Skype to sell unlimited international calls for $9.95/month

Skype is rolling out a new international pricing plan. 

The plan will allow unlimited calls to land-line phones in 34 countries for $9.95 per month, said Don Albert, vice president and general manager for Skype North America.

The countries encompassed include most of Europe, plus Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Chile, China, Singapore, Taiwan, Japan, Korea and Malaysia.

Calls to domestic land lines and cell phones are included as well, as are calls to cell phones in Canada, China, Hong Kong and Singapore, but not cell phones in other countries.

from Yahoo News

Good news for Missions execs.

Bloggers get free access to Encyclopedia Britannica

TechCrunch reported yesterday that Encyclopedia Britannica is granting one-year free access to "web publishers."  If you're  a blogger, webmaster or someone "who publish[es] with some regularity on the Internet" you qualify.

If you're interested head over to Britannica Webshare and check out the details.  You have to click on "register" and fill out a short form that includes the URL of your site.  I got a response in less that 24 offers that included an offer code that allowed me to "order EB for one year. 

I'm not sure how often I'll reference Encyclopedia Britannica, but it's a $70 value.  That's access to 44 million words of quality information for free!

YouTube mini-analytics inform video posting strategy

As part of my work as a missionary I create short, low-quality, low- tech videos for friends, family and supporters back home.  Because of my context I upload some of those to YouTube, others only for my FaceBook friends and others to a server and link to the video in an email  which I send out selectively.  I do this to protect the identity of the participants.

But the folks at YouTube have given me another reason to host my videos there: mini-analytics.  You can now know how many times your video has been watched, when and in which country. 

For example, in December we participated with Samaritans Purse to distribute Christmas giftboxes in Kosovo.  To document that effort I shot a two-minute video at the gift distribution site, an elementary school in a nearby city.  Here is that video which was posted on December 15th, 2007.

It's easy to see how many times the video has been watch; it's out in front.  In this case, it's 184.  That's about average for my videos; my audience is very small.  That doesn't really tell us much though.  When did those 184 views happen?  My assumption, before discovering the analyitics, was that most of those views came within a few days of the video's original post.  I should have known better and learned a lot from this new feature.

Finding the Analytics

To find your analytics log into YouTube and click on "my videos."  Find the video you're interested in and select, "about this video" on the right hand side.

 

You'll be taken to an interactive map with a scrollable timeline on the left and a map on the right.  The timeline can be moved from the video's original post date to the current date.  By scrolling through the view history you can easily find when the most views occurred; the map shows you the view density for that period.

What I found surprised me. I had assume that most people would watch the video within a few days of it being uploaded.  I could not have been more wrong.  In fact, based on the timeline above, only about ten people watched this video within the first three days.  Had I known that then, I probably would have quickly quit shooting video!

But if you look closely, you'll see a big spike about halfway through the timeline.  When I scroll over to that peak and select USA from the map view this is what I see.

Now I can see that on about February 18 about fifty-five people viewed the video.  Slightly less than a third of the total views happened on one day, two months after I posted the video.  They were mostly in North Carolina, but also in WI, NY and a few other states (the shading represents view density).  So what happened on Feb 18?  I have no idea.  But here are a few implications I've gleaned.

Implications

1. Videos have much longer legs than I thought.  Their timeliness isn't determined by the poster, but by the viewer.  Videos are watched months after their posted.  They need to be easy to find.
2. I cannot predict when a video will attract someone's interest or why.
3. Because of the first two points, missionary videos should be posted to a service that allows them to be aggregated under the poster's identity.  They should be easily searchable and storable.

I mentioned before that I post some videos to a server and send the link in a prayer letter.  I do that if the video has a lot of church members' faces or other identifiers.  Because I work in a nominally Muslim country I try to be careful.  But that "security" comes at a cost.  Most viewers will watch a video in ones or twos in the months that follow, not within a couple of days of the video becoming available.  A prayer letter with a link will get deleted or forgotten before the video's "long tale" has a change to grow.  Videos I distribute by link alone will be watched much less than those posted to a hosting site like YouTube (there are many others too).

