By using a rain water barrel, we can greatly reduce the amount of pollution caused by storm runoff. You see things like roof tops roads and parking lots keep the water from being absorbed by the earth and being purified and raising our water table. Instead of being purified the water runs along the surface picking up polutants which it caries into the storm drains and in the case of Southern California back out to the Pacific Ocean. As a result the Beaches often have polution warnings. Now this whole cycle could have been improved if Southern Californians used rain collection barrels and kept the water out of the streets and storm drains then when they watered their lawn the water would be absorbed by the earth and purified as is the natural cycle.

Any one who believes that it never rains in Southern California never had to wade through a 6 inches of rushing water at the streets edge to get to their car on one of those not so sunny California days. While it is true that it seldom rains in Southern California, during the rainy season it often pours. many feel it doesn’t rain enough in Southern California to warrant the use of a rain collection barrel. In a place like California, you need more than one water barrel, because 5,000 to 30,000 gallons of rainfall can be collected from 1000 sq ft of roof each year and 90% of it during a three-month period and you’d be trying to make it through the other nine months on the 50 gallons from your one rain collection barrel. However there are rain water collection systems consisting of a series of “barrels” that hold far more than a 50 or 60 Gallon water barrel. Being round the rainwater barrel has a disadvantage because there is a lot of wasted space in a string of water barrels connected in a series. This gives square units such as the Rainwater hog a distinct advantage that they can be connected in series in a more compact fashion. You can calculate the amount of water that runs off your roof by the following formila .623 x your roofs sq ft x the inches of rain per year. So if your roof was 1000 sq ft and you lived in LA which gets between 10 and 30 inches per year. You could expect between 6230 gallons to 18,690 gallons to be running off your roof each year. Now you probably won’t find a rain water barrel that big unless you collect it in your swimming pool but I think that the argument that it doesn’t rain enough in California is a flimsey argument you just have to get Texas sized rain barrels.

Refurbished laptops can be even better than buying a brand new computer. Affordability certainly points the way down this path.

There are those who believe a refurbished unit must be the same as cheap laptops but that is not necessarily so.

Refurbished cars are a great example of this reality. When I asked a friend about his own desires in refurbished cars here is what he had to say.

His response?

1. 1966 – 1972 Chevy Chevelle, SS396 or SS427, two-door
2. 1965 – 1969 Shelby Mustang, GT 350 or GT 500
3. 1962 – 1967 Chevy Corvette, Coupe or Convertible

If having the latest greatest technology is what you want, then a refurbished computer may not be your best answer. When income is the focus a refurbished laptop gives you all you need.

At this point we come full circle on the topic of refurbished verse new technology.

Yes, for several reasons.

• Guarantee
• Affordability
• Value
• Excellence

It is not the unit that needs to be in question but rather where that equipment was refurbished at.

*** Guarantee ***

Companies that provide refurbished computers would benefit greatly from providing a guarantee with their equipment. Many do.

How does this increase value?

Because a guarantee, even a 90 day guarantee, lets the buyer know that the company is willing to stand behind the product that they bringing to the market. In so doing, should the device not work as expected the client can be comforted by knowing that they are in good hands. Finding yourself without a warranty or guarantee is reason enough to not consider a refurbished device. If problems arise your options are limited to buying new devices.

*** Affordability ***

We looked at this above. This may very well be the most import piece of the refurbished laptop purchase puzzle.

Generally speaking, a refurbished device will cost much less than its newer counterpart . If affordable economics is what you are looking for then a guaranteed refurbished unit like I spoke about above is certainly worth considering. Even better if they offer an extended warranty of some sort, generally speaking I avoid such options but not with refurbished computers.

*** Value ***

Refurbished laptop computers can come with many more options for far less cost compared to that of a more expensive new laptop.

This again depends on you and your individual circumstances. It is quite possible for you to just secure the basic necessities at a much lower cost than new, or if your pocket book will handle it you can get more value for less.

Bottom line, you have options with refurbished devices that are cost prohibitive in brand new and expensive units.

*** Excellence ***

A refurbished laptop and the word excellence, how can that be?

