Many of us think of a PhD as a one-way ticket to a tweed jacket and a tenure offer. Long forays into academia often result in remaining in that field for a lifetime, either as a researcher or a professor. But a challenging job market and developments in technology knows means that suddenly a physics degree may help you own your own business. Read on for examples of people who took non-traditional career paths and proved the old adage that a major is simply a starting point, and learn how thinking outside the box can result in renewed career success.

• Glide through the transition. The economy took a downturn in 2008, leaving many Americans without jobs. As the unemployed embarked on the job hunt, some found that switching industries gave them a leg up. One Boston woman made a lateral move from marketing to manufacturing. She remained in the tech industry, but switched titles completely. The trick to negotiating a late-in-life career change is being able to translate your skills. Ask someone in a position similar to the one you want to look over your resume and replace your wording with industry-specific jargon. Future employers will know exactly what your skillset is, and how it can be applied.
• Play to your strengths. The owner of Ednovation employs 200 people in offices around the globe. He obtained a degree in physics. Working with the theoretical for years not only gave him a gift for explanation and communication, it also inspired him to start working in the “real world.” As a business owner, you can see the relevance of your work, and results come about much quicker. Scientific training also results in thorough behavior and extensive networks and connections, all enviable gifts in the business world.
• Engage in research. College majors fall loosely into two categories: job titles (engineering, social work) and academic areas (literature, anthropology.) For those who pursue the latter course, their four to eight years of schooling consist primarily of research. The owner of Semicaps, a self-proclaimed academic, explains, “My aim is to continue to do more research, for as an academic, I want my work to be important to all the problems in this industry. I want to anticipate the problems and build up technical expertise and manpower in this field.”

Gone are the days when someone would stay in the same job for twenty years. For better or for worse, the world is changing. Employers seem to value an adaptive individual with new ideas. Not to mention, as technology grows exponentially by the day, even the most steadfast of employees would be hard-pressed to keep up. Instead of feeling stuck in your chosen field, consider how your skills could make a difference. Would the power over words gained after years of poetry help you write engaging marketing copy, or grant applications for non-profits? Can you apply years of teaching experience to managing a large group of employees? This kind of crossover thinking leads to more opportunities for you while equating to better businesses globally.

1. Regained Freedom

People with disabilities related to mobility used to have to rely on others to help them get around on an ongoing basis. This all changed with the development of powered wheelchairs and handicapped vans, which allow those confined to wheelchairs to get behind the steering wheel again (or for the first time). A regained sense of freedom can go a long way toward helping people with disabilities enjoy a quality of life that they wouldn’t otherwise have.

2. Regained Education

The public education system in the U.S. has struggled for a long time to integrate students with disabilities into the classroom. Technology has made it easier to give each student the personalized program needed to educate each student by using his strengths, interests and pacing. iPhones and iPod Touches are being increasingly used in special education classrooms, allowing students who have trouble communicating or concentrating to learn on touch screens and taking some of the stress off the teachers.

3. Regained Entertainment

Watching television used to be very difficult for people who were hard of hearing because they couldn’t hear what was being said on-screen. Beginning in 1993, the FCC required that televisions include technology for closed captioning, which displays speech along the bottom of the screen in real time. This technology was critical for allowing people to read what was happening on the news and on all of their programming, not just for movies or shows with built-in captions. Since then, closed captioning technology has become more sophisticated so that it does an even better job of providing accurate text for spoken words in programming.

4. Regained Communication

One of the primary ways that people with disabilities have been able to regain their ability to communicate with and interact with the rest of the population is through text-to-speech technology. It’s a useful solution with people who have vision or hearing problems. People who can’t see text can benefit from hearing it spoken to them. On the other hand, people who can’t hear can use text-to-speech technology as a method of outgoing communication when they don’t have speaking skills and are with people who don’t know sign language. They just type what they want to communicate on a device that speaks it for them.

5. Regained Technology

There are many clever input systems for computers these days, including puff-and-sip controls that allow the user to control on-screen options with their breath and keyboard filters that help people type with fewer keystrokes. People with disabilities are able to interact with computers, tablets and phones through whatever method works best for them.

