Over 26.8 million people now manage their money digitally, with more and more of us using computers and smart devices to look after our finances.
Take a look at this infographic from the Gocompare.com team and find out the most common scams and threats around today, and see tips on how to stay safe when managing your money online and on your smart device.
![How to Stay Safe When Banking Digitally [INFOGRAPHIC]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_v3LWMq4z5L-_i0oEz375TMOesj_0l7l4a62tORW8zfqKksjFOfzm1KX9PeNZro4eC0saas3nOP9gAUxVnpMblhOoifDHfZDhE7NwfXE5JnXu_SxNyBjVtQ9K1mjYTBoiuAmxV03A1pg0dmRxy35nhoEAsOt7fgltP3Rag=s0-d "Digital Banking [INFOGRAPHIC]")
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F-Secure explores how banking trojans are the modern bank robbers, and what it takes for them to hack your cash.
![How to Rob Banks in the 21st Century? [INFOGRAPHIC]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_tnsJCAEVy5BfRUjGSOdx091Ch9XlGp6T75sxZlHyDlieXxpqjeF4ZOc7sLTzvkqgvoL-hYTZsZc53MJdc5oNquE1VzNBIl8arN1i_AcxKJz5FrCkQYFGw8OAnWB7H1SmcY78wEXmQRELY2wMNAxYLleGQWCMX_TQ7xCTyIpWNh1k60Vwzl=s0-d "Rob Banks in the 21st Century [INFOGRAPHIC]")
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In today’s ever–evolving technological world, more and more small business owners are adopting the exceptional management tools and applications to run their business from their fingertips. If you are starting up your business, it’s no surprise that choosing from thousands of apps can be an overwhelming task.
Take a look at this infographic from the IrishApps.org team of Ireland’s Smartphone Mobile App Development Company. Here they’ve profile some of the best small business apps that you really need to know about if you want to get ahead in your business. From the best business app for tracking brainstorming sessions, to the best business app for customer service. They’ve look at the best business app to help with cash flow, to the best that will track your courier packages.
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AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE
NEW YORK: Facebook’s purchase of messaging service WhatsApp for up to USD 19 billion in cash and stock is one of the largest acquisitions ever in the technology sector.
Here are some other notable deals involving US tech companies, in order of dollar amount from largest to smallest:
US technology giant Hewlett–Packard buys Compaq Computer for USD 25 billion in a bid to compete with IBM.
Internet search giant Google buys the hand–set business of Motorola for USD 12.5 billion in a bid to challenge Apple in the smartphone market. Less than three years later, Google sold Motorola to China’s Lenovo for USD 2.91 billion.
US technology giant Hewlett–Packard buys British enterprise software company Autonomy for USD 10.24 billion. US authorities later open an investigation amid HP accusations that Autonomy had engaged in ‘accounting improprieties’.
Microsoft buys internet voice and video leader Skype for USD 8.5 billion, the largest acquisition ever by the US software giant.
US business software giant Oracle buys struggling Sun Microsystems and its Java programming language for USD 7.4 billion.
Microsoft buys the hand–set business of former market leader Nokia for USD 7.2 billion in an effort to catch up to rivals Apple and Google in the smartphone market.
Internet search giant Google buys online video platform YouTube in October 2006 from its founders, Steve Chen and Chad Hurley, for USD 1.65 billion.
Online auction house eBay buys online payments firm PayPal for USD 1.5 billion.
Former Google executive Marissa Mayer makes her biggest purchase since taking over as CEO of Yahoo, buying the popular blogging platform Tumblr for USD 1.1 billion.
Facebook offers USD one billion for hot smartphone photo–sharing service Instagram. The purchase of Instagram was Facebookk’s largest until the WhatsApp deal.
If you are uncomfortable about feeding your data to Facebook, here are some of the best alternatives for iPhone, Android and others
BY SAMUEL GIBBS
LONDON: Facebook has bought messaging app WhatsApp, which means those who have been avoiding feeding their data into the world’s biggest social network might think about switching to another instant messaging service.
As WhatsApp is based on phone numbers rather than usernames, Facebook has in effect just bought a list of hundreds of millions of phone numbers. “Currently, WhatsApp can change terms and conditions at any time, without notifying users, which many people who use this service aren’t aware of. Meanwhile, Facebook already has a very broad copyright license on people’s content and already shares your data with many other services,” explains St John Deakins, chief executive of online identity service Citizenme.
While WhatsApp is certainly the most high-profile text messaging replacement app in the UK, it is by no means the only horse in the race.
WhatsApp’s biggest competitor is Line, a messaging app that lets users send text messages, images, video and audio, was well as make phone calls over the internet or video conference. The Line messaging app is available for almost every computer and mobile platform. Line has 350 million users globally, expanding rapidly from 10 million in December 2011 according to data from Statista. Line Corporation is head–quartered in Japan, a subsidiary of South Korea’s online content and search company Naver Corporation.
Another messaging app alternative, Kik Messenger sends texts, images and voice messages over a smartphone’s data connection avoiding mobile operator messaging charges. It also integrates a web browser into the application allowing users to browse content and share it directly with their friends. Kik is available on the iPhone, Android, Windows Phone, Nokia’s Ovi store and BlackBerry. Now with 100 million users globally, Kik was released in 2010 and quickly hit one million users in just 14 days.
BlackBerry’s Messenger is the grandfather of the phone instant messaging apps. BBM was released for both Android and the iPhone in September 2013 making it cross platform for the first time. BBM for iPhone and Android was downloaded 10 million times in the first day, with over 80 million users globally across all platforms by October 2013. BlackBerry announced that by December 2013 BBM had 40 million users of its iPhone and Android apps.
