Maps and money dominated the broadband discourse in 2022 FierceTelecom
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Maps and money dominated the broadband discourse in 2022 - FierceTelecom
Author: Dr Hoster
SCOTT SHENKThe (Fredericksburg) Free LanceStar
On New Years weekend a year ago, the weather was springlike, with a high of 71 degrees on Saturday, Jan. 1, 2022.
But storms were brewing and they would come fast and pound Northern Virginias regional transportation system into submission.
That Sunday was also mild, but rain started to fall. Then the temperature plummeted from the mid-60s that afternoon to 33 that night, and the forecast called for wet snow. More than 1,000 airplane flights were canceled due to the weather and COVID-19-related staffing shortages.
Alerts were issued by the National Weather Service as well as state agencies, including the Virginia Department of Transportation, State Police and the Department of Emergency Management. Travelers were warned to avoid driving if possible.
But drivers decided to head onto the interstate anyway.
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Rain, and the temperature, continued falling early Monday, Jan. 3, making the pavement slick.
At 4 a.m., the first in a cascade of crashes happened when a tractor-trailer jackknifed on Interstate 95 near the State Route 610 exit in Stafford County.
A heavy, wet snow soon started to fall, and was accumulating at a high rate. Power lines and trees started to fall, knocking out electricity in the region and blocking some emergency responders and tow trucks from reaching the interstate. Communications also were impacted.
Snow plows couldnt keep up with the fast-falling snow, and the traffic compressed the wet snow covering the pavement. By 3 p.m. the snow stopped falling, but there was more than a foot blanketing the region.
The interstate and area roads were coated with thick, wet snow. Crashes and stranded vehicles crippled the interstate between Richmond and Washington.
As crews tried to clear wrecked and stalled vehicles from the interstate, night fell, and the snow turned to ice. Hundreds of travelers were stranded in their vehicles in freezing temperatures. Many would be stuck for more than 24 hours.
At 8 a.m. Tuesday, Jan. 4, the state closed access to I-95 along a 48-mile stretch between Caroline and Prince William counties before eventually digging out stranded travelers and clearing the roads.
State agencies took a lot of heat for the response. An audit by the Office of the State Inspector General found that the agencies lost situational awareness, among other issues.
The audit highlighted a range of items, across state agencies, including the lack of a plan for such a major event as well as too few contractors to clear roads. Poor communication was cited as a contributing factor in the storm response. The audit also laid out various steps to improve responses to future storms.
Since the January storm, state agencies have made changes.
The commonwealth successfully navigated multiple winter weather events including three declared states of emergency after the Jan. 3 event without major disruptions to the traveling public, VDOT communications manager Kelly Hannon said in an email.
She noted that VDOT, state police, the Virginia Department of Emergency Management and the National Guard were ready and coordinated for the storms, setting up staging areas and mobilizing staff ahead of time.
Since then, VDOT also has undertaken a major review of its strategies during inclement weather, said in an email. She added that VDOT is working in with the emergency management department and state police to address the items noted in the Office of the State Inspector Generals corrective action plan to help us meet our agencys mission.
VDOT expects to complete its report to OSIG by the end of the year.
Meanwhile, VDOT has continued implementing various changes to its storm response.
One approach involves staff training geared specifically to major event response, including FEMA Emergency Management Institute courses.
VDOT also has established a long-term road closure plan, which will be continuously improved by the department, along with the emergency management department and state police.
The plan includes approaches to keeping vehicles from becoming trapped as they did in the January storm. If that fails, the plan calls for on-site responders to handle wellness checks and a wireless emergency alert system to communicate with stranded travelers.
Various agencies and first responders informally set up in some areas prior to the January storm, but not all of them did. That co-location approach has since become part of the states formal response to major storms.
VDOT will establish command centers in its districts when major weather hits, something aimed at improving local and statewide communications. VDOTs Fredericksburg districts will set up a local command center when a forecast calls for more than an inch of snow or more than 1/10-inch of ice.
VDOT said it also has identified more areas to set up wreckers and plows for storms, if necessary, with a particular focus on work zones.
In an effort to supplement its traffic cameras which went dark in the January storm after power was knocked out VDOT will have staff drive routes to report on road conditions. The agency is also exploring back-up power options.
Hannon pointed out that VDOT will soon implement some new tools to respond to emergency situations: a new two-way communications system between drivers and VDOT in defined geographicgeo-fencedareas; and in-cab safety alerts for drivers clearing roads during significant storms.
