#_fin-ca

[kellyputteryahoo-blog]

The power of ADHD is being harnessed by entrepreneurs

Today’s successful entrepreneur might possess an MBA, well-connected parents and plenty of chutzpah, but there’s one often misunderstood component and it goes by the four-letter acronym known as ADHD.

Experts say Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a neurological condition shared by most entrepreneurs, some of whom have a knack for controlling their ADHD so they can foster success in their professional lives.

“I bet 80 per cent of entrepreneurs have it,” says Dr. Ned Hallowell, a U.S. psychiatrist and leading authority on ADHD. “Although way fewer have been diagnosed with it. Almost every entrepreneur I meet has it and when I talk to groups of entrepreneurs and describe ADHD they’re all jumping out of the chairs saying that’s us.”

Many of ADHD’s traits are those needed to win in the business world: creativity, high energy, risk tolerance, quick thinking, multi-tasking and resilience. Or, as Hallowell puts it, it’s like having a Ferrari engine for a brain with bicycle brakes. Some manage to harness its power, while others fail.

ADHD impairs how people manage their attention. Some people with ADHD flit from one thing to another, others hyper focus. What makes it tricky to diagnose is that many of its long list of symptoms can be thought of as extreme forms of normal behaviour. Ever been called a chatterbox? Told you have ants in your pants? Are you forever losing your keys and missing appointments? Do you blurt out your thoughts or do things before thinking them through? Do you spend a lot of time daydreaming or playing video games? Are you easily distracted, overly sensitive and forgetful? They may be signs of ADHD, or not.

Conservative estimates peg four to five per cent of the population as having the condition. It’s commonly believed to be a disorder that only children have, but adults do, too. And don’t let the acronyms fool you. ADHD and ADD are one and the same. Medical professionals generally refer to it as ADHD, while media, educators and entertainers seem to prefer ADD because it’s easier to say and remember. October is ADHD awareness month in Canada.

In good company

After years of struggling with anxiety and depression, scattered and impulsive thinking and being a workaholic, comedian Rick Green was diagnosed at 47, shortly after his son had been diagnosed with the disorder, a common occurrence as ADHD is highly hereditary.

“I went through life in a wrestling match with an invisible opponent,” says the now 62-year-old Green, who today uses his comedy to tell others about ADHD. “And the thing about that was I didn’t even know I was in a wrestling match. I just thought this is what life is like for everyone and it’s not.”

HealthGrove | Graphiq

An adrenaline junkie, he excelled as a comedic actor, writer and producer, co-creating and performing on The Red Green Show and TVO’s Prisoners of Gravity. Despite his success, fits of unproductiveness plagued his career.  Why he could never complete the many movie screenplays he’d started became apparent after his diagnosis. They would take months to write, an insufferable amount of time to the mind of someone with ADHD, who bore quickly and are easily distracted. Green excelled at skit writing, a comparatively quicker though equally challenging craft.

“Anything I was successful at I could make sense of and the things where I struggled, like trying to finish a screenplay, never happened,” says Green. “And I could see why and let go of the guilt and take all that energy to other projects.”

ADHD Awareness Month In 1 Minute from TotallyADD.com on Vimeo.

Green’s website TotallyADD.com is filled with witty videos, blogs, and webinars. In operation since 2009, the website is on track to hit two million visitors this year. A labour of love, Green says at one point, he had to sell his house to keep the website up and running. Books, DVDs and merchandise are for sale on the site, but there’s plenty of free information, including a coaching directory and chat forums. He also offers presentations, workshops and talks on ADHD and his currently performing his one-man show on the subject, titled My Award-Winning Coast-to-Coast Mental Disorder.

Other entrepreneurs who have the disorder include:

[Cameron Herold (Twitter)]

Cameron Herold has built three companies beyond the $100 million mark. Previously vice president of Ubarter.com and COO of 1-800-GOT-JUNK?, he is now chief operating officer of coaching company BackPocket.

[Richard Branson (Time)]

Virgin Airlines founder Richard Branson, who quit school at 15 and had trouble into his fifties distinguishing the difference between the terms gross and net, is a wealthy adventurer who leads an empire comprising more than 400 companies.

[David Neeleman (L), Chairman and CEO of JetBlue Airways, shows Chicago Mayor Richard Daley (R) some of the features of a JetBlue aircraft at O’Hare Airport October 26, 2006 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)]

JetBlue Airways founder David Neeleman told ADDitude magazine: “If someone told me you could be normal or you could continue to have your ADD, I would take ADD.”

[Paul Orfalea, Todd Zeile and Natalie Orfalea during Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation Annual Gala at Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, California, United States. (Photo by E. Charbonneau/WireImage/Getty)]

Kinko’s founder Paul Orfalea struggled with severe dyslexia and ADD/ADHD as a child, which made it impossible to follow along in the classroom.

[Ingvar Kamprad, founder of IKEA, is seen after being presented the Lifetime Achievment Award by Princess Victoria of Sweden at the Swedish Chamber of Commerce Centenery Celebrations on May 12, 2006 in London, England. (Photo by Chris Jackson/Getty Images)]

Ingvar Kamprad, Swedish founder and chairman of IKEA stores, stated he adapted the inner workings of his business to compensate for his ADHD and dyslexia.

According to Forbes.com, research suggests that a tendency to be self-employed and an entrepreneur is dominant in those with ADHD.  A notable U.K. study showed a genetic link between a dopamine receptor gene variation associated with ADHD and the tendency to be an entrepreneur. Sensation seeking, common in ADHD, is more common among entrepreneurs than in the general population and anecdotal reports bolster this point, saying that people with ADHD are three times more likely to own their own business.

Making the most of ADHD in business

So if entrepreneurial ADHD is a real thing, what can people with ADHD who aren’t the Richard Bransons or David Neelemans of the world, do?

Learn to create systems and delegate mundane tasks to an assistant or partner, recommends Linda Walker, a Montreal-based ADHD coach whose specialty is entrepreneurs. Find someone to do the paperwork or administrative work. Typically, these business bright lights aren’t short on good ideas, but they have difficultly executing their schemes, trouble with time management and they bore quickly with routine tasks. Something as basic as accounting could derail an entrepreneur’s grand plan.

“It’s not a lack of will that makes them have difficulty writing a proposal it’s just a question of ‘where do I start?’” she says. “We look at energy patterns. When are you most able to focus and focus for a long time? How can we optimize those periods of the day? ADHDers are very much powered by interest, competition, novelty and sometimes urgency.”

Hire a coach, eat a balanced diet, exercise, meditate, try medication, find the right career or business and find the right life partner are all on the to-do list of the entrepreneur with ADHD. Left unchecked ADHD can lead to a slew of issues that include addictions, anxiety, depression,  impulsive spending, frequent accidents, poor relationships and underachievement at school, work and at home.

Getting the medical profession to grasp ADHD is a big part of the problem, says Hallowell, who believes physicians and psychiatrists often misdiagnose ADHD for other conditions.

“I can fill many buildings with Nobel prize winners, Pulitzer prize winners and self-made millionaires and billionaires who have ADD,” Hallowell says. “The diagnosis can truly change your life dramatically for the better. Don’t be afraid of it.”

[aaronbroverman-blog]

The strange and lucrative world of celebrity death pools

[A woman leaves flowers beneath a mural of David Bowie in Brixton on January 11, 2016 in London, England. British music and fashion icon David Bowie died in early 2016 at the age of 69 after a battle with cancer. (Carl Court/Getty Images)]

CNN calls 2016“The Year of Celebrity Death” and while most people mourned the deaths and celebrated the lives of Arnold Palmer, Prince, Garry Shandling, David Bowie and more, some people are actually cashing in on them.

Proving the maxim that you can literally find anything on the internet, celebrity death pools have some people cheering every time a celebrity dies. For those of you still putting your eyeballs back in your head, these are websites like Stiffs.com, The Ghoul Pool and TheDeadpool.com where you can pick celebrities you think will bite it over the next year and when they do, you can sometimes win money (and always win bragging rights) as long as you have the most dead celebrities on your list by the end of the year.

As you can imagine, 2016 has been a banner year for those trying to move up in the ranks on the death pool, not unlike another year not too long ago.

“Remember the year Patrick Swayze, Michael Jackson, Billy Mays and Ed Kennedy died? Yeah? That year was 2009. That year was massive for celebrity death,” says Jobi, who prefers to remain semi-anonymous as the creator and manager of Doug Stanhope’s Celebrity Death Pool where he is known on the boards as “Reaper.”

