Best wireless headphones for 2023 from Bose, Sony, and more | Digital Trends

June 8, 2023June 7, 2023 ~ knjohn ~ 1 Comment

While wired headphones are still great for getting the most out of hi-res lossless music, wireless headphones have come a long way in terms of sound quality, features like active noise cancellation (ANC), transparency mode, and more. They’re incredibly comfortable, and, of course, you don’t have any wires to get tangled up in on your morning commute.

We’re always looking for the best wireless headphones, and we also take comfort, audio quality, and battery life, seriously, too. For this roundup, we’re focusing on wireless headphones of the over-ear variety. For the best wireless earbuds, we’ve got a roundup of those, too.

That said, we think that Sony’s latest WH-1000XM5 are so good that they currently take the top spot on not just this list, but also our picks for the best noise-canceling headphones and the best headphones, period. They’re light, very comfortable, have excellent noise cancellation and sound quality, and are packed with premium features.

How to download the iOS 17 beta on your iPhone right now | Digital Trends

June 8, 2023June 7, 2023 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

As expected, Apple officially took the wraps off iOS 17 at WWDC 2023. The next major release of the iPhone operating system includes some exciting new features, ranging from improvements to phone calls and FaceTime to a new Journal app.

The final release of iOS 17 isn’t expected to arrive until September, but as usual, Apple is making its first developer preview available now to give developers a head start on prepping their apps so they’re ready to go as soon as iOS 17 officially lands in the fall. If the past few years are any indication, we’ll also see a public beta arrive sometime in July, usually in tandem with the third or fourth developer beta.

Best fitness trackers for kids: Wearables from Fitbit, Garmin, and more to get them motivated | Mashable

June 6, 2023June 5, 2023 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Kids have the kind of energy adults could only dream of having. But like for the rest of us, movement can sometimes get overlooked — especially if there’s a PlayStation or iPad with Youtube within arm’s reach or there’s not easy access to play outdoors. You might not think that a kid needs to track that activity (or the motivation to move around at all), but in a relatively sedentary society, making movement a priority from a young age is still vital.

Fitness trackers for kids can help foster a well-balanced lifestyle and introduce responsibility through reminders. The ones designed specifically for children in mind focus on leading an active lifestyle (rather than weight loss or something) as well as forming healthy non-fitness related habits, like building a bedtime routine or being responsible for chores.

WWDC 2023: 5 takeaways from Apple’s biggest product event in years | CNN Business

June 5, 2023 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Apple on Monday unveiled its most ambitious – and riskiest – new hardware product in years: a mixed reality headset called the Apple Vision Pro.

Apple (AAPL) CEO Tim Cook touted the Vision Pro, which combines virtual reality and augmented reality, as a “revolutionary product,” with the potential to change how users interact with technology, each other and the world around them.

The highly anticipated announcement came at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference, where it also teased a long list of new features and updates to some of its most widely used products.

Here’s what you should know from the event:

Hiring and Retention Tips for Small Business Owners | Business News Daily

June 2, 2023June 1, 2023 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Hiring and retention remain top challenges for small business owners. Here’s how employers can improve their recruitment and retention efforts.

Hiring and retention remain top challenges for small businesses due to a lack of workplace engagement.
Businesses have difficulty retaining workers because many of them feel under-compensated and burned out. Additionally, finding employees with the right skills and qualifications is a challenge.
To recruit and retain quality candidates, businesses must provide fair compensation, career development, flexibility and a positive company culture.
This article is for small business owners and recruiters looking to secure and retain talent in the current job market.

11 Reasons Why We Fail to Achieve Our Goals | LifeHack

June 1, 2023May 31, 2023 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Thinking up a goal is the easy part. Pinpointing the specifics of a goal, developing a plan of action, and then following through with that plan of action and pushing past the inevitable obstacles that will arise is a different story altogether. As you can see, there are many reasons why we fail to achieve our goals (and our new year’s resolutions every year).

Former U.S. President Teddy Roosevelt is famous for having said: “Nothing in the world is worth having or worth doing unless it means effort, pain, difficulty.”

It would be easy to blame people’s avoidance of pain and difficulty for the fact that a great majority of goals fail to be met, but there has to be more to it than that, right? Well, there most certainly is. So, why do we fail to achieve our goals?

9 Types of Goals to Help You Move Your Life Forward | LifeHack

June 1, 2023May 31, 2023 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Goals can be about anything in life, as long as it is something you set to achieve within a timeframe. There are different types of goals you can set to make your life better.

For example, you can set a goal to improve your vocabulary by reading 30 books in a year. To achieve this goal, you’ll probably have to set smaller goals, like reading 30 minutes a day or 4 hours a week and reading up to 3 books every month.

While at it, you may discover that your family and relationship need more attention, as does your business. You might also find that you need to raise the bar of your income to meet surging expenses. Moreover, you also do not want to keep your health in the danger zone while pursuing your wildest dreams.

Amazon Launches Innovative New Echo Devices | Small Biz Trends

May 24, 2023May 23, 2023 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Amazon has unveiled an expanded line of Echo products that are set to change the landscape of the home tech market, and with it, present opportunities for small businesses. The tech giant introduced four all-new Echo devices: the Echo Pop, Echo Show 5, Echo Show 5 Kids, and Echo Buds. Additionally, the Echo Auto is now available in eight more countries, bringing Alexa’s assistance to even more drivers around the globe.

Small businesses can leverage these advancements as Amazon’s smart devices become increasingly integrated into daily routines. With over half a billion Alexa-enabled devices now sold, these innovations are set to have broad reach and diverse applications.

Why Downtime and Work-Life Balance Are Critical for StartUp Success | The Startup Magazine

May 22, 2023 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

What Is Down-Time and the Work-Life Balance?

The work-life balance equation is all about having a balanced approach to work and play – in other words, working hard and playing hard. The constant hustle that we have all become accustomed to is simply not good for our long-term mental health and well-being. The increase in startup failure caused by owner burnout has become more common than ever and, as such, the importance of downtime relaxation is more often than not cited as the solution. Understanding this is the first step that should be followed by determining how much time you intend to put aside for yourself and then choosing what you intend to do.

Use it or lose it: Google says it will delete inactive accounts | CNN Business

May 17, 2023May 16, 2023 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

If you haven’t logged into your Google account in a long time, you better use it or lose it.

Google announced Tuesday it will start deleting accounts that have been inactive for at least two years, a move that the company says is intended to prevent security risks.

The updated policy takes effect immediately, but Google said it will not begin deleting accounts until December. The company plans to send out multiple warning notifications to users and to conduct the purge of inactive accounts in phases.

The first accounts on the chopping block will be those that were created and then never revisited by the user, Google said. The policy also will only impact personal accounts, leaving organizations like schools and businesses untouched.