Rare Skills

If you are going to teach kids a skill that will help them in their career and life, teach them to be reliable. Teach them to do what they say they will do. If you consistently do what you say you will do, you will almost certainly be someone people desire to have on their teams. It is so rare that when you work with someone who is reliable, you never, ever want to work with anyone else. You will do anything to keep that person on your team. If you tell someone that you will have the software development project done by next week, then it should be done by then. Throw away those moving targets in your life. You also have to be upfront and let the other person know if it is going to need more time and them come to a date that is agreed upon. Obviously, there are external factors that make commitments hard to achieve but it is important to do everything to be reliable. The other side of the coin is being able to keep track of yourself. Surprisingly, there are not that many people that consistently do things without needing reminders. Those skills will get you far and you will be indispensable to any company.

Agile Mind

I am sure that you have heard of these brain training sites and mobile applications and improving your mind might be on the top your new year's resolutions. Fortunately, it doesn't require that you play those games especially if you are really skeptical about whether they really work or not. All you really have to do is to exercise your brain just like you do every muscle in your body. One of the best things that you can do is to use your sense in different ways. We have our five senses and some other ones depending on whom you are speaking to, and we use them every day but it is the combination that matters here. Mix things up and combine the senses in a new way such as listening to music while cooking or looking at your surroundings while walking. When was the last time you looked up from your phone while commuting? Another thing you can do is to shake up your routine. You might be thinking that there is no way that is happening because life is somewhat built on routines. You could use a different tone for your alarm in the morning or take a different route to work or the grocery store. Any small changes like that will do the trick.

Virtual Traffic Lights

Have you even been stuck in traffic? Of course you have and it is always utterly horrible. Not to mention that sitting in traffic for long periods of time has been linked to all kinds of chronic diseases and just increased stress in general. What if there was a way to decrease your travel time almost in half? Enter virtual lights. The traffic light will be created on the dashboard when approaching an intersection and arrows will light to show you which way is safe to proceed. The software development will also cut carbon emissions and even reduce accidents. The government is working on a vehicle-to-vehicle communication program where it will be mandatory for car to be able to communicate with each other. With all the technology, it is amazing that we are still using traffic lights that were invented decades ago.

Virtual Reality on a New Level

Every time you speak, you chest cavity will vibrate. Just place your fingers right below the clavicle and see for yourself. This aspect is important because it is a part of reality. Virtual reality has been focusing on enhancing the visuals but physicist Shahriar Afshar thinks recreating that feeling is the key to making video games, movies and music more immersive, emotional experiences. He's created a vest called KOR-FX that plugs into an audio jack and turns sound into chest-rumbling vibrations, mimicking what your vocal cords do. This type of sensation will further alert the brain to be in tune with what is going on and blur the lines between reality and what is going on on the screen. The vest costs $150 so it is definitely something that is available to the consumer even if listening to music. Eventually, this vest could be used in software development to create sensations of movement that could be used in video games.

Improving Your Presentations

At some point in our lives, we all have to present. Most of us are a bit rusty on the details so it turns out somewhat boring. If your presentation is boring, that means people will not listen. Fortunately there are things that you can do to improve, whether you are doing a sales pitch, applying for a job, or presenting the latest developments in your web design project. One of the best pieces of advice that I have gotten is to keep it short and simple. It does not help to try to impress your audience with fancy terms and knowledge, just get to the point. Also, make sure to slow down. When we are presenting, we have a tendency to talk faster because of nerves or the fact that we have way too much material to present. While you are taking the time to slow down, use pauses to your advantage to get the audience involved, at least mentally. They need to become active listeners for you to get your point across.

Work From Home and Still Be Productive

Yes, it can be done. There are many perks of working from home but sometimes they can get in the way of working productively. When you get up in the morning, get dressed in some professional clothes even if you are just walking twenty feet to your home office. It will tell your body that it is time to get into work mode. Also, what if someone from work wants to do a video conference over internet phones? Are you really going to make them wait until you get dressed to look presentable. Setting your own work hours may be a great perk but if you do not have the set hours, you will just be wasting time. Make sure that you also work the hours when you are most productive, whether it be in the morning, noon, or evening. By leaving the desk for a short time every 60 to 90 minutes, it'll give you a change of scenery that allows your mind to relax and become refreshed, and prepared for when you come back. Even a simple walk to a shop or getting a cup of coffee and sitting in a garden will be enough to recharge.