​Artificial Intelligence and The Future of Work
The rapid development of artificial intelligence (AI) is promising big things. According to research by Accenture, AI could increase labor productivity by up to 40 percent and double the annual economic growth rates in 12 developed economies by 2035.
In doing so, AI is set to change the nature of work. We’ve already seen self-checkout technology decimate the retail workforce, and AI-powered customer assistants are expected to send the sales profession the way of the dinosaurs. Self-driving vehicles may put couriers, long-haul truck drivers and transport and logistics workers of business, and automated phone and scheduling services may also spell the end of office administration staff. And many other professions are not safe either. News-gathering algorithms may make human journalists redundant in coming years; a law algorithm recently achieved a 70 percent success rate in 8,000 test cases; hospitals and pharmaceutical chains are already replacing human pharmacists with automated machines; and even highly skilled surgeons are under threat from increasingly sophisticated surgical robots.

Emerging Opportunities
But it’s not all doom and gloom. Experts believe it will be many years before AI is capable of completely replacing creatives like writers, designers and artists, and executive management positions are also likely to remain in human hands for the foreseeable future.
The AI revolution is also serving up a range of new work opportunities for the next generation. Computer support specialists, for example, are set to see 88,500 jobs added from 2016–26 (an 11 percent increase), while software developers will see 302,500 jobs added in the same timespan (a 24 percent increase).
But these jobs – and others like them – will require new skill sets that our kids should be learning today. Coding, systems infrastructure and quality assurance skills are winners in the industry, and data analytics should also take a primary place in school and university curriculums as we face the growing need for data analysts to make sense of the enormous amounts of data organizations are currently collecting.
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The Rise Of ‘Cobotics’
Perhaps the largest growth industry for our kids will be robotics engineering. Robots are already filling many manufacturing jobs, but increasingly sophisticated AI-powered cobots (collaborative robots) are set to transform many more industries.
Cobots are not limited to protected silos on factory floors. Rather, the light, mobile machines will work with and alongside people in shared environments and will be teachable in order to complete or assist with a huge variety of tasks across a wide range of industries.
Federal funding is available for STEM education, with the Department of Education being directed to invest in “high-quality STEM education, including computer science in particular,” with the goal of providing $200 million in annual grand funding.
But we’ll need to continue to increase our commitment to this kind of high-tech education if we’re to equip our kids with the skills they’ll need to thrive in a rapidly changing world.

​Nanotech Medicine: Healthcare's Next Step
Getting a patient to swallow a pill-sized sensor to relay real-time data to their doctor sounds like something straight out of a low budget sci-fi flick, right?
Wrong! Thanks to advances in nanotechnology medical implants are not a futuristic fantasy – but a reality, capable of monitoring patient health on a personal level. Welcome to the world of ‘insideable’ devices, where bio-sensitive nanotechnology in a patient’s body can provide a range of critical data.

Understanding ‘Insideable’ Nanotechnology
An ‘insideable’ is a microscopic nanodevice that goes into a patient's body to perform a diagnostic task or monitor one or more bodily functions. The current generation of devices can be swallowed, injected or inserted just under a patient's skin.
Thanks to advances in nanotechnology, insideable devices are the next big thing in healthcare.
The first wave of nanodevices include radio-frequency identification (RFID) implants, which allow one to unlock a front door, computer or smartphone – all with a wave of a chip embedded in a finger. In the medical field insideable nanodevices take this concept a step further by making it possible to monitor a patient's vital signs, track their gastrointestinal health or even detect the early signs of diseases like cancer.
The question is what practical benefits will this cutting-edge technology have for the health sector?

Nanomedicine Benefits
The biggest promise of insideable technology is to make preventive medicine a reality, and help healthcare professionals to:

• Accurately monitor patient health.
• Predict risk with a greater degree of certainty.
• Rapidly confirm a diagnosis.
• Track whether patients are taking their prescription medications.
• Collaborate with patients more effectively.

And if you are looking for a dominant trend in the sector, it has to be predictive diagnostics, which is largely driven by insideable nanotechnology.

Smart Pills: The Future of Digital Medicine
Regulatory bodies like the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have already cleared ‘smart pills’ like an ingestible sensor digital pill from Proteus Digital Health - who bill themselves as “the world’s first digital medicine service”.
Elsewhere tech giant Google is also working on a smart pill that could identify diseases before symptoms become present – a pre-emptive approach that will allow care to be personalised to the individual. There is also research into DNA nanotechnology, where one long, thin noodle-like strand of DNA can deliver drugs inside cells. Insideables could even improve the delivery of vaccines, which could mean no more needles – an advance all patients would welcome.
Insideables and nanotechnology open up a world of possibilities to make healthcare smarter, faster, more effective - and revolutionize the way we detect and treat disease.

The solid-state drive (SSD) has swiftly become the go-to upgrade to breathe new life into an ageing computer, and for good reason too.  An SSD swiftly brings an old laptop or desktop up to date with modern machines in just a single step.

The price of solid-state memory has fallen dramatically in recent years. As costs have dropped, the popularity of the technology has increased exponentially.  At one time an SSD was a rare treat for serious PC enthusiasts, now it's cheaper and more readily available than ever. No other single solution is as cost-effective, quick to swap, and impressively effective as swapping out an old hard drive in favor of the faster and more modern SSD.

