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Blogging: True News Delivery

Somewhere between websites and weblogs we lost our political correctness. If you have ever listened to George Carlin, you know he has made fun of how we take words that are accurate and water them down over time until they are almost meaningless. This is the rise of political correctness.

Here is the George Carlin skit as a reference:

I don’t like words that hide the truth. I don’t words that conceal reality. I don’t like euphemisms, or euphemistic language. And American English is loaded with euphemisms. Cause Americans have a lot of trouble dealing with reality. Americans have trouble facing the truth, so they invent the kind of a soft language to protest themselves from it, and it gets worse with every generation. For some reason, it just keeps getting worse. I’ll give you an example of that. There’s a condition in combat. Most people know about it. It’s when a fighting person’s nervous system has been stressed to it’s absolute peak and maximum. Can’t take any more input. The nervous system has either (click) snapped or is about to snap. In the first world war, that condition was called shell shock. Simple, honest, direct language. Two syllables, shell shock. Almost sounds like the guns themselves. That was seventy years ago.

Then a whole generation went by and the second world war came along and very same combat condition was called battle fatigue. Four syllables now. Takes a little longer to say. Doesn’t seem to hurt as much. Fatigue is a nicer word than shock. Shell shock! Battle fatigue.

Then we had the war in Korea, 1950. Madison avenue was riding high by that time, and the very same combat condition was called operational exhaustion. Hey, were up to eight syllables now! And the humanity has been squeezed completely out of the phrase. It’s totally sterile now. Operational exhaustion. Sounds like something that might happen to your car.

Then of course, came the war in Viet Nam, which has only been over for about sixteen or seventeen years, and thanks to the lies and deceits surrounding that war, I guess it’s no surprise that the very same condition was called post-traumatic stress disorder. Still eight syllables, but we’ve added a hyphen! And the pain is completely buried under jargon. Post-traumatic stress disorder. I’ll bet you if we’d of still been calling it shell shock, some of those Viet Nam veterans might have gotten the attention they needed at the time. I’ll betcha. I’ll betcha.

But. But, it didn’t happen, and one of the reasons. One of the reasons is because we were using that soft language. That language that takes the life out of life. And it is a function of time. It does keep getting worse. I’ll give you another example. Sometime during my life. Sometime during my life, toilet paper became bathroom tissue. I wasn’t notified of this. No one asked me if I agreed with it. It just happened.

Toilet paper became bathroom tissue. Sneakers became running shoes. False teeth became dental appliances. Medicine became medication. Information became directory assistance. The dump became the landfill. Car crashes became automobile accidents. Partly cloudy bacame partly sunny. Motels became motor lodges. House trailers became mobile homes. Used cars became previously owned transportation. Room service became guest-room dining. And constipation became occasional irregularity.

When I was a little kid, if I got sick they wanted me to go to the hospital and see a doctor. Now they want me to go to a health maintenance organization…or a wellness center to consult a healthcare delivery professional. Poor people used to live in slums. Now the economically disadvantaged occupy substandard housing in the inner cities.

Weblogs aren't PC and therein lies the beauty of them. I find myself writing things I wouldn't write in any other medium and might not even say except to my closest friends. Somewhere the along the journey of daily writing, the blogger befriends the computer which in turn generates pure unadulterated journalism. Some of my editors tell me they wish they could access my blog so they could change the grammar or spelling but that would ruin the beauty of the blog. It is the personality that shines through without intervention from editors whose mission in life is to create uniformity and etymological order out of chaos.

So blogging is the future for all of us because to be quite honest, news in any other medium is just plain sterile when you compare it to a blog. Sure sometimes you can get the same news from a blog and a magazine but on a  blog you can see blogging wars or better yet, ideas and concepts editors might normally strip out of a written piece.

As long as human beings desire to read what is going on in the inner most recesses of the human mind, blogs will be around to help deliver news with colorful if not always tasteful commentary.

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Please Book Your Hotel Room For ITEXPO Now

Please book your ITEXPO Miami hotel room now if you plan on attending. This is not a sales pitch. I don't want to sound like I am giving a shameless plug for the show. We have filled our block and the hotel wants to raise the rates. We are doing our best to negotiate in your favor -- to save you money. The hotel will sell out soon so please book now if you plan on coming to the show.

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VoIP Confusion

I came across this release today and you can see an excerpt below. I can't figure this deal out. Logical Exchange is the name of the company and their phone plans are similar in cost to Packet8 or Vonage. They don't have an ATA so it is PC to phone service that is similar to Skype but they compare themselves more to Vonage and AT&T.

Here is a quote from the release:

"By offering an affordable Internet phone service to the global market including developing countries, INX has created a new model for international telephone communications," said Jon Lowry, CEO of Logical Exchange. "Unlike our competitors, our service is designed to be available virtually anywhere the Internet is accessible and to allow our subscribers to sign up and make calls within minutes."

