December 5th, 2006
You are currently browsing the articles from the VoIP Digest written on December 5th, 2006.
GigaOm is expanding again with the launch of a new blog, NewTeeVee, that will cover the online video industry's hot start-ups, talent, technology. With online video booming, it's actually been somewhat of a surprise these type of blogs haven't already flourished. Still, it's early days and there will more than enough news to keep an army of bloggers busy as YouTube, Google, Yahoo, Brightcove, DailyMotion, etc. become even bigger players in the video business. Nice work, Om.
Technorati Tags: Om Malik, TV
Written by Mark Evans on December 5th, 2006 with no comments.
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Six months ago when we launched on this journey, my initial thoughts were launching three-to-five specialized blogs that were like satellites around Planet Broadband. Online video, gaming, data centers and virtual work - they were part of my larger vision of GigaOM network.
Today, we took the next step forward and launched NewTeeVee.com, a site devoted to online video, and other technologies that are reinventing the video experience. (RSS Feed here!)
We also took a step back, and have sent IPNetworked on a winter break for some R&R. We are going to redesign it, and bring it back after the holidays with a focus on data centers, and their amazing transition.
We think we are a little early to the data center boom/reinvention, but better early than late. We took this decision after some of our trusted readers wrote in and pointed out that many telecom/ISP related stories should be featured on the flagship site. Your wishes are our command, and as they used to say, we are under construction… again!
But back to NewTeeVee!
TechCrunch has the skinny on NTV, but if you indulge me, I wanted to ramble for a tiny bit. The frenzy of activity around video is one of the main reasons we are starting this new blog. The torrent of news, is such that it is almost impossible to keep up with everything, and write about companies and technologies on our flagship property.
The $1.65 billion deal that sent me an diet; phone companies changing their stripes and old media companies like CBS deciding that YouTube is good for ratings — these are signs that something profound is happening.
It is a time of confusion, creation and disruption. Which means it is perfect time for a new blog devoted to what Jeff Jarvis describes as “exploding TV.” A new blog that aspires to make sense of it all, and at the same time has fun doing it. Technologies, companies, people… everything will be part of the NewTeeVee’s focus. I mean how can you not write about WallStrip, the greatest video podcast since well 88Slide (which is on a hiatus for a little while.)
The new medium is young, and restless, and fun. Like the medium, the person who we have entrusted the new effort to is you, energetic and fun. Liz Gannes is taking the lead on NewTeeVee.com and she will be working with an esteemed line up of writers.
We’ll point you to hot startups, hot videos, hot pipes — tracing the talent, money, code, and data across the network. We’ll combine the signature GigaOM skepticism with a healthy sense of wonder for all the cool stuff that’s going on out there. And lots and lots of pictures and video.
Of course, I will be hovering in the background, writing for the new site, guiding it with suggestions and injecting a dose of skepticism. If you are so inclined, check out my scoop on Jaman, an online video download service that focuses on world cinema, and not Hollywood fare. It is one of the first download service that I personally have been excited about (largely because it has old skool Indian movies by the dozen.)
Here is to tee-vee, sorry I meant, NewTeeVee!
PS: In case you want to subscribe to NewTeeVee RSS Feed.
Written by Om Malik on December 5th, 2006 with no comments.
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Cellular-News.com has interesting story on the inability of Wi-Fi access points (found in coffee shops, etc.) to support dual mode (Wi-Fi VoIP/ Cellular) calling. This comes just a few days after Jeff Pulver commented about the short-comings of the technology. Each piece targets a different down-fall of dual mode service. Cellular-News.com talks about the burden on the WLAN that causes an un-pleasant customer experience, while Jeff speaks to the consumer demand (or lack thereof) for dual mode service. Dual Mode service holds great promise, no one can doubt that, but in reading each of these peices, one gets the sense that there are too many variables, too many assumptions, and a real lack of consumer demand, to view dual mode service as anything more then a technology buzz word.
Written by Smith On VoIP - Insights on VoIP Products and Serv on December 5th, 2006 with no comments.
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Mojungle, a mobile media-sharing startup, is the latest company to put itself up for sale on eBay, with the bid starting at $60,000. The Los Angeles-based startup is less than a year old and has bootstrapped itself with just three full time employees. Mojungle CEO Ophir Tanz said they are shooting for at least $250,000 for the sale of the entire company including the technology, the design, and the domain name.
Tanz said the decision was bittersweet, but thought the company has a lot of potential for the right buyer – the eBay listing explains why they are looking to sell:
“The decision to sell Mojungle was a difficult one. We’ve encountered unanticipated and growing personal and business obligations not allowing us to make the full time commitment needed to build Mojungle into the strong brand we know it can be.”
The move is also another sign that the mobile content-sharing space is starting to become over run with startups pitching themselves as “MySpace for mobile,” and mobile social networks. Mojungle enables users to send camera phone photos and videos to the web, which are playable on the Mojungle player that can be embedded in sites like MySpace and Piczo.
