Science

Proof Our Brains Are Underutilized

May 10, 2008

If you thought your memory was photographic, consider the fact this woman can remember every moment of every day going back to the age of eight years old. If anything, this condition called hyperthymestic syndrome from the Greek thymesis, for remembering, and hyper, meaning well above normal show us that perhaps many of us do only use 10% of our brains.

Once anonymous and referred to in scientific texts by initials, Jill Price has recently come out in the open about her condition and calls it a curse as she is able to focus on every bad decision she has ever made.

Speaking of bad decisions, I realize I am off my main news area of focus but hey -- it's Saturday -- don't my readers need a break from communications and tech from time to time?

But getting back to Ms. Price, she is a school administrator and this begs the question as to why she hasn't decided to put this incredible memory to use in politics, counting cards the military, etc.

Finally, I would imagine such a gift would be a blessing if applied in business. BTW, we are always looking for top talent here at TMC.

Posted in Science

Vonage Record Quarter: Jeff Citron Interview

May 8, 2008

Vonage has done a great job this last quarter -- posting growth numbers in a slower economy. I just had a podcast interview with Jeffrey Citron where he talked about the company's growth rate and the number of new initiatives at the pure-play VoIP service provider.

Citron explains that they are pleased with their financial performance as their revenue was $225 million and this is a 15% increase from the previous year. One great bit of news is that expenses increased and adjusted operating income is now $8 million.

These results were ahead of expectations and in addition to the news on earnings, Citron was proud to explain how well-received his new products have been. Visual voicemail and unlimited international calling are some of these new items.

Moreover, the company has a new prosumer product and another called Companion which installs on your computer and works in conjunction with your phone service.

Perhaps most importantly, Vonage is becoming a double-play provider by reselling Covad broadband DSL service.

Posted in AT&T, Broadband, CRM, Call Center, Cisco, Conferencing, Consumer Electronics, E-Commerce, FCC, Google, IP Communications, Microsoft, Nortel, Open Source, Patent, Podcast, SIP, Science, Security, Technology, Unified Communications, Verizon, Video, VoIP, Vonage, Wireless

Nortel's Joel Hackney Discusses Earnings

May 2, 2008

Nortel announced earnings today and to get more detail on the news I had a chance to speak with Joel Hackney, President of the Enterprise Solutions Group at Nortel.

Some details worth sharing... The company's net loss widened but revenue was up 11% and gross margins have been increasing for six quarters. Operating margin was just under 5% which is up from the prior year.

Overall, this interview shows that many communications companies continue to do well in a slower economy.

For more details, check out this podcast interview.

You can find more Joel Hackney interviews here.

Posted in AT&T, Apple, Avaya, Blackberry, Broadband, CRM, Call Center, Cisco, Conferencing, Consumer Electronics, E-Commerce, FCC, Google, Green, IMS, IP Communications, IPTV, ITEXPO, JITC, Microsoft, Nortel, Open Source, Patent, Personal, Podcast, Rates Technology, SIP, Science, Security, Speech Technologies, TMCnet, Technology, Unified Communications, Verizon, Video, VoIP, WiMAX, Wireless

CNN Anchor Caught with Drugs

April 19, 2008

Apparently reporting the news is as depressing as watching it. This might explain why CNN News anchor Richard Quest was caught with a small bag of methamphetamine in his pocket.

In case you are curious about this particular drug, Wikipedia has this to say:

Methamphetamine is a potent central nervous system stimulant which affects neurochemical mechanisms responsible for regulating heart rate, body temperature, blood pressure, appetite, attention, mood and responses associated with alertness or alarm conditions. The acute effects of the drug closely resemble the physiological and psychological effects of an epinephrine-provoked fight-or-flight response, including increased heart rate and blood pressure, vasoconstriction (constriction of the arterial walls), bronchodilation, and hyperglycemia (increased blood sugar). Users experience an increase in focus, increased mental alertness, and the elimination of fatigue, as well as a decrease in appetite.

Apparently Quest was loitering as he was walking in New York's Central Park in the early hours of the morning when the park was officially closed.

Posted in Science, Security

Antarctic Waters Less Salty

April 19, 2008

As icebergs melt, at least two bad things happen. The first is they have less surface area to reflect the sun's rays meaning the ocean receives more of these rays and in turn this warms the earth more than usual.

The second is they change the saline levels of the ocean which could totally change the flow of ocean currents which control the weather patterns of the world. If you wonder why the weather has been getting wacky lately, it is likely because the icebergs are melting rapidly and the oceans are getting less salty.

