10 ways data is changing our lives

When you hear the word 'community' do you only think about your real-life neighbors in your sub-division? With social media and networking tools millions belong to virtual communities as well. These virtual communities are similar to those in real-life in that the focus is on building relationships. Often times these virtual relationships translate into real-life customers, consumers, and on occasion friendships.
This example of community or society is only one way of how data has changed our lives. Here are a few other ways:

• For a handful of years we've been able to map out directions from one location to the next, however with the introduction of Bing's Sidestreet, destinations are now not only viewable, but clickable for additional research.
• Shopping has gone the route of convenience. It's faster and much easier to point, click, enter data, and ship the order to the recipient.

Get the entire list on Telegraph.

30 creative minimalist print ads

Graphic Design Blog has aggregated a stimulating collection of 30 advertisements that say more with less. Here are just a few:
Alka Seltzer

Financial Times

Jeep

Full story at Graphic Design Blog.

20 Life Lessons A Wise Man Would Share

Commitment is what transforms a promise into reality. It is the words that speak boldly of your intentions. And the actions which speak louder than the words. It is making the time when there is none. Coming through time after time after time, year after year after year. Commitment is the stuff character is made of; the power to change the face of things. It is the daily triumph of integrity over skepticism. – Abraham Lincoln 

No One is Perfect.  The quicker this is realized the faster you can get on with being excellent.  Start every morning ready to fight harder than you did the day before and run further than you ever imagine.
Avoid over explaining yourself.  Be confident with who you are.
Keep balance in your life.  Write down what’s most important to you and show up.  Sometimes we tend to do the things that are most important to us when it’s written down.
Play the hand you were dealt.  Have the courage to face challenges head on it builds character.  Start looking for a way through instead of a way out.
Be a student of life.  Learn something new every day.  The day you stop learning is the day you become obsolete so keep learning.
No Excuses.  Stop making excuses replace them with ways to do better.  Excuses are a waste of time and energy.
Let others know where you Stand.  Be uncompromising and be up front when someone steps on your core values.     
Never be afraid of a challenge.  You put on your shoes like every other man.  Now it comes down to who wants it more.
Service to others.  Small, simple or important be a volunteer and give the very best of you. 
Work like hell.  Everyone has a job to do so do it.  Cross every “T” and dot every “I”. 
Discover You.  Find your passion, life purpose, and take action.
Don’t take it Personal.  Don’t be afraid to laugh at yourself self confidence shows that you’re comfortable in your own skin.
Manage your time.  Our situation and environment is ever changing so be careful not to confuse the things that are urgent with the things that are important.  Look for time wasters and eliminate them.
Ask for help.  Life can be tough remember you never have to do it alone.
Do your homework.  Know what you getting into before you start.  Doing your homework reduces uncertainty and fear.
Day Dream Often.  On the weekend when you are relaxing embrace a day dream.  During the week take action to preserve your dreams.
Be A HERO.  Cultivate a healthy dose of forgiveness and set someone free.  Learn to forgive others and stop carrying those bags of hate, guilt or regret.    
Stay One Step Ahead.  Be proactive, Take the initiative, Brainstorm with the big picture in mind.
Self Love.  Become your own priority.  Strive to be the you, you want to be. 
Finish what you started.  Avoid the urge to stray.

How to duck ‘boredom’ attack

How to duck a ‘boredom’ attack (Getty Images)

Do you find yourself staring inordinately into space or examining your finger nails, whenever you have some time off? Boredom can creep in uninformed in the middle of a busy day, or worse still, on a laidback weekend.

Lack of perspective, spontaneity are just some of the reasons why we feel bored, and that too, so frequently. And at the slightest provocation, we are ready with one-liners like “I am so bored” or “It’s so boring”. Experts say, it’s best to realise that ‘boredom’ is a state of mind, and by giving in you are only making life more mundane.

Here are some tips to effectively ward off boredom and stay more active:

Change your attitude
Cribbers are the first ones to realise that they are bored. You need to change your outlook, the world is not a very sad place to live in. There is always much to do and enjoy. Says Dr. S.K Sharma, clinical psychologist and lifestyle advisor, “Getting bored is an attitude. The fact that you feel bored is because you have allowed it to creep into your life. Be ready to change gears. Tell yourself that I am not going to allow this to happen to me. Just stop thinking how bored you are, instead ask yourself – let’s do something.”

