A simple search engine query for ?productivity tools? yields more than 50,000,000 results, so it?s probably safe to say it?s an issue shared by more than a few people in the world. In fact, there?s an entire industry built around making people more productive. But before you rush out to buy a new planner, cover your office in sticky notes, or hire a personal assistant, it might be a good idea to first try to understand the science of productivity.
AsapSCIENCE, a popular YouTube channel that seeks to provide its viewers with ?a weekly dose of fun and interesting science,? breaks down all the scientific ins and outs of productivity and why, for many people, it?s such a difficult beast to tame.
What tips and tricks do you have to ensure you stay productive at work each day? Let us know in the comments section below.
The ideas and opinions expressed herein and their sponsors do not necessarily represent the views of Express Employment Professionals and are used for entertainment purposes only.
There are many elements that go into the making of a superstar, and with a talent like Mariah Carey's, some special handling is often needed. In the case of Tommy Mottola, the former Sony Music Entertainment executive ?who mentored the current "American Idol" judge as she rose up the charts, that included marrying her.
Their five-year union was rocky, and she's since been quoted as calling him "controlling" and "a Svengali."?But Mottola, who joined TODAY's Matt Lauer Tuesday to discuss his new book "Hitmaker: The Man and His Music," was not exactly apologetic about his behavior, because it got results.
"I think anybody that's successful becomes obsessive about what they're trying to succeed at," he said. "I have nothing but the greatest respect for her in the world.... I feel great about all the things she's achieved as a result of all the work that we did."
That said, he does regret getting personally involved with Carey, who at 23 was 20 years his junior when they wed. "You can never control sometimes what happens in your personal life, as we all know," he said. "The good thing that came out of all of this is that she became one of the most successful superstars in the world."
Mottola also worked with other stars who had diva tendencies, including Michael Jackson -- who he called "the most talented artist that I've probably ever worked with," but "there were too many people who didn't tell him the things that probably would have helped him."
And because he's been associated with such great names throughout the music business, Lauer naturally wanted to get Mottola's opinion on the Beyonce lip-syncing pseudo-scandal. For her, Mottola was unequivocal: "Beyonce is one of the greatest singers in the world, and my feeling is, any time that she wants to get up and sing, she can sing as well if not better than anyone, and everyone should just leave Beyonce alone!"
Milk? Garbage. Spinach? Garbage. Leftover Thai takeout? Garbage. For millions in the Northeast, clearing out the fridge after days without power was just one more unsavory chore that was part of the cleanup process after Hurricane Sandy passed through.
But in the developing world, throwing out food because of inadequate refrigeration isn?t just annoying, it?s a devastating and irreparable economic blow that keeps farmers trapped at the level of subsistence and threatens food security. In India, the government estimates that anywhere from 30 to 40 percent of food spoils long before it finds its way to the table.
Such waste is endemic because so few farmers have access to electricity. Even in Tamil Nadu, one of the most industrialized states in the country and sometimes referred to as India?s California, only 40 percent of the population has electricity. Without power, tomatoes and okra stand no chance in 104-degree weather.
To address the problem, business students and engineers from the University of Cincinnati have teamed with local Ohio companies to create a small solar-powered refrigerated shed for storing food. The SolerCool container runs on just eight solar panels and keeps produce at a comfortably cool temperature, even at night, thanks to a battery that charges during the day.
Mohsen Rezayat, chief solutions architect at Siemens PLM and an adjunct professor in the University of Cincinnati?s engineering school, helped bring all the technology for the shed together. One of its more unusual components is the compressor.
?Compressors, which generate the cold air for refrigeration, are huge energy hogs,? Dr. Rezayat noted. But the team found a company that had created a small portable one that could be run on the power from just a few solar panels.
The unit was designed so that vending machines wouldn?t have to be hauled out for repair, he said. ?When something went wrong with the cooling system, a new one could just be popped in like a fresh ink cartridge,? Dr. Rezayat explained. ?Turns out, what?s good for vending machines at universities in Ohio is good for cabbages on farms in India. ?
For now, the cold shed costs about $5,000, a price that the Ohio team knows is well beyond the reach of most small farmers.
?At the moment the price means that several farms would have to pool resources and share one unit,? Dr. Reyazat said. ?We are very price-conscious and are looking at ways to bring the price down to really help the poorest of the poor increase their earning potential.? One possibility is to manufacture some smaller units for farmers with just a few acres.
In the meantime, a field prototype is on its way to an aloe farm near Pune, India, to see if it performs as well in that climate as it does in Ohio.
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. ? The University of Arkansas is reviewing nearly 100 early decision applications from people interested in becoming Arkansas Teacher Corps fellows.
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The new teacher-preparation program designed to help Arkansas school districts in high-need areas fill open teaching positions set an early decision deadline of Jan. 18. The program aims to provide an accelerated path to teaching for talented people with the overall goal of having a lasting impact on students and communities in Arkansas.
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Applications are still being accepted on a rolling basis until March 15. The application is available online at the program website.
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Applicants are required to have a bachelor?s degree in any major and demonstrate academic success and service orientation, said Benton Brown, director of the program. Those who are awarded Arkansas Teacher Corps Fellowships will receive a $5,000 stipend per year in addition to their teaching salary from the school district that hires them.
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?We are seeking high-achieving students with a particular desire to serve communities and students in the state of Arkansas,? said Gary Ritter, one of the faculty directors, adding that the goal of the program is to have 100 fellows teaching in the state by 2015.
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About half of the applicants so far have personal experience in low-income communities, Brown said. Many have grade-point averages of 3.8 or higher and standardized test scores in the top 10 percent. They hold degrees from universities across the state of Arkansas as well as Ivy League and other top tier schools.
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The development of the Arkansas Teacher Corps program was led by Tom Smith, dean of the College of Education and Health Professions, along with Ritter, holder of the Twenty-First Century Chair in Education Policy, and Conra Gist, assistant professor of curriculum and instruction.
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?This program will help us meet needs in the state currently not being met by us or other colleges of education in the state,? Smith said. ?We want to offer multiple paths for teacher candidates with the ultimate result that students will have the best teachers possible in their classrooms.?
