In the ever-evolving landscape of design and engineering, technological advancements continue to redefine how we approach complex projects. One such innovation that’s gaining traction is the concept of “Digital Twins.”
Initially introduced as a way to monitor and maintain physical assets in real-time, the concept of Digital Twins has expanded to play a pivotal role in design and engineering processes. Let’s delve into some of the current and revolutionary use cases of Digital Twins today.
What are Digital Twins?
A Digital Twin is a virtual replica of a physical object, process, or system. It encompasses both the physical aspects and the digital representation, offering real-time insights and simulations to understand, predict, and optimize the behavior of the real-world counterpart.
They are revolutionizing the way products are designed and prototyped. Engineers and designers can create virtual prototypes that closely mirror the physical product, allowing for rapid iterations and testing. This not only speeds up the design process but also reduces the cost and waste associated with traditional trial-and-error methods. From automobiles to consumer electronics, Digital Twins enable engineers to simulate various scenarios and make informed decisions before a physical prototype is even built.
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Salient Use Cases
Predictive Maintenance: In the realm of engineering, the concept of predictive maintenance has gained prominence. By integrating Digital Twins into machinery and equipment, engineers can monitor the real-time performance of these assets and predict maintenance needs. This proactive approach minimizes downtime, prevents costly breakdowns, and extends the lifespan of equipment.
Simulation and Analysis: Digital Twins offer a platform for comprehensive simulations and analysis. Engineers can simulate the behavior of a system under different conditions, helping them identify potential challenges and opportunities for improvement. Whether it’s testing the aerodynamics of an aircraft or evaluating the structural integrity of a bridge, Digital Twins provide a safe and controlled environment to conduct experiments virtually.
Smart Cities and Infrastructure: As urbanization accelerates, the need for smart infrastructure becomes crucial. Digital Twins play a pivotal role in designing, developing, and managing smart cities. From optimizing traffic flow to monitoring energy consumption, these virtual replicas offer insights that facilitate more sustainable and efficient urban planning.
Collaboration and Communication: Digital Twins serve as a common platform for interdisciplinary collaboration. Engineers, designers, architects, and stakeholders can all interact with the virtual model, fostering better communication and understanding. This collaborative environment leads to more innovative solutions and reduces the risk of misunderstandings.
Lifecycle Management: The benefits of Digital Twins extend beyond the design and construction phases. They can be used to track the entire lifecycle of a product or system, from conception to decommissioning. This holistic approach helps organizations make data-driven decisions to improve efficiency and sustainability.
Takeaway
In conclusion, the concept of Digital Twins has transformed from a mere monitoring tool to a game-changing paradigm in design and engineering. With its ability to enhance design, predict maintenance needs, facilitate simulations, and foster collaboration, Digital Twins are reshaping how we approach complex projects. As technology continues to advance, we can expect even more innovative use cases to emerge, further solidifying Digital Twins as a cornerstone of modern engineering and design practices.
Must-Have Software Tools for Small Businesses to Outpace the Competition in 2023
In today’s fast-paced business landscape, staying ahead of the competition is crucial for small businesses. Fortunately, a plethora of powerful software tools can empower you to streamline operations, boost productivity, and unlock growth opportunities. So, let’s dive into the nine software tools that your small business should consider incorporating into its arsenal in 2023.
1. Communication & Collaboration
Google Workspace offers a suite of collaboration tools including Gmail, Google Drive, Docs, Sheets, and more. It enables seamless communication, file sharing, and real-time collaboration, allowing your team to work efficiently and stay connected regardless of their location. Efficient collaboration and communication are vital for remote and hybrid work environments. In addition, platforms like Slack, Skype, or Microsoft Teams can further facilitate seamless teamwork and enhance productivity. It is always a good thing to have at least two depending on what your customers or stakeholders use as well.
2. Accounting/Banking
Efficient financial management is essential for your small business. This helps you monitor every expenditure and keep good records for easy tax filings. Utilize accounting and banking software like QuickBooks or Xero to streamline invoicing, expense tracking, and financial reporting. These tools simplify bookkeeping tasks, helping you make informed decisions and ensure financial stability. Bigger companies can use Microsoft Dynamics 365’s financial packages to manage their larger turnovers.
3. Cybersecurity
Don’t think just because you are a small business, you do not need adequate online security. One security breach can do a lot of (financial and reputational) damage and stop you from growing. Remember, bigger companies can afford to repair damaged brands/images. Protecting your business from online threats is, therefore, paramount. Acunetix by Invicti, a web protection software, offers robust security features, including vulnerability scanning and web application testing. Safeguard your business’s digital assets and customer data to gain trust among your clients.
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4. Artificial Intelligence(AI)
Enhance customer support and streamline communication with ChatGPT. This well-spoken-about AI-powered platform provides multiple language-based automated solutions like a chatbot that provides instant responses to common queries. This frees up your team’s time and delivers quick solutions to your customers’ questions. They even offer personalized assistance 24/7, ensuring customer satisfaction. Setting Chatbots up properly with the right prompts can help you automate almost anything else that requires not much ‘human interaction’.
5. Project/Task Management
They say failure to plan is planning to fail. To keep projects on track and teams aligned, project management software like Asana, Notion, or Trello is therefore indispensable. These tools help you organize tasks, assign responsibilities, track progress, and collaborate effectively, ensuring timely project completion. Depending on the level of technicality of the team you can even use more agile tools. Tools such as ClickUp, Miro,or Jira, are more suited for software development teams.
6. Customer-Oriented
Without them, your business ceases to exist so you need the best tools to engage with your customers, suppliers, and partners at all times. Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software, such as Pipedrive, Zoho, Freshworks or HubSpot, enable you to nurture leads, track customer interactions, and manage sales pipelines. With CRM tools, you can enhance customer engagement, improve conversion rates, and foster long-term customer relationships.
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7. Social Media Management
Most of your existing and potential customers spend a significant amount of hours online – sometimes just browsing aimlessly through TikTok or watching cat videos on Youtube. Twitter has recently even started ‘rationalizing’ the amount of engagement people can have on its platform in a bid to allow its servers to ‘cool off’ and prevent AI bots from running amok. A strong online presence is, therefore, crucial in today’s digital landscape. Utilize social media management tools like Hootsuite or Buffer to schedule posts, monitor mentions, and analyze engagement. These tools simplify social media marketing, enabling you to reach a wider audience and drive your brand awareness.
8. Email Marketing
Despite the power of the above-mentioned social media ‘movement’, Email marketing still remains a powerful tool for nurturing your leads and driving conversions. Tools like Mailchimp or Brevo (formerly Sendinblue) provide user-friendly interfaces, automated campaigns, and in-depth analytics, helping you create targeted email campaigns and measure their effectiveness. Naturally you have to do a little work to find the right prospect, or else all these will end up in a spam folder never to be seen.
