Tom Keating : VoIP & Gadgets Blog
Tom Keating
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Wireless

wireless, WiFi, WiMAX, 3G, 4G, EVDO

Plantronics M100 Review

August 17, 2010

The Plantronics M100 Bluetooth headset has arrived and here is my unboxing + review. The first feature you should be aware of is the dual mics on the M100. When the dual mics are combined with the built-in Digital Signal Processing (DSP) and Plantronics wind and background noise reduction technology, in theory you have the best damn sounding headset on the planet. But before I we determine that, first the unboxing video...

CounterPath Adds Multiple SIP Account Support to iPhone App

August 16, 2010

Back in June, I mentioned that CounterPath told me they were working on a multiple SIP account version of their iPhone/iPad/iTouch application. That day has arrived!

CounterPath today announced the availability of Bria iPhone Edition Version 1.1 for Apple's iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. Compatible with Apple's new iOS 4 operating system, Bria iPhone Edition 1.1 is a highly secure, standards-based VoIP softphone that works over both 3G and Wi-Fi networks.
 
Bria iPhone Edition 1.1 leverages iOS 4 to deliver multitasking VoIP on the iPhone.



AudioCodes Adds Mobile VoIP Solutions for Blackberry and Android

August 5, 2010

Audiocodes today launched a mobile VoIP app for Blackberry and Android. They already supported the Apple iPhone.

Here's the full release:

AudioCodes VMAS Solution now covers all leading Smartphone OS, offering a comprehensive solution set for mobile, PC or Web

Lod, Israel - August 5, 2010 - AudioCodes (NasdaqGS: AUDC), a leading provider of Voice over IP (VoIP) technologies and Voice Network products, today announced an expansion of its VMAS family of Mobile VoIP Solutions with the addition of its new Blackberry and Android clients. AudioCodes Mobile VoIP Solutions enable Service Providers to offer new value added services thereby increasing revenues while allowing end users to make low cost calls at significantly improved voice quality. With today's announcement, VMAS now offers carriers a complete solution covering all leading mobile operating systems such as Symbian, Windows Mobile, Apple iOS, Blackberry OS and Android, as well as its existing solutions for the PC and Web.

The growing availability of high-speed mobile broadband, continual adoption of smartphones and emergence of flat rate mobile data pricing have bolstered the growth of mobile VoIP and made it an integral part of the future.  Frost & Sullivan has even recently claimed that "Mobile VoIP has become a credible threat to the traditional voice revenues." (Impact Of Mobile VoIP On Next Generation Cellular Networks, July 2010)  Going forward, Service Providers will need to differentiate themselves from mobile VoIP start-ups with innovative services and capabilities.







Wisair Wireless USB Audio/Video Adapter Streams to HDTVs

August 3, 2010

Wisair Wireless USB Audio/Video Adapter is an interesting little gadget designed with laptops in mind - to stream any laptop content to any HD screen. Thus, you can wirelessly stream movies, TV, photo slideshows, presentations, web content, and more. It'll work with desktops as well, but really their target market is laptops.
 
The Wisair Wireless USB Audio/Video Adapter Set is a USB adapter that sports a HDMI video/audio support and VGA connectivity with stereo audio support through a 3.5 mm audio jack, and offers 32-bit True Color depth and up to 1400x1050 screen resolution. It also features 48 kHz, 16-bit stereo sound and HD video resolution up to 720p.
 
The wireless laptop adapter plugs into any USB port on the computer.



Xirrus - "Cut the Cord. No Wire to the Desktop - 100% wireless"

July 29, 2010

Rich Tehrani has an excellent interview with wireless visionary, serial entrepreneur and CEO of both Xircom and Xirrus, Dirk Gates in the TMC Newsroom. Xirrus Arrays provide super high-capacity 802.11 access points by utilizing cell phone tower technology used by wireless carriers and are capable of sending signals in three directions. TMC uses Xirrus XN8 to provide full coverage in TMC's office. As CTO I made the decision to go with Xirrus after Rich Tehrani brought Xirrus to my attention last year.

Jailbreaking and Ripping DVDs Now Legal in One Fell Swoop!

July 26, 2010

The copyright overlords have shined brightly this day upon us jailbreakers, phone unlockers, and DVD rippers. The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) today won three exemptions to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) anti-circumvention provisions, which will bring a smile to those that enjoy the freedom to do with their legally owned iPhones and DVDs/Blurays as they please. In short, you have the right to: jailbreak your phone, install any app you please, use your mobile phone on any network (unlock), and copy DVDs/Blurays. This is huge news to pirates, hackers, and legitimate users simply trying to use their mobile phone on any mobile network.

Google Voice Adds Faster dialing on Android and Blackberry devices

July 22, 2010

fring vs. Skype War

July 13, 2010

A war between fring and Skype is heating up. fring fired the first salvo when they put out a release claiming Skype was blocking fring. fring wrote:

For 4 years we have led mobile communication innovation, most recently with video calling on any advanced Smartphone and network.

Now that fring expanded capacity to support the huge demand for video calling for all users, Skype has blocked us from doing so.



Kids take photos of Earth's curvature using Balloon and Help from iPad

July 13, 2010

Oh kids these days get all the fun! I wish my science class (back in the day) offered our class a challenge to fly a cellphone with GPS & camera up into the stratosphere to take photos of the Earth's curvature. Alas, the closest I came was an egg drop contest, which was designed to teach about gravity, mass, and seat belt safety (don't ask). A firetruck ladder would drop our eggs in our homemade egg protection cases and see whose eggs survived the fall.

fring Video Calling Over 3G on iPhone 4

July 9, 2010

It was just a matter of time before fring updated their iPhone app to take advantage of the iPhone 4's front-facing camera. That day has arrived! With the new fring for iPhone you get 2 way video-calling not just with other iPhone users, but also friends on their Droids or Nokia (Symbian S60) phones.

It supports video calls over 3G as well as Wi-Fi, though obviously performance over 3G isn't as good as Wi-Fi.

Multitasking support is in the new version so you can be always on and available with fring running in the background and alerting you to new video calls, voice calls or chat without proactively opening fring.

It also has a new "Social Stream" feature, which is a chronological stream of all tweets, facebook updates, chats and calls. While the social media stuff is nice to have, the video calling is the killer feature.





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