September 2005 Archives

Linux.com took a look at four Linux VoIP softphone clients and did some comparative analysis. The Linux softphones included Kiax, Linphone, Twinkle, and CounterPath's X-Lite. Three of the four softphones use the standard SIP protocol with Kiax being the one exception - it uses Asterisk's IAX protocol. Check out the full review of the Linux softphones.

Tonight, the continuing saga of the greatest rivalry in the history of sports continues between the Yankees and the Red Sox. The Yankees with their history and mystique and the Red Sox with a World Series under their belt and the final breaking of the "Curse of the Bambino". It took an offering of a bloody sock to the baseball gods to finally cleanse Boston of the curse that bedeviled & tortured them for so long. If the Yankees are indeed the Evil Empire, and they lost last year, then doesn't this mean that this year the Empire Strikes Back ? No, the baseball universe doesn't revolve around New York and Boston, but it's pretty darn close.

Even without the curse or even "Who's Your Daddy?" Pedro Martinez playing for Boston, this series is what baseball fans dream about. You've got two MVP candidates, Alex Rodriguez and David "clutch" Ortiz. Derek Jeter, who seemed blessed to win the World Series every year hasn't won one in a few years - so he's hungry - as is the rest of the Yankee squad that haven't forgotten about last year's debacle. The Red Sox are no longer the underdog even though they are 1 game behind and need to win 2 out of 3 just to force a one-game playoff. The Boston Red Sox are still the reigning World Champions and until the Yankees or someone else knocks them out, they are still the world champs. It's the same as when the Yankees won three consecutive World Series until Arizona finally and improbably knocked them out from winning a fourth via a 9th inning bloop single against the greatest reliever of all time - Mariano Rivera.

In Spring it looked like the Red Sox had the American East sewn up as the Yankees faded. But just like many past seasons, the Yankees have come from behind - they've caught and finally surpass the Red Sox in the standings after Boston lead for most of the season. Many Red Sox fans are already grumbling, "Damn those Yankees, they've done it to us again!" Yankees in 1st place, Red Sox in 2nd - now all is well in baseball...

Mr. Blog had some interesting thoughts a couple of days ago.

As we near the end of 2005, what is the status of ENUM? The original RFCs were published in 2000 I believe.
Is there a single commercial VoIP provider that supports the official e164.arpa ENUM? If they do, they certainly don't promote it or mention it anywhere on their web sites that I can find. Vonage, AT&T CallVantage, Packet8, Broadvoice, SunRocket? Anyone?

Of course to support ENUM, they would first have to support interoperable IP to IP calling, by SIP address, or otherwise. Again, few if any of the providers make any mention of this on their site or in their documentation. Some appear to have at least some limited support for placing or receiving calls over IP, but it's difficult to determine if it is intentional and a supported feature or simply a side-effect.

The only thing that will change things is consumer demand. As long as we let the providers remain closed walled gardens, they will. So much for the IP revolution.

Hear, Hear, Mr. Blog! I couldn't agree more. Why is ENUM taking so long? Are money and greed the only human inspiration? What about cool innovation for the sake of innovation and not the almighty dollar? I'm no socalist, but seriously, how much money do Vonage, Packet8, AT&T CallVantage, and all the other providers need that they can't offer ENUM connectivity with competing VoIP providers?

Come to think of it, most VoIP subscribers probably have the "unlimited minutes" plan, so the VoIP providers aren't generating any more revenue or doing themselves any favors by having these closed walls. In fact, the VoIP providers themselves have to incur more costs when they terminate to a phone number over the PSTN when they could have routed the call over IP to their competitor's subscriber. If VoIP provider A simply routed the call to competing VoIP provider B, VoIP Provider B could even charge VoIP provider A a nominal fee for terminating the call to its VoIP subscriber over IP - it's still less expensive than a PSTN termination. Of course, tracking direct IP calls made via an ENUM lookup, specifically the call duration for billing purposes could be tricky. Alternatively, they could just have a mutual agreement to terminate calls to each other's VoIP subscribers at no charge.

