Is Your Old RAZR Getting Dull?

The Motorola RAZR V3 “razor” phone is one of the most beloved cell phone designs ever offered. Most carriers have offered one or more RAZR models, including some pay as you go services like GoPhone from AT&T. To be sure, the venerable razor phone is still in demand. But if you’ve been eyeing other cell phones and having thoughts about switching models, you should know that the RAZR design hasn’t been standing still. There are upgraded models available that could give you the RAZR you love but with the extra features you crave.

One of the most striking upgrades is the Motorola RAZR 2 V8 w/ myFaves for T-Mobile. The MOTORAZR, as it is also called, is both slightly thinner and more tapered than the decidedly boxy V3 series design. You’ll also notice that the outside screen is larger and is capable of high resolution color display. In fact, both the inside and outside display have the same specs. They are 320 x 240 pixels and display over 262,000 colors.

The 2 inch color high resolution displays are a nice complement to the 2.0 Megapixel digital camera that takes printable photos. it also works as a camcorder for capturing extra long video clips that you can watch on your phone and share through video messaging. This camcorder has a 2 hour maximum length. Say, isn’t that enough for a feature film? Anyone want to be a cellular Ken Burns?

Music is also a feature of the RAZR 2 V8. It includes a Windows Media Player 11 with external mounted controls. That advanced player supports WMA, MP3 Playlists, and album art. You also get stereo Bluetooth streaming so you can send your tunes to a compatible A2DP wireless stereo headset or other compatible device.

Messaging capability is up to date, with SMS text messaging, multimedia messaging, and instant messaging all onboard. So is HTML Web browsing with a T-MobileWeb add on plan feature.

What are the hottest cell phone deals available right now, including free cell phones? Use the Cell Phone Plan Finder to check out the top phones and associated wireless service plans.

Covad Ethernet Now Cheaper Than T1

If you’ve become convinced that T1 lines are the lowest cost business grade broadband service available, then you better put down that cup of coffee before you read the rest of this. Covad is offering Ethernet bandwidth at prices even lower than T1 solutions of similar speed.

Oh, sorry about that stain on your shirt. I did say to set down the coffee cup before you read the shocking news. Yes, it’s true. The tipping point has been reached. Ethernet is now cheaper than T1. Well, at least in 12 markets across the country.

This is an initial launch, perhaps preceding a national rollout that will demolish the traditional WAN pricing structure for telecommunication services. The 12 initial markets are in California, Michigan, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, and Texas. You’ll need to check Ethernet availability to see if your location qualifies.

Covad calls their service “Covad Business Ethernet Enterprise.” They use industry-standard DS1 loops ( 1 to 4 loops depending on service speed) to deliver symmetric broadband with no distance limitations in the markets where it is offered. That’s a step up from most EoC or Ethernet over Copper solutions that are limited to 2 or 3 miles from the carrier POP.

The speed of the service doesn’t vary with distance either. You have your choice of 1.0 Mbps, 2.5 Mbps and 5.0 Mbps. The 1 and 2.5 Mbps services are available with 30 calendar day installation. The 5 Mbps service requires 45 calendar days. That’s still pretty fast for service installation at these bandwidths.

What kind of interface headaches can you expect? How about none at all? Covad provides a router that connects to the incoming DS1 loops and gives you an Ethernet handoff. Plug it into your network and your set. The managed router comes pre-configured for DHCP so your Covad IP addresses will automatically be assigned to the devices plugged into the router. No need to manually assign IPs.

This isn’t one of those “information” services either. It’s professional grade Ethernet with professional installation and service level agreements that offer you 99.99% monthly service availability and 8 hour time to repair targets.

Here’s another bonus you wouldn’t expect. You can easily upgrade or downgrade your Ethernet bandwidth without an equipment change. This is great for businesses that anticipate a need for 5 Mbps some time in the future, but only require 1 Mbps or 2.5 Mbps today. The Covad router supports the complete range of Ethernet speeds offered.

Have you recovered enough to check out this and similar bandwidth services further. If so, get Ethernet WAN service quotes for your business location now. You’ll probably be shocked again, pleasantly, when you hear the prices.

Welcome To The Big Bandwidth Era

You remember the big band era? Tommy Dorsey? Glenn Miller?

No, I didn’t think so. It was a bit before my time, too, although I do enjoy the music of that era. Back then technology was radio and bandwidth was measured in cycles per second and kilocycles. Today, technology is digital and bandwidth is measured in Mbps and Gbps. Welcome to the big bandwidth era.

So how much bandwidth is needed to qualify as big? NuVox, a major competitive carrier, defines big bandwidth as anything over 10 Mbps. That’s the level that consumer Internet service providers are targeting, now that video is becoming the true killer app of the Web. It’s also where businesses are headed... and fast.

What’s driving that need for speed? Video is certainly part of puzzle, with many companies being both producers and users of online video. Cloud services are also a big emerging driver. By moving the server infrastructure and storage network into the cloud, companies see a way to get out of the expensive upgrade and maintenance cycles while still having the IT services they need. Add to that the mad scramble to replace everything paper with everything electronic, especially in the medical field, and you’ve got WAN networks getting pretty congested.

So, what does it take to get 10 Mbps or more connected to your network? T1 lines (1.5 Mbps) are still a readily available and affordable to get reliable business bandwidth. A industry standard process called bonding allows multiple T1 lines to act as one larger pipe with higher bandwidth. Two bonded T1 lines gives you 3 Mbps, four provides 6 Mbps, 8 bonded T1 lines will deliver 12 Mbps, a “big bandwidth” solution.

Another form of twisted pair copper transport is EoC (Ethernet over Copper) It uses the familiar telco trunk lines that are installed at most business locations. But special equipment at each end creates an Ethernet transport service. NuVox is offering a variety called Etherloop that is a half-duplex transmission technology capable of providing bandwidths up to 30 Mbps up to 10,000 feet from the carrier POP or Point of Presence.

Moving up from copper to fiber optic services, a very popular traditional service is DS3 at 45 Mbps. Other fiber based services include Fast Ethernet at 100 Mbps and Gigabit Ethernet at 1000 Mbps. Now we’re really talking about BIG bandwidth.

