The Hidden Costs of Holding onto Outdated Tech in the Workplace

As technology continues to evolve at a rapid pace, a lot of enterprises are finding themselves struggling to keep up with the latest advancements. Obsolete tech can negatively impact productivity, employee morale, and even the company's bottom line.

One major problem with outdated tech is that it can lead to significant inefficiencies. For example, slow and outdated systems can cause employees to waste time waiting for programs to load or dealing with system crashes. This can be frustrating for employees and can cause them to feel like they are not being given the tools they need to succeed.

A recent study from Skynova discovers that non-competent tech can be time-consuming. In multiple industries, such as finance, government and IT, the average working time lost due to this problem is 20 minutes per day.

Another issue is that outdated technology can make it difficult for businesses to attract and retain top talent. In today's digital age, younger workers have grown up in the digital era and expect their companies to be up to date with the latest advancements. When enterprises fail to provide this, it can make them seem outdated and unappealing to potential employees.

Old tech can also pose security risks to businesses. Older software and hardware may not be equipped with the latest security measures, leaving the company vulnerable to cyber-attacks and data breaches. This can result in significant financial losses and damage to the company's reputation.

The research also highlights the average age of several technologies used in organizations. Tech such as printers, computers, & mouses, last an average of seven years.

Despite these issues, many companies continue to rely on outdated technology due to budget limitations. Upgrading tech can be expensive, and smaller businesses may not have the resources to invest in the latest tools and software. However, failing to invest in technology can ultimately cost more in the long run through lost productivity and decreased employee satisfaction.

Fortunately, there are steps businesses can take to address this issue. One option is to work with an IT consultant to assess current systems and develop a plan for upgrading to more modern technology. This can help businesses identify areas of inefficiency and prioritize which systems to upgrade first.

Another option is to implement measures such as bring-your-own-device, which allows employees to use their devices for work purposes. This can help businesses save money on hardware costs while also providing employees with the latest technology they need to perform their jobs effectively.

Ultimately, businesses that fail to keep up with the latest technology run the risk of falling behind their competitors and losing top talent. By investing in modern tech and prioritizing upgrades, businesses can ensure that they remain competitive and provide their employees with the tools they need to succeed.

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by Arooj Ahmed via Digital Information World

Apple’s AirTag Has Turned Into A Must-Have Accessory For Travelers Around The World As Sales Skyrocket

The pandemic is over and that means we’re seeing more and more people pick up the pace in terms of traveling to various destinations.

With the rise in travel comes a parallel increase in sales for one of Apple’s hottest travel accessories. And in case you haven’t guessed by now, we’re talking about the AirTag.

Sales for the much sought-after travel accessory have skyrocketed in recent times and we can understand why it’s the hottest thing to own for travelers from all over the globe.

It’s a wonderful and reliable way to track your luggage and as per recent stats, people are so far very happy with the ordeal.

The news comes to us thanks to a recently published study by Circana/NPD who proved how the sales for things like item trackers like AirTag by Apple massively grew by nearly 63% in just the US during the months of January and February. Moreover, sales revenue for such items also grew by 82%.

While such items could be made use of for other purposes like tracking luggage, the research showed how there’s a high interest in such products that coincides with the rise in luggage and travel accessories since the past year.

And despite so many economic headwinds arising, a lot of people are spending big on travel than before. Moreover, analysts feel this trend would not die down soon. In fact, it would continue in the upcoming year.

As per reports from the study’s leading research analyst, some travel accessories are really making it big in terms of sales. And they entail AirTag, headphones, and portable batteries. All travelers wish to purchase such items as they make their journey a pleasurable one and also one that’s carefree.

Similarly, such travel products ensure they remain connected to the world, stay entertained during long flights, and also are well-equipped in terms of power while on the go. They’ve all had positive growth when sales for others witnessed a challenging performance in the first quarter.

The study sees the trend in spending on travel and related products would pick up the pace further this year and the next. And we feel leading iPhone maker Apple is over the moon with the news.

Ever since the Cupertino firm launched the feature, people have been putting out nothing but praise. So many individuals reported how happy they were to retrieve their luggage thanks to the revolutionary technology seen across this accessory.

One great example of such a case involves a male who resorted to making a complaint to the police about his luggage getting lost. He hoped to retrieve it as it was the airline’s fault. This suitcase got tracked down using AirTag. And in more recent times, we saw a passenger leave his wallet aboard his flight. It was flying to several different cities and it’s all thanks to the Find My application.

And it’s known that even if a user doesn’t lose their luggage, the presence of AirTags could be super handy for locating them at the airport terminal after it left the aircraft.

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by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World

Microsoft Surpasses Expectations And Beats Estimates In Its Q3 Earnings Report For 2023

Computational giant Microsoft has surpassed expectations across the upper and lower lines while beating out estimates in its latest earnings report for Q3.

The software leader’s shares experienced a 9% growth during extended trading hours on Tuesday as the company laid out its Q3 results and guidance which truly went above and beyond the expectations and predictions from analysts.

As far as earnings are concerned, the shares stood at $2.45 while it was expected to be $2.23 by experts. Meanwhile, the company’s revenue was $52.8 billion instead of the $51 billion predicted by analysts.

During the upcoming fourth quarter, the company’s finance chief mentioned how he expected the revenue to grow further and reach $54.8 billion while carrying on with a conference call with experts. He also sees more growth as the firm starts venturing into the world of artificial intelligence.

It all begins with a dash of innovation and the firm says they’re super excited about the types of feedback they’re attaining and hope to see more success thanks to the company’s sudden rise in AI capabilities. They similarly hope to invest further into their cloud infrastructure as the demand for this grows and is powered by customers adopting the AI trend. Hence, it’s more growth in revenue with time.

The firm’s net income was seen increasing by 9% to a staggering $18.3 billion from $16.7 billion. And with revenue going up by 7%, it’s a great picture worth cherishing.

Meanwhile, revenue across Microsoft’s Intelligent Cloud business ordeal was $22 billion. And that’s a 16% growth as surveyed by leading top tech analysts.

Then we saw a growth of revenue from Azure and Microsoft’s other leading cloud services which increased by 27% when compared to 31% in Q2. So many analysts were being polled by news outlet CNBC and they expected a 26.5% growth while others expected to see a 27% growth.

The company’s productivity and business process ordeal entailed Dynamics, Office, and LinkedIn which put out a $17.5 billion revenue figure and which was up by 11% and above the $17 billion consensus. The company spoke about how growth in revenue for each share assisted the firm with its 14% revenue growth thanks to Microsoft Office 365’s software subscriptions.

Meanwhile, The Teams app for Communication included more than 300 million monthly users on an active basis. And that’s up from 280 million in Q2.

The segment featuring the likes of Xbox, Bing, and Windows, called More Personal Computing, went up to $13.2 billion in terms of revenue which is really 9% down but more than the estimates predicted for this quarter.

Today, Bing has more than 100 million daily users while gaming subscriptions are also doing well with the figure reaching $1 billion.

Windows’ sales fell 28% and there were greater channel inventory levels falling in the same manner. Today, PC shipments are down by 30%. But there is a demand that’s a little better than what was thought about by the management.

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by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World

Most Popular And Highest-Paying Jobs For Young Professionals In Perspective

Job trends for young professionals are not quite like what they used to be in the past. And to help give you a better insight into what’s trending in terms of young adults trying to make it big in today’s competitive world, the folks over at Skynova have done some research on this topic.

The data comes to us thanks to a new and popular state-level survey from IPUMS. It entails the thoughts and beliefs of those aged between 22 to 35 or better known as Generation Z and young millennials.

The goal of the study was to see which occupations are common among young adults including what sort of salaries are being offered to them. The data was collected between 2020 to 2022. And it’s safe to say that there were plenty of interesting findings worth a mention.

So much has changed and the study even went on to showcase how many people had differnet perspectives about job satisfaction as well as career goals. These results provide the right glimpse into a very unique financial and job landscape comprising young adults trying to make a decent earning.

The study first looked at which careers were the most popular among the younger lot in 2022 and then which ones were growing in terms of popularity. Moreover, in the past few years, we’re seeing the leading five careers among adults be registered nurses, school teachers, retail managers, customer service reps, and drivers or truckers.

In 7th place, we had software developers but again, that was more prevalent among older age groups.

Places like Los Angeles, Washington, and New York City are some of the many where tech careers are popular. And it’s good that these jobs pay well because the cost of living is really high at the moment.

