Software

Ever since I began using Skype a couple years ago, I’ve been looking for the best way to use it without being tethered to my PC by a pair of headphones. I tried the Bluetooth route, but the sound quality was less than adequate, and I could never get used to those little Bluetooth ear pieces hanging over my ear. What I really wanted was just to use my regular landline headset for Skype and regular landline calls (it’s all about integration with me).

This weekend, during a trip to BestBuy, I found a solution. It’s called the D-Link DPH-50U Skype USB Phone Adapter. Read More

If you’re sick of spam email and everything it takes to control it, it’s time you signed up for a Gmail account. I’ve been using Gmail for a little over a year, and it’s practically eliminated spam email for me. Sure, a few sneak through now and again, but nothing like the hundreds of bizop, porn, SEO and other spam messages I used to receive DAILY. It got to a point where I couldn’t let my daughter use the computer until I first had a chance to sanitize my Outlook Express inbox.

Anti-Spam Software Stinks

I had tried a few different spam filters, like Vanquish, but none of them really eliminated the spam problem. Yes, they “controlled” the problem, but they also gave me an additional task of checking the emails they filtered out to make sure none of them were messages I really wanted, which happened more often than I liked. I was still a victim to spam. Plus, there was the annual subscription fee. Not much, mind you - Vanquish is about 25.00 per year - but in a small business, why spend money when you don’t have to?

Read More

If you’re not into paying for software (like me), here’s a great list of free stuff from Gizmo Richard.

“Listed below are 46 different freeware categories with my selection of the best products in each category. The list is ordered by program function rather than merit so you’ll get the most out of it by browsing it at leisure. The pathologically impatient can consult the index.”

We will, however, forgive him in advance for choosing Internet Explorer over Firefox.

From PCStats, here are 104 tips to “make using Windows XP faster, safer and more enjoyable.”

In case you missed the short NYT piece on Thursday, check out Booksmart by Blurb. It’s software that lets you convert your blog into a book.

“This handsome, hardcover book captures your online wit and wisdom for posterity – not to mention friends and family with painfully slow dial-up connections. BookSmart’s Automagical archive feature flows your blog directly into elegant, pre-formatted pages, and you can pick and choose your words from there.”

Unfortunately, it’s currently available by invitation only. Anybody tried it yet?

High Speed Conferencing allows you to conduct a teleconference with up to 500 callers, including Skype users.

Ever wonder if you could have a large conference call on Skype™?

Now you can…

with up to 500 people.

High Speed Conferencing works with Skype™ and regular phones to provide conference calling for everyone.

Sounds interesting enough. And it’s only 3 euro cents/minute for the basic service. Choose the upgraded package at 5 euro cents/min and you have the ability to record the teleconference, as well as a few other features.

Alterenatively, if you don’t need room for 500 people, you can get a free conference line at MrConference and use Gizmo to record it.

I bought some music from iTunes the other day. It was my first time … buying music from iTunes, that is. See, I don’t use an iPod. Mine is a Creative Zen Micro. Anyway, after downloading the music, I tried to copy it over to my Zen Micro. No dice. Seems the iTunes file format isn’t compatible with much of anything except an iPod.

What to do now? I’ve got these weird m4a files or something that I can only listen to through iTunes or QuickTime. After I got over my initial little tantrum, I managed to figure out how to convert these odd, little iTunes, m4a-or-something-type files over to mp3.

All I did was burn the files to a CD (you can do that through iTunes). Then I ripped the files back onto my PC via Windows Media Player, and viola, I ended up with fresh mp3 files all ready to load onto my Creative Zen Micro. The only problem is the new files don’t retain the ID3 tags, so no titles for the music in my Zen.

Update: 05/23/06: I figured out how to do it in a way that retains ID3 tags …

Step 1 is to rip the files to a CD.

Step 2 is to select all those file, then convert to mp3 from the iTunes “Advanced” menu.

When that’s all done, go into your iTunes library where you will now have two copies of the song/product. Select the mp3 versions, right-click and copy them, then paste onto your hard drive, then to your non-iPod mp3.

Using del.icio.us and Feedster, Derek provides a neat little trick for creating a video blog without actually having a blog.

“That gave me the idea, I don’t really need a blog, I just need an RSS feed. Del.icio.us does that. Which is even better, cause I don’t have to deal with the files. When I find an interesting video I can just tag the video url with del.icio.us and I’m done. Feedster looks at del.icio.us’ RSS feed, finds the video, puts it in the proper enclosure so it shows up in iTunes. No posting, no uploading, no cost.

To use your own video you just need to add a place to store the video file into that mix. Ourmedia.org is one of many sites that will host your content for free. Just upload your video then tag the file’s url with del.icio.us.”

According to Mercury News staff writer Michael Bazeley, Yahoo will soon expand their Yahoo Messenger IM application to allow users the ability to make and receive low cost phone calls to and from land-based telephones and cell phones.

“Yahoo is expanding its reach in the fast-growing Internet calling market, offering a service that will allow people to make and receive low-cost computer calls to and from regular phones.

“The long-expected move could make the Sunnyvale company one of the biggest players in the Internet phone-calling market, along with eBay-owned Skype Technologies, Vonage and others.”

Messenger users have been able to make voice calls to other Messenger users for several years, but Yahoo’s latest move positions them to compete with the very popular VoIP service, Skype. Not only that, Yahoo seems to be aiming to underprice Skype with calls priced at $0.01 per minute for calls to the U.S. and 0.02 per minute for calls outside the U.S.

This is a very smart move on Yahoo’s part. They must have hundreds of thousands of people already using Messenger, so it only makes sense to hang onto them by offering this added service. My only question is the connection quality. Has anyone had experience using Yahoo Messenger voice?

Festoon (previously known as vSkype) is a free plug-in for Skype that allows you to see who your talking (skyping) with. It also works with Google Talk. I don’t know about you, but most of the time, I’d rather people NOT see what I look like when I’m working from home. Brrr … better get a robe on.

“Festoon adds video and sharing to Skype and Google Talk.

“Getting started is simple. Just connect a camera, download our free
Festoon plug-in, and see each other one-on-one or invite up to 200
buddies to a video call - even if they don’t have a camera. But wait,
there’s more! You can also share anything you see on your screen, even
your entire desktop! And Festoon’s immersive EyeCandy video effects
add fun to your video experience, including funhouse mirrors, motion
colors, and crazy cutouts. Whether you use Skype or Google Talk for
business or to connect with family and friends, now you can show a
presentation, work on a spreadsheet, share photos, or just have fun
online while seeing everyone in the call!
Check it out - see why face to face is better!”

When I created my Podsnapper Beginner’s Guide to Podcasting, I looked high and low for the perfect PDF Converter. Much to my surprise, I discovered and tried a bunch of ‘em; like maybe 20. Ultimately, I settled on a program called deskPDF Professional (link below). Read More

As I’ve mentioned before, I really enjoy using Skype, the popular VoIP application that allows you to make free phone calls anywhere in the world using your computer. One drawback to using Skype - as well as any other VoIP application - is that you’re chained to your computer via your headset. And who hasn’t wanted to get up and go to the bathroom or refill your coffee cup during one of those longer conversations with your friend from Malaysia? Yes, you can ask the other party to wait as you remove your headset and go do your thing, but sometimes that’s just not practical. So, I searched high and low for a sinple and inexpensive solution that would allow me to use Skype without my mobility being limited by the length of the cord on my headset.

As it turns out, there are several solutions to the VoIP/Skype limited mobility problem. One of the simplest and least expensive solutions seems to involve combining bluetooth wireless technology with VoIP. According to Wikipedia:

“Bluetooth is an industrial specification for wireless personal area networks (PANs). Bluetooth provides a way to connect and exchange information between devices like personal digital assistants (PDAs), mobile phones, laptops, PCs, printers and digital cameras via a secure, low-cost, globally available short range radio frequency.”

“Wireless personal area network.” Wow. Imagine your entire office without cables. No mouse cable. No keyboard cable. No printer cable. And yes, in this case, no telephone headset cable to keep you chained to your computer. Now that’s what I’m talkin about. So, here’s what you need to make wireless Skype calls. First, you’ll need a bluetooth-enabled computer (with Skype installed of course). Don’t have a bluetooth-enable computer? No problem. Neither do I. There’s a simple solution to that, and it’s called a “dongle.”

How to Equip Your Computer to Use Bluetooth Wireless Technology

A dongle is a Bluetooth USB adapter. Just plug it into a USB port on your computer, install the drivers and suddenly you have a bluetooth-enable computer. The one you see to the right is the D-Link DBT-120 model, which is the bestselling unit on Amazon.com. Of course, there’s a whole slew of them, and you can do a search (like this) for many other options. I like to look first at the bestsellers, and then see which ones have the highest ratings among Amazon.com reviewers.

A word of caution here for Windows XP users. In doing some research and reading what other users had to say, it’s not so simple to install the drivers for the dongle if you’re on a Windows machine. Mac systems, it seems, install the drivers simply and flawlessly. Not the case with Windows-based systems though. And the problem doesn’t seem to be limited to just the D-Link dongle, rather it looks like a problem with most of them. D-link support, however, is aware of the problem and has provided a great deal of information should you run into problems with your install. They even created a special PDF download for Windows XP (Service Pack 2) users, and you can get it here.

Here’s what one Amazon.com reviewer wrote about his experience:

“Five minute set-up on XP SP1 - Works Great! After reading all the reviews I was very nervous about getting this adapter. I went ahead and backed up my system before installing it. Mine was the B4 revision (newest) and I reviewed Dlink’s support website which had an excellent PDF file on how to install this correctly with SP2. The CD install (which installed the latest driver, V1.4.2.10 and the V3.4 manual/guide PDFs) went fine, then I followed the SP2 instructions and it installed correctly. I have since paired my new Motorola E815 phone and my Palm Tungsten E2 (Hotsync only) with no problems. The Widcom tools seem very good. I can recommend this unit fully. It should be noted that the other vendors adapters (Belkin, Linksys, etc) seem to have the same issue with WinXP SP2 in that Microsoft’s driver gets used. You have to follow the vendors recommended procedure to correct it or you WILL have problems.”

Still, another user had this to say:

“Works good for me on WinXP SP2. After a miserable time with a Linksys BT100 Bluetooth (which I never did get to work properly), I tried the D-Link 120 (rev4). I started by downloading the rev4 driver from D-Link. After unzipping the folder I hit the install icon in the folder and just followed the screen prompts. No Codes, no problems or error messages. It has been totally flawless so far. I have low, but usable signal all over my small two story house. I haven’t tried it on our Mac iBook yet, but after reading other reviews I tend to think it will be fine. I was starting to think Bluetooth was a waste of time after trying the Linksys and reading some of these reviews, but I’m glad I tried the DBT-120. While trying to get the Linksys going, I spent alot of time learning about bluetooth setups. I don’t know what is causing problems for other users, but I’m just not having any under XP SP1. Now if it just lasts through the three year warranty.”

I’ll be getting one of these in the next few days, and I’ll update you on my experience with the install. In the meantime, we now need to look at some Bluetooth-enabled headsets.

Bluetooth Wireless Headsets

You may already be using a Bluetooth headset with a cell phone or perhaps a PDA. If so, not much about this section will be new to you. If you’re like me though, you haven’t yet made the lead to wireless.

Again, when I began looking for a Bluetooth-enabled headset, I started at Amazon.com. The bestselling units all seem to be made by Motorola. The one that jumps out at me though, is the Motorola HS850. This is their latest model, and it sells for about $70.00. It also has very high ratings among other users, and it’s black, which I prefer. I also like it because I have a Motorola cell phone, and I’d like to keep everything in the family, so to speak. Naturally, you’ll want to make your decision based upon your own situation and preferences.

In addition to a Bluetooth headset, there’s one other component that looks like the perfect application to round out this strategy. It’s a software application called SkypeHeadset, created by a UK company. It goes for US $20.00, and it seems well worth it just to simplify the process of pairing your headset to use with Skype. Here’s the description from the SkypeHeadset site:

“SkypeHeadset is a software application that seamlessly connects a Bluetooth^® headset to Skype on your PC so that you can dial, pick-up, hang-up or mute calls with the headset buttons. The software works with all popular Bluetooth headsets.

“SkypeHeadset enables your PC to behave more like a mobile phone or a cordless telephone. You don’t have to be sitting in front of the PC to use Skype - you can be up to 20 metres^* away and using the headset buttons to manage your calls.

“If you are using a headset that connects with two or more devices, you can take incoming calls from your mobile phone or from Skype.”

Phil over at Skype Journal also has a nice write-up of the product that you’ll want to read. In the end, I’m not so sure you need SkypeHeadset unless you’re using your headset on more than one device. Perhaps the best solution is to try it without it first. If you decide to get it later, you can always do that.

Well, there we go. I’ll be interested to actually try this out myself, which I’ll be doing in the next few days. I’ll update this post when I do. If you try it, please send me a note or comment on this post to tell of your experience. If you have another wireless VoIP solution, I’d love to hear that as well. Happy Skyping (or VoIPing)!

Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) is quickly becoming the dominant communication platform for the savviest of solopreneurs. If you’re not yet one of them, it’s time to take that step. Why? Low Cost. If you have clients or colleagues beyond your own town, you feel the pain of long distance charges each month. If you have clients beyond your own country, you really feel the pain of long distance charges.

For the uninitiated, VoIP is basically telephony via the internet. As an example, I can sit right here at my computer in Northeastern Connecticut, USA, and call as far away as Australia for free. And it’s free no matter how long my conversation lasts. You can do the same thing with Skype, one of the most popular VoIP applications on the market today. The trick, of course, is that for the call to be free, the other person has to also be using Skype. But with over 100 million Skype users (and growing everyday), it’s well within the realm of reality.

There are people the world over using Skype as their main telephone line for both personal and business purposes. The other key, however, is you really need to be using a broadband internet (i.e. cable, DSL or EVDO) service. Skype says you can use a dial-up modem as long as it’s running at least 33.6 bps, but I doubt the quality will be that great.

With Skype you can call other Skype users at no charge. You can also call non-Skype users via Skype’s Skypeout program, and you’ll pay about 2.3 cents per minute to most destinations. They also offer a whole host of other features, including your own telephone number for people to call you, voice mail, conference calling and a lot more that’s worth checking out.

If I sound a little over-excited, it’s because I am. I can’t tell you how great it is to be able to communicate and collaborate with anyone on the planet without worrying how much it’s costing me for the call. Do yourself a favor, go download Skype and just try it out for a bit. Make a few calls. If you want to call me to see how the quality is, my Skype id is mdp8593. I look forward to hearing from you.

By the way, there are alternatives to Skype, and we’ll get to those later.

If you’re like me, you spend quite a bit of time on the phone. And most of the time, you’re probably speaking to someone who’s a little further than the next town over. In fact, some people with whom you speak are probably on a completely different continent.If your only option were the standard long-distance carriers out there, the cost could be a real bitch. That’s the beauty of voice over internet protocol (aka internet phones; aka VoIP) services. With VoIP, you can make long distance calls at a fraction of the cost compared to regular long distance.

Skype is one example of a well-known VoIP service, and one that I use a lot. With Skype, you can make free calls to any other Skype user on the planet (currently, there are over 4 million Skype users). If you call a non-Skype user, the cost is quite inexpensive (like $0.02/minute). But Skype’s quality is not so great when calling a non-Skype user, and I’ve also had problems when calling into a teleconference (Skype-to-Skype calls are crystal-clear though).

Recently, I began using Vonage, and I really like it. The call quality is exactly like my regular land-line phone. Plus, I’m not tied to my computer headset like I am with Skype. I just plugged my regular cordless phone into my Vonage router, and I get unlimited long-distance for 24.99/month.

Those aren’t the only two options for VoIP service though. It’s a growing market with new services popping up all the time. In fact, what prompted this post was a Slate article titled: Smooth Operators. In the article, Sam Schechner reviews several VoIP services and assigns a rating based upon several metrics, including sound quality, reliability and portability.

In order from worst to best, here’s his list of services and how he rated them (the maximum score was 50). Be sure to check out the rest of the article for his detailed review.

• BroadVoice - 22.5
• Skype - 31
• Verizon VoiceWing - 32
• Packet8 - 33
• Vonage - 36
• GalaxyVoice - 40
• AT&T CallVantage - 41

This gadget allows you to use your landline phone via Skype.