February 2006

You are browsing the archive for February 2006.

Is Free TiVO On the Horizon?

February 28, 2006

In days of old (actually not that long ago), everybody who had TiVO loved to tell anybody who didn’t have TiVO how great the system was – record TV show, watch them when you want (and skip the commercials!). Ah, those were the days ...

Now, as TiVO faces increasing competition on simultaneous front – cable TV companies, satellite TV companies and consumer electronics manufacturers with their own digital video recorder offerings – TiVO is contemplating the ultimate four-letter word in CE (and any other market, too): free.

Yes, in another version of the “give away the razor, sell the blades,” TiVO is considering pricing options that would include free set-top boxes (with the trade-off being long plans or some such catch.

Will existing customers (some 4 million) get a break?

Never a dull moment ….

Posted in Video Hardware & Software

Tagged: digital video recorder, tivo : Related Tags:

Steve Jobs unveils new Apple products

February 28, 2006

At today's special Apple Event, Apple made several product announcements that can finally silence the "hype" that has been surrounding this news event for the past several days. As I predicted, Apple did not launch an Apple iPod VoIP device. They did however announce a few products including two updated models of their Mac mini.

From TAUW:
1.5GHz Intel Core Single
1.5GHz Intel Core Solo processor
2MB L2 Cache
667MHz Frontside Bus
512MB memory (667MHz DDR2 SDRAM)
60GB Serial ATA hard drive
Combo drive (DVD-ROM/CD-RW)
Price: Starts at $599.00

1.67 GHz Intel Core Dual
1.66GHz Intel Core Duo processor
2MB L2 Cache
667MHz Frontside Bus
512MB memory (667MHz DDR2 SDRAM)
80GB Serial ATA hard drive
Double-layer SuperDrive (DVD R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
Price: Starts at $799.00

They also announced a new leather sleeve for the iPod, which no doubt will cause many third-party accessory manufacturers to cry foul. Note the "official" iPod logo.

Posted in Gadgets

Tagged: apple, hi-fi, ipod : Related Tags: third party, price starts, products including, apple, products, intel

Weblogs Outage

February 28, 2006

I noticed Engadget was down, so I then checked other Weblogs blogs, including Ted Wallingford's VoIP Weblog and it too was having an outage. I then check BBHub, Russell Shaw's BlackBerry blog, and it too was down. Wow, I've NEVER seen Engadget or any Weblogs site down. Could be a major outage. Time of this post: 1:10pm.

Update: it's now 1:27pm and all Weblogs blogs are back online. I'll shoot off an email to my contacts and see what happened. Boy, last week it was the Wordpress hosting site, and now this week Weblogs, Inc.?

Posted in News

Tagged: engadget, outage, weblogs : Related Tags: weblogs blogs, weblogs, outage

NEUTON Cordless Electric Mower

February 28, 2006

The NEUTON Cordless Electric Mower is an environmentally friendly mower that is also half as loud as their gas-guzzling brethren.You can do yourself and the environment a big favor by swapping your gasoline-powered, fume-spewing lawn mower for the NEUTON Cordless Electric Mower.

Here are some excerpts from their news release...

Not to be confused with electric mowers that run off an extension cord, the NEUTON Cordless Electric Mower is a lightweight, battery-powered lawn mower with the unique added capability of trimming and edging. It will run for about one hour on a single charge and springs to life, quietly, with the simple push of a button, relegating the back straining pull-cord and associated noises to a distant memory. The simple-to-use drop in battery pack can be recharged with less than 10 cents worth of electricity.

The NEUTON Mower is also the quietest mower available - emitting fewer than 80 decibels while under full power, about half as loud as a 90 decibel gasoline-powered mower. [NOTE: the decibel scale is non-linear – a 10 dB increase is perceived by the ear as double].

Weighing only 48 pounds the NEUTON Mower is ideal for people with quarter-acre or smaller lawns who don't want the headache, backache, hassle or noise associated with gasoline-powered mowers.

Posted in News

Tagged: cordless mower, electric, lawn care, neuton, viper : Related Tags: electric mower, neuton mower, cordless electric, neuton cordless, gasoline powered, mower

Comments

Apple launches VoIP iPod?

February 28, 2006

Red Herring is creating their own little "herring" by speculating that Apple plans on launching an Apple iPod with VoIP capabilities. Red Herring writes:When Apple talks, people listen-and chat among themselves—and the computer company’s announcement about products to be unveiled Tuesday had watchers speculating about a VoIP-enabled iPod. <snip...> Talk of Wi-Fi on personal media devices like iPods has generated speculation that the company might roll out VoIP-enabled media players.

My reply? I don't think so. Not yet anyway.

Posted in MP3 Players & Digital Audio

Tagged: apple, intel, ipod, voip : Related Tags: feature creep, obtain access, trick ponies, powerful processor, voice packets, apple

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iLoad-c Downloads Wireless Music Directly to iPod Nano using Cell Carrier's music store

February 28, 2006

iLoad-c is able to wirelessly deliver music directly to the iPod Nano using your carrier's network and music store.

The folks at Wingspan claim to be the Evangelists of the “shortest distance between two points” theory. Today Wingspan revealed a video demonstration of its iLoad-c, a gadget that utilizes the music stores
proliferating on cell phone networks, to download music directly to the Apple iPod Nano, without using a computer.

iLoad-c clamps onto a Nano and then connects to your cell carrier’s music store to download the music directly to the Nano.

Wingspan will provide the device that is initially compatible with the Verizon, Sprint/Nextel, Cingular and T-Mobile networks and will shortly begin discussions with Apple and others to enable the WiFi capability within the device.

iLoad-c is planned for release by mid-Summer at a retail price of $199

Wingspan’s other announced devices include iLoad, a device that copies CDs to the iPod without using a computer and iLoad-v, a device that connects to a cable or satellite TV boxes and records video and music onto the iPod without using a computer.

Watch the video on www.iLoad.com

Posted in Gadgets

Tagged: download, iload-c, ipod, music, nano : Related Tags: music directly, music store, computer iload, download music, music, iload

Worldwide IP PBX Revenue Up 23%, TDM Systems Down 15% in 2005

February 27, 2006

Just wanted to share some recent IP-PBX vs. traditional TDM PBX market share numbers from Infonetics that came out today. Infonetics tracked Cisco and determined they were the market leader with 42% unit market share in 2005. I wonder if Infonetics also tracks Asterisk? Although, Asterisk is a bit tough to track since users can download and install the open-source PBX for free, which makes tracking a bit harder.

Posted in Asterisk, Avaya, Polycom, Reviews, ShoreTel, VoIP

Tagged: ip-pbx, pbx, tdm, voip : Related Tags: market share, north america, revenue growth, revenue totaled, avaya cisco, revenue

Skype your favorite Hollywood Celebrity

February 27, 2006

Hey, you wanna talk to Penelope Cruz, Matthew McConaughey, Brooke Shields, or some other celebs? Well, according to the Share Skype blog, you can now. You actually have to outbid others for the privilege on eBay and it's for a charitable cause. Now, I know why eBay spent $4 billion on Skype! Heck if ABC's "Dancing with Stars" is a runaway TV ratings success, just imagine imagine if the average American can talk to their favorite celebrity. I'm partial to Harrison Ford myself.

Posted in Skype

Tagged: celebrities, hollywood, skype : Related Tags: skype, celebrity

Xtremey Gives It Academy Awards Treatment; Get Out and Vote

February 27, 2006

If you're into extreme sports (and who isn't -- from the active to the armchair), then you don't want to miss your chance to vote in the 6th Annual Xtremey Awards. (It's sort of like the Academy Awards, but without all of the gowns and other trappings.)

Just take a look at these categories in which you can cast your vote:

Best Freestyle MXBest Freestyle SportbikeBest 50' FreestyleBest Competition DocumentaryBest Broadcast CompetitionBest Off-Road TruckBest Quad/SandBest Rock CrawlingBest Snowmobile

We've got Travis, Metzger and a whole bunch of others takin' it to the max.

My favorite -- FMX Riot 2005 -- another awesome Paul Taublieb DVD! It's got my vote in the Best Competition Documentary category.

www.xtremey.net

Posted in Video Hardware & Software

Tagged: 6th annual xtremey awards, academy awards, extreme sports, fmx riot 2005, paul taublieb, www.xtremey.net : Related Tags: academy awards, awards, xtremey

VoIPCentral interviews Aswath Rao

February 27, 2006

VoIPCentral has an excellent interview with Aswath Rao, who not only has decades of telecom experience, Aswath is also a well known VoIP blogger like myself. Aswath talks about his journey from India to New Jersey, thoughts on ENUM, and the future direction of VoIP. Check out the interview.

