Bill Rogers

Technology Rentals With a Personal Touch

jipmas — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 15:34:55 +0000

I’ve been checking out Rentacomputer.com’s blog lately and they have some great new things going. The thing that caught my eye was a blog entry titled Family Reunion Projector Rentals.

It got my attention because I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone marketing towards family reunions, but it makes a lot of sense. I just returned from our annual family reunion in Kentucky, and it seems like sitting around looking at old pictures was the main passtime of the event… as usual. Not my cup of tea, as I’m not a senior citizen yet, but to each his own.

The blog goes on to link to Rentacomputer.com’s Personal Rentals section. Technology rentals for birthday parties, bar mitzvahs, bar exams, hospital stays, vacations, and even funeral visitations. I wouldn’t have thought of it, but now that the thought’s been put in my brain, I could very well see myself taking advantage of the options presented.

Applying MMORPG Experience to Business? I do.

jipmas — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 15:56:45 +0000

IBM recently conducted a study to explore how “enterprises could be rewired to be more like games”, particularly MMORPGs. A survey among IBM’s own MMORPG-playing employees show that nearly half of the more than 200 employees polled believe their game play is improving their leadership ability in the real world and 4 in 10 say they’ve applied MMOG leadership techniques to lead more effectively at work.

As an Eve player who currently manages a corporation (Eve’s equivalent of a clan, or guild) of over 30 members , I can attest to the leadership opportunities Eve offers. Leading a corporation in Eve can indeed be a full time job, as is suggested further on in the article, and the game offers more depth and requires more of a player in a leadership position’s time and attention than someone on the outside looking in could understand.

Eve is a game wherein not only teamwork is required, but long-lasting bonds must be formed. It mirrors the real world in the aspect that while in many video games instant gratification is the primary concept of thought, in Eve Online you are working for long term goals and very little happens instantly.

As video games become more popular, and video gamers grow up and get jobs in the IT industry, I think it would indeed be beneficial to businesses to try to make work more fun and engaging — how could that ever be a bad idea? As video games become more like businesses, maybe businesses should meet them in the middle.

Plasmas and LCD Projectors for funerals?

jipmas — Mon, 09 Jul 2007 15:23:26 +0000

Rentacomputer.com — a company that offers rentals on more than just computers, offers rental packages suited to a variety of events people come across in life, even audio/visual equipment for funerals.

Rentacomputer.com’s Personal Technology Rental page has rentals for anniversaries, family reunions, birthday parties, Bar Mitzvahs, hospital stays, and more. A lot of occasions I’d never thought to rent equipment for, but it makes a lot of sense.