With school closures now becoming the norm across the world, a lot of parents may not just be worried about childcare - but also how to ensure the continuing education of their children. This is especially as we still have no idea how long the corona virus pandemic is going to continue, or when schools will re-open.
However, there are distance learning platforms out there that do cater for children and even better are dedicated to keeping them safe online, and here we’ll feature some of our favorites:
ABCmouse (2-8 years)
ABCmouse offers learning activities for young children, from preschool age to 7th grade, all accessed from your home computer or mobile device.
There are 10 different levels involved, and over 850 lessons. As expected with online learning for children, the aim of the activities is to be fun and engaging while still ensuring that children are taught core concepts. Additionally, there are rewards and tickets to help guide and motivation children through the different lessons, which encompass all areas of reading, math, science, and arts.
Among the activities are a range of animations, games, books, songs, puzzles, and printables for coloring in. There’s also an interactive zoo, farm, and aquarium. Kids can create their own avatar as well, so that progressing through lessons and activities can feel more personalized and engaging.
ABCmouse is available as a subscription, costing $9.95 (about £8.50, AU$17) each month, but the first month is free, which is a great way to test out the site while giving your children something to do during the school closures.
Adventure Academy (8-13 years)
Adventure Academy is aimed at children aged 8-13 years, and offers a learning program that covers reading, math, science, and more. As with ABC Mouse, gamification works at the heart of the learning process to ensure that lessons remain fun, interesting, and engaging. The result is that Adventure Academy works something like a MMO adventure game, where players can create avatars, meet online, and they can even have their own online homes.
The language section offers curriculum development for reading, writing, spelling, as well as general English comprehension. The math section covers multiplication and division, geometry, fractions and decimals, as well as word problems. The science section covers curriculum studies involving various aspects of physics, chemistry, and biology, such as forces and motions, environments, and atoms. A social studies section allows for children to learn history and geography, economics and innovation, as well as cultures and traditions.
Pricing for Adventure Academy is currently offering a promotion where all the courses are available for a single annual payment of $59.99 (about £50, AU$100), which auto-renews at the same price each year after. However, there’s also a free month’s trial available so you can try the platform out to ensure you and your kids like it first.
ReadingIQ (12 years and under)
ReadingIQ is a lending library of digital children’s books, best suited for the under-12s. Like Amazon’s KDP Select, you pay a single monthly fee which opens up instant access to a very wide range of books. There are thousands of books for children available in every type of genre, from story and picture books, informational and reference books, as well as graphic novels, joke books, and song books.
There are helpful suggestions by age group, specifically for pre-readers who are younger than two years old, emerging readers up to four years old, growing readers aimed at ages five to eight years, then advanced readers up to around 12 years old. There’s also a Spanish section suitable for readers between two and 12 years.
All of the books are available to read in digital format for tablet or smartphone as well as desktops, and there are both guided reading and recommended book options offered to encourage children to keep reading.
Pricing is a single subscription of $7.99 (about £7, AU$14) per month, and the best news perhaps is that a single account can serve up to three children, making it especially suitable for families, as well as a cost-effective way to encourage your children’s’ reading.
SanDisk has shown off its vision of the future of storage at CES 2020, including a portable 8TB SSD prototype targeted at smartphone users.
The news portable hard drives aim to offer the highest-capacity flash memory devices to store rich content on the go, with the company saying that its prototype features USB speeds of 20Gbps using the SuperSpeed USB protocol.
Other new SSD drives announced also include a 1TB drive for both smartphone and laptop users, aiming to provide an easy to carry backup for photos and other content that can fit in your pocket, or even a keychain.
Along with its 8TB device, SanDisk also announced a sleek silver finish 1TB Ultra Luxe dual connector drive (pictured below) that aims to work with the latest smartphones, tablets, and laptops.
SanDisk have a record of making quality hard drives for those on the go, such as the SanDisk Extreme Portable SSD 1TB which we reviewed favorably just over a year ago.
While there are a number of portable USB drives on the market, most have limited capacity and transfer rates by comparison to SanDisk’s latest models. Although no pricing information has been released as yet, both models should be available within the next few months.
Check out all of TechRadar's CES 2020 coverage. We're live in Las Vegas to bring you all the breaking tech news and launches, plus hands-on reviews of everything from 8K TVs and foldable displays to new phones, laptops and smart home gadgets.
Microsoft has successfully launched a court action to take control of fifty domains used for spear phishing attacks.
These attacks apparently came from a hacking group affiliated with North Korea, and collected user account details in order to both steal data as well as upload malware in an attempt to infect IT systems.