Again it depends on the person or company providing the unit. However, it would be my own belief that those who want to receive referrals and future business for their efforts are going to do whatever they can to get people talking about their work. To that end, if they were to bring to market second hand equipment they would only be hurting themselves.

Companies that take this approach to business will do all they can to produce high quality products

*** Summing It Up ***

I call this my GAVE approach because I GAVE myself a break while I GAVE myself the technology I needed within the refurbished laptops that I purchase. Isn’t it time that you GAVE yourself a break too?

To put it another way, I GAVE up on high priced expensive laptops in favor of affordable refurbished laptops while finding a great place to read about affordable laptops at BuyComputerAccessories.org. If you’re like me and want affordable technology that is not necessarily cheap laptops then you owe it to yourself to check these people out for all your refurbished laptops.

The first bill that you should look at is your local phone service provider’s bill. Do you use all of the lines coming into your office, and if so, how much are they costing you each month? Once you’ve counted them, look at the telephone bill and check which features each phone line has, and then decide if they’re are worth what you’re paying for them. Business telephone lines, with local telephone service only, can cost up to $55 each and every month with some providers, and if you’ve got lots of local business lines, they can really start adding up.

Once you’ve figured out the local phone service bill, look at your long distance bill and see if your long distance company is offering you a good deal on long distance service, or whether they are an expensive long distance company . Also, check the long distance bill to see if there are any calls outside the US or Canada. Different long distance companies charge different rates for domestic and international calls, so a $2.00 per minute call to Afghanistan with PacBell may only cost $0.51 per minute with a discount company like Pioneer Telephone or Powernet Global.

Now that you see what you are paying for local and long distance phone service, look at the rest of the taxes and fees on the bill. In most areas of the US, the taxes and fees on landline phone service are %25 to %30 of the total bill. So, if your telephone bill was $100 for 2 or 3 local business lines, and $50 for domestic and international long distance calls, there might be an additional $40 to $50 in taxes and fees, for a total bill of around $200. Now let’s check out some broadband phone service providers and see about lowering your business’s telecom costs.

VoIP phone service requires a fast internet connection to work, so there is going to be the added charge of having high speed internet service coming into your office. If you don’t, high speed internet service in the 8 to 16MB range can be had for between $30 and $90 per month, with the average being somewhere around $60 per month.. That much bandwidth can run a lot of phones and a lot of computer apps, especially when you consider a T1 line has 23 channels, and that’s only 1.5MB of bandwidth. In my office, I run 2 internet phones and 3 computers, plus pipe in Pandora for office music, all with an 8MB plan from Charter. (It’s in my house, so I only pay $29.95 per month.)

VoIP telephone service plans are cheap, costing between $19.99 and $79.99 per month, depending on which carrier you sign up with. Two of the VoIP phone service providers offering cheap broadband calling plans are Lingo and Phonepower. Lingo has unlimited calling to the United States, Canada, and 45 other countries for $21.95 per month, while Phonepower has unlimited calling on 2 lines in the United States and Canada for $19.95 per month. Both broadband calling plans come with a ton of free features like conference calling, call waiting and others, that would cost you extra from a landline telephone carrier. and what’s really cool is that the taxes and fees on VoIP lines are cheaper than the PICC fees land-line carriers charge per business line.

If we check the price differences between landline telephone service and broadband telephone service, broadband telephone service wins in most cases. You can get 3-4 broadband telephone lines from Phonepower for around $45 per month, including tax. Add to that the $60 for high speed internet service, and the total bill comes to around $105 instead of the $200 that landline service would cost you. And, if you figure in the fact that most businesses already have high speed internet service, the savings increase to around $155, instead of $95, per month. Any way that you look at it, broadband telephone service in this case is going to save you $1100 to $1900 per year over what you would pay for 2 or 3 landlines plus long distance service, plus taxes and fees.

For more information on saving your business money, visit calling-plans.com and use their landline, broadband telephone service, and cellular telephone rate calculators to compare cheap home phone service. I know that my small business can’t afford to give away $1500+ per year to the phone companies; Can Yours?

Online TV is a revolutionary concept which brings to you your shows anytime anywhere at absolutely no cost. Unlike regular TV which has a fixed time schedule for its broadcasts, you can watch Online TV at your convenience at the times you prefer. Most Internet TV offers free viewing. They infuse funds through advertisements and banners.

