The cult of TED

Once a select forum of the great and good, the Technology Entertainment and Design (TED) conference now has millions of avid online fans. How did an elite ideas-sharing gathering go mainstream?

Falling animals, misbehaving toddlers and footage of Justin Bieber may populate the bulk of any YouTube most-viewed list.

But amid the viral clips and pop music promos is a series of videos that seems to go against all received wisdom about what online audiences like to consume.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-18511696

The Bechdel Test for Women in Movies

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLF6sAAMb4s&feature=youtube_gdata_player

How to successfully teach young and older workers new tricks

Since the economy, regrettably, has given older workers cause to defer retirement, workplaces are suddenly finding themselves accommodating a wide range of ages. This has ramifications for companies that are looking at offering technology training – but not because, as conventional wisdom might have it, Boomers are technologically averse. Successful training across generations is a matter of picking the right approach, and recognizing how changing demographics will affect your workplace.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/small-business/sb-digital/web-strategy/how-to-successfully-teach-young-and-older-workers-new-tricks/article4310647/

Slow down. Savour your work

The slow food movement has caught people’s attention, with the lure of healthier eating. What about slow work, for a healthier, more balanced life?

Peter Bacevice, a senior consultant at workplace consulting firm DEGW in New York and an aficionado of slow food, thinks that concept translates well to the workplace. “If we let people work at a pace consistent with their own cognitive capacity, we’ll have a healthier and more productive work force,” he says in an interview.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/careers/career-advice/life-at-work/slow-down-savour-your-work/article4262792/

How I learned to shut up and listen to constructive criticism

My knee-jerk reaction to receiving negative feedback has always been the immediate and aggressive pursuit of personal vindication. Like a rabid defence lawyer in the court of Me, I deflect, make excuses, question the aptitude of my accuser – anything to avoid taking responsibility for my actions. At least, this is what my dollar-store psychology degree tells me is going on. Before embarking on my quest to openly accept and learn from constructive criticism, I opted to get some advice from the experts.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/how-i-learned-to-shut-up-and-listen-to-constructive-criticism/article4271422/

Microsoft 'to launch tablet to compete with iPad'

Event invitation to journalists leads to speculation that Microsoft plans to take on Apple's dominance with own-brand tablet

Microsoft is to launch an own-brand tablet running a new version of Windows in a bit to compete with Apple's iPad, according to rumours swirling in the technology industry.

An invitation to an event in Los Angeles on Monday evening sent out by the software giant at the last minute on Thursday to a broad range of journalists – but lacking even venue details – has led to widespread expectation that Steve Ballmer's company is now ready to take on Apple's dominance in the tablet market.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2012/jun/17/microsoft-tablet-compete-ipad-apple?CMP=twt_fd

No thanks, boss, I brought my own laptop

Employees not only want to use their preferred smartphone on the job, they are starting to use their computer of choice, a trend called bring-your-own-device to work, which often favours Apple devices.

Company-issued PCs and mobile phones are being challenged by some employees who argue they work more efficiently on their own devices, say experts.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/careers/career-advice/life-at-work/no-thanks-boss-i-brought-my-own-laptop/article4235824/

Healthy Travel: The 5 Germiest Places At The Airport

Germs may be the carry-on no one talks about, but that doesn't mean the little buggers aren't hiding throughout airport terminals and on planes, waiting to make us sick.

Recently, Coverall, a company specializing in commercial cleaning, analyzed data from airports with the aid of a microbiologist to pinpoint the top five germiest places in airports, making some illuminating -- if gross -- discoveries.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/08/the-5-germiest-places-at-the-airport_n_1578571.html?ncid=tweetlnkushpmg00000002

Draw up a to-think list alongside your to-do list

Many of us spend the day in slavish obedience to our to-do lists. While it’s important to get things done, entrepreneur Rajesh Setty, on his Life Beyond Code blog, says it’s also important to think, and that means keeping a to-think list.“Without one, you will be swamped with catching up on your to-do list, and taking time to think will keep going back on your priority list,” he writes. Place items on it that you want to think over in future; when you get the time, tackle items from the list.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/careers/management/draw-up-a-to-think-list-alongside-your-to-do-list/article4242537/

