March 2009 Archives

Some big news from Digium. Rich Tehrani met with them yesterday to get the inside scoop. Rich takes copious notes on his iPhone, which he sent off to me to try and write up this news. Alas, I've been pretty busy myself, but I wanted to share Rich's notes below, since there are some good "nuggets" in there.

For instance, from Rich's notes I see that Switchvox 4.0 is on the verge of shipping. But the really big news is that Asterisk has announced the general availability of technical support subscriptions for open source Asterisk. Before if you wanted support from Digium, you had to purchase Asterisk Business Edition. Well, no longer. Now, all of you Asterisk fans out there that try Asterisk (and think you know what the heck you're doing) but get stuck, can now contact Digium and get some support. No more relying on the Asterisk community to answer you questions. Not that asking the Asterisk community is a bad thing, but if you phone system is down, you can't wait hours for someone to respond to an online posting. This could be a huge revenue-generating opportunity for Digium, which can now monetize the open source version of Asterisk with support subscriptions. I'm surprised they didn't offer it sooner. Maybe they were afraid it would upset channel partners?

Rich's notes:

• Open Source Subscriptions
• 2 smb subs
• And 2 enterprise class
• Incident based
• Problem: up to today needed community support or consultant with hourly rate
• Now annual sub - 3 year 10% discount
• Can call Digium based
• Level one - support local hours 12 hours - starting at your 8:00 - 7:00
• For 5 days a week
• Buys sub online
• Available in a month through the channel
• Get a key, name contact and get details when you call
• Get incident/case handled
• Can open via we or phone
• Find a bug - gets entered in bug tracker
• Gets handled like any biz edition type of bug
• Not really SLA like a commercial licensed product
• Biz edition - now only available as OEM or commercially licensed product
• They want people to buy the open source - engineering opens up 1.4 and 1.6 - first time Digium provides support for open source asterisk
• Up till now consultants, etc
• Open source - people buying business edition for support reasons
• Now getting open source subs
• Can now support enterprise class apps
• In the past - anyone who built a large network - 2 levels of enterprise class support
• 24x7 - server based
• Unlimited users
• Up to 3 names contacts
• First foray into enterprise from server side
• Up to 24x7 support
• Switchvox 4.0 on the verge of shipping

The new Asterisk support services enable companies to leverage the power of open source Asterisk with the confidence that their system will be supported by the very founders of the Asterisk movement. According to the news release, "The support subscriptions provide technical support, hardware replacements and substantial discounts on training programs to enable users to take full advantage of the power of the Asterisk platform."

"Digium's new subscription services give Asterisk users the best of both worlds--they can download and use Asterisk free of charge, as always, and now they can also call on Digium for technical support when needed," said Spencer. "We think the combo of free and open, with support, is going to appeal to many of our most technical users. The Asterisk community has long been a source of great expertise through online forums, and now we're supplementing that with the ability to call us, 24x7, for access to our Asterisk experts."

Danny Windham, CEO of Digium, said: "As Asterisk gains traction within large businesses, demand for professional support is on the rise. Our deep knowledge of open source Asterisk and total commitment to its development makes us ideally suited to offer these new services. Companies that purchase subscriptions will receive support from the most knowledgeable group of Asterisk experts in the industry. We see this offering as a substantial step forward for Asterisk in the enterprise and a valuable service for companies of all sizes."

Asterisk support subscriptions are bundles of services sold on an annual basis. They include technical and engineering support, consultative services, advance hardware replacement, and discounts on Asterisk training and conference passes. 

Asterisk support subscriptions are available immediately from the Digium webstore at http://store.digium.com and will be available through Digium channel partners in Q2. SMB pricing begins at U.S. $595 per year for support during the subscriber's business hours (8:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday); 24x7 support for an SMB begins at U.S. $1,995 per year. Enterprise subscriptions, including 24x7 support, begin at U.S. $3,995 per year. Pricing includes a defined number of servers supported and cases opened per year.

You can read the official news announcement here.

I learned that the Skype for iPhone app is unavailable to our Canadian friends across the border in the Apple iTunes App Store. I contacted Skype for comment and their representative told me, "There are some patent-licensing issues which prevent us from offering it there."

I then asked if other countries were affected or if it was just Canada and was informed it was just Canada. When asked whose patent it was or what category it involved (i.e. mobile VoIP), the representative told me, "I can't go into many more details other than it's codec related."

Sounds to me like their was some sort of patent settlement which Skype can't talk about. Sorry my Canadian brothers. "No Skype for iPhone for you!"

Update: 12:45pm
There is a workaround to get Skype for iPhone working in Canada. What you have to do is create another iTunes App Store account without a credit card. Without a credit card and address verification, there's no way for Apple to know where you live.

Here's the steps you need to do:

1. Pick your country from the pop-up menu at the bottom of the iTunes Store homepage.
2. If your country also has an iTunes Store, you'll need to navigate to the App Store by clicking on the "App Store" link from the menu on the left.  If not, proceed to step 3.
   
   
    
3. Important: Before proceeding to the next step you must purchase a free application by clicking 'Get App'.
   
4. Click create new account.

   

5. Click Continue.
6. You'll need to read and agree to the iTunes terms and conditions, make sure you check the box next to where it says "I have read and agree to the iTunes Terms and Conditions." Click Continue.
7. Enter in your email address, create your password, continue to create and answer your security question, then enter your birthday. Click Continue.
8. Select None as the payment option.
   
9. Continue to fill out the required name and address fields.
10. You'll then see a screen that says 'Verify your Account'. Click Done and then check your email for a verification email from "iTunes Store."
11. Open the mail, and click on the phobos link enclosed in the email to activate your account.

    

12. Once you click on the link, iTunes should then prompt you to sign in with your account name and password.
13. You'll then see a "Congratulations" screen. Click Done to be taken to the App Store home page

Now you should be able to download and install the Skype app. Enjoy!

H/T to Andrew Hansen who posted a comment to my Facebook.

Also, check out this related story:
Skype over 3G on iPhone

An interesting report by IBISWorld, Inc. just named VoIP as the predicted #1 performer In 2009 - it even beat video games. Yet more proof that VoIP isn't dead and indeed VoIP is the one shining bright spot in an otherwise dismal bear economy.

VoIP is indeed defying the "bears" of the economy. Reminds me of when Chuck Norris defied that huge bear in the woods. Sure, the bear got on top of Chuck and even ripped Chuck's shirt, but this was just a training exercise for Chuck's "You don't want to tick me off stare." At the end of the wresting match, Chuck just looked at the bear, the bear knew he lost, and walked away. Bears don't mess with Chuck Norris and apparently the bears of the economy don't mess with VoIP.

Check out the news release below after you watch Chuck give the bear his patented stare down:

IBISWorld Announces Top 10 Industries
The recession is crippling businesses across the nation, but several industries will remain unscathed by the current economic strife, according to recent Recession Updates published by industry research firm IBISWorld.  As one of the nation's most respected independent publishers of business intelligence research reports, IBISWorld today announced the top 10 industries expected to have the largest revenue growth in 2009:

INDUSTRY REVENUE GROWTH 2009
1.    Voice Over Internet Protocol Providers (VoIP)   20.1%
2.    ecommerce & Online Auctions                           12.6%
3.    Biotechnology                                         10.3%
4.    Engine, Turbine & Power Transmission                  10.0%
       Equipment Manufacturing
5.    Scheduled Bus Service                                  9.2%
6.    Court Reporting Services                               7.7%
7.    Community Housing Services                             7.5%
8.    Search Engines                                         6.5%
9.    Family Counseling                                      6.1%
10.   Video Games                                            5.8%

"Emerging industries remain well represented and continue to benefit from technological innovation and cost advantages," explained George Van Horn, senior analyst with IBISWorld.  "Unfortunately, the impact of the recession is equally pronounced among sectors directly benefitting from the social and financial stress associated with the downturn."

While only five percent of all U.S. industries are fortunate enough to be positively impacted by the recession, IBISWorld research estimates that nearly 60 percent of all industries are negatively impacted or worse.

