Category Archives: Opinion
Free Feature-Packed Conference Call Service
Lately, I’ve found myself on a lot of conference calls. A conference call is a very easy and cost-effective means of bringing a large group of people together and accomplish tasks. Despite having many positive attributes, conference calls are not without a nuisance or two; because there are so many callers, background noice and participants’ audible breathing commonly distract from the overall business to be had.
I was researching for a service that would be inexpensive and would be able to control a large group of people that cannot see the other people they are in attendance with. My research resulted in an outstanding find: Free Conference Calling. This site is first and foremost, free. Unlike traditional conference call services, Free Conference Calling includes a web-linked monitering interface that allows you to take full control of the conference.
Features include an all-conference mute, participant-host interaction, audio recording, and much more. Best of all, not one feature on this site will make your wallet any thinnner. A nice feature about Free Conference Calling, is that you are given one conference code. No longer must you have a new code for every teleconference. Now, just tell the participants when the call is and they will be able to use the same code time and time again.
Whether or not use use a subscription-based conference call service, Free Conference Calling is worth a look. It’s easy. It’s free. It just works great.
Letterman: A Gift For (Public) Atonement
Last week, David Letterman, host of CBS’ the “Late Show with David Letterman,” made headlines when he admitted to have had sex with women who have worked on his show. He announced this news on his late-night talk show along with the fact that he was a victim of extortion resulting from these acts; $2 million (USD) was the asking price to keep the news quiet.
A fan of Letterman, I experienced some mixed emotions upon hearing the news. Because of the way he presented this story, I found myself having a strange sense of tolerance and feeling quite nonchalant about the matter. Moreover, I was quite impressed with how he did apologize to the public voluntarily.
Overall, I do believe that he made the right decision. Now, instead of the media trying to dive into his life for the truth, the media is now focusing on whether he should have apologized on national television. This is a faux pas if there ever was one. In a sense, by using humor, Letterman added naïvety to his actions and made his story easier to digest than if he had maintained silence or denied the claims altogether. On a historical note, when President Clinton found himself in a similar situation, his actions—and the fact that he was President of the United States—led to much greater consequences than Letterman will ever face. Who knows what would have been if Clinton had taken the same route as that of Letterman.
Yes, what Letterman did was wrong, and yes, he probably deserves a little more public heat than he is receiving, but he handled his conduct with perfect political poise. The only question now is whether these surfacing truths will result in the last of his marriage.
Invisible Buckets?
Did you know that we all have an invisible bucket? It’s true. No, it’s not hanging on our waist or dragging behind us; it’s more of a representation of our current state of happiness. In tune with our day-to-day encounters, our buckets are constantly being filled and emptied. If we have a positive encounter with someone, our bucket is filled. If we have a negative encounter—such as being harshly admonished—our bucket is emptied.
In addition to having a bucket, we each have a dipper. These dippers are also representations; however, this time it represents our actions. If we cause a positive encounter—by making someone feel good—we use our dippers to fill that person’s bucket, and also to fill our own. Our bucket is filled, because by filling another’s bucket, we are building our character. Contrariwise, if we cause a negative interaction to take place, we dip from the other person’s bucket and also dip from our own. Our buckets are being dipped from, because by dipping from another’s bucket we are demeaning ourselves.
In our everyday lives, interactions can mean the difference between having a great day and having a horrible day. If a thousand things are going right and one person says something negative, we still tend to feel bad. For example, imagine yourself at work or school. You are about to be honored for doing a great job on a big project and are really excited. Someone comes up to you and makes a joke about your project in front of your peers. For one reason or another, that negative comment seems to dip deeply in your bucket. The good news is that you can make a positive out of the situation.
Whenever I am personally faced with a situation that tries to undercut my character, I don’t sink to the level of insults. It may seem difficult at the time to resist retaliation, but by not sending back an insult, I am expressing confidence in myself.
I have personally witnessed people around me reflect my actions. When I am respectful, they are respectful. When I am rude, they are rude. I have also been victim to acting like others around me. In any of my interactions, I remember that I have a bucket and a dipper. If by filling others buckets encourages them to fill mine, then why not? I challenge you to go out and start filling others buckets. You can’t control others’ actions, but you can become the bucket filler you were meant to be.
The Bucket Theory is based on the book, “How Full Is Your Bucket.” It is an outstanding read and is worth checking out. For more information on the book and the Bucket Theory, visit: www.bucketbook.com.
Free stuff… I’ll shop there!
I had a very pleasant experience at the mall last week. Before I headed to the WV SADD retreat which was a couple hours drive away, I needed to purchase some new tires. My dad went to purchase the tires, and on the way back home, discovered that I needed an oil change and alignment.
Dad had an appointment so I was the one who went out for the car maintenance. The best price happened to be at a mall department store. The car was going to take about an hour to be serviced, so I decided to browse through the mall. I had a bad craving for a pretzel and stopped at the pretzel store. I remembered that I had bought a discount card at school. The card gives discounts for different restaurants and food places; the pretzel store gives “buy one get one free” on pretzels for that store.
