Odds are, you’re doing at least a few things in your business with less than optimal efficiency. As the old mantra goes, “time is money.” Since money doesn’t grow on trees, maybe these tips can serve as the fruits of knowledge amongst this tree of a helpful article. These are relatively broad application use-cases that are applicable to most businesses, but rest assured: even for niche use-cases, there’s an app for that. 

Doing things knowingly inefficiently is foolish and bad for business. Gabe Alves, Founder of TrackMySubs knows this all to well. He built his app to fight one of businesses’ hidden flaws: subscription management. Your business has tons of recurring costs. Tracking due dates for those costs is important. Many businesses will often intend to utilize a service for a short period of time for a short-term project, with the intention to cancel afterwards. A sizable portion of businesses have attempted a free trial of a paid service, only to forget about the trial’s expiration date and incur needless cost. Applications such as TrackMySubs completely eliminate the possibility of this kind of epic business faux pas, sparing your business critical time and money, and you embarrassment.

But it doesn’t stop at subscription management. Here’s 4 more ways to make running a company less stressful:

1. Social Media Management: Are you manually updating your social media channels? Odds are, the overwhelming majority of your social media posts are not time-sensitive live-updates. Take the brunt out of this task by scheduling and automating the posting of your social media content. This will significantly slice the time you invest into your social media channels every week, and simultaneously keep you on-track for an appropriate content saturation level.
2. Task Management: If you’re pinging emails back and forth for all of your business operations, or, worse yet, utilizing calls, emails, or hunting down colleagues in person, you’re doing it wrong. Task management applications enable those working on specific tasks to update those tasks in real-time, enabling anyone collaborating on, or curious about the status, of a task to simultaneously view the updated and most recent details regarding any task. The time saved in terms of simply not needing to request the status or details of any task, on both ends, yields dividends in time for a business.
3. Time Management: Anyone in a managerial position is extremely well-versed in the importance of properly tracking employee’s times. Ensuring employee times are accurate ensures they are compensated properly, as well as provides extremely important data for operational oversight, including future hiring decisions. Many businesses conduct this process like dinosaurs; some are even still using paper timesheets. Modern time tracking tools provide a much more time-effective (pun mildly intended) solution.
4. Calendar Management: Anyone utilizing a pen-and-paper calendar will scare off business partners and prospects via appearance of being a technophobic dinosaur, with the reputation of inefficiency attached, with extremely rare exceptions. Put simply, utilizing a web-based calendar enables others (often with varying levels of permission of visibility) to see when you’re available and/or even what you’re up to. Gone are the days of asking ‘when are you free’ or ‘when are you working on this?’ Best yet, these calendar applications often plug into other neat applications and gadgets.

Rapid growth in big data and application of analytical algorithms has created massive opportunities for data scientists. Large data persistently continues to gain popularity; the field of Big Data analytics is a secure and stable choice for an expert in any field who may be seeking a satisfying, well-paid career.

If you want to stay ahead of the ‘curve’ or are looking to strengthen your career in the data science field, R is a popular programming language that you can learn to enhance your career.

What makes R so important?

R is a programming language made specifically for data visualizations and statistical analysis. The R language is a very valuable in the statistical computation and data science field. The R language is extremely adaptable and extensible and supports various graphical techniques. It offers several techniques like clustering, time-series analysis and classification technique, nonlinear/linear modelling and classical statistical tests. R allows the user to conduct a wide range of statistical analyses using pre-defined packages and libraries. R is sought after by many of the major big names, such as Google, Facebook, New York Times and etc.

R is an open-source program, which is readily available for everyone to install, use, modify and redistribute which makes it very easy to integrate with other applications.

R is cross-platform compatible, which can be run on various operating systems such as Linux, Mac OS and Windows of course. It has the capability of importing data from Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Access, Oracle, MySQL and other programs.

R is extremely flexible and advanced; many new developments in stats first appear as R packages. R packages are collections of functions and data sets developed by the community. They increase the power of R by improving existing base R functionalities, or by adding new ones.

R is one of the most powerful scripting languages; it has the capability of handling large, complex sets of data. R is the ideal language to use for complex reproductions and it can be used on complex high performance computer bundles.

