Technical Musings

FREE or Inexpensive VoIP Services

2011-11-27T20:07:00.001-08:00

Here is a list of FREE or Inexpensive VoIP Services that are available to the average user:

Google -----------> FREE textmessaging to any mobile phone in the USA & Canada, FREE unlimitedVoIP telephone calls to anywhere in the USA & Canada, FREEunlimited Video messaging anywhere in the world with another Googleuser {must have a Google email account, be online, and be signed upfor Google Voice & Video Chat}

Skype ------------> FREE unlimitedVideo messaging or VoIP telephone calls anywhere in the world withanother Skype user, $30.00 per year {$2.50 per month} for unlimited VoIPtelephone calls to anywhere in the USA & Canada (Computer needed)

MagicJack ------> $39.95 per 1^styear, $19.95 per year {$1.67 per month} thereafter for unlimited [VoIP telephone calls with a computer] to anywhere in the USA & Canada oranother MagicJack/MagicJack plus user anywhere in the world

MagicJack Plus > $69.95 per1^st year, $19.95 per year {$1.67 per month} thereafter for unlimited [VoIP telephone calls with or without computer] to anywherein the USA & Canada or another MagicJack/MagicJack plususer anywhere in the world

VoIP and the "NEW" magicJack+®

2011-10-19T07:37:00.000-07:00

The new magicJacK+® has finally caught up with the Ooma System! The user no longer needs a computer to get VoIP 24 hr service; once the user activates the dongle on their computer {picks their user name, picks their password, and picks their telephone number} with the corporation then they can plug it into a 117V wall socket, run an Ethernet cable from the dongle to a router that is connected to DSL or Cable services, and then connect a telephone system to the phone jack on the dongle.

All the user has to do is keep their router on 24/7, they can now turn their computer off whenever they want to do so. The user can buy a good router for $49.97:

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Linksys-E1200-Wireless-N-Router/16401813

The cost of the magicJack+® dongle and the 1st year of telephone service is only $69.95; then the standard rate of $19.95/per year for each year thereafter OR you can then buy five (5) years of service for $69.95 at a time (that is cheaper that one (1) month of service on Verion, AT&T, Cavalier, or any other land line company.

So for an initial output of around $120.00 the user is up and running!

Necessary Freeware

2011-10-17T17:45:00.000-07:00

Here is a quick list ofFREEWARE if used by the “new” computer owner can save a greatdeal of money that can be put towards other things, like more RAMmemory, a blu-ray DVD reader/writer, a Web Camera, and/or a higherresolution monitor, instead of software for the new computer. If factthe amount of money saved could be worth hundreds of dollars to the“new” computer owner!

Software Type →Commercial Name ↔Freeware Name ↔(DownloadLocation)
==============================================

VirusSuite → Norton ↔MSE ↔(http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/security_essentials/default.aspx)

Optical Disks → Nero↔ CDBurnerXP ↔(http://cdburnerxp.se/)

OfficeSuite* → Microsoft Office ↔LibreOffice↔(http://www.libreoffice.org/)

OpticalCharacter Recognition ↔ ABBYYFineReader ↔ FreeOCR↔ (http://www.paperfile.net/)

Image Manipulation →Adobe Photoshop ↔GIMP ↔(http://www.gimp.org/)

SoundEditing → WavePad Masters ↔WavePad Free ↔(http://www.nch.com.au/wavepad/)

FileCompression → WinZip ↔Ken Ward's Zipper ↔(http://www.trans4mind.com/personal_development/zipper/index.html)

RegistryCleaner → RegCure ↔Eusing Free Registry Cleaner ↔ (http://www.eusing.com/free_registry_cleaner/registry_cleaner.htm)

Web Cam → YouCam↔Debut Video Capture Software ↔

(www.nchsoftware.com/capture/index.html)

*Here arefour online sites that have excellent tutorials for the basic partsof OpenOffice or LibreOffice!

1.Writer: http://www.gcflearnfree.org/computer/topic.aspx?id=102
2.Calc: http://www.gcflearnfree.org/computer/topic.aspx?id=117
3.Impress: http://www.gcflearnfree.org/computer/topic.aspx?id=122
4.Base: http://inpics.net/tutorials/base2/basics.html

Video & VoIP Services

2011-10-17T09:59:00.000-07:00

Remember when in the late 1960s and during the 1970s that American Telegraph and Telephone (AT&T) were the only 'game' in town and that they were going to bring the consumer 'Video Telephones' were the consumers could see to whom they were communicating as well as converse with them?

