Today is short notes day, here are three interesting bits and pieces for you to ponder. First, there’s a quick look at the GTD Global Summit, an opportunity to drink the Kool-Aid of productivity, 2.0 style (I am a panelist and have 3 golden tickets — 50% off registrations — to offer, read on to find out how to get one). Second, a thumbnail review of what might be the first “2.0″ business parable, Where in the World is my Team? And finally, a pointer to a rather unique dashboard, since we’ve been on that topic, thanks to Irwin Lazar.

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Several opinion-makers trying to influence President-Elect Obama’s technology policies thorough blogs. Part of the intent, no doubt, is to simply use a historic election and a public focal point to aid mass communication. But it does seem like these bloggers seem to be nurturing long-shot hopes that they’ll actually be heard. Here are three examples:

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This week I was speaking to a group of IT executives about the value of unified communications, and best practices for implementation. One person in the audience asked about call quality, and whether users have grown more tolerant of poor voice quality as a result of cell phone use. I think he’s right: Most of us have grown accustomed to sketchy connections on our cell phones, which will likely translate to higher tolerance for sketchy voice quality on any device.

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Tandberg and HP have announced they’re deepening the interoperablility between traditional video conferencing and telepresence. In a press release today, the companies note That HP will expand its support for all video conferencing solutions on the HP Halo Video Exchange Network, while at the same time develop more telepresence solutions; and Tandberg will develop more telepresence endpoints, as well as the management tools necessary to support a mixed video conferencing environment.

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A recent blog post in the Times restates some old saws (worthy as they may be) on how to be a good listener. Interestingly, three of them require that you be able to see the person you’re talking to–not so easy on the phone, e-mail or IM. In today’s virtual world, listening seems to be harder to do than ever.

We’ve all been on conference calls during which we do other things while we’re supposedly listening to what’s being said. But how much can we really hear when we’re simultaneously reading and replying to e-mail, having IM chats, or even getting real work done? Not much. Continue Reading »

Maybe not, but sometimes it seems that way these days–more and more, when folks aren’t talking about unified communications, they’re talking about video conferencing. For good insight into the phenomenon, plus really good insight into a few recent trade shows, check out David Danto’s A View from the Road.

As everyone knows, air travel continues to get more miserable by the day.Skyrocketing fuel prices, consolidation, sudden (or suddenly enforced) safety inspections, bankruptcy, even botched baggage systems–all are wreaking havoc with an already beleaguered industry. And as today’s article in the Times points out, the consequences are significant–and dire–for travelers. Continue Reading »

BroadSoft is one of those companies who make products many of us use, but don’t realize.  Their primary market is selling IP telephony platforms to service providers to deliver residential and business hosted VOIP offerings.  In seeking to provide new ways for service providers to leverage their investments in BroadSoft products, and to provide a way to differentiate themselves beyond just selling voice, BroadSoft has created a new initiative called Xtended that opens Web 2.0 interfaces on their call control platforms.

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At this week’s VoiceCon event in Orlando the highlight was a "virtual" presentation by Cisco CEO John Chambers and former Vice President and Noble Laureate  Al Gore on the potential of using unified communications technologies to reduce greenhouse emissions.  Gore spoke not only on how virtual applications such as telepresence could reduce the need for travel, but also how distributed groups developing greenhouse gas emissions policies are leveraging telepresence to improve their meeting experience, leading to more effective collaboration.

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Companies looking to deploy unified conferencing & collaboration without a complete UC overhaul might want to check out Dialcom,a Spanish company entering the North American market. I got a quick demo of the on-premises software today, and it looks good. A couple things I really like:

The ability for users to see and manage bandwidth and other infrastructure-related issues, so that they get the best experience possible.

The ability for users to click on a clear, simple interface to add voice, data and video to the session.

And the best part for me, after a week of tech mishaps? The application worked great in the demo, with no maneuvering on my part or the vendor’s.