Apple

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.

Posted in Apple, Polycom, SIP, Tablets, Unified Communications, Video Conferencing, VoIP

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.

Posted in Accessories, Apple, Gadgets, Home Entertainment, MP3 Players & Digital Audio, Mobile Phones, Tablets, Wireless

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.

Posted in Android, Apple, Gadgets, Google, Mobile Phones, VoIP, Wireless

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.

Posted in Apple, Computer Hardware, Computer Software, Gadgets, Home Entertainment, Microsoft, Mobile Phones, TMCnet, Tablets, Technology and Science, Video Games & Gaming, Video Hardware & Software

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.

Posted in Apple, Gadgets, Mobile Phones, TMCnet, Video Games & Gaming, Video Hardware & Software

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.

Posted in Apple, Lync, Microsoft, Unified Communications, Video Conferencing, VoIP

Microsoft Surface Wi-Fi Only? Easy Workaround...

June 22, 2012

Bloomberg is reporting that Microsoft Surface will initially be Wi-Fi only. I can hear the wailing of Microsoft Surface fans "No! Why? No 4G?" while Apple iPad fans smirk and laugh at you for even considering abandoning the mighty iPad.

So why no 3G/4G wireless for Microsoft SurfacE?

Posted in Apple, Microsoft, Tablets, Wireless

Apple's FaceTime in iOS 6 Now Works Over Cellular

June 11, 2012

In a bold move (not really), Apple is lifting the restriction that only permitted FaceTime to work over Wi-Fi and not 3G/4G cellular networks. Apple announced this at the Worldwide Developers Conference and no doubt users will be happy since there is not always a Wi-Fi connection available.

This is a highly-requested feature, because users are not always connected to a Wi-Fi signal. Another FaceTime enhancement in iOS 6 includes the unification of a user’s phone number with an Apple ID, which allows calls to be answered on an iPad and Mac. Apple said it is doing the same with iMessage too.

Of course, AT&T is regretting unlimited iPhone data plans and Verizon is phasing out unlimited data plans, in favor of tiered plans, which means just when you can use FaceTime anywhere, anytime - Verizon and possibly AT&T in the near future will slam the door. Personally, I think Apple was slow on the draw on this one.

Posted in Apple, Gadgets, Mobile Phones, TMCnet, Unified Communications, Video Conferencing, VoIP

Why the Cisco Cius Failed & Why Microsoft Might Beat the Mighty iPad

May 25, 2012

Rich Tehrani has a good post today on why the Cisco Cius failed. He put it succinctly and with a nice metaphor when he writes:

Company after company is learning what most of instinctively know already – competing with Apple head-on is like trying to tackle a freight train with your bare hands as it is barreling down the tracks in your direction. Amazon with its Kindle Fire competed on price and used its services to subsidize the device. Other tablet makers are finding it virtually impossible to compete without such advantages.

Rich is exactly right.

Posted in Android, Apple, Gadgets, Microsoft, TMCnet

The New In Your Face Facebook Ads - Coming Soon!

May 21, 2012

After Facebook's disastrous IPO leading some to speculate Facebook's actual worth is in the $16-$24 range, it's worth examining what went wrong. Was it the Nasdaq computer glitches, which some claim resulted in $100 million in losses to investment firms? Perhaps a small factor. Was the initial stock price too high?

Posted in Apple, Mobile Phones, Social Networking, TMCnet, Wireless

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