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May 2008

You are browsing the archive for May 2008.

Moto StarTac Started It All (Flip Phone Frenzy!)

May 30, 2008

Amazing to think back to a decade ago when Motorola introduced its StarTac flip phone -- great design that has been repeated over and over again until this day.

You can't even imagine how big and bulky cell phones were up until that time -- like putting a brick to your ear!

And thank goodness that will great design is timeless battery power has been improved from those days of 60 minute talk time?

Thanks to MotorolaFAQ for the shot.

Posted in Mobile Phones
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CloudBlue for Recycling Gadgets

May 30, 2008

With more and more gadgets comes the need to get rid of some of them sometimes! But no more just dumping them in the trash -- recycle, now that's the ticket!

CloudBlue offers a suite of services that enable its customers (think corporate -- and you can too at your workplace to clear room for more stuff) to maximize the financial value of their electronic assets while exceeding strict environmental standards. In other words, they help assist in proper equipment disposal.

What's nice is their reach -- facilities in Georgia, Illinois, Ohio, Indiana, New Jersey and Virginia. Customers include leading OEMs, VARS, IT consultants, schools and corporations.

So once again, think about recycling being greater than just those gadgets at home.

www.cloudblue.com

Posted in Gadgets
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Hmmm... Buy an IP-PBX at Costco

May 29, 2008


I'm on vacation at Disney World this week but happened to be checking my email and noticed a bit of interesting news involving Costco, Microsoft, and VoIP. Yes, I know, strange bedfellows, eh? Apparently, you can now buy a Microsoft Response Point IP-PBX phone system from Costco.com! That's great news for Microsoft, though I would have liked to have seen Costco's retail stores carry this IP-PBX system as well.
Posted in Microsoft, SIP, TMCnet, VoIP
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1TB Drive under $200!! Wow! Oh, Baby ...

May 29, 2008

Samsung recently announced its one terabyte EcoGreen F1 hard drive with low power features for less than $200. Yes! Yes, you are reading correctly! 1TB

According to the company, the eco-friendly drive can be adopted as an external hard drive or internal drive for desktop PCs.

It offers a 15% power savings compared to other low-powered 1TB hard drives and a 50% power reduction against traditional 1TB drives.

Slated to launch Q2 2008 (like now), it will carry an MSRP of $199.00.

Read all about here on the official Samsung press release.

Posted in Computer Hardware
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Are Mini-Notebooks on the Way Back?

May 29, 2008

Always loved the smallest of the small laptop PCs, but seems they never really took off for a number of reasons -- form factor is limited by keyboard size (chiclets anyone), features tend to not be pushing the envelope and price is high (smaller means pricier -- MacBook Air anyone).

Now Acer and Dell seem to both be getting into the act. Read more about Acer's latest offering (with photos) here on the UMPC Portal.

Ah, if we could only carry one gadget that could do it all ... will it be phone, computer or wrist radio (Dick Tracy, anyone) ...

That's one of my favorites pictured above -- Compaq's Contura Aero -- note the trackball location (thanks to the Home Computer Museum)!

Posted in Computer Hardware
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Social Security Goes VoIP

May 28, 2008

The Social Security Administration is going VoIP and a big way. We're talking 1,600 locations! Assuming at least 30 people per location, that's 48,000 employees and IP phones. 48,000 employees just to manage Social Security?
Posted in Avaya, TMCnet, VoIP
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SIP Forum Membership Surges

May 28, 2008

Marc Robins, a former TMC co-worker dropped Rich and me a line to tell us some good news about the SIP Forum that Marc is now a part of (he's the Managing Director). While I still hold a grudge against Marc for leaving TMC, I'm glad he at least stayed in the VoIP industry. Just kidding Marc! I'll see you in September at the next ITEXPO!

Speaking of ITEXPO & the SIP Forum, you might also be interested in reading about SIPConnect.

Posted in ITEXPO, SIP, TMCnet, VoIP
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When One Less Gadget Is Better -- Set-Top Boxes Going Bye-Bye?

May 27, 2008

Sony has joined forces with six of the top cable companies in the U.S. to adopt tru2way technology in its TVs, thus eliminating the need for a set-top box when accessing television and other interactive services. and anyone else working on a set-top box should be nervous. Read more about it here.

Apple, Netflix, Sezmi

Posted in Video Hardware & Software
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Shame on Dell

May 27, 2008

The New York Attorney General's Office has won a major suit against Dell, with the court ruling that Dell engaged in fraud, false advertising and deceptive business practices. Read more about it here.

Now are we going to see any money (Show Me the Money) or is it going to be the typical case (no pun intended) where the lawyers clean up and we get a $25 credit toward the next purchase of a Dell product???

The company to pay restitution and forfeit unlawfully earned profits -- Show Me the Money!

Posted in Computer Hardware
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ezStand Is Just That for Guitar Hero

May 27, 2008

No more guitars on the floor or the couch!

The ezStand from ezGear supports all gaming guitar controllers - and we love it for Guitar Hero (rock ON!!!)

What's there not to like? Small and compact, it's easy to set up with an adjustable neck that fits all size guitars (and it folds for easy storage if you really need to).

BTW, it's also great for Rock Band or ezJam Jr Guitars.

