Switched On: Giving fax the axe
By Ross Rubin 
posted March 23rd 2010 11:00PM
posted March 23rd 2010 11:00PM
Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about consumer technology.
One reason faxes endure is because of the mainstream failure of digital signatures; we still rely on squiggly lines to bind our commitments. It's long been possible to use something like a Wacom tablet to capture one's signature, or even to use a scanner to capture it, but overlaying the image onto a form can be cumbersome, as well as impractical when you are away from your PC. For those on-the-go scenarios, there are fax apps available for smartphones, but they often are little more than a gateway to subscription-based electronic fax services (although one for the iPhone, Fax Print Share, lets you buy credits for faxing documents of various lengths to various countries). Services such as eFax are a poor fit for the person who just need to send an occasional facsimile -- or more likely send back a fax, oftentimes one that requires a signature.
Here comes Zosh to the rescue. After signing up for an account, you can forward e-mails that include a PDF to your Zosh account. From there, the Zosh app lets you fill in the forms by using the iPhone keyboard to enter small bits of information. It also includes a novel signature entry mode that lets you create your John Hancock by using your finger as the field scrolls sideways. With practice, this enabled me to create an approximation of my signature -- although I suspect it would work better with a stylus capable of working on capacitive screens. Zosh lets you resize typed information or signatures so that they fit the original underlining of the form. Once the form is complete, you can e-mail it back out to the sending party, providing the sender with your ecologically conscientious acquiescence.
Today, you can add fields and signatures to a PDF -- but given that Microsoft Word is probably the only other format commonly used for forms, it would be great if Zosh could convert those during the e-mail process. Additionally, while it is great to be able to e-mail the completed form back, it would also be useful to have the option to fax it on-the-go as with Fax Print Share, for those occasions where you may not have the recipient's e-mail address. Zosh is the kind of innovative app that uses modern handset capabilities to address a real mobile need, but there's room for improvement. However, if you're the sort that's going to print the form anyway, you may as well just fill it out on paper.
Ross Rubin is executive director of industry analysis for consumer technology at market research and analysis firm The NPD Group. Views expressed in Switched On are his own.
One reason faxes endure is because of the mainstream failure of digital signatures; we still rely on squiggly lines to bind our commitments. It's long been possible to use something like a Wacom tablet to capture one's signature, or even to use a scanner to capture it, but overlaying the image onto a form can be cumbersome, as well as impractical when you are away from your PC. For those on-the-go scenarios, there are fax apps available for smartphones, but they often are little more than a gateway to subscription-based electronic fax services (although one for the iPhone, Fax Print Share, lets you buy credits for faxing documents of various lengths to various countries). Services such as eFax are a poor fit for the person who just need to send an occasional facsimile -- or more likely send back a fax, oftentimes one that requires a signature.
It's the kind of innovative app that uses modern handset capabilities to address a real mobile need, but there is room for improvement. |
Today, you can add fields and signatures to a PDF -- but given that Microsoft Word is probably the only other format commonly used for forms, it would be great if Zosh could convert those during the e-mail process. Additionally, while it is great to be able to e-mail the completed form back, it would also be useful to have the option to fax it on-the-go as with Fax Print Share, for those occasions where you may not have the recipient's e-mail address. Zosh is the kind of innovative app that uses modern handset capabilities to address a real mobile need, but there's room for improvement. However, if you're the sort that's going to print the form anyway, you may as well just fill it out on paper.
Ross Rubin is executive director of industry analysis for consumer technology at market research and analysis firm The NPD Group. Views expressed in Switched On are his own.
When I started a business a few years ago it totally blew my mind to find that in the 21st century you can't really run a high tech electronics business without owning a fax machine. It is kind of crazy. Like having to own a horse and buggy so you can design electric cars. And you can't even buy them for that cheap. Like you're still looking at >$50 to get a decent used fax machine just so you can have an outdated piece of crap technology taking up space in your house for the once a month when some vendor who can't use acrobat requires you to fax them a form. Actually I don't know if that is more insane than the fact that Kinko's charges like $1 a page to send faxes. I know a few bucks isn't much to get something done but seriously, its 2010, you can get a plant's genome sequenced in a few hours for less than $10 these days and we still gotta pay $5 to send a fax? wtf!
Anyways, I finally found a fabulous little plugin for skype called PamFax (http://www.pamfax.biz/en/) which lets you fax word and pdf docs. Pamfax combined with a copy of acrobat pro and a jpg of my signature has let me avoid having to buy a fax machine.
