Posts Tagged → Skype
Windows Live!
I have written about Windows Live before but I keep mentioning it because it has some of the coolest toys on the Internet these days. It is interesting that many people discount Windows Live without even trying them simply because they are from Microsoft when they have no idea what they are missing. It has truly become a social site that utilizes almost every social tool available. They are trying to edge their way into the social networking realm with their blogging site called Spaces. Recently the Spaces page has been expanded with the new Profiles page where users can set up their personal profile and share as much information about themselves as they choose.
Their newest version of Windows Live Messenger has some pretty cool audio and video every bit as comparable to Skype and that is really saying something as you may remember that I have regularly promoted Skype. Their Windows Live Photo Gallery allows you to edit, catalog, and share your photos online to Windows Live Photos, or even Flickr. Windows Live Maps has become just as good as Google Maps and has sharing capabilities now where you can save your favorite sites, group them and share them.
There is also a new Windows Live Mail, both online and a downloadable application. The former Hotmail, is now Windows Live Mail though if you still have a Hotmail address you can still use it. It now allows an ever growing storage space where you can archive your mails into another folder sort of like Gmail. This way you never have to delete an email again and you can search for old emails. Also there is a downloadable version that takes the place of the Outlook Express if you are using Windows XP, or older version. If you are using Vista, it replaces Windows Mail. The Vista version of Windows Mail no longer supports http mail support so downloading the Windows Live Mail application allows you to still use http mail, and IMAP, as well as POP mail. I am very pleased with the new web based Windows Live Mail as well as the downloadable version as well.
The Windows Live Writer is probably the most amazing blogging program ever designed. In fact I am posting this using Live Writer and I absolutely love it. I just love how it is a What You See Is What You Get (WYSIWG) appearance using the same themes as your actual blog so you can see it exactly how it will appear. It has tagging features and categorizing. It is very easy to post pictures, and videos to your blog. It will let you post on your own blog whether it be on your own domain or any of the free blogging sites like Blogger.com, Wordpress, or Typepad, or even your own Windows Live Spaces page. I have not even mentioned the Windows Live Skydrive. This is absolutely amazing how they give you 25 gigabytes (GB) of free space to store and share your own files online. I love this feature as I can upload my Internet Radio Linking Project (IRLP) Files into a central location so the other club officers can all have access to them. The best part about all these features is they are free!
It has been tough getting my friends to try it because there are so many social sites out there like Myspace, Tumblr, and Facebook. Just as it has been difficult to get people to try Skype because there are so many choices and people do not see the need to join another one. I really believe that if people gave Windows Live a chance they would be hooked. I am pretty excited about how useful the site is and I want to tell others about it so they will know and use it. I want others to know there are other people using this site so that Windows Live will be a success. They really do have a lot of features that are totally free to the user and there are no strings attached that users are required to get people to give up their privacy.
MagicJack
Last week I purchased a new toy that I find very useful. My cousin Larry, KD5MAF bought a MagicJack about a year ago and kept telling me about how useful it is and though I believed him I did not see the need for buying one myself. That was before this weekend when I bought my own when I began to have problems with my own cordless phone adapter for Skype. What is this MagicJack and why is it worth the purchase? The MagicJack is a small device that plugs into your universal serial bus (USB) that allows the user to make or receive unlimited phone calls from the United States (USA) and Canada. This device is small enough to fit in one hand and has all the required software and drivers installed on the inboard flash memory. The MagicJack has an RJ-11 socket allowing the user to plug in any regular household telephone. In my case, I use a 5.8 GHz cordless phone. The MagicJack only costs $39.99 and this includes the first year of service. The service is only $19.99 per year after this. I know this sounded too good to be true but it is not. This device autoruns on both the Apple Mac, and the PC. Once it runs, it takes you through a sign up process that asks the user to choose an area code. This allows you to choose virtually any area code in the USA. Once the MagicJack is setup, it shows the following screen.
