Tag Archives: Judith Bitterli

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Smart Gift Ideas for Grads

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A newly released annual Graduation Spending survey by the National Retail Federation (NRF) found the majority of us will give money, with more than 50% giving cash and another 30% presenting gift cards as their graduation gift.  Cash and gift cards are especially popular in gifting for people between ages 45-54, who also likely to give/spend more, according to the NRF Survey.

The NRF found, on average, people will spend $102.50 for two grad gifts. More than 10% will buy electronics as a grad gift.  And, not surprising, the tech purchasing is trending up from last year, when only 8% bought something tech related.

So what are the best tech gifts for grads?

Recent research indicates that laptops remain among the most popular and practical gifts, especially for high school grads heading off to college. A survey of high school grads, conducted by Impulse Research in 2014 found the majority of students (65 percent) felt a laptop was among the greatest gifts. And, of course, their price point is much more affordable these days.

I suspect smartphones and tablets are not far behind laptops and rising in popularity in terms of your high school grads’ desires – if your grad doesn’t already have a smartphone. (According to comScore, as of December 2014, north of 86% of 13- to 25-year-olds are smartphone owners.) It’s a particularly great gift coming from Mom or Dad, or Grandparents.

 

CNet has done its expert comparison of the latest in smartphone options, as well as host of other popular smart tech gifts for grads. Among the other top categories on a multitude of grad gift guide lists this year are:

  • Apple Watch, no doubt, is driving this category’s interest.
  • Digital cameras. Smartphones have become the primary imaging device for people of all ages, but YouTube video creation is driving high interest is in GoPro.
  • Headphones and Bluetooth wireless speakers. Fueled by brands like Beats and Jawbone, this is a growing category in the consumer electronics industry.
  • Digital TV streaming devices, channel apps and services. Who wouldn’t appreciate a gift of Hulu, Netflix and Amazon Fire TV or Google Chromecast.

Many of the tech gifts listed above skew in appeal toward men 18-34, but not all. Consumer research consistently reveals that women not only use technology, they are early adopters and buy more than men in certain cases – especially when it comes to social media.

So what’s a good tech-oriented gift for the women grads in your life?

At the top of my list for the young women I know is Sheryl Sandberg’s book Lean In for Graduates.  Her original and inspirational Lean In book has been expanded and updated with six additional chapters offering advice on finding and getting the most out of a first job; résumé writing; best interviewing practices; salary negotiating, and more – including leaning in for millennial men.

As for me personally, I have always believed cash to be a safe gift, especially for grads I didn’t know very well. Though, I admit, giving cash is not nearly as satisfying as picking out a thoughtful gift you know the recipient wants. But the latter point is key…

According to a Stanford research study conducted in 2011, gift recipients also more appreciative of gifts they explicitly request than those they do not. The research revealed that recipients appreciated receiving items from their wish list and perceived the requested items to be more thoughtful and considerate. Though the research found the opposite perception among gift givers, who assume that both solicited and unsolicited gifts will be equally appreciated. Likewise, contrary to gift givers’ perception, the research study showed recipients appreciate receiving money much more than receiving an unsolicited gift.

So, perhaps, the best and most thoughtful plan is to ask your grad, in advance, what’s on their wish list— if you don’t already know. That’s what I intend to do…

Happy graduation to all of those who are celebrating this milestone of new beginnings in 2015!

Title image courtesy of collegelife.about.com

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Ideas for Families to Celebrate Memorial Day 2015

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But the real reason we celebrate Memorial Day is to honor the memory of those who have served and fall in the U.S. Armed Forces.

As a product of the U.S. Army, it has always been a special observance in my family. I’m aware of the many opportunities the military gave me to learn, and the skills that I was able to develop. I’m also aware of the many sacrifices – sometimes the ultimate one – that come with the job. Some of the biggest sacrifices are made not only by those who serve but also by their spouses and children.

I think Memorial Day is a great opportunity to teach children the full meaning of the day. While children may not understand the full implications of Memorial Day, it’s good to instill the values of bravery and sacrifice.