MSRP: $15.99

www.ezgear.com

Posted in Video Games & Gaming
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Asterisk With Office Communications Server 2007

May 27, 2008

Asterisk integration with Office Communications Server 2007 is a popular topic in the unified communications community. You wouldn't think integrating an open source Linux-based solution (Asterisk) with Microsoft's proprietary OCS 2007 UC platform would be popular, but it is. In fact, I have my ear to both the Microsoft OCS 2007 community and the Asterisk community and the integration of these two worlds is something I hear all the time. Some within the Asterisk community poo-poo the thought of integrating with Microsoft OCS 2007.
Posted in Asterisk, Linux, Microsoft, Reviews, SIP, TMCnet, Unified Communications, VoIP
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Flash-to-SIP Video Calls

May 27, 2008

Innovative Systems of Communication (ISC, Inc.), a Russian-based company, launched Flashphone.ru, a proof-of-concept Flash-based phone app which I discovered & reviewed back in November. More recently they launched a media server to go along with their Flash softphone application.

Well, ISC dropped me a line to tell me they have implemented video calls that allow Flash-to-SIP and from SIP-to-Flash video calls using their Zingaya Media Server. As you probably know, Flash-to-Flash video calls is nothing new, but Flash-to-SIP and the reverse is new. This platform marries the ubiquitousness of the Flash client on Windows/Mac/Linux with the ubiquitousness of the SIP standard and SIP gateways.

Thus, using a simple browser you can initiate a video call to a video client such as X-Lite or even (in theory) a hardphone videophone device such as the Packet8 videophone.



Posted in Packet8, SIP, TMCnet, VoIP
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CinemaNow Brings Movie Downloads to Windows Media Center

May 23, 2008


CinemaNow
 was one of the first to offer downloadable video content on-demand, but has been lost in the shuffle of competitors like Apple, Amazon, and Netflix for their digital movie, music, & TV downloads. And of course you have the big buzz surrounding Netflix's new Roku set-top box.

Well, today CinemaNow is announcing that its library of over 3,400 feature-length movies is now available through Windows Media Center. All you need is Windows Media Center, which comes included with Windows Vista and Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005. These movies are available right now through a new Online Media channel in Windows Media Center that provides access to CinemaNow. Their library includes feature-length movies and even HD-quality movies.

The big benefit of Windows Media Center is that it gives you an easy way to browse CinemaNow’s library with the "10 foot" experience using your Windows Media Center remote control.



Posted in Apple, Home Entertainment, Microsoft, TMCnet
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I Could Use a Good Way to Watch the NBA ...

May 22, 2008

... Too bad mobile phone screen sizes are so small. It would be great to see the Celtics-Pistons and Lakers-Spurs NBA East and West finals while going mobile.

Can't they dream up a way to optimize the network and HD broadcasts so the players aren't so small?

Well, let's get ready for tipoff ...

Posted in Mobile Phones
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Guitar Hero World Tour Is Coming!!

May 22, 2008

Get ready to rock!

When the house lights go down this fall, a new generation of axe shredders, drummers and fearless frontmen will come together and rock with Guitar Hero World Tour, the latest installment from the #1 best-selling video game 2007 (but not 2008 based on what we know so far).

Guitar Hero World Tour is slated to transform music gaming by extending Guitar Hero’s exhilarating guitar frenzy into a "cooperative band experience that combines the most advanced wireless instruments with revolutionary new online and offline gameplay modes."

The game will feature a slick newly redesigned guitar, a genuine electronic drum kit and a microphone as well as an innovative Music Studio music creator that lets players compose, record, edit and share their own rock and roll anthems, along with online Band Career and eight-player “Battle of the Bands.” Read more from the Red Octane press release at CrunchGear here.

Posted in Video Games & Gaming
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Looking to Predict Apple's Future

May 22, 2008

Predicting the new gadgets that Apple might throw at us is a favorite parlor game of the technology industry, Wall Street and the blogosphere. The latest chatter is that Steve Jobs will reveal at a developer conference beginning June 9 a new version of the iPhone that can surf the Web over fast 3G wireless networks.

But the Wall Street Journal reports that it's more fun thinking about what gadgets Apple might be making in five years.

Forrester Research is the latest to look into the crystal ball in a new report that imagines the Apple products of 2013. But rather than predict Apple jet packs or other outlandish new directions, the research firm uses the company's recent history as a guide to forecasting.

Forrester's conclusion: While much of Apple's great successes have been mobile products such as the iPod and the iPhone, the company will seek to colonize rooms throughout the home

Just what sizes, shapes and forms those colonization efforts will take can be seen here.

Posted in Apple
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Dior Getting into Mobile Phones for Fashionistas

May 21, 2008

Don't know how many of us will be picking up one of these, but Dior, the French luxury-goods is reportedly coming out with a line of mobile phones that will be targeted to fashionistas worldwide, particularly in the Russian and Chinese markets. The phones come on the high heels of similar launches by Dior rivals, such as Prada (see the photo above) and Dolce & Gabbana.

Read more about it in the Wall Street Journal.

Posted in Mobile Phones
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Philips Says 3-D TV (Without the Glasses) Is Next Big Thing

May 21, 2008

According to an International Herald Tribune/Associated Press report, Philips is working on a TV that will enable viewers to have a 3-D experience without the need to wear 3-D glasses.

Discussing the evolution of television, a company spokesman said "... the market progression is black and white, to color, to High-Definition, to 3-D."

ETA? A few years. Like they say, let's see what happens ...

Looks like 3-D glasses will be going the way of the buggy whip?

Posted in Video Hardware & Software
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Palm Ups It to Treo 850

May 21, 2008

Palm keeps on churning out products --ahh, bet they still wish it was the heady days of the Palm Pilot ...

