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Five Rural Estates To Own

The well-documented escape to the country continues unabated – metro dwellers looking for something more given ascendant city prices and COVID’s forced rethink on space and the traditional working week.

Here, we cut through the dross to deliver five standout escapes from across the country.

 

Olio Milo Estate, Pokolbin, NSW

Olio Milo represents the pinnacle of Hunter Valley living. The country estate features a 25.5-hectare vineyard and olive grove, including a small olive oil and wine business.

Elsewhere, the southern European styled six-bedroom main residence is accompanied by magnificent grounds, while a two-bedroom guest house, managers cottage and olive processing plant round out what is an exceptional and unique offering.

POA; Cullenroyle.com.au

 

5 Blake Court, Mount Samson, QLD

Courtesy Innov8 Property

Situated in a breathtaking location — with views of the hills and beyond — this impeccable residence is a combination of Hamptons and contemporary Queenslander, with soaring ceilings and beautiful timber adornments.

Beyond the two-hectares of land and jaw-dropping pool, the five-bedroom, four-bathroom, four-car garage pile offers impeccable ‘granny flat’, cinema room, Smeg, Miele and Liebherr appliances and a raft of smart home gadgetry.

POA; Innov8property.com.au

 

534 Donaldson Road, Ancona, VIC

Donaldson

‘Hayfield Rise’ is an incredible take on high-country architectural modernity, situated in Victoria’s impressive Ancona Valley.

Sat on 20 hectares, the home’s s four pavilions, five bedrooms and four bathrooms offer space, light and designer flourishes at all turns.

The home – which also wraps around a central pool – is characterised by the use of recycled timbers, concrete, stone and galvanised iron, touching on the past and also developing a unique, modern narrative.

The gardens, by acclaimed landscape designer Paul Bangay, surround the house and include fruit tree orchard, rose garden, perennial garden beds and more.

POA; Mcgrath.com.au

 

 

3383 Chittering Road, Chittering, WA

This is a majestic and modern 1000sqm home perched on a rise that allows stunning views across the Brockman River Valley.

The single-level house – which rests on 61-hectares – boasts five-bedrooms, three-bathrooms and room for 14 cars. Yes, 14. Floor to ceiling windows dominate, so too the use of cedar and Toodyay stone.

Wrapped around a luxury 25-metre pool, it’s outside you’ll also find an LED floodlit tennis/basketball/netball court, with an all-weather surface and fully enclosed cricket pitch as well as large, undercover playground area.

Located in the hills outside Perth — meaning trips to the ‘big smoke’ remain an option whenever needed.

$4,750,000; ljhooker.com.au

 

71 Sand Road, Jupiter Creek, SA

Courtesy: Dee-Anne Hunt

A heady combination of privacy, luxury and functionality, ‘Bandarrah’ provides the best in country living.

The expansive 574sqm residence offers six living spaces, five-bedrooms and three-bathrooms and is set across 21.85-hectares. There’s also designer pool and impressive entertainer’s pool house.

Set up for horses with 16 paddocks and four holding yards, the shedding complex will prove attractive to any serious car collector or those seeking a solid workshop.

While you won’t want to leave – Adelaide remains an easy 35-minute meander.

POA; Williamsproperty.com.au

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From Remote Work to Hybrid Work: The Tech You’ll Need To Link Home And Office

Hope your magic Mary Poppins, go-back-to-the-office bag is ready. Let’s see, you’re going to need your laptop, your laptop’s power adapter, your headphones, your headphones’ power adapter, your ring light, your ring light’s power adapter…

Oh, and you thought this was just a one-time pack? That’s cute. Prepare to do this two to three times a week, as you split time between your home-office and your office-office for the next, well, forever.

Welcome to the exciting new world of hybrid work.

“Somewhere in the vicinity of 60% of the workforce are choosing the hybrid option,” said Gartner analyst Suzanne Adnams, “which means their ideal is working at home and coming into the office three days a week.”

If I had a dollar for every time I heard “two to three days at the office” while reporting this column, a socially distanced steak dinner would be on me.

What isn’t as clear? Where you’ll go once you get to the office. That depends on your employer. Here are three possible options:

• Same-old desking: Business as usual. You still get your own desk, but maybe now, your chair and your colleague’s chair are farther apart.

• Hot desking: The horribly named trend where employees don’t have a permanently assigned desk. Also referred to as hoteling, flexing or desk swapping, this is becoming the leading hybrid option for a key reason: It doesn’t make sense to have one desk per person if people only come in a few times a week.