The End of the Phone Is Getting Closer

Verizon has just announced the first ever data-share cell phone plans, meaning that end of the phone we predicted a couple weeks ago just got closer. After a prescient prediction from AT&T CEO Randall Stevenson that cell phone companies would soon enough offer data only plans, Verizon Wireless has put out the first iteration of these voice-light plans, reports AllThingsD's Ina Fried. "The plans, known as 'Share Everything,' allow users an unlimited number of calls and texts and also allow data usage to be pooled among up to 10 devices on one account," she writes. Don't let the unlimited voice offer fool you, this is step one to a voice-less world. And, as we explained the other day, without the audio part, we can't really call a phone a phone.

http://www.theatlanticwire.com/technology/2012/06/end-phone-getting-closer/53429/

Weather talk: Is there a way to make it interesting?

The rain-lashed Jubilee weekend provoked a torrent of weather talk. But how can this most British of conversations be made interesting?

There's only one thing more British than talking about the weather. Apologising for doing it.

Samuel Johnson, the poet and lexicographer, said in 1758: "When two Englishmen meet, their first talk is of the weather." And 250 years later surveys suggest it is still regarded as the most British of traits.

The UK is often said to be blessed with "a lot of weather" unlike places with a fixed climate or predictable seasons. In 1858, The Water-Babies author Charles Kingsley wrote: "Tis the hard grey weather breeds hard English men."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-18296086

6 Ways to Beat Procrastination – on Big and Little Tasks

Ask almost anyone what holds them back from reaching their goals, or what bad habit they’d like to overcome, and there’s a good chance they’ll say “procrastination.”

All of us procrastinate, at least a little bit. We put off things that we feel we should do, and even things that we want to do: anything from doing the dishes to writing a book.

Sometimes, a certain level of putting-things-off is a smart move. After all, if you’ve got a bunch of tasks on your list, you’re much better off prioritizing the important ones and letting the others slide for a few days, instead of running yourself into the ground trying to get everything done.

Often, though, procrastination is simply a bad habit. If you constantly procrastinate over little tasks, to the extent that they cause problems, or if you never get round to tackling bigger tasks, even though you’d really love to complete some major projects … then read on.

http://www.pickthebrain.com/blog/6-ways-to-beat-procrastination-on-big-and-little-tasks/

The Skills Gap Myth: Why Companies Can’t Find Good People

Last week’s disappointing unemployment report has refocused attention on the question of why, despite modest signs of economic recovery in recent months, American companies aren’t hiring.

Indeed, some of the most puzzling stories to come out of the Great Recession are the many claims by employers that they cannot find qualified applicants to fill their jobs, despite the millions of unemployed who are seeking work. Beyond the anecdotes themselves is survey evidence, most recently from Manpower, which finds roughly half of employers reporting trouble filling their vacancies.

The first thing that makes me wonder about the supposed “skill gap” is that, when pressed for more evidence, roughly 10% of employers admit that the problem is really that the candidates they want won’t accept the positions at the wage level being offered. That’s not a skill shortage, it’s simply being unwilling to pay the going price.



http://business.time.com/2012/06/04/the-skills-gap-myth-why-companies-cant-find-good-people/

Why talking-to-text has taken off in China

Anyone who has ever written in Chinese on a computer, or composed a text message on their phone in that language, knows the typing process is not nearly as simple as in English.

In most languages using a Roman alphabet, you directly type the letters that make up a word.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-18255058

The skill of making memorable speeches

This great Diamond Jubilee had a missing ingredient
The British have lost the skill of making memorable speeches to mark big occasions, says Harry Mount. 

The British do ceremonial occasions like nobody else on earth. Or so the conventional wisdom goes. Certainly, yesterday’s Jubilee celebrations showed our ceremonial architecture at its best – from St Paul’s Cathedral, showcase of British baroque, right back to Westminster Hall, an 11th-century survival from William Rufus’s reign. The military spectacle, the ceremonial uniforms, the royal fanfares… Tick, tick, tick. But something was missing – memorable oratory.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/the_queens_diamond_jubilee/9312966/This-great-Diamond-Jubilee-had-a-missing-ingredient.html