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MAHB: e-commerce platform shopMYairports to contribute 10pc in sales | Money | Malay Mail - 0 views

www.malaymail.com/...1901017 sales platform ecommerce airports travel shopping Technology Hotel business tech
shared by Lymaris Collazo on 08 Sep 20 - No Cached
  • Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB) expects its travel-retail e-commerce platform, shopMYairports, to contribute at least 10 per cent in sales for its non-aeronautical segment.
  • MAHB group chief executive officer Datuk Mohd Shukrie Mohd Salleh said the group is looking to achieve RM280 million in sales from the shopMYairports in next two to three years.
  • The airport operator achieved RM2.8 billion in total retail sales last year, before being hit by the Covid-19 pandemic.
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  • its digital transformation initiative to enhance passenger experience, particularly on the retail front, and also part of its efforts to facilitate business recovery of airport retailers that had been adversely affected by the impact from the pandemic.
  • He said 39 airports managed by MAHB nationwide will have access to the platform.
  • “The first phase of the shopMYairports will focus on domestic travellers and local home shoppers,”
  • Lymaris Collazo on 08 Sep 20
     
    It is not new that the pandemic has caused a global crisis and a lot of businesses had loss. Covid-19 has forced to moved more into electronic commerce. This article is about a model that Malaysa airports has implemented to increase their sales with a mobile app. Basically the app is about shopping in the app and picking up your stuff on the shop. The app, that is currently in work to add more features, is looking to add concierge services.
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New Hotel Technology Likely to Bring Sticker Shock - 3 views

nreionline.com/...hotel_technology_shock_0516 hotel technology sticker shock
shared by Cecilia Lucas on 20 Jan 12 - No Cached
  • The need for a new generation of computers, data centers and security equipment for the nation’s hotels is driving up the expense of technology in the hospitality industry,
  • The average [technology] cost for a 400-room hotel has been about $50,000 a year. That   cost is going to go up as the brands start implementing new technology to take the place of systems that have been in place for quite some time,” says Shah.   “That cost could be significant. It could be several hundred thousand dollars in additional costs over the next three, four or five years.“
  • “The average [technology] cost for a 400-room hotel has been about $50,000 a year. That   cost is going to go up as the brands start implementing new technology to take the place of systems that have been in place for quite some time,” says Shah.   “That cost could be significant. It could be several hundred thousand dollars in additional costs over the next three, four or five years.“
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  • cost is going to go up as the brands start implementing new technology to take the place of systems that have been in place for quite some time,” says Shah. 
  • significant. It could be several hundred thousand dollars in additional costs over the next three, four or five years.“
  • The need for a new generation of computers, data centers and security equipment for the nation’s hotels is driving up the expense of technology in the hospitality industry, says Mitesh Shah, chief executive officer at
  •  The average [technology] cost for a 400-room hotel has been about $50,000 a year. That  cost is going to go up as the brands start implementing new technology to take the place of systems that have been in place for quite some time,” says Shah.   “That cost could be  significant. It could be several hundred thousand dollars in additional costs over the next three, four or five years.“
  • The upgrades involve both communications that make life more convenient for travelers, and the unseen hardware that makes hotels function more smoothly.
  • Hackers are more aggressive than ever, and the cost of protecting hotel systems has risen accordingly
  • The hotel industry hasn’t kept up with the state of the art to the degree other industries have, says Shah, particularly with regard to pricing and customer convenience.
  • Traditionally, too many hotel managers focus on the condition of the carpets and walls  — whether they need painting or new pictures, or fresh plants in the lobby, rather than scrutinizing their technological infrastructure.
  • Examining how people buy and use media shows that bandwidths are growing more sophisticated, and the trend in a hotel experience is to become more connected,
  • And too many hotels are unable to provide that level of technical response.
  • Costly upgrades don’t always translate into higher rates, however. “The question really is, can you charge more for it? Or is it part of the experience?”
  • high-speed Internet, for instance, it’s an amenity that customers demand, but they’re not necessarily willing to pay extra for it.
  • Another expense involves business intelligence technology — the detailed analysis and tracking of a hotel’s daily, weekly, monthly, and quarterly performance.
  • Operating teams then analyze the results and plan their financial strategy on a day-to-day basis, says Shah.
  • When it comes to creature comforts, travelers don’t want to compromise, says Shah. They want the same comforts on the road that are available at home
  • Cecilia Lucas on 20 Jan 12
     
