I don’t know about you but as a business leader, I find myself thinking more and more about the responsibility businesses have to do the right thing when it comes to the earth. Whether that’s promoting locally grown produce at the market or reducing waste, it just makes sense that businesses start to make changes. Furthermore, I wouldn’t be surprised to see more activism when businesses fail to act.

How many times have you been in a public place - a supermarket, a ballgame, a concert, etc. and noticed the extreme waste. This is particularly noticeable these days with empty water bottles littering what seems like 75% of the average public trashcan.

With this in mind, the photo below was too hard to pass up.

This was taken at the entrance of Schnabel’s Hardware in San Antonio, TX - a small neighborhood hardware store.

This is so easy and it’s good for business. I already know I’m paying more when I go there vs. Home Chepot, but this makes me feel better about it. Not only am I supporting the little guy, but this ‘little guy’ gets it.

PS: now that I have an iPhone, I think I’ll start looking for the uglier side of this issue, meaning places where trashcans are spilling over with reclyclable materials. Maybe I’ll start with Starbucks. hmmmm… can’t say I’ve ever seen a recycling bin there.

Think the term Eco-friendly Armyis another oxymoron like Military Intelligence, think again. This article details 7 new areas where the US Military is investigating renewable or green technology in the field. I was surprised, but then again, they’re all for practical reasons, like allowing soldiers to power up batteries in the field. No one actually said they cared about the environment

http://earth2tech.com/2007/08/28/7-ways-the-military-is-using-eco-tech/

I got the iPhone today. Just fiddling with all the tools and getting to know my way around. So far, so good. No comment on the battery yet.
What has impressed me the most thus far is the signup and transfer process, which was the most seamless I’ve ever experienced. Here’s a play by play:
4:30 pm: opened the box and plugged iPhone into my Macbook
4:45 pm: Dead Time: (joined a 30 minute conference call and tried to ignore the new gadget on my desk.)
5:15 pm: began signup process, which was completely online through the iTunes interface. This was very slick but more importantly, very simple. Like most Apple products, it just WORKS.
5:20pm: Called at&t thinking surely I must speak to a perspn to activate this phone. The polite rep directed me back to the site to complete the process on my own time. All the options were clearly laid out and very simple. There weren’t too many overlapping plans to choose from - they each differed about $20 in price, which was fine with me. Anything in the $5 to $10 difference range would have been too confusing. Don’t underestimate this point: when was the last time you bought a toothbrush in a grocery store? Too much choice leaves me totally overwhelmed, pissed off, and impatient - that never happened here
5:21pm: Re-started signup process. There were about 5 steps and most of the data was pre-populated since I was logged in as an iTunes user. Again, easy easy easy. The most complicated part was finding and entering my account number and password from Sprint.
5:35 pm: Mas or Menos, signup is finished. I get a welcome email saying the phone would work for outgoing calls immediately and could receive inbound calls later.
5:36 pm: Placed first outbound call successfully
6:15 pm: At Grocery store (not shopping for toothbrushes) I received a call from at&t that I had entered either the Sprint account number or password incorrectly. She conferenced me in with my assistant at work who looked up the correct number and supplied it to her.

This is the crazy part…
6:28 ended call with at&t where the rep told me my phone would be working in 2 MINUTES. I was very impressed by this. My realistic expectations, since i was dealing with a huge telco, was the next morning. Bear in mind that at this point, it’s all at&t, not Apple.
6:35 pm: I leave the grocery store and get back in my car where my new iPhone has two voicemails waiting for me. Very impressive.

Not it’s several hours later and I’m looking for stuff I can’t find, such as the setting where you the phone on its side and the keyboard stretches out. I’m sure this will all come in good time but for now, I can’t find it.

A very good place to start. Name that movie.

Does this work? I know this is a pretty boring first post but maybe I can edit it later.