WTVS News

Archive for October, 2010

There are a few reasons why a company might need to set up temporary offices . The first is expansion to a new territory. In this case a business may be sending an advance team to scout permanent office space, hire staff, and begin securing clients. This team will need an office to work out of, whether it’s a hotel room or an actual rented space. Other companies will choose to setup temporary offices for use during major office renovations and relocations. Another reason for setting up a temporary office is to oversee a short-term project, such as a large convention or event .

In all these cases, the temporary offices should be completely setup and ready to use before the employees arrive. One person or a small team should be in charge of finding and outfitting the temporary office so that it’s ready to go when the rest of the staff arrive.

While it is sometimes possible to lease furnished and equipped temporary office space, most companies will end up having to start from scratch. This means renting everything from furniture and work stations to break room appliances and office technology. If the temporary offices are just until the new space is up and running, they may want to go ahead and purchase all new computers and equipment that can just be moved to the permanent office when it’s ready. For truly temp offices, it will be necessary to secure computer, printer, telephone, and even server and projector rentals to make sure the office is completely functional.

The goal of any temporary office setup is to enable workers to do their jobs as easily as if it were their regular space. Regardless of the fact that it’s temporary, it’s the only office these people will have for as long as they are there.

The internet age is barely out of its teens and already it has moved from desktops to laptops to smart phones and now tablets like the iPad. Designed to fill the gap between a netbook and a smart phone, the iPad features a 9.7″ screen and the ability to run the same type of apps as the iPhone. Users can download entire books, watch streaming video, and play games on their iPad as well as run countless productivity, educational, and entertainment apps.

All these apps have to come from somewhere and people who started out making apps for the iPhone and other smart phones have quickly learned how to become iPad application developers . Some work for large companies while many others freelance or develop for themselves. Each one is convinced they can design the next big app and cash in.

It’s a big dream, but a highly improbable one. Some of the most popular apps on the market are free — created by large companies to improve use of their main services or sites. The market for paid apps is pretty much limited to the Apple App Store. Users can choose from hundreds of thousands of apps — and the number keeps rising. Being found in that crowded marketplace can be extremely difficult. However, all it takes is one killer app that catches the attention of the right people and some developer will cash in.

Planning a trip to the bustling yet exciting metropolis known as New York? You’ll have plenty of options to choose from when deciding how to spend your vacation. From choosing the perfect New York hotel for your comfort level, budget, and geographic needs, to deciding which attractions and events to attend while there, you have a lot of work to do before your vacation actually begins.

One approach is to divide the city by its boroughs and choose one or maybe two to visit. This will limit your options geographically and give you a chance to get to know an area. You could even choose a neighborhood rather than a borough and really sink your teeth into the area. Pick from Manhattan, Brooklyn, Harlem, Greenwich Village , or any other locale.

Another option is to center your trip around a theme. Maybe it’s history and you’ll focus on landmarks and museums that explore the city’s past. You could also focus on art, music, theater, fashion, diplomacy, education, shopping, food — or subsets of those. There are at least a dozen attractions and events that you could visit for each of those — hundreds for some of the larger areas. New York is really THAT big.

Another option is to borrow from literature or film. Pick your favorite book, movie, or television show set in New York and visit sites mentioned in the narrative. In the case of television shows currently in production , you may even be able to watch them do a location shoot, assuming they actually film in New York.

If none of those appeals, there’s always the hat, the dartboard, or the random page flip. Write down all the things you want to see and do on slips of paper and pull them out of a hat or put them on a target and blindly throw darts. For random page flip you get a NYC guidebook , close your eyes and flip through the pages, randomly pointing at an item, then repeat.

However you choose, as long as you start with an area, theme, or list of attractions that you already like, you’re sure to have a great time.

If you’re staying at hotels in Boston , one of the more remarkable experiences you can give yourself or your family is to take a trip to an unusual work known as The Mapparium. What is it? It’s a three story tall glass globe of the Earth, which you view from the inside. Standing on a thirty foot long bridge in the interior of the sphere allows a perspective of our planet that’s impossible to achieve by looking at a globe from the outside.

Located at the Christian Science Plaza in The Mary Baker Eddy Library for the Betterment of Humanity (which is a public museum and library, non-religious in nature), the globe is illuminated from the outside, so the details of the construction can be seen. It was built in 1935 and based on the Rand McNally political maps of 1934.

The bronze frame of this globe holds more than 600 concave glass panels, which glow from 300 lights placed outside. Electric clocks surround the equator and provide comparative times around the world. Visitors enter the globe through the Indian Ocean and exit through the South Pacific. By standing in this spot, visitors may see the planet from pole to pole without the distortions of area and distance that are created on a flat map.

Aside from leaving the planet itself or taking a world-wide trip, the Mapparium is one of the few places you can go to appreciate the scope and size of Earth. It may be found at 200 Massachusetts Avenue, and while it’s closed on Mondays, it’s open from Tuesday through Sunday from 10 am to 4 pm. To be certain the hours haven’t changed, you may call at this number: 617-250-7000.