Tech For Good

It was French President Emmanuel Macron who initiated the Tech for Good Summit back in 2018, just ahead of the Viva Technology expo, an annual event in Paris that attracts the biggest names in the world of tech. The Tech for Good Summit sought to bring together 50 CEOs from the most powerful tech companies in the world to discuss the many challenges in the industry, and how it could better serve the world. This being 2020, however, not only was Viva Technology cancelled this year, so was the Tech for Good Summit, which meant no major get togethers for the leaders of tech companies.

That said, the lack of a formal event didn’t stop dozens of tech CEOs from signing a common pledge. The pledge recognizes that for all the potential good tech can bring to the world, not all is well within the industry, and the issues it faces need to be addressed.

“Recognizing that such progress may be hindered by negative externalities, including unfair competition such as abuse of dominant or systemic position, and fragmentation of the internet; that, without appropriate safeguards, technology can also be used to threaten fundamental freedoms and human rights or weaken democracy; that, unless we implement appropriate measures to combat it, some individuals and organizations inevitably use it for criminal purposes, including in the context of conflicts,” the pledge says.

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Staying Green While Shopping for Smartphones

For many of us, smartphones have quickly but quietly evolved from luxury products to bare necessities. But not only that, many of us can’t perform the daily tasks we’ve come to rely on without the latest in smartphone tech, meaning we’re constantly upgrading our devices. Many components from those devices can be recycled or repurposed, but a lot of them end up in landfills. So how can you stay green while shopping for your next smartphone? Well, with green smartphones, of course!

Some companies, like Fairphone, for instance, produce smartphones using recycled materials whenever possible. Furthermore, many of these phones are easily repairable and upgradable, meaning you won’t have to toss your phone when your battery can no longer hold a charge or when the processor can no longer handle your favorite apps.

 

For those who don’t need the latest tech, refurbished smartphones can be a great way to save money while doing something good for the environment. These phones often come with warranties too, so you can rest assured you’re making a smart choice.

 

Finally, don’t forget to go green when it comes to accessories too! With more and more companies offering earth-friendly options, be they made of recycled or otherwise repurposed materials that are themselves recyclable, the time to jump on the trend is now!

 

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Grill Top Pizza Ovens - The Latest In Pizza Tech

There’s more than one way to make a pizza, and in the age of social distancing, there’s no better time to try experimenting with making pizza at home than right now. Why wait for delivery pizza that’ll be soggy and cold by the time it makes it to your door, after all?

Traditionally, bake at home pizzas have been a job for the everyday oven. Convection ovens have been particularly handy for the task, and if you throw that pizza atop a pizza stone you’ll usually end up with a perfectly crispy crust. It wasn’t long, however, before smaller bread ovens were used for baking pizzas at home, followed shortly thereafter by air fryers, and even dedicated mini-pizza ovens. Well now there’s a new innovation in at-home pizza tech, the grill top pizza oven.

Though a number of different makes and models already exist, one model in particular, the Zenvida Grill Top Pizza Oven, is currently available on eBay for half its usual retail price. The oven is little more than an enclosure surrounding a ceramic baking stone, but despite the simplicity of its construction it yields fantastic results. The pizza oven is designed to be used with a variety of different grill tops, and the kit includes not only the ceramic stone and stainless steel enclosure but also a thermometer that reads up to 600 degrees F in order to monitor and help you regulate heat. Definitely worth experimenting with while maintaining socila distancing at home!

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How to Learn Almost Anything Online

While education is important in today’s job market, odds are if you’re looking to change careers or fields you won’t have the time and money to go back to school and earn a second, or in some cases third or fourth degree. But that doesn’t mean you can’t learn anything new. Here are a few resources to help you learn almost anything online:

Coursera: Started in 2012, Coursera now boasts an impressive 2,000 courses from leading institutions like Harvard and Stanford which can be taken for free, or for a small fee to earn an official certificate. With 28 million users worldwide, its established itself as a leader in online education.

Duolingo has helped over 200 million registered users around the world learn a new language. The popular smartphone app currently offers 68 different language courses across 23 languages, with 22 more courses in development. The app is free to download and runs on the “freemium” model, so users can choose to pay for extra features.

Project Gutenberg and Open Library both boast an impressive collection of free e-books, and make a great starting point for reading up on the classics. Other platforms such as Google Books can be a great source of free academic texts.

Codecademy, Free Code Camp, and HackerRank are all excellent sources for learning how to code online. Given the changing nature of the job market, with more and more companies turning to automation and AI, coding will likely continue to be the most useful skill job seekers can have.

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What To Do With Your Old Smartphone

We love our smartphones, but it feels like they’re almost obsolete a mere matter of months after we buy them. But once we’ve gone and picked up the shiny new model, what do we do with the old ones? Here are three ideas for what you can do with yours.

Sell it for some extra cash. It may be old news to you, but it can be new to someone else, especially if it’s only a couple of years old. Smartphones are expensive pieces of tech, after all, odds are your old phone is still worth a pretty penny and you can cash in by selling it online or locally.

Trade it in for a new phone. Selling your old phone isn’t the only way to turn a profit. If you’re with a cell phone provider and you’re looking to upgrade, many providers will offer hefty discounts on new phones if you trade in your old one. It may not net you as much as selling your old phone, but odds are it’ll be less of a hassle.

Recycle it. Last but not least, if your old phone is just to out of date to be worth anything, make sure not to toss it into the trash. All of those electronic components won’t do anyone any good if they’re just sitting in a landfill, taking centuries to decompose. Make sure to take them to a proper recyclic facility so that they can be dealt with appropriately.

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Asking for Help via Email

We all need help every now and again, that’s just a fact of life. In our younger years it can be so simple as help tying our shoelaces, in our elder years it can be help taking care of things around the house, and somewhere in between there will be no shortage of occasions when we’ll find ourselves in want or in need of assistance for just about everything else. Help is not always easy to come by, however, and asking for help can be difficult for even the most humble among us. When it comes to careers and the modern world, however, a particularly difficult approach for many is asking for help via email.

Leo Widrich, blogger and co-founder of the popular social media tool Buffer, once related his own experiences in a blog post. Widrich’s emails would be long winded and often filled with unnecessary details, often of his own life story, concluding with a vague “What are your thoughts?” The requests would often yield little in terms of results, with many simply not having the time to read the meandering requests. It wasn’t until he received a reply from Noah Kagan, the founder of Appsumo, that Widrich discovered a better way to approach his requests.

The reply simply read: ":) Can you send 1 short specific question?" Tucked within this one simple sentence was a world of wisdom. Widrich began crafting a new way to word his emails, keeping them to 3 or 4 short sentences with one very specific question. Not only did Widrich get more replies, he also found that in defining his questions he would often find the solution himself. As Dorothea Brande states: "A problem clearly stated is a problem half solved." An approach to consider next time you find yourself asking for help.

Looking for the latest in tech related reads? Visit our online library at www.viewired.com for a wide variety of ebooks, audiobooks, music, and more. Accessible anytime, anywhere, and available on all your favorite devices.

Asking for Help via Email

We all need help every now and again, that’s just a fact of life. In our younger years it can be so simple as help tying our shoelaces, in our elder years it can be help taking care of things around the house, and somewhere in between there will be no shortage of occasions when we’ll find ourselves in want or in need of assistance for just about everything else. Help is not always easy to come by, however, and asking for help can be difficult for even the most humble among us. When it comes to careers and the modern world, however, a particularly difficult approach for many is asking for help via email.

Leo Widrich, blogger and co-founder of the popular social media tool Buffer, once related his own experiences in a blog post. Widrich’s emails would be long winded and often filled with unnecessary details, often of his own life story, concluding with a vague “What are your thoughts?” The requests would often yield little in terms of results, with many simply not having the time to read the meandering requests. It wasn’t until he received a reply from Noah Kagan, the founder of Appsumo, that Widrich discovered a better way to approach his requests.

The reply simply read: ":) Can you send 1 short specific question?" Tucked within this one simple sentence was a world of wisdom. Widrich began crafting a new way to word his emails, keeping them to 3 or 4 short sentences with one very specific question. Not only did Widrich get more replies, he also found that in defining his questions he would often find the solution himself. As Dorothea Brande states: "A problem clearly stated is a problem half solved." An approach to consider next time you find yourself asking for help.

Looking for the latest in tech related reads? Visit our online library at www.viewired.com for a wide variety of ebooks, audiobooks, music, and more. Accessible anytime, anywhere, and available on all your favorite devices.