vox.io blog

Study shows that blinking allows our brains to go "off-line"

Fri, 04 Jan 2013 17:14:00 +0100

Blinking’s only purpose isn’t to cleanse and moisten our eyes. In their latest study, researchers at Osaka University in Japan found evidence that blinking actually triggers brain activity patterns that cause our brains to momentarily go “off-line” by withdrawing our attention from the outside world.

The blink of an eye

In previous studies, Tamami Nakano and her team of researchers found that while watching Mr. Bean videos, participants blinked (in sync) when they needed to pay less attention to something, like during a scene change or when the protagonist went off screen. In yet another previous study, Nakano and her team found that participants also tend to blink during a pause in speech. These findings support a common conception that we blink after our brains tell us that we won’t miss any important information.

The current study

In their latest study, Nakano and her team found that blinking actually caused certain brain activities, as opposed to brain activity causing the participants to blink like we previously thought. In this study, twenty participants watched clips of Mr. Bean videos while researchers monitored their brain activity (using fMRI) as well as their blinking. Why Mr. Bean videos? Because the participants needed to view visually stimulating and natural scenes that would require their attention, as opposed to static images (e.g. a checker-board pattern).

What we learned

The results showed that spontaneous blinking reciprocally triggered the brain’s default mode network to activate, while deactivating the dorsal attention network. What (the heck) does that mean? The default mode network is a network of brain regions that activates when a person is not focusing on anything in the outside world, but rather on an internal world of memories and daydreams. The dorsal attention network, on the other hand, fires up when we’re focusing our attention on something.

So, rather than being the result of brain activity, it appears that blinking plays an active role in our brain’s attentional mechanisms by reciprocally activating certain brain regions. Doing so lets us withdraw our attention from one aspect of our environment so that we can focus on another.

Fascinating!

Moving forward

Here at vox.io, we tip our hats to Nakano and her team. From communication to blinking, we admire groundbreaking innovation in all areas; That moving towards the future is the only way to move.

written by Alicen Gradišnik

The new and improved Quick Call!

Wed, 02 Jan 2013 16:30:00 +0100

photo by K. Hurley

Since the dawn of vox.io, Quick Calls have been at the heart of our mission to simplify communication. With a single click, the person who receives your Quick Call link can reach you easily, without any signups, downloads or setups, and most importantly—only when you want to be reached.

Knowing that every 10th call on vox.io is a Quick Call, we wanted to give you—our beloved users—more control. Originally, Quick Calls always expired after the first successful use. This made them useful for receiving a single call from someone, like a lucky Twitter follower or customer, or even just a non-tech savvy relative.

Now, each time you generate a Quick Call, you have the option to choose when your link expires. Why is this a good thing? By choosing the “expiration date,” you get to choose how many calls you receive from your Quick Call link. You still have the option for one-time use, but now you can choose when you want your Quick Call to expire based on the number of uses or days.

How?

Click on the Quick Call icon on the vox.io toolbar like usual. Next, choose one of 3 new expiration options:

after the first successful call
(your Quick Call link can be used to call you only once)
after a certain number of successful calls
(your Quick Call link can be used to call you this many times)
or after a certain number of days
(your Quick Call link can be used to call you an unlimited amount of times for these many days)

If you want, you can add a description for this Quick Call (e.g. “Sent to mom” or “For Twitter followers”). The description will help you identify this specific Quick Call on your Quick Call status page.

To view your Quick Call status page, click on “Manage my Quick Calls” at the bottom of this window. There, you’ll see the URL, creation date, description, and status of all of the Quick Calls you’ve generated.

Happy Quick Calling!

Have comments or suggestions? Comment below.

By Alicen Gradišnik

QuickTip: Send a Facebook message straight from vox.io

Wed, 19 Dec 2012 15:34:00 +0100

You already know that when you link your Facebook and vox.io accounts, you can chat away with your Facebook friends right from vox.io’s chat page. But did you know that you can use vox.io to send Facebook messages to your friends who aren’t on chat? That’s right!

From the vox.io chat page,

Click on the Facebook friend you want to send your message to.
Type away. There’s no limit to the amount of text you can write, so you can type up a long message, event invitation, work document, class essay, even write a short story…
Hit enter to send it straight from vox.io to Facebook.

The next time your friend logs into Facebook, they’ll get a notification and receive your message just like a regular Facebook message. Of course, if your friend is already online on Facebook when you send your message, they’ll receive it as a Facebook chat message.

Woo! It’s that simple. So, the next time you’re on vox.io and want to send a Facebook message, don’t move! You can stay right where you are.

Ahh, simplicity.

When reading someone's body language, don't go for the face

Thu, 13 Dec 2012 16:39:00 +0100

photo by Victor Bezrukov

Since the 1980s, psychologists have agreed that facial expressions are the key to understanding another person’s emotions. This idea was not a child of the 80s, however—we can trace the concept of facial expression back to Charles Darwin (“The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals”) and even as far back as the Bible: “My fury shall come up in my face,” (Ezekiel 38:18). A recent study published in the journal Science, however, has just discovered that there is actually a better way to decipher strong emotions.

Go for the body

Researchers from Princeton, New York University, and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem each conducted studies in which they presented participants with photographs of people experiencing extreme positive or negative emotions—like tennis players winning or losing a point; people getting their nipples pierced; and individuals experiencing an orgasm.

Some participants viewed only faces; some only bodies; and some both the body and the face. What researchers found was that participants had no clue if the individual in the photograph was experiencing a positive or negative emotion when judging only their faces. However, when they were shown only the body or the body with the face, participants easily distinguished between positive and negative expressions.

