The magazine of the Melbourne PC User Group Editorial Gary Taig editor@melbpc.org.au |
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In the article that Joe Henry has written about Grant Walker, one of our fellow members who is confined to a wheelchair and lives at Barham, on the Murray River. I browsed Grant's Web site and noticed a project he is undertaking, one that's not mentioned in Joe's story. It's Grant's search for artists along the Murray River. He plans to publish online a list of artists and the thought occurred that not all readers will delve into Grant's Web site. I hope that a brief mention here will encourage members to think about all the artists and photographers they know who happen to live along the Murray. Please put them in touch with Grant, or e-mail their details to me and I'll send them a magazine so that they can read the whole story.
New Editor?
No, we have just a change of face. I still manage the magazine, do all the editing, make all the hard decisions etc. and from now on I'll also be writing this page. Ash Nallawalla will continue in his role as Reviews Editor and if you know of any products in which other members would be interested, please let Ash know about them. There is an ongoing shortage of new products for review these days.
Photo Competition
Hot news! Just prior to prepress we have confirmation from Maxwell Optical Industries that the prize they are making available to PC Update for the 2005 competition is the new 6.1 Mp Nikon D50 SLR with an AF-S Nikkor 18-55mrn/f3.5-5.6G lens. This camera is so new it hasn't even arrived in the country yet, but I'm sure you'll find reviews somewhere on the Net. Sounds like it will be "the camera to own in 2005" and apparently it will retail at about $1500. So, start shooting, pick out your best shot every month and enter it. Colin Lampshire has taken over the administration of the competition; he will collect your entries from the office and make sure they go into the monthly judging and then onto the big stack for final judging for the camera at the end of the year.
Is Your Phone Bill High?
Is it "up there" like never before, with increases in line rentals etc? If you have Cable or ADSL this story may be of interest to you.
The background to this is me trying to find the time to set up a separate machine - off the network - plugged straight into the back of the router and able to run the latest Skype software to make phone calls over the Internet. I have many friends in other countries and after several years of limited to no contact - the occasional e-mail just isn't the same - I wanted to make some long overdue calls. Fortunately, by early 2005 the opportunity hadn't eventuated. I was too busy.
At a conference in February, where IT journalists meet vendors, I watched as several journalists each received a package from David Stewart, Managing Director of NetComm Limited and Anthony Wai, Product Manager at Laurel Stream Communications. As David and Anthony sat down, handing out boxes, they ran out. And yes, the guy next to me got the last one. We had all been hearing about this latest VoIP technology and I wanted it badly. So badly that soon after arriving home I contacted Anthony, bought one from him and plugged it in. It cost $129.00 and frankly I'll save that off my next phone bill. The device has a small power adaptor, and two lines, one to your ADSL router (or switch) and one where you plug in a standard telephone handset.
The unit is on this month's front cover. It's a V-100 VoIP Telephone Adaptor and it's sold under the name "MyNetfone", which is simply the NetComm box bundled with the Laurel Stream service. They're on the Web at http://www.myfone.com.au/ or Phone: (02) 8231 6111.
The cost of calls through the V-100 is extremely low. Here's an example. I talked to a mate in Toronto a few nights ago, for close to an hour. The audio was perfect; it was absolutely as good as I had ever experienced
on a traditional landline (Note. my broadband is DSL, 512/512). After the call ended I fired up the browser, logged in to the "MyNetFone" page and checked the cost - yes, it's a real time system. The duration showed 44 mins 39 secs and the call to Toronto cost a whole 90 cents! And the best thing about this is that it's a regular phone - call anywhere, any time.
Local calls are 10c flat. STD calls are 10/min capped at 1.50 for 100 mins. USA is 2.9c/min, UK. 2.5c, Hong Kong and Singapore 2.0c/min and calls to mobiles are 29c/min. A call to Italy for 6 miss 47 secs cost me 28c. It's 3.9c/ min on the rate card.
The V-100 has a phone number, but others can call it only when you buy a monthly plan. My Telstra phone takes incoming calls and all outgoing calls go through MyNetFone. Nobody needs to call the V-100 number so I elected not to use it and to manually top up the account where there is no monthly minimum. I put $50 on it six weeks ago and still haven't used it up! This is a huge cost saving over old methods.
Reprinted from the June 2005 issue of PC Update, the magazine of Melbourne PC User Group, Australia
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