Technology Updates

How to Shop for the Best Technology at the Right Price

September 10, 2022 Comments Off

Buying the right technology at the right price can be challenging. We are surrounded by new shiny technologies that make big promises but don’t always deliver. Today’s rapidly changing technology landscape means careful consideration must be taken to ensure the right purchasing decision has been made.
Keep the following in mind and you will be on your way to making the right choice and getting the best price.
Is it the right tool?
Technology is just that, a tool. It may be a tool that provides only entertainment, but still it is still just a tool. The best technology provides a seamless experience with no barriers to use while being enjoyable and durable. Buying a technophobe a fancy thing that does far more than required may be a huge mistake. A good example can be found in the computer industry. If a user is simply going to browse the internet, jot some notes down and enjoy music and photos on their computer, they will be best served by a simple device that doesn’t muddle up the experience and doesn’t ask more of them than can be provided.
Today’s surge in HDTV, Gaming Consoles Tablet Computers and Netbooks is a result of people simplifying the tools they use for the majority of their computing experience. You don’t need the latest greatest processing machines to look at the latest photos from the Boy Scout Jamboree. Buying a powerhouse computer for Grandma could be a great waste of money. Better to get her an Xbox 360, a copy of God of War and show her how to view photos on her television.
Are there ongoing fees?
Some technologies are subsidized with ongoing subscription fees and long-term contracts. If you were to look at the costs between an iPhone and an iPod Touch, very similar devices if compared without the phone features, the price difference is immense. As of 11/01/2010, an 8GB iPhone 3Gs will cost you at least $1,058.76 after your two year contract is up, while an 8GB iPod Touch costs $229.00. If you used only the gaming and Home networking features of the iPhone, you would be wasting over $800. GPS devices with subscription based traffic are another good example of a system with ongoing costs. Find out if the technology is useless without subscription services, or if they still retain usefulness in case you feel you want to cancel the service. Figure subscription services and contract length into the cost of the technology.
Are there consumables?
Batteries and printer toner/ink are the most common consumable in today’s technologies. Find out what type of batteries your technology takes, whether it is user-serviceable, and how long it will take normal use to need battery replacement. Figure the cost of battery replacement into the cost of the device. If you are buying a printer, look into cost per page. A low price printer may cost hundreds of dollars more when ink prices are taken into consideration.
What do other people think about it?
Once you’ve found the technology you like, plug the model number into your favorite search engine and read up on customer reviews. If it is a new piece of tech, you may not see a good number of customer reviews, but if it has been around for a while, chances are there are many opinions out there. You may see a mix of great and horrible reviews for any given product. Look for patterns in quality, support/service and overall satisfaction and always read with a grain of salt.
What is the best price?
Finally, start digging for a deal. I myself love to use Google shopping. They go out and find the best prices for millions of products and list them in that familiar googley way. I get the best results by typing the model number into Google, hitting search, and switching to the ‘shopping’ link at the top. Then I sort by price and click around. Often you will find the lowest prices on refurbished items or items on eBay. This is sometimes OK, but if it means I get a shorter warranty, or no warranty at all, or if it is something that has batteries or consumables or can be damaged by water, I skip the refurbish and auction sites.
Avoiding Buyer’s Remorse
As an avid consumer of technology, I have learned over time that I should be very careful before buying something that doesn’t meet my expectations. I bought a Kaossilator with dreams of integrating it into one of my guitars. I had fantasies of laying down some sick beats, deep bass lines and ripping leads with the touch pad from the Kaossilator to the wild applause and adoration of the audience. For those of you that don’t perform live rock music, this is the impetus for …

Iran and N Korean Technology Treaty – Advanced Missile Tech, Centrifuge Scientific Knowledge

July 18, 2022 Comments Off

It seems as though while the US politic is busy distracted on mundane political nonsense during the 2012 political election season, that the centrifuges in Iran are busy spinning away like never before. Great, so apparently the sanctions are not working, but how could they work when then US has given all 20-nations which buy Iranian oil a free-pass. Meaning basically, no sanction rules, and interestingly enough, there are US food companies which sell food items there too.
Sometimes it seems as if these sanctions are more or less re-writing trade rules, putting barriers to entry up, keeping oil prices high world-wide, and allowing some nations special status. That is a real problem when it comes to global free-markets I’d say, and cloaking it under an anti-nuclear proliferation policy is silly – mostly because it isn’t working and it’s becoming quite apparent the Obama Administration doesn’t want it to work. So, what have we now?
We are entering the age of nuclear terrorism – and philosophically and strategically thinking – it doesn’t matter if the bad guys or proxy terrorists actually have a nuke or not, it’s the fear factor, remember terrorism is about fear. Okay so, rather than taking it down a few notches we are now using it as an excuse to use surveillance on all internet traffic globally, and as the world gets closer together this also means watching all communication on all social networks, since there are members from all countries now.
As if the fear factor wasn’t enough now it appears North Korea, a tiny country, and Iran a belligerent one (the leadership that is) have decided to use this fear as power. Of course, this is a fear lever that we have given them due to piss poor policy by the Obama Administration.
The Washington Post had an interesting piece recently about North Korea and Iran published on September 1, 2012 titled; “Iran and North Korea sign technological cooperation agreement, deepening ties,” by the Associated Press because the Washington Times reporters are too busy following the Obama Campaign roadshow these days to actually report on important news (opinion).
Apparently, nothing of any substantial nature has been done to reduce nuclear proliferation during the Obama Administration. It has become quite evident that they don’t take this challenge as significant, they just don’t think it’s a problem. Well, it will be a problem when a nuclear weapon is detonated inside of some major city in the world. When that happens, we can look back at who was asleep at the wheel, and which administrations allowed rogue nation states to continue the development of these weapons. Please consider all this and think on it.…