9. Data Analytics
Thanks to two of the world’s software giants, you can now easily harness the power of data with analytics tools like Google Analytics or Microsoft Power BI. These tools will help you to gain insights into customer behavior, and website performance, and create better-targeted marketing campaigns. Data-driven decision-making will enable you to optimize strategies, identify growth opportunities, and therefore gain a competitive edge. You can even further feed the data into AI tools (like ChatGPT) to further analyze and decipher the data in simpler ways to quickly understand. Naturally, you should only input ‘non-private’ or generic data for the “open-source” program to crunch.
As a small business owner, leveraging the right software tools can be a game-changer in for you 2023. From streamlining operations to enhancing customer experiences, these top software tools will most certainly empower you to stay ahead of the competition. Embrace the digital revolution and equip your business with the tools necessary to drive efficiency, productivity, and growth.
For more about some of the tools mentioned – get in touch for a free consultation!
Artificial Intelligence (AI) has transformed from a buzzword to a practical reality, revolutionizing numerous industries across the globe. With its ability to process vast amounts of data, learn from patterns, and make intelligent decisions, AI has become an invaluable tool for businesses seeking innovation, efficiency, and competitive advantage.
In this brief, we will explore real-life use cases of AI, differentiate it from machine learning, AGI, and NLP, discuss potential job transformations, and shed light on the limitations and dangers that come with its implementation.
The key to artificial intelligence has always been the representation
Jeff Hawkins
Defining AI, Machine Learning, AGI, and NLP:
Before diving into the applications, it’s crucial to clarify the distinctions between AI, machine learning (ML), artificial general intelligence (AGI), and NLP. AI refers to the broader concept of machines imitating human intelligence, enabling them to perform tasks that typically require human intelligence, such as problem-solving, decision-making, and natural language understanding.
On the other hand, ML is a subset of AI that focuses on algorithms and statistical models that allow systems to learn from data without being explicitly programmed.
AGI, often considered the next step beyond AI, represents machines with the ability to understand, learn, and apply knowledge across multiple domains, akin to human-like intelligence.
There is, also a less-mentioned subfield of artificial intelligence that focuses on the interaction between computers and human language. This ‘system’ encompasses the ability of machines to understand, interpret, and generate natural language in a way that is meaningful and useful.
Known as Natural Language Processing (NLP), it combines techniques from linguistics, computer science, and machine learning to enable computers to process, analyze, and respond to human language.
Some applications of NLP:
Virtual Assistants: Virtual assistants like Apple’s Siri, Amazon’s Alexa, and Google Assistant utilize NLP to understand voice commands and respond appropriately. They can perform tasks like setting reminders, playing music, providing weather updates, and answering questions.
Sentiment Analysis: NLP techniques are used to analyze and determine the sentiment expressed in text, such as social media posts, customer reviews, or survey responses. This information is valuable for businesses to understand public opinion, customer satisfaction, track trends, and brand perception.
Language Translation: NLP is widely used in machine translation systems like Google Translate. These systems employ sophisticated algorithms to process input text in one language and generate the corresponding translation in another language.
Chatbots: NLP is essential in creating intelligent chatbots that can understand and respond to user queries. Chatbots are employed in various applications, including customer support, information retrieval, and virtual assistance.
Information Extraction: NLP techniques enable the extraction of structured information from unstructured text. This is particularly useful in fields such as data mining, knowledge management, and content analysis.
Spam Filtering: NLP plays a vital role in email spam filters by analyzing the content and language patterns to identify and block unwanted or malicious emails.
Voice Recognition: NLP powers voice recognition technology, allowing systems to convert spoken words into written text. This technology is used in applications like transcription services, voice assistants, and voice-controlled devices.
Medical Text Analysis: NLP is utilized in healthcare to analyze medical literature, patient records, and clinical notes. It helps in extracting valuable insights, automating administrative tasks, and supporting medical decision-making.
News Summarization: NLP algorithms can summarize large volumes of news articles or documents, providing users with concise and informative summaries.
These are just a few examples of how NLP is applied in various domains. Its versatility and potential continue to grow as researchers and developers explore new ways to leverage human language for improved communication and understanding between humans and machines.
Some Real-World AI Applications in Industry
Courtesy of Pixabay
Healthcare: AI is revolutionizing healthcare by enhancing diagnostics, personalized medicine, and patient care. Companies like Zebra Medical Vision utilize AI algorithms to analyze medical images, improving the early detection of diseases like cancer. AI-powered virtual assistants also assist doctors in accessing patient information quickly, reducing administrative burdens.
AI-Generated Factory. Courtesy of Pixabay
Manufacturing: Smart factories are embracing AI to optimize production processes, quality control, and predictive maintenance. Companies like Siemens leverage AI algorithms to predict machine failures and prevent downtime, ensuring efficient and uninterrupted operations. AI-driven robots and cobots are streamlining repetitive tasks, improving productivity and employee safety.
Courtesy of Pixabay
Finance: AI is transforming the finance sector by automating manual tasks, detecting fraud, and improving investment decisions. For instance, PayPal utilizes AI to detect suspicious transactions and prevent fraud in real-time. Robo-advisors powered by AI algorithms analyze vast amounts of financial data to offer personalized investment recommendations to individuals.
Courtesy of Pixabay
Transportation: The transportation industry is harnessing AI to enhance safety, efficiency, and sustainability. Self-driving vehicles leverage AI to perceive their surroundings and make real-time decisions, reducing accidents and traffic congestion. Ride-sharing platforms like Uber employ AI algorithms to optimize route planning, reduce waiting times, and enhance the overall customer experience.
Courtesy – Apple Inc
Design/Entertainment: Overall, AI has significantly impacted the design and entertainment industries by providing new tools, enhancing creativity, improving user experiences, and streamlining various processes. The experiences can thus be enhanced and simplified in Generative Design, UX Design, Data Visualization,Game Development & Virtual Reality (VR), and Augmented Reality (AR) – the Metaverse particularly comes to mind here. Apple’s new ‘Vision Pro’ augmented reality headset is ‘the most advanced’ device to date.
Job Transformations
While AI promises immense benefits, there are concerns about job displacement. Routine, repetitive tasks are likely to be automated, leading to changes in the job market. However, AI also creates new opportunities by augmenting human capabilities. Instead of replacing jobs, AI has the potential to transform them, enabling us to focus on complex problem-solving, creativity, and empathy-driven tasks.
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Limitations and Dangers
As with any technology, AI has its limitations and potential risks. AI systems heavily rely on data quality, and biased or incomplete datasets can lead to inaccurate outcomes or reinforce societal biases. Ensuring ethical AI practices and addressing algorithmic bias is crucial. Moreover, AI lacks human-like common sense and reasoning abilities, making it prone to errors in unfamiliar situations. The ethical implications of AI, such as privacy concerns and potential misuse of personal data, also require careful consideration.
Afterthoughts
The practical and realistic use of AI has already begun reshaping various industries, unlocking new possibilities, and transforming how businesses operate. By embracing AI, organizations can streamline processes, improve decision-making, and unlock insights from massive amounts of data. However, it is essential to navigate the limitations, address ethical concerns, and ensure a human-centric approach to AI implementation.
The adage that whatever you see in science fiction, you will witness in reality, seems to ring true more than ever in the 21st century. In fact, Facebook founder, Mark Zuckerberg is probably one of the biggest believers having bought the virtual reality company, Oculus as far back as 2014.
Now, he and people from all walks of life are embracing the creation and adoption of a “Metaverse”.
But is this a buzz term or a new reality, and are the ultra-rich throwing money at it because they are trying to entertain themselves? Or is it because they actually want to ‘augment’ hundreds of millions of peoples’ senses of reality with beneficial technology?
Like many things in life, the truth isn’t black or white in this regard. While multi-dollar billionaires including Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos have looked to build cities in space that we can escape to when the world becomes overpopulated or uninhabitable, others are developing the ‘Metaverse’ as a complementary set of enhancements and parallel spaces for our lives on earth.
What is The Metaverse?
Is the Metaverse more than just ‘sales speak’ for a bunch of sales-speak-for-tech companies? It has been bandied about throughout 2021 but Zuckerberg has been even more brazen, having announced at the end of October that Facebook would be rebranded as Meta. Rather cheeky!
But what is this swanky new world we may soon be living, and maybe thriving in? I’ve been called Mr. Anderson for over 20 years, so it feels like a fitting time, with the release of the fourth Matrix movie, to ask: “What is the Metaverse(Matrix)?”
The Metaverse is a hypothesised iteration of the Internet, that supports persistent online 3-D virtual environments via conventional personal computing, as well as virtual & augmented reality headsets.
Wikipedia
It’s still being given a concrete definition but essentially it is an advanced version of the Internet wherein we can become immersed. You don’t just look at the Internet; you are ‘digitally immersed’ in it. Instead of just looking at a 3D object on your PC using a mouse to scroll up and down to see it from different angles, in the Metaverse your brain will convince you that you are in the same world as that object.
Metaverses, in some limited form, were already present on platforms like VR-Chat or video games like Second Life. These suggest that we have been moving toward living in a Metaverse for years. But why should we care so much now about the Metaverse then?
Why The Metaverse Matters
The Metaverse has the potential to bring fulfilment, economic opportunity and equity to people. But, for this to happen, we would probably need a situation where a handful of companies – here’s looking at you Zuckerberg – are prevented from dominating it. The virtual world could overcome the shortcomings of the physical one which humanity has lived on for millennia. Digital environments could become actual places where people don’t only live; but also thrive.
It is for these reasons that we believe Metaverses will be pervasive across our lives from a young age until our retirement.
Images courtesy of the respective companies
For example, the gaming platform, Roblox might be unknown to well, adults, but this 13-year-old platform is booming. Children and teenagers use this platform to play existing games together but also to create new games. It also sports a marketplace where users can sell those experiences and other products like online outfits and personalized avatars. Another incredibly popular online multiplayer game Fortnite is well poised to switch its huge user-base into ‘Metaversians’. Two upcoming multi-billion dollar gaming platforms built on Blockchain technologies are Decentraland and The Sandbox.
The former made the news recently when a tech company bought a patch of virtual real estate in the Decentraland metaverse for 618,000 MANA (its native currency) – valued at $3.2 million.
Virtual ‘land’ and other items (digital assets) in Decentraland are sold in the form of non-fungible tokens (NFTs), which are a class of crypto assets. All of these are authenticated using a Smart Contract component of the blockchain.
Play-to-earn is another incentive to getting onto the Metaverse. You will now be able to earn virtual tokens (with monetary value) while emersed in your favourite game. This no-brainer strategy has seen an explosion of Blockchain play-to-earn games in the last quarter of 2021.
Other Use Cases
Back in the “real working world” virtual productivity platforms are also growing as companies’ employees use MS Teams, Zoom and other platforms to be able to communicate easily and at any time.
You will be able to now have online offices and attend online conferences in virtual conference centres while represented by avatars. No more suiting up or wasting time on perfect makeup! So, while one can’t stop people from spending time in a cyber world, we can, however, enhance their experiences using cutting-edge technology.
The opportunities for business and revenue generation will not be limited. Simulations for building and engineering projects will make presentations almost real – without having to travel to the actual sites. Online gambling/shopping companies will also look to capitalise by offering virtual casinos and stores in the Metaverse.
Marketing Spin-offs
There are even talks that companies may sell apparel and clothing and are designing virtual versions thereof. Virtual shoes could become status symbols which is rather bizarre but perhaps fun for the nouveau riche. Joke if you want but brands like Gucci, Adidas, and Nike are prepping (with partnerships) to board the Metaverse for obvious marketing opportunities.
People are rapidly immersing themselves in virtual and augmented reality (VR/AR) worlds. Headsets are becoming more affordable and an assortment of AR/VR programmes are being written daily. These include entertainment programmes for PlayStation 5 as well as for pornography apps (another billion-dollar industry).
Soon the Metaverse will become a tool that improves our lives and will go beyond being just an entertainment novelty.
It doesn’t stop here. There is a little-known Metaverse company currently worth $2bn, that has made some major breakthroughs using Blockchain tech. They have actually created a device to scan entire people and objects to immerse them into the digital world.
The ambitious project, MetaHero will be paying people a decent amount to have their avatars made and used in games from January 2022. Sounds absurd but perhaps you need to take a look yourselves.
Final Word of Caution
Bear in mind that the Metaverse may exacerbate problems faced by humans because of the Internet. We need a better grasp of managing data rights, data security, misinformation, the radicalisation of morally wrong ideas such as racism and vaccine hesitancy as well as platform power.
Somebody needs to rein the likes of Facebook, um I mean Meta, in. We should not just allow the Metaverses to distract millions of us with a ‘wonderful’ cyber world.
Global security breaches are on the rise and no one or country is safe. The acceleration of certain technologies has been rapid since the pandemic engulfed the world last year. But unfortunately, we’ve also become slack in the process.
Once again, it has become apparent just how ‘at-risk’ our data is.
Data hacks have been frantic and are now getting major press attention. It’s hard to know who each unwanted visitor is in each case but fingers are being pointed in perhaps familiar directions.
Russian invaders back at it again
In fact, throughout June, Russians have been blamed for a slew of hacks around the world.
Microsoft in late May said a wave of Russian cyber-attacks had targeted government agencies and human rights groups in 24 countries, mostly in the US.
It claimed that around 3000 email accounts of more than 150 different organizations, some of them international, were attacked in just one week.
Allegedly, the group responsible was the same one that carried out 2020’s SolarWinds attacks, which the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) was accused of orchestrating.
But the Kremlin denied having any knowledge or anything to do with any cyber-attacks. It challenged Microsoft to how these attacks were linked to the European attacks.
Nevertheless, authorities are now aggressively investigating cybercrime. In the first week of June, the US Justice Department recovered around $2.3m in cryptocurrency ransom money.
This was part of the funds paid by the Colonial Pipeline Company to Russian hackers in the most disruptive cyberattack on record in the country.
The US deputy attorney general Lisa Monaco said investigators had seized 63.7 Bitcoins which was paid by the company after its systems were hacked, leading to massive shortages of petrol along the US’s East Coast. The department said it founded and recaptured the majority of the ransom.
The hackers are believed to be a group called DarkSide, whose menace caused a multi-day shutdown in certain petrol stations and a spike in gas prices.
The attack made international news and prompted the US’s White House to encourage business executives to improve security measures to avoid future cyberattacks whatever their nature, ransomware or otherwise.
The FBI said DarkSide had also disrupted operations at a meatpacking company. As no one tends to be spared in the spillover effects, it is always a good idea to protect your company’s digital assets as a preventative measure.
Not so sophisticated
The attackers rather proved to be quite ‘amatuerish’ because they sent the Bitcoins to an online platform to convert it to fiat money – and that is how they got nabbed. Server-hosted (Online) crypto exchanges are obliged to keep customer data for compliance and anti-money laundering practices. So while your Crypto digital wallet does not reveal your identity, pairing it with an exchange will link it to all the other particulars you needed to provide to use the exchange.
As long as you need cash to pay for things you will always need to switch your crypto in some way or another – unless your recipient agreed to take payment in Crypto as well. Keeping your digital assets on a hard-wallet or on your hard-drive keeps them “off-the-grid”. But also means you can’t actually spend them.
Although the initial cyberattack was a smart manuever, the attackers proved to be rookies at the robbing game in the end.
On a positive note: the ability to retrieve Bitcoins actually reinforces the need for a Blockchain-based financial system. This made it easier for the authorities to track movements of the ‘ransom-paid’ Bitcoins.
Cuban for a bruising
But politicians aren’t the only people who are urging businesses, civil society organizations, and other groups to improve security systems and be cognisant of an often-dark future.
US Dollar billionaire Mark Cuban has also called for stricter cryptocurrency regulations.
The owner of the Dallas Mavericks who has been investing in trading Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies such as Ethereum said the world was in dire need of regulation for the burgeoning decentralized finance (DeFi) space.
Cuban said in an interview with Bloomberg that there “should be regulation to define what a Stablecoin is” in order for DeFi to be reliable and to prevent total collapses in investments.
This comes after he saw his investments in a particular Stablecoin ‘went to zero’. Cuban claimed he had been scammed.
Stablecoins are a type of cryptocurrency that is pegged to an underlying asset, or currency – usually the US dollar. They are the earliest forms of DeFi and the largest Stablecoin, Tether, is currently worth more than $62bn.
DeFi has helped the price of Ethereum, the blockchain on which most DeFi projects are built, to also soar. But they can be highly risky investments.
Investors try to create arbitrage opportunities and liquidity between coins but such a scheme collapsed for Cuban.
“There should be regulation to define what a stable coin is and what collateralization is acceptable,” he said.
Buy, Stake, and Trade Cryptos
Strong words of caution
Cuban hasn’t revealed how much money he lost but told a fellow DeFi investor via Twitter that regulation must be implemented- and quickly.
It had been suggested that Cuban was “rugged” which refers to when a project’s liquidity dries up and investors cannot withdraw their cash.
Mark Cuban is alleged to have 60% of his crypto holdings in Bitcoin, 30% in Ethereum, and 10% held in other coins. He likes to experiment with new financial tech investments.
He added further in a recent blog post that banks should be scared of unregulated DeFi technology.
All crypto-based investments remain highly risky as the technology around them develops. But there certainly needs to be global laws to prevent people from losing hefty amounts of their wealth/investment. Cryptocurrency is without a doubt a very lucrative investment vehicle that could make you an overnight millionaire. But that also makes it a perfect vehicle for scammers to clone projects to make away with your hard-earned cash.
You must, therefore, be extra vigilant and scrutinize offers for instant riches. But more so, you would be quite negligent these days to navigate the Internet without any form of cyber-protection.
The pandemic has thrown us into a state of flux and some tech entrepreneurs have found opportunities in the funk. One major trend involves playing with blockchain technology.
Even though most people you come across pretend to understand blockchain, many don’t actually understand its full capabilities. Some clever Trevors, however, are making it work for them.
DeFi (Decentralised Finance)
For centuries, our money has been controlled by central banks. But this has given too much power to certain authorities. Now cryptocurrencies are set to help us shake the game up.
Enter DeFi or Decentralised Finance – an umbrella term that refers to a variety of financial applications in cryptocurrency. These DApps are geared toward changing the roles of financial intermediaries or removing them altogether.
Essentially, DeFi is a financial system built on public blockchains such as Binance Chain, PolkaDot, and Ethereum.
It is a relatively new project which started later than Bitcoin in 2014. It was brought into the limelight in 2020 by a little-known South African called Andre Cronje. Cronje created the now almost billion-dollar DeFi-protocol called Yearn Finance (YFI).
DeFi is an alternative to what people feel is an outdated, clunky financial system that is inefficient and prone to abuse. The idea is that DeFi will be a new digital-only and fully automated financial system which exists separately from our enormous, interlinked financial system.
When you swipe your card, the institution has control over your transaction and retains the authority to record it in its private ledger, stop or pause it.
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They also control financial all matters like insurance, loans, and alternative investments like derivatives, crowdfunding, and gambling. All this while literally owning all your data. They can use or share them with their stakeholders as they wish.
Functionality
DeFi aims to create an open-source, permissionless, and transparent financial service system. The yields you get from borrowing and lending digital assets on these platforms also put those offered by traditional banks to shame. This system is also relatively safe because lenders are certain to get their assets back because you need collateral (other cryptos) to borrow in the first place.
You even, in DeFi, have mechanisms to maintain liquidity – just like Central Bank’s liquidity swaps. Some of them have ridiculous names like SushiSwap or PancakeSwap and perform these functions surprisingly well. this is possible because of their underlying computer-backed algorithmic technology.
The current centralized nature of the global financial system means wealth is only amassed by those that have access to financial services. This has created further inequalities in our societies.
Nevertheless, DeFi is a rapid technological innovation that is helping us to decentralize financial systems and foster financial inclusion. Cutting out the middleman also involves the use of Smart Contracts. Naturally prone to attach it is evolving but quickly gaining the acceptance of those ‘in the know’.
Smarter Contracts
According to Blockgeeks, a smart contract is a computer protocol intended digitally to facilitate, verify or enforce the negotiation or performance of a contract. They allow the performance of credible transactions without third parties.
For example, ordinarily, you would go to a lawyer or a notary, pay them, and wait while you get the document. With smart contracts, you simply drop Crypto into a vending machine-type structure (digital ledger), and your escrow, driver’s license, or whatever, drops into your account.
Courtesy: Law and Forensics.
Smart contracts define the rules and penalties around an agreement just like a traditional contract does. Additionally, they also automatically help you enforce those obligations.
Ethereum is the industry-leading Crypto company/platform that provides that functionality. It is, however, receiving strong competition from newcomer platforms such as Binance Smart Chain – which is actually a revised clone of Ethereum.
Non-Fungible Tokens(NFTs)
This is a technology that has been around for a few years but is enjoying new popularity. Fungibility refers to something that is easily interchangeable, such as the exchanging of a $50 note for five $10 notes.
But non-fungible tokens have been created with the opposite goal.
These are unique or scarce digital objects represented as tokens that cannot be replicated.
They are literally anything that can be digitalized to form a collectible item – just like your paintings, collectible cards, or stamps.
This is why they are infiltrating the auctioneering world. Digital content is tokenized through a process called minting.
Minting involves assigning a coin on a blockchain to any given work and you can assign as many copies as you so desire.
A key difference from authenticating other objects is that instead of a physical certificate of authentication, NFTs use blockchain technology as a verifiable digital ledger.
The NFTs created on Ethereum’s blockchain are immutable, so they cannot be altered. No one can undo your ownership of the NFT.
In 2017, a game called CryptoKitties was invented. This was a blockchain game that allowed players to adopt, raise, and trade virtual cats.
At one point, CryptoKitties were selling hundreds for thousands of euros. Since then, people have been pumping money into the NFT market which has more than quadrupled in value since the pandemic.
Investors saw the value of investing in a verified item of art that no one else possesses. As a result, many new digital (NFT) marketplaces such as OpenSea and SuperRare were established – and thriving. The NBA has also gotten in on the action. NBA Top Shot is a first-of-its-kind collectible website that allows you to collect, trade, and sell your favorite NBA highlights as digital tokens. One of the highest-selling NFTs there(only 2 minted) is one of a reverse dunk by LeBron James – which fetches a cool $210 000.
Rock band, Kings of Leon earlier in March 2021 became the first musical artist to sell its album as an NFT. Their eighth studio album, When You See Yourself, is being sold in standard digital and physical formats but also has an NFT.
Within a week, the album had made more than $2m. This includes around $500 000 which was donated to Live Nation’s Crew Nation, designed to support live music crews during the pandemic.
Enter the Dogecoin
The year 2021 wanted to add a bit of humor to the world whilst making some people rich. You may call them clever or maybe reckless – or both, but some people traded an invisible investment called Dogecoin and significantly pushed up its price.
Dogecoin was like a parody of Bitcoin symbolized by its face, the Doge meme. Entrepreneur Elon Musk punted the coin which was actually started as a joke in 2013. The price of dogecoin has exploded by more than 1,100% this year.
The cryptocurrency has gained increased attention from endorsements by Musk, who at one point was the world’s richest man on paper. Entrepreneur Mark Cuban, rapper Snoop Dogg, and musician Gene Simmons are also backers of the Crypto-coin.
Now Musk wants you to be able to trade Dogecoin using the Coinbase platform.
Musk’s Tesla motor car company had allegedly used the Cryptocurrency exchange to buy $1.5bn worth of Bitcoin in February.
The Gamestop effect
Also this year, online traders caused chaos among financial systems, showing big institutions that they can beat them at their own game.
A bunch of people got together on Reddit and discussed how they would pump up the price of Gamestop, a US rental games company. Gamestop saw its fortunes wane as people turned away from buying or renting disc versions of games in favor of downloads. The Reddit ‘movement’ was aided and abetted by a group called WallStreetbets.
The group has since pledged millions of dollars from the proceeds towards saving Gorillas – epic!
The price went through the roof as Gamestop became a gambling tool, with little underlying value in the company.
A number of people won big but others who got in late weren’t as lucky. The price later crashed, costing gamblers a lot.
It has since fluctuated wildly and is now on a downtrend. For every new multimillionaire, there has been someone who has lost their life savings.
Tread carefully with new technologies
It will take time for the use of these new technologies to settle in our society. You must, however, be skeptical even when Musk, who recently changed his designation from CEO of Tesla to ‘Technoking’ posts such things on a social platform.
Whenever he tweets something, people react. Musk convinced scores of people to buy Dogecoin and now he is quite excited about NFTs.
The Billionaire recently actually turned down a $1.1m offer to buy one of his tweets as an NFT after putting it up for sale, quoted saying: “it doesn’t feel quite right.”
Musk said that he was going to sell a tweet of a song about NFTs as an NFT. This was days after an NFT had sold for a record $69m. But it turned out he was joking around when he tweeted: “Actually, doesn’t feel quite right selling this. Will pass.”
Musk’s tweet was listed on the blockchain-backed auction platform valuables and has attracted a bid of $1.12m from a user called @sinaEstavi.
The tweet is of a techno song about NFTs, with the lyrics: “NFT, for your vanity, computers never sleep, it’s verified, it’s guaranteed.”
If you don’t believe how volatile these currencies are, just check out how Bitcoin lost more than 80% of its value from December 2017 to May 2018. It is currently hovering just below $60,000 after a low of around $3,500 only in March 2020.
If you decide to invest, do so knowing that rapid price fluctuations come with the territory.
Remember these new blockchain assets are highly volatile investments. Their values can swing literally like a yoyo, based on the jokes made by a multi-billionaire who wants to live in space.
Why do people hack systems? Hacking is a technique used to compromise any digital device. Hackers want to get into your device to use your data for varied reasons – naturally, most of these motives are financially driven.
A data breach is usually what leads to a hack. There is a difference even though both terms are used interchangeably.
A data breach happens when data that is left vulnerable in an unsecured environment gets viewed by someone who shouldn’t have access to it.
While hacks are the result of malicious behavior, breaches happen as a result of negligence, human error, or other non-malicious behavior that creates a security vulnerability.
Hackers may access your device just to say they could or for financial gain, to protest, or to gather sensitive information.
So what makes a hacker?
In the past, a hacker may have been a whiz kid or specialized programmer but in the modern-day, hacking has become easier and more people are becoming hackers. As more people shop online and use computers for everyday tasks, they become the prey of hackers worldwide.
Actual hacking is technical in nature – the hacker does not communicate with the person whose PC they are hacking into.
But they can also use psychology to trick the user into clicking on a malicious attachment or providing personal data. These tactics are referred to as social engineering.
Your cellphone too can be hacked
While most associate hacking with Windows computers, the Android operating system also offers an inviting target for hackers. That means millions of people who use Samsung phones can be hacked.
Some fifty years ago, there was a name for hackers who obsessively explored low-tech methods for getting around the secure telecommunication networks and expensive long-distance calls. they were called phreaks.
This was a portmanteau of the words phone and freaks. They were a defined subculture in the 1970s, and their activity was called phreaking.
Phreakers have now evolved out of the ‘analog technology era’ to become hackers in the digital world. They are beyond a sub-culture and have become a genuine threat to the safety of our information and data.
Mobile phone hackers currently use a variety of methods to access your mobile phone and can intercept phone calls, voicemails, text messages, and even the phone’s microphone and camera, all without your permission or even knowledge.
iPhones are not safe either
In 2020, many journalists working for Al Jazeera were victims of a sophisticated zero-click spyware attack.
The Toronto-based internet watchdog group Citizen Lab was asked to look into the attacks, which took place in July and August, and they released their findings at the end of December.
The report found that 36 journalists, producers, anchors, and executives had their iPhones compromised by Pegasus spyware. The spyware, developed and sold by an Israeli-based firm called NSO Group, targets security vulnerabilities in the iMessage app.
The so-called “zero-click” exploit deploys without any user interaction. Once installed, it can record ambient sound and phone conversations, take pictures, and access user credentials. It sounds like science fiction but it’s very much real!
Types of hacks
Malware
People can use hardware to sneak malware into your PC. In offices, hackers will infiltrate networks by giving staff members infected USB sticks, dodgy USB cables, and mouse chords.
It is crucial to always think before plugging anything into your work or personal device with access to confidential data.
Educate your staff about being careful before plugging anything into their PCs.
Malware infections generally occur when users interact with dangerous code by clicking on a URL or downloading malicious software disguised as an authentic program. But zero-click spyware penetrates devices without any user interaction.
Citizen recommends making sure that your mobile OS is updated to the latest version. Identified vulnerabilities in previous versions of iOS were patched in the iOS 14 update.
Practicing good digital hygiene is always important for the security of your mobile devices.
Use sites like haveibeenpwned.com and breachalarm.com to see if your email credentials have been compromised. Use strong passwords on any apps that contain sensitive data and delete any apps that you do not regularly use.
Missing security patches
Always remember to update your security tools. Too many people ignore update notifications or security patches, leaving themselves vulnerable. It’s not just antivirus software that needs patching.
Tell your staff to ensure that all their antivirus and applications are routinely updated as security patches become available. This task is usually the job of your IT department if you have one in the first place.
Getting your password information
Hackers can obtain your credentials through several means, but commonly they do so through a practice called keystroke logging or keylogging.
Through a social engineering attack, you could accidentally download software that records your keystrokes, saving your usernames and passwords as you enter them.
This and other forms of spyware are malware that tracks your activity until a hacker has what they need to break into your system.
Attackers can deploy malware on a user’s machine if they are in your environment and capture your credentials via keylogging too.
Hackers also use password cracking programs that can run letter and character combinations, guessing passwords in a matter of minutes, or even seconds.
To get around this,use a password management tool that securely houses your company’s credentials. These tools can often auto-generate lengthy, diverse character passwords that are difficult for hackers to guess. They can also autofill for your employees for easy access to their tools.
This technique involves taking down a website so that a user cannot access it or deliver their service. DoS attacks take place when hackers inundate a target’s server with large influxes of traffic. The amount is so frequent and high that it overloads the server by giving it more requests than it can handle. This crashes your server and your company’s website.
Larger businesses can get hit by a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack, which is a synchronized attack on more than one server or website, potentially taking down numerous online assets.
A good method to fight DDoS attacks is to use cloud protection services to spot them – like Acunetix or Netsparker.
Social Engineering & Phishing
This is where hackers try to get your personal information, often by impersonating a legitimate and maybe trusted source.
Many types of social engineering bait come in the form of phishing emails.
A hacker sends you a message that looks like it’s from someone you know, asking you to do something, like wire them money, or to click or download an infected attachment to see more.
Here is a hilarious example of a phishing Email
“The top malicious email attachment types are .doc and .dot which make up 37%. The next highest is .exe at 19.5%,” according to a report by Symantec. Always be cautious of opening these types of attachments.
Warn your employees to never give out private business information over email, to think before opening any attachments, and educate them on mail scams.
Use email software that scans for phishing. Microsoft 365 and Google’s Business packages come equipped with such. Google’s tech uses AI to scan the content and find things such as spelling errors and dodgy URLs. This enables the system to block them before they even hit your inbox.
Most people or companies that get hacked or suffer from a data breach do so mainly due to negligence. Many do not prioritize beefing up their security systems before it is too late. Hacks are, however, completely avoidable so don’t fall victim to them.
Other ways to protect yourself
Download a reliable anti-malware product that can both detect and neutralize malware and block connections to malicious phishing websites.
Of course, whether you are on Windows, Android, a Mac, an iPhone, or in a business network, you must always use layered protection wherever you can.
Only download phone apps from the legitimate marketplaces that police themselves for malware-carrying apps, such as Google Play and the Apple/Amazon Appstore.
Check the ratings and reviews first. If it has a low rating and barely any downloads, it might be best to avoid that app.
Use long and complex passwords. Don’t use numbers in sequence. You can also use mixes of letters that can be remembered through rhymes.
People will always find an opportunity in a crisis. This year has been one of the strangest years we will ever experience. Because of the global pandemic, we have been ‘shut-in’ physically and mentally. Hiding in our homes in an effort to save the lives of the elderly and sickly.
Technologies that enable people to communicate with each other from different locations and work remotely have had an excellent year because of this.
Who needs phones & email?
The pandemic may have stopped us from having face-to-face meetings because of self-isolation and social distancing. So just like that, we all needed to have online meetings and digital collaborative meetups.
In 2020, we just stopped phoning people. We needed to see what other humans looked like. So, we engaged more in video calling, using whatever technology available that supports that functionality.
The online video-conferencing tool Zoom, therefore, went from being a company you’d probably never heard of, to global ‘overnight’ success. It was founded in 2011 by Eric Yuan, a former Cisco engineer, and executive, who then launched it in 2013 as software for companies. It was valued at $1bn in 2017 because it enjoyed very strong revenue growth and was easy to use, and became profitable in 2019, and listed on the Nasdaq.
“You’re on Mute! “
Quote of 2020
Come early 2020, Zoom entered a boom period as most of us used it while in quarantine. Its share price, therefore, grew more than 490% from $68.72 to around $406.
