The new holiday lineup from Apple has launched, and Tim Cook calls it “the strongest lineup of products that Apple has ever had.” Joining the iPhone line and the updated iOS are the new iPads, iMac, and OS X Yosemite. The iPad Air 2 is a 6.1mm thick tablet, down from the previous 7.5mm; this makes it noticeably thinner than the iPhone 6 which is 6.9mm thick. Design-wise, the tablet shares many of the iPhone 6’s features, with a few notable distinctions from the smartphone like the sharply angled chamfer where the screen meets the aluminum body outside the edge of the screen. Despite the ultra-thin profile, the iPad Air 2’s iSight camera sits flush against the body. The thinness of the device is achieved by laminating the different screen layers into one seamless panel. This process reduces glare and improves clarity. The resolution has not been increased, but the Retina display has been improved. An anti-reflective coating has been applied to the screen, reducing reflections by 56 percent. The device runs on an A8X chip and a GPU that Apple says is 180 times faster than the original iPad. It includes a new M8 motion co-processor that “tracks motion, calibrates sensors, and has a barometer,” said Apple. This is the first iPad with 2GB of RAM which not only will speed up overall performance, but will help with multitasking as well. The iPad Air 2 has a 10-hour battery life. New Wi-Fi 802.11ac MIMO and cell radios are in the iPad Air 2, increasing the speed performance. The home button now includes a Touch ID fingerprint scanner, which works just like those on the iPhones: unlock, complete app and in-app purchases, and works with Apple’s new Apple Pay to buy products in retailer...

In urban North America, we likely take it for granted that LTE and 3G services will be available for our communication convenience. But in some parts of the U.S. and the world, where fast, ubiquitous networks aren’t available, effortless wireless Internet connectivity is simply a dream. Such cities or rural areas might be in for a surprise from Cosmos, a new browser that’s currently in the works. This concept sounds pretty crazy – a way to surf the web using SMS text messages. The project is still under development, but should the idea work, its implications could be huge. The Cosmos Browser is an Android web browser that uses SMS text messages to retrieve the web content displayed in a stripped-down layout. Its creators describe how it works: “After a person inputs a URL, our app texts our Twilio number which forwards the URL as a POST request to our Node.JS backend. The backend takes the URL, gets the HTML source of the website, minifies it, gets rid of the css, JavaScript, and images, GZIP compresses it, encodes it in Base64, and sends the data as a series of SMSs. The phone receives this stream at a rate of 3 messages per second, orders them, decompresses them, and displays the content.” In other words, once the message reaches the Cosmos backend, the page is retrieved and stripped down to bare elements. Afterwards, these are sent to the user as text messages, enabling to be read with just SMS access. The compression and decompression of the messages is done by the Cosmos browser to reduce the amount of data that needs to be transmitted. Once the page is fully loaded, the SMSs are deleted, and your inbox is uncluttered. The team behind the project is...

The map of U.S. cities wired with Internet super-speeds is growing steadily. Providers have diversifed: in addition to Google, AT&T is bringing a flashy-fast fiber-optic network to towns throughout the country. Recently San Marcos, Texas-based Grande Communications announced plans for a 1 Gigabit network in already-wired Austin, while AT&T continues to grow its U-verse, heading for San Antonio after setting up in Austin. AT&T’s U-verse network is capable of providing upload and download speeds of up to 1 gigabit per second, to both consumers and businesses. The speed, explained in simple terms, means that 25 songs could be downloaded in one second, the customer’s favorite TV show in less than 3 seconds, and a high-definition online movie in less than 36 seconds. The Wi-Fi speeds will increase and the users will have the ability to schedule DVR (with greater storage capacity) recordings and watch TV on over 30 models of smartphones and tablets, as well as PCs. For businesses, whether they’re startup companies or veterans, this access to high-speed networks means the ability to develop innovative products that will boost the economy. This will give them the opportunity to compete on a global scale with other countries that already have much faster networks in place. Faster speeds means faster upload, download, and large data files sharing, cloud back-up, and seamless videoconferencing with suppliers, business partners, and customers. The AT&T GigaPower network launched in Austin in December 2013 and the result exceeded expectations: the demand was much higher than anticipated. As result, the company announced to expand its ultra-fast fiber network to approximately 100 cities and municipalities across 25 markets throughout the country. “Similar to previously announced metro area selections in Austin and Dallas and advanced discussions in Raleigh-Durham and Winston-Salem, communities that have suitable...

