Bumper Stickers

Over the past year, another one of Canada's great technology companies falls upon hard times in the midst of a tough international market.  Research In Motion certainly has had a tough year with many disappointments.  That being said, they are a Canadian company with which we should be very proud.

I've been thinking about the bumper stickers we see on cars here in Canada saying, "Out of a job yet?  Keep buying foreign."  This statement makes perfect sense if you are an American who can take pride in several different American car brands.  However, as a Canadian, we don't have our own car brand and all cars are foreign products.

But, when it comes to smart phones, we do have a Canadian product.  Perhaps the bumper stickers should be adapted to, "Out of a job yet?  Keep buying Apple."

Anyway, my point is that it is about time that we Canadians stop killing our technology companies.  A few companies that come to mind that we have lost or have pretty much killed:

- Nortel Networks
- ATI (Video card maker now owned by Germany's AMD)
- Corel (still around, but took a huge blow when Canadian's dumped Word Perfect for the US competitor, MS Word

Do we really need to add RIM to the list?

Magic Jack Experience

Okay.  Now that I've played with the device, I'd like to post a some positive comments.  I held off connecting the device and setting it up because I thought I needed a telephone.  So, I ventured out and purchased a phone at Value Village for a price of $4.50.

Setup was easy and straight forward.  I wasn't fussy about the setup window forcing itself to the front of my screen during the setup process, but it gave me no excuse for pulling the device out before the software download was complete.  It prompted me through various screens to setup my phone ID, number and offered me various extras, such as long distance plans.

Once setup, I made a call from my Magic Jack line to my cell phone...it worked great.  I returned the call from my cell phone and it was equally good.  It is amazing how fast a phone number can get setup and working...yet it can take the major telcos days to setup a new phone line.

After playing with the device software on my Mac OS screen, I discovered that I don't even need a physical phone, as it works as a soft phone.

Without setting up voicemail, it automatically forwards messages to the e-mail address associated with the account.  I later called into to change my default password and identification with ease.

I'm also impressed that I can setup my number to automatically forward my calls to any number of my choice (I assume within North America).  So, in theory, I could setup Magic Jack phone numbers throughout North America, then forward the calls to my cell phone and not pay any long distance charges. Very cool.

So, when it comes to website and sales support, I give Magic Jack two thumbs down.  But, it seems like the product itself deserves two thumbs up.

Magic Jack arrived, finally

I finally received my Magic Jack in the mail yesterday.  I brought it to the office to play with, but I don't have a phone here that will work with it.  DOH!  Anyway, I went back to the Magic Jack site and could not help but notice the message on the screen.   Read the text in the Orange banner.  It is amazing that I can get it in one day, but it took two weeks for my RUSH delivery that I paid extra for.