Internet

Firefox 4 Back Menu Drop-down Missing - Problem Fixed

December 21, 2010

I'm using Firefox 4 beta and one annoyance was that although I see the back and forward buttons, I don't see the little arrow that opens the drop-down menu allowing you to go back multiple pages in 1-click. Apparently, Firefox has gone with the minimalist approach and removed the drop-down arrow for viewing your back button "history". Same goes for the Forward button. I guess they thought it took up too much valuable screen real estate on the toolbar, but this is one of my favorite features!

Posted in Internet

Net Neutrality Passes, But Is It Necessary?

December 21, 2010

The FCC voted 3-2 in favor of deploying net neutrality rules. I agree with net neutrality in principle, but as always, the devil is always in the details.

I suspect like anything the government does, there will not be an equal application of net neutrality. For instance, hundreds of companies already got waivers from Obamacare.

If the FCC is the determiner of who breaks the rules, don’t forget FCC chair people are political appointees that change. Even this decision was a 3 (Democrat) to 2 (Republican) split, indicating a clear political split.

If an ISP wants to get away with bending the rules a little all they have to do is fund an election campaign for some high-powered politician(s) in either party to get a “favor”.

Posted in Internet, Politics, TMCnet, VoIP

Time Warner Cable Beefs Up Home Phone Features with VoiceZone

November 3, 2010

Time Warner Cable, the second-largest cable operator in the U.S., with more than 14 million customers today announced VoiceZone, a new web-based portal providing online access to customizable features for customers to control and monitor Time Warner Cable Digital Home Phone service over the web.

VoiceZone customers can change call settings including caller ID, access voicemail, block unwanted calls and set distinctive rings, which can be accessed through the company’s My Services online platform under the MyHomePhone tab. VoiceZone is a free service, but customers must first register for MyServices at http://myservices.timewarnercable.com.

“Time Warner Cable is focused on keeping customers easily connected to what’s important to them. The introduction of VoiceZone to MyServices, much like our recently added Remote DVR Manager, provides customers with the convenience of managing Time Warner Cable products from outside the home,” said Jeffrey A. Hirsch, Chief Marketing Officer, Time Warner Cable’s East Region.

Posted in Android, Apple, Internet, SIP, TMCnet, Unified Communications, VoIP, Wireless

Cell Phone Time Traveller Caught on 1928 Film?

October 28, 2010

Put on your conspiracy tin foil hats boys and girls, this ones a doozy! A woman is seen in a 1928 Charlie Chaplin film "The Circus" appearing to hold a a cell phone to her ear. Of course, there are no cell phone towers back in 1928, so this must be a futuristic Star Trek communicator or some kind that doesn't need any stinkin' towers. 5 bars of signal everywhere you go!

Posted in Internet, Personal and Humor, TMCnet

Nine Technology Targets Online Backup to MSPs

October 19, 2010

At ITEXPO I met with Gene Fay, Senior Vice President for Nine Technology, an online backup and recovery service designed for MSPs to brand and resell. Nine Technology’s "Powered by Nine" data backup and restore solutions enable managed service providers (MSPs) to offer cost-effective and secure online backup and recovery services for desktops, laptops and servers.

One of their main claims to fame is their patented global deduplication process. It uses "block level" global data deduplication and compression to minimize data size, number of files and bandwidth utilization. Gene Fay claimed that their partners have done some testing and Nine Technology is 5-15x faster at recovering files than the popular Mozy or Carbonite solutions.

Some new features recently announced include:

Seeded initial backups shipped to the data center
Semi-continuous data protection
Granular SQL server backups using VSS snapshots
Automated self-service branding of partner client software
Web-based restore processes
Updated, easier-to-control GUI

The "seeded" initial backups are a key feature, since many organizations have terabytes of data that would take a long time to backup even over a fast WAN Internet connection.

Posted in Apple, ITEXPO, Internet, Linux, Microsoft, TMCnet, Technology and Science

UM Labs Brings 256-bit AES Secure VoIP to Mobile Phones

October 5, 2010

I met with Mike Wilson, VP of Sales & Marketing for UM Labs at ITEXPO today to learn more about their secure VoIP offering. At ITEXPO they announced their 1.5 release, which steps up interoperability amongst various IP-PBXS and now it works with Skype (Skype Connect).
Mike explained that a lot of independent dealers across the world who also use Skype, can now connect their PBXs to these Skype users and save a lot of money on conference calls. Their solution acts as the "glue" allowing Avaya to connect to Cisco, or Shoretel to Avaya, etc. They have a built-in scripting engine and can adjust paths between switch and trunking provider or two switches to ensure interoperability.

As part of this release they are stepping up encryption, which he claimed already had incredibly low latency.

Posted in Avaya, Cisco, ITEXPO, Internet, Nortel, SIP, ShoreTel, ShoreTel, Skype, TMCnet, Unified Communications, VoIP

Do IT Smarter MSP Provider

October 5, 2010

I interviewed Do IT Smarter's President, Lane Smith at ITEXPO. They're a managed service provider (MSP) offering everything from managed Exchange Server services to managed anti-spam and anti-virus services. He said they offer 50% margin to their resellers, which is more than many other MSPs. I asked about managed hosted telephony and he said they don't currently do that, because of their resellers existing relationships with Toshiba, Avaya, etc. But he said it's something they are looking at for the future. I mentioned to him that Aretta Communications might be a good partner.

In any event, check out this short video overview of his company, which was just acquired yesterday by ClearPointe.

Posted in Avaya, ITEXPO, Internet, Microsoft, TMCnet, Unified Communications, VoIP

Obama Aims to Wiretap Skype, Facebook, Blackberry, the Entire Internet

September 27, 2010

Things just went from bad to downright scary under the Obama Administration. According to the StarTribune.com:

Essentially, officials want Congress to require all services that enable communications -- including encrypted e-mail transmitters such as BlackBerry, social networking websites such as Facebook and software that allows direct "peer-to-peer" messaging such as Skype -- to be technically capable of complying if served with a wiretap order.

Posted in Internet, Skype, TMCnet, VoIP

Netflix App Arrives for iPhone and iPod Touch!

August 26, 2010

Netflix for the iPhone and iPod Touch has arrived! You can ditch the Netflix for iPhone & iPod Touch hack I wrote about. You can be legit. It is here my friends!

Posted in Home Entertainment, Internet, TMCnet, Video Hardware & Software

Trend Micro and Symantec Exhibiting at MSPWorld / ITEXPO

August 26, 2010

Both Trend Micro and Symantec have announced they are exhibiting at MSPWorld co-located with TMC's ITEXPO in Los Angeles. I'm a huge fan of both Symantec and Trend Micro. They both make very good antivirus, anti-Spam and Internet security software. Symantec also makes backup software in hosted and customer premise versions. I've used several of their products in the past. Can't wait to check them out when I attend ITEXPO / MSPWorld in early October. As I already recently mentioned, ITEXPO is beating estimates and MSPWorld is doing quite nicely as well. Hope to see you at the show in Los Angeles.

Posted in ITEXPO, Internet, TMCnet

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