Entropy is a problem for our digital information because our storage systems can become unreadable in as little as three to five years while the massive stores of data we’re generating could double in the next few years.
IMA Moments
The Evolution of Accounting Education
Laurie Burney, associate accounting professor at Baylor University and professor-in-residence at IMA, shares lessons for educators to adjust to the transformation of the accounting profession as sustainability, technology, data analytics, and other trends shift the demands on students entering the w...
SF Technotes
Safe Quantum Still Evolving
As universities, major companies, and nations prepare for a future quantum-safe world, the passing mile markers are bringing us closer to the most powerful, capable, and dangerous computing systems yet conceived.
SF Technotes
EU Is Two Steps Ahead in AI Safety
The benefits of AI get a lot of attention, but the bias and mistakes of the algorithms have also produced catastrophes. This month, the EU drafted part two of its effort to provide meaningful oversight and accountability for AI creators, producers, and users of the technology.
IMA Moments
Diversify Your Skill Set, Find Your Calling
IMAIPL’s director of operations, India, offers professional development advice informed by upskilling and rotating through various roles on different teams.
SF Technotes
White House Drafts AI Bill of Rights
As we find ourselves working alongside AI machines, and daily have our information, location, and browsing habits tracked by cookies and others online, and are under constant surveillance now even by doorbells as we walk down the street, we have arrived at a point where we need an AI Bill of Rights.
SF Technotes
Wireless EV Charging—An Update
Four years ago, BMW offered wireless charging solutions for certain models of their electric vehicles. The idea was very popular, but the follow-up faded. There were problems. Now, with many international projects using wireless charging in commercials fleets, the interest in home systems is back.
IMA Moments
Critical Thinking, Continuous Learning Are Essential
Yufei Shan, senior research and knowledge manager of global business development at IMA, recounts professional development lessons learned while getting graduate degrees and certifications, working in the finance function, adjusting to macro trends, and transitioning to a not-for-profit organization...
SF Technotes
AI Art in 10 Seconds
Several new programs let you create digital art and design by simply writing a short description of what you want in a line or two. Sketches, paintings, photorealistic images, and architectural designs—forget the brushes or T-squares, all you need are words.
SF Technotes
Printing a Sense of Touch for Robots
In the last 30 years, 3D printers have progressed from shaping small prototypes to a level of additive manufacturing using everything from resin to stainless steel. Now, MIT’s CSAIL laboratory has created a material unlike any we’ve had before, a mesh that senses pressure and feels movement.
IMA Moments
Ambassador for Finance Professionals
Nina Michels-Kim, IMA’s director of partnerships, Japan and Korea, recounts professional development lessons she’s learned while pursuing a graduate degree and certifications, remaining flexible and executing career pivots, climbing the ladder in the finance function, and overcoming health issue...
SF Technotes
Photonic Computers and Materials that Think
MIT’s list of 35 Innovators Under 35 this year includes a researcher who has developed a semiconductor that’s only a few atoms thick and a materials developer who is working on new nanoscale materials that have properties unlike any we have today, including the ability to make decisions.
SF Technotes
Unlimited Energy beneath Our Feet
Two new sources of renewable energy are moving toward actual deployment. Deep geothermal power, also known as the “sun beneath our feet,” and the vast ocean currents that flow from the poles to the tropics and back are being tested in miles-deep drilling and submerged turbines off the coast of J...
IMA Moments
Professional Development Best Practices
Different skills are required at each stage of your career, so it’s important to create a plan to develop them. You reap various benefits by focusing on your professional development and skills acquisition, including a network of contacts, advancement within your company, and new job opportunities...
SF Technotes
Smart Cities and Urban Utopias
Most people in the world now live in cities, and the efforts to make our urban areas smarter to accommodate this change are accelerating. There’s no single road to the “smart city,” and technologists and city planners are discovering the process can go as badly as Google’s project Quayside i...
SF Technotes
The Autonomous Mayflower Lands
Much-needed data about the critical role of the oceans in our planet’s economic and environmental future can now be collected by a crewless marine research vessel called the Mayflower 400 sailing under the control of an “AI Captain.” The ship is the largest autonomous vessel to cross the Atlan...
IMA Moments
Listening and Communicating Keys to Success
Jim Gurowka, senior vice president of membership and growth at IMA, recounts lessons learned from working construction as a teenager to his various roles throughout his professional career at a large multinational corporation, a boutique technology management consultancy, and a nonprofit organizatio...
SF Technotes
Hiring Algorithms to Replace You
A recent survey of 500 financial professionals in the U.S., the U.K., France, and Germany came to the surprising conclusion that happier workplaces have higher levels of automation as employees say robots bring more rewarding work. The Are Friends Electric? report details those opportunities.
SF Technotes
Some Surprises at Google’s I/O 2022
Google’s most recent developer conference, I/O 2022 held on May 11, offered a panoramic look in the Googleplex windows at what’s next for the search giant and its developers. As expected, there was a keynote from the Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai and a keynote from Jeanine Banks, vice presid...
IMA Moments
Thriving in a Tech-Dominated Profession
Russ Porter, CFO of IMA, recounts professional-development lessons from his current role and previous jobs over a 28-year tenure at IBM. He says that by achieving certifications, keeping up to speed with new technology, and communicating effectively, you can provide your career with a boost.
SF Technotes
Reducing High-Speed Internet Costs
Universal high-speed connections would have gone a long way to improve work from home and remote classroom study. Now the federal government has announced a plan to extend affordable high-speed connections to millions more with the Affordable Connectivity Program and the plans to add infrastructure.
SF Technotes
World Quantum Day
April 14 was declared World Quantum Day in 2022 by scientists and computer researchers around the world. Online celebrations offered greetings from the United States to Finland to Singapore, with events and learning sessions in many languages explaining where we are and where we’re headed with qua...
IMA Moments
Life Lessons That Boosted My Career
Judy Bartee, manager of international operations at IMA, recounts lessons she’s learned in her current role as well as previous jobs as a veterinary hospital assistant, educator, nonprofit youth organization executive director, and human resources director. She says kindness matters regardless of ...
SF Technotes
The Gradual Acceptance of AI
AI offers the promise of better living in a wide variety of venues. But many still see an existential threat from unregulated AI and machine intelligence that might surpass humans. The Pew Research Center released their current study of where Americans stand on AI.
SF Technotes
MIT’s 10 Technology Breakthroughs
This year’s 10 breakthrough technologies from MIT include an advance in molecular biology constructed on the power of AI, factories that pull carbon out of the air, the end of passwords, pills for pandemics and parasites, and the promise of fusion energy from 100 million °C reactors.
IMA Moments
Leadership through Team Building
Paulette Brown, senior business analyst at IMA, recounts lessons she’s learned as an accounting and data professional and cross-departmental team leader. She says that leading the way on boosting morale and corporate social responsibility helps to earn colleagues’ respect and provides a career b...
SF Technotes
Robots Aren’t Fellow Travelers
Robots that talk and smile and can walk (or roll) alongside us shouldn’t be adopted as the universal interface for most or all future machine intelligence. There’s too much to lose if we design to dumb down what AI machines can know or do just to make them conversational and comfortable for us.
SF Technotes
A Mathematical Twin of Your Heart
Digital twin technology has been enthusiastically adopted in many sectors from manufacturing to satellite management. And now the applications in healthcare are moving medicine to some very unusual horizons, including virtual copies of our brain and a digital self to watch over our well-being.
IMA Moments
Creating a Fulfilling Career
Mary Zisk, retiring SF design director at IMA, recounts lessons she learned as a graphic-design and art-direction professional in publishing and how adapting to changing technology fueled her career growth. By being curious while pursuing challenging opportunities, you can boost your career.
SF Technotes
Talking to and with Our Machines
The development of the various synthetic languages we use to communicate with our machines has seen considerable progress recently. Our machines now read and write in the same dialects we use, and those that are reading our audiobooks to us are sounding much more like our traditional storytellers.
SF Technotes
The Cars at CES 2022
The annual CES expo in Las Vegas, Nev., has always been about computers, appliances, televisions, and gadgets. In recent years, more concept cars and new EVs have arrived. In 2022, Sony brought its almost-ready-for-prime-time SUV, and BMW had a car that could change colors.
