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This week, authorities from the U.K., E.U., U.S., and seven other nations gathered in San Francisco to launch the “International Network of AI Safety Institutes.” The meeting, which took place at the Presidio Golden Gate Club, addressed managing the risks of AI-generated content, testing foundation models, and conducting risk assessments for advanced AI systems. AI safety institutes from Australia, Canada, France, Japan, Kenya, the Republic of Korea, and Singapore also officially joined the Network. In addition to signing a mission statement, more than $11 million in funding was allocated to research into AI-generated content, and the results of the Network’s first joint safety testing exercise were reviewed. Attendees included regulatory officials, AI developers, academics, and civil society leaders to aid the discussion on emerging AI challenges and potential safeguards. The convening built on the progress made at the previous AI Safety Summit in May, which took place in Seoul. The 10 nations agreed to foster “international cooperation and dialogue on artificial intelligence in the face of its unprecedented advancements and the impact on our economies and societies.” “The International Network of AI Safety Institutes will serve as a forum for collaboration, bringing together technical expertise to address AI safety risks and best practices,” according to the European Commission. “Recognising the importance of cultural and linguistic diversity, the Network will work towards a unified understanding of AI safety risks and mitigation strategies.” Member AI Safety Institutes will have to demonstrate their progress in AI safety testing and evaluation by the Paris AI Impact Summit in February 2025 so they can move forward with discussions around regulation. Key outcomes of the conference Mission statement signed The mission statement commits the Network members to collaborate in four areas: Research: Collaborating with the AI safety research community and sharing findings. Testing: Developing and sharing best practices for testing advanced AI systems. Guidance: Facilitating shared approaches to interpreting AI safety test results. Inclusion: Sharing information and technical tools to broaden participation in AI safety science. Over $11 million allocated to AI safety research In total, Network members and several nonprofits announced over $11 million of funding for research into mitigating the risk of AI-generated content. Child sexual abuse material, non-consensual sexual imagery, and the use of AI for fraud and impersonation were highlighted as key areas of concern. Funding will be allocated as a priority to researchers investigating digital content transparency techniques and model safeguards to prevent the generation and distribution of harmful content. Grants will be considered for scientists developing technical mitigations and social scientific and humanistic assessments. The U.S. institute also released a series of voluntary approaches to address the risks of AI-generated content. The results of a joint testing exercise discussed The network has completed its first-ever joint testing exercise on Meta’s Llama 3.1 405B, looking into its general knowledge, multi-lingual capabilities, and closed-domain hallucinations, where a model provides information from outside the realm of what it was instructed to refer to. The exercise raised several considerations for how AI safety testing across languages, cultures, and contexts could be improved. For example, the impact minor methodological differences and model optimisation techniques can have on evaluation results. Broader joint testing exercises will take place before the Paris AI Action Summit. Shared basis for risk assessments agreed The network has agreed upon a shared scientific basis for AI risk assessments, including that they must be actionable, transparent, comprehensive, multistakeholder, iterative, and reproducible. Members discussed how it could be operationalised. U.S.’s ‘Testing Risks of AI for National Security’ task force established Finally, the new TRAINS task force was established, led by the U.S. AI Safety Institute, and included experts from other U.S. agencies, including Commerce, Defense, Energy, and Homeland Security. All members will test AI models to manage national security risks in domains such as radiological and nuclear security, chemical and biological security, cybersecurity, critical infrastructure, and military capabilities. SEE: Apple Joins Voluntary U.S. Government Commitment to AI Safety This reinforces how top-of-mind the intersection of AI and the military is in the U.S. Last month, the White House published the first-ever National Security Memorandum on Artificial Intelligence, which ordered the Department of Defense and U.S. intelligence agencies to accelerate their adoption of AI in national security missions. More must-read AI coverage Speakers addressed balancing AI innovation with safety U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo delivered the keynote speech on Wednesday. She told attendees that “advancing AI is the right thing to do, but advancing as quickly as possible, just because we can, without thinking of the consequences, isn’t the smart thing to do,” according to TIME. The battle between progress and safety in AI has been a point of contention between governments and tech companies in recent months. While the intention is to keep consumers safe, regulators risk limiting their access to the latest technologies, which could bring tangible benefits. Google and Meta have both openly criticised European AI regulation, referring to the region’s AI Act, suggesting it will quash its innovation potential. Raimondo said that the U.S. AI Safety Institute is “not in the business of stifling innovation,” according to AP. “But here’s the thing. Safety is good for innovation. Safety breeds trust. Trust speeds adoption. Adoption leads to more innovation.” She also stressed that nations have an “obligation” to manage risks that could negatively impact society, such as through causing unemployment and security breaches. “Let’s not let our ambition blind us and allow us to sleepwalk into our own undoing,” she said via AP. Dario Amodei, the CEO of Anthropic, also delivered a talk stressing the need for safety testing. He said that while “people laugh today when chatbots say something a little unpredictable,” it indicates how essential it is to get control of AI before it gains more nefarious capabilities, according to Fortune. Global AI safety institutes have been popping up through the last year The first meeting of AI authorities took place in Bletchley Park in Buckinghamshire, U.K. about a year ago. It saw the launch of the U.K.’s AI

