Web Worker Daily

A common misnomer about Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) is that it requires you to be using a headset, tethered to your computer.  This is simply untrue as modern VoIP services and solutions use either a) normal corded and cordless phones or b) a specialized phone that resembles a cordless phone or cell phone - just modified to utilized VoIP technology.

VoIP has some major advantages over traditional landline phones. First, typically you can call phones in the US and Canada for one monthly flat rate.  Also, international calls can be made very cheaply.  Included services with your flat rate service include: call waiting, call forwarding, online enabled voice mail, CallerID, and many more.  Whereas conventional phone companies charge you individually for each of these services, VoIP providers give them to you for one flat rate.

Where do you begin if you’d like to use your broadband connection to lower your phone bill dramatically?  Lets walk through some of the options.

Read the rest of this entry »

In a bid to prove how robust and versatile Skype is, the company has embarked on a unique experiment that has a writer using Skype-enabled gadgets to stay in touch with the office, update her blog and keep in touch with friends and followers while traveling across 15 countries. The catch is that she has to remain in perpetual motion for the entire 33-day journey - even while she’s sleeping and eating!

The 26-year-old writer, Rebecca Campbell, is quoted in the press release:

I’m really excited about the trip but I am sure it will be hard to keep moving. The great thing is I have a whole online community to rely on who can guide me to make the right decisions on what I eat and how I keep moving in any of the 15 countries I will be in.  I am sure I’ll need a holiday afterwards!  Travelling can be a bit lonely but with Skype, I know I can stay in touch with my friends and family for free or very little and that’s very reassuring.

Rebecca’s blog can be found here, where she posts photos and travel tips, and bemoans the difficulty of finding Internet connections while constantly on the move.You also reach her via Skype (username: theskypenomad) and Twitter.

With travel costs rising each and every day, business are seeking ways to not only save money but be more conscience of the way their business practices are affecting the environment.  Video conferencing is a hot space currently with many options for web workers to choose from.  Being able to see your team on a video screen is vastly superior to a run-of-the-mill conference call.

SightSpeed (previously covered at GigaOm) is a great offering that does not require you to install expensive equipment to confer with your colleagues and team mates.  The application allows you to collaborate with up to 4 locations at a one time and is suited for both ad hoc and scheduled meetings.  If you want, you can share your desktop while in the midst of a video conference to enable collaboration on a website, word document, or any window on your desktop computer.

Read the rest of this entry »

Information security is a very important consideration when using computer networks (including the Internet).  Security is one of many reasons corporate IS departments exist.

However for your own personal and work-related communications, how do you ensure your emails and instant message conversations don’t fall victim to prying eyes?

With a distributed team, individuals might have valuable information that is transferred over the wire. Here are some ways you can encrypt the data you exchange with others.

Read the rest of this entry »

Skype, the Internet telephony darling, has announced a very inexpensive unlimited plan today.  For $9.95 a month, callers from the U.S. will be able to dial landlines in 34 countries including most of Europe, Canada, and Asian countries.  The only caveat - these calls must be to landlines.  Mobile phone calling under this plan is available to Canada, China, and Hong Kong, where presumably mobile termination rates are cheap enough to be feasible under this plan.

Additionally, unlimited domestic calls to the U.S. are included in this new $9.95/month plan. The plan introduced today is somewhat similar to one offered to U.S. and Canada customers which included unlimited calling in those countries for $29.95/year.

Read the rest of this entry »

As a voice service, Skype is different from other VoIP (voice over IP) services such as Vonage because it usually requires you to be attached to your computer either on a headset or using your onboard microphone and speakers.  This “tied down” factor is what motivated Skype to partner with hardware manufacturers to take Skype beyond the computer.

There are handsets that plug in to your USB port that look like a traditional wireline phone along with units that use your wireless network and look like a cell phone.  However Philips took a different approach with their VOIP841 product.  It looks like a very stylish traditional cordless phone but features a color LCD screen that features the normal Skype look and feel.

The VOIP841 can make calls over traditional landline and via Skype by connecting directly to your broadband access point, not the computer.

One major advantage for web workers the VOIP841 presents is the ability to make global calls at Skype’s ridiculously cheap prices.  Currently to call most places in Europe, their rate is around 2 cents a minute.

Read the rest of this entry »

Use Skype IM within Pidgin

For those of us who use instant messaging to conduct our day-to-day business, we know the frustrations of having multiple friends spread throughout all the major IM platforms including Google Talk, AIM, Yahoo!, MSN, and Skype. Pidgin is a freeware multi-protocol IM product that allows access to all your contacts from Yahoo!, MSN, Google Talk, and many more systems. However, Skype however was always closed off.

Not any longer, thanks to the Skype API and the Skype API Plugin for Pidgin. Using this free plugin, you can instant message back and forth with your Skype contacts within Pidgin. At this point, it isn’t possible to do voice calling from Pidgin. However every Skype contact is brought into Pidgin for easy access. Because Pidgin is cross-platform, this functionality is available for Windows, Mac, and Linux.

As a remote workers and road warriors, there are certain tools in our toolbox that are indispensable.  The ones that take some of the remoteness out of being located away from your teammates and colleagues.

IM is great for quick conversations and email is fantastic for more important communications, but when it comes to feeling connected to those you interface with, nothing beats Skype.  This is why I was elated to see that yesterday Skype updated it’s client on the Mac to version 2.7 and added some fantastic new features and bugfixes.

Read the rest of this entry »