HughesNet experiencing an ongoing 3 day email outage originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 29 Apr 2008 18:36:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

I just flew in from the 2007 Consumer Electronics Show where I declared my 2007 Consumer Electronics Best of Show Winner to be Vonage (NYSE: VG). Well actually, I just got my butt off the couch and stepped over to my computer after watching the HGTV presentation from the show. After close examination of all the gadgets presented -- and I know the show only revealed a fraction of them -- and based on what I saw, the Vonage V-Phone walked away with Best In Show honors for utility, creativity, ease of use and consumer value.

The Vonage V-Phone is an amazing little device which for a paltry $40.00 plus a monthly service fee (contact Vonage for details), allows you telephone access via any PC or laptop on the planet which sports a USB port. What makes the Vonage offering so exciting to me is that anywhere in the world you are, your callers can contact you by using your local home or business phone number, direct dialed.

The Vonage V-Phone has 250MB of on board flash drive memory which can be used to store files, MP3 songs, digital photos or any other manner of digital data. Vonage states that the unit loads quickly and automatically without the need for any software because the V-Phone comes with Vonage Talk software already preloaded. You simply slip the thumb sized unit into any available USB port connected to high-speed Internet, plug the included earpiece microphone into the side of the little V-Phone and you're making and receiving calls anywhere on the planet. The unit also comes with a standard size key ring already attached!

Gary E. Sattler has no financial interest in and is not compensated by Vonage.

Vonage is the winner in my 2007 Consumer Gadget Contest originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 21 Jun 2007 16:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.