Have You Seen the “Voxmobile”?

The team here at TelCentris is very devoted to VoxOx. People wear VoxOx t-shirts to work, use VoxOx graphics as their desktop wallpaper, and, of course, use the service as their daily communication tool.  But it looks like TelCentris Co-founder and Chief Information Officer Bob Hertz has us all beat with his new vanity license plate!

Cool license plate!

Bob’s “Voxmobile.” Enough said.

PG
Natasha Grach is a PR maven by day and singer by night -- when not telling the world about VoxOx, she can be found on stage at some of San Diego’s favorite musical theater venues. She is also a travel junkie. Her favorite countries include Turkey, Israel, Spain, UK, Italy, Russia, Lithuania. She’ll be using VoxOx SMS CallBack on her next trip around the globe!

follow natasha.grach twitter.com/natashagrach

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Lend Us Your Voice — Help Make VoxOx the Best Service Possible

One of the coolest new features we’ve added to VoxOx recently is not actually in the desktop client, but on the VoxOx web site.

What Do Users Think? UserVoice helps us see what features users want to see most.

It’s a web-based crowd-sourcing application called UserVoice, which enables users such as yourself to provide product feature suggestions, bug reports and other important feedback on our beta service. What sets this tool apart is the ability to vote on each product suggestion, whether your own or someone else’s. This allows you — and us — to see the “wisdom of the crowds,” i.e., what does the majority want to see added to VoxOx, what bugs are hot right now and need to be fixed? You’ll be able to see this the moment you visit the site. For example, right now you’ll see that using VoxOx with SIP devices is number one on the the list, with a total of 167 votes. This means essentially that many people would like to be able to incorporate VoxOx with a SIP-compatible handset at home (SIP stands for Session Initiated Protocol, but I won’t bore you with the details). Second on the list is folks who would like to see a Linux version of VoxOx.

Each person on UserVoice gets 10 votes — so use them wisely. You can get more by changing your vote, or getting credited when something is completed. Continue reading… Lend Us Your Voice — Help Make VoxOx the Best Service Possible

PG
Erik Bratt is the head of communications for TelCentris, the creator of VoxOx. He loves Quentin Tarantino movies, playing around (as opposed to playing) the electric bass, hanging with the rugrats and fiddling with the text-to-speech greeting on the VoxOx Personal Assistant.

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VoxOx Named “Best Software / Service” at CES 2010 by Computer Shopper

If you’ve been reading the VoxOx Blog lately, you’ve probably noticed a few posts about our adventures at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas earlier this month. (That’s the event at which we launched the second version of the virtual Personal Assistant!) Just when we thought we’d retired the topic, we got word about something very cool…

VoxOx has been selected as the CES 2010 Editors’ Choice for “Best Software / Service” by Computer Shopper!

The Computer Shopper editorial team met individually with more than 60 companies at CES and selected the top contender in 10 categories. Other winning brands in the “Best of CES” Editors’ Choice include Blackberry (RIM), Lenovo and Intel. Computer Shopper is a resource for millions of online consumers for expert, labs-based reviews of technology products. It was originally published by CNET Networks Inc., and is currently published by SX2 Media Labs LLC. You can read our announcement here.

Also, check out this quote from Computer Shopper’s Senior Editor Sarah Anderson: Continue reading… VoxOx Named “Best Software / Service” at CES 2010 by Computer Shopper

PG
Natasha Grach is a PR maven by day and singer by night -- when not telling the world about VoxOx, she can be found on stage at some of San Diego’s favorite musical theater venues. She is also a travel junkie. Her favorite countries include Turkey, Israel, Spain, UK, Italy, Russia, Lithuania. She’ll be using VoxOx SMS CallBack on her next trip around the globe!

follow natasha.grach twitter.com/natashagrach

follow VoxOx twitter.com/voxox


5 Ways the VoxOx Personal Assistant Can Make You More Productive

I’ve always known about the great functionality of our VoxOx Personal Assistant (think Google Voice, but more robust), but I didn’t realize how great until we launched the second version of our personal assistant (PA) at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Vegas earlier this month. Bottom line: this is a service that can truly help you streamline your communications and be more efficient.

After diving into the service pretty extensively over the past few weeks, I wanted to present my list of the top five ways the VoxOx PA can help you be more productive in your business and personal life.

