American Momma

The concept of flying cars has been around for quite some time. Many of us have fond childhood memories of the Jetsons. But the concept has been around long before the Jetsons. Even during the Renaissance Da Vinci was dreaming of a personal flying machine. There are countless sci-fi books and movies involving flying machines. Some of my favorite movies involve flying machines. Of course who could forget the excitement of the pod racer scene in Star Wars Phantom Menace? Perhaps one of the best movies ever is The Fifth Element. We have Bruce Willis flying a taxi in a futuristic earth where flying cars are commonplace. And we can’t leave out Star Trek if were talking about flying cars. We get a good look at them in Star Trek Into the Darkness.

While all of this may be entertaining it’s not as far-fetched as it appears. Many companies have already produced prototypes and concept designs. While some flying car concepts are commercial, some are private. And some are autonomous while others are piloted. The fact that there are actual prototypes being flown and tested is very exciting.

The concept I find most interesting is the sky taxi. Even with many hurdles still ahead there are already a whole cast of competing startups and established companies in discussion with NASA and the FFA on how to bring this proposed new class of aircraft into service. These designs have capitalized on the electric power, propeller design, and software pioneered for consumer drones. The development of a broad array of flight control firmware and software is quickly evolving and adapting to meet this new market.

Because many of these designs are electric powered they could greatly increase our air quality and help reduce pollution. This would be further multiplied if the concept were to include large scale transportation such as city bus systems. I’m not sure if the general public is actually ready for completely autonomous transportation. I know I would have reservations on using a machine that I couldn’t drive if an emergency situation arose. With price tags starting at $300,000 I don’t think we will see many flying cars anytime soon. But we do seem to be poised to fly into the future.

Resources:

Flying Cars: What, How, When, and Why? (quillette.com)

How close are we to driving flying cars? – BBC Reel

British Engineers reveal ground-breaking electric uncrewed concept vehicle | BAE Systems | International

Leonardo da Vinci’s Flying Machine Invention — Leonardo Da Vinci Inventions (da-vinci-inventions.com)

Star Wars: Episode I – Pod Race – Bing video

Chase Scene – Star Trek into Darkness – Bing video

Sky taxis: How to make them a reality – Aerospace America (aiaa.org)

Ground Control – Complete Software for Drones | Measure

Instagram is not just to share photos and memes. Yes it is super fun to scroll and see what everyone is posting. But Instagram is so much more. And Instagram is for all age groups so you have a super large pool of potential clients. If you’ve spent any time on this app you will see the many business advantages. I ran an online business on Instagram for a while and I’d like to point out some tips for marketing your business on the Instagram app.

Probably the most important thing is to share, share, share. You have to be seen to get your business noticed, to get the clients. One post a day is not going to cut it. And it’s not as hard as it seems. But in order to get your message out there, you need to be seen by thousands just to land a few clients.

The first step is to post 5 to 20 short clips and or photos a day. Motivational photos are great! Cheer people on their journey. If you want people to use a product they have to also see you using the product and hyping the line.  And just posting is not enough, you need to invite people.  Start with a free offer. People love something for free and it often turns in to a purchase next time. You can start with small free samples. Or you can offer free recipes or meal plans and this cost you nothing.

You also need to follow people with the same interest as you. This can be tricky and it’s easy to get lost scrolling. One way to make this a little easier is with an instabot. I’m sure you can search and find one online probably for a small fee. One of our up line coach had a husband that created one just for us. Basically you tell the bot what hashtags you want to follow and how many per day. Then the little bot goes out there and finds the hashtags that match and follows them for you. And people start following you back.

And don’t forget about the stories! Your story is a series of short clips or photo with text and fun stickers or effects. People love the stories. If you can get them hooked with a good story they will come back for more.

And the best part of having a business on Instagram????   You can link it to your Facebook page which is then next mobile app I would like to tell you about.

Yes you can run a business on a Facebook mobile app too! And having these two linked can save you a ton of time. But just because they are linked does not mean you can set it and forget it. Facebook has a few different features from Instagram. And if they were identical that would just be boring. You can also reference yourself on each app so that people will follow you on both platforms.

A good way to build interest and viewers across platforms is to start a story on Facebook and end on a cliff hanger saying check it out on my Instagram page. This can obviously work both ways.

Facebook ads have been around for a long time and can definitely help you reach some new audiences. Ads let you target a specific audience for a specific time. And of course there is a fee. But one month you might want to target moms of toddlers and the next you might want to target men who are teachers. Switch it up often for best results.

Another super cool feature is the scheduler. We all work and have lives we can’t sit on Facebook all day. The scheduler lets you load up all of your posts for the day and you tell it what time you want them to be posted. It posts them for you so no matter what time of day people are on line they have a good chance of seeing one of your posts.

