The 2009 Earth Hour will take place this Saturday, March 28th, at 8:30 pm (local time). During this event, people from all over the world are asked to turn off electronics - smartphones, computers, lights, etc. - for one full hour. This year's event organizers, the World Wildlife Fund, are hoping for 1 billion participants and have turned the 2009 event into a sort of election between Earth and global warming, saying that switching your lights off is a vote for Earth, while leaving them on is a vote for global warming. The WWF plan to present the results of the "election" to world leaders at the Global Climate Change Conference later this year.

Earth Hour first began in Sydney, Australia in 2007, when 2.2 million businesses and residents turned off their lights. During the following year, 2008, such world landmarks as the Golden Gate Bridge, the Colosseum, the Sydney Opera House and the Coca Cola billboard in Times Square all jumped on board and went dark for the hour. This year, the Empire State Building, the Acropolis and the Eiffel Tower all plan to participate, and many electronics manufactures have joined the cause as well.

According to an eWeek article, the following companies have taken action for Earth Hour:

-Research in Motion has launched a special website for their Blackberry users supporting Earth Hour.

-Belkin International released a statement reminding people of the importance of Earth hour and that they should remember to make sure to unplug devices from standby power to save the most electricity.

-HSBC will have all employees switch of all non-essential electronics, such as light, TVs and computers for the hour.

-Vodacom, South Africa's largest cellular network, will turn off its electronic billboards and shut off lights at 15 offices throughout the country.

-Suntech Power Holdings will turn off lights at its solar headquarters in China and hold an event themed "What do we do if the Earth has no electricity?"

-Con Edison will turn off the lights at the company's Manhattan headquarters and have teamed up with WWF to ask NYC resides to join the cause.

The concept is simple enough and an hour is such a short amount of time, but will you participate? Can you shut off your iPhone or TV for one hour in the name of the Earth?



-posted by Stephanie

It's a thought that's crossed my mind once or twice during my daily commute from Seattle to Tacoma, but now I have some actual proof that the down economy is contributing to driving down traffic in the Seattle Metro Area. Kirkland, Washington-based Inrix claims the Seattle area saw a 28 percent drop in traffic congestion over the last year ranking 9th in the country overall. The report also says the United States as a whole saw a traffic decrease in 2008 from 2007 and blames two factors -- fuel price volatility and rising unemployment. On average, Inrix found Americans spent 13 fewer hours struck in traffic last year. And get this, Inrix claims Detroit say a whopping nearly 47 percent drop in traffic congestion last year alone!

Inrix made the findings based on GPS-enabled vehicles, road sensors and other methods to gather traffic information on the nation's roadways. The company spun out of Microsoft Research and claims to be the "leading innovator of real-time, historical and predictive traffic information, offering the broadest coverage, exceptional accuracy and innovative technologies to ensure the success of our customers’ navigation and traffic-enabled solutions."

Before we all jump up and collectively do the no traffic dance, a point to consider as pointed out by Inrix's CEO Bryan Mistele, "While less traffic is generally good news, the causes of it aren't necessarily something to celebrate. Traffic congestion is an excellent indicator of trends, telling us whether businesses are shipping products, whether people are going to work, and whether shoppers are going to the mall."

Downer or not, I'm enjoying smooth sailing for the time being.



-posted by Andrew

Seattle has always been a 'green' city -- and now its taking it one step further. Right now, Seattle is currently considering putting into effect a bag fee and foam/plastic ban.

The bag fee, if passed, would charge shoppers 20 cents for each disposable plastic or paper bag used at grocery, convenience and drugstores starting in January 2009. Stores would keep a nickel to cover the cost of administering the fee. Small stores that gross less than $1 million annually would keep the entire 20 cents. Each household would receive at least one free, reusable shopping bag.

The foam/plastic ban, if passed, would require restaurants and grocery stores to switch from Styrofoam or other polystyrene containers and cups to plastic or biodegradable alternatives in January 2009. In July 2010, the ban would expand to include plastics, such as utensils and deli containers. Businesses would have to use all biodegradable containers.

Personally, as much as this may take some getting use to... This is an initiative that everyone in Seattle, and perhaps all of Washington, should support for a cleaner city and for future generations.

-posted by Shawnna

So I just started working at Voxus and have the unenviable or enviable task (depending on how you look at it) of migrating from a PC to a Mac.



Let me just preface with the fact that prior to Voxus, I worked for one of Microsoft’s PR agencies and in fact was in New York City for the launch of Windows Vista. I’ve got everyone breathing down my neck saying, “what do you think about the Mac?” From a mom in education whose worked on a Mac for years to a dad in high tech that’s lived with a PC for years. As for me… we had a Mac in our house when I was really young, but like the rest of the world migrated to a PC in the early 90’s. In absolute delight that her son is becoming a Mac user, my mom has sent me article after article explaining why a Mac is so much better than a PC. Having lived in the San Francisco Bay Area and Seattle most of my life, I’ve heard it all… “Microsoft is big brother”, “Microsoft gives you so many more options”, “Apples are for creative types”, “Windows makes it easier to do what you want, when you want”, blah blah blah.

