Office Life

Reflecting Upon A Conference Call In Real Life

snom MeetingPoint conference phoneLast week a pair of comedians, Tripp and Tyler, released a video called A Conference Call In Real Life. The video lampoons some of the common issues of user experience with corporate conference calls. It’s part of a campaign designed to promote the Leadercast Live event that they have coming up in May.

The video set certain corners of the social media space reverberating with guffaws, likes, +1’s and commentary. Corporate types like Orange Business tweeted about it. While it was released over a week ago, the echo of its impact is only now decaying from the vast expanse of cyberspace.

Apparently it held a ring of truth for many people. Frankly, it caused me some agitation.

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3D Wallpaper: An Affordable Approach to Better Office Acoustics

mio_paperforms2013_acousticweave_angleLacking for any specific consideration of acoustics, many workplaces simply sound bad. Hard surfaces like drywall, glass, tile, stone and hardwood floors combine with arbitrary dimensions to create boomy, boxy sounding spaces where sound bounces around a lot. This creates a muddled sound that can make it more difficult to understand conversation. Sadly, this is also true of a lot of meeting small spaces and home offices.

This acoustic reality impacts how we work, especially the quality of our communications. Speakerphones and conference phones suffer in sub-standard acoustic environments. Intelligibility of conversation can be significantly degraded. You may not notice, as you are in the space and accustomed to that environment. However, the person at the far end of the conversation may find it more difficult to understand what you are saying.

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Deal Alerts: BT Headset Revisited & Adjustable Aluminum Laptop Stand

Tis the season, etc, etc. This has me watching the daily bargain sites a little more than usual. Today’s email flood brings two items worth a mention.

Back on December 5 I told you about the Plantronics Voyager Legend Bluetooth headset being offered for just $39. That was a short-term deal that expired after just 24 hours. Today I find that the same company is repeating the offer, but this time it’s at a section of their website that sustains the offer until the inventory is gone. If you were indecisive and missed the earlier offer you can still get one. It’s unlikely to arrive before the holidays, so it’s more of a self-gift than a stocking stuffer.

The Daily Deals site has an offer of an Adjustable Aluminum Laptop Stand for $30. Normally this sort of thing would not catch my eye. In this case the very fact that the seller has provided a number of supporting images is key to attracting my interest.

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A Strategy For Debugging My Home Office

Gwen-200pxNot all of my home office technology is “high technology.” Nonetheless, some of the low-tech is critically important. On this particular occasion I offer some insight into how we go about debugging. That is, how we eliminate bugs…more specifically, flying insects.

The factual information that I have to share is slight, but the story of how I come by it a personal one. When I was teenager my family lived in the small, Northern Ontario town of Atikokan. At the time the family business included a building supply adjoined by a Laundromat.

The Laundromat was open long hours and during much of the year the doors left open. In the summer it had the most unfortunate way of gathering flies. Our reaction to this was to deploy a pair of small battery operated appliances that dispensed an aerosol spray on a timed basis. The spray was known as KONK and it was tremendously effective.

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Blogging From The Nexus7

Nexus7Not long ago I read a post by a blogger who had made the effort to give up his laptop for the day. While attending a conference he left his laptop in his hotel room intent upon using only his Nexus 7 tablet throughout that day. I thought it an interesting experiment.

The tale of his day highlighted a few worthy accessories for the Nexus 7 tablet. He pointed to a premium stylus and a Bluetooth wireless keyboard as key to his productivity. I was impressed by his logic and the tale of his experience that day. So much so that I ordered those same items so that I might try them for myself.

At this very moment I’m typing on the Logitech Keyboard for Android , wirelessly connected to my Nexus 7. Just as he described the case for the keyboard doubles as a stand for the tablet. It’s handy. To use it properly really requires a table, but it’s working on my lap at the moment.

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