Our Intelligence: Our Definitions

Clearly if other animals exhibit impressive intelligence appropriate to their environment, perhaps we are not as special as we've been taught. A good conversation with a dolphin about the latest cetacean gossip would be convincing evidence that humans are not the pinnacle of evolution, only the temporary pinnacle of one small twig on the tree of life.We humans have always thought of ourselves as particularly bright, proudly noting our compassion, humor, altruism and impressive capacity to generate language, mathematics, tools, art, and music along with computer development and software development. In citing this self-serving list, filtered to our benefit, we assume that humans possess, and other animals lack, these honorable traits or capabilities. We ignore the inconvenient fact that we choose to define and measure intelligence in terms of our greatest strengths. We arbitrarily exclude from the definition of intelligence higher brain functions in other animals. Enter the compelling interest in communication with dolphins. We would be low on the list of smart animals if we included in our basic definition of intelligence the ability to use self-generated sonar to explore the environment and to communicate.

Net Neutrality

Once upon a time, companies like AT&T, Comcast, Verizon, and others declared a war on the internet’s foundational principle: that its networks should be “neutral” and users don’t need anyone’s permission to invent, create, communicate, broadcast, or share online. The neutral and level playing field provided by permissionless innovation has empowered all of us with the freedom to express ourselves and innovate online without having to seek the permission of a remote telecom executive. But today, that freedom won’t survive much longer if a federal court — the second most powerful court in the nation behind the Supreme Court, the DC Circuit — is set to strike down the nation’s net neutrality law, a rule adopted by the Federal Communications Commission in 2010. If the neutrality is to go, so does meritocracy because it depends on the deals that are struck with the phone services and web service providers, not how great technology and coding a certain company has. Unfortunately there are plenty of loophole to go around.

Texting While Driving: Very Costly

As it turns out, texting-while-driving penalities vary widely from state to state. According to a new state-by-state analysis by Mother Jones, I would have gotten off easy — the offense carries a $20 base fine in California. But had I been driving in Alaska, I could have been facing not only a $10,000 ticket, but a year in prison as well. It may seem somewhat ridiculous that a simple text could carry such a stiff fine. But remember, more teenagers will die this year from texting behind the wheel than from drunk driving. And a recent research study shows that even hands-free texting is more dangerous than drunk driving. Most states’ penalties fall somewhere between California’s lax $20 charge and Alaska’s brutal $10,000 fine — the median national penalty is $100. But it’s important to remember that we’re only talking about base fines. Many states, counties and towns tack on extra fees and penalties to traffic offenses. I think that the penalties should be much more strict for all phone service usage behind the wheel. Including spelling a word in words with friends. It seems like the laws are lagging behind the technology.

Legallity and Your Social Network

Considering that most of us are on some sort of social network, we have to be aware of some of the legal consequences that come with sharing too much, and this even includes the VoIP systems. If your social network post or photo discloses criminal activity, you can be investigated and arrested. Although it may seem like you can remain anonymous online, nothing is private. Everything can and will be traced back to you. Before posting anything online, stop and ask yourself, "Will this post negatively affect me? Could it ever be used against me?" Don't be surprised if you go in for an interview and your potential employer has viewed your Facebook profile. Applicants for jobs or universities need to be aware of what's on their social network profile, not just what they post but what their friends add to their walls or tag them in. When you hire an attorney, you assume everything you tell them is keep in confidence. You are confident he or she will be trustworthy and keep all information confidential. This agreement means that whatever you disclose cannot be used against you in court. With such an agreement, don't be the one who breaches your own confidentiality by carelessly posting on Facebook.

Internet Addiction

Do you think that you are addicted to the internet? At what threshold does it start looking like addiction? I use the internet all the time for VoIP service conversations so my time online comes in around ten hours a day. America’s first hospital-based “internet addiction” rehab program opened over Labor Day weekend at Bradford Regional Medical Center in Pennsylvania, and while that debut highlights the pervasiveness of the net in our everyday lives, experts are still debating whether the lure of social media or online gaming actually constitutes addiction. This is idea of a rehab is almost laughable because there are so many other variables that need to be considered before labeling someone with an internet addiction. If you really find that the internet, internet fax, and emails are interfering with your life, you should try taking small breaks where you are completely disconnected for a period of time. How attached are you to your phone services?

Annoying People on Facebook

There are millions of people using Facebook so there is a great chance that there will be a couple that are very annoying, especially with the introduction of internet phone services. One of the most obviously annoying people are the ones that post all the time and too much information. No one cares what you had for lunch or dinner or wants to hear about your doctors appointments. Also, people need to stop oversharing their location. Either you're trying to attract a stalker or you're trying to level up in some bizarre video game version of your life. Thanks for alerting us of your stops at the taxidermist, foot massage kiosk, psychic, cactus nursery and restroom. As far as pictures go, no one wants to see you without a shirt unless you are Matthew McConaughey. Better yet, please no selfies. What irritates you about people using Facebook?

Technology Eras

I am sure that you all have heard about the CEO of Microsoft, Steve Ballmer, stepping down from his position. If you have not delved into the articles with about 100 different angles, I can spare you the details and break it down. First of all, there are plenty that describe how the exit was sudden and just as many that say it was planned and in the making for several years. Other go on to describe and debate whether he was the worst or the best CEO. It is definitely a mixed record as far as most are concerned. PCs have had an era and it is coming to an end with mobile applications and smartphones right behind to take its place. The world is far better off than it would have been if Microsoft had managed to stay on top forever as it had with the PCs. What do you think about his exit and him as a "visionary" in general?

Everything is Recorded

Sometimes it is great to be able to record things such as the instant replay in sports or for surveillance purposes. Other times, being able to record everything seems to take away from the moments. We worry about losing our privacy but there are a lot more aspects of life that we will lose if everything is recorded. Thanks to our near-endless access to digital recording devices, the less-than-Hollywood version of you will be immortalized on the home computer, or stored for generations in some digital computing cloud. Wearable devices like Google Glass with its internet phone services are only a hint of what is to come — ever smaller and cheaper, and tied to inexpensive digital storage. Records of voices and events will be a permanent part of the Internet the way text is already, held forever and searched, mined and inspected. Casual conversations and off-the-cuff quips are about be put through the data blender, scrutinized and organized and pumped through algorithms in search of deeper meaning. Is this the direction that we want to be going in as a society?

Why Internet Phone Interviews Are Not Cutting It?

For the millions of 2013 college graduates, how many of you have found a stable job in what you went to school for? Also, just how many interviews have you had? More businesses are moving to having interviews using internet phones as a way to save money and time. When investing in people to work for your company, there could not be a worse idea. The employees are the ones that can really make or break a business so it is important to spend a lot of time and resources on finding the right people that can move your company up. When the company opts to interview someone over IP telephony, they miss out on the key indicators of a personality: the body language. The employer will not be able to fully assess the candidate because they will only be seeing them from the waste up and the dynamic of the interview is completely different. How do you feel about internet phone interviews?

Keeping Information Safe

Do you realize just how much information there is about you on the web at this very moment? What is more shocking is just how much people are willing to pay for it. We all know that when using passwords, you have to use different one for every account. In reality, it is nearly impossible to remember every single unique password. The solution? A password manager of course. It will not only remember all your passwords, but will generate super strong and unique ones and automatically fill them into login fields with the click of a button. LastPass is an excellent and free choice. “What is your mother’s maiden name?” or “In what city were you born?” are common questions websites often ask you to answer so as to supposedly keep your account safe from intruders. In reality, there’s nothing secure about such generic queries. That’s because someone who wants access to your account could easily do some Internet research to dig up the answers. Not sure you can remember your lies? You can create “accounts” in your password manager just for this purpose. All of this goes for internet phone services as well because there is nothing worse than someone sending messages on your behalf.

Video Conferencing Growth

The number of telepresence rooms installed at companies worldwide has grown from an estimated 2,000 at the end of 2008 to about 7,000 today. Although most of today’s multi-screen, high-definition audio and video systems are used privately by vendors for “in-person” meetings, hotel chains and conference centers are also embracing telepresence so that business customers can collaborate over a converged network. Video conferencing solutions are also gaining traction with an estimated quarter-million units being shipped per quarter. Despite this impressive turnaround, the difficulties of interoperability and protocols continue to negatively impact widespread telepresence and video conferencing adoption. Today’s increasing demand for interoperability among key market players like Cisco, Polycom, Microsoft is easy to understand. People want to be able to use any device or platform that they want in order to conduct their business in order to increase efficiency and not worry about the technical problems associated with trying to integrate systems.

Web Design

A great web design is worth more than a lot of the marketing you can do. he more dependent we have become on the Internet for information, the likelier we are to suffer from its design deficiencies. Bad design can be infuriating, inconvenient or damaging in any field. When it comes to web development, you have to be able to make a user friendly web site and one that is intuitive. There are certain things that the website needs to have. On the efficiency front, given that the most important purpose of most Web sites is to enable us to access information, helping us to find it effortlessly is essential. You would be surprised to see just how many sites fail to achieve this. A lot of companies actually prioritize style over substance. Other common mistakes are that the web developers like to go overboard. They use the most sophisticated technology which might look great on state of the art computers but not so much on smartphones or lower end models.

Cloud PBX

If you are starting a business, one of the first things to consider is how you are going to reach out to your customers. This includes having a great professional image that you can present to the public. With cloud services, you will be able to create the appearance of a larger organization even if it is run right from home. You will be able to have features such as an auto-receptionist welcoming callers, extensions, and calling options that the caller can use to be forwarded to any number of phones, computers, or mobile devices. Another great aspect of the cloud service is that you can fully customize it to meet your needs and business goals, along with your own music on hold and announcements. You can also create a custom caller experience based on the time and date of calls, business hours, caller ID information, and more. Since AB Soft is partnered with RingCentral, you would also be getting an internet fax number.

Chill Out

Have you ever come home from work just mad at the whole world and cannot even stand yourself? Stress can have many damaging and sometimes deadly effects on people. Other than lashing out at loved ones, a person might start to get different aches and pains. The cardiovascular system is possibly the most at risk for damage from stress. It increases blood pressure and even plaque buildup. There was a study done on the demographics of people with stress and without. As it turns out, the people who depend on social interactions and situations as a means of survival are the ones that are more aggressive in nature and are at a higher risk. This means that the people that work in the business field better watch out and most importantly chill out. Get a cost efficient phone service and web development team that can take some of the burden off of you. That way you would not feel so overwhelmed. And even more importantly, take a deep breath and a good look around you. That little child in the picture on your desk has to be the most precious thing in your life.

What 2013 Holds According to Science

Science has come a long way in the past century, there is no doubt about that. It has brought us information at an exponential rate, in part due to the internet and the availability of sharing, because of mobile application development, all that wonderful information. More people are paying attention to what is going on in the science world. Best part is that they do not have to worry about taking a test afterwards. In surprising numbers, people posted, viewed and searched for science-related topics last year — sharing news from space and undersea, commenting on new discoveries and uploading photos and video in a full-out embrace of the ability to communicate with thousands of others about global subjects in real time. And I know you most likely watched that Mars rover landing with just as much excitement as the people in the control room. Admit it.