The update brings that same functionality to those on PCs by letting them click to call through Skype or Microsoft Lync. Gunjan Bhow, VP and general manager of New Ventures at Plantronics, says the goal is to ensure employees with VoIP clients and softphones can still take advantage of cheaper rates instead of going directly to their mobile phones and racking up big charges while traveling. It’s a pretty specific use case, but Plantronics is on the cutting edge of a shift in how people work, and how smarter and more personal computers, such as mobile phones, are allowing this shift to happen.

A personal assistant for everyone (no, it’s not Siri)

InstantMeeting on the iPhone

Apps such as InstantMeeting, Expensify and yes, Siri are taking mundane tasks top managers might have hired an assistant to handle and making delegating them affordable for all. In the case of InstantMeeting, it means I can work right up until a minute before my conference call or hop in the car knowing I’ll get a reminder when I need to get on the call, and will effectively touch a button to connect. I do have to manually enter some conference numbers because the app can’t read the bridge information, but it’s pretty solid. It’s similar to having someone outside my office connecting my calls so I can move seamlessly through my work until the exact moment I’m needed.

Expensify lets me snap a picture of my receipts and then automatically scans them for the relevant line items to create an expense report in a few minutes. The mobile app allows me to take those pictures on my mobile the moment I get my receipt and shoot them to the cloud, where Expensify does all the heavy lifting. My days of scrounging receipts from the bottom of my bag and taping them to copy paper are over, as are my efforts to then transfer that information to Excel.

Siri, of course, takes all kinds of dictation like a pro and helps find nearby restaurants, services and other items much like a real personal assistant would. Vlingo also does some of this for Android users. There are scores of other apps such as TripIt Pro making it easier and less time-consuming to book and keep track of travel, something those lucky souls who have worked at a company with a travel bureau will be glad to learn.

This isn’t just nice; it’s necessary

Just as computers helped drive productivity thanks to replacing typewriters with word processing software and calculators with spreadsheets, these new apps will help boost productivity for the masses who don’t have an assistant at their beck and call. And given that workers are being asked to do more in a day, gaining those two or three hours back each month that it takes to pull together an expense report, or the thirty minutes required to book a trip (or even avoiding the hours lost to flight delays) is a necessity.

And as we handle more and more information coming at us, it’s harder to sink into the uninterrupted flow of work, so being able to maximize that time knowing your phone can ping you when you have to join a call and then connect you can help you relax into work. Yes, these apps all take some time to set up and learn how to use (some may require you to invest in setting up rules so the app can better learn what you need from it), but much like training an assistant, the effort pays off. And thanks to advances in natural language processing, artificial intelligence, better data processing and algorithms, employees don’t have to pay quite as much to offload non-core tasks.

For more on how apps, computing and broadband will change the way people work, come to our GigaOM Net:Work event in San Francisco next week.

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In 1991 British scientist Tim Berners-Lee posted a brief summary of the World Wide Web (or W3) project on the alt.hypertext newsgroup, writing:

“The WWW project was started to allow high energy physicists to share data, news, and documentation. We are very interested in spreading the Web to other areas, and having gateway servers for other data. Collaborators welcome.”

It’s safe to say that Berners-Lee’s invitation to potential collaborators went fairly well. That initial web page has expanded to more than 19 billion pages (at the last count) and there are millions and millions of workers across the globe who rely on the World Wide Web to go about their daily lives. In those 20 years, the changes to the workplace that have taken place thanks to the Internet are nothing short of remarkable. Email is as good a place as any to start.

You’ve got mail

Try to explain the workplace B.E. (before email) to someone under 30, and you could be describing life in the 19th century for all the relevance it has to their working day. Back then, we lived in a world in which quaint technologies such as the fax machine prevailed. With the fax machine, it was not unusual to wait days for a reply.

Later, when Web-based email began to grow in popularity, it transformed communication in the workplace. You could now receive a response to a question within minutes, especially once broadband connections became more commonplace. You could send information and documents to colleagues around the world at the click of a button.

Email overload

But technology was now developing at a pace that seemed astonishing even to those who worked in the industry, and email, after a honeymoon period, hit problems. “Too intrusive,” said some. “Too much of it,” said others. “Not quick enough,” moaned the rest.

When consumer-based instant-messaging technologies infiltrated the workplace – AIM launched in 1997 and Yahoo! Messenger (then Pager) in 1998 – users were suddenly able to communicate with co-workers in real-time. Years later, these tools would often be integrated into a platform that also included voice over Internet protocol (VoIP), shared whiteboards, video conferencing and file transfer features.

