7 Traits of Rock-Star Employees

Finding the right person for the job can be very challenging.  Businesses always look for the most highly qualified workers with the skills to help them get ahead in this highly competitive market. The most successful companies hire for future success, and heavily consider personality when determining the best employees. Star employees in an organization always have a great future; they excel in their jobs, and their career progress is like a rock-star’s record on the charts. They are skilled, capable and trusted to do well in almost any job.

7 Traits of Rock-Star Employees

Regardless of their, salary, age or sex, rock-star employees possess some common traits. Here are seven of them.

1. They Take Initiative
An employee’s ability to produce insightful thoughts generally indicates they are dedicated to success. Star employees possess a can-do attitude, and a willingness to learn and accept criticism. These self-directed employees who look for new opportunities and imagine fresh possibilities will best represent an organization. They step up and take ownership in solving problems and achieving the right results. These star employees motivate the team and add more energy.

2. They Have Integrity
Integrity means keeping promises, doing hard work, and showing diligence and perseverance.  Star employees are always true to themselves and their full potential, which means performing excellent work. Great employees display strong ethical values. Trust, kindness, and respect for other coworkers make them model employees. They act by the rules and help others do the same.

3. They Deliver results
Great employees always feel proud of their work. They believe in delivering results because they want to contribute to the company’s success and feel valued. Most of all, star employees take action and take chances. New opportunities lead them to success and mold confidence to produce breakthrough ideas. Action-oriented employees always make money for the company.

4. They Communicate Well
Rock-star employees always use the most effective, influential and clear way of communicating their point. Communication skills have a strong connection with other important features a great employee possesses, such as the ability to disseminate information and motivate fellow workers. Solid communication skills also help you and your boss better understand each other, which is key to success.

5. They’re Adaptable
Great employees are flexible. They perform well with several assignments, both individually or as a team member. They embrace versatility to meet the pace of the business. Rock-star employees eagerly accept diverse tasks. The way an employee reacts to sudden changes measures his potential to adapt to needs of the business world. Their ability to compete is dependent upon their ability to adjust in an odd situation. A star performer embraces flexibility to lead the change.

6. They Don’t Create Drama
Great employees keep themselves calm in challenging situations, and look for solutions instead of creating arguments. They don’t allow themselves to be drawn into the fight, to pull rank or to lose their temper.  They always prepare themselves for a potentially unpredictable condition by attaining strong control over their emotions.  As a rock-star employee, they become the voice of authority and motivation – and preserve the peace rather than creating more chaos.

7. They Have Passion
At work, “passion” has become an unavoidable word in recent years. Passion is what makes an employee stand out above the rest. Unlike many other traits, passion is easy to spot in great employees — you can often sense someone’s passion as soon as you meet them. Although you can’t force yourself to be passionate about your job, you can pursue a line of work that you feel passionately about to help ensure success. A truly passionate person will even influence their fellow workers to care as much as they do about achieving even the loftiest goals.

Be a Responsible Parent- Get a Mobile Spy App

Get a Mobile Spy App
Being a responsible parent does not only mean to raise your children with healthy food, respectable shelter and get them to reach high academic levels, it also means to get them to know the difference between good and bad, and save them from the social evils around them.

Many parents focus on the academic achievements of their children. Often such standards get the children under pressure and cause them to lose their understanding of the social and moral etiquettes. For instance, children might start taking drugs to relieve the academic tension they constantly undergo in their houses and schools. Also, they might start hanging out with dealers who offer unfair means to pass in exams and tests. All these activities are prevalent in children who are constantly forced by their parents to improve in their studies.

Mobile spy application can be purchased at a reasonable price, considering the company is chosen smartly. Many spy app developers out there offer almost all features for a low price package. Parents out there who are on a budget constraint should consider buying and experimenting with one of the trustable spy software first. The software can be installed on the children's mobile phone easily. As soon as the software is installed on the handset it starts functioning. This functioning includes recording the data of all activity and then transferring it to an online account. This online account can, of course, be only accessed by the parents who purchased the spy software.

Parents can keep a check on all the people their children are staying in contact with. All the calls that are being made, what timings they are made at and to whom, everything can be checked by parents. If any mysterious texts messages are being exchanged by your children make sure you take the necessary and immediate steps.

Spy software also allows parents to track down each and every step of their children by using the geographical tracker in the application. This tracker will update parents about all the locations being visited by their teenagers. So now there is a clear short cut to know whether your teenager is partying at night club or studying in the college library. Even better or worse maybe, your children could be involved in some illegal activity to earn cash. Track all these people down who are after your children to get their path straight.

There are times when parents simply want to make sure that the friends their children hang out with are of proper upbringing themselves. Now of course these children will hardly pull out a word of 'hello' in front of you, but could be loading your children with weird thoughts and notions behind your back. But fret not, since this very handy mobile phone will help you with this situation. Many spy software companies now offer the feature of live audio recording. This live audio recording system can be put to start manually, at any time, from anywhere. Once switched on, all the surrounding sounds can be listened to as audio recordings. These audio recordings are uploaded on the same accounts the parents access rest of the information from.

