7 January 2008
Two Things I’m Learning About
Although I usually stay focused on current (internet money-related) events, I’m trying to branch out a bit. Here are the two things I’m trying to learn more about:
Voice Over IP
This is hardly new but I’m becoming fascinated with small business voice over ip. I just got a new office (I guess I should post some pics, eh?) and I set up my first system using an old p4 machine I had, trixbox, and a mix of grandstream gxp-2000, polycom sp301, and now a snom 360 phones.
After that I just set up my dad’s insurance agency with a trixbox and some grandstreams. I have handsets on their four desks, one in a different office, and one at my dad’s house. It’s pretty dope. If you service small businesses you may want to learn more about asterisk and voip, I think it’s going to be a huge part of my local computer business in the future. I haven’t started taking on outside clients as I’m still testing setups and providers, but with just word-of-mouth I have several neat accounts already lined up.
I could go on a lot more about VoIP and what I’ve learned, let me know if you’re interested.
Clean Tech
I’m not much of an environmentalist but I’m starting to get really tired of paying $500/mo to my local energy company (well + $120 for office), $70 for a tank of gas, and knowing I’m contributing to Al Gore’s movie career.
Therefore, I have ordered some books and plan to learn more about the (post-)environmental movement from the technology side. This is more for personal than business interest, but I’m well aware of my track record of setting tech stuff up for myself then selling it to people that want the same thing.
Anyway since this is a blog I thought I’d blog about that in case you are intersted. holla.
I just started working in the Lowe’s corporate offices, and one nifty bit of information is that most major companies run VoIP. It’s easier to screen callers, maintain records, and link the callers with the agent assisting them. It’s fascinating as to how much VoIP has saved this and any other company.