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April 2011

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Cumulative updates for Microsoft Lync 2010 released

April 28, 2011

Some important updates for Microsoft Lync client were just released as part of KB 2540951.

According to Microsoft, this cumulative update fixes the following issues:
  • 2543532  Credential prompts occur when you sign in to Lync 2010 by using the Lync Online service
  • 2543531  Lync 2010 does not authenticate after you resume the computer from hibernation
This update package also fixes the issues that are previously documented in the following Microsoft Knowledge Base (KB) articles:
  • 2517766  A warning message is cut off in a localized version of Lync 2010
  • 2517757  The “Start Recording” command is still available after you transfer audio to a PSTN telephone during a conference call in Lync 2010
  • 2517754  The Outlook.exe process is still running after you close Outlook on a computer that has Lync 2010 installed and that is running Windows Vista
  • 2517747  The Lync 2010 Recording Player window displays incorrect localized language in Lync 2010
  • 2517739  A short audio delay occurs after a RGS agent accepts a call in a Lync Server 2010 environment
  • 2517736  You take over a presentation when you double-click the “Return to Presenter’s View” button in Lync 2010
  • 2517735  "Your online meeting invitation needs to be updated due to changed server policies." message on a computer that has Lync 2010 installed
  • 2517721  Lync 2010 cannot publish the "Presence" calendar data of a user
  • 2517691  A user cannot retrieve a parked call from a paired Lync 2010 client when the orbit number contains "#" or "*"
  • 2517673  Texts in an office application are cut off or the office application does not respond when you copy the texts from a Lync 2010 instant message input window
  • 2503538  Lync 2010 prompts you for credentials when it is retrieving availability data through Exchange Web Services
  • 2500416  The AVModalityPropertyChanged event is not triggered in Lync 2010 SDK
  • 2499613  A Lync 2010 client crashes with an access violation when you click the "A" icon of an emoticon in a conversation
  • 2498410  A user name is still in Lync 2010 after you remove the user account in AD
  • 2497779  "Connection is not established" error message in a Lync 2010 client when an attendee is disconnected from an application-sharing session in a large conference
  • 2464823  The Lync 2010 client crashes during a conference video call that includes ACP users
  • 2464810  A credential dialog box appears or an error message is received when you log on to Lync Online
  • 2464811  The icon of the speakerphone in Lync 2010 is not generic
  • 2464817  You have to press the TAB key two times to select the “Save my password” check box after you type your password in the Lync 2010 logon screen
  • 2464828  The “Learn More” link does not indicate as a selection when you press the TAB key to select it in the “Edit Location” dialog box in Lync 2010
  • 2464840  You are directed to the MSN website when you try to download software that is required to log on to Lync online by using Lync 2010
  • 2464841  Lync 2010 does not populate your location information automatically
  • 2464842  “Cannot sign in to Lync because this sign-in address was not found” error message during the Lync 2010 logon process when the default user is Lync-disabled
  • 2464845  A Silverlight application for Lync 2010 does not start from a URL address that does not contain the page name
  • 2464850  The conference disclaimer is missing from the “Disclaimer” window when you try to join a Lync 2010 conference by using an Office Communicator Object Model
  • 2464872  Certain text in an invitation email message for an online meeting are displayed incorrectly when you create the invitation email message by using a Hindi or a Kazakh version of Lync 2010
  • 2464873  Your audio and video is enabled automatically when you click “Retry” to rejoin a Lync 2010 Audio/Video conference
  • 2464874  A Lync Online disabled user is not handled correctly during the logon process in Lync 2010
  • 2483227  Your Live Meeting Service presenter password is included in the INVITE message when you start a meeting by using Live Meeting Service in Lync 2010


Microsoft Lync Backup Script

April 28, 2011


The popular Microsoft Lync unified communications solution unifies your voice, video, IM, and collaboration onto a single platform. Unified communications is a wonderful thing, but putting all your eggs in one basket means you better be damned sure you back it up! And you better be sure you can quickly restore a backup copy. Several solutions exist for backups, including tape backups, Amazon cloud backups, etc.

Firefox Speed Tweaks

April 26, 2011

There are dozens of articles on how to speed up and optimize Mozilla Firefox using various tweaks to the default Firefox settings. I've used Firefox for years now and when I upgrade from one PC to another I always forget my top tweaks I use to make Firefox faster and then have to research them again. So now I'm going to document my favorite speed tweaks here on my blog for future reference.

Jabra SPEAK 410 Review

April 21, 2011


A couple months ago, Jabra sent me a Jabra SPEAK 410 to review. It got lost in the shuffle of other things I was reviewing. The Jabra SPEAK 410 is a pretty cool USB-based speakerphone device that directly integrates with Skype, Microsoft Lync/OCS, Avaya, Cisco, and IBM Sametime, enabling you to simply press the green handset icon on the device to answer a call or press the red handset icon to hang up the call. This is especially useful if you want to deploy this in a conference room setting.

