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Skype and Joltid Limited are in a legal dispute over Skype's licensing of Jolitid's P2P communication technology. This is news to me, since I thought Skype invented the P2P technology used in Skype. Skype's technology roots are in Kazaa, the P2P file-sharing network. Both Skype and Kazaa were co-founded by Niklas Zennstrom. I now come to find out that Joltid is also founded by Niklas Zennstrom. No doubt when Niklas sold Skype to eBay for billions and then founded Joltid, he still retained licensing rights to his P2P technology. How did eBay spend billions on Skype and not retain exclusive rights to the P2P technology? Either eBay is a fool or Niklas is the best damn negotiator on the planet! I'm going to try and reach out to him to find out more.

If Joltid wins, does that mean the end of Skype? No more Skype for iPhone, just days after it was announced? Perhaps Niklas is playing some hardball to renegotiate the licensing terms? Hard to say who's right or wrong until I find out more.

In the meantime, read this from the SEC filing:
As previously disclosed, Skype has been in a dispute with the licensor of certain key technologies and had terminated a "standstill" agreement that had been entered into between the parties, permitting either to take action against the other with effect from March 2009. On March 12, 2009, Skype Technologies S.A. filed a claim in the English High Court of Justice (No. HC09C00756) against Joltid Limited, a BVI company.

In connection with the license agreement between the two companies, Skype licenses peer-to-peer communication technology from Joltid, and Joltid has claimed that Skype has breached the terms of the license agreement. Following the filing of the claim, Joltid purported to terminate the license agreement. In particular, Joltid has alleged that Skype should not possess, use or modify certain software code (the "Code") and that, by doing so, and by disclosing the Code in certain U.S. patent cases, pursuant to orders from U.S. courts, it has breached the license agreement.

On the basis of, among other things, the parties' mutual dealings since the execution of the licence agreement, Skype is asking the English High Court for declaratory relief, including findings that:

(i) Skype is lawfully accessing, in possession of, using and modifying the Code so that Skype is not in breach of the license agreement with Joltid and accordingly Joltid's notice of breach and subsequent notice of termination are invalid;

(ii) Skype lawfully disclosed the Code in the U.S. patent cases so that Skype is not in breach of the license agreement with Joltid and accordingly Joltid's notice of breach and subsequent notice of termination are invalid; and

(iii) Joltid has certain indemnity obligations in relation to the U.S. patent proceedings.

Although Skype is confident of its legal position, as with any litigation there is the possibility of an adverse result if the matter is not resolved through negotiation. In such event, Skype would be adversely affected and the continued operation of Skype's business as currently conducted would likely not be possible.

Also, TMCnet reports:

Skype, a division of eBay Inc. is asking a U.K. court to resolve a dispute with Joltid Limited, which owns peer-to-peer communication technology licensed by Skype for use in its software. In a recently filed claim with the English High Court of Justice in London, Skype is asking the Court to find that Joltid's efforts to terminate the agreement are invalid and that Skype is not in breach of the licensing agreement.

The licensing agreement dispute was previously disclosed by eBay in its most recent annual report, issued February 20. The report states that Skype terminated a "standstill" agreement, allowing either party to take action against the other beginning in March. Joltid is attempting to terminate the agreement based on allegations that Skype has breached its terms. Skype strongly refutes those allegations and is confident of its legal position

Interesting message on The Pirate Bay today. At first I thought maybe the FBI, Interpol, or some other law enforcement entity took them offline. Or perhaps the plethora of Christmas downloaders had knocked them offline. Though, I'm not sure giving a gift of pirated music or movies burned to a CD/DVD is exactly the type of Christmas spirit that Jesus would approve of. See Commandment "Thou shall not steal."

I was getting an authentication window popup asking for username and password. The initial message said something about "Forbidden Planet". Now I see this message below that says "A username and password are being requested by http://thepiratebay.org. The site says: "Dont Panic! TPB will be back shortly. Dont enter":



Interestingly, this message only appears on one of my ISPs but not another. Much be some .htaccess rule they're playing with that blocks some IP addresses but not others.

