Microloans via Kiva & VACOC

I’ve already posted this at my VA news blog, VANewsday… but I wanted to be sure to get the word out about about this wonderful idea:

The VACOC (Virtual Assistant Chamber of Commerce) just launched a lending team page through Kiva, a person-to-person microlending site. Kiva partners with existing expert microfinance institutions to provide loans to the working poor in impoverished countries. Anyone can lend any amount (as little as $25) to an aspiring entrepreneur in a developing country.

You can lend as little as $25 to a specific low-income entrepreneur in the developing world (hey, $25 is a WHOLE LOTTA MONEY in those areas). You choose who to lend to–whether that’s a baker in Afghanistan, a goat herder in Uganda, a farmer in Peru, a restaurateur in Cambodia, or a tailor in Iraq–and as they repay the loan, you get your money back.

If you join the VACOC lending team of Virtual Assistants, you’ll be joining forces with us to work together to alliviate poverty. Once you’re a part of the team, you can choose to have a future loan on Kiva “count” towards our team’s impact. The loan is still yours, and repayments still come to you, but you can also choose to have the loan show up in our team’s collective portfolio, so our team’s overall impact will grow!

A fantastic idea! Check out the VACOC announcement here… or go directly to the VACOC/Kiva Team page here.

Skype Now Supports Caller ID in USA

I recently discovered (by accident) that Skype  now supports caller ID in the USA. This is big news to me, because the “0000000″-s that come up on caller ID by default had prevented me from using Skype for routine business calls.  I pay a flat $2.95 per month for unlimited calling to the USA & Canada - hard to beat - especially when you consider the great call quality and conferencing features Skype offers. Now I make regular use of it!

In order for the caller ID to work, you need to pair your Skype account with a number that you want to appear as your caller ID. Skype allows you to choose between your cell phone number or an online number (SkypeIn) you can purchase for as little as $30/year when combined with one of Skype’s subscription plans. 

With this new feature, Skype  is now a great calling alternative or add-on to a regular calling plan.

Tip: Check out Pamela Systems’ Pamela Professional - a great feature add-on (Extras) to Skype that allows unlimited, high-quality call forwarding and expanded Skype voice mail features.

 

Comcast Capping Consumer Broadband?

I saw the following headline in my feed reader:

Comcast to cap monthly consumer broadband

After I recovered from choking on my coffee, I read the full story, courtesy of Webware.com (now part of C\Net)… and it ain’t pretty:

Starting October 1 customers of Comcast’s residential data services will have an invisible barrier on their monthly data usage. Under the new guidelines of Comcast’s Acceptable Use Policy announced Thursday, that cap will be set at 250 gigabytes per month, per account.

Users who go over the limit will get a courtesy call from Comcast’s customer service for the first instance. However, under the new policy a second-time offense means the service is immediately suspended for an entire calendar year.

The cap - at 250GB per month, sounds like a lot - and for a casual user, it is. But for anyone with a home office with some online backup systems (such as Mozy) - this can be a real problem.

So what happens when a customer breaks the 250GB barrier?

Users who go over the limit will get a courtesy call from Comcast’s customer service for the first instance. However, under the new policy a second-time offense means the service is immediately suspended for an entire calendar year.

Well, alrighty, then. How about some alerts or usage meters? Not so much…

Surprisingly the company is not providing any tools to help users monitor their current usage. An FAQ on Comcast’s support site simply suggests that customers do a “Web search” for bandwidth metering software that will track this amount for them.

Ok - to recap - Comcast will now place a low limit on bandwidth on our access, not tell us if we’re close to it, not provide any tracking or measurement - and then cut off service on the second “offense”.

So how about upgrade options for heavy users?? (From WebWare’s followup post) - uh… nope.

Will you be offering larger bandwidth packages for home businesses or “excessive users?”
Bill G.: No packages at this time is being offered for larger bandwidth.

As this is supposed to go into effect on October 1st, I have yet to get a letter about it from Comcast - I happened to see it on WebWare.com. 

I really hope Comcast reconsiders this - or comes up with a better accomodation for heavy users.

Maybe I need to look at Verizon’s FIOS.

UPDATE: Webware just posted a nice list of bandwidth meters - good to know.

