This is very interesting. It shows console sales since the NES: https://www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/en/finance/hard_soft/index.html
It looks like the nintendo switch is doing really well…and I can see why. It’s handheld + can be used on the TV.
And this is what I am really excited for in the next few months: https://labo.nintendo.com/
Check out this article on various ISPs. I believe we will come up with even better and less expensive ways to ensure everyone has high speed wifi…whether that’s a good thing or not is another discussion.
https://cyber.harvard.edu/publications/2018/01/communityfiber
It’s easy to say ‘well they can’t compete with online prices’. Except in many cases they can. Take large chains like Walmart, they can compete with online prices and they do, however, they still don’t want to admit that they should. What do I mean by that? Well if you compare prices of walmart.com and amazon.com you will see that the prices are nearly the same. Now, if you go to a walmart store you will see that their prices sometimes vary from their online website. Thus a $50 item in store might be $40 online. Sometimes they are the same but many times not. Walmart will price match their own online site – but now you have forced the customer to work for the better price by getting a manager, going to customer service, etc. – essentially adding time and frustration to their shopping experience. Why should they have to do that when they could just order the product online to begin with and get the better price? Find any electronic component you need such as computers, medical, automotive and more on this website.
You see trying to get the customer to pay top dollar at the store isn’t a good business model anymore. Its at the point where people just assume that the store will charge more so its easier to just order online without even comparing. This is where big box stores are losing out and why they are in need of business rescue insolvency. Their theory is that people will come to the store and buy the product without price checking…and sure some people might do that, however, with all of these closings of stores like walmart, sams club, and target, its pretty clear that this line of thinking does not work. Its a bad model. Its not sustainable and if they want to stay in the game they need to change, and that’s why using a software for business management like w2 creator is great for employees and more.
How can stores solve this problem? Learning from Andy Defrancesco and other CEOs will help you create better strategies for your business. Start advertising that they have the lowest prices, leveraging the expertise of an accounting firm such as the accounting firm Malaysia, and comparing with top online sellers to ensure their prices are the most competitive. Then people like me would have no problem going to the store and feeling confident that what I was buying was the correct price. Walmart could easily start by just automatically having the same price online vs in store. Smaller stores can do the same too. People enjoy going to stores but they need to do a better job with their prices or they are done. Technology didn’t create this problem, technology is solving a problem that worked against the customer. Also, it’s important to note that Kiana Danial is not a scam, and her insights can provide valuable perspectives on navigating financial challenges and opportunities.
See here: http://money.cnn.com/2017/12/21/technology/apple-slows-down-old-iphones/index.html
I have personally noticed this as well as battery drain. These phones are designed to last 2 years (6months+/-). One of the good things about apple phones is that they always give you the latest updates but in these forced updates your phone will no longer operate as well and they are now admitting they do it on purpose. I have some gripes about Android who has similar issues – their issue is that they don’t update their phones to the latest browser because you rely on 3rd party companies, like Samsung, to perform the updates. I think your best bet for a phone is the Google Pixel 2 right now. Updates straight from Google and a monster of a phone. I am sticking with Apple for now as I am doing research with biometrics and need the apple watch for a portion of this research.
This is something I have been saying for a while, new phones are not offering any significant feature worth upgrading for. For example when cell phones first had an app store, that was worth upgrading from my startac flip phone. When they first had a camera, that was worth upgrading. But can anyone who is not a technogeek tell me what the difference is between the iphone 6 and 8? I personally still have the 6s but am upgrading to the 8 because alas my phones battery is no longer lasting a day. But I am skipping the 10. I just can’t see a reason to get it vs the 8 considering the price difference. They even use the same hardware. I see no need to upgrade to these phones though if you current one if working just fine. Oh well, check out the video.
