Roboform is one of those must have products, especially if you suffer from CRS (can’t remember stuff) syndrome. I used to sift through all kinds of stuff: loose papers, notepads, PDA, etc. trying to find the right login and password for that crazy website that I use for banking, ebay, craigslist, etc. I had all kinds of ways to keep track of my login passowrds: excel spreadsheet, SplashID, notepad, and many more.

Worse, my partner got me into blogging, website management, article writing. Every single one of these activities required me to create a new login and password. And, how many different email accounts do I have? So many that I can’t even remember what servers they are on.

Needless to say, I could not keep up with each and every one of these sites’ logins and passwords. Finally, my same partner suggested I get Roboform. And, just like that, my amnesia turned into instant recall … really fast.

Just to give you an idea of scale (I think my list is small, compared to others), I have over 260 websites for which Roboform manages my account logins and passwords. The beauty of this product is in its simplicity and ease of ease of use. Essentially you go to the website that requires a login and password, enter in the requested information and the software asks you whether you want to have it save the information for you. If you answer yes, you are then asked to enter a name for the login and that’s it!

When you return to the site, Roboform basically fills in your login information. You press enter and you’re in! Alternatively you can click on the website from within the software’s tool bar and have it navigate to the site and log you in. No muss, no fuss.

Let’s say you want to have the software save multiple login information for the same site but for different users. This is useful, for example, if you share a computer with your spouse and also save at the same bank, but have different accounts. Or, another example is if you manage accounts for multiple people in Twitter, Facebook and other sites.

Editing logins and passwords is just as simple and elegant. You simply click on the toolbar within your browser, select edit and you are now editing each login and password for each website. Again, no muss, no fuss.

Another useful utility within the application is the ability to safely store notes. How many times have you wanted to create a note and save it some place safe? Within the software you can open a notepad of sorts, put in your notes and “lock it” when you logoff.

Too many times I’ve lost logins and passwords to the varios websites to which I login. I can finally say that I don’t need to worry about that anymore. I simply store everything within Roboform and let it manage all of my login details from one simple application.

Let me recap how Magicjack.com works. Once you get your device(s) in the mail, you simply plug it into an available USB port, the software loads from the Magicjack device and installs on your computer. You’re asked a few questions, including what area code you’d like to use and voila, within minutes you’ve got a fully functioning VOIP telephone service, with voice mail, three way calling, caller ID, and more. The cool thing about Magic Jack is that you can be anywhere in the world and call back to the US … essentially FOR FREE. Well, for about $19 per YEAR.

Now, think about the possibilities with MagicJack.com as a virtual call center solution. For me, I have employees in the Philippines. These employees are outfitted with Magicjack devices. With these Magicjack.com devices my employees are able to both initiate and receive calls from the US. Again, the calls are so cheap (at $19 / year); the cost per call is literally micro cents on the dollar. Furthermore, my employees work from home, so overhead costs are extremely low.

Consider this concept. A company can aggregate their employees in one country, one city or even perhaps across multiple countries. Why would you consider multiple countries? … In order to leverage multiple time zones. Let’s say that you want to provide 24×7 support to clients. You can have people strategically located in different countries working different hours and even different languages, depending on the time zones that you need to support.

One consideration, then, is how to manage this team and the Magicjack.com devices. I think one cool idea is through software that can aggregate all of the Magic Jack numbers. Think of the possibilities. All of the numbers managed by one central software application. This will allow a company to answer all calls from a central location as if you were a huge corporation. The possibilities seem endless.

A more mundane question is how to manage your team’s productivity. The answer to this question is through processes and “timesheets”, as well as an instant message tool you can track productivity through an online project management tool and check to see if your employees are online via instant message.

There are plenty of other ways to increase your productivity and “presence” with Magicjack.com devices. In fact, you can also make your company look so much larger than a one person company by using this cool little product. The cost is nominal but the benefits are tremendous.

I’ve been using a product developed by www.MagicJack.com for the last several months. I can honestly say that this device solves both the “what and the who.” It is brain dead simple to install and use and, yes, it does save you money … and lots of it.

For the uninitiated, MagicJack is a simple little USB device that connects into your computer and either: a) a headset or b) your regular telephone. It uses your broadband connection to make phone calls anywhere in the world. At it’s simplest it’s a VOIP or Voice Over Internet Protocol phone service. It includes: voice mail, 3-way calling, call waiting, and a DEDICATED phone number. You choose the area code from their list, which is quite extensive. And, it’s AMAZINGLY cheap – $39 for the 1st year and $19 per year thereafter.

I had intended  to use the device from www.MagicJack.com to replace my business phone service. And, of course, I did. I dropped my Comcast service and replaced it with MagicJack. If that was all I did, that would have been great. I would have saved about $600 per year. But, the buck did not stop there.

I also have a virtual assistant in the Philippines. I had actually bought two of these devices from www.MagicJack.com, one for my home office and the other to send to my assistant. And, guess what? This is where the REAL magic appears. My assistant in the Philippines can MAKE and ANSWER phone calls from the Phillipines to and from the US, WITHOUT incurring any international long distance charges. YES, you heard me correctly – NO international calling charges.

Imagine the savings! I figure with the amount of phone calls she makes every day to / from the US, I’ve probably already saved upwards of $1,500 … in just three short months.

The other magical aspect of this device / service is that I can call forward from any of these numbers without incurring any call forwarding charges. Unlike Sprint or perhaps other mobile sevice provider, call forwarding is free.

There are  many more aspects to this service that I’m planning to implement. But, I can’t give away all of my secrets, yet. The fact remains that the MagicJack is a disruptive technology that could displace traditional phone service from AT&T and others. In addition, it’s also magnitudes cheaper than Vonage and all of the other VOIP service providers.

And, the best thing about it is … it works!

One of the items on my Christmas list this season is a docking station to keep my iPhone 3G upright. There are a few reasons why I want to do this. #1 – My iPhone deserves to be SEEN! #2 – I’m always of afraid of dropping something on it from above: my coffee cup, book, what have you. #3 – It’s so much easier not to have to plug, unplug, and re-hook and finally #4 – Sounds, man. If I buy an iPhone 3G docking station that’s also got a built-in amp and speakers, than I can rock away at the same time.

These iPhone 3G docking stations are on the shortlist that I’m giving to my wife.

Tunepro Stereo Alarm Clock Radio

This cool clock radio won the iLounge best of show for 2008. It is  sleek, black finish that has speakers that give a wide dispersion of sound. It uses the latest in flat panel speaker technology and SRS WOW system. This makes it look sleek, but also puts out really deep surround sound for flat speakers.

In addition to playing your iPhone it also charges it as well. The clock is radically cool, displaying through the front mirror screen. It acts as a clock radio, giving you the ability to wake up to either your iPhone or the clock radio. Tunepro Stereo Alarm Clock Radio

Macally Flextune Portable Stereo

Not as elegant as the Tunepro, but portable and less expensive. The thing I like about the Macally is that it’s a portable music machine that runs on both batteries and AC power. Your iPhone can also be turned horizontally to watch movie or Youtube videos!

Of course, while your iPhone is in the unit, it will be charging, as well. It will not have as rich a sound as the Tunepro, but for half the price it’s a very useful docking station. Macally Flextune Portable Stereo

Simplifi iPhone 3G Dock

If you’ve already got a stereo and your just looking for a simple docking station, this handy little unit is pretty nice. It’s a simple docking station that charges and syncs your iPhone 3G. But, in addition to that, it all accepts digital media cards such as compact flash and secure digital.

In addition it is a 2-port USB hub, which is powered by an included AC adapater. Simplifi iPhone 3G Dock

This is the list that I’ll be giving “Santa”. Let’s hope she knows which one to pick.

Just today my wife and I were having a heated debate about why anyone would want to read a book on a computer. Or, take it one step further, why would anyone read a book on an eBook reader? I contend that eBook readers are just an extension of the possibilities for reading. Certainly not everyone will drop their hard cover books and switch to an eBook reader. But, just think about what Apple’s iPod has done to the world of listening to music.

Imagine being to able read almost 200,000 books WITHOUT having to go down to your local Borders … or having to wait for Amazon to deliver to your doorsteps your anxiously awaited latest edition of Harry Potter. If you’re like me, you might enjoy reading the NY Times or Wall Street Journal, but want the convenience of picking and choosing what you read, when you want to read it. This has been the promise of eBook readers for a long time.

Now, Oprah Winfrey has added her support and endorsed Amazon’s Kindle eBook reader. She has proclaimed it as her favorite new gadget. Oprah claims that it is a “life-changing gadget” and the “wave of the future.”

There have been many attempts by some very smart entrepreneurs to get people to read books on their devices. For example, PDAs have long been thought of as THE eBook reader. However, it has so many features and applications, that it quickly becomes almost overwhelming for some people who just want to read a book. Or, what about smart phones, such as the Treo, Apple iPhone or Blackberry? Once again, these devices somehow detract from the simplicity of just “curling up in front of the fireplace and reading a good book.”

I don’t know whether the Amazon Kindle is for me, as I have too many devices as it is. But, I do believe that it has tremendous possibilities to enhance our lives, especially in our educational system. The reason is simple. The whole process of publishing and distributing physical books is extremely expensive. This is one of the reasons why school budgets are so sadly strained. If we can reduce the cost of books / eBooks down to the level of today’s MP3 music, we can truly revolutionize the school budgeting costs.

Back to the debate that my wife and I had about eBooks versus traditional hard cover books. I believe that the next generation (my kids, for example) will have a “built-in” propensity toward eBooks. They have been brought up on cell phones, nintendo DS, WII, etc. They will “shop” for eCards before they go to Hallmark to buy a “physical” card, just like they will download an MP3, rather than buy a CD from the now defunct Tower Records.

This doesn’t make reading a book with Amazon’s Kindle as “right or wrong”, it’s just … different.

By the way, the Amazon Kindle sells at Amazon and EBay for $360. I still think this is a lot of money, But I found a website that is giving away free Amazon Kindles if you take a short poll.

Here is their website address:

http://ezsuggestions.com/amazonkindle.

But, the downside to all of these cool apps and new functionality on the iPhone is that they’re all battery hogs. The other downside to the iPhone in general is that Apple, in all its wisom, did not allow anyone to open the phone up to put in another fully charged battery.

I suspect that I am a typical iPhone user. The reason we all bought one is for the glorious big screen and the cool applications. On a typical day, using my phone for various activities, I can honestly say that in an 6 – 8 hour period, I’m probably down to less than 1/8th left on my battery power.

So, let’s dissect some of the applications and things that you can do to preserve battery. One obvious idea is to buy an external battery booster. These things are great! I have a couple of them. One type is a rechargeable lithium ion battery and the other uses a replaceable double A battery. Both of the work the same by boosting your iPhone’s battery almost back to a complete charge. For power users I recommend getting two of these great devices. They also have the added benefit of being able to be used for the Apple iTouch as well.

Now, to the applications. There are several applications on the Apple iPhone which, when turned on drain a lot of juice. One of the less intuitive ones is the 3G network. When Apple and AT&T decided to support AT&T’s 3G network, we all were thrilled to get the faster Internet speed. The big downside to this; however, is that the 3G network is a battery hog. If you are not surfing the Internet, I recommend that you turn this funcion off, until you need it. The Edge network is just fine for phone calls and even email downloads.

Next, Bluetooth. The Apple iPhone, of course, like all good phones, supports Bluetooth devices. Bear in mind that the Bluetooth application on the iPhone continually tries searches to find a Bluetooth device to pair up with. I’m not sure why this utility was built this way, but it is one feature that can be turned off when not in use.

Another application which I think can be turned off to save battery power is the location on / off switch. If it’s on, it will continually update with your current location, which is used by the GPS feature of the iPhone. You should turn this off if you do not need to have your location tagged for a particular application.

And, finally a real simple way to save on battery life is to turn your Apple iPhone off when you’re done using it. In other words, don’t wait until the screen turns off by itself. There is an “on/off” button on the top right corner of your phone which turns the screen off. Or, if you can’t remember to do that, set the screen off to auto off after x minutes. This should also save on your battery life.

There you have it … good luch and more power to you, er … your iPhone/

Steve Jobs, I mean Apple, knows how popular YouTube is, and they have included a special player in the iPhone for those who cannot be without their daily dose of YouTube. The YouTube player launches right from the Home screen, and allows you to quickly access your favorite videos. Just for comparison, without the iPhone you had to first download the video onto your computer, then convert the format, then upload it to your mobile device. Yuck. What a pain. The iPhone makes this process easy and automatic.

Of course, new videos are always being uploaded to YouTube all the time. What if you find a video that you know that your friend will enjoy? How do you send it to them on your iPhone? Not to worry, because the amazing iPhone has the ability to create the email with a link to the video in it.

Whether you have uploaded videos to YouTube yourself or you are someone who simply enjoys watching videos on YouTube, you are really going to love this feature on the iPhone. You can watch your favorite videos, share them with friends, and look for new ones just like you can on a desktop or laptop computer. There’s no need to miss watching your favorite videos because you don’t have access to a computer; just watch them right there on your iPhone. How cool is that?