Author: knjohn

Google parent Alphabet sees revenue jump 34% to $55.3 billion in the first quarter | CNN

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Alphabet kicked off a big week for tech earnings as the industry starts to look ahead to a post-pandemic economy by reporting a characteristically strong start to 2021.

Google’s parent company reported revenues of $55.3 billion for the first three months of the year — a 34% jump from the same period last year — and made close to $18 billion in profit, comfortably blowing past analyst estimates. It also announced a $50 billion stock buyback.

The company’s stock jumped nearly 4% in after-hours trading on Tuesday.

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Can a night owl turn into an early bird? | Live Science

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Some people wake up before the sun peeks above the horizon, go for a run and eat a hearty breakfast, all before many others roll out of bed. Waking up that early might sound exhausting to late risers, but can a night owl become an early bird?

It is possible to make the switch, but it’s not easy, said Michelle Drerup, director of behavioral sleep medicine at the Cleveland Clinic. “A true night owl doesn’t really feel great first thing when they wake up, especially when they’re starting to shift this.”

A person’s tendency to be a night owl, early bird or some place in between is known as their chronotype. Depending on their chronotype, people are likely to be more awake and alert during certain times of the day and sleepier during others.

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Why You Should Stop Working Long Hours (And How To Stop It) | Life Hack

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Have you ever wondered about the effect of long working hours on your health, wealth, relationships, and overall well-being? It’s no surprise that hard work has been idolized as something that gets you all the success you could ever want. Unfortunately, what most of society thinks about the idea of “hard work” are long working hours.

Our upbringing has thought us that long working hours show dedication, commitment, and perseverance. But when the need to work starts to interfere with health, personal happiness, and social functioning, it becomes a weight around our necks.

It’s understandable that when famous successful people brag about working long hours, we follow their lead. We believe that it will do it for us as well. When someone like Elon Must, the CEO of Tesla Motors and founder of SpaceX, proudly announces that 100 hours a week highly improves the odds of success, one might think that that’s the definite way to success.

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Vaccinated Americans Will Reportedly Be Allowed Back In Europe This Summer | Forbes

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American holidaymakers who have received a coronavirus vaccine will be permitted to enter the European Union in time for summer vacation thanks to the success of the U.S. vaccine rollout, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told the New York Times Sunday.

The timing of the policy change is still unclear, and will depend on the spread of the virus in both the U.S. and Europe over the next few months, Von der Leyen said told the newspaper.

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How to Become a More Effective Office Manager | AllBusiness.com

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Managing an office isn’t easy. There are lots of moving parts, different personalities, and daily crises to deal with; the job can become overwhelming very quickly. With that said, effective office managers are worth their weight in gold and should always be able to find great career opportunities.

If you want to become the best office manager possible, then it’s important to work on some specific skills and learn how to use the most popular office tools so that you’re ready to do anything. Here are some areas to focus on as you build your office management career.

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Bank Approvals for Non-PPP Loans Increase Slightly | Small Business Trends

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Loan approval rates for small businesses are increasing slightly. The uptick in lending of non-PPP loans to small businesses was unveiled in the latest Biz2Credit Small Business Lending Index based on March 2021 figures. Since mid-January, Biz2Credit has been a leading processor of PPP applications in the US.

The amount of lending by big banks increased to 13.5% in March 2021. The increase is welcoming news for the small business community, as in February 2021, the figure stood at 13.3%. This was just a 0.1% rise from January 2021.

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Choosing a Paystub Generator | business.com

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Finding the right paystub generator is an important part of processing payroll.

If you run a small business and don’t partner with a payroll processing company, you have to process payroll manually. This means understanding your state’s laws, finding your employer identification number, calculating employee hours and handling deductions. It’s also crucial that you provide pay stubs to your employees. Pay stubs allow your employees to track important financial information, like taxes paid, and help you keep payroll records.

Generating pay stubs can be time-consuming, especially if you have a lot of employees. Pay stubs are a necessary part of payroll, so it’s important to develop a system to quickly churn them out. Spending all your time calculating pay stubs and running payroll defeats the purpose of running a small business – you should be focused on business decisions, not administrative work.

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7 Things You Didn’t Know Your Alexa Smart Speaker Could Do | Digital Trends

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There’s no doubt that an Alexa-powered smart speaker is useful. After all, the ability to control your smart home, play games, and choose music with your voice is phenomenal — but did you know there are a lot of abilities that go overlooked?

Alexa is jam-packed with features that don’t get as much time in the limelight. Some will keep you entertained, while others can help you give back to the world around you.

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