TV & Internet...

Did you know that fax machines are among the most energy-hogging devices in your office? It's true -- like copiers, fax machines tend to be on 24/7, much longer than they are actually used. While they run up your electric bill, they also use needless amounts of paper and toner, not to mention space.

But don't worry, the Internet has a solution: online faxing.

Quite a few online faxing services have popped up in recent years, offering anyone (individual or business) easy and inexpensive options to send and receive faxes directly from their computers or email systems. Using one of these services helps you to cut your energy costs, use less paper and toner, and keep smelly fax-machine fumes from filling up your office.

I have used FaxZero for months. Since I only need to send the occasional fax, it's a perfect, free solution, allowing me to send up to three pages at a time with no charge. (Ads appear on the recipient's cover page.) It's not perfect (I can't receive faxes with FaxZero), but for me, it does the trick.

For businesses with the need to both send and receive faxes, companies like eFax, fax.com and RapidFax all offer comparable levels of service and pricing. But one company -- MyFax -- stands out but actually giving companies an incentive to recycle their old fax machines. MyFax will give three months of free service to any company that donates a fax machine to one of several charitable or e-recycling organizations. (The offer expires May 31st.)

So go ahead and cut the fax umbilical cord. It's time we let that technology die and embrace the next generation.