You’ve made it through the heap of resumes and got a call back for an interview. You have all the technical skills and experience, but still, it doesn’t mean you’re a shoe in for the job.

Hiring mangers look beyond skills and experience when choosing the right candidate for their company. They have a list of ‘must have’ personality traits that transcend all jobs, whether it’s a secretary or CEO.

Here’s a look at four character traits you want to have to help you land the job:

1. Hard Work Ethic

It’s no secret recruiters want to hire people that aren’t afraid to work hard, but they also want to see that you are willing to sacrifice in order to get the job done. According to Tom Gimbel, founder and Chief Executive of LaSalle Network, a staffing and recruiting company, that’s why it’s important to get across during the interview instances where you sacrificed personal things for your job. For instance, maybe you postponed a vacation to complete a huge project or perhaps you didn’t blink when you had to work ninety hours in one week. Whatever it was, as long as you are sincere it should resonate with the interviewee.

“The fact of the matter is most people that don’t work a million hours are usually talking about the work/life balance on the interview,” says Gimbel. “The hiring manager wants to hear that your career is your priority.”

2. Playing Well With Others

It’s easy for an employer to teach someone a new skill, but it’s not so easy to teach them how to get along well with others. That’s something that’s either in you or isn’t and the hiring manager wants to bring on the candidate that has it. “A lot of people aren’t team players,” says Gimbel. “Companies want people who can interact with other departments and communicate well.”

According to Terry Pile, Principal Consultant of Career Advisors, the best way to demonstrate you’re a team player is to tell the recruiter stories about how you stayed after work to help employees that weren’t on your team or how you trained co-workers on a new system. Giving real examples of how you are a team player should go a long way come decision time.

3. Showing Initiative

It’s easy to show initiative when you are on the job, but hiring managers also want to see that on the interview. The best way to demonstrate that: do you homework. Learn everything there is to know about the company, industry and if at all possible the person you’ll be working for and/or the one doing the interview. By doing that you’ll demonstrate you care enough about the job to educate yourself about the company and the cultural parts about it.

“Take something you read about the company and connect it to your own experience and abilities,” says Marjorie Terry, VP of client services at career advisory company Great on the Job.

Researching the company will also put you in a position to ask insightful questions during the interview, which is what hiring managers want to see. “Showing you are interested and have some knowledge about the company and industry is impressive,” says Pile. Know the challenges the company faces, its competitors and how the industry is performing and address it during the interview, she says.

4. Strong Communications Skills

You may be a top programmer or great at what you do, but if you can’t communicate on the interview it will be lost on the recruiter. According to career experts, hiring managers want job candidates that can speak clearly and concisely. So if you were the one to give presentations for your team or was in charge of training new hires, make that known in the interview. If your strong suit is writing, let the hiring manager know you were in charge of writing the company manual.

“Being a strong communicator is key to getting hired and being successful once you land the job,” says Terry.

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Casting director Sarah Monson has watched thousands of people try out for reality TV shows. 

Monson, author of the new book "Me On TV: The First Ever Kick-Ass Guide To Get You On Any Reality Show," has some tips on how you can have a successful audition. 

You can start by picking a stereotype and sticking to it, she told us in an interview. Once you're there, make sure you have planned out what you'll say to impress the directors. 

She also gives tons of tips on making sure you stand out for the masses. Hint: leave your hot best friend at home.

You'll be the next Kardashian or Real Housewife in no time.  

Stand between two really lame people at the open casting call.

Wear something memorable but not crazy.

"Don’t wear a costume just to be silly," explains Monson. "And don’t dress like a stockbroker if you work at K-Mart. You will just be uncomfortable and it will show."

Wear something that flatters your figure and flaunts your personality.

"If you have big boobs, don’t wear a hoodie – show them off," says Monson. "Same goes for that six pack, guys."

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Instead of expecting to live a full, normal life until everything goes haywire in your 50s, you can now start expecting the most stressful time of your life to hit a couple of decades earlier.

Why is that?

By the time you're in your late 30s, you'll become a "victim of two colliding trends. Life is slowing down and speeding up at the same time: families arrive later, even as careers are accelerating," according to a recent article in The Economist.

The Economist says that people are running companies at much younger ages and it's not just in the digital industries. Recruitment consultant firm Egon Zehnder International (EZI) reports that the number of CEOs in their 40s have doubled in the last 15 years. 

