Asterisk Receives VC Funding

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Written by VoIP & Gadgets Blog on August 8th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on VoIP and Asterisk and ip-pbx and digium and open source.

VoIP Security Solutions

The VoIP market has been growing steadily as customers begin to accept the benefits of converging their voice, data and video networks in favor of a single infrastructure. However, both vendors and users have begun voicing their concerns over the security implications of switching to such a system. The rise in reliability levels have persuaded companies to begin investing in VoIP to take advantage of the benefits that the technology brings.

If you are a vendor and want to enter the VoIP security space, you must work closely with end-user focus groups. You will notice that it will calm down the irate customers. It will also give you an opportunity to impress potential clients with their knowledge of the VoIP security space.

Written by Sagar on August 8th, 2006 with no comments.
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IP Telephony Market to Hit $5 Billion in 2010

There is no doubt that for the past couple of years, IP telephony market is showing an upward trend. If the current trend continues, it will reach $5 billion mark by 2010. Sale of softswitches and media gateways for the networking and telecom industries is responsible for pushing up the IP telephony growth. Since VoIP is gaining popularity among both consumers and businesses, all service providers race to offer new VoIP products and services. That helps consumers to select a perfect product or service from a large variety of options.

Written by Sagar on August 8th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Wireless.

Converged IP Video and VoIP Calling Services for BBC

BBC viewers have reason to smile. They will soon get a converged 3G, IP Video and VoIP Calling Services on BBC programs. All New Video has launched a series of such services for BBC. The services will allow increased interactivity between BBC viewers and News television programs. BBC viewers will be asked to call into the show from their phone, PCs and 3G mobile video phones.

Once connected, the participants will be greeted with an interactive media response. Then they will be offered the choice of recording a video or voice message for the show. Isn't it interesting? Once the services are launched, it is bound to generate interest among viewers.

Written by Sagar on August 8th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Standards.

Switchvox Ties Up with VoIP Supply

Switchvox has been offering small-to-medium sized businesses an IP PBX solution built from open source software. Now, it has made headline by partnering with VoIP Supply, which is a single source for VoIP products and services. The deal will enable VoIP Supply to sell Switchvox SMB on its new PBXSelect website. The agreement will allow VoIP Supply to deliver Switchvox to end users and resellers in a faster and more flexible way. The new VoIP Supply site provides SMBs with IP PBX systems like Switchvox SMB.

TMC Net reports that -

Switchvox SMB is built from open source software and uses open standards. The IP PBX allows companies to make calls using traditional analog lines, as well as VoIP services.

Written by Sagar on August 8th, 2006 with no comments.
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iSkoot’s Mobile VoIP Gets Skype Endorsement

Mobile Internet calling provider iSkoot got a valuable endorsement from Skype. The deal endorses iSkoot's method that enables mobile phone users to use Skype's VoIP services without a PC or a Wi-Fi hotspot. The deal calls for Skype to certify iSkoot's solution in which callers can place and receive Skype calls over their handsets. Skype users will continue to enjoy the benefits of Skype on their cell phone. In addition, they will be able to place and receive Skype calls from their mobile phones to and from their online contacts. If you a Skype mobile, then you can try it!

Written by Sagar on August 8th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Skype.

KishKish Skype VoIP Lie Detector Test

KishKish has a new feature for Skype called SAM, which effectively functions like a lie detector. Or so they claim. Voice Stress Analysis is the principle on which lie detectors work. SAM can do this for VoIP calls recorded from Skype.

SAM was orginally just a voice answering machine for Skype. If you're away, it'll record the call and notify you with a list of messages, as well as access to the recording. Now it also detects voice levels on recorded Skype calls, to help determine if the person is potentially lying. [via Skype Blogs]

On their webpage, they have a video of President Clinton talking about the allegations levelled at him re Monica Skankinksi.. uh Lewinski. While the video is playing, a little graph shows P-Willy's voice level fluctuating, synced to his facial and hand gestures. Yet I saw no stress in Clinton's face nor heard any in his voice, despite what SAM suggests. They have a "Skype Me" button to a profile named "clintondenial". If you've downloaded and installed SAM, you can record the call and try the VSA feature yourself. (There's a 10-day free trial, the installation's simple, and SAM is very easy to use, as is the VSA feature.)

Keep in mind that lie detector tests are often disallowed in court in the US. Still, there are a few other presidents and prime ministers I'd like to VoIP and record when KishKish comes out with their real-time version of SAM.

Written by ewriter on August 8th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Skype and Software and Solutions.

Aviator Laptop Stand (Oh, Why Didn’t I Think of That?)

A survey of U.S. adult computer users, commissioned by Intel and conducted by Harris Interactive, reveals that 34% of respondents or their families have taken a laptop PC with them on vacation and 51% of all respondents are likely to take a laptop PC on a future vacation. 

