The construction industry is undergoing a sea change in the recent years.  Latest technology changing in construction technology is a reality. Thanks to IOT and cloud, the industry is making enormous progress.

Researchers are gathering a lot of information on why the change is coming. The information gathered states that there is a change in human needs and wants. People are now using more internet now. The apps on the internet are doing most of the work.

Latest technology changing in construction technology- an overview

Construction technology is undergoing a vast a change after the technological advancements are taking place. Comparatively, people did not know about the internet and how to get connected with it in the past. Now, as the time is passing, they are learning more about it and using it. Further, the connectivity is increasing.

The demands and needs of the society are changing. That is affecting the people at large. Due to technological changes, our social construction is improving. Nevertheless, people want robust connectivity both in home and office premises. Expressly, construction technology is changing. The main motto of the industry is to provide with better amenities and facilities to the people at large.

Incidentally, the construction demands are changing. They need to build faster with efficient infrastructure. It should be affordable but with maximum facilities and amenities. And in the coming years, the latest technology will be further changing the way we see the world.

How is the latest technology changing in construction technology?

The construction technology is changing because the social climate is changing. Now people use more mobile phones than ever. The use of apps is increasing, and more people are inclined to use it. In like manner, Infocom industries are building a stronger network to connect with the users. The implementation of technology is also working on a full pace.

The other changes taking place

1. Electronic gadgets and apps- Notably, the use of mobiles or smartphones have increased ten folds since the last century. In every nook and corner, you will find persons with a phone. With easy to install and use apps, people can create, scan, write, share, edit, delete documents anytime. Markedly, mobile companies are investing money to make better smartphones. And they are within the budget of the customers.
2. Wearable gadgets and related technology-Recently, all the major companies, are providing the workers with the latest gadgets which ease their work on the field. Live tracker devices with inbuilt GPS, smart watches, glasses, health trackers and protective vests are some examples of modern technology in use.
3. Learning from the machines- Machines are now our watchdogs. Let that be surveillance cameras, drones or robots, they guide us with every information. Best examples are Dubai which has a 3D printed office. China’s invention of robots and the design of Sophia, the first humanoid and robot citizen. The drones gather all the information regarding the place of sites. They click pictures and transmit all the data to the headquarters.

Special mention

Another key point is the conflict between virtual and augmented reality. The changes in the latest technology are giving rise to a battle between virtual and augmented reality. All major companies all over the world are proceeding to tremendous speed. They are providing seamless entertainment to the people.

Recently, China and Malaysia opened a 4G zoo where zoogoers can see, smell and touch 3D animals. For gamers, the newest versions of games provide immense pleasure. This is the virtual reality they have been waiting. Uniquely,  workers walk in 3D or the 4D environment. Correspondingly, they are safe for the users.

How will the changing technology help?

The changing technology will help the users a lot.  They can find the latest technology at their doorstep.

The modern workforce is changing. The builders on construction sites are carefully building homes. The current workers depend on job sites for announcements regarding health risks, vacancy, time issues and construction site error. They are tech-savvy and know how to do the work. Arguably, Japanese technology is focusing on making using less space.

How the article can help

I hope the readers will find the article helpful. All the information is accurate and best of my knowledge.

Microsoft, the office software giant, is making the headlines again. It has caught up with the leading online shopping store Amazon regarding the cloud clearance.

Winning the federal security approvals have given Microsoft Corp. an edge over other bidders of the winner-take-all competition by Pentagon. This competition was a multimillion-dollar contract for cloud computing.

The Controversy of cloud clearance

The award is to be declared by September and so, the Department of Defence is moving slowly towards that path.  It has called JEDI, the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure, for issuing the final request for the project’s proposal.

However, other potential bidders have voiced their complaints that the contract plans favor Amazon. Hence, they have requested for bifurcating the award among multiple contenders.

A few days back, the House passed a provision in the annual defense-spending bill. This provision would hold up the Cloud project’s funding until the Pentagon presents a strategy for sustaining multiple-cloud service provider and the competition.

The cloud Clearance Terms

The cloud clearances terms that any winning contractor must obtain from Pentagon has been given less public attention. It says that a winner must qualify to host

• within 30 days, the unclassified information
• within six months, the classified information, and
• within nine months, top-secret information.

The process of obtaining security authorization for delivering the cloud service to the federal government is long and very expensive. This has been one reason why leading technology companies like  Oracle Corp., Alphabet’s Google and IBM Corp are lagging behind Amazon.

Any commercial cloud service providers who want to provide services to the federal government should acquire the certificate from the FedRAMP. FedRAMP is the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program that provides the approvals based on the sensitivity of the data hosted by the service.