AT&T presented the consumer with various video telephone models that cost many hundreds of dollars and they charged the consumers a great deal on money for the consumer to have the system installed and to then have the service in their residence or place of business.

Well look at things now! AT&T is not the only 'game' in town and having a video telephone service is both very inexpensive for both the equipment needed {web cameras with built in microphones can be bought for as little as $25.00} and the costs to have that very same service at the residence or place of business is non-existent {“if it is free, then it is for me”}.

The advent of 'Voice over Internet Protocol' has made that wondrous service of the all those years ago a common place service of 'modern' times.

There are two such services available to the consumer; both of which can be classified as 'FREE':

1.) Google - http://www.google.com/chat/video
2.) Skype - http://www.skype.com/intl/en-us/get-skype/on-your-computer/windows/

Of these two services right now Ipersonally prefer the Google service because they seem to have better'technical assistance' than does the Skype service.

However, now that Skype has officiallyhas become a separate division under the umbrella of MicrosoftCorporation only time will tell if their 'technical assistance' willimprove!

Retro Computing

2010-05-23T22:28:00.000-07:00

When I bought my FIRST Home Computer back in 1983, like millions of other users out there it was a Texas Instruments - TI 99/4A. Like many other users out there I learned how to program and use it for technical office processes like word processing (TI Writer) & making and using spreadsheets (Microsoft Multiplan).

Like many a 'first love' that TI 99/4A computer was never completely remembered or wholly forgotten!!

I packed my TI 99/4A away long ago, but recently ran across Cory Burr's Win99/4A, an EXCELLENT simulator of the TI 99/4A with full speech capabilities, sound capabilities, and very good module compatibility that runs on PCs running "Windows". I can now get back into writing programs in Extended Basic, using the Mini Memory Cartridge again, and using the good educational modules for my nieces, nephews, and other children; all this on my PC.

Just go to on the http address below. It will take you directly to where the file is located and can be downloaded.

http://www.99er.net/

Over 200 Cartridges (Modules) in file format are available for download for Win994a. Just go to on the http address below. It will take you directly to where the files are located and can be downloaded.

http://www.99er.net/

Download and uncompress the cartridge(s) item. This may take a little while since the file is roughly 27meg. Uncompress the contents of this file into the "carts" directory under the "Win994a" folder of your hard disk. This will make all 200+ carts available to Win994a next time you start it up. Enjoy.

Try it!

***********************************

Win994a-TI-99/4A Simulator for Windows

Win994a is a TI-99/4A simulator written by Cory Burr that installs and runs in the Windows environment.

Win994a is not a perfectly accurate emulation of the TI-99/4a; and it was never intended to be. The author decided not to implement certain aspects of the TI-99/4a either because they are rarely used or were considered of "no-value-added". The author vigorously apologizes to those users who will miss a favorite peripheral or item of functionality. The list below details the various functionality provided by the Win994a Simulator.

General Functionality:

Boots and runs all console ROM and GROM based functions including console BASIC.
CRU bits for the keyboard are implemented; some CRU bits for the Disk Controller and RS232 Interface are implemented.
TMS9918a video chip functionality is implemented.
TMS9919 sound chip functionality is implemented.
TMS5520 speech synthesizer chip is implemented.
Full floppy disk and disk controller functionality.
Full cassette tape functionality for CS1.
32k Memory Expansion supported.
PIO and RS232 ports are supported, but using a different method than the original TI99/4a.
Support for one joystick input (using numeric keypad).
Runs over 200 cartridges correctly. Cartridges that depend on non-implemented CRU bits or non-documented video chip operation will fail.

Specifics:

All TMS9940 CPU instructions are implemented. CPU clock ticks are accumulated for both instructions and fast/slow memory accesses. When enough clock ticks have been accumulated for 1/16 of a second real elapsed time, Win994a checks the high precision clock (available in the PentiumPro and above processors) and gives up enough of the time slice so that accurate running time is maintained.

Console based cassette tape functions for CS1 supported.
Console ROM and multiple console GROM functionality implemented.
Multiple peripheral based ROMs supported.
Multiple cartridge based ROMs, GROMs, and RAM supported.
TMS9918a: Uses DirectX for all operations. Video modes GRAPHICS, TEXT, MULTICOLOR, BITMAP, BITMAP-TEXT, and BITMAP-MULTICOLOR are implemented. Sprites, sprite coincidence, screen blanking, and vertical interrupt operations are implemented.
TMS9919: Uses DirectSound for all operations. All three voices and noise channel supported.
TMS5520: Speech synthesizer functions implemented.
Disk Controller and three floppy drives fully supported.
PIO and RS232 ports are supported, but using a different method than the original TI99/4a. PIO/1, PIO/2, RS232/1, RS232/2, RS232/3, and RS232/4 provide six separate pathways for making printouts through Window's print system. They do not provide input/output capabilities with the PC's actual hardware ports.
Support for one joystick input (using the keyboard numeric keypad) is implemented.

