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A High-Tech Way to Prevent Cell Phone Driving Distraction

GeekSugar — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 09:05:12 -0800

A few months ago, I told you about a new program available for pre-order that turns off your cell phones once the key is in your car's ignition.

Now, there's another similar service to keep you safe and free from distraction while driving. ZoomSafer is a free service that uses your phone's GPS system to monitor your driving speed and prevent you from placing or receiving calls or texts when traveling over 10 miles per hour. The application is programmable to allow exceptions, like calls from certain important numbers. And an added bonus for parents or employers who want to monitor the driving habits of kids or employees on the job: if the system is overridden and a call is placed or text message sent, the account administrator receives an automatically-generated email alerting them to the phone's usage.

Right now, the service is only available for BlackBerrys, but will work with select Windows and Android phones early next year. I think this kind of service is a good idea to prevent distractions, especially for people without the willpower to simply ignore the phone while behind the wheel.

The Gender Gap Is Shrinking - Except at the Top

SavvySugar — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 12:00:23 -0800

It turns out, the difference between men and women's salaries is smaller than we thought - as long as those salaries aren’t very big to begin with. A new study from PayScale.com compared salaries across 90 different jobs, adjusting for any outside factors that might affect the salary (the location of the job, the worker’s education, etc.) except for the worker’s gender. What they found was surprising - to see the results, read on.

Share Your Career and Finance Advice in Our Community!

SavvySugar — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 04:00:52 -0800

Vent about your job, brainstorm your next big move, and share your personal and professional success with other readers in the SavvySugar Community! What do you do? Find like-minded savvy friends in some of our hottest groups.

How Do You Save?: How do you keep your budget in check? Dole out your advice to other readers trying to save a little green.
Ask Savvy: Submit a career or finance question for me to answer while giving other readers the opportunity to weigh in. Why rely on a Google search to satisfy your concerns when you can get help from your trusted community of Sugar friends?
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For those of you that already have an account, you can get started right away. For those who don't, you can browse the SavvySugar Community without an account, but to really dive in, register here. Here's a detailed guide to posting questions or posts to groups if you are new to the PopSugar Community.

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 16:00:00 -0800

How Not to Behave: Career Questions From Mad Men

SavvySugar — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 06:00:40 -0700

When it comes to workplace drama, Mad Men has it all: high-stakes accounts, employees fighting for promotions and power, interoffice affairs, drinking on the job, and professional talent clouded by shenanigans, secrecy, and even sexual harassment. Whenever I watch the show I am both captivated by the saucy situations and characters and thankful for how far we have come as professionals since the 1960s. Obviously, the characters' antics spark all kinds of career questions for us modern women. I've shared my learnings from the show, but where do you stand on their behavior?

January Jones Wanted to Be a Storm Chaser - What About You?	Have You Felt Discriminated Against at Work?	Do You Attend Conventions For Work?
Did You Intentionally Choose Your Career Path?	Have You Ever Had a Drink While on the Clock?	Do You Know Which Co-Workers Smoke?

Ask Two Guys About Guys: Why Do Men Who Have Partners Masturbate?

TresSugar — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 11:01:00 -0700

Colin Nissan and Sean Farrell of Don't Be That Guy fame have graciously agreed to answer some burning questions we women folk have about men. So check out their answer to the first question and stay tuned for more!

Today's question to Two Guys: "Why, if men get regular sex from their girlfriends or wives, do some of them still need to masturbate?"

To hear what the Two Guys have to say, read more.

On paper, we know this one doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. But then, neither does whacking off into a perfectly good sock and we do that too.

Ever since that magical adolescent day when we discovered there was amusement park in our pants, there was no turning back. We were powerless. Our penis became the puppeteer and when it told us it was time to dance, we danced. Boy, did we dance.

Please don’t make the mistake of taking this personally. For guys, masturbating is as unsexual, unromantic and unceremonial as doing Sudoku. It’s simply our default time killer. If there’s a two-minute lull at any given moment, our brain’s job is to assess the situation to determine the viability of a tug session. It’s very similar to the “Fight or Flight” adrenaline response, which incidentally, has been formally updated in some periodicals as “Fight, Flight or Masturbate Syndrome.”

Remember, this isn’t about you. It’s about us, our penises, maybe some lotion and the biological demons that we certainly can’t be held accountable for.

Would You Accept a Friend Request From Your Ex-Boss?

