General
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Yes, I am serious, and there is a sociological lesson to be learned here.
But first, some supportive information. There are plenty of accounts that would seem to point to Anna Nicole Smith (in that Getty images photo) as an enthusiastic Internet user and e-mailer.
Take for instance "BIG MO," an Anna Nicole Smith bodyguard who […]
Written by Russell Shaw on February 25th, 2007 with no comments.
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Internet phone service provider abbeyphone has just released a new beta with Firefox VoIP (above) and Thunderbird VoIP extensions.
Cernio of abbeyphone notes that these extensions fix an abbeyphone bug that I was the first to report late last year.
The bug appeared when working with blogs and content management systems. As cernio wrote as a […]
Written by Russell Shaw on February 23rd, 2007 with no comments.
Read more articles on News and General and Providers.
Not a word, I know, but maybe it'll catch on and become one. Like Stephen Colbert's "truthiness."
GigaOM's Paul Kaputska is so spot on with his erudite points about why Vonage has not become a more serious player in the SMB (Small and Medium Business) segment.
"While Vonage still does offer a Small Business Premium […]
Written by Russell Shaw on February 21st, 2007 with no comments.
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Michael Robertson, who founded MP3.com, knows a few things about selling downloaded music over the Internet.
As such, Michael has the cred to challenge Apple CEO Steve Jobs when Steve says that Digital Rights Management is outmoded and that the major music labels need to be more open-minded about technology and security for downloading and [...]
Written by Russell Shaw on February 9th, 2007 with no comments.
Read more articles on General and Apple.
My colleague Marguerite Reardon offers a piece about how mobile virtual network operator Helio continues to be a drag on 50 percent-owner EarthLink's bottom line.
The numbers are ugly- $74 million for the 4Q 2006 and $191.5 million for the year. Helio has about 70,000 subs that pay in around $100 per month for basic [...]
Written by Russell Shaw on February 8th, 2007 with no comments.
Read more articles on General and Providers.
I am usually not one to advocate governmental regulation of personal behavior.
That said, I fully endorse the move of New York State Sen. Carl Kruger (D-Brooklyn), and shown at right- to introduce legislation today banning the practice of pedestrians looking down and dealing with their iPod, cell phone, BlackBerry, etc. while in the middle [...]
Written by Russell Shaw on February 8th, 2007 with no comments.
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Given that the Skype site's third-party software taxonomy is still a bit less intuitive than it ought to be, I'd recommend VoIP News' Hacking Skype: 25 Tips To Improve Your Skype Experience as a resource you might want to check out.
The title is a bit unintentionally misleading. The balance of these tips really aren't [...]
Written by Russell Shaw on February 7th, 2007 with no comments.
Read more articles on Skype and General and Software.
Today Wal-Mart Stores introduces a digitally downloadable library of 3,000 titles from the six major movie distributors. The significant majority of these titles are available for $14.88, but are tied to discounted pricing available to those who go to their Wal-Mart store and purchase the actual, physical DVD.
Others have noted the digital download bar [...]
Written by Russell Shaw on February 7th, 2007 with no comments.
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That's notable, considering that Vonage doesn't make their own equipment.
So what's the deal?
Vonage's service comes with literally dozens of equipment options, from routers and adapters to Vonage-branded portable devices. But as frequent posts to the non-Vonage-operated Vonage Forum tells us, sometimes these devices and set-ups don't play nice with the Vonage service, or each [...]
Written by Russell Shaw on February 7th, 2007 with no comments.
Read more articles on Vonage and General and Products and Research.
The VoIP Girl kicks off a rapidly morphing discussion about HD VoIP. "HD," as in High-Def."
"Is HD VOIP something that consumers should consider when choosing a VOIP service, or is it more marketing lingo to work through?," she writes. "As I understand it, HD, high definition, or wideband VOIP refers to voice sampling at 16 [...]
Written by Russell Shaw on February 6th, 2007 with no comments.
Read more articles on General and trends and Research.
One of the reasons given for Michael Dell re-claiming the CEO mantle at Dell last week was the realization that customer service standards had slipped, and need to be restored.
In our ZDNet neighborhood, as well as in the blogosphere and among friends and neighbors, this perception has taken on a disturbingly common truism: bought [...]
Written by Russell Shaw on February 6th, 2007 with no comments.
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Interesting thought piece from fellow VoIP blogger Andy Abramson about what he sees as a lack of sensitivity on the part of venture capitalists toward the specific resources needed to market of products and services they are evaluating for possible investments in.
That concept seems to be especially sticking in Andy's craw after he attended the [...]
Written by Russell Shaw on February 6th, 2007 with no comments.
Read more articles on General and trends and Case Studies.
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.
Read more articles on General and Microsoft and Apple.
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.
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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.
Mike Robertson of SIPphone just wrote to tell me that his company will introduce Gizmo Call tomorrow.
Gizmo Call will be an online service that will enable Internet calls from any browser. This will be accomplished via a Flash plug-in gthat will enable calls by typing a number into a field that will live on the [...]
Written by Russell Shaw on January 30th, 2007 with no comments.
Read more articles on News and General and Gizmo Project.
USAToday's Leslie Cauley reports that as long as two years ago, Apple and Steve Jobs held initial discussions with Verizon about the carrier becoming exclusive distributor for the then-envisioned iPhone.
If so, we would have seen Verizon's logo all over the ad at the top, not Cingular's.
Didn't happen.
Verizon reportedly balked, because they wanted a degree of [...]
Written by Russell Shaw on January 30th, 2007 with no comments.
Read more articles on General and Apple and Verizon VoiceWing and Cingular.
What you are seeing up there is a grab of Dell letting you know they are now selling Vista-enabled PCs and notebooks. Final preparations are being made to formally activate the order process.
Went up just a couple of hours ago, with the best info available this link.
I stayed up on Saturday night to bring you [...]
Written by Russell Shaw on January 28th, 2007 with no comments.
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When I first signed up for my Sprint EV-DO some eight months ago, I couldn't wait to use it. In my second month of service, there I was, blogging on the train from Portland to Seattle.
But you know something? I haven't needed EV-DO's flavor of broadband wireless since then. Neither have I been tempted by [...]
Written by Russell Shaw on January 28th, 2007 with no comments.
Read more articles on General and WiFi and Cingular.
NetFlix' new Watch Now service will let a select view of the DVD distributor's six million customers watch movies over the Internet.
Select view, meaning 250,000 or so additional subs per week, until a June target date for complete subscriber base enablement.
Since this content will not be downloaded but will live on NetFlix's servers, this isn't the type of [...]
Written by Russell Shaw on January 26th, 2007 with no comments.
Read more articles on General and trends and Streaming media.
When Vonage America president Michael Tribolet took the podium at the Internet Telephony Conference on Thursday, I wasn't expecting any grand pronouncements. You know, like a real triple-play alliance- not with seven-city Muni WiFi provider EarthLink (which added Atlanta to their muni Wi-Fi plans yesterday) but maybe with another lean and hungry player like, say, [...]
Written by Russell Shaw on January 26th, 2007 with no comments.
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One of the most astute observations I heard at the IP Telephony Expo in Fort Lauderdale this week came from the personable and visionary (rare combo) Brett Shockley, Founder, CEO and chairman of integrated IP communications and solutions provider Spanlink Communications.
One of those industry thought-leaders able to take a ground floor and a "30,000-foot" view [...]
Written by Russell Shaw on January 26th, 2007 with no comments.
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Yesterday at the Internet Telephony Conference & Expo in Fort Lauderdale, I was privileged to be on a panel entitled: Quo Vadis? An IMS Industry Round Table.
OK, basics first. In this meaning, IMS refers to IP Media Subsystem, a type of next-generation architecture for mobile communications providers and carriers that, as best defined by Wikipedia:
Want [...]
Written by Russell Shaw on January 26th, 2007 with no comments.
Read more articles on General and trends and Research.
Parsing Skype parent eBay's 4Q and 2006 earnings reports today, we learn that:
Skype net revenues totaled $66 million in Q4-06, a growth rate of 164% over the $25 million reported in Q4-05. The Q4-05 revenue amount represented the operations of Skype from the acquisition date of October 14, 2005 through the end of Q4-05.
Skype [...]
Written by Russell Shaw on January 25th, 2007 with no comments.
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I'm at the IP Telephony show in Fort Lauderdale. Tomorrow I am on a panel, after which I'll catch keynotes from key execs from Vonage and Cisco. And of course I will report.
Not a bad place for a conference. I awoke this morning to the scene of yachts and smaller pleasure craft literally 10 feet [...]
Written by Russell Shaw on January 25th, 2007 with no comments.
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For the year and a half since the Sprint-Nextel merger, the companies have struggled to combine disparate systems and technologies.
Now, they've made a tangible step forward.
SprintNextel has just announced two phones that will function on both the Sprint and Nextel networks- Nextel's iDEN and Sprint's CDMA.
Both are Motorola PowerSource phones.
The clamshell Buzz ic502 weighs 4.1 [...]