We are keenly interested in children’s education at AVG, whether it’s online safety (via our Magda and Mo series) or online learning. I would encourage all parents, grandparents, and uncles and aunts to seize this day as a learning opportunity.

In that spirit, here are a few tech and non-tech ideas to help celebrate the holiday – and get the summer started for families, both military and civilian.

 

Start with a Parade!

I’m sure your town or one near you has a Memorial Day parade. It’s a great way to get out and also get children to talk about the day in a natural way. You can see a parade listing, by state, on VetFriends here.

 

Go To Museums Free

Blue Star Museums, a collaboration by the National Endowment for the Arts, Blue Star Families and the Department of Defense, offers free admission to more than 2,000 museums across the U.S. to the nation’s active-duty military personnel and their families (including National Guard and Reserve). Check out the Blue Star Museum site and click on a state to find the museums that are participating. The museums are free starting on Memorial Day, May 25 through Labor Day, September 7, 2015.

 

Explore Memorials, Monuments and More

You can explore the history behind the War War II Memorial at the National Mall in Washington, D.C. and learn about the war via the World War II Memorial App.  The app provides fun and educational interactive experiences, including a map and timeline, search for the names of service members who died during World War II, and photographs of the Memorial. The app was made possible in partnership with Altria, the Dr. Scholl Foundation, the Friends of the National WWII Memorial, and the National Park Service.

Or, try EveryTrail to take a walking tour of monuments, war memorials and national parks nearest you. EveryTrail offers sight seeing tours, road trip, hiking, cycling, flying and more with geo-tagged community generated travel content. There are trips collected from over 80 countries in the world, and you can create your own.

You can also visit a national cemetery. This isn’t as morbid as it may sound at first. The cemeteries are quiet and reverent; a great place to reflect on sacrifice and honor. Children – even young children –understand that people die, and if you put the event in context, I think this can be a very rewarding experience. You can find a listing of these cemeteries here .

 

Take a Scavenger Hunt

Education World offers a number of activities online, including a crossword puzzle and ideas for a scavenger hunt to help children learn about the history of Memorial Day. Check it out here.

 

Explore Military Service Records for Free

Want to learn more about your own family’s military history? From May 21-25 you can explore military records of your relatives for free on Ancestory.com.

Happy Memorial Day, everyone. And, thank you, to all of our military personnel and their families – past and present – for their service and sacrifice!

AVG

Distracted Drivers Pose a Greater Challenge on our Roads than Driverless Cars

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Google announced last Friday that a prototype of its own self-driving car will hit the streets in its hometown of Mountain View, CA in a pilot test.  Each car will be equipped with a human ready to take over the wheel, if needed, and the car speed will be capped at 25 mph.

Google also revealed its track record for autonomous vehicle safety with impressive results thus far. In the 1.7 million miles of the manual and autonomous driving Google has logged in the past six years, there have only been 11 minor accidents—all of which were caused by other drivers—and none resulting in injuries.

Google’s Chris Urmson, director of its driverless car program, said in a statement: “…not once was the self-driving car the cause of the accident.”

These early numbers are impressive, especially since these driverless cars have been on the road for 10,000 miles a week and in some crazy driving conditions.

About those accidents, Urmson noted: “Rear-end crashes are the most frequent accidents in America, and often there’s little the driver in front can do to avoid getting hit; we’ve been hit from behind seven times, mainly at traffic lights but also on the freeway. We’ve also been side-swiped a couple of times and hit by a car rolling through a stop sign.”

You can see a detailed report by Urmson in his article on Medium.

Video

Ready for the road

Though some continue to question the safety of testing driverless vehicles on public highways, and we have a ways to go before autonomous driving hits prime time… it’s also good to keep in perspective the impact of human error (the cause of 94% of accidents) and the risk of distracted drivers.

Lot’s of people aren’t paying attention on our roadways, which Google’s driverless cars have experienced.

