VOIP (voice over IP) is becoming more and more popular. And lately I’ve been finding it to be more reliable than my cell phone or land line ever were. You can even use Skype for your calls, which is a great feature. Skype is a free download to start off with, but not all calls are free. You can call from computer to computer with no charge, which is like an instant message with voice. To call a phone number has a low call rate, you can even make international calls using Skype.

Of course Skype isn’t your only option. Vonage phone service is one of the most reliable phone services available today and it comes at great prices. Vonage was less expensive than both a regular land line through the phone company, and a digital land line through the cable company. At about 25 dollars per month it’s hard to beat the value that Vonage offers, and that includes your most popular features like call waiting and voice mail at no additional charge! The cable company was charging me extra for all of those little things.

* Unlimited local and long distance calling in the US, Canada and Puerto Rico
* FREE calls to landline phones in Italy, France, Spain, UK, and Ireland
* 25 Calling Features like Call Waiting, Voicemail and Caller ID included

Are you doing business all over the country? Vonage also lets you choose your area code, so local is wherever you want it to be. Can your home or office phone do that?

Of course services are limited by area. If you live in one of the few places that only has dial-up internet service, than VOIP is probably not your best phone service solution.

Independence Day has passed, and I hope everyone had a great holiday. It stormed here all weekend, but we still had loads of fun. Now seems to be the time when everyone is packing up to go on camping trips, long drives to Grandma’s house, and summer vacations in general.

A portable DVD player is great for entertaining the kids on a long trip, or to watch a movie while you’re waiting between baseball practice and ballet lessons. Even better if you’re flying or traveling by train on a long trip. There’s only so many things you can do on a plane or train after all!

I know next month my boys and I are taking a long trip via train and I’ll be packing this and a handful of DVD’s in a backpack for one of them as a carry on bag. They’ve already planned to take Spiderwick Chronicles, Golden Compass, and a few others that they are in love with right now.

I hope you’re having a great and safe holiday weekend. I’m getting ready to head out to Busch Gardens with the family later this afternoon. They are nearby and they have great fireworks every year. A few rounds on the water rides doesn’t hurt either.

In celebration of our heat filled holiday I want to share one of my favorite low-tech gadgets that’s great for summer (and all year round too…) the CamelBak Hydration bag. You fill it up with water and sling it over your shoulders like a backpack and you’re good to go.

These are great at amusement parks because you can refill them at any water fountain, or at your hotel room, or even in the bathroom faucets and avoid the $5 charge for an average bottle of water. Also super great when you’re camping, hiking, or even walking for charity. The big 3-day walks for breast cancer research always bring out a few cases of dehydration.

Have a safe and happy holiday weekend!! Don’t forget to use a designated driver, and be careful with those sparklers.

Laptop mice seem to come in many shapes and sizes these days. Some are more useful than others, and some of those are definitely prettier than others. This one falls into both the useful and pretty categories and it’s from HP.

It’s shiny pink look says that you’re not the average laptop user and you don’t want to use the boring little black thing that probably came in an accessory kit with your laptop. And it’s wireless giving you a better range of motion and easier to handle point and click functions. I’ve always found the miniature mice to have short cords, so I do like a wireless mouse when I’m using a mouse with my laptop (which is not often, I’m more of a touch pad user personally.)

When Apple released the revamped iPod Shuffle it got a little bit of buzz and that seemed to be it. I think this was a great addition to the iPod family! The Shuffle is cute, tiny, and now it’s 2GB powerful!

I was surprised to find that there are a lot of people that don’t know you now have the choice between a 1GB Shuffle and a 2GB shuffle…. and in even better news the price has gone down on both dramatically. You can pick one of the 2GB Shuffles for under $70, and you can still pick up a 1GB Shuffle for under $50! That’s a great deal on any size iPod! (Thinking back to what the Nano cost for my kids… *gasp*)

There’s no visual difference that I can see between the 1GB and the 2GB… they come in the same colors and the shape has stayed the same.  They’re still 2nd Generation iPods, not a 3rd Generation, so the only thing that has really changed is the number of tunes you can load onto them.  And of course that price drop I mentioned, my favorite Shuffle feature!

All the craze is focused on the new iPod Nano design … and while it’s cute and sleek and shows off with it’s rounded corners. The Shuffle is still the queen of compact design and functionality when you clip it on your shirt and go out the door. It might not hold 100 books on tape recordings, but 2GB of music is still a lot of music to listen to while you’re out and about, on your walk, or shopping at the mall.