hello, hello – internet phoning for small business

Two new, free phone services announced recently hold heaps of promise (and cost-savings) for small businesses.

Yellow (the Yellow Pages people) has announced free Skype calls to any of its listed businesses.

(If you haven’t tried Skype, it is really dead simple to use and includes inbuilt video calling. Download the free Skype software and then all you need is a web cam and a mic, plus headphones if you don’t want anyone else to hear the person you are talking to. Visit Skype here.)

And, in the U.S (though not yet in N.Z), Google has announced a service that offers dirt cheap calls but best of all its sweet range of fancy high-tech features — such as a single number to ring your home, work, and mobile phones; a central voicemail inbox that accessible on the web; text transcriptions of voice messages; and the ability to screen calls by listening in live as callers leave a voicemail.

A video explaining Google Voice is here:

low-tech fixes for high-tech problems

Forget wi-fi, bluetooth, smartphones, the NewYork Times is talking rice grains, hair dryers, aluminium foil and plastic bags as budget but effective ways to get broken high-tech equipment up and running again!

‘best of breed’ open-source tools for common business needs

Here’s a directory of best-of-breed open source applications and tools with solutions to many common business needs … web-conferencing, HR tools, system security, blog software, project management and a whole lot more.

(The list was compiled by the open-source evangelists at Wellington-based software company Catalyst.)

byo computer: US company’s innovative scheme

US software company Citrix Systems is rolling out a new programme for its workers: BYOC – Bring Your Own Computer. Employees get a US$2,100 (NZ$3130) stipend to buy a laptop and three-year service plan, and can choose any machine they want. As one corporate analyst says, having the freedom to buy the kind of computer you want would be seen as a perk, and a happy employee is usually a productive one. Could this be the start of something?