As "iPhone HD” Rumors Go This One Got The Goods.

"iPhone HD” snapvoip.blogspot.com
I have been reading watching "iPhone HD” rumors but this is great. Hot just the specs of the phone but the one who generated it, whils bashing WSJ for another iPhone on Verizon rumor :). Then there are the comments! Here are the specs of the "iPhone HD”;

a 960×640 double resolution display, a front facing camera, multitasking support in iPhone OS 4, and last but not least, the inclusion of Apple’s in-house A4 processor.

The rest you can read at edible apple

A Man Sues Neighbor For Electromagnetic Interference By iPhone, WiFi Router and a Laptop.

A Man Sues Neighbor For Electromagnetic Interference By WiFi Router snapvoip.blogspot.com
Slashdot is reporting that a Santa Fe man has sued his neighbor after she refused to stop using because she was using an iPhone, a laptop computer, a wireless router and dimmer switches.

59-year-old Arthur Firstenberg claims his sensitivity can be set off by cellphones, routers and other electronic devices. So he sued Monribot, his neighbor, in state district court, seeking $530,000 in damages and an injunction to force her to turn off the electronics.

If I was Monribot, I would mention to my lawyer about JREF (http://www.randi.org/site/index.php/1m-challenge.html [randi.org]) and get the Judge to use the service. It will solve the problem for the both. We will know if he is really sick and if he is wins the challenge he will get a million dollars (PDF) which he could use to wrap house in tin foil or get a new house. If he fails, counter sue him for milloin bucks!

Android 2.1 Update For Motorola Droid Finally Comes Out

Android 2.1 Update For Motorola Droid  snapvoip.blogspot.com
After what it seems to be ages, people are reporting of getting the Android 2.1 Update For Motorola Droid from Verizon.Earlier it was supposed to have come out on March 18th.

*Software Schedule:*
Below is the software-upgrade notification schedule (All times listed are Eastern Time):

At noon on 03/30, 1,000 users will receive notification of the update.
At 11:59 PM on 03/30, 9,000 more users will receive the update notification.
After the first 10,000 users receive the update on 03/30, there will be a 24-hour period when no additional upgrades will be delivered.
On Day 3 (04/01), 200,000 users will receive the update notification at 11:59 PM. This schedule will continue each day thereafter until the update has been delivered to all users.

*Download & Install Conditions:*

An OTA download requires 40% or more power availability if the device is not connected to an external power source or 20% or more power if it is connected to an external source
If roaming, the customer will not receive the update. The only option in this scenario is for the subscriber to enable Wi-Fi and wait for a mandatory OTA. The wait period in this case will not be more than 12 hours
User must wait to receive the upgrade via OTA o User is unable to make or receive calls, including emergency calls during this time
Users will see the following information when they select* More info* on the update screen:/ This software update includes new enhancements to support Yahoo! Email,
pinch-to-zoom, and many other improvements for your DROID by Motorola. You will be unable to use your device or make emergency calls for the duration of the install. The
software updates automatically, and your DROID will power off and on as part of this software upgrade.

Engadget

Digital Due Process, Google And You

Since the the federal Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA), which governs how law enforcement can access electronic data was signed in 1986, our society, country, and the Internet has changed enormously. There were no emails, cell phones or 4.8Tbps TransePacific Unity cables then. The law is static and outdated.
The Digital Due Process, a coalition of technology companies, civil rights organizations and academics seeking to update ECPA to provide privacy protections to new and emerging technologies has emerged out of need.


Official Google Blog: Our stand for digital due process

Google (Unity Consortium) TransPacific Cable In Service

Google (Unity Consortium) TransPacific Cable snapvoip.blogspot.com
Unity, a consortium of six international companies, together with its suppliers NEC Corporation and Tyco Telecommunications, announced that the Trans-Pacific Unity submarine cable system has successfully completed comprehensive end-to-end testing, has been formally handed over to Unity and is now in service.

“Following months of testing to ensure that the cable system meets the rigorous transmission standards specified, the Unity cable system is now ready to deliver the much anticipated capacity to meet the Trans-Pacific connectivity needs of members of the consortium,” said Chris Wilson, Chairman of the Unity Executive Committee.

The Transpacific cable, 9620KM long, being laid to increase the bandwidth between USA and ASIA is nearing the end. The unity consortium, (Google, Bharti Airtel, Global Transit, KDDI, Pacnet, and SingTel) cable is ready to boost the TransPacific bandwidth to possibly by 4.8 to 7.68Tbps (terabits per second). The cable consists of 5 fiber pairs, each with a capacity of 960 Gbps, and will be expandable to 8 fiber pairs. This will give the cable a total capability of 7.68 Tbps.
Google is entitled to 20 percent of that bandwidth for its needs, for it's investment in the project. The Googles need has arisen from its Malaysian Server farm and the market offerings being too expensive.

"The need for information is a global requirement. As the economies of Asian countries continue to grow, data traffic and the use of the Internet expands. Google is a global company and is committed to providing the best quality of user experience regardless of geography," said Google in a conversation.

One end of the cable, has landed in Japan.With this landing completes the venture that has been going on for the past two months. Two ships have been laying out the cable from a midpoint in the Pacific to Chikura, Japan and US West Coast in Los Angele. The cable was joined in the middle of the Pacific on Oct. 30. Once the last splice is completed in Japanese end, testing can begin.
Wikipedia

Dell Aero Hands On (Video)

Dell Aero Hands On snapvoip.blogspot.com
Ever resourceful Engadget has managed to get their hands on a ellusive DELLAero handset at recent CITA and has a story to tell as well as the video below. Watch the video and head over to Engadget for the story on Dell Aero, link after the jump. But sad thing is that I hear AT&T messing up the Androids capabilities, is it Apple pressure?

Engadget

iPads At BestBuy On D-Day

iPads At BestBuy snapvoip.blogspot.com
Engadget has got hold of a BestBuy playbook for handling iPod, all three versions, five each on D-Day, April 11th.

