Thanks to the Internet, most people pay their bills, seek out entertainment, and get their news on-line. So it is not shocking that music streaming is as popular as it is. Many people stream their music and there are a variety of music-streaming services to pick from. This is very beneficial as people always have access to their music, if they have access to the Internet.

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

Pandora: Pandora is hardly a surprise choice, but there is a reason this music-streaming service remains popular: It’s easy to use and it can quickly expose users to new music that they may not experience otherwise. The concept 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. This gives you a taste of other tunes which you might also like.

Grooveshark: This streaming service is much like Pandora, in that it creates a customized “radio” station determined by your musical tastes. There is no need to create an account to listen to Grooveshark, or to create your own playlists. However, in order to save your information, you need to create one. One benefit of Grooveshark is that you are able to enjoy whole albums instead of a station you made. One of the more interesting features of Grooveshark is that users can add their own music if the Grooveshark database doesn’t have what they are hunting for.

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

Spotify: Spotify is one of the most widely known music-streaming services out there. After its launch in 2008, it expanded rapidly. Spotify has a user friendly interface. You can listen to entire albums, choose to create a “radio” station based on your tastes, or create playlists that you can share with other Spotify users. This is appealing to individuals who enjoy the nostalgia of creating mix tapes. A lot of people love Spotify’s integration with Facebook. By utilizing the Facebook app, Spotify generates a running list of what you are enjoying day by day. You can also see what your Facebook friends are listening too, in real-time.

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 nifty feature for the Xbox gaming console – 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 coming up with innovative ways to use it.

Innovative Uses for the Kinect

For instance, at the Chicago Auto Show earlier this year, the chief marketing manager for Nissan North America used Kinect for Windows to create a virtual tour of the Pathfinder’s upgraded interior. This proved especially beneficial since the marketing manager only had the Pathfinder’s empty shell to exhibit at the Auto Show. A large screen powered by Kinect showed visitors precisely what they’d be viewing if they were actually sitting within the finished body of the new Pathfinder. The screen, for instance, displayed the car’s dual moon roofs and many other features.

Microsoft is encouraging companies to find different uses for the Kinect and even working with them to develop applications for it. This is a good move on their part, as it not only encourages creativity 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 have used the Kinect to develop virtual tours of their jets. Another unique use of the Kinect was discovered by a medical center in Canada. They are using the Kinect’s gesture-recognition to swipe through CT scans. This greatly reduces, if not removes, the chance of spreading germs as 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 video game console. In fact, Microsoft has sold more than 18 million Kinect devices since November of 2010. It makes sense then, that a version created especially for Windows would be a hit, too.

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

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These days, whenever you post an open position on the Internet, hundreds of 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 passionate people? Since the interview is essentially all you can go on, your interview questions are very important.

Make sure that your interview questions solicit the information that will help you find the individual with the traits you want. If you use a cookie cutter approach to the interview, you’ll probably get uninspired, cookie cutter answers.

Ask the Right Questions

A common approach to the job interview is to inquire about past positions the person held. What their obligations were, etc. These are not the most beneficial questions as you only end up getting information that may be easily read from their resume. This doesn’t help you much if you are looking for specific attributes. Consider asking them how they enhanced their positions, were there any processes that they changed, or ways in which they saved their company money.

Don’t ask candidates about their strengths and weaknesses. Too many people have memorized stock answers to these questions. Instead, ask them how they bring their unique individuality to their jobs. Ask them the things they do to make their jobs more interesting and gratifying. Truly creative workers are able to tell you of new innovations they developed and new programs that they created, all in the effort of adding that creative spark to their positions.

If you truly are interested in which of your candidates are the most innovative, give them a simple task to perform. It does not have to be intricate; you can ask them to write an essay describing 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 advantage of choosing amongst many accomplished people. So to be able to pick the very best, they need to alter the types of questions they ask in job interviews.

Traveling for business is not fun. We are frequently rushed, we don’t eat correctly, and we have to endure the hassle of airports and long-term parking. It is not surprising that numerous companies opt toward videoconferencing instead of traveling. As videoconferencing technology improves, many people wonder if business traveling may become a thing of the past.