It was around this time that social networks also began to establish a presence. Some of these are undoubtedly more consumer-focused, but there can also be no denying that Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter have had a massive impact on working life, too. The ability to communicate and share content with your extended network (and beyond) has transformed many of our traditional working practices. As well as enabling businesses to engage in two-way conversations with their customers, these social networks are now a central part of the recruitment process. Last year, I wrote a piece on how Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter can enable you to find a team of peers without breaking the bank of recruitment agencies. You can tap into your workforce’s network and find like-minded, talented people to become part of your company.

Getting ready to collaborate

The net result of all the technological developments outlined above has been to change the very fabric of how we work. We now live in a collaboration economy. To share and communicate information, ideas and innovation has never been easier, or come more naturally to the workforce. The emergence of the Web has given rise to a global working village, with location and time zone utterly irrelevant. You can work as closely with someone in another country as you would with someone sitting opposite; work from home or on the move, and even send files from your mobile handset to someone on the other side of the world.

This has all been made possible by the World Wide Web. From Skype to smartphones and social networking to SaaS, it’s all underpinned by the internet and the changes to the workplace of 20 years ago are just extraordinary. With a global mobile worker population set to hit 1.19 billion by 2013, one can only wonder what the Internet will bring us next. Bring on the next 20 years!

Andy McLoughlin, Co-founder and EVP Strategy at Huddle, can be reached on Twitter@Bandrew.

Image courtesy of Flickr user thinknew.

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Jobs has succeeded in transforming the way we consume information in both our personal and work lives. With their intuitive interfaces, sleek lines and quality craftsmanship, it’s easy to see why so many of us now carry an iPhone, iPad, or both with us wherever we go. Raise your hand if you have an iPhone or iPad? If you haven’t got your hand up, chances are the person next to you does.

The iPhone wasn’t the first smartphone, nor was it the first with a touch interface, but it revolutionized the way that we browse the internet on our cells and consume data. Even if you don’t have an iPhone, your Android, BlackBerry or Windows Phone handset have all been influenced by this device.

And this brings me to our obsession with smartphones.

We’ve all been there, checking our emails on our smartphones at midnight, 1 a.m., 2 a.m., 6 a.m. We now shut the office doors and immediately start working again on the train, the bus and in taxis. We are permanently connected. According to a national survey by Telenav, a third of Americans would rather give up sex than their smartphone. They’d also be willing to wave goodbye to chocolate, caffeine and exercise before they parted with their beloved device.

UK adults and children are just as bad. UK communications industry regulator Ofcom has discovered that 60 per cent of teenagers describe themselves as “highly addicted to their smartphone.” Almost half (47 percent) of teenagers and 22 percent of adults also admit to using their device on the toilet.

Our cell phones have now transformed from a device for contacting and playing Snake to becoming a central part of our personal and working lives. The mobile workforce can now check emails on the move, hold video conferences, proof documents and log in to check their bank balance when sitting on the train or working from a cafe. Our obsession has been fueled by just the right apps to help us accomplish these tasks.

With more than 400,000 iPhone apps and more than 300,000 Android apps now available, what are the apps that today’s web workers should look at using to aid productivity and increase efficiency? Below are just some of the apps that I find indispensable:

• CamCard: This great app takes a picture of a business card and automatically adds the information to your contact list. No more rummaging through pockets trying to locate the contact details of the people you met at various meetings and events.

• Evernote: A popular tool with remote workers, Evernote enables you to quickly capture anything. Whether it’s a photo, a screenshot or a web site, whatever you capture is stored, processed and made searchable.

• Huddle: With Huddle’s iPhone, iPad and BlackBerry apps you can access my company’s cloud-based collaboration platform and manage your projects, files and people from any location, at any time of day.

• Twitter: Yes, it can be dangerously addictive, but having Twitter on your mobile ensures that you are constantly connected to the latest updates from your community and you can track what is being said about your company.

• 1Password:  How many times have you sat on your iPhone/iPad trying to remember one of the numerous passwords you have for a wealth of websites and apps? 1Password securely stores the information required and logs you into websites immediately.

• Skype: If you’re on Verizon Wireless’ network, Skype mobile gives you free Skype-to-Skype calls and IM.

• QuickOffice: Access, create, edit, and share Microsoft Word documents, Excel spreadsheets and PowerPoint presentations.

• Expensify: This fantastic app allows you to capture your expenses and receipts from any location. You can track everything and build your expenses reports on the move.

• Bloomberg Mobile:  Keep up to date on the latest international business news, stock quotes and company descriptions, etc.

• Instapaper:  Ever found a great article that you just don’t have time to read? Instapaper ensures that you can come back to it later.

What other mobile productivity apps do you use and love? Let me know in the comments below.

Hear VMware’s CTO Stephen Herrod talk about the three key pillars of enterprise mobility — apps, data and people — at Mobilize, September 26 and 27.

Andy McLoughlin, Co-founder and EVP Strategy at Huddle, can be reached on Twitter @Bandrew. 

Image courtesy of Flickr user Symic.

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Just connect your home phone, broadband and landline to the phone adapter and enjoy the freedom of making Skype calls anywhere around the house from your home phone. You can also receive Skype to Skype calls from other Skype users on your landline phone using the Connect•Me Home Phone Adapter.

• FREETALK Connect•Me + more than 60 minutes** of complimentary calls to landlines and mobiles via Skype ($39.99)
• FREETALK Connect•Me + 12 months of calls to landlines and mobile phones in the U.S. and Canada and 200 minutes**of calls to international landlines and mobiles ($59.99)
• FREETALK Connect•Me + a 3-month Unlimited*World subscription to the US and Canada plus landlines in 40 other countries ($59.99)

These new ATAs, similar to the popular MagicJack adapters, are made by SpanishHong Kong-based Freetalk and are embedded with SkypeKit; the services and APIs that consumer electronic devices use to plug-in to Skype.

I think the ability to receive Skype-to-Skype calls on the landline helps Skype toward its ambition of becoming the new phone network. That’s why I feel Skype should be giving these ATAs away, just as it gives away its mobile apps. The easier it is for people to use the Skype network, the more likely they are to spend money buying minutes for calling people on non-Skype phones. And that can’t be a bad thing for Skype.

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At oDesk, our in-house full-time employees work from home at least one day a week, and we’re regularly collaborating with a team of about 250 remote contractors who act as a crucial extension of our internal team. This has forced us to study how to make meetings work for all involved.

We’ve found there are three steps to a successful online meeting:

• Be sure you need a meeting to accomplish the desired result
• Establish topics and their time allocation, roles and processes (planning objectives, information sharing, problem solving, decision making, relationship building)
• Assess your meeting afterwards (results met, process adhered to, relationships strengthened)

We started by defining the roles involved in making a remote meeting work: the organizer, coordinator, presenter(s) and attendees. Each role has its responsibilities to the team, and by defining those roles, we’re able to ensure accountability for each meeting’s success and seek out ways to continually improve the remote meeting experience. Adopting these roles has allowed us to make sure members of a distributed team are as active, included, and productive during a meeting as those who are on-site.

Organizer: Setting the stage

Someone needs to make sure the meeting will accommodate all participants. The format of the meeting will largely depend on the needs of the group and the goals of the meeting. The meeting organizer works with the presenter to ensure that the right format is chosen and prepared ahead of time.

• Where will we hold the on-site meeting? Generally, this will be a conference room or office large enough to hold all the on-site attendees, with the technology necessary to accommodate remote attendees.
• What kind of access do remote attendees need? Is audio sufficient, or do they need video of the room? Do they need to be able to see slides or other materials?
• How will remote attendees “dial in”? This means choosing the platform of the meeting, which can include a bridge line, Skype, or a desktop sharing/presenting platform such as GoToMeeting.
• How will we communicate when and how to attend? Invitees need to know when, where and how to attend the meeting. If remote attendees need to have a login to register or to download and install a plugin, the organizer makes sure they are aware of this potential roadblock and are prepared in advance.
• Is everyone clear on the roles and their responsibilities? Make sure all attendees are aware of the presenters and meeting coordinator, and share the agenda and best practices with them.

Presenters: Adapting to the environment

Presenters must remember to take into account the remote participants. When you’re explaining concepts or an initiative to a distributed team, will there be visual aids? Do you intend to show something on a computer screen? Does it need to be seen live, as you manipulate it, or can you send a copy of the material, such as a PowerPoint presentation, to remote participants so they can follow along? Prior to the meeting, the presenter should work with the meeting organizer to make sure they—and the facility—are prepared technically to present via local projection and remote platforms.

During the meeting, presenters should:

• Log onto their presentation platform five minutes early to address any technical difficulties.
• Welcome everyone and ask remote attendees whether they can hear and see appropriately
• Make sure to verbalize throughout the meeting what attendees should be seeing (slide number, visual cues, etc.) to help flag sharing problems quickly.
• Ask whether the remote team has any questions. It can be hard for remote participants to interject or notify organizers of their desire to speak. Give them equal opportunity to contribute by offering them the floor at meeting/slide transitions.
• If a contributor is not near a microphone or speakerphone, repeat the statement or question yourself to ensure remote attendees can hear all conversations (since you’ll probably be best situated for microphone pickup).

Coordinators: Keeping everything on track

Identify a coordinator before the meeting. This person makes sure that the technical side runs smoothly and is prepared to respond to challenges as they arise. The meeting coordinator can also be the organizer, but should not be a presenter. If presentations are being made from more than one location, there should ideally be a coordinator in each place. Also, the coordinators should be members of the department presenting the meeting, to ensure that they’ll understand the material being presented, even if they’re distracted by the on-the-fly back-end management.

During the meeting, the coordinator:

• Facilitates an instant messaging group chat with remote team members, including updating the conversation regularly as problems are recognized and addressed. This IM session allows remote members to communicate technical difficulties or other distractions that need to be addressed without interrupting the meeting flow.
• Handles all troubleshooting requiring local action, such as adjusting microphones, encouraging speakers to talk louder, refreshing slide screens, etc.

Attendees: Ready to go

Attendees have a role to play in keeping the meeting running smoothly, as well. They’re responsible for:

• Logging onto the platform five minutes early to address any technical issues prior to the meeting.
• Communicating difficulties during the meeting to the coordinator via the chosen instant messaging channel.

A note on having a solid platform

Often a simple phone call and speakerphone is sufficient, but make sure any printed material, such as an agenda, is also shared with remote participants before the meeting. Depending on your presentation needs, more involved platform options include:

• Dial-in conference bridges or direct-dial phone calls
• Skype (video and voice chat)
• Shared documents (Google Docs)
• GoToMeeting/GoToWebinar
• WebEx

Whatever platform you choose, adapt your presentation to the platform’s strengths (don’t try to present a PowerPoint over a direct-dial phone call), and make sure that everyone is prepared. Check in with remote attendees afterward to make sure they had a positive experience, and work on ironing out wrinkles as they’re identified.

At oDesk, we’ve been refining our techniques for years, and we’re progressing toward meetings that are every bit as easy as having everyone under the same roof — sometimes even easier. More importantly, we’ve made sure that our remote workers are able to fully contribute to our success at least as well as if they were in our office. Which is the whole point of what we do, after all.

Gary Swart is CEO of oDesk. He has more than 17 years’ experience leading remote and local teams as an executive at Intellibank, IBM and Pure Software. 

Image courtesy of Flickr user Joe Shlabotnik

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I have to admit, I’m still not convinced that the iPad will be my laptop replacement. However, with the help of the Apple wireless keyboard and some other peripherals and apps, it can come close. Here are some tips to make your iPad work-worthy.

1. Make audio calls via VoiP. Audio calls via Skype on the iPad work like a dream. Just plug in the earbuds that you usually use for your iPhone, fire up the Skype app and make your audio calls. There are other VoiP apps that will work on the iPad without charging fees, such as Viber, but they require that the other person also has the same software on her device. You can even use Google Voice on the iPad,  albeit with a little extra elbow grease.

2. Editing images and video. You can get digital photos and videos directly from your cameras using the Apple iPad Camera Connection Kit, which comes with a USB adapter and SD Card Reader. I was a little skeptical about using the iPad touchscreen for editing images, but after downloading and trying the free PhotoPad by ZAGG, I’ve found it makes it fairly easy to manipulate images, including color and contrast adjustments, rotating and sizing, adding color fills, and even treating images with filters. You can also get Adobe Photoshop Express for free if you’re already familiar with Photoshop.

For video, an app like Splice can help you do some basic video editing (including combining photos and video) for free, or there’s Splice Pro for $1.99. For more editing oomph, you can go for iMovie for $4.99, although it requires a front-facing camera on your device (so iPad 2, iPhone 4 or 4th-generation iPod touch only).

3. Recording voice memos and podcasts. There are a variety of voice memo–recording solutions you can use on your iPad using its built-in microphone, including Voice Memos for iPad by KendiTech, which is similar to the Voice Memos app on the iPhone. For 99 cents, you get the basic version; for an additional 99 cents via an in-app purchase, you get the ability to trim your memos, email memos and download to your computer via USB. The export button makes your memos available via iTunes File Sharing. QuickVoice is another iPad option to record and email audio clips up to 5 MB in size for free. The $2.99 to upgrade to QuickVoice Pro can handle up to 20 MB clips. You can record and export audio clips via iTunes for free using iRecorder voice memos.

If you want more editing features, try GarageBand ($4.99). Although it features instruments, you can use it for podcasting as well.

Here’s a little voice recording hack I learned from a fellow podcaster: You can use the Camera Connection Kit and USB adapter to plug in a lightweight USB microphone to your iPad to increase the quality of your voice recordings. Using a USB mic also helps to cut down on background noise that the built-in iPad mic might pick up.

When I tried to use my high-end Rode Podcaster microphone, my iPad told me it required too much power, so it did not work. But when I plugged in the Konami microphone from my Wii Glee Karaoke game, it worked pretty well. A quick search online reveals that some podcasters use the Blue Microphone Yeti with their iPads.

3. Powering slide presentations. If you’re looking to connect your iPad (or iPhone or iPod) to a standard LCD projector or other VGA-compatible display, you can purchase the Apple VGA adaptor for $29. You can also opt to invest in a handy, super-portable projector, such as the MicroVision ShowWX Laser Pico Projector, starting around $199, or the Mili Pro 2.0 Projector, for around $369.95. To make sure that your PowerPoint presentations are easily accessible on your iPad, check out MightyMeeting, an app that I wrote about recently. Thanks to a recent update, you can also now control your Keynote slideshow presentations on the iPad using an iPhone or iPod touch.