VDOT also is working with the traffic app WAZE to provide emergency updates.
Hannon said VDOT also is developing the next generation of our 511 system, which is expected to be complete in mid-2023.
In a news release, VDOT said it has improved its efforts to fill contractor and equipment shortages as well as its communications and command structure for better internal and interagency cooperation during crisis events.
The department also reviewed its strategies to inform the public and made various adjustments, highlighted by what is calls a more aggressive messaging encouraging motorists to avoid travel when those conditions warrant.
The messages also will be sent across a range of platforms, from VDOTs 511 system to local news, social media, VDOTs customer service center and digital signs along the interstate.
VDOT is a member of the multi-state Eastern Transportation Coalition, which shares information and messaging during storms like the one that hit last January.
Coalition states can use that information to spread the word about major traffic disruptions to travelers long before they reach a situation like the I-95 shutdown.
State agencies havent yet been challenged like they were last winter, but they got a chance for a test run in mid-December when there was potential for winter weather.
The storm didnt spawn any major road issues, but Hannon said Fredericksburg District snow removal contractors rehearsed plow train techniques on I95.
The real challenge could come any time now, as winter has set in with this weeks weather proving eerily similar to a year ago: warmer-than-expected temperatures followed by rain and bitter cold.
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State transportation system learned the hard way from icy I-95 ... - Roanoke Times
Rosenwald Schools: A blueprint for community schools in the Deep South
Community school strategies are starting to flourish in the Deep South, jumpstarting a powerful, equitable, and community-informed educational approach that lays the foundation for teaching and learning. The basis for community schools in the South has historic roots that offer ways to practice democracy and build a shared future in the present day.
Sara Sneed, president and CEO of the NEA Foundation, says that some of the first community schools in the U.S. came in the form of Rosenwald Schools of the South. These were community-driven, high-quality schools that served more than one-third of African-American children across the South by 1928initiated by Booker T. Washington of the Tuskegee Institute and Julius Rosenwald, philanthropist and president of Sears Roebuck. The legacy of these schools influences how education leaders like Sneed are bringing communities together for educational opportunities for residents of the Deep South, and particularly to improve access and education justice for Black children.
Community schools in the Deep South are making space for people to co-create that future by building relationships, trust, and authentic communication.
Today, over one-third of all K-12 students and 56 percent of Black children reside in the South. Meanwhile, education spending per pupil, teacher salaries, college matriculation and completion rates, and math and reading scores are typically below national averages in most southern states. Despite all this being true, only 3 percent of philanthropic investment nation-wide is directed towards the South.
Today, education leaders are working to address these educational conditions that persist throughout the Deep South through community school strategies. The NEA Foundation has made preliminary investments in Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi community schools with quarterly convenings for grantees, who have named themselves the Southern Regional Alliance for Community Schools. Sneed sees this investment as a way for philanthropies to demonstrate what is truly valued and supported when it comes to equity in education.
The NEA Foundation has a four-pronged approach to supporting community schools in Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi: grants, technical assistance, convenings, and policy change. They make grants that begin with year-long planningfocusing on building relationships that go deep rather than widewhich is why they have grantees in three target states.
When the NEA Foundation launched their Community Schools Initiative (CSI) in 2020, following more than a year of preplanning with people and organizations throughout the region and nationally, to the best of their knowledge there were no community schools in Arkansas or Mississippi, and only one in Louisiana. There are now 16 established and formally named community schools; 13 schools that are under development or slated for transformation into community schools; and seven school districts at a visioning stage that have expressed interest or are developing the community schools strategy. According to Sneed, Ample research points to up to $15 in social value and economic benefit for every dollar spent in developing a community school.
The Foundation sets up grantees with technical assistance and coaching that is not prescriptive, so each site can pursue its self-determined priorities and preferred courses of action. The set goals for grantees are to establish or expand a team or coalition to develop strategy and deepen that teams understanding of community schools strategies; conduct local needs and interests assessments and an environmental scan to assess capacity; and create a work plan for implementation of the community school(s). Hands-on support comes from the Institute for Educational Leadership Coalition for Community Schools, Harvard Graduate School of Educations EdRedesign Lab, FourPoint Education Partners, and others.
State and local policies can also create the conditions that enable partners or services, such as school-based health centers, to operate in schools. Consequently, the NEA Foundation partners with local, state, and federal actors to create policies related to financing, implementing, and/or securing technical support for community schools.
Far from community school strategies focusing purely on resource provision, or wraparound services, Sneed prioritizes instruction: Community schools are first and foremost schools, so focusing on the instructional core is key. Services cant compensate for that core, they can only enhance that. We know that co-location of resources in schools can have benefits, but its only when they are aligned into a comprehensive and synergistic whole towards clearly defined goals that you begin to see impact and advancement.
For example, the Batesville School District in Arkansas is collaborating with a local manufacturing business to create an engineering pathway for high school students. Laura Howard, the districts lead and coordinator for community school strategies and an educator of 32 years, says, Community schools strategies offer innovative ways of connecting with local businesses to create immersive experiences so students can take what they have learned in their class and apply it to real world situations with actual engineers.
When Howard does professional development training for districts that are considering community schools strategies, she often tells them that they may be implementing some aspects of the strategy already, but the framework is helpful for understanding best practices and creating ways to innovate that put students first. She says, Community schools strategies put students first. But that doesnt mean that the strategy is the same from district to district. Howard also says, If youve seen one community school, youve seen one community school. Each one is different.
The practice of building trust and partnership takes a lot of time and patience in the process of growing community school strategies. In the Deep South, complex power dynamics exist between institutions like education and community-based organizations. But community school leaders have seen the benefits outweigh the obstacles time and time again, not just for individual students, but for their future contributions to the well-being of their communities and society as a whole.
Senator Robert L Jackson, CEO of Quitman County Development Organization, Inc. has described how Quitman Countys residents, school leaders, nonprofit and faith-based organizations, and others readily came to the table to explore and implement the community school strategy together under the leadership of its superintendent, Dr. Fredrick Robinson. They were able to do this through what he describes as a democratic process in which all voices are genuinely honored and respected.
Jackson says, Cultivating community schools creates new opportunities, not only for communities to determine what each wants for itself, for its children, and others, it relies on those essential commitments that advance democracy everyone contributing their best critical thinking, sense of self-efficacy, and the desire to participate in decisionmaking processes that directly and indirectly affect everyone.
Sneed says, The community school strategy offers so many benefits, from academic to social and emotional well-being, but also allows us a way to practice the idea of democracy because they offer a pragmatic, focused way for people in communities to come together and imagine a future together. Community schools in the Deep South are making space for people to co-create that future by building relationships, trust, and authentic communication.
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3 states in the Deep South are collaborating to advance community schools - Brookings Institution
The U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) voted to institute an investigation of certain location-sharing systems, related software, components thereof, and products containing same. The products at issue in the investigation are described in the Commissions notice of investigation.
The investigation is based on a complaint filed by Advanced Ground Information Systems, Inc. of Jupiter, FL and AGIS Software Development LLC of Marshall, TX on November 16, 2022, as supplemented on December 13, 2022. The complaint alleges violations of section 337 of the Tariff Act of 1930 in the importation into the United States and sale of certain location-sharing systems, related software, components thereof, and products containing same that infringe a patent asserted by the complainants. The complainants request that the USITC issue a limited exclusion order and cease and desist orders.
The USITC has identified following respondents in this investigation:
Google LLC of Mountain View, CA;Samsung Electronics, Co., Ltd. of Suwon, South Korea;Samsung Electronics America, Inc. of Ridgefield Park, NJ;OnePlus Technology (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd. of Guangdong, China;TCL Technology Group Corporation of Guangdong, China;TCL Electronics Holdings Limited of Hong Kong Science Park, Hong Kong;TCL Communication Technology Holdings Limited of Hong Kong Science Park, Shatin, New Territories, Hong Kong;TCT Mobile (US) Inc. of Irvine, CA;Lenovo Group Ltd. of Beijing, China;Lenovo (United States) Inc. of Morrisville, NC;Motorola Mobility LLC of Chicago, IL;HMD Global of Espoo, Finland;HMD Global OY of Espoo, Finland;HMD America, Inc. of Miami, FL;Sony Corporation of Tokyo, Japan;Sony Mobile Communications, Inc. of Tokyo, Japan;ASUSTek Computer Inc. of Taipei, Taiwan;ASUS Computer International of Fremont, CA;BLU Products of Doral, FL;Panasonic Corporation of Osaka, Japan;Panasonic Corporation of North America of Secaucus, NJ;Kyocera Corporation of Kyoto, Japan;Xiaomi Corporation of Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands;Xiaomi H.K. Ltd. of Kowloon City, Hong Kong;Xiaomi Communications Co., Ltd. of Beijing, China; andXiaomi Inc. of Beijing, China.