Different Kind of Cloud Approaches Logistics

June 20, 2022 Comments Off

Anybody remotely connected to the transportation industry is well aware that our industry has made significant progress in the last few years when it comes to technology. As our normal business cycles seem to be getting shorter (In as little as ten years we have experienced a major driver shortage, a huge economic recession, more regulatory bewilderment and back to a driver shortage) we are starting to leverage technology in ways that make things easier for our customer and at the same time streamline the way we deploy our human capital.
As we emerge from the recent recession, there is talk of cloud looming over the industry – but this one is not as ominous as the dark clouds of the economic downturn. I am talking about cloud server technology. Simply put, cloud technology is where applications and data that we are accustomed to seeing on our “local” computer, are know being hosted remotely so that all you need to access them is an internet connection. An example of this is where instead of accessing a dispatch program on your computer or server, you can now access this same program just by having a WIFI connection – the program is being run effectively off site or “in the cloud”.
While companies in all industries can benefit from this new “asset-light” approach to data organization, the transportation industry should be very excited. Here are a few reasons why:
1. There are many technology platforms that the logistics professional may access on a daily basis to get their job done. These include, dispatch, transportation management software, tracking technology, and various communication platforms. All of these platforms are constantly evolving and improving. When these platforms are hosted in the “cloud” the end-user immediately benefits from the upgrades in real-time without having to manage the upgrades locally.
2. Today companies are collaborating at every stage of the business process from production to delivery. When critical data is hosted in the cloud, people access the specified information from anywhere and if desired customers and suppliers can access that same data to make more informed decisions based on real-time information.
3. Today employees are more mobile than ever. Most people are accustomed to doing some part of their job while away from the office or via their Smart-phone or other similar device. Additionally, these “smart devices” usually do not have the power to run application software, so accessing the programs online is the only option.…

Rocker Technology: The Latest in Comfort Footwear

March 19, 2022 Comments Off

Rocker technology is all the rage in athletic shoes right now. They are recognized as having a curved rocker shape on the soles of the shoes. These shoes are being advertised heavily, and bought, because they promote great health habits. There are lots of TV commercials showing runners and walkers moving along with ease because they are wearing their rocker shoes. And yes, it’s true that these shoes, for the most part, deliver for runners and walkers. But they have built in advantages for nursing shoes also.
First, rocker shoes are comfortable. This is of the utmost importance for the nurse who is working a 12 hour shift. Imagine having to walk up and down the halls of the hospital, back and forth, all day and night for 12 hours. Even if you subtract breaks, the nurse will do many miles of walking during one of their shifts. Even if they get to sit down at the nurses station, rocker shoes help. Traditional shoes would absorb all of the weight and the shock of the body, even when someone is sitting down. With rocker nursing shoes, the feet will have a cushion by way of the high insoles, and the high rocker sole. The curvature of the rocker sole helps in weight transfer during the walking motion.
This leads to another advantage of rocker technology in rocker shoes. The shoes will lead to all around improved posture. Posture is key for comfort and proper body function when standing up, or sitting down. If the nurse has bad posture, then not only will the nurse hurt, but the nurse won’t be able to healthily perform duties, such as lifting and moving patients, and beds. On the other hand, if the nurse has good posture when they are sitting down, or they are standing up, then they won’t experience so much enduring pain. Their nursing duties will be a lot more tolerable if they wear nursing shoes with rocker soles.
Rocker technology in nursing shoes will help to absorb shock when performing duties such as bending and lifting. If you think about how hard the floor is, and then having to carry hundreds of pounds, then you’ll quickly realize that this is a lot of burden on the knees, back, and lower body all around. However, the rocker technology will help to absorb that shock, and it will help to rock the feet in a way that is a lot more accommodating to lifting and bending.
Furthermore, a nurse can realize a healthier back and legs. With the rocker shoes, the nurse will gain the same benefits that a runner, jogger, or walker would. A stronger lower body would again contribute to the nurse being able to better perform their duties when they wear nursing shoes that have rocker technology in them. It’s a good feeling knowing that there are nursing shoes that will help to make the shift more tolerable, and build up the body at the same time.
Is rocker technology new? Actually, Cherokee Shoes initially offered rocker soles on their athletic style nursing shoes in the 1980’s. The Cherokee Achiever quickly became a top selling nursing shoe because of the comfort offered and the benefits of easy weight transfer while walking and moving. It is not surprising that rocker technology first appeared in nursing shoes as no working footwear is more heavily relied on to provide support and comfort than nursing shoes. Every nurse will tell you that protecting their feet is of prime importance to job performance for a healthcare professional.…

