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Skype, FCC, IBM and Tech News Before New Year's

December 30, 2010

While the week before Christmas and New Year’s is typically slow with regards to news, the huge blizzard which hit the northeast really started things off with a bang. A foot-and-a-half of snow hit the area around TMC headquarters in Norwalk, CT with drifts totaling a few feet in height. Airports were backed up and some streets took days to plow well.

Skype has been busy

Posted in 4G, AT&T, Apple, Avaya, Blackberry, Broadband, CRM, Call Center, Cisco, Communications Developer, Conference, Consumer Electronics, E-Commerce, FCC, HD Voice, IP Communications, ITEXPO, SIP, Skype, Social Networking, Speech Technologies, Technology, Twitter, Unified Communications, Verizon, Video, VoIP, Vonage, Wireless

Skype Video For iPhone a 2011 Killer App

December 30, 2010

I just did a brief test of Skype video calling on the iPhone - it works on the iPad as well. TMC's Tom Keating and I tried calling over WiFi and AT&T 3G. WiFi worked amazingly well and the first 3G call I tried just hung.

My second attempt to call Tom's iPhone 3GS with my iPhone 4 went through and the quality seemed slightly worse than WiFi but still quite good. During the demo I received two non-Skype 3G calls which placed the Skype call on hold.

Posted in 4G, 4GWE, AT&T, Apple, Blackberry, Broadband, Communications Developer, Consumer Electronics, Gadget, Google, IP Communications, Skype, Social Networking, Technology, VoIP, Wireless

News to Know Before New Year's 2011

December 29, 2010

The bitter fight between Oracle and SAP over copyright infringement got more bitter with courts agreeing SAP owes Oracle $16.5M in interest on the $1.3B award Oracle received. While less than the $211.7M Oracle sought, Oracle will also get reimbursed by SAP for $120M in attorney fees.

Let’s say you got a NookColor for Christmas but your books are all on Amazon’s Kindle service… You can now read Kindle books on the Nook – but you need to put on your propeller hat first.

Most Indian telcos must roll out services on wireless spectrum they purchase from the fovernment in a year or pay fines.

Posted in 4G, 4GWE, Apple, Communications Developer, Conference, E-Commerce, Gadget, IP Communications, ITEXPO, SIP, Skype, Smart Ecosystem, Smart Grid, Speech Technologies, Technology, Unified Communications, Verizon, VoIP, Wireless

The Apple iOS vs. Android Fight in 2011

December 28, 2010

As TMCnet's Tom Keating mentions on his blog, there are many factors to consider in the fight for mobile supremecy between Apple, Google Android and yes, even Microsoft. Tom's point about Microsoft injecting itself into the Android relationship with carriers to become the defacto search engine has even begun to happen already.

But what caught my eye regarding the controversy is will Apple become the defacto high-end alternative that is priced out of the reach of most of the market?

The answer may lie in production numbers alone.

You see, the Apple hardware is virtually unchanged from iPod to iPhone to iPad so economies of scale work in the company's favor.

However, Android devices are gaining massive share. If these gadgets can also leverage the same hardware with other mobile operating systems then they too can take advantage of the same efficiencies. Perhaps Samsung and HTC are best positioned in this regard as an HTC device, for example, can do double-duty as an Android and Windows Phone 7.

A while back I asked Nokia execs about the disadvantage they had in supporting a plethora of form factors while Apple gets away with one and they didn't have a good answer.

But if a phone manufacturer can leverage multiple operating systems to drive scale they can then compete more effectively with Apple.

Posted in 4G, 4GWE, AT&T, Apple, Blackberry, Communications Developer, Consumer Electronics, Gadget, Google, HD Voice, IP Communications, Open Source, SIP, Social Networking, TMCnet, Technology, Verizon, VoIP, Wireless

Appliances Should Become Easy to Use Before Smart

December 27, 2010

Devices are getting smarter - the smart home of the future will consist of gadgets which speak with one another, the electric company, the cloud and all your computers - from desktops to the ones you keep in your pocket. They will tweet, post status messages on Facebook and more than likely teach you about calculus if you sit still long enough.

The only challenge of course is devices are getting more complicated - with interfaces most likely created by the same people who designed cell phones in the pre-iPhone days.

A reminder of the situation comes courtesy of Alexia Tsotsis at TechCrunch who talks about a trip to her relatives house and how the experience left her longing for all devices to be made by Apple.

If household appliance makers haven't gotten the message about the importance of simple and easy to use GUI by now, they should get ready to watch new entrants steamroll them in the future.

Posted in AT&T, Apple, Communications Developer, Consumer Electronics, Facebook, Gadget, IPTV, SIP, Smart Ecosystem, Smart Grid, Technology, Twitter, Unified Communications, Verizon, Wireless

Net Neutrality: More Unintended Consequences

December 23, 2010

What if the FCC could force FedEx and UPS to charge the same rates for delivery regardless of how many days it takes to get a package delivered and/or the weight of a package?

Stairway to Trouble

A large tech company found many of its workers were using gadgets when walking up and down the stairs and as a result after numerous internal meetings they decided in order to create a better work environment they would communicate with the workforce about the perils of multitasking while walking on the stairs. As you might have guessed, the decision was made to put signs in the stairwells warning people to not multitask.