As to why I was visiting a known pirate/warez site, well, I actually like their Top 100 lists for DVDs. It gives me ideas for what popular DVDs I should buy my family for Christmas. Call me a prude, but I don't download movies illegally. Least not any more...

So you want Skype High Quality (HQ) video, but aren't willing to shell out for a nice dual-core processor and a high-end Logitech camera, eh? Well, no worries - Nodewave has a Force 'Skype' HQ Video app that allows you to Enable/Disable (and even configure) High-Quality Video in Skype, and even High-Definition Video regardless of your camera or processor.

So if Santa doesn't stick a high-end Logitech Orb AF webcam (my favorite webcam) in your stocking for Christmas, then this hack might just be the way to go!

Hey hey hey -- what's wrong with lower prices as Microsoft is reportedly considering dropping the price of Xbox to $200 to appeal to the mass gaming market.

According to one report on CNET, an Xbox console with no hard drive could retail for $199 as soon as next month.

Nintendo's Wii is currently the lowest-priced console on the market at $249.

In related news, Xbox Live avatars are reportedly coming soon to new version of EA Games.  

The avatars can don football gear and other accessories, but there is no word on whether the avatars can be inserted into the new versions of Madden or NCAA Football.

This from GameDaily BIZ.

Comcast is about to be punished for messing with its customers Internet traffic, including messing with P2P traffic and reportedly even VoIP traffic. Apparently, Comcast making nice nice with Vonage wasn't enough to appease the FCC. This news wire reports that "A majority of members of the Federal Communications Commission have cast votes in favor of punishing Comcast Corp. for blocking subscribers' Internet traffic, an agency official said".

Ouch! Looks like Comcast has finally got their comeuppance!

Today, Dell will launch Dell Video Chat powered by SightSpeed, which will be pre-bundled on all consumer Dell PCs. Landing Dell is a major win for SightSpeed, a competitor to Skype, Microsoft Live Messenger, Yahoo! Messenger, and others.

I spoke with Eric Quanstrom, Vice President of Marketing for Sightspeed about this major annoucement. I also installed Dell Video Chat to check it out for myself, so I'll include some screenshots along the way.

Eric said, "We've been bundled with camera manufactureres before but we've never been resident on OEM PC hardware. In fact, I believe this is the first time ever that anyone has bundled a communications client directly onto the operating system across all SKUs." He continued, "We're going out with their Consumer line. The good news is that it represents an all-in-one where we eliminate any kind of download/install scheme that I think the mainstream video/chat/conferencing market has suffered from."

Since Dell works on a June-to-June calendar for major software changes to their computers, Dell PCs this month should start to come pre-bundled with the SightSpeed communications client. Eric explained, "We've optimized Dell Video Chat powered by Sightspeed for the new Dell hardware that is going out. That includes all the embedded web cams, array mics, and we've designed a user interface that has gone through some pretty extensive user testing or competive bake-offs as far as usability is concerned. We've emerged on the eve of the release with a product that we're very happy with."

That's me doing a quick video test. Will try a 9-party 4-party video conference soon. (Note, the SightSpeed Business offering has 9-way video. I mixed up the two since SightSpeed also sent me a SightSpeed Business account to test)

Dell Video Chat is the equivalent to SightSpeed PLUS. Dell users get free 4-way multi-party calling, unlimited free calls to other SightSpeed users, multi-party text-chat (up to 4), video mail, long video mail record time, and it comes pre-bundled with 5 minutes of PSTN calling. You can also use the free VoIP minutes even if don't have webcam.

Dell is doing away of Desktop icons entirely and promoting Dell Dock. The Dell Dock is essentially Dell's answer to task-based launching of programs and applications. It's really similar to the Mac launcher that resides at the bottom of your screen. Here's a screenshot of Dell Dock:
Dell Dock (top of screenshot) where SightSpeed has premium placement in the Communications section of Dell Dock

In fact, the first dock item is "communications" and the Dell Video Chat is co-located with "email" which launches Outlook or whatever email client you are using. This gives SightSpeed very high visibility on the Desktop of Dell PCs and laptops. It's very similar to Apple's popular application launcher.

