Giles Shaxted

Every once in a while I get a funny email sent through and in an effort to post more I am going to email them onwards to here !For more Whyatt cartoons go check out his site. [Whyatt.com.au]

image by Adam Lau

Simply put I think this photo sums up exactly why Obama won the Election. Even though I know US elections always run close, and I know this one was less close that most (quite a big percentage difference for a US election) I am still absolutely stunned by the fact that the Republicans got as many votes as they did with McCain at the Helm and Palin giving him directions. It doesn’t matter what your views are politically McCain put the results into words the best “The American people have spoken, and spoken clearly”

I just found out that the Poster in the picture is not only eye catching to me, but also quite famous .. and very popular. It was created by Shepard Fairey of Obey Giant. There is a nice little write up about the whole thing here.

making your phone bills cheaper !

At the near beginning of this year i purchased a Philips VOIP841Dual Phone. I could not have been happier with this buy, especially now looking back .. it has done nothing but work out ! The phone itself is a dual phone as it plugs into my landline to give me a local phone number through my phone company as well as plugging via ethernet int my broadband router to give me a Skype phone.

For anyone who doesn’t believe in Skype .. silly you ! 2 cents a minute calls to anywhere in the USA and UK and Canada etc etc. Which as an expat and a traveler comes in very handy. It means I can call Familyin the UK for very cheap and friends in the USA very cheap. EVen to their mobiles .. check out their rates. I believe they are cheaper than almost all other VoIP service providers. The new feature that I am yet to use but seems amazing is All in rates or packages for calling a country or the world for unlimited amount of time per month. I think the price works out to be about $12 a month which I know is cheaper than my local VoIP provider. Cable and Wireless do a plan called Netspeak which has a basic package starting at $50 USD.

Now all that needs to happen is all my friends and family (actually most the family has or has tried to have a skype phone) need to get their hands on a skype phone and we can actually all talk for FREE .. thats the awesome part is Skype to Skype is completely free. The Quality is really very good now, Skype to Skype has a slight delay when you first call but after a few seconds is perfect, and calling other phones just works GREAT. The only trouble I see is that the phones are getting less sexy !

Quick ending note … having also seen a handset that doesn’t have a base unit and links into your home wireless connection .. I would suggest getting one like i pointed out that is Dual and plugs into your router at least as connection and charging is much much better with these non wifi ones !