batipi.com

The following is demonstration video on how to schedule a multiparty video conference, using our Baloka Meeting Room service.

Some of the features in the web interface include:

• Schedule an online meeting with custom registration
• Send invitations & schedule follow-up reminders
• Auto approve or manually approve registered participants
• View previous meeting history & participant login reports
• Enable Video and/or Audio conferencing for your meeting
• Select meeting layouts: webinar, application share only,  collaborative video conference

If you would like us to walk you through setting up your first meetings, just click on the live chat icon to your left…

Batipi recently partnered with Evan Carmichael and his SEO for Africa concept.

The idea of this set of workshops is to aid local businesses to leverage the internet, specifically search engine optimization (SEO) to increase web traffic and therefore giving them more of a footprint online.

As a result all proceeds from the workshops will be given to African entrepreneurs who are trying to build better lives for themselves by starting and growing their own businesses.

This concept sounded like a great idea and Batipi is proud and glad to be a part of it.

You should join in the effort at SEO for Africa!

So it’s obvious that we make up these terms web 2.0 to give us an idea of what evolutionary stage were at. We need it! Otherwise, we have nothing to compare against where we have been. So who is deciding at what stage we will officially be web 3.0?

At Batipi, we think web 3.0 is simply about collaboration. We’ll that’s basically it…this is still a thought in process! But think about it, it should be that simple…not..”it’s ajax apps, integrating with web apps, to the mashup, delivering you a shiny new web 3.0 app.”

Here is clip from a press conference with Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google talking about web 3.0:

Here is a funny video on web 3.0

there are many mis-conceptions in the market place, as to what is the difference between a webcast & webinar. at batipi, we define the webcast as a live event, streaming live video and/or audio from the live event to your remote audience. meanwhile, a webinar is a focused around a powerpoint presentation initiated remotely (could be even from your desktop) and delivered to a internet audience.

so what defines a webcast?

as per the definition of wikipedia… “a webcast is a media file distributed over the internet using streaming media technology. as a broadcast may either be live or recorded, similarly, a webcast may either be distributed live or recorded. essentially, webcasting is “broadcasting” over the internet.”

top 5 reasons why webcasting is good for business:

1- speed of delivery

deliver a live message to a targeted audience of unlimited size in real time.

2- value of going green

webcasting is highly cost effective, especially compared to the cost of travel.

3- control access

registration and passwords enable complete control over access to webcast information.

4- convenience for customer

free of place or time constraints, archived webcasts may be used at any time, from any online terminal.

5- measure demographics

assessing the impact of a webcast initiative is easy, immediate, and totally accurate: track how many attended, who they were, & where their from.

how webcasting works:

recording event:

video or audio content is recorded at the source.

capturing the stream:

content is compressed, then transferred to “streaming media” software.

converted media:

content is coded and integrated with other project elements (like slide presentations, user log-in and more), then “packaged” for the web.

program distribution:

once ready, the program is distributed via specialized servers onto the internet - either live, or stored for later access.

play webcast live:

realplayer or windows media player, converts the data stream from webcast servers to a viewing or listening experience on the user’s computer desktop. that’s it! your webcast is ready!

example’s of webcasts:

example 1- live video to webcast audience

• click “launch archived webcast“
• custom registration page with branding
• includes built-in chat system to handle live Q/A

example 2- live video webcast of shareholder meeting

• click “windows media high video”
• click “skip registration” if prompted
• includes synchronized slides

example 3- video webcast townhall

• if prompted click “windows media high res”
• includes question manager
• includes synchronized slides

example 4- video only webcast

• video only webcast, no slides
• branded player

for more information about webcasting technology, call one of our consultants today!

One of the greatest aspects of working in the industry of online conferencing & collaboration, is we get to promote the concept of meeting online = green!

Today the technology of video conferencing allows us to meet face to face, and we can also be more efficient with our time, by avoiding annoying traffic jams. Also, in the meantime we get to save valuable carbon emissions. Check out the carbon calculator by Carbon Fund Organization, this tool allows you to see what your carbon footprint is.

The two pictures below, have more meaning, when reviewing efficient ways of working smarter.

Insanity:

Working Smarter:

The pictures above speak for themselves. Whether or not video conferencing is a solution to replace all your meetings, you can expect to use this as a tool to reduce travel & connect online. It’s ideal for discussing in person (via video), or to share your desktop and collaborate on the latest projects.

Would love to here your comments about traffic horror stories…sometimes you have to “feel the pain”, to realize the solution!

Plant a tree campaign

One of our partners at Batipi, Webex is offering to plant a tree for every trial account that signs up under their plant a tree campaign. We think this is a great initiative and encourage any of our clients to sign up for this trial. Once you have hosted 2 meetings under the trial, webex will plant a tree in your name.

Purchase Webex services from Batipi

I guess we should also plug, that we offer webex meeting services at Batipi. So once your finished your trial you can sign up for a pay-as-you-go account for a reduced carbon supporting rate of $0.21/minute. Send us your request or call us, to get your own webex account set-up, we only bill (electronic invoices of course!) for what you use.

