Internet Phone Calls

I just got off "the phone" with my son, via long distance call using my computer and yahoo! Messenger. The call was basically free--without a cell phone (okay, so I used my broadband card), but it didn't charge me minutes on my cell phone, or long distance charges on my land-line.

I am a happy camper!

I can call my sisters-in-law and my mother-in-law basically anytime we're all online--and we can conference call using Yahoo! IM--this is a plus, and can help keep the family connected!! I MUST call the relatives about this!

Beyond that, my son sent me a link, and you must seriously read this flowchart. It's really something else!

flow chart


Keep in mind, please, that my son is something of a weird "thinker". He thinks odd things. Sort of like the query "If a tree falls in the woods, and there's no one to hear it, does it still make a sound?" He thinks like that. Very abstract.

He also sent me a u-tube video that really disturbed me. We spent over an hour online talking about this and that, including this new gadget (and who on the internet doesn't like new gadgets?) called a Kindle--it's basically an IPOD that you can download audio/video books to--through Amazon. Cost? Only $359 and it's yours...the books are extra--but apparently Amazon boasts over 230,000 titles. Imagine that? You can basically read a book! Anywhere!

Um, can't you do that already?

But this book talks to you!

Um, can't you go to the library and get books on tape and play them in a cassette recorder or cd player? I suppose it's cool that it's something that the entire file is on one device and no fiddling with cd's while you drive down the road...yeah, I can see that being a huge thing.

I guess there's quite a bit of interest from folks wanting that "latest thing". For me, I like to lie down in bed and actually read the book--I don't fall asleep (at least, not until the book drops to my chest and I start to examine the insides of my eyelids) while reading, and it's a quiet, enjoyable time. And if it's riveting, I can still put the book down or read on, if I can't, and I'm such an imaginative person, I worry that I would have nightmares over the Steven King stuff. Reading it in a book somehow would make it less "tangible" rather than hearing it on tape or through this new-fangled device.

And I can buy a book for $7. Books for the Kindle begin at $30. Somehow, I think I would get more enjoyment out of a book...at least for now. And when they start selling on Ebay, no longer the "hot gadget of the month", maybe I'll get one--Look how far the Ipod has fallen and all the after-market ipod-look-alikes?

Yes, I believe I'll wait...maybe listen to audio books on tape someday--which is more my speed. HA!