By Rachel Scharf ( November 13, 2024, 8:07 PM EST) — Manhattan federal prosecutors urged a lenient sentence for former FTX technology chief Zixiao “Gary” Wang, telling the court on Wednesday that his “outstanding cooperation” was instrumental in securing the lightning-fast indictment and ultimate conviction of founder Sam Bankman-Fried for an $11 billion fraud that sank the crypto exchange…. Law360 is on it, so you are, too. A Law360 subscription puts you at the center of fast-moving legal issues, trends and developments so you can act with speed and confidence. Over 200 articles are published daily across more than 60 topics, industries, practice areas and jurisdictions. A Law360 subscription includes features such as Daily newsletters Expert analysis Mobile app Advanced search Judge information Real-time alerts 450K+ searchable archived articles And more! Experience Law360 today with a free 7-day trial. source

By Gina Kim ( November 12, 2024, 11:20 PM EST) — An Apple expert witness defended the company Tuesday in a California federal bench trial over Masimo’s claim that the tech giant stole pulse oximetry trade secrets for its popular smartwatch, testifying Masimo cannot tie any value to the purported secrets and that Apple’s profits can’t be attributed to the watch’s blood oxygen features…. Law360 is on it, so you are, too. A Law360 subscription puts you at the center of fast-moving legal issues, trends and developments so you can act with speed and confidence. Over 200 articles are published daily across more than 60 topics, industries, practice areas and jurisdictions. A Law360 subscription includes features such as Daily newsletters Expert analysis Mobile app Advanced search Judge information Real-time alerts 450K+ searchable archived articles And more! Experience Law360 today with a free 7-day trial. source

Learn key strategies for IT budgeting, from asset evaluation to prioritizing projects, to maximize resources and drive tech investments. source

By Jared Foretek ( November 13, 2024, 7:06 PM EST) — The U.S. Department of Defense released its strategy for deploying private 5G networks that are upgraded and specifically tailored for needs that can’t be met by public commercial networks…. Law360 is on it, so you are, too. A Law360 subscription puts you at the center of fast-moving legal issues, trends and developments so you can act with speed and confidence. Over 200 articles are published daily across more than 60 topics, industries, practice areas and jurisdictions. A Law360 subscription includes features such as Daily newsletters Expert analysis Mobile app Advanced search Judge information Real-time alerts 450K+ searchable archived articles And more! Experience Law360 today with a free 7-day trial. source

For seniors, Medicare Advantage (MA) remains a valuable alternative to traditional Medicare, offering comprehensive, cost-effective healthcare, but policy shifts and market changes have made it harder for insurers to achieve performance and profit goals. Amid declining financial performance, insurers such as Cigna have reduced their presence or exited MA altogether. Humana, after a significant quality-rating drop, still expects MA to negatively impact its results despite a stronger Q3. Yet some smaller insurers such as Devoted Health are making advances in a challenging market, with a 4.28 average CMS Star Rating for 2025 and expansion plans in 20 states. As insurers’ strategies diverge, consumers will have fewer high-quality plan options in 2025 and will have to navigate shrinking provider networks. Building Enduring Value Through Dynamic Experiences And Relationships Higher medical utilization by members, the growing difficulty of achieving CMS Star Ratings, and reimbursement pressures are pushing many health insurers (HIs) to the brink, but HIs can persevere by delivering great experiences that achieve lasting value for members and for their organization. To build value with members, HIs will: Create hybrid experiences to build strong relationships. While digital engagement becomes more prevalent in healthcare, consumers, especially seniors, still place high value on human interaction. Health insurers can boost customer satisfaction by quickly achieving first-contact resolution in customers’ preferred channels. By leveraging these interactions, insurers can guide seniors in using digital tools while maintaining a personal touch. Health insurers that invest in hybrid experiences achieve higher customer experience scores. In turn, improved member experience can connect to better Star Ratings. Make benefits easy to find and use. In recent years, to maintain a competitive edge, health insurers have continually added benefits to MA products. Unfortunately, adding has only diluted value and led to a lot of “me too” in the market. Seniors often feel overwhelmed by or unaware of their benefits. HIs put too little effort into educating plan members and integrating their benefits. Many insurers adopt a “set it and forget it” approach, providing information only during initial sign-up and hoping members remember what they have (or don’t). To optimize the impact for both members and the plan, insurers should tailor benefits more closely to individual needs, streamline access, educate continuously in terms they understand, and improve integration of benefits. Get Tactical About Your Next Move On Medicare Advantage Forrester clients can read the report — Medicare Advantage: Golden Goose Or Albatross? — to discover the seven steps health insurers can take to enhance future plan performance. Along with these recommendations, Forrester clients will gain insights from real-world examples across health insurers, as well as from technology and service providers that support Medicare Advantage. Forrester clients can also schedule a guidance session for deeper understanding of their next move in MA. Thank you to Accenture, Florida Blue, HealthScape Advisors, Optum, Papa, Priority Health, and Soda Health for their time and contributions to this research. Tiffany Do contributed to this blog post. source

