NetSymphony launches Maestro VoIP Probe13.03.2008 03:08 - source: voipgadgets I was just about to head home when I was sent this bit of interesting news about a new small VoIP probe called the M10P that helps troubleshoot VoIP problems. Figured I'd share... DATAMEG SUBSIDIARY NETSYMPHONY BEGINS SALES OF NEW MAESTRO SYSTEM WITH UNIQUE VoIP TEST PROBE NetSymphony, a subsidiary of Datameg Corp (OTCBB: DTMG), today announced commencement of sales of its Maestro System that sets new standards for size, simplicity and value. The Maestro System provides valuable functions in three major areas: system assessment; assurance and service level agreement monitoring; and fault isolation and troubleshooting. Additional information can be found at www.netsymphony.com. Maestro provides integrated management of IP services by assessing, monitoring and troubleshooting IP systems. Coupled with central servers, Maestro uses its affordable and widely disbursed M10P probes at defined measurement points to allow network operators to manage their customer's quality experience from initial deployment through and including ensuring ongoing, high quality, voice services. The M10P probe is the smallest in the industry (1 inch by 1 inch by 4.375 inches). Its zero-configuration startup feature lets a user simply plug it in and the M10P automatically begins to perform tests and measurements without any complicated configuration required. "Four out of 10 large organizations have struggled with VoIP deployment. Many have seen quality problems mysteriously come and go, and they have struggled to get their systems into service and operating clearly and consistently, " said NetSymphony' s Dan Ference. "They've discovered that some routers are not friendly to voice, and they've had distortion problems when their calls go outside their enterprise. The M10P probe replicates a customer's call and is able to measure the end-to-end user experience across networks and administrative boundaries. The M10P probe provides the information to determine where and what problem exists." NetSymphony offers a unique sales approach. Customers may take advantage of the NetSymphony technology either by purchasing monitoring and troubleshooting through NetSymphony' s VoIP Deployment and Quality Management Services or by purchasing their own complete Maestro Systems outright for integration into their existing infrastructure. "Minimal intervention is required to get it up and running. You don't need hordes of people out there to diagnose your problems," Ference said. "Maestro can make VoIP deployment and quality management easy and affordable." Tags: Datameg, M10P probe, NetSymphony, VoIP, VoIP testing Related Entries SureWest Communications Launches Combined VoIP, TV, and HD DVR - Mar 12, 2008 Ojo Phone Lives! - Mar 12, 2008 Voiceroute Druid Open Source Edition Launches offering New Open Source Asterisk GUI Front End - Mar 12, 2008 VoIP on Apple iPhone a No Go unless over WiFi - Mar 11, 2008 SippySkype SIP-to-Skype Gateway - Mar 07, 2008 Yahoo Messenger for Vista Adds VoIP - Mar 07, 2008 Asterisk 1.6.0 beta5 - Mar 06, 2008 Sony PS3 Gets In-Game VoIP - Mar 04, 2008 PBXtra 4.0 Released - Mar 04, 2008 Talkonaut 4.0 native Symbian S60 edition released - Feb 28, 2008 Read more… |
SimplyExchange Skype PBX Gateway13.03.2008 03:08 - source: voipgadgets 
Wisecom Technologies Ltd is now selling a Skype Certified gateway called SimplyExchange, which hooks up to your corporate PBX using four analog FXS ports. This is similar to the Actiontec VoSKY Skype gateway, though SimplyExchange is a much smaller unit than the 1U VoSKY gateway appliances. In any event, you simply connect 4 SimplyExchange analog FXS ports to 4 PBX FXO trunk ports, which will "Skype enable" your PBX. Alternatively you can connect to 4 telephones (or some to trunk ports and some to telephones) Next, you configure your PBX by setting a hunting group number for the four trunk ports to a specific