Is your company needing to move into the big bandwidth era? You’ll find that the cost of these higher capacity services may be much lower than when you looked into them a few years ago, thanks to competitive carriers like Nuvox. How much lower? Find out now by getting a quote for big bandwidth services available at your business location.

LG enV Envy Touch Phone Messaging Machine

Are you torn between wanting one of the new touchscreen phones but wanting, perhaps needing, a full QWERTY keyboard with physical buttons? Well, no need to make that choice anymore. The new LG enV Touch is both a touchscreen phone and a messaging phone.

Look at the “Envy” Touch phone closed and you’ll think it is a standard touchscreen smartphone. Clever disguise. Yes, the external 3 inch display is an 800 x 480 pixel color TFT touchscreen with tactile feedback and customizable shortcuts. But did you know that there is another 3 inch 800 x 400 pixel color display inside? This one isn’t a touchscreen. It doesn’t need to be. You’ll use your inner high resolution display in conjunction with the spacious QWERTY keyboard.

Just open the case lengthwise and you’ll find everything you need for fast, efficient messaging. Advanced features include instant reply and auto-complete. You can send and receive text messages with threaded, chat-style view. Instant messaging is supported, as well as multimedia messaging for picture and video messages. The email client supports popular web-based mobile email accounts such as Yahoo! and corporate email.

Such a well engineered phone should be able to browse the Web in style. Indeed, the LG enV Touch is equipped to do just that. The HTML Web browser is powered by the Verizon Wireless EVDO Rev-A data mobile data network. That means high speed downloads and faster than you might expect uploads. Verizon Wireless 3G offers download speeds of 600 Kbps to 1.4 Mbps and upload speeds of 500 to 800 Kbps. That’s easily competitive with many landline DSL services.

What other surprises does this advanced envy phone offer? You’ll like the 3.2 Megapixel digital camera with auto-focus, flash and image editor, among other features. It also works as a camcorder to record and share video clips with your friends and colleagues.

As you might expect, multimedia is also well supported in the LG enV Touch. You get an MP3 player that also plays AAC and AAC+ files. You can order stream media plans including V CAST music with Rhapsody and V CAST videos. Multimedia is another reason you’ll be glad you’ve got Verizon Wireless’ 3G network. Listen to your audio and video content through headphones connected to the standard 3.5mm stereo headset jack or make use of the Bluetooth A2DP wireless capability to stream to wireless headsets or other compatible devices.

What cutting edge technology phone would be complete with GPS support? This one has it so you can use the VZ Navigator service and never be lost again.

Memory is expandable using microSD memory cards up to 16GB. That way you’ll have all the room you need for photos and music. You can record voice memos up to one hour in length, so go ahead and dictate your memoirs while you’re at it. Then get back to texting!

What are the hottest cell phone deals available right now, including free cell phones? Use the Cell Phone Plan Finder to check out the top phones and associated wireless service plans.

Foul Odor of Decaying Prepaid Calling Cards

Prepaid calling cards have become popular for international calls, primarily because of their jaw-dropping low advertised rates. They’ve probably caught your eye in the store with their large numbers of very small cents per minute. You may think that you’re going to call around the globe at will for a couple of cents, but you won’t be calling anywhere when the card goes bad.

Goes bad? You mean like milk and fish? Yes, exactly. You see, most prepaid calling cards decay once you start using them.

Think I’m kidding? Get out your magnifying glass and read the small print on the back side of the card. What will you see? Horrible things. Things like connection fees, minimum call times of 10 or 20 minutes, and weekly service fees.

What’s a weekly service fee? Hold your nose. You’re not going to like the smell of this.

A weekly service fee is a charge placed against your card every week after you first start using it. Buy a prepaid calling card and sit on it for a month. You’ll still have all the minutes you paid for. Buy a prepaid calling card and make a short call on it. Then put the card back in your wallet. Make another call a month later and you’ll probably find that some of the minutes have magically disappeared. They’ve been eaten up by those nasty service fees.

That’s the decay I’m taking about. Your minutes start to go bad as soon as you open the card. You don’t even have to stick your nose in the refrigerator and sniff. After a year or so that card that you thought was good for a few cents per minute has just run out of minutes. Add up the minutes that you’ve actually spent on the phone and you’ll find that you’ve paid over a dollar a minute. Not so cheap in the end, is it?

There are two ways you can avoid the stench of calling card decay. First, when you start using one of these cards use it up as fast as you can. Preferably, just make one long call. That way you’ll only pay one connection charge, not be affected by a minimum call charge, and be done before the service fees start.

What’s the other way? Use a service that gives you the cheap international rates that you want from a prepaid calling card, but doesn’t have the small print and seamy side to using it. A good choice is TEL3Advantage.

What’s different about TEL3Advantage is that there are no little paper cards involved. You order the service online for $10, $25 or so. Then you use it from any phone, including your cell phone. The process is similar to using any calling card. You dial a local access number or toll free number to reach TEL3Advantage. Then you dial the international number you want to reach from the US or Canada. You’ll pay the low per minute rate but no connection, hidden or monthly fees. You only need to avoid letting your account go inactive for a year.

But what about the rates? They can’t beat prepaid calling cards, can they?

What if I told you that you could make calls to China for 1 cent per minute right now? Is that cheap enough? OK, that’s a limited time promotion rate. The standard rate is 1.7 cents per minute. I’ll bet that’s cheaper than most of the calling cards you’ll find at the convenience store.

Here’s a bonus. Depending on how much service you choose to sign up for, you can get free bonus minutes added to your account. How many? Oh, how about as many as 900 free minutes to China? Does that sound reasonable?

Of course, there are low rates to all of Asia, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and so on. You don’t need a special card to maximize your savings to any particular part of the World. Just sign up for TEL3Advantage international calling service and the world is at your fingertips. Call all you like. If you run low on minutes, just recharge your account. Best of all, there are no service fees draining your account. Oh, that does smell sweet.

Cash For Clunker Cell Phones

The government’s Cash for Clunkers program may be ending for automobiles. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t a great idea. Did you know that there is a way you can get cash for your old clunker cell phone? In fact, there’s cash available for all sorts of unwanted electronic devices. You should really be getting your share.

