Category Archives: Competition

Did Blue Jeans Copy VSee Dual-Streaming HD Video + Content for iPad?

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VSee vs. Blue Jeans on iPad
vsee vs bluejeans iOS

I recently saw a Blue Jeans Network newsletter announcing its exciting new feature: “dual HD streams for interactive video and content sharing.” Dual streaming has the advantage that meeting participants can see both video and content at the same time as they work together.  They claim this is an industry first, they are the first company that does this.

The problem is VSee already beat Blue Jeans to this “industry first” — an iOS app that offers HD content sharing. VSee for iPad not only allows for 5-way video and shared apps, it also supports receiving live annotation for a rich collaborative experience.  VSee ranks higher than Blue Jeans on the App Store, so their marketing should have seen VSee before it made the claim :)

In fact, seeing faces and content together has been a key design feature of VSee for years. (Btw, this was decided upon way back when VSee was still a concept being born out of Stanford University human factors research in teamwork and video collaboration.)

To be fair, I think Blue Jeans did made the right design decision. People do need to see faces and content at the same time.  But sorry Blue Jeans – it is not okay to claim you are the first when this was already done by your key competitor a long time ago :)

VSee video + content design traces back to numerous academic research studies conducted the past two decades.   For a great summary of research that shaped the VSee design thinking, check out Finn, Sellen, and Wilbur’s Video-Mediated Communication.

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Skype Worm Hosts Bitcoin Mining Slaves

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Skype malware bitcoin miningSkype users beware.  Last week, TheNextWeb reported a new Skype malware that has been spreading at 2000 clicks per hour. The malware tries to convince Skype users to click on a link, unloading a Bitcoin mining application into your system. Cyber criminals use the the Bitcoin mining malware to mine Bitcoins (digital money), hijacking the victim’s computer resources. While the criminals are generating a tidy profit, the victim’s CPU gets maxed out, becoming slow and unusable.

This isn’t the first time Skype has been hit with a vicious virus. Last October Skype users were hit with malware in the form of a harmless looking message that said, “lol is this your new profile pic?” Clicking on the link caused a host of problems from fraudulent money extortion to stealing information from your Facebook, Twitter, and PayPal accounts.

Skype has made it fun and easy to connect to friends, family, clients, and business partners around the world.  Unfortunately this also means it won’t be the last time it may compromise your security with an ugly worm.

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photo courtesy: zcopley via Flickr

Polycom Should Forget Marketing Gimmicks and Buy Vidyo to Survive

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Polycom RealPresence CloudAXIS

Following in the footsteps of Apple retail stores, Polycom will be opening its own retail outlets in high-end malls, as well as some Costco Superstores, says Wainhouse Research.

In a marketing scheme designed to cook up some chutzpah for a waning video conferencing product, Polycom will be teaming up with unlikely competitor Google (using data from Google’s Street View technology) to figure out just exactly where it should plant its new stores for maximum payback. These outlets will make Polycom’s video conference systems seem more user-friendly and give prospective customers a chance to

experience firsthand RealPresence, to test out the latest RMX devices, UC  Board, and mobile apps, and to practice setting up streaming / recording servers. In addition, customers will be able to have all their questions answered by certified video engineers at “the Presence bar” and to buy clever leather accessories for their room and personal video systems

Source: Wainhouse Research News & Views on UC and Collaboration

Polycom’s effort is not only expensive, but it’s trying to cover up the limitations of a previously successful but now out-of-date architecture. Infonetics reports that “revenue for nearly all dedicated videoconferencing systems declined in 2012, with some segments falling off significantly.” Even Cisco which still has the lion’s share of the video conferencing market is turning to software to bolster its collaboration offerings rather than depending on a dying TelePresence Room platform.  Meanwhile disruptive software-based video conference platforms such as Vidyo and Blue Jeans are growing at a fast pace and making inroads into changing video conference business.

So while marketing makes a great product more desirable, it can’t cover up a product people don’t want anyway. Who wants to deal with the firewall nightmares, complex servers, etc. that go with legacy video conference systems when cost-effective cloud video conference systems are available? Every day that Polycom doesn’t take real decisive action — not just putting out a marketing ploy — means less chance that they can pivot and thrive.

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Why Is Vidyo So Expensive?

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Out-of-luck actors may now have an unexpected source of gainful employment – with video conferencing companies.  According to this Wall Street Journal story, VSee’s arch rival, Vidyo keeps professional actors on staff. We’re not talking about hiring actors for a one time stint to film a couple of slick ads, but a regular paying bona fide job to sit and look good during their sales demos. (Aha! So that’s why their telemedicine “doctors” can look like George Clooney.) This makes perfect sense if spending money on marketing is the key to growth for Vidyo.

VSee vs. Vidyo Video Conference for Telehealth

Both Vidyo and VSee are software-only video conference products that are able to provide high quality video over consumer networks.  They also offer FDA-registered telehealth products that are filling a growing need for medical-use video conferencing. However, Vidyo uses a complex backend (i.e. extra equipment to purchase and set up), which means you can’t start using it right away, and you may need an IT guy help keep it up and running. The complex backend can also mean a big costly headache when servers need to be upgraded for expanding one’s telehealth reach.  It should be no surprise then that Vidyo is 2 to 10 times more expensive than VSee for total cost of ownership.

Furthermore, VSee has a simpler interface so it’s easier for doctors and patients to learn to use, and a simpler pricing so it’s easy to see the total cost  (not that we’re biased or anything). To learn more, here is a review of how VSee and Vidyo compare – with pictures of video quality, too!

So the next time you get that expensive Vidyo sales quote, you can feel better knowing that you are helping actors between jobs :)  At VSee, we believe in solid engineering, where we let our product speak for itself.  We even list all our competitors on the bottom of our home page.

Learn more about VSee telehealth here.

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Google Hangouts High Bandwidth Issues Solved…Sort of

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Google Hangout slider for low bandwidth video chatGoogle+ Hangouts is trying to be more bandwidth-friendly with its new bandwidth slider and audio-only features. This is welcome news for those on 3G, Wifi, DSL, or otherwise slow Internet who have had a hard time jumping into a Hangout. In particular, bandwidth limitations can be a problem for people living in rural areas or traveling to other countries.

Apparently this is a much needed feature, because according to this Mashable article by Rob Lammle, Google Hangouts is the worst offender when it comes to video chat services that eat up your bandwidth.  It uses a whopping  150 MB  for 10 minutes, compared with Microsoft Skype and Apple Facetime’s 30 MB.  However none of these can even come close to the mileage you can get out of VSee’s low bandwidth video chat.  VSee was specially designed to work over slow Internet and uses half the bandwidth of Skype for the same video quality. (You can check out the numbers and video comparisons here…or better yet, do your own tests!)

The Google Hangouts bandwidth slider is really a simple work around for its high bandwidth use issues. It gives users some ability to control their video resolution so they can still participate in a Google Hangout at a lower video quality or even no video.  It’s a common feature in many other group video chat services (including ooVoo, and Vidyo ). Although, other video chat services, like Skype, may automatically adjust video resolution to the available bandwidth without allowing any input from the user.  VSee uses dynamic video quality adjustment without any user intervention; however, the user can force a particular setting such as HD, etc.

Of course, you can completely sidestep the whole Google Hangout bandwidth issue by using VSee. VSee works even in difficult-to-connect places such as Syria, Morocco, rural Haiti, the African rainforest, and the jungles of Southeast Asia. Why settle for poor video or audio-only in Google Hangouts when VSee can give you great video and a better user experience no matter where you are.

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