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First, consider how bright you really need the screen to be. Turning it down as low as you can and still comfortably read what is on the screen will dramatically increase your battery run time. And of course, the larger your notebook screen, the more energy will be saved or used with a dim or bright setting.

You should also turn off any unnecessary components. If you aren't connecting to a wireless network, disable the network connection to keep your notebook from continually searching for networks.

And while a mouse is much easier to use than most built in touch pads, connecting it will consume more energy.

While in flight music is certainly nice, playing a CD or even music stored on your hard drive will mean that device is accessed frequently, requiring more power. If you configured your laptop with disk performance in mind, say by selecting a 7200rpm hard drive, your battery time is already reduced, so don't add to the penalty with constant disk accesses.

Check your scheduled tasks to make sure they won't be running during the critical time when you want the battery to really last. A virus or spyware scan on a system with lots of files can take an hour - and causes your machine to be constantly accessing your hard drive.

You should also make sure that the optical drive in your system does not contain a CD or DVD. The presence of a disc in the drive will cause it to spin up from time to time so that the system can show you what disc is present, wasting precious energy if you aren't actually planning on accessing it.

You should also check your power settings to make sure that if you get distracted, your system will go into sleep mode. It will take longer for your notebook to be ready to use after it has gone to sleep, but this mode saves significantly over hibernate.
]]> http://www.kitechnologygroup.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry081031-094724 X25-M Mainstream SATA Solid-State Drive.

In this demonstration, two computers were rebooted simultaneously. One system contained Intel's next generation processor which has yet to be officially released. The other, the X25-M drive and a much less capable processor. The Intel rep with the new processor was of course predicting that his machine would reboot much more quickly. The presence of the SSD was not mentioned at this point in the presentation.

So the reboot began, and within 15 or 20 seconds, the machine with the slower processor was back to the Vista desktop. The other machine took at least twice as long to reboot.

While I have always realized that anything that is I/O intensive is always limited by the speed of the hard drive, this demonstration was quite dramatic. And hopefully most of us don't reboot our machines several times a day, so how long a reboot takes may not be particularly important. But if a reboot happens that quickly, obviously anything else that has to read or write from the hard drive will also be much, much faster.

This drive is a 2.5" SATA drive, that can be installed in your notebook in place of the mechanical drive that you are probably using today. Intel has focused on delivering performance and reliability. You can most certainly find less expensive drives and you can find larger drives, but don't expect to find the same performance and reliability from other manufacturers. Some SSD's will not outperform mechanical drives, so if performance is your issue, but sure you make sure you know what you are really getting.

Another big advantage of SSD drives is the reduction in power requirements. Installing this drive in your notebook will increase your battery life by as much as 30 minutes.

The 80GB model has a price of $650 to $700, but expect prices to drop over the next year. A 160GB model is expected to be released in 2009. This particular model is aimed at the mobile market, but enterprise class drives are also coming into the market and will improve server performance even more dramatically than in the mobile market.]]> http://www.kitechnologygroup.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry081030-201324
For two or three years, Intel has been working hard to make notebooks a more open architecture. The goal has been to standardize on one keyboard, one screen, one optical drive style, etc. And while significant improvements have been made, you still can't buy a notebook case, motherboard and other components and put it all together yourself as you might for a desktop.

But just this month, several companies that build whitebooks have started building computers this way. Intel now has a notebook motherboard that can be separately. Other manufacturers are making the shells available separately as well.

One of the really neat features about the Intel motherboard is the way that the power, network and USB connectors have been designed. With most laptops, these connections come right off the motherboard. If they are broken, you must replace the entire motherboard. With Intel's new design, these connections are made to a daughter card that plugs into the motherboard. If you trip over the power cord and break that connection, you only have to replace the daughter card, not the entire motherboard. This is one of the most common problems with notebooks and suddenly a $500 - $600 repair became at most $100.

Another feature that we will start to see with whitebooks is a wider variety of case styles. If you are forced to purchase a case and motherboard together, style selection is non-existent. If they can be purchased and stocked separately, manufacturers will start offering cases in a variety of colors. At this week's Intel Channel Conference, distributors had models in brilliant red and blue, as well as a marbelized model.