I don't believe VoIP broadband service has cracked even 10% U.S. marketshare, so in my opinion, the VoIP providers should "band together" and offer free intra-VoIP provider calling. This would be one more feature that could aid in VoIP broadband market penetration. With more competition from cellular companies, cable companies, and especially Triple Play packages, etc. the single-play VoIP providers will need to "band together" sooner rather than later if they want to compete in the near future.

Instead, the VoIP providers have chosen to become the closed-wall carriers of the 21st century.

Disney launched their own contender to the Apple iPod MP3 player with an MP3 player of their own called the Disney Mix Stick MP3 Player. Disney Mix Stick MP3 players support both MP3 and WMA and are designed to download music files, copy from CDs, as well as accommodate memory cards, called Mix Clips, that feature pre-recorded music from Walt Disney Records. Disney Mix Sticks have a storage capacity of 128MB (about 60 songs), and use USB 2.0 for connectivity. The Disney MP3 players also feature an SD/MMC card slot for as much as 1GB of storage.

"Digital music is exploding and is ready to take off with kids," Chris Heatherly, Disney Electronics vice president, said in a statement. "The Disney Mix Stick-Mix Clips combination is the perfect way for kids to get started with digital music because it's easier to use than players that can only be used with a PC, and it is just as capable."

The Mix Clip memory cards carry full-length albums from Walt Disney Records and since they are standard SD/MMC cards, they are compatible with computers, cellular phones and other devices. The MP3 players are scheduled to ship in mid-October to major retailers and are expected to sell for around $49. The Mix Clips will be offered separately costing about the same as CDs. Here's the rear of the unit featuring Tinker Bell:

Amazon has great deals on the Disney Mix Stick worth checking out.

Fandango announced they will be rolling out an online and phone movie ticketing service in October. Fandango, will enable users of Web-enabled mobile phones and PDAs to access movie information and ticketing at mobile.fandango.com. Movie-goers can also text Fandango at short-code “FNDGO” (36346) for access to specific movie and theater information.
Future offerings will include location-based services, which will provide additional information (such as restaurant listings) to moviegoers based on their geography.

One other interesting application is that the mobile service will also provide "virtual movie tickets". It will display a barcode on your mobile wireless device which the movie theater employee will then scan to gain entry into the theater. I guess this means that the future of movie theaters will have no paper tickets.

While I'm sure this will save thousands of trees each year, do I really want to have to turn on my cell phone and get scanned again if I use the bathroom and then need to regain entry? What if I then forget to shut off my cell phone? Nothing more annoying than movie goers who forget to shut off their cell phones. There should be an unwritten rule that you can throw your entire bucket of popcorn and/or soda on this person (especially if they take the call) and the movie theater will give you a free refill and a coupon for one free movie for punishing the inconsiderate cell phone user..

According to Fandango, "The new Fandango mobile service was developed in association with wireless application developer Crisp Wireless using its mLogic Media mobile content delivery platform. Fandango’s mobile marketing services will allow studios and other marketers the ability to deliver mobile marketing campaigns and promotions to targeted, active moviegoers and allow them to measure the effectiveness of their campaigns through ticket purchases."

Skype 1.4 was launched late last night. As I have previously stated, it has some sound improvements, call forwarding, a toolbar, personalization features (ring tones), and a few other bells and whistles. Click here to download Skype.

It appears that the new FCC rules to allow a backdoor for wiretapping is not going to happen without a fight. Declan McCullagh reports that The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) said Wednesday that it plans to file suit against the new federal rule. The only thing that Declan may have gotten slightly wrong is this part in bold where he only refers to SkypeOut:

the Federal Communications Commission said that broadband providers and Internet phone companies that link to the public telephone network (Vonage, Packet 8, SkypeOut) must rewire their networks to readily accommodate police wiretaps. If they don't comply, they must shut down.

