If you’ve been living with roommates during the pandemic, 2020 might have felt like you were already living in a tiny house, just one you shared with other people you may have come to not like as much. Maybe you began to seriously fantasize about living in a tiny house on your own. The experience isn’t always as idyllic as tiny-house shows portray it. But if 200 square feet may not be the ideal amount of living space for everyone, it’s still true that smaller homes are a viable part of the solution for the challenges of affordable housing and homelessness. Here are a few of the ways that the field advanced this year.
Large Numbers Of Health Care And Frontline Workers Are Refusing Covid-19 Vaccine | Forbes
Despite the Covid-19 death count in the United States rapidly accelerating, a startlingly high percentage of health care professionals and frontline workers throughout the country—who have been prioritized as early receipts of the coronavirus vaccine—are reportedly hesitant or outright refusing to take it, despite clear scientific evidence that the vaccines are safe and effective.
Dealing With Controversial Topics on Social Media | AllBusiness.com
Social media has given every individual a public voice, and people are eager to share their opinions on the latest hot-button issues. But as a business, it’s important to remain neutral on controversial topics to avoid risking your reputation and losing customers. With your employees actively posting on social media, however, the lines can be blurred on the matter of sharing views that may not necessarily reflect those of the company. To help business owners handle this situation tactfully and professionally, we asked 13 members of Young Entrepreneur Council the following question:
How To Protect Your Business From Ransomware Attacks | Small Business Trends
Cybercrime is evolving rapidly thanks to the pace at which technology is improving. Ransomware is one of the most common forms of attack businesses face. Many large businesses have fallen victim to ransomware attacks, and unfortunately, this perpetuates the impression that small and medium-sized companies aren’t on an attacker’s radar. This is not the case.
In October 2019, an IT consulting firm based in Wisconsin paid an undisclosed sum to an attacker who had blocked client access to patient medical records. While just 20% of ransomware victims are small businesses, over 85% of security service providers report that ransomware is one of the most common threats a small business faces.
To create a plan to protect yourself from a ransomware attack, you need to execute certain steps to make your business resilient. You also need to prepare for the worst-case scenario where you’ll be attacked.
Man Uses Brain-Controlled Robot Arms to Eat a Twinkie | Digital Trends
Robert “Buz” Chmielewski, a quadriplegic man who suffered an accident in his teens that left him with minimal movement and feeling in his hands, recently fed himself dessert with the aid of two prosthetic robot arms he was able to control using his mind.
Two years ago, Chmielewski underwent a 10-hour brain surgery at Baltimore’s Johns Hopkins Hospital. This was part of a clinical trial designed to allow participants to control assistive devices using neuro signals. As part of the procedure, he had six electrode arrays implanted into both sides of his brain. This has now allowed Chmielewski to be able to control smart prostheses, such as these robot limbs, to carry out tasks like feeding himself.
5 Smart Ways to Reduce Outstanding Accounts Receivables | The Startup Magazine
Getting companies to pay invoices can be hard sometimes, especially if they’re a large multi-faceted client with multiple departments and teams of people to work through when you’re trying to square off your outstanding accounts receivables. This is a tricky scenario that requires careful steps to resolve.
While you are deserving of the money you are owed, you need to be careful about fostering your relationships with clients so you don’t cause problems down the road. If you’re too forceful in demanding payment, you could damage important business relationships that were otherwise going well.
With that in mind, here are 5 smart ways to reduce outstanding accounts receivables!
FTSE 100 index of leading shares hits highest since March | BBC News
Britain’s index of leading shares closed at its highest since the pandemic sparked a market rout in March as investors on Tuesday cheered the post-Brexit trade deal.
In the first day of trading since markets closed on Christmas Eve, the FTSE 100 ended up 1.6% at 6,603 points.
It was the Footsie’s best day since 9 November, and only falls in bank shares stopped the index from rising further.
US shares also rose in the first few hours of trading.
You’re Never Too Old to Start a Business, Even If That Business Is Winning $26 Million in the Lottery | Inc.com
Maybe you think you’re too old to start your business — especially your own successful business.
If so, you’re wrong: A study conducted by the Census Bureau and two MIT professors found:
- A 50-year-old startup founder is 2.2 times more likely to found a successful startup than a 30-year-old.
- A 50-year-old startup founder is 2.8 times more likely to found a successful startup than a 25-year-old founder.
- A 60-year-old startup founder is 3 times as likely to found a successful startup as a 30-year-old startup founder — and is 1.7 times as likely to found a startup that lands in the top 0.1 percent of all companies.
Case in point: Jerry and Marge Selbee. After running a local convenience store in Evart, Michigan (population 1,900) for 17 years, Jerry and Marge sold the business and retired.
Not even 5G could rescue smartphone sales in 2020 | TechCrunch
This was going to be the year of 5G. It was going to be the year the next-generation wireless technology helped reverse some troubling macro trends for the industry — or at the very least helped stem the bleeding some.
But the best laid plans, and all that. With about a week left in the year, I think it’s pretty safe to say that 2020 didn’t wind up the way the vast majority of us had hoped. It’s a list that certainly includes the lion’s share of smartphone makers. Look no further than a recent report published by Gartner to answer the question of just how bad 2020 was for smartphone sales.
The Worst Hacks of 2020, a Surreal Pandemic Year | WIRED
WHAT A WAY to kick off a new decade. 2020 showcased all of the digital risks and cybersecurity woes you’ve come to expect in the modern era, but this year was unique in the ways Covid-19 radically and tragically transformed life around the world. The pandemic also created unprecedented conditions in cyberspace, reshaping networks by pushing people to work from home en masse, creating a scramble to access vaccine research by any means, generating new fodder for criminals to launch extortion attempts and scams, and producing novel opportunities for nation-state espionage.
Here’s WIRED’s look back at this strange year and the breaches, data exposures, ransomware attacks, state-sponsored campaigns, and digital madness that shaped it. Stay safe out there in 2021.
Dispatches From The Front 