#the perk and downside of doing remote work

[ujunxverse]

i shd stop sleeping during my shift.... i think people are slowly realizing that i'm not doing my work oop-

[communicationthroughlyrics]

I Like Your Blood On My Teeth Just A Little Too Much - 3

You’re a former military, career oriented security executive who has made quite the living for yourself- but it has always been lacking. Your non-committal attitude has led you down a playgirl lifestyle, never really settling. What happens when your new boss throws you a curveball, and as a result? You end up hopelessly involved with a Hollywood starlet.

Big pieces starting to fall into place, people. Keep with me :] The images I am including are the backdrops for the chapters, enjoy!

2.8K Word Count

Ch 3: All This Money And This Pain Got Me Heartless

It was around 2 in the morning before you got home. The perk to your dream home? It wasn’t near anyone,  and you could be alone with your thoughts. The downside? It was in the middle of nowhere- in a ski town in Idaho. It was nowhere near convenient to just “visit,” which was the point. That’s the other reason to why you kept the apartment close to work, only about a 45 minute drive in traffic, versus this 14 hour commute, or 2 hour flight. You groaned as you parked the Porsche in the garage, its designated spot between some of your other cars.

You dragged yourself away from the plush interior, popping open the rear lift gate and grabbing your bag, flinging its strap back over your shoulder, and slamming the gate closed. You walked towards the door that would lead you onto the skyway over a creek that ran alongside your house. You locked the car, turning to look over all the vehicles housed in you garage, some in varying states of repair, before you shut off the light and walked across the bridge towards your house. You flung the door open, throwing the bag on your shoulder off to the side of the laundry room you just entered. Removing your brown dress shoes, you opened the door into the living area of the house, walking over to the couch and allowing your body to fall forwards onto the plush couch. You lifted your arm, feeling across the coffee table blindly for the remote to your fireplace. “Mmmpfh…where the hell?” You felt around further, slamming your hand harder and harder on the table until you lift your head to face the table, scanning it for the remote. You notice it, across the living room, on the chair closest to the fireplace. “MMMphfffuck!” You grunt into the couch cushion, giving up on the fireplace, and grabbing the blanket off the back of the sofa, pulling it over you and hoping for a decent amount of sleep. 

You awoke to the sound of your phone vibrating on your coffee table, groaning and grabbing the pillow underneath your head, pressing it against your face. You hoped that by ignoring it, you wouldn’t hear it anymore. Thankfully the phone quit ringing, and you ripped the pillow from your face. Your peace was short lived as it began ringing again. “Unngh why didn’t I shut that fucking thing off!” You yell at yourself as you slam your hand on top of your phone, picking it up and answering it blindly. 

“What?! This better be fucking good!” You spit so much venom into the phone you’re sure the soul on the other end might end up poisoned. 

“Good morning to you too.” An unfamiliar voice rasps back. You pull the phone away from your ear to glance at the screen, wondering who you were speaking to. The number was a New York number, but you didn’t know anyone who lived there. 

“Who the hell is this, and how’d you get this number?” You make sure to let whomever is on the other line that you do not appreciate the disruption. 

“Oh! I’m sorry, I forgot that they didn’t give you my number yesterday. It’s Scarlett. I hope you don’t mind, but I had some things I wanted to ask you about.”

“How’d you get my number?” You asked again, still not getting the complete answer that you wanted. You had a feeling you already knew the answer. 

“Sorry, I didn’t realize it was an issue…” You cut her off before she could continue.

“I give my number out. No one else does. Who gave you my number? I’m not going to ask again.”  You sat up on the couch, the blanket falling from your shoulders to your lap. That’s when you looked down and realized you were still in your work clothes. 

“Kris. She gave me your number in case I needed to reach you. I’m sorry I bothered you, I'll just send out an email.” The voice rasped back, but you could detect a tone of disappointment. She hung up before you could respond back. “Yeah, do that.” You thought as you went to your favorite contacts and dialed your assistant. 

“Do you know how to NOT work?” She asked, unaware of what was about to happen. 

“You KNOW the rules, you of ALL fucking people know how I feel when they get broken!” You’re seething on the phone at your assistant. 

“And you know damn well that I will NOT stay on the phone if you talk to me like that. Chill the fuck out.” Her tone changed to match yours. She was never afraid of going toe to toe with you. “Scarlett called, I take it?” She asks pointedly. 

“Why- whywhywhy…did you give her my personal number? You know better!” You try to calm yourself and work your way through what is happening. 

“Well, to be blunt- she begged for it. ” Kris deadpans. “Plus with how you were oogling her yesterday, you can thank me later.” You could hear the tone of her voice, you recognized it from when she would push you to flirt with someone. She always acted as a wingman for you, it was one of the many feathers in her imaginary cap.

“You know how I- wait, what? She asked for it?” You quirked, not expecting that response. You try and picture how that conversation went with Scarlett and Kris, and what had to have been said to get Kris to fork over your number. 

“Ha. I knew that’d get your attention. She begged me for your number, arguing that if you will be at her house heading up security and blah blah blah, she’d need a more direct way to get a hold of you.” You could hear the sarcasm in her voice, knowing that she wasn’t being entirely truthful. 

“Watch it, Smithers. You better not piss me off any more- I don’t want to come back to the city.” You throw your nickname for her in there for good measure. 

“Oh no. What ever will I do?” She deadpans once more. “I found out what was going on with that weirdo you sent me. Just know I’ve got some juice regarding him, but it will have to wait till you're back at work.” She teases, knowing full well it’ll only egg you on. 

“No, don’t make me log on from here and see what the hell was up with that guy. Spill it Smith.” You state, standing up from the couch, walking to the kitchen to make some coffee. Clearly, you weren’t going to get any more sleep at this point. 

“No. And I also blocked your proxy from the cabin. You can’t log in right now. Relax, we’ve got it handled, mmmmkaybyeeeee!” She hangs up, leaving you to stare at the screen in protest before grumbling to yourself, shutting off the device and throwing it on the charger. You walked upstairs while your coffee is brewing, so you can get yourself out of the work clothes from yesterday.  You groaned as you glanced at the clock on your nightstand, seeing that it was only 6:30am. “Goddamn, do these people sleep?” You ask yourself, before realizing that you were up at the exact same time as them. You shuffled towards your bed, flopping onto it briefly, before pushing yourself up off of it, going over to the closet, and debating on what to wear for the day. You figured you should go down and work out for a little bit, so you grabbed a pair of dark green workout shorts and a black sports bra. You walked out of the closet, towards the staircase, heading towards the kitchen to grab your coffee, opting to drink it straight, and grabbing your protein and adding some water to it, heading towards your  home gym. You started stretching as you stalked into the gym, getting yourself ready for some weight training and boxing practice. 

After an hour of weights and another hour of beating your frustrations into a punching bag, you grabbed the towel next to you, wiping your brow before throwing it into a laundry basket in the corner, walking away towards the kitchen to check your phone. You grabbed it as you approached the counter, turning the phone on. You set it down, checking your fridge for something for breakfast. “Fuck.” You muttered to yourself. You were out of almost everything, only having creamer for coffee and a few beers, some condiments and other odds and ends. Walking back to the counter your phone was on, you peeked at some of the notifications that had popped up while it was off and charging.  A few texts were buried in all the notifications, but you didn’t see them, and assumed nothing crazy was going on.

You threw the phone back down before going up to shower,  ready to begin the day. As you walked away, your phone buzzed away on the counter, with a few texts from Kris and Paul. 

8:15AM  PAUL- “Y/N. Scarlett has made some changes to the plans. Boss-man needs you here asap to go over them.”

8:20AM.  PAUL- “Y/N. Let me know when you can get here. I know we told you to take some time, but we need you to go over some things, and they cannot wait. We need you here in person.”

8:37AM   KRIS- “I know your phone isn’t off, you better not be ignoring us. You’re too much of a control freak to shut off your phone.”

8:45AM.   PAUL- “Y/N. LET ME KNOW ASAP.”

9:02AM   KRIS- “Y/N. It’s not like you to not answer. With wierdo lurking outside your place and you not answering- it makes me nervous. Call me. ”

You sighed as you stepped out of the shower, grabbing a  towel off the rack and quickly drying yourself off, before walking over to the sink, and staring at yourself while leaning on the counter. You stood up, rubbing your face with your hands, before throwing the damp towel into a basket by the door. You walked out of the bathroom and towards your closet, thinking of what you needed to do today. “You really don’t need to do anything, Y/N…” you thought to yourself, but you sighed, knowing that you would never let yourself not do anything with your day. You opted for a wide cut black v neck tee shirt and some of your necklaces, some dark blue jeans and your black boots, mussing your short hair to give it some texture, as you glanced in the mirror by the door. Grabbing some cologne to dab on your neck, you felt satisfied enough with your appearance to venture into McCall, and get some stuff for you to live off of for a few days. You took a fleeting look at the clock on your microwave was you grabbed you phone and stuffed it into your back pocket, not even looking at the screen.  You grabbed the keys to one of your favorite cars, before turning on your heel towards the garage, so you can head to town. 

As you approached the general store in town, there was a cat call whistled in your direction as you pulled yourself out of the car you chose, and you stared in the direction of the sound, an already excited man walking your way. You looked him up and down, noting his height, he appeared to be 5’ 9”, skinnier build, in his mid to late 40’s. He was vaguely familiar, and smiled as he approached you, waving and lightly jogging towards your location. 

“WOW! That is an amazing machine! What year is it, a 69? Small Block?” He asked, his eyebrow quipped, while wiping his pointer finger along the passenger side of the car, walking around it while he glanced back and forth between you and the car. 

You rolled your eyes, people always made it a point to comment on one of your cars while you were out. If you didn’t love them so much, you’d walk everywhere. “Cobras weren’t made in 69. It's a 67, 427. And fingers off, unless you wanna loose em, bud.” 

“Ford, right?” He asked again, swiping his finger another inch or so along the deep blue paintwork, as if he was testing the waters. He then ran his fingers through his dark brown hair.

“No. Shelby American. Can I help you?” You fired back, clearly showing your annoyance at this man. 

“Whoa, bud. I was just admiring your car! No need to be testy with me.” He approached you on the drivers side, eyeing you up and down, as you stood square to him, with your arms across your chest, clearly showing your muscle. “How’d you score this beauty anyways? These aren’t cheap.” He raised his eyebrow further, a tone as if he was questioning how you were within a 10-foot radius of the car. 

“I’m not you're bud, pal. I have some things I need to do. I would appreciate if you would stop touching my car, and leave me alone.” You state coldly as you turn and begin to walk away. 

“Well, no need to be rude about it, I was just curious.” He said, a smirk flashing across his features as you turned away. You briefly peered over your shoulder, to see him turn and walk the other way. “Fucking weird. What the hell was that??” You walked towards the store, glancing back in the direction of the blue roadster, sitting in a far spot that would surely be surrounded by cars when you came out, but all were currently vacant. 

You grabbed the basics, some milk, eggs, some necessities for sandwiches, and other odds and ends before approaching the cashier. You groaned, noticing that the cashier was the same annoying man from earlier. He had now shed his jacket for a tan apron, with the name “Fred” embroidered onto it. You could now see his bright blue eyes, which were piercing to say the least. Of course, he was the only cashier in this place. You threw your items onto the belt, and stalked up to the register as he lifted a tab to allow the belt to lurch to life, your items rolling towards him. He just looked at you, the same stupid smirk on his face, before he started scanning your things. 

“You still didn’t answer my question. That makes things look highly suspect.” He says, as he continues scanning your groceries. 

“Maybe it's a rude question to which you will get no answer.” You deadpan back, raising your eyebrow as he chuckles. 

“Ok. Whatever.” He says. “$52.66 is your total.” He states, beginning to bag your groceries. “Where are you going to put this in that tiny of a car?” He prodded again. You shake your head at the mans insolence, pulling out your wallet, and handing him a black credit card. He just looks down at it, before looking back at you. He was hesitant to grab the card, which made you instantly gratified. That would surely shut him up. “Th….these don’t have a limit. You can’t just get a black card.” He states, still staring at your outstretched hand. You roll your eyes, before swiping the card for him, and slipping it back into its leather slot. 

“Yup. I’ll take my groceries now. ” You say, popping the “p” and pointing towards your bags. “What, BUD?  Never seen a big boy card before?” You ask, grabbing the bags from behind the counter, and smirking as you left him shocked and frozen in his spot. You simply turned and walked out the door, groaning when you saw everyone parked around you. You approached the passenger side, placing the paper bags full of goods into the footwell where your passengers feet would normally go.

You walked around, opting not to open the drivers door, just hopping over it and sliding in, and depressing the clutch to start the car, smiling as you heard the rumble. You slightly spun the tires as you left the parking lot, darting out onto the main thoroughfare that runs into and out of the heart of town. You looked around as you saw people window shopping, arms linked in one another’s as they grazed up and down the sidewalks. This was a resort town, which was why you made sure to stay out of it as much as possible. Winter was always crazy here, people wanting to come and ski from all over. You approached a 4-way stop, turning right so you can make your way back into the hills, winding around a large lake that was popular for a myriad of water sports in the summer. The leaves were starting to change, signaling natures close to the summer and eventual arrival of the fluffy white stuff you loved so dearly. That was the other reason you wanted to live somewhere like this- the mountains in winter always held a soft spot in your heart.

(CHAPTER 4)

[employe]

3 Difficult Aspects of Remote Workforce Management

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced businesses worldwide to allow their employees to work from home. While this has been a lifesaver for many people, it has created new challenges for managers.

Remote employees have become increasingly more common in recent times. While this arrangement can have many advantages, it also presents new challenges for managers. This blog will discuss some problematic aspects of managing a remote workforce.

Before that, it is essential to learn about what remote workforce management is all about.