Honestly… after a few days… I can’t tell much of a difference. Sure, an apple is “cooler looking” with their super-sleekness and all. But when it comes down to it for us business types I just need a computer that turns on, allows me to use Word, Excel and Power Point, has an email application and lets me surf the net. My point is, and this is quite anti-climatic, it’s all about preference. I’ll keep you posted on how my experience is down the road, but until then…

“Hello, I’m a Mac user and I’m a PC user”.

-posted by Andrew

OK, I know this isn't strictly technology related...but with all of the entrepreneurs out there looking for affordable office space, I wanted to at least mention My Day Office, one of the most interesting startups in town. It's coworking, or community space collaboration, at its best -- Shauna Brennan opened it in Belltown last month. So if you've been holding so many business meetings in area Starbucks that you know all of the differences in decor, you might want to consider an upward move.

-posted by Rachel

So I know that we tend to write about Northwest-based tech companies, but I just had to pass along crucial information for anyone who has ever thought they needed a mental health day from work, but couldn't take it due to human resources requirements. There's a new website, myexcusedabsence.com, that's dedicated to providing relief to beleaguered workers everywhere. Brought to you by two geniuses in Oklahoma (a state where a doctor's note is frequently a requirement for sick time), for a one-time fee of $25 you get very official-looking notes covering illnesses, emergency room visits, funerals, jury duty, etc. You also get some tools to help manage your absences (i.e., did you already attend grandma's funeral?).

-posted by Rachel

It was a big holiday weekend, so I'm coming to this a bit late, but I thought it worthwhile posting something in honor of Memorial Day. "In 1904, disgusted by the aftermath of the Spanish-American War and the subsequent Philippine-American War, Mark Twain wrote a short anti-war prose poem called "The War Prayer." His family begged him not to publish it, his friends advised him to bury it, and his publisher rejected it, thinking it too inflammatory for the times. Twain agreed, but instructed that it be published after his death, saying famously:

'None but the dead are permitted to tell the truth.'

"The War Prayer" was eventually published after World War I, when its message was more in tune with the times."

The Washington Monthly has created a video of the prayer, narrated by Peter Coyote. The English Major in me finds it fascinating because this is a piece of Twain's work that I wasn't familiar with. That, and the fact that it is a powerful comment on today's political climate. So: The War Prayer.

-posted by Paul

Need help organizing your notes? A new beta service from DropJott promises to help folks store, view and edit notes more efficiently. Briefly mentioned in Forbes, this company allows users to apply some sophistication (and a pretty interface) to what is a rather mundane process of collecting notes and creating to-do lists. Like online social debt management company, BillMonk, DropJott is the latest organization to pop up in the free online personal management space.

-posted by Lindsay

Ever try to describe your favorite YouTube video (Tyson the skateboarding Bulldog comes to mind...) to a friend or family member and wish you had quick access to the real thing? Verizon just inked a deal with the mega successful YouTube to make this service a reality. The continued growth of the mobile content space, underscored by several acquisitions and multi-million dollar investments this year, tells me that the Verizon-YouTube service is likely only the beginning of the mobile entertainment offerings Santa will be bringing us this season.

-posted by Lindsay

A posting on CNET’s Blogma today reminded me of two things. Firstly, the fact that I might be the only person in my peer group that has not yet created a MySpace page and secondly, nothing in the world is free (for very long). Using music license sniffer software from Gracenote, MySpace will now be cracking down on users uploading illegal music. Repeat offenders will even be booted. So the next time your "friend" has gone missing, you can probably guess why.

-posted by Lindsay

Dolce & Gabbana made a splash last year with its runway-inspired gold Motorola RAZR phone and it appears Levi’s is too jumping on the fashion phone bandwagon. According to a story on Mobile Weblog, the company is developing a Levi’s branded phone aimed at Europe, one if its largest markets. Can't wait to see if other major clothing brands and fashion designers follow suit.

-posted by Lindsay

Well, maybe this is part II of the great Microsoft vs. all others debate Paul and I have with each other. Now the debate switches over to Opensource vs. Office. For many years, including while I was working for Microsoft, it seemed as though there were many people who thought Microsoft's demise would come in the form of StarOffice or OpenOffice. I saw the demos and, while I was slightly impressed, the functionality seemed greatly lacking and with Opensource, it seemed much too difficult for an enterprise to embrace. Seems I might be right, or at least Capital Engineering agrees. They recently made the switch from OpenOffice to Microsoft Office. OpenSource isn't quite as "free" as everyone thinks, there are costs associated with it in the form of file conversions and application compatibility. Once Capital Engineering grew, they realized that OpenOffice just couldn't support their enterprise. Click for more information on this story.

