iPod VIOP
We all by now have seen and many of us own an Apple iPod. We know that it is a wonderful music player and some of us have used it to store a music video or maybe even a movie or two.
Apple’s latest version is the iPod Touch and it has a few more tricks than your iPod Nano, Shuffle or Classic. The Touch is really an Apple iPhone without the phone part but with a, headset, a simple, little application and a WIFI connection you can turn it into a telephone and best of all….your calls will be free.
You can do this by using VOIP or “voice over internet protocol”. You telephone calls do not travel over conventional phone lines but travel through the internet instead.
The iPhone and iPod Touch runs on a version of the Apple’s OS-X, the same operating system as their personal computers. This makes them a very powerful microcomputer able to run a variety of programs and applications just like a laptop or desktop computer.
Apple’s truly brilliant concept has been to allow third party software developers to build applications (Apps for short) for use on these devices and offer them free or for a small fee to the millions of users through their iTunes website.
If you surf to the iTunes site and look under “Apps Store” you will see that currently there is thousands of these little applications for you to download. Type in VOIP into the search box and you will find dozens of VOIP app’s waiting for you. Select the one you think will do the job like “iCall” and download a copy. It takes only seconds.
Now you need to head off to a cellphone store and pick up a headset with a microphone and ear phones that is compatible with your iPod Touch (most are). These are the same headsets you’ve seen receptionists wearing that allow them to answer telephones without using the handset.
You now have all you need to make VOIP telephone calls from your iPod Touch. Now you need a wireless WIFI hotspot, launch the program and follow the onscreen instructions and you will soon be making free telephone calls to anywhere in the world.
On a recent trip out west we used our daughters iPod Touch to check weather conditions, access maps, attractions, accommodations and even purchase tickets to a football game.
I was pleased to note how many gas stations, campgrounds, visitor information centres, cafes and shopping malls had free WIFI making it relatively easy to make use or the internet and do the research we required.
We where able to make plans to meet up with family by email, and send photos of our adventures back for grandparents to enjoy.
At $259.00 in Canada the iPod touch makes a wonderful travelling companion. There are lots of rumors racing around that Apple is planning to add a camera and a video camcorder to its endless list of features this fall bringing it ever closer to the perfect hand held computer.
Apple’s latest version is the iPod Touch and it has a few more tricks than your iPod Nano, Shuffle or Classic. The Touch is really an Apple iPhone without the phone part but with a, headset, a simple, little application and a WIFI connection you can turn it into a telephone and best of all….your calls will be free.
You can do this by using VOIP or “voice over internet protocol”. You telephone calls do not travel over conventional phone lines but travel through the internet instead.
The iPhone and iPod Touch runs on a version of the Apple’s OS-X, the same operating system as their personal computers. This makes them a very powerful microcomputer able to run a variety of programs and applications just like a laptop or desktop computer.
Apple’s truly brilliant concept has been to allow third party software developers to build applications (Apps for short) for use on these devices and offer them free or for a small fee to the millions of users through their iTunes website.
If you surf to the iTunes site and look under “Apps Store” you will see that currently there is thousands of these little applications for you to download. Type in VOIP into the search box and you will find dozens of VOIP app’s waiting for you. Select the one you think will do the job like “iCall” and download a copy. It takes only seconds.
Now you need to head off to a cellphone store and pick up a headset with a microphone and ear phones that is compatible with your iPod Touch (most are). These are the same headsets you’ve seen receptionists wearing that allow them to answer telephones without using the handset.
You now have all you need to make VOIP telephone calls from your iPod Touch. Now you need a wireless WIFI hotspot, launch the program and follow the onscreen instructions and you will soon be making free telephone calls to anywhere in the world.
On a recent trip out west we used our daughters iPod Touch to check weather conditions, access maps, attractions, accommodations and even purchase tickets to a football game.
I was pleased to note how many gas stations, campgrounds, visitor information centres, cafes and shopping malls had free WIFI making it relatively easy to make use or the internet and do the research we required.
We where able to make plans to meet up with family by email, and send photos of our adventures back for grandparents to enjoy.
At $259.00 in Canada the iPod touch makes a wonderful travelling companion. There are lots of rumors racing around that Apple is planning to add a camera and a video camcorder to its endless list of features this fall bringing it ever closer to the perfect hand held computer.
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