July 7th, 2006
You are currently browsing the articles from the VoIP Digest written on July 7th, 2006.
Chalk another on the board for the MVNO fallout. EasyMobile, the mobile service created by the crew behind Europe’s bright-orange “Easy” brand–EasyJet, EasyPizza, EasyMoney– is closing its service in the Netherlands after just 9 months. Well, as they say–easy come, easy go. Or as Om says, “Not-So-Easy Mobile.”
It’s an indictator of how crowded the MVNO market in certain markets has become, and could be a warning sign for the U.S., with its current MVNO gold rush mentality. Last year Stelios Haji-Ioannou, the easy brand founder, was the poster child of Europe’s MVNO wave, speaking at big wireless industry conferences. Though, he didn’t own or run much of the mobile move, it sounded like a good idea at the time. Take a well known brand that is known for cheap and “easy” and sell wireless service to consumers that want no-frills calls.
But even then, the Netherlands market, one of the birthplaces of the MVNO model, was getting increasingly full. By some estimates the market has over 30 MVNOs already, and basic low-cost services like Simyo are the standard. Across Europe the MVNO count is likely higher than 100. That includes the more niche services that have cropped up like Call-4-Care, a do-gooder branded MVNO that gives part of its proceeds to non-profits, Denmark-based Gaymobile, PePtalk, for Dutch pot smokers, and Al Yildiz for Turkish subscribers in Germany. This site has a growing list of current, shut down and speculated MVNO’s. All in all the global MVNO market is touted at close to $11 billion by analysts.
In the U.S., the MVNOs are going after media-content and 3G data services. That means more of an invesment and higher fees for subscribers, and Amp’d, Helio, and ESPN Mobile, are all looking to sell mobile data to bring in a higher average revenue per user. Amp’d is one of the most well-funded wireless companies in recent years, with $260 million from investors like MTV, Qualcomm, Intel Capital, Highland Capital Partners and Redpoint Ventures. You might recognize Amp’d’s founder, Peter Adderton–he founded Nextel’s Boost and is trying to do it again with Amp’d.
The U.S. services haven’t fared half as well as all the hype. ESPN dropped its prices recently, and its move to sell its mobile service on its TV channel looked like desperation. Amp’d is rumored to have started to change its strategy significantly after bringing in only several thousand subscribers. Then there was that “Helio has only 100 subscribers” rumor, but the companies publicly denied it.
Actually with that last rumor in mind, it has become a bit in-fashion to diss MVNO plays. Though, if the U.S. MVNOs are getting more subscribers then they are letting on, you’d think they would be the first ones to shout it out. At the same time the MVNOs could very well become the disruptive mobile networks that Amp’d’s Adderton likes to claim, stealing market share from the carriers–he likes to position Amp’d as the MTV of the mobile generation. But the services will take a good long while to bring in loyal paying subscribers, and that means not a lot of money will flow from the investment any time soon. And we all know how VCs hate to wait!
Written by Katie Fehrenbacher on July 7th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Unwired and Cellular and MVNO.
According to the Stars And Stripes newspaper, the South Korean Ministry of Information and Communications is arguing with several non-Korean VoIP services, trying to shut them down in that nation because they haven't complied with that nation's Telecommunications Business Act by registering as a phone service and applying for the correct permits.The real issue could [...]
Written by Russell Shaw on July 7th, 2006 with no comments.
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Pittsburgh is the latest U.S. city to launch a program to provide wireless Internet access in its downtown area. The WiFi Downtown Pittsburgh project consisting of 52 WiFi antennas got under way with a small ceremony Thursday and should be online in September, the city announced.
"Free outdoor wireless will be a tremendous enhancement for workers, residents and visitors who want to utilize laptops, PDAs and other electronic equipment in downtown Pittsburgh," declared Michael Edwards, president of the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership.
The system will be operated by US Wireless Online and will provide users with two free hours of WiFi daily. Subscriptions can be purchased for longer connections. Speeds range from 512 kilobits per second for the free access up to 1 megabit per second for those who pay the $8 day rate.
Source: United Press
Written by Dal on July 7th, 2006 with no comments.
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Late yesterday, Telus announced a deal with XM Radio to offer a subscription service of streaming radio - the first offering of its kind in Canada.
