VOXOX Blog

Can you imagine life without instant communications or the ability to call your friends and family whenever you want? As a VoIP provider (VoIP being the secret sauce behind Voxox), neither can we... but those days once existed -- along with carrier pigeons and curly-corded landline phones! Lucky for us, technology and communications services are developing faster than ever, allowing people all around the world to stay connected in ways never before possible.

Hot off the presses! We've just announced an update to our free mobile app, Voxox Call for iPhone.  The new mobile app release provides iPhone users with the option to make high quality VoIP calls over 3G, 4G, LTE, and Wi-Fi networks, as well as an option to use the app’s original callback feature, Voxox Call Connect, when the data connection is poor or inconsistent to make calls worldwide. The new version of the app also comes with a variety of performance and usability enhancements related to quality of its telephony features, app design and user experience.

Do you remember the awesomely bad poem the Voxox team composed for you last Bad Poetry Day? It was successfully quite bad and a lot of fun to write, so this year we wanted to try our hand at creating something even worse. We searched the web for an alternative way to write bad poetry and the wonders of the Internet have brought us to this little gem called the Poem Generator which spits out poems based on the words you feed it. An amazing invention, really!

According to The National Day Calendar, 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...

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:

Selling Cloud-Ready Networks

11:30am on Wed. March 28, 2012 (Cloud Services Track)

Channel Partners Conference & Expo

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).

In the spirit of Bad Poetry Day (which is today!) and for your reading pleasure, the Voxox team got together and wrote an awesomely bad poem on the benefits and features of VoIP service.

How did such a beautiful composition come to be, you ask? Over the past few days, a paper has been floating around the office requesting that each team member to write a line based only upon the line before it.  This has been a masterpiece in progress and we're pleased to share with you our ode to Bad Poetry Day:


 

The Wonders of VoIP

 

If you know what VoIP is, you know of its wonders,

No more crazy phone bill and/or cell tower blunders.

So many cool features, you can call all the zones,

Hosted, SIP Trunk, white label for so few bones.

We’re battling the clones with service that totally pones,

At prices that mean sweet service without any loans.

 

All Poems should rhyme, especially when they’re about VoIP.

Who needs the competition? Don’t give into the hype,

Get to picking now, while the pickings ripe,

Unify your communication! Unify your life!

Ask for VoIP, then watch and learn how simple it can be,

You’ll love G722, the HD codec, when called on-net it’s FREE!

 

I talk, I chat, I live in a numberless landscape of your whispers,

I thought to text you, but it was fleeting, like the cooling of Las Vegas misters.

Instead, I called you and your "Find Me" was set to every phone device nearby,

Creating a ringback racket louder than the introduction of Pink Floyd’s “Money!”.

 

‘Cause I’m out in the club and I’m sippin’ that bubb, and you’re not gonna reach my telephone --

You’ll reach my personal assistant!

That’s what they (girls) all say, it’s a good thing I’m persistent.

When life’s lemons get in my way, just make an adjustment,

With calls that cost just cents, even from a tent!

 

VoIP is the flower like bees makin’ honey,

 

And if you live in Australia, you can call from the Dunny*,

So keep usin’ Voxox, if you like savin’ money!

 

*Definition of Dunny: Dunny or dunny can is Australian slang for toilet, either the room or the specific fixture, especially an outhouse or other outdoor toilets. It is often used to specify a distinction between a flushing toilet and a non-flushing toilet (e.g., a longdrop or thunderbox). (Source: wiki).

 

"The final product. Crumpled and perfect!"


Poetry at it's finest, right? We've gotten in touch with our Shakespearean side, now it's your turn! Share your bad poetry right here or on our Facebook page...

This past Labor Day weekend, San Diego held its largest annual art fair, organized by Art San Diego. Inaugurated in 2009, Art San Diego’s Contemporary Art Fair boasts more than 50 galleries showcasing 2,000+ artworks, including paintings, sculptures, drawings, prints, photographs, videos, and cutting-edge multimedia, as well as city-wide cultural programs, special guest speakers, and exclusive events.

While tinkering around the internet the other day, I stumbled upon an article from TechCrunch outlining the Geosocial Universe of 2011 and instantly thought, "This must be shared this with the world." So, here we are.


What is a Geosocial Universe you ask? It is the virtual landscape of social networks and how many registered users each network has. Similar to how our Earth's landscape changes, the Geosocial Universe changes as well. First it was MySpace, then Facebook... so what's next? New networks are cropping up all the time, and we're always looking for a different way to communicate. Call me a geek, but it's really interesting how many people are connected via social media - a member of  Facebook alone has potential access to 629 million individuals! Even sites you and I may not have heard of have more subscribers than I ever imagined.



Check out these stats from TechCrunch to get a better idea:

• Facebook: 629 million registered users with almost 250 million people accessing the site via mobile

• Qzone: China’s version of Facebook, Qzone, has 480 million registered users

• Twitter: 200 million registered users with nearly 40% of people tweeting via mobile

• Email: Hotmail still dominates, but Gmail's popularity is gaining fast

• Yelp: Yelp tops 50 million unique visitors per month, and  it's made moves to team up with OpenTable

• Foursquare and Gowalla: These geographically based medias are still growing

• Smartphones: 21.8% of all mobile devices are smart phones, with Nokia on top the list in sales

For all you visual folks, take a look at this infograph that outlines the number active users on the top 19 social media sites. (P.S. I'm sure you can't miss that big blue bubble indicating 5.3 billion cell phone are used worldwide - that's 77% of the world's population!):

Photo Caption Credit: TechCruch and JESS3

Crazy stuff, huh? I can only imagine what these stats will be next year, or even six months from now. Are you registered on any, or maybe even all of these networks? If you fall into the latter, Voxox can help keep all your buddies, friends, fans, and followers organized by integrating them into one interface where you chat, Tweet, post, call, fax, update, email, and a ton of other cool things. According to Entrepreneur magazine (6/11 issue), "next to Skype’s limited, walled garden approach, Voxox is a cross-platform love fest." But don't take their word for it, try the "love fest" out for yourself!


Have opinions? Hit us up on our Facebook page or comment here.

We launched our first mobile app today "Voxox Call" for iPhone. It works a little differently than most VoIP apps…. Watch this video see how it works!