Magic Jack is the home VoIP solution that is taking on the big boys like Vonage and enjoying great success. The MagicJack, which is primarily advertised as an “as seen on TV” product is gaining some serious traction among the thrifty that are looking to cut costs on their monthly bills. With phone companies usually charging around $30.00 a month for phone service, it’s no wonder that the device has been so popular since the service costs only $20.00 a year. There are Millions of people using this cheap voip service now, which is a testament to its legitimacy. However, this does not mean by any stretch that the product is perfect. In fact, some people of gone as far as to scream Magic Jack scam.

The Magic Jack is a little bit smaller than a credit card and plugs into one of your computers usb ports. The device has a RJ11 input to plug your standard telephone into. Set-up and installation is a snap; the Magic Jack instantly loads its own software and then you can let the free calls begin. The device does require a high speed internet connection so make sure you have a quality cable or DSL connection. Almost all computer operating systems are supported by the device, including Windows XP, Mac, and Windows Vista. At the time this article was written there are some hiccups with getting the Magic Jack to work with Windows 7. The company does offer a download to make the product work with windows 7 http://upgrades.talk4free.com/tools/magicJackUpdate.exe however I have not be able to test this yet.

The fact that you simply plug the MJ into your computer, plug in your phone and start calling for free has attracted many users. After you purchase your Magic Jack USB dongle you receive a unique phone number that is completely yours and lasts for life, this in itself is something other phone companies cannot deliver. During the free trial there is a 100% risk free period which allows the end user to make as many free calls as they desire. There is free local and long distance calls for owners; there is also free directory assistance, free call waiting, free voicemail and free caller ID. The quality of calls you can make with the MJ is very good and the products recent popularity has only increased the features and service you will receive with this product. The online based customer service for the Magic Jack has also been very well received for the most part however there have been some very vocal individuals on the web complaining about the online customer service.

100% Risk Free – Try Before You Buy http://www.magicjack.com

It’s no big surprise that up to 10,000 of these units a day are being sold with a total incurred cost of $19.95 per year plus a $40.00 dollar upfront cost for the magic Jack device it’s self. Once you have paid these dues, you are able to make all the local and long distance calls for $0.00. There are no restrictions on the length of the call or what time the call is being made. So, you are probably wondering what other features you get with the MagicJack. One would think that there would be hidden fees for advanced features such as caller id or voicemail. Another bonus feature that often does not get mentioned is the ability to call 411 directory assistance for no charge as well. This is where the Magic Jack shines, providing voice mail, caller ID, call forwarding, call waiting and 3 way conference calling all for FREE. The only thing that does cost money is International phone calls. However rates are much lower than the local phone company or Cell Company or many VoIP companies. To clarify things a little bit, you can take your Magic Jack USB phone and a laptop out of the country and make phone calls to the US for free.

Now that we’ve established how exactly it functions, let’s look at how many different ways this can go wrong:

Internet Issues = No Phone

Family and friends with standard cable/DSL connections call me to their homes all of the time to fix their Internet connection. This usually involves tweaking/resetting the (usually wireless) home router, or likewise power-cycling the modem. Other times, the issue is on the end of the ISP or an issue with the local machine. The point is, stuff goes wrong in home networks all of the time.

Well that’s a huge problem when your landline phone connection goes through the same connection. Need 911? Having Internet problems? Forget it. And if your cell phone, if any, is also experiencing problems along with your Internet connection then you have no way of calling your ISP (or “geek friend”) for assistance.

The best part about this, is that most cheapo Linksys/D-Link/Belkin home routers usually need resets every now and again when being run with a ton of traffic (e.g. magicJack VOIP traffic or BitTorrent).

So expect the complete loss of your landline phone connection with the loss of your Internet, or for that matter:

Problems With Your PC

Windows isn’t the most secure or stable operating system, but that’s an entirely different rant. Here’s the thing: if a virus is eating up all of your bandwidth or CPU time/memory, then bye bye reliable phone service over VoIP.

And since MJ relies on a _working_ Windows PC, power outages or other mishaps mean you also lose your home phone service. Is it still worth the price? Even with a cell phone to back it up, nothing beats a reliable land line for emergencies or other needs.

Did You Read The EULA?

When doing a little research on this product, I found something very disturbing on the Wikipedia Entry for the magicJack regarding the EULA’s respect for privacy and any legal issues.