It was the sheer volume of celebrity deaths in 2009 that caused Jobi to want to do a celebrity death pool, but that wasn’t the only thing.

“I’ve had a front row seat to a lot of tragic and bloody deaths, mostly loved ones and a few random strangers, so I’ve become a little fascinated by death (and numb to it at the same time),” he told Yahoo Canada Finance in an email exchange.

“Although I’m generally pessimistic when it comes to humanity (especially when it’s noticed that people only post kind thoughts about someone after they have died, not during their life), death usually brings everyone a little closer. At least until the pain and feeling loss fades away, then they go back to being pricks again. Personally, I find the different cultural aspects of death riveting. How people cope with personal loss, celebrity loss, even local or national loss on a certain scale.”

It wasn’t until 2011 that Jobi actually started a backyard version of the celebrity death pool with his buddies. But after two years of trying to maintain an Excel spreadsheet, keep track of the points and cope with the growing number of people that wanted to play, a website seemed like the next logical step. Good thing he had the perfect way to make it popular.

A Fame Game

Jobi inserted himself into the life of comedian Doug Stanhope in 2005, when the former The Man Show host moved to Bisbee, Ariz.

I messaged him on Myspace…and he invited me to his New Year’s party. The rest was all downhill, or uphill — sometimes both in the same day —from there,” says Jobi.

So in 2011, when Jobi was doing that backyard celebrity death pool with his buddies, one of them was Doug Stanhope and he was really, really into the game. That’s when Jobi realized the best way to ensure that a lot of people participated in his celebrity death pool, when he transferred it to a website in 2013, was to put Stanhope’s name on it.

[Comedian Doug Stanhope performs onstage at Sinking Ship on September 13, 2012 in Indianapolis, Indiana. Stanhope isn’t actually the one running Doug Stanhope’s Celebrity Death Pool. (Photo by Joey Foley/Getty Images)]

“The only way it would be remotely popular would be to use Stanhope’s name. Since he was so into it, and no one would give a f*** about ‘Jobi’s Celebrity Death Pool’, using his name made sense. I pitched the idea to him and his manager over drinks. They loved the idea, so we moved forward,” he recalls.

“I only got in as a goof since I don’t really follow pop culture. And then as the ball dropped on New Years’ Eve and we all revealed our 20 picks for the year, I became immediately hooked. Every day that year I found myself going to Wiki Deaths 2011 before even checking my email. Summer hadn’t even come before I was making notes for next year…By the start of the 2012 pool, I had been sitting at the computer like some racetrack handicapper for months and all but kept my picks locked in a briefcase to my wrist,” Stanhope wrote on his blog in 2012.

Stanhope’s endorsement obviously worked. The site has about 1,200-1,500 users at last count, Doug Stanhope’s Celebrity Death Pool is the top result when you search ‘Celebrity Death Pool’ online, Jobi appears every once in a while on Stanhope’s popular podcast to promote it and the t-shirts sell like hotcakes.

Of course there’s still room for improvement; Jobi’s a big fantasy baseball fan and would like to provide players with more “stats” on their famous picks. The kind of variables that would perhaps make them more likely to be included or excluded as picks likely to bite it. He’d also like to fund the site entirely through advertising.

The Deep End of the Death Pool

As it turns out, celebrity death pools have infinite depth in their styles and variations. But the dominant forms of gameplay are split between the set-it-and-forget-it style of Stiffs.com – the oldest celebrity death pool on the Internet – and the fantasy sports style of Doug Stanhope’s Celebrity Death Pool.

Riffs on the Stiffs.com variation are more common. This is where players pick a list of ten celebrities they think will die over the next year and for every celebrity on their list that does, they earn points (the younger the celebrity, generally the more points you earn) and the player with the most points at the end of the pool wins the pool.

As for prizes, money is controversial when it comes to celebrity death pools. In the U.S. (where most of these sites are based) online gambling is illegal. Stiffs.com once funded cash prizes for their pools from the $10 fee players submitted for each list they created (although, a third list could be obtained for free when you bought two) but eventually their lawyers advised against it. Now they offer physical prizes such as a 60-inch HDTV, a Las Vegas vacation package and a MacBook Air for the top finishers.

Jobi confirms that Doug Stanhope’s Celebrity Death Pool is in a similar boat.

