There are some insurance companies out in California experimenting with pay-as-you-drive insurance.  What this means is that people who own vehicles but do not drive very often can get much lower insurance than someone who drives all the time and is a much larger risk. 

California has tried programs like this before.  The last time the proposal was to base your auto insurance off of how much gasoline you purchase.  That idea didn’t get very far, but with the advent of GPS tracking the idea of pay-as-you-go insurance may have legs.

The big savings here are for people that only use their cars for pleasure trips or live in areas where all of their necessities are close by.  Another HUGE benefit would be for people in large cities with access to public transportation.  You could own a vehicle and not have to pay through the nose levels of insurance to keep it. 

The downside to this idea is a loss of privacy.  In order to qualify for this insurance you have to have the equivalent of an automobile version of the black boxes they put on airplanes.  This device will record not only how much you drive but how you drive.  I guess the upside to these devices would be that people would be more wary of their driving habits and maybe improve their technique.  Overall as long as they are not recording my phone conversations I am all for the idea of making insurance cheaper based off of your individual driving acumen instead of broad sets of averages.  This would give teenage drivers and young adults a chance of getting lower rates (and their parents might actually be able to know where they are).

Before the advent of the Internet large companies used to give people the run around whenever there was a problem just to prevent having to pay out when something went wrong.  Those same companies would then turn around and advertise how good they are to their customers.  This worked for years and years and the only way a large business would lose customers is if they did something completely egregious and it got printed in the newspaper or reported on the news.

Now with the internet anybody with a computer, a camera, and a little talent can turn a personal protest into an international phenomenon.  Every business should be wary of this because they might wake up one morning and find there are three million hits on a video like this one:

United only tried to make things right after these guys had slammed their reputation.  This just will not work these days.  If you find yourself thinking I do not have the talent to produce my own video then visit the various opinion sites that allow you to share your experiences with different products and services.  My favorites are epinions (product quality), Trip Advisor (travel), and Yelp (any service).  If you are wronged or have a wonderful experience express that opinion on these sites so everyone can take advantage of our collective wisdom.

Yesterday I gave a brief overview of Google Voice and all the features available through that service.  What most people miss is that Google Voice can be used to exploit enhance the features from you cell phone service.  For this to work you cell phone provider must be one of the providers that allow you to designate a few numbers to make/receive free calls whether they are on your network or not.

Step 1: Sign up for Google Voice (GV) and acquire your GV phone number

Step 2: Route all calls from GV to your cell phone

Step 3: Go the the settings menu on GV and on the General tab scroll down to the “Caller ID” section, click on the radio button that designate “Display my Google Voice number” and then click “Save Changes”

Step 4: List your GV number as one of the numbers you get free calls from with you cell phone carrier

Step 5: Hand out your GV number to anyone who does not have service from your cell phone carrier

Step 6: Enjoy free calling from anyone who calls your GV number

This gives you unlimited incoming calls.  The only possible annoyance here is that you cannot see the number on your caller id.  However, if you look at yesterdays post you will see that you can screen calls by sending callers to voicemail and then being able to pick up while they are leaving a message.  Also if you update your contacts in GV the service will tell you if the call is from one of you contacts.  This contacts list can be imported from Outlook, Outlook express, Eudora, Apple Address Book, and a few others.

For outgoing calls it is a bit trickier.  Once you have completed all of the steps above you will have to login to your GV account.  At the top on the left hand side there is a button that says “Call.”  Click on the button and a box pops up.  Just type in the number you want to call and GV will call your cell phone from your GV number.  Once that connection is made it will call the phone number that you typed into the box.  Once again this registers as a free call from the cell phone carriers that allow you to make and receive calls to specific numbers.

The question I always get after explaining this little system is, “Is it worth it?”  And the answer is always, “It depends.”  If you are my dad who uses less than 20 minutes a month this is not worth the time, but if you are a heavy user who has a very large plan it could allow you to drop down one or two tiers in pricing.  This could be a savings of $40 or more per month for some people.  When I started using this strategy I saw my minute usage drop over 600 minutes on average each month.  If there were a cheaper plan out there than I already have I could switch with no worries.  Most people find that just eliminating the cost of incoming calls allows them to switch to a lower plan.  So give it a shot and happy calling!

I jumped on the bandwagon of Google Voice a long time ago.  The original platform was called GrandCentral.  It worked great but stopped accepting new users once Google bought the company.  Now it has finally come out of beta as Google Voice.

I use this service specifically for business.  While I am in town all calls are routed to my cell phone.  When I go on vacation I can route them to anyone I want.  This saves me a lot of hassle and makes it easy for my employer to know that the phone is getting answered.

Google Voice is free and includes these great features:

- You get a phone number that can be forwarded to any telephone that you want.