Best for built-in risk management: HubSpot Best for managing secure pipelines: monday CRM Best for internal and external communication: Zoho CRM Best for building secure patient intake forms: ClickUp Best for physical and technical safeguards: Insightly HIPAA-compliant CRM software is any generalized or market-focused CRM solution that meets the necessary specifications of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996. HIPAA compliance means the CRM can store patient and client data in a central location that meets the set regulations for data security. This compliance is often a requirement for organizations in the healthcare industry that deal with sensitive information around patients and their healthcare. 1 Pipedrive CRM Employees per Company Size Micro (0-49), Small (50-249), Medium (250-999), Large (1,000-4,999), Enterprise (5,000+) Any Company Size Any Company Size Features Calendar, Collaboration Tools, Contact Management, and more 2 Zoho CRM Employees per Company Size Micro (0-49), Small (50-249), Medium (250-999), Large (1,000-4,999), Enterprise (5,000+) Any Company Size Any Company Size Features Calendar, Collaboration Tools, Contact Management, and more 3 HubSpot CRM Employees per Company Size Micro (0-49), Small (50-249), Medium (250-999), Large (1,000-4,999), Enterprise (5,000+) Micro (0-49 Employees), Small (50-249 Employees), Medium (250-999 Employees), Large (1,000-4,999 Employees) Micro, Small, Medium, Large Top HIPAA-compliant CRM software comparison CRM software that is HIPAA-compliant is crucial for businesses that operate in or around healthcare. Some other features that would help an organization in that industry manage patient information are document management, inter-departmental collaboration tools, and activity tracking. Here’s a quick snapshot of how my top 5 HIPAA-compliant CRM recommendations compare. Next, I’ll dive deeper into each and their ideal use case. Starting price for HIPAA compliance* Plan tier with HIPAA compliance Document management Collaboration tools Activity tracking HubSpot $150 per user per month Sales Hub Enterprise Yes Yes Yes monday CRM Contact for quote Enterprise Yes Yes Yes Zoho CRM $14 per user per month Standard Yes Yes Yes ClickUp Contact for quote Enterprise Yes Yes Yes Insightly $29 per user per month Plus Yes Yes Limited *Price when billed annually. Image: HubSpot HubSpot: Best for built-in risk management HubSpot makes it easy for your business to safely store personal and protected customer or patient information. HubSpot users can provide regulatory support with built-in security features like comprehensive audit logging, a dedicated security center, custom CRM cards, and a business associate agreement (BAA). The software’s sensitive data capabilities protect confidential customer data with and act as an extra layer of platform encryption. Why I chose HubSpot HubSpot is a leading CRM solution that can give users control of end-to-end sales workflows from streamlining marketing campaigns to ongoing customer engagement. HubSpot also has a popular free CRM option that includes access to AI-powered tools like email generators, live chat support, and company insights. HubSpot’s data protection is vast, but the HIPAA compliance is only available if you purchase and subscribe to the Sales Hub Enterprise plan, which can be pretty costly for small and mid-sized businesses. I recommend checking out Zoho CRM and Insightly, since their HIPAA compliance is available in more affordable plans. Head over the full HubSpot review for more information. HubSpot pricing Free CRM: Free for up to 5 users with contact management, quotes, live chat, and more. Sales Hub Starter: $15 per seat per month, billed annually, or $20 when billed monthly. Sales Hub Professional: $90 per seat per month, billed annually, or $100 when billed monthly and one-time $1,500 onboarding fee. Sales Hub Enterprise: $150 per seat per month, with an annual commitment and one-time $3,500 onboarding fee. This is the only HIPAA-compliant CRM tier offered by HubSpot. HubSpot features Meeting scheduler: Prepare for meetings, follow up, and schedule new meetings Call tracking: Receive prioritized call lists plus dial and record all calls directly from HubSpot. Security center: Run data health scans that check up on your CRM’s security health with logins, inactivity, and more. Image: HubSpot HubSpot pros and cons Pros Cons 1,500+ integrations. Users praise intuitive interfaces. Offers a suite of HubSpot branded tools for marketing or support. Doesn’t offer a free trial. Enterprise level plans can be costly. Doesn’t offer live customer support in the free trial. Image: monday CRM monday CRM: Best for managing secure pipelines monday CRM has unlimited boards and customizable pipelines that can be built to organize data for projects, clients, internal processes, and so much more. To ensure these pipelines and boards are accurate, secure, and functional, monday CRM merges duplicate data to eliminate overlap. Boards and all their associated documents can be set to private and can only be viewed or edited by users with approved access. Additionally, there are controlled permissions around specific integrations, for added security. Why I chose monday CRM monday CRM is a collaborative and operational type of CRM. This means it offers a host of features that help with communication between departments, plus administration and sales operations. monday CRM is a customizable CRM solution that allows users to access secure records, automate personalized messaging, and collaborate with a team in real time. monday CRM is only HIPAA-compliant if you purchase the highest-tier paid plan. If you want to be compliant without committing to such an advanced subscription, look into Zoho CRM or Insightly. Read our detailed review of monday CRM for more insights. monday CRM pricing Free version: Basic CRM offerings only available for students and nonprofit organizations after submitting an application. Basic CRM: $12 per user, per month when billed annually, or $15 when billed monthly. Standard CRM: $17 per user, per month when billed annually, or $20 when billed monthly. Pro CRM: $28 per user, per month when billed annually, or $33 when billed monthly. Enterprise CRM: Contact monday.com for a quote. This level of support offers lead scoring, team goals, and advanced analytics. This is the only HIPAA-compliant CRM tier offered by monday CRM. monday CRM features Mandatory fields: Set required fields on item cards that must be completed before changing status, to maintain consistent and accurate information. Forecasting: View and

