VOIP IP Telephony: August 2009

Monday, August 31, 2009

Snap VoIP Honored By Seamless Enterprise Blog In "7 VoIP Blogs 2 Watch"

I was really happy see a twitter message and a fantastic blog post honoring and listing us among industry giants, all of whom we look upto!
We we jumping up and down when we were listed among top 25 Voip Bloggers but this cuts the cake. Thank you Seamless Enterprise.
Seamless Enterprise is group of industry professionals that have come together to keep all of us informed in the field of IP, converged wireless and wireline solutions. Informed customers and business will be able to harvest a collection of competitive advantages, cost savings and even reduced network complexity. I for one looking forward to absorb their ideas and commentary.
Here are the other six from "7 VoIP Blogs 2 Watch" fellows @fiercewireless @andyabramson @gigaom @rtehrani @tomkeating @ehkrapf
The editor's Twitter address is @UCVoices (Mark is also a partner of the ION Group, a marketing consulting company based in Silicon Valley that specializes in social media who serves the region’s largest tech firms.)

Following is a list of Seamless Enterprise bloggers who also happened to be Sprint employees, But we are partial to Big Kahuna, the Editor, Mark Ivey.

Scott Carter
Steve Coker
Denise Russell Fleming
Christopher Glenn
Dan Jacobson
Michael A. Browne
Michael Velder
Marc Langston
Shaun Ledgerwood
Sushant Mathur
Ron Jubainville
Russ McGuire
Mike McRoberts
Kevin O’Brien
Steve Parrott
Bill White
Looking forward to happy and inspiring posts.
"7 VoIP Blogs 2 Watch"
ION Group,

Grand Theft Auto On iPhone And iPod Soon

http://snapvoip.blogspot.com/
Rockstar games is releasing the iPhone and iPod version of their epic game Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars.
Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars is currently available for the Nintendo DS™ and is also coming this fall for the PlayStation®Portable system. The game follows the story of Huang Lee, a young Triad who travels to Liberty City after the mysterious death of his father. Players will navigate their way through the streets as they uncover the truth behind an epic tale of crime and corruption within the Triad crime syndicate, delivering the unprecedented amount of depth that has become a true trademark of the Grand Theft Auto franchise.The game will be making its way to the iPhone™ and iPod® touch this fall.
For more information, log onto Rockstar.

WIKITUDE Drive - Augmented Reality Navigation System For Android

The Augmented Reality (AR) platform, wikitude which guides you around the world and helps you discover places. The also have wikitude.me which allows you to leave your mark by marking down about the places you know, so that others could discover as well.
So the following video shows you how the application developed for Android performs, some what.

Sunday, August 30, 2009

Fonality FIGHT CLUB! Fight The Recession!

Fonality FIGHT CLUB
When I first saw the post I thought "what a fighting spirit and what a way to fight the recession!" and went to read on and pick up some tips. Then I realized that he meant actual physical fight club! MMA style one! Ha!
"But, sometimes when things are down, you just really need to hit someone. So, why not hit your boss? As such, the Fonality employees have decided to have some fun...at each other's expense. They have launched their own official FIGHT CLUB. Our first rule of FIGHT CLUB is: tell everyone about FIGHT CLUB!"
I do not think I want to work there! I had fun watching the videos though!

You will find more info on the Fonality CEO's post. He has not posted since then! may be the employees were stronger than he thought?

FreePBX 2.6 Beta 2 Released

FreePBX 2.6 Beta 2
Philippe from FreePBX has posted about the new beta release of FreePBX 2.6 (beta 2). We already have been working with the Beta 1 release and pretty happy with the performance. We are looking forward to install the FreePBX 2.6 Beta 2 as it has some new modules (We are really interested in Asterisk SIP and IAX settings as well as Bulk DID management);

Asterisk SIP Settings & Asterisk IAX Settings
Provides the ability to manage common global SIP and IAX settings that have often been confusing and error prone to do in configuration files, and includes a handy auto-configuration helper to determine your sip_nat.conf related settings (and further eliminates the need for that file).
Outbound Route Messages
Allows the ability to override the default “All Circuits Busy” message encountered when all trunks fail, and allows for explicit messages to be played for Emergency Routes.
Weak Password Checks
Provides an auditing function for all your SIP and IAX passwords to help harden your system and protect it from the many automated scripts on the Internet seeking out and exploiting such systems. Because of the security implications, this module was also introduced earlier into version 2.5.
Bulk Extensions & Bulk DIDs
Allows you to manage or provision large quantities of users and DIDs from a spreadsheet format.
Custom Context & Route Permissions
Provide some advanced functionality to limit routes or other features and capabilities to different extensions.

There are many other features and enhancements that Philippe has mentioned in his post like FOP 0.30 Updated to work with Asterisk 1.6, Virtual Extensions, many Queue updates.
You can download FreePBX 2.6 Beta 2 and other releases like FreePBX 3.0 from the usual download page.

OpenSIPS 1.5.3 Ready For Download

OpenSIPS 1.5.3 is released
OpenSIPS (Formaerly OperSER) has released OpenSIPS 1.5.3, a minor release from the OpenSIPS 1.5 branch addressing bug fixes. There are no changes to no functionality, scripting or interfacing made.

The bug fixes are related to transaction, dialog and presence support. The team advise us all to upgrade, as this OpenSIPS 1.5.3 provides stability improvements

OpenSIPS 1.5.3 could be downloaded from OpenSIPS web site and SourceForge. Visit the Downloads page.

If you need more information, a complete Changelog is available here.

Saturday, August 29, 2009

Avaya Presents Social Enterprise At ITEXPO

ITEXPO West 2009

If you will be at ITEXPO West 2009 Sep 1-3, 2009, (I really hope you are!), here is a chance to meet some people and get a look at Social Enterprise.
Avaya is hosting a social media workshop and Paul Dunay, author of Facebook Marketing for Dummies, on how the adoption of social tools will help to take your enterprise forward.

Free Workshop and Reception
for all ITEXPO Attendees

Monday, August 31, 2009, 7:00pm - 9:30pm

Are you ready for the opportunities social technologies
such as Facebook and Twitter bring to your Enterprise and Contact Centers?

FREE for all ITEXPO Attendees

Get a glimpse into the Social future from Paul Dunay (blogger, speaker, and author of Facebook Marketing for Dummies) on how the adoption of social tools will change your enterprise and customer interactions.

See demonstrations of the latest Avaya Labs innovations, merging social networks, contact centers, and interactive video and voice response services to differentiate and enhance your customer service experiences.

Hear about the latest developer tools and offers from Avaya to help you turn communications into a strategic tool for driving growth.

So come join Avaya and other ITExpo attendees with a little food for your brain, and stay to "socialize" with a selection of handcrafted ales on the rooftop patio at the Bonaventure Brewing Company.

Bonus! Pre-register and attend, and you'll receive a free signed copy of Paul's book, Facebook Marketing for Dummies (publish date Fall 2009).

Location
Westin Bonaventure
Bonaventure Brewing Company (map)
404 South Figueroa Street
Los Angeles, California 90071
Phone: (213) 624-1000

Register Now

Asterisk 1.6.0.14 and 1.6.1.5 Are Available For Download

Asterisk 1.6 Branch

The Asterisk Development Team hasannounced the release of Asterisk 1.6.0.14 and 1.6.1.5. Both are available for download at Asterisk.org Download Servers.

Both the releases target a bunch of issues in a number of areas in Asterisk.

For a summary of the changes in these releases, please see the release summaries:

Asterisk-1.6.0.14-summary
Asterisk-1.6.1.5-summary

For a full list of changes are available in the ChangeLogs

List of issues were resolved:

* Fix SIP transport type issues.
(closes issue #13865. Reported by st. Tested by mmichelson, Kristijan, vrban,
jmacz, dvossel. Patched by: mmichelson, vrban, Kristijan)

* Fix an issue where the 'h' extension may occasionally not fire when a Dial is
executed from a Macro. Debugged in #asterisk with user tompaw. Fixed by
Tilghman.

* Fix MWI NOTIFY if Asterisk listens on a non-standard port (5060)
(closes issue #14659. Reported by klaus3000. Tested by dvossel, klaus3000.
Patched by klaus3000, dvossel)

* Check if polarityonanswerdelay has elapsed before setting a channel as
answered after a polarity reversal.
(closes issue #13917. Reported, tested, and patched by alecdavis)

* Don't fast forward past the end of a message.
(closes issue #14554. Reported, tested, and patched by lacoursj)

* Prevent phantom calls to queue members.
(closes issue #14631. Reported, tested, and patched by latinsud)

Full release note

One Asterisk Server And 11000 Channels (= A Steak Dinner And A Bottle Of Wine!)

Scaling Asterisk
Olle E. Johansson, well known in the Asterisk circle has posted on the Asterisk-Users list at Digium on how he achieved 11000 channels on one single server.
During a large Asterisk deployment, the team has been testing and hovering around 2000 channels of G.711 with quad core CPU's and Intel Pro/1000 network cards on IBM servers. Any attempt to surpass this has resulted in IRQ sambol and bleak look on the steak dinner that was promised by John Todd at Astricon 2009 for anyone who jumps 10000 calls barrier.
So Olle went about his business and happened to slap Asterisk 1.4 on a HP DL380 G6, server. In no time he was passing 10000 channels between three similar server without having any IRQs going to sleep. (10000 was the Asterisk Scaling mark that some one has to pass to earn a Dinner from John Todd at Digium.)
But Olle is in trouble as he dreams of the dinner (if you follow the thread, you will see the reasons, John Todd already replied "Your dinner awaits, along with a very nice bottle of wine. (or port,or whatever it is you prefer.) But, just a few questions.. ;-)"
), he wants your help!
"So, please help me. I need answers to John Todds questions while he's treating me with really good expensive wine at Astricon. How did this happen? Was it the Broadcom NICs? Was it the Intel 5530 Xeon CPU's? Or a combination? Or maybe just the cheap Netgear switch..."
It is a nice discussion and I learned a lot. Astricom awaits, lot to learn and buy myself a Steak Dinner! But now to play with 45MBPs pipe we just got to one of our offices! First branch office on a fat pipe, (yes! it runs under the ocean!) Scaling Asterisk is a task I am looking forward to. I am raising this glass of Chivas Regal (21 GS), I am sipping to Both John And Olle! As my colleague across the table would say! Kampai!
Post and the discussion on the Asterisk Users Mailing list
Where Olle Johansson hangs around I have seen :) John Todd too. Get hold of him if you have beaten Olle's record.

TAUW iPhone App In App Store

TAUW iPhone App
TAUW, The Unofficial Apple Weblog, (the App they created) is officially available from iTunes App Store. So people like me who frequented the site, from desktop, now could do so from my/our iPhones or iPods. [iTunes link]
Good Job TAUW.
TAUW announcement

Friday, August 28, 2009

Worldwide SIP Trunking services From Jajah And Microsoft

JAJAH SIP Trunking services
Microsoft Enterprise customers worldwide will be able to tap into Jajah Sip Trunking services via Jajah's global network.
Already Microsoft OCS 2007 R2 customers are able to tap into the Jajah network to enable high quality voice calls at significantly lower cost. This will provide, in addition to low cost calling, ability for Microsoft OCS 2007 Customers to utilize Jajah calling solutions within the enterprise setting. As a SIP Trunking provider for Microsoft OCS, JAJAH provides full IP telephony capabilities to any organization using Microsoft OCS, anywhere in the world.

Following is the Press release from Jajah;
MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA--(Marketwire - August 25, 2009) - JAJAH, the global IP communications company, is working with Microsoft Corp. to provide SIP Trunking services to Microsoft enterprise customers globally, allowing companies to make high quality voice calls over JAJAH's IP Platform in the cloud, without requiring an infrastructure upgrade.

Enterprises using Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 Release 2 can now connect directly with JAJAH's global carrier-grade IP network to make high quality voice calls. In addition to the significant cost-benefits, JAJAH's extensive range of calling solutions integrate seamlessly into the enterprise, so voice calls can be made from computers and landlines.

"The combination of JAJAH and Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 Release 2 gives enterprises a powerful and rich external telephony solution," said Warren Barkley, Microsoft Senior Director Unified Communications. "JAJAH is a world leader in providing innovative telecommunications solutions to enterprises and consumers worldwide. We believe that they will bring a suite of services that will be interesting and valuable to our customers."

JAJAH's SIP Trunking services connect phone calls from computers, IP-phones and mobile phones to virtually any device in the world.

"The JAJAH qualification on Office Communications Server 2007 Release 2 is a clear indicator of the strength of JAJAH's platform and quality as a carrier-grade SIP solutions provider," said JAJAH CEO Trevor Healy. "Enterprises across the world can implement VoIP and unified communication easily and cost effectively with Microsoft and JAJAH."

JAJAH's award-winning IP communications platform is used by technology companies, carriers, mobile operators and enterprises, including Intel and Yahoo!. The platform brings cutting edge IP telephony solutions to partners, so they can provide their customers with the most efficient and valuable communication services.

To learn more about JAJAH SIP Trunking, visit www.jajah.com/business/sip-trunk/

Jajah

Thursday, August 27, 2009

Nokia N900 Video Demo, Sweet Maemo!

Update: Technical Info Added
Nokia N900
I have been a fan of Nokia mobile devices like N800, N810 and I was awaiting the Nokia booklet 3G when I heard about the Nokia N900.
The N900 has a powerful ARM Cortex-A8 processor, with up to 1GB of application memory and OpenGL ES 2.0 graphics acceleration. This powerful platform runs the new Linux-based Maemo 5 software, and with the N900 you can multi-task as you would on a PC (the Maemo platform was first designed for computers)
The screen is a high-res WVGA touchscreen and it comes with a full physical slide-out QWERTY keyboard. N900 comes with 32GB of storage, expandable up to 48GB with a microSD card. A5-megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics should allow user to take decent photos. It also includes A-GPS, an FM transmitter, and up to 9 hours of talk time.
It takes you on the net with speedy HSPA and Wi-Fi connectivity, and mozilla based browsing is complemented with somethinng iPhone can't do, Adobe flash capability. We have a corporate application that uses flash to draw graphs and I know what I will take on the road to demo the app, a N900.
From the looks I think I am going to love it. Hope I can get it sooner. But before bringing out the details, here is the video;

Enjoy!
Via Kiyonari

Yahoo Messenger For iPhone 1.2.2 released

Yahoo Messenger For iPhone
It looks like today is iPhone app day. One after one desired apps are in the news and in the App Store.
Yahoo quietly has released the Yahoo Messenger for iPhone. From the comments left on the blog post about it, users seem to love it. I am yet to test it and perhaps this weekend will be the time!
Here are some features of the app;
* When you exit the Yahoo! Messenger app on your iPhone while signed in, you’ll show as available to your friends, so people can IM you
* Buzz notification sound is now more civilized and you could turn Buzz on or offwhen needed. Vibrations are added to Buzz that sent or received and Buzz received while on a conversation with another contact will show up on the screen.
* IM notification sound “shorter and prettier”. Otaku's will love it I guess.
* The addressbook integration works better and both yahoo messanger and iPhone contacts are available withing the app. They also have fixed some bugs.
You can get it from , the iTunes App Store or tap the App Store icon on your iPhone and search for Yahoo! Messenger.

