Reviews

snom 820 Comes to North America

November 11, 2008

The snom 820, snom's high-end IP phone, today will debut for the North American enterprise and small and medium-sized business (SMB) markets. I remarked on the snom 820's sleek design, large high-resolution TFT color display, and wideband codec support when the product first launched last month.

The snom 820 is now generally available today in the US, Canada, and Mexico through snom's network of North American distributors and resellers and has an MSRP of US $419.

I have an 820 that I'm currently testing. Below is a couple photos I took. Full-fledged review coming soon!

Posted in Reviews, SIP, VoIP

Watch Two TV Programs at Once on Same TV!

October 31, 2008

It sounds like an offer out of the back of a comic book, but Texas Instruments (TI), the maker of the DLP Cinema chip, is developing technology that might make it possible to watch two programs on one TV at the same time.

The company recently outlined some of its early developments that use 3-D technology for home entertainment at the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers Technical Conference and Exhibition in Hollywood, CA.

One development, which TI expects to begin to preview at year's end, is processing technology that if incorporated in a third-party home entertainment system could allow for 2-D, 3-D or "dual view mode" on the same TV. Dual view mode, similar to 3-D, combines two images, but they are two different images.

Yes, and you can expect to wear special glasses, too ...

More at the Hollywood Reporter.

Posted in Reviews, Video Hardware & Software

Logitech Acquires SightSpeed

October 29, 2008

I'm a huge fan of SightSpeed and so I was pleasantly surprised this morning to read that Logitech has acquired SightSpeed for approximately $30 million in cash. I'm a fan of both companies actually, and my favorite webcam is the Logitech Quickcam Orbit AF, The acquisition is expected to close in early November. Just check out my favorable review of SightSpeed here and how SightSpeed carried out their patriotic duty in offering SightSpeed videoconferencing for online gameplay between Pros and G.I. Joes.

Posted in Reviews, SIP, TMCnet, Unified Communications, Video Conferencing, VoIP

snom m3 review

October 7, 2008

The snom m3 SIP wireless (DECT) phone is one of my favorite VoIP phones. I've been testing and reviewing it for a few months but haven't had time to write up the review until now. First, let me point out that the problem with IP-PBXs is they typically give you a desk phone or a softphone with no real mobility options to walk around, which is critical in some vertical markets, such as retail and manufacturing. Even sales professionals want the flexibility to take calls while roaming the office.

Posted in Polycom, Reviews, SIP, VoIP, Wireless

Internet Telephony Expo Preview

September 10, 2008

Rich posted the official ITEXPO Show Guide, which gives you a preview of what's happening at next week's ITEXPO. You can check out the 17MB PDF by clicking the image to the left. In Rich's blog post, he previews what's happening at the show and he writes, "All the top names are in the show... Cisco, Avaya, Time Warner Cable, Mitel, Interactive Intelligence and Dialogic.

Posted in Asterisk, Avaya, ITEXPO, Reviews, TMCnet, Unified Communications, VoIP

trixbox Pro 2.0 review

September 4, 2008

Fonality is one of the premiere providers of Asterisk-based IP-PBX solutions. Fonality offers three products: PBXtra, trixbox CE (community edition), and trixbox Pro (commercial/reseller edition). trixbox Pro. which is their commercial edition runs on Fonality's "hardened" PBXtra technology, which Fonality claims has 5 thousand installations and over 325 million calls to date. trixbox Pro is a hybrid-hosted solution, which means you get 24/7 monitoring, phone mobility with no NAT traversal issues, and automatic software updates.

Posted in Asterisk, Avaya, Cisco, Nortel, Polycom, Reviews, SIP, TMCnet, Unified Communications, VoIP

3CX Free SIP Softphone

July 31, 2008

3CX has announced the release of a totally free new VoIP softphone called 3CX VoIP Phone that allows users to make and receive calls from their computer using SIP-based VoIP providers or SIP-based IP-PBXs. This free SIP softphone client isn't the first "free" softphone on the market. That distinction belongs to Counterpath's popular X-lite SIP softphone. However, I'm glad to see more free SIP softphones on the market.

In fact, I'd like to see free SIP softphone clients for Windows Mobile and the iPhone. Counterpath, had one for the PocketPC but they discontinued it.

Posted in Reviews, SIP, Skype, TMCnet, Video Conferencing, VoIP

Calling All Spies!

July 23, 2008

Now you can take care of your inner spy in grand fashion!

BrickHouseSecurity.com is like being inside Q's lab in all of those James Bond movies.

Take a look at this, for example, the DVR Pen. It looks and feels like a regular pen -- it even writes like a regular pen.

But beware! With the click of one covert button you can begin recording color video for up to eight hours. When you're ready to review your video, simply unscrew the pen and plug it into a standard USB port to watch the video on your computer. There are no wires, plugs or outside power sources. This all-in-one Camcorder pen is perfect for covert recording on-the-fly.

www.brickhousesecurity.com

Posted in Gadgets, Reviews, Unified Communications, Video Hardware & Software

Cisco Manager Meets Jurassic Park

July 10, 2008

You remember the scene in Jurassic Park where the there was no power or working phones on the island so they head to the control room? Lex Murphy, the young hacker girl, gets on a computer, works some computer wizardry and gets the power and phones back online and is able boot up the door locks and other systems - though its not enough to keep the raptors from getting to them.

Well, there's a funny Youtube parody video that solves the apparent "IP phone" outage simply by restarting the Cisco Manager services.

Ironically, the girl says it's a UNIX system, while Call Manager is Windows-based.

Preview snapshot:

Click Play Below

Posted in Cisco, Reviews, VoIP

Aastralink RP Debut Coincides with Microsoft Response Point SP1 release

July 8, 2008

As I wrote back in March, the Microsoft Response Point Service Pack 1 (SP1) release would coincide with Aastra's Response Point phone system debut, which is interesting when you consider Aastra got into the IP-PBX game with a Microsoft IP-PBX competitor - the AastraLink Pro 160 appliance, an Asterisk IP-PBX derivative. Well, today marks the launch of Microsoft Response Point SP1 and the Aastra Response Point system aptly named the AastraLink RP.

Before I go into the AastraLink RP, let me first mention that the Microsoft Response Point Service Pack 1 is available as a free download to current Response Point users. Secondly, the announcement is being made at the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference 2008. I'm told, "a very special senior Microsoft executive will make an appearance to help announce." I would have guessed it will be Bill Gates's but he retired recently on June 27th.

Posted in Asterisk, Microsoft, Reviews, SIP, TMCnet, Unified Communications, VoIP

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