Voice Mail

Filing Taxes

2012-02-10T16:30:00.000-08:00

There are a lot of apps out there that let you file taxes quickly and easily. One of them is the SnapTax from TurboTax. The app essentially holds your hand through the process of submitting a 1040EZ form, even showing you how to rip your W-2 to get just the portion of the page that you need. Then, simply line up the frame and use your smartphone's camera to snap a photo. The app slurps your information, asks you a few painless questions and shoots everything over to the IRS. While the app is free to download, it costs $20 to e-file. It's not a big change from last year's version, but this iteration gives you the option to try out the app without signing up for an account. Afterwards, it holds your information for an hour in case you want to go through with the process. H&R Block Mobile is the company's official mobile app, which lets you easily check the status of your Federal refund. The app also integrates information about brick-and-mortar H&R Block offices, allowing you to find the one closest to your current location, schedule an appointment, or find a tax professional. Another great thing about these services is that you can use internet phones to video conference with the tax professionals if you have any questions. You can even send some of the documents over internet fax which is much more safe and secure.

2012: Beware

2012-02-05T10:09:00.000-08:00

It is 2012 and most people are aware of this so called Mayan prediction of the end of the world. That belief is very much in dispute. The Mayan "long count" calendar progresses using a cycle of approximately 394 years known as a baktun; the calendar ends after the 13th baktun, which closes on Dec. 21 of this year. A stone tablet recovered in Mexico in the 1960s made an oblique reference to a god of war descending from the sky at the end of the 13th baktun. That artifact has fed widespread theories that the world will end that day, and archaeologists last November identified an ancient brick fragment inscribed with what could be another reference to the same portentous date. But anthropologists unanimously agree that the Mayans saw time as cyclical, not linear; Dec. 21, 2012, simply represents the end of one cycle and the start of a new one. "There is no concept of apocalypse in the Mayan culture," said Jesús Gomez, head of the Guatemalan confederation of Mayan priests. Conspiracy theorists keep it alive — in many cases, for profit. Interest in the Mayan calendar dates back to the 1960s, when various New Age authors predicted that Dec. 21, 2012, would usher in a new era of cosmic peace and understanding and by some extensions, the date is seen as Armageddon, These theorists soon began to publish books linking the 13th baktun with everything from Nostradamus to the lost city of Atlantis. In their book The Mayan Prophecies, published in 1996, Maurice Cotterell and Adrian Gilbert claimed to have found evidence that the Mayans had predicted that solar activity would reverse the earth's magnetic field in December 2012, destroying civilization and wiping out the human race.

Being Judged Based On Your Job

2012-01-28T15:16:00.000-08:00

Have you ever noticed the incredibly ridiculous things that people judge you by? Throughout life we can have any number of strange jobs but it is not necessarily a representation of our character or personality. I have come to see the horrible assumptions that people make based on jobs that others hold at the time. It is also interesting to see just how many people do thing jobs that they do just to be able to tell others that they are doing something "respectable", such as being bored to tears from lawyer work and constant emails, phone calls, and internet fax to answer. Haven't anyone heard of working to live instead of living to work? Apparently success is measured by the amount of money that one makes. Would you want to look back on your life and count the money you made or the lives you changed? Another thing that people like to criticize other for is the time that they get up. Some people just work better during the night shift which in turn means that they will sleep during the morning. People assume that late sleepers are lazy and unproductive. They're lumped in with people who stay up all night partying, dancing in a drug-fueled craze, then sleeping away the day because of the ensuing hangover. Or teenagers on summer break who spend the night playing video games, ignoring the importance of getting up at the crack of dawn like a "normal" adult. Or worse yet, they picture them going to bed at the same time as them but just choosing to sleep for the next 16 hours because we think our body deserves more sleep than theirs. Of course, most of us night people sleep the same amount of time as people who keep more regular hours. We're just shifting our active schedule to a different time of day. While they're asleep, we're working just as hard as they did when the sun was out. We're equally as productive -- just not at 9 a.m.

Avoiding the Flu While Traveling

2012-01-16T16:28:00.000-08:00

If you are traveling during these winter months, whether for business or a vacation, it is always important to be protected against the flu. One of the ways that you can avoid getting the flu is by getting a vaccination before you travel. Just call the 800 number of your local pharmacy or doctor to find out the times and fees. Another way to protect yourself and others is by packing a kit of hand sanitizer, soap, tissues and pain relievers. That way you will always be ready should you come in contact with someone that has the flu. Also make sure to wash your hands often with warm water and soap. When you cough or sneeze, make sure to cover your mouth and nose with a tissue and do not actually touch your mouth, eyes, or nose. Stay healthy this winter season!

Wrist Computing

2012-01-14T14:15:00.000-08:00

Wrist computing has been a trend of late, with WIMM showing off its WIMM One and Sony introducing its SmartWatch here at CES. Upstart Italian company I'm Watch hopes to dominate this field as it introduced its stylish and powerful line of high-fashion Android watches here at CES. It can even make calls and access voicemail. Dick Tracy, watch out. Even the most basic I'm Color version of the watch looks vibrant with its color plastic frame and resin band. You can get the watch in a rainbow from bright colors including red, blue, yellow, green, white, black, pink, and orange. Shoppers can also choose between the less-expensive 64MB and the pricier 128MB model, which holds more apps. The really innovative thing about I'm Watch is that it combines high-fasion with a totally new and unique application of Andoid. Running on the older Android 1.6, the device's 240 x 240 screen is much sharper than the WIMM One's 160 x 160 display. Unlike the WIMM which goes into grayscale mode when just telling the time, the I'm Watch's screen powers down completely when it goes to sleep so you can't even see the time on it face until you hit the side button.

Small Business Phone Services

2012-01-10T17:19:00.000-08:00

Small office phone system technology delivers so much more today than just a dial tone. It enables the business to reach all ends of the country and everything can be integrated. A small business phone system is increasingly part of a converged network—VoIP network that seamlessly ties together voice, data, video conferencing, wireless, instant messaging, and other business-critical communications tools and applications. One of the best parts is that it makes communication much more efficient. With a small office phone system on an IP network, you have only one network to manage, which is less expensive and more efficient than managing separate networks. Another reason I like using internet phone services in a business is that I save a lot of money on long distance. It would also improve the image of your business and make more people call. This will establish a great customer relationship of trust.

Voice Over Internet Protocol

2012-01-06T11:14:00.000-08:00

This might be just the perfect way to give your business the needed boast and improved image to get your business growing. Internet phone services are very cost efficient and there are a number of ways to use them. IP phones look just like normal phones with a handset, cradle and buttons. But instead of having the standard RJ-11 phone connectors, IP phones have an RJ-45 Ethernet connector. IP phones connect directly to your router and have all the hardware and software necessary right onboard to handle the IP call. Wi-Fi phones allow subscribing callers to make VoIP calls from any Wi-Fi hot spot. Placing a call from the computer is the easiest way to use VoIP. You don't even have to pay for long-distance calls. There are several companies offering free or very low-cost software that you can use for this type of VoIP. All you need is the software, a microphone, speakers, a sound card and an Internet connection, preferably a fast one like you would get through a cable or DSL modem. Except for your normal monthly ISP fee, there is usually no charge for computer-to-computer calls, no matter the distance.

Machines

2011-12-27T08:53:00.000-08:00

This past year some interesting machines came out and I am not talk about just cars. A robot bird was built that stands on two legs, weighs about 66 lbs and can run up to 32 mph. The question that first came to mind is why anyone would build a thing that run faster than people and what could it be used for. Some people have said that it could probably be used in war. It just seems to be a bit too hi-tech and take to much effort to go on the battle field with the possibility of being destroyed within seconds. There are better weapons that could be used instead of the speedy ostrich. Another machine that came out this year is a brain powered car from Germany. A high-tech helmet is linked to an on-board computer that displays a cube on the screen. The driver can manipulate this cube with their thoughts. Using biological signals as patterns, the driver can pilot the car to drive in any direction, accelerate or break. Of course this is just a concept and not ready for the mass market but just think of the implications. Other things such as communication services could be brain powered as well so it will let people communicate using an interface as fast as if they were actually talking to each other.

Car Technologies

2011-12-19T18:22:00.000-08:00

With the technology quickly expanding, it will not take too long before it will be in cars. Some of the tech is bound to be completely useless, such as communication like internet fax or even Facebook. Other things will possibly be a horn that sounds like something other than a horn sound. The point of this is beyond me, maybe people want to even further personalize their cars though I could be wrong. There have been ideas for rear view mirrors with information about how fast you are going and how close the other car is to you. And here was are trying to stop distracted driving, but this is not working. How about a computer that tells you everything that you are doing wrong while driving? Personally I thought that was what in-laws were for. Another idea that can go up there in the list of pretty bad ideas are cars that drive themselves. I mean just imagine handing over that much control of a 3000 kg hunk of metal to a computer.

Different Numbers

2011-12-14T14:47:00.000-08:00

Part of running a business is having multiple numbers. Some of the numbers that are essential to have are local numbers, toll free numbers, and even international numbers. Alternate Phone Numbers are a way for people outside your local calling area to call you for the price of a local call. All you need to do is choose an Alternate Number in their local calling area. With BroadVoice you can have additional numbers from different area codes or regions of your choice. Pick up to two additional phone numbers, with each number having a distinctive ringing pattern. Also, toll free numbers will let your customers call you free of charge which will get more people calling and let your business expand even further. Taking your business international has never been easier if you have an UK number. It will actually save you a lot of money on long distance.

BroadVoice Voicemail

2011-12-13T16:45:00.000-08:00

Voice mail is a very important part of a business and it needs to be professional. It also needs to be easy to use and operate so that no time is wasted on trying to figure it out. One of the most convenient things about this voice mail is the fact that you can check you messages online. You can check your messages online using a web browser and listen to them through your computer's speakers using most media players. Now you have the convenience of checking your message from anywhere in the world. This means that you will be able to travel more and take your business abroad. Another great part is that if activated, BroadVoice can send you an email notifying you every time you receive a voicemail along with the caller ID information. If that's not enough, BroadVoice can notify you by email with the actual audio message attached, so you can listen to messages with your computer, forward messages to somebody else, or store them on your hard drive for future reference. You can turn these free features on or off at your convenience through the BroadVoice portal

Voice Mail Options

2011-11-24T06:21:00.000-08:00

Now you can receive voicemail in many different ways, not just on your phone which can end up being a hassle and waste of time. With the voicemail management, your messages can appear in any format that is convenient. You can receive voicemail messages in your email inbox, saving valuable time and providing you with one easily accessible source to view all messaging mediums including fax. Being able to get internet fax will save you a lot of money because you will not need to have the fax machine. Now you can also never waste time listening to voicemail again. With our voice to text feature, you can read, search, store and print your messages just like email. Another great thing about the voice to text is that you can do it more discretely if you are in a crowded area. Manage your voicemail when you’re on the go with the smartphone apps. Mobile apps are available for Onebox Receptionist, Onebox Live Receptionist, or Onebox Executive plans.

Monitoring Work Habits

2011-11-19T15:41:00.000-08:00

How would you like your company to monitor your work habits based on emails, internet fax, and even internet phone video conferences? Microsoft thinks that it is such a great idea that it should be patented. Granted, it would definitely improve efficiency but I wonder if it crosses privacy lines even though the company has a right to know what types of services they are paying for.

Existing examples of employee monitoring software can already track websites visited, capture keystrokes or screenshots on a worker's computer, monitor e-mails and spit out transcripts of instant messaging or chat conversations. But Microsoft's idea would take workplace surveillance another step forward by creating software capable of analyzing those human behaviors.

In one sense, many technologies already monitor our behavior every day. Millions of consumers already give up their online privacy by using social networking sites or doing online shopping. Even video games have begun more closely tracking the behaviors of gamers.

Still, people don't like giving up their privacy unless they get something in return. Some may put up with airport security because they buy into arguments about national security or want to feel safer. And they don't necessarily mind Amazon tracking their shopping habits if they can get better recommendations in return. By contrast, typical workplace monitoring seems to benefit the employer at the expense of employees.

What do you think of the tracking? Will it go through?

Kindle Fire is Here

2011-11-14T13:50:00.000-08:00

So the newest player in the tablet game, Kindle Fire, is finally here. As you might expect, fire is catching but it is not enough to take down the iPad. One of the problems with this tablet is that it is much slower that the iPad and sometimes does not register the taps and touches. It is also not as good for internet fax and internet phone services. The iPad is very versatile and can be used in any way such as a business tool or even an education tool. If a tablet is going to use an LCD screen that is back-lit, then it should compensate the headache from the screen with great graphics and speed but the Fire does not have that. It is somewhere between a regular reader and decked out tablet. The previous eReaders are better for their functions because they are fast enough for the page turning and the screen does not cause headaches. Another thing to mention is that the old eReaders are going for a much better price than any tablet that you are going to use solely for reading books. How do you think the Kindle Fire did?

More Science in Our Life

2011-10-15T12:25:00.000-07:00

Have you ever come across those people that like to proclaim that science is evil? Those are probably the same people that are terrified of the Large Hadron Collider and scientists find what they like to call the "god particle". Personally, it has been hard to understand these people and without trying to generalize, they are probably afraid of what they do not understand. But, instead of trying to understand it and how it works, they shy away from it. Where would our communication systems such as internet phones be if it was not for the curiosity and the necessity of the people to improve it? To be able to advance as a human race, technologically and even socially, we need to have a curious mindset and never accept things blindly. One of the most dangerous things is to be ignorant of how something works. One of the beautiful things about science and scientific thought is that it does not include opinions and statements are based off of something, which means that the points can be argued and disputed. The "facts" have to fit in a very narrow space in order to be accepted in science but in other disciplines that space can be made as large as the other person wants it to be.

