Thursday, May 21, 2009

OQO Is No More

OQO is Dead
One of the earliest netbooks I had was OQO Model 1 that I managed to secure I think somewhere in 2004. Then I loved the it but then a few other products took it's place and I did not get the OQO model 2+ and my old one is long gone to some one else.
OQOtalk had posted the following message, follow the link to join the conversation;
A Note from OQO Inc.

"We are sad to report that due to financial constraints, OQO is not able to offer repair and service support at this time. We are deeply sorry that despite our best intentions, we are unable to provide continued support for our faithful customers. Please accept our sincerest apologies"


Apple To Fight Netbook Market With An Apple Tablet

Apple Tablet
Very descriptive and fact filled article on Appleinsider informs us that Apple will be releasing it's answer to mini notebook, netbook, market with a tablet.
The Tablet seem to be selling for the current iPhone 16GB self price ($699) and most likely be a souped up and larger iPod Touch.
"Between indications from our component contacts in Asia, recent patents relating to multi-touch sensitivity for more complex computing devices, comments from [chief operating officer] Tim Cook on the April 22nd conference call, and Apple's acquisition of P.A. Semi along with other recent chip-related hires, it is increasingly clear that Apple is investing more in its mobile computing franchise," analyst Gene Munster and his team wrote.
"More specifically, the analyst said these investments will likely culminate with the launch of a touch-screen tablet with a display somewhere between 7- and 10-inches at a special event sometime in the first half of 2010. Such a move, he added, would be consistent with management's comments that Cupertino-based company has no interest in catering to the existing segment for "cheap" miniaturized notebooks and its spoken desire to differentiate in a market currently dominated by cramped computers with razor thin margins and a subpar user experience."
They also mentioned that the product might come to the market somewhere in 2010.

Appleinsider

New iPhone, (iPhone 2009) To Be Released On July 17TH.

iPhone 2009
According to website, Appadvice, there is another leak of the specs of the new iPhone 3.0. I think it is mostly information included in the former iPhone leaks of data and following up with Apple's habit of releasing products on Fridays. July 17th fits the bill

  • 32GB and 16GB to replace current capacities
  • $199 and $299 price-points to be maintained
  • 3.2 Megapixel camera
  • Video recording & editing capabilities
  • Ability to send a picture & video via MMS
  • Discontinuation of the metal band surrounding the edge of the device
  • OLED screen
  • 1.5X The battery life
  • Double the RAM and processing power
  • Built-in FM transmitter
  • Apple logo on the back to light up
  • Rubber-tread backing
  • Sleeker design
  • Built-in compass
  • Revolutionary combination of the camera, GPS, compass, and Google maps to identify photo and inform about photo locations.
  • Turn by turn directions
  • July 17th, 2009 release date
Appadvice

Asterisk Open Source Server Name Changes At Digium / Asterisk Org

Asterisk Open Source Servers
Asterisk Org released the following directive to users. Basically Digium has moved most of the open source related servers from Digium.com domain to Asterisk.org. Fear not as care has been taken to do correct redirects. The SVN servers operate with direct connections as SVN does not like redirects.
If you see or notice any anomally, please inform Digium or Asteris.org.

"In order to more closely align the services that Digium provides to the Asterisk open source community with the Asterisk project itself, we've recently renamed many of the servers that provide these services.

Effective immediately:

bugs.digium.com has moved to issues.asterisk.org

There are no content or functional changes (except for the new site being SSL/TLS enabled), only a renaming of the site. The old URLs will continue to operate indefinitely, automatically redirecting the user to the new site.

reviewboard.digium.com has moved to reviewboard.asterisk.org

There are no content or functional changes (except for the new site being SSL/TLS enabled), only a renaming of the site. The old URLs will continue to operate indefinitely, automatically redirecting the user to the new site.

svn.digium.com has moved to svn.asterisk.org

There are no content or functional changes, and the old URLs will continue to operate indefinitely, *without* redirects, as Subversion does not handle redirects in a transparent fashion and we don't want to break users' existing checkouts.

downloads.digium.com has partially moved to downloads.asterisk.org

The open source Asterisk project content has moved to the new site, which contains *only* open source content. The Digium commercial products present on downloads.digium.com will continue to be hosted there. URLs to open source content that used to be present on downloads.digium.com will automatically redirect to downloads.asterisk.org.

Hopefully these changes have been made in as transparent a fashion as possible, and you won't experience any problems. If you do, please don't hesitate to post on the asterisk-users mailing list and we'll try to get the problem addressed as quickly as possible.

Thanks for using Asterisk!"


Wednesday, May 20, 2009

SwitchVox Developer Central


SwitchVox / Digium

Digium, announced the Switchvox Developer Central, an online community for developers who are integrating voice and web applications using the Switchvox unified communications solution. Switchvox is a part of Digium’s family of voice over IP (VoIP) phone systems and solutions for small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs).

Complete Press Release and Media Kit;
05.19.2009 – HUNTSVILLE, Ala.--Digium(R), Inc., the Asterisk(R) Company, today unveiled Switchvox Developer Central, an online community for developers who are integrating voice and web applications using the Switchvox unified communications solution. Switchvox is Digium's family of voice over IP (VoIP) phone systems for small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs). Switchvox systems, which are based on the open source Asterisk telephony platform, are cost-effective, easy to use and full of features that are typically found only in expensive PBXs.

Available since April, Switchvox SMB 4.0 includes the new Switchvox Extend API. This new toolset lets developers integrate Switchvox with their business applications using an XML API, IVR management tools and event notifications. Utilities such as Fire Dialer, the click-to-call extension for Firefox, or the Switchvox Outlook Plugin are examples of the applications that can be created using the Switchvox Extend API. The newly released API is currently in beta.

