How Software Is Saving the Planet

Today we attended a very interesting seminar about new control systems that are saving school districts thousands of dollars in heating and cooling costs per year.  The system demonstrated by Honeywell could literally tell the maintenance team how long one of the cooler doors was open down to the microsecond.

This reminded me of my friend Houston Neal from Software Advice.com who emailed me recently about several awesome products he discovered at the recent CMAA conference in San Francisco.  One such item was 4D Project management software developed in a collaboration between Google SketchUp and Synchro.  Check out the video by clicking here.

How does this software save the planet you ask?  Simple – by reducing the consumption of construction materials like wood, steel & concrete we reduce our carbon footprint and save money.  Also reduced are transportation expenses which also lessens our pollution output.

Also impressive is Google SketchUp’s service to solar integrators which allows them to choose the perfect location to install photovoltaics through 4D technology.

The long and short of it is software is changing the way we live our lives.  Research and choose the solution that fits you best.

Another great resource for construction companies looking to be more productive is Construction Software Advice website.  There you can find many options to be more efficient and add to your bottom line.  Plus you’ll be supporting a great company

 

iphone opinions

Well its been a couple of months since my rave reviews of the iphone and touting it as the greatest invention known to mankind.  So its not as great as I thought, big deal.  The idea is still amazing, it just keeps freezing and needing replaced.  So I have to drive to San Antonio every few months to get a new one.  Whats the big deal?  (sarcastic by the way)  Truth be told, I still feel it is the best phone on the market, just not quite as “error free” as I once thought.  And it really really ticked me off when  my pictures of me with Rick Pitino got erased, but at least I still have his autograph, thats something right?

 

Will High Gas Prices Lead to More Webinars?

With rising gas costs will webinars really become the next big thing? How would you feel about your rep calling or emailing instead of giving you a personal visit?

Although fuel is now at $4.00 a gallon, it has not yet affected our 60,000+ miles driven per year. There is no better way for us to visit our customers than to travel the often vacant roads of west Texas. But if the prices continue to soar, will it affect us in the future? How will our customers feel? Currently it seems out of the question to not visit them personally at least once each month.

 

iPhone is the best business innovation in history

Like so many other people out there I was skeptical that the iphone would revolutionize my life. I did not stand in line to purchase it. In fact, I’m a year late on the greatest innovation of our lifetime. But its better late than never and this weekend after our sprint contracts ran out, we upgraded for good to the iPhone. Everything changed. Heaven opened up and doves sung! ok so I’m exaggerating a bit but the truth is life is so much easier now. There is no way to put all the innovations into words, just go to the apple store and try it out. Better yet, just buy it! Business has never been easier and we’ve never been so organized!

My favorite feature has to be the scrolling. With the flick of your wrist you can scroll at fast speeds through hundreds of contacts, photos, music, or anything else you’ve loaded up.

Just a warning, this will probably turn into an iphone blog since there really isn’t anythign else going on in our life now

 

Windows Vista Opinions Please!

We got our Windows Vista upgrade installed today and are somewhat enjoying it.  The major downside was installing patches to make virtually all of our existing programs work.  It made us want to switch 100% to mac (We’re already a 50% MAC office)!  No viruses, cheap software, and cool commercials – who could ask for more?  What are your opinions on MAC / PC / Vista?