Gizmo5, a service of VoIP service provider, SIPphone is offering free conference calling to its customers. I have been a big Gizmo user for a long time, but my usage has gone down mostly because their voice quality isn’t up to par. In fact, for all my VoIP calling, I had almost exclusively switched to using Skype. Over the weekend, however, I was reintroduced to the service when Gizmo5 emailed a free conference call offer. I wanted to talk to a few buddies and normally, I would call them on my cellular phone and then join the calls to create a conference call. However, I decided to try out the new offer.

I went to their website and got a conference room number. Those who wanted to join call in 1-605-475-8515 and punch the room number and join the conversation. It worked surprisingly smoothly and phone conversation with a couple of my buddies went without a hitch. Each conference room can handle between 2-to-10 people. Gizmo5 subscribers can call into the conference room and that doesn’t count a dime.

The whole thing went without a hitch, though given Gizmo5’s quality-record, I am going to try it out a couple of times before making a final decision. However, I can see the potential. I can use this service to interview folks and tape the conversation for easy archiving. If you are looking for an easy conference call option, you should try it out.

How many times have you wished for a simple and easy way to create and export email lists by mining your email inbox?

Wait no more! Clear Context, a San Francisco-based start-up that makes an in-box management plug-in for Microsoft Outlook has come up with a new product called, Contact Exporter for Outlook. Of course you will need their inbox management plug-in, a for-pay product.

The Contact Exporter is a beta feature in ClearContext IMS v4 that lets you create and export groups of email addresses found in messages stored in the Outlook folders you select.

What it essentially does is create a list of email addresses found in messages from a set of folders users choose. And these can be used to create distribution lists. You can create say, an email list for a birthday invite and export the list in the CSV format. You can export files and import them into any application that will allow you to import CSV files. Facebook and Socialzr are two such web services. I think this export feature is quite handy. If you want to know more, check out their website.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Google is about to announce an online storage space. Some call it GDrive, and I see it as a vital component of Google Computing Cloud. Regardless, instead of obsessing over the minutiae, I want to know what you folks specifically think about it. Take this poll and let us know.

Dimdim, a Burlington, MA.-based web meeting services startup, wants to take on Cisco Systems’ (CSCO) WebEx and Microsoft’s (MSFT) Placeware by emphasizing simplicity and ease of use. The company, which is backed by investors including Draper Richards, Index Ventures and Nexus Capital India, launches its service today at DEMOfall 2007. Co-founded by Computer Associates alumni DD Ganguly and Prakash Khot, Dimdim has so far raised $2.5 million. Continue Reading.

You know a web 2.0 application is hitting an upward inflection point when your inbox starts filling up with the likes of “Joe Doe wants to add you as a friend on VagueSter.” Over the last few months, it’s been Facebook’s turn.

The site’s rise in traffic is in no small part due to developers being enabled to deliver their apps using the Facebook API. Here is how you can use Amazon Web Services to scale your Facebook Apps. Continue Reading.

* FoundRead: Founders at VMWare and XenSource all hit paydirt this week — but whom would you rather be? Read more »
* Earth2Tech: How the Physical Distribution of Digital Goods Impacts the Environment. Read more »
* Future of Software: The Road Ahead for Browsing. Read more »
* NewTeeVee: Truveo relaunches. Its pretty good. Read more »
* GigaOM: And Broadband growth slows, and may lead to a price war and that’s a good thing for consumers. Read more »

Skype, one of the primary means of communication for web workers has been on the fritz for past few hours, possibly because of some software upgrades from Microsoft.

Let this be a reminder that Skype is not quite your phone company replacement. This must have impacted thousands (if not millions) of companies and web workers who lost money and productivity.

Are you being impacted by this outage? Is your business suffering as a result? Share your story with others.

Google, this morning spent $625 million in cash to buy Postini, a start-up that provides encryption and security as a hosted service. Google believes this deal is further testimony about its serious commitment to providing hosted apps to businesses, especially small and medium sized businesses.

Google Apps are being used by 1,000 small businesses, universities and also there is an interest from large companies. On their Google Apps blog, Rajen Sheth, Product Manager, Google Apps writes:

For organizations that are not yet ready to jump full force into hosted applications, Postini’s proven messaging security and corporate compliance management solutions are a great place to start.