And now, the rest of the story. First off, this is pretty neat in itself, although you really have to wonder who needs to listen to radio over their telephone? Well, of course we're talking satellite radio - not everyday AM or FM - and this is just another distribution channel for a subscription service. So, presuming you're a fan of commercial-free, specialized programming, this adds a cool factor to your mobile experience. They're offering a 20 channel package of stations for $15/month, delivered using streaming audio, and it's part of a bigger push for Telus's new brand, Spark, which is their suite of multimedia applications to run over the latest and greatest (and expensive) handsets.
You have to give Telus credit for taking the lead with some innovative services to make mobile fun and cool. On the home front, I wanted to note this, as Telus is typically ahead of the other Canadian service providers when it comes to new services, for both the consumer and business markets. And mobile radio is a wireless application, another example of what Telus is doing to improve its competitive position in the mobility market, which really is the driver of their growth - and stock price.
On a broader front, SprintNextel has been doing the same with Sirius since last September. I don't know what the uptake has been with it, but their 20 channel package was launched at a much lower price point - $6.95/mo. Verizon Wireless's V Cast service has streaming video and music downloads, but no satellite radio. So, it's fair to say that Telus is ahead of the pack in North America, and is another example of the good things that continue to come out of Canada in the telecom space. No doubt Rogers and Bell will follow suit, and I'm sure they're making deals as we speak with Sirius - but Telus is first to market.
It doesn't come cheap though, as you have to get handsets that support streaming media - either an LG or Samsung - both costing $349.99, or $99.99 with a 3 year plan. So, add $15 a month, and you're looking at a not-so-small outlay to have the luxury of cutting out commercials.
I really don't know how successful this offering will be, but it's part of the early growth of multimedia mobility, where the last thing you use your phone for is to make a call. For all the money people spend on their wireless plans, I just have to wonder how much time they'll really want to devote using their phone to listen to the radio. By now, just about everyone has an iPod, but I guess the appeal will lie in all those specialty channels.
I also wanted to mention that Telus is working with mspot, who optimizes multimedia content for streaming over wireless networks. They also do Sprint's service with Sirius. I'm noting this because the day this news came out, I was visiting the offices of QuickPlay Media here in Toronto, who are very much in this space. I've been commenting about them recently, and they're doing very good work. Their focus is a bit different, mainly on streaming shorter content as opposed to continuous feeds like radio or movies. In fact, they are doing video for Telus's Spark service.
I wanted to mention this, as this space is rapidly evolving, and there are different offerings for different markets. While mspot is doing music streaming, QuickPlay is focusing on the spoken word. So, instead of working with Telus for radio, they've partnered with RIM to offer short form audio streaming that is relevant to the typical Blackberry subscriber - news, financial reports, sports, etc. It's pretty neat - saw it for myself yesterday. Go Canada!
Keeping the Canadian thread going, I just wanted to cite Mark Goldberg's post on the Telus/XM news. He adds some good insight about the regulatory aspects of delivering IP content over wireless networks.
Technorati tags: Telus, Jon Arnold, Mark Goldberg
Written by Jon Arnold's Blog on July 7th, 2006 with no comments.
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One of the more fun aspects of running an Asterisk server is choosing your own hold music. Hopefully your callers are not sitting on hold for long periods of time, but as long as they are it's nice to give them something pleasant to listen to. It can be music, inspirational speeches, comedy routines—even Internet radio.
Linux comes with all the tools you need to record sound files and convert them to the Asterisk-friendly .gsm format. Audacity is an excellent sound recorder and editor that runs on Linux, Macintosh, and Windows. As fun as it is, we're not getting into sound recording today, though, just managing existing sound files.
Asterisk versions 1.2 and later includes their own music player, so you can ignore all the documentation that tells you how to add one. Asterisk can handle several different sound file formats on its own, but decoding and encoding sound files eats up CPU cycles, so it's more efficient to convert them yourself.
Written by Dal on July 7th, 2006 with no comments.
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In my research of VoIP (Video and Voice versions) and IP telephony in
general, it becomes obvious that there are a number of different terms now
being used to refer to VoIP. Some are technical, others are pure
marketing, some are playful.