To paraphrase a famous politician... Mr. Lowry, I know Vonage. I've worked with Vonage. You sir are no Vonage.

Here is more of the release:

Logical Exchange Launches Global VoIP Service from $4.95 per Month; Complete U.S. or Canadian Phone Service Over the Internet

DENVER --(Business Wire)-- Jan. 17, 2005 -- Logical Exchange launched a new Internet phone service this week, International Number Exchange (INX). By moving traditional telco foreign exchange services online, INX expands the market reach set by VoIP companies, such as Vonage and AT&T, to create a truly global virtual presence phone service. Now virtually anyone with an Internet connection anywhere in the world, broadband, wireless or dial-up, has an affordable option to make and receive calls with their own U.S. or Canadian phone number just minutes after subscribing without buying or waiting for expensive termination equipment. The service is ideal for expatriate workers, students studying abroad, and international travelers to stay in touch with friends, family and business associates. INX also provides an effective avenue for international small businesses to expand their presence in the U.S. and Canada.

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RSS Feed Promotion Tool

I don't focus on RSS tools but since this is a blog, it seems most of you will be interested in anything xml and RSS. Hope you find this release useful.

k.soft releases RSS Submit - RSS feed promotion tool

Philadelphia, PA, USA -- 17 January 2005 -- k.soft announces the release of version 1.0 of RSS Submit, a utility to automatically submit RSS feeds to the RSS search engines and directories, for Windows 95/98/NT/ME/2000/XP.

As more web masters begin to incorporate blog and RSS feed technology to distribute their content, they may soon realize not enough readers know about their feeds.

RSS Submit is an automated software tool which submits RSS feeds to the RSS search engines and directories. Real-time status is displayed throughout the submittal process. Once complete, the user may browse a listing of the result pages from each search engine, verifying their feed was successfully submitted. Submitting a feed to more than 25 RSS search engines can take less than one minute to complete.

RSS Submit also contains several features to make adding RSS feed URLs to the software easier. The validation feature allows users to test their RSS feed for compliancy prior to submitting. The auto-discovery feature allows users to enter a web page instead of a direct RSS feed URL and any linked feeds can be automatically added for submission.

Registered users of RSS Submit may add an unlimited number of RSS feeds for submission, unlock more RSS search engines, and receive upgrades to the latest version at no charge by using the update feature built into the software.

A fully functional demo is available to the public at http://www.dummysoftware.com/rsssubmit.html. Program registration is US$24.95 and may be completed from the company’s web site.

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China To Win WiMAX Race?

WiMAX: Just another market China will lead in. With government control of spectrum, less concern about powerful radio frequency emissions and the desire to win every race, China is a formidable force in WiMAX. Michelle Pasquerello has an interesting perspective on this trend.

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New Kontron ATCA and AMC boards

Kontron announces new ATCA and AMC boards:

AT8001 – flexibility of dual AMC support
The Kontron AT8001 ATCA processor board significantly increases the design options for wireless, telecom applications with its support for two AMC module slots. Powered by a low voltage, high performance Intelâ Xeonâ processor up to 2.8 GHz, the AT8001 provides high interconnect performance, ideally suited to support any number of high throughput I/O communications modules.

The AT8001 feature-set includes dual Gigabit Ethernet and dual Fiber Channel on fabric interface, dual Gigabit Ethernet base interface, 8 GB of DDR-II 400 SDRAM, plus MontaVista Linux Carrier Grade Edition (CGE) and IPMI v1.5 support.

AM4001 – superior processing and flexible interconnect topologies
The Kontron AM4001 AMC module features the low power, high performance of an Intel Pentium M processor up to 2 GHz and the Intel E7320 chipset. Designed to support up to 4 GB DDR-II memory (PC400), the AM4001 is available in single width, full and half-height options, and offers dual Gigabit Ethernet, dual Serial ATA, and x4 PCI-Express interconnects in compliance with AMC.0/.1/.2/.3 specifications.

When combined with the AT8001, the AM4001 handles the dual responsibility of managing both high throughput I/O applications as well as off-loading any surplus processing demands from the AT8001 processor board. The result is a unique combination of high functionality and processor muscle on only one single slot 8U board, which can also be used to populate the Kontron ATCA-compliant 12U chassis, the XL8000, with up to 14 board slots available on a dual star backplane.

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From IVR Hell to Heaven

Tom Keating writes abou Parus Interactive and how they may one day make it FUN to call a company's IVR system. When you throw in VoIP, SIP and speech technology together, perhaps you get the next retail (VoIP, CRM, Speech) killer app.

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Hosted VoIP With Your Fish & Chips

Broadsoft scored a win selling a hosted VoIP solution to InTechnology in the UK. Using their own network and adding IP Centrex to an array of offerings from VPNs to backups, InTechnology sees hosted VoIP as just another managed service.

Excerpt:

AlwaysOn launched a similar service last year, and Dimension Data has also signed a deal with Broadsoft. Vonage, a US VoIP service with a strong consumer and single-user bias, launched in the UK in late December last year.

"In Europe there could be up to 45 million broadband lines," said Gareth Williams, market analyst at InClarity. "If hosted VoIP is only a small percentage of that total, you're still looking at a very healthy market."

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Verizon Sued Over Crippled V710 Bluetooth

I finally switched over from GSM to Verizon a few months back because of the Motorola V710 bluetooth enabled phone Verizon touted in its ads. Verizon has the best network bar none and they often take advantage of their network superiority by locking customers into longer-term contracts and now intentionally disabling features on their phone. I wrote about Verizon disabling bluetooth features on the V710 in October of 2004.

Generally I have been unhappy with the bluetooth capabilities of the phone as not only can I not sync with a PC to download address books or photos, etc, I also have problems connecting the phone with a few of my bluetooth headsets. I have searched the web and haven't seen anyone duplicate these problems. Basically, the headset and phone don't work well together, meaning a call can't be answered in the headset but must be manually transferred every time. SonyEricsson bluetooth integration is an order of magnitude better and I am not sure whether Verizon, Motorola or both are to blame. I got to thinking about this when I discovered some California residents are suing Verizon over the intentional disabling f bluetooth features.

Verizon's defense is likely that they own the network and subsidize the cost of the phone so they should be able to disable whatever they want. They have a point. Car companies often disable engine performance in some cars and sell them as entry-level vehicles. Why can't Verizon do the same? The best solution is to allow a high-end version of the phone for more money that has all the bluetooth functions you could ask for. That would solve the problem and keep Verizon from getting trashed on message boards all over the web.

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VoIP Peering Sees The Light

GigaBeam and Stealth Communications Expand VoIP and IP Services in the New York City Area. Excerpt:

HERNDON, Va., Jan. 13 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- GigaBeam Corporation (BULLETIN BOARD: GGBM) , announces an agreement with Stealth Communications(R) for installation of its ultra high speed WiFiber(SM),(TM) wireless fiber solution. GigaBeam's WiFiber provides communications access with the capacity of fiber but with significantly less latency than fiber to enhance Stealth's unique communications services offerings. Stealth is New York City's largest Internet gateway and offers Internet & Ethernet access, VoIP, and data services to service providers, financial institutions, enterprises and government agencies.

GigaBeam anticipates installation of the first WiFiber GigE link for Stealth in the current quarter, providing high speed connectivity of one Gigabit-per-second across the Hudson River between a Stealth customer's data center in Jersey City, NJ and Stealth's Manhattan access point at 60 Hudson St., New York, NY. One Gigabit-per-second is the equivalent of 647 T1 lines or 1,000 DSL connections.

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D-Link DVG-1120M Behind a Router

I received this e-mail today. The answer is that I have not gotten the DVG-1120M to work behind my router. I tried and gave up. AT&T's Gary Morgenstern told me at the time that you couldn't put this device behind the router. I recall he mentioned in the future you would be able to. Hopefully we will get some feedback on this post to resolve this question.

------

Hello Mr. Tehrani,
I read your article about the LNP and Call Vantage. I assume you are probably using D-Link DVG-1120 M. If so, have you ever tried connecting your TA behind a Router. Has it ever worked. I have spent countless hours with the AT & T reps and D-Link reps and apparently nobody seems to know what is wrong and / or how to fix the problem.

After several hours of my testing (with little knowledge in these areas), and countless hours with the customer service on the phone, I decided to turn to people who have successfully implemented this and using it.

I am sorry, If I took you away from your busy schedules with this email. If you could please help that would be great.

Thanks
Laxmi

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Joe Staples Joins Interactive Intelligence

Joe Staples, an old friend and industry veteran joins Interactive Intelligence.

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High Density VoIP Gateways

Designing high density VoIP gateways just became a bit easier with the introduction of the MTN4300 media gateway module from Performance Technologies (article). This solution offers over 2,000 ports in PTMC format and the company claims the highest port density and lowest power consumption on the market. Currently in beta, expect the product to be released in April 2005.

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Preventing Spam Over Internet Telephony

Will Spam over Internet Telephony or SPIT hurt VoIP? Here is an article with an interview with Altigen CEO, Gilbert Hu. This piece is well written and discusses some of the potential pitfalls of VoIP deployment as well as solutions to keep you protected.

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WiMAX and 3G Converge

Alvarion and Lucent work together enabling service providers to support WiMAX, third-generation (3G) mobile (CDMA2000® and W-CDMA/UMTS), and WiFi.

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