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Some interesting news from D2 Technologies worth sharing. It's worth mentioning that D2 offers the mCUE mobile convergence software solution, which combines a communications user interface with the company's vPort MP VoIP software platform targeting OEMs and service providers to help deliver integrated Fixed Mobile Convergence (FMC) and Unified Communications (UC) functionality.

Their news today involves WiMAX, femtocells, and fixed mobile convergence (FMC). Many predict (myself included) that 2009 will be the year of WiMAX, FMC, and femtocells. Though I think femtocells won't really getting going until late 2009.

At CES D2 Technologies is announcing a significant upgrade to its flagship embedded VoIP software, vPort, supporting processors from market leaders such as Cavium, Freescale, LSI, Ralink, AMCC, Ikanos and TI for OEMs developing the latest in dual mode and IP phones, CPE communications products and other mobile devices.

Here's the news...

D2's vPort optimizes support for video calls, high definition audio, Windows® CE/Mobile applications and remote security management.

D2 Technologies, the market leader in embedded IP communications software platforms, today announced the next generation of its flagship vPort product line, enabling OEMs and service providers to cost-effectively and quickly deliver to market the most advanced mobile and CPE communications products. vPort 2.0 now provides optimized support for the development of femtocells, mobile internet devices (MIDs) and mobile handset products. It also offers significant technology upgrades that support WiMAX, the Windows® CE and Windows® Mobile platforms, IMS, video calls, remote management of end-user devices via TR-069 (an application layer protocol) and the Secure Real Time Transport Protocol (SRTP), and high definition audio through additional wideband CODECs.

vPort 2.0 merges the best of existing and emerging technologies to deliver a wealth of communications services in any mode (voice, video, IM chat, email, SMS, etc.) over any network (WiMAX, WiFi, cellular, IMS, broadband, PSTN), giving service providers, enterprise users and general consumers the widest choice of connectivity platforms.

A leader in embedded VoIP performance, efficiency and platform support, vPort enables networking, signaling and voice processing functions to execute as an integrated solution on a single processor. Through this upgrade, vPort now offers the broadest application support and most advanced features of any embedded VoIP software on the market, and allows manufacturers to quickly meet consumer demands for communications products such as IP and dual mode mobile phones, triple- and quadruple-play devices, advanced VoIP adapters/gateways and other mobile devices.

Key vPort 2.0 product features include:
• Broadest range of IC and core processor support for market leaders such as Cavium Networks, Freescale Semiconductor, LSI Corporation, Ralink Technology, AMCC, Ikanos Communications and Texas Instruments
• New CODECs including GSM-AMR support for femtocells
• Increased embedded OS support for WinCE/WinMobile, VxWorks, Linux, Android
- OS Abstraction Layer allows quick porting onto new and proprietary OSs
• Unified and IP communications at its core:
- VoIM and multi-protocol support (SIP, GoogleTalk, MSN, Yahoo, ICQ)
- Presence based functionality
- Video call/chat capability
• Complete suite of NAT Traversal software including STUN, ICE, and TURN
• Full SRTP support including RFCs 3550, 3711, and 4568
• Remote management integration with TR-069 and TR-104 SW modules
• Industry leading voice quality, CPU (MHz) optimization and service provider interop

"By enhancing vPort, D2 is helping customers quickly respond to the increased market demand for VoIP-enabled devices in new application areas, on new platforms and with advanced features," said Doug Makishima, Vice President of Marketing and Sales at D2 Technologies. "We are now conducting demos with our key partners and OEM customers, and expect commercial availability of vPort 2.0 toward the end of Q1 2009."

SanDisk today unveiled its third-generation family of solid-state drives (SSDs). Using multi-level cell (MLC) NAND flash memory technology, SanDisk's G3 Series of SSD memory has incredible performance benchmarks. The G3 SSDs are more than five times faster than the fastest 7,200 RPM hard disk drives and more than twice as fast as SSDs shipping in 2008, clocking in at 40,000 RPM and anticipated sequential performance of 200MB/s read and 140MB/s write. Even the fastest hard drives I've seen to date, which I have installed on serveral servers at TMC, currently max out at 15,000 RPM.

