Foul Tech Sours

Is the cost of a system worth the price of convenience? This question is something that I've been ruminating on after a brief discussion with one of my close friends. Scenario: My close friend, let's call her Kitty, has been applying for jobs. One particular company, a small to medium sized company (464 stores with 11,800 employees as of 1 October 2015), allows interested applicants to view open positions online. Kitty found several positions in which she was interested and proceeded to apply. Now, you would expect, like many systems, that Kitty would be redirected from the company employment website to some sort of under-thought, poorly customized employee application system powered by Oracle (you know, Taleo? Yup..it's Oracle). In this instance, that was not the case: She provided her email address and was then emailed  a fillable .PDF application which she was expected the send back electronically to the company email address provided. Pause: They want Kitty, the...

While the bottom line (net revenue) is important to a businesses finances and success, several companies realize that in order to increase this number it is important also important to increase efficiency.  Having an impact on overall efficiency begins from the bottom up: the employees must be satisfied with not only themselves, but their work environment. While providing benefits, flexible schedules, and relaxing dress codes have been common ways to make employees "feel good", a new method is slowly but surely beginning to enter the business world. Formally, Bring Your Own Device (known as BYOD) policies allow employees to bring their personal mobile devices, such as laptops, smart phones, or tablets, to access company information and data in the work environment. BYOD is beginning to have an impact on several companies in the United States and around the world.  While this trend may appear intimidating and currently raises ...

The concept of electronic cigarettes, or e-cigarettes, is growing rapidly. Although the number people that puff on these smokeless, tarless, nicotine fixes is still relatively small compared to the number of real cigarette smokers, there are several people that are on board for this "new" phenomena. The concept of e-cigarettes has actually been around for years.  The earliest concept was actually conceived in 1963 when a man patented a "smokeless non-tobacco cigarette".  His concept replaced the tobacco with paper. That paper was then heated with moist flavored air.  Although various generations of the e-cigarette have been developed, the concept still remains the same.  The modern e-cigarette uses a small battery to vaporise a mixture containing nicotine and an organic solution similar to alcohol.  This produces a "smoke-like" vapor that smokers can inhale, providing the same delivery and effect of smoking a traditional cigarette. Although no ciga...