Anyway, now surrounded by relentless competition, the yet-to-be released Treo 850 apparently features a 400 MHz processor and 100 MB of RAM. Check out photos at The Boy Genius Report here.

Posted in Mobile Phones, PDAs & Handhelds
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Zemanta on Movable Type

May 21, 2008

Zemanta notified me to tell me that Zemanta's Firefox plugin now works with Movable Type. Woohoo! They said, "Just wanted to drop a quick note that we released a new version of Zemanta today that adds support for MT 4.1. Only through extension for now, but plugin will follow in a few weeks." I was a little peeved that their initial launch included Wordpress and not MT so I actually posted a thread to their forums asking when Zemanta would be available for Movable Type. They promised me support for MT was coming and indeed it has!

What Zemanta does is simply monitor the text in your blog draft and then go out on the web (connecting to Zemanta's web servers) to find relevant/related images, articles, and tags. I guess you could call Zemanta a blogger's "cheat sheet" for quickly finding relevant articles, images and tags.

Posted in MovableType
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Sprint Capping Data Usage!!!

May 20, 2008

According to this report in BetaNews, Sprint is planning to implement data usage caps on its mobile broadband service. Sprint will put a 5 GB per month overall use cap and 300 MB per month for off-network roaming.

Sprint states that "the use of voice and data roaming by a small minority of customers is generating a disproportionately large level of operating expense for the company. We are enforcing the existing terms and conditions for phone plans. We are placing a limit of 300 MB per month on the amount of data use allowed while roaming off network as well as a 5 GB per month limitation on total wireless data usage for Sprint's connection and phone as modem plans."

Now I don't remember seeing those usage limits in the existing terms and conditions, do you?

Posted in Mobile Phones
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Downloaded Movies Were Meant To Be Free

May 20, 2008

Nice to see Roku back and how about hooking up with Netflix in the announcement of a $100 set top box that streams free movies (for Netflix subscribers) to the living room.

Instead of wading into a losing battle over cheap downloads and rentals (see Vudu, BlockBuster, AppleTV, Google, etc., which charge for each movie), we now see somebody getting the magic four-letter word right -- "free." That's what I'm talking about!

Of course, the service isn’t really free. Users have to buy the $100 box, and continue to keep a Netflix subscription active ($18/month). There are 10,000 movies available on on the box, which is significantly less than the 100,000 or so titles on Netflix’s DVD mailing service (and it’s old titles, not new releases).

Posted in Video Hardware & Software
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Instant Charge for Cell Phones on the Horizon?

May 20, 2008

According to a Reuters report, analog chip maker National Semiconductor is developing technology to charge cell phones in an instant by plugging the phone into a wall oulet and voila! it's charged.

Want this in an instant? Sorry, you have to wait -- seems it's a year away, even with what the company calls "a pretty aggressive R&D campaign."

The end game is for Nat Semi, which gets more than a third of its revenue from wireless, to sell the technology to existing phone charger suppliers rather than go into the phone charger business.

Is this a green move? Really more a matter of convenience rather than an energy saver.

Posted in Mobile Phones
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Is Virtual for You?

May 19, 2008

Does anybody really like running PC software on a Mac through such virtualization software as VMWare or Boot Camp or Parallels or ...?

Had one of them on my iMac and did use it for a couple of PC-only programs (come on, time to port it over!), but never took the step to add it to the MacBook Pro I'm creating this blog item on.

Would be good to hear from those of you who do go both ways regularly -- and why ...

Posted in Computer Software
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Blu-ray Going Under $300 -- Will Market Take Off?

May 19, 2008

Wal-Mart plans to break the consumer sweet spot under-$300 price point barrier on Blu-ray players this month, according to a report on Pocket-lint.co.uk.

Traditionally, consumer products really start to take off when they drop under the $300 level (at l ast when the overall economy is sound).

Wal-Mart will sell a Profile 1.1 Funai player under the Magnavox brand with picture-in-picture functionality.

Not to far behind, Best Buy is expected to offer the player under the Insignia brand for $350 or so beginning next month.

Posted in Video Hardware & Software
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Apple Takes Lead in $1K+ Computer Market

May 19, 2008

Everybody knows that Apple is kicking butt, and now research force NPD has reported huge growth in Apple's share of the so-called “premium” computer market — machines that cost more than $1,000.

Less than 18% in January 2006, by September 2007 it had grown to more than 57%, and in the first quarter of 2008 it hit a record 66%.

To some extent, this is growth by default as HP, Dell and Lenovo ship beaucoup quantities of PCs at price points between $500 and $750, whereas the only Macintosh that sells for less than $1,000 is the $599 Mini.

Read more about it here from Fortune.

Posted in Apple, Computer Hardware
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snom m3 DECT SIP Phone Coming to North America

May 19, 2008


In late 2007, snom announced the snom m3 DECT wireless SIP phone. snom sent me a review unit a few months ago to review and alas it's been sitting on my large pile of VoIP products to check out. The m3 is a cool looking phone and very gadgety, so usually I would have torn into the box and played with it the same day I got it, but if I set aside other projects every time I got a cool gadget, I'd never get anything done.

Well, I finally had time to install and test the snom m3 and hope to write a review soon. For now, I'd like to share today's news that the snom m3 wireless VoIP Phone now being generally available in North America.


Posted in Asterisk, Reviews, SIP, TMCnet, VoIP, Wireless
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"Digital Downtown" is Lower Manhattan's consumer technology expo

May 16, 2008

"Digital Downtown" is Lower Manhattan's consumer technology expo, designed to serve the one-on-one information needs of high-income consumers who need a convenient way to learn about the latest new products without leaving the Financial District -- or even their office complex. Hey, but anybody can attend since it's all free...

