This little-known profession is in growing demand

There are hundreds of little-known jobs in the world, but some are more interesting than others. Some are transmitted from father to son, others require specific studies or training that are only available overseas, making them difficult to access.

One of these trades is however in very high demand and the training is done on the job, therefore not requiring tuition fees and moreover, you are paid to learn it! This is the trade of spa technician!

Who doesn’t love a good therapeutic massage in hot water, a benefit that comes with a spa? This is precisely why spas are growing in popularity year after year, and even more so since the travel restrictions brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic. But, like everything in this world, hot tubs require service from time to time. Despite the constantly changing spa market, few people think of training for this little-known profession. Yet, if you ask any hot tub tradesman, you will learn that there are always vacancies in this field, and that these positions offer very good wages!

While the salary of a beginner apprentice technician will be on average below $20 per hour, his salary can easily climb to $25 per hour, or even $30 per hour depending on the region. Moreover, it is not a physically difficult job. Although it may seem intimidating and complicated, the mechanics of a hot tub are quite easy to understand and learn quickly, which allows technicians to climb the salary ladder quite quickly too!

Typically, a spa technician is on the road a lot, so they only work half the time, with the other half spent on the road between appointments.

In conclusion, despite the constant evolution of technology and the subtle replacement of labor by robotics, this little-known profession can prove to be a very interesting career for the wise and cunning who dare to take an interest in it. !

Click here to see spa technician jobs in your area!

The North American Spa Builders Association

Info Facebook Collected

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After a long delay, Facebook is releasing a tool that will allow people to see what kind of information it has collected about their online activity beyond its borders — from the news they read to the shopping websites they visit to the porn they watch — along with an option to dissociate that data from their accounts.

Facebook collects information about its users in two ways: first, through the information you input into its website and apps, and second, by tracking which websites you visit while you’re not on Facebook. That’s why, after you visit a clothing retailer’s website, you’ll likely see an ad for it in your Facebook News Feed or Instagram feed. Basically, Facebook monitors where you go, all across the internet, and uses your digital footprints to target you with ads. But Facebook users have never been able to view this external data Facebook collected about them, until now.

Facebook tracks your browsing history via the “Login with Facebook” button, the “like” button, Facebook comments, and little bits of invisible code, called the Facebook pixel, embedded on other sites. Today the company will start to roll out a feature called “Off-Facebook Activity” that allows people to manage that external browsing data — finally delivering on a promise it made over a year ago when CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced at a company event that it would develop a feature then called “Clear History.”

The new tool will display a summary of those third-party websites that shared your visit with Facebook, and will allow you to disconnect that browsing history from your Facebook account. You can also opt out of future off-Facebook activity tracking, or selectively stop certain websites from sending your browsing activity to Facebook. Nearly a third of all websites include a Facebook tracker, according to several studies.

Some people in Ireland, South Korea, and Spain will gain access to Off-Facebook Activity first. Facebook said it will continue rolling out the feature everywhere else over the coming months. The tool, found in account Settings > Off-Facebook Activity, includes an option allowing you to “clear” your browsing history.

However, it’s important to note that neither Facebook’s announcement nor screenshots of the feature mention the word “delete” — and that’s because the browsing information isn’t being deleted, it’s simply dissociated from your Facebook account, according to a Facebook spokesperson. In other words, Facebook will still hold on to the data but will anonymize it rather than pair it with your profile.

For example, although your browsing history won’t be used to advertise a discount to an online store you’ve visited before, the activity will still appear in aggregated audience data shown to developers using Facebook’s analytics tools.

If you disable off-Facebook activity collection or clear off-Facebook activity history, your browsing history won’t be used to target ads to you on Facebook, Instagram, or Messenger, Facebook’s chief privacy officer, Erin Egan, wrote in a blog post.

However, the data isn’t being removed from Facebook servers. Just as Facebook still collects aggregated, anonymous browsing information from people who are logged out or don’t have Facebook accounts, Facebook will treat people who have opted out of external website tracking similarly, a Facebook spokesperson confirmed to BuzzFeed News.

The tool is finally launching, more than a year after the company initially said it would release the feature, originally marketed as “Clear History” by Zuckerberg at the company’s May 2018 developer conference, F8. In February, people familiar with the origins of Clear History said that Zuckerberg rushed the announcement at the event as a public relations play to curb criticism over the company’s stance on privacy and customer data in the aftermath of the Cambridge Analytica scandal.

