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Monthly Archives: August 2021
Empowering women in finance with the JSE – Sandton Chronicle
Posted: August 28, 2021 at 12:16 pm
The Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) is equipping women with the financial tools to access their financial freedom.
The stock exchange hosted over 400 attendees at its fourth annual, virtual She Invests conference on August 21.
The event forms part of the stock exchanges efforts to boost female participation in the investment community by empowering, supporting and educating women who want to achieve financial security through investing.
According to JSE CEO Dr Leila Fourie, female economic empowerment is more critical now than ever as women, due to the pandemic, are worse off financially in comparison to men.
She Invests gives us at the JSE the opportunity to reflect what the role of women is and what we can do to change that.
According to the United Nations (UN), a majority of women work in the sectors that were the hardest hit by the pandemic. It is reported that women are 24% more likely to lose their jobs or suffer from a steep income fall in addition to the sheer uphill climb of the gender pay gap.
In addition, it was reported that many women did not feel confident that they would make the right investment decisions.
Host of the event, financial guru and bestselling author Nicolette Mashile, added that this is why discussions such as these were imperative to motivate and encourage women to explore opportunities in the financial sector.
The investment and financial sector is really not as intimidating as many women think it is and with the right help and tools, many women can realise their potential. We are here to say that we are creating a safe space for the individuals to engage, and females especially, to come to enable a future society that is economically sustainable, she said.
Panel discussions hosted some of the top women in personal finance, sharing life-changing insights and financial skills on how to plan for uncertainties.
According to financial journalist Maya Fisher-French, the pandemic has made people more conscious of the ever-changing circumstances that impact their finances. We are currently living in an unknown; a pandemic that has left no one untouched. Certainty is a construct of our imagination, a false sense of security, but the pandemic has shown us that those who are adaptable will pivot.
Fisher-French added that it was found that 47% of people, in the past year, had more than one income formal or informal. The reality is that many peoples primary income has not been able to keep up with inflation rates or make ends meet. This is why many people, including women, should consider investment opportunities.
She added that many people do not realise that investing has been significantly simplified over the years, including various do-it-yourself opportunities and easily accessible financial planners. Your personal finances are really important, and what stops people from dealing with it is fear. You just have to grab the bull by the horns and start working on it, Fisher-French concluded.
Related articles:
JSE celebrates 20 years in Sandton
Schools urged to enter this years JSE Investment Challenge
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Skywatch for the week of August 23, 2021 – WQCS
Posted: at 12:15 pm
Aug 22 Full Moon
Mon Aug 23, 2021 RAY BRADBURY AND MARS
The science fiction and fantasy writer Ray Bradbury was born on August 22nd, 1920. He began his career by writing short stories for pulp magazines such as Weird Tales, Planet Stories and Galaxy Science Fiction. He also wrote, Fahrenheit 451, R is for Rocket, and The Golden Apples of the Sun. His book, The Martian Chronicles, came out in 1950; it was a series of related short stories about the colonization of the planet Mars, something which is very much in the news these days. Bradbury envisioned terraforming Mars, also being discussed lately. While building pressure domes and living underground on Mars is perhaps achievable, trying to restore a viable Martian atmosphere is still well beyond our current technology, and at the moment, Mars itself is also out of sight, as its behind the sun, on the opposite side of the solar system from where we are. Well, like Bradbury, we can dream!
Tue Aug 24, 2021 THE PLUTO VOTE
Fifteen years ago today, in the year 2006, members of the International Astronomical Union, or the IAU, voted Pluto out of the planet club. At the time the IAU had about 10,000 astronomers as members, but on the last day of their conference in Prague, only 424 of them participated in the voting. Thats a little over 4 percent turnout for the vote, and yes, you had to be in the room to vote no absentee ballots. Does this sound like scientists arent any different from your average politician? Yes it does. And thats because scientists are people too, and therefore can be just as mean, stubborn and stupid as anybody else on the planet. Members of the American Astronomical Society werent happy about the vote. Neither was Alan Stern, the principal scientist who oversaw the successful New Horizons mission to Pluto that took place in 2015, revealing an incredible world with nitrogen ice plains and great water ice mountains.