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The program will address shortages in high-need districts based on both geographic and specific content area shortages. District officials noted the difficulty of finding enough qualified candidates to teach in content areas such as math and science as well as attracting qualified teachers to low socioeconomic areas of the state.
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Jerry Guess, superintendent of the Pulaski County Special School District, hopes to hire Arkansas Teacher Corps fellows to staff shortage areas in his large central Arkansas district. ?We are experiencing a desperate shortage of teachers in certain areas,? Guess said, citing multiple positions open halfway through the fall that he was having difficulty filling.
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Kelvin Gragg is superintendent of the Dermott School District, a small district in southeast Arkansas. He has seen how the national program Teach for America worked well in his area but does not have enough teachers to help him fill open positions.
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?The problem we have hiring teachers is very similar to what other schools along the Highway 65 corridor in the Delta face,? Gragg said. The poverty level of the region makes it difficult to attract qualified teachers to come to the area and stay, he said.
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?I?m excited about the future teachers we?re going to get from this program because I think they will be high-caliber teachers who may come from different areas and want to get into education,?Gragg said. ?What I have found is that, when a person wants to go into education and they have experience from an outside area, they are the type of teachers who are really willing to bring in new ideas such as technology as well as a new perspective. They want to try new things.?
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Gist, one of the faculty directors, said Arkansas Teacher Corps incorporates ?the best practices of various alternative certification programs like effective recruitment and selection processes, and developing partnerships with locally based community organizations.?
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The professional development component and support of Arkansas Teacher Corps make the program attractive, Guess said, but he?s also pleased the program emphasizes community service.
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?That level of understanding of community responsibility is important,? he said.
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The program will recruit applicants to become teachers and work with partner school districts that will hire these new teachers after they complete an intensive six- to eight-week training program. The training will include workshops, student teaching, and small-group planning seminars. Districts will also supply mentors to assist the new teachers. The program will guide applicants through the non-traditional teacher licensure process so that each fellow is certified in a high-need subject area such as math, science, or English, based on the needs of school districts.
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The program has the support of the Arkansas Department of Education and will collaborate with school districts and community organizations. Funding for this project has been made available by a collaboration between the College of Education and Health Professions, the Walton Family Foundation and the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation.
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?We have an opportunity with Arkansas Teacher Corps to implement highly transformative measures,? said Tom Kimbrell, Arkansas commissioner of education. ?With so many teachers leaving the classroom in the next decade, there is an increased sense of urgency to recruit the next generation of teachers and to experiment with more innovative programs. Our state?s future depends on our efforts to attract and retain highly effective teachers.?
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?There is general excitement about the program and its potential,? Brown noted. ?Applications are already coming in and we are eager to continue to review applications of enthusiastic individuals committed to making a difference in the lives of students.?
TOKYO?? Japan launched two intelligence satellites into orbit on Sunday amid growing concerns that North Korea is planning to test more rockets of its own and possibly conduct a nuclear test.
Officials say the launch Sunday of the domestically produced H2-A rocket went smoothly, and the satellites ? an operational radar satellite and an experimental optical probe ? appear to have reached orbit.
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Japan began its intelligence satellite program after North Korea fired a long-range missile over Japan's main island in 1998. North Korea conducted a launch last month that it says carried a satellite into orbit but has been condemned by the United States and others as a cover for its development of missile technology.
The latest Japanese launch was in the planning stages long before the current increase in tensions with North Korea, but underscores Japan's longstanding wariness of its isolated neighbor's abilities and intentions.
The radar satellite, which can provide intelligence through cloud cover and at night, is intended to augment a network of several probes that Japan already has in orbit. The optical probe will be used to test future technology and improvements that would allow Japan to strengthen its surveillance capabilities.
Japan still relies on the United States for much of its intelligence.
Its optical satellites are believed to be about as good as commercial satellites, meaning they are able to detect objects of about 40 centimeters (16 inches) in size from their orbits. With the additional radar satellite, Japan hopes to be able to glean intelligence on any specified location once a day.
Japan, which hosts about 50,000 U.S. troops, is especially concerned about North Korea because its main islands are already within range of the North's missiles. Along with developing its own network of spy satellites, Japan has cooperated with Washington in establishing an elaborate missile defense shield.
North Korea's powerful National Defense Commission declared last week that the country would carry out a nuclear test and launch more rockets in defiance of the U.N. Security Council's announcement that it would punish Pyongyang for its long-range rocket test in December with more sanctions, calling it a violation of a ban on nuclear and missile activity.
North Korea's state news agency said on Sunday that leader Kim Jong Un vowed at a meeting of top security and foreign officials to take "substantial and high-profile important state measures."
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Major publishers are taking wildly different approaches to resolving the woes surrounding e-book lending at libraries: they're experimenting with both the short-yet-cheap subscription as well as an expensive option to pay only once for perpetual use. Sure enough, we're now seeing the middle road. Macmillan plans to run a pilot project in the first quarter of the year that will charge libraries $25 per copy for a selection of 1,200 back catalog Minotaur Books titles, but give buyers better than usual lending rights for either two years or 52 loans, depending on the popularity. They'll only have permission to lend to one person at a time for each copy, although Macmillan's comments to LibraryJournal leave the door open to changing terms should the pilot struggle to gain traction. As it stands, the strategy could be expensive for libraries if they have to pay over and over again for a perennial favorite. It might, however, be palatable for those book lending outfits already planning to go all-digital.
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For biography lovers ? those of us who can't get enough of the engaging and often instructive mix of happenstance, striving, conniving, satisfaction, and woe that factors into the lives of both the well known and unknown ? dual biographies can add up to a double treat. Frequently about married couples, these twofers often focus on famous pairs like Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir, whom Hazel Rowley chronicled in T?te-?-T?te, or relatives of the author, such as Vikram's Seth's great-aunt and -uncle in Two Lives, or Francine du Plessix Gray's parents in Them.
