Tom Keating : VoIP & Gadgets Blog
Tom Keating
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Apple

Google Pimps Nexus 7 tablet on Google home page

August 28, 2012


Rich Tehrani discovered that Google is pimping their Nexus 7 tablet on Google's home page which is renowned for being advertising-free. The Nexus 7 (built by Asus) is the first tablet developed under Google, and is the first device to run Android 4.1 / Jelly Bean, the latest version of Google's mobile operating system. Considering the Samsung (Android) $1+ billion defeat to Apple, perhaps Google who has a huge stake in Android is flipping the bird to Apple.

Google to Apple: "You think you got massive eyeballs viewing iPhones and iPads? Well watch this!


Auto-Provision VoIP Softphone with QR Code

August 10, 2012

Zoiper, creators of SIP and IAX clients for Apple iOS and Android. has a novel idea of leveraging QR codes to auto-provision VoIP softphone clients. No more typing the SIP registrar, username, password, etc. Their softphone client allows end users to self-provision their VoIP service accounts simply by taking a picture with the device camera to scan a QR code.

From the Ziper mobile app you click the QR icon and the screen then switches to “QR scan mode” where it can capture the image generated by the VoIP provider.


New Hotmail/Outlook Sucks on iOS & Android & Why That's Good for Microsoft

July 31, 2012

So the big news today is the revamped Hotmail, which is a dramatic improvement over the old version in terms of design aesthetics as well as usability. Sporting a Metro-like UI it is quite apparent that Microsoft is dedicating serious resources on a unified user interface that is the same no matter if you're using a laptop/PC, Windows Phone, Xbox 360, or Windows 8 tablet. This investment could pay long dividends for Microsoft. Who wouldn't want a consistent UI across multiple devices?

FreedomPop for iPod Touch - Free 4G Internet Coming!

July 25, 2012


Skype founder Niklas Zennstrom's new FreedomPop, a 4G broadband "free" wireless internet provider, which recently announced FREE 4G wireless internet for iPhone using the Freedom Sleeve 4G for iPhone 4/4s will soon launch the Freedom Sleeve for the iPod Touch. Yeah, that's right, I said FREE 4G wireless internet - with some small caveats of course...

Polycom Launches SDK, Doubles Scalability, Better Tablet Video Conferencing Support

July 16, 2012

I spoke with John Antanaitis, Polycom VP of Marketing to discuss the news about their various news announcements made today. One of the announcements is a new version of RealPresence Mobile (1.3) which now runs on HTC One smartphones and the HTC Jetstream tablet, along with the new Apple iPad. This version adds far end camera control (FEC) to allow users to control the camera. RealPresence Mobile 1.3's camera control feature enables you to remotely control the camera on the other end of a video meeting allowing users to pinch-to-zoom, pan, or tilt the camera to get a better look at the subject or the environment. This feature is especially important in many vertical market applications such as healthcare, for more in-depth patient consultations; educational settings, for panning the classroom or zooming in on a speaker or presentation; and manufacturing plants, to closely examine the products on the factory floor.

Beacon Audio's The Phoenix Portable Bluetooth Speaker Launches

July 11, 2012


Tired of your tinny mobile phone or tablet speakers and want portable high-quality speakers? Well check out Beacon's The Phoenix, a Bluetooth-activated, rechargeable, take-with-you-everywhere speaker, which is available in 3 colors - vibrant Blue or Red, as well as a more classic Black color option.

Weighing in at just seven ounces with dimensions of 3.2 x 3.2 x 2.9 inches, the Phoenix is smaller than a coffee mug yet still manages to provide crisp, clear sound and enough volume to fill a room, loudly. The unit also features a wireless range of 35 feet. On the rear of the speaker, an auxilary input exists for all non-­Bluetooth enabled devices.


Maaii VoIP app Now on Android - Free Voice and Texts

July 9, 2012



Maaii, the app for free talk and text is now available on Android. Maaii,  allows users to make calls and send text messages to contacts and social network friends for free, today announced the launch of its beta on Google Play. As you may recall from my review, Maaii gives you 100 free minutes per day, which is great for low volume users.

According to Maaii, in the six months since Maaii’s iOS launch, the mobile app has signed up more than 1 million registered users.



Microsoft Store in Danbury Fair Mall Is No Apple Store

July 9, 2012


The new Microsoft Store had its grand opening in Danbury Fair Mall recently and I wanted to check it out. I happened to be in the Danbury Fair Mall to (ironically) visit the Apple Store to have my busted iPhone replaced. [Side note - none of the Apple Store employees had ever seen my shaking screen problem and they were all oohing and ahhing over the oddity.]

Anyway, after getting my iPhone replaced I headed over to the Microsoft store, which had just opened a couple weeks earlier. I fully expected the Microsoft Store to be a cheap knockoff or clone of the Apple Store and to smirk at the audacity of Microsoft copying Apple's retail idea.


iPhone 4S GPU Busted - Icons & Screen Shaking Problem!

July 6, 2012

My iPhone 4S apparently has a busted GPU that gets progressively worse the more I utilize the GPU, especially graphics-intensive apps like games which no doubt heat up the GPU. Symptoms include shaking / wiggling icons, banding of screen drawing on right-side, top of screen pixels appears at bottom of screen. Funky! Check out the photo of this happening (yellow arrows):


When it gets really bad the screen moves up 40-50% making it near impossible to enter my lock code by looking at the screen.


Microsoft Lync 2010 for iPad 2.2 Released But No VoIP or Video

June 29, 2012


Microsoft recently released Lync 2010 for iPad v4.2. Features include rich presence, instant messaging, audio conferencing, and calling features, but surprisingly no VoIP or video conferencing. Instead it uses a callback mechanism for the voice calling.

You can connect to Lync conference calls with a single touch, without requiring long numeric passcodes or conference numbers as well as make and receive calls using your Enterprise Voice (Lync ID) number only, enabling you to connect with others using a single, consistent identity.


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