virtual assistant posts

By Josh Wolonick
Minyanville

Monday morning, as I read the reactions and reviews to the 85th Academy Awards from the night before, I came across an interesting intersection of Hollywood dazzle and Silicon Valley power: Sergey Brin, a co-founder of Google (NASDAQ:GOOG), and his wife Anne Wojcicki, were apparently at the Vanity Fair Oscars Party, schmoozing amongst that most exclusive and dazzling list of party guests, and promoting Google's new Glass device. Both Brin and his wife wore a pair of the smart wearable computers (they resemble a pair of eyeglasses), and Hollywood power players were invited to test out prototypes. Ms. Wojcicki said to the New York Times, "We've come a number of times, and no one ever wants to talk to us. Now we're very popular."

In a separate story, Brin told CNN: "Glass will also have an automatic picture-taking mode, snapping pics at preset intervals (such as every five seconds)." He has also demonstrated the feature in an email to select followers of the project's Google+ page.

Not every Google Glass will automatically record an image at preset intervals -- a spokesperson from Google has said the auto-photo function will not ship with the first Glass model -- but I'm certain that Brin recorded some fascinating footage Sunday night. Imagine if we could step into the lives of the George Clooneys and Jennifer Lawrences of the world. Imagine if we could, virtually at least, be at the Vanity Fair Oscar Party? With Google Glass, someday that may be a possibility. And that raises serious privacy concerns.

Arguably, one of the most interesting developments the internet has brought us is the ability to work remotely. Our offices can be wherever we are, but, even more dramatically, it's now possible to work and collaborate with people you might never have had access to in the past.

The cost savings can be dramatic: Instead of hiring a full-time writer, who will need office space, a telephone, internet access and benefits, a lot of employers outsource their writing tasks to freelancers, like yours truly. In turn, businesses like mine can take advantage of a global pool of talent to do everything from bookkeeping to virtual assistant work, at a fraction of the cost it would normally take to hire someone in person.

Hurray for leveled playing fields!