VOXOX Blog

I see London, I see France, I see... VoIP the Voxox Alien?


That's right, VoIP has hit the road again and this time he is going international! Dust off your detective cap and get ready for another round of "Where in the World is the Voxox Alien?"


To play, all you need is a Twitter  or Facebook account. Here’s how it’s going to go:


STEP 1.


We will post a photo of VoIP, the Voxox Alien, to both our  Facebook page and  @Voxox Twitter, using the hashtag #VoxOxAlien, about once a day from different stops on his trip. We'll use clues like this to tip you off:






STEP 2.


YOU guess “Where in the World is the Voxox Alien?” by either tweeting your answer to  @Voxox with the hashtag #VoxoxAlien or by commenting on the  Facebook photo!



STEP 3.



If you’re right… (and even if you’re not) we’ll give you a shout out and a retweet! The follower with the most correct guesses just may win an intergalactic prize pack full of stellar goodies!







Good luck and remember to check the Voxox Facebook and Twitter daily for more chances to win!

Check out our snazzy pins!


This week we have some exciting events happening in our business services division, Voxox In Business, which provides VoIP solutions to small and medium sized businesses. Members of our team are in Chicago this week for the Channel Partners Conference and Expo. We are here meeting with our valued partners, who are our primary sales channel for our business offerings.


And this isn't your usual business expo. Our new partner WTG has a carnival themed booth and agent event during the show,  complete with fire breathers, stilts, jugglers and more. As a premier sponsor of their event, we're giving away two Apple iPads. We also like to keep our partners happy, so we are offering a $100 Visa Gift Card to every new partner when they make their first qualified sale (rules apply).


Our talented design team created some out-of-this-world promo materials for the giveaway in keeping with the event's theme. Check them out below. We can't say enough about the beauty of these hand drawn illustrations. Great job Voxox creative team!



The creative cover page to our promotional brochure



Our banner on display at the Carnival event on Navy Pier


So here's to a great event! Check out our Voxox In Business Facebook and Twitter pages for more show and business product updates!


(Apple is not a sponsor of this event)

The Voxox team isn’t just your ordinary group of geeks, we’re a group of wild and enthusiastic people who love what we do! “Just another day at the office” doesn’t apply here. Whether it’s Nerf gun wars, free ice cream extravaganzas, or Monday morning bagels, there’s always something for us to get excited about! Get to know the team with our new behind the scenes,Q&A style blog series, “The People Who Make Voxox Rock”…


Name: Heidi


Department/Position: Executive Assistant (plus President & Co-founder of the Voxox Fun Committee)


How would you explain your day-to-day? Well, every day is different depending on what's going on in the office. I usually try to get basic administrative stuff done when I first get in - pick up the mail, manage emails, and of course, say good morning to everybody! I help out anywhere people need it. One day I'll be busy scheduling appointments with investors, the next I'll help with shipping labels, filing, and scanning. The more we work as a team, the faster we accomplish our goals. I know a lot about the company and different departments because I really try and make sure everything runs smoothly. Most importantly, I try to maintain the office appearance. When we have visitors it's my job to give them the best first impression, so having the office look good is vital!



What should people know about Voxox? Voxox makes chatting on different networks really convenient - that's my primary use for Voxox. I have friends on Voxox, Google Chat, and Facbeook that I talk to, and Voxox lets me have them in one window instead of switching back and forth between pages... no more blinking tabs or overlooking messages! Being able to switch from chatting to texting in the same window is really cool to me, too. With Voxox you can program in your friend's number and their screen name all under their contact card, so if they leave their computer you can keep the conversation going by sending texts from Voxox to their cell.



What's your greatest accomplishment since you've been with Voxox? No one before me took ownership of the job. They just did the basics - answered the phone, filled the printer, etc.- but I've really put in the effort to streamline processes and shop around to find the best deals on things we need like office supplies and shipping, as well as stuff we all want like coffee! It's really about personal pride. I've always been that way. I take a lot of pride in my work, even if people don’t notice, I notice. I do what I can!



