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.

So we thought we would share with you some information about some 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 introduce 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 will also play songs from similar artists. This gives you a taste of other tunes which you might also like.

Grooveshark: Grooveshark is a lot like Pandora. But you can also make 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 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 has rapidly made a name for itself as a result of its huge database of more than 14 million songs. Users must pay for the service – $10 a month – but by doing so, they’ll be able to stream any song from the service’s massive collection.

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

It’s been a little while since Windows was thought to be cool but the Kinect may change all that. The Kinect is a voice and motion-sensing device that was originally developed as a feature for the Xbox gaming system.

Microsoft in February introduced 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 unexpected ways.

Innovative Uses for the Kinect

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

Microsoft is also encouraging companies to make use of the Kinect imaginatively by working with them to develop custom Kinect applications. Nearly 350 companies today are working with Microsoft in this way. For instance, Boeing uses the device to make virtual tours of its 737 jets. Medical providers at a hospital in Canada are also using the device’s gesture-recognition to swipe through CT scans, eliminating the risk of touching germs on a keyboard or mouse.

Kinect: A Solid Hit

When Microsoft developed the Kinect for Windows they hit a home run. Last year the Xbox 360 was the best selling gaming console. In fact, since November 2010, more then 18 million Kinect devices have been sold. This is definitely changing the way that the consumer views Microsoft products.

It may seem hard to believe, but Windows and its creator could have actually found something that’s not only useful, but cool, which can do nothing but good for their reputation.

These days, whenever you post an open position on the Internet, hundreds of people reply. Many of these people are eligible candidates for the job, so you call them in for an interview. But how do you sift through them to find the truly innovative and passionate people? Since the interview is fundamentally all you can go on, your interview questions are very important.

Make sure that your interview questions solicit the data that will help you select the individual with the attributes you want. If you use a cookie cutter approach to the interview, you are likely to 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 revolutionary ideas that they came up with for their previous employers. Ask them if these ideas helped their employers earn more money, run more efficiently, or cut back on expenses.

Another prevalent 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 probably be asked in an interview. Instead ask them to tell you what 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 character 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 perform. 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 ideal workspace would look like. Ask them to come up with 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 talented people. So in order to find the very best, they need to change the types of questions they ask in job interviews.

Traveling for business is not fun. We’re typically rushed, we don’t eat well, and we have to endure the hassle of airports and long-term parking. It’s not surprising that a great many 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?

But is this really what business people and their employers should want? Perhaps not. Videoconferencing may never take the place of face-to-face meetings in the business world since the best ideas normally pop up during these in-person meetings. Look at the difference between how videoconferencing and in-person meetings usually work.

Fluid discussion tends to be less common when videoconferencing. It’s tough to identify precisely why. It could be due, partly, to office disruptions, and also to any lag that the videoconference has. These issues could be solved with technological advancements. But generally, when people are videoconferencing they have a tendency to stick to the primary task of the meeting rather then allow conversation to flow naturally, which can bring about creative ideas.

The Benefits of Face-to-Face Time

Face-to-face interactions tend to be more intimate 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 progression of conversation. While it’s true that every meeting may not become 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 improbable that business travel will disappear altogether. However, in today’s economy, many business owners just can’t afford to send their sales people away each and every time the need to meet a customer. For this reason, improvements in videoconferencing are essential but the advantages 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 like 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 use the GPS in our cars to get around around town. We can post an update to our social media sites and reach thousands of 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 significance. They are a foundation of our technological world nowadays. Consequently, if we are restricted by their power, and capacity 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 eventually enter the market, we will likely notice 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 can access high-speed Internet access. It may well seem like every public library, bookstore, and cafe’ provides its clientele with use of high-speed wireless Internet, but this is mostly a mirage. The vast majority of humans don’t have easy access to the web. Until this occurs, we’ll be needlessly limiting the growth of technology. The more minds that are connected on the Web, the higher the odds are of reaching the next tech breakthrough.

The Business of New Tech

Last but not least there is the red tape. Business matters, like patent laws, can hamper technological progress. Individuals and businesses that come up with innovative things have to first navigate these waters. But if government regulations are clear and simple to understand, it could prevent some of this.

While these are a few of the issues that hinder technology from advancing, it still is developing at a rapid pace. So who knows what is in store for us in the next year or two.

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Businesses can use Adobe Photoshop to generate professional marketing material easily. It is a very robust program with many features so it’s no wonder that it can cost over $600, depending on the version. Many small business owners don’t want to spend this much, and they don’t require all the features that come with it. However, there are some alternatives to Photoshop that are economical or free.

These programs probably won’t 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 highest quality free photo-editing programs available today:

GIMP

GIMP is very user friendly and contains most of the features from Photoshop that a business owner would need to create marketing material. The beauty of GIMP is that it’s absolutely free!

Paint.NET

Did you ever use MSPiant? It was included with your Windows operating system and was very basic. Paint.NET is its successor and is a lot more powerful then its predecessor. One fantastic aspect for designers is an unlimited undo button. Paint.NET is a free program; the only negative regarding it is that it only works on Windows machines.

Picnik

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

There is no need to purchase the pricey Photoshop program to produce 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 wonderful. It can steer you to that trendy new fusion restaurant if you’re lost. It can play your favorite sitcom as you head to work on the train. It will 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?

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 means 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 efficient than the today’s lithium-ion batteries.

A Charged Battery for a Week

In the end, this new cell phone battery could stay charged for an entire week, despite all the apps we use daily. And the charging time? Below 15 minutes. Which will sure make our lives easier, but more than that, this new battery technology could lead to smaller and more efficient batteries for electric cars.  This could in turn, have a dramatic impact on our reliance on fossil fuels.

Batteries Powering Technological Change

Advancements in battery technology are not something we typically 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 hold the key to a greater technological shift.

When it comes to online search engines, Google remains king. Microsoft isn’t happy 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 need to search the web. Most searchers still turn to Google for this task. Nevertheless, that doesn’t mean that Bing offers nothing for computer users. In fact, Microsoft did a lot right with Bing, and the search engine delivers plenty of interesting features that users should not disregard.

Taking Another Look at Bing

When you search on Bing, you will get more information about 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 which are grouped into logical categories. This makes it simpler for users to find multimedia files or quick answers.

Bing Goes Beyond Search Results

Another great thing about Bing is that it doesn’t just bring up search results. It also brings up related videos, music, and images. Although this is a feature of Google as well, Bing makes it easier to use, 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 in terms of 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. 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 some of the reasons why computer users should not be so quick to discount Bing. Yes, Google continues to be the go-to player with regards to search engines. But that doesn’t mean that it’s the only choice today.

Cloud computing is very common 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 stored 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 may slow it down.

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. Most of us use the public cloud, companies that want to use cloud services to store very confidential data can elect to use a private cloud, and the hybrid cloud is a combination of the two.

The hybrid cloud generally works like this: A company provides some resources in-house. For example, it may store current consumer data on its private in-house cloud. It may also store employee records, new marketing campaigns, and current proposals to new clients on its in-house storage. That same business, though, 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 safeguarded. The hybrid cloud is a good strategy to provide businesses with high security cloud services while decreasing costs and saving space.

It’s no wonder, then, that a great number of businesses today are moving toward a hybrid cloud approach. There is way too much data floating around today for small enterprises to properly store. At the same time, businesses in today’s competitive environment don’t want to expose 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 prevalent in the business world today. This is possible because 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 need to have office space and furniture for remote works. And the advantage of adjusting their schedule to fit their life is a major plus for the employee.

Remote Worker Challenges

A major concern for most 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 easy way to monitor the amount of work being completed by remote workers is to set sensible goals that they need to hit. This puts the emphasis on the results and helps prevent the manager from worrying about it, so long as the goals are being met. This also gives the employee freedom to work within the hours they are most productive.

Setting Remote Worker Deadlines

Employers might tell their remote workers that they must turn in a specified amount of work every Wednesday and Friday. This makes sure that remote employees are carrying out their work. Employers may also schedule regular updates by phone, video chat, or through instant messaging, during which workers can explain how far along they are with specific tasks. Some employers may prefer 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 which helps everyone stay focused on upcoming deadlines and goals.

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 grown to be clear, 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 successful remote working relationship. The employee needs to maintain that trust by hitting deadlines and delivering top quality work.