Interestingly, the participants were convinced that they recognized the emotions from strictly looking at the faces—not the body language or other contextual clues—and even formed “mini theories” about which part of the face they felt was most important for determining the person’s emotion.

Can you do it?

Take this photo of Roger Federer. Looking first at just his face, do you think he’s happy or unhappy? His mouth is closed in a way that resembles a grimace, but the corners of his mouth do seem to be curving upward, almost mimicking a smile. His eyebrows are definitely lowered and curving downward, though, which usually signifies anger. So, what do you think? Are you sure of your opinion (like the participants in the study?)

Here’s a look at the rest of the photo. Now that we can see his body language, it’s easier to decipher his emotion—happiness. This photo was snapped when Federer won the Wimbledon title against Andy Murray this year.

So, have we been wrong all along?

No. Hillel Aviezer, the lead study author from Hebrew University says that we do, of course, gather a great deal of noticeable, day-to-day information from others’ faces, but that very strong emotions are difficult to decipher from facial expression. As the face contorts, we know that something significant has happened, but we can’t tell if it’s something drastically positive or negative. Think of the muscles of our face like a loudspeaker: As the volume reaches the maximum, the sound quality gets worse and it’s harder to comprehend the message.

So, while facial expressions are definitely still informative, the face is less informative when emotions are extreme—that’s when body language and contextual clues become more important for comprehending nonverbal communication.

This new information affects not only the way we currently understand positive and negative emotions (and their physiological features) but it also has implications for theories that link emotions to social psychology and neuroscience (e.g. Autism), as well as economics.

How do you think these findings would help us in our day-to-day lives? Comment below!

Photo of Roger Federer by Susan Mullane, US Presswire.

Written by Alicen Gradišnik

Happy birthday, Ada Lovelace—the first computer programmer

Mon, 10 Dec 2012 18:32:00 +0100

Did you know that Ada Lovelace, the illegitimate daughter of poet Lord Byron, is credited as the world’s first computer programmer? Born in 1815, Ada was raised in a strict environment of mathematics and logic as a child, in order to prevent her from becoming anything like the “insane” father who had abandoned her. Sounds like a great soap opera plot, doesn’t it? (Days of Our Lives, if you’re reading this, get a hold of me).

Ada’s mathematical expertise began to emerge when she was only 17, under the tutoring of renowned mathematician and logician Augustus De Morgan. Throughout her life, Ada went on to preoccupy herself with mathematical endeavors that also reflected her interest in psychology—Ada enjoyed studying phrenology and mesmerism, and aspired to create a mathematical model for the way in which our brains develop thoughts and feelings (what she called “a calculus of the nervous system”). During the 1840s, Ada combined her love of mathematics with her second love—gambling—and attempted to create a mathematical model for successful large bets. This ended in complete disaster (tsk tsk, Ada). The year before her death, Ada wrote letters to her mother mentioning her work on “certain productions” that combined math and music.

How did she become known as the world’s first computer programmer? After befriending Charles Babbage, rightfully known as “the father of the computer” for being the first to conceive of a programmable computer, Ada spent almost a year translating Luigi Menabrea’s memoir on Babbage’s newly proposed machine: the Analytical Engine. While doing so, she included a set of her own notes to help explain the Analytical Engine’s function—a concept that most other scientists could not grasp. When finished, Ada’s notes on the Engine were longer than the memoir itself, and included what we now consider the world’s first computer program—a very detailed method for calculating a sequence of Bernoulli numbers with the Analytical Engine, which, had the machine actually been constructed, would have run correctly.

In one of her notes on the Analytical Engine, Ada wrote: “the engine might compose elaborate and scientific pieces of music of any degree of complexity or extent.” So, could we also credit Ada for the first documented notions of dubstep, circa the 1840s? There’s something to ponder…

Written by Alicen Gradišnik

Edit: Ada was actually the only legitimate daughter of Lord Byron, but was abandoned by him shortly after she was born.

Do you have proper vox.io etiquette?

Fri, 16 Nov 2012 17:00:00 +0100

Always eat with your right hand in Ghana; don’t show the bottoms of your feet in Lebanon; only give flowers in even numbers at Romanian funerals: Etiquette varies from country to country. With more and more people using the internet to socialize with others, the virtual realm has generated it’s own set of proper manners, too.

With vox.io being the magical hub for real-time communication that it is, we often keep vox.io open while we use the web (or our computers) for other things. So, just because a friend of yours is online doesn’t always mean they’re available and/or ready to launch into a conversation. Don’t drive your friends crazy—be polite and use proper vox.io etiquette.

Back in 2010, TechCrunch’s Michael Arrington wrote an article outlining what he considers proper Skype etiquette. We’ll share his pointers with you while adding a few more polite habits you should practice while you vox.io.

Respect the silence
If you’re messaging someone on vox.io chat and they’re not responding, then it’s not a conversation. Don’t take it personally - your friend might be in the middle of something important or was maybe yanked away from the computer. If you’ve greeted the person and aren’t getting a response, don’t bombard them with more messages - just try to catch them later.
Don’t call someone without checking if they’re available first
As Arrington said, just because someone is online and available doesn’t mean you have an open door to that person’s brain. If you want to call someone, send them a chat message first to make sure they’re available. It can be annoying and/or distracting to receive an incoming call when you’re not able to talk.
Don’t abuse the enter button
While in a conversation with someone, try to form complete thoughts or sentences within each chat message you send. It’s easy to do, but nobody likes being in a chat with someone who’s writing
like this
and hitting enter
after every few
words,
so you keep getting a stream
of notifications
until your head almost explodes.

