In today’s world of home-based businesses, geographically dispersed business operations, outsourced services and worldwide marketing activities, scheduling meetings can become a bit of a nightmare. It’s also a world of many calendar programs (Outlook, MS Exchange, Google Calendar, LotusLive (Notes), iCal and Entourage) and diverse platforms (Windows, Mac, smartphones). Scheduling a meeting by email exchange can be a tedious and lengthy process at the best of times. Launching today, Tungle aims to make meeting scheduling a much simpler process for all parties.

Initially released two years ago as an Outlook plug-in, the Tungle team used the alpha and beta versions of the platform as a market research tool, as much as a test of the platform itself. Key findings included:

• it takes too many emails/phone calls to coordinate one meeting
• participants are dispersed around the globe and across different time zones
• 60% of meetings are with participants from outside the meeting coordinator’s company
• 75% of meetings are one-to-one
• 95% of meetings have four or fewer participants

At the same time they uncovered user interface issues that are addressed in this launch release:

• users want to be able to use their favorite calendar, productivity or social networking tool, not just Outlook
• invitees should not be required to register with the service in order to respond to a meeting request
• invitees require context-related help to guide them through the scheduling process
• users wanted privacy options for calendar sharing: full details, busy/away status or no sharing

No longer a plug-in, Tungle is now a hosted web service and works with all the common web browsers (including Google Chrome); no download is required. On your initial sign up you are asked to sync your calendar and contacts from whatever program you use (Tungle works with Outlook, Google Calendar, Apple iCal and Entourage for Mac) . You are also asked whether you want to share your calendar, with per-contact privacy controls.

You can then enter the Tungle interface and start the process of scheduling a meeting. Once a meeting is scheduled it is automatically entered into each participant’s calendar.

Tungle has added some features in this release to make for a better user experience, including:

• “Expert” and “Wizard”  modes for meeting scheduling
• context-sensitive “bubbles” that provide additional guidance to new users responding to a meeting invitation
• time-zone adjustment for each participant’s geographical location
• use of Google Maps to find meeting locations (for example, a convenient Starbucks) from within the “Location” field
• BlackBerry, iPhone and other smartphone compatibility
• a “Meet With Me” mode, where clicking on a button embedded in a web site or email link immediately takes the visitor into Tungle to schedule a meeting

One of the most interesting things Tungle learned through the beta testing period was that the tool actually makes meetings happen earlier, especially when three or more participants are involved. Using Tungle, the decision on a meeting time is accelerated, because a meeting that may have taken two or three days to schedule with multiple email exchanges can now be set up within a few hours.

I have used the beta version of Tungle to schedule meetings successfully several times over the past few months. Occasionally there have been user interface issues where participants did not understand how to act on the invitation email, but these concerns have all been addressed in this launch release.

Going forward, Tungle plans to incorporate the service into social networking platforms as well as collaboration and conferencing tools such as Webex and GoToMeeting.

Tungle is a free service with plans to offer a “premium” service later this year.

What meeting scheduling tools do you use and why?

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This week, iotum, developer of the CalliFlower service, announced several new features. The major one migrates these one time events into an element of ongoing (public) conversations about the two featured companies. How? Simply by making all the content of public CalliFlower sessions searchable. The CalliFlower site is in the process of being indexed by Google over the next week. Through this additional feature CalliFlower sessions become another social media element in the ongoing “engagement and conversation” of a featured company or business with its customers or ecosystem.

Additional features launched today include upgrade of a session’s document sharing to support Office 2007 and Mac Office 2008 documents, simplification of the user signup process and support for the Google Chrome browser. (It is interesting to note that iotum is seeing more use of Google Chrome than Safari).

CalliFlower sessions can have several hundred participants; either service level permits an unlimited number of calls. Sessions can be set up from a web browser or, in the near future, via an Apple App Store iPhone application. Only public CalliFlower sessions are searchable.

If you are into social networking by engaging your customers through blogs, Twitter and/or Facebook, check out CalliFlower as one additional element for carrying on your ongoing public customer conversations.

Have you tried Calliflower?

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Their initial SlingPlayer only worked on Windows-based PC’s. With today’s public beta launch of SlingPlayer Mobile for BlackBerry, I can now access my cable TV subscription on a BlackBerry from any location worldwide where it has high speed Internet access.

