You may have used or heard of Skype, and some of you may have used its video conferencing capabilities, particularly for keeping in touch with back home when you are away for a trip. This is an excellent piece of software and is a default install on every machine I have. In addition to the software solution, there is a number of devices that make this more that a PC based solution, including connected USB handsets and the excellent WiFi based units but these do no justice to the video capabilities.
Well it seems Asus have released the Asus AiGuru SV1 and it has been given positive reviews in several places including Loic Lemur of Seesmic/LeWeb fame. It indeed looks the business but I have spotted both its flaw and an alternative solution also from Asus (and others!). The biggest flaw is that it costs $299 (which even at the most positive exchange rate would put it at £200+), which leads into how an alternative can be simply produced for a little less than that. The alternative, a more flexible one at that, is to look towards the very nicely priced EeePC 4G or EeePC 900s which would provide you with everything you can find in the SV1 unit for Video Skype plus all of the features of a netbook – and these range from £150 to £230 – and if you want to go to the Acer Aspire One units, these can come in from £179 to £230 as well. These all have Skype with Video support, and these all do so much more. These units also look a whole lot more portable than the Asus AiGuru SV1.
It looks like I have found an excellent use for my older (and less old) netbooks around the house – as dedicated Video conferencing terminals.
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I've got a netbook too – the Dell Mini 9 – and love it to bits. BUT, for my social project (bringing video calling to the elderly, disabled and other socially isolated groups) there is simply no comparison between a netbook and an AiGuru. I gaved a 7 year old and a 70 old two minutes instruction on making a video call on the AiGuru yesterday and then turned it off. Both of them were able to turn it on, navigate the menu and place calls without problem. Try training a 70-year old to do the same with a netbook of any kind. It's horses for courses
I've got a netbook too – the Dell Mini 9 – and love it to bits. BUT, for my social project (bringing video calling to the elderly, disabled and other socially isolated groups) there is simply no comparison between a netbook and an AiGuru. I gaved a 7 year old and a 70 old two minutes instruction on making a video call on the AiGuru yesterday and then turned it off. Both of them were able to turn it on, navigate the menu and place calls without problem. Try training a 70-year old to do the same with a netbook of any kind. It's horses for courses
Continuing the Discussion