In order to become CEO by the time you're in your 40s, you'd have to "position [yourself] for supremacy a decade earlier." This means taking on leadership roles in a division or region that will take up most of your time. By the time you're 38, you need to be a level right below the top. 

This means that, in your 30s, you'll be in the most intense years of your careers while also trying to raise a family, if you should choose to have one. 

For example, look at Marissa Mayer: 37 years old, soon-to-be first-time mother and new CEO of Yahoo. That's a lot of new changes and responsibilities.

The article cites a survey released by Relate, a relationship-support charity, that reports top concerns for those between the ages of 35 and 44 are loneliness and work-life balance. These people also tend to have the fewest friends because they don't have time to cultivate them. 

The charity called this time the "true mid-life crisis."

NOW SEE: Why you can't afford to waste your twenties >

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Hiring the right people is essential to the success of any business, and promoting the right people may be even more important. 

A good boss is 1.75 times more productive than the people he or she supervises, according to a recent study by Edward Lazear and Kathryn L. Shaw at Stanford and Christopher Stanton at University of Utah.

The researchers wanted to find out if the "extreme view" that bosses are irrelevant was valid and studied 20,000 American workers and their bosses over a period of five years. 

They found that good bosses were incredibly productive and more valuable than the average employee:

Replacing a boss who is in the lower 10% of boss quality with one who is in the upper 10% of boss quality increases a team’s total output by about the same amount as would adding one worker to a nine member team. Using a normalization, this implies that the average boss is about 1.75 times as productive as the average worker. Second, boss’s primary activity is teaching skills that persist. Third, efficient assignment allocates the better bosses to the better workers because good bosses increase the productivity of high quality workers by more than that of low quality workers.

And the bad supervisors tended to take care of themselves: they were 70 percent more likely to leave the firm within a year.  

Good supervisors are vital to the success of business, and are well-worth the money. 

DON'T MISS: 4 Personality Traits You Must Have To Land A Job >

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SLS Hotels opened its fourth property in South Beach to much fanfare in June, and has quickly become a hotspot on the Miami scene.

The Philippe Starck-designed property in the heart of Collins Avenue's art deco district has 140 rooms, including penthouses designed by Lenny Kravitz (rooms start at $325/night). There are also shiny new restaurant offerings from culinary giants José Andrés and Master Sushi Chef Katsuya Uechi and the latest iteration of Hyde Lounge, SLS's nightlife brand.

Presiding over the property is general manager Albert Mertz, who oversees a staff of 500 and makes sure everything from the poolside fare to the concierge service is up to snuff.

He agreed to take along a camera so we could see what it's like to run one of the hottest hotels in Miami.

General Manager Albert Mertz arrives at the SLS at 7am every morning. Before arriving he's already spent an hour checking email.

Here he is greeting the lobby staff. 520 people are employed by the hotel, one of four SLS properties.

There's also a daily check-in with the concierge, to keep tabs on house VIPs.

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Today's advice comes from Allison O'Neill, founder of Bundle, via Entrepreneur:

"Entrepreneurship is really, really lonely sometimes. When I feel like I'm struggling with something, or I'm fresh out of ideas and can't come up with the solution for something, there's nobody to turn to. What's worked really well for me is to seek out other entrepreneurs."

When you're running a business on your own, it can sometimes be a lonely road. For a while, O'Neill turned to her husband for help with ideas, often calling him at work. But eventually, she came to terms with the fact that he had his own work to do and couldn't always be her business advisor. 

O'Neill believes classes, groups, and online forums can be a tremendous help for entrepreneurs — especially those who are launching startups without partners. Interacting with others can provide invaluable experience for entrepreneurs to exchange tips, brainstorm, and provide support for one another.

"I go to tons of classes. There are workshops on everything from time management to advanced Twitter. I feel so much more energized and optimistic about my business now than I did a year ago."

Want your business advice featured in Instant MBA? Submit your tips to tipoftheday@businessinsider.com. Be sure to include your name, your job title, and a photo of yourself in your email.

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You might actually be better off financially than those in your parents' age group.

According to a survey conducted by CareerBuilder, those between the ages of 45 to 54 are most likely to live paycheck to paycheck (43 percent), followed by those between the ages of 35 and 44 (42 percent), then those between 18 and 34 (40 percent). 

