December 2005 Archives

Skibare took a novel approach to determine VoIP "awareness". He went skiing and chose to sit on the chair lift with mostly adults with instead of "the Apple iPOD Wearing younger generation" and asked them if they knew or heard of the terms Digital Voice, Skype, Vonage and VoIP. Check out the "amazing" results of his informal survey.:)

It's an annual event -- the making of New Year's Resolutions.  But rather than look at the typical tried and true resolutions -- lose weight, exercise more, yada, yada, yada -- why not make "Gadgets"-centric resolutions this year?

 How about these:

• Purchase gadgets that I know I will use to their fullest
• Learn more about the capabilities and features of gadgets I already own
• Give away or donate gadgets that I no longer use (old cell phones, cassette players, turntables, radios, watches, organizers -- you know what's in your closet, attic, basement and garage) so that those less fortunate can benefit from all of this wonderful technology that we can sometimes take for granted

Does anybody have any to add?

I promised predictions for 2006 and so here they are. Nothing like waiting till the last minute, eh? Let me first start my analyzing my 2005 VoIP predictions. Some I have abbreviated for brevity sake, so if you wish to read my full thoughts on a particular 2005 prediction, go check out the original article. Within my analysis of my 2005 predictions I couldn't help myself but to intertwine some predictions for 2006 -- as opposed to just separating them all out. I do have a list of separated 2006 predictions at the end, but there are also thoughts & predictions within the analysis of my 2005 predictions.

So let's begin with the analysis of last year's predictions...

1) VoIP providers will continue to run to the FCC (a VoIP proponent) for protection from the big bad bully RBOCs, ILECs, CLECs, etc. as they try and lobby Congress to regulate VoIP.

Analysis: (wrong) If anything, the VoIP providers are running away from the FCC and complaining to Congress over several FCC rulings. The reason for the change? Well, Michael Powell, the former FCC chairman and a huge VoIP proponent stepped down in early 2005 after I had already made my 2005 predictions in late 2004. All bets were off once Michael Powell was replaced by Kevin J. Martin, where recent evidence shows he is much more in favor of incumbent carriers than in protecting VoIP startups, including the infamous FCC vs. Brand X Supreme Court decision.

2) VoIP providers will continue to harp that the government shouldn't impose any regulations on VoIP and that the industry should be open & free, while simultaneously VoIP providers will continue to alienate their customers by password-protecting and locking the customer's ATA (analog telephony adaptor), thus preventing customers from easily switching to another VoIP provider and using the same ATA. This is hypocrisy at its worst! Customers will continue to be left with useless ATA "bricks" which eventually will make it the local landfill when they switch to a better VoIP provider.

Analysis: (correct) Unfortunately, more VoIP service providers are still locking their ATAs even though they often charge you a $50 or more cancellation fee if you cancel within 1 year. Often their rational for the cancellation fee is that they give you the hardware for free and therefore since they have to "subsidize" the hardware costs they need to recoup the investment. I say if you are going to charge me $50 to recoup your losses, that's fine, but unlock the damn ATA!

3) With millions of customers using VoIP and with the ability to now easily switch to another voice provider and keep your existing phone number, more customers will switch to the best value, which means more ATAs will make it to the landfill drawing attention from the EPA. Rather than let the EPA regulate recycling of ATAs, in 2005 VoIP providers will offer a rebate or discount to "turn in" your old ATA so they can recycle it. It can even be a selling point to get you to switch from a competitor - "Be green! Send us your old VoIP ATA and we will give you the first month for free!"

Analysis: (neither) I wasn't entirely serious with this prediction. It was more of an idealistic, hopeful thought on my part. In the back of my mind I hoped this would happen to not only protect the
environment but also to stop the practice of locking ATAs causing consumers unnecessary cost expenditures.

4) 2005 - The Year Triple Play took off

Analysis: (partially true) While it is true that more providers are offering Triple Play packages, especially the cable companies, I was actually hoping to see the Baby Bells and other carriers take off with their Triple Play offerings that included voice, video/TV, and data. And I don't mean fiber - sure the carriers have some Triple Play trial deployments in small communities, but nothing large scale. No I was hoping to see the carriers deploy Triple Play using the high-speed ADSL2+ standard that uses ubiquitous copper wiring. Unfortunately, we didn't see massive ADSL2+ deployments.

Relatedly, I read a NY Times article yesterday that said, "Verizon has also been hit harder than the other Bells by competition from cable companies, which are expanding rapidly into the phone business." as well as this quote, "In addition to the continuing loss of its landline customers, investors are worried about the company's decision to spend billions of dollars to build fiber optic lines to homes and expand into an already crowded cable television market."

Let me comment on these two quotes. While the investors are crying about Verizon's large investment in fiber which will affect the short-term stock price, I think Verizon is making the right decision to make the investment now while they still are profitable. Look at what happened to AT&T. AT&T waited way too long to diversify started losing customers and revenue and was finally gobbled up by SBC. While the AT&T brand remains, this is not the same "invincible" AT&T I grew up with. The last part of the 2nd NY Times quote which I bolded above ("and expand into an already crowded cable television market") really stuck in my craw. As radio personality Curtis Sliwa would say, "You couldn't be more hopelessly wrong! The cable space is not crowded. In all the towns I have ever lived in, I have had only one choice of cable provider. If you assume the journalist meant any TV programming provider, then you can also throw in satellite TV. That basically gives you only 2 choices - cable or satellite. It's once you hit three competitors in any industry that things get really price competitive for the consumer. There is plenty of room for Verizon to offer TV programming.

Let me point out that currently My cable bill is $130 with $39.95 for 3Mbps high-speed Internet. If Verizon or any other provider can offer me a monthly package that includes $25 unlimited VoIP, $30 broadband data, $50 TV programming, and $30 for wireless phone service for a grand total of $135/month I'd switch in a heartbeat. Verizon like several other carriers has a distinct advantage of the cable companies in that they can also bundle wireless cell phone service.

5) Return of the Jedi (Return of telemarketing calls to switch providers)

Analysis: (wrong) This prediction was predicated on the notion that Triple Play offerings would take off in 2005, (as stated in the previous prediction it did not) which would allow the service providers to "telemarket" you since the DNC regulations allow telemarketers to contact you IF the company has done business with you in the last 6 months. So if for instance you signed up for Cablevision TV, Cablevision's telemarketers could call you to switch phone service. Surprisingly, even where Triple Play has taken foothold in the cable market I have not heard of the cable companies telemarketing to their customer base to switch phone service.

6) The Empire Strikes Back Phone companies (The Empire) will go after the cable companies' TV business just as the cable companies have successfully gone after the phone companies' voice and data business. This is related to my Triple Play prediction, but I just had to work Star Wars somewhere into these predictions.

Analysis (mostly wrong) As previously stated, the carriers have only done limited trials of TV programming, but
the carriers are definitely eyeing the cable companies TV programming market. 2006 could be the year the carriers finally get it together.

7) Colleges ramp up on VoIP

Analysis: (true) From the research I have done, analysts I've spoken to, and news releases I have received, college campuses are definitely deploying VoIP. Mostly Avaya and Cisco equipment from what I have heard. Even though many college campuses have invested millions in their legacy infrastructure, their are cost savings with IP-PBXs, such as ease of moves, adds, and deletions (administration costs) that have a quick ROI, especially due to the high turnover of incoming and graduating students.

8) Cities become their own phone companies
You will start to see more cities not only offering high-speed wireless broadband using WiMAX and other high-speed wireless technologies, but you will start to see cities offering their own phone services as well.

Analysis: (somewhat true) It is true that several cities have deployed city-wide WiFi. Also, Google want to WiFi up the entire world according to the Google Blog. Some cities have even deployed VoIP and interconnected all of city's infrastructure buildings, including police headquarters, city hall, and fire department, all over a dedicated network with simple extension-to-extension dialing between city offices. However, having a private phone network isn't the same thing as the city reselling phone service to its city's citizens. I believe I came across some regulation that now prohibits cities from reselling phone service. Wish I could find it. Anyone?