Mistakes to Avoid With Your Phone

2011-10-08T16:54:00.000-07:00

Just because you have a great phone service that you are probably being overcharged for, do not mean you can just do whatever with it. There is a certain cell phone etiquette that should at least be given some attention to. One of the things that you should not do is text and walk at the same time. I realize that you all think that you are very talented people and can multitask wonderfully but the truth of the matter is that you will be distracted and not looking at what is in front of you, such as a hard brick wall. Also, it might be a bad idea to return a phone call with a text, unless you are in a movie theater. Even then, the excuse is kind of sketchy. Speaking of being sketchy, a bad idea that would probably lose you some friends is to send the same text asking all of them what they are doing and then go hang out with the one that answers first or with the coolest plans. I think that would qualify you as being slightly flaky. Think before you text, especially when you are intoxicated. There is nothing worse than regretting a text that you do not even remember sending.

Repaet Dialing by Vonage

2011-09-24T15:28:00.000-07:00

Don't waste your time with busy signals any longer. With repeat dialing through vonage if you need to get in touch with your business partner or an important client and they don't answer on the first ring use repeat dialing. Just hang up the phone and repeat calling does all the work for you by calling the number back and then calling you back when the number is free and available. So you can take care of other important matters while this is being done for you. It's areal easy way to accomplish other things while your waiting all you need to do is if you get a busy signal press #5 and when you hear a tone hang up the phone. Repeat dialing will repeatedly dial the number for up to 30 minutes. When the line is free your phone will ring and all you have to do is pick it up and wait for the person to answer. So save yourself some time and let repeat dialing do the work for you while you take care of other things.

New Samsung Tablet

2011-09-22T16:46:00.000-07:00

Samsung is trying to stay in the tablet market by making their tablet a tad bit different than the iPad. At Microsoft's BUILD conference, the new Microsoft 8 tablet was unveiled and it was more like a PC than tablet-esque. The screen is much bigger and it is easier to use internet fax services on it because it is easier to use the virtual keyboard to type. One of the downsides is that the multitasking feature does not work and it still remains to be seen how the apps will accommodate for the larger screen. I think that the screen is better for movies and not so much the other programs, such as ebooks. And the whole Windows 8 user interface just feels like it has more elbow room than iOS as seen on the iPad. It feels a little more like a compact PC and a little less like a scaled-up phone. Which tablet would you go with?

Fighting Distracted Driving

2011-09-18T17:12:00.000-07:00

Over the past couple years, distracted driving has been a rising problem. Many phone service providers have come out with applications to fight the problem of people texting while driving and even just talking on the phone. I am sure if you have a license, you have seen those people that are driving too fast or too slow or just not paying attention to the road at all. Not only is it extremely annoying, it is very dangerous and a possible spark to road rage. Although text messaging is banned for all drivers in 34 U.S. states and the District of Columbia, it is still a continued problem throughout the country. In fact, each day more than 16 people are killed and more than 1,300 are injured in crashes involving a distracted driver, according to DistractedDriving.gov. In addition, drivers who use handheld devices are four times as likely to get into crashes serious enough to injure themselves. Do not be yet another statistic, put that phone down or pull off the road.

RingCentral to Expand

2011-09-10T19:21:00.000-07:00

Ever since RingCentral started their internet phone company in 2003, they had one thing in mind: delivering the best phone services at the most affordable prices to small businesses so that they have the tools to compete with larger companies and even enterprises. The company has grown to offer its services to more than 200 thousand people and it looks like it is ready to expand again. They were one of the first to offer a cloud based phone service when the technology was still in the early stages of use. RingCentral’s latest round was led by Scale Venture Partners and Cisco. Other participants included Sequoia Capital, Khosla Ventures, Cisco, DAG Ventures, and Silicon Valley Bank. In the near future, the internet phone company also plans to go IPO. With the expansion, it is possible that they will become serious competitors of larger phone service companies such as Verizon. Personally, I think that they are the best priced and offer a large variety of services that are useful for small businesses.

Using Evernote

2011-09-02T17:51:00.000-07:00

If you need to archive things that are in basically in every format imaginable, Evernote is the tool to use. This program will be able to let you save everything from internet fax to email to even hand written notes. The saved items can be sorted into folders, tagged, edited and exported as part of a notebook. Whenever a user sees something online, thinks about an idea or even experiences something, they can save it into Evernote using emails, photos, documents and a host of other ways, all while having it accessible and searchable across all the platforms and devices that they use. Many of Evernote's functions are free; however, a premium service, offering additional storage space for saved items and higher levels of support, is available for $5 a month. One of the biggest advantages of this program is that everything important is in one place and information can be found quickly and efficiently. It will increase productivity and efficiency of your business. I think it is a very reasonable price as well.

Ringcentral's Voicemail Options

2011-08-28T08:54:00.000-07:00

With Ringcentral's internet phone service features you can choose and design your voice mail and have it set-up to the needs of your company. They offer a professional recording to get your company to look like a fortune 500 company. All you have to do is write your greeting down, select the music and the person who will do the speaking and then record it with them professionally with high quality. They offer free help and advice if needed for the perfect greeting your company needs. By having a high quality voice mail in operation you will never miss a call by having all your messages stored in one voice mail box that you can access by email, phone or your PC. You can also use visual voice mail which offers by seeing them on your PC. You can choose which ones you want to listen to and in which order all with the click of a button. The ease of using voice mail with Ringcentral lets you access everything online. You will also be alerted by a text or email message. With this feature you can know when you opened it, who it was from and the senders phone number. Voice mail that is easy to use and gives your business the professional look you want.

More Info on The Social Networks

2011-08-27T09:05:00.000-07:00

If you are a female, chances are that you have a social networking site account and you like using their internet phone services as well. This is according to survey that was recently done. Here are some of the stats:

In February 2005, 5% of adults told Pew they used social media. The report calls young adult women the "power users" of social-media sites. About 89% of online women from 18-29 years old are on the sites and 69% of them say they tend to log onto social media every day. Overall, 69% of women on the Web said they use social networking, compared to 60% of all men. Pew said women have been "significantly more likely" to be on social sites than men since 2009. Only search engines and e-mail remained more popular than social media among Web users, according to the survey.

Does this information sound about right? The next question that needs to be asked is why these numbers are the way they are.

Right to Be Forgotten

2011-08-21T15:26:00.000-07:00

When it comes to personal data and documents, even if they are sent over internet fax, the information cannot be permanently deleted. As more things are done increasingly over the internet, there are more privacy issue. In Europe, people have the right to delete information that a company might have about them, with some exceptions such as when a company has a legitimate reason to store the data that supersedes an individual user’s interest. While in the US, people do not have that right.

"Personal information about a consumer generally may be kept by the company that processes it — except for certain regulated industries like credit. Individual companies in many sectors set their own policies on data retention. Some agree to delete information; others don’t. But in a preliminary report, the F.T.C. has endorsed a related idea — that companies collect only the data they need about people and keep it no longer than necessary. If businesses minimize data collection from the get-go, there may be less need for an eraser button later, says Jessica Rich, deputy director of the F.T.C.’s bureau of consumer protection. For now, she suggests that people read company privacy policies and “figure out ahead of time whether you have the ability to delete your data.”

That TV Will Shorten Your Life

2011-08-17T19:05:00.000-07:00

Scientists in Australia published a new study that points to a reduction of the lifespan for people that sit and watch television. As they put it: "....every hour of television watched after the age of 25 shortens your life by 22 minutes. Australians watch an average of about two hours of television a day and, as such, find their lives reduced by 1.8 years for men and 1.5 years for women, according to the study." Does this mean that these people are declaring war on TV? I think that the real culprit here is lack of movement. So these statements can be expanded to other activities that include lots of sitting such as work behind a computer with lots of internet fax and emails or playing long hours of video games. I hope we all read that article about the boy that died from a blood clot that formed while sitting for a really long time playing Halo. When reading these studies, never forget to ask questions about them and take the results with a grain of salt. The mark of a truly knowledgeable person is that they never stop asking question.

Bonding and Reality

2011-08-14T16:55:00.000-07:00

Some recent events have made me question whether the friends that we think we make are really our friends or if they are just using us for something they need, just like we are using them for what we need. When it comes to certain people, you know that they really want to be with you just for the sake of your company and nothing more. The question is how do you know? And what about those people that you trust and actually think that they want to be with you but then you end up finding out that they could not care less, as long as they get what they want? The new knowledge makes you regret all those internet phone conversation that you have with this person. Then the other side of all this, is that this is hard reality and how the world works. If that is the case, then we are making the world a sad place to live in. People can give and get and go though all the motions that make it look like they care, when they really do not. How do you handle your relationships? Are they closer to business partnerships than bonds? Just something to chew on.

Solar Flares

2011-08-08T13:00:00.000-07:00

The recent solar flares have the potential to interfere with radio waves which in turn interferes with GPS, airplane transmissions, and cell phones. This is actually one of the reasons that internet phone services might be better for communication because nothing as common as solar flares and bad weather can interfere with it. As for the GPS malfunctioning in cars, there is a thing from the last century that we like to call paper maps, not that too many people have heard or even seen them. It is a different story with navigating an airplane though might be slightly harder considering that there are no landmarks. One of the reasons that people are preparing for the solar storms is that it can affect the magnetic fields which in turn affects the transformers in electrical grids and can make them overheat and burn out. In the worst case scenarios, these solar flares can cause world wide radio blackouts. These flares have been known to happen for a long time so people have made some preparations for such cases.

Laptop Batteries and Internet Fax

2011-08-07T08:20:00.000-07:00

When it comes to picking out a new laptop, one of the most important things to consider, in addition to the software and RAM and ROM, is battery life. The point of a laptop is for it to be portable and a good battery is needed for that so that you do not have to running to find an outlet after about two hours. This is also important when running a business because you need to be able send and receive internet fax and emails with great speed. A great thing about internet fax is that a lot of services are able to be integrated with the existing software. This will make it easier to transition to internet fax services for the businesses that have been using the old fax machines for ages. It will also save them a lot of money. I also like internet fax because you are able to receive it anywhere and use any compatible device to view it. Which computer has the best battery life?

VoicePulse Voice Mail

2011-07-29T08:14:00.000-07:00

VoicePulse and YouMail have teamed up to provide customers with features such as:

Thousands of custom greetings and the ability to upload your own greetings
Voicemails received via your phone, email or through the YouMail account center
Manage your voicemail account with YouMail apps for Blackberry, Android and the iPhone
Ability to archive voicemails indefinitely
The ability to upgrade to premium services such as transcriptions and additional voicemail storage

VoicePulse offers Enhanced Voicemail provided by YouMail to take your messages. VoicePulse's Enhanced Voicemail makes sure you never miss an important message again! You can check your messages from your email account, a regular phone or your VoicePulse phone.Voice mail notifications also come in handy so that you can stay on top of things and be aware of what is going on:

Stutter tone notification:
You will hear a stutter tone when you pick up your phone if there is a new message waiting for you. Once you have listened to the message, the stutter tone will stop after about 30 seconds. Phones that detect stutter tone will display a message waiting indicator light if you have a new message.
Email notification:
Login to your YouMail account center to enter the email address you want notified whenever a new message is left in a mailbox. You can also select whether or not a copy of the message is attached to the email as a sound file (WAV or MP3 format) or receive a text message to your cell phone when you get a voicemail or when a caller hangs up.

Make Multiple Phone Calls At Once

2011-07-21T18:14:00.000-07:00

We know that Google is a giant that pretty much dictates the way we live. If you do not believe me, they know information about you based on what you search and it is stored for about nine months. Just something to think about. Anywho, they now have this phone service that let you have multiple phone conversations at once. At first glance, this might sound great but then when you think about it, it will either be really awkward or take too much time because the phone service would automatically put the other line on hold. Either way, it can only handle two phone calls at once. To be honest, I occasionally have a hard time handling one phone call, let alone two. What do you think of this new service?

When Technology Fails

2011-07-17T15:11:00.000-07:00

People today put so much faith and confidence in technology and trumpet about how great it is but what about the other side of the story? Sure, many advancements literally saved lives but sometimes we rely on it so much that if something does go wrong, we do not know what to do. Internet phone services brought about a new era of communication but would you know how to get in touch with someone without the internet. Better yet, would you be able to dial the phone number of your best friend without speed dial? I am not saying that the "devil" is in the computer, just that more people need to realize that there always needs to be a Plan B. You always need to leave yourself a way out, no matter what. Where do you stand on the technology debate?

Fighting Bullies: One Report at a Time

2011-07-12T16:11:00.000-07:00

I recently read that Facebook and Time Warner are joining forces to fight bullying that goes on. They are using their popularity to encourage people to report cases when they are seen so that the victims can get support to be able to stand up to people and stop the harassment. The White House estimates that 13 million students, or nearly one-third of the school-age population in the U.S., are targets of bullying. In a 2009 survey by The Associated Press and MTV, half of the people from 14 to 24 years said they had been cyberbullied, which means that the bullying can happen either through social networks or phone services. The harassment, ranging from a person's sexual orientation to their fashion tastes, can lead to emotional problems, drug abuse and, in extreme instances, suicide. I thought people were starting to be more accepting of each other but I guess they will always be afraid of things that are different or what they do not know anything about.

Cool Gadgets From Harry Potter

2011-07-12T15:59:00.000-07:00

We have seen some pretty cool gadgets from the Harry Potter movies and some could be extremely useful in today's world. Other things, such as owls to deliver mail might not be as efficient as email or internet phones. Tell me what you think about it:

1. Floating quill that writes down a perfect dictation. Some devices along those lines are being developed but are still in the beginning stages and are not exactly very efficient.

2. A flying invisible car that does not run out of gas. Enough said.

3. Invisibility cloak. There is actually research in this field and we might be closer than you think.

4. Timeturner. For those of us who always complain that there needs to be more time in the day this is the perfect solution.

Advanced Internet Phone Features

2011-07-05T12:15:00.000-07:00

One of the ways to make a business run better is to have better internet phone services. Some of the more advanced phone features that you can get are call recording, which can be very helpful in quality assurance analysis. Also, if you are going on vacation or out of town, you can bring your adapter with you, and anywhere you can get high speed internet access you can use your home phone free of charge. Another great thing about internet phones is that you can use the computer as a phone. Other offers include operator services, free 411 directory, and distinctive rings for the people that call you the most so that you know who is calling before you look at the caller ID. There are also call broadcasting which enables you to get an important message to many different people at once. The international rates are also very reasonable which makes expanding your business easier. This is the perfect step to going international and have a professional presence.

