We started out writing what we thought would be a simple post about how to transfer contacts from an older device (in my case an old Palm Tungsten) to a new device like an iPhone.  But we soon realized that there are dozens of choices for tech-savvy people who want to sync their calendars and their contacts with their phones, their laptops, and their iPads.  Mac users, alone, have several choices, including syncing with iTunes, paying for MobileMe, or buying Entourage. So rather than one post, this will be a series that explores and reviews the options.

Let’s start by defining the problem.  You meet a couple at an open house and they make an appointment to meet you at your office latter in the week.  You add their contact info (and maybe even the appointment) to your phone, but how do you get it on your laptop computer without entering it manually a second time?  And it’s not just phone numbers and appointments; it’s also notes, passwords, and favorite items.  If you’ve got several different devices—especially devices that are not in the same technical family—you have the potential to have information all over the place.

Our series will consider some possible strategies for keeping yourself organized.  Solutions include:

• Keeping It All In The Family. If you use a Mac, an iPhone, an iPod, and/or and iPad, for example, the challenges of keeping yourself organized are minimal.
• Giving it to Google. Of course, Google would know how to make it work, regardless of what kind of devices you have. They have the answer to everything, don’t they?
• Paying the Piper. Several companies make proprietary software that’s designed to make it easy for you to work on the fly. But are the solutions you pay extra for any better than the options that already exist on your computer?

And what if you have a Windows computer, a Blackberry phone, and an iPod Touch for your music?  What’s the easiest way to sync these devices that come from different technical families?

That’s our challenge: to identify the best solutions for staying organized while being mobile.  Stay tuned for our first article.

Everyday there’s something new—new gadgets, new websites, new social media—and each new tool requires your time and attention.  Do you acquire new tools just because they’re new? Or do you first consider how useful they’ll be to you?  Here are some questions to ask yourself:

1. How much does this new tool cost? Can I really justify the expense or the added subscription fees?
2. What’s the cost–benefit ratio? How much will it cost in relation to the new business it’ll bring in?
3. If it’s not going to help me with my business, why am I getting it?  Do I really need it, or do I just want it?
4. Will using this new tool require me to buy more stuff to go along with it?
5. How steep is the learning curve and how long before I’ll be using it well?
6. How much time will it take to get this new tool configured and set up properly?
7. How many minutes (or hours) will I spend each day playing around with it and could I be using my time more productively?
8. If I’m getting it just for fun, when will I find the time to use it?  There are only so many hours in a day.
9. Does this new tool replace something I own that’s truly obsolete and outdated, or can I keep using what I have for just a bit longer?
10. What’s the environmental impact of acquiring this new tool and throwing out my old one?

The arrival of Apple’s long-awaited iPad—a device that’s bigger and more powerful than an iPod but not really a full-featured computer–got me thinking:  does each of us really need another gadget?  How much electronic “stuff” is each of buying, using, and discarding?  Is it possible to be up-to-date technologically and really live a green lifestyle?

If you’re a baby-boomer like I am, you can remember when one or two administrative assistants in the office had electric typewriters on their desks and the rest of us had only pen and paper. We wrote out reports and presentations longhand.  We jotted appointments in a paper calendar.  Memos that everyone had to see were passed from one person to the next (check off your name when you’ve read it) until everyone had seen them.  Yes, we used a lot of paper, but we bought, charged, and trashed way less electronic junk.

Today, in that same office, everyone has a computer on his or her desk.  There’s a laser printer in the corner for everyone to use and some people have printers just for themselves. Everyone’s got a smartphone in his or her pocket and a “dumb” phone on the desk.   The typical computer CPU and monitor use a couple of hundred watts of power.  Additionally, computers and printers drawing power all day long generate heat and require the building to have extra cooling.  One American university estimates that personal computers generate $700,000 in annual energy costs.  And that’s just at the office.

At home, many of us have several phones, several computers and at least one huge flat panel TV.  We have cameras, scanners, iPods, and electronic game players.  Many of these things run all day, and at night we plug everything in to recharge before we go to bed.  Most of these things will become obsolete in 3-5 years and we’ll discard them and get new models.

But how much power are we using?  How much junk are we putting in landfills?  Even if we’re careful to turn off what we’re not using and to recycle what we discard, we’re still gobbling up way more than our share of the world’s resources.

So, the question I ask is this:  is it possible to keep up with technology and truly live a green lifestyle?  What do you think?