Top Tips On Choosing A Web Hosting Company in 2022

good web hosting is critical

Once you decide to create a website for your business, to offer your products and services to online users, or for any other reason, you will have to choose a web host subsequently. A brief search online will reveal a vast variety of web hosting service providers; this makes choosing one quite a challenge.

Choosing the right web host is essential because making a mistake at this stage might end up costing you or your business dearly in future. With the right tips and preparation, business owners can be able to find the right fit, as far as web hosting services are concerned.

Use the tips below as your guide to choosing the right web hosting service provider or visit this webpage for more Opportunités Digitales – Top Hébergeurs 2018.

Define Your Needs

Before you even start looking for suitable companies to partner with the web hosting world, it is recommended that you first think about your specific web hosting needs. Some of the things you need to think about at this point include the amount of traffic you are targeting at this early stage and the type of files to be uploaded to the site among others.

By comprehensively defining your needs, you will be better positioned to avoid choosing a web hosting partner with too little or too many resources.

Security Concerns

a fast website is importantIf you wish to handle essential and confidential customer and business-related information on the website, then security becomes a significant concern.

It is worth noting that even the smallest of websites are at risk of being hacked, as such, its best to have the necessary security protocols in place from the start to mitigate this risk.

Security Sockets Layer is a security protocol used to keep the confidential information entered by users safe. It is also worth noting that you should choose a GDPR compliant company if you plan on sharing customer information with them.

Scalability

As a business looking to venture into the online market, it is essential to keep growth estimates in mind. When choosing a web hosting partner, it is essential to choose one that has the potential to grow with your website with time.

Not all web hosting service providers can be able to accommodate growth in your web hosting needs, so be sure to assess the capabilities of the companies under consideration carefully. It is also worth noting that you should choose a web hosting package that provides for root growth before you have to move up to pricier options.

Support

Things always have a way of going wrong even after choosing the best web hosting company. When this happens, efficient and effective customer support proves to be a lifesaver. As such, it is vital that you look for a web hosting company that has reliable customer support.

Before settling on a given company, check whether they have customer support, and then check whether it works by calling and emailing their contacts.

Choosing the right web hosting company can be quite tricky especially to new businesses looking to venture online for the first time. Follow the above tips to make the process much more manageable.

Determining the right type of hosting for your site

Before choosing a web host for your website, you must first have a perfect understanding of the different types of hosting that exist. 

This will allow you to choose the one that can meet your expectations since they each have their advantages and limitations. Before subscribing to a web hosting service, you will have to choose between 4 options. 

Dedicated hosting

As its name indicates, dedicated hosting gives you the opportunity to benefit from a specific server. This server will be exclusively reserved for your company and will have its own operating system. This type of hosting is generally suitable for high traffic sites or e-commerce sites. However, it is an expensive solution. Therefore, before opting for this hosting solution, your needs should be considered in light of the expenses inherent to this service. 

VPS hosting

VPS hosting has a similar mode of operation to dedicated hosting. The only difference is that at this level, the virtual machine set up on a dedicated server is shared, thanks to a technology called virtualization. 
This consists in putting a virtual layer on the operating system of another physical server: that of your host. 

Thus, the VPS gives the possibility to take advantage of more flexible technologies. It allows you to save on the total cost of hosting because of the mutualization of resources. 

It is indeed a type of hosting that is reserved especially for those who aspire to rapid progress and who are thinking of developing in the medium term.

Shared hosting

With this type of hosting, several clients can share the same server. It is a solution that gives you the possibility to reduce costs, especially when your storage needs are not very important.

Cloud hosting

Finally, cloud hosting is also close to the principle of shared hosting. However, it should be noted that it does not depend on a single physical server, but on several virtual servers. Its greatest asset is that it offers very flexible possibilities of availability and flexibility. 

Electric Hot Water Technology Explained

Electric hot water technology is used to heat water in a home. The electric heaters are either tank-type or hybrid systems. The former store hot water until you need it, while the latter use both electrical and gas power to heat your home water. There are several types of electric water heaters available on the market, and you can also choose from solar-powered and ENERGY STAR-boosted models.

Tank-type heaters store hot water until needed

Tank-type electric heaters are known to store hot water until you need it. These heaters require less electricty and can pay for themselves over time. When choosing a tank-type heater, it’s important to choose one that fits your needs and space.

Choosing the wrong size tank can lead to a shortage of hot water and extra energy usage. Check the manufacturer’s ratings and labels to determine if the heater is large enough to hold the amount of water you need for your household’s needs.

Traditional water heaters have been widely used in homes for decades. They contain an insulated tank that can hold anywhere from 20 to 80 gallons of water. They are typically powered by electricity, gas, propane, or fuel oil and are equipped with a thermostat. They automatically heat water to the correct temperature and release the super-heated water through a pressure release valve.

Hybrid electric water heaters

Hybrid electric water heaters combine the advantages of tankless and tank-style heaters to create an energy-efficient water heater. Water heaters are among the most energy-intensive appliances in your home, using nearly one-fifth of the total amount of energy consumed by your household.

The advantages of these types of water heaters are many. A hybrid electric water heater is cheaper to install and run, and they can save you about $330 per year in operating costs. Installing one of these heaters can save you an average of $3,600 over their lifetime. Additionally, some utilities offer cash rebates of up to $800.

While hybrid electric water heaters are a cost-effective water heater alternative, they require more space than standard tankless models. In addition, they need a warm climate to function properly. They may not be appropriate for homes with extreme temperatures, but if your climate is moderate, a hybrid can save you up to $250 annually.

ENERGY STAR-rated systems are more efficient than conventional electric models

Energy-efficient water heaters are an important aspect of any home, as water heaters use about 20% of a home’s energy. An ENERGY STAR-rated model uses as much as seventy percent less energy than a standard model. In addition, these appliances can increase the value of a home by qualifying for an Energy Star rating.

An Energy Star-rated electric water heater such as the ones sold by this company has lower fuel consumption than a conventional unit, which reduces energy costs.

These appliances meet strict energy-efficiency criteria set by the US Environmental Protection Agency and US Department of Energy. Electricity is more expensive than gas, so purchasing a more energy-efficient hot water heater will save you money.

Cost

Electric hot water heaters can be very affordable. You can save a lot of money if you switch from natural gas or propane. You can even run your water heater off-peak by running it on timer during the day.

While the upfront cost of fuel water heaters is higher than electric, the operating cost is much lower. In addition, utilities have tanks that run on electricity during off-peak times, which means you can save money as well.

When comparing the costs of electric hot water systems, it is important to consider your lifestyle, schedules, and household needs. The size of the system you choose is also an important factor. Larger systems can use more power than necessary, so you want to choose a system that will provide sufficient water without drawing too much power. A four-person house should get between 125 and 160 litres of hot water per minute.