number, such as 8. This hunting group will be act as Skype lines allowing a corporate user to simply press '8' to get access the Skype network, as seen by these 2 diagrams: Then you hook up the SimpleExchange gateway to a PC (via USB) running Skype and install their software.Continue reading SimplyExchange Skype PBX Gateway... Tags: Actiontec, gateway, PBX, SimplyExchange, Skype, VoIP, VoSKY, Wisecom Technologies Related Entries Skip2PBX, SIP-to-Skype Gateway, is here! - Aug 31, 2007 SkyStone bridges Skype and PBXs using only software - May 15, 2007 Actiontec VoSKY Skype Gateway adds FXS ports - Jan 25, 2007 SippySkype SIP-to-Skype Gateway - Mar 07, 2008 Future of SIP to Skype Gateway in Doubt? - Feb 04, 2008 SkyStone releases new version of Skype gateway - Nov 14, 2007 Skype SIP Gateway (PE) 1.0 Released - Oct 30, 2007 OnState Mashup of Skype & Zimbra - Feb 11, 2008 ooVoo 1.5 Adds Phone Calling & Recording - Feb 07, 2008 IPEVO Solo Skype Desktop Phone now with Wi-Fi - Jan 09, 2008 Read more… |
SimplyWiFi SIP Phone13.03.2008 03:08 - source: voipgadgets 
SimplyWiFi is a new SIP-based WiFi phone based on Linux that not only lets you make free or low-cost calls, it also lets you IM/chat using the SIMPLE standard. SimplyWiFi is a small lightweight phone with a superb talk time of 10 hours and 250 hours stand-by time. The WiFi SIP phone features a 65,000 color 2.0" TFT-LCD with 176x220 resolution. Wisecom Technologies' SimplyWiFi phone features the ability to make encrypted calls, manage your contacts and send instant messages. The WiFi features include all the usual suspects, including DHCP, authentication and encryption. It supports WEP (64/128-bit), WPA/WPA2 (Personal/PSK/Enterprise), Open System, and Shared Key. I should point out that some SIP WiFi phones only allow you to connect to open hotspots with no encryption. Fortunately, SimplyWiFi has WiFi profiles allowing you to enter in your WiFi security key one time per SSID/WiFi network, save it, and then re-use the profile when you enter range of that WiFi network. Features: Phonebook records Volume control for headset and dialtones Brightness control Support for strong security and ESSID authentication Battery and signal level metering (RF and Battery indication) Update via USB port Extended stand-by time Pixel-based full-color user interface display Provisioning support Support SIP and RTP/RTCP protocol Instant messaging (SIMPLE) Chat key Caller ID NTP time synchronization Acoustic Echo Cancellation Jitter Buffer Control DTMF Transmission Call mute Call redial Call transfer (depending on service provider) Call history (Answered, dialed and missed calls) Preconfigured speed dial (voice mail) Silent ring (Vibrate mode) Customized ringtones Language support Backlight keypad SIP account management (multiple, locked and hidden) Network profile management (multiple, locked and hidden) Specifications: VoIP Protocol: SIP v2 Session Initiation Protocol (RFC3261), SDP (RFC2327) Voice codecs: G.711a/u, G.723.1, G.729a/b, G.726, ILBC 802.11b/g: DSSS, OFDM Dimension: 46.7 x 135.2 x 18.8 mm, 1.84 x 5.32 x 0.74 inch Weight: 106 g Battery: 3,7V 1320 mAh Li-Polymer Charging: USB/mini-USB cable or AC adapter with mini-USB cable VoIP chip: AT76C902 (ARM7 + ARM9 +TeakDSPCore) Display: 2.0", 176x220 pxl graphic 65K color TFT-LCD Tags: hotspots, phone, SimplyWiFi, SIP, VoIP, WiFi, WiFi phone, wireless Related Entries Talkonaut 4.0 native Symbian S60 edition released - Feb 28, 2008 D2 Technologies mCUE mobile convergence softphone launches - Jan 07, 2008 Congrats to Netgear - wins Top 10 Gadgets 2007 Award - Dec 12, 2007 Vonage partners with Earthlink and becomes an ISP - Jan 08, 2007 VoIP on Apple iPhone a No Go unless over WiFi - Mar 11, 2008 SippySkype SIP-to-Skype Gateway - Mar 07, 2008 Junction Networks Adds Inbound Bridge to onSIP Hosted PBX - Feb 28, 2008 Zingaya Media Server enables Adobe Flash-based VoIP - Feb 19, 2008 Touchmods VoIP App for the Apple iPhone Sparks Controversy - Feb 08, 2008 JoikuSpot Turns Nokia phone into WiFi hotspot - Feb 06, 2008 Read more… |