People are eating, drinking, smoking, talking on cell phones, adjusting their entertainment consoles, navigating via digital maps, or you name it.  On any given day, Distracted.gov estimates over 660,000 vehicles are being driven by someone using a hand-held cell phone… And it has been shown that a lot of our distraction has to do with drivers using smartphone technology while behind the wheel.

In fact, AT&T this week released an alarming new survey that shows that motorists have expanded their behind-the-wheel activities from just talking and texting to use of Facebook, Twitter, taking selfies and even videos.

Here are a few of AT&T’s salient numbers of smartphone activities undertaken while driving:

  • 70% people engage in smartphone activities while driving
  • 61% text
  • Nearly 40% use social media
  • About 30% surf the net and/or use Facebook
  • 17% snap selfies
  • 14% use Twitter, Integra
  • Around 10%-plus use video chat and Snap Chat

 

AT&T revealed the research along with its launch of its expanded “It Can Wait” ad campaign, moving its focus from just texting while driving to include other smartphone driving distractions.

Other recent studies indicate that anything that takes your attention away from the road for just two seconds or longer can increase the risk of an accident from four to 24 times…Sending or reading a text takes your eyes off the road for 5 seconds, according to info collected by Distracted.gov. Imagine the seconds devoted to viewing real-time social media feeds, or framing a selfie?

People very well should be concerned about bumps in the road for fully autonomous cars, which are a lot more than smartphones on wheels. But the usage of smartphone technology inside our autos poses another and very real safety challenge and far bigger threat today that we need to be more focused on and deal with!

I applaud AT&Ts effort and those of others to educate the public on the problem of technology-induced distracted driving – although a lot more than education needs to be done.

And I also applaud Google’s goal to have smart self-driving cars in the future to at least share the burden of driving with humans. It may not solve all of our roadway safety problems in the future – but it sure may help!

In the meantime, it’s incumbent upon all of us in technology industry who are contributing to our increasingly connected mobile future, to be vigilant about all aspects of our products’ safety, security, and privacy.

Title image courtesy of Google.

AVG

Distracted Drivers Pose a Greater Challenge on our Roads than Driverless Cars

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Google announced last Friday that a prototype of its own self-driving car will hit the streets in its hometown of Mountain View, CA in a pilot test.  Each car will be equipped with a human ready to take over the wheel, if needed, and the car speed will be capped at 25 mph.

Google also revealed its track record for autonomous vehicle safety with impressive results thus far. In the 1.7 million miles of the manual and autonomous driving Google has logged in the past six years, there have only been 11 minor accidents—all of which were caused by other drivers—and none resulting in injuries.

Google’s Chris Urmson, director of its driverless car program, said in a statement: “…not once was the self-driving car the cause of the accident.”

These early numbers are impressive, especially since these driverless cars have been on the road for 10,000 miles a week and in some crazy driving conditions.

About those accidents, Urmson noted: “Rear-end crashes are the most frequent accidents in America, and often there’s little the driver in front can do to avoid getting hit; we’ve been hit from behind seven times, mainly at traffic lights but also on the freeway. We’ve also been side-swiped a couple of times and hit by a car rolling through a stop sign.”

You can see a detailed report by Urmson in his article on Medium.

Video

Ready for the road

Though some continue to question the safety of testing driverless vehicles on public highways, and we have a ways to go before autonomous driving hits prime time… it’s also good to keep in perspective the impact of human error (the cause of 94% of accidents) and the risk of distracted drivers.

Lot’s of people aren’t paying attention on our roadways, which Google’s driverless cars have experienced.

People are eating, drinking, smoking, talking on cell phones, adjusting their entertainment consoles, navigating via digital maps, or you name it.  On any given day, Distracted.gov estimates over 660,000 vehicles are being driven by someone using a hand-held cell phone… And it has been shown that a lot of our distraction has to do with drivers using smartphone technology while behind the wheel.

In fact, AT&T this week released an alarming new survey that shows that motorists have expanded their behind-the-wheel activities from just talking and texting to use of Facebook, Twitter, taking selfies and even videos.