Written by Russell Shaw on January 18th, 2007 with no comments.
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Just got a note about improvements in the forthcoming SightSpeed 6.0, due in early February.
That'll be the newest rev of the Internet video and voice utility services and platform provider that is so much more robust a solution than some of those household names you or I could rattle off here.
The newest version, I'm [...]
Written by Russell Shaw on January 18th, 2007 with no comments.
Read more articles on General and Products.
Here in the U.S., we're entering a 2008 Presidential campaign season where we will find candidates of both major U.S. political parties practicing the same every platform-all the time craze that just 'bout drove me nuts at the Consumer Electronics Show last week.
One of the first manifestations of this is the announcement that Internet [...]
Written by Russell Shaw on January 18th, 2007 with no comments.
Read more articles on General and trends and YouTube.
No, I am not talking about discrimination in employment. I am talking about what happens from time to time when someone with a high-pitched voice- presumably a woman- uses Vonage's service.
First learned about it on Dan Connor's daily Vonage Forum Digest, which highlights interesting Vonage Forum threads each business day.
One of the threads he highlighted [...]
Written by Russell Shaw on January 18th, 2007 with no comments.
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Reflecting AT&T's purchase of Cingular Wireless (originally owned by SBC and BellSouth, now each part of AT&T), the rebranding of Cingular Wireless to AT&T formally begins today.
Grace Slick drew generic reference to this song in the Jefferson Starship's 1985 hit, "We Built This City on Rock and Roll." Was on "Knee Deep In The [...]
Written by Russell Shaw on January 16th, 2007 with no comments.
Read more articles on General and SBC-AT&T.
While I was at the Skype press conference at CES and got a good look at the several new phones that were announced, Garrett Smith of the Smith on VoIP blog also grabbed some hands-on first impressions about the products being debuted.
Here's some of his reactions to each. First the Topcom WebT@lker 5000:
Although the Topcom [...]
Written by Russell Shaw on January 16th, 2007 with no comments.
Read more articles on Skype and General and Products.
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.
Read more articles on Vonage and General.
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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CES is done.
AFT, and I don't mean the American Federation of Teachers.
After significant miles underfoot, the clamor, the clang, the commotion of 140,000 Type A souls, the hours waiting for convention shuttle buses, taxis- the FRIGGIN RACKET- man am I ready for downtime.
Over-stimmed. Decompression mandatory.
Some would fly to Kauai. Others would chill out with family. [...]
Written by Russell Shaw on January 12th, 2007 with no comments.
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Last night at one of those Consumer Electronics Show par-tays, I found myself downing Fiji Waters and chattin' with friend Phil Wolff. Phil runs Skype Journal.
All of a sudden, the conversation turned to those "Skype Me" buttons that eBay sellers can place next to some of their listings. You know, call me via Skype and [...]
Written by Russell Shaw on January 12th, 2007 with no comments.
Read more articles on Skype and General.
Vonage was at CES, happy-talking its new baby service bundle (as opposed to the powerful triple and quadruple play stuff)with EarthLink's muni Wi-Fi. And oh yes, seen at their booth the Frog Design router/access point combo- one designed by Vonage and FD rather than simply sent down the pipe by a Cisco/Linksys or Motorola- is pretty cool […]
Written by Russell Shaw on January 12th, 2007 with no comments.
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As many of you know by now, Cisco filed a trademark infringement suit against Apple for the iPhone today.
Details here.
My colleague Larry Dignan got an advance warning earlier this morning:
In an email to me earlier today, Cisco spokesman John Noh said:
"The fact is that we have not received the approved agreement back from Apple as [...]
Written by Russell Shaw on January 11th, 2007 with no comments.
Read more articles on News and General and Apple and Cisco.
Two of the hottest handsets:
Apple iPhone, announced Monday. Up there.
BlackBerry Pearl, announced last September.
Here:
Both have cameras, music playback, video playback, calendar, Web surfing, personal organizer functionalities.
Pearl- $399.99 but carrier discounts as low as $199.99 with a two-year sub.
iPhone carrier-Ciingular. Exclusive. For years.
Pearl-T-Mobile and Cingular.
Now I am going to ask which one you want.
If I could [...]
Written by Russell Shaw on January 10th, 2007 with no comments.
Read more articles on General and Apple and BlackBerry and Cingular.
Earlier today, panelists at a CES session entitled "New Communication Tech: From VoIP to VoWiFi and Beyond" waved in on key advances that will push lots of VoIP users from beyond their PC to mobile environments.
Three advances:
VoIP handsets pre-bundled with cellphone-like functionalities such as cameras, video playback and even gaming. Because cellphone users are [...]