    The Hotel Industry has not kept up with the state of the art technology to the degree other industries have. It's at a point where a great investment is needed to upgrade technology they use both in communications as well as the unseen hardware that make hotels function on a day to day basis. The cost of replacement and and expansion of business data centers and security is very large. But who bears the cost?, since guests have come to expect ammenities such as high speed internet, but aren't necessarily willing to pay for it. This is an inevitable cost hotel corporations are going to have work in to their budgets in order to stay relevant and competitive
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Energy firm says its nuclear-waste fueled diamond batteries could last thousands of years - 0 views

techxplore.com/...lear-waste-fueled-diamond.html energy batteries
shared by shaunagayecox on 30 Aug 20 - No Cached
  • These
  • These surreal claims are being made by a California-based battery company that says successful early test results recently competed on a nano-diamond battery brings them closer to realizing such claims.
  • The key to their revolutionary batteries is radioactive nuclear waste.
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  • The company, NDB, says it can safely utilize this waste to generate power in its nano diamond batteries
  • It could be used for common mobile devices, medical products, satellites and could provide energy in hard-to-reach locations or remote areas where routine maintenance would be difficult.
  • The basic principle behind the concept is not actually new. As NDB's chief operating officer Mohammed Irfan explained: "Using radioisotopes as a source for energy is not new
  • shaunagayecox on 30 Aug 20
     
    The company NDB Inc has created a nano diamond battery that will not need to be charged and will live for at minimum the full life of the products it is placed into. The battery is made by taking radioactive graphite nuclear waste, turning it into a diamond, and then allowing the diamond to create energy as it degrades. The energy is created by the interaction with carbon and the decaying diamond. Skepticism from writers in the tech field has included concerns about the power density of the battery. Skeptics believe that the power density will be lower than the current lithium ion batteries being used. However, amidst all the concerns from skeptics, the company NDB Inc still appears to be optimistic and passionate about bringing this product into fruition once the current pandemic eases up.
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Securing the Big Game: Emerging Technologies for Event Security - Police Chief Magazine - 0 views

www.policechiefmagazine.org/emerging-tech-event-security
shared by tredunbar on 08 Dec 20 - No Cached
  • Interconnectivity
  • there is still much work to be done to ensure seamless interconnectivity, communication, and data sharing among systems and technologies
  • high-tech solutions like advanced video surveillance with video from multiple sources—venues, traffic cameras, and more—that will be fed directly into first responder vehicles and a fully integrated security operations center to provide situational awareness
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  • Large security operations centers must also all be integrated and interconnected
  • Every new technology and device used to secure an event adds to the growing list of devices deployed to secure the event, which must be able to communicate with each other and with security operations centers
  • Communication
  • Both public-private partnership models can help deter crime
  • When law enforcement is able to tie systems in together and make sure officers can communicate with each other, this leads to faster response times, improved communication, and better overall safety and security
  • forging public-private technology partnerships for sharing video and other information is an excellent way to improve security for these events
  • There are a lot of different entities that must work together. As such, cost becomes a factor, as do installed legacy systems, as well as the argument that one size can’t possibly fit all
  • Mobile technology has in many ways alleviated some of these concerns
  • Video Surveillance
  • A primary technology that is used to deliver security for high-profile events is video surveillance
  • Despite the possible deterrence factor, the main goal of video systems is to provide situational awareness
  • A smart camera or sensor deployed in a particular location can provide early warning that something may be about to happen in that area
  • Identifying and Securing the Perimeter
  • Smart traffic technology with capabilities such as incident detection could alert law enforcement to further investigate a particular area of interest or to work with transportation teams to more quickly respond and clear the way faster to avoid increasing congestion and related incidents
  • Surveillance cameras are now equipped with technologies that allow them to be those eyes and ears for law enforcement
  • When it comes to actually planning out and selecting the technologies to be deployed, another positive trend is more cooperation because city-wide systems are coming into play
  • Having the technology for law enforcement to support big public venue events is challenging, but, in many ways, public and private entities are now working collectively to get the most out of the resources they each have available
  • Computer analytics solutions have evolved to a point where these technologies are readily available and relatively easy to deploy
  • The day is coming when smart city technology will be more reality than concept
  • deploying the right mix of advanced technology and best practices for cooperation and public-private partnerships between various stakeholders, law enforcement can help ensure that the trend of safety and security at high-profile sporting events
  • tredunbar on 08 Dec 20
     