Yes, your friend can shut off their vox.io notifications, but then they might miss notifications for something important. Also, it’s not always necessary to fix each spelling error or typo - unless you think your friend won’t understand what you’re trying to say without doing so.
Video calls are not a given
Turning your free call into a video chat is not always a given. Feel free to turn your video on, if you want, but don’t always expect the same from your friend. If they don’t turn their video on when you do, chances are they aren’t able—or don’t want—to do so. Don’t hound them about it.
Don’t assume confidentiality
Before you jump right into the latest gossip or describe the rash that’s been bothering you for awhile, check that your friend is alone behind their computer screen. Arrington recounted the following funny story (well, maybe not for him…):

The worst thing I ever did was Skype message someone, in a rush, to confirm a story. And it turns out that poor person was using his laptop to give a presentation to a group of co-workers. And my skype message popped up on the screen for everyone to see. Bad stuff followed.

Let’s all turn Michael’s embarrassment into an important lesson—ease into your heavy conversations.
Give your undivided attention during a video chat
Videochatting with someone who’s clearly preoccupied with surfing the web is both annoying and rude. In “real life,” you (hopefully) wouldn’t sit and do other things during a face-to-face conversation with someone—don’t do it on vox.io, either. Also, depending on who you’re talking to, it might be considered rude (or distracting) if you keep staring at the video of yourself and fussing with your own appearance. Look at your friend’s video or straight into the camera to mimic eye contact—especially if you have an online job interview.
Share nicely
Our in-line content viewer undoubtedly makes us all more share-happy on vox.io, but don’t let that distract us from our manners. Be careful not to share content that might offend certain group chat members or the person you’re talking to one-on-one. This is not to say that everything you share needs to be censored—you should know if something you’re about to send could be hurtful or insulting those who will receive it.

Seeing red?
Another good tip: Consider your friend’s vox.io status before starting a conversation. Remember this photo from a QuickTip we posted awhile ago?

There are times when your friend might only be available for chat, already in a call, or offline. Keep that in mind before you try to engage in conversation.

Do any of you have any good tips for vox.io etiquette? Post them below!

Written by Alicen Gradišnik

QuickTip: Send offline chat messages or SMSes

Mon, 12 Nov 2012 17:35:00 +0100

Did you know that you can send chat messages to your offline contacts via vox.io or SMS? That’s right—don’t turn to e-mail or Facebook! Stay on vox.io and shoot your friend an offline chat message and they’ll receive it immediately the next time they log in, or on their phones—it’s up to you.

All you have to do is type your message and then click the mobile icon (just like you see above). When the phone icon is blue, your message will be sent via SMS. When it’s grey, it will be sent as an offline chat message. Tip within a tip: Keep all of your conversations in once place by sending your longer messages via vox.io instead of opening an extra tab and writing an e-mail.

The science behind why we share stuff online

Tue, 06 Nov 2012 17:00:00 +0100

Earlier today while I was using vox.io to share funny videos with my friends, my psychology background kicked into gear and got me thinking, “Why do we share stuff online?” Instead of settling for my own speculations, I decided to scour the internet to discover what the research has to say about the motivations for sharing online content. Here’s some of the interesting stuff that I learned.

The motives behind sharing “stuff” with others

While on my Google journey towards insight and revelation, I stumbled across a three-phase study performed by the New York Times Customer Insight Group on “The Psychology of Sharing.” This research delved into our incentives for sharing “stuff” (e.g. the articles, images, videos and other links we often share) with other people online. Whether we’re posting things on social media sites or sending them directly to a friend, the NY Times researchers found 5 main reasons why we share content with other people.

To bring valuable and entertaining content to others
We like to share in order to enrich the lives of others by providing them with valuable or entertaining content. Ninety-four percent of participants agreed that before they share something with someone online, they carefully consider how that piece of information will be useful to the recipient—we want to share stuff that will benefit other people.
To define ourselves to others
We like sharing stuff because it allows us to project an image of who we are in order to define ourselves to the people around us. In this study, 68% of participants reported that they share to give others a better sense of who they are and what they care about. Think about it: When you see someone repeatedly post stuff about the Obama campaign on Facebook, you probably think of that person as politically-savvy (and most likely intelligent, too). Or, when someone repeatedly posts humorous tweets, you grow to think of him or her as a funny person.
To grow and nourish our relationships
Sharing stuff with others helps to strengthen our personal relationships—it allows us to understand each other better and to bond over mutual reactions or experiences with the things we share. Sharing online, in particular, also helps us to stay connected with the people in our lives: 78% of participants in this study reported that theyshare information online because it lets them keep in touch with people they may not otherwise communicate with. Sharing online can also form new connections—73% of participants reported that they share information because it helps them reach others who share their interests.
To gain self-fulfillment
On an individual level, connecting with others brings a sense of unity and common purpose. By sharing stuff online, we connect with others in a way that allows us to feel self-fulfilled. Sixty-nine percent of participants reported that they share stuff online because doing so allows them to feel more involved in the world.
To get the word out about causes or brands
Sharing stuff online allows us to promote the causes, issues, and brands we care about and potentially change peoples’ opinions or encourage their action. Eighty-four percent of the participants in the NY Times study reported that they shared things online with others was to promote the stuff they like.

6 Personas of Sharers

The researchers went on to identify 6 different personas or types of sharers based on: their motivations for sharing; the way they wish to present themselves; their role of sharing in life; and the value they receive from being the first to share something.

›› Altruists
These are the selfless sharers who are reliable and connected with others. They often share relevant, helpful, and thoughtful content like new job-postings or medical articles to friends in need. Altruists typically share via email (a more personal means of communication than, for example, your news feeds).

›› Careerists
These are the sharers who do so with career success at heart. They are intelligent internet users who share valuable content with others (e.g. on LinkedIn) in an effort to build professional relationships.

›› Hipsters
These sharers are typically young, and like to share content that is popular, cutting-edge, and creative. They share mostly to establish a hip identity for themselves, and are less likely to use e-mail, but rather more public channels like social media feeds.

›› Boomerangs
These are the sharers who seek a reaction from others in order to validate their sense of self and to feel empowered. “When I post controversial things, it makes me look engaged and provocative, and I want to be perceived that way. If I don’t get a response then I know I’ve missed my mark,” says one participant. Boomerangs most often share via Facebook and Twitter.

›› Connectors
These are the more relaxed and thoughtful sharers, who share content in an effort to connect with others and, ultimately, to make plans. “I got a deal to the bar at the Gansevoort Hotel e-mailed to me. I forwarded it to a bunch of friends and we turned it into a girls night out.” Connectors like sharing via e-mail but also via Facebook.

›› Selectives
These are thoughtful yet careful sharers who share resourceful stuff with others in order to inform them: “I only share things with someone specific if I think they will enjoy it. If they aren’t relevant to the material, there is no point in sharing it with them.”

So, there we have it. Whether you’re an altruist, careerist, hipster, boomerang, connector, or selective, we’re all motivated to share by our relationships with others and also with ourselves. We share:

To bring valuable and entertaining content to others.
To define ourselves to others.
To grow and nourish our relationships.
For self-fulfillment.
To promote causes or brands.

Let’s discuss! Why do you think you like to share stuff with others online? Which persona are you? Comment below.

Written by Alicen Gradišnik

QuickTip: Use a Group Chat as your go-to hub for keeping in touch

Mon, 29 Oct 2012 16:00:00 +0100

Vox.io Group Chat lets you talk to a group of your friends, relatives, or colleagues all together—but there’s more! You can use your Group Chat as your go-to hub for sending cool links, quick updates, and even longer messages to everyone all at once. We’ll keep all of your communications all together in one (awesome) place.

How?

Whether you want to send your friends a funny video, a quick message about a celebrity sighting, or a longer message with changes to tonight’s plans, use a vox.io Group Chat to share it with multiple people in one place. You’ll receive any incoming Group Chat messages instantly whenever you’re online on vox.io. If a Group Chat member sends a message while you’re offline, you’ll receive it immediately the next time you log in. Think of it as a “fun feed” of links and messages between you and your friends. To top it off, the group conversation will always be saved in your history, so you can catch up if you’ve been out of touch for awhile.

…and why?

Why use 3 or more websites for getting ahold of the people in your life when you can use just one instead? With a vox.io Group Chat, you can share fun stuff, little updates, or even long messages all in one place. We make it supereasy for you to stay in touch.

10 tips for happiness from happy people

Mon, 22 Oct 2012 16:57:00 +0200

photo by eflon.

We’ve all seen them. From the cashier at the grocery store who’s always smiling to the guy whistling cheerfully down the street—happy people are all around us and they’re having a great time. What’s their secret? Psychologist Paula Davis-Laack, who holds a degree in Applied Positive Psychology, has observed how happy people “flow with the groove of life in a unique way.” Here’s a list of five things she found that happy people do differently.

1) They form strong connections with others.
Happy people maintain relationships with their families, neighbors, communities, and places of worship. Forming strong connections with others helps to ward off depression—an illness that, as of 2011, affected 121 million people worldwide and can lead to 850,000 deaths every year. While depression can be traced to a variety of causes, social isolation has been strongly linked to the illness, as well as to suicide and poor health—the latter of which has a strong negative impact on an individual’s happiness.

2) They do things that match their strengths, values, and lifestyle.
There’s no “one size fits all” when it comes to strategies for being happy. You need to keep yourself in mind by considering your personal goals, mantras, and abilities as you tailor your “happiness strategy” to suit you. If you enjoy helping others, engage in activities that allow you to give back. If relaxation is what makes you happy, focus on removing stress from your life. Practicing acts of kindness may also be a good source of happiness for certain people.

3) They practice gratitude.
Being appreciative and thankful for something you’ve received (or will receive) doesn’t only brighten the lives of those you thank. Practicing gratitude is highly beneficial for you, too. A New York Times article on the subject reported that:

Cultivating an “attitude of gratitude” has been linked to better health, sounder sleep, less anxiety and depression, higher long-term satisfaction with life and kinder behavior toward others, including romantic partners. A new study shows that feeling grateful makes people less likely to turn aggressive when provoked…

There are plenty of things in life to be thankful for and several different ways to express your gratitude—vocally, in letters or works of art, and more.

4) They think optimistically.
Davis-Laack noticed that happy people tend to think about their lives differently than unhappy people. Happy people direct their time and energy towards the things they are able to control, and move on from those they cannot. Happy people don’t dwell on current negative situations, but instead “embrace the suck” and look forward to when things will be better. Lastly, happy people are able to keep negativity in one area of their lives from leaking out and negatively impacting other areas.

5) They realize that money is only a small part of the picture.
While consumer culture constantly tells us that materialism will make us happier, research has demonstrated the opposite. Of course, it depends—for people living paycheck to paycheck, more money can increase well-being. And those rewarded with a pay-raise or bonus will feel happier temporarily. But when you seek material items to feel better, you’re not properly attending to your psychological needs. While it’s not yet clear whether materialism fuels unhappiness, unhappiness fuels materialism, or both—happy people know not to completely equate the two.

How vox.io can help

Whether you arrived at this blog post in search of how to make your life happier or you’re just a regular reader, vox.io can easily help you conquer #1 on Davis-Laack’s list—to form strong connections with others. From video chats, calls, chats, and SMSes, vox.io lets you keep in touch (and see!) people far and wide—straight from your browser. It’s the easiest way to stay connected or even build new connections with others so that you can lead a happier, healthier life.

