November 2009 Archives

fring and Skype Video calls on your Mobile Phone

November 25, 2009 10:49 AM |

Just a week after fring released an Android version, fring has now announced video calls over your mobile phone's Internet connection. It supports both fring video calls and Skype video calls.Pretty cool to have a videoconference call using your cell phone.

Currently fring video is only supported on Nokia touch (such as X6, N97 mini,N97, 5800), N95, N95 8G and N82 devices. I'm told by a fring representative that iPhone support is coming - though with the iPhone's rear camera mount, it will be kind of tough to have a 2-way video conversation.

Nokia N900 Maemo 5 Bakes in Skype

November 23, 2009 5:31 PM |

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The new Maemo 5 software in the Nokia N900 has some surprises, including Skype baked into the operating system. Sweet! This will allow you to make free calls using the uber-gadgety Nokia N900.

What else is new? Well Maemo 5 will update over-the-air (OTA), so no more connecting to a PC just to do a software update. It also sports a 5MP camera with Carl Zeiss optics for a high-quality camera that iPhone users could only dream about. You can also zoo, crop, remove red eye and more on the Nokia N900.

The Nokia N900 is Linux-based and so it feature a full-fledged browser that is more powerful than your typical mobile browser. For instance, it can play YouTube and other Flash videos in the webpage without having to launch a separate player like the iPhone has to do.

Within the Skype application you'll notice that your Skype contacts appear with their online status in the Nokia N900 address book. You can call, or IM over 3G and WiFi. Previous calls and instant messages on Skype appear in your conversation history. Smilies and other emoticons are supported in IM.

Some highlighted specifications:
3.5 inch touch-sensitive widescreen display
800 × 480 pixel resolution
Bluetooth v2.1 including support for stereo headsets
Integrated FM transmitter
Integrated GPS with A-GPS
Up to 1GB of application memory (256 MB RAM, 768 MB virtual memory)
Wide aspect ratio 16:9 (WVGA)
Video recording file format: .mp4; codec: MPEG-4
Video recording at up to 848 × 480 pixels (WVGA) and up to 25fps
Video playback file formats: .mp4, .avi, .wmv, .3gp; codecs: H.264, MPEG-4, Xvid, WMV, H.263

More Skype blog

iLive ISP209B Portable Speaker System Review - Alarm Clock for iPhone and iPod

November 23, 2009 9:51 AM |

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The iLive ISP209B is not your typical alarm clock - it's a portable iPod and iPhone docking station with built in speakers and dual alarm function that you can stuff in your travel bag and be sure to be woken up with your favorite tunes. Not only does it playback your iPhone/iPod music for its dual alarms, but it also simultaneously charges your iPhone or iPod. No more waking up in the morning to realize you left your WiFi, 3G, and Bluetooth radio on, thus sucking your iPhone's battery completely dry. Trust me, I know, I've done it. I get terrible 3G coverage in my house, so unless I turn off 3G, the iPhone is constantly trying to reach a 3G tower using maximum transmit power. Leaving my iPhone on overnight with even just 3G turned on will suck faster than Bill Maher's movie. (or his HBO show for that matter)

Continue reading iLive ISP209B Portable Speaker System Review - Alarm Clock for iPhone and iPod.

VoIP in Google ChromeOS

November 20, 2009 9:24 AM |

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Google released their ChromeOS operating system yesterday. So naturally, as a VoIP fan I was curious if ChromeOS could run VoIP. Since Google's ChromeOS has a Flash Player built-in, in theory it can run a Flash-based VoIP client. The first VoIP solution that came to mind was Flaphone (formerly Flashphone), a Flash-based VoIP app which runs in a browser. I first discovered Flaphone back in 2007 and did a review of it.

Well, it appears that Flaphone works in ChromeOS. It's worth noting that Flaphone can make VoIP calls to PSTN numbers using any SIP provider you want. Just enter the SIP credentials and away you go! You can also make calls to Skype and Flaphone's callme button widgets also work in ChromeOS.

Update: Looks like TringMe is jumping on the Goolge ChromeOS news as well. Just got an email from their CEO claiming they are "first" to have VoIP in ChromeOS. Well, not to burst your bubble, but Flaphone supports it as well. Let's just call it a tie for "first" and call it a day.