***********************************

Using RXB [Rich Extended Basic] and FUNLWEB [Funnel Web] together is as close as one can get to having a "DOS" like operating system for the TI99/4A Computer along with its Emulators & Simulators*. No longer having a physical TI99/4A computer set up, one can imagine this must be the same situation for those users that have the ability to use this physical set up of their computer.

Again this example just shows anyone that is willing to investigate how the potential of this computer was not developed by its parent company in a corporate decision to not have this consumer computer compete with its business computer.

RXB was developed by Richard Gilbertson and FUNLWEB was developed by Tony & Will McGovern, these two groups of gentlemen were thousands of miles apart and probably developed their programs out of a necessity because the 'operating system' that was offered by the parent computer company was so inferior. Sometimes the small group can really out perform the big company.

Now maybe the TI99/4A Computer along with its Emulators & Simulators* users with the RXB & FUNLWEB programs could start a mild rediscovery of this computer type if they each made a concerted effort to publicize the availability of this material worldwide over the Internet

=====================================

*Classic99, M.E.S.S., PC99, and Win994a

Users can NOT beat the price!

2009-04-25T06:44:00.000-07:00

Five years, 60 months, for $59.95. That is what I paid when I renewed my service contract with YMax Communications (magicJack) after having it the initial year. That comes to one (1) dollar per month for a second phone line in the house.

The Federal, state, and local taxes and fees almost make up 50% 0f the bill!

My current Cavalier Telephone service costs:

unlimited local & long distance plan .... 34.95
listing - non publish ............................... 3.95
energy recovery charge ........................ 2.95
data service recovery chagre ............... 2.00
fed excise tax .......................................... .63
gross receipts ......................................... .25
state special tax ..................................... 2.65
state sales tax ........................................ .82
local sales tax ......................................... .14
emerg. 911 service ................................ 1.00
USF interstate toll ............................... .34
relay surcharge .................................... .08
USF line charge .................................... 1.10
LNP surcharge ..................................... .99
end user access fee .............................. 3.97
end user common line ......................... 9.00
_______________________________________
............................................................... 64.72

so less than what I paid for one (1) month of service with Cavalier Telephone, I was able to get five (5) years of service with magicJack! Of course I ordered the five years of continued service.

magicJack® vs. Skype®

2009-01-01T16:45:00.000-08:00

magicJack® vs. Skype®

I have looked into Skype® vs. magicJack® and have determined that the two services are very, very, very much alike! One is hardware based while the other is software based.

If you know from my association with the computer world going back as far as the TI 99/4a that I have always been a hardware man. :-) For that reason, I favor magicJack® between the two services.

magicJack® costs $1.67 per month for calls to anywhere in the U.S.A. or Canada, $1.00 per month with a 5 year license; versus $2.95 per month with Skype®, $1.48 per month with a 1 year account.

They both have conference calling, voice mail, and call forwarding. Skype® charges money for other features that magicJack® does not charge their users, however that is minimum -> however it still costs the user money.

The magicJack® portability feature is the tipping point that makes it the better of the two services.

magicJack® softphone features

* Menu – Switch to headset, download Outlook plug-in, and other configuration options.

* Contacts – This is your list of contacts for quick reference.

* Calls – This provides call history. Using this feature allows you to quickly and easily reconnect to past calls.

* Favorites – This lists your favorite contacts like Mother In Law, Sister In Law etc.

* Redial – redial

* Vmail – This lets you set your own voice mail. To set MagicJack voice mail message you must login to their website and select user options to set voice mail for different locations. I also like the fact MagicJack sends an email with the .WAV file of the voice mail.

* 411 – Is an internet linked to Free411.com.

* Google – A simple hot link to Google for web searching.

* Weather - A simple hot link to the weather channel

* Fix - A simple hot link to software fixes of many minor problems

* 911 Address – This function defaults to your original entry in MagicJack, but it also gives the benefit of adding multiple address in case you use this at work, home, families houses etc.

**********************

Portability - this lets you take or send the magicJack® dongle overseas to call friends, family, business associates, and etc. anywhere in the world for just the cost of the device and its original service contracts. Sure beats a telephone calling card for members of the Armed Services, students, and vacationers.

*************************

magicJack® lets you use your computer's mic/speakers, a headset, or a regular telephone interface with its dongle while Skype® has your computer's mic/speakers or a headset interface.

