January 2006 Archives

TMCnet has learned that Google's peering deal with VoIP Inc. reported on yesterday by news analyst Robert Liu (see "VoIP Inc. Enters into Peering Deal with Google") is connected with a click-to-call advertising test the two companies began in late 2005.

The advertising test, confirmed by a Google spokesperson, fits with earlier reports that Google has been testing click-to-call and that users have seen telephone icons next to AdWords ads. In fact, here are a Click-to-Call FAQ and a Privacy Policy on the Google site on this very topic, indicating that at least some Google users are able to receive click-to-call icons on search results.

Google has been making moves suggesting that it intends to move into IP communications in a big way -- see this previous entry pointing to some fascinating articles by Robert X. Cringely about Google's likely long-term strategy.

Google's revenues come almost entirely from advertising, specifically pay-per-click or pay-for-performance. So it's most likely that if Google is sinking a lot of resources into an effort, it must have its advertising business model in mind.

Click-to-call is a logical step-up from pay-per-click, and I'm sure that direct response advertisers will be willing to pay a premium to receive a real-time VoIP phone call directly from an AdWords ad.

AB -- 1/31/06

ABI Research issued a fascinating release today, "The Camera Phone as Scanner: ABI Research Anticipates a New Information Market," based on their "Mobile Phone Imaging" study, which covers the expected drivers for growth of camera phones and mobile imaging.

ABI Analyst Kenneth Hyers suggests that camera phones will begin to act not just as devices to capture images but as scanners that can read metadata from real-world objects. Such metadata could be available through technology similar to that used for barcode scanning.

The release quotes Hyers: "Imagine walking through the park and aiming your camera phone at a data tag on a statue. It directs your phone's browser to a web page about a historic building that used to stand there, or a concert that played there last summer, complete with video clips."

The release also suggests you could "Aim your camera phone at a scene pictured in a magazine, and it could deliver a map or other information about the site. In a store, you could 'scan' a product's label and get the latest consumer report article about it. In the supermarket, you could retrieve a list of a food's ingredients to ensure they won't trigger an allergic reaction."

Some companies, such as scanR and Mobot, have developed proprietary technologies heading in this direction.

Would capabilities like these be likely to take off? Hard to say. Camera phones certainly have become ubiquitous, so the field seems fertile.

Something about this idea reminds me of the CueCat, a barcode scanning device that was tested unsuccessfully back around the year 2000. I believe the CueCat was developed by a company called Digital Convergence. Using conventional mail, they sent out gazillions of these kind of hoky-looking USB (or maybe PS/2) barcode readers shaped like cats. Then they placed barcodes on ads in magazines (I think I remember seeing the ads in Wired magazine); the ads were readable using the CueCat. If you scanned an ad, it would send your web browser directly to a web landing page related to the ad.

As I said, the test was unsuccessful and the project was abandoned. But the connection I see here is that the CueCat was an early effort to connect the physical world with the virtual world, something which is becoming much more feasible now through camera-phone technology.

AB -- 1/31/06

Orative offers an interesting technology that helps overcome some presence-related problems, at least among members of a team or organization and at least in connection with mobile communications.

The problem I'm really interested in looking at is, In a world of multi-modal communications, how does the user control his or her availability to other people trying to get in touch through various devices and applications. I am not equally available to all people at all times via all devices. How do I control who can contact me through what means at what time for what purpose? What would the user interface look like that could give me this kind of multi-modal control? How would that interface behave? What would be the user experience for such an integrated application?

Orative's solution focuses only on mobile communications, but its interface provides some insight into presence controls -- go to the company's home page for a pretty good Flash demo of how Orative works. Orative uses enterprise server technology with client software installed on users' mobile phones. The solution allows members of a team to "coordinate conversations, collaborate with colleagues, screen unwanted calls and interruptions, and access personal and corporate phone books."

Image these screen shots on your mobile phone and you'll get an idea what Orative is like for the user:

If I understand correctly, the screen on the left allows you to quickly set your availability at any give time. The screen on the right shows the availability of your colleagues.

The screen below shows how things might work if your colleague tries to call you when you're in a meeting and can't talk:

AB -- 1/30/06

Open-source provider ComPiere Inc. today released a management dashboard to add at-a-glance real-time performance indicators to its open-source business suite, ComPiere ERP & CRM.