Add to that the fact that more than 90% of corporate travelers take their laptop with them on business trips and you can easily see the basis for the Aviator Laptop Stand from Keynamics.

The first and only stand specifically designed for business travelers, it is expressly designed for use aboard commercial aircraft, with careful consideration given to the position of the laptop for optimal user comfort as well as to to accommodate the reclined seat in front. (Now,why didn't I think of that?!)

Designed to be sturdy and extremely stable to handle turbulence and bumping from other passengers, the stand extends the laptop keyboard 2.5 inches over the front edge of the tray and raises the screen by 3 inches. This positions the keyboard at a comfortable angle for typing and places the screen at the proper eye level for reduced neck bending and back strain. The stand eliminates the “hunch” and allows you to rest your back against the seat for spinal support, achieving neutral postures.

(As in your back says "Aaah.")

The Aviator can double as a portable desktop stand for use on the train. And will also take care of a DVD player if you want to spend commuting time relaxing, rather than working.

Weighing only 9 ounces, the Aviator stores flat in the side pocket of a briefcase.

MSRP: $24.99. (Look for $19.99 street price.)

www.keynamics.com

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Written by VoIP & Gadgets Blog on August 8th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Uncategorized and intel and harris interactive and keynamics.

Another IP-PBX company bites the dust?

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Written by VoIP & Gadgets Blog on August 8th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on VoIP and Microsoft and Asterisk and ip-pbx and digium and exchange server and pingtel and postpath.

Sprint Details Mobile WiMAX Plans

We just sat in on the Sprint’s conference call, which brought together Sprint Nextel CEO Gary Forsee, Motorola’s Ed Zander, Intel’s Sean Maloney and Samsung’s KiTae Lee. Here are the details.

Sprint confirmed it has chosen mobile WiMAX as the technology for its 4G network and says it will spend between $2.5 billion and $3 billion on capital expenses by 2008. The company says it is working with Intel, Samsung and Motorola, though didn’t specify how much additional money each of those companies is investing in the plan.

Sprint executives said the network will offer between 2 to 4 Mbps, and will be launched in the Q4 2007, with a nationwide rollout in 2008. With that much bandwidth available, Sprint executives referred to a network that will be built to run user-generated content, and enabling subscribers to access “YouTube and MySpace on the fly.”

Sprint detailed some of the reasons for its mobile WiMAX choice, and said the company can create a “mobile WiMAX ecosystem” with 4 times the performance and a tenth of the cost of a technology like EVDO. In a call after the conference Sprint phrased the benefits as providing ten times the combined performance and cost saving over other available networks, but wouldn’t clarify more on this somewhat confusing metric.

All of the cheering on the call was of course at the expense of Qualcomm, which Sprint did not choose for the 4G network, and which builds a business off of owning proprietary IP standards and a closed model. Sprint said Qualcomm’s tech was not chosen for technical differences, among a variety of reasons, and emphasized its interest in mobile WiMAX as a global standard with a business model for building an ecosystem.

No surprise that Intel’s Maloney emphasized these thoughts in the conference, as did Samsung’s Principal for wireless broadband North America, Tom Jasny in a call after the conference. Jasny put it as “an open standard contributes to large adoption, helps the fundamental economics and encourages countries to make the standards available.” Qualcomm’s stock fell $2.71 after the call to $33.66.

While Sprint’s partners didn’t detail their commitments too much, Sprint VP of Broadband Bin Shen said to us after the conference that a major portion of the deal with be an agreement on marketing — which Intel learned from WiFi can be pretty expensive — as well as network deployment and operational support. Samsung Jasny said its partnership could include chips, network infrastructure, and consumer electronics, including handsets, computer cards among other devices.

Sprint’s Shen said there would be announcements with major partners in the coming months. We’re wondering how Clearwire will fit in? Investors weren’t too confident in the announcement and Sprint Nextel’s stock fell almost 2%.

Written by Katie Fehrenbacher on August 8th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on motorola and intel and samsung and Sprint Nextel.

VoIP Roundup - Tue Aug 08/06

Looking for work in the VoIP field? 2it Consulting is looking for a Pre-sales Engineer with Cisco VoIP/ IPT (IP Telephony) experience for one of their clients in the Sydney, Australia area. [via IT Wire]

Jajah has added Australia and New Zealand to its list of free-call countries that can have free phone-to-phone calls using Jajah's VoIP bridge. [via m-net]

The Philippines government has an interest in VoIP and wants to build intranets for its use. Several government agencies are said to be buying switches for installation. Once the VoIP intranets are built, the next step will be to hook into commercial telephony networks in the Philippines, but not until they offer VoIP services as well. [via Inq7] This is an interesting approach, and one I assume the VoIP-over-municipal-WiFi project in Taiwan is considering as well.

