Many of us get our entertainment, news, and pay our bills via the Internet. So, it’s not a big surprise that we access our music over the Internet as well. Many people subscribe to on-line music-streaming services that are either free or cost money. The advantages are many. People don’t have to move their music files onto different devices and they can listen to it anywhere they have internet access.

So we thought we would share with you some information about a few of the more common streaming services:

Pandora: Pandora has been around awhile, and it is very popular. It’s clear to see why: it’s easy. After navigating to the website, type in the name of a song or artist you want and Pandora will create a radio station determined by that information. It chooses songs by artists with a comparable sound. As you tune in to your station you can select the thumbs up or thumbs down symbol on the songs and Pandora will tailor your station based on this new information. Moreover, you can “seed” you station with different artists to further customize it. You can tune in to Pandora without setting up an account but in order to save your stations, you must create an account.

Grooveshark: Grooveshark is similar to Pandora. But you can also build your own playlists manually, all without creating an account. However, those who 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 on your past musical selections. Grooveshark also has an intriguing feature: You can improve the service’s database of music by adding your own favorite songs and artists if you can’t find them in Grooveshark’s existing collection.

Rhapsody: Rhapsody has stayed fairly popular due to its huge database of music. It has more then 14 million songs. Unfortunately, while many of the services we have discussed offer a free version, Rhapsody does not. It is $10 a month for unlimited music.

Spotify: Spotify is a Swedish music-streaming service which was launched in 2008. It has quickly 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 complete 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. However, the Kinect – a motion and voice-sensing device originally meant as a clever feature for the Xbox gaming system – may help Windows regain its long-lost coolness quotient.

A version of the device also works with Windows-operated PCs, and almost immediately after its release in February, people started identifying innovative ways to use 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 upgraded interior of the Pathfinder. This worked out well as they only had the outer shell of the Pathfinder to physically display. Using the Kinect, participants could actually “see” what the interior looked liked.

Microsoft is cooperating with companies to produce applications for the Kinect. This not only supports creativity but it puts the Kinect at the center of some of the most recent innovations. One example of a company that is working closely with Microsoft in this way is Boeing. Boeing used the Kinect to create virtual tours of its jets. Another example is a medical facility in Canada. They are using the Kinect’s gesture-recognition capability to swipe through CT scans. This removes the risk of getting germs on their hands from a keyboard or mouse.

Kinect: A Solid Hit

Microsoft hit a home run when they developed the Kinect. The Xbox 360 was last year’s best-selling gaming console, and they have the Kinect to thank for that. Since November of 2010 Microsoft has sold over 18 million Kinect devices.

The excitement around the Kinect and its many uses can only help to improve Microsoft’s reputation. They may be on their way to stepping 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 job, so you call them in for an interview. But how do you dig through them and find the truly innovative and enthusiastic people? Since the interview is essentially all you can go on, your interview questions are very important.

If you hold the standard job interview, asking the same tedious questions, the odds are you won’t be able to tell the top candidates from the so-so ones. That’s why it is critical to craft a unique job interview strategy.

Ask the Right Questions

Rather then asking people what their past positions were, ask them the way they positively impacted their positions at their previous employers. Did they develop any processes that increased efficiency? Did they help their employers cut costs, if so, how?

One of the most popular questions to ask a candidate concerns their strengths and weaknesses. Try to avoid asking them to list these; almost everyone has predetermined answers. Instead ask them what they bring to the culture of a company, or ask them what they do to make their job more satisfying. The responses you get to these types of questions will assist you to gauge the actual inventiveness of the person you are evaluating.

If you truly are interested in which of your candidates are the most innovative, give them a simple task to complete. It doesn’t have to be complicated; you can ask them to write an essay explaining how they would approach their job if hired. You could ask them to write down their ideas on what their ideal workspace would look like. Ask them to come up with new names for company services or products. Basically, ask them anything that will get their creative juices flowing.

Today’s job market is such that it’s probable that many competent people will apply to your open position. So, in order to sift through these applicants and find the most creative and inventive individuals, change your interview tactics to hone in on these traits.