9) VoIP Spam + 1st VoIP spam lawsuit

Analysis: (somewhat true) There are cases of VoIP spam, including Skype spam, but nothing of an earth-shattering nature. And of course there are pranksters doing CallerID spoofing using VoIP, but again, nothing newsworthy. There hasn't been a VoIP spam lawsuit either.

10) Microsoft tries its hand again at VoIP
I foresee Microsoft taking another shot at the VoIP market. I predict Longhorn, which has had its deadline pushed back several times will have some nifty VoIP features. Longhorn was supposed to come out in early 2005, but word is it won't come out until 2006. I predict even if it does come out in 2006 that we will see betas in mid-to-late 2005 that demonstrate some cool VoIP capabilities.

Analysis: (true) Microsoft has teamed up with MCI to offer PSTN termination using an "invite only" beta of the Windows Live Messenger client and Microsoft has recently partnered with Japan's Softbank to offer business VoIP.

That's a 6-3-1 record. 6 correct, 3 wrong, and 1 neither.

Ok, now for the 2006 VoIP Predictions

1) Pay as you go (pre-paid) VoIP takes off in 2006
Unlimited VoIP for a flat monthly rate is sooo 2003. With more competition in the VoIP space VoIP service providers will have to come up with more creative pricing schemes, including in my opinion, "pre-paid VoIP". Already, one provider Xpert VoIP lets you sign up and pay just $5/month and then a per-minute rate after that. While it's still a post-paid model, the flat monthly fee is getting very close to $0 which incurs more risk and liability to the VoIP service provider, especially for customers with poor credit. Thus, many VoIP service providers will start to offer and promote a "pre-paid VoIP" model.

Prepaid service is ideal for people who rarely use their phones or prefer to limit their usage. Since the service is prepaid, there's no monthly bill, and it doesn't require a credit check. Cellular companies already offer pay-as-you-go plans including AT&T Wireless, T-Mobile, TracFone, Verizon Wireless, and Virgin Mobile.

2) Universal Phone Minutes (UPM)
Take for example Verizon. Verizon offers DSL broadband, cellular phone, and broadband VoIP with their VoiceWing service. Today, I can get 1500 Verizon wireless minutes and 500 VoiceWing VoIP minutes. Why not just give me 1500+500 = 2000 Universal Phone Minutes (UPM) to be used on any of Verizon's phone services? With rollover of course...

Relatedly, and this isn't a prediction for 2006, but maybe in 2014... is my prediction that the concept of "phone minutes" will go away. Voice will just become another application riding on data networks. Instead the carriers will use the concept of monthly "credits". Each month you get a set of credits which can be used for phone minutes, downloading movies/TV programming, extra QoS for a videoconference, and perhaps even purchasing books, DVDs, or other items. The carriers will become like Amazon.com.

3) Skype becomes "bloatware" and possibly "adware"
We already know that eBay plans on integrating Skype buttons on their Web-based eBay auctions. It's too easy of a prediction to state that in 2006 eBay and Skype will go live with this feature. Nope, my prediction is that the Skype software will become much more bloated with functionality that has little to do with finding and communicating with people over the Internet. With 70 million Skype users, Skype has a large captive audience with which to offer advertising/adware. Skype CEO, Niklas Zennström, is the founder of the popular P2P application Kazaa, which probably caused the largest infestation of spyware & adware in the history of computing with Kazaa's inclusion of the notorious GAIN and Cydoor programs. One could argue that Niklas is more "customer" friendly nowadays and wouldn't sell out to advertisers for the sake of money, but on the other hand he sold Skype to eBay for $2.6 billion. Hmmm... One must also wonder how much power Niklas has in the direction of Skype now that eBay owns Skype. eBay is known for being customer friendly, so they may not approve any advertising/adware bundled into the Skype client.

Even if advertising isn't embedded into the Skype client, I think other non-critical features will be added to the Skype client. I think Skype may integrate a small browser into their client which will let you quickly search eBay auctions from within the Skype client along with a check box to only display auctions with sellers registered with Skype.

