(This column originally appeared in Forbes)
Here are five things in technology that happened this past week and how they affect your business. Did you miss them?
1 — The Meta Quest Pro is a $1,500 virtual-reality headset for working in the Metaverse.
Meta is releasing a new headset known as the Meta Quest Pro. This virtual-reality headset costs $1,500 and is designed for those looking to work in the Metaverse. Although the headset has facial-expression tracking and high-quality visuals, experts say it unfortunately has a short battery life. (Source: WSJ)
Why this is important for your business:
I’m a big believer in the Metaverse and truly believe that it will have an enormous impact on how business is done in the coming years. But based on this report, the Meta Quest Pro is a miss. I don’t see any sane manager or employee wearing these things without undergoing withering abuse from their colleagues. The Metaverse will happen when there’s a more user-friendly way to get on it — like a normal pair of glasses that can switch us between both worlds. Easier said than done, but that hardware will eventually happen.
2 — GoDaddy is offering small business training and networking at the Baltimore GoDaddy Open on October 19th.
On October 19th, the Baltimore GoDaddy Open will offer training and upskilling to small businesses. The open will be free to anybody who wishes to attend and will include educational events and classes in critical areas such as growing a business, developing digital skills, and marketing. Those interested must register online at GoDaddy.com/Baltimore. (Source: Yahoo Finance)
Why this is important for your business:
According to its press release “in February 2022, GoDaddy activated its global social impact program in Baltimore with local nonprofit partner Impact Hub to help accelerate and equip entrepreneurs from underserved communities with the digital resources they need to do business in the modern era. The Empower Baltimore program consists of working directly with cohorts of local businesses. Through learning intensives, self-guided courses, business strategy development and complimentary website products from GoDaddy, it impacts local employment, strengthens the local entrepreneurial ecosystem, and improves the digital footprint of Baltimore’s small businesses. The program is free, as long as you can withstand the future marketing promotions you’ll inevitably received from hosting service. But the content is valuable, particularly for non-tech-savvy entrepreneurs.
3-Sift is launching a major update for the Microsoft Teams app to help amplify online meetings.
People directory provider Sift has announced significant updates to its Microsoft Teams app. The update — known as Sift for Teams V2.1 — will now enable those present in meetings to get to know more about attendee work location, name pronunciation, interests, project teams, and more. Users can now download the updated Sift Teams app through online marketplace Microsoft AppSource. (Source: PRNewsWire)
Why this is important for your business:
This is a valuable and affordable tool for enhancing your Teams meetings and one of many good apps for Teams and other Microsoft products to be found on AppSource that will help increase your people’s productivity.
4 — Weave is adding new features to its online scheduling tool.
Weave recently announced new features for its Online Scheduling tool. The all-in-one customer engagement and communication platform for small business will now have the added compatibility integration with top management systems in the optometry and dental fields. When an appointment is confirmed, Weave will immediately create the appointment on the calendar of the integrated system and send users a text notification. (Source: MarTech Series)
Why this is important for your business:
If you’re in the dental, medical, optometry or veterinary service industries you’ll be interested in this very powerful platform for not only scheduling but also forms, phone integration, payments, insurance verification and many of the other functions that can be automated in your practice. Weave has been a popular product among many businesses in these fields.
5 — This ‘thermal attack’ can read your password from the heat your fingertips leave behind.
Researchers in the computer security space recently shared that they’ve created a system powered by AI that is able to guess smartphone and computer passwords in mere seconds. The system works by simply analyzing the heat signatures left by fingerprints on screens and keyboards after punching in passwords and other data. (Source: ZDNet)
Why this is important for your business:
The researchers built this application to illustrate how the fall in the price of thermal-imaging technology and the rise in AI and machine-learning algorithms open up new avenues to thermal attacks. So what to do? “Longer passphrases take longer to type, which also makes it more difficult to get an accurate reading on a thermal camera, particularly if the user is a touch typist,” one of the researchers told ZDNet’s Danny Palmer. The researcher also suggested that biometric verification also adds protection.