In 2005, the National Retail Federation debuted Cyber Monday as the digital equivalent of Black Friday’s shopping sprees. Today, Black Friday and Cyber Monday can sometimes blend into a week of discounts. However, these products aren’t necessarily only for sale on Cyber Monday. We aim to highlight deals with significant discounts, not just those marked a few percentage points lower than the usual price. The pricing and product availability information was accurate at the time of publication. SEE: Beware of scams during the holiday shopping season, especially around high-end tech. Acer Aspire 3 laptop The Acer Aspire 3 laptop has a 15.6” screen. Image: Best Buy This reliable laptop brand produces various Windows machines that are appropriate for work. The 15.6” Aspire 3 has 8 GB of RAM, 512 GB of memory, a Full HD touch display, and runs on a speedy AMD Ryzen 5 7520U processor. Don’t expect to boot up high-end games on this machine, but it’s ideal for photo and video editing or as an everyday Windows 365 hub and shouldn’t leave you worrying about applications slowing down. The Cyber Monday deal price for the Acer Aspire 3 laptop is $349.99, which is $250 — or about 41% — off the list price. Canon PIXMA G620 printer The “MegaTank” designation for this printer refers to the ink capacity. Image: Amazon The Canon PIXMA G620 has a hefty supply of ink, both Wi-Fi and USB connections, and is compatible with CHROMALIFE 100.3 paper for printing long-lasting photos. It takes up 17.6 x 19.1 x 10.1 inches on a desk, and the largest size paper it can print on is 8.5 x 14. This printer can connect to Alexa to enable voice commands. The Cyber Monday deal price for the Canon PIXMA G620 printer is $249, which is $80.99 (25%) off the list price. Apple Watch Series 10 The Apple Watch Series 10 is on sale at Walmart and comes in three color options. Image: Walmart The Apple Watch Series 10 is the current generation of Cupertino’s smart accessory. It connects to the other devices in your Apple ecosystem and offers health features like heart rate monitoring, respiratory rate monitoring, and sleep patterns. For business, it keeps the notifications you need on your wrist. The Cyber Monday deal price for the Apple Watch Series 10 is $329, which is $70 — or about 17% — off the list price. Jabra Elite 5 earbuds The Jabra earbuds connect wirelessly through Bluetooth. Image: Amazon A rare 50% off discount appears! The Elite 5 earbuds from Jabra come with a charging case, three sizes of EarGels, and a USB-C cable. Hybrid active noise cancellation means the earbuds react automatically to the audio landscape. They enable the earbuds to block out unwanted background noise while letting in the music and important sounds. The Cyber Monday deal price for the Jabra Elite 5 Earbuds is $69.29, which is $80.70 — or 54% — off the list price. Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3 laptop The Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3 is 15.6” across. Image: Walmart We chose this laptop from a few Cyber Monday options because of the relatively high discount percentage and because it has a good reputation as a beginner laptop. We can also see this as a useful second machine for personal or freelance use. Inside, you’ll find 16GB of memory, the AMD Ryzen 7 7730U processor, and a 512GB solid-state drive. The Cyber Monday deal price for the Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3 Laptop is $429, which is $370.99 — about 46% — off the list price. source

Making VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) calls is easy, convenient, flexible, and affordable. VoIP troubleshooting, on the other hand, can be frustrating and time consuming if you don’t know where to look. Some of the most common issues include dropped calls, mic echo, delay, no audio, or one-way audio. Fortunately, fixing most of these problems is relatively simple with one of the following: Move closer to the router. Close other applications. Use a different Wi-Fi band. Update router firmware. Disable SIP ALG. Check firewall settings. Change VoIP codecs. Prioritize VoIP traffic with QoS. Use a Wi-Fi booster. Bonus tip: If your router is more than a few years old, you might want to replace it with one of the best VoIP routers. I recommend give these other fixes a try first — VoIP is old technology that certainly doesn’t need the latest and greatest hardware to work well. 1. Move closer to the router (or restart it) Because of how routers work, this tip is really effective. If it’s easy for you to move with your device, try this first. When to use it? You’ll find this tip helpful if you’re taking calls from your laptop or cell phone, and you hear glitchy voices. Poor network connection can result in poor VoIP call quality and cause some delay or packet loss. Signal strength could be the culprit. Remember that a network’s signal strength, measured in dBm, is not the same as speed. Anything between -50 dBm and -70 dBm is considered excellent to good signal strength. The closer you are to the router, the stronger the Wi-Fi signal will be, and the less jitter you’ll have to deal with. Why does it work? Wi-Fi signals are radio waves, and like all radio waves, they can be weakened by distance and obstacles. The weaker the Wi-Fi signal, the more likely it is that packets will be lost or altered. This can lead to poor call quality and choppy audio. If you try downloading a file with a poor Wi-Fi signal, you’ll notice how it’s considerably more difficult than when close to the router, even if you’re paying for an excellent download speed. Calls work the same way. How to do it? It’s not just about getting closer. If possible, try to position your device within the line of sight of the router. The key is avoiding placing it behind obstacles, such as walls and furniture. What if calls are dropping altogether? Will this work then? Moving closer to the router may help in some cases, but it is not a catch-all solution. An unstable internet connection, network congestion, a poor VoIP service provider, or a VoIP device that’s incompatible with the internet connection might be the cause of the inconvenience. So, before losing your temper, do this: Check if your internet connection is stable enough. If your network is congested, dial up your ISP’s support number and let them know. (You may want to use a landline or non-VoIP service to do this.) Make sure that your VoIP service provider is reliable and has a good reputation. Finally, you can always restart your router or VoIP device to see if that works. 2. Close unused applications If you’re using a softphone to make VoIP calls, you might have several other apps running simultaneously, like Instagram, Google Maps, or a weather app. Close them! They could be the reason your calls drop. When to use it? Try this fix when you are experiencing poor VoIP call quality on a Wi-Fi network, and you have also noticed that some other apps are running slowly. Why does it work? When you have too many apps open at once, they start contending for bandwidth or RAM, which VoIP calls require. Note that VoIP doesn’t require a lot of bandwidth, but the connection has to be stable. Other open apps may interfere with that connection, resulting in problems with your VoIP call. How to do it? This depends on your operating system. Here are some tips for closing unused apps on computers: On Windows, you can close unused applications by pressing Ctrl + Shift + Esc to open the Task Manager. Then, select the application you want to close and click End task. On macOS, you can do it by pressing Command + Q or by clicking the red button in the top-left corner of the application window. 3. Use a different Wi-Fi band When to use it? This fix is helpful when you’re on a device such as your laptop, but you’re still fairly stationary. The two most common Wi-Fi bands are 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz. You can opt for the 5 GHz band if you notice a poor connection on the other one. Why does it work? The 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi band is usually more congested and has a longer range. The 5 GHz band has better speed. Despite it being able to provide a better performance because it is typically less clogged up, the 5 GHz band has a shorter range than the 2.4 GHz band. This means that you may need to be closer to the router to get a good signal on the 5 GHz band. How to do it? You will just need to change the Wi-Fi band settings on your VoIP device. The specific steps to take will vary depending on the device you are using. 4. Update router firmware When to use it? If you’ve already tried simple Wi-Fi solutions and your VoIP call is still experiencing packet loss and delay, the problem may have to do with your router’s outdated software. Why does it work? Firmware is software specifically designed for hardware, like routers, TV remotes, or handheld video game consoles. Just like your computer or smartphone needs updates to fix bugs and improve performance, routers also receive firmware updates to tweak up their functionality. When it comes to VoIP calls on a Wi-Fi network, updating the router’s firmware could help make sure the calls

Success on social media starts with a solid plan. Rather than posting when inspiration strikes, it’s important to zoom out to align content with your specific campaigns and overall social media strategy. Good social media planners can help you build brand awareness, drive engagement, and maintain a consistent posting schedule. monday.com: A visual social media planner for content teams monday.com is a standout choice for small, medium, or large content teams that rely on visual cues and color coding to get work done. The software expertly combines project management principles with social media marketing in an intuitive and user-friendly way. Plus, it’s free for up to two users so you can try it out for a while with a small group before deciding if it’s right for you. It has everything you need to plan new content, stay organized, and track the status of your upcoming posts. More on monday.com: monday.com Review | monday.com vs Wrike | monday.com vs Airtable. Manage every aspect of social media from a single source of truth with monday.com. Image: monday.com monday.com is particularly useful for centralizing social content. You can upload all of your digital assets, plan your content calendar, and assign work to the appropriate team members in one place. When files get too large to upload directly, you can easily link them with Google Drive, Box, or Dropbox integrations instead. The template also connects with Facebook Ads, letting you track performance and tie it back to your assignments, high-level goals, and projects without leaving the platform. For teams that need flexibility, monday.com offers everything you need, from calendar views and timelines to team workload, Kanban boards, forms, and more. ClickUp: Versatile social media management for teams of all sizes ClickUp offers comprehensive project management and team collaboration features, starting with one of the best free plans I’ve seen on the market. There are over 1,000+ templates in the ClickUp library, but the two below stand out for social media planning. One is straightforward, the other is for more strategic planning and advanced scheduling. More on ClickUp: ClickUp Review | ClickUp vs Asana | ClickUp vs Notion. Template 1: Simple cross-channel social media planning Managing content across multiple platforms can be tricky. This templates you tackle common questions, like timing your posts and adapting content for different channels. Its color-coded calendar displays key information at a glance, including publish dates, channels, content types, and themes. This beginner-friendly social planner can help you plan ideas and schedule upcoming posts. Image: Clickup.com A notable advantage to using this template is built in data tacking. Instead of jumping between platforms to check analytics, you can analyze post performance right within the platform. This makes it easy to identify successful content, types, and themes so you can double down on what’s working. The template also includes space to plan hashtags, organize content ideas, and set up an approval workflow to control quality before posts go live. Template 2: An advanced alternative for planning, strategizing, and scheduling The previous template was on the simpler side. This one takes things a bit further. On top of basic planning and scheduling, you also get 19 custom status options for detailed workflow management. Overall, it’s ideal for teams that handle a lot of volume and need to maintain strategic overview while adhering to formal processes and quality checks. Plan every aspect of your social media posts with this customizable template from ClickUp. Image: Clickup.com Aside from statuses, it offers five customizable views plus unique features, like embedded X feeds and built-in SOP documentation you can adjust for each channel. As your campaigns and strategies change, it’s also easy to adjust plans on the fly, change up your schedule, add new tasks, delete tasks, tag relevant team members, and have conversations about these updates without leaving ClickUp. Your entire team can stay looped in with custom alerts for task assignments and real-time notifications as content moves through your workflow. Wrike: A social media planner for large teams Wrike shines as a more robust, rigid, and comprehensive solution for large teams. While its free tier has fewer features than its competitors, premium plans offer enterprise-grade capabilities while maintaining ease of use for a wide variety of users. If you’re publishing hundreds of posts every month across different channels, Wrike can help bring order and precision to the complexity. More on Wrike: Wrike Review | Wrike vs Smartsheet | Wrike vs. Asana. Manage and prioritize high volume social media schedules with Wrike. Image: Wrike.com Wrike’s social media planner provides clear deadline tracking and planning features, but its real strength lies in streamlining the content pipeline from concept to publication. You can easily set up dynamic request forms that allow non-marketing employees to submit content ideas or content requests, including all of the essential details. Form submissions can include everything from target audience, post type, required assets, lead goals, ROI projects, deadlines, and more. These submissions automatically populate your backlog for scheduling, prioritizing, and assigning to the right ream. On top of that, Wrike lets you consolidate and organize the most important social media metrics in one place, letting you monitor performance at scale without disrupting established workflows. Teamwork: Streamlined social media planner for agencies Teamwork is an all-around solid project management tool, but it’s best for agencies or freelancers who regularly work with clients. It’s free for up to five users but its paid plans are packed full of specialized features for client collaboration and managing dozens of projects at the same time. Plus, every plan includes unlimited client users so you never have to pay for landing more deals. More on Teamwork: Teamwork Review | Teamwork vs monday.com. Plan out collaborative social media schedules, assign your team, and track progress with Teamwork. Image: Teamwork.com This template and the platform itself excel at creating transparent workflows between you and your clients. Teams can be dedicated to client workspaces, clients can only see what you allow them to, there are management approval roles, and everyone