Out of the more than 3,800 full-time workers surveyed nationwide, 40 percent of Americans admitted to relying on their next paycheck in order to make ends meet.

“Making ends meet remains a challenge for millions of households, but the situation has improved for workers who’ve grown more confident with their job security or who’ve taken steps to pay down debt and save more,” Rosemary Haefner, vice president of human resources at CareerBuilder, said in the survey.

“Seventy-two percent of workers report they are more fiscally responsible since the end of the recession, and as the labor market continues to improve, we expect more workers will again be able to spend in ways that will drive the economy forward.”

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The students at Bangkok University have a new lounge designed by Supermachine, and it's absolutely stunning.

"There have been a lot of discussions about today's education whether it happen in classrooms, libraries, homes, cafes etc. when knowledge has been way easier to access in the era of internet and social networks," write the folks at Supermachine on their blog. "Schools and universities are adapting their environment to the new epoch."

Supermachine calls the lounge a “youngsters’ ecology.” Here, they will be able to study, and have space to take a break in the social areas.

Should every college have a student sanctuary as fancy at this one?

We're sure students are going to love all the amenities, but of course, it's always going to come down to willingness to invest.

Supermachine calls the upstairs a "village" — a place for students to take a break from the everyday grind of studying.

There's a super-long pool table and a giant dartboard.

Even a "dancing pole" and disco ball.

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A new report in the Deloitte Review shows how companies are already using gamification to motivate employees and attract consumers.

One company, Opower, seeks to make using less energy something that's social and easy to do.

They do it by producing home energy reports that show how much more or less power you used than your neighbours, along with ways to cut down.

The company combines those reports with an online platform where users can share ideas and earn points and badges. All the while, the company is saving people money and producing data that helps utilities promote energy efficiency

It's coming to your workplace too. In 2011, Facebook began using a social performance platform called Rypple. The platform shows visible goals and objectives on individual profiles, provides real time feedback to employees, and displays badges for accomplishing objectives or gaining skills.  

The key for these programs is to remain authentic; providing awards that nobody cares about, or making real tasks seem frivolous won't help a business.  

The trend will accelerate dramatically in coming years, becoming a $2.8 billion dollar business by 2016. 70 percent of Global 2000 businesses are expected to incorporate the practice by 2014.

Read the full report at the Deloitte Review

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A man who has managed a strip club since 1998 discussed all facets of the business in a Q&A on jobstr.

The 34-year-old, who identified himself as "A.J. from New Jersey," said he sometimes feel guilty about his line of work:

Yes...There's been plenty of times when I'll have a girl come in to audition fresh out of high school. Saying she wants to make some quick money before she goes away to school. As soon as they get in my office I spend a good 10 minutes trying to talk them out of working...

Although I have had a few girls over the years actually attend school (and graduate) and use the money they made to pay for it, most see the cash they make, drop out, and make a career out of it. 

But strippers can make a lot of money: 

Although the business has changed over the years, a "smart" stripper can still def pull in six figures. Years ago, they'd make much more than that. I've seen my girls pull in $3-4k in a night, work 3-4 days a week....you do the math!

If they know how to work it:

Over the years I've seen a few of my customers drop upwards of $20k. It depends on the club what you will receive for that kind of money. I've had guys spend $10k just at the bar alone ($650 a pop for champagne, $1000 for a bottle of Blue Label) This of course includes cash advances where they get hit with a 15% vig on every hundred, which they in turn throw at the girls. If you get into VIP rooms at $250 a half hr + $100 minimum per bottle, the tab can grow quickly, especially if the girl is good and does just enough to keep the guy in there room after room.

 Not everyone can be a stripper:

When I first started in the business I had a scale in my office. When the girls were hired I wrote down their weight. They had a 5 pound "cushion". If I thought they were getting heavy (or too skinny) they would weigh in. Over or under that 5 lbs they went home until they lost or gained it. Those days are over. Now, when a girl comes in, I MUST let her audition. That being said, if I don't think she's good looking or overweight, I just make up an excuse or simply take her number and tell her we'll call her.

And there's a reason why you can't touch the dancers:

DON'T MISS: Insights On The Porn Industry From Victoria Rae Black >

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If you have to deal with a frequent "screamer" at work, the situation can get bad. Employees can't work because they're being screamed at, and the yelling boss gets even angrier because the employees aren't working.

