Tag: phone

  • New lithium batteries from used cell phones

    New lithium batteries from used cell phones

    Lithium-ion batteries are used around the world, and though over the last few years they have had some competition, such as sodium and magnesium, they continue to be indispensable due to their high density and capacity. The issue is this: this metal has major availability and concentration problems. Almost 85% of its reserves are located in what is known as the Lithium Triangle, a geographical area found on the borders of Argentina, Bolivia and Chile. In addition, it seems that demand will rocket over the next few decades because of the implementation of electric vehicles. Each car equals about 7,000 cell phone batteries, so reusing their different components has become an issue of utmost importance.

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  • FCC proposes fines for phone companies that shared user data

    FCC proposes fines for phone companies that shared user data

    U.S. regulators have proposed fining the four major U.S. phone companies more than $200 million combined for improperly disclosing customers’ real-time location to other companies.

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  • ‘Surfing attack’ hacks Siri, Google with ultrasonic waves

    ‘Surfing attack’ hacks Siri, Google with ultrasonic waves

    Ultrasonic waves don’t make a sound, but they can still activate Siri on your cellphone and have it make calls, take images or read the contents of a text to a stranger. All without the phone owner’s knowledge.

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  • Star power: Togo bets on solar energy for its rural poor

    Star power: Togo bets on solar energy for its rural poor

    Not so long ago, whenever he wanted to watch a football match or recharge his phone, Ousmane Kantcho had to go “into town”—a 15-kilometre ride by bicycle on poor roads in the savannah.

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  • Ten Ways to Offer Better Customer Service

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    Today’s savvy customers not only want excellent service, they often expect it. Customer service was the main quality focus of growth and improvement for companies in the last few decades, which is why many now expect it. Companies can lose customers over bad customer service and may retain customers who feel treated respectfully. How well customer service works depends greatly on the attitude and training of company human resources, even those not in the service areas. Below are a few ways everyone can improve their customer service skills and attitudes. 

    1. Always smile when speaking with the customer, whether in person or on the phone. Smiling lifts your attitude and the positive ness can be heard in your voice. 
    2. Greet customers by saying hello, giving them your name, and asking them how you can help.
    3. Whenever possible, be empathetic. Let the customer know you understand their feelings and want to be of help in solving their problem.
    4. Be sure to ask for their name so you can call them by it when responding. This makes the conversation seem more one-on-one friendly rather than combative. If you are on the phone, get their phone number too in case you become disconnected or need to do research. With their phone number, you can call them back if necessary.
    5. If you must put a phone customer on hold or your computers are down, let them know how long the hold or downtime might be. If it will be more than a couple of minutes, you should give them the option of holding or having you calling them back when you have completed your research or when the computers come back up. The customer may choose to call you back, but never tell them that is what they must do. Be sure to call them back in the stated timeframe even if it is only to say you still do not have an answer. Lack of communication is often more frustrating for a customer than having to wait a little longer for results.
    6. If the customer is angry or determined to complain, stay calm and don’t take their criticism personally. Ask questions so you can get to the root of the problem or issue. However, do consider their criticism as suggestions for future improvement of your company processes and services.
    7. If you do not have an answer for the customer, do not make something up. Instead find someone who can give you the correct answer. Customers don’t like being lied to or patronized.
    8. Find the best way to resolve the problem and satisfy your customer without having to go through multiple levels of approval or breaking any rules. Multiple levels of approval only slow the process down and do not help the customer, so avoid them whenever possible. However, if you must get an approval, let the customer know the process and how long it may take and exactly when they can expect a result. You can often go the extra mile for the customer without breaking any rules or going against written policies. 
    9. Once the customer’s problem is resolved, ask if you can be of any help with anything else. Be sure to thank the customer before saying goodbye. 
    10. Always remember the golden rule is the best rule of thumb for customer service “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” 

    These are simple ideas to improve customer service skills and attitudes in employees. It is important to always remember that customers today expect excellent customer service and will go where they can find it. Companies lose customers over bad service. So offer great service instead to help retain customers.

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    Source by Shirley Lee

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  • Who Will Become Wealthy in the Information Age?

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    As you know, we’re now well and truly in the
    Information Age. It began about 10 years ago. In fact,
    many economists say it began in 1989, with the Fall of
    the Berlin Wall (and the start of the World Wide Web).

    To understand who will become wealthy in the
    Information Age, first we need to understand how the
    Information Age differs from the Industrial Age (born
    about 1860, died about 1989).

    In fact, let’s get a complete overview and go back to
    the Agrarian Age.

