VoIP over Dial-Up PC to Phone
So you’ve heard that you can use your computer to make cheap long-distance calls over the Internet. Maybe you’ve even tried it. Chances are though that if you’ve attempted VoIP calls over a dial-up connection, you’ve experienced intermittent quality, ‘call drop-outs’ and annoying speech transmission delays. The good news is that there are some quick, easy steps that you can take to dramatically improve the quality of your VoIP calls over dial-up connections. There’s a lot of hype these days surrounding Internet-based voice communications (VoIP) replacing traditional telephone service. Most of this revolves around companies such as Vonage who coin themselves as the ‘Broadband Phone Company’. So what about those of us who don’t have a broadband connection? Just because you don’t have high speed Internet, doesn’t mean that you can’t save a fortune by using VoIP for your long-distance calls. Whilst a broadband connection will usually result in more consistent VoIP call quality, comparable results can be achieved using a dial-up connection provided some simple guidelines are followed. sShop Around Not all VoIP service providers support dial-up users. Companies such as Vonage bill themselves as alternatives to traditional telephone service and shy away from the dial-up community (who are tied to those ‘traditional’ networks to access the Internet). Furthermore, some service providers only support dial-up above a certain speed (e.g., 56Kbp). Two companies whose VoIP softphone applications work well over low speed connections include Callserve and Go2Call. ‘Free-up’ your System Resources In order to ensure the highest call quality, close programs that are running in the ‘background’. For Windows users, these applications can be seen in the taskbar at the bottom right of your screen. ‘Right-click’ the icons and close those programs that aren’t critical to system security (e.g., don’t close anti-virus software, firewall applications and the like). If you’re using Windows XP with user switching enabled, log off all users except the one that will be used to make the call. This will prevent the other user identities from running software and/or using your bandwidth while you’re making calls. ‘Free Up’ your Internet Connection Given the limited data capacity of dial-up connections, it’s important that you devote as much of your bandwidth as possible to the VoIP softphone application. To achieve maximum call quality, don’t do anything that uses your bandwidth whilst making calls. This includes instant messaging, checking email, using a webcam, browsing the internet, downloading, etc. In Windows, you can look at the two little computers in the bottom right of your taskbar to see whether your connection is being used prior to calling (the little computers illuminate when data is being uploaded and/or downloaded). Scan your System for Viruses, Spyware, Adware and Malware Some of these malicious programs can hijack your browser, tie up your internet connection and slow down your system (not to mention seriously invade your privacy!). I recommend Adware for free scanning and removal of Spyware/Adware. Once you’ve checked and cleansed your system of these nasty programs, your virus definition files should be updated to minimize the chances of re-infection. Use a Headset with an Integrated Boom Microphone Last but not least, using a headset with a boom microphone should eliminate those annoying voice echoes often associated with PC to phone calls. Echoes are caused by your microphone detecting the voice coming from your computer speakers and re-transmitting that voice signal back to the person you’re talking to. By using a headset, the voice signals are limited in volume (due to the headset being directly adjacent to your ears) and thus the chances of your microphone ‘re-transmitting’ those voice signals is greatly reduced. So there you have it. A lack of high speed Internet needn’t mean a lack of PC to phone VoIP capability.
Do’s and Don’ts When Hiring Voice Over Talent
From radio-commercials to podcasts, finding the right voice over talent for your marketing and image is an essential part of your marketing efforts. Voice overs play a part in educating, persuading, entertaining, and creating interest from your market. No matter what type of advertisement or message you are looking to promote, voice talent can help you to create the high-impact kind of ad you want.
Finding the right fit for your voice over artist is crucial in modern societies competitive market; you need to create and advertising message that resonates with your customers and ensures that your company stands apart from your competition. The hiring process might be slow, but finding a voice talent agent can help make it easier to find the right fit. Still, there are many ways to find someone who can assist you in developing the right marketing message needed. These are some simple do’s and don’ts when hiring voice over talent for your marketing campaign.
Do request references. Learning how the voice artist has worked with other companies and clients can provide some insights on how well they may jive with your company’s goals.
Don’t listen to only one sample. Ask for at least three to five different examples that show how flexible and adaptable the voice over artist may be. Professional voice artists should be able to create a bunch of voice talents and customize their intonations to meet the demands of your message.
Do request more than the initial interview. The 1st interview may just be to review the person’s qualifications and learn about their background. The second and third interview may include tests or evaluations, so plan accordingly and devise a series of meetings to narrow down your choice.
Don’t forget about online talent. Many talented voice over actors can now be found on the web, and have their own homepage and portfolio for you to. This can make hiring much easier, and you will have a far greater understanding of their history with the audio files and related-links that are available online.
Do select a voice that fits in with your target audience. Customers in your demographic are much more likely to resonate with someone who sounds like their own friends, neighbors and coworkers. Don’t be afraid to invest the time to find at least 3 unique qualities or characteristics of your demographic, and look for voice over artists with the same qualities.
Remember to request ask for demo Mp3s. You can review these after the interview, and keeping them around can make it easier for you compare them to all the other voice actors with ease. Keep track of those Mp3 or demo-tapes so you can effectively compare them when it comes time to choose your finalist.
Hiring the right voice artist is an important part of creating your marketing messages, and you will want to do some research in your market to determine what your customers will resonate the most with. Finding voice talent with experience can make the process of developing your project much easier; take the time to interview and review each candidate to determine just the right voice for your business.
Setting up the Asterisk Phone System at Home
The Asterisk phone systems are Linux-based VOIP PBX systems. PBX stands for Private Branch Exchange, and this refers to a division of the phone line within a building, be it a business or home. PBX systems are commonly used in businesses. Several phone lines come into the building and then are distributed to several individual extensions spread throughout the company. A few lines out of the building connecting to the phone lines are also part of the system, allowing outgoing calls. You typically have to dial a number, such as 9, to get one of these outside lines. Some people find that setting up a PBX at home is convenient, but not work the thousands of dollars necessary. With Asterisk, this type of system can be set up for relatively little cost.
The Hardware
There are some pieces of hardware that you will need to set up an Asterisk phone system in your home. One is a Linux server with an extra PCI slot. While the program can run on Windows based servers, it does not run well. Linux is a must if you want everything to run efficiently, as the Asterisk system was designed to be run on Linux. Most people find that a dedicated server works best for this application, espcially if they are going to use a Windows based system. The system will need 40 GB of available disk space.
Besides a server, you will also need a Digium Wildcard TDM400P. This is the card that allows you to connect your phones and your phone line to the Asterisk server and the VOIP PBX system. The card has four ports, so you will need to decide how many lines you need. The ports can be configured to be incoming or outgoing, depending on your needs. Incoming ports take the phone line coming from outside of your home and connect it to the system, allowing you to receive calls. Outgoing ports allow you to connect your regular phone to the system, so you can receive calls. If you need more than four ports, you will need to buy an extra card.
Software
Once you have the hardware, you are ready to set up your operating system and install the Asterisk phone system software. The best way to do this and avoid the need for Asterisk consulting as you install the product is to download the ISO of Asterisk@Home. This will begin to install automatically and will reformat your disk if needed, so installing it on a machine that does not have important information on it first is a good idea. There are other ways to set up the system, but they are quite confusing.
Setting up the System
After you have installed the software, you can use the new Web server to view the Asterisk Management Portal. This portal has an interface where you can set up your system. The interface is fairly straightforward and has documentation to help with any questions that you might have.
Once you have the basic setup entered, you will need to add your extensions. This is simple to do on the “Ring Group” screen. Simply add the number of extensions you intend for your home to have. This is also the page where you will configure your voicemail box. To record your voicemail messages, call the chosen extension from a phone inside your system and record the message.
The final step to completely configuring your system is configuring the rules for incoming calls. You can choose whether you want to have the calls go to the phones or an operator, where the caller can choose an extension. Once you have made these choices, you are ready to start using your new VOIP PBX system!
Once installed, Asterisk phone systems work much like a regular PBX system. You simply pick up the phone, dial the extension for an outside line, and make your call! Soon you will forget that you are using a high-tech VOIP PBX system at all as your new phone setup becomes part of your daily life.
Glossary Of Terms (M – R) – CCTV
MAGNIFICATION RATIO
The ratio between the focal length of a lens and the focal length of a standard angle lens. Indicates the magnification of the image when compared to an image from a standard angle lens.
MANUAL IRIS
Type of lens that requires manual focusing.
MATRIX SWITCHER
Advanced type of switcher in which a signal from any input can be switched to any number or combination of outputs. Generally used in larger and more complex systems the matrix will usually also incorporate a range of additional advanced features.
MICROWAVE TRANSMISSION
A method of transmitting signals using a microwave frequency link. Not affected by adverse weather but requires direct line of site. A licence may be required to operate a microwave frequency system.
MODEM
Derived from the term Modulate-Demodulate. A modem is used to convert between analogue and digital signal to then transmit and receive the signals over the PSTN network.
MOIRÉ PATTERN
An unwanted effect that appears in the video picture when a high frequency pattern is looked at with a CCD camera that has a pixel pattern close (but lower) to the object pattern.
MULTIPLEX VIDEO RECORDING
The condensed recording of more than one video signal on a single videotape, or hard disk drive.
MULTIPLEX
The concept of transmitting several signals on a single channel.
MULTIPLEXER
A device that combines a number of signals into one. Often used in CCTV to describe a device that is primarily used to multiplex several video signals into one for the purposes of recording or microwave transmission. It can also refer to a fibre optics multiplexer which combines a number of video signals into one in order to transmit all of them via a single fibre cable.