Apparently, Skype will have an official version available for MS-Windows Smartphone 2003-based mobile smartphones/ PDAs. (Note: there is already a Skype client for Windows Pocket PC-based devices.) The bonus for owners of dual-mode phones is that they'll have a choice of Skype over either Wi-Fi or 3G - a sort of DIY converged service. [via Red Herring] It'll be interesting to see how fast they'll come out with a Mobile Linux version, once Mobile Linux for PDAs actually exists.

First there were Skype-certified Wi-Fi phones, now Alpha Networks is offering Google Talk-enabled Wi-Fi phones. Google's GMail will also be supported. [via Asterisk VoIP News]

Written by ewriter on August 8th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Skype and Software and Wireless and Networks and Services and Phones.

Introducing AsteriDex III: A Web-Based Robodialer for Asterisk and Trixbox

Call up your contacts using your favorite web browser from anywhere and click on the contact you want to call. Then, presto! AsteriDex first calls you and then connects you to your contact through an outbound call made using your Asterisk server.

AsteriDex also can automatically look up CallerID Names in your MySQL database for incoming calls. And, it can be used as a garden-variety speed dialer from any telephone by simply spelling up to five characters of any contact's name. It'll even tell you who is being called. And, yes, it's FREE!

Click Here for the Full Nerd 

Written by Dal on August 8th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Asterisk Help.

Pandora Networks Improves VoIP Quality for Worksmart

Called the iQ Voice Management Suite, small and mid- size companies can now be assured that their VoIP- enabled voice service will continually operate at the quality expected to conduct business. Designed to assess and monitor services over converged networks or dedicated circuits, the iQ Voice Management Suite delivers higher voice quality and QoS management than ordinary IP Centrex services.

Pandora offers three service options to fit the right network and budget: iQ Assess, iQ Manage, and iQ Direct.

iQ Assess is designed for converging VoIP on top of an existing data network. It performs automated network assessments on customer premise networks as well as their Internet service providers to ensure a high-quality available connection direct to Pandora Networks' data center. This assures best practices when coupling Worksmart services to third-party carriers and customer premise equipment. iQ Assess is ideal for small companies that cannot justify the cost of dedicated T1 circuits but want the same quality of service that dedicated circuits offer.

“Unlike typical VoIP assessments, iQ Assess provides insight into both local and wide area networks to ensure end-to-end quality of service all the way to Pandora's data center,” says Will Lombard, of Seventhman, a Pandora reseller. “Since the assessment appliance is always on, additional assessments are available whenever it's needed.”

iQ Manage not only performs on- demand network assessments, but also includes real- time QoS monitoring services and a 24/7 technical support team to offer assistance if a problem is detected. An important advantage since many business networks evolve rapidly and can experience congestion.

“No other hosted VoIP service provider offers this level of QoS management or technical support at any price,” says Walter Snell, CEO of Pandora Networks. “Since today's business networks are so dynamic, iQ Manage is ideal for rapidly recognizing any topology or traffic changes that will have an immediate effect on VoIP service quality.”

iQ Direct goes one step further by providing dedicated T1 circuits specifically for VoIP communications. This private circuit does not route to the public Internet, but instead moves IP traffic directly to Pandora Networks' nearest data center for the highest service level possible. iQ Direct is best suited for larger organizations with fifty or more employees. Powered by XO Communications' network infrastructure, iQ Direct can be delivered in nearly every market in the United States.

All services are sold on an annual contract basis with prices starting at $495 per year.

Source: Pandora Networks 

Written by Dal on August 8th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on VoIP Software.

Firetide Ships New Modular Access Points for Municipal and Enterprise Mesh Networks

"The role of commercial and municipal wireless networks is expanding beyond basic Internet access and e-mail services to include more real-time applications such as video surveillance, voice over IP and mobility," said Bo Larsson, CEO of Firetide. "Our new access points deliver a new level of performance and features that are now becoming real requirements for large scale, multi-service networks."

The HotPoint access points enable highly flexible deployment with or without a Firetide mesh network. The modular architecture allows Firetide Mesh nodes and access points to be mounted independently to achieve optimal radio coverage for both mesh backhaul and client access. High powered, 400 mW radios extend reach and penetration, while a turbo-mode provides data rates up to 108 Mbps. A virtual access point function provides layered service and security levels for individual APs and virtual AP groups.

Firetide is currently shipping both indoor and outdoor HotPoint access point models. The outdoor model has a weatherproof enclosure that can be mounted to a HotPort mesh node or used as a stand-alone access point. Power can also be supplied directly by the mesh node eliminating the need for a separate power supply. Both models share the same access point features to enable consistent service coverage inside buildings as well as in outdoor areas. These features include:

    -- Advanced controls for HotSpot service providers with customizable
       group-based service levels, user-based rate limiting, and inter/intra-
       cell blocking.
    -- Comprehensive security, including standards based encryption and
       authentication controls including 802.11i, WPA2, 802.1x, and RADIUS for
       interoperability with any .11b/g Wi-Fi client.
    -- Additional access control via MAC address filtering, VPN tunneling and
       filtering, multiple VLAN support, ESSID suppression, and firewall
       application control.
    -- Auto-discovery and access point groupings for efficient configuration
       and management of networks with large numbers of access points.
    -- Single, centralized management for both mesh and access point networks
       with complete HotView and HotView Pro integration, web based GUI, SNMP,
       or CLI interfaces.