If you’ve ever asked a seasoned Linux user what desktop distribution is best for a new user, chances are pretty good you might be told Ubuntu. If you ask about server distributions, you might hear the same answer. You might also hear Debian added to the mix. Debian and Ubuntu are free and excellent Linux distros. There is no clear winner in a contest. However, I reckon Ubuntu is more accessible and user-friendly. Debian is famed for its security, a view I and the online community share. As one user on the Debian User Forums neatly puts it: “Need handholding? Go with Ubuntu. Want privacy? Use Debian.” Although these two open-source operating systems share many similarities, they also differ. In this article, I will examine both Linux distros and determine which is the best fit for your business needs. Image: Debian What is Debian? Debian is often referred to as the “Mother of all distributions.” Ubuntu is based on Debian, and hundreds — if not thousands — of distributions based on Ubuntu. The Debian Project, created by Ian Murdock, first released Debian on Aug. 16, 1993. The name Debian was inspired by the first name of his then-girlfriend Debra Lynn. Debian codenames are based on the names of characters from the Toy Story films, and the unstable trunk of the OS is named after Sid, the character in the films who destroyed his toys. The Debian operating system in action. Image: Debian Image: Ubuntu What is Ubuntu? Ubuntu is an open-source operating system based on Debian, which was developed by Canonical. Ubuntu’s initial release was version 4.10 (Warty Warthog) in October 2004. Ubuntu is released in three different versions: Desktop – a desktop version. Server – a server version. Core – an IoT-specific version. The latest version of Ubuntu. Image: Ubuntu SEE: Ubuntu Server: A Cheat Sheet (TechRepublic) Debian vs Ubuntu: Feature comparison Features Debian Ubuntu Package managers apt/dpkg apt/dpkg/snap Default desktop environments Vanilla GNOME Customized GNOME Desktop and server releases Yes Yes Security mechanisms Includes AppArmor, SELinux, and APT Package Manager Security Includes full disk encryption, AppArmor, firewall, and compiler security countermeasures Head-to-head comparison: Debian vs Ubuntu Package managers Both Debian and Ubuntu share the same base package management system, apt and dpkg. Apt (and apt-get) are used to install packages from remote repositories, whereas dpkg is used to install downloaded .deb files. The biggest difference between Debian and Ubuntu is that Ubuntu ships with the Snap universal package manager installed by default. Canonical developed snap but is not found on Debian, although it can be installed. That’s not a major inconvenience, but I see it as an example of how Ubuntu is friendlier to the user. SEE: Tools and Tips for Creating Data Backups on Linux Servers (TechRepublic Premium) Sudo Both distributions use the sudo security mechanism, but only Ubuntu adds the default user created upon installation to the sudo group by default. For Debian, you either have to manually add users to the sudo group with a command or run as the root user, such as usermod -aG sudo USER – where USER is the username to be added. For this reason, I find Ubuntu slightly more convenient than Debian, as with the package managers. For security reasons, it is highly recommended you add at least one regular user to the sudo group to avoid having to log in or switch to the root user. SEE: Windows, Linux, and Mac Commands Everyone Needs to Know (Free PDF) Release cycle Ubuntu comes in two different releases: LTS (Long Term Support) and regular releases. The LTS releases are made available every two years and receive five years of standard security maintenance for all packages in the “Main”  repository. Regular releases are made available every six months and only receive nine months of support. If users opt for Ubuntu Pro (formerly known as Ubuntu Advantage) subscription, they can access Expanded Security Maintenance, which covers security fixes for packages in both the “Main”  and “Universe” repositories for 10 years. Debian, on the other hand, has three different releases: Stable, Testing, and Unstable. Of the three, only the Stable release should be used for production purposes. However, the Testing release does include newer software, so if you want Debian with more recently released software, go with the Testing branch. The Testing version is used as the basis for the Stable branch. Only the Stable branch has a regular release cycle, which is every two years. SEE: How-to Guide for Linux Administrators (Free PDF) Application and software availability Neither Debian nor Ubuntu ship with bleeding-edge software, and I’d say there is no outright winner in this department. However, between the two, Ubuntu defaults to newer packages. It’s worth noting that Ubuntu performs all updates with the user logged in and only requires a reboot if the kernel is upgraded. Debian, on the other hand, values stability. Because of that, it does not aim to release the latest versions of most software. According to Debian, as of November 2024, “more than 63,879 packages, ranging from news servers and readers to sound support, FAX programs, database and spreadsheet programs, image processing programs, communications, net, and mail utilities, Web servers, and even ham-radio programs are included in the distribution.” In terms of Ubuntu, it provides applications for web browsing (Chrome, Firefox), messaging, gaming (Steam, Discord), content creation (OBS Studio), office productivity tools (LibreOffice), and development tools. These are accessible via the Ubuntu Software Center, which allows installing additional software from third-party repositories if needed. Ubuntu says users can also access thousands of applications through the Snap Store. SEE: 5 Tips for Managing Linux User Accounts (TechRepublic Premium) Supported platforms Ubuntu is officially compatible with five processor architectures — x86_64 (aka AMD64), ARM64 (aka AArch64), PowerPC64 (aka POWER), System z (aka S390X), and RISC-V. Previously supported architectures include x86, PowerPC, and SPARC64. Debian supports both 64 and 32-bit hardware, as well as 64-bit ARM, ARM EABI, ARMv7, little-endian MIPS, 64-bit-little-endian MIPS, 64-bit little-endian PowerPC, and IBM

