Dear Techlife,

My organization bought a piece of technology that is cumbersome and hard to use and really takes an expert which we don’t have on staff. If we could use it correctly it would make life easier and improve our bottom line.

I think we made a mistake as do many other co-workers and partners. It is the industry standard but maybe not a perfect fit for us. Can we just cut bait already and move on?

Sincerely,

Troubled by Tech

Dear Troubled,

Techlife is one facet of work and life, but these days there are many vying for attention in this ever faster world we inhabit. Sometimes it is easy for people and organizations to get swept up on the crest of a wave, riding the technologic marvels created for consumption. Often technology claims of better, faster, stronger are planted right along side. But as our headline asks, is this always true or would people have us believe we do function in a vacuum devoid of all other forces?

We encounter examples daily of clients and prospects who were oversold. It reminds me of the elementary children’s problem.

A child just finished a big dinner, and someone asks them if they want ice cream. There’s always room for ice cream, right? If the child was asked would you like a small or large portion, 99% would reply, LARGE! They likely would eat the size small portion but not finish the large.

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As we manage the rising costs of business and energy I am reminded of a story, so sit back and enjoy Techlife’s tale of power.

The typical company rolls along putting out daily fires, and not giving employees the true time to make work a better experience. Most of you readers will skim over that last sentence just as easily. Let me repeat it, as it bears repeating. The typical company rolls along putting out daily fires, and not giving employees the true time to make work a better experience. Ah, you get it now? You think this is going to be another column about taking time to breathe, but you are wrong.

As we all coast along in work and life I want to share a small tale with you. Many years ago I learned of a new site, Woot, a site that sells one item a day. One day they were selling “Random Crap” (yes Woot faithful, this pre-dates Bags of Crap), so I took a gamble for $.03 and ended up with a variety of, you guessed it, “Random Crap.”

One item was an Auto Starter – Car Battery Charger. While reading up on this I learned that inside, this device was powered by AA alkaline rechargeable batteries. Hmm, interesting I thought. I could use some AA batteries, so I used a hammer carefully opened the case and found a small pot of gold.

Gleaming up at me were Pure Energy’s AA gold rechargeable alkaline batteries. And in typical story fashion our hero doesn’t really recognize the true power of his finding. I began using them and they were great, long lasting batteries. Of course, I forgot one thing. They were rechargeable and I didn’t own a charger.

Research online showed most chargers worked for various other types of rechargeable batteries, except alkaline. Then I found Kevin Kelly’s Cool Tools, article about the Battery Xtender for recharging alkalines. A bit more research led me to the Rayovac Universal Battery Charger.

I still use the batteries and the charger today nearly 4 years later. The batteries are long lasting like regular alkalines and the charger works for some other non-alkaline rechargeable batteries I now own. I decided to look for a few more Pure Energy batteries and found they have updated their technology, to the new Pure Energy XL Alkaline, which have:

…longer charge retention (up to 7-year storage life), higher battery capacity (rated at 2000 mAh), and overall up to 80% more service life (up to 500 cycles) compared to the original gold line.

My company has saved hundreds of dollars on batteries. I enjoy the power and durability of an alkaline battery and the eco-friendly ability re-charge again and again. Going green is easy! A happy ending to our tale.

So how does this relate to our statement: The typical company rolls along putting out daily fires, and not giving employees the true time to make work a better experience. As a consulting firm we often see valuable ideas employees have that are just not getting the attention they deserve. Our own cost-saving approach resulted in stepping away from the “fires” and being given the freedom to think, research and act.

We encourage you this July to think about Independence Day, truly as a day to provide co-workers the chance to make a positive independent change. And if you need a little kickstart, let us know.

How have you made a difference? Tell us in the comments.

Techlife brings a special feature to our readers, Techlife Illustrated. We have put together a visual tutorial for installing Google Gears. I deem Google Gears, the company’s trojan horse, because it is the gift to us the users, that strikes at the underbelly of Microsoft. It provides Google a platform for working with a user who is offline, say on an airplane. They re-sync when they are back in range. This gives them a real foothold on the desktop market.

I can easily see Picasa, Google Desktop and a few other products being folded under Google Gears as time goes on and Google’s strategy become more focused. For now learn how to get Google Gears working for you and your work.