Organise your life
Stop mulling, instead put things into perspective. Chart a routine for yourself, and squeeze in some time for a recreational activity, exercising or a hobby. That’ll keep you happily busy. Dr. Sharma believes that by organising your time and resources well, you will be left with some time to try new activities. “When you are too caught up in a routine due to lack of organisation, you tend to feel suffocated.”

Change - a constant
Someone has rightly said, variety is the spice of life. It is imperative to introduce small changes to our daily lives, from the way we think, the way we dress, to changing the set up of the living room once in a while or picking up some off-beat book and reading it up. The idea is to not stick to a set order, and keep experimenting. He explains, “Your mind needs change to feel excited and happy. Always look for change. You can turn your routine life into an interesting one by making tiny little changes.”

Cultivate a hobby
Keep yourself enthused by learning something different. Try to hone a skill or develop a new one. Join a baking class, learn how to strum the guitar, become a fitness enthusiast, meditate, practice yoga, go swimming, learn a new dance form, or simply pick a sheet of paper and sketch your heart out. “Look for new activities. It could be a new hobby, some adventure sport, or learning a new language. Remember age is no bar. Again mix it well according to your preference and feasibility to keep your mind excited,” says he.

Be a social bunny
Agreed, it may not be your forte, but at least give it a shot. We don’t mean you barge into others’ conversations or be over-friendly. Take interest in people outside your friend circle. You are sure to find a whole section of interesting ones out there! Give up all inhibitions, simply explore, talk it out, listen and absorb. And, you will never again be bored. Dr. Sharma suggests, “Make sure you mix with people across different age groups and from different walks of life. For instance, instead of spending all the time with friends or as a couch potato, sit with a group of kids from your colony and strike a conversation. People with different personalities and tastes add novelty into your life.”

Net profits: how to make an online fortune

In the Nineties, the first web trailblazers turned their dotcom dreams into cold, hard cash. But is it still possible to earn millions online today? Alice-Azania Jarvis asks the ones who made it

GETTY IMAGES

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg is worth an estimated $4bn

Remember the dotcom boom? When all canny investors needed to do was add a ".com" to the name of their company to watch stock soar? And to think that all of this took place in a world where dial-up still dominated. Where a business's investors, customers, even founders, would have to clunk their way around the world wide web (as it was then known), waiting for pages to load, inch-by-inelegant-inch, all while keeping one eye on the clock (the internet was expensive, after all) and batting away those around them who wanted to make a call but couldn't because the only phone line in the house was being occupied.
It was, in many ways, another world. Certainly, it was for those first explorative entrepreneurs who, in the murky early years of e-business, carved out their camp on the web's frontier – the Lastminute.coms, the GeoCities, the Boo.coms.

