Netflix seems to be one of the largest online movie streaming services at the present moment. Other applications such as Amazon and Apple’s own iTunes offer movies which are available on an individual basis. For people who have streaming devices they are offered such programs as Crackle which streams movies and does not charge any money at all, albeit their collection is rather limited and changes as time goes on. In the days where companies are competing with bandwidth offerings, many of those ISP’s are shelling out big money to upgrade their existing infrastructure to offer the highest speeds available.

As internet speeds are becoming faster and faster, customers have the ability to watch movies right from a device that can sometimes be a fraction of the size of the latest Blue Ray player. Blue Ray players offer superior image and audio resolutions to the outgoing DVD format which they were intended to replace. Companies such as Netflix and Amazon are already starting to roll out the ability to stream movies in 4K resolution which surpasses what Blue Ray is capable of doing.

Ultimately the benefits to streaming videos is only limited to the bandwidth available in a particular area. Companies are quick to keep up with the format offerings which are constantly changing because unlike much of the traditional hardware which may need to be replaced, the software might have to be the only thing that has to get upgraded. Ruling out the need to go and pick up videos from a rental store or waiting for them to have to be ordered through the mail also is added benefit and convenience.

Banking

Many banks rely heavily on their customers having internet accessibility in order to carry out regular day financial tasks. In fact many banks are doing away with brick and mortar branches all together in favor of entirely online banking. It is not hard to imagine a time in the very near future when all banking will be done online.

Personal Finances

Many of the types of consumer software that individuals and businesses use in order to keep track of record keeping require an internet connections in order to function properly and access all of the features of the consumer software. Most book keeping software can electronically file your taxes and take care of many other financial tasks when there is a reliable internet connection.

Education

Many public and private schools are also doing away with traditional communication methods for students, parents and teachers and relying more and more on email communication. Parents of students who want to stay involved and up to date on their child’s education and school news need an internet connection in order to stay in the loop. Many schools rely on parents viewing the school website in order to be aware of important announcements and changes. When a parent is not connected they can miss out on important information that can affect their child’s education.

Personal

Not everyone likes social media, but because so many people do, it is becoming the most popular and most easily used way to keep in touch with friends and family who are not close by. Perhaps in the past you could expect your loved ones to send you pictures through the mail and keep you up to date with phone calls or letters, but now everything is posted on social media and if you want to stay connected many people prefer you connect with them that way.

Having a CenturyLink Service in OR makes many aspects of your financial, educational and personal life easier and more compatible with the consumer software that is being used by our schools, banks, and other family members.

The rising rates of carbon emissions across the world have been inspiring better innovations in the car manufacturing industry. The automobile industry contributes a significant share of CO2 emissions and targeting the industry for efficient and more eco friendly vehicles is indeed a necessity. For the past few years, a number of green cars have hit the market and the following is a list of best five:

The BMW I3

The BMW I3 was one of the first electric cars in the market with a carbon emission rate of 13grams for every kilometer. The car demonstrates maximum energy efficiency and is actually an affordable option for people looking to buy eco-friendly cars today.

The Chevrolet Volt

The Chevrolet Volt is a popular hybrid car developed by US car maker General Motors. With an efficient fuel engine and rechargeable EV batteries, the car has a relatively lower emission rate of 27 grams for every kilometer. Just like the BMW I3, the vehicle is an affordable option for people looking for eco friendly electric cars.

The Audi A3

The Audi A3 Sedan is also a plug in hybrid car that is specifically built to reduce carbon emissions. The car has an emission rate of 37 grams for every kilometer and even though there is great potential for improvement, the emission rate is still among some of the lowest in the car sector.

The Mitsubishi Outlander

The Outlander is one of the most popular energy efficient cars in the market. The SUV can come as both a diesel and plug-in electric car and with an emission rate of 44 grams per kilometer. The Outlander is considered to be one of the greenest automobiles in the market today.

The Volvo V60

The Volvo V60 features an efficient 2 liter engine and is a popular Plug-in Hybrid car in the market. The car has an emission rate of 48 grams per kilometer and is one of the main pioneers in the green car revolution.

The concept of green cars is simply meant to reduce automobile emissions. So far, it seems a lot of car makers are seeing outstanding success in developing energy efficient vehicles.

Have you ever made a presentation for your school assignment or for your boss? Have you ever written anything in Word? Or made a sheet with your data? Yes? Well, congratulations, you used productivity software. In most cases, if your boss asks you if you can use computer he will want to know if you know how to work with Office software package. It doesn’t have to be Microsoft’s Office, any other software that helps you to produce information is a productivity software. So what else is there you ask? Well, here’s the short list of potential candidates.
Google Docs – Google’s own productivity software comes free but if you wish to include it into Google Apps you can pay $50/year for full business capability and support. Like most other Google’s services it is used online, so it doesn’t matter what your OS is as long as you are online. This cloud platform will enable you wide range of online share options as it is widely used and recognized. It supports most better known format. Google Docs is integrated with everything Google made so it’s highly compatible with Google-based tools which can be a life saver. It also has a mobile version and cloud function that works great to make it stand out of the crowd. It’s flaw might be the offline mode, but Google announced it to be fixed in 2015.

IBM Lotus Symphony – Symphony is free of charge and it runs on Windows, Mac OS X and Linux operating systems. It’s first 2007. version included Lotus Symphony Documents, Presentation and Spreadsheets. Through time the released new version in 2010. and made new plugins as well as support for cloud-based solutions, mobile and more. It’s major distinction from Office is multiple tabs that can hold different types of documents and it’s own Web browser that opens when you click links.

LibreOffice – Libre is another freebee that works on Windows, Mac and Linux OS’s. It was made when Oracle and OpenOffice.orf split and it includes word processor, spreadsheet and presentation maker, database front end and simple equation editor and last but not least: Draw for sketching. It supports most of the better known formats and boasts 30 languages support. Libre also has a portable version so if you are on the move this could be a software for you. This is also an open source software so if you are into that – this could be your choice. It should be noted that it covers more options then Lotus.

Zoho – Another cloud-based productivity software, it is free for common use. If you wish to use it with a business licence that will cost you $5/month for 20 workspaces. It supports most common file types and has the most widely used processors. It can work offline, but only for your last 25 documents. it is integrated with both Windows and Google; this option makes Zoho a very usable office suite. This comes to light especially if you are business type and have a need to share.