    This article focus on using smart city technology to assist law enforcement with securing big city sporting events. The article highlights the need for seamless interconnectivity with local law enforcement technologies in order to streamline response time. Communication and video surveillance are all enhanced by the use of emergent security technology that allows for officers to work with other agencies and the community to keep large events safe.
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Hospitality industry more prone to cyber attacks | TravelDailyNews International - 1 views

www.traveldailynews.com/...ry-more-prone-to-cyber-attacks
shared by nbakir on 28 Oct 20 - No Cached
  • nbakir on 28 Oct 20
     
    The article by, a financial policy author, explains in detail the extent of cyber-attacks in the hospitality industry. The article explains that the hospitality industry is more prone to cyber-attacks, given the nature of information most of the organizations generate daily in their operations. The article explains that most organizations in the hospitality industry may not be aware that they have already been hacked. The article emphasizes the importance of internal audits and the critical evaluation of cyber footprints in hospitality organizations to minimize cyber-attacks. The author of the article delves into the cybersecurity risk factors in the hospitality industry and reports about the UAE IAA members' seminar which was aimed at sharing information and networking with a focus on building cyber-resilience against cyber-attacks. The article shows the prevalence of cyber-attacks in the hospitality industry noting that each stolen data record costs an average of $148 with the average cost of a cyber-attack being valued at over 3 million dollars (Karantzavelou, 2020). The article quotes a statement by the Jumeirah group chief internal audit officer who asserts that protection against cyber threats should be the DNA of every organization, and they should be continuously on the lookout for potential threats and ensure adequate protection. Members in the seminar advised on the importance of having internal auditors to provide assurance, suitable frameworks, and to set up controls to mitigate key cybersecurity risks. The article explains that hotels are prone to Cyber-attacks since they collect varied, valuable and sensitive customer information. The article also cites a cyber-breach in 2018 where up to 500 million customer details and passport information was compromised in an international hotel chain for up to four years continuously without detection (Karantzavelou, 2020). At the bottom line, contributors in the seminar explain the importance of cybe
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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.
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  • 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.
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8 Disruptive Hotel Technology Trends to Watch in 2021 - 6 views

hoteltechreport.com/...hotel-tech-trends-2021 technology hospitality hotel Software travel solution Tech business
shared by ldevaul on 17 Jan 21 - No Cached
  • For those of us keeping an eye on technology in hotels, it can be difficult to discern what trends are here to stay and what trends are simply a marketing stunt.
  • Venture capitalists are finally starting to recognize the opportunity to invest in tools and platforms that allow hotels to capture new levels of hotel operations efficiency and revenue growth.
  • Cloudbeds offers an all-in-one suite of tools, including a property management system, channel manager, booking engine, and revenue manager, growing revenue and automating workflows at more than 20,000 properties.
    • ldevaul
      ldevaul on 30 Aug 21
       
      This is definitely something to look into. SaaS programs, nowadays, are super robust and offer so much data and opportunity for large and small businesses.
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  • Despite being one of the largest and most dynamic segments of the US and global economy, penetration of cloud-based technologies in the segment remains incredibly low, and the vendor landscape remains tremendously fragmented on a global basis,” says Matt Melymuka, co-founder and partner at PeakSpan Capital.
    • ldevaul
      ldevaul on 30 Aug 21
       
      This is very interesting...one of the largest industries and they are the slowest to invest in cloud-based technologies. A lot of companies clearly prefer to print everything and leave an actual paper trail!
  • Hotels use Zingle’s messaging tools to deliver five-star service at scale; Medallia’s investment in Zingle gives hotels the opportunity to provide frictionless guest service and streamline time-consuming interactions, such as check-in.
    • ldevaul
      ldevaul on 30 Aug 21
       
      I'm sure companies who invested in this program during the height of pandemic were very thankful!
  • Life House, a tech-first hotel experience, shows proof-of-concept: that hotels that invest in technology drive higher revenue, better guest reviews, and a higher star-rating.
  • Hotels are catching on, adding convenience through streaming, voice activation, guest-room tablets, and food ordering tech.
    • ldevaul
      ldevaul on 30 Aug 21
       