 

 

 

 

YouSendIt Launches Outlook Plug-In for Large Attachments

Most know that email accounts have some limit on the size of files you can attach to messages - typically it’s less than 10MB…which is not a lot in the world of YouTube and Podcasts. Many (like me) are fans of file transfer services like YouSendIt - which provides “drop box” service for any large file, bypassing the limits of email attachments (and sparing the recipient a clogged mailbox!).

The folks at YouSendIt just launched an Outlook plugin that sets all outbound messages with attachments above a certain size (that you choose) to be routed via the YouSendIt service. This saves time and allows the user to email with abandon without concern about file sizes… a great idea!

Thanks to TechCrunch for the tip.

Reconstruction Progress

I’ve had a few bumps in the road, but my little website rebuild project is picking up steam. I finally managed to import my existing Typepad content. What seemed straightforward turned out to be rather quirky, but I managed to bring in the goods. Now I just need to beef up my content and a few extra tweaks….

New Services! Web Conferencing, Google Web Services Support & More

ProVirtual Solutions is now offering one-time specialty services, including web conferencing and recording, domain record updates and Google web services setup. These services are specially priced to provide better value without the need for an ongoing service agreement.

Web Conferencing: 90-minute service package includes webinar hosting and recording to a WMV file (with audio & video), using GoToMeeting. This is a great option for clients that have occasional webinars and need the audio and video recorded on one file. 90-minutes includes session hosting and file preparation.

Domain Record Update: Do you need a mail exchange (MX) record update or other more advanced change to your domain record and are hesitant to try it yourself? Let ProVirtual Solutions handle it!

Google Services Setup with Overview Webinars: Choose one or save with our bundled service packages. Most options include personalized training webinars so you can get the most out of the Google services you selected.

• Google Apps with EMail: Have you heard about the great services Google offers for free? You can get the renowned GMail service for your own domain and enjoy access to a 6GB mailbox, IMAP/POP access and more - along with the other Google Apps: Google Docs, Google Spreadsheets and Google Presentations - all mapped to your own domain. Have ProVirtual Solutions set it up for you and show you how to use it in a personalized webinar.
• Google Analytics Installation with Optional Webinar: Wondering about your website visitors and how they are finding your site? Google Analytics provides great detail about your site traffic and also works seamlessly with PPC camapigns. Opt for installation only or purchase with a personalized webinar to show you how it all works.
• Google Webmaster Tools with Local Business Listing:  Maximize your site’s visibility with Google’s Webmaster Tools and Local Business Listing with Maps. Service includes: Installation of Google Analytics for one domain/website, setup of Google Webmaster Tools, creation of XML sitemap, submission of sitemap file to Google, creation of local business listing with map for Google Local. Includes a 45 minute webinar overview.

Learn more about all ProVirtual service offers here.

LinkedIn Launches App Platform, New Features

If you’re a LinkedIn user, you may have heard about their launching an API which would allow developers to create applications for LinkedIn users. The project, officially called the LinkedIn Intelligent Application Platform, has been launched, along with a few new features including customized modules, company news (available with the soon-to-be-launched homepage redesign) and automatic network updates.

Read more about LinkedIn’s new features.

Add a Mini-Store to Your TypePad Blog with PayPal Widgets

Hosted blogging service TypePad has launched PayPal Widgets, an easy way to embed a little mini-store on your Typepad-powered blog. Log into your TP account, link up your PayPal ID and activate on your chosen weblog just like any other widget.

This blog is hosted by TypePad (along with my Teleclasses.Info blogs)- and although there are other excellent blogging choices, I like TP’s templates, huge widget collection and multi-blog options. The maintenance is zero - another huge selling point with me. I liked working with my old WordPress blog, but got tired of the tinkering.

If you would like to check it out for yourself, TypePad offers a free 14-day trial.

Blog Roundup: Web Productivity Tools

Here’s links to fresh posts from some of my favorite blogs that list (and rather exhaustively, in one case) currently available web productivity tools and feature highlights….certainly worth bookmarking:

• 10 Ways to Collaborate with Other Human Beings Without Actually Being There (Web Worker Daily)
• Best of Mashable: Productivity & Organization  (Mashable.com)
• Jajah, Jaxtr, Jangl - How Are These Skype Alternatives Different?  (Digital Inspiration)

Latest headline feeds from these and other blogs are shown at right –>

I REALLY Love Formspring….

I have even more reason to love Formspring now - they featured ProVirtual Solutions on their blog as one of their user profiles:

http://www.formspring.com/blog/2007/11/12/formspring-user-profile-provirtual-solutions/

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