The latest and most notable technological jump has, undoubtedly, been the recent leap in remote computing technology. Access to gadgets like tablets and smartphones is widely accessible and extremely popular with tech users. But what does this mean for the personal computer? With the recent shift towards portable personal computing, is there still a place in the technological landscape for PCs? The answer is a simple and resounding “yes.” Here are three of the biggest reasons why.

Desktops Are Still Needed

    The death of the desktop computer has been predicted for years, yet it has never come. This is because updated and new technologies are still unable to reach the top-level performance of a well-built PC. The speed and power used to run complex programs can’t be duplicated elsewhere. Neither the tablet nor the smartphone can operate at the level of a modern desktop unit. Because of this, the desktop continues to be a foundational computing technology, one that isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.

Tablets Are Less Practical
   
    It’s plain to see the value of a good tablet. The portability and connectivity options make them highly useful tools. However, PCs are still the preferred model for high end computing. There are certain tasks that are easier to complete on a PC in ways that outmatch the usefulness of a tablet. Because of this, PCs are still the preferred machine for typing long documents, running sophisticated programs or even surfing the web. The size and accoutrements of PCs make them the more practical machine.

Smartphones Are Less Functional

    It seems like everyone is using a smartphone these days. They are one of the most popular technologies in recent years, and an extremely helpful tool when interacting with email and social media or even making a call. Some critics say that smartphones will begin to steal the laptop market as their design becomes more sophisticated. However, Smartphones still face certain physical limitations. The average basic laptop user utilizes their machine for Internet access and word processing. While smartphones offer some competition in Internet access, can you imagine a student writing a complete term paper on a tiny smartphone screen? Neither can we.

    While the portable industry has made remote computing better than ever, it’s still important to have faith in the importance of PCs. For more reasons why the PC age is still alive and well, take a look at this article.

In the age of connectivity, the rules of etiquette have either gotten more complex or have been thrown out all together. In social situations these days, you are often inundated with phone calls, texts, emails, updates from Twitter, Facebook, or other any number of other social media feeds. It may seem like a wise practice to turn off your cell phone or perhaps silence it in social settings, but some people don’t realize that they aren’t giving you their full attention when they say the alert from their phone will “only take a second.” Here are a few examples of connectivity faux pas and tips to avoid making them.

Phones at the Dinner Table – We were taught as children not to interrupt people when they are speaking, yet increasing numbers of people don’t consider texting or answering their phone as an interruption. Anytime your attention is diverted from the person you are with it is an interruption.

Tips to Avoid this:

• Excuse yourself from the table if you need to take an urgent call.
• If you know you will be distracted and curious if your phone alerts you of a text, take a preventive step and turn it off.
• For dinners lasting longer than an hour, you could suggest the table take a “cell phone break” for those who need or want to check their emails or messages.

Loud Phone Calls in Public Places – No one wants to hear the ins and outs of a stranger’s relationship. While you may not realize how loudly you are speaking or how quiet the environment around you is, you can be certain the people around you do.

Tips to Avoid this:

• Silence your phone and do not answer it
• If you need to answer the call, step away to a secluded area to take it and tell the caller that their call is important and you will call them back in x amount of minutes.
• If you must take the phone call and you are waiting in line, ask the person behind you to hold your spot and quickly go take your call.

Becoming Overly Dependent on Digital Communication – By making email the best way to reach you, you run the risk of disconnecting from the world around you. In face-to-face social situations, your email may become a distraction, as you will feel the need to check it regularly.

Tips to Avoid this:

• Make the most of face-to-face communications.
• Make your phone to be the best way to get a hold of you over email or texting.
• Resist the urge to respond to email immediately, wait to check it after you leave your social engagement.

It’s up to us to be aware and realize when we are invading other‘s space or ignoring our companions because we are too connected. Hopefully following some of these etiquette rules will help us make the most of face-to-face communications that are happening less frequently in this age of connectivity. Can you think of other social faux pas that occur as a result of digital communication? If so, let us know!

We all network, every day. At its base level, networking is simply communicating with someone in an effective way. Whether it’s a conversation at the water cooler or at a business event, knowing how to effectively network is an important skill for anyone growing in his or her career. Here are some key tips and tricks to keep in mind whenever you find yourself in an important conversation. Remember, these tips may be appropriate in all areas of life, but are especially helpful in developing a business personality.

You’re There to Give, not Get

    Giving an arduous monologue can easily get in the way of a meaningful conversation. Don’t let your portion of the conversation overrun that of the person with whom you are speaking. Remember, you should do your best to contribute to the conversation in a constructive way. This means allowing the conversation partner ample time to speak their mind and share their thoughts. Don’t forget to respect the speaking time of the other person in the conversation. You’re there to give a platform for the other person to speak.

