The Consumer Electronics Show is kicking off in Las Vegas today, with much more fanfare than in previous years when many of us thought that CES would follow the fate of Comdex. Judging by the news that has begun trickling in, we will see lots of announcements of TVs that are 3D enabled and/or run web applications. If you have been waiting for the Internet to make a huge impact on your living room, 2010 will be it.
The other big emerging topic is video communication and video conferencing. LG says videoconferencing will go HD this year. Panasonic and Cisco are pushing video as a new killer app, HP bets on online collaboration and IBM is planning a videoconferencing service with some partners like Polycom. It’s a catch-up game with Skype, which is first making its way onto TVs. Communicating via your TV? Yup, via your TV. It would have been an unthinkable pitch just a few years ago. Now we are seeing the family room evolve from an entertainment to an entertainment and communication hub of the home.
Mingleverse has already shown that communication is not just about voice anymore, it is more and more about merging audio with visuals, which, in turn, will change the way we communicate. Communication will turn into collaboration in the workplace and deeper connections between family members and friends who live apart from each other. Visuals will shape the way we communicate in the future. Seeing your friends, family or coworkers in an environment that looks and feels like the real world, the possibility to share not just static media, but rich applications and the integration of live video is a truly fascinating trend.
Friday, January 8, 2010
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Collaboration Online A Top Tech Priority for 2010
Silicon.com runs an article via Business Week describing collaboration technology as a trend CFOs should consider more seriously in 2010. Why? According to Silicon.com and analysts from Ovum, the cost of physical meetings is increasingly difficult to justify; technology that cuts travel expenses and travel time via videoconferencing should be much more prominent by the end of the year as a result.
We at Mingleverse tend to agree and believe that a meeting of minds vs a meeting of bodies will become much more important. 'Being there' will have an entirely new meaning. Imagine the money and time that can be saved by meeting online, while having capabilities that are taken from the real life – 3D audio, life-like faces, video sharing, presentation sharing. On the Internet, it does not get much more personal than that.
Collaboration online is taking a notably faster pace these days. Other publication that focused this trend include The Nation, Fox Business and SearchITChannel.
We at Mingleverse tend to agree and believe that a meeting of minds vs a meeting of bodies will become much more important. 'Being there' will have an entirely new meaning. Imagine the money and time that can be saved by meeting online, while having capabilities that are taken from the real life – 3D audio, life-like faces, video sharing, presentation sharing. On the Internet, it does not get much more personal than that.
Collaboration online is taking a notably faster pace these days. Other publication that focused this trend include The Nation, Fox Business and SearchITChannel.
Monday, January 4, 2010
Sharing Traditions Across Geographic Distances
Telepresence is a big buzz word this year. A highlight of this new trend is uniting people in an audiovisual way who otherwise would be limited to Skype or the good old phone. New Year’s Eve made me think how far telepresence will be able to take us and how we will be using this technology to eliminate geographic distances.
It took a few minutes to get my mom adjusted to Mingleverse, but sharing the New Year between my family in Germany and my family and friends in Chicago was a breathtaking experience. The live video sharing was a big hit - believe it or not my family had no idea about the Balldrop in New York and there is some confusion why a crystal ball symbolizes the arrival of the new year.
On the other hand, I finally was able to introduce some of our German traditions such as the traditional video of “Dinner for One”, a funny sketch that airs in many European countries on New Year’s Eve. (some say British humor hasn’t aged well in the past four decades and it really isn’t that funny. It’s on YouTube, of course, and you can watch it here.”)
A life changing New Year’s Eve. Exciting!
It took a few minutes to get my mom adjusted to Mingleverse, but sharing the New Year between my family in Germany and my family and friends in Chicago was a breathtaking experience. The live video sharing was a big hit - believe it or not my family had no idea about the Balldrop in New York and there is some confusion why a crystal ball symbolizes the arrival of the new year.
On the other hand, I finally was able to introduce some of our German traditions such as the traditional video of “Dinner for One”, a funny sketch that airs in many European countries on New Year’s Eve. (some say British humor hasn’t aged well in the past four decades and it really isn’t that funny. It’s on YouTube, of course, and you can watch it here.”)
A life changing New Year’s Eve. Exciting!
Friday, January 1, 2010
Ringing In The New Year, Mingleverse Style
I haven’t celebrated New Year’s Eve with my parents in 11 years. There’s a time when you are not especially eager to do that every year anyway, but I somewhat miss my family. I left my home country in 1998 and made the U.S. my new home.
