Thanks Sharon I sent it to my other list.  so you might see it again if you are on any of the others. 

--
Can you imagine what a scarcity of news there would be If everybody obeyed
> the Ten Commandments?

I would rather live my life as if there is a God, and die to find out there isn't, than live my life as if there isn't, and die to find out there is

IN GOD WE TRUST
Karen Carter  '74
-KC- Ministries


 -------------- Original message ----------------------
From: Sharon Hooley <[log in to unmask]>
> I got this from the Blind-Ad list.
> 
> sharon
> 
> This is from today's New York Times online.
> Chris
> 
> April 6, 2006
> David Pogue
> 
> Internet Calls Untethered From Your PC
> 
> WHY does Skype get so much hype? Sure, this software lets you make
> free "phone calls," computer to computer, anywhere in the world.
> But it wasn't the first
> such program, it's not the most feature-laden, and it's still a
> mystery to most people over 25.
> 
> Yet somehow, Skype is changing everything. Twenty-five million
> people are using it to make free calls, much to the annoyance of
> the phone companies. College
> students call home and friends with it. Business travelers keep in
> touch with the family. Visitors to the United States chit-chat with
> their buddies in
> Europe, Japan or wherever. The software ? free from
> skype.com
> and available for Mac, Windows, Linux and PocketPC ? is pitifully
> easy to use, and the sound quality is more like FM radio than a
> phone call.
> 
> Skype's popularity has caused some impressive ripples in the fabric
> of business and society. The word is now a verb, ? la
> Google
> ("Have your people Skype my people"). Last fall,
> eBay
> bought Skype for $1.3 billion and 32.4 million shares of eBay
> stock. And most intriguing of all, an entire industry of Skype
> accessories has sprung up.
> 
> But one niggling footnote continues to dog Skype: to make free
> calls, you and your conversation partner must both sit there in
> front of your computers,
> nerdlike, wearing headsets. You can call regular telephones, but
> that's not free. (Rates are complicated, but 2.1 cents a minute is
> typical.) And you still
> have to sit handcuffed to your computer.
> 
> Wouldn't it be nice if you could make and receive Skype calls from
> your home phone or any ordinary cellphone?
> 
> Enter the VoSky Call Center ($60 at
> actiontec.com),
> nicknamed the Liberator. (All right, I gave it that nickname, but
> still.) It's a tiny black box, about the size of a sandwich, that
> connects to a Windows
> PC (with a U.S.B. cable), to your phone line and to your telephone.
> An exceptionally clear instruction sheet walks you through the
> installation.
> 
> As a final preparatory step, you're supposed to install Skype, if
> you haven't already, fill up its buddy list with the Skype
> addresses of your pals, and
> assign a speed-dial number to each one. Then you're ready for the
> VoSky magic show.
> 
> FOR its first trick, the Call Center will let you call Skype
> buddies using the telephone on your desk. You pick up the handset,
> dial ## (which means, "This
> one's for Skype") and listen to a recorded female voice say:
> "Welcome to the VoSky Call Center. Please enter your contact's
> speed-dial number." (She pronounces
> it VOSS-key.)
> 
> Fortunately, you don't have to sit through her complete recording;
> you can interrupt by dialing at any time. She's just a digital
> audio file, not easily
> insulted.
> 
> There's a quick click, and then the call is placed. Your comrade,
> perhaps thousands of miles away, hears the familiar Skype ring
> tone, sits down at the
> PC, puts on the headset and answers. You, meanwhile, chat cheerily
> on your cordless phone as you move about, do the laundry or set the
> table.
> 
> The sound quality is excellent. It's not as good as a
> Skype-to-Skype call, of course, because you're listening on a phone
> ? but it's much better than a
> regular phone call.
> 
> If you've signed up for SkypeOut, that 2.1-cents-a-minute plan that
> lets you call phone numbers rather than computers, you make calls
> in exactly the same
> way. Pick up your phone and touch ##2 (or whatever the speed-dial
> number is), or even ## plus a standard phone number in
> international format.
> 
> The second magic trick is even more impressive. This time, you can
