Are We Entering the Era of Mobile Video Chat?

It’s clear that video is booming on the web.  Video sharing sites like YouTube and portable camcorders like the Flip have exploded.  Also, as I’ve discussed in previous blog articles and in the recent Businessweek Video Webcast - video conferencing is growing in leaps and bounds.

I’ve seen significant growth in the desktop video conferencing space with services like Skype, Tokbox, and ooVoo being used for everything from virtual meetings and remote collaboration to friends and family keeping in touch.   Thanks to the increase in broadband and wi-fi people can meet face-to-face virtually from almost anywhere.

Well now it looks like video chat/conferencing is about to get even more mobile.   Last week Apple released the iPhone 4 which includes a forward facing camera and a built in program called FaceTime that allows video chatting from iPhone to iPhone.  Also Sprint released the EVO 4G which also includes a front-facing camera and the QIK video chat software. It seems like the natural next step . . .

There is no mistaking that the time is ripe to get into the mobile video chatting game. It is already big enough with tools from Skype, Google (Talk) and others, and it’s only going to get bigger. There are already millions of notebook owners in the mix, and when you add what is likely going to be millions of smartphone and tablet owners, the potential market for video chat offerings is going to be huge.

via Is a Mobile Video Chat Revolution Imminent?.

I’m sure these two phones are only the start of this trend.  In fact you can be sure that once Apple starts to push this envelope others will be soon to follow – much the way that the iPhone invigorated the smartphone market and the iPad has woken up the sleeping tablet market.  I’m still shocked that the iPad didn’t include a camera on it for video chats – but I’m almost certain the next generation will include that feature.  In fact it’s Read more

Working From an Airport with The Anywhere Office

I have to admit that these days I don’t travel that often.  Having a 3 year old son makes me want to stay home a lot more than I used to – and being I work in The Anywhere Office I find I can often avoid unnecessary travel by wielding my mobile work technology to work from anywhere. However now and again an opportunity arises that I just can’t pass up.  Last week I was invited to be a panelist on a Bloomberg Businessweek Live Video Webcast all about video conferencing.

It was a great opportunity that I didn’t want to miss – so despite the fact that it meant flying out of town on my birthday – I went to the West Palm Beach Airport here in sunny Florida and flew to New York City.

The webcast was lots of fun and I got to spend some time with my good friend Marc and visit with his family as well – a splendid time was had by all!  I got to the airport very early because I hitched a ride in with my wife (who works close to the airport) and it got me thinking about being productive in an airport and why I love flying out of PBI.  Here is a short video I shot talking about working from an airport with The Anywhere Office:

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iPhone OS 4.0: Big Productivity Benefits

I love my iPod Touch! I got it over a year and a half ago and it is still my favorite piece of technology (along with my Flip video camera).

In fact, it’s probably one of the main reasons for me planning to switch from a PC to a Mac soon.  I don’t have to troubleshoot it, almost never reboot it, it doesn’t get hung up or give me dll errors – the damn thing just works – and it’s FUN!

When they released the 3.0 OS upgrade for it last year I was really stoked for a few of the features – but mostly for the copy and paste.  That was a huge productivity booster.  Well this summer I have OS 4.0 to look forward too and once again there will be some big time savers. Here is a look at some of the main new features:

iPhone OS 4.0: The Web Working Benefits

This time around I think it’s the folders to group my apps into that will bring me the biggest boost.  I download lots of apps to test (which I’ll be reviewing soon here on the blog) and tons of games for my son.  The quick search they introduced in 3.0 made finding things a lot easier – but being able to group related apps together will be sweet! Also the new multitasking looks great but I will have to see how it’s implemented.

Are you an iPhone, iPod Touch, or iPad user? What are you most looking forward to in the new OS or what features/functions do you wish Apple would add? Post a comment below and let me know.

Mobile Web Will Rule by 2015 (maybe sooner)

It’s no surprise with all the ads you see for iPhones, iPads, Blackberry’s, and Android phones that accessing the web on mobile devices is a growing trend. I probably spend a good 1/3 or more of my time on the internet using my iPod Touch rather than my laptop to search Google, view websites, and connect with people on Twitter.

This article shares some eye-opening stats and graphs from Morgan Stanley analysts showing the most important online trends:

Mobile Web Will Rule by 2015

Here are a few highlights:

• Video accounts for 69% of mobile data traffic.
• Facebook is the single largest repository for user-generated content such as pics, videos, links and comments.
• Apple and Android platforms are gaining in the mobile OS market, while Windows Mobile, RIM and Palm decline. Read more

4 Easy Ways to Share Large Files

It’s not unusual in these days of webworking and remote collaboration to have the need to share large files with colleagues, clients, or even family members.  Not only do we have large reports but there are also the ever growing collection of photos, audio, and video files.

