Microsoft CEO Bullish on Asian Data Center Market

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Microsoft CEO Bullish on Asian Data Center Market

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella is bullish on the Asian data center market, including China and India, at a time when trade tensions are ramping up.

Microsoft operates the second-largest cloud platform and, as such, operates data centers around the world. As one of the world’s largest growth markets, Asia represents tremendous opportunity for the company.

“Absolutely. We’re very, very bullish about what’s happening in Asia,” Satya Nadella, said in an interview with CNBC’s Tanvir Gill.

Nadella singled out two countries as especially important to the company’s future: China and India.

“We’re absolutely committed to all of these countries and in China too,” Nadella said. “Today, we primarily work to support multinational companies that operate in China and multinational companies out of China.”

Similarly, while India is important to the company’s future, Microsoft sees significant changes to the market.

“Microsoft’s presence in India was about mostly multinational companies operating in India. But for now, it’s completely changed,” he said.

“It’s the reverse where these companies who are innovating in India, whether it’s the big large conglomerates, or the new startups, are all using [artificial intelligence] cloud technology to be able to innovate and create services that are obviously popular in India and elsewhere,” he added.

In all, Nadella said Microsoft plans on investing in at least 11 different regions.

Microsoft CEO Bullish on Asian Data Center Market
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DoorDash Reducing Headcount by 1,250

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DoorDash Reducing Headcount by 1,250

DoorDash is the latest company to reduce its headcount in the face of economic headwinds, cuttings its workforce by 1,250.

Countless companies in a range of industries miscalculated the long-term impact of the pandemic. As a result, many companies increased their headcount to levels that were unsustainable once things began to return to normal.

DoorDash CEO Tony Xu indicated his company had done the same thing in a memo to employees:

Most of our investments are paying off, and while we’ve always been disciplined in how we have managed our business and operational metrics, we were not as rigorous as we should have been in managing our team growth. That’s on me. As a result, operating expenses grew quickly.

Unfortunately, the end result is that some 1,250 employees will lose their job:

This is the most difficult change to DoorDash that I’ve had to announce in our almost 10-year history. Today, we are reducing our corporate headcount by approximately 1250 people and saying goodbye to many talented teammates. If you are among those impacted, I am truly sorry and I apologize to have some of you wake up to this news as opposed to reading it during more normal hours.

DoorDash Reducing Headcount by 1,250
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7 Magento SEO Tips You Need to Know

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<strong>7 Magento SEO Tips You Need to Know</strong>

Businesses all over the globe use Magento for their eCommerce platforms, which means ranking high in SERPs is tough when there is stiff competition from other eCommerce stores.

In order to rank higher, you must address visitors’ search intent precisely. You can achieve this with Magento SEO. It might not be possible to maximize Magento Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) with default settings, despite the platform’s feature-packed nature.

Ensure your website is easy to discover by following best SEO practices.

Magento SEO – Why You Need It

You’ve put in a lot of effort to get conversions, but SEO stands between you and your rewards. The rewards will come if you do your SEO right.

What are the reasons why SEO is so important? By ranking higher in the SERP, SEO can help you increase your website’s visibility and traffic, which allows your website to be found by the right customers.

SEO plays a critical role in your Magento store, as you’ve read above. Let’s look at Magento SEO best practices now that you know the “why”.

These are the seven best practices for Magento 2 SEO

1. Metadata definition

SEO relies heavily on metadata. Meta descriptions and page titles are the most important parts of it. The Click-Through-Rate (CTR) and Ranking of the site are significantly affected by both.

Titles should include the following:

●  Ensure that it is easy to read

●  Keywords should be included

●  CTAs should be included

●  Take a unique approach

2. Optimize indexing for SEO

You want your eCommerce store to appear high on search engine results for relevant search queries, right? Having your site crawled and indexed properly will allow you to accomplish this.

Navigation by Facets

With faceted navigation, users can easily find what they’re looking for by sorting by the characteristics of the website. A website’s sidebar usually includes these filters. Even though they sound helpful, they are the root cause of many SEO problems. Many issues, including duplicate content, arise due to their huge crawling requirements. This can be fixed, though.

URLs that are canonical

With canonical URLs, the search engine is able to crawl your primary page instead of its variants’ duplicate content if you set a parent URL.

3. Make use of XML sitemaps

Search engines crawl XML sitemaps only if they have URLs that you want them to crawl. Using this method, you won’t let the search engines crawl any unnecessary pages.

XML sitemap submission can be made easier by following these tips:

●  Pages must be indexable in order to be submitted

●  It is not recommended to submit more than 50,000 URLs in one XML sitemap.

●  It is possible to include canonical URLs

●  It should not exceed 50 MB in size uncompressed

●  Sitemaps and website content should be updated regularly

4. Short and simple URLs are best

The URLs of your Magento store’s pages are the pathway that search engines take to reach your store’s pages, so you must structure them appropriately and optimise them. Both search engines and users benefit from a good URL structure. URLs should have the following structure:

●  Clearly written and easy to understand

●  Keywords that are relevant to long-tail searches are used in optimisation

●  A short and concise summary

●  Using lowercase letters

●  Maintaining consistency

5. It is important to organize the content with appropriate headings

The user-friendly content is organized and structured by headings on the page. Content cannot be navigated properly without proper heading organization.

6. Enhance the performance and speed of your website

To run efficiently, Magento requires specific server resources. To ensure Magento’s success, you need a solid hosting platform that is optimized for Magento. The hosting platform and Magento platform must also be configured correctly for better performance. Your hosting platform should meet the following requirements for the best performance:

●  Adaptable to CDNs

●  Nginx server running

●  Redis and Varnish supported

●  Magento-optimized

●  Caching features are also available to increase the site’s performance

7. HTTPS should be enabled

Building a successful and satisfied customer base requires serving your audience over a secure network. Due to the fact that eCommerce stores conduct transactions online, HTTPS is necessary.

As Google Chrome users visit HTTPS websites 99% of the time, according to Serpwatch. There is no doubt that users prefer websites that are secure.

Conclusion

To reach the top rankings, high-ranking websites adhere to a number of best practices.

There are many SEO factors you can tweak with Magento, including robots.txt, sitemaps, redirects, etc., that can help you get better results.

Your current ranking may be improved if you follow the above best practices.

Your website’s SEO performance may also be affected by other factors. An SEO company can help in this situation. As you analyze your website’s SEO performance, it identifies potential threats and suggests ways to improve them.

<strong>7 Magento SEO Tips You Need to Know</strong>
Brian Wallace

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SaaS Adoption Is Slowing Despite Its Popularity

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SaaS Adoption Is Slowing Despite Its Popularity

According to a new report, software as a service (SaaS) adoption is slowing despite widespread popularity.

BetterCloud has released its 2023 State of SaaSOps report, shedding light on the SaaS industry. The report contains feedback from 743 IT and security professionals, providing valuable insights into the state of affairs.

Some 40% of those polled reported consolidating redundant SaaS apps, accounting for a significant slowdown in adoption. Despite the slower pace, adoption is still up 18% from last year, with organizations using an average of 130 SaaS apps.

Interestingly, despite the importance of SaaS, 59% of those polled reported it was a challenge to manage “SaaS sprawl,” with shadow IT being a prime culprit. Shadow IT refers to instances where departments within an organization deploy their own IT systems without the oversight of the IT department. Demonstrating the extent of the problem, respondents reported that 65% of all SaaS services are deployed without authorization from IT, raising additional security and privacy concerns.

In response to these challenges, IT departments are increasingly bringing SaaS services under their control, with 57% doing so in the last 12 months. Many IT departments are also turning to automation to help manage their SaaS services, with 71% having automated at least one help desk service and 43% having a dedicated SaaSOps automation role or team.

Despite the challenges, BetterCloud is optimistic about the future of the SaaS industry.

“This is our tenth year surveying IT about the SaaS-powered workplace and one thing remains true: SaaS is critical to doing business and to providing a better employee experience,” said David Politis, CEO, BetterCloud, in a statement to WPN. “Yet, in the last few years, the rush to adopt SaaS has outpaced IT’s ability to keep up with management and security challenges. Our research this year highlights these growing pains, but also shows that investments in automation are helping IT stay one step ahead of SaaS application growth.”

BetterCloud’s 2023 State of SaaSOps report is well worth a read and contains additional insights into the industry that every IT professional should know.

Download the report here.

SaaS Adoption Is Slowing Despite Its Popularity
Matt Milano

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AWS Unveils ‘AWS Digital Sovereignty Pledge’

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AWS Unveils ‘AWS Digital Sovereignty Pledge’

AWS is unveiling its latest initiative designed to help it remain the cloud leader: the AWS Digital Sovereignty Pledge.

Digital sovereignty is an increasingly important aspect of cloud computing, as countries and jurisdictions endeavor to legislate privacy, security, and other online concerns. AWS has always strongly supported digital sovereignty, being the first major cloud provider to give customers the ability to control where their data was hosted, as well as how and where it moved.

The company is doubling down on that track record with its AWS Digital Sovereignty Pledge, giving customers the most powerful tools available for managing digital sovereignty.

“Our approach to delivering on this pledge is to continue to make the AWS Cloud sovereign-by-design—as it has been from day one,” writes Matt Garman, Senior Vice President of AWS Sales, Marketing and Global Services. “Early in our history, we received a lot of input from customers in industries like financial services and healthcare—customers who are among the most security- and data privacy-conscious organizations in the world—about what data protection features and controls they would need to use the cloud.”

The company is applying this “sovereign-by-design” approach in several key areas:

• Control over data location
• Verifiable data access control
• Everything, everywhere encryption
• Cloud resilience

“At AWS, earning customer trust is the foundation of our business. We understand that protecting customer data is key to achieving this,” Garman continues. “We also know that trust must continue to be earned through transparency. We are transparent about how our services process and transfer data. We will continue to challenge requests for customer data from law enforcement and government agencies. We provide guidance, compliance evidence, and contractual commitments so that our customers can use AWS services to meet compliance and regulatory requirements. We commit to continuing to provide the transparency and business flexibility needed to meet evolving privacy and sovereignty laws.”

AWS Unveils ‘AWS Digital Sovereignty Pledge’
Matt Milano

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Dropbox Acquiring Boxcyptor Assets to Enable End-to-End Encryption

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Dropbox Acquiring Boxcyptor Assets to Enable End-to-End Encryption

Dropbox has announced a deal to acquire assets from Boxcryptor in an effort to bring end-to-end encryption to its service.

Dropbox is one of the most popular cloud storage services, but it doesn’t have end-to-end encryption like Tresorit and other more security-conscious services. Dropbox is looking to change that by acquiring assets from Boxcryptor. Boxcryptor is an independent service that helps user encrypt their files across a range of cloud services, adding an extra layer of security.

Dropbox announced the deal in a blog post:

Today, we’re excited to share that we’ve signed an agreement to acquire several key assets from Boxcryptor, a provider of end-to-end “zero-knowledge” encryption for cloud storage services. The combination of Boxcryptor’s leading encryption capabilities and Dropbox’s easy-to-use product, with our already robust security features, will help us better meet our customers’ evolving needs.

The only downside to Dropbox’s plans is that it seems Boxcryptor’s features will only be available to business users:

We plan to embed Boxcryptor’s capabilities natively within Dropbox for our business users on our paid plans, adding an additional layer of security by encrypting files locally on their devices prior to syncing their content to Dropbox.

Despite the limitation, Dropbox’s announcement is good news for security-minded customers.

Dropbox Acquiring Boxcyptor Assets to Enable End-to-End Encryption
Matt Milano

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Stories by Pixlr: Free and Customizable Instagram Story Templates

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Stories by Pixlr: Free and Customizable Instagram Story Templates

Ola Sevanderson created Pixlr in August 2008 to make it easier for everyone to upload, modify, and share photographs online. Pixlr is now a crucial component of the INMAGINE creative ecosystem, which strives to make design simple and available to everyone.

The world’s most popular cloud and mobile photo editing suite has undergone extensive product development to refresh its fundamental engine. With the changes, it is now possible to revolutionize and expedite content creation by utilizing AI and machine learning.

Pixlr E. was launched to transform plain photographs into works of art. It is meant for more detailed image editing and professional-like content creation. Here are some of the most important features of this powerful software:

1. One Tap Stories

Do you want to make beautiful stories faster than ever? With One Tap Stories, you can simply upload your photos and get smart template suggestions to help you get started. Then, simply pick one, customize it, and post it. Job done.

This is a professional one-click picture studio! You can automatically crop out backgrounds and produce photographs that highlight individuals or objects. Create stunning profile pictures or product images for e-commerce stores one at a time or in a batch of 50 shots.

2. Trendy Templates

Check out the growing library of appealing and trendy Story templates. They feature every current style to help you customize your moods and campaigns. You will never feel at a loss for ideas, formats, or templates. 

3. Designer Fonts & Elements

The amazing font selection and graphic elements will add the extra special touch you want to make your project pop! Here, you can add, change or adjust anything with easy taps, making it a breeze to get your project up and running!

4. AI Color Matcher 

Are you worried about matching the right colors with your logo, campaign, or program? With the amazing AI color matcher, you can easily bring together any color scheme with precision! Using state-of-the-art AI design tools, you can upload photos for AI to generate matching color palettes you can use.

5. AI Crop with One Tap

E-commerce product posts just got easier! Start by using the handy photo editing app. With it, you can tap to cut out objects, remove backgrounds, or an image instantly. Along with your ability to remove things, you can also save anything you have removed and use it later. 

With Pixlr’s professional-grade batch tool, you can edit numerous photographs at once without doing tiresome one-by-one work. You may also easily crop, resize, apply filters, and add effects. Once you discover a combination that works for you, you can store the settings as a macro and use them again later. 

What’s Next?

Although still essential to the INMAGINE ecology, PIXLR goes beyond simple photo editing. Moving on to animation and video, PIXLR offers a greater range of services and capabilities to enable users to perform speedier and more sophisticated editing than is possible with other tools available on the market.

Stories by Pixlr: Free and Customizable Instagram Story Templates
Brian Wallace

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Media Groups Voice Support for Julian Assange

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Media Groups Voice Support for Julian Assange

Media groups have come out in favor of Julian Assange, urging the US to drop the charges against him.

Twelve years ago Monday, a collection of media outlets published portions of the 250,000 secret documents Assange gained access to in his role as Director of WikiLeaks. Since then, Assange has been wanted by US authorities and spent years holed up in the Ecuadorian embassy in the UK before Ecuador revoked his asylum in 2019. Assange was set to be extradited to the US, but his legal team is currently fighting extradition, leaving him in London’s Belmarsh prison.

According to The Guardian, a group of media outlets are petitioning the US government to drop its charges against Assange. The group includes The Guardian, The New York Times, Le Monde, Der Spiegel, and El País.

Below is a copy of the letter in its entirety:

Publishing is not a crime: The US government should end its prosecution of Julian Assange for publishing secrets.

Twelve years ago, on November 28th 2010, our five international media outlets – the New York Times, the Guardian, Le Monde, El País and Der Spiegel – published a series of revelations in cooperation with WikiLeaks that made the headlines around the globe.

“Cablegate”, a set of 251,000 confidential cables from the US state department, disclosed corruption, diplomatic scandals and spy affairs on an international scale.

In the words of the New York Times, the documents told “the unvarnished story of how the government makes its biggest decisions, the decisions that cost the country most heavily in lives and money”. Even now in 2022, journalists and historians continue to publish new revelations, using the unique trove of documents.

For Julian Assange, publisher of WikLeaks, the publication of “Cablegate” and several other related leaks had the most severe consequences. On April 12th 2019, Assange was arrested in London on a US arrest warrant, and has now been held for three and a half years in a high-security British prison usually used for terrorists and members of organised crime groups. He faces extradition to the US and a sentence of up to 175 years in an American maximum-security prison.

This group of editors and publishers, all of whom had worked with Assange, felt the need to publicly criticise his conduct in 2011 when unredacted copies of the cables were released, and some of us are concerned about the allegations in the indictment that he attempted to aid in computer intrusion of a classified database. But we come together now to express our grave concerns about the continued prosecution of Julian Assange for obtaining and publishing classified materials.

The Obama-Biden administration, in office during the WikiLeaks publication in 2010, refrained from indicting Assange, explaining that they would have had to indict journalists from major news outlets too. Their position placed a premium on press freedom, despite its uncomfortable consequences. Under Donald Trump however, the position changed. The DoJ relied on an old law, the Espionage Act of 1917 (designed to prosecute potential spies during world war one), which has never been used to prosecute a publisher or broadcaster.

This indictment sets a dangerous precedent, and threatens to undermine America’s first amendment and the freedom of the press.

Obtaining and disclosing sensitive information when necessary in the public interest is a core part of the daily work of journalists. If that work is criminalised, our public discourse and our democracies are made significantly weaker.

Twelve years after the publication of “Cablegate”, it is time for the US government to end its prosecution of Julian Assange for publishing secrets.

Publishing is not a crime.

The editors and publishers of:

The New York Times

The Guardian

Le Monde

Der Spiegel

El País

Media Groups Voice Support for Julian Assange
Matt Milano

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Comcast Continues Its Race to the Bottom With $27 ‘Broadcast TV’ Fee

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Comcast Continues Its Race to the Bottom With $27 ‘Broadcast TV’ Fee

Comcast is once again showing why it is among the most hated companies in America, charging customers a $27 “Broadcast TV” fee.

While broadcast TV can be accessed for free via an antenna, cable and other TV providers must pay a fee to retransmit those stations. Despite the transmission fee, the amount of this price hike is substantial and may be difficult for customers to swallow, given the state of the economy.

The TV Answer Man was the first to break the story, including the amount Comcast is raising prices:

Comcast has started notifying customers and municipalities that it plans to raise video and Internet prices next month, including a whopping $7.35 a month increase for the Broadcast TV fee in one town.

Comcast confirmed the price hike to The TV Answer Man:

“TV networks and other video programmers continue to raise their prices, with broadcast television and sports being the biggest drivers of increases in customers’ bills. We’re continuing to work hard to manage these costs for our customers while investing in our broadband network to provide the best, most reliable Internet service in the country and to give our customers more low-cost choices in video and connectivity so they can find a package that fits their lifestyle and budget. Our national average increase of 3.8% is about half of the most recent rate of inflation.”

Comcast Continues Its Race to the Bottom With $27 ‘Broadcast TV’ Fee
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Snap to Require Employees In-Office in February

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Snap to Require Employees In-Office in February

Snap appears to be doing an about-face on remote work, requiring the majority of employees in-office in February.

Like many tech companies, Snap has embraced remote work since early in the pandemic. The company even announced it was closing its San Francisco offices as a result of remote work. The company now appears to be reversing course, informing employees they will be transitioning to an 80/20 hybrid model, with 80% of employees working from the office.

“After working remotely for so long, we’re excited to get everyone back together next year with our new 80/20 hybrid model,” the company spokesperson told Reuters.

The news marks a major blow to remote work, given Snap’s early support of it.

Snap to Require Employees In-Office in February
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Meta Fined $277 Million for Failing to Prevent Data Scraping

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Meta Fined $277 Million for Failing to Prevent Data Scraping

Ireland is once again slapping Meta with a hefty fine, this time to the tune of $277 million for failing to protect user data from scraping.

Data scraping is the process of using automated methods and scripts to collect data from a website. The data may be publicly available or require access. News of the scraping breach first broke in early 2021, although the actual incident occurred prior to 2020. In all, some 533,000,000 Facebook accounts were impacted.

Ireland’s Data Protection Commissioner (DPC) has now levied the third-largest fine against Meta, saying the company did not do enough to protect its users’ data and prevent personal information, phone numbers, email addresses, and more from being scraped.

According to Independent.ie, some 1.3 million Irish Facebook accounts were impacted. Some of the impacted accounts included “gardai, sitting judges, prison officers, social workers, journalists and others.” The breach also coincides with a spike in scam attempts across the EU and Ireland.

“The material issues in this inquiry concerned questions of compliance with the GDPR obligation for data protection by design and default,” the DPC said in a statement. “The DPC examined the implementation of technical and organisational measures pursuant to Article 25 [of] GDPR.”

The investigation was evidently started last year, after news of the breach.

“The DPC commenced this inquiry on 14 April 2021, on foot of media reports into the discovery of a collated dataset of Facebook personal data that had been made available on the internet,” the DPC statement said.

“The scope of the inquiry concerned an examination and assessment of Facebook Search, Facebook Messenger Contact Importer and Instagram Contact Importer tools in relation to processing carried out by Meta Platforms Ireland Limited during the period between 25 May 2018 and September 2019.”

To make matters worse, Facebook apparently is not interested in accepting full responsibility for the incident or fully committing to preventing such incidents in the future. In fact, as we previously covered at WPN, Facebook accidentally sent a memo to a journalist in which the company complained about the negative coverage it was receiving over the breach.

In the memo, the company also outlined its goals moving forward, including efforts to “normalize the fact that this activity happens regularly.”

Thankfully, Ireland’s DPC doesn’t believe data scrapping should be accepted as ‘normal’ and is holding Meta’s feet to the fire.

Meta Fined $277 Million for Failing to Prevent Data Scraping
Matt Milano

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Apple’s Change to AirDrop Is Hurting Chinese Protests

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Apple’s Change to AirDrop Is Hurting Chinese Protests

China is experiencing some of its most widespread protests in years, but protesters do not have access to a tool they have come to rely on.

Apple’s AirDrop is a file transfer tool that uses Bluetooth to make a direct connection between two devices. As such, it provides a relatively private way to transfer files and information. AirDrop has multiple settings that allow it to be turned off, only accept files from saved Contacts, and accept files from Everyone. The latter setting is especially useful in a civil unrest scenario.

According to Quartz, Apple made a change in iOS 16 just weeks ago that limits the amount of time AirDrop can be set to accept files from Everyone to just 10 minutes. Interestingly, the change was only made to phones in mainland China.

Apple has said it plans to make the change to AirDrop the default worldwide next year. As Quartz points out, however, the timing and China-focused scope of the change is incredibly suspicious, given it happened just before mass protests.

It is increasingly looking like Apple may have rushed the feature change to the Chinese market at the behest of the government, in an effort by Beijing to maintain control. Last month’s Bridge Man protest, photos of which spread via AirDrop, may well have given the government enough of a reason to force Apple’s hand and once again rope it into its program of squashing dissent.

Apple’s Change to AirDrop Is Hurting Chinese Protests
Matt Milano

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Workers at Amazon’s Largest Air Hub, in Northern KY, Push for Unionization

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Workers at Amazon’s Largest Air Hub, in Northern KY, Push for Unionization

Amazon’s unionization woes are increasing, with workers at the company’s largest air hub pushing to organize.