To say, a low-level certification works well for the cloud services used for the public. However, for hosting the secret government information a cloud-based service would need a high-level certification. And for the Department of Defense, they need a special clearance from DISA. DISA- the Defense Information Systems Agency. issues the authorizations for security ranging from IL-2 to IL-6. IL-2 is for hosting unclassified data and IL-6 is for sensitive and classified data like national security information.

Hiring A Babysitter

This is one analogy that keeps going around a lot of times. It feels like employing a babysitter. Even if the sitter is very competent, you are still leaving your kid with someone else. By the end of the day, you still end up worrying. So. you ask your neighbor to keep an eye or you install cameras.

On an average, the cloud clearance service provider spends $2.25 million for obtaining the  FedRAMP authorization. And then, it spends $1 million every year to maintain it. The only best news is that FedRAMP has made some changes in its program. These changes have reduced the time it used to take for becoming authorized.

Microsoft is doing everything possible to prove itself competent and safe for the Department of Defence.

Other Companies In The Race

The Redmond is one of the big names that has come up in the race. This Washington-based company already holds FedRAMP’s high ratings for its business of Azure Government. It also has an IL-5 clearance from DISA. Last October, the Redmond announced it was going for IL-6 clearance. Amazon is one company that already holds that level of clearance.

Recently, the Redmond has also secured a profitable cloud deal. This deal allows 17 intelligence offices and agencies to use the Azure Government of Microsoft.

On the other hand, Microsoft is also making quite some progress in the field of the cloud. It brags about the ability to support hybrid technology, that is, mixing cloud systems with legacy on-premise computing.

However, the procurement experts have stated that a company can’t surely win just because it already has approvals. if the Pentagon gives the green signal, major technology companies, that are expert in federal security standards, can also move through the authorization process.

The Twist In The Tale

Pentagon is now open for accepting the bids from a team of companies. this has open the gates of opportunities for the potential candidates.

They can now pair with another tech firm to make up for any disadvantage they are facing. This has led to the entrance of many new bidders and potential candidates.

Wrapping It Up

Obtaining the cloud clearance for serving the government isn’t an easy task. They are accessed by a third party, answers a hundred questions and even invest for obtaining the approval.

Amazon web services got its head start in 2013 by winning a  $600 million contract, in security accreditation from the Central Intelligence Agency. And that’s not it. And this has led to a tail of companies follow in obtaining the approvals like the Redmond. Also, there is Google, IBM, and Oracle as a few known names.

However, this is now the race between Amazon and Microsoft and in September we will see the Winner.

You can perform your entire digital marketing on Google! Of course, you will need tools, but what if I say those are unnecessary?

Before we start, understanding marketing requirements are necessary. Prioritizing is essential, always because we have loads to do.

To be honest, webmasters are going crazy over Google updates. With each algorithm update, marketers are up against new challenges.

In the light of changes, tools foster an impact. There are paid and there are free. The one you choose depends on your requirements.

But here lies the problem.

Free tools are somewhat unreliable whereas paid are are costly! It is like spending bucks without a return guarantee.

When I say Google thinks like us, I am not exaggerating. So long as you learn the tricks, mastering marketing is at your fingertips.

How?

Google provides certain free tips and tricks which, as my friend says, is more like the Halloween trick-or-treat.

Rather, I would rephrase it. Google provides all-year-round trick-and-treats. To explain it, let us dive a bit deeper.

Rank Without a Dime!

Google loves organics- the art of drawing people to your site for free. It doesn’t want you to spend dollars on SEO. But simply providing the people what they are looking for.

By and large, developers have provided certain tricks for both people and marketers. Above all, targetting keywords and research has been made extremely easy.

Writing a web content for ranking is cumbersome for sure. From content research to building appropriate links, we cannot boil things down to bits.

But now when the context is king, you need to rethink the way you work. Google wants you to stay with people and, these tools take you away from them.

That is bad!

Social signals have never been a ranking factor for Google. But, they are a means to understand what people love.

And that is exactly what we need to target as marketers- bringing relevance to your content.

Then again, our ‘paid is the best’ perception is somewhat wrong. Google is constantly evolving (so was Ultron!). And this evolution benefits digital marketers if you know how to harness it.

As soon as you learn Google tips and tricks, I am sure ranking on SERP would be easy.

In order to do that, let me tell you the 13 most amazing Google tricks you might never have heard of!

13 Google Tips and Tricks

♦ In the Google Search, try writing the following format-

“Website name” AND “author”.

For example, if I search for “Neil Patel” AND “author”, Google will fetch all content whose author is Neil Patel.

♦ In the previously searched query, you can add sites as well. The syntax for the search is-

“Name is” -website-name -site_name

For example- “Neil Patel is” -neilpatel.com -buzzfeed.com

Now, all contents which carry the same context in both the websites will be shown to you. You can add other website names too with a hyphen.

♦ When you need multiple topics for the same keyword, you can type-

site: (name) keyword

For example, if I want to scrap all topics on Zen Desk for customer service keyword- site:zendesk.com customer service

♦ This is surely amazing to expand the domain of your content. To find similar topics for your content-

site:(website) -intitle:LSI keyword

For example- site:buzzsumo.com -intitle:marketing. All topics on buzzsumo will be fetched that are more or less similar to the keyword marketing.

♦ Numbers in your title are necessary so as to increase the impact. So to write listicle posts, you use a range of numbers separated by two dots. For example- Top 1..100 ways to fix the laptop.

♦ Researching has never been this easier. You can quickly find all sites similar to the one you are scraping. Hence, all you need to do is type-

related:site_name

For example, if I search for related:moz.com, all sites similar to moz.com will be shown to you.

Get Long-Tail Keywords for Free!

If you are following the latest SEO trends, you must be aware of the importance of long-tail keywords.

Now when 40% of the internet is voice-search, natural queries are bound to rule. The more you are long-tail friendly, the more traffic you get.

Until now, tools got ahead with their all under one roof feature. Using Google, you can research long-tail keywords for free.

For example, if you want to find a long-tail for laptop repair, search for-

repair AROUND (char) laptop

You need to enter the number of words you want in the char section. Google will fetch all possible queries that start and end with your term and has related words in between.

Keep an Eye on Your Competitors of Digital marketing

To win a fight, you need to analyze your competitors. Google is a highly competitive platform. And you need to know your competitors before you try to rank.

Again, Google comes to your aid. Let me tell you how.

♦ You can spy on your competitor’s best content. In like manner, if I need to find the best content on ‘graphics’ at BuzzFeed, then-

site:buzzfeed.com intitle:”graphics”

♦ Keep an eye on what your competitors are publishing with-

site:competitor_site filetype:pdf

♦ Yes, topics may clash on Google. In case it does, why don’t you see your competitor’s content beforehand?

keyword1 + keyword2

♦ Oh! You can even see what your competitors say about you. Like if SpyFu wants to see what Moz said about them-

site:moz.com intext:”SpyFu”

♦ It may happen that competitor pages have been taken down or expired. However, the content was good, nonetheless.

You can get back a taken down content too! All you have to do is type in cache: URL.

So you see, Google has everything for you. It is just like Dumbledore’s saying- “Help is given to those who seek it”.

Pay on the go– this is surely something people have gone after. After all, digital payment methods are taking the world by storm.

Consequently, the world has shrunk in between few inches of screen. Travel, date, work, or sleep- you can pay anytime from anywhere.

Of course, when things are becoming smarter, reliability and security is an issue on the other hand.  

To sum up, digital security is also a major priority. You cannot trust on every app, can you?

Having said that, these are some of the best Mobile Payment Apps in 2018. They are best in terms of service and security.

When iOS became Cashless!

Well, cashless is a relative term. But yes, it was something which went viral. The introduction of Apple Pay was received with much excitement.

And in no time, it became one of the widely used mobile payment apps.

Now the process is one time (if you choose not to change your iPhone). Enter your card details on your Apple account only once. So, you can pay directly from your iPhone everytime you transact.

As far as security is concerned, this is Apple we are talking about. They have ensured security through Face ID or Touch ID. Either do things manually or simply ask Siri to perform your banking actions.

The best part is, as a fail-safe, all return cash comes back to your Apple account. So you see, there is no need to consult the bank or any manual work.

Now Comes the Giant: Google Pay

Google is an AI in the first place. I really consider the giant to be a human of some sort. And things surely just got better for Android phones.

From retail stores to online services, Google Pay supports every place where you need to pay.

When it comes to Android security, we are skeptical. But Google dispels all doubts by confirming their multi-layered security on payment pages.

However, this has a drawback. You cannot send money directly to someone. Google has another app for that- Google Pay Send. You can get it directly from Play Store.

Also, your bank needs to be ‘a brand’. Cards of small credit unions are not supported by Google Pay.

All in all, you can trust Google Pay. The transactions are truly faster, more secure, and you can never lose your money.

PayPal: The Global Player

There is not a single country left where PayPal is not used. Soon after its introduction, the app went on going viral.

I recently read about a few countries who are removing hard cash payments. The emphasis is completely on PayPal.

Be it personal payments, retail payment, online stores and e-commerce, hotels, etc. I cannot remember a platform where this app isn’t used.

The thing I like about PayPal is its less complexity. It supports multiple cards and country auto-detection is something amazing.

Then why third in the list? The fee issue!

PayPal charges a certain amount of fee. I must say you need to be careful about that. This is due to the fact that the charges are not fixed. The amount varies according to purchase and regional policies.

The above three are undoubtedly the best. There are a few others such as Samsung Pay, PayU, PayTM, Venmo, etc.

