THE "XOIP" CHRONICLES

Dear Readers,

We’re very happy to announce that on our “Wall of Fame”, we now have a new entry… having been featured in the New York Times, the TR-10 is also getting some love in the Business Traveller Magazine, with the exceptional mention, “one of the must useful items I’ve come across recently for the business traveler.” So we’re happy to share clips from our “Wall of Fame”:

From the New York Times!

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We love to hear what you experience with our devices! This Monday, we’re highlighting a great review from Anchorage, Alaska - and in a review first, the FR-33.2 handset was reviewed in Moose points (out of 5). The reviewer is Steve Nigl, a great Mac User and Photographer. In fact, we were so mesmerized by his work, that we almost did nothing else this morning! We invite you to see his great work on Flickr and on his website.

Want to submit your reviews and links? Email us at cs@ipevo.com or contact us through Twitter.

“Reviewed by: Steve Nigl
Hardware: IPEVO FRee.2 Skype USB Handset with LCD
Price: $39.99
Pros: Great call quality, Cellphone-style keypad, LCD to display Skype call info
Cons: Need for IPEVO software, some firmware latency in key commands.
Moose Rating: 4

IPEVO makes a full range of corded handsets for use with Skype and other VoIP applications. The FRee.2, in the middle of their lineup, is perhaps my favorite. Cited on IPEVO’s website to be 8-times the clarity of landline telephone calls, my experience with the FRee.2 has been one of stellar call clarity when network conditions allow. The svelte FRee.2 packs easily in my laptop bag, and allows me privacy when calling from public wi-fi hotspots. The FRee.2 sports the iconic IPEVO look with a rectangular hole through the handset, near the mic. The hole is more than ornamental by helping reduce the echo heard by your caller. I’ve tested calls with and without the handset and my caller could hear a noticeable difference in echo reduction compared to my Mac’s built in speakers and mic.

Out of the box, there’s a simple driver to install, which can be set to auto-launch at system start, or (my preference) can be launched manually. I dragged an alias to the Macintosh desktop Dock for quick access. When the Skype application is launched, the phone’s screen is populated with recently called numbers, and my remaining SkypeOut balance. Very handy! I’ve found the ‘called’ list easier to access on the screen of the FRee.2 than from within the Skype app itself! My only criticisms are a bit of a firmware lag when trying to keep-up with fast number dialing. For example the keys will not ‘beep’ once per key-push when keying too quickly. I would also love an optional DTMF instead of the monotone beeps. For me, the DTMF tones confirm that I’m dialing the right number. I also found the cord to be too generous (long) for portable use. If I were making a call while cooking in the kitchen, it would be perfect. Even though it would probably add a few bucks, I’d recommend a shorter USB plus a male-female extension cable that could be left at home.

I’ve tried Skype calling from my Mac’s built-in audio, and have tried several Bluetooth headsets (and hated the call quality when compared to wired headsets - even with the $100+ Jawbone!) and can say that the clearest Skype calls I’ve experienced have been on the IPEVO FRee.2

Well worth the forty bucks, and heartedly recommended!

Rated four point five moose! ”

Thank you Steve!!

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So it’s Friday, and we thought we’d share what our office is doing for the Christmas party (and hopefully we’ll be sharing photos soon!).

Ipevo is not unlike other companies in the Silicon Valley: today, we’re setting up a Christmas tree, having a social late afternoon meeting, and I’ve heard rumors of a secret santa playing out (but no jingled bells yet!). We all have IPEVO products, so I’m pretty sure other things will end up under the wrapped paper…

More than just some beverages and some antler head decorations (there are 3 for 6 of us, so I think a game will determine who gets them), we’ll be playing GarageBand and Blockles. We’ve actually found at the last good-bye party that Blockles helped build our team! Setting all professional opinions aside, the “Ovepi” team (as we can be found on iminlikewithyou) discovered it was kicking A*** when playing as a team! Another valuable lesson to all of us is that you can’t always target the same person with your attacks, because they can have “Revenge” items which ending up costing you 1st place… Ultimately, the quiet Rita whopped all of us without even thinking twice about it (an amazing 11 wins out of 15 games played!!!).