Don’t Appear Desperate

    In this way, networking at a professional level is the same as dating. Being too desperate is a major turn off. If you find yourself networking with someone in a higher position or someone who could offer you something professionally, do your best to avoid appearing needy. Instead, find confidence in what you’re offering them. Believe that what you have to offer is beneficial, because it most certainly is! If you don’t have confidence in what you can bring to the table skillfully, it may be a sign that you should peruse other endeavors. Bear in mind, when networking professionally, confidence is key.

Ask Open-Ended Questions

    Keeping the conversation alive is important. Be careful to stay away from “yes” or “no” questions, because they generally deny the responder the chance to elaborate. If you do have a “yes” or “no” question, try rephrasing it to make it more open ended. For example, asking, “do you play any sports” is not as effective as asking “what sports do you play?” Sure, there is a chance that the responder doesn’t play any sports, but that’s an answer that they will be able to give as well as elaborate on. Allowing the chance for elaboration makes the responder feel appreciated.

Networking is all about staying relaxed and maintaining sincere conversations. For more tips, check out this article.

When large companies change their service plan it usually comes as a surprise to the consumer. They may change pricing, put new limitations, or get rid of certain services altogether. While these transitions go smoothly for some companies other companies make changes so abruptly and drastically that it can cause quite a stir.

A perfect example of the latter is the recent Netflix debacle. Netflix, seemingly overnight, raised their prices and changed their service offering significantly. Because of this, more than a half million people dropped the service completely, a number significantly greater than they had anticipated. Last Sunday, Reed Hastings, CEO of Netflix, sent out emails to each customer and posted an apology on their blog for the way the company handled the announcement of the recent reorganization. For some his acknowledgement that he “… messed up. [And he owes] everyone an explanation,” was not enough. Within the apology he dropped another bomb that the streaming and DVD-by-mail services will be separated into separate services altogether. The DVD service will now be called Qwikster and the streaming services will remain Netflix. This triggered even more backlash. Other than the letter and video apology, no effort was made to “make it up” to their customers.

AT&T changed their services in late June, getting rid of their unlimited data plan, and announcing tiered pricing. This upset a lot of people, but AT&T had a plan. People whom already had unlimited data plans on their phones remained grandfathered into the service. This quelled what may have been a profound decrease in customers, as it only affected new clients and not those already using the service they were changing.

When companies announce changes to their service plans it can be a tricky situation. Before doing so they should discuss how they are going to announce it and consider the possibility of an unfavorable reaction that could lose them customers. Proper planning will provide a plan of action if a negative backlash occurs. Here are a few ideas to help soften the blow.

• Notice, and Lots of It:  Give the public plenty of notice and utilize a forum where customers, particularly those directly affected, can express questions and concerns.
• Grandfathered Services:  Honor services and prices current clients have prior to the change.
• Details:  Explain the change in detail! The more transparent you are with your announcement, the more your clients will trust your decision.
• Discounts: Offer a free month of service or some other type of coupon if clients take advantage of multiple services

If you have any more ideas of ways companies could make the news of service plan changes easier, we’d love to hear from you!

Last week we talked about negative habits to avoid at work, including wasting time on the Internet. Though the Internet is one of the most useful advances in technology in the past 30 years, it’s also one of the largest sources of distraction. However, workplace distraction was a problem even before the Internet. Here are three of the most common ways workers can get distracted from their work without using the Web.

The Water Cooler

    Creating a vibrant work culture is crucial for most companies for many reasons. Workers who get along well with each other often perform at higher standards. However, there should always be a balance between work and socializing when at the office. It’s easy to fall into the habit of spending extended breaks conversing with a coworker about your personal life. To help combat this, try planning a weekly night out with your friends at work. This will keep you up to date on each other’s lives while decreasing the need to socialize during business hours.

Minesweeper

    Check your computer. No mater what model or make, you’ll most likely be able to find some kind of pre installed game. Even without the Internet, it’s easy to be distracted by computer games like Minesweeper, Solitaire or even Chess. We’ve all tried to slip in a few minutes of gameplay into our work day, but more often than not, those few minutes can add up to a few hours. The best thing to do? Delete these games from your computer outright. Be honest with yourself, you probably don’t even love playing them that much.

Daydream

    It’s easy to get lost in your own thoughts, worried about bills or troubles at home. Being distracted by a daydream is difficult because we rarely daydream on purpose. If you find yourself daydreaming often, try a few things to help increase your focus like getting more sleep or eating a healthy snack while working on a given project. Make sure that you’re getting enough vitamin B and avoid foods that are high in processed sugars. 

    Staying focused at work can be a challenge, and as we all know, we don’t need the Internet to get distracted. Try to remember these tips throughout your workweek to help keep you on track. Don’t forget, 90% of productivity is focus!

In the past few years, our options for accessing entertainment have grown tremendously. This increased access has changed the way these industries function. Brick and mortar stores like Blockbuster, Borders, and even the iconic Virgin Megastore in Times Square are disappearing as people head online to get their entertainment. Many companies are going this route because there are fewer overhead costs associated with running a business primarily online. The benefit for the customer is that there are now more and cheaper options available. In general, with increased options, prices are driven down across the board.

Music sites and applications like iTunes or Amazon’s MP3 Store allow people to buy single songs rather then the whole album. Some musicians allow individuals to purchase songs directly from them on their websites and many simply give their songs away. This new structure for shopping for music has caused many independent and chain stores to close and the power of record companies to shrink. The price of full albums has gone down, but the price of concert tickets and merchandise has risen to compensate for lower album sales.

Online music streaming has also become very popular. Sites such as Pandora and Grooveshark  are free and let people customized their stations with less commercials than traditional radio stations. If you chose to upgrade, you can get your music with no commercial interruptions. Many people use these services to test out music prior to buying it and sometimes choose them in place of purchasing music. Most Internet connected gadgets can access these services anywhere at any time.

EBook Readers are also a hot item these days. Digital versions of books can purchased for much less than their physical counterparts found in brick and mortar bookstores. Because these digital books can never sell out, sites like Amazon have seen tremendous success, whereas traditional shops like Borders are closing their doors forever.

Instead of paying for satellite or cable TV, many people choose the more cost effective route of streaming television on sites such as Netflix or Hulu. There is such competition in the TV industry lately that many network channels now upload their most recently aired episodes to their websites and make them available to Internet enabled devices like the iPad.

Instant access to all of our entertainment needs via the Internet has greatly decreased the cost we used to have to pay for these services. Recently, however, it’s been big news that Netflix has raised their prices and segmented their service offering. There is a lot of speculation about whether this will help or hinder them. Their success with this change over the next few months will most likely determine if other online entertainment services will follow suit. Only time will tell.

Forming a habit can be a good or a bad thing, depending on the nature of the habit. For example, paying close attention to detail and making sure your workspace is clean and tidy are good habits to form in the office. We are all also aware of some bad habits workers can form. Research shows that any habit requires a minimum of 21 days to change. That sounds like a lot of work to put into breaking a bad habit. Wouldn’t it be easier to avoid forming the bad habit in the first place?  Here are a few bad working habits, as well as some tips on how to avoid them proactively.

Working Through Lunch

    It’s not uncommon for your day to get out of hand before noon. The reality is, sometimes working through lunch is unavoidable. However, developing this habit can actually be detrimental to your productivity. We need to take breaks and give ourselves time to cool down and regroup. If you’re having a stressful day at the office, it’s best to take a full lunch rather than to try to power through. Try setting strict time boundaries on your lunchtime and start viewing it as its own work assignment.

Idealizing

    For most of us, the grass is always greener at another job. When we’ve had a bad day in the office, it’s easy to relive our childhood daydreams of exciting and dangerous professions such as being an astronaut or firefighter.. Unfortunately, idealizing another line of work makes it difficult to be happy in your current position. Instead, try making a list of all the good things your job provides for you. Documenting each small joy will help you appreciate the job you have.

Work Time Distractions

    Amusing YouTube videos and entertaining flash games are added to the Internet every minute of every day. It’s easy to waste hours of work time on these simple distractions. This is a bad habit to form, and one that should definitely be avoided. To help, schedule “small breaks” throughout the day.  Reward yourself after finishing a large project or after working solidly for several hours. Creating these time boundaries will help prevent forming a habit of being sidetracked.

    Forming bad habits can be easier than you’d think and breaking a bad habit can be much more difficult than you’d imagine. The next time you notice yourself slipping into any of these bad habits, take some time to consider what good habits you could form to combat them.

The rapidly evolving world of technology has changed the way we do business. Not long ago we used to have to use a manual press to make an imprint of credit cards so that you can purchase something? Now thank to wireless Internet and tablets, we can easily run a credit card purchase almost anywhere in the world.

Making credit card purchases is not the only way the tablet has changed business. It has in some cases fundamentally influenced the way many businesses operate. Here are a few examples of companies that have come up with some innovative uses for tablets.