Google has just released the first version of ChromeOS. Give that it is a browser-based OS, one of the key element - that of Voice & Telephony is missing in it. As of now, there is no native VoIP application on it (at least not in the VmWare image which was released). TringMe's Flash Telephony is the first one to support VoIP calls on ChromeOS seamlessly. TringMe enables true VoIP calls directly from ChromeOS without having to install anything.

Although, TringMe has not done nothing special to support ChromeOS, it is important to note that TringMe's Flash Phone and Widgets work seamlessly in ChromeOS. TringMe enables true VoIP calls directly from ChromeOS without having to install anything. We've tested it and the built-in Flash Player 10 is sufficient for enough for TringMe's Phone and Widgets to work well.

So, we are all excited about ChromeOS and feel extremely happy that our Flash telephony technology is working well for ChromeOS without any special needs.

Best
Yusuf
Founder & CEO, TringMe

Via Flaphone blog

StarTech.com ConXit Connection Wizard Helps You Find Right Connector for Home Theater, PC, and more

November 19, 2009 4:14 PM |

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Ever get frustrated trying to convert Component to HDMI or convert from one video connector to another because your TV is 10 years only and doesn't support HDMI? Even if you are a home theater guru, the number of converter options and cabling options can be immense and downright confusing.

Well, StarTech.com, a manufacturer of hard-to-find connectivity and technology parts, launched the ConXit Connection Wizard, an online tool that helps users find the right converter, extender, splitter, interface card, cable and more. The search tool will help you find the right connector for Bluetooth, BNC, CameraLink, Coax, Compact Flash, Component, Composite, Digital Coax Audio, DVI, eSATA, ExpressCard, HDMI, RJ-11, RJ-45, and more.

This online tool recommends the best products for connecting IT and/or audio-video peripherals after just two easy steps.

Step One - Select the type of connector for the peripheral or device you wish to connect from a drop down list of options.

Step Two - Select the connection type on the host computer or component. The ConXit Wizard will then recommend the best options for making the connection.

Check out the ConXit tool.

Truphone Offers Free Calling on Thanksgiving

November 19, 2009 1:17 PM |

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Truphone is in a giving mood this holiday season, offering free calling on Thanksgiving. Only way to top that offer for Christmas is to pay you to make call on their network on December 25th. Now that would be sweet!

Check out the news:

Truphone to Give Away Free Calling on Thanksgiving
12 hours of free calls to U.S. numbers for Thanksgiving 2009

Truphone, the next generation global mobile operator, today announced that for 12 hours on Thanksgiving 2009 all calls made on Truphone to mobile and landline phones in the United States will be free so that friends and family can call each other to catch up this holiday season.

From noon to midnight UTC, or 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. EST, on Thursday, Nov. 26, all calls made to U.S. landlines and mobiles using the Truphone application will be free from anywhere in the world. More information is available here: www.truphone.com/thanksgiving.

Truphone offers fantastic rates to call the U.S. every day, but to celebrate Thanksgiving this year it is offering its customers the opportunity to catch up with friends and family in the U.S. at no cost at all. The offer is open to existing and new customers anywhere in the world using their Truphone application.

Truphone has applications for the Apple iPhone, Apple iPod touch, BlackBerry, Nokia and Android devices and it is available to download from www.truphone.com and the respective application stores for each device.

"Thanksgiving is a day when family and friends come together to celebrate and catch up across the U.S.", said Geraldine Wilson, CEO of Truphone. "For those people who can't get home for the holidays, often because distance is too much, a telephone call to let them know how they are is the next best thing. With this initiative, we are allowing people who can't be together to catch up on this special day".

For details on Truphone's everyday low-cost rates for calling U.S. mobiles and landlines, as well as its great rates for other destinations around the world, visit the Truphone website at: www.truphone.com/applications/pricing.

Judge rejects AT&T Request to pull Verizon ad, AT&T Responds with Anti-Verizon Ad

November 19, 2009 11:59 AM |

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Break out the popcorn wireless fans, the battle between AT&T and Verizon Wireless is getting ugly! A judge has rejected AT&T's request to pull the Verizon 3G ad which compares Verizon's 3G map footprint vs. AT&T's 3G map footprint where AT&T's 3G footprint looks downright pathetic.

Although the judge rejected AT&T's request, he was not without some sympathy. Judge Batten said people might "misunderstand" the commercials, "but that doesn't mean they're misleading." and he said "Most people who are watching TV are semi-catatonic," he said, prompting laughter. "They're not fully alive."