> make a Skype call from your cellphone, wherever you happen to be.
> 
> To make this work, you tell the Call Center's PC software ahead of
> time how long it should wait ? say, until the fifth ring ? before
> answering incoming
> calls.
> 
> Then, when you're out and about with your cellphone, you dial home.
> After the designated number of rings, the Call Center's recorded
> young lady answers.
> After you plug in your password, she prompts you to touch the
> desired speed-dial number, and off you go. You're talking free to
> your aunt in Antigua, from
> your cellphone, courtesy of your home phone and your PC.
> 
> "Free" is a relative term, of course. Just calling your home number
> may still be using up your cellphone's monthly minutes, depending
> on the time of day
> and what kind of cellular plan you have. Even so, you'll save a lot
> of money if you call internationally.
> 
> Trick No. 3 is Skype forwarding. If you're away from home when
> somebody tries to reach you using Skype, the Call Center rings your
> cellphone (or any number
> you specify) so you can take the call.
> 
> The Call Center's last trick is call return, and it's pretty neat.
> Suppose you try to reach Dad in Dallas, but he's not at his desk.
> In that case, the Call
> Center's recorded voice offers to call you back when he is online.
> Sooner or later, when you least expect it, your cellphone rings;
> it's your Call Center,
> whose voice lets you know that Dad is online again. She tells you
> that if you'd like to call him right now (using Skype), press 1.
> 
> Incidentally, none of this affects your home phone's ability to
> make regular phone calls. You place them just as you always do
> (without dialing ## first),
> and the phone rings normally when someone calls you. Handy
> indicator lights on the Call Center box let you know whether you're
> answering a regular call
> or an Internet call.
> 
> This all sounds pretty complicated on paper, no doubt. But for the
> most part, each individual function is beautifully done, crisply
> and simply executed
> and easily learned.
> 
> There are, alas, exceptions.
> 
> They begin with the necessity to leave your PC turned on, with
> Skype running, at all times. That requirement alone may be a
> show-stopper for anyone concerned
> about the environment or electric bills.
> 
> Another issue is that to make a Skype call from your phone, you
> have to use the handset to which it's connected. You can't use
> another extension in the
> house (unless it's part of a multihandset cordless system).
> 
> Then there's the dialing-in problem. You see, the Call Center can,
> at your option, turn the computer into a digital answering machine;
> if you've turned
> it on, calling your home number produces the young woman's voice
> saying, "Please leave a message" (although if you're calling in so
> you can make a Skype
> call, you can just tap out your password instead).
> 
> So what's the problem? Incredibly, you can't replace the young
> woman's answering-machine greeting with a recording of your own voice.
> 
> Yet if you don't turn on the answering function, then calling your
> home number greets you with a recording that says, "Please enter
> your password." That's
> great if it's you calling, but it's bound to befuddle anyone else
> who happens to call. The only way to avoid that problem is to set
> the Call Center to
> wait, say, eight rings, long after your traditional answering
> machine picks up. But then, of course, you sacrifice the entire
> "call home to call Skype"
> feature.
> 
> And speaking of the recordings: Good heavens, was this the best
> voice-over talent ActionTec could find? The young lady speaks
> slowly and self-consciously,
> like the world's worst actor in a junior high musical. You can just
> imagine her saying, "Do not look now, Dorothy, but are those flying
> monkeys I see?
> Oh dear me."
> 
> If those gotchas don't getcha, though, you'd be hard-pressed to
> find another $60 gadget that works so crisply, reliably and
> efficiently. If you're among
> the 25 million existing Skypaholics, the Call Center could magnify
> the pleasure of making those free calls. And if you're not, the
> VoSky Call Center is
> one more reason to see what Skype is all about.
> 
> E-mail:
> [log in to unmask]
> 
> Copyright 2006
> The New York Times Company
> 
> ------------------------------