Smartphones as Toys

2011-06-29T14:52:00.000-07:00

Not only can you use your phone as a communication device for internet phones and emails, but many people consider it a toy and like it for its entertainment purposes. A user's relationship with their phone depends on whether the owner views their cellphone or smartphone as a device that's more fun than it is functional. Gaining insight into this relationship could enable retailers to better understand the consumer mindset and could even make it possible to market to consumers individually based on their interests and beliefs. A majority of the people that were studied are attached to their phone because of its functionality as an entertainment device rather than as a tool that can communicate. Personally, I use my phone mostly for business communication such as internet fax and answering all those emails. Occasionally, I still like to play Angry Birds and other games. Good way to unwind after the long day.

Jailbreaking That Device

2011-06-25T18:16:00.000-07:00

So after you have really used up your iPhone sending all those emails and internet fax and the battery is just about done with its life, and you are finally ready to upgrade it. Before just tossing it in the back of the closet, I would recommend jailbreaking it. The jailbreaking process releases your device to be much more than it used to be. There are so many customizations that you are able to do when you are outside the restrictions that Apple has placed on its devices. This is truly the out-of-the-box step for your Apple device. So, you’ve been on the fence for awhile and now it’s time to jump in. There is a lot to be said for jailbreaking, and I think that it’s a worthwhile endeavor-- especially because it is not that hard to do! I just recently restored my iPhone and performed another jailbreak using this step-by-step guide provided by iClarified.com.

Internet Rules: Common Sense to Most

2011-06-22T12:46:00.000-07:00

Scams come in all different shapes and sizes, either through 800 numbers or several different flavors of internet scams. One of the general rules when surfing the the internet is to never click on the ads that look fishy on the different websites. Another way to avoid certain scams is to use the most up to date browser. Then you need to be sure that the address is legit. Some more things that you can do to stay safe online is not to install any software that you did not find by yourself and to always install from a reputable company. Don't open attachments in your e-mail, even from people you know, unless you already know what it is, and confirmed that the person intended to send it to you. Websites can create pop-ups that pretend to be messages from your antivirus software. When one appears, close the windows and don't click on any buttons.

PBX Services

2011-06-13T16:09:00.000-07:00

A hosted PBX system has many features and here are just a couple that they offer:

Call Forwarding – The ability to forward calls when you are not at your desk to up to three different telephone numbers. You may ring all three telephone numbers in your forwarding list simultaneously, or you may ring them in order.
Call Logging – The ability to view a log of all calls dating back in history and perform detailed searches based on date, Caller ID, phone number, and more.
User Web Portal – A Web portal allows users change their personal call forwarding, ring duration and voice mail settings as well as search through their personal missed, dialed and received call histories using the personal call log feature.
Administrator Web Portal – A Web portal account is created for a master administrator that will allow them to make changes to almost any feature in the company. You can re-route calls, reset any user's voice mail PIN, search the company wide call logs, configure auto-attendants, and much much more.
Call Recording - Allows for a seat to have its calls recorded and stored in the Web portal for future playback.
Conference Bridge – Allows for a conference bridge also known as a conference room where many parties, both internal and external, can call in, or be invited in and all talk to each other.

Most internet phone providers offer all these services but a lot of the packaging and pricing is different. The best way to figure out which phone company is the best is to try the free trials. Some even have internet fax as part of the bundle.

Digital Phone Services

2011-06-13T15:52:00.000-07:00

Replacing that old phone system has never been easier to do or even more affordable. To top it all off, the monetary return is much greater than the cost and will definitely improve. Some of the features of a hosted phone service are the individual extensions and voice mailboxes. With the auto-attendant and the music on hold you business will be able to show its personality because of such attention to the details. The conference calling is also a great business tool because you can actually do video conferencing. This will save money in the long run because you will not have to travel for the meetings. Many of these internet phone services will make your business much more productive and the best part is that it is so easy to set up and use. Within that day of setup, you will be able to be making calls. It will also make your whole business more mobile because the calls can be routed to cell phones. As far as pricing goes, it is extremely flexible and there are no contracts to sign.

Gaming: You Never Grow Out of It

2011-06-08T08:05:00.000-07:00

According to a large study, the average age of a gamer is 37. Seriously. The study also showed that gaming is prevalent across all demographics. It also shed light on one of the most long debated arguments that young kids have access to violent games and games that parents do not know about. Truth of the matter is that about 90% of parents know what their children are playing. These stats do not apply to what kids are doing online and how they are using phone services but studies are being down on it. Either way, it seems like the gaming industry is going to be around for a while. So what are your gaming habits? I have to admit that I love playing the occasional game either on a TV console or even on the computer. Some things never change.

Sony Having a Bad Year

2011-06-04T17:53:00.000-07:00

Its seems as though every time Sony gets back on their feet, some hackers manage to get into their systems. Let me just say, it is a good thing that they do not have internet fax. The latest Sony site that was hacked was their pictures site. Maybe some of the weakness in the structure is due to the disaster in Japan. Here is part of the article about it:

A team of individuals going by the name LulzSec, who recently managed to deface PBS.org's homepage, announced that they have broken into SonyPictures.com and compromised more than 1 million user accounts. An additional 75,000 music codes and 3.5 million coupons were also uncovered. The attack, part of a campaign known as Sownage, was announced on Twitter and on the LulzSec website. LulzSec said that it didn't have enough resources to copy all the data that it was able to access. But the group did manage to grab a collection of databases that contain thousands of usernames.

The accounts, presumably associated with any sort of registered activity on SonyPictures.com (or its subsidiaries or partners), contain information like passwords, email addresses, dates of birth and other Sony opt-in data. This certainly isn't as dangerous as the information that was exposed during the PSN hack, but it could still be used to gather access to more important accounts elsewhere. The scariest part of this attack isn't what was taken, but how easy it was for the LulzSec members to take it.

More Reasons to Hate Social Networking Sites

2011-05-29T10:49:00.000-07:00

Alright, here is the blunt truth: social networking sites are really a business. Do not stare at your screen like this is news to you. Even those internet phone services that have done wonders for communication are a business. The cold truth of the matter is that they are not looking out for your best interests. People have a tendency to blame other people and companies for their own mistakes. With all the privacy settings that you can put on your account that is connected with your whole entire life, the company that has that information will be more than willing to give up that data if pressed by the law. The laws about internet property are also changing. Take for example the whole planking phenomenon that went down on Facebook. It is really up to the social site to ban it? No, because it is the poor judgement of people that will lead to people dying. Unfortunately even if Facebook were to ban it, there will still be people out there making horrible decisions. Think about that the next time you post something you will later regret on one of your many "personal" pages.

Easiest Voicemail Ever

2011-05-17T11:02:00.000-07:00

Voicemail has never been easier with internet phone companies such as RingCentral. I have tried using many communication systems that had many different feature for my business. I stayed with RingCentral because they offered the most features and service for the money. One of the best things about this company is that you can pick the package that is perfect for your business. The voicemail is very easy to set up and you can be receiving calls within 20 minutes. You are also able to receive voicemails through the phone, email or the computer. Another great feature of the messages is that you can store them as an audio or text file for future reference and records. The answering system and the ringback tones can also give you business the image it needs to succeed in the competitive market. It gave my business the personality that it needed to bring in more clients.

Yahoo: The Search Engine

2011-03-27T12:30:00.000-07:00

Yahoo is trying to figure out how to out-do the competition in the search engine business. Even though Google redid its algorithm and has internet phone services, Yahoo is changing the way searches come up. The new search builds on Yahoo's attempt to stay relevant in the lucrative search market by focusing on user experience, now that it has farmed out the expensive infrastructure to Microsoft, in exchange for ad-revenue sharing. Search Direct doesn't require a fast net connection, the company said, and the system is built using infrastructure that Yahoo owns. That could put the feature in conflict with its search partner Bing. It's not clear if Yahoo's figured out search's future, but Direct Search is incredibly fast and could prove to be so useful that we'll all soon forget when we had to type a full word and hit Enter to figure something out. It seems like Google and Bing are still the top search engines. What do you think Yahoo should do to draw in more people?

Who Are You?

2011-03-19T16:20:00.000-07:00

How do you know that you exist? I mean have you really thought about it? What is the one thing that tells you all this is real? Most people do not even take time out of their day to think about thing like that and it seems like maybe we need to step back a take a good look at ourselves and who we are. We are thinking things as put by Descartes, and that is how we know that we exist but the theory does not work when it comes to knowing if other things exist. It feels as though people that do not give this issue a second thought will go through life, and just go through the motions. You know, answering emails and internet fax but never quite "there". What I am trying to say is that we have to take all that this "thinking thing" ability has to offer and use it. A recent movie came out called Limitless which is about a guy that takes a pill and is suddenly able to use "all" of his mind and miraculously achieves amazing success. Scientifically speaking, no such pill will ever exist, at least for the time being (never say never, right?). We can all achieve our potential once we realize the aspects of it that we can control. Many people seem to be wasting energy on things that are beyond their control. Think of this as being "green" with the way you use your personal energy and mind power.

Best Browsers as of Lately

2011-03-19T11:58:00.000-07:00

TopTenReviews and PC Magazine agree that the best browser in current circulation is Firefox, the creation of the nonprofit Mozilla Foundation (which makes money from browser ads). Firefox has all the features you'd expect, it's fast, and there's a whole ecosystem out there offering add-ons and extensions. With about 30 percent of the traffic, it trails Microsoft's Internet Explorer in popularity, but it has been steadily stealing market share from IE for eight years.
Next in the running is Chrome from Google. There are those who see Chrome as Google's initial step toward creating a Web-based operating system. Be that as it may, Chrome gets high marks for its ease of use and uncluttered interface. Currently it has 12 percent of the traffic, which is quite a feat in an arena that has traditionally seen a two-way (IE vs. Firefox) match.
Speaking of Internet Explorer, it probably came with your PC, which largely explains why IE, which rates third on this list, has the dominant share (42 percent) of user traffic. Its prominence has put it in the cross hairs of the world's leading hackers, but Microsoft has lately beefed up its security. IE's feature set has served to define the genre in the past, but at this point it gets highest marks for user help and support.
Fourth is Opera, from Opera Software, a Norwegian firm that gets revenue from Google for linking to Google's search engine. It has only a sliver of the Web's users, 4 percent, but Opera is famous for introducing features that other browsers eventually adopt. Presently it's pioneering the use of voice control (to minimize keyboard use), text-to-speech (so it will read the screen to you out loud), and mouse gestures (which replace the back, forward, and new-tab keys).
Next is Safari from Apple. With versions available for both Macs and PCs, Safari currently accounts for about 9 percent of the today’s browser traffic. Basically, it adds a Mac patina to the Web experience. At last report it lacked parental controls and certain anti-phishing features.
Finally, there's Maxthon from Beijing-based Maxthon International Ltd. It came to life as a result of the efforts of Chinese software engineers to customize IE. The same parental controls and anti-phishing features absent from Apple's Safari are lacking in Maxthon. Oddly, there is no Mac version of Maxthon available. It has a couple of points of traffic share.
Which do you think is better? Personally Firefox is one of the best because it does not crash nearly as much as the other ones and it is more user friendly when it comes to internet fax services and internet phones.

A Robot Replacing Your Pharmacist

2011-03-12T14:35:00.000-08:00

It seems like a lot of jobs are being replaced by robots that are more efficient and correct. One of the people that are getting replaced is your nearby pharmacist. It seems like only a short time ago, you could go to school for pharmacy and then end up making a six figure salary. There are now robots that do the same job much faster and without as many errors. Some of the robots are even connected to a phone service that let doctors call in for prescriptions for patients.

By using robots instead of people for traditionally manual tasks, pharmacists and nurses will have more time to work with physicians to determine the best drug therapy for a patient, and to monitor patients for clinical response and adverse drug reactions.

In addition, the new pharmacy offers a rich training ground for pharmacy students in the medication distribution systems of the future. The pharmacy also will enable UCSF to study new ways of medication delivery with the goal of sharing that knowledge with other hospitals across the country.

"Automated medication-dispensing frees pharmacists from the mechanical aspects of the practice," said Mary Anne Koda-Kimble, dean of the UCSF School of Pharmacy. "This technology, with others, will allow pharmacists to use their pharmaceutical care expertise to assure that patients are treated with medicines tailored to their individual needs."

What do you think this will do to the field of pharmacy?

iPad: A New Tool for Biologists

2011-03-05T11:26:00.000-08:00

The iPad is so multifunctional that it even works with laboratories and other professions. Not only can it browse the internet, use internet phone services with the camera that is built in, and use thousands of different apps that are designed to help people waste their time, it also has apps that actually help out in the labs. Scientists and researchers are able to see and manipulate the tiny microorganisms that they are working with. he application allows researchers a range of techniques for moving particles around, including pinching the screen or tilting the iPad. "The interface is responsive and easy to use, so even inexperienced users can trap particles, move them around and translate the microscope stage," researchers wrote in the paper. Now, moving single and multiparticles left and right, up and down — or even rotating a micrometer-sized particle — is expected to be much easier. All of this is done much more efficiently because of the touchscreen capabilities.

Processors

2011-02-21T03:26:00.000-08:00

Whether you use your phone for business and internet fax and emails or it is the connection to the social media, you need to think about the processor before getting the phone that you want. Dual-core processors have been around in desktop computers for years, but it was only a little over a year ago that dual-core processors started showing up consistently in netbooks. By contrast, smartphone processors of the same period were considered fast if they had a 600MHz processor (a little more than half of the Snapdragon's 1GHz, but with a single core). Now things are really accelerating. Several new phones have been announced in recent months with 1.2GHz and 1.4GHz processors. Even dual-core netbook processors today are only 1.6GHz. Intel recently announced its advance into mobile chips with the Medfield processor line, which is based on the Atom processor found in netbooks but will likely run even faster. That’s right, smartphone processors should soon surpass those of netbooks. The amount of performance you can get out of your phone, and consequently the level of functionality, will be based directly on the processor. And if you're going to sign a data contract with a network, you better have a phone or tablet that can put it to good use.

