Skip to main content

Home/ Hospitality Technology/ Group items tagged ban

Rss Feed Group items tagged

Filter: All | Bookmarks | Topics Simple Middle
sigomezsh

The Human and Environmental Effects of E-Waste | PRB - 0 views

www.prb.org/...vironmental-effects-of-e-waste

technology ewaste

shared by sigomezsh on 21 Jun 21 - No Cached
  • Informal recycling markets in China, India, Pakistan, Vietnam, and the Philippines handle anywhere from 50 percent to 80 percent of this e-waste, often shredding, burning, and dismantling the products in “backyards.”
  • Currently, an estimated 70 percent of e-waste handled in India is from other nations, but the UNEP estimates that between 2007 and 2020, domestic television e-waste will double, computer e-waste will increase five times, and cell phones 18 times.
  • The informal sector’s recycling practices magnify health risks.
  • ...3 more annotations...
  • Guiyu is known as the largest e-waste recycling site in the world, and the city’s residents exhibit substantial digestive, neurological, respiratory, and bone problems. For example, 80 percent of Guiyu’s children experience respiratory ailments, and are especially at risk of lead poisoning.
  • The Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal bans the exchange of hazardous waste, including e-waste, between developed and developing countries.
  • The United States is the largest generator of e-waste worldwide and the only industrialized nation not yet ratifying the Basel Convention.
davidclark33

In A Covid-19 World, Here's Why You Should Use A Travel Agent - 0 views

www.forbes.com/...-you-should-use-a-travel-agent

shared by davidclark33 on 10 Sep 20 - No Cached
  • Back in March, I wrote about how travel agents helped clients get home as walls of travel restrictions went up, and as airlines cut flights.
  • That story led a number of travel advisors to contact me, sharing their tales. With pictures of stranded travelers sleeping in airports still fresh in my mind, and thousands of others unable to get ahold of their airlines, I thought now would be a good time to remind you why it pays to use a travel advisor. From Classic Travel Connection in Birmingham, Alabama, Christen Perry recalled, “On March 11, during the middle of the President's speech to our nation regarding travel to and from Europe my team began making immediate contact with our clients who were still traveling in Europe.”
  • Closer to home, as millions of folks who booked direct were getting busy signals, Alexis Sherry of As Travel Pro was swinging into action. A family she had in the Dominican Republic were notified by their hotel that the airport was shutting down. Since they had used a travel advisor, as in real person, not an online screen bot, they had no problem getting through. After finding no flights available, Sherry contacted a private jet company, which arrived to pick the family up just seven hours after the hotel notified them of the shutdown. She also obtained a credit for the remainder of their interrupted stay.
  • ...3 more annotations...
  • She continued, “We could only assume how crazy the European airports would become when they woke up the next morning to the news from the press conference. Even though it was the middle of the night for them, we called them, woke them up, calmly communicated the situation, and asked them to pack their bags and head to the airport. “While they were doing so, we began immediately changing their flights to get them home as soon as possible. By acting quickly, calmly, and as a team, we were able to communicate with the clients, with each other, and with our suppliers. Our clients were among the first out of Europe that morning.”
  • Back across the Atlantic, Louisa Gehring of Brownell Travel affiliate Gehring Travel, didn’t need to look far to see how quickly the situation was deteriorating. A reporter from The New York Times posted about “bedlam” at Charles de Gaulle Airport as throngs of Americans sought to get home.
  • When the ban was announced, Gehring reached out to a couple were in the City of Lights celebrating the wife’s 40th birthday. She talked them through options to return home, even though it was 2 am. Her clients decided to leave the next day. In cutting their trip short, they were going to miss going to the top of the Eiffel Tower and a dinner cruise by celebrated chef Alain Ducasse, which was also nonrefundable. Within hours, the star advisor moved both experiences to that day, their final day in Paris. They were among the last visitors to the Eiffel Tower before it closed, followed by dinner, where they were among only a guests.
  • davidclark33 on 10 Sep 20
     
    This article is about the value of using a travel agent. The article describes several real-life situations that unfolded as borders and countries were shutting down travel.... all while tourists were still visiting these countries. Luckily these tourists booked their vacations using travel agents so they were able to work with their travel agents on navigating home and not with a computer screen.
kmira026

