OT geek stuff

On Wed, 12 Mar 2008 21:00:34 GMT, "Larry L"
wrote:

1) The kid goes off the Chile before long. When he returns from there he
is talking of "a Fulbright in South Korea."

2) His mother will suffer greatly from his absence and I love her so I want
to help, if possible.

3) She thinks there is some way for the two of them to "talk to each other
and see each other at the same time, using the Internet and web cameras"
This sounds like science fiction to me, but I'm intentionally pretty
sheltered from the modern, connected, world.

4)But, I know many of you are out there are on the cutting edge of that
connectivity. So, I'm asking for links and pointers on where to look and
what to search for in the way of using the Internet for a mom and her kid to
stay touch. I honestly don't even have a clue what to type into Google
to get started.


Thanks

Larry L


P.S. We will be shopping for a laptop ( or two ) in the near future for the
kid and maybe for me when I'm traveling .... suggestions?

If you and son already have computers, but no webcams, you can pick up a pair
of Logitech USB webcams for around $50 total (perhaps even less now).

My oldest son spent 6 months at Seoul National University as part of his
bio-chem doctorate program. I sent him off with one of the Logitech cams, we
had the other, and we were able to hold "face to face" family pow-wows without
any problems...

/daytripper (It certainly helped my wife get through the duration ;-)

1) The kid goes off the Chile before long. When he returns from there he
is talking of "a Fulbright in South Korea."

2) His mother will suffer greatly from his absence and I love her so I want
to help, if possible.

3) She thinks there is some way for the two of them to "talk to each other
and see each other at the same time, using the Internet and web cameras"
This sounds like science fiction to me, but I'm intentionally pretty
sheltered from the modern, connected, world.

4)But, I know many of you are out there are on the cutting edge of that
connectivity. So, I'm asking for links and pointers on where to look and
what to search for in the way of using the Internet for a mom and her kid to
stay touch. I honestly don't even have a clue what to type into Google
to get started.


Thanks

Larry L


P.S. We will be shopping for a laptop ( or two ) in the near future for the
kid and maybe for me when I'm traveling .... suggestions?

Larry L wrote:
face-to-face request snipped
P.S. We will be shopping for a laptop ( or two ) in the near future for the
kid and maybe for me when I'm traveling .... suggestions?

Get a couple of MacBook Pros. Everything you need for face-to-face
is built right in.

--
Ken Fortenberry

On Mar 12, 5:00*pm, "Larry L" wrote:
*I honestly don't even have a clue what to type into *Google
to get started.

Thanks

Larry L

P.S. *We will be shopping for a laptop ( or two ) in the near future for the
kid and maybe for me when I'm traveling .... suggestions?

Webcams are no big deal anymore. They cost very little now a days and
setup is usually a breeze. I've not used one since my daughter
finished college and came back home but they were very handy back then
(2001-2005). Many notebooks and some desktop monitors now come with an
embedded camera. But like everything else, they work better on high
speed connections vis a vis dialup.

Personally I am sold on the Apple Imacs and macbooks for pcs now that
they run the intell chip and software like parrallels lets one run MS
applications seamlessly.

On Mar 12, 10:00 pm, "Larry L" wrote:


P.S. We will be shopping for a laptop ( or two ) in the near future for the
kid and maybe for me when I'm traveling .... suggestions?

http://www.pcwb.com/catalogue/item/V...9?cidp=Froogle

http://www.amazon.com/Webcams-Comput...F8&node=172511

there are hundreds more, but the Logitech are all pretty good and do
what it says on the box.

TL
MC

You also need to use a service which supports cam chat etc. This is
free and very widely used;

http://www.skype.com/

TL
MC

http://www.skype.com/allfeatures/videocall/

Mike a écrit :
http://www.skype.com/allfeatures/videocall/

What mike said. ;-)

I teach that stuff, Skype is the best for one on one contact. A good
webcam is essential, but mostly an excellent Internet connection with
High Bandwith for video conversation. Sound only demands much less bandwith.

A university campus is an excellent place to connect to Internet with a
High Bandwith. For home, that's another stroy, depends a lot on the
local ISP.

Hope this help.

--
Hope to read you soon,

Denis
www.uqtr.ca/~lamyd

You'll have to eat the SPAM to E-mail

Kool !!

thanks everyone .... I honestly thought I was talking about science fiction,
and at risk of becoming a roffian legend ( like in "remember the time Larry
L asked about having Scotty beam up the fish" )

We have the world's worse dial-up so I know I'm looking at having to get
something else ... DSL and cable aren't available here but I see signs for
Clearwire and some other satellite or radio deals around the area ( is
there a 'best' type of broadband for the real wire impaired that live a
little too far out? )



I'm sittin' here with a big grin just thinking about how happy my wife will
be G ( until the bills arrive )

Ken Fortenberry wrote:
Larry L wrote:

face-to-face request snipped P.S. We will be shopping for a laptop
( or two ) in the near future for the kid and maybe for me when I'm
traveling .... suggestions?


Get a couple of MacBook Pros. Everything you need for face-to-face
is built right in.


I agree. If you're going to buy two laptops, and you want to video chat
with your son, then two MacBook Pros are the way to go.

BTW, if you really feel the need, you can run Windows on them.

---

Cut "to the chase" for my email address.