Because I made the list.

To be on the same list as Om Malik, Jeff Pulver, Rich Tehrani, Andy Abramson, Alec Saunders, Jon Arnold, Tom Keating, Greg Gatlizine, Russell Shaw, the Skype Journal Crew, not to mention names like Mark Spencer, Chris Lyman, and Jeff Citron is truly humbling. I do not consider myself to be in the same league as any of the people on that list. To think that, in such a sort time writing Smith On VoIP, my peers have found enough value in what I do to consider me worthy of such an accolade is un-real.

Maybe it is a case of my perception of what I do vs. the reality of what I have done that I am missing. A big thanks goes to those who did nominate me and to VoIP News for choosing me. This is the sort of thing that adds to the motivation to provide the best VoIP insights, commentary, reviews, news, and education possible to the Smith On VoIP readers.

If anyone out there might know a better way to get them to update my blog profile, please let me know!

Oh he was also an embedded journalist inside Second Life, while working for Second Life creator, Linden Labs. He left Linden in Feburary to develop a book about his experiences there, and still writes about Second Life on his own blog, New World Notes. The funniest part of negotiating with James was that he wanted to call his column, which will track the business and hardware behind broadband games for GigaOM - “Low Ping Bastard“.

In online games, that’s the name aggravated gamers give to the player with the fastest connection. Low ping means someone who gets the broadest spectrum of game data first, and uses it to maintain the competitive edge. And is, therefore, a bastard to everyone else behind the curve.

Being an old fashioned guy that I am, we have tabled that title, but if the community says its cool with that title, we can always bring it back. I think James is going to bring some valuable insights to our community for two reasons - as we move into the second phase of broadband, what I like to call, broadband as a platform, the focus is going to shift to applications that drive the need for speed.

Secondly, I haven’t got a clue about online gaming - I still think Tetris is cool. But my limitations should not be a reason that readers should miss out on insights into this new and fascinating aspect of broadband. I hope you all will welcome James to our little community, and give him the same feedback as you always have.

• For Telcos, Old Fashioned Triple Play
• Maybe Google Should Buy a Movie Studio?
• Silicon Valley & The iTunes Ripple Effect
• Jobster Raises $18 million
• Digital Chocolate Sweetens the Pot
• Infinera snags Broadwing
• Murdoch & McCaw: A Likely Match?
• Telecoms Spend Big To Snag Users
• 50 Megs for $90 from Verizon FiOS
• Cablevision Has A Million VoIP Customers
• Current Co. Eyes Wireless Spectrum
• Nortel, Microsoft IM Each Other
• Vote for Bix (Or Not)
• UnWired Buyer Gets Fresh Money, Looks Beyond eBay?
• Netscape Has Attention, If Nothing Else
• Jangl This
• Cell Phone Stores, They’re No Apple

• 07-08 - VK Mobile Eats Dust, Pantech, Helio Next?
• 07-08 - Earthlink’s SF Store Is Open
• 07-08 - LiveJournal Goes XMPP-Jabber
• 07-08 - Apple, Google Holding Hands…
• 07-07 - Easy Come, Easy Go
• 07-07 - Kleiner, Sherpalo Back Indian M-Commerce Startup
• 07-07 - NBC, Web’s Retirement Home?
• 07-07 - Orbitel Launches WiMax In Colombia
• 07-07 - Coghead, A New Web App Machine
• 07-06 - In Digg’s Defense
• 07-06 - Tech IPOs Are NoGo’s
• 07-06 - The eBay Shuffle
• 07-06 - Microsoft Office Live - 100,000 Users
• 07-06 - Cisco Bug hits Verio UK
• 07-06 - That’s ADSL In Aisle One
• 07-06 - Qwest Has Its IPTV
• 07-06 - Taipei Muni Phones
• 07-06 - Earthlink To Introduce WiFi Phones
• 07-05 - Bell Canada’s Fiber Moves To Montreal
• 07-05 - Wednesday, July 5th Recap
• 07-05 - Clearwire Nixes IPO, Raises $900 Million
• 07-05 - Paris To Unwire
• 07-05 - Vonage: Churn Baby Churn
• 07-05 - Earthlink To Open Store In San Francisco
• 07-05 - Where will Amanda Go?
• 07-05 - Yahoo Mobilizes Ready
• 07-05 - Google: Time To Fight
• 07-05 - Enron’s Ken Lay Is Dead
• 07-05 - Online Travel: Out With Old, In With Next Web
• 07-05 - A Brand New Day
• 07-04 - Nobody Loves Qualcomm
• 07-04 - Optium, Another Optical IPO Candidate
• 07-04 - Skype for Mac With Video Soon
• 07-04 - The Khosla Report Card
• 07-04 - Millicom, China Mobile Break Up
• 07-04 - Intelsat Bulks Up
• 07-03 - It’s A WiBro World
• 07-03 - An Optical IPO, Really?
• 07-03 - Class Action Suits Hit Vonage

