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.

Some have said that it looks like a very strange thing to be calling a device that plugs into a computer and then routes cell calls through a broadband connection. They probably used to say that about man landing on the moon or the invention of the internet. However it has ample scope of user’s flexibility in accession. Also usability and maximum enjoyment of the customer use is what FemtoJack aims at.

With so much now being said about the FemtoJack it naturally makes it crucial to shed some light on the mastermind behind its creation. The company behind this latest arrival in telecom industry is Ymax. Incorporated by Daniel W Borislow, Ymax Communications Corp. is situated at 5700 Georgia Ave West Palm Beach, FL 33405. In 2005 Ymax Communications Corp. was incorporated in the State of Florida and is presently active there. C T Corporation System represents Ymax Communications Corp. as their registered agent. Based in Palm Beach, Florida, it earned revenue of nearly $30 million in 2008 and $110 million in 2009 and is operating extremely profitable and has solid resources at its disposal for this remarkable technology.

YMax has earned repute in the world of digital communications. Before commencing the project of FemtoJack, Ymax already had released its amazingly popular product, the Magic Jack, which has already created a huge noise in the market. It should be just a matter months now before the much awaited sequel to the Magic Jack is released. Although the exact release date of the FemtoJack is unknown, Internet rumors are speculating that it could be available in the first quarter of 2010.

No discussion on FemtoJack is complete without investing few words on Daniel Borislow, the inventor of both this latest amazing gadget and its predecessor, the Magic Jack.
Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on September 21, 1961 Borislo became a household name for his first product, a femtocell device tagged as ‘MagicJack’. From May 1989 through January 1999, Borislow was the CEO of Tel-Save Holdings (now owned by Cavalier Telephone). Tel-Save re-sold access to AT&T lines. Borislow took the company public in 1995 and built his own long distance network.

But the company’s fortunes turned, and Borislow departed following an annual loss of over $200M in 1998.Following the sale of his company stock in 1999, he moved to Palm Beach, Florida and focused his attention on thoroughbred horse breeding and ownership. Now he has promised to rule the market for his latest invention FemtoJack, the latest version of Magic Jack. Check out our review of the Magic Jack here.

There is no doubt that when this much talked about Ymax FemtoJack is released it will totally change the game not only for the major cell phone providers but also for every day cell users. Truly speaking it is expected to not only live up to the expectation of its makers and also its prospective users, its expected to break all boundaries of the telecommunications world as we know it.

Who is unleashing FemtoJack? originally appeared on The Coffee Desk on May 13, 2010.

The adult diaper recycling machines are referred to as SFD and can handle 700 pounds of soiled diapers each and every day. The company has produced machines that handle different amounts of adult diapers which top out at 1100 pounds per day. The SFD’s automate the process of making the adult diapers sterile. They then dry the diaper out so that it can be shredded. This material is then made into fuel pellets.
What will they think of Next?!

Adult Diaper Power originally appeared on The Coffee Desk on May 6, 2010.

Family Meeting

When is the last time you and your family actually sat around and talked to one another? Not many families talk these days. Many families do not spend enough time talking about stuff. At dinner tables, there are not many times when the table is full and everyone is talking to everyone. It is very important to be close to your family because many times when I speak to people, they tell me stories about how families are broken apart, how parents dislike their children, and how children dislike their parents. Talking can always be a fun way to pass time quickly while the power is out and build a nice bond that was lacking for so long.

Hide and Seek!

Oh how I loved this game growing up. I remember it progressing into night Hide and Seek and all the neighborhood kids would participate. Good times, eh? Not to worry, you still can play this game old or young! I recommend playing at night so if your power goes out at night – perfect solution! All you need is a flashlight and you are ready to play hide and go seek in your house. Another fun thing to do with a flashlight is play flashlight tag. The person “it” has a flashlight and tries to find you, and then tag you.

Board Games

If you ever had the pleasure of meeting my parents and asking them if I liked board games, they would laugh and say no! I was never into board games, but I do have to admit, it can sometimes be fun with a lot of people. These days, they make them extra interactive and 21st century-esque. Many board games have been made into computer games. Can’t play those with the power out though. But don’t you miss the original games themselves? Games like Risk, Monopoly, and Clue are all great choices for you and your family to play. A way to make it more fun is to play in candle light. By the way, I dominate in Monopoly!

Read

The most easy way to pass time is to read a book. Take that book that you have been dying to read, but never had time for it. Read it by candlelight; It is so relaxing. I am not a big reader of books, but the next outage I have will give me more of a reason to finish up Stephen King’s Under The Dome.

Work

Do you have a deadline for something that needs to be done? Is it homework for school or work that your boss has told you to do? Do you need to type a paper? If so, right it by hand. Right your thoughts on a piece of paper and then when the power comes on, you will be well on your way to finishing the paper. If you need research, go to a library and research through books or through your own collection of books. That is, if anyone has an encyclopedia collection anymore.

iPod/iPhone/iPad

Though you need electricity to charge this gadgets up, they are equipped with a heck of a battery life so for me, listening to music is a must. If you have an I pod, this is a great time to listen to it. If you do not have an I pod, you can play a hand-held gaming device, PSP, Nintendo DS, or any others out there.

