During the 3-day PhotoPlus Expo in New York, several exhibitors displayed their latest advances in photography technology. There were a huge selection of cameras, lenses, printers, clothing, gear, gizmos and gadgets on display. The Expo was heavily bent towards the professional photographer and the casual weekend or hobbyist cameraman might have felt left out. However, most of the latest introductions in technology were appropriate for both sections, even though some may be too highly priced.  Here are 3 outstanding innovations showcased at the PhotoPlus Expo.  A more detailed list of products displayed can be found here.

Sony DEV-3 and DEV-5 3D Binoculars

The Sony DEV-3 and DEV-5 3D Binoculars are like a gizmo straight out of the last blockbuster sci-fi movie! The videos and photographs shot from these binoculars products are astounding. Only the more complex model, the DEV-5, was on display.  This multimedia camera boasts several amazing features including 3D binoculars, a 7-megapixel camera, and a 1080i video recorder. Ranging between $1400 – $2000, the DEV-3 and DEV-5 cost a pretty penny. However, if you are shopping for a superior quality, multifunctional digital camera, these binoculars may be a great choice.

Gorillapod Micro 250 and 350

The Joby brand is renowned for its popular bendy camera tripods.  However, one of the most interesting devices at their booth was the Gorillapod Micro.  Unlike their typical bendy tripods, these mini-tripods were extremely rigid and could easily collapse under the camera with minimal weight or space addition.  They come in several sizes, and with the ease of transport of your tripod, you can have it with you at all times.

Wacom Cintiq 24HD Pen Display

The Wacom Cintiq 24HD Pen Display is ideal for both designers and professional photographers alike. Inspite of its high cost, the Wacom Cintiq 24HD is highly sought after and difficult to get your hands on. The display is well suited for its remarkable responsiveness and exacting detail.  It’s ideal for anyone involved in 3D design, animation, game development, industrial design or visual effects.

Although the PhotoPlus Expo was intended for professionals in the photography and design industry, many amateurs and enthusiasts still prefer keeping up with state-of-the-art technology. The expo showcased countless other items, such as high-tech lighting, camera accessories, and jackets. Have a look at other articles about the Expo, and see some amazing innovations in photography.

The world is becoming more connected. When we say this, we don’t just mean as individuals. Our devices are becoming more connected to each other as well. This makes our lives easier by adding seamlessness to our day that wasn’t present before. You can now work on a document at work, send it to your smartphone and use a voice transcription app to continue working in your vehicle. This is just one example; this video is Microsoft’s vision of what connectivity will make our future look like. What types of devices, apps, or combination of the two will help create a future like this? Here are a couple I have found, tell us of any you can think of.

iControl

iControl

iControl is a home energy management and security product that Comcast unveiled recently. With this product, people can monitor their homes in real time through video, control the thermostat, and turn the lights on and off giving the “lived in” illusion when away. The iControl software plus hardware and apps along with Comcast broadband make it possible for people to have full control over their homes miles away.

Air Sharing

You can turn your iPad or iPhone into an external hard drive for your computer with this application. This gives you freedom and mobility by permitting you to easily access your documents from your device.

AirPlay

The AirPlay function from Apple lets you stream music, videos, and photos wirelessly to an Apple TV. Picture yourself enjoying a podcast while in the car then coming home and effortlessly transferring the audio to your home without a pause to carry on enjoying it.

Will the future be filled with gadgets, apps, and software that synchronize all aspects of your life? In this age of connectivity, we are deeply connected to our devices. Hopefully they will one day be so interconnected that they will even be a few steps ahead of us. If this requires less effort on my part, I’m for it…what about you ??

It’s been 25 years since Back to the Future played in movie theaters.  In the original film, Marty McFly travels back in time to 1955 Hill Valley. While there, he inadvertently disrupts the space-time continuum and his mother ends up falling for him instead of his dad.  Freudian theories aside, Marty is able to salvage his parent’s relationship and his ultimate existence.  After he’s able to return to 1985, he immediately learns that he must travel into the future to save his kids. Through his travels, we see Hill Valley as it was in 1955, 1985 and the future. Should you step back and look at where we are in 2011, does our existence today look more like the film’s past or the second film’s vision of the future?

Certainly there would be flying cars and hover boards by 2011, wouldn’t there?  But we still have our feet firmly on the ground, riding bicycles, skateboards, scooters and driving gas-powered cars.  As we look around us, the computer is the obvious distinction between the present and the past. Yet, if we take a step back, a lot of the technology we employ everyday has existed for decades.  The television was invented in the 1930s, cars had air conditioning and radios by 1940, and films were in color.  If you’ve seen The Wizard of Oz recently, the special effects are still decent — and they’re 80 years old.

Many movies in the past, however, have prophesied some of the advances we use today.  Arnold Schwarzenegger was caught carrying a gun through a full-body x-ray machine trying to board a plane in Total Recall.  Airports are now employing very similar tech. In Minority Report, Tom Cruise deftly moves from image to image, mirroring the type of touch screen technology, 3D monitors and holograms that will exist – if they don’t already – in the very near future.  In 2001: A Space Odyssey, Pan Am flies the common man to outer space.  Virgin Atlantic is making that possible today for that same traveler, though they need to shell out $200,000 for a seat.

Today we can communicate with Jetson-like videophones, communicate with the other side of the world on your personal computer for hours – for free. We have such science-fiction movie staples as cloning, genetic engineering, laser surgery and more. Yet are we closer to 1950’s tech or the science fiction dreams of the 2050s? In the mental picture so many of us had about the 21st century, we’re no closer to flying our car to work as Dorothy was to finding her way back to Kansas when she first landed in Oz.

Ultimately, there are advances seen around us everywhere to remind us that the future is occurring now: Video billboards, the internet tracking our every move for our advertising dollars, 3D television, movies that cost $13 for some reason. But here is where the more things change the more they stay the same: Chevrolet is still making convertibles, Universal is still making movies, and you can still watch Back to the Future any time you want — though I’d skip that 2nd one and go straight to the third.

Do you find yourself agonizing over every little detail? Does it take you three times as long to finish a task because you are trying to get it “just right?” If so, you might be a perfectionist? It’s not an uncommon personality trait to see in the business world and it can help to push individuals to strive to do their best. In extreme cases, though, it leads to wasted time and resources.  The outcome usually doesn’t justify the immense effort that went into it. If you find yourself in the web of extreme perfectionism, here are a few tips that can lead you out.

Make a Decision and Stick to it
Believe in the decisions you make! One trap of perfectionism is to second-guess yourself, which is often a never-ending spiral. So when you make a decision, have confidence in yourself and stick to it.

Trus t your Employees
Listen to the input from your employees after you have unveiled your plan. They are great resources and will let you know what is possible. If they like the plan then it’s probably worth using. Their support will help prevent you from sliding into the second-guessing game that I previously talked about. Another way to prevent wasted time is not to micromanage your workforce. When you have assigned tasks, take a step back and let them manage those tasks. You hired them for their experience in the first place, right? And before you execute your plan …

Have a Plan B
Sometimes things go wrong, so develop a backup plan. This will keep you more flexible mentally and keep you from being held to the constraints of your first plan. The more flexible you are, the more you will be able to handle the “non-perfect” things that happen throughout your plan and your day.

Perfectionism could have a beneficial effect as it may make you strive to be your best, but that pressure can lead to stress and wasted time. Try to stay flexible and strive for your personal best. If you find yourself caught up in perfectionism, the steps I’ve outlined above should help. You can also read this article to learn how to avoid perfectionism pitfalls all together.

In a world where technological advances pop up everyday in news-feeds and broadcasts, the annual T3 Gadget Awards is a microcosm of all of these advances in one place.  Like the Oscars for Technology, the T3 Gadget Awards nominate the most cutting-edge gadgets out today. With past releases like the iPad 2, Microsoft’s Kinect and huge advances in gaming, it’s worth a quick note to show some of the most important revelations which have taken place in 2011.  Over 960,000 votes, along with the final tabulations of a 6 person specialist panel, decided the winners.  Here are just a few of the more interesting revelations, as well as some interesting–if not ironic–choices for winners.   

Ironic Winners

As gadgetry encompasses many arenas, so must the T3 categories.  This means that categories like Best Retailer and Gadget Personality of the Year are included.  The latter had one of the most ironic choices for winner:  Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook.  Although one cannot argue his importance in the world of communication, he’s never been known for his George Clooney-esque charisma. Then there’s the category of Best Commuting Device.  Here, pitted against automobiles and electric bicycles, the winner was the Amazon Kindle.  True, it will help pass the time while traveling, but it does make a perplexing choice for Commuting Device of the Year.

Influential Winners

Another interesting revelation can be found in the voters’ decision that Twitter is the “Digital Media Service of the Year.”  Sure, Zuckerberg’s got the Personality, but Twitter won the bigger battle. To be sure, the principals of large corporations like Apple, Google and Facebook are most likely not crying themselves to sleep because they didn’t win a Gadget gong. It is notable, however, that more votes were generated for Twitter than any other medium by the tech community themselves. Those in-the-know with lots of sway should be taken very seriously by the tech giants. In other words, Facebook can’t rest on its laurels (just look at MySpace for reference).

