Good news for those of us who enjoy looking at cute animal photos, videos, and memes at work. It actually makes us more productive, not less. Rejoice!

An uplifting new study entitled, "The Power of Kawaii: Viewing Cute Images Promotes a Careful Behavior and Narrows Attentional Focus" concluded that viewing adorable images on the job doesn't just give you momentary warm and fuzzies, it also improves your attention to detail and boosts your overall performance. The research stated: "Results show that participants performed tasks requiring focused attention more carefully after viewing cute images. This is interpreted as the result of a narrowed attentional focus induced by the cuteness-triggered positive emotion that is associated with approach motivation and the tendency toward systematic processing."

So, as a favor to your boss, here are some super cute animal photos that will make you a more efficient employee. 

Image via Eran Finkle/Flickr

Still waiting on Apple to develop a kid remote controlWhen Teen Girl was still small, I remember being a little put out with people who seemed to take great joy in warning me about “that age.” She would turn 12 or 13, they predicted, and everything in our house would go topsy turvy, along with her attitude, her behavior, and her personality. It wasn’t just one or two people telling me this. It was folks at church, strangers on the street, beloved family members. They all seemed to have some firsthand experience and they all shared it, irritatingly enough, with this better-you-than-me smirk stretched across their lips.

Move over creepy dude living in his ex-girlfriend's attic, we now have "husband who filmed his wife -- and other friends and relatives -- for months via all sorts of hidden cameras and microphones." Isn't it a great time to be alive?!

During her divorce proceedings in 2009, Catherine Zang learned that her husband Joseph didn't merely use some jank built-in computer webcam to see what she was up to all day long, but instead allegedly had a hidden video camera installed in their home, which tracked her every move; a microphone behind the wall, which recorded her every sound; and software in the computer, which copied her every email and instant message.

I'm thinking Joseph isn't one to take part in the "trust fall" exercise at the company retreat.

You know what's the best? Vacations! You get a well-deserved reprieve from the daily grind; you have a week or so to indulge in ways you normally don't (and not feel guilty about it); and everyone you encounter is in an awesome mood -- because they're on vacation! See? Best! But some years don't lend themselves to vacays. Sometimes, money's tight or you just moved or you just had a baby and you can't get away. And it sucks. But, hey, guess what? You can use your computer. For real. Here are five ways you can take a virtual vacation when you can do the real thing.

David Johnson has sent more than 262 emails to the same person since March 2010. In them, he talks about his family, ambitions, and career. He sends pictures, song lyrics, whatever he feels like. The person he's sending these emails to? Get this: the one and only Jay-Z. 

Yup, Johnson and Jay, they're pen pals. Except well, not really. In fact, Jay has never responded to a single message. Allegedly the man has Jay's ACTUAL email address, and has been carrying on a one-sided conversation for more than two years now.

So how does he know that it's Jay Z's actual email? Well, he doesn't. Except thanks to a fancy shmancy tracker/receipt thingamajig, Johnson knows that the emails have been opened. Not just that, but opened in locations Jay-Z's set to perform in hours before he hits the stage. Sounds legit, I'd say.

It makes me wonder: What would you do if you had the email address of one of your most idolized stars? Would you use it? I would, hands down.

Are you reading this? Then congratulations! Why are you being congratulated? Well, first off, you have excellent taste in reading material. But also because it's Malware Monday! Today is the day that millions of people were scheduled to have NO Internet access. Ugh ... torture. Can you imagine? NO INTERNET ACCESS. Ahhhh! So why could you possibly not have online access today? It gets all techy, but here's the short version: The FBI (I'm not making this up) has been secretly (no, seriously) rerouting millions of Internet connections through their own servers because of a computer virus called DNS Changer. So those of you who have been wearing tinfoil on your head because you suspected the FBI had secretly taken over your computer ... you could have been right! Yay for tinfoil!

I have a confession to make: Sometimes I wonder if my Internet activities could get me arrested. I can clearly imagine a loud pounding at the door -- bang, bang!, And then a man's booming voice, yelling, "Open up, Ma'am!" Err, whaaa -- ? So I pad to the door in my jammies and standing there are six big men sternly holding up FBI badges. "What did I do, officers?" I gasp. (Quickly trying to prettify myself.) And to my horror, they answer, "You did a Google search for kiddie porn!" Oh noooo. Let me explain myself.

I was about to title this post "Which Laptop Is the Right One for You?" but unless you're on a tight budget and don't mind your hardware becoming obsolete in a year or so, there's no reason to look anywhere else for your family laptop needs. In short, Macs are the most stable and user-friendly notebooks out there, and until Windows 8 appears, steer clear of cheapbooks (laptops below $500).

On Monday, Apple's Tim Cook announced a brand new laptop, the MacBook Pro With Retina Display. It is, without mincing words, breathtaking. The screen has double the resolution of any other screen available on a laptop today and it is thin, light, and quite powerful. 

But is it for you?