One of the reasons I like bringing you "Fabulous Web Freebies" is to highlight the enormous range of wonderful web tools available to the small business owner, solo-preneur, self-employed professional, job seeker, student, or employee. There are free web tools available to meet so many needs, that it's impossible to know all of them. But, I like to highlight those that are particularly useful, interesting or that have that "wow" factor.
Today's fabulous freebie is TokBox.com.
TokBox, or "Talk Box", takes internet video conferencing a step further than Skype or other web conferencing tools. I tried Skype the other day, at the urging of a colleague...and loved it! It was so fun being able to see each other face to face. I hadn't really known what to do with the build-in web com on my new laptop...and now I know! I'll continue to use Skype since I have it loaded on my computer.
But - what if I wanted to talk to more than one person via video? I am starting to meet regularly with a virtual planning group, and we are looking for a teleconferencing/video solution. TokBox allows me. as the meeting host, to connect via video with any number of participants (the useful limit seems to be 20-25 participants).
So, the 4 of us could chat and see each other via video, or if one of the participants doesn't have a camera we can still hear her voice (as long as she has a microphone). You don't have to download anything...your call lives "in the cloud" as they say.
You can also send "video emails" or post those same video clips to Twitter...or video chat with your Facebook friends.
Only the person initiating the call needs a TokBox account, but if the other participants have one set up, it shortens the conection process.
And, did I mention...it's free. Amazing.
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