This screen allows you to add as many phone numbers to your address book as you like. It also shows a list of all calls made or received. The nice thing about this is that when you remove the MagicJack and install it on another computer, all the information is still there. The information is stored on their servers so nothing is lost. There is no chance of someone using it illegally because when you remove the MagicJack from the USB, it closes down the software. The information is not accessible without the MagicJack installed. I immediately started calling my relatives out of state and found that it allows you to dial the number right from your phone. On my cordless phone, I just dial the area code and the number and it rings on the other end. When someone calls me, my phone shows their number on my caller ID. If I have their number already programmed in, then the caller ID shows their name listed as it is stored. On the bottom of the image above, you can see the 911 information. During the registration process, it asks for your address. This address is registered with the local telephone company so that if you dial 911, the emergency personnel, will know where to go. This 911 drop down window allows you to register other locations as well so if you take the MagicJack with you, it allows you to select your 911 information for the location where you actually are. The MagicJack also allows three way calling. If two people call you, then you can just enter pound pound, (##) and it will put both calls together allowing all three parties to speak with each other. It also allows you to use call forwarding. If you know you are going to be away from home or from the computer where this device is installed, you can log into the MagicJack web site and set up a call forwarding. This way anytime someone calls your MagicJack, then it will ring on the number you forwarded your calls. The MagicJack does not even have to be hooked up for this to happen. Another unique feature is that this device runs the TigerJet driver that also works with Skype. If you kill the MagicJack software but leave the USB plugged in, you can set up Skype to use the MagicJack as an interface on your phone. This allows you to walk around your house or lawn while talking to people on Skype. I am not sure about what codec the MagicJack uses but I have found the audio quality to be amazing. I have had three hour conversations without losing a single word of the conversation. I cannot say enough good words about it. I mentioned it to a few people at work and they all said they saw the commercials on TV but they were skeptical. I can understand the skepticism after we have all been scammed on TV. I have to admit the MagicJack is well worth its money. In fact, once you join, you can see the advertisements on the software. One of them is to buy more MagicJacks to give to others for only $29.95. Another advertisement on there is to extend your service for five more years for $59.95. I plan on taking this upgrade after the New Year. Since I do not work for the company, I can say without any guilt that the MagicJack is absolutely amazing and I plan on using it as long as the company is in business. Since it only costs $39.99 to order one and this includes a whole year of service, there really is nothing to lose. I really would recommend this purchase. It took me longer to open the box than it did to get it working. I really think you should try it.
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.
Enjoying San Antonion Trip
I had another business trip to San Antonio this week so I have been busy down here. I finished up early so I will be heading home tomorrow. We just returned from the Riverwalk area downtown. I took nearly 300 pictures while being here. It was a bit warm waiting for the buses so I am glad to be back in my hotel room.
Thank God for Skype as I can video conference back home from my hotel room. I know I have gained 40-50 pounds since I have been here 
. It sure is nice having Twitter so I can update my status from here while wandering around town. It would be nice if Twitter would let you post pictures. This time we are staying downtown in Market Square. If you have ever had Rico brand nachos, you may be interested to know that their factory is right behind our hotel. A while back my wife was watching a show called Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives on Food Network when they featured a restaurant here in San Antonio called De Wese’s Tip Top Cafe. That is where we went for lunch today.
One thing that is very noticeable is the grafiti that is all over San Antonio. I mean it is on telephone poles, trash cans, bus stops, and everything in between. This grafiti may give the impression that it is not a very friendly city but we have found that people are very friendly here. I have not heard a cross word from anyone. These people have been very friendly to us so my impression has been very positive. I found that Shipley Donuts are here in this city so I will have to stop by there tomorrow morning on my way back to Oklahoma City. The last time I ate there was in the 1970’s when my parents took me to our friend’s house in Houston, Texas. They truly have the best donuts in the world. It has been a nice trip so far. You can follow my Twitter page if you want real time updates.
This morning as I was getting ready for work I heard a news broadcast speaking of the undecided voters and how to reach them. They were asking the question of how a person could still be undecided at this date. This brought to memory of a poll question that I had received on my home phone a couple days before I left. This automated system asked me who I was going to vote for in the congressional opening, then a senatorial openiing. This it asked me if I was going to vote for Obama, McCain, or undecided. It did not have the option I was waiting for so I never answered that question. I am not undecided because I know my feelings. I absolutely oppose both of them and will not vote for either of them. This is not the same as being undecided. I believe that if I voted for either of them I would be a hypocrite as I am strongly opposed to both candidates. I will not go into the reasoning behind my feelings because you can read many of my previous posts to see my position on this. My point in this is that these polls are not accurate because they are posting people like me as undecided and that is not the truth.
Again, I am having a good time here in San Antonio. I should be back in OKC on Thursday, October 23 in the afternoon. Hopefully everything goes smoth on the way home.
Field Day
Today is a special day for amateur radio operators. You may have heard them referred to as ham radio operators. I have been a licensed ham radio operator since I was 17 years old in 1983. Today being the last Saturday of the month of June makes this a day that many hams look forward to and it is called Field Day. Throughout the years, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has justified allotting certain radio bands aside to the Amateur Radio Service for emergency communications. The Amateur Radio Service is a group of frequencies that cover the entire radio frequency spectrum set aside so that ordinary citizens would be fully trained to perform radio communications in the event of an emergency.
Each year on the last Saturday in June, hams from all over the world set up tents with generators, solar cells, batteries, and all sorts of remote radio gear with their log books in hand. They do a contest to see how many contacts they can get all over the world on different bands using primitive radio power and antennas. This is what they call Field Day. Literally thousands of ham radio operators do this world wide exchanging call signs, signal reports and locations (QTH) logging them in. Contesting has never appealed to me so I usually sit this out but many enjoy this immensely. Every band is filled with thousands of calls CQ contest CQ contest, or CQ Field Day. This event usually makes the news at least here in Oklahoma City. Here it is 10:51 PM and the bands are still filled with people as I type this.