So if you are planing to get your iPad at BestBuy, better get up earlier, say, than Apple store.

engadget

European Commission Approves Ciscos Tandberg Acquisition

European Commission Approves Cisco Tandberg Acquisition snapvoip.blogspot.com/
Cisco announced today that it has received anti trust approval from European Commission and awaiting the US DOJ approval to complete the Ciscos acquisition of Tandberg for $3 Billion.
The EC approval is conditional based on appointment of monitoring trustees. Department of Justice has announced that it will not challenge the proposed acquisition in light of the commitments Cisco has made to the European Commission. Cisco and Tandberg is also awaiting the ongoing discussions in Brazil.

"We appreciate the thorough and efficient manner in which the Justice Department and the European Commission conducted their review of this transaction, and we are grateful for the leadership and close cooperation between the agencies throughout this process," said Marthin De Beer, senior vice president of Cisco's Emerging Technologies Business Group.  "Cisco has always strongly believed that industry expansion and growth is best fostered through open standards and interoperability, and our commitments to the Commission formalize our approach in this area.  Our commitments will promote multi-vendor interoperability and contribute to the ubiquity of video communications, which will benefit customers, competitors and the industry as a whole." 

Cisco's commitments to the EC also include divesting its TelePresence Interoperability Protocol (TIP) ownership and the library of open source software useful to implementers of TIP to an independent third party.  Cisco will also provide the third party, the industry body with all other rights necessary to implement TIP and authorize the industry body to license those rights to any interested party, royalty-free. 
 Cisco

Chinese Root Server Causing DNS Trouble, Shutdown

Chinese Root Server Shutdown snapvoip.blogspot.com
Few days ago, Internet users in Chile and U.S.A. were affected by DNS errors due to some ISPs  providing faulty DNS information, apparently derived from China. Chinas Great Firewall of China,  uses the DNS system to enforce Internet censorship. The affected ISPs were using this incorrect DNS information. The error caused computers in Chile and the US to come under the control of the Great Firewall of China, redirecting Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube users to Chinese servers.
Netnod, which maintains a copy of its root DNS server in China, has now "withdrawn route announcements" made by the server, according to company CEO Kurt Lindqvist. This effectively disconnects the server from the Internet.
NIC Chile which operates from California was also affected. 
CSO, ITWorld via Slashdot

SkyTerra, The New Wireless Broadband Competitor?

SkyTerra  Wireless Broadband snapvoip.blogspot.com
According to GigaOM, a new player in the wireless arena, Harbringer Captital Parners, New York Equity firm, is planing to invest billions of dollars to bring up a new LTE wireless broadband network. The firm owns the SkyTerra, which in turn owns a significant chunk of the wireless spectrum.
HCP plans to bring up the initial network on, 23MHz spectrum by the third quarter of 2011 and plans to reach 9 million people. After the trials in Denver Colorado, they plan to expand the network further to reach 260 million people by 2015.

At the outset, the network will have no less than 23 MHz of spectrum, consisting of 8 MHz of 1.4 GHz terrestrial spectrum, access to 5 MHz of 1.6 GHz terrestrial spectrum and 10 MHz of MSS/ATC L-band spectrum. Through a cooperation agreement with Inmarsat and associated waivers of the Commission’s ATC rules, by 2013 Harbinger will have access to an additional 30 MHz of ATC spectrum, HCP has mentioned in a conversation with GigaOM.

GigaOM also concludes that they will be a direct competitor to AT&T and Verizon, since those two companies cannot play according to the conditions attached the spectrum that SkyTerra owns. The other big player, Sprint has a capable partner, Clearwire (Sprint Clearwire partnership seem to be beating other to the game at the moment) so I am with GigaOMs conclusion, HCP, SkyTerra might have to play with T-Mobile, to bring LTE wireless broadband home.
GigaOM

Google Fiber to Home, 1100 Communities Wants It

Google Fiber to Home snapvoip.blogspot.com
Google received more than 1,100 community requests and more than 194,000 individuals requests for the experimental fiber network to be deployed in their respective neighborhoods. Of course I want it in Berkeley, California. Google released the above map which displays where the responses were concentrated as of 1:30pm PT. Each small dot represents a government response, and each large dot represents locations where more than 1,000 residents submitted a nomination.
Google will update the map and information to show complete responses of government responses soon.

Even though Google mentioned that you do not have to jump in to frozen lakes to get included in the experimental fiber to home project, some people did. Hopefully you don't have to do the same, once FCCs National Broadband Plan come to place.


Official Google Blog: Next steps for our experimental fiber network

Sprint / Clearwire Launches 4G In Houston, Declairs "Texas the biggest 4G State"

Sprint / Clearwire 4G  "Texas the biggest 4G State" snapvoip.blogspot.com
Sprint and Clearwire has both announced simultaneously the launch of 4G Mobile WiMAX service in Houston, Texas today. Clearwire adds Houston to it's  26 cities already under 4G coverage. As you can see, Texas accounts for 12 of those deployments, befitting the name, "Texas the biggest 4G State". Consumers and businesses, could use 4G powered products, such as Overdrive(TM) 3G/4G Mobile Hotspot, USB Modem and USB Mobile Broadband or HTC EVO Android Based 4G Phone, to experience the 4G or to test wimax speeds. Los Angeles, Miami, St. Louis, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, and Salt Lake City will get 4G Mobile WiMAX this year in addition to previous targets.

"Today, we flipped the switch to make fast mobile broadband even faster for Houston," said John Stevens, Southwest regional vice president, Sprint. "Customers will discover that 4G technology allows all kinds of new possibilities for Internet-on-the-go - streaming video, online gaming, videoconferencing. There is nothing else like the 4G experience from any other wireless carrier and now Texas is number one in 4G connectivity."

 "CLEAR is thrilled to bring to Houston residents, businesses and visitors an Internet experience similar to what they're used to having at home or the office, anywhere around town or on the go," said John Smith, Clearwire general manager, Houston. "We're pleased to complete our Texas service launch with a valuable new category of Internet service designed to make people's lives more enjoyable and more productive."