Posted in VoIP

Tagged: aswath rao, voip : Related Tags: aswath

Newer Technology: Solving the iPod Battery Problem

February 27, 2006

The iPod is certainly a lot of fun, but not when the battery dies (come think of it, what product is?). However, battery replacement for the iPod has a shrouded-in-mystery feeling when you have to send or take it somewhere special to have the battery replaced.

Now, Newer Technology has solved that problem with its super-duper, handy-dandy, ultra-awesome NuPower High-Capacity iPod Replacement Battery. Oh, by the way, the NuPower actually increases capacity as compared to the original Apple battery; the iPod mini, for example, gets a 50% boost.

Although they recommend that a qualified service install the battery (and help to find one is available at www.newertech.com), they do include two screwdrivers with the battery for the DIY set.

Posted in MP3 Players & Digital Audio

Tagged: ipod, ipod mini, macsales.com, newer technology, nupower high-capacity ipod replacement battery, www.newertech.com : Related Tags: newer technology, battery, replacement

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Microsoft Outlook really sucks sometimes

February 24, 2006

Microsoft Outlook 2003 is my primary email client in the office.I've used Outlook for over 12 years, heck before it was even called Microsoft Outlook. I don't even remember its original name. Was it Windows Messenging? I think the server portion was Microsoft Mail (MS Mail?). In any event, here's my pet-peeve with Outlook - it periodically crashes and all my open emails I was working on are now closed when I go back into Outlook.

Now I should put a disclaimer on stating Outlook crashes periodically.

Posted in Microsoft

Tagged: email client, microsoft outlook : Related Tags: microsoft outlook, outlook crashes, session restore, yahoo desktop, windows manager, outlook

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Rich's Top 8 things to do if Blackberry gets shut down

February 24, 2006

Check out Rich's Top 8 things to do if Blackberry gets shut down. Hilarious! - especially the last one in the list (#1). By the way, what's the matter with you Rich - you couldn't come up with 2 more and make it an even Top 10?

Posted in Wireless

Tagged: blackberry : Related Tags: blackberry

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David Pogue Has Done It Again

February 24, 2006

It's a trifecta for David Pogue, who writes the weekly "Circuits" technology e-newsletter and a column for The New York Times! (Every Thursday).

This week's column, "How to Survive a Tech Support Call" is a funny (pathetic, but funny) column about dealing with tech support (in this case specifically Dell).

The two previous columns -- "Where Hard Drives Go When They Die" and "The Fight Against Hard-to-Open Packaging" -- are also brilliant, but in different ways. The first is a look at a company that salvages data off of dead computer drives (with some celebrity clients -- Keith Richards to Gerald Ford), while the second looks a thorny problem we all come to face when dealing with gadgets -- the plastic packaging that entombs them can be next to impossible to open.

His column is always worth a look and a read.

Posted in Gadgets

Tagged: circuits, david pogue, dell, gerald ford, how to survive a tech support call, keith richards, new york times, the fight against hard-to-open packaging, where hard drives go when they die : Related Tags: david pogue, column

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Announcement: We Have a Winner in Apple's iTunes Contest

February 24, 2006

Attention Apple iTunes shoppers!

The 1 billionth legally downloaded song from the site, ”Speed of Sound” (purchased as part of Coldplay’s X&Y album), fell into the basket of Alex Ostrovsky from West Bloomfield, Michigan!

As the grand prize winner, he will receive a 20-inch iMac, 10 fifth-generation iPods and a $10,000 gift card good for any item on the iTunes Music Store. In addition, Apple will establish a scholarship to the world-renowned Juilliard School in his name.

How sweet it is!

Posted in MP3 Players & Digital Audio

Tagged: alex ostrovsky, apple, coldplay, imac, ipod, itunes, juilliard school, speed of sound, x&y : Related Tags: itunes, apple

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Free VoIP calling to Central America

February 23, 2006

DigiLinea, a Voice over IP service provider to the US Hispanic and Latin American markets, announced today a unique VoIP offering - the availability of new unlimited calling plans to the USA and Latin American for clients residing in Central America. What caught my eye was this part of their news release, "DigiLinea is the only major VoIP provider with local licensing that allows DigiLinea to offer VoIP services legally in Central America." So are they saying that DigiLinea has a monopoly on VoIP in the Central American market that crosses several countries with their own rules, regulations, and political agendas? That's odd... Of, they used a disclaimer "only major VoIP provider". Ahhhh, so there must be some "minor VoIP providers" competing with DigiLinea in Central America.

Posted in VoIP

Tagged: digilinea, unlimited calling, voip : Related Tags: latin american, central america, latin america, america digilinea, calling plans, digilinea

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Free SkypeOut Day

February 23, 2006

Get your free SkypeOut minutes today! I just logged on and saw I could claim 10 free minutes as part of their Skype Gift Day. Didn't they just do a special offer on Valentine's Day too?

Posted in Skype

Tagged: free minutes, skype, skypeout : Related Tags:

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Video Gaming Goes Major League

February 23, 2006

Are you a great video game player? How about professional grade?

If you’re ready for the major leagues of video gaming, then get set for Major League Gaming, taking the excitement and enthusiasm of competitive video gaming into the world’s first professional video game league.

The 2006 tour will make seven stops in major cities across the U.S., with the best gamers in the world signed to exclusive deals.

The 2006 pro tour dates:

New York (March 24-26)Dallas (April 21-23)Atlanta (June 2-4)Los Angeles (July 14-16)Philadelphia (August 25-27)Playoffs: Chicago (October 6-8)National Championship: Las Vegas (November 17-19)

Get in the game at http://www.mlgpro.com/.

Posted in Video Games & Gaming

Tagged: major league gaming, professional video games : Related Tags: major league, video gaming, league gaming, sports games, video, games

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Skype Offers More Payment Options and Local Currencies

February 23, 2006

Skype has some new payment options including the ability to pay in US Dollars via PayPal, Moneybookers and Click&Buy. Here's the news..Skype, the global Internet communications company, today announced new, convenient, global payment methods for customers to buy products from Skype.com. Skype Credit is now available in 14 local currencies including US Dollars, and can be purchased with myriad payment methods such as PayPal, bank transfers and credit cards.

Skype Credit can be used to buy SkypeOut calling minutes, SkypeIn numbers, Skype Voicemail, and personalized ringtones and avatars.

Skype has made it easier for people on most continents – including Europe, the Americas, Asia and Oceania – to buy and keep track of their Skype Credit in 14 local currencies, including Euros, US Dollars, Polish Zloty, Brazilian Real, Canadian Dollar, British Pound, New Taiwanese Dollar, Swedish Krona, Danish Krona, Norvegian Krona, Japanese Yen, Hong Kong Dollar, Australian Dollar and Swiss Francs.

Skype customers can now enjoy a simpler and faster way to buy Skype Credit with PayPal. Once customers pre-approve payments with PayPal on their Skype account, they can pay in just two clicks.

Posted in Skype

Tagged: skype, voip : Related Tags: skype credit, skype customers, local currencies, payment options, europe americas, skype

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iTunes Marches On To 1 Billion -- And You Can Win

February 23, 2006

I’m sure Apple in its wildest dreams never imagined that iTunes would be the runaway hit that it is. As the iTunes Music Store heads toward download number 1 billion, Apple has 1 billion reasons to celebrate. And to mark the way, music fans who download every 100,000th song will receive a prize package featuring a black 4GB iPod nano and a $100 iTunes Music Card.

But that’s not all. If you feel lucky (you do feel lucky, don’t you?), then the music fan who downloads the 1 billionth song from the iTunes Music Store will receive a 20-inch iMac, not one iPod, but 10 60GB iPods as well as a $10,000 iTunes Music Card to jumpstart your digital music collection. In addition, Apple will create a full-ride scholarship in your name to a world-renowned music school. Just think: You could help launch the careers of an entire generation of musicians.

At 999 million and counting …

Hey, anybody care to take a guess at what that 1 billionth song will be?

Posted in MP3 Players & Digital Audio

Tagged: apple, imac, ipod, ipod nano, itunes, itunes music card : Related Tags: itunes music, music, itunes, apple, billion

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Monster Advice on Gadgets Dos and Don'ts

February 22, 2006

You know that gadgets have goine mainstream when Monster.com actually publishes an article on "Six Gadget Etiquette Dos and Don'ts for the Workplace" in one of its e-newsletters! I'm sure many of you can figure out most of them! Take a look -- it's interesting reading at http://technology.monster.com/articles/gadget%2Detiquette/.

Any you would like to add?

Posted in Gadgets

Tagged: http://technology.monster.com/articles/gadget%2detiquette/, monster.com, six gadget etiquette dos and don'ts for the workplace : Related Tags: monster

WordPress outage?