Switchvox Developer Central is a website for developers to connect with one another to share ideas and solve problems. It includes a wiki containing all documentation for the Switchvox Extend API, a forum for ongoing discussion, a blog for the Digium engineering team to post news to the community, and tools to simplify development and testing. Digium’s new developer crossroads, http://developers.digium.com, lets users choose their development platform or path—Asterisk.org if they want to contribute directly to the open source software or Switchvox Developer Central if they want to integrate with Switchvox using the Switchvox Extend API.

"The Extend API was one of the most important new capabilities released in Switchvox SMB 4.0 and we want to provide documentation for it in a living format," said Joshua Stephens, general manager of Digium's San Diego operations, where Switchvox is developed. "An administrator or reseller of a Switchvox system can integrate their phone system with a custom web application that's completely tailored to their business or an employee's job function. If they have the skills to create the web application, integrating with Switchvox will be easy because they can use whatever programming language they're comfortable with, so there's virtually no learning curve or specialized knowledge required. If they've worked with any web-based API before, this is going to look really familiar, so they should be able to ramp up quickly."

pjSIP 1.2 Released With Support For Siren Codecs.

pjSIP 1.2
Since we wrote earlier about SvSIP, Nintendo VoIP / SIP Client that uses pjsip, Let us point you to a new version of pjSIP.
The pjsip 1.2 has support for G.722.1(C) aka Siren7 and Siren14 codecs and updated PJNATH for the latest STUN RFC and TURN draft.
Also good news for windows developers, support for building Windows Mobile targets with Visual Studio 2005 (no more upgrading from embedded Visual C++)
You can download the product from pjsip site.
We learned about this release from Official pjsip Blog.

SVSIP, VoIP / SIP Client For Nintendo DS,

Nintendo DS SIP Client
Today I received a comment requesting information on making a SIP based phone call from a Nintendo DS. Even though I have written about SVSIP (Nintendo DS goes VoIP with SvSIP and PJSIP ) before, much has changed since then regarding to program, it needs a new introduction in anyways.
The SvSIP is written by samuelv and is a open source program based on pjsip, (Python in your SIP, and Python SIP, Yes PJSIP Wraps It!) and makes good VoIP Client for Nintendo DS.

SvSIP is under development, and currently you can:

  • Make call to phone numbers,
  • Receive calls,
  • to querry IVR through DTMF tones.
There are many improvements since we wrote the original article and also some quirks. For instance the WIFI connection need to be invoked by other means as the SvSIP does not have the capability to activate the WiFi connection. But if you invoke a connection with another program, SvSIP will utilize that connection to make SIP based VoIP Calls.
You can use Wifi_config.nds, to configure your WiFi connection and don't forget to save the configuration.

The following guidelines should be followed

  • You can only use WEP encryption and not WPA, WPA2.
  • SSID must be broadcast mode.
  • The followings ports of your firewall must be opened :
    • 5060
    • 4000-4007)
You can download SvSIP Version 7, from this link.
You can use any of the following Free SIP account providers.
Source code, other tools and more information, SvSIP

iPhone 3G For $11.48?

UPDATE: It seems that right to bid costs $1 and if the above phone bids are half paid ones, he has already made $574 without giving away anything! Go buy your iPhone else where!
iPhone on the cheap!
Yes it is crazy but true. Nicolas Dickreuter, the creator of PsychoAuction.com, is actually doing it. But it is not that crazy if you do a little math and even this article might make it easy for him offer more stuff at crazy prices, like $25 for $2.62.
The PsychoAuction is not all that crazy if the creators original idea works out. Once registered, you get free three bid on any article for sale and if you like to bid more, you can BUY more bids. The iphone had total of 400 bids since I saw it first on yesterday. I cannot find a price for right to bid on the site but if the iPhone started at $0, then he already had 1148 bids and assuming that half of them are free bids, then he will have to sell bids for $1 to break even. I don't think I will buy right to bid for $1 and say he is wise and sells them for $0.10, the I guess the profitable selling price might be somewhere around $100-120. If it is not, I will never wonder why Lehman Brothers wend down. (Nicolasworked for Lehman Brothers)
I first learned about this at Cnet News

Saturday, May 16, 2009

Tweetcasts with TwieetMic, The Voice Twitter


TweetMic
If you felt you were limited by 140 character limitation of twitter and wanted to type or say more? I again had to think why didn't I think of that. Tweetmic, a Twitter client app for the iPhone allows you to make high-quality audio recordings or "Tweetcasts" and publish them directly to Twitter. There is no limit to how much you can record and you don't need to sign up for any additional service to start using TweetMic. It will be a great addition to applications like twitterrific.
Following are some of the features of Tweetmic

  • Incredibly simple and intuitive interface
  • Quickly record audio and publish to Twitter
  • Review your recordings before publishing
  • Easily overwrite old recordings by hitting "record" again
  • Create unique and engaging Tweetcasts in no time
  • Ultra high recording sound quality
  • Unlimited recording time
  • Uses your existing Twitter account, no additional signup
  • Navigate and listen to your published audio tweets
  • Your tweets stay live unless you delete them
  • Easy management of your audio tweets at tweetmic.com
You can get it directly from Apple App Store. You also could listen to a tweetcast by Jeff Pulver by following this link.

Friday, May 15, 2009

Number Portability Rules Changed By FCC, ( FCC rule changes requires one-day transfer for numbers )

Number portability
The Federal Communications Commission voted Wednesday to force
Landline, wireless and most voice over Internet (VoIP) providers / phone companies to act faster when their subscribers want to move their phone number to a rival service.

