TelBitConsulting

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2011-01-24T15:42:00.000-08:00

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2010-11-20T09:27:00.000-08:00

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2010-11-11T12:22:00.000-08:00

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TelBitConsulting.com

Tutoring Help via YouTube

2008-12-15T15:36:00.000-08:00

If you need (or someone you know needs) help with Math, Physics, SAT Preparation....visit the Khan Academy on YouTube.

An example video is included below. I picked Pre-Algebra since that is the class I long term subbed in for two months this year....I like that he says almost the same thing I told my class:The best way tto learn math is to Practice, Practice, Practice.

Comcast Tracy, CA Upgrades HDTV Channels, Part 2

2008-12-11T12:24:00.000-08:00

Please visit this blog entry at it's new location.

I was breezing through the HD channels a couple of nights ago, and found new channels. Interesting that I never seem to be aware that this is going to happen...is it just me?

Fourteen new HD channels have been added and we lost MOJO....but, if you ever watched MOJO you may agree that that is no loss.

I do hear that our rates are going to increase in Jan 09...so I suppose this is a good move on Comcasts part. Now we have more HDTV to watch for the extra $$ we will be paying.

I'm not complaining...I love HD!

Here is the current list:

903--KCRA NBC
904--KQCA My58
906--KVIE PBS
908--KTXL Fox
910--KXTV ABC
912--KMAX CW31
913--KOVR CBS
914--HGTV
915--NGCHD (National Geographic)
916--HISHD (The History Channel)
917--NFL (Need to pay extra)
918--A&E
920--CSNHD (Bay Area sports, mostly blue screen logo) Comcast Sportsnet
921--GOLFD (Golf and other sports)
922--HDT Discovery HD Theater
923--ESPND (ESPN)
924--ES2HD (ESPN2)
926--TNTHD (TNT HD)
927--UHD (Universal)
928--PLDHD (Palladia High Def Music...they have Country too)
930--HBO (Need to pay extra)
931--ENC1H (Encore HD) NEW
932--MXHDW (Need to pay extra)
933--HALLD (Hallmark Movies HD) NEW
934--SZ1HW (Starz) (Need to pay extra)

935--BRVOD (Bravo HD) NEW
936--SHO HD (Need to pay extra)
937--USA HD
938--DSCHD (The Discovery Channel)
939--SCIHD (Science HD)

940--E!HD NEW
941--FOODD (Food HD)
942--SFHD (SciFi Channel)
943--APHD (Animal Planet HD)
944--TLCHD (TLC)
945--AMCHD (AMC)
946--CNNHD (CNN)

947--CNBCD (CNBC HD) NEW
948--FAMHD (Family Channel HD)
949--DISHD (Disney Channel)

950--TOOND (Cartoon Network) NEW

953--TBSHD NEW

954--QVCHD NEW

957--FNCHD (Fox News) NEW

958--FBNHD (Fox Business) NEW

960--FXHD NEW

965--SPDHD (Paid Programming) NEW

966--VRSHD (Outdoor stuff) NEW

995--HDMUS (HD Music??? it says it is "coming soon") NEW

So not bad....we get about 12 new watchable channels, not including the reality based very depressing financial channels.

Tracy, CA continues to reach to the future. Even if it is a Triangle...

Videoconferencing 101, Chapter 1

2008-12-03T11:03:00.000-08:00

I will start new series where I will try to make videoconferencing, collaboration, streaming, and related technologies easy to understand for “Everyone”.

Taking advantage of the Blog format, I will be able to add to this entry as new information appears, and make changes as needed (a living document). Hopefully, in a few months I will be able to provide an entire "course" for people to refer to.

Lets get started and see how this works out...let me know!

Basic Terms You Will Need To Know

H.320—is an umbrella standard (meaning it covers video, audio, and signaling standards) developed in the ITU (International Telecommunication Union) that defines how voice and video content is processed and transmitted over an Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) telephone call. This standard was developed in the late 1980’s and first used in videoconferencing equipment in the early 1990’s.

H.320 is still in use but is rapidly falling by the wayside with the emergence of high speed Internet Protocol (IP) connectivity. Truthfully, a 384 kbps IP call is better than ISDN and cheaper.

H.323—is an umbrella standard that defines how voice and video content is processed and transmitted over Internet Protocol (IP) networks. This standard was ratified in late 1996, and, now, in 2008 is widely used and reliable. To use H.323, you need an H.323 client and an IP network.

SIP--Session Initiation Protocol is a signaling protocol for the use of video and audio over IP networks. This protocol appeared several years ago and is widely used in Voice Over IP (VoIP) calls but not so much for video. In fact, when I first learned about SIP, it was expected to overtake H.323 very rapidly. That never happened. We will see what the future holds. SIP controls the registration, call establishment, and take down but uses the same protocols for video and audio transfer as H.323 (we will get into these later).

T.120—defines how data collaboration takes place between two or more end users. This standard defines such data collaboration tasks such as: white-boarding, file transfer, application sharing, etc. Many new Internet based application provide much of the functionality of T.120 but are proprietary.

MCU—a multipoint control unit (MCU) allows three or more endpoints to meet at a central location. MCUs exist for audio-conferencing, H.320 videoconferencing, H.323 videoconferencing, and for all three together. An MCU can be hardware based or software based. In H.323, an MCU is optional.

Figure 1: Polycom MCU

Gatekeeper—this device allows the registration of H.323 devices and controls the call set-up and take-down of H.323 calls. It also provides a way for H.323 units to easily call each other using either an E.164 (a fancy word for a telephone like) number or H.323 alias.The E.164 number can be a simple multi-digit telephone number(like 3456 or 30987) while the H.323 alias can be a persons email address (like mike@telbitconsulting.com), name, or other alphanumeric designation. In H.323, a gatekeeper is optional.

Gatekepers can be: Software on a Windows or Linux / Unix based server (example: Radvision, Open323), software on a router (example: Cisco), or a dedicated Linux box (example: Tandberg). The system you choose depends on a number of factors including expertise in house, cost, and features / capabilities.

Figure 2: Tandberg Gatekeeper

Gateway—the gateway allows H.323 and H.320 systems to communicate with each other. One side of the gateway is attached to the IP network while the other side of the gateway connects to ISDN. A person using a cell phone can attend a meeting by calling into a gateway. In H.323, a gateway is optional.

Figure 3: Codian / Tandberg Gateway

See the video below for an example of H.323 videoconferencing. This call was made from our home using a DSL connection to San Diego, CA. We did not use a gatekeeper in this particular call preferring to call using on the Professor's IP address (a number assigned to his system by his Internet service provider) of his videoconferencing endpoint.

Comcast HDTV Cable Box Installation

2008-12-02T07:47:00.000-08:00

This Blog has moved....please visit this entry here.

As many of you know, I had a cable card installed in my Sony HDTV. That card has given me very good service for the past 4 years, but, in the past year or so, I have periodically lost signal to many stations we watch. To get those stations back, I have to call Comcast and ask them to "reboot" my cable card. Luckily, nine time out of ten, I get someone at Comcast who helps fix the problem immediately. Great service from Comcast.

The last time this happened (Dec 1, 2008), I asked one particularly knowledgeable person (Eric in the Livermore, CA call center) what I could do to avoid these "reboots". He told me I could get a cable box for free. Hmmmm, I know the cable box cost extra four years ago, and, a few months ago, I went to the Comcast office in Tracy, CA and again they told me I would have to pay (starving blogger remember), so I kept the card.

I went to the Comcast office again (with Eric's name in hand) and asked again. To my great surprise, I ended up bringing home a FREE cable box (Motorola) to hook up (and the promise I would bring in the cable card the next day when I knew everything worked ok).

Hooking up the cable box, I ran into some problems. The most glaring problem was lack of HDTV service, with an additional audio issue on the non HD channels. Interesting. After struggling a bit (mostly to make sure I was not doing something stupid), I called Comcast and was told that they rebooted the box and to wait 15 minutes for it to take effect. I waited...and waited...no change. So I called again and the next person looked at my cable box and said "You do not have an HD Box". Ah....that explains some of it. I put my cable card back in and he reset it so I could watch TV until I get a new box.

Back to Comcast in Tracy, CA to get an HD capable box.

The High Def box is about 4 times as large as the standard box. Really quickly...it is working fine...here is what I did:

1. Took out the cable card from the TV

2. Connected the Cable into the cable box

3. Connected the RF Out to the Cable in (a coax) to my TV

4. Turned it on and saw channels but did not hear audio

5. Pondered what to do then connected the fiber audio cable from the cable box to my Bose. This worked great...I now had audio....BUT....

6. The picture was not taking up the entire screen...arrrghhh.

7. Pondered what to do then connected the HDMI from the cable box to my TV's one and only HDMI port on input #7. Worked great!

8. Worked and pondered a bit more and finally came up with a new scheme for watching recorded video (House and Fringe), DVD's (our VUDU trial time ran out and I'm a starving blogger with no $$), and watch HDTV.

Summary

First of all I have to give kudos to Comcast support. I almost always get a friendly (even when I'm not) helpful person who has the ability to reboot or advise me what to do. Also, for the bit of trouble I had getting HD Comcast gave me StarZ for a year, for free. I need to call them however because I also have every other premium movie channel as well...and I do not want to be charged (starving blogger).

The picture quality is every bit as good as the cable card and I seem to have picked up a few channels that the card did not. Good stuff.

I am a happy Comcast customer...we will see over time if the need to periodically "reboot" is a thing of the past.

Blockbuster OnDemand Streaming Video Player

2008-11-26T10:45:00.000-08:00

This Blog has moved...please read this entry here.

Blockbuster has announced a streaming video player made by 2Wire. This article in Information Week says it competes with Apple TV and NetFlix, but, unfortunately, it completely leaves out the one participant in this space that TelBitConsulting.com uses and loves: VUDU.

No matter what, the future is clear: Watching movies via the Internet will happen and may happen, in a big way, faster than I had originally thought.

Gathering some information on the new 2Wire player it looks like it does support HD. Neither NetFlix nor AppleTV (as far as I understand...can support HD). It works via a built-in wireless or wired Internet connection.

Here are some specs I grabbed from 2Wire's Press Release:

Technical Details
In the Box

2Wire MediaPoint Digital Media Player (8" x 8" x 1")
Quick Installation Guide
Power Adapter
Composite A/V cable (supports SD viewing)
Remote Control
AAA Batteries

Video and Audio Connections

Composite
Component*
HDMI*
Stereo Audio
Toslink (digital optical audio)*

Network Connections

Ethernet*
Wi-Fi (802.11 b/g)

*cable must be purchased separately

UPDATE: TelBitConsulting.com asked 2Wire a few questions (thank you to 2Wire for their prompt reply):

1. What size hard drives are available?

The built-in 8GB of flash memory can store approximately 5 SD or one HD and an assortment of SD movies at a time, depending on the length of the movies.

2. Can you connect an external hard drive to add capacity?

This is not currently an option.

3. Can a person purchase a movie? If so will it be stored on the person local hard drive? Is there a backup or archive capability to save the movies in case the hard drive dies?

At this time, you can not purchase movies through the MediaPoint digital media player.

4. Will Blockbuster make HD movies available? How many movies are currently on the list? How many are HD?

There are currently over 2,000 movies available through the ONDEMAND service, including a small but growing selection of HD movies. Blockbuster continues to add SD and HD movies to the ONDEMAND library.

5. Does your unit support 1080p?

Not at this time. The 2Wire MediaPoint digital media player currently supports the following: High Definition - 1080i, High Definition - 720p, Standard Definition - 480p, and Standard Definition - 480i.

6. Does your unit support 5.1 or 7.1 audio?

The 2Wire MediaPoint digital media player delivers stereo sound and supports 5.1.

7. If I want to watch an SD movie, how long do I have to wait before it starts? HD?

This depends on factors that include the speed of your Internet connection and the length of the movie. For example, with a 3 mbps connection, you could begin watching a standard-length SD movie within 30 seconds to one minute after beginning download.

8. What is the size of your unit?

The dimensions of MediaPoint are 8 in. x 8 in. x 1 in - about the size of a box of movie candy.

9. Do you support HDMI out put to the TV?

A composite A/V cable is provided with purchase. The player does support HDMI output, but the cable must be purchased separately. The HDMI Digital A/V output jack provides digital audio and video signals to a compatible HDTV or HD monitor.

10. Are any currently in use? Can you tell me how many? (If not, that is ok)

We are very pleased with the sales figures since the launch, but cannot divulge specific numbers.

11. How is the streaming handled? From a central location only? Peer-to-Peer? Other?

Unlike media players that stream movies over the Internet, the 2Wire MediaPoint uses progressive download to let movie fans access high-quality videos, and begin watching them during download. The video and audio quality is consistent, and does not depend on your Internet connection speed.

TelBitConsulting.com says: If a streaming player does not support HD....forget it. To introduce a product in 2008 that does not support HD is wrong. It looks like 2Wire got it right. I know VUDU has it right....

Summary

The new Blockbuster player from 2Wire is significantly different than the VUDU player. It is interesting to see how different design directions can be taken to solve a problem. Engineering at it's best.

For example, the 2 Wire player was designed, it appears, to watch a movie then that movie is gone. There is some storage capacity but the smallish 8 Gig flash drive will not allow the massive storage the the 1 TB hard drive that VUDU can come with. You cannot "purchase" movies with Blockbuster, but, that is not surprising since Blockbuster is a rental organization.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out over the next few years....either way, TelBitConsulting.com thinks this is the way people will be watching movies....as long as the Internet connections stay open...

See all my Blog entries on Streaming Video including a V-E-R-Y detailed review of VUDU.

Electric Vehicle Charging Network in Bay Area

2008-11-22T10:52:00.000-08:00

It's 2008 in the San Franciso Bay Area and you own an electric car that is running low on charge. What do you do? Where do you go to re-charge? Right about now you are wishing you had your gas guzzling, carbon emission spitting, automobile back and the heck with the environment.

But wait....fast forward a few years to 2012 and the San Francisco Bay Area is now dotted with electric car recharging stations where you can grab a fresh battery or recharge yours. Parking lots, public buildings, even telephone and light poles have charging stations. Suddenly, owning a car that reduces dependence on foreign oil is looking like a good deal. And you are looking pretty smart.

Even though California could have been an innovator in the electric car biz over ten years ago (See "Who Killed the Electric Car" documentary for details on this debacle), maybe we can redeem ourselves in 2008.

A couple of days ago the cities of San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose agreed to work towards implementing, with Bay Area company Better Place, this charging infrastructure all over the Bay Area. See this report for a lot more information.

I have written about the need to save the environment, telecommute, and find alternative energy sources. This is great news!

I hope it works out, and I pledge to do all I can to help, starting with this Blog entry. See all my Blog entries on Saving the Environment.

Here is more information on Better Place's idea for an electric car and infrastructure.

Telecommute

2008-11-18T10:17:00.000-08:00

Gas prices have come down.

I went to the gas station yesterday and paid $1.94 for a gallon of gas. For a starving blogger, this is good news. I now have more precious $$ in my pocket for other things (Did someone say beer at The Great Plate?)

Do you stop thinking about telecommuting?

Do you stop thinking about more efficient cars?

Do you stop thinking about alternative energy?

The answer is a resounding NO!

Do not be lulled into thinking the gas prices will stay low, they will go back up again...rest assured.

In the meantime, enjoy the low prices, but, continue to telecommute (or plan for it) for the OTHER reasons telecommuting is a great alternative work style:

1. It helps save the environment. Your car sits in the driveway / garage and no carbon emissions are sent into the air.

2. Productivity increases. A telecommuter has more time to work witth fewer interruptions (luckily they are not married to my wife).

3. Time. A telecommuter gains many many hours a week, month, year and lifetime. Spending an hour or two (or three or four) on the road means that time is taken from your family, from you.

4. Help keep the demand for oil low. Keep the prices low and permanently reduce the demand for foreign oil.

5. Safety. You never know when a pandemic or terrorist act will force changes to be made. Knowing how to effectively work remotely NOW will help companies better prepare for the future.

In short....do not stop thinking about telecommuting just because gas prices are temporarily low.

The benefits of telecommuting reach far beyond gas prices and touch every part of your life.

See all my articles on telecommuting and visit my web site for more information.

And remember videoconferencing allows your old fashioned boss (OFB) to see you! No more excuses...

Google Gmail Video Chat Review

2008-11-15T11:48:00.000-08:00

Rating: 3 WaterTowers

This Blog has moved.....please read this Blog entry here.

Summary

I signed up for Gmail (twice) and then downloaded the Google Videoconferencing application to see how well it works.

Result: It works well although it appears to be limited to point-to-point video and text chat (i.e. no whiteboard or app sharing).

Is it easy enough for “GrandMa” to use? No.

But, then again, if you know your way around a computer and spend a little “think” time, this application can work for you.

Before we get started....meet Serge from Google:

What Do You Need

You will need a Mac (Well....Google's web site says it works with Safari, but, not specifically if it works with a Mac or not..I have found that they have very poor specification / support information on the Web...meaning I could not find it) or Windows PC and a web cam. The supported browsers include Firefox 2.0 and above, Internet Explorer 6.0 and above, Safari 3.0 and above, and Google Chrome.

I used Google Video Chat on two different Windows XP computers using Firefox 3.0.4 and Google Chrome.

Installation and Set-Up

First I had to sign up for Gmail. Luckily it is free, and I may even like it better than Yahoo, we will see.

Once I signed up, and was back in my new Gmail window, I did not see a video option (see below). How weird.

However, a short time later (was it my plugging in my web cam?), bingo, there it was. That is either very cool, or I was too quick to try to test this.

Oh well….welcome to my world…always the first to try something new! ;-)

I downloaded and installed the “New! Video chat” application and it went very smoothly. I did this again for Sunny, our Yellow Lab, and it again it went smoothly.

You can see below that a video camera icon has been placed next to my name in the Chat area. I then clicked on “Settings” and was allowed to make changes to the voice and video chat settings and also to verify these settings. Very nice.

I’m good to go.

Now I needed to add Sunny to my contact list. This was fairly easy to do but not super easy as, again, I had another window to contend with and then had to wait for Sunny to accept in chat invitation (but, that is a good thing, because I had a request from some unknown person that I said “No” to).

Can you tell that the number of separate windows that are popping up are starting to get to me?

Making the Call

Sunny accepted my invitation (good dog) and I see him in the chat window.

Now I have to mouse scroll over his name (opening a new window), click on chat (opening another new window), then I need to open up a menu option (another window), to select “Start Video chat”. Whew.

Sunny’s computer rings and he accepts the call.

The result is shown below.

The video quality is good and the audio worked in both directions. Success!

Playing around a bit, I found that you can disconnect the video from the browser and then make it larger or smaller depending upon your needs. You can also make it full-screen and you can grab and drag the picture-in-picture. Nice.

Features (and Non Features)

You can videoconference with one other person (my current understanding is that this is only point-to-point, but, I will verify). You can text chat with that person.

You cannot, as far as I can see, whiteboard or share an application. To transfer a file you need to use email.

What was Confusing

The process, the buttons you need to push, the layout of the browser, and the number of windows that pop up, all had me guessing what the next step might be.

To set up a video call, I had to:

Go to my Chat list and see who has video enabled
Roll my mouse over that person (or Dog) to see another window then click on “Chat”.
Another window comes up with a message I can enter to start the chat (I thought)
But....I need to click on the “Video & more” menu to actually start the video chat session.

Too many windows, too many steps.

TelBitConsulting.com says: Google needs to make this easier. When I see the video camera next to my contact, I should be able to click on it and start a video call. Simple and clean. The person at the far end, of course, has the option of not accepting it.

Summary / Comments

Google (being somewhat well known) has taken a bold step by bringing videoconferencing to the “masses”. Bravo!

TelBitConsulting.com has, for years and years, felt that “desktop videoconferencing” is the way to the hearts of millions and this is a great step in that direction. However, the process should be much simpler, and I feel the process may hinder many people who are on the computer, but, not computer savvy from trying it.

For videoconferencing on your computer ooVoo is much easier (and I will continue to use it as my main non-standards based VC application), and other (standards-based) applications such as the Polycom PVX or Mirial Softphone have more capabilities.

Technical info / specifications / features on this application is lacking. At least I could not find it...

Google Adds Videoconferencing to Gmail

2008-11-12T07:56:00.000-08:00

Google announced yesterday (see this article from Bloomberg) the addition of videoconferencing capability to it's Gmail service. Bloomberg also says it is available to users of Google Apps.

Looks like I have some signing up to do!

I'll give the VC over Google a try and review it here in a day or two....

TelBitConsulting.com says: The way to go for VC is anywhere, anytime, by anyone. Google appears to be taking a needed step in that direction. Bravo!

More: Here is another article. As it turns out, this application is the result of Google's purchase of Marratech. Marratech had some good stuff, but, I believe one reason they had a hard time was that they were ahead of the time. We had Marratech exhibit at our last (so sad that it had to end) ESnet Workshop.

Election Day Technology - Hologram Reporter

2008-11-05T09:42:00.000-08:00

If you were not watching CNN last night...here is a very cool application they used to talk to a reporter in Grant Park in Chicago.

Hologram reporter....very cool.

If anyone knows a techie person at CNN who can give me the details, I'd love to post a simplified version of how they did this on this Blog.

Thanks to Brewcaster who commented to this Blog posting with a link to Gizmodo that explains how the hologram stuff is working (well....as simply and as well as one can since this is sure to be extremely complicated).

Obama Wins!

2008-11-04T20:04:00.000-08:00

At last...at long last....we have HOPE.

Google Chrome Review

2008-11-04T11:12:00.000-08:00

Rating: 3.5 WaterTowers

This Blog has moved...please visit this entry here.

I have been seeing a smattering of Google Chrome browsers hitting my blogs and main web site so I decided to find out more.

I downloaded Google Chrome a few days ago and have now made it my “default” browser.

Really quickly here is what I have found out:

Google Chrome has a few quirks that I will talk about shortly.
It is fast. I can access web pages much faster than I can with Firefox (I hardly ever use IE since it ….oh well, I will be nice).
I like the “Home” page Chrome presents to me (see below). I can click on a thumbnail of one of my “favorite” destinations and bingo…I’m there.
Chrome has an “incognito” feature that allows you to browse in secret. This could come in handy if, for example, you are ordering Christmas presents and don’t want others to see what you have been doing. Likewise, visiting not so savory sites can be kept secret…not that I do that.

Home Page Pic (click to enlarge)

What Works

In my normal browsing day I can add new content to my Blogs (Blogger), I can visit Google Analytics to see how many people visited my blogs and web site, I can listen to KAT Country, I can watch a YouTube video or two (or three), I can order something for Christmas “incognito”, or I can watch live news on CNN.com. And more….

Chrome works just fine for all that I mentioned above.

What Does Not work

When I first started using Chrome, I could not find the “Home” button. How frustrating. In any browser, you use the “Home” button to go home. I had to dig for awhile to find that the home button is an option!

Here is a suggestion: Make the home button show up as a default. The reason for this is because every other browser uses it and chances are everyone is used to using it. If you want, make its disappearance optional.

I cannot for the life of me find how to adjust the page settings when I print. This is irritating because when I print the type face is so small I can barely read it. Google: Is there a page setup control? If so, where is it? And remember this…the population is aging hopefully someday you will understand….size does matter

In Blogger…how funny is this since Google is Blogger….I cannot take away a “Gadget”. The popup that ultimately completes this task does not pop up in Chrome. I have to use Firefox (or that other browser) to complete the removal process.

I also can't select a picture in Blogger to cut and paste it to another location in the blog. I have to use Firefox to finish.

Some feel that there are privacy issues with Chrome. I have no experience with that, but, you can read this article to find out more.

Summary

Overall Google Chrome is working fine for most of the tasks I complete on a day-to-day basis. I understand that a few quirks still exist, and hope that Google finds the time to fix them. I like the speed and the “Home” page a lot, so I will keep using Chrome until something crops up that I cannot work around. Firefox is my backup, but, I like the forward looking features of Chrome better.

VUDU Introduces HDX

2008-10-30T08:10:00.000-07:00

If you have not yet experienced VUDU Internet streaming of movies.....now may be the time.

As you may know, I am a big fan of VUDU and now even more so. Check out my review of VUDU here.

With over 6000 movie titles in Standard Definition and High Definition....VUDU has recently introduced a new high definition technology they call "HDX".

Since I have an older HDTV (how did time go so fast?) with less resolution, I figured HDX would not give me much improvement over their HD offering or even SD which I consider better than my upconverted DVD player.

I was wrong. HDX is simply astounding.

Since I cannot take a picture (or a movie) that would do it justice (but I gave it a try...see below), the best comparision I can make is this: Go to your nearest Best Buy and watch a full 1080p Blu-Ray movie being played. HDX is just like that! Even on my less than full resolution HDTV, the picture quality is a major step up from HD and worlds better than SD. And our Bose sound system captures the robust audio from HDX like nothing we have yet experienced.

I can't wait to earn enough $ (remember...starving blogger) to get a full 1080p TV.....hmmmm, anyone need a decent videoconferencing guy?

A look at the VUDU "Most Watched" list shows that people with VUDU agree. The HDX movies are at the top of the most watched list.

The only downfall is that we have to wait about 8 hours for the HDX movie to download. With SD we can watch it instantly, and with HD we have to wait a couple of hours. So some pre-planning on our part is needed. I could always upgrade my Internet service, but, oh rats, starving blogger.....

I know I sound like a VUDU commercial....but....

Our lives with VUDU have changed. We have not gone to Blockbuster in months. We have not purchased a DVD in months. Where we once planned on buying a Blu-Ray player and start a collection of Blu-Ray movies...that plan is on hold. We are perfectly happy with VUDU spending about $5.99 for a movie rental and about $20 for a purchase. What could be better?

Tel Bit Consulting says: Internet video can (will!) change the way the world watches movies. I only hope that the Internet remains open and unrestricted.

Garmin Nuvi 350 Review

2008-10-27T19:30:00.000-07:00

Rating: 4 WaterTowers

To help my wife navigate with out reading a map (like she can do that) and without me....we purchased a Garmin Nuvi 350 GPS (Global Positioning System....hmmmm, in the old days is was Satellite...oh well) "Personal Travel Assistant".

This can be setup in your car or it can be taken with you on a walking or biking trip. Very cool.

The Nuvi is very easy to use...just turn it on lift up the antenna and the satellites are found and your location identified. Once the device knows where you are, you are golden.

There are many features, of which we use but one. Directions. I have taken a look at a few more options including the screen that gives us the statistics on the trip we are taking. Very interesting knowing the average speed, the time you were at a dead stop, your speed....all from the satellite system. Scary and cool.

We have used the Garmin several times now and have always gotten to our location. No more Streets and Trips for us...all we need to do is enter the name of the place we want to go to, or the address of the location, jump in the car and follow the voice prompts.

As an example of how we use this amazing device, I made a YouTube video of a trip from our house to "Wal Mart".

In short, the Garmin Nuvi has changed the way we drive and the way we navigate around town and the U.S. We are very happy with it and plan to use it often. In fact, the next time we go into the big city (our annual day after Thanksgiving homage to the great shopping establishments)...San Francisco....we will carry it with us to see how it works on our walk.

UPDATE Dec 3 2008: I could not get satellite connection in the City. When we got to the Pier 39 area (where it is more open) we finally got it.

Teaching Update

2008-10-22T09:55:00.000-07:00

After 8 full weeks, my long term sub position has ended.

What an experience!

We were all sad it ended even though we all knew this day would come. I have learned a lot about teaching (do I still want to teach as my "encore" career?.....YES!) and have learned what not to do, what to do differently, and how to manage a class (well...I am still learning this), so I will be better prepared the next time I get this chance.

But.....this class will always be my first, and will always be special. The mix of kids in the class was amazing...all of them were absolutely terrific, full of life and wonder, and energetic about learning and about school. Where a lot of classes I have subbed in a lot of students were absent, it was a rare day when we had one absence....

Over the last few days, I received so much appreciation for our time together, it is amazing. (By contrast, I got barely a goodbye when I retired from my engineering job).

In short...teaching is a very tough profession, but, the rewards are tremendous.

To my first class.....you definitely ROCK! And no...I will never forget you!

And thanks to all the teachers who helped me learn...you know who you are.

PS: I want to evaluate / review technology for the classroom. If anyone reading this has a new product..please contact me.

Trinity Global LLC Mobile Videoconferencing

2008-10-11T17:04:00.000-07:00

I have recently (hmmm, for the past ten years) had the opportunity to be involved in the development of a new twist to an old technology.

Until now, videoconferencing has been tied to your desktop or to a conference room.

No more.

Now you can videoconference, with very high quality (much better than 3G), up to 25 miles from the closest Internet connection.

The applications for this new capability are limited by only your imagination.

Imagine meeting with a golf pro from the 18th hole, or a Professor in the middle of a vineyard showing how grapes mature, or you are an architect needing to communicate with a construction site, or a doctor helping a critically ill patient miles from a hospital....

For some great ideas or more information on how to implement this technology, call John Sachau, President of Trinity Global LLC at 732 925-2009 or visit Trinity Global LLC's new web site here.

In the meantime, watch the video I took of a meeting showing the value of mobile videoconferencing for Fire Departments.

Where I have been...

2008-09-11T15:26:00.000-07:00

In case you are checking and wondering where the new posts are....

I've been so extremely lucky to have landed a short term (now three weeks long) substitute teaching position in a 7th Grade class in the Jefferson Elementary School District.

Since starting, I have had to RUN as fast as I can run just to stay behind a reasonable amount.

Do me a favor....the next time you get mad at your child's teacher, or look at teachers at having so much time off, think of what I am going to tell you:

Teachers works HARDER than I EVER imagined. I am consistently working until 9 PM at night (and would go longer, except my body and mind simply won't let me), grading papers, preparing lesson plans, organizing (the paperwork is unbelievable), just trying to keep up.....

Be kind to your Teachers.....

I've been an engineer for 25 plus years and have NEVER worked this hard nor have ever needed to work this hard.

BUT ALSO....I have never felt so rewarded. NEVER. This experience has BY FAR been the best experience of my life......and I'm and old guy.....done a lot, seen a lot and experienced a lot.....

If you are one of "my" students.....you know this is my "first class" and I will forever remember each and every one of you....you ROCK!

To everyone else....I'll be back to this blog soon....thanks for hanging in the there!

iPod Touch Review

2008-08-18T12:49:00.000-07:00

Rating: 4 WaterTowers

This Blog has moved.....please read this entry here.

My wife was deciding on an iPod or an iPod Touch. Being selfish, and wanting to play with the iPod Touch so I could write about it here, I encouraged her to spend the big bucks on a 32 Gig iPod Touch. I won! Hmmmm, in 25 years I think that is a first.