Web hosting is a long term game!

Web hosting is a long term game!

The choice of a web host is a very crucial step for any company concerned about its development. It is then necessary to follow certain tracks in order to make an optimal choice. This article gives you some key tips to successfully choose your web host.

Tips for choosing a web host for your website

During the process of designing a website, the choice of the web host is a step not to be taken lightly. On the market, there are several players who offer hosting services. Thus, it is very difficult to make an optimal choice, since the technical criteria that these providers display are multiple. Discover some tips to choose the right host for your site.

We have an original post on this topic here https://voteaupluriel.org/blog/top-tips-on-choosing-a-web-hosting-company/

Take a long term view

Besides saving money on hosting, the main goal of a company is to have an alternative that can evolve over time. Also, it is necessary that this evolution is in conformity with the development of its activity. For this, when choosing your host, you must have a long-term vision. This will allow you to choose a solution that can easily adapt to your future needs. 

Generally speaking, it is better to opt for a limited and less expensive basic offer at the beginning, even if you want to upgrade to a more powerful offer later on. Therefore, make sure that your hosting solution offers packages that are relative to your current and future needs.

Email hosting: check the possibility

Nowadays, the majority of hosting solutions usually give the possibility to host your dedicated email addresses. To do this, make sure that the solution you have chosen has this service in the cost of the package you have chosen. In addition, check if you have a sufficient number of addresses to support the internal organization properly.

Choose a hosting company in the target country

It is recommended to choose a hosting solution that has hardware servers that are located in your target country. This is because it allows your website to rank well in the search results when the target internet users will search.

In reality, the location of the servers represents a real SEO criterion. However, it is not the most important SEO criterion. Nevertheless, when it comes to choosing a web host, you need to put all the chances on your side.

Consider security 

When choosing a web host for your website, you should consider security. To do so, make a comparison of the different tools and security measures that each hosting solution offers. IP blocking or the possibility to obtain an SSL certificate are, for example, security measures that help prevent hacker attacks.

In addition, you also have the opportunity to ask the hosting company about the regularity of automatic backups. In fact, this will allow you to be sure that your data will be protected in case of a possible incident.

AI: fake faces increasingly difficult to identify

fake ai generated faces

Fake faces, created from scratch by artificial intelligence, have fewer and fewer flaws, making them sometimes undetectable to a human.

The “fake faces” or synthetic faces are now more imperceptible to a human being. A study conducted by the University of Texas asked several hundred people to distinguish real people from faces generated by an algorithm.

Fake AI generated faces are harder to recognise than ever!

The study’s process is interesting. A first group of 315 subjects was asked, on two portraits next to each other, which one was fake. The same request was made to a second group of 219 people who were briefly trained to identify fake faces, including the defects left by the artificial intelligence in certain places. A third and final group of 233 participants rated the reliability of the 128 images presented to the first two groups, on a scale of 1 to 7.

In their answers, the subjects of the first group obtained less than one correct answer out of two (48.2%). For the second group, better prepared, the percentage increases slightly to 59% of correct answers. Finally, the ratings of the last group give on average a higher reliability rating to the fake faces (4.82) than to the real people (4.48).

“We’re not saying that every image generated is indistinguishable from a real face, but a significant number of them are,” laments study co-author Sophie Nightingalen. She is also concerned about the ease of access to the technologies that allow the creation of these synthetic portraits. She is not wrong.

Almost two years ago, during the presidential elections in the United States, a 17-year-old American boy created a fake profile of a fake candidate on Twitter. The mysterious Andrew Walz had a profile picture from the website thispersondoesnotexist.com, which, as its name suggests, presents portraits generated by artificial intelligence. Twitter eventually certified his profile before being alerted by the media coverage of the deception.

In their conclusions, the two co-authors encourage “those developing these technologies to ask themselves whether the associated risks outweigh the benefits. If so, then we discourage the development of a technology simply because it works.”

3G is gradually disappearing in the United States

3g discontinued in the US

On February 22, the first American operator, AT&T, closed its 3G network in favor of 4G and 5G.

It was written since 2019, AT&T closed its 3G network on February 22 in the United States. T-Mobile and Verizon are expected to follow later this year. This decision taken by operators to focus on 4G and especially 5G networks does not please everyone. Several devices, risk not working anymore, across the Atlantic we even talk about an “alarmaggedon”.

According to AT&T, 1% of mobile data traffic goes through 3G

This barbarism reflects the alarm industry’s concern. One industry group estimates that two million devices are at risk of failing. In another area, Axios is relaying an alert from The School Superintendents Association that 10% of public school buses will lose their GPS and communication systems.

In San Francisco, transit riders have been informed that all 650 real-time bus shelter displays will cease to function.

AT&T tried to reassure everyone. The operator claims that less than 1% of mobile data traffic goes through 3G. Two million free or discounted 4G LTE phones have been distributed to replace 3G devices. The company insists, the country’s phone coverage will not be affected.

On the subject of “alarmaggedon,” AT&T is more offensive. The carrier reports that the nation’s largest alarm company has successfully updated all of its devices, including a device it designed. For those who didn’t manage to do so, the pandemic would be a good thing, because they preferred to install new ones than to update the old ones.

The US authorities are keeping an eye on things, but they are letting it happen

Nevertheless, when contacted by Axios, a senior White House official said he was monitoring the operators’ transition plans and shared “concerns about the potential impact of these plans on the function of home security and medical alert devices.

The alarm industry’s communications committee asked the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to delay AT&T’s plan until December, without success. The agency in charge of communications probably has no intention of throwing a wrench in the works after successive postponements of the 5G rollout because of the disruption to aircraft.

FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, a Democrat, said Feb. 18, “I think we’re on track to make this transition happen with limited disruption.” T-Mobile has scheduled its 3G network to shut down on July 1 and Verizon by the end of the year without further details.

In Europe, too, the 3G network is approaching its twilight. Germany and Denmark have put an end to it and other countries are expected to follow. The website 01net has looked at the French case. It appears that the French operators are reluctant for the moment, because there are still many 2G and 3G users in France.

Apple finally making significant progress on its VR headset project

apple vr headset

The object of many rumors for several years, Apple’s virtual reality headset would gradually begin to materialize internally. According to information from the media DigiTimes, this future product has already passed its “second phase of validation and technical testing (EVT 2)”.

At this stage, and if DigiTimes is right, Apple is no longer working on prototypes, but on a headset that is gradually approaching its final version. As ArsTechnica points out, “EVT 2” indeed refers to a stage in Apple’s journey in designing new devices. The firm starts by working on prototypes before moving on to the first EVT (engineering validation testing) phase, followed by the “EVT 2” phase, which interests us today.

This is an important marker for the progress of Apple’s work on this headset: after the engineering validation (EVT), comes the design validation, followed by the production validation… which allows, as its name indicates, to start the mass production of a finalized product.

A VR headset expected at the end of 2022

Still according to DigiTimes, the Apple headset could enter the production phase in August or September, for a launch in late 2022. Note that Mark Gurman, journalist for Bloomberg, had however evoked a delay of the device somewhere in 2023.

The analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, for his part, had maintained that a marketing in 2022 was still possible. We will have to wait a few months to know for sure.

In any case, the first Apple headset should mix virtual and augmented reality by relying on advanced components. We’ll find 4K screens, multiple sensors and an M1 processor that develops a computing power equivalent to that of the latest MacBook Pro.

The idea would be to make this product very powerful and autonomous (it would not need to be connected to another device to work) in order to target the professional world, at least at first.

Amazon takes sanctions against Russia

Amazon takes sanctions against Russia

The American e-commerce giant announced on Tuesday, March 8 that none of its products will be delivered in the country of Vladimir Putin.

Jeff Bezos’ company is the latest major American technology company to take sanctions against Russia and Belarus. While not necessarily a major player in the country, Amazon decided to suspend deliveries and block registrations to its cloud service, Amazon Web Services.

No more delivery or cloud in Russia

Over the past few days, there has been one disengagement after another from many US technology companies. Most Silicon Valley companies have cut their ties with Russia. Oracle, Intel, Apple, Google, Airbnb, Microsoft and AMD have decided to suspend their activities on Russian territory. Measures taken in line with the sanctions imposed by the U.S. government.

It is now Amazon’s turn to comply with government directives. The e-commerce giant announced on Tuesday March 8 that none of its products will be delivered in Vladimir Putin’s country.

A decision taken in response to the invasion of Ukraine, which forced the group to “take additional measures in the region”. In its press release, the company of Jeff Bezos explains that it has “suspended the shipment of retail products to customers based in Russia and Belarus. The Seattle firm even decided to go further by suspending the accounts of its streaming service Amazon Prime, to all Russian subscribers. Amazon adds that “we are no longer taking orders for New World, which is the only game we sell directly in Russia.

Amazon has never really tried to develop the Russian market

It is important to note that Amazon’s business is much smaller in Russia than in the European Union. It does not have a logistic site in Putin’s country, as it is the case everywhere in Europe, nor a website, but the company still delivered to Russian customers who placed orders from other websites. In Russia, there are other major retail players. Local competitors like Wildberries or Ozon. Indeed, the high import taxes make Amazon’s products uncompetitive in Russia.

Same thing for Amazon Web Services, the company’s cloud service. The American firm specifies that “we have no data center, no infrastructure or office in Russia. Our policy has long been not to work with the Russian government. Most AWS customers in the country are in fact local subsidiaries of international groups.

This decision to stop all the group’s activities also follows a request from the Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister, Mykhailo Fedorov, who asked Amazon to suspend access to AWS services in Russia, to “support a global movement of governments and large companies opposed to the invasion of Ukraine.

Dell: growth at all costs in 2022, with record revenues

101.2 billion dollars in revenues, for a 17% increase in one year, is what comes to mind when reading Dell’s financial results for its 2022 fiscal year. The Texas-based giant has thus signed a record year, marked by growth in all its divisions. That said, the PC branch of the Round Rock manufacturer is particularly celebrating with record shipments, Dell is pleased with the first lines of its statement.

“Fiscal 2022 was the best year in the history of Dell Technologies. We achieved more than $100 billion in revenue and grew 17%, which is a significant achievement and ahead of our long-term growth targets,” commented Jeff Clarke, vice president and co-chief operating officer of Dell Technologies, among others, as quoted by Le Monde Informatique.

A very lucrative year 2022 for Dell

In terms of operating income, Dell is also very well off with 4.7 billion dollars for an increase of 26% compared to 2021. When we go into detail, we see that all divisions of the American giant are in the green, with a growth of 27% to $ 61.5 billion for the Client Solutions Group (including 17.3 billion and +26% in the fourth quarter alone).

The Infrastructure Solutions Group, for its part, will have total revenues of $34.4 billion for fiscal year 2022 as a whole. To a lesser extent, Dell’s server and networking business is also on a roll, with +7% (YoY) and $4.7 billion in revenue; while storage products brought in $4.5 billion in revenue for Dell over the past year.

However, this virtuous dynamic has not been observed at VMWare. Separated from Dell a few months ago, the company has posted an increase in revenue (+9% to $ 12.785 billion), but a net income that fell by 11% to $ 1.82 billion, says Cnet.

Nintendo switch finally allows to connect your bluetooth headset

The update 13.0 of the Nintendo Switch allows to connect bluetooth headsets. No need for a dongle.

This is a feature that we were many and numerous to expect since the launch of the nintendo switch in 2017. The console is equipped with bluetooth and wi-fi as standard, but it was impossible to pair a bluetooth headset until today.
If you used to use a wireless headset with your smartphone, pc or tablet, impossible to use it on your nintendo switch. A shame for a mobile and modern device.

Bluetooth audio in listening mode only

This is what nintendo announced very soberly by a tweet in the night of 14 to 15 September. With the 13.0 update of the system of the Nintendo Switch, we can now pair headphones or bluetooth headphones.

There is however an important nuance that must be understood. Here Nintendo offers only bluetooth audio in listening, without the possibility of using the microphone of the headset. For voice communication, we will still have to find alternative systems.

Nintendo also warns that latency may be a problem in bluetooth. The latency inherent in the use of Bluetooth is a well-known problem with Android products.

Nintendo is ahead of its competitors

The Nintendo Switch was often criticized for the lack of Bluetooth audio connection, because it is a portable product where this synchronization is very practical.

However, it should be remembered that this is a classic situation on the game console market. Indeed, neither the playstation nor the xbox offer a bluetooth audio connection.

It is even more ridiculous in the case of the playstation that sony is one of the best manufacturers of bluetooth headsets, and that the dualsense controllers use bluetooth to connect to the console, jack port integrated into the controller included.

Zoom videoconferencing application reached 200 million daily users

Zoom reached 200 million daily users during March 2020. It is a record increase for this videoconferencing application, which had only 10 million users in December 2019. However, the American company is stuck in numerous cases related to the lack of security of its product. To improve its image, it announces various measures such as the publication of a transparency report, webinars, and an improvement of its bounty bug program.