Posted in 4G, AT&T, Apple, Broadband, Cisco, Consumer Electronics, FCC, Google, HD Voice, IP Communications, Open Source, Political, SIP, Skype, Smart Grid, Social Networking, TMC Team, TMC Video, Technology, Unified Communications, Verizon, Video, VoIP, Vonage, Wireless, Yahoo

3G and 4G Group Data Plans Needed

December 20, 2010

I am beginning to change my tune on the embedded cellular radio vs. the external MiFi device debate. Does it make sense to purchase a tablet with embedded 3G or 4G or is it better to go with an external 3G/4G device which becomes a personal hotspot?

To date I have decided that my laptop should have embedded Verizon 3G via EVDO while the iPad - embedded AT&T 3G.

But if you have a family and your kids need (OK need is a strong word - desire is probably more appropriate) connectivity, should you embed their devices with 3G modems as well?

Obviously the bill can get pretty big pretty fast and if you have kids who only occasionally need wireless access when WiFi isn't available it is crazy to sign a multi-year contract for $40 or more per month. Sure you could get a cheaper plan but if you opt for an iPhone instead an iPod Touch to take advantage of a wireless carrier's larger 3G wireless footprint you have to buy a voice plan as well which starts at $39.99/month - then of course you'll want to add a text message plan, etc.

This is why I read with interest the news that Best Buy is selling a bundle of an iPad with a free MiFi with a 2-year contract.

When you amortize the use of this free device across all your family's gadgets such as the Nintendo DS, iPod Touch and future products you know you'll buy, it seems to make sense to have one.

But one wonders if carriers aren't doing themselves a long-term disservice by not coming up with some sort of group or family plan for devices.

Posted in 4G, 4GWE, AT&T, Apple, Blackberry, Broadband, Communications Developer, Consumer Electronics, E-Commerce, FCC, Gadget, Google, IP Communications, SIP, Technology, Unified Communications, Verizon, VoIP, Vonage, Wireless, Yahoo

Callvine Simplifies Mobile Conferencing

December 19, 2010

Yesterday I was at a party where one of the guests was telling me about her job managing real estate for her family. I inquired about where her office is and she held up her cell phone and said my car is my office. This conversation reminded me about a recent conversation with Callvine Founder and COO Mark Dzwonczyk who tells me his company has found the secret ingredient to take conferencing to the mobile professional. After a couple of years of work, the company has an app which I tried on an iPhone (iTunes preview) allowing you to quickly set up groups which you can use to SMS and conference.

Posted in 4G, 4GWE, AT&T, Apple, Avaya, Blackberry, Broadband, CRM, Call Center, Cisco, Communications Developer, Conference, Conferencing, Consumer Electronics, E-Commerce, FCC, Facebook, Fax, Gadget, Google, HD Voice, Microsoft, SIP, Skype, Smart Ecosystem, Social Networking, Technology, Twitter, Verizon, VoIP, Vonage, Wireless, Yahoo

Ready, Aim, Send: Military Embraces Smartphones

December 18, 2010

It is not as if the US government has slowed spending to keep up with the general economy so it comes as a surprise to me that we haven't been issuing a couple of smartphones apiece to soldiers in the field. Thankfully, the military is getting into the swing of things by ensuring virtually everyone will have 24x7 access to mobile information, videos from unmanned vehicles and tactical information of various sorts.

My only concern? I hope these things are really locked down well so as to make leaks more difficult to pull off. The last thing we need is thousands of soldiers tweeting sensitive information on the battlefield.

Just to be sure, I hope the top brass in the armed services is monitoring the hashtag #topsecret.

Ed Silverstein breaks the story on TMCnet.

Posted in 4G, AT&T, Apple, Blackberry, Broadband, Communications Developer, Consumer Electronics, Facebook, Gadget, IMS, IP Communications, M2M, Musings, SIP, Satellite, Security, Skype, Social Networking, Technology, Twitter, Verizon, Video, VoIP, Wireless

Grandstream GXV3175 a Solid IP Multimedia Value

December 14, 2010

Grandstream's Khris Kendrick discusses the GXV3175 as well as the company's other products such as a new cube camera

Grandstream has just released the GXV3175, a multimedia phone which features HD voice and video with the ability to connect the output of the video conference to an HDTV. Moreover, the Linux-based desk phone which sports an easy to use seven-inch touch-screen interface supports widgets for checking things like the weather or stock quotes.

There is support for IM from Google, MSN and Yahoo! as well as social networks such as Facebook and Twitter. Another great feature is integration with Photobucket and Flickr and other photo sharing services. This phone could very well replace a Sony Dash on a desktop as it not only does much of what that device does but adds real-time multimedia communications.

There are lots of other features including a 1.3 megapixel CMOS camera with privacy shutter as well as dual USB ports, integrated PoE, WiFi and memory card support.

Posted in Apple, Avaya, Broadband, Cisco, Communications Developer, Consumer Electronics, FCC, Fax, Google, IP Communications, Microsoft, Open Source, SIP, TMC Team, TMC Video, Technology, Unified Communications, Verizon, Video, VoIP, Wireless

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