Wed Aug 25, 2021 ORION AFTER MIDNIGHT
Orion the Hunter has been absent from our evening skies for a couple of months now. If you want to find him tonight, youll have to go out long after midnight. He rises out of the east around 3 am, and climbs up into the southeastern sky as dawn approaches. If youd rather see Orion during the evening hours, then youll have to wait until October, and even then it wont be just after sunset, but in the late evening. As the year and the seasons progress, the earths revolution carries us around the sun: stars behind the sun cannot be seen until the earth takes us a little farther along the orbital path, which changes the suns position against the background of stars. This summers evening skies feature such constellations as Libra the Scales, Scorpius the Scorpion, Sagittarius the Archer, Hercules, (one of the ancient worlds greatest heroes,) Ophiuchus the Serpent Bearer, Lyra the Harp, Aquila the Eagle and Cygnus the Swan.
Thu Aug 26, 2021 THE CRAB NEBULA
On the night of August 28th in the year 1758, the Crab Nebula was discovered with a telescope. The nebula's discoverer, Charles Messier of France, thought at first that it was a comet, which when seen far out in space, resembles a small fuzzy splotch of light. But unlike comets, this fuzzy object didn't move against the starry background. Hour after hour, night after night, the thing refused to budge. Disappointed in his failure to find a new comet, Messier catalogued this object as Messier #1, or M-1, and from then on, whenever he saw it, he quickly moved on to more promising candidates. But when bigger and better telescopes were invented, other astronomers found that M-1, the Crab Nebula, is more impressive than any comet: it is the exploded remains of a star that went supernova. Tonight M-1 can be found, with a telescope, low in the east northeast, a little after 1 AM, behind the forward horn tip of Taurus the Bull.
Fri Aug 27, 2021 KRAKATOA
On August 27, 1883, the volcano known as Krakatoa exploded, creating the loudest sound ever heard in recorded history. Australians, nearly 3,000 miles away, heard it. Tens of thousands of people lost their lives, either directly from the heat of the blast of from falling debris, or from the resulting tsunami activity. Shock waves from the event traveled around the world, and volcanic ash blanketed thousands of miles of the earth. The ash and the explosive gases from the eruption sailed high up into the atmosphere, and for the next year, the earths average temperature dropped by over a couple of degrees Fahrenheit. It also resulted in months of spectacular, colorful sunsets across the planet. Dozens of years later, the shattered remnants of Krakatoa grew a new mountain, named Anak Krakatau, the child of Krakatoa. In December 2018, the child erupted, and more tsunamis caused still more death and devastation throughout Indonesia.
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Skywatch for the week of August 23, 2021 - WQCS
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Robot, plants to blast off on upcoming SpaceX mission to ISS – Al Jazeera English
Posted: at 12:15 pm
When the commercial space firms Dragon spacecraft launches Saturday, it will be loaded with experiments dedicated to probing everything from bone and eye health to the dexterity of robots.
SpaceX is targeting Saturday for the launch of its next resupply mission to the International Space Station (ISS), and it plans to have some fascinating scientific experiments in tow.
When the commercial space firms Dragon spacecraft launches along with its Falcon rocket from Kennedy Space Center in Florida in the United States, it will be loaded with research projects dedicated to exploring everything from astronauts bone and eye health to the dexterity of robots and how plants handle stress, NASA announced ahead of the launch.
It will also include an experiment dedicated plant growth, ant colonization, and the brine shrimp lifecycle designed by a group of Girl Scouts from central Florida, the US space agency confirmed.
It is the 23rd resupply mission to the ISS carried out by Elon Musks SpaceX, and its launch is targeted for 3:37am local time (07:37 GMT) on Saturday.
One experiment will use metabolites created as byproducts during winemaking to see whether substances such as antioxidants formed when food is broken down might protect bones during spaceflight, according to NASA.
Another experiment sponsored by the European Space Agency, the European Astronaut Centre and the German Aerospace Centers Institute of Space Medicine will use a small device to take images of the retinas of astronauts eyes to check them for spaceflight-associated neuro-ocular syndrome (SANS).
The condition is thought to be associated with long-duration exposure to microgravity and affects more than two-thirds of astronauts, principal investigator Juergen Drescher said in the press release.
Currently, visual problems that may manifest from SANS are mitigated by providing glasses or contact lenses to crew members, Drescher explained. Multi-year missions to Mars may worsen these symptoms, and there is a need for a mobile device for retinal image diagnostics.
That technology could eventually be used both in space and here on Earth, he added.
An experiment from space robotics startup Gitai Japan Inc will test out the dexterity and manoeuvrability of a robotic arm inside the Bishop Airlock, a pressurised environment.
Gitais Chief Technology Officer Toyotaka Kozuki said in the press release that the robot could provide an inexpensive and safer source of labor in space, opening the door to the true commercialization of space. On Earth, it could be used to help in disaster relief efforts or nuclear emergencies where sending in humans to help could be dangerous.
Additional experiments on Saturdays mission include an investigation aimed at testing the strength of materials such as concrete, 3D printed polymers, fibreglass composites and more in space and a study on how to help plants handle microgravity stress in space.
NASA said the Dragon spacecraft will also carry supplies and hardware for the crew currently based at the ISS.
In addition to serving as a taxi service to the ISS, SpaceX has scored a number of major NASA contracts recently, including one to help explore Jupiters fourth-largest moon, Europa.
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Robot, plants to blast off on upcoming SpaceX mission to ISS - Al Jazeera English
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What’s In a Place Name? One History or Another – TheTyee.ca
Posted: at 12:15 pm
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What's In a Place Name? One History or Another - TheTyee.ca
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Could the U.S. Lose Cloud Computing to China? – ETF Trends
Posted: at 12:15 pm
The pandemic saw many companies, particularly digitally based ones, profiting as millions of people globally shifted to working from home. Chinas Huawei, a leader in information and communications technology infrastructure as well as smart devices, doubled its global market share for Infrastructure as a Service in 2020, according to Politico.
Cloud computing has become a vital part of a digital age, as it houses everything from databases and storage, to email, to artificial intelligence, which include data applications that require an enormous amount of computing power that the cloud can provide.
Its an area that could go the way of 5G if the U.S. isnt careful; while Microsoft, Amazon, and Google were all first into the space, China is creeping into market share by passing policies that promote its own providers.
China blocks foreign providers from competing within China, allowing Chinese companies to dominate the industries of a rapidly growing economic powerhouse. China is currently home to the second-largest cloud services market. In addition, China has passed policies that favor the development and growth of cloud services, providing $1.4 trillion to digital infrastructure in the Five-Year Plan.
Its a strategy that worked previously to propel Huawei into the dominant spot as a global telecom equipment provider and leverage the global market on 5G.
Huawei is currently in partnerships with Mexico and Brazil, providing federal data centers for each country, as well as investing in Argentina and Chile. This is in a bid to form a giant triangle of improved coverage and better connectivity in Latin America, said Huawei regional president Xiao Fei.
While the U.S. has a stronger stance in the cloud computing industry as a first mover, it continues to take a backseat in the global arena as more and more emerging countries are looking to strike digital trade deals, something that Huawei continues to capitalize on.
Cloud computing continues to profit and have exponential growth opportunities as the world moves increasingly more digital. TheWisdomTree Cloud Computing Fund (WCLD)provides investors pure-play exposure to companies that provide cloud-based software, such as popular company Crowdstrike Holdings.
WCLD tracks the BVP Nasdaq Emerging Cloud Index, an equally-weighted index comprised of companies that derive the majority of their revenue from software provided via the cloud. That could mean remote delivery, or a cloud-based business model that is subscription-, transaction-, or volume-based.
WCLD offers multi-cap exposure to emerging, fast-growing companies within cloud software and services. Holdings include Mimecast Ltd (MIME) at 1.98%, Crowdstrike Holdings Inc at 1.94%, and Okta Inc at 1.89%.
WCLD has an expense ratio of 0.45%.
For more news, information, and strategy, visit the Nasdaq Portfolio Solutions Channel.
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Microsoft and Amazon are at it again over a cloud computing contract – Federal News Network
Posted: at 12:15 pm
Best listening experience is on Chrome, Firefox or Safari. Subscribe to Federal Drives daily audio interviews onApple PodcastsorPodcastOne.
When the National Security Agency recently awarded Amazon a multi-billion-dollar cloud computing contract, you can guess what happened. Once again, as in the Defense Departments JEDI program, the deal is tied up in protest, only this time Microsoft is the protester. DoD eventually scrapped the whole program. With how the NSA award is likely to play out, Federal Drive with Tom Temin turned to a partner at the law firm Boies Schiller Flexner, Hamish Hume.
Tom Temin: Mr. Hume, good to have you on.
Hamish Hume: Great to be on Tom.
Tom Temin: Glad to have you in studio with us. And first of all, give us the status of this current NSA award. When did it happen and where does it stand right now?
Hamish Hume: So the NSA award to Amazon was made just about two weeks ago or a bit more in early August and was immediately challenged by Microsoft in front of the GAO. Its not yet in court and therefore its not yet public. We cant see Microsofts challenge. But its sitting there at the GAO and the GAO has said it expects to issue a decision by October 29.
