Open up your mind and say, ahh...

Josh Tolan is the CEO of Spark Hire, a video-powered hiring network that connects job seekers and employers through video resumes and online interviews. Connect with him and Spark Hire on Facebook and Twitter.

You’ve researched the company and practiced your interview answers. What else is there to worry about? Unfortunately, many candidates flub their interview attire and make themselves undesirable hires in the process. Here are some of the worst fashion horror stories and what you can learn before you suit up for your next job interview:

You’re Not an Employee Yet

Companies come in all different shapes and sizes — and all different levels of formality. One of the biggest mistakes job seekers make is to show up for the interview dressed like an employee instead of a candidate.

“Since we’re a casual work environment with no dress code, we occasionally get the candidate that matches our attire and it comes off as overly presumptuous, overconfident or just plain sloppy,” said August Nielsen, HR Manager of Veterans United Home Loans.

Instead, you should dress for a job at least one rung on the career ladder above the one for which you’re applying. This will be highly impressive to your interviewer and show just how seriously you’re taking this opportunity. Plus, it will convey the message to your potential employer that you’re interested in moving up and bettering yourself.

“I also interviewed a guy that wore old tennis shoes with a suit. What was that all about?” Nielsen wondered. “They weren’t even new tennis shoes.”

Remember, the interview is not the right moment to try out a quirky new style. You’re not Mark Zuckerberg, and hoodies or old tennis shoes won’t make an impressive interview statement.

You Forgot Your Pants

A recent survey showed six out of ten companies use video interviews in the hiring process. So, chances are, you’ll have one — and you can’t afford to think the video interview is somehow less formal than a face-to-face meeting — it’s not.

Just because the interviewer is looking directly at your top half doesn’t mean you can ignore what you wear below the waist.

“We had a candidate who was very impressive from the waist up,” said Sandi Webster, Principal for Consultants 2 Go. “However, he had to run to his printer for a sheet we had sent and he was wearing pajama bottoms.”

It’s important to dress exactly as you would for any in-person meeting. While video interviewing provides the luxury of interviewing from home, you should still present yourself as if you’re going to the office. Not only does it help you avoid the pajama debacle, but also it helps give you a psychological edge. If you’re dressed for the part, you’ll be more likely to act the part, as well.

You’re Repping Other Companies

Because your clothes tell a story about your candidacy, if you don’t pay attention to the small details, employers will think you’ll miss the big picture on the job as well.

“If you’re interviewing at LL Bean, don’t wear J. Crew. If you’re interviewing at CNA Insurance, please don’t carry a portfolio emblazoned with the Prudential logo,” said Lida Citroen, branding specialist and founder of LIDA360. “These small missteps make the interviewer question your attention to detail and commitment to going the extra mile for the job.”

Instead, keep things neutral. It’s good practice to stay away from loud prints or company logos altogether, which might be a distraction anyway. So, swap your branded briefcase for a plain case to avoid any issues.

You Didn’t Check the Thermometer

Job interviews make many candidates extremely nervous. If you live in a hot climate or your interview is during a hot summer day, this can be a recipe for a sweaty disaster.

Resume writer and career counselor Gaye Weintraub remembers a job candidate who showed up for the job interview with professional attire that was too tight, and he had giant sweat stains under his arms.

“While he dressed appropriately for his interview, it was difficult to get past the sweat stains and his unbelievably red face. I felt sorry for him, which is not the type of reaction any job seeker wants from an interviewer,” Weintraub said.

It’s important not to forget you are only human, and the combination of nerves and raising temperatures can be lethal. Instead, Weintraub advises candidates to bring an extra shirt along if the temperatures rise and the candidate is prone to sweating. This way, job seekers can change in a nearby bathroom before the interview and appear fresh and ready for the actual meeting.

“I tell my clients that it takes an interviewer only a few seconds to form an opinion of them. It is imperative that when they walk into the room, they are well-groomed, well-dressed, smell nice and have a smile,” Weintraub said.

You Treated the Interview Like a Tailgate

You want to dress for your interview, not for your next social engagement. Catherine Bell, former fashion designer and President of PRIME Impressions tells the story of how a man showed up for a mass interview for Sears wearing shorts and a sleeveless tank top. To top it all off, he was also holding an open can of beer in his hand.

“He obviously had another agenda outside of landing a job that day,” Bell said.

Carving out time in your hectic life for an interview can be tough, especially if you already have a job keeping you busy. It’s important, however, to focus all your attention on the interview at hand, instead of what else you have going on for the rest of the day. Turn off your mobile devices so nothing will beep, vibrate or chirp during your interview. And if you’re planning on tailgating after your interview, leave the drinks in the cooler.

If you can avoid some of these fashion pitfalls, you’ll be able to impress hiring managers with your appearance, so what you wear doesn’t detract from what you say.

What are some of the worst job-interview fashion mistakes you’ve seen? Share in the comments.

As a recent grad (Can I still say that? I graduated in May.) with a long commute, working from home seems like a dream. I go into the office Monday through Friday, working from my desk and collaborating with my co workers. While this is helpful for our marketing department, as our ideas are constantly flowing, it is a bit detrimental to my car milage and my gas bill. I will continue to work in the office, but it is great to know that working from home has become an option.

Working from home can save you money, time and ultimately make you a happier worker. If your company allows it and you can swing it, working form home one or two days a week sounds like a dream. Pop in a k-cup, work all morning, whip up a salad and work all afternoon. To top it off, no hour long commute home! Can’t a girl dream…

Data privacy officials in Germany have reopened a probe to look deeper at Facebook’s face recognition technology and determine if the social networking giant was collecting member photos without their knowledge.

In June, an investigation into Facebook’s database of pictures — led by data protection commissioner Johannes Casper in Hamburg, was suspended after he said he would give Facebook time to update its policies. After several attempts and no updates, Casper is now reopening the investigation according to The New York Times. He believes that Facebook has been illegally collecting face-recognition data about its members in order to populate its photo tag suggest feature.

However, Facebook told Mashable that the feature is in line with the protection laws in Europe.

“We believe that the photo tag suggest feature on Facebook is fully compliant with EU data protection laws,” a Facebook spokesperson told Mashable. “During our continuous dialogue with our supervisory authority in Europe, the Office of the Irish Data Protection Commissioner, we agreed to develop a best practice solution to notify people on Facebook about photo tag suggest.”

Facebook’s facial-recognition software can sense who is in your pictures and make tagging suggestions. Rather than opting in to the feature, it is rolled out to all accounts and must be opted out if the user chooses to do so.

This was one of several features under scrutiny last year by data protection officials in Ireland. It underwent an audit to see if was legal to obtain this information. Facebook agreed to notify its users in Europe about the photo suggest feature.

Following Facebook’s acquisition of facial-recognition software company Face.com for an undisclosed amount of money in June, some users have expressed concern that the expansion of this type of technology on the social network could encroach on their privacy rights. Facebook hasn’t said what its future plans are for Face.com or its technology.

Image courtesy iStockphoto, youngvet

So you have a foosball table at work. And an in-house masseuse. And maybe even an ironic conversation pit. But do you have a chair shaped like a molecular model? An art installation made of guitar pedals? How about a nonsensical shade over your desk that says, “If this shade is down I’m not who you think I am”? You do not. But David Byrne does, and for those reasons, his office is cooler than yours.

Brooklyn-based Gil Inoue snapped photographs of the Talking Head-turned-bike evangelist at his expansive, whimsy-drenched office in an old sweatshop in Soho, New York, recently for the Brazilian magazine TRIP. Inoue spent a few hours there, photographing the space and Byrne himself. Originally, Inoue wanted to shoot Byrne riding a vintage penny-farthing on the cobblestone streets of Soho, but they decided against it. “It was too dangerous,” Inoue says. He snapped this instead:

Byrne is one of those polymaths who has remained remarkably innovative into the early evening of his life, excelling in everything from art to music to writing. Now we get a glimpse of the environment that fuels all that creativity.

Note to self: Buy a penny-farthing.

For an extended tour of Byrne’s office, narrated by Byrne himself, go here.

Not too long ago, as I was putting the final touches on a client presentation, I stumbled across a surprising observation. The best insights in my report didn’t emerge in my office, during conference calls, or at meetings. They somehow appeared in the bathroom.

Research on the nature of creativity suggests my experience isn’t all that unique. Often, the most effective way of solving a difficult problem is simply walking away. The moment we allow ourselves to disengage from the individual pieces of a puzzle is the moment a solution appears. It’s why Albert Einstein regularly went sailing and why Charles Darwin planned his day around a countryside stroll. Thomas Edison simply napped.

In many ways, problem solvers are like artists. Taking a few steps back provides painters with a fresh perspective on their subject, lending them a new angle for approaching their work. Problem solving follows a similar recipe, but it’s not always the physical distance that we need. It’s psychological distance; mental space for new insights to bloom.

In a world where finding solutions makes up the crux of a typical workday, we are all artists. Cognitive artists. And to deliver our best work, we need revitalizing breaks. Distancing ourselves from our work grants us a broader view, activating a global perspective that precedes breakthrough.

So, why the bathroom?

If you’re like most office employees, access to sailboats, the countryside and a relaxing couch is in short supply. A walk to the bathroom is one of the few opportunities you have for disengaging, letting go of trivial details and refocusing on the bigger picture–even Steve Jobs recognized the bathroom’s potential, insisting that Pixar only build two in its studios, to provide employees with maximum enforced mixing. Neurologically, it is during these moments away from your desk the right hemisphere of your brain comes to life, making you more appreciative of the forest and less sensitive to the trees.

While most of us give little thought to our workplace bathroom, there’s good reason to believe it can have an impact on the quality of the work we produce — especially in organizations that rely on creativity and problem solving to stand out. Over the past decade, studies have shown that both our thoughts and behaviors are heavily influenced by our surroundings, in ways we often fail to recognize.

A few examples:

• The sound of classical music makes consumers spend more money
• The smell of cookies makes shoppers more likely to help a stranger
• The sight of red hurts intellectual performance but improves physical performance

Psychological findings like these are now commonplace, pointing to one irrefutable fact: Our environment shapes our thinking in powerful ways.

Which brings up some intriguing questions: How can we make the most of our time away from our desks? Is there a way of designing bathrooms to make them more inspiring? And what can organizations do to maximize the insights its employees get out of each bathroom visit?

Recent research on the science of creativity provides some helpful suggestions.

Rethink Muzak

One of the ways we become more creative is by exposing our minds to a broad variety of stimuli. The wider the selection of information you mentally digest–whether it be foreign movies, experimental novels or exotic travel–the more remote associations you’ll have in your arsenal. Or, in laymen’s terms, the more creative you’ll be.

Hearing unusual music primes us to think different–inspiring ideas, emotions and experiences that increase the associations active in our brain.

Surprise The Senses

 Another creativity nugget: We tend to find more insightful solutions to a problem when we’re in a good mood. One method experimentally proven for improving people’s moods is enjoyable scents. Positive scents don’t just make us feel better–they lead us to set higher goals for ourselves and experience a greater sense of self-efficacy.

Now, if you’re like most people, the restroom isn’t the first place that comes to mind when you think of positive scents, and partly that’s because of how hard custodians work to mask negative smells, leaving most bathrooms feeling like an assault on the senses. But in our case, that’s a good thing. It means the bar for surprising people with positive scents is that much more accessible. A few opportunities for enhancing the scent of a workplace bathroom: unusual soaps, exotic candles, and the hallway outside a bathroom, boosting people’s mood before and after a visit.

Encourage Mental Stimulation

Part of what makes bathroom visits a boon to creativity is that they represent one of the few times during the workday when our physiological attention is directed inward, mimicking the psychological experience of insight. But it’s not just inward attention that’s needed–it’s inward attention in the context of fresh ideas.

Think about the last time you saw graffiti in the bathroom. Chances are, not only did you read it, you probably thought about the person who wrote it, perhaps wondering what (the hell) was going through their mind. We can’t help but think about the things we see, but we can choose what we look at. Providing a diet of mentally stimulating material in workplace bathrooms can be done in a number of ways: posting unusual artwork, leaving out thought provoking magazines or using digital picture frames to keep the imagery fresh. The key is for the material to be stimulating and indirectly related to work you do.

Once upon a time, going to the bathroom was a distraction. Something that kept us from work; an unfortunate bodily shortcoming that compromised efficiency. But that world doesn’t exist anymore. Today, our economy is powered by an engine of insight. Creativity in the workplace isn’t a “nice to have”—it’s what keeps companies in business. Which is why it’s ironic that most office bathrooms offer a bleak and unwelcoming environment. One that discourages insight and implicitly chides us to get back to our desks.

There’s just one problem. Creativity doesn’t work that way.

And if the science has taught us anything about the creative process it’s this: Finding unexpected solutions often requires an unexpected approach. Why not start in the bathroom?

Image: Flickr user Christophe Verdier

Kim, who is finishing is degree at Art Center College of Design, had three days to carry the project through from concept to completion.

Ideas, sketches, and notes tacked on the wall of Kim’s studio show the evolution of his proposal.

A comparison of “the big three,” Apple, Google, and Microsoft. “I decided that Microsoft needs to be… slightly aggressive, unlike Apple and Google’s friendly marketing,” writes Kim.

Microsoft’s current logomark.

Kim’s proposed redesign changes the typeface to an uncapitalized sans-serif, with a well-adjusted kerning.

It’s a “new start,” writes Kim, whose visual identity appropriates outer space imagery in stark black and white.

How the current logo works with Microsoft’s diversified product lines was a major concern for the young designer, who thinks that the perspective angle of the current logo clashes when it’s stamped on hand-held products.

On the left, Kim points out some of the company’s newest, coolest products. On the right, their over-friendly branding for Microsoft Office–”a branding effort that simply does not inspire people.”

The centerpiece of Kim’s proposal is the new logo, which he calls “the slate.” It was inspired by the oblique perspective of windows in corporate office towers.

Adapting the slate for the company’s many product lines, from tablets to software, shows its flexibility.

Meanwhile, a super-sized version frames a re-written brand philosophy:
“The Next Microsoft is built around a belief and passion for the future…expressed in a bold and mysterious fashion.”

The slate becomes a window pane, like Microsoft’s past logos, which can be super-sized to frame the “mysterious” imagery Kim sees as essential.

Another iteration of the slate shows crowded city streets.

And a third, the city itself.

Stamped on a Surface tablet and Windows phone, the slate is a less “busy” visual identity.

Which also extends to Microsoft’s packaging. Here, boxes for the company’s newly-unveiled line of tablets.

Kim demonstrates that the slate could be a ubiquitous presence in the multi-armed corporation, fading into the background at any scale.

Again, we see how Kim has imagined the new logo adapting to Microsoft’s various brand families.

He’s even reimagined print ads–here, we see a full-page spread (or billboard?) for the Surface tablet.

The designer thinks the brand isn’t properly conveying the excitement and vision of their new products–here, he redesigns an ad for the Windows phone.

The same goes for the company’s newest iterations of desktop software, from Office to the Windows app store.

Yes, the slate has even colonized a Manhattan billboard, one of the areas in which Apple has done such an excellent job marketing their brand.

A “loading” screen shows the slate being filled in, while the Windows phone loads.

Here’s how Kim explains the differences between Apple, Google, and Windows UI. On the left, Apple’s interfaces rely heavily on “skeuomorphics,” or design details that make it seem old, worn, and familiar. On the far right, Microsoft is the opposite, with a purely digital interface. In the middle, Google is somewhere in between.

Kim seems to be a fan of Microsoft’s Metro UI language, but he has a few bones to pick. For example, the current super-bright color palette makes certain things tough to read. He proposes a more somber alternative.

As to the “pure digital” UI, Kim appreciates the notion, but argues that it makes certain apps illegible, like the Wallet app. Here, he introduces a few design “metaphors” to increase legibility.

Kim sees his proposal as a way to make good on the company’s history as an innovator. “Microsoft: A promise made, a promise kept.”

WHY YOU SHOULD START A COMPANY IN…

New Ideas, New Markets, New Insights

It used to be, if you were serious about starting a tech company, you went to Silicon Valley. But emerging entrepreneurial hubs around the country are giving startups new options. In this series, we talk to leading figures in those communities about what makes them tick.

CLICK HERE for hotbeds of innovation in other U.S. cities.

To most people, Nashville is a one-note town: Music City, home of the American country scene. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, says Liza Massey, president and CEO of the Nashville Technology Council. “It’s great because it shows we have a creative, vibrant community.” But now another type of creative professional is stepping into the spotlight: the tech entrepreneur. Not only have the big technology leaders like Microsoft, Dell, and HP come to town, but frisky social media startups such as Emma, Moontoast, and Populr, are sprouting up here, too. Plus, there’s a burgeoning healthcare industry with high-tech needs. Which poses one of the best problems a city can have: Nashville now has 1,200 vacant tech jobs and not enough qualified workers to fill them.

So the city’s Technology Council has launched Nashville Is Hiring, a massive recruiting campaign that uses strategies both conventional (partnering with community colleges) and decidedly unconventional (going after middle school kids) in hopes of filling those jobs and starting a larger conversation around how to make Nashville a great place for tech workers. It is one of the Council’s several initiatives, which move beyond the “great quality of life” pitch and work toward making real grass-roots change with job candidates, educational institutions, and employers.

You might be wondering: Why so many jobs to fill? Well, for one, business is good. “The city has become so good at attracting and starting businesses that we’ve actually weathered the recession quite well,” Massey says. “I get pulled into meetings all the time with companies who are looking to expand and all they want to work on is tech workforce.”

The real problem is that while it’s easy to sell families on Nashville–the city has great schools, affordable housing, and no state income tax–it’s a lot harder to lure recent graduates. Employers aren’t always offering the hip, culture-driven workplace that young creatives seek.

The Technology Council wants to help employers understand that the young, recently graduated tech workforce is looking for a very different kind of work environment. “We have to tell students that you’re not going to be Dilbert in a cubicle, you’ll have flexible hours, and you’ll be able to work from home,” Massey says. Massey and her team encourage that structure by pointing companies to the postive aspects of ROWE, or results-only working environment, the kind of ethos pioneered by companies like Best Buy and Zappos, where employers focus less on face time, and more on work achieved.

Nicholas Holland, an entrepreneur and founder of Populr, a publishing platform that allows users to make good-looking single-page websites, and the digital agency Centresource, serves as a local expert on ROWE, advising companies large and small on its benefits. Holland challenges Nashville executives to think differently when it comes to structuring their office life, from initiating flexible hours to placing a focus on corporate culture. His argument is that companies can use ROWE to add a lot of value for potential employees without spending more on recruiting or facilities. “Right now, there’s a lack of resources so everyone is trying to entice and incentivize the same tech pool,” he says. “Larger firms, especially in Nashville, like healthcare firms have the ability to throw a lot of money at the problem, but many workers are looking for other things like a fuller career path, or an ecosystem that supports their personal lives.” (Holland sent me his answers using his company’s product, which includes many more ROWE resources.)

The Nashville Technology Council also works closely with local government leaders, many of whom are on a coordinating committee that meets once a month. One of those members is Matt Largen, director of the office of economic development in Williamson County, south of Nashville. He’s partnering with local community colleges to find funding sources for specific IT certification programs that meet the immediate needs of companies in the area. Across the region, says Massey, the Council works with the 14 universities, as well as community colleges, to tailor programs to employers’ needs, namely in healthcare, where technology changes rapidly.

But Nashville isn’t just focused on college outreach, they’re also targeting junior high school students. Largen says his team is laser-focused on increasing the number of eighth graders who enroll in a track they call Foundations of Information Technology. “We know there is a high retention rate of students who start in the foundation class and continue throughout the IT track so we decided to focus our energy and resources there,” he says. This includes sending a letter from the Nashville Technology Council to every eighth-grade parent and bringing in volunteers to answer questions about IT careers. “The bottom line is that we have to reach out to kids who show an interest and aptitude in technology and make them aware of the wide variety of career options.”