By instituting this investigation (337-TA-1347), the USITC has not yet made any decision on the merits of the case. The USITCs Chief Administrative Law Judge will assign the case to one of the USITCs administrative law judges (ALJ), who will schedule and hold an evidentiary hearing. The ALJ will make an initial determination as to whether there is a violation of section 337; that initial determination is subject to review by the Commission.
The USITC will make a final determination in the investigation at the earliest practicable time. Within 45 days after institution of the investigation, the USITC will set a target date for completing the investigation. USITC remedial orders in section 337 cases are effective when issued and become final 60 days after issuance unless disapproved for policy reasons by the U.S. Trade Representative within that 60-day period.
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USITC Institutes Section 337 Investigation of Certain Location ... - USITC
Published 5:23 pm Monday, December 26, 2022
None of Smithfields Town Council members have gone on record as to who theyll back as the towns next mayor, but some say they dont want the job.
Mayor Carter Williams, whos held the position since 2012, received the fewest votes out of five candidates seeking four available council seats in the Nov. 8 election, and as such, will be leaving office on Dec. 31.
At the Jan. 3 Town Council meeting, the remaining five sitting members and two newcomers who won seats in November will be tasked with naming Williams successor. In Smithfield, the mayor is not elected directly by voters, but by a majority vote of sitting council members.
Former Smithfield Police Chief Steve Bowman, who was the highest vote-getter in November among the council candidates, said he is not actively seeking the office and would respect and support the councils decision.
Council member Wayne Hall, who was reelected to a new four-year term in November and secured the highest vote total among the three incumbent candidates, told The Smithfield Times on Dec. 26 that hes thought about becoming a candidate for mayor, but hadnt discussed the idea with his fellow council members.
Council member Renee Rountree, who was elected in 2020, said she intends to run for the District 1 seat on Isle of Wight Countys Board of Supervisors in November 2023, and would step down from Town Council if elected at the county level. As such, I will not be running for a leadership position this year, Rountree said.
Councilman Randy Pack has his own reasons for not wanting to take Williams place as mayor.
Pack had pledged earlier in 2022 that he would recuse himself from any upcoming vote on former Smithfield Foods Chairman Joseph W. Luter IIIs Grange at 10Main development, named for its proposed location at Main Street and Route 10 at the edge of the towns historic district. The 56.8-acre development would include a mix of residential and commercial buildings, including a restaurant, which Pack has expressed interest in running. Pack and his brother, Randy, co-own and operate the Smithfield Station restaurant, hotel and marina, a similar establishment in Surry County named the Surry Seafood Co., and are in the process of developing a third named 37 North at Fort Monroe in the city of Hampton.
If I were mayor, it would appear there is some conflict of interest, Pack said.
Council member Valerie Butler and member-elect Jeff Brooks have also said they arent interested in the job.
Council member Mike Smith, who currently serves as vice mayor, did not respond to the Times inquiry by deadline as to whether he was interested in the mayor position or whom he would support.
Smithfields current method of selecting its mayor dates to 1978. That year, much like 2022, voters were asked to choose from five candidates for four available seats. The late James Chapman made history that year by becoming the first African American elected to Smithfields Town Council.
According to past reporting by the Times, Chapmans vote total surpassed the number of votes the late Mayor Carl Beale Jr. had received, which would have qualified Chapman to succeed Beale as mayor under the councils previous method of automatically naming the highest vote-getter as mayor. But sitting council members changed their procedure that same year to require a majority vote among themselves, which remains in effect to this day. Chapman did eventually become Smithfields first Black mayor in 1990, and the Town Council chamber is now named for him.
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Who will be Smithfield's next mayor? - Smithfield Times - Smithfield Times
Overwatch 2 server down: Where to check the Overwatch 2 Server status
Server outages are common in multiplayer video games that are based on online servers. Overwatch 2 is a popular online hero-shooter game that features a dense player base. As a result, technical issues and server-based challenges commonly appear. Such hiccups can frustrate players, and calls for immediate attention.
Unfortunately, server-based issues in Overwatch 2 can be caused by many possible reasons. The usual cause can be attributed to developer-sided server maintenance sessions, which are usually announced ahead of schedule. However, the trigger could also be an unanticipated bug, a new update, or an error in the game's code.
Whatever the reason, players should stay informed about the server status to avoid running into mysterious errors and crashes in Overwatch 2.