    In the Agrarian Age, society was basically divided
    into two classes: the landowners and the people who
    worked on the land (the serfs). If you were a serf,
    there wasn’t much you could do about it:
    land-ownership passed down through families and you
    were stuck with the status you were born into.

    When the Industrial Age arrived, everything changed:
    it was no longer agriculture that generated most of
    the wealth, but manufacturing. Suddenly, land was no
    longer the key to wealth. A factory occupied far less
    land than a sheep farm or a wheat farm.

    With the Industrial Age came a new kind of wealthy
    person: the self-made businessman. Wealth no longer
    depended on land-ownership and the family you were
    born into. Business acumen and factories were creating
    a new class of wealthy person. But it still required
    enormous capital to build a factory and start a
    business.

    Then came the World Wide Web (in about 1989) and
    globalization. Suddenly, everything changed again.

    Factories (or real estate) were no longer necessary to
    run a business. Anyone with a website could start a
    business. The barriers to wealth that existed in the
    Agrarian Age and the Industrial Age were completely
    gone. People who could never have dreamed of owning
    their own business were making millions from their
    kitchen table.

    Of course, the Information Revolution didn’t begin
    in 1989.

    It began in 1444 when Gutenberg invented the printing
    press in Mainz, Germany.

    But the printing press (newspapers, magazines,
    paperbacks) belonged to the Industrial Age, not the
    Information Age.

    The printing press is a ‘one-to-many’ technology. The
    Internet is a ‘many-to-many’ technology. And that was
    what changed in 1989.

    The Industrial Age was about centralization and
    control. The Information Age is about
    de-centralization and no control. No government and no
    media magnate controls the Internet. This is the
    crucial thing to understand about the Information Age.

    As we moved from the Agrarian Age through the
    Industrial Age to the Information Age, there’s been a
    steady collapse of the barriers that kept one section of
    society wealthy and the other section poor.

    In the Information Age, literally anyone can become
    wealthy.

    So now that we have a clearer picture of how the
    Information Age differs from the Industrial Age, let’s
    ask that question again: ‘Who will become wealthy in
    the Information Age?’:

    (1) People Who are Self-Taught

    To explain this better, let’s go back to the Agrarian
    Age and the Industrial Age, and the Transmission of
    Skills.

    In the Agrarian Age, skills were passed on from father
    to son. If you wanted to learn how to be a blacksmith
    you had to be a blacksmith’s son. If you wanted to
    learn to be a stone-mason, you had to be the son of a
    stone-mason.

    With the coming of the Industrial Age, all this
    changed. You could go to University and learn whatever
    skills you wanted. Knowledge was freely available.

    But in the Information Age, the Transmission of Skills
    is changing once again.

    The skills necessary to succeed in the Information Age
    are not being learnt from our parents (as in the
    Agrarian Age), nor are they being learnt in schools
    and colleges (as in the Industrial Age). Children are
    teaching their parents computer skills. And many of
    the entrepreneurs who start hi-tech Internet companies
    have never been to college.

    The millionaires (and billionaires) of tomorrow
    probably won’t have a college education. They will be
    high-school drop-outs, self-taught people.

    (2) People with New Ideas.

    Again, it’s the people who are able to think outside
    of the existing structures who will become wealthy in
    the Information Age. Often, it’s just a Simple Idea
    that launches people to success in the Information
    Age.

    Take Sabhir Bhatia, for example – the man who invented
    Hotmail. Bhatia was a computer engineer working in
    Silicon Valley. He had no previous business
    experience, whatsoever.

    But one day, while he was driving back from work, a
    friend called him on his cell phone and said that he
    had an idea: What about starting a free, web-based
    email service? Bhatia knew this was the idea he’d been
    waiting for. He told his friend to hang up immediately
    and ring him at home on a secure line.

    Three years later he sold Hotmail to Microsoft for
    $400 million.

    (3) Writers

    The third group who will become wealthy in the
    Information Age are Writers.

    In the Industrial Age, Writers depended on large
    publishing Houses to get published (remember that the
    printing press is an Industrial Age technology – it is
    centralized and controlled). And the Publishing Houses
    took the lion’s share of the profits.

    In the Information Age, Writers are doing their own
    publishing – and keeping most of the profits
    themselves. Indeed, Writers are flourishing on the
    Web – mainly through eBooks and Ezine Articles.
    But even if you don’t write eBooks or Ezine Articles,
    if you own a website, you are a Writer.

    Why?