• No desking: The office isn’t for solo work but collaboration. So instead of desks there are mostly group meeting areas, with a privacy phone booth here and there. Companies including Dropbox have committed to this route.

I certainly can’t tell you in detail what’s going to happen at your company, but I can say this hybrid life will make you even more dependent on your tech tools. The very tech that enables us to work from anywhere (laptops and smartphones, video calling, Slack) is also the technology that stands to make this so messy.

Your colleagues are at the office whiteboarding but you’re stuck at home in a little Zoom box? You survive the commute to the office, only to discover you left your USB-C dongle on the kitchen table. Hey, Bob From Accounting, stop screaming on your video call. This isn’t your basement!

But I have hope. Not only did we prove our tech resilience when we embarked on the Great Work-From-Home Experiment a year ago but the makers of our most depended-upon products are paying attention and adapting for this next phase. Here are a few of the biggest hybrid challenges and some potential solutions.

I’m back to the good old commute, but at my hot desk, I have nothing, not even a coffee-stained mug.

There are no two ways about it, you’re going to need a bigger bag. And for the record: Anyone who tells you a backpack is only for middle schoolers is just wrong.

When you head to your building (assuming you remember where it is), you might have to pull out your phone. Your employer might require Covid-era health check-ins and other precautions, but it also might give you the opportunity to book your workspace, through systems like Robin or Salesforce’s Work.com.

Congrats, you made it to “your” desk. I can’t guess the tech that will be available when you get there, but expect it to be pretty bare-bones, especially if you BYOL (you know, bring your own laptop).

In Salesforce’s redesigned spaces, for instance, employees get just a desk and two side-by-side monitors, Jo-ann Olsovsky, the company’s chief information officer, told me.

At least Salesforce employees will be able to keep other belongings in lockers and easily get other tech peripherals—mice, keyboards, headsets, chargers—from tech vending machines situated around the offices. You don’t pay. Just swipe your employee badge, hit the button for your item and grab it from the bottom tray.

If your office’s vending machines only dispense stale Doritos, you might request stuff through your IT department. Regardless, you’ll likely be dragging your favorite equipment to and fro. Certainly, more expensive gear that you don’t own two of—tablets, microphones, noise-canceling headphones—will be in your bag.

For the smaller stuff—battery packs, charging cords, a mouse and the miscellaneous adapters to connect drives, memory cards and cables to your laptop—you’ll need a dongle bag. Don’t have one yet? Oh, you must. The one I just got, the InCase nylon accessory organiser, has mesh pockets and straps for organizing different cords and adapters. It lists for $50.

I’m at the office with some colleagues. Other colleagues are at home.

If you think going back to the office means the end of video calls, I have bad news for you. Expect most meetings from now on to have a video component and there to be even more cameras in the office—and not just in the conference rooms.

“It’s hard to imagine going into an office now and all those little closed spaces that might have had a phone in them not being video enabled,” Logitech Chief Executive Bracken Darrell told me, adding that he expects some companies to put webcams at hot-desk stations as well.

Executives who work on collaboration platforms at Microsoft, Google, Slack and Zoom said a key need was for employees at home and at work to feel like they’re on a level playing field when on calls and working together. Here are initiatives they’ve launched:

Microsoft Teams: A system called Teams Rooms links conference rooms with remote users who want to join in. Voice recognition in new compatible speakers can identify who in a room is talking, and the person’s name will appear on screen. You won’t be embarrassed dialling in from home, either: A new presenter mode removes the background of your video and places you in front of the presentation, or positions the presentation in a box over your shoulder in “reporter mode.”

Google Workspace: Google also powers speakers and cameras for the office, but as people leave the house, they’ll be using their phones more for video calling too. An update to the Google Meet phone app will better display people on video. A coming update to Google Docs, Sheets and Slides will include the ability to overlay voice and video chat as people work together on documents.

Slack: An audio-room feature is coming, so users can quickly hop on a conference call. Think Clubhouse but for quick meetings. The company, which Salesforce agreed to buy, is also adding a feature for sharing prerecorded video messages. This could help a manager send an announcement to everyone, whether they’re in the office or at home.

Zoom: The pandemic’s breakout star has its own conference-room service called, say it with me, Zoom Rooms. The company’s Zoom Rooms Controller app for iOS and Android lets people in the conference room control meetings from their phones—no need to touch the grimy shared keyboard or room control panel.

A bigger challenge: What if the in-person meeting includes some physical stuff, like a whiteboard? How do the people at home keep up and contribute?