Facebook for iPhone 3.0 In App Store

Facebook for iPhone 3.0
Since it was published that Facebook for iPhone 3.0 was submitted to Apple, We all with iPhones, have been looking forward to it.
The brand new and totally revamped Facebook for iPhone 3.0 application is finally on the App Store, or so says the developer Joe Hewitt but when I visited the app store from my iPhone, it still shows version 2.5.
Perhaps you can find the app here.
Hope you find some faces as well

Yelp For iPhone (With a Easter Egg) and Yelp For Palm Pre Released

Yelp For iPhone, Yelp For Palm Pre

Yelp where we all go to find and rate restaurants and other local surprises could be done from your favorite mobile phone now.
I of course will use the iPhone version which is available from iPhone app store. The yelp folks have packed a lot into this application and you will enjoy it twice fold now.
If you installed the app;
"shake your iPhone 3 times. That activates a feature called Monocle. A message should come up if you activated it. A blue box will come up saying "the Monocle has been activated." It will create a button in the top right corner. Now you should be able to look at the bars, restaurants, etc. Only works on iPhone 3GS. - Robert Scoble"
Palm Pre users could find it in App Catalog.

iPhone Music Streaming With Spotify, Apple Approves Music Streaming App.

Spotify app for the iPhone
The Spotify iPhone application has been approved for iTunes App store and now the Swedish music streaming service, Spotify could stream music to millions of iPhones.

"We're not surprised but we're thrilled," founder Daniel Ek told BBC News. "We had a great dialogue with Apple from day one."

We reported in July about Spotify app for the iPhone and also a video of how Spotify App works. The Spotify app is provided free from the App store, but you need to have an account on premium Spotify Channel which costs 9.99 EURO.

Many consider Spotify to be a rival to Apple's iTunes store with its humongous free library of songs which is at 229,221 tracks at the moment (ycan see the list in a few spreadsheets: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7. )
The application is currently only available for users in Europe and the company expects to bring its presence to USA and other areas soon.
Spotify

Snap VoIP Gets 700 Subscribers, A Good Start.

Snap VoIP Subscribers

Without much hoopla, my reader count showed 700. (Yes it goes up and down every day) but I was really glad to see it.
I am looking forward to see 1000, 10000 and so on.
Thank you each and everyone for the support.
Diordna Group

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

BeelineBill Goes Social And Wants You To Join

BeelineBill At Digium
One of my favorite people at Digium, BeelineBill, has cooked up a fine article about Social Networks and business, specially he explores Digium’s use of social media and social networking.
Sometimes it is hard to realize the amount of work a business could accomplish with Social Media and Social networks.
Bill has shown us how it is being done at Digium, Good read!
BeelineBill @ Digium

SafiServer Goes Open Source

SafiWorkshop, SafiServer, and SafletCore are Open Source SafiServer, a standalone application server for telephony applications where on could deploy, simple call routing to complex database driven IVRs applications that are called Suflets, which could be built using the Safiworkshop. SafiServer uses these applications to control one or more Asterisk PBXs. The SafiServer also acts as an application repository for multi-developer environments.
The move to open source could attract more developers and broader adaptation of the platform. We have used SafiSystems in the past but I am sure we will use more now.

"So, as of today all of our source code is available under the following 3 SourceForge projects: SafiWorkshop, SafiServer, and SafletCore. More information about how to obtain and build the projects will be forthcoming in the near future and the new "GPL'd" installers for the current builds are available from our main website and on Sourceforge.net."

God speed SafiSystems!
Safisystems via ventureVoIP

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Nokia 5230, Cheapest Nokia Touch 3G Phone.

Nokia 5230
Nokia has released what seems like the cheapest 3G touch phone with GPS with Ovi Maps with areal images to aid pedestrian and car navigation.
The phone lacks WiFi but provides ways to connect to your Facebook and MySpace accounts. Looks like it is slated for Europe and Asia. It costs 149 EUR.
Perhaps a good companion to Nokia Booklet 3G
Nokia Press release;

New Delhi, India and Espoo, Finland - The latest addition in the Nokia touch phone portfolio, the Nokia 5230, is designed for those who lead an active life and use their mobile phone as their primary instrument for music, photos and videos, as well as sharing their lives online. With the Nokia 5230, consumers can get new content, be it songs from the Nokia Music Store or apps, games, videos and other services from the Ovi Store, directly from their phones. The solutions offering is complemented by A-GPS navigation and the latest version of Ovi Maps with aerial images, 3D landmarks for over 200 cities and terrain map views for pedestrian and drive navigation.

"Competitively priced at 149 EUR, we believe the Nokia 5230 is an unbeatable offer for many new customers who aspire a device that stars in music, mingles with social networks from Facebook to MySpace, navigates you to where it happens, when it happens, and comes in an array of dazzling colors, " said Jo Harlow, Vice President, Nokia.

