How To Make A Splash Online

There are so many brilliant companies out there nowadays and they all have a presence online but the key is showcasing yourself to offer that little bit different. It is very easy to create a website but it is very hard to have a website that stands out from the crowd.

The amount of money you can make online is incredible and if you want to expand your company to new depths then the internet really is essential to your future plans.

You can’t be afraid to invest in the internet, there is just too much potential to let the online world phase out.

This article will highlight three features of the website that are imperative for success and how you can practically apply them to your company’s online profile.

I appreciate that not all companies need to sell their products online but there has to be a page, even if it is just filled with your company contact details. Do some research and plan what you want your site to look like and if there is a site you like then try to emulate it.

Speed

It is very important that your website is efficient and quick to navigate around. During my time researching and writing I have found that most people get annoyed at the speed of someone’s website rather than the appearance or content and thus it is paramount for any website to contain enough memory and high quality hosting to ensure speed isn’t an issue.

There are many websites out there that offer hosting services, check out JaguarPC for an example of prices and packages that are on the market. We live in the internet age and the number of websites that are live is growing at an incredible rate and it really doesn’t look like slowing down.

If you are wanting to make a statement online, ensure your website is the fastest it can be and don’t be afraid to spend money in order to make it happen. You only get one shot at creating a high class website and if you do it first time then you really do stand a great chance of increasing the profit you make dramatically.

Colour

The design of the website is essential. There is so much competition out there nowadays and it is becoming increasingly difficult for a new company to make their mark online. It is therefore essential for any company looking to break through to have a great website template.

The best way to go about this is to invest some money in a top quality web developer, there really is nothing wrong with spending money on finding the best candidate around.

Interesting Information

It is also vital that your website is filled with interesting information, you have to engage with viewing audience. Make sure that all the important stuff is on there and that it is conveyed in an interesting way.

There is just too much competition out there to lag behind, be a pioneer and you can make your mark online.

About The Author:

Tom Martin has been writing for many years now. He is interested in the internet and the way it works but overall his speciality area is technology.

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5 Pieces Of Information Your Child Should Not Give Out Online

Keeping your kids safe online is always a challenge. To make it easier for you, we have made a list of information that your child should never give out online.

1.       Their Full Name 

Using a first name online is common especially on sites like Facebook. How else would their friends find them? When it comes to social media, the less information that they give up, the better. Help your kids create an online name that they use in chat rooms and social media that doesn’t include their real last name. Unfortunately with a few internet searches, a cyber bully or other internet predator may be able to find their address through their parent’s name. 

2.       Their Birthday 

With just a name and a birthdate, someone can access medical information or other important information on your child. It seems harmless enough, but it could be a way for a predator to gain access. It also lets people online know how old you are as well. 

3.       Where They Live

This is extremely important – your child should never give out their address online. If they are filling out biographical information to ship something or on a legitimate website, they should have you present to asses the situation.  When creating profiles, they should avoid the location on social media or in chat rooms. Even if they don’t give out an exact location, with a little digging by a skilled hacker or online predator, they can easily find out where they live, what they like or where they are going to be from a simple location and their name.

4.       Where They Are Going To Be 

It’s tempting to update Facebook with statuses like “Can’t wait to go to the mall today”. It seems harmless enough, but your child may have Just Provided A Predator with the means to find them. A simple search of malls in the area can narrow down where they may be. Tell your child not to turn on the location feature on social media where it tags the place they are at. This is another way that someone can find your child. Make sure that the geotagging feature is turned off on their cell phone so that any pictures that they upload online won’t give specific location information. 

5.       Their Phone Number 

You would be surprised how often this happens. Maybe your teen met someone online and wanted to talk with them over the phone or through text message (a teenagers national pastime). Innocently enough they may give it out thinking it’s safer than meeting in person. Unfortunately reverse phone number searches can be done or advanced tracking software where locations can be determined via the GPS on the phone, giving out your phone number can be one of the most dangerous things to do.

Instead of telling your kids they can’t go on social media, help them to develop a safe profile that allows them to interact with others socially while keeping their information safe. There are many predators out there, make sure that your child isn’t unknowingly inviting them in.

About the Author:

Carol Dieter is an elementary school teacher. When not teaching her first graders, she contributes her knowledge of internet safety for kids to Mobile Spy, a mobile tracking app that helps parents keep their children safe online.

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Reasons As To Why Cloud Technology Is A Favorite Among Developers

Cloud Technology? What is that?

Cloud technology has nothing to do with the generation of rain or modifying the rain clouds in any way, if that was your direction of thinking. No, cloud technology is actually a breakthrough in computer and networking world.

Cloud computing enables a vast number of computer servers so intricately connected to each other, all over the world via a secure internet connection which empowers storing, sharing and running of various applications and processes from anywhere on the earth, all in real time!

The only pre-requisite is, a reliable and sound internet connection and an interfacing device, which can be a normal computer, your cell-phone or even a tablet! Yes, that’s how the technology has revolutionized and it only keeps getting better every day!

Apart from a plethora of benefits and usage requirements for the end user, it is the developer himself who is most satisfied if not ecstatic about this upcoming and booming technological revolution. The reasons as to why this cloud technology is a favorite among developers are as follows:

Huge employment opportunities:

Cloud technology has become synonymous with a psychological phenomena known as Lucifer effect because it offers a huge number of applications and features which develop and improve with every passing day, leading to tremendous changes in technological designs, programming and processes, many a times bringing a sudden change in the way we look at it. This in turn leaves a large room for employment opportunities for all sorts of computer and cloud developers.

Impression on the cloud- Every developer’s mate:

An error in a program, faulty result or simply non-functioning of a software in a  desired way are just some of the common tasks a developer faces, and finding solutions to these is what is known as trouble shooting. Cloud computing provides a smooth and immediate picture of a non-responding program application and aids the developer in all trouble-shooting purposes.

