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You are a busy person; you are always working on several projects and trying to hit deadlines.  It’s hard enough to find the time to fit a trip to the gym in, let alone play games on your smartphone. You would like smartphone apps that will conserve time, not waste it, but you don’t have time to look for them. Well, you are in luck; below is a list of 5 smartphone apps that can actually make your like simplier.

Top 5 Business Apps

1. WhosHere: If a deadline is rapidly approaching and you are needing a freelancer, WhosHere lets you find freelancers for hire in your area quickly. You can send out a search, and text or call the professionals that reply.
2. Locale: It is embarrassing when your phone goes off during a movie, but what about during a board meeting? This never needs to happen again if you use Locale. It allows you to select specific phone settings based on location. So when you enter your office or the library your phone automatically goes to vibrate.
3. WaveSecure: One of the hazards of traveling regularly is the chance of loosing your phone. This app enables you to lock your phone and backup the information stored on it remotely, as well as monitor its location through the SIM card. Talk about peace of mind.
4. Bump: If you are in sales you need to collect contact details quickly. With Bump all you have to do is tap two phones together to exchange information, no more post-tradeshow data entry.
5. Scan2PDF Mobile: This app lets you scan reports, receipts, or other documents on the go using your smartphone’s camera. You can then turn them into color PDFs and email them to your computer’s desktop.

Are you gunning for a raise or a promotion? Maybe you only want to get noticed for job security. In either case, you can do this by impressing your supervisor, but how?

Well, you could use Excel. Excel is a very powerful program; there’s a lot to learn. We are not going to look at everything you can do with Excel here, but you will learn a few ways to boost your efficiency and perhaps get some attention as well.

• Hiding Information: Do you know you can hide columns, instead of deleteing them, when printing a spreadsheet? This can come in handy, for example, if the spreadsheet has private information such as salary. In order to hide rows or columns, click the related number or letter of the row or column to highlight it, then right-click on the highlighted row or column and choose the Hide option. It is possible to Unhide a row or column in the same manner after you have printed or exhibited your spreadsheet.
• Timestamping: If you wish to attach a date to your spreadsheet, you can use the Timestamp function. Just hold Ctrl while you press the semicolon key. If you want the current date and time hold down the Ctrl and Shift keys while pressing the semicolon.
• A Better-Looking Spreadsheet: You can improve a dull spreadsheet with Excel’s Themes option. You’ll find this option in Excel’s Ribbon. Just click on it, and you’ll discover a range of different fonts and colors that can be used on your formerly boring spreadsheets.
• Tracking Trends: The most recent version of Excel comes with a feature called Sparklines. By using this feature, you can create small charts that show trends in information. For example, you could use Sparklines to instantly determine how many software bundles each of your company’s salespeople sold in the first half of 2011.
• Conditional Formatting: This allows you to format only certain cells, you can decide on a criteria, and any cells that fall within it will be a certain color. This feature can be helpful to get a quick visual read of your spreadsheet.

Technology is ever changing, and cyber-criminals will be ever adapting to it. Recently, MIT’s Technology Review published an article relating to technology security threats that we should be aware if in 2012. As many of us devote a considerable amount of time online, being familiar with these threats can help protect valuable data.

Stolen, Spoofed Certificates

The biggest problem that the Technology Review article dealt with is the growing quantity of stolen or spoofed certificates. As the article reports, anytime you connect to a site, like your bank’s website, your traffic is encrypted using a “certificate” that the site uses to prove to your web browser that it can be trusted. In 2011, though, cyber-criminals were able to spoof or steal a number of these certificates. This can help them steal user data or install vicious software on their computers.

A Common Security Mechanism in Trouble?

This is a significant issue as the use of certificates and encrypted data is the most prevalent security mechanism on the web. If they can no longer be trusted, that means probable trouble for all computer users.

Another crucial security challenge that we should become aware of is “hacktivism”. “Hacktivism” is the combination of the words activism and hack. Groups like Anonymous and LulzSec target businesses that they feel are either guilty of wrongdoings or just want to prove the companies have poor security. Whatever the reason, Technology Review says we should expect groups like these to continue their “hacktivism” well into the future.

Home Automation

The growing popularity of home automation also creates security risks in 2012. As Technology Review writes, a growing number of automation systems link security systems, thermostats, lights, as well as the locks to homes’ front doors to the internet. Think of the damage that hackers can do should they break into these systems.

What would life be like with no computer? It’s hard to imagine but it wasn’t that long ago that we didn’t have them. Now most people carry numerous computers, i.e. laptops, e-readers, and smartphones.

How did our culture go from no computers to having so much access to them in such a short time? George Dyson, a science historian, asks this question in his book, Turing’s Cathedral.

