October 2014

[Commentary] As the CEO of a company that has employees in 10 locations across three continents, I’ve found that telecommuting provides benefits that far outweigh any of the traditional reasons previously discussed.

• No more “Game of Thrones” spoilers: A 2014 TiVo Study found that 65 percent of all TV and movie spoilers are caused by friends, acquaintances and co-workers. Working from home means that Becky from HR won’t be telling you what the White Walkers did last night.
• Coffee bankruptcy: According to a recent study of 1,000 American workers, half of American workers regularly buy coffee during the week. This half spent an average of $1,092 a year — that’s more than $5 a day. A month of telecommuting and you can just buy yourself a Keurig.
• Cereal for every meal: A full two-thirds of office workers buy lunch at work. On average, the midday meal costs lunchers $1,924 a year. At home, you can eat Cinnamon Toast Crunch for breakfast, lunch and midday snack, and still have money to spare. Your dream meals as a 7-year-old can now be realized every single day.
• No more faking interest in local sports teams: Some of us aren’t obsessed with sports. Some of us (this author included) may actually like watching and playing chess more than playing fantasy football. Working from home means you don’t have to fake like you watched last night’s game, because you were really playing chess online. Telecommuter checkmate.
• No more road rage: Commuting costs account for about $1,500 a year. Add in the time stewing over the guy eating a breakfast sandwich while talking on his phone in the HOV lane, and the savings really add up. No more stress before you even enter an office.
• You’ll win Parent of the Year: According to Inc. magazine, telecommuters spend about $5,000 less on child care than their office-bound counterparts. Do it for the kids. They say it takes a village. I say it just takes remote offices.
• More productive: Remote workers are from 11 percent to 20 percent more productive when working on creative tasks. And communication efficiency is greatly increased, with less time spent chit-chatting at the water cooler, and more time talking about project details and deadlines on corporate chat platforms and videoconferences.

[Soroker is the Co-Founder and CEO of Kato.im]

Ask any teen whether he or she suffers from social media anxiety, and the answer will probably be no. That's what happened when six teens and adolescents -- five from New York and one from Los Angeles -- got together recently for a unique weeklong workshop at the offices of SheKnows.com, a leading women's lifestyle media platform. The teens didn't think that Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat, their go-to social networks, added much extra anxiety to their lives. But then the conversation turned to the importance of likes and the fear of missing out, also known by the acronym FOMO.

[Commentary] Accelerating technological transformation has undermined the business models that kept American news media afloat, raising the possibility that the great institutions on which we have depended for news of the world around us may not survive.

Under current law, satellite carriers pay royalty fees for the right to transmit certain television signals to their subscribers without obtaining permission from copyright holders. The Satellite Television Access and Viewer Rights Act (S. 2799) would extend provisions of current law that allow satellite carriers to transmit copyrighted material but would not extend the license that allows transmission without specific authorization from the copyright holders. That license will expire on December 31, 2014. The bill also would direct the Federal Communications Commission to amend certain regulations affecting television stations and cable and satellite carriers. Based on information from the FCC, CBO estimates that implementing S. 2799 would cost about $2 million over the 2015-2019 period for the required reports and regulatory actions, assuming the availability of appropriated funds. Further, the FCC is authorized to collect fees to offset its operating costs each year; therefore, we estimate that implementing S. 2799 would have a negligible effect on net discretionary spending each year.