7 Best Online Meeting Services

Online video meeting services have become popular collaboration tools. It offers an easy-to–use way to communicate with your partners, clients, and colleagues, and share your documents, your screen, and others.

In addition, online meeting services promote your companies to share the views and discuss important matters without involving any hassle of traveling. While using it, you do not need to deal with the calls, stream lags, downloads, and other technical issues. To help you understand more, the followings are the detailed introduction about seven popular online meeting services.

1. Cisco WebEx

Cisco WebEx is one of the oldest and widely used online meeting services available in the current market. It is easy to use. You just need to install the WebEx plugin. It will enable you to join or host any online meeting. With a few clicks, you can start working with your team. You can share your documents and screen, and you can even chat face-to-face in a minute. The downside is that you will have to spend a huge amount to use this platform.

Features
• It enables you to pass control to others.
• It records, edits, and play the meeting.
• It can be integrated with the audio conferences.
• It helps to start a face-to-face group video chat.
• It has a number of plans for private persons, businesses, and large enterprises.

2. ezTalks Cloud Meeting

ezTalks Cloud Meeting is known as a best online meeting service across the globe. Now, it offers free cloud meeting service up to 100 participants that allow you to start a video conference with ninety-nine attendees free of charge. Moreover, you will get many basic and improved features in the free service. The main purpose of this online meeting service is to conduct seminars, business meetings, presentation, and customer care support.

Features
• It offers 100-participant online meeting for free.
• It enables both video and audio conferencing.
• It supports speaker management, group chat & private chat, discussion, and screen sharing, annotation.
• It offers unlimited numbers of the meeting.
• It provides live broadcasting through a browser.
• It supports online meeting recording and playback.

3. Teamviewer

Teamviewer is popular for offering fast and hassle-free service. It is a great medium to perform the team work on the web. You can use this online meeting service to share your screens and document. It also supports the chats. It is affordable and allows you to start instant meetings and to access the code required to share your screen. You can also pass the host role to other attendees depending on the demand of the conference.

Features
• It is easy to use and allows instant operation.
• It is affordable and can easily fit into your budget.
• It allows you to share your documents and screens and send emails to the attendees in advance.
• It supports sharing stream videos from your webcam to the attendees.
• It enables you to pass the host role.
• It is mobile friendly. You can attend the group meeting from your Android or iOS device.

4. join.me

join.me is more popular as a support and remote control tool than an online meeting service. It is a free service offered by LogMeIn. For the improved features, you will have to spend a decent amount. It offers different types of the plans. You can choose the one depending on your requirement and budget.

Features
• It allows you to start a video meeting with 250 attendees.
• You can share your screen with the attendees, chat with them, and can send the files.
• It also allows you to lock and schedule online meeting.
• It is easy to operate.
• You can also join the group meeting through your Android and iOS device.
• It enables you to pass the host role.

5. GoToMeeting

GoToMeeting is another useful meeting service online used by companies to start online video conferences. It allows you to collaborate on documents and share desktop and screens. You just need to install the GoToMeeting application on your PC or Mac and then you can start online video conferences with a single click. It offers a free plan for three attendees.

Features
• It is a one-click affair. You just need to install the app and click a single button to start video conferencing.
• It allows group conferencing with 100 participants if you take the plus version plan.
• It enables you to share the desktop and collaborate in real-time.
• It supports recording and playback.
• It allows you to change the presenters instantly.

6. Google Hangouts

Google Hangouts ranks the top in the list of free online meeting services. It is appreciated by all users for some of its developed and easy-to-use features. It is widely used all over the world. You will get some basic features in the free service. But if you are looking for some developed features, then you will have to open a paid account.

Features
• It provides large and clear videos and free voice calls.
• It allows you to share documents via Google Doc.
• It offers free Google video conferencing calling up to ten participants.
• It supports recording, editing, and live stream video meetings.
• It allows group chat with 150 participants.

7. MegaMeeting

MegaMeeting is a live meeting service that supports both the online audio and video conferences. It is easy to use for all types of the users. It can be used both for the personal and business purposes. The best thing about this service is that it works on every browser. Moreover, the interface will be available in different languages.

Features
• It allows multiple parties from different locations to access the web conference through a single web address.
• It enables you to share the presentation, document, and files.
• It remotely connects to other devices.
• It supports conferences with multiple groups.
• It is easy to use and supports three hours recording.
• It offers different plans.

These seven online meeting services offer a complete conferencing solution with screen and desktop sharing, messaging, and document and file sharing. It allows you to discuss, share, and exchange the ideas. If you want to use it to improve productivity and boost business, first understand your requirements and then go through the features to choose the best one for your company.

7 Best FaceTime Alternatives for Video Calling 五月 26, 2017

7 Best FaceTime Alternatives for Video Calling

Video messaging and calls have become very common in today's age. You can now reach your colleagues, clients, friends and loved ones anywhere in the country or even abroad via video calling. It's fun and easy and almost anyone can do it.

What Is FaceTime Video Calling?

FaceTime is a video calling service provided by Apple available on all of their iOS devices. You can now just tap on your contacts and start a FaceTime call with your colleagues, clients, friends and loved ones as long as you have access to the Internet via WiFi or mobile data.

FaceTime is an exclusive service with anyone who has an iCloud account and iOS device or Mac. Thus, if you want to use FaceTime service, you will need to have an iPhone, iPad or Mac for you to be able to video call anyone. This also means that the people you want to make a video call will need an iPhone a, iPad or Mac as well and sign in to their iCloud accounts in order for you to do FaceTime.

Why You Need FaceTime Alternative to Make Video Calling?

Many users have mentioned that using FaceTime, they have experienced little to no lag time in their video calls. It seems that calls have a high quality stream without it buffering or lagging. Audio quality is also reported to be superior and instances of choppiness or voice cutting out is next to none as long as you have a stable connection. However, the biggest problem brought about FaceTime is its exclusivity to iPhone and other iOS devices. The person you are trying to make video calling may also not be able to respond if they don't have FaceTime. Which can be a hassle because there are many who do not use an iPhone device or refuses to use one for a number of reasons (one of them is its prices). What's worse, FaceTime only allows one-on-one video calling. If you want to make group video calling, you have to ask help from other video conferencing solutions.

Seven Apple FaceTime Alternatives

Here are some alternatives to FaceTime that you can try out to make one-on-one and group video calling in an easy way.

1. ezTalks Cloud Meeting

ezTalks Cloud Meeting is a professional and trustworthy video conferencing software that anyone can sign up for. It's free and available for both individual and business use. The great thing about ezTalks Cloud Meeting is that it's rather well established and available on iOS, Android, Mac and Windows devices and computer, making it accessible to a larger audience than FaceTime.

You can do individual video calls and you can also do conference calling. ezTalks Cloud Meeting even allows up to 100 participants to join you in the video calling for free. During the video calling, you can also content and screen sharing and live broadcasting via the browser. You can have an unlimited number of meetings as well. Recording of video calls and playback is also an available feature on ezTalks Cloud Meeting. Besides, it provides you with HD audio, HD video, sketch out ideas with an interactive whiteboard tool, schedule video calling ahead of time and more.

2. Google Hangouts

In this day and age, who does not have a Google account. Whether it's for email, a cloud drive service, calendar, or whatever other reason, almost everyone has a google account. And with a Google account, you can also sign up for Google Hangouts.

As one of best FaceTime alternatives, Google Hangouts is a messaging service available for use on Windows, Android and even iOS devices. This app allows you to message via text or chat online with your friends and family. You can do Google video conferencing calls and chats and is fully integrated to do video calls and conferences. It's a lightweight app that can be used on the phone, desktop or tablet. Hangouts comes with HD Video calls and can host up to 25 people at a time. There is also a built-in screen sharing, so you can share projects and online presentations or conduct Internet trainings online.

3. Whatsapp

Whatsapp is another alternative to FaceTime that is available on mobile devices for both Android and iOS. Right off the bat, this service is free and readily available for download on almost all mobile devices. There are over 1 billion people using this application in over 180 countries, so you know its tried and tested and quite reliable when It comes to messaging friends and family online.

Whatsapp allows for voice and video calls and you can even do conference. Even after a call has ended, you can still message via the video conference chatroom, so conversations can keep ongoing. You can easily share videos and photos on Whatsapp. There is also a document-sharing function, so you can view and share files as well even when on a call.

4. Skype

This Apple FaceTime alternative, is Skype, one of the oldest instant messaging services out there. Skype is actually known for video calls and conferences and they are probably one of the most widely used video conferencing app out there. Aside from video calls, Skype also allows for quick instant messages and is the most widely available application as of today.

Initially, it was only available on Windows desktop. Skype is now downloadable on both Android and iOS devices as well, making its reach significantly wide. Skype video calls allow for full screen conferences and you are able to share your screen live with the others on your conference, allowing for greater collaboration and interactivity with the participants online.

5. Viber

Viber is another very popular FaceTime alternative app available on both iOS and Android. This app is easy to install and connects through your mobile number as your User ID. You can even connect multiple devices to your main phone, so you can access messages on different devices. You can do voice calls and video calls on Viber as well as instant messaging.

Viber allows for group chats so you can keep in touch and track messages even when you're not on a call. Currently, conference calls are not yet available. However, other features include video, photo and document sharing. You can also send out short voice messages aside from engaging people on a call or chatting with them.

6. WeChat

WeChat is another messaging application gaining popularity nowadays, especially in China. Like Viber, it is easy to install and connects to your mobile number. You can also connect multiple devices to the same account. Voice and video quality on WeChat is at par with most other messaging services.

This application is easily downloadable on iTunes and on Google Play. Not only can you chat on WeChat (as the application name implies) and you can also make video calls as well. Group chat is also an available service on WeChat where you can add up to 40 members. WeChat is an interesting app as it has other built-in features such as games, and integrates with other messaging services (such as QQ). Unfortunately, video conferencing is not yet an available feature on WeChat.

7. Facebook Messenger

The last alternative for FaceTime We'd like to share with you is Facebook Messenger. If all else fails, Facebook messenger is one of the most widely used applications when it comes to instant messaging as it has one of the largest subscriber base in the world. One of the things they have launched with Facebook is the ability to make video calls. Video calling is easy and can be used on a laptop with a webcam or any iOS or Android phone with a front facing camera. Simply click the video call icon on the messenger and you can start away. You can even do group video calls on Facebook messenger, making it a robust messaging and calling application that can work independently of your Facebook application.

Nowadays, there are many available options and alternatives to Apple FaceTime that you can try out as technology becomes more widely available in different parts of the world. These applications don't carry the same restrictions as FaceTime and are mostly free. As technology advances, you will find more and more applications that make it even easier to reach colleagues, clients, friends and loved ones by just the touch of a button. Communication through video calls is now right at your fingertips.

 

 

6 High-Quality Free Webinar Software for Startups

Webinars are used in different sectors (professional, educational, entertainment, media) for different purposes. When it comes to webinar software, both commercial and free options are available to the consumers. If you're or a small business or startup looking to implement web conferencing solutions at minimum cost, here's a list of 6 of high-quality free webinar software used by a large number of people. You can try out each one of these webinar software and can opt for the most user friendly option that suits your business needs. All the solutions mentioned below are quite easy-to-use and wouldn’t cost you a dime.

1. ezTalks Cloud Meeting

As a useful video conferencing tool, ezTalks Cloud Meeting can also be used to hold webinars online. It is one of the best free webinar software, which helps you reach more people no matter where they are. The innovative platform supports up to 100 participants simultaneously attending the webinar for free. The powerful interactive whiteboard and recording features makes users experience a meaningful online seminar.

2. Meeting Burner

It’s one of the most popular free online webinar software. Simply create a free account and you can get started instantly to launch your first webinar. Integration with conferencing lines and Skype, topped with fast screen sharing makes it a quite robust and reliable service. Integrated analytics data lets you optimize your webinar session in real-time.

3. Google+ Hangouts

Since the launch of Google+, Hangouts have become one of the most popular webinar software free of charge, which has been used by large number of users to connect with friends, peers and customers. It’s easy to use, runs within a browser and supports high-quality yet reliable group video chat sessions. Participants can join and leave Google+ Hangout session in real-time.

4. Yondo Webinar

You can use this excellent web-conferencing and online collaboration service as a Google Chrome plugin. It has tons of features and supports crystal clear web conferencing stream. Attendees can join the session in real-time and can use the shared resources (screen, applications) with ease. It has one of the easiest and user-friendly web conferencing interfaces which even a layman can use without any issues.

5. OpenMeetings

As the name suggests, it's free and open source web-conferencing software. OpenMeetings is browser-based webinar system that you can host on your own server. You can share your screen, mic, webcam and can also use interactive whiteboard during webinar. Since it can be hosted on your own web server, there's no limit on the number of users who can join a single web-conferencing session. Apache Foundation now actively develops this open source webinar software.

6. TokBox

This awesome tool lets you add group video chat support on your web site or blog. The free API gets you started within minutes and you don't need to be a programmer to implement this solution. You can also use the plug-n-play application for embedding the same functionality on your blog. Plugins for WordPress and Drupal are also available to easily integrate group video chat on your web site.

