VOXOX Blog

The first week of August is "National Simplify Your Life Week" and Voxox wants to help you do just that! So what does we mean by this? To us "simplifying your life" means enabling you to have a conversation with anyone, anywhere, anytime. It also means giving you the option to use virtually any communication method that exists, all from one interface, and doing so for pennies (or sometimes even free!). Sounds fantastic, right? Well start celebrating because it's real! Here are 5 ways Voxox can help simplify your life:

If you grew up in the 90's (before the days of Voxox!), you remember the dog days of summer when all you wanted to do was sit inside and watch Ninja Turtles on VHS and when Tamagotchis and Walkmans were the gadgets you turned to to keep you sane on family road trips.

But now that the days of clunky and slow have been replaced with sleek gadgets and 4G speed, we think it's time to take a step back, relax and remember all the electronics of summertime-pasts that helped us tame boredom on those hot summer days. Check out these throwback gadgets from the 90's and be sure to tell us in the comments below which was your favorite!

Leaving the house without a full iPhone battery is unimaginable for some of us (especially for you Voxox Call users!), but sitting around waiting for a charge isn't always possible. If the thought of being off the grid due to a dead smartphone gives you an anxiety attack, maybe it's time to harness your body's own energy to power your devices!

You don't have to be a geek to use and love all the cool features Voxox has to offer, but since all of us behind the universal communicator are geeks at heart, we invite you to celebrate Embrace Your Geekness Day on Friday, July 13th! (That's Friday 13th - yes!)

What comes to mind when you think 4th of July? Here at Voxox we love the backyard BBQs, fireworks and ice-cold brews, of course! But this holiday is not just about good food and making memories, it's about celebrating our nation’s freedom and... um, animals dressed up in patriotic garb!

Every day, people use Voxox for a variety of reasons and take advantage of unique features that makes their daily communications easier. From the foreign exchange student studying abroad in the United States who wants to stay in touch with her family without spending a fortune, to the super-connected social media-ite who likes to keep all her contacts in one place, to the businessman who wants the support of a personal assistant without well… actually having a personal assistant. There’s something for every kind of user.

However popular some of Voxox’s features are, like personal assistant, dead-end calling and text translation, people often ask about our built-in faxing capabilities -- “Why fax when I can just email?” So, to put an end to this burning question, we have found three reasons why you may prefer to fax instead of email:



1. Emails can be blocked or lost in spam... but not faxes!     


Most company networks and individuals have filters that scan and reroute messages directly to the junk mailbox. If you send an attachment that’s too large, poorly named or from an unknown email address, it could be lost in the interwebs forever without you nor the recipient being the wiser. With fax, there’s no SPAM box to eat messages; in fact, documents are automatically printed for review.



2. Email attachments can harbor viruses -- faxes don't.


These can seriously harm your computer! Online security researchers have found that most common email attachment file formats – Adobe PDFs and even Word and Excel documents -- are susceptible to viruses. With attachment sending becoming more common, people often aren’t careful and infect their computers before they know it. Fax machines, on the other hand, can’t read these messages so no hardware is at risk.



3. Faxes can keep sensitive information private and offline.


Without the added security of encryption, most email isn’t protected from the prying eyes of anyone with a knack for computers --  hackers or even your company’s IT department! However, since faxing is inherently encrypted, it’s impossible to hack and decode your fax message.


For everyday correspondence, email is probably still your preferred communication, but faxing is a fantastic alternative when information security and computer safety are a concern. Remember to keep the above reasons in mind when sharing sensitive documents!


If you didn’t know that your Voxox phone number doubles as a fax number, you’ll have to try it out. Faxing with Voxox is very inexpensive (and free for inbound!) and there’s no fax machine required! Plus, the Voxox Call iPhone app just launched last year — fully equipped with a  free fax viewer / ability to receive faxes as well as  outbound faxing capabilities! Go get your free Voxox number now and be sure to tell us what your favorite feature is. Whether it’s faxing or one of our many social integration tools, share your faves with us right here or on our Facebook page!