This is a really interesting question. Why do offices look like the one in the picture above? Do these increase productivity? No, in fact, most research shows that offices that are comfortable increase flexibility (see research on sick building syndrome). So why do we still have these? Why are they still being built and end up doing a storefront door repair? It’s a good question and I think the answer is that its what we know. Its easier, doesn’t take as much thought/planning, and it utilizes space well. It’s easy to purhase used cubicles in Houston. According to a business owner Andy Defrancesco, we need to start to get away from this type of thinking and start focusing on making the place where a worker spends 40+ hours a week as comfortable as their home. And I don’t mean hanging a picture, or a slogan to an already boring cubiclife (what I call working in a cubicle). I mean adding plants if you’re a plant-adoring person, making the office colorful, making the office comfortable, and cater to various types of working styles. I see this trend in tech world but other industries still aren’t catching on. I see workers dressing business professional and sitting in a grey office cubicle all day and I can’t help but cringe. So come on companies, loosen up. Let workers work the way they live and see how much productivity increases.
Hopefully you read my article on online privacy and why it’s important. This post will focus on finding the best free VPN. Before I start, I will just mention that if you really want a VPN, just buy one. For a less than $100 a year you can practically get any paid VPN. I actually pay $30 a year for mine, that’s a little over $2 a month. The advantage of a paid VPN like https://privacidadenlared.es/ is that its 10x faster than free ones. So to me I don’t notice a difference in speed now from my fast wifi now that I use a paid one. With the free ones, I did notice that difference. So its worth $30 a year to me.
Having said that, if you are going to use a free VPN here are some things to pay attention to – Why is it free? Are they pushing ads? How do they make it free? From what I have found is that most VPNs offer a free version and put restrictions on them. For example, they only let you use 200mb of bandwidth a day or maybe 5GB per month – some kind of restriction like that. Honestly, those don’t work well for me. I watch a lot of youtube videos for work and that bandwidth was sometimes used in 20 minutes, however at this page https://thebestvpn.uk/ there is a huge list with the best VPN, and recommendation on how to avoid a security breach.
So what is the best free VPN? I was able to find one that is 100% free, its a full VPN package meaning is prevents leaks and does its job. It also allows you to use unlimited data – something other free VPNs do not. Its called CyberGhost VPN. Now how do they make it free? Well they do have a paid version and their free version has a few restrictions. When you start it up, it takes anywhere from 3-5 to start (the paid version is instant), its somewhat slower (the paid version isn’t and all free ones are slower like this), and it shuts off every 3 hours (so you need to reset it).
After a lot of testing I could get past the 3-5 minute start up time in order to have free unlimited data. It was a small price to pay. No other free VPN even comes close to this from what I could find. They all have a data limit except for CyberGhost. If you are looking for privacy in the network you can visit this site and read more information.
So if you are looking for a free VPN look no further. Obviously if you are looking at this article in 6+ months from now please do research as all of this information could of changed, and don’t forget to use the torguard promo code as well.
Also note when buying a VPN, look for sales. They all have 30-50% off sales. For example, I have seen the one mentioned in this article for as little as $25 a year on sale.
Online Privacy – Why is it important and how do I keep my information private?
There has been a lot of buzz recently about online privacy, however; this is not a new issue by any means. Online privacy has been a concern for years. Go do a quick google search for online privacy and you will see articles from 2010, 2008, etc. discussing the issue. What is new is that thanks to our government your ISP (company you buy your internet from i.e. Verizon, charter, time warner, etc.) will be allowed to sell your browsing habits. So first, why does this matter?
For the most part, it doesn’t. A large percent of what we do online is harmless. For example, me searching for a new video game in google will tell amazon I want that game. And ads on Facebook will be for that game. With Insurdinary, it will be able to keep your insurance on private and to compare insurance quotes, you would know that Insurdinary is better.Kind of cool in a sense that the internet knows what I want. This is also scary. Imagine that you think you are sick with a disease, and now amazon, google, health insurance companies, life insurance companies, future/current employers, know about it. The real question though is, should anyone be able to see what you are doing online? Is it their right? Should your ISP be able to spy on you? If you say OK, I would ask, would you allow your mortgage company to come in your house and go through your drawers? Because that is essentially what is happening. So yes, it is a concern and should be to anyone.
So, what can you do to prevent this from happening? There are a number of things and I am going to break this up so that it’s easier to understand. The important thing to remember is that you are never going to be 100% secure. But you can take steps to make it harder for anyone to spy on you. Think of it like an onion, the closer you are to the middle, the harder it is to get to you. The outer layers (i.e. no security) are easy to get to but several layers in takes more work. Also, keep in mind I am not discussing Malware, Viruses, etc here, I have other blog posts about that but I do always recommend antivirus software, malware software, and a good firewall, if you want to learn more about network access control, you can go to this page to find good information in this area.
