Asterisk Boot Camp Comes to Big Nerd Ranch

This is a news release by PRWEB press release service.
Asterisk Bootcamp, taught by instructor Jared Smith and developed by Sokol & Associates, highlights one of the most talked about emerging technologies in the telephony and programming industries. Asterisk is the perfect solution for a spectrum of telephony needs from voice over IP (VoIP), teleconferencing and switchboard functionality.
Big Nerd Ranch, Inc. announced today the newest addition to its line-up of classes, Asterisk Bootcamp, November 6-10, 2006. Asterisk Bootcamp, taught by instructor Jared Smith and developed by Sokol & Associates, highlights one of the most talked about emerging technologies in the telephony and programming industries. Asterisk is the perfect solution for a spectrum of telephony needs from voice over IP (VoIP), teleconferencing and switchboard functionality. As the global marketplace demands greater flexibility for meetings, conferencing, and sophisticated voice systems, Asterisk, the open source contender, provides a flexible, economical and scaleable design environment ideal for cutting-edge business, military and governmental powerhouses. This bootcamp is ideal for developers, Linux/Unix consultants, interconnect vendors and ITSP system administrators looking for an enhanced and more elegant PBX solution that rises above its more pedestrian competitors.

Skype-Compatible IP Phones and Skype for MAC beta!

Global IP Sound announced on Monday that it extended its partnership with Skype to enable hardware manufacturers to offer Skype compatible IP phones.
This comes in the aftermath of Skype beta announcement of Skype for mac.Skype now has Skype for Mac 1.5 BETA and also a video preview.
On the hardware front, "Skype has clearly revolutionized global personal communications with its offering," said GIPS' president and CEO Gary Hermansen in a statement. "This latest step in our relationship helps to solidify this growing market by expanding the options for Skype-enabled hardware devices and the ability for consumers to have a consistent, high-quality user experience regardless of platform."
Read more at links given.

Disruptive technologies disrupted? May be! No way!!

Do you still remember that printed telephone book and the yellow pages? I bet you sure do. It is holding that broken ..... Whatever up. Yes, for years online technologies have disrupted the importance and the revenue of yellow book and it services.
But Yellow pages plan to disrupt the disruptive services with YELLOW PAGE e NUMBER.COM (YPe.Nu).
"Now yellow page users can simply input a participating business phone number into their Internet browser and the YELLOW PAGE e NUMBER Zap-Blast system push's the phone number to the business web or e-mail site." to quote from their news letter.
Well it is for you to decide if you are going to dust out that phone book and dial or type the number of a company that you want to connect to. As for me I might well go to Google or Yahoo and do a search for what I am looking for and reach the company as well as it's competitors. I think it is easier for me to remember the website or do a search based on the company name or something closer to it than remembering 1-888-677-5268.YPe.Nu. So get over it, yellow book is dead as it used to be. It might live a little longer if the thick book is transformed in to a some sort of directory or a search site. But that is already there at google, yahoo and good old dmoz.org, the grand farther of all directories.

Trunk trixboxes (two right now!)

Recipe;
Two trixboxes, asterisk,
One FreePBX
Your hands to type
Keystone IT' blog article.
I have been trying to trunk two trixboxes for a while. I had some success and mostly failures. I needed to connect two remotely located offices together and be able to dial an extension and reach the extension from either office. When I was searching for the information, blog search, voip and telephony sites, I came across "Trunking Two Trixbox Servers" article on Keystone IT blog.
It was plain sailing from there and now I have two trxboxes acting as one. I will leave the details to keystone it article. Read it here.

Judge Rules Against NSA Wiretapping

"This is a challenge to the legality of a secret program undisputedly inaugurated by the NSA at least by 2002 and continuing today, which intercepts without benefit of warrant or other judicial approval, prior or subsequent, the international telephone and Internet communications of numerous persons and organizations within this country," she wrote. "The [wiretapping] has been acknowledged by this Administration to have been authorized by the President's secret order during 2002 and reauthorized at least 30 times since...Plaintiffs have prevailed, and the public interest is clear, in this matter. It is the upholding of our Constitution."

The case, filed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) on behalf of journalists, scholars and lawyers who say the program has made it difficult for them to do their jobs because of the surveillance, brought to task the Bush administration's policy of what is allowed and what is not regarding the war on terror. The judge said the plaintiffs "sufficiently alleged that they suffered an actual, concrete injury traceable to Defendants and redressable by this court." In a statement attributed to Ann Beeson, associate legal director and the lead attorney for the plaintiffs, the ACLU holds, "By holding that even the president is not above the law, the court has done its duty."

As part of its argument, the NSA said it could not defend this case without revealing state secrets. However, in her ruling, the judge wrote, "It is undisputed that Defendants have

publicly admitted to the following: (1) the [wiretapping program] exists; (2) it operates without warrants; (3) it targets communications where one party to the communication is outside the United States, and the government has a reasonable basis to conclude that one party to the communication is a member of al Qaeda, affiliated with al Qaeda, or a member of an organization affiliated with al Qaeda, or working in support of al Qaeda. As the Government has on many occasions confirmed the veracity of these allegations, the state secrets privilege does not apply to this information."

She also pointed out that the Bush administration "has repeatedly told the general public that there is a valid basis in law for the [wiretap program]. Further, Defendants have contended that the President has the authority...to authorize the continued use of the [wiretap program]. Defendants have supported these arguments without revealing or relying on any classified information."

The ACLU's Beeson predicts the government will appeal the ruling and that the Bush administration will ask that the wiretapping be allowed to continue during the appeals process. She adds her group has made no decision as to whether it would oppose such a request.