There are certain faux pas that will get you that unmistakeable look of disapproval from mom, especially on Mother’s Day.  When it comes to communication, the team here at VoxOx can help you steer clear of those unnecessary Mother’s Day no-no’s.

1- “I can’t call you today because I’m out of cell phone minutes.”

If you aren’t planning to see your mom on Mother’s Day, then you better figure out a way to call! When you’re out of cell phone minutes, just use VoIP — open up that laptop and give mom a ring. VoxOx can surely hook you up there. Only a penny per minute for calls made in the U.S., Canada, and a slew of other countries.

2- “I’m traveling – even sending a text message would cost me a small fortune.”

But wait… there’s an app for that!  If you send your SMS via Wi-Fi, you can avoid those crazy international text messaging rates. It costs only 2 pennies to send a text message internationally when you use the VoxOx Call iPhone app (and the desktop app for that matter). Plus, receiving a text message with VoxOx is always FREE. Don’t believe it? Read this story posted by our sales director Tad who saved $300 while traveling by texting over Wi-Fi.

3- “I’m studying abroad and I can’t make calls at the Internet cafe without getting dirty looks.”

Not necessary. When you don’t have Wi-Fi, you can rely on the VoxOx Call iPhone app to make calls.  It uses “callback” functionality, which means that you can use your local cell phone to make international calls for pennies (just don’t use this if your phone is roaming). So, you can call mom from the privacy of your flat from your cell phone without it costing you an arm and a leg.

4- “I tried to find you on chat today, but since I kept signing in and out from my various IM and social networks, I must have missed you!”

Nice try. You could have stayed online all day with no interruptions if you were using VoxOx. We let you plug into your Facebook chat, Gmail chat, AIM, Yahoo Messenger, Windows Live Messenger, even MySpace chat — all in one interface.

5- “You should have seen the adorable drawing your granddaughter drew today! I wanted to fax it to you, but I didn’t have a fax machine…”

If you have an iPhone and the VoxOx Call iPhone app, you have a pocket scanner and fax machine!  Snap a shot of the drawing and use the app to fax it for a penny in the U.S. and Canada. (Plus, it’s free to receive faxes with VoxOx.)  No iPhone, no problem — you can also fax with VoxOx for the desktop.

What have we learned today?  No excuses!  Keep mom happy on Mother’s Day by letting her know how special she is. Wish her a great day in your own way and you’ll feel that smile even if you’re across the globe.

Natasha Grach is a PR pro 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 and more! She’ll be using VoxOx Call Connect for SMS on her next trip around the globe.

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A recent Nielsen study on teenagers and mobiles found that data usage on mobile devices tripled last year, with an average of a whopping 320mb per month! Add to that a survey by mobile social entertainment company, FunMobility, which found that teens are spending more time on their mobiles than any other device. Not surprising, right?  Well, the survey also shows a glimpse into what they’re doing. The top four mobile activities are: sending text message or chatting, downloading applications, playing games, and browsing the Internet. Here are a few other revealing stats:

• 56 percent of respondents stated that they spend ‘much more time’ on their devices than they used to.
• Girls are sending text messages 28 percent more frequently than boys.
• The rate of message exchanges per month per teen hit an average of 3,417 in the third quarter of 2011.
• The average teenager has 25 apps installed on their mobile device.

Check out this infographic, originally published on ZDNet, to see the full picture of the current teen texting universe:

Did these stats shock you? Or did you figure as much?  Share your thoughts by commenting here or on our Facebook page.

Natasha Grach is a PR pro 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 and more! She’ll be using VoxOx Call Connect for SMS on her next trip around the globe.

follow natasha.grach twitter.com/natashagrach

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According to The Ultimate Holiday Site, today is “National Tell a Story Day”!  So, we ask you — as the world’s first and only “universal communicator”, could we really pass this up?   There are so many ways to share  something, but let’s start with the four that are at the heart of it all…

1. Broadcast to the World — Have you ever had something happen that you just HAD to share with all your friends?  Immediately. Maybe with your frenemies, too. Well, that’s the beauty of a social status update. So many birds, one stone. You just put it out there without any expectations and it feels nice to get it off your chest. And with VoxOx, it’s even faster because whatever you enter in the global status bar broadcasts out to all your social and chat networks. Ah, sweet relief!

VoxOx for the desktop - Global Status

2. Text Messaging in Anticipation – Some stories are not for broadcasting, and when you’re dying to dish, who doesn’t opt for a quick text message?  Now, the interesting thing about texting is that you never really know when you’ll get a response.  It’s quite mysterious, actually… when you send that text, there’s no way to tell if the person is there typing a reply to you, at the movies with their phone on silent, or on a technology-free weekend getaway. But when you hear that little ding, your heart races and you drop everything to go check it out. (Also nice when that text message you just sent was only a penny and the response you received was free– thanks to VoxOx.)

VoxOx Call for iPhone - SMS screen

3. Instant Gratification… err… Messaging

You know what’s a good feeling? When that green little presence bubble lights up as the person you’ve been waiting to share something with comes online!  Your fingers are doing the talking, but you still feel like you’re in the same frame of mind, connected. Plus, when you’re using VoxOx, you can see presence for buddies in all of your major IM and social networks.

