Category → podcast
ooVoo
Wow! This weekend I was watching This Week in Tech (TWiT) online and they were talking about a communications program called ooVoo and I had never heard of it. As usual, I had to find out about this program. To be honest I was not expecting much as there are so many programs like this out there. I installed it on two of our computers so I could call each other. I was pretty amazed at the ability to call more than one person at a time with video. I could not believe how clear the video and audio was. The amazing thing was when I later connected three people and set the video quality to high while streaming an HD podcast on my wife’s computer. Another person in our conversation also connected his computer up to the same HD podcast ensuring his bandwidth was being taxed.
In addition to all this was that we were running the Internet Radio Linking Project (IRLP) streaming audio on our Linux computer. With all this going on simultaneously we maintained a three way conversation for more than an hour with out a single choppy moment in the video and audio. It was pretty impressive and I am convinced this will be a keeper. The audio quality was every bit as good as Skype and that is saying something. This ooVoo also had chat and file sending capability built in. I have decided that I will keep this program though I am sure it will be hard to get people to try it. There have been so many instant messaging programs available that it is difficult to get people to try out new programs. I even had a difficult time trying to get people to try Skype and you know how good that is. The laptop has a camera built in while my desktop has a Microsoft LifeCam VX-6000 that cost me $39.99 at Best Buy.
I heard on TWiT that the ooVoo logo is supposed to represent two sets of eyes connected by the “V” representing video. It is a cute way to symbolize the video communications. If you have not tried this program lately you would be surprised at the quality of service and it is free. You have nothing to lose when the program is free. If you do not like it you can always open the Windows control panel and run the Add/Remove programs function. I know I am always anxious to try new things but I can get tell you that this is an amazing program. Give it a try.
I’m a TWiT!
As many of you know, I am a big fan of Leo Laporte and his podcast This Week in Tech, or TWiT. As with most podcasts, this one is not only in audio but also streams video via twitlive.tv. If you are not familiar with this program or who Leo is, I have to give you a little history. In the early 2000’s and late 1990’s there was a satellite television channel that was called ZDTV that later became TechTV. This channel was very popular among computer enthusiasts like myself. This channel had several people that were on various programs and Leo Laporte was one of them. Some of these shows were Call For Help, The Screen Savers, and Silicon Spin among others. When TechTV was taken over by G4, a gaming company, they shut down TechTV and all its programming. Many were devastated to lose the computer programs and were left with a void. Leo and many other personalities from TechTV joined together and put together a podcast called Revenge of the Screen Savers. I heard that G4 told them they were not allowed to use the name because they had the rights to The Screen Savers name. Since many of the TechTV’s personalities are from the same location, they often do there podcasts via Skype. After several renditions, Leo eventually settled on TWiT and that became the main podcast on the website. Later, he and other former TechTV personalities put together other podcasts that are on the same page.
Now TWiT has nearly a quarter of a million listeners to the podcast each week. Leo Laporte has enjoyed a tremendous success with radio shows such as The Tech Guy that syndicates nation wide on weekends. With all the success of TWiT, Geoff Smith put together the video above. It is a very good representation of the podcast. I ran across it and thought it would be worth posting on my blog. Although TWiT is supposed to be a technology related podcast, they often discuss politics with a liberal slant. If that does not bother you, it is likely you will love listening to the podcast. If you have never listened to it, go to http://www.twit.tv to listen or you can catch them on video during the recording on Sunday afternoons at http://www.twitlive.tv. I think you will enjoy listening to them.