Author: Peggy Smedley
Can you trust what you are seeing online? We are headed into an election season, and I want to caution all my readers. Do not trust anything you read, see, or hear, especially online. This is perhaps one of the most contentious election seasons yet, and we have a new foe to deal with: deepfakes. Now, I try to stay away from politics on this blog, but I think there is a more pressing issue to contend with here. We need to become good discerners of truth. We need to know how to do good due diligence. We need to…
In the years since computers burst onto the scene, we have witnessed a plethora of software and hardware come and go. Computer software and hardware go together like peanut butter and jelly. They are inseparably linked. And it might force us to beg the question: Which is more important, the software or the hardware? Or for that matter which comes first, the chicken or the egg, in the world of technology? In our 10 tips, we gave some simple advice as you try to tackle this cloudy murky terrain. Some still debate whether it’s the OS (operating system). Whichever…
Are Americans pessimistic or optimistic about the country’s future? What are their thoughts on the state of infrastructure? Does our infrastructure represent intergenerational equity and how is our infrastructure shaping future communities? These are certainly some hefty questions. These questions and more were addressed in a recent survey and report. What’s more, the insights are even more enlightening. GHD released a report—CROSSROADS—on the perspectives of the role infrastructure plays in meeting the diverse needs of current and future generations. The organization compiled its research from the roughly 13,000 people it surveyed. It gathered data from 4,000 people in the United…
Data is the new oil, but how do we drill for it? This is the question that must be answered today, and it is something we are seeing play out at the Olympics. In fact, Kaveh Mehrabi from the Intl. Olympics Committee, says the challenge we have is the volume of information. “As much as information is good, it can also become overwhelming. It can be difficult to understand and be confident where is the source of truth,” he says. This is one of the reasons the Intl. Olympics Committee and Intel collaborated to create a custom-designed AI Chatbot—Athlete365—to help…
It is time to implement new software, but where do you start? Consider the 10 steps you should take when evaluating software for your company. This checklist might seem extremely basic. But it’s sometimes in simplicity that we forget the basic steps. It never hurts to have a quick checklist. No one wants to have to run back to the grocery store because you forgot the bread to complete Shaggy Super Sandwich. All too often these basic steps are overlooked. So, now that we remember we need an OS (operating system) software before we can do anything, the rest of…
Welcome to August. Now is the perfect time to give some thought to how the year has progressed so far in the construction industry. What has worked? What has not? What predictions have panned out? And what predictions have fallen flat on their face? Let’s explore what has happened so far. (Don’t forget, it’s an election year, makes you wonder what could change come November!) JLL presents some research on this very topic in its 2024 Midyear Construction Update and Reforecast. It helps paint a picture of how 2024 has unfolded in construction and gives us a glimpse into what…
EVs (electric vehicles) offer huge opportunities—at least that’s the hope—not just for consumers, but also for businesses. From airplanes to mail carriers to buses, EVs (electric vehicles) are coming to all aspects of our cities, although some areas are moving a little bit faster than others. IDTechEx suggests the electric buses market is booming with sales growing in Europe, America, India, and other key regions. In fact, research shows more than half of all city bus sales in Europe in 2023 were electric (battery and fuel cell) and that some regions are ahead of the European Union’s target for 100%…
Three words to define civility: polite, courteous, and respect. More than 161 million people work in the United States every day and workers collectively experience roughly 171 million acts of incivility per day. That’s a telling number. No wonder no one wants to go to work these days. These numbers come from the SHRM Civility Index and point to a growing trend of incivility in the workplace. View the full article here.
Today’s construction industry faces several challenges. Too often information is still siloed, creating inefficiencies in projects, and yet construction companies are tasked with rebuilding failing infrastructure. If we look at the stats, they are downright scary. Nearly, half of national bridges in the United States were rated structurally deficient in 2017—and I am afraid we aren’t making progress fast enough. Consider the example of Andrew Anagnost, CEO, president, Autodesk He takes the BART to work most days and goes through a tunnel that was designed in the 1960s in an earthquake zone. Every day a part of him thinks about…
For years, I have been sounding the horn about good cybersecurity practices because a breach can cause businesses to come to a halt, costing companies millions or even billions of dollars. But the reality is there are a lot of things that can cause tech systems to go down: system failure, human error, power and internet outages, or an update, as was the case on July 19, 2024, when airlines, banks, hospitals, and other businesses around the globe slowed. This brings up an interesting question: What would you do if your tech systems went offline? But perhaps the bigger question…