The commission will change the rules that require companies to transfer, or "port," landline phone numbers within one business day, down from the current four-day requirement.

The North American Numbering Council, which coordinates number issues for the carriers, was instructed by FCC, to develop new procedures in about three months and then carriers will have nine months to comply. Smaller carriers will get an extra six months.

VNC For iPhone From MochaSoft


VNC for iPhone
Mocha VNC for iPhone lets you connect to a VNC Server running on a remote machine. If you were wondering what VNC is;
It is a console/screen sharing system that lets you remotely log into and use other machines over the Internet, and intranets. You basically control the remote machine with your mouse and keyboard while watching the remote screen on your display. I have been using VNC to manage servers all my life and it is a usual part of my utilities that I install on any machine.
Using your Mocha VNC for iPhone, you can connect to a Windows PC or Mac OS X and use it as you would if you were sitting at your desk, just on a smaller screen.
The app has following features;
- Standard VNC protocol with encrypted password signon
- 8 and 32 bit color modes
- Local Mouse support
- Zoom and scroll as the Safari browser
- Landscape mode
- Can handle 20 different Host configurations
- Has been tested with RealVNC, TightVNC, UltrVNC on Windows, and Apple Remote Management, which is included with the Mac OS X.
- A screen resolution larger than 2000x2000, as to memory and speed, is not recommended.
There are two versions of the App, the free version and the paid version. With the paid version you will have;
- Another cool key board
- Extra keys as ALT,CTRL, Option and Apple key
- Mouse Support
- Text macro support
- Ctrl+alt+del key. Needed if using Win 200x as a VNC Server

Mocha VNC Lite (APP Store)
Mocha VNC (APP Store)
MochaSoft

BlackBerry Storm 2 Photos!


Blackberry Storm 2
Above is from a collection of photos of BlackBerry Storm 2, that Engadget received from someone. We already knew it was coming but waiting to get hold of a one.
Engadget Gallery

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

No SLINGing On My 3G Network, AT&T To You!

Image from engadget, link at the end
Slingbox on iPhone
"Slingbox, which would use large amounts of wireless network capacity, could create congestion and potentially prevent other customers from using the network. The application does not run on our 3G wireless network. Applications like this, which redirect a TV signal to a personal computer, are specifically prohibited under our terms of service. We consider smartphones like the iPhone to be personal computers in that they have the same hardware and software attributes as PCs.

That said, we don't restrict users from going to a Web site that lets them view videos. But what our terms and conditions prohibit is the transferring, or slinging, of a TV signal to their personal computer or smartphone.

The Slingbox application for the iPhone runs on WiFi. That's good news for AT&T's iPhone 3G customers, who get free WiFi access at our 20,000 owned and operated hot spots in the U.S., including Starbucks, McDonalds, Barnes & Noble, hotels, and airports. AT&T is the industry leader in WiFi."
But Engadget has a nice article about the whole saga which has altready collected 184 comments. I think if this is news to you to follow the link below for the article;
AT&T and Slingbox, Engadget

MiLi Power Pack For iPhones From Phonesuit

MiLi Power Pack
The PhoneSuit has released the MiLi Power Pack for the iPhone(s). Plural because they say that they have successfully tested the power pack with both Gen 1 (2G) and Gen 2 (3G) iPhones. The MiLi power pack has ample capacity to more than double the battery life of your iPhone!
Apple specs indicate that the iPhone has a talk time of 5 hours on 3G and 10 hours on 2G. When you add the MiLi to the picture, these times will extend to give you an additional 6.5 hours of talk time on the iPhone 3G and 13.5 hours of talk time on iPhone 2G. It also has an additional USB port so that you could charge your Bluetooth headphones in an emergency.
When the iPhone is idling, MiLi makes the phone last 390 hours of additional standby time.
So if you are looking for adding power to your iPhone, this is something to pay attention to. It will set you back $80 at the moment and they have a bunch of reviews by big boys of the trade.
PhoneSuit

Other Power Packs for iPhone that we looked at before;

FastMac iPhone iV iPhone Charger Battery Pack

Palm Pre Unboxed, Video!

Palm Pre Unboxed
An excited bunch of people unboxing a Palm Pre! Yep looks like they still waste a lot of packing material!


Update, got the following info from a YT comment;
mobileburn (5 hours ago)
Folks, this was done at CES 2009 (hence the January 13 upload date). The device turned on instantly because it had been in use all day and probably had just been stuffed into the box to make an unboxing video. This was shot in Palm's lounge at the Las Vegas Convention Center. We've seen the box before, we've seen the phone before. This is just somebody thinking to stuff it in the box for a second to get an "unboxing" video.


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Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Free Skype Calls Forever On 3 UK Network


Free Skype Calls

on UK's 3 network that is. If you have a SIM card from 3 Network and a compatible phone, all your calls will be free forever or what ever comes first.
3 believes it is important and according to a post;
"We’ve been working with Skype for over two years now and we've learned a lot about how our customers use the service. We know that a keen mobile Skype user is an instinctive, active communicator. They want to take full advantage of free mobile calls.

Increasingly Skype use is linked to other internet communications activities, such as Facebook, Twitter and a host of other services for which our customers will happily pay a fixed fee for unlimited use.

While others have looked at Skype as a potential threat to voice and text revenues we see another advantage. Did you know when you call a friend on a different mobile network their network will charge your operator a fee for carrying the call? This is called a Mobile Termination Rate or MTR and is currently charged at around 4.7p or more for every minute of the call.

This fee is regulated by the industry regulator Ofcom but we think they’re still too high. Without these fees we’d be able to offer our customers much better value and that’s where Skype comes in. With Skype, MTRs don’t apply so we can give our customers all the minutes they like without over charging them.

