There is no reason that a technically advanced mind should have to suffer bad clothes. Not when web commerce favorite threadless is having such a great sale. It is there you can pick up this incredible tee (collared, no less) and show your heritage.

I can’t speak for anyone else but it seems like everytime I look through a drawer or a box or something that may resemble a storage container I come across computer parts, software, books, etc. In the past I have just thrown it away. I remember I once put a working PC (that I no longer had a use for) on the side of the road for garbage. I am almost ashamed to tell that story now.

On the opposite end of the spectrum I had the chance in 2004 to run a computer recycling initiative and I have been an advocate of it since. So I thought today would be a good day to recommend some ideas for recycling your PC. No matter where you live, there are refurbishing centers and you can access a huge database just by visiting this site on the TechSoup site.

But before you just take out a hunk of mechanical junk to be reused, allow me to offer some tips (courtesy of TechSoup).

1. Determine if your old computer can be reused.

   If you have a computer that is less then five years old, chances are that it can be put to good use by someone else. Rather than donate equipment directly to a charity or school, however, it is usually best for all involved if you can send it to a refurbisher, especially if you need to wipe your hard drive or are uncertain about the computer’s condition. Refurbishers will ensure that equipment they send to nonprofits and schools works well and runs legal copies of software, and that any e-waste is disposed of properly.

2. Recycle old and broken hardware.

   Any equipment that is not working or is more than five years old should be tagged for recycling, i.e. responsible destruction.

3. Contact the refurbisher or recycler before donating.

   Call the organization or check its Web site to ensure that it accepts the type of computer you plan to give away. Some refurbishing organizations, for example, will refuse anything older than a Pentium II. While you may be tempted to donate equipment directly to a favorite local school or charity, remember that refurbishers are generally better equipped to repair and upgrade computers. They will then pass on ready-to-use equipment to those who need it, often at little or no cost.

4. Remember the accessories.

   If you can, include the keyboard, mouse, printer, modem, packaged software, or any other accessories you use with the computer. Schools and nonprofits can almost always put them to good use, and most organizations only accept complete systems.

5. If possible, keep the operating system intact.

   If you are donating hardware with a preinstalled Microsoft operating system, keep in mind that the license is only valid when used with the machine on which it was originally installed. Since charitable organizations usually cannot afford to purchase and license new operating systems, a legal transfer (whereby the computer and operating system stay together) is always preferable. While Linux and Macintosh operating systems have different requirements, as a general rule, try to include the operating system software with all donated computers whenever possible.

6. Provide the original software media and documentation.

   To ensure that the software transfer is legal, pass along the original disks, media, Certificate of Authenticity sticker (usually on the computer), user manual, and other documentation that came with the equipment.

7. If you clear your computer of personal information yourself, it’s best to use disk-cleaning software.

   “Personal information” includes your Internet browser’s cache, cookies, history; your email contacts and messages; your documents; your recycle or trash folder; and all nontransferable software. The best way to clear this is with a disk-cleaning utility that overwrites all the sectors of your hard drives, making your data unrecoverable.

8. Follow computer delivery instructions.

   Many recycling and refurbishing organizations have specific locations where equipment can be donated, while others have delivery instructions they expect donors to follow.

9. Keep a list of what you donated for your records.

   Remember that tax season will always return — and you are likely eligible for a deduction if you donate to a nonprofit refurbisher. Most school or nonprofit refurbishers can provide a tax receipt upon request. Business donors can deduct the un-depreciated value of the computer, and individuals can deduct the current market value of a computer.

10. Plan for future donations.

    Rescue a box from the recycling bin and use it to store the documents that came with your new computer, so that when the time comes to donate it, you’ll have everything in one place.

Since beginning our partnership with Skype we have heard some great reviews and observations on just how powerful of a tool Skype really is. Today I received a letter from Michael Barrow, one of our Certified MinuteFix Techs. He writes:

I have recently taken more time to explore the Skype community as we eagerly await the next major build and product launch from them. Being pleasantly surprised at the variety, depth, and spirit of content in this great community I got to thinking, “how familiar am I really with the entire Skype universe?” So I started casually clicking through all the menus until I got bored and found the Tools > Do More menu. I then found all the latest utility software we call “Skype Extras” for users. Now I’m expecting these all will provide a multitude opportunities for MinuteFixers to support them in the future. In all I counted several dozen to play with including my own troublesome issue with the Cryptochat4skype extra. (Only after being politely teased for having an annoying message appear in our Technicians Chat Room.) The message simply says that all chat entries to this user will be scanned for malware and viruses. I Googled it and discovered the only way to get rid of it was to do a fresh install of Skype including searching for and deleting all Skype related folders. This was a great experience seeing as I now have the fix the caller who wants to remove the Crypto4chat extra but doesn’t know how. All in all I learned also I will have no reasons for idol time in the coming weeks since there are so many other “extras” for us as technicians to break and play with.

The best find of all was in the skype.com site. How many technicians do we know have that ugly caller story? I mean the caller that would not seem satisfied regardless of how good our service was? Yes, that one caller we all remember and probably may never forget. The next question that comes to mind is. What can we do after the call is over? Sure we can journal the call sequence and reflect what we could of done otherwise or reposed on things we could have said or presented differently to the caller. Most importantly, this page I found in the halls of skype.com reminded me what we really need as support technicians. And that is resolution on every case we take, regardless of the final outcome. Not only did I find this downright fun watch but therapeutic for every computer user including the seasoned technician and for the green eared newbie. Enjoy Minute Peeps. Until my next post….

Michael Barrow
Certified Minutefix Techinician

Rafe Needleman is a man after my own heart. As a veteran journalist and technology authority he is fair and can spot a solid start up from half a Silicon Valley block away.

Having spoken to Diego and interviewing him about MinuteFix he followed up with a solid (yet glowing) assessment report on MinuteFix. As you know we have been beating the pavement sending out press releases and trying to gain some ground in that area. Alas our efforts have not been overlooked.

Comparing us to companies such as SupportSpace and oDesk Needleman is quick to add that we are “…smart: [He’s] not trying to invent a business model from whole cloth, like so many Web 2.0 start-ups. Instead, [he’s] aiming Web 2.0 concepts at an established and lucrative market, where there are customers paying big bucks already and leaving their customers, to a large extent, unsatisfied. This is a good business model.”

You can read the full article by following the link above. You can also digg it or add it to Facebook or even mention the article on your personal website. If you do so, please be sure to let me know so I can share some link love with you!

Congratulations Techs. You are an amazing team and this is proof from the guys and gals at CNET.

I am pleased to announce that we now have a Facebook application available. You can find it by visiting this page and clicking on ‘Add Application’. The app creates a nice little slideshow of images posted to Ning by the MinuteFix community. We even have a little icon that goes in your application sidebar on your Facebook profile page.

I have to admit it was a rather drawn out process creating it but it was a lot of fun and just reminded me why I love this community so much. We are hard workers and we are dedicated to what we do. We finish what we start. I encourage each of you with a Facebook profile to add the app and show off those MinuteFix Places and Faces. (You can keep on inviting friends to the group page as well).

Oh, and speaking of pics. You can now upload Flickr images right to your Ning page with one click! That was added tonight as well. It is very cool and works exceptionally fast. So now none of us have excuses for not having at least a profile pic.

This just in, my friends. Successful and Outstanding Blog(gers) with Liz Strauss just posted an interview with Diego conducted by Phil Gerbyshak. It is a great read and gives some really good insight to Diego’s vision for MinuteFix and what this new one-click technology is all about in terms of customer service and tech support.

This is a great preface to Tuesday night when the entire MinuteFix community will be available to answer tech questions and talk more about MinuteFix.

