Technology Nirvana

The biggest player in the fast growing and increasingly lucrative VOIP (voice over internet protocol) field is without a doubt a name everyone knows Skype. Skype is used by millions of users spread across the globe. You may be surprised to know that the people behind Skype were also the folks behind the development of the somewhat frowned upon file sharing application Kazza.

Skype acts and looks for the most part like any other instant messaging program, chatting to a friend on your friends list is simply a matter of selecting their name and clicking on the green “call” icon. Once you are connected to your chat partner you can communicate via chat, video or text, or indeed all of them combined. You can play games from a large games library, install one of many plugins to enhance your experience or simply chat to friends, family or work colleagues.

Video: The video component of Skype is impressive to say the least, dependent as always on the quality of hardware the video sender is using Skype can deliver breathtaking images, that appear to suffer less from artifact loss than many other video chat solutions on the market.

Audio: The audio on Skype is also very clear although it can from time to time suffer from audio delay, in particular when using the voip to voip phone feature.

In addition to the video chat quality’s of Skype, chatting online via video or voip calls or even cheap local and international calls make Skype a must have. In fact the features of Skype are so numerous it will require a second (and possibly third look) into just what this awesome program can deliver.

Check out the Great offers at Skype’s clearance sale

The only negatives I have come across using Skype is it doesn’t seem to be totally Windows Vista friendly (I’m constantly reseting the audio in and out), then again this is nothing new as vista doesn’t seem to be compatible with numerous applications, and it does require a nice chunk of cpu usage which can slow older systems down. As for dial up users I can only imagine the program would be next to useless for the video side of things.

Readers of my previous reviews will know how much importance I place on the more community aspects of video chatting and sadly with Skype there are no multiuser chat room servers that users can check into to find someone to talk to, you can indeed launch a conference and have a few of your buddy listed friends chatting via video at the same time, but there is no faculty to meet random folks and make new friends, one can only hope that the rumors of chat rooms on the horizon is a reality for future releases

Having said this, using something like yahoo to make new friends, then moving them on to your Skype list is an option that is worth the time and effort as Skype is a very slick, stable and fun piece of software you will love using

Skype looks to be around for the long haul and as long as it doesn’t become bloat ware (its already extremely resource intensive) it will be exciting to see what features are added to it and how the application develops from here. Best of all aside from the extremely cheap rates for placing pc to home phone calls, Skype is free to use.

Click on the logo to take you to Skype download!

Rating: 4/5

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As was mentioned in the previous article Camfrog 3.x users will now find themselves blocked from connecting to Camfrog servers. Similarly Camfrog has now announced on its official blog that Camfrog 4.x users will now no longer have access to the servers.

As a result of blocking Camfrog 4.x and 3.x, Camfrog 5.1 users should notice a much enhanced experience as it will take a significant load of their cpu performance as well as a decrease in the amount of bandwidth needed.

Users experiencing problems upon upgrading to Camfrog 5.1 can report them directly to Camfrog here

Read more here Camfrog 4.x No Longer Supported

You can upgrade to Camfrog 5.1 here Download Camfrog 5.1

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Camfrog has announced the discontinuation of Camfrog 3.X in order for bandwidth and resources to be streamlined. Since the release of Camfrog 5.x users viewing camfrog 3.X and viewing Camfrog 5.X users had the effect of doubling the bandwidth being used and cpu load of the 5.X users as the 5.X has to send out a 5.X stream as well as a 3.X stream.

This effect has also placed increased bandwidth load on the servers and by upgrading to the 5.X client there will be an all round improvement for users and servers alike.

For this reason all 3.X users must upgrade to 5.X and Camfrog 3.X users will find themselves blocked when trying to log on to the server.

The Camfrog blog has also advised in coming weeks support for Camfrog 4.X will end and it will also be blocked.

Read more here Camfrog 3.x No Longer Supported

You can upgrade to Camfrog 5.1 here Download Camfrog 5.1

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Windows Live Messenger, the latest incarnation of what was known as msn messenger, is possibly the most popular Instant Messenger if we go simply by weight of number of users. Due to the large amounts of production resources (time and money) that have been able to be funneled into Windows Live Messenger you would expect it to be a great piece of software, which for the most part it is.

From a video chat point of view, Windows Live Messenger almost has it all.  With true live video and fast frame rates Windows Live messenger is arguably the best video experience in a program of this type. You can pc to pc call with your friends by simply clicking their user name and inviting them to view your cam. Windows Live Messenger doesn’t appear to be as “buggy” as Yahoo! Messenger in that the video doesn’t appear to get interrupted, stutter or drop out as much as its main rival yahoo does.

Windows Live Messenger video “windows” are re sizable and like yahoo have a “sticky” feature so you can have a small video window open, always on top of all other windows. This enables you to watch video while you work or do other tasks on your pc without having to swap windows all the time.

So why did I say “almost has it all” is because it is lacking one very important feature, well rather it has removed one very important feature!. The feature I’m referring to is chat rooms. Back in the day when Windows Live Messenger was still known under the title “msn messenger” it had the best multi-user voice and video enabled chat rooms that we have seen to date in a free service. The chat rooms were bustling with a huge array of users from all walks of life, you name it you could find it in terms of subjects discussed in user created chat rooms.

