magazine
08
agenda
Claims that biodegradable plastic
products, including some office stationery
items, are a sustainable alternative to
conventional plastic don’t stack up, new
research claims.
A three-year study by Michigan State
University, featured in
Environmental Science
and Technology
, suggests that some additives
claimed to biodegrade polyethylene (i.e.
plastic bags) and polyethylene terephthalate
(i.e. drinks bottles) don’t work in landfill and
composting.
The study focused on five additives
and three categories of biodegradation
– biodegradation with oxygen, such as in
composting; biodegradation without oxygen,
such as in an anaerobic digester or landfill;
and simply burying plastics.
Rafael Auras, MSU packaging professor
and co-author of the report, said: “There
was no difference between the plastics
mixed with the additives we tested and
the ones without. The claim is that, with
the additives, the plastics will break down
to a level in which micro-organisms can
use the decomposed material as food. That
simply did not happen.”
Biodegradable plastic claims exaggerated
Aruba Networks Inc. is calling on
businesses to take action to protect
themselves from the high-risk mindset
of the #GenMobile workforce.
A new report from the provider of
network access solutions for the mobile
enterprise,
Securing #GenMobile: Is Your
Business Running the Risk?
, highlights a
drift towards a more sharing, security-
agnostic workplace driven by the risky
behaviour of higher-earning males:
n
Sharing becomes the norm:
Six in ten
share their work and personal devices with
others regularly. Nearly a fifth of employees
don’t have passwords on devices, with 22%
saying they don’t have security measures in
place so that they can share more easily;
n
Security agnostic attitudes arise:
Security ranks fifth behind brand and
operating system when #GenMobile is
making buying decisions for new devices.
Nearly nine in ten (87%) assume their IT
departments will keep them protected.
However, nearly a third (31%) have lost
data due to the misuse of a mobile device;
n
Self-empowerment succeeds:
Over
half (56%) of workers are willing to disobey
their boss to get something done. Another
51% say that mobile technologies enable
them to be more productive and engaged.
Over three quarters (77%) are willing to
perform self-service IT.
Male workers are a greater security risk
than female ones, being 20% more likely
to have lost personal or client data due to
the misuse of a smartphone, and 40% more
likely to fall victim to identity theft.
Other risk factors are age – employees
aged 25-34 have the highest propensity for
data loss and identity theft – and income.
People earning more than $60K are
more than twice as likely to lose company
financial data than those earning less than
$18K and are 20% more likely to lose
personal data due to the misuse or theft
of a mobile device.When offered money,
those earning more than $75K were three
times more likely to give out their device
password than those on less than $18K.
Young, high earning males pose
greatest risk to data security
Spark of inspiration
The National Portrait Gallery in London has
upgraded its publicWiFi system to provide visitors
with free internet access.
The managed service fromWiFi SPARK lets users log
on simply by entering a few registration details. In the
future, visitors may be given the option to log in using
Facebook or Twitter, which would give the gallery the
potential to increase its social media followers. Another
possibility would be to use an NPG app.
The use of wayfinder and iBeacon technology to
guide visitors around the building enables the NPG to
carefully target users with information on everything
from talks and forthcoming events to café offers and
gift shop promotions.
TheWestern European mobile
phone market failed to grow in
2014 for the second consecutive
year, according to International
Data Corporation’s
European
Mobile Phone Tracker
. Total
shipments declined 5.2% year-on-
year to 174.1 million units, though
smartphone shipments were up
6.4% to a record high of 145.8
million units or 84% of all mobile
phones shipped in the region last
year. Phablets represented nearly
10% of smartphones shipped in
2014, with an average selling price
(ASP) of $669 compared to $428 for
normal smartphones.
Visitors to the Tudor Gallery at the National Portrait
Gallery can easily get online thanks to the NPG’s new
WiFi installation.
The limited
edition RED
BlackBerry
Passport
Grand Prix for BT Home Hub
BT’s Home Hub 5 designed by Alloy has won the Grand Prix at the 2015 Design Business
Association (DBA) Design Effectiveness Awards, plus separate Gold and Sustainability awards.
Launched in 1989, the Design Effectiveness Awards celebrate design that has delivered significant
competitive advantage.
The BT Home Hub 5, which enables customers to connect to the BT fibre optic network, has
helped BT gain 530,000 new subscribers by improving the user experience. It has also substantially
decreased the need for engineer visits, reduced energy consumption and cut distribution costs
and 147 tonnes of CO2 emissions through reduced packaging.
Smartphones hit new high