Whether you are a fan of whitebooks or stick with name brand systems, these changes should benefit all notebook owners, bringing down the cost of repairs and reducing reliance on the original manufacturers for parts - a situation that sometimes leads to unreasonably high prices.]]> http://www.kitechnologygroup.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry081021-081745
If your system still has useful life, look for an organization that can put your old system to good use or find an organization that can facilitate such a donation. TechSoup has tips for donating a computer along with a list of organizations that are authorized Microsoft refurbishers. The National Cristina Foundation , is an organization that matches used equipment with needy schools and non-profit organizations around the world.

Goodwill has partnered with Dell to accept used equipment to be refurbished or recycled through RECONNECT. A simple Google search for “donate computer” will provide 456,000 results, so it shouldn’t be too difficult to find a good home for your used equipment. To take advantage of these opportunities, it is helpful to have the documentation and CDs that came with your system.

If it is important to you that your old system be used and not just recycled, then be sure you look for an organization whose focus is refurbishing and not recycling.

If your business leases systems, don’t just assume that the leasing company will dispose of your old equipment responsibly. Before you sign the lease, be sure that you ask about how your systems will be handled at the end of the lease. Some leasing companies are definitely more green than others and if this is an issue that is important to you, it needs to be a consideration when you select a leasing company.
]]> http://www.kitechnologygroup.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry080930-090837
So here are 5 reasons why you should automate your backups.

1. They are regular. Once you set the schedule, the backups just happen. You won't be wondering if your staff remembered to do it when you were out, or deciding you will have more time to do it tomorrow.

2. They are accurate. Once you have determined the data to be backed up, the same folders and files are backed up every time.

3. They are easy. Once the backups have been setup, you don't have to set it up again. Now depending on what you are backing up to, and whether or not you have an automated offsite backup , you may still have to swap media, but that is a lot easier than running through your backup software everyday.

4. They are consistent. That's the beauty of an automated system. The backups will run whether you were in the office or not, rain or shine, work day or holiday.

5. They happen during off hours. You will probably schedule your backups to run when there is no one in the office. No longer will you be asking people to save their documents or get out of your database program so that you can run the backup. No need to delay getting to work first thing in the morning either. And you won't be getting there early or staying after everyone else is gone so that you can backup without creating a lot of unproductive time.

]]> http://www.kitechnologygroup.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry080928-133730
So, I have some Google alerts set to let me know when comments or questions regarding remote backup are appearing somewhere on the Internet.

Late last week, I ran across a forum thread that was discussing various remote backup scenarios. (Usually, I just find advertisements, so this was a refreshing discovery.) The forum is a small business forum. Currently, it is just under 100 members from the US and abroad who are discussing common issues. I don't know all of the history of how this particular forum came to be, and I haven't read all of the threads, but I know that there are enough different topics that I am sure to find things that will expand my knowledge. I have also found several threads where I have expertise to lend.

Sometimes it is good to get opinions from people outside your field and outside your market area. If that describes you, check it out!]]> http://www.kitechnologygroup.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry080926-211111 Google’s Ann Arbor office at the Lansing Economic Club lunch in East Lansing. John concluded his remarks with a few thoughts about cloud computing – a concept that was new to many in the audience but is currently generating a lot of talk in the technology community.

For those of you not familiar with the term, ‘cloud’ is a metaphor for the Internet. ‘Cloud computing’ refers to using IT related capabilities that are available as a service through the Internet, rather than providing those capabilities on your own server or workstation. Some believe that ten years from now, cloud computing will have taken over and none of us will be talking about how to configure our new server, unless we are working for one of those big companies like Google that is providing services.

This is already happening at the consumer level, even though most consumers wouldn’t say they are cloud computing. Ten years ago, if you wanted maps on your computer, you bought a program and installed it. Now you just go to Google Maps or MapQuest and get the information free. Consumers are starting to expect that the job can be done with a free tool. Of course, free to the consumer doesn’t mean that someone isn’t paying for it.

Without a doubt, cloud computing would have some advantages. My laptop computer simply becomes a tool to access my applications and data, not the device that houses them. So if I drop it in a puddle and it doesn’t work anymore, I just use a different laptop to gain access. If I don’t have to have a server to run my database application, I will save money on equipment and on on-going maintenance. And collaboration is easier. I can set up a secure area for marketing materials and make them available to others who need to update them or access them to distribute. None of us will need to have access to any particular workstation to do it. Documents become much more like a web page than the documents we know today.