In a blog post published on April 1, 2020, Zoom’s founder, Eric S.Yuan, announced that the video conferencing application reached 200 million daily users in March 2020. By way of comparison, in December 2019, the maximum number of participants in “free or paid daily meetings” was around 10 million.

This explosion is due to containment, a measure necessary to contain the COVID-19 pandemic. We will see if this situation will continue in the long term, especially once the health crisis has passed. The consequence of this sustained use is the emergence of numerous problems related to the safety of the application. “We now have a much more users who are using our product in a myriad of unexpected ways, presenting us with challenges that we did not foresee when we designed the platform,” writes Eric S. Yuan.

A strategy to regain user confidence

Data leaks, lies about encryption, machine vulnerabilities… One problem after another for the start-up. The latest: disclosure of personal data caused by poor contact management. Faced with these concerns that undermine Zoom’s reputation, Eric S.Yuan announces a series of measures. “For the next 90 days, we are committed to devoting the necessary resources to identify, address, and resolve the issues proactively,” he says in his blog post.

It includes preparing a “transparency report” detailing information related to “data, folder or content queries,” a weekly webinar on Wednesday at 10:00 am to explain upcoming updates, conducting a comprehensive “comprehension review” with independent experts and representative users. Besides, Zoom is committed to improving its bounty bug program and mobilizing “all its technical resources” to strengthen its security.

On paper, Zoom seems to want to improve the privacy and security of its users. In practice, what means will it be implemented? It should be noted that incidents are not necessarily due to purely technical concerns. The American company openly lied about the security protocol used to encrypt audio and video streams. This seductive operation came a few days after the Attorney General of the State of New York sent a letter to the company asking it to explain its privacy policy.

Stadia: unable to provide 4K at 60 as promised, Google responds to criticism

Now available, the Cloud Gaming service is struggling to keep its promises. And among these, one, in particular, is the subject of intense criticism from subscribers and specialists: that of a catalog fully available in 4K 60fps.

Display resolution and framerate sometimes lower than consoles

Stadia may have bragged by announcing a theoretical power of 10.7 teraflops at the official presentation of its product, but in reality, this striking power is far from being properly used.

In any case, this is the observation of the specialists at Digital Foundry who, after weeks of testing the Google stamped product, affirm that out of the 22 titles currently in the catalog, few are running in 4K, and even less at 60 frames per second. Some games like Destiny 2 run in 1080p60 – which is a lower framerate than on PS4 Pro, for example.

Red Dead Redemption 2, a real product seller of Google technology, is also far below what the Xbox One X offers. Rockstar’s game never reaches 60 frames per second and seems to be capped at 1440p. A stinging setback, which directly contradicts what Stadia proudly announced on her Twitter account just a few months ago (a tweet deleted since).

Google blames the developers

Google then went to the front to clarify the situation with 9to5Google. According to Google, Stadia streams 4K at 60 frames per second, and this includes all aspects of our graphics pipeline from the game to the screen: GPU, encoder and Chromecast Ultra, everything comes out in 4K on 4K TVs, if the Internet connection is powerful enough.

Developers working on Stadia games work hard to provide the best streaming experience. As you can see on a variety of platforms, this includes a wide range of techniques to achieve the best overall quality. According to Google, it gives developers complete freedom in how to get this best quality, as much image as framerate. Google expects developers to continue to improve their games on Stadia.

Google states that while its infrastructure is theoretically capable of producing 4K at 60 fps on all games, it is only up to developers to appropriate this technology and rework the sauce in their way, whether it involves violent upscaling, or even capping at 30 frames per second.

It is also worth recalling that the games offered on Stadia are not PC versions, nor console versions of the games. These are versions developed for Google’s Cloud Gaming service. The recency of this one, and the probably frantic pace at which development teams had to adapt to this new platform, undoubtedly explain the wanderings of the launch.

Deeptech: The resurgence of breakthrough technological innovations!

The deeptech sector (projects involving a major scientific breakthrough or a breakthrough technological innovation) is becoming the priority of investors. The historical industry of venture capital companies in the 80s and 90s, deeptech lost its glory with the bursting of the telecom bubble in the early 2000s.

These scientific projects have then long experienced the worst difficulties in raising funds and financing themselves, obsolete by the digital boom. For many years, deeptech has been categorized by investors as particularly capital-intensive projects with limited probabilities of success.

A larger playing field

But the situation has changed radically for these actors. It is now entirely possible for an entrepreneur to develop a stunning deeptech project with a very reasonable capital requirement. The field of play is particularly vast: robotics, news space, health with the rise of artificial intelligence, mobility, and new materials.

Lowering barriers to entry

In recent years, the deeptech universe has indeed begun to change under the combined effect of two phenomena. First, barriers to entry have been drastically lowered. Major technological innovations have developed over the years, significantly reducing capital consumption. The large-scale distribution of open source software bricks is now a significant factor in the resurgence of deeptech projects that we see on the market.

Similarly, in the hardware sector, thanks mainly to the mobile technological revolution, many sensors or components have seen their prices collapse. In such a context, deeptech entrepreneurs are now able to produce POC (proof of concept) at a lower cost and in a shorter time. Entrepreneurs, therefore, have the opportunity to build disruptive products or solutions without having to face the dangers of capital consumption from previous deeptech projects. These POCs thus deliver a faster return on investment than before. Customer feedback is also becoming quicker and more frequent, allowing entrepreneurs to develop a product that is closer to market needs.

New entrepreneur profiles

A phenomenon has allowed deeptech projects to enter a new era. In recent years, we have seen a radical change in the very profile of entrepreneurs. Historically, this type of project was carried out by recognized and experienced scientists from major research laboratories. These brilliant scientists, however, embarked on entrepreneurship without any real experience in the business world.

Since then, the game has changed. The scientist-entrepreneurs of yesteryear have gradually transformed into scientific entrepreneurs, now better acquainted with the requirements of the business world and investors. At the same time, we have seen a rejuvenation of entrepreneurs. The latter no longer hesitate, from now on, to launch their deeptech projects after only a few years of work in research laboratories. This rejuvenation has thus fostered the emergence of a pool of scientific entrepreneurs.

Crypto-currency mining: what is it?

bitcoin hash rate

Cryptocurrency mining is the most recent growing trend. From Bitcoin to Ethereum, everyone who knows the concept of crypto-currency mining wants to earn as much money as possible. And for those who have not yet devoted themselves to the art of crypto-currency mining, we have published the ultimate beginner’s guide to help you unlock its secrets.

First of all, mining is an intensive computation work that requires a lot of processing power and time. Cryptomoney mining is the act of participating in a network of cryptomoney distributed by peers in consensus.

