Personal Computing

Personal computing is becoming a lot more personal these days. This is not talking about the ads that are tailored to what is in your inbox although that aspect has a completely separate dimension of its own. In the era of handheld computing, the value extends beyond the hardware and into the software, which is something that the software developers have to take into account as well as the operating systems. When a product becomes personal and intimate, good enough is not good enough. Consumers want the best product for their needs, and cheap is not always the best choice. Due to its personal nature, this market will support a wide variety of choices. In fact, not only will smartphones will prove this true, but so will wearable computing. We will see a wide variety of wearable devices all focused on providing specific value propositions for segments of the market that value them.

Erase Yourself

JustDelete.me is a page full of links -- not ugly blue hyperlinks but links disguised as buttons. Each button represents an online service; anything from LinkedIn to even internet phone services such as Skype to Wikipedia. Click a button and JustDelete.me will take you to the page on that online service that allows you to delete your account. If you click the "show info" link under each button, meanwhile, JustDelete.me will tell you, in plain English, how to delete your account from that site. It does not get any better or easier than that. Buttons are color-coded: a green button means deleting your account is easy, a yellow button means it's moderately difficult, red means it's hard and black (uh-oh) means "it's impossible to delete your account on this site." Turns out some sites love your data so much they won't remove it. Ever. In addition to its primary purpose of teaching people how to delete their accounts -- and serving as a one-stop shop for people who want to pare down their online presence -- JustDelete.me publicly shames services that don't let users remove their data. And for those who haven't yet created eternal accounts on these types of sites, including Netflix, Pinterest or Pastebin, JustDelete.me serves as a warning that some sites will never let you go.

Be Mindful

We are all teachers in one form or another. Some of us get paid to teach while others teach and do not even know that impact that they have on people. Those teachers that do it for a living are at risk for feeling burnt out and one of the ways to prevent that is for them to practice mindfulness. Mindfulness strategies can help lower stress, improve self-compassion and boost classroom organization among teachers. It is one of those techniques that can span different subjects and needs to be incorporated more into the education system. When solving complex problems and working to create a solution, mindfulness can really help, especially when things need to be put into perspective. When creating cloud systems for different clients, the AB- Soft team interacts with the business owners and then interprets their goals in order to create a custom program and application. Mindfulness comes into play when energy needs to be focused and the right product delivered.