When my phone becomes my wallet

That’s pretty cool idea! With increased use of smartphones it become evident that people want to pay with their smartphones and get rid of their wallet.

The technology is ready, and it’s called NFC (Near field communications) which is a radio communication between two devices. You need a smartphone an apps, and of course you need a place where you can pay. Just swing your phone by the cash register, and bingo you paid..

Of course, there are problems with all three of them. Smartphones are not as smart yet, only 1/3 of the latest devices sold are NFC enabled. So if you don’t have one of them you have to exchange it. On the cash register side has its problems as well…such as investment of this new technology and security installation. And we – customers – are having some complex dilemma as well. What’s if I loose my smartphone? Would it mean hackers have an access to my bank account? And what about the money itself?

While older generation have struggle with recognizing virtual money on their bank account, youngest have already learnt it. Speed can be advantage on the other hand – ‘Time is money!’  So better not waist it! What about currency? Can I buy this way global or just in local transactions?

So the theory is great but it takes long time to become daily base used. In the US Starbucks allows customers to pay with their smartphones, and in Germany they are ready to launch a new services called ‘Mobil Wallet’. Meanwhile in Hungary -- just a couple miles away from the capital city, Budapest the only way I can pay is with cash.

Hmm..so I guess money will be stay on my wallet for a bit longer.

Work –Life balance

 

Before I return back to work I need a plan. All Mommies struggle with the same questions – How will I manage work, and my children? Who will pick up the kids while I’m working? What is the fastest dish I can make, what I can cook for tonight? When Am I going to check their homework?

Of course it’s nice if you have an employer who offers a flexible time for you, but you have to be flexible on your time as well. Just because you leave earlier doesn’t mean that you work less. Right? You can offer that you are working while the baby is having a nap or you’ll be online in evenings when kids have gone to bed.

1. First off, you need help. It’s a great time to get more involve husbands or grandparents  or someone close to the kids. Also good idea to ask older children to take part of the housework as well.

2. Second is to plan ahead, be a great time manager of your own life. Make a schedule for daily routines and make sure you have some time for the kids too.

3. Maybe it’s time to consider a few things and make a new priority in your life.

4. Put away your guilt. Go back to work seems like it’s not as much of an issue for the kids - rather it’s a big deal for Mommies. Therefore spend as much valuable time with them as you can.

5.  Make some time to yourself. We are not super hero's so we do need some break as well. Being selfish not just necessary sometimes, but you deserve it too!

There you go…I’ve got my plan already! Overall going back to work is not a tragedy only another challenge of my life.

Human’ values

Recently I started looking around for hi-tech jobs, to see what kind of position I might find. Position requirements are frequently difficult match as described. You must be:

• Flexible
• Open-minded
• Willing to work hard
• Be nice

It’s easy to get confused to see if I'm reaching the right criteria’s. So I jumped into reading recruiter's advices on how to write good resume. How can you be the one out of the many? 

 

I also found different courses where you can learn techniques how to behave in an interview. For example body language, or how to use the tone of your voice. Important thing to show a future employer that you are the most attractive candidate in the world.

If I’m sure that I am a good candidate they must see it too. But why doesn’t it work that way? I guess after many refusals people are less motivated. And I wonder if the real problem is why do you want to find a job in the first place. Is it to earn money or find some sense for your life?

I surfed one article to another I ended up reading about successes stories where people get good jobs. I always love reading, and thinking about these stories. What made them so big? What were their paths so far? What kind of compromises they make or what they did not make? What did they do that most of us do not?

I read the articles carefully to see if I can find some secrets. They mentioned:

• Hard work
• Persistence
• Respect of work
• Humility
• Flexibility
• Adoptions
• Be brave
• Be the first one when look for challenges.

Share knowledge with others:

• Be a team worker
• Encourage others
• Never give up, no matter what you do.

Hmm...Interesting, no one mentioned luck. This seems to be an easy recipe for success. Or just different mind-set? I think most importantly is self-confidence that what I am doing -  who I am is valuable.

So I’m watching my youngest boy playing in the back yard. He’s only 15 months old not much plan for the future yet. But his T-shirt it says ’ Future Ceo’ and I smile and think to myself – what’s if it so?