4. Editing Microsoft Office docs. For an app that provides combined file storage with Microsoft Office document editing, check out Soonr, which I wrote about recently. Alternatively, you can also use other file storage/sync solutions, such as Dropbox and SugarSync, and combine them with editing apps like QuickOffice and Documents To Go to provide similar functionality.

What apps, peripherals and hacks have you tried to make your iPad work-worthy?

Image courtesy of stock.xchng user KillR-B

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First, don’t mess up the obvious. Clearly you want to look presentable and be in a professional enough space. Your gear should be working (test it beforehand) and if the interviewer is halfway around the world, make sure you’ve worked out the time difference correctly (different countries don’t always switch daylight saving time on the same day).

But let’s assume you have the basics down and are looking for more advanced tricks. The Internet offers a few. Blog Cube Rules, for instance, has a great post on the surprisingly tricky issue of eye contact. Where should you look when you’re giving your answers?

If there is just the camera, focus on the camera and nowhere else. If the interview is between you on one side of the camera and another person on the other side of the camera, focus on the camera. If you notice all of those television talking heads, when the news gets read, there are only two places they look: into the camera or at their notes. They don’t look off to the side, they don’t look up in the air, they don’t glance sideways; no, they look into the camera or at their notes…. Staring at that camera is hard work. But look at it you must.

On the other hand, you could have a person in the room with you and a person on the far end both doing the interview. In this case, if the person in the room is asking the question, answer the question to the person in the room by looking at that person. If the person on the far end asks the question, answer the question by looking into the camera.

As remote working becomes more common, interviews using video probably will too, so now is the time to train yourself to excel at them. One way to do that is through recording and reviewing your efforts, which is relatively simple if you’re using Skype. Inc. has video interview tips geared towards interviewers, but their advice on how to set up recording could just as easily apply to those answering the questions:

When you first set up a Skype account, there’s not a direct ‘record’ button for you to push, but there are several plugins that are compatible with Skype. A popular plugin is Vodburner, which records video and audio from both sides and also allows you to edit it and upload the content to YouTube and other platforms.

How? Simply click on the ‘Extras’ option located under the ‘Tools’ tabs on the menu bar. From there click on the ‘VodBurner Video Call Recorder’ tab and download the plugin.

Sure, watching yourself interview might be wince-inducing, but if you’re brave enough, it’s also a great opportunity to objectively see what impression you’re making and which answers are still in need of some improvement.

Image courtesy Flickr user jsawkins.

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VoIP/Phone service

• Google Voice. Voice is Google’s phone service, which launched to much fanfare in March 2009. It provides free PC-to-PC voice and video calls, free PC-to-phone calls within the U.S. and cheap calls elsewhere (for users in the U.S. only). One of Google Voice’s most useful features (again, only available to U.S. residents) is that it enables users to have one number that they can use anywhere — any calls placed to that number will ring all of the users’ configured phones. The service also provides a range of useful additional features, such as voicemail, SMS, conference calling, call screening and transcription of voicemail messages.
• Vbuzzer. A VoIP and IM service that, unlike Skype, is based on open protocols like XMPP and SIP. It offers free PC-to-PC calls, as well as paid-for PC-to-phone calls, with typically cheaper rates than Skype. It also features voicemail, call forwarding, caller ID, web conferencing and fax service.
• VoxOx. VoxOx is trying to be an “all-in-one” messaging app for both the desktop and mobile devices. It combines phone calls, IM, SMS, video chat, conference calling and even fax. It also provides similar “one number anywhere” functionality to Google Voice, and outgoing calls can be placed at competitive rates. While Charlie didn’t particularly like the Mac client when he reviewed it back in January, finding some shortcomings, it’s worth a look. The iPhone app is interesting because rather than relying on VoIP, it uses callbacks — the service can ring you on any convenient nearby phone line.
• Viber. iPhone users looking for a way to make free VoIP calls should take a look at Viber, a VoIP app that allows iPhone-to-iPhone calling over 3G and Wi-Fi connections. The app is free, runs in the background, doesn’t have any ads and won’t charge you anything to make calls. Android and BlackBerry apps are apparently in the works, which would extend the app’s reach significantly.
• Grasshopper. Looking for a step up from Skype to a more business-oriented virtual phone system? Grasshopper provides many of the features found in expensive office PBX systems for a fraction of the cost, including support for multiple users, each with their own extension, individual greetings, voicemail, web access and notifications by email or text message, as well as the ability to have local or toll-free numbers for people to call you on. Charlie was impressed by the product and its slick web interface when he reviewed it back in 2009. The type of advanced functionality you get comes at a higher cost than consumer-focused offering like Google Voice and Skype, however, with a range of plans available.
• 8×8 Virtual Office Pro/Solo.  8×8 provides another useful VoIP-based virtual business phone system. It’s available in two editions, Virtual Office Pro for businesses requiring multiple extensions, and Solo for individuals (see Charlie’s recent review). The system includes business numbers, voicemail, call waiting, music on hold, caller ID, three-way calling and the ability to record calls for storage as digital audio files. It costs $49.99 per extension per month for the Pro Edition or $7.99 per month for the Solo edition.

