it

Editors' note: This is a guest post. See Paul Bell's bio below.

When President Obama addressed a joint session of Congress in February, he spoke to the need for the United States to become more energy-efficient. To that end, the stimulus bill he recently signed into law provides more than $30 billion for energy efficiency projects, innovative technology loan guarantees, the retrofitting of federal facilities, and the development of the initial framework for a "smart" electrical grid.

These measures put the country on a long-term path toward so-called green-led growth. But how they are implemented is as … Read more

Sustainability may be all the rage but, as the song says, it's not easy being green.

Without widespread standards, companies are struggling with how to properly calculate and disclose their carbon footprint to the public. And many don't have the financial resources to address environmental resource concerns.

Kevin Wilhelm is the chair of the Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce Sustainability Committee and CEO of Sustainable Business Consulting. His new book, "Return on Sustainability," which got endorsements from environmentalists Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Laurie David, takes a shot at deciphering the ins and outs of corporate … Read more

Enterprise IT struggles to overcome the risk of vendor lock-in, the risk of IT project delivery failure, and a range of other risks.

However, as Julien Le Nestour expertly elucidates, the biggest risk for enterprise IT is a dearth of user adoption.

With this risk in mind, Le Nestour suggests that enterprise IT revise its strategies for evaluating and purchasing software with the user in mind:

(T)he IT function needs to change its mindset and view of itself. Instead of deploying tools where user adoption is taken for granted, IT leaders must realize they're competing with other applications … Read more

After spending some time with NoteZilla Portable, we quickly came to the conclusion that there is a lot more than meets the eye to this very functional calendar and task tool.

Using sticky notes, the program lets you input important tasks. Simply type the text on the note and that's it. You can position the sticky notes wherever you like on your desktop and even place them on top of specific Web sites. If you don't like desktop clutter, you can save the notes in the Memoboard. From the Memoboard, you can organize the sticky notes into categories, … Read more

I've been looking for a replacement for playable search engine Songerize, and this morning, I stumbled across Just Hear It, which offers a much better experience than Songerize ever did.

Enter a song title or artist's name, and Just Hear It returns a list of possible matches--including not only audio tracks, but also YouTube videos. (Songerize didn't offer choices, but started playing what it thought was the best match, and it didn't have any video content.)

In my tests so far, Just Hear It has always delivered the song I was looking for somewhere in the … Read more

Dong gets a quirky phone call from a guy--apparently doing his best Jeremy Piven impression--with an expensive proposition.

Dong then discusses a new way to share your wireless network without risking random strangers getting their grubby mitts on your most precious of personal files. Actually, I feel he only brought this up to take a cheap swipe at Apple, but that's just my opinion. This leads to our discussion of a new Forrester Research find that Apple is the "most lovable" PC maker. Of course, Dong has a little something to say about this.

We get an … Read more

RetailMeNot, an online destination for coupons and discounts, announced Tuesday that it has a new printable coupon offering, dubbed RetailMeNot Printable. According to the company, users will be able to print more than 90,000 coupons from thousands of companies.

RetailMeNot also announced that it has partnered with MoneyMailer, Redplum, and Valpak, to provide its users with more printable in-store coupons. The company didn't disclose the details, but it did say that it will continue to add partners to expand the volume of the coupons it offers. Its Printable service is live now.

Rhode Island's general treasurer, Frank … Read more

Those already using the bookmarking tool Read It Later will appreciate being able to sync lists of unread stories between desktop computers and the iPhone or iPod Touch. For those who are new to Read It Later, the free version isn't quite as convenient as it could be, though the application is still one good way to flag stories of interest for later perusing, without having to bookmark each one individually.

The initial setup to bookmark the plug-in is a multistep process, but one the application's developer guides you through in text, pictures, and a video. Registration is … Read more

Lithium ion battery company A123Systems has received a $69 million investment round from General Electric and others, the company announced Monday.

With its latest funding, A123Systems plans to expand its facilities in Massachusetts and Michigan, as well as build new facilities in Michigan. A portion of the proceeds will also be used to develop applications for the smart grid, such as utility-scale storage. The company has its headquarters in Watertown, Mass.

GE invested $15 million toward this latest round, bringing its total investment stake to 10 percent in the company. A123Systems also announced GE will receive a seat on its … Read more