Jan 30, 2018
By Sharon Jones
Your health is something that is more precious than gold. After all, if you haven’t got your health, you won’t be able to enjoy all the material things in life. That is why it’s so important that you look after it in the best way possible. To help you do this just follow the advice below.
Be more aware
There are lots of ways that increased awareness can improve your health. It may be that becoming more aware of the risks of certain behaviors like smoking and drinking can lead you to make more healthy decisions like quitting or cutting down in the future.
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Additionally being more aware of the hazards you face in the workplace and out in the public domain, and the risks they pose to you is useful. This is because it can ensure that you are much more careful in terms of your day to day behavior. Something that can definitely help safeguard your health by preventing you getting into unnecessary accidents.
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In fact, taken to its logical conclusion increased awareness of emotional and mental states through practices such as meditation and therapy can also help you safeguard your health too. This is because as you become more attuned to these states, you can learn to react to them in an appropriate and constructive way, rather than taking part in coping strategies that could harm your health.
Seek treatment fast
To safeguard your health, it’s also essential that if there is an issue you get it seen and treated as soon as possible. The reason for this is that the effects of many conditions can be minimized by getting them treated quickly.
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Of course, medical treatment isn’t cheap, and it can be a struggle for many people to meet the costs involved to get their condition sorted. That is why it’s also important that you speak to a professional personal injury attorney if you have a condition that was caused by the action or negligence of someone else. This is because the funds you received from a case win can be put towards the cost of medical treatment and allow you to access everything you need to make a speedy recovery.
Follow the doctor’s advice
Some folks don’t like doing this, but following the doctors’ advice is essential if you want your health to be at its best for as long as possible. That means making lifestyle changes such as starting to do some gentle exercise and watching what you eat.
It also means taking any medication at the time when the doctor advises. Something that you can use a pill planner to remind you to do.
Following the doctor’s advice is crucial to safeguarding your health.
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In addition, if your treatment includes homework, something that physical therapy patients and CBT and other counseling patients often have, its vital that you do this. After all, medical professionals can only show you the route to keeping well in these cases, but it is you that has to actually walk it to ensure you stay in tip-top health.
Jan 25, 2018
These days we breathe technology (image: https://www.pexels.com/photo/apple-coffee-computer-desk-356056/)
By Lina Martinez
Technology is defined by the Oxford Dictionary as “the application of scientific knowledge for practical purposes, especially in industry.” If you are anything like the majority of the population, we probably lost you as soon as the fourth word of the definition was written. Is that right? As much as we use it (from social media to search engines, the average individual is connected to the internet for an average of 20 hours every week), many of us don’t know much about technology, and this can be a real problem if we have to make use of it professionally.
If you also like spending time checking your Facebook or Twitter accounts but haven’t got the slightest clue as to what to do if your client asks you to send them a compressed file, the below lines are specially for you.
Here’s how to be better prepared for technological dilemmas.
File compression
There would have been a time at some point or another when you tried sending a file via email, and you received an onscreen message that told you the file you were trying to send was too large. This is a standard issue with many people who work in industries that require large and bulky documents to be transferred from one user to another. If the reports you are dealing with on a daily basis are image-heavy specially, these will pose a problem when it’s time to send them via email, and you will need to use software that enables you to compress these ahead of sharing the information. Learn how to zip and unzip files on your Mac so that you no longer have to face this issue.
Cheaper connectivity
If you run a successful company, making calls will also be part of your business, and at times, these will be international and lengthy. There is nothing technology can do (yet) if you would like to shorten your calls and make them less annoying (specially if your client is not the most exciting person to talk to), but there is something it can do to ensure you don’t end up paying thousands of dollars monthly on your telephone bill. With the internet and technology today being relatively easy to use for the average user, connectivity has also been improved and made more accessible by the key players in the industry. Applications like Skype will enable you to call Skype members for free, and those who haven’t signed up to the platform can still be reached at cheaper rates on their landlines and mobile phones. For more affordable connectivity rates, give Skype a go!
Scanning
Last but not least comes scanning. This is extremely useful if we wish to send our clients or customers a copy of a receipt or an identical copy of an original that already exists. Gone are the days when we would use our scanners and faxes to do this. These days, with applications like Dropbox you too can become a scanning master with just the help of your mobile phone. Download the app onto your phone and scan any document before you send it to your email address or that of the customers you serve.
Jan 15, 2018
By Nigel Hilton
When it comes to building a business from scratch, many entrepreneurs become overwhelmed with the tasks ahead and forget to pay attention to small details that make a huge difference in their reputation and branding. Below you can find out more about the commonly forgotten details that can potentially change the outlook of your new business.
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Business Stationery
You might think that in the digital age, you don’t need a business card or a leaflet, let alone invoice pads. You are likely to come across customers who prefer written communication, and are not techies. To accommodate their needs, you might want to invest in some cheap business checks and add some branding messages. You need to grab the opportunity to get your name out everywhere you can, let it be the internet or a printed magazine.