NordPass and 1Password are among the best choices when it comes to top password management solutions. While both solutions share similar functions—to help internet users create, save, manage, and use passwords across different online services—their features and capabilities differ. NordPass is great for individuals and families with an option for free and budget-friendly long-term plans, an easy-to-use interface, and full mobile features. 1Password offers tools such as tags and categories for organizing passwords, plus Travel Mode for on-the-go security and Watchtower for actionable alerts. Given their similarities, how do you make a choice between the two? In this article, I compare NordPass vs 1Password to help you choose the best password manager for you and your organization’s needs. Dashlane 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), Medium (250-999 Employees), Enterprise (5,000+ Employees), Large (1,000-4,999 Employees), Small (50-249 Employees) Micro, Medium, Enterprise, Large, Small Features Automated Provisioning ManageEngine ADSelfService Plus 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 Access Management, Compliance Management, Credential Management, and more NordPass vs 1Password: Comparison table The table below summarizes and compares the key features offered by both password managers. NordPass 1Password Our Rating 4.6 stars out of 5 4.3 stars out of 5 Self-hosted authenticator app Yes, with NordPass Authenticator, currently available for NordPass Business and Enterprise members on iOS and Android devices. No. It requires external authenticators like Authy, Microsoft Authenticator, etc. Two-factor authentication Yes Yes Passkey support Yes Yes Single Sign-on (SSO) Yes Yes Free plan available Yes, but only on one device per session. No VPN Yes No Starting price Starts at $1.89/month (annual) Starts at $2.99 (annual) Free trial 30-day free trial for Premium plan users and 14-day free trial for all Business plan users except Enterprise 14-day free trial across all plans but Enterprise Money-back guarantee Yes, offers 30-day money-back guarantee No Dark Web monitoring Yes, uses NordPass Data Breach Scanner. Yes Number of devices Unlimited (paid plans only) Unlimited Passkey support Yes Yes Alerts and reporting Yes Yes Encryption type XChaCha20 encryption algorithm (future proof) 256-bit AES encryption NordPass and 1Password: Pricing NordPass has two usage tiers, each with three subscription plans: Personal & Family and Business. Personal & Family Free Plan: Restricted features for one user per session and includes a 30-day Premium trial. Premium Plan: $1.89/user/month billed annually or $1.59/user/month for two years; includes a 30-day money-back guarantee. Family Plan: $3.69/user/month billed annually or $2.79/user/month for two years; includes a 30-day money-back guarantee and supports up to 6 users. Business Teams: $1.99/user/month billed annually or $1.79/user/month every two years for up to 10 users. Business: $3.99/user/month billed annually or $3.59/user/month every two years; supports 5 to 250 users. Enterprise: $5.99/user/month billed annually or $5.39/user/month billed every two years. It includes six extra months when subscribed for either of the billing cycles; supports unlimited users. 1Password has four subscription tiers: Individuals, Families, Teams Starter Pack, Business, and Enterprise. Individual: Starts at $2.99 per user per month when billed annually; $3.99 for a monthly plan; supports one user on unlimited devices. Families: $4.99 per user per month when billed annually; $6.95 for a monthly plan; supports up to five users. Teams Starter Pack: $19.95 per user per month when billed annually and monthly; supports up to 10 users. Business: $7.99 per user per month when billed annually; $9.99 for a monthly plan. Enterprise: Contact 1Password for quote. NordPass vs 1Password: Key Features NordPass and 1Password both offer a comprehensive set of features for secure password management. Let’s see how they compare. Encryption Winner: NordPass NordPass and 1Password excel in security offerings. Both offer strong encryption and multi-factor authentication. NordPass uses XChaCha20 encryption, which supports two different lengths of keys, with the 256-bit encryption being the strongest. 1Password offers AES-256 encryption, which encrypts data in fixed-size blocks (128 bits in the case of AES-256), using a complex algorithm to transform the data. I appreciate how both NordPass and 1Password offer a zero-knowledge structure and prioritize user privacy in their respective services. In my view, however, NordPass has an edge with its innovative encryption choice. 1Password security breach check Image: 1Password I give NordPass the point for its implementation of XChaCha20 — a newer and more modern encryption algorithm. While AES-256 in 1Password is certainly secure, I appreciate NordPass going the extra mile in making sure their password management service is future proof, especially as threat actors and hackers continue to evolve. SEE: NordPass Free vs Premium: Is it Worth the Upgrade? (TechRepublic) Monitoring Winner: 1Password NordPass uses a Breach Scanner, which is a built-in NordPass Premium feature that automatically scans leaked databases and compares them to items saved in your vault. If any of my email addresses, passwords, or credit card details had been leaked, NordPass would list them, highlighting which breaches could affect me the most. NordPass breach monitoring Image: NordPass In comparison, 1Password employs Watchtower, a feature that enables you to see if any of your passwords have appeared in data breaches. It also flags weak or duplicate passwords and websites where you can turn on two-factor authentication. 1Password’s Watchtower password health feature. Image: Luis Millares Of the two, I slightly prefer 1Password’s Watchtower feature. This is due to it having both data breach scanning and convenient password health functionality. To NordPass’ credit, it also has a dedicated Password Health feature in a separate tab. However, I like how 1Password conveniently integrates both breach scanning and password strength scoring into a single, integrated dashboard. SEE: Top 1Password Alternatives for 2024 (TechRepublic) Password sharing and history Winner: NordPass Looking at its password sharing and history capabilities, I give NordPass the win. NordPass and 1Password both offer secure password sharing in encrypted vaults. 1Password facilitates password sharing through vaults and links available on Teams and Business plans. NordPass offers free link-based sharing for 24 hours and allows paid users to share passwords and passkeys within their