“For an operation this small, the hoops we’d have to jump through and the legal sh*t storm we’d have to avoid [to award cash] would not be worth the pain,” he says. “If you and your friends gamble privately, well, that’s alright with us.”

Money still factors in however, because those who want to start a new league or “Funeral Home” on Doug Stanhope’s Celebrity Death Pool must pay the site for the privilege. The bigger the Funeral Home, the more these “Funeral Directors” pay, but they do get some Doug Stanhope merchandise as a thank you. For players who just want to join a Funeral Home and pick celebrities, there is no cost.

As far as the point structure on Doug Stanhope’s Celebrity Death Pool, older celebs give you fewer points, younger give you more. If you are the only person in your Funeral Home that has picked a celeb that dies, you get solo hit points (25 points), and if in the whole website, that’s a site-wide solo (50 points). Oh, and don’t forget the bonus points: overdose, (“The Amy Winehouse” – 25 points) murder, (“The John Lennon” – 50 points) dying on their birthday (“The Machine Gun Kelly” – 50 points) and more.

“Sure, some people can see it as morbid and disrespectful,” says Jobi, who doesn’t think the bonuses are in bad taste. “There’s nothing wrong with that; however, I’ve seen friends that find it morbid at the beginning and then totally warm up to the idea and play. People find the UFC bloody and morbid, but some of them can’t take their eyes off of it. Morbid curiosity is a powerful thing.”

A Strategy Anyone Would Kill For

Speaking of strategy, what are the best ways to ensure the most celebs on your list take a dirt nap the year you pick them? (Murder will get you disqualified – we checked.)

Pay attention to the news. Do homework. We have a lot of ‘fringe’ celebs in the database, so pay attention to the obscure ones as well,” says Jobi.

Fringe celebs aren’t just the ones on the C-list and D-list, they could be famous only in certain countries. A member of parliament or a little-known television personality from another part of the world could help secure some of the big point bonuses, especially with players in 22 countries. Not everyone is happy with which celebrities make Jobi’s database, however.

A chunk of players constantly b*tch about certain additions to the database, but again, they are only concerned with what they think is a celeb. They really have no idea how difficult it is for one person to make those kind of calls. I definitely f*** up occasionally by adding or denying a celeb that should or shouldn’t make the cut, but I think I’m getting better at reining in the criteria,” says Jobi.

Plus, savvy players can take advantage of such a wide net, by getting more points and bonuses than the majority of their rivals. All they have to do is pay attention. Some sites like Stiffs.com lock you in to a list of celebrities for the entire year with one alternate, while others like Doug Stanhope Celebrity Death Pool allow trades, so you can swap out certain celebrities for others.

For the most part, Jobi says, people use the site as it was intended: to have fun and not take the world too seriously. The best time to start playing is January 15 and despite what the site says, they will be open for the 2017 season (they just haven’t updated it).

“Our site motto is ‘Everyone Dies. Let’s At Least Have Fun With It.’ I’d like to think we’re ahead of the curve when it comes to dealing with death,” says Jobi.

They certainly are. Doug Stanhope’s Celebrity Death Pool has been growing steadily since launch, but there’s one thing Jobi secretly prays for every day that would put them over the edge.

“I’m hoping a celeb gets pissed that they’re on our site and b*tches about it. That would be great publicity,” says Jobi.

But so far, the celebs that know they’re on the list are taking it in stride.

“I have maybe three celebrity friends, and they would pick themselves if they could, but that’s against our rules,” says Stanhope. “Check the f***ing rules, go to the site and sign up for next year. It’s always wicked fun. You can play your shitty fantasy football all fall and winter, but death pool goes all year round.”

[michaelshulman-blog]

How you can get your hands on your unclaimed cash

$4 billion to $7 billion.

That is the estimated amount of unclaimed cash belonging to Canadians that is locked away by companies and government agencies, and available for recovery.

The Bank of Canada alone is holding about $626 million, including one balance dating back to 1900.

So how do you know if you’re one of the millions of Canadians who could have assets sitting unclaimed in a vault?

To start, the Bank of Canada offers an online search tool that lets you track down any unclaimed balances that you are entitled to.

The central bank holds onto Canadian cash or negotiable instruments – e.g. banknotes, demand drafts or cheques – that were held by federally regulated banks or trusts after they were inactive for at least 10 years.