February 22, 2006

Is there a major WordPress outage? I was on Scobleizer's blog when all of a sudden his web pages started timing out. Since he is on a hosted WordPress website (didn't he switch a few months ago to Wordpress? ) I tried going to www.wordpress.com and it too timed out. Hosted Wordpress bloggers are probably not very happy with the outage this Wednesday morning. I'm going to check out a few more Wordpress blogs and see if they are offline as well.

Posted in News

Tagged: outage, wordpress : Related Tags: wordpress outage, hosted wordpress, major wordpress, wordpress, outage

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Scobleizer flames the full vs. partial RSS feed debate

February 22, 2006

Scobleizer has a great post on why he hates partial RSS feeds. He even explains why RSS advertising currently doesn't work by stating:The reason RSS advertising doesn’t work today is:
1) The audiences are too small.
2) The audiences are too geeky and too full of smart people. Hint, those people don’t click on advertisements unless they are very targetted!
He then goes on to explain how even with full RSS feeds you can still drive traffic to your website and thus still incur revenue. But then plays the other side of the fence when he says "Now, the fear is that the model will go away tomorrow thanks to RSS being built into IE 7, Safari, Firefox, Opera and other browsers.

Posted in Microsoft

Tagged: full feeds, partial feeds, rss, scobleizer : Related Tags: partial, people, still, advertising, feeds, revenue

Intel Inside; No, Mariah Carey Instead

February 22, 2006

It used to be strange looking, funky people in silver suits for the classic Intel Inside! advertising (and branding) campaign, taking a little chip that no one could see and positioning it as the center of your computing purchasing decisions.

My how time have changed -- now we have Mariah Carey (good coup after the Grammys -- three awards bay-bee!) talking about how Intel's Centrino technology is key for music downloads that can be played anywhere wirelessly.

What do you think about that?

Posted in Computer Hardware

Tagged: centrino technology, grammys, intel inside!, mariah carey, music downloads : Related Tags: mariah carey, intel

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Belgacom IP-TV offers plug and play IP-TV experience

February 22, 2006

Today, SupportSoft announced that Belgacom's 800,000+ broadband subscribers can now enjoy the benefits of speedy and easy self-installation of an IPTV connection with the help of SupportSoft's SmartAccess solution. The SmartAccess tool enables Belgacom customers to verify their systems for firmware, modem and set-top characteristics; configure their PC and wireless gateway; and connect all the key components together -- reducing the need for lengthy and costly truck rolls to their premises and driving adoption of the new service. Basically SupportSoft has enabled a "plug and play IP-TV" experience. Amazing...

Posted in Home Entertainment, News, VoIP

Tagged: belgacom, ip-tv, supportsoft : Related Tags: service providers, supportsoft smartaccess, smartaccess software, customer service, service belgacom, service

Peer-to-Peer phone system for the SMB - No PBX Required

February 21, 2006

I've written about Peerio/Popular Telephony in the past in regards to their P2P VoIP solutions. There have been some criticisms that Popular Telephony is "vaporware" or that it doesn't work. I doubt that is the case since Popular Telephony has offered me to look at and test their software on a few occasions, but alas, I've been too busy to test it. So many VoIP products to test, so little time.

In any event, Popular Telephony today came out with some interesting news I thought I'd share...POPULAR TELEPHONY ANNOUNCES A PBX-LESS PEER-TO-PEER IP PHONE FOR THE SMB MARKET

(Sophia Antipolis, France) February 21, 2005. Popular Telephony today introduced Peerio ONE+ONE™, a breakthrough peer-to-peer (P2P) IP phone for SMB users offering advanced embedded PBX functionality that eliminates the need for small and medium sized enterprises to own and maintain in-premises IP PBX and related VoIP equipment or outsource their communications to hosted services providers.

Posted in VoIP

Tagged: p2p, peer to peer, popular telephony, voip : Related Tags: popular telephony, gateway integrated, telephony today, connectivity package, hosted service, peerio

miniSolitaire Goes Big Time

February 21, 2006

Everybody loves Solitaire (maybe even as much as poker) and now Red Mercury has released , the first full-featured, gadget-size solitaire card game for Microsoft Windows. Taking a cue from conveniently sized Windows gadgets, these new games are designed to easily integrate into your daily multitasking workflow.

As small as a credit card (and as thin as a photon), miniSolitaire fits nicely among other active desktop applications. Though small, miniSolitaire is densely packed with great game play features.

In fact, miniSolitaire introduces a new generation of mini-applications -- intuitive, useful programs that do not get in your way.

Posted in Video Games & Gaming

Tagged: card games, freecell, microsoft windows, minisolitaire, red mercury, solitaire, spider, www.red-mercury.com : Related Tags: minisolitaire, applications, windows, quickly

SkypeIn comes to Japan

February 21, 2006

If you are from Japan, rejoice since the long anticipated arrival of SkypeIn to Japan has come! Today, Skype launched SkypeIn in Japan with Fusion, a carrier partner who supplies the Japanese numbers. This service was expected last Fall, so it's been a long time coming!

Posted in Skype

Tagged: japan, skype, skypein, voip : Related Tags: skypein japan, japan, skypein

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Vonage offers enhanced 411 directory assistance

February 21, 2006

Vonage has selected Excell Services to provide its customers with Enhanced Directory Assistance Services (411), including movie listings, stock quotes, sports scores and more. This also includes regular number queries as well as address and reverse searches. In additio, Vonage customers now have access to Directory Assistance services for all of North America as well as many international destinations through the Excell Services network.

No word on pricing or if it tells you how much you will pay BEFORE giving you the information. Nothing like opening your monthly bill and noticing you're getting "shafted" by expensive directing listing information.

Posted in Vonage

Tagged: 411, directory assistance, vonage : Related Tags: directory assistance, local businesses, enhanced directory, assistance services, excell services, directory

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Carrier VoIP Market Hits New High in 2005 at $2.5B

February 21, 2006

Interesting Infonetics report saying carrier voice equipment purchases are growing very rapidly with VoIP being a primary driver in carriers replacing antiquated equipment. If you didn't realize it already, it looks more and more like VoIP will be the "shot" in the arm for the telecom market. Could the good ole' days (mid-to-late 90's) of double-digit revenue growth for the carriers be far behind? Nah... Too much competition and margins are slimmer these days, but the carriers do need to optimize their networks and offer more integrated services to compete.

Posted in News

Tagged: carrier, ims, infonetics, voip : Related Tags: voice equipment, million subscribers, growing million, infonetics report, media gateway, equipment

Asterikast video podcasts to teach you Asterisk

February 21, 2006

Asterikast is a podcast that teaches and explains about the VoIP-capable Asterisk PBX by Digium. According to Asterikast, "We also plan on having videos that can help step you through the process of setting up your very own Asterisk PBX."

They already have two episodes available for download. Episode I, "the very first episode of Asterikast" they cover how to compile Asterisk and setup one SIP phone. Episode II has much higher quality video, audio and on-screen footage.

Posted in Asterisk, Linux

Tagged: asterikast, asterisk, linux, pbx, slackware, voip : Related Tags: asterisk, asterikast, episode

OfficeMax to offer Vonage business offering

February 21, 2006

OfficeMax, one of the nation's largest office supply retailers and distributors, is now offering small businesses "starter kits" from Vonage. OfficeMax is offering the Linksys PAP2 Phone Adapter or the WRTP54G Wireless Router, configured with Vonage's $49.99 per month Small Business Unlimited plan.

I wonder just how many businesses actually use Vonage for their phone provider? Although I trust Vonage for my home residential line with some minor quirks here and there (choppy voice, busy tone when dialing), I'm not sure I'd be willing to put up with those "quirks" if I ran a business.

Maybe once Vonage goes IPO they'll open their books and we'll find out exactly how many business customers they have. Actually, they have to open up their books now before the IPO but I don't believe that information is made publicly available.

Posted in Vonage

Tagged: officemax, voip, vonage : Related Tags: vonage, business, officemax, offering

Covad buys NextWeb California's largest fixed-wireless provider

February 21, 2006

This morning, Covad Communications Group announced the closing of its acquisition of NextWeb, California’s largest fixed-wireless broadband provider for business.

This wireless connectivity helps augment Covad’s existing wireline broadband and VoIP capabilities and can also reduce the company’s dependence on the Bell companies. Covad will issue approximately 16 million shares of stock and pay approximately $3.9 million in cash for NextWeb.

I should point out that one WiMAX base station can serve a five-mile radius and the first WiMAX certified equipment is expected will be available later this year.

Posted in VoIP, Wireless

Tagged: covad, nextweb, voip, wimax : Related Tags: fixed wireless, approximately million, largest fixed, radius wimax, times service, wimax

A Dream Date with NEC's 20WMGX2 Monitor

February 21, 2006

First we all got excited when we could trade-in (meaning get rid of and upgrade) our cathode ray tube monitors – the ones with the big piece sticking out the back – for new slim and trim LCD monitors. Now we get excited when we can move up from those 15-inch LCDs to something that’s got more size, more presence, more of everything.