Internet marketers, bloggers, developers and small businesses often use custom webinar applications in various forms to connect with their loyal customers and teams working in remote areas. This is such a powerful medium to reach out to the consumers, peers and business partners without any hassle. The free webinar software comparison here has listed the top six high quality webinar software freeware in the market today, which will give you a guide on selecting a right one for your business.

 

From:https://www.eztalks.com/webinars/best-free-webinar-software-for-startups.html

Top 5 Interactive Whiteboards for Business

Top 5 Interactive Whiteboards for Business

You can easily use video conferencing services to conduct live meetings even with the remote attendees, and it gives you the feel as if all of you were present in the same room. However, what when you need all the video conference attendees to be a part of a whiteboard session? Well, no worries, as you can easily find an interactive whiteboard for business use that can help solve this problem. But what is the best interactive whiteboard for business, if this is what you are now wondering then go through the list given below.

1. ExplainEverything

ExplainEverything is a popular interactive whiteboard for business that has more than 4.2 million users. It is a highly interactive whiteboard, very simple to use, and allows you to narrate, annotate, and animate drawings, images, and documents. It is also very easy to export and import almost anything from anywhere using this tool.

Though it was initially designed to be used by educators, the intuitive and simple user interface and the ease with which you can collaborate with many users in real-time has made this tool immensely popular in the business world. If you want the remote attendees of your meeting to be a part of the collaborative session, all you need to do is send them a unique code which the tool will generate for you, and you are good to go. The number of people who can share the whiteboard together depends on the subscription you opt for.

2. RealtimeBoard

RealtimeBoard has been created to make your cross team collaboration experience even better. Once you enter its whiteboard sessions you will feel as if all the attendees are in the same room, no matter how distant a location they may actually be in. The organizers may create a whiteboard and then share it with the attendees of the meeting through a link. Once every participant joins they can see the changes happening in the whiteboard and also get to know who is making these changes with the help of the collaborator cursor. Those who purchase the premium or team account can also create and participate in whiteboard sessions through screen sharing.

3. ezTalks

Your search for the best interactive whiteboard for business is most likely to end with ezTalks. The free video conferencing software has the best interactive whiteboard which helps draw unshaped ideas with highlighter, pencil, and you can use an eraser when needed. You may also capture screen and use many other interesting tools. The reason behind the growing popularity of ezTalks is the ease with which you can use not only its innovative whiteboard but other features too, including instant screen and content sharing, HD audio and video, cross-platform chat, and so on.

 

4. LiveBoard

LiveBoard certainly deserves a place in this list of the best interactive whiteboard for business. This tool is feature-rich, you get this free of cost, and perhaps this makes it all the more popular. LiveBoard provides meeting organizers and allows you to collaborate with many team members at the same time. It also allows you to access and save many boards from its searchable gallery. Once you save the boards you can anytime share it with anyone via social media or email.

5. Jot

Jot! initially may look like a very simple interactive whiteboard, but it offers great features and ensures a great real-time experience. Using this tool all the attendees can take part in whiteboard sessions by sketching ideas on the board (on their mobile phone) using their fingers, and share it right away with other attendees. You can also save sessions and email them as photos to other members.

Drawing and writing have proven to help increase the ability of a person to think more creatively, retain knowledge, and solve problems easily. As these activities involve your brain in a way that texting or typing does not, a whiteboard session thus can prove to be very beneficial, helping you and your teammates explore new ideas and new ways to make your business grow, and to enjoy more profits. However, while selecting a tool that allows remote attendees to participate in a whiteboard session you need to be careful. Make sure to opt for one that together with being interactive, also allows many users to make real-time changes, as this will make things very convenient for all the participants, and prove to be immensely productive for the entire session.

https://www.eztalks.com/whiteboard/top-5-interactive-whiteboard-for-business.html

Disadvantages of Interactive Whiteboards

Disadvantages of Interactive Whiteboards

Interactive whiteboards can be defined as large white screens which are connected to computers as well as projectors, which allows students and teachers to draw or write on the display. They basically link a computer to a touch sensitive screen and a projector. This means that whiteboards make humans act as input devices that control the functions of the computer through a touch screen. Whiteboards provide teachers with the opportunity to interact and communicate with students on a much higher level and this significantly fosters the learning process. This is what makes them ideal for education settings. An example of where you can get a high quality interactive whiteboard is on the video conferencing software -ezTalks Cloud Meeting. 