Sue Shellenbarger at The Wall Street Journal reports that "yelling alarms people, drives them away rather than inspiring them, and hurts the quality of their work."

The good news is that a lot of bosses are aware of this, and refrain from verbal aggression toward their employees. 

However, if you do have to deal with a boss who can't keep their emotions in check, Steven P. Dinkin, president of the National Conflict Resolution Center, tells Shellenbarger that "it's best not to react at first."

This "throws the other person off balance, because they're expecting you to push back," Dinkin says.

Instead, try to figure out what your boss is actually trying to say and summarize it. This will likely calm them down more than if you reacted immediately.  

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It is common knowledge that baby boomers are going to be staying in their workplaces for many years past the “traditional” retirement age.

These reasons are many and typically based upon sociological, economic, and psychological factors.

Today’s older workers are unlike their predecessors of generations past and are not longing to retire, many are actually dreading retirement. They fear becoming disengaged from friends and society, and not being productive. What is being offered are some practical yet potent strategies for not having your age define you within the work environment.

1. Don’t speak of the past, and the way things use to be done or were.  Reminiscing can be deadly, and create a chasm between you and younger workers.

2. Work late 1-2 nights per week, communicate that you’re “a go getter” and can put in the time just as everyone else does.

3. Let your co-workers know that you exercise (go to the gym, yoga, tennis, etc), but only through conversation and your physical appearance.  For both men and women, don’t leave work in a fitness outfit (that’s a no-no).

4. Discuss your outside interests, which are more “active” driven, rather then passive.  Also, be involved in volunteering—volunteer with at least one group/organization.

5. Don’t dress in outdated, or old looking clothes. A dark suit (navy, charcoal grey) for men with a crisp white shirt is always a good look, and timeless/generation neutral.  Have your clothes tailored well so they’re not baggie or sagging, but instead fit your body well. For women, keep it classic, but not your grandmother’s classic, and don’t (do not) try for the twenty something look—it will only accentuate your “real” age and make you seem a bit sad.  Both men and women, don’t walk around with reading glasses on the tip of your nose—who wants to look like Ben Franklin.  Get “good looking” eyewear with a half or third built in reader, and no on will know that you only need readers.

6. For men and women, there is nothing wrong with adding “color” to your hair.  Women should stay away from very dark (black that doesn’t exist naturally…) colors, and men should spend a couple of dollars and not use color that will make their hair look orange, blue, or reddish.  Facial hair can communicate a more contemporary appearance if it is not white or grey—if you’re not going to color it – shave it.

7. Stay positive.  As people age, they seem to complain more, and communicate a negative vibe about many things.  As mentioned earlier, don’t communicate that your best years are behind you, or “things aren’t the ways they use to be”.  Communicate your joy of life and all that it has to offer.

8. As hard as it may be for you, don’t talk about your health, and how your back hurts, or your knees ach, or doctor’s appointments and medical testing (never, ever mention the dreaded colonoscopy).  If you must mention an ach or pain, put it in the context of working out too hard, or one to many sets of squash or tennis—its relevancy to fitness, not aging, is key.

9. Obviously, many people over fifty or so are not as techno savvy. Just don’t highlight it, don’t discuss what you don’t know, and be sure to be “somewhat” knowledgeable—not nearly equal to your younger colleagues, but not a dinosaur.

10. Maintain a relatively neat work space/environment.  This will not only make it easy for you to find what you need. It also communicates that you are efficient, and projects a more “contemporary” image.

11. Finally, at the very least, be aware of trends in our culture, and communicate a more global view.  Most people under 40 see and experience the world as “being much smaller”—there is a sense for many that they are global citizens, members of a global community.  For many working in Seoul, New York City, or Hong Kong it is all the same.

The strategies being offered are not meant to have any of us feel ashamed of our age, or our experiences, or be dishonest with others, but simply not have all that we have to offer not be recognized and devalued because of our age.

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Georgetown University Law Center received more applications in 2011 than any other law school in the nation, according to U.S. News & World Report.

Here are the five schools that received the most applications, along with their overall ranking in U.S. News & World Report:

1. Georgetown University Law School received 9,413 applications and ranked 13
2. George Washington University received 7,846 applications and ranked 20
3. Columbia University received 7,459 applications and ranked 4
4. University of Virginia received 7,379 applications and ranked 7
5. University of California, Los Angeles received 7,328 applications and ranked 15

The top 3 law schools in the nation—respectively: Yale, Stanford, and Harvard—didn't even make the top 10 for most applicants.

Why aren't the most prestigious schools most popular with applicants? We're not sure, but would welcome your comments below.

For the full listing of most applied-to schools, visit U.S. News & World Report >

DON'T MISS: Law Schools Are Upset About New York's Proposal That Lawyers Put In Time Working For Free >

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Best Buy rose many eyebrows when it announced that former hospitality exec Hubert Joly would be taking over as CEO of the huge, but troubled, consumer electronics retailer.

But what about Joly himself? Why did he decide to leave his job at Carlson to try his luck at a company that needs so much work?

Thomas Lee at the Star Tribune spoke with Joly about his new gig at the helm of Best Buy:

"I'm not suicidal. Rightly or wrongly, here I am ... I like challenges. Given the turmoil [at Best Buy], it's easy to focus on its problems. But I'm impressed with its assets. We have the opportunity to write what could be an exciting new chapter here at Best Buy."

Joly also stressed that he will be the one making the strategic decisions going forward. He won't be forced to do what the board tells him to do:

"The board was not going to impose a plan on me. The CEO, with the help of the board, is the one who sets a direction for the company. I've been aware that the management team has been working on a plan and I will embrace all of their good ideas."

NOW SEE: Best Buy Needs To Implement Something Like This To Stop People From Showrooming >

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Do other people's noses crinkle when you come close? Have you noticed others backing away from you while you're speaking to them?

If you have a particular odor that's creating a rift between you and your coworkers, it's time to adopt some extra grooming precautions. 

In her book "Bad Bosses, Crazy Coworkers & Other Office Idiots: 201 Smart Ways to Handle the Toughest People Issues," Vicky Oliver shares some tips that can prevent that malodorous scent:

1. Shower power. Nothing conquers body odor better than a meticulous scrub under a hot shower. If you're a sweat hog, take two showers a day. 

2. Don't subject people to smell hell. Opt for deodorant soap instead. Dial, Lever Brothers and Zest all manufacture deodorant soaps in a range of fragrances. 

3. Rush to brush. Invest in a body brush, and use it to scrub away those invisible pieces of grime that tenaciously clung to legs and back. If a brush feels too harsh, buy a loofah. 

4. Say "Ta-Ta" to that torrid tar smell. Some dandruff shampoos flake out when it comes to the way they smell. Compensate for their deadly, tar-based odor by using a light conditioner on your hair directly after shampooing, or a teaspoon of sweet-smelling mousse.

5. Don't give dirt any place to hide. Shave daily — hair allows dirt to get stuck on your skin. If you're a man, keep facial hair to a minimal. Women need to shave their legs at least once a week, even in the winter.

6. Atone with toner and get squeaky clean. The alcohol content of most toners will strip skin of even the most stubborn makeup shards. Do you exercise regularly? Swathe a toner-infused cotton ball down your neck and upper chest area twice a day after washing your face. You may be surprised at what you find. 

7. Toothpaste or tooth polish? Contrary to popular belief, the brand of toothpaste isn't as important as just using some of the white stuff twice a day. Invest in some mouthwash for yourself, and watch your coworkers breathe a sigh of relief. 

8. Sticky situation of the day. Does your back feel clammy after a long day of slaving under the fluorescent glare? Do you have a ring around your abdomen at the place where your underwear hugs your waistline? Powder off those problem areas. Buy a body powder that contains cornstarch. Use deodorant on the area first, and let dry completely. Then dust with a light sprinkle of powder.

9. Throw away your moldy oldies. Most women don't realize that makeup has an expiration date. The packaging may not declare precisely when that date is. But if you've been using the same foundation for over three months, it may have developed a yucky, "old-lady" smell to it. Certain sunblock lotions can also turn rancid after a few months as ingredients start to separate. Not only is there a loss of product efficacy, the ingredients begin to smell poorly. 

10. Nail that grooming thing. Dirty fingernails are unseemly. If you're a woman, there is no substitute for a professional manicure. If you're a man, at least commit to using a nailbrush twice a week. 

11. Don't smell like a perfume counter. Go light on the perfume and cologne. Ditto for makeup, which often contains various perfumes that don't complement the perfumes found in other makeup products. 

12. Keep it clean. Change your underwear every day. Also, do you smoke or own pets? Be especially conscientious about ridding your clothing of any remnant smells. Assume that the people with whom you work have a fantastic sense of smell, and do your utmost not to offend it. 

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Ringing phones. Pinging e-mail. Co-workers’ ringing phones and pinging e-mail.

How is anyone supposed to get work done in this place?

The modern open office was designed for team building and camaraderie but is mostly distinguished by its high noise levels, lack of privacy and surfeit of both digital and human distractions.

And indeed, several decades of research have confirmed that open-plan offices are generally associated with greater employee stress, poorer co-worker relations and reduced satisfaction with the physical environment.

But there are some ways to combat those detrimental effects and still be productive.

(MORE: Paul: Can You Learn Everything ‘on the Job’?)

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Today's advice comes from Jason Baptiste, CEO of Onswipe, via Fast Company:

"Being innovative for me is really about being a product first company and believing that everything else is in service of the product.

That's how you motivate, that's how you lead internally, that's how you lead in the market, and I think it's about doing something that hasn't been done before."

Baptiste believes that if the product is put first, other aspects of the company can be built around that, and the product will speak for itself.

He cites Apple as an example, mentioning that before the iPhone, touch screen phones didn't exist. Apple wasn't afraid to put an unfamiliar product on the market. Moving fearlessly forward with a concept not only speaks for the boldness of the company, but for the product as well. For Baptiste, part of innovation is being able to believe in merchandise that is not only efficient, but new to the market, and pushing it a step further.

"It's about having a very ambitious mission about just creating something awesome and doing that from scratch and that's what gets people motivated and I think it's really having a hacker, product, engineering-focused company first."

Want your business advice featured in Instant MBA? Submit your tips to tipoftheday@businessinsider.com. Be sure to include your name, your job title, and a photo of yourself in your email.

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"Our goal, obviously, is to avoid getting boiled as the electronic revolution continues. I am not here dreaming of (or worrying about) a world in which computers have displaced the printed word, and us too. I could find no one at this conference who would predict the demise of the newspaper. No one. All saw an important place for us."

Those words come from a remarkable letter written by Robert Kaiser, then the Washington Post's newly appointed managing editor, to publisher Donald Graham following a 1992 conference on the future of digital media. Kaiser had attended the event after being invited ill-fated Apple CEO John Sculley, flying to Japan in order to hear from the best contemporary minds in tech and publishing. In the course of his seven-page dispatch, Kaiser accurately predicts the explosion in computing power, growth of multimedia, and shift of readers to the web that would define the next 20 years of news publishing. It's a truly prescient document. (Disclosure: I interned with the Post in 2008.) 

Sadly, as the quote up above suggests, what it fails to predict is the large iceberg waiting ahead for newspapers in the form of collapsing ad revenues. But don't blame Kaiser. What the letter really demonstrates is just how much harder it can be to predict the future of business and culture than the future of technology. 

Just to set the scene for you, when Kaiser was writing his missive, the Internet as we now know it simply didn't exist. At the time, American universities and the federal government were still operating NSFNet, a forerunner to the modern web, and actual websites were in their infancy. Full-on commercialization of the Internet was still a couple years off. Yet, here are some of the things technologists, and editors like Kaiser with their ears to the ground, could already forecast:

Computers would improve exponentially:

At that point [the year 2000] the PC will be a virtual supercomputer, and the easy transmission and storage of large quantities of text, moving and still pictures, graphics, etc., will be a reality.

We'd be using touchscreens and Siri one day:

The machines he envisioned will have the power to become vastly more user-friendly than today's PC's. They will probably be able to take voice instructions, and read commands written by hand or an electronic notepad, or right on the screen. None of this is science fiction -- it's just around the corner.

Old media would turn into new media:

"Multimedia" or "new media" is a popular idea for one possible use of these powerful computers connected by a fiber optic network....At the top end, such a product might contain the text (or spoken text) of a Post story on the big news of the day, accompanied by CNN's live footage and/or Post photographers' pictures, plus instantly available background on the story, its principal actors, earlier stories on the same subject, etc.

Online was fundamentally different than print:

With this in mind, our electronic Post should be thought of not as a newspaper on a screen, but (perhaps) as a computer game converted to a serious purpose. In other words, it should be a computer product.