The origins of mining

We like to believe that to know where you are going, you need to know where you come from. And the cryptocurrency mining, although relatively new, has come a long way since the first Bitcoin in 2009. Bitcoin mining was the first crypto-currency mining that people knew, and today there are more than 800 crypto-currencies that can be mined and exchanged.

Current knowledge

If you don’t know the basics, you may limit your growth. When it comes to crypto-currency mining, it is important to know that there are 2 types of currencies – the loser and the pre-miner. Most currencies are shabby by their very nature because they are based on a blockchain (a chain of blocks).

However, some currencies that have been mined by insiders are also available for sale in various cryptographic currencies. It is these currencies that benefit insiders. Basically, proof-of-work currencies (PoW) are those that can be mined while proof-of-stake currencies (PoS) are those that are pre-mined.

Trust in the future

15 years ago, whatever you did in the Internet field could make you millions. Today, with good advice, the same could happen with crypto-currencies.

From Bill Gates saying “The future of money in this world is crypto money” to Chris Dixon saying “There were 3 eras of money – the one based on raw materials, the one based on politics and now the one based on mathematics”, we believe that crypto money will change the way the world works, and we explain here the mining of crypto money to make your life easier.

Crypto-currencies attracts crowds to the digital world and the crypto-currency mining gives you the right to your turn to perhaps make a fortune on these roller coasters. At the end of this rainbow there is really a golden pot waiting for you – in the form of digital tokens, contrary to legend. And we are happy to be your catalyst in these processes.

Crypto-currency mining is juicy
A mining rig

How to get rich with crypto-currency mining

You have sweaty palms and you’re nervous? It’s time for you to put all this behind you. We provide you with a detailed guide on how to exploit the Top 5 crypto on the market, how to mine them and the rewards involved. Ready? Ready?

Bitcoin mining

The queen of crypto-currencies had to be the first choice without a doubt. After all, bitcoin mining is the oldest (and still the most widespread) form of crypto-currency mining.

Bitcoin mining is intentionally designed to be difficult and resource-intensive, so that the number of blocks finished each day by miners remains stable.

Why are cryptocurrencies mined?

Governments and legal entities control national currencies. National currencies are therefore part of a centralized economic system. While cryptomones are decentralized currencies. No legal entity controls cryptomonnaies.

It is the users who decide the fate of a cryptocurrency. Some of the most popular crypto currencies are Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, Bitcoin cash, etc. For acheter du bitcoin et des cryptos monnaies.

As there are no centralized bodies such as banks in cryptocurrencies, there is no need for private registers. Instead, there is a public register, which is unique to each currency. This public register is called the blockchain.

In a centralised economic system, it is the duty of a bank to update its customer register. But in the cryptocurrency system, there are no banks or third payment operators. So we need someone or something that can check the transactions and add them to the blockchain. It is the work of minors.

3D printing is changing the artistic design

The arrival of 3D technologies in the 1980s opened up a whole world of possibilities, not only for industrial applications but also for more creative developments.

With the opening of some patents and the reduction in the costs of some technologies, artists can make greater use of additive manufacturing technologies in their daily work. But this raised a fundamental question: to what extent can 3D printing be considered as a tool to create Art?

Does technology open up a new perception of the work of art? Can 3D printing in Art break down specific barriers in creation?

The beginnings of 3D printing in Art

After the first decade of 2000, the first art exhibitions showed pieces printed in 3D.

They were initially presented not as works of art, but as a potential for innovation. It was not until 2015 that artists considered these 3D printed pieces as true artistic works. Over the past two years, many have organized exhibitions around this new vision of 3D printing.

The advantages of 3D printing

This new openness to 3D technologies benefits artists in many ways.

For example, they can simplify some of the tasks in their work, such as the Spanish artist Víctor Marín, who makes his sculptures using 3D technologies, but also create new ways of working, such as the designers at Emerging Objects, who have developed small stools by recycling tires.

There are still many examples when we talk about art and this new conception that additive manufacturing technologies bring. Not only do they offer a technical advantage to the majority of artists by accelerating developments or facilitating specific processes, but they are also a technique that will open the way to the exploration of new artistic facets.

The future of 3D printing in art

Today, the relationship between 3D printing and art is already established. From students to experienced artists, they have already started to use 3D technologies creatively. In addition to restoring works of art, 3D technologies have opened a path to artistic exploration.

Because many sectors used additive manufacturing such as medical or construction, Art can go further. It allows artists to explore other fields, starting to learn about bio-impression as Amy Karle does, the introduction of new materials and their relationship with nature, as Neri Oxman does. This generation is a new generation of artists, bio-artists, techno-artists, material explorers, who are seeking to get closer to nature through new technologies and this is only the beginning.

The 100% Google driverless car takes to the road

For the past few days, a strange vehicle has been spotted in the streets of Mountain View, right in the heart of Silicon Valley. With its small size, rounded shapes and natural looks, it seems straight out of a cartoon. It also has another particularity: it is autonomous. It is the first prototype of a driverless car entirely designed by Google.

The company has already been conducting experiments in California and Nevada for five years. However, until now, it had only used commercial models, Toyota and then Lexus. These cars are equipped with a sophisticated radar and camera system. This makes it possible to map the environment and detect cars, pedestrians, red lights, white lines…

The new “Google car” prototype was developed in-house. About twenty units were produced by a small equipment manufacturer in Detroit, the American automobile fiefdom. Initially, these cars were not to include a steering wheel or pedals. Google, however, had to revise its plans to comply with California regulations, which require the presence of a driver who can regain control.

11 ACCIDENTS

Unveiled in May 2014, the prototype – which officially has no name – has already accumulated the kilometers of tests on private tracks. The second phase of testing is now taking place on public roads near the search engine’s headquarters, at a maximum speed of 40 km/h. These tests should improve performance in the city, a sophisticated environment for driverless cars.

Nestled in Google X, the in-house laboratory that imagines the most futuristic concepts, the project is still far from successful. Its director, Chris Urmson, talks about a possible commercial launch within five years. Many challenges remain to be resolved, he explains. For example, “where should the car stop when its destination is inaccessible because of work? »

Since their first laps, Google cars have driven about 1.5 million kilometers independently. Without a single accident, the company explained last year. At the beginning of May, however, it had to admit that eleven skirmishes had taken place since the start of the tests. “The unmanned vehicle was never the cause of the accident,” Urmson says.

ANOTHER TEN YEARS OF WAITING?

Google is not the only company interested in vehicles without drivers. On Tuesday, June 23, Ford formalized its ambitions in the field. “Many manufacturers are working on driverless cars,” says Thilo Koslowski of Gartner. However, development will take place in stages. The analyst estimates that it will be another ten years before a fully autonomous model becomes widely available.