Tom Temin: And this is a weird one, because it looks like son of JEDI or daughter of JEDI or child of JEDI, I guess, to be politically correct. Nowadays, multi-billion, multi-year single award. What do you think the NSA was thinking?
Hamish Hume: Well, its hard to tell, and it is very curious. It is said to be a $10 billion award, which is the same number they used for JEDI. And even though the NSA is under the Department of Defense, it is not 100% clear whether the NSA was part of the original JEDI contract, but one would assume that it was. And the very same month that Amazon obtained an injunction against the award to Microsoft of the JEDI contract in February 2020, is when the NSA announced that it was going to be issuing a solicitation for this new contract. So its complicated, and Im happy to run through that chronology, but it does appear tied together but in ways that are not 100%. transparent.
Tom Temin: This is no way possibly a DoD insurance policy for JEDI.
Hamish Hume: You never know. I mean, JEDI has now the one other important update is a month before this award was made to Amazon in July of this year, a couple of months ago, DOJ announced that it was scrapping and canceling the JEDI contract, and Amazon obviously welcomed that news. It had been challenging it. Microsoft, I would say put out a notice saying they accepted it and understood it. But they obviously were not happy about it. So JEDI has been scrapped and an NSA award has been made the very next month, and that award is now being challenged.
Tom Temin: Alright, there were a lot of grounds for the challenge. It was complicated in the JEDI case, because of officials that had worked in DoD that allegedly had a conflict of interest. And without relitigating that whole case, in your experience, and you have done a lot of protest litigation over the decades, how will this likely play out do you think?
Hamish Hume: Well, bid protest litigation is very hard to win. Theres a fairly high percentage when youre at the GAO of the agency taking some corrective action to sort of dot the Is and cross the Ts to do everything perfectly and get it all correct. But to really overturn an award particularly or an award of this magnitude is very, very difficult to do. We were fortunate to be able to do one for a company called Palantir against the US Army. But in general, its extremely difficult to do. I do think its worth going back to understand the nature of the awards the first time around because despite what I just said, Amazon was able to get an injunction to the first JEDI award on fairly narrow grounds, despite having sweeping claims and its complained about President Trumps improper influence. They ended up getting that injunction on quite a narrow technical basis. But it proved to be what appears to have been a game changer
Tom Temin: Because in a lot of the public statements, Microsoft and Amazon traded barbs about who was more technically qualified. I mean, the reality is this probably Tweedledee, Tweedledum, when it comes to technology prowess between a company like Microsoft, a company like Amazon, so it could be maybe in the details of the percentage of pennies per transaction that happens in the cloud, which could add up to millions over the years. I dont know. We really cant tell at this point, though, can we?
Hamish Hume: We cannot tell. And Im not an expert on cloud technology. as such. However, its worth noting that despite what you say and what one would think about they must have similar technology. The injunction that Amazon one was based on a very technical point buried within the solicitation and the bid documents, that one of the requirements under just one of numerous scenarios in the original jet award was for the cloud storage system to be quote, highly accessible, which seems obvious, but they they had an offer or they had to ask for a specific definition of what is highly accessible mean. And the DoD says, well it means you have to have either online storage or replicated storage. And the whole lawsuit, the injunction boiled down to the definition of online storage, which meant it had to be available immediately without any human effort or input. And the judge held that Amazon prevailed on the injunction because the judge held that Microsofts bid did not satisfy that requirement. When you read the opinion, it talks about how Microsofts bid documents, instead of talking about online storage, talked about some other kinds of storage, the adjective, which is redacted, which is a great illustration of how even once these cases go to court and get decided, its very hard to tell sometimes what exactly they turned on. But right now, we really dont know what Microsofts arguments are. Theyre better off if they have a clean legal argument, because the standard is highly deferential on anything factual.
Tom Temin: Were speaking with protest attorney Hamish Hume, hes a partner at Boies Schiller Flexner. And there seems to be a bigger issue at work here. And that is over the years, the government has tried to get itself to set requirements, as opposed to technical specifications for everything it buys. This goes back to when Al Gore was vice president and the word three pages of specifications for ashtrays, that was the example that used back then. And so could it be that the government is trying to say we want a highly available cloud thats really secure, and the reference standards for that, of course, and then the bidders are coming in with technical expressions of that requirement, and then fighting over the technical specifications, when really the government was trying to get a large requirement done.