Remote Workforce Management and Its Challenges

A remote workforce is a team of employees working outside a traditional office setting. There are many benefits to having a remote workforce. However, some challenges come with managing a remote team. Managing a remote team's communication can be a challenging task.

Keeping everyone on the same page can be challenging when you're all in different rooms. It would help if you were concise and tactful when dealing with your staff, ensuring everyone receives the info they need to proceed with their work.

Another challenge of managing a remote workforce is keeping everyone motivated and on track. When you cannot see your team members every day, they can easily get sidetracked or lose motivation.

What are the Aspects of Remote Workforce Management?

Having a remotely based workforce has many advantages, but there are also a few downsides. Here risqué of remote workforce management are provided.

1. Monitoring Efficiency & Productivity

Remote working is the latest trend. While this can be an excellent perk for some, it can pose challenges for employees and managers. Here are some tips for monitoring employee productivity and efficiency when working remotely. 

Managers must ensure that their employees are productive and efficient while working remotely. Leaders urge their staff members to work toward their goals by establishing clear goals for them. You should also provide regular feedback on performance.

Employees also need to be aware of the potential challenges of working remotely and take steps to stay focused and on task. To meet the goals, you need to set concrete and regular plans. It's also important to take breaks throughout the day and work only during the night.

2. Communicating Just Enough

In a remote environment, it is essential to communicate just enough. Too much communication can be overwhelming and lead to a feeling of being micro-managed. On the other hand, too little contact can leave workers feeling isolated and disconnected.

Often, both parties need to have a clear idea of what is expected from them in terms of communication. This way, everyone can focus on doing their best work without feeling bogged down or left out.

3. Prioritizing Work & Avoiding Overworking

If a brand-new work environment is created, it is essential to mindfully prioritize the work at hand.

First and foremost, open and transparent communication is critical. If you collaborate remotely, it can be hard to know when those around you are available, so it's key that you establish a schedule that others know. This way, you can only schedule meetings or ask for favors within someone's regular work hours.

Second, learn to say no. In a highly isolated environment, it can feel challenging only to be available when you wish - but this is not possible (or healthy!). If you are overwhelmed with requests, take a step back and assess what is necessary.

[makeste]

I just took that Bakugou introspection as Horikoshi's way of telling the audience that yes Bakugou can keep up with OP Deku because there has been so much muttering across the fanbase that Bakugou won't be able to. I don't see the melodrama of Bakugou only seeing his strength as a means to keep up with Deku or that his pride is problematic. I think him having an idea for his hero names means he knows what his strength is for. He's always been strong as a person (when Deku was not) (pt1)

Losing his quirk doesn't need to be the gateway to force him to develop the kindness and consideration he's already been showing, nor would it be karmatic balance between him and Deku- especially when any scenario that takes his quirk benches him from the story or cheapens the stakes by him getting it back relatively fast. Deku's 15 years of quirklessness can't be balanced. Additionally, Bakugou only lost in the story when he was too close minded to learn, once open minded he started to (pt2)

grow. It doesn't send out a good message, if after all that growth he still gets punished. His declaration of spirit to not lose, be it to Shigaraki or Deku is not a bad thing, he is the underdog with an indominable will and he is declaring his spirit as the symbol of victory. Bakugou may lose his quirk, I don't know, but your reasons I disagree with because we interpret those panels differently. They give the audience a point of reference to guage Bakugou's ability.

you make some excellent points, anon! and you see, it’s strange, because up until this chapter and his monologue, I was in full agreement with most of what you’re saying -- that he’s already figured out all of that hero biz, that he’s already in the process of sorting his shit out on his own, and that Horikoshi is simply waiting for the right moment to finally show it.

but after reading his internal dialogue in this chapter, I’m just not so sure anymore.

in the past I’ve done a lot of guesswork on Kacchan’s thought processes based on his subtle little actions and microexpressions, and on what we’ve already been told about his character thus far. I call it “guesswork”, though, because it very much is that, because we so rarely get an actual glimpse into his head to see what he is really thinking. so when Horikoshi actually does give us one of those rare glimpses, I’m inclined to pay very close attention, and prepared to make any necessary adjustments to my current understanding of his character if need be. he is very, very complicated, and despite my spending an absurd percentage of my free time analyzing him up and down and front to back, that absolutely doesn’t mean that any of those analyses are actually right, lols. I’m constantly updating my internal databank of Kacchan knowledge both from interactions with the rest of the fandom, and -- when Horikoshi actually deigns to give us some new information -- from the canon itself.

anyway! so when I read this chapter and saw Kacchan yet again comparing his progress to Deku’s in his head, and thinking -- even now, even in the moments right before an intense battle!! -- only about his rivalry and about keeping up, that immediately set me to updating my mental bakuwiki in regards to his current character growth status. so he definitely has his hero name picked out already, we know that much. and so presumably has thus already figured out what kind of hero he wants to be. right? right.

and yet he still apparently has not revealed the new name to anyone. even after three months. like yeah, we get it, you made a promise to tell Jeanist first, etc. fair enough, but still! it’s an interesting bit of hesitation to take note of. and then there’s also the matter of Horikoshi’s interview from back in December (which I’ll link in a comment once this is posted), where he talked a lot about Bakugou and made a point of saying that his character growth wasn’t done yet, and that he still needs to apologize to Deku. which is as good a confirmation as any that such an apology is indeed forthcoming.

so why, then, does it seem like we’re still no closer to that moment, even after Kacchan seemingly had a mysterious epiphany at the end of the internship arc, and even after we subsequently went through a three month time jump? Kacchan isn’t one to be slow about it when he decides to make progress. his growth in all other aspects has come by leaps and bounds. and yet when it comes to his relationship with Deku -- his friendship with Deku, except that he still can’t bring himself to acknowledge that’s what it is, and insists on thinking of it as only a rivalry -- it seems like he reached a certain point, and then just... stalled. like he’s not willing to go any further past this. and there are many reasons for why that may be the case. but at the root of all of them is pride.

and I’m not saying he needs to give up that pride, because that’s a huge and very important part of who he is. you said his declaration of spirit not to lose isn’t a bad thing, and I agree. but that doesn’t always make it a good thing either, and I don’t want to get so swept up in my love of the character that I start refusing to acknowledge the downsides of that trademark pride as well. pride, like anything else, is nuanced. it can be both good and bad. it’s good when it motivates you and pushes you to do your best and to achieve your goals. but it’s bad when it makes you inflexible, and when it prevents you from taking actions which would benefit you and others, just because doing so would mean humbling yourself in a way that is scary and which feels like it runs counter to your ultimate goals. because you want to be someone who always wins. and so any time you do experience a loss, you go through an entire mini-crisis, because it feels like your very purpose in life is being threatened.

I don’t know if “problematic” is the word I would use for this aspect of him. I feel like that word is fairly overused, especially in fandom, and now has certain connotations of “this is objectively bad behavior which should be called out and shunned.” and I don’t think that’s the case at all when it comes to Kacchan’s pride. he’s already learned how to put it aside in order to work with others and save others. and that’s great! he already is a great hero by this point, imo. if Horikoshi decided to just end his character arc here and not take it any further, I would actually be just fine with that.

but I think that there is still the potential for more. I think that we are still not done here yet. because this manga consistently surprises and amazes me with the way it goes the extra mile when it comes to character development. Kacchan and Deku didn’t have to reconcile their differences and learn to respect one another after only 120 chapters (I say “only” in a very sincere and not sarcastic sense here, because that really is an insanely short timeframe compared to most other manga). but they did. Endeavor didn’t have to see the error of his ways and decide that he wanted to become a better person, and he definitely didn’t have to be shown apologizing and admitting his wrongdoings and even going so far as to back out of his family’s lives for their sakes and even build them a house so they could move on apart from him. but he did! and that’s insane, you guys. name me another series that goes that hard in trying to redeem a guy whom virtually every single member of this fandom would have once described as ultimately devoid of any redeeming qualities. I can’t think of any.

but BnHA is just like that. it goes hard. it doesn’t back off. nothing about its character arcs is remotely half-assed. and so if a character is showing signs that they are still angling for more growth? that there are still things they need to learn? then I’m inclined to think we are going to roll up our sleeves and get that growth, one way or another.

this story consistently amazes me because whenever I look at a certain aspect of a character’s development and say to myself, “oh hey, that’s pretty awesome, even if it’s still not ideal,” Horikoshi goes and nudges it down another notch towards being ideal. like, the dude just doesn’t settle. and so that’s one of the reasons why I’m convinced this is a very real and even likely possibility. because this kind of development, to me, would be very, very, very close to my ideal. is it strictly necessary? absolutely not. would it fucking blow my mind as a development, however? I kinda think it would, ngl.

-- that is, with the one addendum that since I do love my son very dearly, I wouldn’t want it to actually be permanent. so in order to be truly ideal, such an arc would also have to include a way for him to climb back up again after experiencing that fall. which some might find contrived or “cheap”, as you put it. but that’s a risk I’m very selfishly and biasedly game for all the same, lol. I am more than willing to occasionally suspend my sense of disbelief in the name of character development, and honestly, I don’t actually think it would cheapen the stakes in any way, because just because Kacchan’s main character status gives him cool perks like a one-time get-out-of-losing-your-quirk-for-free card doesn’t mean the same would apply towards anybody else. and for that matter, it wouldn’t detract from whatever soul searching Kacchan does during that period while he fully believes that he will be quirkless for the rest of his life, either. it doesn’t have to be permanent in order to have a permanent impact.

lastly, in regards to it balancing things out between him and Deku, I don’t mean that Kacchan becoming quirkless would (a) be some sort of necessary and deserved punishment for him, or (b) be even remotely equivalent in any kind of way to what Deku experienced while growing up. that is very obviously not the case, and I can’t stand that kind of thinking, that redemption is only about punishment. maybe “karmic” isn’t the word I should have used then; I meant it as a way of signifying something spiritual in the push-pull balance between the two of them, not in the “what goes around comes around you were a jerk and now you’ll finally understand what it feels like” sense of the word. that’s a big yikes, lol. so yeah, just to clarify that part of it!

what I mean by balance is that it would serve as a catalyst to Kacchan finally being able to understand Deku’s side of it. finally being able to see things from the point of view of his rival-friend who’s had the exact opposite arc as him in terms of what he had to do and go through and learn and unlearn to get this far. it would serve as a means of finally bridging that one last gap of understanding between them. it would bring things back into balance because it would bring them back into balance, by giving them the push to finally mend that one last broken part of their former friendship. the part that’s still untouched by both of them, because they’re both afraid of disrupting the current semi-stable truce that they have now in their relationship. even if it’s not perfect. not, if you’ll pardon my use of the word yet again, ideal.

tl;dr I see Bakugou’s introspection as being a lead-in to something potentially game-changing both because I want it to be, and because, as strange as it may seem, the manga has conditioned me to think this way now. to have expectations. to anticipate more depth, more growth. so it may be the case that in this instance I’ve taken those expectations too far and I need to temper them back down and swing them in a less angsty, more traditionally shounen direction. and like I said, if that does wind up being the case, I won’t be upset.

but maybe, just maybe though, this manga will in fact go there once again. if for no other reason than that it can. “Horikoshi really went and did that” is a sentence I’ve gotten very used to typing since I started reading this manga. and so, well, let’s just wait and see.

[redstarwriting]

Kiddo

Avengers x Reader

Request: Hey! How are ya? What are your plans this summer? Personally I plan to stay in my bed all day. Anyway, may I request an Avengers x Reader where the reader is qualifies as 'young' so they get treated like a kid when in reality they know multiple languages and have excellent fighting skills? This gets shown by JARVIS when a few [select any language] hydra agents invade the Avengers Tower but the Avengers are there so the reader takes care of them. Thank you!!

Requested by: Anon

Word Count: 1,678

Genre: I’m honestly not sure? I dunno you’re just a total badass and everything is platonic.

Warnings: Sarcasm, some language, fight scene

A/N: This is my first ever Avengers fic and I am excited for feedback. This is important to understand what is going on in the story, so: when the words are ITALICIZED that means a different language is being spoken. Any time the reader or anyone else is speaking in italics, they’re not speaking English. Thank you to the anon who requested this and thank you to everyone else who’s requested already as well! Also to anon, my plans this summer consist of working, writing, drawing, and sleeping lol. I’ll try to write them as soon as I can! Happy reading!

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Living in the Avengers Tower had multiple perks. You had a killer view, amazing food, you got to hang out with some of the most powerful people on Earth, state of the art technology, it was a wonderful time. But there was one downside. Your age. Being the youngest person in the Avengers tower, you were often not taken too seriously. You can speak several languages and took out 15 men by yourself before, but you’re still treated like a child. All because you’re the youngest. While you loved living here and you loved the people who made up the Avengers, you were so over being treated like a seven-year-old. You genuinely dream about a day when you’d be treated like an adult. Sadly, today is not that day.

“Seriously, Tony? I can help you guys, I know how to fight! One more person would make it even easier to take down Hydra for good!” You were literally following Tony, hot on his heels, trying to convince him to finally let you partake in a mission. Hydra had reared its ugly head again, popping up in Egypt. The exact location of the main base was unknown until about five minutes ago. Now, everyone in the Avengers Tower, even T’Challa, Shuri, and Okoye who just came to visit, is preparing to go to a remote area in the Western Desert, and you really want to go too. You just want to help, but Tony isn’t having it. Surprise, surprise.

“(Y/N), this is going to be ridiculously dangerous. If you come, you could get hurt. That would be bad.”

“Tony I’ve been hurt before. I’m a big girl, I can do things, I promise.”

“Yeah, well, you’re not doing these things.”

“Why not?!”

“Because I said so.”

“That’s a bullshit excuse!”

