So, let me update the instructions I wrote just a couple days ago.  Here’s how you can use Skype on your iPhone to make VoIP (voice over the internet) calls for stinkin’ cheap, as long as you can find Wi-Fi access:

1. Get yourself a Skype account and install Skype on your computer. If you intend to call from your iPhone to a landline or mobile phone, you’ll also need to buy some Skype Credit. We bought a block of credit for $10. If I understand the fee structure correctly, this should give us around 480 minutes of talk time.
2. Download the Skype app from the iTunes Store and install it on your iPhone.  If you’ve set up Skype correctly on your computer, the iPhone app should find all your contacts, etc. when you login to the Skype app.  I don’t remember this distinctly, but you may be able to create a Skype account directly from the iPhone app.
3. Set up the phone numbers for the phone contacts you want to call with Skype on your iPhone. VERY IMPORTANT! In order to use Skype to call someone’s phone, the phone number has to be configured like this: + country-code area-code number. For example, a US number might look like +12175555555. Here’s a list of international country codes.
4. Set your iPhone to Airplane Mode (Settings > Airplane Mode > On).  This will ensure that you don’t make or receive expensive calls over the cell network–critical if you’re travelling internationally.
5. Turn Wi-Fi on. Airplane Mode turns off Wi-Fi by default, so you’ll need to turn this back on manually.  Skype should now work over the Wi-Fi network, thus enabling your VoIP calls.

You have now been liberated from the cell company.

My wife is traveling internationally next week and we’re not keen on paying AT&T $3.49 PER MINUTE from the country she’s visiting for every phone call. Skype, the internet telephony service, provides a way to make computer-to-computer voice chats for free or, for a relatively small charge, from computer-to-phone. Buying SkypeOut minutes (AKA Skype Credit) allows you to make these computer-to-phone calls, whether landline or mobile. Although Skype is not available directly for the iPhone, there’s a kind of backdoor solution with an app called Fring. Armed with Fring/Skype and Wi-Fi access, you should be all set.

We spent the better part of two hours searching various sites and forums before we got it to work. To save you the trouble, here’s what we did:

1. Get yourself a Skype account and install Skype on your computer. If you intend to call from your iPhone to a landline or mobile phone, you’ll also need to buy some Skype Credit. We bought a block of credit for $10. If I understand the fee structure correctly, this should give us around 480 minutes of talk time.
2. Install Fring on your iPhone. You can find it online or in the iTunes app store. Set up your user ID and password with Fring.
3. If Skype is running on your computer, close it.
4. Start Fring and “subscribe” to Skype services. You’ll need to add your Skype ID and password. Some users at the Fring discussion forums have reported long login times with Skype. Keep trying. You may have to reboot your iPhone after installing Fring before it will subscribe to Skype services.
5. You can now use Fring/Skype to voice chat with another Skype user by calling their Skype user name.
6. Set up the phone numbers for the phone contacts you want to call with Fring/Skype on your iPhone. VERY IMPORTANT! In order for Fring to use Skype to call someone’s phone, the phone number has to be configured like this: + country-code area-code number. For example, a US number might look like +12175555555. Here’s a list of international country codes.
7. You should now be able to use Fring/Skype to call another person’s phone number.

Once you get to your destination, you’ll likely want to ensure that you don’t make or receive cell network calls and accrue those $3.49 per minute charges. Remember–you’re using Fring/Skype to call over the internet, not through the cell network.  Do this:

1. Set your iPhone to Airplane Mode (Settings > Airplane Mode > On).
2. Turn Wi-Fi on. Airplane Mode turns off Wi-Fi, so you’ll need to turn this back on manually.  Fring/Skype should now work over the Wi-Fi network, thus enabling your VoIP calls.

We’ll report back after my wife’s trip on the success of this. Readers who have experience with Fring/Skype–has this worked for you?

Handouts

• Resource List
• Time Tracker Worksheet

Links

• Stupid, Ugly, Unlucky, and Rich by Richard St. John
• The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey
• Getting Things Done by David Allen
• The 4-Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferriss
• The Adventures of Johnny Bunko by Dan Pink
• The Magic of Thinking Big by David Schwartz
• 43folders.com
• diyplanner.com
• The Personal MBA Guide to Personal Master Planning
• “Flow” on Wikipedia
• “Is Multitasking More Efficient?” on APA Online

Slides

Shown below are the slides (with presenter’s notes) from the presentation.

Photo by Syl Arena

A few weeks back, I wrote about how to read a book.  Syl Arena, who is Joe McNally’s assistant, has just begun a blog and offers some ways to seriously hack (pimp) a book.  These include the usual suspects such as the use of markers, pens, highlighters, and post-it tape flags but also some uncovenventional techniques such as adding a ring binding to a perfect-bound book and laminating the covers.  As an example, he offers his own hack of McNally’s The Moment It Clicks, one of the books that I’ll get to later in the year.  I’m not as confident with a grinder as Syl evidently is, so my copy of Joe’s book will remain in its original form.

Related posts:

How to Read a Book (Illustrated)
The 50 Books Project: Prologue, Part 1
The 50 Books Project: Prologue, Part 2
50 Books Project: June 2008 Titles

Wait a minute–you’re going to tell me how to read a book? I know how to read: I’ve been reading since first grade!