Clear History, an international ad campaign focused on how “fake news” and “clickbait” are not your friends, and a privacy-themed pop-up store in New York City were the company’s attempts at garnering goodwill, people who spoke to BuzzFeed News earlier this year said.

 

Clear History was marred by a number of delays, with Facebook telling Recode in December that “it’s taking longer than we initially thought” because of issues with how data is stored and processed. Facebook engineers rebuilt the way the browsing data is indexed in order to allow users to disconnect their browsing history and opt out of personalized tracking moving forward, a spokesperson said.

The company has moved away from the Clear History name, noting that the feature is just one of three main tools in Off-Facebook Activity. A spokesperson would not say how many accounts Facebook expects to use the feature, but did confirm that it may have an impact on the company’s bottom line, since it will affect how ads are targeted in the future.

 

Source from BuzzFeed news

 

10 Reasons why must have a website for a small business

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1. Your customers expect it.

If this were the only reason on the list, it would be enough. Think about it. Would you trust a business that didn’t have a website?

If you don’t have a business website, today’s digital-savvy (and impatient) customers may look elsewhere. Take a look at this list of specifics that customers say they want from a business website.

2. It provides social proof.

Ninety percent of consumers claim that online reviews influence their buying decisions.

You could rely on FourSquare, Yelp, and other review sites to host reviews for your brand, but you can kill two birds with one stone on your own website.

Since potential buyers are already looking for you online, including customer testimonials on your site is a great way to impress potential buyers.

3. You control the narrative.

It’s true that you cannot control what others say about you on social media channels, but you can influence public perception by creating your own story via a business website.

A company blog helps business owners get their message, mission, and personality in front of their target audience faster than print ads or snail mail brochures.

Plus, social icons linking to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and other networking platforms make sharing your content easier for your visitors who like what they see.

4. More bang for your buck.

When you use a website-building tool, like WordPress, you position your company to reach thousands more potential customers for less than you would spend mailing ten brochures by traditional mail.

5. You don’t need extensive coding or technical skills.

Because WordPress — and a number of other website-building platforms — offer online tutorials and community-based support, almost anyone can get a basic website up and running in about thirty minutes.

6. Your competitors all have company websites.

Consumers typically start their buying journey with research and recommendations from peers and social network connections.

Studies show that once a consumer has an idea of what they need or want, they start researching, and 72 percent of them go online to find educational material, reviews, and testimonials, according to this report.

So if you’re not staying competitive with your competition, you’re giving shoppers a reason to buy from another brand.

7. Never put up the ‘closed for business’ sign again.

Nobody wants to work at 3 a.m., but some people like to shop then. Having a business website or ecommerce store means that you can sell products all the time — not simply between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m.

An online store can mean a dramatic boost in sales, especially when you factor in additional customers who are not restricted by geography. Your online presence also supports marketing campaigns, customer service, client relationship building, brand recognition, and almost every other element of the revenue stream.

Combining your website with marketing tools, like email marketing, helps you reach new customers and generate repeat business.

8. You’ll show up in Google search results.

Consider this: 81 percent of consumers perform online research before making a purchase. That means they go to Google and type in one or more keywords, like “best leather shoes” or, if they know what they want, “handcrafted Italian leather women’s shoes in Los Angeles.”

If you don’t have a website for your business, the chances of showing up on the search engine results page (SERP) are zero. But if you have a site, you can optimize it for search engines, thereby increasing your chances of appearing at the top of Google’s results and getting more visibility with potential customers.

Long-tail keywords, meta descriptions, and titles are just some of the things you can customize on your site to improve your search engine optimization (SEO).

9. Create a resource center for your staff.

In addition to helping customers, your business website can also benefit your own employees.

Create an orphan page (one that is not visible anywhere on the site so it can’t be found unless someone is given the direct link) with self-service videos, instructional materials, or even internal forms to help your team learn everything they need to know on their own schedules.

10. Showcase your products and services.

Not only can you display your products or outline your services in detail with beautiful images, but you can provide short video tutorials or downloadable PDF instructions to give hesitant customers no reason to go elsewhere to purchase.

