Silver Linings

As I was experiencing a moment of happiness, I wanted to share some of the ways that I got there. We all deserve to be happy and even stay that way but it is something that we have to get ourselves and consciously work on. First of all, learn to see the silver lining in the worst of things and going with the flow. This might sound counter intuitive but try seeing a tearjerker. Even centuries ago it was suggested that people go see sad operas to get all those emotions out so that afterwards they are happier. Turns out that there is some truth to that notion. This sadness that you experience can get you to think of what you have and be thankful for it which can induce a sense of happiness. Now before you go around moping that none of these things nor any mobile applications work consider this, sadness and the occasional bad mood are natural, too. No one can be happy all the time. That is good news too.

Think Happy

One of the keys to being happy is to be aware off your surroundings and yourself, including your feelings, no matter what they might be. First step in changing how you feel is to acknowledge how you naturally react to things. Once you realize what you are feeling you will be able to catch and then reframe your thoughts. You could ask yourself what could be the positives in the situation. On the other side of the coin, you need to be able to take a step back from all the negative thoughts and put distance between you and them. A feeling that kills happiness is fear. I heard that fear can cut deeper than any sword. Taking that with stride, try to live in the present because most of the time the fear is based on what will or will not happen in the future. You have to realize that you can take control of that fear of the video conference presentation and turn it around to work for you. Lastly, start each day with three things that you are grateful for and end it by sharing your favorite moment from that day.

Apple Shortcuts

Apple knows all about your smartphone addiction so the software development team has some shortcuts when it comes to texting. If you are done with a sentence, all you need to do is double tap the space bar and you will get a period so you don't have to go to the numbers keyboard. You can also switch between the numbers and letters keyboard by holding down the 123 key and swiping to what ever number of symbol you need. You can also add other languages to your keyboard by going to settings, general, and keyboard. You can even add the Emoji keys. If you’re in the mood to yell at someone, double-tap the arrow Shift key on the keyboard. It’ll change colors and lock you into using capital letters. Hope this will save you some time while you are firing off the 428th text for the day.

Napping: It Is Alright to Do at Work

Sleeping on the job is not always seen as a good thing. In fact, your boss with probably think that you are lazy and not really doing your job. In recent years, many progressive companies have begun to encourage employees to take mid-day naps to recharge. Many of these companies even have specialized napping rooms that are comfortable and away from the noise of VoIP services and other distractions. Naps can help you refocus and re-energize for the rest of the day. It can also be a huge help to those that are trying to balance work and family life where neither place can be conducive to sleep. Although napping is becoming a more popular employee perk in some industries especially software development, there’s still a great deal of resistance in the corporate world towards sleeping on the job,

Yelling at Your Phone

There are days when those internet phone service is not cooperating and those mobile applications are not doing what they should be doing. Those days you just want to yell at your phone. There could be tech soon that lets you charge the phone by yelling at it. At least there is some good that is coming out of the frustration that you are experiencing. That's the idea behind a recent collaboration between scientists at Queen Mary University of London and Nokia. The team is working to develop a prototype charger that could replenish the battery of a mobile phone using human voices, music or even background noise. There is sound and energy all around us and we need to be able to use the technology to harness its power. Of course this idea is not entirely new because there was a prototype created in 2011. This time it seems like it might make it to the market.

Distractions Left and Right

We live in an information overloaded world where we are constantly bombarded with information and some sort of stimuli, much of it coming from different mobile applications. This can cause more problems than just an emerging case of ADD, it can really hurt businesses and their productivity. One of the tools that employers can use is incorporating workplace flexibility. It can actually reduce employee absences by 20% and improve morale and productivity. The number-one time-wasting activity is surfing the Internet for personal reasons, according to a recent poll from Survey.com. The poll also found that one-third of workers say they are unproductive because they don’t have enough to do. Managers should communicate regularly with their employees about priorities and deadlines. Employees should also be encouraged to ask questions and periodically check in to make sure that they are meeting their manager’s expectations.

Research in the Cloud

Research and software development have finally found each other. It has been a relationship in the making for a long time so it is a surprise that it took so long. Patterns from a lot of data are crucial to certain research and experiments. When there is a computer doing all the large number crunching, the scientists can get more done and see a much bigger picture of what it going on than if they were the ones doing all of the calculations. The costs can also decrease dramatically when a lot of the data is stored in cloud services. Many of the tedious procedures are also becoming automated which to some degree can give more precise and accurate results. Researchers can then remotely select experiments and get sent the results. It take over $1 million dollar to set up a functioning lab so the financial burden constrains experiments and makes it hard for garage-sized startups to get off the ground. Throw in some automated software programs and three people have the potential to do the work of thirty.