and support edge computing.
Continue reading: https://federalnewsnetwork.com/cme-event/federal-insights/expert-edition-the-evolution-of-edge-computing/

Skyfire Consulting (Skyfire) (skyfireconsulting.com), the most trusted and experienced public safety UAS consulting group, today announced the launch of SF2— The most versatile American-Made drone on the planet, purpose-built for public safety and critical sectors. SF2 is a payload-agnostic, rugged and durable 22-inch mid-sized multirotor aircraft designed for the extreme environments found in public safety missions. Whether being used in the fire service for mapping missions and scene reconstruction, by police departments for tactical missions or drone as a first responder (DFR) programs, SF2 becomes the gold standard tool to help complete the mission and get responders home safely.
“Skyfire has taken its nearly ten years of public safety UAS experience and used feedback from hundreds of clients to design SF2 into an aircraft made specifically for the unpredictable conditions seen by first responders,” said Matt Sloane, Skyfire founder and CEO. “SF2 is a natural progression of our business as we remain focused on supporting those who protect and serve our communities by offering a drone that’s as diverse as their mission sets.”
SF2 is built with aerospace-grade aluminium and carbon fibre; and with its folding boom configuration, it can be transported in a compact lightweight case or backpack for quick deployment. SF2 operates with a maximum payload weight of 14 lb., has a maximum flight speed of over 55 mph*, and boasts a maximum flight time of over 45 minutes*. As a payload-agnostic aircraft, SF2 allows for users to select from many HD cameras and state of the art sensor options within the payload limits – from the FLIR Duo Pro R to the Wiris Pro, various Sony mapping cameras and many more. SF2 comes standard with the Herelink integrated remote controller with a maximum transmission distance of six miles and an onboard Pixhawk Cube Orange (NDAA compliant Blue Cube and Blue Herelink available upon request).
Continue reading: https://www.suasnews.com/2022/02/american-made-drone-designed-for-real-world-public-safety-and-critical-sector-missions/

Industrial IoT in the Time of Covid-19 – reveals majority of businesses do not share IoT data effectively across their business ecosystem but plan to in future
Research by Inmarsat, the world leader in global, mobile satellite communications, reveals relatively few businesses derive maximum benefit from the IoT data that they gather.
Most of today’s businesses only share IoT data within their own organisations, with security and privacy concerns preventing them from disseminating it to organisations in their wider supply chains. Infrequent data collection and lacking an IoT data strategy leaves many businesses surveyed struggling to extract full value from their IoT data. A more strategic, ambitious and open approach to gathering and sharing non-sensitive data could unlock substantial benefits for business struggling to make the most of IoT projects.
Collecting and sharing the right data at the right time enables companies and their partners to take better, more proactive decisions across the value chain to optimise operations as soon as a problem occurs, or even anticipate and mitigate it before it happens. Such data driven insight can help businesses reduce waste, increase productivity, improve customer service and run more sustainable operations.
According to the research, based on the interviews of 450 global respondents across the agriculture, electrical utilities, mining, oil and gas, and transport and logistics sectors, as many as 86 per cent of respondents admit their organisation does not use the data collected from IoT projects as effectively as it could. This is despite high levels of IoT adoption overall. The most prevalent barriers are security and data privacy concerns, cited as a barrier by over half (54 per cent) of all respondents, followed by a lag between data collection and availability (46 per cent) and the lack of an IoT data strategy (33 per cent).
Accelerating IoT adoption over the course of the Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted the fact that many businesses’ data sharing strategies are not yet as advanced as they need to be. Currently, only 20 per cent of all organisations make non-sensitive IoT data available to anyone in their organisation, and to their partners, to access and to use. Conversely, nearly two in five (39 per cent) limit the use of IoT data to certain departments involved in their IoT projects. However, this is set to change, with a larger proportion of organisations (38 per cent) shifting towards sharing data with their wider supply chain and far fewer (20 per cent) planning on limiting IoT data to specific departments. This change is occurring as more businesses come to understand that the responsible and secure sharing of IoT data is a necessary step towards unlocking the maximum value of that data.
The research reveals that having a formal IoT data strategy is a vital step towards drawing the optimum benefits from the technology, ensuring data is produced, shared, and analysed between the right parties at the right time. Organisations with a formal IoT strategy are far more likely to gather data points in their IoT projects in real time (48 per cent of respondents compared to only 16 per cent amongst organisations without an IoT strategy).
There are also notable differences in how strategic businesses are in the usage of their IoT data based on the region they operate in and the size of their organisations. While only 23 per cent of North American businesses struggle to use IoT data effectively due to the lack of an IoT data strategy, this increases to 54 per cent of organisations in Latin America and 55 per cent in Russia and the Stans. Likewise, while 20 per cent of the largest organisations (over 5,000 employees) struggle with a lack of an IoT data strategy, 40 per cent of smaller businesses (under 500 employees) cite this as a barrier to effective IoT data use.
Continue reading: https://iotbusinessnews.com/2022/02/25/75015-security-and-privacy-concerns-prevent-effective-use-of-iot-data-inmarsat-research-reveals/

