Since August 25, Google has been rolling out a new feature – the ability to call phones directly from a Gmail account. While voice chat has been available for some time as part of Gmail, being able to call a telephone is new.
Currently, calls to US and Canadian phones are free, with calls to other countries billed at low rates. The free US and Canadian calling is reported to be only until the end of the year, but Google has said that it hopes that the international calling fees will mean that the free calling can be extended indefinitely.
In order to use the call feature, users have to install a plugin, but after that the “Call phone” option from within a Gmail account should become active.
Not every account has been activated yet. Google is continuing to roll out the feature, so if you install the plugin and it doesn’t work, it should in the very near future.
Twitter hasn’t been around for that long in the whole scheme of things, but it has definitely become an integral part of daily life for many people. Individuals, celebrities, charities and companies alike have Twitter accounts and all use this free micro-blogging tool in a myriad of ways. From keeping up with friends and family to spreading a message, the 140 character tweets have added a new dimension to the ability to be succinct in getting your message across.
As with any media tool, Twitter can be a help or a hindrance when it comes to marketing your organization. Just starting a Twitter account is not enough. Twitter users are becoming fickle in their ability to choose who they want to follow. Providing insightful and informative tweets will gain you followers and thus increase the pull to your website or blog, while anything that appears to be spam is quickly dropped.
If you want to set up a Twitter account, or if you have an account and you want to use it more effectively, makeuseof.com has a free guide to using Twitter. From creating effective tweets to using bots and some tips and tricks for Twitter, the free pdf will help you get your fledgling account off the ground and soaring in no time.
Last week, Ed Poll of LawBiz Management had a discussion with Audrey H. Rubin, President and founder of Rubin Solutions, Ltd., about what lawyers need to know before they open their own law firm. Audrey Rubin has a long history of helping improved the financial performance and operations of corporate law firms and professional services. Rubin Solutions designs and implements business processes for both existing firms and start-ups. The 25 minute discussion will be of great interest to anyone in this situation, from recent grads to practicing lawyers. You can listen to the interview on Ed Poll’s blog – LawBiz Blog.
This short video by salesforce.com gives a good overview of what cloud computing is, how it works and how both large and small businesses can benefit by moving their business applications off physical servers and onto online virtual ones …
Yesterday, Jay Baer wrote an interesting post summarizing the findings of a research study into whether using Twitter for your business is really a worthwhile endeavor. Based on the time spent, it would appear that companies using Twitter are not getting the return they would have wanted, but it’s the intangible benefits that actually make all the difference. The success of using Twitter for business purposes is more about the behavior of the customers and clients that you are targeting. Most Twitter users are also the same people creating other online content, which makes their influence that much greater than it would appear. Also, the fact that tweets are retweeted and picked up by search engines, as well as shown on most blogs, there are many people reading tweets who don’t even have an account. All of this begins to add up, but in the end, it’s down to the company to decide if using Twitter to further endorse their brand is worth the time. To read the full blog post, visit Convince & Convert, Jay Baer’s website.
As companies grow, so does their need for efficient and usable storage systems. Based on what you need, there are many different options to look at including whether to purchase your own servers or use a service. Last week, Mark from 37 signals posted an interesting article on their storage infrastructure and why they chose that one. For some insight into how 37 signals is growing and how they are coping with it, read the post here.