There are many applications today that can exist in the cloud rather than your office. KI has an application that manages our business. We chose to buy a server and the software and manage it in our office. We could have decided to let the software developer host the application on their server. Either way, we can get to the application through the internet. There are many companies already offering a wide variety of hosted applications such as Exchange and Sharepoint. Several CRM packages are available as hosted applications.

But some of us will balk at relinquishing control of our data to the ‘cloud’. Will it really be secure there? Will our competition be able to find it and steal it? How will we know that it is really being backed up? Perhaps that will change as people my age turn over the reins to a younger generation that has different expectations.

And of course, line of business applications will probably never be free. Instead of buying a server and paying to maintain it, you will be paying a monthly fee to whoever provides the service. Some will embrace the predictability of expenses under this scenario.

If you are a business owner, I would love to hear from you. What do you think about cloud computing? Is this a concept you would consider for your business and why or why not?
]]> http://www.kitechnologygroup.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry080925-162429 Google's Ann Arbor office, which has grown to 250 employees in 2 years.

John shared Google's philosophies and a bit about where they see technology taking us over the next few years at the Lansing Economic Club lunch held today in East Lansing. I thought I would share some of what he told us in a few blog entries.

If you Google for Google philosophy , you will find that there are actually ten things that Google has found to be true. John shared five of them with us over lunch. Three of them can certainly be applied to any business, regardless of the industry you are in.

1. Focus on the user and the revenue will follow. Certainly I want to do business with people who treat me as if I matter and who are able to provide tools and services that are useful to me. For example, my primary distributor for the products we resell is not the one who carries the most products, or that necessarily has the best price. It is the one that has a single sales rep dedicated to my account who actually responds when I have questions. Because they are able to focus on me, I spend my money with them.

2. You can make money without doing evil. Oh, how I wish everyone held this as a core value. We all want to make money, that's why we are in business. I hope that my clients all believe that I want to make it without taking advantage of them in any way.

3. There is always more information out there. This one is harder to apply to my world, but Google has a goal of organizing the world's inforamtion and making it universally accessible and available. That's got to be quite a challenge, especially when you learn that 13 hours of video is uploaded to YouTube every minute. You might argue that much of that isn't really information, but it is certainly an growing at an amazing rate. Makes me wonder why I can't find the specific thing I'm looking for!

4. You don't need to be at your desk to need an answer. With more of us using web-enabled phones, you can bet that Google will be providing more ways to make searching easier from your phone.

5. Fast is better than slow. You can't argue that we are not an instant gratification society. We want things now, if not sooner. So Google has put a lot of effort into fast searches. I don't doubt that they are right on target on that one. I'm certainly not going to use a search engine that is slow to provide results. And this is easy to relate to my business as well. My clients want their problems fixed today, not next week. And a minor annoyance today, will be a huge problem in a week if it hasn't been resolved.

The other 5 philosophies are also good. Check them out and let me know which one is your favorite.]]> http://www.kitechnologygroup.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry080917-194940
This unit has a screen that is just over 8" and a built in webcam. There are 2 USB ports - one on each side - microphone and headphone jacks, wired and wireless networking and an SD card reader. It does NOT have an optical drive, so you won't be be popping the CD you ran across in it.

The case appears to be fairly durable, though I'm not about to try dropping it. It has a velcroed on cover - powder blue - with a handle and weighs less than 5 pounds.

It is a bit hard to type on - my nails keep catching on other keys, but it is doable. And, this unit is being marketed as the perfect notebook for your elementary age kids. They would certainly be able to type on it without any problems, and you could always plug a full sized keyboard into one of those USB ports.

It would also be perfect to take along on a vacation so you can copy you pictures from your digital camera every night and make notes about what they are. As long as it is along for that, you might as well throw some mp3's on it so you can listen to that new audio book or your favorite music.

The notebook has a full version of XP Home, so you can create documents with WordPad or NotePad, but you probably wouldn't want to install Office on it. Programs for your younger children shouldn't be a problem, but you will have to load them from a USB drive of some sort.

