At the beginning of each year, a group of global innovators meets. They introduce and show off breakthrough technologies. It’s done at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), which is typically held each January in the U.S.
This year, over 3,200 exhibitors from 173 countries showed off the future. Giving us a glimpse of what could show up in our homes offices, living rooms, or kitchens. The show includes both wacky and very sensible inventions. All designed to push the limits and expand how we use technology.
People love their gadgets, so it’s always exciting to see the new tech that CES showcases. It’s estimated that the global smart home household penetration was 14.2% in 2022. By 2027, it’s expected to more than double to 28.8%.
What new gadgets did innovators introduce at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show? Here’s a rundown of some standouts that you may want to check out.
Loona – Intelligent Petbot
Do you love the thought of having a pet, but not the mess? Can’t have one because of where you live? Loona might be your answer. The developer promotes this smart gadget as “the most intelligent petbot.” It’s currently gathering funding through a Kickstarter campaign.
The cute little motorized pseudo pet can welcome you. It can also follow you when you walk around, sneeze, scratch, and much more. Just like a dog or cat, Loona investigates suspicious objects. Unlike most pets can beatbox, pose for pictures, and dance.
Ring Car Cam
Another consumer IoT device displayed at CES is already for sale on Amazon. It’s the Ring Car Cam, which takes the popular doorbell cam concept on the road with you.
This small internet-connected video cam has dual-facing cameras. It can capture images in the car and on the road. It includes two-way talk to connect with loved ones at home. It also has motion detection and real-time motion alerts.
AtmosGear Electronic Skates
If you’re feeling brave, you can soon strap on a pair of electric inline roller skates. AtmosGear introduced the skates at CES. It expects to begin shipping them starting in May of 2023.
The skates can get up to speeds of 25 km/H (15.5 MPH) and can reach a full charge in about an hour. The “skate” is actually a motorized frame that you can attach to “all roller boots.”
Tilt Five Augmented Reality Glasses
If you’ve been waiting to use augmented reality (AR) outside a video game, your chance may be here. Tilt Five introduced an AR glasses system that connects to a computer device. It can be used on board games as well as video games.
Ready to bring some holographic life to your tabletop play? The system includes the glasses and a board game. The glasses look somewhat like heavy-duty safety glasses. Both interact to bring an AR element into the real world.
This earbud/hearing aid combo can be very helpful to those with hearing loss. Jabra Enhance Plus are earbuds that offer a 3-in-1 experience. You can use them for listening to music, phone calls, and for hearing enhancement.
The small design makes them discrete, and they are also designed to be easy to use. They include state-of-the-art technology to provide superior audio clarity.
Hasbro Selfie Series Figures
Have you secretly wished to have your own action figure…of you! Hasbro has you covered with its new Selfie Series. You can use your phone’s camera to upload a pic and choose from figures based on several franchises.
Make a figure of yourself from these universes:
G.I. Joe
Ghostbusters
Power Rangers
Marvel
Star Wars
Use your smartphone and Habro’s app to customize your new digitized figure. Then all you have to do is buy it and wait for it to arrive.
Twinkly Squares
Twinkly Squares are like the Lite-Bright toy all grown up. The squares allow you to add panels of colored and automated lights to any wall. They’re great for a home office or to add a pop of color to any space.
Because these are IoT gadgets, you can also program and control them. Create digital artwork, have them sync with music, or use their voice feature.
Xebec Tri-Screen 2
Do you wish you had more screen space on your laptop? Don’t like the uneven feel of using a second monitor that is higher than your laptop screen? Then Xebec’s Tri-Screen 2 may be your answer.
This gadget enables you to expand your laptop screen on both sides. It sits behind the screen and expands the screen space both left and right.
Don’t Introduce Smart Tech Into Your Home without Security
New electronic gadgets and home tech can be great. They can also expose your network to security risks. Get help from a pro. Give us a call for a home security audit.