For some, the experiment paid off. Sabeer Bhatia, an India-born entrepreneur who, after a stint at Apple and the start-up company Firepower Systems, co-founded Hotmail with a former colleague and then went on to sell his business – one of the first web-based email systems, distinguished by its groundbreaking decision not to charge users for the service – for $400m [£253.8m] on his 29th birthday. For others, it didn't. When Boo.com turned to bust it did so in now-notorious style: after eating through $135m of venture capital in the first 18 months, and amid tales of Gatsby-esque spending on the part of the fashion e-tailer's Swedish founders, the firm was declared bankrupt, leaving more than 400 contractors and staff redundant.
It might have been dismissed as a one-off, the sudden dissolution of riches a kind of modern morality tale of excess. But it wasn't. The world of the web millionaire continued to grow and, a decade on, stories of bright ideas leading to great riches abound. YouTube received its unceremonious baptism in 2005 when three PayPal employees uploaded a video of a trip to the zoo. All pixelated footage and bumbling narration ("the cool thing about elephants is that they have really really, really, really long ... um ... trunks."), it was the video that launched countless others. Now more than two billion are watched every day and it was the promise of viewing figures like these that saw Google snap up the company for $1.65bn just 18 months after it first launched. Shortly before YouTube's birth, in what is now internet legend, a Harvard student named Mark Zuckerberg had launched thefacebook.com (later facebook.com), from his dorm room. These days he can be found conversing with Prime Ministers via video link, and is personally worth an estimated $4bn.
Crucially, these were a different breed of dotcoms, distinguished from the ill-fated experiments of the Nineties by their durability. Founders got rich quick and stayed it. The relative security of these operations – not to mention the sums they have earned their creators – has revived the idea that the internet is paved with gold. Nowadays, every Tom, Dick, and Harry can (or thinks they can) have a go. Enter the words "internet millionaire" into Google, and you are directed to endless ranks of advice-peddling websites claiming to have the answer, whether it assumes the form of five secrets of successful e-trepreneurs or 50 (are all of these sites run by millionaires? Is setting one up the answer?). The same is true in the bookstore: shelves heave under the weight of advice manuals. But to what avail?
As founder of the online auction site QXL, Tim Jackson rode the first wave of dotcoms with mixed success (the business had the dubious honour of admittance to the so-called "99 per cent club" of businesses that lost 99 per cent of their value when the dotcom bubble burst, though it eventually recovered) and is now involved in competitions site Miss Win It.
"The internet changes the business game," he argues. "It offers the chance to access people without much material machinery, so that start up costs are lower. It also makes it easier for people to access you. You have scale, reach and speed as well as reduced costs." It's no wonder the net is an attractive prospect for entrepreneurs, particularly those of the ordinary "civilian" variety, who might not have much capital behind them.
What's more, despite the explosion of ideas that we have already seen, the market is unlikely to saturate. Far from it: one of the defining characteristics of online entrepreneurship is the role of market creation. Some successful start-ups meet needs. Far more, though, create them, carving out their own market in the process. Jackson's Miss Win It colleague is Ramsey Khoury, a seasoned web developer and founder of the digital consultancy Head London. Along with his business partner Kate Amarnani, he came up with the concept of the "competition creation and information" site when talking about promotion space. "It's almost a non-existent market," he said. "You find a new market driven by the experiences you can offer."
For the present, then, the future of the online goldmine looks secure. Indeed, technologies have so improved that establishing your brand is easier than ever. Malcolm Graham is chief executive of the web development firm LimeTree Online. Having watched the changing conditions over the last 15 years, he is confident there has never been a better time for investment. "It's a great time. A lot of ideas have been explored but there's still plenty of opportunity. The technology is stable now, which was a major problem with the 1990s. The skills are out there and readily available, which makes staffing your business easier."
Naturally, not every online chancer is guaranteed a hit. As Khoury puts it: "There is a lot of noise on the web." Success depends upon the ability to retain relevance, be that by smoothing the path to your company's door, boosting your company's online profile, or maintaining an active relationship with your customers.
"User experience is key," says Khoury. "You need to make things simple for people." That might be by ensuring people know where to find your web page, or designing the page to be as straightforward and clear as possible. Certainly, the latter is crucial. The clean layout of Facebook is credited for luring users away from MySpace and allowing the younger upstart to overtake its more established rival, a cycle that has continued with the runaway success of the even more simple Twitter. "You need to get an understanding for your audience and you need to build a dialogue allowing for feedback," he adds. "Social networking is great. For Miss Win It, much of our audience is on Facebook for instance."
Much of this, of course, is basic business sense. If customer relations is a key component of success, well, 'twas ever thus. Since the series began five years ago, Dragon's Den has welcomed a steady stream of would-be web sensations. But, the criteria on which they are judged differs little from the standards set for other, more traditional offerings. "When I look to invest I don't just invest in the product," says James Caan. "I invest in the people. If the individual or team have the motivation and passion for what they are doing, then ultimately the business is more likely to be successful – regardless of whether it's online or offline."
The same could be said of growth management. In the same way that a shopkeeper or restaurant owner who tries to take over the high street before their first outlet has made a profit could be setting themselves up for failure, web developers who aim immediately for world domination are liable – just like Boo.com – to collapse in on themselves. No one was more wary of this than Nathalie Massenet who, just a month after the infamous clothing store liquidated, turned an almost identical concept into realty – and, in turn, into one of the most significant, seminal, successes of the digital age. She launched Net-a-Porter in June 2000, the wreckage of the bust still scattered around her. Founded in a tiny flat in Chelsea, the online department store employed only 15 people and kept borrowing costs at a minimum. "Initially we were really held back by how much we could buy," Massenet has said. "Because we had no money to buy product."
Web success, then, is part technological savvy, part old-fashioned nous. The pioneers of the early Noughties may have nabbed their spot in the history books, but the trail that they blazed is a long way from being worn down. The web remains an accessible arena for entrepreneurship, and things look likely to stay that way. Indeed, the advent of the smart phone has opened up a new gap in the development market – in the form phone applications – and has opened up a new audience in the form of the phone-carrying populations of Asia and Africa. For the time being, the second dotcom bubble appears a long way from bursting.
Applications pending
Are smartphone applications a goldmine in the making? It's not yet clear. Certainly, apps have become a phenomenon in their own right. Before they existed, it was near-impossible for independent software programmers to gain wide exposure and the profits that come with it; now Apple, Android, BlackBerry and Nokia boast app stores that provide a platform for freelance developers. In June, the five-billionth app download was made on Apple's store and more than 225,000 apps are available there. There are also dotcom-style tales of great wealth being won. Last year, engineer Ethan Nicholas developed the tank artillery game iShoot, leaving his day job shortly after. When the game was at number one in the sales chart, he made $37,000 [£23,400] a day. Still, some are sceptical of their potential. "In general terms, I think talk of get-rich-quick is a bit sensational," says Tim Jackson, founder of the online auction site, QXL. "Developers get a lot of coverage but if you look at many of them, the potential for money-making is limited." Strict rules about pricing, content and revenues also make the app market a restrictive place to make a fortune.

