Archive for the ‘News’ Category:
Nokia Booklet 3G will be available in the UK
Nokia Booklet 3G will be available in the UK from January.The Nokia Booklet 3G is a highly compact and durable mini laptop that’s small enough to carry around in one hand, but powerful enough to use all day. You get the high-performance Windows 7 operating system, a long-lasting battery, built-in A-GPS, 3G, and Wi-Fi, and a 10.1″ HD-ready display.
Ultrathin, compact and beautifully designed. Browse the web from virtually anywhere via Wi-Fi or 3G. Up to 12 hours of battery life so you can go all day. Exchange SMSs and explore your world with Assisted-GPS. 1 GB RAM and 120 GB hard drive.
Microsoft Buys Automation Tool Maker Opalis Software
SAN FRANCISCO (Dow Jones)–Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) has acquired Opalis Software Inc., a privately held company that specializes in automating technology processes within data centers, a Microsoft blog posting confirmed Friday.
Toronto-based Opalis will be integrated into Microsoft’s System Center product line, the blog posting said. System Center is a set of products designed to help manage a network of PCs and servers within an organization. It is part of Microsoft’s broader Server and Tools business unit.
Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed, although research firm the 451 Group, quoting “financial and industry sources,” said it believed Microsoft paid around $60 million. Microsoft declined to comment on the speculation.
“This acquisition is a pivotal piece to deliver on our dynamic datacenter initiative,” Brad Anderson, a corporate vice president at Microsoft, said in the blog. Source via
Rogue Gallery Helps ID Scam Software
The new Rogue Gallery from the Lavasoft Malware Lab lists lists many of the known fake programs, which attempt to use fake infection warnings and similar social engineering to trick people into handing over cash for a worthless program license. Along with a name and date for each item, you’ll find a screen shot and a list of files and system changes for each program.
Lavasoft’s new database is likely not exhaustive, and the rogue AV pushers constantly tweak their software’s name and interface to stay ahead of real security software and lists just like this one. But the site is another welcome tool to help combat the fraudulent schemes that rake in big bucks for the crooks behind the scams.
Ringing in The Ears - Treatment Advice
Ringing Ears?
Are you afraid to go out with friends or family as you know all you will be ready to concentrate on is the constant ringing in the ear that you hear? Do you wish you could be freed from this and could return to living an ordinary life? About 25% of all people have tinnitus or a sound of ringing or humming in their ear.
Out of those folks only about 25% of them ever try to get a way to treat it or cure it. These are some other things you must know about tinnitus. First, when you start to hear the ringing in the ear you may notice it as a small and terribly faint sound. If this is left untreated and just left to get get louder and louder. It’ll become so loud that it distracts you from just about everything and it is going to be virtually impossible to drown out with anything else.
This may have a terribly negative result on your life, particularly the social side of things and in terribly severe cases can actually cause you to go insane. Second, the ringing in the ear could have been due to too much exposure to loud noises. If you’d like to keep it from worsening, then you need to always be wearing ear plugs when you are around anything loud and you must ensure you are not playing music or the TV too loud too.
This could continue to damage the already hurt inner parts of your ears and will cause the noise to become worse and more distracting. Last, this may have also been due to drinking too much alcohol and it is very common in recovering alcoholics. This is because of the balance problem that alcohol causes in your body, which can also cause the inner ear to be effected. You could have also ended up with this noise because of inner ear infections or having tubes put into your ears for long periods of the Whatever the cause was you are surely going to want to find a treatment or a cure so that it doesn’t interrupt your life anymore. Before you can even think about finding a ringing ears cure you have to be sure why your tinnitus started in the first place. Exposure to noise accounts for at least eighty percent of all ringing in the ear cases across the planet. Ringing ears can be caused by fireworks, gun shots, economic plant or even very noisy factories and if you are surrounded by any of these noises on a day basis you should use ear protection.Some common ear ringing mistakes: If you follow a healthy diet and are getting plenty of exercise this will help in your search for finding a ringing ears cure. Regular exercise can help excite the blood flow in the ear canal and help ease the noises.
Your diet can also play a major role in your recovery, ensure you avoid excessive alcohol intakes, chain smoking and eating foods piled high with salt. If you hear music with earphones ensure that you keep the volume down, if you listen with earphones with the levels too high it can cause tinnitus being caused. Studies has demonstrated that tinnitus happens more repeatedly in fat adults.
Vitamin B12 is a vitamin that you must involve in your regimen to enhance a ringing ears cure. Some trials points toward the fact that this vitamin helps to offer protection to the nerves in the inner ear. Milk and dairy products, beef and eggs are excellent for vitamin B12. According to the newest trials there are many treatments for soothing tinnitus, but there’s no one cure.