The phishing emails were targeted at employees of governments, international agencies, as well as university staff, mostly based in the US, Japan, and North Korea. The spoof emails claimed that the user’s account was compromised, advising them to login to change their account details.
Of course, the links went to domain names that attempted to look official in order to record the user account details. Once inputted, hackers could use this login information to access the user’s official account. From there, they would not just access and copy user information, but also install malware in an attempt to infiltrate any IT systems the user had access to.
Additionally, the hackers were able to set up a command to copy any new emails to the user without the user realizing, even when the account password had been changed.
According to Microsoft, the court action allowed Microsoft to take control of the fifty domain names used in the attack.
While presented as a victory against cyberattacks, domain names are cheap and it would be easy for the hacking group to simply copy their phishing attacks onto a new set of domains.
Additionally, users are reminded that in the event of ever receiving an email claiming your account details have been compromise, DON’T click on the links in the email, but instead visit the main website directly in order to avoid what is one of the most common yet easiest to avoid web attacks.
A proposed class action filed last week claims that Amazon's Ring video cameras have inadequate cybersecurity, leaving consumers vulnerable to cyberattacks.
According to the filing, Amazon should compensate existing Ring owners who have had their Ring systems compromised, as well as ensure security is improved for the product.
John Baker Orange, who filed the suit in Los Angeles, complained that his own Ring security system had been exploited by an attacked to watch his children. Complaints from other Ring owners have made the press recently,
“A company that sells a device that is supposed to protect occupants of a home shouldn’t become a platform for potentially endangering those occupants,” John Yanchunis, a lawyer for Orange, said in an interview.
Ring was bought in 2018 by Amazon, in a deal said to be worth $839 in cash.
Providers of other smart devices will no doubt be watching the case closely, not least Google with its Nest system, in case the court rules that they have any form of liability or duty of care to customers when it comes to security.
In the meantime, Orange has reportedly upgraded the security on his own system, such as adding two-factor authentication and improving his password.
The case has been filed at the U.S. District Court, Central District of California, as Orange v Ring LLC, case no. 19-10899.
The Pentagon has released an internal memo advising all military personnel against using consumer DNA testing kits.
According to the memo, the data collected by these companies could provide a security risk. The memo states this is especially a concern as military personnel are being directly targeted with discounts to encourage them to sign up.
Companies such as 23andMe, Living DNA, and AncestryDNA, sell home DNA testing kits that allow people to look more closely at their own genetic profile. In most instances the information provided is little more than you could discover by looking in the mirror, such as your expected eye or hair color.
Additional information they might provide is broadly generic ancestry information, which can often be found in popular science books on genetics and archaeology.
A follow up investigation by the New York Times had a Pentagon spokesperson suggest the issue was more about how such results might affect personnel, because the US military does not have to ignore medical results of DNA testing. Therefore any potential genetic health markers may affect career progression.
However, another concern could be how much of this information might be sold on to third parties, such as state actors, who could use the DNA data to engineer profiles of the US military.
The memo is reportedly dated for Dec 20, and signed by Jospeh D. Kernan, undersecretary of defense for intelligence, and James N. Stewart, assistant secretary of defense for manpower.
The Chinese internet giant Tencent has launched an app for video conferencing in China, after the popular US Zoom service was blocked by the Chinese government.
Tencent is already huge in social media, gaming, and venture capital, and the launch of its video conferencing service is seen as part of a move away from reliance on B2C markets and a push into B2B enterprise markets.
The changes comes as the trade war between the US and China continues to simmer, with Zoom apparently blocked during September, in retaliation for US sanctions. The result left a vacuum in the local market that Chinese companies are now rushing to fill.
While Tencent already offered WeChat Work for video messaging, the new Tencent Meeting app apps to cater specifically for enterprise customers. A free version allows up to 25 participants to meet for up to 45 minutes, with the professional version allowing for up to 100 participants.
The app also integrates with existing Tencent apps such as WeChat Work and the massive QQ social media platform.
The move comes while the Chinese video-conferencing market remains underdeveloped but growing, with other companies such as Alibaba also competing for market position.
However, Tencent’s move isn’t just a one-off, but part of a multi-billion dollar re-orientation to serve China with business-specific services, such as cloud computing.
A Chinese hacking group has been able to successfully target Western government entities by bypassing Two-Factor Authentication protections.
According to Dutch cybersecurity company, Fox-IT, the hackers were able to remain undetected in compromised systems precisely because they were able to exploit existing security tools already present.
The claims were made by Fox-IT after a two year investigation into compromised systems, which they released in a whitepaper in which they identified the hackers’ activities and methods.