Current Firetide access point customers include North American Midway which uses the access points for wireless ticket sales for their traveling amusement parks and Sky Catcher which provides high-speed broadband solutions for rural and under-served areas.

"We chose Firetide's access points because they support all of our government and enterprise access requirements," said Peter Gaulin, CTO of Sky Catcher. "The tight integration of the access points, mesh network, and centralized management creates a very solid and secure wireless network environment that is also very easy to deploy and manage."

Written by Dal on August 8th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on WiFi / Wireless.

Bandwidth.com Launches SIP Trunking Solution

Written by Dal on August 8th, 2006 with no comments.
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Switchvox Teams with VoIP Supply to Offer IP PBXs for the SMB Market

Switchvox SMB is built from open source software and uses open standards. The IP PBX allows companies to make calls using traditional analog lines, as well as VoIP services. The system can be peered to allow free VoIP calls between office locations, in addition to offering comprehensive reporting tools to monitor the solution's performance in real time.

The agreement will allow VoIP Supply to deliver Switchvox to end users and resellers in a faster and more flexible way than other solutions because of Switchvox's turnkey software architecture and instantaneous software delivery infrastructure. VoIP Supply will also be able to use any handsets its customers request and further leverage its distribution arrangements with leading IP handset manufacturers. The new VoIP Supply site provides SMBs with IP PBX systems like Switchvox SMB.

"VoIP Supply has one of the largest online reseller communities in the industry and this new sales channel will open the door for increased revenues for Switchvox," said Joshua Stephens, CEO of Switchvox. "We are excited to be involved with the launch of PBXselect.com and look forward to developing a long-term relationship with VoIP Supply to provide innovative IP PBX solutions tailored for the SMB market."

"We found the Switchvox product to be one of the best IP PBX solutions for the SMB audience," said Garrett Smith, Director of Marketing and Business Development at VoIP Supply. "The addition of the Switchvox SMB to our product catalog will allow us to continue our trend of delivering the most innovative VoIP products and services to our customers."

Switchvox products are sold as turnkey solutions that include the server hardware and pre-installed Switchvox software. Switchvox SMB is available starting at $2,495. Further information on Switchvox SMB can be found at www.switchvox.com. Information on how to purchase the product can be found at www.VoIPSupply.com.

Written by Dal on August 8th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on VoIP Hardware.

Asterisk: A VoIP Hacker’s Best Friend?

Talks at the show explained just how easily an Asterisk-based PBX can be used to launch attacks, notably "vishing" attacks, in which hackers use VoIP calls instead of phony Web links to steal personal and financial information.

Asterisk has become the hacker's favored tool because it's free, easy to use, and works with cheap, off-the-shelf hardware. Install Asterisk on an inexpensive PC, do a little tweaking, and you've got a full-blown PBX, something that previously would have been extremely expensive and time-consuming to do.

A vishing attack is simple to launch using Asterisk. War-dial using an Asterisk-based PBX, and send a recorded message to thousands of people, telling them their credit card number has been stolen, and that they need to call a phone number to solve the problem.

The number, of course, is the Asterisk-based PBX set up by the hacker. An automated message tells them to enter their credit card number and other personal information, for verification purposes. The PBX records the number and information, and the hacker now has a credit card to use.

Other hacks can be launched from Asterisk as well. There's the "man-in-the-middle" attack, in which a PBX-initiated call lures someone into calling a bank, credit card company, or other financial institution. The PBX answers, and forwards the caller to the real customer service number --- and then listens in and records the entire call. Again, the hacker comes away with personal and financial information he can use.

The upshot? Just as you shouldn't trust any unsolicited email, you also shouldn't trust any unsolicited phone calls. Asterisk-based vishing and similar attacks make fraud too easy these days.

Written by Dal on August 8th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Asterisk News.

News Corp, Google Deal Deconstructed

The $900 million deal between News Corp. and Google might seem to be all about MySpace, but in reality its all about other Fox Interactive properties, such as IGN. It is also a tactical admission by News Corp., that when it comes to running big ad networks, it doesn’t have the in house expertise, and Google is the current master of the online advertising.

Under the terms of the agreement, Google starts making minimum payments starting first quarter of 2007 through the second quarter of 2010. That works out to about $20 million a month for 45 months. In exchange Google becomes the default search provider, and also the exclusive provider of text-based and keyword ads on all Fox Interactive Media properties with the exception of Fox Sports’ website.