• A Brand New Day
• Online Travel: Out with the Old, In With The New
• Enron’s Ken Lay is dead
• Google: Time To Fight
• Yahoo Mobilizes Ready
• Where Will Amanda Go?
• Earthlink to open store in San Francisco. [Exclusive]
• Vonage: Churn Baby Churn
• Paris to unwire
• Clearwire Nixes IPO, Raises $900 million

Its been a little over three weeks since the plans of my little start-up project leaked out. Since then I have spent a nice ten odd days in London, reporting a story for Business 2.0, learnt how to make a Google Map Mash-Up, read through reams of legal documentation, and well, learnt to live with a constant knot in my stomach.

July 5th, a Brand New Day - a day when I start working on GigaOM on a 24/7 time cycle.

It is exciting, yet scary! A dear friend of mine, an entrepreneur for life, if there was one, offered me one bit of advice: learn to live with that knot in your stomach. It is your reality check. On the flip-side, a sartorially correct friend of mine sent a note saying, “welcome to the argyle sweaters and sock-less lifestyle.” Perhaps, if only I can let go of my affection for formal shirts.

A lot of you have either send personal notes, or expressed words of confidence in person. That means a lot, thanks! My friends at True Ventures have helped me plough through the details that can bog down a first time entrepreneur. It is because of them, that the to-do-list is 3/4th done. My editors at Business 2.0 have been generous enough to help me ease out of my old duties into a new life. They have given me enough time to kick off my new column for the magazine. But more than that - my parents, like all parents have not asked me once, “Why son, would you trade a nice job for life of uncertainty?” And somewhere I have to say thanks to guys from Federated Media, who are working hard on our behalf.

Before I go any further, let me introduce you to Katie Fehrenbacher, who has teamed up with me and is going to help shape the coverage here at GigaOM. She joins us from Red Herring (V2.0) where she was a reporter tracking telecom and wireless industries. She was also one of the founding editors at Engadget.

I had been impressed by her work, and when the opportunity rose to bring on board a full time writer, she was the first person I called. She accepted and what a break! Katie is a dogged reporter and a prolific blogger. (She is so diligent, that she has already filed about half-a-dozen stories, including some short posts even before we got going.) I hope you will join me in welcoming her to the team.

So what does this mean for you? Simply put more stuff on a daily basis. You should expect more mini-length features, and blog posts with an increased frequency. Perhaps, give you all a reason to come back more often to site. We promise to keep your RSS reader busy . Don’t worry - just because its more, doesn’t mean its going to be that different. (We will roll out some design changes, but don’t worry - they won’t be that radical. See that little box on the right - its just to identify some of our tops stories, worth your time. And oh, we added a better way for you to identify who is the writer of a particular post/story.)

What will the new GigaOM be about - you might be wondering! From telecom, broadband, optics, VoIP, Start-ups, Wireless, Wireless Broadband and the Next Net - all things that are helping evolve the world we generically call technology. The common thread, however will always remain: broadband - not the pipes, but the platform. It is how some of the smartest minds in Silicon Valley are thinking (download PPT), and this is a thread we hope to follow.

Along the way there will be some new features, new tools and new directions. Why? Vinod Khosla recently said: “The right way to build a company is to experiment in lots of small ways, so that you have plenty of room to make mistakes and change strategies.”

Some of those experiments will work, some of it won’t. I know you will let me know. Please do, for without your constant guidance, it is not going to be as much fun.

Let a brand new day begin!

