Save The Planet, Skip The Drive-Through?

If UPS can save 3 million gallons of gas a year by not turning left, how much CO2 emissions can be reduced if we skipped the drive-through?

Since the 1940's, the drive-through has become a defining characteristic of our vehicle-centric society. From fast food to banking to liquor stores to even marriage chapels, we are addicted to the convenience of being served through our vehicle window.

But there is a reason why North America with only 5% of the world population uses 25% of the world's oil supply. It's not because we are incredibly advanced, it's because we are incredibly wasteful.

At what point do we start questioning the society norm and ask whether things like drive-throughs are sustainable? Does it make sense to leave your vehicle idling in a twelve car lineup waiting to order from the drive-through window?

I'd highly recommend the documentaries Crude Awakening and End Of Suburbia, both offering interesting perspectives on the depleting global oil supply.

Default Router Password List

I stumbled across a massive online spreadsheet with the default passwords for almost every router, enjoy!

Expert Exchange, View Posts Without Membership

I despise sites that require memberships to view content like Expert Exchange. The little trick they do to blur content from non-members is annoying to say the least. But here is an easy way to view all post content without a membership.

If you notice that one of your Google search results is from Expert Exchange, rather than clicking the actual link, instead click the Cached link at bottom of item. And surprise, the once blurred post results are now visible again!

Stephen Covey : The First Step To Reach Your Goals

A few years back I was very fortunate to be able to attend a leadership conference in Saskatoon where Stephen Covey's presented his 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, truly inspirational.

Remember The Milk, Hot New Gmail Integration

Oh man, I've been waiting for this, Remember The Milk just launched Firefox Add-On which adds a slick right sidebar into Gmail with all your RTM Tasks.

"Remember The Milk for Gmail is a Firefox extension that allows you to manage your tasks in Gmail (complete, postpone, and edit tasks), add new tasks (and connect them with your emails, contacts, and Google Calendar events), automatically add tasks for starred messages or specific labels, and much more!"

If you haven't used Remember The Milk, you should totally check it out! IGoogle gadget, iPhone interface, Offline with Google Gears, Twitter support, Google Calendar integration, Netvibes, mapping, quick add bookmarklet, Jott support, OS X Dashboard widget, and the list just keeps on growing!

UPS Saved 3 Million Gallons Of Gas, By Not Turning Left

Wow, here is an idea worth mentioning, UPS realized their trucks wasted a lot of time idling in left lane waiting to turn.

The solution, they decided to map routes that reduced the number of left turns.

The result, last year they reduced 31,000 metric tonnes of Co2 emissions.

"Last year, according to Heather Robinson, a U.P.S. spokeswoman, the software helped the company shave 28.5 million miles off its delivery routes, which has resulted in savings of roughly three million gallons of gas and has reduced CO2 emissions by 31,000 metric tons." -NY Times

Embedded Google Calendar

Google Calendar is definitely one of my favorite Google Apps, so simple to use yet incredibly powerful. Subscribing to other's calendars lets you easily coordinate events among friends. The text message notifications are incredible, free reminders sent to my cell phone prior to an event including the time and location. The interface is clean, with toggling between week, month and day views. And of course we can't forget subscribing to outside sources like Weather, Last.FM, Upcoming, Eventful and Facebook, which I've blogged about in the past.

Besides consuming outside resources, I think another major feature most people don't utilize is syndicating public calendars and embedding HTML calendar snippets. Both these features are incredibly powerful.

Being a guy who loves chicken wings, awhile ago I posted a public calendar for cheap chicken wing nights in Saskatoon (iCal, RSS, HTML). Here is that calendar embedded in this posting:

I think there are many existing sites that could really benefit from an embedded Google Calendar.

For example, the Saskatoon Broadway Theatre shows foreign, independent and documentary films, I love going to these movies, but I never know when they are playing. Rather than having a single JPG image with calendar information, wouldn't it be great if they embedded a Google Calendar into their site? Similar to the chicken wing calendar, others could then easily subscribe to iCal feed and receive text message with movie notifications. I'll add that to my Christmas list.

If you digged this article, then why not Digg it?

Easiest Way To Turn A Dell Into A Mac

My current contractor shipped me a laptop yesterday, knowing that I've been a mac-guy for past year now, they thought a few alterations would be helpful to make the transition back to a Dell, thanks guys! :)

How Google Works

Here is a great flash video on how Google search works.

Moving Past Procrastination...

I came across a great posting 7 ways to move beyond procrastination, the first thing I thought was, 'oh, this looks good, I'll read it later...'

Good Web Form Design PDF

I stumbled across an amazing 112 page PDF on good web form design, filled with great examples of good and bad web forms. If you are a web developer, you should definitely take a look at this awesome documents: http://www.lukew.com/resources/articles/WebForms_LukeW.pdf

Did You Know? 2.0

• http://dotsub.com/films/didyouknow20
  
• http://shifthappens.wikispaces.com
  

Using Nintendo Wii Contoller To Make Your Own Multi-touch Whiteboard

• http://www.wiili.org/index.php/DarwiinRemote
  

I Love My Dell...

Skypop on Android

The Next Big Thing : The Internet

How Not To Run A Company

My previous employer had a bit of a falling-out this week. Staff members were apparently upset with the way top execs were running the show, finally coming to a breaking point with many senior members walking out, including top management, lead architects and head designers. I believe there were key principles that were neglected, and hopefully by sharing these mistakes, they can be avoided by others in positions of authority.

1. Keep Your Key Players Happy - like a great sports team, there are key players of your company. These people are your innovators keeping you leading edge, the goal scorers. These are your motivators who lead others by example, the assist makers. It is critical that these key players are rewarded and stay happy. If you take away your starting lineup, you no longer have a team. Remember; don't ever gamble with something you are not willing to lose.
   
2. Avoid Keeping Secrets - for various reasons, there were many secrets throughout the company. Top execs kept secrets from upper management, and management kept secrets from staff. But this attitude spread throughout the entire company and the result was an unhealthy environment which brewed lack of trust. For example there was a hush-hush attitude towards salaries, and when you got a raise, you were told not to tell others but the result was suspicion and jealousy. If you don't want others to spread rumors or keep secrets from you, then don't keep secrets yourself. Like a good parent, you should teach through example, you can't tell your kids not to smoke with a cigarette in your other hand.
3. Reward Individual Accomplishment - if you want people to give 110%, they must be rewarded for their individual efforts. People work for two reasons, money and acknowledgment. If you realize this and reward employees in both ways, they will happily go above and beyond what is required, but neglect these two simple facts and you will have very unhappy employees. For my first project I was part of a small team, it took a lot of extra work to get deployed. When it was finally released, rather than giving a small bonus to each of us, the company threw a fancy lunch for all staff. And during the lunch, an announcement was made 'we'd like thank everyone involved in this project' we thought, 'wait, that's us, how come they didn't even say our names?' This is a perfect example of failure on both parts where we were not rewarded or acknowledged for our hard work.
4. Clear Sense Of Direction - there was a lot of talk about keeping your eye on the goal and chasing the big prize, but this message was vague, and most staff didn't know what the big prize even was, or whose goal they were chasing. It is important to have clear company-wide direction, which all employees share.
5. Pay For Overtime - if you are expecting or demanding that employees work overtime, then they should be paid for overtime. Unrealistic goals and deadlines were placed upon staff members who required they work on weekends and late into the evenings. And yet this forced-volunteer work went unrewarded time and time again. Management's reasoning was that your hard work would not go unnoticed and when raises were handed out, you'll be first in line. Well, you can only dangle a carrot for so long before the rabbit realizes they'll never get it, and simply stops running. Turn the tables for one second, how would management feel about paying you for hours you didn't work? A healthy relationship needs to be mutual.
6. Ideas Reward System - in an industry where your ideas make or break your company, it is critical that a reward system be in place to promote innovation. I could propose an idea which could potentially revolutionize the industry, but unless I know I'll be acknowledged for my idea, why would I even mention it? As mentioned in #3, unless you know you'll be rewarded for your extra effort, might as well keep the idea to yourself in hopes to someday launch your own startup. Second, when ideas are proposed, it is crucial they are fully heard. Ideas are like a little spark, unless they are nurtured when they are forming, they will never ignite into a flame.
7. Regular Scheduled Raises - although many companies don't offer scheduled raises, I believe it should become a standard policy. In fact, if you are not receiving a regularly scheduled raise, you are actually taking a pay cut due to inflation. Housing and living expenses rise, and your salary must also rise with that.

The goal of this posting was to help promote a positive change towards more open and rewarding environment. I also intended for the principles to be generic enough they could benefit any company. When I noticed a war was erupting in the comments and that other bloggers were following the conversation, I feared the result would have the opposite effect for those involved. This is why I decided it was best to hide the comments.

Having worked for the company for several years, I know for a fact that they are filled with incredibly sharp and talented people. I also know those who left were very dedicated to the company and I believe they had very good reasons for leaving. I wish all those involved the very best and hope the outcome results in a change for the better.

When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has been opened for us. - Helen Keller

I Could Always Use Another Toolbar...

Bubble 2.0: The Video

Windows Vista : Better go get yourself a cup of coffee, this may take a while...

If Programmers Made Planes