Written by Russell Shaw on January 10th, 2007 with no comments.
Read more articles on General and trends and WiMAX and WiFi.
When a company makes what it believes is a major announcement (ever heard of a minor announcement?) it is often wise to check and see how that announcement has effected the stock price.
Investors are attuned to this stuff- major new alliances, product rollouts, etc. If they think it is important, they'll likely give you a [...]
Written by Russell Shaw on January 10th, 2007 with no comments.
Read more articles on Vonage and General.
CNN Money reports that The Wall Street Journal says Apple has selected Cingular Wireless to provide wireless service for a new Apple-branded cellphone.
WSJ rarely gets it wrong. I tend to believe…
When Steve Jobs delivers his Macworld Expo keynote, we'll know more.
One question: will such a phone cannibalize iPod sales?
Written by Russell Shaw on January 9th, 2007 with no comments.
Read more articles on General and Apple and Cingular.
My trip to CES in Las Vegas started last night in a most interesting way. At the gate, I noticed a fellow with a Dell, and a headset. I asked him if he was talking over Skype, and what I got was several stories about how wonderful Skype as a tool for family communication over [...]
Written by Russell Shaw on January 9th, 2007 with no comments.
Read more articles on Skype and General.
Cable tv publication Multichannel News reports that gunshot damage to Comcast's fiber-optic main service line took down cable service for some 7,500 customers in Palm Beach county, Florida.
Service disruptions lasted from New Year's Eve until early on January 3. Some 20 separate nodes were affected.
It wasn't an overly ticked-off customer (as if) but drunken revelers. Reportedly, [...]
Written by Russell Shaw on January 9th, 2007 with no comments.
Read more articles on News and General and Comcast.
There's a type of strange, counterintuitive faddishness at this year's Consumer Electronics Show that to me, defies all manner of logic.
Since few if any other bloggers will speak out about it, I view it as my role to do so.
I am referring to rampant, contagious "platformitis-" the mad rush to enable all types of video [...]
Written by Russell Shaw on January 9th, 2007 with no comments.
Read more articles on General and trends and Streaming media.
Just out of Skype press conference at CES.
The most interesting product info stuff:
NETGEAR Dual-Mode Cordless Phone with Skype (SPH200D)- connects simultaneously to a home network router and a phone line jack. This enables users to place and receive PSTN and Skype calls from a single cordless handset without the need for a PC tether.
Philips VoIP841 [...]
Written by Russell Shaw on January 9th, 2007 with no comments.
Read more articles on Skype and General.
This morning, Vonage announced a partnership with EarthLink that would involve resellng of EarthLink's municipal wireless services in several markets.
As one who has frequently maintained that Vonage needs to start offering bundled services to compete with its major broadband competitors, I recognize that this is a needed first step.
A first step, but barely a toe [...]
Written by Russell Shaw on January 9th, 2007 with no comments.
Read more articles on Vonage and General and WiFi and Earthlink.
Hey the clothes are packed. E-ticket printed out? Check. Laptop rarin' to go-check.
Got my e-ticket and am headed down to CES. That'd be the 2007 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
If you come back here over the next couple of days you are going to see several posts, encompassing VoIP and some of [...]
Written by Russell Shaw on January 8th, 2007 with no comments.
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San Jose-based IPEVO is getting ready to rollout two new Skype devices at the Consumer Electronics Show. These are a multifunctional speakerphone called TRIO, and free.2,a USB handset phone with LCD.
Shown at top The PC and Mac-compatible free.2, which will cost $44.99, will offer standards Skype calling but will come with a recording button [...]
Written by Russell Shaw on January 8th, 2007 with no comments.
Read more articles on Skype and General and Products.
Earthlink's visionary CEO Gary Betty has died. He was only 49.
While I did not know Gary, I knew much of the fruits of his labors.
I've always admired Atlanta-based Earthlink as a resourceful, honest and successful company who managed to battle the cable and telco Internet Service Provider giants deftfully but never without forgetting the [...]
Written by Russell Shaw on January 5th, 2007 with no comments.
Read more articles on General and Earthlink.
I'm not pulling this one out of the ether. Or the Ethernet.
The idea is actually hinted at by Matt Wasserlauf, who is CEO of online video ad network Broadband Enterprises. Matt tells Mediaweek's Mike Shields that "such inventory (referring to ad availabilities) is ideal for less content-phobic direct-marketing brands 'that are used to late-night TV, [...]
Written by Russell Shaw on January 5th, 2007 with no comments.
Read more articles on Vonage and General and trends and YouTube.
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