Today we released a few usability updates for PamFax 3.0. Since launch end of May, we have received some user feedback that it was hard to understand how PamFax works and how to sign up. Based on this feedback we mainly have redone the account creation and login screens. The social login has been improved too. The home page has seen an update as well to make clearer how PamFax works and how to sign up.
In the PamFax API we made some small fixes to address issues we found since we went live.
Written by Dick on 17. August 2010 in category PamFax
With great pride we announce the new PamFax Developer Program.
Based on the PamFax3 technology we now have an API available so you can integrate all the PamFax features into your solution. Our own solutions also use the same API.
Usage of the API and the development environment is completely free of charge.
Applying for API access is very simple and is done on the developer page linked below. Once your application has been received, we give you access credentials to the sandbox environment. You have access to the documentation, can look at sample code and start the PamFax integration.
We have created a nice logo which you can use in your solution and marketing programs.
Further (technical and commercial) information and how to apply is written on the developer page at http://developer.pamfax.com.
Written by Dick on 11. August 2010 in category PamFax
This time it was much longer than we had even dreamt of, but this was caused by a few server settings which our hosting partner fixed.
Thanks for hanging in during the upgrade process. I know some of you had a hard time when PamFax was offline.
Let me explain a bit why this update was so important and complex.
It all started last week when our hoster updated our server park to a full load balanced cluster. This was needed to cope with the increase in traffic we have had the past year. PamFax3 is much more efficient when it comes to scaling up so we decided now is a good time to put new hardware in as we need to do the upgrade anyway.
Then after the upgrade there were settings to be checked, etc. This took time. Then on Monday late afternoon (European time), we took PamFax offline. The team started to convert the databases and migrate users data to the new system. This is a huge amount of data so it took time. We unfortunately had to take PamFax offline to do this.
We did the databse conversion with the help of Amazon EC2 cloud servers, we had up to 15 running at a time!
After this we upgraded the core systems. These being the various modules PamFax consists of. PamFax3 is a complete new development and not a mere upgrade as the version number might imply.
Based on our experience and close monitoring of the PamFax2 system, we started designing PamFax3 back in summer last year. We wanted to have a very modular and scalable system which is able to process a lot of data and grow with us. We designed the system from scratch with these and other requirements in mind.
So, after the usual birth pains we’re now up and running. Thank you for hanging in during the upgrade process, I know it was not easy for some of you. I still hope you will forgive us this time as we do not do updates regularly (last one was PamFax2 in April 2009). We designed PamFax3 in such a way that we do not anticipate having to take the system down anymore!
You may now ask, what does PamFax3 offer? Well, first of all blazing fast fax delivery. In addition we redid the PamFax Portal design to be easier to use. There is also a new login/sign up screen. You can now login with your OpenID, Facebook, Twitter, Gmail and a bunch of other accounts. In addition many small improvements and features were added. The PamFax BCP was renamed to “My Company” to make the company group faxing capability a bit clearer.
Last but not least, in June/July we will also be adding a new client application of PamFax for Android.
For partners we now have the PamFax API, this allows you to fully embed the PamFax functionality easily and quickly into your application or device. We already have a few project going and plan to announce them soon. If you are interested to join, let us know. The same faxing cost model applies to the API as when using PamFax – however no additional charges are made when using the API.
We are very excited to have PamFax3 and hope you will enjoy our efforts. We’re back now with a very powerful platform and based on it we have many plans and ideas for new stuff. Stay tuned!
Written by Dick on 18. May 2010 in category PamFax
Although Pamela 4.6 has been around for a long time we are still finding things that need to be fixed. Relatively shortly after we released the .57 version we release another update. This update has the following changes:
Bugfix: Irregular display of dialog “No sound data from Skype” although sound was OK
Bugfix: Fixed a potential crash situation at Pamela startup
Bugfix: When starting Pamela without Skype the call list would not be populated with the recorded calls
Change: Changed default voicemail greeting message
Change: Removed Skype API authorization warning window
You can update for free by opening Pamela and clicking on “Help” and “Check for update”.
