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One day we’ll all be there – a senior citizen in distress and in need of an emergency cellular phone, but the buttons and technology of it all will probably boggle our minds, depending on how many brain cells we have remaining at that time. I can’t even imagine what cell phones will be like by the time I’m a senior citizen, but I suppose by then they’ll be implanted into our brains and have a handy remote control — yes I know, it’s a scary thought.

When I read about the opportunity to write about these senior cell phones that are now available, I figured I had to jump on it since I have a funny story to share. Several years ago my family decided it would be a good idea to purchase a cell phone for my father since he still drives. We figured if he and mom are going to be out on the road that it really is a necessity for them to have a cell phone.

We were all excited and purchased my dad a cell phone for a gift, but it quickly became apparent that he wasn’t so excited. In that my father is computer savvy we really thought it would not be an issue for him to learn how to use the cell phone but issues developed rapidly.

The first hurdle we had to get over was to get him to simply leave it turned on! We finally determined the reason he didn’t want to turn it on was because he thought having it turned on was going to count toward his minutes used. OK, we finally got his anxiety over that issue resolved, but then the next issue came up.

In that he would only need the phone for emergency use, he had the type of phone where we purchased the prepaid pay as you go cell phones plan, and it was working out to be less than $10.00 a month for the plan. But, he refused to use his minutes because he was absolutely floored when he calculated out the per-minute price, which really wasn’t an issue because it was still the cheapest cell phone plan considering the low amount of use he needed it for. What it boiled down to was he stopped using the phone completely and he did the unthinkable — he purchased a pair of 2 mile range walky-talkies – lol.

When confronted with how in the heck walkie talkies would bail him out in the event of an emergency, he realized he didn’t have an answer. Or, when I brought to his attention that if he got a flat tire on the road that he could not exactly contact a tire store via the archaic technology of a walkie talkie he realized he didn’t have an answer for that one either. He actually thought the walkie talkie technology would have been superior and easier to a cell phone. Then when we confronted him in regards to how in the heck he would contact us from his walkie talkie he suggested that he would purchase us each a pair of our own! Sorry Dad, but with all due respect that technology is superseded by cell phones, and by far.

When it was all said and done, he finally agreed to go back to a cell phone when my brother-in-law added an extra phone to their service for around $10.00 a month. This my father finally agreed to.

If any of my story sounds familiar, and you want to get a cell phone for your senior parents but are afraid the typical phone just might not be the answer, here’s some things to consider. You can get a phone that’s created specifically for seniors with bigger buttons for them to see easier, brighter screens for easier viewing, and with louder ring tones to be heard by even the hardest of hearing senior. Finally, it also provides friendlier service for them from a staff that won’t lose patience so quickly knowing they’re going to be dealing with seniors.

When we originally purchased the first cell phone for my father, I wish the Senior Cell Phone program had been available then. We probably would not have gone through all the hassle we did with getting my father use to the idea of having one.

Once upon a time there was a web cam hooked up to nowhere. Still new and untouched inside it’s box, the web cam’s technology was superseded by the newer versions the day the web cam arrived in my mailbox — about 4 years ago — lol.

Yes, I have one of those darn web cams that came free when I hooked up to the high speed Internet service. In that I don’t even like photos of myself I’m having a hard time digesting the thought of using a web cam to send an electronic version of myself to family or friends. So, there it sits in the box — the web cam to nowhere. Should I let it out of the box? Hmm, I’m not sure.

The irony of the whole thing is somehow my Internet provider sent me three of them by error, yet I have not even hooked up one of them! For now, I guess the whole web cam thing at this point is a Pandora’s box web cam.

Many telecommuters wanting to escape the rat race have taken their lifestyle to the next level. With the high cost of realestate and the prices driven by location, location, location, telecommuters unbound by a commute can escape further into the rural areas.

However, if there is no source for an Internet connection from a remote area, there’s no sense in making the move if the telecommuting position relies on an Internet connection, which most do. Solar power has made that possible for some areas, and has been a viable solution for getting an Internet connection out to the remote realestate locations.

If you’re wanting to consider making an escape further into a rural area, you may wish to research other solar options as well. Where I live there’s a beautiful lake about two hours away where I would love to have realestate, but the only affordable places on the lake are within the areas that would require alternative sources of energy. It becomes an even more intriguing idea knowing I could access solar powered Internet connection from the rural area, if I were to consider making a realestate purchase on the lake.

