The Satellite featured in Pamelab
February 12, 2010
Pamela Biery came by the Satellite yesterday afternoon for a chat about coworking, telework and the changing nature of work in general. She posted to her blog, Pamelab, this morning…
Bucking the “Over the Hill” Drive
I dropped by the Satellite Telework Center today, a co-working space in downtown Felton, California. Founding partner Jim Graham poured a cup of coffee and sat down with me to report on this growing business’ progress.
Will H1N1 slow down the Internet?
November 4, 2009
A new report from the Centers for Disease Control indicates that absenteeism resulting from the H1N1 virus could top 40% and the General Accounting Office has gone so far as to issue a set of recommendations that includes possible limiting bandwidth intensive activities by consumers as a way to prevent Internet congestion.
There’s a story on AppScout and you can download the GAO report here.
Satelltie CEO to speak at second annual Green Trade Network conference, Santa Cruz on Sept. 25
September 21, 2009
Satellite Telework Centers CEO Barbara Sprenger will give a presentation on the nature of “21st Century Villages” at the second annual Green Trade Network conference on September 25 in Santa Cruz.
The conference, hosted by the Monterey Bay International Trade Association, will be held at Cocoanut Grove at the Boardwalk in Santa Cruz.
The U.S. is in the best position to set the global standards to create the 21st Century eco-city model for world consumption, The vision of developing an eco-city that is inexpensive to develop and much smaller in size than ones being established in Abu Dhabi and China and that can be replicated easily to meet the demands of millions throughout the world is possible.
Independent, efficient and more secure local energy sources utilized in conjunction with the major utility providers are also key elements to new sustainable cities in the U.S. An expanded view of a future power generation model that includes municipal, local and co-op power utilities including a consumer choice for ‘green energy’ options will be discussed.
Examples of new ‘mini-grid’ point of us generation technologies that can bridge technologies and effectively integrate the central grid with regional, municipal and local inputs of power will also be presented.
Comment on a “Telecommuting Success” story
July 8, 2009
Green Nation Today recently published an article on how telecommuting is helping the environment:
Telecommuting a Quiet Environmental Success Story
Green Nation Today
July 7, 2009 by Richard Blake
One of the most effective and certainly one of the easiest steps that can be taken to reduce greenhouse gas pollution and cut US dependence on foreign oil and the balance of trade, national security, economic and other problems directly associated with that dependence would be the widespread use of telecommuting or telework by US businesses.
I thought it was an excellent article and sent the writer the following comment:
“With the upsurge in telecommuting, though, we have to look at the implications of widespread work from home, the problems of both isolation and distractions, of kids climbing on your work and neighbors dropping by, of trying to work in a corner of your bedroom or on the kitchen table. A sizeable minority have said they’d prefer to work in a center NEAR home, rather than in home. That’s what we’re trying to do: set up neighborhood workspace so people can avoid the commute and be in their community but still be in professional, ergonomic, welcoming workspace.”
“First Friday” free co-working day – July 3 at The Satellite
June 30, 2009
It’s the day before a holiday weekend. Traffic on Highway 17 will be insane. Isn’t that enough of a reason to stay on this side of the Hill?
Join us this Friday, July 3 for a free co-working day at The Satellite. You bring the laptop and we’ll provide the T1-based WiFi, all the coffee you can drink (we buy it from The White Raven) and a comfortable space for you to spread out, get some work done and meet some interesting people.
Our cubicles and café space will be available on a first come, first served basis and we’ll be open from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. (Some of them might be reserved for our members).
If you have any questions or want more information, visit us online at http://www.thesatelliteinc.com or call The Satellite at 831.222.2100.
We’re at 6265 Highway 9 in Felton. We’re within easy walking distance of coffee (the White Raven is two doors down), food (Redwood Pizza, Taqueria Vallarta and the phenomenal deli counter at New Leaf) and Don Quixote’s, for those who want to do some after work brainstorming.
Did we mention it’s free?
Hope to see you here!
New words and new names are appearing for what we do
June 28, 2009
Check out “Worldwide Workplace: The Web Commuting Imperative”. The report was commissioned by Citrix, makers of GotoMeeting and related products. Instead of telecommuting, we’re now “web commuting” and “work-shifting”. Actually, there’s some interesting stuff in the survey on telecommuting patterns and issues.
Telecommuting grew by 43%, to 34 million workers in the US from just 2003 to 2008. This group is expected to grow to 63 million by 2016, and there really isn’t a concerted effort to look holistically at the impacts these changes mean for workplaces, communities and families. Citrix is supporting the formation of the Worldwide Workplace Council, which has some interesting names on it (although I can’t find a website for it yet.)
As I’ve been calling on tech companies, the similarities are noteworthy: everybody has telecommuters; most allow it unofficially and look the other way; most managers still want butts in seats.
We need a concerted effort to look at the 21st century workplace. It’s dispersed, it’s connected. It can also be isolating, if we’re not careful, while on the other hand, filled with distractions. I wonder if most of the productivity gains from telecommuting come from people just working longer hours…
NIST issues latest guidelines for teleworking security
June 26, 2009
The US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has released the final version of an updated publication to help organizations and employees secure their computer systems for telecommuters.
‘Guide to Enterprise Telework and Remote Access Security (Special Publication 800-46 Revision 1)’ is intended to help organizations mitigate risks associated with the enterprise technologies they use for telework—working by computer from home or locations other than the office—including remote access solutions and client devices such as laptops and smart phones.
A copy of the report can be downloaded here.
Telecommuting Could Save Billions of Gallons of Gasoline
June 19, 2009
According to Telework Exchange, “If white-collar employees who feel they could do their jobs from home began to telework twice a week, the United States could conserve 9.7 billion gallons of gasoline and save $38.2 billion a year.” These calculations are based on 50 miles round trips in vehicles getting 24 miles per gallon, with gasoline at $3.94/gallon.
We’re on Yelp (and Facebook, and Twitter)
June 3, 2009
If you haven’t had a chance to check us out, I just added us to Yelp. If you’ve had a chance to visit the facility, we’d love it if you’d write a review.
We’re also on Facebook, Twitter and Flickr. Let us know what you think!
Who’s driving Highway 17?
May 20, 2009
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The data is a couple of years old, but Greg Larson’s study of Highway 17 commuters still rings true today. The study, completed in September 2007, reported that long trips into Silicon Valley generated substantial auto emissions, that Santa Cruz County residents spend a significant amount of time on the road and that while the high paying jobs are over the hill, people want to work closer to home. Larson, who is now the Los Gatos City Manager, compiled the data for Santa Cruz Planning & Community Development with support from the city Economic Development & Redevelopment and Santa Cruz Next. Some of the highlights of the report include:
And, lastly,
For those commuters who are on Twitter, consider following @hwy17traffic, a repeater set up by @jonassink that aggregates Tweets and CHP updates on the daily commute. |
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The Satellite Twitter
- 15 hours ago--@thinkspace Conrats on the article. Nice write up.
- 1 day ago--This Caterham Super 7 is parked out in front of The Satellite - link
- 5 days ago--Thank you to @cruzio and @superg for putting on the Internet TV seminaro here at The Satellite. A good time was had by all.
- 5 days ago--People just starting to arrive for @Cruzio 's free Internet TV seminar here @TheSatellite
- 5 days ago--Today is "First Friday" free #coworking / #telework day @ The Satellite in Felton. Come on down (or up if you're in Santa Cruz).
- 6 days ago--Reminder: We'll be doing our free #coworking / #telework day at the Satellite in Felton tomorrow. Also free @Cruzio Internet TV class @ noon
- 15 hours ago--@thinkspace Conrats on the article. Nice write up.