[Daily Telegraph]

Posted in Green, Science

New TMCnet Record and New Writer

April 15, 2008

Thanks to our readers -- once again, TMCnet has hit a new record. In this case, we built a Global Online Community in conjunction with Interactive Intelligence and this community generated just under 600,000 page views in one month according to Webtrends, a company which measures web traffic.

As you might imagine, this is a staggering number of pages to be viewed in a month and after TMCnet, this number represents the most page views in a month out of all competitive sites worldwide. This is according to third party web measurement sites like Quantcast.

In other words a single community built on TMCnet outproduced any other single competitive site in total.

As I have promised before, as we grow we will ensure the quantity and quality of TMCnet articles and as such we recently added Rick Bye as a columnist. He wrote his first piece last week in fact.

Bye is a senior segment marketing manager with Zarlink and is responsible for leading the company’s residential gateway and consumer voice products development.

Posted in AT&T, Apple, Avaya, Broadband, CRM, Call Center, Cisco, Conferencing, Consumer Electronics, FCC, Google, Green, IMS, IP Communications, IPTV, ITEXPO, JITC, Microsoft, Nortel, Open Source, Patent, Rates Technology, SIP, Science, Security, Skype, Speech Technologies, TMC Team, Technology, Unified Communications, Verizon, Video, VoIP, Vonage, WiMAX, Wireless, Yahoo

Ceragon Boosts Wireless Backhaul Throughput

April 14, 2008

As wireless service providers seem to be battling to see who can provide the lowest cost unlimited voice and data plans, a problem is emerging that needs to be dealt with quickly. The issue is simply, how to cost-effectively upgrade network capacity to keep up with all the growth in voice and data capacity.

Invariably much of the challenge carriers face is in wireless backhaul as so many base stations are not located near fiber loops.

Enter Ceragon Networks and the company's newest wireless mobile backhaul solutions, the IP-10 family. In a conversation with the company's CMO Aviv Ronai and Director of Communication, Yoel Knoll the pair explained to me how this new product line offers unparalleled capacity - up to 500 mbps over a single radio carrier using a single RF carrier in fact.

Ronai had this to say about the company's latest solution, "FibeAir IP-10 enables risk-free migration to IP/Ethernet while providing the highest possible capacities at any given radio-link budget. This is achieved without any need to replace infrastructure or change the size or quantity of licensed frequency channels.

Posted in AT&T, Broadband, Cisco, FCC, IMS, IP Communications, Nortel, Science, Security, Technology, Verizon, Video, Wireless

Communications Developer Call for Papers

April 8, 2008

Be sure to submit your call for papers entries for the Communications Developer show which will be collocated with ITEXPO later this year in the Los Angeles, California Convention Center.

The specific dates of the event will be September 16-18, 2008.

You know I have always been a huge fan of open APIs and the concept that communications will become embedded in other parts of our lives and software.

This trend is on the rise and we are happy that Communications Developer is the world's forum for software development in the communications space.

See Also
Tom Keating's Blog Press Release

Posted in AT&T, Avaya, Broadband, CRM, Cisco, Conferencing, Consumer Electronics, FCC, Google, Green, IMS, IP Communications, IPTV, ITEXPO, JITC, Microsoft, Musings, Nortel, Open Source, Patent, Personal, Podcast, Rates Technology, SIP, Science, Security, Skype, Speech Technologies, TMC Team, TMC Video, TMCnet, Technology, Unified Communications, Verizon, Video, VoIP, Vonage, WiMAX, Wireless, Yahoo

Bob Emmerson: TMC's European Editor

April 8, 2008

Bob Emmerson joins TMC as out European Editor. We are truly proud to have Bob join the team as he is a communications and technology veteran.

Previously, Emmerson was a designer of digital control systems, a journalist, and a copywriter.

For a number of years he ran his own advertising/pr agency in Brussels.

Posted in AT&T, Avaya, Broadband, CRM, Call Center, Cisco, Conferencing, Consumer Electronics, FCC, Google, Green, IMS, IP Communications, IPTV, ITEXPO, JITC, Microsoft, Musings, Nortel, Open Source, Patent, Personal, Podcast, Rates Technology, SIP, Science, Security, Skype, Speech Technologies, TMC Team, TMCnet, Technology, Unified Communications, Verizon, Video, VoIP, Vonage, WiMAX, Wireless, Yahoo

TMCnet Podcast Library

April 8, 2008

Sure you have an iPhone or iPod or even a PC where you like to listen to your music. But have you had a chance to listen to TMCnet's high quality podcasts as of yet?

I know many of you have but for those of you who haven't, there are two pages to bookmark. My podcast page as well as the TMCnet podcast home page.

I hope you enjoy the interviews and other audio content which we will be providing

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