Month: March 2015

While campaigning for the Massachusetts governorship in 2014, Republican Charlie Baker said that one of his main goals while in office would be to improve the economy of the state and reduce how much the government spends on certain initiatives. In his first proposed budget, Governor Baker appears to be making good on that promise.

The Baker administration is looking to make cuts wherever necessary. The governor is currently considering a plan that would merge several public agencies together in order to cut how much is spent on them individually. If the plan is ultimately approved, the public agencies that support the tech and clean energy industries will be one with the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center.

The new Massachusetts state housing and economic development secretary, Jay Ash, says that state officials from the Baker administration have been talking to business leaders across Massachusetts about the possibility of consolidating these groups. So far, nothing concrete has been decided by either the business groups or by state officials looking to make the changes.

The future funding for the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center, one of the major tech groups in Massachusetts, appears to be uncertain. When he unveiled his proposed budget earlier this month, Baker did not have any money listed for the agency, though a spokesperson for the governor said nothing is finalized and that doesn't mean the group will go unfunded.

This plan to combine the three major tech agencies and industries in Massachusetts would be a way to compromise between Baker's promise of budget cuts and the agencies' need for funding. Baker is currently reviewing all state agencies to determine the most effective ways government services can be delivered.

If you are looking for custom database software for your tech company, be sure to work with KYO Logic today.

Earlier this year, the Massachusetts economy was named one of the most technology-heavy in the entire country. The workforce in Massachusetts relies on technology each and every day, which has improved productivity and the number of people who are proficient with different aspects of the IT world. But is the tech sector of the economy in Massachusetts growing fast enough?

Five years ago, industry group Mass Technology Leadership Council set a goal of there being 100,000 new technology jobs created in Massachusetts by the year 2020. Massachusetts is generally on track to meet this goal, though there are a few issues that experts have noted in recent months. The biggest one being that there are more available jobs than there are qualified people.

According to a report released by the group late last week, for every recent graduate that is qualified to hold a tech job, there are 17 open positions available. Between 2010 and 2013, Massachusetts technology companies created just under 18,000 new jobs, which fell short of the set goal of about 26,000 for that time period. By the end of 2013, the Bay State had 214,000 tech jobs, up from 197,000 when the goals were initially set.

According to the report, the best way to deal with this talent crunch is to create programs and initiatives that will develop, attract and retain talent. The tech industry is a major part of the Massachusetts economy, comprising of 20 percent of the overall workforce and contributing $93 billion in economic value to the state, $7 billion of which is through state and local taxes.

If you are starting your own tech company and are in need of custom web application development to help grow your business, be sure to work with KYO Logic today!

Transcript

Hey everybody and welcome back! This time, we’ll be talking about how FileMaker can allow you to extract old data you have saved on your computer.

One of the main questions that people have when using FileMaker is whether or not it has the ability to recover information from and old system or from another application, such as Google Docs or Excel.

The answer to that is absolutely! FileMaker has excellent built-in tools, as well as customized tools, for extracting information from the Microsoft apps that you use regularly on your computer. This will make it easier for you to use FileMaker in the future.

As always thanks for watching, and be sure to check back here again soon for more helpful FileMaker tips and information!

It can often seem as if technology is taking over our daily lives, for good and bad. There are those who would argue that being surrounded by technology all the time is replacing human interaction, although there is no question that it can also be used for good.

Take a recent classroom project that was completed by a pair of first and fourth grade grade classes at the Mountain View Elementary School in Bristol, Connecticut. The assignment was for the fourth graders to work in pairs researching different animals to present to the first graders in a series of presentations.

The topics varied from dinosaurs to beavers, while the fourth graders were instructed to use the interactive white boards at the school in order to enhance their projects and create the best presentations possible for the younger students. The teachers told a local news source they came up with the idea one day in early January while talking about the proliferation of technology in schools.

"Technology is everywhere in school now. Even with gym class, it can be as simple as you have Pandora on for the kids to exercise to, and the art teacher will put music on for the kids to get inspired," Mountain View Elementary School fifth grade teacher Stacey Pratt told The Bristol Press.

If you are looking to include technology more often in your everyday life and are in need of custom web application development, be sure to work with KYO Logic today! Take a look at the rest of our website to learn more about the custom database software that we offer to our customers.

The past few months have made this an especially difficult winter, particularly for those who live in the New England area. Record-setting amounts of snow have fallen in just the last few weeks, making the morning and evening commute even more of a hassle than it is already. The winter has also taken a physical toll on roads themselves.

If you live in an area that has seen an uptick in potholes and other road issues, that is likely due to the winter wreaking havoc on the pavement. Nobody wants to deal with these issues, especially because they can end up physically damaging your car if you are not careful about how and where you drive each day.

But now there is a way for residents of Connecticut to report potholes that they see on the road while they are out driving. In West Hartford, citizens are going high-tech with the support and encouragement of local government and public works employees to get these problems resolved as quickly as possible.

The smartphone app, known as "Your Gov," allows residents to login and report potholes that they see and where they see them while out on the road. This new app can be used either by smartphone or laptop. It works by the person taking a picture of the pothole and sending it in through the app, which creates a service request within the Department of Public Works.

Department of Public Works Director John Phillips says the rollout is coming just as the town is starting to deal with a myriad of potholes and other road issues that have been caused by this brutally cold winter. The department can be notified immediately and a crew dispatched, which increases the efficiency in which the problems are resolved.

If you are looking to create your own custom database software, be sure to contact KYO Logic today.

