January 15th, 2007
You are currently browsing the articles from the VoIP Digest written on January 15th, 2007.
Over the weekend, the Globe and Mail has a story about business card was disappearing as “Generation Blackberry’ relies more on electronic data than paper. While the business card may not as much of a corporate staple as it was 25 years ago, the suggestion it is fading into the sunset is overblown - particularly the notion seven million Blackberry users are sounding the death toll.
Truth be told, it’s not the Blackberry or other portable devices in which you can input data that will reduce business card usage but the growth of blogs. If want someone to know more about who you are, what you do and how you think, a blog is doing to a lot better job than a little piece of paper with your name, e-mail address and telephone number on it. In a sense, blogs could take the place of the business card and the resume.
We may get to a point soon where business cards will simply consist of your name and the blog URL, or you could tell someone you met to just Google “Mark Evans and technology” to find you (assuming you’ve been writing for awhile about a particular topic). Then again, there is something formal about business cards that Blackberrys or blogs don’t have. A business card is a sign of a relationship just beginning, which is why in Asia you treat a business card with great respect, and study its information before talking to the person who gave it to you.
So, long live the business card! (For the history of the business card, click here.)
Written by Mark Evans on January 15th, 2007 with no comments.
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It all began with an anonymous tip, about a new service called Shadow Number that allows you to make private calls from your mobile phone, while still retaining your privacy. Their sales pitch: ShadowNumber keeps your play life private.
Their flyer led to their Web site, and a click later it revealed that the Menlo Ventures-backed TalkPlus, a VoIP start-up was powering this new service. Their tag line: Calling for a Playdate!
… Instantly alter your caller ID, Shadow Number keeps your play life private.…
While the company made a couple of announcements at CES, there was no mention of Shadow Number. The company domain name is registered to a Toronto-based Canadian company called Contact Privacy, though it shared the name servers with TalkPlus. So we decided to check in with Jeff Black, CEO of the company.
“Shadow number is our brand for the alternative market,” Black explained it to us. “We are uncomfortable with putting our TalkPlus name, and are using the Shadow Number.” Black describes the “alternative market” as the adult market and that is on the fringe of that adult market.
Despite their self-claimed value propositions, most if not all VoIP start-ups face an uphill battle in terms of mass scale adoption. The desire for anonymity, especially when indulging in naughty activities, might be actually be their savior.
There are many reasons why people might want to keep romantic liaisons anonymous, from the simple (you’re just flirting) to the more complex (use your imagination). There is also a measure of safety in anonyminity, and the desire to keep potential stalkers at a hidden-number distance might well be an attractive service.
TalkPlus is just the latest amongst the VoIP start-ups to use the anonymity sales pitch. Jangl has signed a deal with Match.com, while Vivox has signed a deal with the WorldFriends’ Networks.
Some of us (including yours truly) may find Shadownumber’s pitch a tad distasteful, but it is an ingenious way for a fledgling start-up to popularize its offering. “There are certain markets that we think will have higher adoption,” Black said. It is a time-tested model for new technologies – go adult and go big.
Many new technologies — like VHS and DVDs, and more recently Video over the Internet — owe no small part of their early success to adult entertainment, which spurred people to jump through technological hoops they might not have otherwise. As long as no laws are broken, why shouldn’t VoIP benefit from satisfying the same desires?
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Written by Om Malik on January 15th, 2007 with no comments.
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I've been saying for some time now that free-standing VoIP providers such as Vonage really need to look at optional service contracts much like their cellular counterparts do.
Now, a key figure at one of the most influential of those providers is indicating that yes, this is a real possibility.
Speaking at Citigroup's Media and Telecommunications Conference [...]
Written by Russell Shaw on January 15th, 2007 with no comments.
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If the popular memes are to be believed then The Founders Fund has the midas touch, thanks to some savvy investing by Peter Thiel and the bad boy Sean Parker. The latest buzz is around David “Smoking” Sacks’ new company, Geni. Given their track record it is kinda hard not to be impressed with this investing team, but there is one little investment that stands out in garish constrast.
Remember Engage.com, that got funded a while ago. If Alexa trends (I know they are as reliable as a dating profile) don’t portend good things for a company that launched with much fanfare back in July 2005. We checked it on Compete.com, and things don’t look much different either. Everything has pretty much flatlined. This is in sharp contrast to Thiel and Parker’s track record of investing/starting hypergrowth companies.
