Tom Keating : VoIP & Gadgets Blog
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Google Android Mystery

December 31, 2007

Greg Galitzine forwarded me an interesting email claiming to be the "rumored" Google Android in action and Greg asked me to investigate. First, I should point to a funny parody of the supposed Google Android on Youtube, which takes the concept of Google Adsense (ads based on keywords on the webpage) and extends it to speech-recognition of words spoken on the phone to "speak" relevant ads.


Ok, now let me share the email Greg received:

Here's an interesting piece of tip. As you know, Google Android aka Dream Phone is a mobile phone platform based on the Linux operating system and developed by the Open Handset Alliance.

There have been many rumors about what it will ultimately look like, with several parodies of it circling YouTube, especially this one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=naUnXplUtrQ

Even though that's just a cute play on Google Ads, I've stumbled across something that might actually be a working demo of Google Android in action here:

http://69.57.168.29/asr/











I decided to check out the URL http://69.57.168.29/asr/.






Google be Patient? Nah...

December 20, 2007

Greg has an interesting post about Google where he thinks the Google developers need to be more patient. Specifically, developers are a little miffed over some bugs in Google Android SDK. I would have to disagree with Greg on this one. Google is the great aggregator of the universe's knowledge (hence the Google Universe).

Ribbit Launches

December 17, 2007

Ribbit is a development platform launching today, which enables developers to integrate communications solutions into their web applications. A proprietary softswitch (the Ribbit SmartSwitch) mediates communication across protocols, networks and devices. That includes MSN Messenger, Google Talk, Yahoo! Messenger (soon) and Skype.

Essentially Ribbit is a back-end multi-protocol softswitch (called SmartSwitch) that allows communication between different networks, carriers and device types. The Ribbit SmartSwitch is their own proprietary Lucent-tested CLASS 5 softswitch.

Google to Acquire Sprint Nextel?

November 12, 2007

Rich Tehrani reported on Saturday that he's hearing rumors that Google may acquire Sprint Nextel. Techcrunch picked up Rich's story and provided their own analysis. Matthew Ingram also has an interesting take on Rich's rumor with an interesting line - "Google has effectively become the saviour of everything."

Why would an acquisition of a phone service provider (carrier) make sense? Well, for one, carriers sign exclusive deals with phone manufacturers, i.e.

Will the Real Google gPhone Please Stand up!

November 1, 2007


Will the real Google Phone, gPhone, or whatever the heck it's going to be called please stand up? Enough of the hype and enough of the teasing. I can't take it any more. The latest tease comes from The India Street, which writes, "we've just confirmed a tip from an industry insider that China's e28 is going to be Google's Gphone software and handset manufacturer.

Google Phone Mania

October 31, 2007

There is so much hype and hysteria surrounding the Google Phone that I can't keep up with all the various rumors and speculative articles. There's so much to read and so little time. Fortunately, I have a "proxy" to filter through the noise. Rich has a deep interest in the Google Phone so he's been reading up on all the various articles and making brief summaries of what the experts say the Google Phone will and won't be.

Google Promotes Blogs and Videos

September 5, 2007

Google has been integrating video clips into the search results, but now it appears they've added another option to quickly search for videos or blogs with that keyword in mind. I was doing a search on "multi-touch" when I noticed a blue toolbar area on top that had two clickable links - Blogs and Video. Before if you wanted to search the blogs, you had to click the 'more' drop-down box and then choose Blogs - a bit tedious.

Below is a screenshot of Google's home page with my search on 'multi-touch'. I drew red circles and put red text for the important parts.

Google buys Grand Central?

June 25, 2007

fring coming to Windows Mobile phones

June 19, 2007

Some big news from fring, a popular free mobile VoIP software. fring will soon announce support for Windows Mobile 5.0 and 6.0 devices. Currently, Fring only works on Nokia phones which use the Symbian operating system. What, no iPhone support?

Google Acquires Feedburner

June 1, 2007

Google has just acquired Feedburner. Financial terms of the acquisition were not immediately available, however rumor has it that it's north of $100 million.

Feedburner blog was quick to point to this FAQ link which includes some "reassurance" about user privacy. Specifically it says, "Google has a long-standing commitment to protecting the privacy of users' personal information. FeedBurner users can expect the same high standards of privacy protection following this acquisition. We believe that notice and choice are the foundations of privacy.

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