Tom Keating : VoIP & Gadgets Blog
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Google Talk uses Global IP Sound's Voice Engine

August 25, 2005

In my Google Talk Test Drive, Rick Hultz posted a comment wondering if Google Talk was using just Global IP Sound's codecs or their powerful voice engine as well. I told him I'd look into it. Well Rick, here's your answer. Global IP Sound (GIPS), today announced an OEM license agreement with Google for voice processing solutions.

Google Talk supports SIP, what does Skype do now?

August 24, 2005


Now that Google has announced plans to support SIP in Google Talk and plans to "federate" with third-party providers including Sipphone's Gizmo Project and Earthlink's Vling, where does this leave Skype? Skype up to now has been able to deflect criticisms for using a proprietary protocol and not supporting SIP. Part of their "excuse" for using a proprietary protocol was that it was needed in order for NAT traversal of firewalls.

But how long can Skype use this "excuse" now that Google plans to adopt the SIP protocol, an industry standard and currently Google Talk also can do NAT traversal? I should point out that currently Google Talk's VoIP feature doesn't use SIP but instead uses a custom XMPP-based signaling protocol for its peer-to-peer communication mechanism.


Google Talk Polygamy for multiple identities

August 24, 2005

Want to run Google Talk with multiple Gmail identities? If you have several Google Gmail accounts you also may want to run multiple instances of Google Talk This is especially important for families that share a single PC. Nothing worse than a family member signing you out so they can sign in under their own account!

Basically, to have "Google Polygamy" you need to run Google Talk with the following switch: /nomutex

1. Right-click on the desktop
2.




GMail Invites are dead

August 24, 2005

I wondered in my Google Talk Test Drive blog post if GMail invites would see a "spike". I wrote, "Looks like the GMail invites should see a spike due to Google Talk. Wonder if people are still selling Gmail invites on eBay?"

Well, as of today, coinciding with the Google Talk news, Gmail invites are no longer necessary to sign up for a Gmail account. Guess that means any GMail invites being sold on eBay are now worthless. Though never understood why one would buy a GMail invite since they are so easy to get.

Google Talk Just a "Me too" product - for now

August 24, 2005

In yesterday's blog post, I wrote about Google Talk's impending launch today. I tried to test Google Talk as quickly as I could and blog my testing experiences here. Further, yesterday I pondered, "...the ability for Google Talk to do P2P calling competes directly with Skype - so how does this affect Skype's recent "shopping around" for buyers? I wonder if Skype approached Google with such a high pricetag that Google said 'screw it, we'll build it ourselves' ".

Well, after playing around with Google's home-grown VoIP application for awhile, I have to say I'm not that impressed and here's why.

While I theorized in my Google Test Drive that Google was trying to model Google Talk after their very simplistic, ad-free, virtually graphic-free home page, on further reflection, this doesn't make a lot of sense.



Google Talk's secret game

August 24, 2005

Google Talk Test Drive

August 24, 2005

I just installed Google Talk and so far I can't tell what codecs it supports or what protocol it is using for the voice. I know the IM portion is using Jabber, which means you can configure third-party IM clients such as GAIM or iChat to work with Google Talk. I did a port scan and 5060 isn't open, so it isn't using the standard SIP port. Checking Google Talk's site, I found this with regards to SIP:

4. Do you plan to support other real-time communication protocols?
Google Talk supports XMPP with the beta release.


Google Upgraditis

August 23, 2005

Google Talk

August 23, 2005

After all the talk about Google VoIP, all the theories about what Google's purchase of tons of dark fiber means, all my prognostications on Google VoIP, it finally appears that Google is going to have a VoIP offering called Google Talk to be launched tomorrow. First, hat tip to Om, for covering this story on Monday where he discusses Google using Jabber technology within Google Talk. Jabber is known as "the Linux of instant messaging" -- an open, secure, ad-free alternative to consumer IM services like AIM, ICQ, MSN, and Yahoo.

Google always tried to utilize open standards, so it is no surprise to me that they chose the Jabber technology. There is no word on whether or not Google Talk will simply be an instant messaging client with simple P2P "voice chat" features or if it will incorporate PSTN dialing as well to compete directly with Skype and their SkypeOut service. Also, since Google is renowned for adopting open standards, I would have to assume that if they are doing VoIP that they are utilizing the SIP protocol.

Google Adsense changes

August 23, 2005

Google changed their Adsense advertising method last Tuesday which is affecting millions of online campaigns. Many Adsense publishers have seen a "bump" in revenue as a result of Google's advertising changes, while advertisers are complaining of increased costs. Google now implemented a minimum keyword bid based on the "quality" of the keyword. Before if no one else bid on the keyword, you could get away with Google's minimum bid price of $0.05 cents/click.

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