No one likes traveling for business. Airports can be a hassle, with all of that business of removing your shoes, having to pay extra to stow bags, plus the frequent delays and cancellations. We are likely to overeat on bad fast food or at hotel buffets, also, when we’re traveling for business. Plus there is the lack of sleep. It’s no surprise that so many business people are longing for improvements in videoconferencing technology. After all, if this technology improves sufficiently – the logic goes – maybe off-site business meetings, and the business travel that accompanies this, might be a thing of the past.

The End of Business Travel?

But is this really what business people and their employers should want? Maybe not. Videoconferencing may never replace face-to-face meetings in the business world because the best ideas tend to pop up during these in-person meetings. Evaluate the difference between how videoconferencing and in-person meetings usually work.

When people across the globe sign on to a videoconference, they generally introduce themselves quickly, if needed, and then dive into the goal at hand. Brainstorming does not often play a large part in videoconferencing; this is partially because of the worry that the connection may fail. As well, there are lots of distractions within the individual’s office that can make fluid conversation tough.

The Benefits of Face-to-Face Time

Face-to-face interactions are more personal and allow conversation to develop easily. Meetings may go longer should this happen, but the advantages of it can be great. New ideas come from the creative evolution 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

Yes, business travel is a hassle and videoconferencing is convenient. However, there are occassions when meeting face-to-face is the best option for generating the most imaginative business solutions. Due to this, don’t expect savvy business executives to ever totally replace business travel with videoconferencing.

How many kids grew up anticipating the day when humans would travel the earth with individual jet packs strapped to their backs? How many dreamt of full meals that come in tablet form or teleporters? Those technologies haven’t happened. However, in the last 2 decades alone, we’ve seen enough new tech to fill an early 1990s science-fiction flick. With tablet computers we can carry all the computing power of a bulky desktop computer in our hands. With smartphones we can instantly send text messages to our friends and due to GPS, we never have to get lost while driving again.

So, why don’t we have teleporters and hovercrafts? What is preventing 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 restricted by their power, and capability to hold a charge, the technology which uses 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 explained this more thoroughly in a blog post last week. When these batteries eventually hit the market, we will likely notice a boom in technological advancements.

Improving Internet Access

The second limiting factor has to do with access. Simply put, not enough of the world’s population has access to high-speed Internet access. It might seem as if every public library, bookstore, and cafe’ provides its clientele with access to high-speed wireless Internet, but this is largely a mirage. The vast majority of humans do not have quick access to the web. Until this occurs, we’ll be unnecessarily limiting the development of technology. The more minds that are connected on the Web, the better the possibilities are of reaching the next tech breakthrough.

The Business of New Tech

Finally, there is 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 because they must first navigate a minefield of laws and government regulations. These laws are essential. However, they should be clear and easy to grasp so new technology isn’t bottled up needlessly.

Even though there are several things that are holding technology back, it is still advancing at a rapid pace. Maybe we will finally get hover boards when battery technology catches up to our imaginations.

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Adobe Photoshop is an excellent photo manipulation tool. With it, businesses can produce professional looking marketing materials fairly easily. The largest problem with Photoshop is the cost. A person looking to purchase it can spend more then $600 for newer versions. This is not practical for many small business owners, and they probably don’t require all of the features that a $600 photo-editing program comes with. Luckily, there are many alternatives to Photoshop that are affordable or free.

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

GIMP

GIMP is very simple to use and possesses most of the features from Photoshop that a business owner would 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 comes with its own special effects and an unlimited undo; this is great for people who want to experiment with the effects. The one negative of this program is it only works with Windows.

Picnik

Picnik is fast, free, and easy to use. It works on the Mac, Windows, and Linux operating systems and you don’t have to download files to use it. It has some unique special effects as well, making it a very popular photo-editing program.

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

Your smartphone is incredible. It can steer you to that trendy new fusion restaurant if you’re lost. It can play your favorite sitcom as you go to work on the train. It can play your favorite song at the touch of a button. But it can’t do any of this if its battery is dead.

A Better Battery on the Way?

Luckily, a better battery might soon be on the way, thanks to the work of a team of engineers at Chicago’s Northwestern University. A recent story reports that researchers at this Big 10 university are trying to create a battery that lasts longer and can recharge itself in mere minutes. Smartphone users around the world should be thankful.