No prejudice whatsoever:

Nowadays many reputed firms are providing cloud database services which are made available for the developers programming in any language, on any interface device and at any platform. This excites a team of skilled developers and encourages them to develop further more applications if achieve nothing more concrete.

Conferences for the Cloud Developers:

With the advent of this revolutionary technology, now even an unemployed developer or an enthusiast who merely undertakes this as a hobby can attend those sophisticated conferences where all the like-minded people with common interests and knowledge of cloud computing gather and share their ideas and innovations. This in turn boosts the creativity and the skill of any developer.

These gathering are not mere social in nature but chart the way for various start-ups and future architects of cloud services.

Developer Rankings:

In a local survey, IBM's cloud offerings were ranked first among developers aiming at  private clouds, and Google stood  first with public cloud deployment services which are a hybrid of clouds blending private and public domains. The deciding factors were strongest in terms of reliability, security, utility tools, and cost for service and storage whereas IBM's top rating included trustworthy expertise, automatic-scaling and update provisions.

Conclusion

If Google's executive chairman Eric Schmidt’s words hold true then IT departments have a reason to be glad, for the prospect of cloud computing is universal in nature. The developers need to be concerned with only one fact- how to evolve and upgrade the cloud, which most of them are already great at. The near future only holds laurels and great success to such developers. Way to go!

About the Author:

Andrei Macsin- Group Editor at MyRealData who spends a significant amount of time punching keys at the keyboard and writing about the latest in cloud computing and hosting technologies. When not writing, he prefers to devour various technological magazines and reading fiction.

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What You Should Know When Buying Rugs Online?

Rug making has been around for centuries, it dates at least as far back as 3000 years. However, nowadays thanks to the internet buying rugs online is just a matter of doing a Google search, or is it? Unlike in the past finding a really good rug to buy which hopefully becomes a family heirloom is near impossible. The fact of the matter being that you cannot judge the quality based on a few photos. That said knowing as much about what makes a rug really good can help you a great deal.

How the rug lays on your floor

Even though handmade rugs are not perfect but the more perfection there is i.e. fewer irregularities the better its quality is considered. A high quality, professionally handmade rug when put on the floor will lie flat and straight and be regular in shape. The color across the carpet will be even and balanced, not be faded or even bled. A good carpet will be finished so that it does not easily wash out or is unusually shiny or too bright. All the above qualities means that the rug has been woven and designed by skilled artisans.

Know the size you’re looking for

Before you go out searching for a rug you need know the size of the area you want to over. You need to bear in mind that regardless of if you are buying rugs online or from an offline dealer it will have a boarder around it. Ideally, the fringe is something you shouldn’t consider as being part of the size. You then have the choice between contemporary or traditional rug designs. One option would be to consult an interior designer but bear in mind the fact that while your focus will be on the look a dealer or seller will focus his price on the quality. You should also be considering the quality if you want the rug to last you a long time.

What points to consider?

Should the rugs be finely knotted? The fact is that handmade rugs are not limited to hand knotted ones and are available in a number of different densities which range from around 30 knots per inch which is considered coarse to 300 knots which is considered fine. Making finely knotted rugs is very difficult and laborious so these happen to be a lot more expensive yet beautiful. This is a lot like the pixels on modern day LCD screens. So the more knots there are per inch the finer, more detailed and better the quality. You can also expect to pay a lot more for them.

Modern design versus traditional: If you’re considering traditional tribal or Persian rug designs then you’ll want to buy antique rugs via a onilne. However, there is a chance that you can find a few rugs that are new but look old at a much lower price. Modern designs are easily available and many of these have been adapted from traditional techniques.

Hand knotted, tufted of just a flat weave? If you are looking for the highest quality and most expensive handmade rugs then hand knotted are the best choice. Tufted rugs use a stencils to craft a pattern on the rear side of the rug after which yarns will be thread through the design happen to be less labor intensive and so comparatively cheaper to buy. Also flat weave are a lot cheaper because they are easy to make but they are on the whole more expensive than high quality machine made rugs.

Synthetic or natural dyes? When you are buying rugs online you’ll come across advertising that says the carpet is made from natural dyes. This is usually not the case with the latest rugs, this is only the case with rugs which were made over fifty years ago. That said natural dyes will add another 30% of the price but they also improve its resale value for collectors. The synthetic dyes often used in modern carpet designs are available in an array of different shades and colors. The beauty of these dyes is that they rarely fade over time. According to Sydney based Scatter Mats it’s difficult to distinguish between natural and synthetic dyes without a laboratory analysis.

About Author:

Manu Alias is one of the leading authorizes on buying rugs online. Over the years he has examined and labelled hundreds if not thousands of rugs. While his expertise in rugs and carpets spans several years he still require high tech equipment to confirm his suspicions in some cases. 

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5 Cleaning Apps That Make Spring Cleaning Chores So Simple To Do

Spring Cleaning Source: Seemann, CC-BY-3.0, via Morguefile

Winter will soon be over and Spring just around the corner. As spring comes around, we can all enjoy beautiful greenery and warm weather. Spring is also the season for everyone’s common activity – Spring Cleaning.  Sadly, spring cleaning can be quite tiring as well considering the amount of work needed to be done, so you will need all the help you can get, especially when you just do not know where and what to start cleaning. These apps can help you keep track of your chores and make sure you are doing them right.

App #1 – Good Housekeeping At Home 

This app offers a complete guide on how to deal with an array of spills and stains. All you have to do is type in the type of stain or spill in the Good Housekeeping At Home app and you will be provided instructions on how to remove it.  You can also get a complete guide on how to clean different surfaces in your home.