If you're using video to communicate your work or ministry, I would highly recommend that it be permanently linkable, searchable, storable and aggregated under your identity.  People will watch your videos long after you've forgotten about posting them.  Make it easy for them to find.

Great SugarSync demo video

There has been a lot happening in the on-line storage and sync space recently. For example, here, here, here, here, and here.

Back in January I wrote about a new player in sync/backup called SugarSync.  SugarSync, which is new to sync/backup but not to online services, backs up everything (or as much of everything as you choose).  It also syncs with all your chosen devices (Mac, Windows & phone) and makes it all available, through a secure connection, to any Internet-connected computer.

The below video shows a great demo of how the product works which James Kendrik pointed out.

After using it in beta for several months I bought a one-year subscription, which set me back $25.  I rarely buy services or software always preferring FREE.  But this was too good a service to pass up.  [DISCLAIMER: After buying a one-year subscription, the kind folks at SugarSync gave me a free life-time 100GB plan (though they didn't refund my $25 :) ).]

Honestly, I now worry far less about lugging my laptop around knowing that I can get anything I need wherever there's an Internet connected computer.  And while I have a fairly robust backup strategy in place, it's only as good as it's weakest link...which is usually me.

If you're looking for an online backup and synchronization service SugarSync is worth a look.

The Always Reliable Makfax says 6 Feb Independence Day

Here's a quick clip from Makfax, quoting Radio Kosovo.  Independence may be declared on 6 February.

The independence of Kosovo will be declared on 6 February, Radio Kosovo cited sources close to the Kosovo's PM Hashim Thaci as saying. Radio Kosovo said that the document on declaration of independence will be adopted on 6 February in the Kosovo's Parliament, which would be followed by recognition by other countries. The same source added that the Parliament has already embarked upon preparations for that historic event, but did not specify whether will the European Union act in package or the recognition would be carried out by each country individually.

There was a lot in the media today about the EU and US having coordinated a date with the local government.  We'll see what happens.

James Blunt music video recalls the tragedy

I don't know how I missed this music video, but it is absolutely worth three and a half minutes. As the push for independence crawls on, as various US, EU, Serbian and Russian diplomats take the world stage with their proxies in tow, it is all to easy to forget what really happened here.

Award-winning, and Grammy Nominee James Blunt  wrote the song, "No Bravery" while an officer in the British Army serving in Kosovo.  As a captain Blunt was the first British officer to enter the capital, Prishtina, in 1999.

This music video relates some of his experience.

via FreeKosova

SugarSync backs up & syncs everything - it may be everything I'm looking for

Today Read/Write/Web had an exclusive review and presentation of Sharpcast's new SugarSync product.  Though SugarSync is in closed beta, RWW had 1500 invites, and I scored one (thanks guys!!).  In a nutshell, SugarSync syncs and backs up all of your data into the cloud (their secure servers) and allows you to use your data from practically any device, including your mobile phone.

According to RWW, Sharpcast CEO, Gibu Thomas, calls this ability to use, back-up and sync data across multiple devices the the "holy grail" of web apps.  I would agree with his assertion.

Other applications handle some of this.  I've been impressed with DocSyncer, for example, and have written about it here and here.  Though it keeps your stuff synced in real-time, it only keeps your Microsoft Office/Google Docs stuff synchronized.  Several times over the last couple of days I've been over at our community center working on things when I needed a file.  I thought, no problem, I'll log into DocSyncer ....ooops.  Then I'd remember it wasn't a Word doc, it was a PDF file.  Nuts, now I have go back to my house and grab my laptop/flashdrive/etc.

SugarSync brings everything into the cloud; everything you tell it to, that is.  It also works in real-time.  When you modify a document on your computer, it is synced to the SugarSync secure servers.  If you create a document on a public computer you can, through SugarSync's secure web portal, sync that doc back to your home computer or laptop.