ComPiere offers an open-source application incorporating CRM, ERP, accounting and supply chain management targeted at small and midsize companies. ComPiere makes ComPiere ER & CRM available free, but licenses partners to install and support the application.

The new dashboard taps into perforance indicators from the underlying application, presenting them in summary graphical form. The user can click to drill down for more details. Following is a sample graphic (not to scale) showing the user interface for the dashboard:

Dashboard metrics can be configured by the user and can include such factors as revenue by project or region, open invoices, shipments, call center inquiries, sales queues, and management-by-objectives data.

ComPiere promotes its product as scalable and suitable for businesses from $5 million to $500 million in revenue and for distribution and franchise networks that want to provide a unified solution for supply chain partners. ComPiere ERP & CRM is also offered through application service providers (ASPs) in hosted environments.

AB -- 1/30/06

Recently I've been investigating human-computer-interaction aspects of presence controls in multi-modal communications.

That's a mouthful, I know. What I'm really trying to get at is, when a user has to cope with multiple communication devices and environments (instant messaging, email, mobile voice, conventional voice, VoIP, etc.), how does the user tweak the controls to let the system know who is allowed to get in touch through which device at what times and in what situations?

I was looking into this idea of "presence controls," when I came across an interesting page on Singularity's web site: "Who's there? Presence Enabled BPM." This page presents an interesting scenario showing how presence controls can enable better customer service in a call center setting.

Singularity has developed a Singularity Process Platform for business process management incorporating Microsoft's Live Communications Server. Using the Live Communications presence controls in an instant-messaging environment, the Singularity platform can determine in advance whether a worker is available to accept a task before routing the work to that person.

Here's a schematic showing where the Singularity platform sits in this process:

Singularity describes "presence-enabled" business-process management this way:

"Routing work to an absent colleague or to the wrong location wastes valuable cycle-time, and in some cases can lose a customer’s business. Workers can be out-of-office, at a different location, using a different device. Workers who are physically separated by geography and time-zone have no visibility of their colleagues’ availability or ‘presence’ Knowing a person’s presence is particularly important if a time-sensitive decision has to be made."

Singularity's example scenario describes how a presence-aware BPM system might help cope with a situation in a credit-card call center. A customer calls in to their credit-card issuer, asking for an increase in their credit limit for an emergency situation. The scenario demonstrates how presence controls help the call center agent to route the request quickly to an available supervisor, using instant messaging. The scenario is illustrated, showing screen shots from Singularity's application.

AB -- 1/30/06

I just read Robert X. Cringely's Jan. 5, 2006, column, "A Commercial Runs Through It: Google's Grand Plan to Take Over TV Through Advertising." He argues that Google is in a great position to be the company that makes it possible to deliver targeted TV advertising in the near future.

This column is part of a fascinating string of Google-related articles by Cringely analyzing Google's strategy. Previous must-read articles:

"The Sweet Spot: By Choosing Where NOT to Compete, Google Can Win the Broadband Game" -- Dec. 1, 2005

"The Google Box: Taking over the digital world four ounces at a time." -- Nov. 24, 2005

"Google-Mart: Sam Walton Taught Google More About How to Dominate the Internet Than Microsoft Ever Did" -- Nov. 17, 2005

AB -- 1/27/06

Maybe I'm just stating the obvious, but the tools in Windows Live and Google Pack seem to have a lot in common. Some of the tools are similar -- security, mapping, search, IM and voice. But the two download pages are laid out in almost the same way -- a short explanation at the top with the downloads laid out in a two-column table. Kind of emphasizes the head-to-head competition brewing between the two companies.

I would expect the sophistication and value of these toolsets to continue to increase in the future, along with the competition for control over users' desktops.

AB -- 1/27/06

Gov. Tom Ridge's keynote Thursday morning at Internet Telephony Conference and Expo got picked up by some news outlets, including:

ZDNet's Russell Shaw: "Tom Ridge: gotta love VoIP, but intercepts are necessary"

Key quote:

But as to threats from human, rather than natural sources, Ridge sounded unequivocal in his position that it is OK for the National Security Agency to intercept phone calls of suspected terrorists or their associates. He believes that such intercepts should also include VoIP calls.

