« Lessons of 2002 (Part 1) | Main | Power of many »
January 01, 2003
Happy New Year
Happy New Year to you.
I have been able to spend a lot of time with family this holiday. One addition to the family get-together this year was including my brother's family from Boston via video conference. They were able to spend time with us Christmas Eve, open presents with us Christmas morning, and join in various family get-togethers. And it didn't feel very geeky, once everyone got used to it.
This was done with $85 worth of new technology (not counting the laptop, wireless network and broadband Internet link already in place), a laptop webcam from Logitech. I found that Windows/MSN Messenger has the best mix of usability, video and audio quality (the echo cancellation works very well), but ICUII has much better (and larger) video quality. The best results seemed to be from using Messenger for audio and ICUII for video. I'd also recommend this headset for personal video calls.
I have also experimented with Netmeeting and H.323 video, though the video quality and features of Netmeeting leave a lot to be desired (it hasn't been updated since Windows 98). In spite if that, I have been able to have some decent H.323 calls with Netmeeting to Polycom video stations. I will be trying out a higher-quality camera and H.323 software from Polycom in a few weeks; hopefully that will be a good H.323 solution.
I've taken some time over the holidays thinking and planning for 2003, and remembering the good things about 2002. I hope you have taken time to do the same.
Posted by pete at January 1, 2003 05:46 PM
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry: