Managers of remote teams have plenty to worry about. On top of the deadlines, interpersonal conflicts and competing priorities that face all team leaders, managers of dispersed teams need to concern themselves with keeping everyone connected and collaborating despite physical distance. Now, Wharton management professor Nancy Rothbard is adding another item to their list of potential stresses: mirror neurons.

In a recent article, Rothbard frets that because of specialized neurons, called mirror neurons, your team may suffer from their lack of physical proximity. She discusses some famous Italian neuroscience research on these neurons, saying of the researchers:

They found that what we do when we are watching [others] is that our neurons start mimicking, firing in the same way other people’s [neurons] are firing. They think this is the basis for social learning. We learn how to do things by watching other people…. It creates a pathway neurologically for us to follow.

Remote working, the article suggests, “could mean that skills don’t get transferred as quickly or completely from one employee to another because colleagues are unable to watch each other work.” So should you start fretting immediately about your team’s mirror neurons and whether they’re firing away in your Friday catch-up?

For those fascinated by the human brain (and who isn’t?), mirror neurons are an extremely hot topic. Here’s a 7-minute TED talk from neuroscientist VS Rachmachandran, which explains why some experts believe they’re at the very core of human civilization.

But perhaps it’s too early to be adding to your stress levels over the frontiers of brain science. First off, research mentioned in the New York Times suggests that children’s mirror neurons fire when watching violent TV shows and other studies have even shown that mirror neurons fire when we’re read descriptions of physical actions. So there’s no reason to despair yet that your training video conference is a failure at some fundamental biological level just because it’s not face-to-face (though if you’re using avatars in a virtual world, the jury is out).

Conclusion: keep an eye on mirror neuron research out of curiosity, sure, but it’s a little early to add it to the list of practical problems for web workers.

Do you find it harder to empathize with colleagues or learn new skills if you’re not face-to-face?

Image courtesy Flickr user fbobolas

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Mobile virtualization boasts an array of use cases — from cost savings for mobile device manufacturers to security for “Obamaberries” and other superphones. It also can give mobile devices dual personas. A hot topic today is the use case that’s also of greatest interest to smartphone and tablet users — enterprise mobility – using virtualization in the enterprise to support secure corporate connectivity and productivity on-the-go.

Most discussions of enterprise mobility focus exclusively on the benefits of giving mobile workers access to corporate data, networks and applications. In theory, that means making workers more productive while saving on capital equipment costs. In practice, enterprise mobility often forces a choice between corporate security, or worker productivity and personal freedom.

Mobile workers around the world increasingly prefer to use their own smartphones, tablets, and other wireless devices for both professional and personal communications and computing. This consumerization of enterprise IT, a natural consequence of smartphone and mobile applications growth, puts new pressures on companies to accommodate and secure employee-owned mobile devices.

Historically, IT security concerns have resulted in employee mobile devices running the RIM (BlackBerry) operating system or Microsoft Windows variants as the primary “supported” mobile devices in corporate environments. However, the overwhelming popularity of new devices including the iPhone, iPad and a wide range of Android smartphones has resulted in employees increasingly sneaking their own personal devices into the workplace.

A number of technical and process-based approaches are commercially available to address requirements for enterprise mobility security. Currently, enterprise IT looks to Mobile Device Management (MDM) and endpoint security technologies such as encryption and anti-virus software, to bolster enterprise mobility. These technologies are necessary and powerful, but leave critical requirements unmet. In particular, MDM and endpoint security rely on the integrity of the underlying smartphone operating system (OS) and software stack, which are still vulnerable to exploits. Even the security software that protects the device may be susceptible, threatening both the integrity of the mobile device and any information that passes through it.

Many of these company-imposed restrictions also make mobile devices too cumbersome for personal use, limiting productivity and increasing corporate vulnerability as users ditch the proper procedures. Implementing enterprise security policy usually entails restrictions on freedom to fully use the capabilities of the device (e.g., blacklisting online destinations, curtailing application download and use). The unfortunate result is that employees continue to carry a second, personal device, leaving many benefits of enterprise mobility unrealized.

