August 2021
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Windows 11 FAQ: Everything you need to know
Microsoft says the official release of Windows 11 will arrive on new hardware in late 2021.
Windows 11 will require TPM 2 hardware, which is in most recently purchased computers.
Windows 365 Cloud PC will be available on August 2, 2021. Pricing is $24/Month to $160+/month per PC. Vendors such as Citrix have similar products. You still need a local PC to access your “Windows 365” PC.
Microsoft Silverlight will reach the end of support on October 12, 2021.
Microsoft Teams introduces Side-by-Side and Reporter Presenter modes – more ways to arrange meeting screen layouts.
Visio online will be added to the Office 365 / Microsoft 365 application suite.
Microsoft Office 2010 is no longer supported. It can no longer be re-activated in case of a fresh install.
TurboTax will end the free tax filing partnership with IRS
Google Meet now limits free users to 1-hour group video calls.
AI Lipreading from video is being perfected by Amazon, Sony, and Google.
Cameras attached in cars, mobile phones and homes capture the user’s face and decipher the different movements of teeth, tongue, and mouth. …At the 2021 Consumer Electronics Show, Sony unveiled the Visual Speech Enablement system; it uses camera sensors to augment lip-reading in any environment.
Driverless cars and trucks are coming. CPUC Approved Driverless Autonomous Vehicle Service.
Cruise, a self-driving car service out of San Francisco, has been authorized to participate in the state’s first pilot program to provide driverless ride services to the public.
Argo AI, backed by Ford and VW, will give people free rides in its self-driving vehicles on the state’s public roads. Aurora, AutoX, Cruise, Deeproute, Pony.ai, Voyage, Zoox and Waymo have all received permits and will start testing autonomous driving with a driver supervising the testing.
TuSimple, the self-driving truck company, partners with Ryder, UPS.
Kodiak Robotics is also developing self-driving trucks.
Amazon’s older Kindles will start to lose their internet access in December.
2G and 3G E-Reader Network Support FAQ from Amazon.
Disney+ and Amazon are gaining on Netflix in market share.
COVID
Just two weeks after reopening its New York and San Francisco offices, Twitter said Wednesday that it will be closing those offices “immediately… after careful consideration of the CDC’s updated guidelines, and in light of current conditions”.
Google CEO Sundar Pichai announced that the company will require employees to be vaccinated before returning to work on-site. Facebook’s VP of People, Lori Goler, confirmed a similar policy.
NY Times on who is re-opening.
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has ruled that businesses can compel employees to submit to SARS-CoV-2 tests as a condition of employment. Recently, the agency determined that employers could require COVID-19 vaccines and bar employees from the workplace if they refuse.
..Employers should avoid making medical inquiries that could run afoul of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). … simply asking for proof of a COVID-19 vaccination is permissible under the ADA because it is not likely to prompt the employee to provide disability-related information.
What You Should Know About COVID-19 and the ADA, the Rehabilitation Act, and Other EEO Laws
EEOC ADA guidelines regarding requiring workplace vaccination.
CDC Workplace vaccination guidance.
More from Gartner on requiring Vaccination at work.
Working from home became responsible for two-thirds of economic activity as an estimated 1.1 billion people around the world were forced to perform their daily jobs remotely, up from 350 million in 2019.
These are the key tech trends leaders must embrace to forge a better future.
“Leaders must now develop “bring your own environment” (BYOE) strategies to address the security ramifications of remote work, necessary cultural shifts and the evolving purpose of physical office space.
…Three years from now, successful organizations will be the ones who resisted the urge to race everyone back to the office in favor of rethinking their workforce model for the evolving world.”
The California Small Business COVID-19 Relief Grant Program has more funding.
Visit CAReliefGrant.com for application information.
COVID-19 Business Resource Center
SECURITY
Apple emergency zero-day fix – be sure to update your Apple devices.
Ring Devices Just Got Much Harder to Hack. Enabling End-to-End Encryption (E2EE) in the Ring app.
NSA guidance on securing wireless devices in public places (PDF).
Some Mercedes-Benz buyer records have been compromised because of an improper security implementation at a vendor.
Intuit QuickBooks Online Payroll and Intuit Online Payroll – your payroll information will be shared with big-three consumer credit bureau Equifax starting later this year unless you opt out.
In selling payroll data to Equifax, Intuit will be joining some of the world’s largest payroll providers. For example, ADP has long shared payroll data with Equifax. QB notice.
To opt out if you have QB Desktop:
- Open your QuickBooks Desktop File.
- Select Edit, then Preferences.
- Select HR & Benefits.
- Select the Company Preferences tab.
- In the Income & Employment section, clear the checkbox next to Include automated income and employment verification service powered by The Work Number from Equifax.
- Select Yes.
Equifax has suffered from several large data breaches in the last few years.
Kaseya Left Customer Portal Vulnerable to 2015 Flaw in its Own Software
Kaseya was in the news recently due to flaws in their software being used by hackers. It is a product used by some (other) IT companies to manage their clients.
Another Solarwinds product “Serv-U” has a flaw which is actively being exploited.
500,000 victims receive data breach letter from medical service Practicefirst
Morgan Stanley discloses data breach that resulted from Accellion FTA hacks.
StopRansomware.gov website – The U.S. Government’s One-Stop Location to Stop Ransomware
PwnedPiper PTS Security Flaws Threaten 80% of Hospitals in the U.S.
HUMOR
TORIAN GROUP
Our Covid policy is unchanged – we are mostly working from home, meeting clients by appointment either onsite or at our office as needed. We are still wearing masks while onsite in an abundance of caution to protect our clients.
By Tim Torian