VoxOx for the desktop - Unified Messaging Window

4. The Conversation that Says It All

As “instant” as all of these electronic modes of communication are, there’s nothing like telling a story via live, verbal communication. You get to use your voice tone, inflection, dramatic pauses, laughter and you get to hear the reactions of the other person on the line. Add a visual to it (like VoxOx video chat), and you’re golden.

VoxOx VoIP Video Chat

So, there you have it — lots of great ways to share your stories today. Now go make some memorable moments on “National Tell a Story Day”!

Natasha Grach is a PR pro 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 and more! She’ll be using VoxOx Call Connect for SMS on her next trip around the globe.

follow natasha.grach twitter.com/natashagrach

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We’ve said it before, we’ll say it again. Electronic faxing is the way to go… especially with Earth Day coming up this Sunday!

What’s nice about our Earth Day post this year is that we’re able to say that we empower our users to fax electronically via both our free desktop software and our iPhone app (VoxOx Call). VoxOx for the desktop has always been “green” with its awesome faxing features. The VoxOx Call iPhone app, however, just launched last year — first with a free fax viewer / ability to receive faxes in April 2011 and then with the ability to send outbound faxes in December 2011. The faxing features work a little differently with the two user interfaces, but the idea is the same: save trees!

Why should you care?  Nearly 4 billion trees worldwide are cut down each year for paper, representing about 35 percent of all harvested trees.  (Source:  Paper Chase) Let’s do our part!

Love the view?  Then, download VoxOx for your desktop and VoxOx Call for your iPhone!  It’s free to sign up; free to receive faxes; and only a penny to send in the U.S. and Canada. Happy Earth Day!

Natasha Grach is a PR pro 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 and more! She’ll be using VoxOx Call Connect for SMS on her next trip around the globe.

follow natasha.grach twitter.com/natashagrach

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Have you ever needed to attach a file too large to email?  (Even Gmail has its limits!) Or wanted to transfer a file in a Facebook chat? Well, the great thing about VoxOx is that you can send files up to 100MB through a simple little URL – via email, Facebook, Twitter, SMS, or any other form of electronic communication that lets you add a link – and you can do it for free!

It’s so easy, too. You just open up the VoxOx Unified Messaging Window, and click the icon that looks like a page (it represents a file). You can find it at the bottom of the chat window, to the right of the fax icon.

Another window will pop up where you can browse for the file on your computer:

As soon as you add the file, a short link will appear in the chat window. You can send it instantly to the person with whom you’re having your conversation – whether you’re chatting with a Facebook friend, DMing someone on Twitter, text messaging, etc… all from VoxOx! Or you can just copy the link that appears in the chat window and paste it anywhere you like!

Pretty neat, right?  It can definitely be a lifesaver when you need to get a large file across real quick.

Have you tried it? Let us know!

Note: This service is meant for person-to-person file sharing, not hosting a file for a large audience to access. Hence, each link expires after a couple of downloads of the specified file.

Natasha Grach is a PR pro 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 and more! She’ll be using VoxOx Call Connect for SMS on her next trip around the globe.

follow natasha.grach twitter.com/natashagrach

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A few days ago, I wrote about how our company president, Cliff Rees, will be speaking at a big industry event– the Channel Partners Show in Las Vegas.Well, this show is happening right now! In fact, as part of our show activities, our VoxOx In Business division just announced a new addition to its arsenal– a service called Hosted Conference Bridge. (By “hosted” we mean that that we maintain all the equipment so that our customers don’t have to.)

The reservationless conference bridge is HD-quality and is capable of hosting as many as 1,000 callers on a single conference bridge. Other features include:

-    Free on-net calls
-    Live web-based conference manager
-    Conference recording
-    Conference lock and mode selection
-    Music on hold
-    Multiple hosts
-    Reports
-    And more!

The Hosted Conference Bridge service is priced at 2.4 cents per minute, per participant for calls from local phone numbers, and just under 3 cents per participant, per minute for toll free access. On-network originated calls are always free and there are volume-based discounts available as well. Sign up by emailing sales[at]telcentris[dot]com with “Hosted Conference Bridge” in the subject line. If you set up your conference bridge by April 30, 2012, we’ll waive the $9.99 monthly fee for a full year!

Learn more about the VoxOx In Business division at www.telcentris.com/voxoxinbusiness.

Natasha Grach is a PR pro 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 and more! She’ll be using VoxOx Call Connect for SMS on her next trip around the globe.

follow natasha.grach twitter.com/natashagrach

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Well, how perfect is this infographic for the VoxOx blog?!  We found it on the L.A. Media Reform Group web site and knew it had to be re-shared here. Check out the third stat below: 72% of U.S. workers strongly or somewhat agree to the statement, “I would be more productive if I didn’t have to switch back and forth between applications to get my work done.” That’s exactly the problem we’re trying to solve here at VoxOx — we want to ease communication overload for everyone.