Here are a few of AT&T’s salient numbers of smartphone activities undertaken while driving:

  • 70% people engage in smartphone activities while driving
  • 61% text
  • Nearly 40% use social media
  • About 30% surf the net and/or use Facebook
  • 17% snap selfies
  • 14% use Twitter, Integra
  • Around 10%-plus use video chat and Snap Chat

 

AT&T revealed the research along with its launch of its expanded “It Can Wait” ad campaign, moving its focus from just texting while driving to include other smartphone driving distractions.

Other recent studies indicate that anything that takes your attention away from the road for just two seconds or longer can increase the risk of an accident from four to 24 times…Sending or reading a text takes your eyes off the road for 5 seconds, according to info collected by Distracted.gov. Imagine the seconds devoted to viewing real-time social media feeds, or framing a selfie?

People very well should be concerned about bumps in the road for fully autonomous cars, which are a lot more than smartphones on wheels. But the usage of smartphone technology inside our autos poses another and very real safety challenge and far bigger threat today that we need to be more focused on and deal with!

I applaud AT&Ts effort and those of others to educate the public on the problem of technology-induced distracted driving – although a lot more than education needs to be done.

And I also applaud Google’s goal to have smart self-driving cars in the future to at least share the burden of driving with humans. It may not solve all of our roadway safety problems in the future – but it sure may help!

In the meantime, it’s incumbent upon all of us in technology industry who are contributing to our increasingly connected mobile future, to be vigilant about all aspects of our products’ safety, security, and privacy.

Title image courtesy of Google.

AVG

Women in Tech: Changing the Conversation via the Bottom Line

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Though industry numbers don’t yet reflect it, I have to say now is a very exciting time for women in tech. Why? Because for the first time in my career, there is an active conversation taking place about achieving gender and overall diversity in our industry.

This was illustrated yet again this past week by the “Women in Tech Executive Roundtable 2015” hosted by Silicon Valley’s venerable Churchill Club.

I was honored to be one of the speakers, joining a panel of five amazing and inspirational women for the breakfast event in Palo Alto, which brought us together with an active audience of the Valley’s women in tech  – and even a few men, who were brave enough to join us. (And I don’t use the word “brave” in a negative way – but in the best possible meaning – as in it was encouraging to see them showing up and participating in a discussion on women’s issues.)

Churchill Club Logo

 

You can find the Churchill Club video on their YouTube Channel here.

The bottom line, as my co-panelist Julie Hanna, the executive chair of Kiva and newly named Presidential Ambassador for Global Entrepreneurism, so eloquently describes it: the discourse on gender equality is not just a women’s issue, it needs to be a question for humanity.

As fellow panelist Amity Millhiser, Managing Partner at PwC, noted: “Think about our daughters and how do we want them to think about diversity?” I will paraphrase her here: but in addition to it being a justice issue, gender equality is a “success” issue.

There is no denying that women still lag in STEM education, tech jobs, equal pay, and the C-suites and boardrooms. But the numbers also tell another story. As I was reminded earlier last week by a new study on IT industry and gender diversity by The National Center for Women and Information Technology (NCWIT):  Companies with women on their executive boards outperformed companies will all-male executive boards. Gender-diverse management teams also showed superior return on equity, debt/equity ratios, price/equity ratios, and average growth.

The NCWIT analysis of 2,360 companies corroborates statistics on women-led company performance findings in a study Babson College Research last year, which I’ve written about previously.

The place where gender bias is most prevalent tends to be at executive and boardroom levels and in the VC funding process — where women have the smallest presence (and somehow seem to be “heard differently” than males – as many of my colleagues on the panel have witnessed).

Another salient point made by our discussion group that I, myself, identify with is how we as women are sometimes part of the problem. For example, the audience asked the panel about “cattiness” in the workplace, and why women can be jealous of other women’s success.

Julie Hanna spoke to the dichotomy and “strangeness” of being an engineering-geek woman, who had predominately worked with men, then going to working with other women and encountering a new kind of fear. “It’s like we have to, on a primal level, learn to recognize one of our own and know we/they mean no harm.”