-posted by Anne

In perusing our traffic logs for the past month, I was surprised to note the number of international visitors to our site. Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Japan, Denmark, the UK and the list goes on... turns out that the developer that created the basic theme for our site (developed in RapidWeaver on a Mac) featured voxuspr.com in his showcase. So welcome, and feel free to drop us a comment if you like what you see or have any suggestions for improvements.

Oh, and for the competing PR agencies that have also been checking out our site -- nice to see you too! ;-)

-posted by Paul

So I've been playing around with Google Finance for the past week, and I have to admit that it's pretty cool. I'm constantly amazed by Google's ability to take what was working pretty well (nasdaq.com, mapquest, etc.) and significantly improve the user experience with a few seemingly minor interface tweaks. In this case, ready access to all the information you need on a single page (no more hunting around, click throughs, or multiple sites), and a stock chart that drags a la Google Maps. I could quote from Lazy Sunday here, but I'll resist...

If you haven't tried it yet, check it out: http://finance.google.com/finance?q=goog

-posted by Paul

Wow, it seems this debate about Windows versus Apple OSX will never end. I’m convinced that my boss is drinking Kool-Aid from the Apple fountain. I actually worked for an Apple dealer in high school doing demos of the Mac 512K at stores. At the time, there wasn’t anything that could compare to the Apple. It is what we were using in school and, keep in mind, this was a time when PCs in the home were a rarity. Well, times changed, I grew up and thank goodness… Windows hit the market.

Bill Gates and Microsoft are, in my humble opinion, responsible for driving the cost of the PC down to the point that almost everyone can afford one. Actually, if you remember, it was his vision to have “a desktop in every home.” He is a great visionary and, while he might have “copied” Apple’s original design for the operating system, Microsoft is responsible for enhancing it and marketing it to the extent that they have captured significant market share because they are that much better than the rest. They're even responsible for making Apple wake up and make a better, more competitive product. Apple, frankly dropped the ball by not allowing developers access to their code but I digress…

I contend that the cost of the Apple is not lower in the long run than the PC. Application availability, training costs, costs of exporting to different platforms are all things an enterprise will need to consider before swapping out their PCs for Macs. For me, application compatibility/availability is a real hot button, and since I’m not a gamer, my choice of software is very limited. I don’t get the robust functionality Office has to offer on the PC and, yes, I’m a little bitter about that.

Oh well, I just got my new Dell PC running Windows Server 2003 at home. When I need to get the tough stuff done, I do it at home on my trusty PC.

-posted by Anne

I'll admit it... I'm a mac head. I've been using Macs since the mid-80s, and have been fortunate enough to work on them for most of my career. So naturally I'm quick to jump to Apple's defense in any Mac vs PC debate (and considering that one of my coworkers helped direct the worldwide PR effort for Microsoft Windows Server, you can guess the discussions we get into). Of course, jumping to Apple's defense nowadays, when it's among the hottest tech companies out there, isn't much of a challenge. Now the Amelio days, those were tough.

Anyway, I ran across this article in one of the premier tech journals, NETWORK WORLD, that runs through a current TCO (total cost of ownership) analysis for the new Intel Macs vs a typical PC. Not surprisingly, when you factor in the support and other ownership costs of PCs, the cost is twice as much as a Mac over a three year period. Right about now you can clearly separate the Mac fans, who are nodding their heads, from the PC believers, who just made a slightly rude thhhppppptttttt sound. But don't look at me: NWW says it, so it must be true. Tech publications are never wrong.

So why do I bring this up? Well, for one, we're just ramping up our operation, so things like this are on my mind. But more importantly, most agencies out there run a lean and mean shop, and when you don't have a big support staff, the easy usability, configuration and rock solid reliability of Macs make a real difference to the bottom line.

Macs: not just for design departments anymore.

-posted by Paul (via macintouch)

Well, I'm officially kicking off the voxus blog today. It's something we've been wrestling with for a long time - this idea of blog or not to blog - both here and at our parent company. The reason is fairly simple: most PR blogs suck. I've seen agencies that blog about the food and attendees at their holiday party, for god's sake. And these are fairly prominent national tech agencies, who you think would know better. Talk about your limited audience.

So we've developed a reasonably straightforward mission statement for this endeavor. First, we will do our best to not suck. We were going to not be evil, but Google got that one already. So we will not suck. Second, we are going to provide interesting, informative and occassionally thought-provoking entries about technology, PR and media... in other words, the type of blog we'd like to read as part of work. As opposed to those blogs we are not supposed to read as part of work. You know the ones. And as a side note, we promise to try to keep the thought provoking to a minimum. Third, we will indulge our latent ADD and write about any new sparkly thing that catches our attention. Feel free to point new ones out. This is a technology blog, after all. Which brings us to our final point: our overall objective is to engage. Believe me, we aren't doing this just to hear ourselves talk. In fact, we're largely doing this to hear you talk. So drop us a note, put in a comment or otherwise let us hear from you. Unless you suck, in which case I refer you to point one.

-posted by Paul