      The guest room tablets that can order room service and manage the operating system in the room is a game changer. Hotel Mousai in PV Mexico has this installed in all of their suites and it was super impressive!
  • White labeling is a practice in which a product – in this case, hotel software – is manufactured by a third party and uses branding by the purchaser, or marketer, so that the end product appears to have been produced by the purchaser.
  • Oaky, one of the industry’s leading upselling tools, raised a Series A funding round of $9.5 million led by PeakScan Capital. Oaky’s appeal to investors stems from the app’s data-driven approach to driving incremental revenue. Their deep understanding of customer behavior makes Oaky one of the top-rated upselling tools on the market today.
    • ldevaul
      ldevaul on 30 Aug 21
       
      This would be great for hotels who are struggling to increase their revenue.
  • For instance, feeding data from your PMS into a business intelligence tool leads to real, operational data to analyze trends and provide recommendations for better marketing campaigns, smarter staffing decisions, seasonal trends, and market competition. Hotels that are comfortable using APIs can automate tasks that take up much of their employee’s time with manual data entry.
  • On-demand convenience dominates our lives, and guests expect this level of ease from their hotel experience as well.
  • An API, application programming interface, is simply a messenger of data between applications. APIs allow your various hotel technology tools and programs to work together, connecting your RMS to a PMS, or your PMS to your upsell software, or your business intelligence software to your PMS. An API makes your technology user-friendly and efficient; when your tools work together, you capture each platform’s full capabilities.
    • ldevaul
      ldevaul on 30 Aug 21
       
      This is super useful! When all of your software can speak to each other it improves productivity so much!
  • Hilton is taking a different approach, partnering with Netflix to allow guests to control their streaming straight from the Hilton Honors mobile app.
    • ldevaul
      ldevaul on 30 Aug 21
       
      This is genius! Definitely will be trying this at my next Hilton stay.
  • As far as voice-activation, Volara is leading the way in providing a thoughtful, Alexa-esque guest-room solution. Volara integrates with the most popular work order management systems so that guests can make requests and get confirmation when the item or service they need will be delivered.
  • And for savvy marketing managers, tablets provide a new channel through which to send targeted, automated messages generating $5,000 per month in additional revenue.
    • ldevaul
      ldevaul on 30 Aug 21
       
      This is great for hotel marketers! Proving their value and having the company invest in tech that shows an huge ROI. Love this!
  • 2nd Kitchen is a godsend for hotels without a kitchen on-site: guests can order room service from restaurants near your hotel, taking care of care of orders, menus, payment, fulfillment, and customer support for your property.
  • Hotels are a prime target for hackers. “Only about 25% of all U.S. businesses, including hotel operators, are fully compliant with current data security best practices. That means that three out of four are not and are potential disasters waiting to happen,” reported one cybersecurity expert.
    • ldevaul
      ldevaul on 30 Aug 21
       
      This is definitely worth exploring more!
  • Numerous high-profile malware attacks on the hotel industry have led to hundreds of millions of guests’ data being compromised and millions of dollars in damage. Just this February, MGM Resorts revealed they were the target of a massive data breach that compromised personal information for more than 10.6 million guests. Files leaked in the MGM attack included information on celebrities, chief executives of technology companies, reporters and government officials, according to Skift.
  • Expedia and Booking have taken some pretty big hits in recent months.
  • Why the dive in stock price? There are two factors outside Coronavirus that are impacting OTAs. First, hotels are getting better at capturing direct bookings. Hotel tech like direct booking platforms, metasearch ad managers, and messaging integrations help properties draw more visitors to their site and convert more direct bookings, circumventing the high OTA commissions in the process.
  • Secondly, Google has entered the travel market in a big way. Google has expanded from traditional AdWords to include hotels everywhere via its Hotel Ads product.
  • 5G may be getting all the buzz, but for property owners, WiFi 6 is much more relevant. WiFi 6 is the term used to describe the next iteration of Wifi, a faster, more efficient connection enabled through new technologies. WiFi 6 is about 30% faster than our current WiFi.
  • With WiFi 6, your property can leverage in-room technology to provide better service, driving positive guest reviews and repeat business. Smart thermostats, smart speakers, and smart locks will all perform better with the adoption of WiFi 6 over the next five years.
  • Investors in Oaky already recognize this next insight: data has become the world’s most valuable resource. The sooner you start to mine guest data for better customer insights, the better positioned your property will be against your competition.
  • Data can fuel smarter marketing campaigns, inform your pricing, and help you capture a higher market share than your competitors by knowing your guests on a deeper level.
  • Earlier this year, Revinate launched the hotel industry's first Guest Data Platform to aggregate, clean and deliver rich guest profiles for hotels and property groups of all sizes. The platform combines data from multiple sources to provide a complete picture of a hotel’s guests, delivering the information needed to increase guest satisfaction scores, direct bookings, and ultimately, profit.
  • Brands in the alternative lodging sector include Stay Alfred, Sonder, The Guild Hotels and to some extent groups such as Selina and OYO. 
  • The biggest distraction or barrier these next-gen hotels face is that they’re taking the wrong approach to tech. The companies that win will be the ones who stop acting like tech companies – using buzzwords like AI and virtual concierge – and focus on being more innovative and agile real estate businesses than traditional market players today. Those that succeed will be tech-enabled businesses; not tech businesses.
  • Smart hotel rooms use technology to allow guests to personalize their stay experiences.
  • Technology is becoming more important to hotel operations because it can deliver increasingly high value for hoteliers and guests.
  • The most important software in the hotel industry is the property management system, which acts as “mission control” for hotel operations. Hoteliers use a PMS to manage reservations, check guests in and out, and handle billing.
  • While exciting technologies present new options for hoteliers to enhance their offerings, these new innovations also mean hoteliers must focus on data security and continued training when implementing the technology that guests expect.
  • ldevaul on 30 Aug 21
     
