February 2008 Archives

The GTalk2VoIP dev team just released their VoIP+chat application for Symbian S60 phones that runs as a native (.sis file) application. I should stress that several Nokia smart phones come with a SIP stack, however they are limited to WiFi use only and won't work over your cellular network. You can thank the carriers for that one. Talkonaut on the other hand is not bound to WiFi only, allowing you to make calls over GPRS, EDGE, 3G or WiFi. Talkonaut has essentially developed their own VoIP SIP stack that allows Talkonaut users to make voice calls over most data connections your mobile phone might have, such as GPRS, EDGE, 3G and WiFi. The application also sports the ability to make free VoIP calls to Google Talk users, to SIP phones, to MSN, Yahoo, AIM and ICQ voice capable IM clients. I believe you can even chat with MSN Messenger, Yahoo, AIM, and ICQ users.

Here's a list of the new features in the 4th release according to the release:

- Talkonaut 4.0 was entirely rewritten in C/C++ and now runs on Symbian S60 3rd edition based Nokia smart-phones. Moving from Java to native platform allowed to reduce memory usage, improved speed and to add some functionalities that were not previously available for Jave applications, like VoIP, access to file local system (improved file transfer) and interaction with other applications (Web Browser for opening URLs right from chat window).

- Using a set of narrow-band Speex codecs and relying on Jingle Audio extension to XMPP protocol (same as implemented in Google Talk), Talkonaut now brings to the world a very powerful combination of IM chat, Presence and VoIP calls made over data connection.

- Talkonaut 4.0 allows to make free VoIP calls to Google Talk users, to SIP phones, to MSN, Yahoo, AIM and ICQ voice capable IM clients, as well as to other Talkonaut fellows.

- Talkonaut 4.0 allows to receive free calls from SIP phones (or any other VoIP networks), from Google Talk, MSN, Yahoo, AIM and ICQ users.

- Talkonaut 4.0 allows to make cheap VoIP calls to any mobile or landline phone number in the world.

- Talkonaut 4.0 allows to define any number of SIP accounts and use them to make free or cheap calls over third-party VoIP/SIP carriers. A flexible Dialing Plan feature is helpful for choosing routes to destinations between different carriers.

- Talkonaut 4.0 is fully equipped with all the features previously available in J2ME version of Talkonaut 3.0, inherits the same graphical user interface and menu structure.

Talkonaut 4.0 runs on the following sets of Symbian S60 based Nokia smart-phones:
o 3rd Edition: 3250, 5500, 5700, 6110, 6120, 6121, 6290, E50, E51, E60, E61, E61i, E62, E65, E70, E90, N71, N73, N75, N76, N77, N80, N81, N81 8GB, N82, N91, N92, N93, N93i, N95, N95 8GB

Talkonaut 4.0 can be downloaded over-the-air using mobile web browser from http://get.talkonaut.com/, or via PC from http://www.talkonaut.com/download.shtml.

Junction Networks, provider of the hosted onSIP PBX service, has launched Inbound Bridge, an accessory service that ties in third-party providers of international and domestic DID numbers. Inbound Bridge saves money for Junction Networks’ business customers by allowing them to find the best per-minute price for inbound VoIP calling minutes in their chosen geographic regions. Essentially this bridging application lets hosting customers use third-party providers of DID numbers for best LD price in desired footprint.

According to Junction Networks, "Inbound Bridge solves a vexing problem for companies that want local numbers and 800 numbers in foreign countries or specific domestic regions—numbers typically rented from other VoIP network providers. Many of these providers simply deliver calls from one end point to the other; they don’t implement the key function of the SIP VoIP signaling protocol that allows callers to navigate phone menus, transfer calls, put callers on hold and trigger other events. Without this function (specified in the IETF’s RFC 3515), inbound callers are disconnected when they “press 1 for sales,” or try to transfer to extension numbers for specific people. Or at the least the DTMF touch tones are not recognized.

Junction Networks' Inbound Bridge performs the missing SIP function, maintaining the two-way SIP signaling needed for interactivity after a call is already established. It can therefore pass the entered touch-tone digits to the auto attendant and other PBX applications. It can integrate onSIP with any network vendor having an open SIP implementation (permitting communication with other SIP networks).

