Hence the cons of television include the fact that people had diminished physical and psychological health, which is similar to the impact that the Internet has brought currently. Television proved to be an issue back when it was first introduced, due to the issues of violence formed. Its acceptance was based on educational and entertainment reasons. The Internet paradox is conceived to be a social technology that reduces people’s social involvement and imposes a decline in psychological well being through creating boredom and unhappiness. Internet has concurrently changed work patterns hence making it similar to the usage of television. Although the Internet provides advantages like entertainment, education, increment in technical skills, easy information retrieval and communication, the existence of the problem is caused by the opportunity for individuals to isolate themselves. Communication is the most widely used with the Internet, through using chat rooms and electronic mails to expand social contacts and to communicate with family and friends. With Internet communication, individuals are able to reduce difficulty of coordinating interaction and concurrently save costs on distant communication with new and existing contacts. Pros of the Internet are that it creates better social relationships, which is similar to the functions of the telephone. It removes distance constraints and abolishing isolation. People unite on the basis of possessing common interest and creating the chance in increment in skills and confidence with computers. Cons of the Internet include social isolation of individuals as communication is with anonymous strangers, which results in disconnection from genuine social relationships. It allows the opportunity to spend time alone therefore reducing family interaction.

Before the introduction of Internet usage, people are engaged in social participation and have family interaction therefore possessing quality life, which contributes to being happier and healthier, both physically and mentally. The introduction of the Internet led to social disengagement, which means that there is lesser physical activity hence resulting in diminished physical and psychological health. Concurrently it reduces family interaction time and social involvement with contacts. These social impacts would lead to insecure psychological well being like loneliness and stress. Further impacts would include having poor quality of life with the raise of crimes therefore resulting in a more corrupted and a less efficient government. People are now utilizing information, as they are interested in information access. Johnson’s article, “Universal Access to the Net: Requirements and Social Impacts” mentioned that one of the social impact would be literacy as it would form a new meaning in future as towards using the Internet for communication. Additional other impacts would include governments losing their control power over censorship and globalization towards one culture but in doubt of which one.

The exacerbation of Internet is related to the rising issues of computer crimes and pornography, resulting in individual performing illicit behaviour. Therefore it causes the problems of Internet resentment by people arguing that the Internet is doing harm towards the society and individuals. These are the similar problems that were brought on by the introduction of television. The difference with Internet is that people are able to have a choice of the information being retrieved and that it is interactive. However there is no control of justified information on the Internet. The Internet is would be a useful tool for businesses, individuals and society. The changes brought on by the Internet can and could have a larger impact than the introduction of television and telephone. Although the Internet brought issues and problems similar towards the introduction of television, however it possesses more advantages than the bad impacts that television has created. Internet is believed to isolate people, however it closes the gap between people through eliminating the distance and unites them.

My views are that Internet has emerged to stay and though there are raising issues on problems that it has caused. It is a tool that is developed to assist and add value to our lives through providing more efficiency as well as knowledge that are boundless. With the information found and issues discussed, I would agree that the statement claimed is valid and that Internet could bring changes upon people’s lives more than it did with the introduction of telephone and television. To ameliorate the usage of Internet, education of usage of the Internet is a vital and crucial factor that must not be overlooked.

The simple basic application of any communication satellite, whether it is low earth orbital or geosynchronous, involves transmission of information from an originating Earth station to the satellite concerned, which is termed as "up-linking," followed by re-transmission of the same information to the designated Earth station. This re-transmission is termed as "down-linking." The downlink of the information may be to one particular Earth station or broadcasted over a selected number of Earth stations, situated at a larger area. In order to perform this up-linking and down-linking, the satellite has a receiver and a receive antenna, a transmitter and a transmit antenna, just like a set of walkie-talkie, which has a receiver and a transmitter with an antenna, though, in here, the “receive” and “transmit” are done through the same antenna. Satellites need antennas separately for its two functions of receive and transmit. Additionally, the satellite has electronic switches. This is used to logically switch the uplink signals, down-linking it to the appropriate Earth stations. It has an electronic black-box to determine the destination or destinations of the signals being down-linked to the Earth Stations. There is that ever important electrical power in a satellite required in keeping alive the electronic circuitry. The exact component structure of a satellite may differ from one to the other, depending on its actual application, but the basic component requirements remain the same.

The electrical power needed by satellites for receiving and transmitting signals greatly depend upon its orbital path, that is, whether it is a low Earth or geosynchronous orbital satellite. Electrical power requirement mostly depend upon the height of the satellite above the Earth. The higher it is, a satellite would need that much power for its basic operation in receiving and transmitting signals On basis of this, a geosynchronous satellite, being at an altitude of 22,300 miles, would require much more electrical power than the low earth orbiting satellite, which is situated at only a few hundred miles from Earth. In theory, a geosynchronous satellite would need 10,000 times the electrical power than the low Earth orbiting satellite. This is an awful lot of power and the satellite is designed in a way to work out a compromise, without losing the application reliability.

A satellite is usually powered from a battery or a solar energy system. In some of the communication satellites, a combination of battery and solar power energy is used, with the batteries supplying power to the electronics circuitry in the satellite, with a change over to solar energy during sunlight cycle, when the batteries are left on charging. The battery is turned on during solar eclipses, when the solar panels become inactive.

The main difference between the satellites in different orbital path is the antenna. This antenna design sets the optimum power requirement of a satellite. There are basically many designs available for an antenna. Some direct their radiation to one particular direction and there are others which are omni-directional, radiating all around. This principle is carried further by a communication satellite. If you consider the height at which the satellite is orbiting, even a large area on this Earth will be a mere spot of an area from that height. With the earth stations located in a comparatively small area, a properly designed antenna will beam its signals within that constricted area and not in any other direction. With a bigger antenna dish diameter, the area of radiation decreases in relation to certain design parameters.

One of the parameter in such a design is called "gain” of an antenna. This gain tells us how much more power would be required to beam the signals on one square mile of an area, with the transmitter power evenly distributed (isotropic distribution) over all directions within that area. This is one of the primary design criteria, which goes into the requirement of less electrical power required for a geosynchronous satellite, compared to what it would, in theory.

The larger difference in the antenna system of a geosynchronous satellite and the low earth satellite is that, the antenna should always look at the Earth. While it is fairly easy for the geosynchronous satellite, being stationary relative to the Earth's rotation, the low Earth orbit satellites zoom past any point on the Earth every 5 to 10 minutes. In this case it becomes difficult to maintain the antenna orientation, as required.

The Earth station is a moving target, when looked at from the low Earth orbiting satellite and some sort of tracking system must be incorporated in the design, so that the antenna tracks the Earth station as passes that spot in its orbital path. The other alternative is to make such a design, such that the antenna can beam at a wider angle covering a wider area of the Earth, so that the receiver or transmitter is always within the reach of the reception and transmission of the signals. In doing so, the gain of the antenna reduces and to maintain the right gain, a lot more power would be required for the transmitter to provide such signal transmission.

Where do we get that power? One may wonder why the transmitters are not designed that way to provide thousands of watts of power. It is simply that it is not possible to make that kind of power available in a spacecraft. The on-board power is generated either by the series of batteries on the craft or by the huge solar panels, mounted on the satellites. These solar panels have numerous solar cells which generate the electrical energy required from the sunlight, while charging the batteries during sun-light periods. During the time when it is dark, the power generation is switched on to the batteries.. These solar cells are similar to the ones that you find in you calculator. There is a limit of how much these solar panels can generate. This limitation sets the limit of how much power can be generated in a satellite system. In practice, in some of the satellites, these solar panels generate few thousands of watts of electrical power. It is just not conceivable in providing that high power transmitters on-board the satellites as is desired.

The batteries on board are deployed, when the Earth passes in between the satellite and the Sun, when the solar panels do not get the sunlight required to produce the electrical energy. Therefore, the batteries have to remain in good charged condition in order to take over the energy generation when required.

The satellite receives and transmits the signals in two different frequencies. In here we find the application of transponders in a satellite system. A transponder is a component of a satellite system that receives the signals from Earth stations and transmits it back to the designated Earth station or stations. The uplink of any signal from Earth station is done useing a "dish" antenna pointing towards the satellite. This signal is sent to one of the transponders on board. The transponder amplifies this signal, shifts it to a different frequency and transmits back to Earth. This shift of frequency, from the received signal to the transmit signal, is to avoid any interference between the receiver, and transmitter frequencies. A downlink dish like antenna at the earth station, looking at the satellite, captures this signal from the transponder which is then processed. Satellites can downlink the signals received, to many Earth stations at any given moment. The system has the advantage of having the ability to uplink and then downlink to multiple earth stations thousands of miles apart and, with multiple satellites relaying the signals, it can easily cover the whole world.

It goes without saying that we’re all different and the way we communicate with other people is also very unique. Those differences in communication style and way we express our feelings and emotions depend on several aspects. Where we are from, our background and brought up can tell a lot about who we really are. Age is also a very important aspect for it reflects our level of certain knowledge. Our style, however, very much depends not only on above characteristics, but also on our gender. Women and men speak differently, and those differences are allied with their gender.

Language representations

Language can act as a powerful source of discrimination. Since we rely on language to communicate with each other, the way we describe ourselves and others, or the way in which we address one another, can have a deep impact on our self-image and our relations with other people. If individuals or groups are labeled consciously or unconsciously in stereotyped ways, they often experience pain, develop a negative self-image, feelings of inferiority and even expressions of anger. Such feelings can place a strain on relations between groups and individuals. It is therefore important for authors, editors, professional writers, public speakers and all others who use language in a public manner to be aware of how discrimination through language operates intentionally or unintentionally, and how language can also be used to eliminate such discrimination. Language plays a powerful role both in contributing to and in eliminating discrimination.

The chapter "Language and Gender" that I have read explains how language can be used to discriminate against individuals and groups on the basis of their sex. This chapter also provides some helpful information, which certainly will help us teachers to recognize and avoid discriminatory practices.

Avoiding discriminatory language

Using non-discriminatory language does not involve the conscious learning of a new language in order to communicate; this is due to the fact that people continually learn new words, expressions and constructions. Language is dynamic and reflects changes in society and contributes to such changes. Using non-discriminatory language is, of course, a part of this dynamic process.

Broadly speaking, in most cases, using non-discriminatory language means avoiding certain expressions and selecting others that already exist in the language. Sometimes it may involve combining existing words into a new compound word. Only in exceptional cases a completely new word or expression has to be "created".

Alternatives for "he", "him" and "his"

English does not possess a third person singular pronoun which is gender-neutral. Instead the "masculine" pronouns "he", "him" and "his" are generally used to refer to both men and women. This is confusing and inaccurate and makes women invisible. There are many ways of replacing the "he / him / his" pronouns without distorting the message or compromising style or readability. Here are some major strategies:

- recast the sentence in the plural

- leave out the pronoun

- repeat the noun

- use 'he or she', 'she or he' or in writing 's/he'

- recast the sentence and use another pronoun, for example, 'you', 'I' or 'we'

- recast the sentence to avoid pronouns

In speech it is common practice (however, considered ungrammatical) to use the pronoun "they" as in: "If a student wants to get a practice test, they should come to my office between 2 and 4 p.m. today".

Avoid Alternatives

businessman business executive, business manager, business owner, business person,

entrepreneur, financier, investor, proprietor

[S] businesswoman, businessman, businessmen business community, business people,

[S] businessmen and businesswomen

cattleman cattle breeder, cattle owner, cattle producer, cattle raiser, cattle worker, farmer

chairman the chair, chairperson, convener, coordinator, discussion leader, head (of) … ,

leader, moderator, person chairing a meeting, person in the chair, president,

presiding officer

[S] layman, laywoman

laymen laypeople, laypersons, lay community, laity

milkman milk deliverer, milk supplier, 'milko' (informal)

policeman member of the police, police officer (term indicating rank)

[S] policewoman, policeman

postman letter carrier, mail carrier, mail deliverer, postal delivery officer, postal worker,

'postie' (informal)

[S] post woman, postman

salesman sales agent, sales associate, sales attendant, salesperson, sales representative,

sales worker, shop assistant, shop attendant

[S] salesman, saleswoman (not saleslady or sales girl)

spokesman (principal) advocate, official, representative, (person) speaking on behalf of … ,.speaker, spokesperson

[S] spokesman, spokeswoman

sportsman athlete, player, sports competitor, sportsperson

[S] sportswoman, sportsman

Do not use weathergirl if the forecaster is a woman.

workman worker, employee, working person

Occupational nouns and job titles, which refer exclusively to women, should also be avoided. Often these have been derived from male job titles by adding such suffixes as -ette, -ess and -trix. This practice reinforces the view that women's status is dependent on, or derived from, that of men. Job titles like "girl friday" and "salesgirl" trivialize the work women do.

Women should be shown as participating equally with men. Generic terms, for example "doctor", "lawyer" and "nurse", should be assumed to apply equally to a man and a woman. Expressions such as "male nurse", "woman doctor", "lady lawyer" and "woman reporter" should therefore be avoided in contexts where the reference to a person's sex is irrelevant. If gender specification is necessary, the use of the adjectives "female" and "male" before the gender-neutral noun is preferred.

Titles and other naming practices

Naming practices for women and men are often asymmetrical. Inequality is implied, for instance, in cases where a woman's title is not mentioned but a man's is; where a woman is addressed simply by her first name but a man is addressed by his title, first name and surname; and in some salutations, directed to a man and a woman, when the woman is not addressed. Other practices also can create the impression that women deserve less respect or less serious consideration than men do, such as when endearments are used to address women in situations that do not justify such words.

"Mr", "Ms", "Mrs", "Miss"

Use of the title "Mr" before a person's name identifies that person as a male adult. The titles "Mrs" and "Miss", however, not only identify the person addressed as a woman but also make known her marital status. The title "Ms" was introduced so that a woman is not required to reveal her marital status and so that people writing to or addressing a woman are not required to guess it by using "Miss" or "Mrs". "Ms" should be used for a woman whose title preference is unknown. It should be followed by the woman's own name, or if she prefers, her spouse's name. Any given names or initials used in connection with the title "Ms" are invariably the woman's and not those of her spouse. "Ms" is the same whether singular or plural.

Currently debates have been held about most of the features mentioned above. Much work has been done on pitch, intonation, politeness and "correctness". Sociolinguists such as William Labov have constantly suggested that women speak a form of language close to the standard than men of a similar social background. I wonder again, how should this be interpreted if it is true? Does it mean that women are linguistically more conservative than men?. This claim makes me think that further investigation should be conducted about this in order to find out whether it is a real fact or just speculation based on sexist beliefs.

There is an area that has received more attention in recent times, "communicative styles" or "strategies". Initially research was carried out on private conversation but more recently attention has focused on women's linguistic behavior in the workplace. Deborah Tannen has published various books on women's communicative strategies, including one based on analyzing the work environment. Tannen's work has motivated some controversy among linguists. Her views can be summarized as follows: men tend to employ "contest" strategies and women "community" strategies. If we accept this dichotomy, it would provide a realistic explanation for women's lack of development in the workplace. We might deduce from this that women are too busy establishing a kind of "community" instead of climbing the social ladder by getting involved in contests, just like men, which are more successful in the world of business because of the way they are (competitive).

Linguistic communication consists of two models which are completely different. The code-model is a classic one. The other is inferential.

Code model:

The communicator encodes the message, by a signal, that the hearer than decodes. Sentences are just complex signals that encode messages.

signals

[IMAGE]

code

messages

The speaker selects the message and transmits the corresponding signal, which is received and decoded at the other end, when all goes well, the result of the reproduction in the receiver of the original message.

On this approach, the communication is guaranteed as long as both individuals are functioning correctly, each has an identical copy of the code, and the signal is not destroyed.

The code model exists in the nature, it is correct for animal communication.

e.g.: bee dance, which used to indicate the direction and distance of nectar.

Q: But how do human communicate?

Example:

Mary is angry with Peter and she doesn’t�t want to talk to him. When he tries to engage her in conversation, she might:

1. stare ostentatiously at the ceiling.

2. open a newspaper and start to read it.

3. look angrily at Peter and clamp her mouth shut.

4. look angrily at Peter, put a finger to her lips and whisper `Shh`.

5. say `I m deaf and dumb`.

6. say `I won’t talk to you`.

* What do Mary’s actions communicate to Peter?

* Which, if any, of Mary’s actions encode some part of her meaning?

* Which, if any, of Mary’s actions encode exactly her meaning?

Some of human communication can be achieved without any code.

Language is a code, which vastly increases the possibilities of human communication.

What is conveyed by linguistic communication goes beyond what is coded.

The communicator’s actions provide clues to the meaning, which the hearer must infer.

Inferential model:

Communication can be achieved without a code by individuals who can infer each other’s intentions.

The communicator’s behavior is treated as a piece of evidence about the intentions.

Evidences may be compatible with several different hypotheses and the interpreter’s job to construct the best hypothesis to explain the communicator’s behavior, the interpretation of non-verbal communication, like the action, involves inference to the best explanation by the intelligent guesswork, rather than decoding of signals by use of code.

An utterance is a piece of evidence of the speaker’s meaning.

Decoding the linguistic sentence meaning is seen as just one part of the process of comprehension. Process relies on both linguistic meaning and the context in order to identify the speaker’s meaning.

Speaker’s meaning in Grice`s analysis, is a complex communicative intention that must be recognized by the hearer in order to be fulfilled.

It is an intention to achieve a certain effect upon the mind of the hearer by recognition.

The communication depends on the ability of human beings to attribute mental states to others. Human spontaneously interpret one another’s behavior as a belief guided fulfillment of intentions.

In inferential communication the communicator seeks to fulfill the intention by making it manifest to the hearer, the hearer recognize the one, which influences him.

The role of language in inferential communication is to provide the communicator with evidence, as exactly as complex as it wish.

Inferring the intention behind ordinary, non-communicative actions:

* You see me take out the key as I walk towards my front key.

* You see me climbing the tree, looking towards a ripe apricot.

Inferring the intention behind acts of non-verbal communication:

* I push my newly open box of chocolates along the table towards you.

On Grice`s view, `utterance` interpretation as a form of inference to the best explanation:

* We infer the intention behind an utterance by constructing a hypothesis based on evidence

* The best hypothesis is one that meets our expectations about the way speakers should have.

Differences between the code-model and the inferential model:

1. The code model deals with arbitrary links between signal and message.

The inferential model explains how hearers can work out what the speaker intended to convey.

2. Coded communication functions best when the interlocutors share exactly the same code. Any difference in the code increases the source of possible error in the communication process.

In the case of the inferential communication, the situation is quite different. The success of inferential communication does not require that the communicator and the audience have the same semantic representation of the utterance.

What happens in communication?

In a very simplistic model, communication is made up of formulating a message and sending it to an intended audience, irrespective whether he or she needs or even wants the message, or not.

Giving presentations is a very common form of conveying a message and a great deal of effort is put into preparing a presentation before actually giving it because the sender has the desire that he or she wants to be heard. The person preparing and giving the presentation (not always the same person!) use his or her perception of the audience as well as what message should be conveyed. Then, the more stunning a presentation is, it is hoped that the message will be conveyed even better. Potentially unproductive hours can be spent on "designing the slides" hoping that the audience "will hear what I have to say". Or, if time is at a premium, to take some existing presentation and to somehow reshape it to fit the forum.

Let us challenge this perception

The audience has several options:

a) to listen and act

b) not to listen an not to act, to ignore

c) not to listen but to act anyway, usually not in the desired or intended fashion

d) unable to listen (technically then, not a captive audience)

e) unable to act because he / she is not empowered to

In all the above scenarios, except the first, there is a potential conflict between the person sending the message and the intended recipient of the message.

This leaves the sender with four options:

a) to accept this, (which begs the question, why was it done in the first place)

b) to try and influence the recipient so that he or she "gets the message"

c) keep repeating the message, on and on and on and....

d) change the message

All these options can be deemed as unsatisfactory as they are in their nature inefficient. They either focus on the person or the message. In fact, the message could be the right one, the person may be the right recipient, but the combination of both may be the cause of the problem.

So, is there an alternative?

Basically yes, but it is not easy to come by. There are no quick wins!

In finding the alternative, you need to analyse:

the message itself, the resulting action, the persons, how, where and when the message was conveyed and the value added of the message. In short, you need to analyse the entire environment surrounding the message.

The information you take from this "experience" can be collected and analysed for patterns. As a result, the following can be deduced:

any common denominator

any contradictions

any activity which recurs at regular intervals which somehow impacts your message.

When you have recognised such patterns, and more importantly, recorded them, then they can be used to help you prepare the ground better for you to convey your message more effectively.

Of course, this is often done in debriefing sessions, but often done instinctively and the result is that organisations often have many "impressions" but no real tangible information on what impact any intended communicating of a message actually has.

Finding the patterns

Gathering the information needed is challenging, especially in a complex organisation. So it is important to start in ones immediate environment and gradually let consecutive circles work into the rest of the organisation.

The success of this lies in the acceptance of such a method and the willingness to invest in the time to do such an exercise. Usually, an outside organisation can be far more effective here. All data is collected and processed and this will reveal certain patterns.

When buying a T1 or T3 line the first thing that probably comes to mind is, "what will it cost?" Second thought is probably, "who can I trust for service?" These thoughts amongst the various available providers can very well cripple your move to a crawl towards such a purchase. This is where a bandwidth broker already begins to make sense.

A bandwidth broker is very valuable towards your service reliability and cost when considering a T1/T3 line. Here we will explain the logic behind the use of a broker for dedicated services.

A bandwidth broker essentially represents many different bandwidth providers. Don't be afraid though, these providers are usually heavily scrutinized before ever being offered. A broker's business is your satisfaction so it wouldn't make sense to allow low grade providers into the equation. Most brokers offering provider services are not fortune 500 companies that can afford to loose your business. This quest for your satisfaction is the drive that alone already makes a broker a wise decision.

Next of the broker's pro attributes is the broker's buying power. Now this buying power is not the power of the broker's money but rather that of it's accumulated client base. A broker, because of it's number of clients is given more consideration when it comes to price negotiating. Depending on your desired service, the savings a broker can offer you can amount to a lot.

Quality of service is always going to be of most importance to you and again that is where the broker comes in again. After a purchase through a broker you are not left to fend for yourself. A broker receives a commission for the life of your contract including the extension. If there ever is a problem with your services a broker is your advocate and that literally speaks volumes. Again, customer volume comes into play.

When a broker makes a call to the provider regarding a service issue it is not just one company making the complaint but the broker who represents many of the same provider's clients. Providers do not want to tarnish the relationship with a broker. A broker can easily recommend another provider to a large base of clientele and a provider would suffer a much harsher blow than if losing only one customer.

A broker is technically proficient in the aspects of bandwidth implementation and acts as a friendly consultant to the newest of clients. No question is ever too small or stupid so you can be assured to be comfortable in getting to know new technologies and how to get your company with the times.

Crikey, I can remember back to the early 1970's when it cost around £3.00 a minute to call Australia and the service was terrible. Crackly lines, long delays, and inflated phone bills. It was a nightmare trying to keep in touch with friends and families overseas. Thank goodness it's not like that anymore. In actual fact, most of us don’t think twice these days when we telephone long distance. There are so many cheap and free ways to keep in touch we're simply spoilt for choice.

But even so, there are still many folks out there who are not aware of these inexpensive and free options. IDD (or International direct dial), is simply person to person calling without the need to go through an operator. That's something else the new generations don't have to suffer. Sometimes it was painful just getting through to the international operators and quite often the call got terminated on connect. There are still a few countries that have an operator system, but they really are few and far between.

In some ways, because it's so cheap and easy to telephone long distance, it's taken some of the adventure out of traveling abroad, especially on long trips or backpacking tours of the world. One of the attractions was to be cut of from the rest of the world, but now everyone is traveling around with mobile phones in their luggage and is expected to call home from time to time just to check in.

When I'm overseas I simply carry a mobile that allows me to change the SIM card inside the phone. These can be purchased locally and often give you immediate access to the networks. It always a good idea to compare tariff and rates before buying, so it's important to know what you will be using your phone for, i.e. local calls or communication abroad. When I was in the UK last, I bought a phone card called Asia Direct, or something like that. It cost just £10 and I was chatting to various countries in South East Asia every day for a week and still I had credit to spare when I left England. It was absolutely incredible value for money.

Though it's now considered cheap to telephone long distance, it is still necessary to be mindful that some companies still charge extortionate rates for the service. Mainly hotels. In fact they probably make as much money on overseas calls as they do renting rooms! If you need to use hotel phones for any reason, make sure you check out the call charges in advance or you could be in for a nasty surprise on checkout!

I've listed below a few of the more popular ways to telephone long distance:

Mobile direct calling: Many special deals around these days, but check first. Also international Phone cards where you punch the details into your cell phone and dial a special number prior to connecting.

International call boxes: Found on high streets and outside stores in most major towns and cities. Many of these accept credit cards or special phone cards that can be bought locally.

The internet: (free or café rates) Skype or Yahoo chat are among the most popular at the time of writing, but both parties must be online and have the same software to communicate.

Skype Out: This is a great service. If means you can log onto any PC that has the Skype software and call any mobile or landline. You have to put Skype credit into your account but it really does cost peanuts to telephone long distance in this way. I paid for 10 euros and still have 6 left after 1 year, and I've used this service a lot.

Relationships are essential for success in any field. Your phone communication plays a vital role in building effective relationships. Most people create a mental picture of the person with whom they are talking over the phone. Quite often these people judge a person by the mental picture they have created. To streamline your communication, it is necessary for you to create a good impression over the phone.

Captivating people and winning them over the phone needs practice. You need to demonstrate your worth, ability and personality. There are striking differences between personal calls and business calls. You also need to learn the art of delivering unpleasant message without breaking your relationship.

Your voice is of great importance in phone communication. Several studies have pointed out that listeners create an opinion based on the voice. The voice should be clear and should never waver. Your lack of confidence can be reflected in your voice. Try to avoid this especially in business calls. Always be confident while making calls. Do not make calls when you are emotionally disturbed. To effectively streamline your communication, you also need to practice voice modulation.

Answer a call at the earliest. People do not wait much longer. You should be able to answer the phone by the third ring. Greeting over the phone plays a crucial role in building a good impression. Plan your phone greeting in advance. Use a short greeting.

Be careful of what you say over the phone. Before making serious phone calls, it is good to jot down the points in a paper. This will give an order to your phone call and you will also not forget vital points. Never deviate from subject matter, especially in business calls. Stop, when you have delivered your message. Unnecessary lingering will do more harm than good. Phone calls can become legal evidence, so be careful with the words you use in business calls.

How you present a message over the phone is of great importance in streamlining your communication. There will occasions when you have to deliver unpleasant messages. Nobody likes unpleasant message and it can offend your customer or client. In such situations, use hints to make the listener understand the unpleasant message. Always try to convey such messages indirectly.

Be a good listener. Never interrupt between conversations. Always answer to the point that the other person has raised. Write down complicated spellings. Give a feeling that you are seriously listening.

Phone communication is of great importance in our fast paced world. To streamline your communication, a professional approach is needed. Through effective conversation turn all your calls into new opportunities.

Every business relies on effective communication with its customers. Communication doesn't just convey information, it inspires trust, builds credibility, stimulates involvement and generates loyalty. But in today's global, hi-tech, rapidly changing business environment, how do you ensure you're communicating effectively?

The Benchmark - Face-to-Face

There's no doubt that face-to-face communication is the most effective method for most people. Why? Because of its two-way nature. It's about dialogue. Listeners are not passive participants. When someone talks to us, we send a continuous stream of responses back to them. Some are verbal, but many/most are not. These responses have the power to actually change the message being disseminated by the talker. What's more, they have the power to change how other listeners' interpret that message. (Similarly, other listeners have the power to change your interpretation.)

Unfortunately, however, the global nature of business makes it impossible to conduct face-to-face meetings for every communication. So what are the alternatives? Specifically, what are the alternatives offered by technology?

Email - The Starting Point

The benefits of email are numerous and well known, and include (but are not limited to):

* Email is an excellent mechanism for distributing information to people. It is fast and cost effective.
* It is incredibly convenient - you can readily communicate across time zones.
* It provides a useful electronic paper trail.
* It can save a great deal of time because most of the fluff surrounding a phone call (the social niceties) are seen as unnecessary in email.
* It allows recipients to read and respond to messages in their own time.
* The wording, grammar and punctuation in an email can be considered and edited before finally sending.

But email does have its limitations:

* Its lack of social niceties is a double-edged sword. Without the benefit of other communication cues, it's sometimes hard to interpret the tone of an email, and this can make some messages ambiguous.
* It isn't ideal for critical communication. For many people, emails are not 'real-time' communication. We all have that unaddressed email sitting at the bottom of the list. Because emails are so easy to ignore, they're also easy to forget.
* Ironically, email's dissemination effectiveness has been one of the major impediments to its communication effectiveness. It's so easy to send emails - and they're so anonymous - that our inboxes are now flooded with SPAM. Consequently, emails are viewed with some suspicion. It's sometimes hard to identify legitimate emails, but it's very easy to just hit Delete.
* Because email senders are typically geographically (and often culturally) distant from their recipients, they have no immediate visual and aural cues to help them tailor the message as they type.

But there's no need to 'throw out the baby with the bathwater'. Email is an excellent solution to many communication needs. And for those it is ill-equipped to handle, there are newer, more appropriate technologies that are built for the job...

Web 2.0 Technologies - The Perfect Supplement

Web 2.0, a term coined by O'Reilly Media (an American media company) in 2004 refers, to a second-generation of internet-based services that let people collaborate and share information online in new ways.

Web 2.0 technologies are well defined in www.wikipaedia.org, which suggests that these sites allow the users of the sites (members) to create and share content, including exploring and discussing ideas, opinions, initiatives and issues. Web 2.0 is all about communication. It is the evolution of the internet from an endless library of static pages to an endless world of conversations. These pages can be restricted to particular individuals (eg the executive), or open to all members. The only difference is that the interaction takes place in cyberspace, and those taking part can be sitting behind a keyboard just about anywhere on the planet.

Importantly, a reader's understanding of the message in a Web 2.0 communication is determined, not just by the publisher, but also by the responses (e.g. comments) of the audience. What's more, the publisher's actual message tends to be far more fluid as it, too, is informed by the responses of the audience. In other words, Web 2.0 services are far more like face-to-face conversations than any communication technology before them.

So what are these emerging technologies that we should be keeping an eye on? The two most notable are 'Wikis' and 'Blogs'. The following definitions are from http://www.wikipedia.org, an online encyclopaedia developed as a wiki.

* Wikis - A wiki is a type of website that allows users to easily add, remove or otherwise edit and change content. This ease of interaction and operation makes a wiki an effective tool for collaborative authoring. Examples include Wikipedia (wikipedia.com) and wikiwikiweb (http://www.wikiwikiweb.com).
* Blogs - A weblog, which is usually shortened to blog, is a type of online diary or journal which allows one to voice their opinion on something. Blogs often provide commentary or news and information on a particular subject. A typical blog combines text, images, and links to other blogs, web pages, and other media. Blogs are usually text based, but they can include photographs, videos or audio (podcasting). Blogs can be presented in a way that creates a conversation between users. As an example, see the Sydney Morning Herald travel blog (http://blogs.smh.com.au/lostintransit/).

The Uses of Web 2.0

As with face-to-face social gatherings and forums, online get togethers attract a broad spectrum of participants eager to engage, entertain, befriend, advise and lecture.