Rhonda Ascierto in Computer Business Review: "VoIP critical to US security says former DHS chief"

Key quote:

Ridge noted that during the Katrina Hurricane disaster in New Orleans last year, the local command center, faced with jammed satellite phones, downed landlines and cell phone towers, relied on VoIP.

"All other systems failed, so they decided to use the Internet to create their own call centers. It shows the application of what you do to help our first responders," Ridge said.

As well as TMCnet's Erik Linask: "Tom Ridge Gives VoIP a Nod, Cites Lack of Communication in New Orleans"

Key quote:

Ridge is, in fact, a proponent of the benefits of VoIP technology, specifically its mobility, cost, and ubiquity. The truth is, VoIP telephony can be a benefit not only in combating terrorism, but in any catastrophic situation, or WMEs (Weapons of Mass Effect), as Governor Ridge labeled the recent hurricanes that struck the Gulf Coast. Imagine the benefit if first responders could have access to precise location information, images, video, and data transmission in emergency situations, whether terrorism, weather, or accident.

AB -- 1/27/06

An article today from Direct, "The Search Engine Boom," says that search engine marketing for North America brought in $5.75 billion in 2005, $4.7 billion of which was for paid search advertising. The total figure should hit $11.1 billion in 2010.

Direct references a study conducted November 2005 by Radar Research and Intellisurvey, commissioned by the Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization (SEMPO). More information on the study is available in this press release on the SEMPO web site. The full research report appears to be available only to members of the organization.

AB -- 1/26/06

My colleague Pat Barnard sent me a link to the web site for Atlantex Corp. which develops holographic user interfaces, such as this one:

This interface is called BeamOne, and Atlantex describes its operation as follows:

"Simply 'touch' the image floating in front of you to dial a cell phone, control medical equipment, change the channel, and more .... Operating as a simple 4 button keypad, BeamOne sends programmable keystrokes to your PC via the USB port."

Folks at TMC sometimes tease me because I tell them that for my next computer I want one like Tom Cruise's in Minority Report, which is operated holographically using virtual reality gloves. Here's a shot from the movie:

AB -- 1/26/06

Yahoo! and Google have recently added more sophisticated analytics tools for advertisers in their paid-search-advertising programs, Yahoo! Search Advertising and Google AdWords, according to this article from Direct: "Search Engines Add DM Tools."

The new tools can be especially helpful for small and midsize advertisers who are less likely to employ complex and expensive third-party analytics services.

Describing Yahoo!'s offering, provided for a fee through a partnership with Marketing Management Analytics (MMA), the Direct article says, "The service will roll up advertisers' total offline spending to produce a focused ROI comparison of offline promotions to online marketing on Yahoo! Search Marketing," and also quotes MMA's COO Ed See: "We've created a specific analytic product for Yahoo! clients who are interested in understanding better how their online ads are performing, how much money to move into or out of online, and the interactions between online and offline spending for all the various marketing levers."

Here is a tool that Yahoo! Search Marketing calls the Marketing Console:

And this one is called the Conversion Counter:

Google's free Google Analytics service is based on capabilities acquired when it bought Urchin Software recently. Direct says Google Analytics "integrates with AdWords, but it also can monitor ad and Web-page performance on other advertising networks, including those from Yahoo! and MSN Search" and "advertisers should be able to track user clickthroughs from ad to landing page, or within Web sites, and their return on investment for those keyword terms." In addition, the system can be used to monitor the results from other ad media such as banners, email and referral links.

These images will give you an idea of the Google Analytics interface:

AB -- 1/26/06

Microsoft announced Jan. 25, 2006, the launch of Microsoft Live Labs, indicating a big push to increase the pace of innovation in the company in the area of Internet products and services.

The news release's emphasis on Internet services, search technology, distributed computing, data mining, and "disruptive technologies" suggests to me that Microsoft is triggering a strong innovation effort to combat the Google threat to Microsoft's platform dominance -- as well as potential threats, I would argue, from less-obvious quarters, such as iPod and Salesforce.com -- and probably others not yet on the radar but sure to emerge in the future.

The Live Labs name is a reference to Microsoft's Windows Live offerings, a "set of personal Internet services and software" launched in beta in November 2005. Microsoft says Windows Live is "designed to bring together in one place all the relationships, information and interests people care about most, with enhanced safety and security features across their PC, devices and the Web." The Windows Live web site provides downloads for the beta offerings, which include applications for personal portals, web mail, security, favorites, customized mapping, mobile search, and the next-gen Windows Live Messenger enabled for voice and video communications. One of the missions of Live Labs is to improve and accelerate the Windows Live suite.