Visiting the Ovi Store from the Nokia 5230 is a breeze. Ovi Store is conveniently accessible from the home screen of the phone and customers can immediately begin downloading and personalizing their phones with popular apps and games to make their phone more fun. New apps, games, videos, and more are added regularly and Ovi Store can be enjoyed on more than 75 Nokia devices and has active users from more than 180 countries.

The Nokia 5230 features an easy to use music player with 33 hours of playback time. In select markets the Nokia 5230 will include Comes With Music service offering truly unbeatable value with all you can eat music. The recommended price of the Nokia 5230 with the Comes With Music service will be 259 EUR before subsidies and taxes. For a mighty music experience, any headphones with a 3.5mm AV connector can be used. In addition, the Nokia 5230 features a Media Bar with quick access to your favorite media and applications, such as music, photos, YouTube or Ovi Share.

The innovative Contacts bar features thumbnail images for up to 20 close friends and provides easy access to them and their communications history including emails, phone calls, photos or other social media updates.

The Nokia 5230 is expected to begin shipping in the fourth quarter of 2009.
Nokia

AT&T Blackberry Bold Gets Visual Voicemail.

Visual Voicemail On AT&T Blackberry Bold
AT&T published today that Blackberry bold customers will receive an update that enables Visual voicemail on ther handsets. AT&T Visual Voicemail – a free* service (only for users on data plan) now available for BlackBerry® Bold® users.
AT&T Visual Voicemail makes it easierto check voicemail. Similar to looking at messages in your e-mail inbox, allowing you to choose the order in which you listen to them.
Visual Voicemail features include:
Review and delete messages from your Visual Voicemail or Messages inbox
Store up to 40 messages for 14 days in your inbox
Save important numbers to your contacts
Reply to messages via return call, SMS, email, or MMS
Share messages by forwarding via email or MMS
Save audio of messages to device memory or to memory card

Existing BlackBerry Bold users can update their devices with a software maintenance release (v4.6.0.508) which includes the AT&T Visual Voicemail application.
Visit AT&T

Motorola Androids (Motorola Sholes?) Coming To San Francisco On September 10th

Motorola Androids
Gizmodo is showing off an invitation that they received and we did not ;( but it promises Androids! Hopefully the Motorola Sholes, that motofan.ru discovered will be there. Motorola was a original member of Open Handset Alliance (OHA)
Gizmodo

Monday, August 24, 2009

Android Developers Hurry Up! Android Developer Challenge 2 Is Open For Submissions

Android Developer Challenge 2
If you are a developer, specially an Android developer, that time has come for you to join the Android Developer Challenge 2!
But in this rapid moving world of communications, you cannot take it easy on this as the deadline is fast approaching for the submission entry. You beed to submit by 11:59:59pm Pacific Time in the United States on August 31, 2009.
There are some guidlines such as that your apps only use published APIs.
You can find all the necessary information by visiting http://market.android.com/adc.
Good luck and we are looking forward for some great Apps.

Android Developers Blog: Android Developer Challenge 2 open for submissions

Nokia Booklet3G Unveiled! Looks Ready To Rock

Nokia Booklet 3G Unveiled!
If you were wondering why Nokia messing around with pc market, do not fear. Nokia has been in the mobile computing for a while! long before Androids and iPhones, I was somewhat mobile with Nokia N800 and N810. I still use N810 for GPS Tracking and Geo Tracking.
But the Nokia Booklet 3G could also be the same netbook from Nokia that Foxcon to produce. Either way I am looking forward to it. I am getting tired of 8" Acer.
The new Nokia Booklet 3G will be a Windows-based machine, supported by an efficient Intel Atom processor that promises the performance of a full-function PC. The battery life promises to span up to 12 hours, with normal daily use. I comes with a 10.1-inch HD display (it also has an HDMI port for HD video out). All the components are housed within a smart aluminium shell which measures in at just 2cm thick and weights about 2.2 pounds making it pretty portable.
This Netbook from Nokia also feature onboard assisted-GPS with Ovi Maps and a front-facing camera above the 10.1-inch HD screen for video chat, with Bluetooth and a built-in SD card reader providing additional means of IO.

Connections to the net include 3G/HSPA for rapid mobile broadband anywhere-access and Wi-Fi connection, it also comes with hot-swappable SIM card functionality.

Nokia’s Executive Vice President for Devices, Kai Oistamo, summed up the move into netbook market simply as follows:

“A growing number of people want the computing power of a PC with the full benefits of mobility. We are in the business of connecting people and the Nokia Booklet 3G is a natural evolution for us. Nokia has a long and rich heritage in mobility and with the outstanding battery life, premium design and all day, always on connectivity, we will create something quite compelling. In doing so we will make the personal computer more social, more helpful and more personal.”

Nokia Conversations.

