The Future of the Battery

Have you ever needed your smartphone only to discover that the battery has died and you are nowhere near an outlet? It’s irritating, but in a couple of years, it could be a thing of the past.

A Better Battery on the Way?

Luckily, a better battery might soon be on the way, due to the efforts of a team of engineers at Chicago's Northwestern University. A recent story reports that researchers at this Big 10 university are attempting to develop a battery that lasts longer and can recharge itself in mere minutes. Smartphone users across the country ought to be grateful.

What they are concentrating on is a new lithium-ion battery that has more then 10 times the life of current batteries. Moreover, after a year of operation, which the researchers estimate to be about 150 charges, these new lithium-ion batteries would continue to be 5 times more efficient then today’s lithium-ion batteries.

A Charged Battery for a Week

In the end, this new cell phone battery could stay charged for an entire week, even with all the apps we use daily. And the charging time? Below 15 minutes. Which will sure make our lives easier, but more than this, this new battery technology could lead to smaller and more efficient batteries for electric cars.  This could therefore, have a dramatic effect on our reliance on fossil fuels.

Batteries Powering Technological Change


The new battery technology isn't available yet for consumers, however the Northwestern researchers say that it could hit the market in 3 to 5 years. This is a big step. When we look at developments in technology, we often ignore the batteries that power our latest gadgets. Battery constraints are one of the factors holding back an even greater technology revolution. The hope is that the research done at Northwestern University can change this.

Bing: An Overlooked Search Engine

When it comes to online search engines, Google remains king. Microsoft isn't happy with this. That's why the company launched Bing in 2009, its own search engine and a direct competitor with Google. Ever since then, Bing has gone the way of most Google-search competitors: It's mostly an afterthought when computer users need to search the web. Most searchers still use Google for this task. Nevertheless, that does not mean that Bing offers nothing for computer users. The truth is, Microsoft did a lot right with Bing, and the search engine delivers plenty of appealing features that users shouldn't dismiss.

Taking Another Look at Bing

When you search on Bing, you will get more information about your search results than you'll get from Google. Bing’s results feature a left-hand navigation panel filled with Quick Tabs that enable users to focus their searches. Additionally there is a center row of search results which are grouped into logical categories. This makes it easier for users to find multimedia files or quick answers.

Bing Goes Beyond Search Results

When you search in Bing, you get more then just search results. Bing pulls up images, and videos that are relevant to your search. While Google has this function, Bing makes the navigation somewhat more user friendly. Another helpful feature is what they call Farecast Technology. This is part of the Bing Travel site and it allows users to find the cheapest airfare easily.

Bing Video Search Shines

When you are searching for videos, Bing is ahead of the game. Users can specify their desired length, size, and resolution. One other notable feature is that by simply hovering over a video, you can watch a preview of it.

These are just some of the reasons why computer users shouldn't be so quick to ignore Bing. Yes, Google remains the go-to player when it comes to search engines. But that doesn't mean that it's the only choice today.

How the Hybrid Cloud Differs from the Public Cloud

Cloud computing has undoubtedly caught on. People can access data that's stored in the cloud—databases located far away from their own computer drives. They are able to store their favorite songs, access powerful word-processing programs, and send their business proposals to the cloud. This conserves tons of computer memory, as everything that's kept in the cloud isn't stored on a personal computer. The result is a faster computing experience, as fewer programs gum up the operating speed of home computers.


Not All Clouds are the Same

However, not all clouds are the same. There's the public cloud, the one with which we are most familiarized. But then there's the hybrid cloud as well. As its name implies, the hybrid cloud is a combination of two different types of clouds, the public cloud and a private cloud.


To offer a hybrid cloud, a company may store some of their client’s more important or current data in-house and store older, archived, and less crucial files in the public cloud. They might also use the public cloud to store very large programs and keep confidential data in-house.

The Hybrid Cloud Approach Makes Sense

The hybrid cloud is a good way for businesses to both reduce costs and save space. It takes advantage of the less costly public cloud while insuring that highly sensitive data is secured.

Because of this it’s not surprising that the hybrid cloud is so widely used. Businesses these days have too much data to store on their own servers but they don’t want the security risk that can come with the public cloud. Utilizing the hybrid cloud they are able to keep space in their systems free while safeguarding their data.

Remote Workers: Benefits and Managerial Tips

Thanks to improved technology, a growing number of employees be capable of accomplish most or all of their work from home. Smartphones, tablets, teleconferencing, and WiFi-equipped bookstores and coffee shops have made this possible. This presents a huge advantage for employers: the more employees that work at home, the less money companies have to spend. Many companies, for instance, don't have assigned computers and desks for all of their workers since so much of their workforce is working remotely. In addition, employees working remotely are frequently more productive; they are not wasting time and energy driving to work every day. And they are not exchanging office gossip in front of the water cooler when in the office.