It will take place in The Winter Garden (that's it in the photo above) of the architecturally acclaimed World Financial Center, June 12-14, kicking off the annual "River to River" downtown arts and entertainment festival.

www.digitaldowntown-nyc.com/portal/consumer

Posted in Home Entertainment

Build Your Own Notebook -- Really, You Build It

May 16, 2008

OCZ Technology has announced a new spin on an old product: the build-it-yourself notebook PC. Yes, you really do build it yourself ...

According to a report in ExtremeTech, OCZ's DIY Gaming Notebook (part number OCZNBIAS15DIYA on the company's Web site) includes the basics: a 15.4-inch WXGA display, an Intel PM965 chipset, an Nvidia GeForce 8600MGT/512 Mbyte video card and an 8X DVD±R/RW combo drive capable of reading and writing four-layer discs.

However, buyers have to buy and install the CPU, memory, hard drive and operating system themselves, either from OCZ or somebody else.

However, "building" the notebook consists of four steps: installing the hard drive, installing the memory, installing the CPU and attaching the bezel. (Some easy, some a bit hard, unless you've been under the hood of a desktop PC.

The new notebook will be the first of a family of products, the company said, but pricing has not yet been determined.

Posted in Computer Hardware
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Touch-Screen BlackBerry Coming!?

May 16, 2008

According to reports in today's Wall Street Journal and on CNBC, pesky Research In Motion (RIM) plans to introduce a touch-screen version of its BlackBerry to thwart the challenge posed by the popularity of Apple's iPhone. (And no wonder we are seeing so many RIM TV ads ...)

Apparently dubbed the Thunder, the new BlackBerry is among RIM's strongest moves so far to appeal to the increasing number of consumers jumping for multimedia phones, a market that is increasingly turning to touch-screen devices for their ease of use (and cool factor). Easy integration with iTunes and the iPhone's sophisticated touch-screen were key features that made the iPhone such a big hit.

Posted in Mobile Phones
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Nintendo Wii Outsells Them All!

May 16, 2008

Researchers extraordaire NPD has just released its gaming console sales numbers for April and guess what? Nintendo took the number one and two slots in hardware sales, with the Wiihaving sold 714,200 units while the Nintendo DS sold 414,800 units. Third place went to the PSP with 192,700 units. These are staggering numbers and underscore the life in the gaming market, even in tougher economic times.

And while these numbers may be impressive, what's more impressive is that the Wii outsold the Playstation 2, PlayStation 3, PSP, and Xbox 360 combined! Yikes!

For more details, check out Ars Technica here.

Posted in Video Games & Gaming
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SIP-based VoIP Wake Up Call Service

May 16, 2008

The beauty of VoIP and the corresponding SIP standard is the ease at which applications can be developed. Today, I learned about a wake-up-call service on www.sipservices.gr that leverages the SIP standard to allow you to schedule wake-up-calls. The software app called “Wake up Easy Voip Service” simply registers as a SIP extension to your existing SIP-based IP-PBX, waits for inbound extension calls, plays a prompt, you enter your wake-up time, and voila', the system will call you at the designated time. This is perfect application for hotels that are migrating to a VoIP phone system.
Posted in Avaya, SIP, TMCnet, VoIP
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Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Rumors

May 15, 2008

I've heard from various sources about Office Communications Server 2007 R2 coming soon. I'm a member of the Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 MVP team, so I'm privy to information that I cannot divulge at this moment due to NDA requirements. In fact, I hadn't planned on blogging this at all had I not come across a few posts online talking about OCS 2007 R2. Other sources outside the Microsoft MVP community were also asking me if I knew anything about R2.

There are several rumors milling about what features OCS 2007 R2 would contain, including this link on Network World.

Posted in Asterisk, Microsoft, TMCnet, Unified Communications, VoIP
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New Jawbone headset is sexy

May 15, 2008

The new Jawbone, made by Aliph, is 50% smaller than the original Jawbone. This Gen 2 Jawbone Bluetooth headset enhances the original Jawbone's claim-to-fame capability - namely its superb ability to suppress background noise.

Here's some more pics of this sexy Bluetooth headset:






The noise reduction feature was originally called "Noise Shield" but is now called "NoiseAssassin". Jawbone's NoiseAssassin technology feels your speech with its patented Voice Activity Sensor (VAS). The Jawbone headset uses the VAS to distinguish the sound of your voice from ambient noise with incredible accuracy and then uses proprietary Digital Signal Processing (DSP) algorithms to subtract the noise so only the sound of your voice comes through.

The NoiseAssassin technology was originally developed by Aliph for DARPA (The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency), which creates and delivers breakthrough technology for the U.S.










Posted in Gadgets, Headsets, Mobile Phones, News, TMCnet, VoIP, Wireless
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Microsoft LifeCam VX-5000

May 13, 2008

Microsoft launched a webcam called the Microsoft LifeCam VX-5000 that "literally bends over backwards for you." Or at least, that's what Microsoft says.

Somehow picturing a webcam and bending over backwards sounds a wee bit pornographic is you ask me. That is until I found out what the fuss was all about. The LifeCam VX-5000 lets you "bend" its shape. The bendable attachment base that molds to virtually any surface so it can work on either a notebook or a desktop.