Ross Levinsohn & Co., have in fine stroke goosed up their online revenues quite nicely. FIM sales were estimates at over $300 million in 2006. From a Google’s perspective, they got off cheap. In fact so cheap, that they got the search business for free.

Robert Young, a writer for GigaOM, and an expert in social networks says that “had google just struck a deal for search, my reaction to the deal would have been negative. However, Google was smart and secured the ad serving component as well. By doing so, they essentially got the default search deal for free.”

In a conference call, FIM executives noted that a very large number of people leave MySpace to go to Google. According to data collected by Hitwise, an Internet traffic tracking service, nearly 10.8% of Google’s traffic was coming from MySpace.com for the week ending July 29, 2006. Had Fox gone with Yahoo or Microsoft, it could have been a serious blow to Google.

It also gives them access to inventory to sell more ads, and thus become even a bigger player in the fast-growing online advertising business. But the ad-inventory that can be sold is unlikely to come from MySpace. Rich Greenfield of Pali Capital notes that most of the safer (read advertiser friendly) “Myspace-programmed” sections such as the homepage, main Music page, main Comedy page, etc are off limits for Google. Eric Schmidt, Google CEO during the conference call said that they would not serve ads on all MySpace pages and in fact they will let a lot of ad inventory go unserved.

While reporting The Sly Fox for Business 2.0, many in the online advertising industry had suggested that the company was getting about $1 as its CPM, or cost per 1,000 impressions. Others said it was even lower, much lower.

“It has so much inventory that their salespeople have not been able to fill it up,” Jeff Lanctot, vice president of Avenue A/Razorfish, the online ad-buying arm of aQuantive in an interview with Business 2.0.

“What they will do is to optimize revenue-per-user on an annual basis (vs. CPM). By the end of the term of this deal in 2010, it’s very likely that Google will end up having built the world’s best ad network for social media (the holy grail that everyone is chasing at the moment,” says Robert Young, a writer for GigaOM, and an expert in social networks. “The real story here (in my opinion) is how Google is now going to adjust/modify their ad network to optimize for social networks.”

But in the meantime, where do the ads go? On IGN and other sites of course! FIM’s gaming, movie and college sports sites are ideal for keyword and display advertising. IGN’s pageviews have been growing at a monster pace, up about 300% in page views from the time FIM bought them for a whopping $650 million.
Google seems to have taken a calculated gamble – sell ads, especially on properties where it can make some money, and get the MySpace search business. Ben Schacter, analyst with UBS notes, estimates that at a “likely 85-90% TAC rate, Google must generate between $1.0-1.059b in revenue to cover TAC payments.” Hopefully, that is something Google can do - they are an ad-based search company!

Written by Om Malik on August 8th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Google and MySpace and Social Networks.

Shawn Lewis to Speak at Digital Hollywood Conference in San Jose on Aug. 16

Digital Hollywood is the premier entertainment and technology conference in the country, with over 15,000 top executives attending each year.  Building Blocks 2006 is expected to attract more than 2,000 top industry executives to the event.

Lewis, who wrote the patent for the first Softswitch and SS7 Media Gateway, is a recognized industry pioneer and technology innovator. He co-founded CLEC XCOM Technologies, Inc., at the time of the Telecommunications Act in 1996 and directed its acquisition by Level 3 in 1998. His next venture, set-top box vendor River Delta, sold to Motorola. His third successful venture, Caerus, Inc. and its three
subsidiaries: Volo Communications, Caerus Networks, Inc., and Caerus Billing & Mediation, Inc. empowered carriers and service providers to begin selling advanced services and realizing revenues and profits immediately. The market enthusiastically responded to Caerus' approach and service offerings, and VoIP, Inc. acquired Caerus, Inc. in 2005.

"We've always pushed the envelope to develop the most advanced technology and to create applications with exciting features and functionality that revolutionize the industry," Lewis stated. "For instance, we just launched the world's first free web-click phone-to-phone calling service, and currently develop leading-edge applications for high-profile customers in this space," he added.

Interested parties are invited to test some of VoiceOne's latest applications -- free of charge -- in the company's Virtual Lab, http://Labs.Voiceone.com. Labs.Voiceone.com offers an open forum for users to review, test free of charge and provide feedback on new IP communications services developed by VoIP, Inc's subsidiary, VoiceOne, and to discuss their ideas with VoiceOne product and service developers.
 

Written by Dal on August 8th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on VoIP News.

Nokia Gets Loud in Mobile Music via Loudeye Buy

Another titanic struggle is in the making -- this time in the digital convergence of music and the cell phone.

While we all wait for Apple's mobile phone announcement, the established mobile phone companies are staking out their ground in the mobile music market.

We already know about Verizon Wireless and V Cast (a service provider goes mobile music) and now we have Nokia (a cell phone set manufacturer) countering with its purchase of Loudeye, which has a digital music catalogue of 1.5 million tracks.