Techlife had the chance to try out TagCow, an automated photo tagging service, while it was still in beta. TagCow has now emerged from beta and is open to anyone. Automated photo tagging is equivalent to Google Search for your personal digital photos. From professionals to amateurs having quick and easy ways to sift through millions of images that are accurately tagged makes this service truly amazing.

What makes TagCow a bit more unique is the method of tagging, it is automated. Other services such as Picasa or Flickr rely on your efforts to tag photos, while Google is using a pseudo-game to help improve its tagging search results. This is what sets TagCow apart.

Tagcow’s “how” tagging is accomplished is a bit hidden on the website, but in speaking with Michael Droz, CEO and co-founder, he revealed it is part automated and part human-based. I would even venture to suggest different humans were assigned to my photos, as the results were slightly different for each image I uploaded. There was even a typo! Due to this tagging says it will take 24-48 hours, mine took about 55 hours.

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Google’s inviting all their users to become trapeze artist’s and work without a net, an Inter-net connection. The innovation machine that is Google just keeps on rolling, and their newest trick is using a tool called Google Gears to let users work untethered.

One of the bigger drawbacks of Google Docs is now a thing of the past. Techlife Illustrated has put together this easy to follow guide to getting Google Docs offline. (This is our first Illustrated How To, leave a comment with your thoughts.)

Step 1

While in Google Docs, in the upper right hand corner is a link to “Offline.” Which gets Google Gears on your computer.

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This past month has been all about looking at things from a new perspective. Techlife loves seeing the world through new eyes and we started with a new take on an old favorite, getting free money, from Centsports and then we added Alan Becker’s break out animations. Our extremely popular column last month was about the One Laptop Per Child project, and this month we interviewed Wayan Vota a volunteer who is providing in-depth coverage on the project as an observer with a lot to say.

All of these new views on the world culminated in our piece on a street artist. Techlife covered how this unique artist is pushing the bounds of art, perspective and urban living while challenging all of us to think way outside any boxes or conventions. Just the kind of things we love here. Prepare to change your vantage point.

Need a fresh perspective? Looking to increase sales? Not sure how to make it happen? Techlife can do a lot. Just ask us. Hit me via email at: techlife [ at ] dkworldwide [dot] com. Do you subscribe to the RSS feed for Techlife? Visit the TechLife weblog where all you need to do is point and click.

(part of the syndicated print column’s writing process exposed to online readers)

Three of the biggest areas in tech are Gaming, Mobile and Computing. This past month tackled this three ring circus in Techlife’s online blog. We covered a Nintendo Wii tip for the gamers, Techlife TV had video preview of Google’s Android mobile phone operating system and finally we took a diversion to a special kind of computing. If you haven’t visited, check out Techlife online.

At Techlife we often advise clients that giving back to the community is not just good PR. It can really impact employees and your business in many ways. I personally have a variety of organizations that I donate my time towards and the rewards truly are amazing. A recent story once again reinforced it pays to do good. It’s called karma people.

Stuck on a problem?  Looking to reduce costs? Not sure how to make them happen? Techlife can do a lot. Just ask us. Hit me via email at: techlife [ at ] dkworldwide [dot] com. Do you subscribe to the RSS feed for Techlife? Visit the TechLife weblog where all you need to do is point and click.

(part of the syndicated print column’s writing process exposed to online readers)

As loyal readers know Techlife is an early adopter, but we don’t always write about things immediately. Our readership appreciates the pace, as the our reports give a real “lived in” flavor. For example we have had a Nintendo Wii in our office for well over a year, as we snagged one early on. But our first Wii article was about something that puzzled us, and we thought might help others.

We have had an OLPC XO Laptop (One Laptop Per Child) in our offices since late last year. For those unaware, these are those little green laptops originally billed as the $100 laptop (ended up closer to $200), and intended for children globally, but with special focus towards countries where computers are few and far between. The idea that if children had the chance to use a computer regularly, their own computer, they would grow up and be able to implement technology into their country with more ease. A noble pursuit.

Click “more” to read how the OLPC XO Laptop Saved the Day… and see the image gallery.
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Techlife TV has a double feature today with videos on Android the Google operating system for mobile phones. These videos demo simple text messaging and chat, rendering of the earth, the videogame Quake, Google Maps and Street view and much more.