We can be sure that in the future, technology will continue to expand to meet the needs of people with disabilities. These innovations have a large market, including thousands of happy users who are thrilled to be able to do some of the things they were missing out on. Every time another need is recognized, developers are sure to get to work coming up with a way to meet that need and help people with disabilities regain some of their independence.

What Are Google Glasses?

If you have seen the YouTube video or any of the other mobile marketing tactics used by Google, you will have an idea of what Google glasses are. However, not everyone knows exactly what they are. Google is in the process of creating a unique pair of glasses that will serve as a combination of several things. These glasses will serve as a smartphone, mobile computer device and augmented reality portal. Through these glasses, you will not just see the world, but information drawn from the world around you and the cloud storage.

How Do Google Glasses Work?

Now that you know what Google glasses are, you’ll need to know how they work. As you go through your day, the computer within the glasses will display information on the glasses so you can read it. For instance, if you look at the sky, the glasses will pull up the weather forecast so you can plan your day. Some of the features are also voice activated. For instance, if you take a chat request or a text message on the glasses, you’ll be able to send a response by speaking it. You can use the glasses to map out a route, read a restaurant menu before you even go inside and more.

Are Google Glasses Right for Me?

Once Google glasses are released on the market, it will be up to you to decide if they are right for you. One of the considerations you need to make is whether you already wear glasses. If you don’t already need glasses, wearing Google glasses may not be something you want to do. However, if you already wear glasses or like to keep up to speed on the latest technology, these could be perfect for you. Having all of this information right in front of your eyes can be a great blessing or it can be an annoyance. Only you know if they will work for you.

Google and Marketing

The phenomenon of Google glasses is still very new. However, Google took advantage of mobile marketing techniques to help spread the word about these unique glasses. To announce these new glasses, which are still in the process of development, Google simply created and posted a video on YouTube. For most companies, such a small effort would likely go fairly unnoticed. However, when Google tries it, it becomes a stroke of marketing genius. As more people see the video, they will spread it through social media and email to everyone they know.

Even though Google is well known for its search engine and email service, it is quickly growing in other areas of technology. The pending release of the new Google glasses could launch Google into the world of mobile devices, helping everyone use mobile marketing more efficiently. It remains to be seen whether Google glasses will live up to expectations or be worth the cost; however, this could prove to be the next best thing in the tech world.

Video Entertainment Goes to the Cloud

When was the last time you looked at your cable bill? Has the rate gone up? Chances are it has, as most providers constantly seem to raise their rates on unsuspecting customers. Now, with Netflix, Hulu Plus and similar services, people in your situation can stream their entertainment of choice over their computer or other wireless device, rather than actually downloading (illegally or otherwise) movies or shows or digging out the rabbit ears. As long as your favorite shows are carried by one of these streaming services, you can easily ditch the cable company and still enjoy your favorite entertainment.

The Gaming Industry Is Changing

Since gamers first blew on Nintendo cartridges to get them working, gamers have understood the importance of a physical medium with their games. Cloud computing is ever-so-slowly changing that. Microsoft is pushing the cloud as an option for extra save space at the same time they’re pushing Xbox owners to buy their games as downloads. Once gamers start to fill up their hard drives with downloaded games, they can start using space on the cloud.

Xbox is taking this a step further, though, through the cloud. Now, gamers who have an Xbox 360 console can save their games directly to the cloud, rather than on their console. This means that they can open their game on a different console, such as the one on the TV in their bedroom or the one at their friend’s house. This is technology you couldn’t even have dreamed of 10 years ago, when the “Game Genie” was still considered high tech.

The Cloud Is Changing the Music Industry

It will not be long before a collection of CDs will be a thing of the past, much like cassettes and eight-tracks. Today’s music fan is already using mp3 players and digital copies of their music to enjoy it on the go. Yet, mp3 players can only hold a finite number of songs. If yours is full and you want to add a new song, you will have to find one to delete.

Streaming on-demand music services like Panodora and Spotify are giving music lovers access to all the music they want, all the time, with almost instant access to tap into when they want to hear a song. These utilize cloud technology to give you the ability to stream a song whenever you want. While you may not own the album or song any longer, like you do when you buy a CD or mp3, you have access to just about any song you want, any time you want. It’s likely that many will still utilize local storage, though.