Why You Should Take a 'Wait-and-See' Approach to New-Product Launches - 0 views

www.entrepreneur.com/...296085

shared by kmira026 on 06 Feb 20 - No Cached
  • While most inventors would love to create something completely new, that's not always necessary. Often, it's enough -- and a brilliant marketing tactic, even -- to imitate your rivals and then add a few tweaks.
  • Pandora used imitation and a delayed launch to woo paid streaming-service users with the promise of a more personalized experience.
  • Instead of being first to the marketplace, being last may actually present more opportunities and stability.
  • ...13 more annotations...
  • Regardless of the solution they eventually offer, entrepreneurs who hang back can avoid early fatal flaws that interrupt fantastic consumer experiences.
  • Poor marketing, uber-techiness and overspending.
  • 1. Watch, look and listen.
  • 2. Use negative sentiment to your advantage.
  • Capitalize on negative press swirling around your competition by waiting to release a similar product.
  • While we love a story of bold innovation, innovation doesn't always keep the lights on. Sometimes, it's far wiser to come in second or third where the spotlight is less blinding -- there, you can see where you're going.
  • 3. Differentiate yourself through great execution.
  • As you read through social media posts and dig into articles on your competition's products, figure out where things went awry. Make sure you don't stumble over the same roadblocks.
  • Apple has merely found a smoother path to streamline a service people want and already use
  • Lyft and Uber have been entangled in a fight like this for a while.
  • When President Donald Trump's travel ban rather circuitously led to #DeleteUber momentum, Lyft took advantage of the opportunity to outshine its rival. Not only did Lyft donate to the American Civil Liberties Union, but it has also enjoyed a 7 percent increase in customers since January 29. Lyft wasn't hasty, and it swung with the popular sentiment pendulum.
  • You might think you have a revolutionary product, but what if the market disagrees? If your top competitor just released a similar product and its sales are flailing, you owe it to yourself to analyze what's happening. Could it be that the market for your product just doesn't exist yet? If so, how can you pivot so you can produce an actual game-changer, not a wannabe?Segway knows all about this challenge: It discovered its product's market was limited by cost and individual desire. By the time it was put to bed, it was no longer a technological marvel -- it was just a punchline. Chances are good that leaders of a company waiting to market a Segway-like creation put plans on hold when they saw the fallout and chose to execute their innovations differently.4. Do the common uncommonly well.
  • leapfrogged over the issues plaguing its competitors, solidifying itself as a smarter, less-glitchy solution for music lovers, thanks in part to what it's calling the Music Genome Project.
    • kmira026
      kmira026 on 21 Sep 20
       
      benefit of wait and see approach
  • augu010 on 06 Feb 20
     
    This article goes into being patient when it comes to launching a new or similar product. Many companies try to be a trendsetter but sometimes taking the backseat is much beneficial. Startup and trial and error runs are ultimately decreased. Reviewing the feedback of others on social media outlets can help make sure you don't stumble over the same issues.
  • mfont039 on 16 Feb 20
     
    This article explains why a wait & see approach is sometimes the best approach for some companies before launching a product in a very competitive market which already has a company providing the same product to consumers. Many companies have waited to see what issues consumers are complaining about when their competitors have launched a product to later launch a better product better than that if the competitors. Such companies are Pandora versus Apple Music, Lyft versus Uber, Apple Cash versus Venmo, QuickPay, and Square Cash.
marble_bird

Roche2016_Article_RecreationalDivingImpactsOnCor.pdf - 0 views

shared by marble_bird on 07 Jul 20 - No Cached
  • Recreational diving on coral reefs is an activity that has experienced rapidly growing levels of popularity and participation.
  • the potential role of dive impacts in contributing to coral reef damage is a concern at heavily dived locations. Management measures to address this issue increasingly include the introduction of programmes designed to encourage environmentally responsible practices within the dive industry.
  • Coral reefs are a threatened, but globally important ecosystem, providing key services to local communities such as coastal defence, sediment production, and fisheries benefits
  • ...45 more annotations...
  • The role of dive supervision was assessed by recording dive guide interventions underwater, and how this was affected by dive group size.
  • Over recent decades, tourism activities benefiting from the pleasing aesthetics and biodiversity of coral reefs, primarily SCUBA diving and snorkelling, have experienced rapidly increasing numbers of participants globally
  • We found evidence that the ability of dive guides to intervene and correct diver behaviour in the event of a reef contact decreases with larger diver group sizes. Divers from operators with high levels of compliance with the Green Fins programme exhibited significantly lower reef contact rates than those from dive operators with low levels of compliance.
  • Damage to corals on dived reefs often occurs as a result of skeletal breakage, particularly in branching species (Guzner et al. 2010;H a s l e ra n dO t t 2008). Tissue abrasion can also result from diver contact (Hawkins et al. 1999), and a recent study reported a higher incidence of coral disease in areas heavily used for recreational diving
  • It is possible that other diver characteristics such as qualification level or dive experience may affect the ability to respond to dive briefings, although several studies have failed to find a correlation between divers’ reef contact rates and experience
  • Due to the difficulties of effectively addressing global stressors, an emerging recommendation is the focus of coral reef management on local scales (e.g. Anthony et al. 2014). A frequent challenge facing managers and policy makers at local levels relates to the maximisation of tourism benefits whilst simultaneously reducing its environmental impacts
  • Alternatively, previous experience and possible affinity and attachment to a specific dive site may influence how closely divers follow pre-dive briefings and affect their behaviour underwater, as suggested by place attachment theory
  • The methodologies which have been developed to minimise the environmental impact of SCUBA diving on coral reefs can be summarised as follows: (1) managing or restricting diver numbers, (2) regulating the locations in which SCUBA diving activities occur, (3) regulating the types of equipment used, and 4) implementing programmes which seek to manage the methods used by the dive industry in providing their services. Restricting diver numbers is based on the concept of a reef dive site’s ‘carrying capacity’; a level beyond which diving impacts become readily apparent.
  • Restriction of SCUBA diving equipment has focused on banning the use of accessories believed to increase reef contacts within marine protected areas such as gloves, muck sticks, or underwater cameras; however, such regulations are often unpopular within the SCUBA diving community
  • Governments and reef managers seek evidence that the effort expended in implementing programmes translates into measurable benefits; however, research into the effectiveness of such programmes at influencing diver behaviour and reducing diving impacts is limited.
  • In this study, we focused on dive operators participating in the Green Fins diving programme at three major dive locations within the Philippines.
  • Nonetheless, levels of dive supervision underwater would intuitively appear to be linked to rates of reef contact, and when examined, the willingness of dive guides to intervene in correcting diver behaviour underwater has been found to significantly reduce diver contact rates
  • Malapascua Island, Moalboal, and Puerto Galera.
  • divers may have been aware that a Green Fins compliance assessment was taking place, but they were unaware that diver contacts with the reef were being specifically recorded. Green Fins environmental assessments and diver observations were conducted simultaneously.
  • Dive guides and guest divers from 44 dive operators participating in the Green Fins programme were followed
  • Diver characteristics with potential to influence underwater behaviour were categorised as the following factors: diver qualification level (three levels), dive experience (five levels), and previous number of dives at site (three levels).
  • Divers were assigned a unique diver number, and then followed and observed underwater for the entire duration of their dive.
  • If the overall group was very large such that the dive guide could not be seen from the rear of the group, the pair immediately behind the dive guide was selected.
  • Compliance with the Green Fins approach was determined by utilising diver contact rates and dive guide intervention rates as at the dependent variables of interest, and by defining dive operators according to those who had received a high score (above the median score) versus those with a low score (below the median score) on the most recent conducted Green Fins assessment
  • The part of the body or item of equipment making contact with the reef was recorded as follows: hand, fin, knee, camera, muck stick (a handheld stainless steel or aluminium rod approximately 30 cm in length) and equipment (e.g. tank, submersible pressure gauges, octopus regulator), and multiple (parts of the body and equipment simultaneously). The time during the dive at which the contact occurred was also recorded.
  • If observable damage (i.e. breakage, obvious physical damage, or injury) occurred as a result of the contact this was recorded, together with the apparent awareness of the diver to the contact, regardless of damage caused.
  • Contacts made with a camera (77.7 %) accounted for the highest proportion of contacts which resulted in damage, followed by contacts made with the knee (43.3 %), multiple body and equipment parts (38.2 %), equipment (30.7 %), fins (29.8 %), hands (24.7 %), and muck sticks (23.5 %).
  • A total of 100 SCUBA divers were observed at three diving locations within the Philippines (Table 1). The majority (72 %) of these divers were male, and diving experience ranged from those completing diving training to those who were instructors elsewhere with experience of hundreds of dives.
  • Following dive completion, divers that had been observed underwater were asked to complete a survey to determine diver characteristics.
  • Most contacts were made with fins (45.5 %, n = 261); however, hands (19.5 %, n = 112) and dive equipment (15.9 %, n = 91) were also major contributors to the total number of contacts
  • Interventions were defined as an event in which the dive guide intervened in diver behaviour through signalling or demonstrating correct behaviour in order to minimise or prevent contact with the reef.
  • A total of 81 interventions were observed (in comparison to 573 reef contacts—see Fig. 4 for the distribution of contacts and interventions);
  • Camera systems were carried by 55 % of divers; camera-wielding divers accounted for 52.7 % of the total contacts made with the reef. Of divers who utilised a camera, 35 % carried a non-specialist compact type and 20 % carried an SLR type within a specialist underwater housing.
  • Mean (±SE) dive time was 49.3 ± 0.42 min. A total of 573 diver contacts with the reef were recorded during all assessed dives.
  • The difference in the frequency of interventions was statistically significant (ANOVA, f = 4.81, P = 0.03)
  • although a significant portion (36 %) appeared unaware of the contact they made with the reef.
  • In addition to overall contact levels, some studies have also quantified reef contacts either as the mean number of contacts per diver over the duration of a dive or the diver contact rate per minute of dive time. The mean contact rates of 5.7 contacts per dive, or 0.12 contacts per min, which we observed at dive sites in the Philippines are lower than those previously reported
  • All divers observed within the present study were diving with operators participating to various degrees in the Green Fins environmentally responsible diving programme.
  • Identifying factors and policy measures which influence SCUBA diver behaviour underwater can help coral reef managers determine where to most effectively focus effort and funding with respect to dive management. In this study, we found that 88 % of the divers observed made at least one contact with the reef at some point
  • Divers who are more conservation aware and who contact the reef less may preferentially choose to dive with environmentally ‘accredited’ dive operators; indeed, this assumption partially drives dive operator participation in such programmes.
  • Underwater interventions by dive guides have been suggested to be the most successful deterrent to diver contact with reefs (Barker and Roberts 2004). In this study, there was no significant difference in the intervention rates between dive centres of high and low Green Fins compliance. Therefore, we cannot attribute the observed difference in diver reef contact rates to differences in intervention rates between these two groups.
  • Studies examining the effect of carrying camera equipment on the frequency of diver contacts with the reef have produced conflicting results.
  • Additionally, the administration of a pre-dive briefing can influence diver contact rates underwater (Medio et al. 1997). The Green Fins programme incorporates the use of a pre-dive briefing that emphasises the importance of refraining from contacting the reef, which would be expected to result in lower diver contact rates.
  • A concern amongst representatives of the diving industry is the use of muck sticks to manipulate animals unnecessarily—pushing animals out of holes for better viewing, stressing animals to show customers their stress behaviour (e.g. an octopus changing colour), and physically breaking hard coral to be used in photographs.
  • When examining the part of the body or dive equipment which made contact with the reef, we found that the majority of contacts were made with fins, in agreement with Krieger and Chadwick (2013) and Rouphael and Inglis (1998).
  • It has previously been noted that dive guides customarily perform different roles at dive locations globally; at some locations, they act primarily to lead the dive group around the reef, whilst at others, pairing with and closely supervising individual divers throughout the course of a dive
  • this suggests that dive guides carry out the closest supervision during the initial phase of the dive and then switch to a ‘dive leader’ role at the front of a dive group.
  • This study provides evidence that the effective implementation of environmentally responsible practices, via programmes designed to reduce diving impacts, may translate to reduced diver reef contacts.
  • Many diver characteristics which might intuitively be expected to impact reef contact rates, such as level of qualification and overall experience, were not significant influencing factors in this study, and high versus low levels of Green Fins compliance did not influence the number of interventions made by dive guides underwater.
  • For continued economic benefit and conservation of Philippine reef dive locations, we recommend that management measures facilitate high levels of compliance with environmentally responsible diving programmes to reduce the impact of diving on coral reefs.
  • marble_bird on 07 Jul 20
     