Hamish Hume: Yes, I think what youre talking about now is is a problem near and dear to my heart. From my old case, I think I think some of that is probably whats going on. Theres even debate amongst the different industry players of exactly what a cloud facility means. It can mean different things to different people. It can mean infrastructure as a service platform as a service, it can sometimes even mean software as a service. Theres a National Institute of Standards and Technology definition of the cloud that people have to adhere to. But in general, the government would always like things done differently for it. And the law requires it to the maximum extent possible to buy what the commercial market makes available. And that was the legal ground on which we won the Palantir case. I dont know that thats going to be an issue in this case, because I think they are buying fixed price as a commercial item. But then they want it modified. Particularly DoD is always going to want things modified for its particular needs. And that may well end up being part of what is at issue in the current case, but we really dont know.
Tom Temin: So one more piece of speculation, it could be over security, for example.
Hamish Hume: Absolutely. And in fact, that was one of the issues that Oracle also challenged, the JEDI contract. They didnt challenge the award, they challenged the original solicitation. And one of the things they challenged was there, there was a gating threshold requirement for any bidder had to have I forget was section 1.2, or something had to have at least two or three different physical locations with servers at least 150 miles apart. And that was obviously for national security reasons, although Oracle argued was unnecessary and shouldnt have been at least a gating issue. So I would expect that national security issues and the security of the cloud will be central to any discussion of this. And the government will get enormous amounts of deference in court from that, which is why the only way to win one of these cases is to have a really clear legal defect or a very, very clear, factual defect that a judge will feel comfortable designing it on, because anything general or vague, theyre going to defer to the government.
Tom Temin: And of course, a leading DC law firm doesnt go in with hunches when it goes into court, but based on your experience, and what little we do know of this, is your gut telling you that the NSA will prevail this time around?
Hamish Hume: I think if youre a betting person, you would in these cases always bet on the government. And I think the NSA, it will have been a narrower contract than JEDI, I think they will have had the benefit of the JEDI litigation to look at. And that absent some really clear legal defect of some kind, I would expect they probably will prevail. And then the interesting question is, what is the rest of DoD going to do? Is there going to be a different kind of JEDI? Theres a talk in the press of the Joint Warfighter Cloud Capability that JWCC, instead of JEDI, they basically tried to spin the cancellation of JEDI as just technology making the original requirements obsolete to go to your earlier point. And theyre going to come out with new requirements that need to be met, and that it wasnt because of the litigation. And maybe thats completely accurate. I dont know. But Im sure the litigation contributed, at least to some degree. And so what remains to be seen whether theyre going to do it as a single request for the rest of the DoD, or different sub agencies within DoD will have different requests. And the other huge question is are they going to want a sole supplier, a sole vendor, which was what Oracle was complaining about with JEDI that it was it was crafted for only one winner or sometimes what theyll do is theyll have a group of winners to win the original contract and then they have subsequent task orders for specific tasks. And theyre actually supposed to favor that latter approach whenever possible.
Tom Temin: Protest attorney Hamish Hume is a partner at Boies Schiller Flexner. Thanks so much for joining me.
Hamish Hume: Absolutely, Tom. Thanks for having me.
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Microsoft and Amazon are at it again over a cloud computing contract - Federal News Network
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Cloud Computing is Making Waves in the Gaming Industry – The Nerd Stash
Posted: at 12:15 pm
What is cloud computing? The main idea behind this process is to connect people and data regardless of location. Cloud computing offers an on-demand feature for the delivery of computing services. Its components include databases, servers, storage, software, analytics, networking, and intelligence accessible through the internet. Cloud storage offers users the advantage of retrieving on-demand data from a remote database.
Cloud computing is convenient because it provides the mentioned features for its users without actively involving them in management and operation. It provides economies of scale since it caters to large numbers, so it reduces user expenses. Cloud computing eliminates the need for physical data centers and servers. Game developers use cloud computing to deliver online games for their global users.
A cloud offers easy access to a wide range of technologies. Before cloud computing, running video games was tedious. You had to use powerful hardware to enable processing, making it a costly venture. However, cloud computing uses remote servers. As long as users have access to the internet, they can stream their games or online casino games at SP Casinos using whatever mobile devices or desktops.
Technology experts in networking and internet architecture explain that cloud computing allows the streaming of high-quality content using low latency, large internet bandwidth, a low response time for high-definition videos. Therefore, Cloud computing companies use a subscription option to access this service. In turn, users pay to access the hardware either per game or on a monthly subscription. The difficult processing task is left to the cloud, not the users device.