 Sprint and Clearwire Press releases

Spotify's US Launch Should Be Loved By Users And Record Companies Equally

Spotify's US Launch  snapvoip.blogspot.com
When we wrote about Spotify App For iPhone  and the Spotify for Android, we were already wondering when will the application hit US shores.
The users over to pond are swearing by the app and say they have not touched iTunes since thay got the app on their smartphone or the desktops.
The application, a music streaming application, given via an invitation only scheme, already have more than 7 million users over in Europe. There are two versions, pay and advertisement supported but free. The paid version is about $14 a month, (what you pay for a single CD) and the free version, thrown in some advertisements, according to Gizmodo, one ad for every five songs or so. The paid version also gets the iPhone and Android apps mentioned above.
Another best part of the app is that your play lists are cached and you can play when the Internet connection is not available.
Service provides millions of music tracks and you can compose your lists, any which way you want. The music on the network is free and legal as Spotify has the permission of the record houses, and they are pretty current.
So get excited for Spotify's US launch and Record companies, I bet your hunt and peck through bittorrent or whatever the witch hunts you do to catch illegal downloads will be reduced. People don not bother when one can listen free.
Another benefit is sice the streaming bit rates are not that high, when user finds a new song or an artist, thay may run to the record shop or iTunes to by the high quality song and add it to their libraries.
Everybody win.
Gizmodo
www.spotify.com

Apple Conforming To AT&T's Lousy 3G Network?

AT&T Lousy 3G Network snapvoip.blogspot.com
I have been with AT&T long enought to have cursed so much that my Grand Mother would send me directly, down under. Just last week, I dialed a friend 3 times, who was in the same room only to get to her answering machine. I also text her and the messages arrived about 15 min later. So when I see or read about high band with applications like video sreaming, I shiver.
Now when I read on TechCrunch that Apple is requiring video apps to confirm to bit rate requirements of 200Kbps and 64Kbps, during the approval process of Justin.tv iPhone app. The video switches to a low-quality when the 3G network is overloaded (HA HA) or only the slower EDGE network is available. I can bet from experience it will be 64kbps 99% of the time on my phone. So developers, if you are making for the US market, optimize the 64kbps streams because that is what your customers will end up watching.
Techcrunch
Justin.tv iPhone app

HTC EVO, Sprints First 4G Phone, It Is An Android!

HTC EVO Android Based 4G Phone,  snapvoip.blogspot.com
If you were looking for the perfect 4G phone, yes Sprint has officially announced that it is bringing HTC EVO to the market, to it's 4G Cities.. HTC EVO is an Android 2.1 based phone similar to HTC HD2 WinMo phone, with some upscale components and snappier operating system.
The Sprints HTC EVO sports a 1GHz Qualcomm^(R) Snapdragon(TM) processor ensuring a smooth and quick user experience when coupled with the Android 2.1 Mobile OS. The Phone has dual cameras - an 8.0 megapixel auto-focus camera with HD-capable video camcorder and a forward-facing 1.3 megapixel camera (Something people expected from Apple on iPhone 3GS but never came)- HTC EVO 4G unleashes the ability to create, stream and watch video that far surpasses expectations of what is possible on a phone today.  Now you can have that video conference from anywhere.
HTC EVO 4G features the newest version HTC Sense user experience without a heavy underlying OS like the HTC HD2. The new HTC Sense features  adds a number of new features, including Friend Stream, which aggregates multiple social communication channels including Facebook and Twitter(TM) into one organized flow of updates; a "Leap" thumbnail view to easily switch between home screen "panels"; the ability to download new, interactive widgets; and a "polite" ringer, which quiets the ringing phone once lifted up

Android 2.1 platform also brings in a wide array of useful new features to HTC EVO 4G:

• Android 2.1 enables a new way to search with pictures instead of words. Google Goggles(TM) works with everything from books, DVDs and barcodes to landmarks, logos, artwork and even wine labels. A picture taken of the Golden Gate Bridge returns all of the information anyone would need to know about the structure. By just taking a picture of several restaurant options, HTC EVO 4G will provide restaurant reviews to ensure the best choice.
• Text messaging and email composition feature built-in voice-to-text technology. By simply pressing a microphone button on the screen, messages can be composed by just speaking, making keeping in touch faster and easier than ever.
• Through Android Market(TM), HTC EVO 4G users have access to thousands of useful applications, widgets and games to download and install on their phone, with many more to come. Spring has Following 4G cities, for now.

So both HTC Google, and Sprint are happy campers in the 4G wilderness now;
HTC

"HTC and Sprint have a strong history of working together to bring consumers technologies and advancements that make their lives easier," said Peter Chou, CEO of HTC. "We believe that the HTC EVO 4G represents the best of Sprint and the best of HTC working together to bring an unmatched device to the U.S. This combination of HTC and Sprint innovation will allow people to do even more while on the go, faster than ever on the Sprint 4G network." 

Google

 "Sprint and HTC have come together to propel the Android platform into the 4G world with the introduction of HTC EVO 4G," said Andy Rubin, vice president, mobile platforms at Google. "The Android platform was developed to give people unmatched mobile connectivity to the Internet. By combining this vision with the promise of Sprint's first-to-market 4G technology, HTC EVO 4G makes accessing thousands of applications from Android Market, using Google(TM) services like Google Goggles, Google Earth(TM) and the all-new Gesture Search, or simply browsing the Web faster, easier and more enjoyable than ever before."

Sprint

"Sprint continues to lead the 4G revolution as we introduce HTC EVO 4G to give our customers an experience that is unlike anything available in wireless to date," said Dan Hesse, Sprint CEO. "Not only is this feature-rich device incredible on our Sprint 3G network, but Sprint 4G speeds will take mobile multimedia, including live video streaming, gaming and picture downloads, to a whole new level." 

Sprint official site

After Droid Wars, Here Comes Opium Wars. Is Google Too Blind To See Evil!?

Droid Wars, Opium Wars snapvoip.blogspot.com
Gizmodo carries an article that I read at a gulp. It was about Google and China war! Yes it is a literally a war because one is trying impose one's ideas on the other.
Pay heed, Google did not go to China for Chinese people nor it did not leave to save Chinese people. It might have helped Baidu reach it's goal but it is a by product!

