February 3rd, 2007
You are currently browsing the articles from the VoIP Digest written on February 3rd, 2007.
Light reading to overcome SuperBowl hype prior to the actual game:
Garrett Smith interviews Ted Wallingford,"an enterprise systems consultant, a writer, a blogger, and an authority on Voice over IP", with comments on enterprise use of VoIP:
Smith: Do you think a service such as Skype will ever be suitable as a primary form of business communication for small medium businesses?
Wallingford: Not in its present form. It still has the fundamental drawback of being tied to a PC or Mac, in most cases. Plus, it's too secretive to become pervasive. There are no Skype techno-enthusiasts out there evangelizing it because Skype is keeping all its dirty secrets to itself. The inner-workings of Skype would have to be exposed in order for widespread business use to become common. If we knew how it worked, we could provide QoS measures, and then it would be an acceptable primary telephony solution for businesses. (They do have call-transfers now, with 3.0, which would've been mmy other gotcha...)
Read the entire post for Ted's interesting advice on implementation of VoIP into the enterprise.
Technology plays to watch: Andy has the scoop on the launch of Gizmo Call:
What makes this something cool is that you can make calls today and in the near future receive calls in a browser. That means you don't have to at YOUR computer, you can be at ANY computer.
More insight from Garrett Smith and GigaOm.
Remember eBay's announcement about working with Google and the speculation on how Skype and Google Talk would interoperate?. Not much heard lately but Paul Kretkowski theorizes on Google's VoIP Strategy; can Google be a game-changer?
If Charlene Li's speculation bears fruit and future Google Talk revs both capture and search voice traffic, this little IM client potentially changes the telecom business forever. Here are a few ramifications of digitally recorded, searchable phone calls:
Enjoy the SuperBowl (even if your country's cable regulations overwrite the SuperBowl ads with local content).
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Written by Skype Journal on February 3rd, 2007 with no comments.
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The Smith Report Almost 100 of you have already noticed that little email sign-up form to the right. I am hoping many more will notice it after this I have decided to expand into your inbox with Smith On VoIPs latest initiative, The Smith Report. The Smith Report is a weekly newsletter that expands on the daily coverage found here at Smith On VoIP including news, notes, tips, deals, offers, and exclusive commentary. Read The Things I Cant Post Publicly Thats right, I withold information everyday. The Smith Report will be the place where I first break inside scoops, promos, and other not for public content. The best part? It is delivered right to your inbox, no need to visit my site, or check your rss feed reader. Sign-up For The Smith Report Today! Just click on the the following link to Sign Up For The Smith Report
Written by Smith On VoIP - Garrett Smith's Insights on VoIP P on February 3rd, 2007 with no comments.
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VoIP Service Providers Just Do Not Get It Om Malik had a quick piece today that asked if 2007 would be a difficult year for competitive service providers. The answer? An overwhemling yes. But does it have to be? VoIP Service Providers Need to Find a Way to Deliver True Value We all know that voice is a commodity, and when it comes to any commodity only the largest can survive long-term as they have the ability to leverage economies of scale. That means the small guys and the independants need to find a way to deliver more then a way to make a phone at a low price. They need to deliver value-added services that are game-changers, services that people want, will use, and cant get anywhere else. So What Are These Game Changing Value Added Services? There are a couple, but it is late and unfortunately, you going to have to wait until next week to find out.
Written by Smith On VoIP - Garrett Smith's Insights on VoIP P on February 3rd, 2007 with no comments.
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Grandstream HandyTone 502 Telephone Adaptor Grandstream Networks has released their newest analog telephone adaptor, the Grandstream HandyTone 502 . The Grandstream HT-502 is cobines a stylish new design and a significant increase in data router performance over the Grandstream GS-496. A sip based adaptor, the Grandstream HandyTone HT-502 features 2 FXS ports, dual 10M/100Mbps Ethernet ports with integrated high performance NAT router, port status and message waiting LED and a base stand for vertical positioning. It supports UPnP, SIP over TCP/TLS, up to 2 SIP account profiles and rich call features. Grandstream HT-502 First Impressions This is the first in the line of HandyTone telephone adaptor to receive a face lift, that by all accounts, will resinate with service providers and end users alike. At a street price of $79.99, it is a solid buy and is certainly on-par with the offerings from Linksys. The Grandstream HandyTone 502 is currently available and shipping through Grandstream channel partners nationwide. For more information on the Grandstream HT-502 visit The VoIP Insiders .
Written by Smith On VoIP - Garrett Smith's Insights on VoIP P on February 3rd, 2007 with no comments.
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VoIP Supply has launched a VoIP Hardware Affiliate Program! The VoIP Supply affiliate program , which has been in a private beta stage since the beginning of November, is now open to any affiliate looking to capitalize on the growing VoIP hardware marketplace. From now until the end of February, any affiliate that signs-up for the VoIP Supply affiliate program will receive a $20 sign-up bonus to be paid once the affiliate earns $100 in affiliate commission. About the VoIP Hardware Affiliate Program With commissions ranging from 3% to 10% based on your monthly generated revenues, the VoIP Supply Affiliate Program is a perfect fit for sites that are looking to profit from the booming Voice over IP industry. VoIP Hardware Affiliate Program Commission Tiers: 3% up to $15,500 in sales revenue per month 5% up to $45,000 in sales revenue per month 10% for over $45,000 in sales revenue per month What the VoIP Supply VoIP Affiliate Program Offer Your Customers Largest Online Catalog of VoIP Products VoIP Supply has Everything you need for VoIP! Aggressive Pricing, High Levels of Customer Service No Hassle 30 Day Return Policy Why Choose the VoIP Supply Affiliate Program? Great conversion rates! VoIP Supply offers some of the highest commissions in our industry.v VoIP Supply is very actively involved with our Affiliate Program so if you have any questions or would like to run a new idea by us we are here to listen. For more information about the VoIP Supply affiliate program, please visit http://www.voipsupply.com/affiliate or call 800.398.8647.
