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T O P I C R E V I E W
1029usr078198
Posted - September 18 2008 : 05:27:21 There is no audio archive for today's show. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.
Question: I use dial-up because I can't justify so much more each month for High Speed service. Is this reasonable?
Answer: Sometimes when I teach class I hear this objection raised. It's a fair objection to getting some sort of high speed Internet connection. When you compare that cost against the cost of dial-up, broadband is significantly higher, especially if all you do is email and some light web surfing. Dial-up Internet service runs on average $14.95/month but you can find it for under $10/month and it ranges up to over $30/month. Sometimes how it's being billed makes a difference in what you pay. High speed service costs generally run about $50 per month and will vary depending on the speed of the connection, which will most likely be faster for download (receiving) than for upload (sending). A lot of folks who use dial-up have a second phone line installed so that they still have access to the phone, which is helpful for tech support situations. I see this all the time. But consider the cost of that phone line. Your basic phone line will run about $20/month. Now, add that to the cost of your dial-up service and you get about $35/month. None of the broadband technologies require a phone line anymore (satellite used to, but doesn't now) nor do they tie up your phone line in any way: you can be on the phone and the Internet at the same time. Now you can drop that extra line and apply the savings to the Internet connection. Not everyone considers this hidden cost in their thought process. So, is it worth it? I recommend broadband technologies whenever they're available so that's my bias. In the end, it's your choice. Just don't forget the hidden costs of dial-up.
Cool Site:www.seatguru.com – This site bills itself as “The ultimate source for airplane seating, in-flight amenities and airline information.” If you are planning a flight, why not take a look at where you'll be seated? You choose the airline you'll be on, select the plane you'll be flying in, and then point your mouse at the seats to see things like seat pitch, width, descriptions, and comments. Icons show you what amenities will be on your flight. One report I heard said he used the site to find a power outlet under his seat to run his laptop on.
Cool Gadget: Oregon Scientific's Digital Video Cameras: If your family likes to engage in outdoor sports, you've found that the elements have a negative effect on most video or still cameras, digital or not. If not the elements, then the bumps and jarring these cameras might experience may cause them to die an early death. Oregon Scientific makes a line of digital video and still cameras that make it possible to capture all those moments firsthand. These cameras are tough, they're shock-resistant and waterproof to at least ten feet so if you kayak, they'll take the occasional dunking. One negative I read about was that the field of view was limited, which while it conveys action better, the resulting video can be a bit unsettling. The cameras come with straps of varying lengths, making it possible to strap it to handlebars, helmets, whatever. They come with 32 megabytes of internal memory which is somewhat paltry, but have an SD memory slot for expansion. Most models have a viewfinder, but their latest model has a 1.5-inch LCD for its viewfinder. So if you're looking for a tough camera, which I really only would use for video, one of these might be the way to go.
It's All “Geek” To Me: “In The Cloud” - I've heard this one a lot lately, and it's more of just a “buzzword” rather than a real term, but the term “In The Cloud”, or even “Cloud Computing” means “On The Internet”. The term comes from the symbol used to represent the Internet in a network diagram, which looks like a cloud. If refers to a service that is performed by someone else's computers out on the Internet. All you need to know in order to use that service is how to set it up. After that, they'll take care of the rest. The big idea is that you don't need to know how it works, or care.