Our plans moving forward are the release of Pamela 4.7. The main changes here will be the new sound engine which we will be using for Pamela5 as well as some fixes. The next release is not a feature release but we will add a “Recording Info” option which allows you to see all the details of a particular recording.
Today we released the second hotfix for Pamela. This update includes the following:
Feature: Added WMA support so audio recordings can be in WMA format
Bugfix: Pamela 4.6.0.28 does not always recognize active call
Bugfix: Automatic inbound/outbound recording not reliably working
Bugfix: Memory usage optimizations in audio recording
Bugfix: On Windows 7 Pamela did not register MP3 correcty
Bugfix: Resolved potential crash situations
Bugfix: Video recording optimizations
Change: Improved error message texts
Change: Added a default setting for proxy ports
Change: Auto Skype Mood and Status change is now disabled by default
We made corrections for Windows 7 and also disabled by default the feature to change the Skype Mood and Status during a call. It seemed that Pamela was not always receiving the information that the call had ended and thus Pamela was not able to change the Mood and Status back to what it was before. We assume that Windows Messaging (the communication channel used by Skype API) is responsible for this. We are looking at how to resolve this with some changes.
Besides stability fixes in various areas, this hotfix also adds a new feature which is support for Windows Media Audio format (WMA). In case where you don’t want to use MP3 you can set Pamela to record in WMA format which is also compressed and easy to handle.
You can upgrade for free by downloading the latest version. Just open Pamela and click on “Help” and then “Check for update”. Download and run the installer which will upgrade your Pamela to the latest version.
Written by Dick on 3. November 2009 in category Pamela for Skype
Skype has just announced today that the Skype Extras System will not continue. This means no more third-party applications for Skype will be certified and no new extras will be added to the “Tools” -> “Extras” menu in the Skype client. All existing entries will not be removed until the certification period expires. This does not include the Skype Public API which allows third party software to connect to Skype and control some functions and do things like call recording etc. Skype says this API will be maintained in future.
But this shut-down also includes the Skype Credit payment, which will be switched off shortly. No third-party software will then be able to accept Skype Credit payments.
So how does this affect Scendix/PamConsult products? The simple answer is: not very much.
On our search for a good file server and centralized backup solution, I stumbled across Windows Home Server. The description sounds very good and seemed to be the perfect solution for our office: this server system automatically backs up Windows clients over night and has a unique data-storage system, which makes it possible to add and remove different harddrives to the storage, making it larger without the hassle of moving files from one drive to the other. It’s a kind of software raid (stripe).
It also comes with a handy administration console, which can be accessed from every client machine. This console can be extended easily with addins by third party software developers. As some TapiRex customers already asked about a Windows Home Server console addin for TapiRex, it was a good point to get started trying this new Windows Server operating system.
So I tried to find it in the MSDN Subscriber downloads, as we have several subscriptions to MSDN Universal, which theoretically includes all Microsoft operating systems and all other software. As I was unable to find a download there, I googled the web and found out that Microsoft decided not to make Windows Home Server available in MSDN Subscriber downloads. Urgh. So we pay lots of money to not be able to get access to a Windows operating system to develop new addons for it. What a decision…
So I just ordered a Windows Home Server license from eBay, which was delivered quickly and did only cost around 90 Euros.
Installation
When installing the Windows Home Server incl. Power Pack 1 (which is based on Windows 2003 Server) on one of our servers in our server rack, it stumbled upon our 3Ware RAID controller, which is installed with 2 x 160GB harddrives as system drives in a mirrored array to speed up the operating system. I was able to load additional drivers for that controller from an USB stick, but when the system rebooted after the first installation step, it has forgotten about the driver.
Googling for this issue, I had to find out that this is a bug in the Windows Home Server installation . As the text-based setup does not have access to a USB stick to reload the drivers, I had to go out to buy an external 3.5″ USB disk drive, as the setup only accepts additional drivers from the A: drive. Do you remember 3.5″ disks? It was not that easy to find a disk to store the driver to get past this installation step. These disks have gone so rare here in the office . Previous installations of Windows 2003 did not have this problem…
But after that, setup was pretty easy. I was able to install all hardware components and to setup the Drive Extender. After setup, you have to install a small client connector software on every client machine that should backup to that Windows Home Server, which was pretty easy as well.