IMA Moments
Mentoring Helps to Close the Skills Gap
Terry Mormile, director of educational initiatives and career services at IMA, touts the benefits of effective mentor-mentee relationships, including achievement of goals, better performance, and an increase in overall organizational knowledge, technical understanding, and interpersonal skills.
SF Technotes
The Internet in 2021
The world’s most popular website is no longer Google. It was surpassed by an entertainment website that features brief, mostly homemade videos. A review of the 2021 top 15 domains on the internet might reflect cultural shifts that are temporary and COVID-conditional, or that might be lasting trend...
SF Technotes
Freelance Hot Spots around the Globe
One significant social effect of the worldwide pandemic has been the large number of employees quitting. Looking at a new class of freelancers, a business banking services firm in London has produced a comprehensive list of the best and worst places to freelance in our changed world.
IMA Moments
Essentials of Professional Education
Debbie Warner, who retires in December 2021 as VP of educational and career services at IMA after 14 years, recounts the professional lessons she’s learned and how continuous learning and development, a variety of on-the-job experiences, and being flexible with decisions fueled her career growth.
SF Technotes
Rolling Out Everyday Robots
You can’t design and train a robot for chores around the house in the same way you do industrial robots. The assembly-line can have limited rules, but home or office environments can be bewildering to an android. Progress at Google’s Everyday Robots has been slow, but it’s about to change.
SF Technotes
Is Battery-swapping a Way Forward for EVs?
One way to provide energy for EVs is to use batteries that can be swapped out for a fully charged replacement as we do with propane tanks and portable hand tools. The car manufacturer Nio is doing that in China, and the Taskman, a new delivery vehicle hopes to incorporate the same model.
IMA Moments
Reflecting on My Career in Finance
Doreen Remmen, who retires in December 2021 as CFO of IMA after almost 13 years, recounts the professional lessons she’s learned and how continuous learning, a variety of on-the-job experience, and achieving credentials, including the CMA and CSCA, fueled her career growth.
SF Technotes
A Quantum Timescape
The question no longer is whether quantum computers are possible, but rather when the first fully functional quantum powerhouse will be delivered? And then the quandary becomes, how do we protect against the quantum threat to crack all common applications of cryptographic protection?
SF Technotes
The Library of Everything
For the last 25 years, hundreds of employees at Brewster Kahle’s Internet Archive have been saving, indexing, and making available billions of web pages, print media, audio programs, film, and software programs in their effort to provide our civilization a living history of our digital culture.
IMA Moments
Prioritize Health and Practice Empathy
Morgan Del Rio, integrated marketing director at IMA, shares lessons for working parents and those facing challenges during the pandemic. She encourages professionals to prioritize their physical and mental health and to embody empathy and teamwork to support colleagues and achieve career success.
SF Technotes
Toyota’s Emerald City
Utopian experiments once were only carried out in published prose. Earlier this year, Toyota broke ground on a 175-acre urban experiment in green energy and ideal living spaces that will connect all the residents with automation and data streams built-in from the ground up. It’s called Woven City.
SF Technotes
A Revolutionary Fiber-Optic Cable
A new development in fiber-optic cable might not only speed our networks by 50%, but also enable safe cryptography, even with the arrival of quantum computing’s powerful hacking algorithms. Relative to conventional optical fiber, hollow-core fiber-optic cable shows that less is sometimes more.
IMA Moments
Networking Best Practices
Marc Gerrone, IMA’s senior director of communications and public relations, stresses the importance of working to expand your network of professional contacts, encourages you to take advantage of as many networking opportunities as possible, and offers best-practice tips to further your career.
SF Technotes
August Computer Birthdays
Two of the most significant computing developments share birthdates in the same month. The IBM PC was born 40 years ago in August, and the Linux operating system first appeared 30 years ago, also in late summer, August 25. Their combined impact on the computing world is almost incalculable.
SF Technotes
Two Amazing Days in July
Developments in technology are happening at an accelerating pace, and inattention can be costly for investors, early adapters, and those taking a serious look at AI and quantum computing. Of interest to all were two dramatic announcements in July 2021 from Google and the researchers at DeepMind.
IMA Moments
Lessons from My Career in Finance Research
Raef Lawson, IMA’s professor-in-residence and VP of research and policy, reflects on his career working in academia, not-for-profits, and private-sector roles in finance. He offers career advice, stressing the importance of expanding your skill set, problem solving, and following your passion.