While Gmail allows you to send attachment up to a generous 25 MB in size – there are times where that just isn’t large enough as you may have files that are 100 or more MB to send. Here are 4 great services I’ve found that will let you easily send large files to others:

YouSendIt – The free version of this service will let you send files up to 100 MB with a 1 GB monthly download limit. The file will remain available for 7 days to download.  Simply go to their website, fill out a short form (with your email address, the address of who you want to send the file to, a subject line, and short message), then click the browse button and choose which file you want to send.  It upload the file to their servers and emails a link to the person you are sending the file to. If you want additional features including the ability to send files up to 2GB in size you can choose one of their paid services (including pay per use if you only need to do this once in a while).

Dropbox – Dropbox not only lets you easily share files with others but it also allows you to sync your files online and across your computers automatically. They give you 2GB of online storage for free and you can pay for up to 100 GB. You need to download a small program but it’s free and work on Windows, Mac, or Linux systems. It creates a dropbox folder on your computer where you can easily copy files to upload them or share them with others.  What I love about Dropbox is that you can share an entire folder and make it public or just share it with a group of people. There are some other great features: Read more

3 Tech Tools to Help You Travel Lighter

During this past holiday season I spent about 18 days in Syracuse NY visiting family and friends.  I decided for the first time ever to travel for an extended holiday vacation without my laptop – having to walk through several airports lugging heave luggage I figured the less tech gear I had to take with me the better!  Thanks to two small pieces of technology (that fit in my pocket) and one service I use I was able to stay connected, entertained, and when needed – productive.

Watch this short video to learn more about how I took The Anywhere Office with me and was able to work from anywhere while traveling lighter than ever before!

Two things I forgot to mention in the video . . . The reason I have an iPod Touch and not an iPhone is because I refuse to switch from Verizon to AT&T as my cellphone provider.  I have been a loyal Verizon customer for years for two main reasons – excellent signal (I can make and receive calls from just about anywhere and almost never have a dropped call) and great customer service (sadly almost unheard of today).  The minute Apple gets smart and moves away from their exclusive deal with AT&T and brings the iPhone (or some variation of it) to Verizon I will be the first one in line to get one!

Also one additional app I use on my iPod Touch that really helped me stay in touch was Yahoo Messenger.  Yahoo is the main IM service I use and I was able to seamlessly stay connected using my iPod Touch so I didn’t miss any messages from my family, friends, and colleagues – simply awesome.

BTW – I shot this video using my new Flip UltraHD camcorder and the Gorilla Tripod – 2 more great portable pieces of technology I have!

Comment below and let me know what is the key technology you use to stay connected when on the road.

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Easy Audio Blogging on the iPhone with AudioBoo

Listen above as my 2 year old son Spencer and I take AudioBoo for a spin on my Ipod Touch.

Posting audio to the web just got a whole lot easier thanks to a great service and iPhone app called AudioBoo.  AudioBoo allows iPhone and iPod Touch users to record and playback digital recordings up to 5 minutes long which can then be posted on the AudioBoo website where users have their own pages or channels similar to Twitter or YouTube.

I love to test out new technology (in fact I’m kind of addicted to it) so when I heard about AudioBoo I just had to give it a spin.  I have an iPod Touch – not an iPhone and despite it not having a built in mic I have an external add-on mic (more about that below) so I am able to use any of the recording apps for the iPhone.

I figured to make the test a bit more fun I would ask my 2 year old son Spencer to test it with me. He was having a ball with this and occasionally put the mic too close to his mouth so you will have to forgive some of the audio spikes.

He definitely follows in his Dads footsteps and seems to love technology as much as I do (he’s a born button pusher . . .). In fact he quickly mastered my iPod Touch almost instantly when I got it last Christmas.  He knows how to turn it on – swipe through the pages to find the games and programs he likes and play them all without any help from me.  And if you think that is crazy – you should see him wield a mouse on the Noggin website – lookout!

The iPod Touch is an amazing device and I will be writing (and shooting a lot of video) about it in the near future to let you know how it has replaced my laptop for many of my mobile work tasks – but back to AudioBoo.

Portable Audio Blogging Made Easy
It couldn’t be easier.  I setup a free account on their website and then downloaded the program (also free) to my iPod Touch.  One quick touch of the account button to plug in my account info and we were ready to record.  We plugged in the Phillips Mic – tapped the START button on the record screen and after a 3 second countdown we were recording.  When you are all done you hit the pause button and then the publish button.  It allows you to type in a short message, add a photo, and even post the location you are publishing from. Within minutes it uploaded our audio over our wifi connection and we were able to listen to it. Read more

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