Payroll software can dramatically simplify how you run your business. It streamlines processes, saves you valuable time, and ensures your employees get paid — but only as long as you choose the right payroll service for your organization’s unique needs. There are dozens if not hundreds of payroll software tools made for businesses like yours, so it makes sense if you’re not sure how to start narrowing down your options. Keep reading to learn more about what to look for in payroll software, which features to prioritize, and more. 1 Paycor Employees per Company Size Micro (0-49), Small (50-249), Medium (250-999), Large (1,000-4,999), Enterprise (5,000+) Micro (0-49 Employees), Small (50-249 Employees), Medium (250-999 Employees) Micro, Small, Medium Features API, Check Printing, Document Management / Sharing, and more 2 QuickBooks Employees per Company Size Micro (0-49), Small (50-249), Medium (250-999), Large (1,000-4,999), Enterprise (5,000+) Micro (0-49 Employees), Small (50-249 Employees), Medium (250-999 Employees), Large (1,000-4,999 Employees) Micro, Small, Medium, Large Features 24/7 Customer Support, API 3 Deel Employees per Company Size Micro (0-49), Small (50-249), Medium (250-999), Large (1,000-4,999), Enterprise (5,000+) Any Company Size Any Company Size Features 24/7 Customer Support, API, Document Management / Sharing, and more What to look for in a payroll software View our payroll software evaluation checklist for use in your payroll software evaluation process. Using this list, you can check off the features that are important for you, then be sure to ask for those features during demos with the company. You can also look for them when comparing providers and testing software using free trials. 1. Is it easy to use? When I evaluate a payroll software for its ease of use, my first step is to see if the software provider offers a free trial or a free account I can use to test the product myself. If I cannot test the product myself by signing up for an account on the provider’s website, I either reach out to the company to ask for a free trial, or I ask for a product demo. As I explore the product, I specifically pay attention to: How easy it is to set up the software and add employees. How easy it is to find features that I will most use. If there are strategically placed links or buttons that make it clear what my options are within each feature and next steps for completing common tasks. Once I click on a button to begin a process within the software, if the software guides me on how to complete or set up the process. If completing common tasks requires technical knowledge or if tasks can be completed by filling out simple forms. How easy it is to set up integrations with key software I plan to use in conjunction with the payroll software, such as my time-tracking or accounting software. If there are a lot of extra features I will never use that overwhelm me. For example, Patriot offers a guided and intuitive user experience. Buttons are strategically placed throughout the platform with action items relevant to the content on each page. For example, the platform’s payroll dashboard offers buttons such as “create invoice,” “add employee,” and “run payroll.” Patriot Payroll’s payroll dashboard. Image: Patriot Once you click on a button, each action item walks you through completing the process using simple forms to fill out. These steps are completed in brief forms. Once you’re done with a step, you can click “next” to move on to the next one. 2. What types of workers can you pay? While most payroll software allow users to pay employees, many also allow users to pay contractors. In addition, most allow you to pay U.S.-based employees, but a handful also allow you to pay foreign employees and contractors. As such, take an inventory of the types of workers you currently employ and your plans for working with other types of workers in the future. If you find that you want to work with foreign employees or contractors, in addition to ensuring you can pay both 1099 and W-2 employees, check to see if the software you choose offers employer of record (EOR) and contractor of record (COR) services that will allow you to hire and pay employees in foreign countries without having to set up business entities within the country. In addition, check to see what currencies you can use to pay employees and the countries it supports. If you plan to hire contractors, make sure safeguards are in place to ensure compliance with classification laws and protection against misclassification penalties; these types of safeguards can help you determine whether a worker can be classified as a contractor. Deel, for example, offers COR services that allow you to pass on misclassification liabilities to Deel while leaning on Deel experts to advise you on the correct classification for each new hire. 3. How are labor taxes handled? When I evaluate a payroll software, I pay close attention to how it supports client businesses in managing their labor tax obligations. Since many small businesses don’t have on-staff tax experts, I believe the best payroll software should offer the following supports: Automatic labor tax calculations and deductions. Automated tax payment remittance to local, federal, state, and global if applicable authorities. Multi-state tax management support. Tax error detection alerts. Penalty protection that covers punitive charges should the software miscalculate or miss paying the correct amount of taxes. End-of-year tax filing tools, processes, and support. An employee self-serve portal where employees can access their tax documents automatically. Tax experts to guide you in any questions you may have regarding your labor taxes. 4. Does it offer automated payroll calculations? At its most basic, payroll software exists to calculate employee paychecks automatically so you don’t have to. Most payroll software can accommodate salaried and hourly employees, but double-check that both are included in the payroll service you choose before signing up. If you have hourly employees, make sure your payroll software either integrates with