It was reported in The Australian (Tuesday 8 August 2006) that the social computing element of Web 2.0 has recently been embraced by the US Government. The US State Department has started including blogs and other Web 2.0 concepts to deliver public information to citizens. It is also using wiki style services to improve information by permitting small expert communities to improve advisory services.

The same article advised that Australia’s leading information advisory body, the Australian Government Information Management Office, had begun experimenting with the use of blogs, wikis and other Web 2.0 technologies.

As new online social networks mushroom, they are becoming increasingly focused on niches, ideally suited to membership based organizations and the NFP sector. Examples of general public social networks include My Space (http://www.myspace.com), Classmates (http://www.classmates.com) and Bikely (bikely.com).

Other Useful Technologies

* SMS - Short Message Service (SMS) is a service available on most digital mobile phones (and other mobile devices, e.g. a Pocket PC, or occasionally even desktop computers) that permits the sending of short messages between mobile phones, other handheld devices and even landline telephones.
* Podcast - Podcasting is the method of distributing multimedia files, such as audio or video programs, over the internet using syndication feeds, for playback on mobile devices and personal computers.
* Webinars - Web conferencing is used to hold group meetings or live presentations over the internet. In the early years of the internet, the terms "web conferencing" and "computer conferencing" were often used to refer to group discussions conducted within a message board (via posted text messages), but the term has evolved to refer specifically to "live" or "synchronous" meetings, while the posted message variety of discussion is called a "forum", "message board", or "bulletin board". A webinar is a seminar which is conducted over the World Wide Web. It is a type of web conferencing. In contrast to a Webcast, which is transmission of information in one direction only, a webinar is designed to be interactive between the presenter and audience. A webinar is 'live' in the sense that information is conveyed according to an agenda, with a starting and ending time. In most cases, the presenter may speak over a standard telephone line, pointing out information being presented on screen, and the audience can respond over their own telephones, preferably a speakerphone. Whilst not necessarily considered Web 2.0, Webinars can also be a useful mechanism for information distribution and discussion amongst membership based organizations and SMS can provide important or urgent confirmations.

Prepaid calling cards are quite prevalent among military personnel, students, teens, recent immigrants, and travelers. Senior citizens and small businesses use them to regulate daily expenses and operating costs, respectively, while roommates buy them to minimize disputes over monthly phone bills.

The price of prepaid calling card minutes has dramatically plummeted in recent years because of escalating competition among different providers. However, call minutes are not really what phone cards are about. Carriers can levy a host of hidden fees for everything from connection tolls to weekly or monthly fees simply for maintaining a card.

In a volatile market, buyers need to shop around wisely. A study made by Consumer Action revealed that discount clubs, such as Sam's Club and Costco, tend to offer the best buys in prepaid calling cards. Discount stores and drug stores also offer good prepaid calling card deals.

Since there is always a chance that a prepaid calling card won’t work, where one buys it can really matter a lot. Hence one should buy from stores of good reputation. Reputation and reliability of a particular supplier of a prepaid calling card brand also have bearing. With an established company, it is usually easier to contact customer service for concerns, and such a company is reasonably certain to still be in business in the near future. Before buying a particular brand of prepaid calling card, try out the customer service number first. Many of the big players in prepaid calling cards include popular names such as AT&T, MCI, Sprint, Qwest, Global Prepaid Alliance, ILD Telecommunications Inc., and IDT.

In fairness to other phone card manufacturers, it might be a good idea to buy the smallest denomination first when trying out a new brand of prepaid calling card, and then call its customer service. Also beware of prepaid calling card companies that promise too much, such as a penny a minute rate, because it could probably be a scam.

Just like buying a new pair of shoes, one wants to look for a “best-fitting” prepaid calling card. One should be able to assess his or her phone usage patterns before buying a prepaid calling card. For someone who makes frequent short calls, avoiding cards with connection fees or calling minimums is a practical advice. On the other hand, for somebody who makes longer calls less frequently, trading a reasonable connection fee for a lower per minute rate is worthwhile.

Furthermore, for someone who wants to keep a card in the wallet for emergency purposes, a prepaid calling card that is good for at least six months to a year, preferably one that won't charge daily, weekly or monthly fees, is recommended. Those who use the card regularly, or for a specific special occasion, wouldn’t mind a card that expires in 30 to 90 days.

For those who want to make international calls to specific countries, it is advised to look for toll-free customer service, and use the number to shop calling costs to a particular country before buying one. Comparing prices is definitely not always as easy as it sounds. But a good rule of thumb when assessing prepaid calling cards is to examine the cost of a total call, rather than the cost per minute. Also ask for minute rounding schemes, since a card may charge a 1-minute call with a fee equivalent for 3-minutes.

Are Your F-Connectors the Right Fit for Your Project? Call your cable company for a service call...and don't be surprised if the first thing they do is to cut off your old F-connectors and replace them with new ones. That's because inferior, degraded or improperly applied F-connectors have historically been a prime source of TV picture quality problems. Several types of connectors are available commercially and through retail outlets. Here is a brief discussion about the pros and cons of the most popular varieties:

Twist-on Connectors A convenient, low-cost solution designed for the homeowner...these connectors are made with shallow threads in the connector body that pierce the cable jacket enabling the connector to be "screwed" on without the additional expense of special crimping or compression tools. These connectors are not weather-sealed so they are susceptible to water migration-and thus, should never be used outdoors. Ingress/egress (signal leakage) can also be a problem causing ghosting on the picture. Twist-on connectors are handy in a pinch, but should only be used for emergencies or temporary solutions until a better connector can be applied.