N/C AND N/O ALARMS
Refers to Normally Closed and Normally Opened contacts. It is usually used to describe alarms in CCTV.
NA
Numerical Aperture. A measure of the angular acceptance of light incoming into a fibre optics cable, in the form of a cone. It is expressed as the square root of the difference of the squares of the indices of the core and the cladding.
NBS
National Bureau of Standards (USA).
ND FILTERS
Neutral Density filters are optical filters that attenuate the light a number of times. This attenuation is equal for all the wavelengths therefore it does not change the colour balance of an image, hence the term neutral.
NIT
A photometric unit for measuring luminance. One nit is equal to one candela per square metre of a projected surface area.
NOISE
An unwanted signal produced by all electrical circuits working above the absolute zero. Noise cannot be eliminated but only minimised.
NTSC
National Television System Committee, an American committee that set the standards for colour television as used today in USA, Canada, Japan and a few other countries.
O/P
Output. Objective. The very first optical element at the front of a lens.
OCULAR
The very last optical element at the back of a lens (the one closer to the CCD chip).
OSCILLOSCOPE
(Also CRO, from “Cathode Ray Oscilloscope”). An electronic device that can measure the signal changes versus time. A must for any CCTV technician.
PAL
Stands for Phase Alternating Line, which describes the colour phase change in a PAL colour signal.
PAN AND TILT HEAD
(P/T head). A motorised unit permitting vertical and horizontal positioning of a camera and lens combination. Usually 24 VAC motors are used in such P/T heads, but also 110 VAC, ie. 240 VAC units can be ordered.
PAN UNIT
A motorised unit permitting horizontal positioning of a camera.
PHOT
A photometric light unit for very strong illumination levels. One phot is equal to 10,000 luxes.
PHOTODIODE
A type of semiconductor device in which a PN junction diode acts as a photo sensor.
PHOTO-EFFECT
Also known as photoelectric effect. This refers to a phenomenon of ejection of electrons from a metal whose surface is exposed to light. Photon. A representative of the quantum nature of light. It is considered as the smallest unit of light.
PHOTOPIC VISION
The range of light intensities, from 105 lux down to nearly 10-2 lux, detectable by the human eye.
PINHOLE LENS
A fixed focal length lens, for viewing through a very small aperture, used in discrete surveillance situations. The lens normally has no focusing control but offers a choice of iris functions.
PIXEL
Derived from picture element. Usually refers to the CCD chip unit picture cell. It consists of a photo sensor plus its associated control gates.
PLUMBICON
Thermionic vacuum tube developed by Philips, using a lead oxide photoconductive layer. It represented the ultimate imaging device up to the introduction of CCD chips.
POLARISING FILTER
An optical filter that transmits light in only one direction (perpendicular to the light path), out of 360° possible. The effect is such that it can eliminate some unwanted bright areas or reflections, such as when looking through a glass window. In photography, polarising filters are used very often to darken a blue sky.
POTS
Plain Old Telephone Service, ie. the telephone service in common use throughout the world today. Also known as PSTN.
PRESET POSITIONING
A function of a pan and tilt unit, including the zoom lens, where a number of certain viewing positions can be stored in the systems’ memory (usually this is in the PTZ site driver) and recalled when required, either upon an alarm trigger, programmed or manual recall.
PRINCIPLE POINT
An optical term that refers to one of the two points that each lens has along the optical axis. The principle point closer to the imaging device (CCD chip in our case) is used as a reference point when measuring the focal length of a lens.
PSTN
Public Switched Telephone Network usually refers to the “plain old telephone” service. Also known as POTS.
PTZ SITE DRIVER
(PTZ site receiver, or decoder). An electronic device, usually a part of a video matrix switcher, which receives digital, encoded control signals in order to operate pan, tilt, zoom and focus functions.
QUAD COMPRESSOR
(Also split screen unit). Equipment which simultaneously displays parts or more than one image on a single monitor. It usually refers to four quadrants display.
RAID
Redundant Arrays of Independent Disks. This a technology of connecting a number of hard drives into one mass storage device, which can be used, among other things, for digital recording of video images.
RAM
Random Access Memory. An electronic chip, usually known as “memory”, holding digital information while there is power applied to it. Its capacity is measured in kilobytes.
RANDOM INTERLACE
A term describing a camera that has a free running horizontal sync as opposed to a 2:1 interlace type which has the sync locked and therefore has both fields in a frame interlocked together accurately.
REMOTE CONTROL
A transmission and receiving of signals for controlling remote devices such as pan and tilt units, lens functions, wash and wipe control and similar.
RETMA
Former name of the EIA association. Some older video test charts carry the name “RETMA Chart”.
RF SIGNAL
Radio frequency signal that belongs to the region up to 300GHz.