So with rocky tunes and Blockled cheers, we wish you a Happy Holidays!

- The IPEVO Team.

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Every week, Ipevo tries to highlights special Skype users met on Twitter, on Flickr, customer service, or wherever online life takes us!

This week, we’d like to highlight a special entrepreneur, Jeff Smith, whom we met through Twitter. How did we come to be so intrigued with Jeff’s new consulting business? Well, Mr. Smith started consulting when he was 14; and he was good enough at it that it paid for college (who else can claim that??). That was followed by a whopping 20 years with Microsoft, and this year, to consulting with Clickstream Technologies. He is building a new Product and Market Research Services company with ClickStream, which we’ll be sure to write about when it comes out in January.

So what’s the business model to get started in this economy? Well consulting is a good start, because it makes the best of the remote office - and Jeff is living the ultimate remote office. His partner and coworkers are in California, while he’s in Washington - “I love the flexibility of working wherever I want,” says Mr. Smith, “I have a home office set up, and when I want be around other people, be social, I take my laptop to a cafe in Seattle.”

Mr. Smith uses Skype everyday, with subcontractors and clients. For that, he’s using the FR-33.2 and the TR-10, with which he records conversations. And we thought his use was very clever: “I record the conversations and then post it to our team workspaces. This way, everyone’s on the same page when we drill on the details of a project, and if someone couldn’t make it to the call, they can listen in when they’re back”. But Mr. Smith takes the social office beyond Skype - he is on Twitter, IM, and other social networking sites throughout the day, establishing a real network of social end points with which to talk to industry specialists and prospect customers. “Social media is the future”, reaffirms Mr. Smith. And we think he’s right! Follow him on his blog, on Twitter or email any questions/inquiries at jeff@clickstreamtech.com.

Do you have an interesting Skype story? Email it to us at cs@ipevo.com or follow us on Twitter!

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We’re about to take off for the long week-end, off to see our friends, our families, our loved ones. But we’d also like to thank the special people that make our day-to-day oh so much brighter (especially in this bleak economy). So although most of you, our readers, visitors, customers, suppliers, press contacts, never see the people we’re about to name, we’d like you (and them) to know that these are core people that contribute to who we are as a company, and where we’re headed next:

• Kenneth Cheung. Kenneth, you’re the best everything man we’ve ever had. From logistics, to wiring the entire office (hoping the landlord’s not reading this now, huh?), to intricate design for our crazy marketing campaigns, to outstanding support at tradeshows, you’re the guy everyone wants to go to. Your off-the-wall sense of humor and manga faces makes you the most wanted man in the history of the San Jose office.
• Pauline Peng. You’re the marketing coordinator extraordinaire. Without you, we wouldn’t have all these pictures of food, and all those compromising videos of the goofy moments in the office. We’re all tempted to assign you the new title of Archives expert, but you’re so much more, and in so many languages, that you can’t be referenced. Little Orange, we’re all behind you! (and umm… can you teach us how to play the drums???)
• Rita Puyu. If Mr. Bean needed a personal accountant, we’d throw you in. Office manager, coffee addict, multi tasker, orderly fashionista, your unequaled skills in making everyone fill the required paperwork is only surpassed by your charming humor and uplifting attitude. We look forward to your latest GarageBand experts and are still offering a reward to anyone who’ll tell us how, just how, you keep whopping us all at Blockles.
• Terry Ko. We all bow to your design super-powers and can’t wait to see what you’ll imagine - and mock up - next. While keeping us on our intellectual toes, you embrace teamwork, and everyone who has ever had the blessing to work with you on a project feels like part a family (just the kind of ideal family where everyone gets along and cares for each other). You’re an example of work ethics, of excellent management, generosity, and unparalleled imagination. You just make us all soooo curious, so… psssst - what’s next?
• David Ly. You’re the new guy, but your military methodology had us all reconsider what our desk *should* look like. You’re not just creating model workspaces - you’re a model to us all in work ethics and integrity. May Ipevo grow and learn with you!

Thank you guys! And may the force (and the taco danse) be with you!

While we’re at it, we’re giving out free shipping to you, our customers, until Dec 31st (Ground shipping to the continental US). Check it out at the IPEVO online store! And to celebrate that, we’re giving out Free Skype Vouchers through Skype Journal (but there only 300 vouchers available, so hurry!).

Merry Thanksgiving everyone! - the IPEVO team

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This week, we’re featuring the Tucson Mac User Group, a great group that reviews Mac products and gives presentations on how to use your Mac even more! Check them out on their website.

Thank you Curt for this wonderful review!

****

“VoIP services such as Skype, MSN, AOL and YahooMessenger provide good, low cost voice communication over the internet but speaking and hearing via your computer is always a bit awkward. The most common way to do this is to use USB headphones that include a boom mic. These tend to yield varying results – echo, boominess and the usual quirky internet artifact noise inherent with this medium. Now, Ipevo has simplified and streamlined the process with a variety of handsets for use with these VoIP applications. Their units are PC and Mac compatible.

I recently had the opportunity to experiment with three Ipevo handsets all of which have some huge advantages over the clumsy headsets I’ve used in the past.

The simplest unit is the Universal VoIP Handset (ST-4RT.1). It looks like a sleek, minimalist telephone handset with a cord and two 3.5mm audio jacks at the end – one for the mic and one for the headphone input. The only control on the unit is for volume. No special driver is required. This simply allows you to make VoIP calls that you originate yourself using your computer to set-up and place the calls. Sound quality is quite good and people I called said their reception was very natural sounding. A nice, inexpensive unit that retails for a very reasonable $14.99.

In addition, Ipevo has done their homework and developed a couple of very nice Skype USB Handsets that are nearly as easy to use as your telephone. The handsets have standard telephone keyboards for dialing and can also scroll through your contacts, redial and even allow you to choose ringtones. These handsets are supplied with software that also allows one-touch recording. There are two models, one with an LCD screen (FR-33.2, $39.99), and one without (FR-33.1, $29.99). These are nicely engineered with a large open square at the bottom of the handset that is designed to reduce the annoying VoIP echo. It worked well for me. Of course, when a Skype connection is bad, there is not much you can do but place your call again.

The newest addition to the Ipevo Skype phone collection is the TR-10 Portable Conference Phone for Skype ($79.99). This impressive dual function unit can be used as a speakerphone for conference calls up to four people and can also be picked up and toggled for use as a normal handset for private calls. Although I didn’t have a chance to try this feature, the TR-10 can also be used with softphones such as X-lite, Avaya or other internet phones.

Ipevo makes some very well-designed, sleek-looking VoIP phone equipment and during my trials, they worked well with very good voice reproduction. The build quality is excellent and the fact that they are lightweight and small, eliminates the usual desk clutter associated with VoIP calling. They are also small enough to easily carry when traveling. Impressive units worth your consideration.”

- Curt Blanchard, Tuscon Mac User Group.

Did you review our product? Want to let others know what you thought? Email us your review! cs@ipevo.com

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This year, the Obama campaign made blog waves with their extraordinary leverage of social media tools - but inspiring uses of Twitter and Skype can be found away from the national media spotlight as well. Today, we’re handing out extra kudos to two teachers using Twitter and Skype to pique the interest of their high school students. Kyle Stevens, an Economics teacher in Dallas, TX, and Dianne Laufenberg, an History teacher in Philadelphia, PA, set out to connect and engage students by concerting their classrooms’ efforts around the election. Except in this case, Ms. Laufenberg’s Junior class and Mr.Steven’s Senior class took a field trip from Philadelphia – via Twitter, Skype and Flickr.

Twitter Teachers
Mr. Stevens and Ms. Laufenberg both had ideas for their classes. How could they engage their high school students? And how could they do it taking into account the massive budget cuts that have swept counties in every State?

