Changing consumer habits due to lockdown are believed to have been a big factor in Amazon’s Q1 profits being a massive three times larger than last year. Huge Profit Growth in Just One Year In the first 3 months of 2020, before the first lockdowns for the pandemic, Amazon recorded a $2.5bn profit. Fast forward to the first 3 months of…
In this article we look at image optimisation, the different types of compression and image files, and how files different file formats can be compared and best used. Vectors or Bitmaps? Raw, digital image files start as either vectors or bitmaps/rasters/pixel maps. Bitmaps are made from pixels whereas vectors are made using mathematical formulas, co-ordinates and geometry. Vector image…
In this article, we take a brief look at what an MSP is, what services they provide, and what benefits businesses get from using an MSP. MSPs A Managed Service Provider (MSP) is a company that delivers outsourced IT services and support to businesses and organisations. The MSP remotely and proactively, manages, monitors, updates, reports on (and has responsibility…
With BT Openreach officially setting the timeframe for switching off PSTN/ISDN, we look at what this means for businesses. ISDN an PSTN Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN), which really came into being in the 1990s, is a set of communication standards that are used for simultaneous digital transmission of voice, video, data, and other network services over the digitised…
This article takes a brief look at what private browsing actually means with popular browsers and software, and how genuinely private browsing could be achieved. Why Browse Privately? Over 80 percent of websites use one or more tracking tools (Epic) and reasons for private browsing may be to avoid having your browsing history recorded, perhaps being on a shared or…
Following last week’s leak of proposed new rules about the use of AI systems, The European Commission looks likely to ban some “unacceptable” usage of AI in Europe. The Leak and the Letter This latest announcement that the European Commission aims to ban “AI systems considered a clear threat to the safety, livelihoods and rights of people” (and thereby “unacceptable”) follows…
MI5 is using a ‘Think before You Link’ campaign to warn its workers about the growing threat of being targeted for information by actors for hostile states using fake profiles on platforms such as LinkedIn. Think before You Link It has been reported that MI5 believes that more than 10,000 British nationals have been targeted online in the past…
In this article, we take a brief look at what APIs are, why they are important, and how they are they are used. What Is An API? An Application Programming Interface (API) is intermediary software that allows different applications to talk to each other. In essence, it delivers your request to a provider and then delivers the provider’s response…
In this article, we look at what ‘greenwashing’ is, how and why it is being used, and what is being done to stop it. What Is Greenwashing? Greenwashing, a term coined by Jay Westerveld in 1986, refers to how some companies mislead stakeholders about their environmental and ethical credentials by spending more on marketing themselves as being environmentally friendly…
President Biden’s administration in the U.S. has placed new sanctions on Russia over alleged cyberattacks affecting the U.S. and its allies. What Is Russia Accused Of? The U.S. government sanctions relate to: – The ‘SolarWinds attack’ where cyber-criminals accessed 18,000 government and private computer networks. The U.S. appears to blame the Cosy Bear hackers for carrying out the attacks…
