Phone.com

Thursday, November 20th, 2008 at 4:41 PM EST

By: Ari

On Monday we wrote about the New York Times Small Business Summit. Yesterday I attended the NY Expo for Small Business at the Javits Convention Center.

There have always been many shows for small business owners and entrepreneurs to choose from, but, perhaps these days there is more interest than in “regular” years. With the economy as it is and also with so much change in the way we do business these days in general, there is more room for small and very small businesses to flourish.

Small businesses typically do well during recession times and we already wrote about several known businesses that started during bad economic times.

The large attendee number and level of activity in the two events we wrote about and so many more that are happening are just a sample of the energy and potential that exist. Several of the speakers at these events, small businesses as well, talked about how they started because they lost their corporate job whatever it may be.

So if you have an idea for a new business and you were not sure if this is a good time to pursuer it, the answer is YES! This is a good time, perhaps a very good time.

Wednesday, November 19th, 2008 at 11:36 PM EST

At Phone.com we understand the benefit of appearing professional and having a business quality phone services even for the smallest home based business.
We see the growth of our own Virtual Office service and the need so many small businesses have for a business phone number, a toll free number, extension transfers between partners and also the ability to keep a home phone number or private cell phone number, well, private.

But today I wanted to talk about another “virtual” service: US mailing addresses for a small business what can be used for people who are in transition, or in need of a US mailing address is a great tool for a home business that does not want to provide his/her home address or perhaps not event there city (so they wont use a local mailbox service).

Perhaps it is not virtual after all as the address is real but a New York company: My US Post Box does exactly that. They provide you with a US address and deliver any mail from that address to your real address. You can even get email notifications everytime you get mail and you can login to an account and view the mail that is waiting for you and even read scanned mail!

MyUSPostBox promises the most secure mail storage and is perfect for US residents who live overseas but need to have an official US address for credit cards and other banking requirements.

Wednesday, November 19th, 2008 at 12:57 AM EST

By: Ari
Today I was in Washington DC for meetings and for the annual FCBA Dinner honoring outgoing FCC Chairman Kevin Martin.

The Washington DC Hilton was packed (though some tell me it used to be an even bigger event) and the DC Hitlon ballroom is the largest in the capital!

Chairman Martin, in the spirit of this event, was making light humors comments about his years as FCC Chairman. He especially noted the Digital TV transition that will take place in 93 days.

The FCC is trying to educate the public about this transition and as part of their effort they sponsored a NASCAR car for three races. The race car did not have much luck and crashed twice so far. Chairman Martin, who will be leaving his post with the arrival of the new administration, said he might drive the car the next race.

Well, hopefully the public knows by now what to expect with the arrival of DTV.

Below are two iPhone images from the dinner: