Online Collaboration Tools

CliqMeet is a new browser-based collaboration, conferencing and webcasting platform supporting up to 250 attendees without requiring any installation and setup and while integrating:

• Whiteboard
• Presentation sharing
• Screen-sharing
• VoIP
• Video-conferencing
• Dial-up conferencing
• Unlimited recordings
• Text chat

The platform works right out of the box, and you can start your first collaboration session in an instant after landing on CliqMeet home page. Just type the name you want to give to your conferencing room and you are in. Signup is not required to run a meeting.

The interface is very simple and straightforward, and requires zero time to be learned. Swipe your mouse to the left side of the screen and you get all the extra controls you may need.

ClicqMeet offers one of the best solutions for running a webinar or an online event with hundreds of people and with zero configuration and running costs. The key advantage is its simplicity, ease of use and intuitive interface. (It works with the latest versions of Chrome and Firefox).

Definitely worth trying.

Free (ad-supported version).

Try it out now: https://www.cliqmeet.com/en-us

Pricing and features: https://www.cliqmeet.com/pricing

Sqwiggle is a new real-time collaboration platform which allows you to meet persistently and videoconference easily with your distributed team, as well as to have a group messaging stream that keeps you updated on everything happening.

Sqwiggle has been designed to be a persistent real-time collaboration tool, meaning, that it is ideally used to bring closer, as if they were side-by-side, teammates that work at different locations by remaining always-on and by making extremely easy to switch on the the audio-video communication.

This is why you can turn on Sqwiggle at 9am and switch it off when you go away, as it makes so easy for you to activate a video conversation with anyone of your teammates, while working at a distance.

My comment: I always thought that a persistent always-on collaboration space is the perfect way to work side-by-side when you have a distributed team, and so I wrote back in 2004 a short article entitled: Working side by side. It was 2004. Maybe I was a bit too ahead of my time. Sqwiggle may be much more in sync with the times than I was, and I would certainly recommend it to any team wanting to feel as if they were working at the same table.

N.B.: Sqwiggle comes both as a Mac app and a web-based service. 

Pricing info: https://www.sqwiggle.com/pricing ($9/user/month)

More info: https://www.sqwiggle.com/ 

Help: https://www.sqwiggle.com/help

TrueConf is a new free videoconferencing web app which provides three-way video conferences for OS X, Windows and iOS users.

TrueConf also integrates other additonal collaboration features, including:

• video recording
• whiteboard
• file transfer.

Paid plans integrate access to multipoint video conferences with up to 120 users and additional features like:

• remote desktop control 
• screen sharing
• presentation support. 

The UI mimicks the Windows 8 tiled interface and video windows support 1080p resolutions and a 16:9 aspect ratio across all video modes.  

More info: http://trueconf.com

Features: http://trueconf.com/videoconferencing-features/

Pricing: http://trueconf.com/purchase/

Download (Win, OSX, iOS, Android): http://trueconf.com/downloads/

MashMeTV is a real-time collaboration web app which allows you to create one or more persistent collaboration rooms that integrate the following features:
 

• video-conferencing for up to 12 people
• whiteboard
• Google Drive collaboration on docs and presentations
• SlideShare in-sync presentation viewing
• YouTube in-sync video viewing
• Google Maps co-navigation
• co-browsing
• text chat
• room visual personalization
• free storage of 2.5 GB

Rooms can be set to be public or private (with a password that you can share), official meetings can be scheduled and you can invite anyone easily from within MashMeTV.

A good tool for collaborating with your team or for presenting to a few people your ideas or project. Unique in its ability to bring together several "view-together" functions under one roof.

Free to use for up to 24/hr/mo and for a max of 5 people at a time.

Pricing: http://www.mashme.tv/page/pricing 

Find out more: http://www.mashme.tv/ 

Features: http://www.mashme.tv/page/tour 

FAQ: http://www.mashme.tv/page/faq 

(Added to Pinterest collection Top Free 20 Video Conferencing Tools 2013)

Podio offers modular collaborative workspaces that can be customized to your specific needs by adding adn integrating your preferred collaboration apps, available in its dedicated app library.

The latest app addition is a free video and audio app which allows you to videoconference in real-time with any other Podio user (1-to-1).

From SmallBizTrends: "If you’re still searching for the right video conferencing service to interact with your business partners, your customers, and your suppliers, Podio has added a new Podio video conference feature you may want to consider.

Audio and video service was launched this week for Podio at no extra cost for users of the collaboration software whether you have a free or premium account. Anders Pollas, co-founder and product manager at Podio, introduced the new service recently on the official Podio blog.

There are at least 200,000 Podio clients already using the business collaboration platform. With the new video chat app, users will be able to interact with each other using video and audio. But that’s not all.

The workplace management and social site also recently added instant text messaging to go alongside its suite of other business apps already geared for group input and interaction."

Source: http://smallbiztrends.com/2013/07/podio-video-conference-app.html

Podio video conferencing features are available to everyone whether you have a free or Pro version of Podio. For now video-conferences support a maximum of two parties only.

Podio is free for up to 5 users.

More info: http://blog.podio.com/2013/07/09/audiovideopodio/

Free sign-up: https://podio.com/signup

Tutorials: https://developers.podio.com/examples

App library: https://company.podio.com/team

Added to section Workgrouping - Team collaboration workspaces

See more online collaboration tools: http://bit.ly/BestCollaborationTools2013