Well, yes, you have. But learning to read words on a page and learning to read for understanding are two different skills. My eight-year-old daughter could read many of the books on my list but she would have difficulty understanding them. I’m going to describe some of the tools and techniques I’ve developed over the years. You might also look at How to Read a Book by Mortimer Adler and Charles Van Doren (summarized on Wikipedia) as a helpful resource.

First, understand that I don’t read every book with the same degree of intensity or commitment and neither should you. In some cases, I’ll just skim a book to determine whether or not I want to read it more closely. Getting books from the library, for example, is a great way to evaluate titles before investing in them. And some books, like popular fiction, are just for fun. You’ll find that there are many books that don’t deserve much effort. The tips below apply when you are committed to a book and want to get the most out of it.

Own the Book
Write your name and the month/year that you purchased it on an inside page.

This identifies the book as yours, and a good book’s ideas, in turn, become part of you. It’s also helpful to include your name so that a borrower may return it or at least feel guilty for not returning it. Adding the date of purchase creates some accountability (you’re less likely just to throw it on the shelf unread) and it will later help you trace the development of your own thinking. Plus, if your book ends up in a used bookstore some day, another person can say, "Cool–John Smith read this in May 1996."

Read the Introduction
This is a very important step–don’t skip it! The author often uses the introduction to explain why the book was written, present key themes, and provide short summaries of each chapter or section. Some authors may make statements like:

• The purpose of this book is to…
• My reason for writing is…
• This book is about…

Knowing the author’s intent and having a clue about the structure and direction of the book will help you follow the author’s arguments.

Mark the Book
As you read, use a pen/pencil or highlighter to label key ideas. Though I used to use a highlighter almost exclusively, these days I’m using a pen more. Choose whatever works best for you. Marking the text does at least two things for you:

1. You read more actively with a pen in your hand. Have you ever read a book, gotten to the bottom of a page, and wondered what you just read? You’ve just read passively–your brain mechanically churned through the words (because you learned how to read in first grade, right?) but your mind didn’t process them. If you start with the intention of reading for understanding, expecting to mark up the text, you will read more actively.
2. You’ll find the things you later want to remember. Once you mark up the key ideas or make reference notes in the margin, you can go back to the book later and easily locate those ideas.

You can underline, circle, make vertical lines in the margin, write notes, use different colors–whatever. Note-taking systems are highly personal. Some people use different colored highlighters or pens, some use special symbols. Again, develop a system that works for you. Here are a few of my techniques:

Circle names of authors/titles and other thinkers.

Circle or double-underline main points in a list.

Underline big ideas.

Write references to other ideas/authors, or questions, in the margins and/or back cover.

Use vertical lines in the margin to call attention to long blocks of text.

Summarize the Book
Once you’ve read through the book and marked it up, consider summarizing your main points or transferring key ideas to a notebook or word processing file. The simple of act of writing out those ideas will help you remember them.

I typically use one of two tools at this stage: Journler, a note-taking application for the Mac, or a Moleskine notebook. If you use Windows, Microsoft’s OneNote works well.

Here’s a screen capture of some notes that I made of Dan Miller’s 48 Days to the Work You Love in Journler:

And here’s a spread of notes that I took from Garr Reynolds’ Presentation Zen in my Moleskine:

Own your book, read the introduction, mark it up, and summarize it. Do those things and you’ll get more out of your reading.

Please drop a note in the comments if you have good ideas for better reading or can recommend an application for taking notes.

Rob Maupin, one of my colleagues who teaches intercultural studies, asked me to speak to a group of his students about money.  Neither Rob nor I learned anything (formally) about personal finance as college students.  As could be expected, then, we made some mistakes and learned a lot by trial-and-error.  Now, however, we’re trying to help our students make better decisions with their money.

Students (and others) can download the presentation handout here (PDF).

Additional Resources

Dave Ramsey.com – Author of The Total Money Makeover (recommended) and the Financial Peace University course (also recommended).

Get Rich Slowly – If you follow only one link out of this site, make it this one.  J.D.’s site is a fantastic resource for those trying to get out of debt, make better financial choices, and live more simply.  Also features a list of the best books for personal finance and an updated list of the best banks for high-yield savings accounts.

USAA.com – When my wife and I first married 12 years ago, I read an article in Money magazine on the best bank in the U.S.  USAA topped the list and we moved our money there.  We also have our mortgage and auto insurance with USAA.  The company’s exceptional products and services are available only to military personnel and their families.

HSBCdirect.com – HSBC offers an easy-to-use, high-interest savings account that can be opened with as little as $1.  A good place for your emergency fund.

Richard St. John tells the remarkable story of his encounter with a young girl who, though from an impoverished background, wanted to become successful. She asked him how; he said he wasn’t sure, but he’d find out. Seven years and 500 interviews later, here are his findings (in the video below). He now gives this two-hour talk to high school students but delivered it at the 2005 TED conference in just three minutes.

I was so intrigued by this that I’ve ordered one of his books, Stupid, Ugly, Unlucky, and Rich (a second title, 8 to be Great, is a condensed version of the same). It looks an awful lot like Jim Collins’ Good to Great but applied at the personal level. I’m expecting a good read.