Most small business owners and home-based business operators cannot afford to hire full-time receptionists, nor can them afford to waste their valuable time on answering phone calls all-day. This is where the concept of virtual receptionist becomes increasingly popular.

Why Virtual Receptionist?

To attract clients, you need to make your business appear professional. The biggest turn-off when some potential clients calls your business is being greeted by some recorded message and voicemail. In fact, majority of the people said that they would not leave a message in the voicemail and would rather take their business else where. For a small business, that represents a big loss in potential clients.

Virtual Receptionists service eliminates overhead costs and saves your business money. Best of all, it makes a good impression for your business by presenting every caller with a live processional receptionist who can screen telephone calls before transfer the call to you or your employees. A virtual receptionist can also answer basic question about your business as well as gather client contact information for your sales leads.

To your clients, a virtual receptionist solution appears integrated into your business. Most of the times, your clients will get the impression that they are speaking to someone right in the office.

With a virtual receptionist, you would not need to deal with employee overhead and you don’t need to hire IT to build and maintain your phone network. You are provided with a toll-free business phone number that is answered 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Virtual Receptionist Providers

When shopping for virtual receptionist service, consider the following features that are offered by most providers:

Music/message on Hold
Multiple Line Phone Systems
Live Call Screen, Transfer and Forwarding
Calendar/Appointment Scheduling
Order Processing and Customer Service
Live Outbound and Sales Calling
Toll Free Or Local Phone/Fax Number
Unlimited Voicemail and Voicemail to Email
Fax to Email and Professional Email Address
Live Answering Minutes Plans
Real-Time Online Call Reporting
After Hours Support
Call Queueing

Please note that not all advertised virtual receptionist service is run by live personnel. Some companies provide virtual receptionist through customizable virtual PBX phone system. The ones providing live service are:

Davinci Virtual
virtualreceptionists.biz
Appletree Answering Service
Concorder Communications
Ruby Receptionists

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Even though the 2010 Toyota Prius is the third generation of its kind, it received a 90% makeover in terms of its functional components. The car now boasts many new technologies that usually only appears on the more luxurious models. Before we get to the new technologies, it’s equally important to mention that the engine is now increased to 1.8-liters and the batter pack has been upgraded for more capacity. The air conditioning, water pump, and power steering systems are all electrically-powered now. The new Prius gets 51/48 fuel efficiency with a 10-year, 150,000-mile warranty.

In addition, three new modes of driving now exists in the new Prius: “Eco” - fuel saving mode which translates to 12% less throttle when the gas engine is running. “Power” - more power-assist when you need the extra HP. “EV” - pure eletric power only that allows you to drive up to 25 MPH for one mile.

The following features comes with the Advance Technology Package:

Safety Connect - Toyota’s version of OnStar.
Dynamic Cruise Control - The car will automatically adjust your speed based on surrounding traffic.
Lane Keep Assist - Under low speed, the car will beep if you drift out of your lane. Under highway speed, the car will take control of the steering wheel and move you back to the center of the lane.
Automatic Parallel Parking - The car uses radar to detect available parking space. If you approves the selection, it then grabs the steering wheel and parks itself in the spot.
Solar Panel - The solar panel in the moonroof will power a second battery that runs a fan to move fresh air through the car. This feature is especially helpful when parked under the sun. But there’s more, hit a button on your remote key and the car will turn on the AC for three minutes to cool down the temperature inside your Prius before you get in!

The MSRP on the new Prius with the Advance Technology Package is around $33,000. That’s still a bargain compares to what you would be paying for models from other automakers. Not to mention you would be driving a cool and recognizable car.

For more information on the new Prius, check out here.

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PBX which stands for private branch exchange, is a telephone exchange system. Originally a PBX was designed to control phone systems through in-house operators within a company. Today, a PBX has expanded functionalities to connect fax machines, computer modems, and other types of technology that route through the phone lines.

As businesses of all sizes begin to look into VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol), virtual PBX suddenly became an attractive option. A virtual PBX arrangement, in which a telephony system is provided through an Internet download and then managed by an outside service, offers a low-cost and easy-to-set-up means without having to maintain a staff. Now, the telephone exchange system is hosted at an outside VoIP provider.

A virtual PBX is capable of providing many services such as messaging, call-forwarding, call-waiting, automatic dialing, and other advanced calling features. But, it can also provide Outlook integration, host video, voice, and data conferencing, and tracking call data for billing and budgeting purposes.