PS: My friends in PR: keep those news releases coming, except send them to p r @ g i g a o m d o t c o m

Photo by Thomas Hawk via Flickr. Thanks Buddy - I could not start the new day without an awesome TH shot!

Princess Louise 208 High Holborn, Holborn, London, WC1V 7BW
Tel: 020 7405 8816 Map

I wanted to wait till end of this month, to announce my decision to strike out on my own, and my role within Business 2.0 going forward. I wanted to call people I love and respect, and tell them individually. An archaic notion in this era of email, IM and broadband – but still! And then life happened. I will get to my future plans later in this post, but for a few minutes indulge me.

How do you leave a magazine, which has been part of your life for over three years? How do you put a full stop to a process that has helped you become a better writer, a better journalist, and a better person? How do you end relationships you have formed over that period? You don’t. And when my editor, Josh Quittner, made me an offer to write a column and be a contributing editor, it did not even take a second for me to say yes. I have often said, that ink not blood runs in my veins, and I love magazines.

So why leave? Two reasons!

Vincent, in response to a post on the site, had said, “Remember what they say folks: those who can, do. Those who can’t, teach.” I have written about start-ups for so long, and have always wanted to see if I had the chops to build something from scratch. With well wishes and support of my community, I hope I can.

The other reason is the fundamental change in the media consumption patterns. In the past, I worked for Forbes.com, arguably one of the more successful media properties on the web, and learnt some vital lessons about online media. From the mid-1990s to today, we have seen some stellar brands emerge such as News.com. They are living proof that large online media properties are a viable business.

And just as Internet spawned these brands, broadband is bringing about a fundamental change in the way people consume information. Blogs are a part of it, just like video sharing sites, or Digg.com or Newsvine. You have mash-ups and maps. You have open APIs to play around with. In other words, the entire ecosystem is going through a change. This change represents opportunity.

A few years ago, I wrote about the rise of the micropubs, and how that could help one or two person editorial teams to be successful building niche media properties. Paidcontent’s Rafat Ali has been a pioneer of micro-pubs, and then we have Mike Arrington and Techcrunch, celebrating its first anniversary today. (Congrats, Mike!)

Their success has given me strength to make the decision to go out and try something of my own. While I will be devoting more time to GigaOM’s content, I have some other ideas including developing web services that enhance the experience of my reader community. You will see these ideas unfold over a period of time, and hopefully you will enjoy them as much I would in creating them. Unlike those of you who are blessed with the smarts, I have to bring in outside help – smart engineers and code jocks. Thus, the need for some venture funding.

Perhaps, I am burying the lead (my B2 editors would say – there he goes again.) I have raised a tiny amount of money from True Ventures, a new very early stage fund based here in Silicon Valley. (The amount remains undisclosed.)

Tony Conrad, co-founder of Sphere.com and Toni Schneider, CEO of Automattic and a partner at True Ventures, introduced me to Jon Callaghan, general partner at True VP. I had met Toni when I wrote about his start-up, Oddpost a while ago. While reporting the story, I met Conrad, and we got to know each other well.

I had gone around and met with a lot of venture capitalists in the valley, who gave me some stellar feedback, and helped me craft a game plan. When I ran it by Tony and Toni, he suggested that perhaps it was time for me to meet with Phil Black and Jon Callaghan. They liked what I had to say, and decided to make their new fund’s first ever investment in GigaOM.

It is a big change for me, and hopefully all of you – my super-smart readers who have also become friends – will join me in this journey, and offer me advice, guidance and tips. It wouldn’t be fun otherwise.

Where: Kresge Auditorium, Stanford University. When: 29 April 2006, 9:00 am. [Schedule] The Speakers are here

• Caterina Fake, Co-Founder, Flickr
• Mark Fletcher, Founder, Bloglines; Founder, ONElist
• Paul Graham, Partner, Y Combinator; Co-founder, Viaweb
• Joe Kraus, Co-founder, JotSpot; Co-founder, Excite
• Page Mailliard, Partner, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati
• Om Malik, Senior Writer, Business 2.0
• Tim O’Reilly, Founder and CEO, O’Reilly Media
• Chris Sacca, Head of Special Initiatives, Google
• Joshua Schachter, Founder, del.icio.us
• George Willman, Associate, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati
• Ann Winblad, Founding Partner, Hummer Winblad

See you tomorrow, and if you want me to address some specific questions, drop a note in the comments section.

PS: Blog post slowdown will continue today as well! Duty calls!

But that doesn’t mean I cannot participate - I will be in the Group Chat, remotely, and arguing. There will be streaming audio of the conference, in the Quicktime format. The URL will be available right around 9:00 AM on Monday here. Right after F2C, BarCamp DC. By the way, there will be big honking wireless network with real bandwidth!

The event will bring together journalists, bloggers, small businesses, and other interested users to learn more about groupware and underlying technologies such as Ajax, Ruby on Rails, and open-source. Attendees will learn more about the industry and the three featured companies and hopefully walk away with solid material for a blog post or business decision. Each product is so close to launch you will have an exclusive look before anybody else!

Joyent, Kerio, and Zimbra will have 30 minutes to present to the general audience. After all three companies have presented we will divide into three groups for in-depth discussion and hands-on opportunities with the product. Each company will have a chance to introduce themselves on this blog before the event.

Details

Groupware: Joyent, Kerio, and Zimbra
Thursday, February 23
6:30-9:00 p.m.
CNET headquarters
235 2nd Street
San Francisco

While the SPA-901 does not have an LCD screen, it offers the following features: # One service provider line # Two call appearances accessed via Flash Key or Hook Flash # Shared line appearance** # Line status indicator # Call Hold # Music on Hold** # Call Waiting # Outbound CallerID Blocking # Call transfer - Atended and Blind # Three Way conferencing with local mixing # Multi-Party Call Conferencing via external Conference Bridge** # Call Pick Up - Selective and Group** # Call park and UnPark** # Call back on Busy # Call Blocking - Anonymous and Selective # Call Forwarding - Unconditional, No Answer, On Busy # Call Return - Redial Last Caller # Hot Line and Warm Line Automatic Calling # Call Logs (60 Entries Each) Made, Answered and Missed Calls. Accessed via HTTP Server # Redial Last Called Number # Do Not Disturb (Caller Hears Busy Line tone) # Block Anonymous Incoming Calls # URI (IP) Dialing support (Vanity NUmbers) # Built-in Web Server for Administration and Configuration, with User and Admin Access Levels # Built-In Interactive Voice Response (IVR) System to check status and change configuration # Date and Time w/Intelligent Daylight Savings Support # Call Start Time stored in Call Logs # Distinctive Ringing # 10 User-Downloadable Ring Tones - Ring Tone Generator free from www.Linksys.com # Speed Dial (8 entries) # Group Paging (Outbound Only)** # Intercom (Outbound Only)** # Set preferred CODEC, Per Call, All Calls # Configurable Dial/Numbering Plan Support # Ringer and Handset Voluem Controls # DNS SRV and Multiple A Records for Proxy Lookup and Proxy redundancy # Syslog, Debug, Report Generation, an Event Logging # Secure Call Encrypted Voice Communication Support # NAT Traversal # Automated Provisioning, Multiple Methods. Up to 256Bit encryption: (HTTP, HTTPS, TFTP) # Support Linksys Voice System Automatic Configuration # Optionally require Admin Password to Reset unit to factory defaults

The SPA-941 uses standard encryption protocols to provide secure remote provisioning and unobtrusive in-service software upgrades. It has a street price of $83.95 and will be shipping next week.

BUY IT AT VOIPSUPPLY.COM NOW !!!

Garrett Smith

This message was hammered into me when I shifted to a more languid lifestyle - writing for monthly magazines, Red Herring first, and now Business 2.0. Despite a vociferous arguments, my editors point out that not every story is a cover story. Yet it is a story. So short, that it almost tastes like a hint of truffle oil in a fluffy salmon omelette. For instance, the Scratchless CD story in the latest issue of Business 2.0.

On the web, especially in the no-longer-so-new medium of blogs, I found myself wrestling with the same dilemma. The short links (aka Gigalinks) while did the job, they really ended up diluting the value of the feed that flows with my blog. The longer high-impact posts, that fostered a lot of conversation did not get enough time on the front page. In the end, that was very important for me: to tap into the collective intelligence of the community.

I wondered about this often times. While showing off his new start-up, Edgeio, Michael Arrington pointed out that he had faced the same quandary and that prompted him to start CrunchNotes, as an accompanying blog to his main property, Tech Crunch. Still not convinced, I decided to put the question to the GigaOm readers.