A messaging app that stated out life as a direct Skype competitor for free voice calling, Viber has expanded into a cross–platform messaging client and was recently bought by the Japanese e–commerce giant Rakuten for USD 900 million. Viber is available for iPhone, Android, BlackBerry and Windows Phone, Samsung’s Bada and Nokia’s Symbian and Series 40, plus the desktop, making it one of the most widely available messaging apps. All users can send text, pictures and video messages using Viber, but voice calling and some other features are limited to the iPhone, Android and Windows Phone.
Google’s messaging strategy has historically been a bit of a mess with different messaging protocols across different services that could not communicate with each other. In 2013, Google launched Hangouts to unify its messaging platforms. Available on the desktop, Android and iPhone, Hangouts allows users to send text and images, as well as hold video calls and group messaging with read states and typing indicators.
Skype maybe known for voice and video calling, but it also integrates a solid instant messaging function. Available for Android, the iPhone, Windows Phone and BlackBerry, as well as desktops, home phones TVs and games consoles, Skype allows you to send text messages, images, videos, voice messages and send group messages.
There are a plethora of other messaging apps out there, including WeChat — huge in China but yet to break big in the UK — Tango and TextFree, as well as Apple’s iMessage, which is baked into the iPhone and iPad, but is also available on Apple’s computers. Facebook also has two other messaging apps. Its Facebook Messenger app is available through the Facebook desktop site as well as mobile apps for iPhone and Android, while Instagram allows users to send photos publicly or privately. Snapchat, the ephemeral image sharing app, also allows users to send quick photo and text messages. Beyond traditional messaging there is also Twitter’s direct messaging feature, which can also be used as an instant messaging system, sending private messages to followers.
Image: London Evening Standard
Did you know that how you write can indicate more than 5,000 personality traits? The size of your letters, spacing between words, shapes of letters and more can all signify different characteristics. Handwriting analysis (also known as graphology) can even be used for detecting lies and revealing possible health ailments.
Check out the infographic below to learn what your handwriting says about you. It’s also fun analyzing the handwriting of your friends and family members, so be sure to hand it off or pass it along!
![What Does Your Handwriting Say About You? [INFOGRAPHIC]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_tyBM0OQ_Idc5I3Ks-4Tr_yQ-5Oyirl0ufE5QxA4Rcv0WzQi857sdtCThJJ6x_DXAZnzrEL7_IuCobijGUH--w5ZiZlNarxYK342-LatLAMDBASL9aepgmBeqxuezVlPVkoH8cCc9pXtqr6Efjw1a7uR1FAffDm=s0-d "Handwriting [INFOGRAPHIC]")
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The Internet in 5 years will see the dawn of the Zettabyte Era and an overtaking of Web traffic with video consumption at the helm.
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CSS3 is used in organizing the style and layout of Web pages. It is the latest standard in the CSS series. CSS3 offers a wide variety of new trends to make an impact with your web designs. With many exciting new functions and features, CSS can be used as a powerful tool in website designing and development. A CSS3 refers to the technical stipulation of a layout. It ensures that a web page will appear precisely the way the website developer has specified.
As a website designer we have to look into the capabilities of CSS3 and need to make the most of it. The basic approach of CSS3 in web designing is to make the web page user friendly by removing loads of complications from it. The changes that CSS3 has brought into the website development market are quite amazing. Using CSS3 can speed up the process of website design and development and also speed up your web site.
Keep all the things side apart, here are some advantages of CSS3 for you:
With CSS3, you can keep your HTML code much cleaner which in turn helps search engine crawler in getting the real content from your site very easily. You can also put any content anywhere in your web page and no longer each individual page have to be simplified to replicate the new style. By using this website design technique you will make much greater consistency throughout the site easily.
In the field of website development, no one likes to wait for anything to come. This condition also applies in loading of web pages. When a website page takes a lot of time to load, generally users leave that page. By using CSS3, web pages can be made lighter which will allow the site to load faster. As table layout format is not used in CSS3, the sites acquire less memory and load faster.
In website designing you have to make it understandable that the content of the site must be validated in all formats of the browsers. A web designer has better control over a website by using CSS3. CSS3 allows for more compatible style elements, including font size and line heights through which web pages can be used more easily by people with disabilities. Website developers can craft specific CSS files especially for printing, or mobile devices, as well as the customary computer screen and in doing so making websites fully multimedia applications.
With the introduction of the CSS3 format, website designers have a lot to offer in development of a web page. CSS3 allows changes and modifications to be made in individual modules. CSS3 format helps users in separating presentation from structures. In this technique, style sheets defined presentational characteristics whereas the document structures were defined in separate heading. This eases the maintenance of the web page in efficient and comfortable manner.
When you start styling your content with CSS3 modules, you will probably never want to go back to using the old tags for styling.
You must use CSS3 to determine its full potential. Flexibility is the most useful features of using Cascading Style Sheets. One of the important things you require to gaze at before using this technique is what browsers the greater part of your users uses to visit your website. The reason behind this question is that it sometimes may be very difficult to make your CSS sprites friendly with many of the browsers depending on the techniques you use.
The clamoring demand of websites is increasing day by day and this is the reason that business entrepreneurs want their websites to perform equally better as their business and much better than their business development executives. And keeping pace with the demand, designers have started believing that HTML 4 and CSS early version needs a replacement. With newer versions on the forefront, HTML and CSS are all set to break grounds in the Internet world. The hair-raising amalgamation of two web languages HTML 5 and CSS 3 are expected to be seen on the websites in the times to come. Before we move a bit further, let’s first discuss what HTML 5 and CSS 3 is?
HTML is an acronym of Hyper Text Markup Language that is utilized by web designers to create web pages that they wish to develop. Typically, what is portrayed under HTML coding is the content of the website that encompasses title, headings,and other content. But replacing the old version, HTML 4, HTML 5 has brought something new for the designers and absolutely for the users. In contrast to what websites were few decades ago, today we can see a radical change. With business seeking out for user–friendly, media rich and interactive websites, HTML 4 has taken a back seat and HTML 5 is ready to create furore among designers. HTML 5 being a new version of the language provides coding that will certainly allow easy, better and quick fusion of videos and audios. A new advanced interface for the users is again an addition that can be expected out of this advanced version.
Known as Cascading Style Sheets, CSS is primarily associated with the presentation of the content on the website when visited by a web crawler. It focuses on the background, font, style, color and the overall look of the website. With other advancements in comparison to what it was in late 90’s, CSS 2 is now replaced with CSS 3 which was working well for the website of previous times. However, with the limitation of second version to particular styles, effects, fonts, CSS3 is brought to the effect. Keeping in mind the appeal and interactiveness of the websites, CSS3 is set to bring revolution. This new version is made to provide the designers with more effective tools that makes the website more appealing visually.
Thus website designing with the use of HTML5 and CSS3 provides accessibility to the designers to use plugins relating to audio, video and thus interactiveness. With the aforementioned benefits of using HTML and CSS newer versions, designers can create furore in the designing industry.
Take a look at the top rumors about Samsung Galaxy S5 according to major blogs Samsung Galaxy will be released in this month
Since Samsung Galaxy S4 there has been a lot of buzz about Samsung Galaxy S5
The Samsung Galaxy S4 is old news. Sure, it’s a great smartphone — as you’ll see in our in–depth review — but now all eyes are firmly locked on the Samsung Galaxy S5.
Now that we’re almost certain to be seeing the phone during MWC 2014, all eyes are on what’s actually going to emerge from behind Samsung’s veil of secrecy — the good news for you, dear reader, is that we’ve trawled the web, examined all the rumors, and refined them to bring you a pretty good idea about what’s going to emerge.
In terms of the name we’d be very surprised if Samsung was to deviate from the highly lucrative Galaxy S prefix which has seen the Korean firm squeeze every last drop of money out of the brand with numerous handset spin offs of its top products.
Expect it to arrive as the Samsung Galaxy S5 — nothing else.
Cut to the chase
What is it? The sequel to the Galaxy S4 — and Samsung needs it to be amazing
When is it out? An earlier–than–expected MWC 2014 launch is on the cards
What will it cost? The Galaxy S5 will cost around £550 / $650 / AU$700
If you’re one of those interneteers that likes to skim read things in the hope someone will go through all the rumors and create a video render with them all thrown in together, well, you’re in luck.
All the big smartphone manufacturers are relatively entrenched in annual product cycles now, which means we can usually predict when they will launch their headlining products.
Early rumors pegged Samsung as bringing the Galaxy S5 launch forward to February after the S4 failed to sell as many as predicted — this could also be due to the company being reportedly told to scale down its launches and make Android more of a star of the phone by Google.
And now that looks relatively certain after Samsung sent out a teasing invite for its “Unpacked 5” event on February 24 — and it’s that “5” which has caught everyone’s attention — that means the Galaxy S5, right? RIGHT?
New studies show that nearly 70 percent of U.S. adults experience digital eye strain. Here are 7 common causes of eye strain at work. Are you guilty of any of these?
Published by AllAboutVision.com
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The Science of Happiness. Happiness means different things to each of us, but biology and psychology reveal a lot of factors that contribute to our overall mood and emotions. Read through this infographic to learn tons of easy tips and hacks to improve your happiness levels and better understand how our minds work.
While true happiness may have a different definition to each of us, science can give us a glimpse at the underlying biological factors behind happiness. From the food we eat to room temperature, there are thousands of factors that play a role in how our brains work and the moods that we are in. Understanding these factors can be helpful in achieving lasting happiness.
If you feel less than stellar on a day–to–day basis I have good news for you! There are a ton of things that influence your levels of happiness and positivity. In The Science of Happiness infographic from WebpageFX, you can learn about all of them.
You might not be able to directly control all of these factors, but by being aware of them all you can engage in activities that will boost your happiness meter.
Did you know that spending 20 minutes outside in good weather each day can improve your memory, broaden your thinking and help maintain a positive mood? It can! Participating in activities like exercising is another way that you can boost your happiness. Walking for just 20 minutes releases endorphins and proteins that make your brain more active, keeping you happier. Why not take a 20 minute walk on your lunch break? It’ll keep you feeling energized and positive throughout the day.
In terms of brain chemistry, the neurotransmitters dopamine and serotonin play a large part in how happy, affectionate and positive you feel. Eating foods like fish, bananas and poultry help boost your dopamine levels, while foods like turkey have been suggested to boost serotonin levels. Therefore, eating foods like these can help you improve and maintain happy feelings and a positive outlook.
One of the best ways to keep a bad mood at bay is to get your 8 hours of sleep each night. Studies show that sleep–deprived people have a harder time remembering positive ideas and, instead, focus on the negative. By keeping your mind and body well–rested you’ll help the positive ideas flow and keep the negative ideas away.
One final tip for staying happy: don’t isolate yourself. We get so caught up in the business of our day–to–day schedules and routines that we often forget to make time for our neighbors and community members. Yet, research shows that two huge factors that contribute to happiness are a sense of community and frequent celebrations with that community. Don’t be afraid to reach out to your neighbors and peers. Not only will communal bonds make you feel happier, they’ll make your neighbors feel happier too!
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Don’t panic about reports that 99 per cent of malware targets Android devices‚ but do take precautions to ensure your device is secure
BY STUART DREDGE
LONDON: Android is the most popular operating system for smartphones, by far, and it’s also the most open, in terms of how much you can customise your device — replacing its default keyboard, for example — as well as the approval process for developers to release new apps for it.
This openness is a boon for the tech–savvy Android user, because pretty much anything on their device that they don’t like can be swapped out for something better.
Android’s status as the world’s most popular smartphone OS means it has hundreds of millions of users who aren’t so clued–in on security.
