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Badger BloggerCovering Wisconsin the way the media won't. | |
Google offers a new toy, a web based calendar. it’s still in beta and I have just started playing with it my self, but it looks pretty good so far.
I know I have been talking about getting my other computer networked into my system, but there has always been something getting in the way, but I have finally gone ahead and did it tonight. After a few more tweaks, I should have everything set up the way I want it (as far as my audio and video recording). Now I just have to find what I did with my old optical mouse, I hate the old rollerballs.. If it doesn’t have at least 5 buttons, it’s not really a mouse 
As of now, both desktops and the laptop are all humming along just great together. After I get everything tweaked the way I want it, I will start messing with another desktop I have, that will be set up to run Linux.
Yahoo is giving its instant messenger users the ability to make calls to land line telephones. This is something that Skype has been doing for about a year. I have used this service myself and though it wasn’t perfect phone quality, it was a handy feature. Yahoo’s service will be slightly cheaper than Skype and I understand that the audio quality of both have been improved since I used it.
They will also allow incoming calls for a reasonable price. Again, Skype has offered this for some time (I have never used the “Skype-In” feature). Yahoo will charge $29.90 a year, while Skype is € 30 per year (about $36.00).
To use these services, as with any voice chat, I have found that a decent headset/microphone works best, without it, there is an echo as the speaker can hear himself speaking and it is very distracting. These headset/mic. combos can be found for as low as $10 and are well worth it for any voice chat. There are also telephone type handsets available too.
Internet News Article | Reuters.com
Yahoo Inc. on Tuesday said it is launching a service in the United States that lets people make phone calls through the company’s instant messaging software.Available in several other countries since December, the service allows people to make calls from their computers for 2 cents a minute or less to the top 30 national phone markets, including the United States.
The “Phone Out” service also allows calls from computers to regular phones at varying rates to a total of 180 countries.
Using instant messaging for phone calls is one of the latest ways that technology companies are finding cheaper ways to allow people to talk all over the world without relying on traditional phone networks.
“Right now the competition is just about cheap voice calls,” Forrester Research analyst Maribel Lopez said.
The move also attempts to undercut rates offered by Skype, a similar service offered by eBay Inc..
Just announced, eBay has purchased Skype. I sure hope eBay doesn’t ruin the awesome Skype, I use it all the time to talk to people from around the world for free over the internet.
I would love to see this, I know a city wide WiFi will not match the speed I get from my home cable line, but for $20 a month, I would get it just so I could have the access around town for my laptop
OnMilwaukee.com Milwaukee Buzz: City ponders wi-fi broadbanding Brew Town
Back in April, the City of Philadelphia announced that it would expand its wi-fi network to cover the city’s entire 135 square miles. The “Wireless Philadelphia” plan would sell computer users access for $20 a month, putting the city’s program into direct competition with broadband services sold by commercial enterprises.Of course, some in Milwaukee have wondered if something similar will happen here, where, at the moment, just two downtown parks are alive with bits and bytes at no cost to users.
“I guess the answer is we’ve been trying to figure out how to do it,” says the city’s Chief Information Officer Randy Gschwind. “It’s in the two parks now, and we’ve been talking to Time Warner and SBC about doing it elsewhere.”
This hasn’t gone smoothly around the country though. In North Kansas City, Time Warner Cable has asked the courts to stop local government from installing the city wide WiFi network. They argue that the city should not be allowed to offer services that they already sell.
Verizon Communications, Bell South, Comcast, Time Warner Cable, and SBC Communications, which all provide broadband Internet access to consumers, say it’s unfair for city-owned networks to compete against private companies.
Regulatory support for public broadband may help towns like Lafayette. U.S. Senators John McCain, R-Arizona, and Frank Lautenberg, D-New Jersey, have introduced S.B. 1294, a bill that would guarantee cities the right to build municipal communications networks. The McCain-Lautenberg bill would allow municipalities to build and run digital communications infrastructures.
I don’t expect a city WiFi system to be able to fully compete with broadband providers in the foreseeable future, but it would be an awesome option for Milwaukee to to have.
THIS is my dream PC!
Configured the way I want it, it’s only $5,659.00
…Donations?
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