Starts Tues Nov3rd - 7pm - A Few Spots Still Remain for “TalkShoe Basic Training for New & Prospective Hosts” - FREE - see details
October 27, 2009 at 9:52 pm | Author: TalkShoe Support | In Announcements, Support, What's NewNo Comments |
Have you ever considered Hosting your own Show on TalkShoe? NOW is the time to start!
SIGN UP NOW to attend the new FREE training program “TalkShoe Basic Training for New & Prospective Hosts”! (Advanced registration is required even though it’s free)
This free training program is conducted by the leading experts on the TalkShoe User Support Team. The program consists of three one hour sessions scheduled for three successive Tuesday nights:
Session 1 - Tuesday November 3 at 7 to 8pm eastern
Session 2 - Tuesday November 10 at 7 to 8pm eastern
Session 3 - Tuesday November 17 at 7 to 8pm eastern
Each session will consist first of prepared material covering approximately 45 minutes followed by about 15 minutes for attendee questions. The material covered is VERY BASIC and appropriate for individuals who are interested in becoming Show Hosts. Our philosophy is that no question is too simple!
Topics covered include:
” How to create an account
” How to fill out user profile
” How to create a call series (show)
” How to fill out the show profile
” How to create/schedule first episode
” How to start and produce your live show
” How to handle disturbances during your show
” How to end and terminate your show
” How to contact support for issues and assistance
” Best Practice Do’s and Don’ts
” References to other sources for more advanced information
Individuals interested in attending must register by sending an email indicating their interest to: training@talkshoe.com Include an indication of your level of experience. You will receive additional information regarding the training, including how to connect to the sessions.
This training was created in response to user requests.
SIGN UP TODAY - THERE IS A LIMIT TO THE NUMBER OF PARTICIPANTS FOR THESE SESSIONS!
Come join the FUN - Become a Host Today!!!
UPDATE: Mon Oct 11, 2009 2:58 pm EDST – SYSTEM FULLY FUNCTIONAL – click here for details
October 11, 2009 at 9:31 pm | Author: TalkShoe Support | In Support, What's NewNo Comments |
The TalkShoe System is again functioning at 100%.
The hardware which is responsible for both providing prompts to callers connecting by phone and for creating recordings of shows has been successfully replaced.
If you experience any problems, please send an email to support@talkshoe.com - Thank you for your patience regarding this matter. We appologize for any inconvenience!
The TalkShoe Technical Team
TalkShoe System - Enhanced Performance
April 21, 2009 at 2:49 pm | Author: Dave Nelsen | In Announcements, Support, What's NewNo Comments |
During the past few weeks, the TalkShoe team has implemented a variety of improvements to increase our system performance and reliability including:
Doubled number of chat servers - The TalkShoe chat infrastructure which powers the TalkShoe Live and TalkShoe Live Pro clients was powered by 16 chat servers. That number was increased in two stages, first to 22 chat servers and then 32 total chat servers.
Enhanced Jabber protocol - The open source chat protocol used by TalkShoe, meebo, and other leading companies contains at least one significant bug. The TalkShoe technical team recently identified, isolated, and repaired that bug. TalkShoe put the modified code into production during the past two weeks and is seeing a dramatic reduction in TalkShoe Live Web client issues. Still, for hosts who want the very best performance, we recommend using TalkShoe Live Pro (still free) which does not utilize Jabber. Download and install TalkShoe Live Pro here: TSL Pro.
More reliable voice over IP (VoIP) - Working closely with our audio conferencing bridge vendor, we identified two significant bugs in our VoIP technology that could cause the system to crash under certain types of attacks or other atypical situations. We developed and deployed fixes and have seen flawless performance so far this month.
Protected audio streaming - Again working closely with our audio conferencing bridge vendor, we implemented protection for outbound audio streaming to the TalkShoe Live and TalkShoe Live Pro chat clients. Previously, outbound audio streaming could be disrupted by an overload of inbound VoIP call or by an intentional attack. The live audio streaming system is now protected during such events.