Due to the shift in the dynamic of the processing power, gaming becomes an affordable exercise for the user. Variable expenses in cloud computing are comparatively low in consideration of independent cost.
Clouds also improve the users services on devices they own, such as PCs, TVs, iOS, mobile devices, headsets, mice, and keyboards. Users do not need to make more investments while using cloud services except for the subscription fee.
Statistics reveal that in 2025, the global gaming market may reach a value of $256.97 billion. Other estimates reveal that cloud gaming revenues stand to exceed $1 billion. Such is the expectation as Amazon, Google, and Microsoft launch their service across various platforms.
In cloud storage, data is saved on an offsite system, a third party handles it, and it is accessible through API web services. Its system stores multiple copies of data on multiple servers at multiple locations. In case one system fails, there is always backup and no loss of information. Since data collection is over the internet security is a major concern for cloud computing.
Cloud computing uses encryption to protect user-information from unauthorized access. In particular, cloud computing companies sometimes use third-party services such as Cloud Access Security Broker. They do this because data can be accessed from any location. Therefore, there is the need to isolate client data and limit direct access. Security Broker measures include to control access, to audit, authenticate, and authorize. They aim to avoid compromising user data.
Users trust clouds storage to keep their information secure. A player may choose to begin a game on the laptop in the office or at home and continue to play the same game while on the go. Cloud computing offers uses a seamless experience over a range of devices.
Cloud computing increases the number of players because users can play high-end games on low-end consoles. Even if the player uses an old laptop, they can still enjoy the benefits of high-quality content. Notwithstanding, if the laptop or computer breaks, the users information is safe. It is stored and retrievable on demand.
In 2018, Ken Moss, CTO of Electronic Arts, declared,
My job is to create the technology that powers the games that can make 2.6 billion people around the world a little bit happier.
Such indicators point to the idea that gaming is prone to remain one of the leading platforms for entertainment.
Technological advancements encourage the adoption of cloud gaming models. As the world looks forward to the rollout of 5G technology, the truth is it will catapult further the power of cloud computing. Gaming continues on an upward trend as it encourages users to choose what they want to play with whom and on whichever device.
Modern technologies are not changing the world of gaming but the industry of sports as well. The experience of watching your favorite best goalkeepers ever in action has improved a great deal, thanks to all the different cameras and other technologies employed to make the viewing experience better.
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Cloud Computing is Making Waves in the Gaming Industry - The Nerd Stash
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UiPath’s Daniel Dines on automating work, the future of cloud computing and scaling in New York City – CNBC
Posted: at 12:15 pm
As companiesuse AIand other advanced technologies to help them with digital transformation, the whole topic of robotics seems eerily dystopian and many fear that robots are coming for their boring, repetitive job.
But UiPath, a newly-public automation company that ranked No. 50 on last year's CNBC Disruptor 50 list, says its software isn't out to replace humans.
Co-founder and CEO Daniel Dines says the New York City-based company's goal is to enable workers to focus on parts of their job that only humans can do. Dines, a former Microsoft engineer, founded the company in 2005 in Romania before moving it to the U.S. about a decade later and establishing headquarters in New York. Roughly one-quarter of its more than 2,500 full-time employees are based in Bucharest, Romania.
In April, UiPath joined a long roster of high-growth cloud software companies hitting public markets and amassing multi-billion dollar market caps it was one of the largest such U.S. software IPOs ever.
CNBC recently spoke with Dines, who says that eliminating manual, repetitive work will have a "tremendous influence" on the nature of our jobs, and that we shouldn't rush to conclusions about what the post-pandemic workforce will look like.
The following Q&A has been edited for length and clarity.
CNBC: Coming from Romania, why did you choose New York City as the place to build this company. Why not Silicon Valley?
Dines: In many ways, I think New York City is better to build a commercial team. We're closer to customers time zone-wise especially B2B companies, companies in the financial sector, health care sector and public sector... it was kind of a no-brainer for us [to establish ourselves here]. Today we're spread out around the world, but we also have a big presence in Seattle where we're building out our cloud offering. Bangalore is also a big center for us. But I believe that becoming New York-based was one of the best business decisions that we made in our global expansion way better than going into Silicon Valley.
It's expensive, but at the same time, it's a city within walking distance of the biggest customers and the biggest investors on the planet. Manhattan is very unique there is nowhere comparable in terms of reaching the best that the world has to offer.