I hear you ask, “so why did msn get rid of chatrooms?” the answer sadly is due to the amount of abuse that was going, whilst we acknowledge adult, cybersex activities in chat rooms is a big component of online chat, there is no place for exposing minors or even subjecting those who would rather not be subjected to nudity and adult themes. The job of policing these rooms and the threat of possible litigation was just to large and Microsoft removed the rooms totally.

It is sad that rater than try to fix them they opted for the easier option of shutting them down and while Yahoo Messenger chat rooms are now over run with spam at least they haven’t removed them altogether (although unfortunately for similar reasons they removed user created rooms).

I believe the messenger program that finds the solution to this problem and brings back user defined video chat rooms will ultimately come out on top. Whilst its great to be able to talk with those you know, its alot of fun to be able to meet someone in a chat room and instantly see who they are.

For this reason subscription programs like Paltalk are becoming more and more popular, users can create a room relating to whatever subject they want.

Windows Live Messenger has interoperability with yahoo users, so you can talk with them without having to have both applications open.

Currently Windows Live Messenger is a leader in the free video chat enabled Instant Messengers pack, they loose some points for no chat room but pick up some for the excellent quality of video and voice along with a huge user base.

Download Windows Live Messenger Here

Rating: 4/5

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Some of you may be familiar with WebcamNow, some of you may be cringing that I have brought it up in this blog… BUT have you taken a look at WebcamNow lately? it has had a complete overhaul. The video chat site has undergone a complete redesign.

WebcamNow it is fair to say caters primarily for the more adult chat room activities, there is a family friendly area, but the number of users in this area are fairly small (as opposed to the open area, which is bustling with users). Along with other browser based chat environment ( such as ANYwebcam and many others we will be reviewing ) the experience in the past has been a buggy and frustrating one. But WebcamNow is worth a second look (look for the review soon), just be aware this is an experience catered toward a mature audience, visiting the open area will expose you to nudity and adult themes.

We will be looking at more browser based “video chat communities” over coming weeks to give you, the reader, the heads up on what you will find there and help you to choose a place(s) that you may wish to use.

You can check out the new improved WebcamNow Here

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The newest social networking Giant on the block, Stickam, has captured the trend of the 14 to 30 year old users that are enamored with everything social networking. A combination of Skype and MySpace rolled into one, Stickam has the MySpace community feel but with the added feature of personal live video chat rooms.

You can set up a room and broadcast your web cam to the public, indeed many users have set themselves up as DJ’s, Talk Show hosts, game reviewers, even celebrities of the likes of Leo Laporte and Danny “come on get happy” Bonaduce have found Stickam to be a great vehicle for delivering their content, whilst tapping into a potentially new audience.

Stickam has a subculture all of its own, on forums around the web you can read all about the drama some users have with each other, it plays out like a soap opera, quite a few users have almost star status, with loyal followings and niche “in groups” being followed by wannabes. The cult of personality is a live and well on Stickam.

Just like many social networking sites, you can paruse a list of user stickam chat rooms and if they have their status set to “public” you can join in the conversation, broadcast your own web cam, or like the majority just sit, lurk, listen and watch the video.

Unsigned (and for that matter signed) bands use Stickam as a forum to get their music “out there”, with many holding parties, and live launch events on web cam.

Stickam attempts to protect its minors and more private folks by allowing users to set an age limit to enter their video enabled chat room, as well as the ability to chat in private with invited guests only or set the room to be only available to friends.

Your personal page acts much like MySpace along with your profile you can upload images, video, music,choose from a variety of stickam layouts and each page contains a message board where friends or visitors can drop by and leave you a note.

Stickam is a great place to meet all manner of people and hang out, form friendships, be educated and entertained.

Stickam does have its faults though, some people question the fact that Stickam was developed by a porn production company, and there are real concerns about protecting younger users, whilst users can set an age restriction, a fake profile would be a very simple matter to set up, allowing older participants to deceive younger people into thinking they are one of them.

If you’re not in the “in crowd” or you are over 30, you will find the user moderated rooms will often have over zealous moderators that will kick you for no particular reason, but as the agenda of the room is set by the participants this is fair enough I feel.

Easy to setup and get broadcasting, Stickam also allows you to easily embed the Stickam web cam player in your own web site.

IN SUMMARY Stickam is a great place to hang out, the topic of conversation is often more entertaining than some of the other web cam communities on the net, some of the Stickam entertainers are very good indeed, whether you want to catch up with the latest tech news, listen to “crank yankers” style prank calls, listen to an up and coming band or just shoot the breeze.

Having said this if you are over 35 Stickam can be a lonely place, the content (conversation topics etc…) may not suit your tastes and you may be struggling (at this stage anyway) to find a community of your own to become a part of. Add to this the very real concerns about protecting our younger folks (Stickam does have moderators but these seem to visit fairly infrequently) forces us to bring the score of Stickam down a touch.

Check out this Youtube clip to see what ovguide.com has to say about Stickam

Take a look for you self and let us know what you think! Stickam

Warning Stickam can be a very addictive time sink!

Rating: 3.5/5

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