Or: How my Dad Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Webcam In my mind there are many levels of communication. Each level down means some of the wordless interaction the nuance, the intonation, the body language, the personality, the occasional pantsless-ness is lost. The highest level is an intimate discussion over coffee; the near lowest is text messaging (jk! lol! omg! wtf? bbq! brb). Below Ive arbitrarily ranked common forms of interpersonal communication, from best to worst: Intimate talk over coffee/tea/sex Casual conversation Phone call Handwritten letter Typed letter E-mail Instant messaging Morse code (or smoke signals) Neanderthalic grunting Text messaging Mime Notice how some of the newest forms of communication we have are ranked near the bottom along with banging rocks together: thats no coincidence. Technology has given us many new forms of communication in the last few years but they all kinda suck. Why do we use these mediocre methods? Two words: theyre free. If you want to talk to someone whos not nearby, anything above e-mail will cost you something. We demand communication, and well get it at any I mean, the lowest price. Thats where Skype comes in. As their website puts it, Skype is a little piece of software that lets you make free calls to anyone else on Skype, anywhere in the world. And how. Skype basically takes your computer and turns it into a telephone; you can download the program to talk to any other Skype user for free. It also lets you call and receive calls from regular telephones for a small fee. (Actually, calls to landlines and mobiles in the US from Skype are also free until the end of the year.) Thats all fine and dandy, you may be thinking, but my cell phone can make regular calls, and my PC doesnt fit into my pocket. The real pull, however, is the free international Skype-to-Skype calling. Sure its nice to call my friend on south campus to save on my cell minutes but what about my friend in Paris? Thatd take some serious cash to pull off, and frankly its just not worth it. It does to voice what e-mail did for letters: made it free, instantaneous, and worldwide. In the last six months, Ive talked to not e-mailed, talked to friends in India, France, Egypt, Ireland, and Italy. More than that, Ive SEEN them. Up until now, Skype sounds handy, but get this: you also have the option of adding a webcam. Its as close to a personal conversation as I can get with someone 8,000 miles away, far better than a normal phone call, and its free. Ive seen a friend laugh at a joke in her dorm in Mumbai, heard Gaelic Irish spoken by the seven year-olds next door to another, and given my approval of my younger brothers dorm room d�or in Omaha. I even got calls from my technologically challenged Dad while he was traveling in Europe. Id set up a Skype account and webcam for my dad, and he loved it. At one point he called to show his new acquaintances how well it worked At 11:00 at night. In Milan. In a bar. Yes, Skype has shot itself up to number 3 on the list of communications methods, bested only by actual face-to-face conversation. Its clearly better than a phone conversation, because it does everything a phone call can do and more. The video puts it far above the usual text and audio riffraff to make something truly awesome. And if I havent said it enough times, ITS FREE. Personally, Id like to see Skype used more on campus. I know itll never replace AIM (although Skype does have an included instant messenger program thats pretty nice), but it can do a lot of things AIM just cant. For example, rather than trek to Norris in the snow for a meeting, use Skype to have a conference call: its way more cutting edge and lazy. Now, I should step back and say that Skype isnt the only program: lots of programs do the same thing, including Sightspeed, Google Talk, and AIM Talk. Why pick one over the other? To be honest, it really doesnt matter which one you pick, but heres the catch everyone has to pick the same one. All of these programs only work with other computers with the same program, so to really get the free, complete-connection experience, we all need to get behind the same program. I use Skype because my friends use Skype. Its got a good interface, nice applications, and good A/V quality. The other thing to note is that to be able to use Skype, you do need a micropohne and/or webcam, which may cost a bit. So that its free rant is true, assuming you have a mic. If not, microphones are cheap and well worth the hour-long conversation with a friend in Timbuktu. So please. Save interpersonal communication; dont settle for the mediocrity of instant messenger. Shakespeare would be turning in his grave if he saw a ROFL. The only person that could possibly be happy about seeing an LOL is e.e. cummings, and he totally doesnt count. Skype can do everything the other methods can, but better, faster, and free. I envision a world where everyone uses Skype even companies and stores. Land lines will be obsolete, and that futuristic videophone world from Back to the Future II will become a reality. Meanwhile, instant messaging will slowly die and rot in the corner.   Tom Cohlmia refuses to settle for e-mail: Skype him. (tomcohlmia)