They were designed as drop-in replacements for hard-disk drives (HDDs) in notebook PCs, the initial members in the SanDisk G3 family are SSD C25-G3 and SSD C18-G3 in the standard 2.5" and 1.8" form factors, respectively, each available with a SATA-II interface. Available in capacities of 60, 120 and 240GB*, the unit MSRPs are $149, $249 and $499, respectively. The G3 SSDs provide a Long-term Data Endurance (LDE) of 160 terabytes written (TBW) for the 240GB version, sufficient for over 100 years of typical user usage. Using such fast memory instead of a hard drive in a netbook, laptop, or even PC desktop should make these computers nearly instantly boot. Sweet!

According to Sandisk: Three key features developed by SanDisk enable this new design: a new SSD algorithm called ExtremeFFSTM allows random write performance to potentially improve by as much as 100 times over conventional algorithms; reliable 43nm multi-level cell (MLC) all bit-line (ABL) NAND flash; and SanDisk's new SSD controller, which ties together the NAND and the algorithm.

The SanDisk G3 SSDs will be available in mid 2009, in a 2.5" PATA configuration. Now we just need SSD RAID5 or SSD RAID10 using multiple SSD cards and then we can finally say goodbye to current expensive RAID5/10 server configurations that require expensive hard drives and RAID controllers! Wow, servers would also be blazingly fast using multiple SSD cards working in parallel in a RAID configuration.

More info

Skype announced Skype Lite for Java-enabled phones, including the Google Android, but it should also work on Windows Mobile with Java installed.

Skype Lite is the first native VoIP client using Java. I guess my prediction of a Flash-based Skype client was a little off. From a technical standpoint Java is better suited to an application than Flash, which is better at multimedia stuff.

In any event, Skype is submitting the app to Google's Android Market today according to Techchuck.

Since Skype Lite is Java-based, it should work on several mobile phone brands, including Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Samsung, Motorola, and others. Don't expect the full-fledged features of the regular client though. Even the native Windows Mobile Skype client will have more features than the Java version. Still, this opens the door for Skype to be used on many phone devices.

Notice I didn't mention the Apple iPhone. Uhhh, Skype on the iPhone support anyone? Well, there are workarounds to get Skype running on the iPhone. Still, a native Skype client for the iPhone would be nice...

I've been testing the Facebook Connect plugin for MovableType 4.23 for the past few days. It's in beta, so I expected to encounter some issues. However, it was so close to working 100% that I stubbornly tried to fix the bugs myself rather than wait for Sixapart to fix them. I thought I'd share what I learned and save you hours of troubleshooting yourself.

First, as an example go check out a post of mine demonstrating my Facebook profile picture automatically being inserted into the comments:
Related Entries with Images & Recent Assets Linked to Entries

Feel free to post a comment using the Sign In link. But you have to be signed into Facebook first to see the Sign In link. (more on that bug later)

Bug #1: Firefox works, but Internet Explorer doesn't work. The Facebook blue sign in button is missing under Sign In link & IE doesn't pull in Facebook profile pictures.

CallerID is cool, but CallerID with Name (CNAM), -- also known as Calling NAMe -- is where it's at. When you go with a traditional phone provider (non-VoIP) they'll often offer you CallerID with Name for an additional fee. But penny-pinching Asterisk & VoIP fans want CallerID with Name too. Unfortunately, too often the SIP trunks or traditional PSTN trunks (analog, T1/E1) connected to your Asterisk IP-PBX don't provide CallerID with Name - just regular CallerID (number only). So how do we solve this dilemma?

Well, Asterisk sits on an IP network, which of course means it can access the Internet. With access to the Internet, "in theory" a special Asterisk script can take the CallerID number, perform a reverse lookup on AnyWho, Google, and 411.com and then change the CallerID data string before it gets passed to the Asterisk extension.

Well, theory is all well and good, but has it been done? Oh yes it has!

Check out this Perl script I found on Team Forrest's website that leverages AGI (Asterisk Gateway Interface), a powerful interface that lets your programmatically control Asterisk.

Calling the CallerID with Name Perl script (calleridname.pl) is as simple as calling this single line of code:
exten => s,n(getname),AGI(calleridname.pl,${CALLERID(NUM)})

Here's the calleridname.pl script:
#!/usr/bin/perl -w
use strict;
use LWP::UserAgent;
$|=1;
sub trim($);

my %AGI; my $tests = 0; my $fail = 0; my $pass = 0; my $result = ""; my $cidnum = ""; my $cidname = "";
my $npa = ""; my $nxx = ""; my $station = ""; my $name = "";

