Want to save on phone bills? Try VOIP

Gladstone Taylor, Gleaner Online Writer

This Dell model, the XPS M1210 notebook, can be configured for Skype Internet communication software. - File

The opening up of the mobile market seven years ago with the entry of players like Digicel, consumers were presented with real choice.

This week, we are taking a look at telephony from the vantage point of the web.

For decades, conventional tele-phony dominated Jamaica, but with the opening up of the mobile market seven years ago with the entry of players like Digicel, consumers were presented with real choice.

Here are a few Web-based telephony solutions, commonly referred to as voice over Internet protocol (VOIP), that empower the consumer even more.

Skype

(http://skype.com)

With Skype, you can make PC to PC, landline and mobile calls from your computer. This service is free to other people on Skype and a cheap alternative when calling landlines and mobiles around the world.

Skype account rates start as low as US$10.

It is a service you should investigate if you make many international calls.

To make full use of Skype, you will need a high-speed Internet connection, at least 256 kbps. Fairly inexpensive Internet packages are available from most Internet service providers.

A pocket PC version of Skype is also available for persons constantly on the move, provided you have a mobile Internet connection available.

Google Talk

(http://www.google.com/talk/)

This Google-developed software offers PC to PC-based calling only.

It allows parties unlimited talk time, as long as both parties meet the requirements of having the Google Talk software installed; a Google account to use the software; a fast-enough Internet connection, a microphone and speakers.

Google Talk was designed to be a value-added service in the Google network of applications such as gmail, which integrates with Google Talk.

Google Grandcentral

(http://www.grandcentral.com/)

Under this service, Google provides you with one number that you can tie to any phone number you choose.

For example, if you do not want to publicise your work, home or cell number, you could instead give out your Grandcentral number.

When the Grandcentral number is dialed, all the numbers you tied to it will simultaneously accept the call.

The Web application also allows call forwarding.

In the event that you need to leave a location, but wish to continue your phone conversation, the service allows you to forward the call from your landline to a cellphone.

Grandcentral is not available worldwide, and it may come with a price tag. If your lifestyle requires you to always be a phone call away, it may be a valuable investment for you to make.

However, to date, the nature of Google's business model has generally been to give away the good stuff for free.

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Sony Enters Digital Contents Market in Japan

Tokyo, Japan, Mar 22, 2008 (JCN via COMTEX) -- Anticipating an international wave of digital cinema, the entertainment giant Sony has entered the digital contents market, and could boost its sales of software as well as hardware. The company announced that it will launch digital cinema in Japan, and will start delivering digital contents to domestic theaters in May.

Initial digital contents will include a theatrical performance, musical, opera, and sports and musical events. The entertainment company will team with the rights holders of these contents.

"With the recent success of Blu-ray, we are seeing our business rolling in the consumer area. However, in public broadcasting, where films have long been used, we are now seeing the demand for digital contents, and entered the business," says Sony's PR, Jin Tomihari.

Sony is also eying live distribution and experiments with live streaming of soccer games.

"What is good about digital distribution is that you can have live streaming images on the servers by way of networks," says Tomihari.

There is currently no sports event planned for distribution, and the cost of making these digital contents was not revealed.

First Sony will work with Human Design Co, distributing its musical "Metro ni Notte (Riding on the Metro)" in May. The musical was originally performed last year at Tokyo Metropolitan Art Space, and was a huge success. It was performed 13 times and all seats were taken on each live performance.

Now in a digital format, the performance will be shown in 3 theaters in the Kanto area initially, and in more areas nationwide, targeting a larger audience than the total number at the live performances combined.

"We hope to appeal to the audience who could not see a live performance, and offer a real, vivid experience on a superior screen, and better access to the show," says Tomihari.

For Sony, the musical was a perfect fit, as the entertainment company had been searching for quality contents to be digitalized.

A chief producer for Human Design, Seiko Ishikawa reveals, "It was Sony that approached us last autumn with the proposal to show our musical performance in theaters in digital form." The idea of reaching a larger audience with digital recordings attracted the producers of the musical.