Go on! Head over to vox.io and chat with a friend; invite Mom to a Quick Call; or simply send a quick SMS to the one you love. Because when you stay connected, you stay happier.

Continue reading the rest of Davis-Laack’s list of happy tips here.

Written by Alicen Gradišnik

QuickTip: Re-share web content supereasily

Wed, 17 Oct 2012 16:31:00 +0200

Whenever you send or receive a link that opens up right beside your chat, you can re-share it super easily. Just click on the re-share button!

If you click the first button, you can re-share the link with another vox.io chat. Since the link is already open, all you have to do is open your chat with the person you want to share your link with and then click the reshare button you see above. Voilá! The link is automatically pasted where you write your chat messages—all you have to do is hit enter.

You can also easily reshare the link via Twitter, Google+, and Facebook.

Happy sharing!

New and improved tutorial videos

Sat, 13 Oct 2012 15:53:00 +0200

The time has come to revamp our tutorial videos in order to reflect vox.io’s latest features and designs. These videos help guide you through the features of our website while also teaching you a few tips and tricks you might not know. You can find the new batch we’ve just published by clicking on the “Video tutorials” link on the blog’s sidebar.

You’ll notice that we made two brand new videos—one for validating your phone number and another for the vox.io sign-up process. We realized that some of you had trouble validating your phone number, so we made the validation process easier for you to follow. Watch the video to see it in action. For the newcomers reading this post, signing up for vox.io is supereasy and pretty self-explanatory. But, if you want, you can watch our short sign-up video to get a peek into the wonderful world of vox.io. Join us!

Visit our YouTube page and watch the rest!

Have any questions, comments, or tutorial requests? Let us know! We love to hear what you have to say.

New payment options

Fri, 12 Oct 2012 12:18:00 +0200

Calling, chatting, and videochatting with your online contacts on vox.io will always be free. You only need money in your vox.io account to make calls and send text messages to your friends’ phones when they’re not online. Until now, you could only use PayPal to add money to your vox.io account. Due to popular demand, you now have the option to add money to your vox.io account using your Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover, JCB, and Diners Club credit cards.

We’ve also revamped the design and flow of the payment process for you. Here’s a quick run through:

1. Click on your vox.io balance on the vox.io header.

2. Choose the amount of money you’d like to add to your vox.io account balance.

You can add 5€, 10€, or 20€. You’ll also see that we’ve calculated the average number of calls (based on your call data) and SMSes that this amount of money will allow you to make.

3. Choose your payment option.

Decide whether you want to pay via credit card or PayPal by clicking on the repsective icons you see at the top of the window below. After you’ve made your choice, provide us with the information we need to accept your payment.

Once you click Buy, we’ll process your payment and confirm the transaction.

Two things to remember:

You can only add credit to your vox.io account balance once per day.
Your very first account payment must be verified before it’s accepted (to prevent fraud). This process is usually superquick, and we let you know via e-mail as soon as your payment has been accepted and your balance has been credited. After your first payment, all of your vox.io purchases will be immediate.
SMSes are always only 0.05€ each. You can find a list of our call rates here.

As always, you can leave us feedback in the comment box below!

Make your life easier with Quick Calls

Wed, 10 Oct 2012 13:30:00 +0200

If you didn’t know already, vox.io Quick Calls are a useful innovation of the collect call. With just the click of a button, you create a link to send to anyone you’d like to talk to. Once they click that link, you receive a call immediately, and they don’t have to pay a thing. It’s that easy. But when is a good time to use them?

Here are a few situations we had in mind:

Inviting Grandma to a call. Whether it’s your Grandma or another relative of yours that isn’t very tech-savvy, e-mailing a link that starts a call is a super simple way to initiate a conversation. Next time you want to get in touch, just e-mail a Quick Call link.

Spice up business. Don’t spend money on more advertisements! Host a giveaway using a vox.io Quick Call link. All you have to do is post the Quick Call link on your blog, Facebook page, or send it out to your e-mail list. Pair it with a question and award the first person to click and call you with some sort of freebie. Since the link expires after the first use, you can only have one winner.

Schedule daily HR calls. When you’re planning the day’s business calls, e-mail vox.io Quick Call links to your clients so they can call you in a single click. No more creating accounts or exchanging usernames just to make a single call—Quick Call links will save time for both of you.

The perks of being a Quick Call

If you’re thinking of situations when you should use a Quick Call link, remember these three points:

A Quick Call link is an innovative way to say, ”Call me when you have time.” After receiving your Quick Call link, your friend can call you whenever it’s convenient for them because the link doesn’t expire until after they use it.
No installs, applications, or accounts necessary. All your friend needs in order to make your Quick Call is an internet connection and a working microphone. It’s that simple! So, Quick Calls come in pretty handy if you need to talk to someone once (or once in awhile) and you’d like to offer them the opportunity to talk to quickly and for free.
Quick Calls are always free for the person you send the link to. As long as you answer the Quick Call while you’re on vox.io, the calls will always be free for you, too. If you’re not online when you receive your Quick Call, we’ll deduct the cost of a regular call (using vox.io’s price rates) from your vox.io account. Looks like chivalry isn’t dead.

Have a good Quick Call story for us? Write it in the comment box below!

Chat with your Facebook friends on vox.io

Tue, 02 Oct 2012 16:27:00 +0200

That’s right! Your communication hub just got even better—you can now chat with your Facebook friends straight from vox.io when you link your accounts. Keep in touch, view the cool stuff you share in the same window, and even call or video chat with each other instantly: all from vox.io.

Show me how, show me how!

