Despite Americans' reverence for freedom and liberty, it's virtually impossible for even law-abiding citizens to avoid being constantly watched by their government. And law enforcement agencies, aided by newer and more advanced technologies, are keeping a closer eye on them than ever before.

There are 50 million security cameras in the US one for every six people, more per capita than in China according to Precise Security. A government watchdog found the FBI's facial recognition database contains more than 641 million images. Axon Enterprise, the nation's largest supplier of body cameras, recently told investors that the company is eyeing an $11 billion market.

And in a recent privacy assessment, the US Customs and Border Protection acknowledged that it's "unrealistic" for Americans to avoid being tracked by its network of license plate readers.

That's especially true when the opaque and often invisible nature of surveillance technology makes it difficult for Americans to understand when and how extensively they're being monitored.

But a new, first-of-its-kind project aims to help demystify the government's reach. The Atlas of Surveillance, a crowdsourced database compiled by the Electronic Frontier Foundation and hundreds of students from the University of Nevada Reno, uses publicly available information to map state and local law enforcement agencies' use of surveillance technologies across the US.

Previously, researchers and journalists have typically focused on identifying either which technologies are used by a specific agency like the New York Police Department, or which agencies are using a specific technology, such as facial recognition software.

However, EFF's database is unique in that it maps the use of 12 different tools including facial recognition, license plate readers, body cameras, fake cellphone towers, gunshot detectors, and drones across nearly 4,000 police departments. By doing so, it paints a more comprehensive picture of at least 5,300 cases of surveillance tech being deployed nationwide.

"It's a little overwhelming to look at but that's because the surveillance state is overwhelming," Dave Maass, a senior researcher at EFF and visiting professor at UNR who led the project, told Business Insider.

Maass said it's particularly concerning "how all of these individual technologies are converging together." At digital command hubs called real-time crime centers, everything from social media posts to camera footage is analyzed live by "a sophisticated algorithm" and shared with multiple agencies in order to help them identify potential crimes and allocate resources, he said.

While the database is far from complete and will be continually updated, Maass said EFF decided to release it now given the renewed spotlight on surveillance technology amid recent protests against police brutality.

"People are protesting, they're noticing the body-worn cameras, they're noticing the strange trucks driving around with weird equipment in the back, they're noticing drones flying above," Maass said. "People are starting to realize as they're out on the street and they're having more interactions with police that technology matters."

Civil rights and privacy advocates, including EFF, have been sounding alarms about surveillance technology for years. They've cited concerns like body cameras' potential chilling effects on free speech at protests and a growing body of research showing that tools like facial recognition software and predicting policing algorithmsdiscriminate based on race and genderand exacerbate existing inequalities in the criminal justice system let alone scant evidence that these tools actually help keep communities safe.

As public opinion has shifted around policing, pressure has also mounted on the companies that supply surveillance tech to address flaws in their products or cut ties with law enforcement entirely. Last month, Amazon, Microsoft, and IBM bowed demands from employees and activists and agreed to pause sales of their facial recognition tools to law enforcement.

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Map: surveillance technology used by police departments across the US - Business Insider - Business Insider

HAMILTON, ON, July 14, 2020 /CNW/ -N95 masks are recognized to provide the best protection against airborne biological particles but have been in very short supply. To help alleviate this problem, SteriRight is launching its state-of-the-art mobile technology that will allow organizations to quickly and affordably disinfect N95 face masks for re-use by their employees. SteriRight's mobile reprocessing unit, which kills 99.99% of common bacteria and viruses, including a surrogate for COVID-19 is now available to travel to businesses throughout the region to decontaminate N95 masks.

The launch of SteriRight's mobile service comes after the federal and provincial governments called on manufacturers to step up with solutions related to the COVID-19 pandemic. The launch took place today at McMaster Innovation Park where supporters had the opportunity to see the process in action. SteriRight's Health Canada Interim Order authorized technology sanitizes and decontaminates the users N95 masks for safe re-use. As Ontario re-opens its economy, PPE, in particular N95 respirators are in high demand. Latest data from the Government of Canada suggest only 10% of N95 masks ordered have been delivered.

The SteriRight process is unique in that it utilizes a hybrid, three-pronged decontamination approach using ultraviolet light (UV-C), ozone and vapourized hydrogen peroxide and takes under a minute. The mobility of the SteriRight unit means it can be quickly deployed to a location and allow organizations to keep employees safe, healthy and working. Masks can be disinfected up to 10 times and the original user will get their own mask back after it is decontaminated.

"We are thrilled to be able to step up and provide Ontario businesses with this important technology and service. Our technology which is the only mobile technology authorized by Health Canada allows businesses to safely serve their customers while their employees have access to sanitized masks," said Bay Area Health Trust CEO Peter Kalra, "we are hoping to support businesses return to a safe environment for their customers and employees".

Launched with the support of Synapse Life Science Consortium, Alex Muggah, Director of Synapse stated, "We are proud to support SteriRight as they demonstrate this mobile sanitization technology. At Synapse, we focus on facilitating the commercialization of health innovations. Hamilton has many COVID related projects underway and we are confident that Hamilton businesses will benefit from SteriRight's N95 mask decontamination services".

To learn more about SteriRight mobile sanitation services please visit: https://steriright.ca/

About SteriRight

SteriRightwas born as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, and particularly the crisis of personal protective equipment (PPE) availability. Critical shortages of PPE triggered Health Canada to look for innovative solutions from reprocessors of disposable N95 respirators and from manufacturers of reprocessing equipment to meet current needs, and the gradual return to the "new normal" meant that organizations had to think about their office or work environment cleaning differently.

SteriRight is a Hamilton based start-up backed by its parent company Bay Area Health Trust and is managed by a dedicated team with significant experience in the health care and life science industries.

Currently focused on the sanitization and reprocessing, SteriRight's future will include an expansion of equipment and services such as building and facility disinfecting. Learn more at http://www.steriright.ca

About Bay Area Health Trust

At the intersection of health, life sciences and business, Bay Area Health Trust is an example of a successful partnership between hospitals and the private sector. Leveraging its unique affiliation with Hamilton Health Sciences, McMaster University and the other members of the Synapse Life Science Consortium, Bay Area Health Trust promotes entrepreneurship and invests in growth-oriented businesses to support patient care. Learn more at http://www.bayareahealthtrust.com

SOURCE SteriRight

For further information: Contact, Peter Kalra, President and CEO, 905-521-2248 ext.73766, [emailprotected]

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Hamilton based SteriRight launches N95 Mobile Mask Sanitizing Technology in Response to COVID-19 - Canada NewsWire

5G is available on three different types of spectrums - Low-band, Mid-band and High-band Spectrum.

New Delhi | Jagran Tech Desk: The succession of smart telecommunication networks, from first generation analogue voice, 1G (in 1980s) to the fourth generation LTE, 4G (from 2010s onward) had started to leap towards 5G in 2019, whose pace although got hindered due to COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, but has gained momentum yet again. 5G, the fifth generation telecommunication standard that began to replace the already available fourth generation LTE in a few pockets and boroughs of various parts of the world, is expected to eventually replace or at least supplement the already-available 4G, just like 4G started replacing 3G, and 3G its predecessors before that.

How 5G works?

Unlike its predecessors, the 5G is available on three different types of spectrums, each of which requires a specific antenna for its transmission, also implying to the availability of better network spaces due to multiplicity of options. There is Low-band Spectrum, Mid-band Spectrum, and High-band Spectrum, in decreasing order of the coverage. This simply means that although a low-band spectrum will have a wider coverage area, it will transmit lower network speed. Whereas a high-band spectrum will have smaller coverage area, but it will transmit the fastest network speeds. Each spectrum will differ in collateral and operational costs as well, depending on the demand or feasibility from the ends of respective service providers.

How fast is 5G?

This totally depends on the band that the service provider is providing to its users. According to a CNET report, even the low-spectrum 5G band will provide the downloading speed upwards of 400 MBPS, with a Los Angeles-installed AT&T high spectrum 5G network leading to peak download speed as high as 1.8 GBPS. In the pockets and boroughs of the UK, the US, South Korea, and Australia, where various service providers have already rolled out the 5G network, the average 5G downloading speed was recorded at close to 500 MBPS.

The report says that with 5G at its zenith, a two-hour movie could be downloaded in just 8.2 seconds with seamless pace.

What will change with the dawn of 5G?

The tech nerds and enthusiasts are anticipating the 5G network to eventually replace the currently available broadband services. Since a lightning-fast 5G network is meant not just for the smartphones, but also for other smart devices, such as smart TVs and real time lag free gaming devices among others, it is expected to usher an era of telecommunication far different from the one we already know about.

However, 5Gs rolling-out requires big-time investments depending on the low, mid, or high spectrum range a service provider decides to offer to its users. This means that with big-time speeds will come the higher costs for the users, and exclusive utilisation of the service, at least for initial some months after its rolling out, depending on how the market receives the successor of 4G.

Posted By: Abhinav Gupta

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Understanding 5G, the fifth generation of smart network; how the technology works and how it will change our lives? - Jagran English

With remote work fully underway, inefficiencies are hampering employee productivity, according to the survey by Beagle Research Group and software provider Zoho.

Source: Beagle Research Group and Zoho

An overwhelming 90% of North American companies surveyed said it is not possible to get a 360-degree view of their customers without using multiple systems, according to a newly published survey. Companies need to recognize the significance of this finding since "the customer and client relationship is particularly fragile during the pandemic and [the] context for communication is critical, according to the survey by Beagle Research Group and global tech provider Zoho.

While companies excelled in the areas of traditional management, technology systems were rated by employees as outdated and inefficient for overall performance, the two companies said.

The survey found that applications are hard to use (46%) and technology is inadequate to align with company goals while working remotely (24%).

However, respondents gave their companies high marks in areas of goal setting, alignment, and inspiring performance, so even with the disruption of office closures, workers feel supported by and aligned with their employer while working remotely, Beagle Research and Zoho said.