Do you have any hidden talents or hobbies? Lets see, I'm pregnant... does that count as a talent? No? Ok, well I love to paint, dance, and sing - anything artistic and expressive. I used to paint a lot, but now that I'm getting everything ready for my baby I haven't really had time. I'm trying my best to finish a set of paintings I've been working on for her nursery, I'm so excited! I'm trying to learn how to do things around the house too. My husband and I just renovated our kitchen by ourselves, we're becoming our own interior designers! When I was in high school I used to be in the show choir; it's like performing short skits through singing and dancing. My favorite song was Footloose, it was just so fun... get footloose!! All the spinning and jumping requires a lot of coordination, which is is difficult for me sometimes. I never fell though, which is impressive. Also, my arms do a funky double jointed thing that always gets a lot of laughs and I've never had a cavity.



Last restaurant you ate at? Souplantation. I had salad, clam chowder, ice cream - I always get the ice cream - and fruit. I'm allergic to gluten so it's kind of limiting. Well, the clam chowder isn't gluten-free, but it's just so good I had to have it.



What's the wallpaper on your cell phone? Right now, it's a bridge and clouds. Let me explain. My grandma sends me lots of emails. She forwards me things like LOLCats, pictures of cats and unicorns hugging, "The People of Wal-mart" links, and slide shows of nature scenes. It makes me think of her and how proud I am that she is never afraid to try new things, even at 78 she isn’t scared of technology. She never stops learning, and I admire her so much for it..



Your most embarrassing moment? When I was a freshman in high school I had a huge backpack and one day I was trying to shimmy over a short fence and, of course, I fell over in front of a bunch of Senior guys. I stood up, said, "Thank you. Thank you," and took a bow. My policy is: if you can’t laugh at yourself, someone else will do it for you!



Now that you know a little more about Heidi's show-tunes past and her love for clam chowder, we want to know what you think about her! As her baby bump gets bigger, more and more bets and predications around the due date have been circulating the office. Get in on the action and take our poll to see if you can predict when her baby will arrive... we'll let you know the results as soon as she shares the great news!



When will Heidi's baby arrive?

If you want to know more about Heidi or have any questions you want us to ask our next Voxox rock star, let us know here or on our Facebook page!

School isn't all about number 2 pencils and Trapper Keepers anymore, people. A new wave of education is upon us. At one time universities were considering banning laptops and smartphones from class, but maybe technology in the classroom isn't as distracting as some professors would like to believe.


According to a recent infographic from OnlineEducation.net, students are growing increasingly attached to their gadgets but they're not just playing Angry Birds and texting, they are using high-tech tablets and devices to optimize their learning experience. Check out this infographic to see how some college level classes are embracing social media, not shunning it, and how digital assignments are increasing engagement and generating a positive response from students:



Infographic Source – Adapted from OnlineEducation.net/students-love-tech


Now, we want to hear from you...


How do you use technology to be more productive? Do you think gadgets in the classroom are useful or do you think technology is distracting? Tell us what you think here or on the Voxox Facebook page!

For some of us, the end of summer comes with mixed feelings. We'll miss the beach days, pool parties, sunny days, warm nights... but it also means the beginning of new adventures. For example,  going off to college for the first time and experiencing new-found freedom. Of course, with that freedom comes some financial responsibility, and, in this economy, it's not a bad idea to find ways to save on keeping up with friends and family. Check out a few ways the Voxox Call iPhone app can help you save as you start off the new school year:

1) Free phone number in your new state

If you’re starting school in another state (U.S.), you may want to get a second phone number with that state’s area code. When you sign up (free) for Voxox -- either for Voxox Call for iPhone or Voxox for the desktop -- you get a free phone number that forwards to any of your other phones. This feature works similarly to Google Voice, however if you have family in multiple states or in Canada, you can also get additional phone numbers for less than two bucks a month. This way, your out-of-state grandma can call you at a dedicated number that's local for her. (Maybe she'll even pay for it, since you're trying to save her money!) If you're an international student with family in another country, you could achieve the same effect with our free global access number ( iNum), which allow folks in 45+ countries to call Voxox phone numbers at local rates.

