NFC technology is headed for some “explosive growth,” says a new iSuppli report. Google includes the technology in its new Nexus S, while Nokia launched the first NFC phone in 2005. – Thanks to Google and Nokia, in particular, near-field communication technology is headed into a phase of “explosive growth” in 2011 that will pave the way for changes in the mobile payments business, iSuppli said in a Dec. 20 report.
The NFC technology, based on short-range wireless connectivity…
Oscar-winner Angelina Jolie has revealed that although she and Brad Pitt are “not against getting married”, they just don”t feel any need to tie the knot. Jolie even said that their children are big enough commitment than marriage. “It”s just like we already are (married). Children are clearly a commitment, a bigger commitment (than marriage). [...]
UPDATED: Medvedev visited Twitter, Apple, Cisco Systems and Stanford in a whirlwind visit to Silicon Valley. Cisco CEO John Chambers pledged that his company would invest $1 billion over a 10-year span to help establish a new technology sector in a Moscow suburb. This could be a promising time to invest in Russia. – STANFORD, Calif. Russian
President Dmitry Medvedev came away from his June 23 visit to Silicon
Valley with some valuable takeaways, including an iPhone 4, his
own Twitter account and a pledge of $1 billion in financial support from Cisco
Systems.
Some people might say the
iPhone 4 was the gr…
Rich countries will miss their targets for aid to Africa
THE Group of Seven (G7) industrialised countries met at Gleneagles in 2005, and pledged to raise their combined aid to sub-Saharan Africa. But at the end of last year, collectively they were only 44% of the way towards hitting the 2010 target according to ONE, a London-based lobby group. A few countries have met their goals, in some cases by setting low targets (as Canada and America did). Focussing just on aid can detract from big issues such as trade or migration. Promising a bit more aid is easier than dismantling food subsidies that favour Western farmers but devastate African ones. The importance of foreign aid from the West may also be exaggerated. China and other big emerging economies are also pumping in aid, though do not disclose amounts. Still, the failure to meet these promises is shameful.
…
Fed’s commitment to keep interest rates low may help Singapore shares recoup part of yesterday’s hefty losses after US stocks nudged up overnight, says Dow Jones.
Still, lingering concerns over Europe’s debt problems, especially with Spain being latest euro zone nation to have credit rating cut by S&P, may limit buying activity.
Microsoft continues to express its commitment to open-source software, most recently at EclipseCon and the Open Source Business Conference.
– Microsoft continues to express its commitment to open-source software, most
recently at EclipseCon and the Open Source Business Conference.
At EclipseCon, held March 22 to 25, Microsoft joined Tasktop Technologies, which
it described in an October announcement as quot;a leading Eclipse-based sol…
Some years ago I remember standing in my kitchen, staring silently at my boxes of cereal, trying to decide which to have for breakfast. Was it a Frostie’s morning, or was it more of an Oat Crunchie’s day? Or maybe granola?  I stood there for 5 minutes, until – utterly frustrated – I marched out of the house and went without.
Fortunately I’ve learned to make decisions more quickly and more easily now, and when I notice that second-guessing and doubting starting to kick in, I kick it right back. So here are 5 ways to stop second-guessing or, of you prefer, 5 ways to make confident decisions.
So many times we have to make decisions without a framework and no way to judge between two choices. When faced with a tricky decision it’s often a good idea to line up your choices and ask “Which one of these most honours the things that mean the most to me?â€
The decision that’s most in line with the things that mean the most to you – your core values – will be the best decision for you. That might not be the simplest or most practical, but because it fits with who you are and what’s most important to you it will always be the best decision for you.
When I was growing up I used to love rainy Sunday afternoons watching Columbo, especially the bit at the end where he’d sidle up to the Bad Guy, say “Just one more thing†and then proceed to blow apart the bad guys alibi.  Just brilliant.
What Columbo had bundles of was a great trust in his intuition.  In every episode, from the very moment he first meets the bad guy, he knows ‘whodunnit’ – and he always trusts that.
