Blog 2: Skype

"Take a Deep Breath"

Welcome to the world of technology where meetings take place over video conferences and you are able to wish your grandmother in Germany happy birthday while seeing her from Canada with just one download. Have you ever wanted to see someone while speaking to them even when they're miles apart from you? Well with tools such as Skype this is possible! Skye is a great communication tool that you can use for free!

                                                                 What is Skype?

Skype is a very useful social networking tool developed by Microsoft that enables us to communicate with friends, colleague and families by using voice (via a microphone), video (via a webcam) and instant messaging. Skype was initially released to the public in August 2003. It is highly accessible as it is available in the follow: Android, iOS, Linux, Microsoft Windows, OS X, Symbian, Blackberry OS and HP WebOS. This service easily allows us to communicate with whoever from where ever we are as long as we have an operating system that is able to run this software and has internet. While calls from a Skype user to another Skype user is free, if a Skype user was to call a land telephone or a mobile phone it may be charged. The charge with show up in the user’s debit card. Skype also lets user send files to each other and video conference. Skype lets you communicate with Skype members from other any where in the world. There are about 31 million Skype users as of January 2012. Below is a chart of Skype statistics:

The Skype Statistic Chart

Importance of Skype and its Features

The Skype Layout

We may not realize but Skype is a very important tool today in our society and for most parts comes free of charge. It is important as it lets us communicate and keep up with our surroundings hassle free. Skype is an organized tool as it has a layout that is easy to understand it is quite well labeled. As mentioned earlier it allows us to communicate through voice, video/webcam and instant messaging. It all allows group chats, emotions, and it stores all your chat history and editing of previous messages. All these messages are dated and timed. One can easily leave you an offline message and you will receive it as soon as you log into your account. You can change your profile picture and add in information so that it is easier for a friend to find you on Skype!Skype can connect to Facebook and work's with MSN. It supports conference up to 25 people at once. Group calling is premium and you will be charged where as if you were to video chat with only one person it would be free. It can call all numbers but however it cannot call emergency numbers such as 911.

What are people’s opinions about Skype?

A Layout of the Skype Instant Messaging

People tend to love Skype as it helps them connect with people all around the world and in some cases it’s cost free. “Ideal for making long distance video calls country to country with immediate family especially where kids are involved”. “In January 2010, Josh Silverman was recognized for his accomplishment in revitalizing Skype by being named First Runner Up in the TechCrunch “Crunchies” award for the “Best CEO”, beaten only by Mark Pincus of Zynga”. People have said it is a “cheap” way for them to connect with family around the world. I personally really like Skype as it lets me connect with my peers and family.

How to download and use Skype?

To download Skype all you have to do is go on their website: http://www.skype.com/en/ and press join! This will help you create an account. Once you've put in all the required information and have chosen a username and password, you are good to go! If you require additional help, Skype will provide you with help, and to get to that all you have to do is press “Lean More about Skype” or “Support”. Once you've made an account it is time to download the software. You can press download on the top of the website and download it safely. If you’re using it via a phone or tablet you need to download the Skype app which you will find in the app store. If you want to get a paid account for more option you can do so when you sign up for Skype. 

Once you've logged onto Skype you can add friends and connect with people. To find friends on Skype press the find friends in Skype button. You can find them by their email address, phone number name or even Skype user name. If you personally want to add a person you can press add contacts. Once they've accepted your friend request you will see them under the friends list. Now you can click on their name and a screen on the right hand side will come up that has the options of calling, video calling and instant messaging. Now you can do whatever you wish to just by clicking the buttons.

A Video Call Using Skype

Here is a video that will help first time Skype users explore their way in Skype!

Click for further instruction on how to use Skype!

The Skype App

Blog 1: Evernote

Evernote 

"Remember Everything"

Summary

Evernote is an application designed for note-taking and documenting. Its primary focus is to collect, organize and retrieve information. The types of notes Evernote captures are formatted text, a full webpage or webpage excerpt, a photograph, a voice memo, a handwritten note or even a file attachment. Organization is one of Evernote's main benefits as you can sort all your files in folders, then tag, annotate, edit, export, search and comment on them. The data that you have currently saved will be secure on your account as long as you want to make use of it, thus retrieving important data is more relaxing. Evernote is an effective clipping and organizing tool.

Opinion/Evaluation/Reflection

1. Ask you to research user reviews, testimonials on each product's page

2. Ask you to analyze costs versus benefits.  

3. Ask you to reflect on your different learning styles…

People seem to love this information technology tool as in come in great use. It saves time and is easy to use! With a few clicks you can simply find all the documents or research you need. "Evernote swept the Mobile Application category, winning both the Webby and People's Voice Webby awards." It can synchronize with all platforms (Windows, Mac, and mobile devices) which makes it easily accessible. Evernote a handy tool for those who aren't as well in organizing and remembering. Evernote is quite affordable. It is free until you start to use a certain amount of space, then Evernote will charge you. The Evernote web-clipper is free to install and runs smoothly on either Google Chrome or Firefox on a computer. Evernote is by far the best organizing tool. It lets you keep track of your work online effortlessly. You can create folders for further organization or re-edit saved work or articles in an instant. I will definitely keep using this tool as it makes finding work and organizing it less time consuming for me. This informational technology tool is very easy to understand as there are visuals and instructions available. The tool itself is very clear and you won't lose your way while navigating it. There are labels and visuals that tell you the functions of certain keys and once you have that figured out working them isn't as difficult. You can practically learn the basics of the tool by yourself as it is simple. Suppose you want to clip an article online, you enter the URL of the website/article you would like to clip and save it under your desired folder. You can later come back and re-edit the article and re-use it.  Evernote is accessible to almost everyone. You can use it to organize your own personal documents (such as pictures), your business documents or your research documents. It can benefit students when they're researching and if they ever need to come back to a certain site for certain purposes such as writing a bibliography they can easily do so. It is however not accessible to everyone; people who are visually impaired will not be able to use this tool. Overall, Evernote is a great, time-saving tool.