Knock knock!

Who’s there?

WiFi.

WiFi who?

Why Fi…ght external regulation, if you won’t implement higher standards on your end?

Amazon’s Ring smart doorbell/camera services left customers in the ding-dong ditch by letting hackers exploit a flaw that exposed homeowners’ WiFi passwords to neighborhood hackers up until September of this year. I thought putting a ring on things locked them down, but I guess that’s only for people…

Truth be told, I honestly didn’t think a wifi password in the wrong hands could do too much. I figured neighborhood freeloaders would drag my speed down playing some MMORPG on my network or get me slapped by pirating Disney stuff on my dime.

Apparently, what a serious hacker is MORE likely to do is use that connectivity to share a keystroke tracking program with my computer, then sell my passwords to whoever wants them.

Imagine someone in Cairo clogging up my precious Netflix queue with a bunch of romcoms. Eww.

In all seriousness, that’s a pretty big flaw in the Ring. It took Bucharest-based Bitdefender (a merry band of cybersecurity researchers) to point it out. Amazon’s tech ninjas jumped on it, and the issue’s been fixed for a couple of months as of time of writing. But all’s not quite well yet.

The burning questions on my mind are: Who was supposed to catch it first? And why weren’t people told before the fix?

If you’re in the tech industry, know this, and know it well: John Q Public is not your beta tester.

Releasing a product with something as small as a typo on the packaging is embarrassing enough, but when you leave yourself open to something like letting your customers be vulnerable to identity theft, your face gets considerably more eggy.

And, as usual, leaving doors like this opened doesn’t just make your company look bad, or let competitors get the edge on you.

Consistent lack of inner standards means you’re going to be up against outer standards you’ll like even less. Sure, you might think that govt. regulation is going the way of the dodo, but the tech industry and recently emancipated pork industry aren’t the same.

If you’ll pardon the generalization, the more someone leans towards less government oversight, it’s more likely that they’ll view technology as a necessary evil than anything. And that means tech industry slip ups will be the first to be monitored if internal quality control keeps deteriorating. People are getting wise to how much information their smart devices are tracking, and how vulnerable they can become when that information isn’t secured.

Amazon execs will be fine if things go to the courts. Your startup? Probably not as much.

Look, tech nerds have it going on. I really WANT to advocate for leaving you all alone and letting you do your thing, but the constant corner cutting on security testing makes that difficult. Leaving consumers in the dark until the fix is done, meaning no one even had the chance to take precautions like instituting password changes, is a huge no-no, and the fact that I even have to rant about it is alarming.

You know that cliche, ‘It’s not that you DID xyz, it’s that you LIED about it’? It goes for lying by omission as well. Consider this case the coal mine canary.

You are your own industry’s gatekeepers. Take the job seriously before the job gets taken. Seriously

Noise cancelling earbuds are efficient for blocking out the world around you – when all you want to hear is your music and nothing else. However, for those who want a smaller, sleeker alternative, Nuheara is the perfect fit.

Nuheara are wireless audio earbuds that are customizable to your hearing needs. Even though they have the same power as noise cancelling headphones, they can be adjusted to amplify or minimize sound based on each situation.

You can choose to blend the sounds of the streets and your new favorite album in order to be aware of the world around you. The earbuds are ideal for any situation.

The noise cancelling earbuds use SINC (Superior Intelligent Noise Control) technology, which lets every user create their custom hearing experience.

There are numerous times when it’s hard to hear because of the noise around us. This may be in crowded restaurants, concerts or even when you’re at home trying to avoid the noisy neighbor in the apartment above you.

The SINC technology applies a frequency filter to sounds you choose to hear or want to avoid. Additionally, the left and right earbuds have their own settings, so that they can be customized individually. Everything is customized through the app, so it’s up to each user to decide!

Prior to founding Nuheara, Justin Miller and David Cannington worked in the oil and gas companies creating industrial strength hearing headsets.

The feedback they received during these experiences paved the way for inventing Nuheara. People wanted a sleek headset that they could wear in everyday life, not just at their job.

The earbuds will set you back a few hundred bucks, but they come with accessories like a battery charger, carrying case and 8 different silicone tips. The battery charger provides three full charges. Nuheara earbuds are also sweat and water resistant, but they are not yet waterproof.

As wireless headphones, Nuheara are also compatible with most Bluetooth connected devices. The earbuds also use tap-touch control to make hands-free phone calls, control music and adjust settings.

There is no need to connect Nuheara to external devices to use their noise cancelling capabilities.

Reduce your workload and personalize customer service engagement with Faqbot, the tool that turns your online FAQ into a customized chatbot.

Co-founded by Denny Wong and CEO Mathis André, Faqbot uses machine learning to streamline frequently asked questions into a handy chatbot pal.

Based on your existing FAQ content, Faqbot builds a database that learns from every conversation to improve responses. Faqbot can also be used to automate sales and lead generation.

You get to design the conversation flow, mapping out a custom path to guide users to a desired outcome. Set predefined choices or free text, customize the bot’s responses, and determine what leading questions the bot should ask.

For example, on the Faqbot site, I was given two pre-set choices to click after each response from the bot. Clicking “Thanks for helping” gets the polite response “You are welcome! ;-)” complete with an old-school emoji featuring a nose.

If you select “not my question,” Faqbot uses its general response to any unanswerable question: “Sorry, I’m a chatbot. I am constantly learning and have answers to frequently asked questions. Thank you for leaving your email and we will get back to you shortly.”

Choose your own responses based on already defined FAQ or come up with new messaging to better engage and inform your customers as needed. The free text option is also available if customers wish to continue asking questions.

Of course, I had to try out some less than frequently asked questions. When I asked Faqbot “are we friends?” it kindly replied, “Absolutely. You don’t have to ask.” So I’m smitten.

However, when I tried to take it to the next level by asking “Do you love me?,” which seems to be the internet’s favorite way to harass a bot, I got the “Sorry, I’m a chatbot” response.

That’s okay. I’ll recover. Faqbot isn’t here to love, it’s here to answer questions.

You can easily install the chatbot by either copy/pasting the snippet of codes directly into your webpage, or connect Faqbot to your company’s Facebook page. No coding skills required.

Pricing is based on number of users per month, but all levels include the same service offerings of FAQ database management, messaging interface, a ticketing system, and DIY guided conversation flow. You can try out Faqbot free for 14 days by signing up on their site.