The iPod Touch technology is beyond advanced. Great Job(s?) Apple. But, as good as the iPod Touch is, and as remarkable the technology is, there are some minor technical issues that need to be resolved before it is 5 WaterTower worthy.

Overview

Our iPod Touch was purchased to load and listen to Country Music. With almost 1000 CD's (yeah, we are obsessed) the technology of the iPod is perfect for us so we can bring almost our entire collection of music with us where ever we go. As an added benefit (at least according to me) is the ability to connect to the Internet via WiFi. But there is more. The iPod touch (see the picture below) offers a host of features including:

Mail, Weather, Calendar, Safari Web Browser, Clock, Contacts, Calculator, Notes, Stocks, Maps, Settings, YouTube, Music, Videos, Photos, and iTunes. You can also add stuff to the front screen for easy access. In this picuture, you can see that I had added my main web site and my Technical (you are here) and Book Review blogs.

Whew....

I will not talk about all of them here, but, suffice it to say everything works and mostly everything works superbly well.

Human Interface

The iPod Touch human interface is extremely intuitive. A novice user can easily come up to speed on the use of the iPod Touch, and just as quickly, become an expert user.

The main problem with the interface is the touch sensitivity. I am constantly entering areas by accident, and it is very frustrating. I looked for a sensitivity control but could not find one. Is there one?

Another problem is that the web pages I surf to are very dense. To expand the view you do an expanding thing with your thumb and forefinger (not easy to master by the way) but I invariably enter an area I do not want to enter. Arrrghhhh....

You can turn the iPod to either side for a wider view (this is super cool by the way) but you cannot turn it upside down. Watching videos in wide screen is great. The iPod allows you to access YeOldeTechy's YouTube videos easily (you mean there are other videos besides mine on YouTube?). And music videos can be watched sideways as well.

In short: If there is a sensitivity control, it needs to be easier to find, and if there is not a sensitivity control, there needs to be one.

WiFi Internet Connection

OK, this was the big one for me. How hard is it to connect to a WiFi Hot Spot or to my Wireless Router, or to Sylvan's wireless router? To find out, I fired up my wireless router in the house and then went to settings. I saw the wireless settings and dug into them a bit deeper to find the wireless signals available. I saw TracyCA (mine) and clicked on it to connect. After needing to put in a password (a very tough one by the way), I was connected and on the Internet.

Terrific!

From then on, when we turn on the iPod (and if the wireless is powered on) it automatically finds it and logs on. Easy as 3.14. I tried to get on at Barnes and Noble and was rewarded with the log in screen. not needing to spend $3.99 to get on for 2 hours, I got out of it, but, the task was complete....it found the AT&T Hot Spot at B&N easy as pie.

I then drove by Sylvan Learning in Tracy and sat out in the parking lot to see if I could get their WiFi. Yup....the signal was not the greatest (in the parking lot) but I was able to enter the password and get on the Internet. Great stuff. Note: I also saw at least 5 other wireless signals in that parking lot...I need to go back and see which are unprotected.

Needing to get our truck serviced at Tracy Toyota (owned by Keena Turner and Ronnie Lott (Hall of Famer) of the SF 49ers) I hopped on their free wireless connection with the iPod and surfed the Internet for a few seconds. Very cool.

Now when I am near Sylvan, or at home, or at Tracy Toyota, the iPod Touch finds it and logs us on....sweeet.

YeOldeTechy says: The iPod Touch is a very useful WiFi connection tool. In fact, I will use it rather than my laptop to check clients WiFi connectivity. It fires up in a few seconds versus several minutes, is easy to carry around versus hard to carry, and I know within seconds if I am connected.

I just have to take it away from Lori.

Web Browsing

OK, this is another area where a bit of work is needed. The Safari web browser does not see some images. For example, when I go to Google Analytics to see how many people have visited my sites the image that is the monthly view of visitors does not load.

Also, my Yahoo homepage is very small and 99% of the time when I go to expand the view, I end up clicking on some random link. In addition to sensitivity, how about a ZOOM / UNZOOM button? That would be cool.

I added moving GIF's to my web site...with the iPod Touch they are static.

Bookmarking, going back to the previous page, etc etc are difficult. In short, Safari can be cleaned up a bit.

YeOldeTechy says: This is not the tool I will use to surf the web.

Notes and the Keypad

Adding Notes via the keypad is easy. The keypad looks small and you would think that there would be many mistakes as you are typing. You would be wrong. I have easily become accustomed to the keypad and rarely make a keyboard mistake that I would not have made normally. Very cool.

Replying to email is the hardest thing about the iPod Touch...I simply cannot do it as it is waaaay to difficult. Soooo, I read an email, then reply using Notes. From within Notes you can easily send an email to whoever you want, and then that person is stored for easy access the next time.

Listening to and Finding Music

This part of the iPod Touch gets 5 WaterTowers. The music capacity and quality (we did purchase some Bose headphones...remember we are music buffs) is beyond great. We can listen to all our favorites in high quality stereo, and since we have an iPod thingy in the car...we can listen there too!.

Finding the music while the iPod is turned sideways is super great. You can flip thru the CD covers until you either accidentally enter one (did I mention that they need a sensitivity control?) or find the CD you want to listen to.

Who do I put up on this blog? We have so many favorites: George Strait is King, Mark Chesnutt is great (especially in concert), Aaron Tippin, Blake Shelton, Miranda Lambert, Kenny Chesney, Gary Allan.....all terrific. But...there is one....we belonged to his Fan Club since he started. We have met him many times, he has seen Kristen grow from a baby in his arms to a young adult of 16 almost 17...I will put his CD in this blog....if he sees this, he will know he has no equal in our hearts.

Tracy Byrd

Summary

I've said this before: Apple is not afraid to push the state-of-the-art. Invented here must be their slogan. Kudos to them. Keep up the good work.

The iPod is a terrific device. It may need a few touch ups and may need a sensitivity control (did I mention that already?), but, overall, it is wonderful. Period.

Clusty.com: Another Search Engine Option

2008-08-14T09:00:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago I posted a Blog entry on a new search engine gathering a lot of excitement: Cuil.

Today a friend commented on that Blog saying that she uses Clusty.com as a search engine.

I had never heard of it, but, at first look it looks interesting. Let's give it a whirl.

To compare Clusty directly with Google and Cuil, I ran a search on "Pendragon Raven Rise Book Review". It found me, but, I landed on Page 7 of the search Number 69. And it was only on my Main Web Site, I have looked a few pages further and still have not seen the TracyReaderDad Blog entry.

(click the pic for a better view)

YeOldeTechy says: My personal favorite (since it finds the Blog entry on the first page) is Google, next is Clusty because at least it found me, and last is Cuil.

What is Clusty and What Makes it Different?

I looked at the "About" link on Clusty and found this explanation:

"Clusty got its start in Pittsburgh, PA in 2004 when the search software company Vivísimo decided to take its award-winning search technology to the web.

Vivísimo was founded in 2000 by three Carnegie Mellon University scientists who decided to tackle the problem of information overload in web search. Rather than focusing just on search engine result ranking, we realized that grouping results into topics, or "clustering," made for better search and discovery. As search became a necessity for web users, Vivísimo developed a service robust enough to handle the variety of information the everyday web user was after. The result was Clusty: an innovative way to get more out of every search."

OK, cool....lets see how the "clustering" helps.

Clusty Search

Since I am still (yikes...we need to turn this economy around...CHANGE is the operative word) a starving Blogger, I need a job. So I did a search on "Videoconferencing jobs".

As you can see, the "cluster" on the left did a fair job of categorizing various jobs that are available. I am an Engineer, but, in retirement would love to get back to my roots as a technician, I now have at least three "clusters" to seach. Note the link to Steve Jobs...he is a terrific innovator, but, I'm not sure I need to look in that cluster.

To keep this Blog short, lets take a peek at the first cluster "Video, Conferencing".

I clicked on the first entry assuming that one would be the most relevant....how interesting it is labeled "Gov't Jobs". Maybe the one I retired from is there?

Nope, but, this looks interesting.

I need experience in running a network operation control center and experience in:

"Extron, Crestron, AMX, Barco, Christie, Clarity, Mitsubishi,Jupiter, Peavey, Biamp, NEC, Sharp, Sony Broadcast and Presentation, Middle Atlantic, Shure, Draper, Stewart, Da-Lite, Autopatch, RGB Spectrum, Tandberg, Polycom, Ross, Grass Valley, among others."

I'll shoot off a resume!

And they are in Texas...country music is the king there and the King of Country lives in Texas....give it to me Strait!

Summary

OK, I have added Clusty as a search engine option in Firefox. I will use it along with Google in my searches. I like it. But so far, Google wins my heart.

FYI...I did a search on "Clusty image". The result is the lead picture on the Blog. Cool.

Watching the Olympics on NBC.com

2008-08-11T18:32:00.001-07:00

Rating: 5 WaterTowers

OK..this is COOL

I went to the nbc.com web site and signed up (all you need is your Zip code and browser...yes, Firefox works). Remember I have a Toshiba Laptop running Windows XP. Nothing fancy, nothing out of the ordinary.

NBC is streaming live video using Microsoft Silverlight.

Yikes! I never heard of Silverlight but here is a blurb at the front of their web site:

Light Up the Web
Microsoft® Silverlight™ is a cross-browser, cross-platform, and cross-device plug-in for delivering the next generation of media experiences and rich interactive applications for the Web.

Hmmmm, ok....great marketing, but.....does it work?

Yup...and YeOldeTechy says: This is super cool.

Cross browser....great thinking Microsoft! About time...errr, did I say that?

Anyway.....here is what you have to do:

1. Go to www.nbc.com
2. On the right (top corner) there is a sign up for streaming video...enter your Zip code.
3. Follow the procedures to download and use the Microsoft Silverlight.
4. Wade thru the menus and options to find what you want to watch.

I watched some LIVE (well maybe not really live, but.....) tennis and now have Yacht Racing (if you consider a one person surfboard thingy a Yacht) on.....WOW.

The control panel (below) lets you watch one of 4 live events. Apparently, as I watch this, there is only one event live. I will check later to see if the 4 events pop up. (NOTE: there are smaller windows on the left set of windows labeled 2, 3, and 4 that you can click...those fill in the empty slots so you can switch between them easily.....this is great).

Also, you get the video without commentary (a good thing sometimes) or you can select commentary. I tried it and have yet to hear commentary...I'll keep trying.

Go U.S.A.

Gotta love the Internet.....streaming video ROCKS.

If you like this, check out VUDU....THAT is streaming video at it's BEST.

Linksys Wireless Router Installation and Review

2008-08-11T16:10:00.000-07:00

Rating: 4 WaterTowers

This past week I purchased and installed a Linksys Wireless Router for a client. But before I installed the system at their location, I tried it at home to make sure it worked. It did.

Product

Linksys Wireless Router WRT54G2 comes in a sleek package looking more like a flying saucer than a wireless router. The router no longer has the dual antennas as they are now embedded in the unit. Hmmmm, I wonder how far this will reach? (NOTE: It works well, final installation at Sylvan Learning in Tracy, CA is in the very back and wireless is available in my car in the parking lot).

In the box, Linksys has provided the unit itself, a power supply, and a short length of cat 5 or 6 wire (I can't tell which) with RJ-45 plugs on each end (in other words....a standard RJ-45 cable).

Also included was a set-up disc and a booklet explaining some of the details of the unit and a bit of networking theory.

Home Network

Here is a picture of my normal home network where I will install the Linksys router for testing.

I was one of the first DSL customers in Tracy and have received solid service with only the very occasional outage which is magically fixed sometime over night. Having worked for a telephone company, I know how magic is related to "Ooops, the switch had some bad code entered". (Click the pictures for high res view)

Installation

When I got home from Best Buy, I opened the box, connected the Linksys to my wall outlet and to my hub / switch and tried to connect.

No such luck. Hey....I have to try the easy way...ya know?!

I had to run the installation disc which I popped into my DELL computer, connected the Linksys to the DELL and to the hub / switch as shown in the following diagram:

After following the VERY easy directions on the Linksys, I fired up my Toshiba Laptop in wireless mode (802.11G) and was rewarded with the following wireless connection information and a very good connection to the Internet.

Security

Since Sylvan Learning in Tracy had a vulnerable wireless connection before YeOldeTechy came along, I decided to give them a highly secure connection. This is especially good for them to have since they now have wireless access extending out into the parking lot.

I selected WPA/WPA2 and gave them a really hard password consisting of letters, numbers and symbols.

The first time logging on to the wireless you need to put in an extremely difficult password or key...but, after that, your computer automatically connects. Very cool.

If I were to keep the Linksys at home (I have an old version that is solid as a rock) my network configuration would look like this:

If you were connecting this as a router (which I did at Sylvan) there is one trick I learned after paying $29.99 for help from the Linksys Service people (long story but the old Sylvan router was going bad and I reset it and then needed help getting it configured...).

Here is the trick: Your service may require a MAC address in the router. There is a Mac Clone capability in the Linksys on this page (note the address is 192.168.1.1 from your browser, IE or Firefox both work):

Simply find the MAC address of one of your computers and enter that number in the clone address space. Instantly....and losing $29.99 for this simple trick....the Internet comes back to life! Arrrghhh.....but, maybe this blog can save you money.

Summary

I have lived with a Linksys Wireless router for several years now and have been a very happy customer. It has been solid and the wireless capability allows me to sit in the back yard and even do videoconferencing from there if I so desire.

Embed Video on a Blog

2008-08-05T19:51:00.000-07:00

It is actually very easy to embed a video on a blog. On YouTube, there is an easy way to grab a bit of code called: embed. Hmmmm, words that say what they mean.

In a Blog, such as this one, you have to go into the "Edit HTML" mode and paste the embed code there.

Easy as 1, 2, 3....copy the embed code, enter HTML Mode, paste the code.

I have used several sources for embedded video's on this Blog. The one from ABC News came without an end embed, so I had to add it, and it worked great. YouTube always works great, and here is a new, very up-to-date, timely (and censored) video from Funny or Die web site.

Very cool, errrr, hot (in Paris's words, not mine).

See more funny videos at Funny or Die

Seriously great idea Paris, but, hey, you gotta be 35 to run for Prez!

I can run a little over 1.5 times! Hmmmmm, maybe I should....then everyone would be Telecommuting!

Telecommuting and the Segway

2008-08-01T14:41:00.000-07:00

OK...we have all heard and seen T. Boone Picken's and Al Gore's plans for saving the environment. Great plans... (Political comment to Congress and the Prez: Spend the money on the future of renewable energy sources).

Today, I saw an article that stated that telecommuting is just as bad as commuting since you will still start up your car to run errands, go to lunch, etc. Interesting and, even though I don't agree, the writer of that article has some valid points. Cold starts are the worst. Soooo....if you stay home to telecommute, you will need to avoid starting your car totally to make a dent in saving the environment (note, however, that you will still save money, time, gas, increase productivity, reduce stress, and realize all the other benefits of telecommuting).

Telecommute! But to help the transition from your car...I have a plan.

YeOldeTechy's Plan to Save the Environment

OK, here is the plan. Use this with T. Boone's and Al's plans to help them succeed. Hey...I make nearly as much money as them.....yeah right.

1. Telecommute...and while you are home do not start your car.
2. Instead of using your car around town use a small electric car or a Segway.
3. If you don't want to buy a Segway or small electric car.... walk or ride your bike.

