Keep In Touch With ooVoo

Recently I have been searching for a computer application that will allow several people I work with who are located in different offices and cities to collaborate without traveling to one location. Many large companies have internal video conferencing systems but most require the participants to be in a special room. There are several expensive computer-based software applications that are available as well. My search uncovered an inexpensive solution that might have some non-business applications especially for families who are spread across wide geographic distances.

The software is called “ooVoo” (don’t ask me how to pronounce it) and it allows up to 12 people to see and hear each other using a computer equipped with a camera, microphone and Internet connection. Think of it as Skype on steroids.

What makes ooVoo different than most other videoconferencing services on the Internet is that only the person setting up the call needs to have the ooVoo software installed on a computer. The other 11 participants need only enter an internet address into their browser (e.g., Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, Safari). Each machine must also have Java installed but that is most likely already on most machines and, if it isn’t, it is a free download.

One of the features that makes ooVoo a great way to converse with your family members is that you can share pictures and other materials stored on your computer with the entire group. So if I set up the call I can pull up pictures from my computer and show them full screen on all the other computers connected to the call. While the pictures are on everyone’s screens, the audio continues so I can describe what everyone is seeing and all the participants can freely share in the conversation.

I have checked out ooVoo and it really is painless to use. While the company claims it works seamlessly on both PCs and Macs, I had a much harder time getting the Mac version to run without actually installing special software on all the machines connected to the call. This is a real negative since with the PC version there is no preparation needed on the part of anyone on the call except the one originating it.

ooVoo comes in several flavors. The free version allows up to 12 simultaneous participants but does have advertising banners on the screen. The entire call can be recorded and saved or posted to YouTube. If you purchase the upgraded version, the advertisements disappear and you can add an unlimited number of participants via phone only. They can hear everything but of course can’t see the video.

ooVoo is worth a look if you have a big family and want to have a group call rather than a traditional Skype call.

Click to video call me

ooVoo

Free Is Not Always Better

A few weeks ago the Enquirer announced that it was going to begin to charge a subscription fee for online access to the newspaper. This announcement comes as no surprise as several newspapers around the country have either already instituted subscription policies or have one that will begin shortly. Charging for online content has been a challenge for most all traditional paper and ink publications. Few have charged a fee for their publications from the very beginning of making their content available online. The Wall Street Journal is one. Those who purchased a regular subscription to the Journal were offered complete online access to the stories and articles for an extra fee. If you didn’t pay the fee you could not read the complete articles. Most other publications were not as prescient.

According to the Enquirer, there will be a limited number of free articles that can be read online every month but to read anything beyond those articles, readers will need to buy a subscription. This is the same policy that has been adopted for the New York Times. After you read 10 articles online in a one month period you, you must pay the subscription price of about $3.75 per week to continue to read.

It will be interesting to see what success the Enquirer has in adopting this pay to read policy. I have found the paper to be less relevant with actual news content decreasing. There are some days when the paper delivered to my front door looks like an advertising flyer rather than one of Gannett’s premiere publications. I fear that few will opt to pay for it. It is a downward spiral that may not be able to be arrested.

When the Internet first made it possible to get information free from major publications many began to feel that free information was part and parcel with the new online experience. Of course this is not a sustainable model. Newspapers, news magazines and TV networks pay millions of dollars to support the reporters and bureaus worldwide. This infrastructure is necessary if factual unbiased reporting is to continue. It is also expensive. If there is no revenue generated from the service it can’t survive. For years the ink and paper subscribers to newspapers where paying not only for the paper delivered to their home, they were paying for the people reading the content free on the Internet.

The fact is that someone is going to pay for the gathering and reporting of news and information. It seems to me that a user-pay system, either directly with fees from the consumer or through advertising messages is much preferable to having some third party pay for this service. As the old adage goes, “He who pays the piper calls the tune.”

We are entering a new phase of access to quality online content. This will require fees and subscriptions. To me is a small price to pay for unbiased factual reporting.

Click to video call me

  

ooVoo Video Chat

Can't Wait To See What's Next

I have always been a big fan of science fiction books, TV and movies. Whether reading books by Jules Vern or Arthur C. Clarke or watching on TV the various iterations of Gene Roddenberry’s Star Trek, I was fascinated by the various technologies that were common place and integrated into the stories. Who wasn’t blown away when they watched the first of the Star Wars movies?

What captivates my attention more then anything else is how close to reality these works of fiction really are. I recently re-read Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea written almost 150 years ago. Vern, writing about the undersea voyages of Captain Nemo aboard the Nautilus, describes in great detail machines, weapons and navigational techniques. It took more than 75 years before they were actually realized, but the fact is they were.