The End User License Agreement specifically states (as of this writing) that:

You also understand and agree that use of the magicJack device and Software will include advertisements and that these advertisements are necessary for the Magic Jack device to work … Our computers may analyze the phone numbers you call in order to improve the relevance of the ads.

By “Necessary to work”, they mean “completely optional for all practical purposes but we need something to pay the bandwidth/telephony costs”. Right. Surrender all privacy regarding who you call, because Big Brother is watching you, only using the “magicJack” instead of the conventional Telescreen (reference: George Orwell’s 1984).

Also, the EULA goes out of it’s way to protect the product’s parent company of any possible legal liability that may result from usage of the product. If you don’t believe me, read the current (as of this writing) EULA.

Other Issues

Did they mention that the free voicemail the service offers is stored on remote servers maintained by the company itself? Another point of failure to consider when using the service, combined with the other issues outlined here. You better hope they have sufficient redundancy for their datacenter, else you just lost all of your voicemail.

The voicemail service is mainly to cover for another issue at hand: if the PC is off, the phone is unavailable. So the call made to an off or otherwise unavailable computer with MJ is instead routed to the failsafe voicemail system, hosted on the company’s servers (as mentioned above). While this saves the hassle with failed incoming calls, it still doesn’t justify downtime’s effect on outgoing calls, especially those needed during serious emergencies.

Uninstallation Troubles

Not that I have any love for conventional phone companies, but should you have the desire to uninstall this POS after reading this, expect editing the registry because another common complaint is that this ad-ridden, naturally-flawed product is difficult to uninstall due to lack of a traditional Windows Installer uninstall utility.

Last Remarks

While conventional home phone service isn’t 100% perfect, this product throws way too many other common points of failure into the equation. With viruses like Conficker running on too many machines as it stands, the possibility for the complete loss of privacy as a result of using this product is disturbing to say the least given the appropriate security compromise.

I don’t mean to completely knock this product as it may seem from reading this post, but I feel it is necessary to outline the potential problems that may come as a result of using it. I value having a hard-wired home phone connection with guaranteed reliability regardless of the Internet connection and power status, because some emergencies also entail the loss of both and a cell phone may be out of reach or uncharged.

Other VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) services like Vonage require only a base station and the standard Internet connection, independent of a PC (OR Mac) status. Still susceptible to power issues, but that’s a small subset of the factors associated with routing your entire phone connection through a Windows PC.

Take it form a Networking professional: don’t trust your life and privacy in the hands of this product any more than you would your power, PC uptime, and Internet connection at the same time.

A Recent Review From One Of Our Readers Also I since this post started it has amassed a ton of user comments. I have started a new post for reviews so feel free to make your comments there as they will more likely be read.

Magic Jack has exceeded my highest expectations! Received the device in 2 business days (from Florida to NYC). Set up was a no-brainer. Picked my area code and MJ assigned the phone number. Avoid all the extras . . . imho, they are not worth it. My internet connection (TWC NYC) is excellent, so MJ works like a charm. Quality is excellent! As good as it ever was with Verizon. Very intuitive and easy to use all the features. Conference calling is terrific! Again, quality was without peer. Sure hope that all the good stuff continues. As for the much talked about “spyware” issues, if they’re out there, no one is bothering me . . . and, who really cares. If you use Amazon.com, Google, et. al, they alreeady have your ticket. Well worth the price . . . btw, we use MJ as a second line, as our main line in Vonage, which also works extremely well.

Update: FemtoJack – Magic Jack 2.0

The company Ymax which is behind the MagicJack has been working a new product for some time that will utilize femtocell technology. The product they are calling FemtoJack is similar to the MJ but will allow you to make calls from your cell phone and the FemtoJack will transfer the call through the internet so you will not have to use up your minutes on your cell carriers network. It is rumored that the device will come out in the second quarter of this year and will cost less than $100 dollars. You can imagine that the cell companies are not very happy about this announcement. I will make a post soon on more of the details of this new device.

MagicJack USB Device Worth The Hype? An Honest Magic Jack Review originally appeared on The Coffee Desk on May 29, 2009.

I was able to get my hands on one and I must say, I was a bit perplexed at first, and you are probably wondering yourself how exactly the idea works. If you have gone into a BestBuy or Target recently, you will walk by this thing and do a double take. It is intriguing at first glance and you just have to walk over and play with it and stick your hand in the large hoop. So how does it work? The Air Multiplier uses friction in the air to push out its cool breeze. Around the rim of the circular fan is a little opening from which jets a very thin stream of air at 55 mph. That thin stream of air pulls more air into the stream thanks to the aforementioned friction. This is called entrainment – a new word I just learned.