“This is a perfect opportunity if you’re a company that wants a toll-free service from Europe or Asia, or you have some other reason to use a third-party phone number provider,” said Rob Wolpov, president, Junction Networks. “But you do want to use our hosted solution, because it works very well, you have company extensions in one or more sites, and you like the price of that.” ($39.95 a month for core voice applications and an unlimited number of SIP extensions, with free calling between them.)

“You can get your toll-free origination from any provider that offers SIP delivery of inbound calls, and just have it go to us through the Inbound Bridge. We charge $1.95 a month per DID, and half a cent a minute to cover our cost of the Bridge. If you can get your toll-free for one or one and a half cents a minute, you wind up paying two cents a minute for toll-free, as opposed to paying almost four cents a minute to Junction Networks.

“That’s completely OK with us,” Wolpov stressed. “Go somewhere else to get your minutes and then come to us for the auto attendant, the ACD queue, the voice mail, all those sorts of applications.”

To date, Junction Networks has tested the Inbound Bridge with international DID provider Voxbone. Other third-party DID providers are to be tested and added in the coming months.

“We’re happy to supply onSIP customers with our core value—locally dialed phone presence in more than 40 countries around the world,” said Rodrigue Ullens, Voxbone CEO. “With our intercontinental voice-only backbone, Junction Networks’ Inbound Bridge and onSIP platform, these enterprises can get the best value in DID numbers and international VoIP transport, plus all the convenience and flexibility of hosted IP PBX.”

Nuvio announced a trademark infringement lawsuit against Garmin today. The dispute is against Garmin's uber cool GPS mobile phone called the Nuvifone just recently announced and due out later this year.  Nuvi claims they filed this lawsuit January 31st of 2008. Ok, I'll grant Nuvio that Nuvi is "close" in spelling.  Ok GPS fans, what's wrong with this picture? Could it be that Garmin has been selling GPS units with the name "nuvi" for years! You may have seen the nuvi spelled with the funky two dots about the letter 'u', i.e. nüvi 350. If you Google "nuvi" you'll see Garmin owns this term. If you look at Google Images for "nuvi", once again, all Garmin products. So if Garmin has been using this trademark for years, why all of a sudden is Nuvio suing them?

The Answer?

Drum roll please...

Because the Garmin Nuvifone has generated a lot of media buzz (myself included) that while it isn't as rabid as the iPhone, it's still a pretty hotly anticipated product. Need I also remind you of the Cisco/Linksys lawsuit over Apple's use of the term "iPhone" which I covered here, here, here, and here. Cisco/Linksys already had a trademark on that exact same name. Unlike Nuvio which has a different spelling, the term "nuvi" is not exactly the same.

Now you could compare this with Apple's iProductName, where they pretty much own the letter "i" in front of computer-related technology (iMac, iPhone, iPod). Same goes for McDonald's. I can't launch a frozen pizza called the McPizza without being sued. But certainly Nuvio doesn't have industry-wide acceptance as the owner of the phrase "Nuvio" or "Nuvi". So I don't see how they can win. Seems to be patent extortion to me, but maybe my analysis is off. If so, tell me. But I'll include the news release below so you can judge for yourself.

OVERLAND PARK, Kan.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nuvio Corporation, a leading provider of on-demand business phone service, today announced that it has filed a trademark infringement lawsuit against Garmin International, Inc. (NASDAQ: GRMN) in the U.S. District Court of Kansas. Garmin’s recently announced Nuvifone infringes on the prior Nuvio trademark which Nuvio uses on Nuvio phones and its telephony services.

Prior to filing the lawsuit, Nuvio attempted to reach a mutually satisfactory resolution with Garmin. No resolution was reached and Nuvio filed legal action to protect its rights.

“While we would have preferred to settle this without resorting to a lawsuit, we felt it was important to ensure that our customers and potential customers are not confused by someone abusing our legally protected trademark,” stated Jason P. Talley, Nuvio’s CEO. “Our customers commonly refer to our service as the Nuvio phone.”

Nuvio’s lawsuit alleges that Garmin knowingly and willfully appropriated Nuvio’s trademark. In addition to a determination that Garmin has infringed on the Nuvio trademark, Nuvio is seeking a permanent injunction that prohibits Garmin from using the Nuvi name.

Nuvio issued a cease and desist letter to Garmin on January 31, 2008.
As well as seeking a permanent injunction barring Garmin from using the Nuvio trademark, Nuvio has requested damages for past infringement.