MS Teams, Microsoft’s answer to Zoom. is believed by many to be more reliable and secure than Zoom – which suffered a major breach earlier in the year. Google’s Meet also features on the list of top video calling/conferencing apps.
We won’t delve into comparison here. The pros and cons are highly dependant on what you use it for and your business size/budget. The usage stats below speak volumes though albeit just for the two major economies.
Other tools
When we weren’t working, we were using social communication applications such as House Party which, apart from allowing you to stream music and play virtual DJ, enabled you to play games with one another.
They were mostly silly general knowledge games but hangman made a welcome comeback to society thanks to this app.
Discord, an American Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) that uses instant messaging and runs a digital distribution platform also gained new users. It no longer just relies on gamers and people in creative computer development roles to drive its usage.
The Home Office
We started (forcibly) working from home and those who believe it made them more efficient and productive are considering carrying on with it in 2021. The working from home concept, therefore, changed from being something associated with putting in half the effort and lazy lie-ins.
Companies at least in the developed world, have to offer the option of working from home. Like any viral pandemic, Coronavirus will still be around in 2021 as the vaccine could take a while to ‘take effect’. Working from home isn’t disappearing any time soon!
To operate a home office though, you need to have an advanced enough computer system, the right anti-virus software, and other methods of securing your work. Companies became concerned that people were using their personal computers to log onto work servers and bringing problems along with that. It’s not just good enough to get a laptop to have a ‘home office’.
We have also had to set up reliable phone systems for business. Landlines are becoming old-fashioned plus virtual phone systems that are simple to set up and use are becoming popular.
Smart speakers are also becoming popular. You can use them to play music via Spotify or the radio but can also be used to create the right audio ambience for your meetings and remind you about important events, tasks, and meetings.
It’s all about getting tech products and virtual assistants to make working easier. People also invested in better desks and other office accessories such as computer or mobile-phone-operated coffee machines. Yes, those do exist! Expect the internet of things (IoT) to play a bigger role in your life next year and beyond.
Cybercrime on fleek
Naturally, because we are all forced online, this is no better time for cyber-thugs. They have upped the ante with cleverer ways to dupe you out of your already diminishing funds. Here some of the highlights of 2020 when it comes to crime on the web according to cybersecurity provider ID Agent:
–A cyberattack is attempted every 39 seconds. -700 million people in 21 countries experienced some form of cybercrime. –The damage related to cybercrime is projected to hit $6 trillion annually by 2021. -Ransomware attacks rose 148% in March 2020. -Cloud-based attacks rose 630% between January and April 2020. -Two in five SMBs have been the victim of a ransomware attack. -More than 80% of reported cyberattacks are phishing. -Phishing attempts have increased by more than 660% since March 1, 2020. -Organized crime gangs account for 55% of attacks.
The rise of AMD
Chipmaker AMD has had a stellar year as it has brought out some of the most advanced (yet affordable) computer chips ever built and has managed to outshine rival behemoth, Intel.
Its share price on the Nasdaq bounced from $49.10 to about $95.92. The company has been a runaway success story, especially over the past five years. At the end of December 2015, AMD stock was a paltry $2.87, that’s 3242% growth in half a decade!
Another contributing factor for the company’s success is that AMD’s Ryzen line of processors has been a huge hit since its release. They are used in some of the best mining CPUs money can buy.
Mining is the process of acquiring Bitcoins and other Cryptocurrencies using special software together with your PC’s hashing power.
Crypto makes a comeback!
Cryptocurrencies Bitcoin and Ethereum experienced returns of more than 216% and 390% year-to-date respectively. The argument is that institutional investors including some of the world’s largest finance houses and banks are now backing the world’s most popular digital currency.
This is despite the fact that most ‘9-5 people’ are not using Bitcoin to buy much on a daily basis – but this trend is changing. It is still purported to be a means for criminals and drug dealers to help avoid banking authorities from checking their transactions. Or maybe that is just an underground rumour (or FUD) created by the fearful banking system.
But seriously, a few things are speculated to be behind the Crypto surge. The US Federal Reserve cut interest rates, loaned more than $1.5 trillion to banks and financial institutions. It also increased its purchases of US treasury securities to stabilize the economy when the pandemic struck. This response was very strong and helped to weaken the effects of a national lockdown on the largest economy in the world.
These actions created a favourable ‘macro environment’ in which to invest in an asset that is perceived as very risky given its lack of use and lack of clarity around what it can be used for. The high returns compared to Gold, interest-bearing and other traditional assets have certainly got the major asset managers excited.
The second trend that propelled cryptocurrencies was the above-mentioned expansion of digital life. This may have lead to more investors feeling comfortable using a digital wallet. From payment systems, storage, finance, to gaming, gambling and sports: There is now literally a crypto-based coin for anything under the sun! This digital transformation has even prompted global Central Banks to seriously consider a move away from paper money.
The Future
Our lives are progressively going digital. Many older people who had never used a computer to shop online before, did so for the first time in 2020. They also using messaging apps for the first time as well as streaming entertainment services such as Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, and Disney Plus.
To sum up, the year 2020 has been an abomination of a year. Who knows what 2021 will bring? Maybe (tech-driven) Tesla stock will keep on rallying after successfully listing on the S&P500. But maybe also because owner, Elon Musk kind of took an interest to Bitcoin. This year has indefinitely made us aware of two things: proper sanitization and the practical use of computers.
In a few years from now, cash may no longer exist. Instead, we might be using microchips in our hands which will communicate with a digital currency system. As humans, we want things (and processes) to become more uncomplicated. That is how we measure progress.
Right now, technology facilitates economic activity but may soon supersede the need for faulty monetary policies (by creating more efficient economies) in the long run. Robert Solow was right all along. Despite this, we still use archaic paper currencies. This form of legal tender, however, in a decade or sooner, might be replaced by another official means of exchange of many nations – or at least be in heavy use.
Society needs a safer, easy-to-use means of exchange and incidentally, as you read this, digital currencies are being designed and studied at Universities and information technology ‘thinktank’ companies the world over.
It would require a monumental shift in thinking for people to stop using cash at all. At a human level, it seems simple. Paper money is (literally and figuratively speaking), dirty and it takes up space. It’s also possible for cash to cause stress as when you have it – you have a target on your back.
So, what could replace cash?
Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) are currently in hypothetical planning stages with some countries conducting proof of concept programmes. CBDCs are a means of monetary exchange (by a Central Bank) that exist in a digital state on a server in a cloud.
The idea of using a CBDC was prompted by the emergence and prevalence of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Believers in the mass use of CBDCs want the world to use less cash. They believe people are safer if they do not have money at hand, which can be stolen, and that commerce can be more efficient in a cashless society.
