Pearl Technology

06/11/2026

Most phishing emails give themselves away in five places.

Your team probably catches them by feel. Feel stops working the moment one email looks legit enough.

Here is what to check, every time:

1. The sender domain.
Read the full address, not the display name. micros0ft.com is not microsoft.com.

2. The urgency.
"Act now or your account closes" exists to stop you from thinking. Real companies give you time.

3. The link.
Hover before you click. If the preview does not match where the email says it goes, stop.

4. The attachment.
Unexpected invoice? Unexpected file? Confirm with the sender through a channel you already trust.

5. The ask.
Gift cards, wire transfers, password resets you did not request. The goal is always to move money or access.

Five seconds per check. That is the whole defense.

✅ save this and send it to whoever opens the invoices.

06/10/2026

Most businesses adopt AI in the wrong order.

They start with the exciting tool, plug it into a mess, and wonder why it does not stick.

The order that works is boring. That is why it works.
1. Fix your data first. AI is only as good as what you feed it. Scattered files and half-updated records produce confident, wrong answers.
2. Pick one painful workflow. The one that wastes hours every week and has a clear before and after.
3. Prove it on that one thing. Measure the time saved. Get the team using it daily. Build trust with a small win.
4. Then expand. Once one workflow works and people believe it, the next five are easy.

Most AI projects fail at step 1 and blame step 4.

Start with the data. The rest gets a lot simpler.

✅ save this for the next time a vendor pitches your team an AI tool.

06/09/2026

Rising Above at Tower Park

The van under the tower at Tower Park in Peoria Heights, still the best view in the area on a clear day. We think about connections at every level, from the rooftop antenna to the server room. Worth the climb.

06/08/2026

Listen as Pearl Technology's Dave Johnson discusses on The Greg and Dan Show.

Here are some takeaways:

Online pricing may no longer be the same for everyone; retailers are exploring personalized pricing, where price is based on what algorithms think you’re willing to pay

Companies already collect extensive data
• Browsing history, location, device type, purchase habits & even how long you hover over a product

AI-driven pricing tools can turn data into individualized price offers in real time, raising concerns among researchers & regulators

Last year, Consumer Reports recruited more than 400 shoppers to log onto Instacart simultaneously & fill their carts with identical groceries from the same stores
• 3/4 of the products showed different prices for different shoppers, with some items varying by as much as 23%

Key concern: price discrimination without transparency—especially for essentials like groceries or transportation
• Algorithms may unintentionally create bias
– Pricing by ZIP code can mirror racial or economic disparities
• Urgent needs could trigger higher prices
– We’ve historically seen this in airline pricing

There are also privacy & cybersecurity risks as more personal data is shared across platforms & companies

What consumers can do right now
• Compare prices across devices or browsers
• Use private or incognito mode to reduce tracking
• Start searches on aggregator sites like Expedia or Kayak
• Consider using a VPN to test location-based pricing differences

Important trade-off: personalization can work in your favor too
• Retailers may offer discounts if you appear price sensitive
• Blocking tracking may mean you only see the highest list price

Bottom line: You can’t eliminate your digital footprint, but you can manage it—be aware the price you see may not be the price others see

Greg and Phil talk with Dave Johnson of Pearl Technology about personalized pricing and how it is increasingly used across online platforms and services. He explains what it means when prices change based on user behavior, location, and device type, and how it can affect consumers differently. He al...

06/05/2026

June 5 is World Environment Day

Most of your company's digital waste is invisible. That is exactly why it keeps costing you.

June 5 is World Environment Day. A good moment to look at the digital side of sustainability: unused cloud resources, aging hardware, inefficient infrastructure, and devices swapped out before their life is actually over.

We run two data centers at Pearl Technology, so we see this up close. Digital waste shows up everywhere that matters: energy use, operating costs, security, and how long your business can keep running when something breaks.

Four practical places to start:
1. Right-size your cloud and infrastructure. Cut unused resources, and stop paying to power systems that deliver nothing.
2. Extend device lifecycles where it makes sense. Maintenance, security updates, and real asset planning keep hardware in service longer.
3. Dispose of e-waste responsibly. Old equipment needs secure data removal and certified recycling.
4. Build for efficiency from the start. From data centers to endpoint devices, efficient infrastructure cuts waste and runs better.

One question worth asking your team this week: Where are we creating digital waste, and what do we fix first?

06/03/2026

Hmmm… how likely are you to recommend Copilot???

06/02/2026

Powering Possibility at the Caterpillar Visitors Center

The van made a stop at the Caterpillar Visitors Center, celebrating 100 years this year. Peoria and Cat go back a long way. We are proud to keep local organizations connected and secure, the same way Cat has kept Peoria on the map for a century.

06/01/2026

Listen as Pearl Technology's Dave Johnson discusses the good, bad, and reality of on The Greg and Dan Show.

Here are some takeaways:

Central Illinois has recently been up in arms about data centers coming to the area

Full disclosure: owns & operates two data centers used for colocation
• While our data centers aren’t huge, they’re critical to local governments, banks, healthcare institutions, internet providers, etc.

Data centers are a modern necessity; without them, there’s no
• Police body cameras (data centers store video)
• Online shopping (they host websites, process payments, etc.)
• Netflix, Hulu, YouTube, etc.
• Healthcare services like patient records, telehealth, medical imaging, etc.
• Social media
• Safe remote backups for homes & businesses
• Video calls & work from home
• Online banking
• Internet access

The Good
• New data centers create many construction jobs for the trades
• Improved infrastructure to attract more businesses due to more power &connectivity (fiber, etc.)
– These also benefit homes in the area
• Greatly improved tax base (as long as it’s not given away in the deal); this means better schools, public safety & services

The Bad
• Massive power demands; new power infrastructure (substations, transmission lines) can raise everyone’s rates
– A mid-sized data center (15MW) consumes the same amount of electricity as 10K–15K average U.S. homes
• Water usage—the water is lost through evaporative cooling (up to 70%)
– In areas without abundant water supplies, data centers can compete with farms, homes & other businesses for water needs
– A mid-sized data center consumes about the same amount of water as 3 hospitals or two 18-hole golf courses
• Noise
– Data centers create a low frequency tonal noise that can carry & be disruptive, especially at night
· The noise comes from fans, chillers, cooling towers & backup generators

The Reality.
• We need data centers & they have to go somewhere
• Data centers are best located near existing power infrastructure, plentiful water supplies & in industrial parks away from residential areas
– Being located near a large existing power source reduces the buildout of new infrastructure
– Water usage can be mitigated using closed-loop cooling in some cases
– Noise can be lessened with barriers and enclosures
– Being located in an industrial park means there is usually already good power located nearby, as well as internet access
· The data center will also beef up the infrastructure, which will make it more attractive to more businesses needing the resources

There’s no quick, easy answer

We’ll need to continue building data centers somewhere

Greg and Phil talk with Dave Johnson of Pearl Technology about data centers - the good, the bad, and the reality behind them. He explains why there is a growing need for these massive facilities, how they support everyday services like streaming TV, healthcare systems, internet access, cloud computi...

05/25/2026

On , we honor and remember all those who paid the price to preserve our freedoms.

As you spend time with family and friends, please take a moment to remember those who gave their all for us. And, while you're at it, don't forget to thank the veterans, active-duty military, and National Guard who serve our country too.

Have a safe and enjoyable holiday!