gadgets
How Technology Can Protect You from Check Fraud
Check fraud is one of the biggest concerns facing businesses today. Criminals are constantly coming up with new ways to beat the systems that companies put in place to combat fraud. It is a never-ending struggle to protect a business from fraud. Despite businesses embracing technology to replace using traditional paper checks, thieves can still take the information available online and use it to steal a victim’s identity or to get lines of credit.
Fortunately, there are always new safety measures being developed that help to protect businesses and keep them a step ahead of criminals. The following practices are some of the best ways to help protect your company from check fraud.
Payroll Services and Direct Deposit
One of the biggest problems with paying your employees by check is that most checks will have the personal information of both the employee and the business written for anyone to see. An enterprising person can easily use the information they glean from a check to commit fraud against your company.
The best way to combat this is to use a payroll service to handle paying your employees. These companies can skip the step of paper checks altogether through direct deposit. Plus, payroll companies will have all the financial information concerning the money you are paying out saved for later access. This can make filing taxes much easier to deal with.
Utilize Advanced Digital Printing
It’s often the case that even while businesses have advanced to direct deposit, not all employees want this type of payment method. For those situations, you can utilize advanced digital check printers.
Digital printers provide secure check printing. These printers can implement watermarks only visible by UV light, provide confidential printing, and offer authentication procedures for optimal security.
While it will cost money up front to get the software and materials needed to print your own checks, the security it provides is well worth the initial expense.
Switch to Smart Payment Options
For many smaller businesses or those that employ contract workers, you don’t even need to deal with the costs of hiring a payroll service. Instead, you can use the newest online payment options to pay your workers instantly.
Fortunately, many cell phone providers have developed ways to pay for goods. These apps, such as PayPal or Venmo, allow businesses to easily send money with the swipe of a button. This eliminates the risks of check fraud since there is no paper trail that can be forged.
Just keep in mind that while these types of apps will eliminate the need to use paper checks, they still have some flaws that can be exploited. Phones and online accounts can be hacked if users are careless with their personal information.
Invest in a Smart Safe
Many businesses make the mistake of leaving their checkbook in an unsecured area where managers or employees can easily access it. This isn’t smart because someone could easily steal a page of checks and use them before anyone noticed. If you must use paper checks, then you should always keep them locked in a secure location.
Nowadays, there are plenty of options for smart safes. These safes provide the standard key or lock-number combination system, but they also have more advanced options like biometric fingerprint or retina scanners. That way, you can ensure the only person accessing your safe and your checks is you.
With technology having reduced the need to use paper checks, you would think that there would be less fraud, but sadly that isn’t the case. This is why businesses should always make an effort to keep their checking information secure. By using a payroll service or secure printing, limiting the number of checks you write, and keeping your checks as secure or making them as needed, you will limit the chances of fraudulent activity affecting your company.
gadgets
Top Tips to Improve Home Security
Home security, especially when you live in a highly populated area with crime, is very important for the well being of you and your family. Installing extensive security systems and alarms don’t have to be as daunting, time-consuming, and expensive as they seem. Simple things like cameras and fences can make huge differences when it comes to your welfare.
Install Security Cameras
One of the most common items people install on their houses are security cameras. However, many of these can be unreliable from their use of the Internet. Security cameras that use cell services are the much better bet, as you can use them in places that don’t have access to Wi-Fi, like barns or cabins located far away. These cell service cameras are just as convenient as ones that require Internet. Cellular service can still provide you with a live feed on your smartphone through an app and footage downloaded directly to your devices.
Use Outdoor Lights
Keep Garage Doors Closed
Though this tip may seem basic, a lot of people forget to close garage doors! Leaving this door open gives attackers a direct point of entry into your house. Make sure you always close the garage after pulling in, and double check that it’s closed before you go to sleep. It is much better to be safe than sorry from a simple mistake.
Close Curtains AND Blinds
Opening your blinds and curtains makes it easy for people to look into your house and see something you would rather not share with the world. This can give potential invaders the opportunity to scope out your house and possibly plot sneakier ways to break in. Keeping drapes and blinds shut over your windows not only gives you privacy, but safety as well.
Install Cameras On Your Door
Keep Extra Keys Secure
Under potted plants and doormats are very obvious and insecure places to keep a spare key. Intruders can usually find these keys and break in with ease, especially when you aren’t at home. It is a much better choice to keep your spare keys with family members, in a safe place in your home, or with a neighbor you can trust.
Hide Your Valuables
It’s a common mistake to leave large amounts of money or other valuable items in plain sight or in drawers. Instead of these obvious locations, store your cash in places an intruder wouldn’t expect, like a cereal box or another inconspicuous location. When in doubt, keep it in a locked cabinet that only you have the key for.
