Outdoor Haven

Used to be that reading, writing, and arithmetic were all you needed to get by and do well in the world — but that was also around the time that the vast majority of jobs were agricultural, factory work, or service jobs like maids and butlers. While our society and jobs market has changed drastically since then, our education system has not.  Today, our education system focuses too much on learning facts by heart, rote memorization and basic writing and algebra — all things computers can do much better. Remember asking your maths teacher why you couldn’t use a calculator in class, and hearing the reply that no one would walk around with calculators in their pockets every day? Enter the smartphone.  That’s one excuse destroyed. In my opinion, our schools are filling students’ heads with trivia rather than teaching them skills that are important and useful in the real world.  The popular U.S. TV show, Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader? didn’t prove that adul...

An example of WhatsApp’s new photo editing tool, which emulates Snapchat’s popular doodling interface. (Image via WhatsApp) In the early days of mega-popular messaging app WhatsApp, CEO Jan Koum kept a note from his co-founder Brian Acton taped to his desk. Meant to remind him of their commitment to keeping WhatsApp a pure messaging utility, Acton had scrawled on it, “No Ads! No Games! No Gimmicks!” Today the world’s biggest messaging service is trying to stay ahead in an extremely competitive market, meaning it’s had to add a gimmick or two, and straight out of the playbook of rival Snapchat. WhatsApp says it is rolling out a new camera feature which will let users draw on, and add emojis to, photos and videos. WhatsApp’s camera will also support front-facing flash, “so you can take the perfect selfie.” The new editing tools show up as soon as you open the camera in WhatsApp, or pull up your image library. Features like these might risk crossing into “gimmick” territo...

  Starting a business is full of challenges, but growing can be even trickier. Here are some tips on ‘scaling up without screwing up’ H aving overcome the risks and challenges of starting a new business, and survived the crucial first couple of years, the owner’s attention inevitably turns to growth, winning new business, exploring new markets and expanding their customer base. And with this next phase comes a fresh set of challenges and risks. In striving to achieve sustainable, profitable growth, it’s easy for business owners to take their eye off the business basics, which can leave them undermining and effectively killing their hard won growth. In the words of the Stanford University online course, they need to learn the art of “scaling up without screwing up”. Stay on top of cash flow management The business cliche “cash is king”, still rings true, and whether it is the result of under trading or over trading, getting the cash position wrong will not only ...

Shutterstock Dear Liz, I’ve learned so much from following your advice, I can’t tell you! I have a new job that I got by breaking the traditional job-search rules and following my own path. Here’s the story. I saw a job ad that looked interesting, but the job itself was not a fit for me. It was a Customer Engineering position. I liked the way the job ad was written, though. It was written in a human voice and the company’s website talked a lot about their desire to hire people who think for themselves. I wanted to send a Pain Letter to the manager who was looking for a Customer Engineer, but I wasn’t even remotely qualified for the job, so I didn’t. Instead, I went to LinkedIn and started researching the managers who work for the company. I started with the manager of Customer Engineering, who was easy to find, and I looked for his colleagues among his connections. I found a Manager of Customer Care who looked like a better fit for my not-very-technical CRM and Acco...