$cidnum = $ARGV[0];

while(<STDIN>) {
    chomp;
    last unless length($_);
    if (/^agi_(\w+)\:\s+(.*)$/) {
        $AGI{$1} = $2;
    }
}

my $AnyWho = '1' ;
my $Google = '1' ;
my $www411 = '1' ;


if(substr($cidnum,0,1) eq '1'){
$cidnum=substr($cidnum,1);
}

if(substr($cidnum,0,2) eq '+1'){
$cidnum=substr($cidnum,2);
}

if ($cidnum =~ /^(\d{3})(\d{3})(\d{4})$/) {
    $npa = $1;
    $nxx = $2;
    $station = $3;
    }
elsif($cidnum =~/\<(\d{3})(\d{3})(\d{4})\>/){
    $npa = $1;
    $nxx = $2;
    $station = $3;
    }
else {
    print qq(VERBOSE "ERROR: unable to parse caller id" 2\n);
    exit(0);
}


if ($AnyWho > '0') {
    print qq(VERBOSE "STATUS: checking AnyWho for name lookup" 2\n);
    if ($name = &anywho_lookup ($npa, $nxx, $station)) {
        $cidname = $name;
        print qq(SET VARIABLE CALLERID\(name\) "$cidname"\n);
        print qq(VERBOSE "STATUS: AnyWho said name was $cidname " 2\n);
        exit(0);
        }
    else {
        print qq(VERBOSE "STATUS: unable to find name with AnyWho" 2\n);
        }
    }
else {
    print qq(VERBOSE "STATUS: AnyWho lookup disabled" 2\n);
}

if ($Google > '0') {
    print qq(VERBOSE "STATUS: checking Google for name lookup" 2\n);
    if ($name = &google_lookup ($npa, $nxx, $station)) {
        $cidname = $name;
        print qq(SET VARIABLE CALLERID\(name\) "$cidname"\n);
        print qq(VERBOSE "STATUS: Google said name was $cidname " 2\n);
        exit(0);
        }
    else {
        print qq(VERBOSE "STATUS: unable to find name with Google" 2\n);
        }
    }
else {
    print qq(VERBOSE "STATUS: Google lookup disabled" 2\n);
}

if ($www411 > '0') {
    print qq(VERBOSE "STATUS: checking www411 for name lookup" 2\n);
    if ($name = &www411_lookup ($npa, $nxx, $station)) {
        $cidname = $name;
        print qq(SET VARIABLE CALLERID\(name\) "$cidname"\n);
        print qq(VERBOSE "STATUS: www411 said name was $cidname " 2\n);
        exit(0);
        }
    else {
        print qq(VERBOSE "STATUS: unable to find name with www411" 2\n);
        }
    }
else {
    print qq(VERBOSE "STATUS: www411 lookup disabled" 2\n);
}

print qq(SET VARIABLE CALLERID\(name\) "$cidnum"\n);
print qq(VERBOSE "STATUS: Unknown name for $cidnum " 2\n);
exit(0);

sub anywho_lookup {
    my ($npa, $nxx, $station) = @_;
    my $ua = LWP::UserAgent->new( timeout => 45);
    my $URL = 'http://www.anywho.com/qry/wp_rl';
    $URL .= '?npa=' . $npa . '&telephone=' . $nxx . $station;
    $ua->agent('AsteriskAGIQuery/1');
    my $req = new HTTP::Request GET => $URL;
    my $res = $ua->request($req);
    if ($res->is_success()) {
        if ($res->content =~ /<!-- listing -->(.*)<!-- \/listing -->/s) {
            my $listing = $1;
            if ($listing =~ /<B>(.*)<\/B>/) {
                my $clidname = $1;
                return $clidname;
            }
        }
    }
    return "";
}

sub google_lookup {
  my ($npa, $nxx, $station) = @_;
  my $ua = LWP::UserAgent->new( timeout => 45);
  my $URL = 'http://www.google.com/search?rls=en&q=phonebook:' .  $npa . $nxx . $station . '&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8';
  $ua->agent('AsteriskAGIQuery/1');
  my $req = new HTTP::Request GET => $URL;
  my $res = $ua->request($req);
  if ($res->is_success()) {
    if ($res->content =~ /<font size=-2><br><\/font><font size=-1>(.+)<font color=green>/) {
      my $temp = $1;
      my $clidname = "";
      if ( $temp =~ /(.+)<font color=green>/o ) {
        $clidname = substr($1, 0, -3);
      } else {
        $clidname = substr($temp, 0, -3);
      }
      if ($clidname =~ /<a href(.+)\//) {
        $clidname = $1 ;
        if ($clidname =~ />(.+)</) {
          $clidname = $1 ;
        }
      }
      return $clidname;
    }
  }
  return "";
}