    This article takes a deep dive into the emerging tech trends in 2021. They briefly touched on how SaaS is slowly taking over the traditional PMS and how venture capitalist can't get enough of these programs. Another honorable mention in this article is the explosion of guest room tech such as streaming services, voice activation, and guest room tablets. OTAs that have traditionally been top dogs when it came to hotel bookings are slowly declining and big data is becoming super insightful to hoteliers. This article touches on so many avenues of tech and it's definitely a must read!
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Wyndham Signs on for Next-Gen Technology From Oracle Hospitality - Skift - 1 views

skift.com/...nology-from-oracle-hospitality
shared by svail001 on 02 Sep 21 - No Cached
  • Wyndham is tapping Oracle Hospitality for its full-service brands and Sabre for its select-service
  • Wyndham is the first hotel chain to adopt Oracle’s next-generation cloud-based version of its Opera property management system.
  • Four and a half years ago, Wyndham moved to its first-generation hosted systems — meaning, moved away from having computers sitting under the desk or in the hotel closet.
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  • Between 15 and 30 percent of Wyndham’s portfolio of more than 8,900 hotels will move to Oracle Opera Cloud through 2024
  • Every place outside of North America, regardless of where a property is on the chain scale, Oracle Opera Cloud is now Wyndham’s preferred solution
  • Cost efficiencies drove the decision in the case of Oracle Opera Cloud.
  • “Your cost of entry on Opera in a traditional on-premise model could approach six figures for a full-service hotel, with an upfront commitment that used to be in the five-figures for capital expenditure,” said Scott Strickland, Wyndham’s chief information officer. “We can’t quote specific costs, but this deal offers the cloud-based version at a really accessible price-point for our partners.”
  • “With all of our cloud-based offerings, it’s a subscription model tied to a number of rooms in the hotel on what’s kind of a per-room per-month basis
  • “No upfront costs or licenses or maintenance and upgrade fees. We have packages, commensurate with a property’s needs. Costs can flex up and down in cost with demand shifts, like we saw in the pandemic.”
  • A second motivation for adopting the cloud is the product’s simplicity
  • Staff no longer need to use desktop computers and can instead log in remotely with mobile devices,
  • Another factor driving the hotel’s chain’s decision is the system’s scope. For example, Oracle Opera Cloud includes a housekeeping module
  • Their tablets and phones can connect to the cloud and see their arrival list of guests and judge how they want to adjust their staffing or last-minute rate promotions.
  • Wyndham, one of the first hotel chains to return to profitability in the pandemic, sees this move as the latest step in a four-year digital acceleration.
  • It’s a lot harder to innovate when you have four central reservation systems and three digital systems. We now have one of each globally.”
  • It’s faster when it has only one mobile app platform and only two property management systems, compared with a brand running, say, a dozen different property management systems and four versions of a mobile app.
  • Most security incidents result from one of two things. The first is not keeping up with patching of software or system vulnerabilities
  • The second major driver of security incidents comes from the interaction between systems, such as application, infrastructure, and database
  • “With Oracle Cloud technology, we frequently deploy patches in all of our environments across various applications and systems in our cloud
  • API stands for “application programming interface,” which has been described as “the set of functions and subroutines that an outside party can run to build its third-party services on top of a company’s service.”
  • “We have completely removed all the integration friction of the past, with no compromise on the security or performance of the core system,
  • svail001 on 02 Sep 21
     