Scratching your head because you haven’t heard about this on TV? That’s because it isn’t part of the hot news cycle right now. But that doesn’t mean you can’t get paid for old cell phones, laptop computers, PDAs, GPS systems, camcorders, gaming consoles, video games, satellite radios, external disk drives, LCD monitors, calculators, movies, camera lenses, desktop computers, streaming media, Blu-Ray players, home audio, projectors, digital cameras and MP3 players.

Whew! You didn’t realize that you had so many clunkers sitting around your house, did you? They may well be worth cash. The only way to find out for sure is to check the value of your electronic gadgets. You can do that right now.

To be sure, this is not a government program like the “Cash For Clunkers” stimulus. Some might think it should be, but there’s no need. The commercial marketplace has already risen to the occasion. In fact, this opportunity has been available for some time. It just isn’t as well known as it deserves to be.

How does it work? You may suspect that the cell phone that just came off of a two year service contract might be worth something. But it’s not your priority. What you want to do is start using the new cell phone that you got for free or at a deep discount from your new provider. So, the old cell goes into a desk drawer where it will be safe until you figure out what to do with it. Time passes and five or ten years later it’s still there. Only now it’s really not worth anything. Had you recycled it for cash right after you started using your new cell phone, you might have gotten $25, $50, $100 or more. That’s even if you got the phone for free in the first place.

The process is simple. You simply check the value of your electronic device, get an instant offer and request a prepaid shipping carton. Drop your electro-clunker in the mail and you’ll get a check in return. Does it get any easier than this?

If you indeed have a worthless clunker, you can also send it in for proper recycling. Electronic waste is becoming a scourge on society, as it piles up in landfills and leaches out toxic chemicals. Be part of the solution and send your unwanted electronics in for recycling instead of just tossing it.

QT Talk is Both VoIP and Dial-Around

You’ve been toying with the idea of switching your phone service to VoIP to save money and get more calling features. But now you’re in a quandary. VoIP is a landline service that needs a wire. Granted, it’s a broadband wire like DSL or Cable Internet. But you still need a fixed location to install it. What do you do when you are out and about, like you are most of the time? For that you need wireless service. Wireless and VoIP? They don’t go together, do they?

Now they do. You’re not the only one with this problem. Lots of people would like the calling features and low rates, especially international rates, that are offered by popular VoIP calling plans. But they also want these rates available on their cell phone. QT Talk says, “no problem.” Take both at the same price.

How can this possibly work? It’s a very clever system. The heart of the service is a feature-rich VoIP telephony service. The most popular option is called North America Plus, which includes unlimited calling to the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico for a special introductory rate of $12.95 for the first 3 months. Then it’s the standard rate of $19.95 per month, a great deal in itself. You also get to choose a special low rate to an international destination that includes Mexico, Philippines, Pakistan, Bangladesh, India and Vietnam.

Well that sounds great for a VoIP service, but what about cellular use? How are you going to call Mexico or Vietnam from your cell phone and not get a monster bill the next month?

Ah, that’s where the dial-around service comes into play. Along with your North America Plus VoIP service, you also get free access to a toll-free number that gives you the same rate that you enjoy on your VoIP. So, if you want to make a nice long call to Canada from your cell, just call the toll free number and talk to your heart’s content. It’s all part of your plan. Want to call Vietnam from your car (while stopped, of course)? It’s just 9.9 cents a minute on your cell, along with using cellular minutes.

Who is QT Talk service ideal for? It’s for residential and small business users, like home offices, that want an unlimited calling plan within the US, Canada and Puerto Rico. It is especially good if you make international calls to any of the 6 designated countries. You can upgrade your service to have unlimited calling to 35 global destinations with a service called Unlimited World Select. That’s just $34.95 a month.

How about those VoIP features? Included with your service are speed dialing, call forwarding, simultaneous ring, call waiting, caller ID, call return, caller ID block, do not disturb, last number redial, conference calls, transfer your current number or get a new one, and online account management. All this, no extra charge.

So who’s behind QT Talk? It’s QT Globe, a major international telecommunications company that sells wholesale services to other carriers. They’ve got the network in place to serve fussy telecom carriers, but they also offer retail services to serve fussy individuals and businesses.

By the way, QT Talk also offers feature rich business plans and IP telephones as well as the residential services designed for the individual, family and home office user.

Does this sound like a service that would meet your needs? If so, learn more and order your QT Talk calling plan quickly and easily online.

Fiber Optic Networks Need Denser Wavelength Multiplexing To Meet Demand

Just when you thought that businesses were hunkering down for the worst recession ever and wouldn’t need more capacity for a decade, fiber optic network carriers are scrambling to meet demand. But they’re not going nuts and digging trenches everywhere. Instead, they are taking the smart approach of using technology to increase bandwidth on their installed facilities.

XO Communications, a major fiber optic network carrier, recently announced that it is installing new optical line equipment from Infinera to double its capacity per fiber strand. The Infinera Line System 2 doubles the number of channels for C-band fiber optic systems (1550 nm) from 80 to 160 channels. For XO, this will create an additional optical capacity of 1.6 Terabits/second (Tbps) on their nationwide network.

What is XO hoping to do with all this additional bandwidth? They are using it to support their carrier to carrier services called “Carrier Wavelength FLEX” and “10 Gigs in 10 Days.” With the new Infinera hardware and software, XO Communications will be able to provision any service from 1 Gbps to 40 Gbps between any two points on the network in 10 days or less. In the future they plan to up that to 100 Gbps.

What XO is doing is really two initiatives at once. One is doubling capacity and making it scalable for future expansions. The other is speeding the process of provisioning service so that their customers, other carriers and businesses, can respond more quickly to marketplace needs. You might say that faster is better all the way around.

Certainly, XO Communications is making a move to position itself as a provider of choice as demand for bandwidth picks up. But they may also recognize that business coming out of this turndown may look somewhat different than it did going into the slide.

For one thing, technology is being seen by all size operations as a way to improve productivity at lower risk and lower cost that simply staffing up. Technical solutions can drive cost out of a process and reduce the amount of labor needed to support a given business level. Telecommunication capability is more vital than ever as solutions migrate toward the “cloud” and business entities are coupled more and more tightly.