The world was expecting the new Windows 9, but it seems that arithmetic is not the strategy used to name the Microsoft OS. The company decided to jump straight to 10 and unveiled the new operating system recently in San Francisco. It will become available next year; the early presentation aimed to involve customers in the development process through a Technical Preview available for download. The first thing that catches the eye in the new Windows 10 is the Start menu. It’s divided in two columns; the left one has the traditional Windows 7 design that displays the familiar list of pinned and recent applications, the search box, and the power button for shutting down or restarting the PC. The search box has Windows 8’s features – it includes results from Bing and the Windows store; there is also a separate Search menu next to the Start button that displays trending topics, also from Bing. The right column is a customizable and resizable live tiles-based menu. Windows 8 Metro apps can now also open in a windowed mode on the desktop, not entering into a full-screen mode by default. This change has been originally demonstrated at Build. Moreover, the modern Windows 8 can be used side by side with the standard Windows desktop app. The combination gives the new interface a sense of the new, but also stays familiar. Microsoft added a Task View button on the taskbar which, when triggered, displays a multitasking view very similar to Apple’s OS X Expose feature. From here, multiple desktops are available, something Windows always needed. Yet, this is another feature that had as source of inspiration rival operating systems OS X and Linux/Unix. Still, it’s not identical, as Windows 10 has incorporated its productivity-focused snap views....

Berlin –  The recent Samsung Unpacked’ event showed the world the products that will drive sales through the holidays and into 2015. Was it enough to put an end to the three straight quarters of falling returns and regain some mobile technology traction? Here is a quick look at the new Samsung Lineup. Galaxy Note 4 The new Galaxy Note 4 is the big-screen flagship for Samsung. It didn’t grow in size (thankfully), remaining at 5.7 inches, but it retains the plastic faux-leather backing even though it shoots for a classier look by removing the fake stitching mold and by adding the metal frame to a higher-res display. If you haven’t been a fan of previous versions, this is not your next phone. The device has a heart-rate monitor and the S5’s fingerprint scanner integrated into the home button. The back cover is removable, allowing access to the battery and microSD card slot; a downside is its lack of water resistance feature existent in the Galaxy S5. The Galaxy Note 4 presents the Super AMOLED display with a “quad HD” resolution translated into 2,560 x 1,440 pixels; the pixel density reaches new heights through the boost from 1,080p to quad HD resolution. The S Pen became more sensitive, seeking to mimic natural handwriting, and was given some function inspired by the computer mouse: minimizing the app windows and dragging them around for multitasking, copy/paste, and define words that appear on the screen. Interestingly, and somewhat disconcerting, is the fact that the app windows were treated like standard PC windows – the fact that they don’t always scale in size can clutter space pretty fast.  The drag-and-drop window design demands some work until you get used to it. The Note 4 has with it the...

Wi-Fi Calling has never been a priority for carriers with good cellular service. However, following the recent announcement that iPhones will support Wi-Fi Calling through iOS8, and that T-Mobile is already on board, the rest of the carriers have somewhat been forced to rethink their plans for this service. The terminology might be confusing, what does Wi-Fi Calling mean exactly? This nifty sounding technology uses your home Wi-Fi to make calls and send texts over the internet. It allows cellular packets from your phone to be transferred to your carrier over the internet, and reintroduces them into the cellular network, much like beaming over the air. It differs from Google Hangouts and Skype – these let you talk to other people by using call forwarding or some internet-based interface – Wi-Fi Calling allows you to use your actual carrier phone number over the internet. It differs from VoIP technology which lets you use an internet-connected phone just as you’d use a landline, transferring your voice over the internet to the switched telephone network – the Wi-Fi Calling technology drops the cell towers path, connecting your voice to your mobile carrier’s network using the internet. One of the advantages of this system is that it can help you conserve plan minutes and texts, as the calls that are made over Wi-Fi don’t count against your plan. Moreover, it enables you to make calls using your phone number even when your network cuts out or when you’re outside your coverage area. Wi-Fi Calling is not a new idea – smaller providers like Republic Wireless have been offering the service for quite some time – but Apple’s announcement may be forcing everyone by emphasizing the technology and launching it before the rest are ready to go. At...

Statistics show that over 95 percent of the people over 75 years of age prefer to stay at home rather than move to assisted living residences or nursing homes. It’s a perfectly natural desire to remain independent, but for their children this translates into a source of worry – that they may fall, forget to take their meds, or simply just need assistance day to day. In recent years, technology has provided new options to adult children and their parents, revolutionizing the opportunity to stay at home, safely. The new technologies, although still a young industry, not only reduce worries, but enhance family relationships and reduce costs. These technologies vary from very basic to sophisticated. The technology in development can be broken down into two camps: one for monitoring and surveillance with electronic devices keeping track of a person’s medical condition, and automatically alert health care staff when intervention is required. Sensors are also used throughout the home and will alert the designated person if, for instance, someone has not left the bathroom after a certain period of time, a sign that something may have gone wrong. Philips Lifeline is a monitoring system with a basic set of features: in case of emergency, users push the button of a pendant they wear on themselves, thus alerting the Lifeline call center. An operator calls on a speakerphone to check on the problem and if no one answers caregivers and emergency medical personnel will be announced. The system has a fall-detection feature that contacts the call center immediately once a fall is detected. MedMinder is a medication management system that acts like a computerized pillbox. It doses the different medications the user needs to take on a daily basis and when the time comes to take...

If you ever played with electric slot cars as a kid, this idea may resonate. An inventive couple has reimagined the world’s roads as the source of solar/electric power for vehicles. Think the idea is out there?  Read on to find out what they’ve envisioned. With global warming in mind, Scott Brusaw (right, driving a tractor on a prototype parking lot built using the technology) and his wife Julie started working on the idea of replacing petroleum-based asphalt and concrete surfaces with a material that would capture solar energy. The hope was to find a way to reduce and eliminate coal-fired power plants.  The result of their efforts is the Solar Roadways project. The focus was on building solar panels that could be walked upon and driven on, essentially producing solar-powered cases containing photovoltaic cells, with an exterior strong enough to protect the sensitive electronics inside. These unique panes would also store the collected solar energy. They’d be used to re-pave the roads, or any surface that soaks in the sun all day long,  and would need to have some fantastic features: –          to withstand the weight of an 18-wheeler; –          to melt ice and snow; –          to capture and send the extra energy to the cities. The answer? Perhaps surprisingly: Glass. Tempered and laminated glass with textured surface to avoid sliding. Furthermore, these cases would have LEDs to illuminate road signage and to advice the driver to slow down on the portions with increased risks, as well as heating elements to withstand snow and ice. Solar Roadways | Michéle Ohayon from Focus Forward Films on Vimeo. This might seem unrealistic, but the idea has been taken seriously. It received awards and nominations from GE, the World Technology Award, Google and the IEEE Ace...