CNBC: UiPath is a newly public company that's experienced pandemic tailwinds of its own because of the focus on automating work. As CEO, how has that shaped your view of the distributed workforce?
Dines: Even before the pandemic, one of the perks of working at UiPath was the ability to work from home at any point in time. You were not supposed to ask for permission, but rather inform your manager that you'd be working from home. So therefore, we had all the systems already in place for a fully remote workforce.
It's kind of difficult in such a changing environment to understand what will be the best way of working from here forward. So, to me, those people who are saying we're going to be working two days a week, three days a week, fully remote, or fully in-person ... I think it's too early to place those bets. My goal, given the type of work I expect post-pandemic, is to tap into the tailwinds of what's now acceptable in society and create a work environment that's more enjoyable, more fulfilling and more desirable [for workers]. If that's through a hybrid model where people come together two days a week, or even two days a month, I think that would be really great. But I believe that, at this point, nobody really understands what this will look like in the next couple years. It's going to be very interesting.
CNBC: What do you tell people who are fearful of automation?
Dines: I think this is the most asked question, but I don't think it's really about automation at all; It's more about the progress of technology. I believe we are at a very interesting moment in history where we might be closer than we think to ending this trap of manual, repetitive work that humans have been doing since the dawn of agriculture 10,000 years ago. If you can take out this part of a job, we can all focus more on things that humans are much better equipped to do.
I would argue that the most difficult job on this planet is to convince a group of people to row in the same direction. Becoming more collaborative, better leaders, strategists and critical thinkers, I think, will have tremendous influence on the nature of jobs, the quality of jobs and the quality of our lives. I think we can all agree that, despite the shortcomings of technology, it's ultimately created a better standard of living around the world; And we are probably living in the best world known to humans thus far. So, I truly believe, without any hint of irony or bias, that what UiPath is doing is really effective in accelerating human achievement and escaping this historical trap of manual, repetitive work.
CNBC: Coming out of the pandemic, cloud computing feels a bit more ubiquitous than it was pre-pandemic. What keeps you excited about the space and what advice would you give to early stage founders who are trying to disrupt the cloud?
Dines: I don't think I'm alone in saying that if you start a software company right now, it's completely stupid not to start it in the cloud. [Cloud] offers a simple place to experiment at a very low cost, and it's amazing what you can do with it at your disposal. And nobody yet understands whether or not you have to stay in it past a certain stage of growth. Look at Dropbox for instance: they decided to build their own cloud, but for companies [like Dropbox] where cloud is not a huge part of their gross margins like it is for us, it can be an accelerator. I believe [cloud computing] is by far the biggest accelerator of growing a business that we've seen in history even more than the steam engine, in my opinion ... more than the railroad system, when it comes to building modern businesses.
CNBC: Is there a private company out there in this space, or perhaps space-adjacent, that you're particularly impressed with?
Dines: I really like two companies that I'm an early investor in; One is called Miro a online collaboration platform for building charts and design elements and the other is an online event company, both of which have some of the fastest growth trajectory I've ever seen; Perhaps growing even faster than UiPath did. Both of them are European companies and, at this point, I'm very bullish on both of them.
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Microsoft Hires Former Top Amazon Cloud Executive, Adding to Rivalry – The Wall Street Journal
Posted: at 12:15 pm
Microsoft Corp. hired a top Amazon.com Inc. cloud veteran and ally of Chief Executive Andy Jassy, according to a company document, in a rare jump of a senior executive between the cloud-computing industrys leading rivals.
Charlie Bell, who left Amazon Web Services recently, is now listed by Microsoft as a corporate vice president, according to an internal employee register viewed by The Wall Street Journal. Mr. Bell was a senior vice president at Amazon Web Services, as the companys cloud-computing arm is known, and for years worked with Mr. Jassy, then the AWS boss, to build up the cloud-computing business.
Mr. Bell spent more than two decades at AWS and was widely considered an heir apparent to Mr. Jassy. When Mr. Jassy was named to replace Jeff Bezos as Amazons CEO, the company went outside for his replacement. In March, Amazon tapped Adam Selipsky to become the cloud businesss next chief executive.
Mr. Selipsky also had a history at AWS and close ties to Mr. Jassy. He was one of the first vice presidents hired in 2005 to work at the cloud-computing business, remaining there for about 11 years and rising to run marketing, sales, support, business development, partner alliances and international expansion. He left in 2016 to become CEO of the data-analytics platform Tableau Software Inc., which was acquired by Salesforce.com Inc. for more than $15 billion, before his return to Amazon.
