Top 50 US Cities for Social Networking
Top 50 US Cities for Social Networking
Netprospex had an interesting article ranking the top 50 cities for social networking. For the entire article, click here.
If you want to see the entire report, click here.
15 Products Made by Mistake
Have you ever wondered why a certain product was invented? Some of them that have been a big success actually were a mistake.
Think of these products:
1. Coca-Cola – A pharmacist, trying to make a tonic for people with sore teeth, found that when he taste-tested it, it wasn’t too bad. He added a little carbonated water and low and behold . . . a great product.
2. Sticky Notes – Post it notes by 3M was discovered when trying to find a better adhesive tape. The scientist found an adhesive material that just wasn’t sticky enough though. While this same scientist was at church looking for a way to stick notes to his hymnal, he decided to use that not so sticky stuff he created to help hold his work in place. A new idea was born.
3. Scotchgard – Another 3M product was created out of trying to create rubber for airplane fuel lines. After spilling some on their shoes, the scientists realized that this stuff was protective and wouldn’t come off. Through time, the shoes looked dirty everywhere except for where they spilled the substance.
4. Rubber – Its first use was when they discovered it could erase things from a piece of paper. The original substance was unstable because it would become too liquid or shattered based on temperature. When rubber and sulfur were accidentally dropped onto a hot stove, the combination turned out to be something no one had anticipated.
5. Penicillin – Spores that contaminated a bacteria sample were the unintended beginning for this drug. When the scientist took a closer look at these spores, he noticed they were actually doing harm to the bacteria.
6. White Out – A secretary who took pride in her work discovered this while trying to cover up some of her errors. Soon other secretaries were asking to borrow her concoction. This started the Mistake Out Company, later named Liquid Paper.
Do you want to read about some more mistakes? Check out these other famous blunders by clicking on the links below:
7. Corn Flakes
9. Silly Putty
10. Saccharin
11. Slinky
12. Potato Chips
13. Fireworks
14. Play-Doh
15. Chocolate Chip Cookies
Pharmaceutical Job Cuts
I was a pharmaceutical representative for over 15 years. I have a lot of people contact me, asking for tips about how to get into that industry. If you are considering pharmaceutical sales, this may not be the best time. Many of the big companies have been cutting back their sales forces. The company I worked for used to co-market a drug with Abbott Pharmaceuticals. Pharmatimes.com reported today,“Abbott Laboratories is planning to cut around 3% of its workforce over the next two years, with the vast majority affecting Solvay Pharmaceuticals, acquired for 5.2 billion euros by the US major in February.” Abbott isn’t the only pharmaceutical company hitting hard times.
A friend of mine who worked for Glaxo recently was offered an early retirement package to help reduce some of their sales force.
According to Fiercepharma.com, “The cuts come as some of the industry’s biggest players–Pfizer, Wyeth, Merck, Schering-Plough, and Roche–integrate the major buyouts they made in 2009. In order to squeeze out the most efficiency from a mega-merger, these companies must cut headcount to reduce overall costs. It’s an ongoing process that will continue to impact the industry’s job cuts levels.”
Pharma Layoffs by Month, 2010
Month Layoffs January 8,170 February 25,875 March 308 April 1,049 May 6,943 June 830 July 2,023 August 255 TOTAL 37,265
Adobe Premiere Elements 9 Integrates Social Network Uploads
Are you considering checking out Adobe Premiere Elements 9? Their latest version integrates social networking uplaods, but according to PC World, it lacks a few “elements” it should have considered.
Alan Stafford from PC World had the following to say about the new Adobe Premiere Elements 9, “The video-focused complement to Photoshop Elements 9, the new version of Adobe’s image-editing application, Premiere Elements 9 lets you easily upload finished videos to Facebook (the program first acquired YouTube-upload capability in Premiere Elements 8).You can’t send your freshly edited video directly from Premiere Elements to Facebook, however; instead, you must save it, return to the Elements organizer (a separate application), find the video, and then use commands in the organizer to upload the video.”
“The nifty new feature is the ability to create Web DVDs, which are high-quality online movies with DVD-like menus. Create the menus in the Premiere Elements 9 editor, choose a still image and a soundtrack for the opening menu, and then specify chapter points or tell Elements to create them automatically. When Elements is done producing the movie, it uploads it to Photoshop.com, Adobe’s online sharing site. Web DVDs have a few advantages over regular videos–the opening menu interface looks and sounds slick (if you choose a good soundtrack), and the ability to fast-forward to chapter points in the video means your viewers can fast-forward to scenes they want. And unlike a real DVD, your video can be in high definition (DVDs are limited to standard resolution).”
Premiere Elements 9 has some additional capabilities . . . to see the rest of the article, click here.
How Are Online Degrees Perceived?
I often get into Linkedin group discussions about the pros and cons of online learning. I address it in depth in my book, The Online Student’s User Manual. I thought eLearners.com had a pretty good article about the acceptance of online degrees. To read the entire article click here.
In that article, hiring managers were asked how they felt about strictly online learning environments. It was close to 50/50 in terms of whether they felt it was favorable or not. The acceptance got better with the schools that had both regular classes and online classes offered.
I have taken both traditional and online courses. I personally prefer online learning. I think it will become more and more the norm. I feel I learned more and had a much better experience in my online business classes because I was not forced to be in as many group-related activities. In my traditional university experience, I witnessed a lot of business majors getting their bachelor degree based on being in groups where they contributed nothing and got A’s because the rest of the group did the work.
I think a lot of people are slow to accept technology because it is a big change. However, online learning is here and it is growing. I work for many online universities where I see very strict guidelines enforced. I have people monitoring my classes constantly. I get feedback and direction to be sure I am staying on track and offering only the highest in quality education.
Perhaps a lot of the perception is due to the profit or non-profit status of schools. I think a lot is name recognition. Big-named schools like Harvard now offer online courses. To find out more about that program, click here. I think as more schools like Harvard add distance education, it will only improve the perception of online education.