App #2 – Green Shine 

This app offers green solutions for your cleaning needs such as mopping floors, cleaning windows and polishing furniture. The Green Shine app provides details on how to make products as effective as commercial cleaners, while providing warnings about each method as well. The app is easy to use and will be handy for almost any type of household chore that you are having a hard time doing perfectly.

App #3 – Clean Freak Cleaning Schedule

This app offers basic, but efficient and useful features for your chores and organizing tasks. The Clean Freak Cleaning Schedule   makes sure that you commit to at least one chore each day and even informs you about the last time you had actually done a chore. It will tell you the last time you had vacuumed and even the last time you had your driveway and patio cleaned up.

App #4 – HomeRoutines

This app allows you to type a list of chores that you need to do each day and then rewards you with stars whenever you complete them. The HomeRoutines makes sure that you are able to manage all your cleaning and organizing chores, by separating them in to morning and evening tasks. In fact, you can also manage them as recurring tasks or create daily customized lists. The app features a cleaning plan for your home and notify you a week ahead about your tasks. The notifications are useful when you need to contact professionals to do a job for you, such as CleanSweep pressure cleaning, that should not be neglected such as removing grime and spots on driveways, dust and spider webs on the exterior walls and moss on the patio and walkways.

App #5 – Chore Hero

This app makes sure that you complete all your chores with a little competition. The Chore Hero app allows you to assign tasks to members of your family so everyone can help out with the chores. They can also receive points for every task completed and you can decide on what type of rewards to give them. This app will certainly help get kids involved and learn how to be responsible at home especially when they are in a competition with their parents.

Valerie Price is a freelance writer specializing in home and business management and DIY home improvement projects.

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DIY Carpet Fitting Tips | Right Fitting of Carpet to Your Room

In this article I will teach you 2 simple and easy DIY jobs: skirting and carpet installation, they seem like small jobs but they can make or break a room in terms of aesthetic design.

The tools you will need:

Carpet Fitting Tools

Hammer

Hoover

Knee Kicker

Carpet Stretcher

Carpet Knife

Skirting Fitting

First off measure the area you are skirting, once that’s done add 15% for contingency cuts as often if you’re doing DIY you will need them especially if this is your first time. Next mark the front of the skirting board in chalk; this is so no mistakes are made later on.  Then start to cut your skirting into appropriate lengths. Do not dispose of the off cuts as you will need these later on in the process.

When skirting internal walls many people can do it a variety of ways, but I prefer the process which leaves the aesthetic value at a maximum. So I always leave the edge which will be at the wall as a straight edge.  Now you can mark the pattern of the skirting profile on top of the very edge so use a coping saw because you will have complete control over it and you can make your work as intricate as your skill level allows. With a jigsaw you don’t have the time to do this.

Carpet Fitting

After you have done the basics (measured the length of carpet needed) and checked the carpet for squeaks, install a tack strip. It is always best to get a wide length of tack strip for the simple reason that it holds the carpet down better. Place a piece of wood between the tack strip and skirting board. The width of the wood should be 3/8 of an inch. You can get these at any home and hardware shop. They will be near the thicker tack strips too. What you then need to do is nail the tack strip down on both sides so the tack strip does not become loose.

Lay Down Carpet Cushion

Cut it so that when it’s laid down the edge of the carpet cushion is flush with the edge of the tack strip. Then staple it down every 3 feet, do not hammer with nails in case they go through any pipes.

Fitting The Carpet

Roll out the carpet so that a little bit of the leftover carpet is on one side of the room. Then place the knee kicker a few inches from the wall and give a swift knee kick to attach the carpet to the tack strips. Then with a  carpet stretcher put it against the already attached carpet and then place the other end of the carpet stretcher about  5 inches from the wall. Just like the knee kicker, the carpet stretcher also has teeth that will grab hold of the carpet and stretch it past the tack strips once you have used the activation lever. Now get a stair tool and tuck the carpet under the gap between the tack strips and the wall.

All that’s left to do is hoover the carpet to remove any debris and enjoy your new room.

Jamie Crookes is a professional carpet fitter who works for Haldane Fisher. When he’s not fitting carpets he likes to blog about DIY tips and tutorials.

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Are You Guilty of These Beauty Crimes?

We spend a great deal of time pampering ourselves and trying to make ourselves look beautiful, but the real test as to whether our beauty enhancements work or not, is to ask men what they think.

In order to find out whether we are on the right track or not, webvouchercodes.co.uk carried out a survey that asked 1091 men to name their most unappealing beauty habits. The results of the study are shown in this infographic, and are very interesting.

Whilst we may think that piling on the make up and fake tan are making us look better, it would seem that men think the opposite as these, along with visible hair extensions and the painfully obvious plastic surgery look all make it into the top ten beauty blunders.

In addition to that, we also need to be paying attention to scrappily done nails as they are more noticed than we may realise, along with lipstick residues on our teeth and embarrassing facial hair.

Check out the stylist advice to see how you can correct your beauty mistakes.

This infographic was created from a study carried out by webvouchercodes.co.uk, asking 1091 newsletter subscribers their thoughts about women's beauty habits.

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Do You Have Annoying Facebook Friends?

Facebook will be 10 in February, and whilst many of us have been using the social networking site a fraction of this time, we have still been using it long enough to develop our own annoying habits with it.

LoveMyVouchers.co.uk set out to find out what those annoying habits are and what we find the most annoying about our facebook friends.

When asked, some definite user types were found, and amongst them were the baby bores - who add a constant stream of pictures and status updates about their children, like the rest of us would be interested in a step by step account of them growing up; also the wannabe chef - who shows us every day what they have cooked for their tea, most of the time leaving us feeling slightly green at the gills; and the soppy couple - who instead of carrying out their 'lovey-dovey chatter in private as most normal human beings would, decide to carry it out on facebook in front of all their friends instead. Get a room!

Topping the list of course, is the constant status updater, who will not let us go a minute without telling us what is going on in their lives, no matter how boring that may be. Nobody cares if you are drinking a nice glass of red, or doing the housework, or picking your nose, or whatever.

So facebook does have a lot to answer for. How will you be celebrating facebook's tenth birthday - with candles and cake, or by angrily blocking your so called friends from your newsfeed?

The full results of the survey are shown in this infographic from LoveMyVouchers.co.uk, which ranks the top most annoying facebook user types in order.

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Sleeping In Summer - 5 Tips To Keep You Cool

Anyone who lives in a warm climate will agree that when it comes to hitting the hay, balmy summer nights are not all they are cracked up to be. The sheer heat makes for overheated pillows, clingy blankets and dripping sweat, all of which make it very tough to get a good night’s sleep.

But how to keep cool as you sleep without driving up a huge increase in your electricity prices? Here are our air-conditioning-free tips to cooling down on a hot summer’s night.

Disconnect

Unplug all your electronics. Did you know that even when your appliances, electronics and gadgets of every description are turned off, they still use some energy – and give off heat? Pull every plug out of its socket when the appliance is not in use. This will reduce the total heat in your house, contributing to a cooler interior atmosphere, as well as reducing your energy bill by minimising dormant energy costs.

The secret’s in the materials

Sure, cotton may not have the same chic look and feel as satin, but on hot nights, there is nothing like lightweight cotton bed linens – particularly lighter coloured ones – to keep you cool. Because cotton, and especially Egyptian cotton, is such a breathable material, it assists the airflow in the bedroom. This means that your body heat won’t be trapped as easily. Save the fancy satin for cold winter nights instead!

Another important consideration is what material to use for your pillow. Nothing is quite so annoying and distracting, as a pillow that needs constant flipping to get to the colder side – and then heats up in what seems like minutes, until you flip it over again. The solution? Invest in a buckwheat pillow. As buckwheat doesn’t retain heat, it will feel cool all night long.

Cold water bottle

Ever wonder how your grandparents kept cool before the advent of air conditioning, and kept warm in bed before interior heating? The answer is in the hot water bottle. Though this handy, all-in-one temperature control device may not be the most high-tech gadget out there, it is a time-proven way to help maintain heat – or cold, if needs be. On those hot summer nights, fill it with cold water and keep it in the freezer for a few hours before bed. When you retire to sleep, stick it in between your sheets for your very own ice pack. Of course, this super-affordable thermostat of sorts works just as well for keeping you hot by the time those freezing winter nights come around. A wise investment.

Embrace the cool breeze

If it’s safe for you to do so, leave a window open to tempt in any cool breezes that may pass your way. Opening multiple windows maximises your chances for a cool draft. Better yet, hang a wet sheet in front of an open window. This will transform even warm gusts of air flowing through into cool breezes, bringing down the room’s temperature.

For a window-less alternative, create a cool breeze of your own by hanging a wet towel with ice cubes on top between two chairs placed a metre or two away from, but directly in front of, your bed. Place a container under the towel to catch the melting ice water, and string a thread between the towel and container to prevent the dripping noise that could keep you awake. Then, simply point a fan behind the towel to blow the cold air on you in bed. Genius.

Cool down like an Egyptian

Legends have it that the ancient Egyptians stayed cool during the steamy north African summer by using a sheet or blanket that had been soaked in cold water and wrung dry. By using a cool, damp – not dripping wet – blanket, this method enables you to cool down as the water evaporates, without getting wet. So there you have it: an ancient method for keeping cool. You may wish to lay the damp sheets on top of a dry towel to make sure your mattress doesn’t get soaked.

A modification of this method is to soak a pair of cotton socks in cold water rather than a blanket, wringing them until they are damp and then wearing them to bed, with your feet staying out from under your blankets. Keeping your feet is a great idea because they are like in-built thermostats, and keeping them cool lowers the overall temperature of your body and your skin.

About Author:

Sarah Trevor is a freelance writer who notoriously dislikes the heat from Sydney who gets a good night’s sleep every night thanks to Sleepmaker.

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Will Google Glass break the Mass Gadget Market in 2014?

2014 promises to be the year of wearable technology for gadget lovers, with the iWatch rumoured for release, Google Glasses due to be launched and the Consumer Electronic Show 2014 being dominated by similar devices from many different brands.

Although there are already a number of available wearable tech items on the market, none have so far managed to really break through to the mass market, but Google Glass are poised to change that.

Or are they?

The website, LoveMyVouchers.co.uk, wanted to find out how real consumers felt about this futuristic piece of technology, and conducted a survey to try and gauge their views. The survey asked various questions about Google Glass and the results showed that people are not quite ready for this item of technology.

When asked about privacy issues, 70% of people were concerned that their privacy would be breached by people wearing Google Glass. A majority were also uncomfortable with the safety aspect of the glasses, for example the concerns about cyclists wearing the piece of equipment.

Above all, a majority did not think they would feel comfortable wearing the glasses in public and thought that they may be a little embarrassed or ashamed, illustrating that perhaps this fashion accessory is not quite on the mark when it comes to current fashion trends.

This study sample left us with a rather bleak view of the potential success of Google Glass, but as many did feel that wearable tech may play a part in their lives in the future, this does leave the market open for a possible mass market contender.

This infographic is from www.lovemyvouchers.co.uk, based on the results of a questionnaire carried out on 1132 of their newsletter readers.

