| Amazon's Kindle, Microsoft's PBX, Dell's XPS One, Product of the Week
Last week was a short week, and while you know the outcome of Black Friday, that is still in my future. We did have two big announcements, though. Amazon (Nasdaq: AMZN) made a run at the eBook market with what is the best eBook in the world; in addition, the Dell (Nasdaq: DELL) XPS One, which follows the Gateway (NYSE: GTW) One to market, is an impressive piece of work and probably makes Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) wish it had updated the iMac more aggressively. Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) introduced its first real phone system for small businesses ; I have a lot of history with the Microsoft phones over the years, and this is the first time I've been impressed in a good way. Finally, we'll close with my product of the week, which is AMD's (NYSE: AMD) Spider platform, a credible, though as of the time I'm writing this, largely untested offering.
Pingo Announces New Convenience Features for Consumers and Small Businesses, Making Low-Cost International Calling ...
Pingo®, the online calling service from iBasis (NASDAQ: IBAS), today announced new convenient features making it easier than ever for consumers and small business users to take advantage of Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) for low-cost international calling. Pingo now has an interactive voice response system that alerts consumers when their account has a low balance, replenishable with the simple push of the * key. For consumers and business users, Pingo has also introduced enhanced speed-dialing capabilities, enabling users to easily and quickly connect to domestic or international calling destinations. iBasis Introduces Auto Recharge Via Phone And Enhanced Speed Dialing To Its Popular Pingo Online Calling Service Burlington, MA (PRWEB) November 26, 2007 -- Pingo®, the online calling service from iBasis (NASDAQ: IBAS), today announced it has added new convenience features making it easier than ever for consumers and small business users to take advantage of Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) for low-cost international calling.
Asterisk steals a march in open IP
OPEN source is gaining traction in the voice over internet protocol arena. Even though industry researchers such as The Yankee Group say VoIP is too early in its development cycle to be properly open-sourced, vendors are launching products. Already there are a number of open source VoIP applications, such as FreeSwitch, OpenSER and YATE, that turn a computer into an IP PABX. However, the most widely deployed is Asterisk, which was developed as far back as 1999. Just one month after its acquisition of Switchvox, a provider of IP PBX phone systems for small and medium businesses, Digium announced the availability of Switchvox Free Edition. The new product is based on Asterisk, open-source telephone software created and owned by Digium.
Every School Every Thursday -- Johnston
The PTO is sponsoring its annual fall book fair in mid-November. This will be open to students during the school day and also open during parent-teacher conferences. A portion of the proceeds from the book fair will be used to purchase new books for the learning media center.
The next PTO meeting is at 7 p.m. Tuesday in the learning media center. All Beaver Creek parents are welcome to attend.
Fall parent-teacher conferences are from 1:30 to 8:30 p.m. Nov. 15 and from 5 to 8:30 p.m. Nov. 19. There will be a 12:25 p.m. early dismissal for students on Nov. 15.
Horizon
Parent-teacher conferences are from 1 to 5:30 p.m. and 6 to 8:30 p.m. Nov. 15 and from 5 to 8:30 p.m. Nov. 19 at Horizon Elementary.
Lawson
Students have been very generous with our Combat Hunger Collection.
Teens have entrepreneurial spirit
Despite the stereotype of teenagers as generally unmotivated, one survey indicates that many still have the entrepreneurial spirit.
Two-thirds of teenage respondents said they would like to start their own business someday, according to the JA Interprise Poll. JA Worldwide, or Junior Achievement, is an organization that provides entrepreneurship, work-readiness and financial-literacy education to students.
Students in the 2007 poll were about evenly split when it came to deciding which option would provide the most job security: 37.2 percent said "working for a company" while 35.9 percent said "owning your own business." The survey was administered through JA Worldwide's Web site from March 22 to May 7.
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Maternity leave plan to move forward
COLUMBUS: Gov. Ted Strickland has asked the Ohio Civil Rights Commission to delay requiring small businesses to provide up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave for pregnant women. But the commission plans to move ahead with the next step, which is going before the Joint Committee on Agency Rule Review on Dec. 3. JCARR is an obscure 10-member legislative panel that reviews rules drafted by state agencies, boards and commissions to ensure they meet four standards of legislative intent. The board rarely votes against an agency's plan to promulgate rules, but small businesses in Ohio have put a full court lobbying press on lawmakers and Strickland's office to head off the commission. Strickland's office turned to Barbara Sykes, appointed to head the commission in October, but she turned the governor down after polling fellow members.
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