Just for good measure, Kaiser also tosses off the possibility that streaming video would one day kill the brick and mortar movie rental business. It's some great soothsaying. But it's also all predictable, in part, because computing power is predictable. We have Moore's Law, which tells us that chip performance will double about every two years. Companies plan their product lines based on those assumptions. None of this is wild futurism.

What he can't yet imagine are the ways in which the news media's traditional revenue streams will simply evaporate. Kaiser argues for starting an online classified section. Smart. But eventually, Craigslist will whittle down the price of classifieds to nothing. He argues for trying to sell news online, perhaps through micropayments. But as Mark Potts, one of Washingtonpost.com's founding editors, wrote when he posted Kaiser's letter this weekend, tech limitations made charging for the site unfeasible. Nobody, meanwhile, could foresee how the web's ocean on new content would make online advertising an unworkable business model for almost anyone other than search giants, such as Google.

When it comes to how all of these technological advances will change the way we consume information, Kaiser is even further off the mark. He writes off the idea, for instance, that readers will enjoy "playing editor" by "organizing the information stream around personal needs and preferences to create individualized newspapers." So goodbye Twitter, Facebook feeds, and RSS. 

That blindness may have led to true missed opportunities for the news business, though perhaps not the ones you'd expect. I've never been a believer in the idea that newspapers are being sunk by their content -- that they're not interactive or social enough. Heck, even Facebook is barely making a go at it with social. Rather, as Potts noted Sunday, the Post simply passed on investing in some of the Internet's future giants, including AOL, eBay and Google. Again, seeing the value in those companies required understanding not just what technology consumers would have on hand, but how they'd want to use it. 

Kaiser led off his letter with the familiar metaphor about frogs in a pot of water. Frogs' nervous systems supposedly can't feel slight changes in temperature, and so if the temperature rises slowly enough, they'll boil alive. 

"The Post is not in a pot of water, and we're smarter than the average frog," Kaiser wrote. "But we do find ourselves swimming in an electronic sea where we could eventually be devoured -- or ignored as an unnecessary anachronism. Our goal, obviously, is to avoid getting boiled as the electronic revolution continues."

Right now, I think most would agree, they're boiling.

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Although the U.S. has seen 40 percent growth in the number of bicycle commuters since 2000, their numbers have yet to even surpass 1 million.

That's a shame.

Not only do bicycle commuters have the potential to improve their own health, wealth and standard of living, but the ripple effect of more cyclists coupled with fewer cars on the road could give the entire country a much-needed boost. 

After digging through years' worth of research and government data, it's clear that the pros of biking to work far outweigh the cons. 

It is vastly cheaper than driving.

Due to rising fuel costs and tire upkeep, the cost of owning a car increased nearly 2 percent in 2012 to $8,946, according to AAA.

It costs just $308 per year to keep bikes in shape––nearly 30 times less than cars. 

Per the Sierra Club: "If American drivers were to make just one four-mile round trip each week with a bicycle instead of a car, they would save nearly 2 billion gallons of gas. At $4 per gallon, total savings would be $7.3 billion a year."

It's a free gym on wheels.

Rather than taking out an extra two hours per day (and a chunk of your paycheck) to hit up the gym, cycling gives you the same cardio benefits as aerobic exercises like jogging or dancing.

"[Bike commuting] can be a very effective cardiovascular benefit," says Lisa Callahan, MD, medical director of the Women's Sports Medical Center at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City. 

"If you're overweight and start an exercise program, sometimes it's harder on your joints because you are overweight ... so something like swimming or biking that's not pounding on the joints can be a good thing." 

You won't miss morning traffic jams.

Americans spend more than 25 minutes driving to work each day, according to the latest U.S. Census data, and trips can take nearly twice as long in populous cities like New York and Atlanta. 

Cycling could help you get there faster, especially in areas with bike lanes that are separated from regular traffic. 

"Half of the working population in the U.S. commutes five miles or less to work, with bike trips of three to five miles taking less time or the same amount of time as commuting by car," writes Kiplinger editor Amanda Lilly.

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Back in 2003, Pier 1 decided to put tremendous effort into producing a rap video to train its employees. 

At the time, the retailer dominated the home decor market. Since then, the retailer's faced poor sales and near-bankruptcy. 

Now the video's on YouTube, with lines like "All the merchandise really makes me smile/there's perfect stuff in every aisle."

Check it out: 

DON'T MISS: Target Is Actually Cheaper Than Walmart Right Now >

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