AT&T didn't take the news so well, so they released an anti-Verizon Wireless ad of their own. Check it out:

Oh and here are two of the ads Verizon released that ticked off AT&T setting in motion the lawsuit:

Island of Misfit Toys meets Verizon Wireless & AT&T

MindTouch Cloud Launches into Cloud Collaboration

November 19, 2009 11:10 AM |

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MindTouch just launched their popular open source Sharepoint-like software into the collaboration cloud. Called MindTouch Cloud, this hosted SAAS offering will put them in direct competition of the likes of Google Apps, Google Wave, Zoho, and others. MindTouch will deliver their open source collaboration applications in the cloud for a monthly fee that starts at just $7/month for 50 users. They also offer a free 30-day trial.

MindTouch Cloud enables your employees & managers to pull and aggregate business data from data silos like your CRM, ERP, accounts payable, file servers, email, databases, and others to gain visibility through mashups. You can mashup applications, such as Salesforce.com, SugarCRM, and Oracle, and integrate them into documents in team workspaces. MindTouch is targeting Microsoft's SharePoint collaboration platform and Google Apps, though these only offer traditional document and spreadsheet applications without blending in business data. Forrester recently named MindTouch the open source alternative to Microsoft's hot SharePoint product.

Because MindTouch Cloud is open source enterprises will seriously consider this offering. Further, because it is a cloud application, it reduces the requirements to purchase hardware, build redundancy, etc, thus reducing the TCO. In addition, MindTouch Cloud includes instant messaging, video collaboration, status updates, blended business date with charts, graphs, and reports. It also sports sophisticated multilingual capabilities, word blacklist, collaborative video editing and user or IP blocking and banning. Don't beleive it has VoIP, so that would be a nice addition.

MindTouch is targeting Microsoft's SharePoint collaboration platform and Google Apps, which offer classic document and spreadsheet applications without blending in the business data.

Watch a Microsoft Operating Systems Video Timeline

November 19, 2009 9:48 AM |

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Microsoft's operating system have evolved quite a bit since the 1980s when they launched their first operating system. Ah, who doesn't miss Microsoft DOS? Gimme my DOS command shell, .bat files, QEMM expanded memory manager, Stacker disk compression (a requirement due to small hard drives back then), and all the other MS-DOS goodies any day of the week and I'm a happy man. Ohh the nostalgia!

Watch the Youtube video timelines below showing how Microsoft has developed their operating systems over the last 20+ years. We went from Microsoft DOS with a rudimentary (but beloved) command line GUI, to a visual Microsoft operating system with Microsoft 1.0. This was followed by Windows 3.0 & 3.1 to Windows 95 & 98 to Windows 2000. Next came Windows XP followed by the much-maligned Windows Vista to the the now superior Windows 7.

Continue reading Watch a Microsoft Operating Systems Video Timeline.

Taylor Is Da Man - Wins 3 Vehicles & Prizes Worth $79,897 on The Price is Right

November 18, 2009 3:03 PM |

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Taylor Randall is one lucky birthday dude. On his 19th birthday while playing The Price is Right, he won a scooter, Ford Mustang, a Dodge Challenger, and $26,000 in cash. Some of these prizes he won the hard way - like spinning the Price is Right wheel and hitting the number 100 twice in a row. What are the odds? Or how bout playing Lucky $EVEN and losing 5 of his 7 dollars guessing the first number but still winning the car. Taylor needs to hit the casinos while he's still hot - or each and every birthday until his birthday luck runs out.

You have to watch this video to believe it:

Via Ace of Spades

fring for Google Android Launches

November 18, 2009 10:10 AM |

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fring is finally available for the Google Android. It's about time! One drawback though is that SIP and SkypeOut calls are not yet available on Droid devices. There's always a catch...

In addition to Skype chat and Skype-to-Skype VoIP calling you also get MSN and GoogleTalk support, real-time presence and live chat with ICQ, Yahoo! and AIM buddies as well. fring even has Twitter support. fring on Android works over 3G, GPRS or Wi-Fi connections.

So how do you get it?

Two ways:

1) From Android Market
Start the Market application on your phone
Search for fring and install

2) From WAP on your phone
On your Android phone, go to Settings > Applications and check the box to allow 'unknown sources'
Point your phone browser to fring.com and download fring manually

Check out the video:

Via fring blog

Citrix Adds Toll-Free Option to GoToMeeting

November 16, 2009 8:39 AM |

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Citrix Online today announced they have added integrated Toll-Free audio to GoToMeeting Corporate and GoToWebinar. With this addition, meeting participants now have several audio options to choose from, including integrated toll-free, a toll-based number, or VoIP for audio over the Internet. Each participant in the same online meeting can select their own audio option.

Customers hosting meetings with integrated toll free will have the following benfits:
•    Seamless one-click recording for all attendees with no additional charges or equipment needed.
•    Affordable and predictable subscription-based pricing that scales to benefit high-volume customers with bundling options to suit any type of use.
•    Simple scheduling and management features with convenient controls for supporting audio sessions. Organizers have the flexibility to decide which meetings to offer toll free.

"Our annual survey of North American users of conferencing services reveals that the overwhelming majority (89.1%) believe there is personal value in an integrated audio and Web conferencing service vs. two independent providers," said Andy Nilssen, senior analyst and partner at Wainhouse Research. "The simplicity of being able to initiate a single conference with audio and Web capabilities combined with the ability to visually present audio control elevates the elegance of the entire virtual meeting experience. This will no doubt increase the appeal of Citrix Online's portfolio among companies of all sizes."

Run Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Virtualized

November 13, 2009 12:49 PM |

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According to Microsoft, Office Communications Server 2007 R2 can now be deployed onto Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V, or onto any virtualization solution that is a certified partner through the Server Virtualization Validation Program (SVVP) certified partners. Running OCS 2007 R2 "virtualized" is a hot topic, so knowing exactly how and which components can be virtualized is crucial so you're not banging your head against the wall wondering why it isn't working.

Well, the good news is that it supports the following workloads virtualized:

Presence
IM (including conferencing, remote access, federation, and Public IM Connectivity)
Group Chat

Today, Microsoft released a whitepaper which identifies which server roles are supported in a virtualized environment and it provides guidance for scaling users and workloads in a virtualized environment. Best to let Microsoft spend the time testing and determining the results rather than you doing all the effort. Well, the good news is that their whitepaper document reveals the results of a series of configurations that were run in a Hyper-V environment to validate that Office Communications Server on Hyper-V provides stable performance and scalability for production use.

So whatcha waitin' for? Go download the whitepaper and then start virtualizing your OCS 2007 R2 topology!

Dell Inspiron Zino HD - Coolest HTPC Ever

November 13, 2009 10:57 AM |

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Dell just launched the Inspiron Zino HD, a small 8" by 8" x 3.5" cubed-shaped trendy-looking HTPC that aims to sit in your living room and become your centralized home media center. Comparisons of the trendy-looking Zino HD vs. the Mac Mini will undoubtedly be made. Colors for the Zino HD include Piano Black, True Blue, Formula Red, Plum Purple, Spring Green, Promise Pink, Tangerine Orange, Green Scatter, Red Swirls, and Blue Lines. Piano Black is free, but you'll pay $10 or $30 for the other colors.

Starting at a base configuration price of just $229 the Dell Zino HD many home theater fans will seriously consider the Zino HD, though they will no doubt bump up the default specs which includes a AMD Athlon 2650e 512K L2, 1.6GHz processor and 2GB of RAM. You can go as high as the AMD Dual Core Athlon Neo X2 6850e (1MB L2, 1.8GHz) for $110 and up to 8GB of Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 800MHz. It comes with a 250GB hard drive but you can go up to 1TB of data storage. Perhaps most importantly, it sports HDMI output for connecting to your HD 1080p TV.

It supports Vista and Windows 7, and sports an optional ($100) Blu-ray drive, TV tuner (coming soon), optional ATI Radeon HD 4330 512MB GPU, 4-in-1 card reader, 4 external USB 2.0 ports, and 2 eSATA connectors. Interestingly, Dell has chosen AMD processors exclusively for the Zino HD product line, marking the first time Dell has launched a product without including Intel processors as an option. Of course, in theory you can wipe the Vista or Windows 7 operating system and install Linux on this bad boy and run Linux-based home media center/HTPC software.

With a wireless remote control (not included) and Windows 7 Media Center software this can be a very powerful home media center computer at a very decent price. The Inspiron Zino HD can record and play your favorite TV shows, stream high-definition content from the Internet, and playback your personal music, video and photos.

Specifications:

Ultra-small form factor designed to fit almost anywhere.
Easy personalization with nine color choices for Inspiron Zino HD.
Choice of AMD processors or dual core Athlon Neo X2 6850e.
Up to 8GB dual channel DDR 2 memory.
Up to 1TB internal hard disk storage.
Combo DVD/CD RW drive with optional Blu-ray Disc combo.
Integrated 10/100/1000 networking with wireless option.
Optional TV tuner, wireless keyboard and mouse.
Built in 2.1 high-definition audio and 4-in-one media card reader.
Integrated ATI graphics adapter with standard HDMI and VGA video connections, and optional 512MB discrete graphics adapter.
Four USB ports (2 front/2 rear); two eSATA ports (rear).
Energy-Star 5.0 compliant.

Dell Inspiron Zino HD Configuration Page

What??? No More Exploding Laptop Batteries?

November 12, 2009 1:52 PM |

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Aww darn, no more cool explosions from exploding laptop batteries!

STOBA, a new material technology will steal the joy of seeing your laptop explode from faulty batteries. Boy, it seemed like a week didn't pass without Apple, Toshiba, Sony, Dell, Sanyo, Lenova, or some other laptop manufacturer issuing a battery recall due to exploding batteries. Well, apparently STOBA will make consumer electronics safer.

Taiwan's Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) has developed STOBA, a material technology that prevents lithium-ion batteries from overheating, catching fire or exploding.

Check out a video of how the technology works, including a demonstration on why lithium-ion batteries explode. There is an animated explosion in the demo, so enjoy.

Release after the break:

Continue reading What??? No More Exploding Laptop Batteries?.

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« October 2009 | Main Index | Archives

Wednesday

Tom Keating tweeted, "fring and Skype Video calls on your Mobile Phone: Just a week after fring released an Android version, fring has ... http://bit.ly/55BdIy" 2009-11-25T16:00:12Z 2009-11-25T16:00:12Z
Tom Keating posted fring and Skype Video calls on your Mobile Phone 2009-11-25T15:53:43Z 2009-11-25T15:49:33Z

Tuesday

Tom Keating shared De-Worm Your iPhone - iPhone behaving badly? (Patrick Miller/Network World) from Techmeme 2009-11-24T20:15:49Z 2009-11-24T20:15:49Z
Virus on the iPhone. Oh nooos! Course I already knew about this SSH hack, but still a good read
Tom Keating shared Joost Finally Acquired, By Online Ad Network Adconion (Rafat Ali/paidContent) from Techmeme 2009-11-24T20:15:49Z 2009-11-24T20:15:49Z
Joost needed a boost. Still don't think it will succeed. Give me a P2P app that can play any live TV channel and any movie for a set price. It's all about the content baby!
Tom Keating tweeted, "Tom Just ran to Bagelz to pick up some Snapples for myself and Larry. Back in record time. Trying to eat spicy Thai... http://bit.ly/57xJeE" 2009-11-24T18:47:54Z 2009-11-24T18:47:54Z

Monday

Tom Keating tweeted, "Nokia N900 Maemo 5 Bakes in Skype: The new Maemo 5 software in the Nokia N900 has some surprises, including Skype... http://bit.ly/8EOZhL" 2009-11-23T22:39:36Z 2009-11-23T22:39:36Z
Tom Keating posted Nokia N900 Maemo 5 Bakes in Skype 2009-11-24T14:45:33Z 2009-11-23T22:31:34Z
Tom Keating shared Top Internet Trends of 2000-2009: E-commerce from ReadWriteWeb 2009-11-23T20:33:49Z 2009-11-23T20:33:49Z

More...

enrique: Totally agree. Works perfectly well for mee. read more
Canadian Lumberjack: I've been documenting my user-experience with Vonage Mobile for Blackberry read more
bob: Believe it when I say that Dial In Free read more
Alice: Your blog was very informative. I have recorded a live read more
Bob R. Smith: I agree that there is almost no going back once read more
Rohane: does any one have a gizmo5 acc that they dont read more
Kadius: Navteq sucks, to say the very least. Maps are way read more
התקף חרדה: i wonder if there is a way to uinsert this read more
Imtiaz383: I agree trevor, the XBox 360 consoles seem to be read more
Richard: I am using the 9350e right now and it is read more