Since that first experience SlingBox users can now view their favorite TV channels using SlingPlayers for Mac, Symbian (Nokia N-Series phones) and Windows Mobile. A complete SlingBox hardware product line has since evolved providing a performance-based product line across a range of prices. (There are no ongong subscription charges for use of a SlingBox.) The recently launched SlingBox Pro HD provides transmission of HD programming across home networks and, where upload speed specs are met, across the Internet.

Over the past 15 months I have been a regular user of SlingPlayer Mobile for Symbian on a Nokia N95 smartphone, mostly to follow sports events and news. First announced last January at CES 2008, SlingPlayer Mobile for BlackBerry has finally reached a point where SlingMedia is looking for user feedback. It not only required development work at SlingMedia; it also required RIM’s development of BlackBerry firmware capable of the video and audio signal processing required for this service.

SlingPlayer Mobile for BlackBerry is available for users with a home cable TV subscription in the U.S., Canada or U.K. Basic requirements include:

• any model of SlingBox attached to a cable TV set top box
• a high speed broadband Internet service (cable or DSL) for remote viewing anywhere on the Internet worldwide
• a WiFi-enabled BlackBerry: Bold 9000,8900 Curve, Pearl 8220 Flip or, provided they have the OS 4.5 firmware upgrade, the Pearl 8120, Curve 8320 or 8820. It also supports 3G HSDPA connections on the Bold.
• SlingPlayer 2.0 running on a Windows-based PC to set up remote viewing and the user’s selection of  “Favorites” channels.

If you meet these requirements, the beta software can be installed  onto your BlackBerry over the air (3G or WiFi) via the browser at http://mobile.slingmedia.com. Sling Media wants your feedback.

Early this morning, while 300 miles away from my home, I was able to install the player on my BlackBerry Bold over a WiFi connection and view programming available on my Toronto-based cable services. My initial impression: it demonstrates the full potential of the BlackBerry Bold’s widely acclaimed display as well as its inherent stereo audio. My testing will involve  viewing live sports action and various music programming that can challenge its ability to provide an experience that makes the programming transparent to the technology.

Will SlingPlayer Mobile become a new way for road warriors to watch the Super Bowl, March Madness or business channels while on-the-go?

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Bloggers and web marketing personnel have been looking for ways to host PowerPoint slide presentations in “the Cloud” and embed them within weblog posts. SlideShare’s service had become one of the most popular of these services due to its relative ease-of-use. However, my first experience last spring found me switching between my PowerPoint desktop application to review and edit a third party’s PowerPoint presentation, and my browser to set up a SlideShare account through which I could upload the resulting presentation for embedding into a post.

Two days ago I had to upload another Power Point presentation to a weblog host. It just so happens I came across a press release from SlideShare along with an invitation to try out their new SlideShare Ribbon Bar for PowerPoint. So I gave it a workout.

As a result I was able to not only review and edit the slide show within PowerPoint but also perform the upload, tagging and title/description write-up with no need to use a web browser. Basically, SlideShare is one of the first services to embed web hosting access so deeply within an Office application.

This ribbon bar provides the ability to completely manage your SlideShare account from within PowerPoint. While I was able to install and use it successfully, it currently does require that the user manually do a .NET 3.5 SP1 upgrade (not yet performed via Windows/Office Update) that took close to an hour to complete over a broadband connection. Installing the ribbon bar itself went exactly as in the instructions stated and only took a few minutes.

The login to your SlideShare account is persistent, making it readily accessible anytime you launch PowerPoint 2007. You can bring back previously hosted slideshows for editing and re-uploading. One final comment: while I’m sure they will be addressed, I found a few minor bugs but they did not prevent me from accomplishing my main goal of making a PowerPoint presentation available for use within a weblog post.

SlideShare Ribbon Bar for PowerPoint could turn into a significant productivity tool for weblog authors and anyone involved in web-based sales, marketing and support activities.

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Skype Lite is the latest beta iteration of the former Skype for Mobile beta, which only supported a few smartphones such as the Nokia N95. Skype Lite supports more than 90 Java-capable cell phones (including some smartphones) that also have some basic web browser and data capabilities. An unlimited data plan is recommended.

This morning, Truphone also made an announcement about its ability to use the cellular network to make low-cost VoIP-enabled calls from and to the iPhone. With both announcements, it now appears that we will be seeing two major players in the low-cost international mobile conversation space.