Written by Smith On VoIP - Garrett Smith's Insights on VoIP P on February 3rd, 2007 with no comments.
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Windows Vista and Microsoft Office 2007 launched on Tuesday morning, providing computer giant Microsoft with a much-needed revamp for two product lines accounting for a majority of the company's revenue. Windows Vista is Microsoft's first consumer operating system release since Windows XP in October 2001, and the 5 year gap was definitely noticeable to customers increasingly moving everyday tasks away from the desktop operating system and into hosted applications such as Yahoo! Mail or Google Calendar.
Both Vista and Office boast major improvements over their predecessors, taking advantage of the computing and graphics power found in today's machines and creating a better connected experience over the local network as well as the worldwide web. Vista features major overhauls to networking, sound, and graphics devices and drivers, some of the essential components of any desktop platform. Windows Presentation Foundation delivers a whole new interaction layer for content and interactivity, making applications written for past Windows OSs appear even more dated.
Office 2007 received a major overhaul, replacing the familiar drop-down menu bar with graphical representations of the same tasks in what Microsoft is calling its "Ribbon UI." The new office productivity software will make your colleagues feel like dinosaurs based on new document outlining tools and fancy graphs alone.
All these changes come at a price of course, and software buyers will need to decide which of the 12 or more versions of Vista or Office best suites their need. Vista users can choose between Home Basic, Home Premium, Ultimate, or Business editions of the software available in full, upgrade, or OEM varieties ranging from $100 to $400.
Are all of these new features exciting reasons to upgrade? Will consumers and businesses upgrade their operating systems or wait until buying a computer pre-loaded with the new OS? Will desktop gadgets and Internet Explorer 7 change the bridge between the desktop and our online lives? Has Om given up his MacBook Pro for a younger and sexier Windows laptop?
We answer these questions and more in this week's PodSession, Windows Vista launch. The podcast is 26 minutes in length, a 12 MB download.
Written by Om Malik and Niall Kennedy on February 3rd, 2007 with no comments.
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Earlier this week it was announced that Bryan Lee, corporate vice president of Microsoft's entertainment and devices division, was going to take an early retirement.
Mr. Lee is 43.
Also probable is that Allard might have to work quickly to deliver a level of success for Zune, or he could find his position [...]
Written by Russell Shaw on February 3rd, 2007 with no comments.
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So, what happened this week in the world of tech? In this week’s Talking Tech podcast, Kevin Restivo (aka my partner in crime and the solicitation of evaluation units) talk about the launch of Vista (is anyone really that excited); the coming out party for BlogTV.ca (Canada’s version of YouTube), super high-speed Internet access from Videotron using technology from Cisco; and a new blog from Nortel CTO John Roese.
Written by Mark Evans on February 3rd, 2007 with no comments.
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Packet8 maker and marketer 8×8 reports that it now has more than 6,000 U.S.-based business customers.
Trend lines seem to point to a diversification of the business beyond increasingly discounted residential service, to higher-margin business service.
The lesson, at least to me, is that an appropriate message to business users- backed up with dependable products, can [...]
Written by Russell Shaw on February 3rd, 2007 with no comments.
Read more articles on General and Packet 8.
What's interesting about Viacom's demand today that YouTube pull all of its 100,000 or so videos featuring Viacom content is that YouTube-owner Google already has a deal with Viacom to post some of Viacom's content for free.
The difference, of course, is that YouTube content is still the unlicensed Wild West, and mostly via third parties- [...]
Written by Russell Shaw on February 3rd, 2007 with no comments.
Read more articles on General and Regulatory and Google and YouTube.
Do you dig Digg? Do you trust that the top stories are really the top stories? Or are they being manipulated? In yet another concession that some of the results may be artificially torqued (don’t people have better things to do with their time?), Digg CEO Kevin Rose has decided to remove a long-time feature called “Top Diggers” that highlighted the efforts of 5,000 of its leading users.
The question is why Kevin, why? Why remove it simply because these Diggers are “being blamed by some outlets as leading efforts to manipulate Digg”. Who are these outlets are why do they have such clout? Is this an admission that some or many of your “Top Diggers” are manipulating the results? You call the criticism by these mysterious outlets a “disappointing trend” but you fail to disclose why they are, in fact, disappointing.
Clearly, Digg is have a problem with perception in an industry where you’re cool today and passe tomorrow (e.g. Friendster). Rose is trying to be pro-active rather than being forced to do something dramatic when a major problem emerges out of nowhere. The question is whether the growing criticism is water lapping against the shore or a tsunami. If Digg is seen as being inaccurate, manipulated, less-than-honest, etc., it creates the real possibility “Digg This” could quickly become less prominent around the Web.
That said, Digg is increasingly been seen as the default place on the Web for people to “vote” on the news. As Rose says in his blog posts, Digg is now getting 5,000 story submissions a day, and it has generated more than 50 million “Diggs” since it started in November 2004. This, in theory, should give Digg some clout and some goodwill to combat attacks from “some outlets”. If I were Rose, I’d address the concerns of his critics but, honestly, I’d be as or more concerned about building a sustainable business model to turn all those Diggs into dollars.
For more, check out Deep Jive Interests,who is surprised it took Rose so long to make this decision and why he’s not doing more; Technology Evangelist, and Pro Blogger.
Technorati Tags: Digg, Kevin Rose
Written by Mark Evans on February 3rd, 2007 with no comments.
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