The Spoken Word – Strong as Ever in the Face of New Tech

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Not too long ago, when we called someone we used to keep our fingers crossed for them to be close by to pick up the phone. When cell phones hit the mainstream, reaching someone became easier, but calling them wasn’t cheap. So although people were more certain to hear each other, they didn’t do so considerably more often.

Then came the smartphone which forever changed the playground. Communication took on even more forms. Instant messaging was added to the mix, along with email on the go and video chatting. Today, voice calls are a lot cheaper, but according to numbers dished out by Nielsen, the traditional “hello” has neither increased, nor decreased in usage

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All Companies Want to Innovate (As Long As They Don’t Have To Change)

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Not too long ago, disruption was something found solely on the agenda of big enterprises. In recent times, small businesses have begun to exercise innovation as a way to stand out from the crowd. According to the 2015 State of Global Innovation report by Imaginatik, almost every company in every industry has put innovation at the top of their to-do list. However, not all of them can cope with the implications.

The service innovation company conducted the study with the goal of assessing just how disruptive today’s mid- and large-sized organizations have become. The surveyed industries, (with the percentage of companies polled in that field of work) include

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Customers Want Complaints Answered Where They Were Posted

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Funny story: I decided to change my ringtone to a real song by a real band, so I looked up “how to change ringtone on iOS.” I landed on a 1,000-word post that explained the nightmarish process. After decidedly sticking with my stock tunes, I felt like venting a little on Twitter.

Apple has always made it unnecessarily difficult to add and extract files to and from an iOS device, especially ringtones. It has to do with the stronghold on the content routed through iTunes. While it’s fair towards the artists, it’s excruciatingly frustrating for the end user. Surely there’s a way to please both parties. Alas, they’ve yet to implement it

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VoipNow Grows On You, With You

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The future of communication and collaboration is the Internet. How do we know this? Because the future is already here.

As pioneers of Unified Communications for the cloud, we witnessed (and helped) the Internet gobble up hardware and convert it into software from the front row

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Yes, It’s Possible to Go 100% Remote And Get Instant Benefits

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At 4PSA, we are strong proponents of remote working. We develop solutions that assist this culture and we know first hand that it works to the benefit of modern companies – where most of the workforce uses a computer to carry out its duties.

20 years ago, remote working was a luxury that few could afford. As a culture, it didn’t even exist. Firstly, there weren’t nearly as many types of businesses that could benefit from it. Then there’s the aspect of mobility – namely, the lack thereof – back then. Neither the hardware, nor the software (let alone the Internet) could sustain a telecommuting culture in the 90s, or even in early 2000s. Cloud computing was virtually inexistent, laptops were clunky, wireless Internet was scarce, tablets were still in their prototype stages, and because of this, people were forced to come into the office 8 hours a day, 5 days a week to do their job. Not anymore

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KPCB: 51% of Total Time Spent on the Internet Is on Mobiles

2015 marks the first time mobile devices become the primary means of connecting to the Internet with 51% share, according to venture capital firm KPCB. That figure was 12% in 2008, just as smartphones with big screens were beginning to take off.

Smartphones have been around for more than a decade, but the real recipe for a smartphone was struck around 2007 with the iPhone. Before then, smartphones had QUERTY keyboards and Internet connectivity was painfully slow. Worse still, mobile Internet was ugly and completely unusable. Ten years ago

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Quote of the Day by Niels Bohr

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Being a scientist doesn’t always pay off, but when it does, you get instant recognition and everything you say or do gets framed. It was the case of Niels Bohr, who enjoyed merging empirical knowledge to philosophy with every chance he got.

A Nobel Prize winner, Bohr made substantial contributions to understanding the atomic structure and quantum theory. Quantum physics differs from classical physics in that one is less “fixed” than the other. Bohr seemingly translated this into plain English when he said

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Need Innovation? Foster Curiosity First

9 out of 10 workers acknowledge that it’s the curious person in the office that will most likely bring ideas and get promoted. But only 22% of workers describe themselves as curious, and only 12% say their employers are encouraging a strong desire to know or learn something. No wonder innovation doesn’t grow on trees!

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Know When to Unplug

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Nearly half of small business owners in 2014 reported missing their summer vacation due to a fear of unplugging – i.e. to leave their business unattended – according to a survey by office supply chain store Staples.

Needless to say this is bad. For all the material advantages that good business produces, at the end of the day it’s the sum of all things that makes or breaks a person. We are living, breathing creatures that need to unwind in order to function properly. Forget to do it and you end up with an always-on society that never shuts up and forces every individual to do the same or fall behind

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12 Signs You Are Good With Money [Infographic]

No, this is not one of those posts that only the wealthy will get. Whether you have a fat bank account or whether you live paycheck to paycheck, some financial matters are just as germane. Paying for bills, planning for a big purchase, or considering a retirement plan are things we all confront with during our lifetime. But there are other aspects to consider as well.

An infographic by Business Insider highlights not three, not five, but 12 important aspects about

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