Dr. Tanja Rueckert, Executive VP & Chief Operating Officer Products & Innovation for SAP further underscored: “Remind yourselves to hire for diversity” and for female VCs to invest in female startups.

I believe, much as one panelist reminded us – as Madeleine Albright famously said:  “There’s a special place in hell for women who don’t help other women.”

Madeleine Albright

It is also my strong belief, that as women, 1) we all have an inherent responsibility to educate ourselves what diversity means and why diversity is important and 2) vote with our pocket books – only work with and support companies that support diversity.

 

Here are some other key pieces of advice from the panel:

  • Always be yourself
  • Don’t apologize for your success; take credit when credit is due
  • Accept feedback, and don’t take criticism personally
  • Be supportive, not jealous of other women
  • Women need both women and men to sponsor, mentor and support them

 

And by the way, if you are in Silicon Valley and want to stay on top of insights and trends to empower women, and to help create a new conversation in the year ahead, please check out the Churchill Club. It is an extraordinary non-profit organization with a rich history of bringing together the best and brightest in Silicon Valley in conversations that ignite change – and it’s also a mecca for industry networking!

AVG

Stepping Up Efforts to Support Emerging Women Entrepreneurs

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The White House brought together emerging entrepreneurs from across the United States and the globe – joined by several of the celebrity investors from the hit TV show Shark Tank.  The stated goal was to raise awareness of “the importance of investing in women and young entrepreneurs to create innovative solutions to some of the world’s toughest challenges, including poverty, climate change, extremism, as well as access to education and healthcare.”

Brava!

The White House event comes as President Obama prepares for the Global Entrepreneurship Summit in Kenya later this summer. You can read more about this week’s event here and get the transcript of the President’s remarks here.

A highlight of the White House event was the President’s announcement of the creation of the Spark Global Entrepreneurship initiative and its goal to generate over a billion dollars in private investment for emerging entrepreneurs around the world by the end of 2017.  Half of this goal will be specifically for women and young entrepreneurs.

The White House event also featured the introduction of the newest Presidential Ambassadors for Global Entrepreneurship (PAGE).  Nine new ambassadors were named to join 17 who were appointed when he launched PAGE last year.

I’m thrilled to say one of the new ambassadors is my friend Julie Hanna, the executive chair of the board of the non-profit Kiva, the first and largest crowdfunding marketplace for underserved entrepreneurs.

Julie joins Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky; Elizabeth Holmes ,the founder of Theranos; and Alison Rosenthal, the vice president of Strategic Partnerships Wealthfront, among other new appointments to PAGE.

As part of her commitment, Julie introduced Kiva’s new $100 million initiative,  “Global Capital Access,” which is committed to delivering crowdfunded Kiva loans to 200,000 women and young entrepreneurs across 86 countries, including the U.S.  Entrepreneurs will have an opportunity to receive crowdfunded loans through Kiva and its global network of 1.3 million lenders in 198 countries. (Since 2005, Kiva and its global community have crowdfunded $700 million loans to 1.6 million entrepreneurs in 86 countries. For as little as a $25 loan, anyone can back an entrepreneur.)

Julie is truly an amazing entrepreneur, leader and mentor.  She also generously participated in a video for my SXSW “Boardroom or Baby” presentation earlier this year, to give advice to young women seeking VC investment.

Video

Boardroom or Baby 2015

 

I am particularly delighted to say that I will be joining her for a “Women in Tech Executive Roundtable 2015” sponsored by the Churchill Club this Friday in Palo Alto, CA. For more info and to sign up to attend go to www.churchillclub.org.

The roundtable is designed to be a frank and lively conversation about what matters most for advancing women in business and technology. We hope to share actionable insights and takeaways to empower women and to help create a new conversation in the year ahead.

I’m looking forward to our discussion, as well as the opportunity to personally congratulate Julie and hear about the White House event and her plans as ambassador.