Dyson, the son of scientist Freeman Dyson, has spent much of his life at the Princeton Institute for Advanced Studies. The institute was home to many of the world’s most impressive scientific minds while the first digital computer was being created.

Turing’s Cathedral examines the creation of the computer, highlighting the contrasting personalities that were thrown together to work on the project. Additionally, it explores what was involved in the creation of the computer, much of which was chance.

Like all great projects, this one featured more than its share of rivalries, fall-outs, and, not surprisingly, salty language. The people behind this project were geniuses. They were not saints. The book also covers the important ethical issues the creators of the computer faced by the close relationship of their computer work to the U.S. nuclear weapons project.

You might think that a history of the computer would be a dull read. You may think that it would be loaded with impossible-to-understand jargon. Luckily, Dyson’s history of the computer is a fascinating read, and you do not need an advanced degree to comprehend it. Anyone who uses a computer – and that is an awful lot of people today – should pick up a copy of Turing’s Cathedral. You may be surprised at what you learn.

As the planet becomes more connected so do our cars. Cars such as the Audi A6, Ford Edge, and the Lincoln MKX allow individuals to surf the web when in their front seat. People may now, stream music, get current traffic information, but is all this access the best thing while driving? Usually it’s exciting to see technological developments, but when it comes to our safety on the road can there be such a thing as too much connectivity?

Challenges of the Connected Car

People get sidetracked when they text or chat with their phones while driving. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says that 80 % of traffic accidents include driver inattention within 3 seconds of the crash. So, if basic cell phone use is a disruption visualize what it would be like if a person is video Skyping with their best friend while driving or watching that funny Super Bowl commercial.

Does Tech Distract Drivers?

Drivers must concentrate on the road. Anything that takes their awareness from it—whether it’s chomping upon a fast-food burger or hunting for traffic information—can lead to potentially fatal accidents. That’s why the news that cars are on pace to become much more connected is met with with as much reluctance as enthusiasm.

Browsing the Web Inside Your Car

Regardless of how we feel about this, unless laws are put into place stopping it, people will soon be able to stream YouTube videos, Google an answer to a question, and correspond via social media sites in their cars. Maybe the next phase should be to increase the self-driving aspects to cars; but perhapsthat would detach us even more to the world around us.

Again, this would normally be viewed as a positive advancement of technology. The possible negative impacts, though—an increase in the quantity of distracted drivers on the road—do give pause. It’s important for drivers to understand that these tech goodies are nice features. However, it’s equally crucial for them to remain focused on the road, no matter how badly they wish to sneak a peek at the video streaming into their vehicles.

When you hear the term “nanotechnology,” does science fiction come to mind? In fact, nanotechnology is an element of our daily lives; it makes our lives easier. Nanotechnology is basically the science of working with matter on an atomic and molecular scale. Scientists can use nanotechnology to produce new materials which can be applied and used in several different ways.

The practical side of nanotechnology

To give you an example of how nanotechnology can effect your lifestyle here is an article that Science Daily ran last month. The article states that scientists are developing a way to use nanotechnology to lessen the amount of friction in car engines and machines. This technology will make machines operate more effectively; extending their lives. Based on the article, tiny polymer particles were created and distributed in oils used in automobile engines. They were then tested in conditions akin to car engines and found to lessen friction drastically.

More efficient motors

There are friction-reducing additives used by lots of industries today, however when these tiny polymer particles were launched at a low concentration they were able to decrease friction by 55 percent more than common additives currently can. As the field of nanotechnology continues to grow we can expect more breakthroughs like this.

The emerging world of nanotechnology

Next time you think of nanotechnology think about your car’s engine. In the future nanotechnology may be responsible for helping you save lots of money due to your engine consuming less gas.

Global warming? Poverty? Illiteracy? Debt crises? They are all huge global problems. And they have drawn the interest of the technology pros at Google. Google recently unveiled its new “Solve for X” initiative, a project wherein Google’s greatest minds tackle the world’s most vexing challenges. The idea is for “Solve for X” minds to propose radical suggestions for eliminating some of the biggest problems facing the Earth.

Tackling the biggest global issues

It will not be simple nevertheless the individuals behind the project are excited and eager. They think that our technologies are untapped resources and they compare the forward thinking happening in the “Solve for X” project to the groundbreaking thinking that was required to get humans on the moon. Google describes it this way: “This combination of things—a huge problem to solve, a radical solution for solving it and the breakthrough technology to make it happen—is the essence of a moonshot.”

Tackling water scarcity

An article in regards to the “Solve for X” project appeared on Mashable.com last month. Mashable cited the account of an individual who participated in a “Solve for X” retreat. He explained the minds involved discussed the challenge of global water scarcity. What sorts of solutions do you think this brain trust came up with? How about forward osmosis with recycled ammonium salts. While we might not be clear about what this means, the people at “Solve for X” do.

