Communication gets simpler and easier

A couple of services caught my eye in the latest issues of Wired magazine:

• I have downloaded a free trial of GoToMeeting and intend to use this quick and simple service to hold meetings on-line and also share documents in real time. 

Its early days but the service looks very easy to use, compared to some of the more cumbersome webinar systems I have tried over the years.

I’m especially interested in using the service to talk through spreadsheets with clients and practices on-line. By accessing the service, not only can we chat by typing or speak using VoIP but I can also recreate my desktop on the guests computer screens (up to 11 in a meeting) and open any of my own files to make alterations. I see this as extremely useful when monitoring productivity, analysing KPI’s and also when explaining the basis of practice valuations.

A nice way of avoiding unnecessary travel in these days of high costs in energy and time.

I’ll be trialing the system over the next month and will keep you posted.

• I wish I could tell you that I had started using Hulu but its only available in the USA – what a fantastic service – and surely the future of in-hone entertainment? 

If you are interested, there’s a good article on the development of this service here.