While I won't be trading my full sized laptop for one of these anytime soon, I think this is a very slick machine and at a price that is very attractive. It would be hard to configure a desktop and monitor for any less and this device comes with portability and takes almost no space. It is also available with Linux for $425 - a good option if you don't plan to load any software that only runs under Windows.

If you are interested in taking my NOBi for a test drive, let me know!]]> http://www.kitechnologygroup.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry080916-211830
Of course, there are any number of charities that are willing to take your old cell phone and put it to good use, but maybe you would like to have a little cash for that old phone. Recently, some websites have cropped up allowing you to enter the model number of your phone and an evaluation of the unit along with details of the cables, CD and documentation you have for it. Entering the details for my Treo 700wx, which I think is in excellent condition, at gazelle.com gets me an offer of $46 - assuming I can find all of the cables and documentation that came with it. The site also shows you the price history and the expected future price for that model. The prediction is that it will only be worth $27 by December.

If you are thinking about upgrading your iPod, check out nextworth.com to see what your old one will fetch. According to this site, if you live in Massachusetts or New Hampshire you can get an instant in-store credit at Circuit City as well.

If you decide to sell, these sites will send you everything you need to send your used equipment to them. Once they have received it, they will send you a check.

Sounds like an easy way to keep your old equipment out of the landfill and your junk drawer!]]> http://www.kitechnologygroup.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry080913-131042
Last week, while I was on vacation, I read The Unthinkable: Who Survives When Disaster Strikes - And Why by Amanda Ripley. I found this book to be a fascinating account of the stories of people who have survived various disasters - from 9/11 to the Beverly Hills Supper Club fire outside Cincinnati to airplane fires.

If you are a regular reader of this blog, then you know that I have become interested in business continuity planning and helping business owners plan for disaster. In fact, I have made it my personal mission to educate business owners in the greater Lansing area about this topic.

While this book is not about business continuity, it is about survival. There are many stories taken from interviews with survivors that detail how they reacted during the disaster. And in most cases, it is probably not the way you would expect. One survivor of the sinking of the MV Estonia ferry in the Baltic on September 28, 1994 reported that other passengers were just sitting as if immobilized. One man was standing to the side smoking a cigarette.

Most people claim that they would be frantic to find a way out - to save themselves as quickly as possible. Now maybe I am surrounded by a group of people who are the exception and not the rule - or maybe we just don't really have any idea how we would really react until we are faced with the situation.

One thing that was clear throughout all of the stories is that those who take the time to be prepared are far more likely to survive. When survivors of an airplane disaster are interviewed, they consistently report that they took the time to read the emergency card and determine where the nearest exits were. This simple act seems to in some way prepare us to react more quickly if there is a disaster.

So it was not hard for me to apply this to business continuity - having a plan is certain to make it possible for you to react quickly should your business experience a disaster. You need to be thinking like a survivor or you risk becoming a victim.

The choice is yours, of course, but I choose to be a survivor!]]> http://www.kitechnologygroup.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry080908-194303
First, came the entire medical history - all on a laptop, connected to the network wirelessly and kept on a rolling cart. While the history seemed to take forever, I don't doubt that it was quicker and more complete than it would have been if done by hand. When the nurse completed the history, the laptop was wheeled back out into the hallway, freeing up much needed space in the small room we were in.

One thing that seems to take much longer is dispensing medication. There is a whole procedure that I was not able to observe just to get the necessary medications out of the storage cart. Then it is taken to the patient, where the patient's bar code must be scanned. Following that, the barcode on each medication is scanned. I am sure that this procedure reduces errors and more accurately records medication times - but fast it certainly isn't!

Up on the floor, every room had a computer in it. In most rooms, they were mounted directly on the wall. I was hoping for internet access that I could use - but no such luck!

At one point, I asked one of the nurses if the computers made things easier or more difficult. I had asked during a difficult moment, and the look she gave me definitely said that! She told me that there were certain things, like the medical history, that had been made much easier by computerization, but that other things were more difficult. On a different day, another nurse spent 5 minutes or more just trying to get the barcode scaner to actually work.

And should you think that all of the technology means that hospitals are saving paper and that all information is immediately available, that is not the case. My patient went from one area of the hospital to another with a very thick binder than contained print outs of all of his information. I guess you have to be sure that there is access to all of the records even in the event of a system crash, so it all gets printed out. And at one point, the nurse told us that she did not yet have access to the surgery report, and it had been several hours since the surgery was completed.]]> http://www.kitechnologygroup.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry080903-191345 Verdiem .

