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ñ The Most Important Part Is Obviously the Video/Microphone

- For the Home Users, This Comes in Several Flavors; The Most Popular Are:
1) Creative Lab's WebCam
2) Intel's PC Cam
&
3) Logitech's Quickcams

{for review and pricing of the products, go to ZDNet's Review Section}

ñ The Second Component is a "÷
"- An Abreviation in this usage meaning

Coder/Decoder.

-The codec serves the same purpose as a modem (a modulator/demodulator) in

the sense that it converts the digital signals into analog signals in order to be
carried over the phone lines.

-On the other side, the viewer also has a codec which converts the analog signal
back to digital, all in real time. {A codec is included in the cameras sold to
home users and businesses}

ñ The last component is the software. One of the most popular and oldest
programs is CU-SeeMe. This program basically reduces video conferencing to
point-and-click action.

image modified from Univ of Missouri Site

 „ Another program gaining in popularity is Microsoft's Netmeeting. It is
included in Windows 2000 and includes file transfer, internet chat, and
whiteboarding in its list of options.

image modified from Microsoft's Netmeeting Site

ñ These components, combined with a monitor/TV allow for video conferencing.

As long as the IP addresses of the various users are known, everything should
run smoothly.

c 
There are many uses for video conferencing. The most obvious is business. B2B
(business to business) video conferencing is quickly rising in popularity, especially as
communication lines become faster. Also, video conferencing combined with
whiteboard and file sharing allows fast collaboration between workers and customers.

A new use for video conferencing is actually education. One way in which it used is
to provide a good education for less. For example, a foreign language class can have
a guess visitor from a foreign country without the cost of airfare. Experts in most any
field can give lectures on their area of expertise using the multipoint/room system of
video conferencing.

©
 




ñ Telemedicine: This is basically when a doctor helps to diagnosis a

patient by video conferencing with the local doctor and patient. This is
especially useful in rural areas, where a specialist in the city can help
with a patient who is far from the needed specialized care.
 ñ Telecommunicating: Although not extremely popular as of yet, it is an
appealing thought to be able to work without ever going to work. As of
now, it is more useful for the occasional day when one cannot or does
not go to work.

ñ Courtroom: The most useful application of video conferencing in the

courtroom is for "video arraignments". In this case, prisoners (especially
dangerous ones) never have to leave the jailhouse.

ñ Laboratory Work: Video conferencing can be extremely cost-effective

due to the high cost of most advanced lab equipment. Also, it can bring
together, similiar to classroom conferencing, the experts in their field
together for a single experiment.

J
c

Obviously, it will get faster. This really is the only improvement needed. Today's
computers are definitely fast enough to handle video, as can be seen by the
widespread video editing packages designed for home users. The only bottleneck is
the connection between the computers or video sources. But even this is improving
drastically. Not too long ago, 2400 baud was the way to view the internet. Now 56k
has taken over, and DSL and Cable are about to eclipse this. Prices seem to be
steadily dropping as availability tends to be rising. In roughly two years, either one of
these connections will be cheap enough and accessible enough that they'll start to be
the a large chunk of the internet connection game. Once this happens, video
conferencing will follow suit.





 






 
 


 


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As of now, the largest drawback of video conferencing is that for most people, its
just not convenient. This is largely due to the fact that most people still connect to the
internet through regular copper phone lines. With download speeds limited to 56kbps
and upload limited to 33.6kbps, it's not surprising that video conferencing hasn't
caught on to many home users. Most experts would say that the bare minimum for
video conferencing is dual ISDN lines, running at 128kbps. Even this, though, is
stretching it. With speeds greater than this (i.e. DSL or Cable) video conferencing
will be more of an nuisance than a tool to most home users.
 With this need for speed, video conferencing also carries another problem for most
home users: price. DSL lines and Cable Lines have an initial charge of $200-$500 for
most users, that is if the technology is even available where they live. Then the
monthly charge is roughly $50, a leap in price compared to the $20 or even sub-$20
most people pay for regular phone line access.

Furthermore, DSL may offer speed but it might not always offer video
conferencing. Some types of video conferencing are not always compatible with
some types of DSL

MSN.

See when your friends are online and send them instant messages!
Have group conversations. Be notified when you receive new e-
mail to your MSN Hotmail account. Add instant messaging
capabilities to Outlook Express. Invite your friends to a Windows
NetMeeting® conference or to play a DirectPlay® game. Control
who can see when you are online and send you messages. And
more! To read more about MSN Messenger Service, click here.

The Basics
View online status and exchange instant messages: You can see
when your friends are online and exchange instant messages with
up to four of them at the same time. It's like knowing whether
someone is home before calling them on the phone! And instant
messages are fast--even faster than e-mail! Automatic typing
indicator: Conversations are easier to follow because MSN
Messenger Service will tell you when one of your friends is in the
process of typing a response. Customize online status: You have
control over your online status and how it appears to others. If you
are busy and unable to talk, for example, you can change your
status to Busy. You can even choose to appear as if you are
offline. Plus, if you are inactive on your computer for several
minutes, your status will automatically change to Away so that
your friends know you might not respond quickly. Rich
customization: Not only can you customize your instant messages
(font, color, size, etc.), you can designate special sounds
that play when you receive an instant message or a friend comes
online as well as designate that MSN Messenger Service always
appears in the foreground so that you always have access to its
features. Auto-update: Whenever there is an update to MSN
Messenger Service, you will be notified and have the opportunity
to quickly upgrade to the latest software.

Seamless Communications
Easy access to Hotmail: You can see how many unread Hotmail e-
mail messages you have from the new Mail button and are notified
whenever you receive a new Hotmail e-mail message. Instant
messaging in Outlook Express: With MSN Messenger Service
installed, the Outlook Express 5 Contacts pane will automatically
include online status information of your friends (Online, Busy,
etc.). You can even send friends instant messages from within
Outlook Express. Invite friends to a NetMeeting or to play a
game: You can invite friends to participate in a NetMeeting®
session or to play a DirectPlay® game directly from within MSN
Messenger Service.

Privacy and Security

Control over your information: You have complete control over
who can view your online status and send you instant messages.
Plus, at any time you can see a list of who has added you to their
contact list. Password encryption: MSN Messenger Service
encrypts user passwords so that the code sent can only be
deciphered by MSN Messenger Service.
Yahoo instant messenger

In the lastest version the features include:

Status Icons - See when your friends are idle or busy just by looking
at their icon.
New Voice Chat - The latest version of our Voice Chat supports
handsfree conversations and allows you to talk and listen at the same
time!
Calendar, Stock, News, Scoreboard, Weather, Bookmarks, Travel
(fares), Overview, and Auctions Tabs - See your day at a glance,
check on your stocks, see top headlines, check the lastest scores of
your favorite games, check your mail, and much, much more!
Search For Friends - The new version of Yahoo! Messenger has a
powerful member directory search that is built into the application
Minimized Messages - Minimize incoming messages to your
taskbar.
Better Notification Messages - Now Messenger will notify you of the
subject and sender for your new Yahoo! Mail messages, as well as
notifying you when your friends are online. You are able to leave
messages for your buddies that are off-line. When the buddy signs
back online he will receive the message that you left for him.
Fonts, Colors, and Sounds - Change the default font for all your
instant messages, or for individual messages. There are many sounds
that you can choose from when your buddies sign on and off-line and
even when you are typing your messages.
Improved Theme Support - Now you can change the default colors
for each of your different themes.
There is a buddy list where you can create different names for
the different kinds of "buddies" that you have. For example you may
have one group named family, and another co-workers. There is a
web page made by Yahoo just for "creating and editing your
groups." The directions are very easy and self explanatory.
After you add a group it asks you to add a buddy to this group.
You can then send a message to the buddy and he will receive the
message the next time he signs on to the Yahoo Messenger.

÷

÷
  
Almost everyone outside of a university or business setting is connecting
to the internet using a modem. Everybody knows that they are used to
connect to the internet, but do you know how they do it? For instance,
computers operate in the digital world, but telephone lines require a
different method of transmission. The modem is what handles this
conversion. Modem stands for modulator-demodulator. The modem
modulates the signal into a sine wave. This in turn can be broadcast over
a telephone line. The signal is tranmitted over the line until it reaches the
IP hub. At this point, the sine is demodulated into a digital signal once
more, and the connection with the internet is complete. Modems can do
this at a variety of speeds depending on the technology and availability
of access lines. The industry standard now is 56K which stands for
56,000 bits per second (bps), the maximum transmission speed of the
modem. This can also be read as 56K Baud, which stands for the amount
of state changes undergone by the transfer of information, i.e. the 0's and
1's in a digital signal and the manipulations in a sine wave. Due to speed
lost in transmission and the quality of hardware and communication
services, the maximum attainable speed is usually around 53K.

Simple connection
How fast modems transfer information is based on how they
convert it. Modems must change the sine wave in order to emulate the
digital signal. They do this based with the commonly known Amplitude
modulation (AM), Frequency modulation (FM) and the less known
 Phase modulation (PM). As their names suggest, the sine waves'
amplitudes, frequencies and phases are manipulated to emulate the
digital signal.
Amplitude Modulation

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