That includes the following types of balances:

Chequing and savings accounts

Credit card balances

Term deposits

GICs

Depository receipts

Bank drafts

Certified cheques

Money orders

Official cheques

Traveller’s cheques

If you find out it has been holding onto your money, you have to submit a claim.

If you’ve got a substantial amount of cash sitting in the Bank of Canada’s coffers there’s no need to rush. It will hold onto balances of $1,000 or more for 100 years.

It will also stash amounts under $1,000 for 30 years.

After that, the Bank of Canada will transfer the funders to the Receiver General for Canada and they will be gone for good.

But the good news is that for the first ten years, funds that were held in interest-bearing savings accounts, before being transferred to the Bank of Canada, will continue to rack up interest.

Meanwhile, other common assets are not held by the central bank, including:

Accounts in U.S. dollars or other foreign currencies

RRSPs and RRIF

Life insurance policies

Credit union of Caisse populaire accounts

Unclaimed balances at utilities and other companies

Gold or silver certificates

Safety deposit boxes

Stocks and dividends

These types of assets can be more difficult to track down, as Canada lacks comprehensive unclaimed property legislation, unlike many other developed nations.

On the provincial level, only British Columbia, Alberta and Quebec have legislation related to the issue.

Residents of those provinces can search for unclaimed balances using databases similar to the Bank of Canada’s here:

British Columbia’s Unclaimed Property Society

Revenu Quebec

Alberta Finance

Canada’s Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy Canada also holds some unclaimed property related to bankruptcy.

The Bank of Canada advises people to contact provincial securities commissions about money they’re entitled to that were in stocks, dividends or securities.

LegacyTracker – a website that is geared towards helping people track their finance and estate documents – has also pooled a list of resources for Canadians to hunt down their unclaimed assets.

[miriamporter]

What to do if you are the victim of identity theft

In 2014, over 20,000 Canadians had their identity stolen — a 20 per cent increase from just two years prior. For those who have to go through it, it’s a real headache of figuring out whether it had been stolen via phishing email, at a compromised ATM, taken by a fraudulent employee, or any other of the many scenarios that can lead to a thief having your identity.

If you find yourself in this unfortunate scenario, taking action immediately is critical. So once you stop crying and swearing profusely in your head, it’s time to get down to business. Here are ten steps to start the process of reclaiming your identity.

1. Close all your bank accounts

It’s helpful to personally go to your financial institution and tell a manager what happened so they can close your bank accounts immediately and reopen them under different account numbers. At the very least, call to report a stolen bankcard or if you have mistakenly responded to a phishing email and provided personal information.

If you are paid via direct deposit and/or receive government funds you will need to update these institutions with your new accounts, too. It’s a tedious but necessary job.

2. Cancel your credit card(s)

If your credit card is at a different financial institution than your bank account you will need to call them, too. Go over your credit card statement to ensure all charges are correct.

3. Change your passwords

Yes, all of them, not just your banking passwords. That includes Facebook, since social media websites are connected to your identity, as well as any accounts linked with your banking information, like Netflix or your Starbucks card. These days we have passwords for so many things, it’s helpful to make a list of all the websites you need to update. Having different passwords is recommended and there are apps to help you keep this organized digitally.

4. Call the credit unions

Call the two main credit unions to put a fraud warning on your account, Transunion Canada and Equifax Canada. This will (hopefully) prevent someone from impersonating you and taking out a large loan or line of credit in your name. Once the alerts are in place, you will be contacted if someone attempts to use your name to obtain funds.

5. Have your computer scanned for viruses

Whether you have a PC or Mac it’s crucial to have your computer scanned for viruses such as malware. Do not to use new debit or credit cards for online transactions until your computer it is in the clear for viruses.

6. Contact the police (if necessary)

Depending on the severity of the theft, contact the police and report the crime. If a report is filed, include the police report number in all your correspondence. Do not call 911. Contact the Crime Prevention Officer at your local Police Division via their non-emergency number.

7. Report the identity theft or fraud

The Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre (CAFC) “collects information and criminal intelligence on such matters as mass marketing fraud, advance fee fraud, Internet fraud and identification theft complaints”. If you have been the victim of identity theft report the incident with CAFC.

8. Government issued cards

Depending on the severity of your identity theft (phishing scam versus a thief stealing funds) you may need to have your government ID cards reissued. This may be the most tedious task you face when trying to recover from identity theft. All you can do is take a deep breath, and hope the lineups are short. If you need to get new IDs such as your SIN, license, or health cards start by calling 1 800 O-Canada.

9. Correct your credit report or dispute false charges

This may not apply to you, but if it does you will want to dispute any false charges as soon as possible to ensure your credit rating is not affected by something you didn’t do.

10. Sign up for alerts and monitoring

Alerts and monitoring are a great way to keep tabs on your accounts. You can have emails or text messages sent to you according to the parameters you set. You can also sign up for 2-step verification on any accounts that use this system and add an extra layer of security to accounts moving forward.

Once you’ve done everything on the list, relax: the hard part is over. Now you just need to wait for those new cards to arrive a perfect excuse to have friends treat you to a dinner out.

[michaelshulman-blog]

Considering quitting your job? Don't bother flipping a coin, just go for it

Considering quitting your job? Don’t bother flipping a coin, just go for it

When forced to make an impossibly difficult decision, such as accepting a job offer and leaving another, I’ve often resorted to flipping a coin and then going with my gut feeling that I got from results.

But a new working paper says I may be going about this process entirely the wrong way, and that, in fact, I should probably opt to make a change regardless.

The research, titled “Heads or tails: The impact of a coin toss on major life decisions and subsequent happiness,” by University of Chicago economics professor and co-author of “Freakonomics,” Steven Levitt, found that people reported being “substantially happier” months after they went ahead with an important decision, such as quitting a job, ending a relationship or starting a business.

“If the results are correct, then admonitions such as ‘winners never quit and quitters never win,’ while well-meaning, may actually be extremely poor advice,” Levitt wrote in the paper.

To come up with the results, Levitt created a website asking participants who were struggling with a life decision to answer questions about their conundrums.

Then, options (e.g. quit or stay at your job) were assigned to two sides of a coin, with one being the final choice.

Participants were also asked to offer up a friend or family member who could verify if they went through with the results of the coin flip.

The outcome was randomized and they were shown the results.

Participants and their correspondents were then re-surveyed two and six months after the initial coin toss.

Over a year of data collection, more than 20,000 coins were flipped.

In terms of the questions that were rated as “important” by the study, the most popular were:

“Should I quit my job?” which received 2,186 tosses;

“Should I break up with my significant other?” which received 1,686 tosses;

“Should I go back to school?” which received 1,203 tosses;

“Should I start my own business?” which received 893 tosses.

And Levitt found that those who were told by the coin to make a change were not only more likely to go through with it but also more likely to feel better about themselves down the road than those who were instructed to maintain the status quo.

“When it comes to ‘important decisions’ … making a change appears to be not only correlated with increased self-reported happiness but also causally related, especially six months after the coin toss,” Levitt wrote.

“Those who were instructed by the coin toss to make a change were both more likely to make the change … and, on average report great happiness on the follow-up surveys,” he added, noting that about 63 per cent respondent adhered to the results of the coin toss after two month, including 56 per cent of those facing “important decisions.”

Levitt said the results suggest that people may be “excessively cautious when facing life-changing choices.”

In contrast, decisions designated “less important” – such as “Should I break my bad habit?” “Should I go on a diet” “Should I quit drinking” and “Should I try online dating” – in general, did not have a “measurable impact” on happiness after the fact.

The study does have some limitations: participants were recruited through Freakonomics-related social media and were likely to be aware and supportive of Levitt’s research; respondents tended to be young, male and highly educated; and the subject pool was limited to those facing dilemmas and were open to solving them with the flip of a coin.

But maybe next time you’re faced with making a tough life decision, keep the coin in your wallet.

[summerfanous-blog]

What to do with your Samsung Galaxy Note 7 now that it’s been recalled

After repeated reports of smoke and explosions, the Galaxy Note 7 is off the shelves, for good.

While Samsung wades through the mess of millions of recalls and refunds of millions of dollars’ worth of phones and accessories from around the world, if you had one of these devices, you’ve got your own work cut out for you: Where and how do you return your potentially-dangerous device

Luckily, your task is not nearly as complicated as Samsung’s. For the tech giant, nixing the Note 7 is a major upset and, as reported this week by The New York Times, a rarity in today’s fast-paced industry. In today’s world of technology, companies typically continue to fix and fiddle until the problem is discovered and resolved.