Employee engagement and alignment also ranked high. Specifically, 66% of respondents said they find high satisfaction in the work they do and only 4% reported that their job is chaotic and difficult to do well, the two companies said.

SEE: How IT teams have been challenged by the shift to remote working (TechRepublic)

Additionally, 69% of employee respondents agreed that their job provides them with meaningful work they take pride in; and 68% of front-office employees and 75% of back-office employees said they felt a sense of purpose in their work.

However, in the category of technology infrastructure, employees reported that their current company systems need a unified overhaul. Specifically: 51% of employees categorized these systems inadequate in keeping them aligned with company goals while working remotely. 52% said they found their computing systems not conducive to their work, with that number growing to 56% at the small and medium enterprise level (businesses under 500 employees). 54% of enterprise-level employees (businesses with more than 500 employees) said they found the applications they work with not intuitive and difficult to integrate. 40% of the largest enterprise employees surveyed (businesses with more than 4,000 employees) said their work can be chaotic, working with multiple technology platforms to do their job accordingly. 37% of enterprise employees said they found their technology infrastructure not supportive to good communication throughout the organization as they work remote.

For both front office and back office employees, half of respondents found their company's technology inadequate to support their job role while remote, the survey found.

"Going to the office, as a concept, started during the Industrial Revolution, when workers needed to travel to factories to use heavy equipment," said Raju Vegesna, chief evangelist at Zoho, in a statement. "With the cloud, with online tools accessible from anywhere, including your home, we are back to a pre-Industrial Revolution era. This means that the right tools have to be made available for employees to be productive."

The inevitable conclusion from this data is that if companies want to improve their performance, they should look first at the technology systems that support their primary business activities, said Denis Pombriant, managing principal at Beagle Research Group and the report's author, in a statement.

"The data show that companies, especially at the enterprise level, are realizing the importance of integrated solutions to streamline business processes to enable working in a variety of new theaters," he said.

The April 2020 study by Beagle Research Group surveyed more than 500 employees at businesses of varying sizes and industries throughout North America.

Discover the secrets to IT leadership success with these tips on project management, budgets, and dealing with day-to-day challenges. Delivered Tuesdays and Thursdays

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More than half of North American businesses believe their technology is inadequate - TechRepublic

This week in Washington IP news, the Senate remains in recess, but the House of Representatives features several committee hearings on the creation of a National Cyber Director office, the use of technologies for remote voting by House members and accelerating the pathway from basic research to commercialization in energy innovation. Elsewhere, the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation hosts webinars on supporting biopharmaceutical sector innovation and legislative proposals to ban end-to-end encryption, while the Center for Strategic & International Studies explores nuclear energy innovation and hosts a discussion on innovation policy with former Google CEO Eric Schmidt.

New America

Transformation: Building and Reusing Open Source Tools in Government

At 11:30 AM on Tuesday, online video webinar.

Many governmental tech policy commentators have argued for the use of open source software tools across multiple levels of government as a means of improving transparency and increasing the responsiveness of those systems across various tech platforms. This event will begin with remarks on increasing the use of open source software platforms by governments from Cecilia Muoz, Vice President for Public Interest Technology and Local Initiatives, New America. These remarks will be followed by a discussion on the current state of open source tool use by government with a panel including Brian Behlendorf, Executive Director, Hyperledger; Robin Carnahan, Fellow, Georgetown University, Beeck Center for Social Impact + Innovation; Laura Kogler, Engineering Director, Code for America; Srijoni Sen, Legal Counsel, MOSIP; and moderated by Tomicah Tillemann, Executive Director of the Digital Impact and Governance Initiative (DIGI) at New America. Following this will be a discussion on the use of open source software during a global crisis with a panel including Mark Lerner, Fellow, DIGI and Public Interest Technology; Angelica Quirarte, Assistant Secretary, California Government Operations Agency; Raylene Yung, Co-Founder and CEO, U.S. Digital Response; and moderated by Hana Schank, Director of Strategy, Public Interest Technology, New America.

Center for Strategic & International Studies

Innovation in Advanced Nuclear Energy

At 1:00 PM on Tuesday, online video webinar.

In mid-June, the U.S. Department of Energy (DoE0 announced a $65 million investment into 93 advanced nuclear technology projects across 28 states, including $38.6 million to support university-led research programs. This event, the fourth in CSISs Energy Innovation Series, will feature a keynote address on the DoEs priorities on supporting nuclear innovation by Dr. Rita Baranwal, Assistant Secretary, Office of Nuclear Energy, U.S. DoE. Following that address will be a discussion on efforts to support the innovation chain from basic research to commercialization with a panel including Ashley Finan, Director, National Reactor Innovation Center, Idaho National Laboratory; Todd Allen, Chair and Professor, Nuclear Engineering and Radiological Sciences, University of Michigan, and Senior Visiting Fellow, Third Way Energy; and moderated by Jane Nakano, Senior Fellow, Energy Security and Climate Change Program, CSIS.

New America

How Ranking and Recommendation Algorithms Influence How We See the World

At 2:30 PM on Tuesday, online video webinar.

Many consumers browsing Internet platforms will notice that certain advertising and news feed items based on past browsing history will appear as they scroll through these webpage-based platforms. However, many consumers dont understand the algorithm-based processes used to generate these recommended links and Internet platforms have been less than transparent about how such processes are implemented. This event, the second of a two-part series on promoting fairness and accountability in ranking and recommendation algorithms, features various speakers including Daphne Keller, Director of Platform Regulation, Stanford Cyber Policy Center; Heather West, Head of Americas, Mozilla; Spandi Singh, Policy Analyst, New Americas Open Technology Institute; and Lisa A. Hayes, Director, Tech Policy & Senior Counsel, TikTok. The event is moderated by Lauren Sarkesian, Senior Policy Counsel, New Americas Open Technology Institute.

Information Technology & Innovation Foundation

The Problem With Banning End-to-End Encryption

At 3:00 PM on Tuesday, online video webinar.

Over the past few decades, a debate has emerged over the use of end-to-end encryption for digital communications. One one side, civil liberty and business advocates have touted the benefits of keeping various forms of communication secure. On the other, law enforcement officials have criticized these technologies for impairing the investigation of crimes. This event will explore current legislative proposals regarding encryption technologies and the potential of backdoor access to encrypted data by law enforcement. The event features a discussion with a panel including Riana Pfefferkorn, Associate Director of Surveillance and Cybersecurity, Stanford Center for Internet and Society; Hannah Quay-de la Vallee, Senior Technologist, Center for Democracy & Technology; Neema Singh Guliani, Senior Legislative Counsel, ACLU; and moderated by Stephen Ezell, Vice President, ITIF, and Director, Center for Data Innovation.

House Committee on Oversight and Reform

H.R. 7331, the National Cyber Director Act

At 12:00 PM on Wednesday, online video webinar.

Among the many recommendations provided by the Cyberspace Solarium Commissions report on U.S. cybersecurity concerns in the public and private sectors issued this March includes the establishment of a National Cyber Director position within the Executive Office of the President. This directors position, which would be established with passage of H.R. 7331, would coordinate cyber response activities across federal agencies and lead federal planning for defensive cyber activities. The first witness panel for this hearing will include the Honorable Mike Gallagher (R-WI), Member of Congress and Commissioner, Cyberspace Solarium Commission; and the Honorable James R. Langevin (D-RI), Member of Congress and Commissioner, Cyberspace Solarium Commission. The second panel will include J. Michael Daniel, President and CEO, Cyber Threat Alliance, White House Cybersecurity Coordinator; Jamil N. Jaffer, Founder and Executive Director, National Security Institute, George Mason University; the Honorable Michael J. Rogers, David Abshire Chair, Center for the Study of the Presidency & Congress, and Former Chairman, House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence; Suzanne Spaulding, Senior Advisor, Homeland Security, Center for Strategic & International Studies, and Commissioner, Cyberspace Solarium Commission; and Amit Yoran, Chairman and CEO, Tenable, and Founding Director, U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team.

House Committee on the Budget

Software Update Required: COVID-19 Exposes Need for Federal Investments in Technology

At 2:00 PM on Wednesday, online video webinar.

The outdated nature of legacy IT systems still in operation at many federal agencies was already a problem before the COVID-19 pandemic, but the global health emergency and the immediate shift to remote, virtual interactions between people and many government services have put an unforeseen strain on these platforms. Despite the massive $2.2 trillion spending bill enacted within the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, only $500 million has been earmarked in that bill for public health data modernization and only $12 million set aside for digitizing federal employee retirement processing. The witness panel for this hearing will include Teresa Gerton, President and CEO, National Academy of Public Administration; Jennifer Pahlka, Founder, Code for America, and Co-Founder, U.S. Digital Response; Rebecca Dixon, Executive Director, National Employment Law Project.

Information Technology & Innovation Foundation

Is the EUs AI Policy Headed in the Right Direction?

At 3:00 PM on Thursday, online video webinar.

This February, the European Commission issued a white paper discussing various aspects of a European approach to artificial intelligence (AI) policy involving cooperation among EU member states, focusing research and innovation efforts, and regulatory frameworks for mitigating risks associated with AI. This event will feature a discussion on the EUs AI white paper with a panel including Janne Elvelid, Policy Manager EU Affairs, Facebook; Irina Orssich, Senior Officer, DG CONNECT, European Commission; Kees van der Klauw, Coalition Manager, Netherlands AI Coalition; Renaud Vedel, Prefect, Coordinator, National Strategy for Artificial Intelligence, French Ministry of the Economy and Finance; and moderated by Eline Chivot, Senior Policy Advisor, Center for Data Innovation.

Information Technology & Innovation Foundation

The Critical Role of Biopharmaceutical Startups in Driving Life Sciences Innovation

At 12:00 PM on Thursday, online video webinar.

The acute need for life sciences innovation during the COVID-19 pandemic has underscored the need to ensure that U.S. policies are supporting and not hindering life-saving innovations in this sector. This event will feature a discussion with a panel including Sally Allain, Regional Head, JLABS @ Washington, DC; David Beier, Managing Director, Bay City Capital; Trevor R.F. Smith, Director of R&D, Inovio Pharmaceuticals; and moderated by Stephen Ezell, Vice President, Global Innovation Policy, ITIF.

Center for Strategic & International Studies

Public Private Partnerships: The Foundation for Americas Approach to Standards-Setting

At 2:00 PM on Thursday, online video webinar.

Standards setting, especially in electronic and digital communications, has been crucial for the development of the modern technological economy. The American approach to standards setting has involved input from government agencies but is largely the domain of private organizations. This event, the third in a series of CSIS seminars on standards setting, will feature speakers including Joe Bhatia, President, American National Standards Institute; Dr. Walter Copan, Under Secretary of Commerce and Director, National Institute of Standards and Technology; and Phil Wennblom, Director of Standards Policy, Intel Corporation. The event will be moderated by John J. Hamre, President and CEO, CSIS, and Langone Chair in American Leadership

House Committee on House Administration

Exploring the Feasibility and Security of Technology to Conduct Remote Voting in the House

At 1:00 PM on Friday, online video webinar.

This May, the House of Representatives approved a rules change which allows members of that house of Congress to vote remotely by proxy for the first time in the history of the House. While the move was widely supported by House Democrats, House Republicans criticized the change to the institutional rules over the potential that such a rules change could concentrate power within that chamber and pose a possible constitutional violation. The witness panel for this hearing has yet to be announced.

House Subcommittee on Energy

From Lab to Market: Accelerating Our Progress Toward Economic Recovery and a Clean Energy Future

At 1:30 PM on Friday, online video webinar.

Remarks published in early July by Dr. Faith Birol, Executive Director of the International Energy Agency, indicated that a much quicker pace of innovation in the clean energy sector is required if governments setting net-zero carbon emission goals by the year 2050 are to meet those goals. The witness panel for this hearing include Jetta Wong, President, JLW Advising and Former Director, Office of Technology Transitions, U.S. Department of Energy; Jennifer States, Director for Blue Economy, DNV GL and Project Director, Washington Maritime Blue; Farah Benahmed, Climate and Energy Policy Advisor, Third Way; Dr. Emily Reichert, CEO, Greentown Labs; and Dr. Lee Cheatham, Director of Technology Deployment and Outreach, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.

Center for Strategic & International Studies

Economy Disrupted: Technology, Data, and Innovation Policy

At 4:00 PM on Friday, online video webinar.

COVID-19 maybe be foremost in our focus when thinking of disruptive forces affecting the global economy but CSISs Economy Disrupted series looks at this and many other transformative shifts impacting world productivity. This event, the fourth episode in the series, features a discussion on technology and innovation policy with Eric Schmidt, Former Chairman and CEO, Google, and Co-Founder, Schmidt Futures. The event is hosted by Matthew P. Goodman, Senior Vice President for Economics, CSIS; and Stephanie Segal, Senior Fellow for Economics, CSIS.

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This Week in Washington IP: Federal Technology Investments, Advancing Clean and Nuclear Energy R&D, and Former Google CEO Schmidt on Innovation Policy...

Heres what the staff of the Technology and Press Freedom Project at the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press is tracking this week.

The Reporters Committee, joined by 41 news organizations, filed afriend-of-the-court briefwith the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday inVan Buren v. United States. The case marks the first time the Supreme Court has agreed to consider the scope of theComputer Fraud and Abuse Act, or CFAA, the federal computer crime statute, originally passed in the mid-1980s.

The case arose when prosecutors charged Nathan Van Buren, a police officer in Cummings, Georgia, under the CFAA for using a government license-plate database to access information allegedly for financial gain. In its October 2019rulingon the case, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit concluded that Van Buren exceed[ed] authorized access and therefore violated the CFAA when he accessed the database. While he had credentials to access the database for professional purposes, he used them for an improper purpose.

In his appeal to the Supreme Court, Van Buren argues the Eleventh Circuits interpretation of Section 1030(a)(2) of the CFAA is unconstitutional. That specific section of the act states that [w]hoever intentionally accesses a computer without authorization or exceeds authorized access, and thereby obtains information from any protected computer has committed a federal crime.

The media coalitions brief argues that the Eleventh Circuits broad interpretation of Section 1030(a)(2), which has also been adopted by the First, Fifth, and Seventh Circuits, criminalizes an extremely wide range of conduct, is unconstitutionally vague, and would chill First Amendment freedoms. The brief specifically notes that the broad interpretation presents particular problems for both traditional newsgathering and data journalism.

Indeed, under the Eleventh Circuits interpretation of exceeds authorized access, journalists who work with sources could face prosecution for violating the CFAA under a conspiracy theory.

The interpretation could likewise sweep in data journalists, who often engage in newsgathering practices such as web-scraping, which allows journalists to pull large amounts of information from websites. Under the broad interpretation of the CFAA, journalists could face liability simply for violating a websites terms of service. (The Markup, a nonprofit technology news organization,filedan amicus brief arguing that the law cannot be construed in this fashion.)

Notably, the Second, Fourth, and Ninth Circuits, in a more recent line of cases, have adopted a narrower interpretation that defines exceeds authorized access under the CFAA as accessing information that one does not have authorization to obtain or alter at all. (In other words, those courts reject an improper purpose theory.) The media coalitions brief argues that the Supreme Court should adopt the narrow approach to the law, and reject the Eleventh Circuits interpretation.

The Reporters Committee was represented in the matter by Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP. Kannon Shanmugam, chair of the Supreme Court and Appellate Practice Group and managing partner of the firms Washington, D.C., office, served as counsel of record. He was joined on the brief by Joel Johnson and Amanda Weingarten.

Sasha Peters

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on Tuesdayreversed and remandedthe D.C. District Courts decision inLeopold v. United States. In doing so, Judge Merrick Garlands opinion for the court, joined by Judges David S. Tatel and Laurence H. Silberman, would increase public access to electronic surveillance court records. BuzzFeed journalist Jason Leopold and the Reporters Committee have been fighting for many years in court for access to materials related to various investigative tools authorized under the Stored Communications Act and the Pen Register Act. Reporters Committee Legal Director Katie Townsend argued the appeal.

Multiple Seattle news organizations arechallenging a subpoenafrom the Seattle Police Department seeking unpublished photos and video taken during a May 30 protest where six police vehicles were damaged. The news organizations claim the subpoena is a fishing expedition and that it places their reporters at risk. Reporters Committee attorneys recently filed afriend-of-the-court briefin support of the news organizations.

Last week, the New York Timespublisheda report concluding that Black and Latino people have been disproportionately affected by the coronavirus in a widespread manner that spans the country, throughout hundreds of counties in urban, suburban and rural areas, and across all age groups. The report is based on federal data that was made available only after the Times filed a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for the information.

Facebook, its subsidiary WhatsApp, and Twitter havestopped processing requestsfor data from Hong Kong authorities after China imposed a new national security law on the city. The companies said they are pausing their cooperation with such requests until they better understand the new law, which has raised human rights concerns.

The U.S. Department of Justicefiled a new indictmentagainst WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. The latest indictment adds no new charges but includes an expanded factual discussion that the government claims supports its theory that Assange conspired to violate U.S. computer hacking laws. Assange is currently being held in the UK pending an extradition hearing, which is set to resume in September.

A recent Reporters Committee legal filingrevealedthat FBI agents did not follow Justice Departmentnews media guidelineswhen they questioned freelance journalist Bryan Carmody during last years high-profile police raid of his home.

Smart read

A new Pew Research Center poll shows46 percent of Americansnamed local news as a major source of information about COVID-19, higher than the proportion who named the president, state politicians, or friends and family. Despite the vital role journalism has played in sharing information about the pandemic, Reporters Without Borders reported that90 of the 193 UN member countrieshave restricted the rights of the press in coverage of COVID-19.

Gif of the Week:In honor of Judge Garlands line inLeopold, noting The records at issue here are not nailed into a nondescript crate, stored deep in a sprawling, uncataloged warehouse. Cf. RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK (Lucasfilm Ltd. 1981).

Like what youve read?Sign up to get This Week in Technology + Press Freedom delivered straight to your inbox!

The Technology and Press Freedom Project at the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press uses integrated advocacy combining the law, policy analysis, and public education to defend and promote press rights on issues at the intersection of technology and press freedom, such as reporter-source confidentiality protections, electronic surveillance law and policy, and content regulation online and in other media. TPFP is directed by Reporters Committee Attorney Gabe Rottman. He works with Stanton Foundation National Security/Free Press Fellow Linda Moon, Legal Fellows Jordan Murov-Goodman and Lyndsey Wajert, Policy Interns Abe Kenmore and Joey Oteng, and Legal Intern Sasha Peters.

Link:

This Week in Technology + Press Freedom: July 12, 2020 - Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press

DUBLIN, July 13, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Riveting Tools - Global Market Outlook (2018-2027)" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The Global Riveting Tools market accounted for $210.76 million in 2018 and is expected to reach $371.48 million by 2027 growing at a CAGR of 6.5% during the forecast period. High utilization of riveting tools in construction industry and growth in the demand from the automotive industry are fuelling the market growth. However, increasing penetration of adhesives & tapes is hampering the market growth.

Riveting tools are normally a kind of fasteners, which has a smooth cylindrical shaft that interfaces head and tail. Riveting fasteners are utilized to help tension loads, and are even more effective in supporting shear load placed perpendicularly to their axes. It is most cost effective and superior procedure of fastening.

Based on the application, the automotive segment is going to have a lucrative growth during the forecast period due to high production of passenger cars and commercial vehicles, particularly in economies such as China and India and also recovery of the automotive manufacturing industry in Russia and Brazil. By geography, North America is going to have a lucrative growth during the forecast period due to increasing expansion of aerospace industry and high demand for truck and utility vehicles in the automotive industry.

Some of the key players profiled in the Riveting Tools Market include AVK Industrial Products, Gesipa Blindniettechnik GmbH, Ober SpA, Advanced Air Tool Company, Inc., Sioux Tools, Arconic Fastening Systems, Toptul, Karat Industrial Corporation, Soartec Industrial Corporation, Ace Rivet & Fastener, Inc., Cherry Aerospace, Honsel Umformtechnik, Shanghai Fast-Fix Rivet Corp., LOBTEX CO., LTD., E Ding Co., Ltd., Rivtec Ltd. And Astro Pneumatic Tool Company.