Home protection isn’t always straightforward, and it’s best to do your research when protecting your home and family. Cameras and lights are great to secure your valuables, but make sure to take care of the little things like extra keys or curtains.
gadgets
How Has Virtual Reality Revolutionized The Travel Industry
The concept of Virtual Reality is really cool. It is, as the name suggests, a computer-generated simulation wherein you can experience a three-dimensional environment that is near identical to the real world. Virtual Reality (VR) has rapidly become one of the most important aspects of consumer products these days. The travel industry too is not lagging, when it comes to VR technology, making the experience for travelers a lot more fun-filled. The main driving force behind this is that explorers are more interested in the experience rather than the products. And VR truly provides some incredibly rich experience.
How can VR benefit the traveler in you?
Now think about this. You are travelling to a foreign country. You decide to pre-book your hotel rooms to avoid the hassle. When you log in to their website, you would see the 3D images of the room, videos and read reviews before booking it finally. Now VR would give you the option to have a look around the room on their website, even when you are sitting miles away. Also before going to a new place you can get some reliable travel information on https://www.touristsecrets.com/. Then to choose your destination, you can get a close look at the nearby attractions using VR. This is basically a ‘try before you buy’ concept wherein you as a customer would be more satisfied and confident about your purchase. To help you with.
Some cool uses of VR in the travel industry
There are many ways by which VR can help the travel industry to grow. Some of the examples would include:
- Virtual Hotel Tours – As mentioned earlier, Virtual tours of hotels have become really famous. People would be able to have a clear idea of the hotels they would be staying in before booking them. The VR technology is being updated in many hotel websites and distributor’s websites from where people generally book hotels. To get the VR experience, you would need to have a VR headset. The use of the technology on the website is quite basic with a 360-degree image that is compatible on social media platforms.
- Travel booking – Some of the travel companies have decided to take the VR technology a step further as they have made the entire booking process in VR which can be availed through the VR headsets. Thus you being a customer would not have used your mouse and click everywhere to make and confirm your bookings. The whole process has become quite seamless now.
- Visit places – You would also be able to experience some of the best tourist attractions and spots beforehand using VR headsets before physically going to the place. This is expected to attract more customers as people would be able to get a small trailer of the place before actually going there which would increase their curiosity.
With Virtual Reality, travel marketers have also gained a lot of benefits, since people are essentially curious to experience the thrill of travelling before they actually reach the place.
gadgets
7 AI Trends To Watch Out In 2019
Artificial intelligence is gaining more utility in each industry out there. This can be easily attributed to its amazing efficiency and the convenience available to the working of various systems and mechanisms.
Here are 7 of the most interesting AI trends to look for in 2019.
1. Open Source Frameworks
The obstacles to entering AI is lower than any time in recent memory, on account of open-source software. Google began the pattern when it publicly released its TensorFlow AI library in 2015. Subsequently, real tech players took action accordingly. Various open-source instruments are accessible for developers to browse, including Keras, Microsoft Cognitive Toolkit, and Apache MXNet.
2. Edge AI
The requirement for instant decision making is driving AI closer to “the edge.” This enables gadgets to process data locally and react quicker. Apple, NVIDIA, and various rising new businesses are centered around creating chips solely for AI tasks available at the edge. The AI patterns one has to anticipate will be the development of edge AI over applications worldwide.
3. Facial Recognition
From opening telephones to loading up flights, facial recognition is being accepted as a standard. Early business applications are upscaling in security, retail, and shopper gadgets. As a result, facial recognition is rapidly turning into a prevailing type of biometric validation.
Very soon we can also expect facial recognition enabled in smartwatches available on https://www.watchshopping.com/.
4. Medicinal Imaging And Diagnostics
The FDA is acknowledging AI as a medicinal gadget. Quick track administrative endorsement for AI programming items has opened up new advertisement pathways for AI imaging and diagnostics organizations. As for the customers, smartphone access and high-tech image recognition are transforming phones into amazing homely devices. Talking about the most effective AI patterns, its acceptance, and approval for medical and diagnostic applications would be among the top mentions.
5. Predictive Maintenance
Ranging from producers to hardware safety net providers, AI-IIoT can spare officeholders a huge amount in dollars in unforeseen disappointments. Speculatory support algorithms utilize consistent information to anticipate gear failures before they happen. On account of dropping sensor costs, AI growth, and a trend of edge computing, Predictive support has turned out to be all the more broadly accessible.
6. E-Commerce Search
Contextual comprehension of search phrases is moving out of the “trial stage,” however wide acceptance remains far off. Regardless of innovative difficulties, the beginning period SaaS startups are rising, selling search technologies to outsider retailers. One of the major AI patterns of 2019 will be greater interest in the segment, including significant retailers.
7. Clinical Trials
Perhaps the greatest bottlenecks in clinical experiments are selecting the correct pool of patients. Meanwhile, AI could extricate data from medicinal records, consider all progressing researches, and propose applicable investigations to specialists and patients. Tech giants like Apple are among those making progress in this field. Since 2015, Apple has propelled two open-source systems to enable clinical trials to enlist patients and screen their wellbeing remotely.
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