For example, Bell Canada has a new service called Digital Voice,
which their web page admits uses VoIP and clearly explains how the
service works, what kind of calls can be made, and provides a link to
their long distance calling plans. While their basic monthly charge for
local calling is pretty steep (Cdn$40/m), their long distance plans
start at Cdn$10/m. Not particularly competitive for 1200 minutes per
month. Their overseas per minute rate also seem rather high,
considering Skype offers more competitive rates and no monthly charges.
But
Bell Canada has been around forever. Their marketing approach to the
problem of enticing customers to VoIP is more likely to win over
technophobes and those resistant to change. At least more so than the
annoying semi-animated TV commercials that Vonage showed in Canada.
Those commercials actually pushed me away from trying VoIP, until they
stopped airing every ten minutes.
Tesco in Britain has taken a similar approach, advertising their Tesco Internet Phone, with no mention of VoIP.
In their TV commercial, they've apparently focused on how simple it is
to set up, so that people with low exposure to technology are not
scared off. What's more, customers get assigned an actual phone number
for their area code, something that is maybe necessary psychologically
rather than technically.
Similarly, the service that Sightspeed's Skype-killer IM
(Instant Messaging) client provides is referred to as "video and voice
calling". Not a mention of VoIP anywhere on the homepage. In fact, if
you click on their Features or Plans web pages, you will not find the
word VoIP at all. It's not until you click on their About Us page that you not only see the term VoIP, but WoIP.
WoIP
is kind of a visual and verbal play on the V and V from "Voice and
Video over IP", since the letter "W" is pronounced approximately
"doob-luh-veh" (double-V) in French. I've previously referred to WoIP
as V2oIP, unaware of the term WoIP. While either term is
probably fine in print, neither is easy to say without confusing
people. I mean, how do you say V2oIP? And how easy is it distinguish WoIP from VoIP in conversation?
WoIP
aside, I think Bell Canada, Tesco and Sightspeed have made wise
marketing moves, given the drubbing that Vonage has taken going IPO,
and where others now fear to tread.
Written by ewriter on July 7th, 2006 with no comments.
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Written by Skype Journal on July 7th, 2006 with no comments.
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Telecom companies these days have VoIP to contend with from not one but
two fronts. VoIP is already disrupting both landline and cell phone
revenues, causing telcos to reduce their prices.
Now,
with numerous cities and even countries pushing for either paid or free
Municipal Wi-Fi, telcos also have to contend with the potential loss of
revenues from their Internet Service Provider divisions. This isn't
just an American problem, it's widespread, worldwide issue, even
reaching the Pacific islands, which include Fiji, Micronesia, etc.
What's
more, telcos now have to deal with the loss of revenues that will
result from the use of VoIP over Muni WiFi. In fact, several cities are
pushing for wireless VoIP services, including Taipei, Taiwan.
American telcos could learn a thing or two from the Taipei WiFly/
EasyCall project. It's the collaboration of the city government and the
Taipei Computer Association (TCA), and is overseen by several ITSPs
(Internet Telephony Service Providers).
Traditional telcos
should be thinking about modifying their offerings to become ITSPs and
even collaborating with or buying out existing VoIP providers.
Especially if other cities start thinking like the Taipei government,
who are using wireless VoIP to replace their PSTN (Public Switched
Telephone Network) for administrative offices and public schools. Their
aim is to have 200,000 wireless VoIP phones by year's end.
Obviously, if Taipei pulls this off, and figure out how to handle e911 calls,
especially when there are school children at risk, other cities are
going to follow suit. And if telcos don't find a way to participate,
there's going to be some explaining to do to shareholders. In fact, I'm
a strong believer that telcos could play an important role in solving
e911 technical issues. If you can't beat ITSPs, join'em.
Written by ewriter on July 7th, 2006 with no comments.
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Kleiner Perkins Caufield Byers and Sherpalo Ventures (a venture vehicle of Google-backer, Ram Shriram) have decided that India is the next big market for mobile commerce–using the cellphone as a connected wallet to buy and sell stuff.
With over 100 million Indian wireless subscribers—-more than double the number of the land phones in the country–they could be right. The two firms are investing over $5 million in Paymate, a mobile commerce company, a start-up backed by Coruscant Tec, a Mumbai-based company that powers mobile content, commerce and other data applications that land on Indian phones.
