J.T. Turner Construction Co., Inc. has played a large role in the development of Savannah and the Coastal Empire since 1976. Founded by J.T. Turner, Jr., the company is licensed to build in Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Florida. They have extensive experience in every arena of construction including commercial construction, custom residential, restoration and renovation, and historic preservation.

A family business lead by Jim Turner and his son Tripp Turner, the company has received 38 awards from Historic Savannah Foundation and 7 awards from the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation. They have been featured in publications such as Savannah Magazine, South Magazine, Southern Accents, Architectural Digest, Cottage Living, House Beautiful, and Coastal Living. They were also honored to be featured on the televised program This Old House in regards to a historic restoration project in downtown Savannah.

J.T. Turner Construction is a sustainable builder and currently has 4 LEED Certified Projects, 4 LEED Registered Projects, and 12 LEED Accredited Professionals.

● How Are We Doing?

Take the survey and let us know
Click Here!

● Ask a Nerd

Do you have a question or concern that's got you stumped? We've got just the solution you need! Send your IT questions to Ask a Nerd.

Question: What is ‘email archiving’, and do I need to worry about it for legal reasons?

Click here for answer!

● Interesting Web Sites

www.stumbleupon.com

www.squido.com

www.mixx.com

www.findagrave.com

www.dmarie.com/timecap/

micro.magnet.fsu.edu/galleria/index.html 

Autumn is a second spring
when every leaf is a flower.

~ Albert Camus

It’s almost here! Just a few more weeks and 2010 will be here. Are you ready for it? Many companies can’t wait to see 2009 go; it hasn’t been the best of times for everyone. But, as with most things, 2010 will be what we make it, and the key is being prepared. For most of us, the business world is changing. Technology is different (who would have thought of a phone named ‘droid’?), communication is different (it’s estimated that 1 out of every five people that go online go to Facebook, to the tune of eight BILLION messages per day), and security is different (your front door isn’t nearly as vulnerable as the small bundle of wires bringing the electronic world into your business). We can view these as risks or opportunities, but in truth they are both.

Just think, with a few clicks of the mouse, you can get your message out to millions of people, with zero cost. The cost comes from crafting the message you want, and getting it to the specific people you want. Never before in history has such a power been available to anyone willing to take the time and effort to use it. Those same wires that can bring the bad guys into the deepest recesses of your company secrets can send your message out to people that need your services, whether they are down the street, or whether they are part of the growing middle class in China or India. . .  in seconds. So do you ignore these new tools, or find ways to leverage them?

For businesses, a good place to start is LinkedIn (www.linkedin.com). LinkedIn is business oriented social networking site, with over 50 million users. The average age of the LinkedIn user is 41, with an income over $100k. Like any other social site, there are those people that join with the intent of taking advantage of other members, but it tends to attract less of this than some of the more popular sites like FaceBook and MySpace.

So sign up, go slow, and be careful with the information you provide. If you’d like to read up first, there’s a good blog by Shana Albert at http://www.hobo-web.co.uk/seo-blog/index.php/how-to-get-started-in-social-media/ that gives some down to earth tips and thoughts on getting started with social networking.

Remember, next year will be what you make of it. Let’s get started making it great!

Chuck Brown
CEO

The Economic Stimulus Act and Section 179 “ The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009” has been officially extended. The Section 179 Deduction increases made available in the Economic Stimulus Act of 2008 through December 31, 2009, if you have purchased and installed the equipment.

With the current news that is all around us it is sometimes hard to justify opening our pocketbooks and investing in our companies. We all know that the best way to improve ourselves and our businesses is to invest time, energy and money in accomplishing our goals. As the year draws to a close you need to take a look and see what can be done to improve your business. The decision to improve may save you money.

With the changes to the Section 179 Deduction made by the Economic Stimulus Act signed in February 2008 there are some exciting benefits for business.

Work, family, friends and a few hours for yourself? Sometimes it seems impossible to fit everything in one day. If you are looking to spend less time at your computer and more time somewhere else, check out these clever keyboard shortcuts.

Windows of opportunity
If you often work with several windows open simultaneously, you’ll save valuable minutes using these quick key options.

1. To minimize a window to your toolbar, press ALT, SPACEBAR and N.
2. To maximize a window to your full screen, hit ALT, SPACEBAR and X.
3. To reduce the size of a window without hiding it, press ALT, SPACEBAR and R.
4. To close a window, hit ALT and F4.
5. To go to the last window you had open, simultaneously click ALT and TAB.
6. To select one window when you have several open, hold down ALT, and maneuver by clicking TAB to the window you want.

To speed up Excel
You can easily accelerate your spreadsheet skills with these handy tricks.

Server virtualization is a great way for your IT organization to battle today’s economic challenges. You can reduce costs through server consolidation—which in turn increases ROI as you run multiple workloads on a single server. Plus, the ability to deploy new applications—and scale them up or down—boosts business agility.

But be mindful of pitfalls that can undermine these advantages. As companies large and small have learned the hard way, you can negate the cost-saving benefits of server virtualization by choosing an inefficient SAN storage solution that does not properly support the advanced requirements of virtualized environments.

What to watch out for
While you ride out this recession, you need to make the most of your virtualization investments. It literally pays to be aware of the right storage choices. Here are some things to keep in mind:

When it comes to e-mail, I'm a packrat. No, it is not true that I still have the first e-mail I ever received. But I probably have my first e-mail from the year 2000. In fact, I probably have all my e-mails from the year 2000. So of course, I have everything since then, too.

Why do I have all this stuff? I'm not sure, frankly. Maybe I was concerned that I would be sued over some imaginary transgression and would need an e-trail to prove my innocence. Or maybe I was vaguely concerned about some legal requirement to save this stuff.

Read more

● Thinking About Hiring Your Own Internal IT Staff –
Think Again!
Outsourcing your IT brings additional business value
by Stuart R. Crawford, V.P., IT Matters, Inc.

Businesses today wrestle and grapple with the thought of hiring their own technology support staff to support their daily need for IT support without fully understanding the risks and the costs associated with having their own team of technology professionals.

Business owners, C level execs and Managers are attracted to the idea of having a team or a consultant readily available within shouting distance down the hall, basically having an IT resource committed to them 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. However, many of today’s business owners across the country are not aware of the total risks their business is exposed to by electing to bring their technology support in-house.

Read more

● Business value of Social Media part 1: online networking
reprinted with permission from the HP Small Business Center

If you could connect to the world’s business professionals, in the time it takes to check your email, wouldn’t you? Welcome to the world of online networking, where valuable business connections are made every day on social and professional networking sites like Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin.

Social and professional networking simply refers to the interaction between a community of people who share a common interest. Through these personal connections you make with an otherwise impersonal medium, you can give your business a personality, build brand awareness, and equally importantly, tune in to what people are saying about you.

Read more