Verizon’s struggles to keep its LTE network running consistently continue. Wednesday morning, Verizon reported on its Twitter feed that it is looking into customer complaints about the 4G service going down, and multiple blogs are reporting network outages in several markets ranging from Phoenix to Indianapolis. Read More »
The iPhone 4S will arrive March 9 on China Telecom, China’s third-largest carrier. It’s an important step for Apple, which has highly prioritized its China business, but the number of reachable customers pales in comparison to the 650 million customers China Mobile serves. Read More »
Coworking and independent work may seem utopian as workers escape being chained to dreary cubicles, but exploitation of contractors is still a danger. Are coworking spaces inadvertently making it easier to establish asymmetric power relationships and, if so, what’s to be done about it? Read More »
There’s a new app store available for millions of devices, but it’s not built for iOS, Android, or Windows Phone handsets. As of Tuesday, the newest app store is for robots, and the first four apps are compatible with the estimated 6 million iRobot Roomba Vacuums. Read More »
Samsung suffered another reversal in its patent battle with Apple on Friday morning, as the Mannheim Regional Court in Germany dismissed the Korean company’s second patent complaint related to 3G/UMTS technology. Last week, the same court rejected another similar Samsung complaint about 3G tech. Read More »
Two design pros who will speak at an upcoming coworking conference on a panel about creating spaces that foster collaboration explain that, as technology allows teams to be far more nomadic, providers of corporate office spaces have a lot to learn from coworking. Read More »
Experts have declared coworking a movement on the edge of exploding, with new business-savvy players set to take advantage of the trend. But survey results show existing owners hope to capitalize on the idea’s rise as well, often even if their existing space isn’t profitable. … Read More »
Every time new Macs come along, people inevitably get the itch to upgrade. There are no new ones on the immediate horizon, but that new computer experience might be available for a lot less money, if your Mac is eligible for a simple, DIY memory upgrade. Read More »
Globally, nearly one-in-five wired workers telecommute on a frequent basis, but the number working from outside the office varies enormously between regions, with those in the developing world reporting far more mobility than Europeans and North Americans. Read More »
For skilled professionals, the increasing prevalence of independent work can be a blessing, but the trend toward replacing steady jobs with gig-based careers is bad news for the economy as a whole and inequality in particular, argues a Canadian magazine. Do you agree? Read More »
As work becomes more wired and independent, managers and HR are rethinking their roles. But do facilities managers also need to wake up to the changing nature of work, spending less time thinking about cleanliness and costs and more about the future? Read More »
Got an old netbook? For a $225 Kickstarter pledge, you can turn a netbook into a telepresence robot, remotely controlling it over from a web browser or a smartphone. Over a web connection, you could even use the Oculus robot to speak with remote workers. Read More »
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Onboarding any employee can be tricky, and getting new virtual employees up to speed is even trickier. In fact, the process has so many potential pitfalls that some CEOs recommend you skip it entirely, training remote workers face-to-face instead. Read More »
Apple users who also type like the wind are in luck: Das Keyboard took the wrapper off a version of its impressive mechanical switch keyboard that’s designed for Macs. In addition to tactile feedback, the Das Keyboard for Mac offers special keys designed for Apple machines. Read More »
From the rise of sites like Elance and oDesk to the opinions of researchers and anecdotal evidence from knowledge workers, evidence is mounting that the future will feature a lot more contract workers. Now another survey is supporting the rise of the gig economy. Read More »
Yes, it’s an extreme headline, but it’s backed up by a new study presented at a British psychology conference today. The research claims addiction to our devices causes us to experience longed for “phantom vibrations” and increases stress. Time to switch off after hours. Read More »
Although it’s still winter, now is the time to do some spring cleaning on your Mac to help it run more efficient and reliably. Here are six simple steps to take that will get your Mac sparkly clean and running like new. Read More »
A round-up of advice from veteran remote workers to those who work from home turns up a rarely cited truth: Your productivity problems may have more to do with what you do than how you do it. Now you just have to admit it. Read More »
Big ideas — big societal changes — don’t simply spring up full formed. Instead, they develop. This is also true of coworking, according to Steve King of Emergent Research, who has sparked debate with his claim that the movement has entered a very different second phase. … Read More »
If you’re pondering trying to get out of the office more this year but are unsure if you’re ready to jump into a membership at a coworking space, an event coming up on the calendar may be for you. Read More »
Among cutting-edge companies the realities of virtual teams may be fairly old news, but according to several recent articles, the same isn’t true for many mainstream HR departments who are badly behind when it comes to grappling with the implications of widespread remote work. Read More »
As scientists examine the flexible future of work, more and more studies are confirming that letting employees set where and when they work promotes health and happiness, including the latest analysis of Best Buy’s ROWE experiment out of the University of Minnesota. Read More »
We often think being passionate about work involves finding the right activities to suit our strengths and interests, but what if career passion was as much about how you work as what you do? Then you might not need to change jobs to get it. Read More »