Surprising Winners

One of the most surprising winners to the average observer might be seen in the Phone of the Year.  While most would think that the iPhone 4 would run away with the award, the Samsung Galaxy S II actually impressed the voters more.  Likewise, the Brand of the Year surprised a few as Google took top honors.  Surpassing giants like Apple and Facebook, Google’s place as the top brand can’t be taken for granted.  Again, it is just the T3 Gadget Awards, but the fact that those in-the-know are voting makes it an important win for Google.

Ultimately, The 2011 T3 Gadget Awards offer an fascinating insight into just how much and how fast technology is evolving.  If you were to go back to the first awards given in 2008, some of the heavy hitters of the time are no longer viable, while some upstarts were just getting their feet on the ground and are huge players today.  Although these awards are offered annually, with the speed that many of these products are created, they may want to make it a semi-annual event.

Becoming greener is on many people’s agendas these days. Whether the intention is to save money or limit the impact to the environment, this is true not just for individuals, but many high-tech companies as well. A necessity to knowing how to conserve energy is becoming aware of the areas of your home or business that consume the most energy.

Japan recently hosted the annual CEATEC conference earlier this month just outside Tokyo. During the conference, Toshiba and Intel announced their recent developments in energy monitoring. It’s no surprise to see these companies coming forward with big developments that enable individuals and companies to control and monitor their energy consumption. The following are a couple of the changes they will implement in 2012 that may change the way companies and individuals regulate their energy consumption.

Intel

PC users will be able to monitor the energy consumption of their PC with the application Intel has developed. With an easy to read dashboard where the data is organized and displayed in graphs, charts, and statistics, you will be able to much more easily see how your computer is using energy.

Toshiba

Toshiba is using it’s recent acquisition of Landish Gyr as part of its “smart home” offering. Landish Gyr specialize in smart-meters for homes. With this offering people can monitor the volume of energy consumed throughout their homes. Also on the agenda is the development of “green cloud” technologies for a number of different industries ranging from city infrastructure to healthcare.

It is interesting to note that while these two companies are pushing energy monitoring as a large platform for 2012, a few large tech companies in the US are moving away from it. Microsoft is one instance of this; in June they announced that they are discontinuing their Hohm energy-monitoring service. Google is another large US company that is easing out of the green game by closing Google Powermeter.

We can see that though companies in the US are moving away from energy monitoring, companies in Japan are focused on it. What will the future be for the green technology world? It’s hard to say, but if you have any ideas or speculations about this, we would love to hear them!

Apple is known for its forward thinking, cutting-edge and revolutionary inventions.  From the Apple IIe to the iPad, Apple has always been at the forefront of computing and communicating.  However, it has set the bar so high that even Apple finds itself hard to beat.  A good example is the recent release of the iPhone 4S – a truly amazing product using the latest and greatest technology available.  But to its loyal fans, people who are always expecting a revolution instead of an evolution, some might have found the launch of an upgraded/evolved iPhone 4 rather than a revamped and brand new iPhone 5, to be less than remarkable.  However, the 4S does present 3 very impressive upgrades, which should inspire die-hard Apple users to seriously consider purchasing the iPhone 4S.

Software

One of the most noticeable areas of improvement appear in the amount of speed and power that the 4S commands.  Apple announced that the iPhone 4S has seven times the graphical prowess of its predecessor and is twice as powerful. It features the iPad 2’s dual-core A5 chip that makes opening apps, loading the web browser, scrolling through home screens and countless other operations smoother and faster.

Siri

Perhaps the most interesting addition in the 4S is the introduction of Siri, a voice controlled personal assistant that can help you schedule lunch dates, find restaurants or see what the weather is like in Denver just by talking to it in a conversational voice.  “Tell Jodi that I’m running late and need to reschedule my meeting” is a good example of how Siri can parse your information, find a specific person and complete the task for you. A down-side, however, is that it is still a work in progress, and many times Siri can’t handle the data in the question, and simply gives you a humorous reply.  Which is funny at first, but loses the humor after a couple of weeks.  Here’s another take on the topic: http://www.forbes.com/sites/benzingainsights/2011/10/17/is-siri-seriously-awesome-or-seriously-flawed/

iCloud

iCloud is Apple’s replacement of MobileMe.  It is available on all new iPhone, iPad and Mac purchases, and automatically and securely stores everything on your device’s hard drive.  Access to music, apps, photos is much easier from any other device.  One downfall, though, is that some MobileMe users are finding that after MobileMe created its own user ID, it has been difficult for them to “sync up.” Equally frustrating is the fact that iCloud doesn’t recognize other mail accounts that don’t contain a me.com email address.  Again, like Siri, one would hope these issues were hashed out before the launch.

