Two years ago I signed up for a voice over internet protocol (VoIP) service from a small company called Vonage when I was working out of a home office. At the time, it shaved more than $125 per month off of my long distance telephony bill.

I was so delighted with it that I started personally evangelizing it to people in my company. Several of my colleagues were from India and they’d order two instances of Vonage service and ship one box (with the Cisco ATA — telephone/internet router interface box) to their relative in India. They could then call a local U.S. number in the same area code in which they lived and it would ring the Cisco box over in India — saving them a fortune on international telephone charges.

Today I read a CNet article about Vonage offering their service at retail in CompUSA stores which now surpasses 8,000 retail outlets for them in North America. I was, quite frankly, stunned that there is so much distribution and the business has become so mainstream in the two years since I signed up.

What about growth? Who has the momentum?

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Adobe’s Portable Document Format (PDF) has made a big difference in the publishing business of my bride’s company, Marketing Directions, Inc.. Her firm keeps companies a step ahead with a full line of print products, color forecasts and consulting services targeted specifically to the home furnishings industry and PDF has proved to be a material part of her published output.

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With 50 videotapes of our wedding, the kids, family events and more (thank God they’re already digital on miniDV), I’ve become increasingly concerned that — since videotape has a finite shelf life before color fades and dropouts increase dramatically — it was time to get the video off to a digital format and ensure longevity.

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Before heading to Alaska this summer, I decided to study-up on cameras and buy one that *might* make me proud of the pictures I would be taking in this majestic state. Figuring that Alaska might contain some photogenic scenery and wildlife, I headed to a phenomenal web site called Digital Photography Review to do research before buying one.

The proprietor of this web site is a guy named Phil Askey. He comes across as SIGNIFICANTLY more analytical than just about anyone I’ve ever met. His methodology for analyzing cameras and testing them exhaustively ensures that the reader of his reviews gets a solid and objective analysis.

If you’re in the market for a digital camera, stop by DPReview. Spend some time on the forums and get a sense what people think of the particular camera(s) you’re considering. I did…and after 40 or so hours poking around, I ended up with a Nikon D70 digital SLR, kit lens plus a zoom lens, external flash and I’m incredibly pleased.

My pictures? I guess the old saying that, “It’s not the tools but the carpenter” holds true in my case. Great camera…pictures that are just OK. I’ll keep working on it though.