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These days, our tech experiences are all about speedand our expectations for instant action are actually kinda insane. Think about it: Not so long ago, phones, computers, and especially the internet were all painfully slow (at least, by todays sonic-speed standards). Things have come a long way in a short time. And for most of us now, if something doesnt load within a fraction of second, we grow impatient and maybe give up entirelylike when a webpage has the audacity to take a handful of seconds to show up and we click away in an indignant huff. Hey, weve all been there. Whats especially wild, though, is that while the standards for speed have skyrocketed forward, the way we measure this stuff has remained mostly the same. At least, until now. This week, Ive got an incredibly cool and tantalizingly new tool to share with ya. Its an overdue update to the way we think about speed and assessing the allegedly lightning-fast connections we all pay for. Get ready for a whole new way to think about the tech in front of you. Psst: If you love these types of tools as much as I do, check out my free Cool Tools newsletter from The Intelligence. You’ll be the first to find all sorts of simple tech treasures! The internet speed testreinvented Traditionally, when we talk about tools for testing your tech connection speed, we think about things like Ooklas Speedtest, the native Google speed testing system, or the newer Cloudflare Internet Speed Test service. Weve covered those types of tools before. Theyre all useful, in different waysbut theyre also all variations on the same tried-and-true type of speed assessment thats been around for ages now. Todays tool is different. But it comes from a familiar sourcesomeone who knows this area inside and out. Its the brand-new brainchild of the guy who created Ooklas Speedtest, arguably the first internet speed test that became broadly known and embraced by the masses. Its called Orb. And its decidedly different from your typical tech speed tester. Orb works by looking not only at the basic power of your connection but also its responsiveness and reliability. The idea is that all of that adds up to create a more complete and ultimately meaningful view of your connection quality. And that number isnt only about bragging rights, either: Its meant to help you make sure youre actually getting the speed youre paying forand then able to pinpoint precisely where and when any problems pop up. Youll need about two minutes to set Orb up and take it out for a spin. First, install the appropriate Orb app for whatever type of device youre using. Orb is free to use, and its available for most major platformsAndroid, iOS, Windows, MacOS, even Linux. If youre using a Chromebook, you can go with either the Android app or the Linux version. Open up the app and follow the quick steps to get it set up and ready. Orb will prompt you to sign in or create an account, but you can skip over that if youd rather. The account just makes it possible to sync your testing data and view it from other devices. Once that swift onetime setups out of the way, youll see Orbs dashboardwith a tremendous amount of detail that lets you peek under the hood and learn exactly how much your current connection leaves to be desired. Orb assesses your internet connection across numerous measures beyond just basic data transfers. Specifically: Responsiveness tells you how quickly your connection acts and how much lag youve got going. Reliability looks at the consistency of your connection and its responsiveness over time. And speed is the more standard measure of how quickly bits and bytes move across your connection (as measured by Cloudflarethe same basic speed testing tool weve recommended before!). It all adds up to give you a never-before-visible complete picture of your internet speed qualityon your current device as well as any other devices on which youve installed the app and signed in. If you sign into Orb, you can see results from any connected devices in a single streamlined dashboard. Knowledge is power, as they say. And with Orbs in-depth intelligence firmly in your mitts, youll be armed to the gills and ready to confirm that everythings working the way it oughtaand ready to point your finger at the precise problem, if and when one appears. Orb is available on all major platforms, via a variety of native apps. Its completely free for personal use. (The company also sells large-scale enterprise software setups, which seems to be where it intends to make money.) The tool comes from known, reputable internet researchers and is explicit about the fact that it doesnt do anything disconcerting ith the limited amount of data it collects. Treat yourself to even more tech-enhancing goodness with my free Cool Tools newsletter. You’ll get an instant introduction to an incredible audio app and a new off-the-beaten-path gem every Wednesday!