Google entered China with trepidation in 2006: "We ultimately reached our decision by asking ourselves which course would most effectively further Google's mission to organize the world's information and make it universally useful and accessible. Or, put simply: how can we provide the greatest access to information to the greatest number of people?
"Filtering our search results clearly compromises our mission. Failing to offer Google search at all to a fifth of the world's population, however, does so far more severely."

I use Google extensively but on this issue, I am not with Google.
You can read the article by Brian Lam and the swath of comments, to understand (you do not have to agree or disagree).

8X8 Gets Virtual Telephone Extension Patent, "A method for routing telephone calls to communication devices using telephone networks"

8X8 Gets Virtual Telephone Extension Patent http://snapvoip.blogspot.com
This is the second time I am mentioning USPTO, as I just read that it has awarded a patent for Virtual Telephone Extension to 8X8.

"A method for routing telephone calls to communication devices using telephone networks, each communication device having a unique device identifier, the method comprising: assigning identifier data to each of a plurality of users, the identifier data for each user including at least two unique telephone numbers and at least one unique device identifier; and in response to receiving a call through one of the telephone networks, matching a telephone number in the call with one of the at least two telephone numbers assigned to a particular user, and switching the call to a destination communication device designated by the device identifier in the identifier data for the particular user."

But the funny thing is, Andy Abramson alerted that it looks very similar to the patent issued to Vonage for Virtual Numbers, "Method and Apparatus for Placing a Long Distance Call Based on a Virtual Phone Number," a few days ago, 
I am begining to love USPTO, by issuing multiple patents for the same method or product, sueing will take a different path, perhaps they will sue USPTO?
Andy Abramson

Baidu Is Searching For Summit Of Share Price

Baidu Is Searching For Summit Of  Share Price snapvoip.blogspot.com
Google is aiding it's competitor in China mainland in an indirect way. Google shut down (A new approach to China: an update) it's search engine in China two weeks ago. 
This morning Baidu passed $600 price mark in U.S. public markets. Baidu is now expect to reach $690 price mark.
Even before Google left China, Baidu was already strong in China in multiple fronts and now the third largest search engine in the world.
Baidu
Find more facts at Techcrunch

Talking SIP Mobile For Android Aids Mobile International Toll Bypass.

 Talking SIP Mobile
IVR Technologies has released a Google Android compatible version of their popular Talking SIP Mobile. Talking SIP Mobile runs on Blackberry, Windows Mobile, iPhone and now Google Android and allows one to make direct and callback calling from a mobile handset at significant cost savings, bypassing high mobile international long distance rates charged by mobile carriers.
Talking SIP Mobile integrates in to the phone's native dialer and after configuring a series of rules to govern when the application is used, the user simply dials as they normally would on the telephone's keypad or from the Contact list and Talking SIP Mobile will work in the background and determines how the call should be serviced based on these rules.

As the mobile market continues to grow at an astounding rate it remains one of the last frontiers for high margin termination revenues.  As a result of this opportunity, IVR Technologies has been quick to port Talking SIP Mobile across the most popular mobile operating systems to help our customers drive as much mobile revenue as possible to their networks.  We are always looking for new and innovative ways for our carrier customers to build margins, increase revenues and add to their subscriber base and Talking SIP Mobile delivers on all these fronts," said Randall Walrond, Vice-President of Product Development, IVR Technologies, Inc. 

Press release

A Broad Patent Granted For "Method and apparatus for controlling a computer system "

Patents snapvoip.blogspot.com
United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) issued a very broad patent on "Method and apparatus for controlling a computer system ". According to the authors, patented method “facilitates an intuitive motion control of the application by physically manipulating the electronic device…it enables a user to intuitively control the state and/or displayed content of a computing device without the conventional need of pressing button(s), or manipulating a trackpad, trackball, etc. In this regard, the motion control agent represents a new paradigm in user control of computing systems.”
So handheld devices like iPhones and Androids might be covered. But I always wonder about these patents.
There is a lively conversation going on at Slashdot where they say it is a narrow patent.

Using Skype Mobile On Verizon Smartphones (Video)

Skype Mobile On Verizon snapvoip.blogspot.com/
Beginning Thursday, March 25th, new and existing Verizon Wireless customers with Android 3G and BlackBerry 3G smartphones will be able to make Skype to Skype calls over Skype mobile. To get started visit www.verizonwireless.com/skypemobile or www.skype.com/go/mobile from a PC to enter the mobile phone number to receive a text message with a link to the application. Verizon Wireless customers can also text “SKYPE” to 2255 to receive the link. In addition, Android customers will be able to download the app from Android Market™. New BlackBerry customers will find the application on their 3G smartphones’ home screens in the Downloads folder when activated.

Twitter Is Four Years Old Today.

Twitter's Fourth Birthday snapvoip.blogspot.com
It seems yesterday but we have been dealing with 140 character messages for four years now. Some have found love, freedom and business through it. Some have found friends from all over the world, guess a new twist to penpals people used to have in 60's and 70's.
Mashable has asked it's Twitter followers to give reasons why they love Twitter;

“Let us know how Twitter changed your life – add hashtag #thankstwitter4 so we can find your tweet.”

and by now #thankstwitter4 has become a trending topic! Read more at Mashable and tweet why you love Twitter as well.

Vonage Get A Patent On Virtual Numbers

SIP based Virtual Phone Numbers snapvoip.blogspot.com
Vonage has received a patent No. 7,680,262 – titled "Method and Apparatus for Placing a Long Distance Call Based on a Virtual Phone Number,"
This is basically putting your friends, distant cousins, and others in the same area code as you are, eliminating the distance charge. Virtual Number from Vonage are used for inbound calls, so all features including Caller ID and voicemail assigned to subscribers primary number will continue to work. If the subscriber has a virtual number pointed to one telephone number, all features turned on for his /her telephone number will also work for your virtual number. In the case of multiple virtual phone numbers.they also could be pointing to the same primary number.

HOLMDEL, N.J., March 19 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Vonage Holdings Corp. (NYSE: VG), a leading provider of high-quality voice and messaging services over broadband networks, today announced the grant of a virtual phone number patent.
The patent -- No. 7,680,262 – titled "Method and Apparatus for Placing a Long Distance Call Based on a Virtual Phone Number," allows consumers to communicate to distant locations without incurring long distance or international calling charges. This is Vonage's second patent related to the use of virtual phone numbers. Vonage's first patent directed to the use of virtual phone numbers -- No. 7,386,111 -- was granted on June 10, 2008.