It is our great privilege to have been invited by Liz Strauss, one of America’s most popular bloggers, to participate in an Open Comment Night on her blog, Successful and Outstanding Blog(gers) this coming Sunday night. For those of you who have never read any of Liz’s posts or seen her at her wildly popular brainchild SOBcon, I encourage you to check it out and join us in a few days. Each MinuteFix Certified Technician is invited to be part of this virtual panel and answer a host of tech questions from her listening and viewing public. But first, a bit more about Liz.

Liz believes “Relationships are everyone’s business, and every business is relationships.”

According to EatonWeb, “Liz Strauss is perhaps the most influential relational blogger on the Internet.” Her blog –Liz Strauss at Successful Blog — has been called both a destination and an event. Open Comment Nights, a Blog-to-Blog Conversation, a Blogger’s Cafe, single questions, and on-the-blog strategy sessions keep readers returning to conversations that often last for days. Her blog has tens of thousands of comments.

Liz understands and can translate how people perceive a blog, a product, and an experience — how the head and heart engage to make a fiercely loyal customer.

Having worked over 20 years in print, software, and online publishing, and strategized with publishers in Europe, Australia, the UK, and Ireland, Liz has worked with entrepreneurs, small businesses, companies in crisis, and corporate giants.

But How Does It Work
Open comment night is like any rambling conversation. We shouldn’t try to read it all. As Technicians our job is to represent MinuteFix and support Diego and Phil, the on-air voices of the evening. If you can’t make it right at 7pm CST just show up when you can. There will be plenty to comment on. Just go to the end and start talking. EVERYONE is WELCOME. Liz’s rules are simple — be nice. (Why is everyone staring at me now?)

I have read the transcripts of a couple of these night and there seems to always be first timers and new things to talk about. It rather strikes me as something between a live video game, live TV and a bunch of kids with a BIG imagination. The nights usually draw around 300 comments. The record is over 450. Our goal is 500!

I hope to see each of you there and in full form. Take a look at her blog the next couple of days and be prepared to build relationships with potential customers and each other. I think it is a going to be a very successful and outstanding night!

I read an interesting topic that I think is pretty relevant to the community we have built and are constantly cultivating here at MinuteFix. It has to do with who owns the relationships made between technicians as well as between technician and customer. Most workers know that the “information” they collect and create on the job belongs to their employers. But what about the professional relationships we build? Who owns them?

Businesses are increasingly turning to software that searches through employees’ emails and calendars to determine not just what relationships they have, but the depth of those of relationships, according to today’s Journal. For example, if the software saw that an employee exchanged several emails and had a lunch meeting with someone, it would conclude that the two had a close relationship. Coworkers can find out who in a company has these relationships and take advantage of them to make a sales pitch, recruit a potential employee or just solve a problem. That, of course, doesn’t apply to MinuteFix as we don’t have that fancy software and really encourage Technicians to cultivate relationships with each other.

Think of it as corporate-imposed social networking. One problem many businesses face is that employees willingly share this information about who they know, but they do it on Web sites like LinkedIn and Facebook. It makes sense for a business to try to keep control of this information, or at least try to recreate its own version of it for workers to take advantage of. And as many people have observed, email may be the best untapped social network out there.

Of course, on sites like LinkedIn and Facebook the individual decides what information to share and what information to keep private. A business can choose to install the monitoring software with restrictions that let workers hide some relationships or force searchers to ask the relationship owner for permission before contacting someone. But it doesn’t have to. I think this is the information that floored me. I can’t imagine one of us using a MinuteFix help session to steer a customer to another business or a private session outside the realm of our own great network. I can’t imagine doing it myself either in any workplace; corporate or otherwise.

It’s easy to see how this benefits a business as a whole and workers who don’t have these relationships. But it could come at the expense of workers who have gone to great lengths to build these relationships. In fact, in many professions – journalism, for example, but many others – these relationships can make or break a career.