2) Cheap or free worldwide SMS over Wi-Fi or mobile Internet

Let's talk about that unlimited texting plan you have with your carrier -- you may want to cancel it and use this way cheaper option instead.  With the Voxox Call app, you can text over the Internet on your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch. It's free to receive texts; one penny to send in the U.S. and Canada; 2 cents to send anywhere else in the world. Plus, if you have the Voxox desktop software, it all works together, so, you can send and receive texts through the same account from your computer and your iOS devices, depending on what you have on you.

3) Long-distance calls for pennies

If you're a student on a budget, you might consider downgrading your wireless plan to regionally-restricted / local calling and using the Voxox Call app to dial out of state. Our awesome callback functionality lets you dial out of state without paying an outbound toll. It works like this: you dial a number and Voxox calls you back with the person on the line. Your carrier counts this as an incoming call, and incoming calls typically don't incur toll fees.  You just pay a penny per minute for calls to the U.S. and Canada and varying cheap rates for calls to other parts of the world.  You may want to confirm your carrier's policies, just in case.

4) Free and cheap faxing

For college students who may need to receive a fax, whether it's financial aid paperwork, rental agreement, work study application, etc., Voxox Call iPhone app offers free inbound faxing. You can receive, view and forward faxes on your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch. If you ever need to send a fax, just download the Voxox desktop app for free. Sending faxes through Voxox will cost you just a few pennies and no stress. Voxox has the only free phone number in the world that’s voice-, SMS- and fax-enabled (plus free voicemail transcription, too!), so why not take advantage?



So there you have it-- four tips that may just help you save a few bucks in college... think of all the extra coffee! Have any other tips of your own?  Share them by commenting here or on the Voxox Facebook page.

You're at a job that requires you to be on the Internet 8 hours a day, so why do you experience pangs of visceral yearning  to check notifications via your smart phone while sitting in traffic and then again 35 seconds after you've walked through your front door? Why do you feel anxiety and the beginnings of  a full-on tantrum when your browser isn't loading fast enough? Our need for connectivity and constant stimulation has made the Internet our #1 companion and nemesis.

As the Internet is increasingly replacing almost everything in our lives, from TV, to radio, to books, to classrooms, to doctors, to the need to interact face-to-face with other humans for absolutely any reason at all, we're using the tool more and more, and according to scientists quoted in a recent CNN article, our brains are starting to show the effects. Technology feeds the human brain's natural desire for instant gratification, fast pace, and unpredictability, so it's only natural that we are easily drawn to the Internet, right? Not so fast.

The worry is that constant online interaction is giving us what researcher and professor with the Information School at the University of Washington, David Levy, calls " popcorn brain" -- a brain accustomed to the constant stimulation of electronic media and multitasking. This constant online stimulation can activate dopamine cells in the main pleasure center of the brain, leaving us feeling elated and alert.

WALL-E - chud.com

Although this sounds like a good time, our online multitasking habit is actually depriving our brains of rest, which it needs to process things, and it is also negatively affecting our abilities to read human emotions.

Clifford Nass, a social psychologist researcher at Stanford, says, "Human interaction is a learned skill, and they (online multitaskers) don't get to practice it enough." Nass reported that when he showed online multitaskers pictures of faces, they had a hard time identifying the emotions they were showing. This same group had difficulty identifying emotions and stating ways to improve the moods of characters in stories he read to them.

It's obvious, and scientifically proven, smartphones and online media are quickly reducing our need and ability to interact with other humans. WALL-E is no longer an inconceivable vision of the future, it is a very real (OK, exaggerated) representation of the present. If you think you're losing the fight against Internet addiction, spending too much time on your devices, and are feeling the kernels popping in your brain as you read this, maybe it's time to give Voxox a try and rid yourself of communication overload once and for all.

So you've used the Voxox app for iPhone to save tons of cash on those international and long-distance toll calls you've been making to that hunky Brazilian you met on vacation, but since it's been a few weeks and you've realized a life of leisure filled with epic Rio de Janeiro sunsets, sweet coconuts and naps in the hammock are all just a fantasy, you're wondering, "What else does this app do?"

The truth of the matter is that voicemail (and voice calling in some instances) has become antiquated.  Listening to someone's voice in real-time can be slow. You have to wait through pauses and "um’s" to grasp the key point of the call – this type of thing can be skipped when I'm reading a message.