"We continue to drive innovation that translates into unique products and services for our customers," said Nick Lazzaro, senior vice president of product development and information technology. "This breakthrough takes advantage of our Session Initiation Protocol-based network and enables our customers to save significantly when they communicate with their friends and families across the country or around the world."

Virtual phone numbers allow people outside a Vonage customer's local calling area to call for the price of a local call. Vonage customers can choose a virtual phone number in the calling area of a parent, relative or friend or wherever they want to establish a "virtual" presence. Vonage offers virtual phone numbers across the United States, Canada, United Kingdom and in more than 14 other countries.

Ultimate Moving Violation

http://snapvoip.blogspot.com/
Driver talking while driving, GPS Navigation and watching a movie and yet seem to have gotten lost.  Korean Taxi Driver.

Dangerous driving in Korea from Andrew Price on Vimeo.

T-Mobile HTC HD2 Unboxed

T-Mobile HTC HD2 Unboxed snapvoip.blogspot.com
 Even though T-Mobile's has not officially sold its HTC HD2 yet ( T-Mobile HD2 goes on sale this Wednesday), there are some people who were lucky enough to unbox, power up and test the beast,

See more videos of this super winmo HD2 at engadget

Syndicated Push Notifications On The iPhone With Notifo! (Get March Madness Score Alerts )

Notifo Syndicated Push Notifications snapvoip.blogspot.com/
If you like to get web notifications from your website or any website that you can add a few lines of code on your iPhone is possible now. Once the code is in place, you can simply use Notifo on iPhone to receive notifications. There is not even an approval process.
But the best part about the Notifo is that it synchronizes all your notifications which makes it a major asset to manage all those notifications that we receive everyday. Notifo is going to make this app for other mobile platforms soon as well, starting from Android and Blackberry. Above business app notification will be a hit among those who deal with stocks.
Currently there are few services available for you to test the app;
March Madness Score Alerts
Twitter mentions of your name pushed via push.ly
Auctions for free stuff from Listia 
And Notifo is telling us that there will be more!
Notifo via Techcrunch

Apple Patenting Location-based Social Networking App Called "iGroups",

iGroups snapvoip.blogspot.com
Patently Apple has published a very informative article about the new Apple patent application for an application called iGroups. Patenting software or ideas is not something I like. These will eventually lead to Apple lawsuits, like Apple-HTC lawsuit.
Apple's iGroup will be a new service that will work on your iPhone together with GPS (devices without GPS will get virtual GPS via MobileME) to group individuals at an even like concert, tradeshows, business meetings, and weddings etc. These contacts, even though brief, could be carried into the social networking arena to making them permanent, like a new way to add friends to your Facebook or follow / get followed on twitter etc.
The patent application which I have not looked at because I felt Patently Apple has done a great job of presenting the same, seem to focus on iPhone users in a groups. This is not the first patent that Apple applied in relation to Social Networking and if I am Google, I will add Social networking to the list fields that droid wars will wage.
But don't hold your breath hoping this to appear on your iPhone 4G.
Patently Apple has, as I mentioned, a very descriptive and entertaining article on this so please follow the link.
Patently Apple

Asterisk 1.6.2.6 Released.

Asterisk 1.6.2.6 snapvoip.blogspot.com/
The Asterisk.org has released Asterisk 1.6.2.6. resolving several issues reported by the
community;

 * Make sure to clear red alarm after polarity reversal.
(Closes issue #14163. Reported, patched by jedi98. Tested by mattbrown,
Chainsaw, mikeeccleston)

* Fix problem with duplicate TXREQ packets in chan_iax2
(Closes issue #16904. Reported, patched by rain. Tested by rain, dvossel)

* Fix crash in app_voicemail related to message counting.
(Closes issue #16921. Reported, tested by whardier. Patched by seanbright)

* Overlap receiving: Automatically send CALL PROCEEDING when dialplan starts
(Reported, Patched, and Tested by alecdavis)

* For T.38 reINVITEs treat a 606 the same as a 488.
(Closes issue #16792. Reported, patched by vrban)

* Fix ConfBridge crash when no timing module is loaded.
(Closes issue #16471. Reported, tested by kjotte. Patched, tested by junky)

The release is available for immediate download from Asterisk.org
The ChangeLog is available here.

Google Maps 4.1 for Android:Brings In Search ‘n Swipe, Latitude Widget And Ability to Switch Google Accounts.

With an update, Google Maps 4.1, available through Android Market Place, Android users are getting a bunch of new abilities like switching of Google accounts, a Latitude widget, Maps live wallpaper, beter search pages, and some thing I really like, swipe the phone for more results.
The new search page has done away with the tabs and presents all the info in a single page, making it more suitable for mobile use. You walk through the results by swiping left or right with your finger, neat.
The other significant change is the Google Latitude widget which makes finding your friends or checking the traffic conditions a breeze.
For people with Android 2.1+, they could turn the phone wall paper into a constantly updating live map, with the Maps Live Wallpaper.

Google Maps for Android: Search ‘n Swipe, Latitude Widget, and More

http://snapvoip.blogspot.com/

HTC Responds To Apple Lawsuit! (HTC disagrees with Apple)

HTC APPLE Law Suit snapvoip.blogspot.com
Sighting long history of HTC and phones among other things like firsts in mobile phone, ever before even Apple knew about phones, HTC has released an announcement (see below).
HTC disagrees with Apple’s actions and intends to fully defend itself. You are reminded of it's history of innovation, Looks like Droid wars are on!