As Julie noted at the White House event, one of the most encouraging things happening toward empowerment of female entrepreneurs is the public conversation occurring about public and hidden bias. As she said: “We need to elevate the discourse to make it an issue for humanity, not just for women – much like Martin Luther King did on Civil Rights.”

Title image courtesy of Levo.com

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Traditional and Tech Gifts for Mother’s Day 2015

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My personal favorites –and the gifts that many busy moms I know say they value most— have more to do with personal/family time, family memories, and personalized reminders of how much our moms means to us.

Here are some of my picks of intriguing tech and non-tech products, apps and services for this Mother’s Day.

 

Traditional gifts:

If you want to do flowers for Mom, by all means go ahead! But how about adding a twist this year? You can order an eco-friendly bouquet from The Bouqs Flowers, which ships directly from eco-friendly farms (certified by third-party agencies such as The Rainforest Alliance) to anywhere in the U.S.

Make a spa day experience for Mom everyday. What to give the busy Moms – those who are working, managing families, networking, volunteering, doing it all? Ease the stress on her back with a massage seat cushion from HoMedics. This is a great idea for moms who must be at their desk all day, either at the office or while working from home. Products range from $99 to $199.

Gifts of Time:

For new moms – even Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge welcoming Charlotte Elizabeth Diana–Baby Tracker journals make a perfect gift to reduce stress, and help parents and child care providers stay on top of baby’s ever-changing world. Baby Tracker is available online at timetoo.com and through Amazon. The TimeToo website also offers parents additional resources, free checklists and printable templates to help organize family travel, school communication and baby records and a parenting blog.

Time Too

A robot vacuum is one of my favorite ideas to give busy moms more family time and “me” time. This one is especially good for moms of/with pets! Neato Robotics, the maker of the popular Neato robot vacuums, recently surveyed American mothers to find out first hand whether any vacuum, specifically a robot vacuum, is ever a thoughtful Mother’s Day gift. Prices vary, from approximately $200 to $500.

 

Keeping Memories

Memory books have long been a popular gift for Mother’s Day. They have also been a labor of love to collect and assemble. Now the digital equivalents such as the ScrapPad app for iPad makes organizing these a breeze. ScrapPad is an easy photo journal creator that offers pre-set designs and customized options. And of course, you can print hard copies of the scrapbooks. (Available on the iOS platform only. $4.99)

 

Give-Back Gift Ideas

Mother’s Day can also be a great day to give back to moms who are struggling. Here are a few ideas:

Moms Helping Moms Foundation offers a network of partnerships with local service organizations that distribute donated baby supplies and essentials to local families in need of assistance. You can donate money, items, or, find out how you can volunteer in your local area.

 

Another organization, Helping Hands for Single Moms, is a community-based nonprofit assists impoverished single mom families while the moms are pursuing a college education and financial independence. This year, they’ve come up with a unique way to celebrate your mom and donate to their program, called MomApplause. Create a 30 – 60 second video of your Mother’s Day tribute, post it on social media using #MOMMApplause, and ask your friends to like and share your tribute. In the video, announce that you are donating $5 at MOMMApplause.com (about the price of buying a card and mailing it). And if you have a business, Helping Hands says you are free to add your company name to the end of the #. You can find our more here.

 

Bonus idea:

Finally, moms obviously care about the security of their family.  Increasingly, this extends to the digital world.

Give your mom the gift of AVG’s Zen on her devices. It can help mom keep her laptop running virus-free, and protect the whole family from viruses and malware…and this includes mobile devices. With AVG Zen, you can add unlimited PC, Mac and Android devices—in any combination—and easily keep tabs on them all from a single screen. Learn more about AVG Zen here.

 

I hope these provide some original, fun and inspiring ideas to help you celebrate the special mom in your life.

AVG

An Insider’s Look at the History of Cybersecurity

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Vinton Cerf, often known as one of the “Fathers of the Internet”, was featured in a talk presented by The City Arts and Lectures, held in San Francisco on April 29.