The Skype on iPhone application is working over the 3G data connection if you are running the beta 3.0 firmware. VoIP over the 3G cellular is clearly forbidden in the SDK rules, so it's obviously a bug on 3.0 that it works. How long before Apple closes the hole? It is surprising that Apple "approved" and certified the Skype app for their App Store without first "testing" if Skype would work on the 3G connection.

Perhaps that was Apple's evil plan all along? Let a few iPhone users "taste" how gloriously delicious VoIP over 3G would be, before they have to disable the functionality at AT&T's request, leading to a firestorm of iPhone user protests, AT&T finally relenting and then VoIP freedom finally reigns on the iPhone. Oh you sneaky Apple you!

Update: See my tutorial on how to enable Skype on iPhone over 3G

Just got this email from Netflix saying they are increasing my Blu-ray access from $1 to $4 per month. What the hell? I have to pay 4 times what I was paying before? Way to screw your most loyal customers Netflix! Sure, the $1/month might have been a low-cost enticement to get people to sign-up for Blue-ray movie rentals, but you can't just increase the price 4-fold overnight. I think we Blu-ray fans would be much more accepting if the price increase was more gradual.

Let's flashback to October 2008, where the Netflix blog wrote:

Hi, Jessie Teitz here, VP of Marketing. This message is for everyone who rents Blu-ray movies from Netflix. You might have heard that we've been talking about changing our prices for Blu-ray movies because they cost more than standard DVDs. To make up for this significant cost difference, we've decided to charge a little bit more for those who want to rent Blu-ray movies. On November 5th, we'll start charging an extra $1 a month for Blu-ray access. For our members on unlimited plans, $1 a month for unlimited access to Blu-ray movies is a great value. We have more than 800 Blu-ray titles, and growing, for you to enjoy as part of your Netflix subscription. We think you'll agree, a $1 increase in your monthly subscription is pretty modest for you to enjoy this compelling format. If you don't want to pay $1 more a month for access to Blu-ray movies, simply remove the Blu-ray access on your account and your monthly subscription cost will stay the same.

Yes, this was a "little bit more". What happened to just a "little bit more". $4 is a huge chunk of my monthly subscription now when I still can't even get 10% of the movies I want on Blu-ray.

Here, read the email in all it's glory...

You are receiving this email because you added unlimited Blu-ray access to your account for $1 a month. The number of Blu-ray titles has increased significantly and will continue to do so. As we buy more, you are able to choose from a rapidly expanding selection of Blu-ray titles. And as you've probably heard, Blu-ray discs are substantially more expensive than standard definition DVDs.

As a result, the monthly charge for Blu-ray access is increasing for most plans and will now vary by plan. The charge for monthly Blu-ray access on your 3 DVDs at-a-time (Unlimited) plan will increase from $1 a month to $4 a month. The price of your 3 DVDs at-a-time (Unlimited) plan is not changing and remains at $16.99 a month.

The new charge for Blu-ray access will be automatically added to your next billing statement on or after April 27, 2009 and will be referenced in your Membership Terms and Details.

If you wish to continue unlimited Blu-ray access for $4 a month, you don't need to do anything. If not, you can remove Blu-ray access anytime by visiting Your Account.

If you have questions about this change or need any assistance, please call us anytime at 1-888-923-0898.

-The Netflix Team

Polycom and Microsoft today announced that "as part of Microsoft's vision to broaden the availability of Microsoft RoundTable, Polycom has licensed the right to distribute RoundTable, effective April 13, 2009." The product, renamed the Polycom CX5000 Unified Conference Station, will be available through Polycom and its channel network.

Polycom has 'exclusive rights', to sell the CX5000, which is a huge win for them. Although I have been a huge fan of the Microsoft Roundtable with it's cool 360 panoramic video, my guess is that Microsoft has had difficulty selling this expensive ($4300) videoconferencing equipment.

The CX5000 when used in conjunction with Office Live Meeting service, or as part of Office Communications Server 2007, it combines content, a panoramic 360-degree view of the entire meeting room, and a separate view of the active speaker for a unique and engaging voice and video experience.