Some useful utilities for PC

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Glary Utilities Pro 5

Had the best overall improvement in our tests
Increased startup speed by over 34%
Improved nearly all performance facets
Didn’t improve web browsing whatsoever
Wasn’t the easiest or fastest program to install
Didn’t recoup much storage space

Glary Utilities Pro was developed by Glarysoft Ltd. to be a comprehensive PC system utility program, with all kinds of computer maintenance tools for cleaning registries, freeing up disk space, managing drivers, tightening up privacy and maintaining security protocols.

It also includes over 20 other tools meant for improving and optimizing your computer. In each round of our tests, Glary Utilities Pro had a high diagnostic consistency score, and it performed the best overall in our comparison.

 

System Cleaner 7

Boosted bootup speed by over 52 percent
Easy to install and use
Includes licenses for up to three computers
Reduced word and data processing speeds
Consumed storage space instead of finding more
Lacks a file encryption tool

System Cleaner is a suite of optimization tools that, together, can improve your PC’s performance and help you maintain its overall health.

 

WinZip System Utilities

The software provides decent diagnostic consistency
It slowed our test computer’s boot-up time by 124 percent

With WinZip System Utilities Suite, you can easily improve aspects of your computer’s performance, recover storage space and maintain its health during future usage.

 

Here are some tasks you really should avoid:

Don’t bother with registry cleaning or repair.
Back in the ‘90s and early 2000s, Windows wasn’t particularly good at handling its own registry. Old machines often had convoluted and contradictory registries, so it made sense to use registry cleaners and repair software. However, even then you needed to be careful. Today, Windows is much better at taking care of its registry, and for most people there isn’t any good reason to mess with it. Even with PC system utility software, it’s best to leave out any registry cleaners since deleting the wrong registry can make things much worse.

Defragmenting your hard drive often only wears it out more quickly.
Disk defragmentation is another maintenance task that used to be more important than it is today. In the past, performing disk defrag on your hard disk drive (HDD) often resulted in a good amount of freed-up space and improved performance. In the last 10 or so years, however, HDDs have gotten much larger and faster, and operating systems have gotten more efficient in how information is written to the drives.

On a side note, you should never defragment a solid-state drive (SSD). Defragmenting is strictly for HDDs and was built with their physical read and write process in mind. SSDs do not work in the same way, and you can easily ruin a perfectly good SSD by trying to defrag it. Fortunately, most PC system utility software will warn you before you try to defrag an SSD.

Is Remote PC Access Safe?

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Is Remote PC Access Safe?

You may be asking yourself, “Is a remote desktop connection secure?” If you can access your work computer from home, is someone else able to as well?

The best remote PC access software takes high safety measures to ensure your computer login security. We closely investigated the security features of each software product, including the strength and ease of setup for the security features of each platform.

Each program allows you to customize the security settings for your remote session. These features typically include blanking the screen of the host machine while you access it, locking the keyboard and mouse, and automatically disconnecting if the session is inactive for too long. You can adjust these features and create or change credentials to access either the program’s dashboard or the remote computer.

Secure transmissions are necessary when you’re trying to remotely access another computer, especially when accessing sensitive or proprietary information. The industry standard is 128-bit encryption, but more financial and government institutions are moving toward 256 bits. Both encryption methods offer more than enough security. The 128-bit encryption protects you from outside attacks and maintains your performance. While the 256-bit encryption offers more security, likely more than you will ever need, the longer encryption affects performance. Your reason for using remote access software should help determine the level of security you need.

Passwords are a given for remote PC access software, so many companies offer a second layer of security, such as IP filtering. This gives you the ability to block access from specific computers, even if they use a valid password. This feature is particularly helpful in protecting businesses from former employees gaining access to unauthorized information. Locking the host screen and keyboard lets you work in privacy when your host computer is in an open office. An automatic timeout feature protects your computer from someone accessing it, should you or an employee forget to log out from a session. We took these features into account when selecting our best picks, along with the ease of setting them up and changing them.

10 shortcuts everyone should know

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Using keyboard shortcuts can greatly increase your productivity, reduce repetitive strain, and help keep you focused. For example, to copy text, you can highlight text and press the Ctrl+C shortcut. The shortcut is faster than moving your hands from the keyboard, highlighting with the mouse, choosing copy from the file menu, and then returning to the keyboard.

Below are the top 10 keyboard shortcuts we recommend everyone memorize and use.

Ctrl+C or Ctrl+Insert and Ctrl+X

Both Ctrl+C and Ctrl+Insert will copy highlighted text or a selected item. If you want to cut an item instead of copying it, press Ctrl+X. This action removes the text or item and stores it in the clipboard for you, rather than copying it to the clipboard while leaving the original behind.

Apple computer users can substitute the Ctrl key for the command (cmd) key on their computers. For example, pressing Cmd+C copies highlighted text.

Ctrl+V or Shift+Insert

Both the Ctrl+V and Shift+Insert will paste the text or object that’s stored in the clipboard.

On Apple computers, use Cmd+V instead.

Practice

Use the above text input fields to highlight the “Cut or copy this text” text and press either Ctrl+C to copy or Ctrl+X to cut the text. Once cut, move to the next field and press Ctrl+V or Shift+Insert to paste the text.

Ctrl+Z and Ctrl+Y

Pressing Ctrl+Z will undo any change. For example, if you cut text, pressing this key combination will undo the cut. These shortcuts can also be pressed multiple times to undo or redo multiple changes. Pressing Ctrl+Y would redo the undo.

On Apple computers, use Cmd+Z and Cmd+Y to undo and redo.

Use the above text input field to highlight some or all the text and then press Ctrl+X to cut the text. Once the text has disappeared, press the Ctrl+Z to undo the cut.

TipIf you did the first example as well (cut and paste text) and you continue to press Ctrl+Z, it is also going to undo that change.

Ctrl+F and Ctrl+G

Pressing Ctrl+F opens the Find field, which allows you to search the text currently displayed in any program that supports it. For example, Ctrl+F can be used in your Internet browser to find text on the current page. Press Ctrl+F now to open the Find in your browser and search for “shortcut” to display each time shortcut is mentioned on this page.

On Apple computers, use Cmd+F to find.

Ctrl+G may be used to repeat a search (from using Ctrl+F) in a document or on a web page.

Alt+Tab or Ctrl+Tab

Pressing Alt+Tab switches between open programs moving forward. For example, if you have your browser window open and other programs running in the background press and hold Alt and then press the Tab key to cycle through each open program.

On Apple computers instead of using the Alt key use the Command (Cmd) key. For example, Cmd+Tab to switch between open programs.

Bonus TipPress Ctrl+Tab to switch between tabs in a program. For example, if you have multiple tabs open in your Internet browser, press Ctrl+Tab to switch between them.

Bonus TipAdding the Shift key to Alt+Tab or Ctrl+Tab moves backward. For example, if you are pressing Alt+Tab and pass the program you want to use, press Alt+Shift+Tab to move back to that program.

Bonus TipWindows Vista, 7, 8, and 10 users can also press the Windows Key+Tab to switch through open programs in a full screenshot of the window.

Ctrl+Backspace and Ctrl+Left or Right arrow

NoteThe following shortcuts are for PC users only and do not work on Apple computers.

Pressing Ctrl+Backspace deletes a full word at a time instead of a single character.

Holding down the Ctrl key while pressing the left or right arrow will move the cursor one word at a time instead of one character at a time. If you want to highlight one word at a time, hold down Ctrl+Shift, then press the left or right arrow key. Your highlighted selection will move one word at a time in that direction.

Ctrl+S

While working on a document or another file in almost every program, pressing Ctrl+S saves that file. Use this shortcut key frequently if you’re working on anything important in case of an error, lost power, or any other issues that causes you to lose any work since the last save.

On Apple computers, use Cmd+S to save a file.

Ctrl+Home or Ctrl+End

Ctrl+Home will move the cursor to the beginning of the document, and Ctrl+End will move the cursor to the end of a document. These shortcuts work with most documents, as well as web pages.

On Apple computers use Command and the Cmd and the up arrow to get to the beginning of a document or text or Cmd and the down arrow to get to the end of a document or text.

Ctrl+P

Control+P is used to open a print preview of the page or document currently being viewed. For example, press Ctrl+P now to view a print preview of this page.

On Apple computers use Cmd+P to open the print preview.

Page Up, Spacebar, and Page Down

As you may have guessed, pressing either the page up or page down key will move to the next or previous page. When browsing the Internet, pressing the spacebar moves the scrollbar down a page. Similarly, Shift+spacebar moves the scrollbar up one page.