Rick Richardson, Author at CPA Trendlines

New Warehouse Robot Could Revolutionize Efficiency

Mytra’s innovative system lessens the need for forklifts, maximizes storage space and automates heavy-lifting tasks.

By Rick Richardson
Technology This Week

The warehouses of the world are surprisingly empty spaces. There’s a lot of material in these vital nodes of the complex global commodities of our transportation system, but there’s also a lot of vacant space on the floor between their racks. The space is there to make room for the forklift, the workhorse of the warehouse, which must have room to maneuver when lifting and carrying pallets loaded with hundreds or thousands of pounds of merchandise. A forklift needs plenty of space and a professional driver to do a mundane but dangerous task.

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A new robotics firm recognizes an improved approach to warehouse management. Mytra, a company created by former employees of Tesla and Rivian, wants to automate and combine warehouse activities by using a robot and a storage rack system to improve the efficiency of product movement. This could also make the forklift obsolete.

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New Pacemaker Powered by Light, No Batteries

Can science save lives with solar power?

By Rick Richardson
Technology This Week

Pengju Li and his colleagues at the University of Chicago have created a wireless, ultrathin pacemaker that utilizes light similarly to a solar panel. Because it conforms to the shape of the heart, its design reduces interference with the heart’s normal function while simultaneously eliminating the need for batteries. Their findings, just released in Nature, provide a novel strategy for heart pacing and other therapies requiring electrical stimulation.

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Medical devices called pacemakers are inserted into the body to control cardiac rhythms. They are comprised of battery-operated electrical circuits with leads that are fixed to the heart muscle to stimulate it. Leads, however, can break and cause tissue damage. Once implanted, the leads’ position cannot be altered, which restricts access to various cardiac areas. Because they use stiff iron electrodes, pacemakers could also cause tissue injury when they are used to regulate arrhythmia or to restart the heart after surgery.
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Microsoft Patents an Encryption System to Block Visual Hacking

Has Microsoft created the ultimate public anti-hack?

By Rick Richardson
Technology This Week

Your computer or tablet screen can easily be visually hacked in public, which allows someone to steal private information. Plastic screen coverings are one technique to stop this from happening, as they make it harder for someone to view the document unless they are directly in front of it. Microsoft might develop a technology that encrypts text graphically as you read it.

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A recent Microsoft patent describes a system that encrypts a document so that only the reader can decipher it. The approach encrypts the document by changing the letters in the text section of the original document. The document is then shown in a private mode using an alpha-blended version that combines the encoded and original copies of the text. Next, the system uses eye tracking to show the user the decoded portion of the document at their fixation point and the encoded version at the periphery of their field of vision.
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Recently Discovered Antibiotic Spares ’Good’ Bacteria

Lolamicin defeated 130 drug-resistant strains of common gram-negative bacteria.

By Rick Richardson
Technology This Week

Despite all the positive effects antibiotics have on the planet, one of the major drawbacks to their use is how they indiscriminately destroy both bad and good bacteria.

Besides eliminating disease-causing invaders in the human body, a single course of this life-saving medication can have an “immense” effect on the gut and the microorganisms that live there, according to the National Center for Biotechnology Information.

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Certain bacteria or fungi may occasionally overgrow because of this influence. For example, following antibiotic treatment, women may have a 30 percent chance of acquiring a yeast infection.

Researchers at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign are developing a remedy. Lolamicin is a novel antibiotic that has been found to target selectively gram-negative infections, sparing other bacteria.

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Is NASA About to Make Air Travel Cheaper?

A larger fan and a smaller core can produce the same thrust with less fuel and air pollution.

By Rick Richardson
Technology This Week

A team of NASA specialists isn’t aiming for the stars with their ground-breaking jet engine core design, which is now under development. Instead, the hybrid aircraft engine might result in a 10 percent reduction in fuel consumption for Earth-based travel on future passenger aircraft.

It’s a component of a clever concept that aims to reduce air pollution and travel expenses.

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Aerospace is working with General Electric to design the engine. It will use a larger fan and a smaller core, emphasizing sustainability and efficiency. READ MORE →

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Rick Richardson, CPA.CITP, CGMA, is the CEO and founder of Richardson Media & Technologies and editor and publisher of Technology This Week, regularly featured at CPA Trendlines under special arrangement.

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Technology This Week provides an easy to read digest of the technology that tax and accounting practitioners need to know to better serve their clients. Professionals rely on Richardson to tell them in a timely and informative manner what’s new in technology and how it will impact their business and personal lives. Subscribers also have access to the entire library of prior issues with an easy-to-use search.

With all of the news sources available today, it's next to impossible to keep up with what's new in the world of technology. Technology This Week is a 20-minute read designed for an average reader rather than the technologist. Richardson had a 28-year career in technology with Ernst & Young, the last twelve years of which he served as National Director of Technology. He has been named to the "Technology 100" – the annual honors list of the 100 key achievers in technology in America. He has also been honored by the American Institute of CPAs with two lifetime achievement awards for his contributions to the profession in the field of technology. In 2012, Rick was inducted into the Accounting Hall of Fame by CPA Practice Advisor Magazine. He has also been named to the 100 most influential individuals in the accounting profession in America by Accounting Today magazine. He is a sought-after speaker around the world, providing his annual forecast of future technology trends to thousands of business executives, professionals, community leaders, educators, and students.

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