The Polycom CX5000 will be available beginning April 13, 2009, at a list price of U.S. $4,300. The CX5000 will be available in 27 countries through Polycom's extensive channel partner network and will be available for shipment in late April. Once the Polycom CX5000 is available, RoundTable will no longer be sold. Microsoft will continue to support all RoundTable devices already sold, while Polycom will provide front-line customer support for CX5000 units sold beginning April13. To learn more about the Polycom CX5000, visit www.polycom.com/go/polycomcx5000.

You can check out my review of the Microsoft Roundtable, now called the Polycom CX5000 for more details on this product.

Gigaom's Om Malik was right about Skype launching a native Skype app for the iPhone. The WSJ and CNet are confiming Om's scoop today. When I say the news hit the wires, my initial reaction was "I hope Om go credit for breaking this story last week. He's one of the premiere bloggers and deserves credit from the mainstream media and other tech journals".

Alas, I was sorely disappointed that they didn't give Om credit. Reminds me of the major Skype outage story that I broke, how I predicted that Windows Update was to blame, and no mainstream media outlet cited me, while tons of bloggers gave me credit, including Om.

In any event, a native Skype for iPhone app is great news for iPhone users. Some caveats though. First, it doesn't do videoconferencing. Though you can take a photo from within Skype to serve as your avatar image or pull a picture from your photo gallery.Though you can takw a photo from within Skype to serve as your avatar image or pull a picture from your photo gallery.

Secondly, as I suspected, it only works over WiFi and not 3G. You can blame Steve Jobs and/or AT&T for that one. Will a native Skype app be a compelling app for users over alternatives like Nimbuzz or fring? It's hard to say, since Nimbuzz and fring not only work with Skype, they work with other popular IM/VoIP networks, such as AIM, Yahoo! Messenger, MSN Messenger, and others.

So why switch? It does offer a nice iPhone skinned interface and it supports group chat and conferencing, so those might be compelling features for some. Supposedly, the voice quality is better than fring or Nimbuzz since it is a P2P app that does the transcoding instead of centralized servers like fring and Nimbuzz.

Also, check out this related story:
Skype over 3G on iPhone

Images credit Phil Wolff

The IPEVO Wi-Fi Phone for Skype launched just last month and IPEVO sent me a review unit to check out, which I've been testing for a few weeks.

Installation
Installing the IPEVO Wi-Fi Phone was a snap. Although it only has a numeric keypad for entering in alphanumeric characters for entering in the WEP/WPA/WPA2 key. As you hit a key, it shows you the current key where your cursor is located, but it also shows you a horizontal list of all the characters that key can produce and highlights the current key. This is useful not only to confirm what keys it can produce, but if overshoot the key you want, you can easily see how far away you are to scrolling back around and reproducing that key. Definitely made entering the Wi-Fi key much easier and faster.

After entering in TMC's Wi-Fi key I proceeded to add my Skype name and password. Similarly, it showed the key as it was being pressed, as well as the horizontal list of keys, making it very easy to enter in my Skype credentials. I should mention that you can add multiple WiFi networks, so you can have a Home profile, Work profile, etc. So when you walk into a WiFi area you have configured it will automatically connect.

The phone then signed into Skype and I saw my list of contacts. From the Contacts screen you can click the center green button or the Options button to access a submenu. From this submenu you can then Call the contact, Send Voicemail (if you paid for this service), View Profile, or go into Advanced where you can rename, remove, block/unblock, or add a contact. If you have a ton of contacts, no worries - holding the up or down key will cause it to autoscroll and it will wrap around to the top/bottom depending on which direction you were scrolling. Of course, it's worth noting you don't have to go into the submenu to initiate a call. You can simply highlight the contact and press the green phone icon to initiate a one-click dial.

The IPEVO Skype phone supports both Ad hoc and access point mode for connecting to a wireless network. For security it supports WEP, WPA Personal, and WPA2 Personal. It also supports static IP as well as DHCP (default).

Let's now do a video demo of the IPEVO Skype WiFi phone which shows the phone in action making a SkypeOut call to a direct dial number which terminates to my Aastra VoIP desk phone.

