The Future of the Office Place

On the way into work this morning, there was a tidbit in the elevator on the TV screen saying that in the office place, there are particular pieces of equipment that are either already obselete or on their way.  The specific examples it mentioned was the copier, fax machine and the rolodex.  The first two, I can understand, but the rolodex, it really made me wonder how many people have them at all anymore.  I can't remember the last time that I've seen a rolodex on someone's desk.

All that having been said, the little info-byte was absolutely correct.  The thing is though is that this isn't a new phenomena, it's something that's been going on forever and will continue to do so, it's just how we adapt to technology - and invent new technologies to (allegedly) make us more productive.

It does make me wonder though what the office place will look like in 20 or 30 years.

A Vacation from Technology

A pretty common theme in my blog is my concern about how many of us are so connected to and via technology that when we have to do without, sometimes we barely know what to do with ourselves.

Well, I had the fortunate opportunity to experience a total withdrawal from the electronic world two weeks ago when we went to Cuba for a week.  Even though our hotel had an Internet Cafe, I was warned that Cuba isn't exactly a technological hotbed and that the Internet access was so slow and unpredictable that it could literally take 30 minutes to send a 10 word email.  That having been said, I decided not even to bother. 

I knew going down that I wasn't going to have any Internet access, and I was okay with that, I was actually looking forward to it.  What I didn't count on though was not having any access to the Bell network so that I could text my daughter and see how her week was going, or so she could text me if the needed anything.  This was my only concern and frustration.

Looking back, I think that the only thing that I really missed was just not being able to read the news.  I generally like to at least keep up with what's going on in the world, but you know, not even having this, and being 'forced' to lie on a beach in Cayo Santa Maria and sipping back a Margarita or Pina Coloda between dips in the ocean - well, I'll take that hardship any day!

The Siren's Call

The ancient sea-faring mythology told of the Sirens, the mermaids who would sit on the rocks and whose voices were so beautiful and enchanting that the mariners were oblivious to the dangers around and would inevitably sink due to their lack of attention.

I’m sure that this particular opening is not one that is so subtle that one cannot figure out where I’m going with this article.

In our society today we do have our sirens, and these ones are unfortunately real, they are the gadgets that we use when we need to be paying attention to other things.

Of course, the one that most people might immediately think of is a cell phone in one hand while driving. Although illegal and it results in a hefty fine, I’m amazed by the number of people that just assume it’s okay to have one hand on the steering wheel. Not that I’m trying to self-righteous. I have to admit that there were a couple of times that I did as well, and I immediately regretted it as when I disconnected, the “all around vision” of driving became clearer to me and I could see how much I had been distracted.

What I can’t understand even beyond that is how people can text and drive. If talking on the cell isn’t bad enough, then there are those who are not only having one hand on the wheel , but also their eyes are not on the road. A recent article was of some guy that was texting and driving and he had just texted saying “I better stop before I kill myself” and then plummeted off the edge of the road. Although he did survive he has a tremendous recovery ahead of him.

I’m quite sure that there are readers of this article that never use their cell phone and drive, and I honestly give you full credit. The problem isn’t just in driving though. I don’t know how many times I see people walking down the street texting, for a good 20 or 30 yards without even looking up. Some days I’m tempted to just stand in front of them and let them run into me just so that they can see how oblivious they are to their surroundings. This is more than just a little problem, it can be as deadly as using the cell phone while driving. There are many instances of people getting injured. In the US recently there was a woman who fell onto the subway track as she wasn’t watching. Fortunately, she just had some bumps and bruises, not like the pedestrian here in Toronto that was killed when she stepped off the sidewalk to cross the street and unfortunately didn’t see the truck that didn’t see her – and apparently she didn’t see it either.

There is something about technology that just draws so many of us to an instant response. We get a text message and there’s this insatiable need that we MUST RESPOND and we must respond NOW.

The real fault doesn’t lie in the siren; it lies in us for not having the good common sense that the text message that needs to be returned – can wait. That the tweet of something funny I saw could wait 10-15 minutes and doesn’t have to be sent immediately.

Perhaps that’s one of the downfalls to technology, it’s gotten us accustomed to instant gratification so we just think that everyone else has to be responded to just as quickly.

It’s either we wise up and have a little more common sense before we fall fate to the Darwin principle and those that catch on to this will result in a premature end to their particular gene pool branch.

Pass on the virtual ear-plugs and enjoy your walk or drive!

Digital Connections

It was with great interest this week that I read an article where the premise was that those of Generation Y are eschewing the purchase of a car. The foundation for this article was that Generation Y prefers to spend their disposable income on technology as opposed to a larger purchase of, and the resulting ongoing operating costs of, a vehicle.

