Tech and Hosting News Round-Up

July 24, 2020 / Technology News

tech news

Welcome to our latest round-up of news from the technology and hosting world. Here’s what we’ve discovered this week.

No romance for iOS Facebook users

Apple device owners searching for love on Tinder might have found their romantic efforts thwarted last week when a Facebook update caused the app to keep crashing. Indeed, the update also sent music and video lovers into a tizzy as it affected other apps, including Spotify and TikTok.

The cause was a change to the coding of Facebook’s software developer kit, Facebook SDK, utilised by app developers to enable users to sign into apps with their Facebook login credentials. Facebook SDK has become popular because choosing login with Facebook means users don’t need to register a username and password and, if they are logged into Facebook, they can log in to the other app at the press of a button. The benefit for Facebook, of course, is that the social media giant gets its hands on all the data about the app’s users. The issue has now been fixed.

Video set to take over recruitment

While traditional CVs aren’t going anywhere soon, businesses and recruitment companies are increasingly asking job seekers to embellish their applications with personal videos in order to find out a little bit more about their personality.

One recruitment platform taking advantage of this move is Slync. Designed for the Snapchat generation, it puts video at the centre of its recruiting operations. Here, employers begin the hiring process by browsing through candidates selfie videos. The videos are no longer than 35 seconds long, enough time, says Slync, for companies to make informed decisions about whether the applicant is suitable for more detailed consideration.    

While this form of application is likely to appeal to both modern businesses and job seekers, there are concerns that by watching individuals on camera before the interview, there is the potential for discrimination. To prevent this and to encourage a broader range of applicants, companies are also encouraged to post videos about themselves and, in doing so, are urged to show that they are an inclusive business with a diverse workforce.   

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Cold War taking place in cyberspace

News has recently emerged that the Trump administration in Washington ordered US intelligence to carry out cyberattacks against Russia in 2018. After Russia’s infamous Internet Research Agency interfered in the 2016 presidential elections, Trump was determined that this shouldn’t be repeated in the 2018 mid-terms.

Based in St Petersburg, the Internet Research Agency is a private Russian company that engages in online influence operations. Its clients include Russian companies, political organisations and, the US insists, the Russian government – for which it carries out state-sponsored cyber operations.

While President Obama imposed sanctions on Russia for the 2016 interference, Trump decided to take pre-emptive measures to stop the company meddling in its elections and launched a covert cyberattack to take the Russian outfit offline. The process, according to senior officials, was effective.

Demanding the impossible

IT companies often have a demanding list of requirements from potential employees, but it seems that IBM has recently asked for the impossible. In a new job advert, its Global Technology Services has been looking for someone with over a dozen years experience of working with Kubernetes.

Although Kubernetes experience is good to have, it’s only been around for six years, so no-one has the required length of experience, not even the developers. Perhaps what it does go to show is that the people writing the job spec often select arbitrary numbers when asking for experience, something which, ultimately, shows their own lack of proficiency. If anyone is considering applying, the closing date is 2026.

Gartner predicts impact of pandemic on IT

According to analyst firm, Gartner, global IT spending during 2020 is expected to slump 7% to £2.8 trillion. While it expects the investment to bounce back in 2021, things will not be the same. The pandemic and its aftermath will have caused long term damage to the revenue streams of many companies, meaning that a lot of the projects they had invested heavily in prior to the pandemic, will no-longer be viable.   

With GDP depressed globally and many markets remaining disrupted by social distancing and lockdowns, Gartner predicts companies will look at more creative ways to utilise IT. It is already seeing many companies ditching in-house software licences in favour of cloud-based SaaS and expects accelerated digital transformation to become widespread as companies strive to rebuild. A point backed up by Microsoft’s CEO, Satya Nadella, who said that, during spring 2020, the pandemic had led companies to undertake two years worth of digital transformations in just a couple of months.   

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  • Arjun Shinde

    I'm an experienced digital marketer with expertise in planning, SEO, SEM, and social media. I'm good at creating engaging content and optimising campaigns for a strong online presence.

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