At 3, we believe our customers should be able to choose how they communicate because that’s mobile as it should be; simple, useful and always good value."

Kevin Russell, Chief Executive Officer of 3 UK, said:

Communication through the internet is exploding. Internet calling or VoIP, social networking, instant messaging and email are used by millions in the UK every single day. They are open to all on their PCs and laptops. We want people to be free to communicate from their mobiles in the same way as they do from their PCs.

“In future you will be able to buy a 3 SIM for unlimited Skype-to-Skype calls for less than the price of a cup of coffee and talk for as much as you want without ever paying us another penny. We won’t ask you for a top-up or a monthly commitment. If you want to talk on a mobile for free, just join us and give it a go. This is for everyone.”

Josh Silverman, President of Skype said:

Demand for mobile access from our users has never been higher. The introduction of unlimited Skype-to-Skype calls and instant messages across all 3 price plans is a really exciting move from a key partner. 3 UK clearly understands the desire for people to use Skype wherever and whenever they want. This is the first mobile network to show this kind of innovation to enable their customers to access Skype.

“We believe this is how the future looks for the Internet on mobile. With this bold move 3 UK has again shown their willingness to be the customer champion for mobile services in the UK.

Currently, 3 UK’s growing Skype community enjoys 1.5 million minutes of free Skype-to-Skype calls every day. The launch of the first 3 Skypephone in October 2007 really kick-started the growth of free internet calling on the 3 network. With over 433 million people registered on Skype worldwide, the new free Skype-to-Skype offer from 3 opens up a world of free calling.
3 UK Press Release

iPhone NG Details Leaked!

The New iPhone
It will have a 600MHz processor (versus the current 400MHz unit), 256MB of RAM (versus the current 128MB), 32GB of storage, a 3.2 megapixel camera with autofocus. It is also suppose to get a digital compass and a FM radio. Other than those we are going to see the same battery, basic shape, and screen size.
Camera and the digital compass is something I will miss in my current phone. I do not know about 32GB as I am yet to fill up my 16GB in the current phone. But I am a hoarding junkie and 32GB might not be a bad idea.!
In any case, we got to wait and see. Until then, please your thoughts with these! All the information came from this from the Chinese site and I got it from Mac Rumors.


Tags:

Monday, May 11, 2009

Asterisk Based Channel Banks From Xorcom


AstriBank

Xorcom has released channel banks based on Astribank XPP Technology for Asterisk Servers. Using USB 2.0 ports to connect to any Asterisk server, Astribank eliminates the requirement for a PCI (E1/T1) card, and even for PCI slots.

So even a mini servers could easily handle up to 2400 phone calls (provided the processor could handle it, in real life they can't)! How? The standard USB 2.0 interface theoreticaly could reach speed of 480 Mbits per second. A typical uncompressed phone conversation uses about 64,000 bits per second per direction, plus some overhead; in total less than 200Kbits per second per phone call is used. Thus, the theoretical concurrent number of conversations that the USB 2.0 interface can handle is 480 Mbits divided by 200 Kbits: roughly 2,400 calls for a single USB 2.0 port. Even at 50%, it will be 1200 calls.

So what can I get in real life, right now with this XPP technology?

  • Very high density – up to 32 analog ports and up to 144 PRI + analog ports on 19" 1U box (144= quad E1 PRI + 24 analog ports)
  • High Speed 480 Mbit/s USB2 connectivity
  • Full support for fax and modems
  • Hot pluggable solution
  • Rack- or wall-mountable solution
  • Simple integration
  • Support for Input Ports
  • Support for Output Ports
  • Message Waiting Indicator (MWI) for analog phones (great for hospitality installations like hotels, condominiums, assisted living, etc.)
The XR2000 load test results is here (PDF). The data sheet could be found here (PDF).
Xorcom


Remote Control With iPhone

Remote Control with iPhone
The video below (and more, check out the related videos) depicts iPhone used for remote control. This is achieved with a free app called MRMR. From the developers site;
"Mrmr is an ongoing open-source research project to develop a standardized set of protocols and syntax conventions to control live installations and multimedia performances via mobile devices. The project is currently spearheaded by Eric Redlinger, researcher-in-residence at Brooklyn Polytechnic University’s Integrated Digital Media Institute (IDMI).

Simply put, Mrmr is a technology that enables you to use ordinary cell phones and PDAs as controllers in audio-visual performances, or to participate in interactive museum exhibits, or as a replacement for your computer in pretty much any situation where you would normally use a mouse or trackpad."

But one Star Wars fan has gone ahead and used the application to control a servo and plans to do more. Currently he is controlling a life size R2D2.
"It was done with a microcontroller with an ethernet interface connected to a wireless router. The software running on the iPhone is called mrmr and can be downloaded from the app store for free."



Palm Pre Gets A Wireless Charger

Palm Pre
Looking to become noticeable in the crowded smartphone market, Palm is shipping it's flagship product, Palm® Pre™ with a wireless charger. Wireless charging has been with us for years - think of electric toothbrushes that rest on chargers with no wires connecting them. The charging happens through magnetic induction.
You just rest the phone on a pad and the phone get charged just like that electric toothbrush. But still you get something to be plugged to the wall and a cord running to where the pad is placed. It just eliminates you having to plug in the phone to a jack.
But of you who think of being green, can drop this as it wastes about 10-15% of efficiency from the wired models.
This will be efficient if all the small devices that need to be charged could use the same interface to charge. At this point, you eliminate multitude of transformers and save a lot of electrical energy. But that to happen, these type of charging need to become standard and it might take years. But the good point about Palm Pre is that it is a start that might lead to an standard in the future.