The air that gets pushed away from the ring towards your  face creates an area of low pressure – not quite a vacuum, but the same effect – in the ring. If you stick your hand in there you can kind of feel it. That low pressure pulls in more air from behind the machine which is then in turn drawn into the air stream. That’s called inducement. I knew this word already

The engineering challenge is in keeping that stream of air flowing smoothly. When I asked an engineer on the process  he told me there were a lot of calculations involved. I’m no mathamatician so I won’t make myself look like an idiot by explaining a bunch of numbers he gave me, but I can describe a better way of thinking about it. Imagine, if you will, a water hose or a faucet. If you turn on the tap half way, then the flow out of the hose is smooth, right? It stays together in a stream when it exits the end of the pipe. If you squeeze the hose or block the faucet in some way making the exit smaller, or if you turn the tap on full,  the water sprays all over the place, right? In a fan, you want a smooth airflow (obviously) which stays aimed at whatever you point it at for without going all over the place, wasting energy in turbulence. The Air Multiplier appears to have achieved this with those complicated equations. The “multiplier” part of the name refers to how much efficiency it saves. It sends approximately 15 times more air at you thanks to taking advantage of these physical processes than it actually has to drive through its own internal spinning turbine.

There you have it! Now you can tell all your friends and family how it works. But before you run out and buy one, I want to put you a little at easy before you see the price:

• Completely unique design – this eye catching fan looks more like a giant magnifying glass than a fan. It’s simply the coolest fan you have ever seen.
• Safe (no external moving parts) so your pet or toddler can examine it with no worry of injury
• No doubt, it’s great at fanning delivering a breeze on par with most fans it’s size

The bad:

• It’s not cheap, with the 10 inch model going for $299 and the 12 inch fo $329
• It isn’t the quietest fan I’ve heard, but definitely not the loudest, so if you are looking for a silent fan, you may want to look at other alternatives.

Dyson’s Fanless Fan – How Exactly Does That Work? originally appeared on The Coffee Desk on April 13, 2010.

I decided that I would add another post on the Magic Jack phone device since the first post has well over 100 comments. If you do not find enough feed back on this post then grab a cup of coffee and check out our original post on Magic Jack Reviews. Those interested in cutting costs on their cellphone bills should also look out for Ymax’s newest product to hit the shelves some time this spring. It’s called the FemtoJack and will allow you to route cellphone calls through your computer just like the Magic Jack allows you to do with landline calls. If you would like more information then feel free to check out our FemtoJack Reviews article.

100% Risk Free – Try Before You Buy http://www.magicjack.com

I just picked up a Magic Jack and set it up on both my Desk top computer and my Laptop .. this has got to be the most amzing product ever.. i love it! on my Desk top it did not run as well as on my laptop .. on my Desktop it has some cutting out and was not working too well .. but on my Laptop it runs very nice and smooth . voice quality is excellent and very little cut out . its like using a land line honestly. amazing. and so easy.

Below are actual Magic Jack User Reviews.

I feel this has to do with the Desktop machine specs . as i’m running the same operatiing system on both machines Windows XP Pro. you need at least Windows service pack 3 installed to run Majic Jack. there are alot of variables that determine call quality. Machine speed , USB port speed , Ram , internet connection quality .. so i was using the same internet connect .. local high speed wireless service. my Laptop has a 2 gig (2000 mghz) processor speed , 500 meg ram. .. my Desktop isn’t as fast as my laptop and was the cause of the cutting out and poor voice quality.
Desktop specs – 1 gig processor , 300 meg ram . maybe a lower speed usb port on that machine too. so that combination did not work good for the MagicJack .. with the Laptop tho its excellent. and i would highly recommend it.

I have been using the MJ for about 2 1/2 yrs now, would I trust it as my only source of phone service…NO…but it does work sometime’s well other time a little crappie but it works none the less……One thing that bug’s me a bit is in their TOS it states that if you use the magicjack 20 times more then the average user they can (and will from what I have read in other complaint blogs) shut your free sevice down and offer you a pay by minute plan…almost forgot to mention that they wont tell you what the average usage is, not even if you get one of their service reps. in the chat room,s…..which by the way the customer service sucks “all canned answers to your questions”, kinda odd, a phone company without a phone number to get help !………Good thing is it can and does save you a lot of cell phone minutes, more then 20 dollars worth….