The LifeCam VX-5000 features a brightly colored ring around the front of the webcam in the colors Cool Blue, Lucky Green and Fire Red. The LifeCam VX-5000 also features MSN Photo Swap, a special feature that lets consumers share digital photos in midvideo conversation and see real-time reactions as both callers view the pictures.



Posted in Digital Cameras, Gadgets, Microsoft
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Can You Believe It? One Fifth of U.S. Households Have Never Used Email!

May 13, 2008

Because we are so, so connected, we think everybody else is too ... But a new survey finds a substantial number of households have not crossed the "Digital Divide."

According to National Technology Scan, a forthcoming study from Parks Associates (an annual phone survey of U.S. households) found 20 million households are without Internet access, representing approximately 18% of all U.S. households.

According to Parks Associates, nearly one out of three household heads has never used a computer to create a document, underscoring the significant digital divide between the connected majority and the homes in the unconnected minority that rarely, if ever, use a computer.

Age and education are factors in this divide -- 50% of those who have never used e-mail are over 65, and 56 percent had no schooling beyond high school.

National Technology Scan found just 7% seven percent of the 20 million “disconnected” homes plan to subscribe to an Internet service within the next 12 months.

Posted in Computer Software
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A New Way to Stargaze via the WorldWide Telescope

May 13, 2008

Maybe it's time to get a new telescope or upgrade for the future in another way?

According to a report in today's New York Times, the skies may be the next frontier in travel, but not even the wealthiest space tourist can zoom out to, say, the Crab Nebula, the Trapezium Cluster or Eta Carinae, a star 100 times more massive than the Sun and 7,500 light-years away.

But those far, far away places and thousands of others can now be toured and explored at the controls of a PC, with the constellations, stars and space dust displayed in vivid detail and animated imagery.

The project, the WorldWide Telescope, is the culmination of years of work by researchers at Microsoft, and the Web site and free downloadable software are available starting today, at www.WorldWideTelescope.org.

In case you wanted to know, the WorldWide Telescope is a Web 2.0 visualization software environment that enables your computer to function as a virtual telescope — bringing together imagery from the best ground and space-based telescopes in the world for a seamless exploration of the universe.

Here's CNET's take on it here. Happy trails to you ...

Posted in Computer Software
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Movable Type 4.15 beta 2

May 13, 2008

I've been testing Movable Type 4.15 beta1 for a few weeks now with plans to migrate from Movable Type 3.33 to 4.15 when the product finally launches. According to the Movable Type roadmap wiki, the final non-beta version will launch in 6 days. Well, technically it says "Target Release Date: May 19ish" so they're leaving some wiggle room. Regardless, I'm pretty excited about the pending launch.
Posted in MovableType
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Dell Goes More Seriously after Gamers

May 13, 2008

Surprising to some, but Dell is abandoning several of its most popular models to focus on its premium line of specialty gaming personal computers.

Not too surprising to some, Dell had to do something to juice up its chances after falling to the No. 2 spot in PC sales behind HP. (Doesn't No. 2 always try harder?)

Looks like Alienware may be invading a home near you sometime soon ... And we all know those higher-end innovations do participate in the "trickle down" effect that we've all come to know and love.

Read more about it in the Wall Street Journal here.

Posted in Computer Hardware
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Druid 1.2.0-3 Launches

May 13, 2008

Today, Druid 1.2.0-3, an open source Asterisk-based solution was launched. (Check out my full review of the Asterisk-based Druid platform for some background.) Here's a screenshot of their web-based front-end that makes it easy to manage their version of Asterisk:



Vikram Rangnekar from Druid shot me off an email saying they have some great new features in Druid. Figured I'd share some important excerpts of his email that explain the news:

In the two months since its been out, We have had a little over a thousand downloads. I'm more than satisfied with how the community is growing we have around 400 people on the forums a little over half of them are quite active, We have a lot of people posting bugs, suggestions and many people actually using Druid OSE in their organizations.

We have a few people porting the Druid RPM's over to Gentoo and SuSE.
We are still finalizing the SOAP API but we have added a ton of new cool stuff.








Posted in Android, Asterisk, Reviews, TMCnet, VoIP
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VonagePro for Business

May 13, 2008

It appears that Vonage is looking for a Director of Product Management for  VonagePro, a service I had never heard of until today. I just happened to notice the VonagePro job listing on Monster.com. Hmm... - "Requires bachelor's degree in computer science or electrical engineering or equivalent combination of education and experience." I've got those credentials! 
Posted in TMCnet, Vonage
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CNET's Tech Tips Can't Be Beat

May 12, 2008

So many tech sites and so little time!

With that in mind, I've always found CNET to be very useful, especially for its handy Tips & Tricks. In fact, it's usually my first stop when I've got to figure something out and don't already have that knowledge stored somewhere (usually in my own unique personal storage device -- my head).

Take a look at their latest Top 5 list, which includes:

* Moving your iTunes library from PC to Mac

* Quick home-theater buying tips

* Optimize your iPhone using playlists

* HDTV: Comparing 720p vs. 1080p

* Find a Vista-compatible graphics card

This beats Googling every day!

Posted in Gadgets
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Garmin's Nuvi 350 Is the Way to Go!

May 12, 2008

I've had the great pleasure to try out the sleek, portable nüvi 350 from Garmin for a while now. It takes GPS into a wider world than just GPS navigation, offering an all-in-one traveler’s reference and digital entertainment system . It's really a pocket-sized personal travel assistant, and it's rechargeable lithium-ion battery makes it convenient for navigation by car or foot.

