Salesforce Apparently Cut “Hundreds” Of Employees On Monday

Posted in Commentary with tags on November 9, 2022 by itnerd

Even before the news that Meta has slashed thousands of jobs hit the wires, news filtered out on Tuesday that customer relationship management software provider Salesforce has cut jobs on Monday. CNBC has the details:

Salesforce on Tuesday confirmed that it cut some employees this week after the enterprise software maker saw demand lighten in some countries and industries.

Protocol reported earlier on the cuts, saying they could affect up to 2,500 employees. One person familiar with the matter said Salesforce let go of fewer than 1,000 people Monday. At the end of January it employed 73,541 people. In August Salesforce said in a filing that headcount rose 36% in the past year “to meet the higher demand for services from our customers.”

“Our sales performance process drives accountability. Unfortunately, that can lead to some leaving the business, and we support them through their transition,” a Salesforce spokesperson told CNBC in a statement.

With a looming recession, I’m expecting to be writing a lot of stories like this. And the thing is that I work with a number of people that are employed by Salesforce. I’ll be pinging them to make sure that they still have jobs because things are getting brutal out there.

1 Comment »

Is Elon Musk Selling Tesla Stock To Keep The Lights On At Twitter?

Posted in Commentary with tags , on November 9, 2022 by itnerd

A reader pointed me towards a series of Tweets last night that make it look like that Elon Musk is selling a significant amount of Tesla stock all of a sudden:

Four billion dollars isn’t a small amount. Thus I have to assume that it’s one of two reasons that’s driving this stock purchase:

Perhaps it’s both at the same time. The fact is that we don’t know and can only speculate as a result. And chances are, Musk isn’t going to say. But I can say that selling this much Tesla stock is going to cause Tesla’s stock price to drop. In fact, it is down 3% as I type this which was early this morning while it was still dark. That will anger Tesla stock owners if it stays there or goes lower when the markets open. So he may end up having a new problem to deal with on top of Twitter. Which will make Wednesday a difficult day for Elon.

3 Comments »

Meta To Axe 11,000 Employees

Posted in Commentary with tags on November 9, 2022 by itnerd

We were waiting for the axe to fall on Meta employees after rumours of thousands of job cuts surfaced. And now the axe has fallen:

Meta will lay off more than 11,000 employees, CEO Mark Zuckerberg told workers in a message on Wednesday. 

The layoffs will reduce the company’s workforce by about 13%, according to Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. 

“I want to take accountability for these decisions and for how we got here,” Zuckerberg told employees. “I know this is tough for everyone, and I’m especially sorry to those impacted.” 

Zuckerberg said the development follows his decision to “significantly increase our investments” at the start of the pandemic. He told employees he made that decision based on the belief that e-commerce would continue to grow and provide a strong source of revenue post-pandemic — a prediction that turned out to be wrong, he said.

This is still a developing story so I will be interested to see where these cuts hit. For example, will this affect his Metaverse project? Or is that a sacred elephant that won’t be touched? Knowing details like that will give insight into where Meta is as a company, and what is important to them.

Stay tuned for more details as the come.

1 Comment »

Someone Has Created A List Of Verified Twitter Users Who Are Now On Mastodon…. Cue The Temper Tantrum By Elon Musk

Posted in Commentary with tags on November 9, 2022 by itnerd

I’ve been on Mastodon for a couple of days now (my handle by the way is @The_IT_Nerd@noc.social). And while I figure out how this decentralized social media network works, I trip over some interesting pieces of information. Take this list for example that is created by Dr. Jorge Caballero (previously @DataDrivenMD on Twitter. It’s a list of verified people who have moved to Mastodon. And this list gets updated daily. Scrolling through the list I see many names that I recognize. Notable journalists, organizations like Human Rights Watch, and actors like Kathy Griffen among others.

The existence of this list should make Elon Musk either sweat bullets or lose his mind in a Tweet storm. It might be too much to ask that it also makes him reconsider what he’s doing to Twitter and then take action to make a better place before its too late. But I am likely expecting too much.

1 Comment »

Soccer Commentator Voice Available On Waze

Posted in Commentary with tags on November 8, 2022 by itnerd

Soccer (or football) is a global sensation and the most widely viewed sport in the world. For the first time, Waze is giving drivers a way to represent their favourite team and country. 

