There isn’t much that’s sacred from spam and commercials these days, and it looks as though there is one less safe zone in the works. Internet phone and wireless calls are now considering selling in call advertising. This means that you’ll now be able to listen to a brief advertisement while waiting for the company to connect your call.

Opt-in?
The service will allegedly be opt-in with credits offered for participating callers that will help to offset phone bills. But even if the service is opt-in initially, it is highly likely that these short ads are a vision of what is to come. Internet phones are getting more popular and advertisers are working every way they can to reach customers. If it means annoying you while making you wait to talk to Grandma just to get a line of marketing in, that’s what they’ll do. After all, there is a great deal of money involved for companies and advertisers.

Targeted Ads
The best part, of the worst depending on how you look at it, is that the ads you’re likely to be hearing will be targeted directly to you. Much in the way Google targets ads to related content, your phone advertisements will be targeted to the types of phone calls you make. For example, if you frequently call New York, you may be privileged to enjoy commercials for new flights to New York or New York accommodations.

A Cutting Edge Industry
In call advertising is a relatively new field, but it is already being used by at least one internet phone service and has been a standard practice on calling cards for some time. When a calling card user uses a card to call friends or family in another country, they are subjected to advertisements through a company called VoodooVox.

VoodooVox runs on approximately thirty percent of calling cards and had revenues of $4 million dollars in 2007. While that number may not be overwhelming, the revenues from in call advertising in 2008 are expected to grow ten times over. VoodooVox and others already working to establish the in call advertising practices are well situated to take home a substantial part of the revenue from their brainstorm. (more…)

It’s time for Macworld again, and this year the much anticipated trade show by Apple will have some tools sure to capture the company even more market share. Apple Computers have always been much too artsy and bohemian for the real world of business, but that all may be changing. Apple Computers is now Apple Inc, and some of the goodies expected to be on display at MacWorld are small business applications. Could Apple be courting the office place after all?

Microsoft Office for Macs
The most telling sign of the times is the newly released Office for Macs. The Windows product is fully integrated with Apple’s operating system making the Office utilities streamlined and efficient. There are terrific features such as an automater and connectivity between functions so that fields can be almost immediately populated, menial tasks can be completed in record time and everything is done with the ease and reliability Apple is known for.

Medical Software
MacPractice introduces medical software for Macs that support complicated forms and other medical documents.

Macs as Servers?
You can now turn your Mac into a server of sorts by installing software called SeeFile. This allows multiple users into the same database. While this technology is nothing new, it is priced well below what similar servers would cost. (more…)