Seattle – March 17, 2010 – HTC Corporation today outlined its disagreement with Apple’s legal actions and reiterated its commitment to creating a portfolio of innovative smartphones that gives consumers a variety of choices. Founded in 1997 with a passion for innovation and a vision for how smartphones would change people’s lives, HTC has continually driven this vision by consistently introducing award-winning smartphones with U.S. mobile operators.
“HTC disagrees with Apple’s actions and will fully defend itself. HTC strongly advocates intellectual property protection and will continue to respect other innovators and their technologies as we have always done, but we will continue to embrace competition through our own innovation as a healthy way for consumers to get the best mobile experience possible,” said Peter Chou, chief executive officer, HTC Corporation. “From day one, HTC has focused on creating cutting-edge innovations that deliver unique value for people looking for a smartphone. In 1999 we started designing the XDA^[i] and T-Mobile Pocket PC Phone Edition^[ii], our first touch-screen smartphones, and they both shipped in 2002 with more than 50 additional HTC smartphone models shipping since then.”
The industry has recognized HTC’s contributions through a variety of awards including Fast Company’s 2010 Top 50 Most Innovative Companies and MIT Technology Review’s 2010 50 Most Innovative Companies. The GSMA also recently awarded the HTC Hero as the “Best Phone of 2009.” Some of HTC’s technology firsts include:

• First Windows PDA (1998)
• First Windows Phone (June 2002)
• First 3G CDMA EVDO smartphone (October 2005)
• First gesture-based smartphone (June 2007)
• First Google Android smartphone (October 2008)
• First 4G WIMAX smartphone (November 2008)

In 2009, HTC launched its branded user experience, HTC Sense. HTC Sense is focused on putting people at the center by making phones work in a more simple and natural way. This experience was fundamentally based on listening and observing how people live and communicate.
“HTC has always taken a partnership-oriented, collaborative approach to business. This has led to long-standing strategic partnerships with the top software, Internet and wireless technology companies in the industry as well as the top U.S., European and Asian mobile operators,” said Jason Mackenzie, vice president of HTC America. “It is through these relationships that we have been able to deliver the world’s most diverse series of smartphones to an even more diverse group of people around the world, recognizing that customers have very different needs.”
For more information on HTC’s history of innovation, please visit: www.htc.com/history.
About HTC
HTC Corporation (HTC) is one of the fastest growing companies in the mobile phone industry. By putting people at the center of everything it does, HTC creates innovative smartphones that better serve the lives and needs of individuals. For more information about HTC, please visit www.htc.com.
HTC Public Relations
htcpr@waggeneredstrom.com
(425) 638-7000

Android 2.1 Updates For Droid Coming Over-the-Air March 18th.

Android 2.1 Updates For Droid snapvoip.blogspot.com
Motorola is set to update Droids over-the-air in batches of 250000 with Android 2.1, starting from Thursday. According to a memo circulating within Motorola.
But Android Central is saying that once the download link is known, people could do a manual update without having to wait for over the air option and getting included in a batch.
AC also has a forum thread going on the subject.

HTC-HD2 Super WinMo Coming To T-Mobile On March 24th

HTC-HD2 Super WinMo snapvoip.blogspot.com
As we mentioned earlier, T-Mobile is releasing the HTC-HD2 Super WinMo phone on March 24th for $200 with a 2 year contract

The HTC HD2, exclusively from T-Mobile, has the largest multitouch Smartphone screen ever (4.3") and operates at 1 GHz—the fastest processor speed on the market.

Winmo fans should be happy. Even Steve Balmer might endorse it than

iPhones In Microsoft Campus!

.
T-mobile

Subsidies For Broadband To Be DIsbursed By Universal Service Fund

Subsidies For National Broadband Plan snapvoip.blogspot.com
Federal regulators on Tuesday released the details of the National Broadband Plan, an effort to encourage the spread of high-speed Internet access through out the United States. The 376-page proposal already raising questions, even from the supporters, about its goals.
If you ever got a telephone bill (in USA), you know what the Universal Service Fund is. Created with greatest intensions, USF has become a white elephant, spending more in administration not targeting the subsidies properly.
But FCC and it's chairman is seeking to use Universal Service Fund as a vehicle for executing it's Broadband plans. But FCC seem to have missed to see that it need to repurpose current funds and loading the fund with additional monies to the tune of $8 billion by taxing customers of the  carriers further.

NYT is carring an article on the subject;

Chief among its goals, the F.C.C. wants future broadband investment to be focused on the areas where gaps in service remain. It will direct this investment in part through the Universal Service Fund, a program for telephone and Internet access, costing $8 billion annually, paid through a phone bill surcharge. Over time, the subsidies for Internet will increase and those for phone will dissipate, with the knowledge that people can make online calls.

“Some of the details are lacking, particularly on Universal Service Fund reform,” said Dan Mitchell, a vice president for the National Telecommunications Cooperative Association, a group that represents rural providers and worries that the proposals to change phone carrier costs will curtail the providers’ abilities to expand infrastructure.

NYT 
 The National Broadband Plan

Google And Apple, Are These Droid Wars?

 Paul Sakuma/Associated Press

Google and Apple snapvoip.blogspot.com
NYT is carrying a nice article about the (Droid) war between Apple and Google. While I own both, iPhone and a Google Phone, these comments make me stare at phones and wonder, What is in their hearts?.

APPLE

“We did not enter the search business. They entered the phone business,” Mr. Jobs told Apple employees during an all-hands meeting shortly after the public introduction of the iPad in January, according to two employees who were there and heard the presentation. “Make no mistake: Google wants to kill the iPhone. We won’t let them.”

 Google

In a statement, Mr. Schmidt concurred. “I continue to believe, as many do, that Steve Jobs is the best C.E.O. in the world today, and I admire Apple and Steve enormously,” he wrote.

 NYT

IceWarp Unified Communications Server 10 Reviewed By TMC

IceWarp Unified Communications Server 10  snapvoip.blogspot.com
If you are wondering about "Unified Communications" these days, you are not alone. Here in San Francisco, even messenger riders carry "Unified Communications" labeled bags!
So when I saw VoIP and Gadgets Blog giving a product five stars in all but for documentation, I was piqued. Mr keating is not a person to give stars away.

Ratings	Score
Installation
Documentation
Features
Usability
Performance
Value
Overall

One line and the above scores told me that this is a product to watch, learn and even install and test as they have a 30 day eval. That one line is;

Imagine a product that combines email, instant messaging, VoIP, FTP server, Web server with PHP support, Groupware, SMS, ActiveSync, SyncML, WebDAV, antivirus, and anti-spam along with a feature-rich AJAX-based Web-based UC client.