Any thoughts? I am still mulling over the pros and cons of all this but would love to hear what anyone else has to say.

Some of you may have received an invite on your Facebook account to join the recently created MinuteFix Facebook group. So, what are you waiting for? Our goal for this group is to reach out to people who may not know about us or have any connection to us. So, join today and then invite all of your contacts to join as well. I have posted some pics and some discussions and will be using the group to update the masses of our releases, new advances, press, etc. Hopefully it will generate some interest and some credibility at the same time. The revolution continues…..

I think we’ve all had those networking moment where we are at a family function or a small get-together and we are talking about ourselves and what we do when that one ‘wall street type’ cousin or uncle asks if we have a card. Or maybe we’ve all been walking about and find ourselves in a place where our services our needed and show our professionalism by scrambling for a pen and a scratch of paper or the back of a receipt or something in order to write down our name, phone number and a web address. In short, no matter how digital we become there seems to always be a scenario when business cards are a must. So, why should being a Tech for MinuteFix be any different? It shouldn’t! That is why we are pleased to offer a template or two for MinuteFix business cards.

You can find your orange or white network goodness by visiting Your Account > Tools and scrolling down to the image of the two biz cards. Just click on ‘download the original photoshop files’ and you will find four editable .psd business cards with optional backs. You can put your name and your email and enjoy a more personal touch to your MinuteFix affiliation.

Where you have them printed is completely up to you, the individual, but we recommend OvernightPrints where you will find a very cheap offer for 100 1-sided business cards for $9.95. The quality is good and the delivery is quick. So, don’t wait. Get your business card printed today and let’s get to some networking!

technicians. That’s right. 100 technicians. At 8:33am EST today we welcomed the 100th Certified MinuteFix Technician to the team. Welcome Aaron Parsley. It’s great to have you in addition to our other amazing technicians. Thank you all for you hard work and dedication to revolutionizing customer service and tech support.

Yesterday was a remarkable day for both MinuteFix and Technician Tim Lally. Calling St. Louis, MO home, Tim is a great Tech certified in A+, MCP, MCDST as well as his MinuteFix certifications. Aside from that though Tim is now our first technician to handle a phone support customer. And handle it he did. In fact, after nearly two hours of phone support on his personal cell phone Tim was able to help Betsy (coincidentally our first phone support customer) with some iTunes issues including duplicate songs and songs that just wouldn’t play.

I think what is most incredible about this particular session is that Tim also enlisted the help of his “staff”. In other words, Tim asked his wife, the resident iTunes expert in the Lally household, and together they solved Besty’s issues. Unbelievable!

Thank you Tim for your dedication and your expert support. You are an inspiration to us all.

I have a very strong belief that customer service is founded in relationships. Customer service is truly about serving. It is about giving of ones own time and resources in order to benefit another. It is also about understanding how to relate to people; empathize with them and support them. Perhaps the most unrecognized form form of this relationship building is done in the home. It is shown on a regular basis in how we relate to our families. In my family today is a holiday in which my family comes together and sets aside all other agendas in an effort to relate to each other. Without prompting we serve each other, we relate to each other, we listen to each other and in many cases offers solutions to each other.

As I sat at the dinner table today - away from my computer - I thought about the community of Techs that I am privileged to work with and how they show me on a daily basis how to serve and relate to each other. I found myself bragging on the MinuteFix community today and how I felt we were well on our way to revolutionizing customer service and tech support. It was a great feeling and as the day winds down I thank you on behalf of MinuteFix and myself for allowing me to be your community manager and the opportunity to serve with such outstanding people.

Since mid-December we have been anticipating the launch of MinuteFix to the general (and paying, of course) public. In the meantime we have been holding a bit of a contest for the Technician who receives the best overall feedback from supported customers. It was a tough race as many of us found ourselves vying for any feedback at all and hoping it would be positive. Well, the time has come to announce the winner!