Well, if you want to take a major step in that direction and skip all of the interim “baby steps,” then go for NEC’s excellent multi-function 20WMGX2 display. Building on the success of its award-winning MultiSync GX LCD monitor line, the GX2 raises the standard for both computing and entertainment.

With NEC’s patented OptiClear DVM screens, the GX2 produces images with sharp color and vivid clarity, and with rapid response times of just 6 milliseconds, the monitor delivers video and gaming images with smooth, crystal-clear quality.

Posted in Computer Hardware

Tagged: 20wmgx2, computer monitor, lcd monitor, multisync gx, nec : Related Tags: video, technology, display, input, images, monitor

Voodoo PC Got Game (Serious Game)

February 20, 2006

If you’re a serious gamer – and I mean a really serious gamer, Voodoo PC has the rigs you need to rule the world!

The company’s flagship model, the Omen Extreme Gamer, is the most advanced liquid cooled PC available today. It features system-wide liquid cooling, including ATi Crossfire and NVIDIA SLI, the motherboard chipset and the CPU.

It’s the quietest high-performance PC and one of the most distinctive looking (no boring putty or black boxes for VD PC).

The mirrored interior and a special "Eye of the Storm" window give this a look that you've never seen before any standard "out-of-the-box" computer.

If that's not enough, then just check out these standard features:

Performance-tuned multi GPU videoFeatures best of ATX and BTX form factorPerformance-tuned Athlon FXBrushed, anodized and machined chassisVoodoo f:5 supercharged intercoolingBuilt to ISO9000:2001 standards

Priced from $5100 (that’s not a typo).

www.voodoopc.com

Posted in Video Games & Gaming

Tagged: ati crossfire, high-performance computing, liquid cooled pc, nvidia, omen extreme gamer, voodoo pc : Related Tags: serious gamer, gamer, serious

Radio Shack to close 700 stores

February 17, 2006

Radio Shack plans on closing 400-700 stores after reporting a whopping 62% drop in revenue from the 4th quarter last year. Radio Shack is every electronic hobbyist's and every geek over the age of 30's favorite electronics store - or at least Radio Shack used to be before being surpassed by stores like Circuit City and Best Buy.

But growing up, I enjoyed going to Radio Shack more than checking out the toys at the local Toys R Us. Electronics and computer stuff were my thang' as a kid. In fact, my first computer, a TRS-80 Color Computer (CoCo) was purchased at Radio Shack and it featured a whopping 4K RAM and 8K ROM with Microsoft Color Basic v1.0.

Posted in News

Tagged: radio, radio shack, shack : Related Tags: radio shack, school paper, school stoped, elementary school, phone calls, radio

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IDT buys Net2Phone for $28.1 million

February 17, 2006

IDT said today it will buy VoIP provider Net2Phone Inc. for approximately $28.1 million and turn it into a privately held, wholly owned subsidiary.

IDT's subsidiary, NTOP Acquisition Inc., will merge with Net2Phone, and keep the Net2Phone name and Net2Phone's stock will be deregistered from Nasdaq.

The companies intend to convert Net2Phone's stock into $2.05 in cash per share. The $2.05 is the same amount IDT paid per share in its tender offer for Net2Phone common stock when it bought 31.6 million shares in late January.

Posted in VoIP

Tagged: idt, net2phone, skype, voip : Related Tags: phone, million, stock, companies

Comments

Area775 connects VoIP & Mobile phones

February 17, 2006

Well, I'm late to the Area775 party, Alec Saunders covered Michael Robertson's new venture quite nicely. Michael Robertson was kind enough to give me a heads-up on the Area775 news on Wednesday before the news hit the wires, but I was in Toronto visiting with Sangoma Technologies, makers of WAN cards, and telephony boards that work on Asterisk and other open-source PBX platforms. More on that in another blog post later.

In any event, Michael Robertson told me, that Area775 "is the first consumer service to give you one number that will reach you on your computer or your mobile phone. It can even transfer calls between the two locations (answer on your PC, click a button and you're talking on your mobile or vice versa).

Posted in VoIP

Tagged: area775, call forwarding, mobile phone, skype, voip : Related Tags: mobile phone, michael robertson, incoming calls, landline mobile, computer mobile, phone

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Up, Up & Away: Another Dish for the Network

February 17, 2006

It's not easy competing with cable television -- just look what EchoStar has to do to expand its Dish Network services and channel offerings -- launch another satellite! (They don't call it satellite TV for nothing!)

Here was a new service launch looks like. BTW, satellite was built by Lockheed Martin and the rocket was constructed and launched by Sea Launch.

How about that!

Posted in Home Entertainment

Tagged: dish network, echostar, lockheed martin, satellite tv, sea launch : Related Tags: amazing photo, cable companies, cable, satellite, launch, rocket

Comments

021709: Bye-Bye Analog TV

February 17, 2006

Set a reminder that three years from today that analog television will disappear off of the globe (at least in the U.S.), according to the budget reconciliation bill that President Bush signed. Yes, February 17, 2009 is the day.

Am sure much will happen between now and then ...

Posted in Video Hardware & Software

Tagged: analog television, president bush : Related Tags:

Nokia/Sanyo To Merge CDMA Phones

February 16, 2006

News that Nokia and Sanyo are merging their CDMA mobile phone businesses in the U.S. into a new, separate business, just makes one wonder -- what does Nokia see that others don't?

Posted in Mobile Phones

Tagged: cdma, mobile phone, nokia, sanyo : Related Tags: nokia sanyo, nokia

Nintendo DS Adds Web & TV?

February 16, 2006

Sony's PSP may be all the rage, but word out of Japan (via PC Magazine and Reuters) is that Nintendo has some things up its sleeve for its own portable unit, the DS.

Seems a card is planned to make the unit Wi-Fi capable and another card with an antennae will provide digital TV. Now I know what the second screen in the DS is intended for ...

Posted in Video Games & Gaming

Tagged: digital television, nintendo ds, pc magazine, reuters, sony psp, wi-fi : Related Tags:

Microsoft Beta of Office Live Released

February 15, 2006

Microsoft has released the beta of Office Live, which offers small-business owners (and others!) the opportunity to sample (for free) the company’s new Internet-based software services. If you’re interested in participating in the beta program, register online at http://www.OfficeLive.com.

The illustration below is the screen users would see when they sign up for Microsoft Office Live.

Office Live is designed to help lower the barriers to doing business online by offering small companies a set of Internet-based business services. Designed for ease of use and affordability, the online services are designed to give small businesses the same advantages as larger enterprises by getting them up and running on the Internet quickly, easily and inexpensively without traditional enterprise management requirements.

Microsoft Office Live offers free domain name, Web site and company e-mail accounts that are advertising-supported to more comprehensible services available on a subscription-fee basis. The offerings are designed to be especially attractive to companies with 10 or fewer employees, which typically lack in-house technical resources or the budget to keep an IT person on staff.

An all-in-one solution supported by online advertising, the beta trial offers free versions of all three Microsoft Office Live versions included in the initial public release:
• Microsoft Office Live Basics. A collection of free services (advertising-supported) will provide a small business with the core requirements for establishing an online identity.

Posted in Computer Software

Tagged: excel, microsoft office live, outlook, powerpoint, word : Related Tags: microsoft office, company domain, internet based, services designed, accounts using, microsoft

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Cellfan.com Makes It Easy to Get Personal

February 15, 2006

Skins, skins, skins – can you ever have enough of them? Cellfan.com is an online treasure trove – with vinyl skins featuring leading brands for more than 500 consumer electronic devices. Cellfan.com makes it easy way to personalize you favorite devices with vinyl skins, including mobile phones, iPods, PDAs and gaming devices.

Mobile device owners can choose a skin reflecting sports leagues or players (NBA, Wayne Gretzky), college logos, Greek letters, movie or music brands (Rolling Stones, Elvis Presley), comic characters or fashion style. The skin itself is made from a professional-grade vinyl, which is printed via a proprietary process that ensures detailed and premium images. The skin is then coated with a glossy finish and custom cut, which creates a perfect fit for each device.

Each Cellfan.com skin is easy to apply, will not void a device warranty and has a protective element to provide another layer of safety from scratches and other damage. The skin can be easily removed, allowing users to personalize their devices as often as they choose without damaging the device.

How about Elvis for your iPod Nano?

