Can’t my brains just get along?

Before you write me off as confused, or worse schizophrenic, consider this... I’m a high social functioning PC person, and I use both a BlackBerry and an Apple iPhone.

I like to consider myself a prime candidate to cross compare these leading devices as I can recount both the best, and the worst of both. For instance, surfing the web on a BlackBerry can be painful and slow – somewhat akin to doing email on an iPhone (from the perspective of a BlackBerry user of course).

I love the BlackBerry for its push notifications, making having to play fetch with the iPhone to get my mail seem silly in comparison.


My BlackBerry integrates into my existing business systems, giving me a common view of my inbox, with a complete record of all incoming and outgoing emails from desktop, and the web. On the other hand, email on my iPhone is disconnected from everything else, forcing me to deal with my email all over again, even if I’ve already viewed and responded all but one message.

Happily, if I’m in need of a faxed or signed doc while I’m mobile – and it happens more often than you think – I can rely on the myFax BlackBerry app or the myFax iPhone app to get the job done.

So what’s my bottom line? I think it all comes down to what brain I’m in at any given time. Left brain, BlackBerry; right brain, iPhone.

If I’m feeling particularly angst ridden about a proposal or deal I’ll inherently be looking for speed, so BlackBerry will be my choice. If I’m feeling a bit more amenable and desire a more engaging experience, I’ll lean to the iPhone. Either way, I’m in business no matter what, with a nod to the myFax app for thinking of me, in both my brains.

Guest Blog Post: National Pro Bono Celebration

This week we celebrate pro bono lawyers, and are thrilled to welcome Pam Weisz as a guest blogger!



October 24 to 30 marks the second annual National Pro Bono Celebration in the United States. Sponsored by the American Bar Association, this week is meant to showcase the great difference that pro bono lawyers make, and to highlight the growing need for high-quality, free legal aid for those facing foreclosure, eviction, consumer debt, domestic violence, child custody disputes and other grave civil legal problems.


As they face rising demand from those affected by the economic crisis, overstretched legal aid and pro bono organizations are increasingly turning to technology - especially online tools - to enable collaboration, increase efficiency and to make the legal system more accessible to those in need.


Pro Bono Net, a national nonprofit that receives support from MyFax, provides a technology infrastructure that empowers the public interest law community to improve service delivery, increase private attorney involvement and enhance collaboration among service providers. Its flagship website, http://www.probono.net/, helps thousands of attorneys nationwide connect with legal aid organizations in their communities, find opportunities for meaningful pro bono work, and access the training and support they need. Its http://www.lawhelp.org/ website helps people find free legal aid programs in their communities, answers to questions about legal rights, court information, self-help tools, links to social service agencies, and more.


Another program, LawHelp Interactive, provides a national infrastructure for online legal document assembly, enabling tens of thousands of low-income people each year to complete needed legal forms. LawHelp Interactive increases efficiency for legal aid and pro bono programs, allowing more people to be helped in less time.


Technology alone is clearly not enough to solve the increasingly disparity between the availability of high-quality, free legal help and the number of people struggling with life-altering legal problems. But it is a key element in efforts to help close the justice gap.


To learn more about how Pro Bono Net is using technology in the service of increasing access to justice, visit http://www.probono.net/. Lawyers wishing to get involved in pro bono can visit www.probono.net/volunteer to find pro bono opportunities in their community.



Pam Weisz is the Director of Communication & Corporate Sponsorship at Pro Bono Net. She works on marketing and communications initiatives and runs the corporate sponsorship program, which connects companies with Pro Bono Net's membership of thousands of attorneys. A valuable member of the Pro Bono Net team since 2007, Pam previously worked in business development and strategic planning roles at media companies including the Associated Press and Showtime Networks. Before going to graduate school, she spent several years working as a journalist. Pam has an MBA from Columbia University and a BA from Stanford University. She lives in New York City.

We have Another MyFax Customer Contest Winner...and a BRAND NEW Contest!!

Our second MyFax customer contest closed last Friday and that means we have a new winner to announce! Congratulations, Yvette Williams! We hope you enjoy your brand new iPod Touch! (Just in case you were wondering, our winner was chosen from a random drawing that included everyone who correctly answered our three questions). We'd also like to thank everyone who entered; as with our first contest we had a great response and we're really happy with how popular our contests have been.

For our new contest we are keeping the same format but changing up the prize - we don't want you to get bored with us!!

With that said - our THIRD MyFax contest starts today and this time you could win...drum roll please...a $250 gift certificate from Amazon.com!!

Like our previous contests, all you need to do is copy the skill-testing questions below into a Word(R) document, add your answers along with your name, phone number, MyFax account number and email address, then use your MyFax account to fax the document to 1-866-257-2046. You can even enter as often as you'd like!

This contest ends on December 20, 2010, at which time we'll do a random drawing from the entries that have answered all three questions correctly. The winner will be notified by email and announced right here in the Inside MyFax blog!

New Questions:

1. Is MyFax on Facebook(R)?


2. Name one of the other two products from the makers of MyFax (hint - go here and scroll to the bottom of the page).


3. Can you reach MyFax support by phone and email?

As we said, you can enter as often as you like. And...if you have a friend you think would benefit from MyFax, send them a free month and get one for yourself at the same time. Refer a friend today!

* You must be a MyFax customer and at least 18 years of age on the day the contest opens (October 18, 2010) to be eligible to win. Contest not open to residents of Quebec or Rhode Island. No purchase necessary. Void where prohibited by law. Full contest details available at http://www.protus.com/legal/contestrules.asp. Odds of winning will vary depending on the number of entries submitted. Contest ends 11:59 PM EST December 20, 2010.