Available now, drivers using Waze can activate a soccer experience in the app:

* Soccer-inspired voice navigation available in English, French, Spanish and Portuguese

* Your car icon on the Waze map can be changed to the Automoball, a car outfitted for the ultimate soccer fans

* Drivers can set a Mood representing their favourite country 

Samples of the on-road commentary experience include: 

ENGLISH:

Take the first exit! Then it’s onward to glory!

Hazard reported ahead. Getting through that defence could prove tricky.

FRENCH:

Nous sommes tous prêts à vous supporter. Ramenez-nous le trophée à la maison !

Bravooooo, vous l’avez fait : Vous avez ramené le trophée à la maison ! On se retrouve demain pour la parade en bus ?

Quel match ! Quel parcours sans faute ! Quel pied ! Merci de nous avoir suivi !

Danger signalé devant. On la joue simple.

SPANISH:

El árbitro está a punto de dar el pitazo inicial. Sabemos que este equipo tiende a arrancar a gran velocidad, pero no sabemos cuál será la estrategia de hoy… 

Todo listo. El jugador sale a la cancha con actitud ganadora.

El jugador ha llegado a su destino. Ha sido un partido extraordinario con lo mejor del fútbol. 

Accidente reportado más adelante. El jugador pisa la pelota y avanza con calma.

PORTUGUESE:

Pegue a primeira saída

Eita! Acidente reportado à frente.

Vai começar! O melhor do mundo não esquece o cinto.

Receeeba esse destino, véi! Chegou! Graças ao Waze

To activate the soccer experience, tap “My Waze” and “Drive with a commentator.” Users in Brazil can select “Drive with Luva de Pedreiro” and hear navigation directions from the fan-favourite influencer in that country. 

A blog post with details can be found here:

https://blog.google/waze/goal-take-your-next-drive-with-a-soccer-commentator/

Leave a comment »

Guest Post: US military veterans lost over $560 million to scams in the last 5 years

Posted in Commentary with tags on November 8, 2022 by itnerd

Military veterans and their families have special government resources available to them. Unfortunately, scammers perceive these benefits as easy prey.

According to the data presented by the Atlas VPN team, US army veterans lost $563 million to scams in the last 5 years. In total, military retirees reported 556,807 cases of fraud.

Miscellaneous investment scams have cost veterans $105.5 million since 2018. Former military members reported a total of 4,206 instances of scammers offering fake investments.

Business impostors stole $71.2 million from veterans in the last 5 years. Military retirees reported 49,617 cases of scammers impersonating businesses. Fake prizes, sweepstakes, and lotteries resulted in $62.1 million in losses to veterans. FTC received 11,635 reports of such scams taking place.

Government impostors scammed $60.9 million out of veterans in the last 5 years. These types of scams were the most popular among fraudsters, as FTC received 55,449 reports of fraud.

Romance scams have cost $53.5 million to veterans since 2018. Military retirees reported 3,766 instances of such fraud. Furthermore, tech support scams cost veterans $41.7 million. In total, the FTC received 15,726 reports about romance scams.

To read the full article, head over to:

https://atlasvpn.com/blog/us-military-veterans-lost-over-560-million-to-scams-in-the-last-5-years

Leave a comment »

Cradlepoint Announces Availability Of 5G-Optimized SD-WAN That Is Network Slicing-Ready

Posted in Commentary with tags on November 8, 2022 by itnerd

Cradlepoint today announced the availability of the first 5G-optimized SD-WAN solution, designed to close the gap between enterprises and network operators to make network slicing a reality. The solution is part of NetCloud Exchange (NCX), an extension of Cradlepoint’s NetCloud solution that integrates security, SD-WAN, and Zero Trust into a single Wireless WAN architecture.  

5G is quickly emerging as essential WAN infrastructure, enabling agile connectivity for vehicles, IoT devices, remote workers, and more. One of the most anticipated 5G features across enterprises is network slicing, offering organizations distinctive levels of end-to-end performance across cellular networks. With mass 5G deployments on the horizon, SD-WAN plays a critical part in the successful rollout and adoption of 5G Standalone networks with network slicing, the availability of which will accelerate through 2023. 

Cradlepoint’s NetCloud Exchange allows organizations to create multiple modem WAN interfaces aligned to slice instances defined by 5G SA networks. Organizations can then apply application-based policies to steer traffic to unique network slices, whether it is a type of ultra-reliable low latency slice, an enhanced mobile broadband slice, a machine-to-machine slice, or a custom slice defined by the operator. 

