No More Junk Faxes, Please
December 19, 2008
Last week, faxed advertisements from Texas company Envarion were sent to 57 different counties in Indiana and garnered 1,842 complaints, which is the largest number of recorded infractions since the state’s Do Not Fax law was enacted in last year (source: InsideIndianaBusiness.com).
Indiana Attorney General Steve Carter is quoted as saying, “These fax offers are frustrating for business owners who bear the brunt of the costs of unsolicited junk faxes. We don’t want Indiana citizens wasting their time sorting through unwanted piles of paper each day. Home-based businesses also have the added frustration of interrupted privacy during the owners’ time spent with family.”
Realistically speaking, laws can only do so much. Despite the fact that we have laws that are supposed to deter people from despicable actions, there is a small minority who will break the rules for their own gain. That said, when a threat to our privacy and freedom exists, good sense dictates that we ought to take every measure available to prevent something bad from happening.
In other words, be proactive.
I strongly advocate using internet fax services. One of the biggest advantages of using an internet fax service is that your service provides you with an online interface that allows you to see where an incoming fax is coming from and who’s sending it. Your received faxes are stored on hosted web space that you can access through a login. This feature allows you to choose the faxes you wish to print and to delete the faxes that you suspect are junk. If you wish to tie your fax account to an email address, you can view the received fax in your inbox and easily delete junk faxes.
With an internet fax service, you are also able to alert your provider to junk faxers and easily block them, or simply choose not to print them. The service can potentially save you from a lot of grief and is as low as $10 a month, which is cheaper than the cost of a dedicated phone line.
For more information about online fax services, please visit FaxCompare.com.
Jennifer Silva
Zilker Ventures, LLC
Cost-efficient Web apps replace costly MS Office
November 10, 2008
We’re in a recession right now; so, who wants to spend $500 on software?
According to Time magazine, many companies and individual consumers still opt for costly software like Microsoft Office, though they rarely or never utilize all of the functions provided. An alternative to software, however, is making its way into the mainstream: web-based software.
Two notable providers of online software are Google Apps and Zoho, both of which offer downloadable word processors, spreadsheets, document management and presentation tools (among other things) that emulate the applications of Microsoft Office. And the best part about web-based software is that it’s completely free.
Most of us are used to MS Office—that’s why we keep coming back. I, for one, have downloaded a 90-day free trial of MS Office 2007 on my home computer, which allows me to use the most up-to-date software without spending a dime. Of course, if you opt to use a free trial, you must also remember to check the box that will prompt you to buy the software once your trial expires, instead of the one that will automatically renew your software and charge you.
But there are also advantages to browser-based applications.
“Because the applications reside on the Web, developers can quickly eliminated bugs and add bells and whistles, like the ability to insert headers, footers and pagination…” writes Anna Hamilton (Time).
Riding the trend train, Microsoft is expected to put out a free, light version of its software on the Web by 2010. It’s a long way off. When my MS Office free trial ends in January, I’m not planning on renewing my software. At least until Microsoft puts its apps online, we can utilize Google Apps and Zoho without hesitation.
Jennifer Silva
Zilker Ventures, LLC
Why Wall-E Would Approve of E-Fax
August 4, 2008
The impending widespread transfer from analog to digital television next year spells doom for the e-waste recycling efforts that have recently been gaining momentum. But the fact that people are even talking about the impact of the switch on the environment reflects a growing trend of combating electronic waste.
(Austin, TX) August 1, 2008 – The ubiquitous recognition of the problem of e-waste recently culminated in the successful Disney-Pixar film Wall-E. But if the film’s main character were replaced with a young Indian or Chinese boy living, not in the distant future, but here in 2008, then perhaps the movie would have hit a bit closer to home.
Though Wall-E calls attention to the problem of e-waste, it leaves many unanswered questions about e-waste and what ought to be done about it.
What does a child do with a broken Nintendo DS, and more importantly, do his parents know what to do with it? A nationally (or sometimes even locally) systematized means of collecting e-waste does not exist. One hardly ever sees e-waste recycling bins around residential areas. However, some local volunteer e-waste recycling programs have sprung up around the nation. These programs are rare and speak of a general avoidance of recycling efforts.
According to G. Jeffery MacDonald in a special report for USA Today, Best Buy, Dell and Sony are among the few companies willing to take back non-functional products from customers for free. It is clear that as more people learn about the hazardous effects of e-waste, recycling efforts will continue to increase. But what should people do in the meantime?
A quite important action is to attempt to send electronics back the company or to resellers for possible refurbishment. Also, pundits have argued that checks and certification requirements should be imposed on e-waste recycling efforts to ensure ethical practices.
“The easiest, most cost-effective thing to do is to stop buying new electronics when possible, advises Gaines Kilpatrick, co-founder of online fax comparison website FaxCompare.com. “Telecommunications is a good place to start: Don’t buy new fax machines or phones, and use Internet fax and virtual private branch exchange (PBX) services. From a business standpoint, it’s cheaper; from an environmental standpoint, it’s the right thing to do.”
With websites, such as FaxCompare.com and PBXCompare.com, a website for hosted PBX services, Zilker Ventures has attempted to promote the virtual office over the office that is inundated with obsolescence-prone hardware..
