{"id":127,"date":"2009-12-22T16:28:11","date_gmt":"2009-12-22T21:28:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.communitychapelgreenville.com\/dandc.com\/blog\/?p=127"},"modified":"2009-12-22T16:28:11","modified_gmt":"2009-12-22T21:28:11","slug":"life-in-the-clouds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.dandc.com\/?p=127","title":{"rendered":"Life in the clouds …"},"content":{"rendered":"

Back in August 2008 I posted an article <\/a>about how my family gave the phone and satellite companies the boot. It’s ~16 months later, so I thought I give an update.<\/p>\n

Internet Connection
\nWe are still using a broadband cable connection to the Internet, though it has been upped to 10Mb down and 1Mb up. With 5 computers\/laptops and a couple iPods\/Zunes\/smartphones, the increased bandwidth serves us well.<\/p>\n

Phone
\nThe big change here is that I am now using a phone solution provided by my cable provider, but this decision was 100% economic. It is cheaper to have my Internet connection with the phone service than without! Crazy, I know. I elected, though, to have only the “local\/state-wide” service and still use Skype-Out for ALL my long distance needs. For incoming calls we now depending wholly on Google Voice. I have been using Google Voice since before it was purchased by Google. Love it! Love it!<\/p>\n

TV \/ Movies \/ Entertainment
\nThe main change here is that we have dropped Blockbuster and switched to Netflix. I have become a Netflix believer! Incoming vectors for entertainment now include: OTA HDTV; Hulu, YouTube and other streaming sites; and Netflix DVDs and streaming. This is STILL TOO MUCH CONTENT!!!<\/p>\n

Email \/ Productivity \/ Organization
\nEveryone in the house is still using Gmail (hosted) for email. While we occasionally need to use M$ Word \/ Excel \/ PowerPoint, most everything is done with Google Docs. New this year is that my wife is starting to use Google Calendar. Now that we are using Google Voice 100% and now that Google supports Active Sync (for my Touch Pro2 smartphone), I am centralizing my contact management in Google Contacts (bye bye Plaxo).<\/p>\n

Costs
\nThe only cost increase seen this year was the price increase to my Internet connection (+30\/mn). I am still realizing savings over what I had 2 years ago!<\/p>\n

I cannot imagine going back to the way it was 2 years ago. My family and I do not feel we have missed a thing. I am calling this “experiment” a success!!! Or in Google terms, I am removing the BETA tag\u00a0 \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Back in August 2008 I posted an article about how my family gave the phone and satellite companies the boot. It’s ~16 months later, so I thought I give an update. Internet Connection We are still using a broadband cable connection to the Internet, though it has been upped to 10Mb down and 1Mb up. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[11,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-127","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","category-technology"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":11,"label":"News"},{"value":13,"label":"Technology"}]},"featured_image_src_large":false,"author_info":{"display_name":"Darren","author_link":"http:\/\/www.dandc.com\/?author=1"},"comment_info":0,"category_info":[{"term_id":11,"name":"News","slug":"news","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":11,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":88,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":11,"category_count":88,"category_description":"","cat_name":"News","category_nicename":"news","category_parent":0},{"term_id":13,"name":"Technology","slug":"technology","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":13,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":27,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":13,"category_count":27,"category_description":"","cat_name":"Technology","category_nicename":"technology","category_parent":0}],"tag_info":false,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7GQ5E-23","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":38,"url":"http:\/\/www.dandc.com\/?p=38","url_meta":{"origin":127,"position":0},"title":"D-Link DSM-210 10″ Wireless Internet Photo Frame","author":"Darren","date":"September 4, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"D-Link DSM-210 10\" Wireless Internet Photo Frame This is the future of picture frames. If my mom\/dad and mother\/father-in-law ever read my blog, then they will know what they will probably be getting for Christmas (so mom, do not cancel your Internet connection!). Being able to snap a picture on\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Technology"","block_context":{"text":"Technology","link":"http:\/\/www.dandc.com\/?cat=13"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.communitychapelgreenville.com\/dandc.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/09\/dsm-210.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":31,"url":"http:\/\/www.dandc.com\/?p=31","url_meta":{"origin":127,"position":1},"title":"Heading for the clouds ….","author":"Darren","date":"August 28, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"photo credit: d4rmy ... while I do look forward to the Lord Jesus Christ's coming for His church ... Maranatha! ... this post is not about the rapture. It _is_ about living in the Internet cloud. We have just moved into a new house, which means means new utility providers.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Technology"","block_context":{"text":"Technology","link":"http:\/\/www.dandc.com\/?cat=13"},"img":{"alt_text":"Creative Commons License","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.communitychapelgreenville.com\/dandc.com\/blog\/wp-content\/plugins\/photo-dropper\/images\/cc.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":757,"url":"http:\/\/www.dandc.com\/?p=757","url_meta":{"origin":127,"position":2},"title":"Roku, Google Assistant now link up for easier search and play","author":"Darren","date":"October 31, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"via Android Community October 30, 2018 at 11:49PM If you use a Roku device to stream your favorite movies and TV shows and you use smart speakers, phones, or smart displays that have Google Assistant support, your life may have become a bit easier as far as controlling these devices\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"http:\/\/www.dandc.com\/?cat=11"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":784,"url":"http:\/\/www.dandc.com\/?p=784","url_meta":{"origin":127,"position":3},"title":"How to make Google Home personal for everyone in your home","author":"Darren","date":"January 15, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"via Android Central - Android Central January 15, 2019 at 07:07AM While only one person can own a Google Home, it's a device that everyone in your home can interact with, so why not allow Google Assistant to be as personal for them as it is for you? Google Assistant\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"http:\/\/www.dandc.com\/?cat=11"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":684,"url":"http:\/\/www.dandc.com\/?p=684","url_meta":{"origin":127,"position":4},"title":"The ultimate guide to Google Home: Tips and tricks for understanding and making the most out of your assistant speaker","author":"Darren","date":"February 10, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"via Android News, Reviews, Apps, Games, Phones, Tablets, Tips, Mods, Videos, Tutorials - Android Police February 10, 2018 at 08:42AM You just got a Google Home, and after unwrapping it and setting it up, you've asked about the weather, requested a few songs to play, and set a timer for\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"http:\/\/www.dandc.com\/?cat=11"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.androidpolice.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/nexus2cee_ghome-menu-329x658.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":7,"url":"http:\/\/www.dandc.com\/?p=7","url_meta":{"origin":127,"position":5},"title":"Place phone calls from my Chumby","author":"Darren","date":"May 22, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"JAJAH, the world's most innovative global communication company, today announced it has integrated its Internet telephony technology into the Chumby Network via the JAJAH Widget. Now chumby\u00ae users who are also JAJAH customers can initiate free or low-cost phone calls on home phones and cell phones using JAJAH's global calling\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.dandc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.dandc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.dandc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.dandc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.dandc.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=127"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.dandc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.dandc.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=127"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.dandc.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=127"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.dandc.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=127"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}