  • • Non-slip material securely fastens dock to tables, desks, and other surfaces, and prevents dock from
    moving when phone is removed
  • • Magnets in the dock align your phone in the correct position for charging, whether in portrait or
    landscape mode
  • • No cables or connectors required to attach your Palm® Pre™ phone to the dock
  • • Charges your device in same amount of time as wall charger
  • • Place Pre on the dock when you're on a call and speakerphone automatically turns on, and when you
    take Pre off, speakerphone conversation is routed back to the phone
  • • When Pre rings on the dock, the phone answers when taken off the dock
  • • Requires Touchstone™ back cover, sold separately

Twittering With iPhone

Twitter Client For iPhone
We wrote about Twitterrific, a twetter app for iPhone and we felt that we should also write about another twitter App for iPhone, that one of our members in love with, Tweetie. Tweetie managed to get banned from iTunes AppStore but also managed to get back in the app Store, Tweetie 1.3. This twitter client for iPhone from Atebits has it's own list of features;

  • Handle multiple twitter accounts.
  • View your timeline, replies, direct messages and favorites.
  • Browse your friends and followers.
  • Post new tweets, retweet.
  • Reply directly to tweets and send direct messages.
  • Follow and unfollow people.
  • Mark tweets as favorites.
  • Navigate reply chains.
  • Inline web browser.
  • Post links with automatic link shrinking via bit.ly.
  • Upload pictures to twitpic.com.
  • Update your twitter location.
  • View twitter trends and perform custom searches.
  • Save your favorite searches.
  • Implements the full twitter API.
  • Uses secure connection (https).
  • Go to User shortcut
  • Nearby search
  • Themes and adjustable font size
  • Bookmarklet support
atebits

DJing with iPhone And Assorted Gadgets.

Geemodo: iPhone DJ With A Rockstar!!
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My iPhone Is Too Cool!

Hot iPhone
Unlike the above which belongs to "Jeff" who sits in 104 degree heat outside with cool beers, Scottsdale Arizona at that! But it is nice to know that Apple knows when it gets hot. Now someone to find those sensors and write an app!
Apple, Flickr and The iPhone Blog, via Gizmodo

Saturday, May 09, 2009

Twitter For BlackBerry, ƜberTwitter Beta-2

ƜberTwitter Beta-2
After writing about twitterrific for iPhone, I thought I should write about the twitter app for Blackberry I use. The program is Ubertwitter which is still in beta. I have been plying actually using Ubertwitter almost a month since it went on beta. But with all the feedback and the developers own doing a new beta version, ƜberTwitter Beta-2 was released yesterday! The release rolls out a large number of new features, some of which I have listed below. If you download and use the app, please let the developers know your feature needs, issues or bugs.You can download it directly from the developers site.

Below are some of the features and bug fixes included in this release:

  • Full tweet shown in timeline, rows are variable in size
  • Two notification profiles, one for new tweets and another for replies
  • View your list of friends and all of their details
  • View your list of followers and all of their details
  • View when a user joined twitter
  • Added 'Follow' to context menu when clicking on @screenname from within any application on your BlackBerry
  • Added a free-form search screen, allowing users access to the full power of Twitter Search
  • We now support the built-in GPS as an option
  • Added options to control the number of tweets initially retrieved and how many to maintain in your timeline
  • Added options to control the number of avatar images cached
  • Add thumbnails of pics attached to tweets in the timeline, either from twitpic, or from UberTwitter
  • Add larger pics attached to tweets in the full tweet view, supports twitpic, or from UberTwitter
  • Mark a tweet as a Favorite
  • Remove favorite from a tweet
  • View another users favorites
  • View your timeline
  • We now support WiFi if its available
  • Support for ScrollWheel devices (87xx)
  • More options for automatic refresh, including a manual mode
  • Increased screen name field size on Options screen
  • Increase GTalk user field size on Options screen
  • Some decrease in battery usage, but we have more work to do here
  • Bug fix - Fonts not resetting on change
  • Bug fix - Line feeds in tweets were causing an ArrayOutOfBounds Exception
  • Bug fix - Icon cache would grow FOREVER! (memory leak)
  • Bug fix - Race condition would cause lockup on starting UberTwitter

Twitterrific 2.0 For iPhone.

Twitter For iPhone.
I have tested a few applications for iPhone that will help me to keep up with my twitter needs. I was not very happy but managed to to get along. Then came the Twitterrific, now I enjoy twittering on my iPhone.

Twitterrific is free to use if you are willing to put up with an inline advertisement at the top of the timeline. If you find the ads intrusive or want to support the developers, you can purchase Twitterrific Premium via the App Store which removes the advertising.

The twitterrific brings support for multiple twitter accounts, searches, trends & filters, new visual themes and layouts, conversation threads, a greatly improved posting interface, marked tweets and more.


Friday, May 08, 2009

Call Failed?

An iPhone App that may never exist.

Gizmodo

Thursday, May 07, 2009

SIP Security, A New Book From Wiley

SIP and SIP Security
The big guns at Fraunhofer Institute Fokus,who brought us the SIP Express Router (SER), has written a very good book on SIP Security.
Authors, Dr. Dorgham Sisalem, Dr. John Floroiu, Jiri Kuthan, Ulrich Abend, and Prof. Henning Schulzrinne are pioneers in SIP technology and have vested interest and knowledge of the subject SIP and SIP Security. If you need further assuarence, you can read a forward by security guru Phil Zimmerman on the site which is linked below.
SIP Accounts are used by many now for day to day communications and all major IP Telephony and VoIP carriers are deploying or already have deployed SIP Back Bones. I learned my SIP from SER, when most people were wondering what VoIP was.
I cant comment much on the book itself as I have not read it yet but I will assure you, it is something you need to have near by, if you are involved in Communications.
The authors have a website to provide information on the book.

You can read an excerpt of the book here.

OpenSIPS CP 2.0 Is Out

OpenSIPS Control Panel 2.0 is released

OpenSIPS-CP version 2.0 is a major release from the OpenSIPS Control Panel project. OpenSIPS-CP is a Web Control Panel Application for OpenSIPS server and is currently compatible with OpenSIPS 1.5.x.

In addition to the fixes for several bugs, the new release enhances the existing tools and have streamlined DB scheme (definitions and interwork with OpenSIPS DB). Another improvement is the extension of the drouting tool by adding list-based route handling, giving the freedom of choosing between creating your own list of gateways or using a predefined list.

What you find new in this version of control panel is;

  • dispatcher - provisioning of the dispatcher lists via DB, cache reload via MI
  • nathelper - provisioning of the RTPproxy sets via DB, cache inspection and reload (MI), RTPproxy enable/disable (via MI), ping enable/disable (MI).
  • permissions - provisioning via DB of the trusted set of addresses.


OpenSIPS-CP 2.0 is now available for download on SourceForge.

AT&T To Drop $10 From Monthly iPhone iPhone Plan?

Phone Rumor Of The Day
Mac Rumors is reporting that AT&T plans to drop the cost of monthly iPhone plan by $10 to boost sales. Recently RIM's BlackBerry surpassed iPhone sales, mainly due to Verizon discount offers on Blackberry devices.
The rate cut also might be pointing out that both the companies need to fine newer way to get more customers. It could also be an incentive on the part of AT&T to keep the iPhone exclusivity in the US. There were rumors and reasons why Apple need NOT TO RENEW the iPhone contract with AT&T running around recently. The resons were, that by adding other carriers, Apple will be able to sell more iPhones in the USA.
"There is a "strong possibility" that AT&T will drop the entry-level price to $59 from $69, says Cote Collaborative analyst Michael Cote, an industry pricing strategist. The announcement, he said, will probably accompany the launch of the new iPhone on June 8, during Apple's World Wide Developers Conference. "

The current price of an iPhone including a two-year AT&T contract is a hefty $1,880.

"This price does not address the whole market," says Cote. And the price barrier has started to be a concern for Apple. For example, says Cote, "Wal-Mart iPhone sales haven't met expectations."

You can read more at The Street.


mophie Juice Pack Battery Pack/Case for iPhone 3G Give Away At The iPhone Blog!

Mophie Juice Pack Give Away
The iPhone blog in association with Tipb iPhone Store is having a contest to give away some iPhone juice. Yes you can extend the battery life of your iPhone with a mophie Juice Pack Battery Pack/Case for iPhone 3G, if you tell them why you need one.
In my case, I use my iPhone for most of my phone calls as Office (follow me), home and Google Voice numbers are forwarded to my iPhone.
Then I manage a few servers via Logmein (This application alone is one of the most used application on my iPhone). Then being an GPS bug, I use a bunch of iPhone GPS applications and mapping (I usually get lost in my own home town. So that drains most of my juice. Then I carry some music to keep me entertained and oh I also use it to geotag my photos I take with my DSLR (it lacks DPS) and I just take another photo with iPhone with location information.
I guess these are enough reasons for winning a juice pack so I will make this a comment!

TiPb Birthday Bash: Win a mophie Juice Pack Battery Pack/Case for iPhone 3G!

iPhone 3.0 Beta 5 Is Out.

iPhone 3.0 Beta 5
Lot sooner than the last beta was installed and getting used to the fact, Apple's developer team has released iPhone 3.0 Beta 5.
According to sources on the net, MMS has been hidden on this release (for AT&T) and parental control for apps based on ratings has been introduced.
In order to install one will need to download and install iTunes 8.2.

Wednesday, May 06, 2009

Microsoft Bans VoIP Apps On Mobile Marketplace

Microsoft Bans VoIP Apps
Microsoft has a long list of prohibited applications for Windows Marketplace for Mobile. And yes you guessed right, VoIP is one of them.
So now you can shed a sigh of relief if you thought that only Apple did not like VoIP on its iPhone platform. Yes I am mad about all these crippling efforts by carriers and their cohorts, like Apple and Microsoft. So while I cool down, you can visit Tom Keating at TMC as he has written a nice article(s) on the issue.
Alright, where is my Android Dev Phone?

Cloud Computing For Mobile Phones


cloudclone
With mobile phones providing more and more capabilities for us not to be tied to a desk, the shear amount of data that is processed by the Mobile devices tend to affect the battery life and send us back to the desk much earlier than we wanted to.
If we could use our mobile phones as a terminal to a much more powerful computer on the net will reduce the power requirements on the phone and at the same time provide much better processing power. Just like the old days with main frames and dumb terminals, transformed to today with cloud computing and intelligent terminals. But where and how do we do that? The answer comes from two Intel Research Berkeley scientists Byung-Gon Chun and Petros Maniatis. They have been working on a project called CloneCloud, which is a cloud computing service that provide external processing power to mobile phones.
With high speed connections available for mobile communication, handing over of a phones processing to a more powerful clone in the cloud might save a lot of processing power on the phone allowing the battery to last much longer.
At the same time the clone will be able to extend the processing power of the phone. For an example, the researcher Chun created a facial recognition application. The application required 100 seconds to run on the phone, while the same task took just one second once offloaded to the cloud.
But it is not all rosy with clonecloud and there are many hurdles to overcome. Network latency and bandwidth limitations will affect the operations and as I mentioned, it will be not much more than a dumb terminal once in an area where there is no connectivity. But then again in a dead zone you will be doing very little work.
Sending Cell Phones into the Cloud (MIT Technology Review)