A free account will apparently get your 1GB of storage, with upgrades available.  I am only syncing a portion of my "My Documents" and it weighed in at 2.4 GB.  Fortunately, extra space is free during the beta period.  Oh, and did I mention that with my awesome Kosovar Internet, it will take 15 days to sync up all my stuff?  Once it's uploaded, however, synchronization is reportedly quite fast.

Again, this product is in closed beta, but keep your eyes open for it, and read the article at RRW.  There is a huge amount of potential for this product, especially for those of us who travel regularly, and like to travel light.

Language Study Tools: Express Scribe - Transcription Playback

Most career missionaries devote a significant amount of time to learning and working with some foreign language.  We've all had occasion to transcribe some verbal "text" from our adopted language into English, or vice versa.  It's usually a bit of a painful process, juggling tape recorders, MP3 players and computer keyboards.

Express Scribe is a free, powerful piece of transcription software that may just make that job easier.

1. Variable speed playback (constant pitch).
2. Supports many professional foot pedals which connect to the game, serial or USB port to control playback. More info...
3. Uses 'hot' keys to control playback when using other software (eg. Word).
4. Ability to dock both analog and digital portable recorders to load recordings.
5. Works with Microsoft Word and all major word-processor applications.
6. Automatically receives and loads files by internet (FTP), email or over a local computer network.
7. Automatically sends typing to the person who dictated the work.
8. Works with speech recognition software such as Dragon Naturally Speaking to automatically convert speech to text.
9. Loads CD audio directly - listen as it loads in the background.
10. Integrate with dictation management systems using the Express Scribe SDK.
11. Works with FastFox typing utility to turn difficult medical/legal phrases and common terms into mere shortcuts from your keyboard.
12. Express Scribe is free.

via DownloadSquad

Skype To Go: Make calls from any phone, including your mobile

I've mentioned, numerous times, how much money Skype has saved our parent organization. Skype To Go is part of the Skype Pro plan and allows you to call nearly anyone from your land line or mobile at really attractive rates.

I can see US mission executives or regional leaders embracing this kind of solution for lowering their tel-com expenditures as well as giving them more calling options.

Here's the latest information from the Skype Blogs:

How does the new To Go number work? It’s simple:

• Sign up to a local Skype to Go number which you can call from anywhere in your country. See below for available Skype to Go countries.
• Register online by adding up to six of your favourite friends phone numbers or Skype addresses you want to reach.
• A friendly Skype voice will also guide you on the phone to tap in a phone number or select one of your six favourite friends from your speed dial list.

What are the costs?

• Skype Pro subscription fee is €2 (€2.30 with VAT included) per month
• The cost of a local call to your Skype to Go number (maybe part of your inclusive minutes, mobile or otherwise)
• Plus the cost of the SkypeOut call to the country of destination number

The last item really bears checking out.  For example, the last time I checked, it was just as in/expensive to call from the US to Kosovo through Skype as through a Warehouse store calling card.

Xobni getting good press, offers Outlook plug-in

Xobni (inbox spelled backwards) is a windows-only, freeware application that adds some pretty neat features to Microsoft Outlook.  Some of these features are really gee-whiz and some actually seem pretty useful.

Basically Xobni adds another panel to the right side of Outlook which displays all kinds of helpful information about your email.

It displays some of the sender's contact info, the frequency of their emails, times at which they're sent, etc.  It also provides threading for your conversations, which is actually pretty neat too.  That is, you can click on a particular conversation and Xobni will assemble the thread in the panel.

Check out the video for a better explanation.

Both TechCrunch and LifeHacker have good write ups (and invite codes to boot).  See also Web Worker Daily and Mashable as well. 

Xobni is in private beta at the moment.  I've got 5 invites if anyone is interested in trying it out.

Technorati Tags: Outlook, Xobni

Typeroom Simplifies Web Page Editing Online

Many of us have been in the situation where someone has done some web-design work for us for free and then wandered off our social graph.  You either don't have time to change the site, or you don't know enough HTML to pull it off.  Your donated website ends up languishing somewhere, unloved, un-updated, un-hit.

