>From tiny acorns grow mighty oaks. Like weblogs (blogs) before
them, video blogs (vlogs) are emerging from a tightly knit
online community and entering into a more mainstream Internet
fare. Our consulting team at ICMediaDirect.com is working with
more and more clients to utilize vlogging capabilities for
website enhancement. Perhaps an introduction to video blogs is
in order: before too long the handiwork of vloggers may be
everywhere. You could think of a vlog as blogging through video
or, perhaps, keeping a video journal online. Vlogs, usually shot
by digital video cams, can be viewed on a computer or downloaded
onto a portable device for watching. The content of a vlog can
be anything that your video cam can capture. Vlogs may document
births or be online video diaries (or “confessionals” a reality
TV standby). Short films are shot and available online in a vlog
format and vloggers are capturing their local sporting events
for online viewing pleasure, too. Vlogs, like audio podcasts
(which is sound only), are delivered via RSS feeds. Vlogs can
also be tagged and archived. The popular video formats employed
are: .mov (QuickTime), .wmv (Windows Media Player), .rm
(RealMedia), and others. Vloggers, like bloggers before them,
are an enthusiastic bunch. Blogging grew in popularity because
of the attraction of time sensitive online diaries. Bloggers
liked, and still do, the ease in which they could post pictures
alongside their thoughts. In fact, many blogs became more
focused on picture posting than in written content. Visually
rich blogs and picture posts were the forerunners of video
logging. Ordered and available movie bits are a natural
extension of a visually rich Internet. Hence the Vlog. This
evolution can be traced in the demands of our clientele list at
ICMediaDirect.com as well. Today’s vloggers, small but steadily
growing in number, have a pioneering spirit that one associates
with trailblazers. There is no shortage of self-expression to be
found amongst their numbers. Says visionary vlogger Escorial of
One Thousand Dreams, a Diary for a Life Change
(http://onethousanddreams.blogspot.com/): “I always felt the
need to tell stories. To communicate ideas that go through my
mind. To share a moment of my day a breath of my life, to
connect with others. We are social animals, we have an instinct
to look for company for relationships with other humans.” It is
almost a universal need for vloggers to express themselves, to
tell a story. It’s a ready-made medium for filmmakers to record
their ideas - almost like note pads can be for writers to jot
down their thoughts. Escorial goes on, “I love filmography and
this is a medium that allows me to express my art, and to
experiment without monetary burdens; neither political nor
publicist’s agendas.” Vlogging is still in its infancy, so the
biggest fans of vlogging are vloggers themselves. A vibrant
community has formed on the Internet, geographically dispersed
of course, where vloggers find support and exchange ideas. If
video logging is to meet widespread use on a participatory
level, it will have to break out of this obscurity. It is the
future of vlogging itself that video loggers have the widest
opinion on. Considering that many vloggers are, to some degree
visionaries, it isn’t uncommon for them to hold far-reaching
visions for their handiwork. Says Danish video logger Sam
Reinsew, “I see the future of vlogs as having a great artistic
visual potential: a new outlet for ways of perceiving the world
around us, and sharing these oblique views, in an ever more
fragmented world.” One vlogger forsees, but can’t yet identify,
a “killer app” that will take vlogging to the “next level”.
Considering the speed at which technological applications create
communities online, this prediction may already be in the works.
It is easy to envision skilled vloggers creating video ads that
can be played on cell phones or other portable video players,
the imagined future of local search. Let the national campaigns
stay national, but to make area specific splashes in a video
format you’ll need local video. Smart snatches of commercial
film stored for local search should be where vloggers find their
initial commercial niche. There will be no pressure on your
average video logger to “sell out”, however. Vlogger Kieran
Blake envisions the commercialization of vlogs and says, “It’s
inevitable and welcome, really, because it will provide exposure
without compromising anyone’s integrity. People who just want to
do their own thing and create or whatever - they will still be
able to.” Consider today’s popular tech items as vlogs become
regular features found on blogs and websites. Perhaps you’ve
noticed the new Apple Video iPod and the availability of iTunes
Store’s video content. Are these the earmarks of a web fad or
those of inevitable marketing opportunity? Time will be the
final judge, but until then - vlog away. You might become The
Next Big Thing.

You have a telephone, right? You have a computer, right? You
want to save money, right? BAM, you are a VOIP (Voice Over
Internet Protocol) candidate.

It is inevitable that VOIP will replace traditional telephone
service at some point. The only question is when should you jump
in?

VOIP is quickly becoming more reliable and receiving wider
acceptance. In fact, phone companies are already taking
advantage of the technology to provide cheaper long distance
rates. Like any emerging technology, however, there are kinks in
the system that are still being worked out.

Advantages

VOIP has many advantages over regular phone service. One primary
advantage is its low cost. If you have a fast Internet
connection (DSL or cable), you can make PC-to-PC phone calls
anywhere in the world FREE. PC-to-phone connections usually have
a charge, but probably still cheaper than regular phone service.

You can sign up with a VOIP service provider for a monthly fee
and get unlimited calls within a specified geographic area. For
example, some VOIP services in the United States allow
connections anywhere in North America for no extra charge.
International calls are charged at a modest rate.

Another advantage is its portability. You can make and receive
phone calls wherever there is a broadband connection by simply
signing in to your VOIP account. This makes VOIP as convenient
as e-mail. When you’re traveling, you simply pack a headset or
Internet phone; then you can talk to family or colleagues for
next to nothing.

Phone-to-phone VOIP is also portable. Internet phones are small
and light enough to take anywhere. When you sign up with a VOIP
service provider, the Internet phone or adaptor used by that
service is assigned a unique number. This ‘phone number’ remains
valid, even if your VOIP service is in Los Angeles and you’re
connected to the Internet in London. When plugged into a
broadband connection, anywhere in the world, you can make and
receive calls as though you were at home .

Features like call forwarding, call waiting, voicemail, caller
ID and 3way-calling, are included with Internet telephone at no
extra charge. While you’re talking on the phone, you can send
pictures and documents at the same time.

Disadvantages

There are a few glitches that still interfere with the
technology’s broad acceptance by the public. Lack of continuous
service during power outages and emergency calling are the 2
biggest hurdles.

Conventional phone service continues by the current supplied
through the phone lineduring a blackout. This isn’t possible
with Internet phones. When the power goes, there goes VOIP
service. Battery backups and power generators that provide
electricity are the current solutions to this problem.

A major concern involves emergency 911 calls. For the most part,
VOIP services aren’t useful in emergencies. Traditional phone
equipment can trace the locations of calls. Emergency calls are
diverted to the nearest call center where the operator can
identify your location, in the event you can’t talk. With VOIP,
there is no way currently to determine where Internet calls are
originating. There is an emerging standard called e911 however,
which is attempting to solve this limitation.

VOIP also has sound quality and reliability problems. Data sent
across the Internet usually arrives at its destination
scrambled. E-mail and documents can be reassembled in the
correct order when it arrives. Voice data also arrives
scrambled, but it’s more complicated because of the real-time
nature of VOIP. Some data packets may have to be dropped when
they don’t arrive in time, in order to make voice connections
with the least delay. This can cause brief silences in the audio
stream.

Distance and speed of the connection determine the amount of
data lost. Some networks receive more traffic and thus are more
likely to cause audio dropouts. One way to provide high quality
audio connections is to create dedicated data paths.

With the incredible amount of work dedicated to VOIP, these
disadvantages will no doubt be resolved withinin the next 2
years. It is expected that by then VOIP will have widespread
consumer acceptance.