The info provided is for research purposes only. No advice is meant. With all health problems it is best to consult a doctor before taking any medical advice.
Learn About Tricky Credit Card Corporation Actions
When you look at appealing credit card offers, keep in mind that credit card companies create all of their plans to benefit them, not you. Credit card corporations are getting trickier than always in their efforts to grab all money out of consumers - but you don’t have to fall for it. You do need to remain cautious these days to catch credit card groups when they make an effort to pull a fast one, in the other hand. Many credit card corporations, for instance, are lowering credit card using limits, even for subscribers with great credit and huge payment histories.
Why is this not good?
This is because if you use a lot and get close to your credit limit, this damages your credit score. Let’s say that your credit card group promised you a $10,000 credit maximum value. You used $3000. That is not a problem for your credit score; it is suggested that you charge no more than 30 percent of your credit maximum value. But next, let’s say your credit group abruptly slashes your credit limit to $3100. You have now used roughly the maximum amount of your credit limit. This will send your credit score reducing, through no problem of your own.
And additionally - other credit card groups or loan institutions could abruptly raise your interest rate and burden you more each month, because your credit score decrease! That’s one of tricky trick they’re pulling these moments. The credit card company also possibly will change your credit payment cycle and make it shorter - it’s in no way altered in your favor! So instead of 31 days you possibly will have 28 days to pay off your bill. This increases the chance that you will pay late, so they can then hit you with huge fees and jack up your interest charges.
You require to examine each mail from your credit card corporation immediately and read through it thoroughly, since they are required to notify you when they make alteration. If you have been a fine consumers and have constantly paid on time, attempt to negotiate with them. And if they decline to negotiate, it is most likely time to go with a prepaid mastercard card or to seek out another credit card company.
Important Information for Home Workers
An Introduction to Home Working
Ask anyone to choose their ideal job and working from home would come high on their wish list. Whether home working is an option provided by your employer or a decision you have taken yourself in starting your own business, the thought of just getting out of bed, walk over to a workstation and just start work is very appealing. No commuting to and from the office and working hours to suit yourself.
But is home or flexible working right for you as an individual, or good for your business as an employer? Well there are many advantages and disadvantages. Home or flexible working brings new responsibilities for both the employer and employee. Equally with advances in mobile technology it has never been easier to set up your own business to work from home.
An Increasing Trend
From a business point of view, allowing staff to work at home on either a full or part-time basis can bring a range of business benefits, from increased productivity, greater staff motivation to effective use of your premises. Advancements in mobile technology has contributed enormously to the increase in opportunities for working from home.
The spread of home working using the internet or telephone opens up a new range of possibilities with regards to the way a business works and structures itself. Computers, mobile phones, broadband and mobile broadband all play a role. For the individual, becoming self employed and working from home has also never been easier. If you have a laptop and mobile phone the opportunity is there, it’s just deciding what you want to do. So home working is becoming a way of life for many individuals and businesses, but what is home working?
Some employers will offer selected employees the opportunity to become a teleworker, whereby an employee can undertake their role from home utilising various types of technology, which is installed at the employees home by the employer. The employee will remain in touch with the business and other teleworkers. Some businesses, for example the utility companies who require gas, electric and meter readers, will class employees undertaking this type of work as teleworkers or outworkers.
Some individuals opt for the self-employed work life. The self-employed will operate their business from home, offering a product or service such as web development or business consultancy from home. In these types of roles, the individual can often plan their day to suit their own needs. I know one web developer who often works well into the early hours of the morning as this is when he feels most productive.
Others such as a painter and decorator, plumber or gardener, whilst providing their services away from the home, use home as the office for paperwork such as pricing future jobs and preparing invoices. I know of several painters and decorators who work Monday to Thursday, but use Friday’s to go out and price up future potential work. That is one thing to bear in mind when setting up as self employed, you need to allow time to find or prospect for future work.
Some types of work are more suitable for flexible working than others, the following list is not exhaustive, but will give some guidance:
- Telesales and Marketing
- Customer Services
- Professional services & consultancy i.e. HR Administration & Accountancy
- Certain types of administration work
- Data input
- Creative/Graphics
- Writing, editing, translation and research.
- I.T. Support & Programming
Many of the above have a common theme and that is that as long as you have access to a computer and a phone, you can undertake almost all of these tasks from home.
The shift towards flexible working does not mean employees only work from home. Splitting time between the workplace and home is the most productive solution, as you want employees to attend meetings, therefore keeping them informed and involved. Continued face to face interaction within the business remains a key requirement.
With the introduction of home working regulations, employers now have to seriously consider employee requests to work flexibly from home, especially if they have parental responsibility for children under 16 years old, disabled children or they are carers for other adults with disabilities.
Employers and individuals also need to consider what equipment will be required to ensure that an efficient business operation and working environment is set up.
Many accessories can complement office furniture to suit the home or office environment.
The Pros and Cons
So what are the advantages and disadvantages of an employer allowing employees to work from home or use their home as a base for at least part of the working week? It’s clear there are a number of benefits to the employer:
- Staff Retention is increased
- Wider pool of applicants to recruit from e.g. disabled people who prefer to work from home.
- Productivity gains through having fewer interruptions and less commuting time.
- Reduced stress and sickness increasing staff motivation.
- Savings on office space and facilities.
- Sales staff closer to clients, rather than being based at the office which could be miles away.
- As with life if there are advantages then there are also disadvantages to home/flexible working:
- Management of staff and monitoring performance
- Possible deterioration of key skills and quality of work.
- Capital costs - training and providing suitable equipment, this could include adaptations to meet Health & Safety standards or meet the needs of disabled workers.
- Difficulties maintaining staff development and upgrading of skills.
- Information security risks
- Increased telecommunication and I.T. costs
- Sense of isolation and communication problems amongst home workers.
- Staff morale and difficulties in maintaining team spirit.
- Home working may not be suitable for certain types of jobs.
One thing I particularly miss is the Monday morning office banter about what you did at the weekend of how your football team has fared compared to others. Often the camaraderie that is unique to an office where you get to know people well over many years is also lost where flexible working becomes an option.
Are You Suited o Home Working?
Having identified the types of work that is suitable for flexible working, the employer must satisfy themselves that employees are suited to this type of work. It’s likely they will need a number of skills in key areas to allow them to work away from base.
- Time management and self discipline
- Motivation
- Communication
- Technology
We must make it clear that flexible working is not suitable for everyone and care should be taken, because allowing one person to work from home will set a precedent that others will want to follow. Others will see an attraction to working at home particularly on a lovely summer’s day, rather than being stuck in an office. I must confess that as I write this article, I am sitting in our summer house at the bottom of the garden with the laptop on a glorious summer’s day in June.
An employer you must have a clear idea of how home/flexible working could fit in with the needs of the business. A set of house rules need to be established and maintained, i.e. priority is given to requests from parents of young or disabled children. My wife for example, plans her day around the hours of taking the children to school and collecting them later. She maintains that she is extremely focused on what she needs to achieve within those six hours in between. No distractions or idle chit-chat that will occur in an office environment.
In some cases the employer is legally obliged to seriously consider requests for home/flexible workers. Employee with parental responsibility for children aged 16 or under, or disabled children who are under 18 and receive disability living allowances can request a range of flexible working patterns from their employers, this includes the right to work from home. There are similar rights for employees who are carers of adults.
The introduction of flexible working can also lead to an changes to employment contract terms and conditions. In a majority of cases an employee’s place of work is listed in the written schedules of their employment contract. It’s important that when an employee starts to work from home it may be necessary to review and amend their employment contract.
The following is a list of contractual aspects an employer should consider when implementing a home/flexible work policy:
- Stated hours of work
- Identify core times when employees undertake to work and/or are contactable.
- Extra duties or responsibilities that may need to be assigned in addition to those already agreed
- Identify the terms regarding the supply and insurance of any equipment that may be required, these should clearly state ownership and use, especially that its not to be used for personal use.
- Clearly identify what the employer will reimburse to cover additional expenses the employee may incur, its especially important to identify the calculation method when costs are shared i.e. utility bills and telecommunications
- Procedures to be put in place if either the employee or employer wishes to terminate the home/flexible working arrangement.
Allowing home working the employer should remember that they still have health and safety responsibilities for people who work at or from home; and you are likely to have to provide and maintain equipment for employees to use, these include:
- Workstation complete with suitable task chair
- Filing cabinet, shelves or storage
- PC/Laptop with office software, email and broadband internet connection
- Dedicated business telephone line
- Printer & fax machine
- Stationery and Office Supplies
The many productive hours spent at a work station or desk means that you should choose carefully when selecting desk chairs to ensure a comfortable and risk free working position.
