After months of work and testing, we released a major PamFax update yesterday. We worked hard to upgrade the whole system to a new framework “under the hood”. This enables us to add new features better and a lot faster in the future.
But we also added some new features for you:
PamFax Business Control Panel: With the PamFax Business Control Panel (also called “BCP”), you can group multiple PamFax users together and control the credits of these users from one account. This is perfect for companies, where only one user buys all the PamFax Credit and controls how many credit the employees get. You can manually send PamFax Credit to the users of your BCP and also set a minimum amount of PamFax Credit your BCP users need. So now, your employees never run out of PamFax Credit and do not need to hassle with payments on their own; all payments can be done through one administrator Pamfax account.
PamFax Vista Sidebar Gadget: With this gadget, you can see the status of your last faxes, access the PamFax Portal very quick and even start sending a fax more easy:
Send to more recipients at once: you can now send a fax to more then 1000 recipients at once. The “multiple recipients” input box now allows to add more numbers and PamFax processes these recipient numbers much, much faster. Sending ads or invitations to lots of recipients is now a breeze with PamFax!
New installer: We heard your requests about a more flexible installation and improved the PamFax installer: you are now able to select if you want to add desktop icons, install the PamFax printer driver and/or add the Microsoft Office toolbar buttons while installing. The installer is now localized to the major languages as well. So you should feel more comfortable when installing PamFax.
Use Amazon payments worldwide: You can now use your credit card or other payment data stored in your Amazon account to pay for your faxes in PamFax from all over the world. This feature was introduced in PamFax only to US-citizens some time ago and is now available to everyone. Amazon payments is a very nice payment option, as there is no minimal payment amount and as it’s very secure: you do not have to give us any credit card data if you don’t want to. The payment is handled by Amazon, the faxes are processed and sent by PamFax.
We also analyzed hundreds of logs, test reports and requests to improve PamFax in a lot of minor functions. PamFax should be more stable than ever now and work faster then before.
The website was also updated: all screenshots and texts are up-to-date and the rates-page now also shows all the possibilities from the webshop and lets you select your currency. The FAQ system is currently overworked as well: expect a very flexible modern system that allows you to find the answers to your questions very easy. This will be updated on the website shortly.
Just let us know if you have any issues or other feedback.
Happy faxing!
Written by Christoph on 4. September 2008 in category PamFax
PamFax turns 1!
Last year, on the 8th of August 2007, we released PamFax to the public. The first faxes were sent only a few minutes after we released PamFax.
This has been an exciting year: So many faxes have been sent via PamFax, so many new users joined the PamFax user-group, we have added so many features (like integration in salesforce.com, facebook, …).
We are looking forward to many more successful years with many more happy customers and more successful faxes.
Thanks to all users for using PamFax as their faxing solution and stay tuned for more exciting news around PamFax in the future!
Written by Christoph on 8. August 2008 in category PamFax
We are proud to announce the new version of mcePhone for Skype, which brings Skype to your TV using Microsoft Media Center (2005 or Vista). This next version 2.2 will have integrated Skype Video calls and Skype chat support.
This is a screencam of the complete overhauled version with new UI:
Unfortunately, Skype was unable to add an API to Skype in the past 3 years to give us access to the video of Skype calls directly, although we have asked and pushed hard for so long. As Skype video calls on TV was the most requested feature of mcePhone, we have invested a vast amount of time to make this possible even without any change from Skype’s side. With this new version, you will get fullscreen Skype video of the person you are calling on your TV and even see your video in the lower left corner (see ~1:30 in the video above).
Another very nice new feature is Skype chat integration: While you can still see the current media playing in the lower left corner of your TV (i.e. while the commercials are playing), you can chat with your friends and family. You even get a notification overlayed over your current media (TV, DVD, …) if a chat message comes in. With one click, you are in the chat conversation to answer the incoming chat message (see ~3:30 in the video).
We plan to make a beta of this new version available very soon to you. Be prepared to get a totally new feeling of Skype in your living room
Let us know what you think.
Written by Christoph on 1. August 2008 in category PamConsult
Our callerID-notification tool TapiRex was updated to version 1.7.1. This update improves the communication between the server and the clients and the reverse lookup for contacts.
Also available is now a free plugin for reverse lookup in your Google contacts. This plugin was built by Thomas Ardal using the free TapiRex SDK (see http://www.codeplex.com/trexgooglecontacts). We hope that more users and companies follow this example and add more functionalities to TapiRex. We are more then happy to help you with that if you want to.