Edward Ball's The Inventor and the Tycoon is a different sort of dual biography. Like Simon Winchester's The Professor and the Madman, it zeroes in on the unlikely confluence of two disparate men, a brief convergence that resulted in the creation of something with enduring value: in the case of Winchester's duo, the Oxford English Dictionary, and in Ball's, the early stages of motion picture technology.
Ball, best known for his National Book Award-winning history of his family's slave-owning past, Slaves in the Family, explores the unexpected collaboration between railroad tycoon Leland Stanford and renowned photographer Eadweard Muybridge in nineteenth-century California ? a meeting that brought art, technology, and money together with far-reaching cultural impact. "The Inventor and the Tycoon" captures not just the improvised, unpredictable life trajectories of its strong-willed characters ? but also the emergence of California onto the national stage and a period of unprecedented technological advancement in American history. Its themes of ambition, greed, and progress on the backs of others remain ever relevant. ?
Neither of Ball's subjects would win points for charm. Leland Stanford, the financial wheeler-dealer behind the western half of the transcontinental railroad, was unscrupulous in business and taciturn in person. Edward Muybridge, the eccentric, British-born photographer and inventor, was for a time as renowned for having killed his wife's lover as for his iconic landscapes of the American West. His early photographic work, many reproductions of which are included in Ball's book, include breathtaking views of Yosemite, extraordinary panoramas of the still-young and rapidly growing city of San Francisco, and what Ball declares was "some of the first ethnography in North America."
With the temperature at 6 degrees below zero Fahrenheit, steam vapors from the Sappi paper mill dissipate into the early morning sky in Westbrook, Maine, on Thursday.
By John Roach, NBC News
As the bitter cold in the northeastern United States keeps even hardy New Hampshire skiers off the slopes, there?s at least one potential upside to the cold snap: fewer mosquitoes come summer, according to an entomologist riding out the cold in upstate New York.
"Most arthropods have the ability to super-cool themselves in order to survive extreme cold winters in the ranges they?ve become adapted to. However, if unusually cold temperatures strike, it could be below their threshold of tolerance," Cornell University's?Laura Harrington?explained via email to NBC News.
And it is cold. Unusually so. New Hampshire?s Wildcat Mountain ski resort was closed Wednesday and Thursday, with the wind-chill factor reaching 48 degrees below zero Fahrenheit on Thursday, The Associated Press reported.
Harrington said most insects produce "antifreeze proteins and other compounds to protect their cells from freezing and dying." If it gets too cold, though, this natural antifreeze could cease to function properly.
"The concentration of the antifreeze proteins or the extent of the expression could be inadequate," she explained. "We have examples of moderate overwintering capacity that suggests that the evolved level of expression of these proteins is important."
Despite the cold, the drop in temperature is consistent with the type of extreme weather expected with global climate change, according to NASA scientists. As a result, it?s possible these cold snaps might become even more frequent in the future.
If so, will that mean fewer mosquitoes and other disease-carrying insects will survive the winters? It?s possible, at least in the short term, Harrington noted. "But as they evolve and adapt, they could overcome this."
It's also possible the cold snaps could adversely impact the?predators of mosquitoes, such as birds, bats, dragonflies and frogs. If they get hit harder than the mosquitoes, it could lead to a rise in vector populations.
"Until we have a better understanding of the complexities of climate change impacts on vectors," Harrington said, "it is hard to predict."
John Roach is a contributing writer for NBC News. To learn more about him, check out his website.
NEW YORK ? Five years after the start of the Great Recession, the toll is terrifyingly clear: Millions of middle-class jobs have been lost in developed countries the world over.
And the situation is even worse than it appears.
Most of the jobs will never return, and millions more are likely to vanish as well, say experts who study the labor market. What?s more, these jobs aren?t just being lost to China and other developing countries, and they aren?t just factory work. Increasingly, jobs are disappearing in the service sector, home to two-thirds of all workers.
They?re being obliterated by technology.
Year after year, the software that runs computers and an array of other machines and devices becomes more sophisticated and powerful and capable of doing more efficiently tasks that humans have always done. For decades, science fiction warned of a future when we would be architects of our own obsolescence, replaced by our machines; an Associated Press analysis finds that the future has arrived.
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EDITOR?S NOTE: First in a three-part series on the loss of middle-class jobs in the wake of the Great Recession, and the role of technology.
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?The jobs that are going away aren?t coming back,? says Andrew McAfee, principal research scientist at the Center for Digital Business at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and co-author of ?Race Against the Machine.? `?I have never seen a period where computers demonstrated as many skills and abilities as they have over the past seven years.?
The global economy is being reshaped by machines that generate and analyze vast amounts of data; by devices such as smartphones and tablet computers that let people work just about anywhere, even when they?re on the move; by smarter, nimbler robots; and by services that let businesses rent computing power when they need it, instead of installing expensive equipment and hiring IT staffs to run it. Whole employment categories, from secretaries to travel agents, are starting to disappear.
?There?s no sector of the economy that?s going to get a pass,? says Martin Ford, who runs a software company and wrote ?The Lights in the Tunnel,? a book predicting widespread job losses. ?It?s everywhere.?
The numbers startle even labor economists. In the United States, half the 7.5 million jobs lost during the Great Recession were in industries that pay middle-class wages, ranging from $38,000 to $68,000. But only 2 percent of the 3.5 million jobs gained since the recession ended in June 2009 are in midpay industries. Nearly 70 percent are in low-pay industries, 29 percent in industries that pay well.
In the 17 European countries that use the euro as their currency, the numbers are even worse. Almost 4.3 million low-pay jobs have been gained since mid-2009, but the loss of midpay jobs has never stopped. A total of 7.6 million disappeared from January 2008 through last June.
Experts warn that this ?hollowing out? of the middle-class workforce is far from over. They predict the loss of millions more jobs as technology becomes even more sophisticated and reaches deeper into our lives. Maarten Goos, an economist at the University of Leuven in Belgium, says Europe could double its middle-class job losses.
Some occupations are beneficiaries of the march of technology, such as software engineers and app designers for smartphones and tablet computers.
Overall, though, technology is eliminating far more jobs than it is creating.