What got me interested in them was this recent funding announcement by OkCupid, another dating site which is offering listings for free. I am most curious to see what the future holds for many of these start-ups that are competing with leviathans like Yahoo and Match.com. It be interesting to see what comes out of iDate 2007, an Internet dating conference that kicks off in Miami tomorrow.
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Written by Om Malik on January 15th, 2007 with no comments.
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It is a damn shame that Findory.com is riding into the sunset. Greg Linden fought the good fight, but decided that it was time to move on. In his sayonara he writes:
“I built Findory around the idea of applying Amazon.com-style personalization and recommendations to information. Search only helps if you can say what you want. Personalization helps you discover things that you could not have found on your own.”
Despite being drop dead simple, Findory never realized its true potential as an information discovery engine. It has all the makings of being a personal memetracker, something a lot of folks have been clamoring for. In contrast the general purpose memetrackers that follow conversations, like Techmeme and Tailrank keep growing. Any thoughts?
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Written by Om Malik on January 15th, 2007 with no comments.
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Never mind net neutrality, I want my privacy. As in packet privacy. The telcos say they need to sell non-neutral routing of traffic to recover the cost of building broadband networks. Moving from the Internet, where a packet-is-a-packet, to something that looks suspiciously like the 20th century telephone network requires remarrying the content and connectivity that TCP/IP divorced. It requires deep packet inspection. It requires looking at the content of communication.
AT&T does not plan to roll out two physical pipes to every end point in order to sell Google enhanced access. The new telco plan calls for content-based routing to separate traffic into media and destination specific VPNs (Virtual Private Networks). Laws exist to address the substantial privacy threats created by the fact telephone companies know Mr. Smith called Mr. Jones, but the privacy risks associated with “content routing” replacing “end point routing” enter an different realm.
Coping with billing disputes still means retaining data. Under what circumstances might a third party get access to the data derived from content routing? Content routing in one context enables content filtering in another. Lessons Cisco accumulates in providing content filtering equipment for the Great Firewall of China apply to directly to content routing ambitions of telcos in the U.S.
The telcos do not claim a right to listen in on calls to enforce the business versus consumer pricing policies. What makes it appropriate to use packet inspection to accomplish the same thing? The pitch for content routing gets presented in terms of quality of service guarantees that benefit users, but there are other customers for content routing. Law enforcement and criminal enterpises will have plenty of uses for data obtained through deep packet inspection. One can imagine champagne will flow at the NSA should the telcos get their wish.
What is driving telcos’ desires to charge by the application?
The fact that their delivery pipes are being commoditized. Internet access pricing reflects the cost of building broadband networks (e.g. location, bandwidth, performance, and reliability), so moving a video bit costs the same as moving an email or voice bit. This turns the traditional telco pricing model (charging more per service, or per minute) upside down. Packet inspection would allow telcos to charge more for high-bandwidth applications, or to charge for preferential treatment.
One such method is already in practice: The Verizon Wireless EV-DO broadband service does not suffer net neutrality obligations, so the Acceptable Use Policy includes prohibitions against using VoIP applications. Verizon cannot enforce the provision without content routing (aka content filtering). So Verizon can and does track bit consumption and boots customers who take the advertised “unlimited usage” too literally. But just counting bits does not work where bits carry different values.
Content routing does not entirely shift the balance of power toward carriers. People sensitive about who might get access to their communication already implement encryption that, by definition, defeats packet inspection efforts. The decline in trust between carriers and users shows up in the growth of so called Darknets (encrypted communication among a closed group of trusted end points.) Progress toward implementing content filtering will turn the entire Internet dark, so efforts to make encryption illegal will likely follow any success in undermining net neutrality obligations. And then how secure will your bits be?
Daniel Berninger is a Washington, D.C.-based financial analyst working for Tier1 Research. He is a veteran of the telecom industry.
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Written by Daniel Berninger on January 15th, 2007 with no comments.
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Several recent court decisions are, in my view, threatening the generally accepted notion that the Internet thrives on a "free to link" privilege between any two sites.
As rabid as some content creators, their lawyers and agents are, I fear that we may be headed into an era where these rights are challenged. Challenged to a [...]
Written by Russell Shaw on January 15th, 2007 with no comments.
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Topcom Webt@lker 5000 VoIP Phone For Skype > Announced at CES, the Topcom WebT@lker 5000 VoIP phone for Skype is just the type of product Skype needs to drive usage of their service by the business and enterpise sectors. The Topcom Webt@lker 5000 is a full feature IP phone for Skype that does not require a PC. Essentially, the Webt@lker is just like any other VoIP IP phone, but it was made specifically for Skype. Topcom Webt@lker 5000 Features and Functionality The Topcom Webtalker 5000 is a true plug-n-play device that is easy to install. One of the great features of the Webt@lker 5000 is that the corded phone can connect be connected to a Wi-Fi network via the Topcom Wireless Expansion Kit which gives the Webt@lker 5000 the flexibility to be used in just about an area. The Topcom Webt@lker 500 also boasts: Full Skype integration RJ45 Ethernet connection 2.4 inch color display Full-Duplex handsfree speakerphone Echo cancellation technology on handset Skype Certified product Multiple Ringtones Topcom Webt@lker 5000 First Impressions Although I was unable to get a live demo of the unit at CES, the product was solidly built and certainly had a business class feel. As I remarked above, I believe this is the sort of product that allow for greater acceptance of Skype as a business type service. The Topcom Webt@lker appears to have the same features and functionality of any other desktop IP phone on the market. Although Skype as a service is still missing some business class features, it is promosing to see them pushing product manufacturers to release business class hardware for Skype. Although the Topcom Webt@lker 5000 wont be out until next quarter (April), if you are looking for a business class phone for Skype, it is well worth the wait. With a suggested retail price of $199.99 USD, it is very liley you will be able to pick one of these up for uner $180 dollars, making this phone a great value and must have.
Written by Smith On VoIP - Garrett Smith's Insights on VoIP P on January 15th, 2007 with no comments.
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People who just read blogs rarely get how intensely social blogging is. Readers get to know people, their ideas, attitudes, styles, lives. But it is so much more when you engage in conversation, through comments or on your own blog. Bloggers get to know each other, and they become a part of your daily life, albeit virtually.
So it was positively brilliant to make an offline place for bloggers at CES. While it met our physical needs (comfy chairs, bandwidth, food, power outlets), meeting our social needs was so much more important. More than faces, name tags trigger recognition. At the bloghaus, nametags were less for introductions than for reunions, seeing people for the first time offline. I ran into people I've only known through newsfeeds, listservs, twitter; each a burst of happy connection.
The BlogHaus was so not a press room. Trade show press rooms are cordial, not collegial. Everyone is there for snacks, the interview space, the connectivity, or a relatively quiet place to sit and write. The BlogHaus was full of conversation, live and immediate. Only a few bloggers worry about scoops since the real power is having the best news metaphors, analysis, and interpretation. So bloggers share ideas, build on them, in ways that reporters rarely do.
Let me add my thanks to Jim Courtney's. The Furriers, Scobles and friends were great hosts. I can't wait for BlogHausen at the next Golden Globes, Superbowl, and Presidential Inauguration.
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Written by Skype Journal on January 15th, 2007 with no comments.
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The trials and tribulations of AOL are quite well known. Time Warner, perhaps recognizing the inevitable is slowly but surely taking money off the table. It has sliced, diced and pocketed around $3 billion as the company transitions from an “access” to “free” model.
- May 2004: AOL sells Japan business to eAccess for $18.6 million.
- September 2006: AOL sells German broadband business to Telecom Italia for about $853 million.
- September 2006: AOL sells AOL France for $365 million to Neuf Cegetel
- October 2006: AOL UK, the broadband business sold to Carphone Warehouse for $725 million.
- October 2006: AOL sells AOL Call center in Ogden, Utah to Teleperformance USA for an undisclosed amount.
- December 20, 2005: Google buys 5% stake in AOL for $1 billion.
- January 2007: AOL sells paid music service, AOL Music Now to Napster for $15 million, valuing each subscriber at $43 a subscriber. Napster’s 566,000 subscribers are valued at $328 million.
It seems that 2007 will prove to be a challenging year for AOL, as Time Warner contemplates a spin-off. The page views are stagnating and even have started to show a slight dip. For now the company has managed to bring in about $2 billion in revenues every quarter. How long is that going to last? . We will find out in a couple of weeks if the so-called free model is actually working. What are the other portions of the company they can hock to others? Any suggestions?
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Written by Om Malik on January 15th, 2007 with no comments.
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Announced more than a year ago, a Google staffer blogs Google and AOL are still making progress on federating their text instant messaging networks. via Google Operating System.
Moving text across an xmpp gateway is easy. Areas they are sure to work on (or ignore):
- Avatar sharing
- Alias sharing
- Emoticon interop (and the over-the-top extensions)
- Presence sharing
- Privacy policy harmonization
- Dispute resolution policy and procedures
- SPIM (Spam over instant messaging) and SPIT (Spam over Internet telephony) prevention
- Directory lookup and user discovery interop
- Web link integration (can an AIM link launch GTalk, and vice versa)
- Encryption interop
Voice and video interop are likely out of scope in the first stage.
When the first stages of Microsoft+Yahoo! and GTalk+AIM IM interops reach completion, we'll see how important interop is to users. If it is, there will be huge pressure on Skype to open up gateways.
The other point of pressure on Skype to open: success of click-to-Skype advertising. eBay won't want to walk away from sales generated by AIM, GTalk, Yahoo! Messenger, QQ, Live Messenger, MSN Messenger, and Office Communicator users who want to talk to an eBay seller who uses Skype.
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Written by Skype Journal on January 15th, 2007 with no comments.
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My legs are just recovering from walking miles on Wednesday and Thursday in an attempt to see all the exhibits involving Skype. A full post outlining what I found will follow in the next day or so. Am taking the weekend off in Las Vegas where we have seen some interesting country outside Las Vegas (Valley of Fire and drove the Virgin River Gorge - aka I-15 in northwest corner of Arizona).
Today I want to acknowledge the contribution to our efforts at CES made by the BlogHaus team who set new benchmarks for hosting bloggers at a conference. With 24/7 access, a 20Mbps pipe, over a dozen work locations, laptops for those without their own along with free food and drink (and occasionally some entertainment), I would like to acknowledge the support of Seagate, Intel and Microsoft as sponsors and the Podtech team’s resources in organizing and managing BlogHaus. Just a tremendous effort. Kudos to Robert and Maryam Scoble and John and Linda Furrier for coming up with the idea and providing the execution leadership.
Highlights included:
- Meeting for the first time many fellow bloggers, including Robert Scoble, photoblogger Thomas Hawk and AximSite/MobilitySite’s Chris Leckness.
- The bear pit conversations that spontaneously combusted, especially a very animated discussion that occurred the evening of the Apple iPhone announcement.
- Watching Bill Gates keynote in an atmosphere that permitted immediate blogging as well as seeing one of the new Windows Vista hardware platforms appear at the time in the speech when these platforms were announced. (Much more effective than being in the physical location of the keynote presentation.)
- Having a chance to get informal feedback on Skype usage by bloggers. While many use it (including some who record for podcasts), others still have their hangups such as voice quality issues on SkypeOut calls.
Here are a few photos taken at various times (requires Flash player) over the four days. But I do need some names to round them out; please use the Comments to get them right.
This album is powered by BubbleShare - Add to my blog
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Written by Skype Journal on January 15th, 2007 with no comments.
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For the past six weeks, b5media has been actively trying to hiring an advertising sales manager so we can grow revenue and become less dependent on things such as text links and AdSense. In talking to potential candidates, one of the things we’ve highlighted is the huge potential of the blog-vertising market as advertisers begin to allocate some of the budgets to the user-generated content market.
There is little doubt blog-vertising is going to see huge growth over the next few years as advertisers become adopt more aggressive online strategies. We see evidence of this trend in our business every day as email inquiries appear in our in-boxes. The question is how quickly will the blog-vertising market grow. According to a study done by PQ Media earlier this, the blog-vertising will climb to $120-million by 2010 compared with $16.6-million in 2005. That’s impressive but it strikes me as conservative, although I could easily be accused of being biased. 
What has struck me over the past three months since joining b5media is how many advertisers are still cautious about the online market, which seems strange give the strong growth that Internet advertising has seen over the past two or three years. Many advertising realize they need to be on the Internet but they’re still unclear about where to do it (mainstream sites, niche sites, blogs, podcasts), how (banner ads, CPM, CPC, CPL) and how much of their budgets (1%, 5%, 20%).
In terms of the blog-vertising market, a major challenge facing advertisers is who to do business with given there are 50 million blogs and counting. My sense is advertisers will approach the market in a pragmatic way and do a lot of experimenting with a variety of players to see what works. Part of this go-slow approach is many advertisers still see the blogosphere as the Wild West where anything goes. This is great for readers looking for lively writing but not ideal for advertisers that want editorial content they can count on.
As a result, advertisers initially do business with blog networks such as b5media, Federated Media, Gawker, Weblogs Inc., 9Rules, GigaOm and PopSugar where there are editorial standards and the media buys are easier than trying to pick off individuals blogs even those that are popular.
For more thoughts on the blog-osphere and the advertising market, check out Canadian Business writer Andy Holloway’s recent column.
Written by Mark Evans on January 15th, 2007 with no comments.
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