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Category: Product Reviews

  • Cuil: A New Search Engine

    This week some ex-Google employees launched a new web search engine: Cuil. Pronounced: Cool. Being the curious type I went to the Cuil web site and fired up a few searches. So far it appears as though they still have a bit of work to do. Here are two screen shots of a search for…

  • Glance Review

    UPDATE July 2023: The pics are gone, I have no idea where they went, but, consider this blog a HISTORY lesson on the beginnings of web conferencing. 🙂 Rating: 4 WaterTowers In previous blog entries I have reviewed full-featured web conferencing applications. Initially, I had classified Glance in that class. What I found out is…

  • Google SketchUp

    The other day I found a link to Google SketchUp. I downloaded it and started to draw. The picture above is a crude representation of what you can do with SketchUp. I am not an artist, and it shows. However, if you are, and spend the time, there are some very powerful tools in SketchUP…

  • LifeSize H.323 HD Videoconferencing System Demo

    LifeSize H.323 HD Videoconferencing System Demo

    Times have changed. Just a few years ago, TelBitConsulting was pushing the state-of-the art (and enduring the criticisms of those with limited vision) of IP videoconferencing from a trade show (TeleCon). This video (8 minutes long) shows an interview between Matt Hamblen at ComputerWorld and Craig Malloy CEO of LifeSize. (The complete article is here.)…

  • Review of Mirial Softphone

    Review of Mirial Softphone

    History….ahhh, the memories of a bygone era.  🙂 ++++++++ Rating: 4 WaterTowers Mirial Softphone came to my attention a little over a month ago. At that time, I grabbed a 1 month free demo license and ran it through some initial tests. I encountered some system glitches with that version. These problems did not cause…

  • VUDU Evaluation and Review

    VUDU Evaluation and Review

    Rating: 5 WaterTowers (nearly perfect) UPDATE Jan 2015: VUDU is now available on most Blu-Ray players, Smart TV’s, and Chromecast (and I’m sure other streaming devices / services). Wal-Mart bought VUDU a few years back.   Before you read, you can watch my future Oscar winning documentary on “Using VUDU”. You will not be bored,…

  • Convert Vinyl Records into Digital Files

    Rating: 4 WaterTowers If you are like us you have some old 33’s and 45’s collecting dust in a closet. You may, also like us, have tossed your old turntables and have no way of listening to that great music of your youth. This Christmas, my wife bought me a really cool gadget. The “audio-technica…

  • WebEx Meeting Center

    WebEx Meeting Center

        4 WaterTowers OK, now you are working at home, saving the environment, and reducing traffic. Now what? You still need to stay in contact with your colleagues at work or around the world. You need to host a meeting, and/or manage and coordinate an online conference or seminar. What do you do? You…

  • SightSpeed

    SightSpeed

    Rating: 3.5 Watertowers More history….this is almost fun!  🙂 ++++++++++++ I had first heard about SightSpeed a few years ago while working at LBL. I checked them out at the time, but, since we were involved in standards-based H.323 IP videoconferencing, SightSpeed held little interest for our user base. This week I have taken another…

  • Proclaim by Netbriefings

    Proclaim by Netbriefings

    UPDATE August 2023: Consider this a HISTORY lesson in videoconferencing / collaboration. Enjoy! 🙂 4 Watertowers Introduction Streaming video used to be a difficult process requiring special hardware and software and a team of technicians. Of course, high quality video streaming still needs all that, but, if you are interested in “personal streaming” and can…