If you already have a vox.io account, you can link your Facebook account in a few supereasy steps:

Go to your Settings page
Scroll down to your ”Connected Accounts”
Find “Facebook” and click “Link account”

If you haven’t (yet) signed up for vox.io, just sign up via Facebook and we’ll automatically link your account so you can chat with your Facebook friends.

Choose your privacy

Once you’ve linked your Facebook account, you’ll be able to see and chat with all of your Facebook friends on vox.io. If you’d like to limit who can chat with you, go to your advanced chat settings on Facebook. Here, you can choose to either block certain people from being able to chat with you or allow only certain people to chat with you. These settings will carry over to vox.io, too.

Call or video chat with your Facebook friends

You can turn your chat into a call or video chat super easily. Click the green “Call” button in the top right corner and you’ll send a Quick Call link to your friend so they can call you back instantly (and for free!). If you both have functioning webcams, just turn them on during the call to start videochatting.

Simpler chats or longer messages—it’s your choice

When you’re online on vox.io and one of your Facebook friends sends you a message via Facebook, you’ll receive it on vox.io chat immediately. You can also send Facebook messages to your offline Facebook friends straight from vox.io—just find your offline friend, type as much as you want, and hit send. They’ll receive it both on Facebook and vox.io the next time they log in.

Perfect memories

As always, your personal history will save all of the conversations you have with your Facebook friends, so that you can go back and find important chat messages, links, or other information about a conversation. They’ll also be saved in your Facebook messages, too.

So, now when you link your Facebook account to your vox.io account, you can chat, call, and video chat with your online Facebook friends, or send them Facebook messages straight from vox.io when they’re not online. Whatever you want, we’ve got you covered!

Happy calling (and Facebook chatting)!

QuickTip: Mention someone in a Group Chat

Fri, 21 Sep 2012 16:56:11 +0200

If you want to grab someone’s attention during a vox.io Group Chat, mention them in your chat message. Mentioning someone will display the person’s name in blue text, and the vox.io tab will flash with a notification to grab his or her attention.

How do you mention someone in a Group Chat message?

Type his or her first or last name in your message (that’s it!)
Begin typing his or her name and then hit the TAB key
Type the “@” symbol and then the person’s name and select from the dropdown menu

Happy Group Chatting :)

The Ultimate Success Guide to Conducting an Online Job Interview (Part II)

Wed, 19 Sep 2012 16:58:00 +0200

photo by Victor1558

Last week, we brought you The Ultimate Success Guide to Having an Online Job Interview (Part I) to get you fully prepared for your online job interview. But what about the interviewers? You all could use a few tips and tricks, too! Whether you’re using vox.io’s video chat to save time and money on recruiting interviews or to conquer long distances, here’s what I’ve compiled for those of you asking the questions.

Quick vox.io tip ☛ If your job candidates don’t have a vox.io account, you can send him or her a Quick Call link and still start your video chat interview in a flash.

Set the example
When we use vox.io on a regular basis to chat and keep in touch with friends as a part of our personal lives, it’s easy to slip into that casual mindset during your interview. Remember that as the interviewer, you set the pace for the interview while maintaining the professional standard for your company: Be careful not to lower the level of professionalism by getting too casual.

Get your tech together!
Just like the interviewee, you need to be technologically prepared for the interview. Being unprepared not only reflects poorly upon yourself but also the company you represent. Just like the interviewee, you should check that your internet connection is strong—if you don’t have access to a great wifi connection, plug in an ethernet cord; your microphone & camera—make sure both are functioning well; and your battery level—have your laptop fully charged with the charger ready, in case you need to power up during the interview.

Present yourself well
Just as it’s important for the job candidate, you should also make sure your webcam frames you well, capturing your upper body to include your entire head and your hand gestures, too: Test how you look in your webcam before the interview starts to make sure you’re framed correctly, mimicking how you would appear in a face-to-face interview. Look into your webcam to simulate eye contact—the closer the computer is to you, the more obvious it’ll be if you’re looking down at the job candidate and not into the webcam. If your own video is distracting you, cover your video with a sticky note.

Get connected beforehand
Send a connection request to the person you’re interviewing a few days before the interview, so you don’t waste time trying to connect at the last minute. Since you’ll already be connected when it comes time for the interview, ask the candidate to get online 5 minutes before and confirm that he or she is ready—this will let you see how excited the candidate is for the interview, just like if he or she were to show up early for a face-to-face interview.

Choose your location wisely
From the office or from home? Conducting your interview from the office lets candidates see the activity of the workplace and get a sense of the company—a conference room with a glass window, to keep the noise level down, is ideal. Sometimes conducting the interview from home is more convenient, in which case you should choose to sit at a desk or a similar workplace. Dan Maloney, owner of PinLeague.com, found that conducting interviews from his bedroom didn’t sit well with the job candidates. To give your interview from home a more professional feeling, display your company’s logo on a poster behind you. Regardless of where you choose to conduct your interview, make sure the area around you is uncluttered and distraction-free.

Red flags
Watch for inappropriate user icons and profile backgrounds. This could be an important insight into your interviewee’s professionality and priorities. Also, watch for negligence: Matthew Corrin, CEO and founder of Freshii says, ”I had a Skype call interview with [someone in] Austria set up for earlier this week and they got the times wrong because they don’t have daylight savings. Whose responsibility is that? If it takes more than two back and forths to get the timing, I always consider that a red flag.”

Record your interview
The advantage of having an interview online is that you can use various services to make a screen recording of your interview. This way, you can play back the interview for your colleagues and clients to review, and you can avoid scribbling so many notes of the candidate’s responses, allowing you to pay more attention to the candidate and what he or she is saying.

written by Alicen Gradišnik

Compiled from: Inc.com, MSN, Huffington Post, Forbes, CBSNews, TheLadders.com, US News, RecruitingBlogs.com, NFIB.com.