The world of wearable technology is still in its early stages. After wristbands, glasses, and watches, an Indian start-up firm, Ducere Technologies, has introduced the smartshoe. These Bluetooth enabled shoes called Lechal (‘take me there’ in Hindu) will sell for $100-$150 a pair, and are scheduled to hit the market next month. The product has already received 25,000 pre-orders, and the company expects to sell 100,000 by March 2015. Originally designed in 2011 with the goal of assisting the visually-impaired with directional cues, Krispian Lawrence, co-founder and chief executive of the company, then realized the product could be of interest to joggers, mountain bikers, and tourists as well. The Lechal smartshoe is designed in India but manufactured in China. The shoes are developed in two models: a complete pair of shoes with Lechal insoles or a package of two insoles that can be used in the customers’ own shoes. They are powered by removable and rechargeable lithium-polymer batteries that should be good for a few days of use. Lechal smartshoes have been designed to have the same weight, to be as comfortable as the typical running shoes, and able to support up to 500 kg per shoe. The smartshoe is designed to connect to the iOS, Android, or Windows Phone device via Bluetooth. The insole has the typical slew of sensors that you’d expect from a wearable, allowing the user to accurately track the numbers of steps taken, calories burnt, and distance traveled. What sets Lechal apart from a fitness band is that each insole can vibrate. When you first put on a pair of Lechal smartshoes, you pair it with a companion app on your smartphone. The app takes care of the health tracking part – calories burnt, setting targets, mapping the itinerary...

There’s a new kid on the smartphone block. Hailing from China, they call it the “flagship killer” due the extremely low price of $299 off-contract. It’s the OnePlus One, the smartphone that can be purchased only through invitation. Pete Lau, former employee of OPPO where he led the Blu-ray division, launched this startup in December of 2013. His product is a serious competitor to Google, which has been dominating the low-cost, unlocked, off-contract flagship space with its Nexus line. OnePlus One is priced at $299 for the 16GB model and $349 for the 64GB model and requires the aforementioned invitation to be able to order it. Design and specifications-wise, this smartphone explains why it’s called a “flagship killer”. This is a sleek and solid phone that looks anything but cheap. Aesthetically it resembles the HTC more than the plasticky Galaxy phones. It has the tough Gorilla Glass 3 display that rises slightly above the thin metal lip, but the real center of attraction is the rear of the device: OnePlus introduces 7 exchangeable back covers that come in a range of materials and textures including kevlar, bamboo, and denim on top of faux silk and sandstone. The OnePlus is a thin 0.35 inch and weighs in at 5.7 ounces – quite light for a 5.5-inch phone. The display is no slouch at 1,920 x 1,080 IPS LCD with 401 ppi. Its left side is adorned with the volume control and the micro-SIM slot, while the right side has the power button. On the top side there’s a 3.5mm headphone jack and the twin speaker grilles flank the micro-USB port on the bottom. At the bottom of the screen is where its three buttons are – Settings, Home, and Back, from left to right. Its...

Apple and IBM share a past, and recently announced plans to share a future, as both look to continue growth in their respective market niche. The news brought back memories from 30 years ago, when a partnership between the two companies was unimaginable. The goal of the partnership, according to an Apple press release, is to “redefine the way work will get done, address key industry mobility challenges and spark true mobile-led business change.” The move acknowledges the unique strengths  of each company – IBM will contribute its big data and analytics expertise and Apple will offer the “elegant user experience of iPhone and iPad.” The enterprise market is not untouched territory for Apple, as plenty of Fortune 500 businesses have already deployed iOS devices. The current corporate customer list includes NASA, Nestle, Deutsche Bank, American Airlines, Cisco Systems, Johnson Controls, Luxottica, and GE. The BYOD trend (bring your own device) in the workplace has been beneficial to Apple as companies have gradually allowed employees to use their personal devices for work email and to access needed data. IDC research firm shows that iPhones accounted for 82 percent of smartphones in use at U.S. corporations and 36 percent globally, while iPads accounted for 73 percent of tablets in the U.S. corporate environment and 39 percent around the world. A new category of mobile apps will become available, debuting in 2015, announced the two companies. These will be tailored to meet the needs of specific industries like “retail, healthcare, banking, travel, telecommunications, and insurance.” IBM’s cloud infrastructure will be heavily used in correlation with Apple’s iCloud service. AppleCare for Enterprise will be added to the customer service domain, providing IT departments and users 24/7 support. “We’re good at building a simple experience and in building devices,” Tim...