Google and Microsoft have tried to make that easier. Microsoft makes the Surface Hub—a giant Windows tablet for offices that runs the cloud-connected Microsoft Whiteboard app. Those on a Microsoft Teams call can view and add to the digital whiteboard. Same idea with Google’s Jamboard. People in the office can scribble on the giant screen and those in a Google Meet video call can view and add to it. Zoom works with third-party hardware makers to integrate whiteboarding.

I’m working from home today—how do I share that with the world?

The upside to all this is being stuck at home won’t be as bad as it once was. You’re already honing your setup, and some companies even plan to continue subsidizing employees home-office needs. And now that you’ve gotten used to overcommunicating your schedule and deadlines? You just keep doing that, wherever you are.

Google’s added some features to its calendar to help, including what it calls “segmentable working hours.” You can make it clear to colleagues what location you’re working from or if you’re doing something else, like exercising or commuting. Slack is also exploring adding more status options to indicate your whereabouts.

This return to the office may have a slick name—hybrid work—but make no mistake, it’s as hybrid as Frankenstein’s monster. Just remember, one year ago we got through a pretty cataclysmic work change, and we will do it again. Just don’t forget about the dog.

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SURGE IN NATIONAL HOUSING AND RENTAL PRICES

REIA HOUSING

The weighted average capital city median price of houses and other dwellings officially increased for the December quarter 2020.

Figures from the Real Estate Institute of Australia (REIA) report ‘Real Estate Market Facts’ indicate a 6% rise for houses and 0.9% rise for other dwellings during for the period.

“The weighted average median house price for the eight capital cities increased to $825,205,” said Adrian Kely, REIA President. “Over the quarter the median house price increased in all capital cities,”

“At $1,211,488, Sydney’s median house price continues to be the highest amongst the capital cities, 46.8% higher than the national average.

“At $490,000 Perth has the lowest median house price across Australian capital cities, 40.6% lower than the national average. Over the 12 months to the December quarter, the weighted average capital city median house price increased by 6.6%.

The weighted average median price for other dwellings for the eight capital cities increased to $601,345, a quarterly increase of 0.9%. The only city to not see a rise was Adelaide.

The REIA figures also outed a rise in median rent for 2-bedroom houses in Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth, Canberra and Darwin.

Sydney, Melbourne and Hobart, meanwhile, remained steady.

“Other dwelling rents during the quarter, the median rent for 2-bedroom other dwellings increased in Perth, Canberra and Darwin, remained steady in Brisbane and Hobart but decreased in Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide,” added Kelly. “Darwin had the largest increase over the quarter [6.6%].”

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Regional Areas Increasingly Unaffordable

Regional areas have felt the affordability pinch far greater than capital cities according to the latest report by the Housing Institute of Australia (HIA).

“Housing in Australia became less affordable in the December 2020 quarter due to rising house prices and a slight fall in average incomes. Despite the decline, housing is considerably more affordable than the average over the past 20 years,” stated Angela Lillicrap, HIA’s Economist.

HIA’s Affordability Index is calculated for each of the eight capital cities and regional areas on a quarterly basis and takes into account the latest dwelling prices, mortgage interest rates and wage developments.

“Regional areas experienced a larger decline in affordability than the capital cities. The regional index fell by 3.7 per cent in the quarter to return to the level it was in December 2019,” added Ms Lillicrap.

Ms Lillicrap also said that COVID-19 was a driving force that shifted consumer preferences in the first three quarters of 2020 with migration data showing more Australians left the capital cities during that time since records began in 2001.

“As a consequence of this shift in population, house prices in regional areas outperformed the capital cities over the past year.

“Sydney continues to be the most unaffordable market with an index reading of 66.4 in the December quarter. Melbourne is also considered an extremely unaffordable market with an index level of 77.5,” concluded Ms Lillicrap.

The HIA Housing Affordability Index for the capital cities decreased by 2.5 per cent in the December 2020 quarter, meaning affordability deteriorated. This was driven by declines in Darwin (-4.9 per cent), Brisbane (-3.1 per cent) and Adelaide (-3.1 per cent). Hobart and Perth both declined by 3.0 per cent, followed by Canberra (-2.8 per cent) and Melbourne (-1.4 per cent). Affordability in Sydney declined by 0.8 per cent. Regional areas declined by 3.7 per cent over the same period, 

 

 

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How to Understand The Small-Stock Rally

Small stocks so far this year have beaten their large-capitalisation brethren by a wider margin than they have in more than two decades, raising questions about what is driving the outperformance and what it means for the overall market ahead.