There a few differences between the Skype and Truphone offerings: Skype, with over 30 million users daily, supports both voice and its own instant messaging conversations across a variety of mobile handsets. landline phones and PC platforms. Truphone supports voice and has shown support for messaging via traditional SMS services across mobile devices and landlines.

One caveat for both services: the low cost only applies when calling from your home country; otherwise you could invoke significant roaming charges.

Seems like Truphone has taken the leadership for low cost international calling on what is becoming a most popular smartphone (as well as several other smartphones). Does the combination of Truphone’s announcement and all this Skype beta activity portend Skype for iPhone too? It could be something for the new CTO and CSO to get behind.

Jim Courtney is an Associate Editor at Skype Journal.

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At that time Fonolo was looking for 100 new beta accounts as the final stage of a private beta program. It’s provided good feedback but they need to hear from a broader audience of  consumer users. Today Fonolo, with an expanded directory of over 300 enterprises, will launch a fully open public beta available to anyone wishing to try out the service. They want feedback from “real users”.

For those with a deeper interest, check out this Skype Journal post for more background on what Fonolo is learning from their beta programs.

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1. What service are you calling about? 1 for Wireless, 2 for Home Phone, 3 for Cable TV, 4 for High Speed Internet
2. What assistance are you seeking? 1 for Billing, 2 for Customer Service, 4 for Technical Support, etc.

Last week, to reach a technical support service I had to enter “9″ four times to reach the particular service I required. And there was also the “anxiety” time spent listening to the introduction to each step.

What if you could just “call” the basic number but jump right to the level of response you are seeking?

That’s what Fonolo is about. It’s a “Deep Dialing” service that takes you directly to “Internet Technical Support” or airline arrival times or a company directory. Fonolo CEO Shai Berger explains it succinctly in this two minute video.

Fonolo’s service has been under development for over a year; they have now spidered the AutoAttendant or phone tree menus for over 200 companies. But they need your feedback so that they get the user interface right. They’ve opened up a limited participant public beta.

If you’re one of the first 100 Web Worker Daily readers to sign up via this link, you’ll have a chance to try it out and to provide your feedback, including suggestions for additional companies whose phone tree menus should be included. A fully open public beta will follow in a few weeks.

I’ve tested the service by calling up one of my Outlook contacts at eBay. At this time it’s a seamless “call back” service. I accessed eBay’s AutoAttendant menu via the Fonolo website, located “Dial By Name” within the menu and clicked on the related “Call” button.

The service then called my (previously registered) mobile phone and I found myself at eBay’s request to enter a contact’s last name to reach his/her extension.

Hint: when I called the eBay directory I realized that entering the letters of a person’s last name directly from a BlackBerry’s QWERTY keyboard would not map to the touch tones the AutoAttendant was seeking. It turns out there’s a simple solution on which I’ve reported at “Entering ‘Last Name’ from a BlackBerry”.

But, you say, why not access this service directly from a mobile smartphone? Fonolo’s iPhone application, which won the Judges’ Award at GigaOm’s recent Mobilize 08 conference, will become available on the iPhone App Store at the appropriate time. And I’m sure a BlackBerry application is on their development roadmap.

In addition to getting the user interface right, you may ask about the business model; suffice it to say that Shai and his team are also working on that aspect by building a premium service incorporating features that can benefit those 200 or more companies whose menus have been spidered to improve their own service quality.

Fonolo is developing a solution to an annoying caller pain point. It empowers the user by taking control of those long winded phone trees. But there are a few steps yet: get the User interface right, get the smartphone applications up, build up the database of company phone trees and develop the premium service and back office infrastructure for improving a business’s call center service quality levels.

Sign up for this limited beta and give your feedback directly to the Fonolo team. As for reaching my contact at eBay – it was successful and a time saver!

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Have you tried to “dial” a phone number represented by a vanity name from a BlackBerry, such as 1-800-BLK-BRRY or 416-TAXICAB (a service available in the Greater Toronto Area to automatically call a taxi). But RIM doesn’t expect users whose mobile smartphone has a QWERTY keyboard to remember that 416-TAXICAB really means to dial 416-829-4222.

In investigating the use of a service that spiders a business’s automated attendant as the subject of a future post, I learned that there is a simple way to address the problem on any BlackBerry with a full QWERTY keyboard: Simply hold down either the “Alt” key or the “right-Shift” key and type the letter.