Unlike some video game titles, Overwatch 2 doesn't feature a dedicated server status page that players can visit to gather updates. Instead, one needs to keep an eye on Blizzard's customer service handles on Twitter for an announcement.
Blizzard has customer service pages on Twitter for every region. You can also report issues by tagging the specific handle for your area. Here are the handles you should take note of:
Alternatively, users can check out Overwatch 2-related public tweets for confirmation. One can also head over to the official Blizzard Support forums to check for similar complaints.
Apart from announcements on Twitter, the Battle.net launcher will also display a notification regarding the same.
There are no workarounds if the outage is caused by an officially acknowledged maintenance session or a bug. All one can do is wait until the maintenance period ends or the bug is addressed.
While most server outages affecting Overwatch 2 are caused internally, some issues could also be related to client-end hiccups. If you don't come across any reports or official acknowledgments regarding server maintenance, the issue is likely from the client's side and can be fixed with some basic workarounds.
Here are a few things you can try:
1) Restart your system
By this time, you have probably tried restarting the Battle.net client and the game. If not, try doing so. If that doesn't help, try a full system reboot.
2) Check your network
Check for an unstable network connection by performing a ping test. If you detect a problem, try fixing it. Try restarting your router and modem. Also, wireless connections are pretty unstable for gaming, and switching to a wired/ethernet connection may help.
You can try switching to a different DNS server and see if that helps the situation. If none of the basic internet-fixing workarounds help, contacting your ISP should be the next best option.
3) Attempt to Scan and Repair
Although a far-fetched idea, this could help trigger a missed patch update or fix corrupted game files. Click on the cog icon beside the Play button and the option should appear. Click on it to initiate the repair and try launching the game after the process is complete.
4) Contact Blizzard support
Make note of the error/issue you are facing and report it to Blizzard Support via Twitter or the forums.
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One of the best defenses against phishing attacks is training. By teaching your employees how to recognize and report phishing attempts, you can help keep your company safe from hackers. But with so many training options available, how do you choose the right one for your business? Weve compiled a list of the best phishing training options to help you decide.
Phishing awareness training is a program that helps employees learn how to identify and avoid phishing emails. These emails are designed to lure employees into clicking on a phishing link or opening an infected file.
Phishing awareness training can help employees stay safe online by teaching them how to:
Phishing training for employees can also help them understand the risks of sharing personal information online.
People are often the weakest link in an organizations cybersecurity posture. Phishing attacks involve tricking employees into revealing sensitive information or clicking on malicious links, which is a common way for cybercriminals to gain access to company networks.
Thats why organizations need to offer phishing training for employees. Training can help employees learn how to identify phishing emails and protect themselves from becoming victims of these attacks.
In addition to training, there are other things that organizations can do to protect their networks from phishing attacks, such as implementing a strongcybersecurity policyand using anti-phishing tools.
But education is key, and companies must train their employees to avoid cyber risk and stay safe online.
Here are the top options for simulated phishing campaigns and security awareness training programs:
KnowBe4sKevin Mitnick Security Awareness Training (KMSAT) allows you to run tests regularly with real-life examples of malicious emails. You can start by testing how prone your employees are to phishing, then move on to train them.
KMSAT includes a mix of interactive modules, videos, and newsletters to train users. You also get insights into employee performance to assign additional training if needed.
Phishing simulations and training fromInfosec Institutehave over 1,000 templates to build simulated campaigns. And that library is updated regularly to simulate recent and ongoing attacks.
With Infosec, you can provide personalized anti-phishing training to your employees on auto-pilot. Once you configure the schedule, users start receiving the simulated emails and training videos automatically.
Phished delivers interactive cybersecurity education with the help of automated simulations. WithPhished Phishing Simulations, you can train employees to spot phishing emails and smishing (SMS phishing) attacks. The knowledge is imparted through a series of micro-learnings.
It sends AI-driven simulations and reports back with the results. The entire sequence is automated. So, you can set it up and forget.
PhishingBox simulator uses test phishing attacks to train employees. It provides a range of templates and landing pages for quick setup.
WithPhishingBox Phishing Simulator, you can ensure your employees are fully prepared for an attack. PhishingBox also has a Learning Management System (LMS) to monitor everyones progress.
Gophish is a phishing framework to help you test how phishing-prone your organization is. This free tool can design phishing email templates and schedule them. And then, you can track the results in near real-time.
Unlike other tools,Gophishdoesnt have a host of complex features. Its a minimal and intuitive program designed just for testing.
Infosequre has many premade scenarios with realistic phishing emails and text messages. You can use exercises ofInfosequre Phishing Simulationto track your employees capability and presence of mind. The platform sends custom exercises and feedback depending on how someone acts.
You can use your own dedicated server. So, no one outside your organization can access your information, phishing tests, and feedback.
Proofpoint Security Awareness Training is the key to cyber defense. You can use it to train your team to identify and report phishing messages. It helps make everyone better aware of the cyber threats looming in the air.
WithProofpoint Security Awareness Training, you can run phishing USB simulations based on real-world threats, get knowledge and culture assessments, and get a report that identifies your top clickers.
TerranovasPhishing Simulationleverage dynamic content in various formats to engage the users. It helps you identify the employees at the most risk and make them aware of it.
With its simulation, you can create mock phishing attacks to train your employees for D-day. You can empower them with all the skills to recognize and report phishing emails.
SafeTitan is an advanced platform for real-time training. It has several templates to automate your training campaign fully. Each user gets personalized training depending on their test responses.
The program uses short gamified tests to create an interactive and enjoyable environment for employee training. The content library ofSafeTitan Plus Phishing Protectionalso has an extensive amount of training resources.
Hook Securitys phishing training toolkit is a complete training resource for your most significant asset: the employees. It uses a series of bite-sized training modules to make learning easy.
WithHooks Phishing Testing, you can easily set up mock tests for phishing and spear phishing attacks.Employees get instant feedback and learn to make themselves better aware of the risks. And you get comprehensive reporting to drill down into specifics.
Phishing attack exercises are a type of mock cyber-attacks in which the attacker attempts to acquire login credentials by masquerading as a legitimate entity in emails or other communication channels. Phishing attack exercises or phishing tests are often used in training simulations for employees of organizations.
It depends on the organization. While a few smaller companies may only spend $500 or less per year, the average medium-sized company spends about $1,600 annually, and large organizations can spend up to $50,000 or more.
Several phishing awareness training options are available, ranging from online tutorials and self-paced courses to live classroom sessions led by expert instructors. Organizations should consider their specific needs and pick the phishing training program that suits their requirements.
Yes. Phishing training definitely works, but its crucial to ensure that the phishing awareness training is practical and provides employees with the knowledge they need to protect themselves from phishing attacks.
Image: Envato Elements
Link:
Best Phishing Training Options for You and Your Employees - Small Business Trends
Yes, you read that right: this is a popular subreddit about bread that has been stapled to trees. That's it. That's the sub. This thriving community of bread stapled to tree enthusiasts runs about 318,000 deep. According to Bon Appetit, it was started by two friends back in 2017 as a joke, but has taken off ever since. Users come to r/BreadStapledtoTrees to share images oftoasted white bread stapled to an ash tree, a marbled rye stapled to a palm tree, and even a sourdough starter stapled to a tree. There's something weirdly wholesome and calming about the thread. Redditors seem to understand and even celebrate the silliness of this tradition, while still respecting the strict rules.
Yes, there are rules. Lots of them, in fact. For starters, the founders of the thread spoke to tree conservationists who confirmed that staples won't hurt mature trees. But the group does have a strict no young trees, bonsai, or cactus policy (via Bon Appetit.) There is also a list of approved breads, which is quite extensive and ecompasses everything from Pop Tarts, taco shells, and more typical types of bread. So if you're inspired, why not grab some challah, matzah, or even some gingerbread menalong with a stapler and join in on the fun?
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From Mark Zuckerbergs mad metaverse musings to mass layoffs and Musk-induced mayhem at Twitter, 2022 has been a tumultuous twelve months for the technology industry.
Along the way, a whole host of new phrases and words, virtually unused and unheard of in January, have slowly crept into our conversations. Looking ahead to 2023, it's likely you'll see these terms used even more frequently, as we continued to adapt to the modern and often novel post-pandemic world of work.
Here are all the important tech terms you need to brush up on before 2022 ends and the new year begins.
The term Quiet quitting garnered significant media attention after being discussed extensively by employees on social media throughout the year, particularly in younger millennial and Gen Z circles.
The term refers to doing the absolute bare minimum your job requires you to do, and nothing beyond that. Its precisely the opposite of going above and beyond at work, which is perceived by Quiet Quitters to negatively impact a healthy work-life balance.
Re-recruiting isn't necessarily a brand-new term and probably arose before the year began but it was honed in on by Microsoft in their September 2022 Work Trend Index, for which 20,000 workers from across the globe were surveyed.
One key takeaway from the survey was that staff need to be re-recruited to their roles in order to ensure theyre continuing to develop and grow within their company.
This effectively means giving employees ample opportunity to expand their skill sets and learn more about both their own roles and roles that exist above them. The hope is that providing employees with this will help minimize job-hopping, which has made it difficult for companies to retain staff all year.
A Decentralized VPN sometimes called a dVPN refers to any VPN that does not have centralized control over the individual servers that make up its server network.
As popular VPN company Surfshark puts it, instead of a single VPN provider supplying and maintaining the servers, dVPN's servers are hosted by independent users. They could be using dedicated server machines or just installing dVPN software on their home computers.
There are some definite advantages to Decentralized VPNs, but perhaps the biggest one is that your privacy is secured by the very nature of the network infrastructure, rather than a private company (i.e. a VPN provider) giving you their word however trustworthy that they wont log your data.
Coined by project management software provider Wrike, the Dark Matter of work lives in synchronous applications and unstructured work, such as instant message threads and video calls, as well as the gaps between systems and applications that arent integrated.
Workplace dark matter consists of all the little tasks you have to complete in your workday that take very long to complete in isolation, but slowly add up and eat into your time. As alluded to above, the project management provider suggests thinks the explosion of workplace applications is to blame for an exponential increase in workplace dark matter.
Conversely to Quiet Quitting, Quiet Firing is enforced by managers. Instead of just firing an employee outright, during a Quiet Fire, a boss will slowly remove one of their staff members duties until their position becomes obsolete or unneeded.
Bosses engaging in the practice may reassign these tasks to other employees, change the employee's job description, demote them, or simply block them from pursuing opportunities that will expand their horizons within the company.
If an employee is quietly fired in this way, it makes it significantly harder for them to launch legal action against the company than if they were fired outright.
Workfluencers are essentially influencers that create content about their jobs. those who are interested in learning more about their field and what their day-to-day work life is like.
They often make money from brand partnerships like standard influencers and seek engagement from followers in much the same way, but focus their content entirely around the 9-5.
Workfluencers have been aided significantly by changes to business and career apps like LinkedIn, which have continuously borrowed features from mainstream social media sites over the past few years to make their platforms more accessible and usable.
Now, over 13 million LinkedIn users have their profiles set to creator mode, which will, in theory, more people will see their posts. Workfluencers are here to stay, whether we like it or not, and there'll probably be plenty more who try their hand at it in 2023.
MFA Fatigue is a novel hacking technique that was used to great effect by thereat actors throughout 2022, and is thought to have been the catalyst behind successful breaches of Uber, Microsoft, and CISCO's networks.
In MFA Fatigue attacks, perpetrators will run a script that attempts to log into a targets account that has multi-factor authentication turned on using stolen credentials. The victim will then receive a seemingly unending stream of authentication requests as the script runs.
The hackers are hoping that the victim is so irked by the constant string of notifications that they finally approve one of the requests out of frustration. After that, they'll have access to the account and can wreak whatever havoc they please.
Overemployment is a modern term for someone working multiple jobs which has become increasingly common since the post-pandemic economic downturn were all experiencing began.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 4.9% of the 164 million-strong US workforce held two or more jobs in September 2022, which amounts to almost 8 million people.
As the name would suggest, boomerang employees are staff members that are employed at companies theyve previously left, typically on good terms (hence the return). One analysis of LinkedIn members job histories shows boomerang employees accounted for 4.3% of US hireslast year.
Some companies are now encouraging this practice, setting up alumni networks and other ways to stay connected with former employees once they leave in order to coax them into the office and back onto the payroll at a later date.
However, some research suggests that employees returning to more senior positions after leaving previously can have a negative impact on staff morale, particularly for those who are still in the same roles they were in when their returning co-workers first departed.
Ransomware-as-a-Service a play on the more widely-known term Software-as-a-Service is a term given to any ransomware that is made commercially available as a subscription service, enabling affiliates to use the already-developed tools to execute their own attacks.
The rise of Ransomware-as-a-Service has materialized alongside many ransomware gangs moving from double extortion tactics both encrypting and exfiltrating a victim companys data and threatening to publish it to triple extortion tactics.
In a triple extortion attack, a companys data will first be encrypted (coupled with the threat of deletion) and exfiltrated (coupled with the threat of publication), all while the threat actor also orchestrates a third stage, such as a DDoS attack or threatening the companys clients.