- It includes voicemail so no matter where the number is being routed the caller gets the same voicemail message

-The voicemail will actually transcribe the message (more or less) and send it to you as a text message

- It has a call screening feature that lets you listen to the person leaving the message and then pick up the call if you want

- There is a call recoding feature that can be activated on the fly

- A call can be switched from a cell phone to a land line phone mid call without the other party ever noticing

- Ability to conference in up to four callers

- Caller ID

- A Do Not Disturb feature so that all calls are routed to voicemail

- Goog411 is integrated into the service so you get free directory assistance

Google is rolling this out in waves so it is best to get on the list now so you can get the service ASAP.

Tomorrow I will show you how to get low cost unlimited calling to your cell phone using Google Voice.

The emergence of YouTube and Hulu have made it very easy to catch your favorite shows and videos online.  The problems is keeping all of this information straight.  I just ran into a new program called Boxee that actually searches the web for free online content.  This utility is great at helping you find all the shows you want.  Unfortunately it only works on MAC nad Linux operating systems.  So if you are using a Microsoft operating system (XP, Vista, etc.) you are going to have to wait until they come out with a newer version.

This application does work with your Iphone which is a really cool way of watching online content on your home television.

Verizon took a big swing at the marketplace about a year ago with unlimited service for $100 per month.  This was considered groundbreaking because up until that time the big four carriers (ATT, Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon) had only dabbled with the idea and never made a large marketing push in the unlimited service arena.  This was a giant first step toward what most people consider the eventual destination of all wireless plans.  Unfortunately the big four have stalled in lowering their prices with all of them offering an unlimited plan between $100-$135.

Well the little guys are now sticking it in the eyes of the big four.  Both Boost Mobile and Virgin Mobile have released unlimited usage plans.  Virgin starts its plan out at $49.99 per month and you can add unlimited texting and unlimited web for $10 each per month.  Boost has gone even cheaper with Everything unlimited for $50 per month.  This is a dramatic shift in the industry and it should be interesting to see how the big four react.  Hopefully we will see these less expensive unlimited plans flourish sooner rather than later and we can get rid of the night and weekend/my five/mobile to mobile hoops that the companies currently make us jump through.

Identity theft was once again the fastest growing crime in America.  There are tons of ways for a criminal to steal your identity, but one of the fastest growing means is through your computer.

People do so much through their computers these days (online banking, checking credit scores, etc.) that thieves are keying in on home computers.  They do this through spyware, malware, and various other nasty means to get a program on your computer that will send them information.  Here is my short list of FREE (my favorite word) programs that can help keep your computer clean.

Ad-Aware – This program removes spyware and malware and is top rated by CNET

AVG – this is a virus protection software and is free.  It also does not tend to take over your computer like Norton

Firefox – Firefox is a web browser (just like internet explorer) that is being used by all the techno geeks because it is more secure than internet explorer

Hautesecure.com – I mentioned this one before.  It will block suspect sites from loading on your computer.

Spybot Search and Destroy – very similar to Ad-Aware

Avast – kind of an all in one deal.  I have not found it as effective as individual programs but for the simple to use interface and its ability to catch viruses, spyware, and malware it is a gem.  Plus it got a top CNET rating.

Looking for other ways that you can protect yourself?  Look at this list of suggestoins from Walter S. Mossberg in the Wall Street Journal

Since I work in the cable television industry I get asked all the time about the conversion the country will be making to digital transmission in 2009.  There seems to be a lot of confusion out there as to what this means, so I thought I might clarify the situaiton.

Let’s start with the 88% of the population that has either Cable television, dish network/directv or a B.U.G (big ugly dish); this is not going to effect you.  That’s right, people who use any of these services are not going to experience any change whatsoever.  So stop listening to all the hype and go on with your life.  Now the fact that you are probably paying too much for the services is a whole other topic, so I digress.

The other 12% of tv watchers that use rabbit ears are the people who need to pay attention to what is going on.   Your TV will become obsolete if it only receives analog transmissions.  Most televisions sold today have a digital tuner.  This is listed as an ATSC tuner.  If you only have an NTSC (analog) tuner then you are going to need a converter box.  The federal government in giving each American a voucher for $40 toward the purchase of a converter box.  You can get those here.

Retailers are cashing in on the confusion by recommending multi-function boxes that have more features than anyone will use.  PIRG (Public Interest Research Group) did a study in 12 states where they went into different retail stores to get information on the digital conversion.  They found that 80% of the time they were given false info and the saleseperson tried to get them to purchase a box that was more than what was needed.

The group that this will effect the most is the elderly, because they have the highest percentage still using rabbit ears.  So do your part and help an older person get their converter box.  Or you can use the two vouchers that are available to each of us and purchase a box and install it for a grandparent or elderly person in your community.  I bet if you ask, they will impart some wisdom in exchange.