Posted in MP3 Players & Digital Audio

Tagged: cellfan.com, elvis presley, gaming devices, ipod nano, ipods, mobile phones, nba, pdas, rolling stones, vinyl skins, wayne gretzky : Related Tags: vinyl skins, cellfan makes, skins skins, skins, cellfan, device

MovieBeam offers high-definition (HDTV) movie downloads

February 14, 2006

MovieBeam plans on offering high-definition (HDTV) downloads. The video-on-demand movie service spun out of Walt Disney said it plans to offer first-run films from six of the seven film studios in standard digital-video format and high-definition films from Disney and Warner Bros. studios.

According to MovieBeam, some movies will even be made available at the same time as they come out on DVD. But here's my problem with this HDTV service - it requires yet another piece of home entertainment equipment to sit on top of your TV or entertainment system.

Posted in News

Tagged: hdtv, moviebeam : Related Tags: entertainment system, datacasting technology, download internet, disney cisco, antenna receive, moviebeam

Comments

A Gadget Makes the Perfect Valentine's Day Gift

February 14, 2006

Seems like gadgets aren't such a strange Valentine's Day gift after all. According to an article in yesterday's San Francisco Chronicle, chocolates and roses are moving out of the way this year to make room for a more gadget-centric V Day.

In fact, pink and red seem to be the hot colors this year -- and I'm talking cell phones, digital cameras and the like. Apparently, a pink Motorola Razr mobile phone, for example, has been flying off of the shelves at Cingular Wireless.

Of course, these aren't the only popular colors -- black and silver do quite nicely too. Don't forget a Hallmark card to make the day complete.

Looking for some real-life stories here ...

Posted in Digital Cameras, Mobile Phones

Tagged: cell phones, cingular wireless, digital camera, hallmark card, motorola razr, san francisco chronicle, valentine's day : Related Tags: mobile phone, holiday becoming, think, roses, holiday, industry

Comments

G10l.com: First Global Virtual Soccer Game Championship

February 14, 2006

If you love to play soccer, then G10L.com is for you! The free web site invites soccer players and fans from all corners of the globe, including the UK, Germany, Italy, Spain, France, Russia, the U.S., Brazil, Argentina, Japan, China, India, South Korea, Australia, Kenya and South Africa, to lead their teams to the finals of the world cup championship.

The G10L.COM website is a free sports web portal with an innovative and uniquely new concept in the field of online gaming. This next-generation multi-player web game enables players from around the world to unite under one team and play as one community against other communities.

It’s free to play. Every player entering the site creates a new team or joins an existing team. Weekly and monthly prizes are awarded, with the first prize being the popular Sony PlayStation game consoles.

Posted in Video Games & Gaming

Tagged: free web sports portal, g10l.com, online gaming, playstation, sony, virtual world cup : Related Tags: soccer

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Mobile phone to Skype calls

February 14, 2006

Interesting bit of news I thought I'd share from iSkoot that lets you call your buddy list from your mobile phone without needing your PC. They claims it is the "first Mobile-Voice To Skype Network" but I think eqo may have something to say about that "first" claim.

In any event, the iSkoot software is simply a software download to your mobile phone to enable you to make Skype calls. Currently, the following phones are supported - Nokia Series 60 handsets: 6600,
6620, 6630, 6670, 6680, 6682, 7610, N70. They also plan to soon support Motorola
RAZR, Treo, Nokia Series 40 handsets.

Here's the news...

iSkoot's Complimentary Offering is a Peer-to-Peer Network Connecting Cell Phones to PC Calls Without Custom Phones, PCs or Wi-Fi

February 14, 2006 - iSkoot, a mobile Internet phone company, today introduced the iSkoot Mobile Network, a gateway that connects cellular voice and PC-to-PC networks.

Posted in Mobile Phones, Skype

Tagged: iskoot, mobile phone, motorola, nokia, razr, skype, treo, voip : Related Tags: mobile phone, iskoot mobile, mobile network, iskoot software, skype software, mobile

Comments

Cash Back VoIP calling

February 14, 2006

Ironic, that Rich Tehrani (my boss) wrote in his Get Paid to VoIP entry today about how he is predicting that eventually people will be paid to talk using VoIP. Tsk tsk, Rich. You don't talk to me any more, because if you had, you would have known such a company already exists. Indeed, I am aware of one such company offering "cash back" to use their VoIP system.

Posted in Packet8, VoIP, Vonage

Tagged: cash back, free minutes, rebate, voip : Related Tags: please contact, computer laptop, peter skuta, recurring revenue, cashbackvoices payplan, cashbackvoices

Comments

Microsoft and Skype announce new software for Windows mobile phones

February 14, 2006

Both Microsoft and Skype made announcments at 3GSM demonstrating their commitment to Windows mobile phone devices. First, Microsoft Office Communicator now has a mobile version that extends the reach of Microsoft Office Live Communications Server 2005's real-time collaboration features to Windows Mobile-based devices. This is a smart move by Microsoft and could help them achieve more market penetration of the Live Communicator client, which has been very slow in my opinion, especially when compared to Skype.

The reason? Well, Live Communications Server is certainly more business-focused than Skype, which has a consumer-focus, giving Skype a distinct advantage. Skype achieved market penetration starting from the consumer and virally working its way into businesses, where as Live Communications Server is strictly targetting businesses, so it hasn't had the same "viral" effect that Skype has.

Posted in Microsoft, Mobile Phones, PDAs & Handhelds, Skype, VoIP

Tagged: live communicator, microsoft, skype, windows mobile 5.0 : Related Tags: communications server, skype pocket, windows mobile, communicator mobile, microsoft office, mobile

Global IP Sound (GIPS) is now available on the Sony Ericcson P990 phone

February 13, 2006

Global IP Sound (GIPS), a popular VoIP codec/voice engine used by Skype, Google Talk, and others, is now available on the Sony Ericcson P990 phone using the OptiMobile softclient called WBX UniPhone. I wonder if this is the first non-Windows mobile device that supports the GIPS voice engine? Anyway, check out the news.February 13, 2006 - Global IP Sound (GIPS), the leading provider of embedded voice-processing solutions for the Voice over IP (VoIP) market, and OptiMobile, a leader in WBX-enabled services, today announced that Sony Ericsson's P990 terminal will integrate support for OptiMobile's WBX UniPhone client in order to provide convergence between WiFi and cellular networks. OptiMobile utilizes Global IP Sound's VoiceEngine Mobile within its WBX UniPhone to achieve superior voice quality for VoIP calls via WLAN.

“Our operator customers appreciate that support for WBX is now also available for Sony Ericsson devices.

Posted in Mobile Phones, VoIP, Wireless

Tagged: gips, mobile phone, sony ericcson : Related Tags: voiceengine mobile, voice quality, voice engine, cellular networks, marketing fluff, sound

Comments

Sour Taste in Apple's Intel iMacs

February 13, 2006

Well, everything can't go right for Apple. Seems like there is mucho chatter across the Internet about video problems with the new Intel-based iMac -- distortion and other glitches have raised their ugly heads.

Too bad, but not surprising considering it's the first go round with this tech combo. Maybe it's just like buying a brand new car model -- sage advice is to wait for the second year when all the kinks have been worked out from the debut deal.

Posted in Computer Hardware

Tagged: apple, imac, intel : Related Tags:

Skype wants to be my Valentine

February 13, 2006

Skype wants to be my Valentine. I feel so loved! Skype's PR firm, sparkPR FEDEXed me two Skype headsets along with a mini CD containing the Skype software in two shrink-wrapped packages, as well as three mint candies with the words "Skype Me" on them. The packages say "Call Someone You Love. Speading the love over Skype is free forever. So you can talk to your sweetheart for as long as you like." Thanks for sharing the love, Skype. Right back at ya!

Posted in Skype

Tagged: skype, valentine : Related Tags: skype wants, skype

Nokia 6136 dual mode phone

February 13, 2006

At the 3GSM World Congress in Barcelona, Nokia unveiled the Nokia 6136 UMA device, which can switch seamlessly between GSM and WLAN networks, thus enabling users to make calls via the Internet. The UMA (Unlicensed Mobile Access) technology will enable operators to deliver voice and data services to subscribers over WLAN access networks. In other words, find a WiFi hotspot and make Internet calls over the WiFi connection instead of over the GSM network. The news didn't specify what type of VoIP applications are supported on the Nokia 6136, so it is unclear if this phone supports Skype or any other popular VoIP application

The 6136 is a quad-band phone that will connect to GSM networks at 850, 900, 1800, and 1900MHz, which means it will work in the US and Europe.

Posted in Mobile Phones, Skype, VoIP, Wireless

Tagged: dual mode, nokia, nokia 6136, skype, uma, voip : Related Tags: nokia, phone, network, networks

Comments

Microsoft killed the Blackberry Star

February 13, 2006

First there was IBM's OS/2 and then came Microsoft Windows 95/98 and OS/2 was no more. In the battle for the most used wordprocessor, Wordperfect put up a valiant fight but alas, Microsoft Office took over - same with Lotus 123 which was soon replaced with Microsoft Excel as the most popular spreadsheet program. Then came Netscape and Microsoft countered with Internet Explorer and then Netscape was no more (or at least not the same as it once was). Then came Real, a really cool streaming application with a "free" lite version and a "paid" Realplayer Plus version and Microsoft responded with Windows Media Player, a completely "free" version.