Amazon has aggressively battled union organization efforts for years, even going so far as to deploy Pinkerton detectives to deter attempts. Despite its stance, support for unionization has been growing, and the company’s largest air hub outside of Cincinnati Northern Kentucky international airport is the latest site to experience significant union pressure.

According to The Guardian, workers are displeased with annual pay raises, with at least 400 of them signing a petition to have a peak season premium hourly rate enacted. Amazon normally pays its warehouse workers more during the holiday season, when sales reach their yearly peak but has yet to implement it at the NKY site.

Read more: Amazon Once Again Going Full-Press Against Unionization Efforts

“We have to operate a lot of heavy machinery, freight loaders, cargo tractors and things like that, and people aren’t paid any extra to do that work,” said Griffin Ritze, an air associate and ramp agent, and one of the organizing members onsite. “They just cross-train you in as many roles as possible and you’re constantly shuffled around.”

Workers have also complained that Amazon is not clearly communicating with them, including over things as serious as being written up.

“We do not have any clue that we are written up and never notified about it until we go to apply for a better position, that’s when we’ll find out,” said Steven Kelley, a learning ambassador at the KY site.

The employees ultimately make the point that Amazon depends on its warehouse and shipping workers as the lifeblood of the company and should therefore take better care of them.

“We’re the lifeblood of the company, not corporate, not upper management. We’re actually the ones who are sorting the freight, and loading the freight,” said Jordan Martin, a ramp associate at the air hub. “It’s the lifeblood of the company, the workers, who are actually organizing this effort and why we’re pushing for the better benefits that we’re trying to fight for.”

Workers at Amazon’s Largest Air Hub, in Northern KY, Push for Unionization
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FCC Bans Additional Equipment Sales From Chinese Firms

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FCC Bans Additional Equipment Sales From Chinese Firms

The FCC is continuing its crackdown on Chinese telecom firms, banning equipment from Huawei, ZTE, and others.

The FCC has been cracking down on Chinese firms that are suspected of being a threat to US national security. While all Chinese companies are required to cooperate with Beijing’s surveillance and espionage efforts, some companies are viewed as having closer ties to the Chinese government than others, making them a greater privacy and security threat.

The FCC has already placed restrictions on Huawei equipment being used in 5G networks, but the agency is now banning a much wider array of telecom and video equipment from Huawei, ZTE, Hytera Communications, Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology, and Dahua Technology, along with all their affiliates and subsidiaries.

“The FCC is committed to protecting our national security by ensuring that untrustworthy communications equipment is not authorized for use within our borders, and we are continuing that work here,” said Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel. “These new rules are an important part of our ongoing actions to protect the American people from national security threats involving telecommunications.”

FCC Bans Additional Equipment Sales From Chinese Firms
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Half of Small Computer Repair Shops Access Private Data

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Half of Small Computer Repair Shops Access Private Data

In a report that surprises no one, half of of small computer shops access customers’ private data, with some copying and saving it.

Small computer repair shops may be a common site, but a new report indicates customers should be wary before taking their computers to them. Researchers at University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada took laptops to 12 repair shops. The laptops were fully functional, except for a disabled audio driver. The researchers specifically chose that issue, since it is easy to diagnose and repair, and does not require access to personal files.

The researchers populated the computers with what appeared to be personal information, online accounts, a crypto wallet, and a variety of sexual and non-sexual pictures. The researchers also made it appear that half the computers belonged to men and half to women.

In 50% of cases, the researchers found that personal files were accessed by the repair shop, although unsurprisingly the computers that seemed to be belong to women were much more likely to have their data accessed. In at least two cases, one for a male customer and one for a female, data was copied and saved onto personal devices.

“We were blown away by the results,” Hassan Khan, one of the researchers, said in an interview with Ars Technica. The researchers were especially concerned with the data copying.

“We thought they would just look at [the data] at most,” Khan added.

With few if any real privacy safeguards in place, most customers would do well to take their computers to reputable large companies, at least until small shops get with the program, in terms of privacy.

Half of Small Computer Repair Shops Access Private Data
Matt Milano

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Workers at the Main iPhone Factory Engage in Violent Protests

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Workers at the Main iPhone Factory Engage in Violent Protests

iPhone shipments are set to take another hit as workers at supplier Foxconn’s main factory engage in violent protests.

Apple is heavily reliant on Foxconn for the manufacture of its iPhone, with Foxconn’s Zhengzhou plant one of the single biggest components in that supply chain. The Zhengzhou area is responsible for such a large portion of iPhone production that it is often referred to as “iPhone City.” iPhone City has already had its share of production issues, most recently being subjected to new COVID restrictions amid a rise in cases.

According to CNN, violent protests broke out at iPhone City, stemming from what appears to be a broken promise to new workers. Foxconn launched a major recruitment drive, promising a 3,000 yuan bonus after the first 30 days, with a second 3,000 yuan bonus after the first 60 days.

New workers who were hired, however, are reporting they were told on arrival they would not receive their first bonus until March 15, long after the promised 30 days.

“The new recruits had to work more days to get the bonus they were promised, so they felt cheated,” the worker told CNN.

For its part, Foxconn blamed the confusion on “a technical error (that) occurred during the onboarding process.”

“We apologize for an input error in the computer system and guarantee that the actual pay is the same as agreed,” the company said.

In the meantime, the protests became bad enough that Foxconn promised workers 8.000 yuan if they would quit, along with another 2,000 yuan once they board outgoing buses.

While the problem appears to be on its way toward a resolution, the protests will likely result in further delays in iPhone production.

Workers at the Main iPhone Factory Engage in Violent Protests
Matt Milano

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Twitter Exec Fights Back, Gets Court Injunction Against Being Fired

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Twitter Exec Fights Back, Gets Court Injunction Against Being Fired

At least one Twitter exec isn’t accepting Musk’s ultimatum to commit to an “extremely hardcore” environment or quit, not without a fight.

Musk sent employees an email giving them an ultimatum, requiring them to commit to long hours, had work, and an “extremely hardcore” work environment. The email only had one option, “Yes,” with a failure to select it being considered a resignation.

According to The Irish Times, Twitter executive Sinead McSweeney, global vice-president for public policy, has successfully secured a temporary injunction against being fired. McSweeney says that since she chose not to reply to the email, Twitter has been treating her like she no longer works for the company. McSweeney has reportedly been locked out of all access to the company, both physical and digital.

Twitter claims McSweeney was told she had accepted a severance package, but she disputes the claim. The executive says she never resigned, but claims the company “resigned me,” in violation of her contract. Meanwhile, Twitter acknowledges the fact that she disputes her “resignation,” and says her work commitment “had never been questioned.”

Only time will tell if McSweeney will ultimately prevail in her battle against Twitter, although it’s certainly possible. The EU is generally more zealous about protecting the rights of employees and individuals in the face of corporate overreach.

Musk may just find himself running face-first into EU law over his ultimatum.

Twitter Exec Fights Back, Gets Court Injunction Against Being Fired
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Black Friday Online Sales Break Records Despite Inflation

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Black Friday Online Sales Break Records Despite Inflation

The economy received a boost during Black Friday, with this year’s online spending breaking records despite inflation.

Inflation has been rising at near record rates, prompting concerns of an impending recession. Despite the economic uncertainty, online sales reached a new record during this Black Friday, coming in at $9.12 billion, according to data from Adobe Analytics, via GeekWire. This was a 2.3% increase over the previous year.