    This article discusses Wyndham's decision to transition its property management into the cloud based services through Oracle Hospitality. Their decision was based on the several advantages offered by Oracle's cloud based system such as cost savings, the simplified application and use of only one central system and the protection from cyber attacks. Wyndham is the first hotel chain to adopt Oracle's new cloud based version of their management system.
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What Will Smart Homes Look Like in 10 Years? | Time - 0 views

time.com/...smart-homes-future sustainable house tech business
shared by jblan183 on 22 Nov 21 - No Cached
  • manufacturers are putting their R&D and marketing budgets behind home-monitoring and security gadgets–they will have 22.6% of the smart-home market share by 2023, estimates research firm IDC, with smart speakers and lighting equipment not far behind, at 15.4% and 11.8% respectively
  • cybersecurity will become all the more vital. Any kind of massive breach that turns off consumers, says Daniel Cooley, chief strategy officer at electronics-component manufacturer Silicon Labs, could be catastrophic for the industry. “I call it a mass-extinction event for the Internet of Things,” he says.
    • jblan183
      jblan183 on 22 Nov 21
       
      This can hint towards a huge improvement with a huge risk; a house with everything you could ask for being automated for your convenience could be easily hacked and just like that, your personal information is taken and shown to the entire world, or used to the hacker's advantage. My tip: tread carefully if you wish to buy a smart home or invest in a smart home company.
  • Smart vacuum cleaners like iRobot’s Roomba are already picking up after us, while products like the Aibo, a robotic dog for children, show how they might help keep us company like a pet. As for the future? Robotic-furniture company Ori Living is working with Ikea on pieces that change based on your needs, getting the bed out of the way when you need a desk, or hiding your closet when it’s dinnertime.
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  • A bill put forth by Virginia Senator Mark Warner in March would push the government to set up minimum security requirements for smart devices used by federal agencies; such requirements could eventually become standard for the industry at large.
    • jblan183
      jblan183 on 22 Nov 21
       
      Hacking could become rare with this bill, with any smart device requiring minimum security requirements that would force all smart device businesses to comply to the eventual standard of the industry.
  • All the automated attentiveness will come with a high price tag: consumers will spend $123 billion on IoT gear by 2021, according to advisory firm ABI Research, a number that’s likely to rise thereafter.
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Executive Recycling Company And Executives Sentenced For Fraud And International Enviro... - 1 views

www.justice.gov/...tenced-fraud-and-international
shared by teresastas on 03 Oct 21 - No Cached
  • xecutive Recycling, Inc. (a corporation) and Brandon Richter, age38, of Highlands Ranch, Colorado, the owner and chief executive officer of Executive Recycling, were sentenced today by U.S. District Court Judge William J. Martinez for their roles in a fraudulent scheme related to the disposal and exportation of electronic waste to foreign countries,
    • cingram21
      cingram21 on 03 Oct 21
       
      This article discusses the penalties the CEO and COO of Executive Recycling received for violating the laws that were exposed on 60 minutes
    • teresastas
      teresastas on 03 Oct 21
       
      Thanks for posting this...I was interested to see how this all turned out! Looks like it didn't turn out well for them!
  • significant portion of electronic waste collected by the defendants were Cathode Ray Tubes (CRTs). CRTs are the glass video display component of an electronic device, usually a computer or television monitor, and are known to contain lead. The defendants engaged in the practice of exporting electronic waste, including CRTs, from the United States to foreign countries, including the People’s Republic of China.
  • Executive Recycling appeared as the exporter of record in over 300 exports from the United States between 2005 and 2008. Approximately 160 of these exported cargo containers contained a total of more than 100,000 CRTs.
  • ...2 more annotations...
  • The defendants’ misrepresentation induced customers to enter into contracts or agreements with the defendants for electronic waste disposal. Each victim paid the defendants to recycle their electronic waste in accordance with the representations made by the defendants. Contrary to their representations, the defendants sold the electronic waste they received from customers to brokers for export overseas to the People’s Republic of China and other countries.
  • The defendants claimed to safely recycle e-waste in the U.S., but regularly exported obsolete and discarded electronic equipment with toxic materials to third-world countries,” said Jeff Martinez, Special Agent in Charge of EPA’s criminal enforcement office in Colorado. 
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Generative AI Will Change Your Business. Here's How to Adapt. - 0 views