As I have recently stated here and here, it appears that not only is SkypeOut applicable to this new FCC wiretapping rules, but plain-ole' Skype (Skype-to-Skype) calls fall under the FCC wiretap guidelines as well.

Note: The EFF is suing based on the FCC's intention to wiretap ALL forms of VoIP comminication, including IP-to-IP calls. See EFF's site for details

From the FCC order, the bold is for emphasis:

To be clear, a service offering is “interconnected VoIP” if it offers the capability for users to receive calls from and terminate calls to the PSTN; the offering is covered by CALEA for all VoIP communications, even those that do not involve the PSTN. Furthermore, the offering is covered regardless of how the interconnected VoIP provider facilitates access to and from the PSTN, whether directly or by making arrangements with a third party.

Thus, right now, GoogleTalk for example would not fall under the FCC jurisdiction to be wiretappble since they don't currently offer PSTN termination. However, since Skype does offer PSTN termination via SkypeOut, ALL of their services MUST also be wiretappable, including
even IP-to-IP calls using the Skype client that never touch the PSTN.

This is major news that I have been pointing to for the past couple of days. I expect this from the slow-moving traditional media, but how did the VoIP blogosphere miss this? If I am mistaken, post a comment with a link to others who have written about this.

TomTom is launching a GPS routefinder device for cars together with mapping web site Mapquest. TomTom said the Mapquest device would be a repackaged version of the TomTom Go 300 device. TomTom, whose initial public offering in May was the biggest in five years on the Amsterdam stock exchange, said the device, which will sell for $699, would help it expand its presence in the United States.

I should point out that first TomTom used TeleAtlas's map data (which is terrible in my opinion - at least the U.S. map data), then TomTom announced they would be using NAVTECH's map data (more accurate in my opinion), and now Mapquest.

You know what, I'm not even sure this is necessarily newsworthy since Mapquest already licences and uses the NAVTECH data themselves, thus TomTom already has the Mapquest data (technically NAVTECH data) in the TomTom Go 300. I suppose Mapquest could have their integrated their own special routing algorithm, which is well known for taking you on the most convoluted, err I mean efficient route to your destination.

Update: 5 min from post
Actually, I should have read my prior post on TomTom where I figured out that TomTom was only licensing the NAVTECH maps for the TomTom Rider (motorcycle GPS) product and not other popular TomTom products such as TomTom Go. I also determined and griped that TomTom and Tele Atlas signed a 3 year extension through 2007 (I was rooting for a TomTom Go product with NAVTECH map data).

So I guess this news about a Mapquest OEM'ed version of TomTom Go is probably a way around the TeleAtlas contract good till 2007. I will assume this gives TomTom a way of offering a TomTom Go product that uses the more accurate U.S. NAVTECH data without TomTom breaking their Tele Atlas contract. (assuming it is an exclusive contract)

The FCC once again backed off again on enforcing a deadline for broadband VoIP providers to disconnect all customers who haven't acknowledged the e911 limitations. The decision to delay the enforcement came yesterday, just a day before the deadline would have forced at least 10,000 subscribers to lose phone service. All this repetitive delaying by the FCC reminds me of the movie Groundhog's Day, which happened to be on TV jsut the other night. That movie never gets old even after seeing it 6 times.

In any event, there is a new "wrinkle" added to the mix. The FCC said VoIP providers that had received confirmations from at least 90% of their subscribers would no longer face the disconnection requirement, however, they still must continue seeking the remaining acknowledgments. Talk about your back-peddaling!

All VoIP providers below the 90% threshold will have until October 31st to reach the 90% level and avoid the disconnection requirement.

On a related note, I am very surprised there has not been a lot of hooplah surrounding the FCC's VoIP wiretapping requirement that I blogged about a few days ago. In that article, I read the FCC's order that not only requires the Vonage's of this world to be "wiretappable" but also the PC VoIP softphone clients, such as Skype. It would appear that the FCC not only wants to wiretap SkypeOut calls that touch the PSTN, but also Skype-to-Skype IP calls that never touch the PSTN. This is a huge change since IP calls were formerly protected as an "information service" as defined by Congress. There are some interesting comments to my blog post from the other day about what this means to the VoIP industry that you should really check out.