In the event you lose power, you will remember this post. Of course, when one is bored, we can come up with some with the craftiest solutions. We all take advantage of electricity and once we lose it, we don’t know what to do with ourselves, but if you look back at when we didn’t rely so heavily on electricity, it’ll make it easier to do without at least for a couple of hours.

What To Do When Your Power Goes Out originally appeared on The Coffee Desk on April 21, 2010.

The software basically works the same way for Macs as well. WinX DVD Ripper for Mac is an all-in-one DVD ripper designed to make 1:1 DVD copy to hard drive and rip your DVD movies on Mac OS to iTunes, MOV, MP4, FLV, etc that is playable on iPad, iPod, iPhone, Apple-TV, PSP. Also, It also supports extracting music from the DVD files and saving as MP3 format. In addition, the software enables users to rip DVDs of new generation copy protections with the fastest speed.

So what are you waiting for? Go snatch up your free code for the Mac. And if you still want a code for the Windows version, we still have some available.

WinX DVD Ripper Giveaway for Mac! originally appeared on The Coffee Desk on April 16, 2010.

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.

Stop Buying

I know it is easier said than done. Buying things we simply do not need might be the biggest cause for an e-waste problem. Do you really need that new shiny iPad? We really need to listen to that voice in our heads that talks to us and prevents us from buying electronic items we do not need.

Give Back

These days, a number of stores are investing in a buy back program. If you’re making a new purchase at a store, be sure to ask the store if they will buy back your old camera, laptop or any other electronic item. Best Buy has a trade-in option, where you can get rid of your old equipment in exchange of Best Buy gift cards. I think this is a very good idea for any retail business to practice.

Sell Your Stuff

Craigslist and eBay are the best places to sell electronic items that are potentially valuable to someone else but useless to you. Be sure to sell your electronic items right away – they will lose value rapidly as later models come into the market. Craigslist is a good option to sell heavy or lower value items, since shipping is often not involved.

Local Options

If you are in the United States, the EPA website has information on your local options for recycling your electronics. And no matter where you live, check out your options to recycle locally.

“The Cloud” Living

If you are running a business, there is no longer a need to buy a large server or heavy-duty machines for your work. SugarSync and SpiderOak are great resources for you to back up and sync your files across multiple machines, without having to invest in a server. For the technical people, the cloud is also a great option for businesses to expand their memory on the fly and as needed.

Learn

Most electronic gadgets have toxic materials in them, so it is extremely important to dispose of them in the right way. Make sure to educate yourself and anyone else you know. Discovering all the toxins in electronics will push you to be more mindful of e-waste.

Buyback Options

This could of course fall under “sell your stuff” but there are a number of services on the internet that pay you for your electronics besides selling on Craigslist and Ebay. You’ll know you will be getting something for your electronics at least. BuyMyTronics pays you for your new, used, or damaged electronics when you send them in by mail. To receive some money for your “tronic,” you will need to use the provided options to describe the condition of your item. BuyMyTronics will then generate an approximate value of your tronic, like a blue book value. Should you choose to accept their offer, BuyMyTronics will reimburse you via check or PayPal for the amount they quoted you within 24 hours of receiving your item. There is also a service called Gazelle that works the same way. Both companies are Green which is of course good for the economy.

So there you have it. Go and practice these options!

A Few Ideas On Tech / Computer Recycling originally appeared on The Coffee Desk on April 9, 2010.

Many reports are saying that Verizon will be getting the Nexus One this month. Of course, the month has just started, so we can only wait and see. According to jkOnTheRun and some “multiple sources”, Verizon’s Nexus One will come with a surprise, meaning that it might be different than the smartphone’s versions for T-Mobile, AT&T and Sprint. While likely to be very similar, including the AMOLED screen and 1GHz processor, Verizon’s Nexus 1 model is also rumored to be coming with a “big surprise” that won’t be present on other models.

What could this be? New colors? Wireless hot-spot built in? We can only let our imaginations run wild with this as we wait for a “spring” announcement but I can assure you, there are a lot of anxious customers waiting to get their hands on the CDMA version of one of the most advanced feature phones available. While you are waiting, be sure to check out our hands-on review of the Nexus One so you will be fully prepared

Verizon Nexus One In April? originally appeared on The Coffee Desk on April 7, 2010.

Rumors of the Iphone Verizon are just that – rumors. There has been no confirmation from Apple or Verizon about the launch of this device. That said, there was never a question that AT&T’s exclusivity deal with Apple would end one day. The big question has simply been when. And considering that Verizon is the largest wireless operator in the U.S., it’s safe to assume that they’d be first in line when AT&T’s exclusivity with Apple ends. The Wall Street Journal reported that Apple was readying a CDMA version of the iPhone. The article cited sources and speculated that this version of the phone could be sold by U.S. carrier Verizon Wireless and that sparked some interest in the online community.

After doing a little research, I found that the current generations of iPhones are made for GSM networks. AT&T, the exclusive carrier for the iPhone, along with the vast majority of operators throughout the world, use GSM for their network technology. A small amount of carriers like Verizon and Sprint use CDMA. So, what do you think. Apple is set to deliver an announcement for the upcomming iPhone 4.0 software alongside new iPhone hardware sometime in the June-July timeframe, possibly also introducing a Verizon version of the iphone.

Only time will tell…

When Will We See The Verizon Iphone? originally appeared on The Coffee Desk on April 5, 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.