Monday, September 24, 2012

InterviewStream Database Lets You Practice Interviewing

Here's a new database - InterviewStream - that records an interview, plays it back and then gives you feedback on your communication and nonverbal communication. Select a question set, watch expert commentary on interviewing, how to answer certain questions and more.

After a quick and free signup, it's ready to go!

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Best Introductions to Foreign Countries

There are two great ways to get a quick but thorough overview of a foreign country's economy and history. These reports are more than just population numbers and dates of independence; there's some good detail about economics.

I recommend Europa and Marketline Advantage.

Europa is intuitive to use.

With Marketline Advantage, you can simply search the name of your country and scroll down to view your report (select the countries tab at the tab - see picture below).

Or

You can click 1) Geographies and then choose 2) the blue tab marked Countries at the top.
And read yer report.





Written to be highly informative about history and that country's economic picture.

Make sure you open the PDF report! Otherwise you just get a statistical overview.

Monday, September 17, 2012

Future Factories in Your House: 3D Printing and Mini-Factories


As globalization winds down due to high transportation and energy costs, plus political conflict,do-it-yourself manufacturing looks like it could take off.

There's 3D printing. A machine builds up an actual object one layer at a time using a plastic like material.

Need something stronger or more complex than plastic? Get a factory in a box. This company makes fairly complex factories that fit in a 20-foot shipping container.

By the way, as unemployment remains high, this is a promising way to make a life outside the system.

The implications for manufacturing and design are staggering.

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

BitCoin Heist

You knew this was coming: Hackers have stolen some bitcoins.

Bitcoins (which I previously discussed here) are private units of currency completely stored and traded on a computer. They were invented as a response to the weakening of fiat currency during the current financial crisis.

Supposedly they were completely secure and could not be counterfeited.  Well, it didn't take long to discover that what one monkey can create another monkey can steal.

Anyone who believes in the sanctity of digital-only info is naive.

This is why it's so dangerous to digitize property records - as we discussed here.