Wireless security provider Columbitech has announced news on how it helps secure roaming and single log-in capabilities within WiMax and various other networks. Similar to WiFi, WiMAX is a shared network, only with a much larger distance radius. Thus, there are security concerns that are much greater with WiMAX than when sitting in a crowded WiFi hotspot wondering if the guy with the laptop at the other end of the room is sniffing your WiFi traffic.

Columbitech has a solution designed to address these security needs without sacrificing overall end-user convenience. They announced what they claim is the first secure WiMAX-Ready VPN, enabling secure connection and seamless roaming to wireless broadband technology across any network supporting TCP/IP. According to Columbitech, acceptance testing of the new version of WiMAX-ready Columbitech Wireless VPN will be done in cooperation with leading WiMAX equipment suppliers.

The WiMAX-ready Columbitech Wireless VPN (WVPN), a session based security solution, provides users with a seamless and secure connection without having to constantly manually log-in. For example, a user can log on to a corporate network from home using Wi-Fi or any broadband connection available such as ADSL. The user can then travel to the airport, where the secure WVPN session to the corporate network can be resumed over the airport Wi-Fi network as soon as the laptop session has been resumed from hibernation. There is no need for the user to log in again, as the mutual authentication of the secure session is performed in the background and requires no user intervention.

Columbitech Wireless VPN also provides secure connections and seamless roaming across networks like GSM, 3G, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. Amongst all these networks, Columbitech Wireless VPN both encrypts the transmitted data and offers various methods of user authentication to eliminate unauthorized access.

Motorola today unveiled a new line of low-end mobile phones to meet the needs of mass market consumers around the world that can't afford expensive gadgety mobile phones. Motorola's new handsets, include the C118, C139, C168, C257, and C261. I guess they won't be running any VoIP clients such as Skype or have integrated GPS on these low-end, inexpensive mobile phones.

According to Techtree, "The GSMA estimates that despite 80 percent of the world's population having wireless access, only 25 percent are able to use it, with cost identified as the single biggest barrier to mobile communications usage in emerging markets. The partnership with Motorola will aim at extending the reach of mobile telephony and connecting the unconnected in countries such as India, South Africa,
Russia, Egypt, Philippines and Indonesia."

"Motorola is committed to delivering mobile communications to everyone. Building on the momentum of our mass market portfolio, including the GSMA Emerging Markets Handset Program, we have enhanced and expanded this portfolio to meet the diverse needs of today's consumers globally. Our new devices include inspired designs and focus on the best of the basics, while providing valuable extras that extend their usefulness even further," said Steve Lalla, Vice President and General Manager, Mass Market Products, Mobile Devices,
Motorola.

The Motorola C118 features a compact design and easy-to-use keypad, with talk times of up to 700 minutes and up to 450 hours of standby, reducing the need for frequent recharging. The phone also features selectable ringtones, short message service (SMS), alarm clock,
screensavers, and games.

The Motorola C139 features a 65,000 color TFT display, compact size, multi-character phonebook search with internal phonebook storage, SMS, vCard, calendar/datebook with alarm, downloadable ringtones, and an 700 minutes of talk time/ 450 hours of standby time. The phone also includes enhanced usability features such as zoom font, which displays enlarged characters when entering numbers, and Motorola's illuminating Lantern technology.

The Motorola C168 features a sleek and slim form factor with storage for up to 600 phonebook entries and 250 SMS messages. Similar to the C139, the C168 also features a 65,000 color screen, as well as Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS), zoom font, polyphonic ringtones, and Motorola's Lantern feature. In addition, the C168 also includes a built-in FM Stereo radio.

