Conference calls can be a pain, and getting charged by the minute doesn’t help. But these days, there’s really no reason to pay for them. There’s FreeConfereceCall.com, FreeConference.com, Lypp, and a bunch of other small startups giving away the service. But while there’s no difference in the cost, Rondee’s Evite-like web interface makes it the simplest conference calling system I’ve seen. The service lets you schedule calls with several little features that make it easier to use. All you need to do is pick a date, fill out an invitation, and Rondee will email the participants with the number and a pin. Like Evite you can pick a theme, participants can invite others, times can be readjusted by participants, and the service sends an email reminder of the meeting. You can also add meetings to your Outlook calendar in one click. Participants call into 619-2-RONDEE (619-276-6333) and enter a PIN number (You can pick your own). If you give Rondee your phone number, it automatically logs you in to your conference when you call. Rondee remembers your previous calls and contacts for future reference. Soon they’ll be adding free call recording. Rondee has plans for putting premium services on top of the platform, such as transcription or WebEx-like screen casting. Competition is fierce, though, with a lot of startups looking to make Cisco regret that $3.2 billion they paid for WebEx. DimDim, Zoho, SightSpeed, Vyew, and Google (acquired Marratech) are all nibbling at their customer base. CrunchBase Information Rondee Information provided by CrunchBase → Read More
Free online web conferencing service Vyew launched earlier this year. Today, they’ve launched a new version that allows users to create “VyewBooks” to share, present, and interact with other people around content such as Microsoft Office files, pictures, audio and video. The new version includes tools to facilitate the creation of new presentations and also supports a desktop view for live sharing of files, images, and web sites. A widget-style tool “Vyewlet generator” allows content to be embedded on any website, a screencast tool of sorts that records collaborative work for demonstration elsewhere. Henry Hon, CEO of Vyew compares the new version directly with competitors: “Vyew isn’t just another WebEx or GotoMeeting where information is communicated in a canned one-to-many format. Vyew is an enterprise-class social computing platform where people can also create, share, and participate with rich content in a many-to-many relationship, both in real-time and asynchronously over time.” There are a lot of alternatives in this space and competing with the likes of WebEx and GoToMeeting is a challenge in itself. Vyew offers something a different a little different at a competitive price. Previous TechCrunch coverage here. → Read More
Vyew is a new collaboration tool suite that lets users share a common online visual workspace and their desktops. It is impressive. The service came out of beta status today and is now offering premium accounts in addition to the free accounts already available. Vyew is a little like WebEx and other high end conferencing offerings. It’s also a little like Thinkature and other easy collaboration tools. It’s definitely a company to watch, though I didn’t have the easiest time using it myself while testing it. Free accounts allow the creation of two workspaces with 10 uploaded items. For $10 or $20 per month you can raise those limits substantially. Vyew doesn’t require a desktop client to be downloaded by users. That’s key for quick and easy adoption by new users. Workspaces are shared in Flash and desktops with a Java applet. There’s text chat and with a single click Vyew will generate a unique login for participants to use for a free telephone conference call. There’s a well produced, in depth screencast with a very earnest voice here. The workspace tools are on the sophisticated end of standard. Pointing arrows are unidirectional, which is a small thing but I’d like to have text to the right of an item and point an arrow left connecting the two. That’s not easy to do though and hardly anyone goes to the trouble in adding that to services like this. There are a number of alpha-plugins like the Yahoo Maps one in screenshot below. How is the performance? The administrative functions are very well done – all the options available are a joy to use. In Safari I had some trouble with the workspace when the desktop sharing was turned on. The desktop sharing I found easy to start but a little difficult to use without any practice. I would recommend trying out Vyew and seeing if you can get the use of it down. If you can, the price and features are fantastic. → Read More