So with all these benefits, it is hardly a surprise that many parents are now easily monitoring their children's activities from their homes. No need to ruin dinners with interrogative questioning sessions, simply pull out your laptop and spy on your child without him/her ever coming to know about it. They are your responsibility and with the help of a mobile spy application, you can carry out your responsibility better than ever before.


Image Credit: Source.

The Basics of PC Utilities Software

PC system utilities are programs that encompass several applications that help clean up and fix numerous computer issues. While most PC utility software programs differ greatly in the services that they offer, there are several basic functions common to the majority of these programs.

Registry Fix:

Your registry is constantly changing with updates, new registry entries and deletion of old entries. Because of this, there are usually numerous entries in your registry that are very old, useless or corrupted, and these entries can create numerous errors. Your registry is a vital part of your computer, and it can easily be harmful to your computer to delete registry files that are necessary. Instead of trying to clean the registry manually, PC utilities software can scan and detect which files need to be removed and which files need to stay without harming your computer.

On the chance that the removal does damage your computer, there is usually the option to restore the registry to a backup file that was made before the cleaning process to return your computer to normal.

Junk File Cleaning:

Temporary files, cookies, recycle bin files and much more are all junk files that needlessly take up space in your computer. Not only does this rob you of hard drive space, but it may also significantly slow down your computer. A quick scan and sweep of the junk files can free up gigabytes of space and speed up your computer.

System Optimization:

You may not be using the best settings or options for your computing needs. System optimization tools can improve your Internet browsing, save laptop battery life, increase speed and more. You can also set the options to optimize performance for work related activities, gaming, typical home usage, server use and more.

Defragmentation:

As you add, change and delete files on your computer, these files fragment and spread out over your system. The more changes, additions and deletions are made, the more fragments are created. When too many fragments are created and when too many files are fragmented, it can slow down computer speed since it needs to find all of the fragments of a file in order to use it. Defragmentation software finds these fragments and puts them back together to create a more complete file allowing the computer to easily find and access the file.

Error Detection:

Though you may not always notice, your system may be dealing with errors that can be affecting performance or damaging files, programs or the entire system. Error detection finds and resolves errors found in your system. If it can't resolve the issue, it can usually provide the user with information on the error as a reference to fix it.

Why Do I Need PC Utility Software?

The Basics of PC Utilities Software

One of the most important times to get PC utility software is when you are dealing with a slow and problematic computer. A good utility software can remedy several problems that may be causing performance issues. Though a good utility software is a good start, it's also a good idea to get a quality antivirus software to ensure that no viruses are causing the issue. Antivirus software will also provide constant virus protection to keep your computer safe from future infections.

PC utilities software is also beneficial for anyone who wants to regularly maintain their computer. Regular computer maintenance is important to keep your computer running well for as long as possible and utility software is a great asset to have for maintenance.

If the software doesn't run regular scans, it's a good idea to run a scan at least once every week. If you run into any viruses or moderate to severe errors, it's also a good idea to run the software directly afterward to resolve additional errors and clean up junk which may have been created during the error.


Image Credit: Grant Cochrane.

3 iPhone Apps that Give You the Chance to Earn Money


Apps that Give You the Chance to Earn Money
iPhone app developers are not the only ones who can make money off of their applications. Some apps for iOS can actually help users earn money, as well. That said, if developers want to earn the most money, they need to make sure they employ the right marketing strategy. For instance, appnext.com is a leading social and mobile advertising network. appnext iphone ads can help developers make the most money possible through their smart targeting technology and advertising tools.

However, if you're a mobile user looking to gain a bit of cash or rewards from your apps, the following are some iPhone apps with these perks.


1) CheckPoints:

Earn points when you check into shopping malls, cafes, grocery stores, etc. To earn points that can later be redeemed for rewards, such as gift cards and other merchandise, scan the items you purchase and refer friends to take part in CheckPoints.

2) EasyShift:

Receive simple assignments and complete them (i.e. taking photos, giving an opinion, etc.). You are paid via PayPal after completing several tasks. The more you do the more you earn.

3) App Trailers:

Preview app trailers and obtain points for your efforts. Not only can you make your opinion count and assist app developers in improving their apps, but you get paid for viewing or tying out a demo.

Other rewarding apps include:

Gigwalk, Shopkick, Phewtick, GymPact, Field Agent, and Iconzoomer.


Image credit: thanunkorn.

The Cost of Maintaining Internet Safety

In today's quickly-moving business world, there are a great many potential threats to a growing company. A lot of these have come about in part because of the rise of the Internet. There are more and more reported instances of Internet crime each day. To help you get an idea of the scope of the problem, let's take a look at the states where Internet crime is reported with the greatest frequency. California takes the top spot, with 34,169 complaints reported in 2011. Florida takes second place with 20,034. It's fairly obvious that this is a growing threat.

In order to protect your data and your company's profitability, it's important to know how to protect your data, to know your rights, and to know how to avoid hefty fines. In order to combat the rising threat of Internet crime, the Communication Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA) now requires telecommunications providers and equipment manufacturers to provide surveillance capabilities in their products so that federal agencies have the ability to monitor Internet and phone activity as well as VoIP traffic. It's a partnership that is taking great strides toward fighting the rise of Internet crime.