Cisco’s annual security report claimed in January that 99 per cent of all malware in 2013 targeted Android devices, while security firm Kaspersky Lab suggested a similar figure of 98 per cent in December last year. “Android ticks all the boxes for cyber criminals — it’s a widely used OS that is easy to use for both app developers and malware authors alike,” said Kaspersky’s senior virus analyst Christian Funk, at a time when his company was detecting 315,000 new malicious files every day.
So, does Android have a big security problem? This is a question that is complicated by the fact that many of the companies warning about Android malware are also selling apps and services that promise to protect against it. But keeping your data safe on an Android device can be more about taking common–sense steps to minimise your risks.
With that in mind, here are five tips for ensuring that your Android device is safe:
Using the Google Play Store to download apps already makes you among the more secure tiers of Android users — many dodgy apps are distributed through third–party.
Android app stores rather than the official ones. Candy Crush Saga, Angry Birds, Clash of Clans… fake versions of these regularly appear, so if something sets off warning bells (Candy Crush Saga 2, anyone?) it’s worth googling its title and checking its developer’s website to see if it’s a fake.
Security on Android isn’t just about the apps that you install on your phone. As with any device — Android or otherwise — be on your guard for phishing, sites that try to get you to enter personal data and/or credit card details. Text messages and emails can all be phishing methods, and just because you’re on your phone doesn’t make them less dangerous.
Have you got your device’s lock–screen settings sorted, so that if it gets stolen, the thief can’t access your apps and data? Google’s default settings will see you fair, but there are some third–party apps that take interesting and unusual spins on unlocking the phone.
Picture Password Lockscreen, for example, gets you to unlock your phone by drawing points, lines and circles on any image you like.
If you’d still like to take the extra step of installing anti–virus software — or if you’re thinking of putting it on the device of someone else — a number of options are available from the big names of the security world. AVAST Software’s Mobile Security & Antivirus, Bitdefender’s Mobile Security & Antivirus, Lookout Security & Antivirus, Kaspersky Internet Security, Trend Micro’s Mobile Security & Antivirus, Norton Security antivirus and McAfee Antivirus & Security all have four–star–plus ratings on Google play.
You can follow many of the steps above, but can your children if they’re using your device, or have their own Android tablet and/or smartphone? A number of companies are trying to help with this challenge too, with parental control software capable of ensuring children don’t install apps that they shouldn’t, or compromise data on a shared device. Kids Place, Famigo, MMGuardian and Norton Family are four of the most popular examples, with varying features to control what apps are installed, what sites are being visited, and to set time limits on usage — and in some cases, add time as a reward for good behaviour.
Written by Joseph J Mazzella
Growing up in my grandmother’s house as a boy was an experience that would shape me for the rest of my life. We were poor in everything but spirit, yet I learned so much about life there. My mum, dad, two brothers, and I were crowded into a small old house. I always knew what my next set of clothes would look like because I had seen my older brother wearing them the year before. I always knew what we were going to be eating in the winter, because I had weeded it in the garden during the summer. Still, I never felt poor. No king ever ate as good as we did on Sundays after church when mum cooked her homemade meatballs, spaghetti, and freshly baked bread.
Even though we had so little I can still remember dad, mum giving so much. We were always sharing with others. Everyone who visited us could expect a plate of spaghetti, or a mason jar of canned vegetables, or a flower pot full of fresh blossoms to be given to them. I can still remember the sparkle in mum and dad’s eyes whenever they passed something on to others. We never felt richer or more blessed than when we shared what God had given us.
I learned early on that the greatest joy comes from giving rather than getting. Giving fills your heart with love. Giving fills your soul with God. Giving brings your spirit closer to Heaven.
Don’t be afraid to pass on your blessings, riches, gifts, and talents to others. That is why God gave then to you in the first place.
Share everything you have. If you have a beautiful smile then pass it on. If you have a lovely laugh then pass it on. If you have a few extra dollars then pass them on. If you give great hugs then pass them on. If you have a special talent then share it with others. If you have a heart full of love then give it to the everyone. No life is ever truly lived until it becomes a gift in itself, so make your whole life a gift to the world.
Social media is not just about keeping in touch with friends or posting photos of your lunch, it’s business — big business.
However, having a profile on every social media platform can become time consuming. So which one is best for you to invest your time in? Well, this arguably depends on what type of business you have.
LinkedIn positions itself as the largest professional network — it’s a serious place to hang out!
Pinterest seems to appeal to the designers, photographers and those looking to get their creative juices flowing.
Twitter will tell you that it’s easy to build an audience and following, and Facebook will probably say they’ve got the most users.
The above points are my personal experiences of each service — however to dismiss one as not relevant for your business could be costly, customers can be recruited on each and every platform with the correct strategy.
We are sure that you probably already know this and are already tweeting and posting away, but what you might not have in place yet is a text messaging service. Our experience is that the good old text message can complement a social media strategy very effectively — for example, what’s the best way to promote your new mobile app? You could consider sending a text message, with a link to download it so your audience can install it there and then.
The figures for mobile they are still staggering, according to the guys at Super Monitoring, 91% of the world’s population has a mobile phone and Ofcom research states that in the UK just over 150 billion texts were sent in 2011 alone. When you consider that 98% of all text messages are read (Frost & Sullivan), it’s no surprise that SMS is an incredibly powerful communication channel.
Also consider that only 22% of emails get read (Frost & Sullivan) and 84% of all email is spam (The Radicati Group). Text messaging produces 6 to 8 times higher engagement rates than email (Cellit).
So, embrace Social Media — it’s good to share. But do also keep in mind that mobile marketing can deliver a huge and immediate boost and return on promotions.
Image: Text Marketer
Before celebrating this year’s Valentine’s Day here are some famous quotations about love that might help you stir up some goodness about love, giving or receiving.
“For it was not into my ear you whispered, but into my heart. It was not my lips you kissed, but my soul.” — Judy Garland
“If you live to be a hundred, I want to live to be a hundred minus one day so I never have to live without you.” — A A Milne
“Love is our true destiny. We do not find the meaning of life by ourselves alone — we find it with another.” — Thomas Merton
“If you have only one smile in you, give it to the people you love.” — Maya Angelou
“If you press me to say why I loved him, I can say no more than because he was he, and I was I.” — Michel de Montaigne
“A kiss makes the heart young again and wipes out the years.” — Rupert Brooke
“All you need is love. But a little chocolate now and then doesn’t hurt.” — Charles M Schulz
“The heart has its reasons of which reasons of which reason knows nothing.” — Blaise Pascal
“I know of only one duty, and that is to love.” — Albert Camus
“When you love someone, all your saved up wished start coming out.” — Elizabeth Bowen
“A heart is not judged by how much you love, but by how much you are loved by others.” — Frank Morgan
“You are always new, the last of your kisses was ever the sweetest.” — John Keats
“Love shall be our token; love be yours and love be mine.” — Christina Rossetti
Everyone needs encouragement sometimes. Just like we need food for our body, we also need food for our spirit that comes as touching and motivational stories. They can gives us power and make us feel better. Hope that these stories will help you become inspired!
You train fleas by putting them in a jar with a top on it. Fleas jump, so they will jump up and hit the top over and over again. As you watch them jump and hit the top, you will notice something interesting. The fleas continue to jump, but they are no longer jumping high enough to hit the top.
Then, and it’s a matter of record, you can take the top off and though the fleas continue to jump, they won’t jump out of the jar. I repeat, they won’t jump out because they can’t. The reason is simple. They have conditioned themselves to jump just so high. Once they have conditioned themselves to jump just so high, that’s all they can do.
Many times, people do the same thing. They restrict themselves and never reach their potential. Just like the fleas, they fail to jump higher, thinking they are doing all they can do.
A friend’s grandfather came to America from Eastern Europe. After being processed at Ellis Island, he went into a cafeteria in lower Manhattan to eat. He sat down at an empty table and waited for someone to take his order. Of course nobody did. Finally, a woman with a tray full of food sat down opposite him and informed him how a cafeteria worked.
“Start out at the end,” she said. “Just go along the line and pick out what you want. At the other end they’ll tell you how much you have to pay.”
“I soon learned that’s how everything works in America,” the grandfather told a friend. “Life’s a cafeteria here. You can get anything you want as long as you are willing to pay the price.
You can even get success, but you’ll never get it you wait for someone to bring it to you. You have to get up and get it yourself.”
A young man asked Socrates the secret to success. Socrates told the young man to meet him near the river the next morning. They met. Socrates asked the young man to walk with him toward the river. When the water got to their neck, Socrates took the young man by surprise and strong and kept him there until the boy started turning blue.
Socrates pulled his head out of the water and the first thing the young man did was to gasp and take a deep breath of air. Socrates asked, “What did you want the most when you were there?” The boy replied, “Air.” Socrates said, “That is the secret to success. When you want success as badly as you wanted the air, then you will get it. There is no other secret.”
The motivation to succeed comes from the burning desire to achieve a purpose. Napoleon Hill wrote, “Whenever the mind of man can conceive and believe, the mind can achieve.” A burning desire is the starting point of all accomplishment. Just like a small fire cannot give much heat, a weak desire cannot produce great results.
The question was asked to a highly successful businessman, “How have you done so much in your lifetime?”
He replied, “I grow great by dreams. I have turned my mind loose to imagine what I wanted to do. Then I have gone to bed and thought about my dreams. In the night I dreamt about my dreams. And when I wake up in the morning, I see the way to make my dreams real. While other people were saying, ‘You can’t do that, it is impossible,’ I was on my way to achieving what I wanted.” As Woodrow Wilson, 28th President of the US, said, “We grow great by dreams. All big men are dreamers.”
Sometimes of us let these dreams die, but others nourish and protect them; nourish them through bad days until they brings them to the sunshine which comes always to those who sincerely hope that their dreams will come true. So please, don’t let anyone steal your dreams, or try to tell you they are too impossible. “Sing your songs, and your hope and pray your prayer.”
By Rajyogi Brahmakumar Nikunj ji
We all love our mother a lot, there is no doubt in it. There is hardly any human being who doesn’t love his/her mother, and vice versa. But we all forget a very pivotal role that ‘mother nature’ plays in our lives.
Nature and its seasons teach us that there is an inherent balance and harmony to everything in this universe. However, when we disturb that balance, we fall out of sync with life’s rhythm. Just as there are laws of nature to which even the smallest physical particle is subjected, in the same way there are spiritual laws by which the human spirit is governed.
The human spirit becomes restless and peaceless when those laws are violated. Hence, if we recognise that our own true nature is of peace and love, and yet we continue to pollute our minds with negative thoughts and feelings, then what will be the result?
We all know it!
As independent human beings, we are all entitled to have our own choices. We can either go with the flow of others who choose to criticise and complain in life, or we can decide to make a different choice to have the courage to align with our true nature, and take responsibility for our own happiness because at the end of the day, it is our own choices that reflect what we truly are.
Remember, happy people see their shortcomings but they choose to focus on their strengths instead. Similarly they can see the loss, but they choose to focus on the profit instead. Hence, we need to recognise the wisdom of cyclical ups and down or pulsating laws of our own lives in order to get in touch with the rhythm of life, and to respect and work in harmony with the highest nature to become joyful and stress-free beings that we all aspire to be.
So, be with the normal rhythm of life to remain unaffected by natural turmoil of life.
About The Author: The author is a writer at www.brahmakumaris.com. He can be reached at nikunjji@brahmakumaris.in.
An RSS feed, often identified as a “news feed”, is a syndicated news feed in an XML set-up you could subscribe to. A news feed reader, often identified as a “information aggregator”, is software that permits you to subscribe to RSS feeds. Organizations will trust their employees sufficient to allow them to subscribe to RSS feeds. After you have an RSS Reader, you’ll find a way to subscribe to which ever feeds you need, and shortly flick by information gadgets that interest you. Once installed, this software will automatically aggregate and show the RSS feeds to which you subscribe. Accessing an RSS feed is slightly like podcasting, in that you simply subscribe to a feed.
Replace your RSS folder, and all the exterior sites that subscribe to your feed shall be automatically updated. But already, a remedial reporter could subscribe to an RSS feed and obtain updates published to a well being database. To subscribe to RSS feeds, merely select a content section of curiosity to you from the checklist supplied on this page. Customers choose the RSS feeds (content material) they wish to subscribe. The URL you copied to your clipboard would be the place your RSS reader would require to subscribe to that feed. Use the URL that comes up to subscribe to an RSS feed of work in that group. The reader you select can have directions for the way to subscribe to RSS feeds.
Using an RSS feed reader allows you to be alerted when recent content pieces on the subjects you are focused on are available. PubMed RSS feeds will embrace documents retrieved by your PubMed searches because the last time you have been related to your RSS reader. Through the RSS reader, feeds from varied sources might be scanned with the power to entry the entire content material referring to any fascinating feeds. To properly read the feed, you need an RSS reader. Then, you will have to comply with the directions for your specific News Reader as a means to add the feed to your RSS catalog. Begin RssReader and go to add( ) channel/feed and then paste (click proper mouse button) the URL and press ok. Add as various feeds to this free of charge RSS reader as you want and use it as free news aggregator. The rating lists and custom searches are available as RSS feeds that you may import into your information reader.
An RSS reader could use this hint to routinely set the polling space for the RSS feed. Then, come again to your RSS reader and observe the directions on your particular reader for adding a model new feed.
Using RSS, web content material providers can simply create and publish feeds of knowledge that embody, for example, web site links, web site titles, and summaries. To start with, explore your content material administration system — it might already have an option to make an RSS feed. The listing beneath gives hyperlinks to some example RSS feeds which utilise totally different forms of content. Content from RSS feeds will be simply purpose allowing, for instance, cross searching of quite a few totally different feeds at once. The difference between RSS feeds and podcast feeds is that you simply receive textual content content as an alternative of audio content. After subscribing to an RSS feed, you’ll be notified when new content material is out there with out having to go to the web position. Utilizing RSS, Web content material suppliers can simply make and publicize feeds of information that embody, for example, news hyperlinks, headlines, and summaries. This may even give them a place to begin for RSS feeds for his or her content. All of the RSS 1.0 feeds comprise full article textual content as well as comments and related content material on different sites. Builders can rapidly mark RSS feeds and publish content material in file time.
Many aggregators are separate, “stand-alone” applications akin to those listed above; other services allow you to add RSS feeds to an Internet page. The subsequent few sections describe the state of your RSS feed as a Internet essay. The problems occur when software program builders write unhealthy code to broadcast and pull RSS feeds from the Internet. This journal is changing from RSS feed to the extra generic nickname webfeed. Blog Navigator integrates with varied RSS and Web search engines which allows you to collect webfeed outcomes primarily based on custom hunt keywords. or your favorite feed aggregator, or incorporate the RSS information into your own site or shopper application. Many aggregators are unattached, “stand–alone” packages akin to these listed above; different services will allow you to add RSS feeds to a Net page.
One other factor RSS enables you to do is put headlines on your web site, which update themselves mechanically when the RSS feeds update. The XML logo is currently in use across the Web to indicate to users that RSS feeds are available from the site. related to data about plenty of projects, or the SourceForge.web website itself) and venture–specific RSS feeds. Or can RSS Feed mechanically give me a bump that something has turned up at a particular site. Formatting the feed on your site One benefit of RSS is that it has no formatting whatever.
It is even possible to download RSS feeds to an iPod using software program similar to iPod Agent. This is a piece of software program that checks RSS feeds and lets you learn any new articles that have been new to them. However, the software doesn’t support RSS feeds that require authorization. However the software would not stop there. The software program is pre–configured with many of feeds, so you may unleash the facility of RSS right away.
About The Author: Keith Larson owns Home Based Business Blog where common home business ideas and alternatives are examined rigorously to find out what works and what doesn’t. Visit in the present day for more information or check out the positioning’s #1 home based business at: KeithLarsonOnline.com!
Written by Ezra Melino
The future is evidently now, and many of those neat-o gizmos you ogled over in the cartoons and movies are quickly becoming a reality. Although floating cars are still a ways away, smartwatches are here and they are big, bold and busting out quite a few unexpected stops. A true standout among a small, elite crowd is the newly revisited and remodeled Pebble Steel, a striking and highly capable smartwatch that’s surprisingly affordable (averaging around $249.99) and amply professional in appearance. A popular, fashion-oriented and well-polished product indeed, the new Pebble Steel has much more on its mind than just the time of day.
Residing on the upper tier of functionality and flare, the Pebble Steel smartwatch has been quickly making a name for itself during its short lifespan, already outclassing its predecessor, the original Pebble, which in only twelve months of availability secured a home on well over 300,000 wrists. The Pebble is successfully laying claim to an expanding smartwatch kingdom, and it seems that the new Steel version is about to put a fork in the remaining competition. At least for the time being.
So what does competition the smartwatch competition look like? Over the past few months and merging into the fresh horizon of the New Year, the world has witnessed quite a few smartwatch offerings blossom forth from titanic companies like Qualcomm, Sony and Samsung. These corporations have been producing small armadas of these time-telling trumpets of the future hoping to claim a fixed foothold in the digital race, especially while the marketing soil is still fresh and untrodden. But what makes the Pebble Steel so special?
Think of the Pebble as the forerunner to beat in this competition. Most of the smartwatch contenders are using it as the archetype with which to base their specs off of, particularly concerning sophisticated electronics like a fully colorized touch-screen, as well as overall design and fashion appeal. But even the Pebble Steel itself is seeking to out-do its older brother with a sleek new design that orients itself more to a jewelry item than a semi-kitschy sports watch or athletic accessory.
Thoughtfully adorned in matte black or brushed stainless steel, the overall aesthetic of the Pebble Steel, with its unique analog watch-face, carefully cajoles onlookers into viewing it as a sincerely legitimate wristwatch and not simply a crude novelty.
The Pebble Steel has upped the ante concerning digital display with a clearer, more compact feeling screen and an e-paper display that’s covered by durable Corning Gorilla Glass 2. The backlight and accelerometer are the same as the first model, and it’s still waterproof up to five atmospheres, but the Steel version offers new tri-colored LED lighting in its screen-face that illuminates when charging. It’s claimed that newer Pebble models will be able to utilize the LED for alert configurations.
The Steel’s screen has also received a bit of a facelift in that it’s now more squared-off and less curved, providing a much more compactable impression and feel for the wearer. Even the Pebble Steel’s buttons are smaller and easier to use. Many things, however, have been kept the same, especially in regards to the inner workings of the device. The Pebble Steel still utilizes the MagSafe-like contact charging system, although the original Pebble’s charger will not work with the Steel, and vise-versa. However, all Pebble apps are still applicable in both cases.
A downside to the Pebble Steel is ironically the stainless steel itself. The new version is somewhat heavier (weighing approximately 99 grams) than the original, which was made of plastic and weighing-in at roughly 38 grams. On a day-to-day basis this extra weight would not likely pose a problem, but if you plan on taking a jog or exercising with the Steel attached to your wrist it may prove to be a bit uncomfortable.
The battery-life for the Pebble Steel model is successfully rated at approximately five to seven days, and the available application memory to the device is fairly roomy leaving twice as much space for apps and watch-faces. Unfortunately, however, this extra memory is still locked and users/wearers will need to accept using a still impressive eight apps and watch-faces at a time.
So what’s the bottom line? The new Pebble Steel smartwatch certainly has an upscale disposition, and it opens to a blossoming world of fun, useful Pebble-based apps. However, this watch is a bit heavy and may be a bit too “masculine” for some female purchasers. Ultimately it’ll require an in-person test to decide whether this new gadget will be right for you or if you’d rather hold your horses for the next futuristic offerings that may be waiting just around the corner.
About The Author: Ezra Melino is an all-around-geek turned serious blogger out of North Carolina who not-so-secretly relishes an in-print love affair with everything from technology and multimedia entertainment to film and the hopper. He has written for and managed multiple tech blogs that are devoted to exploring new technological developments all around the world.
One area where web designers and search engine optimization (SEO) professionals usually butt heads is over the use of images as text instead of actual plain text, usually done in the navigation or other important elements of a website. This can cripple an SEO implementation by limiting the effectiveness of elements that could have been textually based, as text is much more effective for interlinking. This is just one area where image alt text can be very useful.
Alt text “which are found in the ‘alt’ portion of image tag” allows you to add a short descriptor of the image, whether it’s a photograph, a navigational element or some other useful image or graphic. Alt text allows you to describe to users who hover their mouse over an image what they’re seeing, but for SEO, Services, it also gives the search engine more information than the image’s file name might. Optimizing image alt text is a part of any effective on-site SEO campaign, and in this article, we’ll give you some tips on how to optimize alt texts to make them more useful and effective.
First, if there is text in your image, make sure your alt text matches it precisely. If it’s a one-word image such as menu item, for example, you would include this word in your alt text, as well as possibly a short description of the menu item. This gives the search engine some idea as to what that element is all about.
Secondly, for pictures and other descriptive images, you want at most a sentence describing what users can see in that picture, and again, it has to match what the picture actually is. Google’s crawlers can’t see images, but humans can, and if one of Google’s engineers see that you’re filling your image alt tags with irrelevant information, it could raise red flags.
Finally, not every image has to have an alt text in it. You wouldn’t add alt text to transparent spacer images used to align other elements of a page together, for example, but you would add alt text to all important and relevant images on a page. Alt text doesn’t carry the weight of actual readable text in the eyes of the search engines, but it’s better having it than not.
Image: Untypical Marketing
If it seems like you’re always stretched too thin and never have enough time to complete your work before three new projects are handed down to you — always with the instructions that they’re high–priority — you probably need to talk with your manager about your workload. Here are five steps for talking to your manager when your workload is overwhelming.
You’re the person paying the most attention to your workload, not your manager — and s/he may assume that since you’re not speaking up, there isn’t a problem. So let him/her know about it.
Pick a time when your manager is’t rushed and ask to talk about your workload. Explain that it has become unmanageable and why (for instance, that you’ve taken on the responsibilities of someone who left without anything being removed from your plate, or that a particular account has doubled in size in the last year.)
You’re most likely to get the help that you need if you come prepared to talk about options. For instance, you might say, “I can do A and B, but not C. Or if C is really important, I’d want to move A off my plate to make room for it. Alternately, I can act as an adviser to Jane on C, but I can’t do the work of C myself if I’m also doing A and B.”
If your manager resists making these kinds of trade–offs, you need to keep pushing the issue. If your manager won’t help you prioritise, then come up with your own proposal for what you will and won’t prioritise and ask him/her to tweak it or OK it
To take on something new when your plate is already full, you need to either get rid of something else or at least push it back. So if a new project comes your way, go to your manager and ask about trade–offs.
Courtesy of: AOL Jobs
By Ursula Romanowski
As unpredictable as it may be, we’ve decisions to make. Some are easy and others will break your heart especially when you have to make one with your have to make one with your head months after your heart has made it, and the two are different.