To understand the impact technology is having on middle-class jobs in developed countries, the AP analyzed employment data from 20 countries; tracked changes in hiring by industry, pay and task; compared job losses and gains during recessions and expansions over the past four decades; and interviewed economists, technology experts, robot manufacturers, software developers, entrepreneurs and people in the labor force who ranged from CEOs to the unemployed.
The AP?s key findings:
-For more than three decades, technology has reduced the number of jobs in manufacturing. Robots and other machines controlled by computer programs work faster and make fewer mistakes than humans. Now, that same efficiency is being unleashed in the service economy, which employs more than two-thirds of the workforce in developed countries. Technology is eliminating jobs in office buildings, retail establishments and other businesses consumers deal with every day.
-Technology is being adopted by every kind of organization that employs people. It?s replacing workers in large corporations and small businesses, established companies and start-ups. It?s being used by schools, colleges and universities; hospitals and other medical facilities; nonprofit organizations and the military.
-The most vulnerable workers are doing repetitive tasks that programmers can write software for ? an accountant checking a list of numbers, an office manager filing forms, a paralegal reviewing documents for key words to help in a case. As software becomes even more sophisticated, victims are expected to include those who juggle tasks, such as supervisors and managers ? workers who thought they were protected by a college degree.
-Thanks to technology, companies in the Standard & Poor?s 500 stock index reported one-third more profit the past year than they earned the year before the Great Recession. They?ve also expanded their businesses, but total employment, at 21.1 million, has declined by a half-million.
-Start-ups account for much of the job growth in developed economies, but software is allowing entrepreneurs to launch businesses with a third fewer employees than in the 1990s. There is less need for administrative support and back-office jobs that handle accounting, payroll, and benefits.
-It?s becoming a self-serve world. Instead of relying on someone else in the workplace or our personal lives, we use technology to do tasks ourselves. Some find this frustrating; others like the feeling of control. Either way, this trend will only grow as software permeates our lives.
-Technology is replacing workers in developed countries regardless of their politics, policies, and laws. Union rules and labor laws may slow the dismissal of employees, but no country is attempting to prohibit organizations from using technology that allows them to operate more efficiently ? and with fewer employees.
Some analysts reject the idea that technology has been a big job killer. They note that the collapse of the housing market in the U.S., Ireland, Spain, and other countries and the ensuing global recession wiped out millions of middle-class construction and factory jobs. In their view, governments could bring many of the jobs back if they would put aside worries about their heavy debts and spend more.
Others note that jobs continue to be lost to China, India, and other countries in the developing world.
But to the extent technology has played a role, it raises the specter of high unemployment even after economic growth accelerates. Some economists say millions of middle-class workers must be retrained to do other jobs if they hope to get work again. Others are more hopeful. They note that technological change over the centuries eventually has created more jobs than it destroyed, though the wait can be long and painful.
A common refrain: The developed world may face years of high middle-class unemployment, social discord, divisive politics, falling living standards and dashed hopes.
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In the United States, the economic recovery that started in June 2009 has been called the third straight ?jobless recovery.?
But that?s a misnomer. The jobs came back after the first two.
Most recessions since World War II were followed by a surge in new jobs as consumers started spending again and companies hired to meet the new demand. In the months after recessions ended in 1991 and 2001, there was no familiar snap-back, but all the jobs had returned in less than three years.
But 42 months after the Great Recession ended, the United States has gained only 3.5 million, or 47 percent, of the 7.5 million jobs that were lost. The 17 countries that use the euro had 3.5 million fewer jobs last June than in December 2007.
This has truly been a jobless recovery, and the lack of midpay jobs is almost entirely to blame.
Fifty percent of the U.S. jobs lost were in midpay industries, but Moody?s Analytics, a research firm, says just 2 percent of the 3.5 million jobs gained are in that category. After the four previous recessions, at least 30 percent of jobs created ? and as many as 46 percent ? were in midpay industries.
Other studies that group jobs differently show a similar drop in middle-class work.
Some of the most startling studies have focused on midskill, midpay jobs that require tasks that follow well-defined procedures and are repeated throughout the day. Think travel agents, salespeople in stores, office assistants and back-office workers like benefits managers and payroll clerks, as well as machine operators and other factory jobs.
An August 2012 paper by economists Henry Siu of the University of British Columbia and Nir Jaimovich of Duke University found these kinds of jobs comprise fewer than half of all jobs, yet accounted for nine of 10 of all losses in the Great Recession. And they have kept disappearing in the economic recovery.
Webb Wheel Products makes parts for truck brakes, which involves plenty of repetitive work. Its newest employee is the Doosan V550M, and it?s a marvel. It can spin a 130-pound brake drum like a child?s top, smooth its metal surface, then drill holes ? all without missing a beat. And it doesn?t take vacations or ?complain about anything,? says Dwayne Ricketts, president of the Cullman, Ala., company.
Thanks to computerized machines, Webb Wheel hasn?t added a factory worker in three years, though it?s making 300,000 more drums annually, a 25 percent increase.
?Everyone is waiting for the unemployment rate to drop, but I don?t know if it will much,? Ricketts says. ?Companies in the recession learned to be more efficient, and they?re not going to go back.?
In Europe, companies couldn?t go back even if they wanted to. The 17 countries that use the euro slipped into another recession 14 months ago, in November 2011. The current unemployment rate is a record 11.8 percent.
European companies had been using technology to replace midpay workers for years, and now that has accelerated.
?The recessions have amplified the trend,? says Goos, the Belgian economist. ?New jobs are being created, but not the middle-pay ones.?
In Canada, a 2011 study by economists at the University of British Columbia and York University in Toronto found a similar pattern of middle-class losses, though they were working with older data. In the 15 years through 2006, the share of total jobs held by many midpay, midskill occupations shrank. The share held by foremen fell 37 percent, workers in administrative and senior clerical roles fell 18 percent and those in sales and service fell 12 percent.
In Japan, a 2009 report from Hitotsubashi University in Tokyo documented a ?substantial? drop in midpay, midskill jobs in the five years through 2005, and linked it to technology.
Developing economies have been spared the technological onslaught ? for now. Countries like Brazil and China are still growing middle-class jobs because they?re shifting from export-driven to consumer-based economies. But even they are beginning to use more machines in manufacturing. The cheap labor they relied on to make goods from apparel to electronics is no longer so cheap as their living standards rise.
One example is Sunbird Engineering, a Hong Kong firm that makes mirror frames for heavy trucks at a factory in southern China. Salaries at its plant in Dongguan have nearly tripled from $80 a month in 2005 to $225 today. ?Automation is the obvious next step,? CEO Bill Pike says.
Sunbird is installing robotic arms that drill screws into a mirror assembly, work now done by hand. The machinery will allow the company to eliminate two positions on a 13-person assembly line. Pike hopes that additional automation will allow the company to reduce another five or six jobs from the line.
?By automating, we can outlive the labor cost increases inevitable in China,? Pike says. ?Those who automate in China will win the battle of increased costs.?
Foxconn Technology Group, which assembles iPhones at factories in China, unveiled plans in 2011 to install one million robots over three years.
A recent headline in the China Daily newspaper: ?Chinese robot wars set to erupt.?
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Candidates for U.S. president last year never tired of telling Americans how jobs were being shipped overseas. China, with its vast army of cheaper labor and low-value currency, was easy to blame.
But most jobs cut in the U.S. and Europe weren?t moved. No one got them. They vanished. And the villain in this story ? a clever software engineer working in Silicon Valley or the high-tech hub around Heidelberg, Germany ? isn?t so easy to hate.
?It doesn?t have political appeal to say the reason we have a problem is we?re so successful in technology,? says Joseph Stiglitz, a Nobel Prize-winning economist at Columbia University. ?There?s no enemy there.?
Unless you count family and friends and the person staring at you in the mirror. The uncomfortable truth is technology is killing jobs with the help of ordinary consumers by enabling them to quickly do tasks that workers used to do full time, for salaries.
Use a self-checkout lane at the supermarket or drugstore? A worker behind a cash register used to do that.
Buy clothes without visiting a store? You?ve taken work from a salesman.
Click ?accept? in an e-mail invitation to attend a meeting? You?ve pushed an office assistant closer to unemployment.
Book your vacation using an online program? You?ve helped lay off a travel agent. Perhaps at American Express Co., which announced this month that it plans to cut 5,400 jobs, mainly in its travel business, as more of its customers shift to online portals to plan trips.
Software is picking out worrisome blots in medical scans, running trains without conductors, driving cars without drivers, spotting profits in stocks trades in milliseconds, analyzing Twitter traffic to tell where to sell certain snacks, sifting through documents for evidence in court cases, recording power usage beamed from digital utility meters at millions of homes, and sorting returned library books.
Technology gives rise to ?cheaper products and cool services,? says David Autor, an economist at MIT, one of the first to document tech?s role in cutting jobs. ?But if you lose your job, that is slim compensation.?
Even the most commonplace technologies ? take, say, e-mail ? are making it tough for workers to get jobs, including ones with MBAs, like Roshanne Redmond, a former project manager at a commercial real estate developer.
?I used to get on the phone, talk to a secretary and coordinate calendars,? Redmond says. ?Now, things are done by computer.?
Technology is used by companies to run leaner and smarter in good times and bad, but never more than in bad. In a recession, sales fall and companies cut jobs to save money. Then they turn to technology to do tasks people used to do. And that?s when it hits them: They realize they don?t have to re-hire the humans when business improves, or at least not as many.
The Hackett Group, a consultant on back-office jobs, estimates 2 million of them in finance, human resources, information technology, and procurement have disappeared in the United States and Europe since the Great Recession. It pins the blame for more than half of the losses on technology. These are jobs that used to fill cubicles at almost every company ? clerks paying bills and ordering supplies, benefits managers filing health-care forms, and IT experts helping with computer crashes.
?The effect of (technology) on white-collar jobs is huge, but it?s not obvious,? says MIT?s McAfee. Companies ?don?t put out a press release saying we?re not hiring again because of machines.?
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What hope is there for the future?
Historically, new companies and new industries have been the incubator of new jobs. Start-up companies no more than five years old are big sources of new jobs in developed economies. In the United States, they accounted for 99 percent of new private sector jobs in 2005, according to a study by the University of Maryland?s John Haltiwanger and two other economists.
But even these companies are hiring fewer people. The average new business employed 4.7 workers when it opened its doors in 2011, down from 7.6 in the 1990s, according to a Labor Department study released last March.
Technology is probably to blame, wrote the report?s authors, Eleanor Choi and James Spletzer. Entrepreneurs no longer need people to do clerical and administrative tasks to help them get their businesses off the ground.
In the old days ? say, 10 years ago ? ?you?d need an assistant pretty early to coordinate everything ? or you?d pay a huge opportunity cost for the entrepreneur or the president to set up a meeting,? says Jeff Connally, CEO of CMIT Solutions, a technology consultancy to small businesses.
Now technology means ?you can look at your calendar and everybody else?s calendar and ? bing! ? you?ve set up a meeting.? So no assistant gets hired.
Entrepreneur Andrew Schrage started the financial advice website Money Crashers in 2009 with a partner and one freelance writer. The bare-bones start-up was only possible, Schrage says, because of technology that allowed the company to get online help with accounting and payroll and other support functions without hiring staff.
?Had I not had access to cloud computing and outsourcing, I estimate that I would have needed 5-10 employees to begin this venture,? Schrage says. ?I doubt I would have been able to launch my business.?
Technological innovations have been throwing people out of jobs for centuries. But they eventually created more work, and greater wealth, than they destroyed. Ford, the author and software engineer, thinks there is reason to believe that this time will be different. He sees virtually no end to the inroads of computers into the workplace.
Eventually, he says, software will threaten the livelihoods of doctors, lawyers and other highly skilled professionals.
Many economists are encouraged by history and think the gains eventually will outweigh the losses. But even they have doubts.
?What?s different this time is that digital technologies show up in every corner of the economy,? says McAfee, a self-described ?digital optimist.? `?Your tablet (computer) is just two or three years old, and it?s already taken over our lives.?
Peter Lindert, an economist at the University of California, says the computer is more destructive than innovations in the Industrial Revolution because the pace at which it is upending industries makes it hard for people to adapt.
Occupations that provided middle-class lifestyles for generations can disappear in a few years. Utility meter readers are just one example. As power companies began installing so-called smart readers outside homes, the number of meter readers in the U.S. plunged from 56,000 in 2001 to 36,000 in 2010, according to the Labor Department.
FILE - In this Sept. 18, 2012 file photo, female soldiers from 1st Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division train on a firing range while testing new body armor in Fort Campbell, Ky., in preparation for their deployment to Afghanistan. The Pentagon is lifting its ban on women serving in combat, opening hundreds of thousands of front-line positions and potentially elite commando jobs after generations of limits on their service, defense officials said Wednesday, Jan. 23, 2013. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey, File)
FILE - In this Sept. 18, 2012 file photo, female soldiers from 1st Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division train on a firing range while testing new body armor in Fort Campbell, Ky., in preparation for their deployment to Afghanistan. The Pentagon is lifting its ban on women serving in combat, opening hundreds of thousands of front-line positions and potentially elite commando jobs after generations of limits on their service, defense officials said Wednesday, Jan. 23, 2013. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey, File)
FILE - In a June 11, 2007 file photo, Helen Heinlo smokes outside of a coffee shop in Belmont, Calif. Millions of smokers could be priced out of health insurance because of tobacco penalties in President Barack Obama?s health care law, say experts. The Affordable Care Act allows health insurers to charge smokers buying an individual policy up to 50 percent higher premiums starting next Jan. 1. For a 55-year-old smoker, the penalty could reach nearly $4,250 a year. A 60-year-old could wind up paying nearly $5,100 on top of premiums. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma, File)
In this Oct. 10, 2011, file photo, the exterior of Netflix headquarters is seen in Los Gatos, Calif. Netflix stock, on Thursday, Jan. 24, 2013, is on its way to its biggest one-day gain since the video subscription service went public more than a decade ago. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma, file)
Your daily look at late-breaking news, upcoming events and the stories that will be talked about Friday:
1. HOW WOMEN CAN QUALIFY FOR COMBAT
Under the military's new rules, they'll have to meet the same physical requirements as men.
2. WHAT'S NEEDED TO PASS GUN CONTROL
The public must get behind the effort, says Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein, because "this is really an uphill road."
3. ABBAS SEES AN OPENING
He invites newly elected Israeli lawmakers ? many of whom are moderates ? to meet with him to talk about a Palestinian state.
4. A REAL DRAG
Millions of smokers may find they can't afford health insurance when Obama's health care law takes effect.
5. THEY LIKE HIM. THEY REALLY LIKE HIM
Chavez' cult of personality grows in his absence: witness a woman at a demonstration holding a portrait of him ? next to an image of Jesus.
6. FASTEN YOUR SEAT BELT
Here comes a fresh mutation of a fast-moving stomach bug that scientists are calling the "Ferrari of viruses."
7. MELTDOWN: HONDURAS
Doctors go without essential supplies while teachers and soldiers go without pay in a nation teetering on the edge of ruin.
8. WHY A 44-YEAR-OLD ROCKET MAY BE HELPFUL TO NASA TODAY
Engineers hope an Apollo 11 engine can be improved upon for new missions to the moon.
9. VIDEO IN DEMAND: NETFLIX STOCK SOARS
The company's shares climb by 42 percent as investors celebrate strong quarterly earnings.
10. 'IT SOUNDS LIKE A GIRL, DOESN'T IT?'
During a TV interview, Manti Te'o unveils voicemails from a person pretending to be his girlfriend. The person tells the Notre Dame linebacker: "I love you."
??CAIRO, Egypt -- The 2011 revolution which ousted Hosni Mubarak left many of Egypt's gays and lesbians hoping sexual freedom was on the horizon. But today, many fear a government crackdown is only a matter of time.
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TRENTON ? Senate President Steve Sweeney, a possible gubernatorial candidate, is launching a series of meetings with small businesspeople.
The first stop on his ?Small Business Listening Tour? will be at 11:30 a.m. Wednesday at KMB Design Group in Wall.
Then at 1:30 p.m., he will be at Kelsey & Kim?s Southern Caf? in Atlantic City.
?New Jersey?s economy has been stuck, with unemployment remaining nearly unchanged over the last few years,? Sweeney said in a release announcing the tour.
?We have worked on various bills in the Legislature, but we can always do more.?This tour is about hearing the concerns of small business owners and finding out what they need to succeed and grow in New Jersey.??It?s not about pushing an agenda, or touting what we have done.??It?s about hearing what they need.?
Sweeney said the tour is a way to promote and highlight the?"Jersey Shore Is Open for Business"?campaign to help alert residents to stores and businesses that are open in the areas hardest hit by Superstorm Sandy.
The project is being done in conjunction with the New Jersey Restaurant and New Jersey Retail Merchants Associations, as well as the Jersey Shore Convention and Visitors Bureau.
Michael Bisping needed a win at UFC on FX 7 in Sao Paolo, Brazil, on Saturday night to keep his title shot hopes alive. But Vitor Belfort got the better of him, winning with a second round TKO.
Belfort ended the first round well, wobbling Bisping with a head kick followed by aggressive punches and knees. The round ended before Belfort could put Bisping in real danger, but it was a sign of things to come.
In the second round, Belfort landed another head kick, but this one sent Bisping to the ground. Belfort followed with several strikes on the ground until the fight was stopped at 1:27 in the second round.
Bisping, who got into a heated exchange with Belfort during a pre-fight press conference, was humble in defeat.
"It was a beautiful kick. He caught me. He was better than me tonight," he said after the fight.
Bisping was hoping for a big win so that he could get a chance at Anderson Silva and the UFC middleweight belt. In his Yahoo! Sports pre-fight blog, Bisping said his motivation for wanting to fight Belfort was simple.
"He?s trying to take my title shot off me. He?s trying to take my family?s security off me," Bisping wrote.
But now it's unlikely he'll get near a title shot any time soon. Bisping is 1-2 in his last three fights. Though he's been in the UFC since 2006, this fight was his best chance of earning a shot at the title.
