Skip to main content

Montana’s TikTok ban is an appalling line in the sand for freedom of speech

Written by STEP Software on . Posted in Blog. No Comments on Montana’s TikTok ban is an appalling line in the sand for freedom of speech

DATA PROTECTIONS SPAWN FREEDOM CONCERNS Montana’s law, which takes effect January 1, 2024, is the first outright ban, within a U.S. state, of the popular video sharing app. A violation is defined as, “Each time that a user accesses TikTok, is offered the ability to access TikTok, or is offered the ability to download TikTok,” and is punishable by fines of up to $10,000 per violation per day. It’s a tough solution to a significant problem. No one denies that TikTok represents clear and present danger to individuals, businesses, and governments around the world, particularly in the west....

Continue reading

Collaboration tools hit their stride in the post-COVID age

Written by STEP Software on . Posted in Blog. No Comments on Collaboration tools hit their stride in the post-COVID age

A CHAOTIC START The early days of the COVID-19 pandemic were disruptive in ways we’re only just beginning to understand. After the initial wave of lockdowns sent millions of knowledge workers home in March 2020, IT leaders were challenged to keep everyone working no matter where they were, or how they were connected. Collaboration platforms were quickly forced into service as organizations of all sizes and in all sectors struggled to maintain productivity for their suddenly remote workforces. They may have succeeded in keeping the lights on, but the processes used to do so weren’t...

Continue reading

Geoffrey Hinton’s resignation from Google is AI’s canary in a coal mine

Written by STEP Software on . Posted in Blog. No Comments on Geoffrey Hinton’s resignation from Google is AI’s canary in a coal mine

GROWING CONSENSUS Hinton resigned from Google last week, saying AI could pose a more urgent threat to humanity than climate change. He said he wanted to speak out on these risks without worrying about damaging his now-former employer’s reputation. The timing of Hinton’s resignation – so soon after the release of an open letter from the Future of Life Institute, signed by over 1,000 top industry researchers, which called for a 6-month moratorium on testing next-generation large language models – is no coincidence. It signals a growing momentum among scientists and researchers...

Continue reading

Follow these 4 steps to build a successful post-pandemic roadmap for hybrid work

Written by STEP Software on . Posted in Blog. No Comments on Follow these 4 steps to build a successful post-pandemic roadmap for hybrid work

THE CONSEQUENCES OF RTO The pandemic has resulted in a number of permanent changes to work culture, particularly where remote work is concerned. Whereas before the first lockdowns many employers resisted requests to work from home, their attitude quickly changed as the need to keep the lights on remained after workers left the office. But not everyone got the message, and that was particularly apparent as COVID infection rates began to fall and organizations started refining their post-pandemic workforce plans. Many organizations attempted to enforce strict RTO rules, often giving...

Continue reading

Batten down the hatches and hit the gas: 8 steps to recession-proof your IT budget

Written by STEP Software on . Posted in Blog. No Comments on Batten down the hatches and hit the gas: 8 steps to recession-proof your IT budget

THE ECONOMY BEGINS TO TURN It’s easy to understand why the broader economy is pulling back after over a decade of historic expansion. Early pandemic spending sprees are giving way to late-pandemic pullbacks. The Russian invasion of Ukraine is sending shockwaves around the globe. Between chaotic energy markets, broken supply chains, waves of layoffs, rampant inflation, and spiking interest rates, there’s no shortage of frightening economic headlines. Historically, IT has followed the rest of the business herd as economic indicators have started to trend downward. As everyone else’s budget...

Continue reading

Massive Pentagon data leak shines light on insider cybersecurity risks

Written by STEP Software on . Posted in Blog, StringN. No Comments on Massive Pentagon data leak shines light on insider cybersecurity risks

NO LONGER JUST A GAME Massachusetts Air National Guard member Jack Teixeira, 21, was arrested last week for allegedly stealing the highly classified military documents and sharing them on a Discord gaming channel. The compromised data includes signals-based intelligence that could impact American information gathering efforts for years to come. In the ever evolving pantheon of major cybersecurity events, this ranks among the most damaging. What is especially troubling about this particular breach is the amount of time it took to be discovered. Military officials were unaware...

Continue reading

Today’s CIO role is evolving more rapidly than ever. Here’s what’s driving it.

Written by STEP Software on . Posted in Blog. No Comments on Today’s CIO role is evolving more rapidly than ever. Here’s what’s driving it.

EVERYTHING HAS CHANGED If we’re being blunt, CIOs of old were little more than tactically-focused bureaucrats who had to ask others – typically the CEO, CFO, or COO – for budgetary approval. They rarely participated in strategic decision making, as the rest of the leadership group tended to view them in little more than a maintenance role. CIOs of old were largely focused on maximizing uptime, staffing the help desk, and replacing employee laptops every few years. This may have been sufficient when most of an organization’s technology infrastructure was stuck behind a glass wall and was...

Continue reading

Tech leaders pen letter demanding AI pause: are we moving too quickly?

Written by STEP Software on . Posted in Blog. No Comments on Tech leaders pen letter demanding AI pause: are we moving too quickly?

WHAT THEY’RE ASKING FOR The letter, Pause Giant AI Experiments: An Open Letter, was published by the Future of Life Institute, a non-profit organization partially backed by Elon Musk. It says, “Powerful AI systems should be developed only once we are confident that their effects will be positive and their risks will be manageable.” The signees are asking all AI research labs to halt, for at least 6 months, the training of any AI tool that is considered more powerful than the current state-of-the-art, GPT-4. They suggest using the pause to build and implement common safety...

Continue reading

Twitter source code gets leaked online. Here’s why it matters.

Written by STEP Software on . Posted in Blog, StringN. No Comments on Twitter source code gets leaked online. Here’s why it matters.

THE SECRET SAUCE, NO LONGER SECRET The New York Times reported on March 26th that Twitter had sent a copyright infringement notice to GitHub. The company asked the developer forum to remove a repository containing what it said was leaked source code. GitHub removed the code the same day, and while it was not immediately known when the leak first occurred, the Times reported the code had been exposed for a number of months. The optics are troubling. Any leak of source code is worrisome for any company. For a software or platform company, however, it’s infinitely worse. Source code...

Continue reading

AI chatbots go next-level – and productivity apps are their next target

Written by STEP Software on . Posted in Blog. No Comments on AI chatbots go next-level – and productivity apps are their next target

EVERYTHING CHANGED As we wrote about recently, ChatGPT’s arrival marked a significant inflection point in the tech industry, as it represented the general public’s first direct exposure to a full-on AI-based platform. Up until now, these technologies largely existed in labs. The global release of ChatGPT turned this once-sci-fi-seeming technology into an everyday reality as millions of regular folks logged in and tried it out. ChatGPT’s public debut has understandably spurred a flurry of activity among major tech companies as they jockey for position in this chaotically accelerating space. Much...

Continue reading