Initially, even with 70 million Skype users there still may not be many auctions with sellers registered with Skype. However, eBay could offer
incentives to the sellers such as reducing the auction fee if you list your auction with your Skype ID and presence listed with your auction.

4) The WiMAX hype will continue. WiMAX deployment unfortunately will be very slow in 2006

5) Ubiquitous WiFi in large cities - This is similar to my #8 prediction for 2005. As previously mentioned Google seems to deploy WiFi everywhere and they certainly have a lot of dark fiber capacity that they can light up. I just hope they don't focus just on the West Coast. Hey, don't forget about us East Coasters, Google!

6) Microsoft buys Level3 - Ok, you're probably thinking this prediction is from way out in Left field, but hear me out. Level3 has been burning cash for awhile, had to restructure debt, etc. While many won't touch Level3 with a 10-foot pole due to their outstanding debt, Microsoft has the deep pockets to be Level3's knight in shining armor. Level3 is one of the largest termination providers if not the largest in the world. Microsoft has been itching to break into the VoIP space for years. If Microsoft owns Level3 they can offer free worldwide long-distance (or heavily discounted) to anyone that uses their Windows Live Messenger client to entice people away from Skype or the impending Google Gtalk threat. Microsoft needs to do something drastic if they are going to get into the VoIP game. Remember General Norman Schwarzkopf's famous "left hook" into Iraq that took the Iraqi army completely by surprise and is widely credited with shortening the war by 4 days? Well, Microsoft could pull a similar "left hook" that would leave Google and Yahoo! scratching their heads saying, "Where the hell did that come from?"

Further, Microsoft can leverage Windows Mobile 5.0 smart phones install a Windows Mobile 5.0 compatible Windows Live Messenger client and then leverage inexpensive Level3 termination to offer price-competitive VoIP calling from Windows smart phones.

7) IM & VoIP Interoperability finally happens. Ok, this one might be more wishful thinking. But with companies such as Festoon offering software that lets you talk to both Google Gtalk and Skype users, perhaps this will put pressure on Microsoft, Google, Skype, and the others to "get along". GAIM is another software that integrates multiple IM clients. There are a few others as well. When will the big boys get it?

8) Vonage goes IPO instead of attempting to be acquired. Russell Shaw also made this prediction, but I had the same thought before reading his predictions. No rules against two pundits predicting the same thing, right?

9) Asterisk (Digium), the open-source IP-PBX gets deployed by a Fortune 500 company. I should point out that I don't mean a small Fortune 500 branch office that installs a single Asterisk server. I'm talking about a Fortune 500 company that installs Asterisk in at least 5 branch offices OR at their main corporate headquarters. This would be major news for Asterisk and another endorsement of the open source movement. Cisco is asked for comment on this young upstart and simply replies, "Cisco is a well established company with reliable, scalable, and affordable VoIP solutions that is committed to its customers and will be here for years to come."

Well, I had a few other predictions rolling around in my head, but they day is half over and I wanted to get these out before the New Year's holiday weekend. I guess this year will have to be 9 predictions instead of an even 10. Hope you enjoyed the predictions and feel free to comment.

A reliable source has told me that Global IP Sound (GIPS) informed their investors that they will have an "extraordinary" meeting early January. They have named a few new board members, one of them, Bradley E. Sparks, used to be chairman of the Issuers Affairs Committee on NASDAQ. Could an IPO for Global IP Sound, one of my favorite VoIP companies be in the works? (right now they are traded OTC) Boy, GIPS has come a long way since I did the very first review of their VoIP codec on a PocketPC. Their codec is used by Skype, GoogleTalk, and many other softphones.

The Z22 organizer gets back to Palm’s roots when it decided that designing one device (a hand-held electronic organizer) to do a few select things would make everyone forget paper organizers, note pads or small pieces of paper scattered all over the place.  I started what seems ages ago with the original black & white Palm Pilot and then moved up to the V and Vx and then the Treo 600 (which added cell phone capability).  As the products moved from generation to generation, features (and complexity) kept getting added.

Now, the Z22 is designed specifically for people who haven’t seen what a handheld organizer can do (are there still people in the world like that?) and who believe that simple is better.

Infinitely faster and better feeling than its Palm Pilot ancestor (the Z22’s color screen is great!), the Z22 makes everything super simple; a touch of a button or tapping the built-in stylus on the screen brings up your appointments, contacts, tasks and memos.  You can also access the note pad, expense tracker, calculator and world clock functions quickly an easily. 

The note pad function is particularly cool – for super fast memo taking it captures your handwriting on the screen as a new item.  The Z22 can also store photos in its 32MB memory.

It’s available for $99 direct from Palm (http://store.palm.com).

It used to be that IBM’s ThinkPad was the Cadillac (Mercedes, Lexus – you fill in the blank) of notebook computers.  Prized foremost by road warriors (particularly of the business class), it always was held in high regard in our household.  Starting with the 755CD, moving onto the 560 and later the T20, these survived the wear and tear of heavy business use as well as heavy child use. (They didn’t get the reputation for being built like tanks for nothing.)

However, while time waits for no one, neither does innovation in consumer electronics.  While IBM struggled to make money in personal computers, Toshiba and then later Dell and HP challenged IBM in this slot.  In recent years, IBM seemed to have a solid hold on the third position in notebook computers – solidly behind Dell and HP.  In fact, our most recent notebook purchase was a Dell Inspiron 700M.

With the sale earlier this year to Lenovo, the Chinese computer company, one was left to wonder where the proud ThinkPad name was headed.  Now, it looks like Lenovo is pointed at challenging the leaders with the news last week that it had recruited William Amelio, a senior vice president from Dell as its new chief executive and president.   He had also worked earlier at IBM for nearly a decade.

With this move only a little more than six months after Lenovo completed its purchase of IBM’s personal computer business, analysts believe this signifies that Lenovo wants to try to match Dell's growth.

With these developments, I’m looking forward to seeing if the ThinkPad can once again gain the top spot.  Who says competition isn’t good?

I was trying to update my Windows Java to version 5.0 Update 6 to test a software product from Fonality and the online installer wasn't able to connect to Sun Microsystems' Web servers to download the file. I got an error while it was trying to download one of the .CAB files. Chris Lyman over at Fonality joked that Sun has more uptime than IBM. Well, apparently not. I just tried manually installing by accessing the "online" installer files (238KB) and the "offline" installer files (16MB) and neither worked. Guess I will have to wait till Sun fixed the problem with their FTP or HTTP server. Ironically, the Linux download worked.

The Kill a Watt electrical usage meter is an amazing piece of gadgetry that can save you hundreds of dollars a year in electricity by measuring the wattage (power) used by all your home electric appliances (TV, computer, dryer, refrigerator, clock, oven, etc.) Ok, maybe not that "amazing", since the science of measuring watts, voltage, etc. has existed for decades, but cool nonetheless.

In fact, I should mention that last month I received an electric bill for $400 and I have oil (not electric) heat! I called the electric company to cry "foul". Surely, even I, Mr. Gadget Lover could not possibly be using $400/month of electricity! Could my 65" Mitsubishi rear projection TV be sucking that much juice? The electric company (NorthEast Utilities) was somewhat sympathetic to my plight. They explained that they use an average reading and that because my electric bill was low the month before that they had to compensate for this particular month.

Ok, so my electric bill the month before was $64, so you're telling me I spend $64 + $400=$464 for 2 months or $232/month on electricity? The NU rep asked if I had an old fridge (yes) and if I had an extra fridge (yes - a small college fridge) and stated that they could add about $50/month. Even if you take off the $50, that's still a ridiculously high bill. The X-File conspirist in me asked her "Is it possible my neighbor is tapping my electrical line?" She said it was highly unlikely. Nevertheless, I went outside and traced the electric meter and the electric line all the way up to the pole and made sure there weren't any funny looking holes or tunnels leading to my neighbors yard.

Doubleed also sells a similar unit that will log your electric usage to its memory but their low-end model starts at $99.95 where as the Kill a Watt device only costs ($28.95 used), so I think I will pick one up and test my home electric devices, including my plethora of gadgets. I'll report back here with what I find.