hbr.org/...ur-business-heres-how-to-adapt
shared by kellym64 on 29 Jun 23 - No Cached
  • you’ll just see: “What do you want to do today?” And when you tell it what you want to do, it will likely offer some suggestions, drawing upon its knowledge of what you did last time, what triggers the systems knows about your current context, and what you’ve already stored in the system as your core goals, such as “save for a trip,” “remodel our kitchen,” “manage meal plans for my family of five with special dietary needs,” etc.
    • kellym64
      kellym64 on 29 Jun 23
       
      Now this will help with various things in the future and help search be narrowed down by past search bar items.
  • For example, for an airline brand that leveraged AI to decide on the “next best conversation” to engage in with customers, we set rules around what products could be marketed to which customers, what copy could be used in which jurisdictions, and rules around anti-repetition to ensure customers didn’t get bombarded with irrelevant messages.
    • kellym64
      kellym64 on 29 Jun 23
       
      This will also help the hotel industry if a front desk agent is having trouble finding a way to connect with guests. It can help narrow down appropriate questions to ask the guest.
  • Some companies have created new positions for chief customer protection officers, whose role is to stay ahead of potential risk scenarios, but more importantly, to build safeguards into how product managers are developing and managing the systems.
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Hospitality security adjusts to COVID-19 constraints | 2021-02-08 | Security Magazine - 0 views

www.securitymagazine.com/...djusts-to-covid-19-constraints
shared by pjohn091 on 28 Feb 21 - No Cached
  • While COVID-19 has slowed the hospitality industry, security plays a more pivotal role than ever and the ongoing pandemic is challenging security professionals to adjust and adapt to new rules and procedures.
  • “The things people do in hotel rooms are things they would never do at home: prostitution, drug abuse. Suicide is huge, people kill themselves in hotel rooms because they don’t want to do it at home,”
  • The hotel industry came to a halt in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic and things are only slowly starting to pick back up. Yet the burden on security is no less than it was before, and in many ways, the job has gotten harder.
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  • Occupancy levels dropped 90% for several months and have only recently returned to a consistent 40%, with many hotels still closed,
  • “Despite the low occupancy levels, we continue to have a significant number of incidents resulting in a much higher incident-to-occupied-room ratio than we have historically seen. We have seen a dramatic increase in heart attacks and suicides over the past few months, and continue to have increased numbers of fraud and guest-on-guest type incidents.”
  • Even as the need for security persists, many hospitality chains have pared back their security budgets.
  • Eventually COVID-19 will recede, but new risk categories will likely continue to unfold in hospitality. Security professionals can help to steer a course by reminding upper management that risk is more than just a monetary calculation.
  • In some cases, entire corporate departments are being eliminated, so there is no centralized security department. There is no one providing corporate guidance, no one providing policies and procedures.”
  • Even if there’s only one person working the front desk, “they still need to be making the rounds,” Perman says. “They need to be knocking on doors and making contact, making conversation. You need them to keep up that level of human intervention.”
  • “A passive infrared detector can also be used to detect temperature in human beings, so a video camera that is infrared capable can detect fever in a human, and that is being done in a lot of places,”
  • Through COVID-19, though, technology can be a double-edged sword. For example, some hotels have turned to mobile-phone-based check-in to provide a touchless experience. “From a security perspective there are unintended consequences there,” Danson says. “Now you never have to go to the front desk, you never have to encounter a person.”
  • Under these emerging policies, security is striving to put more active eyes on guest rooms — right at a time when COVID-related staff reductions are making it harder for security even to sustain normal operations.
  • With the onset of COVID-19, things have gotten even more challenging, as hotel security is increasingly tasked to do more with less. 
  • Even in this strained environment, other common risks persist in the hospitality world. Prostitution is a perennially complex issue for hotel security, for example, while human trafficking is an increasing area of concern.
  • When allocating resources in support of operational safety and security, “the chief of security needs to be informing corporate leadership of the potential risks, so that it becomes a risk-based decision and not just a budget decision,” Slotnick says. “Security has to make the case for risk, whether it’s a risk to brand reputation or other forms of risk.”
  • akallison93 on 28 Feb 21
     