I think that sums up iceWrap Unified Communications server.
Read the articale at Tom Keating's VoIP & Gadgets blog; "IceWarp Unified Communications Server 10"

Mobile Banking In India With Eko India.

Eko Bringd Mobile Banking to Indian Mases snapvoip.blogspot.com
 
With mobile phones over coming the logistical and technological challenges of landlines in India, the mobile users are sky rocketing. So much so that India is set to become the second largest mobile user base after China. So are the entrepreneurs based on mobile market.
One such is the mobile banking outfit, Eko. Eko comes to banking market with simple solutions to complex problems. Like the credential check needed for banking. Just like one would write a check, Eko was able to emulate the process by letting customers type the bank’s short code, then an asterisk, then the mobile number of the person you are paying, then an asterisk, then the amount, then another asterisk. Then comes the signature. Eko manages this with another clever step.

Eko created equivalent of an RSA token, a paper version of it. When Eko approached VeriSign for an alternative solution, VeriSign endorsed Eko's paper based solution.
Eko customers get little booklets with 11-digit codes in them. Seven of these digits are random numbers and the other four which are just black marks ans are place holders for the users PIN. Even if someone get hold of a booklet, without the PIN, account is safe. There’s a VeriSign logo on the back of each booklet.
All the bank accounts are held by the State Bank of India, which insures up to 100,000 rupees per account. Customer base extends from  620 miles or corridor between New Delhi and Bihar. Within these boundaries, the company currently has about 30000 customers and it continues to grow.
So does the growing pains. Eko's founder Abhishek Sinha, initially fotted the complete bill with his own money and later received a grant from the World Bank and The Gates Foundation to the tune of $1.78 Million. Sinha plans to bring in $10 million from investors this year.
Eko India via techcrunch

iPhones In Microsoft Campus!

It is Balmer and Fords for you! snapvoip.blogspot.com
WSJ is carrying a write up about iPhone use by Microsoft employees. In not so many words, it seems iPhones are not welcomed at Microsoft. At one point the subject has come up in a major company retreat and has prompted Steve Balmer to say;

He told executives that he grew up in Detroit, where his father worked for Ford Motor Co., and that his family always drove Fords, according to several people at the meeting

It seems many Microsoft employees are using iPhone covertly. Some even seem to get into mock trouble with Steve Balmer for using iPhones!

The perils of being an iPhone user at Microsoft were on display last September. At an all- company meeting in a Seattle sports stadium, one hapless employee used his iPhone to snap photos of Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer. Mr. Ballmer snatched the iPhone out of the employee's hands, placed it on the ground and pretended to stomp on it in front of thousands of Microsoft workers, according to people present. Mr. Ballmer uses phones from different manufacturers that run on Microsoft's mobile phone software.

Good grief!
WSJ

XFINITY, A Rebrabding Effort By Comcast, Will You Buy It?

Xfinity is still Comcast snapvoip.blogspot.com
Comcast is rebranding itself as "XFinity" and marching into many markets over the country with hopes of showing a new face. Currently we can see TV ads in Washington, D.C., Baltimore, Chicago, Seattle, Philadelphia, Boston and 3 other Comcast markets.

“Xfinity will stand for the best experience in the marketplace,’’ said David Watson, executive vice president of operations for Comcast’s cable TV operations.

But we hope XFinity will not carry BitStalker home. I was surprised to find Comcast is investing in such tools at the same time looking to rebrand itself. Perhaps it is a part of the game. Comcast's $30 billion effort to get NBC Universal, a multimedia company that owns the Universal film studio and television networks NBC, CNBC, and Bravo might explain the spending on Anti Piracy software. The acquisition is under intense scrutiny in Congress. If it get approved, the limits are at Xfinity.

But for me, the best explanation about XFInity, came from SlashDot,

 "Xfinity = the amount of time you'll be on hold if you call Customer Service."

You can read more ar Boston.com

.

Vodafone HTC Magic Phone Brings Home Malware (Mariposa Botnet Client, Confiker, Lineage Password Stealer)

Vodafone HTC Magic Phone Infected with malware snapvoip.blogspot.com
Panda  Reserch has announced that it has found three malware programs targeting Windows machines in a HTC Magic phone distributed by Vodaphone. It is actually a bit of misnomer as well. The software were in fact on the add on 8GB Memory card and what else was on the memory card was not revealed by Panda. The YAFFS2 file system found on Android phones is not mountable by windows machines.

The moment the phone was plugged into a PC, an autorun program was detected by Panda Cloud Antivirus.
Further examination revealed that both an autorun.inf and autorun.exe as malicious Mariposa bot client. The other two malware were Confiker, Lineage Password Stealer.
Panda is checking on more phones to see if this is an isolated incident. Either way, have a Antivirus Program and a spybot detection program running all the time.
Panda Blog

COMCAST, COX and Time Warner Cable Funding An Anti Piracy Tool, BITSTALKER

Comcast Anti Piracy Tool BITSTALKER snapvoip.blogspot.com
With many torrent users worldwide and MPAA/RIAA being very active, at the first glance I thought the paper was funded by them.
The paper being "BITSTALKER: ACCURATELY AND EFFICIENTLY MONITORING BITTORRENT TRAFFIC" from University of Colorado. Boulder CO.
The researchers claim that their tool is more accurate and will eliminate false positives. But people involved with torrent sites and operators seem to be less impressed by the technology according to Torrent Freak.
Like torrent freak we too wonder why ISP's, major US ISP's at that, investing in this arena, which has been the field of RIAA/MPAA. ISPs usually remained neutral to the witch hunting coducted by them.
Following is an excerpt from the paper and for more descriptive account of BitStalker and positives and negatives of it at Torrent Freak, and slashdot (link after the jump)

This paper presents BitStalker, a low-cost approach to monitoring large BitTorrent file sharing swarms. BitStalker collects concrete evidence of peers’ participation in file sharing in a way that is robust to tracker pollution, highly accurate, and efficient. In contrast, the past and present investigative monitoring strategy consists of tracker server queries and ICMP ping probes. While this method is simple, it is also prone to a variety of significant errors, especially false positive identification, since this monitoring technique does not verify participation in the file sharing. We present an alternative monitoring strategy based on actively probing the list of suspected peers to obtain more conclusive evidence of participation in the file sharing. There are several aspects of our approach that warrant additional attention. In particular, a specific definition of what constitutes “evidence” in the context of file sharing across various legal systems should be explored. Also, the general legal issues that this type of monitoring exposes should also be investigated further.
Acknowledgments. The authors thank the anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments and suggestions. We also thank Claire Dunne and the University of Colorado’s institutional review board for ensuring that this research was conducted with the highest of ethical standards. This research was funded in part through gifts from PolyCipher.