They Are Watching You

2011-01-29T11:39:00.000-08:00

Since the internet is already the biggest communication tool in the world, it is the perfect place to track information about people and society. But the people in Congress have other motives for recording what people are doing over the internet. They want to be able to store information about people for possible future use in either law enforcement or other cases. This is almost as bad as phone calls being recorded. I also wonder where they will draw the line. Will it go as far as people looking at what others are doing on internet phones or their social websites? It just seems like an invasion of privacy and there have to be boundaries somewhere. Personally I would not want someone going through the things I do online, no matter what it is. There has to be better ways in getting evidence for cases. Since a lot of property is online these day, the standards of warrants should apply here as well.

iPhone Being Sold by Verizon

2011-01-12T14:11:00.000-08:00

Smart phone users rejoice, the iPhone is going to be sold by Verizon. Now you can have all the iPhone features and stay with the Verizon phone services. Customers will be able to pre-order the phone starting in February. The phone is slightly modified to be able to run on the network. Verizon will be able to have one leg up on its competitor, AT&T, because the phone will also be an internet hot spot which the other company does not have. What do you think of the smart phone? If you are a Verizon customer, would you make the switch automatically or are you satisfied with the current smart phone that you have now? After reading news about the phone services, it seems like the time when everyone will have a smart phone is coming closer. It will not just be the business professionals using the phone for their internet fax and internet phone services, the mass public will be able to enjoy all the features for an even lower cost.

Skype Gets Group Video Calling

2011-01-09T20:15:00.000-08:00

The internet phone provider, Skype, has finally come out the group video calling. The service will only be available for Windows users and carries a fee of $5 for a day or $8.99 for a monthly period. Users can also try out the new feature via a seven-day trial offer. As for Qik, videos can be shared in real time or stored for later. The service is already available on over 200 mobile phones across the Android, iPhone, Symbian, Blackberry and Windows Mobile platforms, and comes pre-loaded on a wide variety of mobile handsets through partnerships with leading handset manufacturers and carriers. It is slightly upsetting that this service costs so much money. This is definitely a feature I would use because I would love to be able to talk to multiple people through video conferencing at one time. Most internet phone companies for business professionals already have this feature but this is the first time it came to a more public phone service.

Robots in the Operating Room

2011-01-01T15:07:00.000-08:00

Robots are common place in the world today and they are one of the things that make our lives easier. They are almost extensions of us because they enhance the human experience. They also save lives when it comes to robotic assisted surgeries or mapping out the spinal cord for a better view during surgery. It improves implant accuracy up to 98%. Produced by the company Mazor Robotics, the SpineAssist is the only robot optimized specifically for spine surgery. Of course, precision like that does not come cheap. The device costs $660,000, with an additional $66,000 every year for servicing. Plus, many of the implants that the SpineAssist works with are proprietary, and must be purchased from Mazor as well. This is only the beginning of the revolution that is happening in medicine. There might be a point where the price will go down and more people will be able to afford it. It is going toi be exciting to see what this new year brings in the way of medicinal innovation.

Skype Crashed

2010-12-23T08:11:00.000-08:00

Recently the internet phone Skype crashed and is still not up and running. Many businesses rely on it but it has been up for question if it is a reliable internet phone service. One of the perks is that some of the phone services are free. I think that business should stick with the more reliable internet phones companies that have been around for a long time and have stood the test of time. Some of the best ones that I came across are are RingCentral and Polycom. Skype seems to be better for the public to use to communicate through video conferencing and messaging with people that live far away from each other. It saves on long distance costs and the people are able to actually see each other. One of the good things about some of the internet phone companies is that they have an agreement with the big companies that if the service should go down, the companies will be compensated in some way.

Worst Phone Services

2010-12-06T19:18:00.000-08:00

Consumer Reports just recently came out with the report for phone services and AT&T was at the bottom of the list. A lot of people that are will this phone company had the iPhone and were still very unhappy with the services provided. There have been rumors that AT&T will not be the only one carrying the iPhone, it will also come to Verizon. This could be good news for the customers and Apple. They will be able to made more sales with the better phone service provider and get more customers. Interestingly enough, as popular as Verizon is, they still came in second in the ranking behind US Cellular. Have you heard of this phone company? What do you think of the different phone companies and which provide the best service?

PS2 and TV Merged

2010-12-04T17:23:00.000-08:00

Integration of different types of technologies are the new great things. This is a TV with a built-in PS2 that is a fully functioning game system with an internet connection. It also plays DVDs but not Blu-Ray. Since there is an internet connection the TV can be used with a phone service for communication such as video conferencing. It can even connect to wireless network to improve the gaming experience. So even though the PS3 sort of overtook the previous PlayStation, this one is making a comeback with the integrated TV. One of the drawbacks to this is that is is not available in the US, just in England. If it makes enough sales then it just might show up in the States. What do you think of it? Is this the newest thing or is it old news?

eBooks on Paper?

2010-11-26T16:49:00.000-08:00

I came across and interesting article about the future of books and ebooks. Researchers are looking for ways to make the ebooks on paper. This means that someday, even communication such as internet fax could be read on paper even though it is one the internet. What are your thoughts on this?
At the same time, scientists are working on novel displays that aim to replicate the flexibility of paper. For instance, in September, Sony unveiled an electronic ink, or e-ink, display that could be rolled up like a newspaper.
Now engineers at the University of Cincinnati reveal that paper could be used as a flexible backing for an electronic display. In comparison, popular e-book readers such as the Kindle or iPad rely on circuits printed on rigid glass.
"We can actually use paper, a material that has been around for centuries, to make the type of devices that were invented only in the last 50 years," researcher Andrew Steckl, an electrical engineer at the University of Cincinnati, told TechNewsDaily.
Steckl and his colleagues showed that paper could serve as a platform for electrowetting, where an electric field gets applied to colored droplets, moving them about in a display in ways that can depict text, photos and video. Paper is attractive for many reasons — it is a low-cost, widely available renewable resource that is flexible and available in many shapes and sizes.
The kinds of paper they used were not the ones conventionally used in printing that absorb ink readily. Rather, the team employed water-repellant types of paper.
"We tried many things, some of them from my wife's kitchen closet — wax paper and so on," Steckl said. "I thought glassine would be a good candidate — this is a type of paper in which postage stamps are sometime stored or displayed, or at least that's how it was done when I had a stamp collection 50 years ago. We were only able to find glassine envelopes from a store that sells wedding-related items — the envelopes are used for presenting wedding favors. So we bought a bunch and cut them up."
Most important, their preliminary experiments on several types of paper revealed the performance of such electrowetting devices were very close to that of conventional versions on glass, the gold standard in the field.
"It is pretty exciting," Steckl said. "With the right paper, the right process and the right device- fabrication technique, you can get results that are as good as you would get on glass, and our results are good enough for a video-style e-reader."
Steckl imagined a future device that can be rolled and feels like paper yet delivers books, news and even high-resolution color video in bright-light conditions.
"Nothing looks better than paper for reading," Steckl said. "We hope to have something that would actually look like paper but behave like a computer monitor in terms of its ability to store information."
Disposing of a paper-based display would also prove easier on the environment, he noted.
"We would have something that is very cheap, very fast, full-color, and at the end of the day or the end of the week, you could pitch it into the trash," Steckl said.
The aim ultimately is to fabricate electrowetting devices sandwiched between paper and thin sheets of transparent polymers. The research team's goal now is to attract commercial interest in the technology for next-stage development, which Steckl expected would take three to five years to bring to market.

Tracking Happiness

2010-11-13T12:52:00.000-08:00

There is a phone service that makes keeping track of being happy easier. For iPhone users, particularly, you can track happiness levels to find out what factors, for you personally, are associated with greater happiness. Here's how: At random times, participants are asked to rate their happiness on a scale of 0 to 100, to include what you are doing and whether your mind is wandering beyond the task at hand. I have to wonder just how useful this information is and if it is really worth the money. I guess now there is an app for happiness.

Black Friday Sales

2010-11-05T19:14:00.000-07:00

With the recession hitting hard, many stores and companies are looking to get people to start on their Christmas shopping early. This year Black Friday will be coming way earlier, so make sure to send out those emails, internet fax, and leave voice mail for all your friends letting them know who has the best deals. Holiday retail sales forecasts for electronics are gloomy: NPD Group expects a 1.3 percent drop, citing evidence that American families are still reeling from the recession. As in 2009, discounts and value will be the watchwords of the season. The best advice to shoppers is to watch the sales, make a list and stick with it. The better values typically sell out early, so jump on it if it's on your list. Expect discounts on second-tier or store brands and older models from top tier brands that must be sold to make room for new inventory. How are your holidays looking this year?

Skype Expanding

2010-10-17T13:45:00.000-07:00

The internet phone service provider for millions of users is teaming up with Facebook to bring a people together even more through the use of different communication such as video chats and even conferences where many people and see and talk to each other at the same time. The integration will be have a more user-friendly dashboard. The companies are working together to bring people together from different parts of the world or the person just around the corner. Even though typing or talking through some type of phone service is not quite the same as actually being there, this is the closest we can get for now. With the busy schedules that everyone has, it is a great way to catch up on things in a shortened amount of time. From person experience, it is also a great way to reconnect with people who are on the other side of the world without those crazy long distance fees.

Emailing Your Kid

2010-10-10T13:14:00.000-07:00

Did you know that about 7% of babies already have an email address? It is understandable that this is the technological age but starting out so early might not be the greatest idea. We are already so hooked into the internet, whether it is for work using internet fax or just checking emails, that we do not need to start so early. I also have to wonder what exactly is the purpose of it. A lot of mothers are posting pictures of their kids online as soon as they are born. What do you guys think? Is it a good idea for parents to establish an online presence for their kids before they can even talk?

Green Gyms

2010-09-26T13:04:00.000-07:00

Why didn't anyone think of this before? Many businesses are running their businesses with more saving of money and trees through internet fax and internet phone services. People who run the business of gyms should have thought of turning all that energy that is being wasted, into something useful. Hooking up the machines to a generator so that all the energy that the people are using to run of power the bicycle will be converted into something useful. I hope that more gyms will be on board with this. It will save the gym some of the operating cost and the price of membership will be able to go down so that more people will want to join. It will also be better for the environment. The effects might not be able to be seem at first but it might be the beginning of something great on a bigger scale.

Gamers Help With Protein Folding

2010-09-26T12:42:00.000-07:00

With the help of computers and some human brains we can better predict the folding of certain proteins. The information can then be sent over internet fax to labs and recorded. Since there are so many different shapes that the protein can make, the computer will have to make small changes to it and it would still take a long time to find the right shape. Humans have the information to know which shapes are more likely to appear in nature than others. The predictions are done with the help of a game which consists of several puzzles – 3-D graphics of protein structures that must be manipulated by players to achieve the correct shape. With each twist or turn of the colorful arms that make up the protein, the player is awarded a score reflecting the “quality” of the fold, or how close the newly formed shape is to what would be expected in nature.

Voice Mail Shortcuts

2010-09-15T14:05:00.000-07:00

Voice mail on the answering machine or through the internet phone service is pretty self explanatory but did you know that there are certain shortcuts you can press while listening to voice mail on your phone? These can save a lot of time if you are not using the computer or the answering machine to check voice mail. Here are the shortcuts you can use to make life just a bit easier:

While Listening to a Message, Press:
1 - Rewind
1-1 Rewind to beginning of message
2 - Pause
3 - Fast Forward
3-3 Fast Forward to end of message
4 - Slower
5 - Envelope Info (date/time message was sent)
6 - Faster
7 - Delete Message
9 - Save Message
* - Cancel/Exit
0 - Help
# - Finish/Skip
After Listening to a Message, Press:
6 - Forward**
7 - Delete
8 - Reply**
9 - Save
0 - Help

Even though many people are getting the smart phones which seem to make voice mail obsolete, this is not the case. Many people still use it in addition to all the other ways of communication. Many people still have the regular phones with out all the fancy internet and apps. Hope this helps you guys out there.

When Was The Last Time You Checked Yours

2010-09-03T18:20:00.000-07:00

Voice mail is starting be be one of those old technologies that no one seems to use anymore. Consider this: you are at work and missed a call from a friend and they leave a message. You are busy and cannot check the message until the end of the day. One of the disadvantages of this is that you would not know why they were calling right away. It also takes about twice as long to check voice mail than to check a text. A text message is also much more private. The younger generation is using the new technologies much more than the older ones. Between the emails, texting, and even internet fax, there are dozens more ways of communicating than there were before.

Viruses In Cloud Computing

2010-08-26T20:38:00.000-07:00

With all these new ways to improve the internet experience, come more ways for viruses to spread. I was wondering what would happen if the host of a cloud computing system get infected and how that would spread to the other computer. One of the best parts of the system is that surfing across the internet is much faster and more things can be stored. It is also cheaper. The drawback is that everything is connected. Has anyone ever can across that type of problem? I was also wondering how it would affect the internet phone service and internet fax since all that is connected to the server as well.

New Virus Removes Protection

2010-08-26T20:32:00.000-07:00

We do everything to make sure that all our information on the computer is protected and saved. Millions of dollars are spent on software to prevent viruses which needs to be constantly updated in order to stay one step ahead of the hackers and phishers. We even use the latest technology to send documents such as encrypted emails and internet fax. There is a new virus out there that deletes any malware protection you might have and then attacks the computer. The experts say that if your antivirus software is up to date and you keep an eye out for the bogus requests and pop-ups, you should be fine. What software do you guys use? Which is the best?

Gene Testing: Is It Moral?

2010-06-26T10:06:00.000-07:00

Back in the day, when it came to meeting someone, perhaps a potential mate, all you had to do was give them your phone number and see what happens. In today's world, we have about 20 different methods of communication, ranging from social sites, emails, cell phones, internet fax numbers and so on. Well what if someone came up to you asked to see your gene profile to discern whether you were a good biological match for that person? Interestingly enough, gene testing can be done just for a mere 100 bucks, so should you do it? Personally that sounds about as bad as marrying someone for money. Once again I feel the need to step back and take a good look around. So.....would you get your genes tested or ask your significant other to do it too?

Getting Back to Nature

2010-06-26T09:22:00.000-07:00

It is time that we put our smart phones away and try not to compulsively check emails, voice mails, and internet fax. We tend to miss out on the wonderful aspects of nature when it is so easy to get wrapped up in the technology of today. My advice is to just get outside, regardless of how hot or sunny it is. Take a deep breath and smell everything around you. Recently, I went to the zoo and it was the first time in about 5 years. We are so entranced in the digital world that everything else becomes blurred. It was disappointing to see that not that many kids were there enjoying the animals and different water life. The colors were the thing that stayed with me after I left. Now these are not the tones that you would ever find in the department store.

Sometimes Typos Can be Disastrous

2010-06-26T08:42:00.000-07:00

When we are reading a book, email, or even internet fax typos can sometimes get annoying but other times, they can lead to serious misunderstandings. For example, what if the mistake had to do with money and the person that was typing accidentally spelled billion instead of million? It is a rather easy mistake to make if the person is not careless, the keys are only 1 cm apart. When leaving a voice mail, a person does not have to worry about these things. So just for future reference, make sure that you read over everything that you type, whether the mistake has the potential to be monumental or not.

Caffeine Has Great Benefits

2010-05-29T18:44:00.000-07:00

Research has shown that caffeine might have the ability to reverse neuro-degeneration caused by aging, Alzheimer's, or Parkinson's. There are actually some studies underway with coffee in rats and mice. Studies have not started in humans because it would be expensive and take a long time since the span of ten years needs to be studied. Currently, the research shows that caffeine stops the effects of aging and disease rather than reversing it. In other words, memory will not necessarily improve and you will not be spontaneously able to remember your old friend's number to leave a voice mail. It will just slow it down. I guess there will be more information to come about it.

Facebook Has Visions for a More Social Internet World

2010-04-25T14:08:00.000-07:00

Facebook has come up with this new idea called Open Graph. It will enable people to stay updated on other people's lives without any glitches. Voice mail is so last century. If you want to find out how one or even a hundred of your friends are doing, you are going to have to check whatever social network they are on. Now the problem with that is there are so many sites and since your friends have different preferences, they will be one different sites. How many accounts would that translate into for you to have? Well, now there will be a solution.

When a Facebook user visits a site – even for the first time – Open Graph partner sites will display their Facebook friends' recommendations and preferences. No login to the site or to Facebook Connect is required, and the information will flow back into a user's Facebook news stream over time.
"I can go to CNN. I can immediately see that three of my friends like this article without CNN ever knowing who I am and who my friends are. Then I can like it and it forms new connections in the Open Graph," explained Zuckerberg.
Thirty partners were announced who have incorporated the new Open Graph functionality into their sites, Zuckerberg said, including ESPN, CNN, Pandora, Sephora and Yelp.
"Our goal today to use the Open Graph so people can have instant personalized experiences wherever they go," said Zuckerberg.
The new personalized, social information is made possible through Facebook Social Plugins, which sites can install with only one line of HTML code.
Facebook also announced several changes for site developers to make Open Graph integration easier. As of today, the 24-hour time limit for sites storing Facebook data has been lifted.
"There's an old saying: When you go to heaven, all of your friends are there and it's the way you want it to be," Zuckerberg said at the end of his speech. "Let's make that world. Thanks for coming out."

You'll Never Look at Voicemail the Same Way

2010-04-25T13:21:00.000-07:00

With the new line of smartphones that Dell is coming out with, voice mail will never be the same. As the people at Dell would say, "There is Smoke, Flash, Thunder, and Lightening on the way." Here are the complete details (and yes it was from a leak):

Dell Smoke
A candybar form factor with a large screen, 2.8-inches, and a full QWERTY keyboard squished at the bottom. The screen is actually remarkably large for the form factor, something Dell acknowledges with the words "non-conforming style." It will come with a Qualcomm 800MHz processor, which isn't fantastic but still impressive, a 5 megapixel camera, microSD card expansion slot, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. Dell's description and the form factor indicate it will be marketed towards the BlackBerry business crowd, but it won't be out until the second quarter of 2011. It will be running the Android 2.2 operating system, which is scheduled to be released soon.

Dell Flash
It's fairly obvious that the name is supposed to indicate a "flashy" phone because of the sleek design. Dell even says it will be fashioned out of a piece of "curved glass." The form factor is pretty standard for a touchscreen phone, with a 3.5-inch display, 5 megapixel autofocus camera with image stabilization and blink detection, microSD card expansion slot, Wi-Fi, TV-out port, Bluetooth and a Qualcomm 800MHz processor. The Flash will also run Android 2.2 and is intended for a first quarter 2011 release on AT&T's network.

Dell Thunder
The Dell Thunder is the closest to production and also one of the most attractive of the new phones. It will run Android 2.1 with a special Dell "Stage" user interface integrated on top of the operating system. The Thunder is designed to be a media machine, mostly because it will be compatible with Flash 10.1, which allows smartphones to view videos and interactive content on the Web. Along those lines, the Dell documents also mention an "integrated" Hulu app for viewing TV shows on the phone. Specs for the Thunder are a little vague. It likely has the 1GHz Snapdragon processor, but it definitely has an 8 megapixel camera. The Thunder is destined for the AT&T network near the end of this year.

Dell Lightning
The Lightning is the sole Windows Phone 7 handset in the leaked documents, but it's impressive. The form factor is a "portrait slider," meaning the slide-out keyboard slides out when the phone is upright, rather than in landscape mode like most slider phones. It has a large 4.1-inch OLED touchscreen display, a 1GHz Snapdragon processor, 8GB of storage on a microSD card, GPS, accelerometer, FM radio, Flash support (for the aforementioned video viewing). The Lightning will come out late this year, which makes sense because Windows Phone 7 won't be released until that time, too.

Security over the Internet with Voicemail

2010-04-20T18:35:00.000-07:00

If you have a small business and you use internet phone services to provide online faxing and voicemail,the first main thing you worry about is security issues. With RingCentral you will have no concerns and issues with this. Privacy is RingCentrals main concern for their customers,so they created an industry leading,patent pending functionality that is the first of its kind. All your messages,weather voicemail,online faxing or or email, are sent and received directly between your Call Controller software client and their secure servers. The messages are synchronized between your computer,using call controller and your My Account web tool. With this you can safely read,create,file and forward messages whether your online or not with all the security RingCentral offers.

Text Messages Better Than Voicemail

2010-04-20T17:23:00.000-07:00

Sending text messages are not only quick and efficient, they also give a certain privacy to the users. Every kid at least once in their life has texted under the desk or the dinner table. It does not bother the people around unless they get irritated or there is a rule at school against it. Texting a lot faster than calling someone and then leaving a voicemail and a lot less noisy. One of the reasons that the older generation is "out of the texting loop" is because of the abbreviations and lack of grammar. What they need to understand is that the point of sending a message is to communicate as fast and easy as possible. Also it is much more of a hassle to check voice mails, unless you have speech-to-text capabilities.

T-Shirts That Stop Bullets

2010-04-17T08:22:00.000-07:00

You have all heard of the bulletproof vests that deflect bullets but the new things that is coming out is t-shirts that "absorb" bullets. Check out this article and tell me what you think:

Those bulky, bulletproof vests could become a thing of the past. Their replacement Your T-shirt, but with a special coating. Bulletproofing can be done in one of two ways. The first, old-school approach relies on hard plates of metal or ceramic, which deflect oncoming bullets. A more elegant way, perhaps, is the use of a network of fibers – the approach taken by Kevlar – to “catch” the bullet, much like a hockey goalie catches a flying puck.

Kevlar has made its mark in body armor, as the technology is used in vests, helmets, and other gear for law enforcement, corrections officers and the military. However, it’s expensive, which limits its use to those who can drop hundreds of dollars for protection.
The new technology, which also relies on the catching method, addresses these issues by using an inexpensive material and a simple process – a feat that could bring body armor to the masses, according to Xiaodong Li of the University of South Carolina and study researcher.
Here’s how it works: By dipping pieces of cotton from a T-shirt into a solution of boron powder, the researchers created a network of nanowires made out of boron carbide – the third hardest material known to man at room temperature.
The new T-shirt body armor probably won’t compete with the Kevlar-type technologies, but it could be useful for situations in which less protection is sufficient.
"We should be able to fabricate much tougher body armors using this new technique," Li said. "It could even be used to produce lightweight, fuel-efficient cars and aircrafts."

The idea came to one of the researchers while on phone and and he left a voicemail with one of his supervisors. Just Imagine where this technology could go and the new things that can from it. Li and his team detailed their findings in the April 6 issue of the journal Advanced Materials.

Skype Also Offers Voicemail

2010-04-09T18:06:00.000-07:00

Skype offers a voicemail service as an addition feature with a subscription. In association with SpinVox, you can now convert your voicemails to text for a small fee and send the text to your mobile. Now you'll never miss an important message. You can also set up a Skype To Go number to check the voicemail. It is one of the better voicemail services that are out there, along with having great prices. This is just what every business needs, in order to have an edge to compete in the market. The Skype phone service works on all landlines and the current computer platforms.

YouMail Offers Visual Mail

2010-04-09T17:48:00.000-07:00

Voicemail can be transcribed into visual mail that can be either received by phone, an online account, or email. The messages can be either be shared or saved forever, and the messages can be received either on work or home phones. Also, there is the option of personalizing greetings. Advanced options include unlimited storage space, quick alerts and a great customer support team to answer any questions.The regular features from YouMail are available for no charge and the premium features only cost $1.99 a month. There are also free apps that are available for downloading. The carriers that work with this service include AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, and T-Mobile.

Get Off Your Phone and Drive

2010-04-05T12:24:00.000-07:00

Finally there are studies that directly prove that people on cell phones are more likely to get into some sort of accidents. Cell phone distraction causes 2,600 deaths and 330,000 injuries in the United States every year, according to the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society. That is almost 1,000 injuries every day. Even hands free cell phone use is impairing and can sometimes be deadly. Not only is cell phone use causing injuries, it also slows down traffic which can make a lot of people rather angry. New technology such as texting, checking emails, and checking voice mails is making things even harder and more dangerous. Laws are being passed to ban texting while driving and apps have been developed that disable texting at certain speeds. Of course, there are drawbacks that are being addressed. For example, people can be let go by the police after being stopped for texting 5 times in order to get the public adjusted to these laws.

Google Is Now a Phone Carrier

2010-04-03T19:11:00.001-07:00

Found this really interesting article about Google, they have bought out Gizmo5 which was a phone company. By being able to integrate phone features of land lines and internet capabilities, Google has become a formidable competitor in the phone service and voicemail provider market.

It's a potent recipe -- take Gizmo5's open standards-based online calling system. Add to it the new ability to route calls on Google's massive network of cheap fiber. Toss in Google Voice's free phone number, which will ring your mobile phone, your home phone and your Gizmo5 client on your laptop.
Meanwhile you can use Gizmo5 to make ultracheap outgoing calls to domestic and international phone numbers, and free calls to Skype, Google Talk, Yahoo and AIM users. You could make and receive calls that bypass the per-minute billing on your smartphone.
Then layer on deluxe phone services like free SMS, voicemail transcription, customized call routing, free conference calls and voicemails sent as recordings to your e-mail account, and you have a phone service that competes with Skype, landlines and the Internet telephone offerings from Vonage and cable companies.

It sounds like RingCentral might have some competition in the future when Google decides to be an internet phone and possibly and internet fax provider. I'll keep you posted.

Don't be shy: Share your preferred way to communicate

2010-03-30T03:19:00.000-07:00

A friend in Dubai recently e-mailed me with the subject line: "a note about the e-mail I owe you.''

In the message, which she sent to practically everyone she knows, she said she needed to own up to how bad she is at returning e-mails.

I e-mailed her to say Bravo! and asked what was the response from our other friends. She said it felt great to have the in-box albatross off her neck -- and this was her way of not just reaching out, but also getting more organized.

When there are a variety of ways to communicate with people - text, instant messages, Twitter, etc. - shouldn't it also be a part of netiquette to learn what form of communication people prefer?

In other words, if a person hates voice mail, don't use it. If someone only wants to be contacted via e-mail, respect that.

In the case of my Dubai friend, she's not bad at communicating: she uses Facebook daily, chats with people via Skype and Google instant messaging, and still uses old-school devices like the phone and even writes actual letters. What I thought was great was that she articulated all of her communication preferences to her friends.

I think this is even more important in professional situations, because it gives you a chance to distinguish yourself. Everyone's got the e-mail signature that lists the variety of ways they can be contacted (Follow me on Twitter! Read my Blog!).

But I think in the rush to be available to everyone on all platforms, we've failed to indicate the way we prefer to be contacted.

This goes both ways: It's not just about asking people how they would like to communicate, but also about making your own preferences clear.

Anyone who has ever called my work phone knows that for years, my voice mail has contained a message asking public relations professionals to e-mail me (if they don't have it, I spell out my e-mail address.)

There are a few reasons, but mostly, it's because I like to store things via e-mail so I can go back -- even if months later, to retrieve that was sent. I'm not opposed to picking up the phone: sometimes, that's the fastest and most efficient way to communicate.

And that's my point, as well. It's not just about courtesy, it's about efficiency. These days, couldn't we all use a bit more of both?

Check your inbox –‘You’ve got mail,’ and it’s from God

2010-03-23T03:10:00.000-07:00

And what do you think about this article? Leave your opinion below!

"You’ve got mail." Sounds like a greeting from your postman.

"Neither snow, nor rain, nor gloom of night stays these couriers from their swift completion of their appointed rounds," says the familiar motto attributed to the postal service mail carriers who deliver mail six days a week to your personal address. Looks like that may change in the near future to five days a week.

In the age of technology, "you’ve got mail" is identified with an electronic voice telling you to check your e-mail box. Our ancestors could not imagine sending a message instantly to anyone anywhere in the world who has access to a computer.

According to recent statistics, there are 4.5 billion email addresses. It's estimated more than 210 billion e-mails are sent every day and 70 percent of those emails are considered spam – electronic junk mail.

The speed of e-mail as compared to the postal service regular delivery has caused the latter to earn the nickname "snail-mail". But even the post office can guarantee mail will travel overnight and arrive the next day.

Have you ever heard of V-mail? During World War II, V-mail or Victory mail was the name for the letters exchanged between home and the soldiers fighting in Europe.

Then there's voice mail, the message you leave on answering machines or phone systems as soon as you hear the sound of the tone. While driving around town recently, I noticed a church sign that read, "God answers knee-mail." I thought, "What a great way to remind people to pray."

Maybe it’s the kid in me, but I still look forward to finding a letter in the mailbox addressed to me. A sealed envelope begs to be opened, whether or not the return address is familiar.

You've got mail from God and so do I. "The Bible is a letter God has sent to us," according to theologian Matthew Henry. A patriarch of the faith once said, "Be astounded that God should have written to us."

It's a personal letter written to each one of us that begs to be opened. God's letter tells you and me how much He loves us. The Word of God contains pages of precious promises to us. We can read the epistles or letters that the Apostle Paul wrote from prison to the church members in Corinth, Greece and other places like Ephesus and Galatia. Then there are rules to live by, like the Ten Commandments and Beatitudes.

God's letter is His inspired and infallible Word. Read your Bible like you would your e-mail or letters every day. You can read numerous translations of the Bible on websites such as biblegateway.com. The Bible was "written, that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you might have life through his name" (John 20:31).

Triano's ex-wife, Young talked money

2010-03-15T04:09:00.000-07:00

Some criminal news for today! Read and comment!

Jurors in the trial of Ronald Young spent Friday listening to voice-mail messages and reading documents that prosecutors contend prove he was hired to kill a Tucson businessman in November 1996.

The voice mail messages, e-mails and text documents were retrieved from a computer and Zip disks belonging to Young and covering a several-year time frame.

Young, 67, is charged with first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit first-degree murder in the pipe-bomb killing of Gary Triano, 52.

Prosecutors intend to prove Triano's former wife, Pamela Phillips, hired Young to kill Triano for $400,000 - one-fifth of the $2 million she received from Triano's life insurance policy.

Young's attorneys say Young didn't kill Triano and the thousands of dollars he received over the years from Phillips were blackmail payments.

Prosecutor Shawn Jensvold played message after message in which Phillips provides Young the Federal Express tracking number for money she has sent him.

As time goes on, Phillips complains her finances are stressed. She finally says she just can't send him any more money.

In a later message, Phillips tells Young she doesn't like being threatened and mentions she could call his children and mother.

The e-mails and text documents indicate Young was not happy about the frequency of the payments. He repeatedly says she is obligated to him. The only reason he agreed to an installment plan was to protect her from "bad consequences," Young said.

In an e-mail dated Dec. 11, 2002, Young tells Phillips the Tucson Weekly has reported she is still a suspect in Triano's death. He goes on to berate her for taking out a note on the multimillion-dollar house she bought with Triano's life insurance.

"Well it seems you have decided to shoot yourself in the foot again. For the life of me, I can't understand why you would let greed blind you in so much of what you do," Young wrote.
Young and Phillips were indicted in Triano's death in October 2008, and Young was arrested immediately in California.

Phillips was arrested in Austria in December 2009 and is awaiting extradition.

YouTube to Offer Captions on Videos

2010-03-09T07:04:00.000-08:00

Some news about YouTube! Read and comment!

Google Inc.'s YouTube said it will offer automatically generated captions for its entire video catalog, a boon for deaf users and those who want to watch videos in other languages.

At a press conference at YouTube's San Bruno, Calif., headquarters, Google software engineer Ken Harrenstein demonstrated the feature and went through the reasons Google invested in the product—from expanding accessibility to crossing language barriers to improving search.

YouTube watchers can see available captions by clicking on a button in the lower-right-hand part of the video player. They can also select to see captions in a different language from the language of the video. Mr. Harrenstein, who is deaf and gave his presentation in sign language, said he has been working on the product for the past five years.

YouTube has been pushing captions for a while, in part because the company hopes it will make it easier for its search engine to identify particular moments within a video. In 2008, it began allowing content owners to upload their own captions. Last year, Google turned on automatic captioning for videos uploaded by a small number of partners, like the University of California, Berkeley and Yale University.

Now, YouTube is rolling them out across the catalog of millions of videos, starting with English-language videos, as long as they have clear audio. The move was cheered by several students from the California School for the Deaf, who were in attendance.

Google research scientist Mike Cohen said the captioning technology blends Google's speech-recognition and translation algorithms. "I don't know about anything tried at this type of scale before," he said.

Mr. Cohen said the technology is constantly improving, getting better at canceling out noise conditions and factoring accents.

He said it relies on the same technology components as Google's other speech-recognition products, like Google Voice's automatic voice mail transcription and its voice-based search service. But he noted that the algorithms have to be tweaked to account for the differences in audio spoken into a phone versus an audio track.

The technology isn't perfect. Mr. Harrenstein pulled up captions for a video of Google executive Vic Gundotra at a Google developer conference last year.

While talking about giving each developer in attendance an Android phone, Mr. Gundotra said the phones contained a SIM card, which provides service for the phone. The technology picked it up as "salmon."

Mr. Harrenstein said, aside from the captions for millions of videos already running, Google will have the rest of the library done soon.

YouTube viewers will be able to select to see captions automatically, although some companies that upload large amounts of content to YouTube will get to choose whether they want captions available.

Voice mail stolen from Rutland Chamber of Commerce

2010-03-02T03:17:00.000-08:00

Found this while surfing the Internet, waiting for your comments!

Police are investigating an unusual robbery in Rutland.

On Thursday night somebody stole the voice mail from the Rutland Regional Chamber of Commerce building. The burglars broke into other businesses in the building to reach the phone system, which is housed in a back common area. Along with the system, the burglars took the electrical circuitry as well.
Today's Child sustained the most damage during the break-in.

Will Carriers Offer a Better Way to Get Voice Mail?

2010-02-22T03:52:00.000-08:00

Hope you will enjoy this text!

Last week, I got the most surprising piece of e-mail. It came from Saul Einbinder, a marketing executive at a company called uReach.

uReach is a behind-the-scenes company that you, the average person, have probably never heard of. It provides services for companies that you *do* interact with — in this case, Verizon. You see, uReach provides the voice-mail service for Verizon.
The e-mail came with an attachment: a press release titled; "Ninety-Eight Percent of Users Want a Better Way to Get Voice Mail." Well, no duh.

Mr. Einbinder sent me the release because he was aware of my irritation with current voice-mail systems, especially Verizon’s. Last fall, I led a very public campaign, called "Take Back the Beep," against the moronic, mandatory, 15-second recording that you’re forced to sit through every time you leave a message for someone. You know: "To page this person, press 5. When you have finished recording, you may hang up," and so on. I calculated that if Verizon’s 87 million customers leave or check messages twice each business day, that comes out to $750 million of air time a year — your money and your time, listening to pointless instructions over and over again.

So I was a little bit shocked to get a press release from the culprits — the exact people who created that infuriating, slow, time-wasting message — pointing out how much people hate it!

"This is really fascinating," I wrote back, "but also baffling. I mean, I guess I’m confused why you’d want to publicize the results of this study. Isn’t it like advertising how poor your own service is? (I know I’m missing something here!)"

The response: "Great question (really, it is). We provide voice mail to the carriers’ specifications. We can’t walk in and make changes."

Actually, there’s the answer right there — the voice-mail systems’ awfulness is dictated by the carriers themselves. Why am I not surprised?

In any case, Mr. Einbinder went on:

"So why don’t the carriers just ask us to update these systems? They have had many of these systems in place for years, and for most carriers, the spending priorities are in other areas (such as cable and/or fiber broadband networks, cellphone data networks). Most U.S. carriers have undergone mergers over the years, so they are managing voice-mail systems from several vendors, and systems are scattered about in many places. What may seem like an easy change really isn’t easy at all, and since the dollars go elsewhere, nothing changes."

"So it’s hopeless, right? No, that’s too pessimistic; there are several positive developments. Your campaign illustrated the frustration that many have with these systems. From my perspective, it’s not that voice mail is poor, it’s that the voice mail from the ’90s is poor. It was fine then, but our needs have changed."

"When carriers recognize the frustration that their customers have, they will increase the priority to update these systems. Some providers are already testing some of the newer technologies, and even making money at it. After all, if there is frustration, then there is a business opportunity in solving that frustration. That may sound crude, but as consumers, we embrace BlackBerry, high-speed Internet, smartphones, data plans and the like, because they solve problems. Carriers provide them because they make money. Why not the same for better voice mail?"

"This study simply tells us that people want a better way to get voice mail. Not too shocking! We want to get the word out to carriers that A) there is a problem and B) that there is a cost-effective solution. I expect they’ll put it together."

"Hope that was helpful."

It was indeed helpful. We all should have known that it boils down to money. Tedious voice mail recordings make it; fixing the system costs it.

Now, uReach isn’t exactly on a humanitarian mission with its press campaign. What it was really hoping to accomplish with its study, of course, was to plug its own voice-mail-to-text software — and sell it to the Verizons of the world.

I am a huge raging fan of voice-mail-to-text services. They let you get your voice-mail messages as e-mail, as cellphone text messages, or, with uReach’s latest system, even as Twitter or Facebook messages. Text can be copied, pasted, forwarded, archived and searched. You can read much faster than you can listen. You can read them in any order. And above all, you never, ever have to listen to that insanely sleepy Verizon lady saying, "You…have… twenty…eight… messages. To listen to your messages…."

I’m sorry to hear that we might be expected to pay more for these services. That seems kind of evil: the carrier saddles us with those 15-second droners, and then makes us pay money to avoid them?
Now, I respect uReach for risking its own Verizon relationship by publicizing how much people hate the current voice-mail systems. I admire it for speaking out. I hope it succeeds in shaming the carriers into addressing the inferiority of their current 15-year-old voice-mail software.

I also admire Sprint, whose voice mail options have always included the ability to eliminate the 15-second recording completely, and ATT, who shaved its recording down to eight seconds as a result of "Take Back the Beep" complaints. (And I’ll admire you if you’ll re-record your own voice mail greeting so that it includes instructions for bypassing the carrier’s own recording: "Hi, it’s David. To jump to the beep, press 1." (It’s 1 for Sprint or ATT, * for Verizon, # for T-Mobile.)

At the same time, it’s my duty to remind you that you can have all of this happiness for free; just sign up for a Google Voice account. Your callers will hear no instructions at all, you’ll hear only a four-second greeting when you call in for messages, and you’ll get free voice-mail-to-text transcriptions that come to you by e-mail and/or text messages.

These days, you don’t even have to change your phone number; you can just have Google Voice take over the voice mail for your current phone account. (If you are willing to choose a new phone number from Google Voice, then you get a raft of other great features, like having a single uni-number that rings all your phone numbers at once.)

In any case, I enjoyed the glimpse behind the scenes provided by Mr. Einbinder. Let’s hope it embarrasses the cell carriers enough to change.

RingCentral Wins INTERNET TELEPHONY Magazine's 2007 Product of the Year Award

2010-02-09T02:04:00.001-08:00

Have found this page. There are many articles about RingCentral. So, if you are interested, you may read it. As for our theme I have found this:

RingCentral has won Technology Marketing Corporation's INTERNET TELEPHONY magazine 2007 Product of the Year Award for the third consecutive year. The award recognizes RingCentral's exceptional value to small businesses and its ongoing technology innovation.

The company's online services allow small businesses to instantly unify and intelligently manage all their phone, mobile, fax and email communications. RingCentral offers a complete virtual phone system for small businesses.

By integrating landline, VoIP, cellular, email, voicemail and fax with a powerful Web interface, the company gives small businesses unprecedented flexibility and control. Last year, RingCentral released DigitalLine, a proprietary Voice over Internet Protocol service that adds the convenience and cost savings of Internet-based telephony to its virtual phone system.

With this solution, the company delivers a complete hosted solution for small businesses, enabling customers to use a mix of traditional land line, mobile and VoIP communications to place and receive calls. RingCentral DigitalLine does not require small businesses to rely solely on VoIP.

Each year, INTERNET TELEPHONY honors the companies that have created the most innovative products in the IP communications industry. The editors of INTERNET TELEPHONY selects the winning companies and products based on demonstrated vision, leadership and attention to detail.

"It is with great pride that, for the third year in a row, we accept this Product of the Year award from the editors of INTERNET TELEPHONY," said Vlad Shmunis, CEO of RingCentral, in a statement.

According to Shmunis, by understanding the needs of small business customers, the company made significant strides in communication services during 2007. He added that the decision to offer VoIP as a value-added component of a feature-rich suite, as opposed to a standalone offering, reflects a commitment to deliver the most comprehensive communication service to customers.

"We are proud to recognize the greatest achievements in the advancement of VoIP and IP telecommunications technologies in 2007," said Rich Tehrani, TMC President and Editor-in-Chief of INTERNET TELEPHONY magazine.

Tehrani pointed out that RingCentral has proven they are dedicated to quality and excellence while addressing real needs in the marketplace.

VoIP Service Provider RingCentral Delivers "Click-to-Call" Technology to Real Estate Agents

2010-02-01T03:16:00.000-08:00

This is an article written by Patrick Barnard. Hope you will find something new while reading it!

Imagine you’re shopping for a new home online one evening and suddenly you see the one you’ve always dreamed of.

Normally, you’d have to wait and call the agent or agency representing that home the next morning, in order to set up an appointment. That would mean that you’d run the risk of missing the agent and getting his or her voice mail – and perhaps not being able to set up the appointment until a day or two later. By then, the house may have been sold!

Helping to solve this annoying problem, however, is "click-to-call" technology. Thanks to the advent of VoIP, real estate agencies can now install "click-to-call" buttons on their websites - often with a "click-to-call" button right next to the photo of each house that is listed. Each "click" launches a free Web-based VoIP call directly to the agent (or at least to their voicemail so they can get the message to call you right away)! Basically, this "courtesy" saves you a step: You don’t have to get out of your chair and dial the real estate agency using your regular landline phone a cell phone. It also helps save you money since the calls are free!

