Dear ,

The Australian Government's proposed encryption – or should that be decryption – laws, have stirred up a hornet's nest, with submissions on the proposed bill coming in from all quarters – from Police to MIT, Kaspersky and Universities among many others.

Joining the fray this week was Apple who have played hardball in the US on this exact issue. You can read their views on the proposed legislation, along with those of Access Now, the Inspector General of Intelligence and Security, and the Department of Home Affairs, in Pat Pilcher’s story.

In this week’s other news:

'Ground-truthing' IoT on farm
AI proof points – e-commerce #1 in AI gains
The verdict is out on open office space
Bringing x-genners along on the tech journey

And we also take a look at how Staples resolved their spreadsheet problem, (at last count 75 weekly, 175+ ad-hoc reports), with Microstrategy and the BizFIT smart strategy tool.

Happy reading,

Heather Wright
Editor
editor@istart.com.au

Apple bites at ‘dangerous ambiguity’ in bill

Are Apple’s objections valid? Or do they just have the pip?..

Apple’s strong views on encrypting devices are well known and have seen them challenging 11 court orders to unlock i-devices.

“This is no time to weaken encryption. There is a profound risk of making criminals’ jobs easier, not harder.”

[Read more]

IoT gets real world farm testing in MLA initiative

Forget the hype, we want ground-truthing…

A long-term on-farm IoT trial debuts in Canberra next month as MLA step up efforts to ‘ground truth’ IoT and show the reality behind the hype.

“More often than not, it’s not as simple as buying a $200 IoT device sensor and installing it.”

[Read more]

AI investment shows bang for buck

Gartner finds majority of AI projects are very successful – for e-commerce...

Outsourcing the hard stuff is key to success when it comes to AI-based digi-commerce projects according to new research from Gartner.

“It seems the commerce organisation is more advanced in leveraging emerging technologies.”

[Read more]

Open office findings counter-intuitive

The science is out: why open offices don’t foster collaboration...

Open offices and face-to-face collaboration go together like peas and carrots, right?

“In general, I do think the open office space ‘revolution’ has gone too far.”

[Read more]

Reskilling the older generation to finish their careers in tech

Having no prior tech experience shouldn't stop us reskilling older, non-tech workers...

In many cultures, elders are held in the utmost regard, but that perception isn't as evident in the tech sector, where younger staff are often considered more adaptable.

“We mustn’t only look to reskill those already working in the industry (although that is important) – the net must be cast wider.”

[Read more]

The static spreadsheet challenge

BizFIT is Staples’ way to move from an outdated, paper-based analytics process to a mobile solution...

Staples first opened its doors in 1986 in Brighton, Massachusetts.

“We needed a single delivery platform for crucial information to drive decisions and our business.”

[Read more]

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