Vitalizer Plus Water – Why It Is So Good for You

December 16, 2021 Comments Off

Vitalizer Plus water is structured hexagonal water that is created through the Vitalizer Plus machine. The Vitalizer Plus machine is the leading advancement in technology that allows users to generate and drink powerful and beneficial hexagonal water at their leisure.
Because of its distinctive revolutionary design, the Vitalizer Plus is able to combine unique minerals with a spiraling water vortex technology to re-create and mimic natural environmental conditions which generate structured hexagonal water molecules. This allows users of the Vitalizer machine to generate and drink Vitalizer Plus water at home, in the office, or anywhere at their leisure.
The unique spiraling vortex technology of the Vitalizer Plus machine allows the Vitalized water to incorporate oxygen, just as natural water vortices in mountain streams and rapids incorporate oxygen. Once mixed through the vortex technology, Vitalizer Plus water can hold up to even 30% more dissolved oxygen than expensive high quality bottled water. Oxygen is an absolutely vital element for cellular health and body metabolism. This excess oxygen can stimulate blood circulation, and promote natural internal cleansing of the body and intestines.
Cognitively, the brain relies deeply on oxygen to function and process information for primal and advanced thinking. People with low oxygen intakes suffer with poor memory, poor concentration, and in time low oxygen can lead to dementia and more serious brain problems. The excess oxygen from the Vitalizer Plus will easily and quickly travel to your organs, genitals, your skin and the brain. This increased oxygen is associated with increased energy, vibrant fresh glowing healthier looking skin and dramatic enhancements in memory and cognitive brain functions.
Many users describe drinking the Vitalizer Plus water as a euphoric sensation of delight and calmness that trickles through to their outermost fingers and toes.…

The Stage of Business – Making a Plan for Change – Get Creative and Be Flexible

May 14, 2021 Comments Off

While identifying areas of change is not difficult, organizing an approach to deal with change may take a little work. Organization becomes very important because of the sheer magnitude. It can be overwhelming. To prioritize areas of change, businesses should look to their specific business activity to discover that which changes with the greatest frequency and has the biggest impact. Most businesses can organize change into 4 primary categories or arms:
1. Technology
2. Economy
3. Business
4. Industry
They are at least 4 other areas of change that are certain to have an impact, but the impacts tend to be more indirect.
5. Political
6. Social
7. Environmental
8. Cultural
These indirect change areas, tend to have influence across the primary impact areas. They can have even a bigger impact than the primary change areas but are more difficult to deal with on a project basis.
Let’s roll up our sleeves and get creative.
How do businesses implement change without interruption of operations? It can be a big challenge figuring out how to do it. It certainly starts with a plan. Managing change has always been difficult, but it is becoming increasing problematic. The pace is astounding.
Change is happening much faster than many big businesses can handle. Small businesses have an advantage in this arena. Small businesses can be nimble. They can adapt much quicker. Trying to implement change can be crippling for big companies. If you have ever worked in or around a big company of more than 1000 employees, you have come to realize it is very difficult to get things accomplished quickly. This is due, in part, to a love affair with meetings, committees and levels of approval. That is not good if you are trying to keep up. It is like racing a boat with the anchor down.
“If everything seems under control, you’re just not going fast enough.” – Mario Andretti
Because the trend is in the opposite direction, big companies better move quickly to establish a change management plan or they will fall back into the wake. They should become fluid. Becoming fluid means having a system in place to identify, assess, conceptualize and execute a solution to effectively respond to the imposing change. How do you do this? One thing you will have to do is train your people well and trust them to make business decisions. Keep in mind, changes made today, have a much shorter life cycle than changes five years ago did.
Make a plan for change. Get creative and be flexible.…

Mrsocialguru

Technologies | New Computer

How to Shop for the Best Technology at the Right Price

Iran and N Korean Technology Treaty – Advanced Missile Tech, Centrifuge Scientific Knowledge

Rocker Technology: The Latest in Comfort Footwear

Vitalizer Plus Water – Why It Is So Good for You

The Stage of Business – Making a Plan for Change – Get Creative and Be Flexible

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