What our report offers:

Key Topics Covered:

1 Executive Summary

2 Preface2.1 Abstract 2.2 Stake Holders 2.3 Research Scope 2.4 Research Methodology2.4.1 Data Mining2.4.2 Data Analysis2.4.3 Data Validation2.4.4 Research Approach2.5 Research Sources 2.5.1 Primary Research Sources 2.5.2 Secondary Research Sources 2.5.3 Assumptions

3 Market Trend Analysis3.1 Introduction 3.2 Drivers 3.3 Restraints 3.4 Opportunities 3.5 Threats 3.6 Product Analysis 3.7 Technology Analysis 3.8 Application Analysis 3.9 Emerging Markets 3.10 Impact of Covid-19

4 Porters Five Force Analysis4.1 Bargaining power of suppliers4.2 Bargaining power of buyers4.3 Threat of substitutes 4.4 Threat of new entrants4.5 Competitive rivalry

5 Global Riveting Tools Market, By Product5.1 Introduction 5.2 Pneumatic Riveting Tools5.3 Lazy Tong Riveting Tools5.4 Hydro-pneumatic Riveting Tools5.5 Hand Held Lever Riveting Tools5.6 Battery Powered Riveting Tools

6 Global Riveting Tools Market, By Technology6.1 Introduction 6.2 Pneumatic 6.3 Hydraulic 6.4 Electric

7 Global Riveting Tools Market, By Application7.1 Introduction 7.2 Woodworking & Decorative Finishing 7.3 Transportation 7.4 Manufacturing 7.5 Industrial Gas Turbine7.6 Building & Construction7.7 Automotive 7.8 Aerospace & Defence

8 Global Riveting Tools Market, By Geography8.1 Introduction 8.2 North America 8.2.1 US 8.2.2 Canada 8.2.3 Mexico 8.3 Europe 8.3.1 Germany 8.3.2 UK 8.3.3 Italy 8.3.4 France 8.3.5 Spain 8.3.6 Rest of Europe8.4 Asia Pacific 8.4.1 Japan 8.4.2 China 8.4.3 India 8.4.4 Australia 8.4.5 New Zealand8.4.6 South Korea8.4.7 Rest of Asia Pacific8.5 South America 8.5.1 Argentina 8.5.2 Brazil 8.5.3 Chile 8.5.4 Rest of South America 8.6 Middle East & Africa 8.6.1 Saudi Arabia8.6.2 UAE 8.6.3 Qatar 8.6.4 South Africa8.6.5 Rest of Middle East & Africa

9 Key Developments9.1 Agreements, Partnerships, Collaborations and Joint Ventures9.2 Acquisitions & Mergers9.3 New Product Launch 9.4 Expansions 9.5 Other Key Strategies

10 Company Profiling10.1 AVK Industrial Products10.2 Gesipa Blindniettechnik GmbH10.3 Ober SpA 10.4 Advanced Air Tool Company, Inc. 10.5 Sioux Tools 10.6 Arconic Fastening Systems10.7 Toptul 10.8 Karat Industrial Corporation10.9 Soartec Industrial Corporation10.10 Ace Rivet & Fastener, Inc.10.11 Cherry Aerospace 10.12 Honsel Umformtechnik10.13 Shanghai Fast-Fix Rivet Corp.10.14 LOBTEX CO., LTD. 10.15 E Ding Co., Ltd. 10.16 Rivtec Ltd. 10.17 Astro Pneumatic Tool Company

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/9uysdp

Research and Markets also offers Custom Research services providing focused, comprehensive and tailored research.

Media Contact:

Research and Markets Laura Wood, Senior Manager [emailprotected]

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Worldwide Riveting Tools Industry to 2027 - by Product, Technology, Application & Geography - PRNewswire

"The older chrome books to the seniors, juniors, sophomores and the newer ones to the freshman," Debra Ezell, Fort Stockton ISD technology director said.

FORT STOCKTON, Texas Our world logs on and plugs in to the internet using digital tools every single day.

Thats why Fort Stockton ISD continues to develop their technology program.

Years ago they got to work.

"We started purchasing carts like the cart behind me and 25 chrome books within each cart and setting them at the high school and all the rest of the campuses," Debra Ezell, Fort Stockton ISD technology director said.

3 years ago they tore down these carts and started assigning each chrome book to each high school student to take home if they paid a $30 insurance fee.

Others have followed suit.

"I have watched other districts, especially along that 1-35 corridor that have embraced 1 to 1 technology with their students and Ive been hearing for many years all of the awesome things that theyre doing with those students and how the students are learning," Ezell said.

Fort Stockton ISD understands why there is a need for this kind of academic development.

"Students are digital natives, staff, digital immigrants. The students are going to learn regardless. They use all this technology at home already. Its their language. They breathe it. Its air to them," Ezell said.

"I found that it brought out my quietest, most timid students. You put them behind a screen and a keyboard and they explode, they flourish," Ezell said.

And because of their initiative, Fort Stockton high school was un-phased by the COVID-19 transition this spring.

And it doesnt stop here.

Their goal is to keep adding to their chrome book fleet, getting new chrome books to freshmen students each year and to ultimately not be constrained by cost.

________________________________________________________________

Both Midland and Ector County ISDs are trailing 3 years behind Fort Stockton when it comes to one-to-one technology.

But this fall, both school districts will be implementing these devices for all campuses.

Excerpt from:

Fort Stockton ISD champions one-to-one technology long before COVID-19 - NewsWest9.com

"It is our responsibility to make sure the technology we develop is in the hands of those who can use it to expand access to justice..."

We recently checked in with Casetexts co-founder & CEO, Jake Heller, after news that the legal research platform (and JD Supra partner) is offering free access to their new brief automation technology, Compose, for the summer.

A: Compose is litigation automation technology we launched in February of this year that automates rote tasks in brief writing, so that lawyers can focus on strategy and persuasion.

Weve found that attorneys using Compose are able to draft well-supported briefs in 1/4th the time. Compose enables the attorney to add arguments and legal standards to a draft in a click, and use Composes Parallel Search technology to automatically add case law that matches the attorneys facts. Attorneys using Compose say that it makes them less likely to miss an argument, and enables them to find better authorities to cite.

A: Yep. Were providing free logins for attorneys who would like to use Compose to assist in drafting Title VII briefs. Attorneys can sign up for free access at https://compose.law/title-vii/.

A: We were thrilled with the Supreme Courts recent decision (in Bostock v. Clayton County) and wanted to do something meaningful to celebrate. Our hope is that access to this technology will empower the attorneys who are on the ground in the fight against discrimination.

A: We want to be part of making it the norm and not the exception for legal technology companies to be active voices in social justice issues.

It is our responsibility to make sure the technology we develop is in the hands of those who can use it to expand access to justice, particularly to marginalized and disadvantaged communities.

To read more about Casetext's Compose or for free access to their Title VII motion, go to https://compose.law/title-vii/.

*

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Legal Technology to Expand Access to Justice - Q&A with Casetext's Jake Heller - JD Supra

At schools, we need to better control indoor contamination. Wearing masks is NOT going to provide adequate protection.

Recent Japan research indicates micro droplets of COVID remain suspended in stagnant room air for hours, but there is also some good news. The research indicates that droplets can be effectively disbursed with just a slight breeze which is something we can create in classrooms.

This is how clean rooms work that are used to manufacture items such as pharmaceuticals and medical equipment. We need to apply a similar concept to schools and create clean classrooms by applying positive air pressure to flush COVID droplets safely through classrooms and out of school buildings.

Industrial air handlers able to move large amounts of air through building are designed to do this. Pumping air into the center of school corridors will create a mild breeze throughout the entire school building pushing contaminates out. This requires air units and also installing small vents in classroom doors and exterior walls to facilitate the airflow.

Japanese COVID research indicates that just a slight breeze is enough to carry suspended virus droplets safely away making corridors, classrooms, entire schools much much safer.

For the duration of this pandemic, we need to have air handlers in our schools to sanitize the air and protect the health of students and their family members. One medium-size school will require two large air units, each will cost about what a new car costs. This is expensive yes, but the cost of not adding units may be the lives of students and family members.

David CollinsOld Lyme

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Positive Pressure Technology Should be Considered to Improve Safety in Reopened Classrooms - CT Examiner

Image by Hin und wieder gibts mal was. from Pixabay.

Mining software producer MICROMINE has launched Micromine Effects (MFX), a viewer aimed at facilitating the sharing of complex design and visualization files for resource estimation.

Paul Hooykaas, MICROMINEs chief product strategy officer, has been with the company since its inception in 1986, and says it has been an interesting journey as the industry is becoming increasingly digitized.

A former surveyor, Hooykaas joined forces with geologists with a vision to create software that geologists could use themselves, at a time when the PC had just come to market.

They started coding their eponymous product, Micromine the software, an exploration and mine design solution, with integrated tools for modeling, estimation, design, optimization and scheduling.

MICROMINE has a large international geographical footprint and says it is the only provider of solutions relevant to every stage of the mining process. Its software can be used from exploration to day-to-day operations on a working mine and can record events that occur on the mine as they happen.

Geobank is MICROMINEs in-house data management solution that begins with collecting data from the field.

Orebodies are getting deeper, and more difficult to find. You want to test different techniques before you commit money to a drilling program

Micromine, the product, comes under the banner of a general mining package (GMP). It does everything from looking at exploration data, modeling drill hole information, generating block models, resources, and pit optimization through to mine design and scheduling.

Pitram is a mine control system that tracks what is happening on any mine in real time. It is equipment-based and can record events like truck movements. It knows the location of equipment, records when loading starts and when hauling to the ore or waste dump begins.

The new MFX (Micromine Effects) is similar toa PDF reader, the utilityenablesanyone to view, share andinterrogateMicromine outputfileswithout needingaccess toafull softwarelicense.