I'm still trying to digest what this press release from Microsoft, Softbank, and Japan Telecom means - I'm a bit busy trying to catch up after the long holiday. I think Softbank has termination and I believe Softbank is considered the "Vonage" of Japan. In which case, I believe this release is saying that Microsoft Office Live Communications Server 2005 is not only using MCI for PSTN termination, but Microsoft has now also added Softbank for termination.

Actually, upon some further review it appears that this partnership is enabling Microsoft to have a foot in the door within the "business VoIP" sector. Very interesting. My only question then is why go after the Japanese "business VoIP" sector and not the U.S.? Did Level3's killing of their 3Tone business VoIP product scare Microsoft away from the U.S. business VoIP market? Japan certainly seems to be embracing VoIP at the business level faster than the U.S. On the other hand, Covad is still targetting the U.S. business VoIP market, as is Smoothstone, and several others.
________________________________________
Today, Microsoft Communications Sector announced a strategic alliance with SOFTBANK BB and JAPAN TELECOM.Below are highlights of the announcement, with the full text of the press release to follow:

• The companies are developing an integrated communications service that combines voice over Internet protocol (VoIP), e-mail, Internet access, groupware, presence, instant messaging and desktop services with network infrastructure.

• The alliance will combine the Microsoft Solution for Enhanced VoIP Services with SOFTBANK BB's IP phone platform and JAPAN TELECOM's network infrastructure to generate a full range of communications tools.

• The announcement will enable small and mid-size businesses to take advantage of enterprise-class communications services for increased productivity through real-time communications.

Microsoft, SOFTBANK BB and JAPAN TELECOM Announce Strategic Relationship to Provide Integrated Voice, E-Mail, Groupware, Instant Messaging and Desktop Services

SOFTBANK BB and JAPAN TELECOM to incorporate Microsoft Solution for Enhanced VoIP Services

Microsoft Co. Ltd., SOFTBANK BB Corp., and JAPAN TELECOM CO. LTD., announced that they are developing a security-enhanced, integrated communications service that combines voice over Internet protocol (VoIP), e-mail, Internet access, groupware, presence, instant messaging and desktop services with network infrastructure, and that they have formed a strategic business alliance to provide this service as a business-oriented solution.
The combination of Microsoft Solution for Enhanced VoIP Services with the IP phone expertise of SOFTBANK BB, Japan's largest carrier of IP phone services, delivers a platform with enhanced security that provides rich messaging, presence and collaboration functions with high-quality voice services. Further, JAPAN TELECOM plans to couple this integrated communication service with its high-quality networking infrastructure and managed network operation to provide its own information communication technologies (ICT) platform service to the corporate market.

Linking the Microsoft Solution for Enhanced VoIP Services with BB Phone's voice platform and JAPAN TELECOM's managed network service will enable small and midsize businesses to take advantage of enterprise-class communications services, including VoIP services, to achieve increased productivity through internal and external real-time communications. The Microsoft Solution for Enhanced VoIP Services comprises hosted versions of Microsoft server products including Microsoft Exchange Server 2003, Microsoft Office Live Communications Server 2005 and Windows SharePoint Services with Sylantro Systems Corp.'s Application Feature Server.

The companies plan to begin trials of the integrated communications services in spring of 2006.
About SOFTBANK BB Corp.
Established in May 2000, SOFTBANK BB engages in the provision of broadband infrastructure as well as in technical development, marketing, sales and support. The company offers IT-related distribution and services, and supervises and administers affiliated broadband and e-commerce companies.

About JAPAN TELECOM
JAPAN TELECOM is one of the largest Information & Communications Technology solution service providers in Japan with a more than 13,000km nationwide fiber optic digital network. The company is also growing its substantial international business with its world-wide presence. JAPAN TELECOM provides a wide range of voice and data communications services tailored to suit all needs of corporate, small and medium-sized enterprises, along with consumers. The company is a 100% subsidiary of SOFTBANK BB CORP.