Edison is a free software product available to consumers that lets you actively control your PC's energy consumption. It is easy to download and install, and once you have it installed, it is easy to see how much money you can save with various power settings.

One of the big advantages of Edison over the standard Windows power settings is that you can configure the power settings differently for working and non-working hours. During non-working hours, you can set the software to turn off your monitor and hard drives after just a few minutes, but after a much longer time period during working hours. And you get to define just when those working hours are!

To see how much you will be able to save with various settings, you will need to grab a recent electric bill and enter the actual cost of your electricity. Once that is done, easy to use slider bars show you just how big your savings will be for various settings.

I've written quite a bit lately about reducing energy consumption at the desktop level. Let me know - is this an issue that you are interested in?]]> http://www.kitechnologygroup.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry080902-111120
When I first began, I was completely new to blogs. I didn't read any and I didn't have one. Now, it is an activity that I look forward to.

When I first set up my blog, I decided not to allow for comments or reader ratings. Today, I have just completed changing the settings to allow both of those as part of my blog.

I hope some of you will comment and rate the entries that you especially like or don't like. I am looking forward to your feedback and hope to learn something about who you are.]]> http://www.kitechnologygroup.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry080902-105147
This vacation will be very different. First, I am just relaxing at my dad's condo on the Ohio River. That made it easy to bring a lot of reading material with me, so I am taking some time to catch up on some of the many industry publications that typically pile up in my office.

So this morning, I have been reading Intel's latest premier IT Magazine, and I ran across something interesting to share - the concept of digital natives versus digital immigrants.

If you are a digital native, then you probably grew up surrounded by computers, MP3 players, mobile phones and all of the applications that go with them. Obviously, the older you are, the tougher it will be to fall into this category! You could be said to have a romance with gadgets, programs, Web 2.0 software and innovations that fuels your desire to learn about new technology. When you need information, you naturally look on line and would probably use the telephone only as a resource of last resort. This definitely explains why I have to tell some of my staff that they should call tech support! They will spend hours looking online for something before they resort to voice communication!

Digital immigrants did not grow up in the same culture of technology as did digital natives. We can remember a world without computers, or one with only large mainframe computers. We adopt new innovations later and incorporate them into our everyday lives once they have become popular. Perhaps you notice that I'm using 'we' in this description. Yep, I think it is safe to say that in spite of having spent my entire working career working with computers, I am really a digital immigrant. I was slow to get an MP3 player and a cell phone, although my phone now has email and internet access.

So, if you are a digital immigrant, but you rely on technology in your business, it is important that you have the influence of a digital native to help you understand and utilize new technologies. Maybe it is someone who works for you, or maybe it is someone from an IT services company. I can certainly think of situations where one of my digital natives has started talking about a new technology that they are excited about. I am always listening intently to determine if this new technology is something that my business (or yours!) can put to good use or if it is something I want to incorporate into my personal life. If it seems promising, I am always ready with a battery of questions or to take the technology for a test drive.

]]> http://www.kitechnologygroup.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry080820-181752
Although we regularly attend the Intel Channel Conferences and I had an opportunity to talk to Intel at Breakaway, that doesn't translate into an opportunity for the entire staff to talk to someone in person.

So at a few minutes after 9am this morning, Max Glover was standing in our office ready to field questions from my team. I spent a little time telling him what we do and showing him our office, as well as introducing him to everyone. Then my staff started asking him questions about the new products that they have heard and read about. I think that they enjoyed being able to have a conversation with someone who could explain a bit about Intel's strategy for new product development and let us know what things to expect over the next 12 to 18 months.

Max had questions for us as well. He was interested to know how we see Intel products fitting into what we do and whether or not we had encountered any problems that he could help us with. It was reaffirming to us to know that the ways that we envision positioning products is right in line with how Intel is promoting them.

As Max left, he thanked us for taking time out of our day to chat with him. He said that he thought he was the major beneficiary of our time together as it is important that he understand how companies like KI are utilizing Intel products, as well as the full range of services we provide. But I think that my team certainly felt that they had gained from the time spent with Max as well.

We will certainly welcome Max back into our office at any time!]]>