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5 Reasons Group Therapy Will Solve Drug Addiction

When you get addicted to drugs, you know you are not alone in that problem.  The people around you would want that problem solved as much as possible.  As a result, you will get enrolled in a group therapy.  We now take a look at the advantages of being in a group therapy

1)      You are not alone

When you enter a group therapy session, you will realize you are not alone in your problem as you will observe that a lot of people are trying to fight the same problem as yours.  Your feelings with become better when you find out that other people are also having difficulties overcoming drug addiction and all of you would want to get rid of it the same way.

2)      Learn from other people

By being in a group therapy, you will find out what others went through since everyone will have a chance to tell their story to the group.  Since they will also tell how they tried to overcome the demons inside them then you will also learn new ways to address the problem.  You will find out how other people addressed your problem with ways you never knew existed.  You can benefit from the experiences of other people so you would find out what to do and what not to do in the near future.  You can also find out new ways of interacting with people you just met for the first time.

3)      Help others with their problems

Just like how you were able to benefit from other people, these same people can benefit from you in the long run.  It would feel great to help other people solve their problems even though your advice won’t be the only thing that would get them to solve it but it would be of big help.  Of course, they would also appreciate the fact that you were able to help them and they would be looking to return the favor sometime in the near future.  If they won’t be able to help you with your problem then they will try and help you some other way.

4)      Presence of social support

You can also provide social support to others and it would really help them when somebody is encouraging them to get through the problem and in this case it is drug addiction.  It would feel great to have someone cheering you on every time you made progress in solving your problem. You will be moved on by that and you will feel motivated in your quest to solve the problem that is known as drug addiction.  Of course, the journey is going to hit some brick walls so it is normal to feel bad about continuing the journey and this is where you will find the benefit of having someone cheer you on.

5)      The presence of rules

The group therapist will set some rules in order to prevent some topics to be discussed.  Anybody who does not follow the rules would be banned from the group.

About Author:

Lawrence Shin knows that chemical dependency is the solution to all drug related problems.  He thinks others should take it into consideration.

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I Am Taking Anxiety Medication, Will It Affect My Drug Test Results?

Anxiety is our body's response to danger. It is an automatic alarm that is triggered when we feel under pressure, threatened, or if we are under a lot of stress. It is normal to feel anxious, especially when facing difficult situations; however, if your anxiety becomes constant and overwhelming, and when it starts to interfere with your life, you might be suffering from an anxiety disorder.

There are certain medications that can relieve the symptoms of anxiety and help you function normally. Unfortunately, these medications can result in side effects, including the risk of addiction. If you are currently taking anxiety medications, you should understand what kind of drugs are in the prescription, its side effects, and how it will affect the results of a drug test.

Understanding Anxiety Medications

Different kinds of medications are prescribed when treating anxiety disorders. Benzodiazepines is the most common type of anti-anxiety prescription drugs and this includes Xanax, Valium, Ativan, and Klonopin. These drugs can relieve anxiety because it slows down the central nervous system. It can have a relaxing and calming effect, bringing relief from panic attacks within thirty minutes to an hour. But while the anti-anxiety drugs relieve anxiety, it can also result in unwanted side effects, such as:

1. Dizziness and lightheadedness
2. Inability to concentrate, memory loss
3. Slurred speech
4. Slow reflexes
5. Drowsiness
6. Lethargy
7. Confusion
8. Depression

Although these medications can help you deal with this mental distress; however, you should not consider them as a long-term cure. If you are suffering from anxiety disorder, you need to understand that the medications can only provide you with temporary relief. It doesn't actually solve the root cause of your anxiety. Once you stop taking the drugs, the symptoms of anxiety will return in full force or worse.

Does Taking Anxiety Medications Affect Drug Test Results?

If you are worried about how the drug test results will impact your upcoming employment screening or if you have been pulled over for suspicion of DUI, you need to know what kinds of drugs are tested.

DUI Urine Test: If you are asked to submit to a urine test for suspicion of DUI, it is best to inform the police officer of the current medications you are taking. It also helps to provide proof of the prescription. According to the DUI attorneys at http://suhrelawlexington.com/, the urine sample is usually tested for common drugs, such as heroin, marijuana, cocaine, and methamphetamine. Adderall, which is usually present in prescription drugs, will also show up on the results.

Employment Screening: Employers are required to conduct the basic screening which tests for five substances:

• Marijuana
• Cocaine
• Opium, morphine, and heroin
• Amphetamines
• Phencyclidine

Since benzodiazepines are not included in the list for the basic drug test, you have nothing to worry about; however, they may be included if the employer choose to expand the drug screening. Keep in mind that taking anti-anxiety drugs may result in a positive test result. It is best to talk to the employer or police officer beforehand. Let the people involved know that you are taking prescribed medication.

You might also be given forms which you need to fill up. You can write any prescription medication you are currently taking. The laboratory will discount the results if you provide a list. It is also a good idea to bring your doctor's written prescription.

About Author:

Kris Hopkins is a healthcare provider who is aware that some medications may cause the drug result to be positive. In this article, she discusses what anti-anxiety medications are and what to do in case of a drug test.

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The Abbreviated Timeline Of Artificial Intelligence

Ever since mankind first learned how to bang two rocks together to make many smaller rocks, we’ve been infatuated with the power of creation. Our tools have allowed us to create homes and cities to protect us from the harsh environment, vehicles to help us get from place to place, and various enjoyments to entertain our minds. But through all of this, there has always been an innate desire to use those same tools to create something similar to, yet entirely different from, ourselves. We long to build sapient machines that can experience the world on their own. Even today, the development of a truly self-aware artificial lifeform is a dream that we have yet to achieve, but that doesn’t stop us from trying, nor did it stop those throughout history. Here’s a brief timeline of the history of Artificial Intelligence.

• 3000~100 BC. Both Egyptian and Greek folk history contain accounts of artificially created life. Some religious idols from this period may have actually been mechanical statues that gave the impression of being able to think and move on their own (in a limited fashion).


