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Amazon testing unmanned delivery drones





Amazon, the world's largest online retailer, is testing unmanned drones to deliver goods to customers, Chief Executive Jeff Bezos says.

The drones, called Octocopters, could deliver packages weighing up to 2.3kg to customers within 30 minutes of them placing the order, he said.

However, he added that it could take up to five years for the service to start.

The US Federal Aviation Administration is yet to approve the use of unmanned drones for civilian purposes.

"I know this looks like science fiction, but it's not," Mr Bezos told CBS television's 60 Minutes programme.

"We can do half-hour delivery... and we can carry objects, we think, up to five pounds (2.3kg), which covers 86% of the items that we deliver."

'Ready to enter'

The service will be called Prime Air and comes as Amazon is looking to improve its efficiency to boost growth.

Amazon also posted a video on its website showing a drone picking up a package from one of its warehouses and delivering it to the doorstep of a customer's house.

However, it still has to wait for permission from US regulators.

The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has approved the use of drones for police and government agencies, issuing about 1,400 permits over the past several years.

Civilian air space is expected to be opened up to all kinds of drones in the US by 2015 and in Europe by 2016.

Existing regulations are in place to minimize the risk of injury to people on the ground, said Dr Darren Ansell, an expert on unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) from the University of Central Lancashire.

"The UAVs do not currently have the awareness of their environment to be able to avoid flying into people. To deliver goods to people's homes for example in residential areas, the UAVs must overfly densely populated towns and cities, something that today's regulations prevent.

"Other things to consider are security of the goods during the transit. With no one to guard them the aircraft and package could be captured and stolen," he said.

Amazon said: "from a technology point of view, we'll be ready to enter commercial operations as soon as the necessary regulations are in place."

The FAA was "actively working on rules for unmanned aerial vehicles", the company said, adding that it hoped the green light would be given as early as 2015.

"One day, Prime Air vehicles will be as normal as seeing mail trucks on the road today."

Zookal, an Australian textbook rental company, announced earlier this year that it would start using drones to make deliveries from 2015 if approved by Australia's Civil Aviation Safety Authority.

Australian law allows the use of unmanned aircraft for commercial use.


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Privacy Is Big Business For Small And Mid-Size Businesses

Privacy is Big Business for Small and Mid-Size Businesses

If you’re a small to mid-size business and think cyber criminals only go after big business; think again. It’s just as important, if not more important for you to have privacy plans in place. This goes way beyond GDPR and state-to-state rules, this is about how you care for your customers personal information. The return on investment will set the tone for future years of your business. After all, according to a 2018 report by Verizon, 58% of cyber-attacks targeted small business. While it may seem counter-intuitive and larger businesses are bigger fish to go after, they can be difficult to get into. After all, they’ve got the resources to protect their customer’s Data and are hyper aware of what it can be to their business if they don’t. Smaller and mid-size businesses generally don’t have the resources of the larger businesses, and may not focus on cybersecurity like they should which leaves their business wide open for cybercriminals. Chinks in the Armor of Your Data Cybercriminals excel at finding “chinks in the armor” of your Data. They’ll use any advantage to break in from the usual hacking and malware to physical breaches. One improperly secured device can be just the entry they need into your entire system.  What can you do? Be focused in your approach to Data security. Many small businesses tend to put out fires, rather than have a focused strategy. And each approach to tighten security can lead to more opportunity for hacking.Communicate your strategy to every member of your team. Something as small as clicking on the wrong link can lead to a Data breach.Train your staff on measures they can take such as to not click on a link they’re not expecting, to check email addresses and ensure they’re approved or white-listed as okay to access. The more aware your staff are, the better able they’ll be able to help ensure the security of your business’ Data. While staff may be on the front lines, this also requires a commitment from senior executives as well. Understand that just because you’re not dealing in billions of dollars, you may actually be at greater risk. Why? Because unlike the larger companies, your business may not survive the fallout of a cyber-attack. How to Protect Your SMB You can protect your business by creating a Data Security Strategy and consider the following: Encrypt your data;Authenticate your users by either a 2-step verification process or having them enter some kind of code;Authorize access to trusted sources. Encrypting Data helps protect the private and sensitive information and makes it unreadable without the correct key. To ensure only those who are trusted sources have access is through authentication.  Authentication can include username/password, code, tokens, phone number, and image association such as click only the boxes with pictures of street lights or stop signs. This helps your business control who has access and gives you tighter rein over who sees sensitive information and what they can do with it.  By defining the rules and regulations of access to information, training your employees to be aware and what to do to ensure security, you can strike a balance of increased security and transparency to your customers. In other words, the efforts you go through to protect their Data will put you ahead of the competition as you make inroads toward a Data privacy strategy while others take action as things happen. One Final Thought Ensuring your business’ Data is protected and detecting times when it may have been breached is increasingly important to help minimize damage. One issue SMBs face is that it may take longer to detect if there isn’t a Data security plan in place. The more quickly you can detect an issue, the more quickly you can reduce its impact and the more quickly and effectively you can respond, the better.  Interestingly, smaller businesses tend to have a better overall picture of their assets than larger businesses. This can be a boon when you communicate your new cybersecurity strategy to your teams and offers a significant return on investment of your resources. If you’re interested in Big Data and Analytics, we may have a role for you. Take a look at our current vacancies or contact one of our recruitment consultants to learn more.  For our West Coast Team, call (415) 614 - 4999 or send an email to sanfraninfo@harnham.com.  For our Mid-West and East Coast Teams, call (212) 796 - 6070 or send an email to newyorkinfo@harnham.com.

