The newest release of GrandCentral has some great (and useful) features. I’m doubly excited becuase GrandCentral is available to me now as a Canadian. They’ve added web buttons to their line-up. Not a breakthrough feature, but one that has come to be expected. Basically, you add a button to your website or blog that visitors to click to call you (on your GrandCentral number of course).

What’s great is that you can connect with people this way OR you can send them to a voice recording. Like this:

GrandCentral gives some other examples:

• eBay auction: GrandCentral button can send callers to a voicemail with a description of the item on sale. Callers can leave a message and the GrandCentral user can decide whom to call back.
• MySpace page: profile can let people calling without sharing GrandCentral user’s phone number

Time and time again, web marketers show that if you can get your vistors to interact with you (your site), like answer surveys, click a button, answer a question, you’re more likely to make sales, or whatever else your site goals are.

I’ll be adding oneto my About page on this blog, and to my info site www.quickstartvoip.com.

After Tom Keating’s neatly packaged intro to Skype 2.6 Beta, I thought I’d give it a try. There’s a feature that turns phone numbers on web pages into buttons. Just click the grey button to dial the number on Skype. So cool! Works too!

Here’s what the contact number for a local movie theater looks like:

The Skype number highlighting icon in your browser toolbar (Explorer or Firefox) lets you turn this feature on or off, or uninstall it completely.

 

 

I posted a question to Skype technical support (I made sure that it wasn’t already answered in their Knowledge Base). It took over two weeks, but they did get back to me. Better late than never I guess. Honestly, whenever I fill in one of those web forms, I’m sure I’m sending my question into a black hole. I didn’t expect Skype to get back to me, but they did. So, if you’re not in any kind of hurry, go ahead and ask away.

Andy takes some time walking us through why many great tech ideas fail. Know thy customer is the mantra here. Walk a day in their shoes.

I’ve worked for many companies in high tech where honestly the idea of actually talking to the customer was just too big or too complicated a prospect. Yes, lipservice was paid to market research, but for some reason it’s way easier to analyze a bunch of pie charts than talk one on one with the people you’re building for. 

I don’t know why this is so hard for companies to get right. Research is expensive which certainly has a lot to do with it, but I’ll say there is other deep rooted psychological trauma going on as well.

I mean, if you start talking with customers, they’ll start wanting stuff. These people are demanding! They want things done better, faster, simpler, more buttons, less buttons. They’re never satisfied. Don’t they understand what you’re trying to do? That the underlying technology of the thing is flat out amazing? So forget it, you just can’t talk to the customer because they’re high maintenance and don’t know what they need anyway. But we the Company do, and that’s what we’ll build.

Pause.

Okay, that got a little chippy. So I’ll conclude by saying that companies with the best of intentions can get lost in their own story. You still need to have the story, a damn good one, but you also need the wherewithall to put a great book in someone’s hands and have them read it.

One appealing feature of PhoneGnome is that it can automatically detect when you are making a local call and when you are dialing long distance. However, local dialing in my area is 10-digits. In other words, I have to dial the area code then the number. In many other places, local calls are still the 7-digit number which poses no problem.

In my case, PhoneGnome thought that 10-digit local numbers were long distance and so placed the call using my Internet telephone service (I use Gizmo Project).

There’s an easy solution. Here’s what Televolution tech support had to say:

1. Log in to your PhoneGnome account.
2. Click Settings > Advanced Settings.
3. In Local Dialing Options, click the Custom button. DON’T change any other option on this page.
4. Click Save.

This did the trick. Tech support clarifies that sometimes PhoneGnome miss-detects a given number but usually this setup is adequate for the vast majority of users. If, after making this change, your PhoneGnome still doesn’t automatically detect local numbers, contact tech support for further instructions.Another way to force PhoneGnome to dial using the local telephone service is to dial ##, listen for a high-pitched dial tone, then dial the number.

I’ve had a Skype account for awhile, but haven’t used it much because I’d decided to go with Vonage. Now that I’ve cancelled my Vonage service, I’m ready to really put Skype through its paces.

At the time of writing, Skype is up to release 2.5.0.137 so I’ve had to upgrade my Skype software. NOt a problem. Their websit and download instructions are clear enough.

You are prompted to close the existing Skype version if it is running, click the Download button and then the Run button when prompted, and follow the rest of the installation prompts. That’s it.

I recently upgraded my desktop to a Dell laptop, and I had a  headset kicking around. A huge Plantronics thing (a) that must have been originally for my husband’s gaming, but works OK for my purposes. Another way to go is to get just  a microphone (b) and use the speakers on the computer for sound, like a speakerphone. The third nifty piece of hardware I’d like to show you is a “dongle” (c)that allows you to switch between headset mode (in which all sound is piped through your headset), and regular speaker mode. Since I don’t plan on having my headset on all the time, it’s convenient to toggle between the two modes at the push of a button. This gizmo costs less than $15. Go see your local Radio Shack.

(a) (b)  (c)

I recently bemoaned the fact that I was having a hard time recruiting followers to my SightSpeed network. SightSpeed is an easy-to-use video calling application that lets you make free video and voice calls.

I found that asking friends to join using the “Invite” feature generated an autoresponder-type email that at least one of my buddies deleted without even reading. It looked too suspicious.

Peter Csathy, SightSpeed CEO, points out that you can embed a click-to-call link in any email, or paste HTML code for clickable “call me” buttons into your web site or blog. The email recipient or web user clicks the link or button to launch a SightSpeed plugin that automatically dials you up. You’re not asking them to download or trial anything.

I tried it and it works great. At work, my husband could see and hear me, but I only had the audio. He also started a text chat while we were talking from his end.

To use click-to-call links or buttons:

1. In the SightSpeed window, click the Account button (top right).
2. In the Account Management menu, click Account Information > My SightSpeed.
3. Copy the Easy Email Link or Private Link code or copy the HTML code for the SightSpeed web button of your choice.
4. Paste the code into your email, web site, or blog.

 

I just noticed that Andy Abramson’s got Sitofono (www.sitofono.com) on his blog now. Sitofono is a web-based toll free service that lets you put a “call us” button on your website or blog for a flat fee. Customers (or loyal fans) just click the button to call you free of charge. Calls can be made either with a microphone headset or a regular landline phone.

Judging by Andy’s earlier post, he’s probably got GrandCentral going on this number too so your call will be routed to wherever he is or to a unified voicemail box that keeps track of all your wonderful feedback. But wait, before that happens he’s letting iotum determine if he’s available, how he’s available (like on his mobile, phone, or instant messenger), and of course how important you are so he won’t miss your call. Wonder who’s doing the dishes?