The nüvi 350 comes ready to go right out of the box with preloaded City Navigator NT street maps, including a robust points of interest database with hotels, restaurants, gas stations and ATMs for instance.

Posted in GPS
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So What Did Mom Get?

May 12, 2008

Now that Mother's Day has come and gone -- and I hope it was a happy day for all! -- curious to know what gadget mom got?

You mean you stuck with flowers and candy?!

We went for a new cell phone -- Moto RAZR -- and a new service since AT&T is just so bad! And we also went for cards, flowers, candy, dinner, etc., too! (Thanks to Mothersdaycentral for the image.)

Now I want to know about you? What did you do? Did you make Mother's Day Gadget Day?

Posted in Gadgets
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Apple Pays Up Over Battery Woes

May 9, 2008

Apple has agreed to pay refunds of $25 to $79 to more than 2 million Mac owners to resolve claims that some of its power adapters were prone to spark.

Nice to see cash actually going to the consumers who suffered through this, not to the lawyers who brought the suit. We've all been there before, eh?

The 2006 class-action suit alleged that Apple misrepresented problems with the power adapters. In 2001, Apple recalled about 570,000 adapters sold with PowerBooks after reports of overheating. Apple advised customers to stop using the adapters and offered free replacements.

Get more at The Los Angeles Times here.

 

Posted in Apple
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AT&T Can't Make Up Its Mind

May 9, 2008

What's a major telco to do when it can't make up its mind?

Put things on the website one day and then remove them the next?

Here ya go? AT&T has flip-flopped again on whether iPhone customers can get free access to AT&T hotspots.

Posted in Wireless
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Amazon offers Click-To-Call Ordering

May 9, 2008

I was on Amazon.com looking for a Garmin GPS when I noticed I had the ability to click "Call me" to order stuff from Amazon. Interesting. Curious, I clicked the Call me button and saw this:


As seen above, it appears eStara is powering Amazon's Click-to-Call capabilities. Now I realize this isn't new "news" since the WSJ wrote about Amazon using eStara awhile back.


Posted in SIP, TMCnet, VoIP
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Blackberry 9000 Is Coming Next Week!

May 9, 2008

Exciting news for all Blackberry fans -- seems like the highly touted 9000 is due to be announced May 12!

Take a look at The Boy Genius here (thanks for the photo!) for a bit more and here at Crackberry for a three-part review of the little beauty.

Posted in Reviews, Wireless
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HP Goes Upline

May 8, 2008

Do we really need another online storage company?

Apparently, HP thinks so and has launched Upline, a data storage service that lets you put your data in a more secure, online headquarters location.

As we should have learned by now, automatic backup makes securing data simple, not just one time, but as often as you choose. And with any Internet connection you can easily access, share, manipulate and store your data from anywhere.

Posted in Computer Software
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AT&T To Give iPhone Wi-Fi Hotspot Access?

May 8, 2008

We can never get enough iPhone news or juicy rumors, so here we go again!

According to MacRumors, AT&T's iPhone website (under the Plans tab) has been updated to note that each iPhone plan now includes access to their "more than 17,000 Wi-Fi hotspots, including Starbucks all for use in the U.S."

Not officially announced, but then again ...

Read more about it here.

Posted in Wireless
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New Dell Notebooks Coming?

May 8, 2008

The steady pace of computer technology marches on ...

According to a report on Engadget (here), Dell is set to launch a series of new Inspiron notebooks.

Having had an Inspiron 700m for what sees like ages now, feel good that Dell is coming off of its battery woes, but only time (and the gadget-buying public) will prove that right ...

And that may be soon, with the first one apparently coming right around Memorial Day.

Posted in Computer Hardware
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SkyFire Review

May 8, 2008

Rich Tehrani has a great review on the SkyFire browser that gives Windows Mobile devices the Apple iPhone browsing experience. Well, not quite, but definitely much better than the built-in Windows Mobile browser. It supports easy zooming, Flash support, videos (including YouTube videos) and more. Rich was getting so frustrated with the crappy Windows Mobile browser that he even weighed the pros and cons of switching to the Apple iPhone from his Verizon HTC 6800 Windows Mobile.

But now Rich is giddier than a kid that just got a PS3 for Christmas, or that blogger who just got an iPhone and can't stop blogging about it.

Posted in Microsoft, Mobile Phones, PDAs & Handhelds, Reviews, TMCnet
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Jangl & TalkPlus Spell VoIP Troubles Ahead?

May 8, 2008

Om over at GigaOm writes that Jangl was looking to sell itself earlier this week and is "headed towards an ignominious end" and adds that Talkplus "is going nowhere fast". I wrote a detailed write-up on TalkPlus, interviewing TalkPlus CEO Jeff Black at ITEXPO and my biggest fascination was how the supposedly reverse engineered Skype. I wrote, "One final interesting thing we talked about at ITEXPO is that TalkPlus has built their own Skype gateway. In fact, when pressed further, Jeff mentioned they actually reverse engineered Skype's protocol.
Posted in ITEXPO, Skype, TMCnet, VoIP
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Covad Vonage Deal Redux

May 8, 2008

I was emailing industry analyst Jon Arnold about some things and mentioned I quoted him in my post this morning about the Covad & Vonage partnership and the resulting product offering called/branded "Vonage Broadband" and soon to be carried by Covad.

He wrote back with some interesting insights of his own regarding the deal and wonders if it's a good move or one of desperation. That thought had crossed my mind as well and I nearly blogged as such in my earlier post.