About Nuvio

Nuvio Corporation, a provider of on-demand business communication solutions, distributes its products through direct, indirect and wholesale channels. Nuvio offers a reliable, stable communications platform providing unparalleled uptime for customers. Since 2003, Nuvio has provided PBX services for small to medium-sized businesses in a cost-effective manner. For more information, visit www.nuvio.com.

Continuing my updates for my local gym's The Biggest Loser competition, here's Week #7.

Week 1 (Jan 14th) - weighed in at 198lbs (original weight)
Week 2 (Jan 21st) - weighed in at 189lbs (-9 lbs)
Week 3 (Jan 28th) - weighted in at 189lbs (0 change)
Week 4 (Feb 4th) - weighed in at 186lbs (-3 lbs)
Week 5 (Feb 11th) - weighed in at 186lbs (0 change)
Week 6 (Feb 18th) - weighed in at 184lbs (-2 lbs).
Week 7 (Feb 25th) - weighed in at 183lbs (-1 lbs).

My weight loss has slowed down with just 6 more weeks to go. The good news is that I've lost 15lbs with a fantastic 7.57% weight loss. The even better news is that I'm currently in 1st place for the Biggest Loser competition with 15 total competitors. My wife is actually in 2nd place. Guess the Keating family is kicking some serious butt!

Now for the bad news. I injured my right shoulder about 8 days ago and haven't been able to do much upper body weight training. I think I would be down another 3lbs if not for my shoulder. I'm sure my wife would tell me to stop complaining since I'm in 1st place. I love competition and the thrill of victory but more importantly, when I set me mind to something I just want to do the very best I can regardless if I am competing against others. Part of it is pride, part of it is stubbornness, and part of it is ego.

On top of it all, I caught a nasty cold this week. I woke up this morning and my ears were clogged from the congestion. I took a shot of NyQuil and headed off to my 7:30am morning training session with just a granola bar in my stomach. I usually work out at night but I wanted to work with this particular trainer and she could only do early mornings.

The trainer warned me that people that aren't used to working out in the mornings can feel light-headed. I thought to myself "Me? Light-headed? Bah! I've never felt light-headed in my life from a gym workout. Only girlie men get light-headed". Well, word to the wise - when you take a shot of NyQuil on an empty stomach, you have a cold, then run 6.5mph for 5 minutes and then have a trainer push you to your limit, you are going to feel light-headed.

I was in the middle of doing a drop set exercise when I couldn't lift the weights and was struggling way more than I should have. Trainer looks at me and says "Are you feeling ok? You look very pale". I told her I was fine, but could understand why I couldn't life the weights since they were very light. My stubbornness and never give up mentality was pushing me way beyond mere mortals. Ok, off the ego trip. So anyway, I started to feel light-headed, told her I just needed a second and she then asked if I wanted a Gatorade, which I accepted. By the time she got back, she said "You are very pale. I think you need to lay down." So I swallowed my Irish pride and laid down with my feet up for 5 minutes. The trainer says this happens all the time with people that aren't used to working out in the morning. Still, my ego was a little bruised. I told her about the shot of NyQuil and she said "No wonder why you're light-headed. Working out will increase the speed of the absorption and you have a head cold." After my 5 min break from my continuous circuit training, I got back on the machine. She asked me if I wanted to skip the last set and I told her no. I always finish what I start. I'm hearing Ronald Reagan saying in my ear, "There you go again - with that ego of yours."

Anyway, even with the injury I'm hoping to lose at least 1lb per week. I may have a few 0 weight changes, but I'm hoping to never have a weight gain. Wish me luck! And now back to your regularly scheduled program of VoIP & gadget news!

I've written about some of the challenges of faxing on the Asterisk platform. Faxing has always been one of Asterisk's weaknesses, though it is getting better. Well today, PIKA Technologies announced support for fax applications built on the open-source platform Asterisk. According to PIKA, "PIKA Fax software is now extended to Asterisk, allowing developers on the platform to easily build reliable fax capabilities into their applications."

One of the main problems with faxing on Asterisk is the timing sync of the fax cards which must be in sync between the PRI/T1 voice card and the fax card. Usually you are taking the timing from the telco on the PRI/T1 card and then in order for faxing to work you have to re-send that timing signal out to the fax card. Unfortunately, the timing coming out of the T1/PRI card is not synched to the fax card. The timing is generated by the internal clock on the card itself. Thus, the timing sync signal is not making it from the PRI/T1 card to the fax hardware. One solution to keep the timing in sync is to connect a timing cable between them and share the clock.

PIKA states, "Until now, faxes could be sent and received in Asterisk-based applications only by using Span DSP, a software fax plug-in. Unlike Span DSP, PIKA Fax works independently from zaptel. Its driver works at the kernel level, providing control of real-time applications. PIKA Fax will work with any vendor’s board that supports Asterisk and has been tested specifically with Digium, Sangoma and PIKA hardware."

If this software-based fax solution is as good as it sounds then perhaps reliable faxing on Asterisk will become a reality. I should point out that Sangoma also claims a reliable faxing solution for Asterisk that doesn't require special software. I am curious how PIKA solves the timing issues using just software and not tied to a synchronized clock. I'll have to investigate further.

In the meantime, the full release is after the jump.

eBay today named Josh Silverman the new CEO of Skype. Silverman, currently the CEO of eBay's Shopping.com unit, will take on the job on March 24, replacing Michael van Swaaij, who was appointed interim CEO in October. Andrew Haddad, another eBay executive, will take over the CEO position at comparison shopping site Shopping.com.

Let us hope the new Skype CEO can move Skype beyond simple VoIP calling to the PSTN and peer-to-peer calling. Maybe he can improve Skype's non-existent customer service as well while he's at it.

[via Yahoo! News]

Just learned via TMCs' VoIP Forums that Click4PBX just announced hosted trixbox plans starting at $109/month (1-10 extensions) and going up to a maximum of $279/month (1-300 extensions). It's unclear from the website if that monthly fee is per extension or the total cost for each particular plan. I believe it is the total cost since the alternative (per extension) would be cost prohibitive. Not to mention the price would go down per extension as you scale up where as the plans listed increase in price as you increase the number of extensions. It just seems so cheap to only pay $109/month for up to 10 extensions. A more typically example for the SMB is 50 extensions and that's still only $139/month.

Actually, all Click4PBX is doing is hosting the trixbox software. Well, they are hosting the PC hardware as well and providing some failover redundancy I suppose. So there is some value in that if you are an SMB that doesn't want to maintain hardware & do periodic trixbox software upgrades.

In any event, with this solution all you need is DID numbers and SIP trunking termination services from Click4PBX's list of certified VoIP providers. Your IP phones connect directly with the SIP service provider, while Click4PBX hosts the trixbox management interface, which leverages FreePBX, a web front-end to several Asterisk-based solutions.

I'm very high on SIP trunking as you know, so it'll be interesting to see if more hosted trixbox or hosted Asterisk-based solutions come to market. We already have thousands of website hosting companies - could a plethora of hosted PBX providers be far behind?

I should add that Click4PBX also hosts VICIDIAL, a set of programs that are designed to interact with the Asterisk Open-Source PBX Phone system to act as a complete inbound/outbound call center suite. It includes predictive dialing capabilities, inbound, Outbound and Blended call handling and more.

Arcosoft Inc., those same rascals that built 8 simultaneous video streams only Star Trek's Data could love, today announced the release of TeVeStream FrameSeeker. According to Arcosoft, "Surveillance video, such as those captured for security, paranormal investigation, and wildlife study, often contains many frames that are essentially static. Without FrameSeeker, a reviewer must spend many tedious hours watching the video completely to find interesting events. FrameSeeker reduces the effort by scanning for changes frame by frame. The search stops when a frame differs significantly from the previous."

If you have multiple roommates, now you can catch who's been stealing your Diet Coke from the fridge or capture those pesky spirits that are haunting your abode. If you believe in that sort of thing anyway.

In any event, according to Arcosoft, the sensitivity setting allows the detection of change such as something entering an area, or even a brief flash of light.

FrameSeeker runs on Windows Vista, XP, and 2003. Price is $99 USD, with an evaluation download available from www.TeVeStream.com

Those of you that travel a lot have probably encountered the situation where you think you set the hotel alarm clock correctly only to learn the volume was turned way down or you had it set to PM instead of AM. Many hotel alarm clocks are becoming more gadgety, including some that double as an iPod docking station to wake you up with your iPod tunes.