Easy as 1, 2, 3

This graphic shows the emissions saved using a Segway.

It is good for the environment, if you run around town or work at your local TeleWork Center you can get there at 12.5 MPH and you don't have to strain yourself by walking or riding a bike (even though the exercise is good for you!).

The perfect transition between car and walking or biking. Just like T. Boone's transition to renewable energy by taking advantage of natural gas.

Get on the bandwagon....or rather, Segway. Telecommute!

Meet the inventor

Cuil: A New Search Engine

2008-07-29T10:56:00.000-07:00

This week some ex-Google employees launched a new web search engine: Cuil. Pronounced: Cool.

Being the curious type I went to the Cuil web site and fired up a few searches. So far it appears as though they still have a bit of work to do.

Here are two screen shots of a search for "Pendragon Raven Rise Book Review" (without the quotes) I completed on both Cuil and Google.

Cuil (click on pic for a larger view)

Google

Notice the difference. The great Book Reviewer, TracyReaderDad, shows up on the Google search where the Cuil search resulted in an error message. It also included the quotes that I left out in my second attempt to get the search to work.

Cuil also pulls seemingly random pictures to place near the search result. I'm actually surprised that a search on "YeOldeTechy" did not pull up a picture of Brad Pitt...why is that? It did pull up a map of the Middle East region. Hmmmm, did we move? Actually you could hardly tell the difference in the weather between Tracy, CA and Saudia Arabia....both hot and dry (a little known fact: I love the desert)

YeOldeTechy says: Competition is a good thing, and as is nearly always the case a new technology or product needs time to mature. Cuil is no exception to this rule as you can see.

Cool Application: AT&T Video Share

2008-07-28T12:51:00.000-07:00

I was poking around the Internet looking for 3G cell phone video conferencing applications (I did NOT find one, by the way) when I ran across the AT&T Video Share app.

This is interesting even though it is only one way video (it has two way audio).

With the right phone and the right service, 3G (see lists here) you can send live video to anyone (hmmmm, do they need the same phone or one on the list to view the video?).

For example, GrandMa wants to see the new baby, or you want to visit a relative in a nursing home, or at the University of Kansas, or anywhere that has 3G access. Imagine ambulance EMT's getting instant advice from a Doctor or a plumber getting help from his/her boss. The applications are endless.

There is a nice demo of a TV show (Tyra Banks) using Video Share here.

YeOldeTechy says: As 3G rolls out to more locations (in the U.S.) the ability to send and receive video, or to video-conference with colleagues while on the road, will become commonplace. There will no longer be a need to stay attached to a conference room or to a WiFi hotspot....the world is indeed changing.

FYI...I saw a demo of cell phone video conferencing maybe 10 years ago at the TeleCon conference. It was revolutionary, but very limited. Now it has the network to support it. Great ideas like that help push technology forward....

Check out this application of one way video sharing:

Cancer and the Cell Phone

2008-07-25T17:18:00.000-07:00

I have posted warnings (here and here) about the possible dangers of using the cell phone too much.

Here is a video that just came out from a researcher at a world renowned cancer research center who is warning the same thing.

No one is yet sure what problems might occur (but I suspect in 20 years there will be a sharp increase in brain cancers), so the advice I give to everyone I have a chance to talk to is:

Use your cell phone (and silly looking bluetooth thing) sparingly.

UPDATE: If you need more convincing, here are some tips on what to do to reduce your cell phone risk.

Save the Environment

2008-07-23T13:53:00.000-07:00

I am starting a new post "Label" called "Save the Environment".

Under this new label will go all the Telecommuting and some of the renewable energy articles I have posted recently.

It is time to become aware that the human race is harming the environment, endangering both animals and humans alike (we are animals....). The earth will survive. However, the earth may change drastically (possibly eliminating the culprit in the process) before the damage we are doing to this planet is mitigated.

I am starting to investigate / research ways (other than telecommuting which few people seem to take seriously) to help save the environment. I will also spotlight people who are doing their best to help.

This is not a new turn in this blog since VC / Collaboration and Telecommuting (and many technologies) can help reduce emissions, save gas, reduce traffic, etc, just a new look at how we need to change our thinking.

I've said this before....time to Telecommute....now I will show you why this is important.

Thanks for reading!

Lets see.....hmmmmm, electric cars are cool. I hear if you have enough $$ that the Tesla is available....I'll go investigate. Stay tuned....

By the way...the Altamont (Hills) between Tracy, CA (where I live) and Livermore, CA is dotted with thousands of windmills. The one at the front of this blog is one picture, here are two more.

Notice the new GREEN color of his Blog....

Switch to Renewable Energy

2008-07-18T08:30:00.000-07:00

There has been some action in the news in the past week, or so, concerning the use, and switch to, renewable energy.

Although this is not an area I normally cover, I am VERY interested in the environment (and very concerned about global warming). I would like to see us change the way we use energy so we can reduce our dependence on non-renewable sources of energy (oil will go away, then what do we do?) and reduce carbon emissions.

One way to help is to Telecommute (of course, I would say that).....DUH.

Al Gore and T. Boone Pickens have other ideas. I grabbed a couple of video clips so you can see what they are proposing.

If I can quickly summarize (I hope I get this right):

T. Boone tells us that Natural Gas should be used for transportation to reduce our dependence on oil. To replace the energy supplied by natural gas, we should use wind power.

Al is telling us to switch to renewable sources of energy like wind and solar...period.

You can tell who the politician is. T. Boone tells us his plan in 4 minutes, while Al takes over 18. How funny.

BUT the bottom line is....these are folks we need to start listening to.

If you need convincing, Leonardo DiCaprio's "11th Hour" documentary will convince you that change is needed. This is the best documentary I have watched.....

"11th Hour" Video

Al Gore

T. Boone

Telecommuting and the Tracy Virtual Office

2008-07-14T12:32:00.000-07:00

UPDATE 8/14/08: Well, after spending the money, I only had 3 people express an interest in the TVO...I have had to drop the idea for lack of interest. Either many people already telecommute (Yeah!) or they are content to spend money, gas, and time on the road.

++++++

Today, July 14, 2008, we (my wife and I) ushered in a new era.

Never before have we plunked down money (how funny that the most anti-environmental President ever is helping fund this) to advertise and to push a particular idea. But we think the times and circumstances have caught up with our ideas and that Telecommuting may now be something people will (or should!), finally, take a serious look at.

Due to my great graphic artist skills (I use Adobe Photoshop Elements) I developed what I think is a pretty cool advertisement to be placed on the web site of the Tracy Press (which as you may know, my daughter and I both write for on a volunteer basis). They get over 100,000 visitors per month (far greater than YeOldeTechy's web sites) and many of them, I'm sure, are commuters.

The Tracy Virtual Office is an old idea but in a modern form. The old idea of a Neighborhood Telecommute Center never took off. Traffic was not bad, gas was cheap, and no one was aware of global warming, terrorism, and to top it off.....connectivity was really kinda bad.

Times have changed.

Telecommuting from home, or from a Neighborhood Telecommute Center, like the TVO, is becoming more appealing now (I see an increase in searches for "telecommuting" and more people hitting the TVO web site and Telecommuting articles than ever before) that gas is approaching $5.00 per gallon, the freeways are clogged, global warming is already past a tipping point, and to top it off.......bandwidth and connectivity is plentiful and easy to get (and videoconferencing over the Internet is commonplace).

Time to change, time to telecommute!!! Spread the word.

Oh yeah....If you want to sponsor the TVO (I know many of the people reading this Blog are in the VC / Collaboration space)....call me! The more interest we get....the faster we can put it together.

Fun with oovoo

2008-07-07T15:01:00.000-07:00

Who says you can't have fun collaborating?

ooVoo has a bunch of web cam effects that you can download to spice up your meetings.

These are a lot of fun to play with.

Unfortunately, my favorite does not work very well at all....that is the replacement of my background with a picture of a lake out by a beautiful mountain. When I come back in the picture, my normal bookcase re-appears. Darn. I would use that feature all the time!

Glance Review

2008-07-04T10:40:00.000-07:00

Rating: 4 WaterTowers

In previous blog entries I have reviewed full-featured web conferencing applications. Initially, I had classified Glance in that class. What I found out is that Glance is different.

Glance is “easy-to-use screen sharing tool”. Pure and simple. It does not support: VoIP, audio conferencing bridge, or videoconferencing integration. It does not support scheduling, email, or many of the features I listed as needed in a modern fully-featured web conferencing application.

YeOldeTechy says: By paring down the focus the team at Glance has developed a lean mean collaboration application that does one thing…..and does it well. Glance is a high quality application that is super easy-to-use, reliable, and responsive.

Example of how YeOldeTechy expects to use Glance

In two years, my daughter will be at College (University of Kansas, I hope). Every now and then she may need help with a Math problem. We connect via ooVoo and then one of us fires up Glance to share our desktops. We see each other, hear each other, and we can collaboratively work thru a Math problem almost as if we were in the same room (this is what we envisioned for “Personal Telepresence” so many years ago)……a complete voice, video, and data collaboration experience.

Starting a Glance Session

Using Glance is a breeze. Fire it up, tell the remote people the Session ID, and get to work. That’s it.

To start Glance simply double click on the “G” in the Windows system tray (I don’t know where the Mac “G” would be) or the shortcut “G” on your desktop. You get this:

You can email the session key to your participants, or you can grab a copy of it and IM the session key to your participants, or you can just tell them.

They can then use their browser to go to your Glance web page (yeoldetechy.glance.net) and enter the Session ID and click on “Join Session”.

A few seconds later the browser completes its connection sequence and you are placed in the meeting.

NOTE: One interesting feature offered by Glance is the ability to add a Glance “button” on a web site or blog. I grabbed the code and embedded this button on this blog (see picture below). With this feature, my remote participants, instead of going to the yeoldetechy.glance.net web site, can visit this Blog to join the session. Verrrry cool.

That’s all it takes to start a session.

Below are some screen shots from an active session (taken by the remote participant).

ﾠ

As you can see, virtually any application can be shared or worked on collaboratively (the host simply allows remote control). If you are showing a slide presentation, Glance works very hard to catch the animation. The quality is extremely good. One possible use not mentioned on the Glance web site is remote troubleshooting or assistance. I can see and control a remote computer. NOTE: Before you allow remote control, make sure you can trust the person who has control!

Possible bug? When in remote control my left-hand mouse becomes a right hand mouse. I would prefer to keep my mouse operating in left hand mode.

To end a session all you need to do is click on the end session option in the “G”.

Features

Live screen sharing to up to 100 remote participants
Instant meetings, no scheduling needed
Remote control of your application or computer
Automatic resizing of the screens (participants see your whole screen)
Personalized URL’s
Web site, or Blog, integration
Account management via the web
Windows and Mac’s can host a session
IE, Firefox, Opera, Safari and more browsers are supported.

Cost

Individual: $49.95 per month
Corporate: $249.00 per month

Check with the Glance web site for more costing details.

Summary

If you need to give a presentation to up to 100 remote users, or if you just want to work on homework with a student or child, Glance is perfect. It is quick and easy and the quality is great.

You can use it with desktop videoconferencing applications such as PolyCom PVX, ooVoo, or Mirial Softphone. Just make sure you minimize the video window or Glance will be trying to refresh the video all the time and performance will suffer. Of course, using a telephone to connect to your remote participants also works as does a separate videoconferencing connection.

Here is a demo from Glance:

Google SketchUp

2008-06-30T09:09:00.000-07:00

The other day I found a link to Google SketchUp. I downloaded it and started to draw.

The picture above is a crude representation of what you can do with SketchUp. I am not an artist, and it shows. However, if you are, and spend the time, there are some very powerful tools in SketchUP that can allow you to design some very impressive 3-D drawings.

Check out their web site for more information. They give you about 400 minutes of trial time, and after that it will cost you to use.

It is not as easy to use as the demo video's make it seem. You will have to practice to get really good. And I suspect you will have to have some artistic ability as well, but, I may be wrong.

See the different views of my "Dream House" (geeee, I must be falling on bad times if this is my dream....). If you look carefully, you can see a person in the house. The windows become transparent....really cool.

Enjoy.

ﾠ

Sony will Stream Movies Direct to Your TV

2008-06-26T11:36:00.000-07:00

Reading my past blogs on this subject, you know I believe that streaming movies via the Internet will take it's toll on such old favorites as DVD's, Blu-Ray, and Blockbuster / Netflix.

Now buried deep in the middle of this article is an announcement by Sony that it will start an Internet streaming service for movies direct to their Bravia TV's (which to me says that the TV will have this capability built in....I may be wrong). The first movie for this service will be "Hancock" (see trailer below).

Wow! This is a blockbuster.

The innovators in this area VUDU, Apple TV, and, more recently, Netflix all with separate players that connect to a TV might be shaking right now...

And to add to this, Sony is promising most of their devices will connect wireless to the Internet...the prospect of wireless Internet connectivity to your TV is mind boggling.

Pretty soon, every home will have videoconferencing in their TV. Then keeping in touch with family will be a breeze....

More to follow in this I am sure....

Vint Cerf on the Internet

2008-06-24T14:59:00.000-07:00

(To stop the clip from playing....click the stop button.)

Here is a video clip one of the developers of the technology that has become the Internet. He is a biggie in my world (Electrical Engineering) and when I was in college I looked up to him and others (Kleinrock, Tobagi, Roberts, Frank, Kahn, etc) as much as I did Maris and Mantle....hmmm, maybe not that much, but, you get the idea.

The photo above shows the 1978 edition of the "Proceedings of the IEEE" (yeah...I saved it, what a nerd) where the networking research that was ongoing at the time was introduced. It was this research that eventually led to the Internet that we know today.

Pretty cool stuff. Here is a photo of his particular article:

I have his autograph somewhere, I'll dig it up and put up here as soon as I find it. Nerd plus....that's me.

In the meantime, I think he says here is that the Internet is an infrastructure that needs to be available to everyone (it only touches about 20% of people now) and that it can benefit many areas including helping to ease the gas crises and help the environment (past the 3 minute mark) by reducing travel.....Hmmm, that is what Telecommuting is all about.

The only difference is that until now you have only heard it from me......now Vint Cerf, THE Vint Cerf, is telling you....Time to listen!

Geee, maybe Cisco should hire me as their Chief Personal Telepresence Evangelist

Tech for Teachers - Podcasting Classes

2008-06-21T09:27:00.001-07:00

If you do not know what podcasting is, here is a very cool introduction:

The world is changing.

Streaming (podcasting included) technology has already proven itself at some Universities where students who may have missed class, or need to refresh their memory can watch a video stream of the class anytime. For example, see these classes available by streaming by Berkeley.

Now students at any level are "attending" class via podcasts (the download and playback of of audio, video, and or data information to a player such as the Zune or iPod). This interesting article discusses how teachers and students at a rural New Mexico High School are using Microsoft's Zune player to provide instruction anywhere, anytime.

Another example of a podcast can be found here from the creators of the Harry Potter Mugglenet web site. It works on either iTunes, Odeo, or Zune. If you slect iTunes, like I did, you will need to get an Apple ITunes ID...see my previous blog entry here.

This is a very interesting application of new technology for teaching.

3G and cell phone video - an application

2008-06-20T14:05:00.000-07:00

If you are faint of heart or easily offended...please turn to another page.

For the rest of you, this story in Time (remember this is not YeOldeTechy's story, I am just passing along information) is interesting.