The nature of many business services is also changing in a way that demands more bandwidth. Take television and video production, for instance. High definition and, soon, 3D images are far more demanding on digital bandwidth than lower resolution products. The health care industry seems destined for a complete move from paper forms and photographic processes to all-electronic generation, transmission and storage. Certainly, this will improve productivity and take incremental cost out of the processes, but there will be big infrastructure investments to be made before the massive cost savings can be realized.

New Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing (DWDM) equipment, such as Infinera’s Line System 2, will be critical to all carriers as they look to increase capacity over their installed base of fiber optic strands. XO is simply getting a jump in upgrading their network before the mad scramble begins. That could be any time now.

If you are feeling bandwidth constrained in your business operations, you should know that lease prices per Mbps have dropped considerably recently. You may be able to upgrade to the level of service you need without the jaw dropping cost you are anticipating. How do you find out for sure? Get a quick and complementary fiber optic bandwidth service quote through our GigaPackets service. Our Telarus expert consultants will be happy to review the complete range of solutions available for your location.

T1 Lines For MPLS Access

Businesses that need to connect multiple locations together are turning more and more to MPLS networks. To get access to the network, they are finding that T1 lines are often the best solution. Here’s why.

An MPLS network, which stands for Multi Protocol Label Switching network, can be thought of as a private version of the Internet. As a privately owned network, the MPLS operator can ensure that your applications will have the bandwidth and quality of service to run reliably. Security is also easier to achieve, since the MPLS network is available only to serious businesses that buy the service.

An MPLS network is designed to be a cloud that is configured to connect only those locations that you specify. Your service is generally set up to be any-to-any connectivity. But you also have the option to limit which locations can directly connect to the others in your operation. This is handled completely by the MPLS provider. What each location needs is a solid and secure connection to the network.

That’s where T1 lines come in. A T1 line is basically a point to point connection. Many business use these to connect two offices together. The T1 bandwidth is available for your exclusive use. It is not shared with anyone else.

True, one end of a T1 line can terminate at an Internet Service Provider to give your organization dedicated access to the public Internet. But that far end of the line can also be connected to an MPLS network. That will give you direct access with reliable bandwidth to the MPLS network cloud.

Each of your business locations needs its own T1 line to connect to the MPLS network. This is often a fairly limited distance and most MPLS networks have POPs or Points of Presence in many major metropolitan areas. The network itself will often span a regional area or the entire country. Some MPLS networks now connect internationally to serve businesses with foreign offices.

You could create your own private network by setting up a router at your main office and running point to point T1 lines from there to each of your remote locations. But you’ll probably find that it is less expensive to make use of an MPLS network with T1 lines for access to the network. Check T1 and MPLS prices and availability to see what is most cost effective for your needs.

Plain Old Telephone Service For Business

What’s the modern way to get business phone service? How about POTS? That’s Plain Old Telephone Service.

Wait a second. Who wants something that’s considered “plain” and even “old”?

You do. That’s who. Why? Because POTS can be the highest quality most cost effective phone service you can get, that’s why. How can that be? Let’s see.

POTS is actually an industry term for analog telephone service over twisted pair copper wiring. It’s the direct descendent of the very telephone that Alexander Graham Bell invented. The Bell name lived on in the form of the Bell Telephone System, which had a monopoly on residential and business telephone service for about 100 years.

Why does that matter in this high technology age? Simply because 100 years is a lot of time to get it right. That’s what the telephone industry did. They got very, very efficient at building, installing and maintaining standardized telephony equipment to meet a strict set of specifications. By the time POTS technology was starting to feel competition, there were standard copper phone cables run to every home and business.

One advantage of analog phone service is that you have a dedicated pair of phone wires from your location right back to the telephone company’s central office. There’s no sharing of capacity the way there is on the Internet, for instance. Thus, phone calls have a predictable sound quality to them. As long as your lines aren’t defective, you have clear understandable voice conversations across town or across the country, even the world. Being a full duplex system, both parties can talk at the same time and be heard. You won’t cut off the start of the other conversation if you respond too quickly. Their voice won’t morph into the sound of Darth Vader or a deep sea diver because the transmission lines are congested.

You have your private space and that’s that. This is why the standard phone system is also called the PSTN or Public Switched Telephone Network. There are actual physical switches in place to create a unique private circuit between you and anyone you care to speak with, regardless of where they are located.

That’s landline phone service for you. Cellular wireless phones may often be more convenient, but they depend on radio transmissions that can vary in strength from location to location. VoIP can sound as good as analog, but often doesn’t because the underlying data network is trying to send too many voice, data and video packets down the line at the same time. The Internet is a particular example of where you get strange and varying results when you use it to carry telephone conversations.

What type of companies does POTS work best for? Small and medium size businesses who need anywhere from a single phone line up to a dozen lines. You can order your lines one at a time as your business grows to need more. With more than 4 lines, you probably have a Key telephone system or small PBX telephone system to share the outside lines among all your employees.

At somewhere around 10 or 12 analog lines, it makes sense to move up to ISDN PRI, also called T1 PRI, digital telephone service. Strict telephone standards multiplex up to 23 phone lines plus Caller ID and switching signals onto a private T1 line. You get the same quality and features you enjoy with your analog service, but the pricing is often lower for ISDN PRI.

What phone service is best for your business? That depends on whether you are an independent sales professional, a high volume call center, a grocery store, an engineering firm or any of thousands of other businesses that depend on reliable telephone service. Our Telarus business consultants can help you get the most cost effective solution that gives you the quality, reliability and features you need. Get Lower Cost Business Phone Service Quotes today.

It’s a Camera and a Movie Theater

Nikon is offering something that would make Thomas Edison’s jaw drop. Hey, it made MY jaw drop. The new Nikon Coolpix S1000pj is more than a digital camera. It’s digital theater.

What makes this palm-size gadget so different? It’s got a built-in projector. That gives the S1000pj the ability to not only take pictures and movies. It can also show them. Not just on a 3x5 card in a coal mine, either. You can project photos, movie clips and slide shows up to 40 inches in size on a flat surface, although you'll probably need a darkened room or at least dim lighting to get decent results.

The name Nikon tells you this is more than some gimmick device. It’s an advanced compact digital camera. In addition to the “wow factor” of being first in the world with a built-in projector, the Coolpix S1000pj has other impressive specs.