Gartner positions Voxeo in "Visionaries" quadrant of Gartners Magic Quadrant for IVR and Enterprise Voice Portals13.03.2008 03:08 - source: voipgadgets Dan York emailed me to inform me that his company Voxeo has been named in one of Gartner's Magic Quadrants. Gartner is a very well-respected research firm that is just a stone's throw from TMC - about 15 minutes away. Congratulations to Voxeo! Dan's blog writes: We are very pleased to announce today that we were positioned in the “Visionaries Quadrant” of Gartner’s “Magic Quadrant for IVR Systems and Enterprise Voice Portals, 2008“. Given that we’ve only been selling our Prophecy premise product for two years, it’s a huge achievement in our view to be included along with other players who have been in the market much longer. As our CEO said in the release: “We view our position in the Visionaries quadrant as further validation that Voxeo is enabling a fundamental shift in the way companies build and deploy voice applications,” said Jonathan Taylor, CEO of Voxeo. “Voxeo is only in its second year of premise IVR sales and we consider inclusion this early on in the product’s life cycle to be a significant milestone.” Check out Dan's blog for more... Tags: Gartner, IVR, Magic Quadrant, voice applications, Voxeo Related Entries Free IP-PBX! - Oct 24, 2007 Gartner says Communications-as-a-Service (CaaS) Revenue Future Looks Bright - Sep 05, 2007 Read more… |
Asterisk Wake-Up calls and Web Scheduling13.03.2008 03:08 - source: voipgadgets 
Those of you that travel a lot have probably encountered the situation where you think you set the hotel alarm clock correctly only to learn the volume was turned way down or you had it set to PM instead of AM. Many hotel alarm clocks are becoming more gadgety, including some that double as an iPod docking station to wake you up with your iPod tunes. Well, futzing with an alarm clock you're not familiar with could result in you missing your important meeting. So what do you do? Well, you could call the front desk and ask for a wake-up call. Some hotel systems are even automated so you simply touch-tone the time you want to wake-up. But what fun is that? if you're an Asterisk fan and want to have some fun, you can configure your own wake up reminders. Today, Nerd Vittles wrote an article explaining how you can do just that. You can configure telephony reminders two different ways. One is to dial into the Asterisk system and after entering in your PIN you speak the date & time you want along with your calendar reminder message and the system will record the reminder into the calendar. This is all done using speech recognition technology. The other method is via the web interface. As seen below you can type a message in and using text-to-speech (TTS) it will speak this text over the phone to you at the specified date & time. Nerd Vittles jokingly writes:Today’s edition of Telephone Reminders for Asterisk 1.4 not only lets you schedule reminders by phone using your own voice, but now you can use a clever (if we do say so) web interface as well. Just fill out a simple web form to set your reminder or recurring reminder in motion, and Telephone Reminders for Asterisk will swing into action with Flite or Cepstral’s Allison to deliver your typed message to the phone of your choice at the appointed time. It’s the perfect tool for bugging the hell out of your friends without ever picking up the phone. Wanna wake your worst enemy in the middle of the night with a nice reading of the Gettysburg Address? No problem. Actually, there is a slight problem. It’s against the law to make irritating phone calls. But it’ll be great for calling all those politicians back to thank them for the hundreds of telephone messages they delivered while you were eating dinner. Nerd explains that this works on PBX in a Flash, but the good news is that it also works on trixbox 2.x - albeit with a caveat - you can't use flite, but Cepstral an alternative TTS engine works. Now the next time you attend ITEXPO, an Asterisk users conference, or some other Asterisk related event you can brag to your colleagues that you got your wake-up call via Asterisk. Tags: Asterisk, FreePBX, ITEXPO, Nerd Vittles, PBX in a Flash, speech recognition, TTS, VoIP Related Entries Asterisk-based FreePBX clones Microsoft Response Point's Easy Button - Jan 31, 2008 Nerd Vittles Delivers some Asterisk Christmas Goodies - Dec 11, 2007 PBX in a Flash Asterisk Distro Launches - Nov 13, 2007 Voiceroute Druid Open Source Edition Launches offering New Open Source Asterisk GUI Front End - Mar 12, 2008 Schmooze the Yiddish Asterisk - Feb 01, 2008 Cool Stuff at ITEXPO - Jan 30, 2008 Internet Telephony Expo Recap - And SIP Trunking has Arrived! - Sep 14, 2007 Trixbox training session resounding success - Sep 12, 2007 Top 10 Reasons Why I love Asterisk - Aug 03, 2007 Follow Me on the iPhone using Bluetooth and trixbox - Jul 18, 2007 Read more… |
TeVeStream FrameSeeker Detects Video Frame Changes13.03.2008 03:08 - source: voipgadgets 
Arcosoft Inc., those same rascals that built 8 simultaneous video streams only Star Trek's Data could love, today announced the release of TeVeStream FrameSeeker. According to Arcosoft, "Surveillance video, such as those captured for security, paranormal investigation, and wildlife study, often contains many frames that are essentially static. Without FrameSeeker, a reviewer must spend many tedious hours watching the video completely to find interesting events. FrameSeeker reduces the effort by scanning for changes frame by frame. The search stops when a frame differs significantly from the previous." If you have multiple roommates, now you can catch who's been stealing your Diet Coke from the fridge or capture those pesky spirits that are haunting your abode. If you believe in that sort of thing anyway. In any event, according to Arcosoft, the sensitivity setting allows the detection of change such as something entering an area, or even a brief flash of light. FrameSeeker runs on Windows Vista, XP, and 2003. Price is $99 USD, with an evaluation download available from www.TeVeStream.com Tags: Arcosoft, frame, TeVeStream FrameSeeker, video, video frame Related Entries Ojo Phone Lives! - Mar 12, 2008 Streaming TV with Skype - Jan 02, 2008 Skype High Quality Video Review - Nov 30, 2007 Sat3Play Satellite Triple Play - cool stuff! - Nov 09, 2007 SightSpeed offers High Quality Video Conferencing for the SMB - Oct 30, 2007 BabelTV integrates VoIP, YouTube, TV, iPod, Video, and more - Oct 26, 2007 Toshiba gigashot A100F 100GB Full HD camcorder - Sep 25, 2007 Provia A1 GPS - too cool! - Aug 27, 2007 Red Hat Targets Carrier-Grade Telecom - Jun 19, 2007 ooVoo a new Video/IM communications client - Apr 20, 2007 Read more… |
Hosted trixbox IP-PBX13.03.2008 03:08 - source: voipgadgets 
Just learned via TMCs' VoIP Forums that Click4PBX just announced hosted trixbox plans starting at $109/month (1-10 extensions) and going up to a maximum of $279/month (1-300 extensions). It's unclear from the website if that monthly fee is per extension or the total cost for each particular plan. I believe it is the total cost since the alternative (per extension) would be cost prohibitive. Not to mention the price would go down per extension as you scale up where as the plans listed increase in price as you increase the number of extensions. It just seems so cheap to only pay $109/month for up to 10 extensions. A more typically example for the SMB is 50 extensions and that's still only $139/month. Actually, all Click4PBX is doing is hosting the trixbox software. Well, they are hosting the PC hardware as well and providing some failover redundancy I suppose. So there is some value in that if you are an SMB that doesn't want to maintain hardware & do periodic trixbox software upgrades. In any event, with this solution all you need is DID numbers and SIP trunking termination services from Click4PBX's list of certified VoIP providers. Your IP phones connect directly with the SIP service provider, while Click4PBX hosts the trixbox management interface, which leverages FreePBX, a web front-end to several Asterisk-based solutions. I'm very high on SIP trunking as you know, so it'll be interesting to see if more hosted trixbox or hosted Asterisk-based solutions come to market. We already have thousands of website hosting companies - could a plethora of hosted PBX providers be far behind? I should add that Click4PBX also hosts VICIDIAL, a set of programs that are designed to interact with the Asterisk Open-Source PBX Phone system to act as a complete inbound/outbound call center suite. It includes predictive dialing capabilities, inbound, Outbound and Blended call handling and more. Tags: Asterisk, hosted PBX, trixbox, VoIP Related Entries Schmooze the Yiddish Asterisk - Feb 01, 2008 trixbox CE 2.4 Released - Jan 04, 2008 PBX in a Flash Asterisk Distro Launches - Nov 13, 2007 Astfin announces Asterisk Appliance based on Blackfin - Oct 30, 2007 Free IP-PBX! - Oct 24, 2007 PIKA launches PIKA Appliance for Asterisk - Sep 18, 2007 Trixbox training session resounding success - Sep 12, 2007 Follow Me on the iPhone using Bluetooth and trixbox - Jul 18, 2007 trixbox Buyers Club Launches - Apr 18, 2007 Fonality's trixbox appliance Part 2 - Mar 19, 2007 Read more… |
eBay Names Shopping.com CEO to Skype CEO position13.03.2008 03:08 - source: voipgadgets eBay today named Josh Silverman the new CEO of Skype. Silverman, currently the CEO of eBay's Shopping.com unit, will take on the job on March 24, replacing Michael van Swaaij, who was appointed interim CEO in October. Andrew Haddad, another eBay executive, will take over the CEO position at comparison shopping site Shopping.com. Let us hope the new Skype CEO can move Skype beyond simple VoIP calling to the PSTN and peer-to-peer calling. Maybe he can improve Skype's non-existent customer service as well while he's at it. [via Yahoo! News] Tags: Andrew Haddad, CEO, Josh Silverman, Michael van Swaaij, Skype Related Entries SippySkype SIP-to-Skype Gateway - Mar 07, 2008 SimplyExchange Skype PBX Gateway - Feb 22, 2008 Skype Customer Service - Feb 21, 2008 Skype 2.7 for Mac Released - Feb 14, 2008 OnState Mashup of Skype & Zimbra - Feb 11, 2008 ooVoo 1.5 Adds Phone Calling & Recording - Feb 07, 2008 JoikuSpot Turns Nokia phone into WiFi hotspot - Feb 06, 2008 Future of SIP to Skype Gateway in Doubt? - Feb 04, 2008 SIP to Skype Calls - Jan 21, 2008 Third-party SkypeIn Jetnumbers - Jan 09, 2008 Read more… |
PIKA Fax Adds Faxing to Asterisk13.03.2008 03:08 - source: voipgadgets 
I've written about some of the challenges of faxing on the Asterisk platform. Faxing has always been one of Asterisk's weaknesses, though it is getting better. Well today, PIKA Technologies announced support for fax applications built on the open-source platform Asterisk. According to PIKA, "PIKA Fax software is now extended to Asterisk, allowing developers on the platform to easily build reliable fax capabilities into their applications." One of the main problems with faxing on Asterisk is the timing sync of the fax cards which must be in sync between the PRI/T1 voice card and the fax card. Usually you are taking the timing from the telco on the PRI/T1 card and then in order for faxing to work you have to re-send that timing signal out to the fax card. Unfortunately, the timing coming out of the T1/PRI card is not synched to the fax card. The timing is generated by the internal clock on the card itself. Thus, the timing sync signal is not making it from the PRI/T1 card to the fax hardware. One solution to keep the timing in sync is to connect a timing cable between them and share the clock. PIKA states, "Until now, faxes could be sent and received in Asterisk-based applications only by using Span DSP, a software fax plug-in. Unlike Span DSP, PIKA Fax works independently from zaptel. Its driver works at the kernel level, providing control of real-time applications. PIKA Fax will work with any vendor’s board that supports Asterisk and has been tested specifically with Digium, Sangoma and PIKA hardware." If this software-based fax solution is as good as it sounds then perhaps reliable faxing on Asterisk will become a reality. I should point out that Sangoma also claims a reliable faxing solution for Asterisk that doesn't require special software. I am curious how PIKA solves the timing issues using just software and not tied to a synchronized clock. I'll have to investigate further. In the meantime, the full release is after the jump.Continue reading PIKA Fax Adds Faxing to Asterisk... Tags: Asterisk, PIKA Fax, PIKA Technologies, Sangoma, VoIP Related Entries Predictive Dialing on Asterisk? - Jun 13, 2007 PIKA Connect for Skype now platform agnostic - May 01, 2007 TMCnet launches new community - Apr 11, 2007 Voiceroute Druid Open Source Edition Launches offering New Open Source Asterisk GUI Front End - Mar 12, 2008 Asterisk 1.6.0 beta5 - Mar 06, 2008 PBXtra 4.0 Released - Mar 04, 2008 Hosted trixbox IP-PBX - Feb 25, 2008 Asterisk Wake-Up calls and Web Scheduling - Feb 25, 2008 Touchmods VoIP App for the Apple iPhone Sparks Controversy - Feb 08, 2008 Schmooze the Yiddish Asterisk - Feb 01, 2008 Comments on this Entry: (Steve on Feb 27, 2008 11:25 PM) This article is quite misleading. spandsp has no ties whatsoever to zaptel. Also, the ease of installation comparison in the articles compares a source code install of spandsp with a packaged install of the pika software. For many people these days the complexity of installing spandsp is a single command, something like "yum install " (or whatever package management software applies to their platform). From my understanding of what Pika are providing, it is likely to have similar strengths and weaknesses to spandsp in real world usage. (Greg MacLellan on Mar 2, 2008 2:35 PM) I've played with the faxing a little bit. Basically, they have fax support built into the DSP chip on their cards (there is no separate "fax card" as the blog post seems to imply). The kernel driver is basically the equivalent of zaptel (but for their line of cards), and they have their own RxFax() application that just tells the DSP to start receiving a fax. This is vastly superior to SpanDSP, as the actual fax communications is done purely in hardware (just like a real 56k PCI Fax/modem - remember those?), all the software does is save the TIFF image to a file. (Steve Underwood on Mar 5, 2008 1:28 AM) Hi Greg, What you described is not what this article is about. This is a new host software offering from Pika, offering much higher capacity than their original small scale offering running on their analogue cards. In what way is software running on a telephony card vastly superior to similar software running on the host CPU? Read more… |
The Biggest Loser Week 713.03.2008 03:08 - source: voipgadgets Continuing my updates for my local gym's The Biggest Loser competition, here's Week #7. Week 1 (Jan 14th) - weighed in at 198lbs (original weight) Week 2 (Jan 21st) - weighed in at 189lbs (-9 lbs) Week 3 (Jan 28th) - weighted in at 189lbs (0 change) Week 4 (Feb 4th) - weighed in at 186lbs (-3 lbs) Week 5 (Feb 11th) - weighed in at 186lbs (0 change) Week 6 (Feb 18th) - weighed in at 184lbs (-2 lbs). Week 7 (Feb 25th) - weighed in at 183lbs (-1 lbs). My weight loss has slowed down with just 6 more weeks to go. The good news is that I've lost 15lbs with a fantastic 7.57% weight loss. The even better news is that I'm currently in 1st place for the Biggest Loser competition with 15 total competitors. My wife is actually in 2nd place. Guess the Keating family is kicking some serious butt! Now for the bad news. I injured my right shoulder about 8 days ago and haven't been able to do much