HelloFax, the Web site that finally liberates us from the worst gadget on earth.
By Farhad Manjoo
Some scholars credit the spread of fax machines as a factor in the downfall of the Soviet Union. Good for the fax. But that's pretty much been the lone high point for the venerable device in the last 25 years. Since the fall of the Iron Curtain, faxing has been a joke. It's one of the most expensive, least flexible, and most annoying ways to send documents in the digital age. Everyone knows this—even, I'll bet, the people who make fax machines. Faxing requires special equipment (the machine, a phone line), it's stationary (I'm guessing you've never sent a fax from a plane), it wastes paper, and it's a hassle. Yet for all its well-known limitations, faxing persists. How often are you asked by someone—your bank, your insurance company, your lawyer—to "please sign this and fax it back"? If it's less than once a month, consider yourself blessed...[continued]
