By Colby Horton
Shop Site of the Month
Collision Repair Center - East Moline, Ill.
www.crcqc.com
This site opens with a flash introduction, providing a quick glimpse of what the shop offers. Crisp graphics and well-written text mirrors the professionalism of the shop. Comprehensive staff bios are published in a unique way. Customers can also access their vehicle's repair status through the shop's Web site. A graphical representation of the repair process, a thorough list of services offered and a convenient venue to contact the shop completes this shop's site.
Web Wise
VoIP is Changing the Way People Make Phone Calls
The technology of Internet Voice, or Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), allows you to make a telephone call using a broadband Internet connection. The technology is revolutionizing the way phone calls are being made in both home and office settings. And depending on the service you subscribe to, it could save you money on long distance phone calls.
VoIP converts the voice signal from your telephone into a digital signal that travels over the Internet then converts it back on the other end so you can speak to anyone with a regular phone number. Such calls can be made using an adapter on a conventional phone, or directly from a computer using a microphone. When using a microphone, the phone number is placed using the keyboard and is routed through your high-speed modem.
Depending on the service you subscribe to, your calls might be limited only to other subscribers to the service. Then again, some services allow you to call any phone. Calls can be made to a local phone number, mobile phones and long distance and international numbers. Some services even allow you to speak with more than one person at a time.
Last month, America Online (AOL) announced its intentions of getting into the VoIP business. Launching later this month, AOL's VoIP services will be offered to all its high-speed Internet customers for an additional fee. Jonathan Miller, CEO of AOL, said AOL hopes to do for VoIP what it successfully did for Internet service by making it simple enough for the mass market.
But AOL has some catching up to do. Several other companies, including Vonage, have a head start on securing the VoIP market. Vonage recently announced that it expects to have 1 million subscribers by the end of the year.
Net Numbers
The global market for Internet VoIP will reach $82 billion this year and $196.5 billion by 2007.
Source: Insight Research
ASA Web Ways
E-mail AutoInc. Stories to Colleagues
Do you want to share the latest Tech to Tech article with a colleague? Perhaps you're intrigued with this month's management article and want to share it with a co-worker. Much of the editorial content found in AutoInc. is published on the magazine's Web site, www.autoinc.org. And now you can e-mail your favorite articles to friends and colleagues with the click of a button. This new feature can be found on all articles published in 2005 and will soon be expanded to include many of AutoInc.'s most popular articles prior to 2005. Look for the "e-mail this page" at the top of AutoInc. articles online.
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Net Worth is written by Colby Horton, ASA's electronic communications manager. He can be reached at (800) 272-7467, ext. 234, or by e-mail at colbyh@asashop.org.
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