It must have felt something like this right before the "big bang". Everything coming together at a single point. Physicists refer to this as a "singularity". Technology consultants worship this place as "Convergence".
I am becoming more "converged". Cell phone receives email and surfs the Internet. Radio stations broadcast through my computer to my Bluetooth headset. My computer finds its way to the Internet by being plugged into my IP phone. My IP phone can call my home phone or my cell phone until it locates me.
But this morning when I used my $29.99 Radio Shack microphone plugged into my computer and called a friend in China, it was one of those WOW! moments. I used a free Skype account, found my friends account with a quick search, pressed the little green phone icon and presto. Nancy answered from her apartment in Jinzhou, China (3-1/2 hours drive NE of Beijing).
Voice quality was better than my cell on a good day. Even with a 15-hour time difference, there was no perceptual delay. Oh, and it was a toll-free call.
VoIP the next big thing for business? No doubt about it.
Technorati Tags: VoIP, convergence, Skype
May 23rd, 2006 by Day Tooley
Posted in Collaboration | 1 Comment »
Businesses and individuals have become fairly diligent in protecting their networks and computers from harmful intrusions from the outside. Firewalls and software turn away viruses and spam so we feel more secure using our computers.
Now there is a good tool to have when you go outside that determines if a website might contain snares and "social engineering" tricks like spyware infections, identity theft scams, and sites which send excessive e-mail.
I have used the McAfee SiteAdvisor for a month now as a browser plug-in. Do a Google search, and each site has a little check next to it. Hover over the check and a quick summary flag shows up. Click on it, and a detail page comes up. Here is their advice about blog.easystreet.com
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SiteAdvisor was founded in April 2005 by a group of MIT engineers. On April 5, 2006 Internet security company McAfee acquired them. Download the browser plug-in for IE or Firefox. Any site you visit, you can then click to see if they are down some dark alley where you may not want to go.
Technorati Tags: spyware, McAfee, security
May 19th, 2006 by Day Tooley
Posted in Websites, Security | 1 Comment »
Of all the services on the Internet, eMail remains the most dominant. We now can instantly be in touch with our business colleagues, clients and prospects. (I am being continually 'touched' throughout the day, often by strangers.)
Why, then, is our high-tech communication not more effective?
Michael Morris and Jeff Lowenstein are among the scholars studying the benefits and dangers of eMail and other computer-based interactions. They have identified three major problems:
- eMail lacks cues like facial expression and tone of voice. That makes it difficult for recipients to decode meaning well.
- The prospect of instantaneous communication creates an urgency that pressures e-mailers to think and write quickly, which can lead to carelessness.
- The inability to develop personal rapport over e-mail makes relationships fragile in the face of conflict.
Their findings are summarized in a comparison between eMail and phone communications:
| How well do we communicate? |
| Frequency that … |
eMail |
Phone |
| Communicator believes he is clearly communicating |
78% |
78% |
| Receiver believes he is correctly interpreting |
89% |
91% |
| Receiver correctly interprets message |
56% |
73% |
From an article in the Christian Science Monitor, Professor Morris found that negotiators exchange more than three times the information in face-to-face interactions as they do via eMail. Though Morris and his colleagues concluded that e-mail lets negotiators make "more complex, multiple-issue offers," they ultimately built less rapport, thereby increasing tensions and lowering the average economic value of the agreements.
So before sending that proposal, how about making a phone call?
May 17th, 2006 by Day Tooley
Posted in Collaboration, eMail | 2 Comments »
Small business thrives by being nimble, innovative and in touch with their customers. The Internet has leveled the business playing field with its democratic structure and access. We can more fairly compete with the big boys now.
Imagine what the Internet would be like if it were run as a government agency. Devious young hackers are no match for the damage that politics and big money can do. At a dollar per vote, lobbyists are trying to purchase the Internet for their big clients such as AT&T, Verizon and Comcast.
Where can you start?
- Get informed. EasyStreet President/CEO Rich Bader provides ongoing background and perspective at his Bader's Bits blog.
- Contact your congressmen. Senator Ron Wyden understands this issue and deserves your support.
- Write all your congressmen. You can do that here with just a minute or two of your time.
- Like any other business asset, you need to put some money on the line for maintenance. One place to start is http://www.savetheinternet.com.
- Finally, talk about this issue with your business partners and customers.
It's important.
Technorati Tags: Net Neutrality, Monopoly
May 2nd, 2006 by Day Tooley
Posted in Net Neutrality, @ EasyStreet, General, Internet Access | 2 Comments »