Helping to bring this new technology to real estate agents and their customers is HouseValues, a provider of comprehensive and proven marketing and business solutions. The company today announced a deal with VoIP provider to provide HouseValues’ customers with an on-demand telecommunications service, including RingCentral’s RingMe "click-to-call" button.

The partnership will give HouseValues’ customers a powerful, "one-step" solution for connecting potential home buyers with a local neighborhood expert.

With RingMe installed on the listing websites, agencies will be able to drive more potential buyers to their agents. In fact, with click-to-call there’s really no reason why a potential home buyer can’t be connected with a live company representative every time! The other option is, once a visitor clicks the button, a pop-up window appears - then they enter a phone number and time period when they wish to be contacted.

"This partnership makes good business sense for both HouseValues and RingCentral," said Rob Ransom, vice president of product and marketing for HouseValues Inc., in a press release. "Together, we're focused on providing small business owners with the innovative marketing and technology solutions they need to compete in today's marketplace."

RingCentral Chief Executive Officer Vlad Shmunis added: "This is an exciting opportunity to help a large group of real estate professionals with a service that will help them get in touch with people who want to talk to them about buying and selling homes."

If Your Password Is 123456, Just Make It HackMe

2010-01-21T04:02:00.000-08:00

Today we will talk about passwords. This is something we use every day and something that keeps our e-mails, blogs, messengers and another accounts safe. But is it really enough safe for us? Can it prevent our accounts of hacking? This and much more you will know after reading this article. So, read carefully and enjoy!

Back at the dawn of the Web, the most popular account password was “12345”. Today, it’s one digit longer but hardly safer: “123456”. Despite all the reports of Internet security breaches over the years, including the recent attacks on Google’s e-mail service, many people have reacted to the break-ins with a shrug.
According to a new analysis, one out of five Web users still decides to leave the digital equivalent of a key under the doormat: they choose a simple, easily guessed password like “abc123”, “iloveyou” or even “password” to protect their data.

“I guess it’s just a genetic flaw in humans,” said Amichai Shulman, the chief technology officer at Imperva, which makes software for blocking hackers. “We’ve been following the same patterns since the 1990s.”

Mr. Shulman and his company examined a list of 32 million passwords that an unknown hacker stole last month from RockYou, a company that makes software for users of social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace. The list was briefly posted on the Web, and hackers and security researchers downloaded it. (RockYou, which had already been widely criticized for lax privacy practices, has advised its customers to change their passwords, as the hacker gained information about their e-mail accounts as well.)
The trove provided an unusually detailed window into computer users’ password habits. Typically, only government agencies like the F.B.I. or the National Security Agency have had access to such a large password list.

“This was the mother lode,” said Matt Weir, a doctoral candidate in the e-crimes and investigation technology lab at Florida State University, where researchers are also examining the data.

Imperva found that nearly 1 percent of the 32 million people it studied had used “123456” as a password. The second-most-popular password was “12345”. Others in the top 20 included “qwerty”, “abc123” and “princess”.
More disturbing, said Mr. Shulman, was that about 20 percent of people on the RockYou list picked from the same, relatively small pool of 5,000 passwords.
That suggests that hackers could easily break into many accounts just by trying the most common passwords. Because of the prevalence of fast computers and speedy networks, hackers can fire off thousands of password guesses per minute.

“We tend to think of password guessing as a very time-consuming attack in which I take each account and try a large number of name-and-password combinations,” Mr. Shulman said. “The reality is that you can be very effective by choosing a small number of common passwords.”

Some Web sites try to thwart the attackers by freezing an account for a certain period of time if too many incorrect passwords are typed. But experts say that the hackers simply learn to trick the system, by making guesses at an acceptable rate, for instance.
To improve security, some Web sites are forcing users to mix letters, numbers and even symbols in their passwords. Others, like Twitter, prevent people from picking common passwords.
Still, researchers say, social networking and entertainment Web sites often try to make life simpler for their users and are reluctant to put too many controls in place.
Even commercial sites like eBay must weigh the consequences of freezing accounts, since a hacker could, say, try to win an auction by freezing the accounts of other bidders.
Overusing simple passwords is not a new phenomenon. A similar survey examined computer passwords used in the mid-1990s and found that the most popular ones at that time were “12345”, “abc123” and “password”.
Why do so many people continue to choose easy-to-guess passwords, despite so many warnings about the risks?
Security experts suggest that we are simply overwhelmed by the sheer number of things we have to remember in this digital age.

“Nowadays, we have to keep probably 10 times as many passwords in our head as we did 10 years ago,” said Jeff Moss, who founded a popular hacking conference and is now on the Homeland Security Advisory Council. “Voice mail passwords, A.T.M. PINs and Internet passwords — it’s so hard to keep track of.”

In the idealized world championed by security specialists, people would have different passwords for every Web site they visit and store them in their head or, if absolutely necessary, on a piece of paper.
But bowing to the reality of our overcrowded brains, the experts suggest that everyone choose at least two different passwords — a complex one for Web sites were security is vital, such as banks and e-mail, and a simpler one for places where the stakes are lower, such as social networking and entertainment sites.
Mr. Moss relies on passwords at least 12 characters long, figuring that those make him a more difficult target than the millions of people who choose five- and six-character passwords.

“It’s like the joke where the hikers run into a bear in the forest, and the hiker that survives is the one who outruns his buddy,” Mr. Moss said. “You just want to run that bit faster.”

Top 10 new features in Exchange Server 2010

2010-01-14T08:21:00.000-08:00

Enjoy this info!

You'll find some significant additions to the latest version of Exchange Server. Brien Posey runs down some notable new features.

Microsoft recently released Exchange Server 2010, and it's chockfull of new features. This article will introduce you to a few of my personal favorites.
1: Legal hold
Over the last several years, it has become increasingly more common for an organization's e-mail messages to be subpoenaed as part of the litigation process. The problem is that e-mail is dynamic in nature. Messages are constantly being sent, received, and deleted. Likewise, messages in the archives are often set to expire after a specific length of time. All of these factors have made it difficult to comply with litigation-related message retention requirements.
Exchange 2010 offers a new legal hold feature. This feature allows you to preserve the contents of an Exchange mailbox. Users can still use their mailbox in the usual manner, but copies of all items are retained, even if they delete them or if archived content would otherwise have expired.
2: Multi mailbox search
A complementary feature to legal hold is the new multi mailbox search feature. This feature makes it a lot easier for organizations to perform e-discovery. As the name implies, multi mailbox search allows a designated person to perform organization-level searches across users' mailboxes. The search interface is designed to allow administrators to search for multiple keywords or phrases simultaneously.
3: Exchange Control Panel
The Exchange Control Panel is a new management tool built into Exchange 2010. While the Exchange Control Panel isn't designed to take the place of the Exchange Management Console or the Exchange Management Shell, it is definitely a welcome addition.
The Exchange Control Panel is integrated into OWA. It allows users to perform a few basic self-service tasks, such as changing their contact information. For administrators, the Exchange Control Panel provides a way of performing some of the more common management tasks remotely using a Web interface.
4: Database availability groups
Exchange 2007 provided several high availability features, such as Cluster Continuous Replication. Exchange 2010 takes things a step further with database availability groups.
Database availability groups allow you to designate multiple servers to host copies of individual databases. In the event of a failure, Exchange can automatically recover. Databases are no longer server specific, so you are free to mix and match the database replicas that are hosted on each mailbox server.
5: Database-level failover
In previous Exchange Server cluster implementations, a failure required an entire cluster node to fail over. This meant that if a server was hosting multiple databases, and the disks associated with a single database were to fail, the entire server would have to fail over--which would be disruptive to users whose mailboxes weren't even stored on the failed disks.
In contrast, Exchange 2010 supports database-level fail over. That way, if a failure affects only a single database, that database can fail over without disrupting the other databases on the server.
6: Voice mail transcription
In Exchange 2007, the unified messaging feature caused voice mail messages to be saved as e-mail message attachments. While that seemed to work out fine most of the time, it did sometimes make life difficult for road warriors who didn't always have the ability to play the message.
Exchange 2010 uses a speech recognition engine to automatically transcribe voice mail messages. Users still receive the voice message as an e-mail attachment, but the e-mail message also contains a written transcript of the voice message. Users can check their voice messages even when they don't have access to a sound card. More important, the transcription feature allows the contents of voice messages to be indexed along with traditional e-mail messages.
7: Call answering rules
In Exchange 2007, the auto attendant provides voice prompt menus for the organization's primary phone number. For example, an auto attendant might be used to ask callers to press 1 for English or 2 for Spanish and then route calls accordingly. In Exchange 2007, the auto attendant is an organization-level feature.
In Exchange 2010, though, each user has his or her own personal auto attendant, which Microsoft refers to as the Call Answering Rules feature. Call answering rules allows users to create their own call routing options. So, for instance, an important call might be forwarded to a user's cell phone, while a less important call might go straight to voice mail.
8: Personal archive
In Exchange 2010, each user can now have two mailboxes--a primary mailbox and an archive mailbox. By using an archive mailbox, users can keep their primary mailboxes uncluttered. They're free to browse their archive mailbox at will, and items can be automatically moved from their primary mailbox to their archive mailbox using retention policies.
9: Retention policies
Retention policies allow messages to be tagged in a way that reflects their useful lifespan and what should happen when they expire. For example, you could specify that items in one folder should be deleted after 30 days, while items in another folder should be moved to the archives after five years. Users can also apply retention policies to individual messages that are separate from folder-level policies.
10: Role-based access control
Exchange 2010 uses a new access control model called role-based access control. Now, administrators can perform delegation based on the role that the delegate will be performing. This means that rather than guessing which permissions the delegate will need, the administrator can simply tell Exchange which tasks the delegate will be performing.

It's possible to text without lifting a finger!

2010-01-04T04:02:00.000-08:00

Yes, it’s true.

I, too, had an affair with Tiger Woods.

And I’ve got text messages and voice mail to prove it. Tune in to Entertainment Tonight this week to learn more about it.

In the past few weeks, a dozen or more women have appeared to come out of the “woodwork” to confess to their affairs with that unfaithful husband and sometime golfer Tiger Woods.

Possibly this is only the tip of the iceberg. Who knows how many mistresses have yet to be discovered?

And the heretofore squeaky clean image of Tiger Woods (and his “brand”) took a major slice off the fairway of life and into the rough.

Who would have thought that a minor car accident with a tree would mushroom into the media frenzy about nine irons smashing car windows that he has faced in the past few weeks?

Scandalous affairs could be expected from numerous athletes (like Kobe Bryant) of this generation, but Woods seemed above what he referred to as “transgressions.”

He seemed to be as in control of his life as he was of his golf game. Poised, articulate, and clean-cut, Woods appeared to be the perfect role model.

Who would have guessed that he would become a self-admitted serial cheater, with a bevy of waitresses, hostesses and even a porn star?

And most confounding of all is that none of these women is remotely as attractive as his wife. What was he thinking?

Of course, given the incredible amount of adulation accorded Woods since he hit the national scene, it’s easy to see why he would consider himself bulletproof.

I cannot remember any celebrity, sports or otherwise, who has been so revered by the media, so gushed over by sportscasters (especially golf analysts) in the past couple of decades as Tiger Woods. You would almost think he could walk on water.

While the media must share part of the responsibility for this fiasco, Woods must ultimately take full responsibility for his admitted sordid affairs; he actively sought them out.

Some of these trysts reportedly happened in his home.

Tiger obviously needs a reality test. He uses his celebrity status to score with women, yet demands privacy in dealing with this situation. How absurd is that?

The real victim here is not Tiger Woods, it’s his wife and children. And no amount of money will ease the pain they feel and will continue to feel.

What galls me the most is how various groups invested in Woods, especially the sports world, are rallying around him.

Golf analysts wring their hands, somberly hypothesizing how his “indefinite absence” will negatively impact the coffers of the PGA. Who cares?

A young women and her children have had their lives ripped apart by a thoughtless, selfish, egotistical husband/father who put his own wants and desires ahead of his family’s. It is high time that Woods, as well as his fans and the media, re-evaluate their priorities.

Tiger is not out of the Woods yet

Tiger Woods does not stand alone

2009-12-28T03:09:00.000-08:00

Found this info and decided to share it with you! I also would like to wish you a Happy New Year! I'm looking forward to meeting you in the new year!
Nike will never shoot a commercial to show my impact on my sport and the world; multiethnic children will never look into a camera lens and say they resemble me.

But I am Tiger Woods.
And weeks after the personal life of the world's most recognizable athlete crumbled, I still cringe every time I hear a voice mail of a desperate man trying to hide the truth from his significant other. The reason I have yet to write about the biggest sports story of the year in these pages is because Woods's plea to one of his many mistresses brought up old, awful feelings of shame, guilt and humiliation.
I won't revisit my own crash site in any detail here, but I can say the painful first step of the journey -- of seeing myself for who I really was -- also began in the worst imaginable way.
I am Tiger Woods, and just as Charles Barkley stood up for him during his weakest moments, I had friends lend support, telling others not to judge.
And while their efforts were appreciated, most of these people turned out to be enablers from the fraternity of arrested development, where boys must be boys because authentic men aren't allowed to join. I knew I couldn't change until my circle of "friends" changed.
I am Tiger Woods, and though I have never been an elite athlete, I work in the culture of the elite athlete, where infidelity isn't merely condoned, it's strongly encouraged.
It's a culture where Kurt Thomas's New York Knicks teammates once told him not to bring his wife for a three-day trip to Miami, "because that's like bringin' sand to the beach."
Joe DiMaggio, pushing 60, once tucked a phone number of a 20ish flight attendant in his pocket, smiling at the sportswriter seated next to him in first class.
"Joe, she's somebody's daughter," protested Ron Bergman, then covering the Oakland A's. Replied DiMaggio, matter-of-factly: "They're all somebody's daughter."
Joltin' Joe was also Tiger Woods, who may have to suffer the indignity of losing his family to understand this goes deeper than the culture of blow-dried nothings in beer commercials, deeper than bored, rich alpha males on the road for 270 days a year.
I am Tiger Woods, and saying the greatest golfer on the planet got married too young is a cheap cop-out that misses an essential point: that this is really about a man who has everything and nothing at the same time, a guy medicating with women to fill emotional gaps -- the way some people use food, alcohol, drugs, work and golf on television.