    This article goes into great detail about how Covid-19 is affecting hotel security. With budget cuts, security personnel are being limited, but the need for security is more important than ever. The article talks about how suicides in hotels are higher than ever as well, making it all the more important to have a solid security presence.
  • pjohn091 on 25 Jun 22
     
    In this article, it discusses the decline of the hotel industry following the COVID-19 pandemic, and how things have only slowly begun picking up again. However, the security burden is as great as it has ever been, and in many ways, it is even harder. Despite hotels closing their doors amid the pandemic, occupancy levels have only recently recovered to a consistently high 40%, with many still closed for months.
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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.
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The world's e-waste is a huge problem. It's also a golden opportunity | World Economic ... - 1 views

www.weforum.org/...aste-into-a-golden-opportunity Hospitality Technology Internet Cyberattacks
shared by deranique on 20 Feb 23 - No Cached
  • Humankind’s insatiable demand for electronic devices is creating the world’s fastest-growing waste stream.
  • The United Nations calls it a tsunami of e-waste.
    • deranique
      deranique on 26 Feb 23
       
      This statement refers to the seriousness of e-waste globally.
  • the International Telecommunication Union (ITU)
  • ...9 more annotations...
  • the International Labour Organization (ILO)
  • he United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and other members of the E-waste Coalition
  • increase the global e-waste recycling rate to 30%.
  • They now number more than humans and are projected to grow to 25-50 billion by 2020, reflecting plummeting costs and rising demand.
  • The situation is not helped by the fact that only 20% of global e-waste is formally recycled. The remaining 80% is often incinerated or dumped in landfill.
  • By all coming together on the global stage we can create a sustainable industry that generates less waste, and in which our devices are re-used as well recycled in novel ways. This also creates new forms of employment, economic activity, education and trade.
  • Already 67 countries have enacted legislation to deal with the e-waste they generate. Apple, Google, Samsung and many other brands have set ambitious targets for recycling and for the use of recycled and renewable materials.
  • Action is needed now.
  • E-waste is not pollution, nor is it waste - it’s a vital resource we are only just starting to value in full.
  • deranique on 20 Feb 23
     
    This article provides a detailed approach on the negative and positive impacts of electronic waste from a global standpoint. This article also provides statistical data to show the various types of technological gadgets that contribute to e-waste, the materials they are made from, and new initiatives put in place to recycle these items.
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Cybersecurity Budgets Increase for Retail & Hospitality Industry - 1 views

www.darkreading.com/...or-retail-hospitality-industry
shared by bbalthaser on 27 Feb 23 - No Cached
  • 70% of CISOs expect their budgets to increase again this year, while 60% also expect more FTEs, according to the CISO Benchmark Report released today from the Retail & Hospitality Information Sharing and Analysis Center (RH-ISAC).
  • This year, business disruption emerged as a top 10 (No. 7) risk that organizations currently face, up seven spots from No. 14 in 2021. Similarly, 50% of CISOs now have business continuity/disaster recovery as part of their core responsibilities, an increase of 11 percentage points since last year.
  • very few CISOs have fraud as part of their core responsibilities, according to the report.  
  • bbalthaser on 27 Feb 23
     
    Chief of Information Security officers (CISO) report summarizes that hospitality and retail industries will be spending more accounting for 70% more providers. The report looks at a variety of benchmarks to assess like budgets and personnel. Fraud is not as prioritized as one might think and this time the focus is on business disruption. One core of responsibility seen by at least 70% of CISOs is of continuity and disaster recovery. They are also examining a new benchmark which is staff function priorities. The evolving of the industries is why cybersecurity threats are so complex. The report provides vital information to benefit CISOs on trends. The report in question is very interesting in how it examines what people are spending on their IT security budgets and breaks down where that money is being utilized and staffing. This would be a useful tool for hospitality providers looking to increase their budget because they can analyze other providers and what is currently trending in terms of threats and how to allocate assets whether money or personnel. If the biggest threat to providers is disruption then having an emergency action plan in place would highly benefit providers under underbudgeting. This would be a great tool for any organization to plan their IT strategy with security in mind.
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