Mediaboss Marketing

Google has been working on making its TV experience faster, more responsive, and less of a hassle for users. According to a post on its support forums on Monday, the company has been working on improving boot time, general performance, and the number of options for managing storage on both third-party TVs as well as its Chromecast with Google TV streaming puck.

The company says that its made it so the Google TV homescreen loads faster, reducing the amount of time before you can pick out which content to watch. Google says it achieved the performance improvements through CPU optimizations and improvements to cache management and that theyve started to roll out on third-party devices and are coming soon for Chromecasts.

According to the post, users should be seeing faster performance in several areas when loading the Live tab, scrolling through the homescreen, or using a kid profile. Some of these improvements, according to the company, are thanks to the fact that Google TV itself uses less RAM, leaving more for apps, especially when youre switching between different screens.

The companys also responding to complaints that have cropped up about how storage limitations can make it difficult to install apps for Google TV, especially on devices like the Chromecast, which only really has 5GB of usable space, according to Android Police. Google says its added a menu in Settings > System > Storage thatll let you free up space by clearing the devices cache and uninstalling apps, which has rolled out to the Chromecast and will be coming soon to smart TVs. It also says theres an automated process that runs in the background to free up space for apps.

With recent reports about Google looking to integrate wearables and free channels into Google TV, it seems like the company could be getting ready to push users toward its big screen experience. If thats the plan, it makes sense that its trying to improve on the basics now. However, as people need more and more apps to keep up with the growing number of streaming services, it may be time for hardware manufacturers (including Google) to consider upgrading the amount of storage that comes with Google TV devices. While software tricks may help reduce the number of low storage error messages, theres really no substitute for just having more space.

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Google admits its Google TV software is too slow - The Verge

Managing a brewery is a juggling act, and it involves keeping an impressive amount of chainsaws (read job tasks) balanced in your hands and in the air around you. Lets just consider a few of the business facets that could coexist under the term craft brewery physical brewing operations, packaging hall, restaurant, bar, distribution wing, government compliance, merch, events, oh my. Then, each one of those umbrella terms branches off into a variety of other managerial ecosystems.

Lets just ponder beer recipes for a moment. How do you manage them? Like on paper? Or in an excel spreadsheet? Your head? Someone elses head? Thats concerning. What if you could quickly search an extensive database of grains to quickly dial up your grain bill? What if you had access to instant gravity and color calculations to make dialing in your beer recipes a breeze? What if this same program/portal/software/thingy also streamlined a bunch of other brewery managerial ops COGS analysis, TTB reporting, yeast management and so much more. Well dear reader, I know of such a software service. Its called Ollie Ops, and its the spotlight of Craft Brewer Business latest webinar: Software Solutions Built by Brewers, For Brewers. Here are the deets:

Ollie Ops will be hosting a webinar withCraft Brewing Businesson Wednesday, Sept. 21 (from 1:00 to 2:00 p.m. EDT), to help breweries and beer pros discover how to streamline brewing operations with software. Sign up right here!

Quick question: What is Ollie Ops again? Ollie Ops (formerly Fermentable, owned by parent company Next Glass) is an easy-to-use software to help you manage your brewing operations. Your business is brewing beer, not managing spreadsheets, compiling TTB reports and fumbling through brew logs. The folks at Ollie Ops know the ins and outs of the industry, so they developed a software that gets the paperwork out of the way, so you can get brewing.

Heres an example: When it comes time to generating TTB reports, the classic process can easily involve a full day or more of rummaging through brew logs that had been through the ringer of an active brewing environment, not to mention illegible handwriting. Ollie Ops can generate those TTB reports with only a couple of clicks. It can also automatically track real time raw material inventory and enables simple, intuitive brew log management. It saves brewers time on paperwork, allowing them to focus on their craft. Wanna learn more?

The webinar is free.Sign up right here.

Here are our speakers:

Kyle Kensrue is a brewery solutions account executive at Next Glass (parent company of Ollie Ops). He worked in the hospitality industry for 10 years before moving over to the brewing world. As director of operations at Randolph Beer (Brooklyn, N.Y.) he was in charge of developing their brewing program, to go along with their established bar and restaurant group. He also spent time as the director of operations at the award-winning Gun Hill Brewing (Bronx, N.Y.). Kensrue is a Certified Cicerone and former president of the NYC Brewers Guild.

Dustin Jeffers is a solution consultant at Next Glass. He received his Bachelors Degree from the University of Connecticut and his Masters Degree from Florida Atlantic University. He has been in the beer industry since 2012, working at Saltwater Brewery as the head brewer/chief operations officer and at 3 Sons Brewing Co. as the director of operations. Jeffers has been a part of multiple aspects of the brewing industry including brewing, front of house, sales and operations.

The webinar is free.Sign up right here.

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Sign up for our free webinar: Optimizing your brewery operations (COGS to yeast management) with a flexible software solution - Craft Brewing Business

Aug 22 (Reuters) - Ford Motor Co(F.N) said it will cut a total of 3,000 salaried and contract jobs, mostly in North America and India, as it restructures to catch up with Tesla Inc (TSLA.O) in the race to develop software-driven electric vehicles.