In the meantime, an increasing number of vehicles will drive themselves under certain conditions. For example, when parking or on the highway, where the data to be analyzed is less complicated than in the city. Tesla, the American manufacturer of electric cars, even promises the arrival of an autopilot function this year. General Motors plans a semi-autonomous model for 2017.

“By 2035, unmanned cars will represent 9% of the world fleet. Moreover, almost 100% by 2050,” predicts Egil Juliussen of IHS Automotive. Google could become a major player in the sector. “The software aspect will be an essential element to ensure the reliability of the vehicles,” continues the analyst. High-tech companies have expertise in this area that car manufacturers do not have.

About The Onboard 2 Bluetooth Technology

Onboard 2 Bluetooth scanner

An Onboard 2 Bluetooth, or OBD 2, for short, is a tool that many drivers and mechanics these days cannot do without. Moreover, there’s a good reason for this.

Vehicles are increasingly reliant on computers. Having so many components means that a lot can go wrong. Moreover, without the ability to speak, the mechanic would have to tear apart the whole car to figure out that there’s something wrong with an oxygen sensor, or other smaller, maybe lesser important part.

The ODB 2 Bluetooth changes the math in that situation. It allows for quick navigation of the car’s computer and system to find out what is going wrong. It may even help point to reasons for the trouble.

It’s the Google translate for a vehicle. It allows a car or truck to speak up to let the owner or mechanic know what’s going on with it.

an OBD scanner portWhile it may not seem novel or new to find a device that can “read” a car’s computer, the OBD II is different. It was devised by California California Air Resources Board regulations and later changed and adapted for the Society of Automotive Engineers.

Now people in states where there are annual emissions checks may be somewhat familiar with these computers. The fact that cars from 1996 and newer can undergo the “easy” or “quick” emissions testing is a result of cars being equipped with the OBD II technology starting back in 1996.

The good news is that anyone who wants to perform emissions checks or even stop that annoying oxygen sensor light from coming on can clear the code. Yes, these readers serve double duty. Not only can they check for issues, and report on them, but they can interface with the vehicles as well.

That means that the OBD II reader can help with the pesky issues that are meaningless, but annoying. It can also detect more severe issues. Meanwhile, for more significant issues, the scanning tools provide a great help as well. Neither of these tool types is expensive, and every car has these computers.

That means that it makes sense that most mechanics have these machines on hand. Now the first tool is easy to get because it is much more affordable.

The OBD-II scan tools are more costly though and have features that include great functionality in exchange for the higher asking price on them. Scan tools give a lot more information about the types of codes that are used by various manufacturers. Also, it allows for more in-depth access to data whether it is right now or from prior readings. It is an excellent resource for those who want to keep track of maintenance issues.

In most instances, the scanners also provide the added benefit of giving more detailed information about what’s wrong and how to fix it. That’s just an overview of what these computers can do and why they are indispensable these days. The next time the light comes on, no fear. Get the OBD 2.

An aerial robot capable of changing its shape in full flight

the Quad-Morphing robot

This is a world first: researchers from the Institut des Sciences du mouvement Étienne Jules Marey (CNRS/Aix-Marseille University) have drawn inspiration from birds to design an aerial robot capable of changing its shape in full flight. It can change the orientation of its arms, equipped with engines and blades to propel itself like a helicopter, to reduce its wingspan and navigate in full spaces. This work, published in Soft Robotics Journal on May 30, 2018, paves the way for a new generation of massive robots capable of sneaking through narrow passages, an ideal new tool for exploration and rescue missions.

Winged birds and insects have a formidable ability to perform rapid maneuvers to avoid obstacles they encounter during their flight. This great agility is necessary to navigate in very dense places such as forests or very crowded environments. Nowadays, miniature flying machines are also able to adapt their posture (in roll or pitch for example) to pass through a narrow opening. However, there is another type of strategy that is just as effective in allowing birds to cross a narrow passage at high speed despite its imposing wingspan: they can suddenly change their morphology during the flight by folding their wings back and thus pass easily through all kinds of obstacles.

Flying robots will increasingly have to operate in very crowded environments for rescue, exploration or mapping missions. These robots will, therefore, have to avoid the many obstacles and cross passages more or less cramped to fulfill their mission. With this in mind, researchers at the CNRS/Aix-Marseille University Institute of Motion Sciences have designed a flying robot, capable of reducing its wingspan in full flight to pass through an opening without having to fly aggressively, too expensive in energy.

This new robot, called Quad-Morphing, is equipped with two arms on which are fixed two engines each equipped with blades that allow it to propel itself like a helicopter. Thanks to a mechanism mixing flexible and rigid cables, it can modify the orientation of its two arms, that is to say to orient them parallel or perpendicularly to its central axis, and this in full flight. It thus manages to reduce its span by half, to cross a narrow passage, and to redeploy itself, all at a very high speed for an air robot (9 km/h).

The Quad-Morphing’s agility is currently determined by the precision of its autopilot, which triggers a change in arm orientation when approaching a small obstacle based on its position provided by a 3D location system developed in the laboratory. However, the researchers equipped the robot with a mini-camera capable of capturing images at high frame rates (120 frames per second), which will enable it in the future to estimate the size of the obstacle and make the decision whether or not to hold back. Testing of this new version of the Quad-Morphing began in May 2018.

DJI Care Service: Is it worth purchasing it?

dji care refresh

Many drone pilots own a Phantom or a Mavic Pro DJI being the leading UAV company in the world! DJI’s official website tells us something important that I would like to discuss today.

They are currently expanding the DJI Care service. Whether you are a professional or a private drone pilot, we are all afraid of breaking our dear machines or accessories. And that can ruin your enjoyment, trust me! With the guarantees offered by DJI (buy with the done purchase or separately and activate it maximum 48 hours after the purchase), you should be covered. You’ll fly more freely.

Do not confuse this offer with the DJI repair offer. It also has nothing to do with the standard warranty. Find more on this warranty here https://www.amateursdedrones.fr/assurance-dji-care/

There are a few things to understand if you want to subscribe to the DJI Care Service:

Destruction and validity period

dji spark mini droneDJI considers your machine to be destroyed if 80% of the components have been damaged. In this case and if you have purchased one of these two paid benefits, here’s how it works:

The 6-month warranty: During the first five months your machine is replaced. Then you are covered up to 80% in the last month, up to the price of your model.
One year warranty: During the first ten months your machine is replaced. Then you are covered at 60% for the last two months, up to the price of your model.
If less than 80% of the machine is destroyed, the repairs are free of charge and unlimited. If the damage exceeds the value of the quadcopter, you will have to pay the balance.

