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Internet Fax
March 27, 2007
I just happened upon the Internet Fax channel sponsored by RingCentral and thought it worth passing on if for no other reason than fax seems to keep on chugging along and has if anything been revitalized by the internet. It seems the market also received a great deal of adrenaline during the housing boom as massive stores of faxes were sent from buyers to sellers to mortgage companies, etc.
As a reminder, a channel on TMCnet is a microcommunity of interest designed to educate on a certain topic. We have built over 100 of these and I continue to be amazed at the traffic levels they generate.
If you have an interest in IP fax, be sure to check the site out when you get a chance.
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CTIA
March 27, 2007
I am at CTIA this year and have my usual set of meetings followed by meetings. Thankfully I have some space on my schedule today as I am not booked as solid as usual. I have some time to see some exhibits and get an idea of what is really exciting. The event seems pretty big – perhaps as big as Vegas and the attendance is unknown so far. Our booth is in the back right at number 4782. Come by and visit if you have time.
PS: The Internet access is very slow for me so you may not hear from me for a while.
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Trolltech
March 27, 2007
I spent a few minutes on Wikipedia today searching for information on Norway. I wanted to learn more about this country I had never been to and while searching I discovered the country is a Kingdom in fact and was settled about 12,000 years ago. I really got into learning about Norway until a coworker told me that Wikipedia is about as accurate as the water cooler gossip you might hear at work.
Ever curious I asked for details and was told about a recent fiasco regarding comedian Sinbad who was inaccurately portrayed as dead on the site. If you don’t remember, Sinbad appeared in – well I can’t recall either. Perhaps he had a TV show or something. I may have even laughed at his jokes back in the day.
But wait a minute – how did I get on the topic of Sinbad? Wasn’t I focusing on Norway? That in fact is much more germane to technology, right? Well not really but I started my Wikipedia adventure after a conversation I had with a Norway-based company called Trolltech who was founded in the 90s to focus on cross-platform support for applications using C++. So basically an object-oriented approach to write once, run everywhere sort of coding.
Companies like Adobe and Google use Trolltech platforms to reduce development time across computer platforms such as Linux, Mac and PC and more recently the company has become a major player in the mobile space taking their write once, run anywhere philosophy to devices on the go
As these devices on the go learn to communicate with WiFi access points and begin to think about using Skype, the company saw an opportunity to get involved in the Skype ecosystem to allow ODMs to develop devices which will run Skype on a variety of mobile platforms.
The 250 person company has recently been chosen by Skype to connect the Skype interface to the operating system of Skype Certified WiFi handsets. This is a pretty big deal for Trolltech and in talks with the company I learned there are a slew of interesting device possibilities in the works.
We can expect to see interesting concepts in Skype and mobility like location-based services, multiplayer games, devices devoted to allowing the elderly to easily videoconference, etc. Moreover we can hope to see implementations of advanced IM applications, music servers and more.
In short when you work with Trolltech you have to worry less about cross-platform development and can spend more time on product development. This seems like the ultimate win/win and technology like Trolltech’s will keep the Skype ecosystem alive for years to come. Let’s hope Sinbad lasts just as long as I just can’t wait for him to star in the various sequels to his original hit movies. ;)
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Octware
March 27, 2007
Sounds Great, Less Filling
Octasic is well known in the world of echo canceling – a market which is not discussed too often but is important for enabling crystal clear, echo-free conversations. The company is known for providing echo cancellation for devices, IP PBXs as well as high-end echo cancellation boards with fixed function DSP-based hardware.
Recently the company realized there is a whole world out there of smaller companies who enjoy the benefits of echo-free conversations (sounds great) but who aren’t fans of paying for hardware which is basically overkill for their small company (less filling).
In fact hardware-based echo cancellers are typically 16 channels at a minimum and if you need less then you have basically wasted money. So a software solution makes a great deal of sense and this software-based solution will come from a new Octasic subsidiary known as Octware.
Software-based echo canceling is an economical $10/port and works with Asterisk-based systems. The only negative to this approach is for systems that are underpowered. Asterisk is CPU intensive and echo canceling is as well. Still, if your hardware can handle it, a software-based solution may save you some money without sacrificing quality. And in this case, less filling really does sound great.
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