Tag: Bob Wood

Bob Wood’s Blogs

My friend Bob has turned into a one man publishing army. He’s got two blogs and another website all up and running. It’s not easy feeding three of these on a daily basis.

Bob used to be my expert on all things audio. I guess he still is. Now, his more eminent expertise is in home theater. There’s a subject I know zip about.

It’s amazing to look at all he’s written at http://greathometheater.com/. Lots of things I’ve wondered about are explained… well, except for that how to pay thing.

Bob and I were talking this afternoon, and somehow the topic moved over to search engines like Google and Yahoo!. Bob said his site isn’t in Google’s index. I just looked – he’s right!

As he explains it, there is a sandbox period when you exist, Google knows you exist, but they won’t add you to their database. Ouch! A huge portion of my daily traffic is driven by web surfers who’ve hit Google or Yahoo! or MSN. Without their help, how would anyone know I’m here?

How does anyone know Bob’s there?

The search engines scour this site all the time. Google’s here as often as the #7 train rolls through Willets Point. I give up hundreds of megabytes in bandwidth a month to keep them happy. It’s a worthwhile trade.

You can see I’ve added links to Bob’s sites in this entry and included the blog’s address in the text. I don’t know if it will help… it can’t hurt. Bob’s sites deserve to be seen.

Discovering Skype

Earlier today, I got an email from my friend Bob Wood in Austin, TX. He’s having a computer problem, as Windows XP fights with an application written in the ‘golden days’ of computing.

I picked up my cellphone and gave him a call. We ran through the typical trouble spots and found nothing.

As we went through a list of programs in msconfig, I looked at the cellphone and saw we were already 20+ minutes into the conversation. Hey – I’m not made of minutes!

I think it was then that Bob mentioned Skype. Skype is a VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) service.

VOIP isn’t a new concept. In fact, we already use a VOIP service at home as an extra phone with unlimited Connecticut calling.

What makes Skype so different is its excellent integration into your PC. It took under 5 minutes to download, install and activate my Skype account. From that point forward, I was talking to Bob PC-to-PC. In that mode, Skype is free!

There are also ways to use Skype to call an old fashioned phone. That’s what my friend Peter did while traveling through France. Calls from a PC to a telephone cost a few cents a minute – even when calling from Europe.

The voice quality was excellent. There is no noticeable lag. Bob said radio stations could conceivably use Skype for remote broadcasts. I agree.

Where Bob and I disagree is his contention that Skype is a telephone killer. It’s good, but it’s not convenient. You need to be near your computer. It’s not portable.

It’s an adjunct, not a replacement. However, it’s a pretty darn good adjunct.