Tuesday, May 05, 2009

Android G3, Android G1 V2? Yes Add Samsung Houdini To That. (T-Mobile Android Lineup)

T-Mobile Android Lineup
According to aforum post on TMOToday.com, T-Mobile has a nice line up for this year concerning Android Devices. The Android G1, Google Phone will reach end of life soon and will be replaced by T-Mobile G1 V2, a nice and round G1 with a slide out keyboard. I think I am going to like it! The there is T-Mobile G2 also known as HTC Magic but Samsung Houdini joins the lineup as well. Then they are talking about T-Mobile G3 as seen above from Code Android that has surfaced recently.
From the photo, all Androids that are on T-Mobile seem to go on a diet and slim down and as well as loose the trackballs! and keyboards. One way or the other, iPhone, BlackBerry and Android might lead the US markets, as we see in this report where BlackBerry outsold iPhones. But as you see, Android is not very far away!
TMOToday discussion
Code Android G3

BlackBerry Storm II, Confirmed By RIM.

BlackBerry Storm 2
BlackBerry Storm did not create that much of a sales movement for Blackberry like what Verizon did with Buy one get two BlackBerries did this year. So learning from the mistakes or not, RIM is planing on bringing the next generation of touchscreen (clickscreen) BlackBerry according to reuters but the news has little substance concerning the device itself.
There is no information how they plan to make the device better or what the new technology that they are going to introduce.

Asked about whether the BlackBerry Storm -- which debuted to mixed media reviews last year -- has been a hit, Balsillie, co-CEO of RIM, said "that product was a huge success in terms of sales and adoption." "we have next-generation devices with that and the whole roadmap."

Hope it is a roadmap to somewhere better, than a storm battered place.

reuters

Apple Twitching To Buy Twitter?

Apple to buy Twitter.
After Google seem to get no where trying to buy Twitter, Apple want to get it for $700 million it seems, TechCrunch tells us.
“Apple is in late stage negotiations to buy Twitter and is hoping to announce it at WWDC in June,”
It is just starting I guess, the new rounds after celebrities, actors promoted Twitter on TV has brought more than 25 Million new users to the micro blogging site. I think twitter should grow up a bit more before getting sold.

GV Mobile, Google Voice On iPhone

GV Mobile
There is a new way to use Google Voice from an iPhone. I was just getting used to use Google Voice through their mobile site when I came across GV Mobile, an iPhone App. (GV Mobile is not a Google product) GV Mobile brings the power of Google Voice to your iPhone. It allows users of Google Voice to:
+dial numbers (domestic for free and international at a variable rate) via the iPhone address book or typing on the keypad
+send SMS
+retrieve and delete recent call history
+playback and delete voicemails
+take calls from different phones other than your iPhone
+enable or disable the phones that Google Voice forwards calls to
+add or delete phones that Google Voice forwards call to

I am trying out the GV Mobile free version and I feel I will go for the paid version from what I have seen so far. The GV Mobile is available from iTunes Store (GV Mobile, GV Mobile Free). You can learn more about the app from the developers site as well. Perhaps the video below might be of help as well.

Monday, May 04, 2009

Vonage "VOIP Tax" Turned Down Again By Court

VoIP Tax
For over a decade, several states have sought to tax Vonage and other VoIP suppliers, as well as their customers, to states' Universal Service Fund. But all these taxing attempts have been overturned or denied by citing a 2003 landmark ruling by federal Judge Michael Davis of Minnesota.
The latest comes in the way of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals turning down an appeal by the Nebraska Public Service Commission to compel Vonage users to pay taxes on their service.

In his earlier ruling, Judge Davis said, "Congress has expressed a clear intent to leave the Internet free from undue regulation so that this growth and exploration may continue. Congress also differentiated between 'telecommunication services,' which may be regulated, and 'information services,' which, like the Internet, may not."

Source

Covergence Acquired By Acme Packet

Acme Packet Acquires Covergence

BURLINGTON, MA, APRIL 30, 2009 Acme Packet, Inc. (NASDAQ: APKT), the leader in session border control solutions, today announced that it has acquired privately-held Covergence, Inc. for consideration valued at approximately $22.8 million, consisting of approximately $22.2 million of Acme Packet common stock and an aggregate of $0.6 million in cash payments to stockholders of Covergence and tax withholding payments. The Maynard, Massachusetts based company is an emerging, innovative provider of software-based session border controllers (SBCs) for delivering VoIP/IP telephony, Unified Communications and Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) applications within global 1000 enterprises.

SIP trunking – with its compelling return-on-investment and increasing worldwide availability – will drive many enterprises to deploy it to even the smallest of locations,” stated Andy Ory, CEO and co-founder of Acme Packet. “With the acquisition of Covergence, Acme Packet accelerates its ability to now satisfy the SIP trunking SBC requirements of enterprise small offices and remote sites.”

Covergence’s software-based SBCs will complement Acme Packet’s existing Net-Net family of custom hardware-based SBCs by extending Acme Packet’s low-end product range to address the needs of small and remote enterprise locations. Available as hardened Unix-based software for Intel x86-class servers or as a virtual machine package, Covergence’s SBCs will provide Acme Packet’s distribution partners and enterprise customers with new, capital expenditure and operating expense friendly price points for smaller sites. Opportunities for Acme Packet partners will also include the physical integration of this software-based SBC with other enterprise IP networking or communications equipment. From a customer leadership perspective, the Covergence acquisition will add four of the Fortune 25 to Acme Packet’s growing base of enterprise customers.