Paymate might not have launched an application yet, but its site says the company is looking at “tele-merchant services”, “mobile wallet” and “person to person” payments services. Mobile commerce has been a distant dream for wireless carriers in the U.S., but in both advanced wireless markets like Japan, and fast-growing SMS-heavy markets like India, “m-commerce” is a real phenomenon. A recent report from eMarketer says that 43% of Japanese Internet users already use some form of mobile payment.
In India mobile infrastructure is starting to offer a cheaper, easier way to manage funds, especially in areas with limited banking systems. One likely mobile commerce strategy would be to marry m-commerce with SMS, since Indian mobile market is dominated by SMS and voice services. SMS-focused startup Air2Web’s has a growing business in India and the company says big Indian banks send out around 2,000 SMS messages to important clients per day for account managment. Coruscant Tec currently is trying to jump start demand for data services in the country, offering content apps like MTV’s Loveline for cell phones, a social dating service, as well as video, ringtones, and games and works with carriers like Airtel.
While wireless data is something new to the Indian market, wireless startups pushing mobile data are starting to hit it big in India. Canadian mobile chat company AirG works with Coruscant for its mobile chat application in India. Mobile marketing Enpocket recently launched a mobile advertising campaign with Airtel, and mobile games are going gangbusters in India, an example is Electronic Art’s partnership with India Games.
Mobile commerce will likely boom in India long before the U.S. despite recent attempts–Paypal Mobile launched this year, and startups like Obopay are pushing peer to peer payments. KCPB and Sherpalo are betting it does. The first apps will likely be peer to peer and direct buying and selling over a wireless broadband network. Maybe next will come swiping a mobile at the gates of a cricket stadium. Now that would be a big hit!
Photo via Flickr by Pidge
Written by Katie Fehrenbacher on July 7th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Unwired and Cellular and Wireless Broadband.
Loved the Allsop Splash Pack DriPod so much that we've just added another one to keep some of my precious gadgets dry this summer!
(And no, that is not a giant tongue!)
The Splash Pack is an air-tight case for your iPod that features a triple seal, heat-sealed headphone jack, it's fully submersible to almost 10 feet (three meters to be exact).
The lanyard makes it easy to hang it around your neck, drape on your beach lounger or strap to your kayak.
Not just for iPods, it can be used with many small electronic gadgets, like another MP3 player, digital camera or cell phone.
Price: $19.99
www.allsop.com
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Written by VoIP & Gadgets Blog on July 7th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Uncategorized and MP3 Players & Digital Audio and iPod and digital camera and cell phone and mp3 player and www.allsop.com.
Back in the day AT&T was the place where most cool but failed technologies ended up. Go Computing? Then it was AOL, which become the favorite bank to tap for Internet products that were on their way down. Looks like NBC is the new retirement home for the web properties with dubious record of success. The news of NBC buying Tribe.com, first reported by ValleyWag, and confirmed today by Paid Content lets me to believe that is the case.
NBC, which spent close to $600 million buying up iVillage hasn’t really been all that successful on the Internet. They did a search engine (and I don’t even remember its name), got into ecommerce and well they are still nowhere. Now they want to get on to the social networking bandwagon. Yeah - like that’s going to work!
Written by Om Malik on July 7th, 2006 with no comments.
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Recently funded BandTel will provide VoIP-to-PSTN term for Zultys PBXs.
Written by VoIP Magazine Featured Stories on July 7th, 2006 with no comments.
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Colombian broadband provider, Orbitel, has just launched its WiMAX network and has started taking orders for the service. The plans range from $39 to about $325. The network will offer speeds of upto 2 megabits per second. The network is now live in Cali, but will soon be made available in 14 other cities. Network uses Siemens’ WayMAX gear. Fixed wireless technologies - of all flavors - are finding home in emerging markets especially those with limited legacy infrastructure.
Also, Its a WiBro World and The Truth about WiMAX.
Written by Om Malik on July 7th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on WiMAX and Wireless Broadband and WiBro.