The key actor was identified as the APT20 hacking group, which is claimed to have worked under the authority of the Chinese government for nearly ten years. The group targets government agencies and Managed Service Providers (MSPs) by exploiting vulnerabilities in web servers to access networks.
From there, they can install web shells to facilitate moving through the IT networks, focusing on enterprise application platforms. The hackers also targeted user workstations with administrator privileges, as well as password vaults.
The most surprising finding was that Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) protocols could be bypassed in vulnerable systems, with the hackers able to generate their own software tokens for access within exploited software.
Fox-IT reports that the easiest way to defend against such attacks is by robust use of segmentation, as well as leveraging Microsoft’s Enhanced Security Administrative Environment (ESAE) for greater security.
Smart device company Wyze accidentally exposed a database online containing details from up to 2.4 million customers.
The incident happened early in December, eventually being noticed by cybersecurity company Twelve Security at the end of the month, when it was reported by video surveillance news website IPVM.
According to Wyze, a budget vendor in smart devices such as cameras, locks, bulbs, and plugs, the database was a test environment for making information processing more efficient.
However, while Wyze said it was exposed in error, Twelve Security reported that details included email addresses, usernames, and security tokens - enough information for malicious third parties to take control over any smart devices affected.
Wyze has since reset its systems to help prevent that.
The problem arose when Wyze, using Amazon Web Services to process Internet of Things (IoT) data, left security protocols off that allowed their Elasticsearch data to be accessed online. It remains a reminder to businesses that they are ultimately responsible for security when it comes to cloud computing services.
However, this isn't the first time Wyze have run into problems with user access. Earlier this year a flaw in their system allowed users to still access smart cameras that had been reassigned to another account.
Huawei has denied claims made that over the years it has received as much as $75 billion in state support from the Chinese government.
The claims, published on Christmas Day by the Wall Street Journal, continue to underline the acrimonious relationship between Huawei and the US.
The company recently complaining that it was being subjected to cyberattacks and staff harassment by US authorities, despite repeatedly claiming its innocence.
The WSJ claims that as well as claiming $46 billion in loans and credit as well as other direct state aid, Huawei's work was also supplemented by tax breaks amounting to $25 billion. On top of these, land discounts of $2 billion were reported, along with $1.6 billion in other grants.
According to a response published by ZDnet, Huawei claims that any tax breaks and grants relate to $73 billion of research and development by the company. Additionally, it stated that it has not received preferential treatment by the Chinese government, and that Western companies establishing themselves in China have also received similar grants and tax breaks.
However, the US government is likely to take a dim view of the situation, especially due to its opposition to state aid coupled with its currently acrimonious dealings with Chinese manufacturers, with crippling tariffs on iPhones and other Chinese-made electronics averted at the last minute before Christmas.
Additionally, while Huawei has previously been declared a security risk by US intelligence due to perceived close connections between it and the Chinese government, similar accusations have previously been made against tech giants such as Google, which was known to have employed workers from US national security agencies.
Another serious security flaw has been found in the popular Google Chrome Internet browser.
Known as Magellan 2.0, it is actually a set of five vulnerabilities relating to how Chrome uses the SQLite function to work with data.
Discovered by researchers at the Tencent Blade Team, the Magellan 2.0 vulnerabilities come just after a year since the same team discovered a similar set of issues within the Chrome browser.
These vulnerabilities all relate to how data input is validated by Chrome's built in SQL database, specially the way its WebSQL API changes JavaScript code into SQL commands.
At best any of these five vulnerabilities could have resulted in the Chrome browser crashing. At worst, the researchers claim the vulnerabilities could have allowed an attacker to set up a SQL operation to hijack some part of the browser functions, through remote code execution.
However, there's no need to panic as Tencent Blade have already notified Google and SQLite of the vulnerabilities, and these have been patched in the latest version of the Google Chrome browser.
Additionally, the Tencent Blade Team announced that they haven't detected any exploitation of the reported vulnerabilities against general internet users.
According to an announcement by the Russian Ministry of Communications, a test was successfully carried out across all of Russia just before Christmas, without ordinary users apparently noticing.
The process reportedly involved putting filters in place at global Internet connections, allowing for the easier blocking of sites and information that the Russian government may wish to restrict access to.
Critics claim that this means the government will be better able to censor the Internet, by restricting what content Russian users will be able to access. Government ministers who have legislated for tighter controls argue that it's to ensure Russian Internet services can continue without interference from other countries, such as the United States.
The latter point has especially been a concern for the Russian government after Western sanctions against the country over the conflict in Western Ukraine. Additionally, more aggressive US sanctions against countries working with Russia, such as those recently announced against the completion of a Russian gas pipeline in the Baltic Sea, has helped promote a protectionist response.
This is especially as ICANN and key internet servers remain based in the US and increasingly vulnerable to US protectionist interests under Donald Trump's presidency, one that has seen the US actively withdraw from international treaties and routinely attack its own allies.
While campaigners would like to paint the latest development as an attempt to limit Free Speech, national filtering is nothing new, as has been demonstrated by countries such as China, with Google and other major Internet companies actively censoring their content in pursuit of profits there.
In the meantime, US technology giants continue to avoid paying overseas business taxes by channeling profits into tax havens, a move France recently tried to combat only to face retaliatory tariffs from the US.
Avaya has launched OneCloud ReadyNow, a cloud-hosted VoIP platform specifically aimed at enterprises, as the company continues to struggle with debt and a plummeting share price.
The service launch appears to be part of an overall attempt to simplify Avaya's business service range, with previous unified communications (UC) and contact center (CC) services now being sold under the new Avaya OneCloud brand.
This new brand platform aims to provide very scaleable VoIP and UC solutions for businesses of all sizes using public clouds, leveraging Avaya's expertise and experience in these areas.
However, enterprise companies - arguably Avaya's main target customer base - will often be running their own private and hybrid clouds, so Avaya has needed to adapt its OneCloud provision to accommodate this.
The result is a service where Avaya can offer to provide a custom installation into an existing cloud using on-premises equipment, or host the service from one of its own datacenters.
The change comes at a time when Avaya is still reeling from the same debt problems that forced it into bankruptcy less than two years ago. While Avaya did manage to restructure almost $3 billion in debt, this has continued to be a weight upon the company's shoulders.
Already this year we've seen rumors of Avaya trying to sell itself to private equity partners, as well as failed talks with Mitel earlier in the year about combining both companies. At present rumors suggest that Avaya may attempt an acquisition of RingCentral, which has already proven a success with conferencing services for small and medium-sized businesses.
While talks are reported to be at "advanced stage" with "multiple partners", Avaya still continues to struggle to sell itself to the biggest companies where Cisco and Microsoft already hold a firm grasp there.
While simplifying services and targeting OneCloud ReadyNow may help with that, the saga behind the scenes may end up getting more attention in the short-term. In the meantime, Avaya's share price is now at an historic low, trading at less that $10 per share.
Handling employee paperwork can be a nightmare maze of tax and legal compliance issues. It's time consuming work that offers little obvious reward, and takes your attention from simply growing your business.
For small business owners, it can be an welcome headache to tackle it directly, but even with larger businesses this means having to invest in HR managers and software which may not necessarily seem cost-effective, especially in the short-term.
Luckily, there are a number of HR outsourcing options available. Some are full service providers, and cover everything from recruitment to payroll, to tax deductions and legal compliance. This can be especially beneficial for businesses that lack HR expertise or might find it expensive to build and accommodate their own HR team. Outsourcing allows another company to deal with all those complexities and liabilities for you.
Others providers allow you to pick and choose which HR service you'd like to outsource. This is especially the case where a business may want to provide extra support for its existing HR department. After all, HR isn't all about tax and insurance, but also about employee recruitment and providing training provision. Third parties may be able offer these services to add another layer of expertise without having to introducing an administrative burden on your business.
Some HR outsourcing companies are certified by the IRS or accredited by the Employer Services Assurance Corporation (ESAC), which can provide guarantees to the level of service, not least for avoiding double-taxation penalties. This can be especially important for large businesses. However, smaller HR outsourcing companies may not come with either credentials, but that doesn't mean they may be any less capable, especially when dealing with less complex small business needs.
To help you choose between HR outsourcing providers, we've featured the five best below.
Want your company or services to be added to this buyer’s guide? Please email your request to [email protected] with the URL of the buying guide in the subject line.
ADP Comprehensive Services is designed for larger businesses that want to focus more on strategy, or else could benefit companies undergoing a merger or acquisition. The Comprehensive Services package allows a business to outsource either all of its HR services to ADP, or just selected HR services.
The services available include employee recruitment, retention, and engagement, with performance management and compensation benchmarking. ADP can also handle all aspects of benefits administration, from carrier connections and eligibility reporting, to open enrollment administration, as well as new hire and life event enrollments, and all administrated under COBRA guidelines. ADP can also ensure compliance with legal frameworks, not least ACA and FMLA.
Of course, ADP can also take on board payroll administration to reduce compliance risk, not least in dealing with managing time and attendance, but also with regards to federal and state tax changes, as well as offering proactive guidance on best practices.