Ford Chief Executive Jim Farley has been saying for months that he believed the Dearborn, Mich. automaker had too many people, and that not enough of its workforce had the skills required as the auto industry shifts to electric vehicles and digital services.

"We are eliminating work, as well as reorganizing and simplifying functions throughout the business. You will hear more specifics from the leaders of your area of the business later this week," Farley and Ford Chairman Bill Ford wrote in a joint email.

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Ford shares were down 4.8% in midday trading amid broader declines on Wall Street.

Like other established automakers, Ford has a workforce largely hired to support a traditional combustion technology product lineup. Going forward, Farley has mapped out a strategy for Ford to develop a broad lineup of electric vehicles. Like Tesla, Ford wants to generate more revenue through services that depend on digital software and connectivity.

Tesla's pre-tax profit margins have exceeded Ford's this year, and Farley has been blunt about the need to cut costs.

In Monday's email to staff, Farley and Ford said the company's cost structure "is uncompetitive versus traditional and new competitors."

Rising prices for batteries, raw materials and shipping are putting additional pressure on Ford and other automakers. Still, Ford has stuck to its full-year profit forecast, despite $3 billion in higher costs due to inflation.

Ford has begun separating its operations into electric, combustion engine and commercial vehicle operations. Farley said in July "cost reduction will happen" in the combustion operations. But Ford said on Monday the staff cuts will affect all parts of the company.

Rival General Motors Co (GM.N) in late 2018 moved to cut 14,000 jobs as it prepared to accelerate its electric vehicle strategy.

Ford, GM and Stellantis' North American operations will confront a new workforce challenge next year as they begin contract negotiations with the United Auto Workers union, which represents the Detroit automakers' U.S. factory employees.

UAW leaders have expressed concern that electric vehicles will mean fewer manufacturing jobs, and more jobs dispersed to non-union battery and EV hardware factories.

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Editing by Bernadette Baum

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Ford cuts 3000 jobs as it pivots to EVs, software - Reuters

Payroll4free is easy to use. It has a user-friendly interface making it easy for users to navigate through the site. The layout is also intuitive, so you will not have any problems when using this service. The customer service is one of its strongholds as they are available 24/7 via phone, email or chat.

HR.my is another free payroll software that seems to compete with Payroll4Free in terms of features. The best part of HR.my is that it packs quite a punch with its offers of unlimited employee management and data storage as opposed to the other 25 employees limit. However, since its a crowdfunded project, customer support is not so responsive.

On the other hand, TimeTrex is more suitable for SMBs and offers a free-to-use community edition of their payroll software.

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Benefits administration

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$8 per user, per month

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Yes

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$40 per month plus $6

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Four day maximum turnaround time

Go here to read the rest:
Payroll4Free Review (2022): Pricing, Features and How It Stacks Up - Forbes

With the help of the free utility app BgInfo, you don't have to remember all of your Windows 11 system information because it will always be available on your desktop.

As a practical matter, it is difficult to remember specific hardware and software information regarding your personal computer, particularly if the PC is a few years old. The exact CPU, network adapter, or version of Windows 11 we are using is just not information most of us remember and are ready to recite when asked. Yet this is just the kind of information that is often vital for identifying your system and troubleshooting problems.

SEE: Web 3.0 quick glossary (TechRepublic Premium)

The task of identifying systems and the hardware and software currently in use can be accomplished simply and easily with an app called BgInfo, which is part of the Sysinternals suite of utility applications freely available from Microsoft. By running BgInfo and making a few decisions on which information you would like to display, you can overlay pertinent system information on your Windows 11 desktop background image where it can be viewed at any time.

Figure A shows you a cut out of a standard Windows 11 desktop. Note that the current version is blank and devoid of system information.

Figure A

Download BgInfo from the Sysinternals website and extract the contents of the ZIP file into the C:WindowsSystem32 folder. You should have two new files in that folder, as shown in Figure B.

Figure B

When you run BgInfo, you will be presented with a configuration screen that you can use to change the default settings, as shown in Figure C. Under most circumstances the default settings will be adequate, but you may adjust to fit your needs.

Figure C

Once you are satisfied with your configuration settings, click the OK button. Now, when you look at the Windows 11 desktop, you will see your system information incorporated into your Windows 11 desktop background image, as shown in Figure D.

Figure D

As an alternative to downloading BgInfo, you may run the application directly from the Sysinternals Live website. Navigate to the BgInfo page and scroll down to the link shown in Figure E. When you click it, you will run BgInfo remotely.

Figure E

BgInfo can also be run from the command prompt with various parameters and switches applied. The switches allow you to save system information into a configuration file, a popup overlay or onto the Windows 11 taskbar as a user accessible icon. The available configuration parameters include:

By default, BgInfo replaces your current Windows 11 desktop background with a new one. However, by changing the default configuration settings, you can have BgInfo use the current background image and replace it with a version updated with your system information. The original image will still be intact on your system if you wish to change back.

Placing a shortcut to BgInfo into your Startup folder will update the Windows 11 system information every time the system is booted, so it will always display the latest information. Always available and up to date system information on your desktop could come in handy when you are trying to troubleshoot.

Read more:
How to display updated Windows 11 system information with BgInfo - TechRepublic