The Life of Lou Ruppert

I had a board meeting tonight at the church. One of the elders was missing in action due to a recent operation, so we patched her in with skype. It worked just as well for her as it did for Erin and me when we were in Québec this fall during the last one. This time, however, we had a camera to use, so our virtual elder could see the action as well as hear it.

If you’re using a mac, and you don’t get video when running on battery, try changing the power saving mode (battery icon) to favor performance rather than battery life. We were just getting a black box with writing on it until I switched the mode. There must be something to the extreme power saving mode that disables USB devices. Fixing that gave us blurry video, which lasted until I figured out that my cheap old webcam has a focus knob on it.

I’ve been reading about SIP voice over IP stuff, like ekiga or other softphone programs. I’d like to offer my clients that option as well as the skype they’re used to, because some of the hardware found in developing countries isn’t powerful enough for skype. It would be great to conference with some of the people I’ve met in far away places. Text is great, but sound and video can make a real difference.

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