The Internet has evolved the way we get our news, watch movies, and pay our bills. It’s no surprise, then, that it has also changed the way we listen to music. Today, the web is home to several top music-streaming services – online services that permit users to listen to their favorite music on their laptops, desktops, and mobile devices.

If you are curious as to the differences in these services, we have highlighted a number below.

Pandora: Pandora is hardly a surprise choice, but there is a reason this music-streaming service remains well-liked: It’s easy to use and it can quickly expose users to new music that they may not experience otherwise. The idea behind Pandora is simple: After logging onto the service, type in the name of a favorite artist, say “David Bowie.” Pandora will then play songs by Bowie and it will play songs from similar artists. Thus giving you a taste of other tunes that you could also like.

Grooveshark: Grooveshark is similar to Pandora. But you can also build your own playlists manually, all without creating an account. However, those that want to save their play lists will have to sign up for a free account. Like Pandora, Grooveshark also offers recommendations for songs that you might like based upon your past musical choices. Grooveshark also has an interesting feature: You can help build the service’s database of music by adding your own favorite songs and artists if you cannot find them in Grooveshark’s existing collection.

Rhapsody: Rhapsody’s appeal is based on its huge database of music: more the 14 million songs. Unfortunately, this service is not free, it is $10 a month for unlimited music.

Spotify: Spotify is a Swedish music-streaming service that was launched in 2008. It has rapidly grown to one of the most well-known and widely used services out there. People like the versatility of Spotify. When you search for an artist, you can listen to a whole album or choose to use the radio function and Spotify will find similar artists for you to enjoy. Another benefit of Spotify is that you can create your own playlists and share them with other users if you so choose.

Remember when Windows was considered cool? It’s been a long time. Nevertheless, the Kinect – a motion and voice-sensing device initially meant as a nifty feature for the Xbox gaming system – could help Windows regain its long-lost coolness quotient.

Not surprisingly, a version of the Kinect is compatible with Windows-operated PCs. So shortly after this new version was launched in February, companies started coming up with creative, out-of-the-box uses for it.

Innovative Uses for the Kinect

At the Chicago Auto Show the Chief Marketing Manager for Nissan North America used the Kinect in an interesting way, by creating a virtual tour of the enhanced interior of the Pathfinder. This worked out well as they only had the outer shell of the Pathfinder to actually display. By using the Kinect, participants could actually “see” what the interior looked liked.

Microsoft is encouraging companies to find different uses for the Kinect and even cooperating with them to create applications for it. This is a good move on their part, as it not only promotes inventiveness but it also puts a Microsoft product at the heart of the creative development. One company that has worked with Microsoft in this way is Boeing. They’ve used the Kinect to develop virtual tours of their jets. Another interesting use of the Kinect was discovered by a healthcare facility in Canada. They are utilizing the Kinect’s gesture-recognition to swipe through CT scans. This greatly lowers, if not removes, the chance of spreading germs because you don’t have to touch the computer.

Kinect: A Solid Hit

The Kinect has been a hit for Microsoft. Last year the device helped turn the Xbox 360 into the year’s best-selling computer game console. The fact is, Microsoft has sold more than 18 million Kinect devices since November of 2010. It makes sense then, that a version developed specifically for Windows would be a hit, too.

The excitement surrounding the Kinect and its many uses can only improve Microsoft’s reputation. They may be on their way to entering into the “cool” tech company category.

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These days, whenever you post an open position on the Internet, countless people reply. Many of these people are eligible candidates for the position, so you call them in for an interview. But how do you dig through them to find the truly impressive and enthusiastic people? Since the interview is essentially all you can go on, your interview questions are important.

Make certain that your interview questions solicit the information that will help you find the individual with the attributes you want. If you use a cookie cutter approach to the interview, it’s likely you’ll get uninspired, cookie cutter answers.

Ask the Right Questions

Start by asking the right questions. Don’t ask applicants what their job titles were at past positions. Don’t ask them what their responsibilities were. Instead, ask them to list any revolutionary ideas that they came up with for their previous employers. Ask them if these ideas helped their employers earn more money, run more effectively, or cut back on expenses.

Another typical interview question is to ask about the individual’s strengths and weaknesses. Most of us have a canned answer to this, as they know it will likely be asked in an interview. Instead have them tell you what they add to the culture of a company, what do they do in tense situations, or what are some ways they keep themselves satisfied at their jobs. These answers will clue you in to the character of the person you are interviewing, and if they will fit in with your organization and the position.

If you truly are interested in which of your candidates are the most creative, give them a simple task to perform. It does not have to be complicated; you can ask them to write an essay detailing how they would approach their job if hired. You could ask them to jot down their ideas on what their ideal workspace would look like. Ask them to think of new names for company services or products. Essentially, ask them anything that will get their creative juices flowing.

In today’s marketplace, employers have the benefit of choosing amongst many accomplished people. So to be able to select the very best, they need to change the types of questions they ask in job interviews.