“Dianne took the initiative,” insists Mr. Stevens. “She came forward on Twitter saying she had this idea for her class. I was excited by her idea, and after two weeks of talking over Skype, we had the plan set up.”

Dallas had early voting, but Philadelphia did not. So the teachers thought it’d be interesting to ask both Philadelphia and Dallas voters who came out to vote Nov. 4th why they chose to go to the booth that day. Students from both cities went out and interviewed local voters, and then Philadelphia students shared their videos on Flickr, and the Dallas students shared their audio recordings on Gcast.

Skype Students
Despite the time difference and without facing airport security, 15 Juniors in Philadelphia sat through conference videochat with 18 Seniors in Dallas, discussing the videos of local voters in both states they had posted on Flickr as well as the audio recordings they had collected using their cell phones and posted on Gcast.

“Both classrooms were excited and engaged, even though,” Mr. Stevens admits. “Only Dianne’s class had a webcam – so we could see them, but they couldn’t see us.”

That didn’t stop the class from talking for over an hour; in fact, the videochat was such a success that Mr. Stevens affirms they’ll be pushing for more like projects in the semesters to come. IPEVO will be supplying the missing webcam (our beloved IPEVO POV webcam) and a FR-33.2 handset to facilitate and record the conversation. We’re happy to be part of this creative initiative that ties into social media - in fact, we’ve met with Mr. Stevens over Twitter, and we’ll follow his story there too!

“Skype enabled us to easily set up and coordinate classes together despite the time zone difference,” said Mr. Stevens. “Skype was a great tool both for the preparation and the completion phase, and students were engaged and excited to communicate with out-of-state peers to discuss current issues.”

We look forward to learning about Mr. Stevens’ next initiative. Want to know when he’ll be Skyping next? Follow us on Twitter!

About the Twitter Teachers:

Dianne Laufenberg is a teacher at the Science Leadership Academy. Follow her on Twitter. Ms. Laufenberg has taught all grade levels from 7-12 in Social Studies. After that, she taught at Mount Elden Middle School in Flagstaff, AZ for 8 years. Her latest adventure finds her at the Science Leadership Academy in Philadelphia with 11th grade American History. Find out about her latest efforts by reading her wiki and following her blog.

Kyle Stevens is a teacher/coach at Bishop Dunne Catholic School in Dallas, Texas, USA. Kyle is in his 9th year in education and his 6th year at Bishop Dunne Catholic. Kyle has taught English I, English II, World History, and Economics. Kyle’s classes make use of various emerging tools to connect with audiences and classes outside of their school. His classes use podcasting, classblogmeister, skype and other tools to communicate their ideas. Kyle has presented on effective uses of Interactive White Boards, Podcasting in education, Blogging in education, and other similar tools at local and regional conferences including the Geo Tech conference in Dallas, TX and the Tech Forum Southwest in Austin, TX. He writes a blog which you can read here.

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Last week, Starbucks announced that its profit margin would be 97% lower than last year’s, at 1 penny a share, compared to 21 cents a share in 2007….
This points out to a wider trend: the Golden Years are over. The years of spending $5 on a coffee daily are now looking to us as days where we foolishly thought spending $200 a month of coffee wasn’t impacting our savings, or our quality of life. In this economy however, we invite you to take a look at 3 small points that could help rebalance your bottom line:

• Check your phone bill. If possible, go to a lower rate plan - but only if the lower plan would cover the average amounts of minutes spent in the last 6 months. So if you’ve been using 650 minutes in a 900 minute plan, and the next one under is 450 minutes, do NOT change plans. If you can, at home, use Skype, that’s free software that allows you to make cheap ($0.02/mn for the US) calls to landlines and cells from your computer, and free calls to other Skype users .
• Repair any leaks. If you pay your water bills, now’s definitely a time to watch out for leaks. Leaks can add up to hundreds of dollars a year in water… where fixing the leaking faucet can cost as little as $2 for the old joint in the Hot handle. If you need help understanding how your faucet works, try Home Depot, they have very helpful do-it-yourselfers there!
• Eat home-made food. These days, you can make lasagna for $25, which can be reheated for lunch and serves 2 people 4 meals. That’s about $3 a meal per person. It’s home made, so it’s much healthier than any other $3 alternative at a fast food or other. Even simple pasta dishes can be made for $2-$3 per meal, and are easily re-heatable at your office’s microwave. If you can save $5 per meal per day, that’s $200 per month (20 working days per month), or $2400 a year. That week in Hawaii won’t look so expensive at the end of the year, and you waistline will thank you…

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Ok, so we’re not the Gates family, but sometimes, we have some give aways. They’re modest, they’re intriguing, we try to make them fun. For example, in June, we had a Free Skype Voucher give away. And it’s this time of year again, so we’re looking for ideas!

We’re very tempted to be generous again, but the last campaign proved to be extremely tiring. The responses to the survey we put up (”What kind of webcam would you like to have?”) were great… but 36% of respondents cheated. That’s right. So that we could give a maximum amount of Skype vouchers to the largest possible amount of new customers/visitors, we had set a limit of one per household, one per email address, one per IP address policy. Without that, we thought, some clever person would just fill out the survey 200 different ways (so the information wouldn’t be statistically relevant), and take all the vouchers, leaving our other visitors with nothing. Well, 36% of respondents still managed to submit several responses, sometimes trying with different IPs, sometimes, with different emails…

This was a little frustrating for us. We love to use Skype, and we know our www.ipevo.com visitors and our Ipevo phone users do too. So it’s just really irritating when we have to go through thousands and thousands of entries and spend (literally) days looking at excel sheets only to find that some 17-year-old wanted 30 vouchers for themselves. It may not look like it, but giving away free vouchers is a very time-intensive experience. Meaning, I have to sit in front of my computer for hours. I write you guys a simple letter to say thank you for participating, and whooof, 30mn are gone. I attach the voucher and send notes, and pooof, 6 hours are gone. I have to sift through thousands of cheaters’ email, and whoof, 5 days are gone.

So it’s this time of year again, the Holidays are approaching, and despite past tiring experiences, we’d like to give away some Skype vouchers. But this time, I’d like NOT to spend my evenings figuring out who tried to cheat the system. (Oh and for those of you who participated… you KNOW I’ve never used that email to spam you EVER. So help me out too!)

We’re open to ideas… what do you think would be the best way to get people who use Skype every week or so to get free vouchers from Ipevo? For starters, the best idea gets 4 x 30mn vouchers!

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Recently, we wrote about Google’s new found videochatting capabilities… and it got us to thinking of 3 new and innovative ways videochatting may be put to use in the future…

• Intriguing: Politics 4.0. This year, we have seen the Obama campaign use Skype in its grassroots campaign to reach out to a new electorate. So we’re thinking, could Joe the Plumber be giving you a call in 3.5 years? Could you maybe meet Joe and his family and have a conference call with others in your neighborhood?
• Annoying: Telemarketing. Of course, there’s the good’ole video telemarketing… who knows, maybe the Home Shopping Network could become the Anywhere Shopping Service. Imagine being interrupted mid-email for “an exciting, unique, only-for-this-minute, extraordinary opportunity to buy a one-of-a-kind 12 carat earring for your mom or friend by simply clicking on the link that was just spammed to you!”.
• Useful yet off the wall: egrocery shopping. So you’re looking for that tropical honey Stroopwafel your friend brought back to your from the Netherlands. Some grocery stores seem to have it, but you have no idea whether or not your local store would carry such an exotic product? Maybe you’ll be able to build a grocery list, and ask a local merchant to go check it out for you? A quick videochat would confirm/ And while we’re dreaming, it’d be waiting for your right at the cash register, so that your down time is exactly 0 minutes…

What are your thoughts? How are some of the new ways you think you’ll be using videochat in say, 5 years?

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