iPads save cash and trees

iPads are changing the way businesses do business

As technology rapidly advances, bookstores are being left in shambles (RIP Borders: tablets are taking over!), and the prospect of a future where jobs are replaced by robots doesn’t seem so far off anymore. But, alas! Sometimes technology does more than help us cut corners and feed into our lazy, time-crunched lives. Mashable reported that iPads are helping the environment by inspiring businesses to “go green.” With the increase of iPads and other tablets comes the ability to cut costs and eliminate resource waste. Paper usage, ink and toner refills and Office Depot runs to restock these products are becoming more infrequent thanks to file sharing and demonstrating on tablets.

One such company jumping on the iPad bandwagon is already seeing cost savings and waste reduction with their shift to the tablet. Architectural firm, BCRA relies on the iPad to reduce their carbon footprint and decrease printing costs. Design firms are typically heavy on paper use, particularly with the mass production of brochures as a means of marketing their portfolios. Before iPad’s introduction to the firm, BCRA’s 150-person staff relied solely on about 200 unique printed pieces to tell its story. Now they are able to showcase presentations to clients and share documents without a paper trail, resulting in an estimated reduction of 80 percent in printed brochures and an annual company savings of $15,000 by year-end.

Think of all the trees they’re saving! And of course, all the green they’re pocketing to be spent on more exciting things than paper.

Do you think we’ll start seeing more iPads surface in businesses in lieu of traditional paper document sharing?

photo: venturebeat.com

Apple’s unveiled iPhone on the loose

The Apple iPhone now has a newer version, unofficially revealed to the public.

I’ve lost my cell phone before. I’ve also accidentally poured beer all over my cell phone, revived it with a hairdryer and sobbed until it started working again. But if I were the man who left behind the latest unveiled Apple iPhone at a bar, tears would be an afterthought; I’d be on the next plane out of town.

For the company that is known for keeping new technologies under strict wraps, this leak has thrown Apple a curve ball. The iPhone was sold to technology website Gizmodo for $5,000, where the professionals tore the phone apart, inspecting its inner-workings. With only a few months before the new phone was scheduled to hit the market, Apple is now battling the leak that has spread like wildfire. By midday yesterday more than one million visitors browsed Gizmodo to check out pictures of the gadget.

The website reports that the phone was left behind by an Apple engineer at Gormet Haus Staudt, a German specialty store and beer garden in Redwood City, California.

Late Monday night, Gizmodo said it received a letter from Bruce Sewell, Apple’s senior vice president and general counsel, requesting the phone be returned. But is it too late? The damage may already be done to Apple’s latest tech toy. As for the Apple employee with slippery fingers, I hope he’s learned not to mix beer with top-secret technology.

Photo (cc) by Thuresson via Wikimedia Commons. Some rights reserved.