April 20, 2015

AT&T Cloud Calls is Coming to mysms [no longer supported]

Posted in cloud services, mysms news by mysms

[Note: This feature is no longer available due to low number of users]

 
We’re proud to announce that from today we are expanding our call feature for AT&T users to start and receive phone calls directly from your browser via the mysms web app. The new integration will offer you way more convenience in your daily management of your voice conversations especially when you are sitting in front of a computer during the whole day. This feature will be released in beta and is part of mysms Premium.

Make calls without touching your phone

Make calls without touching your phone

AT&T cloud calls at a glance

As web app or desktop app user, you already know how handy it is to get notified on phone calls directly on your computer. With mysms Premium you can also take an incoming call with just one click or start a new call by inserting a contact name or number. However, you still had to talk on your Android phone.

This requirement was by far the most frequent feedback on the call feature among our Premium users. Therefore, we have been working hard to remove the need to take your phone into your hands when calling from a computer.  AT&T is the first carrier to provide us with the necessary APIs to launch this enhancement, but we expect to expand the functionality to other mobile carriers when the APIs are available.

 

Which requirements do I need to fulfill?

Currently, AT&T cloud calls is only available for AT&T users with a postpaid plan. You need to be based in the US and can only call US numbers. International calling is not supported by AT&T. When you start and receive a call via the web app you will be charged in accordance with your existing mobile agreement. As this feature is part of mysms Premium, you need to have an active subscription in order to qualify for this feature.

 

How do I activate AT&T cloud calls?

The AT&T cloud calls feature is currently only available via our web app on your computer (no tablet support).

  • Make sure your microphone and speakers are connected to your computer and switched on.
  • Open the web app via a WebRTC compatible browser (Chrome, Firefox, Opera). In order to use the feature with Internet Explorer or Safari, you need to install a WebRTC plugin to enhance these browsers.
  • Go to the mysms settings via the gearwheel on the top right corner and click on “Connect to AT&T cloud calls (BETA)” and confirm this action in the next popup
  • Congrats, you are all set. In case you would like to deactivate this feature at a later time, simply go back to the mysms settings and click on “Disconnect from AT&T cloud calls (BETA)”.

 

We hope you enjoy calling from your computer and are happy to receive your feedback!

April 4, 2012

The (R)evolution of Apps

Posted in apps, cloud services, mobile news by Lisa Leitner

Are you familiar with the situation that your grandmother tells you stories about her life and in the end says something like “So many things have changed” and you just smile and nod? Well, if you think about it, your granny has a point. Just have a look at the history of IT.

Information technology has experienced some massive peaks in the last decades: the introduction of the first personal computer, the Internet, mobile phones, text messages, e-mail, smartphones, mobile commerce, tablet computers and – very popular recently – the (R)evolution of apps.

 

mobile app icons

mobile apps as we know them

The Truth about Apps

You might think that apps are a quite recent discovery, but really, apps have existed for a much longer time than Apple’s iTunes Store or Google’s Android Market (now called Google Play). But, it’s a fact that the term “app” moved mainstream when Apple launched its App Store in 2008. Ever since it has mainly been used as a synonym for mobile applications for smartphones and tablets. However, an app can run on your computer, on a browser as well as on your TV and on other electronic devices.

App is short for “application”, which is short for “application software”, which you could also call “computer software”. An app is a piece of software which performs a certain task, e.g. navigate, inform or entertain. Anyway, on which device you are using your app is irrelevant.

 

Desktop Apps

Don’t think too complicated! A desktop app is exactly what the name suggests: a program you can use on your desktop. To demonstrate how old apps are, I give you an example of a desktop app we all know: Microsoft Office. Now desktop apps are popular again. There’re also desktop app stores like for example the Mac App Store. Desktop apps I use on a daily basis are e.g. Tweetdeck, Evernote and of course mysms.

 

Web Apps

Also, there are web apps everyone knows and many have used for years: Hotmail, Gmail, Google Docs. This might sound boring at first but if you think about it, they are very useful. If you use a certain (web) app on more devices, you can benefit from all advantages of the cloud. You can get web apps like Wunderlist or StumbleUpon on the Chrome Web Store and soon to come Mozilla Marketplace.

 

TV Apps

Now that’s really a new kind of apps! The so called connected TV or also smart TV is in the spotlight of the entertainment technology business at the moment. Using apps on your TV, you can not only check Facebook or Gmail from your couch, but even connect your TV with other devices. For example, if you come back from a holiday, you can watch the photos you took with your smartphone on your TV – right away, without any wires or changing of SD-Cards! If you want more information on this, have a look at Apple TV and Samsung Smart TV.