For those who don’t know, Cerf was the co-designer, with Robert Kahn, of the TCP/IP protocols that founded the essential architecture of the Internet. He worked on building what would become Internet protocols as a graduate student. He now has the role of Chief Internet Evangelist for Google.

Cerf was brilliant and charming.  The audience listened intently to his anecdotes and stories about what grew to become the Internet – and so much a part of our daily lives. His talk was supposed to be focused on the Internet of Things, but ended up being wide-ranging and provided a lot of food for thought.

As we celebrate nearly 26 years of the Internet, Cerf’s shared that early Internet security considerations were hampered because work on public key cryptography systems remained top secret.

As Cerf noted in a video interview here:

“I worked with the National Security Agency on the design of a secured version of the Internet but we used classified security technology at the time and I couldn’t share that with my colleagues… If I could start over again I would have introduced a lot more strong authentication and cryptography into the system.”

Specifically in terms of the Internet of Things, Cerf said, it has a great capacity to reduce waste and costs in our everyday lives, but he also noted it definitely has security issues.

Cerf also detailed the fine line between the accessibility of digital data and the right to privacy. This is something he has obviously considered for a long time.

He chose healthcare as one example, where a patient’s heartbeat and temperature can be digitized, and that it is a great tool for medical professionals, but as Cerf said it “wields both ways,” as a hacker or crook would love to know the state of your health or when you’re going to be in the hospital.

Hearing the talk made me wonder what better security and encryption would have meant from the get-go for the Internet. Theoretically, it could have saved us many of the cybersecurity issues we face today.

Interestingly, as a backdrop, Cerf’s talk came on the heels of news of the White House being hacked. The White House had a data breach where Russian hackers apparently gained access to its unclassified computer system. This was reported back in October, but lightly, and now new details are emerging.

The good news is this hack didn’t include classified emails and information. The bad news: The hackers reportedly first breached the State Department system –via a phishing scam –and from there gained access to the White House network. You can read more in The New York Times article.

As they say, hindsight is 20/20, and the Internet is all about moving forward.

We all know cybersecurity issues will only become more important with IoT. If we are to change the course of cybercrime, it will require great minds like Vint Cerf along with champions for cybersecurity in both the private and public sector, more vigilance by businesses and better educated consumers who proactively take responsibility for their own cyber security. We’re certainly committed to doing our part.

You can hear Vint Cerf’s Internet of Things interview broadcast on City Arts & Lectures on Public Radio in the U.S. on May 24.

Title image courtesy of The Guardian

AVG

Commercial Use for Drones Gets a Boost from FAA

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This past weekend Drones, Data X Conference took place in Santa Cruz, CA where between 550 and 1,000 inventors, investors, regulators and the general public got to see what the future of drones may look like.

The big news from the conference came on Friday when Jim Williams, who is in charge of the FAA’s Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Integration Office, (UAS are drones for the rest of us) told a rapt audience that the FAA is re-considering its “line of sight” mandate. Basically, the line of sight rule means just that — that drones must be in the sight of their operators at all times.

Specifically, the FAA last summer announced a list of ‘do’s and don’ts’ regarding model aircraft, mostly focused on keeping them away from airports and within sight line of the user. The FAA followed this up with proposed regulations this February that would limit flights to daylight and visual-line-of-sight operations. The rule also addresses height restrictions, operator certification, optional use of a visual observer, aircraft registration and marking, and operational limits. (You can read more about it here.)

The line-of-sight rule has been key for businesses. You can imagine the chilling effect this proposed rule had on companies that were viewing drones as a key technology delivery method to add to their services, or, really for a hundred other commercial uses, from real estate to agriculture and more. So, this apparent change of view on the part of the FAA is huge.

“We understand there’s a lot of value in flying out of line of sight and that’s one of the areas we’re looking to get ahead rapidly in the next few years,” Williams said, in his presentation on Friday. (You can see a video from Mashable here.)

This has to be welcome news for those in the commercial food chain, from giant companies like Amazon to small start-ups dreaming up ways to use drones commercially. (Of note, Amazon Prime Air was a sponsor of the event).

