Oh my, I hate crowds.

My daughter is 12 and thinks Black Friday is actually a holiday that follows Thanksgiving. The media has effectively gotten into her brain and she doesn’t even know why she wants to go shopping, but she knows she must. I keep telling her she doesn’t need a $50 VCR but she just doesn’t get it. I suppose I will take her and a friend to the mall and leave them there. There’s no way I am entering the abyss.

Then I will go home and do some real shopping.

My sister-in-law and I team up every year to work out who’s getting what for whom to make sure we get things people will like and to eliminate redundancies. Since I happen to be a big WebEx champion, we do it online.

We shop together using WebEx.

I know that makes me sound a little geeky, and maybe I am, but it’s so fun to surf the internet together and look at the same things at the same time. She had ideas, I have ideas. Sometimes we are sharing and often we are both finding things and then passing the ball back and forth to see each other’s discoveries.

While we shop, she can stop and talk to her toddler, we can both grab snacks and, maybe most importantly, we aren’t losing our minds in the crush of the crowd. It works well for us and I can imagine Read More »

Tags: Black Friday, Cyber Monday, family, free trial, shopping, together, WebEX

We get many requests for help when sharing a video via WebEx during a meeting. We have made some improvements that make sharing quite easy. To help you do it, we’ve recorded a quick WebEx with the how-to!

Watch the recording now.

You don’t need anything special to watch the recording. Just Read More »

Tags: how to, Recording, Sharing, tips, Togeher@WebEx, together, video, WebEX, youtube

WebEx offers a number of live events bringing experts to you in a setting designed for sharing information and discussion. You can see all the events, including those coming up and recorded sessions of past events, on our website.

We call it WebEx Channels.

Together@WebEx offers diverse presentations you can listen to right from your computer (these recordings aren’t yet accessible via WebEx Mobile).

From Guy Kawasaki  to Alice Waters to Bear Grylls, we have hosted them all in intimate settings -- usually their homes -- Read More »

Tags: events, Recording, together, WebEX, webinar

This article was written by Jeffrey, one of our Cisco ūmi users.

These days, it seems as if staying in touch means putting families further out of touch. With email, cell phones, texting, etc, we have begun to lose the real value of a meaningful face to face conversation.  Over the course of my testing with Cisco, it has been made very apparent to me, that they aim to change that in a radical way.

My wife and I have always been close to our families. However, most of our family is scattered across the country. With our closest family being over 1,000 miles away, it has made it extremely difficult to keep in touch the way we would like to. The ūmi system has brought the much needed face to face time that our families have wanted for a very long time.

With ūmi, our parents can now see their grandchildren grow literally right before their eyes. The periods of time between actual visits seem much shorter now because every day, we can talk with our family as if they were sitting right in our living room. The full 1080p resolution makes it actually feel like they are sitting in our living room.

For my family, a majority of our use will come from talking with family that we wouldn’t be able to see otherwise. Keeping that connection is extremely important to us, especially when it comes to our children. Now our children have the chance to see every single one of their relatives, not just from a picture. Establishing and maintaining that bond is something that ūmi will help us do.

Overall, ūmi has brought an immense amount of joy to our family. With communication being a key factor in our lives, Cisco has stepped up to the plate and far exceeded our expectations on what it means to stay in touch over long distances. It has brought many smiles to not only my face, but the faces of my children as well. It is those smiles that will remain in the memories of everyone we talk to using ūmi, and Cisco made it happen.

Tags: away, Cisco umi, loved ones, together, ūmi, video

Pink cut-out hearts, red roses and a box of chocolates can only mean one thing. It’s almost Valentine’s Day! What are you doing for this romantic holiday?Not everyone is lucky enough to be in the same location as their special someone, and the time and money involved in flying cross-country often keeps us from spending time with those we love the most. With Cisco ūmi*, you can see your loved ones without even leaving your living room.

Here are some ideas if you’re celebrating via Cisco ūmi this February 14:

• Pick a delicious recipe and have each person make the same meal. You can even cook “together” by pointing your ūmi camera at the kitchen. Once it’s all ready, sit down and share your culinary creations together. Even better if you light a candle and decide on a bottle of wine to “share!” Read More »

Tags: Cisco, Cisco umi, connecting, home telepresence, together, ūmi, Valentine's Day, video