Posted in Microsoft, Mobile Phones, PDAs & Handhelds, Wireless

Tagged: ballmer, blackberry, email, microsoft, rim, wireless : Related Tags: windows mobile, windows media, mobile phones, mobile devices, market share, microsoft

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Skype 3GSM news including Skype Mobile on the HP hw6900

February 13, 2006

Some Skype news from the first day of 3GSM in Barcelona that a Skype PR representative shared with me. First, HP is announcing that the new HP iPAQ hw6900 supports Skype Mobile for Pocket PC. The hw6900 looks just like the hw6515 that I drooled over, with a 240x240 TFT screen and integrated keyboard. The hw6900 is a bit heavier(6.33 oz vs.

Posted in Skype

Tagged: 3gsm, hp, hw6900, skype, windows mobile 5.0 : Related Tags: skype mobile, skype, mobile

Uniqall unveils Gridborg HMP 1.2 with SIP support

February 10, 2006

On Monday, Uniqall will unveil a beta version of Gridborg HMP 1.2 (Host Media Processing) with SIP included. Previous versions supported H.323, however this beta will also speak SIP. The Gridborg HMP 1.2 is available for free download and evaluation from the Uniqall web site. Honestly, I'm not too familiar with Uniqall's HMP solution and how it fits in with Intel's HMP solution.

Posted in VoIP

Tagged: h.323, hmp, sip, uniqall, voip : Related Tags: media processing, version gridborg, gridborg, server, protocol, uniqall

Click: Now That's Total Control

February 10, 2006

You gotta love the premise of the Sony Pictures movie Click that opens in June -- that life can be controlled by a remote control, just like TV. Adam Sandler (he can be very funny) operates that colorful and surprising simply laid out "Life Menu" remote (so few buttons! two in a row, four rows), pausing, rewinding and fast-forwarding as necessary to improve the quality of his life. Those close to him also apparently benefit too as evidenced by the “baseball catch” clip that aired during the Grammy Awards.

I’d rate this a “must watch” video or PPV choice, meaning don’t know if it’d be worth the multiple prices of admission at the local movie theater – not to mention the cost of the essential “King Kong”-size combo food snack. (Doesn’t popcorn just taste better at the movie theater?)

Anyway, I digress. Click looks like fun. Write your own review when/if you see it.

Posted in Reviews, Technology and Science

Tagged: adam sandler, click, remote control, sony pictures : Related Tags: movie theater, click, remote, movie, buttons

Winter Olympics: When & Where You Want It

February 10, 2006

With the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics just underway in Torino, Italy (the time zone is +6 from EST), it's now really easy to get instant updates on events and athletes during the games. You can sign up for email, SMS and desktop alerts at NBCOlympics.com.

Even better, if you have an Intel Viiv based-PC or Centrino mobile technology-based laptop, you can watch video highlights from the previous day's events available for viewing on demand starting tomorrow. Sign-up is at NBCOlympics.com. Hey, you can see the Games on regular TV, too. Big screen HDTV, please.

Maybe all of the action will inspire us to get off the couch and outside ourselves?

Posted in Home Entertainment

Tagged: centrino, hctv, intel, italy, laptop, nbcolympics, pc, torino, viiv, winter olympics : Related Tags: winter olympics

Grammys Go More Political; Sales Go Up?

February 10, 2006

Is it just me or did the Grammy Awards the other night reveal that once again music is becoming more overtly political (a ‘60s/’70s reprise)? Yes, of course, everyone loves a good beat and a clever hook, but live performances by Jay-Z & Linkin Park and Bruce Springsteen had political messages right out front for everyone to hear. (And how about that Grammy for the JZ/LP “best rap/sung collaboration”? Reminds me of the classic Run-D.M.C./Aerosmith “Walk This Way” just from a collision of two musical genres into something good.)

On the other hand, surprised by Bono’s comment on How To Dismantle an Atomic Bomb (talk about an in-the-news political theme) that the U2 album title had nothing to do with politics, unless you reduce it right down to the most elemental political form – the relationship between two individuals.

Will be interesting to see if MP3 downloads of the Grammy winners surge this week and next; it used to be that CD sales of winning artists went up dramatically after winning an award. Wait and see ...

Posted in MP3 Players & Digital Audio

Tagged: aerosmith, best rap/sung collaboration, bono, bruce springsteen, cd sales, grammy awards, how to dismantle an atomic bomb, jay-z, linkin park, mp3 downloads, run-d.m.c., u2, walk this way : Related Tags: political, grammy

Comments

Paigezilla VoIP Point-of-Sale Customer Kiosk

February 10, 2006

Eutectics phones have been integrated in the latest Point-of-Sale (POS) Customer Kiosk made by Micro Industries that is designed to enable customers to reach a company representative while in a store. They claim, "Micro Industries' Touch & Go Paigezilla VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) is the newest self-service innovation for retail environments. Paigezilla, a state-of-the-art all-in-one computer allows the consumer to communicate via VoIP handset with your company, while they are in-store."

The Paigezilla with VoIP is designed to help retailers boost their sales while offering their visitors a virtual personal assistant. At first glance it seems a bit overkill to stick a PC with a USB phone in retail outlets when a standard phone works just as well.

Posted in VoIP

Tagged: voip : Related Tags: touch screen, micro industries, customer kiosk, screen integrated, retail environments, paigezilla

FCC says A La Carte TV channels will save customers money

February 9, 2006

Interesting report from the FCC that found cable choice is not only economically feasible, but in most cases could even save consumers money.

"Today's report is exactly what consumers have been waiting for," said Lanier Swann, Director of Government Relations for Concerned Women for America in Washington, DC. "The FCC puts the lie to cable magnates' wild claims that a la carte would cost consumers more money and was not economically feasible. That argument has fallen flat on its face now that the FCC has shown that consumers could save up to 13 percent on their monthly cable bill."

CWA has been fighting the cable industry for years to bring about just such a change in television programming delivery. This fight included submitting testimony to the Senate Commerce Committee for their recent hearing on this subject.

Here's the report findings:

FCC Media Bureau Report Finds Substantial Consumer Benefits in A La Carte Model of Delivering Video Programming

Washington, DC - The Media Bureau of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) today issued a Further Report on the Packaging and Sale of Video Programming Services to the Public (the “Further Report”) on the issue of an “a la carte” model for delivery of video services.

Posted in Home Entertainment, News

Tagged: a la carte, fcc, tv, video programming : Related Tags: further report, allen study, report finds, media bureau, video programming, report

SkypeWeb integrates Skype with websites

February 9, 2006

Skype has announced SkypeWeb, a feature that shows others your presence status on the Web and is being integrated into many Web sites and blogs enabling site users to talk for free and better manage communications. According to Skype, Bebo.com, the #1 Social Networking site in the UK according to Neilsen/Netratings, is just one of the Web sites using SkypeWeb. It also integrates with SixApart's MovableType. SkypeWeb was in beta for awhile but today it's for general release.

Posted in Skype

Tagged: skype, skypeweb : Related Tags: skype status, skypeweb integrates, presence feature, skype presence, display skype, skype

RSS Feeds on Mobile Phones

February 8, 2006

Sure you got your Blackberry/Crackberry which gives you your "fix" of email, and sure you got your mobile phone for voice access and Web surfing, but the truly wired folks want not only email & web access but also access to their favorite RSS feeds. Yep, I for one need my fixin' of my favorite VoIP blog feeds, gadget blog feeds, general technology news feeds, and a dab of some political blog feeds, which I access using a Windows-based RSS reader application.

But what to do when you're not on your own PC? Sure you could use Bloglines.com or some other web-based RSS reader, but what if you don't have access to ANY PC? What if all you have is your mobile phone? Bloglines.com is great but it wasn't designed for the small display of a mobile phone nor does it compress images to save bandwidth or resize them to fit a mobile phone's smaller display.

Well, the solution to my daily RSS fix just might be netomat, a service launched on January 10th that helps optimize RSS feeds for your mobile phone device. First, netomat does resize images to the right size for mobile phones. It searches a feed for the image tag and resizes for the phone.