In combination, these major upgrades and numerous smaller enhancements greatly improve TalkShoe service performance. Keep the suggestions for further system improvements coming. We use your reports and recommendations to guide TalkShoe’s system evolution.
April 2009 - TalkShoe System Status
January 18, 2009 at 8:06 am | Author: Dave Nelsen | In SupportNo Comments |
There are no reports of significant system problems. There are no major or minor known issues.
To report major system problems, call our Technical Support line at 724-935-8265. For smaller issues and how to questions, please click on Help and describe your issue.
To get text updates about TalkShoe System Status on your cell phone, go to Twitter.com/TalkShoe and click “Follow”. You’ll be first to know when we’re experiencing system issues, and the first to know when they clear.
Enhanced Performance — Step-by-Step Instructions — New Features — System Status
January 18, 2009 at 7:48 am | Author: Dave Nelsen | In Announcements, Press Releases, Support, TalkShoe Tips, What's NewNo Comments |
Click here to read TalkShoe System Enhanced Performance
Click here for Step-by-Step TalkShoe Instructions
Click here to learn about the Latest TalkShoe Features!
Click here for current TalkShoe System Status
Update on TalkShoe’s Newest Release
June 27, 2008 at 9:23 am | Author: Dave Nelsen | In Announcements, Employee Blogs, Support, What's NewNo Comments |
With our new release on June 19th, we’ve made several important changes:
1) We’ve discontinued our unpopular outsourced telephone answering service. Too many people told me that they didn’t like talking to nimrods reading scripts who knew nothing about the actual TalkShoe service. So now when you call support at 724-935-8265, you may have to leave a message if you don’t reach us live, but you’ll know that if nobody else picks it up, I will be notified within minutes.
Keep in mind that if it’s not a system-down issue, you should use our People-Powered Customer Support at www.talkshoe.com/support (or click the “Help” link from any webpage).
2) We’ve equipped our support staff with a new audio streaming restoration capability to fix streaming issues on the fly. We plan to put this capability directly into hosts’ hands in an upcoming release. Separately, we’re working to improve our audio streaming system so that it will be much more reliable.
3) We’ve fixed a server deadlock problem that’s caused two significant outages in the last month. Unfortunately, we’ve subsequently discovered a new one, which has already caused one outage (Wednesday afternoon, 6/25/08). That one will be fixed in the next week.
4) By popular demand, we’ve restored the monthly reports that were disabled when we paused the TalkCash revenue sharing program. This allows you to view your stats on a monthly basis, even though earnings are zero.
5) Even though it’s a new feature from last release, don’t forget to tell your callers to use *8 (*T) to request to talk.
TalkShoe Community Calling is up from May to June to new record levels. Against a backdrop of a few hosts being unhappy with the pausing of our TalkCash program, this is very encouraging. I personally thank you.
New Recordings Service
February 1, 2008 at 5:15 pm | Author: Bob Pawlowski | In Announcements, Support, What's New3 Comments |
Recently we experienced a system failure that affected the processing and delivery of our MP3 files. All content from July 25th until the present has been restored. We are starting to process the older recordings today and they should be completely restored soon. The failure has prompted us to implement improvements in the way we process, deliver, and backup recordings. Here is what we are in the process of doing:
- We are moving all of the recordings to an eternal direct attached storage (DAS) unit. This unit has built in fault tolerance, is designed for heavy read/write access, and can be attached to any computer on our system. If the computer hosting the DAS unit fails, we can move it to another computer within minutes.
- While we do backup all recorded content in triplicate, we’ve discovered that our restoration process is very slow. We are in the process of implementing a new backup procedure. One of the three copies will be copied to a “hot” back up unit. If the original unit fails for any reason and cannot be restored, we can move the hot backup unit into production within an hour.
- We are changing the way we process our recorded content. Currently, we process all content serially. In other words, if 20 files are waiting to be processed, all 20 files must be processed before a single one gets posted to the internet. Early next week, we will have a new process in place that will process files in parallel. Smaller files will be processed very quickly without having to wait behind large files that take a long time to process.
With these changes, if we experience the same system failure, we will be back online again within minutes, with ALL content restored.