"Our audience varies from the age of 5 to 70, both male and female. We are not merely targeting young ladies. In fact, about 40 per cent of the audience includes male, and, often times, elderly men come to see our show alone. We have received a variety of awards, and we pride ourselves on producing quality musicals for adults," says Ishikawa.

Digital performance ticket prices are planned at 2,000 yen for advanced sale and 2,500 yen at the door, less than half a price of the least expensive seats at live performances.

In Japan, 3 per cent, or 102, of 3,221 screens supported digital as of February. Tomihari said that this was the current target of the entertainment company.

However, Sony is also considering expanding its new business outside Japan. "The market for digital contents is larger abroad," explains Tomihari. "As of last September, 4,869 of nearly 70,000 screens were equipped for digital contents. And this is the market we are aiming at."

In a statement, Sony said that it has become standard to digitalize contents in shooting and editing on video production, and that it expects more digital contents to be used in theaters.

Last May, the company started taking orders for its "total system package" for digital cinema. It expects to boost its sales both for hardware and software.

The move by the Japanese entertainment giant is also a trend overseas. The San Francisco Opera announced its plan to transmit performances to movie theaters last December. A few other major theaters, such as the Metropolitan Opera, La Scala, and the Royal Opera in London are also in the line.

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Sony charges, then retracts, a US $50 fee to deliver a ‘clean’ PC

When you buy a computer today, it often comes with a range of third party software, pre-loaded for your ‘convenience’. Sometimes it’s useful – such as a pre-loaded Internet security suite with a 15 month subscription, other times it’s useless demo software that’s just taking up space and must be manually uninstalled. Why do companies do this, and why did Sony decide to charge money to take the ‘unwanted’ software away?

Articles all over the Internet from range of news sites have brought forth the news that Sony, in the US, with their TZ200 Vaio Notebook, wanted to charge users an additional US $49.95 to deliver a ‘Fresh Start’ computer, free of useful and/or annoying third party software.

After a world of online outrage, Sony did the unthinkable – they moved in stunning record time to issue a statement that, from now onwards, they would no longer charge this additional fee to deliver users a computer with little more than Windows Vista and the software contained within.

The wording of Sony’s ‘Fresh Start’ option, which was charged at $49.95, was as follows: “Opt for a Fresh Start and your VAIO PC will undergo a system optimization service where specific VAIO applications, trial software and games are removed from your unit prior to shipment. Fresh Start safely scrubs your PC to free up valuable hard drive space and conserve memory and processing power while maximizing overall system performance right from the start.”

What many have noted is that this option is only available when a Sony notebook buyer chooses the US $100 expensive ‘Vista Business’ option, rather than the Windows Vista Home Premium option, which still doesn’t come with the ‘Fresh Start’ option.

So, why do PC companies offer third party software? It’s a practice that has been happening for years across all the major brand names, and in the early, pre-Internet days, was a way for a computer to come pre-loaded with some games, some educational software, some utilities and basically some things for the user to play with, without needing to race off to immediately buy some additional software.

It’s a bit like buying a DVD player and getting some free movies, giving you something to watch right away.

Computer companies did this because they could charge those software companies a fee for including their software on every PC they made.

It gave computer manufacturers an additional revenue stream, over and above that made from simply selling the PC to a consumer, either letting that company charge consumers less for each computer, or to simply book a higher profit.

Sony obviously decided to charge extra money because it would make up for the lost revenue stream from not being able to include third party software, as well as making up for the fact that a bit of extra work would need to be done in the factory to ensure the PC came with Windows only, rather than all that third party software, which some have called 'crapware'.

As the Internet became more popular, and the need for a decent firewall, anti-virus and other Internet protection software became ever more critical, PC manufacturers started pre-loading Norton Internet Security or McAfee Internet Security onto PCs.

While these Internet security packages initially only came with a 3 month license, I know that McAfee have been offering users a 15 month subscription on (at least some) Dell computers, actually delivering the end-user a valuable piece of additional software they don’t have to worry about for more than a year.

So, what should computer manufacturers be doing?

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