(The price you ask? $60 million.)

The deal will give Nokia content it can offer customers with music-enabled mobile phones. "People should be able to access all the music they want, anywhere, anytime and at a reasonable cost," Nokia EVP Anssi Vanjoki said, according to the BBC.

Here's some more verbiage from the "official press release":

"Music is a key experience for Nokia and Nokia Nseries multimedia computers and we want to be able to offer the best fully integrated mobile music experience to our customers. Loudeye brings a number of key assets to Nokia, including a great team of people, a substantial content catalogue and a robust service platform that will help us to achieve this objective," said Vanjoki. "People should be able to access all the music they want, anywhere, anytime and at a reasonable cost. With this acquisition, we aim to deliver that vision and a comprehensive music experience to Nokia device owners during 2007."

Love that "vision" thing ...

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Written by VoIP & Gadgets Blog on August 8th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Uncategorized and Mobile Phones and Apple and nokia and verizon wireless and v cast and loudeye.

Keeping Secrets In The Open Using VoIP

Hackers-cum-researchers performed an interesting security-testing experiment earlier this year using VoIP phone numbers and Internet social networks. They presented their findings recently at Defcon.

Their primary plan was to determine if secret signals could be passed right out in the open, from enemy agencies to their agents. They theorized that the use of social networks to transmit carrier messages might increase the noise ratio so that it would be harder for "unauthorized parties" to decode the secret but publicly-transmitted messages.

This is in fact a technique already used covertly by intelligence agencies. However, they use shortwave numbers stations, and all governments have denied such operations. The general technique is to broadcast streams of seemingly nonsensical numbers or words, often in a female or child's voice. Of course, the stream represents a code, and only a few parties have the cipher to decode it.

Strom Carlson, a security researcher, and the hackers collective Project Evil teamed up to see if someone could do the same thing using the Internet, particularly using any of the abundant social networks out there. What they did was set up their own numbers stations. But instead of using shortwave transmissions, they used VoIP phone numbers and recordings. If you called such a number, you would hear a stream of code words. They advertised the existence of the VoIP numbers stations using Craigslist pages, using fake messages, to see if anyone would participate.

In short, they were successful getting others with a cryptographic interest to participate and decode messages using a one-time key. They figure enemy forces could be too. This is something proponents of CALEA may want to take note of: if hostile parties want to use VoIP, they are not necessarily going to use unencoded messages. (On the other hand, this experiment by Carlson might just give CALEA proponents more fodder.)

CALEA stands for Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act, and, in short, gives any Law Enforcement agency the right to wiretap communications networks, including the Internet and VoIP, in special circumstances. Although to date, it's not on the agenda to tap soft VoIP calls using clients such as GoogleTalk and Skype.

Of course, there are those people that believe that email spam is being used as numbers stations for intelligence communications. Although who is behind it is hard to say. (I particularly notice some interesting word patterns in the spam in my university alumni email account.) Public key cryptography concepts date back centuries, and the Internet is a perfect distribution vehicle. Just never thought VoIP could be used as a supplementary broadcasting outlet.

Additional sources: Slashdot, Homeland Stupidity, Defcon.

Written by ewriter on August 8th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Security and Networks and Privacy.

Sony saves Skype

Written by Skype Journal on August 8th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Skype and VoIP and Business and ebay and skypeout and Skype杂志 and skypejournal and design and Skype Partner Watch and SkypeIn and North America.

Nokia Snags Loudeye

Nokia says its buying the Seattle-based digital music company Loudeye for $60 million, which aggregates content and rights from music labels for distribution across mobile, Internet and other platforms. Nokia said it is paying $4.50 per share. Loudeye’s stock had sat under $1 for weeks, mostly because investors did not give the money losing music service any chance of making it to the black. It had lost $4.6 million for the first quarter of this year on sales of $8.7 million.

Loudeye previously sold its U.S. assets to Muze, which included the technology used by AT&T and O2 Germany. That was indication that there was a firesale in progress. Loudeye’s other technology, the “OD2 Platform” is used by many more companies in Europe and comes from a company co-founded by the pop singer Peter Gabriel and bought by Loudeye in 2004, says a Loudeye spokesperson.

Loudeye’s troubles are emblematic of the bigger issues around mobile music downloads, which have been slow to take off. (Update: Rafat leaves an insightful comment which explains Loudeye’s problems succinctly.) There is a school of thought that 3G would change that, as faster downloads could make it easier for consumers to buy music on their mobiles. Nokia’s new multimedia phones such as N91 are geared for those kind of services.

That’s what Nokia is buying and plans to launch a branded mobile music service , which could include devices, and the ability to purchase digital music, in 2007. The Post points out that Nokia sold more than 15 million music-enabled phones in April to June, roughly double the amount of Apple’s iPods and making it the world’s largest manufacturer of digital music players. With the amount of iPhone rumors out there, Nokia is gearing up for a mobile music fight.