DocGo names Eiwe Lingefors CIO Brigham Young University appointed Brian Radford CIO New CIO appointments, September 2024 Truist names Steve Hagerman CIO Mike Guhl appointed CIO at PulteGroup Inc. Norfolk Southern welcomes Anil Bhatt as CIDO Nelly Jefferson named CIO of Avangrid Marjorie Hutchings joins Berkshire Hathaway Homestate Companies Workers Compensation Division as CIO Itamar Albek joins American Jewish Committee as CIO HEICO welcomes William Velez as CIO First Watch names Rob Conti as CIO Winston & Strawn appoints Robert Kerr as CIO Jovan Marconi joins Inland as CIO CoolSys appoints Danny Rodriguez as CIO Justin McWhirter named CIO for CCC Intelligent Solutions TAB Bank appoints Tami Fisher as CIO Queens University of Charlotte names Kenitra Horsley CIO New CIO appointments, August 2024 Nike appoints Cheryan Jacob CIO Mondelēz International named Filippo Catalano CIDO Keith Credendino named CIO of Macy’s, Inc. Kyndryl appoints Kim Basile as CIO Neeru Arora named CIO for Mazda North American Operations Dan Shull joins Hasbro as CDIO REI Co-op promotes Guillaume Ledieu to CTO Marco Deutsch named CIO at Baker McKenzie Adolfo Rodriguez appointed CTIO at Guitar Center Yeman Collier to join UChicago Medicine as CIO Subaru of America, Inc. appoints Aurelian Sin as CIO Alliant Credit Union welcomes Jamie Warder as CIO Howard Hughes Holdings Inc. appoints Bhupesh Arora as CTO Jamie Head joins Parts Town as CIO Lloyd Boyd named CIO for Park Lawn Corporation Ryan McEnroe named CIO at Reed Smith Unison Risk Advisors appoints Tony Martinez as CIO Martina Schubert joins Van Meter Inc. as CIO Atlas Van Lines promotes Ryan Parmenter to CIO New CIO appointments, July 2024 BNY names Leigh-Ann Russell as CIO Charles (Rusty) Patel joins Baxter as CIO Clayco names Jeff Miller as CIO Kevin Ruggiero named CIO of Parsons Corporation Urmila Menon joins Tri Pointe Homes as CIO Signature Aviation appoints Al Lettera as CDIO Boart Longyear names Niel Nickolaisen as CIO Jordan Ruch named CIO at AtlantiCare Holley Performance Brands names Charan Mann CIO Heath Tuttle named CIO at the University of Buffalo MEC appoints Daniel Bourquin as CIO George Haddad joins North American Partners in Anesthesia as CIO New CIO appointments, June 2024 Madhu Narasimhan named CIO of DaVita Cleveland Clinic announces Sarah Hatchett as CIO Quest Diagnostics appoints Murali Balakumar as CIDO Guncha Mehta joins Beyond as CDIO Gulfstream Aerospace appoints Anthony Newlin as CIO David Ugan named CTO for AAA, Inc. Mieko Shibata named new R&T Deposit Solutions CIO Keith Jones promoted to CIO at Cone Health Lendmark Financial Services announces Zaheer Khan as CIO Keith Correia named CIO at Portillo’s Freshworks appoints Ashwin Ballal as CIO Bill Shuler joins Planet Home Lending as CIO source