The study even showed how electrician jobs rose by 7% as did those linked to computer occupations. Meanwhile, the least popular ones included proofreaders, podiatrists, print binders, etchers, and those operating machines that carry out adhesive bonding.

As far as which job pays the most in the US is concerned, it’s lawyers, hands down. And that’s why you’ll find plenty of people running toward that field. On average, they’re making $150,000 each year. But that’s for youngsters. Their older counterparts are making so much more.

On the contrary, a lot of people from Gen Z aren’t keen on entering this profession, the survey noted. This could be why it failed to meet the list for most popular jobs among youngsters today.

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by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World

Samsung’s New Advertising Campaign For The Galaxy S23 Ultra Launched On Twitter With A Disclaimer

If you stay up to date with the happenings taking place with tech giants like Samsung, we’re sure you may have witnessed a controversy linked to manipulated moon images attached to the company.

People were convinced that the company’s hype about the new Galaxy S23 being able to click images of the moon was nothing but fake. But the leading South Korean tech giant did not back down from its claims. In fact, it launched a test to prove its point. We’re not sure if people were happy about that, yet, there’s not a lot that can be done in that manner.

Now, we’re hearing more news about how the firm has launched a new advertising campaign for its Galaxy S23 Ultra device on Twitter. And it’s arising with a disclaimer too.

If you wish to gain a better understanding of what exactly we’re talking about, please go to Twitter. You’ll find plenty of ads there and one of the most notable ones is the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra.

The advertisement makes use of the Galaxy S23 Ultra’s camera and its capability to click pictures of the moon as its main selling point. But that came with a disclaimer from Twitter community. The company wrote that there is no dark side to the moon using the Ultra device. So you can capture the nighttime skies and share the clicks with them by providing a reply to the thread with the hashtag, ‘Share the Epic’.

The advertisement is innocent and it features a unique endeavor of the leading company’s device. But this ad didn’t pass on freely for too long as it received a disclaimer very soon. This was from Twitter’s Birdwatch Community Notes. The latter is the name given to a feature that displays context for so many tweets as reported by plenty of users on the platform.

In this specific endeavor, the note that was mentioned across the Samsung Tweet which the firm put out at a cost in front of millions of people mentioned how most Samsung phones end up taking digitally fake pictures of the moon as a means of making it appear so much more sharper.

As anyone can imagine, the situation is awfully embarrassing for the tech giant. And this tweet being displayed at the forefront in front of millions of Twitter users just leaves a bad taste. For now, we’re not quite sure if this advertisement is still running but what we do know is the original tweet is currently live and without this note on display.

For those who are still curious about what we think about Samsung putting out fake pictures of the moon, well, that’s not the case. They’re capturing raw data through sensors in combination with AI models which really enhance detail and sharpen it.

The end result is a clean and impressive image of the moon. Moreover, the company has had this feature in place for several years but saw it get caught in the center of controversy when users realized that if you take an image of the moon’s image then you’d end up with the same AI effect as that promised meant that people were bound to create banter around it.

As a whole, that test was really designed to display how aggressive such AI models are.

Whatever the case may be, disclaimers like this aren’t going to be appreciated by the company and can only make things worse for a device that’s already caught in the middle of a controversy in the past.

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by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World

Study Reveals New Risks to the Longevity of Smart Electronic Devices

A new study from Fraunhofer IZM and its partners commissioned by the German Environment Agency has explored the mechanisms behind software obsolescence with an aim to provide practical recommendations for policy makers.

We depend increasingly on the convenience of intelligent electronic gadgets as technology becomes increasingly ingrained in our daily lives. However, when a system flaw prevents an intelligent electronic device from operating correctly while having excellent hardware health, all that satisfaction is abruptly lost. A recent study funded by the German Environment Agency identified new dangers to the longevity of intelligent electronic gadgets.

In this study, Fraunhofer IZM and its collaborators examined the factors contributing to software obsolescence and made helpful recommendations for political decision-makers. According to the results, users' expectations for long-term product functionality may only be met if manufacturers provide adequate support.

The findings from this study demonstrate the importance of considering customer expectations when creating intelligent electronic devices for them to remain functional over their entire lifetime. Manufacturers must ensure that their products are updated regularly and provide users with clear information on how to access these updates if needed.

The research team identified four main drivers that could lead to software obsolescence: market maturity, technical complexity, changes in standards, and changes in consumer behavior or preferences. They recommended that manufacturers integrate updates into their products to ensure a longer service life and consider customer needs when designing products so that they remain attractive over time.

In addition, manufacturers should actively inform customers about updates and provide them with clear information on how to access them. Companies need transparency regarding any changes made to their products so that customers can make informed decisions about whether or not they want to continue using them.

The Environmental Agency hired researchers from three prominent German institutions to conduct a thorough study that included status reporting, consumer surveys, and product group analyses to understand this problem better and identify ways to mitigate it. The results of this study led to practical solutions that could be applied to either individual users or structural levels.

This innovative group lays the groundwork for understanding the intricate connections between applications, product design, and environmental sustainability. Their work varies from small smart thermostats to more significant problems like Battery gates regarding how functionalities can be altered when device requirements change.

With the ever-growing demand for more advanced systems and devices, software obsolescence is poised to become an increasing concern. To better understand this phenomenon, a research team investigated three key aspects: security, functionality, and compatibility of computerized systems to expose any invisible flaws that may creep into existence due to continuous flux between customer requirements and expectations.

Researchers have developed creative ideas for extending product lives through software to assist consumers get the most out of their purchases. The three major concepts are that before releasing a product, producers must conform to minimal standards, devices must be able to function independently, security updates must be accessible for at least ten years, and systems must have easily accessible interfaces. Additionally, they advise manufacturers to be open about system requirements and support durations so that customers may make well-informed purchases.

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by Arooj Ahmed via Digital Information World

UK All Set To Launch New Law To Boost Digital Competition And Reduce Fake Reviews

The United Kingdom’s House of Commons is gearing up to launch a new law that would help in enhancing the current state of the digital economy.

The law is all set to launch today as a means to boost up the digital sector while reducing fake reviews and limiting the number of subscription traps on offer. In the same way, the new law hopes to bring more benefits for several firms and consumers while boosting the credibility factor of the digital industry.

Under such legislation, the CMA would be the regulatory body that sets out sanctions on those breaking rules. So it’s expected that such measures would save consumers a huge sum of money, nearly 1.6 billion pounds each year. This would enable them to get out of the subscriptions that they may have never wished to attain in the first place.

But what are the penalties outlined for breaking such rules in the first place?

For starters, breaking protection laws set out for consumers means giving up 10% of yearly turnover attained globally by the firm. But to better put that into perspective, it’s nearly 300k per person.

Any breach of an undertaking provided by the CMA means facing penalties that are worth nearly 5% of the firm’s yearly global turnover. And per person, that’s around 150k. In addition to that, daily penalties for continuous non-compliant users would bring about a similar penalization.

Last but not least, those who are non-compliant with information notices and those who conceal evidence or give out fake information would have to face penalties that go up to 1% of the firm’s yearly global turnover. That’s around 30k per person and the added daily penalty would be included for continuous non-compliant behavior.

The consumer group named Which? mentioned how such laws are a crucial step toward making UK markets work in a better way for the public and companies white providing great support for a boost in the growth of the economy.

So many such consumer groups have so long campaigned against fake reviews and dishonest firms. They don’t want people to get trapped with unwanted subscriptions that are expensive. Similarly, so many consumer protections are in need of an upgrade too. Hence, with tougher laws and penalties in place, firms will think twice before engaging in such behavior.

One of the leading problems of such approaches is how language could be a little wishy-washy. It’s a huge trap for those trying to attain a subscription who don’t understand the terms mentioned and find it hard to end the subscription plan.

But with such rules in place, firms would be forced to set out clear details regarding the contract and what they want. Presumably, such clients that come across such negative practices could start to complain to the CMA about what they’ve been forced to go through. And the latter would pave the way for strict action.

Meanwhile, such new bills would also target fake reviews. So it’s going to be illegal to commission people to produce fake reviews. Similarly, it’s going to be illegal to put out advertisements of fake reviews too.

Firms that do end up hosting such reviews across websites would be required to take important steps to make sure such reviews are actually real and not fake. And last but not least, the bill would outline which small tech firms are displaying more dominance in the UK business sector against all others. So then, they would be able to target them easily.

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by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World