VoxOx lets people all over the world communicate with friends across multiple social networks, communication channels and geographic locations, all from a single user interface…and it’s free to sign up! But, we have more to do and this is great validation for our mission. Have a look:

Natasha Grach is a PR pro 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 and more! She’ll be using VoxOx Call Connect for SMS on her next trip around the globe.

follow natasha.grach twitter.com/natashagrach

follow VoxOx twitter.com/voxox

Later this month, our biz division, VoxOx In Business, which provides VoIP solutions to companies, will be showing off their stuff at a big annual event in Las Vegas. It’s called the Channel Partners Conference & Expo and this year it’s at Caesar’s Palace, March 27-29. This event is all about our valued partners, who are our primary sales channel for our business offerings.

We’ll have some announcements at the event and we’ll share the news when the time comes, but for now, we wanted to boast a little bit about our company president, Cliff Rees.

Cliff was invited to moderate a speaking panel on the topic of selling “cloud-ready” networks. (For our non-techie readers, “the cloud” is a metaphor for the Internet.) Getting tapped to do this is certainly an honor and validates our expertise in this field. If you happen to be a tech geek or in channel sales, here’s the panel description for your reading pleasure:

What often gets left out of the cloud conversation is perhaps the most critical part: the network between a company and its cloud. After all, a cloud is only as secure and reliable as its connection. This presents an opportunity for channel partners to not only ensure the performance of cloud services, but to build a recurring revenue stream as part of a cloud-enablement practice. This session will provide instruction in how to assess a customer’s requirements and build a cloud-ready network accordingly.

Impressive, right?  If you’re one of the folks who’s planning to attend the Channel Partners Show in Vegas, stop by the panel and check out our booth (#411).

Natasha Grach is a PR pro 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 and more! She’ll be using VoxOx Call Connect for SMS on her next trip around the globe.

follow natasha.grach twitter.com/natashagrach

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Once every four years we have an opportunity to say that it’s leap year day. That day is today! February 29th was added to the calendar as a corrective measure because the earth does not orbit around the sun in precisely 365 days. So, why do we care?  Well, it’s kinda cool and it gives us a couple of fun things to chat about (via VoxOx, of course!)

First of all, you may wonder what happens to people who are born on leap day. According to Wikipedia, A person born on February 29 may be called a “leapling” or a “leaper” and in common years they typically celebrate their birthdays on February 28 or March 1. But technically, a leapling will have fewer birthday anniversaries. Way to stay young, right? In the Chinese calendar, which is lunisolar, a leap year actually has an extra month. That’s a lot of leaplings.

Second, remember that movie, Leap Year starring Amy Adams? (She decides to propose to her boyfriend in Scotland on leap year day.) Well, in the British Isles, it is tradition that women may propose marriage only on leap years. Supposedly, a 1288 law by Queen Margaret of Scotland levied fines if a marriage proposal was refused by the man with compensation ranging from a kiss to £1 to a silk gown.

So there you have it — excellent discussions topics and food for thought for your VoxOx’ing pleasure.  Oh, and ladies, let us know if you decide to propose today and if you’re owed a silk gown as a result.

Natasha Grach is a PR pro 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 and more! She’ll be using VoxOx Call Connect for SMS on her next trip around the globe.

follow natasha.grach twitter.com/natashagrach

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Ah, Valentine’s Day. Chocolates, flowers, romantic surprises. So many great ways to say   “I love you”.  But what’s the best way?  To actually say it, of course!  Here at VoxOx, we give you the opportunity to do that in so many ways…

1. Send a Special “Love Fax” to Your Significant Other

Love letters are rare these days… and so are faxes. But when you have such an easy, cheap way to fax from your iPhone (with the VoxOx Call app), you might just get a little poetic.  Snap a photo of something romantic – like a post-it that says “I love you” stuck to your head – and fax it to your significant other. Who doesn’t love a little  faxing attention on Valentine’s Day?

2. Send a Romantic Text Message in Another Language

They say that French is the language of love. So, why not text your honey some sweet nothings with an exotic flavor, using the VoxOx Universal Translator. You type in English and it comes out in French (or another language you deem romantic) on the other end-  Mon amour: tu es mon tout. S’il vous plaît prenez le soir poubelle. Should (s)he know French and respond, you’ll get the translation there too. Oui, oui!

3. Share a Love File

What does love look like… or sound like?  I’m sure you have your own ideas about that. So why not send it via the VoxOx file sharing feature? You can send images, music files, videos, etc. — up to 100 MB.  Maybe the sumo match from your trip to Japan would express just how big your love is.

4. If All Else Fails, Just Call

Hearing your voice is sometimes all your other half needs. Maybe use the video calling feature so that (s)he can see your smile, too. Just think of something good to say so that you’re both smiling.

Thinking of other creative ways to say “I love you”?  Post ideas on the VoxOx Facebook page!

xoxo

Natasha Grach is a PR pro 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 and more! She’ll be using VoxOx Call Connect for SMS on her next trip around the globe.

follow natasha.grach twitter.com/natashagrach

follow VoxOx twitter.com/voxox