these were among the most searched news stories across google

 These  people were among the most searched and most viewed news stories and search  last year according to google search. Among the top 10 celebs who made it to the list include US president elect Donald Trump and her rival Hillary Clinton, US Olympic swimmer Michale Phelps  and Melanie Trump.

internet of things is set to herald the Renaissance of industrial revolution2.0

Internet of things is set to take off spectacular in a big in in 2017 as Industries as diverse as manufacturing, automotive,industrial, home electronics,Oil and Gas,Insurance including hardware and software have already started thinking to integrating iOT in their business operations. 

Around 35% of manufacturers already use smart sensors, 10% plan to implement them within a year, and 8% plan to implement them within 3 years, according to PwC report

how iOT is set to herald the Renaissance of 2nd industrial revolution from Sumit Roy

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Further PWC report  predicts and forecasts that around 5.4 million IoT devices will be used on oil extraction sites by 2020. The devices will primarily be internet connected sensors used to provide environmental metrics about extraction sites. Auto Industry has been among the most "innovative users of " connected things across the car industry.Connected cars are a top IoT device. The report projects that over 220 million connected cars would be driving around the world by 2020. 

Military and defense would be another biggest users of iOT as spending on drones will reach $8.7 billion in 2020. In addition, 126,000 military robots will be shipped in 2020, according to Frost & Sullivan. 

During the world war 2 during that pitched battle between Allied merchant ships and German U-boats, information was the key to victory. Codebreaking and aircraft from escort carriers were the sensors, feeding information into centralized command centers, where decision makers on both sides routed submarine “wolf packs” or re-routed convoys of merchantmen. Victory went to those groups that could generate and analyze more information in a timely manner and, then, adjust not just their tactical posture but their logistical supply lines, intelligence groups, and support  facilities.Internet of things will play a big role in ensuring that timely information and data are present to the military which would be able to determine  adequate and appropriate responses 

14 million jobs to be generated by the technology companies in us in next 2 years

The technology industry comprised 5.7% of the U.S.private sector workforce in 2015, unchanged from 2014.  Tech manufacturing employment stood at 1.14 million in 2015, an increase of 3,700 jobs from 2014, and increase of 0.3%.In comparison, the overall manufacturing sector jobs in the U.S. grew by 0.97% during the same period Among the seven major tech manufacturing sub sectors, four experienced employment gains, while 3 experienced job losses.

1. The computer and peripheral equipment manufacturing had the highest rate of employment growth at 3.7% 
2. Jobs across the Telecom and Internet services sector totaled 1.3 million in 2015 up by 35,000 from 2014 .
3. Meanwhile Software employment totaled 316,200 in 2015, adding 5,300 workers, representing an increase of 1.7%percent from 2014
4. The IT services sector experienced the largest increase in jobs of the tech sectors growing by 105,400 in 2015
5. The largest net increase in jobs for any tech sector in 2015 came in services, accounting for more than half the net tech jobs gain.
6. The size of the U.S. tech workforce exceeds its construction workforce by around 400,000 jobs, and the financial sector by about 1 million jobs.( source:compTIA)

state of technology industry growth in alabama : top 3 trends

State of technology sector growth  in Alabama:employment trends and salary 

According to industry analyst CompTIA's Cyberstates 2016 report, Alabama added 454 tech jobs from 2014 to 2015. The state's total tech job employment exceeds 79,000, ranking Alabama 24th in the country.Alabama has 5642 technology establishments ( small medium and big ) that provides jobs to the state , with a billing of $6.4 billion in payroll.The leading tech industry which employs the highest number of people workers in Alabama are Software Systems and design,Engineering services,Telecom and R & D ( Research and development )

The bulk of those jobs are within computer system designs, an occupation that employs 23,000 Alabamians. Alabama has more than 40,000 people employed in key IT occupations. Corporate headquarters from BBVA Compass, Protective Life, Alabama Power, Regions Financial to software development companies such as Daxko and Platypi are based in the state. 

 In Birmingham, the state's largest metro area, some 12,000 people are employed in IT occupations. Those occupations grew by almost 5 percent in the past 5 years. That figure is projected to grow at a similar pace in the next 5 years and even more rapidly beyond that time frame.On average technology industry pay higher salaries as compared to other private sector compensation levels. The salary for a tech worker is $80,000 across tech industry which is 88% higher than other sectors ( compared to $42,600 across other sectors.see chart).Meanwhile Google’s announced $600 million data center in Jackson County may not bring the investment and jobs of an automaker or airplane assembly plant, but economic developers believe the image boost for Alabama’s technology sector could be just as significant. 

the top 5 states which lead in job creation across the technology industry

 

U.S. tech employment totaled 6.7 million in 2015, an increase of 198,200workers  from 6.5 million in 2014. Tech industry employment grew an estimated 3% YoY which was the highest growth rate in more than a decade.The tech industry in United States  comprised 5.7 percent of the U.S. private sector workforce in  2015, unchanged from 2014. 