Video Chat

While some of the options listed above, like Google Voice,  provide video calling as part of the services they offer, there are also some dedicated video chat apps:

• Tinychat. For multiuser video chats, Tinychat is great. It’s dead simple to use, requires no login, and has a clean interface. It’s Flash-based, so it should work in most browsers and up to 12 people can join a video chat simultaneously. The basic service is free.
• ooVoo. ooVoo also provides free multiuser (up to six people simultaneously) video chat, and has clients available for Mac, PC and a wide range of mobile devices. It even allows for high-quality video calling over 3G wireless networks.
• FaceTime. Apple’s video chat application is no longer just for iPhone users. With the launch of FaceTime for Mac in February, it works on Macs and any iOS device with a forward-facing camera, it makes it possible to place Mac-to-Mac, Mac-to-iPhone/iPod touch/iPad, and iPhone/iPod touch/iPad -to-iPhone/iPod touch/iPad calls. Video quality is high, supporting up to 720p resolution on more recent Macs.

What are your favorite alternatives to Skype?

Photo courtesy Flickr user DanBrady

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netTALK has introduced the Duo, which is a hardware-plus-service option that’s somewhere in the middle. The hardware is a little box that’s about as simple to set up as anything I’ve seen. Plug it into an Ethernet connection, power and a phone, then go to the netTALK website to activate it, and you’ve got unlimited calling to the U.S. and Canada, and cheap rates to the rest of the world.

During the activation process, you can choose your area code and exchange, although you can’t select an exact number. You’ll also need to provide your street address so that the service can give you accurate 911 service. netTALK doesn’t yet offer a way to port existing numbers, although that’s apparently in the works.

If you want to, you can connect the Duo to your network and use the company’s software to make calls. There’s even beta videophone software, although I haven’t tried it, as the software and drivers are Windows-only. And there are smartphone apps for iOS, Android, BlackBerry and Windows Mobile, although it’s not currently possible to link your Duo account to the mobile apps.

The netTALK service includes all the basic services we’ve come to expect from VoIP, such as call forwarding, caller ID, three-way calling, and call waiting. But you won’t find extensions, conditional forwarding, or any of the other advanced features that more business-oriented services offer. Voicemails are sent to your email box as a WAV file; netTALK doesn’t offer transcriptions like Google Talk and some other services do.

The netTALK Duo is priced at $69.95, which includes one year of service. Subsequent years are apparently $29.95. If you need cheap incoming and outgoing calls, can do without sophisticated call management features, and don’t want to be connected to a computer all the time, netTALK’s Duo may be a reasonable option.

Have you used the netTALK Duo? What VoIP solutions do you prefer?

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• Report: Google’s Voice Possibilities
• Could Skype in Your Pocket Beat the iPod Touch?

Voice and video chat provider Skype is hoping that by making hosting of meetings and web conferences a seamless experience, its product will become more appealing for  business users. Presumably, users will be able to pay for GoToMeeting access with their Skype credit and sign into GoToMeeting using their Skype credentials, or perhaps it will be added to a premium business subscription plan (GoToMeeting currently costs $49 per month). But don’t get too excited about this integration just yet; it’s not expected to actually become available until the fourth quarter of this year.

This may not be the first partnership like this that Skype announces in the coming months. While its userbase is still growing, Skype is coming under increasing competitive pressure from the likes of Google and Apple; gaining a larger foothold in a relatively untapped business market while its competitors continue go after the consumer market may be a smart move.

Photo courtesy Seattle Municipal Archives

Related content from GigaOM Pro (sub. req.):

• Report: Google’s Voice Possibilities
• Report: The Consumer Video Chat Market, 2010-2015
• Could Skype in Your Pocket Beat the iPod Touch?

Since I last wrote about VoxOx, it has improved considerably. The basic functionality works well. Incoming calls work fine; outgoing calls are available at competitive rates.

It’s been rebranded, and its screens are no longer the hideous and hard-to-see colors that they were in the last version. Managing one’s contacts has improved, and the service has some cool new features, like:

• A free iNum, which is a special toll-free number that can be called globally.
• The ability to share files of up to 100MB via chat, SMS or email.
• A “universal translator” for translating instant messages on the fly.

Unfortunately, with an app that does this much, I suppose it’s inevitable that there will be shortcomings.

