Menu
Announcement: Killing IT Podcast is available on Audible / Amazon podcasts. If you have an Audible account, just search for “The Killing IT Podcast.” Direct Link: https://www.audible.com/pd/The-Killing-IT-Podcast-Podcast/B08JJNTC1N
Topic 1: The Robo-job Apocalypse is Being Delayed.
We’ve covered this story from several angles over the last years. Turns out robots are adding more jobs than they are taking away. Robots are affected how much people get paid, not whether they have jobs.
Link: 1 big thing: The robo-job apocalypse is being delayed
Topic 2: A great resource to explore – NATO’s research on evil actors in worldwide technology.
Start with the web site https://www.stratcomcoe.org/publications.
We particularly love this report: https://www.stratcomcoe.org/black-market-social-media-manipulation
Also check out the quarterly report on robot trolling. All really good, well-researched, and a little scary.
Book cited: The Big Switch by Nicholas Carr.
Topic 3: Turns out, Facebook CAN tweak the algorithm.
Facebook has long claimed that they cannot make changes to their “news” algorithm. Specifically, they have claimed that they cannot start tweaking the viral nature of trends on their own platform.
Now they are saying that they had to crank down the viral nature of some posts during the election. The goal was to diminish extreme divisiveness.
It may or may not be good. But clearly they can adjust their algorithm. We discuss.
Another fun show! Share with your friends.
🙂
A bit of wisdom from Dave on marketing: If you are only buying a sure thing for marketing, you are LAST.
Note: This space is available. YOU could be advertising here.
Topic 1: Modern “Proctored” Exams are creating excessive anxiety.
Cheating-detection companies made millions during the pandemic, and now students are fighting back. (This was originally a Washington Post article, but you need a subscription to read it there.)
You should read at least some of this article to get the gist of what’s going on. Aside from over-doing distrust, the over-use of technology is making the system worst. This is also a reflection of how behind the times education is.
Our conclusion: If you’re paid to give advice, don’t ignore stupid stuff like this. Earn your pay and speak up!
Topic 2: Eight Smart Cities to Watch During Pandemic
A great look at some actual, real-world application of various technologies. This is a longer article and very good. Is your city on the list?
It’s really amazing how much cool stuff is being done to improve the livability of cities with technologies that help with citizen participation, traffic managements, safety, and more. This is way beyond traffic lights and road sensors.
https://statetechmagazine.com/article/2020/11/8-smart-cities-watch-2020
https://www.analyticsinsight.net/frost-sullivan-report-predicts-26-new-smart-cities-by-2025/
Note that there’s also a HUGE opportunity here. These are cities, not states or federal governments. Cities hire people like you to make this stuff happen.
Topic 3: Video games are good for well-being (University of Oxford study).
People who play video games for long periods of time tend to report feeling happier than those who do not, the study shows. The Oxford Internet Institute research focused on two games: Nintendo’s Animal Crossing and Electronic Art’s Plants vs Zombies.
In an unusual step, the developers of the games shared anonymized data about how long each participant had played. These logs were then linked to a survey in which the players answered questions about their well-being.
A total of 3,274 gamers took part!!! All were over eighteen years of age. In previous research, data gathered about the duration of subjects’ gaming sessions was based on self-reported “guesstimates,” which can be inaccurate.
https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-54954622
🙂
Topic 1: 3D printing that makes sense.
We have covered 3D printing several times. Now we get to report on some seriously cool applications. Medical applications are some of the coolest applications for 3D printing.
3d Printing is moving out of the “emerging” phase and finding some real uses in the real world.
https://www.axios.com/newsletters/axios-future-a832ca67-a3a6-46a4-b805-9e9471b3e8a8.html (See story #3)
Topic 2: AI Analysis of Reddit users.
Here’s an interesting use of AI. The folks over at MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) analyzed the words and moods of writers on Reddit over time. They found some interesting shifts in personal emotions over time.
We look into the tech as well as the environment (Reddit). There are always questions about the research techniques, but it helps a lot that this is from MIT and not some random blogger.
Topic 3: Taking the middle ground on facial recognition and bias.
We’ve covered the racial biases that are often built into facial recognition. Now, the Detroit city counsel is taking the middle ground: Don’t throw it away; but don’t use it as it ships (filled with problems).
This is another area where the prices are coming down and the use cases are increasing.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/11/technology/facial-recognition-software-police.html
Sponsor Note: Gozynta Tixt
Headaches with customers texting your technicians? Gozynta Tixt brings your texting conversation into service tickets. Set your MSP apart by allowing your customers to communicate the way they want, without losing control of the conversation. Since text messages are 10 times more likely to be opened than email, you can get your tickets to “Resolved” faster! An essential tool for supporting a growing remote workforce. Go to www.tixt.us to sign up for a free 30 day trial.
🙂
Topic 1: Walmart fires inventory robots.
Walmart fires inventory robots after five years. Goes back to humans. Plus, they learned a lesson about customer service (and customer experience).
