Redmond | Feature Article: Time to Dump IE?

From the horses mouth, or rather Redmondmag.com, “The Independent Voice of the Microsoft IT Community.” Great article that touches on the risks we take by continuing to use Internet Explorer (IE) and what some of the alterntives are. The author does tend to get a little bit technical but I recommend reading it anyway. If you depend on your PC for anything at all, you need to reconsider how you’re using it.

Environmental Commitment at sharpusa.com

We have two Sharp fax machines in our office. Every so often I come across a toner cartridge that includes a U.S.P.S. prepaid return address label that you can use to return the empty cartridges for recycling. We go through about one cartridge a month between the two machines and in the two years that we’ve had them I’ve only seen three or four of these labels. So what happens to the other cartridges? Before I was aware of Sharp’s commitment (link above) to the environment I was just throwing them away. Now, since I know they can be returned, I pile them up in the corner next to my desk and wait for a label to appear with one of my next orders. I have other recyclables too, so you should know that sometimes that pile can stack up. At times, my work area looks like a recycling center.

I finally got curious and had some free time. I checked Sharp’s website to see if I could find any information about their consumer-end recycling procedures. Nada. They do have a document online referred to as their Full Activity Report that details their internal achievements and statistics relating to their environmental conscience. I couldn’t find any information on how I could recycle my used toner, at least not on their U.S. site. Did you know they have a Canadian site? They do (Sharp Electronics of Canada), and guess what? They have a PDF version of a downloadable label that you can print and use to return your used toner cartridges. My only problem is that it’s for Canadians to ship to their Canadian facility. It’s not valid here in the U.S.

I found a page on their U.S. site where I could submit a support request. Even though the link is intended for product support, I asked my question and voiced my concerns. I also called the dealer we purchased the machine through, Select Business Systems. I asked the person who answered the phone what I could do. She said I should just throw away the used toner cartridges because they don’t recycle them. I explained that sometimes there was a label included with the cartridge but most of the time there was not. She said they weren’t responsible because the toner cartridges come directly from Sharp. There is nothing she can do. I asked if they had extra labels for customers like me that want to recycle the cartridges. Nope. She said she was sorry she couldn’t help me.

Who uses HP printers? We have several of them here. I’ll try not to sound too much like a commercial. HP puts a prepaid return shipping label (UPS) in every toner cartridge so you can return it for recycling when it’s empty? You just put the used cartridge back in it’s box (or the box of a new one you just got to replace it with), close it up, and drop it off somewhere for UPS to pick up (many businesses also have a UPS guy that comes every day just to see if you have anything to ship). If that’s too much trouble, HP also has an arrangement with Office Depot to help with their recycling efforts. Go here for more about their committment to the environment.

Too bad HP doesn’t make a toner cartridge that will work in my Sharp fax machines.

I just recently returned from one of the funnest weekend trips of my life. A few years ago I had gone to Las Vegas with a few friends and talked them into making a side trip to the Las Vegas Hilton for one purpose: To ride Star Trek: The Experience — a live-action simulation of being kidnapped by Klingons from the future, transported to the Enterprise, and then evacuated by shuttle craft back to Earth. In my opinion more fun than Star Tours at Disneyland. Afterward we ate lunch in Quark’s Bar & Restaurant where I realized I needed my friend Joan to experience all of this with me someday.

Finally, Joan and I made plans to attend Creation’s 3rd Annual Official Star Trek Convention at the Las Vegas Hilton (coverage by TrekNation). We arrived via United Express on Friday morning and spent the entire weekend watching some of our favorite celebrities speak on stage to an audience of around 3,000. Many of the fans were dressed like their favorite character in their Federation uniforms, or as Klingons, Borg, Andorians, or Ferengi. We even saw a Jedi Knight who said his powers wouldn’t work in this universe.

We started the weekend with George Takei, saw several other celebrities throughout the weekend, and ended it with a dual appearance by Shatner and Nimoy. In between speakers we wandered around the convention room where there were booths selling any kind of sci-fi trinket, weapon, picture, or action figure you could think of. Celebrities of other sci-fi tv shows were also there getting in on the action (like Richard Keil of James Bond movies, and Herb Jefferson Jr of Battlestar Galactica). In the evenings Joan and I hit some of the casinos like Paris, MGM Grand, the Luxor, and we even saw the water show in front of the Bellagio. Saturday night we nearly walked ourselves to death and then decided (ok, needed) to get some root beer floats before returning to our regeneration chamber.

Every day was as fun as the last and I can’t wait to do it again. Maybe next year.

(This was originally posted at the main page of my website on August 3rd. I reposted here on August 17th so that it will be included later in my blogger archive.)