IT equipment and software can be expensive so it’s important to ensure it meets your genuine business need and is compatible with your existing systems. Technology changes almost daily and with today’s advances the establishment of virtual teams where employees work together despite working at home can be set up easily and at reasonable expense. These teams could be two employees talking over the phone or you could use more hi-tech solutions like high speed internet, instant messaging, webinar and video conferencing.
Providing all this kit and equipment it is important to ensure your business insurance cover is extended to cover home workers, as their home insurance is unlikely to cover this, however they should check with their insurer and extend their policy to cover working from home.
Workers who adopt home working should check with their local council and mortgage company the position regarding using their home as a work base, and whether they may have to pay business rates for the portion of their home they use as an office. Some self employed businesses will involve use of a vehicle which will need to be parked up at certain times of the day. For example painters and decorators and builders are likely to utilise a transit van or pick up truck in the work. You should therefore ensure that neighbours will not be offended by having the vehicle parked in the street or to block light out of their homes. If you are to park a vehicle at home, let the neighbours know, it may save a lot of hassle later.
The employer needs to ensure that employees take care of business equipment and information in their possession, it’s important to establish procedures to be followed if any item is damaged or lost, especially data and intellectual rights.
We all agree that flexible working offers a wide range of benefits to both the business and employees, but it needs to be carefully managed to be successful. Procedures should be put in place for managers to monitor and assess home workers, this is the most significant managerial challenge an employer will face. It can be helpful to measure their effectiveness in terms of output rather than the hours of work. Agree set goals and deadlines for particular projects, and ensure these are being met, give feedback promptly and sensitively if things go wrong.
Ensuring home workers have access to training can prepare and help employees develop the necessary skills they need.For staff who work alone a sense of isolation is one of the main factors most likely to make home working fail, therefore it’s important to ensure procedures are put into place to make people feel part of the team, these should include:
- Frequent 2-way feedback sessions about work and work related issues
- Regular scheduled visits to the workplace
- Inclusion in social activities for home based workers.
- Clear procedures to be followed and contact lists for when things go wrong.
When the employees job is home-based from the start, make sure their initiation is undertaken at your premises, this helps the home worker focus and be productive if they have a chance to establish a clear idea of the people they will be working for.
My current chair was in need of repair, so I asked myself, where can I buy office chair parts and accessories?
A Brief Health & Safety Obligations Check List for Home Workers
If you use your home as your main business workplace, you must carry out a health and safety risk assessment to identify any possible hazards to yourself, workers, visitors and other members of your household.
Possible hazards include:
- Using work equipment at home, including electrical appliances
- Your workstation set-up
- Handling loads
- Hazardous substances and materials
- Psychological hazards, such as stress or loneliness
- Fire
- Slips, trips and falls
- Excessive noise or vibration
Slips, trips and falls are one of the most common causes of injury in the work place. Even something we take for granted on a daily basis, such as walking up and down the stairs, should be regarded as a hazard. Evaluate whether a hazard is significant and if it is, whether you have taken enough precautions to make the risk as low as you reasonably can.
You need to consider:
- Your home and those who live there - including vulnerable persons, e.g. children, the elderly, and new and expectant mothers
- The work done in your home
- The equipment in your home
- Emergency procedures
- First aid provision
Five steps to a health and safety risk assessment
- Identify any hazards.
- Decide who might be harmed and how.
- Assess the risks and remove them or, otherwise, reduce them as far as is reasonably possible.
- Record your findings.
- Check the risks regularly and take further steps if needed.
Conclusion
With advancements in mobile technology, working at home has become far easier to do. It can offer a very balanced way of life and the rewards can be great. In the current economic climate, many who have been unfortunate to suffer redundancy or reduced hours are considering setting up their own business to work from home. Having worked in the corporate world for over twenty years and just suffered redundancy, it is certainly something to consider.
But working from home needs to be considered carefully. Is it right for you? Is it right for your employer? What impact will it have on your homelife? Many advantages, but also many disadvantages and bear in mind the health and safety requirements and risks. Your health is important so choosing the correct office furniture to meet your needs is a must for any home worker to ensure you have the proper facilities for home working.
For years a friend of mine worked from home with his desk in his living room and eventually he realised that he could never get away from work, which is as important as doing the work in the first place because we all need time away from work.
If you are lucky enough to really love your work the temptation can be to do it all day long. Eventually this can lead to burn out and can also take away some of the pleasure of working, even if it is something you really love. Therefore it is important to have balance in your life, even more so when you work from home. Some suggestions to help to achieve this are to make sure that when you have lunch, for example, remove yourself from the work space and don’t eat at your desk, get some separation from the work when you are not doing it.
Remember that just because you work from home it doesn’t mean that work has to take over your life.