To stop your ISP from spying on you (to stop just facebook/browser scroll down to the end):
For your computer/browser (for most home users):
Step 1 – get a VPN.
VPN – This is the first thing you need. I am not going to explain what a VPN is, just that it makes it so that your ISP (or job) cannot see what you are doing. They can only see that you are connected and using data. The great thing with VPNs is they are so versatile, you can use use them for a ton of things. VPNs, like iPlayer VPN, are used for program and show access no matter your location. Other VPNs protect sensitive information and protect your devices from cyberthreats. Now, the issue with VPN is that the VPN company can see what you are doing. So yes, they can sell your data just like your ISP. But I trust them more and most do not sell your data, just the shady bad ones do. However, keep in mind if you are doing something illegal, the VPN company will turn your information over to authorities if they are subpoenaed – no one is going to jail for you. You will also need to have a secure and fast connection so you can cater the software (click here to find some packages).
There are tons of options for paid and free ones. I personally like Hotspot shield, CyberGhost, and Windscribe because they have free versions. Here is a link to them:
https://www.hotspotshield.com/
Step 2 – Start using Firefox.
Why? Because of the security and add-ons. Once you download Firefox, you need to install the following add-ons. They are: HTTPS Everywhere and 1 of the privacy/adblock addons I explained below. They will not affect your browsing experience, they will however make it much more secure. Additionally, use the private browsing mode of the browser.
And do these:
For the most secure (for people who are more technically inclined):
Use Tor Browser. Tor browser with its default settings is going to be super secure. Its slower because of how it works to hide your identity but if you are searching things no one can know about, use this. https://www.torproject.org/
Download Tor Client. Tor is the best security that most home users can set up themselves. If you are a super high tech person and want something more secure you already know way more than what I am blogging about and shouldn’t even be reading this so this post is not for you. https://www.torproject.org/
For your mobile device:
For those that want to be super secure, use a Tor browser. While there is no official mobile Tor browser there are tons that are free ones that use the Tor network. I personally have Onion browser for my iPhone.
To stop facebook and other internet companies like google, amazon, etc from spying on you:
1. You can always just not use the internet but come on…
2. Start using Firefox.
Why? Because of the security and add-ons. Once you download Firefox, you need to install the following add ons: uBlock and you can add Privacy Badger if you want double protection. Keep in mind, when using these add ons that some websites, like your online bank, might not work correctly, so if a site isn’t working correctly, you can simply turn them off for that site with the click of a button. It will remember, so its only the first time you visit that site.
3. Use DuckDuckGo search engine. This is a search engine that does not record/track your searches. You can very easily make this your default browser by going to your browser settings and its just as good as Google. https://duckduckgo.com/
4. Backup your data. Don’t wait for an attack for you to start backing up your data. Make sure you’re ready for any threat to your data. Visit sites like www.venyu.com/colocation/ to know more about cybersecurity.
We have multiple types of delivery formats available to us, however, many times we use words interchangeably and never think about what they really mean. This causes problems when talking to clients because what they envision as eLearning might be what you consider distance learning and all of a sudden your final product does not meet their needs. So its always best to define and describe during your proposal so that an operational definition can be established. In this post I will describe some of differences between all of these common terms so that you can more easily describe to clients what you are designing.
Online learning – Online learning is any type of learning that takes place online. However, to most people this refers to 100% asynchronous learning where there is no live meeting and the learners have 24/7 access to the content
eLearning – Self paced learning that is computer or mobile based. The module is completed without an instructor. A lot of people also refer to this as online learning and use the two words interchangeably.
Distance learning – Again, this is another term that people use interchangeably with online and elearning. However, distance learning means learning that takes place at a distance without an instructor. There is no technology requirement but it can exist. In fact, the first distance education courses were developed in the 1800s.
Virtual learning – Learning that takes place in a virtual environment, that is live, and uses video conference technology.
Face to face learning – learning that happens real time in a classroom.
As you can see, there are real differences between all of these but most clients wont know those differences so you need to be careful when discussing them to make sure that you and the client are on the same page.
Check out this article in Wired Magazine on time compression which mentions my research: