Google is currently working on the development of a “smart charging software.” This software will help to prevent electronic (plug-in) vehicles from causing traffic jams when in traffic; where these cars tend to lose their charge fast and breakdown.

On of their biggest tasks that is still in its initial phases is writing a software that will manage charging times for these cars. As more and more of these cars hit the road each day, there is a growing concern that certain “charging times” will become too popular and potentially cause power disruptions or require construction of new power plants.  Of course, Google is writing some behind the scenes software that can decide how to best charge cars.

With a flip of a switch, Google’s smart-charging software will allow power generating chargers to either power up and charge up to 250 cars at once, or stop the charge of these cars.  Depending on need, some cars could receive charge for two minutes, others twenty.

This improvement for earth friendly cars is one of the many things Google has done to prove its commitment to making the world greener.

SS

It’s no secret that Microsoft considers Google to be their #1 competitor these days.  Google seems to have their hands in everything, and they are encroaching further and further into the products that are Microsoft’s major cash cows - The Windows Operating System and the Office platform.

But it all starts with search.  Google has what is by far and away the dominate search engine in the online universe (a roughly 70% market share), and that means that it has tremendous influence over what information is distributed to the world - including their own products that compete with Microsoft.

Microsoft recently released their latest version of the search engine - Bing - in an attempt to start chipping away at Google’s dominance, which raised a few questions in my mind:

1. Does the world need another search engine?
2. What does Google’s search engine not do well?
3. What are the differentiators that Microsoft is using to attract Google users away from Google and to Bing?

To answer my questions, I started poking around Bing to see what they came up with.  If you are interested in doing the same, I think the best way to get an understanding of how they are trying to be different than Google is to take a look at the Bing Tour they have on their site.

So what’s the verdict?

Well, the ultimate test is where browsers go to search the internet every day when the need arises.  For me, that’s still Google.  Bing has some cool technology built into it, but it’s just not enough for me to change up my normal routine.  It will be interesting to see if they are able to come up with the “killer app” to get me to break my old habits.

My understanding is that Microsoft was able to pull a couple of % points of market share away from Google though - at least temporarily - so maybe they are on to something.

To bing or not to bing…that is the question.

I say go see for yourself.

Mike Cooch
CEO
Everon Technology Services, LLC

About a year ago I went from a traditional dumb phone, no PDA capabilities, to my very own Blackberry Pearl. I showed my new baby to my friends and coworkers. They gave the keyboard funny looks (it shares letters on each key and uses SureType technology to determine which one you actually want to use when you start typing), and truthfully, I wasn’t too sure about it myself. I wondered if I really needed to get my work email real-time. I hadn’t used the internet much on the old phone and didn’t know how many of the crazy functions I’d really use. Was I getting a tech gizmo gadget doohickey because I would really use everything it had to offer, or because I just wanted it?

Fastforward to now. I can’t live without my crackberry. I check my email first thing when I wake up and right before I go to sleep so that I know what’s going on with work and can help out whenever possible. I Google frequently and am on my way to developing carpal tunnel syndrome from texting so much. My phone is my camera, my schedule, my mp3 player, my link to Facebook, my Gmail account and Google Talk, and basically a piece of me. I feel naked without it. I dread long flights and dead zones. I went camping a month ago and had to drive into town to feel connected again.

However, I have several friends who have even fancier phones. Big, colorful screens. Screens you can touch, swipe, swivel and tap. The navigation button on my Pearl was starting to look a little sad. I liked the size of my phone, but not the size of my screen. I was developing “Touch Screen Envy.” Luckily for me, Blackberry had released the Storm model at the beginning of this year, and I was due for my “New Every Two” with Verizon. I dropped by the store in the mall and walked out with my very own touchscreen smart phone. I’ve had it for a couple days now. I haven’t used it as much as I thought I would; while the interface is sleeker and touching the screen gives me a thrill, the basic functionality is still the same and it’s not as new as an entirely different type of device like a Palm or an iPhone.

Personalization

I’ve installed Facebook, Gmail, Google Chat and Opera Mini; this process was surprisingly easier than on my Pearl, since the Storm has a fancy section called Application Center which gives download links to a dozen popular applications in one location. I had to search on the Pearl through the browser to get all this stuff installed before. It also comes with an 8GB microSD card, and I’ve already transferred all my music and pictures from my old card onto this new jumbo storage chip.

Email Functionality

Setting it up on our Blackberry Enterprise Server was the same procedure as with the Pearl, even the same menus. However, my emails are now separated from my MMS and SMS Text messages, and I really like this. Now my work stuff is my work stuff and my texts are in another folder. It’s a small thing, but I’m already happier.

Keyboard and Typing

The touchscreen is pretty nifty. I can set the sensitivity in the Options menu, but I haven’t felt the need to update this yet. Being able to swipe the screen sideways while reading emails has been handy; I can move between messages pretty quickly. However, I have found that so far, I type slower. I miss my Pearl’s physical keypad. I’ve used the Storm keyboard in horizontal and vertical mode, and it doesn’t seem to matter, although in vertical orientation it’s the same layout as the Pearl SureType keyboard. I could type a mile a minute on the Pearl and was pretty accurate, too. I find that even though the Storm keyboard highlights the area where your finger touches when pressing a key, I still make many mistakes in my typing. Perhaps this is just me calibrating my touch-style to this particular screen. Perhaps it will drive me nuts in the end. It’s still too early to tell.

I have 30 days to decide whether or not I like this new way of doing business. 30 days of typing and goofing up. Also 30 days of a screen twice the size of my Pearl and the option to “swipe” the screen around. It’s a cool gadget and I’m enjoying getting to know it. We’ll see if I stick with it, or decide to get a Curve instead!

Kristin Mott
Network Engineer Team Lead
Everon Technology Services

Twitter has been quite the media darling of late, having been covered in the news pretty extensively and getting entire Oprah and Larry King Live shows dedicated to the obsession of tweeting.

So what’s the big deal?

Being the CEO of a technology services business, I figured I had better find out for myself.

Step 1: I read a book about Twitter (which proves that I am obviously not one of the young, early adopters they are targeting!)

Step 2: I set up an account - very easy

Step 3: I followed a handful of people I find interesting

Step 4: I did some tweets myself

Step 5: I wondered what all of this Twitter obsession is all about!

It seems I’m not the only one.  I came across an article today that says that only 30-40% of Twitter users actually return to the tool to use it again after the first month.  At those kind of attrition rates, you go through the whole planet pretty quickly.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I think there are potentially some very cool uses for Twitter, but it’s primarily just very simple entertainment.  You can’t do a lot in 140 characters of text, which is Twitters limit.

Check it out for yourself if you haven’t.  Create an account and follow a handful of celebrities or people in your industry and you’ll quickly get a sense of what Twitter is all about.

MRC

I’m in the process of opening up a new office, and one of the first big decisions to make when doing so is what we are going to use for a phone system.

We’ve been using a PBX from Shoretel at Everon for quite some time very successfully, so my initial inclination was that we would probably use one again.  However, due to some unique circumstances with this new office, I decided to use a hosted PBX instead:

• The team is expected to grow very quickly
• We will most likely have multiple offices and people working from home
• We want a large degree of flexibility in terms of how we are going to use the system/what features are included
• We didn’t want to manage any hardware ourselves
• We are very concerned with cash flow (who isn’t?!)

For all of these reasons, we decided to go with a hosted PBX provided by our friends at DSCI.

The hosted PBX gives us a ton of flexibility, and is priced on a monthly basis per user, making it easy to add or subtract users.  In addition, we don’t have to purchase any of our own equipment, and there won’t be any annual maintenance contracts - a nice boost to the cash flow.  This is of course consistent with the greater overall trend of technology services being delivered from “the cloud” - something small businesses can take real advantage of.

When you are considering your next phone system, take a look at hosted options.  They may be ideal for your business, and your wallet.

Mike Cooch
CEO
Everon Technology Services, LLC