A well planned marketing budget helps you ensure costs align with planned expenditures throughout the year. As a side effect, they can also help measure campaign ROI. The best way to stay on top of marketing finances is with an easily repeatable system. The free marketing budget templates below will help you create one so you can categorize expenses, plan ahead, and allocate resources without blowing your budget. Marketing budget templates for monday.com monday.com is a more user-friendly and visually appealing relational database solution with project management capabilities. There are more than 200 free templates you can start with and a free plan for up to two users. The free plan is a great place to start and could be more than enough if all you plan to do is track your marketing budget. Like other project management tools, paid plans offer more functionality, including automations, specialized project views, integrations, and dashboards you can use to manage operations for your team or entire business. More monday.com coverage: monday.com review | Smartsheet vs monday.com | ClickUp vs monday.com.  Align your budget and marketing goals This marketing budget template makes it easy to track expenses and align quarterly campaigns with high-level marketing goals and objectives. With it, you can prioritize different strategies, set unique budgets for each one, and see your remaining budget update in real time. It’s easy to see whether you’re going over budget or if you still have money remaining for all of your marketing campaigns. Image: monday.com Building off of monday.com’s visually appealing interface, this template is highly visual, giving you quick queues and valuable insights at a glance. For example, it’s easy to see if you’ve gone over budget on a certain campaign in a matter of seconds. Every strategy can be segmented into a particular category — like email, branding, marketing events, paid ads, and more. If you’re on a paid plan, you can set up automated alerts for instant notifications when you’re about to go over your budget. A budget tracker for anything (including marketing) If you’re looking for a template that lets you track your entire budget, including marketing expenses, this tracker is versatile and beginner-friendly. Sign up for a free monday.com account to start tracking your marketing budget with ease. Image: monday.com You can quickly set it up to handle both short-term expense tracking and long-term budget planning across your entire business. It comes with more than 12 views, making it easy to organize your budget in any way that works for you. While the template is fully customizable and scalable, there are built in formulas that automatically interpret and calculate essential metrics for you. Because of its versatility, you’ll have to customize a few things to get started. ClickUp’s marketing budget templates ClickUp is more affordable than Smartsheet and monday.com, especially for small teams. It offers one of the most comprehensive free plans I’ve seen. Plus, it’s packed with productivity features, AI-powered automations, and team collaboration tools. Like monday.com, it provides a visually appealing interface that makes using it kind of fun. More ClickUp coverage: ClickUp review | ClickUp vs Notion | ClickUp alternatives.  Manage marketing campaign budgets with ease ClickUp’s marketing budget template is simple, colorful, and easy to use even if you’ve never mapped out a marketing budget before. It comes with customizable statuses, the ability to add custom fields, and five different views out of the box. Start with goals and create subcategories while allocating your budget and tracking marketing expenses each step of the way. Image: Clickup.com One unique aspect of this template is the ability to see how previous campaigns performed once you’ve added in all of your financial details. Every aspect from how much you spent to the results of your campaign is available in a few clicks. You can then use this information to draw up a data-backed budget for new campaigns going forward. If you decide to use ClickUp for project management, you can turn campaign goals into tasks, assign team members, and track progress alongside your budget too. A project budget template with work breakdown structure Want to use ClickUp but need something more detailed? The budget tracker with WBS template is an intermediate to advanced option for anyone needing to get more in the weeds. Take complex marketing campaigns and simplify them into smaller subtasks with work breakdown structure. Image: Clickup.com With it, you’ll be able to take complex projects, campaigns, and strategies and break them into manageable tasks. From there, it’ll be much easier to estimate costs, track spending, and use work breakdown structure to define the scope of your project. Whether you’re planning long projects, massive events, or other complex marketing campaigns, starting big and breaking it down is the best way to build a plan of attack and estimate costs. This template makes it easy to see expenses for each phase or category, giving you full visibility into your budget. And like the other ClickUp template, you can track actual work here too. Smartsheet marketing budget templates Smartsheet combines everything you appreciate about spreadsheets and relational databases with project management features. Beyond budget tracking, marketing teams can use it to assign tasks, collaborate with each other, and share updates with stakeholders. You’ll get the most from these templates using them inside of Smartsheet. However, there’s no free plan. If you prefer free, you can use the Excel and Google Sheets versions instead. More Smartsheet coverage: Smartsheet review | Smartsheet vs Airtable | Smartsheet vs ClickUp.  A simple and beginner-friendly place to start Smartsheet’s simple marketing budget template is beginner-friendly and super straightforward. It comes with the basics any decision maker needs to plan and track marketing expenses — including the ability to show projected costs against your actual budget across every marketing category. Use this simple marketing budget template if you want a basic starting point to track monthly, quarterly, and yearly marketing costs. Image: Smartsheet.com It’s easy to track costs by week, month, quarter, or year, so

Artificial intelligence is becoming crucial to how large retail organisations manage and optimise supply chains. From predicting seasonal demand in goods to automating inventory ordering, AI is helping supply chain management system vendors gain new efficiencies for their clients. In 2022, McKinsey reported that supply chain management was the top area where businesses reported AI-related cost reductions. At the time, large consumer packaged goods companies saw a 20% reduction in inventory, a 10% decrease in supply chain costs, and revenue increases of up to 4%. AI for supply chains has only improved since 2022 and is accelerating with generative AI. A more recent report from McKinsey found that supply chain management was the function where businesses most commonly reported meaningful revenue increases of more than 5% due to investments in AI. Machine learning has done the grunt work of optimising supply chains Laurence Brenig-Jones, vice president of product strategy at supply chain management and planning software provider RELEX Solutions, told TechRepublic the “number crunching” power of machine learning has been the dominant AI technology force used in supply chains to date. “I think what we are seeing is there is a huge improvement in accuracy and automation [from machine learning capabilities] that can lead to very significant benefits in product availability, reduction in working capital, and if you’re a grocer, then a reduction in spoilage or wastage,” he said. There are several use cases for which