    This article discusses a study performed at various diving locations in the Philippines to determine whether or not measures taken by Green Fin diving guides were effective in reducing contact with coral reef systems. The study also recorded the average number of contacts with the reef during a dive, as well as the equipment or body part which came into contact with the reef most often, and which actions resulted in the most damage. The study finds that adherence to Green Fin standards or other policies may significantly impact diver behaviors and reduce the level of contact with sensitive coral reefs during SCUBA dives.
kmill139

Why the U.S. is Terrible at Recycling Electronics | Digital Trends - 0 views

www.digitaltrends.com/...-waste-recycling-united-states

technology hospitality business tech

shared by kmill139 on 17 Jun 21 - No Cached
  • E-waste in the United States is out of control.
  • You may assume America has to at least be on par with the rest of the first world when finding a forever home for computers, phones, and printers, but you’d be wrong.
  • Those millions of old motherboards and TVs consoles rotting in landfills and warehouses aren’t just eyesores. They amount to a massive health hazard. While electronics waste comprises only 2-3 percent of America’s solid waste stream, the lead, cadmium, chromium, and other materials in aging circuitry account for 70 percent of the hazardous material in landfills, according to an EPA report.
  • ...31 more annotations...
  • Others go belly up, leaving behind millions of pounds of old gadgets piled in mountainous heaps atop land which has lead levels many times normal.
  • You’re probably not screaming into a paper bag about the $20 billion or so of gold that’s trashed in electronics every year worldwide. Precious metals come and go. But if you care about the soil that comprises the land of the brave, you should start thinking about what happened to last year’s smartphone (even if it’s just sitting in the garage).
  • This list of reasons isn’t exhaustive, but serves as a solid starting point for understanding the United States’ e-waste dilemma and what can be done.
  • U.S. e-waste recycling laws are often outdated or nonexistent
  • Only 25 states (plus Washington, D.C.) have legislation that addresses e-waste recycling. The other 25 don’t have comprehensive programs, and don’t report what happens to the electronics beyond occasional voluntary numbers, says Jason Linnell, head of the National Center for Electronics Recycling (NCER). Federal laws don’t explicitly address e-waste recycling.
  • The U.S. isn’t good at recycling
  • The current level and effectiveness of e-waste recycling depends on which state you live in and whether or not you trust locals to “do the right thing.” The hope for improvement sits with congressional reps, state lawmakers, manufacturers, and gadget freaks (yes, you).
  • Single-stream recycling hasn’t helped
  • Between 2005 and 2014, single stream recycling programs increased from 29 to 80 percent in American towns and cities. During that same time period, material contamination rates increased from 7 to 25 percent.
  • E-waste legislation regularly disappears in Congress
  • This is not the first Congressional session in which similar bills have been introduced and allowed to die like a first grade classroom goldfish on summer break. SEERA currently sits with the house’s Foreign Affairs Committee. Why is it so tough to pass e-waste legislation?
  • The U.S. is an environmental rogue
  • As of late 2018, 186 states and the European Union have ratified it and follow its legal framework. The United States has signed the Basel Convention, indicating an intent to ratify, but is the only developed nation that hasn’t actually done so, which
  • After the initial Basel Convention was adopted in 1989, many organizations said the treaty didn’t do enough to address the disposal of waste from first world countries into the developing world, and pressed for an update, which eventually became 1995’s Basel Ban Amendment. The tweak — which was attacked by many industrial powers, including the U.S., Canada, and Japan — needed three decades before it was accepted by enough countries to go into effect. In August 2019, Croatia became the 97th country to ratify it, which transformed the updated stipulations into international law in December 2019.
  • EPA regulations are incomplete
  • Federal attempts at regulation have stalled, been killed
  • U.S. pushes back against international efforts
  • As a part of the 2003 Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive (WEEE Directive), the public was guaranteed free recycling services, and conveniently located collection centers. Around the same time, the EU also passed the Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive (RoHS), aka the “lead-free directive,” which restricts the use of several toxic materials in the manufacture of circuitry and electronic products.
  • In Japan, the Association for Electric Home Appliances requires consumers to help pay for the processing of their goods and manufacturers to set up recycling programs. Electronics recycling has been promoted as such a point of national pride — because Japan is both a huge consumer of gadgets and the country has few indigenous precious metals — that there’s serious talk of making the 2020 Tokyo Olympic metals out of recycled materials. An estimated 80,000 cell phones need to be pulled apart and picked over to complete the plan.
  • State-level e-cycling programs are uneven
  • Certified e-cycling programs are important, but also confusing
  • If you’re the compliance officer who has to make sure the company’s used servers don’t wind up getting tossed in an Indonesian landfill, and you won’t have to nervously answer questions in a “60 Minutes” exposé, you probably want to get that e-waste removed by a disposal team with one of these
  • That all sounds great until you listen to Puckett, who helped create the e-Stewards protocols. He’s one of several people who took part in the development of R2 for over two years and then refused to continue when the proposed guidelines seemed to be too tainted by lobbyists, including ones at the Institute of Scrap Recycling (ISRI), an organization that favors a free market approach over regulation. Puckett and 13 recyclers created e-Stewards, which describes itself as the “the cleanest, most globally responsible standard for e-waste recycling.” He points out that the R2 certification still allows recyclers to export to developing countries. E-Stewards’ doesn’t. R2 recyclers can drop toxic e-waste in landfills or incinerators in the event of “circumstances beyond their
  • Scrap recycling lobby doesn’t like regulations
  • The announcer proudly explains e-cycling is a vibrant industry that adds 20.6 billion to the U.S. economy and supports 45,000 jobs domestically, “safeguarding our environment,” along the way.
  • Can anything be done? Possibly
  • Recycling isn’t the only answer for fewer landfills filled with decaying circuits. Chris Wellise, Chief Sustainability Officer for Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), which installs and recovers tech, emphasizes the importance of designing products for longevity, disassembly, and reuse.
  • “On average, 85 percent of the environmental impacts can be addressed in the design phase,” estimates Wellise.
  • Similar challenges exist for smartphones. Review IFixit’s guide for repairability and you can expect the phones that are easy to disassemble are also easier to refurbish or scrap. In an unusual display of transparency, eco-minded electronics company Fairphone sells spare parts on its site and has visual cues printed on the pieces to help novices figure out where everything goes. In case you’re wondering, it’s possible to make a Fairphone work in America, but most of the company’s sales are in Europe.
  • In 2018, Apple gave birth to Daisy, a robot that can disassemble 200 of the company’s phones in an hour — 1.2 million a year. The company has an installation of the machine in Austin, Texas, and another in the Netherlands. Daisy’s supply chain of used products comes from the company’s in-store trade-in program and a partnership with Best Buy.
  • Pretty awe-inspiring, right? Keep in mind that Apple sold over 217 million phones just in 2018 and has moved 2.2 billion iPhone units since the product line launched in 2007. The two Daisy divisions aren’t even working at capacity. Apple is willing to license the robot technology so any company can use it to disassemble phones, but none have approached them yet.
  • carlatj on 17 Jun 21
     
    "Maybe it's easy to ignore the huge percentage of vintage gadgets that wind up torched in dicey scrap heaps in developing countries". This article was written on Feb-27-2020. The problem we saw on the old video is still very much a problem now, only bigger.
  • kmill139 on 29 Sep 21
     
    This article was super informative in the realm of E-waste. It covered every aspect of the issue and most definitely is relevant in today's world.
dlevine4195

How 9/11 changed air travel: more security, less privacy - 0 views

apnews.com/...e4dc4282fb47a34c0b61ae09a024f4

air security privacy Travel

shared by dlevine4195 on 11 Oct 21 - No Cached
  • The worst terror attack on American soil led to increased and sometimes tension-filled security measures in airports across the world, aimed at preventing a repeat of that awful day.
  • The cataclysm has also contributed to other changes large and small that have reshaped the airline industry — and, for consumers, made air travel more stressful than ever.
  • Transportation Security Administration, a force of federal airport screeners that replaced the private companies that airlines were hiring to handle security.
  • ...14 more annotations...
  • The law required that all checked bags be screened, cockpit doors be reinforced, and more federal air marshals be put on flights.
  • Things that clearly could be wielded as weapons, like the box-cutters used by the 9/11 hijackers, were banned. After “shoe bomber” Richard Reid’s attempt to take down a flight from Paris to Miami in late 2001, footwear started coming off at security checkpoints.
  • Clear, which recently went public, plans to use PreCheck enrollment to boost membership in its own identity-verification product by bundling the two offerings
  • The long lines created by post-attack measures gave rise to the PreCheck and Global Entry “trusted-traveler programs” in which people who pay a fee and provide certain information about themselves pass through checkpoints without removing shoes and jackets or taking laptops out of their bag.
  • , PreCheck asks people about basic information like work history and where they have lived, and they give a fingerprint and agree to a criminal-records check.
  • Privacy advocates are particularly concerned about ideas that TSA has floated to also examine social media postings (the agency’s top official says that has been dropped), press reports about people, location data and information from data brokers including how applicants spend their money.
  • Each new requirement seemed to make checkpoint lines longer, forcing passengers to arrive at the airport earlier if they wanted to make their flights.
  • The TSA is testing the use of kiosks equipped with facial-recognition technology to check photo IDs and boarding passes rather than having an officer do it.
  • co
  • “TSA is an effective deterrent against most attacks,”
  • This summer, an average of nearly 2 million people per day have flowed through TSA checkpoints.
  • “They are there for my security. They aren’t there to hassle me,” Gathings said of TSA screeners and airport police.
  • Those incidents highlight a threat that TSA needs to worry about — people who work for airlines or airports and have security clearance that lets them avoid regular screening.
  • “All those folks that have a (security) badge, you’re right, many do have unescorted access throughout an airport, but they also go through a very rigorous vetting process before they are even hired,”
  • dlevine4195 on 11 Oct 21
     
    After the terrorist attacks of 9/11 was when the TSA was created. Ever since this point in history security in airport sis a lot stricter and requires certain documentation to travel. Lines are longer, leaving travelers to arrive for their flights earlier. Overall, 9/11 heavily impacted the security world we live in today.
mmorr116