SF Technotes
An Invitation to Hack a Satellite
Companies hire professional security concerns to do frequent penetration testing of their systems. But the U.S. Air Force, beginning in 2019, has chosen instead to offer cash awards to thousands of hacker teams to try and penetrate its satellite systems at the annual DEF CON hacker convention.
SF Technotes
Designing Safe Robotics
We have robots that are capable of all kinds of work from picking orders in a warehouse to becoming a surgeon’s hands during knee surgery. But as you ask them to provide humanlike services, the difficulties increase exponentially and their own development can slow to a crawl for some prototypes.
IMA Moments
Communication, Collaboration, Connection
Jodi Ryan, director of member engagement at IMA, offers lessons of adaptability and resilience for young and seasoned professionals alike after she gained a new perspective on how important communication, collaboration, and connection are while working remotely during the pandemic.
SF Technotes
Ransomware, Inc. in 2021
Ransomware poses a serious threat to individuals and institutions, and the bad guys are now organizing to maximize profits. The growth in RaaS (ransomware as a service), offering the malware to any who want to rent it on commission, is getting a boost from dark web, VC-style investing.
SF Technotes
The Web’s Cartographer
Martin Vargic’s latest Map of the Internet has a data designer’s global view of the whole sprawling universe of networks, plus answers to what’s the most popular website, the most expensive domain name, the top channels on YouTube, and how much time people in the Netherlands spend online.
IMA Moments
Multinationals vs. Not-for-Profits
Juliana Donegan, director of acquisition marketing at IMA, analyzes the similarities and differences of working at large for-profit companies such as Western Union and others compared to working at a not-for-profit organization, with advice for navigating a career path based on her own experiences.
SF Technotes
A Lens on the World
Searches on Google became more intuitive with the first version of visual search in Google Goggles. Now, it’s even more accurate with the second-generation Google Lens. Want to know what kind of decorative hedge that is, or what that sign posted in Icelandic means? Just show them to your phone.
SF Technotes
Google: Commercial Quantum by 2029
At its recently dedicated Quantum AI campus, Google announced it would have a commercial quantum computer ready before the end of the decade. Others are claiming even shorter delivery dates, and when they arrive, the new rules of quantum mechanics will revolutionize a wide range of technologies.
IMA Moments
Thriving Despite Adversity
Bernardin Generalao, Switzerland-based business development director of regional partner relations at IMA, recounts his career path and shares advice for professionals based on his experience in various countries around the world pursuing professional success tenaciously in the face of adversity.
SF Technotes
Europe Creates a Rulebook for AI
AI systems are often based on opaque algorithms that combine with an ability to learn on their own with little human intervention. That just cries out for some kind of regulation and oversight. The European Commission has just released its plan for a rule book for AI use and development in the EU.
SF Technotes
World-Changing Technologies in 2021
A glimpse of where our current technology is headed shows up in a list in the MIT Technology Review. Here’s the 2021 top 10 technologies poised to tilt the landscape, from messenger RNA vaccines to GPS accurate within millimeters, and from data trusts for personal information to green hydrogen.
IMA Moments
Innovation, Upskilling Lead to Success
Alain Mulder, The Netherlands-based senior director of Europe operations at IMA, recounts lessons learned from his career path and shares advice for students and early-career professionals, including the need to always keep improving your skills, innovating business models, and embracing technology.
SF Technotes
Decryption Using Only One Hand
We already use our fingerprints to access our computers and stare at scanners to unlock doors. But now a research team is creating a connection that uses the electromagnetic radiance (infrared light) that our hands naturally emit for unlocking and creating passkeys, and decrypting messages and data.
SF Technotes
The AI Chip That Runs on Light
The computing resources needed to run AI deep learning are doubling every four months, and the clock is running toward the time when we will no longer be able to sustain this growth. The answer might be in computers running on light rather than electrons, and one photonic chip is on its way this yea...