Google welcomes VoIP on Android But CTO of T-Mobile said earlier, "worked with Google" to make sure Android couldn't run VOIP"

No VoIP on Android
Responding to an article on USA Today, about Google banning VoIP applications, Google said it welcomes Full featured VoIP applications.
USA Today also mentioned that T-Mobile did not ask Google to block VoIP applications. But that only if Cole Brodman, is not working for T-mobile,Because I initially refused to get a T-Mobile G1 "Why I Will Not Get A T-Mobile Android! (No VoIP On It)"after reading what Cole Brodman, told Wired Magazine;
"T-Mobile made a big deal about being one of the few carriers embracing open standards and open systems -- which is true. Yet just how open is a (sorry) open question. When I talked to Cole Brodman, the CTO of T-Mobile, after the event about what would stop something like Skype from designing a program that could run on the phone, negating the need for a massive voice plan, he said he had "worked with Google" to make sure Android couldn't run VOIP. "We want to be open in a way that consumers can rely on," is the way Brodman put it to me."
So who is telling the truth? We know T-Mobile made that statement in public!
I love my Android and I think I am looking forward to my second Android phone Android G2. But Come on, I did not like it when Apple blocked Google Voice (apple says not), same way I do not like when Google or T-Mobile block VoIP.
Google Public Policy Blog: Android and VoIP applications

http://snapvoip.blogspot.com/

SAMSUNG INSTINCT HD™ At BESTBUY

Sprint SAMSUNG INSTINCT HD™
The Samsung's Instinct HD seems to be an BestBuy exclusive and will be on sale from 23rd August to 26th September (but you can only add it to a shopping list so far, not buy). In addition item Requires new 2-year in-store activation or eligible 2-year upgrade on Business Essentials Message & Data Plan or an Everything Plan with Data from Sprint.
The phone sports;
· 5 MP Camera & Camcorder to record and play videos in HD through TV out connection
· Corporate Calendar and Web Browsing
· WiFi capable with Visual Voicemail
· Instant access to social sites– Facebook®, MySpace, and YouTube™
Bestbuy vis Gizmodo

Cisco Ships 22 millionth Cisco Unified IP Phone.

Cisco Unified IP Phone 7900 Series

Foster's Group Ltd, a premium global drinks company, that is famous for giving us it's drink in a large keg like can, is joining Cisco to make a better collaboration and unified communications solution including IP communications to increase productivity, better operating efficiencies across its global enterprise.

As a part of the process, Foster's is migrating from a collection of legacy voice communications systems to Cisco Unified IP Phone 7900 Series endpoints across contact centers, offices and production locations worldwide.

So the 22nd millionth Cisco Unified Phone got shipped to them in the process!.

Steve Slattery, vice president for the IPCBU at Cisco, said: "Shipping our 22 millionth phone to Fosters highlights the speed at which Cisco Unified Communications and Collaboration solutions are being adopted and the benefits it brings to customers. The system deployed by Fosters will help it meet the communication needs of a growing business, reduce costs and encourage collaborative working, which will help increase the productivity of its employees."

The new communication platform for the Foster, is expected to reduce the maintenance cost significantly. In addition to its IP communications system from Cisco, Foster's plans on deploying video to employee desktops, and Cisco WebEx web conferencing in support of its "Enterprise Architecture" project, which aims to bring together hundreds of software applications.

"We selected Cisco because they demonstrated to us that they could satisfy our communications needs cost effectively. Their solution is helping us improve communications, reduce our spending by simplifying our communications infrastructure and make a quick and simple transition to an IP-based Unified Communications platform," said Andrew Leyden, chief information officer, Fosters Group Limited. "The deployment will reduce our costs over the long term, and improve productivity. Effective communication systems that encourage collaboration and help improve company efficiency are key to our business objectives. "

Cisco Press Release

Going Home Is Easy With Facebook For iPhone 3.0

Facebook For iPhone 3.0
With the early version, (which we are actually using now,) had to hit the home button to get back to the home screen.
With Facebook For iPhone 3.0, those buttons at the bottom are gone! So how do you get to the home screen? just tap the center of navigation bar, ie the center of the word "facebook" in the top middle. Seen the home enoough? hit the same spot again to get back to where you came from!
Yes you will be able to do this in landscape mode too! Here are some more information on the product;
- See your upcoming Events and RSVP
- See your friends' birthdays
- See Pages and post updates and photos to Pages you administer
- Write Notes and read your friends' Notes
- Upload videos from an iPhone 3GS
- Upload photos to any album
- Complete photo management (create albums, delete albums, delete photos, delete photo tags)
- Change your Profile Picture
- Zoom into photos
- Like posts and photos
- See the same News Feed as the Facebook website
- Visit links in a built-in web browser
- See all of your friends' friends and Pages
- See mutual friends
- Easily search for people and Pages
- Make friend requests
- Become a fan of Pages
- Quickly call or text your friends
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Sunday, August 23, 2009

Apple To Earth : We Have Not Rejected Google Voice App! We Are Studying It

Apple & AT&T Explains (NOT) Why They Rejected Google Voice.
Man this reminds me of how we studied at Uni. Lots of beers and pizza and no books. Looks like Apple is doing the same with Google Voice. Wrapped in what looks like truck loads of horse manure, Apple and AT&T have released their whys and what nots regarding Google Voice App Rejection. But read as much as you want but you might not find why Apple rejected the Google Voice App. If you do let us know!

