I'm beginning to wonder if email is the biggest barrier to work achievement.

Years ago, when I when I worked in an office with other people, I learned that email was a great tool for communicating, and more importantly sometimes, documenting conversations. Popping round to someone's desk and discussing a topic was great, but you had no record of the conversation, and if they were away, on the road, or you just simply spent the day trying to meet at the same point for the 5 minute talk, email was a great alternative.

Today, we use email almost exclusively, and often in preference to, meeting in person or talking on the phone. For those, like me, who work from home all the time, you basically have no choice. It's simply not possible to 'pop' over to somebody's desk, when in all probability that desk is on another continent.

I'm beginning to wonder if email is the biggest barrier to work achievement.

Years ago, when I when I worked in an office with other people, I learned that email was a great tool for communicating, and more importantly sometimes, documenting conversations. Popping round to someone's desk and discussing a topic was great, but you had no record of the conversation, and if they were away, on the road, or you just simply spent the day trying to meet at the same point for the 5 minute talk, email was a great alternative.

Today, we use email almost exclusively, and often in preference to, meeting in person or talking on the phone. For those, like me, who work from home all the time, you basically have no choice. It's simply not possible to 'pop' over to somebody's desk, when in all probability that desk is on another continent.

We waste an amazing amount of power, and a big part of that is the machines we leave on standby. I blame part of that on manufacturers and technology - partly for providing a sleep function in TVs and computers, and partly because we have DC power adaptors for charging your phone or PDA that constantly use energy, even when not charging these components.

However, I equally think that businesses and individuals are to blame. Many companies have a policy of leaving the computers on overnight, when they could be turned off.

Education, as always, is key, and a good way to make people realize the effect of leaving their equipment on is to show how much you could save in terms of money. This piece at Gizmodo shows you how much energy and money is used by your games console.

We waste an amazing amount of power, and a big part of that is the machines we leave on standby. I blame part of that on manufacturers and technology - partly for providing a sleep function in TVs and computers, and partly because we have DC power adaptors for charging your phone or PDA that constantly use energy, even when not charging these components.

However, I equally think that businesses and individuals are to blame. Many companies have a policy of leaving the computers on overnight, when they could be turned off.

Education, as always, is key, and a good way to make people realize the effect of leaving their equipment on is to show how much you could save in terms of money. This piece at Gizmodo shows you how much energy and money is used by your games console.

We waste an amazing amount of power, and a big part of that is the machines we leave on standby. I blame part of that on manufacturers and technology - partly for providing a sleep function in TVs and computers, and partly because we have DC power adaptors for charging your phone or PDA that constantly use energy, even when not charging these components.

However, I equally think that businesses and individuals are to blame. Many companies have a policy of leaving the computers on overnight, when they could be turned off.

Education, as always, is key, and a good way to make people realize the effect of leaving their equipment on is to show how much you could save in terms of money. This piece at Gizmodo shows you how much energy and money is used by your games console.

It was just a few short weeks ago that I said goodbye to the Sun T2000 I'd had on the Try and Buy program from Sun.

Unfortunately it didn't quite fit my needs, but my contact at Sun's PR firm offered me the chance to take a closer look at the T1000. I'll talk about the T1000 specifics in a post later this week, but the key focus for this beast is on a high-density processing platform, rather than the server platform approach of the T2000.

This time round I'm going to be looking at some slightly different performance and other metrics, along with those I conducted for Cheffy and elsewhere.

It was just a few short weeks ago that I said goodbye to the Sun T2000 I'd had on the Try and Buy program from Sun.

Unfortunately it didn't quite fit my needs, but my contact at Sun's PR firm offered me the chance to take a closer look at the T1000. I'll talk about the T1000 specifics in a post later this week, but the key focus for this beast is on a high-density processing platform, rather than the server platform approach of the T2000.

This time round I'm going to be looking at some slightly different performance and other metrics, along with those I conducted for Cheffy and elsewhere.

It was just a few short weeks ago that I said goodbye to the Sun T2000 I'd had on the Try and Buy program from Sun.

Unfortunately it didn't quite fit my needs, but my contact at Sun's PR firm offered me the chance to take a closer look at the T1000. I'll talk about the T1000 specifics in a post later this week, but the key focus for this beast is on a high-density processing platform, rather than the server platform approach of the T2000.

This time round I'm going to be looking at some slightly different performance and other metrics, along with those I conducted for Cheffy and elsewhere.

I recently commented on the interesting approach to security and ID theft. Today, something new has been added to the list of weird situations.

This morning, my AmEx statement arrived. Nothing unusual in that, but included in the envelope was a leaflet suggesting that in future I obtain my statements by downloading them from the website, saving time and the environment by reducing the paper and delivery requirements.

I have absolutely no issue with electronic bills - I've been getting the statements from one of my banks and another of my credit cards for years in this way, but I'm curious as to how this would work in the long term with the very same money laundering regulations I covered last time.

I recently commented on the interesting approach to security and ID theft. Today, something new has been added to the list of weird situations.

This morning, my AmEx statement arrived. Nothing unusual in that, but included in the envelope was a leaflet suggesting that in future I obtain my statements by downloading them from the website, saving time and the environment by reducing the paper and delivery requirements. I have absolutely no issue with electronic bills - I've been getting the statements from one of my banks and another of my credit cards for years in this way, but I'm curious as to how this would work in the long term with the very same money laundering regulations I covered last time.