Also called Internet TV, online TV has basic minimum requirements of a computer and an internet connection that lets you access the websites catering to online TV and of course a media software that enables you to view the content online. While most users watch the content on their browser, you can also install an Internet TV Software that enables you to download content and watch the programs on your desktop rather than the browser. Many online TV has built-in media viewer software so a regular user can just access the site, select the channel and the program and begin viewing on a live stream.

The online TV concept includes mainly three categories namely, IPTV, Catch up TV and Video on demand. IPTV is the first one which is the ordinary cable connection given by the cable operators to your TV via a set top box. Catch-up TV and Video on demand are popular with patrons who watch online TV. With catch up TV you can watch already telecast shows for free while video on demand is a paid viewing of movies that you wish to view.

The Online TV websites have shifted to HD super quality video resolution which ensures smooth picture quality. The online TV ensures that the video transmitted is converted in tune with the PC screen specifications. Get a broadband connection for continuous and undisturbed viewing which will help you watch online TV without breaks. Or you can also download and view the video contents but this offer comes for a charge and also will consume a lot of memory drive space in your personal computer not to mention the risk of virus attacks.

It is possible to Watch TV Online. Visit the following website and find out:
Watch Live TV Online.

“The growth of the mobile Internet has no doubt been driven largely by massive adoption of Smartphones, like the Blackberry® and by the ubiquitous availability of 3G wireless networks. And of course, the need for printing documents is still there as it has always been. Now the two are converging which result in a need for all those Smartphone users to be able to print something while on the move. The PrintSpots® service from PrinterOn perfectly fits the need created by this convergence”, Jim said. He went on to say, “I am delighted to be able to bring my skills and experience to PrinterOn to help it drive adoption of the PrintSpots service to the next level.”

There are now 4,000 locations in 23 countries around the world including hotels, airport clubs, cafes, corporate offices, libraries and college campuses that supply reliable and secure service through PrintSpot. Due to the quick growth of the mobile internet and ongoing need to print, PrinterOn is predicting significant increases of its use.

The PrintSpots service is a software-as-a-service (SaaS) -based system which leverages a cloud computing architecture. Mobile Internet users simply submit documents to the PrintSpots service over the Internet using their Smartphone or laptop computer. The PrintSpots service then renders the document in the cloud and securely delivers it to the user’s PrintSpot of choice where it is then printed after the user types in their secure release code.

For more info, you can go to online printing services or online business printing.

Print any document from anywhere – the Admirals Club lounge, a Wi-Fi enabled plane, your hotel room or home. All you need is an internet-enabled device. No need to download any drivers, install software or connect to a network.

Please read the following to research more on online printing or online business printing.

From Personal Device (laptop, smartphone, cell phone, or any internet-enabled device) – NO Print Drivers or Additional Software Required — Just internet access, an email client or web browser!

Forward an attachment or send an email with or without an attached document via a laptop or mobile device from any location or the dedicated Admirals Club website. A confidential one-time use release code(s) will be sent via email to the address email you provided*. It’s that simple!

From Admirals Club lounge Computers – Send print jobs from any Admiral Club lounge PC and receive a private one-time use release code in order to retrieve your document.

PrinterOn Features

• 20 pages per submission, 10 printed sheets in duplex format (front and back) per print request – supports “Go Green” initiatives
• 72 hours after submission, print jobs are automatically erased from printer’s memory if not retrieved.
• Black and white laser printing
• As fast as 31 pages-per-minute

*Each individual print job receives its own unique release code(s). User controls when to print as only they have the code(s), further enhancing document security and “Go Green” initiatives.

© 2010 Ricoh®, the Ricoh logo and the HotSpot Printer logo® are registered trademarks of Ricoh Company, Ltd. All other trademarks are the property of the respective owners.

PrinterOn’s mobile printing solutions enable users to print documents—easily and securely—to a networked printer located in any country.

The HP ePrint application for public locations enables users to print from their BlackBerry Smartphones while they are on the go. PrinterOn is a supporter of many HP ePrint locations. PrinterOn is HP’s print network partner for other print locations including today’s announcement with Hilton Worldwide.