** Pages faxed from your MyFax account will be counted in your monthly fax allotment and if you go over your monthly allotment, additional fax pages are ten cents per page. To enter without using your MyFax, see the contest rules. By entering this contest, you hereby agree to (a) be bound by the Contest Rules and (b) consent to the collection, use and disclosure of any personal information associated with this Contest by Protus IP Solutions Inc. ("Protus") for the purposes of administering this Contest, in accordance with Protus' Privacy Policy available at http://www.protus.com/legal/privacy.asp.

Apps and Hedgehogs

In what's considered a management classic, "Good to Great" by Jim Collins introduces the concept of a hedgehog's defense strategy as a metaphor for that which differentiates good companies from great companies. Collins notes that great companies focus on doing one thing better than anyone else - exactly how a hedgehog defends itself from the cunning fox by doing one thing only, rolling up in a ball.

Let's take the hedgehog metaphor and apply it to the BlackBerry.

Since its inception, the BlackBerry has done one thing very well - deliver your email to you, wherever you may be. With email emerging as the predominant form of business communication in the early part of the decade, it's no wonder BlackBerry devices became central to business operations - even spawning a new term of endearment in the social lexicon, "CrackBerry."

Now with an established worldwide user base and dominant share of the mobile marketplace, it's no surprise that RIM, makers of the BlackBerry, have branched out into the app world with their very own app marketplace - BlackBerry App World - and continue to aggressively expand their smartphone and tablet lines, including the most recent keyboard/touch hybrid, the BlackBerry Torch. Make no mistake about it - although it has branched out into the consumer marketplace with similar phones and features to those of Apple or Android devices, BlackBerry will always be associated with business, first and foremost.

As I alluded to earlier, faxing remains a critical form of communication for a number of industries because of the inherent security vulnerabilities of email - an email can be spoofed, a fax transmission cannot. When it comes to transferring or sending somebody's healt records, financials or contracts, businesses will turn to fax for the foreseeable future. So it's no wonder then, at the request of our small and big business customers alike, that the MyFax App for BlackBerry is now available.

Integrating your email, fax and phone needs (i.e. consolidating all your phone numbers into one number with services like my1voice), into one device isn't just convenient, but makes rock solid business sense.

So to our MyFax BlackBerry...or..."CrackBerry" users, the MyFax App for BlackBerry is free to download via BlackBerry App World. Please enjoy this app as we continue to increase its functionality to better streamline your business and fax needs.

Have a thought or comment about our apps? Share it in the comments section below!

Thanks For Helping Us Reach a Milestone

It's official! This week our parent company, Protus, reached half a million paid subscribers for our Campaigner, my1voice, and (of course) MyFax services. It definitely reinforces our position as one of the fastest-growing and highest quality Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) players in the market.

To give you a little perspective on what that number means, in the recording industry if you sell 500,000 units they give you a gold record. That's Elvis/Beatles/Justin Timberlake/Beyonce territory!

Of course, we couldn't have done it without all of you. So thanks to all 500,000 of you for putting your trust in us and helping us reach this milestone. We promise to continue working to keep that trust and to deliver the best communications services available to small businesses.

So, MyFax customers, what other Protus products are you using, or thinking of using? Hit the comments and let us know.

The Trick of the Fax Machine

One of my favorite quotes comes from the movie "The Usual Suspects" (also one of my favorite movies). In it, while being interrogated by the police, Verbal Kint (Kevin Spacey) tries to explain the man and the legend behind Kayser Soze - the criminal mastermind who makes the Godfather seem like a choir boy. In the face of opposition to the existence of such a criminal mastermind, he utters the phrase, "The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist..."

You can draw a lot of parallels between that movie line (it's actually a literary quote) when thinking about fax machines. Most of the time when someone mentions a fax machine or utters the phrase "I have to fax this..." most people respond with, "fax machines still exist?" They do - in abundance.

I haven't seen worldwide stats out there on the number of fax machines still in existence, but it's estimated there are approximately 20 million machines in the US alone with billions of fax pages sent worldwide. These machines do their part to negatively impact the bottom line, productivity, and the environment. All the while, there exists Internet faxing - a cost-effective, productivity-boosting and environmentally-friendly solution. But you already know that - because you are one of the close to half a million customers who send and receive faxes using email, the web, smartphones and popular software applications like Microsoft Office(R).

But as big as the MyFax army is, the fax machine empire seems bigger. What these people don't realize is that fax machines do more harm than good. So when you see someone using a fax machine, set them straight with the following helpful FYIs:

1. Fax Machines and the Environment:

• Fax machines are energy vampires and consume more electricity than any other piece of office equipment, according to the environmental protection agency;
• Fax machines print everything, whether required or not - that's a big reason why in the US, annual office paper consumption is enough to build a 10-foot-high wall that's 6,815 feet long! That's greater than the distance between New York City and Tokyo;
• Most people don't recycle the machines themselves and therefore they end up in landfills. The same goes for the toner cartridges used to print the faxes and the paper and the ink dries on - straight to the landfill.

2. Fax Machines and Costs:

• At the low end, fax machines start at about $100 and at the high end in the thousands, if you're looking at an all-in-one;
• The extra phone line needed for the machine costs anywhere from $20 to $30/month
• Don't forget the cost of toner! Paper and the electricity to run it on average about $9/month (assuming you're running it for the entire year, using it modestly).

The MyFax referral program allows you to gift friends and employees with a free month of Internet fax service so they can see for themselves the advantages and benefits of Internet fax. If your friend decides to stay on, you get a free month too! More information on the MyFax refer-a-friend program can be found here.