What is Identity Theft?

There are a lot of people who think that this is a criminal act that just involves the theft of numbers, however, when it comes to identity theft; it is something that involves much more. You may even that the criminal will even try to become you.

Most of the time, identity theft requires the use of credit card or check fraud, but you will find that there are many other instances that could include things like illegal immigration, blackmail, crime or just revenge.

When it comes to the pain and suffering that you will go through when you identity has become compromised you will find that it can simply ruin your life for months or years to come. You will find that your credit will never be the same again.

Often, people will get your credit cards and even open bank accounts in your name and then rack up a good amount of debt all at someone else’s expense. You will find that they will keep the expensive things or they may even sell it for cash after awhile. For some, loans have been taken out in another’s name and it has ruined the credit of many. Keep in mind that id is required for most things like loans, but the small amount of work that is needed to alter someone’s identity can only have a big pay off at someone else’s expense.

Your credit and good name will be destroyed in the act, and most of the time the criminals are not caught easily. You will want to make sure that you take measures to protect yourself from identity theft, but also that you use a little bit of common sense when it comes to things like your personal information.

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The Transition To Video - Part 2

Previously, I outlined what lead me to this transition. In this post, I will outline the equipment and software I am using to give you a better idea of just what you can do with very little outlay of cash.

As most of you are already aware, just by following my blog posts or listening to my shows and podcasts, I like the term “free”. But then, who doesn’t, right? Also, I don’t like paying retail for anything and will research and search high and low to get the best deals. That’s just who I am, when it comes right down to it.

Ok, that said, let’s get started!

To begin with, I already had the equipment and software in place when I made this jump to video. It wasn’t always that way. So, let’s go back in time a bit and I will bring you up to date on how I got started and then upgraded my way to what I have today.

When I first started podcasting, I had the plastic $5.00 desk mic that came with my PC. It was hooked into the mic port of my sound card and I used a set of headphones from my daughter’s cd player (the cd didn’t word any longer). The headphones were plugged into the speaker port of my sound card. Money out so far, $0.00 (unless you count the $20.00 I spent on the cd player in the first place). I had a decent Internet connection through Comcast and after searching for podcasting software, I started using the free audio editor, Audacity (I told you before, I like free!).

Ok, still very little money out since I already purchased the PC and was using it for other things, I don’t consider that in my scenario here. Ok, I now had everything in place to start recording podcasts. I then had to locate a host. There are several good podcast hosting services that are free and/or low cost. I chose one and started uploading my podcasts.

Alright, now as you can see, with very little money spent and using items you may already have, you can start podcasting. If you had to purchase a mic, you could go to a number of places and spend from $25.00 and up for a separate mic and headset or a headset with a mic.

Next, going video. Video podcasting or videocasting is a little more complicated. Even though some PC’s come with webcams now, yours may have not. You can purchase a decent webcam for as little as $16.00 and up to $199.00. Most digital camcorders have a function to act as a webcam, so if you own one, check to see if it does and you may already be set.

However, let’s step back just a moment here. Before I went video, I got into live, interactive podcasting. I was introduced to Talkshoe about two years ago. I started with my podcasting setup and didn’t have to layout any more money as this service is free and they host your podcasts for free as well. After listening to some of my recordings, I noticed I sounded tinny. This was due to my mic (remember, the $5.00 desk mic) so I went to Radio Shack and purchased a Shure SM58 and converter to plug in to my sound card. Replacing my mic gave me a more professional sound to both my podcasts and my live shows. I spent $49.00 for the mic.

I started a few more shows and was really getting into the live, interactive scene. I wanted to get more out of my experience by introducing audio into my live shows. I had been using the phone to call into Talkshoe (this made getting in easy) and I researched a little more and started using Gizmo Project and calling in via Talkshoe’s SIP Interface. Gizmo allowed me to play different WAV files and the listeners on Talkshoe could hear these files being played. This made the experience almost like a terrestrial radio show. Gizmo was a free download. I also played around with a software program called Voice Emotion (they had a free and a paid version) that allowed me to also play MP3 files over Talkshoe too. I experimented with different ways that I could dial into Talkshoe and one popular method was using Skype Out. Skype is a free download, and the Skype Out give you the way yo call regular land line phones using the Internet. Skype Out is around $38.00 per year.

Ok, this brings us to about a year down the road at this point. I wasn’t getting the results I wanted with my audio, quality, etc. and I started looking into a USB Mixer/Soundboard to hookup to my PC. There are several out there ranging from about $149.00 and up. I finally decided on an Alesis MultiMix 8 USB Mixer. I tried a few others and ended up sending them back as they did not perform the way I needed them to. The Alesis on the other hand, did! I picked mine up, new in the box, for $89.00 on sale. It retails for $149.00. Once I plugged in the mixer, it became, for all practical purposes, my sound card. Also, it allowed me to play my MP3 and WAV files using WinAmp or other players and this audio would go over Skype into Talkshoe very nicely. After getting the mixer setup the way I liked it, it became an intregal part of my studio.

In my next segment of this series, I will go into my entire setup including my video equipment and let you see, from my perspective, another part of my transition to video.

See you next time!

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