Related Link:
https://interestingengineering.com/walmart-thinks-humans-do-it-better-fires-all-inventory-robots
Topic 2: Who am I to pick the algorithm?
We’ve talked about AI algorithms having biases built in. Now the question is, how do you manage the choice of picking the algorithms? What’s the decision process for determining the presence of bias? Would the people who do well at building culture also be good at picking the best algorithms?
Book referenced: A Whole New Mind by Daniel Pink. (Please see our entire Reading List of books mentioned on this podcast.)
Related Link:
Topic 3: Life after the pandemic: AI and Traffic Sensors already in automobiles.
Artificial intelligence (AI) applications in the transport sector are stimulating innovations for better and more targeted use of vehicles and infrastructure. This could optimize network performance, support the monitoring and management of traffic, and create the base for solutions that pave the way to future mobility, particularly in cities.
Related Link:
—–
Our Sponsor this week:
PC Matic — Endpoint Security built on a zero trust philosophy, allowing only trusted applications and blocking all the rest. Light weight, simple to deploy, easy to manage, find out about PC Matic’s unique lead sharing program for MSPs backed by a prime-time national TV campaign. Together, we bring advanced security solutions combined with more than sales enablement … we bring actual leads. Find out more about PC Matic by visiting PCMatic.com/msp/
🙂
Topic 1: AI Correcting Bias . . .
Previously, we talked about how biases of the humans who build artificial intelligence are working their way into the AI. Now we find that AI is being used to remove biases from scientific research.
And there’s even an opportunity for service providers to help their clients find juicy, good information inside the data inside their business.
Related Link:
https://thenewstack.io/ai-corrects-50-years-of-sex-bias-in-drug-safety-trials/
Topic 2: Turning competition into collaboration: SMBs and Corporations
The modern opportunities for collaboration between large corporations and SMBs continue to emerge. Here are some comments about what these emerging relationships look like. Digital ecosystems are, of course, different from old-school incubator communities.
Related Link:
Topic 3: Life after the pandemic: Contract tracing apps haven’t performed as expected.
To be clear: The apps work just fine. People just haven’t downloaded them and turned them on. One explanation is that this is due to fear of giving away privacy data. Another is that people just don’t know these apps exist. That second explanation has more to due with failure to promote than fear of government tracking.
What do you think?
Related Link:
🙂
Topic 1: Fragmented Health Data and Covid.
With HIPAA and other privacy laws have complicated the sharing of healthcare data that might be useful in fighting the virus. We look at that as well as general observations about the industry.
Related Link: https://www.theverge.com/2020/10/19/21522863/health-data-records-covid-coronavirus-model-nih-privacy-n3c
Topic 2: Right to Repair is on the Ballot in Massachusetts.
We’ve covered right to repair before. Once perspective, of course, is you – the potential repairer. On the other end of the fight are some of the largest and most successful companies in the world. As always, the world is a complicated place.
Related Link: https://www.forbes.com/sites/tomokoyokoi/2020/10/17/rethinking-ownership-of-smart-products-in-right-to-repair/#6ef24531437d
Topic 3: Life after the pandemic: Industries that won’t make it.
Great click-bait, right? Here’s a great article, speculating about which industries will not survive this pandemic/recession. We don’t agree across the board (shocking, we know).
—–
Sponsor Memo:
PC Matic — Endpoint Security built on a zero trust philosophy, allowing only trusted applications and blocking all the rest. Light weight, simple to deploy, easy to manage, find out about PC Matic’s unique lead sharing program for MSPs backed by a prime-time national TV campaign. Together, we bring advanced security solutions combined with more than sales enablement . . . we bring actual leads. Find out more about PC Matic by visiting http://PCMatic.com/msp/.
🙂
After spending 49 minutes “warming up,” we hit the record button.
This turned out to be a particularly timely episode.
Topic 1: How close are we to universal connectivity?
And what does that mean, actually? In addition to searching for parity between work vs. home, and school vs. home, we are also looking at rural vs. urban.
Related Link:
https://www.theverge.com/21504476/online-school-covid-pandemic-rural-low-income-internet-broadband
Topic 2: Strategies for transformation (and why they fail).
Ryan’s favorite topic – digital transformation. There’s a lot of talk these days of how Covid is increasing digital transformation. But if it’s too slow, there are other issues as well.
Topic 3: Life after the pandemic – Smart offices
How much will your office really look different when the pandemic is over. We are not in universal agreement on this.
🙂
No awards this week . . . but we have a sponsor!
—–
Topic 1: Remote work versus distributed work
We all “went remote” all of a sudden. Did we do it right? The fact that you can go remote does not mean that you maintained culture, and all the good things about your business.
We discuss – of course.
Related links:
Topic 2: Have we not thought big enough about the connected world?
We have “some” cool, futuristic technology, but we don’t yet have the totally-connected, always-on access we were hoping for. Now that glowing vision of the future is coming into focus . . . brought to you by Huawei.
