Seventy percent of large businesses in Europe worry that remote-working policies due to COVID-19 are making them “more vulnerable” to cyberattacks, an AT&T study found. It canvassed 800 cybersecurity professionals, finding 55% believe work-from-home protocols leave them more susceptible. That jumps to 70% for large businesses. The experts identified employees as the source of the riskiest vulnerabilities. They reported 35% use the same device for work and play, and 24% “are sharing or storing sensitive information in unsanctioned cloud applications,” the telco said.

Dolby fiscal Q3 revenue fell 18% from the 2019 quarter and 30% sequentially, with TVs, PCs and mobile products outperforming set-top boxes, said Chief Financial Officer Lewis Chew on a Monday call. The quarter ended June 26. Lower unit shipments, products and services sales and Dolby Cinema revenue were due to COVID-19, he said. Theaters are reopening more slowly than Dolby expected. Revenue guidance for Q4 is $225 million-$255 million compared with $299 million in Q4 last year. Most of the potential decline can be blamed on the “economic ripple effect of the pandemic,” plus lower royalty recoveries, Chew said. CEO Kevin Yeaman said there’s “still a lot of uncertainty,” and “in addition to lower consumer spending, the pandemic has resulted in some shifts in the timing of new customer wins and revenues.” Licensees remain “deeply engaged” with adding Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos functionality, Yeaman said. Dolby Vision was installed on about 10% of 4K TV shipments in fiscal 2019, he said. The company expects to “materially increase that adoption rate” for fiscal 2020 “with a significant growth opportunity still ahead,” he said. Yeaman sees Dolby adoption accelerating on PCs and mobile devices and on gaming and music content. Colliers' Steven Frankel said Dolby has “navigated through the worst of the supply chain interruptions.” The analyst sees the potential for Dolby.IO, the company's developer platform effort, to move technologies from devices to applications, he wrote investors Tuesday.

Sony's core Electronics Products & Solutions (EP&S) consumer tech sector “was impacted by the spread of COVID-19 earlier and more significantly than any other segment," said Chief Financial Officer Hiroki Totoki Tuesday. It swung to a 9.1 billion yen ($85.8 million) operating loss in Q1 ended June 30 from a year-earlier profit. EP&S sales declined 31% to 331.8 billion yen. It’s forecasting a 6% fiscal year sales decline. The EP&S supply chain “has almost fully recovered” from disruptions after widespread instability through late June (see 2006290041), said Totoki. Though “progress varies” by product category and region, customer demand “is beginning to recover as well,” he said. EP&S is bracing “for potential second and third waves of COVID-19,” he said. It’s “transforming the structure of this business into a more resilient” organization, he said: It plans an “overhaul” of operations and “enhancement” of e-commerce distribution channels.

Emerald canceled 60 events through Q3 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and some beyond this year, with $197 million in 2019 revenue, said interim CEO Brian Field on a Q2 call Monday. The company postponed 14 events to second-half 2020 that had $8 million in 2019 revenue. Its shows include CEDIA Expo, canceled as a physical show next month in Denver and rescheduled as a virtual show Sept. 15-17 (see 2007090070). Emerald plans to reinstate the Expo as a physical show in September 2021 in Indianapolis. Its $7 million in Q2 revenue compared with $103 million in the 2019 quarter, the result of 20 cancellations, said Chief Financial Officer David Doft. Insurers paid $48.2 million. The show producer owed $45 million in refunds June 30, said Doft. On upcoming conferences, Field noted varying approaches cities and states are taking toward reopening. It’s looking over the next few months to see “where there's still a viable show that can take place safely and working with the local venue management.” Webinars and virtual events “have many of the same features” of live events, including keynotes, awards and virtual booths, said Field, “allowing our exhibitors to load their products and host virtual meetings with buyers.” Customers say this won’t replace the value of in-person shows, he noted: Emerald believes in an emerging hybrid model where virtual components will complement live events “once the medium is safe."

Massachusetts Institute of Technology open-source software overcomes videoconferencing limitations by supporting “impromptu conversations,” said its developers. Dubbed Minglr, it's designed to create spontaneous, information interactions similar to hallway conversations that office workers say they miss in the COVID-19-inspired work-from-home environment.

Maggy, a Belgian startup, is using a Silicon Labs Bluetooth module to power a social distancing wearable that warns users when the space between people is too small, said the chipmaker Monday. Maggy created the device for organizations seeking to protect employees and visitors from COVID-19. Users can wear it out of the box as a lanyard or place it in their pocket and immediately sense vibrating and beeping if they become too physically close to another person with a Maggy. Silicon Labs last week reported Q2 revenue of $207.5 million, vs. $206.7 million in the year-ago quarter. IoT revenue dropped 8%. For Q3, Silicon Labs' guidance is sales of $208 million-$218 million.

This year's virtual Display Week drew about 200 paid exhibitors, on par with Display Week’s usual draw as a physical event, said Sri Peruvemba, marketing chair for the Society for Information Display, which owns the conference. “SID, pretty much like any organization that has a physical event, relies on that physical event for most of its funding,” Peruvemba told a media briefing Monday via Zoom. “It has been a tremendous challenge this year.” The conference originally was planned as a physical event in June in San Francisco before being moved to August as a physical show in San Jose. Most of the online conference sessions were prerecorded (see 2008030052), but a few have live Q&A, said Peruvemba.

Economic recovery continues despite U.S. COVID-19 spikes, said National Retail Federation Chief Economist Jack Kleinhenz Monday. But the pace of improvement “appears to be slowing,” he said. Consumer spending was up 8.2% in May and 5.6% in June, he said. The Federal Reserve showed economic activity worsening on July 25 from July 18, he said. Other reports suggest the economy is “moving sideways,” Kleinhenz said: “The economy is far from being out of the woods. The question is whether it is re-entering the woods.”

The FCC Wireless Bureau approved a request for review to proceed under Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act for various towers being built by AT&T for FirstNet during COVID-19. The sites are in California, Iowa, South Dakota and Wisconsin.

Trends forged during the atypical 2020 season for back-to-school (BTS) shopping could have staying power, said Forrester analyst Brendan Witcher on a Monday RetailMeNot webinar. It might seem “a smart thing” to get as many customers into the store as possible, he said, “but that’s actually the wrong move.” Consumers during the COVID-19 pandemic “don’t want to walk into a crowded store,” said the analyst. Employees don’t want to work in a crowded store, either, he noted. Witcher encouraged retailers to publicize their stores’ safety protocols in their marketing messaging. Shoppers are preparing for the BTS season amid overall uncertainty about the virus and school policies, many faced with physical challenges of where to shop and whether they should pick up items in store or have them shipped. Witcher has been recommending that his retail clients put together BTS bundles that make sense for home schooling, “so that no matter where this pandemic takes us, you’re prepared to offer the right kinds of products to your consumers.” A May RetailMeNot survey said BTS spending would be up this year to $532 from an average $507 in 2019. Witcher said families trying to share computers are learning “what it costs to support a child in school who might have to do home or distance learning.” Flash drives, mice and tablets could push tech spending higher, he said. Having multiple alternative shopping options will be especially important this year, said the analyst, noting curbside pickup was the top investment retailers made during the COVID-19 lockdown period. He cited one large retailer that said its pre-pandemic buy online, pickup in store business was 60% of orders. Last week, the retailer reported its BOPIS business is four times that of ship-to-home. Part of that, Witcher said, could be “fear of returning” to a store if a product isn’t what the customer is seeking. Those trends are expected to continue into the holiday season.