Recycle – Computers, monitors, and other electronics contain toxic materials that can harm the environment and create an estimated 70% of the toxins found in US landfills. There are recycling programs and companies who can take your obsolete equipment off your hands and dispose of it correctly.

Reuse – Gently used PCs and other equipment can be donated to a nonprofit organization—some tax incentives are offered for this. Be sure that any machines you donate are wiped clean of any potentially sensitive data and that the charity or school you choose has the resources to handle this type of donation.

Reduce – Learn to identify the worst e-waste offenders and make the most of your resources. Reduce cost and resource usage by implementing green solutions throughout your business.

A very helpful article on reducing e-waste and utilizing more “Green IT” in your company’s business operations, “5 Steps to Green IT,” can be found at http://www.eweek.com/c/a/IT-Infrastructure/5-Steps-to-Green-IT/.

The article states the importance of companies building Green IT solutions into their budgets and RFPs, not only for environmental reasons, but for significant savings.

It stresses that businesses need to create a recycling plan that will address how they dispose of obsolete equipment and to hold hardware vendors responsible for recycling and disposal. Sun Microsystems, Microsoft, and Apple are examples given that all have impressive e-waste reducing programs in place.

Below are the Top 10 Windows 7 Improvements according to http://windows.microsoft.com:

1 A better desktop that lets you work faster. The taskbar has bigger buttons, full-sized previews, and allows for one-click access to programs. Jump Lists provide shortcuts to files, folders, and websites. And Snap, Peek, and Shake help juggle open windows.

2 Smarter search. Search results appear instantly, grouped by category, and you can narrow it with filters like date or file type—and be sure you get what you’re looking for with a preview pane.

3 Easy sharing of files and printers on your home network. With HomeGroup, you can connect two or more PCs running Windows 7, and share music, pictures, videos, and documents.

4 Built for speed. Windows 7 takes up less memory and runs background services only when necessary. Programs run faster and you can sleep, resume, and reconnect to wireless networks more quickly. Also includes 64-bit support.

5 Better wireless networking—it now takes just a couple of clicks to connect your laptop. Click on an available network in the taskbar and connect. Windows will remember your network connections so you can connect automatically the next time.

6 Windows Touch. Use your fingers to browse the web, flip through photos, and open files and folders on a touchscreen PC. Includes gestures for zooming, rotating, and even right-clicking.

7 Plays well with devices. Device Stage works like a home page for portable music players, smartphones, and printers. When plugged in, compatible devices make a menu appear with information popularly requested.

8 Improved media streaming. Windows Media Player 12 lets you enjoy your media library anywhere—from your PC to your stereo or TV (you may need additional hardware) or over the Internet from one computer running Windows 7 to another.

9 Live TV and movies on your PC. Internet TV gathers programming from sites all over the Internet. Add a TV tuner, and your PC becomes a digital video recorder you can use to watch, pause, and record live TV.

10 Nag-free notifications. Action Center puts you in control of maintenance and security messages. If Windows needs your attention, you’ll see a notification on the taskbar.

Recently I personally witnessed an example of over using technology. I was on vacation in Myrtle Beach South Carolina. It was a great South Carolina morning. The sun was coming up and it was a brisk morning on the way to a nice 80 degree day. Perfect for spending time on the beach with my family and friends! Several of my friends and I were up early and heading to a local golf course called Whispering Pines. Being somewhat adventuresome, I had found out where the golf course was earlier in the week while driving around with my two sons looking for a baseball field to practice on. The four of us loaded up the clubs into the beautiful new 2009 Buick Enclave.

The Enclave was a beautiful cross-over vehicle with all the latest bells and whistles – including built in GPS. I settled in the Enclave for what I knew was a quick ride – 10 minutes at the most – to Whispering Pines golf course. That’s when “it” happened…..the overuse of technology. Our driver Mike, conveniently loaded the address to the golf course in the GPS. The pleasant sounding voice on the GPS system quickly directed us and we were on our way. Immediately out of the parking garage, I knew I was in trouble…..

The pleasant GPS voice directed us in what I believed to be the wrong direction. I mentioned to Mike that we should be making a left turn and not a right at the corner. Mike reassured me that the GPS was in control and that I should sit back and enjoy the ride. ………..15 minutes and 4 U-turns later we were still following that pleasant (“siren” of a voice) GPS device. At first, I was quite annoyed at being disregarded for this “siren GPS.” But after the first 2 u-turns, I thought this experience could be kind of fun So I decided to sit back, smile and watch Mike follow the “siren.” As we took wrong turn after wrong turn a consistent phrase kept popping into my mind – we could not see the “forest through the trees.” All thinking, logic and reasoning skills were thrown out of the window. The “siren GPS” had to be right. Damn the maps, compasses and basic intuition….we didn’t need that stuff…..after all we were following the GPS system. It was another 10 minutes before the driver finally gave up and dismissed the GPS, decided to listen to his team and ultimately find Whispering Pines Golf Course. As this personal example reminded me, technology is rarely the answer. Technology is just a piece to the equation and a tool to be used combined with logic and reasoning skills to help move “the trip” forward. Like we experienced on that great South Carolina morning, the over use of technology can make anyone take wrong turns. Including your business…

Technology is not a substitute for business plans, intuition and solid decision making. Technology is designed to support those elements and help enable the business leader’s intuition, skill and dexterity to make more informed decisions and track ‘things.’ If you are tired of people pushing technology for technology sake, contact us at Pearl Technology.

Our goal at Pearl Technology is to Innovate for our clients to Impact their business with Integrity. Technology should simplify your business and/or create additional business velocity. Increasing the velocity of your business allows you to do more, be more efficient and scale in support of your customers. Now that’s what matters: technology, simplified.

Now, with technology and the advent of Apples iTunes (among other providers) almost every book can be found in audio format quickly. I set out to find my ‘copy’ of the book. A few minutes and $15.95 later, I had my audio book downloaded to my iPod and my iPhone. Being somewhat of a traditionalist, I also decided to purchase the paperback version of the book as well. Now I had covered all the bases! I was utilizing the audio book to save time and be efficient. I listened to the book on the drive into work, at my desktop while reviewing e-mail and on planes as I traveled. Once again, the traditionalist in me wanted the paperback as well. This I used to skim key subject areas for study and to physically ‘highlight’ areas of interest. For me, this approach worked out well. I combined the use of technology (audio books) with time tested methods (the paperback) to provide a quality learning experience and to help speed up and simplify the process…. much like technology, simplified from Pearl Technology does.

Reading First Things First by Covey was a great refresher. For me it was a solid reminder that there are too many distractions and items that can pull you away from your important focus items. However, with prioritizing, goal setting and focus you can slice through those distractions and get the most important items accomplished. For pure simplification, Covey breaks down the book into this final phrase “the main thing is keeping the main thing the main thing.” Simplified…. Yes… Redundant or thought provoking……you decide – send me your comments.