 

Do you ever find yourself  mid-phone conversation without a clue what you're saying uh huh to? Do you give vague answers or shy from the truth when a conversation turns awkward? Do you fib or embellish a little to make your conversations more exciting? If you answered yes to any of these, you're not alone!

With all the ways we interact and share information in this digital era, we have developed unwritten etiquette for varying types of social interaction. Norms on one social site may be taboo on another and face-to-face interaction can provoke different emotions than less personal communication like email, but did you ever think one outlet could make you more or less honest than the next? As crazy as it sounds, a  recent study from the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research shows that this is in fact the case.

So, what makes us spill the beans? A few years ago we might have agreed that a few too many glasses of Pinot Noir would do the trick, but now-a-days it's something more common than happy hour -- it's texting.





According to the study, in which researchers compared respondents' answers to questions texted to them versus those asked to them in a phone interview,  people are more likely to disclose sensitive information via text message.

"This is sort of surprising," Fred Conrad, leading cognitive psychologist in the study says. "Many people thought that texting would decrease the likelihood of disclosing sensitive information because it creates a persistent, visual record of questions and answers that others might see on your phone and in the cloud."

Not only were people more likely to tell the truth via text, they were also found to give more precise answers. Researchers believed this is because with texting, people are not under pressure to give an answer -- there is no one standing in front of them or waiting on the line for a response -- giving them more time to arrive at more accurate answers.

"We're in the early stages of analyzing our findings," says Michael Schober, a professor of psychology involved in the study. "But so far it seems that texting may reduce some respondents' tendency to shade the truth or to present themselves in the best possible light in an interview."

Are you more honest when texting? Voxox minds want to know if you're more candid on one form of communication versus another!  Comment here or post on our Facebook page -- no fibbing!

As the unofficial kick-off to summer, people everywhere are on a mission to hit the road, celebrate and have a good time on Memorial Day. Roadtrips are planned, plane tickets are bought and bus seats are sold, but where is everyone going?

Earlier this month we celebrated moms. This made us think about how a service like Voxox can be handy for new parents. So, we asked Heidi S., a new mom and Voxox user to share her experience.


Here's Heidi's story in her own words:


I live life two hours at a time. That’s how long it is between each of my infant daughter’s naps. In those two hours I change her, feed her, play with her, take her on walks, and encourage her growth and development. Then she goes to sleep, and the whole cycle starts again.

Spare time? I’ve forgotten the meaning of the term!


As every parent knows, a baby takes nearly every second of free time you have, free time you used to take for granted and spent however you pleased. The hours I used to spend online or on the phone are now reduced to a mere log on, check in, shut down scenario.


No spare time: that’s just a fact of parenting!  The question is: how to make the most of what little free time I have?


That’s where Voxox comes in.


I don’t have time to log into several different accounts simply to let people know what I’m up to or fire off an email. So I log into Voxox and take care  of everything all in the same program!


During naptime, I quickly chat with friends on multiple networks all in one window, and update my status on each of those networks. While she plays, I send off an email or Tweet about her latest antics. With her in my lap, I make a video call with grandparents so they can see her brand new tooth.


Thanks to Voxox, I don’t waste a second of those precious snippets of spare time.


Not only that, I use Voxox to make calls and send texts, saving money and cell phone minutes and avoiding fumbling with my phone or searching for its charger.


A stay at home mom struggles to find time to stay connected to the outside world. The baby is her entire world. Her nonstop focus. The baby is her job, 24/7! We don’t mind, but any tool that makes this job even a little bit easier is the equivalent of a miracle.


Voxox saves me time, which keeps me connected to my friends and family. Being able to connect with those around me helps me feel more like who I was before I became a parent, which makes all the difference in the world.


Any other Voxox parents out there who'd like to share their experience?  Comment below or on our Facebook page.