Social media rivals email, new study suggests

According to a new Neilsen study, social media (and close runner-up, online gaming) suck up the majority of the average American’s time. In fact, the research suggests that people are spending forty-three percent more time on social networks than they did at this time last year. That's quite the leap to sites like Facebook and Twitter. What’s more is that the numbers show a fifteen percent decline in email and instant messaging. Could social media really evetually give email the axe?

Full fascinating story at Media Post.

Richest Americans You've Never Heard Of

Microsoft's (MSFT) Bill Gates, Berkshire Hathaway's (BRK.A) Warren Buffett and Apple's (AAPL) Steve Jobs are all household names in addition to being among the wealthiest people in the country. There are, however, other billionaires, whose companies or products are also among the best-known in the country, yet they live in relative obscurity, unknown to most -- including their best customers.

Take Subway, which serves 2,800 sandwiches and salads every 60 seconds in the U.S. How many of its customers have ever heard of its founder, Fred DeLuca, who was 17 when he opened the first store? Or Peter Buck, the family friend who loaned DeLuca the $1,000 that got the company off the ground back in 1965?

Likewise, Enterprise Rent-a-Car is the largest rental-car company in the U.S., but how many of its customers are familiar with Jack Crawford Taylor, the man who started the business back in 1957 and owns it to this day?

Every day, countless shoppers buy products made by Dole Food Company, the world's largest producer and marketer of fresh fruit, fresh vegetables and fresh-cut flowers as well as packaged and frozen foods. Most people probably assume that Dole is owned by a large conglomerate, but in reality, a relatively unknown entrepreneur named David Murdock is Dole's sole owner. All net worth estimates mentioned below are credited to Forbes' World's Billionaire List for 2010.

Jack Crawford Taylor
Enterprise Rent-a-Car
Net Worth: $7 billion

Jack Taylor founded Enterprise Rent-A-Car, the largest rental-car company in the U.S. He started the St. Louis, Mo.-based company, originally named Executive Leasing Company, in 1957 with seven cars "and a hunch that customers will embrace the novel concept of leasing automobiles." In 2007 the Taylor family acquired National Car Rental and Alamo Rent A Car businesses. Through its subsidiaries, the company operates more than 1 million cars and trucks, the largest fleet of passenger vehicles in the world. Today, Taylor's son, Andrew C. "Andy" Taylor, is the company's chairman and chief executive officer. Enterprise's annual revenue was $12.1 billion in 2009.

Min Kao
Garmin
GPS Equipment
Net Worth: $1.6 billion

Gary Burrell
Garmin
Net Worth: $1 billion

Dr. Min Kao and Gary Burrell co-founded Garmin Corp. (GRMN) in 1989 to integrate GPS -- or Global Positioning System technology into navigation devices for multiple markets. The idea began as a brainstorming session of a handful of engineers around a card table. Today, the company's innovative products span various areas, including automotive, aviation, marine, fitness, outdoor recreation and wireless applications. In 2009, Garmin's total revenues were $2.95 billion.

Clayton L. Mathile
Iams
Net Worth: $1.7 billion

Clayton Mathile joined Iams in the 1970s and eventually become chief executive and chairman of the board. In 1974, Mathile bought half of the pet food company from its founder, Paul Iams, and then purchased the rest in the early 1980s. Under Mathile's direction, Iams became a world leader in premium dog and cat nutrition. In 1999, the Mathile family sold Iams to Procter & Gamble for $2.3 billion. Today, Mathile is a major investor in ooVoo, a Web-based company that allows up to six users to video chat in real time via smartphones, TVs, netbooks, PCs and MACs. Mathile uses his wealth to help change the world. He founded The Mathile Institute for the Advancement of Human Nutrition, a nonprofit committed to improving the nutritional health of children around the world. He also created Aileron, a campus for entrepreneurs that promotes professional management practices as the keys to business success.