It starts with an effective 12.1 Megapixels of resolution for outstanding prints up to 16 x 20 inches. That’s coupled with 5x optical zoom NIKKOR lens with 28 mm wide-angle coverage plus macro capability down to 1.2 inches from the subject. The telephoto reach is equivalent to a 140 mm lens in 35 mm photography.

With all the resolution available in the latest cameras, the idiosyncrasies of the photographer start to dominate the quality of the photos. It’s hard to hold one of these boxes completely still to avoid at least some minor blur in dimmer light. This Nikon model features no less than 5 advanced image stabilizing features, both optical and electronic. That includes a Best Shot Selector that automatically takes a series of pictures, instead of just one, and then saves the one with the sharpest focus.

You’ve heard of shutter priority and aperture priority? The Coolpix S1000pj offers face priority. It adjusts focus and exposure for up to 12 faces in a single framed shot. There’s a skin softening function that detects the subjects skin and applies smoothing. No more horrified relatives who blanche when they see how how high levels of resolution show off every minor wrinkle and skin anomaly.

But how about that projector? It has up to 10 lumens of brightness with an image size of 5 to 40 inches. The throw distance ranges from 10 inches to 6 1/2 feet. Why, it’s just like the old home movie projector without having to lug that heavy beast out and thread the film. You can take pictures and movies and then show them off during the family event. Or prepare something for a business presentation. The resolution is VGA equivalent and you’ll have up to 1 hour of battery life to present your show.

Text Messaging To The Stars

When you think of text messaging to the stars, you may fantasize about exchanging messages with Hollywood celebrities. Here’s an opportunity that goes farther. Oh, it goes much, much farther. Actually, 20 light years farther.

You. Yes, you, genuine member of humanity, can be part of a grand text broadcast to another planet. It’s called “Hello From Earth. Send a message to the nearest Earth-like planet outside of our Solar System.” All you have to do is visit the Hello From Earth Website and enter your text message (registration now closed) to the great beyond. In about 20 years it will arrive at the planet Gliese 581d in the constellation Libra, where surprised and delighted ETs will have their little hearts warmed by your message of greeting and affection.

That’s assuming they have little hearts. They may not be so little and they may not have hearts at all. Truth is, we have no idea who we might be cosmo-tweeting or what their reaction might be. Most people figure they can’t go wrong with messages of peace. Some have even invited anonymous aliens to visit our fair planet, even their house.

Not me. I grew up on “The Outer Limits”, “Twilight Zone” and “Science Fiction Theater.” These predated the “Alien” series of movies, but offered similar cautionary tales. Sure, you might be trolling to get some really weird additions to your Facebook friends. But what if all you’re really doing is awaking some sleeping giants? Worse, what if they are bored with their usual cuisine and on the lookout for a new place to dine? That’s why the message I’m sending is:

“Don't even think about eating us. We taste terrible and are poisonous to extra terrestrial life forms.”

Laugh it off if you like, but just remember “To Serve Man” turned out to be a cookbook. If that makes no sense, Google it and learn the shocking truth.

Now that you’ve been warned, take a few minutes to think up something appropriate to message the citizens of Gliese 581d. I’ll bet they have a better name than that for their planet. They probably have us listed as Zorkzik 9267k. Won’t it be a hoot if we both call our planets Earth?

So, who’s behind this Interplanetary Internet communications project? It’s none other than COSMOS magazine. They think it is a cool way to promote National Science Week in Australia and the International Year of Astronomy. At the end of Science Week, NASA is going to transmit all the messages they’ve accepted via the Canberra Deep Space Communications Complex in Tidbinbilla.

Then all you have to do is wait about 40 years (20 to get there and 20 back) to see what Gliese 581d has to say. My guess is that once they know we’re here we’ll start getting a flood of intergalactic spam. Unless, of course, their bodies are actually made out of Spam. Then who’s going out for dinner?

Clearest International Calls on Your Cell Phone

You want to make international phone calls but you’re not all that happy with VoIP and you’d really like to use your cell phone. Is there a way to get the clearest international calls from a mobile phone?

There sure is, especially if you are located in the U.S. or Canada. The secret is a special service that works with your cell phone but gives you cheap international calling with excellent voice quality.

The service is Tel3Advantage’s international long distance service. It allows you to call international from any phone at rates as low as 1 cent per minute. There’s a promotion going, so you’ll get special discounted rates for 30 days plus free minutes on sign-up. Even the regular rates are excellent. How about 1.7 cents to call China any day? How about making that call on your cell phone?

If you’ve ever picked up your home or office phone, or worse yet your cell phone, and dialed an international number, you know the feeling of shock and horror that comes when you open the next phone bill. Those services may be fine for local and state to state calls, but the international rates can be sky high. Phone companies like to keep that quiet, so you often don’t find out until you actually call overseas.

Tel3Advantage is a specialized telephone service called international dial-around. All they do is long distance. You use whatever phone you already have. Just dial one of their local access numbers or a special toll free number to access the service. Then place your international call. You’ll be talking for pennies a minute. In fact, it’s such a good deal that you may want to use it for your domestic long distance calls also.

But what about call quality? Many people have been driven to VoIP to avoid high international calling rates. But unless your broadband access is excellent and everything is running smoothly on the Internet, calls can easily become garbled or dropped completely. Plus most VoIP services want to give you local and long distance service as a bundle, something you may not even need. Don't forget that VoIP runs on DSL or Cable broadband. That ties you to your home or office landline when you’d really rather be mobile with your cell phone.

The Tel3Advantage system works with any phone, including your cell phone. It maintains the call quality that you already enjoy on local and long distance calls. What’s different is your ability to call around the world at bargain rates. There’s no big commitment to worry about, because there are no contracts or obligations with this service. You buy time and use it when you wish.

Here’s another bonus. Tel3Advantage offers a special “TEL3 Smartplug” software download for your cell phone. The Smartplug knows the access numbers, so you can simply call the number you want as if you are using conventional long distance service. The big difference is about an 80% savings on your calls.

If you have US or Canada phone service but have friends, family or business contacts in another country that you’d really like to call if it wasn’t so expensive, then learn more about Tel3Advantage international calling and enjoy new freedom in making phone calls anywhere around the world.