Massachusetts has long been a leader in the United States in the fields of technology and clean energy, often ranking among the top states in the nation for progressive government projects and private initiatives. Now these industries are being recognized for their achievements and being funded to make even greater strides into the future.

Earlier this week, 13 projects across the state of Massachusetts were awarded a total of $1.2 million in total funding for their efforts in promoting green energy innovation. These awards were given to businesses, researchers and organizations by the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center's InnovateMass and Catalyst programs.

Those who have won these prestigious awards in the past have gone on to great success, having raised more than $35 million in funding from venture capitalists, investors and federal programs. The point of these awards is to spur on new technology that will both benefit the economy of the state, but also help protect the environment in new and exciting ways.

"Massachusetts is a hub for clean energy innovation and entrepreneurship and Massachusetts is home to at $10 billion clean energy industry that employs more than 80,000 workers," said Massachusetts Clean Energy Center CEO Alicia Barton in a statement. "These grants will help emerging companies and researchers hone the game-changing technologies that will tackle our energy challenges and create local jobs."

If you are starting your own tech company — whether in the environmental field or not — and are in need of custom web application development to help grow your business, be sure to work with KYO Logic today! Take a look at the rest of our website to learn more about the custom database software that we offer.

If you have recently started up your own IT company, there are plenty of guidelines out there that will help you be successful over a long period of time. The tech industry is famously competitive, so you want to make sure that you have every advantage possible.

The key to being successful with your startup is to focus on the fundamentals of building a solid business, from having a firm idea of what you would like to accomplish to who you bring on board to work with you. Running your own startup can be difficult, but rewarding.

Here are a few tips to help ensure your success:

• Keep the application process simple: While you certainly only want the best people working for you, it will be counterproductive to scare people away with a tedious or painful application process. Be sure to strike a balance between challenging and accepting.
• Plan ahead for growth: The most important thing you can do for your startup is plan into the future. While there are certain variables and unexpected circumstances that will come up and change over the years, having a concrete plan will help guide your actions.
• Represent your company well: If you are attending career exhibitions or fairs, you want to be sure that you put your best foot forward with potential employees or investors. This means being able to break down your goals into day-to-day basics in a friendly way.

If you have recently started your own tech company and are in need of custom web application development to help grow your brand, be sure to work with KYO Logic today! Take a look at the rest of our website to learn more about the custom database software that we offer.

Transcript

If you’re not familiar with the program FileMaker, you might be wondering what it can do to support your website. This time, we’ll take a look at just that.

Web Direct is an exciting new feature offered by FileMaker, which will allow you to easily transfer the program’s features to your web browser. It is recommended that this part of the program be used by up to 50 concurrent users.

Building a traditional website through FileMaker is something that is commonly done. FileMaker is excellent as a back end for websites, as it has very capable PHP libraries. While a plug-in is sometimes required, FileMaker can handle web services such as SOAP and WSDL with ease.

Thanks for watching, and be sure to check back here again soon for more FileMaker news and tips!

The EMC Corporation, a multinational computer data storage company headquartered in Hopkinton, Massachusetts, is currently facing criticism from Wall Street that its earnings and production have grown stagnant in recent years. This is a charge that top executives will work to address and refute in the near future.

EMC Corp. is the largest technology company in the entire state of Massachusetts, employing 68,000 people worldwide with an annual revenue of $24 billion. Despite these successes, the company is set to hold a strategy summit in New York City on Tuesday, March 10 to reassure investors and analysts that everything is on the right track.

Most of the top executives, including the longtime chief executive Joseph Tucci, will be at the strategy summit. The goal will be to present new company information, review all strategic options, answer questions from investors and listen to the ideas or criticisms that those attending have for those in charge of the company.

Industry analysts are skeptical that this major meeting will change the minds of those that have been most critical of EMC in recent months. Those critics say that the major technology goliath has not been doing enough to increase its share value and articulate the long-term business plan for the nearly 40-year old corporation.

Executives, however, are confident that after this meeting all of those critics will be more confident in the direction that the tech company is going in.

If you are starting your own tech company and are in need of custom web application development to help grow your brand, be sure to work with KYO Logic today! Take a look at the rest of our website to learn more about the custom database software that we offer.

Beginning toward the end of April, the United States Supreme Court will hear oral arguments pertaining to the constitutionality of same-sex marriage bans that still exist throughout the country. With 37 states currently recognizing the legality of these unions, it is widely expected that SCOTUS will strike down the remaining bans, despite any controversies that continue to exist in some areas.

Early last week, nearly 400 major companies in a variety of fields across the United States signed on to urge SCOTUS to support gay marriage across the entire country. Some of these companies included Apple, Google, Goldman Sachs and Capital One. Each has said publicly that same-sex couples have the right to legally wed in every state.

Two Massachusetts technology companies have joined the fight for gay rights equality. Cambridge-based Akamai Technologies and and Woburn-based Skyworks Solutions were among the 379 companies from around the country that signed onto the SCOTUS document. They join other major New England icons Staples and the current Super Bowl champions Patriots football team.

The technology industry has often been particularly aggressive when it comes to civil rights for LGBT Americans, which was made especially clear when Apple CEO Tim Cook publicly came out as gay in October of last year. The Supreme Court is expected to hand down its ruling on same-sex marriage sometime this summer, likely toward the beginning of June.

If you are starting your own tech company and are in need of custom web application development to help grow your brand, be sure to work with KYO Logic today! Take a look at the rest of our website to learn more about the custom database software that we offer.