Lync Server 2010 Now Supported on SQL 2008 R2

April 21, 2011

Phantom Flex Camera Super HD 2,564fps Staggering Slow-Mo footage (video)

April 20, 2011


Want to see water drops captured at 1080p with 2,564fps speed played back in slow motion? How bout shattering glass and lightbulbs in slow-mo? Or watching the wave impact travel up a Blackberry as it hits? Tom Guilmette took a Vision Research Phantom Flex camera recently and put together a video of mind blowing slow-motion footage.

Skype Fixes Privacy Vulnerability in Skype for Android

April 20, 2011

Verizon MiFi 4510L 4G WiFi Mobile Hotspot Now Available

April 18, 2011

Say goodbye to your pokey 3G MiFi. Verizon Wireless and Novatel Wireless today announced that the MiFi 4510L 4G LTE Mobile Hotspot that runs on the Verizon Wireless 4G LTE Mobile Broadband network is available online today. The 4G LTE MiFi 4510L is available online at www.verizonwireless.com and will be in Verizon Wireless Communications Stores on April 21 for $99.99 after a $50 mail-in rebate with a new two-year customer agreement on a 4G Mobile Broadband plan. 4G LTE Mobile Broadband plans begin at $50 monthly access for 5GB.
 
The MiFi 4510L lets you share the connection with up to five Wi-Fi-enabled devices simultaneously. I was hoping they'd increase the number of device to ten by now.

Skype Responds to Android Vulnerability

April 15, 2011

Skype's Chief Security Officer, Adrian Asher responded to Android Police's article on a vulnerability in the Skype for Android client. He writes:

It has been brought to our attention that, were you to install a malicious third-party application onto your Android device, then it could access the locally stored Skype for Android files.

These files include cached profile information and instant messages. We take your privacy very seriously and are working quickly to protect you from this vulnerability, including securing the file permissions on the Skype for Android application.



Skype for Android Exposes Personal Info

April 15, 2011

If you use the Skype for Android app your personal information may be vulnerable due to the way the app stores your data unencrypted and without proper file permissions.

Android Police reports that this exploit was discovered while checking out a leaked version of Skype Video on the Thunderbolt.

I quickly came up with an exploit, and I was in shock at just how much information I could harvest. Everything was available to the rogue app I created, without the need for root or any special permissions."

The HTML5 Revolution

April 14, 2011

When Steve Jobs and Apple blocked Adobe Flash from Apple's popular line of mobile devices (iPhone, iPad, iPod touch), Apple's main claims against Flash were that it was too processor-heavy, a battery hog, and that HTML5 was a better standard for the future. Rich Tehrani calls it the "Apple Tax". According to the HTTP Archive project, a website that tracks over 17,000 top websites and lets you compare web statistics over time, Flash experienced a 2% drop in usage over the last 4 months. It went from 49% on November 15, 2010 to 47% on March 29, 2011.

The move to HTML5 is clearly on.

LG-Ericsson ipLDK-60 Review

April 13, 2011

The LG-Ericsson ipLDK-60 is a flexible, feature-rich IP-PBX platform designed for SMBs, supporting up to 48 digital and analog extensions through a variety of terminals including digital, IP and analog phones, and fax machines. Calling it an IP-PBX is a bit of a misnomer since it’s more of a hybrid IP-PBX “key system”, supporting many traditional key system features that SMBs love. For instance, it supports Line Appearances, Call Park, Page and Call Pick-Up, as well as cost control capabilities such as prepaid call, barge-in, forced trunk disconnect, and LCR. The ipLDK-60 supports analog and VoIP trunks as well as IP phones and LG-Ericsson’s proprietary digital phones.

Oh no! MagicJack Lost its Mojo!

April 12, 2011


According to Andy Abramson, MagicJack's business model is in deep trouble. MagicJack, makes the popular USB VoIP device that gives you all you can eat voice minutes for just $19.95 per year ($39.95 for the 1st year). Andy explains why they're in trouble:

Over the weekend the Telecom Law Monitor, a blog from the telecom practice group of Washington D.C. based Kelly Drye caught my eye when I spied that MagicJack's sister/parent company, YMAX and AT&T were embroiled in a battle over, you guessed it.



Microsoft OCS QoE Voice Analyzer App for WP7

April 12, 2011

Are you a Microsoft OCS 2007 R2 or Microsoft Lync user looking to analyze the Quality of Experience (QoE) on your Window 7 (WP7) phone? Then I have just the utility for you! The QoE Voice Analyzer app is now available at WP7 Marketplace for download and it sports some nifty QoE tools.

It's worth pointing out that QoE metrics are collected at the end of every VoIP and video call from participant endpoints, which includes Office Communicator, Office Live Meeting, the A/V Conferencing Server, Mediation Servers and IP phones. The metrics are collected and sent in a SIP header to the OCS Front-End server by each client.

This WP7 app assists OCS admins to better understand the Microsoft 2007 R2 QoE reports.



Level 3 Buys Global Crossing for $3 Billion

April 11, 2011


Level 3 Communications announced on Monday that it would buy Global Crossing for $3 billion. Is it me or does it seem like the entire telecom sector is consolidating? AT&T acquiring T-Mobile being just one recent example. Not a good thing for consumers if we're back down to only a handful of telecom competitors.

Google Store Launch? Look out Apple Stores?