Unless you've been sleeping under a mushroom, you probably know that
North Korea's leader, Kim Jong-il, stirred from his dormancy and fired
off not one but seven missiles, even after several countries cautioned
strongly against it. Warnings of this may or may not have been this
reason why South Korea suddenly backed off, a few days previous,
against blocking VoIP calls by U.S. Forces Korea members.
South
Korea had originally planned to block out U.S. calls due to
non-compliance to their Telecommunications Business Act. However, at
the request of US Forces Korea, they agreed to suspend the deadline.
It
all begs the question, however, of how secure VoIP really is that the
US Military would allow its individual members to use it. Or why they
wouldn't set up Internet access, say, via satellite.
VoIP may
generally be considered insecure, but it doesn't have to be. Calls
could be encrypted and decrypted on the fly, by caller and receiver,
respectively. However, to reduce the lag time on such encryption, the
process would have to be done on small packets of sound, possible a few
seconds at a time, else non-computer VoIP phones would have an extra
processing burden.
Now, without delving into the inner workings
of existing VoIP services, I'll hazard a guess that there already is
some level of encryption conducted on VoIP calls. However, with
encryption laws in the US and Canada being fairly strict (against
exportation of algorithms), the level of encryption might actually be
quite low.
Of course, the real issue in South Korea is over the
ISPs that regular officers use to access the Internet and make VoIP
calls. The service provider(s) they use allow unlimited VoIP calling,
which the three South Korean ISPs who requested the US military block
are upset about.
I seriously doubt, however, that the US
Military's necessarily secure communications are being conducted via
the same ISPs that individual members of the military are using.
On a related issue, Skype
was recently told by South Korea to stop signing up new SkypeOut
customers, until Skype adheres to telecom laws - in particular, two
e-business codes. In fact, Skype's Korean Market Manager recently
issued a statement that Skype was not currently doing business in South
Korea.
It's interesting to note that South Korea has been a center of a considerably number of technology trials in both VoIP and RFID technology. Part of the aforementioned restrictions have to do with protecting the interests of South Korean companies.
Sources: Stars & Stripes, ZD Net Korea [via Skype Journal].
Written by ewriter on July 7th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Security and Services and Regulation.
Vonage's
V-Phone - a USB-like device that turns any laptop into a Vonage phone - makes its
Canadian debut today in downtown Toronto.
Vonage shares, meanwhile, closed at $7.87 yesterday after touching a new low of $7.81 - 54% below the IPO price. It's interesting to see that analyst coverage of Vonage is expanding. UBS Securities recently initiated coverage with a "neutral" rating and a $10 target price, while CitiGroup initiated coverage with a 'hold" rating and an $11 target price. The target prices make you wonder how Vonage ever managed to sell the IPO at $17 a share. Someone did a great job selling investors on the prospects for Vonage and VoIP.
Written by Mark Evans on July 7th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Vonage and Main Page.
The Enterprise is widely viewed as the next playground for collective technologies known as Web 2.0. While there has been a lot of talk, only a handful of companies have come up with Web 2.0 inspired offerings targeting the enterprise. EMail software provider, Zimbra is one such company that has impressed. Add Redwood City, California-based Coghead to the list of those companies.
The three-year-old company, has combined various technologies - Ajax, RSS, and what not - with open source platforms and has developed a “web based application development environment.” Initially known as Versai Technology, the company was started by Greg Olsen, co-founder of Extricity that was acquired by Peregrine Systems. His co-founder is Paul McNamara (now the CEO), formerly of Silicon Graphics and Red Hat Software. The company has received $3.2 million in funding from El Dorado Ventures.
Though the company is not going to launch its offering for a few months, it has lined up some large customers to do a private beta, and is going to go for a public beta later this summer.
Coghead in many ways is the encpasulation of some of the trends I have written about in the past. For starters the web 2.0 collective technologies are now able to give you a near-desktop like experience. (What’s missing is an offline connectivity option, but even that might be moot if some start-ups have their way, or ubiquitous broadband.. whatever comes first.) The other trend I have been a big believer in availablity of open source platforms married to industrial grade components and the complex infrastructure at very low costs.