The user interface offersdrag and drop functionalityandinteractive toolslike zoom-to-selection and a measurement tool, Hooykaas said.

Recording those events, you can work out your truck cycle times, and the associated material movements. If it is interfaced to a payload monitoring system it can accurately track tonnage as well, said Hooykaas.

Pitram monitors and records the dump, when the vehicle is coming back empty and where it is queuing. The equipment is always tracking the trucks GPS if a truck enters the wrong dump zone Pitram can tell, and can trigger an alarm.

For the first time, sophisticated data analysis anddesignmodelsareno longer locked awaywith technical teams.Instead, they can be shared withconsultants,clientsand colleagues.

People are busy 100% of the time working on a mine and if what they are doing is working and gets the results they want to see they a reluctant to try something new, even if the technology has the ability to increase efficiency, said Hooykaas.

Micromine Effects is something we are providing for free its a product with all the editing and data processing capabilities removed. What youve got left are the 3D visualization capabilities enabling collaboration between departments. The feedback weve got is about how much power is still left in the application.

Orebodies are getting deeper, and more difficult to find. You want to test different techniques before you commit money to a drilling program, and use techniques like magnetic and gravity surveys to get a feel for whats below the surface, Hooykaas said.

Micromine has one of the few applications that enables the user to view 3D seismic information, without significant financial cost. The reflections indicate where there are structural boundaries like faults underground.

The tricky thing is to get rid of all of the noise, get to the data that is meaningful, and generate an outer shell that represents the underground workings

The real beauty is that we can see this with drill hole information, topography, geology and geophysical models together in one place, and get a real appreciation of what is going on.

In terms of underground mine surveying, Hooykaas said , the way of the future is using laser scanners to collect huge point clouds, by moving through underground workings and getting reflections off the walls and the floors.

Micromine can convert the point cloud into a solid.

The difficult thing is that although you pick up the bits that you are interested in, you also pick up bits you are not interested in, like people and infrastructure, Hooykaas said.

The tricky thing is to get rid of all of the noise, get to the data that is meaningful, and generate an outer shell that represents the underground workings.

Colors represent the grade. You effectively model the drill hole data into blocks, each with a value, in terms of grade, and that becomes the basis of other processes that work out what the optimal pit shape would be to mine that resource.

Read more:

Eyeing the future of mine design visualization technology - MINING.com

Whether its to curb poaching, lessen the harm of climate change or prevent extinction itself, modern technology has shown it can offer new ways to approach the often delicate and precise work of saving animals.

Separate initiatives by Northrop Grumman employees to protect Hawaiian crows, sea turtles, polar bears and oysters are incorporating technological know-how into animal extinction prevention programs, efforts that illustrate how ingenuity from unexpected places can help solve seemingly intractable problems.

Even though animals are involved, these are more than pet projects.

Meena Janekrabuanhad is an environmental engineer for Northrop Grumman and a member of the companys environmental remediation group.

Outside of her regular work duties, she and five colleagues last year won a hackathon that Northrop Grumman sponsored with San Diego Zoo Global, a non-profit that operates the famed zoo. The challenge was to devise a way to track the Hawaiian Crow, also known as the Alala.

Endangered and the only surviving crow species thats native to Hawaii, the Alala regenerates the forests of the Big Island by dispersing seeds. San Diego Zoo and wildlife experts lacked the technology to track the bird and have a consistent way to monitor its health and feeding patterns.

Working in one of Northrop Grummans experimental maker spaces known as a FabLab, where employees can use all sorts of technologies for causes such as the hackathon, Janekrabuanhad and her team created a smart monitoring bird feeder that can identify the dining bird, monitor its eating habits, assess its health and provide GPS and weather conditions. Currently in a second prototype model, the food hopper will unlock only for Hawaiian crows fitted with radio frequency identification tags. The feeder will be equipped with cameras and sensors, with the data to be transferred to a website that will serve as a research database for scientists to monitor the birds activity in the wild.

Janekrabuanhad doesnt consider herself a techie, so the feeder, called Alala Carte Diner, is something very real and attainable to create. You dont need an engineering background. She added: What really drove me to this is the environmental aspect. What Im saying is, Lets go save the birds.'

Did you know that from May to October each year, over 30,000 green sea, loggerhead sea and leatherback sea turtles nest their eggs along the 72-mile-long shoreline of Brevard County, Florida? What wildlife researchers dont know is where these turtles come from, where they feed and where they ultimately go.

Roddey Smith, a Northrop Grumman fellow of modeling and simulation, and Richard Beers, a support equipment manager at the company, want to help find the answers. They and dozens of colleagues are working with Brevard Zoo on a multi-pronged program that takes the best of affordable technology to track sea turtles during their five-month visit to the Florida shore.

Appropriately enough, the project also aims to teach the students of participating colleges and high schools to fish for a lifetime, rather than giving them the catch of one day, Beers said, citing the old proverb. Our goal is to take what we know and teach them to fish, and eventually they can hand off the tech to outside organizations to sustain themselves, he said of students from the University of Florida, Florida Atlantic University, University of Central Florida and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.

The hurdle theyre all trying to overcome is that tracking sea turtles is expensive and difficult. Current tracking relies mostly on satellite transmitters that show a view from high above but fails to observe the turtles near or below the surface of the ocean.

The project, called Turtle Tech, aims to build an automated data analysis system that would use image recognition technology to identify sea turtles onshore and offshore. The data which will include RF trackers and high-resolution images taken from above by drones, as well as temperature readings and other environmental actions recorded by sensors along the beach will be sent to researchers via a new data network and analyzed with machine learning so the researchers wont have to spend hours manually combing through thousands of photos.

If you better understand how sea turtles are gathering and how their life cycle changes, Smith said, you can improve conservation.

Sea ice melting linked to climate change has polar bears scrambling to find food after drastic changes to the landscape of their longstanding Arctic habitats. Researchers need to know more about the new routes that bears take to find seals and whether they can survive such changes.

Operation #PolarEye, a joint venture with Northrop Grumman and the San Diego Zoo, successfully mapped Arctic Sea ice with the aim of saving the bears in 2017. Working in Churchill, Manitoba known in many circles as the Polar Bear Capital of the World the team used a commercial off-the-shelf hexacopter fitted with a custom sensor pod to capture a fine-scale view that included 3-D maps of sea ice habitat. Customized technology also detected tracks and signs left behind by polar bears as they migrate from land to ice.

Its a big world, so even though the team didnt return to the land of polar bears, its members have found other conservation initiatives to assist.

In 2018, Cristian Paunescu and other members of the #PolarEye team ventured to Panama. Relying on the same hexacopter used in Manitoba, they helped San Diego Zoo Global and Duke University map rain forest habitat along the Panama Canal. And in 2019, Paunescu and his colleagues went to Hawaii to assist San Diego Zoo Global in tracking the breeding of the Alala, the endangered crow that Janekrabuanhads team is helping preserve with the bird feeder.

We did a lot of work, Paunescu said of how his teams creation made a difference beyond its original purpose. Im proud of how far it got. We have smart groups of people who nonetheless cant go into much depth in the researchers fields. We were interested in how they did things so we could figure out how to create technology that could enhance their work.

He added: I feel that we have scratched the surface of whats available and what we can do together. I definitely want to follow this path and hope that technology companies like ours also help. Conservation organizations have a tough path. Its going to take more than just a couple of passionate engineers to make a difference. There is a lot more conservation work to be done.

In a plight similar to Floridas sea turtles, the oyster population of Chesapeake Bay cant easily be studied at a time when pollution, overfishing and climate have threatened their existence. In just the Maryland side of the bay, the market-size oyster population declined from 600 million in 1999 to fewer than 300 million in early 2018, according to an assessment by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources.

Martin Kepinski-Kozaczek, a program manager and challenge lead at Northrop Grumman, is leading a project in coordination with Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF) to improve how oysters are monitored. Right now, CBF is limited in studying oysters in the 50 sanctuary reefs along Maryland and Virginia. Researchers can dig up a piece of the reef, but it provides only one small sample, Kepinski-Kozaczek said. CBF also occasionally pays a diver to take pictures, but thats costly and doesnt always guarantee quality images, and thus a true sense of the oyster population, because of changing water conditions.

Five Northrop Grumman teams are helping to enhance that methodology, with as many as 40 employees involved at various times. They are creating off-the-shelf, modern technology solutions to better monitor the reefs so that CBF can someday replicate them at low cost and so that the Northrop Grumman employees constructing the systems can try different things, fail and try other approaches, Kepinski-Kozaczek said. Hopefully its a learning experience they can take back to their programs.

For example, an inexpensive camera package that is wrapped in a tight air container can be connected to a remote control of a rover that works like an aerial drone but is underwater. The team is also looking at placing a microphone or hydrophone on a commercial buoy that costs only a few hundred dollars to record water conditions and passing traffic.

Ultimately, the evidence gathered from these solutions will give CBF a clearer and comprehensive picture of reef conditions and a stronger understanding of the efforts needed to preserve oysters. CBF intends to plant 10 billion oysters in the bay by 2025. Kepinski-Kozaczek hopes to deliver the solutions to CBF by years end and then spend 2021 helping the organization collect data.

Echoing the thoughts of Janekrabuanhad, Smith, Beers and Paunescu, Kepinski-Kozaczek appreciates how Northrop Grumman gives him the latitude to pursue animal extinction prevention efforts outside of normal work duties.

This shows how companies like Northrop can engage with scientific communities that dont have the means of looking at a technology space thats not available to them, he said. I hope this is just the start of these kinds of things. Good people have good ideas, and we can help them.

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From Bears to Birds: Animal Extinction Prevention Supported by Technology Now. Powered by - Now. Powered by Northrop Grumman.

It was 21st-Century technology a surveillance camera on a country road about five miles east of Lancaster that may have captured the moment when an 18-year-old Amish woman encountered the person on June 21 that police say is responsible for her disappearance.

But it took some instances of good old-fashioned community concern to help police officers understand exactly what needle they were looking for, and in which haystack, that ultimately led them to charge Justo Smoker, 34, of Paradise Township, with the disappearance of Linda Stoltzfoos this weekend.

Searches are still underway for Stoltzfoos, though police have recovered several articles of clothing that they believe she was wearing on the date of her disappearance.

That video described by police as not viewable when they first retrieved it but eventually recovered and enhanced with the help of Federal Bureau of Investigation lab experts on Friday showed the moment that one person walking south on Beechdale Road was approached by a second person coming from across the road at 12:42 p.m.

It was a time when Stoltzfoos, according to witnesses at her church, had said she was headed home to change clothes for a day-long youth group meeting starting later that afternoon. The walk has been measured by police to be slightly more than nine-tenths of a mile. She hasnt been heard from since.

The two people on the video, police said, can be seen walking back across Beechdale Road out of view of the camera. Then, moments later, a car described as a red four-door Kia Rio with black trim and a rear spoiler, is seen driving by the cameras location from the area where the two subjects had walked.

Police believe the car was pulled off on a farm lane, just out of the cameras view.

As police have knitted it together now, that 34-second encounter on Beechdale Road in Upper Leacock Township the same road that Stoltzfoos lived on with her family may have been the kidnapping for which Smoker is now being held in Lancaster County Prison.

Police knew they needed to focus on that red Kia because of two separate accounts they had received on June 29, eight days after Stoltzfooss disappearance, of a red sedan seen traveling in the Gap area about a 15-minute drive from the abduction site with a white male driver and an Amish woman in the front passenger seat on the afternoon of June 21.

The witnesses stories, recounted in Smokers criminal complaint, were at once independent and consistent.

At about 1:30 p.m. on June 21, police said, husband and wife Sarah and Isaac Stoltzfus were walking on Amish Road, when the car passed them.

Three things stood out:

Sarah Stoltzfus had come to believe that the woman she saw that day who passed within several feet of her was the missing 18-year-old. Isaac saw the driver, and described him as a white male with black hair and a mustache.

On the same day, police interviewed Gideon King III, who reported passing a similar red, four-door on Amish Road about the same time. He too, saw a female passenger with a white apron and black head covering, and said he thought it strange to see a plain woman in a car in her church clothes.

By this point, the red car was a clearly a vehicle of interest, but it would take one more witness and the video to tie that vehicle in Gap more directly to the girls disappearance.

This image shows the area of Beechdale Road in which police believe Linda Stoltzfoos's June 21 abduction occurred, as she walked home from church..

Both came through, according to police records filed with Smokers arrest, on Wednesday, July 8. Thats when police got their first view of the video images from a camera on Beechdale Road, where the Stoltzfoos family lives, and pulled images of a red car passing the camera at 12:42 p.m.

They also spoke to a third witness, a man named Isaac Esh, who told them he saw a red sedan traveling east on Stumptown Road the road where Linda Stoltzfooss church is between 12:30 p.m. and 12:45 p.m. on June 21. Esh, who was sitting on his front porch, noted the car in part because the driver stopped and turned around to head back west on Stumptown in the direction of the church.

This was around the time witnesses said Linda Stoltzfoos was making her nine-tenths of a mile walk home from church. Police knew that she likely stayed on the roads because of a bending creek that cuts across between the church and Stoltzfooss property.

Esh described the driver as a white male with dark hair, possibly Hispanic. He was alone in the car at that time. When police showed him images of the car pulled from the camera on Beechdale Road, Esh said he was 75 percent sure it was the same.

After further review of their video that same day, detectives identified the car in the Beechdale Road video as a red Kia Rio from 2005-2010, with a spoiler on the trunk. Its not clear from the arrest records if the license plate was captured by the camera. Even so, within hours, police had scored a hit on Smokers registration.

After a day of background checks and surveillance Smoker was a onetime Pequea Valley High School wrestling star who, in 2006, was charged and convicted in a string of armed robberies in Lancaster County and sentenced to 12-and-a-half years in state prison investigators went to see him on July 9.

Smoker denied being in the area of Linda Stoltzfooss disappearance on June 21, but he didnt know that police were already running down another lead associated with his car.

Turns out that on Tuesday, June 23, another person had called police about a suspicious vehicle in a business lot at 3104 Harvest Drive, near the village of Ronks, about 5 p.m. and someone looking in windows and doors as if to see if there was anyone there. The driver left, but returned later that evening.

This site is about three miles away from the Stoltzfoos home.

The car in question had left before Pennsylvania State Police answered that call, but the caller had taken the license plate: It matched Smokers car. Police noted the caller also took photos of the inside of the vehicle, though arrest records did not state what they showed.

Its also not immediately clear when police linked that call to Stoltzfooss disappearance.

On Friday, FBI agents assisting in the Stoltzfoos case established through cell phone records that Smokers phone was in the general area of 3104 Harvest on June 21, between 2:32 p.m. and 3:35 p.m. - the same afternoon as Stoltzfooss disappearance. A search of a wooded area to the rear of the property found a bra and stockings that Stoltzfooss family identified as similar to what Linda would have worn to church that day.

The Lancaster County District Attorney's office issued an arrest warrant for Justo Smoker Saturday. He is wanted for the possible kidnapping of 18-year-old Linda Stoltzfoos. Photo: Lancaster County District Attorney

Police took Smoker into custody later that night on charges of kidnapping and false imprisonment, and the arrest was announced on Saturday.

The investigation is continuing, and anyone who may have pertinent information is asked to contact East Lampeter Township police at 717-291-4676.

The rest is here:

Old Order community witnesses, latter-day technology led to arrest of suspect in Amish womans kidnapping - PennLive

Just weeks after leaving the General Services Administration, the former director of the Centers of Excellence program is returning to the agency to serve as the temporary director of the Technology Transformation Service.

Bob DeLuca, who served as the CoE executive director for two and a half years, announced his departure from GSA last month, taking on a new role as deputy chief information officer at FDIC. His last day at GSA was June 19.

But one week into the job at FDIC, DeLuca was called back to GSA and TTS to fill the vacancy left by former TTS Director Anil Cheriyan, who announced his retirement from public service last month, as well.

The good news weve got is that Bob DeLuca has agreed to come back on detail until they fill the job permanently, GSA Administrator Emily Murphy said Sunday during an interview on Government Matters. Hes going to come back as the acting TTS director and the deputy [Federal Acquisition Service] commissioner.

Per Murphy, through an agreement between the two agencies, DeLuca will remain an employee of FDIC but will be on detail with GSA until a permanent TTS director is named. She was not able to provide a timeline for that process.

DeLuca will be back at GSA starting July 19, according to an email to staff from FAS Commissioner Julie Dunne obtained by Nextgov.

FAS is grateful for Bobs leadership and strategic approach to IT modernization, Dunne said in the email. I look forward to the achievements the TTS team will accomplish under his direction, and with the excellent contributions and expertise of Harry Lee [the acting CoE executive director] and Dominic Sale [assistant commissioner for solutions]."

Murphy said that while DeLuca was willing to return to GSA, the temporary detail was not his idea. Murphy said she called DeLuca and the leadership at FDIC and asked for some assistance from her former GSA colleague.

They recognized the importance having a strong leader at TTS has for helping IT modernization, AI and, frankly, grapple with the COVID response across government, she said. We wanted to make sure there wasnt a leadership vacuum at TTS in the interim.

See the article here:

Departed GSA Executive Returns to Run Technology Service on Temporary Detail - Nextgov

Los Angeles, CA, July 13, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- KRONOS ADVANCED TECHNOLOGIES, INC. (OTC MARKETS: KNOS) ("KNOS" or the "Company"), a product development and production company that has significantly changed the way air is moved, filtered and sterilized, proudly announced USPTO filing of a provisional patent protection application that could revolutionize healthier and more useful face masks. The invention covers an attractive, antibacterial face mask combined with cellphone radiation protection features. The provisional patent application Nr 63/049,984 was submitted to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office under the COVID-19 Prioritized Examination Pilot Program, which is designed to accelerate the development of solutions targeting the global pandemic.

Recently USPTO announced a COVID-19 Prioritized Examination Pilot Program for small and micro-entities. Under this new pilot program, the USPTO will grant requests for prioritized examination to patent applicants that qualify for small or micro entity status without payment of the typical fees associated with other prioritized examination. In addition, the USPTO will endeavor to reach the final disposition of applications in this program within six months if applicants respond promptly to communications from the USPTO. To qualify for the new program, the claims of an application must cover a product or process subject to U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval for use in the prevention and/or treatment of COVID-19.

Please reference: https://www.uspto.gov/about-us/news-updates/uspto-announces-covid-19-prioritized-examination-pilot-program-small-and

This new technology and mask design, developed by the Kronos R&D team, will utilize antiviral and antibacterial properties of specialty manufactured metal enhanced fabrics intended to provide numerous health advantages. This new design may incorporate silver, copper or other materials that have antibacterial and antiradiation protection features and threads. These threads will provide an active prevention element in the fight against both airborne contaminants and the further growth of bacterial microorganisms trapped into the fabrics during inhalation of air, as well as helping to address the public concern of potential brain cancer resulting from the continued increase of cell phone usage. Silver is one of the most effective antibacterial agents used for a high degree of biocompatibility and for its long-term antibacterial effectiveness against many different bacterial and viral strains. In addition, the unique design of the invention forms a protective barrier known as a Faraday Cage, which by design, will block the electromagnetic radiation emitted by cellphones in the general area of the users head. Numerous international published studies are indicating a potential concern linking certain cancers resulting from extended cell phone usage.

According to new , recent U.S. study by Twigby, a nationwide cellular phone service provider- the COVID-19 Pandemic has transformed cell phone usage. The results of this study reveal that the pandemic has affected phone usage with significant increases in app usage, texting, and calling. By utilizing our new advanced invention, cellphone users now will have an environmentally friendly way to protect themselves from cellphone radiation, as well as, increasing the effectiveness of the mask's ability to prevent the user from inhaling dangerous aerosols that can carry viruses and bacteria. The mask will be reusable and washable up to 50 times.

"The cellular devices we use everyday release low levels of Electro Magnetic Radiation that can potentially cause serious problems for people's health. In addition, based on today's New Normal of wearing face masks daily to protect ourselves from infectious diseases, we thought to combine those two necessary elements into one useful and essential product", said Julius Toth, Kronos COO.

In addition, Joseph Florence, Kronos Chief Transformation Officer, commented that "This groundbreaking product fits into the Company's mission to develop disruptive innovations to improve people's wellbeing, as well as the potential inclusion into our Transfer to America Initiative."

According to an analysis by Goldman Sachs : wearing a mask doesn't just save lives, it can also help people save money. If the United States were to mandate that all Americans wear masks, it would save the country from deleterious economic lockdowns that would reduce the gross domestic product by 5%, or about $1 trillion.

Please read the full report here : https://www.goldmansachs.com/insights/pages/face-masks-and-gdp.html

About Kronos Advanced Technologies, Inc.

Kronos Advanced Technologies, Inc. began operations in 2002 as a product development company which invented and significantly changed the way air is moved, filtered and sterilized. Historically, Kronos has focused on developing, marketing, and selling the Company's proprietary air movement and purification technology. Serving the Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) market, Kronos technology uses state-of-the-art high voltage processes without the use of traditional HEPA filters. Kronos-based products move air silently, filter and purify the air, and dramatically reduce energy consumption to half of a 60-watt light bulb. Kronos devices can be variable in shape or size, and, therefore, have the potential to be scaled down for air purification in cars or scaled up in size for industrial and hazardous gas destruction. The technology is currently being implemented in standalone products to move and filter air replacing HEPA and other filtration systems. There are broad ranges of additional markets for standalone and embedded Kronos CORE technology-based devices. Examples of immediately addressable markets include healthcare facilities, operating rooms, manufacturing clean rooms, and cabins of automobiles and commercial aircraft.

Currently, the Company is planning to file additional patents to improve its existing technology as well as enter into new market segments but will continue to market air purifiers and other consumer products. Recently the Company became the exclusive distributor and licensee of the latest generation of air purifiers based on the Company's CORE technologies.

Contact us via: info@kronosati.co or visitwww.kronosati.co orwww.1800SAFEAIR.com

Products: https://shop.kronosati.co/collections/all

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Forward-looking statements:

Certain statements contained in this press release may constitute "forward-looking statements". Forward-looking statements provide current expectations of future events based on certain assumptions and include any statement that does not directly relate to any historical or current fact. Actual results may differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors as disclosed in our filings with the OTC Markets at OTCMarkets.com. In addition to these factors, actual future performance, outcomes, and results may differ materially because of more general factors including (without limitation) general industry and market conditions and growth rates, economic conditions, governmental and public policy changes, the Company's ability to raise capital on acceptable terms, if at all, the Company's successful development of its products and the integration into its existing products and the commercial acceptance of the Company's products. The forward-looking statements included in this press release represent the Company's views as of the date of this press release, and these views could change. However, while the Company may elect to update these forward-looking statements at some point in the future, the Company specifically disclaims any obligation to do so. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing the Company's views as of any date subsequent to the date of the press release.

SOURCE: KRONOS ADVANCED TECHNOLOGIES, Inc

For inquiries: 1-800-SAFE-AIR (option #4)

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KRONOS ADVANCED TECHNOLOGIES FILES FOR PROVISIONAL US PATENT PROTECTION FOR NEW ANTIBACTERIAL FACE MASK WITH CELLPHONE RADIATION PROTECTION FEATURES -...

This week began with OPPO confirming that it will be launching its 125W Super Flash Charge technology on July 15. iQOO held a press conference to announce its 120 Super FlashCharge tech yesterday. Today, Realme took to Weibo that it will be announcing its fastest charging solution on July 16.

The Chinese text on the poster released by Realme on Weibo that it will be unleashing its super-flash charge technology on Thursday. In the previous week, notable tipster Ishan Agarwal had claimed that Realme will be announcing its 100W+ Ultra Dart technology this month.

The tipster had shared a screenshot that Realmes charging solution could reach 120W charging speeds. It also revealed that it could charge one-third of a 4,000mAh battery in just 3 minutes. The Vice President of Realme China, Xu Qi also released the same poster on Weibo. His Weibo post has 1111101 binary number. The number calculates to 125 when it is converted to decimal. Hence, it appears that Qi could be hinting that the company will be announcing 125W rapid charging technology this Thursday.

Recently, a Xiaomi charger with 100W charging speeds was at the 3C database. The listing that Xiaomis forthcoming flagship phone may arrive with support for 100W charging. Soon after iQOO officially announced its 120W Super FlashCharge technology, rumors starting swirling that iQOOs flagship phone launching in August will be coming with 120W fast charging support.

Chinese smartphone brands are launching more and more 5G phones in the home market. Moreover, flagship phones with 5G support are also coming with high refresh rate displays. Such features can cause a smartphone with a decent battery to lose power easily. Hence, phone manufacturers in China are gearing up to introduce faster rapid charging solutions that can dramatically reduce the charging times.

Read this article:

Realme's 125W fast charging technology to debut on July 16 - gizmochina

On the contrary, testing remains one of the strongest measures to control new outbreaks. In this article, we show how the focus of COVID-19 diagnostics shifts from massive testing to more effective measurement and fast response. This will bring about a change in the type of diagnostic technologies used. Find a detailed comparison of different COVID-19 diagnostics technologies in the IDTechEx report "COVID-19 Diagnostics", from the perspective of technique advancement, performance, cost, availability and key suppliers.

The virus will be still among us for the long term in the absence of a vaccine. To prevent future large outbreaks and a second wave of national lockdown, early and quick diagnostics will become essential. Instead of massive testing, contact tracing and confinement of local outbreaks will be needed. In this way, testing methods that do not require extensive central lab equipment and that can be deployed at community settings will be more prominent in the market.

Reverse-transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) is the technology that has dominated and will continue to dominate the COVID-19 testing market in the outbreak due to its high reliability and large throughput. However, the centralised setting leads to long sample-to-answer time (24 hours to 6 days), mainly due to logistic problems and long testing time. This disadvantage is becoming a bottleneck in the new phase of COVID-19 testing.

This sets the scene for the growth of point-of-care molecular diagnostics (POC MDx) devices such as Abbott's ID now and Cepheid. In less than 30 minutes, the genetic material found in a sample can be amplified and detected in a printer-sized device. POC MDx is a premium solution to provide fast testing to new outbreaks and support a swift response to confine the spread of coronavirus. Although these POC technologies have lower sensitivity and specificity than the gold standard RT-qPCR, they prove a valuable resource in surveillance testing in the post-quarantine time. "COVID-19 Diagnostics", identifies key innovations and technology trends currently being developed in the diagnostics ecosystem that will enable quick and sensitive diagnosis of COVID-19 at point-of-care settings.

Another trend IDTechEx predicts is the fast adoption of Serological tests, which indicate the presence of antibodies against the virus. Serological tests are of importance for assessing the severity of outbreaks and obtaining valuable epidemiological data. Rapid lateral flow assays (LFAs) that resemble "pregnancy tests" have had issues of low sensitivity and specificity. As the pandemic gets under control, the demand for more accurate serological test will be higher. In this context, accurate immunoassays, such as ELISA or chemoimmunoassay, will be more relevant as opposed to traditional lateral flow assays. Although many of them will require large equipment or even a laboratory setting, high sensitivity and specificity will be the key driver for the adoption.

We have seen a faster than expected development of diagnostics technologies, such as CRISPR based POC MDx, DNA sequencing as diagnostics protocol and a hybrid system combining amplification with various detection methods. The transfer of technology from R&D to commercial devices has been accelerated from years to only a couple of months. The IDTechEx report, "COVID-19 Diagnostics", provides a comprehensive analysis of and deep insights into the technology evolution. Furthermore, this report highlights the bottleneck for the testing and identifies the promising technologies for the years to come.

For more information on this report, please visit http://www.IDTechEx.com/COVIDor for the full portfolio of research available from IDTechEx please visit http://www.IDTechEx.com/Research.

IDTechEx guides your strategic business decisions through its Research, Consultancy and Event products, helping you profit from emerging technologies. For more information on IDTechEx Research and Consultancy, contact [emailprotected]or visit http://www.IDTechEx.com.

Media Contact:

Natalie MoretonDigital Marketing Manager[emailprotected] +44-(0)-1223-812300

SOURCE IDTechEx

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How Will COVID-19 Diagnostic Technologies Evolve in the Post-Lockdown Era? Reveals IDTechEx - PRNewswire

What happened

Slack Technologies (NYSE:WORK) shares were climbing today as investors were likely processing more news about rising coronavirus cases in the U.S. As the country grapples with the ongoing pandemic, investors have been looking for technology companies that have the potential to benefit from employees who are working at home. The company's stock rose as much as 7.1% by midafternoon.

As of 2:16 p.m. EDT, Slack's share price was up 3.2%.

The U.S. continues to be a hotspot for the global coronavirus pandemic, and some states, including Florida, are experiencing record cases of the virus. As COVID-19 continues to spread across the country, some states are walking back plans to fully reopen -- which means that many companies will likely keep workers at home for the foreseeable future.

Image source: Getty Images.

Slack has benefited from the new work-from-home boom because its communication platform allows employers and employees to easily communicate with one another and collaborate on projects. Since March, when many companies began allowing employees to work from home, Slack's share price has jumped 30%.

Today's stock price bounce didn't come from any company-specific news but is rather a reaction to the ongoing need for cloud-based employee communication tools during the pandemic.

While many technology companies have seen their share prices climb over the past three months, it's important for investors to know that there's still a lot of uncertainty in the market right now. The U.S. unemployment rate is still in double-digit percentages, and no one knows when we'll be able to put COVID-19 behind us or when our economy will get back to its prepandemic levels.

Excerpt from:

Why Shares of Slack Technologies Are Rising Today - Motley Fool

Italy encompasses a lot that is charming, beautiful and great tasting. However, the land of the pantheon, pasta and the Leaning Tower of Pisa is more than just that. The country is a leading builder and exporter of food packaging and processing equipment that help companies around the world innovate and progress.

