Telecommuting: The Benefits

Employees who telecommute can actually save their employers a great deal of money and it can be a win-win situation on both sides. For one thing, according to researchers, workers who telecommute are more likely to work overtime than people that do not. Of course this does not always mean that the productivity will go up. Reduced overhead is an obvious cost-saving opportunity of allowing employees to work from home. The costs that can be reduced or avoided include mortgage or lease, utilities, janitorial services, office supplies, coffee and water expenses, office equipment, furniture and transit subsidies. There are also fewer sick days because telecommuting workers are able to better deal with personal issues such as stress and burnout. Not to mention there will be decreased travel costs for businesses. Using communication services such as VoIP systems and cloud systems, employees can collaborate virtually and decrease the costs of traveling. This might not work for every business, but it is definitely worth a try and a test run.

Energizing Park Benches

I have to say that this is a rather interesting concept as far as remodeling benches and other furniture to keep up with the software development and mobile revolution. This is an idea of a bench that can charge your device through a USB using the energy that it gathers from the solar panel. The first dozen benches will be installed around Boston this month; prototypes had dotted the Boston landscape this winter. Boston residents will be able to find free benches on an interactive map at Soofa.Co. Clicking on a bench brings up information about the temperature, noise, air pollution level, and recent foot traffic around the location, as well as whether a charging port is available. For now, it’s BYO cable if you want to juice up your phone. Future versions of the Soofa, Richter said, will have inductive charging, or the ability to place your device on a surface and have it power up, no cord required. Like I said, it might be an interesting concept but it digs the digital hole just a bit more when what we really need is to be able to unplug. A park bench is the best place to find that quiet solitude without a digital device. Do you think we are taking one step forward or back?

The Global Internet and Language

When mail and communication services such as telegraphs came onto the scene, the world shrunk significantly. We were now able to communicate with anyone in the world in a reasonable amount of time. This meant that information and stories were able to shared with much more ease as well as languages. Flash forward to the twenty first century and we have the internet which made the world the size of a block. You can now message people or even use internet phone services to see them as if they were sitting right there next to you. We have instant access to people and hordes of information. Though, it seems like the information is not used all that much but that is a completely different story which I may get into later. With more people being online, it is becoming more important to break down language barriers. The way to do that is for people to either learn the other languages or have the computer programs translate what the other person is saying. Skype, the internet phone company has finally ventured out into the territory of translating what the other person is saying over the internet phone. It is looking like the improvements are making it much more seamless and pretty soon language difficulties and barriers will be a thing of the past.

Can you hear me now?

Bone conduction in hearing is not something new but it is becoming more popular as an alternative way to hear and not just for people that do not have a functional pathway to the eardrum. Ludwig Van Beethoven overcame deafness by biting a metal rod attached to his piano to hear his work. Communication technology has certainly come a long way in this field as well. Baha (bone anchored hearing aids) units work by passing sound from a microphone to a magnet or implant beneath a patient's skin, which is converted into vibrations in the skull and eventually arrives at the inner ear. The bone conduction system offers key safety advantages over traditional earphones, by leaving the user's ears free so that they are not distracted from their environment. It is even possible to drive wearing them, as they comply with the legal requirement to be able to hear on the road. Of course there are security concerns if people around you are about to hear the vibrations. Either way, the voices in your head are real.

Ways to Use Your Smartphone Camera

Did you know that your phone camera can be used for more than just video conferencing and taking really bad pictures that will later get you in trouble? One of the best best ways that you can use that camera is to take pictures of receipts and airline boarding passes. It is very convenient because receipts can be lost and you can use the boarding pass pictures to get your miles credit. And I use my phone sometimes to record where I park by taking a picture of street signs at a nearby intersection. When I rent a car, I take a picture of its license plate or maybe the car itself, so I can find it later, lest I forget what I'm driving that day. You can also use it to document accidents and help you avoid legal trouble. Hope these tips help!

Beaming Internet From Drones

Facebook is reportedly in talks to purchase a company called Titan Aerospace, which makes solar-powered drones that can fly around without needing to land for five years. These drones may be used as satellites to project free Internet to developing nations from outer space. This is part of their philosophy that everyone in the world should have free access to the internet and all the communication services that come with the world wide web. You may be wondering: Is it legal for Facebook to just launch a bunch of flying machines over Africa and have them chill there for five years? Sort of! Because these drones are deemed satellites and they’re being launched to a height above the official U.S. Class A airspace (about 60,000 feet), the country isn’t able to regulate them. Obviously this law will be different in, say, Africa (where Facebook reportedly aims to launch the program first).

The Internet of the Future

So here we are with all this technology at our fingertips and the question becomes, what is next? What will the future of the internet and website development look like? A lot of people speculate that it will be more pervasive but less visible. This might be an indication of the idea that we are always going to be online and connected. To some degree, that should make us a bit more nervous. Speaking of always being connected, it will eliminate the need for some professions, or at least nearly as many open spots for them. With existing resources like Wikipedia and Khan Academy, the Internet currently provides access to education like never before. Many of the academics surveyed believe that these resources will only get better over time, creating a more equal playing field. The internet will also break down geography and at the same time make us more lonely. While our interactions may increase, they will also become more superficial and unsustainable. Any thoughts?