That addresses at least some of my own personal concerns about the security of using these applications, but you think you are ready to take a chance on Google Apps for running your business.

Additional Reading: GigaOM: Google buys Postini, How High Can Google Go?

Are you sick and tired of getting SMS messages from your Twitter accounts – especially at odd times of the night, like when you are sleeping? Some of us are actually quite annoyed at getting stuck with big bills because of these SMS messages.

There are three easy ways to go mobile with Twitter:

1. Use the Twitter mobile: If your phone has a mobile browser, you can go to http://m.twitter.com and you are good to go. I am not sure if everyone will be happy with the experience, but I am not that thrilled with the UI. This option is especially not good for people who don’t own the so-called smart phones, and don’t want to pay for flat rate Internet data plans. (via)

2. Flurry+RSS=Twitter Magic: Sign-up for Flurry, a mobile mail client/service. You can download the Flurry client on your phone seconds after you sign-up. Flurry, which started out as a service that would let you check e-mail on your plain vanilla phone, has recently added a feature that allows you to add RSS feeds and read them on your mobile phone.

Add RSS feeds generated by the Twitter accounts of your friends. The best part – you don’t have to pay for anything – it’s free. And if you want to Twitter what’s on your mind, just use SMS… sparingly if you can.

3. FreeRSS Reader: Most high-end Nokia phones are now shipping with a built in RSS reader, and you can bypass using Flurry and add Twitter feeds of your friends to the built-in RSS reader. It is one easy way to keep up with what your pals are twittering about – only this time the SMS messages don’t interrupt you. Check the feeds when you feel like it.

Others can try similar RSS readers, though they are going to cost you some cash. Freerange offers one, so does Newsgator (as long as you use their online service.)

How time flies – it was on Labor Day 2006 we launched WebWorkerDaily, mostly because I believed that broadband was going to change the world, not just by bringing information to us faster but also how it was going to change the way we worked. Having reported on broadband for a lot longer than I care to admit, the direction we were heading in was pretty clear.

Six months later, it is becoming clear that we are not alone in this way of this thinking. The thriving community here on Web Worker Daily is testament to that. And today, The San Francisco Chronicle is writing about this trend, though focusing more on the “Bedouin” start-ups.

Dan Fost writes about the many different variations about the office-less start-ups, and has been kind enough to include WWD and GigaOM in his Sunday Feature.

“There is nothing more free than being a Web worker,” Malik says. “There is no boss. You work for yourself. This is the new Wild West. The individual is more important. That’s the American way. It’s about doing things your own way. Web workers represent that. … It’s the future, my friend.”

The context of the quote is that there are going to be more Web Workers in the near future as the very nature of the work force changes, and we have discussed that on many different occasions over here.

I do want to take this opportunity and thank the team of writers – Chris, Judi, Mike, Matt, Liz, and of course Anne who have helped turn my wild idea into reality. It is their efforts and you the readers who are the true reasons WWD exists. (So forgive me for being a bit pompous by bringing up the quote!)

Interestingly, Fost points out that this SF bedouin culture is not something new.

Venerable insurance firm Lloyd’s of London was actually started in a coffee house… Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote some of their best work in Parisian cafes. And in San Francisco, writers and poets of the Beat generation, such as Jack Kerouac and Lawrence Ferlinghetti, wrote in the cafes of North Beach.

Another reminder that what’s old is new again!

Bonus link: Jeff Nolan shares his thoughts  and reminds us that phrase Going Bedouin came from Greg Olsen.

Growing up in India, my first taste of caffeine came via a cup of steaming tea – sweet, milky and well tasting like tea. This was not the sophisticated Darjeeling or Earl Gray, but more like tea for the masses. After immigrating to the US, I discovered coffee and joys that go with it. The Starbucks became a habit, and then an addiction.

On my recent trip to India, I was reminded of the joys of tea, especially when sprinkled with a little love from mom. Upon my return, I have been running a little experiment – I start the day with a cup of tea one day, and a freshly pressed coffee the next. (Comparison of the two beverages is here.)

Given the variance in their caffeine content, the start is different on the alternating days, and productivity is different as well. With tea, I find the day starts gradually picks up pace and then you smoothly glide through it, though it does require more frequent trips to the kitchen or the cashier’s counter.

