Be Mindful of Your Online Communications. In our modern era, many potential employers search the Internet for online information on job candidates.  In fact, a December 2009 Microsoft study found that 79% of those in hiring positions vet applicants this way, and 70% reported rejecting candidates based on what they found online.  While privacy settings can help, it’s best to ensure any blogs, tweets, or social media profiles are appropriate for any audience.

Manage Your Social Media Presence. While sites like LinkedIn can be extraordinary job networking tools, it’s important to make sure any profile is complete and aids your search.  In other words, don’t aimlessly join every network, which can result in over-saturating social media sources and presenting an incomplete or inconsistent portrait of yourself on the web.

Build Quality Relationships. Networking that leads to job results is not about amassing the highest number of online contacts possible; it’s about quality contacts that can help you reach your end goal.  Simultaneously, it’s important to engage your contacts in your employment search by simply getting the word out.  From changing your profile status to posting an update that invites your connections to share their ideas, social media can help.

With the rise of social networking, greater awareness for online reputation management is emerging.  This recent Pew Internet & American Life Project study, for example, reports that more than two thirds of social network users ages 18-29 have adjusted their privacy settings to restrict what others see online.  And 57% of adult Internet users have admitted to using a search engine to look up their names and see what appears.  Clearly, our digital awareness is growing, and when it comes to employability and marketability that’s a very good thing.

“No serious economist wants to clamp down on public spending or raise taxes until the economy starts creating jobs at a more rapid clip,” according to the study, written by former BusinessWeek journalist Michael Mandel. The study examined Bureau of Labor Statistics data on the industries and sectors of the economy that led the U.S. out of recessions in 1981-1983, 1990-91 and 2000.

Mandel takes note of the policy battles telecom companies are having with federal agencies over whether regulation is required “to police competition in communications.” But in his view, there should be “no rush to regulate sectors of the economy that are finally beginning to reweave the severed connections between innovation and new jobs.” Putting Americans to work is more important than regulating growing industries, he writes. “With unemployment stuck at just under 10 percent, federal policy makers would be wise to take a countercyclical approach to regulatory policy as well as fiscal policy.”

Read the memo.

Airlines are also jumping on the broadband bandwagon.  According to one estimate, up to 1,200 commercial airliners in the U.S. alone will be equipped with Wi-Fi by the end of 2010.  Airlines are also increasing their participation in social networking channels, and online groups, such as FlyerTalk.com, which offer applications that connect members while on the road.  And, customers themselves are tapping into mobile broadband devices, creating communities of travelers in airports and in-flight.

People are tuning into social media as they travel to chat, network, and pass the time – a silent, digital discussion in keeping with our modern times.   Travelers also prize the useful information that is available, such as travel advice, coordinating cab sharing, or even finding a colleague or friend whose travel destination coincides with yours.  Social networking en-route can literally be the catalyst of a spontaneous reunion.

For airlines, Wi-Fi messaging has its benefits too.  Virgin America offers seat-to-seat messaging on its video screens.  The airline says customers who choose to use it enjoy the social functionality, and those who prefer to keep to themselves can turn it off.  On some flights Virgin America has even partnered with Match.com, encouraging in-flight flirting.  But aside from entertainment value, the airline reports that in-flight messaging has allowed them to address customer complaints while in-air, promoting a rapid response that brings greater satisfaction to customers.

What will it take for our health care system to make the leap from paper to digital records?To expedite adoption, the Department of Health Human Services has committed $27 billion to help speed electronic recordkeeping, and just last week the Obama Administration relaxed the rules that allow hospitals and doctors to qualify for federal funding.

Under the new rules, hospitals must meet 14 requirements, and doctors must fulfill 15 requirements – with both groups selecting an additional 5 goals associated with electronic health record adoption. Eligible doctors can receive as much as $63,750 under Medicaid and $44,000 from Medicare, and hospitals could be eligible for millions of dollars to make the transition. In fact, the current policy places such a priority on accelerating digital adoption that as of 2014, medical providers still beholden to paper records will incur financial penalties under Medicare.