100% Risk Free – Try Before You Buy http://www.magicjack.com

We moved 8 months ago and were debating whether to get a home line since we both have cell phones. I got a Magic Jack and have been using it as a home line since then. I have experienced some problems – early on, they were worse. On some calls it would drop syllables – like a cell phone breaking up – on other inbound calls, the person could not hear me but I could hear them. I haven’t really experienced that lately. Often when I pick up to dial, I get no immediate dialtone. I hang up once or twice and get a dialtone. No big deal.

I like being able to receive voicemails in my inbox. If you are the type of person to let your calls go to VM anyway, and/or like to be able to get your home voicemails while at work this may be a plus.

I am using a 3-handset Uniden wireless system. I plugged the base system into the MJ, and have the other handsets elsewhere in the house (the other 2 do not require phone jacks). This works very well. I was also pleasantly surprised that the Caller ID function on my phone does display incoming and missed phone numbers from MJ! I never used Caller ID before, but now that it’s free, it’s a nice bonus.

I am running this on an extra older PC that we don’t use much. My kid plays computer games on it sometimes but otherwise it’s for MJ. We made sure that MJ launches automatically on restart in case of shutdown, we have it running on some kind of lowered power mode, and I suppose we could shut it down it at night to save even more power. I don’t want calls at night anyway, and we have our cell phones for emergency calls.

100% Risk Free – Try Before You Buy http://www.magicjack.com

More Authentic Magic Jack Reviews originally appeared on The Coffee Desk on March 31, 2010.

“BooRah is the ultimate, personalized review guide providing consumers a smarter way to find great restaurants. BooRah’s patent-pending natural language processing technology automatically summarizes a collection of online reviews from bloggers, professional critics and consumers, and allows consumers to search based on personal preferences. By capturing the community vibe and social essence of existing online groups, and comparing the results to individual search criteria, BooRah delivers unsurpassed relevance with the broadest community reach…”

Now there are plenty of restaurant review sites out there, so it is imperative to stand out from the rest. How does BooRah do it? One thing is inside the review excerpt. You will find food terms, like a particular dish, identified and linked out to a search results page displaying that same item in the same location at which you are currently looking. If I am reading a review that says a particular place’s shrimp (my favorite) is alright but isn’t the best in town – I’m one click on the word ’shrimp’ away from finding out where in town is said to have better ones. I think a few other review sites may do this also; I just do not remember them being as simple.

The site searches for reviews across many different sources, depending on the location. CitySearch,Yahoo Travel, Tripadvisor and many many more are included. In some locations, even the local newspaper is a source. Now that they have the sources, reviews also need a personal touch. Reviews can also be written on the BooRah site itself. I am sure it is extremely hard for systems that scan reviews to recognize things like sarcasm or other peculiarities of human communication, but BooRah seems to do a decent job making a review objective instead of subjective.

BooRah is an impressive database of restaurant reviews from around the US, primarily focused on the nation’s large metropolitan areas. I was able to find good reviews in my smaller town however. Your first visit to BooRah can be a little overwhelming. There is information everywhere crammed, on what seems like, one page. Of course, this can quickly be solved by narrowing your search. Once you have found the restaurant, it’ll even show where it is using Google Maps!
Other than the easily fixable quirks, I really love BooRah. It is informative, simple, and fun. Not to mention, if you direct your mobile browser to BooRah.com, you will be taken to the mobile version and able to search on the go. Pretty cool. So what are you waiting for? After looking up your local “Rahs,” go ahead and take your family out to eat making it another “Rah” in their book.

BooRah Review – Can BooRah Help You Decide On Dinner? originally appeared on The Coffee Desk on March 12, 2010.

1. Profilactic (which sounds like a medicine to me) is a recent favorite of mine and supports a number of social networks like Facebook, LinkedIn, Shelfari, with the ability to add more than one account for the same site. At its core, Profilactic does two things: it displays your personal lifestream, which consists of your social networking activity, and a group lifestream from your friends. What it does, it does well. There’s also the option to create clippings – bits and pieces of information from the web; but this option is not really connected to the rest of the features on the site.
2. GizaPage is my second favorite. This service helps consumers and brands optimize their social media outreach by aggregating and serving their many profiles side by side on one webpage and under their own domain. It is wild! They give you a clean simple site where you can input all your social networks and get a good look at what is going on. The best part is that this service will analyze the traffic on your social media hub with all sorts of cool statistics to gawk over.
3. Naymz is not so much an organizer but helps in that the service actively monitor certain sites for mention of your name. Naymz also actively promotes your profile by trying to make it more visible on Google. It also supports the usual crowd – Facebook, Myspace, etc.
4. SocialURL helps you organize your online identity and get back in touch with all of your friends and classmates. It’s a unified profile with support for photo galleries and videos, as well as a central portal with links pointing out to all your other social network profiles. It’s all spiced up with lots of additional features, like on-site email, reminders and bookmarks. Last time I checked, there were 19341 SocialURLs and counting…
5. Second Brain takes a radically different approach to aggregation than other apps on this list. You organize your data – this includes data from your social network profiles, like Flickr photos or YouTube videos – into collections. A collection is basically a bunch of links, photos, or other bits and pieces of data thrown onto a dashboard; you can create your own collections or explore what others have collected. They say “Secondbrain is a service that makes it easy to save bookmarks of articles, blog posts, videos and photos that you find online to a centralized source. Use Secondbrain to save bookmarks to your profile, share updates with your subscribers and friends, and discover new content in your network.” Try it out. it only take 10 seconds to sign up.

All of these services will help in your quest to be a little more organized in your life online and let’s face it – they all do the same thing. However, each of them have something they do differently as well. Something you may like, and something you may not like. Take a look at them all. They all strive to keep your online social life more organized and that is something many of us need these days. There are, of course, a few I am missing, so please share some that I missed and/or your favorite.

5 Social Media Organizers That Will Keep Your Computer Close and Your Friends Closer originally appeared on The Coffee Desk on March 9, 2010.

The phone is awesomely fast. More so than my iPhone and  features some cutting edge hardware, like a large AMOLED display and a 1GHz CPU. The screen is beautiful. Controls on the Nexus One are pretty easy to use. There is a color-changing trackball that is below that gorgeous, bright and colorful 3.7-inch, 800 x 480 pixel AMOLED touchscreen display. Both the trackball and the capacitive touchscreen perform very well. The touch sensitive controls for back, menu, home, and search that sit between them are OK. Hardware keys would have been greatly preferred, even if it messed up their form factor just a tad.

The phone offers wonderful audio clarity on calls. In fact, possibly the best I’ve heard in a phone. Unfortunately, the speakerphone functionality leaves a lot to be desired. The Nexus One does a great job with contacts as well. The Android OS allows for 3rd party developers to integrate directly into the main contacts system, and Google includes a nice Facebook app that works rather well with integrating into the system. I am actually jealous of the OS because my iPhone wishes it had such a manageable contact system. Multiple Gmail accounts can be added to the device for contacts or email  and the same is true for Microsoft Exchange accounts.

The 5 megapixel camera is quick to focus,  and even has a nice LED flash. I didn’t have much time to play with the camera, but was definitely liking the results. The wide screen 720 x 480 pixel video that the Nexus One shoots is also pretty good, and certainly good enough to upload to YouTube or other video sharing sites. Videos and photos can be easily shared from the new Gallery application on the Nexus 1 which I found is pretty awesome. Moving onto music, the Nexus One handles that really well. Both 3.5mm headphones and Bluetooth stereo headphones are supported, and the music app organizes tracks by album, artist, and playlist. Since I’ve always used iTunes, it was a little different to get music on the phone. The ability to link to playlists from the home screen is brilliant, and the new animated “live” homescreen wallpapers that are linked to the music as it is played is a nice touch as well.

So all in all, I was very impressed with the Nexus One. I love the hardware design, the amazing CPU, and the beautiful AMOLED display, but I just would not recommend getting it for T-Mobile. Again, I want to mention the processor because it is worth mentioning twice. The new 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon CPU in the Nexus One is what makes everything work at blazing speeds. I’ve not seen a faster device on the market. The rendering of loaded web pages might be the best example of this speed. All smartphones need one of these processors.

The only things that disappointed me was the horrible speakerphone, the bad battery life, and sketchy reception, and this is probably because of the T-Mobile reception in my area. I am very curious to know how many Google has sold. I am sure the numbers will rise once Verizon gets their hands on the phone this spring. The minor problems will more than likely be solved. If you want to buy one now, you’ll need to go to Google.com/phone and pay $529 for the unlocked version, or pay around $179.00 for a version with T-Mobile service. Upgrades for existing T-Mobile customers are possible, but the early termination fees for this device can reach upwards of $550 so don’t cancel

Google Phone Review – Finally an Honest Nexus One Review originally appeared on The Coffee Desk on March 4, 2010.

I’m pretty sure most of you have heard of the few places I am going to talk about since traffic to these sites are growing every day. “GasBuddy.com, which serves as an umbrella site for 180 regionalized sites covering some 170,000 gas stations in the U.S. and Canada, has seen more of a steady climb in traffic.” This site, and GasPriceWatcher essentially do the same thing – Find the cheapest gas prices in your vicinity. GasBuddy.com and GasPriceWatch.com, both 10-year-old sites, rely on their networks of registered members/spotters. Spotters are community members who are usually offered incentive points or a chance to win a “thank you” prize such as a discount on gas.

GasBuddy.com has one of the coolest features in what it calls its Gas Temperature Map, an interactive display of gas prices around the country, with areas color-coded according to their average price for regular unleaded gasoline. I was able to find some cheap gas this way, but that is not the only way to be alerted of cheap gas. It should be noted that new technologies have changed the way we consumers are accessing information from the gas price sites. Some are still looking at the sites on their PCs. But other gadgeteers, like me, are getting such information through in-car GPS systems, text messaging, and smartphone applications.

Make no mistake that these are not the only gas saving websites out there. There is also AAA’s Gas Price Finder, unlike the other two sites; this site uses data primarily from credit card transactions. MapQuest Gas Prices and MSN Gas Prices rely on data supplied by the Oil Price Information Service, a pricing database that collects information from 125,000 North American retail outlets.

There are many more services as well, such as:

FuelMeUp.com is a great Web service that is updated three times each day to help drivers get the best price on gas in their zip code. The site contains over 82,000 gas stations nationwide and the site boasts itself as reviewed, credible and helpful.FuelMeUp also explains the benefits of getting a gas rebate credit card to purchase your gas with; these cards provide money back when gas is purchased and sets your actual price per gallon way down.

FuelGo.com is a great service that you can use on the go! You just send a text message to gas@fuelgo.com with your current zip code in the message heading and you instantly receive a text message response with several gas stations offering the lowest fuel prices in the area. This service is free (with the exception of any text messaging charges you may have) and fuelgo.com claims fuel savings of up to 20%.

100LL.com If flying is your forte, 100LL.com is the choice for you to save money on aviation fuel. This Website provides information for pilots and is consistently updated with aviation fuel prices so you can be sure to save. I can imagine filling up a plane can be costly, so searching for the best deal on fuel is obviously a mandatory service. Pilots are able to use 100LL.com in route to their destinations and the site will give updated information on the best fuel-up spots, as well as discounted hotel reservations and airport details.

FuelEconomy.gov is an informational site that provides information on a plethora of fuel saving tips, energy efficient vehicles, vehicles that use alternative fuel, fuel cost calculator and much more. If you are an environment conscious individual, you will definitely want to read over this Website as it will help you make an environmentally friendly new car purchase and/or get the best efficiency out of the car that you are currently driving. You can compare cars side by side and you can also get MPG estimates from fellow drivers. This will save you lots of money in the long run! FuelEconomy.gov is also frequently updated and provides the 2008 MPG ratings.

eRideShare.com If you don’t like any of your coworkers then eRideShare.com is a great way to save wear and tear on your vehicle and keep money in your pocket. You are bound to find someone going your direction with eRideShare. This site makes a wonderful point, if everyone would carpooled occasionally then traffic would decrease and we would finally make it to work on time.

f you were not aware of these sites, I suggest you use them, because now a day, every little bit of savings helps. Another useful tip I heard not too long ago is if you can find a gas station that does not accept credit cards, then the gas will be considerably cheaper. Most gas stations allow to use a credit/debit card however. Enjoy saving money on gasoline!

Find Cheap Gas In My Area – Compare Gas Prices With These Tools originally appeared on The Coffee Desk on March 2, 2010.

As our digital media grow, it is imperative that we all find ways to keep it forever. I was once a strong believer that I could never be a victim of hundreds of important files lost. I saw more clearly my mistake when I lost some of my most valuable pictures, videos, and music years ago. To keep that from ever happening again, I backup to several places so in the event that anything fails, I have a backup somewhere else. SpiderOak has made the list of saving my most important files, and doing it well.

For For $10 a month, you can store up to 20GB; this can be further increased with another $10 per 100GB increment. If you are like me, then you’ll take the free 2GB and run with it. Although not much, 2GB will definitely help. If you need more, prices get a little high, however, you get what you pay for, and one thing that $10/month will get you is advanced security. SpiderOak has one of the most advanced security systems that I have used in a backup service. Many people have their security concerns, so the SpiderOak team takes great pride in protecting their customers. In fact, because of its strong encryption, the program is currently available only in the United States. MacNN mention says “While it’s unlikely that employees will browse through your files, the possibility is always there, which means you lack true privacy. That’s why the site uses the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES), a US government algorithm, for encrypting your data on its servers. In theory this not only halts local access, but means that if the password is lost or forgotten, even you will never be able to retrieve your files ever again.”

I would probably suggest you always remember your password, of course. Also unique to SpiderOak is a feature I absolutely love. Versioning is a wonderful feature that all backup services should use in my opinion. Imagine you save a document, and you decided to change some things within the document and resave it. Most services would replace the backup copy with the new one, however, SpiderOak not only keeps that version, but any previous changes you have made or will make. Brilliant. SpiderOak also takes great pride in giving users the ability to share their files. You can designate specific files to share, assign a password to them, and then anyone with the right password can access your files over the Internet. Simple as that! With such a simple program, anyone can use it and not only am I talking about any person being able to use this program but any operating system can use it as well. This cross-platform program can have you backing up on your Mac laptop, Windows PC, or your Linux computer.

I am not particularly fond of the look and feel of SpiderOak, but in my conversations with Oberman, he made it easily understandable when he said, “this has been an issue that we have discussed at a great length internally. However, given that one of our top priorities from the beginning was to be completely cross platform, we wanted to provide a consistent look and feel within the application regardless of platform. Therefore, if you are on a Mac, a Windows machine, or working in Linux, the SpiderOak application will look and feel the exact same.”

That is when the saying, Never judge a book by its cover comes to mind. Despite its unpleasing facade lies a great functional program that not only backs up your files (as it is suppose to do) but also does so with security that even you cannot access without the password. If you are looking for a secure backup service, than this is for you. Either way, I encourage you to try them out. As of now, there is not unlimited backup like you find with Mozy or Carbonite, however, there are a world of differences when compared that Oberman would be glad to explain any day. Given the many services there are to do online backups, I’d say they are heading in the right track and I will be by their side for many years to come.

Online Backup Services. Spideroak Reviews originally appeared on The Coffee Desk on February 16, 2010.

New legislation prohibiting drivers from talking while behind the wheel, so combined with a demand for more fashionable and advanced devices with more sophisticated phones, you get Bluetooth headset makers that are forced to innovate. I took a look at the newest Jawbone technology and I must say, it is very nice.The latest addition to the wireless world is Aliphs Jawbone Prime with “NoiseAssassin” technology.

Aliph set out to blend science with beauty in a new design that is 50 percent smaller than the original Jawbone, and is even smaller than the Jawbone 2. The new Jawbone Icon and Prime models feature noise-elimination technology that promises better voice quality. The new headset is available at AT&T retail stores and at Jawbone’s site. The new Jawbone features military-grade NoiseAssassin technology, designed to address real-world noise environments like busy streets, cars and airports. Aliph said, “it has 10 times better voice clarity than competing headsets” — meaning it is virtually quite.

The Jawbone bluetooth headset uses the VAS (Voice Activity Sensor) to distinguish the sound of your voice from ambient noise and then uses proprietary Digital Signal Processing (DSP) algorithms to subtract the noise so only the sound of your voice comes through. You are probably thinking, “wow, this is high tech for such a simple piece of equipment.” You are right – it is – but for good reasons. Not only are you getting military technology for your phone, but you are getting it in style.

The new Jawbone headset is designed to look and feel like an accessory along the lines of jewelry and eyewear. It offers a customized fit with three sizes of earbuds and four ear loops that can be worn on either ear. It is important to not only be functional, but fashionable as well. I’ve noticed quite a change in the younger crowd. Kids are practically born with cells phones and unlike my days of school where it was cool to show off your coolest shoes, CD Player, or hat, the cell phone industry has made a remarkable turn to attract with the coolest cell phones and accessories. Why not add some style to a Jawbone Bluethooth headset! Sure, you can grab a cheap Bluetooth headset off the shelf for no less than $20.00 now, but the Jawbone has class and style coupled with some of the most advanced technology offered in a headset. Price ranges from $99 to $129.99 in matte black. Other colors are also available.

Cool, Fashionable, and Safe – A Look at Jawbone Bluetooth Headsets originally appeared on The Coffee Desk on February 12, 2010.

First, you have to understand how speakers actually work before I get to wireless speakers. Though I am not a technical guy, I do know a thing or two about speakers from all those music classes in college so I’ll give you a rather rudimentary – yet brief -understanding of how speakers work. Obviously, speakers are opposite to a microphone, so a microphone is used to capture audio and a speaker is used to play the audio captured; This audio is called impulses. Our ears cannot hear impulses, so that is where speakers come in. They translate those impulses into vibrations (using awesome technology) that our ears can understand. Therefore, we have music which is pleasing to the ears — sometimes.

That is basically how speakers work. Of course, there are much more details involved, however, I will spare you from boredom. Whether the speakers are wired or wireless, the technology behind playing music through them is generally the same. However, the technology behind making a speaker wireless or wired is, as you might expect, a little different. Wireless speakers must come with a transmitter that sends the audio signal to the wireless speakers. Most transmitters have a standard input connection in the transmitter that allow you to connect any audio device to it. You can connect a CD player, an MP3 player or any thing that has audio output. There are several frequencies at which wireless speakers operate: 900Mhz, 2.4Ghz and 5.8Ghz and even 1.9Ghz using DECT 6.0 technology. Generally the less congested frequency band has better reception and sound quality based on the environment you are operating the wireless audio speaker. Another type of technology around wireless speakers is bluetooth which is a unique and complex wireless speaker method, but a technology that has flourished and will continue to do so.

Once the sound source is plugged into the transmitter, you should be able to take your wireless speakers any where within the specified range and turn them on, and listen to your audio source. Some transmitters or speakers have a frequency nob that you can adjust to change the channel get the best audio quality and some wireless speakers change the channels automatically.

Do wireless speakers work well?

Yes. Audio quality from your wireless speaker is the most important factor. Advanced technology has limited horrible quality wireless speakers fortunately. Bose is one of my favorite audio companies who have produced hundreds of high quality products for years. Bose wireless speakers come with a small ‘USB key’ that’ll allow you to insert it into you computer to play music from you computer through the speakers anywhere in the home. They have had great reviews. CNET reviewed four nice wireless speaker systems that used a number of technologies and range from $199 to $600. Last year, I was given the opportunity to review a marvelous multi-room wireless speaker system by Sonos and was blown away with the results. There are wireless home theatre systems as well, such as the Sony Bravia systems, or the brilliant Harman Kardon systems that all have good reviews.

There are advantages and disadvantages to owning wireless speakers. To be clear, a wireless speaker system is not truly wireless. In the audio world, it simply means less wires. Still, this in itself can turn out to be a great advantage. I remember when I was younger, my father and I spent countless hours hooking up his new entertainment system. You should have seen the mess of wires we had to fight with and try to conceal so my sister and I would not inadvertently trip over them one day and send his pride and joy crashing down. Today, you have wireless speaker systems and though you have to deal with a few wires, they are pretty easy to maintain and that is what I love about wireless speakers. Mobility is another reason why I love wireless speaker systems. Want to listen to your music outside by the pool? Now you can. Despite the misunderstanding that all wireless speakers don’t have good range – they do, and that is why I love wireless speaker systems.

However, there are some disadvantages such as batteries. Most wireless speakers systems (if not all) come with rechargeable batteries. Therefore, it is important to always make sure you have fully charged or new batteries. The battery on  wireless speakers is very important, and it has a direct impact on the quality of the sound. To me, i feel this is the biggest disadvantage to wireless speaker systems, but something that can improve in the future. These days, all of us are all about getting rid of the clutter so as technology advances and wireless systems become even more prevalent, I think we will see an even more wireless world with better battery technology to back up the demand.

Wireless Speakers Review: Wireless Speaker Systems Right For You? originally appeared on The Coffee Desk on February 4, 2010.