I like that the phone can display Skype credit, access SkypeIn settings, and Skype voicemail. It also lists the history by all calls, missed calls, incoming calls, outgoing calls. Access to voicemails and contact requests is also available.

It took 71 seconds from off till fully authenticated on the WiFi network and can dial a Skype contact. While other Skype WiFi phones also take over a minute to fully boot-up, I'd like to see all Skype WiFi phones speed up the boot process. I should add that there doesn't appear to be a speakerphone available, even though the back of the phone sports a speaker, which apparently is only used for the phone's ringtones.

I was pretty impressed with how lightweight the phone was and the call quality was excellent. I called some people and they said the call quality was just as good as a landline if not better. My only complaint about the phone is the lack of instant message (IM) support, but I haven't seen other Skype phones support IM either. While typing an IM using just numeric keys (0-9, *, #) is difficult, the phone should at least be able to receive IM messages. But even that isn't possible. Maybe there is a technical reason while IM wasn't included or maybe was just a design decision. Still, I'd like to see IM on Skype WiFi phones.

Ratings Score Installation Documentation Features Usability Performance Overall

The standalone Skype phone features a backlit keyboard, 1.8" LCD screen, and rechargeable battery. The 1.8" screen supports 128x160 resolution with 65k colors. The phone supports G711 and G729AB codes with a voice sampling rate of 8KHz.

It supports 802.11b/g WiFi standards along with WEP, and WPA/WPA2-PSK encryption protocols. Talking time is approximately 4hr & standby time is 30hr via its Li-ion 900mAh battery. I tested the standby time, and it was indeed about 30hr.

The IPEVO Wi-Fi Phone for Skype is now available at the MSRP of $129.99 at http://store.ipevo.com/.

Update: It's also available on Amazon here.

Digium has an excellent post today titled The Rumors of Our Death discussing Skype for Asterisk (SFA) and the recently launched (beta) SkypeforSIP (SFS). There has been much discussion on the blogosphere, twitter, and elsewhere if SFS means the death of SFA. Some were even seen carting Skype for Asterisk away into the trashbin of other failed software endeavors, as seen here:

It's not a pretty sight when people write you off for dead when you're really not. But wait just a second. Digium's Steve Sokol explains late today that SFA is not dead. He writes:

With Skype's recent announcement of Skype For SIP there has been a great deal of pontification on the impending death of the not-yet-released Skype For Asterisk.  I'd like to take a moment to explain why Skype For SIP (SFS) does not spell the end for Skype For Asterisk (SFA), and why Skype For Asterisk is still in beta.

First, the key differences between Skype For SIP and Skype For Asterisk:

• SFA can handle incoming Skype calls from any user on the Skype network.  SFS can receive incoming calls from Skype users only by statically mapping a Skype name to a SIP account.
• SFA can place calls to any user on the Skype network.  SFS cannot place calls to Skype users.
• SFA includes support for Skype presence information.  SFS has no support for presence.
• SFA includes buddy list management.  SFS has no buddy list management features.

Steve lists more differences, but I don't want to steal his thunder. Go read his post. I knew there were key advantages in SFA over SFS and there was so much confusion out there, I was tempted to write a comparative chart, but was too busy. In any event, it's nice to see Digium clarifying the advantages of Skype for Asterisk. Any questions?

In case you missed it, Andrew posted that trixbox 2.8 beta is available and is based on the latest version of Asterisk 1.6. Andrew, is even very complimentary over Asterisk 1.6 & Digum, which is nice to see coming from a Fonality employee:

We have been testing Asterisk 1.6 and DAHDI (the replacement for zaptel) since they came out last year. I am happy to say they are coming along quite nicely. Digium has worked hard on 1.6 with a lot of attention paid to reliability and scalability. I am happy to say our testing shows Asterisk 1.6 is ready for prime time!

You can grab trixbox 2.8 beta .iso image here

Om Malik is reporting that a native Skype for iPhone app is coming next week.