Electronic sales were especially robust, growing a whopping 221%. Similarly exercise equipment sales grew 218%, audio equipment sales were up 230%, smart home item sales grew 271%, and toys 285%. Meanwhile, mobile transactions reached a record 48% of online sales, up from 44% last year.

Interestingly, Buy Now Pay Later orders increased 78% over the previous week. This is likely a result of the economic uncertainty, not to mention the layoffs many have experienced.

Black Friday is likely not the end of the good news, with Adobe predicting Cyber Monday online sales will grow 5.1% over the previous year, to come in at $11.2 billion.

Black Friday Online Sales Break Records Despite Inflation
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EU One-Ups the US, Plans to Install 5G Tech in Planes

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EU One-Ups the US, Plans to Install 5G Tech in Planes

The EU is definitely winning the 5G race when it comes to the airline industry, with plans to give customers full 5G use while in-flight.

US carriers and the airline industry have been at odds over deployment of mid-range C-band 5G around airports over safety concerns. After a protracted, and very public, battle over the future of 5G, the two sides came to an agreement that limits C-band 5G deployment around airports.

The EU, on the other hand, has had no such issues and is preparing to deploy 5G in airplanes so users can use their smartphones in the air, according to The Brussels Times.

“The sky is no longer the limit when it comes to high-speed, high-capacity connections,” said EU Commissioner for the Internal Market Thierry Breton. “5G will enable innovative services for people and growth opportunities for European companies.”

EU One-Ups the US, Plans to Install 5G Tech in Planes
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Netflix Ramping Up Game Production With Its First AAA PC Title

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Netflix Ramping Up Game Production With Its First AAA PC Title

Netflix is wading deeper into the gaming market, with a job posting revealing it is planning to release its first AAA PC game title.

Netflix posted the requirements for a Game Director role on its website:

We’re looking for a creative and highly-skilled Game Director to help us forge the game direction and creative vision on a brand-new AAA PC game. As Game Director, you will be the creative leader of one of Netflix’s first generation of internally developed original games.

The streaming TV company launched its game service in late 2021, focusing on mobile gaming for Android, iOS, and iPadOS. The company has hired top talent, including former EA exec Mike Verdu and launched its own internal game studio.

Despite the company’s investment, its gaming efforts have yet to gain much traction. In fact, as recently as August 2022, 99% of Netflix customers had never tried one of the company’s games.

Netflix no doubt hopes that branching out into the wider PC market, with a blockbuster AAA title no less, may get the attention it needs to make its gaming platform a success.

Netflix Ramping Up Game Production With Its First AAA PC Title
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Google Claims 60% of the Internet is Duplicate Content

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Google Claims 60% of the Internet is Duplicate Content

For those who think the internet is an endless realm of unique information, Google’s latest report is a big disappointment.

According to Google Product Expert Kenichi Suzuki, Google has revealed that some 60% of the internet is duplicate content.

About 60% of the Internet is duplicate. @methode
#SearchCentralLive pic.twitter.com/jcuu1qrSKQ

— Kenichi Suzuki鈴木謙一 (@suzukik) November 24, 2022

The revelation is sure to be unsettling to many web developers and content creators, although there were no additional details about the criteria Google uses to determine “duplicate” content.

Google Claims 60% of the Internet is Duplicate Content
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565 Palm Pilot Apps Are Now Available via Your Web Browser

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565 Palm Pilot Apps Are Now Available via Your Web Browser

The Internet Archive has helped resurrect 565 Palm Pilot apps, all of which can be run in your web browser.

Palm was once one of the leading personal digital assistant (PDA) and smartphone makers, before eventually succumbing to Microsoft, Blackberry, and Apple. Despite its demise, the Palm ecosystem was responsible for a variety of popular apps, including some that served as precursors to many modern ones.

According to The Verge, The Internet Archive has brought back a massive collection of those apps, including Space Trader, Dope Wars, SFCave, and more.

Users interested in taking a look at a piece of history can get started here.

565 Palm Pilot Apps Are Now Available via Your Web Browser
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Wefox CEO ‘Disgusted’ by Tech Industry Layoffs

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Wefox CEO ‘Disgusted’ by Tech Industry Layoffs

Wefox CEO Julian Teicke had harsh words for the tech industry and his fellow CEOs, saying he was “disgusted” by the number of layoffs occurring.

The tech industry has been laying off employees by the thousands, with Meta alone accounting for 11,000 and Amazon reportedly laying off 10,000. Despite layoffs now being a common occurrence in the industry, Teicke believes it’s a mistake that shows little regard for the people being laid off.

“These are people that have maybe quit other jobs to join your business,” Teicke said, according to CNBC. “These are people that have maybe moved to other places because of you. These are people that have maybe ended romantic relationships.”

The CEO expressed his belief that companies and their executives should do everything possible to protect their employees.

“I believe that CEOs have to do everything in their power to protect their employees,” he said. “I haven’t seen that in the tech industry. And I’m disgusted by that.”

“These are humans,” he added.

Wefox CEO ‘Disgusted’ by Tech Industry Layoffs
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Yandex’s Dutch Owner Wants to Divest Itself of Russian Company

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Yandex’s Dutch Owner Wants to Divest Itself of Russian Company

Yandex N.V., the Dutch holding company behind Yandex, plans to divest itself of the Russian company as a result of the war in Ukraine.

Russia’s tech industry has suffered as a result of the invasion of Ukraine, with tech giants around the world pulling out of the country. Yandex is Russia’s local internet tech giant and success story, but even it has not been immune to the blowback.

According to Reuters, the Dutch Holding company behind Yandex is reviewing its ownership of its Russian subsidiary and looking for ways to “restructure the group’s ownership and governance in light of the current geopolitical environment.”

Reuters sources say former finance minister and Putin colleague Alexei Kudrin may take a position at Yandex, leaving his current role as head of Russia’s Audit Chamber.

“Kudrin is someone who the company feel is a good person to navigate this because he is liberal enough to understand that Russia needs a private internet company, free from nationalisation, and who has credibility in Putin’s eyes,” one of Reuters’ sources said.

“This is the best option for the company, which can provide it with maximum business neutrality,” another source added. “On the one hand, to continue developing in the country … and on the other, not to lie under state (control).”

Yandex’s Dutch Owner Wants to Divest Itself of Russian Company
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FTC ‘Likely’ to File Lawsuit to Block Microsoft’s Activision Deal

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FTC ‘Likely’ to File Lawsuit to Block Microsoft’s Activision Deal

Microsoft may face its biggest challenge yet to its acquisition of Activision Blizzard, with a report saying the FTC is likely to file a lawsuit to block the deal.

Microsoft announced a deal to purchase Activision for $68.7 billion in early 2022, one of the biggest tech acquisitions in history. The deal was met almost immediately with scrutiny, regulatory investigations, and challenges over concerns it would give Microsoft too much power in the gaming and PC market.

According to a report by Politico, the FTC is “likely” to challenge the deal in court over concerns it would give Microsoft an unfair advantage. Nothing has been decided for certain, but the outlet’s sources say FTC commissioners are skeptical of Microsoft and Activision’s arguments in favor of the deal.

As recently as September, CEO Satya Nadella was optimistic that the acquisition would win approval, but this latest development certainly casts doubt on that.

As Politico points out, it would be a major blow to Microsoft’s image if the FTC manages to scuttle the deal. Microsoft has worked hard to position itself as separate from Apple, Google, Meta, and Amazon’s antitrust issues, touting itself as a company that learned its lessons decades ago and has an enlightened approach to competition.

FTC ‘Likely’ to File Lawsuit to Block Microsoft’s Activision Deal
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Workforce Optimization Tech is Driven by AI

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Workforce Optimization Tech is Driven by AI

Artificial intelligence is changing how we do our jobs. AI and machine learning can unlock contact centers’ potential through improved labor management and staff engagement. AI will bring about an exciting change for contact centers because of its capacity to quickly apply intelligence and learn the elements of any omnichannel environment.