Well, futzing with an alarm clock you're not familiar with could result in you missing your important meeting. So what do you do? Well, you could call the front desk and ask for a wake-up call. Some hotel systems are even automated so you simply touch-tone the time you want to wake-up. But what fun is that?

if you're an Asterisk fan and want to have some fun, you can configure your own wake up reminders. Today, Nerd Vittles wrote an article explaining how you can do just that. You can configure telephony reminders two different ways. One is to dial into the Asterisk system and after entering in your PIN you speak the date & time you want along with your calendar reminder message and the system will record the reminder into the calendar. This is all done using speech recognition technology. The other method is via the web interface. As seen below you can type a message in and using text-to-speech (TTS) it will speak this text over the phone to you at the specified date & time.



Nerd Vittles jokingly writes:

Today’s edition of Telephone Reminders for Asterisk 1.4 not only lets you schedule reminders by phone using your own voice, but now you can use a clever (if we do say so) web interface as well. Just fill out a simple web form to set your reminder or recurring reminder in motion, and Telephone Reminders for Asterisk will swing into action with Flite or Cepstral’s Allison to deliver your typed message to the phone of your choice at the appointed time. It’s the perfect tool for bugging the hell out of your friends without ever picking up the phone. Wanna wake your worst enemy in the middle of the night with a nice reading of the Gettysburg Address? No problem. Actually, there is a slight problem. It’s against the law to make irritating phone calls. But it’ll be great for calling all those politicians back to thank them for the hundreds of telephone messages they delivered while you were eating dinner.

Nerd explains that this works on PBX in a Flash, but the good news is that it also works on trixbox 2.x - albeit with a caveat - you can't use flite, but Cepstral an alternative TTS engine works.

Now the next time you attend ITEXPO, an Asterisk users conference, or some other Asterisk related event you can brag to your colleagues that you got your wake-up call via Asterisk.

Dan York emailed me to inform me that his company Voxeo has been named in one of Gartner's Magic Quadrants. Gartner is a very well-respected research firm that is just a stone's throw from TMC - about 15 minutes away. Congratulations to Voxeo!

Dan's blog writes:

We are very pleased to announce today that we were positioned in the “Visionaries Quadrant” of Gartner’s “Magic Quadrant for IVR Systems and Enterprise Voice Portals, 2008“. Given that we’ve only been selling our Prophecy premise product for two years, it’s a huge achievement in our view to be included along with other players who have been in the market much longer. As our CEO said in the release:

“We view our position in the Visionaries quadrant as further validation that Voxeo is enabling a fundamental shift in the way companies build and deploy voice applications,” said Jonathan Taylor, CEO of Voxeo. “Voxeo is only in its second year of premise IVR sales and we consider inclusion this early on in the product’s life cycle to be a significant milestone.”

Check out Dan's blog for more...

SimplyWiFi is a new SIP-based WiFi phone based on Linux that not only lets you make free or low-cost calls, it also lets you IM/chat using the SIMPLE standard. SimplyWiFi is a small lightweight phone with a superb talk time of 10 hours and 250 hours stand-by time. The WiFi SIP phone features a 65,000 color 2.0" TFT-LCD with 176x220 resolution.

Wisecom Technologies' SimplyWiFi phone features the ability to make encrypted calls, manage your contacts and send instant messages. The WiFi features include all the usual suspects, including DHCP, authentication and encryption. It supports WEP (64/128-bit), WPA/WPA2 (Personal/PSK/Enterprise), Open System, and Shared Key.

I should point out that some SIP WiFi phones only allow you to connect to open hotspots with no encryption. Fortunately, SimplyWiFi has WiFi profiles allowing you to enter in your WiFi security key one time per SSID/WiFi network, save it, and then re-use the profile when you enter range of that WiFi network.