According to Om:

A tipster -- a very reliable one -- tells me that Skype is almost ready to launch that iPhone version, perhaps as soon as next week. CTIA Wireless, a large mobile industry trade event, kicks off in Las Vegas next Wednesday, so perhaps the announcement will be made there. I am working on getting more details, as well as screenshots of the service.

But, if you can't wait that long, here's a good list of various workarounds to run Skype on the iPhone, including fring, which is an iPhone app you can get today (screenshot to the right), as well as Nimbuzz.

Finally a software tool called AudioRoute that can be used to route Windows Mobile audio from the earpiece speaker to the backspeaker and vice-versa. This is especially needed for VoIP applications on Windows Mobile phones.

I've tested several VoIP apps (SIP clients, Skype, etc.) on my Windows Mobile XV6700 phone and other Windows Mobiles and from what I understand the carrier forced the hardware manufacturers to block VoIP applications from using the earpiece for listening to the remote caller. You couldn't even use speakerphone. Instead, you were forced to use the backspeaker, a tiny low-quality speaker located on the back of the phone, which made phone quality horrendous when making VoIP calls. I'd have to flip the phone over when the person was talking due to low volume & quality, and then flip it back over to talk into the microphone. It was all but unusable.

Well glory glory hallelujah! I never thought the day would come when someone would come up with a solution. According to Teksoft, "After several years of tests and many questions in the development forum, we've finally did it: a tool to route the audio to the earpiece speaker is available, and we've released it as freeware." Woohoo! Now I can register my SIP client on my Windows Mobile to my Asterisk-based IP-PBX and make/receive VoIP calls.

Features:

• Routes the audio output to earpiece or backspeaker
• VoIP compatible
• Easy to use User Interface
• Command line support
• Uses Teksoft's DynRIL library

It's compatible with Pocket PC and Smartphone Windows Mobile 5.0 / WM6.0 and above

Usage (via forums)
Install the CAB and use the titlebar icon to open the user interface.


The first icon routes the audio to the earpiece speaker.
The second blue icon, can be used to route the audio to the backspeaker.
The orange icon, routes the audio to the speakerphone, while in a phone call.
You can also use the bottom slider to move the taskbar icon, or the about button to show this page.
The top-right square hides the user interface.

Command line
This tool can be executed by command line with parameters.
You can execute /program files/teksoft/audioRoute/audioRoute.exe with the following:
-earpiece , routes the audio to the earpiece
-backspeaker , routes the audio to the backspeaker
-speakerphone , while in a phone call, activates the speakerphone
-switch , toggles between earpiece and backspeaker

Code:

audioroute.exe -earpiece  audioroute.exe -backspeaker  etc.

Download
The CAB file is available in the freeware section of www.teksoftco.com, direct link here.

I would be remiss if I did not point out that Gizmo5's CEO Michael Robertson responded to me regarding yesterday's OpenSky vs. SkypeforSIP article. I had tried to reach Michael before the article went live but was not able to reach him.

Michael emailed me his thoughts, which I have now included into my original article prefaced with the word "Update" in front and with his quotes italicized.

For instance, Michael disagrees with the Skype representative on how Skype will price SkypeforSIP. He still thinks it will be expensive. He wrote me to say, "I stand by my price and delivery estimates. Skype for Asterisk and Skype for SIP will be expensive options as ebay tries to get money from business customers."

I guess we shall see.

There's some other additional info and commentary from Michael definitely worth reading. I wanted to present both sides of this.

I report, you decide.

It's on! It's Gizmo5's OpenSky vs. Skype. Michael Robertson, the CEO of Gizmo5 has a post up where he compares Gizmo5's OpenSky to Skype's SkypeforSIP. It's interesting how Michael talks about open standards, mentioning .mp3, a standard which Michael was a proponent of when he ran MP3.com and then backslaps Skype upside the head basically saying "What took you so long? I've been telling you all along Skype that you need to embrace the SIP standard."

He continues the blog post by comparing OpenSky, a SIP-to-Skype service that launched last month to Skype's just launched SkypeforSIP. It's a worthy endeavor on Michael's part to provide such a comparison, even if he is biased in favor of his company's offering.