“Fine, if you’re so adamant, go ask your mother.” He points behind you, and you turn around to see Steve with an unamused look on his face. “(Y/N), language. And mother? Really?”

Tony completely ignores Steve’s reaction, beginning to walk out to the helicopter pad with you following. “(Y/N) wants to come with us to beat up some bad guys.” Tony says, and Steve sighs. “I’m assuming you said no?”

“Of course I said no. (Y/N)’s a baby. Our baby. I’m the dad, you’re the mom.”

“When was this decided?”

“Just now. Now dad said no, what do you say mom?”

You look at Steve and lay on the puppy eyes, but all he does is sigh. “Tony’s right, (Y/N). It’s too dangerous.” You groan, annoyed and frustrated. “If it were Peter asking, you’d let him go!”

“That’s where you’re wrong, kiddo. Look, you’ll be able to go on a mission eventually, just not one as dangerous as this one, okay? I’d rather have you safe here than even a little bit hurt out there.”

“But–”

“No buts. We’ll see you when we get back, don’t burn the place down.” Tony salutes you with two fingers while simultaneously falling backwards off the building, quickly flying back up in his Iron Man suit. You look at Steve, about to plead for him to let you go, but he just waves. “Maybe next time, (Y/N).” With that, the helicopter they’re taking takes off, and you’re left alone. Again. You groan, trudging your way inside, mocking Steve and Tony as you go. “’MaYbE nExT tImE!’ Maybe next time my ass! That’s what he’s said the past thirteen times they’ve gone on missions. Thirteen! JARVIS? Is there any chance you could destroy Steve and Tony’s rooms for me? Please?”

“No, (Y/N), I’m afraid there is not.” You sigh, the AI crushing your hopes and dreams. You make your way to the kitchen and being making yourself some food out of frustration. Then it turns into making food out of revenge. The revenge food? Cheeseburgers. And not just any cheeseburgers, no. Your special cheeseburgers. The ones Tony especially loves. And you’ll make sure Tony knows that you had a great meal and he can watch and suffer. “JARVIS, make sure you record me eating these. I want Tony to suffer.”

“You are sadistic, (Y/N).” You smirk to yourself as you begin preparing your meal, ready to hear Tony’s complaints when he returns. “JARVIS, can you please play some music?” you ask, and instead of a response, JARVIS just immediately starts playing your favorite song. You begin humming along as you make yourself your food. You go through multiple of your favorite songs, and when you’re finished, you place the burger on a plate, ready to walk into the living room and watch some TV, just waiting for the others to arrive back. Before you leave the kitchen, however, you hear the sound of glass breaking, followed by loud yelling. You quickly recognize the yelling as Arabic, and you, along with your tunes, go quiet. “They should be gone for a while.”

“This should be the easiest thing we’ve done in a while.”

“Don't let your guard down, I'm sure they'll figure it out. We need to move fast. Let’s split up and look for the newest technology Stark is making.”

After that, you hear footsteps walking towards the living area, which is right next to the kitchen, which is where you are. You sigh, sitting down your burger and grabbing a frying pan because a) you don’t have time to hurry and get a gun, b) knives make a mess, and c) frying pans can be lethal in the right hands. While you’re walking into the room you were just about to go in to relax, one of the guys who was speaking walks in. “JARVIS, please inform Tony that they need to return to the Tower immediately. The lead they got for a base was a hoax, and now there’s three men here.”

“Right away.”

“Thank you.” You look at the man who is pointing his gun at you, and he screams out, “There’s someone still here! I’ll take them out!” He points the gun at you, and you chuckle. “Like hell you will,” you fire back, and the man is taken aback for a second considering you understood and responded to him. That second is just what you need to take him down. He fired his gun, but luckily the frying pan you were using was vibranium (thank you T’Challa) and so you used it as a shield before throwing it and hitting him square in the face. While he’s incapacitated because a vibranium frying pan just hit him in between the eyes, you run over and kick him, knocking him down, as the other two men run into the room. “Alright boys, let’s have some fun.”

You grab the guy you already took down and hold him in front of you while the two other men open fire. You throw him against one of the men, knocking them both to the ground and do the wild thigh neck snapping move on the other one. With two of them down for good, you grab the other one by his collar. “You’re staying alive and telling us everything we need to know. Got that?” He just stares at you with fear in his eyes and mutters out a single question. “Who are you?”

“Confidential.” With that, you drag him to the prison room and make sure he’s contained. Then, you run back to the kitchen and pick up your burger, taking a bite and sighing. “Now my food is cold. Today sucks.” You go sit on the couch, ignoring the two unresponsive Hydra men on the other side of the room. You turn on the TV, turning on your favorite show, and wait til the others return. Lucky for you, you only do this for about 10 minutes before you hear Tony. “(Y/N)!”

“I’m in the living room!” you yell, too lazy to get up at the moment. You hear him run into the room and then pause for a second before making his way over to the couch. He must’ve seen the two guys you took down because he has a shocked look on his face. “What the hell happened?!”

“I made myself a burger and then three Hydra guys broke in, so I made sure they didn’t get any information.”

“Three? There’s two there.”

“I took the other one to the prison room. Might as well question him to get information, y’know?”

“Are you okay?”

“I’m perfectly fine other than the fact that I had to eat a cold burger. Do you know how tragic that is?” Tony just stares at you with a look of disbelief on his face. Unbeknownst to you, the entire time you were kicking ass, JARVIS was recording and showing Tony in live time, so he saw how badass you were for like the first time ever. He wanted to show everyone else what went down now as well. “JARVIS, tell everyone to get in here.” Within a few minutes, everyone in the Avengers Tower walks into the room and over to where the two of you are. You know everyone is there when Thor walks over, saying, “There are two men on the floor over there. Why is this?” Tony immediately grabs the remote from the coffee table and changes to the security cameras. “Hey! I was watching that!” you say, a little annoyed. “Well I’m watching this.”

Tony goes back to the footage JARVIS showed him earlier and plays it for everyone to see. After they saw what Tony saw, everyone looks at you. “What? There’s a reason why I’m here, guys. I can do badass stuff too,” you say, and Natasha laughs a little. “I didn’t know you knew Arabic,” she says, and you smile at her. “Nat, I know way more than just Arabic.”

“Bet she doesn’t know what I’m saying,” Shuri says to her brother. “You’d lose that bet, Shuri.” Shuri, Okoye, and T’Challa all look at you, surprised. Then Okoye gives the shortest and quietest chuckle before saying what you’ve been saying for months. “They should really use you more.”

“I know.”

[sporadicfartfire]

How to Hire  Freelance Software Developers?

How to Hire  Freelance Software Developers? 

Are you ready to develop your software idea? Fantastic! Even in the early stages of planning your software’s development, you are probably already thinking ahead and wondering who will bring your dream to life. 

 Before you dive into the freelancing domain and emerge as an extraordinary freelancer employer, let's look at some fundamentals. 

  Who is a freelancer? 

Simply put, a freelancer is a professional working remotely for any employer on a non-permanent basis. They are hired on a temporary contract for certain projects and are not full-time, "on the payroll" employees. 

 How did freelancing take off and become a sensational employment method? 

 It all began when the gig economy opened a world of flexible opportunities for both employers and freelancers. Industry giants also boarded the gig​ economy train due to the ever-evolving nature of their respective industries. 

 Especially the IT sector, often requires assembling various teams on a project basis. This allows them to diversify the workforce in terms of skills and knowledge.  

 While hiring freelancers significantly reduces the cost of training and onboarding, it also makes it more difficult to find the right talent.  

 Now that you know a little background on freelancing, we will help you understand how to find the top developer for your next project. 

While hiring a freelance software developer on your own may be more tedious, this method has its advantages. If you have a very specific type of software in mind, hiring on your own is your best bet simply because you will have a bigger pool to hire from. For detailed information about “How to Hire Freelance Software Developer”​ read this blog post 

 Now, we know what you are thinking. 

What if I choose the wrong software developer? 

Do I set the bar high and hope for the best or settle on a developer that isn't perfect for my project? 

Put your worries to rest! 

Hiring a freelancer on your own may seem scary, but you have help... 

On websites, such as LinkedIn, you have access to freelancers with a variety of backgrounds and qualifications. A perk of sites like these is that you have the means to filter applicants according to your desired specifications. Specifications may include years of experience, number of recommendations, or pricing of services rendered (how much the developer will charge to develop your software). 

In summary, the pros of hiring a freelance software developer include, as stated earlier, a wider hiring pool and diversity of candidates. Whether you are looking for an android app software engineer or a candidate hoping for jobs in iOS development, you will find some potential developers on websites such as LinkedIn and GitHub.  

The cons of this method include a greater amount of time spent screening legitimate applicants and being unable to closely monitor developers as they work remotely from their locations. 

When you enlist the help of professional freelance marketplaces (such as Upwork, Inboundmarketer.c​ o or Toptal) you are putting the legwork of hiring a freelancer into the capable hands of a marketplace platform.  

The marketplace platform you choose to work with will help you hire top freelancers with the matching skillset.

 Some marketplaces also provide messaging systems for you and your remote software developers to communicate through. This makes the process of working with a freelance developer much simpler and clean cut.  

Now, what about monitoring your freelancers? Not being in the same room with your developer as they work may be an uneasy situation for you, especially if this is your first time using a freelancer.  

Marketplaces cut down your anxiety level by providing time tracking software, instant messaging, and project submission guidelines. Marketplaces aim to provide both you and your freelancer a smooth working relationship that will be beneficial to all involved. After all, a great and comfortable workspace equals a fantastic product. 

 Another pro for hiring a software or web developer through a marketplace is the marketplace platform will usually vigorously screen their applicants. Identities are verified, credentials are checked, reviews from former jobs are provided, and salary expectations are clearly stated. This screening process cuts down your likelihood of connecting with a freelancer who isn’t a dedicated professional or isn’t a legitimate applicant. 

 A couple downsides of a freelance marketplace are limited searchability (usually, but not always) and generalized fields of expertise.  

Think about it this way: When you search for “android software developer”​ on Upwork, your results will include iOS software developers that don’t have even a tiny bit of expertise in android software development. Therefore, you must sit through the results to find the candidate with the qualifications that meet your needs. This can be cumbersome sometimes. 

While not all marketplaces have this search filtration “error,” it is a possible downside you could face when working with some freelance marketplaces. 

Overall, most companies prefer to work with a marketplace when hiring freelancers for a variety of projects. Legality of applicants, and simple, easy-to-use structure pulls in companies of all sizes. 

 Now that you have learned about two of the most popular ways to hire a freelancer, let’s take a gander at some tips and helpful hints for you to use in your hiring process. 

   Meet with your company’s hiring manager. A hiring manager is the person (usually in human resources) who is tasked with writing job descriptions for your ideal candidate. Then consider these helpful hints as you write your ideal freelance software developer’s job description: 

 Be as specific as possible, without being overbearing. Clearly state what your goals are for this software and your expectations of your developer. 

 State whether you expect your freelancer to work on your project as a full-time job or a part-time job.  

 State your budget and your desired timeline.  

 State any degrees, certifications, and skills required or preferred. 

 State what software or format your project will be using. 

 Remember: Freelancers want the freedom of creating products that meet your goals at their own pace, but within your given timeline. 

 When screening potential freelancers for any project, you need to make sure they meet all your criteria and they are the best of the best. Here are a few ways you can be sure you are hiring the right developer: 

 Read any ratings or reviews about the applicant from former employers or supervisors (and colleagues, if available). 

 Look at the applicant’s portfolio. Note: If you have any suspicion that the applicant is presenting plagiarized samples, follow up with the employer who the applicant says commissioned the project. 

 Present a test project for the applicant to complete. This is a simple project that will let you know if your creative vision is compatible with the applicant’s. It will also verify that the applicant does know what they are doing. 

 After you have vetted the applicant in all ways possible, present a project plan to them and get the ball rolling on your software development. 

 Do you already have a freelancer in mind or on your payroll? Then, here are a few tips for after your post-hire situation: o Be in communication with your developer but try not to bombard them with messages.  

▪ For example, let’s say your developer is supposed to send you status updates on your project every Wednesday. They adhere to this schedule perfectly, but you start to get a little impatient and begin messaging them for updates every day of the week. This takes time away from your project since the developer is spending their time answering your messages and not developing your software. If you believe you hired the right freelancer for your project, trust your decision. 

 Give guidelines that the developer wouldn’t know on their own. Some examples of this would be logos you want incorporated into your software, desired tone of software, and any font files you want in the finished product. Don’t expect your developer to be a mind reader. 

 If you are wanting to make a change to the project’s timeline or incorporate a new idea you have, give your developer plenty of time to make those changes. In other words, don’t inform the developer of the desired change and expect him to keep the same deadlines. Adjustments will need to be made to your timeline as you make changes in the software’s development. 

 Referrals go a long way in the freelancing world, so once your hired freelancer has completed the project, make an effort to write down your feedback for them. 

Hiring a freelance software developer doesn’t have to be a scary, nerve-racking task. With the information you just read you can feel more relaxed and better prepared to take on the freelancing world. Knowledge truly is power. 

If you have questions, concerns, or thoughts you would like to speak with a freelance marketplace firm about, feel free to comment or ask us! 

[embrace-tranquiliity]

Curse (Castiel x Toddler!Reader)

Word Count: 1758 -----------------------------------------------------------------

The witch had cast a spell on you, and at first, you hadn't realised what had happened. You went to bed in your room in the bunker. As usual, the Winchester brothers stayed up late, Sam doing research as Dean rocked out to AC/DC and ate pie. How he wasn't fat? No one knew.

It finally reached morning and you woke up like normal, except your bed felt and looked a lot bigger. You looked down to see your hands and feet quite small and baby-like. What the hell? Castiel walked into your room after knocking a few times; you hadn't answered any of the times.

"Y/N, are you okay?" He asked, concern flooded in his voice and eyes. The two boys had left early in the morning to go on a hunt and Cas had stayed with you. You didn't ask him too, then again you never needed to ask him to stay with you, he always would. When he came into your room he didn't have his trench coat on, he only had his suit shirt and pants.

You tried replying but all that came out was a small gurgle and a few scattered words and noises. Cas couldn't hold in the smile anymore. He smiled at how cute you looked, just sitting there all innocent and adorable.  You didn't understand what he was so smitten about and he realised that you looked very confused. He walked over to you and picked you up in his hands. Woah, why can he hold you against his chest with your legs in one hand and your chest in the other? He walked into the bathroom and put you in front of a mirror, showing you that you were now a toddler. The memories of last night came back and hit you in the face; the witch had put a spell on you that made you a toddler. It all made sense now!

Seeing as it was just you and Cas, he promised to look after you until the brothers were back home and could figure out how to change you back to normal. Normally, Cas would simply get the brothers straight away, zap to them and then zap them back home. But he was enjoying this too much, seeing you as a toddler. He promised to take care of you and now he would.

Being a toddler had its downsides, for example; not being able to talk. But it also had its perks, such as Castiel acting as a father towards you and being overly nice. Although you still had the mind of your 22-year-old self, he didn't know that and decided he would treat you like a 5-year-old. You decided just to go along with it, to see how he would look after a child. He picked you up again and took you out to the lounge room where the TV was. After picking up the remote he turned on Cartoon Network and the two of you watched TV together.

A few hours passed and the boys still weren't home so you guessed that they weren't coming home until the next morning. Typical Winchesters. Cas held you on his lap and you started to cry. You were bored and starting to get hungry and since your words didn't seem to work, crying was the only way to get his attention. He looked down at you and into your (e/c) eyes, your gazes locking and your crying stopped immediately. It was like he had cast a spell on you. He hadn't but his eyes were so mesmerizing that it felt like he had.

"What's wrong little girl?" He asked softly, not wanting to start up the crying again. You smiled back at him and hugged him. Your hands barely fit around his sides but they reached far enough to feel small bumps near his shoulder blades. After rubbing them, you heard him sigh and wriggle around a bit. He moved your hands back to in front of him and he looked you in the eyes again. "Do you want to see my wings?" He asked, hope in his voice. In response, you simply nodded. Since when was it possible to see angel wings? Oh, right. He probably means when a bright light shines and you can see the shadow of his wings.

Suddenly, he started chanting something in Latin as his eyes started glowing white. A bright light shone from behind him, momentarily blinding you. Once your eyes adjusted back to normal lighting, you saw to monstrous, black wings behind him. They weren't fully expanded but you could imagine how big they would be when fully extended. They had a metallic green shimmer to them and they were at least 2 meters each side, half folded. Luckily the bunker was spacious so even if he was to stretch them out, they wouldn't hit anything.

"You like them?" You nodded in response, still in awe. "Sorry Y/N, but whenever they materialise I need to stretch otherwise they hurt my back." Castiel made a quick apology as he put you down on the bed. He got up and stretched, his wings stretched outwards in each direction. They were at least 5 meters each side, fully expanded. They were glorious. The light reflected off every metallic green feather, creating a shimmery looking surface. You reached your hand out to touch them, only to realise he was too far away and he probably didn't want anyone to touch them.

"You can touch them, it won't hurt you or me," Castiel said, reassuring you as he moved closer and turned around so his back faced you. The wings and where they were attached to his back were now clearly visible. He must've cut holes out of the back of his shirt where they expand out of, seeing as there were holes exactly where the wings protruded out of his back. They were beautiful, and as soon as Sam and Dean were back to fix you, you were sure as hell going to tell him.

Your hand reached up to stroke the wings. There was something wrong though when you touched them you realised that your hand was a lot larger than it was a few minutes ago. It was back to normal. You looked down in shock to see the rest of your body back to its normal size. Castiel turned around and smiled, almost like he already knew that you were normal once again. He folded his wings back up but they didn't dematerialize; the simply sat neatly on his back.

"When an angel's soulmate touches their wings, any curse or sickness will be lifted," Castiel spoke proudly, as his wings slowly started to untuck themselves. Furrowing your eyebrows, you were deep in thought; it all made sense now. Whenever you were sick or cursed by a witch you'd always heal almost instantly. It now occurred to you that you weren't the one healing, it was Cas healing you. He must've touched you with his wings when you were asleep so you wouldn't notice and freak out.

You looked up at him and smiled, mumbling a small 'thank you'. He gave you a side smile back as you stood up to face him better. He was taller than you by quite a bit, but that was fine with the both of you because every time you two hugged, your head would rest on his shoulder. You reached your arms out and hugged him. His arms and wings moved at the same time and engulfed you in a hug, the wings forming a protective shell around the two of you.

As if on cue, Dean stood at the doorway and coughed, loudly. Castiel instantly let go and turned around to face Dean, his wings unfurling from around you. The wings stiffened a slight bit as they took a defensive stance behind Cas, only to release tension when he saw it was just Dean. He brought his wings back to sit on his back and you walked forward to stand next to him. One of his wings, out of habit, expanded once again and sat behind you, curling a slight bit at the end to brush against your arm. The black feathers were as soft as rabbit's ears.

"We- uh, we found a cure. But I see it's already been taken care of." Sam spoke up who had recently almost walked into the room before bumping into his brother. A slight crimson colour spread across Cas' face as he looked at you and realised that his wings were still visible to not only you but your two brothers as well. He blushed a bit deeper and started to slowly retract his wing back, out of embarrassment. Until you reached out and softly grabbed the end and pulled it back around you. Cas didn't struggle when you held his wing, he simply looked down at you and smiled, a loving smile.

"Alright, that's enough for me. I'm out!" Dean hollered and made a salute sign with his hand. He walked away as his brother huffed a laugh at him. Sam, after realizing that he was now standing at the doorway alone, awkwardly smiled and made an exit, shutting the door behind him. You laughed at his awkwardness and offered Cas to stay the night with you. He gladly accepted and you both laid down in your bed. His wing slipped under your back as you laid down.

"Cas, won't it hurt if I lay on it? Won't it break the bones?" You asked, frantically trying to get up without pushing against the wing which was practically impossible because of its size. He simply smiled at you and gently pushed you back down to lay on his wing. He rolled over to face the back of your head, spooning you. His other wing wrapped itself around you and you snuggled into him. You cuddled the tip of his wing, playing with the small slits between the feathers. Almost instantly you fell asleep in the arms of your angel.

---- extended ending ----

"Gross," Dean whispered to his brother as he lightly hit him on the chest to get his attention. Sam pursed his lips and rolled his eyes, arguing that it was cute, you could agree with that

[simikore-blog]

The best projectors 2018: 8 projectors to consider for your home cinema

Projectors have long held a vaunted position in the home cinema. That's because while TVs are more than adequate to deliver 4K HDR content, you'll likely need to refinance your house if you want a picture larger than 75-inches. But 75-inches is just the beginning for the cinema world.

Whether you want to splash Blu-ray movies across a large white wall, magnify your gaming experience, or throw photos and slides from a mobile device onto a 100-inch plus screen, a home cinema projector should be your first choice of display.

Unfortunately while most AV enthusiasts dream of the day they bring home a beamer for their living room, few tend to follow through. They have the misconception that projectors are hard to setup (they're not), hard to maintain (they're not) and cost significantly more than a TV (they don't). 

To that end we want to dispel the myths perpetuated by non-cinephiles out there and help you pick a fantastic-looking projector without breaking the bank. To that end, we've rounded up the best projectors we've tested throughout the last year or two and have ranked them below.

The main selling point of the BenQ TK800 is that it supports 4K and while this is true, it’s worth pointing out that the projector’s DLP chip is not 3840x2160 pixels. It uses XPR technology, which essentially takes a 1920x1080 pixel DLP chip and flashes the image four times in incredibly fast succession to create an image with a perceived resolution of over eight million pixels. 

Amazingly this actually works, and even with test patterns the images appear to be 4K in terms of resolution. 

It doesn't hurt that the projector is also really bright, which means that even with SDR content it can deliver images that have genuine impact, even in less-than-ideal conditions. As such you can use the TK800 in a room with white walls or big windows, and still enjoy a huge projected image.   

Also expect excellent motion handling, which is great for gaming, and it has a low input lag which is also good news for gamers. (The BenQ even supports 3D, although you will need to buy the glasses separately.)  

On the debit side, the black level and the shadow detail are both poor, and the TK800 also uses a color wheel, which restricts its range of colors, especially where HDR is concerned. It also means that certain people will see ‘rainbows’, but that’s just a limitation of single-chip DLP projectors. On top of all that, it's quite noisy thanks to both the color wheel and a fan, although the latter is necessary given the amount of heat generated by the bright bulb. 

For the last 10 years, JVC has been the projector brand to follow for black levels that will beat your local cinema screen. It's all thanks to JVC's D-ILA technology, which rival DLP and SXRD models just can't touch. 

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Native contrast of 40,000:1 makes blacks looks truly black. That is, if you treat your cinema room to a nice, dark paint job. 

This year one of the main upgrades is HDR performance. The punchiness of HDR won't challenge an ultra-bright LCD TV, but here you'll get an image several times the size. 

One thing to note before buying is the JVC DLA-X5900 does not have native 4K projector panels inside. Instead it uses JVC's eShift technology, which projects two different 1080p images sequentially at 120Hz frequency, making up the detail of a native 4K display. 

The UHD65 is a hugely enjoyable projector that manages to deliver very good images in both ambient light and blackout conditions. Most projectors commit to one or the other, halving their versatility. 

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Though the UHD65 sacrifices both ultra-high brightness for daytime viewing and completely convincing black levels in a blackout, it's actually giving as close the 'best of both worlds' as any projector could: From upscaled HD TV channels and DVDs to Netflix 4K and a Ultra HD Blu-ray discs, few users will have complaints about the cleanness, detail or colour of the UHD65's images.

However, we did miss a few luxury touches that a projector this price should include. The remote control is the same as you’d find on a projector a sixth of the price (and includes some button that have no function), and there’s no motorised zoom, focus and lens shift. All of these would've added a more polished, professional feel, which high-priced products like the UHD65 should always offer; it shouldn’t just be about new technology.

Smart, voice activated controls for a home cinema projector may sound like the kitchen-sink approach to feature lists at first glance, jumping on the buzz-word (or should that be ‘wake word’?) bandwagon of Amazon’s Alexa, Apple’s Siri or Google’s Assistant. But think about the environment and scenario that your average projector viewing session takes place in, and it starts to make a lot of sense – you’re in a dark room where seeing buttons isn’t always easy, possibly with your hands loaded up with popcorn and other treats. 

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Being able to shout “play the movie!” at a voice activated projector, potentially installed in a bracket high above your head, seems like a sound move. 

Ultimately, while the Alexa features are fun (if a little perfunctory) everything about this the Optoma UHD51A performs exceptionally. At this price you’re going to be hard pressed to find a projector that can deliver this level of picture quality and this feature set more confidently.

The Optoma UHD51A represents a great shift in 4K projecting quality if you find yourself on a tighter budget. What’s on offer here allows even those with smaller living spaces and more modest bank balances a taste of the home cinema high life.

The BenQ HT2550 may look a bit pricey to someone used to seeing discount 4K TVs, for the price you can’t do much better. The projector boasts vivid, clear colors, plenty of detail, and a 4K resolution – all at well under $2,000. That’s no small feat.

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The projector isn’t perfect – the blacks on offer aren’t as deep as we might have liked, the projector still creates some fan noise and there’s also no lens shift – but those small downsides aside, we think the BenQ HT2550 is an excellent option for those that want a solid, no-frills projector with support for a 4K resolution and HDR content. 

Are there better options? Well, there’s the Optoma UHD50, which is $100 cheaper and offers many of the same perks (though color accuracy isn’t quite as good, and the BenQ projector is slightly better-built) but in the end, we think it’s better to spent the extra $100 for the BenQ HT2550.

If you want big screen home entertainment but don’t have the space, or funds for a large flatpanel TV or home cinema projector, then LG’s DLP LED Minibeam PH450UG Ultra Short Throw (UST) could be the answer. 

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It needs only a dozen centimetres or so to cast a huge image onto a white wall or screen and, even better, it’s also ridiculously compact and relatively affordable at $650 (£529, around AU$864). 

There is a catch of course: The PH450UG has a resolution of just 720p. If you need more, LG has the PF1000U, a slightly larger 1080p UST model, that sells for $1,399 (£999). There are other projectors in this price range capable of 1080p – like the class-leading BenQ HT670 – but if you’re committed to the small form factor, the PH450UG is the way to go.

For those who think that home cinema is an occasional luxury that is just not affordable or practical, the ultra-affordable HD142X is serious food for thought. 

Despite its lean price tag, it has a full 1080p (1920 x 1080) resolution, 3,000 ANSI lumens of brightness, 23,000:1 high contrast ratio and built-in 10-watt speakers. It even supports 3D video to boot. 

Optoma says that the lamp life for the HD142X is somewhere in the ballpark of 8,000 hours – and claims that it would last around 10 years if you watched a two-hour movie every single day. Input-wise the HD141X offers 2 x HDMI (1.4a 3D support) + MHL v1.2, perfect for hooking up a PS4 or 3D Blu-ray player. 

We're pretty big fans of the affordable BenQ TH670. It might not be the top of the line from the highly lauded projector manufacturer, but it strikes the perfect balance of price to performance to be worth an audition in your living room.