Features:

• Phonebook records
• Volume control for headset and dialtones
• Brightness control
• Support for strong security and ESSID authentication
• Battery and signal level metering (RF and Battery indication)
• Update via USB port
• Extended stand-by time
• Pixel-based full-color user interface display
• Provisioning support
• Support SIP and RTP/RTCP protocol
• Instant messaging (SIMPLE)
• Chat key
• Caller ID
• NTP time synchronization
• Acoustic Echo Cancellation
• Jitter Buffer Control
• DTMF Transmission
• Call mute
• Call redial
• Call transfer (depending on service provider)
• Call history (Answered, dialed and missed calls)
• Preconfigured speed dial (voice mail)
• Silent ring (Vibrate mode)
• Customized ringtones
• Language support
• Backlight keypad
• SIP account management (multiple, locked and hidden)
• Network profile management (multiple, locked and hidden)

Specifications:

• VoIP Protocol: SIP v2 Session Initiation Protocol (RFC3261), SDP (RFC2327)
• Voice codecs: G.711a/u, G.723.1, G.729a/b, G.726, ILBC
• 802.11b/g: DSSS, OFDM
• Dimension: 46.7 x 135.2 x 18.8 mm, 1.84 x 5.32 x 0.74 inch
• Weight: 106 g
• Battery: 3,7V 1320 mAh Li-Polymer
• Charging: USB/mini-USB cable or AC adapter with mini-USB cable
• VoIP chip: AT76C902 (ARM7 + ARM9 +TeakDSPCore)
• Display: 2.0", 176x220 pxl graphic 65K color TFT-LCD

Wisecom Technologies Ltd is now selling a Skype Certified gateway called SimplyExchange, which hooks up to your corporate PBX using four analog FXS ports. This is similar to the Actiontec VoSKY Skype gateway, though SimplyExchange is a much smaller unit than the 1U VoSKY gateway appliances. In any event, you simply connect 4 SimplyExchange analog FXS ports to 4 PBX FXO trunk ports, which will "Skype enable" your PBX. Alternatively you can connect to 4 telephones (or some to trunk ports and some to telephones)

Next, you configure your PBX by setting a hunting group number for the four trunk ports to a specific number, such as 8. This hunting group will be act as Skype lines allowing a corporate user to simply press '8' to get access the Skype network, as seen by these 2 diagrams:






Then you hook up the SimpleExchange gateway to a PC (via USB) running Skype and install their software.

I was just about to head home when I was sent this bit of interesting news about a new small VoIP probe called the M10P that helps troubleshoot VoIP problems. Figured I'd share...

DATAMEG SUBSIDIARY NETSYMPHONY BEGINS SALES OF NEW MAESTRO SYSTEM WITH UNIQUE VoIP TEST PROBE

NetSymphony, a subsidiary of Datameg Corp (OTCBB: DTMG), today announced commencement of sales of its Maestro System that sets new standards for size, simplicity and value. The Maestro System provides valuable functions in three major
areas: system assessment; assurance and service level agreement monitoring; and fault isolation and troubleshooting. Additional information can be found at www.netsymphony.com.

Maestro provides integrated management of IP services by assessing, monitoring and troubleshooting IP systems. Coupled with central servers, Maestro uses its affordable and widely disbursed M10P probes at defined measurement points to allow network operators to manage their customer's quality experience from initial deployment through and including ensuring ongoing, high quality, voice services. The M10P probe is the smallest in the industry (1 inch by 1 inch by 4.375 inches). Its zero-configuration startup feature lets a user simply plug it in and the M10P automatically begins to perform tests and measurements without any complicated configuration required.

"Four out of 10 large organizations have struggled with VoIP deployment. Many have seen quality problems mysteriously come and go, and they have struggled to get their systems into service and operating clearly and consistently, " said NetSymphony' s Dan Ference. "They've discovered that some routers are not friendly to voice, and they've had distortion problems when their calls go outside their enterprise. The M10P probe replicates a customer's call and is able to measure the end-to-end user experience across networks and administrative boundaries. The M10P probe provides the information to determine where and what problem exists."

NetSymphony offers a unique sales approach. Customers may take advantage of the NetSymphony technology either by purchasing monitoring and troubleshooting through NetSymphony' s VoIP Deployment and Quality Management Services or by purchasing their own complete Maestro Systems outright for integration into their existing infrastructure.

"Minimal intervention is required to get it up and running. You don't need hordes of people out there to diagnose your problems," Ference said. "Maestro can make VoIP deployment and quality management easy and affordable."

I've railed against Skype's poor customer service in the past. I've received a few emails over the past couple months that go like this:

I am a Skype customer who signed up with one ISP email and now I have another. The old email is defunct and unaccessible by me. I forgot my password and when I want to get again, they say they will send me instructions for changing the password to my old email address. This does me no good. How can I contact these people directly? A phone number to tech support would be great. Thanks for your help.

Indeed if you forgot your password, they will email it to you by using their online form. But this particular customer changed email addresses, so how can he reset his password? When you try and Google for keywords "Skype customer service" the first Skype.com link goes here which states: "How do I contact Skype customer service for help with my service?"

Guess what the answer is?

To contact Skype Customer Support, please visit the help section on our website and report your issue through our support form

Simply choose the topic and subtopic that fits your issue the best and explain your problem.

Gee thanks. Way to provide customer support - only through the support form with no phone number. Hmm, a phone provider that has no phone number, how ironic. Ok, well maybe they'll let you submit a trouble ticket that lets you request a new password sent to a different email address that is not the same as the one you registered with when you joined Skype. Well, that won't work because someone could surreptitiously enter in their email address with your Skype username and gain access to your Skype account.

Well, after searching around Skype's website I found the answer if you lost your password and changed your email address:

I lost my password. How can I retrieve it?

If you have forgotten your password there is no way to retrieve it, but you can have a new password sent to you so that you can access your account.

If you entered an email address when you registered for Skype, you can request a new password by filling out this form and a new password will be sent to you.

If you do not receive the email check your Junk Mail folder, sometimes it is sent there by mistake.

If you did not enter your email address, you will have to register again as a new Skype user. If you have SkypeOut credit on your account and the retrieve password tool does not work please submit a ticket to customer support with your billing information.

They first suggest you sign-up with a new Skype username. That's not very helpful. What if I have dozens of people on my buddy list? I have to re-add them using a new Skype username? They then relent a little by allowing you to recover your password "If you have SkypeOut credit on your account" by submitting a ticket to their customer support with "your billing information." First off, what if I don't have SkypeOut credits, will you still help me recover my lost password or do I have to re-register with a new Skype username? Secondly, what billing information does Skype require? My billing address? The credit card I used? Can I just give the last 4 digits of my credit card because the Skype trouble ticket form is not encrypted?

Trying to reach Skype customer service just for a password reset is one thing, but now imagine if you are having a billing issue. I've received email complaints from Skype users that they were over-billed and had no way to speak to someone about their issue. Trying to interact via a 1-way web form isn't the best way to do business. At the very least, Skype should add an online 2-way real-time chat support.

The HD DVD vs. Blue-Ray high-definition DVD format war is over. In case you missed it, Toshiba made a statement saying, "it will no longer develop, manufacture and market HD DVD players and recorders." As a result, Amazon and other online retailers have been having a fire sale trying to offload the Toshiba HD DVD players. You can pick one up for $79 or less.

In a further humiliation, according to TechRadar.com, instead of being listed as HD DVD players, they are now being displayed as upscaling DVD players. You know, the ability to "upscale" standard DVDs to higher resolution - albeit not as good as HD DVD resolution, err. I mean Blue-ray resolution. After all, HD DVD is now dead.

The biggest winner in all this is obviously Sony. The biggest loser in the consumer. While standardizing on a single standard is good for the consumer, Toshiba's HD DVD format and the HD DVD players have been consistently much cheaper than Blue-ray players - $150 vs. $400. Consumers have been slow to adopt HD players not only because of the preceding format war, but also because of the expensive price-tag. Toshiba saw a surge of consumers buying their HD DVD players over the Christmas season because they dropped the price-tag. Sony has stuck to their guns by continuing to offer standalone Blue-ray players for a whopping $400.

I expect consumers to not rapidly adopt Blue-ray players unless Sony drops the price to less than $300. Even $299 might get more consumers to bite. I will say this though - you can buy a Blue-ray DVD player included within a Sony PlayStation 3 also for $400. If I do buy a Blue-ray player I might just buy a Sony PlayStation 3 instead since it's the same price as a standalone player and you get a ton more features, including obviously video games. So the second biggest loser in all this might just be Microsoft and their XBox 360 console. I expect there will be a lot of consumers like me that aren't heavy gamers but will buy a PlayStation 3 just to get the Blue-ray DVD player. No wonder Sony isn't lowering their price - their trying to shuffle people into buying a PS3.

Sony may have lost the VCR vs. Sony BetaMax analog video format war but 23 years later Sony won the more important high-definition digital format war. Well played Sony... Well played...