Feel like your phone won’t ever stop blowing up from fake IRS or Fake contest calls. Asking yourself why cant my provider do anything to help. Well, the FCC in favor of helping protect you from robocall, but how will that also affect us too.https://www.popsci.com/fcc-aims-stopping-robocalls/

Officials in the United States have recently made claims that the communications company, Huawei, has a way of intercepting messages using equipment that was meant for usage of law enforcement only. Huawei’s cyber security chief, John Suffolk, denies these accusations and claims that if his employees were taking part in this action, then they would deal with the perpetrator internally. Suffolk also points out that Americans have not provided any evidence with their allegations. John Suffolk is not running and is not nervous about these accusations. He confidently questions why his competitors, Ericsson and Nokia, are not growing due to the U.S. allegations. He says that the loyalty of their customers overpowers the accusations made by American officials. Read More.

• 

A recent survey of IT professionals who are members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has brought back some revealing information on the labor market for the region. The most unsurprising reveal: That there is a growing demand for IT professionals. I say unsurprising because it follows the international trend of a growing digital economy.

Out of 433 respondents, 54% reported a pay increase, 35% reported receiving a bonus, and only 3% reported a pay cut. These findings show a direct correlation to companies concern for more IT labor. Singapore was shown to be the highest paying region with an average of $66,406, a rate three times higher than other areas in the region. A lot of respondents shared their fear of losing their jobs to automation which is why even with a pay increase, 4/10 said they were open to new opportunities for the chance to improve their skills. Data analytics, security, and cloud computing were among the top listed skills that professionals were wanting to improve. This shows that although digital growth is leading to higher salaries and more positions within IT, the labor force understands this comes with innovative technologies that any potential job candidate needs to be up to date on. The survey also mentioned women participation was low with 18% of IT teams having a good balance of men and women. This isn’t surprising to me either because this follows the international trend of female under-representation in the IT field.

According to a Singapore investment company Temasek Holdings, the digital economy grew by 39% in 2019 and hit the 100 billion mark for the first time. The survey results reaffirm this statistic pretty well I think. Although this growth is ultimately beneficial for companies and IT professionals, it is also important to note that growth in the economy also comes with new skills needed. That’s why IT professionals are pressured to learn new skills. Companies with skill learning programs in place might mitigate losing workers to positions at other companies where employees can learn new skills.

For more information: https://www.computerweekly.com/news/252478050/ASEANs-tech-talent-crunch-pushing-up-IT-wages

The World Health Organization (WHO) and many tech leaders from companies such as Amazon, Facebook and YouTube, met the other day to discuss strategies on how to spread the correct information about the Coronavirus after users have been misinformed on their platforms. Although many of these companies compete with each other, they found it important for their credibility to work together to spread the correct information about this virus that has infected almost 70,000 people as of Saturday, Feb. 15th. Learn more here: https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/quality/who-tech-leaders-meet-to-address-coronavirus-misinformation.html

Previous studies have suggested that young people who spend more than two hours a day on social networking sites are more likely to report psychological distress. “Seeing friends constantly on holiday or enjoying nights out can make young people feel like they are missing out while others enjoy life.”

According to a survey published by United Kingdom’s Royal Society for Public Health, taken by over 1000 young people (ages 14 to 24) Instagram rated lowest out of all the social media platforms for 14 different issues that have to do with mental and physical health such as bullying, sleep quality, and missing out.

https://time.com/4793331/instagram-social-media-mental-health/

 

 

The term trolling is defined as someone who purposely says something controversial in order to get a rise out of other users. According to Time Magazine, it was originally a coined term used from a “fishing method online thieves use to find victims.” Psychologist call this the “online Disinhibition Effect”, factors like anonymity, invisibility, and a lack of authority in real time strips away the mores society has built.

Not only are trolls relishing from online freedom on social media, they are also publishing personal data, such as Social Security numbers and bank accounts. Trolls are turning social media into a giant locker room of racial discrimination and misogyny. According to Time Magazine, in a 2014 study published in the psychology journal Personality and Individual Differences found that ” approximately 5% of internet users who self-identified as trolls scored extremely high in the dark thread of personality traits: narcissism, psychopathy, Machiavellianism and, especially, sadism.” As more trolling continues we are finding many social media platforms becoming more hesitant to step on someone’s First Amendment rights.

https://time.com/4457110/internet-trolls/

This news article explains in further details how emerging mobile technologies and connected devices allow virtual health assistance to become a productive mean of communication between remote patients, providers and payers. These emerging apps will make the process of retrieving health information faster and more efficient and provide the right information to the right person whenever they need them.

https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/how-virtual-health-assistants-are-changing-care-delivery-equation

We often place blame on those whom we disagree with. It is human nature to claim culpability lies with the “others” while abdicating any responsibility of our own. Such is true for the so-called “media bubbles” we now find ourselves entrenched in, plagued by tunnel-vision outside of which we can see no further than the first, likely the last, retweet of Fox News on our timeline that precedes a “block.” The country is more polarized now than it has ever been before. How 100 Senators, 320 million citizens, an entire nation, can interpret the same set of facts and come to vastly different conclusions is beyond comprehension.

Are these differences down to mere disagreement on policy? on morality? on faith? Or, as political commentators would have you believe, our “bubbles?” A recent study found that our personal interactions, coffee dates, breakfast, dinner, have double the impact on polarization than politically biased media. Has the bubble been popped? The article goes onto argue that the political divide is more nuanced and not as broad as many in the media perceive it to be. Many Americans consume a “centrist media diet,” rather than a slanted one, and “most Americans are fasting.” This is not to say that politically slanted media doesn’t have an effect on our national politics. “It might not be shaping the individual opinions of the vast majority of Americans, but the small percentage of highly polarized people are also the loudest, politically speaking, Nyhan said.” This political noise then translates to real-life conversations where the real polarization happens. To read more on this topic, click here.

Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University found that your performance can flourish or decline depending on the feedback you receive. Those who receive praise for trying to complete a task attack the same problem better each time while those who are criticized still improve but nowhere close to the performance of those who receive praise. The researchers found that humans follow this same behavior when receiving feedback from a robot. In then study players received either praise or trash talk from an AI opponent while competing in a game. Those who received praise did better than those who received trash talk. To learn more about the results of the study click here.

What is freelancing? What benefits does it offer, and how do I know if it is right for me? Although many people would jump on the opportunity to do freelancing, not every job industry gives people that option, nor can everyone be a freelancer. Fortunately, web development offers that opportunity.

A freelance worker is considered to be a person who is self-employed and who offers their services too companies. Companies typically hire freelancers for projects that they need to complete, but do not have a branch for it within their company: a good example of this sort of project would be creating a web site. In this case, the company would hire a freelancer who provides the service of web development to create a web site to their liking.

At this point, the freelancer needs to talk with his new client and determine what they are looking for. It now becomes the freelancer’s responsibility to be efficient and reliable with his time in order to meet deadlines and satisfy his client. Freelancing offers a lot of freedom to work from anywhere one may wish too, however, that requires the freelancer to be extra diligent with their time and avoid procrastination – something that not many people are capable of doing. If you think freelancing may be for you, or if you are unsure and wish to gain knowledge of how it may be like, visit the link at the bottom to find out more

https://css-tricks.com/twenty-years-as-a-freelance-web-developer-wisdom-gained-and-lessons-learned/