Cloud technology is making data more readily accessible around every turn, and this is clearly seen in changes to modern technology. With this technology, it will not be long before you can stream just about any entertainment option from just about anywhere you have access to the cloud. Whether you are streaming video onto your mobile device or tuning into Spotify on your laptop, chances are you are going to be using the cloud for entertainment sometime in the near future.

Write down all the tasks, jobs or situations in which you would not use the Internet. Pore over it. Scrutinize it. Do you think you’ll be doing half those things on the Internet in 10 years?

The fact is the Internet is taking control of some surprising elements of our lives. Sure, there are areas where the Internet has not yet reached its ever-present tendrils, but can you imagine looking for an apartment without the Internet? Picking out a Valentine’s Day restaurant? Even looking at homes is an online activity. The days of rifling through newspapers, circling prospective listings in the classifieds section and calling around town to set up appointments have ended. Now, we find everything from apartments to commercial rental properties on the vast expanse of the digital ether.

As we begin to depend more on the Internet, it’s increasingly important to examine the way it affects our daily lives. What’s interesting is that alchemizing power of the Internet is not much different now than it was thirteen years ago when it was still called the “inter-net.” Consider this excerpt from a conference held at Harvard Design School in 1999:

This conference flows from the premise that information technology and more specifically, Internet technology are rapidly and radically transforming the character of life and work. The changes driven by the Internet will have an enormous impact on the conduct of every aspect of our society business, government, education, and private life. The impact on the design and construction industry will be no less dramatic. It is imperative, therefore, that industry leaders prepare themselves to evaluate opportunities and challenges they will face.

The perspective has changed – we are now living in that dramatic world of opportunity – but the power of the Internet to continue to change remains undiminished. In fact, it may have been given more power.

Current advancements will propel our ideas of the future – a future whose image has been culled from the pages of science-fiction novels and movie scenes. That future, it seems, is perennially on that horizon. The recent boom in mobile Internet, cloud computing and shared information is having a transformative effect on the deepest levels of our society.

The Internet. The infrastructure is still being built, but the dream is in place. Its execution is certain. Our continued evolution has grown into a synthesis with that of the Internet. We may not reach into the nightmare visions of a war between humanity and machines, but at this point, it is impossible to argue that further progress can occur without continual creation.

We are tied to it, and it is tied to us.

Higher Processing for Higher Quality:

The new Tegra 3 processor is allowing processing speeds and power that far exceed previously released processors. This is allowing mobile makers to create higher quality games that will be comparable to console games currently available.  With its innovative Quad Core processor with a 5^th Battery Saver core offering 1.4 GHz, it is making games such as Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 2, releasing in May, available for mobile devices. This will be one of the first high quality games utilizing the seamless power of the Tegra 3 processor.

More Power, Same Battery:

One of the main concerns for many mobile users is the extra battery power required to run such games. With the new processor no extra battery is needed. You will be able to enjoy hours of high quality gaming on the same battery power you have in the past. Each core is utilized when needed while the battery saving core handles the lower powered tasks. All 4 cores can be enabled based on workload for a burst of max power. While the phone is at idle it runs on the 5^th battery saving core. This allows the phone to run optimally and bring the other 4 cores into play while gaming.

The Future of Mobile Gaming:

Whether you are looking for a small flash based game or the latest RPG with detailed graphics and high quality performance, the future of mobile gaming is closer than you may think. With so many consumers purchasing smartphones for the freedom of mobility with added productivity, gamers will be able to utilize the same freedom. The mobile gaming market is expected to rival console gaming with higher quality and more intuitive gaming for the latest phones running the Tegra 3 processor.

It is only a matter of time before mobile LAN parties are formed across the neighborhood while playing the latest high quality game. Whether you enjoy the fast action of a first person shooter, the labor intensive thinking involved with MMORPG’s or even the rush of a mobile casino style game, you will be seeing the high quality releases in the very near future.

Jeremy Miller is an avid poker player and content contributor for www.onlinecasino.co.nz, a site offering live casino-style action for players at home.

The Initial Cost

When you have to equip a full office then it can be tempting to cut back on the cost of things like the printer and such like. However, in the long run you will be much better off if you have a good quality printer which doesn’t cause you any hassle. Inkjet printers tend to be more popular with home workers because the more basic models can print in colour and cost about the same and black and white only laser models. If you can take a step up from the cheapest printers then you should be thankful that you did in years to come when it carries on doing its job effectively.