SavvySugar — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 06:00:47 -0700

It's no secret that social networking sites can cause some serious stress in the workplace. In some cases, there's anxiety over whether you should share your Facebook or Twitter accounts with job recruiters. In other cases, well-crafted online profiles might give you a leg up with potential employers. Still, we're probably most familiar with stories where something seen on Facebook or tweeted into the blogosphere, lands someone out of a job. But what if it's not your social networking conduct that's in question? In the case of Friendly Fred, it's his boss who may be out of line.

In a letter to Fortune, Fred details how he was fired by his employer - without warning or severance pay - and soon after, friended by the very same (and now ex) boss. Obviously, the lay-off has left Fred with some less-than-fond feelings for his old boss, and while he's in no rush to accept the request, he fears ignoring, or even declining it, is poor Facebook form.

While Fortune's Ask Annie doesn't offer any quick fix for Fred's query, she does reveal the findings of a recent OfficeTeam poll that suggests that most of the workforce would be apprehensive about friending their boss on Facebook - preferring to keep their personal network separate from the office. What do you think? Would you want to be Facebook buds with the boss who fired you?

Share Your Tips and Ask For Help in the SavvySugar Community!

SavvySugar — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 04:00:22 -0700

There's a lot to be said about money. Some say it's the root of all evil. Some say 'mo money, 'mo problems. Others say it's the key to happiness and success. No matter what your philosophy, most of us need it, use it, and have to work for it. Vent about your job, ask for help updating your resume, brainstorm your next big move, and share your personal and professional success with other readers in the SavvySugar Community! What do you do? Check out and join some of our hottest groups and share.

How Do You Save?: How do you keep your budget in check? Dole out your advice to other readers trying to save a little green.
Ask Savvy: Submit a career or finance question for me to answer while giving other readers the opportunity to weigh in. Why rely on a Google search to satisfy your concerns when you can get help from your trusted community of Sugar friends?
Resume Remedy: When you upload your resume (minus your personal details, of course), you give other group members, including me, the opportunity to constructively critique it and help you land your next gig.
Recession Proof: Give and take tips on how to stay afloat financially, save money, and use less. Share recipes, activities, and links to money-saving tips.
Start Your Own Group!: Planning on only spending $40 a day for a month? Start a group about it! Have tips and tricks for making a good impression on hiring managers? Start a group about it! Lend your career and finance expertise and get the encouragement you need to reach your goals by starting your own group.

The Best Companies to Start a Career

SavvySugar — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 18:30:02 -0700

Moving to a city that's first-time job seeker friendly can improve your chances of landing an entry-level job, and you're really in luck if you can score a position with a company that treats its beginner workforce especially well.

BusinessWeek compiled its annual list of the best places to launch a career by polling college career counseling directors across the country and collecting statistics from employers to learn about details like pay, benefits, training programs, and retention rates. See which employers took the top 10 spots and the average pay for entry-level hires when you read more.

Deloitte (Accounting): average pay $55,000 to $60,000
Ernst & Young (Accounting): average pay $50,000 to $55,000
PricewaterhouseCoopers (Accounting): average pay $50,000 to $55,000
KPMG (Accounting): average pay $50,000 to $55,000
U.S. State Dept. (Nonprofit/Government): average pay $60,000 to $65,000
Goldman Sachs (Investment Banking): average pay $60,000 to $65,000
Teach for America (Nonprofit/Government): average pay $35,000 to $40,000
Target (Retail): average pay $45,000 to $50,000
J.P. Morgan (Investment Banking): average pay $60,000 to $65,000
IBM (Technology): average pay $60,000 to $65,000

10 Areas of Government With the Greatest Job Growth

SavvySugar — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 04:30:07 -0700

Working for the government used to elicit groans of expectant dullness, but times have changed. Instead of criticizing working for the ultimate Man, Uncle Sam, more people are drawn to the secure nature of working for the federal government. According to a new report from the nonprofit Partnership for Public Service, the federal government will have hired 273,000 new workers by Fall of 2012 for jobs the group calls "mission critical" - that's a 41 percent hiring increase over the three previous fiscal years.

Partnership gathered hiring projections from 35 of the largest federal agencies and used the information to determine the 10 categories that will have the highest job growth. You can search job listings on the government's official job website, and see the 10 areas expected to undergo the most growth in the next three years when you read more.

Medical and public health: 54,000 new jobs by 2012.
Security and protection: 52,000 jobs
Compliance and enforcement: 31,280 jobs
Legal: 23,600 jobs
Administration and program management: 17,300 jobs
Accounting and budget: 16,640 jobs
Information technology: 11,500 jobs
Business and Industry: 10,770 jobs
Engineering: 10,640 jobs
Transportation: 10,560 jobs