As a long time user of the Sidekick by Tmobile, also known as the Hiptop, Techlife TV was excited to see Apple’s iPhone be released and now Google’s Open Handset Alliance operating system Android in the wild. These mainstream devices will help provide competition to RIM’s Blackberry Operating System and Microsoft’s Mobile platform along with the other manufacturers of smart phones like Nokia and Palm. It was interesting to see Microsoft buy Danger the makers of the Sidekick mostly because Danger founder Andy Rubin left a few years ago to form a company acquired by Google and now turned into Android. So all this means more for the consumer.

Which smart phone will win is anyone’s guess? But with Apple moving into the top ten in sales of the iPhone it will be exciting to watch the future unfold in this segment of the marketplace.

Google’s Andy Rubin demos Android for the BBC – Blip.tv video via Gizmodo

Techlife was talking to Nintendo support (new site design) yesterday and picked up a great little nugget. As many people know there are all sorts of old console games in the Wii’s Virtual Console. One thing they all lack is “save game” ablity.

If you click on the blue house button while playing a Virtual Console game, and then from that screen click on Wii Menu, the Virtual Console game is paused and you can play other games, disc or Virtual Console games and then come back to your “pause game”. It’s a pretty hidden trick.

The rep I spoke with had not heard of it this hack or trick until after they started working with Nintendo. Seems like a great idea. Thanks Nintendo Support Guy Matt!

Also of note, with the tens of thousands of Wii’s being sold a month, the support rep said they are lucky if they field a thousand calls a month, the Wii is pretty easy to use and pretty durable. I thought that was a pretty interesting comment.

A few years ago we were lucky enough to get a gift of Lizano Salsa, a Costa Rican condiment as common as ketchup, or so I’m told. It was a big hit around the Techlife offices. Such a big hit that the next time some readers went to Costa Rica they too were kind enough to send us some Lizano.

As all good things come to end, our salsa supply is nearing its end. Naturally we didn’t think much about it, but one of the Costa Rican travelers apparently did and was organizing a group purchase. We said we would get a bottle in their purchase. Weirdly, Amazon lists the sizes in ounces while our bottle lists them in milliliters and with Amazon offering three sizes I wanted to make sure I got the same size.

You were probably wondering how this was Techlife-y, well to do the conversion I used probably the easiest measurement conversion tool, Google. I just typed in my conversion “23.7 ounces to millileters” and Google came back with 700. Simple.

Google calls this a calculator, I call it perfect just like Lizano.

A reader emailed me MapsofWar.com and I was intrigued. But the mystery only starts with the amazing visuals spanning 5,000 years of religion or imperialism.

Many clients I work with ask me to visually simplify complex problems and we use various techniques to deliver stunning solutions. Maps of War has used history as the backdrop for an artist who’s medium is Flash and large data sets. Techlife interviewed the creator and artist of Maps of War, who wished to remain anonymous.

Techlife: MoW is a dynamic project, why did you create the first MoW? Which one is it?

Maps of War: The first map was Imperial History of the Middle East. This map was the original idea I wanted to share with everyone, and the overall site was created to showcase it.

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Loyal Techlife reader Alan wrote in asking if we knew of a solution to run a simple office pool about when the CEO’s wife was going to give birth. This is actually a really good problem and we jumped in with two feet.

Alan shook off our first two attempts which involved loyal stand-by Google Docs and their spreadsheet application. I suggested he create a spreadsheet, invite everyone in the office to share it, have them add their guess for dates and times. I also suggested Google Calendar. He could create a shared calendar and everyone could input their dates and times. As I said, Alan was pushing for something better. That’s when I remembered Doodle.

Doodle is a free service that is designed to do one thing very well, schedule people to a single event. It really shines when those people don’t use the same shared calendar. Doodle was created by Michael Näf and Paul Sevinç and their company Inturico Engineering out of Zurich, Switzerland.

Since the launch they have been written up by 43folders among others. Development is constantly continuing, Doodle is available in 16 languages and also has a polling tool. It is a simple site and the Techlife friends have used it to organize parties, a trip to a winery, and a fantasy football draft, as well as the boring and mundane meetings and conference calls.

The reaction from first-timers usually is, “So easy. I am going to use it for the next meeting.”

In Alan’s case he would need to just “schedule an event.” Give it a title, most likely, When will the CEO’s wife give birth? Add a description like, enter you name and check the date, and drop $5 off at my desk. Each person’s name may only have one checkbox checked.

The best thing to do is try Doodle so we created a poll to help you get started. Visit our poll to answer, and leave a comment below about how you have used Doodle.