Additionally, Dell Video Chat is also a shot across the bow of Apple iChat. Apple iChat can only run on Apple environments where as SightSpeed can run on Apple, Windows, and Linux.
The native video frame specs are 320x240 30fps using the H.263 video codec throughout. Currently, if you change your bandwidth setting to 1.5Mbps up&down you'll automatically go to 640x480 video. You can increase the bandwidth further and the video will adjust accordingly. Eric proudly explained, "As much as you want to pump through our system the quality will continue to increase." 

SightSpeed vs Skype
This is unlike Skype's HD video feature which as my Skype High Quality (HQ) Video review explains, requires specific Logitech webcams and specific PC hardware requirements - namely dual-core PCs to get higher resolutions. Score one for SightSpeed!  I also like that SightSpeed is not proprietary and leverages industry standards such as SIP & H.263. Like Skype, SightSpeed also supports wideband audio.

I inquired how they price compare with SkypeOut per-minute rates and Eric told me, "We're actually lower. We come in about 2/10ths of a cent lower to both the U.S. & Canada and 3/10ths of a cent lower to the UK. When we're rolling out Dell Video Chat and prestocked the minutes, this was a very conscious decision for people to give us a try and check out what we have to offer. Not just from the video chat perspective which we think is great story to tell, but this may be the untold story is also our PSTN side of the phone."

Dell Video Chat sample 4-party multi-party video conference

The Internet Connection screen where you can set your bandwidth and even tweak your MTU

Dell Video Chat powered by SightSpeed will include the following features:
• A completely redesigned and streamlined Dell user interface
• Free, unlimited video chat worldwide
• Free, unlimited voice chat worldwide
• Free, unlimited text chat worldwide
• 4-Way Group Chat (voice, video or text)
• Low-rate worldwide calling to ordinary phones - 2 cents per minute in the United States and Canada
• 5 minutes of free phone calling is included with every Dell system
• The ability to purchase custom phone numbers and area codes
• Presence indicators
• Message Center: All video/voice calls Inbox
• High-quality Video Mail
• Video Mail recording of up to 3 minutes
• Storage of an unlimited number of Video Mail messages
• Notification of missed calls and receipt of Voice/Video mail and e-mail
• Reporting of Video/Voice call history

Other SightSpeed attributes include:

• the highest-quality, full-motion, 30-frames-per-second video with clear audio and no delay;
• superior video and audio experience with low to no latency over variable bandwidth conditions;
• patented technology that provides superior rate control for any bandwidth, handling of firewalls and video-codec optimization.

Dell Video Chat's Text Chat screen


Voice dialing screen

I played a "welcome / promo" Dell video chat message which essentially is your 1st Video Mail.



Welcome screen when you first launch Dell Video Chat

The application is pre-installed on Dell systems and is activated with one mouse click. SightSpeed has also made it easy for users to share the application with their friends and family who can simply download the "invitee" client program by visiting http://www.sightspeed.com/dellvideochat.

"Dell went out and got the best-of-breed video-communications service--SightSpeed--to be included in their newest laptops. This is as easy-to-use, wherever-you-go as it gets," said SightSpeed CEO Peter Csathy. "Their stamp of approval means that video conferencing is becoming a part of everyday communications and they picked the best company to provide it."

The consumer 4-way multiparty video for free is actually a $9.95/month value that Dell users get for free when they purchase a Dell system. Non-Dell users would have to pay $9.95/month for the 4-party multiparty video and other "SightSpeed Plus" features.

"Dell is excited about the opportunity to provide enhanced video chat services to our customers," said Dell's Michelle Pearcy, director, Global Client Software Marketing. "The partnership with SightSpeed allows our customers to quickly and easily communicate with friends and family in a variety of ways by combining both text and video chat features into a simplified customer communication experience."

