SF Technotes

Flexible Tech Adjusts to COVID

Rapid changes and repurposing of technologies due to the COVID epidemic are reaching into areas as diverse as shops and boardrooms—seating AI replacements in call centers, friendly robotic monitors in parks, virtual shopping squads in cyber malls, and futurists at corporate headquarters.

IMA Moments

IMA’s Free Educational Offerings during the Pandemic

In this month’s IMA Moments blog post, Debbie Warner, IMA’s vice president of education and career services, highlights the new free educational resources available to members through June 30, 2020.

SF Technotes

Artificially Intelligent Inventors

If an AI computer is sufficiently intelligent to create new designs for helpful devices, should the machine or system be allowed to apply for a patent for its inventions? DABUS (from Imagination Engines) tried, but patent law in the U.S. and the U.K. currently ban this kind of application...for now.

SF Technotes

COBOL, the Everlasting Software

As the world presses forward with the efforts to achieve quantum-scale computers and molecular-size memory, a computer programming language developed more than a half century ago is disrupting a critical effort to process unemployment applications during the COVID-19 crisis.

IMA Moments

Staying Sharp While Social Distancing

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused us to social distance in unprecedented ways. But that doesn’t mean you can’t still sharpen your skills. Jodi Ryan, CAE, writes about all of the IMA resources—such as webinars, Excel courses, and podcasts—that you can access while sheltering in place.

SF Technotes

Supercomputers vs. COVID-19

The search for a vaccine and treatments for the COVID-19 pandemic is ongoing worldwide, and now 16 of the most powerful supercomputers and their teams have become partners in a coalition that will provide vast computational power for the researchers. The XSEDE portal will share reports and results.

SF Technotes

Suddenly You’re Working from Home

Transitioning from the office to full-time at home can be difficult and a little scary. But if you set routines, maintain borders, communicate often, and take breaks outside, you’ll find it easier to organize a familiar and comfortable setting. There are also communication apps to help.

IMA Moments

Diversity and Women’s History Month

March is Women’s History Month. In celebrating women in leadership and diversity of thought, IMA’s director of Diversity and Inclusion, Linda Devonish-Mills, writes about unconscious bias in the workplace and the powerful value women can find in male or female mentorships.

SF Technotes

MIT’s Breakthrough Technologies in 2020

MIT’s breakthrough technologies for 2020 includes quantum supremacy and quantum networks, digital currencies, medical research into gene editing, AI-guided molecular treatments, more powerful AI on mobiles, differential privacy, and more accurate climate change attribution.

SF Technotes

Personal Computing Pioneer Dies

Though Larry Tesler will rightly be remembered for his innovations like the copy, cut, and paste or search and replace commands, his axiomatic commitment to simplifying complex technical processes was a defining influence on computers worldwide. He passed away on February 17, 2020.

IMA Moments

Themes That Changed My Life

Kip Krumwiede, IMA’s director of research, writes about the themes from business visionary Clayton M. Christensen’s article “How Will You Measure Your Life?”—themes that affected him personally as a husband and father, and professionally as a professor and management accountant.

SF Technotes

Flying Cars Aloft in New Zealand Skies

Taxis are subject to the same congestion as all other current street transports. In fact, they compound the problem. Electric vertical take-off air taxis would solve road congestion and other environmental problems, and a fleet of these is scheduled for testing soon in Canterbury, New Zealand.

SF Technotes

The Promise and Danger of Synthetic Text

For millennia, the ability to speak, read, and write has been the sole province of humans. Now, Siri helps write our shopping lists, we can listen to our daily emails, and Open AI’s GPT-2 program will produce synthetic text on almost any topic as news sto-ries, essays, fiction, and translations.

IMA Moments

Building Brand Awareness on Social Media

IMA creative director Jaime Cucalon shares his expertise and experiences in building a global social media presence for IMA—like how to build a social media presence for your organization, use social media to raise awareness for your organization, and which marketing guidelines to keep in mind.

