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Twitter, Elon Musk, and a critical lesson for developers

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OUTSIDE EXPERTS Hidden in the rapid-fire series of headlines, tweets, kitchen sinks, and aborted verification checkmark introductions was a tiny tidbit of information around programming languages. When Mr. Musk first settled into Twitter’s San Francisco headquarters, CNBC reported he brought along a core team of software engineers and other staff from Tesla’s Autopilot autonomous vehicle team. According to CNBC, Musk has tasked this team to review Twitter’s source code and begin planning for a revamp of the entire platform. It is this decision that deserves to be studied more closely...

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Ransomware and remote workers: 8 tips to stay safe

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CYBERCRIMINALS ADAPT After millions of workers worldwide were sent home following the first wave of lockdowns in March 2020, cybercriminals shifted gears. Amid the chaos of those early days, as corporate IT focused on keeping remote workers productive, ransomware attacks skyrocketed, with the FBI reporting a 62% increase in ransomware reports in the first half of 2021 compared to the same year-ago period. This follows a 20% increase in 2020. None of this came as any surprise to those of us in IT; the pandemic opened the door and malicious actors were only too happy to walk...

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Apple security update – 5 lessons for the hybrid workforce

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NEVER-ENDING WARNINGS After all, hardly a day goes by that we’re not receiving yet another warning that our favorite Windows PC, Android phone, Ring smart doorbell, or Roomba smart vacuum cleaner needs a software update to patch a weakness that seemingly came out of nowhere. We’ve become almost numb to the never-ending threat landscape, to the sky-is-falling warnings that it’s time, yet again, to batten down the hatches. At the same time, it’s just as easy to understand why we can’t afford to ignore the warnings. And why it’s long past due for employers and employees alike to...

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Why Quiet Quitting is especially worrisome in tech

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LET’S DEFINE IT Quiet quitting is loosely defined as a state where workers continue to do their job and meet established expectations, but instead of going above and beyond by working evenings and weekends to get ahead, they’re instead sticking only what’s in their job description, and clocking out at 5 p.m. to spend more time with their families. While there’s ample debate over exactly what quiet quitting is, and why it’s happening, there’s growing consensus that it’s a response to decades of an advance-at-all-costs business culture that has allowed companies to squeeze...

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9 Reasons to Choose Custom Software

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EFFICIENCY It’s pretty common for businesses to end up with a hodgepodge of off-the-shelf solutions, but this isn’t usually the most efficient way to get stuff done. In many cases, using multiple solutions in this way can result in everything from duplication of work to poor integration. This is because multiple pieces of software are often not designed to work together effectively, and duplication of work often means that issues fall between the cracks. As a result, you end up needing people just to check for data errors and redundancy. This level of efficiency clearly...

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Could Your Organization Benefit From Utilizing Managed IT Services?

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AN OVERVIEW Companies offering managed IT services are often referred to as managed service providers, or MSPs. They maintain a staff of highly skilled and experienced technology specialists that is shared by their clients, thereby eliminating or reducing the need for their clients to seek out and hire their own personnel during the worsening shortage. The level of services provided by the MSP can vary. For example, a client may have a limited on-site IT support staff to provide desktop and local network support and may contract with the MSP to manage the data center, backups, etc....

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Is Your Organization Prepared for a Ransomware Attack?

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HOW THE ATTACKS WORK Malicious software is used to deny access to data or systems until or unless the attacker’s ransom demands are met. Methods for delivering the malware payload vary, with the three of the most common being phishing emails, exploitation of application vulnerabilities, and delivery via remote desktop protocol (RDP). The use of phishing emails as an attack vector is currently on the rise. Once successfully delivered, the malware propagates across data storage environments and/or vulnerable systems, rendering systems and data inaccessible. Attackers then demand...

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Privacy Concerns: New Technology to Grade Meetings Through Surveillance of Attendees

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HOW IT WORKS Using sensors, cameras, and software algorithms, Microsoft’s “Meeting Insight Computing System” (MICS) will collect data on each meeting participant’s body language, expressions, and participation level. MICS will also track how much time attendees spend on activities that are not meeting-related, such as texting or reading email. For remote meeting participants, MICS factors in whether or not they activate their cameras. The system will also take environmental factors into consideration, including the temperature and level of noise in a meeting...

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How SaaS is Changing IT Departments

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HIRING FOR DIFFERENT SKILL SETS Traditionally, IT staff have been expected to possess highly technical skills because workers needed to be able to manage and configure on-premises software and servers. However, since cloud-based servers require less technical expertise, IT departments need fewer computer science graduates with programming and database management skills. Instead, technology workers need more proficient in business analytics and savvy decision-making skills. As more companies transition to SaaS, it becomes more about creating business processes based on what the...

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LibreOffice: An Open Source Alternative to Microsoft Office

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A VERY BRIEF LIBREOFFICE HISTORY In the early 1970s, Richard Stallman was a Harvard-educated software engineer working on artificial intelligence projects for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. As software development migrated away from the university environment and into the private sector, jobs like Stallman’s were gradually eliminated, including his in the early 1980s. Stallman was not pleased that private industry was making money writing computer programs and believed that software is meant to be free. And so began the Free Software Foundation in 1985. Developers from...

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