It seems like it might not be the best investment of energy–there’s no guarantee that those students will stay in Nashville when they enter the workforce–plus, could so much emphasis on tech that early be pushing kids away from other potential careers? Largen says that since technology is so pervasive in all jobs, a focus on IT in schools means building a stronger regional economy, period. “In today’s economy, talent drives economic development,” he says. “Plus, growing our own sector is going to be the direct result of efforts to push IT into early grades.”

Katherine McElroy, a partner at C3 Consulting, also works closely with Nashville’s public schools, where she says teachers, too, need to be aware of the widening tech field. She encourages local tech companies to host three-day “externships” during the summer for teachers. “It really helps for teachers to see how technology is used throughout companies in all types of industries,” she says. She also points to local efforts to engage young women, like an Art2Stem camp for girls in the summer, and the local Women in Technology-Tennessee chapter, that sponsors mentorships and scholarships for girls.

Although the Nashville Is Hiring campaign has only been recently announced, Massey says the effort will include an ad campaign as well as visits to tech conferences like SXSW. Earlier this year, the Technology Council sent a street team of young Nashville residents to the Tennessee music festivals CMA MusicFest and Bonaroo wearing bright yellow shirts that exclaimed “I’m a hotspot!” with QR codes that could be scanned for more information about the tech jobs available.

Massey hopes that the campaign will allow them to entice workers from nearby Atlanta, Indianapolis, and Raleigh, but their bigger range of initiatives will also allow them to lure tech workers away from larger cities like L.A., New York, and Chicago. She thinks their efforts show candidates that Nashville is dedicated to creating the best tech working environment in the country. “I challenge them to find another city on their short list that has such a coordinated effort and is taking such a holistic approach.”

Follow the conversation on Twitter using the tag #WhyHere.

Image: Cheryl Casey via Shutterstock

Some of the most interesting new ideas about office design have come out of collaborations between advertising agencies and architects. Agencies tend to make fantastic clients, often encouraging designers to stretch their creative legs and try out unusual spatial schemes. Portlandia even lampooned the trend with a sketch that shows Carrie Brownstein lost inside of Wieden+Kennedy’s labyrinthine office in Portland, designed by Allied Works.

“Very often quality thinking does not happen within the structures of the office; it happens outdoors, out in the city, or at home,” writes architect Edward Ogosta, whose new scheme for a 30-person creative agency is called Hybrid Office. Ogosta wants to create workplaces that reflect the diversity of ways in which we think and cooperate.

At first glance, Ogosta’s design for the 6,000-square-foot warehouse doesn’t seem all that unusual. But a closer inspection of the sleek particleboard furniture reveals that something isn’t quite as it should be. Each piece of furniture is a “hybrid,” an unlikely combination of two objects with no obvious relationship. For example, a city block has mated with a desk to create workspaces that look like little gabled houses. An amphitheater’s steps are detailed with bookshelves, making it into a de facto reading room. The trunk of a tree had been grafted onto a chair, creating a cocoon-like seat. Ogosta explains that he wanted to diversify the types of spaces available to workers. “I think working in and with these hybrid-objects will quietly stimulate new levels of creativity in its users,” he tells Co.Design.

Ogosta started making hybrids back in 2009, as a side project. He’s designed dozens of them, ranging from table/floor combos to a forest of chairs. “Each hybrid synthesizes essential traits from two ‘parents’ of differing typologies,” he says, creating entirely new typologies in the process. The resulting mutations are surprising and brilliantly functional: a table made from drawing paper, for example. They make perfect sense in a creative workplace.

“Workers should not feel chained to their desk,” argues Ogosta. “They should be entitled the flexibility to work lying down in a quiet nook, at a table in a bustling lunch-room, or sitting under a tree in the garden if they please.”

Lawmakers in New York State think the root of all Internet evil lies in the anonymous nature by which comments get posted on news websites and social media. Their solution? They’ve introduced Internet anonymity legislation that would make New York-based website owners delete any anonymous posts that other Internet users label as cyberbullying.

Should the bills pass, any Internet user could call up a toll-free number that websites would be required to set up to handle such grievances. Anonymous web users would then have but a single recourse to save their posts if such a compliant is lodged against them: unmask completely by revealing their name and going through an identification process.

Should they refuse, the post must be deleted within 48 hours.

“A web site administrator, upon request, shall remove any comments posted on his or her web site by an anonymous poster unless such anonymous poster agrees to attach his or her name to the post and confirms that his or her IP address, legal name and home address are accurate,” reads the draft legislation, identical versions of which have been introduces in both chambers of New York’s legislature.

State Senator Thomas O’Mara, who introduced the bill in the New York State Senate, told Mashable that his motivation is entirely to “deal with the issue of cyberbulling.”

“Cyberbullying and bullying in general is something that I think is exacerbated by the use of the Internet and the ability to get a claim or an accusation out to a mass of people quickly and anonymously that may be of a bullying sort, or contain untrue accusations,” said O’Mara. “This legislation is an attempt to do something about that.”

O’Mara has not spoken to any website hosts about the legislation, nor does he consider the idea a violation of the First Amendment.

“I’ll be taking comments from web hosts and on the First Amendment into consideration,” said O’Mara. “By no means is this an attempt to infringe upon the First Amendment. I don’t think hosts of websites want to be in a position of fostering false or unsubstantiated information, and I want to work with all interests on the bill.”

Kurt Opsahl, senior staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, disagrees.

“The law is clearly unconstitutional,” said Opsahl. “The right to speak anonymously is part of the First Amendment and has been since the founding of this country. In fact, some of the founding documents of the country were originally written as part of the Federalist Papers, which some of our founding fathers wrote anonymously under pseudonyms. Since then, the Supreme Court has routinely held up the legality of speaking anonymously.”

Read the full text of the legislation here.

Mashable reached out to the office of State Assemblyman Dean Murray, who introduced the bill in his chamber, but did not immediately receive a response.

Should anonymous Internet users be forced to unmask themselves if a complaint is lodged against them? Sound off in the comments below.

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, selimaksan

Time to cut someone loose? Even if it’s long past time for them to go, firing an employee can be difficult. Follow these five tips and you’ll be on the road to happiness again.

Parting is such sweet sorrow–unless you’re saying goodbye to an employee who should have been gone a long time ago. Here are five tips to make firing someone easier on the both of you.

Get to the point. Long goodbyes are painful, so be brief. This isn’t the time to remind the employee about every conversation you had regarding his performance, nor is it the time to tell the employee how talented he is as you are showing him the door.

Prepare a brief statement and stick to your script. It’s those who veer off course that find themselves driving over a cliff.

Expect the worse. This isn’t going to be one of those situations where you come together and sing “Kumbaya.” This is going to be a tough conversation, even if you suspect the employee knows it’s coming. Be prepared. If you think there is a chance the employee will go crazy, then have someone from HR sitting by your side or another manager who can help diffuse what may be a hot situation.

Terminations are fairly standard. Anticipate questions that may be asked and have an answer ready. This will prevent you from having to get back in touch with an employee who may try to pull you back into the conversation you just had.

Don’t try and have the last word. Okay, so you wanted to say the words, “You’re fired,” and you’ve finally gotten the nerve. You may be thinking that you aren’t going to let anyone take this satisfaction away from you. Be open to the possibility that an employee may ask to resign.

Consider this request carefully and if asked, say yes. The objective is to remove this employee from the organization. It’s better for all, if the employee leaves with his dignity in hand and it may save your organization from having to go through a nasty unemployment hearing or worse yet, a wrongful discharge suit.

Find a quiet place. In workplaces where everyone works in the open, this may sound easier than it is. Look for a conference room with shades so you can shield the employee from having others observe his last hour at the office.

If no such place exists, look for a quiet table in a coffee shop where you can have a conversation. Or, wait until others have left the office so you can take care of the business at hand.

Just do it! I know business owners who are still talking about people they should have fired years ago, yet these employees are still with the firm. Pick a date and move forward.

If things haven’t gotten any better in a year’s time or more, they certainly aren’t going to improve anytime soon. Do yourself and your employee a favor. Say sayonara so you both can get on with your lives.

Image: Flickr user Vicente Villamón