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watchOS 2.2 adds Nearby search to Maps for Apple Watch
The Maps app for the Apple Watch is set to receive a useful upgrade with new features with the upcoming watchOS 2.2 release. Currently in beta, the upcoming software update adds the Nearby search features in Apple Maps as well as quick navigation buttons for travel directions to home and work addresses.
In the current watchOS version, the Maps application launches to a view of your current location, then pressing the display firmly reveals buttons to access contact addresses, search, and toggling between transit and standard directions.
Starting with watchOS 2.2, Maps on Apple Watch has a whole new layer of actions. Just like Google Maps for Apple Watch, Apple’s Maps app now includes shortcuts to navigating to your home and work address from your current location. Search is also a more accessible button that doesn’t require Force Touch. The old Maps view can still be accessed through the My Location button beneath Search.
Finally, the useful Nearby feature introduced to Maps with iOS 9 in six countries including the US and Canada is now available on the Apple Watch starting with watchOS 2.2.
This feature works similarly to Yelp’s Apple Watch app (Yelp is a data provider here) and lets you choose between Food, Drinks, Shopping, Travel, Services, Fun, Health and Transport categories. Each section includes an additional list of more detailed categories followed by specific local businesses listed by distance with star ratings and business hours, contact information, directions, and location.
iOS 9’s Nearby feature in Maps also appeared in CarPlay with new beta software introduced this week. See our video hands-on for more details.
Aside from a revamped Maps app, watchOS 2.2 also allows iPhones to pair multiple Apple Watches simultaneously. The most recently unlocked and raised Apple Watch automatically becomes active with the paired iPhone.
For more on Apple’s latest software updates for each of its platforms, check out 9to5Mac’s coverage from this week:
- Apple releases first iOS 9.3, OS X 10.11.4, tvOS 9.2, & watchOS 2.2 betas
- iOS 9.3 adds multi-user support for iPads in schools, new Classroom app, more
- iOS 9.3 adds Night Mode, upgraded Health, Notes & News Apps + CarPlay Music
- Photos: With tvOS 9.2, Apple TV adds Podcasts app, Folders, Bluetooth keyboard support, new app switcher and more
- iOS 9.3 Gallery & Feature List: Night Shift, New 3D Touch features, updated Health app, Notes Touch ID, more
- iOS 9.3 Preview: First look at updated Apple Music + Maps apps in CarPlay [Video]
- tvOS 9.2 Preview: First look at Apple TV’s new Podcasts app, folders & switcher UI, Bluetooth keyboard support, more [Video]
- iOS 9.3 Preview: First look at Night Shift mode, Touch ID Notes, new 3D Touch quick actions, much more [Video]
- OS X 10.11.4 beta adds support for viewing and sharing Live Photos in Messages
- Happy Hour Podcast 049 | Apple’s latest feature-packed beta releases
- iOS 9.3 public beta + 9.3 dev beta 1.1 w/ Night Shift, Touch ID Notes, more now available
- OS X 10.11.4 public beta with Live Photos in Messages, secure Notes, and more is now available
The watchOS 2.2 update for Apple Watch is currently only available in beta. Public availability will likely accompany the iOS 9.3 release later this year.
Filed under: Apple Watch Tagged: Apple watch, watchOS, watchos 2, watchOS 2.2
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Apple acknowledges issue causing battery percentage indicator not to update on iPhone 6s & 6s Plus
After a plethora of complaints, Apple this week has posted a new support document acknowledging an issue with the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus that causes the battery percentage indicator in the status bar not to update as the battery itself drains. This means that the battery percentage icon could display that you have much more battery life left than you actually do.
In the support document, Apple addresses the issue and ensures iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus users that it is working on a fix. Weirdly, the company says the issue is caused by time zone changes, whether done manually or automatically while traveling (via MacRumors).
If you change the time on your iPhone 6s or iPhone 6s Plus manually or change time zones when traveling, you might notice that the battery percentage doesn’t update. Learn what to do.
As far as fixes go, Apple says that restarting your device should temporarily cure the problem, as should going into Settings > General > Date & Time and ensuring that “Set Automatically” is enabled. Obviously, the issue here is that you may not realize the battery percentage number hasn’t changed for awhile, so it would be hard to know that you need to reboot or check your Date & Time settings.
Nevertheless, Apple says it is aware of the issue and is investigating the cause and a solution.
Filed under: iOS Devices
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Review: RHA T20 are some of the finest-made earphones around, but they’re not cheap
For a while, Scotland-based audio company RHA was known primarily for delivering audiophile-grade sound in affordable earphones. With the T20, that’s not exactly how they played it. In fact, this set of headphones is not anywhere near cheap enough to be classed as an affordable pair, but I still feel that in terms of design, audio and versatility, they comfortably give you your money’s worth. That’s despite the fact they’d set you back $240/£180 if you decided to splurge on them…
On the design front, RHA has gone all-out with the T20 to make a headphone that both looks and feels like a high-end product. The 3.5mm jack is encased in a durable stainless steel casing, while a tightly coiled spring protects the cable from fraying or breaking near the end. Further up the cable, another well-made stainless steel cylinder protects the area where the cable splits in two to form the individual earbuds. But the earphones themselves take it to a whole new level.
The drivers are built in to metal injection-moulded stainless steel casing. Which is to say: They look stunning. The surface is so smooth and round, there are no rough edges or corners, and they’re very strong. They’re also really ergonomic, and sit almost flush with your ears. They’re not the lightest earphones around, but they’re not uncomfortable to wear.
Great effort and attention has gone in to how they feel when you wear them. There are ten pairs of ear tips with various designs, in different sizes and made from different materials to suit you. Personally, I like the memory foam ear tips, but there are regular dual-material silicone ones in small, medium and large sizes as well as a couple of double flange models in two different size. All these ear tips are stowed inside the included folding case, held securely in a credit card-sized piece of metal with bespoke cut-outs designed to hold the tips in place.
Even the ear-hooks that loop out and over your ears are well-conceived. They’re made from a material which is both pliable and strong, to ensure that when you mould it to fit around your ears, they stay in that shape. And they’re not their just hold the earphones in, when well-fitted, they also ensure the earphones’ noise cancellation properties are optimized, helping you block out ambient/exterior noise. Which leads us conveniently on to sound performance.
As with most features of any product, sound quality is very much a subjective thing. Some people like bass, a lot. Others like a more neutral and balanced sound, while others prefer to hear the high-frequency tones and couldn’t care less about bass. Regardless of which describes you best, the T20 has you covered.
RHA has designed a Tuning Filter System, whereby the user can unscrew the very tips of the earphone and replace it with a pair designed to boost bass, or boost treble manually. Personally, I quite like it when bass kicks me in the chest and fills out the background of the music, so I immediately swapped out the neutral filters for the bass ones. I was really impressed by the difference they made. Where I found the ‘reference’ filters to be a little too sterile, the bass tuning filters brought me close to my perfect sound profile. The rest could be achieved by adjusting the EQ on my device.
Regardless of whether I tried the bass, neutral or treble tuning filters, one thing remained the same: Clarity. I could hear details in many songs I can’t remember hearing before. Not just hearing the bass drum, or snare being hit, but actually being able to pick out the sound of the bass drum pedal or stick strike against the drum’s skin.
Sounds were balanced, and bass notes didn’t muddy over the rest of the frequencies, even with the bass filters installed. That’s thanks mostly to RHA’s DualCoil Dynamic Driver which is engineered to deliver a neutral tone. RHA describes it like this:
The T20’s revolutionary DualCoil dynamic driver is engineered to deliver refined, high resolution audio with a neutral tonal balance. The T20’s DualCoil dynamic driver features an additional voice coil situated within an annular magnet; each coil operates independently to produce part of the frequency range. This unique configuration ensures ultra-efficient performance and true-to-life sound reproduction across all genres of music.
For those of you with Hi-Res Audio equipment, you’ll be pleased to know the T20 is also Hi-Res Audio certified, meaning you can listen to your favorite tunes without losing any quality.
If there’s one issue with the RHA T20 earphones, it’s that there is no in-line microphone or music controls, so if you want to turn the volume up or down on your smartphone, or make/receive a phone call, you’ll need to pick up your phone. Thankfully there is another option: Buy the T20i instead. It’s the same set of earphones, except it has an inline mic/control set. It costs $10/£10 more, but is well worth the extra if you need that extra control.
The next step for me would be for RHA to make a set of wireless T20s. As much as I appreciate the incredible sound and build quality, I’m not a big fan of having wires hanging out all over the place. But that’s a personal thing. Cables can be a good thing. Even with some of the best wireless tech around, nothing quite matches a physical cable for quality and latency.
Overall, it’s tough to fault RHA’s premium earphones. At $240/£180, they’re far from the cheapest earphones around, but even at that price, they still look and sound like they could cost more. Build quality is impeccable, sound quality superb and they’re incredibly attractive. The very fact you can manually change the audio profile to suit your taste just makes them so much better. If you’re looking in to a great pair of in-ear phones to invest in, you should definitely add these to your wish-list.
Filed under: Reviews Tagged: Accessories, audio, earphones, RHA, RHA T20
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5 End-Of-Day Rituals That’ll Make Your Mornings Way Easier
This post originally appeared on HubSpot’s Sales Blog. To read more content like this, subscribe to Sales.
In my freshman year of high school, I was on the cross-country team. My coach always used to say that the most important thing to remember about running was that the end of the race held as much importance as the beginning.
And it’s the same in the workplace.
You could be having an incredibly productive streak, but if you don’t end your day by reviewing what you need to work on tomorrow, you’re preventing yourself from getting a fast start.
Closing rituals ensure that you know exactly what you have to work at the beginning of each day when you walk in the door, and allow you to leave your work at the office. The five-step routine below is a great way to make sure you start every day on track.
1) Do a stand-up.
When: Three hours before the end of your day
A stand-up is an extremely short meeting that originated in engineering departments to ensure daily alignment among team members, but the process can be adapted to any job. I actually run two stand-ups a day, but only the afternoon stand-up will affect your day tomorrow.
Every afternoon, ask yourself the following questions:
- What has to be finished today?
- What’s left that can be pushed to tomorrow?
- What should you pull from tomorrow’s list to today (only if you’ve completed today’s to-do items)?
Check out this blog post for more information on incorporating stand-ups into your daily routine.
2) Triage your to-do list for the rest of the day.
When: After your stand-up
After you’ve evaluated what can realistically be completed today and what needs to be pushed, adjust your to-do list. (Todoist, a free to-do list app that allows you to assign one of four priority levels to unfinished tasks, is incredibly helpful for me here.) Any item that’s non-essential can be turfed to later in the week or removed entirely, if you can delegate or forgo completing it.
3) Review tomorrow’s calendar.
When: Two hours before the end of the day
On busy days, it’s natural to be completely focused on what you have to get done now. But checking your calendar a few hours before you intend to head out mitigates the possibility of forgetting about a commitment that requires prep work.
If your prep is a large commitment (use your judgment on this one), start on it today. Otherwise, make a note to prep for your meetings first thing in the morning.
4) Check your email drafts.
When: At the end of the day
It’s inevitable — at the end of the day, I’ll usually have at least one or two emails I started and abandoned halfway … then forgot about.
Unless you need to write a magnum opus or a very lengthy recap email that requires more than 10 minutes of your attention, it’s a good idea to finish off these straggling emails so you don’t have to start tomorrow distracted by your inbox.
5) Update tomorrow’s to-do list.
When: At the end of the day
When you’ve finished everything you need to for the day, take two minutes to review tomorrow’s to-do list. Ask yourself the following questions:
- Do tasks need to be completed in a certain order?
- What items do you absolutely need to finish tomorrow? (Rank these high priority.)
- What items can you tackle later in the week? (Rank these low priority.)
- Do certain items need to be completed by a certain time of day, and have you made note of this (instead of relying on your memory)?
Once you know the answers to these questions, you’re done! Your to-do list is ready to go, and you can walk into work tomorrow knowing exactly what you’re slated to work on and get started instead of spending precious time getting organized.
Periscope Broadcasts Natively in Twitter: This Week in Social Media
Welcome to our weekly edition of what’s hot in social media news. To help you stay up to date with social media, here are some of the news items that caught our attention. What’s New This Week Periscope Broadcasts Live on Twitter for iOS: Periscope is “making it possible to watch broadcasts without leaving the […]
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– Your Guide to the Social Media Jungle
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Apple announces free ad-supported iTunes Radio stations going away on January 29th, will require Apple Music subscription
In an email circulating to customers, Apple has announced that the ad-supported iTunes Radio stations available in the US and Australia are going away on January 29th. Beats 1 will be the ‘premiere free broadcast’ going forward. All other radio station features, i.e. the algorithmic stations like Charting Now or Pop Workout, will require an active Apple Music subscription.
The full email is included below …
This marks the end of iTunes Radio as first launched in 2013, which expanded internationally into just one country: Australia. Since Apple Music’s debut, all other countries have required a paid subscription to access these radio stations and will continue to do so. However, from January 29th, there will be no free riders in the United States or Australia either.
Ad-supported stations were subject to other limitations that the paid Apple Music versions don’t have. Namely, you get unlimited skips for the stations (compared to 6 with the obsolete free tier) because you pay for the rights to stream any song in their library with your $9.99/mo plan.
Removing the ad-supported stations may be part of a wider transition in Apple’s iAd department. Apple can simplify the responsibilities of the floundering iAd group by getting rid of the need for ads to service the legacy stations. Apple is reportedly transitioning iAd towards a fully automated inventory model. Earlier today, Apple announced that it is closing the iAd App Network for developers.
Thanks Mitchell for the tip.
Filed under: Apple Music, General, iOS, iOS Devices Tagged: Apple Music, itunes radio
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Apple will discontinue iAd App Network for developers on June 30th
On its developer news blog, Apple has announced that it is closing the iAd App Network as of June 30th. Target at smaller publishers, the iAd App Network let developers pay reduced rates to feature advertisements for their own App Store apps across the iAd publisher network. The news follows a report from Buzzfeed that Apple is closing iAd campaign sales and converting all inventory to automated system. Apple says that if developers want to keep advertising on iAd until that time, they have to make a campaign from scratch using iAd Workbench. New apps will not be accepted into the iAd App Network Program.
Filed under: Apps, Developers, iOS Devices
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8 Personalization Tactics That Are Turning Off Your Buyers
We all get those emails—the flood of “Save now! 50% off!” and “BOGO sale!” If our inbox was a pool, we could swim in the amount of marketing messages we get. But more often than not, most marketing emails end up in the trash. Unless it’s for something we can actually use, or the subject line piques our interest, most marketing emails don’t get through.
After many years of email personalization, there are still ways to perfect your message and delivery to boost your click-through rate. But how personal is too personal?
Online consumers like it when content is tailored to their interests and previous buying habits, but no one wants to feel like they’re being stalked online; too much personalization can actually harm your relationships.
Here are eight personalization tactics that can actually turn off buyers and what you can do to eliminate the creepy factor.
1) Getting too personal
The amount of personalization should be based on the customer relationship. But sometimes things go from customized to flat-out disturbing. Remember the Target personalization debacle? The retail giant tracked its buyers’ pregnancy stages based on purchases and quickly got on the creeper list, leading to a PR nightmare that ultimately hurt the brand.
What you can do: Mix in your personalization with other random offers to make consumers feel less like an animal being tracked by a hunter.
2) Getting personal too soon
Jumping too quickly to personalize based on consumer behavior on your site can come off as overly customized and can prevent buyers from using your brand. So start by sending an email that uses their name (a message that greets me with “Hi There” is guaranteed to make it into the trash), and wait until the next email to include more dynamic tags.
What you can do: Wait until some time has passed and a relationship has been more firmly established to start personalizing around actions they have taken on your website.
3) Personalizing based on low-frequency searches
This is why gradual personalization pays off. A woman could be looking for or purchasing baby items for a friend or family member who is expecting, rather than for herself. Just because she searches for baby bottles doesn’t mean she needs to receive emails or see targeted ads about baby formula nine months later. If someone searches for an item once or twice, it could be a gift or a topic being researched. If the search term becomes more frequent, however, then it’s time to start suggesting diaper brands and crib styles.
What you can do: Use customer segmentation and be sure your user profiles are accurate.
4) Not incorporating contextual data into your strategy
While content is king, context is queen. Contextual data is the art of making the content relevant to an individual on the right device at the right time. Leverage the information you have about your customer to create a truly engaging, relevant experience.
Content is the offer. Context is when and where it’s being offered. If someone is expecting and buys a bouncer seat, chances are she doesn’t need another one. So emails with the latest bouncer seat deals are irrelevant and will probably irritate her because of the incorrect personalization, ending up in the trash. But after a few months, emails about playmats would be a welcome suggestion as baby is practicing his or her coordination and requires more stimulation (and tummy time).
What you can do: Don’t use personalization just because you have the data—make it personalized with a purpose. Patience is a virtue if you want to keep your customers.
5) Inaccurate location targeting
Location, location, location! Using the customer’s location to provide relevant messaging adds a level of convenience, but can go wrong if it’s not accurate. If someone looks up restaurants while vacationing in Chicago and then goes home to New York, chances are they no longer need offers from the Midwest. In fact, buyers who continue to see ads long after they’ve left the Windy City will likely be irritated and could complain about your brand on social media.
What you can do: Make sure all content is localized to the buyer, whether it’s merchandise that’s available by region, or different messaging to appeal to audiences in various locations.
6) Too much contact
Overdoing it never wins points with anyone. If you send consumers the same email every month and they aren’t responding, chances are you need to back off and give them space. Before you hit that send button, consider whether they have taken any sort of action since you began contacting them. While you want your product to stay top of mind, bombarding them with messages that aren’t relevant to them at the moment can cause them to hit the unsubscribe button and never look back.
What you can do: Track their activity on your site and if they have not purchased anything after 30 days, decrease the number of emails you send them.
7) Using too much data from social media posts
Have you ever checked into a location on social media and then started seeing ads for it? While not surprising that social media outlets would use your posting activities as data to target you for ads, there’s something more sinister about a site targeting you based on where you were. Users may start to wonder what else about their private lives is no longer private, and associate your brand with this practice of over-tracking.
What you can do: Limit the amount of targeting based on user posts. Not every restaurant visited warrants an ad the next time that user is on their social media accounts. A little bit goes a long way.
8) Retargeting that won’t quit
The rule of thumb is to cease retargeting efforts after 30 days if a customer does not convert. Any more than this is irritating to buyers, who will likely become even more turned off and less likely to actually use you if the opportunity arises. Thirty days is a substantial amount of time for them to convert if they indeed want to use your product. If they have not, overloading them with your messaging won’t help. If they have converted, make sure your lists are updated and don’t continue showing them the same messaging they saw before converting.
What you can do: Monitor your lists to determine what actions people are taking in response to your retargeting efforts and make changes to your messaging accordingly (or stop altogether).
Remember, There Are Boundaries
Consumers like personalization and have come to expect it. But there is a fine line between a welcome time-saver and sending chills down a consumer’s spine. Instead of turning off your buyers by making them feel you are tracking their every move, fine-tune your personalization efforts so they are gradual, purposeful and accurate. It just might save you from being the next New York Times expose.
Learn how to make users happy with a personalized experience. Download Personalized Content: Generate More Revenue with a Dynamic Web Experience to learn what users expect to see and what you can provide as a content marketer.
9to5Toys Lunch Break: WD 2TB External HDD $69, BRAVEN Bluetooth Speaker $75, Amazon Prime $73 this weekend, more
Keep up with the best gear and deals on the web by signing up for the 9to5Toys Newsletter. Also, be sure to check us out on: Twitter, RSS Feed, Facebook, Google+ and Safari push notifications.
TODAY’S CAN’T MISS DEALS:
WD Elements 2TB USB 3.0 External Hard Drive: $69 shipped (Reg. $80+)
Daily Deals: BRAVEN 770 Weatherproof Bluetooth Speaker $75, PNY 32GB Flash Drive $7, more
Amazon is discounting its Prime 2-day shipping service down to $73 this weekend (Reg. $99)
App Store Free App of the Week: Lifeline text-adventure game goes free for the first time (Reg. $3)
A Dark Room for iOS goes free as IGN’s Game of the Month (Reg. $1)
10 PopCap Mac games for $10: Plants Vs. Zombies, Monopoly, Scrabble, more ($80+ value)
You can finally use a Bluetooth keyboard with your Apple TV. Here are our favorite options: wp.me/p1xTlR-IWM https://t.co/00cM9VJc1I
—
9to5Mac (@9to5mac) January 11, 2016
MORE NEW GEAR FROM TODAY:
Aukey USB Power: 5-Port QuickCharge 2.0 Desktop Charger $18 (Reg. $30), 5-pack microUSB cables $4
- Gold Box $5 Magazine Subs: Sports Illustrated, Popular Mechanics, Us Weekly, more
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MORE DEALS STILL ALIVE:
Add Milanese Loop style to your Apple Watch for a fraction of the price: $17 Prime shipped (Reg. $25)
Bluetooth Audio Deals: Harman Kardon Speaker (refurb) $70, Over-Ear Headphones $17, more
- MFi Apple-Certified Lightning Cables: 10-ft. Braided $10.50 (Reg. $17), more
- Motorola refurb DOCSIS 3.0 deals from $40 (Orig. up to $220)
- USB Power: Lumsing 40W 5-Port Charger + Braided Lightning cable $20 (Reg. $30+), more
- Monoprice coupon takes $20 off $100+ orders: Bluetooth Party Speaker for $80 (Reg. $100)
- Download the Very Best of Grateful Dead MP3 album for free (Reg. $10), more
- New 32GB Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge for $490 shipped (Reg. $715)
- Fashion: PUMA Semi Annual Sale 50% off + additional 20% – Fleece Hoodie $36, more
- Audio-Technica ATH-M40x + Blue Mic Snowball Mic $105 ($150 value)
- NetSpot Pro helps you improve the coverage of your Wi-Fi network: $19 (Orig. $149)
- SoundPEATS’ Q9A Bluetooth earbuds offer solid value at less than $20, exclusive discount
- View-Master Virtual Reality Starter Pack for iPhone/Android: $20 Prime shipped (Reg. $30)
- USB Power: Lumsing 16,000mAh Dual-USB Power Bank $20, more
- Google Play offers 21 Classic Rock Favorites for Free: Santana, Boston, Meatloaf, more
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- Keep your Macs running smoothly with a CleanMyMac two-pack: $36 (Orig. $60)
- Add Bluetooth capabilities + a dual-port USB charger to your car for $16 (Reg. $28)
NEW PRODUCTS & MORE:
Phāz takes note of iPhone 7 rumors with new Lightning-connected headphones
- The Kiba camera wants to sit on your shelf and record life’s biggest moments
- LEGO did everything right with its new 2,500-piece vintage Batman set
- This new touchscreen Smart Remote controls your devices just by pointing at them
- Report: Amazon planning to launch smaller, more portable version of its Echo speaker
- Segway and Intel got together to create a futuristic robot butler
- Activeon’s new 4K action camera uses solar power to provide six hours of recording
- Satechi adds pass-through charging to its USB-C hub
- Bang & Olufsen releases a new aluminum soundbar with AirPlay and a big price tag
- Reddit has compiled the best AMA sessions into a limited edition book, order now
- Nostalgia runs high on Kodak’s modern take of the Super 8 camera
- Polaroid’s new Snap+ is the beneficiary of a touchscreen display
- Sony takes to CES 2016 with new 4K HDR Ultra HDTVs, multi-room audio, more
Catch up on our CES 2016 coverage: DJI 4K Drones, new 4K UHDTVs, action cameras, more bit.ly/1mL10rd https://t.co/zcclfFgilU
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9to5Toys (@9to5toys) January 08, 2016
Filed under: Tips and Tricks Tagged: 9to5Toys, Amazon, Amazon Prime sale, app deals, Best Buy, Daily Deals, free apps, Gold Box, video games, WD Elements 2TB
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Apple at center stage of Republican presidential debate over encryption & national security
Apple’s strong position on privacy and encryption has been at odds with the United States government’s pressure to step up its national security efforts in the wake of recent terrorist attacks across the globe. In short, iPhones are encrypted to protect customer data from prying eyes, and law enforcement agencies believe that gives criminals a safe haven for communication that can’t be traced.
The Obama administration including the former and current attorney general and FBI director have strongly voiced opposition to Apple’s position, and Tim Cook reportedly pressed the White House to back strong encryption as recently as this week. So it’s no surprise that Tim Cook and Apple came up at the end of last night’s Republican presidential debate hosted by the Fox Business channel where at least one candidate was asked to address his position on the subject.
Specifically, Apple Watch aficionado and former Florida governor Jeb Bush, who responded similarly to how the current administration has thus far, was asked how he’d handle Tim Cook and encryption by Fox Business host Neil Cavuto. Let’s take a look at his response with a little help from TIME’s transcript:
CAVUTO: Governor Bush, fears have gripped this country obviously, and you touched on it earlier since the San Bernardino attacks. Since our last debate, the national conversation has changed, according to Facebook data as well.
Now this first graphic shows the issues that were most talked about right before those attacks and now after: the issues of Islam, homeland security and ISIS now loom very large. The FBI says Islamic radicals are using social media to communicate and that it needs better access to communication. Now the CEO of Apple, Governor, Tim Cook said unless served with a warrant private communication is private, period. Do you agree, or would you try to convince him otherwise?
BUSH: I would try to convince him otherwise, but this last back and forth between two senators — back bench senators, you know, explains why we have the mess in Washington, D.C. We need a president that will fix our immigration laws and stick with it, not bend with the wind.
The simple fact is one of the ways, Maria, to solve the problem you described is narrow the number of people coming by family petitioning to what every other country has so that we have the best and the brightest that come to our country. We need to control the border, we need to do all of this in a comprehensive way, not just going back and forth and talking about stuff —
CAVUTO: Would you answer this question?
BUSH: Oh, I’ll talk about that, too. But you haven’t asked me a question in a while, Neil, so I thought I’d get that off my chest if you don’t mind.
(LAUGHTER)
Governor Bush did add that Apple should have some “liability release” if loosening encryption goes bad, although Tim Cook’s stake on privacy thus far seems more about principle and not lawsuits. (My guess is it might be legally more tricky in the case of law enforcement as we’re seeing play out.)
CAVUTO: Fair enough. So Tim Cook — so Tim Cook says he’s going to keep it private.
BUSH: I got that. And the problem today is there’s no confidence in Washington, D.C. There needs to be more than one meeting, there needs to complete dialogue with the large technology companies. They understand that there’s a national security risk. We ought to give them a little bit of a liability release so that they share data amongst themselves and share data with the federal government, they’re not fearful of a lawsuit.
We need to make sure that we keep the country safe. This is the first priority. The cybersecurity challenges that we face, this administration failed us completely, completely. Not just the hacking of OPM, but that is — that is just shameful. 23 million files in the hands of the Chinese? So it’s not just the government — the private sector companies, it’s also our own government that needs to raise the level of our game.
We should put the NSA in charge of the civilian side of this as well. That expertise needs to spread all across the government and there needs to be much more cooperation with our private sector.
CAVUTO: But if Tim cook is telling you no, Mr. President.
BUSH: You’ve got to keep asking. You’ve got to keep asking because this is a hugely important issue. If you can encrypt messages, ISIS can, over these platforms, and we have no ability to have a cooperative relationship —
Governor Bush then alluded to that idea that even if the US government required Apple to open up its tight encryption and let law enforcement officials peek at data, there’d still be the issue of terrorists using foreign companies as alternative platforms.
CAVUTO: Do you ask or do you order?
BUSH: Well, if the law would change, yeah. But I think there has to be recognition that if we — if we are too punitive, then you’ll go to other — other technology companies outside the United States. And what we want to do is to control this.
We also want to dominate this from a commercial side. So there’s a lot of balanced interests. But the president leads in this regard. That’s what we need. We need leadership, someone who has a backbone and sticks with things, rather than just talks about them as though anything matters when you’re talking about amendments that don’t even actually are part of a bill that ever passed.
CAVUTO: Governor, thank you.
The bottom line seems to be that this debate isn’t going anywhere, a compromise may not be possible by design, and we’ll continue to see this national conversation continue just as it has for months now. My colleague Ben Lovejoy put his stake in the ground a couple of months ago on the whole debate.
Original image source via CNN
Filed under: iOS Devices, Tech Industry Tagged: Apple, Attorney General, Encryption, FBI, governement, iPhone, Jeb Bush, National Security, President Obama, privacy, Tim Cook, US, White House
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The Pocket Guide to Grammar: Important Tips & Rules Everyone Should Follow [Infographic]
Do you compliment your friend on his new haircut, or complement him? Did that movie have an affect on you, or an effect? Did you walk fewer steps or less steps than you did yesterday?
The English language is full of confusing spelling and grammar rules. It doesn’t matter if you’re still a student or writing professionally for your job: From time to time, we all need a little reminder for how to spell a difficult word or whether it’s okay to start a sentence with “and.”
That’s why the folks over at urbanest created the cheat sheet below. It covers a variety of useful grammar and spelling rules in the English language, including punctuation tips, commonly misspelled words, and even the grammar rules that can and should (gasp!) be broken. This is one you’ll want to bookmark for future reference.
(And if you want to study up on grammar even more, read this blog post to learn 25 of the most common grammatical errors we all need to stop making.)
2017 Hyundai Elantra latest vehicle with support for Apple’s CarPlay
Hyundai today officially announced that its 2017 Elantra will be available this month and the next vehicle to receive support for Apple’s CarPlay platform:
Both smartphone integrations will be available on the 2017 Elantra’s seven-inch Display Audio touchscreen system with rearview camera and Hyundai’s eight-inch touchscreen navigation system with voice texting, access to music stored on the phone and third-party audio apps.
Apple earlier this week published a master list for the first time of car makers and the vehicles confirmed to support CarPlay, its in-dash entertainment platform that provides an iPhone-like experience in vehicles. Some of the vehicles on the list, however, have yet to actually update with full support, Hyundai’s Sonata included.
Hyundai’s press release notes that Elantra “provides an available second USB port for charging because of this wired connection.”
And as for owners of other Hyundai vehicles, the company confirms that it will provide more information on how vehicles using its Fourth-generation navigation system or Display Audio system can upgrade.
Check out Apple’s’ master list of CarPlay partners here. For more information on CarPlay, check out our coverage of what’s coming soon with the latest iOS 9.3 software update.
Filed under: CarPlay Tagged: 2017, Apple CarPlay, CarPlay, elantra, Hyundai, support, update
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Amazon Leads the Charge Toward Transparent Feedback
By now, you may have heard that Amazon plans to sue over a thousand authors of false reviews within the Amazon Marketplace. The news itself is rather stunning, as consumers have known for years that fake reviews exist, and most know how to spot them. So, what happens now?
The Story in a Nutshell
If you’re just getting caught up, the story goes that Amazon is cracking down on sellers of glowing reviews. These reviews were purchased through the online marketplace Fiverr, where creatives can sell their services for low, low prices. One might sell a logo design for five bucks, while the next person sells, well, obviously fake online reviews.
The company can’t track down all false reviewers, but they can nab a select few who offered services through Fiverr. That’s a pretty public and well-known place to peddle your unethical wares, right? If Fiverr cooperates and hands over the names of those who offered the unsavory goods, then the fight is on.
What This Means
For honest companies out there who’ve relied on true testimonies to bring more business their way, changes may still be necessary. The problem you face is a little more scrutiny when potential buyers read your online reviews. Fortunately, buyers have been savvy to the possibility of false reviews for a while, and most know what to look for when determining the veracity of heaps of praise.
When deciding whether or not your reviews are from real customers or from paid Fiverr writers, these potential customers will likely take a look at some of your less-than-stellar reviews. If you’re willing to share those, then you give a lot of credence to the rest of the feedback.
Next, they’re likely to examine the language used in the positive reviews. After all, someone being paid to provide a five-star review is probably going to go all out, right? If reviews are fluffy with praise but don’t really point out the features and benefits of the products, then they’ll probably be discarded during the decision-making process. Other red flags to watch for are extraneous adverbs. These are words many writers use to meet word counts even when they don’t have a lot to say.
Battling the Inevitable
Fake reviews can cover a wide range of ratings, from stellar to awful. Amazon has done a lot to crack down, starting with allowing only reviewers who’ve made actual Amazon purchases to leave feedback. There are still ways around this, but at least the ecommerce giant recognized the problem and took steps to eliminate it. You may want to do the same with your website, whether you sell on a third-party marketplace site or not.
Requiring proof of purchase for a review is a great way to ensure you don’t end up with inflated reviews on your site. This in turn shows prospective buyers that you’re serious about providing only the most helpful feedback possible.
Remember that Amazon is often the leader in the ecommerce world. As they take up the battle, other review sites might just follow. What kind of world would we live in if hotel, restaurant, and retail reviews were guaranteed to be honest and fair?
Feature Request: iCloud Photo Library needs a purge downloads button à la Google Photos
I’ve been all in on iCloud Photo Library since Apple replaced iPhoto with the new Photos app on the Mac last year and I haven’t looked back since. I pay $2.99/month to sync my 13,206 photos and 1,087 videos (plus iOS device backups) with iCloud, and this allows me to take or save photos and videos from any device and have them appear across the others including the web, edits, albums, and all. I even have a system to help ensure to if something in the cloud gets hosed that everything will be fine at home (and if the house burns down hopefully the cloud is still there).
This also enables me to access my 155 GB photos library in the Photos apps on iPhones and iPads that otherwise couldn’t fit that much content. Thumbnail previews are available at all times, and full resolution versions download on the fly as needed. When you’re iPhone, iPad, or Mac needs more local storage, Photos can remove full-res images and downloaded videos to make more space using an optimize storage option. This works pretty well especially on higher capacity devices, but there’s one problem…
Photo and video purging happens automatically as needed with iOS and OS X deciding when the time is right, but it’s not perfect at knowing. Google Photos (which is free but uses its own app) takes a different approach by putting a great big button in the settings section that lets you free up storage on the spot by purging downloads that are already in the cloud.
iOS lets you remove all downloaded songs and movies from the Music and Videos apps, but there’s no similar action for manually removing downloaded photos and videos from the Photos app in a single step.
Here’s a real world scenario where that’s a problem and a button like Google’s would come in handy. My iPhone is 128GB and my iPad has 32GB of storage. The iPhone’s a better video camera with 4K capture, but the iPads a better video editor with a larger display and faster processor.
While I was away from reliable Wi-Fi last week at CES, I tried AirDropping a short 4K video from my iPhone to the iPad to edit it with iMovie, but the file transfer failed with an insufficient storage warning. Photos was the single app taking up the most amount of space even with optimize storage turned on because there were local downloads lingering around, and iOS didn’t know to purge them and make room for the AirDropped video.
Every single photo and video stored locally on the iPad was already synced to iCloud and saved locally at home on my Mac, so the solution was to fully disable iCloud Photo Library on the iPad to remove those large files. Okay, nothing lost but time. Once I was back home on reliable Wi-Fi, I just had to re-enable iCloud Photo Library on my iPad to continue having access to the photos and videos that I shoot on my iPhone but with a much larger display.
I could switch to alternative solutions that bring me to the same place, but I really like Photos and iCloud Photo Library and just want to see this one tiny feature added to improve the experience. The solution here is a pretty easy fix and one I hope we see with iOS 10 and OS X 10.12 later this year.
If you’re a Photos user or iCloud Photo Library user, are there any simple features you’d like to see added as well? As ever, let us know in the comments!
Filed under: Feature Request, iOS Tagged: Apple, google+ photos, iCloud Photo Library, iPad, iPhone, Mac, photos
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Microsoft has an offer Apple Watch owners most definitely can refuse …
If there’s anything less likely than an Apple Watch owner wanting to trade-in their watch for a Microsoft Band, it’s doing so for a trade-in value as low as $150 …
Microsoft wants to give you $150 for the Sport model with polymer band, $200 for the steel model – or a massive $250 if it comes with the Milanese Loop. An offer that is about as sketchy as the cexchange.com URL Microsoft is using to promote the offer. We think we’ll hold out for an Apple Watch Upgrade Program.
Via CoM
Filed under: Apple Watch Tagged: Apple watch, cexchange, Microsoft, Microsoft Band 2
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PSA: Apple hasn’t fixed the Gatekeeper vulnerability, only blocked specific apps using it
The security researcher who identified a serious flaw in Apple’s Gatekeeper reports that the vulnerability remains despite two security patches applied by the company. Each, he says, only blocks the specific apps he used to demonstrate the method.
Gatekeeper in theory allows users to ensure that their Mac will only run apps downloaded from the Mac App Store – or alternatively, signed by a known developer if you opt for a lower level of protection. But Patrick Wardle last September found a major vulnerability in this protection which would allow any malicious app to be run no matter what Gatekeeper setting was chosen.
Wardle informed Apple, which issued a security patch in response, but Wardle has now reverse-engineered the patch and found that it provides only extremely limited protection …
Engadget reports that Apple simply blocked the specific apps Wardle had used as proof of concept. He was able to work around this by using a new set of apps, and Apple again responded only by blocking those specific apps.
The only way to protect against the vulnerability for now is to ensure that a Mac has only ever downloaded apps from the Mac App Store or from trusted developers that provide downloads over an https link.
Filed under: Mac Tagged: Apple Inc, el capitan, Gatekeeper, Gatekeeper flaw, Gatekeeper vulnerability, Mac App Store, OS X
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Freelancer – Find Freelance Jobs Online and Get Hired
There are many ways of selling one’s skills in today’s world. The online community in particular has been on an upward trajectory when it comes to enhancing opportunities for professionals of various fields. It has grown over time into a vibrant market connecting clients and professionals seeking to do business. The 21st century has been an era of massive growth in online trading specially in areas of information sharing and research work. In a world where computers and digital information are at the core of day to day operations, it is crucial that professionals seeking to enhance their clientele consider marketing and selling their skills online. Whether for part-time or full-time basis, the online marketplace is indeed a healthy option. Freelancer.com is a website which does this job of connecting clients and professionals in a common platform.
Introducing Freelancer
Freelancer is a website that has been in existence for over a decade having started in 2004. It is indeed an established organisation having been in operation for many years. Freelancer Limited is publicly traded at the Australian Securities Exchange, and is a self-proclaimed world’s largest outsourcing and crowd-sourcing marketplace. Having grown to over 247 countries and territories globally thus connecting millions of client and freelancers, it’s not hard to accept that it has cut out a niche of itself in the world of freelancing.
How it Works
Freelancers can register and create their profiles at the site in a relatively short time. The process requires one to highlight their areas of expertise as well as have a good selling pitch to attract clients. Usually there are several projects listed and all one needs to do is place a bid for the project, and if the client approves it then you can begin working on it. Constant communication between clients and freelancers is also enabled through chats and the progress of a project can be monitored by a downloadable software on the website. The software also provides a status of the projects in a time schedule form. Once a project is approved, the client pays the freelancer in the agreed price. Both the freelancer and the client are protected from being defrauded through several means such as feedback history, milestones, and hourly payments. The freelancer is also able to choose appropriate means of receiving the payments.
Work and Clients
Freelancer never has a scarcity of projects for you to bid on, however the bidding process can become challenging when projects are competitive and one is forced to bid lower. As concerning the type of work available, people with skills ranging from web development, software development, transcription, statistical analysis, design and so on. Beginners on the site may need to have some patience before they can start getting a lot of projects because clients seem to favor experienced freelancers with a good rating and feedback. The membership type also determines the fee the website charges per project with standard and premium membership (which a freelancer has to pay for) getting lower fees per project. All is not lost however, anybody can start building their presence by doing smaller and simpler projects, and thus establish trust with the clients.
Issues and Reviews
Being a free market without much regulations, the online platform is bound to have a few clients whose concern may not be doing honest business, and thus professionals in this site could sometimes fall into the hands of such clients with ulterior motives. The site however has an efficient means of communication, and contacting the administrators to report any such cases of malpractices may come in handy. The cost of converting different currencies also becomes an issue especially if it significantly affects the agreed price. Despite the obvious challenges though, it is always an open option for professionals seeking to increase their income to look into platforms like Freelancer.com to create good professional networks and link up with employers that could be ultimately beneficial. Learn more about Freelancer through their Facebook, Twitter or Google+ page.
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From Coffee Shops to Cat Videos: 12 Unexpected Productivity Hacks That Actually Work
Last week, a friend of mine asked me how my day was.
“Busy, but productive,” I replied.
But what did that even mean? I suppose what I’d really meant was that all I did was work: I got to work early, worked through lunch, broke for dinner, and then proceeded to sign back online to wrap a few things up after that. And now that I think about it, I barely even moved.
Many of us have this distorted idea of productivity where the more hours you put in, the more work you put out. The less you socialize during the day, the more work you put out. The less you move during the day, the more work you put out.
Trouble is, that’s not entirely true. In fact, countless studies have proven that some of the things we might think of as “a waste of time” — preparing and eating a healthy breakfast, watching a kitten video, taking a midday run — actually boost our productivity by leaps and bounds.
To help put this idea in perspective, check out the following counterintuitive productivity hacks. Sure, they may sound a little strange, but don’t let that deter you from trying them for yourself.
12 Unexpected Productivity Hacks That Actually Work
1) Work less.
Not only does working long hours cause health problems, but there’s a wide body of research that shows productivity actually improves with shorter hours.
A 2014 study published by John Pencavel of Standford University found that how much employees get done takes a sharp drop after 50 hours of work in a week, and even more drastically after 55 hours. The study found that employees working 70 hours per week actually produce nothing more in those extra 15 hours.
What gives? Well, the more you work, the more mentally and physically tired you become. At some point — usually around the eighth hour of work in a given day, according to Sara Robinson in Salon — the resulting fatigue causes a drop in productivity. Unless you’re invigorated by something like a critical deadline, you’re unlikely to deliver to your full potential at that point.
In Jeff Sutherland’s book Scrum: The Art of Doing Twice the Work in Half the Time, he writes about the threshold above which working more hours meant people stopped producing more output. It happened on a curve, he explains, which he calls the “Maxwell Curve”:
Image Credit: Slate
The Y-axis is productivity and the X-axis is hours of work. Notice the peak of productivity falls just under 40 hours per week, although that curve will vary for different people — or even for the same person, but at different times in his or her life.
2) Take time to eat breakfast.
You might be thinking to yourself, “the faster I get out the door, the faster I’ll be able to start working, and the more I’ll get done.” Not so fast, though. What we eat — and whether we eat — actually has a direct impact on our performance at work.
We all wake up with low blood sugar first thing in the morning because we’ve technically been fasting for the past eight or so hours. That means that many of us wake up feeling tired, sluggish, apathetic, and even a little irritable. While your morning coffee can give you a solid caffeine boost, you’re likely in for a crash later that’ll harm your productivity.
Instead, opt for healthy breakfast foods with the fiber, protein, vitamins, and minerals that’ll give you the energy you need to start a productive day. Foods rich in vitamin B — like oatmeal, bananas, pineapple, and avocados — can help improve your concentration. Avoid breakfast foods with added sugar like sugary cereal, donuts, Pop Tarts, and even bagels. Here are some more breakfast food ideas from our productivity diet infographic:
3) Sleep more.
The rumors are true: You need an adequate amount of sleep if you want to get more work (and better work) done throughout the day. So before you hop back online after dinner to keep working, think twice.
Not only does lack of sleep have both long- and short-term health implications, but it’s also a big, big productivity killer. According to a study from the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, sleep-related reductions in productivity cost $3,156 per employee with insomnia, and averaged about $2,500 for those with less severe sleep problems.
How much sleep do you need to be productive? It varies a little from person to person, but not as much as you might think it does. Only 1–3% of people can actually pull off sleeping five or six hours a night without their performance suffering. In fact, most adults need seven or eight hours of sleep per night to operate at peak productivity the following day. Read this blog post for tips on getting the most out of your sleep.
4) Stop being a perfectionist.
Perfectionism, while helpful in certain contexts, can be a major roadblock for productivity. Yes, there will always be something you can do to make a piece of work a little better. But what are you sacrificing by making minor improvements? At some point, you should be asking yourself: When is good enough good enough?
Keith Frankel wrote a thoughtful piece on our blog outlining a formula for “good enough.” He wrote about how he used to think of “done” as spending “every possible moment working on something — improving, polishing, and refining it — until I absolutely have to ship it.” But that wasn’t realistic. Here’s the formula for “good enough” that he came up with:
- It successfully solves the problem, addresses the need, or conveys the message intended.
- It is clearly and distinctly on brand.
- The quality of work is consistent with or above the level of previous work.
- It has been thoroughly yet objectively scrutinized by other qualified individuals.
- The final decision of preference had been left in the hands of the creator.
Once you come to the point where you feel comfortable deciding something’s good enough to move on … just move on.
5) Take your darned lunch break.
In a recent article for Jezebel (warning: NSFW language), Tracy Moore took a humorous yet science-backed stance on why we should take breaks regularly. Apparently, only one in five people actually leave their desks or the office for a lunch break. NPR took a look at the consequences of this, and found that staying in one place all day is “bad for thinking, bad for creativity, bad for productivity, [and] bad for your body.”
It doesn’t even matter if you eat during that lunch break — “you just need to get out,” Kimberly Elsbach, a professor at the University of California, Davis Graduate School of Management who studies workplace psychology, told NPR. “And it doesn’t have to be between 12:00 P.M. and 1:00 P.M. to have a positive impact. It can be just going outside and taking a walk around the block. That in itself is really restorative.”
6) Take a midday snooze.
There’s a reason many modern workplaces boast nap rooms in the office: It’s to boost employees’ productivity during the rest of the workday.
How?
While a nap won’t make up for a poor night’s sleep, studies show taking a power nap in the middle of the day can help you process new information and even learn new skills. One study by NASA found that a 26-minute nap can boost productivity by as much as 35% and increase alertness by 54%. If you find it impossible to take a nap in your work environment, try taking a break to take a walk or even daydream.
7) Look at pictures of cute baby animals.
I’ll never forget the day in 2012 when a study by Hiroshima University in Japan blew up the internet. It found that the simple act of viewing images of cute animals can significantly increase your performance on tasks involving concentration.
After looking at images of baby animals, participants in the study performed 44% better in concentration tasks than they did when they performed the same task before looking at images of baby animals. And it was images of baby animals — as opposed to adult animals or pleasant-looking foods — that caused the biggest productivity increase.
Image Credit: PLOS ONE
In a hilarious medley of simple and technical language, the study concluded that “cute objects may be used as an emotion elicitor to induce careful behavioral tendencies in specific situations, such as driving and office work.”
In other words, bookmark this BuzzFeed article for when you need a productivity boost. (And bookmark this one for when you need a mood boost.)
8) Clean your desk.
Many of us find it hard to concentrate when our desks look like a tornado just went through. The papers, the crumbs, the piles of books we’re never going to read … it can all cause quite a bit of stress, and has actually been proven, in some cases, to undermine our productivity.
For instance, OfficeMax surveyed over 1,000 American adults and found that 90% of them believe clutter has a negative impact on their lives and work. Specifically, they found that 77% of them believe cluttered workspaces damage their productivity, and more than half believe it impairs their state of mind and motivation levels.
On the other hand, some people claim to love their messy desks, and there are actually studies out there that have found, for example, that disordered environments make people focus on their goals more effectively. In the end, it’s all about “being honest about your clutter style,” Julia Mossbridge, M.A., PhD, and visiting scholar at Northwestern University Department of Psychology, told Fast Company. Otherwise, you’ll find yourself wasting time working against your natural tendencies.
9) Make a work playlist.
Can listening to music while you work actually make you more productive? Yes — but it’s not a direct cause-and-effect relationship. It turns out listening to music while you work can increase productivity, but mostly because it makes you happy, which prompts your brain to increase dopamine.
One study published by the University of Windsor in Canada looked at how listening to music affected work quality and time-on-task of software design, specifically. The study found that software developers who listened to music finished tasks more quickly and came up with better ideas than those who didn’t — but for a very specific reason: because the music improved their mood.
“When you’re stressed, you might make a decision more hastily; you have a very narrow focus of attention,” said Teresa Lesiuk, who headed the study. “When you’re in a positive mood, you’re able to take in more options.”
The study found that personal choice for what you were listening to mattered a lot. After all, if you don’t like classical music, why would listening to it make you happier? So put on a pair of headphones and check out this list of six science-backed music playlists for increasing your productivity.
10) Visit a coffee shop.
While music by itself may not be responsible for a productivity boost, studies show that the ambient sounds of a coffee shop can be. A study published by the Journal of Consumer Research explored the effects of ambient noise on creativity. Results from five experiments concluded that a moderate level of ambient noise (70 decibels, which is roughly how loud the music in a coffee shop would be) enhances performance on creative tasks. A high level of noise (85 decibels, or about how loud a motorcycle sounds when it passes you) hurts creativity.
If you can’t escape to a coffee shop, you can recreate the ambient buzz of a coffee shop with Cofftivity. It offers non-stop coffee shop background sounds at varying intensities, from “Morning Murmur” and “University Undertones” to “Lunchtime Lounge” and “Brazil Bistro.”
11) Exercise during the workday.
Chances are, you’ve heard that regular exercise can do wonders for your health, happiness, and productivity. But what about exercising during the workday? Researchers have actually found that people who exercise during normal working hours are actually more productive at work, even though they technically logged fewer hours. Here are 10 ideas for sneaking in exercise at work without looking silly, from taking short “active breaks” to replacing your desk chair with a stability ball.
12) Use your vacation time.
Burnout is real, folks. When you work for months and months without taking a significant break, you risk sliding into a state of chronic stress that leads to physical and emotional exhaustion, detachment, and feelings of ineffectiveness and lack of accomplishment.
The benefits of taking time off for your productivity and work performance are more numerous than you might think. Almost nine out of ten American workers feel like time off increases their happiness — which, in turn, can do wonders for your productivity. Not to mention 91% of business leaders believe their employees return recharged and ready to work more effectively.
Image Credit: CityPass
Plus, a healthy dose of time off means you’ll create lasting memories with family and friends, which can reduce your stress levels and risk of depression, high blood pressure, and weight gain. But it’s up to you to give yourself that time off: No one’s gonna do it for you. In the end, you’ll be more productive for it.
What other surprising productivity hacks actually make you more productive? Share with us in the comments.