The whole "fax is a legal document" thing sounds like total BS to me. Like a printed copy of pdf a with my signature pasted in is really somehow a less "real" piece of paper than something that came out of the fax end of the same printer?
I think the only thing less insane than people still using faxes is the PhD thesis people who have the monopoly on publishing PhD's from major universities. They don't accept pdfs of any thesis and instead charge you like $50 to scan printed copy of your thesis onto microfiche and then charge people another $50 to print a copy of your thesis from the microfiche record.
This is great for me as sometimes I can lose a customer sale because I am not near my fax to sign. As far as the lack of stylus....sign it with your sausage stylus!
I use a fax machine almost daily at work and I hate it, but i really see it as a necessary evil right now. I've tried to move the office away from using a fax machine, but its just so simple that anyone can use it. I would prefer to have everything scanned in and sent. Its easier to organize, saves space and its easier to make back ups, but if someone needs quick signature anyone can just sign it, enter a phone number, and hit send. It almost as easy as using a phone. But its more difficult to teach people how to scan in a document, add their signature, and organize it. Its almost more expensive sometimes.
any thing like this for android?
The FAX MACHINE needs to be axed, but you cannot Axe FAX TECHNOLOGY.
We can surely enhance it. Anyone heard of WinFAX Pro from Symantec? Ya, Ya, they primarily manufacture Security Suites & Anti-viruses.......
LINK: http://www.symantecstore.com/antivirus/winfax-pro-f.htm
Almost all SOHOs or Businesses have a Multi-Function device. WinFAX Pro (You can search for more options, however, this is the best), plays VERY NICE with these devices.
Couple a Simple Modem, a Multi-Function (Printer/Scanner) & WinFAX & you have a FAXING Solution in DIGITAL Format!!! No NEED TO PRINT... Simply Send Faxes (after inserting your Signature as a JPEG image in the documents) in the Soft Form.... IN similar fashion you can RECEIVE in SOFT FORM. Print, IF you Need!!!
Fantastic.
I also have an Answering M/c Software on my PC. So, the Call can either routed to Record Conversation OR Collect a Fax!!!
We keep fax machines because some customers still prefer a physical piece of paper. It's the same reason we still send letters.
Don't confuse the progress of technology with what your customers want, Ross. That's a recipe for disaster.
@MarkAnderson
Incidentally the technology you're talking about here has been available on phones for years. It's just no-one really uses it.
Fax machines are still relevant at law firms.
I find it easier, when necessary, to sign, scan, and email. With a Scansnap scanner or something similar, this is pretty easy. That way I also have a digital copy of the "fax".
What's this "fax" thing anyway?
No seriously, I've never actually seen a fax machine in my life. I only know of them in theory.
I've been using this App for about 2 months and it is a lifesaver. What I do is I have requested any bills from consultants I use, to be submitted as an email PDF.
No paper, no bills piling up in my office, nothing missed.
No matter where I am (CA, NJ, India, Belgium, UK) I can take the bill, add the billing detail (e.g. account # etc.) and "sign" it to approve it.
eMail to Accounting which is in a different state than my office.
Paper saved, postage saved, time saved.
All from my iPhone.
Someone please explain to me who the hell still uses fax and more importantly why?
An app came out that replaces your wife with a stepfird wife. Now all regular wife are are the verge of extinction.
@Let1me1in
They already are, on the edge of extinction.
give me this with the free ability to send 1 or 2 faxes a month and i'm set. or let it come with a handful built in and once those are gone i can do in-app purchases for more. might entice me to make a purchase.
E-mail to fax is not new. If one can live without the signature and fill-in features offered by Zosh, try faxaway.com. I've used faxaway for over 10 years. I'm a Realtor and sometimes I need to communicate with some dinosaur who doesn't use e-mail. I write an e-mail and address it to the fax number of my recipient@faxaway.com. Simple and reliable. I can also attach a wider variety of document formats that will be faxed.
You need to get around more. They are still all over the place, or now they are part of their computer network. They get printed out with laser printers or inkjets. Old habits die hard.
MARC
There are some comments here about how you think the app is useless because only businesses have fax machines. This is not true, I know many people with fax machines in their homes. But, that is not my main point. This app has worked wonderfully for me. I own my own company and I often need to go on business trips, and during these trips my secretary often needs me to sign papers so that things can keep moving at home base. I used to have to run around and find a store or a hotel that would allow me to use their fax machine, but now I can just use this app, so my life has become much easier.