This in itself was an interesting article to me, but what really caught my attention – and the focus of this article – is that the rationale for making this decision is that Generation Y is using technology to establish and nurture their relationships and connections. My first instinct was to be critical of Gen Y’s method of maintaining their network but I’ve been thinking of this philosophy for the better part of today.

It’s just occurred to me that I touched on this phenomenon in this article and I will take the opportunity to expand on my thoughts on this a little more.

I think that it’s just far too easy and lazy for my generation (the baby boomers) to be critical of Gen Y and have the mindset of “digital connections and relationships are not as real as flesh and blood”. There’s a small amount of truth to it – well, maybe not so much a truth, but at least a minute basis of reality. However, technology affects most things in our lives. I’ll even go far to say that it not only affects our lives but it can be impetus for evolution, so why wouldn’t technology fundamentally change how we relate to one another.

There’s no question that any relationship or connection generally has to have a physical foundation but perhaps that Gen Y isn’t so off base on this and that being able to stay in touch electronically is just another option that we have to maintain our relationships.

I think that every generation looks back to their parents and proudly shows how their generation is better than their parents – that they have evolved and that they will dictate how society evolves. Similarly, this same generation often looks at the generation of their children and thinks to themselves “They’re naïve, they don’t have the experience that I do and they just don’t know….”.

I suspect that this inter-generational hopscotch is the basis of how our society evolves, the “I won’t make the same mistakes as my ancestors” or the “my generation will make this a better world”.

Communication and connection needs are affected and driven by technology, as so many aspects of our lives are.

In the earlier days, our neighbours were not so close geographically. Where now, we might have tens of thousands in a geographic region, then, it might have only been a dozen or so. Not only were neighbours further away, but it took much longer to reach them before the advent of the automobile. In this day and age, it was critical to have “good relations” with one’s neighbours as it was so important to be able to depend on them if you needed help. If my barn burned to the ground, then I needed to know that I could count on the support and help from my neighbours to help rebuild. In addition, if I had a problem with my water pump and this wasn’t my area of expertise, I had to know who to count on and more importantly, I had to make sure that the connection was there with my neighbour so that he would be able and willing to come and help.

With the advent of the telephone and motorized transport, this became less important. The so-called “shrinking world” had the advantage of making more resources available and as such, developing these neighbourly connections wasn’t so critical anymore. This would be an example of how the introduction of technology has impacted our connections.

Taking this concept to the current Gen Y phenomenon of technology being an integral component to their connections, perhaps I shouldn’t be so harsh and realize that there’s probably a lot of benefit to being able to instantly text, tweet, or post on someone’s Facebook wall what’s going on, or that they’re loved and missed.

The Mindset of Security

And yet again, there has been another security breach with significant number of accounts put at risk. Last week, it was disclosed by Yahoo! that over 450,000 account ID and passwords were obtained by a third party and published on the web.

The thing that bothered me the most about this particular security breach was that apparently the email addresses and passwords weren’t even encrypted. It was just a regular file on their server and once someone had downloaded it, it had the email addresses and passwords to approximately 500,000 people.

I won’t be a broken record and reiterate the importance of not using the same password for multiple websites, but if someone wants to read up on some suggestions I have, here’s the article Multiple Locks -- One Key.

The revelation that I had with this security breach is that the mindset that I need to take is to assume that any website that requires a password will eventually be compromised. For me, this is an important approach as it means that I will have to have the strategies and contingencies in place so that when the inevitable happens, that I am prepared.

It’s a little discouraging for me to think that there’s probably no chance that any type of password can’t be stolen, but I think that this is just one of the realities (and the disadvantages) of our technologies. In my mind, there’s just no getting around the fact that people will always try to make a living by obtaining things that don’t belong to them.

Part of the problem that we will face though is how do we limit the damage that can be done from those who obtain our identities? I think that some things are in our control and other things aren’t.

What we can control is how many different places that we use that password (refer to the previously mentioned article). If we have a password that is unique to one site, then if that one site’s credentials are exposed then at least we can limit it to that site.

The other thing that we can do is to look at some advanced methods of password creation. Sometimes we are exposed because of hackers that get into a third parties database, but there are other times when the weakness and lack of complexity of our password s makes it easier for a third party to guess – or to use automated tools to try different variations. If we’re using passwords such as PASSWORD or the date and month of our birthday for our banking PIN, we need to take some responsibility for that.

There are many articles online that discuss different strategies for creating stronger passwords – for the next article, I’ll summarize these articles, provide links and give some suggestions.