A wave of announcements flooded Google’s I/O conference this year. The almost three hour keynote included anticipated news, as well as surprises. Gone are the days when technology companies can focus solely on their own products when presenting them. Whenever Google or Apple introduce a new feature, it is instantly compared with the competing counterpart, and the alternative will likely be mentioned with more or less subtlety. Points of comparison are hard to in down as both giants’ mobile platforms seem to resemble one another more and more, in both functionality and purpose: Apple has Continuity between OS X and iOS, and now Google introduced synced notifications between Chrome OS and Android. Apple announced HealthKit and Google presented Google Fit – the mission of both appears to be the development of seamless ecosystems of hardware, software and services that keeps users faithful to one or the other. Here are some highlights from Google’s conference in San Francisco. Android L is the successor to Android Kit-Kat; it was presented as the biggest upgrades ever done to Android. The most noticeable ones are the design changes – the sleek Holo theme of KitKat is being replaced with the colorful new Material Design, a new design language which is based on basic shapes and sheets of paper. Material Design gives developers the ability to add the illusion of depth, featuring a grid-based layout so that it can be easily ported to different screen sizes. L has been deeply integrated with Android Wear platform, fact that allows users unlock their smartphones without a pin code if they are wearing a smartwatch. Notifications received a makeover too, allowing users to respond to notifications directly from the lock screen. Mobile Chrome will take advantage of the Material Design as it...

It may have felt like the smartphone world had reached a point of status quo until a few weeks ago, when Amazon launched the Fire Smartphone after years of preparations. Chief Executive Jeff Bezos described it as the gadget that “puts everything you love about Amazon in the palm of your hand — instant access to Amazon’s vast content ecosystem and exclusive features.” The technical specifications present a device worthy of  premium classification. A 2.2GHz Quad-core Snapdragon 800 CPU with Adreno 330 GPU and 2 GB of RAM fuels the Fire, complemented by a 2400mAh battery that burns up to 22 hours of talk time, 285 hours of standby, up to 11 hours of video playback, and up to 65 hours of audio playback. The screen is 4.7-inches with glass on the front and back giving it a less plasticky feeling than a Samsung Galaxy, but adds to the weight reaching 160 grams. Unfortunately, the Gorilla Glass 3 it has on both sides is durable but not shatter-proof, thus doubling the risk to break it. The OS is Fire OS 3.5.0 built on the open source version of Google’s Android operating system, without Google’s standard suite of apps and without the Google Play app store. Fire has its own app store, browser, email client, and non-Google maps. Among the most popular apps in its store are Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Pandora, Netflix, HBO Go, Uber, Yelp, and StubHub. Two cameras, a 13 MP rear-facing camera with multi-frame HDR, auto focus, optical image stabilization, f/2.0 5-element wide aperture lens, LED flash, and a 2.1 MP front-facing camera have a dedicated button to wake the camera and snap a photo, even when the device is asleep. The Fire Phone shoots 1080p video and features HDR, panorama...

SAN FRANCISCO – The 2014 Apple keynote, delivered here earlier this month, revealed some incredible updates for iOS and OS X, due this fall when the accompanying hardware will be unveiled. The main theme this year is Continuity, which urges users to imagine how much better their digital life would be if the phone, tablet, and laptop all had the Apple logo. It’s now true that a superior operating system for laptop or smartphone performance is no longer sufficient. Apple is pushing the advantages of adopting a cohesive family of devices, hoping that current Apple users have no need to jump ship, and new converts are tempted to completely embrace the Apple culture. Why sell one device when you can sell two or three? With continuity, the user can seamlessly start a task on one of the Apple devices (the iPhone, for example) and pick right where he/she left off to finish it on another device (the Mac), simply by clicking an icon that automatically appears. An iPhone owner with a Windows PC or a Mac owner with an Android phone won’t be able to do this. OS X Yosemite & iOS 8 Since Continuity is the link between the two OSs, the majority of the updates apply to both. Actually, the latest version of OS X is reminiscent of last year’s iOS due to the attention spent on design. Flat design, translucent panels, no gradients, and textures of iOS 7 could be spotted throughout the new OS; app icons have flatter designs, the dock and windows have sharper corners, and a new system font was created for an improved readability. A “dark mode” that dims the entire interface was added to help focusing better while working – “clarity, but also utility”, as Senior...