Mr. Bells exact role at Microsoft couldnt immediately be determined. His move to Microsoft was previously reported by Business Insider.
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How Can You Unlock the Cost Benefits Of Cloud Computing? – Entrepreneur
Posted: at 12:15 pm
With the pay-as-you-go model and scalability of the cloud, one is typically billed on the usage of resources, which can scale up or down according to demand
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August24, 20214 min read
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As more and more organizations are embracing cloud computing, one of the major driving factors behind this adoption is the proposed cost savings. The pandemic has resulted in furthering this adoption and driving accelerated digital transformation at enterprises. A study by NASSCOM on Indias public cloud market reported a 15-20 per cent reduction in operational costs for SMEs in India along with a 20-25 per cent boost in productivity.
Lets take a look at how cloud computing can help you with cost reduction for your business. While going through the list, it is important to keep in mind that the cost impact varies for every organization depending on their IT objectives, current technology infrastructure, type of applications, etc., and that a proper IT strategy is crucial to realize the cost benefits of the cloud.
Flexible payment model
With the pay-as-you-go model and scalability of the cloud, you are typically billed on the usage of resources, which you can scale up or down according to their demand. This allows you to save on costs for under-utilized resources. Cloud also requires lower initial capital investment into software and licenses as the upfront cost of the cloud is less than in-house solutions. You are able to eliminate the costs of running data centres, maintenance, hardware replacement costs and power issues. With increased flexibility and mobility of the cloud, your employee productivity is enhanced, which further drives efficiency and growth.
Optimum energy usage
When your servers are running 24/7, your energy consumption costs can become outrageously high. Coupled with inefficient server utilization for in-house systems, your energy usage can lead to extortionate energy bills. Moving to the cloud means eliminating the need for an in-house data centre. With huge economies of scale and efficient power usage, cloud providers can charge you significantly less for the systems and resources utilized. It is challenging for in-house manpower to manage large scale operations with ease. Cloud providers with their purpose-built data centres, timely upgrades and optimum server utilization can help you save your time and money. Also, with no extra costs, all users can stay up to date with the system operations.
Accelerated business agility
Cloud presents an excellent platform for experimentation leading to faster innovation for your organization. The adoption of cloud computing promotes rapid advancement with the faster development of future products, solutions, business channels, models and resilient supply chains. Moreover, the cloud enables quicker, data-driven decision-making and business continuity, helping your organization become future-ready. All of this will propel business growth and lead to higher revenue for your enterprise. This will have a multiplier effect on your business and boost the overall cost-effectiveness.
Reduced capital expenditure
There is no requirement of any in-house infrastructure as the entire network and storage can be made accessible from cloud servers. You dont have to spend money purchasing licences for a limited period as the cloud providers will be responsible for allocating resources, both hardware and software that suit your companys needs. Furthermore, the cloud provides the ability to expand your resources in the future without additional cost in purchasing in-house equipment.
Enhanced productivity and efficiency
Cloud allows your employees to spend less time on deployment and more time working towards application development and new business initiatives. Your workforce can easily access applications, data and systems on the cloud from anywhere, enabling remote work. Cloud platforms also allow the processing of huge amounts of data and the application of advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning. It is expensive and complicated to execute these technologies on physical IT infrastructure. The automation and innovation that such cutting-edge solutions built exclusively on the cloud bring to your enterprise will contribute to making your business more cost-effective.
Restructured IT teams
Eliminating in-house maintenance and infrastructure requirements will remove the need for extensive IT personnel. This decrease in workload saves IT costs on recruitment, and with a smaller IT team, you can focus more on management and redirect your team to work on other business areas. For smaller organizations without technical skills and bandwidth to assign IT workloads, cloud computing can become an effective solution for their IT requirements.
You will be able to realise these cost benefits only with proper strategy, planning and management framework around cloud adoption. Moving to the cloud without taking into consideration your business goals and current infrastructure will not convert into cost savings for your organization. Building and executing the right plan of action will enable you to enjoy cost-effectiveness, flexibility and many other benefits of the cloud.
Cloud adoption has become an essential step in every enterprises digital transformation journey. The right IT expertise and guidance from a technology partner can simplify this process and help you achieve cost savings for your business.
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How Can You Unlock the Cost Benefits Of Cloud Computing? - Entrepreneur
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