Different rates according to your model

The first two Phantom models are not supported. That’s too bad, but on the other end, DJI is not producing them anymore. If your machine is not 80% destroyed, repairs are included if you meet certain conditions. And for as long as you have subscribed to the DJI Care Service. That includes gimbal and camera. On the other hand, batteries, radio, and propellers are not included in this offer.

What is covered:

To make it simple, DJI covers

  • falls
  • crashes
  • pilot errors

The following cases are not covered:

  • Loss, theft of the machine or some of its components
  • Loss of the machine or some of its components
  • The use of the drone outside the normal/legal conditions of use
  • Diving into water
  • Broken accessories. Radio, batteries, propellers
  • Damage does not interfere with the operation of the machine
  • Breakdowns outside the paid warranty period (6 months or one year)
  • Improvements and repairs/fixes to the original system
  • Injuries caused others or to the insured person

The DJI care service operates in Europe, the USA, and mainland China. In Australia and the UK, national laws do not allow this fee-based warranty service.

I invite you to study the terms and conditions carefully.

You have 48 hours from the activation of your model to subscribe.

Xbox One X versus PS4 Pro

xbox chip

Released on November 7th, the Xbox One X definitively ratifies the game 4K on a console, almost a year to the day after the PS4 Pro which had opened the prospect. But if the two machines can spit out a video signal with a resolution of 3840×2160 pixels (also known as “2160p” or “Ultra High Definition,” UHD), they are not equivalent in their way of composing the image and in the “stability” of such a definition.

True 4K, false 4K, HDR, UHD, FreeSync, VRR, TeraFlops, HDMI 2.1, checkerboarding… Just like the imbroglio around the terms “HD Ready” and “Full HD” in the mid-2000s, the terms revolving around the new technologies of these consoles are particularly numerous, and we are all going to

Finally, to be complete, the 4K as it is heard by the latest generation of TVs and consoles does not match the definition designed at the base. Initially, the format was invented for cinema, which has a different ratio: the Digital Cinema Initiatives working group, which initially associated it with a definition of 4096×2160 pixels.

To put it plainly, when referring to the 4K format as it is practiced at home, whether through a TV, monitor or latest generation projector, the expression “Ultra HD 4K” should be used instead. It thus designates this definition of “only” 3840×2160 pixels that the PS4 Pro and Xbox One X reach. Let’s jump into the breach, Bertolt!

Technical Specifications Update

playstation chipThis is probably one of the most tedious exercises that await us! In order to better understand the difference between the PS4 Pro and the Xbox One X, and above all the one hundred euros that separate them, it is also the most objective: the two consoles share close but not equal technical characteristics, having chosen the same creamery.

On the processor side, there is an AMD chip with eight cores in both cases: two x68-64 Jaguar, clocked at 2.3 GHz for the Xbox One X, and 2.1 GHz for the PS4 Pro. It is an APU, which is a unit combining a CPU and GPU and engraved at 16 nm. In addition to this slight difference in frequency, the two chips share the same architecture and thus belong to the same generation.

It is, therefore, more precisely the graphics part that will distinguish them, even if again the two machines have made a technological choice very close. Their graphics circuitry is part of the Arctic Islands family of AMD, more precisely the Polaris architecture introduced with the Radeon 400. The Xbox One X carries 40 Cluster Units at 1172 MHz, compared to 36 units at 911 MHz on Sony’s side. In the absolute, even the fewer technophiles of you will have understood on which side the scale leans by roughly comparing these figures.

By way of comparison, since these 4K consoles are look-alike on the performance side of players’ PCs, the PS4 Pro’s graphics circuitry can be estimated to be approaching the Radeon RX 480 (approximately €260). It also has 36 calculation units with a base frequency of 1120 MHz. The Sony machine also includes 8 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 256-bit bus with 218 GB/s bandwidth (compared to 224 GB/s for the Radeon RX 480). To simplify, it should be remembered that these values offer the console the possibility to load a large number of textures in high definition and to guarantee fast exchanges between the main processing unit (the processor) and the graphics part (the GPU).

The fact remains that the Xbox One X is proving to be technically better equipped for the coming years and that it justifies its 100 euros difference. There are, of course, the raw technical characteristics, with a higher computing power. But there’s also the presence of a 4K UHD Blu-Ray player where the PS4 Pro is satisfied with a standard Full HD Blu-Ray player.

Blockchain and online voting!

blockchain and voting

The blockchain offers a secure voting tool, the result of which is transparent and auditable by everyone. Neither the voting administrator nor other individuals may modify the vote a posteriori.

At least three elements are necessary to carry out a vote on a blockchain: a programmable asset, a protocol to make the vote live; and a cryptographic key called a token, a kind of digital electoral card, to guarantee the voter’s identity.

Above each bitcoin transaction is metadata that can represent a digital asset: this asset can be a vote, a financial asset, or a physical asset (an object) that would be recorded on a blockchain, which would provide proof of existence.

A vote is a critical transaction: it must be executed quickly by the network. To do this, transaction fees are added to remunerate miners which are securing the network.

They start by processing the transactions with the highest fees and then handle the subsequent operations in descending order. If the network is saturated when a vote is a cast, minors will tend to defer this vote to the next blocks. Therefore, the idea is to put transaction fees of about 10 euro cents (depending on the bitcoin price) to be more or less sure that the network will process the vote.

The voting administrator (which may be an association, or a company organizing an AGM with its shareholders, or even a state) places as many tokens as there are votes cast on a specific protocol. It transmits these tokens to all voters, who have access to an electronic wallet to hold the tokens.

Candidates have access to a digital ballot box.

afsgdbndcnvmfgihkglllllllllA wallet, with a public address. When the voter issues his or her voting token, he or she transfers both the bitcoins that include transaction fees and the metadata that represents the vote. At the end of the vote, the winning candidate is the one who received the most chips.

To complete this process, a digital electoral map is necessary to ensure that whoever presents himself to his wallet is the owner of this wallet. One part of the key is public, the other private: you can draw a parallel in the traditional banking world with the RIB, which you can communicate to anyone, and the PIN code, which must not be shared.

The projects dedicated to voting on the blockchain are still in the experimental stage. One of them, Boule, estimates that a traditional vote costs about 5 dollars and that this cost could be divided by 2 or even 3 using the bitcoin block chine.

However, there are still some obstacles to be overcome if the vote on the blockade is to take place.

The cost of transactions: in the case of a vote of 1 million people, with transaction fees of 10 cents, the cost of organizing the vote would be 100,000 minimum…

The speed of transactions: today it is estimated at 7 transactions per second on the Bitcoin network. For example, it would take an average of 23 operations per second to get 1 million voters to vote within 12 hours.

Protection of the digital electoral map against malware attack, which could corrupt the vote. However, a parade is conceivable: not to store the cryptographic key on software but hardware, i. e. in a physical way, like the key proposed by the start-up Ledger.