Like Ning, Coghead is also a web application development environment. Those who are familiar with Ning know that the Palo Alto-based company has created an environment where almost anyone can clone-and-customize applications to create their own social networks, community sites or even bookmarking services. DabbleDB is another company that can be loosely placed in the same class of start-ups.
Coghead, on the other hand is targeting corporate work groups who need custom applications developed and have to outsource that work. “In this environment the the traditional customer software development model doesn’t make sense because it takes too long,” says McNamara. On-demand is the best option, since it doesn’t interfere with the existing IT infrastructure, says McNamara. “We are going for smaller groups, and not the IT department.”
“When we refer to cogheads, we are talking about problem solvers,” says McNamara, “They may not do java programming but they know how to solve their business problems. “
Olsen, thinks we are a point where we will see a new category of creators. “We wanted to make the whole process of creating applications so simple, that anyone can write these custom apps,” he says. “In some ways we are trying to do what print press did for books, and helped the book publishing sky rocket. This is the similar for, Internet applications.”
Olsen makes a good point, though I won’t use the book publishing analogy. Coghead’s impact on web-app development for corporations could be similar to the early days of desktop databases. The emergence of those desktop databases led to a mushrooming of applications written on top of those desktop databases. Even today you can find thriving businesses that sell solutions on top of say, FileMaker. Coghead takes a similar approach. Olsen says while not everyone can write apps based on its platform, anyone who can write excel macros or write simple database-apps (on top of say Microsoft Access) and follows business logic can build custom applications that are available through the browser.
At Coghead, we’re developing a web-based platform that will allow people to create business applications without having to write code. And because its all web based, there’s never any software to worry about or hardware to install. Everything gets done with a browser and an Internet connection. [via]
There are many components already available to the app-creator who can drag and drop these components and put them together as lego building blocks. The company has done a good job thus far, but will their eventual users bite, and start writing web-apps? What do you think?
Written by Om Malik on July 7th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Web 2.0 and Start-Ups.
(Update:
Huffington Post is reporting that Rocketboom has hired Europe MTV VJ Joanna Colan to replace Amanda Congdon. Now you know - enjoy the rest of your weekend!)
Who knows, maybe Amanda Congdon's departure from Rocketboom could be a good thing now that the
New York Times is covering the story. Nothing like some great, free publicity to generate interest in the show from people who have likely never seen Amanda in action. It all depends on how Andrew Baron manages the "situation". If done properly, the
Amanda Riftâ„¢ could be corporate hiccup. But if things keep spinning in the same direction, Rocketboom's moment in the spotlight could be over. What has surprised me is how Baron and Congdon both seem oblivious to the fact their equity stakes (51% vs. 49%) are being eroded the nastier things become.
If
Rocketboom was pulling in $40K a week before the Amanda Rift
â„¢, the company could have been worth let's say
$10-million to $20-million. (Given I'm not a financial guru, I'm simply giving Rocketboom a 5X revenue multiple to come up with a back-of-the-napkin valuation). This would mean Baron and Congdon would both be worth about $10-million on paper. That's a big enough number, I think, to encourage them to kiss and make up.
By the way, Baron will be in Toronto today for
CaseCamp, an unconference marketing and communications event. It's nice to see Baron fulfill his commitment to the organizers but wouldn't he be better off putting out the Rocketboom fire in NYC rather than spending the weekend in T.O.?
Update: BusinessWeek's
Heather Green has some insight into what happened between Baron and Congdon, and what their next moves may be.
Written by Mark Evans on July 7th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Main Page.
Finally, the cellular firms in Kenya have decided to implement VoIP technology to the cell phones. Celtel Kenya and Safaricom Ltd said that avoiding the Telkom circuit in routing international calls would see a huge drop in prices of calls made from mobile phones. Industry regulator Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK) made this announcement on Friday, which ended a long campaign for the licenses by the mobile phone services operators. Safaricom has already put up necessary infrastructure in form of a satellite earth station ahead of the license award, which is part of its network expansion program.
According to All Africa -
Mid last month, Telkom published tariffs where dollar-denominated international calls would attract a uniform charge of Sh65 at peak time and Sh46.7 for off-peak. Weekends will attract off-peak rates. Telkom raised local charges but left international and trunk calls intact.
Written by Sagar on July 7th, 2006 with no comments.