Posted in Mobile Phones

Tagged: feeds, mobile phones, netomat, rss : Related Tags: mobile phone, mobile phones, feeds mobile, groups called, invite friends, feeds

Comments

Vonage IPO to raise $250 million

February 8, 2006

Yesterday, I wrote about a source informing me that Vonage plans on opening their SIP credentials. The source also mentioned that Vonage planned on waiting to drop the $9.99/month requirement to get SIP credentials until AFTER their IPO offering since they wanted the softphone users on the "balance sheets" for a better IPO. (Many Vonage users sign up for the softphone just to get access to the SIP credentials to use with SIP hardphones) He even said the IPO would be coming "very soon", but with so many rumors about a Vonage IPO, I decided not to mention it in my blog yesterday. If only I knew HOW soon.

Posted in Vonage

Tagged: ipo, voip, vonage : Related Tags: share program, directed share, raise million, public offering, vonage holdings, vonage

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Intel dual-core + Skype = 10 person conference

February 8, 2006

Intel is working with Skype to add features to the Skype software with features exclusive to Intel's dual core processors. The collaboration has resulted in support for a 10-way conference calling optimized for the Intel dual core processors (Intel Centrino Duo or an Intel Pentium D processor). The conferencing feature takes advantage of the multi-tasking capabilities of Intel dual-core processors, Intel said at a Skype page within its website. Currently, 5-way conferencing is the max on non dual-core and AMD chips.

Posted in Skype

Tagged: dual-core, intel, intel centrino duo, intel pentium d, processor, skype, voip : Related Tags: calling optimized, chips skype, takes advantage, optimized intel, intel processors, intel

Vonage opens SIP credentials?

February 7, 2006

A source informed VoIP & Gadgets Blog that Vonage plans to open up their SIP credentials to enable users to configure their own SIP softphones and SIP hardphones to work with the Vonage service at no additional charge. Today Vonage still has kept the SIP credentials "closed" preventing users from using their own SIP devices with the Vonage service. One of the main reasons why Vonage has kept the SIP credentials "closed" is that they charge $9.99/month for their SIP softphone client, which then gives you access to your "personal SIP credentials". It comes with 500 minutes along with a different SIP URI and PSTN number than your main Vonage phone number.

Posted in Asterisk, Packet8, Vonage

Tagged: asterisk, broadvoice, packet8, sip credentials, vonage : Related Tags: service provider, credentials closed, vonage service, vonage, credentials, users

Comments

eMusic Makes It Free (For 30 Days)

February 7, 2006

Everybody loves free music downloads (remember Napster?) and now eMusic is offering a 30-day free trial with up to 100 downloads from its 1 million song catalog.

I checked out the jazz section; good to see Rahsaan Roland Kirk represented, but no such luck with Weather Report and (Mahavishnu) John McLaughlin -- acoustic or electric. (Does anybody remember?

Still, solid selection of djembe music for the inner drummer in all of us ...

&amp;lt;!--
var SymRealOnLoad;
var SymRealOnUnload;

function SymOnUnload()
{
window.open = SymWinOpen;
if(SymRealOnUnload != null)
SymRealOnUnload();
}

function SymOnLoad()
{
if(SymRealOnLoad != null)
SymRealOnLoad();
window.open = SymRealWinOpen;
SymRealOnUnload = window.onunload;
window.onunload = SymOnUnload;
}

SymRealOnLoad = window.onload;
window.onload = SymOnLoad;

//--&amp;gt;

Posted in MP3 Players & Digital Audio

Tagged: djembe drum, emusic, mahavishnu john mclaughlin, music downloads, napster, rahsaan roland kirk, weather report : Related Tags: symrealonunload function, window onload, symrealonload window, window onunload, window, symrealonload

Comments

USF tax and long-distance

February 7, 2006

A controversial proposal by Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Kevin Martin plans to hike the Universal Service Fund (USF) charges for phone users who make few or no long-distance calls. But what is long-distance any more? If you're a broadband VoIP user using Vonage, Packet8, etc. technically nothing is long-distance in the traditional sense of the word. Actually, a VoIP call from a Vonage user in Los Angeles to another user in Los Angeles travels a "long distance" since the IP packets have to travel from Los Angeles to Vonage HQ in New Jersey where an outbound call is made back to L.A.

Posted in VoIP

Tagged: fcc, tax, usf : Related Tags: distance, vonage, proposal, angeles

Swiss Army Meets the MP3 Generation: Make Sense?

February 7, 2006

Funny story on yesterday's Tech Confidential about how Swiss Army knifes are kluging on MP3 players to create strange tried-and-try analog/quick obsolescence digital combinations. Does anybody buy these things? Would you?

Posted in MP3 Players & Digital Audio

Tagged: mp3 player, swiss army knife : Related Tags: swiss

Comments

MobileEdge Makes Presentations Slick -- Just Like They Always Should Be

February 6, 2006

PowerPoint presentations are usually a two-person show -- one person to stand and talk and the other person to sit and press the necessary laptop button to advance the show to the next slide. It's a bit tedious -- and can get out of sync -- but that's the way it goes..

Well, mercifully, MobileEdge has put those days behind us. With its Slim-Line Wireless Presentation Remote, it's now possible for one person to do the whole show by simply pressing a button -- it's a TV remote streamlined into a credit card size and weight computer remote. Designed to store in a laptop's PCMCIA slot (if you have one), the remote includes all the basic buttons you'll need in a presentation -- forward, reverse and escape as well as black and white.

Posted in Computer Hardware

Tagged: ed sullivan, laptop, mobileedge, powerpoint, presentation software, slim-line wireless presentation remote : Related Tags: remote, person, presentation, mobileedge

AOL and Yahoo to tax email

February 6, 2006

According to the AP, Yahoo! Inc. and America Online, plan to introduce a service that would charge senders a fee to route their e-mail directly to a user's mailbox without first passing through junk mail filters.

The AP states, "The fees, which would range from 1/4 cent to one cent per e-mail, are the latest attempts by the companies to weed out unsolicited ads, commonly called spam, and identity-theft scams. In exchange for paying, e-mail senders will be guaranteed their messages won't be filtered and will bear a seal alerting recipients they're legitimate."

So in other words, Yahoo and American Online, two publicly traded companies will charge for email? Sure, Yahoo and AOL will only charge "so-called" marketers to ensure their emails get through, but my guess is that Yahoo & AOL will "loosen" their spam rules which will catch more legitimate emails, thus forcing legitimate users to pay Yahoo and AOL money to ensure their emails go through thus raising their stock revenue/performance. It's the end of Internet email as we know it.

Even if this only does hit "marketers" do I really want marketers bypassing my hosted email provider's spam rules and thus delivering crap DIRECTLY to my main Inbox? I rely on hosted email providers to "weed" out most of the chaff so I'd be totally annoyed if all of a sudden I started receiving spam in my main Yahoo Inbox instead of it staying in the Junk folder where it belongs.

Posted in News

Tagged: aol, email, yahoo : Related Tags: hosted email, microsoft hotmail, abubakar adamu, ensure emails, profitable business, email

Comments

iFilm's Got SuperBowl Ads for the iPod & Download

February 6, 2006

If you missed any of yesterday's ads during the Super Bowl, or if you just love watching ads over and over again, iFilm.com has a selection ads from the big game available for iPod download or viewing on its web site. Site also includes ads deemed "too sexy" to be broadcast. It seems the ads are becoming more interesting than the shows ...

Posted in MP3 Players & Digital Audio

Tagged: ipod, super bowl : Related Tags: download

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JahJah Web a web-based VoIP software?

February 6, 2006

Jah Jah has a countdown "teaser" on their website that ends in 1 Day, 2 Hrs, 0 minutes and 40s (as I type this). Curious, I went to blog.jahjah.com to see if their blog talked more about their countdown and what it means. The first thing I noticed on the blog was this "pixelated" graphic that obfuscated a cartoon female and obfuscated some text. The cartoon chick looks pretty smokin' too - what a tease! Did I just say I was attracted to a cartoon chick? I'm such a geek.

Anyway, JahJah actually filled me in on the scoop.

Posted in VoIP

Tagged: browser, jahjah web, voip : Related Tags: phone number, download install, jahjah jajah, cartoon chick, phone, jajah

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SIP to Skype gateway breaks Skype's Great Wall of VoIP

February 6, 2006

Dal over at Asterisk VoIP News forwarded me an interesting link last week on a project he's been working on that creates a gateway between Skype and Asterisk or any SIP-based client. As most techies know, Skype uses a proprietary protocol and does not support inbound SIP calls. If you ask Skype CEO, Niklas Zennstrom why Skype chose their own proprietary protocol, (which many reporters have asked him), he always gives the same canned reply - that they chose their own proprietary protocol because SIP doesn't do everything they need, SIP has issues traversing firewalls, our proprietary protocol is more flexible, blah blah blah. Even though there are now NAT traversal solutions for SIP that perhaps didn't exist a couple of years ago, Skype still hasn't moved to SIP and it doesn't look like they will.