The year-to-date return for small-caps through the end of February was a remarkable 25 percentage points greater than that of large-caps (as measured by the 20% of stocks with the smallest market caps vs. the comparative quintile of the largest). While it isn’t unexpected for small-cap portfolios to beat large-caps over time—a long-term tendency that Wall Street analysts refer to as the “size effect”—what is unusual is the magnitude of the outperformance. It has averaged just 0.9 percentage point over all two-month periods since 1926, according to data from Dartmouth professor Ken French.

You have to go back to January and February of 2000, at the top of the internet-stock bubble on Wall Street, to find a two-month stretch in which the small-caps beat the large-caps by more. Their margin of outperformance over those two months was 41 percentage points.

Any parallel to the top of the internet-stock bubble is ominous, to be sure. But there are several idiosyncrasies to small-caps’ recent performance that stand in the way of drawing any straightforward analogies to the frenzy in small stocks that heralded the 2000 tech-stock crash.

Indeed, according to several researchers, small-caps’ recent strength may actually be something else in disguise—that is, it may have to do with factors other than just size, such as the battle between growth and value stocks.

That doesn’t mean there is nothing to worry about in this bull market, where valuations are stretched thin for many stocks. But it does mean that investors who are focused solely on the small-cap/large-cap divergence could be missing the bigger picture.

Here’s why.

1. Value versus growth

One distinction that is crucial for understanding the relative strength of small-caps this year has to do with where small- and large-cap stocks lie on the growth-versus-value spectrum. Small-cap stocks currently are far closer to the value end of the spectrum than large-caps, meaning they are trading for lower prices relative to their net worth.

A stock’s place on this spectrum is defined by its ratio of price to per-share book value, with the highest ratios at the growth extreme and the lowest at the value extreme. Consider the Russell Microcap Index, which contains the smallest 1,000 stocks in the broad-market Russell 3000 index. Its average price-to-book ratio was 2.5 as of the end of February, according to Russell Indexes. That compares with a 4.2 ratio for the Russell 1000 Index (which contains the largest 1,000 stocks) and a 5.7 ratio for the Russell Top 50 Mega-Cap Index (which contains the largest 50 stocks).

These are significant differences, according to Kent Daniel, a finance professor at Columbia University and a former co-chief investment officer at Goldman Sachs. He says that, on average, small-cap growth stocks tend to underperform the market, while small-cap value stocks tend to outperform. Since 1926, he says, the smallest-cap stocks closest to the growth end of the spectrum have lost 3.3% annualized, while the smallest most value-oriented stocks have gained 13.3% annualized.

This pattern has been especially strong in recent months, making it difficult to determine what accounts for small-caps’ relative strength this year. But Prof. Daniel says there is the distinct possibility that it is really a “value effect masquerading as a size effect.” If so, a bet on small-cap relative strength continuing is really a bet that value will outperform growth.

That bet may pay off in coming months, he says, and value could continue to outperform growth for many years. But he also says that value stocks have lagged behind growth stocks for at least a decade now, and while there have been numerous predictions of a value resurgence over that time, it hasn’t happened—at least not yet.

2. Sector bets

The benchmark indexes for small-caps and large-caps have different sector weightings, which also makes it difficult to gauge whether the recent relative strength of small-caps is actually due to company size.

Consider the information-technology sector. The ETF benchmarked to the largest 50 stocks currently has a 38.6% weighting to this sector, more than three times the 12.7% weighting of the Russell Microcap Index.

Conversely, the microcap index has more than 10 times the weighting of the largest-50-stock ETF to the industrials sector (11.7% versus 0.8%) and more than double the allocation to the financials sector (17.6% to 7.1%).

These differences are a big part of small-caps’ year-to-date performance, since industrials and financials have each outperformed the information-technology sector. It was just the opposite for calendar 2020, and sure enough, the smallest stocks lagged behind the largest last year.

Until there are small-cap and large-cap benchmarks with the same sector weightings—Prof. Daniel says he is unaware of any currently—it will be difficult to determine what is driving small stocks’ relative strength. If it is being caused by differences in sector weightings, however, it is likely to persist only if the sectors in which the small-caps are overweight continue outperforming.

3. Is the small-cap effect real?

This discussion also points to a more fundamental question that many researchers have been asking in recent years: Does the small-cap effect even exist, in and of itself? That is, do smaller firms really have higher returns than larger firms, on average, over long periods?

Andrea Frazzini, a principal at AQR Capital Management and an adjunct professor of finance at New York University, has concluded that it exists only among a very narrow group of stocks. He says that some of the relative strength of small-caps in recent months traces to speculative fervour for stocks outside that narrow group, making it risky to bet that it will continue.

According to his research, small-caps are a good bet to outperform the large-caps only if you limit your focus to companies with high financial quality. By financial quality he means firms that are profitable, have robust profit growth and a stable earnings stream and a high dividend-payout policy, among other characteristics. Many of the small companies that have performed the best so far this year don’t qualify.

Companies that have been bid higher in recent weeks through social-media investor campaigns—such as GameStop and AMC Entertainment—are two obvious examples, but they are hardly alone in not qualifying for Prof. Frazzini’s high-quality category. Nearly half of the 2,000 companies in the Russell 2000 small-stock index, for example, lost money in 2020.

Prof. Frazzini’s research therefore suggests that, if you want to bet on a continuation of recent small-cap relative strength, you should focus on small stocks that score high on various measures of financial strength, safety and quality. And don’t sweat the comparisons to that internet-stock frenzy of 20 years ago.

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Let’s Redesign The Laptop For A Work-From-Home Era

Work From Home

With remote work by and large here to stay, a lot of focus has turned toward the key work-from-home technology tool: the laptop. But relying so heavily on the laptop has raised all sorts of issues—from camera and sound quality to security and privacy.

What developments are coming to laptops to make remote work easier? And what developments should be coming? Here’s what a variety of experts had to say about that.

1. Improve the way we look on camera…

The better we get at videoconferencing, the more we notice bad videoconferencing and poor camera angles. Innovation in software will make us all look better on camera.

There’s already software to edit the view of the pupil of your eye so it looks like you’re focused on the camera. It’s not a big leap to think software will scan our faces and present a virtual camera view that shows us at our most flattering angle with a little motion thrown in for realism.

Going a step further, more workers who are in continuous meetings don’t want to stare into a camera or at a single screen all day. Having more than one camera—think a production studio for the home office—could enable meeting software to smoothly switch automatically from one camera to another depending on where you focus your eyes.

We should also see an evolution of tablet and laptop design to improve the way we look on camera. If you have a device with a detachable keyboard, you can already position your screen and its camera on a stand to get a better angle. Separating the laptop camera so you can put it anywhere is a logical step.

You already have another camera: your smartphone. With the right app, you can send smartphone-camera video to your computer, and, jumping through a hoop or two, get that video into a meeting. This could be more plug-and-play in the future, making the camera on your mobile device just another peripheral that you can put wherever you like for your computer to use.

Cameras under the screen are coming in smartphone design. That will make its way to laptops. We’ll look our colleagues right in the eye on screen and we won’t need to make any special effort.

—Adam Preset, senior research director, collaboration and employee experience, at GartnerInc., a research and advisory company

2. …And the way we sound

Perhaps the least-expensive and biggest-impact upgrade to current speaking/hearing systems on laptops would be better microphones. Not only does everyone on conferences sound echo-y and tinny, but it is hard to understand the words sometimes.

And, just as important, it can be difficult to hear those small sounds that signal approval, such as uh-huh; confusion, such as hmm; or when someone wants to speak, such as ah or mmm. The inability to hear these small signalling sounds makes conversations more stressful and less effective.

Real-time, artificial-intelligence analysis of conversations can solve this problem, providing additional cues that help people have more meaningful conversations. This really works and is available today.

In addition, research shows that the audio quality is just as important as video quality when judging the overall “quality” and “presence” of the conference experience. While microphone quality is most important to the audio experience, speaker quality is also a big factor. With additional speakers, one could have small group meetings that were much closer to the “natural” experience of in-person meetings. They would be so much less stressful and more effective.

—Alex “Sandy” Pentland, Toshiba professor of media arts and science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

3. Better wireless connections

For most people the main form of connectivity for their laptop is wireless. Various forms of wireless connectivity are being substantially improved. The latest generation of Wi-Fi (Wi-Fi 6) hit the market in 2019. It offers increased speed, lower latency and the ability to more effectively share Wi-Fi spectrum with the ever-increasing number of connected devices in homes.

More recently, Wi-Fi 6E products have been announced that will use new spectrum at 6 GHz that the Federal Communications Commission recently made available for unlicensed access. This represents the biggest increase in spectrum for Wi-Fi in 20 years.

Looking forward, work has already begun on Wi-Fi 7. Each of these brings further performance improvements in speed and latency. In parallel, the rise of 5G cellular is enabling similar improvements for laptops equipped with 5G modems, with the added benefit of being able to easily connect when users venture out of their homes.

The improvements in Wi-Fi and 5G can enable laptops to support higher-quality videoconferencing and augmented-reality/virtual-reality applications. They will also allow users to unload much of their memory and computing into the cloud, resulting in thinner and lighter laptops with longer battery lives.

—Randall Barry, John Dever professor of electrical and computer engineering, Northwestern University

4. More, and better, screens

Screen sizes of individual devices are unlikely to get bigger, but the total amount of screen real estate will increase. People will prefer using multiple monitors for better multitasking—to access other applications while videoconferencing, for example.

People will benefit from software that can flexibly migrate their work across multiple screens, ranging from situated workstations to laptop computers to mobile devices. For instance, people might want to move their meeting to a different device to enable a walk outside or a move to the kitchen.

If there is a strong demand for working outside, software interfaces will have to become more adaptive, adjusting contrast and brightness.

We will need longer-lasting batteries to power brighter screens. And computer processors and operating systems need to be smarter to allocate resources from elsewhere if maximizing screen brightness is a higher priority. We might even see alternate display technologies (such as head-mounted retinal displays) that can avoid the impact of outdoor light.

—Xiang “Anthony” Chen, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering, UCLA Samueli School of Engineering

5. Nix the noise

All sorts of audio issues arise with work-from-home use of laptops. Roommates quarrelling, pets barking or just the hum of the city have been hard to suppress while laptop users are in video or audioconferences. However, help is on its way.

Algorithms on laptops will soon be able to separate out background noises, and do so fast enough that the disturbances get continuously filtered out before leaving the laptop. The same can be done at the receiver’s end: If Bob’s laptop cannot filter out its own background noise, his counterpart Alice could run the filtering, so her laptop speakers only play Bob’s clear voice.

Of course, random background noises are harder to eliminate than steady, familiar noises. But these filtering algorithms can retrain themselves to become better gatekeepers the next time around.

Peering further down the audio road, it might even be possible for laptops to create sound bubbles around the user’s head. This means the laptop speakers would radiate the sound in a way that’s clearly audible around a user’s ears, while ensuring near silence close by, say where the user’s roommate is reading.

—Romit Roy Choudhury, professor of electrical and computer engineering, University of Illinois

6. Sharpening the background

Virtual backgrounds are on their way to being a necessary part of the online meeting experience.

As a host, dynamic background images can go a long way in differentiating your 10 a.m. Zoom meeting from the 3:30 p.m. meeting. Likewise, as a meeting attendee, you can make your contributions more memorable by either removing the distractions of your living room or by using a background that might complement the subject matter or time of day of the meeting.

Good lighting and a laptop camera that can place you in front of an abstract design or tropical background without looking like you were cut out and pasted in with a pair of safety scissors will aid in making virtual meetings feel more professional.

—Peter Plotica, manager of web and digital design, Data Science Institute, Columbia University

7. Security inside and outside the laptop

Working from home creates a number of security concerns for companies, which will lead to enhancements for laptops that you can and can’t see.

As for those that are visible, we’ve already started to see laptops adopting new fingerprint recognition to unlock a device. Similarly, laptop manufacturers may adopt facial recognition or other biometric unlocking software similar to what we have grown accustomed to on cellphones.

Beyond the device itself, we may see a rise in personal and corporate virtual private networks and multifactor authentication. In addition, companies may focus on post-quantum security, leveraging cryptographic algorithms in their systems.

—Mark Gibson, U.S. technology, media and telecommunications leader, KPMG

8. High-tech lost and found

Laptops are coming with various hardware and software to track them if they are lost or stolen.

The most obvious method is GPS tracking of laptops. There are software tools available with all popular laptop operating systems that use GPS to find the device. Still, GPS tracking can be disabled, and its effectiveness can be compromised indoors.

The second line of defense is radio frequency identification tags. The low-cost RFID tags put on machines in retail stores don’t work well, due to the presence of significant amounts of metal in laptops. To ensure high read rates at a distance, metal mount tags can be placed on the laptop. Then a corporation can use its existing RFID-based tracking system to keep tabs on its laptops.

One issue with the surge in tracking is whether the user’s privacy will be breached. There’s the perennial dilemma between privacy and utility. It will be essential for lawmakers to roll out legal guidance as to how such ubiquitous tracking information can be used by law enforcement in cases involving private citizens.

—Somali Chaterji, assistant professor of agricultural and biological engineering, Purdue University

9. Keeping the laptop safe (from kids and others)

Individuals and companies are focusing on how to protect work laptops now that they are being used more often from the home. There are a number of basic security hygiene rules that can be put in place to protect a device.

These include screen-lock timers, so kids can’t access a device when the employee has left the room; limiting administrative-level privileges to the general workforce, so others can’t download inappropriate products onto a device; and using complex passwords or multifactor authentication to provide foundational defence against misuse by casual threats, such as family members, friends or domestic workers.

Meanwhile, security-conscious organizations are placing added security tools and layered encryption onto devices to protect them not only from family members, but also nation-state actors and the common thief. These tools can limit unauthorized user behaviour, such as plugging in removable media devices or using Wi-Fi at a local coffee shop.

Organizations also might deploy a heartbeat security model. That’s when devices have an authorized amount of time they are allowed to work outside organization-owned buildings or off the enterprise network. In addition, laptops can be equipped with advanced security software that takes defensive actions, such as powering off devices to wipe clean the entire hard drive if the device doesn’t check in within the approved intervals.

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Wage Growth Halts Rate Rise

RBA Boss Philip Lowe

Reserve Bank of Australia governor, Dr Philip Lowe, has dented any suggestion of a pending rise in official interest rates, citing slow levels of wages growth, inflation and current unemployment figures as factors that will see maintained rates through until to at least 2024.

His comments come as the Australian housing market engages unprecedented levels of growth — with many tipping a necessary increase in rates given the stronger than anticipated march out of the pandemic.

Speaking at the Australian Financial Review’s Sydney business summit, Dr Lowe said that despite the strong economy, interest rates – which the bank cut to a record low of 0.1 per cent in 2020 – would only start rising when wages were growing fast enough to lift inflation.

“The point I want to emphasise is that for inflation to be sustainably within the 2-3% target range, wages growth needs to be materially higher than it is currently,”  Dr Lowe said.

Wages growth currently sits at a record low of 1.4 per cent.

“The evidence strongly suggests that this will not occur quickly and that it will require a tight labour market to be sustained for some time. Predicting how long it will take is inherently difficult, so there is room for different views. But our judgment is that we are unlikely to see wages growth consistent with the inflation target before 2024. This is the basis for our assessment that the cash rate is very likely to remain at its current level until 2024.”

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Perth To Lead National Property Market Recovery

Perth Housing

Perth’s residential market is on track to record double-digit growth in 2021 for the first time in 11 years.

That’s according to CBRE’s 2021 Australia Real Estate Market Outlook Report which predicts Perth’s house prices to grow between 9% – 12% and unit prices to lift 5%-7% in 2021 which will lead the nation’s property market recovery post-COVID-19

The growth is forecast off the back of positive interstate migration, solid resources outlook and Federal Government incentives such as Homebuilder and additional State support packages that are boosting the construction sector.

“Supply also remains tight [in Perth] with vacancy already sub-1% which is leading to strong rental growth and providing attractive opportunities for investment in 2021,” said CBRE’s Head of Residential Research Craig Godber.

“For investor markets, the supply/demand imbalance will tip towards oversupply until international migration resumes, although, markets with low levels vacancy (e.g. Brisbane and Perth) will recover more quickly than the Sydney and Melbourne, where vacancy remains elevated.”

Sydney is expected to see house price growth of between 7%-10%, while units will experience a 0%-3% rise. Similarly, 7%-10% growth is forecast for Brisbane’s housing market and units are on track to record a 3%-5% value uplift.

The report predicts 5%-7% growth for both Adelaide and Canberra’s housing markets, with the former expecting a 3%-5% rise in unit prices and the latter tracking an uplift of 0%-3% for units.

A longer recovery is expected for Melbourne, with house prices expected to lift 3%-5% in 2021 and no increases for unit values.

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Handsome Humidifiers To Make Your Home Healthier

Humidifiers

The chemist humidifier has been a sick-day essential since the 1920s, when the electric version replaced its predecessor, the perilous open-flame alcohol croup kettle. But it’s also essential to maintain moisture in your everyday air, said Dr. Stephanie Taylor, an infection-control consultant at Harvard Medical School. Our immune systems function best when indoor relative humidity levels are at 40%-60%, she said. That ideal range can also decrease the number of harmful airborne particles—including respiratory viruses like Covid-19—in indoor environments.

