Why the first 5 minutes of every video conference is, 'Can you hear me?'

The video conference is one of the least-liked parts of modern office culture.

Despite the plethora of video conferencing services — Google Hangouts, BlueJeans, Highfive, Skype, FaceTime, and dozens more — the first five minutes of every meeting tends to be a series of fruitless attempts to get everyone's audio working correctly. And even when it does, dropped connections, poorly timed muting/unmuting, and quiet talkers often ruin the flow.

The truth is video conferencing is hard. Layering random internet services on top of ad hoc equipment on top of users with virtually no training means you get a grab-bag of results. Sure there are sleek corporate systems, but their cost often puts them out of range of most startups. Read more...