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Getting Back to Work in the Office - by Mimi Grant
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You might think it's a sure sign that the COVID-19 crisis is almost over when South Coast Plaza - the $3 billion Taj Mahal of shopping centers - opens back up, after three months of lock down. In fact, as of Friday, June 12th, California officially entered Stage 3 on its Resilience Roadmap, with gyms, bars, hotels, museums, and even schools allowed to reopen. Going even further, after a contentious two weeks of "mask wars," the newly appointed Orange County Interim Health Officer has lifted the requirement for the County's 3.1 million residents to "wear masks at all times in situations where physical distancing isn't possible" to just "strongly recommending" the practice. (BTW, his predecessor, Dr. Nichole Quick, was a casualty of the fight; she resigned abruptly - after receiving death threats from "mask protesters" who showed up in her front yard.) And, next month, even Disneyland will reopen in time to celebrate its 65th anniversary. |
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| INDUSTRY TRENDS
Top 10 Emerging Technologies of 2020: Winners and Losers Technology solutions built around artificial intelligence and 5G offer the most immediate opportunities for tech firms to generate new business and revenue, according to CompTIA's third annual "Top 10 Emerging Technologies report." The Internet of Things, which claimed the top spot in 2019, dropped to third on this year's list. Augmented and virtual reality and biometrics also moved up, while blockchain and robotics slipped a bit. In summary, here is the top 10 list: AI; 5G; IoT; Serverless Computing; Biometrics; Augmented/Virtual Reality; Blockchain; Robotics; Natural Language Processing; Quantum Computing. (Read Article: TechRepublic, 6/10/20) Homeland Security Warns About "Wormable" Windows 10 Bug; New Ransomware Targeting PCs with "Unique" Attack Homeland Security's cybersecurity advisory unit is warning Windows 10 users to make sure that their systems are fully patched, after exploit code for a "wormable" bug was published online last week. The code takes advantage of a security vulnerability patched by Microsoft back in March. However, tens of thousands of internet-facing computers are still vulnerable, prompting the advisory. The exploit code, known as SMBGhost, exploits a bug in the server message block component that lets Windows talk with other devices, like printers and file servers. Once exploited, the bug gives the attacker unfettered access to a Windows computer to run malicious code, like malware or ransomware, remotely from the internet. Worse, because the code is "wormable," it can spread across networks, similar to how the NotPetya and WannaCry ransomware attacks spread across the world, causing billions of dollars in damage. (Read Article: TechCrunch, 6/8/20) Video is the 5G "Killer App" for Both Enterprise & Consumers: Survey A pair of reports, commissioned by Nokia, showed that 83% of businesses considered video a compelling 5G use case, while 90% of consumers rated high-quality, uninterrupted video streams as a "very valuable" aspect of 5G. The surveys were conducted before the coronavirus became widespread. Now, as employees and students are compelled to work from home, "we're all seeing video is a very powerful tool," said a Nokia spokesman. (Read Article: ZDNet, 6/10/20) First Tech IPO of Covid-19 Era: ZoomInfo Soars Over 60% In the first tech IPO since the coronavirus shut down much of the U.S. economy, ZoomInfo soared more than 60% in its Nasdaq June 4th debut, underscoring investors' ongoing appetite for high-growth subscription software companies. ZoomInfo (not to be confused with video chat provider Zoom Video) priced its IPO at $21 on June 3rd; the stock closed up 62% at $34, valuing the company at about $13.4 billion. The offering reeled in more than $900 million. (Read Article: CNBC, 6/4/20) CVS Partners with Nuro to Test Self-Driving Vehicle Prescription Delivery CVS Pharmacy plans to test delivering prescriptions using self-driving vehicles in June as part of a pilot program in Houston. CVS partnered with Nuro, a Silicon Valley tech company that's been developing autonomous driving technology, for the initiative. Deliveries will be free to customers for orders through CVS.com or the CVS Pharmacy app, and are expected to be fulfilled in three hours or less. Customers will have to verify their identity to unlock the vehicle. (Read Article: CNBC, 5/28/20) Apple Becomes First $1.5 Trillion U.S. Company The total value of Apple stock passed $1.5 trillion in trading on the NASDAQ Wednesday, smack in the middle of a global pandemic that's affecting all of the company's major markets. Apple is the first U.S. company to exceed $1.5 trillion in value (Saudi Aramco is the only other company that has crossed this milestone; it was worth $2 trillion after its first day of trading post-IPO). (Read Article: Fast Company, 6/10/20) Google Faces $5 Billion Lawsuit in U.S. for Tracking "Private" Internet Use Google has recently been sued in a proposed class action accusing the company of illegally invading the privacy of millions of users by pervasively tracking their internet use through browsers set in "private" mode. The lawsuit seeks at least $5 billion, accusing the Alphabet Inc unit of surreptitiously collecting information about what people view online and where they browse, despite their using what Google calls Incognito mode. According to the complaint filed in the federal court in San Jose, CA, Google gathers data through Google Analytics, Google Ad Manager, and other applications and website plug-ins, including smartphone apps, regardless of whether users click on Google-supported ads. (Read Article: Reuters, 6/2/20)
| STILL WORKING FROM HOME
WFH: Key to Sounding Sharper in Video Meetings Working from home now means taking lots of virtual meetings. And if you find that your colleagues can't hear you very well, or complain about distracting background noise, we've got a great tip for you: invest in a microphone. "If you want to come across being your best, audio is the single most important thing in video," says Larry Becker, the author of "Great on Camera." "If people can't hear you, they'll get frustrated and tune you out. Bad video, and they'll muddle through, just to listen to you. A microphone will make a big difference." (Read Article: USA Today, 6/9/20) 3 Secrets to Success for Project Managers Working Remotely If you've had trouble shifting your project management style to an all-virtual working world, here is some advice about how to refine your approach. These project managers have worked extensively with clients on remote projects and kept complex efforts on track. (Read Article: TechRepublic, 6/3/20) Companies Find New Perks for the Remote Worker (No More Pizza Fridays) As lockdowns continue in many regions, employers are toying with new perks that might address some of the struggles remote workers are facing on their own. Examples include: Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co. in April started giving employees access to meditation and mindfulness services from Headspace Inc. Some 9,000 of the company's workers have tried it, spending 500,000+ minutes on the app. Financial software company BlackLine Inc. is testing a four-week series of virtual exercise classes (eg, yoga, Pilates) via ClassPass.
| BACK TO WORK - IN THE OFFICE
How Salesforce is Doing a Virus Safety Makeover When employees at Salesforce eventually return to their office towers, they will be required to fill out online health surveys and take their temperature. If they pass the health screening and have a good reason to go in, Salesforce will schedule their shifts - and send them digital entry tickets for the lobby with an arrival time. They will be asked to wait for the elevator on social-distancing floor markers and stand on other markers once inside the elevator. These new command-and-control work practices are intended to help protect Salesforce's 50,000+ employees as the company undertakes a colossal task: figuring out how to safely reopen its 160+ offices around the world. Salesforce's vision of a more micromanaged workplace is indicative of the complexities that many businesses are grappling with during the pandemic and signals a significant cultural shift for office workers across the United States. (Read Article: New York Times, 6/10/20) |
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