For nearly all of us, technology is an integral part of our everyday lives. Many of us, however, still are hazy on a number of common technology terms. Fortunately, for those that are unsure, we have created a mini glossary of common tech terms you should be familiar with.

Cookies

Cookies allow websites to identify you when you revisit them. By allowing cookies, you are letting your browser store your information, such as username, password and preferences, and provide it for the site you are visiting. They are a time-saver that can be very convenient for avid Internet users.

Although cookies are incredibly convenient, some see them as a privacy issue. They store your information and track your activity, which can make it easier for others to access your information. Most experts agree, however, that limiting the amount of cookies you use is sufficient for protecting your online identity.

URL

A URL, or uniform resource locator, is the web address for a certain site. It is what you type into the address bar at the top of your web browser which takes you to the website you wish to visit.

Cloud

The cloud is one of the most talked about tech terms today. It is talked about on television and in blogs and newspaper articles. The cloud is made up of services that are based on the Internet and do not require you to install hardware or software on your machine.

Flash

Flash is an Adobe-owned platform that enables you to view certain things on your computer. Many people install Flash players or plug-ins in order to watch videos or animation or see dynamic displays on websites. Although Flash has been the longtime leader in its field, HTML5 is quickly catching up with it.

Technology-related terms can seem overwhelming but understanding the basics can make it all much easier to grasp.

If you’d like to see a more in-depth description of tech terms, take a look at this glossary.

While a lot of us have adopted social media as a standard form of communication, plenty of us still have no clue what certain terms mean. Thankfully, these terms are generally easy to understand once you’re given a push in the right direction. This guide should serve as a first step to understanding social media terms.

1. Tag

Tag can refer to a number of different things, depending on how it is used. Often, in blogs or other content you can attach a keyword to a blog. Those keywords are known as tags. This makes it easier for search engines to register the content you post as pertaining to a certain topic.

Tag might also be used in reference to tagging someone in, or linking someone to, photos. Facebook photo tagging now uses facial recognition software to help you tag friends in photos.

The most recent form of tagging actually refers to mentioning friends in your posts and status updates. Now, if you tag them in your updates, they will be notified of your post and it will show up on their wall for all of their other friends to see.

2. Troll

A troll in this instance is a person that uses social media as a way to provoke people. Trolls often make taunting or offensive comments on pages or in groups in order to provoke anger.

3. Friend

In social media terms, friend is actually an action that refers to adding someone to your social network. So, next time you hear someone discuss “friending” someone, all they’re saying is that they added someone as a friend.

4. Stream

Stream is another one of those double-meaning terms, depending on how it is used. Stream may pertain either to someone’s Twitter or Facebook home page that contains updates and posts from everybody in their social network. It can also refer to receiving a constant stream of information, often in the form of a webcast.

5. At mention

An at mention, or @ mention, works on Twitter much like status tags work on Facebook. You can mention someone in your Tweet, precede his or her name with the @ symbol and they will be alerted to your post. This also allows the post to show up in his or her home page.

Although social media terms can easily become hazy, the purpose of this guide is to help clear them up. If you’d like an even more extensive guide to social media terms take a look at this article.

Many of us have encountered employee burnout in one way or another – whether we have felt burned out ourselves or recognized it in one of our colleagues. Luckily, there are quite a few simple steps you can take to ensure that burnout doesn’t get the best of you or your employees.

Avoiding burnout

• Have fun – Making room for fun can alleviate some stress and help to keep employees motivated when they are on the brink of burnout.
• Switch it up – Let employees focus on new projects or teams when they’ve been working on one thing for a long time, like Facebook is doing with Hackamonth.
• Encourage breaks – It’s fantastic to have employees that don’t want to quit working until they get things done. Sadly, those are the people that are likely to burn out fastest. If you have employees like this, encourage them to take walks or go on a coffee run – anything to keep them from going stir crazy.

When burnout simply can’t be prevented, these tips can help minimize its ripple effects.

How to deal with burnout

• Accept it – Burnout isn’t always avoidable so it’s important to be conscious of the signs such as lethargy, decreased socializing or irritability.
• Communicate – Growing businesses often undergo changes that leave employees frustrated. Making sure your employees know that they can talk to you is a terrific way to stop burnout before it gets out of control.

While you may not always be able to prevent employee burnout, these suggestions can help ensure that it doesn’t overwhelm anyone or negatively affect your business or employees.

If you’d like more ideas on fighting employee burnout, take a look at this article.

Each and every one of us knows what it’s like to perform an online search and find results that are not even close to what we were searching for. This can be quite frustrating. Fortunately, there are many simple steps you can take that can ensure more relevant search results.

Keep it simple

Simplicity is critical when it comes to online searches. It’s generally in your best interest to use only a few words or phrases if the search is not too complicated. If you’re looking for a type of business in your area, you can type in that business type along with the name of your town or your zip code. That should garner results that are both accurate and relevant to you.