Coffee, on the other hand takes effect right from the first sip, and as long as you have two or three more “Tall” cups, you can go through the day supercharged, working at a furious pace. But then comes the inevitable crash and there goes the productivity.

This has me wondering… what is a better drink for web workers? Tea or coffee? What do you drink and why? Does one work better than the others? I would love to hear your feedback.

Earlier this evening, AOL announced a new beta (codename – Cayman) for AOL Mail, which is an ajaxy-version of its current webmail product. It is a rather slick looking product and works admirably fast. In order to try the beta, I had to sign-up for the beta even though I already have an account with AOL.

After spending a few minutes with the product, you realize that it is a pretty good attempt by AOL to catch up with current AJAX-based mail offerings such as Yahoo Mail (aka Oddpost 2.0.) It is nothing earth shattering but definitely an improvement over the current AOL offering. It has many of the basic features we have come to expect from most modern webmail programs. It lets you read messages inline, for example. It works on Mac and Windows machine quite well. AOL Mail Beta worked quite nicely on Safari as well.

The new improvements aside, there are some issues with the product, and none of them have to do with the fact that calendar doesn’t work, and the to-do-list is non functional. The biggest problem with the offering is the advertisements.

Having used Zimbra (work) and Google GMail (personal), I am now used to an email experience with less intrusive advertising. AOL’s new beta from advertising perspective breaks all cardinal rules of usability. They are intrusive, too in-your face and take up too much on-screen real estate. That’s the gray in AOL’s pre-Web 2.0 roots showing. Still, if you are an AOL email user, the beta is worth trying out at least once – and then making up your mind.

Bonus Link: Frank Gruber who works for AOL has a review on his blog.

Today is one of the best days in the short life of Web Worker Daily. Our very own Anne Zelenka is joining our little family on an almost full time basis (of course) with a Web Worker twist. She made her decision yesterday, and well, I have to say, I have not been able to wipe that goofy grin off my face.

She will be spending more of her time and attention in helping WWD grow to the next level. My dream is that one day WWD becomes bigger than the flagship, GigaOM, and people refer to the “site that spawned it all” as the older, dowdy and decidedly unhip brother of WWD.

Anne is perfect for getting us to that goal.  We all have seen the profound impact she already has had on our little community. She has an uncanny eye for talent, and is an amazing writer who uses simple words to express complex ideas. She will also be writing Web 2.0 and related stories for the flagship, GigaOM. As part of her new, improved version 2.1, she gets her own icon, and cool business cards.

Without much ado, Web Worker Daily readers, I give you your new editor, Anne 2.1.

If you are like us – walking around with a Macbook Pro and a Novatel EVDO Express Card modem, you don’t really have worry too much about being disconnected. However, when you congregate with friends or colleagues and find them in a disconnected state, you want to share your connection. You can do that on a Mac, though it takes a little effort.

Well, the fine folks at FON, a wireless services company based in Barcelona has come up with a nifty little Mac app that turns your machine into an instant FON Spot.

The software, though not available right now for download (coming soon) will allow people to share their 3G connections easily. (You can request a beta copy here.)

You can control how much bandwidth you want to share and why you can even charge others. One thing we do wish for is some mesh-networking features, where three or four 3G connected Macbook Pros can create a nice instant network. You know what would be cooler – if someone can built it – a utility that would allow subscriber of an expensive Wi-Fi plan to share it with those around them, say when sitting in a Cafe. That would drive people at T-Mobile insane, but it still be fun.

In preperation of the Windows Vista launch, I am trying to acclimitaize myself with Windows XP operating system, and have a brand new machine which I want to use for a week, and then compare it with my Vista experience.

Since I spend most of my time on a Mac, it is hard to figure out what applications should one install on a PC. Microsoft Office seems to be an obvious choice, though I am sticking to Google Docs for now.

I have installed both Skype and Gizmo Project, and the machine came pre-installed with Google Talk. Microsoft Live Writer is a pretty good client for writing blog posts, and Feed Demon is as good a feed reader one can get. Beyond that, well I am at a loss. A large chunk of my time is spent writing, image editing, answering email, reading RSS feeds and listening to music. Any tips on the “very best” apps would be greatly appreciated.