• ~950 BC. According to a 3rd century BC text, King Mu of Zhou of the Chinese Zhou DYnasty was gifted a walking and singing automaton by the engineer Yan Shi. The account claims that the machine even had internal organs and artificial muscle tissue.


• ~60. Heron of Alexandria built automatons in the shape of humans, and used them for entertainment purposes. Perhaps more noteworthy was a rudimentary automated “cart” that he constructed to transport the automata to the stage where they would perform. The cart used a series of weights and strings that could be used to “program” the machine, in a similar fashion to the way modern programmers use programing languages.


• ~800. Takwin, an Arabic alchemical theory, was developed. It described the possible creation of intelligent, synthetic life.


• 1136–1206. Al-Jazari built many automated systems, from hydro-powered doors and gates, to robotic peacocks, to drink-serving automata, to an entire musical robotic band.


• ~1580. According to Jewish folklore, a Golem (an artificial man created from mud) was created by the Rabbi Judah Loew ben Bezalel of Prague.


• 16th Century. Clockmakers began to construct clockwork machines that mimic the look and movement of various animals.


• 1642. The first mechanical calculating machine was invented by Blaise Pascal.


• 1818. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein was published.


• 1863. As the theory of Darwinian evolution and survival of the fittest began to gain acceptance, Samuel Butler proposed that similar laws apply to machines as well, and that mechanical devices would continue to advance until they were able to outperform humanity.


• 1912. El Ajedrecista, built by Leonardo Torres y Quevedo, was an automated chess-playing machine that used a simple algorithm to calculate moves, as well as magnets located under the board to move the pieces.


• 1923. The word “robot” was introduced to the English language, with the opening and success of the play Rossum’s Universal Robots.


• 1941. The first program-controlled computers were invented.


• 1950. Science-fiction writer Isaac Asimov created the concept of the “Three Laws of Robotics.”


• 1951. The first working A.I. programs (one that played chess and one that played checkers) were created to run on the Ferranti Mark 1 computer.


• 1956. The term “Artificial Intelligence” was coined during the second Dartmouth Conference.


• 1961. Unimation, the world’s first industrial robot company was founded.


• 1969. Shakey the Robot was created. It was the first robot that could use locomotion, perception, and problem solving skills to break down commands into basic, easily executable actions.


• 1973. Freddy Robot was created by the Assembly Robotics Group, and could use visual input to locate and assemble models.


• 1975. The first scientific discoveries to be made by a computer (the Meta-Dendral program) were published.


• 1979. The program BKM defeated the reigning world backgammon champion.


• 1980. The first meeting of the National Conference of the American Association for Artificial Intelligence (AAAI) was held.


• 1988. The Sphinx Speech Recognition program was developed, and could recognize words spoken in real time.


• 1994. Robotic cars VaMP and VITA-2 drove over 1,000 kilometers in Paris through heavy traffic.


• 1997. The chess machine “Deep Blue” defeated the reigning world chess champion.


• Early 2000s. A.I. advancements lead to the use of thinking machines around the home, through robotic toys, new automated smart homes, web crawlers, and autonomous vacuum cleaners such as the Roomba.


• 2004. NASA’s autonomous rovers Spirit and Opportunity landed on the planet Mars, and began to explore the planet’s surface.


• 2010s. Personal smart devices such as Apple’s iPhone become widely available.


• 2010. Using numerical data, the program Quill was able to generate original news stories.


• 2011. Osamu Hasegawa's SOINN-based robot was created, and began to learn functions it was not programmed to understand.


• 2013. DARPA’s Robotics Challenge Trials took place, which were designed to test robotic players’ abilities relating to disaster response (such as navigating debris, solving simple mechanical problems, and cutting through walls). Japanese robot HRP-2 won the competition by scoring 27 out of a possible 32 points.

So, what does the future hold for A.I.? No one can say for sure. However, it seems likely that as the technology continues to progress, so to will the abilities of A.I. And who knows, maybe someday mankind will finally realize the dream of creating its own equal. When that happens, let’s just hope that they don’t take offence at all of those years we forced them to vacuum out carpets.

About Author:

About Author: Lindsey Patterson is a freelance writer who specializes in technology and the latest social trends, specifically involving social media.

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Surgical Abortion Procedure For Early Pregnancy

Opting for an abortion is one of the most difficult decisions a woman will ever have to make during her entire lifetime. Some women find themselves in a situation where they prefer to undergo an abortion due to a number of reasons. Surgical abortion is one of the safest options offered to women looking to have their pregnancy terminated.

Surgical abortion is a procedure that ends a pregnancy by removing the fetus and placenta from the mother’s womb. Surgical abortion is termed as therapeutic or elective abortion. Elective surgical abortion is done when the woman chooses to end the pregnancy while therapeutic surgical abortion is done when the pregnancy has to be terminated for health reasons. Below are the steps taken during the process of a surgical abortion.

Abortion Consultation

After contacting a credible hospital or abortion clinic, an appointment is set to have your case evaluated. During the consultation visit, a nurse or doctor will talk you through the procedure and explore the reasons for your abortion. You may also be required to fill in a questionnaire that asks about your medical history.

An ultrasound is done to determine how far along you are in your pregnancy. Most doctors prefer that you do not see or hear the ultrasound unless you request to. Patients have the option of undergoing the procedure immediately after the consultation or days later. Patients who opt to take time to digest the information are under no obligation to return for the procedure.

The Procedure

The procedure is done under local or general anaesthesia and takes a short time. First, the surgeon uses a speculum to view inside the vagina to determine the placement of the fetus. The surgeon then cleans the cervix and the vagina and numbs the area. After this, a narrow flexible tube is inserted into the uterus, the surgeon then applies a gentle suction on the other end of the tube to remove all of the pregnancy tissues. A surgical abortion is painless and the patient will have no recollection of the procedure.