If you are looking for a virtual PBX provider, the search can be daunting. Many providers offer a diverse range of calling features but make it difficult to combine those features without increasing the cost of the calling plan significantly. Other providers may offer basic services but are unable to scale to business’s need for enhanced calling features. For starters, there are some websites out there which helps you compare plans from different virtual PBX providers, such as pbxcompare.com and virtualpbxcompare.info. Currently there are five top providers: GotVMail, Packet8, RingCentral, Vocalocity, and VoiceNation. Start off by assessing your calling needs and then search for the one providers that offer combination of features you desire. The important thing is to put priority on the feature(s) that you definite will require rather than features which you may or may not use. Once you decided on a virtual PBX provider, check out their calling plans based on your estimated usage. It’s also important to factor in the costs of calls that exceed the limits set in the plan.

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Apple is long rumored to be working on a tablet-like device that’s bigger than iPod Touch, but smaller than its MacBook. Most likely, Apple has observed the success Amazon had with its Kindle device that it decided to jump in. There is clearly a market for these mid-size PCs as some projected 20 million devices will be shipped this year, doubling last year’s output.

Let’s say if Apple is indeed working on such device, its dream features would be

Thin and Light - It must be comparable to the Kindle in terms of its weight and size.
Built-in wireless 3G - This was a critical feature in the Kindle which allows its users to download new books from anywhere. Better yet, the new Apple tablet should also have WiFi capabilities when such connection is available.
Clear Display - The display quality must match other Apple devices. After all, the Apple tablet should be used for viewing pictures, browsing the internet, and watching movies. Furthermore, the device should have Kindle-like fonts that functions as an e-book reader.
Innovative Keyboard - Please, get rid of the virtual keyboard used in iPhones. I never liked them, and hopefully Apple will come out with something new.
Cool Factor - Just like all Apple devices, it must appear cool to be carrying one.
Price - The Kindle sells for $359. I can see the prices goes somewhere between the Kindle and the cheapest MacBook. Anything over $1000 is too expensive.

Most likely such a device won’t be unveiled until 2010. But, maybe a prototype will be presented upon Steve Job’s return.

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Sony has joined in the video game race by unveiling its new technology inventions last week - a prototype of a motion-sensing system with a controller that can be wielded as a sword, a baseball bat, a gun and even a bow and arrow. Creator Richard Marks told an audience at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) in Los Angeles, California. that the new system will hit stores in the spring of 2010.

Obviously Sony’s news is a direct response to Microsoft’s announcement of Project Natal - Microsoft’s motion-sensing controller. Nintendo also announced technological improvements to its popular Wii system. All three gaming companies seem to have agreed that the future of gaming lies in motion-sensing game play.

During the live presentation, Sony presented a man wielded a hand-held remote with a small, glowing globe on its end. As the man swung the controller, a disembodied sword moved back and forth on a giant video screen above.

Nintendo’s new technology invention is called Wii Motion Plus, which is a add-on to its Wii remote to make the games feel more natural and intuitive. The company’s president, Satoru Iwata, also debuted a new device called the Wii Vitality Sensor, which is intended to help players visualize and control their pulses.

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Today’s the day which Microsoft officially replaces its unsuccessful Live Search with a new technology invention: Bing. How is Bing different from Google? For starters, Bing is also set up to organize search results in relevant groups rather than as a series of links. It uses technology from Powerset (a search technology company Microsoft acquired) for its search presentation.

What that means is that Bing simply displays search results in a more elegant way than Google. While Google is proud of its unique and simple design, users often had to follow through a series of links to find the results they are search for. Bing does a better job in group the search results into different categories. In fact, Microsoft has put up a sponsored ad in Google. Type in Bing in the Google and you will find the following phrases at the top of the page:

Lost in the Links?
It’s Time to Try Bing ™ - The New Decision Engine from Microsoft.

Bing and Decide
It’s Time to Turn Key Words into Key Decisions. Search on Bing Now!

Look at the following search for “Kobe Bryant”:

Notice the small box at the upper left corner? It provides quick navigation to different categories of search results for “Kobe Bryant”. Within the search results, notice how the results are grouped into different categories:

After playing around with different search keywords, the Bing seems to provide reasonably accurate search results. This was a big improvement over the old Live search engine. Just maybe, Bing is the new technology invention worthy of challenging Google’s mighty throne. Or maybe Bing isn’t aimed directly at Google as Microsoft is formally calling it a decision engine rather than search engine.

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