But I believe it is more interesting after you hear my short story about this particular topic.

Interesting Story

Way back in the mid-1990's when Internet video was just a newborn infant I worked for a company called: Applied Business teleCommunications (ABC for short). Some of the old-timers in the videoconferencing industry will know them better as: TeleCon.

Needless to say, we were at the forefront of the VC industry and would, because of our expertise, field a lot of phone calls from people interested in learning more about the technology and how to use it.

The most intelligent questioning came from folks in the porn industry.

End of Story

The advent of mobile video, the burgeoning 3G (high speed data using a cell phone) networks in the US, and the allure of you know what.....there seems to be a new area of interest for that particular industry.

YeOldeTechy says: No matter what you may think....the folks who are part of that industry are leaders in new technology and are early adopters of technology that includes visual content.

Whew....I have done my part by imparting the information.

Also, to be absolutely fair, it is not just the iPhone...but any cell phone with a camera and 3G capability.

Apple IPod Transfer -- A quick test

2008-06-18T18:55:00.000-07:00

Just trying something….this was Kristen’s idea to see if we could download the contents of the Apple IPod to a “random” computer.

Can we? Let’s give it a try….

The first thing we did was plug in Kristen’s old IPod (she now has a brand spanking new IPod Classic 80 gig so she can fit in all the great country songs of the world (see pic at top)).

After about 30 seconds, we see this:

Ah….We can purchase something on the iPod (i.e. suppose we had an iPod Touch which connects to the Internet via Wi-Fi) and it will be able to be downloaded to a computer.

Very cool.

You cannot, however, transfer the entire contents of the iPod to another computer. What happens if you buy a new computer? Do you have to reload all the CD’s? Don’t know.

Hmmmmm, I need to “authorize this computer”.

What does that entail? Let’s find out…

First, I see that there are 5 items in question. How did she get those????? Oh well….

We found the “Authorize this Computer” menu option and clicked on that.

This popped up:

OK…I need an Apple ID….since I do not have one, and it probably won’t work if I got one, Kristen needs to enter her Apple ID and Password in my computer to be “authorized”. Simple.

HA….not so simple. You can load your Apple ID and Password on 5 computers and Kristen did not want to type in her ID and password in my computer…..oh well…gotta love her (teenagers.....arrrghhh).

I would assume that once a proper authorization was completed, I’d be the happy listener of Blake Shelton’s version of “Home”.

Summary

YeOldeTechy says: This is good. The protection software built into the IPod does not allow indiscriminant downloading of music to a random computer. Garth would love this.

Good job Apple…the writers of these songs, I’m sure appreciate this! I suspect that when we get the IPod Touch and download from iTunes, we would have no problem loading that song (or songs) onto our computer. I will try that…in another Blog entry.

YeOldeTechy however, for now, is without a “Home”……guess I will have to go buy it.

Or….I can hunt down Kristen’s old IPod…..now where is that?

Blake Shelton is great....here is his version of "Home".

Western Digital My Book 1 TeraByte Drive

2008-06-16T10:26:00.001-07:00

This Blog has moved....please visit this entry here.

For Fathers Day I received a couple of books (Sue Grafton's "K" and "L") a really cool sign for my yard (Free Weeds: Pick Your Own), and a badly needed expansion of our computer storage capacity: a Western Digital "My Book" 1 terabyte external hard drive with USB 2.0.

To me, it is amazing that 1 TB is now available at the desktop. And even more amazing is that my wife paid "only" $199.00 at Best Buy. Times sure have changed since I designed in the very latest and greatest technology: a 1 k RAM memory chip in our "Pseudo Psynthetic Video" project at Grumman Aerospace many years ago.

My Need

Lately I have been dabbling in high resolution picture taking (see my California Photo page on my web site) and producing Oscar winning videos which sometimes end up on YouTube. These new hobbies take a lot of disk space. So I needed to expand. After seeing the WD My Book, I knew that the solution to my hard drive capacity woes had a solution.

Using the My Book

The WD My Book is compact and easy to move around. It takes up less space than my Bram Stoker 5 Novels book from Barnes & Noble. Way less.

There is a power connection and a USB 2.0 connection. That's it.....simple and easy.

I plugged in the power and connected the USB to the 1 TB drive then to my Toshiba laptop. Within a short amount of time, Windows found the hard drive and I was ready to do some backups.

I used Heatsoft ADCS as my backup software of choice. I have been using it for several years now and have found it to be A. Easy to Use and B. Reliable. A great product.

I made some new folders on the My Book and ran the Heatsoft backup. Everything worked great, and my Toshiba is now fully backed up and ready to backup again at the touch of a button at least once a week, maybe more.

I then moved the My Book to the Dell home computer and did the same. After about 4 hours (we have a lot to back up since that is where most of my movies and pictures reside) I had that fully backed up on the WD My Book.

After all that, I still have over 800 Gig of space left on the My Book.

Sweeeet.

Summary

The My Book has so far proven itself to be a winner. It is quiet, compact, easy to set up and easy to use. Hopefully it will provide years of service.

Telepresence Forum

2008-06-12T12:53:00.000-07:00

I hopped on a new forum today, this one dedicated to the world of "Telepresence".

Verrrrry interrrresssssting.

The Telepresence Forum.

I've already posted our version of "Personal Telepresence" and plan to visit that forum a lot more in the future.

For the record, even though personal telepresence is being re-defined by marketing $, here is what we originally defined it as:

"Personal Telepresence is an interactive multimedia tool that allows individuals or groups to, affordably, meet with remotely located individuals or groups--from their desktop--as if they were all in the same location. A Personal Telepresence workstation would include telephony, computer, desktop videoconferencing, groupware, and graphics capability on a single platform.

The user interface presented will allow natural, face-to-face interaction between all those involved in `virtual' meeting, classroom, office or manufacturing problem solving sessions. Files could be opened and placed on a virtual `conference table' where changes could be made interactively by any or all the `meeting' participants. `Copies' of the files can be made, `stapled' together, and given to each of the attendees. The desktop would include a `whiteboard' for brainstorming sessions and a `projector screen' to display movies, video mail, and/or the results of a simulation program. "

In short: Our PT included video and data collaboration and was meant to be affordable for anyone / everyone.

Telecommute: The Time is Now!

2008-06-10T09:31:00.000-07:00

If you have not yet been convinced that the time for telecommuting has finally arrived maybe you should look at what you spend on gas now driving to work.

At over $4.00 a gallon (and Stockton being the highest in the Nation) a typical commute from Tracy to the Bay Area now can cost you (assume 20 MPG in your automobile, you travel 100 miles per day, and gas is now $4.35 in Tracy): $108.00 per week or $435.00 per month!

Add to that the time spent in traffic back and forth, the adverse effects on the environment, and traffic, traffic traffic.....the time is has arrived to stand up and get your employers to jump on the Telecommuting bandwagon. They need to go green, reduce their carbon imprint, reduce gas consumption.

This interesting poll just came out in the news today. Read it and show it to your employer.

A few things:

1. Watch the "11th Hour" by Leonardo DiCaprio.

This is an absolutely SUPERB documentary (5 WaterTowers) about the need to reduce carbon emissions now. Not one word in there about Telecommuting, but, lots of words in there about how the human race may have already charted it's own course to extinction...very scary stuff.

2. Read (and have your OFB (old fashioned boss) read) my previous articles on Telecommuting, both here and in the Tracy Press.

3. Activate a program where you work. Become a Telecommuting advocate...it is no longer a stigma....it is a necessity.

4. Fill out our Telecommuting Survey. And express your interest in the Tracy Virtual Office: a new concept TeleWork Center we are hoping to put together in Tracy. If you need to GO to work, this could be the perfect place.

No matter what.....do not delay....the time to change is now.

Comcast to offer 100 Mbps over Cable

2008-06-06T07:44:00.000-07:00

This is an interesting news article.

In the not to distant future, using a standard called DOSCIS 3.0 (which defines and supports very high speed data transmission over cable systems), Comcast expects to be able to offer most cable subscribers 100 Mbps download.

YeOldeTechy questions:

1. With the news I hear about Comcast throttling data users now....will they allow the full 100 Mbps in the future, or is this just marketing?

2. If the full 100 Mbps is allowed, how will DSL respond? Can DSL respond?

3. What will be the upstream bit rates? Videoconferencing users are interested, especially those who are getting into high-definition videoconferencing which requires more than 1 Mbps upstream. For example, the uses in Telemedicine from the home, in HD, are limitless.

Moving on...

Since I use VUDU to view movies now it would be wonderful to download High Definition movies in real-time. Right now, with my DSL maxed at 2 Mbps download, I have to wait a few hours for an HD movie to download.

Not that that is a problem....I love my VUDU. But to watch HD in real-time, that is nirvana.

YeOldeTechy Virus Hunter

2008-06-03T14:10:00.000-07:00

OK.....I'm getting good at this, but, I should not have to do this at all.

Elimination of virus infections on Windows Computers.

With my handy-dandy 1 Gig dongle filled with virus killing software I visited a small business in Tracy today and spent 4 hours scanning, killing, and making everything work on this persons Windows XP Professional computer.

Prevention is the Best Medicine

The computer user was surfing the web when a pop-up alerted him/her to the fact that their computer was infected (with moving bugs...how cool). Click on the link to pay for and download virus protection software...only $49.95. Hmmmmmm, well $109.00 later, and now fully infected, the user realized that clicking on the pop-up may have been a bad idea.

RULE #1: NEVER click on a pop-up.....NEVER. Practice safe computing....always.

Once YeOldeTechy Virus Hunter was on-site, I discovered that the Admin login has NO password....this allows hackers free access to your computer....Neon Sign: I'm not protected, even a little bit...hack me!

RULE #2: Password protect all your login's. And make that password HARD to guess. easypassword.......h%ArD#5PaS$w0rd&&

Also, there was no virus protection software on this computer.

RULE #3: Buy (yes, buy) decent virus protection software and install it on your computer. Norton Anti-virus or McAfee are perfectly decent. AVG makes a good free product, as does TrendMicro.

Microsoft has a free spyware program...Defender.

RULE #4: Download and use Windows Defender. Who else knows Windows as well as Microsoft.

Summary

Surf wisely, and proactively protect your computer. It's a nasty world out there......be safe.

UPDATE

See this interesting article about what web domains are the most dangerous.

2008-06-02T15:18:00.000-07:00

OK, a few weeks ago, I signed up for LinkedIn. I entered a few bits of information and was invited by one person to join their network. I did nothing else.

At the time, I decided that LinkedIn was a grown-up version of Facebook or MySpace. Even though I have a MySpace page (go here) I have not taken that much further than just putting in links to this Blog and my Book Review Blog.

Well, today, I spent some time on LinkedIn and actually invited a few people to join my network. Funny thing is....apparently, many of them are now employees or former employees of Tel Bit Consulting. That being the case, I am sorry to inform you all that I will have to let you all go due to lack of funding. Sorry.

On the bright side, I found about 20 people I have known and worked with (or became friends with) in the past few years (and a few who started in this business so many years ago, I will not mention) who may still remember YeOldeTechy when I was YeYoungTechy. I invited them to join Tel Bit Consulting or Lawrence Berkeley National Lab.

Pretty cool. We will see how this evolves over time. It will actually be nice to hear from a few of the old old friends from way back.....if they accept.

Issues

LinkedIn needs to improve the invite usability, at least for me. I invited "colleagues", which to me means anyone I worked with while I was at LBL or now at Tel Bit Consulting. My good friend Ira called and gave me the low down on my mistake (he l-o-v-e-s doing that) and that he now works for Tel Bit Consulting........so I fired him. Hmmmm, that felt really good actually.

Conclusion

Go here to get LinkedIn....tell them YeOldeTechy sent you.

Here is an informative 9 minute YouTube video on How to Get Hired Using LinkedIn...hmmmm, I need to do this....

Telecommute to Survive I-5 Construction

2008-05-31T09:29:00.000-07:00

Overview of the Problem

Interstate 5 in Sacramento is due to be closed for construction over the next several weeks. Since I-5 is the major route to and from Sacramento this is going to cause major backups in and around the area.

I wrote an email to KCRA Channel 3 in Sacramento a few days ago stating that the word "telecommuting" is never mentioned. Hmmm, I must have missed this.

You know my feelings: Telecommuting is the way to go!

And don't just consider telecommuting when you have to (reactive), consider it all the time (proactive). Oh, yeah, Dave....I can set you up with VC on your patio easy as 3.14.

Be Proactive:

Save gas, save money, save the environment......Telecommute!

See all my Telecommuting articles here.

Virtual Work in the Year 2004

2008-05-29T05:25:00.000-07:00

This was originally published in August 1995 for the company that put on "TeleCon". The old timers in the industry should remember....the new folks....understand this: There were great times bringing this new technology we all know as videoconferencing into being.

Enjoy.

++++++

by Mike Pihlman
Published in Applied Business teleCommunications "View of the Desktop" Newsletter, 8/95

The year is 2004 and you are video-commuting from your beach front home in Malibu as part of Applied Business teleCommunications (ABC) Virtual Work Program.

7:45 AM. You just came in from your run on the beach. After showering, you put on your sweatsuit and start to enjoy your first mug of coffee as you sit down at your computer to check your video, voice, and electronic mail. You see that there will be a virtual meeting of the ABC staff at 10:00 AM to discuss the presentation you are giving at 1 PM to dignitaries at the National Press Conference in Washington D.C. At noon you and your friend of 15 years, who now lives in Hawaii, will be getting together for virtual lunch. At 2 PM, you are planning to connect to ABC's digital library to conduct research on holographic videoconferencing using Pacific Bell's new switched terabit telephone service.

8:35 AM: You check the interactive New York Times to catch up on the news. One article in particular catches your eye. It details the profitable relationship ABC and the cites in the Tri-Valley area have established because of "virtual work". Using the virtual work program, the magazine and the cities have collaborated to bring millions of 'Jobs" to the Livermore Valley, and have developed the worlds first 10 mile long walk-thru mall-and superconducting people carrier-on an abandoned stretch of 1-580. The Tri-Valley area is now called "Desktop Valley" and the number of people" virtually working" in the region outnumber those who live there by 10,000 fold. There is no air pollution and traffic jams are limited to occasional slow downs on the ATM 500 Gbps backbone.

9:00 AM: Petting your dog, you decide that it's time to see how things are going at the "office". You put on your work shirt, comb your hair, open the shutter on your camera, and drag your icon into the "Office" icon on your computer. By doing this, you electronically walk the halls of your office and as you "peek" into the offices you "see" who's in and who's not in HDTV quality video on your computer screen. Suddenly you "bump" into your supervisor who also happens to be checking to see who is "in". You both stop to chat for awhile and you notice her eyes are a bit bloodshot. She tells you she stayed up late last night to watch the Rolling Stones 40th anniversary concert on the Internet. Not seeing much action in the hallway, you decide to move your icon to the "virtual watercooler" and wait to see who else shows up. After all, this is where your team really gets most of it's work done. While you are waiting, you access CNN to catch up on the latest news and put the finishing touches on your presentation

9:30 AM: Your friend shows up at the "virtual watercooler". You chat with her for a while and "show" her the latest version of your presentation, she makes a few changes and you decide to go back to your office to practice your speech.

9:40 AM: You have finished practicing your presentation. Your computer "knocks" and you drag the icon of your secretary-who lives in New York-into your office icon. He discusses your physical trip to Chicago, but, has forgotten how to make reservations on the only airline still in existence-"Chat with Pat". You both "sit down" to figure this out together. After you make the arrangements, you call up the airline for directions to the airport, after all it has been 5 years since you have been there so you need to be refreshed on how to find the airport. They send you a map, and a video showing a virtual car drive from your house to the long term parking lot which is directly adjacent to the terminal building. You call your travel agent to reserve a car at your destination, and to see some of the hotels in the area. One hotel has a particularly nice exercise room and pool so you decide to book a room there. You have no problem getting a physical room, but all of the virtual rooms are booked. The travel agent sends you your ticket and bar-coded car key, for the laser keylock system, which you promptly print out.

10:05 AM: You drag your icon into your workplace's "meeting room" icon. As always you are a little late, so everyone looks at their computer clocks, in unison, to give you a hard time. Your partner is there from Kauai, your boss is there from Idaho, both of your team members from Wisconsin are there and there is even a live person in the meeting room who lives in Livermore. Her house is being painted today. You show them your presentation, and they make some minor changes. Everyone saves the presentation on their computers and you save the meeting video and audio for storage on the groups CD-ROM. Before, the meeting ends, you "give" everyone the article you read this morning in the Interactive New York Times.

Noon: You anxiously "knock" on your friends door and she opens her shutter. You have set up a "virtual Casa Orozco table" complete with "beer and chips". She shows you the video of her new house and then brings her handheld computer outside-using a 45 Mbps wireless video connection-and shows you around the house and grounds. She happens to be right on the beach and, in fact, heads there so she can eat lunch at the beach. The beach is very wide with pure fine sand, crystal clear blue water, and gently swaying palm trees. A background of green mountains shows you why she moved to "paradise" so many years ago. Renee tells you that the beach is the one used in the movie "South Pacific". After lunch you decide to get together again next Thursday, but this time, you'll be on your beach in Malibu.

12:45 PM: You put on your slippers, your "suit" top, and drag your icon into the "National Press Conference meeting room" icon. You see the audience as they are entering the auditorium, and you see your fellow dais mates. You sit and chat with them until it is time for the meeting to start. You give your presentation and everyone applauds your pioneering efforts. Glad to be "out of there", you decide to take a virtual driving tour of the U.S.A on your way back "home". You select the southem route which brings you thru Albuquerque where you decide to "visit" your friend Cindy and her daughter Erika. In a fit of nostalgia you take Route 66 to California while listening to Asleep at the Wheel sing "Route 66".

2 PM: You log into the digital library for some interesting research into holographic videoconferencing. You plan on implementing this at ABC as soon as the new terabit circuit is installed in your house. Should be week or two.

6 PM: You "leave" your office and decide to watch Monday night football. You access the direct satellite feed from your computer and display the video on the big screen in the family room. You can finally relax, change your shirt and sit down for a relaxing evening with Joe Montana and his broadcasting crew of Deion Sanders and George Foreman (the oldest heavyweight champion at 55 years of age).

6:30 PM: Suddenly in the corner of your screen is your daughter at the University of Kansas. She is having a problem with her homework and is calling to see if you can help. You interactively work with her from your remote control unit. After you are done, she shows you her new dorm room in McCollum Hall and you meet one of her "classmates". You are surprised to find out the he is from the same town in New York that you were bom in .... small world. Right then and there you decide that you have to make the time to access the latest multimedia clip from KU and see what changes they have made-with all that money from your alumni credit card-in the past ten years. It's been a long time since you've done your virtual "Memorial Run" through campus. Maybe tomorrow but right now.

6:55 PM: Back to the football game

CableCARD Agreement for Cable TV

2008-05-28T13:23:00.000-07:00

---News Flash--

Yesterday, Sony and many cable companies including: Comcast Corp., Time Warner Cable Inc., Cox Communications Inc., Charter Communications Inc., Cablevision Systems Corp. and Bright House Networks agreed to develop a cable card with the same capability and functionality as a set-top box. See this AP news article.

--End News Flash--

I have a cable card in my Sony HDTV. The best thing about it......it is free (perfect for a starving blogger and substitute teacher). I can receive all the channels including the HD channels. It works great...95% of the time. But, once a month or so, especially lately, I have to call Comcast to "reset" my card since many channels are no longer viewable ("Daaaad...CMT Pure is gone again"). Luckily they can reset the card remotely and in a few seconds, and for the next month, my card works perfectly.

I cannot participate in pay-for-view or other interactive services. I do not care. I have VUDU...who needs anything more?

The new CableCARD will be based on CableLABs "tru2way" java-based technology.

What does this mean to you?

No extra box. If you TV have a cable card slot (be sure you check when you buy a new TV), you just put the card in the slot (fork over $40 or so to the tech who does it) and you are good to go. No extra remote. A good thing in this day of proliferating remotes. Less items to dust.

Some questions remain.

Will my free cable card be replaced by a rental? If that happens...I will not like it. Will my cable card be rendered obsolete? When will this new card become available? Will my old Sony HDTV accept the new cable card? (Note: CableLABS on their cable card web page, see below, says it will be backward compatible...we will see.)

Summary

Over time, all the questions will be answered...in the meantime, I will sit tight and enjoy my HDTV with my current cable card and be prepared to call Comcast once a month.

Interesting Reading

Time Warner has a nice summary of their cable card offering here.
WikiPedia has a nice article here (and the pic I grabbed for this blog).
CableLABS home page, and more info than you could ever want on CableCARDS

I'll track this over time and add updates as necessary...

Personal Telepresence - The Original

2008-05-22T10:20:00.000-07:00

This Blog has moved....please read this entry here.

With all the hoopla about "Personal Telepresence", I dug up this 1994 video segment showing our "Personal Telepresence" concept of 1992 (see this link for the original abstract, or, if it still down this link, or this link for the whole paper). This is using the CLI Cameo which was the very first desktop videoconferencing system....enjoy.

Netbriefings Proclaim Works with WordPress

2008-05-21T13:20:00.001-07:00

I received an email from Netbriefings announcing that Proclaim (which I think is terrific) now allows a blogger using WordPress technology (this blog is not, as far as I know) to very easily record a Proclaim video/audio and presentation stream, save it, and post it on a blog.
Jeanneane Kloss from Netbriefings set me up with a demo account and walked me thru a recording session (see the above snapshot). Within two minutes we had a Proclaim recording on a blog!! Easy as 3.14.

This is very cool and very powerful. Extremely easy to accomplish.

As you know, I like to embed video's from YouTube to help explain concepts that are easier to see than read. I also embed photos from Adobe PhotoShop Express. I would dearly love to embed a Proclaim presentation on this blog. I can't do that yet, but, I'm sure that will happen.

Netbriefings has done a great job integrating streaming and blog technologies while keeping Proclaim intuitive and easy-to-use.

Netflix Introduces Streaming Video Player

2008-05-21T08:28:00.000-07:00

In all my years in a fledgling industry (videoconferencing) I have seen (and experienced first hand) my fair share of innovative companies that have, for one reason or another, flamed out.

The general trend is as follows: Great idea-->Lots of seed money-->Marketing Hype-->Success-->Failure to keep up with changing technology-->Market share loss-->Out of business. I can name some of the companies...but I won't.....the list is very long.

My point is: A company cannot rely on it's bread and butter forever, it must change to continue to thrive (hmmmm, this is why I am a starving blogger and not writing paper "white papers" for gobs of money, what a fool....oh well).

Netflix found their niche. You order a movie, they mail a DVD to your house, you watch it, and send it back. Simple and efficient. But, the end of that model of video delivery is close at hand (and also the need to drive to a store to pick up a DVD).

In the not too distant future, video will be delivered by the Internet (or via cable) using streaming video technology. No doubt that this will happen, it will just be a matter of time.

Yesterday, Netflix announced the availability of a streaming box. This box will cost about $100, will connect to the Internet and your television, and will be able to download movies from a vast collection of Netflix movies, via the Internet, which you can watch on your TV.

Netflix has seen the future, they have admitted they they need to embrace it, and is doing the right thing to stay ahead! Bravo.

The Netflix box is not the first on the market. It is similar to VUDU (which I have reviewed and used extensively, and love), and Apple TV (which, I believe, was first). This technology is still in it's infancy....over time the players will shake out and new brash start-ups will arrive. To survive....innovation must survive in these companies, and I have no doubt that the companies now involved will continue to innovate.

YeOldeTechy says: Pretty soon (a few years at most) DVD's will become a thing of the past, the life of Blu-Ray will not be as long as the standard DVD technology was, going to a store to rent a movie, or getting a movie in the mail, will ALL be put into a time capsule as examples of the way things used to be. Move over 8 track tapes and H.320 videoconferencing here comes DVD.

Adobe PhotoShop Express, Part 2

2008-05-20T16:10:00.000-07:00

OK, this is so cool I had to show it here.

One of my minor hobbies, other than reading and running, is taking photos around our yard, Tracy, and the surrounding area.

We live in a beautiful part of the country where it is green in the winter and brown in the summer. 2 hours (or less) gets us to the Pacific Ocean, Yosemite National Park, Monterey/Carmel, Napa/Sonoma or San Francisco.

Here are some pictures I grabbed from my flickr account and made into a gallery on Adobe PhotoShop Express. To test this further, I also posted this gallery on my main web site:

ﾠ

If you want to try Adobe PhotoShop Express go here....I love it, and it is getting better and better.

GoToMeeting Review

2008-05-19T15:34:00.000-07:00

Rating: 3.5 WaterTowers

This Blog has moved....please read this entry here.

I have been seeing ads in magazines and on TV touting the virtues of GoToMeeting. Being the curious type, I went to the web site to download and try the free demo. Unfortunately, when I filled out the form they asked for my credit card information….no way. Not that they would get anything from a starving blogger, but, blindly giving credit card information is not something I do. I sent them an email stating this fact.

A few days later, I received an email with a link to the truly free demo version and I promptly installed GoToMeeting. This review is based on GoToMeeting version 3.0 build 198.

YeOldeTechy’s Minimum Requirements for Web Conferencing

I have previously reviewed WebEx (link here) and in that blog I listed what I thought are the minimum requirements for a modern web conferencing application. Here is that list.

Meet with at least 5 people at the same time.
Schedule an “immediate” (Ad-Hoc) meeting or a future meeting with a full complement of recurring meeting options
Alert participants via email and then email the participants reminders
Talk to participants via VoIP (Voice over IP)
Share a PowerPoint Presentation (or other application)
Share your desktop
Use a Whiteboard
A chat capability that allows private and public communication during the meeting
Hand-off control of the meeting to another participant
Select a full-screen view
See the other participants via video (point-to-point at least, multipoint preferred)

Really quickly here is how GoToMeeting meets the requirements put forth in that list:

Yes
Yes, but….it does not have a full featured recurring meeting option.
Yes, but..…it uses your email application and it relies on your email application to send reminders. If your application does not have an automatic reminder capability, you must manually send reminders.
No
Yes
Yes
No....but, it has drawing tools that you can with any application, even a blank sheet.
Yes
Yes
Yes
No

GoToMeeting is data / presentation oriented. It provides an audio bridge, but, does not have a video bridge, that I can determine. The area code for the audio bridge is 702 (Las Vegas area).

Ease-of-Use

Very easy to use with only a few minor intuitive user issues.

Preliminary Information

After installation, GoToMeeting places an icon in the system tray and also a shortcut on your desktop. Clicking on the icon you are asked for your login (my email) and password (really hard password). Once this information is entered correctly, the following screen is displayed.

You can move the panes around to suit your needs. Pretty cool. For example you can grab the “Attendee List” and move it down to under the “Invite Others” pane. Cool. You can also change the color of the display and there are many other “preferences”.

Since I use Thunderbird as my default email application, I was particularly interested to see if I could use it rather than Outlook. This preference screen allowed me to select my default email application:

Works for me.

In the recording preferences, you can record audio (at least yours) in either a GoToMeeting format or in WMV format (Windows Media). Hmmm, since this only recorded my voice, I did not play with this in this evaluation. A much better solution would have been to record my voice and my presentation.

The top arrows close the main panel leaving only this small panel which can be moved around to get it out of the way of any presentations. “Off Air” means I am not sharing anything. By clicking the arrow under those words I can change that setting to "On Air" which means you are sharing your desktop or application with the meeting participants.

The grid icon allows you to hand keyboard and mouse control to another attendee, and the grayed out icon becomes active when a real meeting is underway and other “Presenters” are available to present.

There are drawing tools available by clicking on the yellow marker. The choices in the menu include: normal drawing mode, pen, highlighter, spotlight, arrow, erase all drawings, and attendees can draw.

Ok, enough preliminaries…let’s see what we need to do to fire up two types of meetings…one scheduled and the other instant (or ad-hoc).

Schedule a Meeting and Email Invitations

Once the main control panel display was up, I did not see a away to schedule a meeting. Accessing the “Help” feature (which is very helpful) I discovered that I had to right click on the icon in the system tray to access this feature. Hmmm, as much as I use Windows, right clicking is still not intuitive for me. But…it is ok once you know what to do.

What is interesting is that I was already in a meeting….GoToMeeting, as it turns out, fires up a meeting when it is turned on. My meeting ID was 332-599-238 and it changes for each meeting.

As I was scheduling the meeting I clicked on recurring meeting. This popped up:

Apparently, GoToMeeting relies on Outlook to remind participants of recurrences. And the recurrence features found in more robust web conferencing tools is not apparent.

Scheduling a meeting for Tuesday the 20^th.

Click on “schedule” button.

Clicking “ok” pulls up my Thunderbird email application and inserts the wording to be used.

Unfortunately, this is not easily read by the recipient. I needed to modify the email message to make it easier to read. GoToMeeting did not insert paragraphs and it repeated the message twice. I wonder if this is just on Thunderbird?

Once modified the outgoing email is much easier to read….I entered the participants in the To: field and sent this off.

Note: If you are in charge of setting up many meetings, this process could become cumbersome and time consuming. But for occasional meetings this is not a big problem. This might be an area for GoToMeeting to investigate and fix.

You can check your meetings (again using the right click trick in the icon in the tray).

From this page you can invite more people, or change the meeting. You can also schedule a new meeting.

Right clicking on that icon allows you to fire up an instant meeting as well.

Ad-Hoc Instant Meeting

Since I already have GoToMeeting working, there is a meeting going on already. To meet with someone, you have instructions for three different invite options:

Call them by phone
Write an email
Copy/paste (and then send them an email)

The three options are pictured below.

I prefer email, but I once again had to modify the message to make it more readable.

Attending the Meeting

Attending the meeting is as easy as clicking on the link in the email or following the directions above. You do not need to have GoToMeeting to attend a meeting, but, you have to allow Citrix permissions. Once that is done the process is finished and you are in the meeting in less than 30 seconds. Very nice.

When you first join the meeting, and the presenter has yet to start, you see this screen.

Your attendees list shows who is in the meeting and what roles they play.

You can chat with either the presenter, the organizer, the entire audience, or Mike (the only other participant in this meeting). You also have an option to view the presentation (or remote computer screen) in full-screen mode. This is very handy for some people.

When the organizer / presenter is ready to start the meeting or presentation. Each of the participants sees a very high quality representation of the computer screen or presentation.

(click to enlarge)

The organizer / presenter can type in the word document while the viewers watch the letters appear in near real time. Very nice.

GoToMeeting does not support true application sharing, where any meeting participant can change the document, but, the presenter can solicit input and make the changes. There is no file transfer, so the final doc must be emailed to everyone.

If you want to share a PowerPoint presentation simply choose the application you want to share from the “Show My Screen” pulldown.

Once that is done the remote viewers can see the presentation. The quality is amazing and GoToMeeting displays nearly the full animation in PowerPoint. The only thing GoToMeeting does not catch is animation that is done right after the slide changes. So, although you can use animation, be sure you design it such that it occurs a bit more slowly, or there is a slight pause before starting.

Note: Once I stopped showing the presentation I could not get GoToMeeting to show up on my desktop again. It was in the system tray but there was no ability to restore it or get it to show. After some struggle I realized that the main display was minimized to the smaller window. Once I clicked to enlarge it, it reappeared!

The organizer / presenter can make another person a presenter. The meeting participant see the following screen until the new presenter shares their desktop or presentation.

In this meeting, TracyReaderDad (me!) decided to show his screen and the meeting participants saw this:

Very cool.

Other Features

You can record a meeting, but, only the audio from one person. It would be really nice to record the presentation and the audio…..but alas….

You can highlight any portion of the document (see the above screen shot) and there is a spotlight capability that allows you to show people were you are. Similarly, there is an arrow capability that you can click on to show your previous point (in brown) and where you are looking now (in gray).

Problems / Weaknesses / Suggestions

No technical problems on my Toshiba Windows XP laptop. Installation was a breeze and the application runs smoothly.

I encountered only a two minor intuitive issues concerning usage. I am not fond of right clicking (but I may get used to it) to set up a scheduled meeting (and access other features), and I forgot that my control panel was minimized causing me to almost end the current meeting prematurely. It would be nice if there was a reminder. For example, the system tray information could have told me that….”Hey, stupid, you are minimized”. That would have been helpful!

Integrated VoIP would be better than calling an audio bridge (cheaper), and videoconferencing is needed.

YeOldeTechy says: You can always use separate applications, but, it is really nice (handy, time saving, etc) to have a fully-integrated app that does it all.

The record capability should be able to record both the presentation and audio from the presenter, as it is, it only records the audio.

The email formatting into Thunderbird is lacking requiring me to reformat the outgoing email before I could send it.

No embedded file transfer capability. Documents have to be sent via email.

No application sharing. One person must be in charge of changing and saving the collaborative document. Then sending the final to all the participants.

Lacking full support for Mac and Linux users.

Strengths

Easy to use. Very high quality data presentation. Very responsive. It grabbed most of the animations on my PowerPoint presentation. It worked fine with Firefox and the new version of PowerPoint.

I like the fact that I can add information to the email such as “Connect by video using ooVoo, call “YeOldeTechy”.

Versions, Cost and Support

There are several versions of GoToMeeting. The version I tested was the lowest common denominator, GoToMeeting where I can host up to 15 people in a meeting. Next up in functionality is GoToMeeting Webinar which adds the ability to conduct a Webinar for up to 1,000 viewers. The top of the line GoToMeeting Corporate gives you: the ability to meet with 25 people, reporting and statistics, and the ability to centrally manage other “organizer” accounts.

Note: I will update this with pricing when I hear back from GoToMeeting.

24x7 support is available via the web, email, or toll free telephone with offices located in several cities around the world.

Summary

GoToMeeting’s data collaboration features are easy to use, very high quality, and very responsive. You can work on a document in near real time and GoToMeeting displays almost all of the animations you can put in PowerPoint. It has chat, markup, and other features that make it ideal for sharing your desktop, giving a remote presentation, or working remotely with colleagues on any kind of document or application.

GoToMeeting relies on your email application for email notifications and reminders (not a bad thing by the way, why reinvent the wheel) but it lacks file transfer and application sharing capabilities. It is also lacks full integration of two tools that YeOldeTechy considers to be web conferencing requirements in 2008 and beyond: VoIP and IP video.

Overall, GoToMeeting is a solid, high-quality, product if data collaboration / presentations are important to you.

Personal Telepresence

2008-05-15T08:43:00.000-07:00

Update:

See this video of our Personal Telepresence concept of 16 years ago...

End Update

How interesting is this news from Cisco? Very.

If you want to see my 14 year old definition (actually it is 16 years old, and I believe I may be the first person to "coin" this term) of Personal Telepresence......see this link.

YeOldeTechy says: This is a move in the right direction, but, more movement is needed.

Personal Telepresence should be available to everyone and should provide that person with the ability to meet (as if you were in the same location) with anyone, anytime, from anywhere.

Telecommuting: Crossing the Threshold to Work, Part 4

2008-05-14T07:03:00.000-07:00

Part 4: Telecommute!!

This article was published in the Tracy Press

Gas is nearly $4.00 a gallon. Traffic is horrendous. Now is the perfect time to start telecommuting.

You probably have all the technology you need: A telephone, a computer with all the required applications, and Internet connectivity. In the old days, putting all this together was difficult. Not anymore. Now everyone can be fully connected 24x7.

The options for telecommute locations have also expanded. In the old days, you worked at home. Period. Now you can work from home, the airport, the train, a hotel, Barnes & Noble, Starbucks, McDonalds, or from a TeleWork Center (which Tracy does not have..….yet). Cell phones, text messaging, instant messaging (IM), email, and the availability of WiFi hot spots make staying connected a snap.

In addition, advanced applications are now available that allow you to communicate with your remote colleagues as easy as if you were in the same physical location.

You can share your computer, give a presentation, or work interactively on any document, drawing, or program with products and services such as WebEx (www.webex.com), Glance (www.glance.net), GoToMeeting (www.gotomeeting.com). There are many more but I need to keep this article within 500 words. J I have used Glance and WebEx (and evaluated WebEx on my YeOldeTechy Blog). They are great.

If your boss is an OFB (old fashioned boss) and wants to “see the whites of your eyes”, you can videoconference. Free videoconferencing is available….. all you need is a web cam. ooVoo is one such service (www.ooVoo.com) that allows you to meet with several of your colleagues, exchange files, and chat via IM. See the picture of yours truly talking with friends in Chicago and Paris.

Other, standards-based (H.323 over the Internet), videoconferencing (VC) products for your desktop or laptop computer include Mirial Softphone (www.mirial.com ) and Polycom PVX (www.polycom.com) . I have tested videoconferencing from McDonalds, Barnes & Noble, and Starbucks. It works great! Of course there are more advanced (and expensive) VC products for your home or office (using your DSL or cable Internet connection) from vendors such as Polycom, Tandberg (www.tandbergusa.com), Lifesize (www.lifesize.com ), and, the ubiquitous, Cisco (www.cisco.com). No more excuses that if you are not seen you are not working….now you can be seen.

The old concept of TeleWork Centers in your neighborhood never took off. However, modern versions of this concept are popping up. These centers provide (for a low monthly fee) WiFi access, videoconferencing, a conference room, and casual (or more formal) work areas for the commuter who wants to spend a day or two a week closer to home. You may need a group to meet and work. Rather than everyone meeting at Starbucks, a TeleWork Center may make more sense.

The world is changing. Save gas, save money, save time, save the environment. Stay connected and see your colleagues and boss (make sure they are working too!)….telecommute.

LifeSize H.323 HD Videoconferencing System Demo

2008-05-11T11:22:00.000-07:00

Times have changed. Just a few years ago, YeOldeTechy was pushing the state-of-the art (and enduring the criticisms of those with limited vision) with IP videoconferencing from a trade show. This video (8 minutes long) shows an interview between Matt Hamblen at ComputerWorld and Craig Malloy CEO of LifeSize. (The complete article is here.)

Before you leave this Blog.

Here is the great stuff (and they seem to be apologetic on the video of it...don't apologize....this is how VC should be used....a useful tool that can be used from anywhere to anyone at anytime):

a. This is high definition videoconferencing over the public Internet. (Wow!)
b. The audio is terrific considering it is on the trade show floor (believe me I know how hard this is)
c. The lighting is less than perfect and the video quality is again terrific. (Lighting is not always going to be perfect...it is the collaboration that counts.)

Soap Box

With gas prices soaring and plane travel becoming more and more of a hassle....Telecommuting / TeleWork should be on the rise after years of wallowing. This technology (from any manufacturer) can be used, and should be used, to enable telecommuting!

The world needs to change....it is time.

End Soap Box

I sure wish I could embed the video......oh well, I'll see if it is on YouTube and update this if I find it.

Polycom PVX Update

2008-05-07T16:17:00.000-07:00

This Blog has moved...please read this entry here.

I had been hearing news (rumors) of the demise of the Polycom PVX H.323 desktop videoconferencing application. And I was disappointed (see my review of the PVX here).

I finally took the time to talk to someone from Polycom, Terri Gott, Senior Systems Engineer at Polycom and in the following email exchange learned some very good news....very good news indeed.

I asked: I hear rumors that PVX is no longer being supported. What is the real story?

Terri answered: PVX is still a fully supported application by Polycom. There are no current plans to “end-of-life” the product.

I asked: Can I download the latest version on my XP machine? Will it work as well on XP as it does on Vista? If you are moving forward with PVX....what about a Mac version?

Terri answered: The current version, PVX v8.02, will work with XP. There is also a controlled release, PVX v8.04, that will work with dual core processors and 32-bit Vista. Please read the Release Notes prior to installation. This release is available at the following url:

(I have not released this until given the OK)

Any v8.x license will work with this release. Unfortunately, there are no plans to support a version for the Mac.

YeOldeTechy Tried Version 8.04

Terri warned me to read the instructions before I downloaded and tried to install 8.0.4. I sort of listened. I read that 8.0.4 works on Windows Media Center 2005 as well as plain vanilla Windows XP.

Looking at the above picture, my Toshiba Laptop is running Windows Media Center 2002. Rats! I'll need to think of an alternative. Ahhhhhhh....but do you believe everything you read (other than in this Blog)? NO! Digging deeper, I looked at my list of Windows Updates

There it shows that my Windows Media Center has been updated to Media Center 5 via the updates. Yahoo! (that was a plug for my web site provider).

Anyway....I installed Polycom PVX 8.0.4 which has a new set of admin windows (not sure these are any better than the old, but, they look cleaner) and has a feature that allows optimum operation with a Dual-Core processer...which I have.

I need to compare this performance result (while I was in a call with the Codian) with the Mirial softphone. I'll grab that soon and post it here. I can't see where the dual processor capability saves me, but, this is only one simple test....

Result

No problems.....the installation went flawlessly, my old license was recognized automatically, and I called the Codian in the public domain easy as 3.14. I fired up H.239 and that worked fine.

The video quality may be a notch below the Mirial Softphone, but, it is H.323 compatible, works on your desktop computer (where it should be to be truly a useful tool), does H.239 (data) and it keeps on working. An old friend.

Conclusion

Do not listen to everything your hear or read (except on this Blog). Polycom is supporting the PVX and is moving forward. Great news Polycom! But....you need a Mac version now!

I only have one question: Why is it so hard to find the links to the latest software?

You (Polycom) should be marketing the living daylights out of this product (and, Mirial should be doing the same for the Softphone). You need to break away from the corporate C level executive and lure the average corporate (University, or Govt Organization) person (engineer, technicians, administrator, etc) to use DESKTOP videoconferencing which is, in my (not so) humble opinion, is infinitely more useful than "telepresence", and way cheaper.

Thank you Terri for all your help!

Using the RSS Feed

2008-04-30T17:17:00.000-07:00

If you watch for new entries on this blog try using the RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feed option to keep you informed.

Since I do not update this blog as often as other bloggers who may have help, it would be more efficient for you to know when I make changes, so you can save time by checking the blog only when necessary.

What is really cool is that I can plop a very nice RSS feed display on my Yahoo Home Page. This is sweet. So now, every time I log in to my Home Page, I will know when I made a change to my blog.....hmmm, that is not useful. Ah...this may be more useful: I went to KPIX Channel 5 in San Francisco and grabbed the "local news". Now I can see what is happening in the Bay Area right on my home page....much better.

Browse around the Internet to see what web pages have the RSS symbol. Some TV news channels have it, some do not, some newspapers have it, the Tracy Press has it but it is a bit hard to find....look to the right hand side of the main page. I now have subscribed to "Local News".

Here is where the RSS feed symbol shows up on Firefox (my preferred browser).

You can click on the pictures to enlarge them....

And here is where it shows up in Internet Exploder.

Here is an example of the choices you may get when you click on this symbol. Since I have Yahoo for my home page, I selected Yahoo as my option.

The links take you to the blog or you can just read it here. Note: I cannot see the entire set of blogs from this page. If you want to check out all of my outstanding entries you will have to go to the Blog itself.

Here is what one of my home pages looks like with my TracyReaderDad Book Review blog embedded. Pretty cool.

Give it a try.....grab an RSS feed of this Blog!

Digital TV Converter Installation

2008-04-27T09:55:00.000-07:00

This Blog has moved....please read this entry here.

Prologue

It is Halloween and I have set up my candy delivery station in the driveway. The station includes pumpkins, our dog dressed up in his Halloween costume, several well placed boxes to be used as tables, blankets, several layers of clothing, and, most importantly, my 30 year old TV so I can watch TV while delivering candy to the dwindling number of monsters, super heroes, cowboys and cowgirls, fairies, and walking dead coming by our neighborhood.

This Halloween, I’ll be golden, but, in 2009, my (then 32 year old TV) will need help decoding the new digital TV signal.

But....like a good Boy Scout / Navy Veteran….I am prepared, now, to continue my TV watching at Halloween. My TV is ready for the switch to digital!

Digital TV Conversion

As described in previous blogs and in the Tracy Press. Feb 2009 will see a dramatic change in the way the TV signal will be delivered to your television. It will be digital. This means that older televisions that do not have a "digital tuner" and that use an external antenna or rabbit ears will no longer be able receive the signal. To keep as many people as possible connected, the Government has a program in place that provides a solution. That solution includes a specially designed digital converter box that, when placed between your antenna and TV will allow you keep watching your favorite shows after the switch (and, as it turns, out before the conversion as well...like now!).

Contents of the Box: Converter Box, 3 foot long coax cable, remote, batteries for remote, a quick start guide, a user manual.

Back connections of the converter box

Result Summary

So you do not have to suffer thru the details if you do not want to, here is what I found out.

Stations in our area (Sacramento stations) are transmitting digital TV signals.
I get marginal reception in Tracy, CA with my rabbit ears. This means I get digital TV reception, but, it is not strong and I need to move the antenna around as I change channels. If you have a rooftop antenna….YeOldeTechy will go out on a limb and say that that antenna should work fine in the Tracy area, since it is much better than the rabbit ears I am using.
I get more stations than I have ever gotten on my 30 year old TV! Channels that transmit in digital send multiple channels so I have more options. For example, KCRA transmits 2 channels and I can also call up a TV Guide for each channel...how cool is that!
When I get a strong enough signal (the signal strength meter has to be “orange” to get a picture), the picture is the best I have ever seen on my 30 year old TV!
I had a problem with the “auto sync” with the DigitalStream converter box during installation. You may or may not see this problem.

Advice

OK, if you were to ask me my opinion on what you should do to prepare, here is my best advice.

If you can afford cable or satellite TV service…..get it.
If you can afford to buy a new TV with a digital tuner included….do it.
If you really want to keep your rooftop antenna ….make sure it is in good shape and the received signal is strong
If you use rabbit ears and live in Tracy, CA…..switch to a rooftop antenna. We are in a marginal zone being between 40 and 60 miles from the antennas in Sacramento.