In other words, for 416-TAXICAB, enter the phone application, type “416″ then hold down Alt or right-Shift while typing “TAXICAB”. For 1-800-BLK-BRRY, enter the phone application, type”1800″, then hold down Alt or right-Shift while typing “BLKBRRY” from the QWERTY keyboard.

When entering a “Last Name” into a business’s Automated Attendant’s directory search, hold down either key and type in the name, for example: SMITH. Basically holding down either of these keys maps the appropriate key to generation of the appropriate touch tone that the Automated Attendant is expecting.

If initiating a phone call, the characters appear on the Phone Application screen. When typing while connected to an Automated Attendant, you’ll see the letters appear on the lower left of the phone call screen.

This will obviously work on any of the BlackBerry 83xx, 87xx, 88xx, Bold or Storm (landscape mode) with a full QWERTY keyboard. On the Pearl 81xx, Pearl 8220 or Storm (portrait mode) with a SureType keyboard hold down the Alt (up/down arrow at the lower left) key and press once or twice on the character key to get the appropriate letter.

One hint: when making an entry that requires the “#” or “*” characters, just type “#” or “*”. (Holding down the Alt or right-Shift key will give you a “Q” or “A”.) If you add the phone number as a Contact into your Address Book from the phone log, the characters are retained in the Contact entry.

More details here.

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Over the past couple of years Belgian-based Voxbone has also developed an international numbering service which offers its clients a “local” phone numbers in any of 5,000 cities in 45 countries. OnState has used Voxbone’s “local” numbers as access points to its virtual call center service; its clients’ businesses can offer customer service and support centers with worldwide “local” access. However, it would be even more convenient for businesses selling into multiple countries if they could simply offer one universal number worldwide. Now, they can.

Yesterday, three months after the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) made available the +883 “global” country code, Voxbone announced the launch of its country-agnostic iNum service. I first learned of Voxbone at last spring’s eComm 2008 where Voxbone CEO Rod Ullens first mentioned the iNum concept. This announcement starts to realize his vision of enabling low cost conversations with worldwide access by taking advantage of the technology around IP-based communications:

“iNum is a new kind of phone number for a new kind of world — a world with a new geography that’s about local presence and global relationships, not about distance or national borders,” said Rodrigue Ullens, CEO and co-founder of Voxbone. “We believe the new geography is defined by the markets, customers and vendors that businesses need to connect with most. We need ‘local’ communication with these people — whether calls originate on public-switched or VoIP networks, whether they are truly local or ‘virtually’ local.”

In practice, that means a Voxbone iNum Service Provider Partner will supply a customer, whether an individual or a business, with a number that has an 883 country code. Once the service is fully rolled out to Voxbone’s 5,000 local points of presence worldwide, that iNum number will be accessible for, at most, the cost of a “local” phone call from any PSTN or VoIP service.

“At most,” because fundamental to Voxbone’s services is that they are IP-based and therefore calls amongst iNum Partners’ services are free. Currently Voxbone has 10 iNum Service Provider Partners, including Truphone, Mobivox and Voxeo, who either have made iNum numbers available today or will do so in the next few weeks. (For those callers who don’t use an iNum partner’s service, iNum numbers can be called through 55 “local” access points in 45 countries for the cost of a call to these access points.) Ullens, in a SquawkBox conference call yesterday, said that Voxbone will be negotiating with carriers and service providers worldwide to build out their service to become universally available.

Voxeo has set up a demonstration iNum service example; call +883 510 001 800 028 024, give their virtual operator a U.S. postal code and you will get local weather reports. This call can be made via the iNum Partners’ services today; it will become available via the local access points as they are set up over the next week. Another example: iotum’s Callflower Conference Call service will be using iNum numbers in a few days.

Jim Courtney is an Associate Editor of Skype Journal.

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Flash forward to today: iotum has analyzed the entire set of processes required for managing and moderating a voice conference call from scheduling and invitation to final archiving of the call for future reference. And they have researched today’s communications infrastructure, including web services and low cost voice connections.

They have executed on iotum CEO and co-founder Alec Saunders’ Voice 2.0 Manifesto. Today they are announcing the launch of their enhanced Calliflower Conference Call service – a fully interactive, complete voice conference call service that has been in beta for over a year.

From Alec’s launch post on SaundersLog:

Users have told us that their overwhelming unmet need was not to have another point solution, but to have a single tool that could manage these complex Active Conversations. And when we looked at the market, most of the innovations being introduced are actually isolated features in search of integration solution — coordination, the audio call itself, document sharing, and text messaging to name a few examples.

Originally developed as a Facebook application, they recently provided direct Calliflower portal access from the web. With today’s announcements CalliFlower is offering Premium services such as document sharing, enhanced worldwide “local” calling access and business administrator support. To top off their announcement, Calliflower goes mobile with an iPhone application that provides full access to these calls.

So what comprises the complete interactive conference call experience?

• Prior to the call: Scheduling and invitations. Reminders via SMS or email. Low cost or free access for participants. Identification of participants calling in via either a PIN number or mobile number callerID.
• During the call: A call-specific web page that displays an agenda, call participants, an interactive chat window, while allowing hand raising, muting, call recording and document sharing.
• After the call: not only is the recording archived but also the entire call web page for recall of, say, URL’s given out in the chat window or the recording itself.

The cost to participants? Simply the cost of reaching an access point.

Previously the Calliflower calls could be reached by calling a number in Minnesota or France using the PSTN, SkypeOut or a couple of other softphone VoIP services. Going forward iotum will also be using Voxbone’s newly launched iNum service, initially providing free access to a +883 number from any of Voxbone’s iNum Service Provider Partners or via 55 iNum local access points worldwide.

The heart of the Calliflower service is its use of dynamic interactive web services as the backbone to the features described above.

During the call all participants can access the call’s web page “portal” for a fully interactive call experience as described above. The moderator can mute individual participants when the kids are crying or dogs are barking in the background. Having used the service many times during the beta period I found the combination of the web page’s feature set changes the overall dynamics of a conference call and significantly enhances the participants’ conference call experience.

Once completed the call recording and web page are available for recall by any of the participants or anyone else registered with Calliflower who may want to review the call. Recordings can be inserted into websites or weblogs, such as Alec does with his SquawkBox Conference Calls that periodically discuss technology industry developments.

The iPhone application (available shortly at the Apple App Store) provides full access to your calls, whether scheduled, during a call or in the past. Past call recordings and chat walls can be readily listened to or read. One “future” feature that that still requires development is the creation of calls from the iPhone.

Basic Calliflower Conference Calls will be free; while the Premium service is priced at the special introductory price of $50 per month, for two organizers, with a no-risk 30-day free trial period, until Jan. 1, 2009. Additional organizers cost $25 per month each.

We have seen the rise of many conference calling services over the past year, based on lower cost communications network architectures incorporating VoIP. However, typically they simply make the call connections or have a limited set of features. Having used the beta Calliflower service many times over the past 12 months I have been able to witness its evolution into this complete interactive voice and web service resulting in a unique conference call participant experience (and there are still a few nifty features to come).

My costs for accessing these many calls over the past few years: the $2.95 per month SkypeOut subscription charge (which lets me also make unlimited calls to within North America). And I never need a PIN code; Calliflower recognizes that my SkypeOut CallerID is also my registered mobile phone number CallerID. This allows me to also access Calliflower calls from my BlackBerry using iSkoot which cannot recognize touch tones required for PIN numbers.

Definitely worth giving it a try, not simply for the cost saving but especially for the value-add it brings to the entire conference call user experience.

Jim Courtney is an Associate Editor of Skype Journal.

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As a Canadian I have been in the fortunate position of having experienced a BlackBerry Bold since its launch on Rogers in late August.

It’s not simply a new smartphone or “replacement” for an older BlackBerry. The Bold, finally available at AT&T, is a game changer when it comes to not only exchanging information but also its role in both your personal and business life.

So what drives this new mobile life?

The BlackBerry Bold’s screen must be seen to truly appreciate how stunning it is. As I worked with emails, web pages, Google Maps, Twitter and other applications, the screen’s text fonts and photo and video renderings “grow” on you. For example, Wall Street Journal for Mobile and New York Times have a quality that extends their renowned website visual branding as a quality publication to the BlackBerry. Crisp, often small, fonts and vibrant colors make the reading experience just as good as, if not easier than, a newspaper. Google Maps satellite views distinguish buildings while showing street names in small, yet sharp, fonts.

The most important game changing feature of the display is the half-VGA display resolution.

It means you can follow most web pages without horizontal scrolling. It eliminates the constant urge to boot up a laptop while on the road to keep current with not only email but also time sensitive documents, Skype chat sessions via iSkoot and Twitter message streams as well as blog activity and news.