    Because the Internet is basically a written medium. It
    favors writers, people who are able to communicate
    effectively through the written word. Remember, it’s
    not the graphics on your website that sell, it’s the
    words you use.

    In the Information Age, we’re all Writers!

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    Source by

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  • Saving a Long Distance Relationship: How Do You Know When It’s Heading For The Rocks?

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    When you or your significant other are forced to move away for whatever reason, the necessity of saving a long distance relationship is the last thing on your mind. However, the chances are that neither of you has any real idea how to make your long distance relationship work.

    Initially you’re both head over heels in love and, while you’re sad at the idea of being apart, you’re both determined that nothing will stop you from being together. You make all the usual promises to each other and for a while things are great. The problem is that in all probability you never got down to the nitty gritty reality of what it would actually be like to be hundreds or even thousands of miles apart, so you’re not prepared for the loneliness that inevitably comes as part of a long distance relationship package.

    The initial elation and determination to be together no matter what begins to fade slowly and inevitably, and that’s usually when the insecurities start to set in.

    You begin wondering what your partner’s up to. Perhaps they don’t appear to be missing you as much as you’re missing them; maybe they’re not available to talk when you need to. If you’re the one left behind you have the added knowledge that your lover has started a new job and of course you imagine them meeting lots of new people and having a really exciting time. Of course it’s not always the person left behind who has the problems. In your relationship, maybe you’re the one starting the new job and you don’t know anybody. Perhaps you think of your partner back at home surrounded by friends and family and you wonder if they are missing you like you’re missing them, or even if they’re thinking of you at all. But whatever your situation, that feeling of insecurity is horrible and so soul destroying.

    You want to talk to your partner but you’re struggling to communicate because you’re frightened of the potential fall-out; that if your lover knew how you really felt, then your relationship would end. At this point, saving a long distance relationship is still not on your mind because the chances are that you are burying your head firmly in the sand, not realizing that by not talking to each other, your relationship is heading inexorably to the rocks.

    Eventually loneliness gives way to frustration. You’re not getting what you want out of the relationship so you start to become resentful. Very often at this point it becomes all about you – what your lover wants doesn’t seem to matter.

    Slowly frustration begins to turn to anger. Everyone around you seems to be in a relationship in which they’re surgically glued to one another’s side. Your friends and family thinks you’re crazy and give you all kinds of well meaning advice; unfortunately, it’s mostly negative and probably doesn’t involve actually saving a long distance relationship!

    Whether you recognize it or not, you are now both firmly at the point of desperately needing to save your long distance relationship and, if neither of you take action, you begin to lose all sense of actually being in a relationship at all and drift towards the final stage in any long distance relationship break down – detachment.

    One or both of you allow the resentment and frustration to get the better of you and slowly begin to withdraw into yourself. Your communication dwindles to almost non-existent and when you do speak, neither of you have anything to say.

    Maybe at this point saving a long distance relationship seems almost impossible with everything seemingly working against you, but before you get on the phone and end it all, I want to say one final thing: It doesn’t have to be like that!

    Ask yourselves this question: Do you and your partner love each other? If the answer to that question is ‘yes’ then, believe me you can save your long distance relationship.

    If the love is still there underneath all of the crap that has gotten in the way, you really can halt the slide and pull it back together. Distance doesn’t have to be a deal breaker and you don’t have to be in the same room to share that special intimacy.

    It won’t happen overnight, but if you’re both truly prepared to work at it, you won’t only be saving a long distance relationship but making it better than you ever thought possible.

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    Source by Beverley Watts

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  • Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? A Review of My Millionaire Mentor

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    My Millionaire Mentor Review

    Who wants to be a millionaire? Everyone! And yes, this opportunity promises to make you one in a matter of months. But hey, don’t we know that if there is something that sounds too good to be true, it is likely to be not true? Whenever we see any opportunity that promises a lot of money very fast, and with minimal efforts, it is natural to feel a little skeptical about it. There are thousands of such scams on the internet which claim to let you into a secret which will make you a millionaire in a matter of months. But eventually, you just end up spending your precious time and your hopes are dashed when time passes by and you make no money at all.

    However, My Millionaire Mentor seems to be slightly different from all those false promises that are strewn around the internet. So let’s try and figure out whether this is actually a good opportunity or yet another internet money making scam.

    What is My Millionaire Mentor?

    My Millionaire Mentor is Ryan Matthew’s personal website where he offers to train fifty internet newbies and teach them a six step secret which will make them earn anything from $1000 to $5000 per day. Wow! That’s a lot of money, right? But what does one have to do in order to earn this kind of money? That is precisely what millionaire Ryan Matthews wants to teach you.