What they are working on is a new lithium-ion battery that has more then 10 times the life of present-day batteries. Moreover, after a year of operation, which the researchers estimate to be about 150 charges, these new lithium-ion batteries would remain 5 times more effective then today’s lithium-ion batteries.

A Charged Battery for a Week

Here’s the bottom line: The new cell phone battery could stay charged for more than a week and then charge itself in just 15 minutes. This is great news for you: It could mean that your iPod won’t run out of juice while you’re working the treadmill at the gym. But the new, better battery could have a much larger impact: According to the Northwestern story, this new battery technology could result in smaller and more powerful batteries for electric cars. This may help the United States—and other countries—cut its reliance upon fossil fuels.

Batteries Powering Technological Change

Advancements in battery technology are not something we normally pay attention to. But this one may have a huge positive impact on our lives, and not just where convenience is concerned. This new lithium-ion battery may provide the key to a greater technological shift.

When searching for something on the Internet, the majority of people automatically go to Google. We even use it as a verb when we “Google” something. However, a lesser-used yet powerful 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’ll 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 allow users to concentrate their searches. Additionally there is 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 a feature of Google as well, Bing makes it more user friendly, as the categories are right below the search bar. Bing beats Google for travel searches as well. They use something called Farecast Technology in the Bing Travel site; it lets users find the most affordable flights quickly and easily.

Bing Video Search Shines

Bing stands apart from Google with regards to searching for videos as well. Bing allows users to specify how long they would like videos to be, what resolution they want, and what screen size they’d prefer. In addition, to get a preview of the video, users only need to hover their cursor over the video to play a portion of it without clicking on it.

These are just some of the reasons why computer users shouldn’t be so quick to dismiss Bing. Yes, Google remains the go-to player when it comes to search engines. But that doesn’t mean that it’s the only good option today.

Cloud computing has become 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 advantage of utilizing the cloud is that powerful programs and files can be stored at a remote location so they don’t burn up memory on personal computers and bog down operating systems.

Not All Clouds are the Same

However, that isn’t all you need to understand about the cloud. You have the public cloud, the one most of us use, the private cloud, and the hybrid cloud. The hybrid cloud, as the name suggests, is a combination of using the public and private cloud.

For a business to provide a hybrid cloud, they store a client’s most confidential data on their in-house private cloud, and data that requires less security on a public cloud. For instance, archived files and big programs.

The Hybrid Cloud Approach Makes Sense

Taking a hybrid cloud approach to data storage allows businesses to take advantage of the space-saving benefits of the public cloud without also exposing their sensitive current data to third-party providers. To paraphrase, the hybrid cloud provides businesses with security, cost-savings, and efficiency.

It’s little wonder, then, that a great number of organizations today are moving toward a hybrid cloud approach. There is simply too much data floating around today for smaller businesses to adequately store. At the same time, businesses in today’s competitive environment do not want to reveal company secrets and sensitive consumer data to either their competition or hackers. The hybrid cloud could allow businesses to accomplish both feats.

Remote working is becoming more common in the business world today. This is possible due to 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 big plus for the employee.

Remote Worker Challenges

Remote workers and contractors do present at least one significant challenge to employers: It can be hard for employers to effectively monitor the hours that their workers are putting in. How do employers know, after all, if their remote employees are pounding away at their keyboards or playing Angry Birds on their smartphones all day?

By setting realistic deadlines employers can keep track of their remote workers effectively. This is a change in managerial strategy; it puts the focus on the goal instead of the amount of time that the employee works. Ultimately, employees are the only ones who know when they perform most optimally, even if it is from midnight to 4am.

Setting Remote Worker Deadlines

Setting deadlines is the simplest way to monitor the work being done by remote workers. Supervisors 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 progress of projects. This can put the manager and employee at ease.

Off-Site Not a Permanent Condition

Employers must remember, too, that remote workers do not have to stay that way. If employers see that their off-site employees are not meeting deadlines or are delivering sub-par work, they can require that these workers return to the office on a full-time basis. Trust continues to be the key component of a remote working relationship. Organisations must place some trust in their workers that they’ll complete their jobs on time. Workers must show that they are worthy of this trust by hitting their deadlines, turning in quality work, and replying quickly to phone calls or email messages.