TURN YOUR CELL PHONE ON!

We all have our little pet peeves and nothing sets one of mine off more than when I hear some tell me "Oh, I never turn my cell phone on unless I need to make a call." This happened to me the other day when I was desperately trying to contact a friend to impart some good news I had just received. My frustration was further amplified after learning that the reason why I couldn't share my good fortune with him was because he had purposely left his cell phone turned off.

After suppressing my deepest urge to feed him his cell phone along with all of its included accessories, I think I was able to drive my point home with a question. If you are in fact one of those individuals who walk around with their cell phones turned off (you know who you are), here it is for your consideration. Regarding the regular telephone you have at home or even the one in your office, do you leave it unplugged? Do you only plug it into the wall when you want to make outgoing calls and then when you are finished, you unplug it from the wall again? Of course you don't. That's because you want people to be able to REACH you. Leaving your telephone unplugged would be a ridiculous thing to do. Well allow me to clue you in. By turning your cell phone off, you're effectively doing the same thing. You see, the telephone was created with the intention of being a TWO WAY device. You can MAKE calls and you can RECEIVE calls and "Hello..." your cell phone is a telephone!

By leaving your cell phone turned off, you reduce this wonderful piece of highly advanced connectivity technology to a silly little one way radio. Yet you're paying for something that's supposed to let people reach you whenever the need arises. So not only are you cheating yourself out of everything your cell phone has to offer, you're continuing to pay for something you're not using. Think about that. You are paying for a two way service of which you are only using half. How did you react the last time you discovered that you were paying for something you didn't use? Well, here it is again.

Now I'll also bet you've been using one of those old worn out rationales that says you don't want to pay for the calls you receive or not wanting your batteries to run out. First of all, today's digital cell phone batteries can go the distance for even the most garrulous person. And the cost of those few unwanted calls you may receive is small compared to the price you'll pay due to opportunities lost because you couldn't be reached.

So here's the bottom line. Turn your cell phone on when you go out and leave it on. Become accessible to everyone. Rejoice in the knowledge that you live in a wonderful day and age where a connected society has become the reality of which your parents only dreamt or read about in science fiction stories.

Bring your ports to the front

Tired of having to reach behind your computer every time you want to plug something in or out? Computer manufacturers are finally beginning to see the logic of plugging in speakers, USB, Firewire and other cables into easily accessible ports positioned at the front of a computer rather than sequestering them away in the back somewhere. But if your computer's design doesn't have all or some of its ports in front, you can put them there. FRONTX has designed a universal casing that lets you customize just about any cable collection in one convenient location positioned at the face of your computer.

The FRONTX casing has 4 port holding bays or openings that consist of one large and three smaller ones. Each port can hold up to two computer ports that accommodate a total of eight devices. The modular design lets you interchange any collection of ports. You can choose a preconfigured unit like the Multimedia unit that comes with game, headphone, microphone and audio-in ports. Or you can build your own casing by ordering from the FRONTX collection and assembling them yourself. The ports easily slide in and out of the FRONTX case.

All of the cables come with 3 feet of extension cable. After installing the casing into any available drive bay, you simply plug the cables into their respective ports at the back of your computer. The casing even comes with a hinged door that flips closed to preserve your computer's aesthetics when you're not using the ports. Price depends upon the type and number of ports you select for the case.