Office Space for Rent in Tracy, CA
Skype Multipoint Video Chat
When I tested Skype about a year ago, I lamented the fact that it was only point-to-point. Well, as I had my attention turned to AltamontCowork (and surviving)…… this past May Skype apparently introduced 5 way videoconferencing (video chat), and today, they doubled that to 10 way (in Beta, see the announcement here)
Soooo, Skype is NOW a multipoint videoconferencing tool. WhoooHooo.
’bout time.
If you want to grab the Beta version with 10 way video chat, go here for the Windows version. There appear to be no other versions at this time (ie no Mac or Linux).
Conclusion
Videoconferencing: Anywhere, Anytime, Anyone is progressing at a rapid pace. Now, with Skype multipoint videoconferencing, for free, at your fingertips, videoconferencing is indeed at the cusp of the hockey stick….finally!
No need for fancy (high cost) rooms, fancy lighting, or the need to travel to a videoconferencing room (how stupid)….now you can videoconference from just about anywhere, to anyone, at anytime. Cool.
Coworking locations can add a virtual member….hmmmm, 9 virtual members from anywhere in the world!
Gmail Phone Calls
You have probably heard by now that you can make a phone call using Gmail.
I can verfiy…it works! But voice only, no video…..yet.
Here is how it worked:
- Using my trusty Toshiba laptop (now over 4 years old and going strong) I got on my Gmail account and saw the prompt “Call Phone”. (I used my Chat 50 as the speaker / mic, but, it would be much better at AltamontCowork to use a headset with a mic.)
- I clicked in “Call Phone” and up popped the dialer you see at the head of this blog.
- I put in a number then quickly realized that I could enter a persons name or a partial name (like the first letter) and see a list of contacts (that have a telephone number listed in the contact info) you can call with that first letter.
- I selected the person I wanted to call…..me (hey, I’m an interesting fellow), and clicked the “Call” button.
- I heard ringing on the computer, and also, eventually, on my cell phone. I answered and could hear the full conversation (no echo, which was very interesting).
- I hung up.
Easy as 3.14.
If you have Google Voice, you can set it up so anyone calling your GV number calls your computer. I am having soooo much fun with my new HTC Aria….I’ll keep it as my phone. Dialing out is good enuf for me….
NOW….all they need is video and we can have:
Videoconferencing: Anytime, Anyplace, Anyone
If my instructions on making a Gmail call (above) were too boring…the good folks at CNET made a video:
Vidyo Mobile on the iPad
Please visit Vidyo’s web site for a lot more information, but, for now…this is soooooo coooool.
I’ll say it one more time: Videoconferencing anytime, anyplace, anyone.
This is the future….Vidyo is pushing the technology of mobile videoconferencing….whooohoo!
Videoconferencing: Anytime, Anyplace, Anyone
I have been saying this, hmmmmm, since, errrr, 1992 (actually 1988, but, who is counting).
Videoconferencing should be be able to connect anyone, anytime, to anyplace.
Until, 2010 this has not been the case, but, maybe, finally, it is going to happen. Very exciting.
All new technologies take a good 15 to 20 years to become the hottest thing since sliced bread (an overnight success). TV, telephone (even longer), microwave ovens, computers, cell phones, Internet, you name it….it takes a generation, or so, for a great idea to become one with the universe.
The time is almost here for Internet based (desktop or, now, mobile) videoconferencing. Why? Because H.323 was ratified in 1996 and since then the technology has made advancements no one back then could have predicted (like the winning transport would be a shared public network, web cams, very powerful laptop computers, very powerful cell phones, high speed wireless hot spots….on and on). 14 years.
And not just 14 years. This generation of kids, going off to college as the class of 2014, are everything we were not:
A. Computer and Internet savvy
B. Social media fiends
C. They watch (and upload) streaming video as a normal course of the day (You Tube, Hulu, etc).
They are comfortable socializing, being seen, being heard, and watching via the Internet.
It stands to reason that VIDEOCONFERENCING could be next on the list!
WhooooHooo….oh, sorry, I just get excited to finally see this happening…
Want proof?
Kristen is going to the University of the Pacific in a few days. She has grown up with videoconferencing….and completely ignored it (much to Dad’s chagrin), until now. Kristen’s friend, Ryan Ng, is heading off to UC Berkeley and is new (hey, compared to me anyone is new) to videoconferencing (he probably just now heard the term “videoconferencing”….it is “Skype” to the kids).
Look what they are doing! How friggin cool is this?
Who needs a fancy (VERY expensive) “telepresence” room with perfect lighting, perfect sound, and boring, uptight, people on each end viewing each others blisters, zits, waddles, and wrinkles in glorious high definition?
Not the kids of today….sit in the room with NO lights on (or in the quad of UOP or Berzerkely), and videoconference with your friends! THIS is how videoconferencing will finally hit the big time (take note Wainhouse!). The kids of NOW will take this technology further than WE could have ever imagined!
Don’t believe it? That is ok, you did not beleive me 20 years ago when I started evangelizing videoconferencing and 18 years ago when I did the same, and more, for desktop (now Mobile) videoconferencing…. so bite me. ;-)
This is real…and it is gonna take videoconferencing to the stars….so hold on.
Take a look at these pics…..tell me if YOU use videoconferencing this effectively…bet you do not.
Future
The future of videoconferencing will be mobile. Laptops, WiFi, 3G, 4G, Cell Phones (Gee, Steve Jobs says videoconferencing is “real” now even though Apple dropped it in the beginning), iPads (see my next posting showing Vidyo on an iPad), whatever….you will no longer have to travel to a room to videoconference (did I ever say how stupid that is?)…
Anytime, anyplace, anyone. Videoconferencing will be as normal to the next generation kids as talking on the phone was to us.
TracyReaderDad Book Reviews
- September 2010 Thrillers
- “The Quiet One” by Mike Pihlman
- Frozen Nook
- Ebooks vs Books for the Environment
- “The Associate” by John Grisham
- Top Earning Authors
- “Cool New Flavor” by Mike Pihlman
- NPR’s Fiction Bestsellers August 12 2010
- “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” Second Read
- So many books, so little time
Frozen Nook
Never, even on the coldest day, has a Book ever frozen on me.
I’m in the middle of a great book (Brad Thor’s “The Last Patriot”) and my Nook FROZE.
Yikes! Nothing I did worked. Rats. (I used the Nook app on my new HTC Aria to continue reading)
Then I called Barnes & Noble Tech Support, 1-800-THE-BOOK, (how FUNNY is that…Barnes & Noble tech support…..?) and they told me what to do to UNFREEZE my Nook.
Barnes & Noble Tech Support….how funny, but, they are great! :-)