Enter mobile virtualization

In data centers, virtualization separates the hardware from the software running on it, allowing for consolidation of separate, disparate physical systems into multiple virtual machines on one server. Mobile virtualization effects a similar consolidation by merging multiple dedicated embedded processors onto a single CPU.

Mobile virtualization provides a secure, isolated and robust run-time environment for programs (including operating systems), which is indistinguishable from actual “bare metal” hardware. This environment is called a virtual machine (VM). The virtual machines can become a container for guest software, imitating computer hardware and isolating guests from one another. Providing the virtual machine environment and managing VM resources is a software layer called a hypervisor.

Enterprise desktop virtualization programs are typically application-level (Type II) hypervisors: They let users run additional OSes and applications, such as Windows on MacOS, or Linux on Windows. But, to be effective and truly secure, mobile virtualization should employ Type I hypervisors, “bare metal” technology comparable to blade and server virtualization in the enterprise data center.

Not all Type I hypervisors are created equal. Some mobile virtualization platforms offer superior performance and finer granularity than others. A smaller trusted compute base and stricter hardware-enforced separation among virtual machines assures a more secure mobile virtualization solution. The fine-grained “capabilities” available with some hypervisors make it easier for integrators and architects to configure and control communication among virtual machines, without compromising performance or security.

Such fine-grained control allows mobile system designers to expose select characteristics of a shared devices (e.g., a sound chip or wireless interface) giving one trusted guest OS full read/write permissions to it, but more restricted access to a second untrusted guest, either directly or through a virtual device driver. Access controls like these are fast and hardware-enforced using processor-based memory management, and impose little or no power consumption or response-time overhead.

Mobile virtualization software itself (a microvisor), also imposes minimal cost in the software bill of materials of a smartphone or other mobile device, and, in fact, can substantially reduce those costs in three ways. First, consolidating multiple CPUs onto a single chipset saves on silicon. Second, systems with fewer hardware components cost less to test and are inherently more reliable, improving manufacturing yields and margins. Third, fewer components draw less power, allowing use of smaller, cheaper batteries or letting users squeeze more life and talk time.

These savings are more than just “cost shavings.” – Tear-downs from OK Labs and industry analysts show that mobile hardware consolidation can yield savings of upwards of on total device expenses of 0-0. Such steep cost reduction improves margins, makes smart devices more accessible, and even opens new segments for affordable “mass market” smartphones.

Dump the dual-phone lifestyle

Effective enterprise mobility rests on three pillars: security, privacy, and freedom to fully use the capabilities of the device. Of the various options for implementing enterprise mobility securely while preserving end-user privacy and freedom, only mobile virtualization consistently balances all three pillars. Other solutions attempt to implement the form of dual persona functionality, but miss the substance of underlying security, and of preserving privacy and freedom.

Mobile virtualization lets enterprise IT secure access to enterprise assets and services, while ensuring user privacy and preserving intact smartphone user experience. All on a single off-the-shelf smartphone or tablet! And, mobile virtualization lets users adopt the mobile device of their choice, while allowing corporate IT departments to manage sensitive data on those devices with enterprise-level security and compliance.

Steve Subar is founder and CEO of Open Kernel Labs.

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From Rupert Murdoch’s The Daily to the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, it seems more and more newspapers are turning to iPads and other tablets in an effort to capture a fraction of our daily attention. And as this graphic from Column Five  Media illustrates, iPad is well on its way to becoming our Sunday newspaper.

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• Hot Topic: Tablets
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The environment is really a hot topic these days. With global warming out of control and human pollution only growing, it is more crucial now than it has ever been before to obtain to a place where people can work to protect the world around use as opposed to causing more damage.

Although there are numerous methods that will allow you to lessen your carbon presence, 1 of the newest additions entails a large truck and a tractor trailer full of car. This carpool for cars is referred to as car or truck shipping and it has allowed people to send cars over lengthy distances without having really driving them. Although it may well not appear like a lot, this basic act has saved numerous tons of carbon from becoming released into the atmosphere over the years.