We’ll see where this ends I guess over the course of the next few months/years…

Nokia puts operators on the road to 5G by boosting 4G performance

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Nokia expands its comprehensive portfolio of broadband technology products and solutions to provide operators with greater flexibility to meet consumer demand and improve the performance of mobile networks as they evolve to 5G.

fgsgdbnnnnnnmooooioiiAs mobile broadband traffic continues to grow, operators want to improve network performance where they see high demand – typically first deployments in dynamic urban centers.
Increased capacity, higher throughput and variable network latency are required to meet consumer, business and Internet of Things (IoT) demand and ensure a smooth transition to 5G. To this end, Nokia has defined a viable network evolution strategy that will enable operators to leverage existing investments and maximize resources such as spectrum, to increase performance where and when needed in the network.

To do this, Nokia is expanding its portfolio of AirScale distributed RF heads, enabling operators to increase maximum cell performance and capacity while reducing space requirements at cellular sites via new single- and dual-band FDD-LTE and TD-LTE radio solutions.

These solutions are based on carrier aggregation technologies, MIMO 4×4 and Beamforming 8×4. They also meet the demand for higher transmission power, expand support for frequency bands and simplify network deployments.

To intensify the deployment of heterogeneous networks and increase the coverage and capacity of the most frequented locations – especially in very dense urban environments – operators will have to deploy a new wave of small cells. Self-Organizing Network (SON) features on Flexi Zone small cells will simplify ultra-dense network deployments, providing solutions to problems caused by the reduced distance between existing and new small cells, and ensuring continuous optimization as densification continues.

Nokia has extended its SON functionality on its Femtocell product line to ensure smooth integration and increased performance in heterogeneous networks when unloading traffic on the macro network.

5g ready networks

The new features of the first Nokia Flexi Zone CBRS small cells, which support Spectrum Access Server (SAS) and Citizen Broadband Radio Service Device Proxy connectivity, will provide operators with new options to increase coverage and capacity, especially inside buildings. CBRS Flexi Zone small cells can be used to deploy host-independent capabilities, allowing operators to lease capacity to other suppliers in shopping malls, hotels and office buildings where space is limited. By FCC requirements, small cells will be able to effectively communicate with the SAS server to verify that the network uses only the available shared CBRS spectrum.

To ensure the flexibility of wireless backhauling in heterogeneous and ultra-dense urban networks – which use microwave beam transport to connect small cells to fiber access points – Nokia Wavence Microwave solutions now support operator SDNs. Operators will benefit from new intelligence and a new level of automation: faster start-up of virtual network functions and adaptable settings to accommodate changes in the radio access network, for example when users move from their offices to their homes.

These multi-technology access solutions are anchored in the Nokia Cloud Packet Core solution. Its native cloud features and operations deliver the performance operators need to provide diverse, demanding and cost-effective applications and services: increased capacity, the large-scale scalability required for network densification, and the deployment flexibility required to deliver low latency.

Nokia continues to help operators plan and optimize their migration to 5G with its 5G Acceleration Services offering and expands its portfolio to include a complete “any haul” transportation offering. Nokia will work with operators to assess the state of their network and design and implement their 5G strategies and services.

We fully understand how changes to individual network elements can affect the network as a whole. And to develop our complete range of products.

These 5 Breakthrough Technologies will Influence the life of everyone in 2017

These Technologies will have an effect on everybody.  It will affect politics and the economy, improve medicine and even influence culture.  Some are new at the moment and some are developing at the moment and will develop further through decades to come.  These Technologies all have the possibility of staying power. Technology now and developing for the future:

  1. Medicine: Reversing Paralysis; remarkable progress has been made to restore freedom of movement, caused by spinal cord injuries, through using brain implants.  This technology will be available to all in 10 to 15 years time.
  2. Photography: Spherical images made by Inexpensive Cameras; are opening a whole new world of taking pictures and sharing stories.  An ecological researcher needed a system to broadcast images continuously to collect data and devised a camera that can create 360-degree pictures.  This technology is available now for all to take their 360-degree selfies, etc.
  3. Education: Computers are experimenting and figuring out how to perform things a programmer would be able to teach them.  This approach is known as, “Reinforcement Learning”, and is not done through programming in a conventional way, at all.  The computer is learning to perform certain tasks, etc. simply by practicing.  This technology will be freely available in 1 to 2 years time.
  4. Economy: Self-Driving Trucks; Tractor-trailers without drivers might soon be passing you on the highway.  Many technical problems still exist, but it is claimed that self-driving trucks will be less costly as well as safer.  Availability will come in about 5 to 10 years time.  This is also the time in which the world can think about what this technology will mean for the millions of truck drivers that will lose their jobs.
  5. Environment: Hot Solar Cells; converting sunlight into heat firstly and then turning it back into light-energy, focused in beams, can dramatically increase efficiency.  This smaller solar device, smaller than the usual solar panels, can absorb more energy and could create continuous, cheap power.  This will only become available within 10 to 15 years from now.

Most of these technologies are future technologies, still in the developing phases, but it is good to know about them.  It will give time to consider the influences, good or bad, that it might have on the world and its inhabitants.

How can you maximize your Businesses Efficiency through the use of Technology?

Introducing new technological changes into your business or organization will present a whole different set of challenges towards shepherding that innovation into a routine action to all personnel. The easiest way might be to include all probable users in the research on user needs and their individual preferences and then together find a way to implement the new technology that will be acceptable and workable for all

Difficulties you might come across when Introducing New Technology in the Workplace, and how to solve these Problems.

  1. Resistance to Change: Resistance often grows out of misinformation, possibly overlooked issues or mistakes made through ignorance of the change.  This can mostly be countered by including all personnel involved or influenced by the change, through providing information, sharing knowledge and giving a clear view of what the benefits of the changes will be.
  2. Personal Benefit: New Innovations need to offer an advantage, an obviously clear advantage, over whatever it is intended to replace.  It is of great importance to make clear the potential benefits and apparent rewards.  Also, promote the need to learn new skills in order to increase the value of work and greater recognition.
  3. Gather Information from current work systems: Discuss current problems and difficulties with each department new technology will be implemented.  Find out the times of day systems run, the sequence of work done, the choices that are made by personnel daily and how the changes will affect everyone and the work they are responsible for.  This will enable you to spot probable problem areas and where more training or knowledge will be needed.  Always run a clear and open change campaign to make everyone feel included.

When all is said and done, the new technology changes in your business, company or workplace, will make processes faster, and much easier to ‘file’ and keep information.  Your business can run smoother, more cost effective and less time-consuming.  In other words; “More Efficient”.