Check out Michael's comparison of the two SIP for Skype services:

SIP for Skype Solutions
	OpenSky (Gizmo5)	SkypeforSIP (ebay)
Receive Skype calls on SIP software and hardware	Yes	Yes
Place Skype calls to SIP devices	Yes	Yes
Answer/Call Skype from browser	Yes	No
Includes free voicemail	Yes	No
Free trial	Up to 5 minute calls to Skype	No
Single user cost	$20/per year	No
50 User Pricing	$800/per year	$2499 purchase plus annual fee*
Per call PSTN connection fee	None	3.9 cents
Availability	Now	Dec. 2009*
Supported codecs	g729, ilbc, pcmu/pcma, gsm, speex, and custom	g729
* Estimated

At first glance, it's easy to look at this pretty chart and declare OpenSky the clear winner. But let's take a closer look. He mentioned OpenSky offers free voicemail. While that's nice to have, SkypeforSIP is targeted towards IP-PBXs which have their own auto-attendant and fancy voicemail systems. Most people with IP-PBXs would rather keep their existing voicemail system rather than switch to a hosted one. He lists 'Answer/Call Skype from a browser' as a feature that SkypeforSIP doesn't have. I spoke with a Skype representative just yesterday and he mentioned inbound calling capabilities from the Web (click-to-call buttons) to your corporate IP-PBX, though he didn't indicate if this feature would be part of the initial beta. So I'm not sure exactly what Michael is referring to here.

Update: Wednesday - Finally got in touch with Michael Robertson who clarified some points.

Michael said:
Wanted to reply to your post. First of all as I've said it's great to see Skype crack the door a tiny bit open to let a glimmer of light shine through but we should be clear their services are not available today. Period. OpenSky is available right now. Anyone can make test calls for free without even signing up. That's what "available" means.

Skype's tendency now is to pre-announce vaporware and then the press covers it as if it is a shipping project. Vaporware sucks because it's a way big companies tie up an industry and drown out smaller companies that move quicker. It sucks when Microsoft does it and sucks when Skype does it. Ebay announced Skype for asterisk last year and according to Digium they have 100 beta testers or so more than 6 months later.

Their product representative can chant "It's available now." as many times as they want but it is simply not. What is available is a survey users can fill out where they can measure demand and decide whether they are going to build this or not. This is a newly contemplated service and only after OpenSky came out did they really consider this. The SkypeforSIP domain was registered just this month.

With regards to the above paragraph about 'Answer/Call Skype from a browser' he responded, "I am referring to http://www.GizmoCall.com which is an entirely browser based VOIP service. Because it utilizes only Flash technology it can be used on any computer anywhere - such as netbook, net cafe, library, etc and users can answer and make all their calls (PSTN and Skype). No download required. "

Another thing to consider is how OpenSky and SkypeforSIP connect to the Skype cloud and if Skype has a competitive advantage there. While both support SIP on the front-end, the back-end conversion for OpenSky sits on Gizmo5's network and the back-end conversion for SkypeforSIP sits on Skype's network. So is there any better call quality or QoS that Skype can offer over Gizmo5? Without knowing the exact technical details of each, I don't think Skype would be better than OpenSky. However, it's possible that without net neutrality legislation, that Skype could detect OpenSky connections and "throttle" the packets, inject latency, etc. Doubt they'd do that, especially after the FCC slapped down Comcast for messing with user's Internet traffic, but you never know.

The SkypeforSIP $2499 purchase price plus annual fee seemed way too high, however Michael has an asterisk with the word 'Estimated' at the bottom. Later on I confirmed with a Skype representative that this is indeed inaccurate. Also, the 3.9 cent connection charge per call vs. free for OpenSky seemed like a huge pricing advantage for OpenSky. As an example, if the average SMB makes 500 outbound calls per day, that's $19.50/day in connection fees. With 20 work days per month, that's $390/month more for SkypeforSIP. Skype would have to be dramatically lower in per-minute pricing to catch up to OpenSky's lower pricing. If you make mostly domestic (U.S.) calls, and not a lot of international calls, then there's no way SkypeforSIP could catch up to OpenSky's pricing. This pricing comparison assumes Michael's chart was indeed accurate, but I had my skeptic hat on - and rightfully so once I talked to a Skype rep.