SF Technotes

The Web’s Cartographer

Ever wonder how Google constructs maps for Google Maps, Google Earth, Street View, and Waze? Recently, the Google team has been blogging about Street View cars and trekkers, the how and the why of the geographical imagery systems, and the processes and problems of mapping the whole planet.

SF Technotes

New Year’s Resolution: Be a Better Mentor

ICMA’s Dennis Whitney views mentorship as a necessity for personal and professional growth that should be built into our day-to-day responsibilities. Mentorships are a mutual coaching experience because, in talking with others, you also find out a lot about yourself. Here are four helpful tips.

SF Technotes

The Verdict on 5G

We’ve had 4G networks since 2009, and the telecoms promised to deliver 5G at speeds 10 to 100 times faster on our smartphones and IoT devices back in 2017. We’re still waiting for the general rollout of the network and a selection of smartphones with working 5G built in. What’s going on?

SF Technotes

An Open-Source Library for the Millennium

Within the Arctic Circle, next to the Global Seed Vault, the Arctic World Archive stores civilization’s heritage of art, history, and technology in digital recreations. GitHub, the cloud service for the world’s software developers, ports over its history of modern computing to the cold archives.

IMA Moments

With Support, We Can All Succeed

Valerie Finch, IMA’s controller, didn’t start her career in finance. But with a flair for numbers, she discovered accounting, and overcame every obstacle on her way to earn her MBA and CMA. Her story shows that, with the support of mentors and family, you can succeed at anything.

SF Technotes

Volkswagen Accelerates AV Investment

If you think autonomous vehicles are only a thing of the future, you’re mistaken. Driverless vehicles are already on the roads, on the rails, in the air, and even, in some places, plowing the fields. The Volkswagen Group is now reaching for a larger share of the autonomous vehicle future.

SF Technotes

Cyberattacks on Smart Devices Escalate

Attacks on IoT devices have increased dramatically in 2019. To measure the number of attacks, Kaspersky Lab sets digital traps called “honeypots” which attract and block malware invasions. How can you and your company fight off these invaders and keep your devices safe? Here are some solutions.

IMA Moments

Build Business Success with Innovation

Innovation is crucial for succeeding in today’s business environment. IMA President & CEO Jeff Thomson focuses on one of IMA's Core Values—Innovation. It can manifest as a great new creation that literally changes the world, or something small that improves your day-to-day processes.

SF Technotes

UPS Launches the First Drone Airline

Many were certain the first drone airline to launch with FAA approval would be owned by either Amazon or Google. Not so. UPS has lifted off first. The company has 28 years of experience flying their own delivery aircraft along with a history of air shipping dating back to 1929.

SF Technotes

Amazon To Deliver Carbon Neutrality

We have been pumping billions of metric tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. Now it’s no longer enough to try to become carbon neutral with renewable power sources. We also need a major effort to extract CO2 from the atmosphere.

IMA Moments

Incorporating Ethics in Student Curricula

Ethics isn’t something that is important just for practicing management accounting professionals—it’s also important for students preparing for careers in the field. Students need to be made aware that they will encounter situations with ethical components and they need to be ready.

SF Technotes

Largest Chip Ever Built Will Power AI

If the chip company called Cerebras is correct in its predictions for the capacities of its new Wafer-Scale Engine systems chip, hardware is about to make a significant comeback in AI computing. Almost nine inches square, the chip has 1.2 trillion transistors and 400,000 AI-optimized cores.

SF Technotes

Cybersecurity: 2019 May Be Worst Year Ever

Hacking incidents involving large corporations resulting in population-size exposures of personal information are becoming more commonplace—now routinely ushered aside with promises of free credit monitoring. Here are the numbers for 2019 from the researchers at Risk Based Security.

IMA Moments

5 Tips for Women in Technology

IMA’s technology all-star Danielle Paccione shares advice for women starting out in technology. Her insight shows you can not only survive as a woman in a male-dominated field but go a step further and make a name for yourself in your organization and the marketplace.

SF Technotes

EU Publishes Unified Drone Laws

As the European skies resound with the whine of various-size drones—giving a growing risk of disaster to commercial aviation—the EU has drafted a comprehensive set of universal rules of operation for the handheld models right up to the UAS (unmanned aircraft systems) passenger carriers.

SF Technotes

Approaching Quantum Supremacy

Using quantum mechanics, IBM, Google, and Microsoft researchers are creating some of the most esoteric computer hardware yet, with machines designed to operate in almost absolute zero temperatures. The goal of “quantum supremacy” is to gain insights toward ever more useful quantum computer.

SF Technotes

Top 10 Emerging Technologies in 2019

Reviewing the most significant developments in technology this year, the World Economic Forum selected 10 from energy, medicine, manufacturing, data storage, utility-scale electrical storage, and a kind of collaborative telepresence that borders on teleporting yourself through your computers.

SF Technotes

Facebook Wants Its Own Cryptocurrency

Facebook, along with partners, has announced Libra, a program it hopes will establish its own blockchain-based currency governed by a private, independent association. Libra would be digital money to be used to pay for online and offline services. Some regulators have expressed concerns.

SF Technotes

Quiet Streets Are Becoming Too Dangerous

Countries in the European Union are subject to a new law requiring most electric vehicles to make an audible noise in order to operate legally. The sound must fluctuate to reflect the speed of the vehicle. The new law is aimed at protecting the visually impaired and children, among others.

SF Technotes

3-D Printed Villages

3D-printing technologies have now expanded into various fields, including real-estate construction. Apis Cor, a company with locations in San Francisco, Calif., and Russia, has affordable, eco-friendly construction projects underway that can be constructed in 24 hours at just over $10,000.

IMA Moments

Business Tips for Working in America

I was born and raised in Russia, but came to America and became a business professional here. The language barrier is only one of several obstacles to overcome. Here are my tips for professionals looking to work in business in America. I hope they help you, too. And keep smiling!

SF Technotes

Understanding Machine Behavior

In April of 2019, MIT’s Media Lab released “Machine Behavior,” a call for a new field of scientific study into machine behavior. A blend of computer science and the behavioral models applied to biological agents, the research would examine machine algorithms and their social environments.

SF Technotes

Apple’s Daisy Robot on Earth Day

In 2018, Apple announced that a new recycling robot called Liam would join its global recycling programs and recover reusable elements from old iPhones. This year, the company issued a follow-up Earth Day message and welcomed a faster and more efficient version of the robot named Daisy.

IMA Moments

Recognizing Unethical Situations

Dr. Kip Krumwiede, director of research at IMA®, shares a dilemma in ethics from early in his accounting career in the mobile phone industry, and warns that you can easily get into unethical situations before you even know it. Do you report it, just “go with it,” or walk away? IMA can help.

SF Technotes

Google’s Vanishing AI Ethics Board

Google announced the formation an Advanced Technology External Advisory Council that would “consider some of Google’s most complex challenges that arise under our AI principles, like facial recognition and fairness in machine learning.” The AI ethics board lasted just ten days. What happened?

SF Technotes

Computer Vision 2019: VR/AR/MR

Microsoft has released the latest altered reality headset—HoloLens 2. The promise is that the mixed reality medium will change the way medical students learn, it will help preserve ancient historical landmarks, and it will provide heads-up, hands-free assistance to first-line workers everywhere.

IMA Moments

Build Valuable Relationships through Networking

Networking: We all know we should do it, but approaching someone you don’t know is a scary task. When you view networking as an informal process of building relationships, you can mentally overcome this challenge. Two degrees of networking separation is bringing Jay Leno to IMA’s ACE19 in June!