Apple has it the best!,

Contrary to published reports, Apple has not rejected the Google Voice application, and continues to study it. The application has not been approved because, as submitted for review, it appears to alter the iPhone’s distinctive user experience by replacing the iPhone’s core mobile telephone functionality and Apple user interface with its own user interface for telephone calls, text messaging and voicemail. Apple spent a lot of time and effort developing this distinct and innovative way to seamlessly deliver core functionality of the iPhone. For example, on an iPhone, the “Phone” icon that is always shown at the bottom of the Home Screen launches Apple’s mobile telephone application, providing access to Favorites, Recents, Contacts, a Keypad, and Visual Voicemail. The Google Voice application replaces Apple’s Visual Voicemail by routing calls through a separate Google Voice telephone number that stores any voicemail, preventing voicemail from being stored on the iPhone, i.e., disabling Apple’s Visual Voicemail. Similarly, SMS text messages are managed through the Google hub—replacing the iPhone’s text messaging feature. In addition, the iPhone user’s entire Contacts database is transferred to Google’s servers, and we have yet to obtain any assurances from Google that this data will only be used in appropriate ways. These factors present several new issues and questions to us that we are still pondering at this time.

The following applications also fall into this category.

Name: GVDialer / GVDialer Lite
Developer: MobileMax
info@mobile-mx.com
Name: VoiceCentral
Developer: Riverturn, Inc.
4819 Emperor Blvd., Suite 400
Durham, NC 27703
Name: GV Mobile / GV Mobile Free
Developer: Sean Kovacs
sean@seankovacs.com

We have to ask really?

But you have to give it to AT&T for giving you the horse, directly;
"2(a). Did Apple consult with AT&T in the process of deciding to reject the Google
Voice application?
No."
Which I would say REALLY?
You can read them for yourselves watch out for horse manure;
Apple's press release
AT&T's reasons

Qik Update Removes WiFi Only Restriction Fron iPhone Uploads

qik for iPhone
Qik update for iPhone has supposedly removed the WiFi only restriction in uploading. The Qik free for iPhone, allows you to stream videos live and also archive them over at qik.com. So get on with those candid vidoes, I am waiting.
via iPhone Blog
qik for iPhone
qik.com

BlackBerry Storm 2 (Odin) Gets Piezo Electronic Touchscreen And WiFi (Video)

Storm 2 touch screen tech!

BlackBerry Storm 2 / Odin (9550,9520)
According to this nice video by Salomondrin, there are clearly big differences between Blackberry Storm and the storm 2. The buttons on the previous phone which were seperate from the screen section, are part of the screen now.
Blackberry Storm 2 (Blackberry Odin) packs a Piezo electronic touch screen that behaves differently according to the device's power state. The screen is stiff and hard to to your touch when the device is off and it comes alive when powered on and has a touchy spongy feel to it. Unlike in most touch screen phones or devices, everyplace on the screen can be a button.
So when you press on a key, you do not have to worry about activating adjacent key or a button. The creator of the video, goes on to say that it is much easier and better to type on Storm 2 than iPhone or the previous incarnation of the Storm. The GSM and CDMA versions of the phone, both sport WiFi capability.
Enjoy. Salomondrin plans to publish another video on the phone as well, you can follow him / her on twitter/salomondrin

May be you can be the one to post his next video on Youtube!

Friday, August 21, 2009

Asterisk training in developing countries

Asterisk training

Greg Vance of Digium and Rehan Allahwala of DIDX at CommunicAsia. Another opportunity for Asterisk advancement.
CommunicAsia.

Glass, Android Based Desktop Phone Plaform From Cloud Telecomputers.

Glass, Android Based Desktop Phone
Cloud Telecomputer has released information on their new Android based desktop phone platform that seem to be very attractive and at the same time much different from other modern desktop phones we are familiar with.
The aesthetics themselves are to my liking and I was looking towards an Android based home communications device called Nimble by Touch Revolution, another desktop phone based on Android. But the difference is pretty clear, the Cloud Telecomputer's Glass is a reference design and you could mold it to fit your needs.
Glass Hardware provides the means of telephony via either VoIP or POTS, and enough processing power. The system also networked with two port Ethernet switch and USB connection for PC or other compatible device. It also sports a HD voice capability and a 800X600 color touch screen.
Following are some of the system eatures;
• 8” high-resolution color touchscreen

With a friendly touchscreen at your fingertips, dialing a contact, recording a phone call, conferencing and transfers all happen seamlessly and intuitively.

• One-Touch dialing

Dialing a contact that came from your Outlook contact list, your company’s employee directory, or your mobile phone has never been easier. Simply touch the name and you are connected.

• HD audio

Glass uses wideband speech codecs which encode 7.1KHz of the voice spectrum instead of the standard 3.4KHz. This doubles the bandwidth for communications and elevates voice quality substantially. Combine HD audio with Glass’ acoustically tuned housing, and the end result is industry leading speakerphone clarity.

• Bluetooth Integration

Glass can pair with your cellphone via Bluetooth, allowing you to make and receive cellphone calls on your desk phone. You can even access cellphone contacts directly on the touchscreen. Now there is never a need to juggle your desk phone and mobile phone in the office.

