Tom Keating : VoIP & Gadgets Blog
Tom Keating
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VoIP news, trends, and opinions, VoIP reviews. Covering Asterisk, Cisco, Grandstream, Polycom, Microsoft, Vonage, Packet8, etc.

Logitech BCC950 ConferenceCam Review

January 3, 2013

The Logitech BCC950 ConferenceCam is an innovative product marking a trend away from high-end in-room video conferencing systems toward smaller, inexpensive video systems that leverage desktop PCs or laptops, along with inexpensive USB cameras. These USB cameras often have the same if not better optics than higher-end video conferencing camera models but at a fraction of the cost.

The Logitech BCC950 ConferenceCam actually fills a niche between large room conferencing systems and computer webcams, offering a plug-and-play videoconferencing system that sports a Carl Zeiss lens, 1080p HD video, 30 fps, high-quality omni-directional microphone/speakerphone with a range of 8 feet, and the ability to pan, tilt, and zoom from the unit itself or the included remote control. It uses UVC H.264 so no driver installation is needed on PCs or Macs to get up and running.

I tested the BCC950 ConferenceCam on a Windows 8 x64 desktop PC with an Intel i7 3.07Ghz processor and 16GB RAM. I was very impressed with the feature-set and performance.



Skype vs. Facebook - How WebRTC Will Turn Friends into Enemies

December 27, 2012


Facebook and Skype currently enjoy a friendly relationship that all started back in 2011 when Facebook collaborated with Skype to integrate these two popular social networks. They then deepened their partnership by offering direct Facebook video calling. But I always wondered why Facebook didn't offer their own VoIP service. They own the largest social network in the world and could crush Skype if they so chose.

Level 3 Layoff Rumors

December 14, 2012

I received some information from a source claiming to work for Level 3 Communications.  He stated, "They are not doing well. Just laid off 4% of the workforce.  14% planned in January."

File this under pure speculation / rumor at this point. I am going to contact my Level 3 ASAP to confirm.

Voxeet Launches 3D Audio Conferencing App for iPhone & Android

December 12, 2012

Voxeet.com today launched their immersive 3D audio conferencing app for iPhone and Android. Voxeet's new apps enable participants to switch among devices without disrupting the conversational flow of Voxeet-based conference calls. I took the app for a spin using an iPhone 4S, iPhone 5, and Android-based Samsung Galaxy SIII.

After installing the app you have the option of connecting to Facebook so you can send invites as well as the option of importing your contacts as seen here:

 



After installing the app, I had two co-workers test this with me - Rich Tehrani and Erik Linask. After launching the app I called Rich and  when he accepted the call we were immediately put into conference.

ITEXPO Miami - Important Conference Program Updates

December 10, 2012

TMC today released an updated conference program for their ITEXPO Miami 2013, the world's largest and best-attended communications and technology conference and trade show. The event, held January 30 - February 1, 2013 at the Miami Beach Convention Center in Miami, Florida, combines an innovative series of educational programming with networking opportunities for technology buyers, sellers, resellers and manufacturers.

Since its launch in 1999, ITEXPO has been the bi-annual meeting place where next-generation communications innovations are on display, and vendors meet end users to develop new relationships and business partnerships.

The program is anchored by noteworthy keynote presentations from Telefónica and Level3 Communications, panels on the future of cloud computing, the evolution of the telecom service provider, and StartupCamp7: Comms Edition, a networking and early stage startup event.

2012 WebRTC Demo Winners Announced

November 29, 2012

Google WebRTC Workshop at WebRTC Conference Exceeds Expectations

November 28, 2012

TMC was at the forefront of covering VoIP and educating the industry though Internet Telephony Magazine (launched in 1997) and TMCnet.com. So I am excited to announced that my company TMC, along with Systemwide Media and PKE Consulting has announced that attendance at the opening workshop of its first-ever WebRTC Conference & EXPO more than doubled projections, with more than 300 registered attendees representing enterprises, and companies driving a revolution in Web communications. WebRTC is going to be a huge game changer in the VoIP space, so I'm excited that TMC is involved in educating and covering WebRTC, the next evolution of VoIP. The conference is being held this week at the South San Francisco Conference Center.

Check out a couple photos from the WebRTC Conference & Expo:
 

 

Yesterday's workshop in San Francisco was led by Google Software Engineer Justin Uberti.






Brightcove to Keynote DevCon5 HTML5 & Mobile App Developers Conference

November 20, 2012

Today, TMC and Crossfire Media today announced that Ashley Streb, vice president of Brightcove, will be the keynote speaker on Thursday, November 29, 2012 12:00 p.m. at DevCon5 HTML5 & Mobile App Developers Conference, at the South San Francisco Conference Center in San Francisco, California. The conference is happening next week from November 27 - November 29.
Ashley Streb VP of Brightcove will discuss how Brightcove's App Cloud platform is designed for the next wave of app development for the mobile world in a session, titled: The Rise of the Hybrid Apps.

Streb will walk through some real-world examples of hybrid apps and look at the current landscape of both UIframeworks; Sencha Touch, jQuery Mobile, jQTouch, jo, zepto, and native containers PhoneGap, Appcelerator and Brightcove App Cloud.


Asterisk 11 - What's New! [VIDEO]

October 26, 2012


At AstriCon we finally heard about the new features in Asterisk 11. One of the most exciting features is WebRTC, which I wrote about earlier, including videos. On the last day of AstriCon, four members of the Asterisk team got on stage in front of hundreds of AstriCon attendees and unveiled what's new in Asterisk 11, including insights as to how and why they added these particular features. One new feature is a unique Call IDs record associated to each and every call to enable powerful Call ID logging.
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