Featured on “The Home Tech Podcast” Episode #161 “Using a Chrome Extension for Hangouts, Ditching VoIP with Latency and Climbing Stairs"

Jim Collison invited me back for another fun and hopefully informative podcast, as his guest on Thursday, April 3rd, 2013. Jim (@jcollison) and I (@tinkererguy) discuss Chrome Hangouts Extension, a VOIP issue that finally led me to give up on 3rd party VOIP for now, and finally, some loosely related networking topics. We wind things up on an exercise note, where I ask if anybody is interested in helping to raise money for your local chapter of the American Lung Association by running up some stairs crazy fast, check out the April 5th climb I have coming up at bit.ly/geeklungs, or Jim's recent and similar adventure over here. My first ever stair climb rehearsal last week went alright, with a 7.5 minute time for 34 stories, tweeted here, but I'm sure I can do better tomorrow.

Consider staying tuned in for future episodes! For those whose schedules do not jive so you can’t join live, then simply subscribe! All the RSS buttons to subscribe are right next to Jim’s shownotes:
theaverageguy.tv/2014/04/06/paul-braren-using-a-chrome-extension-for-hangouts-ditching-voip-with-latency-and-climbing-stairs-ht161

Shownotes

Chatwing transcript, from the live event.

Google Hangout Extension for Chrome:
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/hangouts/nckgahadagoaajjgafhacjanaoiihapd?hl=en

Story about Ooma, and too much latency:
TinkerTry.com/oomaissue
but wow, I somehow totally forgot to mention that I had also contacted Cox to see if my tracert to the Ooma SIP server was within expected values, and that there are many other factors besides the cross-country distance that increase latency. Also important to note that using cellular, or using Google Voice, both add considerably latency to any call. With a cable company provided VOIP port on their cablemodem, you'r typically fairly close to a cable company switching station, where the phone calls will be routed through.

Mention of download speed, witness an astounding 180Mbps downstream connection in action here:
youtu.be/eXWEZFhHFrs?t=4m28s

Why the Logitech C920 shouldn't be slamming your CPU too hard:
ubergizmo.com/2012/01/logitech-c920-webcam-review

How to use Task Manager as a CPU monitor that always runs in your system tray (Windows 8/8.1):
itproguru.com/expert/2013/02/windows-task-manager-auto-started-as-an-effective-cpu-monitor-in-your-system-tray/

Windows Azure events:
meetup.com/NEITPro/events/calendar/?scroll=true

Finally, exercise, starting with standing desk:
amzn.to/LMSxBu
(doesn’t really support 3 monitors without help, but fine for 2, will blog about this soon)

Running as fast as I can up 34 floors in Hartford CT Sat April 5th, to raise $100 for American Lung Association:
bit.ly/geeklungs
if you choose to give, you can uncheck yourself from further emails, and can check the “anonymous” box. Here's the tweets.

Note that Jim inspired me, see also this similar event in Omaha NE:
theaverageguy.me/2014/03/16/2014-8th-annual-trek-up-the-tower