Posts Tagged ‘Real’

By now you’ve probably heard the television and radio ads urging you to “Get a Garmin” this holiday season. But what are the real benefits of owning a consumer GPS device? Since we know you’re not the kind of person to simply buy what the TV tells you, we’ve provided the following objective list of reasons to own a GPS from Garmin, Magellan, Tom Tom or any number of consumer electronics companies.

What are the Benefits of Owning a Car GPS Device?

So let’s cut to the chase. Are GPS devices just cool gadgets to show off to your friends or do they have some practical purpose in your life? Here are some of the things you can do with a GPS device:

- Get directions. Obviously, the number one selling point of any GPS is that it helps you get from Point A to Point B without getting lost. New GPS technology allows you to pre-program your trip into the device and then receive directions via turn-by-turn navigation. On many Garmin GPS, the information is even delivered by a friendly computerized voice.

- Use it as a phone. The Magellan Maestro and other recent GPS devices now integrate Bluetooth technology into the device, so you can now use the GPS as a hands-free phone. With concerns about safety due to cell phone use in the car (and many states having passed hands-free cell phone laws) this feature is more relevant than ever.

- Drive more safely. As amazing as it sounds, many GPS now provide warnings about upcoming obstacles in the road as well as advice about which lane has the least amount of potential traffic. These features give you an advantage over the unexpected bumps in the road that could pose a real safety risk to you or your family.

- Get there quicker. In the “old days” you had to bite your tongue and wait it out when traffic got tough. Now, GPS devices help make the traffic snarl a thing of the past. Many systems are linked to your local highway traffic reports and can clue you in when you need to take an alternate route. In fact, GPS technology has become so advanced that it can even provide that alternate route on the fly!

- Find something to do. Magellan, Garmin and other companies are now preloading their auto GPS with links to thousands of restaurants, movie theatres and other entertainment options. You can search by what you want to do tonight, and the GPS will provide a wealth of options (and even tell you how to get there).

- Enjoy your trip. If you’re taking your family on a car trip, pack your toothbrush and your GPS! GPS can provide information about all the points-of-interest along the way. You’ll get everything from national monuments to scenic overlooks – and everything fun in between. The GPS device will tell you the most efficient way to get there, so you won’t end up wasting a lot of money on gas.

Telephones can be termed as one of the greatest gifts of modern technology. Its effectiveness cannot be undermined. It has indeed brought about a revolution in the way communication was carried out. Imagine the day when telephones were not invented. Imagine the difficulty that one used to undergo before a piece of information can be delivered.

It has not been long when people relied on letters to share their feelings or send a piece of information. And it was days before one actually received the letters. In many cases, letters were received after the event had taken place. Needless to say that it lead to frustration and anger of not receiving the information on time.

It was this anger that fueled the need of inventing a device which would facilitate communication, and make people living at distant places communicate as if they are sitting with each other across the table. These thoughts were worked upon and telephones invented, which fitted the bill perfectly.

It completely transformed the way communication was carried on. The days when one piece of information took days to reach its destination became history. Now people can chat as if they were face to face with each other – needless to say that it became an immediate hit. People were simply overjoyed of being able to talk to their friends and relatives who were hundreds of miles away.

The initial spate of success gave way to further improved versions of telephones. Telephones with every transformation became more useful and fashionable, to the extent that today a time has come when phones can actually be carried in the pockets. Not only this, phones today are not limited to making or receiving calls alone, instead they have now wide range of features programmed into them, which really has transformed it into a multi-utility phenomenon.

Many businesses are now migrating towards VoIP networks because they recognize the significant value that a VoIP phone service offers. However, different businesses measure the value offered in different terms. Some see it in the cost savings and the advantages that a converged network has to offer. For others, the true value lies not just in cheap VoIP but more in the way it changes business productivity.

Any company that is planning on integrating VoIP phone service must first clearly understand the true value it offers, over the long run before making business critical decisions.

Cost Savings with Cheap VoIP

The most well known reason for adopting VoIP networks has been the potential to save costs both in long-distance and international calls as well as in certain regulatory costs and most certainly in toll costs. However, a firm has to carry out a more comprehensive analysis to see whether these cost savings can be realized in reality, especially for small and medium businesses. The reason being that in order to achieve true cost savings, certain economies of scale have to be in place. Also, the VoIP phone service provider must be able to provide the kind of technical set-up that makes it possible to have least-cost routing. Many large enterprises operate full-fledged call centers and may have the kind of economies of scale to feel the reduction in costs that a cheap VoIP may bring about. Even here though, the call volumes have to be fairly large to truly feel the effect of cost saving from cheap VoIP. Many therefore believe that cost savings is just a secondary advantage of the VoIP phone service while its true value lies elsewhere.

Unified Communications with VoIP

One of the main areas where a VoIP phone service helps tremendously is in management of employees. It is very easy to add a new employee to the system by just giving them handsets that connect to the IP stack either through a port or a Wi-Fi network. This can easily be carried out by an in-house staff member and does not require a specially trained third-party to step in. If the employee is moved, all he has to do is to move the handset to the new location and connect it to the network and the same number is up and running.

In VoIP networks, there is a general simplification in infrastructure, with converged networks carrying both voice and data. This allows a single, smaller set of trained personnel to take care of the networks.

The unified communications feature that a VOIP phone service offers forms a huge part of the value that it offers. It is possible to integrate voice with other business communications, delivering voicemail and faxes to an employee inbox.

Selecting or unselecting of features becomes very simple with a VoIP network. For example, it is very easy to set up call forwarding to cellphones or add voice recording in a VoIP system.

Other than cheap VoIP reliability of service as well as voice quality are areas of concern for large enterprises as well as small and medium businesses.

Thus each organization has to carefully understand the real benefits of a VoIP phone service and then prepare the business to derive the real value from a VoIP implementation.

Resource Box: The real value of a Business VoIP Solution is the cost savings. However there are many other benefits of a Business VoIP System that may not be so obvious but are none the less just as valuable as saving money.

Millions of radio listeners in the United States and all over the world have become so much happier with the introduction of satellite radio. Now, people can listen to literally hundreds of stations that offer music, news, radio talk shows and more in virtually real-time and at a much higher audio quality than that which FM or AM radio provides.

With conventional radio, land-based stations broadcast their signals to your boom box, computer, or car radio via the earth’s airwaves. With satellite radio however, providers transmit encrypted signals to satellites they launched in outer space; these satellites in turn beam the signals to customers’ listening devices. But you can’t use just any radio; you need a special receiver (which is available at electronics retailers) and a satellite radio set. You can also listen to satellite radio broadcasts in your car since many new cars rolling of the assembly lines have satellite-ready equipment already installed. All you would need to do is pay for your monthly subscription.

In the United States, service is offered by XM Satellite Radio and Sirius Satellite Radio. Sirius, a company based in New York City, has over 125 channels from which to choose, 67 of them dedicated to commercial-free music and the rest to various other content. XM, on the other hand, offers more than 160 channels, which offer content that is as diverse as that which Sirius extends to its customers. The services are available coast-to-coast, so geographical availability of programs is not an issue. A customer in Los Angeles, for example, can listen to the same talk show that another customer in say, Boston, is listening to at the same time, and with no degradation in audio quality. Remember that satellite radio also means digital radio—sound is crystal-clear. There’s none of the static or hissing you would sometimes hear on FM or AM radio. Non-US residents can also take advantage of the benefits of satellite radio; XM and Sirius offer their services in Canada, while WorldSpace broadcasts its service across Asia, Africa, Europe, and the Middle East. Australia has several providers of its own also.

Factors that attract people to sign up for satellite radio subscriptions are numerous. For one thing, there’s the pleasure of listening to commercial-free music. Since the providers make their money from subscriptions, there is still no pressing need for advertising revenue. Another attractive feature that this service offers is that information about the song being played at the moment is displayed on your radio set—a small convenience for those people who have to know about who is singing what song right-now. The fact that satellite radio programming is completely uncensored at the moment is also a draw for many people. Noteworthy personalities, such as shock jock Howard Stern (who was kicked out of network radio programming) has made satellite radio his new broadcasting home. Whether you want to listen to hip-hop music, stand-up comedy shows, or news programs, satellite radio offers them—all completely uncensored.

Because Sirius, XM, and other providers are the ones who set the channel selections, some people might find it a bit inconvenient that they won’t be able to listen to their local radio stations and get information on local goings-on. However, Sirius and XM do provide traffic and weather data for major cities, so that should be a bit of a relief for city residents. And if you think about it, not getting access to one local radio station wouldn’t seem to be such a bad deal if you compare it to the ability to listen to hundreds of channels of commercial-free music and unregulated non-regulated shows.

Sirius and XM plan to add even more features and functions to offer to their subscribers. Sirius, in particular, is readying the launch of a Windows Media Video 9 service and the company plans to offer several channels dedicated to children. That’s one more thing to keep the kids occupied and not distract their parents on long road trips. XM plans to release a similar video service. The two companies are anticipating that this will add to the number of their subscribers—Sirius has over one million, trailing after XM which has more than three million.

If you’re an avid radio listener and you’re finding yourself becoming fed up with the constant barrage of commercials on regular music stations or if you’re looking for more no-holds-barred commentaries or radio talk shows, you probably wouldn’t mind forking over the $12.95 monthly subscription for satellite radio service charged by Sirius and XM. And with the increases that the two companies see in their subscriber numbers, it’s evident that a lot of people feel the same way.