About Microsoft
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq "MSFT") is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

I don't know about you, but when I'm watching a DVD or playing a video game I want full surround sound with the bass cranked way up so I can "feel" the explosions of a frag grenade or feel the footsteps of the T-Rex as he stomps closer. There's only one problem with enjoying lots of bass and high volume - the people around you; husband, wife, neighbors, etc. might not want to hear it or feel the bass reverberating through the floors, especially late at night which is "prime-time" video gaming time! Sound was meant to be felt, especially when immersed in a video game. So what's an bass addict to do?

Well, no worries, just put on the Audio FX Force Feedback Headphones ($49.95) which will let you "feel" every explosion and every impact due to its unique force feedback characteristics - all without disturbing the neighbors or waking up the kids or "significant other". Massive force feedback from powerful bass vibrations let you literally feel the gaming action. The Audio FX's bass amplifier interprets frequencies below 20Hz (human ear cannot hear, but can feel these frequencies) and transforms them into vibrations that you can feel through the headphone earpiece. Although these headphones are designed for gaming, you can certainly use them for VoIP applications such as Skype or Google's Gtalk.

The headset features a circumaural earphone design, an adjustable noise-cancelling microphone, and an inline controller for adjusting both the volume and vibration. In addition, There are also multicolored LED level meters on the outside of the ear cups that are synchronized to the sounds coming through the headphones. The headset uses the USB port to power the lights and vibrations, but interestingly enough it also connects to the sound card's analog ports for the microphone and headphones. I'm surprised they didn't run both the audio and power for the vibration over the same USB connector, but perhaps there isn't enough USB power one one port to do both and have effective vibration force feedback.

The headset is a bit bulkier than usual but this is necessary to to accommodate the force feedback capabilities. If you have ever pondered whether to play a video game at 10pm and thought to yourself, "It's not the same without being able to crank up the sound and feel the explosions" then you need to pick up a pair of AudioFX Force Feedback headphones - you won't be disappointed.

Much buzz yesterday afternoon about Pioneer’s announcement to unveil a Blu-ray Disc drive at the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas in early January. According to the announcement, the first Blu-ray Disc format optical disc drive for personal computers will go on sale in Japan at the end of January -- pending licensing issues.

This is the first announcement of a shipping date from any optical disc drive maker. Blu-ray, also known as Blu-ray Disc (BD), is the name of a next-generation optical disc format jointly developed by the Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA), a group of the world's leading consumer electronics, personal computer and media manufacturers. This group includes Apple, Dell, Hitachi, HP, JVC, LG, Mitsubishi, Panasonic, Pioneer, Philips, Samsung, Sharp, Sony, TDK and Thomson.

While current optical disc technologies such as DVD, DVD±R, DVD±RW, and DVD-RAM use a red laser to read and write data, the new format uses a blue-violet laser instead, hence the name Blu-ray.

The format was developed to enable recording, rewriting and playback of High-Definition video (HD), as well as storing large amounts of data. A single-layer Blu-ray Disc can hold 25GB, which can be used to record more than two hours of  or more than 13 hours of standard-definition TV. There are also dual-layer versions of the discs that can hold 50GB.

Despite the different type of lasers used, Blu-ray products can easily be made backwards compatible through the use of a BD/DVD/CD compatible optical pickup that would allow playback of CDs and DVDs. The benefit of using a blue-violet laser (405nm) is that it has a shorter wavelength than a red laser (650nm), which makes it possible to focus the laser spot with even greater precision. This allows data to be packed more tightly and stored in less space, so it's possible to fit more data on the disc even though it's the same size as a CD/DVD.

Initial plans by Pioneer call for it to initially offer the drive directly to Japanese PC makers for their desktop computers, with sales later expanding to other countries. This translates into PCs with Blu-ray Disc support appearing on the market in the first half of next year.

Xpert VoIP has set a new low in pricing plans with a low $5/month plan that comes with 200 minutes of calling time anywhere in the U.S. and Canada, Additional minutes are billed at 2.8 cents a minute, but the realy nice thing is that they cap it at a maximum of $24 a month, which is still $0.99 less than Vonage's unlimited plan ($24.99) should you be a heavy per-minute user on a particular month.