What’s Coming with Snow Leopard?

Next month Apple will release a major update to the Mac OS X operating system. The upgrade looks pretty cheap at just $29 to move up from the current Leopard OS X 10.5. But what do you get for your upgrade dollar?

I’ll have to admit, I’m loath to upgrade operating systems beyond the minor upgrades that are pushed for free automatically. The big jumps tend to be expensive. They also tend to be more powerful and offer a suite of new features. That translates into more demand on the processor and a need for more memory if you don’t want your machine to slow down to a snail’s pace.

This is what killed Microsoft’s Vista. Most existing computers just couldn’t handle it. Will Snow Leopard be the same way? Ordinarily, by the time a major upgrade comes around it’s also time to get a new computer with the next OS already installed. But I just bought this iMac. I hate to have it be a generation behind already. So, what to do?

Let’s take a look at what Apple is offering with the Snow Leopard release. The first claim is that it makes your Mac faster, more reliable, and easier to use. What? That flies in the face of operating system history. They always slow you down, add more bugs than they fix, and make things more complicated overall. Can Apple really pull this off?

Looks like it. The Apple declaration is that Snow Leopard is faster to wake up, shut down and join a network. Wake speed is improved by a factor of 2x. Icon refresh on the finder is claimed to be anywhere from 1.4 to 1.7 times faster. Even time machine backups can be expected to go 50% faster. Just to top it off, upgrades will be up to 45% faster when you need them.

Certainly, this speed improvement must come at the price of a much larger installation. No, not really. Snow Leopard will actually take less than half the disk space of the OS it is replacing. You can expect 6 GB more free space on your hard drive.

I’ll have to say that the iMac is blazingly fast already, compared to my old Compaq. So extra fast browsing speed and wake-up time may not be all that noticeable... right now. But there is always a new killer app around the corner and it’s good to have some extra capacity so you can take advantage of whatever comes down the pike.

One thing that caught my eye is an improvement on iChat. I haven’t gotten into video chatting as of yet, but it looks like the next social networking craze and perhaps an emerging business tool. One limitation has been a need for 900 Kbps upload bandwidth for the best resolution. That’s pushing it on my Cable broadband. Most ISPs brag about their download speeds but stay mum about upload. That’s because you don’t know you need upload bandwidth until you start posting high resolution photos or videos, or want to do something like video chatting. Snow Leopard reduces the upstream requirement to 300 Kbps for high resolution 640x480 pixel video chats and improves connectivity.

There are other improvements as well. QuickTime, the Apple media player, has been upgraded and will feature easy uploads to YouTube and MobileMe. If you’re not familiar with MobileMe, it’s someting of a personal cloud for Mac users. You can store and share files, post web sites, share pictures and video and other functions on dedicated Internet space. OK, it’s hosting for those who wouldn’t otherwise use web hosting.

So, will this upgrade to the Apple operating system be worth the 29 bucks? Sure looks like a deal to me. The fact that its available for an untraditionally low price suggests that Apple wants to make Snow Leopard the primary platform for whatever it is cooking up in the labs. Oh, yes, if you bought your Mac after June 8, 2009 you’ll be able to upgrade for the even lower price of $9.95. Pre-Leopard Macs will need a Mac Box Set upgrade that’s pretty pricey at $169. For those users, it might be time for a new computer after all.

Scale Into Toll Free Number Service

You’ve been thinking that toll free numbers would be a big boost for your business. But it’s also been hard to commit to plunking down a major chunk of change to order a suite of numbers and their monthly service fees. What if this isn’t such a great idea after all? What if the business doesn’t expand the way you think it will? What if most of those numbers just sit there unused but still require a substantial monthly expense to keep them active?

Whoa! There’s no need to dig yourself into that hole. Don’t go making a major commitment until you know your toll free service will generate a handsome profit. Instead, just dip a toe into the water and see what happens.

That toe is perhaps a single toll free number. What you want is a way to try the service with all the features, but limited to just a single trial number or a few at most. That way you can publish a toll free number and get a feel for how everything works but limit your cost exposure.

Is there a toll free service that offers this ability to started small and grow as large as you need? Indeed there is. It’s Kall8 toll free service.

Just what do you get with Kall8? It’s a service that’s designed for small businesses with the scalability to serve major corporations. The heart of the service is your online account manager. Use your Internet Web browser to set up your numbers and change those settings at will. When you want to expand your number portfolio, you can easily click the button for “Add New Number” any time you wish. There’s also 24 hour customer service, toll free of course, if you want assistance at any time.

Some of the features you can change on the fly include the ring-to number, Voice Mail, FAX reception, virtual calling card, Caller ID, maximum call length, call routing, and call blocking. While you are in your account, you can view call history, pick up FAXes that you didn’t happen to see in your email, and listen to voice mail messages that you also didn’t have a chance to retrieve by calling-in or via email attachment.

So how much of a commitment are we talking about to try this sophisticated toll free service? Would you be shocked to learn that it’s just $2 to acquire an 866, 877 or 888 toll free number and $2 a month to maintain it. That plus the 6.9 cents per minute for incoming calls from the US 48 states. Classic 800 numbers are also available at a slightly higher cost.

Oh, but what about the contractual commitment?

Contract? What contract? There is no contract. You can cancel your service anytime and all it costs is what you’ve paid to date. There’s no cancellation fee unless you decide to keep the number and take it elsewhere. But why would you? This is the best toll free deal going.

Are you teetering on the edge of trying this service? With so little to lose and potentially so much to gain, why not order a toll free number and service right now. It’s an automated online process, so your number is ready for use as soon as you’ve completed ordering. Try it for a few months and see how much you come to depend on your new toll free service. Then go into your account and add more numbers as your needs grow. It’s so fast, easy, cheap and low risk that you’ll wish all your business services worked like this.

Ethernet Takes Over, Mbps Prices Fall

The ongoing economic downturn is fostering a changing of the guard in telecommunications services. What might look like a business depression is actually providing fertile ground for a shift in technology. It’s traditional TDM switched circuits out. IP based Ethernet connections in.