• There is still no integration with my existing contact lists from Google, social networks, or the Mac Address Book. In fact, there is still no way to import or export contact information.
• VoxOx doesn’t yet let you port your existing phone number to its service.
• While VoxOx supports Skype messaging, you must have the Skype software open for this to work. That’s a limitation of Skype, and not really VoxOx’s fault.
• While the interface is definitely more readable than it used to be, the Mac version doesn’t use native font rendering, so screen text is poorly displayed.
• VoxOx doesn’t use oAuth or equivalent systems, so you must give the program your login information for the IM and social network accounts you add.
• VoxOx is pushy. The software registers itself to start automatically on boot, and although you can turn this setting off, it should ask before adding itself to autostart. And whenever you add an account to the program, the option marked “Invite my contacts to VoxOx” is checked by default. I unchecked it, only to find that it was checked again the next time I entered that preference screen.
• Surprisingly, there are no mobile apps for Android or iOS, and there isn’t even a mobile-friendly version of the VoxOx website. Apps are said to be in development.

I could live with many of these issues, but the inability to import and sync contacts is a deal-breaker for me. There’s no way that I can enter 1,600+ contacts!

VoxOx has promise, but I don’t think that it’s quite ready for professional use yet. Maybe by version 3 I’ll be able to use it regularly.

Have you used VoxOx? How do you manage your communications?

Related content from GigaOM Pro (sub. req.):

• Can Enterprise Privacy Survive Social Networking?
• Social Media in the Enterprise
• Enabling the Web Work Revolution

The survey reached out to 1,000 technology empowered workers – 500 end users and 500 decision makers at businesses that ranged from small businesses to large corporations. As part of our Net:Work Conference coverage, we are sharing findings from the report:

The companies are adjusting to this new work reality.

• More than half, at 57 percent, of firms allow flexible working hours, that fit with employees’ lives, rather than “standard office hours.”
• Most employees, at 80 percent, appreciate flexible working as a means of balancing their lives.
• Of those employees 65 percent feel a flexible working policy would be important to a future
  change of job.

The change in the workforce is bringing in new tools and processes to the work place, continuing the consumerisation of the enterprise IT.

• In two-thirds of organizations, workers can bring their own personal technology into the workplace.
• 41 percent can bring and use their own tools independently (without permission from their IT departments.)

This explains why the iPad has been such a major hit in the enterprise, much like tools like Google’s Mail and Apps. The survey revels that video and VoIP are going to be big applications going forward. It makes sense – we at GigaOM are constantly using Skype Video, Google Talk Video and Apple’s Facetime. Some interesting stats about workers who use video for work:

• More than two-thirds at 68 percent experience richer and more productive communication with colleagues, clients and suppliers.
• Most of those at 65 percent, say they collaborate better.
• The majority also say they save time at 62 percent and money, at 56 percent.
• Almost seven in ten at 69 percent want video to be available on a range of devices and locations not just fixed systems.

The change in the work patterns, however, has a detrimental impact as well.

• A significant number of people at 42 percent agree the workplace is suffering from information overload.
• While 35 percent of people blame email for this overload.

Related content on GigaOM Pro: (subscription required)

• Here Come the Social TV Apps
• Report: The Enterprise Videoconference Landscape, 2010 – 2015
• Report: Google’s Voice Possibilities

A few short months ago, I was the only virtual attendee of our Monday morning meetings, and a webcam-enabled laptop in the room with my colleagues was sufficient to get me in attendance. We used Skype for simple point-to-point video calling and it really worked quite well.

But now that there are three remote team members, we find that Skype by itself, is no longer sufficient. Even though Skype has added multi-camera support, it’s not available on the Mac, which makes using it a challenge as we use both Mac and PC. We really like the Skype platform, though, and use it for our IM and individual chat needs, so when looking for a way to overcome our technical challenges we looked for ways to “piggyback” on our existing system, rather than move to an entirely new solution. After a couple of weeks of testing I believe we have found our solution with VuRoom, a video conferencing plugin for Skype.

From a participant standpoint, using VuRoom couldn’t be easier. I join a call in Skype as I normally would, then click a special link that the host provides. A web-based viewer launches showing me the video feeds of all participants. For the host it’s a bit more involved to initiate a call but the process is straightforward. Only the host needs to install the Skype plugin, so it’s possible to get new folks involved and attending with little fuss. Upon connecting with your participants, the VuRoom plugin starts automatically and steps you through the creation of your meeting. The current VuRoom product supports up to eight video collaborators. Video and sound quality is good and in my use so far I’ve not had any issues with dropouts or lost calls.

In addition to the conferencing functionality, VuRoom also offers desktop sharing and other collaboration functionality, including slide sharing. This lets the host do presentations and share documents with the participants. In our meetings we frequently see demonstrations of new products and so far this functionality has worked really well. The document or screen share pops up in an extra window the web view so I can still continue to see the others participants on the call in addition to the host presentation.