Tanz says while the mobile market is still early for consumers, the market for mobile content sharing startups is getting somewhat saturated. “Everyone is still trying to find the right business model, and right now there are a lot of limitations in the market, like interoperability,” Tanz says.
There’s also a rush of these companies because VCs have been pouring money into them. In the eBay listing the company says:
“Mojungle is a self-funded company. We have been approached by several Venture Capital firms and independent companies looking for partnership opportunities. There is currently one, in particular, that is interested and ready to work with Mojungle to create a new product offering for its clients. We will be happy to make the connection, post-sale, if desired.”
The Mojungle crew has high hopes for the company after the sale, and Tanz says he thinks the closed carrier-controlled industry will open up in the near future. But obviously not in time for the original founders to stay at the helm of Mojungle. “It’s not the way I thought it would end, says Tanz.
Anyone interested in buying?
Written by Katie Fehrenbacher on December 5th, 2006 with no comments.
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Back in 2004, when researching The New Road to Riches for Business 2.0, I had a chance to meet Eric Hahn, a seasoned entrepreneur and investor, who had sold Lookout Software to Microsoft. He said a lot of smart things, but one bit of wisdom he imparted has become firmly implanted in my memory.
Hahn says there are countless opportunities to come up with similar small-scale, highly targeted technologies—what he calls “nano-type projects.” “E-mail, instant messaging, voice over Internet—there’s just a zillion things that can be created to improve that stuff,” he says.
He was so right, and it has been over two years since I wrote that article, and there are no signs of this trend of nano-innovations isn’t abating. As I explained earlier in a piece for The Wall Street Journal, it is the platform, stupid. While that piece looked at the world from the eyes of the platform dons, the argument still holds.
Look at MySpace, which has incubated an entire widget ecosystem, and spawned many companies based entirely on that platform. (Not sure if the dollars-and-cents management at FIM will understand this argument now that the one who did is gone.)
Brady Forrest points out that like MySpace, Google, and Microsoft, the over-hyped Second Life and World of Warcraft are platforms that can foster the technology version of cottage industries. His post is inspired perhaps by the investment in Shawn Fanning’s new company. He is right - gold farming is a cottage industry of sorts.
WoW of Warcraft has 7.5 millions members. That is large enough to support other companies. That is already happening for in game services such as player leveling and gold farming, but what about other more Web 2.0-ish type services?
The thesis for cottage industry type operations is hard to argue. In the past, we had a few platforms for lone coders who had financial limitations to scale their businesses. No more: we have many more platforms, and ultra cheap resources for lone coders (or two) to scale their operations, thanks to Amazon’s web services efforts.
Amazon Web Services (ignore my own personal rantings for a minute) is one of the more important developments of 2006, and will prove to be one of the most disruptive (for start ups and VCs) in our industry. If you want to get a good grasp on this, then go ahead and read Kevin Maney’s article in USA Today. It is as clear and coherent road map to the future. (Of course there will be potholes, big ones, but the road is pretty clear.) Like Amazon, Salesforce.com has joined the party.
“You’re going to be able to have virtual start-ups, virtual entrepreneurship,” says Marc Benioff, CEO of Salesforce.com, which is betting on a vision similar to Amazon’s. “It will be the next wave.”
Written by Om Malik on December 5th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Featured and Startups.
Ever since I made the leap from tech journalist to blogging executive, my inbox has seen a rash of LinkedIn requests. Maybe this has something to do with the fact few people want to network with a journalist. In any event, LinkedIn is one of those companies that has quietly become one of the more successful players in the social networking market. In the past year, its membership has doubled to more than eight million people, and the company expects to hit $100-million in revenue by 2008. Business 2.0 has a profile about the Palo Alto, Ca.-based company and its co-founder Reid Hoffman in the latest issue.
Written by Mark Evans on December 5th, 2006 with no comments.
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When I first read my colleague Daniel Terdiman's article "IRS taxation of online game virtual assets inevitable" early this morning, my first reaction was "what the…"
Dan's positioning of this as a very real public policy came from a Saturday panel called "Tax and Finance" at the New York Law School's State of Play/Terra Nova […]
Written by Russell Shaw on December 5th, 2006 with no comments.
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Obviously Cisco Systems has a dog in this hunt, but still I have to agree with John Earnhardt, who writes the Cisco High Tech Policy Blog for well, uh, Cisco.
Oh and he's also Cisco's senior manager of Policy Communications for Cisco's Office of Worldwide Government Affairs.
John's point is that the FCC's tried-and-true [...]
Written by Russell Shaw on December 5th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on General and trends and Cisco and Streaming media.
Analysis
We guess Monday morning is as good a time as any to announce massive chip deals. Not one, not two, but three of them.