R has the community support of leading statisticians, data scientists from all over the globe. In addition R offers several thousand free libraries for limitless use.

Where can you download and set up R?

R can be downloaded from the following links below:

• https://cran.r-project.org/bin/windows/base/
• https://cran.r-project.org/mirrors.html 

Where can you learn R programming language?

If you aren’t certain that R is for you, and you are trying to figure out which language is best for you – take an introductory course. Many prefer a structured learning environment, so you can attend courses such as Machine Learning Using R Training, which will definitely help you as a future analyst. The aim of this course is to familiarize you with statistical models for supervised and unsupervised learning using R programming language and how the R language environment supports predictive modelling with machine learning.

You can also keep tabs on the R community. Follow blogs and forums to hear about the latest features, packages and workshops. Many communities offer short tutorials about without breaking the bank.

Swimming offers a wide range of benefits that perhaps no other form of exercise offers. It is well known fact that swimming burns calories and helps build stamina. What is not so well known is that it also helps build strength, since water offers resistance. In fact, swimming serves as a form of resistance training, which offers a host of additional benefits. Scientific research has established that resistance training helps improve bone density, sleep, as well as body balance.

Also, swimming is a non-contact activity which does not put the kind of stress on the body muscles, bones and joints that exercises like jogging or cycling would do. From the point of view of parents, the biggest advantage is that it is a fun and sweat-free exercise for the kids. There is perhaps no better way to get your children hooked on to an active lifestyle.

If you are interested in getting your kids to hit the swimming pool, here are five things that can help you achieve the objective.

Arm Bands: Inflatable arm bands are perfectly suited for children who are beginners or still getting used to swimming. The arm bands allow for east arm movement in the water, easing the learning process. There is the added advantage of protecting the arms of the little ones from harmful ultraviolet rays.

Animal floats: Animal style swim floats serve the dual role of play toy and safety device for children. It is important to keep in mind the fact that there is no replacement for parental supervision. These floats only serve as an additional line of defence. Nonetheless, they can complement physical safety features such as safety covers and pool nets.

Bubble blowers: These devices add to the joy of swimming for children by allowing them to blow bubbles in the water. The idea behind using bubble blowers is to encourage kids to immerse their face in the water, enabling them to eventually get used to doing it, quite apart from helping them overcome the initial fear of water. These toys are inexpensive, which means they can also be put to educational use by having bubble blowers of many different colors, encouraging kids to learn and use the color names.

Music Players: Waterproof music players are available, at perfectly affordable prices, on most e-commerce portals these days. You can use these music players in swimming pool- the benefits of using music while exercising are well known, and music is no exception to it. In fact parents can easily attract the little ones to hit the pool by promising to play their favourite piece of music if they go swimming.

Safety Wristbands: Child safety wristbands serve two purpose. Many of them lend themselves to writing on, so that the names and contact details of parents or guardians can be entered, to be used in case a child gets separated from his or her group. Secondly, many wristbands these days come with an in-built alarm that sets off when the device has been submerged for more than a few seconds, thereby reducing the risk of drowning.

With the rise of identity and data thieves, one might be tempted to invest in extra protection such as a Virtual Private Network (VPN), especially in vulnerable countries like China and Iran. However, it might be daunting to some, due to how technical it seems. Contrary to popular belief, it really isn’t all the hard to set it up or to find one which is legitimate. So if you are sick of restricted websites or videos not available in your country and for added protection, here is a quick how-to guide on connecting to a vpn server with zero hassle.

First of all though, is finding a VPN provider that is legitimate and secure. Over at CNET, they suggest saying away from free providers as they might come with hidden costs. The go on to mention that the best providers do not keep any logs or records of your usage. The number of IP addresses generated and number of servers available ensure for a seamless experience. Furthermore, check their value for money such as how many simultaneous connections do they allow and how much they charge per month or annum.

One way to determine whether the VPN host you’ve chosen is respectable, is to look at whether it is compliant with federal laws. They should be responsive towards copyright infringement and strict towards torrenting and other such illegal behaviours.

Secondly, you’ll want to check where their servers are located as a server half a world away would place a significant strain on your internet speeds. The closer to you they are geographically, the better. However, bear in mind that routing your connection through a third party server will introduce delays but if your internet is running at considerably high speeds, the delay would be unnoticeable.

That’s pretty much it to choosing a provider and whilst there are concerns regarding how customers are able to stay anonymous upon using their credit card during payment. However, these fears are unwarranted unless one is planning to use a VPN for unscrupulous behaviour.

In the event someone wants to remain completely anonymous on the internet, there is only one way to do so and it is also one of the reasons why cryptocurrency is on the rise. There are VPN providers which accept bitcoins as payment. It really depends how far you are willing to go and how much security you are after.

Most internet users opt for free providers to bypass geographical restrictions to get to certain information or to access certain websites or videos on youtube, for example. If that is all you had in mind, there are many free VPN hosts that can be added to your browser as an extension and provide you with a quick fix.

However, if you are after something a little more heavy handed, it does pay to do your research properly in regards to which provider to sign up with. After that, all you need to do is download their app and activate it with just one click. Now you are all set to protect your privacy and ward off any unwanted eyes searching through your data.

Architects of today are creating beautiful liveable structures from discarded shipping containers

Everything begins with an idea, said American author Earl Nightingale. Thomas Alva Edison, one of America’s greatest inventors once said, “The value of an idea lies in the using of it.”

Someone said “One man’s retired shipping container is another man’s crazy, high-end modular home.” This idea has turned into an accelerating global wave of creativity around retired shipping containers.

Shipping containers are a post-1950 creation. An American transport entrepreneur from North Carolina, Malcolm McLean developed the modern intermodal shipping container, which created a revolution in transporting goods and in international trade during the second half of the twentieth century. McLean invented and patented the first shipping container in 1956. During this time, he owned the largest trucking fleet in the American South and the fifth largest trucking company in the US. During the pre-container era, it cost $5.86 to load a ton of loose cargo. With the ISO shipping container, the cost was reduced to only 0.16 cents per ton. The first container ship the Gateway City began regular shipping between New York, Florida and Texas from April 1957.

In early days, there were various standard sizes of containers. However, the most commonly used sizes today are the 20-foot and 40-foot lengths. Container sizes needed to be standardized so they could be stacked one on top of the other with maximum efficiency and utilization of space, and so that all equipment needed to handle and transport containers could be produced to handle a specific size. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) set standard sizes for containers in 1961. Containers are usually built from aluminium or steel, and are built according to ISO specifications, wherever they are made.

In an ideal world, when containers arrive in any country, they would be unloaded, then refilled with exports and sent to the country of origin. However, international trade does not happen in a balanced or equal manner. For instance, in the US, imports significantly exceed exports. If one hundred containers arrive in the US filled with imports, half of them would leave US shores empty, and probably five would carry exports while the remaining forty-five containers would idle. On the other hand, the scenario in China is the exact opposite. China exports such enormous quantities, the demand for containers far exceeds supply. China regularly charters entire containerships just to get empty containers to pack exports. Added to this, China produces almost all of the 100,000 new containers that are manufactured annually in the world.

An inventory of new containers is a consistent necessity because a container is generally used as a container only for about 10 or 15 years. And, as it happens, there is an estimated 24 million empty shipping containers in the world that will not be used any more for shipping cargo. However, containers are made from the world’s precious resources, and a new container costs about two or three thousand dollars. Discarding them onto the scrap heap once they can no longer serve as containers, would be a criminal waste.

Containers also get lost in the sea. Some industry estimates assume a daily loss of four containers, while other estimates indicate 27 lost every day. However, professionals in the business focus heavily on the prospects of building containers, shipping them and then repurposing them. This trend has led to coining of the term “containertecture.”

A man named Phillip Clark trail blazed the building of shipping container homes and filed a patent on November 23, 1987. He named his patent the “Method for converting one or more steel shipping containers into a habitable building.” He described how containers could be placed on a weight-bearing foundation to create a liveable structure. He stated that containers were ideal building material. He was awarded the patent after two years.

Today, architects have come to identify and appreciate discarded containers as fascinating building material that can be bought cheap and re-created into an aesthetically-appealing structure. Being flood-proof and fireproof enhance their suitability to be used as houses. Fascinating creations are found in different corners of the world. In 2012, a Chilean architect used 12 shipping containers to build a family residence overlooking the Andes Mountain. The containers were used as bedrooms, living quarters and a swimming pool. In Amsterdam, a temporary shipping container “city” was created for a theater festival. Some container interiors were cleverly dressed up as dining rooms. The container “city” took four days to assemble, provided two weeks of theater entertainment and was taken down in two days when the event ended.

Although converting containers into living spaces is not new, in this Green Age where people are habitually recycling to maximize on scarce resources, many containers are being reused as homes, offices, apartments, schools dormitories, studios, and emergency shelters.

Indeed, eco-friendly and relatively inexpensive container houses are fast becoming an acceptable substitute for traditional housing. Paul Galvin, CEO of SG Blocks, a public company focused on repurposing shipping containers, says, “It’s a legitimately green option for the consumer. And it’s not going to cost them more; this isn’t a green solution that requires government subsidy.”

As Confucius said, “Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it.”

If, in the year 2000, someone was told that their mobile technology could sync with their homes – start playing music the moment they walk in or greet them like a friend, they might tell that person to stop dreaming about science fiction and come back to reality. But that is our new reality… Homes are becoming smarter and coming to life with new technologies.

1. Talk to Alexa, and have everything sorted for you

An innovative system by Amazon that will tell you jokes, play your favourite tunes and even call a car for you. The virtual assistant that comes with the sound system is called Alexa and the tubular device is also compatible with a few other technologies such as additional speakers to run Alexa through your entire house, allowing you to change the temperature in another room and oh, it can also help you take down your to do list and remind you of it.

2. Go green with Caia and shine a light wherever

Caia developed by Solenica, helps redirect the sun to wherever you need it to go. Ideal for dark corners that the sunlight from the windows rarely touch. It employs a similar mechanic as a mirror, but it is able to reflect much more sunlight than a reflective piece of glass. Furthermore, it is configured to be set up almost anywhere, from the window still to the balcony. It is an eco-friendly technology that saves energy and also, the robot itself is solar powered.

3. Burglar-proof your house with these smart inventions

There are automations available for purchase that allows you to control the lights in your home through your mobile phone. This means that you can turn them on even when abroad, to ward off burglars by allowing them to assume someone is home. Rather than leaving the lights on or off the entire time. Another technology that allows for better security is a smart lock, you’ll be able to control who enters your house and in the event you can’t remember whether you locked the doors behind you or not, you can always check through your phone. Handy!

4. Weather controlled technology

Back in 2015, earthquake beds made their rounds on the internet. The concept is that when the bed senses an oncoming earthquake, it would activate and protect the sleeper by encasing him or her. The bed is fully equipped with supplies that will keep the victim alive long enough for help to arrive. It was not well received due to the potential of losing a limb when the contraption activates. However, it was only a concept and has since been abandoned. What might be useful is a weather station that is capable of sending weather reports directly to your phone and tell you whether you’ll need an umbrella for the rest of the day or if it will be clear skies till nightfall.

Of course, in order to procure all these technologies, one must first own a house and the best way to start looking is through house auctions rather than real estate agents. Or, go around your favourite neighbourhood and check out whether there are any houses up for sale. Once that’s set, you’re one step closer to your dream home!

If there is a preconception of gamers being losers who have no friends and therefore no life, that would be in 2000. It might be true that in the past, staying at home and playing computer games rather than going out and socializing might seem like some kind of faux pas. The Japanese even have a name for it: otaku. But it is 2017, and professional gamers are nothing short of being celebrities, especially in Asia.

South Korea especially, where professional gaming have become so widely accepted and integrated into its culture, that it has been nicknamed the capital of esports. Starcraft II gamers earn an average of six figures per game and they take what they do very seriously. Just like how a sportsman might study their opponents, coaches make their players breakdown the other team’s tactics and have strict training regiments.

They attract many admirers, which is apparent from their training cubicles which is lined with personal effects and gifts from sponsors and girls. Boys make up more than 80% of all gamers, and are treated with the same attention as k-pop stars.

Esports have even gotten noticed by The International Olympic Committee and was quoted saying, ” The Summit agreed that ‘eSports’ are showing strong growth, especially within the youth demographic across different countries, and can provide a platform for engagement with the Olympic Movement” and will be part of the medals event at the 2022 Asian Games.

However, it is DotA 2 which has the most lucrative industry. An annual tournament, simply known as The International, had a record breaking pool prize money of $24.8million and even had online casino sites offering odds on who will win. Invited gamers from Europe, Southeast Asia, China and all over America, flew to Seattle for the main event.

Instead of stadiums, esports employ the use of gaming hubs that have an auditorium and many do flock to watch these tournaments. One such venue has recently emerged in Malaysia where they are still battling the negative connotations attached to gaming. Their neighbour, Philippines, do not have such a problem and only just launched a League of Legends Varsity League in an effort to up the standard of collegiate esports.

Many of those who make esports their vocation are still in school and are bound by scholarly commitments. However, esports have gained recognition. A school in Connecticut have accepted its authenticity of being an extracurricular activity. It is the very first state in America which has joined the “Electronic Gaming Federation as a High School Esports League”.

With such a growing recognition all over the world, you will be hard pressed to find someone being laughed at for being good at a computer game. Instead of being seen as an antisocial activity, it has become accepted as a sporting event. And sports is the one thing that garners respect everywhere, the only activity capable of driving people together. A powerful force in itself, let’s hope esports have an equally long and lasting run.

Small Businesses are of more interest to hackers than you might imagine. There are 750,000 sites active on the web at any given moment, and a vast number of these belong to small businesses. Many of which don’t have effective web security services in place. This makes them a low-cost, quick option with a high potential for lucrative returns.

Many small-businesses run their website using free hosting through sites like WordPress.com, and don’t employ any additional web security measures other than those provided by the host. In fact, an out of date WordPress site turned out to be the source of the high-profile Panama Papers leak.

It’s a common belief among small business owners that they’re too small to be noticed by hackers. Cybercriminals however, use advanced and automated tools to search and find vulnerable websites. Once they find one, exploiting it gives them access to data and information provided on that websites, or allows them to edit background code and install malware through software updates or download links. The result is a security risk to effectively anyone who might access their site. Owners and staff of the compromised business, their customers and other businesses too.

When it comes to attacks on small businesses, hackers typically steal the credit card information and personal details of customers who make purchases with small enterprises. A customer or employee’s identifiable data usually includes names, addresses and birthdays, all information which can enable identity theft, resulting in unwanted costs and complications for everyone involved. According to data from the U.S. National Cyber Security Alliance, about sixty percent of small businesses who suffer a hack are forced to close within six months.  Most attacks are still arriving via email, but there has been a recent increase in attacks on small and medium enterprises using mobile devices and social media channels.

The trend towards cybercriminals targeting small businesses is likely to continue in the eyes of some hackers they have become more attractive targets than larger enterprises, small business can no longer ignore the target painted on its back.

Paying a company for a once-off website virus removal might seem cheaper at first glance, but the truth is there is no substitute for the security which regularly maintained web site security can provide.

Website security for small businesses should ideally take a multi-layered approach, using desktop security products such as antivirus, antispam and firewalls, as well as cloud-based and software for network intrusion detection. Firewall services that are cloud-based protect your companies administrative access and data around the clock, and offer threat detection and management. Proper maintenance also includes regular scans that are scheduled outside of uptime monitoring, and will search for vulnerabilities so that they can be fixed ahead of time, prevent exploitation by hackers. These are all things which might seem too technical or expensive for local cafes and community not-for-profits, but many service providers are now offering tailored subscription services and packages to suit different budgets.

The marketing landscape is becoming more and more diluted with creative ideas and solutions. While previous generations have depended on a stable career, millennials are convinced startups is the road to success. However, with all the products and services out there, how does one stand out and ultimately, succeed?

According to Forbes, every startup should entail five key factors. Impeccable timing, financial credibility, self-discipline, social skills and flexibility. But another article points out that entrepreneurs are problem solvers. Every startup should be based on an idea which is both functional and practical.

However, it cannot be too niche nor should it be unrealistic. To tackle the first problem, the team will have to put out feelers – talk to people from various walks of life and determine whether it is something people would actually want to pay for. As for the latter, always leave an allowance in regards to timing. Being unable to launch or ship by a certain date will lose the trust of prospective customers and clients and in their eyes, they will have written it off as a failure. To overcome that, one would have to undergo strenuous rebranding and even then, the previous parties interested might have moved on.

There are many reasons why a startup may fail. One of them being a lack any real motive. Although money minded businessmen might argue and say fortune is the motive. But it is not a strong enough incentive.

Think about that student in your high school, the one always at the top of the class. Do you think that he or she only wants to be number one for the sake of the title or that they have bigger plans in mind? Furthermore, to understand how motive works, understand that he or she might not be extraordinarily intelligent, but you can be sure that person has their eye on a goal. There are sacrifices involved in having a one track mind and thinking objectively. If they are weak in science, they make up for it with extra hours and put in more effort. Similarly, if there is an idea to be realised but there is no crew and no deposit in the financial department? Find a solution.

Products and startups usually end up on a fundraising website such as gofundme or kickstarter. These platforms allow people to pitch their ideas to the public and if they like it, they could pledge a donation. Most of the times, depending on how much is spent, these investors do get something in return. They might get something small like a pin or have a limited edition of the actual product when it reaches completion. Another funding solution for hardware startups is companies like Tetra Financial, which help companies finance their equipment and hardware requirements.

Remember that it is not enough to get a startup off the ground, one must truly persevere. According to a study in Canada, half of the small businesses which began within five years end up failing. This could be due to an ineffective crew, whereby the business owner hires their friends instead of people who are truly capable of completing the task at hand. There are certain instances whereby the founder is simply not the right person for the job. If that is the case, hire someone efficient instead. At the end of the day, startups are not about the founder, it is about the consumers.

Mobile apps are everywhere nowadays. More and more businesses are using this digital tool to corner the mobile market. The number of customers who use mobile devices to access the web and shop are on the rise. It’s anticipated that the number will continue to rise in the future. However, mobile apps are unarguably not suited for all businesses. If your business is currently considering developing a mobile app, here are several benefits that your company might be able to enjoy:

Sell Directly to the Rapidly Rising Mobile Market

As mentioned above, the mobile-oriented customer base is on the rise. So, if you want to sell to this audience, a mobile app is the best way. Mobile responsive websites won’t cut it. Apps are faster, and they are specifically designed to be optimally interactive on smartphone screens. Also, you will be able to gain ground on competitors who have yet to launch mobile apps.

Increased Availability

The average Canadian spends more than an hour using his or her smartphone or tablet, according to market research data. People rarely spend time browsing on desktops. On mobile phones, however, people spend time checking out sites and products. This is mainly because people tend to use phones while en route to somewhere, or waiting in line at the dentist. These are prime time to capture a customer’s attention. The customer will be interacting with your company more if you have a mobile app, rather than just a website. So, don’t wait and find an app development company to be available to your customers 24/7, regardless of whether they are in front of a computer or not.

Create a New Marketing Channel

Apps are more than just a tool to get customers to interact with your business. They are also lucrative direct marketing channels. Customers interact in many ways with businesses and online stores via apps. Whether it’s reading news, connecting to a forum, filling out a form or playing a game, there are plenty of opportunities to directly market to a potential customer. Apps can be where customers learn about special promotions or new products. If someone is already using your app, then that means they are already interested in your business. Thus, conversion rates for mobile app ads tend to be far higher than on any other channel.

Execute Loyalty Programs

Mobile apps are the best way for a business to execute a loyalty program. Customers who use apps are already loyal to some extent. You can solidify this loyalty, and drive conversions, with an app-based loyalty program. It can be a fun and interactive way to keep customers coming back to your business.

More Brand Awareness

Social media is at the forefront of creating brand awareness nowadays. But apps can promote brands as well. A great app can make a relatively little known brand famous on the continent. Customers who use your app will have no trouble recognising the brand name after a while. So, if your business is struggling with creating brand awareness and getting social proof, try again by creating a great app.

Mobile apps in general vastly improve customer engagement. The benefits to a business can be many. Some companies are built on great mobile apps. Think Uber. So, your business may be able to generate new revenue with a mobile app as well. But first, you will have to invest in creating a truly great app.