Cradlepoint has also made some critical adaptations to traditional SD-WAN technology so that it performs effectively across 5G WANs. Key enhancements include:

  • Consideration of cellular-specific attributes when steering traffic: NCX’s SD-WAN solution considers cellular-centric attributes such as available bandwidth and data usage when steering traffic, enabling more cost-effective and reliable 5G networking. 
  • Preservation of bandwidth across metered links: The solution uses in-line traffic to calculate WAN performance metrics, preventing impacts on data plans and eliminating the administrative burden of manually scheduling measurements.
  • Integration of Cradlepoint Cellular Intelligence to provide better insights and visibility of 5G networks: Incorporates comprehensive cellular insights that include cellular service provider visibility, the ability to view cellular signal strength and the ability to plot the location of both SD-WAN routers and the serving cell towers on a map for optimal placement of devices. 

NetCloud Exchange’s SD-WAN solution leverages the NetCloud Exchange Service Gateway, the Secure Connect solution, and select Cradlepoint routers for deployment. It is fully managed through NetCloud Manager, Cradlepoint’s comprehensive cloud management and orchestration platform, and is generally available this month.  

For more information on Cradlepoint’s NetCloud Exchange SD-WAN solution, including details on availability, please visit the following: https://cradlepoint.com/products/sd-wan/. 

Leave a comment »

Sobeys Appears To Have Been Pwned In A Cyberattack

Posted in Commentary with tags on November 8, 2022 by itnerd

Yesterday I spoke of Canadian packaged meat producer Maple Leaf Foods getting pwned in a cyberattack. They didn’t have a lot of details, but it was clearly bad enough that they had to admit that it happened. Now BlogTO is reporting that Canadian grocery store chain Sobeys appears to have also been pwned as well:

A Sobeys employee who wishes to remain anonymous tells blogTO that the company was indeed “hit with a ransomware attack,” adding that “all our computers were down with a message on screen demanding payment or else files were going to be uploaded online.”

“Along with our computers being down, our smart carts and self-checkouts were also down. Today, November 5, when I came into work, I found out that all Sobeys stores, including other stores under the Sobeys umbrella, are affected by this attack.”

BlogTO isn’t the only ones reporting on this. A YouTuber named “Pupsker” is reporting the same thing:

Assuming that this is accurate, and I have no reason to believe that this isn’t accurate, 1500 stores were affected. Making this a non-trivial event. Given how big this potentially is, Sobeys will have to comment at some point. And it will be interesting to see what they say.

2 Comments »

Meta Plans To Do Large Scale Layoffs This Week

Posted in Commentary with tags on November 7, 2022 by itnerd

The word on the street is that Meta who owns Facebook is planning to lay off thousands this week. This story has the details as we know them:

Meta is thought to be considering making thousands of employees redundant with an announcement planned as soon as Wednesday, the Journal reports.

Sources told the outlet that employees had been instructed to cancel all nonessential travel beginning this week.

At the end of September, Meta reported that it had a total of 87,000 employees.

Meta declined The Independent’s request for comment.

The company’s shares fell off a cliff as they had a weak quarter. Thus this isn’t all that surprising. It will be interesting to see what parts of Meta get affected as that will give a lot of insight into what Mark Zuckerberg thinks is important, and what he thinks he can dispose of.

I’ll be watching closely.

2 Comments »

Maple Leaf Foods Pwned In Cyberattack

Posted in Commentary with tags on November 7, 2022 by itnerd

For those of you outside of Canada, Maple Leaf Foods is the biggest packaged meat producer in the company. If you go into any supermarket in the country, you will see their products. And over the weekend, they apparently got pwned in a cyberattack. Here’s their statement:

Upon learning of the incident, Maple Leaf Foods took immediate action and engaged cybersecurity and recovery experts.  Its team of information systems professionals and third-party experts are working diligently with all available resources to investigate the outage and resolve the situation.   The Company is executing its business continuity plans as it works to restore the impacted systems; however, it expects that full resolution of the outage will take time and result in some operational and service disruptions.  The Company will continue to work with all its customers and suppliers to minimize these disruptions in order to continue delivering the nutritious food people need.  

That’s literally all their statement said. I’ve been poking around the places that I usually look for this sort of thing and I don’t see any mention about Maple Leaf Foods being pwned. But it will be interesting to see whom claims responsibility for this, and if this affects the food supply in Canada.

Watch this space.

1 Comment »

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »