I tried to ditch Windows for MacOS, but I keep coming back | Digital Trends

July 11, 2022July 10, 2022 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

It’s fair to say that I’m an Apple guy. I love my M1 Mac Mini and you’ll have to pry my iPhone out of my cold, dead hands. Yet despite that, I’m no turtleneck-wearing fanboy, and I still stick with Windows as my main PC. Sorry Tim Cook, I just can’t bring myself to go all-in on Apple just yet.

That might sound odd considering I write almost exclusively about Apple products, but there are plenty of reasons for my reluctance. At the end of the day, Apple just hasn’t convinced me that it’s worth it to make the switch.

Making Sense of Crypto | The Startup Magazine

July 8, 2022July 6, 2022 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

One of the hottest topics in the investment world today is cryptocurrency. It’s also one of the most misunderstood and with the current negative headlines about plunging value, easy to dismiss. However, like most headlines on the evening news, there is more to understand about this digital currency than a quick two-minute newscast can cover.

What is crypto?

To understand what cryptocurrency is, you need to start with the Blockchain. In its simplest form, the Blockchain is just computer programs that perform specific functions. They are decentralized, meaning they are not owned by a specific entity. Blockchain is essentially a records-keeper, much like your favorite accounting software. Where it differs, however, is that any additions or changes to its files are recorded permanently on its digital “log” and visible for all to see. This makes Blockchain both a privacy-favoring transaction recording platform and one that is designed for trust, as any actions are visible and permanently recorded on the Blockchain.

Jerry Harris: Star of Netflix’s Cheer sentenced to 12 years | BBC News

July 8, 2022July 6, 2022 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Jeremiah “Jerry” Harris, one of the stars of the Netflix documentary series Cheer, has been sentenced to 12 years in prison on child sex abuse charges.

He pleaded guilty in February to charges of child pornography and travelling across state lines with the purposes of having sex with a child.

He was also sentenced to eight years of supervised released after prison.

Harris admitted to exchanging lewd pictures with 10-15 children in three states that he knew to be underage.

Inflation’s Unexpected Dividend: More Entrepreneurs | Inc.com

July 7, 2022July 6, 2022 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Up to four million Latino workers are thinking about taking the entrepreneurship plunge to help cope with record-high inflation.

That’s according to a new reading of a December survey from QuickBooks, Intuit’s fintech software arm, which was collected as the nation’s inflation gauges were rapidly escalating. The survey suggests that 15 percent of Latino and Hispanic respondents expressed interest in becoming an entrepreneur in 2022. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates the number of Latino and Hispanic workers in the U.S. at 27.1 million.

Virgin Galactic aims for 400 flights a year with two new ‘motherships’ | TechCrunch

July 7, 2022July 6, 2022 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Virgin Galactic is gearing up to take more tourists to the edge of space, working with Boeing to build two new “motherships” that will take the rocket-powered spaceplanes to launch altitude. It’s all part of the plan to hit 400 flights a year: every day and twice on Sundays, perhaps.

VG’s approach, which has been performed a few times with test crews and founder Richard Branson himself aboard, has the spacecraft strapped to the belly of a larger, custom aircraft, which gives the former a running start and skips the necessity of rocket acceleration through the densest part of the atmosphere.

The Worst Hacks and Breaches of 2022 So Far | WIRED

July 6, 2022July 4, 2022 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

WHETHER THE FIRST six months of 2022 have felt interminable or fleeting—or both—massive hacks, data breaches, digital scams, and ransomware attacks continued apace throughout the first half of this complicated year. With the Covid-19 pandemic, economic instability, geopolitical unrest, and bitter human rights disputes grinding on around the world, cybersecurity vulnerabilities and digital attacks have proved to be thoroughly enmeshed in all aspects of life.

With another six months left in the year, though, there’s more still to come. Here are the biggest digital security debacles that have played out so far.

5 Steps to Fixing Your Broken Training Program | Entrepreneur

July 6, 2022July 4, 2022 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Learning at work is broken. Across the U.S., hundreds of billions of dollars are spent each year on employee training — and most of it is a waste.

A study conducted by the Harvard Business Review reported that 70% of employees claim they don’t have mastery of the skills needed to do their jobs; only 25% believe training measurably improves performance; and only 12% apply new skills learned in learning and development programs to their jobs.

Outsourcing Shipping | Getentrepreneurial.com

July 5, 2022July 4, 2022 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

As your e-commerce business grows, you may want to consider outsourcing your shipping needs to a third party. Here’s how it works.

Outsourced shipping is when your product distribution is fulfilled by another company.
There are many different solutions for outsourced shipping.
When choosing a shipping provider, you should consider the size of your product and your projected shipping volume.
This article is for small business owners who want to streamline their logistics process and move their current processes out of their garage.

Wearable Muscles | Cool Business Ideas

July 5, 2022July 4, 2022 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

The ETH team developed the Myoshirt particularly to enhance the strength and endurance of people with restricted or declining mobility, and ran a small test, placing the unit on 10 people without any physical impairments, one with muscular dystrophy, and one with a spinal cord injury.

In an endurance test, which required people to lift their arms and/or an object and hold them up, healthy subjects were able to hold the position for a third longer with the exomuscle active than without it. The results were even better for the other two; the MD patient saw an endurance boost around 60 percent, and the patient with a spinal cord injury saw an endurance leap of 300 percent.

Before it’s ready to become a commercial product, the team says it needs to be further miniaturized and streamlined to fit better under clothing, and preferably with a drop in weight – the control box and actuator motor setup currently weigh a combined 4 kg (8.8 lb) and sit on a box on a table rather than being attached to the suit. As such, it’s currently only really suitable for folk getting around in wheelchairs.

Amazon Prime Day 2022: When is the sale, early deals, how to earn free credits, and more | Mashable

July 1, 2022June 30, 2022 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Amazon’s exclusive Prime Day sale is back for its seventh year in 2022, but record-high inflation rates have made it harder than ever to figure out which deals are actually worth adding to your cart. Below, we’ve rounded up some must-know Prime Day info that you can use to make smart shopping decisions and stretch your dollar against soaring prices.

What is Prime Day?

Prime Day is an annual sitewide sale that Amazon puts on for its Prime members. First held in 2015 in honor of Amazon’s 20th anniversary (with mixed success), it was originally plugged as a “one-day-only event filled with more deals than Black Friday, exclusively for Prime members around the globe.” In the years since, it’s morphed into a 48-hour affair that’s preceded by a couple weeks of teaser deals. “Prime Day” is a misnomer at this point.