Hex Crimp Connectors As the name implies, hex crimp connectors are applied to the cable with six pressure points. This creates six "channels" or gaps where water migration and/or signal leakage can occur. Application of these connectors is craft-sensitive, depending on a precisely calibrated tool and proper positioning of the tool on the connector body for a secure fit. Use of the correct hex crimp tool is essential, so resist the temptation to apply these connectors using pliers or other pinching devices. If you decide to use hex crimp connectors, avoid low-quality products found in retail stores in favor of professional-grade products typically found in cable TV and other commercial environments. Gel-filled hex crimp connectors are essential for outdoor use.

Compression Connectors Most professionals would agree that compression connectors are "best practice" for quality indoor and outdoor broadband connections. Compression connectors create a 360° seal around the jacket of the cable to prevent signal leakage and water migration. Commercial grade compression connectors will include internal "O" rings and other features that further adhere the connector to the jacket, and protect against harsh environmental conditions. These connectors often have exceptional pullout strength tolerances-which are essential to maintaining connectivity in indoor environments where the cable is likely to be inadvertently pulled or stretched. Compression connectors are typically less craft-sensitive than hex crimp connectors because application can only be performed with the proper tool.

Commercial-grade vs. Retail Connectors Connectors found in most retail stores and home improvement centers are often low quality devices manufactured to achieve specific price targets. Light weight, thin metal construction is characteristic of these connectors-as is signature gold plating, that while attractive, is virtually useless in outdoor environments for extended periods of time. Retail products typically have shallow nuts with up to 30% fewer threads which are more difficult to turn, and can contribute to signal leakage. When applied properly, these connectors will effectively pass signal, but may not provide optimal specifications for ingress/egress, water migration, pullout strength and several other factors that contribute to a quality voice, video or data experience. In contrast, commercial grade products meet Society of Telecommunications Engineers (SCTE) and Telcordia (formerly Bellcore) specifications that cover a litany of stringent mechanical and electrical requirements.

Without a doubt, facsimile (or commonly, fax) is one of the most important innovation in communication technologies. If doesn’t matter how big is your business or what is your business nature; you just have to own the faxing ability to keep the business going. Recent market investigation shows that nowadays, even with the wide-use Email services, faxing is still one of the items that cover big percentage in business operation cost.

Nevertheless, faxing nowadays doesn’t depend solely on conventional fax machine. By utilizing high speed Internet connection, we now have an alternative in fax-communication – Internet faxing. In brief, Internet faxing is a service that allows you to send or receive fax without the faxing machine. Faxes are sent and received in Email attachment format.

Why send fax to email?

There are many reasons why Internet business is such popular. Users often get extremely frustrated with conventional faxing machine as they often suffer problems like paper jam, extra phone line cost, cuts off page text, and fax transmission failure. Although not able in replacing the traditional fax machine, Internet fax provides an easy faxing method where the service is 24 hours ready, no more engage tones, and no more paper jamming. Faxes will always send out and arrived smoothly via your email account without any cost of extra phone line.

Listed here are the top 3 reasons why you should try up on Internet faxing:

1. Low operation cost

Internet faxing requires very low start up and operation cost. To use Email faxing services, all you need is a computer with Internet connection and an active Internet fax service account. As the PC is a must for any kind of business nowadays, theoretically the account subscription fees is the only extra pay for using Internet fax. When comparing with conventional faxing equipment such subscription fees are extremely low as they normally ranged from $2 to $20 (depends on your level of usage).

2. Easy and convenient to use

Basically anyone who can use an Email service is well conditioned to use Internet faxing services. Sending Internet faxes is the same as sending out Emails - how hard can that be? Most, if not all email fax providers have a Web Interface (online site) where you can log onto and do all your faxing chores. Send and receive your faxes. Most fax services also allow you to store your faxes online for easy access. Most Internet fax services will work with Windows Outlook and Windows Office. Some have free desktop applications that you can download and place on your desktop which allow you to send and receive your faxes from your desktop.

Finally, most services let you send a fax by just sending an email, i.e. (destination number)@yourfaxservice.com - It doesn't get any easier than that.

Mobility

Mobility is another selling point for Internet faxing services. All you need for sending Email fax is just a PC with Internet connection and an Internet faxing account – this enables you to send faxes in anywhere, anytime.

Also with Internet fax, you will receive a local or toll-free fax number that you can give out to all your contacts. You can also store all your faxes online or on your computer's hard-drive, so you know exactly where your faxes are. You know exactly where to find that important fax when you need it. No more scrambling through files or garbage bends to find your faxes. No more missed faxes because of busy signals, not to mention the decrease in all that foul language as there are no more paper jams.

You probably come to this article while looking for substitution for your conventional fax machine. It is true that Internet fax services are one of the online services that can beneficial greatly to your business or personal expenses. However in order to get the best from it, one must be careful and review more on the faxing services that’s available in the market. Different Internet faxing packages are meant for different categories of users. If you only need to receive faxes, you can try out eFax Free (Get it at http://www.myinternetfax.biz/overview/efaxfree.html) which will cost you nothing; if you send faxes frequently and needs a toll-free number for your business, eFax Plus might be something you want to look at. If you are always on the road and need to send email faxes via mobile portal, Call Wave faxing services is recommended.