TV in real time isn't so bad!

2009-12-23T02:04:00.000-08:00

Hey! Found this article! Hope you will enjoy it!

Who needs a DVR when you have a hotel room and 'Bones'? Or 'House' or 'NCIS'? Commercials aren't so bad if you can check e-mail during them.
On the screen, Jennie Garth and Amanda Bynes are smearing chocolate all over each other, and one thing is clear: It's time for a reconsideration of "What I Like About You."

In four years on the WB, that sitcom had passed me by completely; even Simon Rex completists might have missed it.

But in a hotel, trapped with 40 channels and nothing on, "What I Like About You" seemed suddenly viable, or at least distracting. I was on a business trip -- three nights in a city I didn't know, and didn't have time to learn -- which meant plenty of hours to rediscover television as it once was.

It felt retrograde -- flipping channels, watching without speeding through the ads, giving shows a chance simply because they were on, instead of being a slave to the always-about-to-burst queue on my DVR. In a hotel, no one knows you're watching "Bones." Or "NCIS." Or lite-pornography that seemingly aired without incident on a secondary broadcast network half a decade ago. The only option was to give in.

For the most part, I did my viewing after prime time, though I did sit through at least half of an episode of "The Jay Leno Show," as dim as I remembered from its debut week, in spite of Bill Maher's renegade appearance. And a recent episode of "Heroes" seemed to have been shot completely without lighting rigs.

But what about "Bones," which had always seemed stiff from a distance? There were surprisingly bright banter and clever visual flourishes. And Emily Deschanel as Bones was drier and more alluring than ads for the show ever revealed. Then came "NCIS," a show that some residual wellspring of ego prevents me from following, even though its lashed-together charms remain constant. In the episode I watched, a love interest for Ducky, the dandyish old medical examiner played by David McCallum, turned out to be a killer, and watching his bow tie hold together his breaking heart was unexpectedly affecting.

Finally came "House," which I'd lapsed on viewing, a dozen episodes stacked on my DVR, mocking me. Here, I watched an episode from last year, before Kal Penn's Dr. Lawrence Kutner killed himself, and was reminded anew of the pleasures of the show's snappy, smart dialogue; when I got home, I burned through the backlog in a few nights.

That's the upside of DVR viewing -- the ability to binge -- on demand -- or to delay gratification. Some shows need to be watched quickly, and others should be savored -- delayed viewing sates both of those needs.

But the DVR isn't the death of appointment viewing so much as it's the death of happenstance.

Sometimes at home, I'll just let a channel ride out in the background, watching whatever's on, while I reply to a day's worth of e-mail or rearrange the piles in the living room. It's how I came to appreciate "Scrubs" -- at least, old "Scrubs." But apart from that, I haven't watched a TV show at its scheduled hour, in full, in at least a year, probably two, maybe three.

In the hotel, though, the lack of choice was liberating, forcing me to engage with the shows on their own timetable, which turned out to be not at all the cold comfort I remembered it as. Sure, you can't escape the commercials, but they're less oppressive in the liminal space of hotel consumption. In your house, they're an assault; in a hotel, it's a chance to walk around the room, to check voice mail and e-mail, to ponder local camera-angle customs. And then, when the show returns, it's an event worth noticing, a reprieve.

In a hotel in an unknown city, it's easy to have your curiosity piqued, and to be open to thoughts that would, on familiar turf, be untenable. If the viewing goes poorly, then what happens in the hotel stays there. But if it goes well, then strike a victory for the traditional broadcast model -- one of the rare ones.

Just before falling asleep on the last night of my trip, I happened upon an episode of "Star Trek: The Next Generation" -- an episode I'd already seen, at that. Over the years, I've watched or half-watched dozens of episodes of this show, but in the last few years, the number has been exactly zero.

It's TV made for accidental viewing, shown on off-channels at off-hours. But since I rarely haunt that territory anymore, I'd all but forgotten Picard's haughty laugh, Riker's stiff pleas for attention, or LaForge's wry sense of humor. Guinan was still hollow, and Counselor Troi self-satisfied, but this episode -- the first appearance of Lt. Barclay, a frequent source of comedy in later episodes -- was hilarious and thoughtful. Not once did I unconsciously reach for the fast-forward button on the remote.

RingCentral changes Site Design!

2009-12-08T04:38:00.001-08:00

Hi guys!

Got some news for you! Today I found that RingCentral have changed their homepage design!
It is more comfortable and easy to use than the previous one, I think.
Now it is easy to find necessary services and it seems to me that many useless info is gone from the homepage, but maybe it is just correctly placed now?
Due to the new color pallette of the page it became more comfortable to read and orient.
As for the main menu, it was also optimized and made like a dropdown menu, everything was sorted by categories, it allows to find necessary info by simply choosing right category tabs.
Fonts, keys and distance between headers were increased and it also makes the homepage more comfortable to use!
Sign up forms are united now and the sign up button was moved to the right part of the page and increased and is more noticeable now.
Also, I would like to note that the new design is modern and trendy, and it is so important in nowadays due to a huge number of sites.
It is clear that the site design change is the correct and necessary company step, because of the specificity of the product, many potential and existing clients come to the site to find information about the offered services and it is necessary to make the homepage maximally informative and comfortable. I think they achieved it!

You can find new design here. I hope this article will be interesting for you. I will be glad to receive your comments!

Texting while driving ban takes effect

2009-12-01T01:17:00.000-08:00

Found this. Be careful and enjoy news!

Starting Tuesday, North Carolina drivers who text behind the wheel will need to pull over to avoid fines.
The driving-while-texting ban, among 50-plus new state laws, builds upon a 2006 law already making it illegal for young drivers to use a cell phone while driving as a way to reduce distractions on the road.
According to AAA, a person who uses a cell phone while driving has the same deficient motor skills as someone with 0.08 blood-alcohol content level, which the state considers legally impaired.
“We feel it's more dangerous than drunken driving, and it's much more widespread, and kind of more accepted because people think, ‘Oh well everybody's doing it.’ But it really is more dangerous,” Jodi Woolard, a branch manager with AAA Vacations, said of texting while driving.
The law bars drivers from text messaging or sending e-mails with their cell phones while on a road or highway. But the law only applies to the driver while the vehicle is moving, not when it's stopped or parked.
"If you have a phone in your hand, and you are looking up a number, then that is fine. That is not considered texting. It's either texting e-mail or retrieving or sending texting," Sgt. Jeff Gordon, with the state Highway Patrol, explained.
Violators could face a $100 fine, plus $130 in court costs, and fines are higher for school bus drivers caught in the act. Police officers and other safety officials are exempt while in the performance of official duties.
"Our whole goal here is just to get people to focus on driving and not to be distracted when you're behind a vehicle," Gordon said.
Adults can continue to send or receive cell phone calls.
“What we're asking people to do, if you are going to text, stop your vehicle, pull off on the side of the road, receive the text, send the text, and then once you get done with that, then precede on your way,” Gordon said.
AAA Carolinas recommends the follow advice for cell phone usage by drivers:

Never use a cell phone to text a message while driving. Texting is one of the worst distractions because it requires both physical and mental attention, taking away attention from watching the road.
Use a cell phone in a vehicle only when absolutely necessary. Any use of a cell phone while driving should be with a hands-free device.
Do not take your hands off the wheel to either answer or initiate a cell phone call.
Unexpected phone calls should go directly to voice mail. Pull off the road to check voice mail messages and return calls.

At least 18 other states have texting bans for all drivers, according to the Governors Highway Safety Association. The state Highway Patrol says too many young people are still ignoring the 2006 law. The patrol is holding safety events at high schools where teenagers travel in golf carts and try to avoid traffic cones while being told to send a text message.
"It's going to take more than just a state trooper 30 minutes or an hour working with them," patrol Capt. Everett Clendenin said. "It's going to fall back on parents and it's going to fall back on educators."

Harrisburg city phones keep ringing

2009-11-17T01:47:00.000-08:00

Hope you will enjoy!
Harrisburg knew its voice mail system was on its last legs before it went down in early September, Mayor Stephen R. Reed said, but put off fixing it because of the financial strain the debt-ridden incinerator placed on the city.
The Harrisburg Authority's trash incinerator is about $300 million in debt because of a failed retrofit, and Harrisburg is a guarantor of the debt. That, on top of the down economy, is why the city put off fixing the voice mail system that serves city employees and officials, Reed said
The city's voice mail system was installed in 2001, Reed's spokesman Matthew Coulter wrote in an e-mail.
In terms of technology, the voice mail system was antiquated, Reed said. It was two and a half years past its useful life and had to handle a tremendous call volume, he said.
Verizon is installing a new voice mail system, a fix the city thought would cost several hundred thousand dollars, Coulter said. The new system will cost about $67,000 and should be in service in the next few weeks, he said. Installing a city-wide voice mail system is not a quick fix, Coulter said. Verizon did not return phone calls requesting comment for this story.
The city's emergency phone system has not been affected. And workers are fielding most other calls, Reed said. If businesses or other callers cannot get through, they can fax, mail or e-mail the city, he said. The city gets a large volume of calls, but in terms of overall communications volume, the city communicates most by e-mail, Reed said. It gets and handles 10 percent of its correspondence by mail, 5 percent by fax and 5 percent through voice mails, he said.
"It did not have very much of an effect," Reed said of the system being down.
The situation does not shine a positive light on the city for businesses, however, said David Black, president and chief executive officer of the Harrisburg Regional Chamber and Capital Region Economic Development Corp. The incinerator and the sluggish economy make the situation worse, he said.
The silver lining is that the current lack of a voice mail system helps weed out the less important calls, Black said. Investors seriously interested in an opportunity in the city will be persistent and call back or send e-mails, he said.
Governments across the board are notorious for making technology systems and other equipment last as long as possible, especially when the economy is tough, Black said. On one hand, it could be argued as a good thing because the city got as much use out of its voice mail system as possible and it helps space out expenditures, he said.
"It's a sign of the times," Black said.

Operator acted correctly on priest call

2009-11-06T05:12:00.000-08:00

Some news for today! Enjoy!

A priest found slain in the kitchen of his New Jersey church's rectory asked a 911 operator for "help" before the call abruptly ended.
The state police operator called the Rev. Edward Hinds' cell phone back twice on the evening of Oct. 22. The first time she got the priest's voice mail.
Prosecutors say the second time, the janitor accused of killing the priest answered. Jose Feliciano is heard on the 911 tape telling the operator that there's no emergency while a voice in the background says there is.
Police were not sent to St. Patrick Church in Chatham.
State Police Lt. Gerald Lewis says a preliminary investigation concluded the operator followed procedure.
Police released recordings of the tapes on Wednesday.

What's your funniest Google Voice transcription flub?

2009-10-30T02:50:00.000-07:00

Found this and decided to post this funny article here! Comment.

Earlier this week, I bashed Google's visual voice mail service for its inability to transcribe my voice messages into understandable English. (OK, most of the article really focuses on a new flexibility in Google Voice, which I do like.) To be fair, poor transcription isn't all Google's fault. They're offering a free service based on a computer-aided technology that improves each year. The real problem is that machine transcription just isn't good enough.
Up until yesterday, I hadn't received more than a handful of visual voice mail message translations imbued with any meaning in my native tongue. In fact, I turned off SMS forwarding because I couldn't handle the streams of nonsensical texts that would pour in for each voice mail left. Thankfully, I won't miss the yucks stemming from mismatched voice-to-text at all, not when I can still read the messages in my online Google Voice in-box over and over again.
Do you have any favorite mistranslations produced by free computer-aided transcription engines? Share yours in the comments (you can also send me a screenshot in an e-mail if you'd like to take place in our anonymous gallery), and I'll share three errata from my in-box below.

Google reacts after voice mail shows up in searches

2009-10-21T01:56:00.000-07:00

Some info you should know! Read below!

Google Inc. changed its indexing so that voice mail transcripts from its Google Voice service posted on web pages won’t show up in search results.
The company reacted after news reports that transcripts and audio files of some “Google Voice” messages appeared in search results on its site. Google Voice allows its users to make transcripts of their voice mail and they can post those on public web pages if they wish.
Only voice mail recordings that people had posted on public web pages showed up in the results, not messages on private phones or utility servers.
Nevertheless, Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) put such recordings out of reach of search programs.
Google Voice traces its roots back to GrandCentral, a business Google bought in 2007.

The human side of the Internet

2009-10-14T04:27:00.000-07:00

Hey there! Found this article and decided to post it here! Enjoy!

On the one hand, job hunters get the advice hammered home that re-employment is most likely to occur though networking - through people who know people. On the other hand, just try applying for a job through real, live people contact. It's all about the Internet, especially for big-company or government jobs. And that produces a frequent complaint. Job hunters know they're supposed to have human contact, but they can't break through the voice mail and online systems. The answer might be found on the very Internet that creates barriers: Use LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter. Many older workers shy away from social media use. Some have privacy concerns. Some are afraid of computer viruses. Some don't know how to use the tools. Tony McKinnon, president of MRINetwork, an executive search organization, offers some basic tips:
-Sign up on LinkedIn.com and build a network of 50 to 75 successful friends, family and former colleagues. Ignore requests from strangers.
-Create a page on Facebook.com, but follow instructions to hide your personal information from anyone you don't approve as a "friend." Don't accept every "friend" invitation, and don't post things you wouldn't want an employer to see. (That might include hiding your birth date or graduation dates if you're concerned about age discrimination.)
-Go on Twitter.com to use the free ConnectTweet service. Read about businesses you're interested in and see what people post about it.
Job hunters with computer skills can create a personal Web site, but McKinnon says the page must be professional-looking and well maintained or it will be counterproductive.
He recommends a separate e-mail account for job hunting. The best addresses are your own name, if the address is available. If not, don't be silly or suggestive.
McKinnon also suggests having two online resume versions, one a Word document that can be attached to e-mails and the other a text file that can be copied into online application forms.