What do you think about a daily journal type blog on daily.gigaom.com where I can post random links, mutterings and other stuff that doesn’t fit the “broadband” label? Will you subscribe to yet another feed?

An overwhelming majority of the 303 voters, 57% were in favor of this decision, while 29% were dead against it. 14% simply couldn’t care. After thinking it over, I have decided that lot of short and snappy stuff (including my ridiculous beach photos) are going to have to be off-loaded on a side blog.

The new blog, unimaginatively called, The Daily Om, is now live at http://daily.gigaom.com. If you are interested in adding this to feedreader, all you have to do is click here. [] GigaOm, which is also getting help from seriously talented guest columnists is going to be reserved for high-impact stuff.

I feel sooner or later, many of us who are addicted to blogging, will have to set up the equivalent of Page 3 on their blogs. I am sure other are going to disagree, but my instincts tell me that I am right. Think of it as me applying the dolby filter to the content.

The main focus of this blog has been broadband, wireless, voice over the Internet, and broadband-influenced applications and socioeconomic changes. I am going to focus on all that because we are finally moving beyond the world of Sun Rocket, Vonage and instead moving into a more of a voice app world. There are just too many interesting start-ups, that are beginning to excite me again.

What will not change is the focus on scoops, and analysis. What will change: the web 2.0 launches or new features will move over to the new blog. I will be posting links to interesting stuff I find all over the web. No categories, just random thoughts, and links. Hope you will enjoy the journey and sign-up for the new blog as well.

Community Feedback for a Mini-Blog

What do you think about a daily journal type blog on daily.gigaom.com where I can post random links, mutterings and other stuff that doesn’t fit the “broadband” label? Will you subscribe to yet another feed? Yup, that will bring focus to the main blog Who needs another blog and another feed clogging the feed reader Why not let others do the dirty work? Powered by Perseus ExpressPoll web survey software

You have reached the website regarding the proposed initial public offering of Vonage Holdings Corp. common stock, including a proposed directed share program for certain Vonage customers. Both the proposed initial public offering and the directed share program are described in the registration statement of Vonage Holdings Corp. filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on February 8, 2006, a copy of which can be found on the Securities and Exchange Commission’s website at www.sec.gov As indicated in the registration statement, we intend that Vonage customers will be eligible to participate if:

* they opened accounts with us on or prior to December 15, 2005, and * maintained their accounts in good standing through February 1, 2006, and * are a U.S. citizen, and * reside in the U.S. when the offering closes, and * have a valid social security number.

Customers do not need to continue to be Vonage account holders in order to participate in the directed share program.

A registration statement relating to these securities has been filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission but has not yet become effective. These securities may not be sold nor may offers to buy be accepted prior to the time the registration statement becomes effective.

According to Tom Keating, it looks like they are trying to raise another $250 million with the IPO.

Buy Vonage Here!

Garrett Smith

Should I buy the new MacBook Pro? I cannot make up my mind, and need your help Go for it Don’t waste your money Powered by Perseus ExpressPoll web survey software

The TS600 features a hands free intercom, extra large LCD display, Voicemall message counter, dual 2.5mm headset jacks, in addition to six content-sensative feature keys all for a low MSRP of $189. The product is currently available through authorized resellers like VoIPSupply.com

Garrett Smith

Unlike other VoIP services, including the one EarthLink currently sells for $20 a month, the new service doesn’t require consumers to add hardware. Customers can use their existing phones and plug them into phone jacks as they would with any regular telephone service. The technology, called “line-powered voice,” puts all the intelligence and equipment for offering VoIP service in Covad’s central office, where all the gear to provide the DSL service is housed.

Remember that you heard the term “Residential IP Centrex” hear first. This offering is hot. I have been stating for some time that many VoIP providers are missing the boat when marketing VoIP services. By adding ATA’s, IP Phones, Soft Phones, etc VoIP Service Providers made the customer experience foreign, and for those who are not techies or geeks, intimidating. I believe this offering from Earthlink will result in a customer experience that is much easier to swallow for the “second round” of VoIP adoptors. This, in turn, will result in a higher activation and conversion rate for the company.

Garrett Smith