The End of Business Travel?

Do we want to strive for the extinction of business travel? Perhaps not, think about the differences between in-person meeting and 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 large role in videoconferencing; this is partially due to the worry that the connection may fail. As well, there are many distractions within the individual’s office that can make fluid conversation tricky.

The Benefits of Face-to-Face Time

Face-to-face interactions tend to be more intimate and allow conversation to develop easily. Meetings may last longer if this happens, but the benefits of it can be excellent. 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 workplace.

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 companies just can’t afford to send their sales people away every time the need to meet a customer. For this reason, developments in videoconferencing are necessary 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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Doesn’t it feel as if we should already have jetpacks? Teleporters? Or meals in tablet form? We already have some incredible technology, like tablets, which are small computers that people can carry around. We can utilize the GPS in our cars to find the way around town. We can post an update to our social media sites and reach countless people at once.

So, with all of this technology, why don’t we have jet packs yet? What variables are keeping us from making these technological leaps?

Building a Better Battery

As we move into a more mobile world, batteries grow in importance. They are a foundation of our technological world nowadays. Therefore, if we are restricted by their power, and ability 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 discovered 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

It may seem like everybody is linked to the Internet, but this is a fallacy. The majority of the world doesn’t have access to the Internet. While this may not seem like it could suppress technological advancements, it does. The reasoning is that by limiting the number of people who can contribute to the interconnectedness the Internet provides, we are restricting the amount of people who can collaborate. Until the vast majority of people are connected, technological advancements are not going to happen as fast as they could.

The Business of New Tech

Last but not least there is the bureaucracy. Business matters, like patent laws, can impede technological progress. Individuals and companies that develop revolutionary things have to first traverse these waters. But if government regulations are clear and simple to understand, it could prevent some of this.

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

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Adobe Photoshop is a fantastic photo manipulation tool. With it, businesses can produce professional looking marketing materials quite easily. The biggest problem with Photoshop is the price. A person looking to buy it can spend more then $600 for newer versions. This is not practical for many small business owners, plus they probably don’t require all of the features that a $600 photo-editing program comes with. Thankfully, there are many alternatives to Photoshop that are inexpensive or free.

These solutions are not quite as dynamic as Photoshop but they offer enough of the elements to be useful to the small business owner. Here is a list of three that make photo-manipulation easy, without straining the wallet.

GIMP

GIMP means GNU image manipulation program. It is extremely easy to use and possesses the most used features of Photoshop. There are many different versions of GIMP and best of all it is completely free.

Paint.NET

Do you recall 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 that it only works with Windows.

Picnik

Picnik is a free program that works well 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.

Business owners needn’t let Photoshop’s high cost keep them from inserting professionally edited photos into their marketing materials. With only a small amount of online hunting, even the most frugal of business owners will find the perfect alternative.

The more we rely on mobile devices the more we rely upon one small technology. Batteries. Have you ever reached for your smartphone to look something up or to get directions and found that it has died? Well, in a few years, that could be something you don’t need to worry about.

A Better Battery on the Way?

A team of engineers at Chicago’s Northwestern University may have found a way to make a battery that lasts longer and charges itself within minutes, instead of overnight. This story reports on these research efforts. This is great news for smartphone users everywhere.

Northwestern’s researchers have found a method to prolong the charge of lithium-ion batteries by more then 10 times the present lithium-ion battery life. They are even boasting that after 150 charges, which they believe represents about a year of operation, the new lithium-ion battery will be 5 times more efficient than batteries today.

A Charged Battery for a Week

This might be hard to believe, particularly with all the apps we run on our devices, but this new battery could stay charged for a whole week. And the charging time could be less then 15 minutes. Which will certainly make life easier but this technology may have a even more significant impact then that. It can be applied to the batteries used in electric cars, causing them to be a lot more powerful, 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 claim that it could hit the market in three to five years. This is a big step. When we look at breakthroughs in technology, we tend to ignore the batteries that power our latest gadgets. Battery constraints 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.