We could say that the history of money is a story of its gradual dematerialization from tangible objects to intangible computer code. Programming code is written for and used to facilitate many facets of our lives, so why not with money?
An ETA is sooner than you think
Over time, what has been used as money has changed, starting from trading large objects which were seen as a basic store of value. Gradually people started shrinking those objects into paper and then turning paper (IOUs) into a special paper. Later, they formalized the process by setting up a financial system to support it – Lo and Behold – the adoption and use of cash was borne.
Some progressive nations have shown genuine and committed interest in testing the viability of CBDCs. Seven Central Banks in October issued a statement in which they said they were studying common principles and salient features needed for a viable CBDC.
The Central Banks in Canada, Britain, the European Union, Japan, Switzerland, Sweden, and the United States now believe there is a threat that private digital currencies pose to the control of monetary policy.
More specifically, they are also competing with China, who they purposefully excluded from their group. They plan to have a viable digital currency system to prevent a case in which China gets the first-mover advantage.
Ad: Crypto
Advantages of CBDCs
We want to create a more efficient payment system. Managing cash can cost money mostly because of securing the safe use of it. We can include more people in a financial system as there is no need for consumers to have a bank account to hold a CBDC.
Safety is, therefore, a huge “positive” to having a cashless society. This is especially in emerging countries where many people still use cash as opposed to cards and electronic transfers (ETFs). Cash is trusted while banks aren’t necessarily trusted at all. Consumers also might not want to pay fees to keep their bank accounts open.
One salient case for a contactless (digital) payment system would is due to the advent of the Covid-19 virus. This has awakened us to the potential emergence and spreading of potential viruses in the future.
CBDC might also make micropayments cheaper which would allow for new services and business models. So, one can enable the efficient sale parts of products and services, such as individual news articles or television series episodes for a few cents rather than relying on subscription models.
A CBDC may also reduce friction between payment systems and increase the speed of transactions while ensuring their finality. This can be achieved by achieving delivery versus payment in securities transactions.
Interest-bearing retail CBDC might boost monetary policy efficiency. CBDC can provide a Central Bank with an additional financial instrument – the rate of interest it carries. CBDCs would provide competition to stable coin exchanges such as Bitcoin and Facebook’s Libra.
Issues with digital currencies & CBDCs
Cryptocurrencies currently exhibit huge swings in value (volatility) as people use them as a speculative asset. This could change if they were somehow monitored and administered by Central Banks.
The disintermediation of commercial banks would occur if consumers move money from bank accounts into CBDC. This could start a vicious cycle as banks raise deposit rates to attract more money and less bank credit will be extended at these higher interest rates.
A Central Bank could need to provide additional liquidity to banks and hence take on credit risk. There could be an increased reputational risk for Central Banks. Digital systems need to be protected and the system’s staff monitored.
Many questions remain unanswered
Cross border transactions will also create new paradigms for central banks. There are risks of a type of dollarisation for economies with volatile exchange ranges and high inflation.
‘Dollarization‘ is when a country replaces its currency with the US dollar because the dollar is so stable and widely used. In the foreseeable future countries may then opt to replace paper money with the best (continental) CBDC available – like a digital Euro for the EU.
The future depends on the goals of the CBDC. It would grant the public access to the state’s balance sheet when, right now, cash is the only way for private individuals to hold central bank money. All other types of money holdings are based on centralized/private money creation systems. These are still prone to manipulation and abuse by central banks themselves or their subsidiaries.
Over the past decade container technology has become a popular method for packaging applications in an effective way. Some developers believe is better than that offered by virtual machines and other technologies.
Container technology has been embraced by the big cloud computing providers including Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services, and Google’s Cloud platform.
Examples of the actual container software include the Apache Mesos, Docker, rkt (pronounced rocket), and Kubernetes.
But what is container technology?
Logically, it gets its name from shipping. Shipping containers standardize how goods are moved around. Goods get placed in steel shipping containers which can be picked up by cranes and fit into ships. They tend to have standard sizes.
By standardizing the process and keeping the items together, your container can be moved as a unit and it costs less to do it this way.
In computer terms, container technology is referred to as just a container: a method to package your applications so they can be run, with their dependencies, isolated from other processes.
Container technology decreases the potential for problems when developers move programs from server to server before the program is in a state where it is saleable.
When you use container technology to create an application, you can code everything using just one operating system and database. This makes the application quite easy to replicate as resources including memory and the central processing unit (CPU)are shared. This also makes your technology great for scaling and for working within the cloud.
Out with the old…
If you don’t use container technology, you can have a situation where a program runs well on one machine but has problems on your server. This common problem occurs when you move a program from a data server to a cloud server.
Many issues can happen because of variations in machine environments. These include differences between your operating system, secure sockets layer libraries, storage, and network topology.
So, computer container technology picks up all of your software and related parts which include dependencies, being libraries, binaries, and configuration files. They all get migrated as a unit, avoiding the differences between machines including operating system differences. This will also include underlying hardware that leads to incompatibilities and crashes.
And, importantly, containers also facilitate the deployment of your software to your server. Advocates of using container technology say it is a much better tech to use than that which preceded it – virtual machines.
In this case, one physical server would be used for multiple applications through visualization technology. Each virtual machine contains the entire operating system, as well as the application to run.
The physical server then runs several virtual machines, each with its own operating system, with a single hypervisor emulation layer on top. By running several operating systems simultaneously, you incur a lot of overheads on your server as resources get used.
…and in with the new
Container technology allows your server to run a single operating system because each container can share that system.
The parts of your operating system that are shared are read-only to not interfere with the other containers. Therefore, compared with virtual machines, containers require fewer resources of the server, and are much more efficient.
You can pack many more containers onto a single server. Each virtual machine may require you to have gigabytes of storage. But each container running a similar program may only need megabytes.
How do the containers operate?
Containers are set up in an architecture known as a container cluster. Then, in a container cluster, there is a single cluster master, with the other related containers set as nodes, that are your multiple worker machines. The cluster master schedules the workloads for your nodes, and also to manage their lifecycle, and their upgrades.
Containers allow programs to be broken down into smaller pieces, which are known as microservices.
A major advantage of having a program as component microservices is that different teams can work on each of the containers separately as long as the interactions between the different containers are maintained. This facilitates faster software development.
Containers are also flexible and can be orchestrated. Since the operating system would be already running your server, a container can be started and stopped in just a few seconds.
Some containers within architecture can be turned on during peak demand, and turned down when not needed. The software can control this type of orchestration, and distribute the tasks among the container cluster.
The way forward with the tech
But is container technology overrated? Some people are concerned about the security around it.
Because multiple containers share the same operating system, there are growing concerns that container technology is less secure than virtual machines. If there is a security flaw in your host kernel it will affect your multiple containers.
Other software is being used to have more secure container technology. The use of isolated containers is, therefore, being constantly improved.
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