Yonas Tibebu

Ghosting is to cease communications without notification. The use of the word "ghost" as a verb originated in social media in reference to dating, but the term is now used by employers to describe employees and potential employees who suddenly disappear. Typically, ghosting is used to describe: Job candidates who suddenly stop responding to messages. New hires who fail to show up for their first day of work. Employees who do not show up for a shift. Employees who leave work in the middle of the day and never come back. Some analysts blame ghosting on millennial entitlement. The reasoning is that members of the millennial generation have been brought up to feel they are special -- so special, in fact, that they do not need to follow conventional rules of behavior. Other analysts, however, maintain that ghosting behavior stems from changes in the job market and the phenomenon is simply a reflection of the laws of supply and demand in a healthy jo...

6G (sixth-generation wireless) is the successor to 5G cellular technology. 6G networks will be able to use higher frequencies than 5G networks and provide substantially higher capacity and much lower latency. One of the goals of the 6G Internet will be to support one micro-second latency communications, representing 1,000 times faster -- or 1/1000th the latency -- than one millisecond throughput. The 6G technology market is expected to facilitate large improvements in the areas of imaging, presence technology and location awareness. Working in conjunction with AI, the computational infrastructure of 6G will be able to autonomously determine the best location for computing to occur; this includes decisions about data storage, processing and sharing.  Advantages of 6G over 5G 6G is expected to support 1 terabyte per second (Tbps) speeds. This level of capacity and latency will be unprecedented and wi...

Cognitive computing is the use of computerized models to simulate the human thought process in complex situations where the answers may be ambiguous and uncertain. The phrase is closely associated with IBM's cognitive computer system, Watson. Cognitive computing overlaps with AI and involves many of the same underlying technologies, including expert systems, neural networks, robotics and virtual reality (VR). How cognitive computing works Cognitive computing systems can synthesize data from various information sources, while weighing context and conflicting evidence to suggest the best possible answers. To achieve this, cognitive systems include self-learning technologies that use data mining, pattern recognition and natural language processing (NLP) to mimic the way the human brain works. Using computer systems to solve the types of problems that humans are typically tasked with requires vast amounts of structured and unstructured data, fed to machine learning algor...

Data integration is the process of retrieving data from multiple source systems and combining it in such a way that it can yield consistent, comprehensive, current and correct information for business reporting and analysis. Integration is the act of bringing together smaller components into a single system that functions as one. In computing, the source systems may be various types of digital devices and the data may be in a variety of formats. Important data integration techniques include: Data consolidation: Data is copied from multiple sources and integrated into a single data store Data propagation: Applications copy and push data from one location to another Data federation: Data federation software enables an organization to aggregate data from multiple source systems into a virtual database for use in business intelligence (BI) and other analyses. Data warehousing: Data warehouses store data collected by various operational systems; the data is captured for ac...

A clickwrap agreement, also known as a click-through, shrink-wrap, or sign-in-wrap, is an online agreement in which the user signifies his or her acceptance by clicking a button or checking a box that states "I agree." The purpose of a clickwrap agreement is to digitally capture acceptance of a contract. Clickwrap agreements permit companies to engage in a contract with customers without negotiating with each user individually. To be a considered legitimate, the contract must: Be reasonably and prominently visible to all users. Require active, affirmative consent. Be easily understood by the average user. Be enforceable. Clickwrap agreements are a digital offshoot of shrink wrap licenses. In the last century, when most software was installed locally, shrink wrap licenses were commonly used by software vendors to protect their intellectual property. When the customer removed the plastic shrinkwrap that protected a new software floppy disk or compact d...

OCR (optical character recognition) is the recognition of printed or handwritten text characters by a computer. The basic process of OCR involves examining the text of a document and translating the characters into character codes a computer program can understand. OCR systems are used to convert physical documents into machine-readable text. Software features can also take advantage of artificial intelligence (AI) to implement more advanced methods of intelligent character recognition (ICR), like identifying languages or styles of handwriting. The process of OCR is most commonly used to turn hard copy legal or historic documents into PDFs. Once digitized, the document can be interacted with as if it was created with a word processor. This is why OCR is sometimes also referred to as text recognition. How optical character recognition works The first step of OCR is to scan the physical document. OCR programs typically target one character, word or block of text at a...

In disaster recovery, a warm site is a secondary data center that an organization can use to support non-essential business tasks if the primary data center becomes unavailable. In this context, the word "site" means "location." A warm site should be located far enough away from an organization's primary data center that it is unlikely to be affected by the same disaster. To that end, a warm site should not be on the same power grid as the primary data center it supports. In addition to warm sites, large enterprises may also use hot sites and cold sites for disaster recovery (DR). Hot sites are fully functional and can take over immediately should a disaster occur. In contrast, cold sites have important infrastructure components such as electricity, but no technology. In many enterprise-level disaster recovery plans, warm sites are designated as intermediary facilities between the organization's hot sites and cold sites. Warm sites typically r...

Cognitive bias is a limitation in objective thinking that is caused by the tendency for the human brain to perceive information through a filter of personal experience and preferences. The filtering process is called heuristics; it's a coping mechanism that allows the brain to prioritize and process the vast amount of input it receives each second. While the mechanism is very effective, its limitations can cause errors that can be exploited. It may not be totally possible to eliminate the brain's predisposition to take shortcuts, but understanding that bias exists can be useful when making decisions. A continually evolving list of cognitive biases has been identified over the last six decades of research on human judgment and decision-making in cognitive science, social psychology and behavioral economics. They include: Cognitive bias and its impact on data analytics Being aware of how human bias can cloud analytics analysis is an important first step toward prev...

A vulnerability assessment is a process that defines, identifies, classifies and prioritizes weaknesses in a computer system, software application or network infrastructure. The goal of the assessment is to understand potential threats and react appropriately. Vulnerability assessments typically involve the use of automated testing tools that conduct scans. Types of scans include: Vulnerability assessments vs. penetration tests A vulnerability assessment aims to uncover weaknesses in a network and recommend the appropriate mitigation or remediation to reduce or remove the risks. Although sometimes carried out in concert with vulnerability assessments, the primary aim of pen tests is to check whether a vulnerability really exists and prove that exploiting it can damage the application or network. A vulnerability assessment often includes a penetration testing component to identify vulnerabilities in an organization's personnel, procedures or processes that mi...

Usage-based pricing is a consumption-based pricing model in which customers are only charged when they use a product or service. Usage-based pricing may also be referred to as pay-per-use pricing or metered services. In a flat, subscription pricing model, the user is charged a fee regardless of how often they use the service. In contrast, a usage-based charge fluctuates according to what the customer actually consumes. Usage-based billing is not a new concept; most people are already familiar with this pricing model if they purchase metered services from public utilities such as electricity or water. Today, many software as a service (SaaS) and infrastructure as a service (IaaS) cloud providers are adding usage-based pricing options to their subscription billing models to help retain customers. Having a pay-per-use option allows customers to explore how to use cloud services in a natural manner, without spending money up-front. Common usage-based pricing models include...