In looking for a solution, one of our challenges was finding something that was not only useful, but affordable. While most competing services seem to have per-seat licenses, VuRoom offers a fixed $10 per month fee for unlimited usage for up to the eight participants per meeting so it’s very cost-effective. VuRoom works with both PC and Mac versions of Skype and all modern browsers. A free 15-day trial is available for testing before purchase. Overall, we’ve been very pleased with VuRoom.

How do you keep your team connected?

Related GigaOM Pro content (sub. req.): How to Manage Consumer-Grade Collaborative Tools in the Workplace

While the Skype service grew out of a consumer VoIP offering, the company believes there is significant scope for growth in targeting the business market; in a survey of 40,000 Skype customers earlier this year, approximately 37 percent of the respondents reported that they used Skype’s products for business-related purposes at least some of the time. Skype currently offers two products for business: Skype Connect, which enables businesses to use Skype with their PBX systems, and Skype Manager, which provides a way to centrally manage a company’s Skype usage.

So what might these new business products be? I have a couple of suggestions. Firstly, as Skype has expanded the collaborative capabilities of its product of late — adding features such as file transfers, multi-person video calls and screensharing — a more full-featured, robust web conferencing offering could be on the cards. As Ryan pointed out, Skype needs to find a way to monetize the video calls made through its service, and getting companies to pay for additional features may just be a way to do that. However, it’s a pretty crowded market, with some well-established players like WebEx and GoToMeeting.

Secondly, Skype could also look to expand the Skype Connect service, providing the ability to connect employees’ mobile phones to a company’s PBX though Skype. Employees could then effectively have their office phones in their pockets when they’re on the road, providing similar functionality to the Alcatel Lucent Multimodal Communication Companion that I wrote about recently.

Those are my suggestions, but what business products do you think Skype should develop?

Related GigaOM Pro content (sub. req.): Report: The Consumer Video Chat Market, 2010-2015

It’s a busy space, Goober competes with desktop multi-IM programs like Pidgin, Adium, Trillian and Digsby; web-based services like Meebo; mobile apps like Fring and Beejive; and programs that add social networks to the mix, like Socialite. It also wants to compete with services that add voice and/or video chat functions, like VoxOx and Nimbuzz. The elephant in the voice and video communication arena, of course, is Skype, which has just rolled out a Windows-only beta of group video chats. Google Talk already offers video chat, and its acquisition of Gizmo5 will certainly result in upgrades to Google Voice. And Goober also gets to compete in the silly name contest.

So why do we need another multi-protocol communication service? Goober claims it has the following advantages over Skype and other VoIP providers:

• Users can call more countries (277), although Goober doesn’t offer incoming landline calls like Skype and Google Voice.
• Users can chat with users of protocols including ICQ, MSN, Google Talk, Jabber,
  AOL, Yahoo and QQ.
• The program integrates with Facebook and Twitter.
• Goober will offer six-way video conferencing on both PC and Mac (during the beta, conferences are limited to four).
• Outgoing call costs are 25-50 percent less, with calls in the US and Canada offered at a “record low” $.01 per minute.

I’ve tried the Mac beta, and while it’s usable, it’s not as elegant as the app from Nimbuzz (although it beats VoxOx’s ugly interface by a mile). The cluttered interface is not enhanced by obtrusive, animated banner ads.

Entering one’s IM and social network accounts is simple enough, although one must provide passwords, as there is no support for oAuth or Facebook Connect. It is possible to enter more than one account from the same service, but I wasn’t able to use Google Apps credentials to add Gtalk accounts.

Its tools for managing contacts are limited. Goober allows users to create groups, but if a contact appears twice (for example,  as a Gtalk and Facebook connection) the entries can’t be merged. One can’t sync or import address books, either.

I’m disappointed that Goober doesn’t support Growl, having opted instead for non-standard on-screen notifications. Goober also has mobile and web versions, but these are really different products with less robust feature sets.

For Mac users, Goober offers video conferencing options not (yet) available on Skype. For daily IMing, though, I’ll probably continue to use Adium.

Goober is offering the first 5,000 people to download the beta of Goober 3.0 a free voucher for $5 in credit. Try it, and let us know what you think in the comments.

One thing to note is that group video calling will be a premium feature (so perhaps it will be rolled up into Skype’s new subscription calling plans), although it’s free to try during the beta. But it’s only a beta, so it’s probably best not to rely on it for critical business meetings as it might not work perfectly. And everyone you call will need to have the new software installed. It’s currently available for Windows only; a Mac beta should be out later this year.

Let us know what you think of the new group video calls in the comments.

Related GigaOM Pro content (sub. req.): Enabling the Web Work Revolution