The Motorola C257/261 the C257 and C261 are the latest of Motorola's slim and stylish handsets, and was designed with an ultra-thin design in mind for users that don't want a lot of bulk. Both models offer a crystal clear TFT display capable of 65,000 colors, MMS and up to 450 minutes of talk time and 250 hours of stand-by. The C257 and C261 also include
speakerphone functionality. In addition, the C261 features a VGA camera.

Motorola is showcasing its new mass market handsets at the Emerging Market Pavilion, 3GSM Asia, Suntec City Convention Center, Singapore.

DSG international plc, one of Europe's largest retail outlets, announced a deal where they carry Springvox's OEM'ed version of Packet8. It will marketing under Springvox's "freetalk" brand name (www.freetalk.co.uk), and is customized by Springvox for the UK market. (Looks like they're still getting the website ramped up since all that displays is a simple logo on www.freetalk.co.uk.)

In any event, it will be available from Thursday, September 29th, at DSG international plc retail locations throughout the UK including Dixons, PC World, Currys and The Link.

I'm not much of a Mac user myself (I haven't touched a Mac since college), but I do admire the loyal Mac community. As such, I thought this bit of news for easily and cheaply upgrading your legacy Mac might be a benefit to my Mac readers.

New Low-Cost PowerLogix Upgrade Makes Legacy Macs More Than Nine Times Faster

Put some pounce back into a PCI-based Mac with new 900MHz PowerForce 750GX G3 upgrade immediately available for $139

­ PowerLogix and Other World Computing have immediately available a new 900 Megahertz (MHz) PowerForce 750GX G3 upgrade for PCI- based Macs including PowerMac 7300, 7500, 7600, 8500, 8600, 9500 and 9600 models from Apple Computer, as well as select Power Computing and Umax clones.

The 900MHz PowerForce 750GX G3 includes 512K of L2 cache also running at 900MHz and is immediately available for $139. With a clock speed up to nine times faster than original stock 601 or 604 Apple processors, additional performance and software compatibility are possible because of the modern IBM G3 750FX processor gains this upgrade is based upon.

The PowerForce 1 Gigahertz (GHz) PowerForce 750GX G3 featuring 1MB of L2 Cache also is available for $209.99.

The new PowerForce 750GX G3 is the latest in the PowerForce G3 line, previously honored as "Editor's Choice" by MacWorld Magazine.

"Computers people thought were aging beyond the ability to use Apple's latest advances are still viable," said Larry O'Connor, president of Other World Computing, master distributor for PowerLogix. "Even without using software like XPostFacto to use Apple's Tiger OS, this upgrade makes applications running under OS 8.6 to OS 9.2.2 fly like never before. If it's not broke, don't need to fix it or replace it. But you can buy one of these upgrades to get a whole lot more from it."

The PowerForce 750GX G3 upgrades also include a built-in fan sink to aid CPU cooling, fail-safe protection circuitry, CPU Director software and compatibility with add-on PCI cards.

Online ordering and more information on this new PowerLogix G3 upgrade are available online at www.macsales.com/legacy

Cool new WiFi hotspot finder utilizing a software toolbar. I'll have to download and check it out.

JiWire, the leading provider of information and services to help people connect to the Internet without wires, today unveiled its new WiFi toolbar for major Internet browsers. This free utility features immediate access to a worldwide hotspot directory, WiFi security and connection status, so users can easily find, monitor and secure any wireless connection.

The WiFi toolbar, available at: http://www.jiwire.com/wifi-toolbar.htm, takes just seconds to download and is currently available for Mozilla Firefox (Windows), with coming releases for Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox (Mac OS X), and Safari (Mac OS X). Key features include:

• WiFi Hotspot Finder: allows users to search from the more than 70,000 verified public Wi-Fi hotspots in 103 countries worldwide.
• WiFi Security (via JiWire SpotLock): offers users an easy way to secure their connections with SpotLock and keep data safe directly from their browser.
• WiFi Connection Status: allows users to monitor important details about their connection, including signal strength, level of security protection, MAC address, and IP address

“With more than 70,000 verified hotspots in over 100 countries, WiFi is becoming more available to everyone,” says Kevin McKenzie, CEO of JiWire. “The JiWire toolbar enables people to find and leverage secure WiFi in the context of how they already use the Internet, making it more accessible and easy to use.” According to Pyramid Research, the number of WiFi users is expected to grow to 707 million by 2007.

I must have missed the FCC's announcement 3 days ago that the FCC was going to require certain broadband and VoIP Providers to accommodate wiretaps. The 59-page FCC report is a bit lengthy for me to digest today, so maybe I'll provide a more detailed analysis tomorrow.

A quick speed read seems to indicate the FCC is going to force Internet providers to accomodate wiretaps, but that doesn't include cafes or hotels that use or pay for Internet service. I guess the FCC is targetting the main ISPs and not resellers of Internet service. Here's a very interesting excerpt that sums up who is covered by CALEA wire-tapping rules:

We conclude that CALEA applies to providers of “interconnected VoIP services.” As defined in our recent VoIP E911 Order,107 interconnected VoIP services include those VoIP services that: (1) enable real-time, two-way voice communications; (2) require a broadband connection from the user’s location; (3) require IP-compatible customer premises equipment; and (4) permit users to receive calls from and terminate calls to the PSTN.108 We find that providers of interconnected VoIP services satisfy CALEA’s definition of “telecommunications carrier” under the SRP and that CALEA’s Information Services Exclusion does not apply to interconnected VoIP services. To be clear, a service offering is “interconnected VoIP” if it offers the capability for users to receive calls from and terminate calls to the PSTN; the offering is covered by CALEA for all VoIP communications, even those that do not involve the PSTN. Furthermore, the offering is covered regardless of how the interconnected VoIP provider facilitates access to and from the PSTN, whether directly or by making arrangements with a third party.

Am I wrong in interpreting this definition to not only include Vonage, Packet8, AT&T CallVantage, but also Skype and any other PC-to-PSTN software? Skype falls under (1), (2), and (4) but not necessarily (3), i.e."require IP-compatible customer premises equipment." The FCC is referring to ATAs (analog telephone adaptors), however the term IP-compatible customer premise equipment is "vague enough" that it could apply to a Personal Computer (PC), which Skype does require.

So while Skype was not covered by the e911 rules, it would appear that CALEA extends not just to typical VoIP broadband providers but also Skype whose SkypeOut service touches the PSTN.

Though I would have thought that granting the U.S. government (FBI specifically) the right to force Skype to make their facilities "wiretap-able" would have made major news three days ago. After all, Skype espouses the fact that it offers privacy, encryption, etc. for its Voice over IP. Maybe I am just misinterpreting the FCC order? I'll have to try and read it in its entirety tonight.

Reading a little deeper, I found this quote:

We find that interconnected VoIP service is not subject to the Information Services Exclusion in CALEA.As we have explained, the legislative history contains much discussion of “information services,” but not once did Congress contemplate that any type of voice service would fall into that category... Most significantly, Congress explicitly distinguished between “information services” that are not covered by CALEA and “services or facilities that enable the subscriber to make, receive or direct calls,” which are covered.

I read a bit more, and if I am interpreting this FCC order correctly, I believe that the FCC is now saying that PC-to-PSTN VoIP calls are covered (including SkypeOut calls) but that PC-to-PC calls fall under the classification of "information service" and are not covered by the CALEA's wiretapping rules. This would mean that Skype-to-Skype calls cannot be wiretapped but if you make a SkypeOut phone call, the FCC could request a wiretap at whomever Skype uses to terminate to the PSTN.

Thus, in reality, Skype wouldn't be the one having to allow the FBI into its facilities - rather Level3, Deltathree, and all other termination service providers used by Skype would have to open their doors for an FBI wiretap. Although I wonder if the FBI could force Skype to pass on the username to their termination service providers to make it easier to wiretap a specific Skype user. That info may already even be sent via SIP for billing purposes, but I'd have to confirm that.