Vehicle transport is really a simple thing to realize. You are able to assist reduce issues by hiring auto transporters. Once you hire a company to move your car to a brand new location, they come to your home and load the car on a transport truck.

Open transport trucks can hold a lot of cars, while closed transport trucks really place only several people’s cars. Likewise, the fewer cars that are becoming carried, the more protection is offered for every 1 of the cars. Closed shipping prevents the cars from becoming subjected to the elements while in transit, however it is also quite a bit more expensive than a trip on an open transport truck.

You will discover hundreds of different car or truck transport alternatives open to you once you choose this is something that you need for your car. Whether or not you might be moving or you just need to get your car from where it is now to a buyer on the other side of the country, car or truck shipping is the way to go.

Make certain you look into the organizations that operate inside your area, nonetheless, so you can pick 1 that will fit your needs along with your economic spending budget. The study may well take some extra time, however it will be well worth it as soon as you find the business of your dreams.

Oh what a road to walk down, the history of fashion. Fashion is an art form that you wear. When one person constructs an outfit, they do it in all different kinds of ways. Through out history, people have kept an eye out on the cat walk to see what new styles are coming up. Fashion designs and styles are talked about in movies, different fashion magazines and on TV.

You have two types of fashion, high fashion and good fashion. You can make your own designs with a dress making pattern. High fashion clothing is very expensive and the uses of these garments don’t go past you wearing the item for more than one time. Good fashion clothing can be clothing that either has a designer attached to it or not, but the clothing looks great.

You can have a piece of clothing that hugs the body or loosely fitted with something tied around it. That is fashion style. Buttons can go up the back or down on the side. Pants can be plain or have designs on them. Outfits can hug the body or drape the body.

Throughout time there have been certain fashion styles that stick out. Some pants are tight fitting around the ankle or you have bell bottoms. The designs on the fabric and all the different colors all make up a certain style. Clothing that was in the in 60s could come back now in the 21st century. Many people like to start new trends, while certain styles are best to remain in there former time period.

Look at all the different fashion magazines to get an idea of style. These are the resources that show what is currently in season and what is out of style. Museums can be a good source to get a good history on fashion.

What are other people wearing? You can see the trends in various fashion magazines or hop online to see what the current trends are. The subject matter of what is in style is always a hot topic. Ads can be a great place to spot the trends of certain styles too.

Have you ever looked at an outfit and thought to yourself that I would like to change that design a little bit? How would you change it? What would you ad to it? Get out that sewing machine and tear that outfit apart and put it back together. Put a pocket on a jacket or a cool design on the back of a tee shirt.

You can obtain ideas for fashion in so many places. The different weather patterns that are in the sky can give you idea. You can get ideas on how to create fashion from watching children playing, or a piece from a song that drums up that creativeness inside of you. There has always been a sense of fashion style in the basic dress and pants that people wear. It has changed through time. Some styles come back and others just disappear. Now you know a little bit about the history of fashion.

www.youtube.com Click here to watch the last episode of ETC! ETC: Futurama News and Lost about Lost S01E13 Futurama. Seriously. It’s back. And other news I suppose. Lost is important, Tim Burton, Facebook is the number 1 site, Bill Paxton (didn’t go to PAX), 1 Billion views for Machinima…and you just added another. I will see you next Thursday! – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - Follow Machinima on Twitter! Machinima ‪twitter.com Inside Gaming ‪twitter.com Machinima Respawn ‪twitter.com Machinima Entertainment, Technology, Culture ‪twitter.com FOR MORE MACHINIMA, GO TO: www.youtube.com FOR MORE GAMEPLAY, GO TO: www.youtube.com FOR MORE SPORTS GAMEPLAY, GO TO: www.youtube.com TAGS: etcetera Entertainment Technology Culture Khail Anonymous yt:quality=high Lost Tim Burton Facebook Bill Paxton Futurama google pinball comedy central jennifer garner remake men battle royale the tick watchmen alan moore myspace jericho family guy spiderman spirit gi joe wolverine star trek baskin robins richard albert jacob harry potter Wonka adams family shier labeouff corpse bride johnny deep aaron carter batman hot topic
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