What does this mean for your business? In short, you need to ensure that your company is CALEA Compliant. The fines for ignoring this responsibility are hefty, often reaching up to $10,000 per day. The total consequences of failing to comply with CALEA standards can be as high as half a million dollars for a single breach of protocol. This is something worth taking very seriously, and hammers home the idea that everybody who participates in the Internet has a certain set of responsibilities to the greater community.


The Cost of Maintaining Internet Safety

Source: GoWifi.

USB Flash Drives and the Digital Age

Professional photographers today are faced with two choices when it comes to digital storage – DVDs or USB flash drives. Clients want to know that the storage device you use will keep their pictures safe and secure, and they also want a device that gives them easy access to those pictures. Given these considerations, USB flash drives are the better option every time. On paper, DVDs might look like the better choice – they can hold about 100 pictures more than a flash drive, and they are certainly less expensive. However, it takes a lot longer to upload large blocks of information to a DVD and DVDs are more vulnerable to damage. Conversely, flash drives allow for a quicker upload of information, safer portability, and they are compatible with all kinds of devices, from smartphones to tablets. And in our digitally connected world, clients truly appreciate the convenience of being able to upload photographs instantly to their social media sites!



USB Flash Drives and the Digital Age



Created by the marketing team at Custom USB, this infographic provides detailed information and a comparison between DVDs and USB Flash Drives.

Everyone Is At Risk For Cyberattack

Everyone Is At Risk For Cyberattack
Homeland Security declared that October is National Cyber Security Month, which has inspired hackers across the globe to increase their nefarious efforts against secure accounts. According to Fox News, the initiation of this annual event - which is to spread awareness about the risks of surfing the Internet and how one person's computer can infect many more - has potentially compromised more users because of an underlying insinuation that the criminals who inspired this federal action felt baited.

According to the source, AVG and Avira, popular anti-virus software providers, were the victims of major cyberattacks. Although no end-users of these companies were affected by the hack, security expert Graham Cluley told the source that it is embarrassing for major security providers to be compromised in this way.

Who is vulnerable?

According to the Lane Report, individuals should be aware of the risks they're taking by simply browsing the Internet. In addition to security applications, such as password management software, an awareness of the risk can help prepare users for the harsh realities of cyber crime.

Everyone from casual Internet browsers to major corporations are at risk, as the above example Fox News example suggests. The source reported that hackers have developed new methods of producing income because of how simple it has become to acquire sensitive data, such as passwords and online authentication accounts. Additionally, it is becoming easier for the everyday person to turn to a life of cyber crime.

"If you can read, you can be a hacker, because you can pay money and they give you the instructions on how to run these hacking tools," David Montgomery, senior account manager for SDGblue, told the source.

According to the Lane Report, organized hacking has become a rising concern among businesses. Recently in New York, $45 million was stolen from automated teller machines by thieves who managed to acquire the personal passcodes of bank members.

Individuals should consider how their assets are stored online. As the risk for cyberattack is becoming more widespread with the advent of new mobile technologies, such as smartphones and tablets, it is important for Internet users to focus on how they're protecting themselves.

New free expression tools from Google Ideas

As long as people have expressed ideas, others have tried to silence them. Today one out of every three people lives in a society that is severely censored. Online barriers can include everything from filters that block content to targeted attacks designed to take down websites. For many people, these obstacles are more than an inconvenience—they represent full-scale repression.

This week, in partnership with the Council on Foreign Relations and the Gen Next Foundation, Google Ideas—our “think/do tank”—is hosting a summit in New York entitled “Conflict in a Connected World.”

The summit brings together “hacktivists,” security experts, entrepreneurs, dissidents and others to explore the changing nature of conflict and how online tools and can both harm and protect. We’re also assessing what might be done to better protect people confronting online censorship. With our partners, we will launch several new products and initiatives designed to help:
  • Project Shield is an initiative that enables people to use Google’s technology to better protect websites that might otherwise have been taken offline by “distributed denial of service” (DDoS) attacks. We’re currently inviting webmasters serving independent news, human rights, and elections-related content to apply to join our next round of trusted testers.
  • The Digital Attack Map is a live data visualization, built through a collaboration between Arbor Networks and Google Ideas, that maps DDoS attacks designed to take down websites—and their content—around the globe. This tool shows real-time anonymous traffic data related to these attacks on free speech, and also lets people explore historic trends and see related news reports of outages happening on a given day.
  • uProxy is a new browser extension under development that lets friends provide each other with a trusted pathway to the web, helping protect an Internet connection from filtering, surveillance or misdirection. The University of Washington and Brave New Software developed the tool, which was seeded by Google Ideas. To learn more about the challenges uProxy aims to address, watch our video.
Information technologies have transformed conflict in our connected world, and access to the free flow of information is increasingly critical. This week’s summit—as well as Shield, the Digital Attack Map and uProxy—are all steps we’re taking to help those fighting for free expression around the globe.