Remote Worker Challenges

Remote workers and contractors do present at least one significant challenge to employers: It can be hard for employers to effectively monitor the hours that their workers are putting in. How do employers know, after all, if their remote workers are pounding away at their keyboards or playing Angry Birds on their smartphones all day?

By setting realistic deadlines employers can monitor their remote workers effectively. This is a change in managerial strategy; it puts the focus on the goal instead of the amount of time that the employee works. Ultimately, employees are the only ones who know when they perform most optimally, even if it is from midnight to 4am.

Setting Remote Worker Deadlines

This is most likely the simplest way to monitor your remote workers. Employers could decide that a certain amount of work needs to be turned in by Friday. One other way would be to set up weekly or bi-weekly meetings via phone or video chat. To resolve any feelings of detachment some employers may ask that a remote worker spend one day a week at the office. This will help to keep everyone on track and informed.

Off-Site Not a Permanent Condition

Working remotely requires personal discipline and good time-management skills. Individuals who are chronic procrastinators may not perform best remotely. If employees aren’t hitting deadlines, or are delivering sub-par work then off-site working doesn’t have to be a permanent privilege. For remote working to be successful there need to be trust between the employee and the employer. To maintain this trust the employee must hit their deadlines and the employer needs to be focused on the results.

Simplify Your Life With These 5 Smartphone Apps

Your business keeps you busy. You are balancing three projects at once for your employer. You're on the road more frequently than you are at home, and your day planner is covered in ink. You would like smartphone apps that will make your life easier, not complicate it. Fortunately, there is a host of smartphone applications out there developed specifically to simplify life for the busiest of business professionals. Listed below are five of the top ones to explore.

Top 5 Business Apps

  1. WhosHere: This app enables you to find freelance contractors in your area swiftly. Say you need to finish a project due tomorrow in Chicago and you are flying today. You can search for freelancers with the app then send a free text or call to the people who respond to your search.
  2. Locale: It is embarrassing when your phone goes off in the middle of a movie, but what about during a board meeting? This never has to happen again if you use Locale. It allows you to choose specific phone settings based on location. So when you walk into your office or the library your phone automatically goes to vibrate.
  3. WaveSecure: One of the hazards of traveling regularly is the possibility of loosing your phone. This app will let you lock your phone and backup the data stored on it remotely, as well as track its location through the SIM card. Talk about peace of mind.
  4. Bump: Bump is a fantastic little app. It allows you to exchange contact information with fellow business professionals by simply tapping that person's phone with yours.
  5. Scan2PDF Mobile: The Scan2PDF Mobile app lets you scan receipts, proposals, business reports, and other documents with your smartphone camera and convert them into color PDFs. You can then e-mail these scanned documents straight to your computer's desktop.

Five Excel Tips to Impress Your Boss

You'd love to get that promotion, or perhaps you're in search of that elusive raise. Maybe you simply want to secure your job in this down economic time. But whatever the reason, you are looking for ways to impress your supervisor.

What about Excel? Most of us, regardless of our job, use spreadsheets in Excel. This program is an extremely powerful business tool; here are some tips to improve your efficiency, which is sure to impress your boss.

  • Hiding Information: You may wonder why you may wish to hide specific information in a spreadsheet. Well, suppose the spreadsheet which has all your data about the company also has everyone’s salary. That is private information that you don’t want to reveal at the meeting. Simple hide the column or row by clicking the related number or letter to highlight it, then right-click on that highlighted row or column and select the Hide option in the popup menu. You can then Unhide the row or column in the same manner when the meeting is over.
  • Timestamping: Should you wish to attach a date to your spreadsheet, you can use the Timestamp feature. Just hold Ctrl as you press the semicolon key. If you would like the current date and time hold down the Ctrl and Shift keys while pressing the semicolon.
  • A Better-Looking Spreadsheet: Give your spreadsheet a fresh look by employing Excel's Themes option. You will find this in the Excel Ribbon, at the top. Click it, and you'll be given a huge variety of fonts, and color schemes that you may apply to your spreadsheet. You can also design your own!
  • Tracking Trends: The latest version of Excel comes with a feature called Sparklines. By using this feature, you can create small charts that show trends in information. For instance, you could use Sparklines to instantly determine how many software bundles each of your company's salespeople sold in the first half of 2011.
  • Conditional Formatting: With conditional formatting, you can automatically affect the look of spreadsheet cells that meet certain requirements. For instance, a cell showing that product sales rose by more than 100 % in a given month could take on a different shade so that it quickly sticks out.

New year, New Tech Security Challenges

Technology is ever changing, and cyber-criminals will be ever adapting to it. Recently, MIT's Technology Review published an article relating to technology security threats that we must be aware if in 2012. As many of us spend a significant amount of time online, being conscious of these threats can help guard valuable data.

Stolen, Spoofed Certificates

The biggest problem that the Technology Review article dealt with is the growing amount of stolen or spoofed certificates. As the article reports, anytime you connect to a site, such as your bank's website, your traffic is encrypted using a "certificate" that the site uses to prove to your web browser that it can be trusted. In 2011, though, cyber-criminals could actually spoof or steal a number of these certificates. This can help them steal user data or install harmful software on their computers.

A Common Security Mechanism in Trouble?

This is a major problem because the use of certificates and encrypted data is the most common security mechanism on the web. If they can no longer be trusted, that means potential trouble for all computer users.

Another common security challenge is what is known as “Hacktivism”. Cyber-criminals see this as activism through hacking, hence the name. Groups like Anonymous and LulzSec target large businesses that they think are guilty of wrongdoing. They also target companies to demonstrate the vulnerability and weakness of them. Technology Review believes that groups like these will continue “hacktivism” for a long time.

Home Automation

In 2012 another security risk is the growing popularity of home automation. People connect alarm systems, lights, even locks, to the web to automate their homes. If reliable companies are not used or if hackers get into these systems think of the damage that can be done.

The Humanity Behind the Invention of the Computer

Can you imagine life without the computer? It wasn’t that long ago that people didn’t have them, yet today we carry them around inside our pockets in the form of smartphones.

George Dyson, a science historian, asks how we went from having no computers to having many in such a small amount of time period in his book, Turing's Cathedral.

Dyson, the son of scientist Freeman Dyson, has spent a lot of his life at the Princeton Institute for Advanced Studies. The institute was home to several of the world’s most impressive scientific minds while the first digital computer was being created.

Turing's Cathedral explores the invention of the computer, emphasizing the clashing personalities that were thrown together to work on the project. Additionally, it explores what was involved in the creation of the computer, much of which was chance.

Genius or not, people are still people, and when working tightly on the same project there are bound to be rivalries and disagreements that happen. Turing's Cathedral lays these matters open, displaying the humanity of the scientist that came up with the first computer.It wasn't just the personal disputes that needed to be put aside to make this project successful; there were also ethical issues involved. The work that went into the development of the computer walked hand in hand with the U.S. nuclear weapons project.

You might have the notion that a history book about computers will not only be dry but probably full of technical jargon. This is not the case with Turing's Cathedral; most people who use computers will find this book fascinating. And that is a lot of people these days.

The Connected Car: A Look at The Debate

As the planet gets to be more connected so do our cars. Cars like the Audi A6, Ford Edge, and the Lincoln MKX allow individuals to browse the Web when in their front seat. People are now able to, stream music, get current traffic information, but is all this access a good thing while driving? Usually it’s exciting to see technological developments, however, when it comes to our safety on the highway can there be such a thing as excessive connectivity?

Challenges of the Connected Car

The connected car is a little problematic. Everyone knows that drivers become distracted when they text or chat on cell phones while driving. This can lead to accidents. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says that 80 % of all traffic accidents involve some variety of driver inattention within three seconds of a crash. If texting and cell phones are distracting to drivers, consider how distracted motorists will be when either they or a passenger is enjoying streaming video of a cat slipping off a kitchen counter.

Does Tech Distract Drivers?

Anything which takes a driver’s attention from the road could be a hazard. Whether it’s texting, making calls, or merely having a friend in the car. Many states have made it unlawful to text while driving for this reason. This is the key reason why the news that cars are coming out with 3G connections doesn’t make everyone jump for joy.

Browsing the Web Inside Your Car

Motorists will soon have the capacity to browse the Web and get Facebook updates on in-car navigation screens. Automobiles might soon include short-range communication systems that will allow cars to connect to one another and to the infrastructure on which they are driving. This will send real-time road conditions and other data to drivers.


As we said before, we usually think of advancements in technology as a great thing, however, the possible negative effects that connected cars could have make us stop and think. While having these tech features in our cars improves enjoyment on the highway it’s vital that they don’t become a distraction to the driver.

Nanotechnology: Not the Stuff of Science Fiction

When you hear the word "nanotechnology," does science fiction come to mind? Actually, nanotechnology is an element of our daily lives; it makes our lives easier. Nanotechnology is basically the science of working with matter on an atomic and molecular scale. Scientists can use nanotechnology to create new materials that can be applied and used in a variety of ways.

The practical side of nanotechnology

As an illustration, Science Daily ran a feature story about scientists creating a way to use nanotechnology to reduce the level of friction in car engines and machines. If this technology becomes widespread, it can help extend the lives of machines and engines and help them operate more efficiently. According to the Science Daily story, a team of scientists created tiny polymer particles that were distributed in automobile engine base oils. When tested under conditions that simulated those present in car engines, these tiny particles were found to have an amazing ability to reduce friction.

More efficient motors

There are friction-reducing additives used by lots of industries today, however when these tiny polymer particles were released at a low concentration they were able to reduce friction by 55 percent more than common additives currently can. As the field of nanotechnology continues to grow we can expect more discoveries like this.

The emerging world of nanotechnology

So, when you think about nanotechnology think about the engine in your car. In the not too distant future we might have nanotechnology to thank for more fuel-efficient cars, which of course means saving you money.