Yesterday's release describes Live Labs as an "agile environment for fast-tracking research from the lab into people’s hands" and "the incubation of disruptive technologies." Described as "a research partnership between MSN and Microsoft Research," Live Labs will draw on resources and personnel from both groups as well as academic research organizations. Microsoft is encouraging its Live Labs researchers to collaborate openly with the academic community and publish their findings. In addition, Microsoft is announcing increased funding for academic research efforts, especially in the areas of "data mining, discovery and analysis as they relate to Internet search."

AB -- 1/26/06

A working group of communications security experts at the Communications Research Network (CRN) has gone public with a warning that VoIP applications could be used by criminals to launch denial-of-service (DoS) attacks and make it much harder to find out who is launching them.

CRN is a joint venture between Cambridge University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Jon Crowcroft, Marconi Professor of Communications Systems at Cambridge, heads up CRN's working group on Internet security. This group, which publicly released its warning in a release dated today, Jan. 26, 2006, previously "shared its findings with the VoIP community before going public," according to the release.

A typical DoS attack uses hijacked "zombie" computers to target a network with a deluge of email messages to overwhelm it and bring it down. CRN says that IP voice networks could be used to mask such attacks, a danger that is augmented because many VoIP providers employ proprietary protocols.

Crowcroft feels that VoIP providers should make their routing specifications "more transparent" or move to open standards. CRN also recommends that the industry establish "a central database where companies and individuals can log attacks anonymously, thereby allowing the communications industry to assess the scale of the problem and identify patterns of attack."

AB -- 1/26/06

Vamsi Sitla, director of broadband and multimedia research for ABI Research, thinks that the need for differentiation in the HDTV industry will lead to much greater intelligence, either inside televisions or in the devices connected to them.

Quoted in a release today from ABI, "No Longer the 'Boob Tube': ABI Research Looks at Smart TV," Sitla sees within the industry two schools of thought about smarter TVs:

1. "One camp wants to focus on creating intelligence within the TV itself, making it network-ready, and incorporating storage or recording devices." Sitla cites LG Electronics, which is now incorporating digital video recorders into some of its LCD TVs.

2. "The other camp wants to focus intelligence in the devices which surround the TV and connect to it: Media Center PCs, recorders, residential gateways and the like." Sitla says this camp would prefer keeping the TV as more of a "dumb terminal" while upgrading and replacing the surrounding devices.

This connects somewhat with an idea I've had recently that convergence might be taking technology toward a world in which consumers will have a growing number of powerful multi-capable platforms that can do a lot of things for them. Think Windows, Mac and Linux. But also add Google, Appforce, iPod and the home media center. (Will have to expand on this idea in another entry.)

Discussing the HDTV market, ABI's release says that "including HDTVs, personal video recorders, DVD players, game consoles and set-top boxes (STBs), the global market for HDTV products should exceed US$25 billion this year."

AB -- 1/26/06

According to a press release today, Telecomplete Ltd, a UK Internet service provider, has acquired VoIP service provider MyWebCalls.

MyWebCalls has clients in 30 countries. They offer PC-to-phone calling, using either a web-based dialler or desktop software dialler. The web-based dialler would allow the user to make a call from any location (such as an Internet cafe or a friend's computer). MyWebCalls also offers device-to-phone calling, which allows the customer to call directly through an ATA without going through a PC, by configuring the device to connect to the MyWebCalls network.

Also available are Web Callback and SMS Callback services. These services can join together two phone numbers for phone-to-phone calling or text messaging independently of the user's PC. Describing how the Web Callback service works, the MyWebCalls web site says, "Simply go the callback page, login and enter the 2 phone numbers you want to join together to talk. Once the calls are in progress, there is no need to stay by your pc, allowing you to conduct your call anywhere!"

Here's an image showing the desktop interface for MyWebCalls:

Telecomplete Ltd is based in Manchester, UK. They provide Internet connectivity, carrier services, hosting, security services, co-location and data-center services. Company officials say the MyWebCalls acquisition will "strengthen Telecomplete’s existing VoIP product portfolio and will offer an alternative to Skype and Vonage."

AB -- 1/25/06