They did not make the list because of just one reason- user experience. and you can be pretty sure that security is the primary concern.

So here are the top 3 Mobile Payment Apps you must use in 2018. I am sure you have other suggestions as well. Why not let me know in the comments?

What if your PC starts talking to you? It would be surprisingly similar to Captain America waking up after 70 years! Of course, we will surely be either flabbergasted or spooked out.

Without being a Marvel nerd, I must say that Google Duplex just made it possible. Earlier, it had always been imagined of machines that would talk with us.

And to define talking- stammering, rising and falling of tone, expressions; all these things are expected.

With the advent of AI, machines are becoming smarter (Sci-fi must be loving it!). Subsequently, it has been a boon. Businesses and enterprises are thriving faster than usual.

Evolution has taken a giant leap and the domain of technological outreach cannot be defined. Google Duplex certainly has made an enormous mark.

What are we looking at?

A machine which can talk!

Additionally, the most important aspect is the natural language talking. You might expect your system to talk with loads of ‘errs’ and ‘umms’.

Feeling friendly enough?

Few months before its launch, Google Assistant stormed the market. And soon enough, it found its way into every smartphone on the planet.

I am sure you are aware of Assistant’s potentials. Then how is it different from Duplex?

There is no app, device compatibility, or anything as such. Using Google Duplex, you are making your machine smarter.

It is basically used for on-spot interactions, smart presentations, conferences, and workflow communication in large enterprises.

The idea is- what if a machine speaking in a human tone can do things for you?

Google surely has taken the idea to next level. Your system makes a phone call and might even talk to your client.

Jarvis Comes Back to Life!

I would love to use the metaphor for those who cried with Vision’s death in Infinity War!

Google made sure most of the things you would imagine are done. A machine that can talk surely can do a lot.

Unlike Tony Stark, we know the working of Duplex. As revealed, it is known as TFX technology.

In this case, it is more likely a neural network. To put it differently, you need to understand Machine Learning.

A machine doesn’t understand alphanumerics. At machine level, a compiler and interpreter converts our words into binary and feeds into the system. Now, the output is converted back into alphanumerics.

In the light of this, the alphanumeric is not printed, rather spoken. The neural networks help in providing the required and best emotion.

So you see, it is just like the working of a human brain.

Can it Do Everything Like Jarvis?

When I heard of Google Duplex, I couldn’t stop imagining Jarvis booking a table for my date.

Evidently, it does!

Google Duplex does some of the most common yet amazing things for you. As I mentioned earlier, making calls, reserving a table, making appointments at the dentist- you have got it all covered.

And who knows what might come with the next update?

Yeah well, unfortunately, Vision has died and so has our Jarvis. But now having read about Google Duplex, shouldn’t we reconsider the above statement?

American Schools prefer Chromebooks to traditional pen and paper. However, students often fail to handle the complex technology. The school districts are imposing heavy fines on Chromebooks. It is estimated that students of Fond du Lac School District have paid fines of $33,000 so far.

Students come with common repair issues like system boards repair, keyboards repair, charging ports repair, hard drive data recovery, etc. For the first offense they will have to pay $25, the fines increase with every offense. For the sixth offense, they will have to pay $200. The district is very strict, if they see any negligence from the students’ end, then they impose a fine of $265. On average students pay for $50 and once they clear the fees they can take their Chromebooks to their home.

Several School and Their Policy on Chromebook Usage

In the year 2012 Fondu Lac school district spent about $1 million dollars to purchase Chromebooks for the students. According to the district’s business manager, the ‘fine’ structure works pretty well. Most of the students have shown the responsibility.

Ripon High School in this year has distributed 300 Chromebooks to the students. Here students in this school will not have to pay any fees. However, students can pay $40 for insurance. However, if they have the liberty to not pay the insurance fees. In that case, they’ll have to take the full responsibility for their Chromebook. Many Students faces data recovery problems like images, documents, videos and many more. If you’re looking to recover any files on Windows Operating System, then you may overlook any data recovery services to recover your data.

And there are many more…

Rosendale-Brandon School has another policy for Chromebooks. Students can have their Chromebooks by paying an annual charge of $50. In the meanwhile, if any discrepancies found in the laptops then they will have to pay the charges.

Horace Mann High School is another school in the list charging $19 to $125 for repairing the laptop. For the past two years, they have accumulated around $8,695 for the repairs.

Waupun Area School assigns near about 1000 Chromebook for the usage of K-12 students. Students are not allowed to carry their laptops and can use it only at school. Thus there is less chance of errors. In case of Mayville, students are charged $50. Mayville School has collected about $2,200 in fines.

That’s pretty much about Chromebook repair costs. I have discussed various schools and policies they take on Chromebook usage. I will come up with some more news on Chromebooks usage policies in my next post.