Archive for August 19th, 2008
Blocking the Sun and the Wind
If you think solar and wind power are important for decarbonizing the atmosphere and/or for reducing our need for expensive imported energy from dangerous places, then you ought to be in favor of a massive buildout of America’s electric grid. Too often self-styled environmentalists (not genuine environmentalists like you and me), are a significant obstacle to making alternative energy an actual achievable alternative to traditional energy sources. This sad story is told well in a Wall Str...
Micromethod Acquired by Voxeo
Got some nice news to share about a former client that hit the wires this morning. Micromethod Technologies is a tiny company most of you have never heard about, and they’ve been quietly doing some leading edge work in the SIP server space. Today, at their big industry event - SpeechTEK - Voxeo announced the acquisition of Micromethod. The news was a key highlight from their event today, and colleague Dan York provided a more detailed take on the Voxeo blog. Last year, Micromethod engaged ...
Rick Segal - your Outlook conference call is about to begin.
I must really suck at marketing. Rick Seagal is pondering the effect an Outlook Add-in would have in the conferencing world if it worked seemelessly with Outlook Calendar and simply called everyone at the time of the meeting. Rick has perfectly described the Lypp service and our Outlook Add-in. ...
VoSKY Exchange Pro VISIP-EX SIP PBX-to-Skype gateway
VoSKY just announced the VoSKY Exchange Pro VISIP-EX, a SIP-to-Skype gateway product that bridges the Skype network with SIP-based IP-PBXs and SIP gateways. The VoSKY Exchange Pro VISIP-EX enables companies with SIP-enabled PBXs to add Skype trunks for inexpensive calling. This isn’t the first SIP-to-Skype gateway, I’ve written about others here, here, here, and here, however, this is the first “Skype-certified”, enterprise-grade PBX-to-Skype gateway for SIP networks. The...
Digium AA50 1.2 Software Released
Yesterday, Digium released version 1.2 for the Digium Asterisk Appliance 50 (AA50). It’s been awhile since I’ve heard any news about the AA50, so I’m glad to see Digium is still developing for the AA50 even with their new Switchvox-based AA60 appliance offering and their even newer AA300 & AA350 offerings. Actually, I discussed whether Digium’s AA60, AA300, and AA350 would compete against their original AA50 Asterisk appliance, which might be worth a read. In a nutshe...
Missing Muxtape? Try 8Tracks. It’s Better
Muxtape, a startup that quickly became a favorite of the Tumblr-set, has taken a nose dive, thanks to the machinations at RIAA. There are lot of folks bemoaning the loss of the service. To them, I have one word: 8Tracks. I talked to the New York-based startup’s founder, David Porter, formerly of Live365, a few weeks ago and he walked me through the service. I have been using it sporadically and, well, it works better than Muxtape. (Thrillist thinks so, too — take their word over a W...
GigaNET AM:Clinton, Top Gear & Houston WiFi
Earth2Tech: Bill Clinton: 10 Things the U.S. Government Should Do For Clean Power. NewTeeVee: Ultimate bloke show, Top Gear, has its own YouTube channel. Awesome! jkOnTheRun: Houston, Texas has launched city wide WiFi. NewTeeVee: Vuclip is big on mobiles. Who knew? OStatic: Waiting for a new class of devices: Mozilla, ARM & Others. ...
Even Moms Love Mobile Data Cards
OK, that is a bit over the top! Nielsen Mobile came out with a report that points out that there were 13 million mobile data cards in the U.S. at the end of June 2008. Not a big surprise, since wireless carriers in the U.S. are having a blockbuster year as far as mobile Internet revenues are concerned. The GigaOM Team has about seven of them and uses them for business and filing stuff when on the road. Apparently, so do a lot of people. However, Nielsen points out that there is a change in the ...
No Problem When Apple Screws Up
When I was growing up, my brother was one of those kids who would get into all kinds of trouble. Unlike the rest of us, however, he would escape the wrath of our parents by smiling or giving my mother a bear-hug. In many ways, Apple reminds me of my brother. No matter how often it drops the ball with a service (MobileMe) or product (3G Apple iPhone) that doesn’t work, batteries (iPod Nano, MacBook) that over-heat or slashing prices only a few months a product has been released (original iP...
In Praise of the Indian regulator, TRAI, for proposing to Open Up the Indian Market to VoIP
I praise TRAI for proposing to open up the Indian market to VoIP. Yesterday in a big win for the VON Coalition and VoIP enthusiasts around the world, the Indian regulator TRAI issued its recommendation on “Issues Related to Internet Telephony.” The VON Coalition filed a comprehensive set of recommendation in June of this year in this proceeding arguing that they should open their market to VoIP and it appears that they have followed the thrust of their recommendations. TRAI is recom...
Who Wins: Verizon FiOS vs AT&T U-Verse
Who Wins: AT&T U-Verse or Verizon FiOS AT&T U-Verse Verizon FiOS Neither. Cable will still beat them Verizon recently launched its FiOS TV & fiber-based broadband service in New York City, The New York Times is taking stock of the service which seems to be doing well. Verizon’s $23 billion investment into wasn’t viewed kindly and Wall Street viewed AT&T’s cheaper U-Verse plan more practical and affordable. Despite that early s...
McCain: How our enemies communicate
John McCain, in interview with Pastor Rick Warren, 8/16/08: ” . . . But the point is we have now had technological advances over the last twenty or thirty years in communications that are remarkable. It’s remarkable ability that our enemies have to communicate so we have to keep up with that capability. I mean there is too many ways — through cyberspace and through other ways — that people are able to communicate with one another so we’re gonna have to step up our c...
How Lijit Plans to Make Money
Lijit, a two-year-old startup based in Boulder, Colo., recently raised $7.1 million, bringing the total venture capital it has raised so far to a shade above $10 million. Whatever way you look at it, that is a lot of money for a company that on face value is nothing but a widget that allows bloggers to offer search on their blogs and their profiles in other social media sites such as Flickr. Curious as to how it plans to build a business to justify the money it raised from VCs such as Brad Feld...
Open Thread: Are You Happy With Apple Support?
Are you happy with Apple support? Absolutely! It is allright, nothing to write home about. It is quite terrible. I don’t have Apple Products Earlier this evening, Apple sent out an email to Mobile Me subscribers, giving us free 60-days of service in lieu of outages and poor performance that had plagued the service earlier this summer, leading to a lot of complaints. Earlier, the company had offered a free 30-day extension to MobileMe subscribers. In so...
You Be the Judge! At CES!
If you’re a member of the press, an independent designer or an engineer, we want you! (Actually, the International Consumer Electronics Show — CES – wants you. And that is some show! This is one that draws hundreds of thousands of people so that the Las Vegas Convention Center — and some other LV venues — is filled to overflowing.) Here’s what you need to know for now: Are you able to volunteer a little of your time to judge one of the most prestigio...
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News, opinions and announcements about fast changing communication tools and technologies, from various blogs and ezine.