RG-11
A video coaxial cable with 75 Ohms impedance and much thicker diameter than the popular RG-59 (of approximately 12 mm). With RG-11 much longer distances can be achieved (at least twice the RG-59), but it is more expensive and harder to work with.
RG-58
A coaxial cable designed with 50 Ohms impedance, therefore not suitable for CCTV. Very similar to RG-59, only slightly thinner.
RG-59
A type of coaxial cable that is most common in use in small to medium size CCTV systems. It is designed with an impedance of 75 Ohms. It has an outer diameter of around 6 mm and it is a good compromise between maximum distances achievable (up to 300 m for monochrome signal, and 250 m for colour) and good transmission.
RMS
An abbreviation for Root Mean Square. All AC voltages are measured with multimeters that show the RMS value of the signal (not the peaks). For a sine wave signal such as the mains, the RMS value happens to be 1.41 times (square root of 2) below the peak values.
ROM
Read Only Memory. An electronic chip, containing digital information that does not disappear when power is turned off.
RS-232
A format of digital communication where only two wires are required. It is also known as a serial data communication. The RS-232 standard defines a scheme for asynchronous communications, but it does not define how the data should be represented by the bits, ie. it does not define the overall message format and protocol. It is very often used in CCTV communications between keyboards and matrix switchers, or between matrix switchers and PTZ site drivers. The advantage of RS-232 over others is in its simplicity and use of only two wires.
RS-422
This is an advanced format of digital communication when compared to RS-232. The basic difference is in the need for four wires instead of two as the communications is not single-ended as with RS-232, but differential. In simple terms, the signal transmitted is “read” at the receiving end as the difference between the two wires without common earth. So if there is noise induced along the line, it will be cancelled out. The RS-422 can drive lines of over a kilometre in length and distribute data to up to 10 receivers.
RS-485
This is an advanced format of digital communications compared to RS-422. The major improvement is in the number of receivers that can be driven with this format, and this is up to 32.
The “Duplicate Content” Controversy -Google Adsense-Work At Home
The hoopla over duplicate content has been going on for quite some time now, and I see it as simply just another money making scheme by online entrepreneurs wishing to chase down the Golden Goose. Almost every day, my inbox is inundated with yet another “article converter” that is guaranteed to make my private label rights articles hit the top of the search engines with no fear of the Google Police knocking at my PR door, screaming “Duplicate Content!”I ofttimes wonder how many of the so called gurus take the time to really read the Google Adsense Program Policies. And I wonder many times during my working day just how many people open their wallets to let fly their hard earned dollars to these people. Here are Google’s exact words, and I quote: “Do not create multiple pages, subdomains, or domains with substantially duplicate content.” What does this really tell us? Does it tell us that the PLR sites that sell thousands of the same articles to people who don’t have time – or are too lazy – to write their own content are breaking Google’s rules? Not hardly. Google is telling us that we cannot create what used to be called “mirror sites” (This is a Web site which contains the same information that is located on another site. If the site abc.com is the same as def.com, then it may be disqualified from listing by search engines) in an attempt to increase Page Rank and increase Adsense income. Many opinions abound on the forums and elsewhere on the web discussing duplicate content. And many netrepeneurs have taken advantage of the misinterpretation of Google’s policies to capitalize on this. Because Google has made this the era of content, everyone that is involved in the online communities is scrambling for the proper answers. I see threads that are three to five pages in length on the more popular forums with people agonizing over their fear of duplicate content. What a field day for the guru’s! I wonder how many thousands – perhaps millions – have been made by people taking advantage of this fear factor?Lets examine the facts. If there really was a duplicate content filter then many news web sites that publish AP or Reuters news would be banned from search engines. Many catalogue sites would go under, because they sell the same products, using the same promotional items as other sites. Affiliate sites would be banned from the search engines because people use the promotional items provided by the site owners. And even the giant eBay would go under, because anyone who has spent time there sees a ton of items listed which are identical, using the same description, same images, and same user ID. I wonder how Copyscape.com would handle this?What about the sites that put articles and ezines in archive. This content ends up being displayed both in static pages and archives as well. Penalized for duplicate content, when the website owner wants to have his articles available to the general public? I doubt it…Common sense is the order of the day. If you take the time to provide original and unique content to your site, the site is well optimized for the search engines, and you have relevant backlinks, then your site will do well with no fear of penalty. Don’t use article scrapers, which mirror the exact content of other sites, and is nothing more than a rip off. If you buy PLR articles, try to rewrite them in your own unique voice. If your budget will allow, hire a ghostwriter to create articles pertinent to your particular niche. And most of all, just use plain common sensesDid you find this article useful? For more useful tips and hints, points to ponder and keep in mind, techniques, and insights pertaining to Google Adsense, do please browse for more information at our websites.sswww.thegooglefund.comsswww.google-atm-machine.com