By Matthew Perlman ( November 13, 2024, 1:47 PM EST) — A D.C. federal court ruled Wednesday that Meta will have to face trial on the Federal Trade Commission’s claims that the Facebook parent company monopolized personal social networking through its acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp…. Law360 is on it, so you are, too. A Law360 subscription puts you at the center of fast-moving legal issues, trends and developments so you can act with speed and confidence. Over 200 articles are published daily across more than 60 topics, industries, practice areas and jurisdictions. A Law360 subscription includes features such as Daily newsletters Expert analysis Mobile app Advanced search Judge information Real-time alerts 450K+ searchable archived articles And more! Experience Law360 today with a free 7-day trial. source

Join our daily and weekly newsletters for the latest updates and exclusive content on industry-leading AI coverage. Learn More A team of computer scientists has developed a method that helps artificial intelligence understand when to use tools versus relying on built-in knowledge, mimicking how human experts solve complex problems. The research from the University of California San Diego and Tsinghua University demonstrates a 28% improvement in accuracy when AI systems learn to balance internal knowledge with external tools — a critical capability for deploying AI in scientific work. How scientists taught AI to make better decisions “While integrating LLMs with tools can increase reliability, this approach typically results in over-reliance on tools, diminishing the model’s ability to solve simple problems through basic reasoning,” the researchers write in their paper. “In contrast, human experts first assess problem complexity using domain knowledge before choosing an appropriate solution approach.” The new method, called “Adapting While Learning,” uses a two-step process to train AI systems. First, the model learns directly from solutions generated using external tools, helping it internalize domain knowledge. Then, it learns to categorize problems as either “easy” or “hard” and decides whether to use tools accordingly. The two-step process researchers developed to teach AI systems when to use tools versus rely on internal knowledge, mirroring how human experts approach problem-solving. (Credit: UC San Diego / Tsinghua University) Small AI model outperforms larger systems on complex tasks What makes this development significant is its efficiency-first approach. Using a language model with just 8 billion parameters — far smaller than industry giants like GPT-4 — the researchers achieved a 28.18% improvement in answer accuracy and a 13.89% increase in tool usage precision across their test datasets. The model demonstrated particular strength in specialized scientific tasks, outperforming larger models in specific domains. This success challenges a fundamental assumption in AI development: that bigger models necessarily yield better results. Instead, the research suggests that teaching AI when to use tools versus rely on internal knowledge — much like training a junior scientist to know when to trust their calculations versus consult specialized equipment — may be more important than raw computational power. Examples of how the AI system handles different types of climate science problems: a simple temperature calculation (top) and a complex maritime routing challenge (bottom). (Credit: UC San Diego / Tsinghua University) The rise of smaller, smarter AI models This research aligns with a broader industry shift toward more efficient AI models in 2024. Major players including Hugging Face, Nvidia, OpenAI, Meta, Anthropic, and H2O.ai have all released smaller but highly capable models this year. Hugging Face’s SmolLM2, with versions as small as 135 million parameters, can run directly on smartphones. H2O.ai’s compact document analysis models have outperformed tech giants’ larger systems on specialized tasks. Even OpenAI entered the small model arena with GPT-4o Mini, offering similar capabilities at a fraction of the cost. This trend toward “AI downsizing” reflects growing recognition that bigger isn’t always better — specialized, efficient models can often match or exceed the performance of their larger counterparts while using far fewer computational resources. The technical approach involves two distinct learning phases. During training, the model first undergoes what the researchers call “World Knowledge Distillation” (WKD), where it learns from solutions generated using external tools. This helps it build up internal expertise. The second phase, “Tool Usage Adaptation” (TUA), teaches the system to classify problems based on its own confidence and accuracy in solving them directly. For simpler problems, it maintains the same approach as in WKD. But for more challenging problems, it learns to switch to using external tools. Business impact: More efficient AI systems for complex scientific work For enterprises deploying AI systems, this research addresses a fundamental challenge that has long plagued the industry. Current AI systems represent two extremes: they either constantly reach for external tools — driving up computational costs and slowing down simple operations — or dangerously attempt to solve everything internally, leading to potential errors on complex problems that require specialized tools. This inefficiency isn’t just a technical issue — it’s a significant business problem. Companies implementing AI solutions often find themselves paying premium prices for cloud computing resources to run external tools, even for basic tasks their AI should handle internally. On the flip side, organizations that opt for standalone AI systems risk costly mistakes when these systems attempt complex calculations without proper verification tools. The researchers’ approach offers a promising middle ground. By teaching AI to make human-like decisions about when to use tools, organizations could potentially reduce their computational costs while maintaining or even improving accuracy. This is particularly valuable in fields like scientific research, financial modeling, or medical diagnosis, where both efficiency and precision are crucial. Moreover, this development suggests a future where AI systems could be more cost-effective and reliable partners in scientific work, capable of making nuanced decisions about when to leverage external resources — much like a seasoned professional who knows exactly when to consult specialized tools versus rely on their expertise. The power of knowing when to ask for help Beyond the immediate technical achievements, this research challenges the bigger-is-better paradigm that has dominated AI development. In demonstrating that a relatively small model can outperform its larger cousins by making smarter decisions about tool use, the team points toward a more sustainable and practical future for AI. The implications extend far beyond academic research. As AI increasingly enters domains where mistakes carry real consequences – from medical diagnosis to climate modeling – the ability to know when to seek help becomes crucial. This work suggests a future where AI systems won’t just be powerful, but prudent – knowing their limitations just as skilled professionals do. In essence, the researchers have taught AI something fundamentally human: sometimes the smartest decision is knowing when to ask for help. source