But for months where you have light usage, you aren't stuck shelling out the full $24.99 like you would with Vonage's unlimited plan. If you only use 200 minutes or less that's just $5/month you pay. Of course, most users will go over 200 minutes per month. Essentially, you'd have to use up 678 minutes ($19 calling @$0.28/minute + $5 flat fee) to reach the $24/month maximum cap. That's roughly 22.6 minutes of talk time per day on the phone. If you average much less than that then it might make sense to choose Xpert VoIP. If you make 22.6 minutes or more you can still save $0.99 per month over Vonage, but then you have to decide if you want to take a change and go with a relatively unknown VoIP player or go with Vonage - a known commodity in the VoIP space - or even some of Vonage's better known competitors like Packet8 or SunRocket.

While many may think of Bose when it comes to high-quality iPod or MP3 player speakers, I think they’d be making a big mistake if they didn’t take more notice of Altec Lansing’s inMotion products, particularly the iM7 portable audio system.

The roll-shaped unit is the perfect companion for any MP3 player, not only iPod and iPod mini’s with its built-in cradle.  Even better, it will also work with CD players and other audio devices, including older iPods and even laptop computers, and also offers a video output for the iPod photo so images can be viewed on most TVs.

Noted for the long history of professional sound systems, Altec Lansing has applied their well-earned reputation to consumer sound.  The iM7's impressive sound comes from two pairs of highly advanced neodymium 3-inch drivers and 1-inch tweeters, plus a powerful, built-in XdB™-enhanced side-firing subwoofer for enhanced bass.

A wireless remote provides across-the-room command of both the iM7 and iPod, allowing perfect adjustment of your music.  The iM7 also charges your iPod while it plays when connected to the AC adapter.  With batteries, you can take the whole system with you wherever you need high-powered, high-quality sound.

Let the good times roll!

MSRP: $249.95, with street prices running just under $200.

www.alteclansing.com

In my post last night titled "Splog Away! Splog away! Splog Away all!" - a pun of "Dash Away! Dash Away! Dash Away all!" - I commented on a recent splogging of several bloggers' content. I've been splogged a few times in the past and I even recently discovered a website republishing full content and images from my blog, Andy Abramson, Om Malik, Skype Journal, Jeff Pulver, and several others on VoIPPlanet.us. That site (http://voip.xb90.com) has already been taken offline. For me, this all began when I came across Andy's email as well as his comments on the XB90 site's splogging here.

Well, as of 9:30am this morning at least, I noticed that VoIPPlanet.us (http://voipplanet.us) also took their splogged content offline with a message statiing:

Hi,

I took this planet site down while some "issues" are resolved with the
authors. That's to say, they think I 'may' have been splogging them.

Thanks to those who emailed me first to verify this wasn't the intention.

-steve

Gee, I can't even take some blogging time off for the Christmas holiday without some major controversy hitting the blogosphere. Apparently, some splogger has been lifting several bloggers full content surrounded by Google Adsense. Andy Abramson, a fellow VoIP blogger included me in an email thread with several other "heavy-hitting" technology-related bloggers, all of which I assume were getting "splogged". Hard to tell if I was splogged since the culprit's website was taken offline after some complaints and strings pulled by someone whose content was stolen.

Andy points out that back in March that Andy, Om, and I were "splogged". Andy and Om were more upset about it than I was since their full RSS feeds were splogged where as my RSS feed was only a short 40 word excerpt they were taking. Had it been the full XML/RSS feed I certainly would have been just as upset as Andy and Om.

Andy wrote about the March splogging in light of the recent splogging:

If this was the first time, it would be a shock, but back in March I found someone else doing the same thing in a much more commercial light.

A PR person in the Los Angeles area was hired by a marketing company to develop a blogging strategy around VoIP for an enterprise VoIP hardware and service company, call them a VAR for lack of a better description. The PR person's strategy was to “lift” content from Om Malik, me and Tom Keating. I did some digging, while I was over in France via the net, tracked down the actual programmers in Denver who gave me all the details of who was who, they advised that the PR person and so called blogging expert had told them in no uncertain terms that they had permission to use our content, something in the case of Om and I for certain was not true.