machine learning has been deployed in supply chains. More must-read AI coverage Demand forecasting Predicting product demand is key in supply chain management. Brenig-Jones said this is “incredibly difficult” because it can involve predicting demand for a specific product, at a specific location, on a specific day or time of day — often up to 180 days or more in advance across an entire operation. Over the last five years, machine learning algorithms have replaced previously used time series algorithms for this task. According to ERP vendor Oracle, AI can now use internal data such as sales pipelines and external signals like market trends, economic outlooks, and seasonal sales for forecasting. Automated inventory Demand forecasting helps organisations optimise and automate inventory ordering. Though this includes ensuring sufficient stock is available to meet demand, retailers must also balance other factors, such as excessive working capital with too much stock, food spoilage, or capacity breaches. Brenig-Jones said many optimization algorithms, with their ability to learn from the past through machine learning, can solve this complex problem and efficiently fulfill demand for the organisation’s supply chain, balancing all involved factors. Logistics optimisation Machine learning is also embedded in logistics networks. According to Oracle, logistics companies use machine learning algorithms to “train models that optimise and manage the delivery routes by which components move along the supply chain,” ensuring more timely deliveries of goods. SEE: Supply chain job openings point to a lack of automation and innovation In one example, courier company UPS uses its dynamic road-integrated optimisation and navigation platform, ORION, to show drivers the most efficient route for deliveries and pickups on more than 66,000 roads in the U.S., Canada, and Europe, saving significant mileage and fuel costs annually. The growing role of generative AI in supply chain management Experts believe generative AI will become increasingly important in supply chain management and planning. Through natural language queries, the future will likely see an expanded role for generative AI. Richer natural-language interactions Retailers will likely have much richer and more analytical natural-language interactions with their supply chain and retail planning data in the future. This could involve asking questions about the supply chain plans, what has happened in the past, or where there are opportunities to do better. “You could ask: ‘What were my top five reasons for out-of-stocks last week?’ And it could tell you: ‘Number one was poor inventory accuracy in your stores, and these stores in particular. Number two was you had one big supply failure, and it caused this impact on your sales’, Brenig-Jones said. Forward-looking recommendations Generative AI in supply chain management platforms could offer forward-looking recommendations for large retailers through natural language interactions. For example, a platform could advise an organisation on what to do next week to ensure everything is set up to hit its targets. SEE: Splunk urges Australian organisations to secure LLMs “It might say: We recommend that you change this part of your configuration, or we recommend you go and talk to this supplier because there’s a risk based on our understanding of what happened last time.’ So it would be forward-looking and interacting in a natural language format,” Brenig-Jones said. Becoming an AI ‘superuser’ A further phase in the introduction of generative AI, and something RELEX is pursuing within its platform, is to turn AI into a “super user.” Like system users who are “real gurus in how the system is configured,” AI could become self-adaptive, helping organisations improve their systems over time. “It would say: ‘I’ve come up with a better configuration for your solution based on what I’m seeing,’” Brenig-Jones explained. “So you would get into this kind of ability for the solution to self-adapt on the go. That is the direction we’re heading, and we’re working with our customers to understand how that would work best for them as well.” source

Apple’s latest security updates for iOS, macOS, Safari, visionOS, and iPadOS contained brief but critical disclosures of two actively exploited vulnerabilities. The tech giant said Clément Lecigne and Benoît Sevens of Google’s Threat Analysis Group discovered the vulnerabilities. NIST lists the vulnerabilities as CVE-2024-44308 and CVE-2024-44309. What are the vulnerabilities Apple patched? Apple didn’t disclose much information about the exploitation or what attackers might have done using these vulnerabilities. However, the Threat Analysis Group works specifically on “government-backed hacking and attacks against Google and our users,” so it’s possible these vulnerabilities were used in well-funded attacks against specific targets. SEE: Want to accept Apple Pay at your business? See how with our guide. With CVE-2024-44308, attackers could create malicious web content, leading to arbitrary code execution. Apple detected this exploit possibly in use on Intel-based Mac systems — unlike those systems using Apple’s own M chips, which have been the standard since 2023. Apple put improved checks in place to prevent this issue. CVE-2024-44309 has been exploited similarly and applies to Intel-based Macs, but the fix was different. Apple said its team addressed a cookie management issue by improving state management. The affected operating systems are: Safari 18.1.1 iOS 17.7.2 iPadOS 17.7.2 macOS Sequoia 15.1.1 iOS 18.1.1 iPadOS 18.1.1 visionOS 2.1.1 Must-read Apple coverage Apple faced four zero-day vulnerabilities earlier in 2024 In addition to the latest exploitations, Apple disclosed four zero-day vulnerabilities this year, all of which it patched: CVE-2024-27834, a bypass around pointer authentication. CVE-2024-23222, an arbitrary code execution vulnerability. CVE-2024-23225, a memory corruption problem. CVE-2024-23296, another memory corruption problem. Apple devices have a reputation for being secure against viruses and malware, in part because of Apple’s tight hold over its App Store ecosystem. However, that doesn’t mean these devices are impervious to all attacks. According to multiple reports, threat actors are increasing efforts to breach macOS, especially with infostealers and trojans. In April, Apple notified select users that their iPhones had been compromised by “a mercenary spyware attack,” in a case of threat actors targeting specific people. Other vulnerabilities may arise in hardware, such as the GoFetch vulnerability that popped up in Apple’s M-series chips early this year. Keep up cybersecurity best practices Zero-day disclosures are good opportunities for IT teams to remind users to keep up with operating system updates and to follow company security guidelines. Strong passwords or two-factor authentication can make a big difference. Many cybersecurity best practices apply across operating systems, including Apple’s. source