At De Santos, a high-end Italian restaurant in New York City’s West Village, the members of the wait staff use iPads to take orders and swipe credit cards. The hope is that this will streamline the ordering process and reduce mistakes.

At Puma stores in Asia, Africa, and Europe, customers can use iPad stations called The Creative Factory to design their own sneakers and share them with people around the globe. They can also view designs from other creators. Puma’s goal is to connect the world through active footwear.

At SHOPBOX, an addition to the DeKalb Market in Brooklyn, you won’t find a store or store clerks! What you will find is a shipping container with an iPad mounted on the side. Shoppers use the iPads to register then text the items they want to purchase to a number printed on the display glass. The items are then shipped to the shopper’s house. Talk about window-shopping!

People will continue to find innovative uses for tablets as technology improves. It may eventually become old fashioned to have a wait staff in restaurants and future generations may wonder what the purpose of a mall was. It is the nature of the world to change, and the more advanced technology gets the faster change happen. Maybe one day we’ll get teleportation devices after all.

Most of us create several emails every day, to our friends, clients, coworkers and employers. It’s important to note that how we write these emails communicates more than we might realize. Taking time to choose your words carefully is important in order to avoid any uncomfortable miscommunication. What would your boss think if you ended an email with “Love?” Here are some tips on determining proper email language.

Opening an Email  

Informal

Composing a message to a close friend is best done in an informal tone. When writing an informal message, you don’t need to use much more than the recipient’s name. Even a simple “Hi,” will communicate a relaxed tone and let the reader know the email they are reading is from a close acquaintance.

Formal

Use this tone when writing an email to a coworker or employee, someone with whom you are familiar but also professional. Consider opening your email with “Dear,” followed by the recipient’s name or a more formal greeting such as “Good afternoon” or “Good evening.” This communicates that you respect the reader but are also approaching them with a tone of familiarity.

Respectful

When writing to a higher institution, like a prospective employer, make sure and open your email with a bit more formality. Generally, you’d use this tone if the receiver were someone you were not previously familiar with. The best opening in this case is “To whom it may concern.” Using this opening communicates respect to the reader.
 
Closing an Email  

Informal

Again, when writing to someone with whom you share a close personally history, you can end the email by simply writing your name or “Love,” followed by your name. This is informal and lets the reader know that you meant the message to be an intimate one.

Formal

End a formal email with “Sincerely,” or “Yours truly.” This is not as informal as closing with just your name, but it also communicates some kind of personal relationship. This is the best tone to use when corresponding professionally with someone you work with on a regular basis.

Respectful

Ending a professional and respectful email in the proper tone is very important. As in a formal tone, you may end the message with “Sincerely,” or even “Regards.” Both should adequately communicate respect. However, if the content of the message calls for it, ending with “Thank you for your time,” lets the reader know you are grateful for the time they’ve spent reading your message.

    Communicating the correct message is all a matter of vocabulary, so when composing your next email make sure to use the right words to communicate your desired message. This will help ensure that your friends don’t fear that you’ve become melancholy drone or lead your boss to believe you’ve become a hopeless romantic. Choose the right words so that you send the right message.

We read about people filing lawsuits against companies and individuals frequently and it’s usually very serious news. The tech industry is no stranger to this, but every so often we will hear about a lawsuit that tickles the funny bone. The following list of a few of the most interesting lawsuits in the tech industry over the past decade is unbelievable.

Allergic to Pentium? – In 2002, a Dutch woman tried to sue Intel and her government because she believed that her Pentium processor gave her hives. The 486-base processor did not cause her harm and her case never made it to the courts. Apparently, no court was “itching” to take her case.

Lead into Danger by Google? - In 2009, a woman tried to sue Google for the poor walking directions she was given. She followed the directions onto a narrow dark highway that had no sidewalk or shoulder and was subsequently hit by a car. Google “dodged” the lawsuit and the case was dismissed.

Star Wars Galaxies Killed by Sony! – In 2010, angry fans of Star Wars Galaxies filed a class-action lawsuit against Sony for shutting down the game. The MMORPG had had a steadily lessening subscribership for several years.  I guess the “force” was not strong enough to sustain the game, the fans, or the case.

Failed Mafia Wars Romance Ends With a Lawsuit – A woman sued a man over for damages from their broken Mafia Wars romance. After meeting and falling in love over the Facebook game, Mafia Wars, the woman spent thousands of dollars on game credits and gifts for her new love interest. After the relationship ended, she sued him for the money spent. Both the relationship as well as the case are now “sleeping with the fishes.”

I hope these unbelievable tech lawsuits made you smile. If you have heard of any more, please share them with us by leaving a comment here or on one of our other social media accounts!