After the procedure, the patient is moved to a private recovery room to rest for a few hours. A doctor comes to check how the patient is doing and to release her. Patients require help to get home after the procedure, as they are usually drowsy and sleepy due to the anaesthesia. Doctors usually advise their patients to have a friend or a taxi drive them home. After a surgical abortion, the patient is required to have complete rest for the rest of the day and night. It is however okay to resume normal duties the following day.

Recovery

The doctor usually prescribes antibiotics to take care of the cramps experienced after the procedure. The antibiotics also help to prevent infection. Just like any other surgery, the doctor gives the patient specific instructions that need to be followed for a quick and easy recovery. Vaginal bleeding occurs and can last for a period of 10 days. You will be required to set follow up visits with your doctor to ensure everything is okay.

Most patients who undergo surgical abortions suffer no complications and are able to get pregnant in the future.

Charlotte Walton, a freelance writer for Gynecology Centers Australia, wrote this article. Charlottes like to go through various websites and write articles related to the sites.

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Ten Universities Reaching New Limits With R & D

The future of technology relies on the innovations of those willing to experiment and learn more about it. A great place to find these kinds of people is at universities. Students bring a fresh, young approach to technology, and it’s no wonder that the research that they do often has a great impact on the tech world.

The world of machine vision falls into that category. Here is a list of ten universities whose research is advancing the world of vision technology.

California Institute of Technology

The computational vision department of this school is working on a list of interesting projects. One worth mentioning is the research being done on human motion understanding. It focuses on getting computers to observe and understand the motion of the human body. The research focuses on statistics of motion and appearance of body parts to be able to infer the body’s evolution in time.

Carnegie Mellon

The Robotics Institute in this school has a project that’s developing technology to map riverine environments from a rotorcraft flying above. They are working on algorithms that can segment images from cameras to determine the route of the river ahead and devices capable of mapping the shoreline.

Johns Hopkins

The Learning and Dynamics Lab in this Baltimore University has one project in progress that focuses on object categorization and segmentation. This labels objects in an image as belonging to a certain category and identifying a group of pixels as belonging to an object in an image. This could have applications in areas such as surveillance and medical diagnostics.

Stanford University

The Vision Lab at this prestigious university is involved in a project focusing on extracting moving people from internet videos. They are working on developing an automatic framework to detect and extract human motion from real-world videos on YouTube.

University of California

The Computer Vision and Robots Research Laboratory are working on a project called the Autonomous Agents for On-Scene Networked Incident Management. This is a traffic-incident detection, monitoring, and recovery system. It will help to make travel safer, reduce congestion on highways, and more using mobile robotic agents and video and acoustic sensors.

Cardiff University

The School of Computer Science and Informatics is researching a number of different areas, one of which is reverse engineering and computer aided design. This focuses on regenerating CAD models from scan data.

University of Massachusetts

The Vision Lab at this school is working on a project regarding facial recognition. This will help improve detection and recognition of faces in videos and images and give context and meaning to the scene.

University of Rochester

The School of Engineering and Applied Sciences is working on a number of projects on topics such as program analysis and compiler technology, low-power hardware and software, mobile computing, and cluster-based server technology.

University of Wisconsin

The Computer Sciences department has a project that focuses on the quantification and correction of iris color. The system being developed extracts the iris region from photos and corrects the color based on a standard calibration target. The system is fully automatic—making it less time-consuming—and improves grading accuracy.

Dublin City University

A project called CLARITY focuses on the intersection between adaptive sensing and information discovery to develop technology to benefit future industry bases and improve quality of life in areas such as health, digital media, and management of the environment.

About The Author:

Brianna Martin is a freelance writer from Lancaster, Pennsylvania who has been published across the web. The topics she has covered span from technological advancements and research that has led to immense breakthroughs for companies like Vision Online who act as global resource for all things vision.

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Hair Care Fashionista's | Auburn Hair

Dating back to centuries ago, women have always been associated with thick and lustrous hair. And the art of using hair extensions and wigs, are as old as the Egyptians of 3000-4000 BC. However, it is quite a remarkable, though an expected change in the styles and patterns of how this art is being used vociferously to give a bounce and volume to the harsh chemically treated hair of a day to day lady.

Every woman, irrespective of the colour, desires to have healthy hair on the scalp, but due to some scalp problems or irregular hair growth conditions, it may so perchance happen that we definitely have to turn to these thinning hair remedies, which give some solace to a lady, who lacks healthy hair. Hair loss owes to a wide range of in-built problems in our bodies that can eventually lead to excessive loss of hair. However, instead of considering the negative aspects of an issue it is much wiser to look at the brighter side of how to tackle these issues. For the simplest reason that hair loss is no longer an incurable problem that one has to live with all their lives, till death.

Hair extensions are becoming quite a dig in the market these days and industrialists are widely using it as a money minting opportunity. Considering the fact that hair extension might give some people creeps of the process in which this extra hair, or artificial hair is attached to our own hair in order to give the hair a voluminous look. To all those who are unaware about this, there is no super glue, stitching, thread or needling required to plant this hair with the existing hair. The extension is attached using a very fine braid, which is accomplished when small section of the existing hair is split into two and the fibre hair is also split into two parts in order to make a braid. This braid is then finally wrapped around the base of the original hair, in order to protect it.

Now you may ask, “Protection from what?” A highly valid question, but here’s the answer, the fibre that is attached to your hair has to be sealed and is then sealed on itself using any kind of a heating tool, which is supposed to be no hotter than a typical pair of curling tongs or crimpers that are easily available in any electronic goods market. Thus, the heat effect creates a tiny plastic seal around the hair fibre that is attached to your own hair. It is the most important point to ensure that during this process of adding hair extensions, one’s own hair is safely "cocooned" inside the fibre so that it does not come into direct contact with any form of external heat. In this way, your own hair stays in perfect condition.