SF Technotes

Beware the Triton Sabotage Malware

The Triton industrial sabotage malware is a spreading security threat. The code is designed to disable safety systems that are in place to prevent catastrophic industrial accidents. It’s potentially “the world’s most murderous malware...The hackers are targeting companies in North America.”

SF Technotes

Debut of the Urban Parcel Robots

The startup Quadrobot Inc. will be rolling out its robotic delivery trucks in Detroit, Mich., and China later this year. The QUADROBOT U1 is a four-wheel-drive, autonomous, all-electric vehicle designed for urban environments and neighborhoods to provide “last-mile” delivery service.

IMA Moments

Interviewing 101: Ask the Right Questions

As the director of Research & Development at IMA®, I have had the opportunity to interview candidates for open positions in my department. Over the years, I learned that asking candidates the right questions can limit the amount of time, money, and resources wasted on interviewing.

SF Technotes

WIPO: U.S. and China Lead the World in AI Innovation

A study from the United Nations World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) documents “a massive recent surge in artificial intelligence-based inventions, with U.S.-based companies IBM and Microsoft leading the pack as AI has moved from the theoretical realm toward the global marketplace.”

SF Technotes

Google’s Own AI Scorecard for 2018

Jeff Dean, Google artificial intelligence lead, reviews 17 AI topics, from ethical principles for AI research to applying machine learning to clinical healthcare. Google’s lasting legacy will rest on what it has discovered, developed, and distributed in AI as a source for good in the world.

SF Technotes

Best Robotics in 2018

In the mind of a design engineer, a robot can be a collection of mechanical and digital systems that can install wallboard like a human, or it can be a piece of fabric that has embedded intelligence, or be a shiny plastic puppy. Here are Electionic Engineering Times’s “Top 10 Robots of 2018.”

SF Technotes

America’s First Robotic Supermarket

Takeoff Technologies, the Boston-based robotics company, and Sedano’s, the grocery chain in Miami, Fla., have partnered to create the first in a line of proposed e-groceries. Customers place their orders through an online interface and will save about 100 hours a year shopping this way.

IMA Moments

Math and Statistics: The Skills Needed in Management Accounting

When I was teaching high school math, students would say, “How am I ever going to use math?” It turns out, math and statistics are paramount to this new world we live in as accountants with more data science and analytics to enable foresight as business partners in the face of AI and RPA.

SF Technotes

The Top 10 Strategic Tech Trends for 2019

The global analysts at Gartner have released their top 10 strategic technology trends for 2019. The trends are presented in a connected matrix called an “Intelligent Digital Mesh.” Strategic tech trends have big disruptive potential along with attention that encourages widespread adoption.

SF Technotes

From Passwords to Hardware Keys

Large computer concerns are getting serious about replacing passwords with mechanical keys. A recent case for computer pocket keys in the form of USB sticks was announced by Microsoft to its 800+ million users of Office 365, One Drive cloud, Outlook, Bing, Skype, and Xbox Live.

IMA Moments

Diversity and Inclusion During the Month of Giving

November celebrates the generosity and volunteerism by people of all backgrounds, encouraging a sense of unity and inclusiveness for all. You and your organization can get involved. You will not only give back to your community, but you will also unify your organization.

SF Technotes

IBM’s Cloud Drifts into Open-Source Skies

IBM and Red Hat software announced that IBM would acquire Red Hat, the world’s leader in open-source technology, for $34 billion, with plans to “become the world’s number one hybrid cloud provider.” IBM’s interest in the Linux open-source operating system isn’t something new.

SF Technotes

Three Moons in the China Skies

China is planning to launch three artificial moon satellites by 2020. These “moons” will light the streets at night in Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan Province. These satellites will be made of mirror-like reflective materials, and will be “eight times brighter than the real moon.”

IMA Moments

Technology and Management Accounting: What Next?