Overall, ADP is one of the biggest names in HR outsourcing, yet the Comprehensive Services package for HR outsourcing is designed for businesses with anywhere between 1-1000+ employees.
G&A Partners' Full-Service HR Solution provides an outsourced alternative for businesses to manage and administrate HR services, payroll, and employee benefits. They run this using their own HR technology platform, Worksight, which offers SaaS (Software as a Service) that works with SSO (Single Sign On) technology.
Using Worksight, G&A are able to cover all aspects of recruitment, onboarding, time and attendance, performance management, benefits enrollment, and performance management. For recruitment, G&A use an applicant tracking system (ATS) which allows them to search online applicant databases in order to create job descriptions and compensation packages suitable to the post. G&A can screen applicants, and allow them to communicate through the recruitment process.
The Worksight platform allows all employment forms to be signed and stored directly in the system, and provides real-time updates on the employee onboarding process. The time and attendance system allows for employees to clock in digitally, and also manage all aspects of creating and managing schedules, as well as vacations and sickness.
G&A Partners also provides expert guidance on a range of other issues, not least safety at work compliance, healthcare reform, and benefits administration tailored to weighting these to the most needed positions as required.
Overall, G&A Partners provides a wide range of services, which can be packages together as a single solution or worked with individually depending on which actual HR services you need.
Insperity offers HR outsourcing solutions according to two main plans: the first being 5-149 employees, and the second for 150-5000 employees. Both cover all the HR basics, not least HR admin and payroll, risk-management and compliance, benefits, as well as employee training and management. The main difference between the programs is a case of where the put the focus of the service, and of course the price.
The first plan for small businesses is a full-service solution focused on providing a strong, stable, and supported HR management plan in the first place, while being able to offer insurance benefits normally expected with a Fortune 500 company. Insperity also uses its own software platform to manage all aspects of payroll, accounting, and cost administration, not to mention tax filing. As expected, they also provide support and advice for compliance and liability issues, as well as performance management.
The second plan for medium to large businesses provides the same services while putting the focus on productivity and profitability, not least to work to prevent IT sprawl and inefficiencies that necessarily plague business systems the larger they get. The aim is to provide detailed cost inventory and manage them to ensure budget certainty. This is especially relevant where a business may be involved in a merger or acquisition and needs to integrate employees from different payroll systems into one.
In all, Insperity provide a wide-ranging solution, and although two different plans have been mentioned, Insperity also provide individual HR services as required.
Paychex offers both human resources consulting as well as HR outsourcing and PEO services. This means you can look at different levels of service according to your business needs, from simply asking for guidance on how to better streamline your existing HR workflows, to completely outsourcing all of your HR and employment needs to Paychex.
As expected, Paychex provides all the expected services in terms of HR management, payroll and benefits administration, as well as compliance and legal services. Where Paychex differs from the competition is its focus on digital streamlining where possible, in order to ensure maximum efficiency and productivity in all aspects of human resources management.
For example, with Paychex Flex you can easily manage your business health insurance, section 125 plans, 401(k) and other employee benefits from a single online platform. Changes can be made in real-time, and set up so that employees can easily access the information without having to ask for it.
The whole process means less time is spent on low-value administrative tasks, while streamlining existing procedures. Additionally, it's also easier to search for actionable insights to improve efficiency, with analytics automated to work through the Paychex HR management system to reveal trends and provide custom reporting.
Altogether, Paychex is another strong company with a strong suite of services, and even better in that you can easily select the right level of service for your business.
TriNet offers a range of HR services, including HR consultancy, benefits management, payroll services, risk mitigation, all run through a single software platform. They can also provide mobile apps for employee expenses, time management, wages and benefits statements. These services can be taken packaged together, as individual outsourced services, or even a full-service PEO (Professional Employer Organization) as required.
What makes TriNet standout a little more from its competition is that its advisers have specialist industry experience, not least in architecture & engineering, consulting, financial services, life sciences, manufacturing, marketing, retail, technology, and nonprofits. The aim is to make sure this expertise translates into actionable insights specific for your business, and therefore help improve some aspect of efficiency, workflows, or productivity.
Another advantage of TriNet is that it charges on a per-employee basis, rather than as a percent of payroll. This means your HR costs are predictable and consistent, which can be especially advantageous to small businesses who need to have a very clear idea of costs. TriNet is also able to work comfortable with businesses of different sizes, tailoring plans accordingly, though some services may require an employee minimum to make them financially worthwhile.
Overall, TriNet is a flexible provider that could offer industry insights while providing a comprehensive range of HR outsourcing services.