Delays in accessing shared folders: we experienced some delays in accessing shared folders on the server. Every employee in the office has some drives mapped to shared folders on the file server. This includes a personal folder and some general folders for everyone. While browsing in these subfolders on these drives, there was sometimes a lag of several seconds that makes it impossible to work with it fluently. For example, we store our downloads company-wide in a folder on the file-server. But the “save file” dialog in the webbrowser sometimes hung up for up to 20 seconds before it was able to show the folder and save the file. Once the data transfer starts, it’s fast and reliable.
Bug in drive’s size-calculation: When you map shared folders on the Windows Home Server as local drives, Windows XP and Vista are unable to show the correct drive size. After searching the web and asking some experts in Windows Home Server forums, I found out that this a known bug in Windows Home Server and that you can’t do anything about it:
Popups on all client machines: when you have the client connector software installed, all warnings from the Windows Home Server or one of it’s clients is shown on every client machine. So every user gets popup messages like “Computer X does not have virus protection installed”, “Backup on machine Y was not sucessful”, and many more. I was not able to find a way to customize these popups so that there are not shown to our apprentices for example.
So, after nearly 2 weeks in production, I am currently installing Windows 2008 Datacenter on that server machine, as the problems shown above disturbed our daily workflow that much that it was not worth it. We will install Windows Home Server as a VMWare virtual machine instead to do some software development on it. A PamFax addon is also an idea for it. What do you think?
I will report back how this all worked with Windows 2008. Does anyone have a different suggestion for a solid and fast file server operating system + client backup possibilities?
Written by Christoph on 15. January 2009 in category General News
On our blog we write a lot about our products and services, but where are they you may ask. So here is a page that summarizes where is what and how to get it. Check back regularly as we update according to our product/service release schedule.
- The PamFax Windows Vista Sidebar Gadget was just published to the Windows Live gallery (see PamFax Gadget details page). Give it a try and experience a complete new feeling and comfort of sending faxes.
- In the next three days, Dick and myself will be in Athens, Greece at the Skype Developer Days 2008. This is a great yearly event and always a great opportunity to meet the Skype staff and a lot of interesting people working with Skype. After Prague, Czech Republic back in 2007 and Tallin, Estland in 2006, we are really looking forward to visit Athens this year for this event.
- TapiRex updated: We finally managed to update TapiRex to version 1.7.2. This update fixes some problems like the error message after wakeup, reverse lookup in Canada, …
Just download and install the newest version from the downloadpage.
We also started an experiment with Open Source: the next version of mceTapiRex has been published as Open Source. We have uploaded the complete source code of the current development version of mceTapiRex V2 to CodePlex: Open mceTapiRexV2 on CodePlex. We hope that many developers join us to develop this very nice TapiRex plugin to the next stage. If this works well, we can start thinking of making other components of the TapiRex system open source…
Written by Christoph on 15. September 2008 in category General News,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
Read about new stuff on Pamela for Skype, Pamela Call Recorder, PamFax, mcePhone, Jaast and our other media center solutions and digital home projects. But we will also share interesting things with you that we bump into. Profit from our more than 6 years of Skype and eBay experience. Enjoy!
Skype has just announced today that the 
On our search for a good file server and centralized backup solution, I stumbled across 
. As the text-based setup does not have access to a USB stick to reload the drivers, I had to go out to buy an external 3.5″ USB disk drive, as the setup only accepts additional drivers from the A: drive. Do you remember 3.5″ disks? It was not that easy to find a disk to store the driver to get past this installation step. These disks have gone so rare here in the office 
. Previous installations of Windows 2003 did not have this problem…
In the next three days, Dick and myself will be in Athens, Greece at the Skype Developer Days 2008. This is a great yearly event and always a great opportunity to meet the Skype staff and a lot of interesting people working with Skype. After Prague, Czech Republic back in 2007 and Tallin, Estland in 2006, we are really looking forward to visit Athens this year for this event.
