This week thevoipgirl.com went down in flames for the first time. I think it was out for a couple of days after I upgraded my WordPress template and then managed to hose my site. After the initial shock, depression set in since I have absolutely NO idea how PHP works. Thankfully the WP template I’m using is superbly supported by its creator and other code wizards. It turned out to be something wonky with the permissions in my index.php and nothing to do with upgrading (greek to me). So, the reason for this post, in a nutshell, is to recommend this highly customizable and well supported template. Check out Semiologic Pro by Denis de Bernardy. Cheers!

I’ve had my Nokia N95 for a few weeks now and my husband and I have been fighting over it. I don’t consider myself a picky person, so I was surprised that some small external differences on the handset from the N80i made such a huge difference. I like this phone better. It’s thinner, has a comfortable feel in the hand, and the button ergonomics work better. On the N80 I frequently make mistakes using the center scroll/selection button. Not the case on the N95. Other reveiws of this phone also point to the larger screen. First, I thought, “come on, it’s a screen on a PHONE. A few pixels either way isn’t going to make a difference”. Well, wrong again.

  N80i (left), N95 (right)

  N95 (left), N80i (right)

As for what’s going on inside the N95, a big improvement from my point of view is the ease of setting up a Wi-Fi connection. It took me just a few minutes this time to get connected through my home network.

That’s it for my initial thoughts, more later on calling with GizmoProject and EQO. But if you need more, check out this podcast with three Nokia reviewers here.

 

 

“Sahweet” as my son would say. For once I had no trouble with the setup of the Nokia N800 internet tablet. I’m hooked up using Wi-fi and was able to make calls right away using Google Talk. I haven’t yet hooked up via bluetooth to my phone, but that’s next. As you can see, the screen is a great size and remarkably crisp and clear. Another neat feature is the full screen finger keypad, which I found somewhat bizarre at first, but I think there’s a bit of a knack to it. A little more practice and I’ll be a pro in no time.

There’s so many great features to explore on this device, like web cam, media player, internet radio, email and text messaging, internet calling with video. I’m trying to be systematic but it’s hard! The design is sleek, fits great in your hand, and the snap out desktop stand doubles as a hand grip. I checked on Amazon and the N800 can be had for around $379.

Happy to say, I just got my PhoneGnome. It took just a few minutes to plug in and configure itself (I like that part). Teeny tiny isn’t it? More later…

 

After Tom Keating’s neatly packaged intro to Skype 2.6 Beta, I thought I’d give it a try. There’s a feature that turns phone numbers on web pages into buttons. Just click the grey button to dial the number on Skype. So cool! Works too!

Here’s what the contact number for a local movie theater looks like:

The Skype number highlighting icon in your browser toolbar (Explorer or Firefox) lets you turn this feature on or off, or uninstall it completely.

 

 

Well, I started Guide to all those Skype icon things…part 1, as a cheat sheet for myself. Here’s a few more.

Click the History tab to see:

 Outgoing calls

 Answered incoming calls

 Missed calls (unanswered incoming calls)

Chats

New voice messages (unplayed)

Voice messages (played)

 Transferred files

 SMS messages sent

 

 

 

 

 

 

The good news is that hovering your mouse over just about anything in the Skype window will display a tool tip (a little one-sentence definition or status report).

However, I found that almost right away I needed a cheat sheet for the online status icons, those green or gray clouds beside each contact. If you have anything to add or change, please do.

 Online: the person can receive calls or chats. If you set your status to , you can receive calls/chats from other Skypers. Depending on your privacy settings, you can receive calls from anyone, from people in your contact list, or from people who you’ve authorized to see your online details. To set privacy settings, go to Tools ->Options->Privacy.

 SkypeMe: the person is in SkypeMe mode, which means that everyone on Skype knows he/she is available and interested in talking or chatting, including contacts they don’t know. If you set your status to SkypeMe, you are allowing calls and chats with other Skypers who can find you by searching the Skype directory. To turn SkypeMe mode ON or OFF, go to File –> Change Online Status (Windows) or Account -> Change Status (Mac OS X).

 Invisible: the person appears to you as  offline, which means you can’t call or chat with them. If you set your status to invisible, you will appear as  to everyone else. Use invisible if you want to be able to make your own calls or chats, but don’t want to receive them. You’ll also be able to see the online status of everyone else in your contact list, even though you’ll appear to them to be offline.

 Away: the person temporarily can’t be reached–out to lunch, away from computer, in a meeting or whatever. If you set your status to Away, you are still notified of incoming calls or chats. Skype automatically switches your online status to Away if you have been inactive for a certain number of minutes. Go to Tools ->Options ->General to change this setting.

 Not available: the person can’t be reached. Sounds a bit more long term than Away. If you set your status to Not Available, you are still notified of incoming calls or chats. Skype automatically switches your online status to Not Available if you have been inactive for a certain number of minutes. Go to Tools ->Options ->General to change this setting.

 Do not disturb: the person doesn’t want to be bugged. Calls or messages are queued for you to check later. If you set your status to Do Not Disturb, you won’t be notified of incoming calls or chats (no pop-ups or ringtones).

 Not sharing: the person does not give you permission to see if he/she is online, offline, away, and so on. It’s probably nothing personal. When adding the contact you may have decided not to request their details, or they may have dismissed your request. To ask again if they’d like to share details, right-click the contact name and select Request Contact Details.

 Offline: the person is not available through Skype. They may have set their status to offline or invisible, or they may have logged off. If you set your status to Offline, you can’t make or receive calls/chats with other Skypers. But, if you have a voicemail account, people can leave you messages. You can also call forward your calls when offline to another number (either a regular number or Skype name), and you can still make SkypeOut calls (calls to regular numbers). 

 Skypeout contact: a person with a regular landline/mobile number. Not a Skype number.

I’ve had a Skype account for awhile, but haven’t used it much because I’d decided to go with Vonage. Now that I’ve cancelled my Vonage service, I’m ready to really put Skype through its paces.

At the time of writing, Skype is up to release 2.5.0.137 so I’ve had to upgrade my Skype software. NOt a problem. Their websit and download instructions are clear enough.

You are prompted to close the existing Skype version if it is running, click the Download button and then the Run button when prompted, and follow the rest of the installation prompts. That’s it.

I recently upgraded my desktop to a Dell laptop, and I had a  headset kicking around. A huge Plantronics thing (a) that must have been originally for my husband’s gaming, but works OK for my purposes. Another way to go is to get just  a microphone (b) and use the speakers on the computer for sound, like a speakerphone. The third nifty piece of hardware I’d like to show you is a “dongle” (c)that allows you to switch between headset mode (in which all sound is piped through your headset), and regular speaker mode. Since I don’t plan on having my headset on all the time, it’s convenient to toggle between the two modes at the push of a button. This gizmo costs less than $15. Go see your local Radio Shack.

(a) (b)  (c)