Lastly, I'm going to include an edited version of my interview with Eric Quanstrom as a podcast. (there was some stuff off-the-record) Some interesting thoughts on the Dell partnership, his views on SightSpeed & their competitive advantages, and more. Download it here.

Metaaso mermaid is a line of products based on a Peer-To-Peer (P2P) technology, which is completely server-less and allows users to broadcast data/audio/video/text to millions around the world, without the need for heavy infrastructure, and over their very own private, secure peer-to-peer network.

What's interesting about mermaid is that it's the first IPv6 P2P sharing application that I'm aware of that makes extensive use of the new IPv6 address scheme, which helps get around pesky NAT issues and share data/media with your other peers.

Mermaid can also be used for P2P VoIP that doesn't require centralized supernodes like Skype does. In addition to VoIP you can also broadcast your webcam, and your voice live, to millions of people worldwide in real-time over your own private, secure, P2P network, optimized for webcam and voice broadcast.

What else can you you do with mermaid? They claim the following capabilities:

- The ability to broadcast MOVIES in realtime to millions of people worldwide over a private, secure, server-less P2P network.

- The ability to broadcast and receive NEWS, over a server-less, P2P network spanning the globe, where you can get the news, as soon as it gets published.

- The ability to broadcast ANY audio/video source connected to your computer over your own private, secure, P2P network to millions of people around the globe.

- Multiple people connected to each other, sharing their webcams, their desktops, their voice and files (file sharing) over their very own private P2P network, bringing global, and scalable multi-node video conferencing to mainstream.

How does it work? Well according to their website, the Mermaid products are pure peer-to-peer, and do not require any major infrastructure to scale to millions of people. "What that means, is that you can create your own network, which will be identified with your network-id and password, and over that network, you can broadcast movies, webcam feeds, audio feeds, news, files to all the people connected to your network. What's more, is that you can put your own ads to be shown on your network(s)."

They go on to explain that the more people on your network, the better. In fact, they explain, "No, you won’t need a heavy-tank computer or a gazzilion-terabytes/second network to stream to millions of people. The collective power of all the computers connected to your network will be harnessed. You can easily make do with an average PC and an average network."

Cool!

One one caveat - you need IPv6, as they explain here:

The software works like a charm on office LANs, and campus and other networks. But you want your network to be globally available right? Good, so you need to get IPv6. Call your ISP, and say you need ‘a globally routable I-P-V-6 address’. If they don’t, tell them you’re switching ISP coz they’re so lazy that they can’t click a button on their screens.

That’s pretty much it…

Yeah, cuz IPv6 is being deployed like gangbusters - NOT! I know, they keep saying this is the year of IPv6, but I'm still waiting... Still, once IPv6 does take off, interesting apps like this P2P IPv6 app will certainly take off. No doubt Bittorrent and other popular P2P sharing apps will get on board the IPv6 wagon . Due to the server-less infrastructure, it will be even more impossible to shut down pirated media since there are no centralized torrent trackers. Take that RIAA and MPAA

The software is FREE, but it is advertising supported - apparently to support their beer drinking habits.

You recall my SIP to Skype gateway breaks Skype's Great Wall of VoIP, right? You don't? Well, let me refresh your memory. I wrote:

As most techies know, Skype uses a proprietary protocol and does not support inbound SIP calls. If you ask Skype CEO, Niklas Zennstrom why Skype chose their own proprietary protocol, (which many reporters have asked him), he always gives the same canned reply - that they chose their own proprietary protocol because SIP doesn't do everything they need, SIP has issues traversing firewalls, our proprietary protocol is more flexible, blah blah blah. Even though there are now NAT traversal solutions for SIP that perhaps didn't exist a couple of years ago, Skype still hasn't moved to SIP and it doesn't look like they will.

Part of the blog post rants how SIP-based softphone users can't communicate with Skype users. Well, today I learned that a new Skype-to-SIP gateway called Skype SIP Gateway (PE) 1.0 from Zhink.com was recently released. This product allows two callers, one on Skype and the other with a SIP address, to communicate with each other. Sweet! By configuring this product and any SIP server (such as OpenSER, Asterisk, etc.) correctly, you can come up with many interesting working scenarios.

The following possible scenarios are listed on their website:

• Forward Skype callers who are your friends to your mobile number. This is very much like personal “skypeout”.
• Reject all Skype callers whom you do not know.
• Allow yourself and family members with own Skype accounts to call into interactive voice response system provided by Sip server. With this, you can do things like access your voice mails or dial out to PSTN lines.
• Using multiple Skype To Sip Gateways, you can now allow Sip users on different private Sip servers to communicate, using the gateways to provide internet connection via Skype network. This is much like local PBXs of branches of a company connected via internet. Note: This will require multiple PCs, each hosting one Personal Edition of this gateway.
• Allow Sip users on softphones like Ekiga, X-Lite and many others to contact Skype callers directly. The Sip users need not have Skype accounts.

Here are some screenshots of the software:







This screenshot above is interesting because I noticed it is using the jackd daemon. The jackd daemon is part of JACK, "a low-latency audio server, written for POSIX conformant operating systems such as GNU/Linux and Apple's OS X. It can connect a number of different applications to an audio device, as well as allowing them to share audio between themselves. Its clients can run in their own processes (ie. as normal applications), or can they can run within the JACK server."

Obviously, JACK must be that heart of how this application works. It must be muxing the audio from the Skype application into a standard SIP call using the RTP stream. Ironic, that since this requires JACK, this Skype to SIP gateway only runs on Linux - which is often the last operating system to get Skype updates. The software allows you to talk for 1 minute for free without registration. It costs $25 to register. A cool application you should try out.

Propel Software Corporation today debuted Propel PBM, a "personal QoS software" at DEMOfall 07. The Propel PBM (Personal Bandwidth Manager) application provides personal bandwidth management on your PC by automatically optimizing and prioritizing network access for time-sensitive applications. By prioritizing the packets on your PC you can easily improved the performance of VoIP (including Skype), video calls, online games, and streaming media.


image courtesy of OReilly.

Who hasn't tried to use BitTorrent or some other bandwidth hungry application while on a Vonage or Skype call? When I used to have Vonage, I'd have to quickly shutdown my BitTorrent or eMule client whenever I heard my wife say "Are you hogging the Internet again? The voice is choppy again!" Even FTPing files from home to work would have to be canceled. You would think by now Microsoft would let you set bandwidth priority by application or process. After all, from Windows Task Manager you CAN set the CPU priority for individual processes, so why not bandwidth priority?

Well, Propel PBM allows you to prioritize bandwidth BY APPLICATION. It's a simple software install that anyone can do. No messing with setting TOS QoS bits on a router - assuming your router supports TOS. Not to mention Skype packets are nearly impossible to set TOS bits on. Propel PBM also shows detailed information about how your network connection is used. A traffic monitor displays in real-time the cumulative bandwidth consumed (inbound and outbound) and the current transfer rate for inbound/outbound traffic. More importantly, it shows the applications currently using your network connection, the proportion of bandwidth utilized by each application, and the effects of prioritization on your applications.

At DEMOfall 07, they demonstrated (see video) Propel PBM maintaining high call quality during a Skype call, while the simulated high-bandwidth application continued in the background.  They showed the quality with Propel PBM off (bad quality) and then with Propel PBM on (good quality).

"We've developed an easy-to-use, powerful application for helping individual PC users get the most from their network connection," said David Murray, president and CEO of Propel Software. "By using Propel PBM, PC users for the first time can be assured their high-priority, time-sensitive applications will run simultaneously with low-priority applications and maintain optimal performance in any given network condition."

"Propel PBM is breakthrough software for individual PC users who demand high quality when using bandwidth-sensitive applications like VoIP or online gaming," said Chris Shipley, executive producer of DEMOfall 07. "As more and more applications compete for use of an individual PC's network connection, Propel PBM will become must-have software for PC users."

Propel PBM for Windows will be available Fall 2007. It's currently an invitation-only beta program, but you can sign-up here to get in queue for this very cool application.