Though e-waste has gone without lasting remedies, it is something that has inspired businesses to encourage alternatives. “Logically, if there are less unnecessary electronics floating around, there will be less waste for both the office and the environment,” says Zilker Ventures co-founder Leo Welder. “That’s not a simple solution, but it’s a simple start. That’s what we try to provide.”
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For additional information regarding the virtual office or Zilker Ventures, please visit our online fax website.
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Zilker Ventures, LLC is a web publisher that consolidates information and reviews various business and financial products.
Contact:
Jennifer Silva
Zilker Ventures, LLC
(512) 448-9031
Gaines Kilpatrick of Zilker Ventures, LLC recently sat down with Steve Adams of Internet fax leader MyFax, to ask 20 questions about the present and future of MyFax and the Internet fax industry in general. Adams delves into the world of Internet fax and speaks about assuaging fax machine users’ fears about online faxing. This is Part 3 of 10.
Austin, TX (PRWEB)—July 25, 2008 –
Gaines Kilpatrick: Are Internet fax transmissions secure? And what types of security measures are taken when sending and receiving Internet fax transmissions? As a third part to that question, how does this level of security compare with that of traditional fax or email transmissions?
Steve Adams: Let me start with the third part of your question. When you think about a regular fax, [the transmissions] actually have lots of security issues. [For example] your doctor faxes you lab results, or your real estate broker faxes you information about the house you’re purchasing. And typically that fax is sitting on a shared fax machine out by a secretary’s office where everybody can walk by and see what it is. It’s difficult to protect confidential information in that kind of environment.
There was a bank, actually, about a year ago that was sending all sorts of confidential information to a junk yard in Pennsylvania, simply because [the bank employees] had programmed their fax machine incorrectly, and it just kept sending [the faxes] all out. Traditional faxes aren’t all that secure, and we see a lot of customers [who are] often in a medical space or financial space, where protection of privacy really matters. Those customers are [using] Internet fax for their security.
One big part of that security is simply that faxes go directly to the person who receives them. Rather than having a whole company share fax machine, each individual user has their own fax number, and their documents are delivered directly to their email. And that means that you don’t have the risk of other people seeing the document.
On top of that, there’s electronic security—and this goes with the earlier parts of your question—electronic security measure that protect that fax while it’s in transmission. These are things like HTDPS, which is the same security you use for online banking, etc., and layers of encryption on top of that, TLS or PTP encryption. Depending on how concerned the user is about security, there are various levels of options they can use.
But Internet faxing is very secure, and many industries that are concerned about that security and protection of private information are among the leaders in moving toward Internet fax.
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To read the entire interview or to learn more about efax services and online fax, visit FaxCompare.com.
Zilker Ventures, LLC is a web publisher that consolidates information and reviews various business and financial products.
Contact:
Jennifer Silva
Zilker Ventures, LLC
(512) 448-9031
The day a new fax machine arrives at the office is the final day that it’s not stressful. It’s also the final day that it’s full of ink and paper until more money is expended to maintain it. It’s all downhill from there—a paper-jammed, humming, screeching, migraine-inducing ride downhill. But thanks to the emergence of online services such as online fax services that can replace expensive workplace equipment, the small business owner can confidently take a baseball bat to his fax machine with a clean conscience. As the importance of email develops and the business world insists on holding on to fax machines, bridge technologies like internet fax services are becoming more and more common—a fact that FaxCompare.com strives to underscore.
There are currently lots of fax providers in this industry ranging from five-employee offices to Fortune 500 leaders. Some of these fax providers include MyFax, RingCentral and TrustFax. J2 Global Communications is a Fortune 500 leader that handles several internet fax service sites, such as Rapid Fax and Fax.com, but their most well known brand is eFax. confronted with a wide selection of service options, fax users may find the process of choosing a service to be an unwanted stress to their business.
The current void of detailed information regarding internet fax services prompted Zilker Ventures, LLC to offer FaxCompare.com. After much uninformative searching, Leo Welder, founder and COO of Zilker Ventures, LLC, signed up for an online fax service that he later had to cancel because it was lacking some components that were essential for Zilker Ventures, LLC. This experience persuaded Leo that the online fax service market was a perfect arena for an informative review site.
Further verifying the desire for helpful information and reviews was the discovery that eFax, the market’s most well known leader, charges 70% more than the ‘Market Standard’ and includes fewer pages than their foremost competitors.
‘Market Standard’ for an online fax service according to FaxCompare.com is $10 per month for 300 pages with no start up fee, a 30 day free trial and overage pages for $0.10 per page or less. At those prices, six months of service fees will cost substantially less than most traditional fax machines.
In addition to its ‘Market Standard,’ FaxCompare.com offers thorough eFax reviews and other eFax comparison information, including ‘need to know’ comparison data regarding eFax service fees. As almost all of the advertising for these services is done on the web, most of the information regarding online fax services is provided by the providers themselves.
Internet faxing will certainly relieve faxers in the future. And by discovering more about this emerging business tool fax senders can maximize benefits and minimize cost. As founder Leo Welder puts it: “With great options like MyFax and RingCentral, unwitting consumers paying above market service fees is clearly the result of a lack of information. We hope to provide that information with FaxCompare.com.”
For more information regarding online fax services, visit www.FaxCompare.com.
Zilker Ventures, LLC is a web publisher that consolidates information and reviews various business and financial products.
Contact:
Jen Udan
Zilker Ventures, LLC
pr@zilkerventures.com
http://www.zilkerventures.com
