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Check out this video posted on youtube.com that shows a tester from the web site Qusers.com watching his Tivo content streaming over the Internet via his Slingbox to a Motorola Q smartphone connected to Verizon's EVDO service. Pretty cool!

On Fertile Ground

June 14, 2006 1:45 PM

Shhh, don't tell anyone, but I hate waiting 3 or 4 months for my Mind Share 2.0 columns from Internet Telephony magazine to appear online on TMCnet.com, so I've decided to give my blog readers a little treat --  I'm going to post my July column here so you can get a sneak peek at it. I look forward to your comments.
An IP communications specialist’s idea of nirvana might be a place where all networks, all systems and devices, and all applications are completely IP-based - where the pure waters of IP course through the land, nourishing all manner of rich multimedia, multimodal, and multipurpose services and applications.

Of course, nirvana is still a dream, and the land of IP is still a work in progress. A number of direct IP and SIP peering initiatives point the way to a world where legacy TDM network infrastructures are a thing of the past, and where conversions from TDM to IP and back again are the thing of nursery rhymes.

The reality, obviously, is that we’re living in a mashed up world, where both legacy and new must coexist with each other for some time, and we must find innovative ways to disrupt the status quo and deliver the next great killer app. It may come as a surprise, but this state of coexistence - the crossroads if you will where the Internet and Web, corporate LANs, PSTN and wireless voice and data networks meet -- is actually proving to be a great fertile ground that is spawning a host of new, innovative companies, technologies, products and services.

I’m thinking of companies like EQO, Iotum, FruCall, and Tello - companies that have come up with products or services that not only bridge the old with the new, but also innovate brand new capabilities that make communications more manageable, more efficient and more informative.
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According to market research firm The Insight Research Corporation, the market for streaming video in the US is poised for strong growth.

According to the company's new report, "Streaming Media, IP TV, and Broadband Transport: Telecommunications Carriers and Entertainment Services 2006-2011", the market for streaming media content will grow at a compounded rate of 33 percent from about $1.3 billion in 2005 to more than $7 billion in 2011.

An executive summary of the report is available here, and provides good information about the trends that will drive this growth.

Reality is really stranger than fiction, or at least as strange...

A new movie in theatres recently had a plot centered around the fact that an American Idol-like show garnered more votes for its winner than for the President of the United States.

Well, I almost choked last night while watching the finale of American Idol on my Tivo - apparently the 66+ million votes from callers nominating their favorite singer exceeded the total number of votes ever recorded during an election for President !!!

What in the world are we coming to?...This is truly obscene and scary!

Perhaps, to quote "Chicken Little", "The Sky Really is Falling...!"
First, a disclaimer: I haven't seen the movie yet. But the buzz does not sound good.

Apparently audiences booed, snickered and were less than thrilled. Coupled with the misplaced outrage from far-right religious groups (hello!!, the movie is based on a novel -- a work of fiction), things are not off to a good start.

The book is a great read, and a gripping thriller -- it's really impossible to put down until you're finished. But translating complex stories like this to the big screen is fraught with danger -- more often than not the movie falls way short of the book.

Because I'm such a fan of the book, I'll probably see the movie -- but now I'm thinking I'll wait till it's out on DVD and then add it to my Netflix queue... Continue Reading...

About Me

April 20, 2006 11:36 AM | 1 Comment

Marc has been involved in the telecommunications industry as a leading reporter and analyst, editor and author, trade show producer and publisher, and marketing executive and consultant for more than 23 years. With a perspective honed by decades of consistent industry analysis and coverage, Marc is an internationally recognized authority in the field of IP telephony and new IP communications technologies and their commercial applications.

In mid-2003, Marc launched RCG (Robins Consulting Group), providing market intelligence; business development,; comprehensive marketing, communications and promotional services; online/Web site development; and educational and special events for the IP communications industry.

Over the course of his career, Marc has authored hundreds of articles and columns for leading industry magazines.

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