Posted in Skype

Tagged: asterisk, gateway, sip, skype, voip : Related Tags: skype gateway, proprietary protocol, audio cables, asterisk ippbx, skype calls, skype

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eqo's Mobile-to-Skype buddy list solution

February 5, 2006

eqo (pronounced same as 'echo') came to TMC to pre-brief me on their mobile-to-Skype buddy list peer-to-peer (P2P) solution. Essentially, eqo acts as the "glue" betwen online communities such as LinkedIn, MySpaces, orkut, or Skype with mobile carriers such as T-Mobile, Cingular, Vodaphone, etc. Their architecture is a patent pending core IP that uses proprietary call signaling, that is P2P-based and cross device/network domain. It leverages mobile data (SMS) to control the signalling and the mobile voice network for the media stream to the mobile phone, so you don't need the Skype client running on your cell phone.

Posted in Skype

Tagged: eqo, im, presence, skype, tello, voip : Related Tags: mobile phone, skype buddy, mobile skype, online communities, mobile, skype

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Skype, Google, Microsoft and Cisco all in one panel

February 3, 2006

The World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland assembled quite the star-studded team of technology gurus and CEOs from Skype, Google, Microsoft, and Cisco to discuss IP communications. This included Microsoft's Bill Gates, Cisco's John Chambers, Google's Eric Schmidt and Skype/Ebay's Niklas Zennstrom. Now that is some technology panel! I wonder if they were all cordial to one another considering how competitive they are.

I also wonder if Niklas Zennstrom actually flew to Switzerland to participate or if he is concerned about being arrested there as well for his ole' Kazaa P2P file-sharing gig. Niklas has spoken at ITEXPO in the past but only via video teleconferencing since apparently officials in the U.S.

Posted in Google, ITEXPO, Microsoft, News, Skype, VoIP

Tagged: cisco, google, microsoft, skype : Related Tags: technology panel, google microsoft, niklas ennstrom, microsoft cisco, skype google, google

Asterisk@Home 2.5 released

February 3, 2006

Looks like a new version of Asterisk@Home is out - version 2.5. I checked Asterisk @Home on SourceForge and they're still listing v2.1, so I'll take Nerd Vittles word for it. Regardless of whether v2.4 is ready for immediate download, Nerd Vittles put Asterisk@Home in great perspective when he said in a post today:
Want a rock-solid PBX at a rock-bottom price: free! Well, it's been two days since our tutorial on AAH 2.4 but here we go again! Asterisk@Home 2.5 has hit the street because of another serious bug-fix release of Asterisk. Now you get version 1.2.4 of Asterisk, and you also get the latest and greatest version of Linux, CentOS 4.2; the latest Festival Speech Engine (1.96); the latest version of the Asterisk Management Portal (1.10.010); the Flash Operator Panel (version 0.24); Open A2Billing; Digium card auto-configuration; NVfaxdetect support; loads of AGI scripts including weather forecasts and wakeup calls; xPL support; the SugarCRM Contact Management System with the Cisco XML Services interface and Click-to-Dial support; plus lots more.

Posted in Asterisk

Tagged: asterisk : Related Tags: version asterisk, asterisk, version, support, latest, vittles

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Belkin TuneBase FM for iPod

February 3, 2006

Belkin has released their new Tunebase for iPod, an iPod FM transmitter for your vehicle. Previoulsly, Belkin had released TuneBase FM for iPod Mini, iPod Shuffle and iPod Nano, but neglected the original plain ole' iPod.

The latest TuneBase FM plays your iPod tunes through your car stereo while simultaneously powering and charges your iPod. The holder secures your iPod and features a flexible-steel neck for repositioning. This package includes tray adapters to fit various iPod models - including the iPod, iPod video, 4G, photo, nano, and mini.

TuneBase FM has improved FM transmission and operates on multiple FM channels from 88.1MHz-107.9MHz.

Posted in Gadgets

Tagged: belkin, fm transmitter, ipod, ipod mini, nano, tunebase : Related Tags: belkin released, griffin roadtrip, belkin, tunebase, frequencies, transmitters

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Connecticut bans hand-held cellphones while driving

February 2, 2006

Connecticut is the latest U.S. state to pass legislation banning the use of hand-held devices while driving (headset required) - more than 30 other states have or plan to follow suit. This can certainly boost Bluetooth headset purchases and other wireless headsets for a hands-free cellular experience. Connecticut is also working on legislation to ban driving with handheld coffee mugs, eyeliner pencils, McDonald's paper cups, lipstick, lollipops, or even chewing gum while driving.

Posted in Mobile Phones

Tagged: bluetooth, connecticut : Related Tags: while driving, while drive, connecticut banning, sobriety checker, connecticut, driving

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Packet8 new features

February 2, 2006

Today Packet8 announced their rollout of some new features, as well as the Packet8 BPG510, a new terminal adapter with an integrated router.

The new Packet8 features include::

• Voicemail to Email Notification – Packet8 subscribers can now receive an email notification each time a voicemail message is left. The email can include an attached audio file of the actual message which can be forwarded to another email address or saved for future reference.

• Find Me, Follow Me – This combined hunting/multi-ringing feature allows subscribers to enter up to five phone numbers to ring in sequence.

Posted in Packet8

Tagged: callvantage, packet8, voip, vonage : Related Tags: phone numbers, incoming calls, phone number, subscriber numbers, email notification, packet

We Want Our HD & DTV

February 2, 2006

Just wanted to thank all of you who helped pump High Def (HD) and digital television (DTV) sales over the holidays.

According to the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA), sales hit 2.3 million, marking a 35% increase over the same two-month time frame in 2004. We can only expect a similar increase in January and February this year due to the upcoming Super Bowl XL and Winter Olympics -- sports fans do love their HDTV. (Do you think the Winter X Games will have anything to due with increased HD/DTV sales this year?)

For numbers junkies, total 2005 DTV sales were more than 12 million units and $17 billion; HD products represented 85% or $14.5 billion of those sales.

Actually, the CEA really should be thanking you on behalf of all of their manufacturing members (they are the ones who compile all of these interesting sales figures).

Posted in Home Entertainment

Tagged: cea, consumer electronics association, digital television, dtv, hd, super bowl xl, winter olympics, winter x games : Related Tags: sales

Epson StoryTeller: Picture Perfect Photo Books

February 1, 2006

So many photos! In shoe boxes, cigar boxes, you name it. What to do?

Now, Epson (better known for its fine printers) has come out with its StoryTeller Photo Book Creator, everything you need to make your own photo book! (And I’m talking hard cover, bound 8” x 10” book with up to 20 glossy pages.)

StoryTeller is an all-inclusive kit with everything you need to turn your digital photos into a beautiful, hard-bound glossy photo book for friends and family to enjoy. And, it can be printed and assembled right at home.

With not too much work you can create durable, pre-bound book, along with a glossy book cover, with easy-to-use software that lets you select, enhance and place up to 400 photos.

Professionally designed templates let you lay out pages on your computer. There are six different book styles, each with 10 page layouts for a total of 60 unique page layouts, plus 18 cover selections.

Posted in Digital Cameras

Tagged: digital photos, epson, storyteller photo book creator : Related Tags: photo, storyteller, glossy, bound, cover, epson

V CAST: Early Reviews See a Winner

February 1, 2006

Early results are in regarding Verizon Wireless' V CAST service and LG's VX8100 V CAST Music Phone -- it's a winner! An iPod cell phone! V CAST service is homage to iTunes and phone plays some great sounding music for a cell phone (plus does a lot of that phone stuff, too).

Will have more as we, the test team (meaning my daughter and myself), get more into it.

Anybody else want to ring in?

Posted in Mobile Phones

Tagged: ipod, itunes, lg vx8100 v cast music phone, v cast, verizon wireless : Related Tags: phone

ZyXEL dual-mode GSM/WiFi phone

February 1, 2006

ZyXEL has a dual-mode GSM/WiFi handset phone coming out soon running Windows Mobile 5.0 and will feature a removable SIM card for use with any carrier that supports GSM. The real kicker is that it will also have Skype pre-installed on the ZyXEL dual-mode phone, which will enable this phone to bypass expensive cellphone minutes in favor of an inexpensive (or even free) Skype VoIP connection using WiFi.

I wonder if there is a specialized version of Skype or even a specialized dialer on the ZyXEL that will detect if you are in a WiFi zone and routes the call over Skype instead of over the cellular GSM connection. I actually learned about this phone at ITEXPO last week (another great reason to attend by the way) and have been trying to acquire photos of this new product. Stay tuned.

Posted in Gadgets, ITEXPO, Mobile Phones, Skype, VoIP

Tagged: dual-mode, skype, voip, wifi, windows mobile 5.0, zyxel : Related Tags: phone coming, phone, skype, coming

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