In the final analysis, the iPhone 4S will of course be a huge commercial success. But, are the upgrades worth the wait?  In the end, it depends on who you ask. If you’re a Mac-addict, forever in need of the most up-to-date and coolest toy, then of course, it’s worth the wait.  With its improvements in power, efficiency, speed, software and upgrades, the 4S is an impressive machine.  However, if you’re able to get all you need from your old 3G(S), there’s really nothing completely revolutionary about the iPhone 4S.  As an evolutionary device, it’s still pretty cool.

Many industries have changed because of the cloud. Massive quantities of information can be stored and shared easily in the cloud. And with the popularity of tablets people can access it quickly. This has improved the way creative people do business, below are a few examples if this.

Portfolios
You once had to transport heavy portfolios when meeting with clients.  Those portfolios were limited to the amount of work you could carry within. Portfolios, when stored in the cloud, are not limited to physical size. You can organize your past work into categories that fit the needs of different clients. By accessing your portfolio quickly on a tablet, you can share your work more easily and this can lead to more opportunities.

Creative Collaboration
Collaborating used to be limited to people around you. This meant that highly skilled people across the globe did not have much possibility to collaborate on a project. If they were a part of the collaboration process, it meant sending large files back and forth, which led to duplicate copies and a slower working pace. When files are store in the cloud, you can work on them simultaneously and update only one copy. Tablets allow you to pull the project up anywhere and work on it, so creative inspiration isn’t stifled.

Brainstorming
Similarly, the cloud has improved the way groups brainstorm together. By creating mind maps in the cloud, everyone can work on an idea together. By accessing the mind map on a tablet or other mobile device, you can get opinions from colleagues and update the shared file with ease. Breaking down the distance barrier allows skilled people who previously could not contribute to do so.

When the mobile capabilities of tablets are paired with the cloud, creativity can happen with anybody, anywhere at anytime.

Computers are prized possessions, no matter what they are being used for. They offer a practical value with regard to the processes that they allow us to automate, but there is also a financial value which should be considered. The high price level carried by computers makes them tempting targets for any thief. Here are a few quick tips to consider when beefing up your computer’s security.

Physical Security

Don’t mistake the cables plugged into your desktop as any kind of safeguard. Even if they are complicated and challenging to access, a thief is more than happy to leave with the bare bones of your machine. To prevent being left with only a tangle of wires, try using a strong security cable, preferably one that includes a key. These cables generally cost around $40 and are easy to install and use. They anchor your computer in a way that makes it very difficult to steal.

Data Security

A computer is a valuable target for a thief, not only because of the material worth of the device but also due to the data stored within. Encrypting data is always a great protective measure to help ensure your data is safe, but there is certain data you should never store permanently. Such information includes your credit card information, social security number and checking account. Having your identity stolen will only add insult to injury.

Keeping Track

There have been a lot of great computer tracking apps developed in recent years. While these apps require the hard drive to remain intact to be able to work, if you act quickly, they highly increase your chances of recovery. There have been numerous cases in which a stolen laptop has been discovered using one of these services. While your laptop’s return may not be promised, it’s still a great safety measure to take.

While all of these tips are useful in keeping your computer safe, there is no replacement for common sense and reasonable vigilance. Make sure to take good care of your computer; chances are it takes good care of you.

Creating workplace education programs (WEP) within your company can be a successful way to improve morale. Whether it is done in a small or elaborate way, education keeps employees sharp, challenged, and inspired. Workplace education can also support employee’s individual goals of furthering their careers and that investment can cause stronger dedication from your employees.

A word of warning: if classes aren’t challenging or exciting, workplace education can be boring and feel like a waste of time to your employees. This will negate the positive effects you were trying to achieve.

Here are some ideas to keep education programs interesting and fun.

Create Teams – Dividing employees into groups will lead to collaboration and healthy competition. It may also build a more supportive workforce overall, as individuals will get to know each other better and develop stronger working relationships.

Use Incentives –Incentives can be a great motivator. They can be used for groups or individuals.

Make Learning Playful – Working games into your workplace education programs can make learning fun and with help content retention. Games can also develop team-building skills.

Developing workplace education programs for your company can keep the work environment fresh and fun. Sometimes providing full or half-day classes is not possible. Offering something as small as holding an educational meeting can also be effective. You can then implement incentives or games for your employees. The benefits of WEP, when done right, can be great and have a strong positive effect on morale in the workplace.