Companies both large and small share this one cybersecurity problem. They have computers that are still running older operating systems. Staff might use these devices only occasionally. Or the company may be running customized software that won’t run on newer OS versions.
The problem is that when the OS becomes outdated, the system is open to cyberattacks. When Microsoft or another developer retires an OS, it means that it is no longer supported. No more feature updates and no more security patches for newly found vulnerabilities.
The latest operating system to lose all support is Windows 8.1. Microsoft released the OS in 2013, and it was officially retired on January 10, 2023. Microsoft issued the following warning for companies:
“Continuing to use Windows 8.1 after January 10, 2023 may increase an organization’s exposure to security risks or impact its ability to meet compliance obligations.”
Here are a few facts you should know about what this retirement of Windows 8.1 means.
The OS Will Still Technically Work
When an operating system reaches its end of life, it doesn’t just stop working. Thus, many companies go on using it without realizing the security risk. Technically, the OS will work as it did the day before retirement. But it’s a lot less safe due to the loss of support.
Your System Will No Longer Receive Security Patches
Software and OS vulnerabilities are sought out and exploited all the time. This is what hackers do for a living. The vulnerability cycle usually begins with hackers finding a software “loophole.” They then write code to exploit it that allows them some type of system access.
The software developer learns of this, usually once hackers start breaching systems. They write code to fix that vulnerability. Developers then send the fix to users via an update that they install. This protects the device from one or more hacker exploits.
When an OS reaches its end of life, these fixes are no longer made. The developer has moved on to focus on its newer products. So, the vulnerability remains. It leaves a device vulnerable to hacks for days, months, or years afterward.
Approximately 61% of security vulnerabilities in corporate networks are over five years old.
Options for Upgrading
If you have a computer that is still running Windows 8.1, you have two options for upgrading. You can opt for Windows 10 or Windows 11. If the computer is running such an old OS, there is a chance your system may not meet the requirements for one or both. In this case, you may need to buy a new device altogether.
Microsoft states that there is no free option to upgrade from 8.1 to Windows 10 or 11. Some of the advantages you gain when upgrading include:
Better built-in security
Faster processing
Capability for more modern features (like facial recognition)
Improved accessibility features
Updated productivity tools (like snap layouts in Windows 11)
What Happens If I Don’t Upgrade?
Security & Compliance Issues
Your data security is at risk if you stay on Windows 8.1. Without any security updates, any vulnerabilities will stay unpatched. This leaves your system highly vulnerable to a breach. One hacked system on a network can also cause the breach or malware infection to spread to newer devices.
If you have to comply with a data privacy regulation, like HIPAA, you’ll also run into issues. Data privacy rules dictate making reasonable efforts to protect data. Using a device with an outdated OS jeopardizes meeting compliance.
Slowed Productivity
The older systems get, the slower they get. Staff that must work on outdated software often complain that it hurts productivity. 77% of surveyed employees were frustrated with outdated tech. Employees dealing with outmoded systems may also quit. They are 450% more likely to want to leave and work elsewhere.
An outdated operating system can hold your staff back. They miss out on modern time-saving features. They can also run into problems with bugs that will no longer get fixed.
Incompatibility With Newer Tools
Software and hardware developers aren’t looking back. Once Microsoft retires an OS, they aren’t prioritizing its compatibility. In fact, some may not want their product to be compatible with it because of the liability.
When you have issues using modern software and hardware it hurts your business. You become less competitive and begin to fall behind. Staying on an outmoded OS keeps you stuck in the past.
Get Help With Your Windows Upgrades
We can help you upgrade smoothly from an older Windows OS to a new one. If you need a new system, we can point you in the right direction for the best value. Give us a call today to schedule a chat about upgrades and where your security stands.
It’s a common theme. You begin seeing these amazing CGI images of your friends on Facebook or Instagram. You think, “How can I make one?”