    He is going to personally coach the first fifty people who sign up for this program, and he promises to let them in on the secret which has made him earn around $11 million in just two years. He adds that in order to make that whopping amount of money, he had to work for only an hour per day! When you see his San Diego beach house and his neat set of supercars, it seems like a fantasy. And when he promises that you can have all of that, it seems to be an even more unlikely proposition.

    Ryan Matthews also adds that this process is completely risk free, and does not involve going to your friends and family to sell a particular product. He makes it very clear in his promotional video that you will not be a salesperson of any kind. Moreover, he guarantees that there is no way that you can lose money by participating in this program. So what is this program all about? Read on to find out more.

    Is My Millionaire Mentor A Good Opportunity?

    In the promotional video for the company, we find people from different walks of life thanking Ryan Matthews for completely transforming their lives. One instantly identifies with those people. All of us have debts and mortgages that we struggle to pay, even though some of us work on two jobs. We spend all our days working hard to pay off our debts, while the best times of our lives just pass us by. Who wouldn’t want to spend more time with their kids rather than working in office on a Saturday night? Moreover, there are so many other financial pressures that we have on our shoulders – like college funds, home loans, health worries – that we hardly find time to follow our dreams and live our lives to the fullest.

    Thus, when an opportunity like My Millionaire Mentor comes to us, it is absolutely alluring. But the thing is, the internet is full of many financial scams which claim to transform your lives, but end up taking money from you. All of us have been disappointed many times through various such programs that claim to make us millionaires but end up taking our own hard earned money.

    So we need to be very careful before getting into any such program which offers easy money. My Millionaire Mentor states it very clearly that it is a scheme which has long term returns. On the plus side, that means that your grandchildren can enjoy the fruits of your labor. However, on the other hand, it means that it will take some time before you can earn some real money for yourself.

    How Does My Millionaire Mentor Work?

    It is clear from the promotional video on the website that the product is basically a free traffic source that you will get unlimited access to if you become a member of this program. The other benefits include special coaching by Ryan Matthews over the phone. He will personally mentor you on how to best use his product and maximize the profits for yourself. Once you become a member of what Matthews calls a secret millionaire club, you will have access to the various tips and tricks that will help you to make money. It is also mentioned in the video that the way in which you will make money is 100% legal, moral and ethical.

    So once you have access to the free traffic source, you will get clients who will pay you $1000 to $5000 a day for sending them traffic over the internet. Internet traffic is basically all the clicks that lead people to different website. According to Ryan Matthews, he has access to clients who are ready to pay that much amount of money for access to your traffic. In effect, you will be an internet traffic broker who will work with millionaire Ryan Matthews to coordinate internet traffic and redirect it to your clients.

    Basically, it is an opportunity where you will be doing affiliate marketing. Affiliate marketing is an actual money making source on the web where you get paid for traffic that you send to your client’s website. And if you have access to a good traffic source which you can turn on or off at will, it is possible that you will make a lot of money online.

    There are six steps to making this work – but that is classified information which you will get access to once you become a part of this program.

    How Can You Make the First $500 Through My Millionaire Mentor?

    In the promotional video, Matthews promises you that once you become one of the private members of the My Millionaire Mentor program, you will earn $500 and much more in the first month. In fact, you can around $5000 a day, without even leaving the comfort of your home. And to top it all, you just need a computer with an internet connection to do this job.

    In order to become a private member, the entry fee is $1000. But in effect, you pay only $49 because you are refunded $500 immediately. You get your money back immediately, and Ryan Matthews guarantees that you don’t have to spend a penny more than $49 to get into this program.

    Matthews also tells that by becoming a private member, you will get to be a part of a highly regarded company that is going to be the next big billion dollar internet empire in times to come. Though it is a speculation, in the internet age, anything is possible.

    The process which Ryan Matthews is going to teach you is actually a very simple process which many people have used on the internet in order to make money. It is called affiliate marketing. Affiliate marketing is basically a process through which you send traffic to the websites of your clients. And for each click that leads a person to your client’s website from your source, you get paid a certain amount as commission. And if you have access to a source from where you can send millions of clicks to your clients, you will seriously earn a lot of money online. So, technically, My Millionaire Mentor is a concept that could actually earn if you serious money if Ryan Matthews actually handed out a free traffic source to you.

    Pros and Cons of My Millionaire Mentor

    It is evident that this is a program which appears to have some sort of risk. But then, that is life. There are certain risks that one has to take, especially if you want to be a millionaire.

