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Over the weekend, many Fantasy Football drafts took place around the country. In honor of that, we’ve dusted off an old, but still interesting blog post about fantasy football and how it affects your business/office -

• The average fantasy football player spends an average of 1.19 hours per week working on their team, while at work. Companies lose about $45.22 in wages each week, per employee.

Example: If there are 5 employees within your company and they spend an hour each week on their fantasy football teams, after 17 weeks of play (not including playoffs), it would cost your company approximately $3,843.70 each season.

And let’s not forget that Fidelity had no problem firing four employees last year, all of whom were caught participating in their fantasy football league while at work.

There are services available to restrict internet usage during high-peak times; March Madness, playoffs. If you are interested in learning more, please contact a Now IT Works representative.

Did you know that web-surfing & personal communications accounts for 27% of the average work day?

The average worker wastes over 2 hours* each day checking their Facebook accounts, downloading music and communicating with friends. Without the proper precautions in place, they have the capabilities to install programs on their computer, some of which can carry viruses to your business network.

Not only can these applications put your technology at risk but lost productivity can cost as much as $1000 per month, per employee.

During your initial setup with Now IT Works, your Account Manager will review all of the necessary software it takes to run your business, along with the proper web surfing policy for your employees.

(*source: Salary.com)

Twitter has confirmed that they will start charging businesses to use their services in an effort to collect revenue for their currently-free social networking site.

Paid accounts will also offer access to statistics and analytics that are not currently available through the regular Twitter service.

For more information on this topic – click to read “Twitter to Charge Businesses to Tweet” on Silicon.com

Covering geek-dom through the years – from when it wasn’t cool to be a geek all the way to the present where Facebook and Twitter rule. From the Woz to Zuckerberg, read through the full article/slide show for the evolution of how being a geek finally became cool.

A Brief History of Geeks – PC World

Everyone seems to be abuzz about President Obama’s first 100 days in office. In honor of that, here is some information about his pledge to spend some serious cash on Science and Technology R&D.

• 3% of the US GDP will be used for the pursuit of technological and scientific research,

• To put that into perspective, 3% of the US GDP is equivalent to about $420 billion dollars,

• He is aiming to “exceed the level achieved at the height of the space race”

• His wish list includes; solar cells as cheap as paint, green buildings that produce as much energy as they consume, and “an expansion of the frontiers of human knowledge”

• A new government agency has been introduced – the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy. This agency will work closely with the National Science Foundation.

Click here for the full story from Tech News World

Queen Elizabeth of England sent her first email in 1976?

Wired has an interesting article on their website this morning, titled “Where Gadgets Go To Die” – about what happens to old technology after it has served its purpose among the living. It turns out that the U.S. was shipping tons of old equipment to Asian countries where the environmental impact of disposing of such items, was a little more lax.

Click on the title for the full story – “Where Gadgets Go To Die – Facility Strips, Rips and Recycles“

We usually try to stick to new types of technologies on our blog; reviews, new releases, updates – that sort of thing.

But today, we bring you a different kind of technology. Brilliantly quoted as “from a time that never existed.” You will never listen to your music the same way again with this one-of-a-kind creation…

Presenting The Eye-Pod from Dr. Grymm

“All functionality of the iPod remain intact an a hidden USB cord retracts from the base to either a wall charger or your computer. There are hidden pressure plates that when touched send a strobing “static charge” into the quartz crystals on either side of the magnified veiwing portal.”

Please see more of these amazing creations at: Steam Gear Lab

Did you know-

• Many hospitals do not have a room 13 and some tall buildings do not have a 13th floor?
• 2009 will have 3 Friday the 13th’s – which usually only happens once every 11 years?
• Some people think 13 is only considered unlucky because it comes after 12? 12 months, 12 days of Christmas, 12 apostles, you get the picture…

Stay safe and have a great weekend!

(Source: Live Science)

Twitter has become one of the fastest growing trends in technology – we’ve mentioned it before in this blog but maybe you’re still unsure as to what it is, how to use it and how to make it work for you.

I’m thrilled to send you to an article written by one of our technicians, Jason, who wrote a great post about Twitter and some of the tools that hare available, such as TwitterFeed and TWhirl.

Click here to be redirected to his website – www.lostoutlaw.net

And once you get your own Twitter account up and running, don’t forget to follow Now IT Works at: http://twitter.com/NowITWorks