GEEKNOTE: How Far We've Come

GEEKNOTE: While I was driving the family home from Tampa International early Sunday morning, my daughter-in-law called her mom to let her mom know that she and Steven had arrived safely in Florida. What makes this cool is that Aiko's mom lives in northern Japan, but has a local phone number here.

For little more than the cost of ONE of the phone calls we made to Japan when Steven had his motorcycle accident a few years ago, Aiko and her mom can talk all they like for the next five years.

Communication costs in general are in free-fall: 

At work, we've got faster Internet service and phone service for less than we were paying for the same services just a few years ago. The Internet is 50 times faster than before, so we're talking a major improvement.

At home, the same thing applies. We have a bundle that includes TV, Internet, and phone service for just a few dollars more than we were paying for TV alone.

The one exception to declining communication prices is the cost of cable channels, especially the sports channels. It is my belief that these channels are going to find themselves in a bind as more folks get their video entertainment off the Internet rather than through conventional cable/pay TV.  This has some interesting ramifications for college and professional sports programs that have gotten fat on TV revenues.

Getting ready for Steven and Aiko's visit prompted my wife and I to head out on a shopping trip Saturday. We couldn't help but notice that the mall parking lot was packed. Some of this was no doubt due to the fact that school starts this week, but people out in force spending money isn't limited just to one day at the mall. 

Night In The Tropics last week was packed. The biggest problem we heard about was how long it was taking to get served at the downtown restaurants. Having too many customers is not something that has been a problem in the past.

I've written before about how much better new computers and other hardware are than just a few years ago. Combine that with the declining cost of connecting all the pieces, even when they are separated by miles and there are opportunities out there for businesses that are prepared to move forward.

Even car manufacturers have gotten into the act with tech improvements to their offerings. Four years ago, my tiny smart car was one of the few non-hybrids that got anything like 40 mpg. There are any number of cars on the market now that are scoring highway ratings in the 40 mpg range. Gas money that we don't send overseas to people who want us dead is money that we can spend here in America helping rebuild our economy. If you've got an old fuel gulping car, there may be an economic reason to consider buying a new car.

Businesses that were hanging onto every dollar this time last year are starting to make strategic spending decisions to position themselves to grow as the economy improves. We've done it by hiring new staff and refreshing our own internal network hardware. A number of our customers are doing the same. 

The decision to take advantage of the technology changes we've seen over the last several years will give businesses that are ready a jump start as the economy improves.

Feel free to drop me a note or leave a comment here if you have any questions about your computer or your office network.

Rob Marlowe, Senior Geek, Gulfcoast Networking, Inc.

http://www.gulfcoastnetworking.com

(Rob also serves as deputy mayor of the City of New Port Richey. Opinions expressed here are his own and do not necessarily represent the position of the city.)