Hey, thanks for calling in to the show! It is always great to hear from listeners with questions.
Here are notes from this morning’s show, with some links for you for more information on the subjects covered.
Google Voice: http://google.com/voice
This is an online voice over internet protocol (VoIP) phone number that you can sign up for. I’ve had this since it was GrandCentral, before Google bought them 2 years ago. It was only available via invitation, but is now out of “beta” and available to all. It must be tied to an existing phone number, for forwarding but it makes life very convenient as you can have one number ring to several phones, and you can also set it up to not ring at all, but go straight to voicemail on a schedule determined in your preferences. Very nice service. If a voicemail is received, it will attempt a transcription of it, and send it as an email to you, as well as send you a text message that you have a voice mail. These are all settings that you can control. The voice quality is very clear, and there are apps for your smartphone (Blackberry, Android, and now even iPhone) that lets you place a call thru your phone using your Google voice phone number. Yes, you are still charged your cell carrier minutes, but if you use your cell for both personal and business, this allows you to have your “business” google number show up as the caller ID when placing a call. The person called does not get your cell phone number.
Google also rolled out in the past month, a new feature of Google Talk, which is their chat program that is inside of your gmail account. You can make phone calls out using your computer to any number in the world. US is free, international calls are charged to a credit card. At a very low per minute fee! It is an offshoot of Google Voice, but you do not need a Google voice phone number, just your google account. Ahhhhh the future.
which is an internet phone program that has been around for years and years, recently added to their services the ability to do conference calls with up to 10 people. If all are skype users, it is all… free. Many businesses around the world have a Skype username, and use the service to call others in their company, free. Sound quality has improved greatly since they started, and it is the premier VoIP company in the world. You can use your computer’s sound output, best to use headphones, and a microphone, or you can purchase a “Skype” approved handset. I use an IPEVO handset IPEVO FREE.2 USB Handset for SKYPE with LCD Screen (Black)
Now for some fun stuff. Pixlr (http://pixlr.com/)is a free online image creator/editor. You can create images, retouch photos, and in general, get a feeling of what a basic Photoshop program is like, for free. It has some great features and you can feed your inner graphic artist with this cool program. I was quite impressed in the fact that there is no login, you just use it. I’ll be doing a bit more investigation to see if they have in their terms of service anything about them owning any rights to your work, but it has not come up in any designer blogs. So… go use it!
A caller asked for a recommendation on a computer for a new user, who is 79 (I think that was the age). All I can recommend is that they go together to an Apple store and look at the MacMini. Go over the needs and have the person try it out. The Apple sales people are very knowledgeable and helpful. The mini is the least expensive Mac, and you do have to add the monitor (any good LCD monitor can be hooked up) a keyboard and a mouse. But the OSX user interface is easy to use, and you rarely get a pop-up window asking to do something, like on a Windows computer.
However if you are not familiar with a Mac yourself and feel that a PC may be better so that you can help teach, I would recommend looking into an HP computer. Head over to your local electronics store, and find the older person there to talk to, and explain who the computer will be used by. Once you have the PC, and all the assorted peripherals and an internet connection all set up, take a look into the local senior center to see if they offer any computer use classes for seniors. Also, some evening adult education places offer the basics classes. It will be a good time investment and give the older person a good outlet and lots of enjoyment. They probably feel left out of the modern world now, with TV always mentioning web sites to go to, and things like Facebook and Twitter. Just remember to practice safe computing.
Finally, our beloved newsman, Marty, had a facebook malware/virus. Yup, Facebook is now one of the leading distributors of malware links. If you have to give out your email or any other “grant permission” to see any link that is sent to you on facebook, DON’T. The links should always just open. I recommended that Marty install Malwarebytes and run a scan, weekly after the initial one. Or you can pay $24.95 and get real-time protection. This is yet another added layer of protection from the baddies out there. Virus protection (recommend AVG, Avast, or Nod32) Spybot S&D, ZoneAlarm Firewall, and Malwarebytes. All should be running on your PC.
Next month listen Fri Oct 15, 2010 at 8am. Mark it in your iCal/Google Calendar now!
