Relax This Weekend

As we approach the long weekend, it might be a good idea to take the time to relax. We ALL need to step back now and then and take a breather. It's impossible to go full speed all the time. One of the things that you can do is put all those emails and internet fax on hold. Being able to relax and recharge is important for maintaining health, energy and focus. Stress affects each of us in different ways, and none of them are beneficial to our health. Stress can weaken your immune system and cause uncomfortable physical symptoms like headaches and stomach problems, as well as insomnia and irritability. While the link between stress and heart disease is still unclear, studies have suggested that chronic stress that causes an increase in heart rate and blood pressure may damage the artery walls. Some other things that you can do is call up an old friend and have a couple laughs. Try to get six to eight hours of sleep each night. Use "to do" lists to help you focus on your most important tasks. Approach big tasks one step at a time. For example, start by organizing just one part of your life -- your car, desk, kitchen, closet, cupboard or drawer.

Gen Y and Tech Security

Are you concerned about your teenager sharing too much information on his or her smartphone? A new poll from the Pew Internet & American Life Project suggests that while there is some room for improvement, American teens are finally starting to understand the privacy risks associated with downloading smartphone mobile applications. It seems that finally something is clicking with this younger generation. It is important to remember just how sensitive private information is in the digital age. There are numerous ways that people can mine private information in order to gain access to different accounts and scam people. Interestingly enough, when it comes to location tracking, there’s a massive gender gap: 59% of girls have turned off the feature either for an individual app or for their entire phone. Only 37% of boys reported that they disabled tracking in the same manner. How do you feel about location tracking and mobile privacy?

Getting Published

Most people that write articles do not necessarily call themselves writers. But if you are wondering how to get published, here are some pointers. First of all pick a site or publication that you tend to read a lot because the bigger of an expert you are on the material, the greater your chances of getting published there. Secondly, make sure that you read their rules. This is one of the most important things that you could do because you should not let something like misreading or not following rules keep you from sharing those great ideas of yours. Don't submit work that's similar to the obscure parts of a website. In the beginning you want to aim right for the sweet spot. Your value to a publisher is giving them what they already have, but more, with a minimum amount of work on their end to conform your stuff to what their readers expect. Next, networking can really help your writing career, no matter if it is over social media or other communication services. Lastly, get ready for rejection, and apply it! If your work is being judged by editors, there's a good chance they're more experienced than you and have proper insight into the merits and flaws of your work.

Introverts: Not So Bad

Our society has praised the people that are loud and out there; the people that actually want to strike up a conversation with a total stranger. As for the introverts, they just get a bad rap. If someone decides to level a store with their car, most of the people start talking about that person as if they cannot believe that it happened or point to the fact that he or she was a total loner and did not interact with other people so "obviously they were a ticking time bomb." That unknown factor freaks us out, and in not knowing the personality quirks of an introvert, we assume that it must be bad, just to be on the safe side. People seem to think that because we're not out at the club or taking part in the neighborhood meetings or using the wonderful IP telephony to chitchat with everyone, we're sitting at home, alone in the dark, softly crying, wishing that someone--anyone--would rescue us from the loneliness. I'm not talking about people who are introverts against their will. I'm talking about the millions of us out there who are introverts because we simply prefer our nice, quiet houses over the jaw-clinching idiocy of public functions.

RingCentral Features

One of the biggest clients that AB Soft has is RingCentral, but I am sure that you know already. They recently rolled out with a new user interface, business SMS, and conferencing. With AB Soft doing all the CMS development, it is no surprise that the new interface is so improved and a mile above the rest. Streamlined, sped up and optimized for mobile devices, the latest version of the RingCentral web interface makes it easy for you to manage all of your business communications in one place. RingCentral is also the first phone service company to offer business texting. In the mobile world, texting your business partner was not too far away. Business SMS gives you another channel with which you can communicate. Conferencing, included on all Office plans in the US, provides every user with a unique conference bridge number. With our latest iOS and Android apps, it’s even possible to create conferences on the go, then invite attendees via email or text message.

Switching to Internet Phone Services

After doing the research on whether to get an internet phone service and which one will best fit your business, you have finally decided that now is the time to switch and start enjoying all the benefits the VoIP has to offer. One of the first things that you need to do is to make sure that your bandwidth is large enough to accommodate the phones lines. A fast internet means that the calls will be of a better quality. Another aspect to consider is making sure that you have great routers in order to reduce the number of dropped calls. For small businesses, switching to VoIP means getting rid of phone maintenance entirely since the vendor now handles that. One drawback to using VoIP is that if the system fails, or Internet connections are lost, all phones in your business go dead. One way to plan for and overcome this scenario is through the use of failover switches, aka Fallback, Lineback, and A/B Fallback switches, some of which can be controlled via TCP/IP and all work via automated triggers. Happy switching!

Mastering Your Mood

Did you ever notice that when someone says hello and asks how you are doing, they are saying this as they are walking away? This is done so much that we never give a second though before answering, "Good, how are you?" as we ourselves are walking away and going about our business. Has anyone every actually said anything besides that when you ask? It would certainly be a bit awkward. We have come to a point where you can tell your mood to an app or some communication device more easily than to a person. Go figure. Many people are using these tools to tracks mood changes and triggers in order to take more control over their lives and wellbeing. Not only does recording data help doctors and patients to better understand why symptoms occur when they do, the information can also reveal relatively quickly whether treatments— including drugs and therapy— are working. How useful such mood apps turn out to be in mental health therapy won’t be clear until more patients try them, and more studies are done on how they affect mood and can be integrated into treatment. On the other hand, how much of our information should a program know and how is it used?