The Internet has changed the way we get our news, watch movies, and pay our bills. It’s little wonder, then, that it has also changed the way we listen to music. Today, the web is home to many top music-streaming services – online services that permit users to listen to their favorite music on their laptops, desktops, and mobile devices.

But which music-streaming services are the best? Here are several suggestions:

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 introduce users to new music that they may not experience otherwise. The thought behind Pandora is simple: After logging onto the service, enter the name of a favorite artist, say “David Bowie.” Pandora will then play songs by Bowie and will also play songs from similar artists. Thus giving you a taste of other tunes that you might also like.

Grooveshark: Grooveshark is similar to Pandora in that it generates a “radio” station based on your musical tastes. However, you may also listen to entire albums on Grooveshark and build playlists. One unique feature of Grooveshark is the power to upload your own music to the Grooveshark database if you can’t find what you are searching for. This is a smart and simple way for Grooveshark to grow its library.

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 a Swedish music-streaming service which 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 full album or decide to use the radio function and Spotify will find similar artists for you to enjoy. Another advantage of Spotify is that you can create your own playlists and share them with other users if you so choose.

When was the last time we saw a Windows product which captured the essence of “cool”? Before recently it had been some time, but when Microsoft came up with Kinect for Windows that all changed. The Kinect is a motion and voice-sensing device that was initially developed for the Xbox gaming console.

Microsoft in February unveiled Kinect for Windows. This version of the device works with, of course, Windows-operated personal computers. Now a number of users are putting the device to work in unanticipated ways.

Innovative Uses for the Kinect

At the Chicago Auto Show the Chief Marketing Manager for Nissan North America used the Kinect in an intriguing 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 physically display. Using the Kinect, participants could actually “see” what the interior looked liked.

Microsoft is motivating companies to find different uses for the Kinect and even cooperating with them to build applications for it. This is an excellent move on their part, as it not only promotes 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’ve used the Kinect to build virtual tours of their jets. Another exciting 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 risk of spreading germs because you don’t have to touch the computer.

Kinect: A Solid Hit

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

The Kinect has numerous uses outside of what it was initially developed for. Microsoft actually developed something which is not only useful, but viewed as cool. This change in attitude toward Microsoft could help the company in several ways.

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When you sift through the potential candidates for the job you’re hiring for, you wish to find the super stars. You would like to find the most imaginative, passionate, and motivated people you can. But you are only able to discover who fits the bill through an interview. And if you don’t ask the correct questions you may misjudge your applicants.

Make sure that your interview questions solicit the data that will help you select the individual with the traits 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 candidates what their job titles were at past positions. Don’t ask them what their responsibilities were. Rather, ask them to list any imaginative ideas that they developed 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 response to this, as they know it will probably be asked in an interview. Instead ask them to tell you the things they add to the culture of a company, what do they do in stressful situations, or what are some ways they keep themselves satisfied at their jobs. These answers will clue you in to the disposition of the person you are interviewing, and if they will fit in with your company and the position.

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 complex; 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 perfect 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 qualified 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.

Traveling for business is not fun. We’re generally rushed, we don’t eat correctly, and we have to deal with 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 termination of business travel? Maybe not, think about the differences between in-person meeting and videoconferencing.

Fluid discussion is often less common when videoconferencing. It’s difficult to identify exactly why. It could be due, partly, to office distractions, and also to any lag that the videoconference has. These problems could be resolved with technological advancements. But generally, when people are videoconferencing they have a tendency to stick to the primary task of the meeting instead of allow discussion to flow naturally, which can result in creative ideas.

The Benefits of Face-to-Face Time

Conversation evolves a lot more easily with in-person interactions. This is healthy, and as far as business is concerned, can be quite beneficial. Having an impromptu brainstorming session can result in ideas that can lead the organization down a path that wasn’t previously anticipated. This is not to say that every face-to-face meeting becomes a game-changing brainstorming session. But if a meeting degenerates into story telling, this is an chance for co-workers to strengthen their interpersonal relationships and boost moral.

Business Travel is Here to Stay

While many companies turn toward videoconferencing because of the cost and ease of it, it is doubtful that business travel will disappear totally. When we develop business relationships, just like any relationships, we want to meet face-to-face because we are a social species. The benefits of face-to-face meetings are enough that savvy business owners will not eliminate business travel completely.

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Remember watching sci-fi movies as a kid and thinking we would have jetpacks in the future? Or teleporters? We don’t have these technologies yet but we do have many impressive technologies that seem straight out of a science fiction movie. Our cars can direct us around a city, via GPS. We can carry tablet computers around with us that hold our data. And we can speak with associates worldwide at the push of a button.

