Steven Levitt Official Home Page and Blog

So we have recently started using Skype (http://www.skype.com) to call my folks and video-conference with them. Why you ask when we live in the same city? well, appartenly the folks are addicted to seeing their grandson and cant stand not seeing him fore more than a day or two. As a result, I have had to use some technology to solve this problem. We downloaded Skype (free) form the site listed above.

I also bought the Logitech QuickCam® for Notebooks Pro. Its a great little camera and includes a built in Microphone. It looks like this:

It rests on top of the monitor, its really designed to clip onto a notebook lid but i like the small form factor so I got it anyway.

the strength of this thing is how easy i was to setup and use. Simple driver install and the camera was working. The tought part was setting up skype to use it. I had to chose “Video (Beta)” in the “Tools/Options” menu and select “Enable skype video”. Also had to select the webcam and set “Start my video automatically”
Also in “sounds” had to select the voice input to the webcam microphone. But from there on it its great. You can make free pc to pc calls with skype and do video conferencing. We video conference every so often and when we were on a trip to hawaii recently the folks were able to see their grandson.

So my skype id is stevendlevitt, install it and give me a shout.

Woke up this morning to ethan with an Alfalfa hairdo, and of course had to grab the camera. What a great anniversary present, funny hair and 11 hours of sleep. Thanks Ethan. And is it just me or is he getting cuter by the minute?  Unfortunately I left the polarizing lens on the camera so the pics are a bit dark. Enjoy them anyway by clicking here

Ethan had his first trip …. to Kauai, Hawaii with Nate and Nicole. He was great on the airplane, lauged during takeoff and slept the entire plane ride, waking up 20 minutes before we landed. Hes been enjoying the sun (with lots of sunscreen on) and relaxing. He even managed to play golf.

See all the pictures here

We spent Labor Day weekend with the whole family in plam desert.  Then Ethan hung out with his cousin Abe and their friend Becca.  See the pictures here.