So for the past 2 months I’ve been using both Skype and Vbuzzer to fulfill my VOIP needs.

Skype because of it’s great quality and solid software.  However, the SkypeIN feature, which allows you to have a phone number anywhere in the world, didn’t consider Toronto anywhere in this world.  Vbuzzer however, does.

But why use both?  Because Vbuzzer was shit.  Had you asked me two days ago, the emphasis of that sentence would’ve been on shit.  But, you ask me today, then the emphasis would be on was.  So go ahead, ask me today.

The reason Vbuzzer, WAS shit, but is no longer shit, is because they did an apparent rehaul on the software and website.

The website was convoluted and messy, riddled with stock photos and unnecessary graphics, and confusing infrastructure.  The software was just junk.  It’d crash constnatly, often disconnecting me.  It also didn’t let me do anyhting else on my computer while talking.  Couldn’t even hit START, unless I wanted to go and restart the program and reconnect with whomever I was talking with.

The new software however, though peculiarly visually similar to MSN Messenger, is great.  Quality is enhanced, stability way up.  I can now feel confident in telling everyone about what I use.

Vbuzzer not only offers a BuzzMe number, in Toronto, it’s only 7.99 for unlimited calling in North America.  It’s only 3 cents a minute to Korea, or 8 cents a minute to a mobile in Korea.  (South ofcourse.)  All calls that go through the BuzzMe service to me while I’m on my computer are unilimited.
They also improved their call forwarding feature.  So now, when my computer’s off, and I”m out, you, my friends from Toronto, can call me free, and it’ll forward right to my cell phone.  Not that you ever do.  Jerks.

Hell, I’m a jerk too.  I never call either.

Anyways, to recap, my number is 416 273 8250

June 23rd, 2006 | Software, Technology | 1 comment

Portable Applications - Tweaked versions of existing software that run off a USB Drive.

When I first heard about this, I thought it was a great idea. Ideal for someone who moves around a lot using different computers in computer labs, or cyber cafes and what not. I never had any use for it though… that is until my laptop got stolen.

So instead of installing Firefox on every computer I use, I know run Portable Firefox off my USB drive. The beauty is that all my settings, bookmarks, extensions all move with me.

I’ve also started using Portable Mozilla Thunderbird. I’m fed up with using Webmail on my server, and I’ve set up IMAP with Thunderbird, so all my emails are stored on the server, and Thunderbird can access them, and I can read and write emails within the comforts of a free-standing application. Web applications are only so good.

Also available is the whole OpenOffice suite, which is a free open-source office, not unlike Microsoft Office. It’s come a long way over the years and is a real competitor for the common household software that is MSOffice. So if you want, you could have a word processor, spreadsheet, presentation maker, etc., wherever you go.

PortableApps.com to download.

January 27th, 2006 | Software, Technology | No comments