There’s no doubt that technology plays a large role in today’s business environment, and has impacted how management accountants perform their day-to-day jobs. But what does the future hold for management accountants using technology? Some of IMA’s top thought leaders look ahead.

SF Technotes

Tesla’s Autopilot Seen through the Windshield

Tesla’s Autopilot system for its cars constantly peers outward in all directions with eight cameras, listens with an ultrasonics system, and then adds additional input from radar. What that looks like has been recreated in a recent YouTube video. Come ride the streets of Paris!

SF Technotes

The 10-Year-Old in Your Phone

The world’s most popular mobile operating system turned 10 in September 2018. The engine for more than one billion devices is now in its ninth version. Versions for smartwatches and cars have joined the Google Android lineup. The latest smartphone engine is called Android 9 Pie. How sweet it is!

SF Technotes

SuitBots for Working Cyborgs

LG Electronics just debuted its first “human-centric wearable robot.” It’s called the SuitBot. It’s a robotic exoskeleton designed to support the legs and augments the capacity of workers who do heavy lifting over long periods of time. How soon will you be managing cyborgs at work?

SF Technotes

AI Program Can Diagnose 50 Eye Diseases From Scans

At London’s Moorfields Eye Hospital, a program called DeepMind Health can now recognize and recommend the correct decision for more than 50 eye diseases with an accuracy of 94%. The program reads and analyzes 3-D retinal images produced by optical coherence tomography (OCT) scans.

IMA Moments

Unconventional Back-To-School Advice

As a semester starts, students get a lot of advice: “Study hard.” “Take a certification exam.” “Do an internship.” All of that is good, but you can also expand your horizons in non-business-related subjects. Focusing only on improving your accounting skills can be limiting, so also try t...

SF Technotes

A Robotic Hand Teaches Itself Dexterity

For a project called Learning Dexterity, a robotic hand learned how to find a letter on a cube and then manipulated the cube’s position to hold it up to a camera for verification. The hand and the neural network were left to learn on their own and then practice the activity.

SF Technotes

A New Speed Record for the Hyperloop Transport

WARR Hyperloop, a team of engineering students, won the SpaceX Hyperloop Competition. Their hyperloop pod, a subscale prototype transportation vehicle, had a maximum speed of 290 mph (467 km/h). The world’s fastest train, Japan’s experimental Maglev Train LO Series, has sailed at 375 mph.

SF Technotes

A Floating Robot for the Space Station

A supply ship was launched, carrying cargo for the International Space Station (ISS), including CIMON, an AI-enabled robot. The 11-pound floating sphere will provide a hands-free assistant for the astronauts, serving as a flying camera, and acting as the space station’s voice-controlled database.

SF Technotes

Microsoft Deploys Subsea Data Center

Project Natick has submerged its second prototype data center in the North Sea. The steel enclosure contains 864 standard Microsoft data center servers, and is as powerful as several thousand high-end consumer PCs. Microsoft observes: “50% of us live near the coast. Why doesn’t our data?”

IMA Moments

The Secret to Success

Management accounting professionals at every level of their career acknowledge there is no universal way to achieve career success. But one starting point is to define what success means to you, and then you can plan how to achieve it. IMA’s thought leaders share their career paths to success.

SF Technotes

The Shutter Closes on Film

The history of photography has spanned almost two centuries. Digital photography has been around for fewer than 50 of those years. Sadly, the multinational Canon Inc. recently said it would no longer sell any film cameras. Film is now no longer part of the company’s future. Will you miss it?

SF Technotes

Mapping Cybersecurity Mayhem

Probably the most spectacular single instance of the world under cyber-siege occurred on December 25, 2015 and was recorded on an online map that tracks cyberattacks (see above). When you check out our examples of active attacks, you may rethink the importance of security for your company.

IMA Moments

5 Tips for Your Next Networking Event

When attending IMA’s Annual Conference & Expo or any in-person business event, you have the opportunity to network with like-minded professionals. But if you’re uncomfortable with the idea of networking and approaching people you don’t know, here are some tips you can use to mingle with ease.