April 7, 2011


Rich Tehrani gives his reasons why Google needs to launch what I'll call "Google Store", a direct retail competitor to the Apple Stores located in many malls and cities around the country. Only one problem with this is that Google only sells Android products to consumers. Apple stores sell a variety of products including laptops, tablets, computers, iPods, iPod/iPhone accessories, Mac software, etc.

Google only sells tablets and Android mobile phones. Their software is mostly hosted, including Gmail, Google Apps, etc.


netTalk, a VoIP player Raises $2.5 Million

April 7, 2011


netTalk is serious about challenging magicJack. Today they announced that netTALK has raised $2.5 million to help drive its push into bricks n' mortar retail and other marketing efforts. They obtained additional funding up to $2,500,000 in borrowings pursuant to a promissory note agreement. I'm told major retail distribution deals will be announced in the coming days and weeks.

Atari's Greatest Hits on iPhone and iPad!

April 7, 2011


Those of us >=33 years old no doubt fondly remember the Atari 2600, which ignited the home video game revolution. Classics like Pong, Combat, and Adventure had kids glued to their TVs playing games for hours on end. I was one of them back in the 1980s. I still remember slaying dragons in Adventure and I can still play the sound effects to Asteroids in my head.

For nostalgia I've played with emulators and game ROMs in the past to play Atari 2600 classics on my PC.


WorldGate Ojo is <strike>Dead!</strike> <strike>No It Lives!</strike> Nope-Dead Again

April 6, 2011


I reported troubles at WorldGate Communications back in February 2008 and then reported things got better in the next month saying Ojo Phone Lives! It appears they never truly got through its problems, because their return of the living dead now appears to be over...


According to Rich Tehrani, "Word has it that funding was pulled at WorldGate Communications two weeks ago with everyone being laid off. Requests for information to the company did not get an immediate response. The Pennsylvania-based organization which made high-end designer-looking videophones no-doubt faced an uphill battle competing with Cisco and Polycom - as well as low-cost players like Grandstream."

It's pretty sad that a really cool video phone which had such promise wasn't able to cut it.





fring Group Video Calls for iPhone and Android!

April 5, 2011

Whoah! fring today announced that their development team is finishing up on a really cool new feature - free group video calls that works on both the Android and the iPhone.

As far as I know this is the first free Group Video call feature for any mobile phone.

CounterPath Releases Bria 3.2

April 5, 2011


Update: According to a CounterPath spokesperson, "Counterpath had to delay the launch of the Bria 3.2 update to the end of this month."
CounterPath Corporation today released Bria 3.2, with enhanced enterprise features, internal chat rooms, and multiple account integration support. The Bria multimedia softphone is available for Mac and Windows, and adds support for multiple Instant Message and Presence accounts as well as the introduction of a Ribbon for Microsoft Outlook 2010.

“Bria 3.2 lays the foundation of our Social Networking strategy,” said Todd Carothers, Senior Vice President of Marketing and Products, CounterPath. “The way users leverage the Internet for communicating with friends, family and colleagues is changing. Our personal and work lives are blurring and with the addition of Social Networking we see a significant change in how users want to communicate.”



KEMP Launches Microsoft Exchange 2010 Load Balancing Appliance

April 5, 2011

KEMP Technologies, a 10 year old company today announced the first server load balancing appliance, specifically designed for Microsoft Exchange 2010. The new KEMP’s LoadMaster Exchange (LM-Exchange) comes pre-configured and ready to deploy for instant redundancy and high availability for the enterprise's critical Exchange 2010 services. The new LM-Exchange server is a load balancing and application delivery appliance designed to address high-availability and scalability demands of Microsoft Exchange 2010 deployments for businesses up to 250 users.

While all of KEMP’s server load balancing and application delivery controller (ADCs) products currently support and are approved by Microsoft’s Exchange Server 2010 qualification program for hardware and software load balancers, the LM-Exchange is the first product of its kind that was specifically designed and purpose-built for Microsoft’s Exchange 2010.

Google Offers $900 million for 6,000 Nortel telecom patents

April 4, 2011

Nortel's carcass continues to be picked at, with many golden nuggets discovered, making their demise all the more surprising.
Google is offering $900 million for 6,000 Nortel telecom patents covering 4G, wireless, data networking, optical, voice, semiconductors and other telecom areas, according to ZDNet.

Here's Google's official response:
The tech world has recently seen an explosion in patent litigation, often involving low-quality software patents, which threatens to stifle innovation. Some of these lawsuits have been filed by people or companies that have never actually created anything; others are motivated by a desire to block competing products or profit from the success of a rival’s new technology. The patent system should reward those who create the most useful innovations for society, not those who stake bogus claims or file dubious lawsuits. It's for these reasons that Google has long argued in favor of real patent reform, which we believe will benefit users and the U.S.



Marko Rodin Smart Laser - Coolest Use of Lasers Ever!

April 1, 2011

You won't believe how cool the Marko Rodin "Smart Laser" technology is. Imagine a red laser that is intelligent enough to follow paths that you draw with a marker? Now imagine you can play a game of air hockey, except without the air and without the need for a puck.

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