Star Trek is replete with gadgets and technologies that seemed outlandish in 1966 but today are part of our daily life. In fact, some of the devices used on the show are looked at as outdated by today’s standards. Who still has a flip phone? Nevertheless, watching any show will surface many devices we use today. Instead of asking your second mate to lay in a course to the Ursa Major galaxy, we instruct our GPS to get us to the closest Ikea store. Our doctors now regularly use tools like Dr. McCoy’s that can scan our bodies non-invasively.

How often did we see Captain Jean-Luc Picard in his quarters reading from a device that looks like an “iPad” or signing his name to some set of directions or orders from subordinates using a device that is now carried by most every Fedex or UPS driver?

Perhaps the most exciting thing is, that if indeed these technologies have come to fruition in such a relatively short time, what are we going to see in the next five or ten years? We have to remember that for our grandparents the idea of having a device in your pocket the size of a pack of cigarettes that can be used to contact and converse with almost anyone in the world is as unbelievable as stepping into a phone booth and being transported to some neighboring city. We’re half way there. We can change matter into energy. We just need to be able to get it back to matter at the other end…and hopefully in the same configuration.

Beam me up, Scotty!

Iconic Britannica Goes All Digital

Once it was sold door to door to the baby boomer’s parents hoping to give their kids an edge in school. The volumes were beautifully bound and were often the only real books found in many households. It could be purchased volume by volume beginning with “A” and ending with “Z”. Of course I am referring to the iconic Encyclopedia Britannica.

Last month, after almost 250 years, the Britannica announced it would no longer print the encyclopedia in paper and ink form. Instead the company will offer an online version for an annual subscription price of about $70. The print version retailed at about $1,400.

This decision was inevitable. Paper and ink reference books, especially those dealing with science, geography and even history are often out of date the day they come off the press. Now using the Internet and storing data in the cloud, reference material can be constantly updated and the material accessed almost anywhere using a PC, Tablet, even a phone.

The online Britannica with a subscription required will go head to head with Wikipedia which is free and partially supported by contributions. Britannica president Jorge Cauz said the move is a natural part of his company's evolution and that the print version of the encyclopedia accounts for only about 1% of revenues. The company is counting on its reputation for accuracy to set it apart from Wikipedia. The latter gets its information from “crowd sourcing,” that is allowing anyone to add information to an entry in the hopes that enough people reading and revising the entries will result in accurate information. Over time this may well be true. Nevertheless using Wikipedia as a sole source of important information can be dangerous.

The Britannica is only one of many hard copy volumes that are disappearing. The proliferation of eReaders and tablet computers has prompted some text book publishers to opt for online books. Not only does this negate the need to maintain inventory and shipping, it allows textbooks to be updated continuously. One can hope that the inflated price for textbooks, especially for college level courses, will be reduced commensurate with the savings realized by the publishers.

I for one will miss having the real books to page through. It seems to me that paging through the encyclopedia is a different experience that surfing Google or YouTube. That being said, any technology that allows the free flow of information and knowledge is a good thing. Kids will have to figure out a new way to press autumn leaves and flowers. I don’t thing a thumb drive will do it.

Tablets Replacing Traditional Computers

Not since they were carried down the side of a mountain in the Middle East have “tablets” been so popular. The tablets that Moses used had a very a small amount of data storage capacity, but you couldn’t beat the reliability of the memory and battery life was awesome. Now more than 2000 years later, tablets like the Apple’s iPad, Samsung’s Galaxy or Amazon’s Fire have taken over the portable computing landscape.

A tablet computer is a mobile device that is larger than a standard cell phone. Most have touch screens rather than a physical keyboard. Most can do just about any task that can be done on a lap top or desk top computer. They connect to the Internet via either a wifi connection or mobile phone network or both. By far the most popular is the iPad, first released in 2010 and now in its third iteration with the announcement of the iPad3.

Apple was not the first to enter the market as Microsoft and others tried unsuccessfully to bring tablets to consumers in the late 1990s. A combination of the nascent technology of the times and a clunky user interface, some using a stylus rather than touch control, made the early offerings a marketing and sales flop.

According to industry sources, Apple is on track to sell 100 million iPads worldwide this year. Microsoft, with its new Windows 8 operating system, also has the tablet market in their sights.

So what is the big deal? Why are tablets all the rage? Will they soon make a standard desktop or lap top computer seem as quaint as a dial telephone or record player?

Tablets and advanced smart phones have several benefits for those working and living in our mobile society that has a ravenous desire for information and immediate gratification. They are portable and, since they connect wirelessly to the Internet, can access vast stores of information without having to keep that information within the device. Increasingly, users are able to verbally make requests rather than type in commands. In a society that blurs office and home, tablets offer the capacity to do work and keep up with family and friends at the same time.

According to Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO, his company has sold a total of 315 million iPads, iPhones, and iPod Touches, with a full 62 million devices being sold in the last 4 months of 2011. It is clear that this tablet phenomenon is much more than a “pet rock” anomaly. Tablets will give us the ability to have at our fingertips instant access to information and communication with family at home or colleagues on the other side of the world. It is exciting to look ahead considering how quickly the capacities of these tablet devices have expanded in only a few years. Stay tuned. Or should I say, stay connected.

Where Everybody Knows Your Name

“Sometimes you want to go where everybody knows your name.” Many will remember that song from the 1980’s hit TV show “Cheers.” The program and the sentiments expressed in the theme song were popular well before the Internet. Today, rather than wishing that everyone knows your name, many of us are worried that there is very little about us that isn’t known by just about anyone who cares to find out. Our grocer knows what brand of soup we prefer. Our credit card company knows where we travel on business or pleasure. Our book seller knows we many not be doing climate research when we order “The Tropic of Capricorn.” In short most everything we do every place we travel, every item we purchase and even what we chose to read can now be tracked and in many cases it is.

Some of this lack of privacy is a byproduct of efficient business practices. Stores began to use computers to track inventory so when you came in to get that bottle milk and loaf of bread the shelves would be stocked. Since you were paying with a credit card, they could track your specific buying habits and begin to target you with ads for things that you might like. It wasn’t long before they figured out a way to track your purchases even if you paid by cash. So now many of us carry key rings festooned with little plastic cards with bar codes that we gladly let the check out clerk scan when we shop. The reward is a few cents off the bill or savings on the next gas fill up. The price is your privacy.

As more of us are using Facebook and other social media, the amount of very personal information about us is made readily available. It is easy to get so comfortable with social media exchanges that we might post comments or relate experiences that we would never divulge even to a most trusted friend. A good rule of thumb is never to write a post online that you would not be comfortable reading on the front page of the newspaper.

When you sign up for Facebook or other on line service, you are often invited to create a profile. You may wish to keep that information to a minimum. By entering detailed information like your birth date, hometown, workplace and other personal details you give those who may be looking at this information with other than honorable interest to begin to piece together a good base for identity theft. My advice is to keep the information shared in these profiles very sparse.

Almost daily we are asked for and freely provide small bits of information which may seem insignificant. By using the Internet and powerful computers, all these little bits collected over an extended period of time can result in a very detailed profile. Advertisers or other less honorable enterprises exploit that information… sometimes to your detriment.

In many case the horse has left the barn. There is not much we can do to get our privacy back. We can be more diligent about giving out that phone number or email address every time the clerk might ask. We should also pay close attention as our elected officials try to develop laws to control how this information is used.

If you send me your address, date of birth and mother’s maiden name, I will add you to my newsletter.

Reporting Mother Nature's Fury in a Digital Age

In the wake of the devastating storms that ripped through our tri-state area on March 2, the value of clear and current information was never more evident. It also showed that some of the traditional media and technologies have been enhanced or even replaced with new ones.

In mid afternoon, as the storms approached our area the local commercial TV stations did a good job of alerting viewers to the worsening conditions and using advance radar were able to pin point the areas that were most likely to experience the full wrath of the winds and rain. To provide advance warning for storms traditional radio and TV remain among the most effective tools.

It was not only the radio and TV stations that were sounding the alarm early. A review of my voice mail on returning home that evening from work showed that I had received two “robo-calls” at home from the Hamilton County Emergency Management Agency. One came in at 12:20 PM warning that conditions were worsening. The second call came at 4:17 PM indicating that there was a Tornado Warning for Harrison, and that we should take cover. While the second call proved to be inaccurate, it was comforting to have had the warnings in case we were at home and not watching or listening to the broadcast media.

Once the storms passed through and the destruction assessed, the importance of wireless technology was clear. Even with the fleets of remote trucks and portable video equipment available to the local TV stations, for hours after the storms subsided most of the on scene reporting was done with mobile phones. Pictures and video were sent back to stations and live interviews and reports aired on the TV stations using mobile phones. Most of the major damage happened in very remote rural areas or in Moscow, a town located in a very low spot along the Ohio River. This made live TV signals very difficult to set up.

WCPO, a local leader in using online technology, provided a live stream via the Internet of the reporting and weather tracking. Since many in the path of the storm may not have electricity, having this reporting available on a smart phone, tablet, lap top or other wireless portable device was invaluable.

Social media sites like Twitter and Facebook had information available in seconds. Pictures of the damage and of the actual storm were posted in almost real time. Individuals in the storm’s path but spared injury or damage were able to reassure family and loved ones. Some others were able to call for help.

As we move into the heart of the spring storm season be sure to have a weather radio turned on, your mobile phone charged and a plan for where you will go in case of the next storm. No amount of technology or warning can take the place of common sense and personal responsibility.