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Professional Profile
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You must look and act professional at all times. This means that you need to create a professional page on LinkedIn and other sites, including directories and social media. The more information you show your potential customers about your company, the more likely they will trust you. The main issue with online businesses is that anyone can claim fame without having to prove it. If you can showcase your skills online and offline, you are more likely to gain your customers.
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Requesting Feedback
When you make your first sales or get your first customers, you are likely to be too preoccupied with the job, and fail to request a feedback. This is a huge mistake. To make your business more successful, you need to overcome the fear of asking for recommendations and feedback. Today’s customers are looking for reviews on social media, and if you have none, your search engine rankings and reputation will suffer.
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Transparency of the Website
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We all want a flashy website that captures the attention of the customer, but hardly ever create it wearing the potential client’s head. Make sure you know what their main concerns and questions are and answer them on the landing page, instead of forcing them to scroll through several pages. The sooner they can get the answer to their question, the more likely they will be to contact you for a quote or place an order.
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A Clear Social Media Account
Some entrepreneurs fail to review their personal social media account before they start a business. When their potential customers look them up, they don’t look professional, at all. Clear up your profile from negative comments, bad language,and those drunk night out photos if you are serious about your business. Make sure your personal profile reflects your brand’s values and mission, as much as it can.
It is important that you pay attention to the details and maintain the good reputation of your startup business. Make sure that you check your social media posts, build a professional profile on LinkedIn, and focus on increasing your brand’s reputation every day. Make your website straightforward and transparent, and you will beat the competition.
Dec 21, 2017
By Nigel Hilton
If you’re starting out on your own, then like many entrepreneurs your new venture can be met with some trepidation. You are likely to also want to spend money sparingly and starting off things in the business small. No matter how small you want to start things, though, you will still need some technological tools to help your business to grow and to compete with your fellow counterparts. Certain pieces of tech can help you to make more money for the business but they can help you to save time too. No tech is going to run your business for you, but it is going to help you get things going.
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LED Backlit Monitor
Having a laptop or a tablet is all very well, but when it comes to office equipment, you need a large monitor to help working at a desk much easier. When you’re not having to strain, it can mean a more relaxed neck, back, and eyes. So if you find working from a desk uncomfortable or get pain from sitting or looking at a screen, then this can be a big help to you. If it is LED backlit, then it does help to reduce the strain and glare on your eyes. You don’t want to miss out on anything important or make yourself ill when you’re trying to do your work.
Wireless Printer
Being able to print out your work, wherever you are in the home or office, is going to be helpful. You might need to quickly print out an email before dashing off to a meeting, for example. So having a wireless printer that is ready to go can be most helpful. Just make sure that you get good quality printer ink for the printer too. Then all of your documents can be printed quickly, as well as looking good.
Smartphone
It is an obvious one that you will need a smartphone. But having a phone that will allow you easy access to emails is key for business. Internet access is also going to be really important. It can be a good idea when you’re going into business to have one phone for business use and one phone for personal use. It can help you to be more productive when on your work phone, as you won’t have to deal with any personal emails or social media notifications that pop up.
Wireless Router With Apps
If you have got a growing office, then your router needs to be able to take the strain. It can waste time and money to install ethernet cables, so the best idea is to go for wireless. One like the Belkin Play could be a good option as it will still enable you to use around the office but according to reviews, has unparalleled connectivity. In an office that will be filled with people and radio waves, you need a router that is going to be able to get to everyone and keep a strong signal.
Do you have a favorite piece of tech for your office?
Dec 7, 2017
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By Nigel Hilton
The overwhelming opinion, especially in the gaming community, is that mobile gaming is a waste of time; the games are no good and many are so bad that they’re only played by bored housewives and little kids. Basically, its value is totally dismissed, and some pretty unfair assumptions are made about it to the point that mobile gaming rarely gets any coverage at all.
Of course, there ARE lots of bad games available on mobile platforms, but that’s true of PC and console gaming too! However, what is also true, but a great many people aren’t willing to concede, is that there are some pretty good titles available in the mobile apps stores too. Sure, they’re a bit different than PC and console games most of the time, but at the end of the day, a good game is a good game.
Still not convinced? Here are some things that might change your mind:
You Must Accept that Mobile Gaming is Different
Of course, you’re going to dismiss mobile gaming if you hold it to the same standard as your favored method of gaming, whether that be PC or console because they are not the same. Mobile gaming, by its very nature – smaller devices, touchscreen, different hardware- combined with the fact that a wider range of the population have cell phones and tablets than consoles, means that mobile games will be a little different, and yes, many of them will be filler for people to play on for a few minutes when they’re standing in line at the bank or whatever. However, just because there are some low-quality titles out there, doesn’t mean you should dismiss the medium as a whole.