Out with The Old
The hard disk drive (HDD) is a technology that dates back as far as the 1950s.  They became the default solution all PCs would use for decades to come.  Most old laptop and desktop machines still contain their original, worn hard drives they left the factory with. The HDD was a mostly mechanical device.  Inside a solid outer casing was a series of spinning disks arranged in a delicate stack known as a platter. Each disk could read and save data using a tiny needle moving across the disk's surface.  The technology looked and worked much like a miniature record player.  Like a record player, widely in use at the time that hard drives were developed, the hard drive had some serious drawbacks in their use. The series of tiny disks and needles that made up the HDD were incredibly fragile.  Vulnerable to dust or movement, computers commonly succumbed to hard drive failures that rendered the machine and its stored data unusable. Occasionally, simply moving a laptop while reading or writing data can damage a hard drive's spinning disk.

In with The New
The primary reason to switch to a more modern SSD, on top of their impressive durability, is the incredible increase in speed.  The SSD has no moving parts at all, working more like a digital camera memory card than a vinyl record player.

An SSD simply makes the process of retrieving and saving data to storage many times faster.  Eliminating the mechanical component, removing the need to move a physical disk, and not needing to physically pick up the data means a much faster and smoother operation. Computer startup, where the operating system loads all its data from storage, can take as little as one-quarter of the time of a comparable HDD.  Additionally, loading regular applications and data from an SSD takes a fraction of time of an HDD.

An SSD completely breathes new life into an old machine.  Computers with an SSD replacement for the hard drive feel like using an entirely new machine for a fraction of the cost.
Replacing the main mechanical component additionally eliminates wear and tear working to break down your machine.  While an HDD slows over time, degrades, and can eventually suffer mechanical failure; an SSD remains as durable as the day it was purchased.

Ideal Laptop Upgrade
In a laptop setting, the SSD makes complete sense.  They require less power than older hard drives, making the most of your battery charge. In addition, not needing a large disk platter, mechanical parts, or protective outer case means they are about half the weight of a mechanical drive.  Making an old machine lightweight brings it another step closer to a modern machine. They run almost silently too.  The familiar click-clack of the hard drive inside a laptop is a thing of the past.  Many users comment on the noise their laptop used to make starting up and loading programs.  Noisy laptops are a tech throwback we're happy to leave behind.

For many who feel like their old laptop or desktop is showing its age, the prohibitive cost of purchasing a whole new machine keeps them invested in their old one.  A simple, fast SSD upgrade can make your old machine new again at a much smaller price. If swapping long startups, and slow load times sounds right for you, consider upgrading to an SSD.  You won't look back.

Give us a call at 715-255-0325, and we can give your machine a new lease on life.


Q. We say: "Strike while the iron is hot." But what did Cromwell say? A. "Not only strike while the iron is hot, but make it hot by striking. Don't simply improve a chance when you have it, but make a chance.” ­ - from the book Conundrums and Riddles, published by FJ Drake & Company

Children today have grown up surrounded by technology their entire lives.  Since before they are old enough to read they can pick up a tablet or smartphone and swipe at apps and games with ease.  Modern kids have an intuitive understanding and ability with technology that older generations can barely imagine.  The abundance of technology, however, comes with a price.

Easy access to any marketplace can be a double-edged sword.  The convenience and ease of use is a boost to those of us needing a quick app, but accidental purchases can cause a lot of headaches.  One-click online shopping was once one of the biggest dangers our bank account faced.  Now, many of us carry multiple devices, each with their own marketplace and app stores. With modern tech, mobile applications, whether on iOS or Android devices, are easier than ever to buy and download.  So simple in fact, that a child could do it.  

Designed to Appeal - Children love to download mobile applications that feature their favorite characters, cartoons and TV shows.  Advertisements are aimed specifically for children in ways that will invite them to click a link and instantly download a game.These games are typically free, meaning they don't require authentication by default before downloading.  A new game can be downloaded, installed, and ready to run seconds from clicking an ad. Developers commonly use, what is known in the business as, a 'freemium' model.  This means that the game is free to download and start, but inserts paid 'upgrades' designed to make the player part with cash.

Freemium Games - Upgrades to games may unlock more levels, purchase an in-game currency, or outfit a character with special attributes.  Competitive online games commonly employ a strategy that gives paying players an unfair advantage over ones who don't pay.  This is often referred to as 'pay-to-win' and entices players to spend more to get on the same level.
Many mobile-based games are designed purely to encourage in-app purchasing.  Some deliberately design a deceptive or tricky user-interface that makes it easy to miss-click or make purchases by accident.
There are regular stories in the news featuring kids spending thousands on in-app purchases for virtual characters.  In some cases, children can use real-world money to buy items thinking they are spending in-game currency.

Apps to Help - Of course, it's unfair to give all applications a lousy name.  Many deserve it, but not all apps are guilty of behaving badly. There are fitness apps, productivity apps, and educational apps that can act as useful tools to help enhance your day.  Children can get a lot from high-quality applications in the same way educational software for the computer can be a huge classroom boost.
Getting the most out of your phone or tablet is about keeping your device safe against applications designed merely to take your money.

Secure Your Device - The best step you can take to prevent running up enormous app bills is to disable in-app purchases on your devices.  This prevents apps from being able to take funds for digital items. The process to do this is simple, takes less than 2 minutes, and can save you huge amounts.

• On iOS: Enter the settings screen, tap on 'General'.  Then tap on 'Restrictions' and tap the 'Enable restrictions' option.  Make sure to turn "In-App Purchases" off.
• On Android: Inside the Google Play App: press the phone menu button and go to Settings.  Scroll down to "User Controls", tap on the "Set or Change Pin" option and set a pin that only you will know.

In the "User Controls" menu check the option to "Use Pin for purchases".  Newer phones may label this pin as a password instead.

Safe Apps - With these options enabled, whether using an iOS or Android device, your phone or tablet is safe from app purchases in any hands.
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“Q. Why does a villain smile? A. False face must hide what the false heart doth know.” - from the book Conundrums and Riddles, published by FJ Drake & Company