Belfort fought for the middleweight title in 2011 and light heavyweight title in 2012. He lost both times, but didn't hesitate to ask for a title shot in his post-fight interview.
"I want that belt. Get that punk Chael Sonnen out. Let me fight Jon Jones! Not that clown!"
Sonnen, who has fought at light heavyweight in the UFC since 2005, is fighting for the UFC light heavyweight belt against champion Jones in April.
Dolloway, Gonzaga, Nurmagomedov notch wins
C.B. Dolloway took a thrilling win in the co-main event over Daniel Sarafian, who was making his UFC debut. The judges saw it 29-28, 28-29, 29-28 for Dolloway, who came back to win the fight after not having a great start. Sarafian easily took the first round. He slowed Dolloway down early in the round, and got the better of exchanges throughout.
Sarafian owned the second round with big punches, but almost lost late in the round. Dolloway hit Sarafian with an uppercut, and then swarmed with several more strikes on the ground. The horn to sound the end of the round saved Sarafian from a stoppage that looked seconds away.
Dolloway started out the third round well with takedowns and much better positioning, but Sarafian swept to get on late. Sarafian took Dolloway's back, but couldn't get in a rear naked choke. Then Dolloway reversed position as the fight ended. His record moves to 13-4.
Gabriel Gonzaga's condition deep into a fight is often a problem, but he didn't have to worry about it with a second-round submission win over Ben Rothwell. After outstriking and outwrestling Rothwell in the first, Gonzaga grabbed an arm-in guillotine from the standing position. To get more leverage, Gonzaga jumped guard. He cinched Rothwell with his legs and tightened the guillotine. Rothwell tapped at 1:01 in the second round.
This is the second straight win for Gonzaga since returning to the UFC. Both have come by submission.
Khabib Nurmagomedov started the main card off with a quick and exciting win over Thiago Tavares. Nurmagomedov dropped Tavares with an uppercut, and then finished with several elbows. The fight was stopped at 1:55 in the first round, though not quickly enough for UFC president Dana White, who tweeted, "Ok that is officially the END of Dan M!!!! Guys head is straight up his [expletive] 2 night!!!! 17 vicious strikes!!!! After he was already hurt"
With this win, Nurmagomedov has three straight wins in the UFC, and an overall record of 19-0.
Jan. 21, 2013 ? The risk of ischemic heart disease -- the leading cause of death worldwide -- is three times higher in persons with high levels of the so-called 'ugly' cholesterol. This is the finding of a new study of 73,000 Danes, which is shedding light on a long debate on this topic. The results have just been published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
Most individuals are aware that high cholesterol is life-threatening. But very few know which type of cholesterol is the most frequent killer. Cholesterol is divided into 'the good' HDL cholesterol, 'the bad' LDL cholesterol and 'the ugly' cholesterol. It is the so-called 'ugly cholesterol' -- also called 'remnant cholesterol' -- that is a really bad guy.
"LDL cholesterol or 'the bad' cholesterol' is of course bad, but our new study reveals that the ugly cholesterol likewise is the direct cause of atherosclerosis resulting in ischemic heart disease and early death. By examining 73,000 persons, we found that an increase in the ugly cholesterol triples the risk of ischemic heart disease, which is caused by lack of oxygen to the heart muscle due to narrowing or blocking of the coronary arteries," says Professor B?rge Nordestgaard, Chief Physician at Copenhagen University Hospital and Clinical Professor at the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences at University of Copenhagen.
"I hope that this new knowledge will lead to better preventive treatment including lifestyle changes, as more than one in five individuals in affluent countries suffers from high ugly cholesterol. We also hope that the pharmaceutical industry will develop new drugs targeted specifically at raised ugly cholesterol levels," he emphasises.
Widespread disease worldwide
In Denmark alonhttps://www.sciencedaily.com/cms/e, 20,000 persons are diagnosed with ischemic heart disease every year, and some 150,000 Danes are currently affected by the disease. According to World Health Organization estimates, 17 million people die yearly from cardiovascular disease -- the most frequent cause of death in the world. Ischemic heart disease is the most common cardiovascular disease.
"High ugly cholesterol is the result of high blood levels of normal fat (triglycerides). The most important cause of high ugly cholesterol is overweight and obesity. Persons with high ugly cholesterol should therefore be advised to lose weight, but drugs such as statins and fibrates may also lower levels of ugly cholesterol in the blood," says B?rge Nordestgaard.
Samples from 73,000 Danes with mutations
Anette Varbo, physician and PhD student at Copenhagen University Hospital, has been part of the research team behind the new findings. She says that the findings shed light on a long-standing debate among researchers on the so-called triglycerides, atherosclerosis and cholesterol.
"To be able to examine the relationship between ugly cholesterol and heart disease, we have used blood samples from persons having a mutation which means that they suffer from high ugly cholesterol their entire life. The research findings do therefore not depend on their lifestyle patterns in general. Unhealthy lifestyle factors such as smoking, fatty foods and overweight all increase the risk of heart disease, and the blood samples from persons having these mutations thus give the most accurate results," says Anette Varbo.
The scientific article is based on the following three population studies: the Copenhagen General Population Study, the Copenhagen City Heart Study and the Copenhagen Ischemic Heart Disease Study.
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Copenhagen.
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Journal Reference:
Anette Varbo, Marianne Benn, Anne Tybj?rg-Hansen, Anders B. J?rgensen, Ruth Frikke-Schmidt, B?rge G. Nordestgaard. Remnant Cholesterol as a Causal Risk Factor for Ischemic Heart Disease. Journal of the American College of Cardiology, 2012; DOI: 10.1016/j.jacc.2012.08.1026
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
When Sandy struck the East Coast, Providence was largely spared. But Swipely, a startup based in the Rhode Island city, had a different problem: The storm wiped out its chance to sell its payments service to businesses up and down the Northeast Corridor, where it had focused its salespeople's efforts.
That didn't stop Angus Davis, the company's CEO and cofounder. Swipely had already built tools to automate the time-consuming process of calling on local businesses. It used those to switch gears in real time.