What’s driving this change? Oddly enough, it’s the high cost of doing business. While some companies are hunkering down, cutting staff and freezing budgets, others are actively looking for opportunities to get the same or better network services for less money. As their 1, 2 and 3 year contracts run out, these companies are using telecom brokerage services to survey the marketplace and gather competitive quotes. Only this time they are looking beyond just price quotes on their existing services. They’re also considering newer technologies that weren’t available during the last quote cycle.

Two powerhouse technologies are MPLS networks and Metro Ethernet services. These are related, in that they both represent a move from channel based switch circuit TDM networks that have dominated the telephone networks of the world for more than a century to IP core networks based on packets and traffic engineering.

MPLS networks are ideal for linking multiple locations in a many-to-many relationship. They can transport virtually any protocol. You can gain access with a T1 line, DS3 or SONET fiber optic service.

Metro Ethernet and its long haul equivalent, Carrier Ethernet, are LAN extension technologies. They allow companies to provided level 2 switched network connections or level 3 routed connections, as desired. E-Line service gives you the equivalent of point to point connectivity. E-LAN merges multiple locations on a single wide area network.

But Ethernet has another reason to be growing by leaps and bounds while traditional telecom services tread water. It’s cost. Ethernet is currently reported to provide a 20 to 30% cost reduction over frame relay or private line services. On higher bandwidth services that savings might grow as high as 50% or even more.

How is this possible? The quick answer is new competitive carriers with all new IP based fiber optic networks. Traditional pricing doesn’t stand much of a chance when aggressive competition comes to town and shakes up the sleepy old incumbent providers.

There are also new technologies available that can give you Ethernet connectivity up to the equivalent of a DS3 connection, 45 Mbps, over multiple pair of ordinary copper twisted pair. EoC or Ethernet over Copper enables companies to switch to Ethernet even if the cost of a fiber build-out is prohibitive.

Will Ethernet services be a better deal for your company? There’s only one way to find out. Check Ethernet prices and availability, including buildings already lit for fiber connections, right now. You may find yourself paying less and getting more. Isn’t that the best way to survive a recession?

Cell Phone Plans With Aircards

Wireless modem aircards are the way you free yourself from the tyranny of the WiFi hotspot. With an aircard, your laptop computer suddenly becomes a mobile computer. But how do these work and what types of service plans do you need to use aircards?

An aircard is basically a digital two-way radio. But it’s a special kind of radio. Its signals are digital computer data rather than telephone calls.

But aren’t aircards set up to run on cell phone networks? Indeed they are. Right now the vast majority of wireless modem aircards are designed to meet one of the two major cellular broadband standards. Those are EVDO for Sprint and Verizon Wireless or EDGE and HSPA for AT&T and T-Mobile. There is another standard called WiMAX that is just being deployed in major cities by Clearwire.

As you may have surmised, you need a cellular service plan to use the cellular network. For an aircard, you buy what is called a data plan. That’s different from the voice plan that you would order for normal cell phone operations. The data plan gives you full time access to the provider’s nationwide data network. It’s just like having DSL or Cable broadband but without the wires.

There often is one limitation. Because the cellular networks have limited wireless capability, you are limited to a certain number of Gigabytes downloaded per month. For most mobile users the 5 GB limit won’t be a limitation. But if you expect to be downloading a lot of video, especially HD video, you could exceed your monthly limit and have to pay overage charges.

Cellular broadband is not intended to replace a wireline BB connection. It’s really just to let you have access to the Internet while you are on the go. Many business users buy aircards so that they can take their laptops into a customer’s office and make a presentation or enter an order. They can also sit in a parking lot, airport, or restaurant that doesn’t offer free WiFi and be on the Internet.

Most of the newer wireless modem aircards look like USB flash memories and simply plug into your computer using an open USB port. Other models have PCMCIA or ExpressCard connectors. If you order one of these, be sure your computer has compatible ports.

Some devices come with aircards already built-in. These include the new netbooks, which are very small notebook computers designed to run on a particular cellular network or WiFi. The more advanced cell phones or smartphones also give you Internet access without having to buy a separate aircard. That circuitry is included in the radio within the phone. You will have to buy a data plan as well as a voice plan to use your cell phone for both talking and surfing the Web.

What are the hottest cell phone deals available right now, including free cell phones? Use the Cell Phone Plan Finder to check out the top phones and associated wireless service plans.

MPLS Networks for Global Enterprises

MPLS has quickly become the network service of choice for companies that need to tie multiple locations together. But now XO Communications has upped the ante by expanding its MPLS network reach to all 50 states plus 22 countries on 5 continents.

For companies that do business internationally, this is excellent news. International connectivity has traditionally been costly with only a few major carriers serving this marketplace. Now that a highly competitive player is available, rates are likely to get a lot more attractive.

XO Communications is known for its nationwide high speed fiber optic network and wide variety of access connections. They offer both fiber and copper last mile connections, and even wireless access in some metro areas. This makes it possible for most businesses to connect to the XO network and, from there, to the world.

XO calls its MPLS or Multi-Protocol Switching Network service “MPLS IP-VPN service”. This is an IP network service running as a virtual private network to ensure the privacy of business communications across the network. In addition to being a global VPN, CoS or Class of Service controls are in place to ensure that voice, video and data all get the proper priority on the network.

If you do business internationally and need to connect your far-flung operations, an international MPLS network offers the opportunity to create a full mesh network so that any location can communicate to any other location. In addition to the 50 USA states, the XO network footprint now covers Australia, Bermuda, Brazil, Canada, China, Colombia, Denmark, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Israel, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand and the United Kingdom.

The XO network is fully managed, with 24x7 monitoring of facilities and equipment to ensure that you’ll be able to stay connected with a minimum of attention needed on your part. Bandwidth options are scalable from DS1 (1.5 Mbps) to OC48 (2.5 Gbps) for traditional TDM connections. Ethernet connections are also available with options from 3 to 1,000 Mbps.

Does your business need to connect multiple sites together in the US or internationally? If so, you may be surprised by how affordable MPLS network services are. Go ahead and get prices and bandwidths for MPLS network connections now. It’s a free service for business locations, with complementary expert consulting included.

Fractional ISDN PRI For Telephone Savings

For high performance business telephone usage, it’s hard to beat ISDN PRI. You get 23 digitized phone lines, fast out-of-band call switching, and Caller ID for your PBX phone system. It’s all delivered on a single line service that’s a lot cheaper than a collection of individual analog telephone lines. So what could be better?

How about the same quality and performance for smaller phone systems? How about, say, half-a-PRI with a substantial cost savings?

Sure, why not?

Honestly, not every business needs 23 outside lines. In fact, you have to be a fairly large operation or a specialized business like a call center to require that much capacity. But there are lots and lots of businesses that do need a dozen or so phone lines for sales operations or customer service. For those businesses there is Fractional ISDN PRI.

In the United States, ISDN PRI is delivered on a T1 line. Each T1 line has 24 channels. ISDN PRI uses 23 channels for phone conversations, 1 per channel, and the last channel for signaling and information. If you’ve ordered a T1 line for dedicated Internet access or point to point connection to another facility, you know that you don’t always have to take the full line capacity. You can generally order fractional T1 service and pay somewhat less for a smaller bandwidth.

You can do the same thing with an ISDN PRI, also called a T1 PRI. There’s no need to order and configure all 23 phone channels if you don’t need that many. The T1 line will always have this capability available, but you may be able to order 6, 12, 18 or some other number of active lines. Configure them as any combination of incoming, outgoing, local, long distance or toll free. The monthly price you pay will be based on how many lines you set up and how much you use them.

You should also known that there is a related service called Integrated T1 that combines telephone and Internet data on a single line. It has special equipment so that voice and data never interfere. Basically, some of the T1 channels are assigned as telephone lines and the rest are allocated to Internet data service. If all you need is 6 to 12 phone lines plus broadband Internet access, Integrated T1 service may be your best cost solution.

Which telecom service is best for your company: ISDN PRI, Fractional ISDN PRI, or Integrated T1 service? Why not compare costs from multiple providers and then decide? Go ahead, the process is automated and takes just a few minutes. Expert consultants are available free of charge to help you decide or talk over your business requirements.

Undercover Laptop Sleeve Computer Cloaking Device

In the annals of computer security there is a product destined to become legend. It is not a network appliance, anti-virus software or spam filter. It requires no power to do its job. There’s nothing to configure and no maintenance cost. It is, perhaps, a masterpiece of physical security. It works its magic while cleverly disguised as... a dirty old bag.

Such is the Undercover Laptop Sleeve. It’s a product offered by a UK company called Lazybone, which describes its offerings as “freaky, uniquey, gadgetry geekery.” Where high technology fails, gadgetry geekery offers an alternative solution.

The beauty of the Undercover Laptop Sleeve is its ugliness. What looks to a potential gadget snatcher as a disgusting old mailing envelope is actually the hiding spot for your MacBook, Dell, Compaq or other high value laptop computer. Even beyond the cost of replacement, how much damage can a thief do when they get your bank records and every other detail of your personal life stored indiscreetly on an unencrypted hard drive?

If you have the proper attitude of security paranoia, your laptop is password protected with encrypted files. You also carry a Kensington Lock with a cable that’s always wrapped around a radiator pipe or strung through the back of a chair to deter any quick grabs. But if you are like the other 99% of us, you probably leave the machine sitting there bringing in email while you make a sprint for the public potty. Many a geek has been victimized by his or her inability to hold their Mountain Dew.

Don’t leave that precious PC out there in public view as temptation to moral weaklings. Slip it into the Undercover Laptop Sleeve and close the flap. Who is going to reach for that disgustingly germified looking brown envelope full of dirt-smudged mailing labels? It must have been through the mail. It’s got stamps on it!

To make the cloaking effect more robust, make sure nobody actually sees you slipping your computer into the sleeve. Even dumb criminals are smarter than that. You’ve got to sneak it in and maybe even sit a few other papers on top of it. That’s especially true if the sleeve is going to be visibly unguarded on a restaurant table or sitting on the backseat of your car, two things that you probably shouldn’t be doing to tempt fate with or without a dirty old computer hiding bag. Think of it more as a security enhancer.

The Undercover Laptop Sleeve comes in two sizes, 8 - 13 inches and 13 - 17 inches. It’s made of a material that is waterproof, tear-proof and can be written on. It’s also nicely padded for extra computer protection. Just don’t write something like “Don’t look in here. No computer inside” on your sleeve. Not only will it attract thieves like bears to honey, but they’ll also know that they can steal your car because you always leave the keys in the ignition where you won’t “lose” them.

Palm Pre Sets You Free

If you’ve been wanting to move up to a smartphone but nothing has caught your fancy yet, take a look at the Palm Pre for Sprint. It’s got all the goodies you want in a full-function mobile communications device and it’s available at special online pricing.

The much anticipated Palm Pre features an all new Palm WebOS and an advanced user interface. Your applications run in a multitasking environment, meaning you can have several of them going at the same time. You don’t have to close one to open another. Just swipe your finger to move among the activity “cards.”

As you might expect, a phone this powerful needs a powerful network as well. The Palm Pre runs on Sprint’s EVDO Rev A network to give you 3G Internet speeds wherever possible. You can also connect with WiFi hotspots using 802.11 b/g connectivity for even faster speeds.

The styling of the Pre is smooth and curved rather than sharp and angular. It looks and acts like a touchscreen PDA phone when closed. But slide it open to reveal a full QWERTY keyboard with real keys, not images on a screen. You’ll find this a joy for text messaging, instant messaging, using Email, and surfing the Web using a familiar desktop-type Web browser.

Yes, the Palm Pre is also a cell phone. The curved design makes for a comfortable fit against your ear. I suppose you can also use one of those Bluetooth earpieces, but then you won’t be showing off your new Palm Pre, will you?

What other special features are inside the Pre? How about a high resolution 3 Megapixel digital camera with LED flash? How about a music player that supports the popular standard formats? The pre gives you a standard 3.5 mm headphone jack as well as the ability to listen wirelessly on an A2DP Bluetooth stereo headset. You can also watch streaming media such as Sprint TV and You Tube, or listen to Sprint Radio or Pandora for endless tunes.

There is also GPS for Sprint Navigation so you can get turn-by-turn directions and mapping. You won’t be able to get lost with this device... unless you want to.

What are the hottest cell phone deals available right now, including free cell phones? Use the Cell Phone Plan Finder to check out the top phones and associated wireless service plans.