Typeroom may provide the answer for you.  Typeroom is a web-based site design tool, but with a twist.  It allows you to do web design with its layout tools, as do many other companies in this space.  But Typeroom allows you to enter a specific web site which it then copies to its own servers for editing.  Once on their servers you can edit the site with their WYSIWIG editing tools.  You can take that old, donated site and spruce it up to your heart's content.

Once you've made your edits Typeroom can reload the finished product back to your own server.  Check out the video for a better explanation.

Right now Typeroom is in closed Beta, but if I can wrangle an invite I'll let you know.  I have a languishing website that badly needs editing.

via TechCrunch

Official Google Docs Blog: New features for 2008!

According to the Official Google Docs blog you can expect new features in your GDocs account.  In addition to now being able to embed presentations Google is also releasing these features.

* you can now embed presentations anywhere online.

* Sub-folders, sub-folders, sub-folders...try selecting one of your folders and then choose New > Folder...et voila!

* Rename documents and folders from the Docs home toolbar (the Rename option is now between Delete and More Actions).

These are some of the top requested features from users, according to the blog.

Google Extra gives you more in your search

Ryan at Cybernet has posted a great little greasemonkey script that gives you more bang for your (free) Google Search buck.  It's called "Google Extra" and it utilizes the abundant right-side white space that a Google search normally gives you.

If you look at the search below on "Kosovo" with the script enabled you'll notice a number of areas that have been added to the return.

First, on the left column, is a short section of news returns and then, underneath, the normal Google search list.  On the right column, which is normally just white-space you'll find an image section, followed by videos, Wikipedia and dictionary.com entry.  [Note, I have an additional image group at the top of the left column.  That's an artifact from another script or plug-in.]

You can re-order the right-hand column returns.  Hovering over an image or video shows you a larger version of the image or thumbnails from the video.

Get the script here.

Via DownloadSquad

Discovering vs Teaching Del.icio.us: Four Uses

Not long ago someone wrote me and asked, "what's so great about del.icio.us?  It looks great, but I don't quite get it."  It's a good question and one that begs the previous question, why hasn't del.icio.us, a powerful social bookmarking application, and services like it, gone mainstream?

I just discovered a great post from John Udell asking these same questions.  Udell believes, quoting Richard Ziade, that del.icio.us hasn't gone mainstream for one of three reasons:

1. Nobody really needs a way to centrally store their bookmarks
2. Most people don’t understand what del.icio.us does
3. People don’t feel compelled to share del.icio.us with others

I agree with Udell that the answer is almost certainly number two.  People just don't understand what del.icio.us does.  He writes a nice description of his top four uses here.

The title of Udell's post tells you what the article is really about, "Discovering versus teaching principles of social information management."  That's the key to so many Internet technologies.

Travel Tips: TSA limits lithium batteries on flights

If you're traveling after Jan 1st, you should be aware of new TSA guidelines on the your spare laptop batteries.  TSA guidelines now stipulate that

1. You may not pack spare lithium batteries in checked luggage
2. You may pack devices with installed lithium batteries in checked luggage
3. You may carry spare lithium batteries in carry-on luggage
4. You may bring lithium batteries installed in a device
5. You can bring lithium ion batteries installed in a device that are up to 8 grams of equivalent lithium content
6. You can bring up to two spare lithium ion batteries with an aggregate of 25 grams of equivalent lithium content.
7. Lithium metal batteries, whether installed or carried as spares, are limited to 2 grams of lithium each.

I took this from Web Worker Daily and some comments are pretty funny.  One commenter was re-screened three times as TSA personnel resolutely tried to figure out what the plastic box in his carry on was (it was his laptop charger) :)  Who knows how they'll figure out how many grams of lithium you have on you!

Free Group of David Allen GTD Articles

If your New Year's Resolution impulse is cranking up (I resolutely suppress mine) you may find these free article offer grist for the mill.

• 5 Phases
• Stalking the Wild Projects
• Palm
• Are You Micro-Managing Your Mind?
• The Weekly Review
• The Coach as Personal Trainer
• The Threefold Nature of Work
• Make It Up and Make It Happen
• Organizing a Paper Organizer
• The Productivity Investments
• General Reference Filing
• The Tickler File
• Overtime... All the Time
• Managing Work on a Vacation
• Personal Inventory Control
• Workflow Diagram
• Workflow Advanced

They are available here as a .zip file.

via LifeHacker

Facebook adds 'Friends List"

Facebook just rolled out a new feature: Friend's lists.