Those are a couple of things that we can do to limit the damage. One of the things that we don’t have control over is how long it takes to be informed that there has been a breach so that we can change our passwords. This one is a little more problematic as it could be days or even weeks before we’re aware and this means that they have seamless access to our account.

I suppose that the only real way to mitigate this is by keeping assessing the relative damage that can be done and then for those sites where it’s more critical, to make sure that we keep a closer eye on activity for anything out of the ordinary.

The other thing that we can do is to change passwords on a regular basis. From what I understand, this particular security breach was in a historical document containing usernames and passwords, so anyone who had changed their password since the list was created would not have been affected by the breach.

Unfortunately, there’s no one solution out there, I think that if I had to summarize how to minimize damage, it would be to be smart, be proactive and be vigilant of account activity.

Revisiting Security - Yet Another Breach

In the news this week has been yet another massive security breach - this time with the professional network - LinkedIn.  Apparently, millions of account passwords were breached and available to the criminal element. As I had to go in to reset my password, one of my previous articles came to mind and I thought it would be prudent to revisit it, and here's why...


I was discussing this breach with a colleague - I had asked her if she had changed her LinkedIn password and how it affected her.  Her response was "oh, I really don't use LinkedIn, there's not much personal information there and I have very few contacts, so even in the worst case, it probably wouldn't affect me too much".  I paused and then I responded, "Okay, so a couple of things, first of all, have you considered that your personal account information is theoretically available now, and that things like phone numbers, addresses and the such can be harvested to take out loans impersonating you?  Also, let me ask you this...this LinkedIn password of yours..it would be unique to LinkedIn and it's not a common password that you use for your email, for banking, for Facebook, right?".  With this statement her eyes got very big and she immediately went to change her password.

This is exactly the type of issues that I was referring to with my blog entry Multiple Locks - One Key.  As difficult as it is, we just cannot be using the same passwords for all websites.  It's human nature to do so as it's impossible to remember unique passwords for each site, but refer to my article, I have some suggestions on how to manage passwords effectively and safely.

Finally, should anyone have your own tips about how you manage your online identities and would like to share them, I'd love to post a follow-up article on other strategies and techniques.

Fantastic Voyage

As a virtual old-timer in the technological world, I’m very content with the little leaps and bounds that technology has made over the years. To a large extent, technology has evolved through gradual refinement more than anything else. I am of the generation that I can reminisce about an 8086 processor, a 300 baud modem or a dual floppy CGA-based system. Having knowledge and experience with these technologies grants me automatic inclusion into the TGC (Technology Geriatric Club!).

This gradual innovation and maturation is timed and controlled by the science behind the technology. Certainly, the advances in miniaturization has greatly influenced the ability to make smaller, and yet larger capacity – and faster chips.

Same sort of advances with our access to the outside world, we can have the fastestmodem and computer at home, but the true bottleneck is in the infrastructure of our cable or DSL lines.

I don’t know if it’s my imagination, but what I’m seeing lately with technology is astounding me. It seems to me that the physical limitations have been – well, maybe not eliminated, but certainly they are not impeding technological advance.

My first – oh my gosh – moment was with the advent of 3D printing. I’m probably fixating on this technology a bit, but holy cannoli – the more that I read and think about it, the more that I think that this is going to be an incredible technology as more applications are thought of for it.

Caught With My Technological Shorts Down

And here…

3-D Printing

The next innovation that caught my fancy was a monumental shift in technology as it relates to digital photography.

Next Great Technology - Digital Imaging

Next on my hot sheet is a medical technology that I’m not sure if it’s just experimental or becoming close to mainstream. This is the development of what are essentially micro-bots that can be inserted under the skin and either programmed or controlled remotely. I’ll be honest that I haven’t read much of this technology yet, but as someone who has gone through a few surgeries, I can attest that the smaller the incision, the less invasive the surgery, the easier it is on the body. As a side note, as soon as I read this particular article, I flashbacked to my youth and being fascinated with the movie Fantastic Voyage.

Are we there yet? No, not by a long shot and probably not in our children’s, children’s lifetimes but heck, when it comes to technology, I think that just about nothing is impossible but the impossible!

The more that I think about this theory of mine, the more that I think that I might be onto something. Maybe it really is a matter that our technology is maturing – that the first 40 years has been in developing the core infrastructure and technology to remove these hard-wired limitations.

Perhaps now that we have small, fast, efficient processors, (relatively) large storage devices the size of a fingernail and all of the other bits and bytes that we need, maybe now our biggest limitation is the creativity to think outside the box and to say to one’s self, “Well, why NOT?”.

It really is a brave new technological world and I don’t think that it’s going to get any less exciting.

Let’s strap ourselves in and enjoy this fantastic voyage!