“A tablet that can replace your laptop” was the catchphrase that introduced Microsoft’s Surface Pro 3 at its launch event. The world was waiting for Microsoft to enter the 8-inch tablet fray and launch a pure consumer device, without the Windows 8 interface (Desktop and Metro). Instead, the company went in the opposite direction. They decided to transition from tablets to notebooks via a device that runs on hardware too powerful for a tablet, but with a much thinner profile than a laptop. “Everything we’ve done up to this point is manifested in this product. This is our best device — we’re super proud of it,” said Steven Bathiche, in charge of the Applied Sciences Group at Microsoft.  The shiny Surface Pro 3 has a few impressive features as well as some less positive aspects. The hardware – a roaring 4th generation Intel Core processor ranging from i3 to the mighty i7, 4 to 8GB of RAM, and storing options that go from 64GB to 512GB; The display – the screen aspect ratio closer to 3:2 compliments the tablet-face, being much better than the 16:10 that most Android tablets chose, and adds to web usage (16:9 and 16:10 are more suited to video) also on the tablet side Surface has the multi-touch feature and a vivid resolution of 2160 x 1440; Windows RT excused – removing this confusion is constructive; Battery life – the nine-hour battery life (on paper) puts it in the “all day device” category; Weight and thickness – we like our devices light and thin these days and Surface Pro 3 holds the award for the thinnest Intel Core product so far – 11.5” x 7.93” x 0.3”; it weighs 2.42lbs with keyboard attached; Target market – Surface Pro 3 doesn’t...

The world is realizing more of the gadgetry from James Bond’s reality, and it’s about time. But we’re not talking about underwater jet packs or a BMW equipped with missiles. Secure phones that ensure secret-agent level privacy are in demand across consumer sectors. They’re even being made by military contractors. Boeing has unveiled a secure smartphone that marks a unique departure for the Chicago-based aerospace and defense company, best known for making jetliners. In order to accomplish defense and security missions, security and flexibility are key factors, and their smartphone is primarily aimed at government agencies and contractors who need to keep their data secure. Made in the United States after 36 months of development-stage, the Boeing Black Smartphone features a 4.3-inch qHD (540 x 960) pixels handset with dual SIM cards, to enable it to access multiple cell networks. The battery stops at 1590 mAh, and has Bluetooth v2.1 + EDR-enabled connectivity. It runs on Android OS and its key features include disk encryption designed to store sensitive information securely, hardware Root of Trust to ensure software authenticity, a Hardware Crypto Engine to protect stored and transmitted data, Embedded Secure Components to enable trusted operations, Trusted Platform Modules to provide secure key storage, Secure Boot to maintain device image integrity, and “hardware modularity” for multiple modularity capabilities. However, the central security feature of the Boeing Black is the PureSecure, an architectural foundation “built upon layers of trust from embedded hardware, operating system policy controls and compatibility with leading mobile-device management systems.” In addition to all these, the smartphone includes the ability to communicate via satellite transceivers and “discrete radio channels”, advanced location tracking and biometric sensors. But what takes this mobile device to another level is that on top of the call encryption...

