Batteries Not Included

As we charge full speed ahead into the 21^st century wireless technology is becoming increasingly popular and convenient. The days of cumbersome cords are falling by the wayside and a new dawn approaches. Cell phones, headphones, laptops (with wireless networking, of course), GPS units, garage door openers, computer mice, keyboards, and ipods are among the gadgets that many of us visualize when we hear a term like “wireless technology.” All of the aforementioned are common in our technologically growing society. Despite the advances in wireless capabilities there are countless items found around the home or office that rely on a cord. In most cases this cord provides the power or electricity to the object. When you think about it, everything needs plugged into some type of power supply or requires a battery change to continue functioning. This is where the “new dawn” of wireless technology enters, stage right, in the form of wireless electricity. Wireless electricity is real and will change the world. Just imagine the possibilities of wireless electricity. No more worrying about charging your cell phones, ipods, laptops or even bothering or needing to plug in your refrigerator, all within a wireless energy zone. This wireless energy zone can be located at work, home, school and, needless to say, your closest Starbucks. “Laptop batteries are always burning out and always need a charge. What we did was build a coil into a standard laptop computer and it gets its source from behind a wall in your office,” said Eric Giler, president and CEO of WiTricity. “You could move them around the room and the laptop will continue to charge.” Another amazing breakthrough is the concept of WiTricity, which could power an entire house completely free of electrical lines. The ramifications of this new technology seem endless and will certainly change the way the world views wireless technology.  

iLife ‘09

Apple has added some fantastic features in the new iphoto upgrade. Most notably faces and places. These new categories will show up right below events and photos in your iphoto library. Faces uses state of the art facial recognition software to sift through your photos, identifying everyone. This feature is perfect if you’re looking for specific pictures of one particular person. Initially, iphoto will ask you to identify everyone in your library and as iphoto recognizes identified people in other photos it will ask you to confirm their identity. The more photos confirmed, the more accurate the software. It’s a pretty nifty feature. Opening faces reveals everyone neatly categorized on a virtual bulletin board. Swipe your mouse across their face and it will skim through every picture of them in your iphoto library.

Another great new feature is places. This new software allows you to add a location to all of your photos. Perhaps you and the family went on vacation to Paris, France. This set of photos will be tagged as taken in Paris and a push pin will appear, in Paris, on a virtual map. Preexisting photos will have to be tagged individually unless taken on the iphone. All pictures taken on the iphone will automatically be tagged with their exact location, using GPS, when uploaded to iphoto, an extremely impressive feature for iphone users.

Memorization

Have you ever struggled to remember a phone number or any other important number  you didn’t have time to write down? Most of us believe that if we repeat it enough times we’ll be fine. Unfortunately, the number is only stored in our short-term memory and will fade within a few minutes. The trick is placing these important numbers in our long-term memory bank. Here’s the trick. Suppose your phone number is 216.555.9531. Committing this number to your long-term memory entails creating a quick story. For example: “I woke up from my nap at 2’oclock, 16 minutes late. I noticed the three beehives (3-5’s) outside my window at once. It’s a sign (9)! I was ready in 5 minutes and was disappointed when I went looking for my favorite coffee cup only to find it was the dirty one (31).” Creating a quick story like this one will help you remember any set of important numbers for a long period of time. Hence you’re storing it in your long-term memory. The more outrageous and silly the story appears the easier it will be to remember. I also recommend adding movement to the scenes throughout your story. This technique will help to further cement the number into your mind.

Improving FICO Scores

Hopefully you’ve heard of a FICO score. It’s a three digit number that lenders, employers, credit card companies and everyone else under the sun uses to identify you. It’s similar to an SAT score, but the stakes are much higher. This three digit number determines your interest rates, if you can get a loan, a car, a cellphone and can even effect your job opportunities. The scale for the FICO score is 300-850. Anything below 600 is considered bad. A score of 740 or higher is the ideal score. Your FICO score is effected by your debt to credit limit ratio, payment history among other things and is a   number that everyone should know. I can’t stress this enough readers. Your FICO score is extremely important and can make or break you. If you’re not sure what your score is I’d advise going to myfico.com. It’ll cost you $15.95, but will save you a lot more in the long run. Especially if you plan on applying for a loan in the near future. If you’re not happy with your FICO score there are actions you can take to improve it. Paying all your bills on time is key as well as keeping your balances as low as possible. If you can’t pay your credit card off at the end of every month you shouldn’t be charging. If you do take advantage of myfico.com they have a great simulator program that will determine your  FICO score in the future once you’ve taken the right actions to improve it. Remember, you can’t escape your FICO score so take care of it. Obtaining a great FICO score will lead you straight down the path of financial freedom.

Credit Card Crisis

The economic crisis that’s plaguing our country and the world is something that many of us choose not to think about. If we disassociate ourselves from the problem completely it won’t show up at our doorsteps. Unfortunately, in today’s society it’s hard to shield yourself from the chaos that is our economy. Most Americans today have at least one credit card and others have, well let’s just say we have a problem. Plan on seeing your APR’s skyrocket as high as 32% until we climb our way out of this mess. Credit card companies seem to want to pump us for all the cash they can. Not only are they raising percentage rates, they’re lowering credit limits. That’s right ladies and gentlemen. Let’s say you now have a credit card with a $6,000 limit and you, being responsible, never charge past $3,000. Take a good look at your next statement because your credit limit may be reduced to $3,000 or whatever your current balance may be. It’s true. Pay that amount off and the credit card company may close your card preventing you from charging in the future. You heard me right folks. Credit card companies are raising percentage rates and reducing or closing accounts. Until our economy starts to turn around I recommend paying the minimum on your credit cards and opening a savings account with the rest of your extra cash. True, this move may hurt your credit score/FICO score, but being surprised with a credit limit reduction won’t be good for that either. It’s better to have some emergency cash than being left with no cash and no credit card. Be careful with your money and don’t expect to see anything get better for at least another year and a half.