My brother-in-law uses his magicJack® dongle with his laptop and a headset when he is on the streets of Philadelphia with its FREE citywide Wi-Fi and with a cordless phone when he is in his home.

*************************

magicJack® Reality

2008-12-20T15:33:00.000-08:00

“Most users that are having “trouble” with their magicJack® dongle are usually having connection problems with their computer's USB ports and its power supply to those ports!”

How many USB devices are currently plugged in?

Power-Hungry USB Ports

The number of USB devices that the users can plug into the computer these days, with cameras, scanners, printers, keyboards, pointing devices, PDAs, hard disks and many more peripherals using the USB interface that often runs off the computer's power through the USB bus. This is more of a convenience since the users don't have to plug in a separate electrical cord, but it's also easy to overload the USB ports if the users plug a number of devices into many of the available ports.Does the user's PC's USB ports supply enough electricity to power all the devices they have attached to them? Plugging too much gear into a bus-powered USB hub (one with no external power adapter) can overwhelm a USB port by demanding more than the 500 mA it can supply.

Check the power demands on any USB port in Windows XP by right-clicking My Computer and choosing Properties, Hardware, Device Manager.

1. Double-click Universal Serial Bus controllers,
2. Double-click the USB Root Hub entry, choose the Power tab, and add up the amounts in the "Power Required" column.

(Below is the advice which many users forget about.)

In a few rare instances, the USB port on the user's computer may not have enough electrical power for the magicJack® dongle to work properly.

Try using a externally AC powered USB hub to plug the magicJack® dongle into instead of using the computer's USB port if there are 'many' other USB devices connected to the computer or if the magicJack® dongle acts erratically with audio and connection problems.
[e.g. Startech .COM ST4200USB 4-PORT USB 2.0 HUB (ST4200USB)»(Cost $19.14)]

magicJack® may or may not work best when plugged directly into a USB port on the computer.

Do not plug the magicJack® dongle into a multi port USB hub that is not AC powered.

Another option if you don't want to buy yet another device is to check the Power Management function of your computers USB Root Hub. Under Windows XP, disabling the Power Management for all USB Root Hubs in your system may resolve the problem.

Here is how to do it:

1. Open the Device Manager (Start-> right click on "My Computer", click on "Properties" -> Hardware -> Device Manager)
2. Look under the category Universal Serial Bus controllers and find the USB Root Hub.
3. Right click and select Properties, go to the Power Management tab
4. Uncheck the box "Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power." and click "OK".

Repeat this for each of the USB Root Hubs shown in the Device Manager.

After the user has connected the magicJack® dongle for the first time, registered the device, and has the 'softphone' on the screen, the user should probably run TCP Optimizer to “tune” the computer to work with it in an efficient manner; it can be downloaded from the following website:

http://www.speedguide.net/downloads.php

The program can aid both the novice and the advanced user in tweaking related TCP/IP parameters in the Windows Registry, making it easy to tune your system to the type of Internet connection used. The tool uses advanced algorithms, and the bandwidth delay product to find the best TCP Window for your specific connection speed. It provides for easy tuning of all related TCP/IP parameters, such as MTU, RWIN, and even advanced ones like QoS and ToS/Diffserv prioritization. The program works with all current versions of Windows, and includes additional tools, such as testing average latency over multiple hosts, and finding the largest possible packet size (MTU).

The user can use the TCP Optimizer by following these short instructions:

1. Choose the maximum Connection Speed from the slider bar (the maximum available bandwidth, in kilobits per second)
2. Choose the Network Interface, or check to Modify All Network Adapters
3. Pick "Optimal settings" from the radio-buttons near the bottom of the program
4. Click on the "Apply changes" button and reboot

If you get annoyed by the softphone pop-up dialog box constantly coming on to your monitor's screen every time the telephone system is activated, then you can try this program to curtain that feature:

http://www.download.com/MagicBlock/3000-2349_4-10838528.html?cdlPid=10843178

magicJack® Uses

Number One

1. Inexpensive Secondary Telephone Service »[Costing $19.95 per year or 5¢ per day]
2. Excellent adjunct to expensive prime time and/or poor indoor Cellular Telephone Service
3. Distribute magicJack® phone number to all contacts as primary contact number
4. When outdoors have the magicJack® phone number forwarded to cell phone
5. When indoors use magickJack® phone number to reach and be reached by contacts