I guess the future starts here and now.

Let the pictures tell the story

Ignorance of Decades

 

I always wondered when science will reach the point when humans no longer understand what’s going on. I’m not talking about ‘how things work’ question. For instance, Edison gave us electricity and Bell gave us the telephone. We didn’t know how they worked but we knew how to use them.  So why doesn’t this idea work with cloud computing too? It’s always interesting to see how we adopted new things in our life with or without any knowledge of it.

 

SMBs in the cloud

More and more small and medium-sized companies are using cloud-based services, but usually only apply these ideas in fundamental processes. Companies often organize email or share documents, but only 5 percent of them actually say that SMBs are cloud base.  

 

The latest Microsoft’s survey results show what services are use in cloud.  The most common home electronic service - mail is the most common (57%), but also popular is sharing of documents (42%), instant messaging, VoIP (31-31%) and cloud storage at (23%) as well.  Only (9%) of Internet office suites - such as Office 365 or GoogleDocs - make use of the cloud services.

 

 

 

Not so long ago, a company became a pioneer of the industry when they took advantage of the cloud. Over the past 12 months – according to Microsoft’s report - Office 365 services have tripled annual revenue. But the fact is that almost all SMBs companies have internet access, yet they don’t know they have been using the cloud.

Funny if you think about it. In the old days – we didn’t turn on the lights and say "I’m not using electricity", So today why do we say – "I don’t use the  cloud"  although I'm on the internet. Can we use ignorance as an excuse?

Who’s to blame?

 

Future? Unemployment? Pictures? Cloud? How does all this things come together? 

Do you want to find a job? It’s not easy these days. Do you use social network?  Since we post a bunch of pictures of our moments in life and what we want to share with our friends. But how is this activity affecting our future? Can the cloud be blamed for that? Nope. The answer is the users and their bad habits...and of course this requires knowledge of the cloud.

Reckless (Thoughtless) Youth

 Eric E. Schmidt - served as the CEO of Google until 2011 – He drew younger generation’s attention to the danger of posting pictures on Facebook. He warned them not to share too many personal events of themselves. He said –that the older generation made their mistakes, but there mistakes didn’t stay on the internet too long, so it was easy to move on. Teens today might say- who cares? It’s yesterday news now…Well that’s not quite true anymore!

Behind the scenes

To store our pictures on the cloud is fast and simple. It happens in real time and we enjoy this fact. But do we know what happens behind the scenes?

 

 

When you take that picture and posted on your social media site many copies have been made to be available to your friends. So it means your picture landed on many computers any many data warehouses which can be uploaded in anytime. And these computers are all connected together. So it means that your picture gets replicated many different times just to get shared. From that one photo your social sites make many copy to ensure that it gets shared. That’s called the reliability of cloud. As you know, it needs to be reliable.. There when you want it.

Do you feel the danger yet?

Worst floods of all time is here in Budapest

‘Europe's second longest river is set to hit unprecedented levels in the capital Budapest in the next few days.’ – According to BBC news.  Yup. Danube is going to reach record levels this weekend in Budapest. Although it happens every year - the banks of river are closed for a couple of week – this time it can be worst of all time.

‘Central Europe's worst river floods in over a decade have already devastated large areas and forced mass evacuations in parts of Austria, Germany and the Czech Republic. Budapest was expected to be worst hit on Monday, with forecasters predicting the river will rise to as high as 9 meters (29.5 ft) higher than the last record set in 2006.’ – According to CNN.

In Hungary most of our news is about evacuations and damage. All local transportation is blocked, and roads to the capital are blocked. The Hungarian Prime minister spent the night at a military barrack in the flooded city of Győr. He’s been trying to calm the nation as it becomes a national disaster. He said everything is under control and military is ready to help with the worst. Interesting that he also denied recent news about leaking dams.

Personally I can say is that every minute another new record has been reached and what is the first time was shocking now it just becoming scary.

Interestingly enough that many communities including Gypsies who never contribute to anything are volunteering to help sandbag our dams.

So sad, that only disasters – like this – can bring the nation together.