Donald Hall
Hallmark, Crayola, Silly Putty
Net Worth: $1 billion

Donald J. Hall is chairman of the board of Hallmark, which was founded by his father, Joyce C. Hall. He's is only the second board chairman in the company's history. Hall oversaw innovation in greeting cards, including launch of the Shoebox humor line and introduction of product lines for African-American, Hispanic and Jewish consumers; directed focus on Hallmark's network of independent Hallmark Gold Crown retailers; expanded the company's reach into international markets; and envisioned the potential to move into such product lines as Keepsake Ornaments. Today, Hallmark is the parent company of Crayola art products and Silly Putty. In 2009, Hallmark's consolidated annual revenues were $4 billion. Hall's son, Donald Hall Jr., is the company's chief executive officer.

Fred DeLuca
Subway
Net Worth: $1.8 billion

Peter Buck
Subway
Net Worth: $1.8 billion

In 1965, Fred DeLuca, a 17-year-old high school graduate wanted to open a sandwich shop in Bridgeport, Conn., as a way to earn money to pay for college. The young man was given a $1,000 loan by Peter Buck, a family friend. DeLuca initially called his fledgling business Pete's Super Submarines, and the name was changed to Subway in 1968. In 1974, the partners sold their first franchise. The Subway chain is now the world's largest submarine sandwich chain with more than 33,107 restaurants in 91 countries. Subway operates more units in the U.S., Canada and Australia than McDonald's. The company's global system-wide sales were $11.3 billion in 2009.

S. Truett Cathy
Chick-fil-A
Net Worth: $1.5 billion

S. Truett Cathy is founder and chairman of Chick-fil-A. Cathy entered the restaurant business in 1946, when he and his brother, Ben, opened an Atlanta diner known as The Dwarf Grill (later renamed The Dwarf House). Through the years, that restaurant prospered and led Cathy to further expand his business. In 1967, Cathy opened the first Chick-fil-A restaurant. Today, Chick-fil-A is the second-largest quick-service chicken restaurant chain in the U.S. with more than $3.2 billion in sales in 2009. As of February 2010, there are more than 1,480 Chick-fil-A restaurants in 38 states and Washington, D.C. Cathy has led Chick-fil-A on an amazing record of 42 consecutive years of annual sales increases. Today, Cathy devotes much of his time to philanthropy.

S. Daniel Abraham
Slim-Fast
Net worth: $1.6 billion

In 1945, entrerpreneur Daniel Abraham founded Thomas Medical Co. Its first diet product, Slim-Mint gum, was brought to market in 1956. Twenty years later, the company launched the Dexatrim diet pill. Slim-Fast meal replacement shakes were introduced the following year, in 1977. Slim-Fast was spun off in 1990 as a separate company and sold for $2.3 billion to Unilever in 2000. Today, Abraham is well-known for his philanthropy. He supports a variety of causes including improving health care and nutrition, encouraging Middle East peace and broadening educational opportunities.

William Kellogg
Kohl's
Net Worth: $1 billion

William Kellogg got his start in the retail business as a buyer for Federated Department Stores. In 1967, he was hired by Kohl's (KSS) founder, Max Kohl, as a store manager. Working his way up the corporate ladder, he was named chief executive of the family-focused, value-oriented retailer in the late 1970s. In 1986, he led a management buyout of the company and retired as chairman in 2000. Kohl's is now one of the nation's largest retailers with 1,067 stores in 49 states. In 2009, annual sales were $17.1 billion.

David Murdock
Dole Food Company
Net Worth: $2.5 billion

David Murdock is the chairman of Dole Food (DOLE), the world's largest producer and marketer of fresh fruit, fresh vegetables and fresh-cut flowers as well as a line of packaged and frozen foods. The high school dropout is also the sole owner of Castle & Cooke, which develops and owns real estate, including golf clubs and resorts, in addition to the leasing of transportation equipment and the manufacturing of brick. Murdock's combined companies employ more than 68,000 people in over 90 countries and consistently ranks as one of the largest privately held entities in America. In 2009, Dole's net revenues were $6.8 billion. Today, Murdock devotes much of his time and attention to the David H. Murdock Research Institute, a provider of advance research technologies to academic, government and industry scientists in their pursuit of improved human health through advancements in nutrition, agricultural products and pharmaceuticals.

 

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