Combining the enhanced keyboard with BlackBerry’s reputation for robust, secure and reliable email is just the start. Entries for Twitter feeds, document editing, instant messaging, website URLs and application purchases at the CrackBerry.com application store all benefit from the speed and accuracy associated with having a keyboard. The trackball pointer is a valuable assistant for precisely accessing text insertion points; a magnifier icon assists zooming.

But two way communications is more that text and media exchange. During recent neighborhood cable outages, I was able to access a daily one hour Calliflower conference call via iSkoot and its support for Skype-based calling with the only cost being local wireless minutes. I quickly realized that it was actually more convenient to have the device mobility when interrupted by activities that took me away from my desk.

The Bold’s 3G mobile connectivity is complemented by its support for WiFi when in an accessible WiFi zone. It means faster download of web pages and multimedia, eliminating or reducing buffering of streaming video, such as available on YouTube.

One example demonstrates the power of the combination of display quality, connection speed and processor performance. Previously I mentioned the quality of Google Maps satellite views; however, recently Google Maps Street View became available for the BlackBerry (for U.S. locations only). Stroll down a street or rotate about an address, the Bold’s connectivity and processor come into play for downloading and rendering the resulting images. The result is not only high quality images of the surrounding buildings and scenery but also rapid image updating with minimum pixelating as you move about.

The Bold also includes a media player supporting both stereo audio and video; its support of microSD memory cards allows easy memory upgrades as your media collection builds. Music can be synchronized from iTunes via BlackBerry MediaSync. During a recent flight I was able to transcribe an interview, recorded from a Skype call as an MP3 file via Pamela (and added to iTunes), where the Bold’s trackball pointer provided the required precision to easily access and replay segments of the interview with an accuracy no touch screen can approach.

So what’s the downside?

While the display provides the ability to keep up with much more information than via email exchanges, the browser still needs some work to come up to the quality of the iPhone browsing experience. But it never prevented me from executing time sensitive work activity. While the Bold readily switches between WiFi and 3G when entering and leaving registered WiFi access points, registering those WiFi access points is not quite the single step stress-free iPhone process.

There are many features left to try out; I am constantly downloading applications and shortcuts. But the overall experience is best summed up by a business professional aquaintance who, after six weeks with the Bold, reported that “I’m beginning to think my Bold is more powerful than my notebook.” A sentiment I started to feel during a recent trip to California where all these factors came into play and I found I was ignoring my laptop, yet keeping fully current. But BlackBerry Bold is a device you have to see to truly appreciate its full potential.

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The carriers: BlackBerry Storm was designed for two major carriers, with proven 3G network performance, who aren’t able to carry the iPhone: Verizon and Vodafone (also coming to Canada on Telus and Bell). This opens up access to several large existing customer bases (70 million at Verizon) with strong presence in both consumer and enterprise markets. For roaming outside North America, the Storm for Verizon/Bell/Telus includes the appropriate European/Asian-supported GSM bands.

A smarter touch screen: It employs new “haptic” touch keyboard technology with three keyboard options: QWERTY in landscape mode, SureType and Traditional 12-key in Portrait mode. Kevin Michaluk’s “First Impressions” review talks about his user experience with the keyboard and its unique features. One example: Hover on a letter and you’ll get other language options for the letter such as “é”. This YouTube video demonstrates the dynamic nature of the Storm’s keyboard.

Enterprise ready: IT managers already supporting BlackBerry within their IT infrastructure will readily accept the Storm as simply one more BlackBerry device. There is a legion of stories building about IT managers’ refusal of employee requests for iPhone support. With its multimedia features, including syncing to iTunes, Storm presents an opportunity to have a touchscreen smartphone that easily meets both business and personal needs.

A BlackBerry App Store is coming: Last week, RIM held its first BlackBerry Developer Conference, at which the 700 attendees learned about the BlackBerry App Store opening March 2009. Unlike Android Market, struggling to get to 100 applications, there currently exist more than 4,000 applications available via various web-based stores. The BlackBerry App Store makes it much easier to purchase applications directly off the device, both existing apps, as well as new ones that will appear as a result of developer support announced during the conference. Some developers will be backed by the $150 million BlackBerry Partners Fund.

Major general-purpose applications appearing for BlackBerry: Several applications I have been using on a Nokia N95 are now becoming available for the BlackBerry. Last week, I saw a demonstration of SlingPlayer for BlackBerry (still in pre-alpha, not yet released) on a Bold. Yesterday, there were two announcements: an alpha release of the popular “live-to-Internet” video recording application Qik became available and Truphone Anywhere for BlackBerry became available.