Have any video-chat interview success stories or tips to share?
Write them in a comment below!

The Ultimate Success Guide to Having an Online Job Interview (Part I)

Fri, 14 Sep 2012 16:59:00 +0200

Online interviews are becoming more and more common—42 percent of companies used video chat to conduct job interviews in 2011, up 32 percent from 2010. After scouring the internet for good tips & tricks for online interviewing, I compiled this Ultimate Success Guide full of great tips I learned to help you fully prepare for your upcoming video chat interview.

Basic interview tips

Just because you’re sitting comfortably in front of your laptop at home doesn’t mean that you should treat this interview any less casually. You’re still vying for a job, and you should act professionally just like you would in a regular, face-to-face interview so that you’re considered as a serious applicant. That being said, there are a few basic interview tips that also apply to a video chat interview using vox.io.

Maintain positive body language to make a good impression. This includes good posture (upright, with your legs either crossed or feet flat on the ground); eye contact; and smiling—smiling shows that you’re relaxed, friendly, and that you have enthusiasm for the job. Oh, and cut out the “um” “err” and “like” if you want to your interviewer to take you seriously.
Be confident in yourself, your abilities, and your accomplishments, but don’t be arrogant. This is a fine but important line. Not sure of the difference? Read this and then come back.
Never bash your old employers. No matter how informal the interview might feel (whether it’s because of the interviewer’s attitude or the video chat setting), bad mouthing an old company, employer, or even co-worker is self-defeating and the interviewer will assume you’d do the same to him/her and their company.
Know the job description and learn about the company. Particularly, its products or services; customers; age; size; major competitors, and reputation. Doing your research shows the interviewer your interest and passion, and that you’re willing to go the extra mile. But be careful not to showcase your knowledge in a way that’s condescending or criticizes the company.
Inquire about the next step at the end of the interview. The interviewer will most likely tell you when you can expect to hear back from them about a decision, but if he/she doesn’t, you can gauge from the interview whether or not it’s appropriate to ask. This information will not only ease your nerves later on but can clue you in on how to handle your follow-up.
And obviously, be on time. Plan ahead and allot extra time before the interview starts for any unforeseen hiccups. Interviewers have heard every excuse in the book for being late.

Must-have tips for your video chat interview

Get your tech together!
Don’t waste the interviewer’s time with technical difficulties. Make sure you check 1) Your internet connection. If you know your wifi signal isn’t the best, plan for a different location or go the old-fashioned route and plug your ethernet cable in. 2) Your microphone and camera. Check your microphone and camera input to make sure both are functioning well. 3) Your battery level. Don’t forget to make sure that your laptop is fully charged. Keep charger nearby, too, so you don’t interrupt the interview later if you need it. If you do end up experiencing technical difficulties, luckily you can use vox.io to call the company immediately and let them know what’s going on.

Maintain eye contact…with your webcam
Look into your webcam during the interview in order to mimic real eye contact with your interviewer. When your interview first begins, quickly look at your own video to check the framing and how you look, but then continue to look into your webcam. If you find yourself constantly checking your own video, drag it right beneath your webcam so that you can mimic eye contact but still keep an eye on yourself (pun intended). Or, you can cover your video with a sticky note to make yourself stop staring.

Frame yourself well
Position your laptop or webcam so that it captures most of your upper body—your entire head, shoulders, and hands—so you can still convey important body language and other non-verbal cues. If you can’t fit most of your upper body in the frame, place something beneath your laptop to raise it and mimic the view of a face-to-face interview. Before your interview, turn your webcam on and position yourself appropriately, so that you don’t begin the interview only to find that your camera is pointed directly at your chest (eek!). Take note of your lighting, too—you don’t want to appear washed out during the day or too dimly lit at night.

Check your user icon and background photo
The interviewer will judge you based on the way that you personalize your vox.io profile. “If I’m talking to somebody for a business interview and their [username] is ‘motherofalldrugaddicts’ or something, I certainly think that would be problematic,” says Karl Walinskas, CEO and founder of Smart Company Growth. The same logic will apply to your profile photo and background, so make sure you upload images that are appropriate for a future employer to see.

Consider your environment
When you find the best spot in your house to have your interview, make sure your background is uncluttered so that the interviewer is paying attention only to you. Give the people you live with a heads up about your interview so that they don’t come running into the room at some point; Rich DeMatteo, co-founder of Bad Rhino and founder of Corn on the Job, says you should be the only living thing in the frame—even if it means uprooting your cat from his nap.

Bring your notes
Luckily for you, the interviewer won’t be able to see the contents of your desk. Take advantage of this by placing important notes around your computer to help enhance your answers and remind you of questions you want to ask. vox.io bonus: You can upload your resume as a PDF and send the link via chat to your interviewer—both of you can view it in the content viewer right beside your video.

Keep other tabs and programs closed
Make sure vox.io is the only tab you have open, so that you’re not tempted to check your e-mail or social media notifications—especially if they might make noise during the interview.

Dress professionally, with solid, dark colors
Wearing white or any other bright colors will overpower the screen and your appearance, which can be distracting. Stripes and tight-woven patterns are also a no-no—”They’ll come across like strobe lights to your interviewer,” says Jennifer Johnson founder of J. Johnson Executive Search, Inc. When dressing for the interview, Stick with solid, dark colors, with jewel tone accents to bring a little color to the image. And don’t just throw on a blouse and suit jacket with your pajama pants, in case you need to stand up.