Today’s evolved humidifiers, no longer the obtrusive, glugging gadgets of the past, elevate air quality without destroying ambience. Here are four picks:

For WFH Warriors

Humidifier, from $125, getcanopy.co

 

Like a mini water cooler, Canopy’s namesake humidifier can perch on a home office desk and hydrate up to 500 square feet. Available in white and three pastel colours, it includes an old-school, paper-based filter with embedded UV lights that prevent mould. To help you focus, diffuser pucks scent the air with essential oils such as eucalyptus and lavender. A subscription option sends fresh filters and aroma-kit refills every 45 days for $25 a shipment.

For Aesthetes

H4 Hybrid Humidifier, $200, objecto.com

If the idea of placing any kind of appliance in your living space makes your nostrils flare with indignity, look to the H4 Hybrid humidifier from the equally design-obsessed brand Objecto. Its graceful teardrop silhouette blends discreetly into any space. Ultra-quiet, the machine comes with a remote control in a matching miniature shape.

For Problem Sleepers

MistAire Cloud Ultrasonic Humidifier & Mood Light, $50, pureenrichment.com

Shaped like a cartoon cloud, Pure Enrichment’s device not only emits a cool mist, it glows. Choose a single colour for a night light, or cycle through eight for a bedtime light show. “Most people tend to sleep with their mouths open, so the already dry winter air causes our mucus to thicken, clogging our nasal passages,” explained Dr. Casey Kelley, founder of the Chicago clinic Case Integrative Health. With a humidifier, mouth-breathers can wake up less congested and dry.

For Skin-Care Zealots

Portable Facial Humidifier, $39, heydewy.com

According to Los Angeles aesthetician Shani Darden, whose clients include Jessica Alba and Chrissy Teigen, using a moisturising humidifier can help offset the aging effects of free radicals in polluted air. As compact as a coffee mug—not to mention super-portable and USB-chargeable—Hey Dewy’s facial humidifier can be used in a skin-care routine in the morning and at night or as a pick me up throughout the day. The angled spout directs the spray, evoking a fancy spa device.

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Being Outside Is Good For Your Health—But Does Golf Count?

In response to our recent story about the health benefits of spending time in nature, readers wanted to know: What type of nature counts?

 

The bottom line

Lots of studies indicate it is good for you to spend time in the woods. But what about the beach? The garden? On a motorcycle? What about a golf course? What if you don’t walk the golf course but ride in a cart? What if you’re having a really frustrating game?

Though hundreds of studies convincingly suggest that spending time in nature is good for health and longevity, scientists still don’t know exactly why. “What really is it about ‘nature’ that makes us healthier? We can’t nail it down to one thing that is true for all people,” says Christopher Minson, a University of Oregon physiology professor and chief science officer of NatureQuant, a startup working on an app for users to track the time they spend in nature.

Take golf courses, for instance. Those count as nature because they are green space. Numerous studies have associated golf with improved health. But is that because of the exercise or the nature? “No research I’m aware of has directly investigated whether the health benefits to being on a golf course can be attributed to nature itself,” Dr. Minson says.

 

The details

Beach time? It is good for your physical and mental health, according to a growing body of research. Adults in England who live in coastal areas “tend to be happier and healthier than similar individuals inland,” according to a study published in the journal Environment International in 2019. That may be partly because they were more physically active. They took more walks. The difference in onland physical activity between those living less than 5 kilometres—or a little over 3 miles—from the coast and those living more than 50 kilometres was equal to cycling 14 to 40 minutes a week at 15km an hour, the researchers found.

That wasn’t the only reason, though, according to the study. People living inland near “blue spaces”—rivers and lakes—also reported greater health and happiness that wasn’t associated with physical activity.

No, you don’t have to be exercising to reap the benefits of nature.

The practice the Japanese call “forest bathing” is strongly linked to lower blood pressure, heart rate and stress hormones and decreased anxiety, depression and fatigue. It also is linked to decreased inflammation. Many scientists believe the benefits aren’t due just to clean air and less noise, but the substances released from trees, plants and soil. Those include organic compounds, pollen, fungi and bacteria that contribute to the diversity of microorganisms humans need for a robust and diverse microbiome—all the tiny living things on us and in us that protect us from disease. So just breathing the fresh forest air may help strengthen our immune systems, according to a review published in February in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health.

The benefits don’t just occur in forests. Scientists define nature as all sorts of environments dominated by living material, from a small urban park to the wilderness, according to research. Their definition of “nature exposure” ranges from plants in a room to camping trips to virtual reality.

That means you are likely to get some nature benefits from gardening, kayaking or even on a motorcycle, assuming it’s out in the country, says Dr. Minson. A lot more research is needed to know just how much.