According to a research report  called "Cyberstates 2016 compares the state of tech industry  in the US based on the job growth across the top 5 US states. This A State-by-State Analysis of the U.S. Tech Industry was published by the Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA)

According to the report the size of the U.S. tech workforce exceeds its construction workforce by around 400,000 jobs, and the financial sector by about 1 million jobs.

• The U.S. technology industry added nearly 200,000 net jobs in 2015 and now employs more than 6.7 million people
• At the state level, the largest jobs gains were recorded in the American state of California (+59,500), New York (+15,500), Texas (+13,800), Massachusetts (+11,700), and Florida (+11,400). 
• The states with the highest concentration of tech workers were Massachusetts (9.8% of private sector employment), Virginia (9.5%), Colorado (9.0%), Maryland (8.6%), and California (8.2%).
•  The highest number of technology industry workers live and work  across the US states of California, Texas, and New York.
• California led all the US states with all states with 1,150,000 tech industry workers which was nearly 3 times as many as second ranked Texas and more than 3 times than third ranked New York .No 4 was Florida with 311,800 tech industry workers followed by Massachusetts with 294,600 tech workers. 
• Employment in the telecom sector and internet services totaled 1.3 million in 2015 , an increase of 35,800 jobs compared to the previous year. While the employment of tech workers across software sector totaled 316,200 in 2015, which was an increase of 1.7% from 2014
  
  The following verticals constitute " technology industry workers" cloud, data driven/connectivity/iOT/Mobile/Apps/Automation/Artificial Intelligence/Software defined/Cybersecurity and Privacy

The 5 cyber security statistics you need to know in 2017

‘Cybercrime is the greatest threat to every company in the world’ says IBM’s CEO, Ginni Rometty. If you’re already working on boosting your security – or haven’t started yet – now’s the time. Here’s five reasons why…

1. Cybercrime cost to hit £2.41 trillion a year - Juniper Research

Cybercrime is expensive. Get hit and you’ll feel it in your profits. For example, a successful DDoS attack will force your systems offline and can cost you upwards of £100,000 every hour. 2016 reported a 22% increase in cybercrime and it certainly didn’t go unnoticed in the media. Big names like Yahoo, TalkTalk, Tesco, Netflix, Sony and even the presidential election were victim to cyber-attacks.

Get EC-Council’s Certified Ethical Hacker certification to help defend against attacks.

2. Cyber security spending to exceed £815 billion by 2021 - CSO Online

Businesses continue to realise the need to spend more on cyber security products, like software and training. In 2016, over £6.5bn was spent worldwide on information security (Gartner).

Despite this growing demand for training, a 2016 government report highlights that there’s still much to be done for businesses. With just under a fifth of businesses ensuring their staff take part in cyber security training in 2016, staff and the general public are still too unaware of their responsibilities in this regard.  

3. Unfilled cyber security jobs to reach 1.5 million by 2020 - (ISC)² 

There’s a severe shortage of qualified cyber security professionals. What’s more, the average salary for a CISSP certified professional is now £62,500.

The effect of this shortage means businesses are struggling to implement the security measures needed. A recent study by Cybersecurity Ventures of over 1,000 IT Professionals globally found that IT security managers reported significant obstacles in implementing desired security projects due to lack of expertise (34.5%) and inadequate staffing (26.4%).

4. Four billion people online by 2020 (Microsoft)

Double the current number of people will be online by 2020. As 91% of attacks begin with email phishing (Mimecast), the potential exploitation for hackers here is massive. Avoid social engineering attacks by educating your employees on information security.

More worrying statistics concerning the growing number of employees online and with access to sensitive data, came from AXELOS. They found that 75% of large organisations and nearly a third of small organisations suffered staff-related security breaches in 2015 and 50% of the worst breaches of the same year were caused by human error.   

A simple and cost-effective way to test your employees cyber security knowledge is through EC-Council’s Certified Secure Computer User (CSCU) test. This will help benchmark the cyber security awareness and competence of your workforce.