Being able to accept payments online is also a huge plus for online business. Facebook makes it relatively easy to set up Facebook pay. So your clients can see how amazing the product works for you and then simply click a link to order and pay. It really can be that easy.

Resources:

Honestly I wrote 99% of this from my own experience. But here are some cool links with awesome info to check out.

Sending Money With Messenger | Facebook Pay

How to Get Started With Instagram Stories for Business : Social Media Examiner

Hootsuite – Instagram Carousel

Set Up a Business Account on Instagram | Instagram Help Center

How to Use Instagram for Business: A Practical Step-by-Step Guide (hootsuite.com)

How Facebook Business Manager Works | Facebook for Business

How to Use Facebook Business Manager: A Step-by-Step Guide (hootsuite.com)

How to Use Facebook Business Manager: A Complete Guide : Social Media Examiner

Get Later’s Facebook scheduler for free | Later

I am so glad for modern mobile technology. I think it is especially important as many of us older users are using technology more and more. Gone are the days of the little black book. Keeping an address book is now right at our fingertips. And so is our calendar, alarm clock, notebook for shopping lists. No need to remember phone numbers. If we can remember to put something on our calendar it will give us reminders of the upcoming birthdays or events. And we can set personalized ringtones for each person, so we know who to ignore just by their ringtone. And while our brains not being used for remembering phone numbers and birthdays, we are remembering so much new information. And there’s always games to keep us sharp and challenge our brains.

But just like anything too much of a good thing can be a bad thing. So many of us have our faces constantly buried in our devices. I myself can also be guilty of this. I do love to scroll all forms of social media.  While I don’t sleep with my phone I am definitely guilty of occasionally having it in the bathroom. However, I do not use my phone when out with family or friends. I try to keep it to a minimum and actually interact with those around me. This is not always the case in the younger crowd.

I definitely see mobile technology as a benefit to society. In our every changing, busy, lives it is nice to be able to connect and share and even work in any location. Many people are able to operate their own business solely from their phone. And if I could not check on my kids at least once or twice a day I would be even more of a stressed out mom.  I think the main consequence of an on-demand culture is the loss of time. When I realized that I just wasted an hour scrolling, instead of doing all the things I had planned to do it can be very disappointing. Time once gone is something you can never get back.

So while technology can be fun, it can also be very distracting. We all need a good balance. Real human interaction is much more rewarding than simply scrolling our phone.

Cloud computing lets you access your data and programs over the internet.

Cloud services are the software, platforms, or infrastructure hosted by third party providers and made available to users through the internet.

Google Drive is a cloud computing service with all storage found entirely online. It can interact with other cloud productivity aps such as Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides. Google Drive is super convenient and can be accessed from many devices such as a desktop, tablet or mobile device. It can also be used a repository for your own personal documents and information, but is more often used for a team of people to all access shared information. My personal experience with Google Drive is mostly from using Google Docs. When I worked as a Beachbody Coach all of our challenges, meal plans, workout schedules and every possible thing we needed to promote our online business was stored and accessed through Google Drive. This is a super easy and convenient way to work as a team and share what works. It is also super easy to pre make meal plans and artwork to make daily posting easy for new members. And to keep track of training and events.

Apple iCloud is primarily used for online storage and backup. But it can also synchronize your mail, contacts, calendar and much more. iCloud is built into every apple device and has 5GB of free storage. All files from all of your Apple devices can be kept in iCloud Drive so that you can access them from any of your devices. You can utilize a private link to share files and documents.  I personally mostly us my iCloud for storage and backup. I have a very large amount of photos on the cloud. I actually have to pay for extra storage for my iPhone because I have so many photos. I also use iTunes for music storage. Probably my most favorite cloud service is Siri. Siri is a virtual assistant. She can set alarms, put things on my calendar, look up recipes, and tell me how many carbs are in any food. I also often ask her to look up phone numbers or addresses of place I need to go or call.

• Would this application/system work as well NOT in the cloud?

No I do not think either would work efficiently not in the cloud. We would have to go back to manual storage and sharing.

• What are the advantages to having this system on a distributed network?

There is an advantage in network speed as the information is not in a central location and can be accessed by a large number of people without creating a bottleneck.

• Do you have any security or privacy concerns when using this system?

I think we should all be aware of security and privacy. There is always the potential for information to be misused.

• Anything else you’d like to share about cloud services.

Cloud services have developed at a superfast pace. And I think the trend will continue as more and more people come to rely on cloud computing. More people are working remotely and it is more important than ever to be able to share information and work as a team even when we can’t be in the same location.

Interesting articles about cloud services and cloud computing:

What are cloud services? (redhat.com)

What Is Cloud Computing? | PCMag

Understanding cloud computing (redhat.com)

iCloud – Apple