Make stuff that just works, or go home: The benefits of minimalism, usability, and reliability in pr

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Make stuff that just works, or go home.

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And this is just a selection of the bugs that users have had to contend with over the past few weeks. And it's not just been limited to the past few weeks. I've written at length about how it feels like the quality of software coming out of Apple has deteriorated significantly in recent years.

I also recognise that Apple has changed almost beyond recognition since Steve was on stage at keynotes telling us how stuff "just works." Apple's products are far more complex, the company is selling stuff at a rate that it could have once only dreamt doing, and the security landscape is totally different, and vulnerabilities now put hundreds of millions of users at risk.

But on the other hand, Apple isn't some budget hardware maker pushing stuff out on a shoestring and scrabbling for a razor-thin profit margin. Apple's gross profit margin is in the region of 38 percent, a figure that other manufacturers can only dream of.

All this makes missteps such as the ones that users have had to endure feel like Apple has taken its eye off the ball, and that it's perhaps putting increased effort into developing and selling new products at the expense of keeping users happy.

Apple owes a lot of its current success to its dedicated fanbase, the people who would respond to Windows or Android issues with "you should buy Apple, because that stuff just works." Shattering that illusion for those people won't be good in the long term, which is why I think Apple needs to take a long, hard look at itself in the run up to 2018 and work out what's been going wrong and come up with ways to prevent problems from happening in the future.

Avoid studying on your bed. Sit at a desk or table that you can set your computer on and is comfortable to work at. Park your devices while you study. Just having your phone where you can see it can be a distraction. That makes homework take longer.

Tackle the hardest assignments first. It's tempting to start with the easy stuff to get it out of the way. But you have the most energy and focus when you begin. Use this mental power on the subjects that are most challenging. Later, when you're more tired, you can focus on the simpler things.

You may feel nervous about contacting a psychologist. That anxiety is perfectly normal. But having the courage to overcome that anxiety and make a call is the first step in the process of empowering yourself to feel better. Just making a plan to call and sticking to it can bring a sense of relief and put you on a more positive path.

INVEST IN R&D, REVITALIZE MANUFACTURING AND SMALL BUSINESSES, AND TRAIN AMERICANS FOR THE JOBS OF THE FUTUREHalf the jobs in our high growth, high wage sectors are concentrated in just 41 counties, locking millions of Americans out of a shot at a middle-class job. President Biden believes that, even in the face of automation and globalization, America can and must retain well-paid union jobs and create more of them all across the country. U.S. manufacturing was the Arsenal of Democracy in World War II and must be part of the Arsenal of American Prosperity today, helping fuel an economic recovery for working families. From the invention of the semiconductor to the creation of the Internet, new engines of economic growth have emerged due to public investments that support research, commercialization, and strong supply chains. President Biden is calling on Congress to make smart investments in research and development, manufacturing and regional economic development, and in workforce development to give our workers and companies the tools and training they need to compete on the global stage. Specifically, President Biden is calling on Congress to:

These are key steps toward a fairer tax code that encourages investment in the United States, stops shifting of jobs and profits abroad, and makes sure that corporations pay their fair share. The President looks forward to working with Congress, and will be putting forward additional ideas in the coming weeks for reforming our tax code so that it rewards work and not wealth, and makes sure the highest income individuals pay their fair share.

I never had a gap year (wish I did actually!) but I did the digital nomad thing. I lived/traveled around the world while working. I went to a new place very 1-3 months (sooner if I hated the place). It worked a lot better for me than just straight travel. You get bit bored more easily that way I think.

For American workers transitioning to or continuing to work remotely full-time, the opportunity to do so outside of the U.S. may be appealing. And countries around the world are offering workers the option to do just that, through remote work programs.

There are many misbeliefs about Tourette syndrome (or Tourette for short) that make life harder for people with the condition. Knowing the facts can help you understand what it is like to have Tourette.

I saved and spent a month in New Zealand, which soon became one of my favourite destinations. That trip would have set me back thousands of pounds and countless air miles had I conducted it from the UK; but from Melbourne it was just a brief flight that cost about 200 bucks there and back again.

Quantifiable financial measures, though, are just one dimension of valuation. Investors are also assessing nonfinancial factors such as environmental, sustainability and governance to identify both opportunities for growth and significant risks. CEOs pursuing a growth strategy must accept that it will not happen without investment in employee growth and sustainability.

Gartner research shows that a human-centric approach, which provides people with more control over their work and work environment, also makes them more productive. But it requires employers to rethink their approach, from making hybrid work models human-centric, not location-centric, to providing employers with flexibility to balance personal needs and autonomy to achieve business outcomes.

Cleaning someone's home can get complicated. Should you use an acid-based cleaner on a marble vanity? Can you employ an abrasive sponge to get pot marks off stainless steel? Under most circumstances, the answer to both questions is NO, but that doesn't necessarily mean your maid got the memo. The average cleaning professional may never receive formal training. To help ensure that your maid doesn't ruin your Oriental carpet or destroy your antique mirrors, be present for the first cleaning. Offer suggestions, and provide detailed instructions. Make sure your instructions make it into your customer file, too.

When you interview a maid or service, you'll have a discussion about your cleaning needs. This will include information about how many bathrooms you have and how many levels comprise your home. You'll be given an hourly rate and an estimate. If you schedule a cleaning and it takes longer than the estimated time to complete, you'll pay more -- sometimes substantially more --than you anticipated. This is politely called underestimating the work involved, but it may actually be a calculated strategy to get your business by misrepresenting the cost of the cleaning. To avoid sticker shock, invite the maid or cleaning service representative to your house for a walk-through and in-home quote. It will be harder to justify a big upcharge if you make your needs clearly understood beforehand.

You may need to schedule maid service while you're out or at work. In theory, it's a great concept. When you get home, the house will be spotless, as if by magic. Once you hand over the key, though, you don't really know who will be stopping by. Some services assign specific workers to accounts, but that's not a guarantee that the same person will always clean your home. Employee turnover, illness and scheduling conflicts could result in a number of different people cleaning your home in any given month, some of them strangers to you. Quite a few cleaning services subcontract labor, too, giving them less control over employee screening and work quality. Not to put too fine a point on this, but the idea of having a spare key to your house just floating around out there should really make you think twice about the potential security problems.

One big selling point for most cleaning services is the checklist. This is usually a multipage list of all the wonderful things the maid will clean and tidy up during each visit. The specifics will vary, but the checklist usually looks very complete. It looks efficient. Actually, it probably looks like just what you're after: an organized, professional approach to doing what you're lousy at (or just too busy to tackle). The problem is that the people doing the actual work have to fill out checklists at every stop, all day, every day. That checkmark doesn't necessarily mean the work was performed. To make sure your maid remembered to dust behind the curtains, don't look at the checkmark; open the curtains and check. It's the only way to be sure.

Why celebrate the public domain? When works go into the public domain, they can legally be shared, without permission or fee. Community theaters can screen the films. Youth orchestras can perform the music publicly, without paying licensing fees. Online repositories such as the Internet Archive, HathiTrust, Google Books, and the New York Public Library can make works fully available online. This helps enable access to cultural materials that might otherwise be lost to history. 1927 was a long time ago. The vast majority of works from 1927 are out of circulation. When they enter the public domain in 2023, anyone can rescue them from obscurity and make them available, where we can all discover, enjoy, and breathe new life into them. 2ff7e9595c