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. Consequently, if we are limited by their power, and capability to hold a charge, the technology which uses them is also limited. For example, 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 finally enter the market, we will likely notice a boom in technological advancements.

Improving Internet Access

It may seem like everyone 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 amount of people who can contribute to the interconnectedness the Internet provides, we are reducing the amount of individuals who can collaborate. Until the majority of individuals are connected, technological developments are not going to happen as fast as they could.

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

The good news is that none of these limitations can truly stop technology from advancing. Just think ahead to the holiday season of 2020. Who knows what innovations will be awaiting us.

Adobe Photoshop is a fantastic photo manipulation tool. With it, businesses can create professional looking marketing materials fairly easily. The biggest 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, plus they probably don’t need all of the features that a $600 photo-editing program comes equipped with. Thankfully, there are many alternatives to Photoshop that are affordable or free.

These programs may not contain all the elements that Photoshop boasts, but they have more than enough photo-editing features for most small business owners. Here are three of the best free photo-editing programs now available:

GIMP

GIMP means GNU image manipulation program. It is very easy to use and contains 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 very 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 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 one of the most popular free editing programs, as you don’t have to download files to use it.

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

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

A Better Battery on the Way?

Fortunately, a better battery might soon be on the way, due 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 make a battery that lasts longer and can recharge itself in mere minutes. Smartphone users across the country should be thankful.

Northwestern’s researchers have found a method to increase 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 effective than batteries at present.

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 may stay charged for a whole week. And the charging time may be less then 15 minutes. Which will obviously make life easier but this technology might have a much more important impact then that. It could be applied to the batteries utilized in electric cars, causing them to be far more efficient, and drastically decreasing our reliance on fossil fuels.

Batteries Powering Technological Change

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

When looking at online search engines, Google is still king. Microsoft isn’t pleased with this. That’s why the company launched Bing in 2009, its own search engine and a direct competitor with Google. Since then, Bing has gone the way of most Google-search competitors: It’s mostly an afterthought when computer users want to search the web. Most searchers still turn to Google for this task. However, that does not mean that Bing offers nothing for computer users. The fact is, Microsoft did a lot right with Bing, and the search engine offers plenty of interesting features that users shouldn’t dismiss.

Taking Another Look at Bing

When searching on Bing you may get more information about your search results then you do from Google. There is a navigation panel on the left that features related searches; this can help you refine your search if you didn’t get the information you were in need of. There’s also a “search history” navigation panel to help you easily navigate to past pages if needed. This feature can be toggled off and on.

Bing Goes Beyond Search Results

When you search in Bing, you get more then just search results. Bing pulls up images, and videos that are associated with your search. While Google has this feature, Bing makes the navigation somewhat more user friendly. Another valuable feature is what they call Farecast Technology. This is part of the Bing Travel site and it allows users to locate the cheapest airfare 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 would like, and what screen size they would prefer. Additionally, to get a preview of the video, users only need to hover their cursor over the video to play a part of it without clicking on it.

These are a few of the reasons why computer users should not be so quick to discount Bing. Yes, Google remains the go-to player with regards to search engines. But that doesn’t mean that it’s the only good option today.

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

Not All Clouds are the Same

However, not all clouds are the same. There’s the public cloud, the one with which we’re most accustomed. But then there’s the hybrid cloud as well. As its name suggests, the hybrid cloud is a combination of two different types of clouds, the public cloud and a private cloud.

To provide a hybrid cloud, an organization may store some of their client’s more critical 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 programs while keeping sensitive data in-house.

The Hybrid Cloud Approach Makes Sense

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

Because of this it’s no surprise that the hybrid cloud is so popular. Businesses today 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 are able to keep space in their systems free while protecting their data.

A growing number of employees nowadays work remotely. This is possible on account of advancements in technology. The benefits are many for both employee and employer. Employers can spend less money as they have less people that need space in the office. Employees that work remotely are often more productive; they spend less time commuting, and they have the flexibility to adjust their work around their life instead of working 9 hours straight, which can lead to burnout.

Remote Worker Challenges

A major concern for most managers when choosing to have remote workers is, how do you monitor their work? How do you know that they’re actually working and not just watching movies all day?

By setting sensible deadlines employers can monitor their remote workers successfully. 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

This is most likely the simplest way to monitor your remote workers. Employers may decide that a certain amount of work needs to be turned in by Friday. One other way would be to set up weekly or bi-weekly meetings via phone or video chat. To resolve any feelings of detachment some employers may ask that a remote worker spend one day a week in the workplace. This can help keep everyone on track and informed.

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 remains the key component of a remote working relationship. Organisations must place some trust in their workers that they’ll finish their jobs on time. Workers must demonstrate that they are worthy of this trust by hitting their deadlines, turning in quality work, and replying quickly to phone calls or email messages.