[The Galaxy Note 7 is being permanently discontinued. (CNBC)]

In Samsung’s defense, they did try to fix the problem. The first phone explosions were reported in August. Since then, the multi-billion-dollar South Korea-based electronics company has attempted, repeatedly, to determine the cause of the malfunction.

To date, an official reason for the phone’s defect has yet to be announced, although it appears the battery is to blame. It’s likely this was the last reason Samsung wanted to hear, as the battery is non-removable. This is another reason why a complete recall has been declared.

First steps

To swap your Note 7 for a safer option, first, shut it off. Samsung is recommending that everyone power off their phones immediately, regardless of whether you’ve experienced any personal problems with your device.

Exchange at a retailer

Next, take your phone back to whomever you purchased it from. Samsung, along with essentially all the major national retailers—including Telus, Bell, Rogers and SaskTel—are offering to exchange your phone for a device of equal or lesser value. Samsung will also refund your purchase altogether, if you so choose.

Online purchase via Samsung

If you ordered your phone via Samsung’s website, you should have received an email with instructions on shipping. It’s important to follow protocol, as national and international mail carriers are refusing to deliver Galaxy Note 7s that aren’t shipped in Samsung-monitored packaging. Samsung will send the appropriate shipping container directly to you.

Online purchase via anyone else

If you ordered online from any other main retailers, you will need to deliver it in person to the store nearest you.

What to get next

As for a worthy replacement, Samsung is limiting customers to a Galaxy S7 or Galaxy S7 Edge—which might not be such a bad option anyway. The Galaxy S7 Edge has received great reviews for its long battery life, water resistance and state-of-the-art camera.

If you are willing to spend a little more and wait a little longer, the Google Pixel is receiving noteworthy buzz. Boasting top-of-the-line features in just about every category possible, the 5-inch and 5.5-inch Pixel XL are looking to be the best Androids on the market yet, hands down.

For 2.5 million people who rely on their new Note 7 phones daily, this Samsung fiasco is a serious inconvenience. Fortunately, major providers have made it relatively easy to get your hands on an exchange or a loaner today. For Samsung, the solution not so simple. How the tech giant will fare from this PR nightmare and $2.3 billion loss remains to be seen.

[michaelshulman-blog]

Gender inequality starts with discrepancy in childhood chores

SANLIURFA, TURKEY – OCTOBER 28: (TURKEY OUT) A Kurdish refugee girl from the Syrian town of Kobani carries water in a camp in the southeastern town of Suruc, Sanliurfa province October 28, 2014. (Photo by Kutluhan Cucel/Getty Images)

The wage gap between genders may begin before women even enter the workforce, according to a new a report from UNICEF.

The disparity in pay can be linked back to childhood as many girls are being tasked with performing more household chores than their male counterparts.

According to the report, titled “Harnessing the Power of Data for Girls, ” girls around the world between the ages of five and 14 spend 160 million hours a day more than boys of the same age cooking, cleaning, shopping, doing laundry, fetching water or firewood, caring for their siblings and other duties.

Girls ages five to nine spend an average of four hours per week performing these chores, but that number rises to nine hours for those between the ages of 10 and 14.

These figures are 30 and 50 per cent higher than boys from the same respective age groups.

In the three countries where girls are saddled with the most of the domestic work – Somalia, Ethiopia and Rwanda – more than half of girls aged five to 14 can spend at least 14 hours a week, or at minimum two hours a day, picking up these duties.

UNICEF said this data is troubling because it shows how their childhood roles can dash girls’ hopes for the future and push them into gendered career paths.

“The types of chores commonly undertaken by girls – preparing food, cleaning and caring for others – not only set the state for unequal burdens later in life but can also limit girls’ outlook and potential while they’re still young,” UNICEF said in the report.

“The gendered distribution of chores can socialize girls into thinking that such domestic duties are the only roles girls and women are suited for, curtailing their dreams and narrowing their ambitions.”

According to Quartz, nearly 90 per cent of girls are growing up in low- and middle-income countries, most in parts of Asia and Africa, where physically-demanding chores are the norm.

