Your Boss: “Hey, Gen Y Young Professional, we need a good way to do <insert task here> on the interwebs, go check your facebook-ey thing-a-ma-jigger and let me know how we should do it.”

That’s how it all starts, whether you are pulled into it, or you volunteer for it out of sheer passion, many Generation Y young professional are asked to analyze options and tools for doing business on the web. As I thoroughly enjoy this task, and have had the opportunity to do it a number of times for portions of the company I work for and my own small business ventures, I figured I would share 5 tips I keep in mind when I go about choosing the best web or software solutions.

1.  Focus on the task or goal.  All too often I find myself looking at flashy solutions that are pretty but don’t really address the ultimate goal. Write the goal or task down and keep it in front of you as you analyze options.

2.  Integrate it. Find out where the solution fits and then find a tool that can integrate into other systems in the business process or flow.

3.  Keep it fresh!  Look at the history of the tool, plugin or site.  Is it constantly being updated?  Does it have an active and open development team/company?  A tool that is actively being updated in a robust way will keep your company users happy with the latest features and fixes.

4.  Leave it in the cloud.  My experience tells me that when a company brings a tool in house on their servers, it is like driving a car off of a lot, it immediately begins to become obsolete until the company pays a ton to upgrade it.  Just use it, let someone else update it.

5.  Stay social.  I know social media is all the rage right now but, there is some truth the the benefits of social tools.  Look for social features and road maps as they will aid adoption and allow users to help and interact with each other more freely.

Have you been asked to research tools and web solutions for your team or company?  How do you address it?  Share your tips in the comments!

Have you changed your gas habits to save money?  I definitely have.  Unfortunately, There is only so much an individual can do.  Driving around to find cheaper gas is a waste of fuel and time plus, my offshore drilling rig has been broken since we used it as a diving raft in ’03.  Below are 5 of the things I have found have the most impact on my personal gas bill.

1) Choose to live in a downtown apartment – This is probably the most useful thing I have done.  By living downtown I do pay higher rent.  However, my wife and I can share an auto and most necessities are within walking distance.  An added bonus is that we also only have to have one car payment!

2) Back down on the RPMs – I have never really drove that fast, maybe I’m too laid back.  However, now I pay much more attention to the tachometer.  It’s important to see your RPMs if you want to know how much gas you are using.  Once you reach your top gear, the faster you go the more gas you burn.  I hit my top gear around 55.  If you have the time, slow down, the savings will come.

3) Hold back on A/C – The A/C is nice, especially when your car is an oasis from your non-air apartment!  But if weather permits, do a mini-experiment.  Drive one direction of a trip with air on, on the way back, ride with it off.   I was able to do it this weekend and the results were noticeable.  Saved 1/8 – 1/4 a tank of gas (an estimated $16 in savings).

4) Carpool – This tactic has been the staple of money saving college students, elementary kids, and hippies for years.  But it works.  I know the people in my office who live near me and if we are off site for a day, we almost always carpool.

5) Bus it – I’m not sure how much this has saved me.  In the summer a round trip to work is $4 a day, that is not saving much since I only live 2 miles tops from the office.  However, in the fall and spring I get a bus pass included with my graduate tuition.  That is when I save big!

That is my shortlist.  I haven’t saved enough to buy my fishing boat yet, but I’m getting there.  Wikihow has a nice page with several other ideas on saving gas.

What have you done to save gas money?  Any creative schemes that totally failed?

I am a frequent business traveler. I fly at least once a week and often times I’ll have three or four flights in a week. That adds up to eight times per week that I get hassled by a flight attendant to turn off my iPod. Sometimes I leave it on, and lo-and-behold the plane somehow manages to land. I always had my doubts about the technical merits of this request, so I decided to ask an embedded systems engineer about it. This is a guy who has to build the guts of electronic devices, so I consider him an expert on the topic.

According to him, the request has no technical merit whatsoever. Here’s the deal. When electronic devices are built, they go through what is called an emissions test. In order to get that FCC stamp, they must pass a test showing that they will not interfere with other electronic devices. Your iPod has this stamp. So the concern that your gadget will somehow “mess” with the plane’s systems is unfounded.

Secondly, all electronics (including the ones in the cockpit) have to pass an immunity test. This is a test designed to account for those rogue devices that don’t pass the emissions test. This means that the device will work even if there are other devices “messing” with its signal. So unless the planes are using technology that doesn’t pass the immunity test … we should be safe.

The engineer (who wished to remain anonymous) made one final point that really drives the message home:

Why don’t we make people turn off their pace makers? Or their watches?