The need for technology brain trusts

Whether or not “Solve for X” creates real remedies for the world’s problems, the concept certainly has value. Technologies are commonly developed with a single objective in mind, usually for entertainment. That said, it’s likely that there are many ways we could use current technologies that we haven’t thought of. With luck ,, “Solve for X” will help us take advantage of that potential.

Do your employees express their ideas to you? Do they ever have options about their own jobs, or ways they think the business could be more productive?

If not, then you might be operating a workplace in which employee creativity is being squelched. Today a lack of creativity in your company can condemn your firm to second-tier status. It may even lead your company out of business.

Two heads are better then one right? Well what about a whole business? Fostering creativity means you have many people thinking of new ways to promote your products and services, boost workflow effectiveness, and improve general productivity. This can consequently mean saving the company money.

The best way to foster creativity is to actually encourage your employees to come up with new ideas and then to listen closely to these ideas when employees bring them to you. Send out an email blast asking employees for ideas to enhance your company’s products or services. Post a notice on the bulletin board asking for suggestions on how to improve the company blog or increase its customer-approval ratings. Next, when employees answer these calls, meet with them—even if it’s during a quick phone call—to go over their thoughts. You don’t have to apply all employee ideas, obviously, but to show respect, you should pay attention to them all.

Dismissing an idea before you have heard it or not giving it your full awareness will dissuade your employees and defeat your purpose. Instead of having a bunch of progressive thinkers working for you, you may find yourself with a group of people just going through the motions for their paychecks.

One more great way to promote creativity is to compensate strong ideas. This could be monetary or simply pointing out their creativity to the rest of the company.

Many people want a job that allows them to be creative. It stimulates their minds and prevents boring redundancy. Many employees also have ideas on how to improve their place of business; they just haven’t voiced them to you. So encourage them to let you know what they think. It doesn’t mean that the way you have been doing things is bad; it just means that they may have ideas that you many not have thought of. Regardless, you and your business will reap the benefits of their creativity and your employees will be happier for it.

Tired of social media? Ignoring it all together? Well, join the bandwagon, because it’s not going away! In fact a new site recently popped up that is becoming popular: Pinterest. Pinterest is a little different than sites like Facebook and Twitter, because it focuses purely on the interests of the users. This encourages creativity by allowing you to share your interests with others rather than just posting updates concerning your day-to-day life.

The site’s name gives a clue as to what it’s all about: Pinterest is a combination of “pin,” as in pinboards, and “interest,” as in what you’re all about. When you join Pinterest, you create your own “pinboards” or categories. You then attach photos and pictures that fit within those categories, as if you were pinning these images onto a bulletin board.

Creating Pinterest Categories

Creating categories will help you organize your account and permit people to decide what in your account they want to focus on. You can decide to share all of your pinboards with other users or only a couple. You can not only make notes about the images you pin to your pinboard, but you can also add links to sites where you found the pictures.

The Social Part of Pinterest

While Pinterest offers a different approach to social media, its main purpose continues to be social interaction. You can decide to follow as many people as you like as well as only follow the pinboards you are interested in. Say someone has a collection of local restaurants; you are able to follow that, while choosing not to follow her collection of “all things cute.”

Joining Pinterest

This is the most difficult part about Pinterest. You have to be invited to sign up. You can visit pinterest.com and request an invite but there is no telling just how long it will take to obtain your invitation. One surefire approach is to ask a friend that has a Pinterest account to invite you.

Finding work nowadays isn’t an easy task. Therefore you have to put your best foot forward when interviewing. A great way to do this is dress the part.

That’s right. What you wear to work and to job interviews still matters. Yes, more people are telecommuting. More people are arriving to the office in jeans and t-shirts. However, that does not mean you should dress casually for an interview.

Here is a simple rule for a interview: Overdressed is far better than under-dressed. Even though you are interviewing for a company with a relaxed working environment, you’ll still need to wear proper business attire to your interview. The better dressed you are, the more you show yourself off as someone who is serious about their career and this particular job. If you show up to an interview dressed down, you’re starting from a weaker position.

This applies to the workplace too. Even a casual environment wants their employees looking sharp. So avoid grabbing a random t-shirt and the jeans you’ve been wearing all week off the floor. Consider what you’re wearing and try to look professional. Showing that you put effort into your appearance will set you apart in your workplace, and that can be helpful if the boss is looking to promote someone in your department!

Of course, you still have to be a good worker. You can be the best-dressed person in the world, but it will not help you if you don’t do your job well. All things being equal, the better-dressed employee will always make the better impression.