A British company surveys workers and finds not only are they more productive when working remotely, but they also feel less creative at the office. Where do they get their most innovative ideas? At the pub (assumedly with a limited quantity of libations). Read More »
Remote collaboration tools and connectivity promise to unleash us from the office, but despite these advantages most of us still spend the majority of our days in drab spaces. Perhaps the New Year is the perfect opportunity for knowledge workers to reconsider where they work. Read More »
It’s the time of year for predictions for the year ahead, so over on the Intranet Benchmarking Forum blog, Paul Miller, who is writing a new book about “digital workplaces,” obliges with a lengthy list of predictions for the digital workplaces in 2012. Read More »
A handful of freelancer parties suggest the future of the work-related holiday get-together in a world of remote collaboration may not be so grim after all. It just may require a switch in mindset away from an exclusive focus on employers as the organizing principle. Read More »
A handful of new surveys reveal many Americans are planning to work through the holidays, increasing both their vacation starvation and the risk of burnout. The dreary economy can’t help, but are new ways of working, including remote teams and constant connectivity, partly to blame? … Read More »
Forget the romance of the high-flying executive lifestyle. When a virtual events company recently asked execs whether they’d prefer a virtual conference to a trip to several American cities, large percentages said yes, citing the horrors of modern business travel. Houston, we have a problem. Read More »
It’s the holiday season but the impulse to celebrate gets a bit more complicated if you have colleagues spread from New Delhi, India to New Haven, Conn. How can you hope to bring everyone together to celebrate the season and build a bit of camaraderie? Read More »
Mobility usually means both more hours and more flexibility for workers, but does it also equal more stress? About a third of connected workers say absolutely yes, while another third say absolutely not. What are the differences between these two groups? Read More »
Corporate America earns praise for being efficient, creating economies of scale and bringing the wide world’s goods and services right to the doorstep of consumers. Among the things traditional big business isn’t so good at – authenticity. Working independently is a whole other story. Read More »
How’s this for a happy Thanksgiving present? Groupon’s stock price sank Wednesday to the lowest point since its initial public offering earlier this month, closing at $16.96 a share, well below its $20 IPO share price — sparking pre-holiday buzz (and Schadenfreude) in tech and finance … Read More »
Think of independent workers, and you’ll probably imagine a lone professional staring at his laptop all day, supporting himself in his slippers. But there are some freelancers who build their solo gigs into thriving, and lucrative, businesses, employing others. Here’s how they manage it. Read More »
Ted Forstmann, one of the legendary investors who was an early pioneer in the leverage-buyout business, has died at the age of 71 in his New York City home after battling with brain cancer. He was an investor in telecoms such as XO Communications & McLeodUSA. Read More »
Stanford University researchers partner with a Chinese travel agency to do a rigorous scientific test of the effects of allowing telecommuting, using a large sample and control group. The results are heartening for fans of remote work and might be enough to convince skeptical bosses. Read More »
Telecommuters whose employers are based in one state but who work out of another can run into tax headaches, as both states claim a portion of their pay. Now, it appears congress is making another effort to eliminate the double bill for remote workers. Read More »
The caffeine may be flowing and the atmosphere comfy at your local coffee shop, but working there isn’t without its annoyances, which is why WorkSnug set out to solicit ideas and develop a ‘Coffee Shop Code of Conduct.’ Now the results are out. Read More »
You may have found that since upgrading to OS X Lion, your browsing experience with Safari has changed slightly. Your web page could be jumping out at you for no obvious reason due to increased touch sensitivity. Here are some possible fixes. Read More »
In the tech blogosphere, chatter abounds about the latest collaboration tools, cutting edge ideas and the future of gadgets. But back on solid ground in cubicles, conference rooms and coworking spaces across the land, how much tech knowledge is actually filtering down to average employees? Read More »
No segment of the economy looks exactly buoyant right now, and small business hiring is no exception, but what does that have to do with the future of work? Plenty, suggest new reports showing that tepid hiring, is partially down to rise of freelancers. Read More »
The future of work, a lot of commentators seem to agree, is shaping up to have a lot more independent contractors, contingent workers, freelancers and the like, and fewer regular full-time employees. But these folks can’t join unions of bargain collectively. Does it matter? Read More »
Macs retain higher resale values than other PCs, but they don’t last forever. But how do you know when to act? What are the symptoms of impeding Mac death or obsolescence, and when is a good time to consider getting a new one? Read More »
Web conferencing tools are a double-edged sword; you can connect with your team anywhere, but there’s no way to know if they’re listening intently or honing their doodling skills. Fear of distraction may be understandable but it’s also misplaced according to experts. Read More »
When it comes to piecing together a career as an independent worker, online marketplaces like Elance and oDesk can seem like all upside. But is this the whole story? A small business consultant suggests these sites present an often overlooked problem for freelancers – lower prices. … Read More »
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