In New Zealand they are about to undergo a dissection of  the largest squid ever caught, weighing in at 1,089-pound, and a staggering 26 feet long.  The squid was accidentally caught by fisherman last year, and now has been removed from the freezer for scientists to examine.

The entire process is being webcast live over the internet.  It’s pretty impressive we were just checking this out, and you have the option of viewing 4 different camera angles.  Here are the links to all cameras, or you can see all 4 cameras on one page.  You can can even hear audio included in the webcast….I was trying to listen for the Kiwi accent!

Wide angle camera:
http://www.r2.co.nz/20080427/camera-4.asx

Dissection table:
http://www.r2.co.nz/20080427/camera-2.asx

Thawing bath - fixed camera:
http://www.r2.co.nz/20080427/camera-3.asx

Thawing bath - scanning camera:
http://www.r2.co.nz/20080427/camera-1.asx

Rotating view - switches between cameras every 30 seconds:
http://www.r2.co.nz/20080427/rotate-1.asx

4 cameras on the same page:
You will need a broadband connection to view this page. Be aware that this page is sending a lot of data and will increase your data usage.10 minutes is around 75 MB. http://www.r2.co.nz/20080427/matrix.htm

‘The Grid’ is what they call it! The next generation of the internet… Giving you the ability to surf the net at ‘10,000 times the current speed of broadband’!

Could you imagine the possibility of sharing files and communicating online at those speeds? This is where the topic of ‘Holographic Video Conferening’ came up today in the office.

We were sitting here searching the internet with our penchant for constant knowledge when we came across an article discussing ‘Superfast Internet’  written by an author at the Times Online.

 In this article he discussed the possibility of an internet so fast that we would be able to share the largest of files in just seconds, revolutionize gaming from a 64 player standpoint to ten’s of thousands of individuals and not to mention speeds that would make the online conferencing market run like clockwork!

Added to this the possibility of ‘holographic video conferencing’! Could you imagine that? Having a 3-dimensional video conference with thousands of individuals without a flinch in performance (which is sometimes an issue still to this day).

As an individual who loves anything fast and efficient I must say that the idea of this ‘Grid’ sounds like heaven! Take into consideration also that this ‘Grid’ has already been utilised by a number of individuals and may be ready for use by domestic users in the next 2 years!

What do you have to say about this future evolution of the internet?

Here is a quick and simple way to share documents online, without having to attach to your email message.  Navigate to http://viewer.zoho.com/, and upload your document.  From here you have options to email this to your recipient, take the direct link & copy into your own email, embed the document directly into your website or blog, or even click edit to modify online using Zoho’s online office applications.

Here is a presentation we just uploaded:
Click to View

Here is a demonstration using our application sharing service, how to upload a file to Zoho Viewer:

We were just sitting at the office this afternoon working away (as we do) and noticed this news segment on the television about the use of social media such as Facebook to arrange study groups online and collaborate. Their seems to have been alot of controversy (some poor uni student is about to get expelled!) over whether online collaboration in a university setting could be considered cheating.

As a solution provider of online conferencing and collaborative services we thought this was pretty odd…

Firstly, from a lay man standpoint, does anyone know whether there is any legislation against online study groups?

I have personally never heard of any such rule or law. Also, assuming from a majority (in office show of hands) standpoint, every single individual collaborated in some form at university or college. The fact that this particular student had the ingenious idea of collaborating online is from our standpoint very illuminating. What better way to use online conferencing platforms than to provide it to the particular individuals that are going to use it most! The students who work together on a daily basis and share ideas to help their futures!

There would be no difference (in our eyes) between the students studying and collaborating online or sitting in the library or in their residences and doing exactly the same thing. Especially when in the current business environment being able to work together and collaborate online is becoming the fastest and most effective way to help productivity!

We have been using hosted live chat services at Batipi for a few years now. It has been an invaluable tool to communicate with visitors on our website, and handle support questions from customers.

Initially we started using this service PHP Live Support. At first the service was great, and we could still get a hold of these guys “live” on their own website. However, after a short while we started experiencing some problems & phplivesupport.com, was no where to be found. There voicemail box quickly filled up, and their own live support always read “offline”! We’ll to be fair, their Credit Card processing system worked fine, even after our countless attempts to cancel account. In the end we had to have our card re-issued, as the banks could not assist…which is a another topic, we won’t dwell on here.

Out of this experience, we went back to the marketplace to look for another vendor to offer live chat support on our website. We’re now using a service called Chatstat, and the experience has been exceptional. These guys have been available to handle support calls, which was a healthy change! Moreover, there service has a host of value-add services that you can add-on to your account. Here are just a few:

• International “on the fly” translation for multiple languages (this is instant translation!)
• Co-Browse Website with chat visitor (kind of nicer then pushing url’s for the visitor to view)
• Customization of your Live Chat interface
• Chat link for email signature
• In-line Flash Chat (can embed chat interface directly into a webpage)

These are few of many add-on features they offer. The idea of instant language translation, I still find to be very impressive! Somebody is talking Mandarin or Spanish, and I’m reading this message in English, meanwhile, vise-versa on their end….incredible!