I finished the interview asking about special cases. What about TVs or other devices that transmit or receive signals? Again, they shouldn’t matter because of the immunity and emissions tests, but also remember that television broadcast signals are everywhere. Turning off your pocket-TV won’t change that fact. The plane will be getting bombarded with those same signals anyway.

Here is another interesting article on the topic: http://www.airspacemag.com/need-to-know/16046567.html

 The very demographic group–the eighteen-to-thirty-four-year-old population–that ought to be most focused on the coming Chinese century is also the one most brilliantly diverted by entertainment and news-lite that details the trials of celebrities and reality-TV neurotics. What a shock it would be if a roommate on The Real World were wrestling with his or her future by studying Chinese or luring the roomie next door into some lucrative industrial piracy.

Ted C. Fishman, author of China, Inc.: How the Rise of the Next Superpower Challenges America and the World doesn’t start his chronicle of China’s rise to industrial prowess with this statement but, I think there is no better way to convey the direct relevancy of the details within to Generation Y.

Scattered throughout this exhaustive book are a plethora of performance statistics and economic tidbits that drive home again and again that China is a rapidly developing into a force to be reckoned with and, if the author makes his guess, will soon be second to none. The pieces of information include statements like:

• Three hundred million rural Chinese will move to cities in the next fifteen years. China must build urban infrastructure equivalent to Houston’s every month in order to absorb them.
• China has more speakers of English as a second language than America has native English speakers.

It’s not all rosy growth statistics though, the author doesn’t shy away from the dark side of China’s economic boom. The book closely examines the atrocities committed during Mao’s reign and the shady business practices that occur across China today, a problem that leads Fishman to dub it the “Pirate Nation”. (If you care to opine on Chinese piracy, please check out this recent post that has sparked an extensive debate).

The solid factual background that the book provides on business in China is not the only thing that makes it a must read though, Ted Fishman has a way of transitioning from facts to personal stories that really brings the point home to the reader and compels you to keep reading.

It is obvious that the author believes China will soon be the world’s most powerful nation and he builds a very convincing case for this assertion. Regardless of your personal beliefs on whether China will surpass the United States, it will continue to play a huge role in our lives. Our generation will cheat itself out of vast opportunities if we do not educate ourselves with regards to this powerful player in the global economy. China, Inc. is the most complete and up to date place to start.

This book recommended as one of the 15 Books for Rogue Professionals and How to Read them Fast at No Cost.

Business travel makes me feel like I’m in a modern day version of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. Only the three bears symbolize the three briefcases I own. Unlike our fairytale privacy invader, none are just right for me. I am on a mission to find the perfect briefcase.

Rolling Swiss Army Briefcase
Approximate Cost: (it was a gift)
Overall Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Benefits
- They see me rollin’. This makes airport travel easier. Life before rolling travel gear must have been terribly un-ergonomical.
- Pockets Galore. This bag has many compartments so it can fit everything in it’s own area.
Drawbacks
- While this bag is great for organization, it’s too big to fit under some airport seats. It becomes inconvenient in small planes.
- While most of the bag is extremely sturdy, the handle’s retractable construction is not on par with the rest of the bag’s craftsmanship.

What other people think about it:

This is a really popular bag. I was in an airport restroom this week and three out of four women had one. I began to question them about how they liked it. They found it more sturdy than most bags. One woman said that her bag has lasted over six months, which surprised her, because she replaces her rolling briefcases about two to three times per year. She also agreed that the handle seemed less rugged but it was still quite functional.

Standard Issue Dell Laptop Bag
Approximate Cost: Free
Overall Rating: 2 out of 5

Not Comfortable, Not Stylish – The standard issue Dell laptop bag is not stylish and it’s definitely not comfortable. I want to lug this bag around an airport like I want to carry a team of non-value added coworkers on my back.

Benefits
- It’s Free! Upon receipt of a company laptop, this bag comes with it.
- Less is More. This bag will help avoid over packing.

Drawbacks
- You’re so Vain. It’s ugly. Enough Said.
- Caution: Improper use may cause scarring. Actually with this laptop bag, even using it correctly can cause scarring. See one woman’s battle scars, below:

Generic Girly Laptop Bag
Cost: $30
Overall Rating 3 out of 5

For a cheap bag that I bought at K-Mart, this black nylon bag was one of my best buys for style and functionality. This bag looks professional from the outside but on the inside, it’s bright pink. There’s nothing like a little color to brighten your day when you have all day meetings, one after the other. It is not too heavy to haul around. It’s perfect for every day meetings but not perfect for overnight business trips.

Benefits
- Compactness. It’s partition separates a laptop from a notepad. There are slots for identification and pens.
- Rugged, yet girly on the inside

Drawbacks
- While perfect for a day trip, this bag is not quite big enough for airport travel. You would have to carry both your purse and your laptop bag together which is okay, until you try to grab a skinny mocha from Starbucks while trying to keep your plane ticket in your hand, and dodging a family with three kids trying to get to Disney World.

Summary

From my most recent business trip, I think I have realized there may not be *one* perfect bag. Different situations may call for different bags. I would love for you to PROVE ME WRONG!

What I want in the perfect bag:
- Slim
- Rugged
- Multi-compartments
- Wheels are a bonus!

Readers- Have you found a laptop case or briefcase that meets all of your needs? I would love to know the brand, the price, and why you love it.

Vendors- I am willing to test your products and provide feedback on this site as to the functionality and usability. Coming soon, I will officially review travel items from Land’s End.

Personally, one of the reasons why I work is to afford fun vacations. It would be great to not work for a while, but then I’d probably get bored of sitting home and playing video games all of the time. In fact, I like to take so many vacations that I really need to economize to be able to afford them! The trick is to save money on getting there and sleeping accommodations so that you have more cash to spend on the fun stuff.. like beer drinking and touring! Over the last few years I’ve found a few sites that I routinely use to find the best travel deals. I’ve assembled the top few sites I use to book my trips and added a little bit of info about each below.

Kayak

A great travel search engine that should meet all of your airline, hotel and rental car needs. It particularly excels in air travel in my opinion.

Why I like it: It seems more no-nonsense than Orbitz, Priceline, Expedia, Travelocity, etc. It seems like the coders really care and it has a pretty cool Google-like feel to it. The FAQs and other documents on the site are written in a pretty happy go-lucky manner and the site seems like it’s always adding new features. For the insecure types it also let you view Kayak results next to other major search engines as well.

BiddingForTravel and BetterBidding (for Priceline)

These are two really cool sites that let you ‘hack’ the Priceline and Hotwire systems. Both of these sites are basically just message boards that contain information regarding hotels and bidding strategies for Priceline and Hotwire. They also help you determine what hotel you are actually booking when looking at the blind hotels on Hotwire and have listing of hotels by area in Priceline. People also post winning Priceline bid information that helps provide a little guidance when you try to book a hotel in a given city.

Why I like it: These sites are great money savers. I use them all of the time to snag some great hotel rates when traveling with friends. I’ve used the sites to find information on hotels all over the world. I’ve booked some great deals in Amsterdam, Berlin and Chicago. Once I was even able to book the Waldorf in New York, but an unfortunate delay at the airport meant I missed out on the reservation. The users on these sites are great as well! It’s like everyone is in on a big secret and love helping other people out saving ducats.

Skyscanner

This is a great site for searching discount airlines in Europe. It has a ton of flexible options including weekend searches and my personal favorite: departing airport searches. I used this tool extensively during the summer of 2006 to book over a dozen weekend trips. The departing airport searches will show you every destination country from your selected airport and the price to fly to there. I used this to set up a huge matrix of the different countries my friends and I wanted to visit and after crunching numbers we easily came up with the cheapest itinerary to cover about 15 countries that summer. It’s great for planning last minute trips as well!

Why I like it: This is a spiffy tool for planning trips when you know you want to go somewhere but have no idea where! Just let the tool decide for you as it displays a list of countries you can visit and the corresponding price. It also covers budget airlines in detail, something a lot of the major sites don’t do. Lastly, it checks the prices for you automatically to make sure they’re up to date. Once you’re ready to book it punches you out to the airline site and you’re good to go!

Hostelworld

Another site I found during European Blitz during summer of 2006. Pick the country and city, provide a date and *poof* you are presented with a list of hostels in the area. It lets you book directly on the site which is an added bonus. Also, you just have to pay a deposit of about 15% at the time of booking, very convenient. The list of hostels is very extensive and the photos and reviews of each are great tools when trying to decide where you want to stay. Hostelworld also provides cool little travel guides for a lot of the cities on their site, an added bonus! They’re pretty good too!

Why I like it: The reviews on the site are priceless. I often sort on the rating of the hostels in a given city versus the price. The hostels on the site often have dozens, even hundreds of reviews and tidbits of information from fellow broke-ass travelers. Oftentimes I’ll even use the site as a reference guide, then contact the hostel directly to secure even better rates!

With my travel secrets out, I expect to see more of you Newly Corporate types outside of the office and off vacationing in Europe. If you save a few bucks, be sure to stop by London to buy me a beer to thank me for the financial relief

What sites do you use to find the best deals?