Visual Google News
March 31, 2004
:happy This is a flash site that pulls data from google news and presents it visually. Quite cool and reminds me of the Visual Thesarus, but maybe not that useful on a day to day basis.
UK VoIP services – update
March 23, 2004
:unsure Time for some humble pie…. I’ve cancelled my subscription to iConnectHere as their service seemed to be a little up and down. Also international calls had variable line quality. So I’ve gone back to VoipTalk, whose line quality is much better and rates are broadly equivalent. Unfortunately they don’t offer voicemail yet which is a shame.
Next on my evaluation list is Sipcall, whose website is pretty poor, but I’ve spoken to someone there and they assure me that the service and CRM is excellent, however pricing isn’t as competitive as some of the others. I’m prepared to pay a little more for a quality service.
His Dark Materials on stage
March 14, 2004
:happy Philip Pullman’s, His Dark Materials trilogy was recommended to me by my wife, and then subsequently by pretty much everyone I’ve met recently. These books are basically fantasy but touch on some contemporary themes, places religion and science, and are aimed at a slightly more mature reader than the Harry Potter books (which imho were OK). Despite not being a big fantasy reader, I decided to give them a go and found them pretty good (on the whole).
Anyway I learnt today that the National Theater in London have been running a stage adaptation of the books, and thought that it would make an enjoyable (two) evening(s) out with my better half. Unfortunately they are booked up for the current series, but will be running them again towards the end of this year and early 2005. So I’ve taken the plunge and booked Part 1 and Part 2, one week apart in late November.
These books have caused controversy in the UK, where some have claimed them as being ‘anti-christian’. However the stage show was prasied by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams. Here is a link to a debate between the author and the Archbishop on Life, the Universe and Religion.
UK VoIP services
March 1, 2004
:unsure I played around with a couple of VoIP to PSTN providers but there doesn’t seem to be anything worthwhile in the UK. VoipTalk are a UK based company that promise low cost international calls, but failed to connect me the first time I tried to dial Germany. I also had a look at BT Broadband Voice, but they charge £7.50 per month for the service (inc voicemail), but PSTN breakout to only 17 countries.
Many argue that the alternative is the much (over) hyped Skype. I took a look at it, but it just seems to have similar functionality as other instant messaging software (with better quality voice). However it has issues in that the person you ‘call’ has to be another Skype user. Moreover you still have to be connected to a PC with microphone/headset etc. Over the last few years, I’ve never managed to convince my better half to put on a headset to make a call (regardless of how ‘cheap’ it is). This is where the Sipura and other ATA adaptors come into their own. Plug it into your network or broadband router, attach a normal phone and make a ‘normal’ phonecall.
So in the end, I’ve signed up to iConnectHere, they offer cheap PSTN breakout to lots of countries (call landlines and mobiles), voicemail, itemised billing, and a service where you get your own geographic phone number. I’ve chosen a Chicago number that should allow friends and family in the US to dial a much cheaper local number, that will start ringing here in the UK! Another bonus is that with sterling so stong against the dollar, it’s even cheaper. Obviously calls to other internet phones are free.