Jon mentioned he would like to blog about this deal, but he's pretty busy. Nevertheless, he provided me via email some of his initial thoughts that I thought were worth sharing:

Really concerned about their rising churn - not good. Interesting move with Covad.






Posted in SIP, TMCnet, VoIP, Vonage
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South Korea Blocks VoIP - here we go again...

May 8, 2008

Do you recall my 2006 post about South Korea wanting to ban VoIP, which would also include U.S. military bases and military personnel serving in South Korea? Well, according to today's Vonage Form thread it appears South Korea has taken a playbook from the Great Firewall of China and is now blocking U.S. military personnel from making inexpensive VoIP calls back to the U.S.

The Vonage forum thread was started by a U.S.

Posted in TMCnet, VoIP, Vonage
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Covad to offer Vonage Broadband

May 8, 2008

Vonage and Covad Communications today announced a strategic relationship which will enable Vonage to provide its customers with a broadband solution using Covad’s nationwide DSL network. The new service, called Vonage Broadband, is expected to be offered to new and existing customers by the end of the year.

This is interesting, since Covad's strength has always been in offering business VoIP services not residential. Though, I should point out that in 2004, Covad said they were jumping in to the residential VoIP business. Pal Jon Arnold was even quoted as saying in a CNET article that it was no surprise and "Everybody's trying to jump on the bandwagon," Arnold said.

Posted in TMCnet, VoIP, Vonage
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Real iPhone Competition?

May 7, 2008

High Tech Computer

Unveiled in London with plans for European sales next month, this follows the Touch, which has sold well since its launch last June, a few weeks before the iPhone launch.

Plans are for the phone to be available in the U.S. in the second half of this year.

Read more about it in the Wall Street Journal here.

, a little-known but fast-growing Taiwanese gadget maker, has unveiled a its Touch Diamond, a touch-screen smart phone that is the latest product in its surprisingly (so far) successful effort to compete against Apple's iPhone.
Posted in Wireless
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Zune To Come with Copyright 'Cop'?

May 7, 2008

Now we know some (at least) of the reason that NBC pulled its TV shows, etc., out of iTunes and threw its lot in with Zune -- pricing and copyright protection.

In a nutshell, NBC doesn't want to price every one of its show at $1.99 -- which Appleapparently insists they do -- and they want to make sure all material played on these neat little gadgets is protected by copyright -- something Apple is apparently not concerned with, but Microsoft is.

Find out all of the details (at least those fit to print) in the New York Times here.

Posted in MP3 Players & Digital Audio
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iPort Keeps It Simple

May 7, 2008

The iPort FS is a free-standing docking system that enables an Apple iPod to become integrated into a whole-home audio system, and it can be used as a source in a variety of local audio systems.

The small iPort Dock can be placed on a desk, table or other convenient location, allowing quick and easy insertion of an iPod, with connections to both the audio/video system and the user’s computer.

By pressing a single button on the iPort, you can change the iPod from the streaming mode to the music transfer mode, enabling content to be easily transferred from the computer to the iPod.

Simple is good!

www.iportmusic.com

Posted in MP3 Players & Digital Audio
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Packet8 Drops International Calling Phone Rates

May 7, 2008

Calls to China dropped from 3¢ per minute to now 1¢ per minute? Wow! That's a 67% drop! All I can say is it is absolutely amazing how far prices have dropped.
Posted in Packet8, SIP, TMCnet, VoIP
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O-FONE Supports SIP on Symbian S60 mobile phone

May 7, 2008

Rich received an email from O-FONE claiming they are the "First s60 SIP Symbian client". I'm not so sure about being the "first" since Truphone has a SIP client for Symbian phones, so do Jajah & Fring -- and there are others I've come across as well. Buzz2talk, from Indtelesoft had a SIP client for Symbian phones with PTT (push-to-talk) functionality way back in 2004. Alas, when I try and go to Indtelesoft's website, it appears to be defunct.
Posted in Mobile Phones, SIP, TMCnet, VoIP, Wireless
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Onsia Makes Invisible Speakers

May 6, 2008

Sure do wish I could show you a picture ...

For all of us that want installed sound in every room of our nest, but don't want to see speaker panels all over the place, a company called Onsia is offering what it calls the first truly concealed flat panel speaker system. Designed to blend invisibly into any living space or office setting, (according to the company) only their remarkable performance will remind you they’re there.

The speakers integrate material science and NXT transducer technology to produce a flat panel speaker that delivers evenly distributed, rich, acoustic sound.

Posted in Home Entertainment
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Get the Point ...

May 6, 2008

The Touch Screen Pointer from Krussell is a universal stylus that replaces the original stylus and can't be misplaced of lost ...

Interesting product, gentle on touch screens, that takes the company beyond its core PDA and cell phone case market -- and they do make nice cases.

www.krusell.se

Posted in PDAs & Handhelds
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Telcos Join Forces to Battle Skype?

May 6, 2008

According to analysts at ThinkAnton (ThinkPanmure), AT&T and other international incumbents plan on launching a global Skype competitor.

"We believe that AT&T, in conjunction with perhaps 10-15 other incumbent operators such as British Telecom, Deutsche Telekom, and NTT, is preparing to launch, in 2009, a competitor of sorts to Skype. We believe that the motivation to do this would be to keep subscribers from completely disappearing, reducing win-back marketing costs."

Their key points the analysts stress is how "incumbent telephone operators have been losing wired access lines for a few years, to a variety of destinations: cellular, cable TV operators, competitive wireline carriers and, in a sense, also to IP telephony operators such as Skype."