Why is this shift so important?  While the U.S. is a technology leader in so many areas of medicine, paper records are far less efficient and more prone to error than electronic versions. If a doctor needs to review a patient’s file, requesting paper records is a far more arduous process than accessing it with a few keystrokes. Also, mistakes translating a physician’s handwriting sometimes lead to inefficient care and medical mistakes.

Fortunately, broadband providers are also rising to the challenge of speeding electronic medical record adoption. Verizon recently announced its plans to launch a cloud-based service that makes medical records available to authorized medical personnel. Meanwhile, AT&T is expanding its current cloud-based Healthcare Community Online solution, including real-time access to patient health records and relevant applications that enable medical professionals to provide faster and more accurate diagnosis at the point of care. And for those who are wary about keeping patient records secure, Cisco’s Medical Grade Network provides comprehensive protection for information, applications, and services related to digital records.

With so much to gain from embracing electronic health records, it’s encouraging that U.S. policy and our nation’s broadband providers are dedicating their time and resources to aiding American medicine’s modern transition to digital record keeping.

• Require an Ant-virus/Anti-Spam system installed, updated and running on all student computers.
• Use a web-based email system, so this centralized platform can stay up to date on security and Anti-spam software, as opposed to updating 1000’s of student computers.
• Develop Broadband use policies and educate students on the rules and explain the threats that can be mitigated when used intelligently.
• Colleges and Service providers should collaborate on implementing firewalls, and security policies that not only give students adequate web-freedom, but protect them from getting hacked while using the college broadband network.

Finally as colleges and students utilize the Internet for learning, teaching and new innovation, service providers should not lose sight of the fact that they can become “enablers of our future” by fully supporting our nation’s colleges and universities and their thirst for Internet connectivity.

The study’s most interesting finding was that African-Americans and English-speaking Latinos are among the most likely to use their mobile phones to access the Internet. This is encouraging, but to harness the Internet for critical purposes such as job searches, filling out employment applications, or doing homework, families need wireline connections. Even though minorities have ample access to the web through mobile phones, wireline broadband access will still be a key factor in bridging the divide.  Unless you have no problem looking at small screen for long periods of time, it’s difficult to use a smart phone to write a cover letter and resume, apply to college or do homework because it simply isn’t the same as a using a desktop or laptop.

Pew’s study suggests mobile broadband could help bridge the “digital divide.” Using a cellphone to access the internet for quick pieces of information, maps or restaurant locations could encourage people to buy computers and sign up for in-home broadband services.  “Poorer households see wireless devices as their gateway to the Internet,” the study said.

According to data from InsideView, the world was captivated by the World Cup games, often trading work productivity for a sneak peak.  A staggering 600 million watched the World Cup final this year; for perspective, 259 million watched the Olympic opening ceremonies, and 151 million watched the Superbowl.  An average 95 million viewers tuned in per match, and more than 120 million U.S. viewers watched at least a minute of telecasts.  The U.K. trumped U.S. at-work viewership though – amounting to $6.36 billion in lost productivity.  Overall, the survey found that 26% planned to take time off to watch the World Cup while 7% planned to work fewer hours to fit the games in.

From the beginning, the World Cup was also a major broadband event.  On the first day of the Cup alone, Internet usage hit an all-time high, and traffic to news sites reached 12.1 million visitors per minute.  Yahoo! quickly identified itself as a World Cup leader, drawing 22.7 million unique visitors in the early days of the contest, compared with 16.5 million unique visitors for ESPN and 7.4 million for CBSSports.com.

Others chose to watch the games on-the-go – a trend that launched a 12.7 percent increase in mobile video services in 2010.  In fact, the demand for World Cup is projected to translate to U.S. subscriber consumption of 178.8 million mobile video-on-demand items in 2010 – representing a 31.5 percent jump from 2009.

Social media set new records and gave rise to innovative applications, thanks to enthusiasm for the World Cup.  Twitter users published 3,283 tweets per second at the close of Japan’s victory over Denmark.  Compare that to the normal daily activity of approximately 750 tweets per second, and you have a spike that four times more than average.  The New York Times also added a creative feature to its coverage of the games, offering “World Cup visualization,” daily graphics that resize players according to their daily Facebook buzz.  How about that for an online popularity contest?