If drones can be used safely, there are millions of great commercial and humanitarian uses ahead: from product delivery (including pizzas!) to autonomous personal air transportation via drones (hello Jetsons!), to rescuing lost hikers and delivering life-saving supplies in emergency situations, among those discussed at last week’s conference.

What also strikes me is that many of the same technologies that are coming to self-driving cars will be a way to ensure drone safety as well. Sensors, radar, lasers, cameras, and mapping technology all come into play.

“Every home is going to have a drone pretty soon,” predicted Parimal Keparekar, who works for NASA in air traffic management research, and is quoted in the Santa Cruz Sentinel describing efforts to build a highway in the sky for them. “Right now there is no congestion management problem, but eventually there will be.”

There’s still a lot to be figured out before that day arrives, including more focus on associated privacy and data concerns.

While the FAA works on getting the rules down, NASA Unmanned Aerial Systems announced it will host a UAS Traffic Management Convention, July 28-30 at NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field in Mountain View, CA. The focus will be on “low altitude traffic management with reference to policy issues such as privacy, safety and security, emerging markets and international perspectives.” To learn more and register: SVC-AUVSI.org.

AVG

“Mobilegeddon” – Is Your Website Mobile Friendly?

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Starting last week, Google’s search algorithm is now ranking mobile-friendly Websites above others.   Bottom line: “If your site’s pages aren’t mobile-friendly, there may be a significant decrease in mobile traffic from Google Search,” Google itself says.

Why the change? Ultimately, the move reflects how people are using the Internet.   Mobile is being used for everything from searches to banking, and not just while people are on the go. As Google notes, in the US, 94% of people with smartphones search for local information on their phones; 77% of mobile searches occur at home or at work.

The latest data from the Pew Internet Project showed that 64% of American adults own a smartphone. Similarly, comScore reported 60% of Internet traffic is from mobile devices. These numbers are consistent with AVG’s own research conducted with MEF (Mobile Economic Forum) and findings that the move to mobile commerce and content is only going up.

So, what makes a website or page “mobile-friendly”?  Since most of us have experienced unfriendly mobile sites, it’s pretty easy to assess at one glance.

The criteria, which Google spelled out last fall when it began calling out “mobile friendly” sites and setting the stage for the current change, includes:

  • Avoids software that is not common on mobile devices, like Flash
  • Uses text that is readable without zooming
  • Sizes content to the screen so users don’t have to scroll horizontally or zoom
  • Places links far enough apart so that the correct one can be easily tapped. “

 

You can find more details here.

You also can check to see if your own site is mobile-friendly with the Google Mobile-Friendly Test or check the status of your entire site through the Mobile Usability report in Webmaster Tools.  Be prepared. You may be in for a surprise.

While savvy tech companies have been anticipating Google’s change, the impact will no doubt be felt among small businesses that don’t always have the resources to respond to technology changes quickly. And a change in search ranking is one that can have a huge impact on their business!

Experts are predicting that sites that aren’t mobile friendly will see a dramatic fall-off in page hits and localized searches (i.e., foot traffic). In fact, that’s why analysts have taken to calling the change in rather dramatic terms, such as “Mobilegeddon.”

So what to do if you are a small business owner? You’re website has to go mobile!

Fortunately there are a lot more options available than ever before for easily creating new and mobile friendly websites that don’t require spending a lot of money.  Among some of the most popular website building resources are SquareSpace , Wix  and Weebly. You can see a comparison review of the tools here.

Once your website becomes mobile-friendly, Google says it will automatically re-evaluate your pages.  Google also advises that you can expedite the process by using Fetch as Google with Submit to Index to get a mobile-friendly ranking.

The Google move is another reminder that as the world goes increasingly mobile, it presents new challenges and opportunities. But, it’s not only in the way we present our web pages, but also in many aspects of how we do business – including an evolution of how we secure the data and protect the privacy of our mobile customers.  The latter is a matter of consumer trust, which is paramount for businesses in today’s mobile world and why we at AVG are committed to helping businesses do so.