Number Two

1. Inexpensive Second Telephone Service for your home »[Costing $19.95 per year or 5¢ per day]
2. If you don't want to leave your computer on overnight, just have the magicJack® phone number forwarded to your Primary service when shutdown
3. Excellent teenager(s) own phone line instead of expensive cellular phone when at home → can be used like magicJack® Uses Number One as above

Number Three

1. Inexpensive telephone service for a home business »[Costing $19.95 per year or 5¢ per day]
2. Built in voice mail makes it easy for customers messages to be heard via email when away from home business location, like when at your primary employment

magicJack® Support

http://www.magic-jack.info/linkpage.htm

YMax Communications Corp.
5700 Georgia Avenue
West Palm Beach, FL 33405
Phone: 561-586-3380
Alt: 888-230-0060
Fax: 561-586-2328
Email: peter.russo@ymaxcorp.com
Email: russop@magicjack.com

Competitive Local Exchange Regulated by WUTCYMAX Communications Corp.
Daniel Borislow, President & CEO
223 Sunset Avenue, Suite 223
Palm Beach, FL 33480
407-740-3031

Customer Contact:Michael Shippey, Customer Service Manager
5700 Georgia Ave
West Palm Beach, FL 33405
Phone:888-230-0060
Fax: 561-586-2328
Email: michael.shippey@ymaxcorp.com
Email: russop@magicjack.com

Financial Support: (281) 404-1551 open from 11am to 8pm EST

http://www.bbbsoutheastflorida.org/BBBWeb/Forms/Business/CompanyReportPage_Expository.aspx?CompanyID=92003333

Various Instructions for REMOVING magicJack® Software (Windows Operating System)

Version Number One

1. Unplug the magicJack® dongle. Go to “Start” in Windows and click on “run” and type (enter) regedit and press Enter.
2. Now Click on + Sign next to HKEY_LOCAL MACHINE.
3. Click on + Sign next to SYSTEM.
4. Click on + Sign next to CurrentControlSet.
5. Click on + Sign next to Enum.
6. Locate the folder called USB. Right Click on the Folder and Click on “Permissions”.
7. In permissions Click on the Check Mark called “Allow” to the right of “Full Control”.
8. Click OK.
9. Next Click on + Sign next to USB and locate two folders called “Vid1307″.
10. Right Click on one at a time and select Delete.
11. Next Click on - Sign next to USB.
12. Right Click on the folder named USBSTOR and Allow permissions.
13. Next Click on + Sign next to USBSTOR.
14. Locate the folders named “CdRom&Ven_YMAX&Prod_MagicJack&Rev” and “Disk&Ven_YMAX&Prod_MagicJack&Rev”
15. Right Click on these Folders one at a time and hit Delete.

Version Number Two

1. Double Click on your Hard Drive (usually called C:\).
2. Double Click on Documents and Settings.
3. Double Click on the Folder that has the Username you use when logging into Windows.
4. Double Click on Application Data.
5. Double Click on Folder labeled “mjusbsp”.
6. Double Click on Folder labeled “in00000″.
7. Find the Setup File there and Delete.

Version Number Three

1. Use Device Manager to Uninstall the MagicJack cdrom/disk drive/usb hub.
2. Unplug the magicJack® device.
3. Delete the mjusbsp Directory and all Subdirectories (probably at c:\documents and settings\(your user profile name)\application data\mjusbsp).
4. Use regedit to locate the HKEY Current User Talk4Free entries and Delete the Talk4Free Key and all Subkeys.
5. Delete the MagicJack Directory and all Subdirectores (probably at c:\documents and settings\(your user profile name)\local settings\application data\magicjack).
6. Delete any start menu and desktop Icons.7. Reboot.

magicJack® Telephone Service Throughout the Entire Residence or Business

The user can have the service throughout the entire building by purchasing something like the newer General Electric Model 25931 Series 5.8 GHz Cordless Handset Speakerphone System®.

The telephone system is EXPANDABLE with up to a total of four (4) handsets (by purchase of optional Model 25901 handsets with charge cradles)

How to save money and pay for magicJack® Service with interest earned after one year!

1. The average cost of land line telephone service (AT&T, Cavalier, Qwest, Sprint, or Verizon) with all federal, state, and local taxes and fees is $60.00 per month
2. Deposit $720.00 [12 months of land line payments saved] in an on line account (ING or HSBC linked to you Debit Card Account) earning at least 2.8% interest per year at the time you initiate magicJack® Service
3. After one (1) year you will have earned enough money in interest to pay for the coming yearly magicJack® payment
4. Transfer the interest earned to your Debit Card Account and pay your magicJack® service fee
5. This account will allow you to use [OPM] “Other People's Money” to pay for your magicJack® service for each year you chose to maintain it.