I would like to congratulate Jenn from Florida for her sweeping victory. She served customers over the last few months with excellent customer support and technical savvy raising the barre for all others. She will receiving a gift certificate for a custom Timbuk2 bag of her choosing. We are very excited to have Jenn on board and I continually find myself thanking her for her hard work and dedication to MinuteFix.

I do not want to forget, however, the runners-up, ANmar and Mark Ambrose; both of who show professional courtesy and outstanding computer knowledge. Way to go guys!

I think we have all realized how important it is to connect with each other both in and out of sessions. As with everything, there are pros and cons to working remotely. We don’t have the benefit of working under same roof but at the same time we can work in our PJs if we so desire. As one Tech stated, “[I miss] being able to stand up and take my headset off and yell over a cubicle to ask someone.” But being interconnected over a chat system is certainly something we can utilize to our benefit. We are building a network of the very best, so we can only service our customers better if we can reach out to each others great minds for answers.

Therefore, we’re happy to announce the chat platform of choice for the MinuteFix technician community: say hello to Skype. Diego, Oscar and I have talked long and hard about this choice and we feel this is going to be a great resource for MinuteFix for a few reasons:

1. Shared groups: Skype supports the notion of shared groups. As the community grows, we will need to have a chat platform that allows us to organize our teams: Windows, Vista, Office, Antivirus and Security and General Support. It will be very important for our technicians to be able to get help from others when stuck on a problem. As you all know, the network makes us all that more powerful. We don’t know everything, nor are we expected to, and there is nothing getting a little help from a friend. Shared groups organizes all of you who are part of the teams to work with each other. You won’t need to manually add each member, we will do it centrally. That way, when you are in a team, you will instantly be populated with all of the other technicians who are part of that team. Skype’s shared groups helps us organize ourselves and be able to better manage future growth. Skype also supports group chat, so a message can be sent to all members of the group, and we can all interact as if we had the community in the same room. Anyone who has the answer, or is available, can reply.
2. Phone support, down the road: We expect to roll out support over the phone for those technicians who would like to engage with the customer by talking. Skype has a very solid VoIP network (despite their 2-day crash last year, which, good for us taught them a lesson) and can work very well for serving as our phone support system. Skype allows us to manage calls to phone numbers very easily too. While on the subject of phone support, our idea is to launch with support for chat, solidify the product, build a solid following of consumers, and once we have the technology squared away, roll out the phone service.
3. Skype means business: Skype is very business-focused. Unlike MSN and Yahoo messenger, Skype is really focusing on providing a business-ready service. That is good for us because our chat platform is going to be a critical form of communication, and we need to treat it like business (which it is).

As with all new endeavors I want to take just a second to review a few ground rules and common behavior that will help us get the best out of this new tool.

1. Use group chat only for help with support, not for personal communications. Start group sessions when you are stuck with a support issue and need some help. If you know someone who might have the answer, chat to them directly without involving the entire group.
2. Try your best to be clear and to the point in your request. Use few words to get the words across. At MinuteFix, time is of the essence.
3. Don’t overuse it. We need to keep this tool useful, and if it becomes annoying due to overuse, technicians will tend to shy away from it. Use the forums for open conversations.
4. If you are starting a group chat to get some help, let the customer know. Use words like “I am putting this request out in the community, do you mind holding for a moment?”
5. If you are currently engaged in a chat session, remember that your priority is your customer. He or she is paying for your time helping them, not helping someone else. You can either ignore the chat session by leaving the group chat, or respond only if it does not cause a delay in your current session.
6. Skype allows you to set your online status. Please make sure that you set your true online status at all times. If you are online, you might get a chat request.
7. Skype does not currently allow management roles for shared groups. I will manage the groups centrally by adding Technicians to the respective groups. Contact me if a change needs to be made.

So please keep your eyes open for invites from me to particular Skype groups. I think this is an exciting advancement for us and I look forward to chatting with each of you!