Artificial intelligence is changing how we do our jobs. Tools and processes like an AI workforce optimization tool and machine learning can unlock contact centers’ potential through improved labor management and staff engagement. AI will bring about an exciting change for contact centers because of its capacity to quickly apply intelligence and learn the elements of any omnichannel environment.

Artificial intelligence (AI) has ingrained itself into daily life. Autonomous vehicles, highly customized Netflix and Amazon suggestions, and smart home gadgets are already becoming fixtures in our daily lives. Although AI may appear to be a relatively new technology, it has been used in contact centers for a long time.

A Little History of AI

An MIT professor originally theorized AI in 1956, and over the following 50 years, incremental improvements were made toward practical solutions. Machine learning is one of the most significant advancements in modern AI history. Through the automated refinement of extremely precise statistical models and forecasts, it has the potential to alter how contact center workforce management is conducted and produce corporate value.

Early AI models required all options to be stated in order to allow for automated decision-making. Today’s ML employs adaptable models that let a computer decide based on the information at hand, including possibilities that aren’t explicitly described.

AI More Recently

Other recent developments include learning models that sift through previous data used to produce volume and work time projections to uncover hidden trends. Additionally, AI technologies can decide which of more than 40 models will produce the best outcomes for a certain sort of labor. And these abilities have a significant impact. In fact, some experts predict that by 2035, AI will boost company labor productivity by up to 40%.

However, the objective of realizing AI and ML’s potential in the contact center is not too far off. Long before they became popular in recent years, these technologies were used in contact centers. Look at the effect they have already had:

1. Intelligence based on skill usage assessments

It can be difficult to schedule in any corporation. It might be challenging to decide how to allocate a multi-skilled employee’s time and abilities. However, predictive analysis can now be used to determine how to allocate a worker’s time among workstreams for maximum effectiveness and skill utilization.

An AI workforce optimization tool provides the ability to make skill usage assessments. These systems can determine a person’s ideal schedule that is shared across several workstreams.

2. Effective Workforce Management through Skill Use

Understanding the impact of multi-skilled personnel on the required lines, or the number of full-time equivalent workers required to satisfy customer service objectives is a typical difficulty in workforce management. The majority of current labor management solutions, however, are based on the Erlang statistical model. Unfortunately this model makes two assumptions that are no longer true in contemporary contact centers. Which are:

• Everyone has a similar set of talents
• Work tasks queue to a single skill profile

This results in overstated FTEs for some needed lines while understaffing others, which impairs a contact center’s capacity to respond to urgent customer needs.

Nevertheless, this issue can be resolved by AI-driven workforce management solutions. This is done by utilizing ML models that foresee the specific staffing needs of each necessary line. These algorithms give intelligence the ability to calculate precise FTE numbers to a given amount.

3. Optimization Using Closed-Loop Intelligence

Contact centers can use artificial learning in the form of unsupervised learning to build scheduling that continuously improves as the amount of accessible data changes or rises. This use of ML relies on a technique where the computer learns by analyzing a lot of data and then makes a preliminary assumption about the optimum course of action. These initial hypotheses are refined by comparing them to the anticipated result. Then, the results are put back into the algorithm to enhance performance automatically.

4. Intelligence and Schedule Fairness

For good reason, the importance of staff engagement has increased in recent years for contact center management. Employees who are engaged typically contribute roughly 20% more to revenue and are 44% more productive than those who are classified as satisfied. More than one-fourth of employees who feel their work/life balance is not supported say they will quit their jobs within two years, compared to only 17 percent of those who feel their work/life balance is supported. One of the most important ways to maintain employee engagement is through scheduling.

Employee engagement programs also make use of AI to give staff members a sense of ownership over the frequently overwhelming task of managing client demand. A fair workplace that replaces or improves conventional seniority-based assignment procedures can also be produced using machine learning. 

Conclusions

The potential and utility of AI for contact centers is an interesting development. Contact centers, back-office operations, and branch settings are already gaining from the technology’s capacity to quickly apply intelligence and learn any omnichannel context’s specific, decision-influencing characteristics. By implementing this technology, your staff is free to concentrate on tasks and ideas that call for a personal touch.

Workforce Optimization Tech is Driven by AI
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Want Faster Acceleration in Your Mercedes? That Will Cost $1,200 Annually.

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Want Faster Acceleration in Your Mercedes? That Will Cost $1,200 Annually.

Mercedes is the latest automaker to jump on the most deplorable trend in the industry, charging $1,200 annually for faster acceleration.

Automakers looking for ways to nickel and dime their customers have turned to subscriptions as their method of choice, locking access to existing features unless customers pay the subscription price. Mercedes is the latest to adopt this practice, with plans to charge $1,200 for customers that want faster acceleration.

Mercedes EQ electric vehicles (EVs) will come with reduced horsepower and torque, which will be increased if customers pony up the extra cash annually. The overall performance of the vehicle will increase as well.

“Fine tuning of the electric motors increases the maximum motor output (kW) of your Mercedes-EQ by 20 to 24%, depending on the original output from factory,” Mercedes explains on its website. “The torque is also increased, enabling your vehicle to accelerate noticeably faster and more powerfully. This shortens the time it takes to accelerate from 0 to 60 MPH by around 0.8 to 0.9 seconds. This additional output is available in all DYNAMIC SELECT drive programs.”

Mercedes’ move follows similar ones by other automakers. For example, BMW announced plans to charge $18 per month to unlock the heated seats already present in the vehicle.

The problem has become so bad that New Jersey lawmakers have introduced a bill that would ban automakers from charging a subscription for features that are already built into a vehicle.

As we have stated before, it is completely understandable to charge a subscription fee for services that require ongoing updates, such as GPS mapping services. It is certainly understandable to charge for other subscription services, such as satellite radio.

On the other hand, it is nothing but unmitigated greed and absurdity to charge customers to use features that are already included in the vehicle and that do not cost the automaker anything. If a user purchases a vehicle with a certain set of features, ALL of those features should be available and unlocked.

Want Faster Acceleration in Your Mercedes? That Will Cost $1,200 Annually.
Matt Milano

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HP Plans Long-Term Layoffs in the Thousands

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HP Plans Long-Term Layoffs in the Thousands

HP is the latest company to announce layoffs, saying it will let 4,000 to 6,000 employees go over the next three years.

Layoffs have been hitting the tech industry hard as lower consumer demand, combined with supply chain issues, have taken a toll on many companies operations. HP has announced a number of changes, as part of its “Future Ready Transformation” plan, including layoffs.

Unlike many companies that are laying off thousands in one fell swoop, HP said in a statement that its layoffs will occur over a three-year period, ending in 2025.

Today, HP Inc. announced a fiscal year 2023 Future Ready Transformation plan, driving significant structural cost savings through digital transformation, portfolio optimization and operational efficiency. The company estimates that these actions will result in annualized gross run rate savings of at least $1.4 billion by the end of fiscal 2025. The company estimates that it will incur approximately $1.0 billion in labor and non-labor costs related to restructuring and other charges, with approximately $0.6 billion in fiscal 2023, and the rest split approximately equally between fiscal 2024 and 2025. The company expects to reduce gross global headcount by approximately 4,000-6,000 employees. These actions are expected to be completed by the end of fiscal 2025.

HP Plans Long-Term Layoffs in the Thousands
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Zoom Faces Pressures as Stock Crashes and Growth Slows

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Zoom Faces Pressures as Stock Crashes and Growth Slows

Zoom has come a long way since its heyday during the pandemic, with its stock down 90% and challenging growth prospects ahead.