So look at what your intuition tells you is the ‘right’ decision for you.  Forget about all the “What if’s†and the myriad, tiny details – what is your gut telling you?  Listen to your intuition, it knows what it’s talking about.
My decision between breakfast cereals wasn’t a biggie.  Whichever one I chose, there were never going to be any huge consequences and the ripples from that decision wouldn’t have been felt much further than the end of my spoon. Sometimes it just doesn’t matter which way you go.
It’s easy to get wrapped up in second guessing yourself, going round in circles and over-complicating things, when – if you get right down to it – it just doesn’t matter. Going round in circles is only going to make you dizzy, so stop it.  Ask yourself this question – if your future happiness wasn’t dependent on your decision (and it isn’t, by the way), which way would you go?
Go and get the facts before you make a complex decision.  By all means weigh up the pro’s and con’s so that you can get an understanding of what’s behind a choice. But be careful – there’s a huge difference between knowing enough to make a choice, and knowing everything to make a choice.
When you feel yourself pursuing every fact or every piece of information before you make a decision, stop yourself. Ask “What do I really need to know to make this decision?†and focus your efforts on getting the best information relatively quickly, rather than pursuing all of the information you could get your hands on given a longer period of time.
We all naturally shy away from change, and we’ve developed a whole bunch of tricks that make it easy for us to avoid making decisions and stay exactly where we are. That part of you is often called the “Gremlinâ€, and it’s the part of you that would rather avoid making decisions altogether rather than run the risk of making a bad one or screwing up.
Your Gremlin is not the same thing as having doubts, which are valid concerns about a possible course of action, or reasonable concerns about what might be in store. Your doubts can help you prepare for change and get ready for what could happen.
Your Gremlin is adept at feeding on your doubts and using them to get you to stay put, so knowing the difference between your Gremlin and your valid doubts helps you clarify what’s real and what’s imagined, what’s relevant and what’s irrelevant.
Steve Errey almost died at age 5 as he choked on a grape. Today, Steve is a leading confidence coach for entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs, with a reputation for talking sense and getting results. Read more at The Confidence Guy and follow him on Twitter. He still loves grapes, despite the risks.
Over the next seven months, Intel will install solar panels at eight locations in four Western states that will generate about 2.5 megawatts of power. The project calls for installing the solar panels on the roofs of Intel buildings at all the sites except one. The installations are part of a larger power conservation initiative that Intel kicked off in 2001. Since that time, Intel has invested more than $30 million and has saved more than 650 million kilowatt hours using a variety of different renewable energy sources, including wind, solar, water and biomass. Intel officials say they not only want to reduce their own company’s carbon footprint, but also are investing in companies that are developing clean technology products. Intel has invested more than $125 million in more than a dozen of these clean tech companies, including $10 million in five companies in 2009. The following slides illustrate what the new solar installations will look like when completed.
– …
Oracle said that it has engaged in constructive discussions with the European Commission regarding the concerns expressed by the commission about the Oracle/Sun Microsystems transaction, and in particular the maintenance of MySQL as a competitive force in the database market. Oracle then offered a 10-point list of commitments it says it will guarantee if the acquisition is sanctioned.
– Oracle on Dec. 14 released its first public statement in weeks
regarding the pending acquisition of Sun Microsystems, attempting to
reassure the European Commission and Sun’s MySQL development community
that it will maintain — and even enhance — Sun’s successful
stewardship of the open source …
In a comment on my recent post about breaking up, someone asked if I’d write a follow-up about staying together. I’ve actually written about successful relationships before, based less on my own experience than on the work of relationship psychologists, so I’ll just refer you there if you’re looking for relationship advice. But thinking about what goes into a committed relationship got me thinking about the nature of commitment itself. What does it mean to be committed to something, whether to a person, a cause, a project, a government, a job, or an institution?
It’s funny how many of the words that we use to describe devotion are also used to describe insanity. The word “fan”, for instance, refers to someone who is a devoted admirer of an artist, musician, author, or other creator (or a piece of their work), but it comes from “fanatic”, a maniacal follower of some cause or leader. The guy in line at the Stephen King signing is a fan; the guy who follows him around from signing to signing claiming King killed John Lennon is a fanatic.
Likewise, we use the same word, “committed”, to describe someone’s devotion to a cause or person as we use to describe their incarceration in a mental institution. Is there a similarity? Well, to be committed means to pledge, bind, or oblige one’s self to something: a course of action, a system of beliefs, or indeed a medical treatment facility.
So, is being committed a sort of insanity? Well, no — but certainly there are some similarities between the kind of obsession that leads us to do horrible things to ourselves or others and the kind of obsession that leads us to greatness. We can look at someone like Steve Jobs and see that at work, the single-minded commitment to a vision of how the world should and could work, and the refusal to acknowledge other, “lesser” ways.
OK, enough prologue. What is commitment, then?
Obsessive passion, maybe. Someone who is truly committed to something can’t not do it. You can’t live without accomplishing your cause or being with your significant other. Fulfilling that commitment gives you great pleasure — being with the person you love, pushing forward a project you believe in, creating a tiny pocket of betterness in the world, these are deeply satisfying to the person who is committed.
Actions speak louder than words, right? A person who is committed shows that commitment, over and over, in his or her actions. If your actions don’t match your commitment, you simply aren’t committed to it. You may have a belief, a hunch, a preference, a desire, but not a commitment.
What separates the truly committed from the rest of us is the way they embrace the crappiest parts of the job, setting their jaw and taking on the work that the rest of us wouldn’t dream of. It’s the parent scrubbing puke from the carpet at 4 in the morning, the doting spouse helping their aged partner on and off the toilet, the executive who flies halfway around the room to apologize in person for a badly flubbed marketing campaign, the firefighter who charges into a dangerous fire because he or she hears screaming, the soldier who holds his or her ground while the rest of company flees. You do these things not because they are fun or pleasurable in their own right, but because your commitment demands you do them.
Commitments are personal, but they’re also about relationships. The committed artist sacrifices everything to express his or her inner vision to the world. The committed lover cares first and foremost for the emotional and physical well-being of his or her partner. The committed performer takes the stage in the service of the audience. The committed activist creates a better world not for him- or herself but for the generations to come. True commitment embraces and engages the world.
Commitment is obligation, yes, but it’s freely chosen obligation. Even the draftee chooses to be a hero in the heat of combat — or not to be. The environmentalist huddling shivering in a cold boat in arctic waters, protecting a pod of whales from a whaling ship, can take refuge in the fact that they chose to be there. The parent chooses to have and keep a child, no matter how accidental the pregnancy; the spouse chooses to stay in the marriage; the worker chooses to stay on the job. It is that choice that makes it a commitment — without the choice it’s just slavery.
(Ironically, being committed to a mental institution is not voluntary. Oh well…)
When we feel forced into something, when we feel obligations hanging on us like an albatross, when our actions fail to match our beliefs — these are signs that we aren’t as committed as maybe we thought we were. Maybe not committed at all. Pay attention to those signs — it’s easy to convince ourselves of a commitment that isn’t really a commitment at all.
So, what did I miss? And what are you committed to? Let’s talk about commitment in the comments.
Dustin M. Wax is a freelance writer and project manager at Stepcase Lifehack. He is also the creator of The Writer’s Technology Companion, a site devoted to the tools of the writing trade. When he’s not writing, he teaches anthropology and gender studies in Las Vegas, NV. He is the author of Don’t Be Stupid: A Guide to Learning, Studying, and Succeeding at College.
Follow him on Twitter: @dwax.
Japan’s new prime minister, Yukio Hatoyama, has asked his Chinese counterpart on Saturday to make an international commitment on climate change. China says it would do its best to help forge a global deal. Hatoyama, who took office on Sept. 15, has pledged Tokyo will cut emissions 25 per
PHUKET, Thailand – U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton says “irreversible denuclearization” is the only viable option for North Korea.
Attending an Asian security conference, Clinton said China, Japan, Russia and South Korea were a…
David Beckham is planning showdown talks with L.A. Galaxy team-mate Landon Donovan, who questioned the English football star’s commitment to the MLS team earlier this month.
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