Decisions made by the heart tend to be like caution thrown to the wind. They can be overwhelming, confusing, and yes, crazy. The heart has no boundaries. It doesn’t know society or its ‘norm’, and worst of all, it has no sense of timing.
So thank God for the head stepping in with it’s rationality and becoming the grounding force before things get out of hand. When you have to decide like that, the pain can be immense, but fortunately the heart will mend, and as cliché as it may sound, "life does go on".
But even though the heart mends, it is never the same; it caries with it a reminder everywhere it goes. For when it decided to throw caution to the wind, it also threw a piece of itself, to be replaced by the treasure received because of that decision. It’s changed, and it is changed forever, but the trick is not to look at it with anger, but to understand it with love.
For the loss of a relationship, or a situation considered an "affair of the heart", is not a loss of that person. When you share yourself with someone, they in turn share themselves with you. A trust and understanding takes place and the love between you does not die, it changes, it progresses.
Sometimes it becomes deeper, more solid, and a friendship evolves. Sometimes it fades and becomes a wonderful memory that never disappears. There is always something that will stir that memory to life, a scent, a word, a song.
Once we become part of someone’s life, we never leave. Although we may decide to stand-alone, it does not tarnish the feelings. It becomes a grasp to understand one’s self-worth, one’s being. And yes, we know that it will not be difficult at times, but we all have hurdles of our own. That is what makes us who we are.
By Bob Stoess
Is it morning already? I rub my eyes and get up to prepare for the day. I look out of my window and see the sun. I hear the birds; I see the first flowers of spring beginning to show, the greening grass, and a few clouds in a brilliant, blue sky. It’s another day.
Our grandson pops into the house, giving his Granny a hug. He majestically explains how he scored his first goal of the soccer season. Our son proudly affirms his every move to get the ball past the goalie. Later, we learn of his appointment to the “quick recall” team. We hear of his dancing with every girl at his first school dance. Our little grandson is growing up. It’s another day.
My neighbour’s son tells of his accomplishments in college. He shares his hopes and dreams for the future. His curiosity and excitement are contagious. I am encouraged that he has learned that no dream is beyond reach, if he wants it badly enough. It's another day.
My wife wraps me in her love. I look into the eyes of the one that shares my innermost feelings. What a special friend! It’s beyond words to describe the feelings of returned love; one to lean on, one to hare happiness with, one to truly love. It’s another day.
Yes, it is another day. This has been another day to enjoy God’s bounteous blessings. It’s been a day to enjoy our children and grandchildren. It’s been a day to enjoy the hopes and dreams of others. It’s been a day to discover the value of worth and hard work. It’s been a day to learn the value of love. It’s been a day that we need to thank God for all that we have. May you experience many, many such days in this journey we call life.
By Pawan Kumar
After the earthquake had subsided, when the rescuers reached the ruins of a young woman’s house, they saw her dead body through the cracks. But her pose was somehow strange that she knelt on her knees like a person was worshiping; her body was leaning for ward and her two hands were supporting an object. The collapsed house had crashed her back and her head.
With many difficulties, the leader of the rescuer team put his hand through a narrow gap on the wall to reach the woman’s body. He was hoping that this woman could still be alive. However, the cold and stiff body told him that she had passed away. He and the rest of the team left this house and went to search the next collapsed building.
For some reasons, the team leader was driven by a compelling force to go back to the ruin house of the dead woman. Again, he knelt down and used his hand through the narrow cracks to search the little space under the dead body.
Suddenly, he screamed, “A child! There is a child!”
The whole team worked together, carefully they removed the piles of ruined objects around the dead woman. There was a three months old little boy wrapped in a flowery blanket under his mother’s dead body. Obviously, the woman had made an ultimate sacrifice to save her son. When her house was falling, she used her body to make a cover to protect her son.
The medical doctor came quickly to exam the little boy. After he opened the blanket, he saw a cell phone inside. There was a text message on the screen, it said, “Dear baby, if you can live, always remember that I love you.”
Image: Catholic News Agency
By Joe Mazzella
When I was a boy growing up we had several gardens around our old house. The largest one of all was used just for growing potatoes. I can still remember those potato planting days. The whole family helped. After my dad had tilled the soil, my mum, brothers, and I went I went to work. It was my job to drop the little seed potatoes in the rows while my mum dropped handfuls of fertiliser beside them. My brothers then covered them all with the freshly turned earth.
For months afterward I would glance over at the garden while I played outside and wonder what was going on underneath the ground. When the harvest time came I was amazed at the huge size of the potatoes my dad pulled out of the soil. Those little seedlings had grown into bushels of sweet sustenance. They would be turned into meal after meal of baked potatoes, mashed potatoes, fried potatoes, and my personal favorite — potatoes slowed cooked in spaghetti sauce. They would keep the entire family well fed throughout the whole year. It truly was miracle to behold.
Thinking back on those special times makes me wonder how many other seeds I have planted in this life that have grown unseen in the hearts and minds of others. How many times has God used some little thing that I said or did to grow something beautiful? How many times has heaven used these little seedlings to provide another’s soul with sweet sustenance?
Every single day of our lives we step out into the garden of this world. Every single day we plant seeds that can grow into something wonderful. We may never see the growth that comes from the kind words or loving acts we share but god does. I hope then that you always tend the garden around you with care. I hope that you plant only goodness, peace, and compassion in the lives of everyone you meet. I hope that every day you help miracles to grow.
Image: Live Earth Farm
![Social Media in a Nutshell [INFOGRAPHIC]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_s3uEj2J_FRrI3JRdySNNVQzinj7JiscEFOw3ej8dO_c_1g9EnNSYmxrXySJWSaL8kkScjrB40HWVUl9-7cJA5S6sQ7k7RtOWjouY8sDGw04KhIUA5o_GKLOUGkSIXpDODmQH4GMpuac5O4BNRivxvRYMqTQBHPMmKPbxx6-buk75plUH2j=s0-d "Social Media in a Nutshell")
