Miles Associates LLC

By friend Beth said it so well… Check out her post at the link below.

As we gather around our grills and barbecues with friends and families, I challenge each of us to take time to think about the true meaning of Memorial Day.

via Leadership Insights from Executive Velocity: Remembering Memorial Day 2009.

Downturn or no downturn, it’s nice to upgrade your tech gadgets now and again, especially when they are so old that your colleagues are looking at you sideways. But once you’ve bought — or been given — that great new digital camera, or smartphone, or laptop, what do you do with the old one?

You know you shouldn’t just throw it in the garbage — the environmental hazards of simply discarding electronics have been well documented. But many of us haven’t the vaguest idea how to dispose of the stuff safely.

via Smartphones to Laptops: Recycling Your Tech Gear is Easy.

Can You Delete Your Digital Past?

An unsavory connection from your past. An annoying link to your name that’s dragging down your career. A spicy quote you tossed off to a reporter that you wish you could take back. If you want to erase your tracks online, you’re not alone. Here’s what we did in an attempt to expunge a few bad mentions off the Net forever.

November 17, 2008 — Computerworld

Facebook Etiquette: Five Do’s and Don’ts

(CIO Magazine) Balancing your work and personal life on social networking tools such as Facebook has become more complex than ever — and the dangers go beyond the well-publicized examples of posting party pictures to your profile.

Everyone Works at Home at software company Chorus

[The] company, Chorus, which provides clinical, practice management and financial software for health care providers, has gone virtual.  Chorus closed its Hasbrouck Heights headquarters in early June and its other office, in Stafford, Texas (outside of Houston), in early July. Now all of the company’s 35 employees and full-time consultants work at home, and for the most part, they love it.

…The company decided to close its offices to save money and spare employees the hassle and rising cost of commuting and because it had the necessary technology to support such a move. President and CEO A.J. Schreiber says Chorus can continue to serve customers while simultaneously saving $400,000 a year simply by closing its 15,000 square feet of office space. Sure, breaking leases and telecom contracts is costing the company money, but the long-term savings far outweigh those short-term costs, says Schreiber. “We wouldn’t have done this if it would have had a negative impact on our ability to serve customers,” he adds.

 This is a great article with lots of real-world technology and product reviews and advice.  Look especially at CIO and author John Halamka’s “self pilot” partway down the page.

How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Telecommuting
…Given these facts, [the author believes] IT leaders are obligated to explore the entire spectrum of flexible work arrangements including telecommuting, homesourcing (a combination of outsourcing and telecommuting), virtual teams, and replacing travel with teleconferencing. Staffing an office from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. doesn’t make sense if it requires employees to spend hours in traffic.

Here’s more (and nicely practical) advice on this topic (a topic one didn’t need to worry about much not that long ago…)

How to Defend Your Online Reputation: Five Tips
It’s not what other people think of you that matters. It’s what they can find out about you on the Web that will affect your ability to get a job or promotion, rent an apartment, buy a house, be accepted into the school of your choice, or find the love of your life.