August 2, 2022
Angela
WFH... Is It For Everyone?

Working from home has always been a thing but no one really hopped on board until Covid hit. According to wfhwins.com, it became a growing trend with a 173 percent increase to working from home. Now more and more companies plan to allow a full-time WFH situation and there are many reasons why.

First off, people work harder when they are working from home. They are not taking hour long lunches or coffee breaks to talk to people around the office. Not to say people are not taking breaks anymore, they are but they are shorter and more direct.

Working from home is also helping people with their work-life balance. People that work a normal 9–5 have difficulty maintaining a good work-life balance. When they work from home, they can have a flexible schedule and it allows them to get things done during the day instead of having to wait to do them when they get home. This allows people to spend more time to do what they enjoy once they get home and spend more time with their families.

One of the biggest pro’s of working from home is the decrease in stress. Many employees’ states that they feel more relaxed and can concentrate on the work they need to get done. Some people don’t enjoy the social aspect of going into the office and they rather sit at their desk and get their job done. While others love going around and talking to their coworkers to calibrate on projects.

BUT, working from home isn’t all positive. When Covid began and the move to working from home started, people were terrified. Companies were dropping employees like flies. This caused people to work in fear which led to exhaustion and many people got burned out.

People also felt as though they didn’t have a way out of their home life. Since everything shut down, that meant no schools in session and their spouse’s jobs could’ve been shut down too. Trying to handle a five-year-old and attend meetings is a very hard task. People were stressed and this took a toll on their mental health. Not to mention the fact that they couldn’t see anyone outside of their families, so it is hard to talk to someone about the struggles when all you have to talk to are the people causing the stress.

Working from home was something very few people did before the pandemic, but it has grown immensely. There are pros and cons to WFH, but majority of people and companies love it. It will be interesting to see if more and more companies start moving towards WFH and shutting down their offices completely or if we eventually will go back into office.

If you’re interested in getting an internship or a job with Spigot, were hiring!! Spigot, Inc. has an amazing culture with a laid-back fun work environment. We offer amazing benefits such as 100 Medical, Dental & Vision Insurance paid, 401k Match, Unlimited Vacation Days, and FREE LUNCH & snacks. Send your resume to careers@spigot.com for review! Check out all of our adventures on the Spigot Inc blog. Be sure to follow us on LinkedInTwitterTikTok , and Instagram… like us on Facebook and never miss out on the Spigot, Inc. lifestyle!

July 25, 2022
Angela
$43 Billion Dollar Cyber-Crime.. Are You Next?

Everyone knows of ransomware and how it can take down vital services, but no one is talking about the $43 billion dollar cyber-crime that happens to people every day.

Business email compromise, or BEC for short, has become the largest cybersecurity issue of today. According to Ronnie Tokazowski, principal threat advisor at cybersecurity company Cofense, “BEC is an international, global problem with victims in over 90% of countries in the world.”.

The way these scams work are the scammer reaches out, usually through email, posing as a colleague, a client, or your boss asking for money. They can do this by creating a fake email with the person’s name or they will hack into the person’s account using their username and password. In all cases, the scammer will always ask for the transfer of the funds to be made urgently and to keep it a secret. This sounds like a red flag, and you would be able to catch on easily if this was said but just think; if your boss sent an email, replying in an already established conversation and asked for the funds to be transferred but asked you to be discrete because if this information became public, it could ruin a potential business endeavor, you probably wouldn't think twice about it.

Once you send it and someone realizes that it was a scam, the scammers have the money and they have already spent it or laundered it elsewhere which makes it very hard to trace. Not to mention, once you figure out that you were scammed, you go to your finance department and not the cybersecurity department. This causes the situation to not be reported which lets the scammers off the hook.

It is not a completely hopeless fight though. The best way to prevent scams like this from happening is to set up multi-factor authentication and put policies in place that will make employees go through a process before they are able to send money. The biggest thing is to help bring awareness of BEC attacks and shift away from victim blaming. People need to not feel ashamed if this happens to them but rather feel comfortable enough to report it.

If you’re interested in getting an internship or a job with Spigot, were hiring!! Spigot, Inc. has an amazing culture with a laid-back fun work environment. We offer amazing benefits such as 100 Medical, Dental & Vision Insurance paid, 401k Match, Unlimited Vacation Days, and FREE LUNCH & snacks. Send your resume to careers@spigot.com for review! Check out all of our adventures on the Spigot Inc blog. Be sure to follow us on LinkedInTwitterTikTok , and Instagram… like us on Facebook and never miss out on the Spigot, Inc. lifestyle!

July 15, 2022
Angela
Newest iPhone Feature

Apple launched the first iPhone on June 29, 2007. Steve Jobs stood on stage and wowed the world with features people never thought could be in the palm of their hands.

With this presentation came the iconic image of a clownfish on the home screen. This may not seem like a big deal but it turns out that this wallpaper was never released with any version of iOS, according to Jason Aten.

Right now some users are finding this particular wallpaper on the latest beta version of iOS 16! Fifteen years later and we might finally get the clownfish wallpaper. Although, this is just a beta version, meaning it may not get pushed through, we definitely have our fingers crossed.

There will be many new features in iOS 16 but one that people can’t stop talking about is the ability to edit or delete a text. How many times have you sent a text and immediately felt regret?? Now you will be able to take it back but you only have a few minutes to do so.

Once again, Apple has us on the hook just waiting for the newest update and the next phone!

If you’re interested in getting an internship or a job with Spigot, were hiring!! Spigot, Inc. has an amazing culture with a laid-back fun work environment. We offer amazing benefits such as 100 Medical, Dental & Vision Insurance paid, 401k Match, Unlimited Vacation Days, and FREE LUNCH & snacks. Send your resume to careers@spigot.com for review! Check out all of our adventures on the Spigot Inc blog. Be sure to follow us on LinkedInTwitterTikTok , and Instagram… like us on Facebook and never miss out on the Spigot, Inc. lifestyle!

July 7, 2022
Angela
How Addicting Is Too Addicting?

It’s all about social media. Everyone is on social media, and no one knows where to draw the line.

Right now, in California, they have proposed a bill against big tech that states social media usage is taking a toll on mental health of children. This new bill is called the Cunningham-Wicks bill and it is one of many that is proposed to protect kids online. This bill would hold social media companies legally liable for deploying features and apps that are created to addict children according to Politico. The most significant part of this bill would that it would be retroactive meaning that it would put the companies at legal risk for any past damage their products have caused. Jordan Cunningham, a republican representative, compared this bill to the legislation against Big Tobacco and marketing to children.

There are many affects that social media has on children all the way up to young adults. Kids are seeing models and influencers all day long and strive to look like them when it is not obtainable. None of these people are going on their social media admitting to editing their photos or telling their followers they have a personal trainer and someone who cooks every meal for them because it is their job to look good. Kids see this and just think wow, I want to look like them and be famous like them. It can take a toll on someone’s mental health and that leads to depression, eating disorders and many other issues.

People are constantly surrounded by social media and cannot put their phones down. If you are not on Facebook, you are more than likely on Instagram and if you’re not on Instagram you are on Snapchat or TikTok OR you are like most people under 30, you are on all the social media platforms. This can be too much for a young person to handle especially when they don’t have the discipline to put their phones down. You hear all the time from the older generations, “These kids and their phones” but look around and see…its not just the younger generation anymore. EVERYONE IS ADDICTED.

The scariest take away from this bill is learning that the social media platforms know what they are doing. A whistleblower at Facebook, Frances Haugen, testified that her company knew what the apps were doing and how they were harming children's mental health. They create algorithms to ensure that people will stay on their apps and the second they get off, they will get a notification that will make them get back on within minutes. It kind of makes you feel like a robot being controlled by big tech, huh?

This bill has an uphill battle against all social media platforms. Soon there will be a line drawn that they cannot cross for the safety of the people and their mental health. Although, this isn’t the first time this is being brought to the attention of the people, hopefully it will be changed so it will be the last.

If you’re interested in getting an internship or a job with Spigot, were hiring!! Spigot, Inc. has an amazing culture with a laid-back fun work environment. We offer amazing benefits such as 100 Medical, Dental & Vision Insurance paid, 401k Match, Unlimited Vacation Days, and FREE LUNCH & snacks. Send your resume to careers@spigot.com for review! Check out all of our adventures on the Spigot Inc blog. Be sure to follow us on LinkedInTwitterTikTok , and Instagram… like us on Facebook and never miss out on the Spigot, Inc. lifestyle!