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The TH670 has a Full 1080p (1920x1080) resolution, 3,000 ANSI lumens of brightness, 10,000:1 high contrast ratio and built-in speakers. Those speakers could be a hair bit more powerful, but for the price it's hard to complain too much. The projector is capable of images spanning from 60 to 120 inches across and its lamp is rated for 4,000 - 10,000 hours depending on which modes you primarily use. Input-wise it offers Computer in (D-sub 15pin) x 2 (Share with component), Composite Video in (RCA) x 1 and HDMI. Win! 

[bongaboi]

A Rolling Stones piece on Vaccine Incentives

On Wednesday, May 12th, in what sounded more like a pitch from a used car salesman than the introduction of a major public health initiative, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine announced the launch of a $1 million lottery for vaccinated residents of the state. “Now, I know that some of you are shaking your head and saying, ‘That Mike DeWine, he’s crazy! This million-dollar drawing idea of yours is a waste of money,’” the governor said in a televised address. “But truly, the real waste at this point in the pandemic — when the vaccine is readily available to anyone who wants it — is a life lost to Covid-19.”

Technically, there will be five “Ohio Vax-a-Million” drawings, making it a $5 million idea from DeWine and the Ohio Department of Health, the sponsor of the initiative. The state is also giving away five full college scholarships to vaccinated students between the ages of 12 and 17. Other states have recently introduced their own programs to incentivize residents to get vaccinated against Covid-19, though none of them involve the spectacle of a statewide lottery — not yet, at least.

Offering people rewards for getting vaccinated isn’t something new. Large retail chains like CVS, Target, and Walgreens have offered perks like this for years — usually in the form of a gift card or coupon for customers who get a flu shot. Other businesses have gotten in on the giveaways during the Covid-19 vaccine rollout, offering everything from free doughnuts and beer to weed and amusement park tickets, with proof of vaccination.

Now, states like Ohio are attempting to use this strategy to increase Covid-19 vaccination rates, which, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have been declining steadily on a national level for the past six weeks. On April 1st — the busiest day of the rollout so far — nearly 4.3 million new doses of vaccine were administered, and it has been downhill from there. Between April 11th and May 11th, the average number of weekly vaccinations dropped from approximately 3.3 million to 1.7 million — or a decrease of nearly 50 percent.

Each state takes their own approach when offering incentives. For example, Maine residents who get their first shot by May 31st can choose from a free park pass, hunting or fishing license, or a $20 gift card to L.L. Bean. Meanwhile, the Alabama Department of Health recently gave residents the opportunity to drive two laps in their own vehicle on the Talladega Superspeedway after getting a drive-through Covid test or vaccine at the racetrack. Other offers include free beer in New Jersey (though Gov. Phil Murphy hasn’t ruled out paying people to get vaccinated), MetroCards or tickets to various cultural attractions in New York City, and a complimentary beverage (with or without alcohol) in Connecticut.

Though Ohio is the only state to offer a dedicated lottery for vaccinated residents, people in Kentucky who get the Covid vaccine at participating Walmart and Kroger locations will receive a free lottery ticket for a statewide nightly drawing of $225,000. West Virginia is going a different direction, giving a $100 savings bond to anyone between the ages of 16 to 35 who receives, or has already received, a Covid-19 vaccine. At this point, it’s too early to determine which — if any — of these incentives will have a significant impact on a state’s vaccination rate.

Will these vaccine incentives work?

It’s been less than a week since DeWine first announced the Vax-a-Millions program, but there are some early indications that it might be working. During a May 17th press conference, Ohio Health Director Stephanie McCloud said that the state has already seen a six percent increase in vaccination rates among people between the ages of 30 and 74. This was coming off three weeks of a steady decline (specifically, 24 percent week-over-week decreases) in rates for that age group.

But will a trip around a racetrack in Alabama be as effective as the chance of winning $1 million in Ohio? Right now, we don’t know. Because these types of state-sponsored vaccine incentives haven’t been offered before on this scale, there is no existing data pointing to which rewards (i.e. a free beer vs. a lottery ticket vs. amusement park tickets) are more effective at increasing vaccination rates than others. Even after the Covid-19 vaccine rollout concludes and we do have that state-level data, several other factors come into play — including personal preferences and geographic differences — that may make it difficult to identify specific strategies that would be the most successful on a national level.

The exception to this is cash. Thanks to the UCLA Covid-19 Health and Politics Project, which has surveyed more than 75,000 people in the last 10 months, we have some indication of how effective monetary incentives might be. According to data published in the New York Times, approximately one-third of the unvaccinated people surveyed said that a cash payment of $25 to $100 would make them more likely to get immunized.

Another factor to consider when determining whether vaccine incentives work is who these initiatives are meant to target. “Incentive programs are best for the people who are on the fence about getting the vaccine, and what is being given away is enough to encourage them to get it,” says Dr. Keisha Ray, assistant professor with the McGovern Center for Humanities & Ethics at UTHealth in Houston. “With incentive programs, the concern is always that they will only reach people who were already going to get the vaccine and now just have some motivation to get the vaccine sooner than later.”

But Dr. Howard P. Forman, professor of radiology and public health, as well as director of the health care management program at the Yale School of Public Health, says that these incentive programs are aimed at people who fall into that category. “I’m in the camp that believes that there’s still a large group of individuals that are motivated by inertia, so to speak; that they actually do want to get vaccinated, but they’re not rushing to get vaccinated,” he tells Rolling Stone. This includes younger, relatively healthy people who have every intention of getting the Covid vaccine, but haven’t made it a priority.

There is one group that’s unlikely to be swayed by a free park pass or museum ticket. “Incentive programs rarely encourage people who are against vaccines to get vaccinated,” Ray tells Rolling Stone. “They are not going to push hardcore anti-vaxers to get vaccinated.” According to the most recent data from the Kaiser Family Foundation’s Vaccine Monitor, approximately 13 percent of Americans say they will “definitely not” get the vaccine — a figure that has remained the same since January. And the current state-sponsored vaccine incentive programs aren’t aimed at them.

Dr. Emily Largent, assistant professor of medical ethics and health policy at the University of Pennsylvania agrees that these incentives won’t sway those who never plan to get the vaccine, but says there are other situations where offering a relatively modest monetary incentive can make a difference to people. “West Virginia is a good example, where it’s $100 that’s aimed at younger adults,” she notes. “The incentive can take benefits that maybe feel remote and abstract, and actually make them immediate and concrete.”

At the same time, states have to make sure that any vaccine incentives they offer aren’t generous to the point of compelling people to make decisions they otherwise wouldn’t consider. “The problem with incentive programs is that they can target people who have low incomes or who are economically and socially vulnerable in other ways,” Ray explains. In those situations, people may not feel as though they are in a position to pass up perks like significant sums of money, or free healthcare — making what’s supposed to be a choice into something that limits their agency.

However, Ray doesn’t see that happening with Covid vaccine incentives. “In the case of Covid vaccines, I don’t worry about people being taken advantage of, or people being coerced into getting the vaccine because of the great benefits to the individual getting vaccinated,” she explains.

Forman agrees, noting that using “behavioral nudges” is not an unusual public health strategy. “We use them all the time, in terms of getting people to do things that are in their self-interest,” he says. “You don’t have to accept a lottery ticket that has an expected value of $10 or $100. No one’s forcing you to do that, nor is that a particularly coercive thing for people.”

Is this the best use of public funds?

In an article published in the Journal of the American Medical Association in January 2021, Largent and a colleague argue that Covid vaccine incentive programs should only be adopted “as a last resort,” noting that “public funds would be better spent advancing other evidence-based proposals to increase voluntary vaccine uptake.” Five months later, she says we’ve reached that point. “Sadly, we’re seeing lagging demands now, and definitely are far short of ideal levels of vaccination,” Largent says. “So it’s time to get creative.”

As far as where, exactly, the money is coming from, both Ohio and West Virginia are using federal funds distributed through the CARES Act, which is seemingly permitted under the open-ended federal spending guidelines. Last week Governor DeWine told reporters that he believes the Vax-a-Millions program falls under the category of vaccine promotion, the Columbus Dispatch reports. “We have spent a lot of money fighting this virus in a lot of different ways,” he said in a press conference. “We have always felt it was worth it because we know the huge human cost of this virus.”

Are there other potential downsides?

While the chance at a $1 million may not be coercive, Largent says that vaccine incentive programs can come with some other undesirable side effects — including giving the impression that the Covid-19 is risky enough to warrant compensating people to get it.

“There’s good evidence from behavioral economics that offering money can make something seem riskier or more burdensome, and I’m worried that we signal to people that the vaccines — contrary to evidence — are not safe or not effective,” Largent explains. One example is a frequently cited 2006 behavioral economics study entitled “Tom Sawyer and the Construction of Value,” which found that when people are on the fence about something, finding out that they’d be compensated for their participation can cause them to view it in a negative light.

So while the chance of winning $1 million might motivate some people, Largent says that it may reinforce the suspicions others already have about the vaccine, or even create new resistance in them “because they worry about the strings being attached.”

Additionally, Largent is concerned that offering incentives for getting the Covid vaccine could set an unsustainable precedent for future vaccine rollouts. “There’s always a risk that we’re going to habituate people to thinking that there should be an incentive attached to the vaccine,” she says. “We’re already talking about the need, potentially, for booster shots for the Covid vaccines, and we don’t want to get ourselves into a loop where we constantly have to lure people into clinics with offers of benefits.”

Ultimately, while Largent sees the necessity of finding innovative ways to increase Covid-19 vaccination rates at this stage of the rollout, she says that states shouldn’t prioritize incentive programs over public health education. “People have a lot of different reasons for not being vaccinated right now,” she explains. “Some of these have to do with misinformation, some of them have to do with personal preferences, or political beliefs and ideology. And when we offer incentive payments of any sort, we’re not really targeting their reasons, meeting people where they’re at.”

Instead, Largent says that listening to people’s concerns and coming up with tailored responses is going to be essential. “We have disparities right now in access to vaccines,” she notes. “We have people who would like to be vaccinated, who maybe don’t understand that the vaccines are free, or who worry about being able to take time off of work if they have any side effects. These are all things that really have to be addressed. They’re less fun and less flashy [than a $1 million lottery], but foundational to how we continue to address the sluggish uptake of vaccines.”

[multipleservicelisting]

San Francisco’s Tech Workers Make the Big Move

SAN FRANCISCO — The Bay Area struck a hard bargain with its tech workers.

Rent was astronomical. Taxes were high. Your neighbors didn’t like you. If you lived in San Francisco, you might have commuted an hour south to your job at Apple or Google or Facebook. Or if your office was in the city, maybe it was in a neighborhood with too much street crime, open drug use and $5 coffees.

But it was worth it. Living in the epicenter of a boom that was changing the world was what mattered. The city gave its workers a choice of interesting jobs and a chance at the brass ring.

That is, until the pandemic. Remote work offered a chance at residing for a few months in towns where life felt easier. Tech workers and their bosses realized they might not need all the perks and after-work schmooze events. But maybe they needed elbow room and a yard for the new puppy. A place to put the Peloton. A top public school.

They fled. They fled to tropical beach towns. They fled to more affordable places like Georgia. They fled to states without income taxes like Texas and Florida.

That’s where the story of the Bay Area’s latest tech era is ending for a growing crowd of tech workers and their companies. They have suddenly movable jobs and money in the bank — money that will go plenty further somewhere else.

But where? The No. 1 pick for people leaving San Francisco is Austin, Texas, with other winners including Seattle, New York and Chicago, according to moveBuddha, a site that compiles data on moving. Some cities have even set up recruiting programs to lure them to new homes. Miami’s mayor has even been inviting tech people to move there in his Twitter posts.

I talked to more than two dozen tech executives and workers who have left San Francisco for other parts of the country over the last year, like a young entrepreneur who moved home to Georgia and another who has created a community in Puerto Rico. Here are some of their stories.

Ah, the normal life

“I miss San Francisco. I miss the life I had there,” said John Gardner, 35, the founder and chief executive of Kickoff, a remote personal training start-up, who packed his things into storage and left in a camper van to wander America. “But right now it’s just like: What else can God and the world and government come up with to make the place less livable?”

A couple of months later, Mr. Gardner wrote: “Greetings from sunny Miami Beach! This is about the 40th place I’ve set up a temporary headquarters for Kickoff.”

Remote personal training happens to coincide well with remote life, but he said his start-up’s growth this past year was also due to his leaving the tech bubble and immersing himself in more normal communities, a few days at a time.

The biggest tech companies aren’t going anywhere, and tech stocks are still soaring. Apple’s flying-saucer-shaped campus is not going to zoom away. Google is still absorbing ever more office space in San Jose and San Francisco. New founders are still coming to town.

But the migration from the Bay Area appears real. Residential rents in San Francisco are down 27 percent from a year ago, and the office vacancy rate has spiked to 16.7 percent, a number not seen in a decade.

Though prices had dropped only slightly, Zillow reported more homes for sale in San Francisco than a year ago. For more than month last year, 90 percent of the searches involving San Francisco on moveBuddha were for people moving out.

Twitter, Yelp, Airbnb and Dropbox have tried to sublease some of their San Francisco office space. Pinterest, which has one of the most iconic offices in town, paid $90 million to break a lease for a site where it planned to expand. And companies like Twitter and Facebook have announced “work from home forever” plans.

“Moving into a $1.3 million house that we saw only on video for 20 minutes and said yes,” wrote Mike Rothermel, a designer at Cisco who moved from the Bay Area to Boulder, Colo., with his wife last summer. “It’s a mansion compared to SF for the same money.”

The amount of room they have felt surreal after various Bay Area apartments. He told me they have so much counter space, they can keep appliances like the food processor in the kitchen itself.

And then the people around them — neighbors — started doing something strange. They brought cinnamons rolls and handwritten welcome notes.

Wait, no income tax?

“We’re selling our house and moving out of SF. Where should we go and why?” Justin Kan, a serial entrepreneur who co-founded Twitch, asked on Twitter in August.

