At the end of last month, Industry Week published the final installment of a series that predicted likely challenges for the manufacturing sector in 2022. The article features Don Deptowicz, president of Aspen Hybrid Technology Solutions, who focuses on something called the transition to manufacturing gap.

We've covered both smart factories and industry 4.0 in recent posts. Yet, both of these phenomena are industry specific variations of a much larger technological trend that could disrupt both manufacturing and everyday life. Usually called the internet of things (IoT), this label describes the use of internet-connected hardware in the real world, which then uses a network's signal to communicate with other hardware in the environment.

Last week, we discussed the rise of smart factories, which are modern day manufacturing operations that use top of the line computing and technology to streamline their operations. In truth, however, smart factories are but one aspect of something much larger and more significant--something that has come to be known as the fourth industrial revolution or industry 4.0. The concept was first coined and explored by World Economic Forum founder, Klaus Schwab, in his aptly titled 2017 book.

2021 saw two large ransomware attacks on the industrial sector. The first was an attack on the Colonial Pipeline, which ended in a $4.4 million payout and nearly disrupted fuel supplies around the world. The second threatened to shutdown the world's largest meat producer, JBS SA, which is located in Brazil.

In August, we covered a ransomware attack on Kaseya, a large managed IT provider, that led to security issues for about 1500 businesses around the globe. That episode shows how one attack can induce problems throughout an entire supply chain. 2021 has cascaded one problem after another onto manufacturing supply chains in the United States and elsewhere.

Quick Announcement: We're switching gears this week and moving onto a new sector--manufacturing. Stay tuned for additional announcements.

With the new year approaching, many firms are considering how best to protect their enterprises on the IT front.

Everything has an app these days. From fitness trackers to parking meters, everyday technology that was once limited to simple analog mechanisms is now being integrated with algorithms and data bases. Toothbrushes are no different. So called smart toothbrushes have carved out a spot on the tech marketplace over the last few years, and this has many consumers asking if they should invest in this technological innovation.

In September, Science Daily covered a recently published study from a collaborative of researchers at the Universities of Pennsylvania and Indiana. The paper presented research about new technology relating to dental implants, relatively new dental appliances that replace damaged or diseased tooth roots with metal implants.

Quick Announcement: Due to the Thanksgiving holiday, there will be only one post this week. We will return to our normal publishing schedule next week on Tuesday, November 30, 2021.

Virtual reality (VR) refers to technology that creates interactive, simulated environments.

In the June 2021 issue of Dental News, a team of dental professors, graduate students, and computer researchers from Montreal published an article summarizing basic information and current trends relating to the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in dental care.