The above image is my ham radio station that was taken a while back. It is not in that configuration anymore but still looks similar to this. Below is the antenna that I use to transmit from. I have superimposed the text on there with Photoshop so you can see what each antenna is for. If you are interested in ham radio let me know and I will get you information that you can use.
One thing that I love about ham radio is that there are so many different methods of communicating using computers, AM, FM, single sideband. Since I love computers so much I often like to use my computer as a tool on ham radio. I really love high frequency (HF) communications using the shortwave bands. This is where your signal hits the invisible ionosphere and the signal bends back to the earth where people can hear your signal for hundreds and even thousands of miles. Another interesting phenomenon is the stratospheric ducting. This is when the atmosphere has an inversion, or a layer of warm air above the surface of the ground. Both UHF, and VHF communications can speak hundreds of miles when this happens. It usually happens at after sunset or before sunrise in my part of the country. I always use the old back up, Skype to coordinate an available frequency so that I am not transmitting on top of someone. I am hearing a guy in Seattle, Washington right now and he is coming in very strong. If you ever try ham radio, you will likely be hooked.
Technorati Tags: ham radio,field day,antenna,radio,amateur radio,K5GLH,Skype
CUPhone is Pretty Cool!
In the last week I purchased a CUPhone RJ11 to USB Phone Adaptor-Combo so that I can use my cordless telephone on Skype, Yahoo Messenger, Windows Live Messenger, etc. This device only cost $49.95 and allows me to connect my regular house phone, and any computer voice over IP (VoIP) program. I can three way call with one person on Skype, and the other person on the home phone. I am amazed at the clarity. This device also comes with two pieces of software allowing me to use it to do two things, connect my voice over IP programs using my cordless phone, and call out from my home phone while on my laptop at a remote location.
One of the accompanying pieces of software is called IP Phone Center and it is what makes the cordless telephone be usable on Skype with the touch tones. With this I can dial a home number, or a Skype contact using the touch tones on the cordless phone. It is amazing! It is hard to put a price on this because Skype has the most amazing sound quality of any VoIP program out there. If you are a Skype Pro account holder, you can pay $36.00 a YEAR and have unlimited calling to any regular or mobile phone in the United States or Canada. You just cannot beat this anywhere. The only negative that I have found is that if you are not a Skype In customer, your caller ID on Skype will show up as 0000123456 and will show up as caller unknown. If you call someone that blocks unknown callers then you will not be able to get through. Skype In allows you to purchase an additional telephone number for $60.00 per year and then regular phones can call you at your own number. You can make this number a local call for another city or country and those people will be able to call you unlimited for free.
The second piece of software is called Personal Phone Gateway. It allows you to add your device or someone else’s if you know their information. You can be at a remote location and call a regular telephone using your home telephone over the Internet. You can be 5,000 miles from home and call through your own home phone for free. Secondly, when you make one of these calls it shows up on the receiver’s caller ID as being from your home. The person on the other end does not even know you are away from home.
A family member bought one of these a while back and just loves it. I just bought mine this week and have been very pleased. Previously I had purchased a D-Link DPH-50U Skype phone device and it was not even close to being as useful as this CUPhone device. On the D-Link adapter, it would only work on Skype. The CUPhone works on ANY VoIP program, even Google Talk, AOL Instant Messenger, and ICQ. I can be walking around the backyard or front while talking to someone on the computer and they never know the difference. I would strongly recommend buying one of these devices if you use voice over IP. It frees you from the headset and lets you do housework while talking on the computer. Absolutely amazing!
Technorati Tags: Skype,CUPhone,Yahoo Messenger,Windows Live Messenger,AOL Instant Messenger,AIM,ICQ,VoIP,telephone,D-Link
Beautiful Sunset
This evening as the sun was going down, I was driving West on N.E. 8th Street when I came up to Stiles Park near downtown Oklahoma City. I pulled over and took this picture with the church steeple in the middle of the sunset. This view is very deceiving since the temperature was 26 degrees at the time. It is suppose to drop into the teens tonight so I am expecting a cold night. Well it is back to school time. Today I did one paper and tomorrow I will do another. It was really hard for me to get back in the mood after taking a break over Christmas.
I ordered the CUphone last night so I can use my cordless phone on Skype as well as other voice over IP clients such as Yahoo Messenger. I already have the D Link DPH-50U but it only works on Skype. By the way, my Skype ID is k5glh_okc. Right now I am listening to commercial aircraft flying over the Pacific ocean on 8.843 MHz USB and it is quite interesting. I was going to get on the ham radio on HF but all they were having was contests. I really do not like contesting because all you hear on every frequency is “CQ contest CQ contest” day and night. This is a three day weekend with Martin Luther King holiday on Monday. This is really great getting a day off. Hopefully it will warm up soon so we can do things outside. I am going to be tied up until May with school so my time will be limited. I will update more later.
Technorati Tags: cuphone,Skype,Yahoo Messenger,Oklahoma City,Stiles Park,Martin Luther King
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