Even though whiteboards provide interactive capabilities and visual learning opportunities, they are associated with certain disadvantages. They have a number of disadvantages of whiteboard which impede the learning process inside of classrooms. Some of the notable disadvantages of interactive whiteboards include the following:

1. Time Requirements

Interactive whiteboards assist teachers to explain most concepts in effective ways that are bound to capture the attention of students. However, the design and preparation required for such lessons needs a lot of time. This is because teachers must carry out research, evaluation, interpretation, installation and maneuver the software programs that help in the use of the whiteboards. It is because of this reason that some teachers still prefer to use the good old fashioned textbooks.

2. Insufficient Training

Teachers who have not undergone adequate training with regard to the proper use of whiteboards often encounter challenges using them. This is because they find them to be very complicated and troublesome. This can cause frustration to teachers and they therefore end up not utilizing their full potential. This can also reduce the teachers'morale as they fear embarrassment in front of their students as they struggle to operate the interactive whiteboard.

3. Size Limitations

Short students and young students often experience trouble in reaching the interactive whiteboard's top portion. Teachers employ stools and stepladders to help with such situations but this always poses a risk of injury due to falls. Furthermore, educators try to lower the projection but there is always less room on the interactive whiteboard on which to complete tasks. The students who sit at the back of the classroom might struggle viewing the interactive whiteboard over the heads of the front-row students. In addition, interactive whiteboards are not a long as wall-length chalkboards, this means that teachers cannot leave weekly tasks or homework assignments on them for the long term.

4. Projection Problems

The lighting conditions ought to be right in order for students and teachers to utilize interactive whiteboards. This is because some students can experience some glare from sunlight or interior lights that is reflecting on the screen. There are students who might also experience trouble in reading diagrams, images or fonts which are smaller compared to the standard blackboard chalk writing. In case the power goes out or if the computer battery goes low, the teachers might temporarily lose the projected content. Interactive whiteboard screens which are damaged makes it challenging to effectively project effectively and consequently read the content. Repairs and replacements that are done on the boards are exorbitant.

5. Remote Access Problems

There are educators who allow and encourage classroom discussions as well as permit data entry. For instance, teachers might permit students to freely interact on the interactive whiteboard with the use of their personal computers. This normally results in mixed signals, on-screen nonsense and an overload of inputs. In addition, teachers might have issues if students utilize their remote access off-task drawings or messages that are inappropriate to the screen. This can lead to unnecessary disruptions.

6. High Cost

The largest disadvantage of using an interactive whiteboard is that they are quite costly. It costs many times more compared to the traditional whiteboard. In addition, there are extra costs for accessories and installation. There is also training costs incurred so that those who are going to use the system are competent enough to do so.

Regular troubleshooting and maintenance especially for advanced types of interactive whiteboards is expensive to carry out. The high cost of interactive whiteboards mostly affects non-profit organizations and some schools.

7. Eye Health

Continuously staring at the screen of interactive whiteboards especially in dark areas can negatively affect eyesight by straining the eyes. This is disadvantageous as an individual will have to seek medical attention for the treatment of their eyes and that will incur some charges.

8. Touch Sensitive Limitations

Interactive whiteboards are touch sensitive and this can be a major limitation to its use at times. This is because it might fail to be sensitive enough. This can be quite frustrating to the user such as a teacher in a classroom setting as it will interfere with the lesson plan.

9. Sound

At times the speakers of interactive whiteboards may not be loud enough and this means that students who are sitting at the back of a classroom may fail to properly hear thus lose concentration. This is not good at all because they miss out on the primary reason that brought them to school i.e. learning.

10. Data Distortion

A major benefit of interactive whiteboards is their ability to facilitate simultaneous data entry from several points. However, some of them can distort or jumble information that is coming from multiple input devices simultaneously. This might end up being quite messy and the data might lose meaning. 

Conclusion

It should be noted that the above disadvantages of interactive whiteboards are not exhaustive. The interactive whiteboard is among the top technological tools which have become widely used by numerous school teachers in different countries e.g. video conferencing software - ezTalks Cloud Meeting. It has been proved to enhance learning for students and greatly improves the effectiveness of teachers. Also if you want to know some advantages of interactive whiteboards, you can click here. 

 

From:https://www.eztalks.com/whiteboard/disadvantages-of-interactive-whiteboards.html