The license keys from previous orders are still valid in this new version. To update TapiRex, just download the latest version from our website and run the setup without uninstalling any previous TapiRex first. Be sure to say “No” in the installation when it asks to replace the file “data.mdb” to keep your call-history. The call-history and all settings will then be available in the new TapiRex as well.
We have just added some very interesting enhancements to PamFax: Integration of PamFax into Facebook and Salesforce.com.
In Facebook, you can now see your fax history with status of your latest faxes and even start a new fax very easy. If you want to see if a fax was delivered, it’s now only one click away:
In Salesforce.com, the integration goes much further: You not only have the fax history embedded in Salesforce, but you also have the ability to start a fax from any Contact, Account, User or Lead! So no more copy&paste to send a fax to one of your contacts, as PamFax starts with name and fax number prefilled and you only have to select what you want to fax and then send the fax.
And another integration is currently in development: A Windows Vista sidebar gadget. With this gadget, you have your latest faxes and fax status right on your desktop so you can check their status very easily. As with the other integraton tools, you can simply access your PamFax Portal or start a new fax with a single click. This will be available shortly.
Enjoy this new faxing comfort and please let us know what you think.
Written by Christoph on 29. June 2008 in category PamFax
We just received the eBay Star Developer Award for Innovative Application 2008! I am currently in Chicago at the eBay Developer Conference, where we were given this award for our newest software Jaast for Wii, which brings eBay to your TV using Nintendo’s Wii console.
We already received this award back in 2006 for our software mceAuction. So we feel very proud of getting this award again this year. I don’t know if there was ever any company who received this award twice.
Here are some photos from us getting the award (click to enlarge):
A slide showing that we received the award on stage
Me and Max Mancini (Senior Director of Disruptive Innovation of eBay) on stage after receiving the award
Max Mancini and John Donahoe (CEO of eBay) giving the award to me
Big thanks to eBay for giving this award to us. Let’s see what we can do for next year
Jaast for Wii has just been released as public beta. Jaast enables you to browser on eBay, search for items and even bid and buy things just with your Nintendo Wii console. This cool new experience makes eBay even more fun. Just sitting on the couch waving with the Wii Nunchuck controller to buy stuff on eBay, just great .
This website has all the details, screenshots, a video and installation instruction for you: www.scendix.com/jaast
New software online shop on Scendix websites: The Scendix software websites (scendix.com and scendix.de) just got their new software online shop that makes it even more easy to buy our software. There are several advantages of the new shop: i.e. you will get the license key immediately after your purchase, you are able to download PDF invoices, rebates for multiple licenses are automatically calculated, ….
All old orders have been imported to the new shop. If you forgot your license key or want to upgrade your existing license, you can click on “forgot password” and then get your new login to the shop where you have access to your previous orders.
As in the past two years, i will be speaking at the eBay Developer Conference this year in Chicago June 16-18. This event is mainly for developers and partners around the developer programs of eBay, Skype and PayPal. As the last events in Las Vegas 2006 and Boston 2007 have been very interesting and lot of fun, I am really looking forward to this event.
I will speak in two sessions presenting our new eBay buyer tool for the Nintendo Wii and PamFax. As a special highlight, we are giving a Nintendo Wii to one of the attendees of the Wii-Session. It’s called “The View from the Couch of the Future in Digital Living Room” and will be on June 17th at 11am. Come in and grab the Wii.
If anyone wants to meet there in Chicago, just contact me.
From today, everyone can easily access PamFax from his Skype client in the main menu under “Tools” -> “Do More”. No more searching, no more hassle. Just one click to install.
As there are only ~10 Skype addons in this menu, we are very proud to be the only company who has 2 Skype-addons in there.
The pink P is rolling …
Written by Christoph on 25. April 2008 in category PamFax
PamFax finally passed the Skype certification: Now you can be sure that this add-on for Skype does what we promise and is of high quality. The certification-team at Skype did some very intense tests of PamFax and also helped us improve PamFax.
We are very proud to welcome our fourth add-on for Skype in the “Skype certified” family: Pamela for Skype was the first add-on that passed this certification by Skype at all, then our mcePhone for Skype was the second one, Pamela Call Recorder for Skype (which is also Skype Premium directly under Tools -> Do More in every Skype) and now there is also PamFax for Skype as Skype certified add-on application.
Is there any other company out there which has 4 Skype add-ons certified by Skype?
Written by Christoph on 20. April 2008 in category PamFax
Read PamNews.com where we share news and updates about our products: PamFax, Pamela for Skype, Pamela Call Recorder, PamLytics for Skype, mcePhone, TapiRex, Jaast and our services company called PamConsult.
