I spent some time playing with this [...]]]> P•B•Xes is an online virtual PBX that has many features of a fully functioning PBX. For a nominal monthly fee, it can be extended to have all/most of the features that anyone could ever need. There are currently four service level offerings: Free, Soho, Premium and PBXes Pro.

I spent some time playing with this tonight and have configured four extensions, a ring group, inbound call routing, music on hold and linked the PBX into my Google Voice phone number. Not too shabby for a free service. An upgrade to the soho bundle enables a few more interesting features like voice menus (Digital Receptionist), Google Voice/Talk Trunks and 5 more extensions for a total of 10. The service, however, gets much more interesting at the $15/month Premium account which will add Call Queues, Call Recording, Faxmail as Email, Follow Me, ENUM, Phone Book as well as bring your total minutes up to 5000/month.

If you have an interest in playing with a PBX, then this will provide hours of fun. For a small business, this could be an interesting, cost effective method of keeping all your employees in touch, giving employees unified messaging (email, voice mail, faxes all in one mailbox) and linking multiple offices (even remote offices) together for ease of internal communication as well as presenting a single point of access to your customers.

If you want to chat about this, I’m always willing to talk about telephones (much the the chagrin of many of my friends ). Feel free to contact me or request a free consultation.

Happy holidays and best wishes for the year to come!

All of the games work great on Mac, Windows, and Linux. The price is “pay what you want!” You select the price and if the proceeds go to the developers or to charity. It’s truly extraordinary and worth a look.

Mac OS X Server is a wonderful server platform with very easy to [...]]]> Apple has recently created a new server based on their tine footprint Mac Mini cases. These machines are great little servers for small offices or even at home. Just compare how it stacks up next to other servers in its class:

Mac OS X Server is a wonderful server platform with very easy to use set up and configuration tools. Even though the machine is running Mac OS X, it could easily provide files services for Windows, and Linux as well as Macs. Actually, the ability to provide things like Windows File Sharing, LDAP, Web, FTP etc. can usually be enable with a simple checkbox.

It’s definitely worth looking at their list: http://www.macworld.com/article/145088/2009/12/appgems_2009.html

You can [...]]]> You may have a need to block access to certain web sites (whether you want to block content from children’s curious eyes, or stop employees from spending their entire day playing Mob Wars on FaceBook). One of the easiest ways I have come across to do this is to use the OpenDNS.org servers.

You can use their servers in a variety of ways. They claim that they are faster then other servers (even the ones run by your internet service provider). If all you want is speed, then you can simply plug the IP addresses of their servers into the DNS fields on your computer (or router). But the true power of using their servers is to control what content is available on your network. To do this, you need to create an account on their web site and set your Content Filtering settings.

OpenDNS Content Filtering (click to enlarge)

As you can see, you can use the preset levels of security or create your own custom settings. Each security level can also be tweaked to allow or disallow certain sites within the level that you chose. A general rule of thumb when dealing with any security setting is to set security high and lower the bar as necessary (or allow exceptions as need be).

Give it a try. If you need help, then give me a call or drop me an email.

I found this article on a blogger’s web site. Here’s the link [...]]]> This is incredible and unbelievable and seems like something out of science fiction. Someone at a computer tech show in Germany used high resolution photos of policeman’s handcuff keys (taken at the show) and a 3D printer to print a working handcuff key.

I found this article on a blogger’s web site. Here’s the link to their site for full details.

The absolute most important thing to do is back up.

Why? Mistakes happen. Equipment fails. Disasters strike. People mourn the loss of a lost family photo. Businesses fail and go bankrupt…

Anyone who has moved files to free up hard disk space from one drive to another and erased the [...]]]> Did I mention back up?!

The absolute most important thing to do is back up.

Why?
Mistakes happen. Equipment fails. Disasters strike. People mourn the loss of a lost family photo. Businesses fail and go bankrupt…

Anyone who has moved files to free up hard disk space from one drive to another and erased the originals only to realise that the copy had not succeeded knows the value of a good, viable backup solution. Some things are irretrievable and others are extremely difficult to recreate.

Given the prices of hard disk these days, there is no reason to not have two copies (at least) of things that are dear to us or worth a lot of money (such as a company contact list or database).

So, if you do not have a backup, then figure out how to get one. Here are some things that are worth keeping in mind:

1. A backup should be automated. It should run once a day (at least) and it should do it without anyone telling it to start
2. The backup should have some redundancy. There should be many copies of your data in the backup using a Grand-Father, Father, Son backup scheme.
3. The scheme and history maintained in your backup should be as long as possible and legally necessary. It should match your paranoia levels to let you sleep soundly at night.
4. Off site backup should be considered for very valuable data. A safety deposit box, or reputable online backup service should be considered.
5. Your backup needs to be as secure as your datastore. Consider passwords, encryption and physical security an absolute must.

When people lose personal data, they cry and feel sad. When businesses lose critical data, they very often fail. If you are not currently backing up, please contact me and I will help you find a viable, affordable and easy backup solution to fit your needs.