Traveling for business is not fun. We’re frequently rushed, we don’t eat well, and we have to deal with the hassle of airports and long-term parking. It’s not surprising that a great many companies opt toward videoconferencing rather then traveling. As videoconferencing technology advances, many people wonder if business traveling may become a thing of the past.

The End of Business Travel?

But is this a thing that we should strive for in business? Is it the best thing if videoconferencing replaces face-to-face meetings completely? Perhaps not, consider the differences between meetings that are face-to-face versus videoconferencing.

When people around the world sign on to a videoconference, they generally introduce themselves quickly, if necessary, and then dive into the goal at hand. Brainstorming does not often play a big role in videoconferencing; this is partially because of the worry that the connection may fail. Also, there are many distractions within the individual’s office that can make fluid conversation tough.

The Benefits of Face-to-Face Time

Face-to-face interactions tend to be more personal and allow conversation to develop easily. Meetings may last longer should this happen, but the advantages of it can be excellent. New ideas come from the creative progression of conversation. While it’s true that every meeting may not turn into a positive brainstorming session, it can be a great opportunity to develop interpersonal relationships in the office.

Business Travel is Here to Stay

Humans are a social species. Due to this, it’s unlikely that business travel will disappear altogether. However, in today’s economy, many small business owners just can’t afford to send their sales people away every time the need to meet a customer. For this reason, improvements in videoconferencing are essential but the benefits of in-person meetings are so great that the savvy business owner will not abandon them for videoconferencing all together.

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Remember enjoying sci-fi movies as a child and thinking we would have jetpacks sooner or later? Or teleporters? We don’t have these technologies yet but we do have lots of impressive technologies that seem straight out of a science fiction movie. Our cars can guide us around a city, via GPS. We can carry tablet computers around with us that hold all of our data. And we can get in touch with associates worldwide at the push of a button.

So, why don’t we have teleporters and hovercrafts? What exactly is keeping us from taking these leaps in technology?

Building a Better Battery

As we move into a more mobile world, batteries grow in significance. They are a building block of our technological world these days. As a result, if we are limited by their power, and ability to hold a charge, the technology that utilizes them is also limited. For instance, you wouldn’t want your jet pack to loose its charge in flight. Recently, researchers at Chicago’s Northwestern University found a way to make a much more powerful lithium-ion battery than the ones we have today. We explored this more thoroughly in a blog post last week. When these batteries finally enter the market, we will likely see a increase in technological advancements.

Improving Internet Access

The second limiting factor has to do with access. Basically, not enough of the world’s population has access to high-speed Internet access. It may well seem like every public library, bookstore, and cafe’ provides its customers with access to high-speed wireless Internet, but this is largely a mirage. The vast majority of humans don’t have quick access to the web. Until this occurs, we’ll be unnecessarily limiting the advancement of technology. The more minds that are connected on the Web, the higher the possibilities are of reaching the next tech breakthrough.

The Business of New Tech

Finally, there’s the business end of things. Technological progress is stunted by arcane matters such as patent law. Businesses take their time releasing new gadgets and services as they must first traverse a minefield of laws and government regulations. These laws are important. However, they should be clear and easy to comprehend so new technology isn’t bottled up needlessly.

The great news is that none of these restrictions can truly stop technology from improving. Just think ahead to the holiday season of 2020. You never know what innovations will be waiting for us.

Adobe Photoshop is an amazing tool. It lets organizations edit the images they need to build professional-looking brochures, pamphlets, and marketing materials. The problem is that Photoshop is far from inexpensive. A quick online scan will show that newer versions of this image-editing program can run higher then $600. For small business owners on a budget, this program just is not practical. This doesn’t mean, though, that these small business owners don’t have photo-editing options. In fact, businesses can select from a number of alternatives that are not only cheaper but are actually free.

Of course, these programs are not as powerful as Photoshop. But they have adequate photo-editing features for small business owners to easily create professional looking material. Below is a list of the best free photo-manipulation programs currently available.

GIMP

GIMP is very easy to use and possesses most of the features from Photoshop that a business owner might need to create marketing material. The best thing about GIMP is that it’s completely free!

Paint.NET

Do you remember MSPaint? It came standard with the Windows operating system. Paint.NET is its successor and is a really powerful and free photo editor. It includes its own special effects and an unlimited undo; this is great for people who want to play around with the effects. The one negative of this program is it only works with Windows.

Picnik

Picnik is a free program that works on Mac, Windows, and Linux operating systems. This program has some really fun effects such as blurring, darkening, and lightening images. It’s probably the most popular free editing programs, as you don’t have to download files to utilize it.

There is no need to purchase the expensive Photoshop program to make professional looking pamphlets. For the small business owner on a budget, any of these programs will do the trick and keep standards high.

Have you ever needed your smartphone only to realize that the battery has died and you’re nowhere near an outlet? It’s frustrating, but in a couple of years, it might be a thing of the past.

A Better Battery on the Way?

Engineers at Chicago’s Northwestern University have been working on advancements in battery technology and may have found a way to make batteries charge in minutes and last significantly longer.

According to the article, Northwestern’s researchers have found a way to extend the charge-life of a new lithium-ion battery by a factor of 10. Even after 150 charges—which researchers say represents a year or more of operation—this new battery would still be five times more effective than the today’s lithium-ion batteries.

A Charged Battery for a Week

This may be hard to believe, particularly with all the apps we run on our devices, but this new battery may stay charged for an entire week. And the charging time could be less then 15 minutes. Which will certainly make life easier but this technology may have a much more important impact then that. It can be applied to the batteries utilized in electric cars, making them far more efficient, and radically decreasing our reliance on fossil fuels.

Batteries Powering Technological Change

The new battery technology isn’t available yet for consumers, but the Northwestern researchers say that it could hit the market in 3 to 5 years. This is a big step. When we look at developments in technology, we often ignore the batteries that power our latest gadgets. Battery limitations are one of the factors holding back an even greater technology revolution. The hope is that the research done at Northwestern University can change this.

When searching for something on the web, the majority of people automatically go to Google. We even use it as a verb when we “Google” something. Nevertheless, a lesser-used yet robust search engine is Microsoft’s Bing. While Bing may be often overlooked, it actually has a lot to offer surfers of the Web.

Taking Another Look at Bing

When you search on Bing, you will get more information regarding your search results than you will get from Google. Bing’s results feature a left-hand navigation panel filled with Quick Tabs that enable users to focus their searches. There’s also a center row of search results that are grouped into logical categories. This makes it simpler for users to find multimedia files or quick answers.

Bing Goes Beyond Search Results

Another big plus with Bing is that it doesn’t just bring up search results. It also brings up relevant videos, music, and images. While this is an element of Google as well, Bing makes it easier to use, as the categories are right beneath the search bar. Bing beats Google for travel searches too. They use something called Farecast Technology in the Bing Travel site; it lets users locate the least expensive flights quickly and easily.

Bing Video Search Shines

When you are looking for videos, Bing is ahead of the game. Users can specify their desired length, size, and resolution. One other impressive feature is that merely by hovering over a video, you can view a preview of it.

These are some reasons why computer users shouldn’t overlook Bing. While Google is a household name, it’s not the only search engine available.

Cloud computing is becoming increasingly more common. A very basic definition of the cloud is: a group of remote servers where people can store and access their data. One benefit of using the cloud is that powerful programs and files may be stored at a remote location so they don’t use up memory on personal computers and slow down operating systems.

Not All Clouds are the Same

However; there are various kinds of clouds. You have the public cloud, the private cloud, and the hybrid cloud. The majority of us use the public cloud, businesses that wish to use cloud services to store very private data can choose to use a private cloud, and the hybrid cloud is a combination of the two.

To offer a hybrid cloud, a business may store some of their client’s more important or current data in-house and store older, archived, and less crucial files in the public cloud. They might also use the public cloud to store very large software programs while keeping confidential data in-house.

The Hybrid Cloud Approach Makes Sense

The hybrid cloud is a good way for businesses to both save money and save space. It takes advantage of the less costly public cloud while insuring that highly sensitive data is secured.

Because of this it’s no surprise that the hybrid cloud is so popular. Businesses these days have too much data to store on their own servers but they don’t want the security risk that can come with the public cloud. Utilizing the hybrid cloud they can keep space in their systems free while safeguarding their data.

Remote working is becoming more prevalent in the business world today. This is possible as a result of advancements in technology; i.e. smartphones, tablets, and the growing number of public places that have WiFi. There can be numerous advantages for the employer and the employee. Remote workers are often more productive, and they are less of a drain on the company resources. For instance, you don’t have to have office space and furniture for remote works. And the benefit of adjusting their schedule to fit their life is a huge plus for the employee.

Remote Worker Challenges

One worry that lots of employers have when deciding to hire remote workers is, how can they monitor the amount of work they do? How do they know they are truly working and not simply playing games on their computer all day long?

One easy way to keep track of the amount of work being completed by remote workers is to set reasonable goals that they need to hit. This puts the emphasis on the results and prevents the manager from worrying about it, so long as the goals are being met. This also gives the employee flexibility to work within the hours they are most fruitful.

Setting Remote Worker Deadlines

Setting deadlines is the easiest method to monitor the work being carried out by remote workers. Managers can set short-term and long-term goals or make something due every Friday. Additionally, a manger could have a weekly or biweekly meeting via cellphone or video chat to catch up on the development of projects. This can put the supervisor and employee at ease.

Off-Site Not a Permanent Condition

While many people may have the personal discipline and time management skills to successfully work remotely, some don’t. So, if an employee doesn’t work well remotely, and that has become obvious, remote working doesn’t have to stay permanent, it can easily be revoked. Ultimately, trust within the employee/employer relationship is one of the key elements of a effective remote working relationship. The worker needs to maintain that trust by hitting deadlines and delivering excellent work.