Video Conferencing for Small Businesses

Video Conferencing for Small Businesses: "Communicating through video has finally become a viable option for small businesses. And hey, it only took 44 years.

Videophones were the talk of the 1964 New York World's Fair. Though the videophone never took off, today’s video chat and video conferencing systems are gaining traction with small businesses. Low Webcam prices and more Web-based services aimed at small businesses are two reasons for video conferencing’s growing popularity.

Helge: We are living in 2008 and broadband is available. Teleconferencing is a possibility even for small companies.

Another reason: More businesses use Internet Protocol (IP) networks, which can support the heavy bandwidth demands of sophisticated video conferencing systems, according to research firm In-Stat. Also, In-Stat notes that the growing desire among businesses to 'go green' (through reduced travel and other efforts) is also fueling interest in video conferencing.

Helge: The option for traveling less and doing things over IP is boosting SME's productivity in many areas.

Video Chat, Videconference or Telepresence?

First, it’s important to understand the difference between video chat, video conference and telepresence. Video chat: Usually, video chat refers to two (or more) people informally communicating online through an instant messaging (IM) service, including Windows Live Messenger, Yahoo Messenger and AOL Instant Messenger. Some voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) services, such as Skype, offer video chat too. Most video chat services are free. They can be used for business, but they’re primarily tailored to consumers."

Helge: Videoconferencing isn't a necessity in all cases. 80 % of telecommunication can be done with FREE or low-cost "videoconferencing". Big companies might not agree.

MyBlog Loggers and Yahoo

Hello, MyBlogLoggers: It took a long time for word to get out about our changeover to Yahoo! IDs. Lesson learned. This time we're reaching out to you via old-fashioned email.

In a couple weeks, we'll be launching a new feature called New with Me. This feature will use the URLs on the Services tab of your MyBlogLog profile to aggregate your latest activity on sites such as Twitter, Last.fm, Digg, and YouTube.

Helge: MyBlog is one of those service I use occasionally. It helps me to leave a trace with a photo to the pages and blogs I have visited. My profile will change, okay, need to go there a and check-out. The promise: my static profile will become a dynamic one. This service helps me to be seen online and I see who comes to my blogs and sites. Cool!

As a result, your profile page will look different - publicly available updates from the services you have listed will be merged with your existing information. Your latest Flickr photos, Last.fm tracks, and YouTube videos, will all be in one place. Updates from your contacts on MyBlogLog will be merged and available as well. Simply put, the New with Me feature will transform your static profile into a dynamic one.

MyBlogLog respects your privacy. We will aggregate and display only information that is publicly available. If you're uncomfortable with MyBlogLog aggregating and displaying publicly available information from a particular service, you can remove that service from your profile at any time.

Of course, we hope you're excited about the broader distribution of everything you produce on the Web. If you use any of the sites featured in the Services tab, you know the value of being able to display all your activity in one place.

Your MyBlogLog profile, About Me widget, and Email Signature were the first steps in distributing your Web identity. New with Me is the next, pulling together a unified picture of who you are on the distributed social Web.

We have lots of cool things planned for this feature -- I hope you'll use it to help build the next generation of the Web. For details, please check out our FAQ on this feature. As always, check our blog for the latest news from us. See you online!

Ian Kennedy
Product Manager, MyBlogLog

Please do not reply to this message. This is a service email related to your use of Yahoo! MyBlogLog. To learn more about Yahoo!'s use of personal information, including the use of web beacons in HTML-based email, please read our Privacy Policy. Yahoo! is located at 701 First Avenue, Sunnyvale, CA 94089.

Go to web beacons:
http://privacy.yahoo.com/privacy/us/beacons/details.html

Go to Privacy Policy:
http://info.yahoo.com/privacy/us/yahoo/details.html

Yahoo Mobs Social Networking

"Yahoo has quietly launched an experimental site that offers mobile-phone subscribers the ability to send text messages and share videos and pictures among friends. The service follows a trend among Internet portals to offer mobile social-networking services." (via Information Week) .

• Offering mobile social-networking services
• Yahoo is experimenting
• Send text messages
• Video and pictures sharing with friends

The traditional Mobile Service Providers need to catch up or all the traffic goes to Internet portals and services.