Archive for September 27, 2023

LinkedIn Top Startups 2023: 15 Canadian companies on the rise

Posted in Commentary with tags on September 27, 2023 by itnerd

Today, LinkedIn released the 2023 Canadian Top Startups List, featuring the 15 emerging companies attracting attention and top talent in 2023.  

Grounded in unique LinkedIn data, Top Startups is an annual ranking of the young, emerging companies attracting professionals who want to work there. The list reveals the companies that are forward-thinking and innovative around the future of work. These growing startups are successfully navigating through the current world of work at a time where there is economic uncertainty.  

LinkedIn’s methodology is based on growth and demand. The data to rank startups on the list is based on four pillars that are synonymous with successful startups:  

  • Employment growth
  • Engagement
  • Job interest and attraction of top talent

This year, LinkedIn adjusted their eligibility requirements, lowering the age criteria to five years or younger in order to feature more companies in their earlier, venture stages of growth. 

2023 Top Startups Canada List  

  1. Neo Financial  
  2. Float  
  3. Cohere 
  4. Fable 
  5. ODAIA  
  6. Felix  
  7. AltaML 
  8. PurposeMed 
  9. Novisto  
  10. Vessi  
  11. Conquest Planning  
  12. Summit Nanotech  
  13. Sanctuary AI  
  14. Makeship  
  15. nesto 

Methodology  

LinkedIn measures startups based on four pillars: employment growth, engagement, job interest and attraction of top talent. Employment growth is measured as percentage headcount increase over methodology time frame, which must be a minimum of 10%. Engagement looks at non-employee views and follows of the company’s LinkedIn page, as well as how many non-employees are viewing employees at that startup. Job interest counts rate at which people are viewing and applying to jobs at the company, including both paid and unpaid postings. Attraction of top talent measures how many employees the startup has recruited away from any global LinkedIn Top Company, as a percentage of the startup’s total workforce. Data is normalized across all eligible startups. The methodology time frame is July 1, 2022 through June 30, 2023.  

To be eligible, companies must be fully independent, privately held, have 50 or more full-time employees, be 5 years old or younger and be headquartered in the country on whose list they appear. We exclude all staffing firms, think tanks, venture capital firms, law firms, management and IT consulting firms, nonprofits and philanthropy, accelerators and government-owned entities. Startups who have laid off 20% or more of their workforce based on corporate announcements or public, reliable sources between July 1, 2022 and the list launch, are not eligible. These decisions are made by the LinkedIn News team based on company statements and/or reputable news outlets. 

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Guest Post: Oppenheimer and Indian films lead August internet trends

Posted in Commentary with tags on September 27, 2023 by itnerd

The internet continues to evolve, and new trends emerge each month. In August 2023, Wikipedia pageview data provided insight into some of the hottest online trends.

According to the data presented by the Atlas VPN, the Oppenheimer film, an Indian movie “Gadar 2”, and Cleopatra were the most visited Wikipedia pages in August. Besides these, YouTube and Barbie’s film were also some of the most viewed pages. Throughout August, Wikipedia pages were visited nearly 7.8 billion times.

The biopic about J. Robert Oppenheimer starring Cillian Murphy generated nearly 7 million views on its Wikipedia page. In addition, the page about Oppenheimer, the person, ranked fifth on this list with 5.3 million views.

August was a hot month for Indian films. A highly visited page, with 6.6 million views, was the Indian action film “Gadar 2” released on August 11. It is the seventh highest-grossing Hindi film of all time. One more Indian film, “Jailer,” ranked seventh with 4.6 million views on Wikipedia.

Cleopatra ranks third on the most visited page list with 6.1 million views. YouTube’s Wikipedia page was visited 6 million times. Barbie’s live-action film drove nearly 5 million views to the Wikipedia page. U.S. presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, though lesser known, drew significant attention with 4.4 million clicks on his Wikipedia page.

Now one of the more funny entries on this list is the 2017 film “XXX: Return of Xander Cage” with 4.1 million views. Though there recently were some speculations about a fourth movie in the series, we believe that this interest comes from people searching for adult movies, but coming across the film’s Wikipedia page.

Cybersecurity writer at Atlas VPN, Vilius Kardelis, shares his thoughts on internet trends:

“In a media landscape where attention spans are short, the August 2023 Wikipedia data provides a snapshot into what held the internet’s focus, even for just a brief moment. For now, these pages offer a window into the culture and curiosities that defined the internet experience last month.”

To read the full article, head over to:

https://atlasvpn.com/blog/oppenheimer-and-indian-films-lead-august-internet-trends

oppenheimer-and-indian-films-lead-august-internet-trends

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Nikon Canada announces the NIKKOR Z 135mm f/1.8 S Plena

Posted in Commentary with tags on September 27, 2023 by itnerd

Today Nikon Canada Inc. announced the release of the NIKKOR Z 135mm f/1.8 S Plena, an impressively unique lens for Nikon Z series mirrorless cameras. This new mid-telephoto prime lens bestows astonishingly high resolution, edge-to-edge brightness, incredible sharpness and spectacularly dramatic bokeh, all while elevating the threshold of what’s possible with optical technology. 

The name “Plena” is derived from the Latin term plenum, which denotes the state of a space being completely full. This name was chosen to reflect the lens’s ability to fulfill the user’s creative vision with superior light gathering capability, beautiful, well-rounded bokeh and outstanding sharpness and clarity throughout the frame. Following in the footsteps of the NIKKOR Z 58mm f/0.95 S Noct, this distinctively brilliant portrait prime is only the second Nikon lens to be granted a dedicated name, with the hope that it will be highly regarded by users for many years to come.

This truly special optic is engineered with a focus on superior peripheral illumination, which is the ability to deliver the maximum amount of light to the far edges of the frame. The result is abundant brightness from edge-to-edge, with clear, bright subject distinction throughout. The combination of brightness, bokeh quality and extreme sharpness makes for vibrant images with a mystical pop of three dimensionality. The NIKKOR Z 135mm f/1.8 S Plena is part of the S-Line1and takes advantage of the Z mount system’s large-diameter mount, which unlocks further possibilities of lens design, as well as the potential for light gathering. 

In addition to enhanced brightness, the optical formula and larger rear element helps to realize beautiful, well-rounded bokeh throughout the entire frame, even from maximum aperture. The NIKKOR Z 135mm f/1.8 S Plena also affords users outstanding sharpness and clarity, regardless of the shooting distance with a close minimum focusing distance of only 0.82 m/2.69 ft. This enables a fantastic dreamlike expression that combines delicate textures and beautiful bokeh in portraits, landscapes and more. 

The lens’s luxurious exterior design is intended to match its superior optical performance. Along with the adoption of metal components, the lens features an engraved “Plena” logo similar to the cursive font and yellow colour of the Noct logo. Additional features include a fully weather-sealed body for durability and the addition of two L-Fn buttons for customization. 

Primary Features of the NIKKOR Z 135mm f/1.8 S Plena

  • Beautiful, well-rounded bokeh is achieved throughout the entire frame, while supporting a fast f/1.8 maximum aperture. 
  • Eleven-blade diaphragm and larger rear element contribute to exceptionally circular bokeh for dreamlike expression that accentuates the three-dimensionality of the subject with smooth gradation. 
  • The large amount of peripheral light at the f/1.8 maximum aperture ensures a consistently bright image all the way to the extreme corners of the frame for a sense of transparency and brilliance in images.
  • The outstanding sharpness and clarity, characteristic of S-Line lenses, enables rendering of the finest textures in hair and skin tones, while excellent point-light reproduction capabilities achieve brilliant night and urban landscape imagery. 
  • A multi-focusing system uses stepping motors (STMs) for fast, accurate and quiet autofocus drive for still images and video.
  • In addition to Meso Amorphous Coat, the most effective anti-reflection coating in Nikon history that prevents reflections regardless of the direction from which light enters the lens, Nikon’s original ARNEO Coat is also used to effectively reduce instances of ghosting and flaring.
  • Optical construction consists of 16 elements in 14 groups, with four ED elements, one aspherical element and one SR lens element. 
  • A design that takes video recording into consideration with quiet operation and stable exposure.
  • The lens body features two lens Fn buttons, to which a wide variety of functions can be assigned. One is positioned on the top of the lens enabling smooth adjustment of settings even when shooting in vertical orientation.
  • The versatile 82mm filter attachment size enables the use of various lens filters designed to satisfy users’ creative intent.
  • Designed to achieve superior dust and drip-resistant performance2. 
  • Well balanced with a dimension of 3.9″x 5.5″, and a weight of 2.2 lbs /995 g. 

Price and Availability

The new NIKKOR Z 135mm f/1.8 S Plena will be available in late October for a manufacturer’s suggested retail price (MSRP) of $3,399.95. For more information about the latest Nikon products, including the vast collection of NIKKOR Z lenses and the entire line of Z series cameras, please visit www.nikon.ca

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CISA Releases Supply Chain Risk Management Hardware Bill of Materials 

Posted in Commentary with tags on September 27, 2023 by itnerd

The CISA has released a Hardware Bill of Materials Framework (HBOM) for Supply Chain Risk Management. The Framework was developed by the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Supply Chain Risk Management (SCRM) Task Force.  

“The HBOM Framework offers a consistent and repeatable way for vendors and purchasers to communicate about hardware components, enabling effective risk assessment and mitigation in the supply chain. With standardized naming, comprehensive information, and clear guidance, organizations can safeguard against economic and security risks, enhancing overall resilience,” said CISA National Risk Management Center Assistant Director and ICT SCRM Task Force Co-Chair Mona Harrington.

Key components:  

  • Provides a range of potential use cases that purchasers may have for HBOMs, based on the nature of the risk the purchaser seeks to evaluate.
  • Sets forth a format that can be used to ensure consistency across HBOMs and to increase the ease with which HBOMs can be produced and used.
  • Provides a taxonomy of component/input attributes that, depending on the use for which the purchaser intends to use an HBOM

“This methodology gives organizations a useful tool to evaluate supply chain risks with a consistent and predictable structure for a variety of use cases” said John Miller, Senior Vice President of Policy and General Counsel at Information Technology Industry Council (ITI) and ICT SCRM Task Force Co-Chair.

Stephen Gates, Principal Security SME, Horizon3.ai had this to say:

   Like the SBOM initiative mentioned in the May 2021 Executive Order on Improving the Nation’s Cybersecurity, the HBOM initiative makes a great deal of sense. Knowing what hardware and software components are inside of a product should help improve security in the supply chains we all rely upon. However, another movement that seems to be gaining steam is in the area of continuous security assessments for those who supply software, hardware, parts, and components that upstream entities rely upon – especially in terms of critical infrastructure.

   “For example, software and/or hardware manufacturers who are part of a supply chain and sell components to upstream entities will soon be asked to provide proof of continuous security assessments used as an indicator of just how secure their operations really are. Meaning, if you want to sell hardware and/or software to upstream buyers, you will soon be asked to prove your levels of security, and the only way to economically do that is to perform continuous security self-assessments.

   “The yearly checkbox penetration test so many have grown accustom too won’t cut the mustard any longer. They are only a snapshot in time, they often don’t tell the whole story, and they are cost prohibitive. Organizations who supply components upstream must find affordable ways of continuously assessing themselves and providing assessment reports to their buyers. Buyers must ensure they can mitigate any risk that could be transferred to them, hence the reason for wanting proof of supplier security levels.

   “The best way to continuously assess the security of a suppliers’ operations is to employ autonomous penetration testing technologies that can continuously assess and report on the security of the suppliers’ operations at any given moment in time. This will likely become the norm and not the acceptation moving forward.”

Like the SBOM this is a good move by the CISA. Because everything that we can all do to identify threats, be they hardware or software, is worth it to reduce an organization’s attack surface. This is one initiative that I can get behind.

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