Learn about Boolean

You probably learned about Boolean search terms in school, whether you know it or not. Boolean searches are based around using “and,” “not” and “or” in your queries. These words enable you to include or exclude multiple terms in your search results.

This concept also works when you use pluses or minuses in your searches. If you want to include a term in your search results, simply type a “ ” before it in your search. If you want to exclude something, precede it with a “-“ when you search.

Be precise

Preciseness is one of the simplest ways to ensure better search results. Using general phrases can often leave you with thousands of results that have little to nothing to do with what you’re looking for.

Using quotation marks is a great way to ensure better search results. Most search engines recognize that as a request for an exact phrase search. So, if you’re searching for a company and know the exact name, it may be in your best interest to search for it in quotes.

All of these tips are incredibly simple and extremely useful. Taking these into account when you’re searching online can drastically improve your search results.

For even more tips on performing online searches, take a look at this article.

Regardless of the time of year or the project you’re working on, there are always things that can get you off task. Though there is no way to entirely eliminate those distractions, there are several ways to minimize them and increase productivity. Here are a couple of them:

Keep a clean office

Clutter often leads to distraction. Keeping your office neat and encouraging your employees to do the same can help people to be more focused. Getting rid of those unwanted distractions by cleaning up every once in a while can make a substantial difference in employee productivity.

Increase the temperature

In one study, a cooler office was shown to have quite a negative effect on employee productivity. In a slightly warmer office, employees made 44% less typing errors and their typing output increased by an incredible 150%. Based on those figures, a bigger heating bill may be well worth it.

Lighten up

Another study demonstrated that a brighter, better-lit office can help employees stay on task. Employees who worked in offices with windows spent 15% more time concentrated on their work than those in windowless offices.

Not only does this adjustment help to increase productivity, it also can help you save money on your electricity bill by lighting up the office naturally. Because it’s so easy to do, it’s surely in your best interest to open blinds and move employees into offices with windows whenever possible.

These office tweaks are all quite simple and can make quite a substantial difference when it comes to employee productivity. There is really no reason not to try them out, as they each require minimal effort on your part.

For a few more simple tips on boosting productivity, take a look at this article.

Mother’s Day is just around the corner and many of us are still clueless as to what to get. If you’re one of those people, you’re in luck. We have five tech-inspired gift ideas that are sure to please any mom.

Digital picture frame

If your mom is like most, she almost certainly loves reliving family memories through old photos. With a digital picture frame, your mom can relive those memories whenever she chooses. If she needs assistance, you can assist her by pre-loading all of her pictures onto the frame and she can start enjoying it right away.

Tech time

Your mom might love technology, but she still may not know just how to use it. With this gift, you can provide her with your expertise and show her how to do things so she can watch her DVD or program her DVR even when you’re not around to help.

Digital magazine or Netflix subscription

Most moms have a particular TV show they can’t miss or a magazine they absolutely need to read every week. If this is the case, your mom will certainly benefit from a digital subscription. This gives your mom the chance to read her monthly magazine without the clutter.

A Netflix subscription gives your mom the chance to catch up on her favorite TV shows on her own time. She can also use this to watch that movie that her friends have been discussing for months now. Either way, it’s sure to be a big hit.

Tablet

A tablet, such as the iPad or Xoom, is perfect for Mom due to its portability and ease of use. Once your mom becomes familiar with it, she should have no problem enjoying all of the games and apps it has to offer.

If a tablet is a little out of your price range, consider getting your mom a Nook Color. It offers the same portability of a tablet and still offers many games and applications. You can also purchase that magazine subscription before you gift it – a little extra gift.

Quality time

Most moms feel like they don’t get to see their kids enough, especially if they live far away. In these cases, simply giving your mom a coupon for video chat sessions would likely be the perfect gift.

No matter what your mom is like, she is sure to enjoy any one of these gifts. Show her that you care by getting her something she can really use.

If you’d like more gift ideas, take a look at this article.

If you’re big on presentations, you may have heard of Prezi, one of the most revered online presentation tools. Prezi is an easy-to-use program that makes presentations more fun. You might wonder what makes Prezi better than other presentation tools – here it is:

Flash-based

Prezi is flash-based, which makes it more flexible in the kind of presentations you may create. Presentations needn’t be quite so linear. They are created more like a visual map with words, images, links and whatever else you’d like to incorporate.

You can zoom in and out of the image to various ideas, links and images. This eliminates the need for identical slides or backtracking when you must revisit an idea.

Intuitive

Prezi presentations are built differently than most, which can make it difficult to get used to at first. Once you have become comfortable with the program, however, it is like second nature. You can create presentations like you would a thought map, which is ideal for those non-linear thinkers.

If you’re having difficulty adjusting to the Prezi process, you can find a number of tutorials on the Prezi website.

Prezi is web-based but it allows you to download your presentations once they have been created so you don’t need Internet access to actually present. There is a free model available, but for $59/year you can buy Prezi for more storage and better privacy.

Although Prezi may not be for everyone, it is a great alternative for those who are looking to create a different kind of presentation.