For problems like hair loss or thinning hair solutions, these extensions are usually applied with a non-allergic mesh, the fibre hair is then woven through the mesh to create the look that you have always wanted for yourself.

About the Author:

Rene Morgan, is a associated with hair care expert industry for almost 15 years now and has been doing wide research and writing about the profound service rendered to distressed people by some of the greatest hair care experts and she continues to bring forth her work to a reading audience for more subsistence knowledge on this matter of hair fibres.

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4 Ways To Get More YouTube Views

There are a few people who have taken their YouTube endeavors to the next level and have gained notoriety because of their videos they posted.  Sadly, for every one person who makes it big on YouTube, there are literally thousands of people who only get a couple of views on their videos.  This is the sad reality of the site and you must know the proper techniques if you want to get views on your YouTube videos.  There are many other aspects to the videos than just creating a great video that has awesome content.  All of this is a moot point if your potential customers or clients cannot find them.  Below are four great ways to get more YouTube views on your videos.

Naming Your Video

First and foremost you must start with a great name for your video.  This means that you need to use certain keywords so that it properly searchable.  For instance, if you are selling dog food and make a video about the great ingredients you use, you would want to use the keywords: dog, food and ingredients into the title.  Not only that, you also want to make the title interesting enough that viewers want to watch the video.  So the name for your video would be something like, Our Tasty Dog Food has All Natural Ingredients.   As has been illustrated, all the keywords were used in a way that made the title interesting.

Share Your Videos

As soon as you post your video, the next step immediately after is to share it in as many outlets as possible.  Post it on your social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter and make sure you send out an email with the video embedded in it.  Those who are using Gmail will be able to view the video directly from their email which means it has more of a likelihood of it being watched.  It is also important to embed the video on your website so your current customers can view it at their leisure.  The main thing is to promote it to it viewed and shared.  If you prefer, you can take the easy way out and you can buy views for your videos to help boost their position in YouTube’s search engine.

Edit Your Videos

It is also vital that you edit your videos before you post them onto the site.  You never want to post raw video that has not been edited because there may be times where there is “dead air” or white outs where there is nothing happening on the video.  Dead air means that there is no talking or music to keep people interested in viewing them.   You can find some high quality video editing software at a good price either at your local computer store or online.

Promote Subscriptions to Your Channel

Finally, you want to promote subscriptions to your channel.  Those who subscribe will receive an email update whenever you post a new video so this can get you more views much quicker.  Give your viewers a call to action at the end of your video by asking them to subscribe to your channel.  You can also add this call to action in your description or in the comments section of your video.

It may take a little work to get more views on your videos but it is possible if you follow the tips outlined above.

About Author:

Sherry Jones is a small business owner who has mixed her two loves, her company and writing into one great enterprise.

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Kris Kringle: Tech Gifts That'll Surprise This Christmas

With Christmas just around the corner, we sure hope you’ve been thinking about your friends and family and planning appropriately for how you’ll surprise them come 25 December. With so many gift possibilities, cutting edge technology is a great Christmas gift for your loved one. For starters, it’s useful, long lasting, and more treasured than a box of chocolates. Here are four gifts that are bound to surprise as you watch him/her unwrap and smile:

The latest and greatest: iPhone 5S

Sure the iPhone 5C comes in lots of cool colours but for a gift that will really surprise you’ll need to step up and spend the big bucks on an iPhone 5S. This top-of-the-line model includes four features that surpass other models, with a new fingerprint identity sensor (forget the 4 digit passcode now!), a 64-bit A7 chip, a faster and sharper iSight camera, and ultrarapid LTE wireless. In 112g, you have a beautiful and secure phone, camera, Internet browser, and the ability to download thousands of applications. Now that’s a great present.

The one that’s off the charts: Samsung Galaxy Tab 3

If entertainment is of key importance to whomever you’re buying for, you can’t go wrong with the Galaxy Tab 3. Released in April 2013, the Tab 3 measures in at 7.95mm thin with an impressive and crisp 25.65cm screen. Holding the tablet in your hand you can access Samsung Apps which is home to more movies, TV shows, and other digital media than you could ever imagine. Need to do some work? The Tab 3 is also equipped with basic functional items such as a calendar, email, and an Internet browser. That’s only if you can pry your eyes away from the movie you’re watching though!

The lightest library you’ll ever buy: Kindle Fire HDX

If the person you’re buying for is a reader, they’ll be over the moon. If they’re not, it might just be the thing to kick start them into a great lifelong habit. The Kindle Fire HDX is the top model of Amazon’s popular Kindle, an e-book reader that enables you to shop for, download, and read e-books, magazines, blogs, and other digital media. The benefits are plenty: it reads like real paper, it’s easy on the eyes, it has a one-month battery life, it’s thinner than a pencil, and we could go on and on. With a pixel density at 339 PPI, the HDX is the clear winner when it comes to reading on a tablet.

The two products in one: Asus Transformer Book T100

Why choose between buying a laptop for home or a tablet for when they’re on the go, when you can buy two for the price of one for your loved one? The Asus Transformer Book T100 is a great tech gift to give this Christmas, as a fairly low-cost 10.1-inch Windows 8 tablet that can also be a laptop with its detachable keyboard segment. Unlike other tablets that double as laptops, the T100 uses a full laptop-style hinge made of metal. It also features impressive finishing and a solid hardware. An undoubtedly useful gift to consider.

About Author:

Karen Rhodes is a university student and freelance writer who is interested in new technology. She’s thankful for many things this festive season, including the fact that there’s Flexirent to help her in case any technology mishaps occur!

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