Gerry Blackwell

Recession-battered small businesses looking for an edge can now find one – even if only a small one – in Skype, the low-or-no-cost voice-over-Internet service that until now has mainly been of interest to consumers. Skype, launched in Europe in 2003 but acquired three years ago by eBay, offers free voice and video calling between […]

Online storage – uploading your data over the Internet to a service provider’s data center – makes such perfect sense that the market is now glutted with vendors all hoping for a share of the anticipated revenue. And that is both a good thing and a bad thing. Storing your data online, also called “cloud […]

Toktumi may not do everything under the Web-communications sun, but what it does—hosted, over-the-Net virtual PBX with a dedicated business number, sophisticated call processing, and audio conferencing—it does well. The pricing is simple and seems fair—$14.95 per month per phone number for unlimited calling to PSTN numbers in North America, and reasonable overseas rates (two […]

Most small business folks carry a handy tool in their pockets that they rarely think of using — or at least not for work: the camera in their phone. Sure, you might pull it out in a bar with friends, but as a business tool? It’s true that phone cameras are inferior in almost every […]

Online collaboration is one of those ideas that just won’t go away, which is probably a good thing. If you’re a small firm with employees or partners working in different offices, or if you need to work more closely with customers or suppliers, you really should be taking advantage of this technology. Online collaboration tools, […]

Also, if you’re using a friend’s or colleague’s computer or a computer in an Internet café and want to be able to chat with your contacts, you’re out of luck unless the other computer happens to have the IM program or programs you need installed – or the owner doesn’t mind you downloading and installing […]

Three cheers for President Obama’s commitment to aggressively tackle our economic woes. But let’s manage expectations, folks – he isn’t going to fix things overnight. In fact, it will likely get worse before it gets better. And that means it’s belt tightening time. A word of warning, though: be careful where you cut. While computers […]

It’s getting tougher to differentiate the various portable hard drives on the market today. After all, they’re all light and store a lot of stuff, right? The Iomega eGo BlackBelt adds a new twist, or rather a bounce. The 250GB external drive, which sells for $120, includes what Iomega calls Drop Guard Xtreme technology for […]

Most of the best new features are in the Fix module, and most of them take existing capabilities and make it easier and faster for people who aren’t graphics professional to exploit them. The Guided Edit mode in Fix applies multiple actions with one click. So for example, “playing” an Automated Action called Faded Ink […]

One reason among several to consider ZT Systems’ line of Reliant desktop PCs, including the $550 B401Xa 9100e model we reviewed here, is that they ship with either Windows Vista or XP Professional. Vista is far from the total disaster Microsoft bashers would have you believe, but now ‑‑ in the midst of economic turmoil […]

In an economic crisis, cutting costs tops the list of most every business. But can spending money on technology help your small business survive the tough times ahead? We asked professional advisers and got some surprising, and occasionally contradictory, responses. The short answer: yes, but. Yes, but you don’t have to spend much to see […]

Selecting a phone system may be the most important technology decision most small businesses make; choosing the wrong one can spell disaster. One relatively new and increasingly popular option, using a hosted PBX (Private Branch eXchange) solution, offers a number of benefits and can also mitigate some of those risks. With a hosted PBX you […]