Right now there doesn't seem to be a lot of functionality built into the change.  It appears that right now you're only given the ability to message a list.  You cannot, for example, restrict a video to a group of friends.

I'm sure FB will be adding this kind of function....but it's STILL not here yet.

Nice upgrade to DocSyncer

Last week I wrote about a nice new service called DocSyncer, which synchronizes your desktop docs with your Google Docs account.  Yesterday they announced a much needed, and appreciated, upgrade.  With the new version you can:

• Open desktop docs right into GDocs through a file association.
• Open files on your desktop through the your browser.
• find support for RTF, TXT, CSV, and HTML as well as the ability to turn off certain file types. 
• Change your Google Docs account
• Edit which folders are included in the synchronization

They're also working on:

• Google Apps for Your Domain support.  We hear you and it's coming soon!
• Google Docs Folder Support - Through Google's API, we have no way to assign documents to folders.  We'd very much like to do this so your Google Docs account is just as organized as your computer.  We're trying to work with Google to add support soon.

This is a great set of new features and answers some of the issues I have with DocSyncer.  I'm happy to hear, for example, that they're working on syncing folders with GDocs and allowing users to choose which folders are synced.  Great move DocSyncer!

DocSyncer: Keeping your docs where ever you are

I'm all for online document applications like Zoho and Google Apps, but they have one big drawback: you have to upload your docs and you risk creating various versions between your desktop and the "cloud".  Zoho has taken a step in the right direction by utilizing Google Gears.  Now you can work with your documents on-line or off (I wrote about two of those last week). 

But about a month ago a new service, called DocSyncer was reviewed on TechCrunch.  A limited beta was announced at the time and I just received my invite.  DocSyncer offers a lot of promise.  Simply, it claims to "Syncronize your Microsoft Office Documents with your Google Docs account."  From TechCrunch:

“DocSyncer is always sitting in the background,” explains founder Cliff Shaw, “watching for new documents. When something is added, it’s immediately synced up to our online viewer and Google Docs.”

It actually delivers on that...mostly.  Setting it up is simple.  After creating your account you're immediately taken to a Google Docs screen, asking you to authenticate access to your GDocs account.

After you've approved access you download a Desktop application which does all the heavy lifting.  The DocSyncer app lives in the system tray and keeps your documents synchronized in the background.

Nothing appears to happen on the desktop side of things, but DocSyncer keeps track of what's happening on their web interface.  This window shows the directory structure replicated on the left and a directory's contents on the right.  It also shows the status of remaining documents to be uploaded

The DocSyncer website shows all of your documents' status, but they actually are hosted with your GDocs account.  This is where the "beta nature" of DocSyncer begins to show.  The pic above shows the DocSyncer window.  It looks beautiful.  Here's my GDocs Windows:

The GDocs window is not nearly as attractive...or usable.  I'm inclined to think that this is an issue with GDocs and the way it organizes documents.  While DocSyncer clearly understands my file structure, GDocs is completely oblivious to how I organize my stuff.  The file structure isn't duplicated  at all, and all I end up with is a long list of file organized, not by creation date, but by upload date.

My other observation is the speed at which files are uploaded.  The DocSyncer applet has been running for a couple of days in the background, and I still don't have anywhere near all of my docs uploaded.

The application is still in beta, and I see lots of potential in this service.  This is the missing link.  If I could keep all my documents synchronized between my desktop and the Google cloud I could forgive GDocs for its horrible formatting.

Office 2.0 Database - calc5

Ismael Ghalimi compiled a great round of of "web 2.0" applications.  He's grouped them by categories: bookmarking, calendar, contacts, CRM, database, desktop, document management, etc.  Then he's listed his primary app and secondary/alternative apps.  This is a great list to bookmark.

via Scobleizer