The Ginnie Mae Innovation Lab is testing blockchain and distributed ledger technologies (DLT) to examine how they might benefit loan-level service transfers, pool issuance, loan servicing and bond management applications.
The lab, which started in 2019, also recently launched the Federal Housing Blockchain Network to collaborate across federal agencies; government entities; mortgage, servicing and investment firms; trade groups and the entire housing finance ecosystem.
The network “is a registration-based forum for U.S. housing finance technology, business, vendors, academics to collaborate and experiment with blockchain, distributed ledger, smart contract and emerging technologies,” Barbara Cooper-Jones, senior vice president of Ginnie Mae’s Office of Enterprise Data and Technology Solutions, wrote in an email to GCN. “The network uses a digital collaboration tool where people can suggest concepts and questions regarding technology applications and methods and commentary using socialization and digital crowdsourcing.”
The network plans to host technology forums, webinars, subject matter expert presentations and discussions throughout the year. Ginnie Mae, a wholly owned government corporation within the Department of Housing and Urban Development, does not currently use blockchain or distributed ledger technologies in production.
It first identified blockchain as an emerging technology that might provide an additional data security layer in 2017, and two years later, its Emerging Technology program began to research it, along with DLT and smart contracts, or automated business applications that run on the blockchain.
Now, several blockchain and DLT prototypes and experiments are under way through Ginnie Mae’s Innovation Lab. 
“Information security, data provenance, lineage and legal sufficiency are among Ginnie Mae’s top priorities for considering blockchain,” Cooper-Jones said. “Blockchain may reduce the number of times information is handled, reconciled, verified and stored by each company in the U.S. housing finance ecosystem, thereby reducing cost, risk and data latency."
Continue reading: https://gcn.com/emerging-tech/2022/02/blockchain-takes-root-ginnie-mae/362477/

Founded as a public benefit corporation, EquityCoin, Inc. created the first digital token on the blockchain backed by affordable housing. The company provides apartments for those in danger of becoming homeless while helping community-members build generational wealth through fractional real estate ownership.
According to EquityCoin founder and CEO Vernon J., “On any given night in America, there are over 500,000 people sleeping on the streets even though studies show that increasing access to permanent housing has the potential to reduce homelessness by 50%. This is the crisis of our time, and we need more public and private programs that can directly address this basic necessity.”
Vernon, a commercial real estate professional and investor with over 16 years of experience, and over $150 million in transactions, launched EquityCoin in January of 2021 after renting out one of his units in the East New York neighborhood of Brooklyn, NY, to a mother and son who were living in a shelter, according to a press release.
“I saw tears of joy in her eyes when I handed her the keys to her new unit. Never before that moment had I felt such fulfillment. From that point on, my purpose was clear – to help thousands of families in need of affordable housing,” says Vernon.
“When landlords step up to provide housing to the underserved, everyone wins. The tenant receives essential permanent housing, the city keeps families off the streets and property owners guarantee their cash flow through government rent vouchers.”
Continue reading: https://www.blackenterprise.com/black-and-latinx-company-uses-blockchain-to-house-homeless-families/

As part of its UAS integration initiative called BEYOND, the FAA has approved Iris Automation to fly a small drone autonomously beyond the visual line of sight (BVLOS) in a rural, unpopulated area south of Reno, Nevada.
Instead of having visual observers or using ground-based detection equipment, the drone flying BVLOS will use leverage Iris Automation’s advanced detect and avoid solution, Casia X. Once flights over unpopulated areas are proven successful, the project will move to urban areas.
Iris applied for this waiver on behalf of the City of Reno and the Reno Fire Department (RFD) – a seemingly long-term collaboration that Reno Mayor, Hillary Schieve, hails as a “unique teaming of public and private interests.” Here’s Schieve:

This is an exciting project, working with the BEYOND program and the latest technologies to open the skies both for our community and the broader public. Autonomous flying will benefit every member of our community and drive long-term economic benefits including job creation, cost savings, and more efficient services. We intend this to be our first of many waivers as part of this collaboration.

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BVLOS drones for river rescue missions
BVLOS drones are of particular interest to RFD. The department conducts about 40 rescues every year where first responders are required to enter the waters of the Truckee River. Almost 10% of these missions occur in the dark.
With a single mission lasting about an hour on average and requiring 12-20 first responders, water exposure – especially in moving water incidents – becomes extremely dangerous for both victims and emergency crews.
As such, RFD has high hopes from BVLOS drones that could both help save lives and reduce the resources required for rescue operations, hence putting fewer fire department personnel at risk.
As Reno Fire Chief Dave Cochran explains:

Getting to BVLOS is a significant milestone for search and rescue missions, as well as for the safety of our employees. Drones allow us to launch into flight safely at a moment’s notice, with new and more effective approaches to making our downtown river corridor safer while also saving time and money. This accomplishment provides a blueprint for other fire departments, public agencies, and enterprises to utilize drones.

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Continue reading: https://dronedj.com/2022/02/25/iris-automation-faa-bvlos-drones-river-rescue-nevada/