However, the service could put Nokia in direct conflict with the mobile music service plans of various service providers such as Vodafone.

Written by Katie Fehrenbacher on August 8th, 2006 with no comments.
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Sony Bets on WiFi With Mylo

Not since the PSP has Sony launched a consumer electronics device that falls into the must-try category. However, MyLo (my life online), a WiFi based handheld that is part-Nokia 770, part Sidekick, part OQO and part SkypePhone wrapped in a PSP-like body might change all that.

You cannot argue with the release of this device. Research shows that WiFi usage inside homes is only going to increase. There will be 160 million broadband enabled, networked homes by 2010, according to The Diffusion Group. This trend offers opportunities to sell devices specially designed for this type of environment.

Nokia was the first one to realize that when they released Nokia 770. Sony’s PSP only offered limited features, but lacked the true portability. Any communicator-type device that wants to be successful in the US, needs to have a keyboard and with MyLo, Sony has done precisely that.

The new device which is optimized for post PSTN communications - IM, email and Skype is targeting the MySpace set, that would rather thumb than talk on the phone. It can playback music, and has 1GB flash-based storage, and can also take additional memory stick slots. It truly does leverage the wireless network, and the feature which could be a killer in the long run is ad-hoc music sharing.

Providing networking possibilities without a wireless network, the mylo personal communicator detects when it comes into the presence of other mylo units. With the ad-hoc application, you can share play lists and stream music between mylo communicators one at a time.

The device has “presence” management features and allows you to track your social network of upto 90 people from a screen called “What’s up.” It also has a built in browser which makes sending emails via web interfaces easy. Now it won’t be Sony if they didn’t trip up a little - the device supports only 802.11b networks and is expensive, about $350. It will be available next month.

Full review at Engadget.

Written by Om Malik on August 8th, 2006 with no comments.
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Viacom Talking to Bebo?

So it did not win over MySpace, or IGN or The Facebook or whomever… but apparently that isn’t stopping Viacom from trying again. The Financial Times is reporting that they might be in talks to acquire Bebo, one of the new fast growing social networks, especially in UK. Mashable says Bebo has overtaken MySpace in UK. Remember Bebo - British Telecom was going to buy them! Nothing happened, for sometimes a rumor is just that - a rumor. Of course, for Viacom, they can try again. There are just too many options around these days.

Written by Om Malik on August 8th, 2006 with no comments.
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3G video PDA phone with Skype

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Written by VoIP & Gadgets Blog on August 8th, 2006 with no comments.
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Sprint To Detail 4G Strategy: WiMAX?

Sprint plans to announce the details of its much-anticipated 4G network in a conference later today, and the company has been trialling various technologies including WiMAX, Qualcomm-backed technologies, and IP Wireless’ technology, among others.

Some are saying that Sprint has chosen WiMAX, partly to avoid the Qualcomm royalty ecosystem, where Qualcomm takes a percentage of every handset sold. We called Sprint and they wouldn’t comment on the technology choice, but we’ll bring you more details later in the day.

If it’s true, that’s another public strike against Qualcomm’s high fees, which seem to be riling carriers in developing markets. Though, Qualcomm also has a good business with Sprint for its CDMA network, and Sprint is even upgrading its high speed EVDO service earlier than expected by the end of this year. It’s not too big a suprise that Sprint would not want to keep shelling out money to the same company if there are other comparable technologies available.

If Sprint has chosen WiMAX it would be a major win for Intel and the like that have been trying to push the technology by massive investment. If a company like Nortel could manage to win the contract it would do wonders for its attempts at a turn around.

Sprint has been mulling over its technology choice for awhile. Last January Sprint’s COO Len Lauer made a speech at CTIA laying out Sprint’s plans for its 4G network, which will run over 2.5 GHz spectrum that the company owns. At that time Lauer said the company will use its partnership with cable for exclusive media content, and will transition its media and mobile TV services to the new network when the 3G network gets too crowded. He said the network could launch as soon as 2008 and the entertainment services might be sold for a monthly charge of between $20 and $40 a month.

In an interview later that day he told me the 4G network would likely cost upwards of $800 million to build — the fee that Qualcomm has said it is spending on its MediaFLO network in the U.S. With Sprint reporting pretty tepid earnings last week, does the company really need to be spending that much on an experimental technology that has yet to prove itself in the market?

Written by Katie Fehrenbacher on August 8th, 2006 with no comments.
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FLAG To Sell 180 GBPS To Deutsche Telekom

Flag Telecom, a company owned by India’s ADA Group that also owns Reliance Communications, said it has signed a contract with T-Com, Deutsche Telekom AG’s broadband and fixed line business, to provide 180 gigabits of additional broadband connectivity between Europe and the U.S.