Virtual reality tourism ready for takeoff as travellers remain grounded | Virtual reali... - 2 views

www.theguardian.com/...-as-travellers-remain-grounded

VR tourism

shared by mmorr116 on 24 Oct 21 - No Cached
  • Experts say pandemic could provide watershed moment for technology, potentially leading to more sustainable tourism
  • With globe-trotting banned in the pandemic, increasing numbers of people are turning to virtual reality to relieve pent-up demand for travel.
  • As historic sites are damaged through mass tourism, recreating them in VR could help conserve them.
  • mmorr116 on 24 Oct 21
     
    As an example of VR use for sustainable tourism, on October 16, the Boca Raton Museum of Art in Florida debuted the first of its kind, full-motion, 360-degree, interactive VR experience of the Machu Picchu and the Golden Empires of Peru exhibition. In order to preserve this historic site, less than one million visitors are allowed in each year. On-site use of VR tech for a synchronous guest experience is also being explored and has the potential to be disruptive to use of tour guides. Plus, VR technology provides such rich immersive travel experiences that traditional marketing tools like pictures or standard print ads cannot match.
tvill22

US E-Waste and Planned Obsolescence by Elizabeth Lamb - US Environmental Policy - 0 views

blogs.nicholas.duke.edu/...obsolescence-by-elizabeth-lamb

obsolescence environmental policy

shared by tvill22 on 08 Jul 22 - No Cached
  • In order to increase sales, companies like Apple, Samsung, and Microsoft engage “planned obsolescence” to encourage per capita turnover of cell phones, tablets, computers, increasing electronic consumption and waste in the process.
  • For example, a company might manufacture a phone’s battery so that it breaks down earlier, a new software update might rely extensively on a new kind of hardware, or the manufacturer might make repairing the product so difficult or expensive that it makes more sense to buy a new product altogether.
  • Although e-waste only composed 2% of US landfills in 2019, it is responsible for over 70% of waste toxicity, and it is America’s fastest growing category of municipal waste.
  • ...8 more annotations...
  • Even worse, the US currently has no formal federal legislation regulating e-waste
  • exported up to 40% of its e-waste to other countries.[5] However, the waste landscape is changing quickly: China, a major waste importer, banned foreign waste shipments as of January 2018.[6] As the US must begin processing more waste domestically, it is increasingly important that proper regulations are set in place
  • 25 out of 50 states have independent e-waste recycling policies, but a federal policy has yet to come to fruition
  • Consumer Product Safety Commission possesses the ability to enforce durability standards.
  • Congress should pass an act
  • mandating a warranty on all electronic devices
  • Congress should officially instate a minimum warranty length of 2 years for all electronic devices.
  • By simply extending product lifetimes by even just a quarter through the measures mentioned above, the US can massively reduce the amount of e-waste that pollutes the US.
  • tvill22 on 08 Jul 22
     
    This article talks about planned obsolescence and US e-waste. This article talks about how tech companies engage in planned obsolescence to encourage technology turnover. They talk about ways that the US can stop this planned obsolescence. One way would be to enforce durability standard for products creating a longer life time. This could be partnered with an enforced longer warranty on electronic devices.
artandmer

Hospitality unions have spent a decade fighting to protect workers, bu - 1 views

www.fastcompany.com/...meant-to-protect-hotel-workers

hospitality workers cloud-based systems employee safety wireless networks Software solution legislation

shared by artandmer on 25 May 22 - No Cached
  • cheap gadgets might bring new problems
  • The hospitality industry is in the process of introducing remote panic buttons in an effort to address the widespread issue of violence and sexual assault against hotel staff
  • 20,000 hotel properties in Canada and the United States have committed to providing an estimated 1.2 million employees with Employee Safety Devices
  • ...15 more annotations...
  • all housekeeping staff to carry a panic button device on them at all times
  • low-quality versions of the technology that pose significant privacy and security risks to the people who carry them. Weak password protections and a lack of encryption leave users vulnerable to cyberattacks, which could render the devices unusable—or, worse, be used to invade hotel employees’ privacy
  • 58% of hotel workers and 77% of casino workers have been sexually harassed by a guest. Nearly half have had guests answer the door naked or expose themselves, and nearly 15% have been cornered.
  • casino giants MGM Resorts International and Caesars Entertainment agreed to equip nearly 38,000 hotel staff with safety devices during contract negotiations
  • the CEOs of a number of major hotel chains—including Hilton, Hyatt, IHG, Marriott, and Wyndham—joined the pledge
  • Safe but insecureThe discovery of vulnerabilities in certain versions of this technology may pose a potential challenge
  • lack of encryption that compromised the device’s security
  • the software powering the tracker was hosted on a cloud-based service, which it used to communicate with a mobile application. But the cloud software didn’t require any authorization. A hacker could connect to the service and “instruct any tracker in the world to do things,” he explains.
  • Among the vulnerabilities a hacker could exploit are the ability to see the real-time location of users and to gain access to built-in microphones and cameras
  • That poses a problem for the hotel industry, Hron believes, because establishments not  bound by union or legislative requirements may buy inferior devices without vetting them properly, merely to satisfy new regulations. “Each hotel is buying these devices themselves—it’s not like some central authority is giving these devices to hotels,” he says. “My guess is [some are] going to buy a cheap device, and in this case, it’s pretty reasonable to think that there aren’t any analysts doing security checks on them.”
  • The lack of clear legislation also leaves workers vulnerable in jurisdictions that don’t explicitly ban employers using the devices to track the movements of hotel staff
  • technology isn’t capable of real-time tracking because it runs on WiFi and Bluetooth Low Energy, or BLE, and only transmits a signal when activated. Other devices that utilize GPS or WiFi connectivity, however, have the ability to transmit real-time location data on an ongoing basis
  • “The technology has to work every time, but the product only works if the right policies, procedures, and personnel are put in place that allow the system to function as a system
  • While the initial reason for the solution was to address sexual assault, there are other things that happen to housekeepers in hotel rooms as well,” says Ogle. “We’ve had team members that have had medical issues themselves, or found guests in rooms with medical conditions that were asking for assistance
  • Providing precise location data to first responders in the event of an emergency actually has the potential to save lives, but the technology will only be adopted if users believe it is being used appropriately
  • artandmer on 25 May 22
     