SF Technotes

How Smart Is Your Digital Personal Assistant?

We have IQ and achievement tests for students, but what about those “smart” speakers from Amazon, Apple, Google, and Microsoft? Are they all relatively the same, or are there posers and geniuses mixed into the same class? A recent study shows which DPAs made the grade.

SF Technotes

Caution! New Tech for Roads

Roads not only serve as rivers of commerce, but as laboratories where currents and congestion are studied. An optical illusion speed bump in Iceland is being tested. In Sweden, experiments based on conductive technology use an electric rail embedded in the roadway to power and recharge vehicles.

IMA Moments

Gender Pay Gap: More Needs to Be Done

IMA® believes that empowering women with the skills they need is crucial for career advancement and salary increases. And although we’re working towards closing the gender pay gap worldwide, we still have a ways to go. Here are some inspiring findings from IMA’s 2018 Global Salary Survey.

SF Technotes

MIT’s Breakthrough Technologies for 2018

This list offers two significant AI entries: generative adversarial networks which pit AI systems against each other, and cloud-based AI, which makes deep-learning algorithms available to more. Other tech includes 3-D metal printing, language-translation earbuds, and a zero-carbon power plant.

SF Technotes

Quantum Computing vs. Conventional Cryptography

IBM’s conference, Think 2018, presented “technologies that will change the world in the next five years.” Consider two—standard cryptography and quantum computing. The former represents a final line of defense against hackers, and the latter that will reduce conventional crypto to digital du...

IMA Moments

You’re the Boss. Now What?

Getting promoted to a leadership or management position is a common goal in career advancement. Along with a feeling of accomplishment comes a feeling of pressure: Does the new manager now act differently to employees who used to be peers? IMA’s top thought leaders offer advice.

SF Technotes

Looking Forward at Mobile World Congress 2018

At the Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona, numerous demonstrations included a concept phone from Vivo called the Apex FullView, a taxi drone which will carry single passengers from Dubai’s airport to high-end hotels, and previews of spectacularly fast 5G connectivity.

SF Technotes

Hackers Active at the Winter Olympics

A destructive wiper malware named “Olympic Destroyer” announced its presence on Friday, February 9, 2018, by shutting down the official website of the Winter Olympics (www.olympic.org) for hours, interrupting ticket sales and blocking venue information. What were hackers after?

IMA Moments

Becoming an Analytics Translator

Some think that, in this evolving data-driven age, management accountants will need to become data scientists. But a new role as an analytics translator combines information technology, analytics, and business skills in order to extract information from data and add value to organizations.

SF Technotes

Tesla: This Week in Space and at Home Depot

Tesla Inc. has followed through on some of the most diverse technological projects imaginable. Their SpaceX division launched the world’s most powerful rocket, the SpaceX Falcon Heavy, which sent a Tesla Roadster (driven by Starman) into orbit. And, look for Tesla kiosks in 800 Home Depots.

SF Technotes

The Foldable Phone Is Still on Hold

Samsung seems to be approaching the official debut of a phone that manages a larger screen by using a foldable design that opens a flexible screen. But the big questions are when will the “Galaxy X” actually happen and what will it look like.

IMA Moments

What Makes a Great Leader?

What qualities make a great leader? A CFO reflects on a mentor CEO who wanted people to challenge him. He had a large sign made up that read, “Leadership Code: We give each other permission to challenge each other, even if it makes one of us uncomfortable. We are here to help, not judge.”

IMA Pulse

Gig Economy Slowly Catching On in Finance

The gig economy is a new form of labor by which workers get short-term contracts or freelance work (a gig), as opposed to permanent positions or jobs. Gigs are often facilitated through a digital marketplace on a mobile app. IMA® (Institute of Management Accountants) conducted a surv...