Winextra » Crossloop

The Crossloop Community

billy2 — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 20:28:42 +0000

When I first reviewed Crossloop, there was little more to it than a very simple, yet very functional Remote Assistance program. It holds a place in my ‘toolkit’ and I usually install it on customer computers for possible remote repairs.

Since that initial post, some pretty amazing things have happened over at Crossloop.com. Nearly 33 million minutes of “help time” have been amassed via the Crossloop interface by 600,000 users in approaching 2 million help sessions. Take a look at the top of the Crossloop home page to see these metrics climbing at a steady pace.

The lion’s share of the credit for these fantastic numbers goes to the Help Marketplace. 5000-plus “helpers” who are experts on tech-related subjects from Windows troubleshooting to Blackberry issues can be looked up in the marketplace.

Now these experts aren’t in it just for fun, mind you, you get to pay them….but think about it this way….you can spend 30usd (helpers set their own rates, from free on-up) for RA help on line at your own desk, or take your virus-ridden box to the local shop and pay them 100 bucks or more. Don’t get me wrong, a couple of my good friends work in or own those shops, but now you have choices. And to be honest, when some n00b brings in yet another Dell (sorry Dan) with yet another infection of the smitfraud virus, there are sighs of resignation from all corners of the shop.

There are experts at *nix systems, programming, web design, and networking. Try having a local shop help you set up a home network. They’ll want your first born male child just to come to your house. After all, they’ve got things to do, too.

With all the talk about monetization in the bsphere of late, the question comes up, “How’s the Crossloop team going to support this steadily growing community?” Think EBay. The front-end billing/transaction stuff is not in place yet, but will be soon, where the ‘Helpers’ pay a small fee for each completed help session, similar to an online auction. Feedback and suggestions on this topic and others are being listened to from registered Helpers and Customers as well. There will also be dispute processes in place, for the (hopefully) rare occasion when something goes wrong in the agreements between Customers and Helpers. According to Mrinal Desai, Co-Founder and VP at Crossloop, this period of fee-free Helping could be great for everyone:

This also allows our Helpers to build a solid reputation (do more sessions, collect customer testimonials and ratings on their profile etc.) in the process without incurring any fees since a lot is going to be about that for Customers. Once that is ready, we plan to provide ample notice with details on the fee structure etc to all our Helpers.

However, all signs point to the Crossloop software remaining a free download in perpetuity.

Harkening back to my original review of Crossloop itself, a couple things that have presented to me and a few associates since the initial post bear sharing.

One, it’s tough to use Crossloop with the far-left spectrum of computer users. You know, the ones that don’t ‘get it’ when you try to tell them that the computer is still on when you shut off the monitor? Those folks. You know them. I sure do. I’m not certain how Crossloop could be made any easier to use, but this won’t be much of an issue for most Crossloop Marketplace users. If they made it there, they’re probably at least somewhat savvy on tech.

I’ve also gotten a couple reports that some types of Internet connections don’t play well with Crossloop. Dialup is obviously out, (the Crossloop FAQ says it works, but they don’t recommend it) but the one that surprised me is Satellite Broadband. Seems it makes the connection, but drops it in short order. I can see this being an issue. One reason a person may turn to RA is that they live out in the sticks, far from a repair shop, meaning DSL and Cable are not likely to be available. Other RA apps don’t seem to have this issue, so perhaps it can be addressed.

So if you’ve got a bit of free time, a desire to help others, offset the cost of gas, save up for that new gaming rig, and consider yourself knowledgeable about anything having to do with computers, networking, blog setup…or anything related, stop by Crossloop and sign up. There are even resources like promotional tools and customer leads to help you sell yourself and create a business.

Or, if you’re totally stuck on something, peruse the Marketplace and find an expert to help you out of the jam!

The Crossloop Community is a post from: winextra
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Crossloop: Revisited

billy2 — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 04:17:56 +0000

The folks over at Crossloop have released a new version of their fabulous remote assistance utility that we reviewed here a while back. As this handy little tool is one of our “Software Suggestions” in the sidebar, we tend to keep an eye on it, and I’m glad we did. Nearly 13 million minutes have been logged in using Crossloop, so they’re doing it right, I’d wager.

Now, for those of you that just opened another tab and rushed over to Crossloop.com and downloaded the latest version, you’re probably coming back about now to find out what the hell I’m talking about. Doesn’t look too much different, does it? They *did* change ‘JOIN’ and ‘HOST’ to ‘ACCESS’ and ‘SHARE’. Apparently, this was of critical importance to some users, and Crossloop was listening. Myself, the old titles made more sense, but that’s just me. Moving on.

No, there aren’t any groundbreaking changes to the program itself, besides, how can you improve on something so close to perfection? I’ve already used Crossloop to help out 5 or 6 friends or family members since I did the initial review, and I’ll never be without it again, I daresay.

What’s changed, is the support. No, not tech support for the solitary person who can’t figure Crossloop out, support for your customers.

Ever hear of “Genius Bars”? According to Wiki:

The Genius Bar is a station located inside every Apple Retail Store, the purpose of which is to offer help and support for Apple products.

What we have here, folks… ….is the Crossloop Bar. Okay, it’s not really for Apple products. Aaaaand it’s not in an Apple store either. Okay, the similarities are pretty thin, but you catch my drift. You can now sign up for a free account at Crossloop.com to be the guy (or girl) behind the Genius Bar. Signing up for the account allows to you track your R.A. sessions and promote your web presence.

You use the Crossloop Badge to “advertise yourself” by placing it on your blog or other website. Each time you use Crossloop, your badge will automatically update itself.

Software Review: Ashampoo Burning Studio 7 – Part Two

billy2 — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 15:01:58 +0000

Video and Disc Images

Working with video in Ashampoo Burning Studio 7 went well. The disc copy function was quick and easy, copying data cd’s and dvd’s as well as video discs. BS7 will not, however, make a copy of a commercial disc. You’re on your own there. The RIAA is watching.

Making a video DVD was effortless. I used a wide variety of video formats, from .wmv to .avi. I burned 2 avi files totaling about 1400megs as a video DVD. The entire encoding and burning process took about 2 hours on my machine, which, I’m sorry to say, isn’t exactly bleeding edge of technology. The disc played on my home theater system, the kid’s $30 dvd player, and the Sony Playstation.

As you add files to a video DVD project, BS7 automatically prepares to burn at the highest quality possible. As you add more files, it reduces the quality to make the project fit on the media. Most other apps I’ve used, you had to do this manually, at least clicking a couple warning boxes.

I created VCD and SVCD discs from mpg’s and wmv’s, then made some disc images. Ashampoo will create and burn in usual image formats including .iso and bin/que./

One impressive bit is that even though I used about 8 CD-R’s, and 6 or 7 DVD-R’s, I did not end up with a single coaster. I usually ended up with at least one every time I tried to use Nero.

One thing I wanted to touch on was the performance variation from machine to machine. I was perusing the user reviews on BS7 at CNET and noticed the wide variety of comments. As usual, you dump the extremes at both ends of the spectrum as whack-jobs…erm…’statistical anomalies’ but are still left with users who report that BS7 was blazin fast and exactly as advertised, as well as users bemoaning 9-hour video conversions and stacks of coasters.

I have personal experience to add to that, BS7 would hand me an ambiguous error box each time I tried to add an .avi to a video DVD. Contrary to some reports in the CNET reviews, I had a reply from Ashampoo’s support team in less than a day. I use VLC from Videolan.org for my media player, which requires no codecs, so I never even thought of codecs as a possible issue. The support staff had me install a pack of codecs, and all is well. So, remember, if you have trouble with this software, look at the usual suspects. Poorly coded app in memory or trojan that got by your malware solution and is randomly gobbling memory or CPU cycles and borking a burn? Bad memory? Computer trying to do too much at once? I can’t count how many times I’ve been told by someone “I have NOTHING open!” only to look down at the 2 dozen or so icons in the system tray. Don’t forget, of course, missing codecs.

Overall, I was impressed with the software. Not so much with the download/registration process though. I have now received nearly 15 emails from Ashampoo in the week or so since I first handed over my address. I know I mentioned that before, but I got another one a little bit ago, and it stirred me up a bit. Steven isn’t the only one around here who gets cranky. Ask my wife.

Like Crossloop, the interface is nice and clean, everything I want is easily at hand. However, Ashampoo has, for those of us who like to feel a little more involved in the experience, expert functions. I do not call myself an expert on anything, for responsibility usually follows such an admission. At any rate, if you prefer a little more control, you can change filesystem settings, enable Joliet and UDF, even make bootable discs.

In the Internet tab in the taskbar, you find an option entitled ‘Buy Recordables Online’. This takes you to an Ashampoo website where you can order and purchase all types of recordable media. The prices aren’t too bad, either. Very interesting. Didn’t expect that one.

I hope I’ve managed to cover enough to give the readers a good idea of the benefits of Ashampoo Burning Suite 7.

Pros: Clean design, full-featured yet simple to use, reasonable price. Good support.

Cons: Email advertising after download is over-the-top. The one error message I got was completely useless for fixing the problem.

Software Review: Ashampoo Burning Studio 7 – Part Two is a post from: winextra
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