Thursday, March 5, 2009

Skyping.

Last Monday, our professor had another Skype conference class. She was abroad but still insisted on proceeding with the class, which was mostly comprised of individual presentations. Considering that the school's wifi cannot be accessed in the Sta. Ana Room, we borrowed a wireless router from the library and set it up using the available internet ports in the classroom. We were able to actually make use of the built-in camera of the laptop using Skype's video conference call. It felt like she was physically attending the class except that we can only see her face and her spoken language with her thick natural accent was even more difficult to understand. But I was just amazed that such a persistent professor was able to make use of (free) technology in furthering her noble academic interests.

Skype already did wonderful things for me. I had known it for about 5 years already but it was only during the latter years that I realize how significant its role can play in my everyday life. For example, I can now communicate with my relatives abroad anytime. I also use Skype for my online tutoring jobs. It has provided me a new medium for communication to a broader audience.

What's better is that it is actually free. I am looking forward to that time when the ordinary telephones would become obsolete, which I think would be more difficult than to say and to predict, especially since it would be like going against the giants in the industry, having their economic stakes put at risk.

Has the VOIP technology become a real and imminent threat to telecommunication companies? Is it about time that people put behind their personal interests to make way for the development of technology? Is the Philippines still lagging behind because of old archaic methods that leaders impose upon the system?

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