Professional Technology Blog

Part 1
WebCam & Virtual Office; For Who–Me?

The first thing I’d like to share with you is how this review came into being.

I’d been doing a review for another company (which review is presently in its’ own review status and waiting to be accepted through www.ezinearticles.com for publication) that specializes in so much, what I would always consider to be, new technology. Stuff that I’d heard about many times, like in-one-ear and out-the-other, if you know what I mean.

The name of that article was called ” Virtual Office, Wiki, & Webconferencing! Also Called; Keeping In Touch With The Family Or Your Business Office

Hey, don’t let the length of the name throw you. First off, the name wasn’t my choice. Sometimes we all have to work with what we have. Still, the article opened me up in that I had never realized that I could have a “virtual office” my own self at such a ridiculously low cost. You can understand how most times in life one thing leads to another.

Well somehow, stuck in my brain was that webcams and all that stuff were for the richy-rich and the geeks; those who were so well-fed with computer-talk that computer-talk leaked out everytime they opened their mouths. (I know that you know those that I’m talking about now.)

But then, because of all the research that I ended up doing for that article I began to see uses for a virtual office of my own, so I started paying attention to the costs.

Part 2
Under A Hundred Bucks

So here I am, never bothering to check prices or anything; just going about life assuming that well… how the heck does anybody think that I could afford a VIRTUAL OFFICE. A big name like that certainly told me something!

Well, I already had the computer.! What else did I need.

Turns out that all I had to do was grab a couple webcams and a headset and headsets with microphones and the rest was history.

Let me check my wallet. Let’s see, I’m out of minutes on my pre-paid phone, which is a real pain in the neck in itself. (The wife/ “The Lil’ Woman (she likes it when I use somewhat affectionate titles), well, her and I share the pre-paid cost (which really isn’t very fair to her) cause ever since I went down our finances aint quite like they should be, which explains why I sit here chattering on the computer all day.)

But then-WHAT?

I can get two webcams for under 50 bucks. Yeah, right!

And I can get free webconferencing (see the previous article I told you about) and then upgrade at my convenience.

I ended up with three webcams with microphones built right in (we’re just using the speakers that are built into our monitors), all three for not only under a hundred bucks, but well under. I’m not going to spew the numbers, but they made me feel like such the fool for assuming that only techies need this stuff.

Now me and “The Lil’ Woman” save all of our pre-paid minutes for the kids and “outsiders”. That’s what we call people ‘outside’ of our little conferening circle. In fact, we don’t even seem to need minutes anymore. We never really realized how much it was costing us just to talk to each other. (’Course it would have helped if she didn’t have her ‘contract-phone, ’cause then we’d both have been on pre-paid-nah, we thought of that along time ago.)

Ya-gots-ta-go through me or The Lil Woman ta get in!

Part 3
Third Camera

Well, it’s probably not hard for you to figure out that Judy and I used two of the camera to keep in touch between her job and my home office, but would you be curious to know why I bought three?

I saved this third part for all of you writers out there that get bothered like I do. Not everybody does bothered like this, but I’m like…”I’m in my office-don’t bother me!”

Granted, I may be at home so everybody thinks that cause I’m home, I need my door knocked on three or four times a day. Do you know what-and hear me when I say, “I think it is a real pain in the (fill in the blank yourself, okay?) to me, as a writer, to finally have a good story or even just a good sentence running through my head, and just about that time somebody wants to bang on my door to see if I want to buy some magazines or “These All New-Style Coat-Hangers With Built-In Moth Protection”.

Here’s what’s worse-there are always more knocks on the door when the wife and kids are gone. That is a factoid that can’t be avoided in this conversation. I don’t know why it is, but everytime the wife and kids are gone, all of their friends, relatives, acquaintances, and whoever-out-there I haven’t covered-somehow and or for some silly reason has to decide that now is the time to knock on the door. Up I get, and it’s the same thing all the time-”No, she/he’s not here right now.” (You know what I always hear back? “Okay, I’ll check back later.”)

Well, guess what I did with that third camera. Tired of guessing?

Okay, watch this… I set it right in the window-sill where they could all see it. Now they know that I’m home and that I can see them, but they bang away anyway. I don’t mean ‘just knock’, no, most that knock on our door know that my office is way in the back and they figure if they knock hard enough, I will hear them and come to the door.

Wrong!

The one I like to watch is my oldest sons’ buddy. I just know that sooner or later he will understand what that door is saying to him. In the meantime he just knocks, stares a goofy stare into the camera,…and then knocks harder-this time putting his ear to the door, and then positive he hears me coming, clasps his hands behind his back, slides his halo up over his horns figuring I didn’t see or hear the cuss words coming out of his mouth, so …well, when the door still doesn’t open I see him throw his little tantrum(which is fun to watch a fifteen year old do), and knock still louder.

You know what? The first knock was my pain. Already my mind is wishing my “Doorknocker” my best. (Yeah-right.) It’s the second knock dis-ka-boob-o-rated the whole sentence or story I that had been flowing so comfortably. Am I gonna get up?

Wrong again!

I used to.

Now I just wait. What the heck, he already ruined my direction of thought, but hey, the show is just starting. From this point on it’s my pleasure, for sure!

For all of you writers that can understand what I’m saying and so thoroughly enjoy it when the words just flow right on through I can only say that I wish you were all here with me. I just gotta tell you that I can’t help myself but to laugh as I watch him finally walk away rubbing his knuckles and cussing. Sooner or later, that solid wooden door and his knuckles are going to come to an understanding!

In the meantime, I’m enjoying. Let ‘em keep on knocking.

More info on obtaining a very affordable webcam and microphone can be found here Sewell Direct . And what is going on here? Are we going to need a traffic cop to control all of the sudden site traffic rushing to get more information about wiki-enabled online workspace (the virtual office), and webconferencing that can be easily obtained through Virtual Office…