One source for researching solar solutions is Solar Decathlon, which has 20 university teams that build and operate energy-efficient solar-powered houses around the world. They are a partner with the U.S. Department of Energy and their decathlon event will be held this week starting October 11th and ending on October 19th. You can keep up with their updates from the Solar Decathlon Blog.

Going solar for your Internet connection just may bring some hope for you to follow through on your plans to move further from the rat race. After all, isn’t that the wonderful freedom telecommuting offers?

This is something that I’ve thought about, but never took the time to research and thought you might find this to be of interest if you are in the need of a business voip service. Although they offer unlimited calls for a residential plan, I’ll share one of the options available to satisfy the needs of a business since many of you that blog are also business entrepreneurs!

Packet8 Virtual Office offers quite a few options for the business person, and anywhere from a small business need to a larger company with call centers. I’ll get into some details about the system that would be a good one for a small business person to consider, but before I do, here are some basic points about their service and phones to consider:

First off, their system works with your existing high speed Internet connection, so there’s no need to make a change with that. Secondly, their phones are one-touch controls, which are a great benefit for someone who is not wanting to mess with a great deal of multiple step buttons!

Here’s their system I picked to blog about because it would be the closest fit for me as a small business person if I went with a Voip program:

It appears one of their best phone and service programs to consider, which is middle of the road cost-wise, would be their “Unlimited Extension” service. Why would I choose that one? Because it provides unlimited calling to the U.S., Canada, Puerto Rico, Guam, US Virgin Islands, France, Ireland, Italy, Spain, United Kingdom; plus any international tolls to other countries!

For $49.99 a month plus the price of the phone, which is just under $100.00 plus a service activation fee, it certainly seems reasonable for the ability to call so many places in the world, and for unlimited use!

If, on the other hand you needed a Voip service for your business, my preference may not be what you’re would be, so I encourage you to take a look at the large variety of plans and services they have available for Voip. There are close to ten different programs to go with, and what would be a good pick for me, might not be for you! That’s something to consider and some good food for thought, and now I know a bit more about voip service as well!

Now here’s a great use of technology to blog about! Webcam security home camera provides a great way to monitor anything of concern, or that you need to keep a watchful eye on. Have there ever been the times when you needed to be in two places at once? Maybe at your computer finishing up some work, but your kids insist in playing where they’re out of your sight or hearing distance? This would be a great way to keep an eye on them for that added piece of mind.

Or, in my case for a psycho-dog. Yeah, we have one of those! This is one way I would use one of these security cameras! One of our dogs is an escape artist, and although they’re quite spoiled with indoor access from a dog door into our utility room, there’s times when our female dog manages to use the doorknob to escape from the utility room! There have been many times that we would have liked to catch her on camera to see how she does it – lol.

Another way I would use one of these cameras would be of course for security issues. Our neighbor just had their car broken into last week and it would be an added piece of mind if we had the ability to have our vehicles in our driveway watched overnight. Or, my husband will need to clear out his workshop so we can park our cars in the garage.

The webcam home monitoring made easy service certainly appears to be easy to use, plus it’s free during their beta program so that’s a good time to give it a try! To begin you simply download the Windows webcam software, and then login to your HomeCamera account to select your monitoring options. You can even monitor your webcam action from your cell phone, or email!

To use the HomeCamera service you don’t even need to buy an expensive camera since it works with most web cams, and you can access the service from anywhere in the world! This would be a great benefit to a parent who really needs to get a chance to go on a trip, but isn’t that comfortable leaving the kids at home with a sitter overnight. That would certainly eliminate any concerns if you could monitor your child!

One last reason why they’re beta free program is something to consider. When they switch over to the paid service, they will not delete a beta members account even if they don’t convert over right away to the paid service! They will also offer special pricing to the beta HomeCamera users, so that’s something to keep in mind.

I wrote this post because it looks like they’re service is a good one to consider, and I was asked by HomeCamera to indicate the fact that my information about their service is fair and impartial. If you’re in the need of a webcam security camera that you can monitor from anywhere in the world, it’s worth checking them out!