Awesome VoIP phone AND a cool, cheap way to backup automatically!

This is a geeky post, I'll admit it. I've been meaning to let people know about these for awhile and keep forgetting. Anyway, this stuff is so genuinely awesome that pretty much everyone ought to stop wasting time and money, and just get it.

Linksys CIT-400

This is a skype phone. You plug its base-station into your router, and then you plug the handset in anywhere you want. It is wireless and functions just like a regular cordless phone, except it's a little snazzier with skype on it and such.

Here's the good part. You sign up for unlimited skype in ($38/YEAR!) and skype out ($29.95/YEAR!) and you get:
A regular phone number that anyone can call (you even get to pick it if you want)
Unlimited calls to the US, Canada, and I think parts of europe
ridiculously cheap long-distance to everywhere else
voice mail
an annual phone bill of $67.95

It is absolutely amazing. For the price of 2-3 months of local phone service you get a year of long-distance and local service.

Better still, this phone lets you plug in a regular phone-line, too, so you can choose one or the other when you dial out, if you so choose. It's perfect for trying it to see if you like it.

I have had great luck with it and am using it as my business line. The call quality isn't quite as good as a regular phone, but it's about as good as a cell phone.

Also you can add additional handsets and place them around the house. You can even do conference calls. WOW.


Mozy

Mozy is an internet based backup solution. It will back up as much data as you can throw at it, automatically, for $4.95/month. I don't know what else to say. I have shopped around and that is an unbelievably killer deal. I have also used lots of backup solutions and this one is dead simple. Once you set it up, which is easy, it just automatically backs things up roughly every HOUR. You might worry about it killing your internet connection but it only backs up changes, so it doesn't have to do everything every hour. I've yet to notice a slowdown due to mozy, either.

An external HD is around $100. That pays about 2 years of mozy. You'll need a new drive after 2 years likely, anyway, and the external HD might fail, fill up, or be destroyed along with the computer in a fire or similar disaster. Mozy is online and always up-to-date.

Additionally, mozy encrypts your data so that not even they have access to it.

Mozy also works for mac and windows.