Experts weigh in: Should you use Zoom filters, how to best light yourself, and how not to get hacked, among many other tips.
It’s easy to get caught up in a Zoom meeting and forget to do simple things like end the session if you’re the host, or turn off the camera if you leave the room for a moment. There are certain things to avoid doing if you want to use Zoom and keep your professional reputation intact.
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Given the shelter-at-home edicts, working from home will be the norm for at least another month. And, “Zoom has become the platform for pretty much every meeting,” said William Mandara Jr., CEO of Mancini, a tech-first design firm. “Technology in general has been and will be the reason we all make it through this.”
The digital transformation agency Blue Fountain Media first used Zoom for clients and those who work from home, but now, with the entire staff working remotely, “We use it for all team meetings, and I’m on Zoom meetings no less than six hours-per-day,” said Brian Byer, vice president and general manager of the agency.
Zoom is essential for tech’s best-known companies. “Zoom is a core part of GitLab’s tool stack,” said Darren Murph, head of remote at GitLab.
“We use it daily to communicate with our all-remote team of more than 1,200 people across 65+ countries,” Murph said. “We use it for one-on-ones, stand-ups, team meetings, as well as informal communication. We build relationships via coffee chats, and even encourage parents with kids who are home from school to schedule ‘Juicebox Chats’ for children around the world to connect with one another. We routinely host company wide AMAs, with hundreds of people involved simultaneously. We use Zoom to bond with colleagues, recently hosting 130+ people in our marketing team for a Global Talent Show, replete with judges and prizes.”
TechRepublic asked experts to provide advice on what not to do during company Zoom meetings. Here are their best tips:
1. Don’t check yourself out. “Especially when you’re talking,” warned Dave Aizer, a media coach and TV host. “When you’re speaking, your eyes should be on the camera to enhance the impact of your presentation. If you look at yourself, especially when speaking, it diminishes your power and—if you don’t like what you see—may even make you feel self-conscious. You can minimize the image of you [on your own device], if that helps.”
2. Don’t apologize. Colleagues now get glimpses into each others’ homes and personal lives. “Do not apologize,” said Steve Pemberton, chief HR officer at Workhuman. “If your child interrupts your video conference, don’t shoo them out, embrace the moment, and welcome them into the frame, introduce them to your colleagues. Not only will this make your family members feel special, it also helps to increase employee engagement, as it keeps humanity in the workplace.”
3. Don’t overexpose your life. While it’s inevitable the aforementioned “glimpses” are bound to happen, or to reference a sound from a pet or child, don’t hijack the meeting by flipping your camera around to allow everyone to see a messy room or worse.
4. Don’t be wiggly, you’re not in second grade. “Zoom is mostly great, however we’ve found the video can sometimes struggle when there is a lot of movement,” said Sam Williamson, owner of CBDiablo. “This can cause freezing issues. Restrict movement as much as possible during video calls. For some this means resisting the urge to ‘talk with your hands.”
5. Don’t avoid the camera. “To avoid embarrassing situations, tell everyone at home you’re going live and will be on video,” said Debra Locker, president, Locker PR. “We are all crammed into our homes right now. If you are in a room with a door, close it. Consider a note on the door. Find a quiet area. Engage your children and/or partner in assisting with entertaining pets, babies, etc.”
6. Don’t forget your manners, no matter how feral you’ve become sheltering at home. On Zoom, “Use the ‘raise hand’ or similar function, rather than interjecting or interpreting facial cues,” said Ben Christensen, co-founder of Handshake, a business social-media platform for college students. Have somewhere to ask questions before the meeting, a chat function, or dedicated Q&A at the end of the meeting. This ensures everyone feels included and heard, and allows for a more productive meeting.
GitLabs’ Murph added, “It feels rude in video calls to interrupt people. This is because the latency causes you to talk over the speaker for longer than during an in-person meeting. We should not be discouraged by this, the questions and context provided by interruptions are valuable. This is a situation where we have to do something counterintuitive to make all-remote meetings work. At GitLab, everyone is encouraged to interrupt the speaker in a video call to ask a question or offer context. We want everyone to contribute instead of a monologue. Just like in-person meetings, be cognizant of when, who, and how you interrupt. We don’t want ‘manterrupting.'”
7. Don’t abuse filters. “Don’t play with filters,” emphasized workplace consultant Ashira Prossack. “By now we’ve all seen the memes of people with their video turned into a potato or a kitten. While that’s good for a laugh and friends, it’s not good for credibility. Leave the filters to Snapchat and Instagram.”
While Collins said, “Don’t use quirky backgrounds” for business calls, some bosses welcome a fun background. Fishbowl co-founder and COO Loren Appin said: “Switch up the virtual Zoom backgrounds. This has become a bit of a competition across our team, and helps kick off the meeting on a positive note.”
8. Don’t forget security. Never publicly share online meeting IDs or meeting URLs, stressed Aaron Zander, head of IT at HackerOne. Despite the increasingly productive tools, “they come with a caveat.” Zander explained that sharing “allows people to drop in and listen to sensitive conversations, record your voice or video, and infiltrate a virtual workplace. With the Zoom boom taking over social media, be careful how much you share in your screenshot. It’s important to understand the link sharing options for file sharing; this includes video links and services like Zoom. The last thing you want is an intruder—external or internal—to drop in on sensitive meetings.”
9. Don’t forget to hit “mute” when you’re not talking. The fully remote Flexjobs is reliant on Zoom, and Kathy Gardner, senior director of PR and media, said: “Some of our best practices include muting yourself when you’re not talking, and using a headset for the best audio quality.” Gardner also recommended using the “raise hand” feature or, for the host to come up with an equivalent to indicate “when to speak, such as a chat comment that you want to chime in. It lessens people talking over each other.”
10. Don’t be too far from your router. A “culprit to extended buffering times and spotty connections, is your Wi-Fi. To boost performance in every room, routers need to be centralized—avoid cabinets or closets,” said a rep from Best Buy’s Geek Squad. “The more materials the signal must travel through, the weaker and slower the connection. For certain homes, a Wi-Fi repeater, or mesh network may be needed.”
11. Don’t forget good lighting. “Zoom is great, but if you’re sitting in the wrong spot, no one can see you. Try and pick a spot where the lighting is on your face or above you.” Just “make sure your room is well-lit,” said Calloway Cook, president of Illuminate Labs. “I’ve been on many calls where some of the members were in a room so dark you couldn’t make out their face. This looks unprofessional and gives the impression you’re not good at planning.”
12. Don’t use the brightest setting on your laptop or monitor. “If you’re wearing glasses, the bright monitor can reflect in the glasses and be distracting,” said Victoria Elder, owner of Victori Solutions.
13. Don’t forget to say “goodbye!” Gardner reminded: “Be sure to say ‘goodbye’ when you leave a video call. That may seem unimportant, as people will likely see your image leave the screen when you hang up, but good etiquette is never a bad idea.”
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The federal government is ordering the dissolution of TikTok’s Canadian business after a national security review of the Chinese company behind the social media platform, but stopped short of ordering people to stay off the app.
Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne announced the government’s “wind up” demand Wednesday, saying it is meant to address “risks” related to ByteDance Ltd.’s establishment of TikTok Technology Canada Inc.
“The decision was based on the information and evidence collected over the course of the review and on the advice of Canada’s security and intelligence community and other government partners,” he said in a statement.
The announcement added that the government is not blocking Canadians’ access to the TikTok application or their ability to create content.
However, it urged people to “adopt good cybersecurity practices and assess the possible risks of using social media platforms and applications, including how their information is likely to be protected, managed, used and shared by foreign actors, as well as to be aware of which country’s laws apply.”
Champagne’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment seeking details about what evidence led to the government’s dissolution demand, how long ByteDance has to comply and why the app is not being banned.
A TikTok spokesperson said in a statement that the shutdown of its Canadian offices will mean the loss of hundreds of well-paying local jobs.
“We will challenge this order in court,” the spokesperson said.
“The TikTok platform will remain available for creators to find an audience, explore new interests and for businesses to thrive.”
The federal Liberals ordered a national security review of TikTok in September 2023, but it was not public knowledge until The Canadian Press reported in March that it was investigating the company.
At the time, it said the review was based on the expansion of a business, which it said constituted the establishment of a new Canadian entity. It declined to provide any further details about what expansion it was reviewing.
A government database showed a notification of new business from TikTok in June 2023. It said Network Sense Ventures Ltd. in Toronto and Vancouver would engage in “marketing, advertising, and content/creator development activities in relation to the use of the TikTok app in Canada.”
Even before the review, ByteDance and TikTok were lightning rod for privacy and safety concerns because Chinese national security laws compel organizations in the country to assist with intelligence gathering.
Such concerns led the U.S. House of Representatives to pass a bill in March designed to ban TikTok unless its China-based owner sells its stake in the business.
Champagne’s office has maintained Canada’s review was not related to the U.S. bill, which has yet to pass.
Canada’s review was carried out through the Investment Canada Act, which allows the government to investigate any foreign investment with potential to might harm national security.
While cabinet can make investors sell parts of the business or shares, Champagne has said the act doesn’t allow him to disclose details of the review.
Wednesday’s dissolution order was made in accordance with the act.
The federal government banned TikTok from its mobile devices in February 2023 following the launch of an investigation into the company by federal and provincial privacy commissioners.
— With files from Anja Karadeglija in Ottawa
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 6, 2024.
LONDON (AP) — Most people have accumulated a pile of data — selfies, emails, videos and more — on their social media and digital accounts over their lifetimes. What happens to it when we die?
It’s wise to draft a will spelling out who inherits your physical assets after you’re gone, but don’t forget to take care of your digital estate too. Friends and family might treasure files and posts you’ve left behind, but they could get lost in digital purgatory after you pass away unless you take some simple steps.
Here’s how you can prepare your digital life for your survivors:
Apple
The iPhone maker lets you nominate a “ legacy contact ” who can access your Apple account’s data after you die. The company says it’s a secure way to give trusted people access to photos, files and messages. To set it up you’ll need an Apple device with a fairly recent operating system — iPhones and iPads need iOS or iPadOS 15.2 and MacBooks needs macOS Monterey 12.1.
For iPhones, go to settings, tap Sign-in & Security and then Legacy Contact. You can name one or more people, and they don’t need an Apple ID or device.
You’ll have to share an access key with your contact. It can be a digital version sent electronically, or you can print a copy or save it as a screenshot or PDF.
Take note that there are some types of files you won’t be able to pass on — including digital rights-protected music, movies and passwords stored in Apple’s password manager. Legacy contacts can only access a deceased user’s account for three years before Apple deletes the account.
Google
Google takes a different approach with its Inactive Account Manager, which allows you to share your data with someone if it notices that you’ve stopped using your account.
When setting it up, you need to decide how long Google should wait — from three to 18 months — before considering your account inactive. Once that time is up, Google can notify up to 10 people.
You can write a message informing them you’ve stopped using the account, and, optionally, include a link to download your data. You can choose what types of data they can access — including emails, photos, calendar entries and YouTube videos.
There’s also an option to automatically delete your account after three months of inactivity, so your contacts will have to download any data before that deadline.
Facebook and Instagram
Some social media platforms can preserve accounts for people who have died so that friends and family can honor their memories.
When users of Facebook or Instagram die, parent company Meta says it can memorialize the account if it gets a “valid request” from a friend or family member. Requests can be submitted through an online form.
The social media company strongly recommends Facebook users add a legacy contact to look after their memorial accounts. Legacy contacts can do things like respond to new friend requests and update pinned posts, but they can’t read private messages or remove or alter previous posts. You can only choose one person, who also has to have a Facebook account.
You can also ask Facebook or Instagram to delete a deceased user’s account if you’re a close family member or an executor. You’ll need to send in documents like a death certificate.
TikTok
The video-sharing platform says that if a user has died, people can submit a request to memorialize the account through the settings menu. Go to the Report a Problem section, then Account and profile, then Manage account, where you can report a deceased user.
Once an account has been memorialized, it will be labeled “Remembering.” No one will be able to log into the account, which prevents anyone from editing the profile or using the account to post new content or send messages.
X
It’s not possible to nominate a legacy contact on Elon Musk’s social media site. But family members or an authorized person can submit a request to deactivate a deceased user’s account.
Passwords
Besides the major online services, you’ll probably have dozens if not hundreds of other digital accounts that your survivors might need to access. You could just write all your login credentials down in a notebook and put it somewhere safe. But making a physical copy presents its own vulnerabilities. What if you lose track of it? What if someone finds it?
Instead, consider a password manager that has an emergency access feature. Password managers are digital vaults that you can use to store all your credentials. Some, like Keeper,Bitwarden and NordPass, allow users to nominate one or more trusted contacts who can access their keys in case of an emergency such as a death.
But there are a few catches: Those contacts also need to use the same password manager and you might have to pay for the service.
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LONDON (AP) — Britain’s competition watchdog said Thursday it’s opening a formal investigation into Google’s partnership with artificial intelligence startup Anthropic.
The Competition and Markets Authority said it has “sufficient information” to launch an initial probe after it sought input earlier this year on whether the deal would stifle competition.
The CMA has until Dec. 19 to decide whether to approve the deal or escalate its investigation.
“Google is committed to building the most open and innovative AI ecosystem in the world,” the company said. “Anthropic is free to use multiple cloud providers and does, and we don’t demand exclusive tech rights.”
San Francisco-based Anthropic was founded in 2021 by siblings Dario and Daniela Amodei, who previously worked at ChatGPT maker OpenAI. The company has focused on increasing the safety and reliability of AI models. Google reportedly agreed last year to make a multibillion-dollar investment in Anthropic, which has a popular chatbot named Claude.
Anthropic said it’s cooperating with the regulator and will provide “the complete picture about Google’s investment and our commercial collaboration.”
“We are an independent company and none of our strategic partnerships or investor relationships diminish the independence of our corporate governance or our freedom to partner with others,” it said in a statement.
The U.K. regulator has been scrutinizing a raft of AI deals as investment money floods into the industry to capitalize on the artificial intelligence boom. Last month it cleared Anthropic’s $4 billion deal with Amazon and it has also signed off on Microsoft’s deals with two other AI startups, Inflection and Mistral.