Qualcomm says it is buying two chip companies, Airgo and the majority of RF Micro Devices, and meanwhile LSI Logic says it is buying Agere Systems. These purchases, along with the ongoing patent fights within the wireless chip industry, highlight how big the stakes are in the battle over the silicon in connected mobile devices.
Qualcomm is able to lead the market for 3G cell phone chips, but has been trying to build up its portfolio with other wireless networking technologies. Qualcomm has been particularly interested in companies with a lot of patents in this area, and Palo Alto-based Airgo holds numerous valuable intellectual property for MIMO (multiple-in, multiple-out) — a technology that enables frequency to carry more data and boosts the transmission speed.
Airgo maintains that it is the first to market WiFi plus MIMO technology, and combined with Qualcomm, the technology can be more easily integrated into the mobile market.
“With the increasing importance of mobile broadband solutions for the laptop, Qualcomm may be able to gain Wi-Fi market share as cellular modem vendors purchase 3G/802.11n chipsets,” said ABI Research senior analyst Philip Solis. “However the powerful Intel “Centrino” brand will be a significant obstacle to Qualcomm’s success in that sector.”
ABI Research principal analyst Stuart Carlaw notes that “With Qualcomm’s history of integration, these acquisitions provide a very logical precursor to a highly integrated series of cellular chipsets that incorporate both 802.11n and Bluetooth. Outside the cell phone, Qualcomm now effectively owns a stake in the Bluetooth market that will enable it to expand into the CE environment with greater ease, due to the growing profile of Bluetooth in the gaming, PMP and music player markets.”
Qualcomm also said today that it has purchased the majority of North Carolina-based RF Micro Devices’s Bluetooth technology, which makes an enhanced Bluetooth technology for mobile devices and headsets.
Then there is the news that LSI Logic is buying Agere Systems for $4 billion in stock which will boost its move into chips for wireless and fixed networking and storage.
As mobile devices and networks become more advanced, Qualcomm and the other wireless chip companies are packing devices with all sorts of silicon to create the connections — Bluetooth, WiFi, cellular, etc. Broadcom has been emphasizing its push into mobile phones recently, and Motorola bought 3G software and chip company TTP this summer.
Whatever company can develop the best ways to wirelessly connect devices and defend those patents in courts, will dominate the future wireless market. Last week a Nokia executive said that the ongoing patent fights between Qualcomm, Nokia, Broadcom, and others will determine the industry’s future.
Qualcomm will now have its newly acquired Airgo IP to continue to battle its competitors in courts. For companies that have been battling and complaining about Qualcomm’s chip royalties, the news isn’t necessarily good. Look forward to more wireless-inspired patent fights.
Written by Katie Fehrenbacher on December 5th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Featured and Mobile and Startups.
Telecom research firm TeleGeography says that about half of Skype's voice traffic is international. We're talking about about 4.4 percent of all the 264 billion global minutes carried on VoIP as well as circuit-switched lines.
Parsing the numbers further, we see that Skype's portion of all global phone minutes increased from 2.9 percent of such [...]
Written by Russell Shaw on December 5th, 2006 with no comments.
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Two quotes from Vonage Chairman and Chief Strategist Jeffrey Citron's presentation at the Reuters Media Summit Friday afternoon are definitive indicators of Vonage's future plans.
The first is that Vonage's technology could be embedded in near-future generations of Wi-Fi enabled handsets laptops (which almost all new laptops are these days).
"We expect next year, 2007, to […]
Written by Russell Shaw on December 5th, 2006 with no comments.
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Our last week’s argument about “content aggregators” is slowly manifesting itself. Today Yahoo and Reuters announced that they will start incorporating user generated photos and videos of news events into their offerings.
Starting tomorrow, cameraphone users will be able to go to You Witness News and upload their photos and videos, which will also appear on the Flickr site. Yahoo and Reuters’ editors will curate this new effort. Photos will be used on many Yahoo properties including sports and entertainment sites.
The timing of such an effort is certainly right. According to Gartner, a technology research group, nearly 48% of the total phones sold worldwide in 2006 have a camera built into them. That’s about 460 million cameraphones. By 2010 this number will increase to a billion, or roughly 81% of the total phones sold, Gartner forecasts. In other words, there is going to be a whole lot of photo-clicking going on, and some of it is going to be news worthy.
Though this is a clever idea, it is fairly disappointing to see that Yahoo is not going to compensate people if their images are used. Yahoo will sell advertising on pages that will feature those photos, and it is appropriate for them to share the money, with at least those folks whose photos are selected for the showcase. Reuters’ says it is not sure how, but it will pay for photos or videos that are selected for distribution to Reuters’ commercial users.
The biggest challenge, for Yahoo and Reuters will be getting people to submit these photos and videos. It is not clear how the photos are going to be uploaded. An ideal scenario will be a special upload tool, that is built right into the phone with one click upload ability.
Written by Om Malik on December 5th, 2006 with no comments.
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