Smith On VoIP Word/Phrase of the Day
The Smith On VoIP Word/Phrase of the Day is Analog Telephone Adaptor (ATA). An Analog Telephone Adaptor (ATA) is a device that converts analog telephone signals into digital packets for transfer across an IP network. Analog Telephones (small office key systems can also can access to VoIP through an ATA) connect to the the Analog Telephone Adaptor (ATA) via an FXS port and the ATA connects to the IP network via an RJ45 port. Some ATAs also have an FXO port for connectivity to the PSTN. Analog Telephone Adaptors also convert digital packets back into analog voice streams.
Written by Smith On VoIP - Insights on VoIP Products and Serv on December 6th, 2006 with
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Babelgum’s Online Film Fest: Right Train, Wrong Track
Babelgum (the “other” peer-to-peer Internet TV startup), will host an online film festival to “reward the very best in international independent short filmmaking.” They even got Spike Lee to be an “honorary” judge (read: he’ll only watch a handful of of flicks). It’s great that Babelgum is creating a program to recognize the short film format, but there are some problems with this festival. Continue reading to find out.
Written by Om Malik on September 3rd, 2007 with
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BetaHouse Incubates Web 2.0
I recently had the opportunity to sit down with Greg Gibson, one of the founders of BetaHouse, a CoWorking group here in Boston. The premise of BetaHouse is pretty simple: For $400 a month, you get a desk, WiFi, access to a fully stocked (beer, caffeinated beverages and fatty snacks) refrigerator, a barbecue every Friday, music, and — most importantly — a group of other geeks with which to network, socialize and bounce around ideas.
The idea is to provide a creative environment in which techies and entrepreneurs can develop their ideas and bring them to market — and of course, get funding.
One idea that Gibson himself has developed in the BetaHouse office is PrayAbout, a social networking site based around support and prayer. Once you join the site, you can put in prayer requests that other people will answer, effectively creating a support group community to help you deal with your challenges.
The site appears to perform a useful social function and attracts people from around the world. One thing that Greg noted was that a number of people who have received support (such as a suicidal man in South Africa) have in turn become more involved with the site, providing support to others.
PrayAbout is quite different from other social networking sites in that it’s not ad-supported — all revenue is derived through subscriptions. It currently has some 14,000 subscribers, and that number is growing.
As for BetaHouse, time will tell how well this works. One issue I see is turnover. Once an idea is funded, the developers behind it will likely move to new offices in order to accommodate an expanding team, continually leaving BetaHouse with empty desks that need to be filled.
Written by on September 3rd, 2007 with
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Time for a Rival to Google News?
It’s somewhat ironic that I’m reading a Sunday newspaper while also reading online about Google’s agreement to enter into a wholesale agreement with four news wires - Associated Presss, Agence France-Presse, Press Association of Britain and Canadian Press.
Mathew Ingram provides a succinct take on what the deal means but the bottom line is many newspapers could start to see far less traffic from Google News. This is because Google will highlight stories provided by the news wires, which could see Google News users visit AP’s Web site, for example, rather than newspapers that publish (and pay for) AP’s stories.
Google may claim nothing much will change but this agreement is another punch below the belt for newspaper industry, which has not been waging a fight to remain viable as the Web becomes the way more people consume news. If you thought newspapers (and Tribune Co. owner Sam Zell) were having issues with Google News and how it was “aggregating” their content before, you can now expect some major fireworks to happen.
Do not be surprised, for example, if newspapers start to demand to have their content pulled from Google News. A big obstacle, however, is Google News accounts for a huge chunk of traffic for many newspapers so leaving it would be a major decision.
Still, maybe it’s time for some of the major newspapers (e.g The Guardian, New York Times, L.A. Times) to create their own online news portal to compete with Google News. Or perhaps it’s time for the newspaper industry to get behind Topix, whose investors include Gannett Co, The McClatchy Co. and Tribune Co.
The bottom line is there is a major war brewing between Google News and the newspaper industry. Unless Google starts strikes more deals soon, things could get ugly.
More: If the Google News agreement was bad enough the Newspaper Association of America said ad revenue in second-quarter fell 8.6% to $11.3-billion from the same period last year. This is the fourth straight quarterly decline in ad revenue.
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Written by Mark Evans on September 2nd, 2007 with
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