Category:
E-Commerce
Memorial Day Weekend is upon us, marking the unofficial start of the summer vacation season in America. Yet, a recent Bankrate survey from late April found that only 46% of Americans plan to travel domestically or internationally this summer, with costs cited as the primary concern. Dwindling U.S. consumer confidence may lead some individuals to reconsider spending their precious discretionary dollars on travel. Still, you may have more travel options within your budget than you thought. For those determined to get away, theres an excellent Google Flights hack that reveals options within a certain budget. Some Google Flights aficionados know this as the anywhere hack. Heres how to use it. The Google Flights anywhere hack Google Flights is one of the best aggregators out there for finding airline tickets between any two cities on Earth. It works very simply: visit www.google.com/travel/flights, enter your departure and destination cities along with your desired departure and return dates, and click the search button. Google Flights will then reveal the best options for your selected destination across numerous airlines. However, if youre trying to stay within a certain budget, this traditional method of using Google Flights can be exhausting, because you have to check individual cities manually. For example, if your airline ticket budget is $1200, it can be tedious to enter cities one by one on Google Flights (So Paulo, then Paris, then Osaka) only to find that tickets dont fit within your budget anyway. Sticking to this method may also mean you completely overlook interesting destinations youd never considered before. Thats where the excellent Google Flights anywhere hack comes in. Its perfect for people who are more flexible in terms of their destination and put a greater priority on staying within a certain budget. Heres how it works: Go to Google Flights as normal and enter your departure city in the Where from? field. Fill out your departure and return dates, as well, in the respective fields. But then, instead of entering a specific destination in the Where to? field, type in anywhere and click the search button. Now, on the results screen, you will see a global map displaying all the options available to you from your departure city to destinations around the world for the selected dates. By default, these options will cover all price ranges. However, you can narrow the results to show only tickets that fit within your budget by clicking the price filter dropdown menu and dragging the slider to your maximum preferred price. The results will then show you where in the world you can fly while staying within your budget. And keep in mind that the Google Flights results map is as interactive as regular Google Mapsso be sure to zoom in and pan around on the map, and youll see additional flight options appear. Click on any one of them to get more details about the selected itinerary. Find even more options with the flexible date hack The anywhere Google Flights hack can help you quickly discover destinations you can travel to within your budget. But another simple hack may reveal even more destinations you can afford. Thats because you may actually be able to discover more locations within your budget if your dates are flexible, too. Route prices arent set in stone, and they vary wildly depending on the date you want to fly. To reveal these potential new options, click on the date field from the search results screen. In the drop-down menu that appears, click on the Flexible Dates tab, select any one or all of the next six months, and indicate how long you want your trip to be: for the weekend, or for one or two weeks. Google Flights will then scour the internet to find you the destinations you can go to within your budget and across the periods you selected. This flexible date hack frequently yields even more results than the anywhere hack alone because there are often significant savings to be had on routes flown during periods of lower travel demand. Just one final thing to keep in mind: While you may be able to find new destinations you can afford to explore using these Google Flights hacks, remember that once you arrive, Google Maps may not actually be the best way to navigateso be sure to pack your phone with the apps that are.
Category:
E-Commerce
The concept of advancement is baked into the way we think about workalmost like it’s a video game. Just like you dont want to stay at a particular level of that game for too long, it sometimes doesnt feel like youre succeeding at work if your title doesnt change, and you dont get a significant raise. Getting a promotion isnt just a matter of wanting it or playing the game long enough. There are several factors at playonly some of which are under your control. First, the organization needs to have a position for you to move into. If there is no role for you to play, then there isnt much you can do to get promoted this year. Second, you have to decide whether the job you would be promoted into is one you really want. Third, you have to be ready for that new set of responsibilities. So, if you want to get promoted this year, you need to get information related to all three of those issues. Is there room for me? Before you get your hopes up for a promotion, you need to know whether there is a role for you. Early on in your career, the answer to that question is probably yes. Often, the first few promotions reflect your ability to do your role with less oversight and to take on additional responsibility in your initial role. Before long, though, promotions start to involve either oversight of an entire project or supervision of people. At that point, there are fewer potential roles available than when the promotion involves more technical expertise. Once youre on that people management track, the number of potential positions above the one you have go down. You may eventually reach a point when you may be completely qualified for a future role, but there may not be a position available. What does the next role really entail? As attractive as a promotion may sound in theory, you also have to ask yourself whether you would enjoy the job in practice. This question is particularly relevant when considering the people management track. Being a supervisor of other people is a very different role than the individual contributor roles that usually precede it. Just because you enjoy the work of your organization does not mean that you will enjoy having to manage others. As you rise in the organization, the work you do goes from being focused on the tactics for achieving particular goals to formulating the strategy that will guide the path of the organization. This strategic oversight comes with additional responsibility for the success and health of the organization. The job can be exciting, but also stressful. Talking with supervisors to find out the true responsibilities you will be taking on is important. Work and life need to be integrated. If your new role requires different hours or more engagement on nights and weekends, you should think through whether your lifestyle and responsibilities will support those changes. Be sure to talk with people in your life, such as a significant other. Their life might be affected by a change in your work requirements, so you’ll need their support. What do I need to learn? When you are approaching a promotion, youll never be completely ready. There is always a lot to learn on the job. That said, there is often work you can do to prepare. Your organization may offer technical or leadership classes that you can take to begin to develop the next set of skills. Talk with your supervisor, the HR team, and any learning and development professionals in your organization to find out what options there are for you to get a jump on the next round of skills. Look at job ads that your company or others put out for similar roles and get a sense of whether your current qualifications fit. If companies prefer advanced degrees for applicants to a position, it might be time to think about going back to school. Being proactive wont guarantee you the promotion you want, but it can help speed you on your way. And if a promotion in your current organization isnt in the cards, it will also get you ready to move on when the time is right. Finally, be aware that promotions dont always happen on your timeline. It can be frustrating to feel like you have languished in a role longer than you should. But, use the time to learn, to develop your social network, and to be ready to hit the ground running when a new opportunity does open up.
Category:
E-Commerce
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