Background processing: While the Storm brings a different user interface, its underlying operating system is still the traditional BlackBerry O/S. I have been using a Bold for the past eight weeks and an iPhone for about three months. One key differentiator is BlackBerry’s ability to handle true background processing of data-based applications. For instance, you can run IM applications, such as Skype IM, via iSkoot, in the background, keeping you up-to-date on IM messages in real time while performing other data applications such as web browsing or checking your email concurrently. On the iPhone, you can make voice calls and play iTunes while looking at an application; otherwise, applications stop running until you return to it. Full background processing on the Storm, as on all recent Blackberry models, not only brings a significant productivity benefit to users but also allows notification and delivery of time sensitive information in real time.

What does it lack? Wi-Fi support. Probably because Verizon does not support UMA/GAN. Yet Wi-Fi is becoming important for creating additional access points in places such as warehouses or high rise buildings, where cell phone signals can become too weak.

Bottom line: Combining the Storm’s feature set and its carrier customer base, along with AT&T’s forthcoming Nov. 4 launch of Bold, BlackBerry Storm is lining up to be the “stealth” contributor to sustaining BlackBerry in its smartphone market leadership position, with a low-key, performance-based approach to the market.

Disclosure: The author has held a minuscule number of RIM shares since 1998.

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HiDef Conferencing is an audio conferencing service where participants can call into a voice conference via Skype, designated landline numbers or toll free numbers. Its name derives from its support of HD Voice – a feature inherent to Skype that results in crystal clear voice quality superior to our experience with standard phones or mobile phones.

Through web-based controls hosts can schedule calls, send out invitations and, during the call, manage who is speaking, monitor hand raising and record the conversation. Should the speaker be accessing the call via Skype, all others who are listening via Skype will benefit from the HD Voice feature. Landline and wireless participants are limited to the audio quality of the underlying phone service.

Yesterday HiDef Conferencing, recognizing that businesses will be looking for ways to save on not only communications costs but also travel costs in these economically challenging times, announced that they will not charge subscription fees for the balance of 2008 while new subscribers can trial their service with no monthly subscription charge.

Accessing a call via Skype is free for unlimited minutes while accessing via a country-specific phone numbers will result in any long distance charges to that phone number.

Pat Phelan has made considerable use of HiDef Conferencing and was delighted to receive an email where this offer was extended to their current customers. Tom Evslin became an HD Voice fan when his Vonage service failed him.

Here is an ideal opportunity to see if audio conferencing solutions are viable for your business.

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It eventually gets to a point where I have to backup all my documents and application data and rebuild Windows. I had reached this point a couple of weeks ago. But this time it happened at an opportune time when I found the local Staples was selling Office 2007 Small Business Edition upgrade at a 40% discount.

Having seen favorable reviews and had limited experience with other Office 2007 modules on a recently purchased desktop (that serves as a backup PC), I bought. Now my laptop’s Outlook operation runs much more smoothly and quickly as a result; it boils down to “search”.

One of my frustrations with Outlook was the ability to find stored emails by searching contact names, email addresses or specific words in the messages. With Outlook 2000/2003 a utility called Lookout served the purpose quite transparently to my operation since I could set it to index during my sleeping hours. But Microsoft purchased Lookout to incorporate its algorithms into Microsoft Desktop Search which I found to be burdensome to my laptop’s operation; I tolerated it at best. (Based on reviews and a bad experience I totally bypassed Outlook XP.)

Trialing the beta of Xobni, which not only provides search but also records all your Outlook activity with the contact related to the email being viewed, slowed down my overall Outlook operation, both on opening Outlook and then looking at emails.

Having worked with Outlook 2007 for about a week, its internal search (which probably has Lookout’s algorithms as a basis) has proven to be fast enough such that Outlook now operates much more smoothly and at very reasonable speeds. I find other benefits such as improved management of Safe Senders. The time regained in managing my email will probably provide a full payback for the cost of the upgrade very quickly.

We can get complacent in tolerating software that does the job but has inhibited performance. It pays once in a while to go back and look at our options. If you’re still running an older version of Office/Outlook and especially are constrained to requiring it, it would be worthwhile to consider Office/Outlook 2007 – and keep an eye on your retailers for the occassional sale.

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