In case you missed the World Cup finale, broadband can help with that too.  Tune into Spain’s victory match and game highlights at a range of online sources from FIFA to ESPN.

Want to avoid high hotel Internet charges?  No problem.  HotelChatter.com can direct you to which hotels around the world offer free or inexpensive Internet.  Or if you have one of the many smartphones on the market today, simply surf on your Internet-enabled mobile.  Be sure to turn off the “long-distance roaming” setting though to avoid high charges and ride on local WiFi.  Or if you’re really committed to tracking the best WiFi hotspots, ThinkGeek makes a T-Shirt that sports a series of glowing bars that light up in relation to the strength of the wireless Internet connection in the vicinity.

From reading books to watching movies, the iPad is proving to be a useful leisure device – and for longer-form writing, a Bluetooth keyboard connected to the iPad gives the device the functionality of a notebook without the weight.  Other e-readers like the Kindle and Nook are making travel reading eminently more portable, but what about protecting your device from the elements while enjoying the great outdoors?  TrendyDigital makes a waterproof sleeve for e-readers for $20.  And for music, you have lots of options, such as bringing your iPod or MP3 player, with accouterments like a portable sound dock.  Or, you can tune into broadband radio stations like Pandora and Slacker in your car using your smartphone and an inexpensive adapter.

There are even ways to help keep all those vacation pictures organized.  While most digital cameras today come with geotagging, for those that don’t, travelers can purchase a geotagging memory card, such as Eye-Fi Explore.  The card has a built in Wi-Fi chip capable of pinpointing your geographic location, and can upload your pictures to the Internet automatically as well.  Or if you long for the days of old-school instant prints, the Polaroid PoGo mobile printer generates your snapshots in an instant for on-the-go scrapbooking.

Connected gadgets provide abundant options for our lifestyle on the go – enhancing both our daily life and our travel to far-away destinations.

Openlibrary.org, the website of the Internet Archive project, recently announced plans to make available more than a million books online.  From cataloging contemporary books from companies such as Overdrive, Inc., to offering older works published over the past 90 years, the website blows the doors open on modern lending.

How does it work?  While checking out digital books online may seem high-tech, the protocol is familiar.  Openlibrary.org links to local libraries that have specific digital books on loan.  To comply with copyright laws, only one individual at a time will be allowed to “check out” an e-book for two weeks.   Patrons can enjoy the books for free on their e-readers or computers, and when the loan period ends, software enforces the expiration date, rendering the book unreadable.

This is a promising development considering the rapid rise of e-readers.  According to Forrester, e-reader sales are projected to top 10 million in 2009 and 2010 combined.  As more of us embrace broadband gadgets on the go, a free online library is a great way to enrich our knowledge and enjoy the entertainment factor of a good read too.

Consider this:  seven in ten adult Internet users — or about half of all U.S. adults — have used the Internet to watch or download video.  What other trends are emerging?  Here are some other highlights, which show how video viewing has accelerated since 2007:

• Videos with an educational emphasis are now watched by 38% of adult Internet users, up from 22% in 2007.
• Tuning into movies and television programs via online video has doubled – increasing from 16% to 32%.  And 8% of online video watchers have connected their computer to their TV so that they can watch on a bigger screen.
• Online videos with political themes have also grown two-fold, rising from 15% to 30% of adult Internet users.

Interestingly, the study also shows that while younger generations are more likely to embrace online video, gender differences have disappeared.  Today, women are as likely as men to upload and share videos – a trend that has perhaps been fueled by social networking platforms, and video sites such as YouTube.  Also, today 14% of Internet users say they have uploaded a video to the Internet.  This number may not seem high – but it is twice the figure on record for video uploads in 2007.

Whether tuning into videos on funnyordie.com or watching a political speech on YouTube, broadband is bringing a rich multi-media experience that is both entertaining and educational.