Test it out
Having a friend help you do a video chat test run before your interview is critical, says Kelly Dingee, a sourcing researcher and executive trainer for AIRS. If your interview is scheduled for 7pm on a Monday night, practice at 7pm on Sunday night.

Follow up
After you’ve finished your interview, send a Thank You note to express your gratitude to the company for giving you their time and consideration—it can also put you a step ahead of other candidates. You might also want to follow up with the company because you haven’t heard anything about the results of your interview. From the variety of sources I found, it seems like there are mixed feelings about how you should reach out to the company. Some find it to be less genuine and also too intrusive to send a “thank you” via vox.io, especially if the interviewer used a personal account to conduct the interview. However, following up over vox.io chat allows your interviewer to keep all of your correspondences together in his or her vox.io history. Most likely, you’ll be able to gauge from your interview whether it’s appropriate to follow up via vox.io, e-mail, or good old-fashioned snail mail. “And please,” Says Ming Chen, Vice President of EF Education First, “if I just interviewed you, don’t add me on Facebook…”

written by Alicen Gradišnik

Compiled from: Inc.com, MSN, Huffington Post, Forbes, CBSNews, TheLadders.com, US News, RecruitingBlogs.com, NFIB.com.

Have any video-chat interview success stories or tips to share?
Write them in a comment below!

QuickTip: Be smart with your vox.io URL

Fri, 07 Sep 2012 17:24:00 +0200

Your vox.io profile URL isn’t just the link to your profile page—it’s a great and innovative way for people to reach you.

When you give out your vox.io URL to your friends, family, and colleagues, they can connect with you in a single click and make free online calls and chats with you, and call and text your phone—at whichever phone number you choose.

Here are some suggestions of where your vox.io URL can replace your usual list of phone numbers:

Include it in your e-mail signatures.
Post it to your LinkedIn, Facebook, and other social profiles.
Put it on your business cards.
Renting or selling? Post your URL on your AirBnB, Etsy, and Ebay profiles to get in touch with your customers more easily.

We’ve said it before—phone numbers are dead.
Go ahead, give your URL some publicity. :)

Talking online: The good and the bad

Mon, 03 Sep 2012 17:22:00 +0200

photo by striatic.

As of 2011, we spend approximately 1 out of every 6 minutes of our online time on a social networking site, and an increasing amount of time making calls over the internet: the VoIP industry has grown a whopping 179,035.8% over the last decade (2000-2009). Having such powerful social technologies at our fingertips is redefining how (and how often) we interact with others, and we have to wonder: is the internet helping or hurting communication?

Is it a good thing that we can now communicate much more quickly and easily than ever before? Susan Tardanico gives her two cents in an article for Forbes about social media:

Every relevant metric shows that we are interacting at breakneck speed and frequency through social media. But are we really communicating?…Is the focus now on communication quantity versus quality? Superficiality versus authenticity? In an ironic twist, social media has the potential to make us less social; a surrogate for the real thing.

Tardanico’s thoughts are nothing new. Various scholars, bloggers, and other bright thinkers have studied (or pondered) online communication and how it affects us, and have come up with a variety of disadvantages and advantages of talking online.

The bad…

On the not-so-good side is the problem of time displacement: spending our time communicating online takes time away from forming and enjoying “real life,” face-to-face relationships. Because of this, some believe that online communication is making us more socially “awkward.”

Along the same lines, talking to others using only text and no nonverbal communication (like facial expressions or body language) can lead to miscommunication and misunderstandings. Dr. Jim Taylor, PhD says,

“When connecting with others through technology, you get bits and pieces of people - words on a screen, two-dimensional images, or a digitized voice - almost like having some, but not all, of the pieces of a puzzle.”

The internet is also becoming known for what John Suler calls toxic disinhibition, in which the anonymity and lack of face-to-face interaction of talking online makes it easier for people to be rude, hateful, and even “cyberbully” others.

…But also the good!

Despite all of this, talking online has and can improve our lives in many ways. For one, it’s great for helping us keep in touch with friends and family who live far away from us—including those in the military, or our long distance relationships. And, online communication helps our local relationships by making it easy for us to make “real life” plans with our friends and even connect with our family.

Psychological studies have also shown that chatting online can positively affect our well-being (i.e. time spent with friends and the quality of these friendships). Similarly, talking online has proved to be a great resource for people who can’t do it so easily in “real life”: Shy individuals have reported that it’s easier for them to open up and communicate online, and people with stigmatized identities or grave illnesses talk online with each other to help with their self identity and coping.

Clearly, like most things, there’s a good and a bad side to communicating online. While it seems that technology might negatively impact the quality of communication, there’s no doubt that it makes it easier for us to communicate (in real-time) while providing more channels through which we can connect with other people.

All in all

Humans are social creatures who yearn to connect and communicate with others as a means of satisfying our personal needs, defining our personal identity, and laying the foundation for our relationships. As we embrace the new technology that constantly unravels before us, we must learn to adapt to it, too.

Here at vox.io, we’ve worked hard to create a solution that lets you easily switch from a variety of communication methods—from texting, chatting, calling and video chatting—so you can get in touch faster and maintain some of the same values of face-to-face communication while keeping up with the world of technology. Type your messages when it’s convenient, but switch easily to a call or video chat whenever you want, so you can hear the tone of your friends’ voices and see the looks on their faces. And, with your phone number linked to your account, you can also get in touch with your online and offline contacts superfast.

Talk to us!

Now, we want to know what you think. Is all of this online communication helping us more than it hurts us? Is it superficial? Or does it depend on how you communicate—are online voice or video calls better than typed messages?

And of course, how can vox.io make it better? :)

Let’s discuss! Comment below.

written by Alicen Gradišnik