Plycypher is a  a broadband ISP consortium (COMCAST, COX and Time Warner Cable)

Torrent Freak,
Slashdot

Best WIshes Google Voice! On Your First Birthday!!

Google Voice Turns One snapvoip.blogspot.com/

 Happy Birthday Google Voice!

It is unbelievable that I have been enjoying Google Voice for one year. I was a Grand Central customer before Grand Central was acquired by Google. We also published the opening of Google Voice on March 13th last year!
I am extremely happy with the service that had to basically build up from what the GJ offered to become one of the best Telephony project of the century. I have all my phone numbers on Google Voice and everyone gets my Google number.
So what did Google Voice accomplished in this year?

• Mobile apps (both native and web-based)
• SMS-to-email integration
• A Chrome extension
• An embedded voicemail player in Gmail
• The ability to use Google Voice with your existing number

I enjoy all of them but I have to say Transcribed voicemail is the best!
Google Voice Blog: Google Voice turns 1!

"SIP Certificates", Certificate Management Service for The SIP, draft-ietf-sip-certs-11

SIP Certificates Draft-ietf-sip-certs-11 snapvoip.blogspot.com
This focuses on a SIP Credential service that allows Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) User Agents (UAs) to use a SIP event package to discover the certificates of other users.  The User agents will be able to reach a given Address-of-Record (AOR) to retrieve that AOR's certificate by subscribing to the Credential Service, which returns an authenticated response containing that certificate.  The Credential Service also allows users to store and retrieve their own certificates and private keys.

IETF

The SIP Router Project, User Conference

The SIP Router Project snapvoip.blogspot.com

 VoIP Users Conference March 19, 2010, 17:00GMT

ZipDX using g722 or g711 sip:200901@login.zipdx.com
ZipDX PSTN: +1 567 252 2286 iNum: +883 5100 123 94882 

The SRP (SIP ROUTER PROJECT) a progressive project born out of Kamailio (former OpenSER) and SER (SIP Express Router) is holding a VoIP user conference, an audio conference which you could attend via SIP, PSTN, skype and other options.
The conference will focus on:

• the achievements of SIP Router Project so far
• the role of Kamailio (OpenSER) release within the SIP Router project
• new features in Kamailio (OpenSER) 3.0
• what it takes to upgrade from older Kamailio (OpenSER) versions
• new features in development version and future plans for SIP Router Project

The team also released Kamailio v3.0.1 recently.
 
http://www.voipusersconference.org/about/future-topics/

http://www.voipusersconference.org/how-to-participate/

Which iPad Is For You? Out Of The Six Varients Offered.

Which iPad Is For You?  snapvoip.blogspot.com
If you are looking to get an iPad, when it ia released (or pre-order very soon) you will have to do some thinking first, rather than running to the store with cash or your credit card in hand. There are six versions of iPads!, in two categories.

The two main categories are WiFi and 3G and each of them has three versions of iPads based on the memory capacity and of course the price. Gizmodo had this nice table laid out describing all six iPads and if that is not enough, NYTimes has a post describing merits or shortcomings of each model. So follow the links to get more information.
My own personal feeling about the iPad is quite different, knowing how AT&T is, I wonder sudden influx of iPads with 3G will do to my iPhone. I hope AT&T has the infrastructure ready so I can continue to use my iPhone in current pathetic state and not make it evern worse.
NYTimes via Gizmodo

iPhone To Get MultiTasking with iPhone 4.0

iPhone To Get MultiTasking with iPhone OS 4.0 snapvoip.blogspot.com
Even though iPhone OS 3.x  is a preemptive multitasking operating system,  it restricts apps sans the specific ones bundled with the system by Apple, from running in the background.
But AppleInsider is saying that all this will change with iPhone OS 4.0. Without much detail, Apple has mentioned that it will address the long running debate about iPhone multitasking.
Currently the applications like phone, SMS, email, iPod, voice recorder, Nike+ are capable of operating  in the background while the user launches another app. All other apps including some from Apple are restricted from doing so.
Jailbroken iPhones are already running multitasking and so the critics say the real thing too should.
AppleInsider

Verizon Wireless' First 4G Handset To Debut In Mid-2011

Verizon Wireless' 4G Handset For 4G (LTE) Network snapvoip.blogspot.com
According to WSJ, the phone is being built (Nokia?) with dual chipsets to support current CDMA as well as the awaited 4G networks. These phone will operate on current and future LTE (4G) networks.
WSJ via Gizmodo

Take control of your OpenSIPS (Open SIP Server) With OpenSIPS Control Panel 4.0 Released

OpenSIPS-CP 4.0 snapvoip.blogspot.com
OpenSIPS org has released the the latest control panel, OpenSIPS CP 4.0 for the Open SIP Server. As the OpenSIPS team mentions, it is not just a system provisioning tool, but a complete OpenSIPS provisioning interface.
OpenSIPS-CP 4.0 brings users and admin management tools allowing you to add, edit, remove OpenSIPS users (see online/offline users) as well as add administrators (with permissions) for the OpenSIPS CP.
Also OpenSIPS CP 4.0 brings you more system tools like "dialog" tool (for monitoring and terminating ongoing dialogs) and "permissions tool (for IP based authentication for OpenSIPS).

Download is available under http://opensips-cp.sourceforge.net/
Take control of your OpenSIPS!  Also do not forget to check out the OpenSIPS webinars to learn more about OpenSIPS.