Henry
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« : February 12, 2010, 09:45:57 AM » |
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Hearing lots of stuff about this program called SKYPE that allows you to talk and see who you are talking to over the Internet. Back a few years ago Maryann made it quite clear that she wasn't getting dressed, doing her hair and putting on makeup before she turns on her computer. The people I am hearing this from are my Old IBM Retiree friends who go South for the winter. That is how a lot of them are talking to their families back here.
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Henry Raymond
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trussell
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« #1 : February 12, 2010, 10:03:34 AM » |
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I've never used Skype, but I believe that's what my nephew uses as his "home" phone. He has an Comcast internet connection at home, subscribes to Skype, and and has a phone (that looks like a cell phone) that will connect to skype using his home wireless network. Smart guy. I think he takes after his uncle.
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"A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives." -Jackie Robinson
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MR32
Guest
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« #2 : February 12, 2010, 10:15:34 AM » |
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i use skype all the time to talk to relatives here and across seas. It's great, free, and a lot cheaper than using a phone. It's also great for grand parents to see the children, unlike a letter or a phone call. There is no problems with it... when not in use just turn your camera off. If you have a lap top, many cameras are already installed, on the top of the screen, hidden. It's really a good tool, and the technology is well developed.
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Henry
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« #3 : February 12, 2010, 10:16:42 AM » |
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Amazing what we have for technology today - Got the following note from an IBM Friend wintering in Florida who summers up here on The Lake in Milton/Georgia:
"Make sure you are sitting down when you read this but I actually have SKYPE with camera on my laptop so while we are here in Florida we talk often with our kids and grandchildren. The camera only works with a two-way conversation and to use the conference call feature ( which we have) you don't need a camera but it works great. Our daughter Erica who is a teacher in Milton as well as the technology coordinator ( must of got that skill from her mother) for the elementary school talks almost daily with another Milton teacher ( on two year leave) using SKYPE who is teaching in Egypt."
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Henry Raymond
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ASDuling
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« #4 : February 12, 2010, 10:18:39 AM » |
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I use it to talk to my sister and her family in Boston. We don't get together often so we use the web-cam feature with the kids. They can be in on the conversation without passing around the phone. They also like to see each other on the computer.
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fletchtb
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« #5 : February 12, 2010, 11:22:58 AM » |
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I went to Malaysia and Thailand for work a year or two ago and used skype to call back home. I think I paid $2.95 for a month of unlimitied calls to US phone numbers. I was using the a headset mic and my computer to call my landline phone at home so I could talk to my wife and kids as often as I wanted to.
Skype is free when calling from one computer to another and they offer low rates to call real phones.
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Mike Raburn
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« #6 : February 13, 2010, 01:17:47 AM » |
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I use it to talk to a buddies in Iraq / Afghanistan and we use it for gaming. During football season we would talk smack on it...those here in the states that is.
One Sunday a friend of ours was driving from CA to AZ and couldn't get the game he wanted on the radio. it was on TV. We called his cell phone that was bluetooth speaker enabled and he could hear it. (nerd alert)
Bless Algore and his internet!!
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mmillette
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« #7 : February 13, 2010, 10:09:21 AM » |
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My wife's parents stay in Florida for 3-4 months and we use Skype so the kids can talk and see their grandparents. Makes it so the away time doesn't feel so long!!!
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MSKelly
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« #8 : February 13, 2010, 12:11:06 PM » |
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I use Skype everyday so that I can have morning tea with my sister but I'm with Maryann--- I'm not getting fixed up to use my computer so my sister and I use Skype without the camera function (neither of us have webcams anyway). Since we both have Skype, calls are free to each other, anytime of day, any amount of time. I also have a subscription and use it for all my long distance calls. It's $2.95 a month to call any landline in the US or Canada (also unlimited use). It's been very reliable and the sound quality is quite good.
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dw
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« #9 : February 13, 2010, 09:26:30 PM » |
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I have used skype for over a year; you can have audio only or audio and visual; you can also pull in another person and have three people talking. and the best thing is it's FREE!
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Mike Raburn
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« #10 : February 14, 2010, 03:26:53 AM » |
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MY favorite word... FREE!!!!
Computer to Computer IS FREE!!!!!
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cedarman
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« #11 : February 17, 2010, 07:35:24 AM » |
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My fiance and I set up Skype accounts so we could talk while she's deployed. Other than the ability to talk to someone on a landline or cellphone using Skype, I'm not impressesed so far. We have had better video quality using Yahoo messanger with video, voice and LOTS of smiley faces and other features to send back and forth. The yahoo video feature is FREE also. Since we are going computer to computer, I think we'll probably use yahoo messenger more than Skype.
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