The additional capacity will enable Deutsche Telekom to enhance scalability and reliability of service to its customers. Demand for voice, data, and Internet between these the U.S. and Europe has been growing rapidly and the total used capacity on the. route has grown at around 48% year-on-year between 2002 and 2006, the company said in a press release. Demand is expected to grow at a higher or similar rate in the coming years.

“We have worked closely with Deutsche Telekom to understand their needs, while designing this flexible, scalable and high quality solution. The solution exacting to Deutsche Telekom’s customer service offers them excellent value for money,” said Gary Adey, Flag Telecom’s Vice President Europe.

Written by Om Malik on August 8th, 2006 with no comments.
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Lucent and Alcatel Name New Company “Alcatel Lucent”

Written by VoIP Magazine Featured Stories on August 8th, 2006 with no comments.
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Vacation Photos - Nokia N90 and N91

Just wanted to share a few vacation photos from our Great White North road trip, along with some brief comments. I used the Nokia N90, Max used the N91, and we both used the family Sony Cybershot. Can you tell the difference?

An unplanned visit - just had to pay homage to Bobby Orr in Parry Sound - view from the front, and looking out the back...

Once you get out of Toronto and into the Near North, you see a lot of rocks. Not too many phones booths though - remember these?

Manitoulin Island - the largest freshwater island in the world. The plaque may be hard to read, but it tells the story of this historic mill that was totally repurposed over the years as times changed. It went from being a pulp mill to a hydro station, and now it houses artist's wares among other things. Made me think about the PSTN a bit, wondering how it may be repurposed once things become end-to-end IP. That's a ways off, but like the building in this picture, the structure is pretty solid and can still be used for other things.

Dynamic Earth attraction in Sudbury. Went on an underground tour to see how mining has evolved over the years. First photo - a video camera to monitor activity. Just above the camera is a yellow wire running horizontally. That carries the radio wires so the walkie talkies will work. The tour guide said that cell phones will work well in the mines, but neither Max nor I got a signal. Still, a pretty challenging environment for communications, and it's easy to see how valuable wireless can be there. Next photo - Canada's only underground mail box.

The Big Nickel, also at Dynamic Earth. It's certainly the largest nickel in the world, but I have it on good word that it's actually made of tin! One photo is with the N91 and one is with the Sony. Any guesses?

Sauble Beach - late afternoon, and a spectacular sunset

Technorati tags: Nokia, Jon Arnold

Written by Jon Arnold's Blog on August 8th, 2006 with no comments.
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My,my I’m hi on mylo’s Skype integration

Written by Russell Shaw on August 8th, 2006 with no comments.
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SprintNextel’s WiMax challenges aren’t all technical. Some are execution-related

Written by Russell Shaw on August 8th, 2006 with no comments.
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Sony mylo personal communicator

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Written by VoIP & Gadgets Blog on August 8th, 2006 with no comments.
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Mobile Opera Hits a 1B Page Views

Written by Mark Evans on August 8th, 2006 with no comments.
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The Future of Telecom Carriers

Written by Mark Evans on August 8th, 2006 with no comments.
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Wow, MySpace is The Real Deal

Written by Mark Evans on August 8th, 2006 with no comments.
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Prediction: Google Talk will be MySpace’s voice provider

Written by Russell Shaw on August 8th, 2006 with no comments.
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TripHub: Your Mom’s Trip Planner

TripHub, a Seattle-based online travel service is incorporating community and social networking features to cash in on the ongoing online travel boom. The year-old startup has also raised an undisclosed amount of funding from its current backer, Seattle-based Madrona Venture Group. MVG is well known for its early stage investments in Amazon.com, and Classmates.com.

Unlike pure online travel e-tail services, TripHub.com is trying to diversify its business through event-planning and blogging of trips that require a lot of organizing — those kind that your mom or grandma spent a year planning. The community-based travel market is becoming a bit of an investment theme. Yesterday we wrote about Wikia and 43Places. TripHub service has been online for a few months, but the company recently added “event planning” and “trip-blogging” sections to its pages.

The day after I spoke with CEO Josh Herst on the phone about the company’s update, I attended a 120-person family reunion in the Rocky Mountains that could have sorely needed TripHub’s help. TripHub’s target audience, Mom’s and post-college planners, seemed to match the demographic of my trip’s group and I was definitely sick of receiving mass emails about the weekend’s plans. (If anyone has used TripHub to plan big trips, add your thoughts below and give us a good idea of why this service stands out!)

Still, I am inclined to stick with larger online travel sites like Yahoo Travel that are adding the vital social and community features. TripHub’s site is easy to use it will fight for attention in an increasingly crowded market that includes startups like Gusto, RealTravel, and TravelPost, as well as the giants Expedia, Yahoo Travel.

Written by Katie Fehrenbacher on August 8th, 2006 with no comments.
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