The Ongoing Cost

Unless you are going to be doing a lot of printing then you probably don’t need to worry too much about the ongoing cost of paper and ink. If you are going to be printing like a maniac then you will want to check the cost of paper and ink cartridges. If you are going for a laser model then the cost per page will fall if you choose a fairly expensive one, while the cost of inkjet models cost stays pretty constant in cheaper or more expensive models. Using remanufactured Samsung toner cartridges will help you keep the ongoing cost as low as possible without meaning that you lose out on any of the quality.

The Ease of Use

Modern printers are all simple to use and you shouldn’t have any great problems with any one you decide to buy. If there is a particular brand or model you are already comfortable with then that is fine, but otherwise you shouldn’t worry too much about the time it will take you to get the hang of it. The days of big, creaking machines which needed a 50 page user’s manual are long gone.

Other Considerations

Will your new home office printer fit into the space you have left for it and will it look good alongside your other pieces of equipment? Just because you are going to be working alone from home doesn’t mean that you don’t have to consider the need to make the place look good. If you add up the total amount of time which you expect to be spending in here then it probably makes sense to try and get your home office as good looking as possible. Sometime this means spending just a little bit more and getting the best printer possible.

With that in mind, here are some useful tips to help you make the right choice.

Understanding your needs

First of all, think about what you want of your smartphone. You may need a bigger screen with high resolution, or maybe a fast browser or a topnotch camera. Perhaps what you really need is an unlocked phone that will work with any network? Decide what you want first, and make a list.

Research

Now visit stores and browse the Internet, looking for models that meet your requirements. To see how good they really are you should look for user submitted reviews, which are easy enough to find online; it really helps a lot reading the opinion of someone who has purchased the phone you’re interested in! You can know all the advantages and disadvantages of a phone without ever touching it, and ultimately make the right decision.

Typing

Nowadays, smartphones offer more than one option when it comes to typing: some have sliding keyboards, others feature touch screens, while others may include a combination of both. Depending on your usage patterns (for example, whether you tend to text or make calls more often), you should make sure to get the appropriate phone… otherwise you may soon regret it!

Battery Autonomy

The more things your smartphone can do, the more power it’ll consume. So you should check the battery life of the phone you’re going to buy, since there are often drastic differences depending on the manufacturer. For your convenience, you might want to look into alternative charging options like car charging or charge via USB.

Other features

Hands-free operation is a much needed feature for people who use their phone while driving. This feature allows you to talk when you’re driving without need to hold the phone, or even do basic operations via voice commands: such as dialing or taking incoming calls without pressing any button.

Data storage

Most smartphones have vast built in memory. Some also have slots for memory cards. This is a feature important for people who want to store movies, music, and other stuff in great deal.

Waiting for the offers

Unless you’re really rich, it goes without saying that cost can be a determinant factor towards your decision… after all, you can only buy what you can afford. So wait for the right moment. During holidays offers, crop up. Take this opportunity. Use your coupon. Visit all the popular sites looking for special offers. Maybe you’ll get a better phone for much less cost than you imagined possible!

Warranty

Before buying the phone don’t forget to check the warranty length and coverage. See if the accessories are covered also, as this can also be a determinant factor towards making a sensible choice.

We hope these tips will help you get the right phone for you! Remember: know your priorities first and research thoroughly on the market according to your needs, rather than taking a pick at random. Finally, do take your time and make the choice wisely.

This guest post was brought to you by the slow computer website, where you can get all kinds of advice to help improve startup times of Windows computers and many other tips. Come see us!

Imagine my surprise when I delved into the matter a little further and discovered that we can trace the history of 3D films techniques all the way back to the end of the 19^th century. At that stage a British gentleman called William Freise Greene had an idea for making 3D films which he patented. His invention involved two movies being screened side by side while the people watching it used a cumbersome stereoscope to get the 3D effect. It didn’t catch on but he had set the ball was rolling.

Oriental Dancing and Waterfalls in 3D

The next big step in the story took place across the other side of the Atlantic, in New York to be exact. Here, in 1915, William E Waddell and Edwin S Porter showed 3D movies to an audience in the Astor Theatre. They used a red green anaglyph system to show a bewildering variety of images such as Niagara Falls, oriental dancing scenes and action from the countryside. No workable movie theatre system came out of this either but my big red and green glasses were getting closer to becoming a reality all the time.