The store had a new manager, and he came out to see the customers. As I was picking up my pretzels, he insisted on me trying out a couple sandwiches—a pepperoni roll and a hot ham and cheese sandwich. They were both delicious, but more than that, they were free.
Without even realizing it, I had just been subjected to a very effective form of marketing. Receiving those sandwiches for free made me feel great about my purchase and about the store. The store may have given back some of its profit, but it knows that I enjoyed receiving the free products and will likely return.
Personally, I hope more companies begin using the “free” business model. As a student, I don’t have a lot of free dough in my wallet. Maybe if I received more free goodies, I might be more willing to fork some of my money up. Yes, the economy may be bad for business, but this is the time for companies to start giving a little back.
Twitter Verifying Accounts
Twitter has taken another step in making it not only the easiest social network to use, but now also the safest. Last month, Twitter unveiled Verified Account Beta, an experimental, but effective means to genuine a Twitter Account—proving that the person behind a Twitter account is the real person.
At this time, Twitter says that it is ”starting with well-known accounts that have had problems with impersonation or identity confusion.” For those of us not lucky enough to have multiple inpersonators, that statement means that the chance of having a verified account rests in luck. I did go ahead and fill out the application form a couple of days ago.
Twitter is a social network facilitating real-time updates from its users. In recent months, Twitter users overseas have used the service for serious reasons like to report news in Iran where there was a media blackout. Most commonly, however, Twitter is used by everyday people to broadcast to the world what they are doing.
The Power of the Internet
I am someone who has grown up with computers. My first memory of a computer was watching my dad printing documents on his Windows 95 system. The paper was the type that was connected together with perforations on the top and bottom and perforated edges to cut away the printer holes (I have no idea what the printer or paper was called.) Needless to say, that was a different era.
Today, computers no longer move at the speed of snail, pen and paper are becoming obsolete, and the idea of working without a computer seems taboo. Unfortunately, today’s workforce is split between those who grew up with computers and those who still have not come to realize a PC’s inner beauty.
Since most of today’s managers and supervisors lived in the pen and paper era, the transition to digital technology has a major hurdle to overcome. Many of the people who make the technology decisions in their organizations hesitate to tap into new technologies because they find them intimidating, confusing, and unnecessary. How is this mindset overcome? My philosophy is to lead by example. If your company or organization sells merchandise, give them success stories. For example, Dell reported earlier this year that it had made over $3 million in profits from Twitter within a six-month period! If your company sells services, display the thousands of organization that recruit clients through social networking sites (e.g. MySpace, Facebook, and Twitter.) and the amount of connections made by organizations without its employees ever leaving the office.
West Virginia Students Against Destructive Decisions (WV SADD) has resolved to take steps toward more technology-friendly communications. Not only does WV SADD have a Web site, but they also have a profile on each of the social networking sites MySpace, Facebook, and Twitter. Someone may ask, “Why does an organization need the Web?” The answer is simple. If you are at home, school, or work and you would like to find more information on any given topic, chances are you will go to a search engine site like Google or bing and search for the topic of inquiry. If it happens to be “WV SADD,” then the first link that will appear is the WVSADD Web site. If the site is appealing, you are likely to take an interest in the organization; if it’s confusing, you will probably be turned off to the organization; and if a Web page is nonexistent, you will probably assume that the organization doesn’t exist altogether.
I hope that any technology nay-sayers rethink their positions. Today’s new technology will soon be commonplace. The issue stands whether we would like to let precious weeks, months, and years slip by and not tap into the resources already developed, or take advantage of the exciting new technologies that are available now. Like it or not, tomorrow’s world will be even more concentrated on the Internet than it is today.
Windows 7: Impressive
I was lucky enough to recently have my laptop screech to a sudden halt. I wanted to try out the new evaluation copy of Windows 7, but the partition I made for it did not digest well with Windows XP. After the new partition was created, my XP boot files were impressively split quite evenly between both partitions. That alone sounds harmless, but some boot files were simply missing.
I figured that I should go ahead and install Windows 7 on the new partition I made. I created an install disk and within an hour, my computer—drivers and all—were installed and ready to use.
Windows 7 still has a Vista aroma, but lacks the confused look. Even though my copy is a release candidate, it is a polished piece of work. The interface reminds me more of a Mac, but still has the best features that Windows users have grown accustomedto. A few of the features include a Windows XP compatibility feature allowing users to run applications designed for XP on the shinier new Windows 7 interface, improved search and security features, and a much-improved file organization system.
Another great attribute of Windows 7 that I can’t go without saying is that I haven’t had a single error. This is definitely a surprise to me. Hardware drivers—a sometimes complex problem causing a plethora of errors in Windows XP—were gathered from the Internet and installed flawlessly. As manufacturers continue to update their drivers, Windows 7 automatically sends notifications via an “Action Center” flag on the toolbar.
I could go on and on about why I love Windows 7, but I just wanted to express my liking for this revamped operating system. Overall, Microsoft hit a home run with Windows 7. Not long ago, Microsoft ran a promotional sale that offered every version of Windows 7 (except Ultimate) at half price. I pre-ordered Windows 7 Professional for less than $100—less than what Windows Vista is selling for today. I can confidently say that XP royally screwing up was the best thing that could have happened to my computer.