Joe Lonsdale, a co-founder of the software company Palantir, which moved from Silicon Valley to Denver, wrote back: “Come to Austin with us. Growing tech ecosystem and Texas is the best place to make a stand together for a free society.”

Also: no state income taxes.

Austin, population one million and the Texas city most would say is closest in spirit to the Bay Area, has long had a healthy tech industry. The computer giant Dell is based nearby. The University of Texas is one of the top public colleges in the country. And the music scene is eclectic and creative.

Now the local tech industry is rapidly expanding. Apple is opening a $1 billion, 133-acre campus. Alphabet, Amazon and Facebook have all either expanded their footprints in Austin or have plans to. Elon Musk, the Tesla founder and one of the two richest men in the world, said he had moved to Texas. Start-up investor money is arriving, too: The investors at 8VC and Breyer Capital opened Austin offices last year.

Some of the favorite gurus of tech workers are already there, like Tim Ferriss, life-hacker, who left for Austin in 2017, and Ryan Holiday, whose writing about stoicism is influential among the start-up set.

Sahin Boydas, the founder of a remote-work start-up who had lived in San Francisco and its suburbs over the last decade, saw all of that. He looked at his wife and two young children, working and learning from home while crammed into a Cupertino rental that had seen better days. Much of the late summer, the air was full of smoke from wildfires. For days, electricity would go in and out at his house.

“You start to feel stupid,” said Mr. Boydas, who is 37. “I can understand the 1 percent rich people, the very top investors and entrepreneurs, they can be happy there.”

So he and his family moved to Austin. For the same price as their three-bedroom apartment in Cupertino, they have a five-bedroom home on an acre of land. For the first time, Mr. Boydas has outdoor space. He just acquired two rabbits for his children. Sure, it’s (very) hot, but he’s ready for it.

“We’re going to get a cat and a dog,” he said. “We could never do that before.”

And it’s not just the cost of rent that is lower — the water bill is lower; the trash bill is lower; the cost of a family dinner at a restaurant has fallen significantly. Mr. Boydas said he hadn’t even known about the taxes.

“I run payroll for myself, and when I saw zero, I called the accountant like there’s an error — there’s no tax line here,” he said. “And they were like, ‘Yeah there’s no tax.’”

“Ok guys hear me out, what if we move Silicon Valley to Miami,” tweeted Delian Asparouhov, a principal at Founders Fund, which invests in start-ups.

The mayor of Miami wrote back last month: “How can I help?”

Now there is a very vocal Miami faction, led by a few venture capital influencers, trying to tweet the city’s start-up world into existence.

The San Francisco exodus means the talent and money of newly remote tech workers are up for grabs. And it’s not just the mayor of Miami trying to lure them in.

Topeka, Kan., started Choose Topeka, which will reimburse new workers $10,000 for the first year of rent or $15,000 if they buy a home. Tulsa, Okla. will pay you $10,000 to move there. The nation of Estonia has a new residency program just for digital nomads.

A program in Savannah, Ga., will reimburse remote workers $2,000 for the move there, and the city has created various social activities to introduce the newcomers to one another and to locals.

“We try to make the transition easy,” said Jennifer Bonnett, vice president of Innovation & Entrepreneurship at the Savannah Economic Development Authority, whose program started in June.

Keyan Karimi, 29 and a start-up investor, took Savannah’s invitation to move there (though he didn’t ask for the reimbursement).

Seeing the inequality of billionaires in San Francisco’s wealthy Pacific Heights neighborhood and the homeless camps down the hill ground on him. So Mr. Karimi went home to his parents house in Atlanta to ride out some of the pandemic. Then he detected something strange. The city he thought was boring had gotten pretty interesting. Or maybe he had just never noticed before.

“I had no idea how much was going on here. I was sort of myopic,” he said, pausing and correcting himself: “No, I was arrogant.”

Mr. Karimi started looking at Zillow and studying the Southern cities he had ignored. He likes old houses and wants to fix one up. Savannah has a lot of those. So just a few months after leaving his $4,000-a-month one-bedroom in San Francisco, he’s working with the local business development group to put together a maritime innovation center in Savannah to invest in and guide shipping and logistics start-ups. He bought one of those old houses.

Savannah has one of the largest ports in the country. “No one knows that,” Mr. Karimi said. “I figure we can do something with that.”

The only downside is mosquitoes, he said. “I get eaten alive.”

There are 33,000 members in the Facebook group Leaving California and 51,000 in its sister group, Life After California. People post pictures of moving trucks and links to Zillow listings in new cities.

The founder of both groups, Terry Gilliam, is planning to take members on a house-hunting road trip through eastern Tennessee this spring with stops in popular post-S.F. destinations. One tour will be Chattanooga, Knoxville and Johnson City.

“When people decide to leave San Francisco, they usually don’t know where they want to go, they just want to go,” Mr. Gilliam said.

Mr. Gilliam, who met his wife when they worked at a Bay Area Chili’s restaurant, said she wouldn’t let the family move yet. And so the Pied Piper of the California-bashing Facebook community is still in Fremont, on the eastern end of Silicon Valley.

The gang’s all … here now

“People always get pissed at me when they hear birds in my Zoom,” said Ed Zaydelman, a longtime leader in San Francisco’s Burning Man community (and former New York City club promoter), who is forming an entrepreneur community in Costa Rica. “And I say, ‘Come join.’”

If San Francisco of the 2010s proved anything, it’s the power of proximity. Entrepreneurs could find a dozen start-up pitch competitions every week within walking distance. If they left a big tech company, there were start-ups eager to hire, and if a start-up failed, there was always another.

They could live jammed into a rambling Victorian with fellow nerds who — thanks to the popularity of polyamory — were having a lot of sex. More money was made faster in the Bay Area by fewer people than at any other time in American history.

No one leaving the city is arguing that a culture of innovation is going to spring up over Zoom. So some are trying to recreate it. They are getting into property development, building luxury tiny-home compounds and taking over big, funky houses in old resort towns.

“All these people want to do is this live-on-the-land stuff, but it’s not as easy as people think,” Mr. Zaydelman said.

He calls his new development company Nookleo, and he is building five tiny-home communities for remote workers. The little houses cost between $30,000 and 40,000. Each compound has four to six homes, a small organic farm, a yoga deck, a swimming pool and a kitchen clubhouse. Two clusters are already underway in Costa Rica, with Mexico and Portugal next.

In Puerto Rico, Gillian Morris, the founder of the travel app Hitlist, is also recruiting. Her San Francisco breaking point came after her roommate was attacked on their street, and she did a sort of gut check of herself over whether the street scenes and feeling of danger were worth the high rent. She moved to San Juan in 2019, even though it also has a crime problem. But now she lives in a huge house in the middle of the city.

“I have 12 people leaving San Francisco over the next three months to join a co-living community I set up,” she said. “It’s amazing here.”

And for the Baja-leaning, there is Bear Kittay, a co-founder of Good Money, an online banking platform. Now Mr. Kittay, another longtime fixture of the Burning Man festival turned developer, is building a property for the new digital nomads.

“The things that make this city ill are not within my control to change,” he said of San Francisco. “A lot of people are choosing to go to places where there’s opportunity, and maybe it’s a place that is more conservative and there can be an integration of dialogue. Or a place where they can live closer to nature. That’s what we’re doing.”

Nikil Viswanathan, who co-founded the blockchain start-up Alchemy, recently fled San Francisco. He said that there was no reason anymore for him or his colleagues to be there, and that he had always wanted to live on the beach. So now he does, in San Diego.

But the expats still find one another. Not long ago, he stumbled on a cluster at a party.

“I knew it was an S.F. crew because when I walked in because they had the full dual monitor with the ergonomic keyboard on a standing desk,” Mr. Viswanathan said, adding that conversation revolved around the lower cost of living. “One of the S.F. guys was like: ‘I just had a burrito for $6. It was amazing.’”

The last burrito he had in San Francisco cost $15.

They won’t necessarily be missed

Longtime Bay Area residents may well say good riddance to people like Mr. Viswanathan. People who distrusted the young newcomers from the start will say this change is a good thing. Hasn’t this steep growth in wealth and population in a tiny geography always seemed unsustainable?

These tech workers came like a whirlwind. Virtually every community from San Jose in the south to Marin County in the north has fought the rise of new housing for the arrivals of the last decade. Maybe spreading the tech talent around America is smart.

Locals have also seen this play before. Moving trucks come to take a generation of tech ambition away, and a few years later moving trucks return with new dreamers and new ambitions.

After the dot-com bust in 2001, there were fallow years before the latest, long-lasting boom — just as there were fallow years after the PC industry consolidated a decade earlier. That led to the dot-com boom. It is the circle of life in the Bay Area.

And those who are staying are digging in. “When 12 friends left, it felt like powerlessness,” said Diana Helmuth, a 32-year-old writer and marketer in Oakland. “Like these forces were too big. The forces of the world felt too big.”

Now, though, she is hardening toward those who say life is better somewhere else and were in town only for a job. “I say, ‘Great, goodbye, have a great time somewhere else.’”

    Multiple Service Listing for Business Owners | Tools to Grow Your Local Business

www.MultipleServiceListing.com 

from Multiple Service Listing https://ift.tt/3oJVGFb

[bhavanipendem]

Is remote working blessing or burden for companies?

Almost every aspect of our daily lives has been influenced by COVID-19, including overall productivity. The greatest shift has been the idea of working from home. About half of the country’s population is doing it today. The planet has never seen an exercise of this scale.

Will work from home in its present configuration be transient or continue here? Can organisations see that as a feasible choice, especially with people arguing that the barriers between work and life have almost disappeared?

We see shifts in levels of operation, changes in daily routines, how workers remain on top of things outside of the use of work and productivity tools. Many major tech companies have announced plans to allow their workers to continue working for much of 2020 from home. Others are making the move more permanent. Actions are taken by some Companies:

Twitter announced that jobs would be enabled “forever” to operate remotely.

Facebook Inc has said that it will permit its workers to work from home until July next year while Google has prolonged the remote working time for employees who do not need to be in the workplace until June next year.

Negative Findings On Working Remote

In global research conducted by SAP, Qualtrics and Mind Share Collaborators, researchers surveyed more than 2,000 workers in Australia, France, Germany, New Zealand, Singapore, the United Kingdom and the United States in March and April of this year. They found that the pandemic had an effect on mental health around the world. About 40% of people indicated that their mental health has deteriorated since the epidemic of COVID-19. (rephrase)

According to a survey of more than 1,000 remote workers by Twingate, remote work leads workers to lose a sense of work/life balance during the pandemic. Their results include the following:

Zoom is the No. 1 video conferencing device used by remote staff during the COVID-19 pandemic.

40 per cent of staff experienced emotional fatigue from video calls while working remotely.

59% of workers feel more cyber-safe working in-office than at home.

22 per cent of home-based jobs bought a VPN after the pandemic.

58 per cent of staff reported chatting about classified details on job video calls.

Over 1 in 10 workers got their video calls compromised.

More than half (59%) of employees felt more secure digitally when working from the company office, and more than 1 in 3 (36%) were more cautious about opening up emails at home.

However, remote job systems have one big downside: they frequently prevent companies from developing and solidifying their corporate culture. Business culture is fostered, to a large degree, by workers working together and participating in team bonding events and division-or corporate-wide meetings—so that disjointed departments will make this impossible to achieve.

But how relevant is the culture of the company? Will it be prioritised in favour of the ease that telecommunications offer?

Work from home-based policies may have an effect on the growth of business culture in a number of ways. Cultural consequences that unregulated telecommunications could have include:

1. Colleagues and teams being siloed from each other

As workers work primarily or entirely from home, they are likely to only communicate with their peers via e-mail and occasional calls. This is critical for two reasons—first, engaging with colleagues on a regular basis encourages expectations-setting. When new workers are constantly introduced to the actions of their peers, they are able to appreciate success and communication expectations even more easily than they may have been remote. Second, social activity is positively associated with job participation and happiness.

A survey conducted by Gallup of more than 15 million workers revealed that the people with the best “work buddies” are “seven times more likely to work, to be better able to engage clients, to achieve better quality jobs than those without them”

2.Feeling of isolation

Although working from home at first can make life easier, it can negatively impact the mental health of employees. Humans are social beings, and people will feel cut off from seeing anyone.

Remote workers are more likely to fight corporate politics, fear bosses say negative things behind their backs, and campaign against them. A Study of 1,100 Employees Found that Remote Workers Feel lack of work buddies and left out.

3.Enthusiasm for developing and growing a company is more difficult to cultivate.

You want workers to be excited about the job they do—inspiring enthusiasm through a scattered team is not difficult, but definitely not easy. When your workers are 100% inspired, it’s hard to generate passion for your service or product without enough social commitment—high spirits are hard to convey digitally.

Positive Findings On Working Remote

For employees:

Companies or employers who encourage their workers to personalise their way of completing work tend to have job satisfaction and lower operational costs. Let us talk more about the advantages that employers will enjoy from empowering workers to work remotely.

A Glassdoor survey found that 70% of respondents thought that their company had reacted to workers’ health and safety issues. Another 60 per cent said they can function successfully no matter how long they have to do WFH, and 50 per cent said they’re operating as or more efficient remotely. A study by Citrix found that 45% of workers believed employers were “fairly ready” for the transition to working remote, and 38% said the transition was “fairly easy”; however, two positive areas emerged in regard to how companies handled the pandemic shift to remote working:

91 per cent of workers felt the support of their managers during the transition.

92% of respondents felt that their companies took all the measures.

Fewer DISTRACTIONS

Sometimes an office environment can also be loud and distracting for some employees. For example, if one employee has a phone call, other employees can also be distracted around the desk. But remote workers are free of such problems. They can focus on their work for a longer time.