Zoom quickly became the poster child for videoconferencing during the pandemic, as businesses, schools, churches, and families turned to the platform to stay in touch. As things have returned to normal, however, the company has struggled to maintain its growth and fend off larger rivals.

The company’s stock is now down 90% over its pandemic peak. What’s more, growth prospects are far slimmer moving forward, with Slack, Microsoft Teams, and others posing more challenges to its core business. Zoom is trying to address this by rolling out additional applications and services, such as Zoom Mail and Zoom Calendar.

Even with the pivot, however, analysts believe the company still has a long road ahead of it before it can return to the type of growth investors have become accustomed to.

“Zoom has a fundamental flaw – it has needed to spend heavily to keep hold of market share. Spending to cling onto, rather than grow, market share is never a good place to be and was a sign of trouble ahead,” said Hargreaves Lansdown equity analyst Sophie Lund-Yates, according to Reuters.

“The game is not over for them but without acquisitions this is a multi-year path to returning to higher growth,” said Needham & Co analyst Ryan Koontz.

Zoom Faces Pressures as Stock Crashes and Growth Slows
Matt Milano

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France Shoots Down Free Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace in School

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France Shoots Down Free Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace in School

France has shot down the possibility of schools using free versions of Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace.

Schools around the world rely on Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace, since both productivity options provide commercial-grade features for free, especially for schools. As part of the EU, France is concerned the productivity suites are not compatible with EU privacy laws and run afoul of French procurement laws, since there is no payment exchanged.

“Free service offers are therefore, in principle, excluded from the scope of public procurement,” the Ministry of National Education statement says, according to The Register.

Moving to the paid versions of both productivity suites only solves one potential problem, namely the procurement issue, with data privacy still being a major sticking point.

The EU has been cracking down on the use of US-based cloud services that store user data within the US. Because of the vast surveillance programs US agencies engage in, the EU does not deem US-based data storage as a safe option for its citizens.

France Shoots Down Free Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace in School
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iFixit Billboard Pressures NY Governor Over First Right to Repair Bill

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iFixit Billboard Pressures NY Governor Over First Right to Repair Bill

iFixit is putting pressure on New York Governor Kathy Hochul with a billboard asking her to sign the nation’s first right to repair law.

New York’s state legislature became the first in the US to pass a right to repair bill, which it did with overwhelming support. The bill finished making its way through the legislature roughly six months ago, but Gov. Hochul has yet to sign the bill into law.

According to PIRG, iFixit is taking a direct approach, putting up a billboard in Albany calling on the governor to sign the bill. The bill must make its way to the governor by the end of the year, and be signed by January 10 in order to become law.

It’s unclear why Gov. Hochul has not signed the bill, although increased opposition by manufacturers may be a major factor.

iFixit Billboard Pressures NY Governor Over First Right to Repair Bill
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The Power of Color Psychology in Marketing

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The Power of Color Psychology in Marketing

Color has quickly become one of the most important factors that modern shoppers consider when purchasing a product or service. In fact, color accounts for between 62% and 90% of the decision to purchase. The psychology of power of color in marketing is overwhelming, and it can be used to evoke a number of emotional and physical responses in humans. In some cases, the use of color can change one’s appetite, enhance their mood, increase their memory, or boost their attention span. In addition, colors can calm down customers, reduce the perception of wait times, and even encourage sales and conversions. 

Color’s Impact on Your Brain

Color has a direct effect on the human brain and the responses that it stimulates in the body. For example, red increases pulse rates by 0.356 points and increases systolic blood pressure. Orange stimulates circulation, increasing oxygen to the brain and boosts productivity. Yellow increases metabolism and can actually trigger a hunger response in humans. Walking in a green environment can reduce one’s heart rate by 11 points in comparison to red or white environments. Blue is encouraged for bedrooms, as studies show that 60% of people who sleep in blue painted rooms wake up happy. Purple is a children’s color, with 75% preferring it to any other color. White has the power to make rooms look larger than they are by reflecting sunlight, and the color pink reduces juvenile aggression by 45%.

It is because of these responses in humans that color is an important factor in many different settings and industries. Real estate, for example, is one that can be heavily influenced by color as it relates to home design. High performing colors in a home are light blue, gray, and black. These colors are popular and comfortable, seen as neutral and clean, and can even denote a feeling of luxury or high value. On the other hand, low performing colors like brown, red, and cream yellow sell for less, are associated with unfavorable emotions, and are not popular colors amongst the general population.

Irish poet and playwright Oscar Wilde once said “Mere color, unspoiled by meaning and unallied with definite form, can speak to the soul in a thousand different ways.” It is from this idea that color theory and color in marketing was born. Experts were able to grasp which colors maximize marketing value and put those facts into motion. 

Brands and Their Use of Color

Brands like Target, Ikea, Sesame Street, Roku, Prada, and The Home Depot use the most popular marketing colors to elevate their business. More specifically, Target’s red leads to more conversions and sales than any other color. Ikea’s yellow and blue combination is the most readable to audiences and quells feelings of buyer’s remorse. Sesame Street’s iconic green makes wearers and recipients more creative and encourages action. Roku’s purple denotes power and luxury, and is one of the colors that caters most to women. Prada’s black is a favorite amongst men and denotes strength and sophistication. Finally, The Home Depot’s orange is an extremely rare brand color that stands out against other competition and speaks for itself. 

Bringing it All Together

Using color in marketing is the new age of business. Those who learn to harness this power will be exponentially more successful in their endeavors, winning over both the hearts and the brains of their loyal customers.

Source:LUXURYSOCALREALTY

The Power of Color Psychology in Marketing
Brian Wallace

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UK Regulators Investigating Apple and Google’s ‘Mobile Duopoly’

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UK Regulators Investigating Apple and Google’s ‘Mobile Duopoly’

The UK is launching a market investigation into Apple and Google’s dominance in the mobile market, especially cloud gaming and web browsing.

Apple and Google have an undisputed duopoly in the mobile market. Blackberry, Palm, Nokia, Microsoft Windows, and others have all fallen by the wayside, unable to compete with Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android.

The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is investigating the companies’ duopoly following complaints from developers “that the status quo is harming their businesses, holding back innovation, and adding unnecessary costs.”

A market investigation is an in-depth investigation that will look at the state of the market and see if competition is being negatively impacted. The CMA has the authority to impose rules on how a business operates, or can even force a company to sell off some of its businesses if they are deemed anti-competitive.

“We want to make sure that UK consumers get the best new mobile data services, and that UK developers can invest in innovative new apps,” said Sarah Cardell, interim Chief Executive of the CMA.

“Many UK businesses and web developers tell us they feel that they are being held back by restrictions set by Apple and Google,” Cardell added. “When the new Digital Markets regime is in place, it’s likely to address these sorts of issues. In the meantime, we are using our existing powers to tackle problems where we can. We plan to investigate whether the concerns we have heard are justified and, if so, identify steps to improve competition and innovation in these sectors.”

UK Regulators Investigating Apple and Google’s ‘Mobile Duopoly’
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Global UC the First Provider to Be Blocked for Failing to Fight Robocalls

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Global UC the First Provider to Be Blocked for Failing to Fight Robocalls

Global UC is the first telecom provider to be blocked under the FCC’s new rules requiring providers to block robocalls.

The FCC has been cracking down on robocalls, requiring providers to implement the STIR/SHAKEN caller ID protocol. The protocol helps providers identify a caller, pass that ID on to the next carrier who then re-verifies it, with the process repeating until the call reaches the recipient. The FCC set a deadline for implementation of the protocol.

