ReadWriteWeb

If you're an American worker who prefers working outside the office, you're in luck: Next week is National Telework Week in the U.S.

During the week of February 14-18, private businesses and government agencies are encouraged to allow employees who normally make the trek into office each day to work from home instead.

When Apple's iPad launched in April, it was marketed primarily as a consumer device for reading, playing games and viewing media. But as the tablet computer's popularity has grown, so too has its usefulness in other arenas, including business.

One of the many business needs met by the 900-app strong "Business" category in the App Store is the ability to attend online meetings. The device is particularly well-suited to attending meetings on the go, with its large screen for viewing the presentation and microphone and speakers for VoIP-based discussions.

Online meeting service provider Dimdim launched a new product for small and medium-sized businesses yesterday, going up against players like WebEx and GoToMeeting.

The new offering, called Dimdim Business, boasts the ability to host Web-based meetings with as many as thousands of participants, multiple rooms and hassle-free, no-plugin-necessary access for meeting participants.

Dimdim announced the fifth major release of their easy, installation-free* and open-source web meeting application today. Dimdim version 5 brings a number of improvements to the platform, including significantly improved screencasting, availability of trusted SSL session security, webinar widgets, synchrolive co-browsing, performance improvements across the board, and new reporting options. Some of these new features are exclusive to the Pro tier. To this end, Dimdim has moved all Pro accounts to a new, more powerful server farm, and is now offering a monthly payment option as well, both "at a fraction of the cost" of the competitors, according to Dimdim Chief Marketing Officer Steve Chazin.