  1. Screen Your Calls — One of the best things about the PA is having someone answer and screen your calls — not unlike a real secretary. When someone calls my VoxOx number, my personal assistant will answer the call and politely ask the person to identify themselves. She (yes, she is a she, although you can choose a male personal assistant) will then let me know who is calling. I can then either answer the call or send it to voicemail (I can also listen in on the voicemail and pick it up, but I’ll save that for another post). Not only does this make me feel important (!), it forces people with blocked numbers to identify themselves. Knowing who is calling each time makes me more productive. Really cool.
  2. Continue reading… 5 Ways the VoxOx Personal Assistant Can Make You More Productive

PG
Erik Bratt is the head of communications for TelCentris, the creator of VoxOx. He loves Quentin Tarantino movies, playing around (as opposed to playing) the electric bass, hanging with the rugrats and fiddling with the text-to-speech greeting on the VoxOx Personal Assistant.

follow erik.bratt twitter.com/erikbratt

follow VoxOx twitter.com/voxox


Back from the Big Show: a CES Recap

Mini flying helicopters, giant video game screens, multi-colored lights, thumping music and tens of thousands of people. Some sort of amusement park or arcade attraction? Nah, just another year at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), the biggest technology and gadget confab in the world.

A small contingent from VoxOx attended the four-day event in Las Vegas last week, meeting with press, analysts and other parties to show off the second version of our VoxOx Personal Assistant, a productivity tool that helps you better manage your voice communications. Think Google Voice, but richer and more robust. The enhanced version adds remote access functionality, which is key because it takes VoxOx off the desktop and allows you to access your personal assistant from any mobile phone (read the release).

The show was big success. And now that we’ve recovered (on sleep at least; my wallet is still way too light after hitting the craps tables), I wanted to share some of our experiences, including select press coverage and random photos I took with my iPhone.
Continue reading… Back from the Big Show: a CES Recap

PG
Erik Bratt is the head of communications for TelCentris, the creator of VoxOx. He loves Quentin Tarantino movies, playing around (as opposed to playing) the electric bass, hanging with the rugrats and fiddling with the text-to-speech greeting on the VoxOx Personal Assistant.

follow erik.bratt twitter.com/erikbratt

follow VoxOx twitter.com/voxox


VoxOx Personal Assistant Version 2 Just Launched at CES!

We all like to be in control, right? If you’ve been reading our blog here, you’ve seen that it’s kind of a running theme for us. We want our users to stop feeling inundated by their various phones, email accounts, instant messaging accounts, etc., and start feeling in control of all of their gadgets. Sort of like bringing the communication mountain to you, instead of trekking up that communication mountain like Tenzing Norgay cursing Sir Edmund Hillary while….Ok…sorry, this metaphor got away from me. I digress.

With the newest beta release of VoxOx we have a way for you, our users, to really manage your phone calls, emails…everything, and we even give you a nice little electronic person to do it for you — it’s called the VoxOx Personal Assistant, and it can do a million things (ok, maybe not a million…but a lot) to help you get everything in order. For example, it lets you design and customize the calling experience for each contact. This means that you tell your assistant to send your boss to your work line, where he hears a ring tone you set for him, with a highly professional voicemail that he’ll hear when you purposely don’t take his/her call. Your best friend on the other hand hears a different ring tone, a highly inappropriate voicemail greeting, and can be linked directly to your cell (if you want) or all of your phones at once. Two totally different calling experiences, one number. To borrow a phrase from the tech world, that’s the real “meat and potatoes” of the feature. (Actually, I don’t think that’s a tech term at all).

Below are a few things in the VoxOx Personal Assistant that will let you be the boss of your communications instead of the other way around. Go here to download the VoxOx Personal Assistant “Printable User Guide”.
Continue reading… VoxOx Personal Assistant Version 2 Just Launched at CES!

PG
Ben, the VoxOx Intern, is a second-year MBA student at the Thunderbird School of Global Management. He has drunk beer on 4 continents, is fluent in 3 languages and has an encyclopedic knowledge of obscure NBA players. Ben also...wait, are you really still reading this? Because, you know, he's just an intern.

follow Ben a.k.a “The Intern” twitter.com/voxox

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CES Bound!

If your a gadget geek at all, you know what the acronym CES stands for: Consumer Electronics Show. Held every year in Las Vegas, the show is perhaps the biggest gadget-fest in the world. It’s huge, attracting as many as 150,000 people. All the major consumer technology players, from Google to Microsoft to Sony, will be there showing off their latest wares.