Sandra Namatovu

Sandra Namatovu

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Is Bioinformatics The Next “Rock Star” In Data?

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Alyssa Liew

Alyssa Liew

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Tips for your Data & Analytics Resume

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Guest Blog

Guest Blog

16. October 2019

Big Data In Politics – Win, Lose, Or Draw

Big Data In Politics – Win, Lose, Or Draw

In the movie Definitely, Maybe starring Ryan Reynolds, there’s a scene in which he must sell tables for a political campaign dinner fundraiser. He makes call after call with no luck. Finally, in frustration, he speaks plainly and finds a connection between the politician and the prospective donor. In an instant, he understands. Make the connection and you can’t go wrong. This is the 90’s version of micro-targeting. Online advertising today has honed targeted Marketing to an art form and it’s infused every industry from Fisherman’s Wharf to Wall Street to Washington. Messages are crafted on detailed profiles of what makes us unique such as hopes, fears, dreams, emotional triggers, and more which is then taken out of the hands of humans. Enter such deep, personal details into automated technologies and you’ll get automated reactions. How did we get here? Ever since Cicero’s brother, Quintus, who approached politics with a do anything to win mindset, we’ve been working toward this point. But, when it comes to technological advances within politics, George Simmel put it best when he wrote around 1915, “the vast intensive and extensive growth of our technology…entangles us in a web of means, and means toward means, more and more intermediate stages, causing us to lose sight of our real ultimate ends.”  What does this mean? It means we have moved so quickly and with such intensity as we push inwards while reaching outward, we get tangled up in our own systems. Before we know it, it’s difficult to separate the means from their ends, and we lose sight of our purpose. In other words, it can be hard to keep our sense of direction with our constant distraction of tasks, systems, and processes. According to Simmel, this would soon morph into what he called a ‘fragmentary character.’ Like a mosaic, we put the pieces back together and assemble the bits to fit our concept of the world.   The Digitizing of Campaigns Traditional campaigning has traditionally looked much like the movie scene mentioned above with phone banks, whiteboards, and handmade signs. But, today, things are changing. Everyone has at least one smart device which can sync information in real time to a range of devices. Algorithms and predictive modeling help reduce the guesswork, though gut feeling and instinct still prevail. At least, for now. Our machines are learning how to learn about us and define what we believe and wish to see by historical Data, or rather our past behaviors. Where psychographic profiling meets micro-targeting. What was once only seen in the Marketing world has now entered politics. Just like marketers want to know what people are interested in, so to do politicians wish to know what voters think. To do this, both industries will study behavioral and attitudinal profiles to help understand a demographic better or discern a gap in the marketplace. In consumer research, companies rely on psychographic micro-targeting to reach smaller groups and individuals. The key question here is to ask is to what extent are politicians prepared to pass laws that restrict their own opportunities to know more about voters. Just as the next generation of voters are coming, so too are the next generation of tools being developed.  One Final Thought… Over the last 20 years or so, we have built an immense Data structure from mobile devices to social media to modelling processes and more. With this kind of connectivity combined with fragmentary media, the use of Data Analysis has a big role to play going forward. If we seek change in our political and social infrastructures, we will have to reimagine the structures currently in place. From algorithmic modelling to AI and Machine Learning, the possibilities for new ideologies has emerged blurring the lines between context and production in which Data underpins capitalism. As those in Data Analytics continue to pursue an uninterrupted (read: non-fragmentary) vision of the world, we find ourselves at a new stage in history of where both looking back and looking forward at the same time informs our future.   Where would you like to go? If you’re interested in Big Data & Analytics, we may have a role for you. Take a look at our latest opportunities or contact one of our expert consultants to find out more:  For our West Coast Team, call (415) 614 - 4999 or send an email to sanfraninfo@harnham.com.  For our Mid-West and East Coast Teams, call (212) 796 - 6070 or send an email to newyorkinfo@harnham.com.

Joshua Poore

Joshua Poore

10. October 2019

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