    The major hotel chains are influencing legislation and also now requiring employee safety devices (ESDs) to make the workplace safer for employees (i.e. room service attendants or housekeepers) who find themselves alone in guest rooms with ill-intentioned guests. ESDs can also be appropriate for large resorts with beach personnel, activities personnel, or other positions that find themselves in enclosed, or remote areas with less security. Not every hotel has a security department that can constantly monitor cameras and ESDs. Will these devices present more strain on hotel wireless networks? That depends. Hoteliers need to consider whether these devices will be provided by or monitored through their keylock vendor, through their guest room entertainment vendor, or through a wireless provider. Could there be a benefit to an ESD interface with the PMS? I'm not finding an obvious answer. Hotels, varying in room count, are providing ESDs that range from whistles to wireless to BLE or RFID enabled. Hotel owners and management companies have the responsibility to research the most appropriate solution for their hotel without undermining the safety and privacy of their employees and their hotel networks.
amoon008

Green Computing | University of Puget Sound - 0 views

www.pugetsound.edu/...green-computing

computing; university; green Puget Sound;

shared by amoon008 on 20 Feb 22 - No Cached
  • Technology Services (TS) supports sustainability in several ways. Examples include: Purchasing from Environmentally Committed Companies Participating in Electronic Recycling Programs Deploying Virtual Technologies Limiting Printing and Recycling Paper
  • Responsible handling of electronic equipment is critical in order to minimize the university’s impact on the environment. TS purchases campus computers from Dell and Apple.
  • Dell also banned the export of their electronic waste to developing nations. They offer a strong trade-in program for used equipment. Dell focuses in every way on being environmentally and ethically responsible corporate stewards.
  • ...9 more annotations...
  • Dell supported a multi-stakeholder group in developing the Electronics Products Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT). All Dell computers purchased by the university meet the EPEAT standard
  • Outdated Apple equipment is processed through Apple’s Trade-In Program, often for purchase credit. Apple either refurbishes the equipment or recycles it in an environmentally safe manner.
  • All electronic waste on the Puget Sound campus is recycled in one of the following ways:
  • Apple focuses on a comprehensive strategy for their machines, with specific goals for each phase of product development, use, and disposal. Every computer Apple sells has earned the highest rating of EPEAT Gold.
  • Other outdated equipment is processed through the university’s recycling partner, GreenPC Electronic Recycling. Such equipment is then refurbished and resold to other users.
  • By employing virtualization technology for servers and desktops, Technology Services promotes sustainability while also improving services!
  • Through PrintGreen, instituted in Fall 2012, students were allotted 750 free prints each semester - an amount that the majority of students did not exceed based on past usage records.
  • The ultimate goal of PrintGreen is to provide students with better information on the environmental impact of their printing and to promote the sustainable use of campus resources.
  • Recycling bins are placed prominently in all computing labs, Print & Copy Services, and TS offices.
  • amoon008 on 20 Feb 22
     
    This article talks about what the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, WA is doing regarding green computing on campus and how their students can also get involved.
alo328