Annual marketing planning is tricky on a number of fronts, and in this blog post series, I’ve addressed a few of the main challenges that B2B marketing leaders face. In the first post, I shared an outline of a marketing planning process. In the second, I described the critical strategy, audience, product, and revenue information needed for an effective marketing plan. Here, I’ll share how that information is incorporated by the marketing planning process and transformed into the elements of a marketing plan. Setting Marketing Plan Objectives One of the most important steps in marketing planning is to make sure you’re on the same page with the sales and product functions. That’s why our marketing planning process starts with an alignment step. Use your strategy insights to confirm growth and brand objectives. Use the audience and offering information to confirm what you’re targeting, competing with, and launching. And use the revenue plan information to confirm that your audience segments are aligned with where sales intends to drive their efforts. Orienting Marketing Planning Priorities Marketing needs to select the initiatives it will execute, and it needs to balance the urgent projects that will affect the business right away with the important efforts that will yield value in the long run. Marketing can’t do everything, and every marketing plan is a trade-off between near-term initiatives such as new product launches, competitive response actions, and demand efforts and longer-term priorities such as developing new partner programs, brand efforts, and shifting focus to customer retention. Determining Marketing’s Definitions For Success For a marketing organization to show that it is delivering value to the business, it must set objectives and meet them. From strategy, marketing can call out business and corporate initiatives and establish metrics that will show how they have been met. From the audience and offering information, define market penetration and retention objectives and set contribution and engagement goals aligned to the revenue plan. Capturing Dependencies And Risks In The Marketing Plan The marketing organization is an important cog in the corporate gearbox, but to yield overall value, the other gears must work, too. In many cases, marketing plans are built on the assumption that other parts of the business are meeting their commitments. If achieving success with planned initiatives depends on planned investments, infrastructure, product availability, access to segments, and sales priorities, then they should be called out. Using The Plan On A Page To Guide Marketing Initiatives A good marketing plan should be a combination of a communications tool and a step-by-step outline of what marketing will do over the coming year. At Forrester, we help our clients take the output of their planning activities and produce a streamlined marketing plan in a template we call the B2B Marketing Plan On A Page. It’s a direct output of the marketing planning process that we use for: Communication. It’s a powerful tool for sharing a marketing plan with the CEO, laterally with the peer C-suite, and inside the marketing organization with the marketing leadership team and down. Cascading. The Marketing Plan On A Page can be extended to cascade into campaign, geographic, distribution channel, and business-unit plans. We don’t recommend cascading it into marketing team-level plans, though, because that risks losing the synergy of alignment to specific business objectives. Operating model. The Marketing Plan On A Page is an excellent starting point for ensuring that the overall marketing operating model is aligned. It helps with validating the structure and focus of shared services and centers of excellence. In these three blog posts, I have outlined a marketing planning process, identified key information that you need to develop a marketing plan and where to find it, and described how this information can be distilled into an easily readable form using the B2B-Marketing-Plan-On-A-Page Template (client-only; non-clients can access a version here). source