The digital converter box is a solution, but it is not an ideal solution. It adds complexity that you may not want. You need deal with yet another remote control, it adds wires and a box to the top of your TV, there is a new set of menus to go through, you may experience installation issues, and you may have reception issues. If your antenna is marginal now……it won’t work for the digital signal. The digital signal is either very good or it is breaking up badly or gone, there is no tweaking this box to find the best picture.

Cost

In January 2008, I applied for the Gov’t issued $40 digital TV converter coupon that allowed me to get $40 off the converter box. Radio Shack on 11th Street took this coupon and charged me $20 (well.....$19.99) for the converter box. If I did not have the 30 year old TV, all I would have needed to spend was that $20. However, since my 30 year old has other obsolete technology associated with it my total cost, to make everything work, was $53.00.

Ouch. I can buy a new small, non-HDTV, with a digital tuner at Best Buy for less than $100.00.

The Basics and Installation

I have two TV’s that would need a converter. My trusty Halloween partner and a newer 1996 TV I got for free after I bought something at Fry’s 12 years ago.

My 30 year old TV has internal rabbit ears and twin wire antenna connections. See the picture to see what the twin wire looks like.

Antenna connection for "30"

Since the digital TV converter box is based on the newer coax connector technology (see picture below of my newer TV, "1996"), I had to do some conversions to make the connection work on my 30 year old TV.

Antenna connection for "1996"

Here what I needed to do to make “30” work.

Disconnect the rabbit ears from the TV’s input.
Insert one end of a male-to-male coax adapter into a matching transformer.
Connect one end of a short coax cable to the exposed part of the adapter.
Connect the other end of that coax cable to the Converter Box “Antenna In” connector.
Connect one end of another short coax cable to the “TV Out” connector of the converter box.
Connect another matching transformer to the free end of that short coax cable.
Screw the matching transformer tips into the TV input terminals.

Increasing wire mess

Final look

After this was complete, I was rewarded with a "Welcome" screen from the digital converter box. You could, using the remote control, select the language (English or Espanol), then move to the next screen and run an “auto scan” to find the digital signals. I found ZERO stations.

Yikes!

I then spent the next 30 to 45 minutes testing every part of my installation…all was fine. I turned off the converter box and then got a “Weak Signal” error message. Arrrghhh. I finally was able to get into the “Menu” where, after a few more minutes figuring out how to navigate through it, I ran another “auto scan”. Finally, that one worked…Yippee…..and the digital TV converter box started to find TV channels. Whew. See the picture of Dirk Verdoorn from KCRA Channel 3 below.

Screen shot

Okay…..was this worth all the extra cost and effort??? Not really.

Would I pay someone to do this for me, if I were technologically challenged??? No, I would buy a new TV for $100 or so.

Here is the installation process for my newer 1996 TV with the coax antenna connector:

Connect the included coax cable from the converter box “TV out” into the coax connector on newer TV.
Connect my new $19.00 rabbit ears antenna (which works terribly by the way) into the converter boxes “Antenna In” connector.

Is this worth the effort? Yes…but now I have that extra remote control and a box sitting on top of the TV, and a badly operating pair of rabbit ears on top of all that.

Moral of the Story: If you have a really really old TV….time to buy a new one. If you have a newer TV, you can spend the $20 on the converter box and have a decent experience…maybe.

Summary

Transitions to new technologies are not easy. I know from experience as an engineer when we transitioned customers to IP videoconferencing and many years ago to ISDN. It took a year, or more, to get everything right. The digital TV conversion is a much larger scale…..so the issues are, and will be, daunting.

Is the switch to digital needed? Yes.

Will it be “painful” to some customers? Yes.

Is the digital TV converter box solution ideal? No.

Does the converter box solve the problem it was intended to solve? Yes.

UPDATE Nov 3 2008: Here is a great video that just came to my attention....enjoy:

Tandberg Experia Telepresence

2008-04-21T14:54:00.000-07:00

OK, this was an interesting day.

I took a trip to Pleasanton, CA (after all the traffic was gone) and met with an old friend, Mark.

He showed me Tandberg's "Experia" Telepresence videoconferencing system.

Now....you may know my feelings about Telepresence, and you may be surprised to read this about Experia: Wow!

As you can see from the pictures, Experia is very appealing to the eye. There is a very nice curved wooden conference table (with nicely embedded microphones) facing four large screen monitors with cameras mounted on top of each of the three main monitors.

When making a call, the monitor on the bottom kicks in first. The Experia system then handshakes with the called endpoint so they can share their respective capabilities. Once this is complete, the video moves up to the top middle.

After the handshaking, the two systems could have decided on one of three call options:

Experia to Experia
Experia to H.323
Experia to SIP

Even though the video and audio quality of telepresence systems is second to none, I believe the ability to interoperate with H.323 (and SIP) is the most important aspect of Experia and a big Bravo to Tandberg for designing in H.323 (and SIP) interoperabilty!

The pictures below show the connections (in 720p high definition) we made in this very quick demo.

On the top left is Dallas, in the middle are two sun deprived dummies (no offense ) in Oslo, and on the top right is Irvine, CA. The bottom shows a the document camera.

YeOldeTechy says: OK, Telepresence, done right, is a good thing. Interoperability is the key.

The next two pictures show the same connections on the top monitors, but, now showing other endpoints connected via the Codian MCU using H.323. Very cool.

In my past life at ESnet, people could easily call into the Codian from their cell phone if need be. With Experia, a person can be on a train and call into a Telepresence meeting.

Have I said this before? Interoperability is the key.

Speaking of interoperability, I jogged over to the H.323 system and took this last picture from an H.323 endpoint perspective. In this I was able to change the layout simply by pressing the "layout" button on the remote control, very easy.

There is a controller that is wall mounted, but, able to be taken off and, via a wireless connection, allows you control the entire system. In normal operation, the call would be established and the meeting held (never removing the controller). In our case, Mark was showing various options, so he took it off the wall.

Here is a nice marketing piece from Tandberg.

Summary

This was an interesting day indeed. I now see very much more clearly how Telepresence and desktop systems can work together. Very nice and very cool.

Tandberg Experia is a great tool done right! I have new respect for "Telepresence" and how it can be used in a corporate environment.

Suggestion to Tandberg: A moving clock on the walls would be cool....

Review of Mirial Softphone

2008-04-16T19:56:00.000-07:00

Rating: 4 WaterTowers

This Blog has moved...please read this entry here.

Mirial Softphone came to my attention a little over a month ago. At that time, I grabbed a 1 month free demo license and ran it through some initial tests. I encountered some system glitches with that version. These problems did not cause major problems, but, further testing was halted due to other reasons.....until today.

Today, I un-installed the older version of Mirial Softphone and received permission from Mirial to fire up another month long demo session, this time with Version 6.0.4. I quickly discovered that this version was more reliable than the old one. In fact, I have yet to receive any errors. Progress!

Soooooo, the remainder of this blog entry gives you a very quick overview of perhaps the best desktop videoconferencing system available today. By that I mean: Mirial Softphone is one of the very few desktop videoconferencing applications that is currently being supported and updated. It works both as an H.323 and SIP endpoint and, as a bonus, it supports 720p high definition……from your desktop!

YeOldeTechy says: See…Telepresence to the desktop is something that can happen!

Installation

Installation was a breeze.

Simply go to the Mirial Web Site and fill out the form. A few seconds later (maybe it was that fast since someone knew I was going to fill out the form?) I received an email with another link where I could download the executable file.

Clicking on the executable, the installation proceeded without problem. Note: I had that older version up and running a month ago and even though I un-installed that version my settings remained intact, and the new version loaded them. This actually saved me time….a good thing.

A couple of interesting issues: In the old version I had to turn on H.224 in the configuration for the audio to come through my laptop’s speakers. And this time, I remembered to plug in my Logitech 4000 web cam BEFORE starting up the Mirial. A month ago, I plugged it in after turning on the Mirial and Mirial did not see it until I restarted the application.

That aside, once the installation finished I was rewarded with my handsome, happy, mug.

I then double clicked on the “Last Call” button (on the top right) to see if the old call settings would still work. Sure enough, I was connected to the Codian MCU at IP address 12.129.244.193 just like a month ago.

Very cool…..and the audio quality is excellent.

One nice feature is that from this point on, I could maneuver around the Codian (which requires Far End Camera Control) by clicking the right, left, up, down arrows on the Laptop. Sweeet.

I hit the right arrow to start a new conference. I then noticed that I could enter the conference number from my Laptop as well as from the dial-pad. NOTE: I could NOT enter the # sign from my Laptop, I had to use the dial-pad on the Mirial to do that. Not sure if this is a bug or intended….I can ask Mirial.

Once I was connected to a new conference, the video and audio quality were excellent. This video does not show how good the video was but it does give you a feel of how the H.323 connection worked over my DSL line.

Configuration

Let’s take a step back and look at some of the configuration options available in the Mirial Softphone. As you can see the tabs include settings for: General, Video, Audio, Codecs, Network, SIP, H.323 and About. "About" is the Mirial version information, in case you were wondering.

One of the options for Graphics Processing is OpenGL. A quick Google tells me that OpenGL is a 2D and 3D graphical applications programming interface (API)….hmmm, ok, whatever. It works, that is all I care about. The other option is Direct3D.

It is most interesting to look at the codec’s available. Notice that 720p high definition is one option, and one that I did not select since I am working only on a lowly laptop computer. However, I did try it, but, did not see a difference connecting to the Codian. Remember, I am limited at home with a Toshiba laptop, a web cam, and my trusty DSL line with 384 kbps upstream. I did not expect to get HD….but it was worth a try.

The other settings are pretty standard. In the H.323 section, I was able to give myself an H.323 alias: mike@telbitconsulting.com and an E.164 number: 2004. I then registered with the Ohio State University "Free Love" Gatekeeper and Mirial was able to make calls via the GK, or via IP address, after being connected to Free Love.

YeOldeTechy says: Mirial works great alone or with existing corporate videoconferencing infrastructure. Cool!

Meeting with People

I sent an email to several folks to see if they could meet me at the Codian. My friend, Ckristian, near Milan, Italy responded. He was on the Codian (his endpoint was a Lifesize) in the demo area along with Tandberg employee, Nicole, who is located all of 30 miles from my house (her endpoint was a Tandberg 1700). My buddy Mark was out and about today.

The picture shows the three of us having a laugh.

But the important things to remember are:

We had a connection from halfway around the world over the public Internet (for those of us old timers, this was a mere dream just a few short years ago)
The video and audio quality from both of my colleagues was terrific even though I was told my audio was not so good (my fault….I will use a headset and mic next time).
The picture below shows, what YeOldeTechy thinks is one of the most important features: H.239 data collaboration. Nicole fired up H.239 and showed us both a slide from Codian.

Notice the quality. This is better than I have seen with H.239. Great job, Mirial! Also, I could change the size of the display to fit my screen, and I could move it around. The next pic (from my digital camera) is kind of crummy, but it shows the layout I had for this part of the call.

You can see I had disconnected my near end video from the body of the Mirial. You can move this around to any location that suits your needs.

From last month, I grabbed the screen shot below of the presentation sharing menu. To share one of the open applications, all you need to do is click on the application you want to share. Easy as 3.14. One thing I had to get used to: To get rid of the open window you click on the icon that opened it. It toggles. This is confusing until you figure it out, then you understand how nice that is, even though it is anti-Windows intuitive (I look for X’s to close the open window).

Additional Features

The feature list is really long so I will only give you the highlights. If you want to delve into the full list visit the Mirial Softphone Web site.

The Mirial can act as an MCU by connecting more than one endpoint. It can work as a SIP endpoint as well as an H.323 endpoint. It can display video in full-screen mode. You can load contacts with a ton of information and by double clicking on that contact you can call them. You can mute the microphone. You can view call stats (by pressing "s" when the call is in progress) and there is a call log.

And if that is not enough, the Mirial Softphone works with Mirial developed infrastructure to provide not only stand-alone operation like I am using it, but, also work well in a managed corporate environment.

I believe it will support Mac soon? I will verify that. What about Linux?

This is an update (I needed a little help): I was able to find the video I had recorded. There is a built in VCR capability that allows you to view any of the recordings. The quality is very high and includes H.239. Extremely powerful. Here is a very short video showing the Mirial recording capability (this was exported to Windows Media..very cool).

Whew!

Limitations

I hear my Laptop struggling a bit when Mirial is in a call. But, on the bright side, I did not notice a significant drop in performance of Word, Email, etc.

I would like to easily increase the size of the standard window. I could not find the pull point to increase it. As it is, I am stuck with the form factor and size you see pictured in this blog, or, full screen (which I hate, by the way, unless I am just watching a meeting).

Summary

I have given you a brief understanding of the Mirial Softphone. This is a terrific application that deserves to be noticed. In my old world, ESnet, our desktop users outnumbered room users so this application could be a huge hit there (especially if it worked on Mac and Linux). Corporations, I believe, are still tied to the rooms…too bad, since true collaboration means anyone, anytime, anywhere.

I suspect that whatever bugs may still exist will be terminated in short order.

Mirial rocks! If you need a standards based videoconferencing system that works from anywhere while interoperating with your companies existing videoconferencing infrastructure...Mirial Softphone is a great choice!

Digital TV Conversion Coupon

2008-04-09T10:28:00.000-07:00

I applied for my Digital TV conversion coupon in Jan 2008.

I received it yesterday, April 8, 2008.

The point here is: It would be good to read my other blogs on Digital TV conversion and order your coupon as soon as possible.

With the coupon comes a list of stores in the area you can purchase a Digital TV Converter Box. My list includes Wal-Marts, Radio Shacks and Best Buys in Tracy, Livermore and Manteca.

Shortly, I will get the converter box and write an installation procedure for it.

Stay tuned....

Tracy Virtual Office

2008-04-09T08:18:00.000-07:00

UPDATE: Read this article on "co-working" on CNN. Sounds like the Tracy Virtual Office.

+++

Gas prices are soaring. Commute times are horrendous.

Why are you still driving to work everyday? Can't work at home for some reason? Or just need a break? Can't afford an "Executive" Suite?

The time has come for an alternative.

Tracy Virtual Office is coming soon.

This will be a nice, quiet, place where you can work. The old concept of a "Neighborhood TeleWork / Telecommute Center" is making a comeback, and unlike attempts in the past maybe technology, and economic factors, will make this concept the wave of the future.

The concept is simple: Rent a cubicle or desk space, have WiFi or hardwired Internet connectivity, a printer, IP videoconferencing, comfy chairs, a refrigerator, all the coffee you can drink, and a quiet area to meet clients.

Bring your own phone, bring your own computer.

No frills, affordable, readily available, close to home.

Come to the TVO one day a week, two, three, or all five. Schedule a cubicle for a month, or pop in anytime for desk space or, if you are lucky an available cubicle!

Interested? Fill out this form and we will let you know when Opening Day is expected and send you updates. Also....tell us what you think!!!

VUDU Rocks !!

2008-04-04T16:02:00.000-07:00

Here is an interesting article that discusses Apple TV, XBox, UnBox, and TIVO.

Mere mention of VUDU (at the very end and ever so briefly).

They need to take a look at this Blog posting where I reviewed VUDU.

VUDU still rocks in our house! Saturday night at the movies has returned. We have 20 or so movies in our "Wish List".

Not one single glitch since we started using it in late Feb 2008.....and now they have over 5100 movies to choose from.

The big companies may get more publicity, but, my money (and believe me it is in short supply so I will only buy the best) goes to VUDU.