| | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |
| | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
RefBan
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
Morning Digest: EU talks up Spanish banks package, markets skeptical
FlowingData - Sonification of Stanley Cup goals
| ||||||||||||||||||
The Cynical Girl: Microsoft is Technology’s Answer to Sears
The Cynical Girl: Microsoft is Technology’s Answer to Sears |  |
| Microsoft is Technology’s Answer to Sears Posted: 09 Jul 2012 06:45 AM PDT Vanity Fair just published a funny little article about the downfall of Microsoft. The unnamed author mocks the company for being too rigid; he makes fun of the company’s short-sided, Windows-driven view of the world; and he identifies a forced-ranking program as the single biggest innovation-killer in the organization’s history. In short, everybody still hates HR. The funniest line of the article comes from a former employee who says, “I see Microsoft as technology's answer to Sears. In the 40s, 50s, and 60s, Sears had it nailed. It was top-notch, but now it's just a barren wasteland. And that's Microsoft. The company just isn't cool anymore." I laughed for 20 minutes at that paragraph. All companies in ‘new market segments’ seem cool. Remember when computers were once new? Search was once new. Mobile devices — including your shitty Blackberry — was once new. Even department stores like Sears, Macy’s and Lord & Taylor were once new. Every company is once new. Then growth stops and you actually have to do the hard work of innovating on top of existing innovative ideas. A brilliant idea is fabulous. Give me seven brilliant ideas and then maybe I can meet a payroll and provide a decent place to work. A company like Apple isn’t as cool as it seems. Their store employees generate nearly a half-million dollars in revenue and they earn a little more than an employee at Costco. What about Google? You have to answer a bunch of bullshit interview questions that don’t correlate to performance and then they monitor behavioral and workforce analytics to craft your employment experience into a modern-day factory of ideas. That’s not innovation. That is creepy. The grass is always greener on the other side. Microsoft may be the Sears of technology but it’s a company and a job. Microsoft helps to pays the bills, puts a generation of kids through college and generates enough revenue to help stop polio and malaria. If you can do better than Microsoft in your life and your career, go for it. But don’t be so smug about participating in the iLife (that was created by Taiwanese workers who kill themselves) and enjoying your eReader (shipped from a human oven) while drinking a faux fair trade cup of coffee (that does more environmental harm than good). You are just as much of a tool as the employees at Microsoft. They just earn more money than you do.  |
| Monday Morning HR Humor: Laurie & Ken Eat UK Candy Posted: 09 Jul 2012 03:45 AM PDT About 18 months ago, my husband and I made a video where we ate candy from the United Kingdom. This came on the heels of another award winning video where we ate candy from a trip to China. I know, I know. Compelling stuff. Anyway, this video is garnering the weirdest comments now that we are coming closer to the Olympics. Dang, I look young. I was wearing MAC eyelashes but I’m not sure why. Blogging will age a bitch. |
| You are subscribed to email updates from The Cynical Girl To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610 | |
ScienceDaily: Living Well News
ScienceDaily: Living Well News |
- Facebook use leads to depression? No, says study
- Online news 'takes off in US and UK while most Germans prefer a newspaper'
- Social network screening of employees can make organizations unattractive to applicants
- Rating films with smoking 'R' will cut smoking onset by teens, experts say
- Investing in karma by doing good deeds
- Obesity linked to circle of friends
- Girls' mathematics performance more likely to suffer than boys' as a result of mathematics anxiety
| Facebook use leads to depression? No, says study Posted: 09 Jul 2012 08:11 PM PDT A study of university students is the first evidence to refute the supposed link between depression and the amount of time spent on Facebook and other social-media sites. |
| Online news 'takes off in US and UK while most Germans prefer a newspaper' Posted: 09 Jul 2012 02:37 PM PDT Researchers are examining how the digital revolution is changing the way we access news. Among the first findings, it shows that of those surveyed, most Germans still prefer a newspaper. Meanwhile, online news has overtaken print and TV news as the most frequently used medium in the UK and US for those using computers, mobile phones and tablets for news. One in five people in the UK now shares news stories every week through social networks or e-mail. However, the report also suggests out of the five countries studied, consumers in the UK were the most resistant to the idea of paying for online news. |
| Social network screening of employees can make organizations unattractive to applicants Posted: 09 Jul 2012 01:26 PM PDT Social networking websites offer a potentially large amount of personal information to organizations about job applicants. However, organizations that implement online screening practices through sites like Facebook may reduce their attractiveness to applicants and current employees. |
| Rating films with smoking 'R' will cut smoking onset by teens, experts say Posted: 09 Jul 2012 12:06 PM PDT New research estimates, for the first time, the impact of an R rating for movie smoking. Researchers emphasize that an R rating for any film showing smoking could substantially reduce smoking onset in US adolescents -- an effect size similar to making all parents maximally authoritative in their parenting, they say. |
| Investing in karma by doing good deeds Posted: 09 Jul 2012 11:28 AM PDT For many important outcomes in life -- applying for jobs, waiting for medical test results -- there comes a point when you just have to sit back and hope for the best. But that doesn't mean we always behave that way. New research suggests that even when an outcome is out of our control we often act as though we can still get on the good side of fate by doing good deeds. |
| Obesity linked to circle of friends Posted: 09 Jul 2012 09:13 AM PDT A study of high school students provides new evidence that a person's circle of friends may influence his or her weight. Students were more likely to gain weight if they had friends who were heavier than they were. Conversely, students were more likely to get trimmer -- or gain weight at a slower pace -- if their friends were leaner than they were. |
| Girls' mathematics performance more likely to suffer than boys' as a result of mathematics anxiety Posted: 09 Jul 2012 06:31 AM PDT If a train is travelling a distance of 55 miles at 150mph, how long will it take to reach its destination? If the thought of having to answer this question makes you apprehensive, then you may have mathematics anxiety. A new study reports that a number of school-age children suffer from mathematics anxiety and, although both genders' performance is likely to be affected as a result, girls' maths performance is more likely to suffer than boys'. |
| You are subscribed to email updates from ScienceDaily: Living Well News To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610 | |
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)