Better work-life balance

There is indeed a lot to talk about the quality of life at work, but few companies are effectively offering their employees an attractive workplace culture.No matter how much emotional decompression rooms, games rooms, and other perks are available, it’s a fact that people always miss their “me-time” dedicated to their needs. So, remote workers can start and end their day based on their needs.

Less Stress

Few are fortunate workers who have the ability to take a stroll to the workplace. It’s because of the distance of their jobs to the house. An employee who spends more than two hours a day trapped in a traffic jam, wastes work time and has a terrible quality of life, is expected to experience more health issues and frustration.

Cost reduction

If an organisation prefers to work with remote teams, monetary tools are used in the most possible manner. With fewer employees at work, the business no longer has to afford vast rooms full of offices, computers and telephones. In addition, you can also save on power, water, oil, property taxes and other fixed costs that are burdened by cash that does not directly benefit the corporation.

FOR COMPANIES:

It is quick to figure out why remote working has become a trend in the workplace. The workers today enjoy the versatility of telecom transmission, which is more efficient and less exhausting at home.

Overhead avoidance is the clearest cost-benefit derived from telecommuting. Companies who do not have to pay for the office and supplies of workers will save a little in one year. In one report, an employee could save INR 8,11,784  on an average and save between INR 147597and INR 516589 in a company’s allowance to work just half the time at home.

Health care prices are lower: One research showed homeworkers showing 25% lower levels of stress, making better food choices and enhancing working-life balance. These aspects help workers lead healthy lives, both of which will reduce their health expenditure gradually.

Lower costs of travel: businesses that run will save on lengthy business trips. They will also use them as a tool that reduces employee travel and commuting expenses since they are already using video chat and online contact channels in everyday activities.

Improved client service: As clientele services improve because now people have more time to invest in work.

Employees Want Remote Work, Too

73 per cent note that they are very successful when working from home, according to a Global Workplace Analytics survey of employees working remotely during the pandemic, and 86 per cent say they feel ‘fully productive’ working from their home office. And of the 3,000 respondents, on average, 76 per cent want to continue working at least 2.5 days per week from home.

It is obvious that people value being able to work from home. And as more and more firms switch to a remote-first or entirely remote model, job seekers are even more likely to find (and land) the ideal job-from-home position.

Blessing or Burden: A final word

The effect of Covid-19 on all aspects of life, in all nations and in all sectors, is seen by the world. The reality is that many activities and roles can be accomplished online, and much better with the help of technology and other interactive tools.

In terms of merits and demerits of remote work, Vanessa Tierney, CEO and co-founder of Abodoo, a data-driven matching network, concludes: While the challenge of remote work has now been revealed, the merits outweigh the demerits and push tech conglomerates like Facebook and Twitter to enable their employees to work “forever” from home.

The IT industry moved to the WFH model during the lockdown very easily, delivering market stability to consumers without reducing efficiency or productivity, pleasing industry leaders and customers alike.

It has proven that with the right processes in place, businesses will prosper and succeed from anywhere in the world. Two reasons for this seamless transition are the rigid commitment of the IT industry to quality systems and the provision of bandwidth connectivity both from homes in metros and in small towns.

Many industrial executives, who led their corporations during the 2008 Great Recession. One of these pioneers is Roger Neel, co-founder and CTO of Mavenlink, who summarises the unparalleled difficulties posed by most organisations as a result of the pandemic crisis: “Better or worse, this time of instability and significant transformation is expected to have a lasting effect on the way various businesses communicate and the way organisations work.

What next???

After post-Covid-19, you can need to re-engine the company to minimise costs, among other items. Future work would be achieved by a mix of in-house services, home work, outsourcing, crowdsourcing, and local towns. The trick is to get the most optimal model based on many criteria, such as type of function, protection requirements, consumer constraints, etc.

For scattered teams, problems like loss of coordination, security issues, preparation and on-board difficulties and burnout are more pronounced. If remote work becomes more of a modern standard, we can see these issues climb to the priority ladder for organisations that are seeking to evolve and move ahead with this new model. The way businesses handle these problems today will be very revealing about their future tomorrow.

[broadwaybarrio]

Are Online Acting Classes Worth It?

This isn't exactly a new question but in the "new normal" of Covid-19, it definitely takes on fresh dimensions and is worth revisiting. I spent about 10 years of my life studying with a number of acting teachers in NYC, eventually becoming one myself, so I do have a perspective on the subject. We're all experiencing a certain amount of upheaval in the pandemic and the acting world is no different. The Broadway theater district is shuttered, as are movie theaters, no one knows when this will change but I'm guessing it won't change anytime soon. Now would-be actors have been flocking to this town to learn their craft for many years and nobody in the biz wants that to go away.  

Alas, Covid isn't going away anytime soon either, so change we must. Up until this crisis, in-person classes were the life's blood of the craft, where actors could take daring chances, stretch and grow. You didn't have to worry about what the agent thought, the director wanted or the producer needed - you were in class to experiment and do your work, period. Now that  in-person instruction has been sidelined indefinitely, what really are your alternatives?

Not studying at all? For young actors with little or no training, this is going to take you nowhere fast. If you don't know how to approach the work, you're never going to get any.

You were studying but now that's on hold? Well, some knowledge is better than none but if you allow your acting muscles to atrophy, you're going to lose whatever you've gained up till this point. Better to keep going to the acting gym in any form, than not at all.

Continue working on your own? You can try that but rehearsing alone in the mirror will only do so much for you. Where's the feedback? How do you progress?

Find a class on Youtube? OK, sure, there's a tutorial for just about anything on there but you'll have to wade through a lot of garbage to find someone knowledgeable. Maybe.

So if none of those work, where does that leave us? Sherlock Holmes once said, "When you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth." That plainly leaves us with Online Acting Classes.

Look, the bottom line is that the world has been slowly marching towards remote learning for a while, Covid merely raised the stakes.

 For technology aside, the training of actors will remain largely the same, at least from my point of view. Actors have to learn a system, they have to learn how to handle text and they have to learn techniques for stage/camera that work.

Remote learning isn't going to prevent any of that but it is going to make some parts more challenging.  Because of the distance between them, actors will be less reliant on physical chemistry, it might still be there but it will be less immediate.  

Students will have to rely more on what they can manufacture for themselves emotionally, independently of who they're acting with. This is where students of Method Acting are going to have a distinct advantage, as that's a key component of our work.

Whether your Method is based in Strassberg, Meisner or Adler's work, all of them have the common goal of learning how to achieve genuine emotion via a system. Once the actor identifies what colors they need for a scene, they use that system's tools to generate that emotion and plug it into their work. Granted, when these systems were developed, they didn't have computers, let alone Zoom but that doesn't mean they can't be learned remotely.

Of course, there are going to be some drawbacks to remote classwork, it may not have the same immediacy as the old school but I've been teaching remotely part-time for about 2 years now and I can tell the sense of community is very strong. Actors are in the business of making connections and will always do that, no matter what. Now remote teaching isn't ideal for training stage actors as they need to reach out and fill a space. They do, however, still need to learn all the other basic skills the training involves and that can be learned in a remote setting. The best experience for that is stage time in front of a live audience. That might be a little to grab right now but there's no reason to suppose it's gone for good either.

Training camera actors in a remote setting should pose less difficulties, as film actors must always deal with the intrusion of technology in their work. Acting for the camera is all about drawing the audience in with your eyes and other subtle signals. 

Roughly 80% of film acting takes place from the chin up, so working remotely falls right into that zone. 

The biggest problem stage actors run into on camera is their inability to bring it down to scale and not look like they're doing Kabuki. Since there's actually more work out for onscreen actors, learning how to do more with less is a skill worth cultivating.

Two other things worth considering - class prices and geography. Lots of acting hopefuls get off of the bus and the train every year, armed with a year of savings and a copy of Backstage in their back pocket. Whether it's NYC, LA or London, coming to the big city to pursue your dream is an expensive, intimidating proposition. Acting classes and rent are not cheap. You need to find a place to live and a survival job to keep you afloat. Back in the Old Days. While we will certainly get back to this scenario, you can look at Online Acting Class as a real gift, where you can get quality training for a few bucks less and minus the move.

Pretty much everyone I know in the community has gone remote and since many of us no longer have to maintain the overhead of a physical studio, can afford to offer our service for less. For most acting students that should count as a real plus. The fact that you don't have to cough up thousands of dollars to share a tiny NYC apartment, can also be read as a perk. Now you won't be in a position to meet agents or go on auditions, so there's a downside there but since work been largely curtailed by the Pandemic, you probably haven't lost that many opportunities either.  

'Course you still need to find a class that's right for you and can give you the acting tools you'll need in the professional world. You'll still need to do your research, learn about the different types of training which are available and start searching for a teacher that can help you with your objectives. When I got to NYC 30 years ago, that was like looking for needle in a haystack, literally.  Technology and remote learning haven't made the craft of acting any easier but in some regards, it has become a little simpler.

[enberlight]

Honestly, this though?

I worked retail for a bit and. No. Not at all inclined to go back to that unless I open my own little shop for my jewelry and crafts someday. (Or, ideally, a little co-op with other local artists.)

My first office job was managed like a retail job so it had some serious downsides.

But my second one? The breakroom cabinets were filled with snacks. That the boss paid for. And wanted us to eat. He also gave everyone hams at Easter.

My next office had free coffee and upper management was always bringing in pastries. Edible gifts from clients were shared with everyone. Boss took us out to (paid) fancy lunches at Christmas. We'd get birthday cards. Everyone got me baby gifts for my son.

Meanwhile, the warehouse Hub worked at screwed everyone over. You had to be in to work before the snow was plowed. They embezzled from the employee paychecks and health fund and the owner and her Favorite Manager ran off to another state one day without notice. Just. Locked the place up and gone. No closing notice or anything. And they hadn't paid the insurance company in forever (even though they withheld premiums from paychecks) so no one could get COBRA.

His subsequent retail job fired him for having a necessary surgery, but wrote it up that he had quit so they didn't have to pay unemployment. They didn't even tell him. They just kept saying "we can't fit you on the schedule" then one day he got a letter from the 401k that he had to cash out because he was no longer an employee.

He opted to be a stay at home dad for a bit after that, since we had a newborn shortly after.

His next retail job edited everyone's hours so they got shorted on their paychecks. He reported them for that but the board wouldn't do anything unless a certain number of people filed together. Which wasn't happening because there weren't even that many employees available!

My current office job's main perk is that we're all remote now and have flexible hours. When we were in the office there would be cards and cake for birthdays, occasional pizza parties for production goals, three nice lunch buffets per year, and random snacks and drinks in the breakrooms.

Hub's only retail perk right now is that damaged-out, discontinued, or returned items get offered up to the employees before the dumpster gets them. And his bosses got us baby gifts. (From their stock, lol) Otherwise it is VERY retail grind.

So uh. Yeah. I much prefer office over retail (and warehouse) because you're more likely to be treated like an actual human instead of shafted a dozen ways over. There are good office jobs and bad ones, and capitalism tends to ruin things for the lower level folks no matter what, but the management style in offices? Generally better than the treatment dished out in retail where employees are considered more disposable.

...we also get chairs. Retail has the worst prejudice against chairs (in the US anyway).

Office job work still has me kinda stunned with how different it is from retail and warehouse.

Like... if it’s slow, I can just play on my phone or write something. My boss straight up said “Some says we won’t have much to do, no biggie.”

We celebrate our birthdays. There’s cake and a card and everything.

Sometimes someone group texts “Hey I’m at Starbucks/McDonalds/Panera, anyone want something?”

One time my ear hurt really badly so my boss said “put down your work, go to urgent care. Right now.” Like, man, it is so surreal to be able to leave if I’m not feeling good??

Literally cannot imagine going back.

[instantmonitoring]

05 Benefits Of Using Productivity Monitoring Software For Your Workplace

An organization always aims at making the most out of their employees. With so many distractions such as social media platforms, chatting with colleagues, and frequent breaks, it’s too challenging for employers to ensure 100% productivity. All these factors result in wastage of working hours and money too.

To get rid of such downsides, more and more companies are using productivity monitoring software at their workplace. And, for those who don’t yet have recognized the perks of using employee monitoring software, we have compiled some benefits to make them aware. Let’s take a peek on them.

Raising Overarching Productivity Of An Organization

With a thorough and timely analysis of employee monitoring software, employers can gain valuable insights related to raising/diminishing productivity of their company. Once they get the data, it’s no longer a daunting task to encourage their employees to perform better.

Real-time Employee Tracking

Companies at first look for the feature of real-time monitoring so that an organization can track and reveal employee's activities. With an automated approach, employers get to know their team’s work without any need for manual work.

Check Out Work-in-progress And Status Of The Project

Simply assigning tasks to your employees isn’t a sound process of working. You need to timely figure out the status of projects and the amount of contribution for each member associated with it. An ideal monitoring tool comes with the ability to track down an entire project with the essentials.

Easily guide & supervise your employees

An employee management tool assists employers in accelerating the working ability of their employees and also helps them identify working or non-working employees to avoid lagging during work. Due to this feature, most of the companies try to cut down unnecessary costs to invest in optimal solutions, which indeed turns out to be beneficial.

Don’t Organize Lengthy Meetings

Corporates always seek ways to avoid wastage of time and productivity. Therefore, they don’t want to spend time conducting meetings that focus on discussing employees’ working approach, profitability, and downsides. Instead, they utilize the same amount of time to explain new policies to their employees as well as resolve communication issues that probably occur in remote work.

How to choose suitable employee productivity & management software?

Having heard about benefits, the other crucial thing to consider is the selection process of the ideal software. Read out the further description carefully.

Determine your budget

Every software offers different plans for monitoring, so you need to choose a software that suits your budget well and doesn’t influence the overall expenses. A small business usually starts with few employees, where free plans are enough to satisfy their craving for robust monitoring. Software like EmpMonitor offers free plans. Read more here for detailed information.