Electronic Waste Is Becoming a Global Environmental Problem | Time - 1 views

time.com/...world-electronic-waste-problem

shared by alo328 on 23 Sep 20 - No Cached
  • s a tech-hungry nation flush with cash gets ready to upgrade to the next generation of lightning-fast 5G devices, there is a surprising environmental cost to be reckoned with: a fresh mountain of obsolete gadgets. About 6 million lb
  • Workers with hammers hack at the bulkiest devices, while others remove dangerous components like lithium-ion batteries
  • That cycle of consumption has made electronics waste the world’s fastest-growing s
  • ...17 more annotations...
  • “In our society, we always have to have the new, best product,” said Aaron Blum, the co-founder and chief operating officer of ERI, on a tour of the facility
  • Even when e-waste rules exist, it’s left up to consumers to handle their old devices prop
  • But less than a quarter of all U.S. electronic waste is recycled, according to a United Nations estimate. The rest is incinerated or ends up in landfills
  • Environmental concerns aside, compacting flammable lithium-ion batteries with paper recycling can be dangerous; recycling centers have reported an uptick in fires
  • 5G promises faster speeds and other benefits. But experts say it will also result in a dramatic increase in e-waste, as millions of smartphones, modems and other gadgets incompatible with 5G networks are made obsolete
  • ly. But recycling them can be a
  • We don’t necessarily have the measures to make sure people aren’t throwing it away,” Walters said.
  • Even so, some companies are increasing their recycling efforts on their own, whether for the economic benefit or the public relations boost (mining fresh materials has financial, environmental and human costs of its own). For instance, Apple in 2018 introduced Daisy, a smartphone-recycling robot that can take apart 200 iPhones every hour, and says it diverted 48,000 metric tons of electronic waste from landfills that year
  • Our products today don’t last as long as they used to, and it’s a strategy by manufacturers to force us in
  • o shorter and shorter upgrade cycles,” said Kyle Wiens, the founder of iFixit
  • Some environmental groups say multibillion-dollar companies like Apple and Samsung should pick up the cost of recycling the devices they sell. Lawmakers in parts of Europe and Canada and in some U.S. states have passed so-called Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) laws, which require manufacturers to establish and fund systems to recycle or collect obsolete products
  • One solution is to make electronics last as long as they once did. At ERI’s facility, Shegerian showed TIME dozens of televisions from the 1970s and 1980s that stopped working only recently
  • About 6 million lb. of discarded electronics are already processed monthly at recycling giant ERI’s Fresno plant.
  • Americans spent $71 billion on telephone and communication equipment in 2017, nearly five times what they spent in 2010 even when adjusted for inflation, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis. (Apple alone sold 60 million iPhones domestically last year, according to Counterpoint Research.)
  • That stream is expected to turn into a torrent as the world upgrades to 5G, the next big step in wireless technology.
  • Part of the problem is regulatory. Only 19 states have laws banning electronics from the regular trash. In states without such rules, like Nevada, electronics often end up in garbage and recycling bins, said Jeremy Walters, a community-relations manager for waste collector Republic Services
  • Our products today don’t last as long as they used to, and it’s a strategy by manufacturers to force us into shorter and shorter upgrade cycles,”
  • nbakir on 23 Sep 20
     
    Advancement in technology every day has led to the dumping of electronic gadgets no longer wanted to the environment. Heaps of unwanted electronic waste, hazardous containing substances like lithium-ion batteries, are dumped into the ground with all their toxicology. As the world upgrades to 5G, it will end in a rapid surge in e-waste. According to John Shegerian thinks people are yet to see the magnitude of the transition to 5G, it is tremendous than changing from analog to digital (Samuels & Calif, 2019). However, it comes with many advantages; its outcome is a drastic rise in electronic waste. The ERI recycles less than a quarter of the United States' e-waste according to the estimate made by the United Nations, and the other dumped in landfills. This waste contains harmful metals such as beryllium and mercury, that have adverse environmental dangers. Among the 50 states in the United States, only 19 States have imposed a law to bun electronics from regular trash (Samuels & Calif, 2019); the rest of the states, like Nevada they are incorporated in recycling and trash bins, according to Jeremy Walters's manager for waste collection. The consumers are left to handle their e-waste even though there are e-waste rules. Multibillion companies should the responsibility and cater for the cost of recycling for the products they are manufacturing. Companies like Apple and Samsung, nonetheless the United States is repelling modifications to the prevailing laws, according to Scott Cassel Product Stewardship Institute found. However, some companies are improving through increasing their recycling efforts. For instance, Daisy, a recycling robot introduced by Apple, can collect more than 200 iPhones for recycling every hour. But this is not enough since e-waste generated annually globally is more than we can imagine, which almost 50 tons (Samuels & Calif, 2019). In a nutshell, technology can bring many benefits to society. Still, it can also harm both the environment and the p
  • khadija2050 on 28 Sep 20
     
    the article explores the dangers of elctronic waste and give suggestions on how to better monitor this issue and resolve.
  • alo328 on 21 Feb 21
     
    This article explains how the rapid advancement of technology has impulsed an increase in the use of technology, however has resulted in a rise in ewaste percentage. This happens because companies have opted for creating products that do not last for long periods of time, since they want to sell future products.
kbroo026

What hotels need to know about biometric privacy laws - Document - Gale OneFile: Hospit... - 0 views

go-gale-com.ezproxy.fiu.edu/...retrieve.do

hotels biometric privacy hospitality technology data restaurant law

shared by kbroo026 on 21 Feb 22 - No Cached
andyvito liked it
  • In order to avoid liability, employers should become familiar with biometric privacy acts, consumer privacy acts and data breach notification requirements.
  • Currently, three states have enacted biometric privacy laws: Illinois, Texas and Washington.
  • Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act.
  • ...6 more annotations...
  • BIPA restricts the ability of a privacy entity to "collect, capture, purchase, receive through trade, or otherwise obtain a person's or a customer's biometric identifier or biometric information."
  • The Illinois legislature stated that heightened protection for biometric information is justified by the fact that once this type of information has been compromised, it obviously can't be changed (without some serious cosmetic surgery, anyway).
  • Employers also need to be aware of local laws and regulations.
  • Portland
  • bans the use of facial recognition technology by private entities in places of public accommodation, which include hotels and restaurants.
  • With the patchwork of laws and enforcement procedures, the enactment of a uniform federal law would be beneficial.
  • kbroo026 on 21 Feb 22
     
    Several states have implemented some form of biometric privacy laws, with the gold standard coming from Illinois. Illinois' BIPA allows for private enforcement, stiff fines, and paying of attorney fees. BIPA prohibits collection, capture, purchasing or receiving a customer's biometric identifier/information. Safeguarding this data is perhaps more important than any other because it cannot be easily changed, if at all. Current lack of federal law and a patchwork of local regulations means that businesses and employees must be knowledgeable of rules and rights that affect them.
‹ Previous 21 - 32 of 32
Showing 20▼ items per page