Mobility: MeBeam (Second Night)

Yesterday, we spoke a bit about video chats.  Video conferencing sounds so professional and we mobile warriors are like mavericks (you'll only see his word used once.  Now.  that's it), than corporate types.

So, video chats.  We tried mebeam last night again.  This time, we've got a couple of more folks.  Again, what it is is a Flash based video chat with up to sixteen feeds per room.  This is how easy it it.

• No 3rd party software to install.  Runs off Flash (unless you consider that to be it).
• Almost any webcam (set to USB video - at least on the MacWind)
• Browser-based (again, no 3rd party software) - IE, Firefox, Safari
• Does have voice but we didn't like it much.

I'm going to try it at Starbucks today if I get a chance.  This is what I'm getting at. If you need this blog long enough, you know what I mean.  It works anywhere with an Internet connection.  

And I advocate its use as much as possible and I want every mobile warrior to add this to their arsenal as part of his or her 21st Century skillz.  

If we try it again tonight and you're interested, you can join us.  I'll post the room tonight or this weekend.

Note:  We used Skype for voice because MeBeam's implementation just isn't quite there yet.

Another note:  Any other services you like or recommend, let me know.  Any suggestions for video chats, let me know as well and we'll share it with everyone.

Mobility: Using MeBeam

In continue the previous post about video chats, I found chatting using oovoo's function to be buggy and limiting.  We finally got it to work but there is a lot of improvement they still need to make.

Anyway, this was on the MacWind.  We also tried iChat but not everyone has a Mac so we decided on another solution.

MeBeam.

It's a video chat app that using a browser and Flash.  I know a mobile warrior who doesn't like Flash so this isn't for everyone.  But guess what?  I love it!

I had up to 4 mobile warriors including myself and one other individual all the way in Asia.  Supposedly, my video was not as good as others because of my lame upload speed.  I'll try to rectify that when I get a chance to call my ISP for an upgrade.

Anyway, you can have up to 16 simultaneous windows and video feeds.  With four feeds, it worked well.  I don't know about 16.  Anyone with that experience?  Love to know what it's like.

Sound was okay so we abandoned it and went with Skype for voice.  I'm sure we'll try it again tonight if not soon.  If anyone wants to join us, I'll post the room and we can chat away.

I'm tell you, my fellow mobile warriors, video chat is a habit we need to develop.  21st Century skill, my friends.