We love the vision. Just wondering if we can get it from someone else.
Link:
Topic 3: Return of “Life after Covid” – Post-COVID CIOs are looking at budget increases.
IDG say, “Innovating with a reduced budget will become a high priority for tech leaders as the economy returns to health finds major annual CIO survey.” But, at the same time, large companies are enjoying an increase in technology spending.
MSPs are absolutely in a position to provide this kind of strategic advice to their customers, and they need to have that kind of insight in order to be relevant in the current planning / guessing phase.
Link:
— — —
Sponsor Note:
The MSP event of the year is back. This time, it’s virtual and free to attend!
Sherweb’s Accelerate 2020 offers a comprehensive online program to help you gear up for the future of managed services. Industry experts will deliver thought leadership sessions and hands-on workshops on sales, marketing, financials, strategic business planning and customer engagement. Also available will be 1:1 meetings and fun virtual networking.
Want to stay relevant in a disrupted world? Join us from anywhere on October 21st and 22nd. Registration is open at accelerate.sherweb.com.
🙂
Big Thank You to CrossBeam for including us on their list of top-12 pocasts! See the details at “The 12 Best Partnership and Business Development Podcasts (So Far)“ https://blog.crossbeam.com/best-partnership-and-business-development-podcasts
Topic 1: Microsoft gets into the RMM tool space.
We explore the gap between the products being offered by vendors and where the market is going. We used to build machines. Now we build stacks of tools and services.
We continue to evolve, and the environment in which we operate continues to involve.
What is the channel takeaway? Tune in.
Topic 2: The transparency of technology and how that progresses through maturity stages.
How much of an expert do you need to be? Or, more precisely, how deep do you need to go with the technology vs. understanding enough to solve client problems?
Clients just want the solution. You need to be competent, but you don’t need to explain all the details to them.
Related Link:
https://medium.com/invisible/technology-is-best-when-invisible-2b72e31c6e4a
Topic 3: As various companies move into “our” space, how does this affect the services we’re already offering. Again, with Microsoft and others: How do they fit into the solution where I already have other solutions?
And a related question is: Do these “new” players play well with others?
— — —
Sponsor note:
Acronis invites you to the Acronis Global Cyber Summit, this is the premier event dedicated to connecting the IT channel and IT pros with actionable insights, solutions, and strategies for effective cyber protection. Bringing together service providers, value-added-resellers, CIOs, and ISVs, the Summit is the world’s largest gathering of thought leaders and industry experts sharing insights and advances in the field of cyber protection. Featuring a long list of speakers, sign up for free at https://acronis.events/summit2020/.
You’ll even be able to catch Dave doing “why do we care” online. See you there.
🙂
Thanks to Sherweb for sponsoring this episode! (Details below.)
Topic 1: 179 Arrested in Massive Global Dark Web Takedown
“Operation Disruptor” is an unprecedented international law enforcement effort, stemming from last year’s seizure of a popular underground bazaar called Wall Street Market. This more than a US-centric law enforcement effort since the dark side of the Internet is international. So, this was a major, successful, multi-national undertaking.
Clearly, this is something you should be talking to you clients about. They don’t need the details, of course, but they need to know that the threat is real!
https://www.wired.com/story/operation-disruptor-179-arrested-global-dark-web-takedown/
Topic 2: Microsoft’s underwater server experiment resurfaces after two years.
Turns out, dunking data centers is a great idea! About 1/8th as many failures, compared to data center up here with oxygen and temperature variations. It’s also a good test for data centers in space or on other planets.
Next up: Placing data centers offshore . . . near you.
Topic 3: Microsoft Lighthouse: An RMM.
We tackle this straight on. Does the new MS Lighthouse with MSP dashboard compete with you? Or is it simply competing for your attention and money?
Announcement: https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/small-and-medium-business-blog/announcing-microsoft-365-lighthouse-for-managed-service/ba-p/1698181
Note, also that T-Mobile is offering Microsoft 365 and support services.
And HP is offering managed services . . .
https://www.channelpronetwork.com/news/hp-introduces-subscription-hardware-and-services-program-smbs
And Lenovo is offering managed services . . .
https://www.channelpronetwork.com/news/lenovo-introduces-microsoft-365-managed-services-smbs
Should you be afraid? Energized? Should your clients be warned about these changes? We discuss from many different angles.
—–
Today’s Sponsor is Sherweb’s Accelerate 2020:
The MSP event of the year is back. This time, it’s virtual and free to attend!
Sherweb’s Accelerate 2020 offers a comprehensive online program to help you gear up for the future of managed services. Industry experts will deliver thought leadership sessions and hands-on workshops on sales, marketing, financials, strategic business planning and customer engagement. Also available will be 1:1 meetings and fun virtual networking.
Want to stay relevant in a disrupted world? Join us from anywhere on October 21st and 22nd. Registration is open at accelerate.sherweb.com.
🙂