And it is girls who are often asked to shoulder the majority of these household burdens and give up opportunities to “learn, grow and just enjoy their childhood,” Anju Malhotra, principal gender advisor at UNICEF, said in a press release.

“The overburden of unpaid household work begins in early childhood and intensifies as girls reach adolescence,” she said.

“This unequal distribution of labour among children also perpetuates gender stereotypes and the double-burden on women and girls across generations.”

The report added that household chores are not valued as much as jobs, which renders the societal contributions of girls less visible and has “lasting effects on their self-esteem and sense of self-worth.”

The global pay gap between men and women remains firmly entrenched, despite progress in recent years.

A 2015 report by the World Economic Forum found that the difference in wages will not be closed until 2133.

It also ranked countries in terms of their efforts to level the playing field. Iceland, Norway, Finland, Sweden and Ireland led the pack, while Yemen, Pakistan, Syria, Chad and Iran finished at the bottom of the 145-nation list.

Canada came in 30th, just two spots behind the United States.

A study from earlier this year by Oxfam Canada and the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives looked at the most up-to-date data from Statistics Canada on the issue and found that women earn roughly 72 per cent of their male counterparts’ salary.

[whenwedrift]

Digital detoxing without losing your job (or your mind)

[It’s hard to put down the digital devices, but every once in a while, it can be the right move.]

Michael Harris convinced himself he was the world’s greatest multitasker, able to seamlessly navigate the three screens on his desk and the dozens of windows they had open.

“I was living with a kind of ambient awareness of everything, (my) attention 10 per cent on 10 different things,” says the former magazine editor and author of the Governor General’s Award-winning “The End of Absence,” an exploration of the way being plugged in has changed our lives practically, socially, intellectually and emotionally. “I was staring at glowing rectangles and realized this wasn’t the life I imagined for myself.”

So in 2012, he quit his job and decided to focus his attention on writing “The End of Absence,” complete with a 30-day digital detox. Now before you jump to the comment section, it’s worth noting that Harris knows his stance is a somewhat privileged one.

“For most people, taking 30 days offline while still trying to be a productive member of society is not reasonable,” he says, adding that pulling off a digital detox is actually possible for “99 per cent” of society.

Yahoo Canada Finance spoke with Harris and fellow Canadian digital detox expert Christina Crook whose book “The Joy of Missing Out” looks at finding balance in a wired world, about how to escape from the moment-to-moment connectivity without losing your mind and your job.

Decide on your ideal media environment

“When we look at the Internet as a tool, it helps put our use of it into perspective,” explains Crook. “Start by asking the right questions: how is the technology serving me and is it actually serving me in the ways I want it to?”

Defining what goals you want to complete with or without technology can be anything from writing out a list of planned accomplishments to developing a hard schedule.

“Social media is basically a technological meme that has evolved with the expressed purpose of filling in any gaps that you leave, so you can’t be passive about your day’s schedule,” adds Harris. “If I know I’m doing three hours before lunch of concentrated creative work (then) the media environment I require is one of total digital silence – no phone and no email.”

Make your media diet 

“The jolt of dopamine you get when you check your phone or email and there’s a message (is) the real reason you’re running back to your inbox,” says Harris. “In the same way we are designed to hoard sugar and fats and oils and have to make a decision to not eat McDonald’s everyday, we have to craft a healthier media diet for ourselves… which (requires) using a bit of willpower.”

Harris advocates spending at least one day every week or so unplugged while Crook recommends taking an afternoon a week where you unplug and do other activities like exercise or non-digital work.

“Leave the house and your phone behind or if you take it with you, have it off or have the data off,” she says. “Just give yourself over to other activities as a weekly reset.”

Keep people in the loop

The key to keeping your job while spending less time with your mobile device is to let your colleagues and boss know.

“We all believe the world would fall apart if we left, especially in business,” says Harris. But checking your email from a beach in Hawaii isn’t doing your colleagues a favour. “Usually there’s confusion for about half a day when somebody genuinely goes offline and then people figure it out – just make sure people understand you’re going offline.”

Crook agrees that setting parameters even on a day-to-day basis can help you preserve your online/offline sanity.

“There’s so much unspoken in office,” says Crooks. Which is why managers and employees alike should be communicating what that media environment needs to look like for them to be at peak performance. “We need space with mental real estate for invention – that fuels us creatively.”