Productivity paranoia refers to a disparity between how productive CEOs, bosses, and managers think their staff members are, and how productive staff members actually believe themselves to be.
The disparity is stark, too. According to a Microsoft Work Index study released this year, although 87% of employees believe themselves to be productive at work, only 12% of leaders believe their employees are making the most of their time.
Productivity paranoia has likely been exacerbated by the rise of hybrid, flexible and remote approaches to working, which many bosses feel has given them less visibility over their teams.
Email Bankruptcy occurs when a person deletes or ignores emails that are older than a certain date, or in more extreme cases, abandons their inbox altogether due to the volume of emails theyre receiving.
Granted, this term has been around a lot longer than just this year but considering the rise of project management software apps with built-in collaboration tools as well as business communication platforms like Slack, you might hear it a whole lot more in 2023. Around 30% of US adults have already declared email bankruptcy, with inboxes becoming increasingly clogged with spam, junk, and marketing emails.
While as equally interesting as it has been exhausting, 2022 has left many people working in and around the tech sector with more questions than answers.
Will the mass layoffs weve experienced this year continue? What cyber threats will be used to target businesses? Will Twitter survive until the end of the year with Musk at the helm, or will Googles scarily sentient AI have taken over the world before we can find out?
Whatever happens in 2023, well be keeping you up to date with daily news updates on the platforms, services, and businesses that matter to you.
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Quiet Quitting, Re-Recruiting: New Tech Terms That Arose in 2022 - Tech.co
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There's an experimental McDonald's franchise in Fort Worth, Texas, different from any other you've been to. On entering the restaurant, you'll note it's tiny. Moreover, while there are human employees, they aren't necessarily tired-looking teens running registers.
A human restaurant team preps food orders and places them onto food and beverage conveyors, but automation is key in ensuring customers get their orders. Success or failure may hint at fast food's near future.
In an email to Entrepreneur, a McDonald's spokesperson stressed that there aren't actual robots serving the food. Additionally, they stated that the company has no plans to test the concept in other locations. "McDonald's is always testing and learning from new concepts and technologies to ensure a best-in-class, seamless experience for our customers," the spokesperson wrote, "This is the first restaurant concept of this kind to be introduced in the U.S. and for now is only being tested in one location outside Fort Worth, Texas."
Newsweek reported on the experimental McDonald's after a video from foodiemunster, a TikToker and Instagram user, went viral.
The video, which already has well over a million views, illustrates the ordering and pickup process. It's not that different from newer, human-staffed McDonald's, where you can order using touchscreens. The change is apparent when customers pick up their food from an automated machine server.
In a statement quoted by Newsweek, McDonald's explained why the robot-operated restaurant is so small and how it works:
When you step inside the test restaurant concept, you'll notice it's considerably smaller than a traditional McDonald's restaurant in the U.S. Why? The featuresinside and outsideare geared toward customers who are planning to dine at home or on the go...
Inside the restaurant, there's a delivery pick-up room for couriers to retrieve orders quickly and conveniently. There are also kiosks, where customers can place their orders to go, and a pick-up shelf for orders. Outside the restaurant, there are several parking spaces dedicated to curbside order pick-up, as well as designated parking spaces for delivery drivers.
Reactions from those commenting on foodiemunster's video reflect an ongoing debate about automation in several industries. "It's cool but I don't think I'm a fan," said one Instagram commenter, "I rely on the indoor play grounds ... Also we already have too many automated things happening and I feel like we don't need more stuff where you don't interact with actual people. I don't know."
Newsweek quoted other comments that were more frank, one person writing, "Well there goes millions of jobs," and another stating that if the company leans into the experiment, "I'll just boycott McDonald's, their food's mid at best anyway."
There's been a heated debate over similar automation like retail self-checkout since the latter was introduced in 1986. As CNN noted in an article published in July this year, 67% of retail customers "said they'd experienced a failure at the self-checkout lane."
According to Newsweek, this is a singular experiment for McDonald's to see how it goes. If the fast food giant judges it a success, who knows? One day in the future, you might be plucking your Big Mac and fries from cold robot hands.
Correction, Dec. 23
The original version of this story misstated the nature of the experimental restaurant. It does feature new automation but is still staffed by human crew members who prepare the food and aid customers who encounter issues with self-serve kiosks or incorrect orders.
Go here to see the original:
McDonald's Is Testing Robot Servers at Drive-Thru in Texas - Entrepreneur