Look for features

Whether basic or advanced, you must see if the tool you have selected has desired operating capabilities. When it comes to productivity monitoring, the must-have features include work measurement, employee surveillance, screen mirroring, data security, and alike. It’s merely a quick recommendation, however, research is quite advantageous in this respect.

Snooping your competitor’s doings

Rather than spending time, effort, and workforce in the evaluation of best Productivity Monitoring Software, organizations can choose worthwhile software by revealing their competitors’ strategy. In a nutshell, they should use the same software which the leading business uses in their industry.

Conclusion

It’s not the sole purpose of the best productivity monitoring software to keep an eye on productivity metrics. Further to this, such software tells whether the work process is going flawlessly or requires tweaking. Both the employer and employee should learn the benefits of employee screening and agree on its implementation. That’s the key to the development of any organization.

Want To Know More About Measuring Employee Productivity? See This Video:-

[thekolsocial]

Coronavirus: How To Survive Working From Home

New Post has been published on https://thekolsocial.com/coronavirus-how-to-survive-working-from-home/

Coronavirus: How To Survive Working From Home

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Coronavirus: How To Survive Working From Home

With the UK in the clutches of Covid-19, and the PM telling people they should stay away from the office, millions of us are now facing the prospect of working from home for the foreseeable future. Ordinarily, flexible working is seen as a highly desirable perk which is offered by many companies to attract and retain talented staff. 

 Now working from home has become a necessity. And while there’s an obvious appeal to not having to commute into work every day, many people may not have worked from home before or for an extended period, and there can be downsides if you don’t put in place particular measures to structure your working day. Gemma Lloyd, Co-CEO and founder of workplace equality champions Work180, shares her top tips on successfully working from home. Gemma has helped hundreds of companies implement policies to attract and support women in the workplace, including flexible working.

  Set Your Alarm

This is not setting your alarm to wake-up in the morning. It’s actually setting your alarm to STOP work. When working from home, it’s extremely easy to lose track of time as you don’t need to leave the office to go home. Set a schedule and stick to it, to maintain a work-life balance. You can find yourself sitting in the same spot for hours on end, and before you know it, it’s 7pm and you’ve been working for 12 hours with barely a break. This isn’t healthy  and the quality of your work will suffer over time. Set an alarm at the beginning of the day when you start your eight hour shift so you know when you need to clock-off. If you still want to work overtime, that’s fine; hit the snooze button – but much like we wouldn’t sleep in too long, don’t work too late.

Shower And Get Dressed

Create a morning routine that ends with you starting work. It could be going for a run, or making a cup of coffee. It could be as simple as taking a shower and getting dressed. I know, why wouldn’t you shower? But if I had a pound for the number of times people who told me they wake up and sit in their PJ’s all day while working, I’d be rich. Aside from the obvious cleanliness benefits of showering, it wakes you up! It makes you believe you are going into an office like you would any other day. Whereas if you do sit in your pyjamas, it’s easy to feel sluggish and not as productive as you usually would.

Set Up A Workspace

Avoid drifting between working on your couch, to the dining table and even the bedroom. Set up a proper office for yourself. It might be worth investing in an ergonomic chair and desk. A comfortable working position is vital to avoid longer term back issues. Some employers would cover these costs so it’s worth raising it with your manager. Plenty of natural light in the room is also beneficial, along with any pictures, plants or artwork – this can be a huge upside of not working in a dreary office space..

Get Moving

Ensure you have regular mini-breaks to get up, stretch and move around when working from home. Even a quick walk around the house will do you the power of good. Make sure you take your lunch break every day, and if possible try and take it at the same time to establish a routine. It’s worth trying to get out of the house for a short period, particularly if you have a park nearby that you can walk around. Millions of us are going to be cooped up in our homes for days on end. If it’s possible to pop out for a short, brisk walk, away from crowds, then take the opportunity to do that. At the very least, if you have a garden, walk around it a few times, just to avoid cabin fever from staring at four walls all day. 

Utilise Social Networks

Most organisations will have an internal social network such as Skype or Slack. You are going to rely on this more when everyone is working remotely. It’s important to keep yourself connected and social especially when working from home. If you don’t have a built-in work network, then create your own. Emails are impersonal so consider setting up a group video chat, and dial in daily to see how people are doing. Regular communication with your work colleagues is vital during this period, not just to ensure you are working as efficiently as possible, but also so you don’t feel isolated. 

Set Ground Rules

It’s important to set some ground rules straight away with people you share your home with, particularly if you don’t have a separate room to designate as your office. If you have kids, they will inevitably want your attention when they come home from school. Introduce some clear rules about when you can and cannot be disturbed and make sure the family sticks to them. You should also lay down some rules around tasks that you wouldn’t normally do while at work such as answering the door for deliveries or looking after pets. Make it clear that during your working day you aren’t available to do any other tasks, unless absolutely necessary. That way you won’t be distracted.

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[jeremystrele]

Find the Best Internet Deals for Your Home Internet

Everyone needs to access the internet these days, whether just to send emails or to connect multiple PCs, tablets and TVs in the household for gaming and live TV streaming. When selecting an internet service provider, your choices involve more than speed alone. Internet providers also offer a wide range of the best internet deals which, might be compelling enough to convince you to switch providers.

What kinds of internet deals should you look for? The answer depends on your needs. Telecommuters, gamers, occasional web users and rural residents each benefit from different types of internet deals, for instance. A telecommuter working from multiple locations is more likely to benefit from free WiFi hotspots than a gamer whose main requirement is super high bandwidth at home. Free installation may be more advantageous to a rural resident putting in a complex satellite setup than to an occasional web user who only requires a low-speed DSL modem running over standard phone lines.

To help you decide when going to Google looking for “internet deals in my area,” here’s a quick glimpse at some of the internet deals you can find, together with examples of deals offered by various companies.

Best internet deals

Bundling; Bundling is one of the many types of internet deals that can save you money. Customers get discounts on services by combining (or “bundling”) internet service with phone and/or TV service from the same provider.

Free equipment: Free equipment is another common internet deal, with the type of equipment varying according to the type of internet service. Cable providers sometimes offer free cable modems.

Free installation:  A cable provider might offer a free self-install kit, whereas a satellite internet provider might send out a specialized service technician free of charge.

Contract-free plans: Many internet service plans require you to sign a one or two-year contract in order to get service, and to pay an early termination fee if you end service before the contract is up. Other plans, however, are contract-free, letting you pay on a month-to-month basis and quit the plan with no financial penalty.

Sign-on deals: One typical sign-on deal is to offer a discounted rate for internet service if you do agree to a contract. Providers also run “limited time” specials that entitle you to pricing discounts or other perks only if you sign up before the promotion ends.

‘No data cap’ plans: Some providers charge you extra fees, or “throttle” (slow) your service, if you exceed a company-imposed monthly limit on data. Others, though, don’t place any caps on the amount of data your household can use.

WiFi hotspots:  Some internet service providers operate networks of WiFi hotspots, and offer these to their users. Subscribers needing WiFi connectivity while away from home can access these hotspots via laptops and other mobile devices from wherever they are situated.

Antivirus protection: It’s crucially important to protect your devices from viruses, malware and other kinds of cyberattacks. In another type of internet deal, the internet provider lets you download antivirus protection and other security software free of charge.

Best home internet deals

ProviderType of InternetBest ForAvailability  AT&T DSL, fiber, fixed wirelessBundles 21 statesCharter Spectrum CableTelecommuters41 statesXfinityCableGaming and home entertainment39 states, plus District of ColumbiaHughesNetSatelliteRural residents50 statesOptimumCable, fiberSeniors and low-income families 4 states

The availability of these and other Internet providers varies according to location. To see internet deals in your area, use the ISP.com zip code finder 

Compare internet deals

AT&T

One of the largest telecommunications companies in the US,  AT&T began in 2014 to deploy super high-speed fiber services at up to 1 Gbps in dozens of cities across the US. AT&T’s internet customer base remains much larger, though, for DSL. Only about 40 percent of AT&T’s DSL customer base achieves speeds of 100 Mbps, with the remainder receiving lower rates of 4 Mbps or 25 Mbps. All AT&T customers get free access to the company’s huge network of WiFi hotspots.

Whether you’re interested in lower-speed DSL or ultra-fast fiber, AT&T is great for bundling deals. On the downside, though, the terms of these deals can be complicated, and you need to look at the fine print. As of January 28, 2020, AT&T offers a bundle combining internet service with its DirecTV service for $79.99 monthly (plus taxes and an internet equipment fee) for 12 months, with 24-month TV and 12-month internet contracts and a combined bill.

What’s more, customers placing online orders with internet or either DirecTV or AT&T’s other TV service, Uverse, get $350 in reward cards for use with retail stores, restaurants, and online ecommerce sites. AT&T recommends internet speeds of at least 25 Mbps for TV service.

Charter Spectrum 

Charter Communications became the second-largest broadband provider and third-biggest pay provider in the US through a 2016 merger with Time-Warner and Bright House Networks. Available to over 30 percent of the US population, Charter’s Spectrum cable service includes more than 28 million signed-up residential and business customers across portions of 42 states.

Spectrum is ideal for households that don’t want to be tied down by contracts, as well as for customers such as telecommuters who are frequently on-the-go. The company offers contract-free plans and will even buy out your contract with another provider, reimbursing you for ETFs of up to $500. Spectrum customers get free access to Charter’s nationwide WiFi hotspot network. Spectrum’s speeds range from 100 Mbps to 1 Gbps, depending on location, and all cable packages come with a free cable modem and free antivirus software.

Pricing starts at $49.99 monthly with a 12-month agreement. Charter also offers Spectrum TV bundles, along with a mobile app for live TV streaming to your device no matter where you roam.

Comcast Xfinity

Comcast’s consumer and business cable customers amounted to more than 31 million nationally. as of the third quarter of 2019, making the company the number one provider of cable internet access in the US. Under the brand name Xfinity, the company also sells cable TV and digital phone services. In addition, Comcast owns Sky, a large European pay-TV provider, as well as NBCUniversal.

Comcast is a particularly enticing choice for customers who need supremely high bandwidth for internet gaming, or for streaming media to multiple TVs, PCs and other devices. In most of the markets it serves, Comcast offers a 2 Gbps fiber plan called Xfinity Gigabit Internet Pro, as well as a 1 Gbps plan known as Xfinity Gigabit Internet.

Some Xfinity plans are less costly. As of January 30, 2020, Comcast provides a $79.99-a-month bundle with 200 Mbps in bandwidth, TV service and unlimited voice calling “to nearly half the world,” with a two-year agreement. This internet deal also includes downloads of movies and TV shows through the Xfinity Stream app, and — as a limited time sign-on offer–  a free self-installation kit otherwise valued at $59.99. Other advantages available to Xfinity customers include access to millions of hotspots nationwide, a free download of Norton Security Suite, and a 30-day money-back guarantee.

HughesNet

HughesNet is available in every state in the US, including Hawaii. Unlike Viasat, its major satellite competitor, HughesNet offers bandwidth of up to 25 Mbps — a speed commonly accepted as adequate for video streaming — with all its plans. The company does not guarantee, however, that you will achieve this speed. 

HughesNet’s services are best suited for people in remote rural locations where high-bandwidth connectivity is not available through cable or DSL. Home WiFi is included in HughesNet’s plans. Pricing is determined not by internet speed, but by amount of data used each month, HughesNet offers four price tiers, ranging from 10GB to 50GB. HughesNet imposes data caps, too, although these are “soft” rather than “hard.” If you exceed the data allowed in your plan, the company slows or “throttles” your service to almost a standstill – 1 Mbps to 3 Mbps — until the close of the current billing cycle.

Installation can be a slightly complicated process. It involves setting up and connecting a WiFi modem with a HughesNet LAN cable inside the home, as well as installing a satellite dish in the correct position on the rooftop. HughesNet does offer limited time promotions for free installation of equipment. Voice service is available, too.

Optimum Online

Altice acquired Cablevision in 2016, after purchasing the assets of another US cable provider, Suddenlink, in 2015. The Optimum buyout included three services: Optimum Online, Optimum TV and Optimum Voice. In September of 2018, the company launched a new 1 Gbps fiber service on Long Island, known as “Optimum Gigabit,” with plans to roll out fiber throughout the Optimum and Suddenlink coverage areas and to ultimately raise speeds to 10 Gbps.

As of January 30, 2020, most Optimum Online customers have a choice of five service tiers. These range from Optimum10, providing speeds of 10 Mbps, to Optimum400, supplying 400 Mbps. Additionally, in a limited-time promotion, Optimum offers a 300 Mbps plan priced at $39.99 per month for one year,  with free installation. Customers must also pay a monthly charge to lease a cable modem. On the other hand, you also get a number of free perks as an Optimum customer, including mobile hotspot access, internet security powered by McAfee and email. Optimum offers contract-free plans, with buyout offers of up to $500 from contracts with other providers. TV and phone bundling deals are available, too.

Beyond all that, many seniors and low-income families living in Optimum and Suddenlink coverage areas are eligible for an internal deal called Altice Advantage. This program provides 30 Mbps internet service at a discounted rate of $14.99 monthly. Eligible participants can also purchase an Acer laptop for $149.99. Optimum covers portions of New York State, New Jersey, Connecticut and Pennsylvania. Suddenlink’s coverage area includes parts of nine states in the West, Southwest, and South.

Call now to learn about internet deals near your home

When you’re shopping for an internet provider, internet offers and deals are a very important part of the equation. With the right deals in place, you can save money and gain valuable free perks. To find cheap internet near you, use this zip code tool. To ask questions and get further help, call ISP.com.

The post Find the Best Internet Deals for Your Home Internet appeared first on Freshome.com.