Friday, July 3, 2009

Business consultant gets better performance out of naked office staff - Yahoo! India News

Business consultant gets better performance out of naked office staff

Thu, Jul 2 05:25 PM

London, Jul 2 (ANI): A business consultant, who was called in to help an ailing design and marketing company pull itself together, has managed to get the staff to perform better after he asked them to work naked.

David Taylor, a self-styled business psychologist, was enlisted by company onebestway, in Newcastle upon Tyne, after they were forced into six redundancies at the start of the credit crunch.

Taylor asked shocked employees to go naked for just one day to boost team spirit, and, amazingly, they agreed to go ahead with the daring Naked Friday idea.

"Inviting an organisation to go naked is the most extreme technique I've used," the Sun quoted Taylor as saying.

"It may seem weird but it works. It's the ultimate expression of trust in yourself and each other," he said.

Despite some initial reluctance, nearly all the staff went totally starkers - except for one man, who wore a posing pouch, and one of two female workers, who kept on black underwear.

And front-of-house manager Sam Jackson, 23, was the only one to go fully naked.

"It was brilliant. Now that we've seen each other naked, there are no barriers," Jackson said.

"We weren't put under pressure. If we wanted to come in clothed or in our underwear, we could. But I love my body and wasn't ashamed.

"We're all beautiful, whether we've got big bodies or small ones," Jackson, who suffers from cerebral palsy, added.

Managing Director Mike Owen, 40, said: "We're either brave or mad. But I did tell everyone they didn't have to do it - only if it felt right. As a creative company, we persuade our clients to be brave, and this was about taking on some of the braveness ourselves." (ANI)


Business consultant gets better performance out of naked office staff - Yahoo! India News

Business consultant gets better performance out of naked office staff

Thu, Jul 2 05:25 PM

London, Jul 2 (ANI): A business consultant, who was called in to help an ailing design and marketing company pull itself together, has managed to get the staff to perform better after he asked them to work naked.

David Taylor, a self-styled business psychologist, was enlisted by company onebestway, in Newcastle upon Tyne, after they were forced into six redundancies at the start of the credit crunch.

Taylor asked shocked employees to go naked for just one day to boost team spirit, and, amazingly, they agreed to go ahead with the daring Naked Friday idea.

"Inviting an organisation to go naked is the most extreme technique I've used," the Sun quoted Taylor as saying.

"It may seem weird but it works. It's the ultimate expression of trust in yourself and each other," he said.

Despite some initial reluctance, nearly all the staff went totally starkers - except for one man, who wore a posing pouch, and one of two female workers, who kept on black underwear.

And front-of-house manager Sam Jackson, 23, was the only one to go fully naked.

"It was brilliant. Now that we've seen each other naked, there are no barriers," Jackson said.

"We weren't put under pressure. If we wanted to come in clothed or in our underwear, we could. But I love my body and wasn't ashamed.

"We're all beautiful, whether we've got big bodies or small ones," Jackson, who suffers from cerebral palsy, added.

Managing Director Mike Owen, 40, said: "We're either brave or mad. But I did tell everyone they didn't have to do it - only if it felt right. As a creative company, we persuade our clients to be brave, and this was about taking on some of the braveness ourselves." (ANI)


Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Flash SEO Test Page - McAnerin International Inc.

Here is a fictionalized but essentially accurate conversation about Flash being indexed by the search engines:


{Meeting Room at SES}
Flash Developer: I understand that Macromedia has released a set of programs that will allow Flash to be accessible to search engines.
Search Engineer: Yes, that's true, we've looked at it.
Flash Developer: So the search engines can index Flash, right?
Search Engineer: Technically, yes, even without the kit, in the same way we can index PDF and other non-HTML documents, but...
Flash Developer: Yippee! My job is saved!
{Flash Developer runs out of room to tell all his friends and blog about it}
Search Engineer: But... As I was saying, the vast majority of Flash content is not indexable and takes up a huge amount of bandwidth for very little gain in the relevancy of the SERPS, therefore although we CAN index it, we DON'T index it...Hey, where'd he go?
Audience Member: He went to go generate a bunch of work for SEO's...


Flash SEO Test Page - McAnerin International Inc.

Here is a fictionalized but essentially accurate conversation about Flash being indexed by the search engines:


{Meeting Room at SES}
Flash Developer: I understand that Macromedia has released a set of programs that will allow Flash to be accessible to search engines.
Search Engineer: Yes, that's true, we've looked at it.
Flash Developer: So the search engines can index Flash, right?
Search Engineer: Technically, yes, even without the kit, in the same way we can index PDF and other non-HTML documents, but...
Flash Developer: Yippee! My job is saved!
{Flash Developer runs out of room to tell all his friends and blog about it}
Search Engineer: But... As I was saying, the vast majority of Flash content is not indexable and takes up a huge amount of bandwidth for very little gain in the relevancy of the SERPS, therefore although we CAN index it, we DON'T index it...Hey, where'd he go?
Audience Member: He went to go generate a bunch of work for SEO's...


Thursday, June 25, 2009

Chick

I don’t read it so much any more, but Chick Tracts were the first webcomic I ever read.



In case you’ve never heard of it, this is the best and most popular one: Dark Dungeons.