• Android development environment

By building Glass on Google’s Android, we allow users to take full advantage of second- and third-party applications. Imagine a desk that doesn’t become obsolete, but instead evolves to become more useful over time as new applications develop.
Glass by Cloud Telecomputer

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Apple iPhone OS 3.0 Bug Is Not Unique To Truphone

Truphone iPhone Bug
I just read Andy's post about Truphone and iPhone bug that was widely published.
"This afternoon this afternoon Truphone sent an emailout to its customers explaining that Truphone knows of a bug issue with the Apple iPhone that has existed since the launch of the 3.0 OS in June 2009.

The issue has been widely reported on sites including Mobile Crunch and theiphoneblog. The problem, as was outlined in the email, impacts all applications on a the iPhone, not just the Truphone application. With that said, the bug seems to have affected very few people that Truphone is aware of."

Get the whole scoop at Andy' VoIP Watch

iPhone UDID And PinchMedia

iPhone UDID,
The unique Identifier of iPhone, Each iPhone or iPod Touch has a Unique Device Identifier (UDID), which is a sequence of 40 letters and numbers that is specific to your device. It’s like a serial number but much harder to guess. It will look something like this: 2b6f0cc904d137be2e1730235f5664094b831186.

In relation to Pinchmedia Spyware on iPhone and pinchmedia's response made me lookup iPhone UDID, Hey Pinch it is pretty unique!
Pinchmedia published "a hardware identifier not connectable to any personal information", how sure are you?
Anyway this tracking seems to get everywhere and Pinchmedia is not alone. You surf the web, there are bunch of cookies and serverside tracking that reveal most your information. The difference with GPS tracking is that the tracking entity knows exactly where you have been, like your home and work place. And after a few times this happening, I am pretty sure you can dig up more information, if you want to.
It is good that we know now Pinchmedia tracks information and what the track, thanks to someone anonymous. But do you know exactly what other apps you are running are doing?
So it is time to chill and know what you do.

Pinchmedia has a response to the public outcry here.
Better coverage by readwriteweb here
UDID info from Innerfence

ReTweet War! Between ReTweet.com And TweetMeme

A Pligg based site www.designfloat.com

retweet war
We use tweetmeme for the heck of it and we like the service. But today I read on Techcrunch on the war that has been going on for a while.
Similarities between the sites are somewhat close but so are the thousands of Pligg (an open source DIGG like CMS) based sites. Most probably both these tweet sites got their ideas from similar sites, DIGG Pligg.
We too have a Pligg based site coming up and the looks are not much different. The Pligg existed even before Twitter itself so were the designs. So laying right to design will be a bit off the scale. According to TC the creators of retweet.com has been hovering in the twitterati sphere with many other twitter based products that seem to be doubvious, like hummingbird. You can read all about them at TC.
The way twitter has been trademarking terms, there might be another war! Hope Google will not try to trademark "search"!
Techcrunch
Pligg

Exploding iPhones Now? Apple Says It Is Investigating

Exploded iPod

Exploding iPhones
We have has information on overheating iPhones and exploding iPods that Apple was trying to suppress with offers of free replacements.
Now that iPhones are seemingly exploding (There is a case where a teen got injured in France) European Commission is looking into the fact. Reuters reported that;
"Apple have come back to us ... and what they've said to us is that they consider these are isolated incidents. They don't consider that there's a general problem. They're trying to get more information on the specific details of those incidents (reported in the media) and they will do tests as necessary to investigate the possible cause" commission spokeswoman Helen Kearns told a news briefing.
Recently KIROTV, a Seattle TV station published an article and a video after a 7 month investigation in to exploding iPods. It is clear that Apple do not want any of these published;
"It took more than 7-months for KIRO 7 Consumer Investigator Amy Clancy to get her hands on documents concerning Apple’s iPods from the Consumer Product Safety Commission because Apple’s lawyers filed exemption after exemption. In the end, the CPSC released more than 800 pages which reveal, for the very first time, a comprehensive look that shows, on a number of occasions, iPods have suddenly burst into flames, started to smoke, and even burned their owners."
Hope my iPhone does not explode, will it Apple?

Calling Canada Is Free Again With Google Voice

Free Calls To Canada With Google Voice.
When the Google Voice was known as GrandCentral, I used to call my buddies and some professors in British Colombia for free. When Google Voice came about, I lost that ability but still I could call any where free within the United States.
I read today that Google Voice has brought the feature back and I will be able to call my contacts in Canada for free and my account balance will not drop when I call those contacts in BC. Thank you GV,
Also the introduction to Google Voice series, Google Voice For Newbies by the Googlers, Heather and Carol has a new article explaining Why Google Voice users are calling themselves.
Yes I did too call myself (from home phone to cell or vice versa) in the beginning but those days are long gone. But they are talking about how Google Voice works! It is cool when you realize that GV rings both the ends of the conversation.

The article has very valuable tips for new users of Google Voice, like explaining that your contacts are shared among applications like GMail and that and remembering your choices at the computer you were initiating the call.
If you need further help, in making calls, GV has an entire article on making calls under the help topics.
Enjoy your conversations, in many a ways!

Google Voice Blog: Calls to Canada are free again
Google Voice Blog: Google Voice for Newbies: Why am I calling myself?

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