Google is the household name when it comes to searching the Web. However, it might not be the best search engine out there. Microsoft introduced Bing, a competitor, in 2009 and it should not be dismissed. While most Internet users still use Google as their primary search engine, Bing has numerous features that make for a robust searching experience.

Taking Another Look at Bing

When searching on Bing, you get more information about your search results then you do with Google. Bing features a navigation panel on the left that enables users to focus their search effortlessly. Additionally, it organizes search results into logical categories, making it simpler to get quick answers.

Bing Goes Beyond Search Results

Bing also brings more than just search results. Say users search for websites about pop star Lady Gaga. Bing will also bring up Lady Gaga’s most current videos. For users hunting for a flight out of town, Bing beats Google easily. The search engine utilizes something it calls Farecast Technology in its Bing Travel site. This lets users quickly locate the least expensive airfare to particular destinations.

Bing Video Search Shines

Bing stands apart from Google in terms of 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 would 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 a few reasons why computer users should not disregard Bing. While Google is a household name, it’s not the only search engine out there.

Cloud computing is very popular these days. The cloud is essentially a group of remote servers where people can store and access their information. People can store music, powerful programs, and important files in the cloud. As information kept in the cloud isn’t stored on personal computers this saves lots of computer memory. The result of this is that people can access more data without having to waste space on their computer, which can slow it down.

Not All Clouds are the Same

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

The hybrid cloud usually works like this: A business provides some resources in-house. For instance, it might store latest consumer data on its private in-house cloud. It might also store employee information, new marketing campaigns, and current proposals to new clients on its in-house storage. That same business, however, might store older, archived data on a public cloud service. This frees up space on the business’ servers, and permits its in-house computers to function more efficiently.

The Hybrid Cloud Approach Makes Sense

This frees up space on the in-house servers while ensuring that certain data is highly protected. The hybrid cloud is a good method to provide businesses with high security cloud services while reducing costs and saving space.

It’s not surprising that lots of businesses use the hybrid cloud. There is too much data storage needed these days for a business to store it all and not bog down their systems. Furthermore, in this competitive climate, businesses need to ensure their sensitive data is safeguarded. The hybrid cloud is often the best way businesses can accomplish both of these things.

Thanks to improved technology, a growing number of employees be capable of carry out most or all of their work from home. Smartphones, tablets, teleconferencing, and WiFi-equipped bookstores and coffee shops have made this feasible. This presents a huge advantage for employers: the more employees that work from home, the less money companies must spend. Many companies, for instance, do not have assigned computers and desks for all of their workers because a lot of their workforce is working remotely. Additionally, employees working remotely are often more productive; they’re not wasting time and energy driving to work every day. And they are not exchanging office gossip in front of the water cooler when in the office.

Remote Worker Challenges

A major concern for many managers when choosing to have remote workers is, how can you monitor their work? How do you know that they’re actually working rather than just watching movies all day?

One good way to monitor the amount of work being completed by remote workers is to set realistic goals that they must hit. This puts the emphasis on the end result and keeps the manager from worrying about it, provided that the goals are being met. This also gives the employee flexibility to work within the hours they are most fruitful.

Setting Remote Worker Deadlines

Employers might tell their remote workers that they have to turn in a specified amount of work every Wednesday and Friday. This makes sure that remote employees are carrying out their work. Employers might also schedule regular updates by phone, video chat, or through instant messaging, in which workers can explain how far along they are with particular tasks. Some employers may choose to require that their remote workers spend a minimum of one day a week, or two days a month, on site. This gives these workers face time with their managers, something that helps everyone stay focused on upcoming deadlines and goals.

Off-Site Not a Permanent Condition

While many individuals may have the personal discipline and time management skills to effectively work remotely, some don’t. So, if an employee doesn’t work effectively remotely, and that has grown to be obvious, remote working doesn’t have to stay permanent, it can easily be revoked. Ultimately, trust within the employee/employer relationship is among the key components of a effective remote working relationship. The employee needs to preserve that trust by hitting deadlines and delivering excellent work.