 

Apps on desktop, web, TV

apps on your desktop, in the web and on TV

The (r)evolution of apps has been an impressive and successful one. Its history is longer and more comprehensive than most of us would have thought. Its future looks bright. Having mobile apps, desktop apps, web apps and TV apps offers us great possibilities and potential to facilitate our everyday life. Imagine you have one app for all your devices. Wouldn’t that be awesome? Do you think you’d benefit from being able to send text messages from your TV? Do you like the idea of using mysms on your TV?

March 7, 2012

Why use Cloud Services? What is in for me?

Posted in cloud services, messaging by Lisa Leitner

The terms “cloud”, “cloud services” and “cloud computing” seem to be everywhere these days. Everyone talks about it, everyone uses it, everyone is fascinated by it, but who really knows what the cloud is and – more importantly – why one should use it?

 

I. The cloud and its advantages

Generally, the term cloud derives from the cloud drawing that used to symbolize the Internet itself. The connection between the cloud (as we use the term nowadays) and the Internet is obvious: cloud computing refers to managing your data via a third party network, hosted over the Internet. In a nutshell, cloud services basically offer you a hard disk on the Internet.

 

The Cloud

The Cloud - accessible from all devices

 

 

How you can profit by that? That’s easy – you can benefit big time! Cloud services offer you great advantages compared to your local data storage space:

 

  • Accessibility

Using a cloud service, you can access your data from all your devices. In practice this means that you can have your private and work-related documents, family pictures, videos, music etc. with you at all times, wherever you are. So, if you meet a friend in a coffee shop, you can show him your holiday pics on your tablet. Or, if you’re on a business trip and forgot an important document, you can access it via an external computer. Awesome, right?

 

  • Convenience

As all associated services are fully managed by the provider, you don’t have to care about anything. You don’t need any additional physical device (like an external hard drive), only some kind of end device (which should not be a problem in times where the number of mobile devices nearly exceeds the world’s population) and access to the internet . Also many businesses have discovered this advantage. It’s for sure one main reason why the percentage of enterprises using cloud computing is about to rise from 36 % to 52 % this year.

 

  • Affordability

Especially now that hard disk prices rocket upwards and the economic situation cries for cost saving, the low prices of cloud services come in handy. Several businesses reckon they can cut costs up to 20 % a year. Also, there’s a rumor going around, that there are some crazy providers out there that offer their cloud services for free ; )

 

  • Ample storage space

Your storage space in the cloud is elastic. Meaning that you can alter the size of the storage space you need at any given time. Unlike using a hard disk, which is full at a certain point, you can expand your “online storage space” anytime.

 

II. Cloud services on the market

There’s quite an amount of cloud services available on the market. Some offered by the tech giants Google, Apple and Amazon, others developed by innovative start-ups. However, there are several useful solutions for both, businesses and consumers. Here are some examples:

  • Traditional cloud services: Dropbox, iCloud, Google Play, Gmail, Calender, and Picasa, Amazon’s cloud
  • Video cloud services: Netflix, YouTube
  • Music cloud services: Pandora, Spotify, Grooveshark
  • Social cloud services: Facebook, Twitter & Co
  • Note-taking and Task-management cloud services: Evernote, Wunderlist
  • CRM cloud services: Salesforce
  • Text messaging cloud services: ???

 

III. Text messaging cloud

Quite some time ago text messaging was a sole network operator business. None of these operators has ever cared about a text messaging cloud. They disregarded the benefits a service like this would offer their users. Fortunately these days are over! mysms recognized the opportunity and grabbed it. The mysms Cloud is a text messaging cloud which offers its users features that facilitate managing one’s messages enormously.

 

mysms text messaging cloud

mysms' text messaging cloud

 

  • Accessability

All text messages are synchronized between all devices. This means that a user can access his/her text messages, images and files wherever s/he is, using any kind of end device.

 

  • Convenience

Additionally to the convenience of not having to care about saving or losing one’s messages, pictures and files, mysms comes in handy for users who are not bffs with their smarphone’s keyboard. The mysms cloud enables users to type messages on their computers.

 

  • Affordability

Talking about crazy – the mysms Cloud is free of charge.

 

  • Storage space

All sent and received text messages, pictures and files are saved in the mysms Cloud. No text message will ever be lost again. Furthermore, if you’re changing devices (get a new smartphone for example), your old messages go along with you – automatically.

 

All in all, I’d say that cloud computing is one of the greatest advantages today’s technology has to offer. For the end user it seems to be an easy-to-manage tool, which is great because that’s exactly what it’s supposed to be. Some still haven’t recognized they are already using a cloud service (e.g. Facebook, Gmail), but will do soon when you help us spread the word. So, please share and let your friends know why they should use cloud services and what’s in for them!

 

Source: MSM Research