The following interview by Nisha Randhava appeared on the All Property Management blog, an industry resource on property management technology. In this digital world, where information can be accessed quickly and at any time, managing your online reputation as a property management company is critical. Learning how to access this information and keep it updated in a timely manner however, can be difficult if you do not know where to begin. The property management software Yardi Voyager, provides a reputation management feature. In addition, property managers can utilize the online leasing and resident services and property marketing sites. We spoke with Brad Setser, VP of Marketing, to learn more. APM: Please describe the product and its function. Brad: Yardi Voyager is our flagship property management and accounting platform. Voyager, plus a suite of complementary products, creates a full real estate management solution-operations, accounting and ancillary processes and services with portfolio-wide business intelligence and platform-wide mobility-for all types of real estate. We recently launched the latest version of Yardi Voyager, called Yardi Voyager 7S. One of the most significant aspects of 7S is that it’s browser-agnostic, which means the entire program can be run from any mobile device as easily as from a desktop. All new Voyager clients adopt 7S and we’re upgrading our existing clients. APM: What made you develop your product? Brad: We know that many people conduct much of their business, personal as well as work-related, on the go.We responded by developing Voyager 7S to help our clients meet the mobile expectations of their residents, tenants and investors. We wanted to make Voyager a one-stop solution where users can conduct all marketing, leasing and property maintenance operations from any mobile device. This accessibility helps our clients attract tenants and residents, retain them...

As the digital storehouse of sensitive data grows, the quest for secure authentication continues. Heartbleed jarred many of us. Data on our most popular (and presumably better protected) sites was exposed and, in some cases, compromised. The introduction of biometrics was a step in the right direction but Heartbleed reminded us that biometrics only protect a device; currently, such technology doesn’t fend off hackers from laptops, desktops, and the individual websites and apps that we use each day. Most of our data is still protected via password and even the cleverest passwords meet their match when hackers are intent to crack them. This poses a huge hurdle for companies whose user passwords protect countless pieces of sensitive client information. Fast Identity Online Alliance (FIDO), whose members include the likes of Google and PayPal, seek ways to decrease dependency on passwords. Its goal is to develop “technical specifications that define an open, scalable, interoperable set of mechanisms that reduce the reliance on passwords to authenticate users.” In other words, create simpler, stronger authentication. One of FIDO’s most recent innovations is a piece of hardware, simply called the authenticator, that may replace individual passwords. The hardware will communicate directly with the websites that you’re visiting, creating a distinct digital key for each digital lock. No access information is stored remotely, reducing hackers’ access to pools of passwords and the information that they protect. The hardware itself may rely on biometric access to prevent misuse if lost or stolen. FIDO’s authenticator is still under development but its business potential is evident. Employers could issue the hardware to employees, limiting potential human errors. Employees would not have to worry about changing passwords every 90 days, creating weak passwords, forgetting or sharing their credentials. Even if a device is a...

The fear of having a prospective investor pull their capital pledge from your fund raising effort is enough to make any fund manager lose sleep.  Losing a $100 million commitment means you can kiss $2 million in annual management fees goodbye. If your firm is particularly unlucky, other investors will follow suit.  Now imagine that you lost that investor because they were unhappy with…your financial reporting. Reporting systems don’t usually command much attention from managers at real estate investment firms when they think about asset and portfolio risk management. More likely, they devote a tremendous amount of time and intelligence to structuring a portfolio with assets that fit the right risk profile as set by the fund’s objective.  The creative sides of their brains crowd with questions: Does this property have an upside that can be exploited?  Are the tenants locked in?  Will this submarket rebound next year? But there’s another type of risk that’s not so sexy, and many fund managers often consider it a lesser priority: operational risk.   This category of risk encompasses the technical aspects of back office operations along with legislation and rules interpretations.  Operational risk management extends to the investor pool, as fiduciary obligations are part and parcel of accepting an investment commitment.  Potential trouble looms for a firm that does a commendable job of creating, protecting and nurturing investor relationships but ignores the risks inherent in their accounting and financial reporting operations. Operational risk is heavily tied to a firm’s business systems, and the two sure-fire ways to reduce risk in this particular area are to get off of Excel and QuickBooks and on to a mature accounting system, and to consolidate disparate systems into a single application and database. “But I’ve got a great accounting staff—they’re working...