"Within an hour, we had created a list of 1,200 merchants in the Atlanta area," Davis recalls. Software displayed everything from Yelp reviews of the business to local weather conditions. Instead of losing momentum in the post-Sandy chaos, Davis says his company built a "beachhead" in the southeastern U.S.
Less than a year ago, Swipely launched a payments service that replaces a business's existing credit-card processing with a more sophisticated, Internet-linked payments service. (It was a big change from Swipely's initial notion of encouraging consumers to share their purchases with friends.) Nothing changes at the cash register, where clerks swipe cards as usual; Swipely promises to match or beat the fees merchants pay to accept cards. What merchants get in return are online dashboards and marketing tools tied to the transaction data Swipely tracks?a sort of Google Analytics for retail.
It's not a hard sell, since it doesn't cost the businesses more than they're currently paying. But there are a huge number of local businesses to reach. And so Swipely has applied technology not just to its product but to its sales process as well.
Swipely's sales team does most of its sales by telephone, using?Salesforce.com and InsideSales.com, two Web-based sales tools common to telesales operations, and data from Infogroup, a local-business directory. But it's added customized tools inspired by the viral features of popular social networks.
A salesperson logs on and sees suggestions for leads to call, in a feature inspired by LinkedIn's "People You May Know" feature. Clicking on a prospective business brings up nearby Swipely merchants the salesperson can cite as references customers.
Swipely uses a tool called Clearslide that tracks how customers interact with presentations during a sales call, down to how much time the salesperson and customer spend looking at each slide.
All that data, matched against deals won or lost, gets fed back into the system, generating rules that direct the sales team's efforts.
"We know the best time of day to call on businesses," Davis says.
As a result, Swipely's business is taking off. In September, it was processing the annual equivalent of $50 million in payments. By December, that number had grown fivefold. Swipely's salesforce has likewise grown, rising from 6 in November to 15 currently, out of 35 employees.
Davis aims to have 50 salespeople by the end of the year.
"We're scrambling just to hire an additional batch of telesales people," he said.
But thanks to Swipely's clever use of technology, those new hires won't have to scramble for customers.
Swipely has raised $8.5 million from First Round Capital, Greylock Partners, and Index Ventures, among other investors.
LOS ANGELES (AP) ? Justin Bieber's mother, Pattie Mallette, is an executive producer on an upcoming anti-abortion short film.
The makers of "Crescendo" hope to raise $10 million for pregnancy centers at screenings worldwide starting Feb. 28. Mallette herself will appear at some of these, said production company Movie to Movement on Friday.
The pop star's mother has written and spoken extensively about the addiction and abuse that led to her teenage pregnancy.
Mallette said in a statement she hopes her involvement with "Crescendo" will "encourage young women all over the world, just like me, to let them know that there is a place to go, people who will take care of you and a safe home to live in if you are pregnant and think you have nowhere else to turn."
Robert Craft writes: "In the next four years, what I want to see most is an education reform. My children mean everything to me. I work with them every day that I have with them to teach them. I don't want to depend on public education to educate them. It can't and for that matter it shouldn't be its sole responsibility. Public education should aid the learning of our children. We should not lean on it to do all of the work. We should be working... more?Robert Craft writes: "In the next four years, what I want to see most is an education reform. My children mean everything to me. I work with them every day that I have with them to teach them. I don't want to depend on public education to educate them. It can't and for that matter it shouldn't be its sole responsibility. Public education should aid the learning of our children. We should not lean on it to do all of the work. We should be working in tandem to create future generations that can change our world. Until this fairy tale of mine that means so much to me comes to fruition all I can do is recognize that we have a problem. Educational reform is needed." less?
Browse > Home / Business / Approval Of Economic Development Compacts Bring Jobs To LI
Two New Businesses Create Over 120 Jobs In Nassau County
(Long Island, N.Y.) The approval of economic development compacts will bring two New York City companies and $115 million in new economic benefits to Nassau County was announced this week by Nassau County?Executive Edward P. Mangano?and the Nassau Industrial Development Agency (IDA).
Mangano said that, in an effort to combat the hardships faced by many Long Islanders as a result of a downtrodden national economy, his administration is working as hard as possible to bring employment to residents.
?Nassau?s Economic Development Team is hard at work creating new jobs and opportunities for our residents, attracting new businesses, putting our residents back to work and revitalizing local communities,? he said. ?From creating new jobs to generating economic activity in our local economy, these agreements are win-wins for Nassau residents.?
The Nassau IDA is a team of professionals whose mission is to promote the economic welfare and prosperity of Nassau County. It is a resource for businesses in Nassau County and those considering relocation. Joseph Kearney, Executive Director of the Nassau IDA, said that this announcement is just the beginning of a resurgence of job growth on?Long Island.
?These economic development compacts are proof that Nassau County can be competitive with other regions and is able to entice businesses to our county,? he said. ?These are absolute home runs for the county.?
The announcement concerns two companies; the first company, Bronx-based??R? Best Produce Inc., will relocate to Port Washington, bringing 51 new jobs into the area. In addition to bringing existing jobs, ?R? Best, which shares ownership with the Uncle Giuseppe supermarket chain, is expected to add 12 new positions within three years of its move. It is anticipated that the project will create 25 full-time equivalent construction jobs. The move is expected to produce almost $51 million in economic benefits.
The second company is?Display Technology LLC, a firm that manufactures beverage displays used in supermarkets and convenience stores. They will move from College Point, Queens, to Lake Success, bringing with it 61 jobs and a promise to create four additional jobs within three years. The move will?also?create 25 full-time equivalent construction jobs. All told, the project will generate $64 million in economic activity.
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Michael Bisping needed a win at UFC on FX 7 in Sao Paolo, Brazil, on Saturday night to keep his title shot hopes alive. But Vitor Belfort got the better of him, winning with a second round TKO.
(Long Island, N.Y.) The approval of economic development compacts will bring two New York City companies and $115 million in new economic benefits to Nassau County was announced this week by Nassau County?Executive Edward P. Mangano?and the Nassau Industrial Development Agency (IDA).