Daylight Saving Time

Though the biannual ritual of turning clocks might feel like second nature to us today, it is actually a fairly new phenomenon that has only taken effect on a global scale within the past several decades (though many countries including Venezuela, Kenya and Saudi Arabia still don't partake in it today). Benjamin Franklin suggested the idea back in 1784, as a way to economize on sunlight and burn fewer candles during winter mornings and nights, but the practice did not become steadily official in the United States until Congress passed the Uniform Time Act in 1966, with the same intention of saving energy. An increase in cyberloafing — the slang word for surfing the Web for personal entertainment during work hours while internet faxes should be answered — may not be as life-threatening as heart attacks and workplace injuries, but it can cost companies thousands of salary wages flushed down the Internet tube.

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.

Password Alternatives

We all know that passwords need to extremely secure and that need has increased with the advancements that have been made in technology. There have been several alternatives to the standard password that are much more secure and "unguessable". It is very important with the wide spread of communication services and financial services that are done over the internet. One of the alternatives is the radio frequency identification which is a chip that is injected into the body. When it is hit by a radio signal, it emits its own which functions as a password. Another interesting option is a heartbeat. Every person's heartbeat is unique -- so unique that no pattern of beats ever repeats twice. This may make heartbeats perfect passwords; Taiwanese scientists have recently devised a heartbeat-utilizing encryption scheme based on the mathematics of chaos theory. Currently the system is still a prototype but it looks very promising.

Best Buy Might Sell Google Glass

Google Glass is voice-controlled, Internet-connected eyewear that allows users wear to take pictures, video conference, check email and perform a variety of other functions. Best Buy didn't deny that it plans to sell Google's much-anticipated computerized eyewear, Google Glass, after a famed tech blogger reported a rumored partnership earlier this week. But the big-box store also didn't confirm the rumors. Best Buy is considering devoting up to 6,000 square feet per store to display Google products, including Google Glass. This makes sense, since you really need to try Glass before buying it to see if it's for you and you also need to have it fitted to your face. I still have to wonder what type of problems this tech would be solving. It would be pretty cool and I think I would go try them out just to see if I really like them but right now, I feel like there is no pressing need for them. What are your thoughts on the Google Glass?

Digital Footprints

How much energy do you think that smartphone in your pocket uses? Turns out that when you tally up the charging and data usage, it is about 361 kWh a year on average. That is more than a medium refrigerator. That is definitely something to think about when doing all the application development. The mobile industry is not going anywhere so it is good to realize just how much energy the digital economy uses, not just the individual uses. The iPhone is just one reason why the information-communications-technologies (ICT) ecosystem, otherwise known as the digital economy, demands such a large and growing amount of energy. The global ICT system includes everything from smartphones to laptops to digital TVs to — especially — the vast and electron-thirsty computer-server farms that make up the backbone of what we call “the cloud.” At a gas station, for instance, the immediate cost and the smell of petrol is a potent reminder that we’re consuming energy. The digital economy is built on the sensation of seamlessness—but it still comes with a utility bill.