sub www411_lookup {
  my ($npa, $nxx, $station) = @_;
  my $ua = LWP::UserAgent->new( timeout => 45);
  my $URL = 'http://www.411.com/search/Reverse_Phone?phone=' .  $npa . $nxx . $station;
  $ua->agent('AsteriskAGIQuery/1');
  my $req = new HTTP::Request GET => $URL;
  my $res = $ua->request($req);
  if ($res->is_success()) {
    if ($res->content =~ /Location: <strong>(.*)<\/strong>/s) {
      my $temp = $1;
      my $clidname = "";
      $temp =~ s/&amp\;/&/g;
      $temp =~ s/%20/ /g;
                        $clidname = $temp;
            return $clidname;
     }
  }
  return "";
}

For more details, head on over here.

Now that OCS 2007 R2 has RTM (released to manufacturing), I thought I'd share Microsoft's brand new Unified Communications Tips and Tricks Flashcards for End-Users which includes some cool tips for their Office Communications Server 2007 platform. The image above is a sample. The slide deck is specific to OCS 2007 and not OCS 2007 R2. However, there is lots of feature overlap, so I'm sure they're still useful for the early birds using OCS 2007 R2 and those still using OCS 2007 of course. Microsoft told me that flashcards for R2 will be available after R2 ships.

The 54 slides are a very nice overview on how to use OCS 2007. Just click the link below to download the Powerpoint deck of "tips and tricks" for Microsoft's Unified Communications. Each card provides step-by-step instructions for how to best utilize Microsoft's Unified Communications software and technology to its full potential.

OCS 2007 tips and tricks PPTDeck.pptx

Truphone has added a new Skype feature that will allow iPhone and iPod Touch users to make calls and instant message other Skype users.  This new feature is scheduled to go live to consumers the week of Jan. 12, but it's available for a select few media that inquire. I'm going to try it very shortly.

You now will have the ability to make and receive Skype calls and instant message Skype users from your iPhone or iPod touch. Truphone customers on both Apple devices can contact their Skype friends via their Skype IDs.

Movable Type bloggers ♥ related entries template recipes and I've come up with what I think is one of the best ones out here. Further, Movable Type bloggers using version MT 4+ with its built-in Asset Management have also been clamoring for the ability to display not just Recent Assets (images in this case) but Recent Assets hyperlinked to the actual Entry where the image was used. I've come up with such a method, so read on...

By default, Movable Type's Recent Assets widget simply links to the image location and not the context of where the image was used. Of course, an image asset can be used multiple times in multiple blog entries, so my template recipe limits it to the most recent entry. But this should be a perfectly acceptable compromise.

Let's start with my Recent Image Assets linked to entries (Part 1) recipe and then I'll discuss my Related Entries with Images recipe (Part 2).

Apparently, disk drives are more sensitive to minor vibrations than previously thought. A blog post by Sun Microsystems engineer Brendan Gregg called "Unusual disk latency" discovered unusually high disk I/O latency during a streaming write test. He explains how disk drives latency can shoot up dramatically when someone shouts at them making them perform more slowly.

Yes, that's right, he can make his hard drives slow down simply by screaming at them. We've all been there, screaming at our PCs or Macs, i.e. "Curses you for crashing in the middle of my email novel! Stupid PC!" Like an impetulant child that stubbornly refuses to do what it is told even when yelled at, apparently hard drives have feelings too. Or it could simply be explained by the fact that hard drives have safety mechanisms which stop the hard drive during vibrations to prevent damage. Me, I'm going with the impetulance thing.

Play the video for all his screaming glory.

According to Techcrunch, we can soon expect to see a 7" or 9" iPod touch, which would make it more akin to a tablet PC than a portable music & video player with app support. The app support is a key point here. One of the problems with the iPod touch and similarly the iPhone is the relatively small screen. Sure, it's bigger than most portable devices, but it's still not quite large enough for optimal productivity.

By stepping up the screen size, not only will it improve productivity, you may even see users actually "work" within business apps such as Excel on the iPod touch. Try working in Excel on the iPod touch or iPhone on such a small screen is nearly impossible. In fact, I should point out that natively the iPhone and iPod touch don't support Excel. There is a workaround however.