Science and technology micro-summaries for July 6, 2019

Gen Z entrepreneurialism is driving the growth of apps for 2nd hand selling; Chinese casino surveillance picks out the big spenders; The most powerful robotic arm on any Mars rover; Google's Internet balloons are set for their first commercial trial - in Kenya; How to create a human firewall

Straight from my RSS feed:

Links and micro-summaries from my 1000+ daily headlines. I filter them so you don't have to.

1. Gen Z is fueling the growth of a new breed of secondhand selling apps - This is is another article with findings from Business Insider's survey of 1800+ members of Generation Z (See also Science and technology micro-summaries for July 2, 2019 and Business, entrepreneurship, and leadership micro-summaries for July 5, 2019). This article suggests that the combination of availability of resale applications and the entrepreneurial mind-set of Generation Z means that many teens are abandoning the traditional "summer job" in favor of flipping 2nd hand clothes and sneakers. Apps they're using include Depop, StockX, Poshmark, and Goat.


2. China's Big Brother Casinos Can Spot Who's Most Likely to Lose Big - As the global casino industry comes under increasing pressure from regulators and competition, Chinese casino operators are allegedly ramping up the use of surveillance inside their casinos. Surveillance is used by all casinos to detect cheating and theft, but according to this report from Bloomberg Technology News, China's operators are expanding that use to include identification of the "big spenders", who are likely to drive as much as 10 times as much profit as the average gambler. h/t Communications of the ACM


3. This Is the Most Powerful Robot Arm Ever Installed on a Mars Rover - Much of the Mars 2020 rover design is shared with the Curiosity rover, but the 2.1 meter robotic arm has been totally redesigned in a process that took more than five years. The redesign enables the rover to do much more complex science by drilling into rocks and collecting samples for later analysis, or maybe even return to Earth. A public contest opens this fall to give the Mars 2020 its official name. (Hopefully, it won't be Marsy McMarsface). This article also contains an interview with Matt Robinson, Deputy Delivery Manager for the Sample Caching System. Robinson notes that Mars missions are the "gold standard" of employment for a robotics designer, and that they are both rewarding and challenging because of the unforgiving nature of the mission to a location that is 200+ million miles away and operating in temperatures that vary by up to 100 degrees Celsius in a single day..


4. Google’s internet balloon project is about to start its first commercial trial - In partnership with Telekom Kenya, Google's Loon spin-off is about to start its first commercial trial by letting mountain villagers in Kenya purchase 4G wireless connectivity through airborne balloons. Final approval from Kenya's aviation authority is expected later this month. The news comes just days after a competing global Internet aspirant, SpaceX, lost communications with 3 of its 60 experimental Starlink satellites


5. STEEM How to build a "human firewall" for your business - This post by @twr describes a "human firewall" as the training that enables a company's employees at all levels to secure the network. Citing a study by Snow Software, the post notes that interns and executives all install software without permission, and as many as 85% of employees access content from work devices without permission. For creating a human firewall, the article suggests keeping your expectations reasonable, and keeping the instructions simple - with infographics instead of complicated text. It also suggests motivating employees with things like quizzes, seminars, and even risk assessment. Additionally, it suggests informing employees about the importance of cybersecurity, without over-dramatizing it. And a final suggestion is to monitor for compliance. (@twr will receive 5% of the rewards from this post.)

For example, feel free to comment on any or all of these discussion topics:

• Have you used any apps in order to sell second-hand merchandise? Which one(s)?
  
  
• Do you think that Casinos should refrain from using surveillance to identify their high spending clients? Why or why not?
  
  
• Google, Facebook, SpaceX, and others are all pursuing solutions to provide global, low-cost Internet access. Which of the nascent global Internet services do you think will succeed and which ones will fail?
  
  
• Do you have any experience working as part of a human firewall or working to create one? What are your thoughts on the article by @twr?
  
  

About this series

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