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The opportunities offered by teleconferencing are really limited only by our imagination. We can now utilize video conferencing to meet, train new staff, present products and plans, and do a lot more. Plus, there are even individuals using video conferencing services to attend family gatherings they can’t be at in person. From media personnel to companies and contractors, there are lots of people doing unique things we couldn’t have dreamed of a few years ago. Do you need to host a conference to a group that includes a large number of individuals? Think long and hard replacing it with

The most critical thing about web teleconferencing is the ability to connect with the audience on a whole unique level. There are all kinds of web teleconferencing services and applications out there. Some require payment, while some are free. Some need to be downloaded, while others work in your browser. There are conferencing tools that depend on a particular operating system and ones that are considered “agnostic” and can be used by individuals with even the most obscure systems. Ranging from web conference meetings of just a couple to many thousands, there are tools out there to support your particular situation.

The new ease of use that many individuals are now experiencing with web conferencing makes the service painless for professionals and amateurs alike. Realtors can reveal homes to prospective buyers and to their relatives living elsewhere using this kind of software. There are even lawyers who’ve used web teleconferencing utilities with secure transmission to make depositions in court via the Internet. This saves time and travel costs, and makes it feasible to talk face to face with people who are across the world.

Auction houses can also utilize video teleconferencing applications to present items for sale to bidders without the need to be there in person. The internet now makes it possible for users to place bids on online auctions. Even Ebay sellers might be able to benefit from the use of video teleconferencing services and technology. It’s incredible what options we have and what kind of potential is represented by this speedily growing field. Curious about whether or not web teleconferencing is ready for you too? Find out more about it today!

There are a great deal of things that you can get on the Internet for free. Aside from the huge savings that you can have on your standard online purchases, you can also watch TV episodes online at no cost.

If you are a immense fan of TV and watch popular series like Scrubs and other TV series, then the Internet is the best place for you to watch them at without shelling out a cent. You no longer have to think about spending money on monthly cable bills that can really cost you a lot. You merely have to choose among hundreds of online sites that have online TV for free.

You can benefit from the technology behind video streaming by just getting a hold of a computer and a fast Internet connection. With these on hand, you can immediately view whatever TV show like CSI NY full episodes that you want whenever and wherever you may be.

With internet TV, you can watch more than one Supernatural full episodes online in a day. You could even view the full season if felt like it. You can also replay any TV show that you miss and you can disregard the TV schedule. With such a scenario, you no longer have to wait for a certain time to watch the TV episode that you want and you can forget about having to keep up with boring commercials too.

Internet users also have the choice to download a video file, save them on their laptop and watch them in their free time. If you don’t want to use up your computer’s hard drive, you can also watch TV online without having to download any specific software or subscribe to a special hosting package.

In deciding on an online TV website, you may want to check for video quality. If it comes for free, you might have to settle for a low quality video resolution on popular TV episodes but you can also chance upon great quality videos that come for free if you just make use of your “searching” skills!

I’m getting involved in a major project that doesn’t leave any spare time for me now. May or may not be back….

Thank you for following rants and occasional raves!

Believe or not, Jeopardy originally used cardboard and magic markers (isn’t THAT a riot?) but now broadcasts in HD, in a $4.1 million all-digital production. You can watch Alex Trebek here, to tell you how the show has changed over the years:

There isn’t much I can add to Alex’s story. Many happy returns - Jeopardy is celebrating its 25th anniversary!

Cybercast credit: LiveConnect via Brightcove

Students at the MIT Media Lab have developed a wearable computing system that turns any surface into an interactive display screen.

The prototype was built from an ordinary webcam and a battery-powered 3M projector, with an attached mirror — all connected to an internet-enabled mobile phone. The setup, which costs less than $350, allows the user to project information from the phone onto any surface — walls, the body of another person or even your hand.

Pranav Mistry, “the brains behind the project,” wears the device on a lanyard around his neck. Colored Magic Marker caps on four fingers (red, blue, green and yellow) help the camera distinguish the four fingers and recognize his hand gestures with software that Mistry created.

The gestures can be as simple as using his fingers and thumbs to create a picture frame that tells the camera to snap a photo, which is saved to his mobile phone. When he gets back to an office, he projects the images onto a wall and begins to size them.

When he encounters someone at a party, the system projects a cloud of words on the person’s body to provide more information about him — his blog URL, the name of his company, his likes, interests, and who knows what else….

When Mistry folds his hands in “namaste” fashion, the system opens a menu to allow him to choose an application. If he wants to read e-mail on his phone, he draws an @ symbol in the air with his finger. He can project a phone pad onto his palm and dial a number without removing the phone from his pocket. As he reads the newspaper on the subway he can project a video onto the page that provides more information about the topic he’s reading.

Maes, Mistry’s instructor, and Mistry have been working on the project for four months, day and night, and have filed a patent for it.

Maes’ MIT group, which includes seven graduate students, were thinking about how a person could be more integrated into the world around them and access information without having to do something like take out a phone. They initially produced a wristband that would read an RFID tag to know, for example, which book a user is holding in a store.

They also had a ring that used infrared to communicate by beacon to supermarket smart shelves to give you information about products. As you grab a package of macaroni, the ring would glow red or green to tell you if the product was organic or free of peanut traces — whatever criteria you program into the system.

“We wanted to make information more useful to people in real time with minimal effort in a way that doesn’t require any behavior changes,” Maes said. “The wristband was getting close, but you still had to take out your cell phone to look at the information.”

That’s when they struck on the idea of accessing information from the internet and projecting it. So someone wearing the wristband could pick up a paperback in the bookstore and immediately call up reviews about the book, projecting them onto a surface in the store or doing a keyword search through the book by accessing digitized pages on Amazon or Google books.

They started with a larger projector that was mounted on a helmet. But that proved cumbersome if someone was projecting data onto a wall then turned to speak to friend — the data would project on the friend’s face. Last month, they switched to a smaller projector and created the pendant prototype to be worn around the neck.

This year’s TED demo was the first time they’ve shown it in public, though they’re far from making a commercial product or forming a company around their invention. “But we’re really excited about the potential,” Maes said.

They learned recently that cellphone makers soon plan to release cellphones with projectors integrated in them, which will simplify their system even more.

Cybercast credit: Brightcove