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It is a known fact that sex and gambling sites have become the biggest money-makers on the Internet. Now it has been noticed that VoIP is following the cash flow and is beginning to be used at those sites. Recently, VoIPNow reported that the Playwize's PokerWize poker site would start allowing gamblers to talk to each other during the game. Although there have not been so many instances like this. However, if the industry experts are to believed, many more sites might use VoIP technology in order to make their sites more interesting. There is no doubt that such moves will generate huge revenue for them.
According to Networking Pipeline -
So you can expect that sex sites as well as gambling sites will start including VoIP. New technology; old vices -- we may not like what it says about us, but somehow someone always finds a way to make the combination pay off.
Written by Sagar on July 7th, 2006 with no comments.
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Nokia has released a platform update for its Linux-based Wi-Fi enabled device, which is known as the 770 Internet Tablet. The device was first launched in late 2005. The 770 Tablet accesses the Web and receives e-mail via 802.11b/g broadband wireless. It is basically a PDA. Internet Tablet OS 2006 adds support for VoIP calling. It includes Google's free Google Talk service that allows users to exchange instant messaging and make Internet-based phone calls. It is important to note that Google is the default search provider for the 770. The new platform update also supports SIP-based VoIP solutions. It is also planning to include Gizmo Project by SIPPhone. The Gizmo Project allows users to make and receive calls from public telephony networks.
According to Wi-Fi Planet -
With the update, there is enhanced text typing with a full-screen finger keyboard, better memory performance and a refreshed look, according to Nokia. A improved home view desktop allows users to choose from a variety of small applets to speed up access to Internet services.
Written by Sagar on July 7th, 2006 with no comments.
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Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology has changed the mode of communication in the recent years. Traditional voice systems have been replaced with sophisticated VoIP telephony. However, many VoIP deployments still depend on old-fashioned telephone wires to carry voice signal during part of its journey. Now PSTN networks are being connected to one another using Internet telephony. The direct IP-toIP connection is referred as VoIP peering solution. Recently, Nomimum, AcmePacket and Siemens have made a joint effort to launch such a VoIP peering solution.
Nominum contributes its IP routing directory, which is a scalable platform. The platform handles company's data services, sales and business development. The directory operates with the other network elements and enables interconnections between VoIP networks. Acme Packet handles the session border control element of the system. It is important to note that session border control involves interconnects between providers. Siemens binds the solutions together and delivers them.
According to IP Communications -
Eliminating the need for non-IP networks also creates more independence in the VoIP marketplace (since carriers no longer have to rely on regional providers to deliver signal), and allows carriers to reach broader customer bases.
Written by Sagar on July 7th, 2006 with no comments.
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Hitwise has analyzed the data and come up with the conclusion… Digg is not a patch on The New York Times. Which shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone since The Times website has been around for a very long time, and Digg, well is just a puny little infant in web terms.
What I have to say about Digg is that it doesn’t cost as much to make, it doesn’t win Pulitzers, but it is still a lot of fun. Surely, you can’t go grab a brew with Arthur Sulzberger, Jr. But Kevin Rose, now that’s a whole different story.
More importantly, there is that other thing which the raw numbers miss: Digg is the new king maker. If that was not the case, then why else with big media outlets including BBC put the little “digg it” button next to their important stories. Sure, The Times at one time decided the fate of presidential candidates or in some cases Presidents, but in these harsher times, when page views have an impact on the bottom-line, Digg is the new king maker.
Funny part - Hitwise blog post has a little button that says: Digg It. Too bad it doesn’t say Time(s) It.
Written by Om Malik on July 7th, 2006 with no comments.
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ClearOne and Speakables have announced that ClearOne's Chat 50 VoIP-enabled speakerphone will allow Mac users to operate VoIP applications by voice command. Speakables has proved itself in providing voice recognition software to companies. It makes various voice control packages for different Mac applications. The Chat 50 costs only $179, which is lower as compared to packages provided by other companies. It offers full audio and echo cancellation. The addition of Speakables allows users to control important features such as Skype and iPhoto. The Chat 50 allows users to command their Mac while continuing to listen to audio from the TV or iTunes through their main speakers.
Written by Sagar on July 7th, 2006 with no comments.
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