IMA Moments
Embrace Tech, Upskill for Career Success
Loreal Jiles, IMA’s director of research for digital technology and finance transformation, shares details from her career path, including moving up the ladder at BP. She urges students and professionals to embrace technology and focus on continuous education and upskilling to remain relevant
SF Technotes
Interplanetary Twins
What began with the landing of the Mars rover Perseverance on February 18, 2021, is an exploration by twin rovers that will likely run on for a decade or more on the distant planet. The purpose is to search for possible signs of past life and to evaluate the potential for future habitation on Mars.
SF Technotes
The Internet Computer
Currently under construction by DFINITY, the Internet Computer will expand the internet by providing a public blockchain platform for developers and entrepreneurs where they can create websites, enterprise systems, and internet services in an environment that’s as fast as the web and boundless.
IMA Moments
Get Involved, Move Up the Career Ladder
Echo Tang, IMA’s China-based director of marketing and communications, shares her career-development advice for students and early-career professionals, whom she urges to find the best fit and take advantage of professional organizations’ networking, mentorship, and educational opportunities.
SF Technotes
Tech Trends for Smart Cities in 2021
International Data Corporation has looked at smart cities around the world and produced a report on its predictions of the digital directions to be expected in the next five years. COVID-19 has forced significant changes, but the shift to digital planning and solutions in urban areas continues.
SF Technotes
Innovation Award Winners at CES 2021
This year’s CES expo may have been virtual and smaller, but the award winners weren’t disappointing. The eye-opening tech included wearable medical devices, an autonomous seafaring ship, a chatty refrigerator, and a device the shape of a pocket flashlight that can read aloud to you.
IMA Moments
Career Progression in an Uncertain Time
Caitlin Rivera, director of membership experience technology at IMA, says that working parents can achieve success by learning continuously, projecting confidence, accepting constructive criticism and using it as a springboard, and leaning on family members and organization leadership for support.
SF Technotes
2020 Major Hacks and Cyber Espionage
The year 2020 was an especially busy one for those in cybersecurity. Not only were office networks decentralized to home offices, but also the number of cyberattacks increased, and the expertise of the attackers, especially those who are funded by nation-states, has ramped up significantly.
SF Technotes
Two Takes on the Future of Work
In the near future, who will occupy most of the seats at work, and what new demands on current employees will determine their tenure in a time of technological disruption accelerated by a pandemic? Two major studies from the World Economic Forum and MIT offer some answers and key insights.
IMA Moments
Lessons I Learned as a Scout Leader
Kip Krumwiede, director of research at IMA and a scout leader, has achieved many certifications, including the CMA and CSCA. He draws a parallel between scouts practicing the skills to earn merit badges and accounting professionals working to acquire the knowledge required to earn certifications.
SF Technotes
Quantum Computing in 2021
Quantum computing promises a different dimension in computing power and speed, and those waiting to invest time and money in researching its potential for their company or service might regret their reluctance to take a closer look at what’s available today. Look at what's coming in 2021.
SF Technotes
A New Battery Will Reshape Tesla
Battery Day for Tesla wasn’t just to present a revolutionary new Lithium-ion cell for its electric vehicles. It included a detailed plan to expand battery manufacture from beginning to end—from the mining and processing of raw materials to additional factories to end-of-life recycling.
IMA Moments
My Management Accounting Journey
Suresh Suva, director of global tax reporting and compliance at IMA, charts his career path from India to Africa and eventually the United States, imparting career advice for success in the management accounting and finance profession, including the relevance of credentials such as the CMA.
SF Technotes
Quantum Computing—Where Are We Now?
Quantum computers are no longer only on the horizon. Quantum computing is here in limited-capacity computers, in quantum sensors, 50-mile quantum networks, and distributed quantum encryption keys. How are quantum mechanics adapting to and changing our digital world?
SF Technotes
3-D’s Slow Evolution
Three-dimensional imagery systems have been in development for 171 years, and each time someone seems to get it right, the new technique or device flashes and fades. A new “spatial reality” monitor just released by Sony that requires no glasses might be an exception to that sad historical rule.
IMA Moments
Six Career Lessons for My Younger Self
Hanadi Khalife, Dubai-based senior director of Middle East, Africa, and India operations at IMA, gives career advice she wishes she could have shared with her younger self, including avoiding overconfidence bias, choosing an organization that mirrors your values, and embracing a growth mind-set.