As I mentioned, the $2499 purchase price seemed too high and I didn't think the 3.9 cent connection charge was entirely accurate so I contacted a Skype representative to respond to Michael's claims. I said, "I haven't seen any pricing info for SkypeforSIP, so I'm not sure where Michael got his estimated pricing". The unnamed Skype representative responded, "Skype has not settled on final pricing. I can tell you that we are going to be following the typical Skype disruption to existing business models when we do announce our pricing."

Update: Wednesday
Michael Robertson responded, "I stand by my price and delivery estimates. Skype for Asterisk and Skype for SIP will be expensive options as ebay tries to get money from business customers."

With regards to Michael's chart where he lists Skype as having a $0.03 cent connection fee, the Skype rep responded, "Nowhere have we said there is a connection fee. Essentially, the only time there is a connection fee is when they are using pay-as-you-go - they're just using Skype credits. And actually the connection fee does not apply in the U.S. Ultimately, someone who is using this for business is going to have a subscription anyway. So they're not going to be paying a connection fee to start with."

With regards to Michael's knocking SkypeforSIP's "availability" (December 2009), he responded, "The product is available now. It's using the same Skype technology that has been tested & deployed for the last 5 years. He's saying December 2009 - that's not the case."

With regards to the chart comparing codecs supported, he told me that G.711 will be rolled into the beta in the coming weeks and it's already available to internal testers. As for the other codecs which OpenSky supports and SkypeforSIP does not, he responded, "Most global termination providers only support G.729 and G.711, so the other codecs Michael listed are redundant until SIP endpoints deploy a high-quality wideband codec like G.722 or SILK. "

Finally, the Skype representative said, "Some other interesting things he has not raised, but we are happy to raise, is the Skype business control panel. People can administer their accounts, setup billing, resolve call logging histories, and other features for businesses. I don't think OpenSky does that. The key thing here is that SkypeforSIP was built by the same engineering team that is at the heart of Skype. They've been dealing with SkypeIn and SkypeOut for years, so we understand scalability, usability, and high performance core network design. Gizmo is running on consumer clients running on large number of servers which questions scalability and efficiency to a business."

Update: Wednesday
Michael responded, "Gizmo5 has a business control panel that - like Skype - lets an administrator manage multiple accounts. That's available today at: http://gizmo5.com/pc/products/business/"

The battle has commenced. Your move Michael. Wonder if I should get Mark Spencer from Digium/Asterisk involved in this fight since Digium recently launched Skype for Asterisk? May as well make it a battle royal!

Update: (few minutes after posted)
Skype Journal has a nice comparison of Skype for Asterisk vs. SkypeforSIP.

The Official Google Blog today announced some improvements to Google search results that could dramatically affect your web traffic.

First, they are have deployed "a new technology that can better understand associations and concepts related to your search". They claim it will offer more useful related searches.

Second, and more importantly, they are now returning longer snippets/excerpts in the search results depending on the context of your search. To give more context, the snippet shows how the words of your query appear on the page by highlighting them in bold. Normally, the excerpts per search result is 2 lines, but now some return 3 lines. This has huge implications for SEO, because now the 1st page of search results in your full-screen browser will display 1 or 2 less search results before you have to scroll. Any time you have to scroll to see something, that's less eyeballs on the initial page, which means less web traffic. Now being in the top 7 search results on Google has become even more critical.

Here's an example and The Official Google Blog explains, "Suppose you were looking for information about Earth's rotation around the sun, and specifically wanted to know about its tilt and distance from the sun. So you type all of that into Google: [earth's rotation axis tilt and distance from sun]. A normal-length snippet wouldn't be able to show you the context for all of those words, but with longer snippets you can be sure that the first result covers all those topics. In addition, the extra line of snippets for the third result shows the word "sun" in context, suggesting that the page doesn't talk about Earth's distance from the sun"