The core Covergence team will be relocated to Acme Packet’s headquarters in nearby Burlington, Massachusetts. Three Covergence executives will be joining Acme Packet in roles closely related to their positions at Covergence: Ken Kuenzel, Office of the Chief Technology Officer; Jim Donovan, Vice President, Enterprise Product Management; and Marty Falaro, Vice President, Business Development.

Company to Host Live Conference Call and Webcast
The Company’s management team will review the acquisition of Covergence during its previously scheduled conference call and webcast at 5:00 p.m. eastern daylight savings time today. The conference call may be accessed in the United States by dialing (800) 230-1074 and using access code “APKT”. The conference call may be accessed outside of the United States by dialing (612) 332-1213 and using access code “APKT”. The conference call will be simultaneously webcast on the Company’s investor relations website, which can be accessed at www.ir.acmepacket.com. A replay of the conference call will be available approximately two hours after the call by dialing (800) 475-6701 and using access code 995307 or by accessing the webcast replay on the Company’s investor relations website.

Acme Packet News.


RIM’s BlackBerry Curve Beats Apple’s iPhone To Become The Smartphone Best-seller Q1 2009

Smartphone Market Update
According to The NPD Group, an aggressive “buy-one-get-one” promotion by Verizon Wireless helped RIM’s BlackBerry Curve move past Apple’s iPhone to become the best-selling consumer smartphone in the U.S. in the first quarter (Q1) of 2009. RIM’s market share increased by 15% to reach almost 50% of the smartphone market in Q1 2009 against the Q4, 2008. This quarter, Apple’s and Palm’s share both declined 10 percent each.

NPD’s “Smartphone Market Update” report list the following as the top-five best-selling smartphones in the Q1 2009;

  1. RIM BlackBerry Curve (all 83XX models)
  2. Apple iPhone 3G (all models)
  3. RIM BlackBerry Storm
  4. RIM BlackBerry Pearl (all models, except flip)
  5. T-Mobile G1

Verizon Wireless’s aggressive marketing of the BlackBerry Storm and its buy-one-get-one BlackBerry promotion to its large customer base contributed to RIM capturing three of the top five positions,” said Ross Rubin, director of industry analysis at The NPD Group. “The more familiar, and less expensive, Curve benefited from these giveaways and was able to leapfrog the iPhone, due to its broader availability on the four major U.S. national carriers.”



The Asterisk Development Team Releases The Asterisk 1.6.1.0

http://snapvoip.blogspot.com/

The Asterisk Development Team has released the Asterisk 1.6.1.0. Asterisk 1.6.1.0 is available for immediate download at Digium Downloads

This being the first in the 1.6.1 branch, there are additional features that are added since 1.6.0. Please see the CHANGES file for more information about the additional functionality

If you are upgrading from previous versions of Asterisk, like Asterisk 1.6.1.0-RC5, you are directed to review the UPGRADE.txt file.

Also do not forget to get Asterisk-Addons 1.6.1.0.


Notable changes in this release:
----------------------------------------------

* It is now possible to specify a pattern match as a hint. Once a phone subscribes to something that matches the pattern a hint will be created using the contents and variables evaluated.

* IAX2 encryption support has been improved to support periodic key rotation within a call for enhanced security. The option "keyrotate" has been provided to disable this functionality to preserve backwards compatibility with older versions of IAX2 that do not support key rotation.

* res_odbc no longer has a limit of 1023 total possible unshared connections, as some people were running into this limit. This limit has been increased to 4.2 billion.

* Several (ODBC, Postgres, MySQL, SQLite) realtime drivers have been given adaptive capabilities. What this means in practical terms is that if your realtime table lacks critical fields, Asterisk will now emit warnings to that effect. Also, some of the realtime drivers have the ability (if configured) to automatically add those columns to the table with the correct type and length.

* Config file variables may now be appended to, by using the '+=' append operator. This is most helpful when working with long SQL queries in func_odbc.conf, as the queries no longer need to be specified on a single line.


Asterisk-Addons 1.6.1.0 released

Asterisk-Addons 1.6.1.0
This release maintains compatibility of the Asterisk-Addons package with the Asterisk 1.6.1 series of releases, since it is possible for API changes to occur between 1.6.x releases. Additionally, several minor issues have been resolved.
chan_ooh323, cdr_mysql, and chan_mobile are used by our implementations.
Asterisk-Addons 1.6.1.0. Asterisk-Addons 1.6.1.0 is available for immediate download at Digium downloads

Release summary

QueueMetrics 1.5.2 Ready For Download

QueueMetrics 1.5.2
QueueMetrics the callcenter monitoring software for tha Asterisk IPPBX has released the latest version of it's software for download.(Follow the release news link below for more information and download the software.)
If you have previously registered your software, same activation keys could be used to activate current version of QueueMetrics.

These are the major upgrades over the previous versions:

  • You can now search with a rich set of searching criteria on the Custom Reports page.
  • New pie and time distribution graphs added to the main reports.
  • It is now possible to track IVR choices and DIDs / DNISs in QueueMetrics
  • Completely rewritten configuration wizard. Supports loading data from Asterisk configuration files, from the queue_log, from users.conf and from Asterisk Realtime. Also supports dynamic updating (reloading the configuration by calling a URL).
  • It is now possible to watch live videos recorded using Oreka
  • It is now possible to listen to live calls using Oreka
  • A safer version of Qloaderd will not lose partial records even under extreme load
  • Cleaner and easier-to-use DBtest wizard.
Release news

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