Thursday, June 11, 2009

U.S. job-seekers try new tricks to get employers' eye | Oddly Enough | Reuters

U.S. job-seekers try new tricks to get employers' eye

Wed Jun 10, 2009 2:59pm EDT
 
Photo
1 of 1Full Size

By Ellen Wulfhorst

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Job-seekers are using unusual gimmicks to grab the attention of potential employers, such as in one case sending a shoe along with a resume to get a "foot in the door," said a survey released on Wednesday.

Almost a fifth of hiring managers report seeing more unconventional tactics this year, compared with 12 percent who said so last year, according to the study by CareerBuilder.com, an online jobs site.

Faced with the highest unemployment in 25 years, candidates are trying a variety of tricks, including:

* handing out resumes at stoplights

* washing cars in a company parking lot

* staging a sit-in in a company lobby to demand a meeting with a director

* sending a cake designed as a business card with the candidate's picture

* handing out personalized coffee cups

* going to the same barber as the company chairman to have the barber speak on his behalf

One job-seeker attached a shoe to a resume as "a way to get my foot in the door," a respondent told the survey.

"The search for employment is taking longer and is more competitive than it has been in past years," said Jason Ferrara, senior career adviser at CareerBuilder, in a statement. "To compensate, some candidates have turned to extreme tactics."

But he cautioned: "While unusual job search antics may attract the attention of hiring managers, they need to be done with care and professionalism so that candidates are remembered for the right reasons."

The online survey was conducted for CareerBuilder by Harris Interactive among 2,543 full-time hiring managers and human resource professionals between February 20 and March 11, 2009. The overall results have a margin of error of plus or minus 1.94 percentage points.

CareerBuilder is owned by Gannett Co Inc, Tribune Co, McClatchy Co and Microsoft.

(Editing by Alan Elsner and Michelle Nichols)


U.S. job-seekers try new tricks to get employers' eye | Oddly Enough | Reuters

U.S. job-seekers try new tricks to get employers' eye

Wed Jun 10, 2009 2:59pm EDT
 
Photo
1 of 1Full Size

By Ellen Wulfhorst

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Job-seekers are using unusual gimmicks to grab the attention of potential employers, such as in one case sending a shoe along with a resume to get a "foot in the door," said a survey released on Wednesday.

Almost a fifth of hiring managers report seeing more unconventional tactics this year, compared with 12 percent who said so last year, according to the study by CareerBuilder.com, an online jobs site.

Faced with the highest unemployment in 25 years, candidates are trying a variety of tricks, including:

* handing out resumes at stoplights

* washing cars in a company parking lot

* staging a sit-in in a company lobby to demand a meeting with a director

* sending a cake designed as a business card with the candidate's picture

* handing out personalized coffee cups

* going to the same barber as the company chairman to have the barber speak on his behalf

One job-seeker attached a shoe to a resume as "a way to get my foot in the door," a respondent told the survey.

"The search for employment is taking longer and is more competitive than it has been in past years," said Jason Ferrara, senior career adviser at CareerBuilder, in a statement. "To compensate, some candidates have turned to extreme tactics."

But he cautioned: "While unusual job search antics may attract the attention of hiring managers, they need to be done with care and professionalism so that candidates are remembered for the right reasons."

The online survey was conducted for CareerBuilder by Harris Interactive among 2,543 full-time hiring managers and human resource professionals between February 20 and March 11, 2009. The overall results have a margin of error of plus or minus 1.94 percentage points.

CareerBuilder is owned by Gannett Co Inc, Tribune Co, McClatchy Co and Microsoft.

(Editing by Alan Elsner and Michelle Nichols)


Wednesday, June 3, 2009

Mapstraction - a javascript library to hide differences between mapping APIs.

Mapstraction is a library that provides a common API for various javascript mapping APIs to enable switching from one to another as smoothly as possible. Developers can code their applications once, and then easily switch mapping provider based on project needs, terms and conditions, and new functionality.


Users can switch maps as desired based on personal taste and quality of maps in their local area. Various tools built on top of Mapstraction allow users to easily integrate maps into their own sites, and configure them with different controls, styles, and provider.


Mapstraction - a javascript library to hide differences between mapping APIs.

Mapstraction is a library that provides a common API for various javascript mapping APIs to enable switching from one to another as smoothly as possible. Developers can code their applications once, and then easily switch mapping provider based on project needs, terms and conditions, and new functionality.


Users can switch maps as desired based on personal taste and quality of maps in their local area. Various tools built on top of Mapstraction allow users to easily integrate maps into their own sites, and configure them with different controls, styles, and provider.


Monday, May 18, 2009

DisplayLink for Linux turns a humble wireless router into a beautiful PC



Our inner nerd was already completely thrilled at the release of DisplayLink driver source code for Linux, but he's positively frothing at this elegant implementation. It's simply a Linux-based, OpenWRT router (the ASUS WL-500g Premium, to be specific) with a Samsung U70 USB display and a keyboard plugged in, but the DisplayLink driver turns what would be otherwise a headless, networking-only server into a totally elegant PC. Sure, that 300MHz embedded processor won't be powering past your Atom-powered machines or pretty much any other "modern" hardware, but it's basically a tinker's dream -- suddenly almost anything with a USB port and a processor somewhere within it could become a computer with the right amount of know-how.

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DisplayLink for Linux turns a humble wireless router into a beautiful PC originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 18 May 2009 17:12:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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