Filters and self-portrait apps have come a long way. You can now make yourself look like Hollywood’s version of a character in the next hit animated film. It still kind of looks like you, only a dream version with “perfect” hair, skin, and facial features.
The latest of these modern vanity marvels to make the rounds is Lensa AI. You upload about 10 photos so the app can feed that data into its AI algorithm. Then, once it maps your facial features, it generates several fantasy selfies of you.
These magical avatars don’t come for free though. While you can download the app for free and use it in a limited fashion, you need to pay to do more. To get unlimited access for one week, it’s $2.99. There are several pricing tiers for its avatar packs and membership access. These range from $3.99 for Avatars Pack 1 to $35.99 for full membership.
It sounds like a little harmless digital fun, right? That’s what many companies making apps like this like you to think. Vanity is an easy sell, and who doesn’t want to have a fabulous profile pic?
But for Lensa AI and several similar self-portrait apps, you’re paying more than you know. The cost comes from the data privacy rights you’re giving up. And these can go far beyond the app itself.
Why Worry About Data Privacy with Lensa AI & Similar Apps?
Thanks to laws like GDPR, software and app developers need to tell you what they do with your data. Looking at the app at the Mac App Store, a few alarming things jump out.
Data Used to Track You
Once you download the Lensa AI app, it can track your phone activity. The app store states that the app may use purchases and unique identifiers to track you. And this doesn’t mean only tracking you while in Lensa AI. It can track you across websites and apps owned by other companies.
Data Collected
Lensa AI scours your device for a lot of different data points. By downloading it, you permit it to do this. Some of the tracking links to you personally (such as linked to your name, IP address, or phone number). It collects a lot of other data, but not with your name or another identifier on it.
Data collected and linked to you:
User content (such as the images you upload)
Data collected, but not linked to you:
Purchases you make on websites or apps
Usage data for apps, etc.
Identifiers (this isn’t specified, but could mean things like city or gender)
Diagnostics from your device
Loss of Rights to Your Uploaded Images
What apps like Lensa AI do with your data is a grey area. Many tech companies, such as Facebook, have been known to act irresponsibly with user data. Many are purposely vague in their terms and conditions, leaving the door open.
One section from the Lensa AI Terms that users agree to states the following:
“…solely for the purposes of operating or improving Lensa, you grant us a time-limited, revocable, non-exclusive, royalty-free, worldwide, fully-paid, transferable, sub-licensable license to use, reproduce, modify, distribute, create derivative works of your User Content, without any additional compensation to you…”
For the sole purpose of “operating” Lensa, could mean anything. It could mean that to make more money to operate the business, the company needs to use your images. Note that it also states it can modify, distribute, etc. YOUR user content.
Things You Can Do to Protect Your Data Privacy
Don’t Immediately Jump on Every Fad
This one may be hard when you see all your friends using a new app. It’s natural to want to be a part of that. But try waiting a week. Most likely those avatar images from the latest selfie app won’t be blowing up your feed anymore.
Read App Terms & Conditions
Take the time to read an app’s terms. You are often giving up more data privacy rights than you realize. This includes giving an app the ability to track just about everything you do on your device. Be aware of what’s at risk before you download a new app.
Restrict Data Collection
If you can’t resist an app’s charms, at least make it as secure as possible. This includes taking the time to restrict its data collection features, where possible.
Use your phone’s privacy and security settings to turn off data sharing. For the Lensa AI app, you can also contact the company to request that it delete your data from its servers. Its privacy policy states to email privacy@lensa-ai.com for questions and concerns.
Get a Device Privacy Checkup
The more apps you use, the more complicated data privacy can get. Don’t leave it to chance. We’ll be happy to help. Give us a call today to schedule a device privacy checkup.
Microsoft 365 is one of the most popular cloud platforms in the world, with about 345 million paid seats. Microsoft cloud tools numbers were up 32% in Q3 2022 compared to the previous year.
One of the reasons for its continued growth is the suite of cloud tools offered in the service. Users get a stable of over 20 different apps, including the core MS Office suite.
With so many different apps, it’s not uncommon for some to go unused. Companies may not even be aware they have access to these other helpful tools. One of the handiest apps you get with a Microsoft 365 subscription is Microsoft Forms.
From sending year-end customer surveys to assessing change readiness, Forms makes it easy. This online survey and form-building tool has a lot to offer organizations. And if you have a subscription to Microsoft 365, then you already get Forms included for free.
What Is Microsoft Forms?
Microsoft Forms is a drag-and-drop form, quiz, and survey creator. It’s simple to use and allows you to send out surveys via a link. Recipients can fill out your form online from any device.
Once recipients fill out the survey, the results come into the software instantly. You can see the collated results charted in the software. You can also export the results to Excel.
How to Get Started in Forms:
Visit Forms.office.com and log into your Microsoft account.
Choose “New Form” or “New Quiz: from the top menu
OR you can choose to explore the built-in templates.
Click “Add New” to add a new form field. You can choose from field types:
Choice (i.e., multiple-choice question)
Text
Rating
Date
Ranking
Likert (a scale that records attitudes/opinions about a topic)
Net Promoter Score® (a scale from “not likely” to “extremely likely”)
Section (separator that can include a title and image)
Enter your questions.
Once finished, click “Send” at the top. You can distribute the survey using the following options:
Link to a web form
Email
QR code
Embed in a web page
Via Facebook or Twitter
View responses on the “Responses” tab
Advantages of Using Microsoft Forms
It’s Included in Microsoft 365 Subscriptions
If you already subscribe to Microsoft 365, then it makes sense to use Forms. It can save you money if you’re using a separate survey tool, like Survey Monkey. It’s easily accessible by signing in with your Microsoft account.
It Saves Time
Sending a survey by email is time-consuming. You have to worry about emails bouncing due to an attachment. You also need to spend time collating all the results as they come in.
Using MS Forms can save you a lot of time. People don’t need to download anything or open an email file attachment. They simply follow your link and fill out the form online. As soon as they fill the survey out, you get the result. Forms also collates all the answers for you.
Get Charted Results Automatically
You can quickly see the results of the survey in meaningful graphs. Forms makes it simple to export to Excel if you want to upload the survey results into another platform.
On the “Responses” tab, you can hover over the result graphs to see the details.
There’s a very low learning curve with Microsoft Forms. The interface is intuitive and simple, so just about everyone can jump in and start using it.
What Are Some Ways You Can Leverage Microsoft Forms?
Annual Customer Satisfaction Survey
Using a web-based survey can increase your response rate from customers. They can fill out your satisfaction survey from any device, making it quick and easy for them.
You can see results instantly. Then, chart them to gain insights into what your business is doing right, and what you can improve upon.
Employee Security Awareness Quiz
Send a security awareness quiz to your employees using Forms. It can be easily integrated into your cybersecurity awareness training. The platform also tells you the average response time per person.
Change Readiness Survey
Change management is a growing focus of many organizations. This is due to the speed of technology-driven transitions. You can use Forms to improve user readiness for change adoption. Create and send out a change readiness survey to affected groups.
Event Registrations
Are you hosting an event? You can easily gather registration details. Send out a Forms link via QR code, social media, text, or email.
Volunteer Registration Form
Embed an MS Forms registration form on your web page to sign up volunteers. The platform will automatically collate different talents or other volunteer information. This helps you better match people’s talents to your needs.
And More
You’ll find more ideas from the Forms templates. Such as:
Competitive analysis study
Post-event feedback survey
Office facility request form
Employee satisfaction survey
Product pricing survey
Food catering request form
Save the date form
Course enrollment form
Would You Like to Get More Out of Microsoft 365?
There is a good chance that your company may be leaving some value on the table with M365. Give us a call today to learn more about our Microsoft 365 support services.
The need to back up data has been around since floppy disks. Data loss happens due to viruses, hard drive crashes, and other mishaps. Most people using any type of technology have experienced data loss at least once.
There are about 140,000 hard drive crashes in the US weekly. Every five years, 20% of SMBs suffer data loss due to a major disaster. This has helped to drive a robust cloud backup market that continues to grow.
But one thing that’s changed with data backup in the last few years is security. Simply backing up data so you don’t lose it, isn’t enough anymore. Backing up has morphed into data protection.
What does this mean?
It means that backups need more cybersecurity protection. They face threats such as sleeper ransomware and supply chain attacks. Cloud-based backup has the benefit of being convenient, accessible, and effective. But there is also a need for certain security considerations with an online service.
Companies need to consider data protection when planning a backup and recovery strategy. The tools used need to protect against the growing number of threats.
Some of the modern threats to data backups include:
Data Center Outage: The “cloud” basically means data on a server. That server is internet accessible. Those servers can crash. Data centers holding the servers can also have outages.
Sleeper Ransomware: This type of ransomware stays silent after infecting a device. The goal is to have it infect all backups. Then, when it’s activated, the victim doesn’t have a clean backup to restore.
Supply Chain Attacks: Supply chain attacks have been growing. They include attacks on cloud vendors that companies use. Those vendors suffer a cyberattack that then spreads throughout their clients.
Misconfiguration: Misconfiguration of security settings can be a problem. It can allow attackers to gain access to cloud storage. Those attackers can then download and delete files as they like.
What to Look for in a Data Protection Backup System
Just backing up data isn’t enough. You need to make sure the application you use provides adequate data protection. Here are some of the things to look for when reviewing a backup solution.
Ransomware Prevention
Ransomware can spread throughout a network to infect any data that exists. This includes data on computers, servers, and mobile devices. It also includes data in cloud platforms syncing with those devices.
95% of ransomware attacks also try to infect data backup systems.
It’s important that any data backup solution you use have protection from ransomware. This type of feature restricts automated file changes that can happen to documents.
Continuous Data Protection
Continuous data protection is a feature that will back up files as users make changes. This differs from systems that back up on a schedule, such as once per day.
Continuous data protection ensures that the system captures the latest file changes. This mitigates data loss that can occur if a system crashes before the next backup. With the speed of data generation these days, losing a day’s worth of data can be very costly.
Threat Identification
Data protection incorporates proactive measures to protect files. Look for threat identification functions in a backup service. Threat identification is a type of malware and virus prevention tool.
It looks for malware in new and existing backups. This helps stop sleeper ransomware and similar malware from infecting all backups.
Zero-Trust Tactics
Cybersecurity professionals around the world promote zero-trust security measures. This includes measures such as multi-factor authentication and application safelisting.
A zero-trust approach holds that all users and applications need ongoing authentication. So, just because a user is logged into the system today, doesn’t mean they are completely trusted.
Some of the zero-trust features to look for include:
Multi-factor authentication
Distinct file and folder permissions
Contextual authentication
Verification of permissions for file changes
Backup Redundancy
If you back up to a USB drive or CD, you have one copy of those files. If something happens to that copy, you could experience data loss.
Cloud backup providers should have backup redundancy in place. This means that the server holding your data mirrors that data to another server. This prevents data loss in the case of a server crash, natural disaster, or cyberattack.
Air Gapping for More Sensitive Data
Air gapping is a system that keeps a copy of your data offline or separated in another way. This would entail making a second backup copy of your data. Then, putting it on another server. A server disconnected from external sources.
This is a feature that you may want to seek out if you deal with highly sensitive data. It helps to ensure that you have at least one other copy of your backup. A copy walled off from common internet-based attacks.
Need Help With Secure Backup & Data Protection Solutions?
Have you updated your backup process for today’s threats? Give us a call today to schedule a chat about data backup and protection.