Guess who else will be there? The VoxOx team. That’s right, a small contingent of us will be at the mega-event, showing off an important new VoxOx capability that enables consumers to better manage their communications. We’ll be making an announcement tomorrow morning. Sorry, I can’t say anything more until then, but stay tuned to this blog and also follow our updates on Twitter (@voxox).

See you on the craps tables!

PG
Erik Bratt is the head of communications for TelCentris, the creator of VoxOx. He loves Quentin Tarantino movies, playing around (as opposed to playing) the electric bass, hanging with the rugrats and fiddling with the text-to-speech greeting on the VoxOx Personal Assistant.

follow erik.bratt twitter.com/erikbratt

follow VoxOx twitter.com/voxox


Keep on Voxing in the New Year!

As the holidays snowball into the New Year, we all look back at the year, and the decade that was, and what lies ahead. Now, this last decade (the “Aughts”? “Double Zero’s?) was a doozie: terrorism, stock market booms, more war, stock market crashes, mohawks … a bit much for a 10-year span. But it hasn’t been all bad. We also saw an explosion in the world of personal communication, with innovative new ways to keep ourselves in the loop … but none of them do it quite like VoxOx. So here are a few ways to use your VoxOx for 2010 and beyond.

Let everyone know about your New Years plans with VoxOx social networking, but without having to repeat yourself … at least manually. Just enter your status into the status bar (in the global setting) on VoxOx once, and you’re all good. All the networks you have programmed into your VoxOx will be updated, saving you time to get ready.

You know how Australia is always the first country to celebrate the New Year? (This would probably be true even if they weren’t 20 hours ahead). Wouldn’t it be cool to call your buddy in Sydney, in a different decade than the one you’re in? How about wishing happy New Year to your friends anywhere else around the globe as it happens? Use SMS callback while you’re out, or one of our money-saving calling plans if you’re at home, to call your friends and family wherever they are for practically pennies per minute.
Continue reading… Keep on Voxing in the New Year!

PG
Ben, the VoxOx Intern, is a second-year MBA student at the Thunderbird School of Global Management. He has drunk beer on 4 continents, is fluent in 3 languages and has an encyclopedic knowledge of obscure NBA players. Ben also...wait, are you really still reading this? Because, you know, he's just an intern.

follow Ben a.k.a “The Intern” twitter.com/voxox

follow VoxOx twitter.com/voxox


VoxOx Video: “Personalizing VoxOx in 3 Easy Steps”

Ever wonder how you can customize VoxOx to make it more personal and user friendly, including something as simple as adding your profile picture? You’ve come to the right blog post. Check out this short screencast on how you can infuse a little more of your personality into VoxOx.

PG
Erik Bratt is the head of communications for TelCentris, the creator of VoxOx. He loves Quentin Tarantino movies, playing around (as opposed to playing) the electric bass, hanging with the rugrats and fiddling with the text-to-speech greeting on the VoxOx Personal Assistant.

follow erik.bratt twitter.com/erikbratt

follow VoxOx twitter.com/voxox


Traveling This Holiday Season? VoxOx Just Upped Its Travel Game

Hi gang! Today we announced some feature enhancements geared at international travelers, just in time for the holidays! Check out our recent traveler-related developments below…

• Have you heard of SMS CallBack? It’s a feature that really differentiates VoxOx from services like Skype and Google Voice because it doesn’t tie you to the desktop to make calls! With SMS CallBack, you can call internationally for pennies per minute from pretty much any mobile phone around the globe – no Internet connection required. In fact, The New York Times’ Frugal Traveler tested the service in August and called the feature his favorite new way to call home while traveling. Once you’re set up, all you need is a local SMS-enabled cell phone and you can place calls from any supported location. What’s new today is that we’ve now made a bunch of usability improvements, including upgrading our web portal and making the VoxOx SMS CallBack number an easy to remember “vanity” phone line – (323) 335-5555. Instructions for travelers on how to get started on SMS CallBack are here.
Continue reading… Traveling This Holiday Season? VoxOx Just Upped Its Travel Game

PG
Natasha Grach is a PR maven by day and singer by night -- when not telling the world about VoxOx, she can be found on stage at some of San Diego’s favorite musical theater venues. She is also a travel junkie. Her favorite countries include Turkey, Israel, Spain, UK, Italy, Russia, Lithuania. She’ll be using VoxOx SMS CallBack on her next trip around the globe!

follow natasha.grach twitter.com/natashagrach

follow VoxOx twitter.com/voxox