If we fast forward to 1922 we can find the very first 3D movie which the audience paid to see. This happened in the Ambassador Hotel Theatre in Los Angeles and the film was the excitingly titled The Power of Love. Red green anaglyph glasses were used by the members of the public and the dual strip projection method was used. No one now really knows what the film was about or whether it was a success, as no trace of it exists now.

That same year of 1922 saw a number of other attempts to get the 3D film industry onto the next level, and perhaps we should look on it as the most important year in the early history of this film method.

There then followed a lull in the industry until around the mid 1930s. Whether producers had lost interest or they simply couldn’t see a way to make it work isn’t known. However, France and Germany took up the baton in the mid to late 1930s before MGM brought out the short film called Third Dimensional Murder in 1941.

All of the films shot during these years were done using different techniques, as studios experimented with a variety of ideas. To see the era which is generally considered as the high point of the industry we need to skip forward to the 1950s. The world saw the first colour 3D movie in 1952 (Bwana Devil) and a number of other important movies came out around this time. My glasses were still a couple of decades away but the revolution was well under way.

With the recent challenges of a truly global economy, companies and industries have been scrutinized as never before to trim waste and increase productivity without increasing operating expenses. It’s a tall order that cannot be met by simply trimming the workforce, postponing raises or using 40-watt light bulbs. These challenges require adaptation, accommodation, problem-solving and novel applications of technology. The shipping industry recently absorbed an enormous economic shock courtesy of the worldwide economic downturn but responded with design and technology innovations. For an industry thought to be old fashioned in its use of ships, trains and trucks, it has emerged as a leader in meeting adversity with modern creativity.

China, for instance, is approaching the distinction of producing almost half of the world’s shipbuilding orders. The country surpassed the world’s previous shipbuilding leader, South Korea, by almost 5 million deadweight tons in just the first half of 2010. Not satisfied with providing the most ships for the worlds’ ocean shipping needs, Zhang Shengkun – Shanghai Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers president — reportedly wants to emphasize innovative design in the ships it will continue to produce. Some of these innovations will be necessary to meet newly developed environmental regulations while others will be necessary to meet the needs of customers and their specific shipping needs.

Meanwhile, innovation and ingenuity have transformed what was once the standard cargo containers used to transport goods on ships. Cargoshell containers are made of a special fiber composite that weighs 25 percent less than the standard cargo containers you see in movies based in ports or docks. Although, initially more expensive than old fashioned steel containers, Cargoshells ultimately save lots of money on space and storage costs. These new containers are also internally labeled with an ID allowing individual containers to be tracked by satellite. Their method of manufacture is said to decrease the potential for contamination of products from previous loads. Most astoundingly, Cargoshell containers are easily collapsible — within half a minute — to one-quarter their original size.

Norfolk Southern Railroad developed the Heartland Corridor between Virginia ports and Chicago to carry double-stacked container trains. This means of transporting twice the number of containers per train required years of planning and work to lower track beds, excavate larger existing tunnels and remove overhead impedances such as bridges. This intermodal means of shipping allows for cargo to be unloaded from ships in port in Norfolk, Virginia; double-stacked onto trains and moved by rail to Chicago where they are often unloaded onto tractor trailers for further distribution around the country.

Qualcomm has introduced a suite of fleet tracking tools designed to maximize productivity by calculating the most efficient routes and holding drivers to a schedule. The company uses an electronic monitoring system in each tractor to monitor driver time behind the wheel and legally required rest periods. This information is then collected into an electronic driver logbook. Collating this information electronically decreases accounting errors, reduces fines for regulatory noncompliance and decreases the man-hours necessary to organize and compile the completed trip records.

The ongoing turmoil in Europe has some analysts wringing their hands about the future of shipping, and for good reason. If European countries begin to go bankrupt we could see a drop in international. However, the international shipping industry is such a large part of the global economy that its failure is almost unfathomable. Many things described as too big to fail often do, but the shipping industry won’t be in that category until teleportation technology becomes affordable.

I wouldn’t hold my breath.