5. 200 billion IoT devices will need securing by 2020 (Intel)

More internet connected devices – from thermostats to fridges - in the hands of the public means more opportunities for hackers to infiltrate home networks.

Take a look at the recent hack of the DNS provider Dyn, which brought down major organisations, as a result of an army of 100,000 IoT devices being hacked. Dyn Vice President Scott Hilton stated that the compromised devices had been hit with the notorious Mirai malware that scans for IoT devices that are still using their default passwords. It then enslaves those devices to a botnet army, which was used to force Dyn offline.

As technology develops and individuals and businesses increasingly adopt these novel technologies, the phrase, “with great power, comes great responsibility” has never rung truer. 

Are you prepared for the next cyber-attack?  

how you can earn $50 a day by becoming a usability tester online

 

How to earn $50 a day from getting to test websites 

A huge number of business needs beta testers  to run a test of a websites usability and navigation to ensure the site is easily browsed and can be navigated by  their targeted users audience.While a lot of companies manage this in house. This has its limitations as they can unable to  reach out to a considerable number of cross sectional users whose inputs would serve the start up/website better Bad experiences on websites and apps, and in the real world, aren’t just frustrating for customers, they’re costing companies millions of dollars a year using the internet. By leveraging the power of the web and  wisdom of the crowds,Companies are able to reach out across a wide variety of people, including users who are tech savvy as well as users who are not. 
 You can earn more than $50 a day by working on user testing and make more money depending on how much time and effort you wish to invest. For a start here are some of the websites which pay to take part of user testing and site interface tests 
 1)STARTLIFT : The best part of taking part in this site is that that you can become a part of their user panel  instantly and get started with the tests. As compared to others, you dont have to wait to get accepted into their fold All it takes here is simply a screen or voice confirmation. The tests conducted here are most likely related to social media stuff, so your presence in the social media world would bolster your chance. 
 2)USERTESTING : Earn $10/$15 for 20 minutes of work. To become a tester – submit your email address and apply. Testers must take a sample test before receiving any assignments. This assignment is open to the US and International residents alike who has a PayPal account . Each test takes about 15 – 20 minutes. 
3 ENROLL : Enroll lets you take quick tests to help make the web a better place for everyone. Enroll needs your  help in deciding tasks like  which logo is better, clarify content or simply complete tasks on a web site or app to ensure the interaction makes sense.You will be paid in PayPal.
 4)TRYMYUI : This site tests users who are already  conversant in such kind of tests.Testers will be subjected to a test video and a written feedback before they can be accepted into the program. Your payment starts once you reach the threshold of $10 and payment takes no more than 3 days
 5.USERFEEL:  This site also need you to pass the test, before they consider you for a testing assigment. However the qualification test is a lot easier .The initial test each new tester needs to take in order to verify that you have a microphone and that you can speak your thoughts into the microphone.The minimum payment is $10 at the end of each week, 
 6.TESTINGTIME :These tests  can be done from home via Skype or in-person with the client. If  your profile fits a test project you’ll get an email invitation. Then, simply answer the question and pick times for the test that fit your schedule. Opportunities to participate are  awarded on a first-come, first-served basis.You will get up to € 50 per study. 
 7.USERLYTICS :Userlytics works in a slightly different way compared to most of other  usability testing website,as it insists on webcam recordings when others deem screen capture and voice recording would be suitable enough. Userlytics helps brands optimize their brand assets with remote usability testing.This site wants your help across the following areas a)How to increase e-commerce conversions bHow customers search for your category c)How to improve the user experience 
 8)WHATUSERSDO: For this you will be receiving an invitation via email whenever a test is available, you need to take 305 tests per month earning £5, €5 or $5 per test. Once you complete them, you will be offered more The better that you complete the tasks requested, the more tests that you will be offered It says it is important to capture you as you test the websites. 
 9)TESTINGTIME: TestingTime  lets you earn up to € 50 per study. Each study is conducted via Skype and usually takes 30 – 90 minutes of time. Once the study is completed, you’ll get paid within 5 – 10 days via PayPal. Testing Time is open to global residents who have an internet connection, and Skype installed on a computer
10)VALIDATELY : Validately makes it easy to talk to users - helping user researchers, UX designers, and product managers build products that customers love.Validately hires testers to complete mobile and website tests for companies. Compensation varies: You can earn $5  for a 5 minute test. Live tests where you speak via phone and share a screen with a moderator, pay a minimum of $25 for 30 minutes. Payments are made via PayPal within five business days of the test