My parents and my family here were never able to celebrate Christmas or New Year’s Eve together. This year, we will try to bridge the gap for the first time.
We decided to use Mingleverse to connect Munich with Chicago and bring family members together on computer screens here in the U.S. and in Germany. We will have our traditional gathering here at home and add Germany via a mingle, chat and video streams. I’ll also give my fancy Bluetooth headset a try. I’ve always been the geek in the family, but it’s always special when you know you’ve found a technology that’s not just a toy, but something that can truly improve your life.
If you think about it, Mingleverse is a way that enables you to divide yourself and be in multiple places around the globe at the same time. It is fascinating how geographic distances have become almost meaningless these days. Well, with the exception of time, of course. I’ll write in the new year how the mingle went - can't wait!
- Wolfgang
If you are mingling over the year celebration as well, send us a quick note! We’d love to hear about it!
My parents and my family here were never able to celebrate Christmas or New Year’s Eve together. This year, we will try to bridge the gap for the first time.
We decided to use Mingleverse to connect Munich with Chicago and bring family members together on computer screens here in the U.S. and in Germany. We will have our traditional gathering here at home and add Germany via a mingle, chat and video streams. I’ll also give my fancy Bluetooth headset a try. I’ve always been the geek in the family, but it’s always special when you know you’ve found a technology that’s not just a toy, but something that can truly improve your life.
If you think about it, Mingleverse is a way that enables you to divide yourself and be in multiple places around the globe at the same time. It is fascinating how geographic distances have become almost meaningless these days. Well, with the exception of time, of course. I’ll write in the new year how the mingle went - can't wait!
- Wolfgang
If you are mingling over the year celebration as well, send us a quick note! We’d love to hear about it!
Monday, December 21, 2009
Top 10 Mingling Countries
1. Canada
2. India
3. United States
4. Pakistan
5. Egypt
6. Philippines
7. Iran
8. Hungary
9. United Arab Emirates
10. China
2. India
3. United States
4. Pakistan
5. Egypt
6. Philippines
7. Iran
8. Hungary
9. United Arab Emirates
10. China
Monday, December 7, 2009
New Features Update
Ohhh exciting times! We released some new features today along with some essential bug fixes and fancy back-end work.
No Headphones Mode
Don't have headphones handy? No problem. We've implemented a "push-to-talk" mode where you can enter the room and just use your computer speakers and microphone.
Although a convenient feature, it is still highly recommended that you wear a headset to experience 3D voice chat.
Improved First Time Experience
We've built a nifty set-up process that makes the first-time experience much easier. New minglers will go through our simple step-by-step process to make sure everything is configured properly before they join your mingle.
Enhanced Host Controls
Hosts now have the benefit of directing your attention to them or to their presentation screen. From the 'Minglers' tab the host can click 'Look at me' or 'Look at the screen' and all guests will be directed in the proper direction. Additionally, the host can choose to put the guests in a line, circle or grid.
Those are the biggest changes we've made.. you'll run into some smaller ones as you mingle.
There is a lot to look forward to over the next couple weeks. You'll see us release some improvements to our user interface, implement groups functionality, and we're going to take some time to make our existing features better :)
- Daniel
No Headphones Mode
Don't have headphones handy? No problem. We've implemented a "push-to-talk" mode where you can enter the room and just use your computer speakers and microphone.
Although a convenient feature, it is still highly recommended that you wear a headset to experience 3D voice chat.
Improved First Time Experience
We've built a nifty set-up process that makes the first-time experience much easier. New minglers will go through our simple step-by-step process to make sure everything is configured properly before they join your mingle.
Enhanced Host Controls
Hosts now have the benefit of directing your attention to them or to their presentation screen. From the 'Minglers' tab the host can click 'Look at me' or 'Look at the screen' and all guests will be directed in the proper direction. Additionally, the host can choose to put the guests in a line, circle or grid.
Those are the biggest changes we've made.. you'll run into some smaller ones as you mingle.
There is a lot to look forward to over the next couple weeks. You'll see us release some improvements to our user interface, implement groups functionality, and we're going to take some time to make our existing features better :)
- Daniel
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Embed Your Mingle Room Into Your Website or Blog
We have a first version of embeddable Mingle Rooms up and running. When you're on your 'My Mingle Rooms' page you will see an Embed link beside your Mingle Room. Click the link and we'll reveal the code that you need. Simply copy and paste it into your blog and it will look like this:
Welcome Room
We will be hosting mingles every Monday-Friday from 11am-1pm PDT.
Learn how to use all of your MingleRoom features as well as charge admission to your mingles!
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