How Much Should Your SMB Budget for Cybersecurity? | business.com

August 17, 2022August 16, 2022 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Cybersecurity is important for businesses small and large. Here’s what you need to secure your network and devices, and how much to budget for it.

With national news and anecdotes regularly featuring stories of cyberattacks on businesses of all sizes, small businesses are planning their budgets with cybersecurity in mind. While implementing effective cybersecurity policies is more important than ever before, it’s important to understand the risks you face and whether you are doing enough to protect yourselves.

Like many core business functions, cybersecurity often requires a monetary investment and therefore needs space in your budget. The need for cybersecurity isn’t going away anytime soon. In fact, cybersecurity is actually becoming more and more relevant for small businesses. That’s why it’s important to consider cybersecurity as a financial priority in 2021 and beyond. This article will discuss what you need to know about budgeting for cybersecurity, including the following:

What is spatial audio? Apple’s 3D sound feature fully explained | Digital Trends

August 17, 2022August 16, 2022 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

At WWDC 2021 (Apple’s annual Worldwide Developers Conference), Apple officially added support for spatial audio with Dolby Atmos for Apple Music. It quickly became a popular format among consumers, too: Apple estimates that by February 2022, playback of spatial audio tracks had quadrupled from just a few months prior as people experimented with the format. But what exactly is spatial audio? How is it different from (or the same as) Dolby Atmos? And what kind of audio equipment do you need to listen to it?

There’s a lot of ground to cover, and some of it is a bit technical, but we’re going to break it all down in easy-to-understand terms. You’ll be a spatial audio expert in minutes, and you’ll know exactly how to access this growing trend in movie and music streaming.

How To Boost Productivity Among Employees | The Startup Magazine

August 16, 2022August 15, 2022 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Every business owner knows that their employees are the most precious asset of their company. This is why it is important to keep employees motivated to ensure high levels of employee engagement and productivity. This can also promote a positive work culture and help organizations retain their workforce and recruit the best talent in the industry.

In this article, we highlight some excellent employee productivity ideas to boost the productivity of your employees and enhance their everyday performance.

Track Employee Activity

Whether your employees are working remotely or in the office, making use of an employee tracking app is a fantastic way to track employee activity and monitor how they utilize their time at work. This can promote accountability and transparency and ensure that employees spend their time productively.

It can also provide useful insights regarding how different employees and teams function, which can be useful when giving feedback and discussing ways to improve work performance and reduce any possible bottlenecks at work.

‘Starbucks fired me for being three minutes late’ | BBC News

August 16, 2022August 15, 2022 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Staff at roughly 220 Starbucks stores across the US have voted to unionize, making unexpectedly successful inroads at the popular chain of coffee shops. But the movement is facing a precarious moment, as the economy slows and the company mounts a furious response.

Joselyn Chuquillanqui had worked for Starbucks for nearly seven years when the company fired her last month.

She had been waiting for the decision. Though she liked her job as a barista, which gave her flexibility to care for her young niece, this winter the 28-year-old had tried to rally her co-workers in New York to join a labour union, frustrated by the company’s stance on sick leave during the pandemic.

The Top New Android 13 Features and How to Install It | WIRED

August 15, 2022 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

ANDROID 13 IS the latest version of Google’s mobile operating system (internally code-named Tiramisu for all you dessert fans), and as usual, it brings a bunch of new features and upgrades to Android phones and tablets. We’ve been playing around with it for a few months, and we’ve found that it’s more evolution than revolution, compared to Android 12. Don’t expect any groundbreaking changes.

It’s available for some Android phones now and will continue to roll out to others over the coming months. We’ve rounded up many of the top new features here, along with instructions on how to download it yourself.

DoorDash partners with Meta to test delivery of Facebook Marketplace items | TechCrunch

August 15, 2022 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

DoorDash has confirmed that it has teamed up with Facebook Marketplace to make that awkward exchange of items with a stranger a bit easier. The company said DoorDash Drive, its business-to-business service that provides drivers to merchants through their own website or app, is now in the early stages of testing a service that will allow DoorDash drivers to pick up and drop off Facebook Marketplace items to customers.

DoorDash and Facebook’s parent company Meta are currently offering the test in several cities in the United States, giving many drivers another opportunity to earn money. Items that are eligible for delivery are Marketplace items that can fit in the trunk of a car and must be located up to 15 miles away. DoorDash drivers are expected to make deliveries within 48 hours or less.

Is the Real Estate Housing Market Crashing? | Entrepreneur

August 12, 2022August 11, 2022 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

The housing market is shifting, and faster than builders and sellers can adapt.

During the pandemic, low mortgage rates and increased demand led to a surge in the housing market, causing prices to soar and competition to rise. However, the tight market led to sky-high prices and an eventual rise in mortgage rates, which ultimately priced out millions of would-be buyers. Now, builders are faced with an excess of unsold homes, Bloomberg reported.

The once nationwide housing shortage — coupled with the boom brought on by the pandemic — pushed the market to a pressure point. Home prices rose by 20.6% year-over-year in March of 2022, marking the largest increase in the 30 years of record-keeping, according to the Joint Center for Housing Studies tabulations of CoStar and CoreLogic Case-Shiller Home Price Indices data.

Inflation Affecting Business | Getentrepreneurial.com

August 12, 2022August 11, 2022 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

In order for a business to succeed, it’s important for its owners to understand the factors that can impact their bottom line. One of these key factors is inflation. The Federal Reserve targets an annual inflation rate of 2%. However, the rate is currently at 8.6%. Inflation is a result of the broader economic trends at play in the market. In this article, we’ll explore how inflation affects businesses and what owners can do to mitigate its impact. Let’s dive in!

Motion-controlled flashlight pushes to be most user-friendly out there | New Atlas

August 11, 2022August 10, 2022 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

The Darkfade looks more like an electric shaver than a typical flashlight, and that’s because it’s built to be unlike other flashlights out there. With a fresh shape and an easier interface for finding just the right brightness, the new torch looks to be something of a Flashlight 2.0. Hold it comfortably in your hand or clip it to your pack strap and get just the right amount of light exactly where it’s needed.

Designer, maker, YouTuber and Kickstarter Giaco Di Muro created the Darkfade out of discontent with the flashlight status quo. Among his gripes was a less-than-comfortable grip position that involves constantly bending your wrist down just to point light straight ahead. A right-angle flashlight, on the other hand, ends up requiring an upward tilt of the wrist. So Di Muro found a comfortable medium, creating a 45-degree head that allows for a more ergonomic position, keeping the wrist relaxed while the beam is directed forward.

Battery percentage returns to some iPhones (but it’s different) | Mashable

August 11, 2022August 10, 2022 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

A long time ago, before the notch came along to adorn the top of their displays, Apple’s iPhones had the ability to show battery percentage in the status bar. When enabled, you’d see the battery icon showing you, roughly, the current state of your device’s battery charge, and next to it was the exact percentage you have left.

With the iPhone X, Apple killed this feature, presumably as the status bar got significantly smaller with the advent of the notch. You could still see the battery percentage, but you had to swipe down from the upper right corner for it to show up.