SF Technotes
Opening a Window on Government AI
The world’s first open AI registers have been set up in Amsterdam and Helsinki. The two cities have decided to let the public know about the AI functions used by their city government to collect and monitor information on the public and public services. They’ve also set up chats for comments.
SF Technotes
Implementing AI Requires New Rules
Implementing AI and machine learning requires a new look at the process and some new rules. Understanding AI systems is an emerging best practice, and implementing new software and systems will involve shifts in corporate and IT responsibilities, including risk management and ethics.
IMA Moments
Staying Connected During the Pandemic
While sometimes it’s necessary to unplug from social media, IMA’s Nene Zhang, who’s from China but lives in the U.S., says it’s important to reconnect with friends, loved ones, colleagues, and other members of the community and be supportive during the pandemic in whatever ways you can.
SF Technotes
A Revolutionary Brain Chip
It isn’t just autonomous cars, spaceships to Mars, and a tunnel under LA that occupy the imagination of Elon Musk. His neurotech company called Neuralink is preparing to start human tests for an implantable chip that will directly read neural activity in the brain and connect it to computers.
SF Technotes
Bug Traps with AI and Wi-Fi
A new agricultural insect trap combines AI, machine learning, and Wi-Fi to keep track of where they are and whether remediation is needed now. And AgTech continues its explosive growth with robotics now available in all phases of farming in the fields, orchards, and even urban indoor vertical farms.
IMA Moments
Persevering during the Pandemic
Richard Li, IMA’s chief representative for China, shares his thoughts about the organization’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic—overcoming operational difficulties, effective employee management, living up to social responsibilities, and keeping spirits high even in tough times.
SF Technotes
Black Hat 2020 Goes Completely Virtual
The Black Hat Security Conference, held each year in Las Vegas, Nev., went exclusively online this year. On the agenda were the hacking of a luxury car, a lightbulb that listens in, what to do when your phone has become a party line for the bad guys, and a tale of security officers who get arrested.
SF Technotes
Drawing Your Own Health Monitors
One of the strangest attempts to repurpose an old technology to fit a new digital purpose involves the 500-year-old graphite pencil and a cellular patch designed to monitor health. You draw, in pencil, the connections on the paper patch to create your own biosensor and read the output on your phone.
IMA Moments
Being a Black Woman in Business
As people globally protest in the face of injustice caused by systemic racism and other forms of bias, IMA’s Woré Giotta shares her unique perspective as a Black woman in business on how professionals can bring about change in the workplace by becoming advocates for diversity and inclusion.
SF Technotes
Could a Pandemic Crash the Internet?
There was no apparent plan B, and as workers and students set up home offices and classroom space, underpinning everything was the ability to connect online. What if the internet crashed under the weight of the increased traffic? So far, the network has held up, and now it’s even growing stronger.
SF Technotes
The Lucid Back on Track
While the developers of all-electric vans and trucks continue to make progress, there may be a new competitor for the luxury autonomous producers like Tesla in a new Silicon Valley car maker, Lucid Motors. Its $700 million manufacturing plant is gearing up for 2021 production of the Lucid Air EV.
IMA Moments
Tech Productivity During the Pandemic
Despite COVID-19 pandemic closures of many physical workplaces, technology allows us to continue our day-to-day work. Danielle Paccione, IMA’s director of technology enablement and customer service, shares what she’s learned about implementing technology at IMA.
SF Technotes
When Is Big Tech Coming Home?
As major tech companies mull over the timing and details of a safe return of the workforce to the office, a trend is emerging among some larger players to allow workers to continue to work from home, if they are able and choose to. One company is going “all digital” remote at the end of the year...
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 August 31, 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
Top 10 SF TECHNOTES Posts of 2019
As 2019 wraps up, we take a look at the stats for the SF TECHNOTES blog to see which posts you found most interesting. Guess we’re still in the Year of AI because 7 of the top 10 most popular stories this year were about our increasingly smarter machines. How will AI impact your life in 2020?
IMA Moments
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...
SF Technotes
New Tech in 2018
“The Global Stage for Innovation,” aka the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), opened in January 2018, in Las Vegas. This showcase gave a glimpse of what’s next in tech, including Google assistant technology battling Alexa, Contana, and Bixby; plus the next generation of robots, robots, robots.
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