In fact, In 2016 alone, Italy produced over $8.5 billion worth of packaging machinery and $7.5 billion worth of food processing technology, and exported more than 70 percent of both to other countries.

In 2019, Italy exported to India packaging machines worth $54.9 million. When it comes to food processing, Italy is the fourth largest supplier to India, after China, Germany and USA, exporting food processing machines worth $137.31 million last year.

Italys combination of tradition and innovation are the basis of its continuous transformation in food processing and technology.

Italian manufacturers of food technology machinery and equipment have a strong understanding of the realities, challenges and opportunities of the industry, which is reflected in their standard operating practices (SOPs) and the state-of-the-art technology they adopt to process a wide range of food items - fruits and vegetables, cereals, milk and other dairy, meat and poultry etc.

To share their leading expertise in the technology of food packaging and processing with Indian food processors, the Embassy of Italy, New Delhi, is hosting The Digital Indo Italian Business Mission on Food Processing on July 15 and 16 - a mega virtual event featuring digital conferences, trade fair, B2B meetings, webinars and much more. To register for this unique opportunity to learn from the experts, click here

The Digital Indo Italian Business Mission on Food Processing will showcase Italian technologies in the areas of fruits and vegetable processing,milk and dairy products processing, cereal processing, packaging and bottling and more while facilitating networking opportunities between Italian technology providers and Indian food processors.

The two-day event will feature some prominent entities from both the governments of India and Italy, stakeholders of the food technology industry, leading industry and trade associations and ambassadors, among others.

The digital conference will commence with an opening remark by Chandrajit Banerjee, Director General, Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), followed by keynote addresses by Honble Smt. Harsimrat Kaur Badal, Union Minister for Food Processing Industries; Manlio Di Stefano, Italys Undersecretary of State for Foreign Affairs in charge of International Trade, and Ambassador Lorenzo Angeloni, Director General for Economic Promotion, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Italy and presentations by Carlo Maria Ferro, President, Italian Trade Agency (ITA), Barbara Beltrame, Vice President of Confindustria in charge for Internationalization and Deepak Bagla, MD and CEO of Investindia, among others.

The inaugural session of the The Digital Indo Italian Business Mission on Food Processing will be concluded with a talk by the Ambassador of Italy to India, H.E. Vincenzo de Luca.

The inaugural session will be followed by presentations on the investment opportunities in India, the Indian food processing market, financing solutions to support trade and investments between the two countries and Mega Food Parks and its business opportunities, among others.

While the focus of this event is to help Indian food processing businesses to understand the innovative spirit of Italian tech providers and learn some of the best practices of the industry, it will also showcase India as a great investment opportunity to expand its food technology and processing capabilities.

While Day 1 will deep dive into aspects across sectors including fruits and vegetables, milk and milk products and cereal processing and packaging, followed by a brief introduction on meat processing, Day 2 will be dedicated to webinars on packaging and bottling for the food and beverage industry and mega food parks.

If you want to grow your knowledge and gain access to cutting-edge Italian technologies in the food processing and packaging industry, dont miss the Digital Indo Italian Business Mission on Food Processing on July 15 and 16. Register now

Want to make your startup journey smooth? YS Education brings a comprehensive Funding Course, where you also get a chance to pitch your business plan to top investors. Click here to know more.

Link:

Learn about the art and cutting edge technology around food processing the Italian way - YourStory

(screenshot from MindFuel session)

When everyone is hunkered down simply trying to survive, who's going to invest in rolling out new technology? One of the themes of the ongoing MindFuel virtual event see our full coverage here has been the rapid adaptation companies have been making in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. But is this the really the time to be discussing smart manufacturing and the factories of the future? Digital Bulletin's Romily Broad, tasked with hosting just such a discussion, acknowledged the potential pushback:

There may be a sense in a lot of manufacturers around the world that now is not the time to be spending any money on anything, thank you very much. We've got other things to worry about.

All credit then to the participants in this vendor panel on smart manufacturing for steering away from buzzword-laden platitudes and exploring some of the realities of where manufacturers are at in these torrid times. Microsoft's David Breaugh, Americas Business Leader for Manufacturing Industries, summed up the dichotomy in how manufacturers have been affected, depending on their location and sector:

Either your forecast has literally been eviscerated to zero as a matter of trying to make disposition of orders through inventory or available capacity. In other cases, the companies that are making household items, food, and especially some of these critical medical supplies, it's all about throughput. They've literally seen a scale or a magnitude increase on anything that they could have foreseen four months ago.

There's no doubt that the pandemic has produced some dramatic stories of manufacturing agility car makers switching over to ramp up ventilator production in a matter of weeks, or distillers switching from spirits to hand gel in days. Adversity has proven to be the mother of invention. But will this ingenuity carry over into the coming months? Dr Raffaello Lepratti, VP Business Development and Marketing at Siemens Digital Industries Software certainly hopes so but we don't know for sure, he admits.

All in all, I think the perception is, when we will come back to the new normal, that there will be, I think, a consensus and much less obstacles to convince people to look at digitalization and being decision makers.

That's what I see, what I feel. I cannot prove it, there is no validation. But we need to be prepared to support it, because it's not just about business, it's about really bringing the economy to the next level and bringing it back to the level we expect to happen.

The panel at least discerned some reasons for optimism that manufacturers will benefit from adoption of new technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT), augmented reality (AR), robotics and 3D printing. At they same time, they admitted that not all of these technologies are yet ready for prime time. They advanced some practical examples of where smart manufacturing is likely to prove of most immediate use, along with some advice on how to proceed with projects. Here's a sampling of their thoughts on which technologies are worth taking a look at and why the session is also worth tuning into foruseful takeaways on measuring success when adopting new technologies.

Perhaps unexpectedly, augmented reality (AR) has been one of the first of these emerging technologies to find a role during the pandemic lockdown. As companies suddenly found their maintenance teams were confined to home with limited or no access to fix machinery on site, the use of AR and mixed reality (MR) has come to the fore in providing remote support to on-site staff. Industrial climate control manufacturer Munters switched on this capability in a matter of days in March, and interest in the tech from other IFS customers has also spiked, says Bas de Vos, Vice President of IFS Labs:

Maybe adversity like this actually pushes these type of technologies forward. We see that very clearly with augmented reality, the remote assistance type of approaches. A year ago, that was 'interesting', we all saw the value and possibility of it. Now suddenly, we see everybody wants that. Why? Because we have a problem and we need to solve this problem.

For those manufacturers who are really challenged by the current conditions, technology that can pay for itself by providing an immediate return has to be the priority, says Breaugh. He recommends focusing on collecting data that can help identify where current processes are incurring unnecessary costs:

I like to focus on quality, that tends to be hidden waste, in terms of trying to really do inline inspection. That usually comes with a pretty significant savings of both labour and energy costs. So quality is a good place to hunt.

Then the other concept of really being able to look at routings through a plant. Both direct production workers and indirect, there's a lot of hidden waste ... Being able to bring that type of visibility and traceability both at a worker, at a product and at a machine level can really reveal a lot of hidden costs.

For manufacturers looking to scale their business, inventory management is an area to focus on, he adds:

With all those shocks that are happening both on the demand and supply side, inventory is the usual suspect for any supply chain program. But a lot of the tools and processes being used to look at inventory don't even differentiate between cycle stock and safety stock. So I think there's an opportunity to relook at all that.

One potential source of greater supply chain resilience is 3D printing, which has been talked about for many years now but has not made as much progress as many had expected. So long as cheaper alternatives remain available from other sources, it's likely to remain a niche activity, but that could change if traditional supply chains remain chaotic, says de Vos:

We never had a need because a lot of the parts we could just buy very cheap in some countries that have lower labour costs. But suddenly we can't access them anymore. Is this going to drive developments like this going forward? I'm not so sure today. It depends a little bit on how long this pandemic is going to last. But if we're going to get a wave two and a wave three and a wave four, and this is going to just repeat, I think developments like that will become quicker. People will see a problem and solve it.

Breaugh remains optimistic for the future of the technology as manufacturers put their supply chains under more scrutiny:

With something like 3D printing, you can almost reinvent the supply chain from scratch. We're seeing a lot of focus there, specifically with spare parts. I think over time, you're going to see design collaboration with upstream suppliers, and really going from components to sub-assemblies. With some of the capabilities around regenerative design, entirely kind of crazy new concepts in terms of what parts look like.

The type of numbers that I've seen, they're cheaper, they're a lot faster to produce, they're stronger and perform a lot better in some of these harsh environments.

One significant obstacle to the proliferation of smart manufacturing technologies is the affordability of suitable machinery. Now that manufacturers face even greater cost and finance constraints than usual, Lepratti wonders whether this will delay the advent of Industry 4.0.

In every revolution, there is also a big obstacle and this is when this hardware will be affordable in terms of financial costs? This is not just relevant to 3D printing, this is relevant to everything that Industry 4.0 is bringing, cyber physical systems.

We are making tremendous progress. But when will we have really affordable new robots, that will be key for the next gen of manufacturing, at the same cost of industrial robots we have today? I don't know. I'm just saying this is a big challenge we need to speed up.

Another practical application for digital tools in manufacturing today is to help manage the return to work, says Lepratti. Manufacturers not only need to implement new routines for cleaning and social distancing, they also need to plan production based on new shift patterns:

How can I restructure and simulate my manufacturing based on these new regulations? ... Many companies are not considering the planning and scheduling of production orders, based upon your resources and material.

Thankfully this was a discussion, like much of the MindFuel content, that remained grounded in reality. Manufacturers are still investing in technology, but they need those investments to deliver rapid impact that's relevant to their challenges today. It looks like IoT, AR and simply getting more sophisticated about collecting and analyzing data are the best ways to use technology to achieve that today. Whereas more progress is needed before 3D printing and the broader panoply of Industry 4.0 can find widespread roles.

Originally posted here:

MindFuel - What's the value of smart manufacturing technology at a time like this? - Diginomica