Global UC has become the first provider to miss the FCC’s deadline and fail to provide a valid reason for missing it, resulting in the company being removed from the Robocall Mitigation Database. As a result, other telecom companies can no longer accept or relay calls from Global UC customers.

“For too long, robocalls have flooded our phones and facilitated fraud. So we are using a new tool to fight against these scam calls. We are cutting providers off and preventing them from accessing our networks when they fail to demonstrate they will protect consumers. This is a novel way to stop robocalls and it’s one we are going to keep using until we get this junk off the line,” said FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel.

“We have reached the point where we are ready to remove companies if they fail to abide by the rules and heed our warnings,” said Enforcement Bureau Chief Loyaan A. Egal. “While this is a steep and impactful penalty, it underscores the importance we place on complying with our rules, which are designed to eliminate the ability of bad actors to use the U.S. communications networks to harm consumers.”

The action should send a start warning to other companies about the seriousness of heeding the FCC’s guidelines.

Global UC the First Provider to Be Blocked for Failing to Fight Robocalls
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JPMorgan Decides Against Investment in Fintech Company Yapily

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JPMorgan Decides Against Investment in Fintech Company Yapily

JPMorgan has reportedly decided against investing in fintech company Yapily, dealing a blow to the startups fundraising.

Yapily is a company that develops APIs to help merchants accept payments without going through traditional credit card companies. The startup is already backed by Sapphire Ventures, the same company that has invested in Square and Wise.

JPMorgan was reportedly looking to invest as much as $25 million in the company, but Business Insider is reporting that the investment bank has decided not to proceed, despite Yapily believing the deal was moving forward.

One source told Insider the bank’s investment may have been contingent on more funding from other parties, meaning the deal may still happen if Yapily is able to raise additional funds from other sources.

JPMorgan Decides Against Investment in Fintech Company Yapily
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Elon Musk’s Ultimatum a Scheme to Further Cut Twitter Workforce

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Elon Musk’s Ultimatum a Scheme to Further Cut Twitter Workforce

Elon Musk’s ultimatum to employees may have been part of a bigger plan to reduce Twitter’s headcount beyond layoffs.

Musk gave employees an ultimatum that they needed to commit to an “extremely hardcore” work environment, and failure to do so would be taken as a resignation. The results were hardly surprising, with many employees opting out. Some reports indicated the number of employees leaving surprised Musk, with him attempting to assuage concerns in the eleventh hour.

According to Platformer, however, Musk’s ultimatum may have been a calculated attempt to reduce the company’s headcount without resorting to additional layoffs. Musk originally planned to lay off as much as 75% of Twitter’s employees, before being convinced to stop at 50%.

With his ultimatum, Musk may have found a way to have his cake and eat it too.

Elon Musk’s Ultimatum a Scheme to Further Cut Twitter Workforce
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UK Regulators Will Review Broadcom/VMware Deal

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UK Regulators Will Review Broadcom/VMware Deal

UK regulators have said they will review Broadcom’s planned purchase of VMware, creating a potential obstacle to the deal.

Broadcom announced in May its plans to purchase VMware for $61 billion. The news sparked a wave of resignations, as well as general angst, with no one really knowing what to expect.

According to a notice on its website, the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) plans to conduct a review of the deal over competition concerns:

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is considering whether it is or may be the case that this transaction, if carried into effect, will result in the creation of a relevant merger situation under the merger provisions of the Enterprise Act 2002 and, if so, whether the creation of that situation may be expected to result in a substantial lessening of competition within any market or markets in the United Kingdom for goods or services.

The UK has already proven itself more willing to undo deals and acquisitions over competitive concerns, such as forcing Meta to sell off Giphy after buying the company for $400 million. Only time will tell if the Broadcom/VMware deal will survive regulators’ scrutiny.

UK Regulators Will Review Broadcom/VMware Deal
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TSMC’s Arizona Plant Will Have Its Most Advanced Capabilities

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TSMC’s Arizona Plant Will Have Its Most Advanced Capabilities

TSMC’s founder Morris Chang has confirmed the company’s Arizona plant will feature its most advanced capabilities.

TSMC is the world’s leading semiconductor manufacturer, manufacturing chips for Apple, Qualcomm, Nvidia, AMD, Intel, and others. The company is in a precarious position, however, as a result of escalating tension between Taiwan and China, not to mention the threat of a Chinese invasion.

According to CNN, TSMC seems to be hedging its bets, bringing its most advanced manufacturing capabilities to the Arizona foundries it is building.

“Chips are very important products,” TSMC’s founder Morris Chang said at press briefing Monday. “It seems that people are only starting to realize this recently, and as a result, lots of people out there are envious of Taiwan’s chip manufacturing.”

“I not only believe, but know for a fact that the cost of manufacturing chips in the US will be at least 55% higher than in Taiwan,” Chang at another press event Saturday..

TSMC’s Arizona Plant Will Have Its Most Advanced Capabilities
Matt Milano

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What Will Jobs of the Future Look Like?

WebProNews
What Will Jobs of the Future Look Like?

The scope of today’s job market is incredibly vast. Industries continue to specialize more and more as some die and others are invented. It then can be really hard to keep track. Even for those about to enter the job market, understanding what one is getting into is challenging. Before getting into the exact industries though, it’s important to understand the general changes to the job market. 

Shift to Remote Work

COVID-19 and the pandemic that ensued were world changing events. Entire industries were born and died, daily life was completely morphed, and fear took hold. Remote work rose to popularity out of necessity at the time. And while today it is no longer needed, its popularity has not at all declined.

Suddenly people realized the value of remote work. No commuting, more time with one’s family, more time to work on what actually matters. For some businesses it just made sense to be remote. Today 91% of people are happier with flexible hours and the option to work remotely. It is a shift that wasn’t expected but that isn’t going away.

The other major shift to the job market comes in culture. Workers today aren’t looking to work 9-5’s, especially in menial conditions. Instead comfort, understanding, and flexibility are much more desired. Businesses are moving away from hierarchy, are moving away from harsh regulations. Instead wellness is being prioritized, treating workers as people and not just machines.

Industries and Jobs in Demand

Looking at the growing industries though, a somewhat different picture is painted. While some of the fastest growing industries are not surprising. Software developers and marketing analysts jobs being projected to massively grow, for example. Others are much more surprising.

Home health aides, for example, is the job with the most projected growth. Holding a median salary of only $29,430, health aides are predicted to have almost a million new jobs by 2031. Fast food workers, in comparison, have a median salary of $25,100. Although they’re only predicted to have 243,200 new jobs by 2031. 

In general more menial work and low-skill jobs are on the rise. Things like freight and material movers, stockers and order fillers, these are all massively rising. There are some jobs with more qualifications, things like nurses, cooks, and operation managers. Although a very large percentage are these smaller menial labor jobs.

This goes against a lot of the larger scale culture shift. It also goes against a lot of the expectations of today. For many, the idea was fast-food, movers, even waitresses would be replaced by now. Automation is very pervasive today, but it’s not all encompassing. And even automation requires upkeep and quality assurance in many cases.

This puts the future of the job market in an interesting place. The subset of jobs growing the most are the ones people do not want. And while some high skill and high pay jobs are growing. Many of these fit within the same niche of being technology and operations adjacent. This leaves a lot of people stranded job wise. In a world where the 9-5 isn’t even respected, job diversity is king.

Bringing it All Together

The future of the job market ultimately lies outside of most citizens’ hands. What each person can do though is be aware, stay knowledgeable on the shifts and changes. Remote work, culture, job growth, these are all great things to know about. And they’re only going to continue to change, maybe even at a more rapid pace. This is the future of the modern job market.

Source: ExecutivePlacements.com

What Will Jobs of the Future Look Like?
Brian Wallace

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