“Today’s announcement is a major step towards the worldwide adoption of mobile printing from Smartphones,” said Ken Noreikis, Vice President Sales & Marketing, PrinterOn Corporation. “Our collaboration with HP, the world’s largest technology company, will facilitate this adoption by enterprise mobile professionals and help increase their productivity by allowing them to print simply and easily on the go to PrinterOn PrintSpots locations worldwide.”

More than 1,300 hotels in the Hilton Worldwide portfolio of brands will have PrintSpots accessible via HP ePrint including Waldorf Astoria Hotels & Resorts, Conrad Hotels & Resorts, Hilton Hotels, Doubletree, Embassy Suites Hotels, Hilton Garden Inn, Hampton Hotels and Homewood Suites by Hilton.

“We are always looking for innovative ways to meet our guests’ needs, and HP’s ePrint application provides them with on-the-go and convenient technology,” said Robert Webb, Chief Information Officer, Hilton Worldwide. “Using HP ePrint, guests can quickly print out e-mail, spreadsheets or other documents from their BlackBerry Smartphones while waiting for the hotel elevator, and by the time they get downstairs, their copies will be ready for them to pick up.”

In addition to being able to access all of the Hilton PrintSpots, users will be able to search and print to thousands of other printers within the PrintSpots public print networks in hotels, airports, cafes, and libraries. BlackBerry Smartphone users now have options when choosing to print due to the availability of many new locations.

“Accessibility to almost everything is at the touch of a button on mobile devices, and printing documents should be no different,” said John Tomesco, Vice President of Market Development and Worldwide Enterprise Sales, Imaging and Printing Group, HP. “By working with companies like PrinterOn Corporation, we are able to provide our enterprise customers with technology such as the HP ePrint application on their BlackBerry Smartphones, enabling them to print remotely in convenient locations all around the globe.”

Please read the following if you would like additional info on mobile printing.

Uses
The USB Phone 2 PC hardware and software are very simple to utilize. You plug it into your P.C and it simply installs. Its uses are the following :

• You can save files with prefixed and/or date/time automatically. It is easier for you to remember the files because you can just look at your day planner to help you remember the file names. It is also a great organizational tool because you can save your conversations in folders and directories just like when you save your Word or Excel files.
• It can record both sides of the call and from both incoming and outgoing calls.
• You can easily switch from recording phone calls to recording from the external microphone. You can play the audio files through your phone set.
• Your phone recording software will automatically store or save recorded files on the local hard drive or a network server. You can easily find it.
• It automatically saves as compressed wav files so you don’t have to convert it unless you want to convert it to MP3 files later on.
• It comes with an external microphone for in-person dictation, meeting and interview recording. You don’t need to bring additional gadgets like tape recorders to document your files.
• Because it is a compressed wav file you can easily send it as an attachment to an email. You can also archive it for future use.

Lastly, though not the least, the best feature is that it is compatible with any standard Microsoft Windows 2000, XP, Vista or Windows seven Operating Systems. These are only some of the things which your phone recording software can help make your job or business easily manageable.

Application
On work trips, you can save flight ticket as well as hotel costs as you do not need to bring your secretary together with you. You can already record and listen to all your vital phone talks and even dictations. You can simply e-mail it to your secretary for transcribing or you can share your telephone conversations with your business colleague or boss and record what are your thoughts are on the conversations and e-mail it also.

Catching up on your paper work isn’t hard to do with your phone recording software because with the employment of the external microphone, you can dictate letters or memorandums and send it to your secretary for transcribing. Gone are the days where you’ve got to sort through your cassette tapes as you can record it directly to your computer. If you’re nervous about your computer getting lost then you can simply upload it on the net in the site I have discussed above.

All of the uses and the applications for this phone recording software is just the top of the iceberg. As you continue to use it, you’ll learn more nice things about it. All you need to recollect is it is easy to use, it has many uses and it can help to save you thousands of cash from the savings on not being made to bring your secretary with you on your work trips. As the owner of your company, you can save money by limiting the individuals that has to go on work trips because they can just bring the software and the external microphone and everyone in the company can already benefit from it.