There is Something for Everyone
Contrary to popular opinion, mobile gaming isn’t all about simple side-scrollers and Candy Crush style-time sucks – there are as many different genres of mobile game as there are PC games. Yes, it might take you a while to separate the wheat from the chaff, but isn’t that true of the Steam store or your local video game store too? From MMOs like Final Fantasy XV: A New Empire to great mystery/puzzle-based titles like Layton’s Mystery Journey and the ever popular Minecraft – whatever you’re into there’s a mobile game for you. You just have to be willing to give them a chance.
They’re Extremely Portable
Of course, there are a few consoles, like the recently released Nintendo Switch that allow you to take your gaming on the go, but no device is quite so convenient as your phone or tablet, which you likely carry with you everywhere and can do a whole host of other things like make calls, enable you to work, draw, play etc. all in one tiny little package. If you’re the kind of person who likes to be able to play anywhere and everywhere, you really should give mobile gaming a chance.
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They are Good for Killing Time
In a similar vein, mobile games are good at killing time. Despite as I said above, some people dismissing them all as trash that is created solely to make money and keep people occupied while they stand in line, this is a definite benefit of mobile gaming. Whenever You get bored and away from your PC, you can whip out your phone and play something for a few minutes and play something, and it doesn’t have to be Angry Birds or Candy Crush – no it could be Ragnarok Online, Age of Empires, Minecraft or any number of other interesting titles.
The Medium is Only Going to Improve
With augmented reality, virtual reality, ever improving mobile hardware and the increasing popularity of mobile gaming amongst ordinary people, you can bet your bottom dollar that mobile gaming is only going one way – up.
It Increases Reaction Times
If you are a dedicated PC or console gamer, then you might find in switching it up a bit and playing a fast-paced mobile game, which allows you to use your hands even more in ways you might not be used to will improve your reaction times, so that you can play more effectively on all platforms.
You Have the Device So Why Not Use iI?
Chances are you have at least one mobile device, so why not use it to play a game or two now and again? Even if you think they’re mostly trash, you can play chess, Scrabble, and all kinds of fun games that aren’t too taxing and which will give you a break from the more serious gaming you do.
To the app store!
Dec 4, 2017
Add to Flipboard Magazine.
by Lina Martinez
If you’re in the software startup game and are slowly creeping up to your launch date, the chances are you will be feeling a weird mix of incredible excitement and intense trepidation. All that work you have done in the past, the pain and suffering you have been through, and the countless sleepless nights spent as a startup owner, it’s all going to come to fruition – or not.
There is a lot to do in the pre-launch phase, and unless you are incredibly organized, you are likely to be worried about getting things wrong. So, you look online and find some articles with 50, 100, 250-item checklists – and you start to panic. Well, this post is designed to help you feel much better about your launch. The truth is there are only a few things you need to worry about on the whole, and today we’re going to go through them to ensure your software product is ready to roll.
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Build. An. Email. List.
The most important thing you need to do before getting anywhere close to your launch date is to start building an email list. Ultimately, when that time on the calendar arrives, and you don’t have an email campaign ready to go, your launch party is going to be a damp squib. You need to attract, maintain, and engage with the right audience if you want to make sales, and all the time you spend cultivating your list, the better results it will give.
Check your market’s trends
Unless your startup is ready to launch a couple of weeks after you had the idea, you need to be keeping a close eye on market trends – even in the build-up to your release day. Even if your overall target market doesn’t change much, you will need to have a unique value proposition for each of the customer segments you intend to target. And these smaller segments tend to change a lot faster and more dramatically than an overall picture, so, what was the case a year or 18 months ago might not be the same now.
Avoid perfection
Are you a perfectionist? If so, you could be stopping your product from succeeding. A lot of software developers postpone their launch dates time and time again, pushing the release day and trying to create the ultimate product rather than the most viable. It’s a huge mistake. As pointed out over at Exceptionless.com, bugs need to be found and ironed out, but as long as you understand what your customers actually find valuable about your software, there’s nothing wrong with launching an imperfect product. No technology is launched without any problems – don‘t expect yours to be any different.
Commit
If you make a date for launch, commit to it – unless you have an exceptionally good reason. You will also need to commit to other things, such as your pricing structure, level of customer service post-launch, and training up employees. According to knowtechie.com, you might want to record a few series of webinars to help new customers iron out any common problems experienced by your early adopters or focus groups. Ultimately, the sooner the product is out there, the sooner you will know how viable it will be – and what changes you need to make as you move forward. Good luck!
Lina Martinez has her B.S. in Journalism and a regular contributor to our Politics, Life and Money sections. She once admitted over drinks to singing “Careless Whisper” in the shower. We are still trying to get her to sing it at karaoke.
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