Ask Owen

My daughter is in heading off to University in a couple of months time and I’d like a way to keep in touch with her. Can I do this over the Internet?

You know, 10 years ago this question would have had a very different answer. There were a couple of options around, but nothing like the wealth of choice we have today. The first thing you should do is sign up to Facebook, a social network that lets you keep in touch with people all around the world. Your daughter may already have an account, but if she doesn’t she’ll have one soon enough.

The other thing to do is to get yourself a webcam and an MSN Messenger or Skype account. These packages will allow you to have conversations for free across the Internet and the webcam will allow you to see each other too. And if you don’t know which one to buy, what about the Microsoft LifeCam VX-1000, which is currently on sale from Buy.com for around $20.00 (and that includes shipping). Once you’re all set up, either of you can start a video conversation with one another, and it’s like you’re in the room together.

It’s great what technology lets you do today isn’t it?

• Can you recommend a webcam from Buy.com?
• How do I capture video from my webcam?
• How do I share my webcam across multiple applications?
• How can I Tweet straight into Messenger?