They claim that the incumbent operators have been able to make up for these losses by entering new businesses such as cellular, DSL/fiber, and television.

Here's the rest of the analyst report "teaser":

However, the loss of the long-time telephone number often means that the incumbent phone operator loses the relationship with the customer entirely. Why? Because the consumer can buy access for his VoIP service such as Skype from another source, such as cable modem, 3G cellular, WiMax, or a competitive DSL/fiber carrier.









Posted in Skype, TMCnet, Unified Communications, VoIP, Wireless
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Zune Marches On!

May 6, 2008

Microsoft just announced that Zune, the company’s "all-in-one digital entertainment brand," is adding new software features and content to the Zune online store, music community and Zune Pass monthly subscription service.

Of particular note, Zune is expanding its video store to include downloads of popular television shows from Comedy Central, MTV, NBC Universal, Nickelodeon, Starz Media, Turner Broadcasting, Ultimate Fighting Championship and VH1.

Will be interesting to see how this dents Apple's iPod leadership ...

Read more about it here on the Microsoft site.

Posted in MP3 Players & Digital Audio
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Is Flip the Future of Video?

May 5, 2008

Just like Palm simplified the handheld organizer in what now seems eons ago, perhaps Flip Video is heading in the same direction with its low-cost, streamlined (I mean not a lot to learn) digital video camera at a price point that is half the cost of what we have come to accept as "typical" digital video camera capabilities.

I've just gotten my gadget-y hands on one of the groovy Ultra models and will report back soon from the field on what may be the future of DV ...

Record ... connect ... share ... Indeed!

Posted in Video Hardware & Software
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Blu-ray in Your Plans?

May 5, 2008

Seems that Blu-ray sales have not taken off, despite the all-but-official demise of HD DVD. You can read more at Ars Technica here.

Really hard not to see why, when prices remain high and supply remains low -- besides, how many copies of the same movie in different formats do you need?

Am sure many of us still have video copies of the DVDs stuck in our closet, taking up space and being considered for sale at a pittance on eBay ...

Now through in a sluggish economy, and Blu-ray may be the DAT of the 21st Century -- another Sony product that hit the market at the wrong time.

Posted in Video Hardware & Software
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Free Albums!! NIN Gives Another Away

May 5, 2008

Everybody loves free albums, and Nine Inch Nails is giving away another one, according to Mashable.comhttp://mashable.com/2008/05/05/nine-inch-nails-give-yet-another-album-for-free/.

The Slipis a full-length album available for download at nin.com.

Will record companies eventually disappear or will they morph into something totally unrecognizable?

Anybody have any crystal ball gazingon what the future looks like for "the majors"?

Posted in MP3 Players & Digital Audio
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TMC's Biggest Loser Finale

May 5, 2008

TMC's Biggest Loser contest just ended today. First, congratulations to Alan Urkawich for winning TMC's contest who lost 36.4 pounds and 15.4% & took the $375 prize. However, if you recall, I wasn't allowed to join TMC's competition, so I made a one-way $100 bet of my own that I could beat all 5 contestants. My wife told me "Don't come home if you have to pay $100 to anyone.
Posted in Personal and Humor
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Xbox 360 Goes Blu-ray?

May 2, 2008

Xbox 360 with Blu-ray is coming?!

Now that starts to make the concept of the all-in-one home entertainment appliance take a new, higher-res turn.

Check out what Engadget had to say about it.

See what happens when one format wins out over another? All types of new tech innovation takes another small (or sometimes) large step forward!

One can only image what the "console war" will look like come holiday shopping season!!!

Posted in Video Games & Gaming
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Taking a Slice Out of Apple's Time Machine

May 2, 2008

No doubt about it, but Apple's Time Machine is a wonderful piece of magic, er software, that enables you to easily backup your computer and then easily see all of the files you've backed up.

Trouble is that you can eat up a lot of your storage real estate by having redundant files upon files upon files upon files (just like all of those stacks).

Here's a link from Tidbits that helps you first see how much space Time Machine is using and then gives you the ability to delete unnecessary files, like ones that don't need multiple backups.

Posted in Computer Software
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Who's the Best in Cell Carrier Land?

May 2, 2008

Been thinking about changing cell phone companies again and wanted to find out what the faithful readers of this blog have to say about the various companies.

Let's see ... I've been on Sprint, AT&T and Verizon over the years, and the problem is that service reliability seems to come and go. One company is better for two years, then another, then another ...

Posted in Wireless
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What Would Have Been Your Choice Before Guitar Hero: Aerosmith?

May 1, 2008

Why some of us may get very jazzed up about the upcoming release -- next month! -- of Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, I just have to think how many other great guitar players and bands might have taken their spot in the queue ... What do you think? Guitar Hero: Hendrix or Guitar Hero: Clapton or Guitar Hero: Van Halen? Me thinks I could go on and on ...
Posted in Video Games & Gaming
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Shoretel Rumors

May 1, 2008

SHORETEL UPDATE: 4/24/09

Could it be - with ShoreTel continuing to provide PBX solutions - that the rumors I reported about them nearly a year ago were false? Is it now clear that Rich's sources that sparked this article were wrong?

Shoretel seems to be going strong. In fact, while this article was written a long time ago, but thanks to its high ranking on search engines, it still sparks the occasional new comment from avid Shoretel fans.

You can read the comments below for other people's thoughts. There are many avid fans of the Shoretel platform that have come to Shoretel's defense.

Posted in Asterisk, Avaya, Cisco, ShoreTel, TMCnet, VoIP, Vonage
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