    Technically, Ryan Matthews is asking for just $49 from you for getting access to a private group where you will be coached on the secrets of making money on the internet. This scheme does not have an MLM structure, and you need not sell anything. It is absolutely legal, and all you have to do is broker internet traffic.

    Moreover, once you sign up, you get an immediate return of $500, which is a very good proposition. If you really get that money, it is a fantastic deal. Especially since you could go on to make more money in following months.

    One of the cons of this entire program is that by watching the promotional video, you get to know very little about the process. There are many things which are not spelled out clearly, which makes it difficult to take the plunge and actually subscribe to the scheme and be a part of the millionaire mentor club.

    However, the testimonials from the various people who have tried this out spells out that there are people out there who are making money from this program. And that is exactly what makes you want to go ahead and try it.

    Another con of this program is that earning money through affiliate marketing can sometimes be a very slow process. But this is something that Matthews tells you in the promotional video itself. It is a long term investment plan whereby you will take some time to earn money.

    But on the other hand, Ryan Matthews is also promising to let you on into a secret six-step process which will make the money making process much faster. So once become a part of the secret millionaire club and get to know the secret process which gives you access to more traffic, you might be able to make serious money online. And the success stories that are shared in the promotional video clearly say that people are making money quite fast. In fact, one woman said that she made more money through My Millionaire Mentor in two months than she had made in two years.

    Now, that is something!

    The biggest minus of this entire project is previous experience. Whenever we hear about something that promises to give us a lot of money without working hard, it raises our suspicions. Also, there are thousands of scams on the internet which make a fool of people who do not have sufficient knowledge about the topic and subscribe to various programs hoping to make money. In the end, they realize that all of it was a scam.

    Conclusion

    The good thing about My Millionaire Mentor is that you get to see people for whom this process has worked, and that tends to give you some courage to go ahead and take the plunge. What you need to do is hear Ryan Matthews for yourself. Go to his website and have a look at his promotional video. If you feel that what he is saying is worth giving a try, you can go ahead and become a private member of the millionaire club. It is a conscious decision that you need to take for yourself, now that you already know the pros and cons of the program.

    If you think that this is yet another money-making scam on the internet, don’t sign up for it. However, if you think that this program really has the potential to completely turn your life around, go ahead and become one of the protégés of Ryan Matthews. After all, every one of us dreams of having a Lamborghini parked at our garage, and a wonderful, spacious home from where we can see the sunset with our loved ones. There are some dreams that can be fulfilled when you become a millionaire, and if you are a person who nurses such dreams, you might want to try out My Millionaire Mentor to see what’s in store for you.

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    Source by David Morgan

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  • Effects Of The Procrastination Habit

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    Procrastination is often portrayed as a habit that takes place when somebody doesn’t want to do something or doesn’t feel the need to do it today. Many times, friends and family make small side jokes about how a person puts this task off or waits until the last second to do another task.

    For many, however, the habit of procrastination can reach such chronic levels that it can have negative effects on their life. These effects range from financial difficulties, to broken relationships and even health problems. To those with the habit of procrastination at this level, it is no joke.

    Procrastination And Finances

    A person who procrastinates paying their bills will often wind up paying reconnection and overdue fees on service utilities. Many times these services get disconnected and because of the cost of upfront payments and other fees, they may or may not get turned back on again.

    In addition, once a person gets into this habit their credit will suddenly begin to spiral downward causing them difficulty in future and potentially needed purchases. With no credit it’s very difficult to purchase a home, a car or even obtain so much as a cell phone.

    Those are just the necessities. Once a person’s finances are curtailed because of procrastination it also has affects on their families. Luxury items and vacations become non-existent, and I’ve even read stories where the habit of procrastination has hit so hard that it becomes difficult to purchase food for the family.

    Procrastination And Health

    Procrastination can also have serious health implications for those that are in the habit of procrastinating seriously. The largest, and most common, health risk is that of depression. In fact, procrastination and depression are very closely linked.

    The second most common health risk that procrastination presents is that of stress. Stress from not achieving, stress from financial burden and stress in relationships are many times a direct result of procrastination.

    If procrastination isn’t taken seriously the effects such as stress and depression can reach levels that require immediate and intensive professional care. Without such care the effects of the habit of procrastination can have long term health consequences.

    The good news is that with a plan of action, time and persistence anybody can overcome the habit of procrastination. Once a person realizes that the habit of procrastination is having negative effects on their life, all they have to do is commit to change and follow through with their plan of action.

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    Source by Matt Ryan

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