When most people think of “computer software,” they think of applications that are used to interact with a PC, laptop, or mobile device. These programs display icons or information on a screen and take input from a keyboard, pointing device, touch screen, or game controller. But interactive software represents only a fraction of the software that’s out there.
As if being ostracized by big-tech hosting and supporting services was not enough of a controversy for a large and rapidly growing social networking provider, allegations recently surfaced that the provider’s user data was leaked. Reports indicate that before Amazon removed the provider from its hosting service, an Austrian hacker claimed to have accessed users’ image and video files that were uploaded to the website, along with the associated metadata. Regardless of whether this information was obtained from publicly posted materials or from a hack, the issue reinforces the need to regard data security as a top application priority.
The Star Wars canon has medical droids playing a prominent role in autonomous diagnosis and treatment of injuries and illnesses. How cool would it be if even semi-autonomous systems could handle routine diagnoses and treatments, freeing doctors and caregivers to focus on more challenging cases? Well that future is a little closer to reality than some may think!
Digital transformation isn’t easy.
The hardest part for most companies has less to do with the technology itself. The hardest part is overcoming the organizational inertia that keeps organizations trapped in their current, antiquated processes. The process of getting stakeholders to examine and rethink their processes is a cultural change that takes time. Organizational change must be nurtured and can’t be imposed.
In 2015, cybersecurity researchers Charlie Miller and Chris Valasek demonstrated that a Jeep Cherokee could be hacked and its critical systems commandeered over the internet. They were able to completely disable the vehicle in one scenario; later they showed how they could arbitrarily control the vehicle’s acceleration, steering, and braking. Chrysler recalled 1.4 million of the vehicles to patch the exposed vulnerabilities, at great expense (and embarrassment) to the company.
In 1891, at the 10th International Medical Conference, Professor Themistocles Glück of Germany presented the results of an experiment in which he used ivory to replace the femoral head (the “ball” part of the ball-and-socket) of human patients with deteriorated hip joints.