upper body weight training. I think I would be down another 3lbs if not for my shoulder. I'm sure my wife would tell me to stop complaining since I'm in 1st place. I love competition and the thrill of victory but more importantly, when I set me mind to something I just want to do the very best I can regardless if I am competing against others. Part of it is pride, part of it is stubbornness, and part of it is ego. On top of it all, I caught a nasty cold this week. I woke up this morning and my ears were clogged from the congestion. I took a shot of NyQuil and headed off to my 7:30am morning training session with just a granola bar in my stomach. I usually work out at night but I wanted to work with this particular trainer and she could only do early mornings. The trainer warned me that people that aren't used to working out in the mornings can feel light-headed. I thought to myself "Me? Light-headed? Bah! I've never felt light-headed in my life from a gym workout. Only girlie men get light-headed". Well, word to the wise - when you take a shot of NyQuil on an empty stomach, you have a cold, then run 6.5mph for 5 minutes and then have a trainer push you to your limit, you are going to feel light-headed. I was in the middle of doing a drop set exercise when I couldn't lift the weights and was struggling way more than I should have. Trainer looks at me and says "Are you feeling ok? You look very pale". I told her I was fine, but could understand why I couldn't life the weights since they were very light. My stubbornness and never give up mentality was pushing me way beyond mere mortals. Ok, off the ego trip. So anyway, I started to feel light-headed, told her I just needed a second and she then asked if I wanted a Gatorade, which I accepted. By the time she got back, she said "You are very pale. I think you need to lay down." So I swallowed my Irish pride and laid down with my feet up for 5 minutes. The trainer says this happens all the time with people that aren't used to working out in the morning. Still, my ego was a little bruised. I told her about the shot of NyQuil and she said "No wonder why you're light-headed. Working out will increase the speed of the absorption and you have a head cold." After my 5 min break from my continuous circuit training, I got back on the machine. She asked me if I wanted to skip the last set and I told her no. I always finish what I start. I'm hearing Ronald Reagan saying in my ear, "There you go again - with that ego of yours." Anyway, even with the injury I'm hoping to lose at least 1lb per week. I may have a few 0 weight changes, but I'm hoping to never have a weight gain. Wish me luck! And now back to your regularly scheduled program of VoIP & gadget news! Tags: gym, NyQuil, The Biggest Loser, trainer Related Entries The Biggest Loser Week 9 - Mar 11, 2008 The Biggest Loser Week 8 - Mar 05, 2008 Biggest Loser Week 4 - Feb 05, 2008 Biggest Loser Update #1 - Jan 30, 2008 Joined The Biggest Loser - Jan 17, 2008 Exercise to earn free ring tones, videos, MP3 music files - Mar 05, 2007 Comments on this Entry: (nicole s on Feb 27, 2008 11:00 AM) i totally understand you on this and congratulate you!!!! It's such hard work. I'm at a plateau myself right now after 20...and it's driving me crazy!!! Best of luck! (Kevin on Feb 27, 2008 4:41 PM) What sort of plan are you following ? I started a similar program Feb. 1, but I'm not getting much traction. Can you give the rest of us some idea of what's giving you such success ? Thanks ! (Tom Keating on Feb 28, 2008 9:24 PM) Kevin, Here's what I've been doing: 1) Food journal. Tracking food intake + calories. Google the food item + "calories" if unsure the calories for an item. It may seem tedious at first. But it's very helpful, especially if you tend to cheat on your diet. It's ok to cheat, but if you cheat often and block out of your mind how often you cheat, then the journal will at least keep you honest. For instance, suppose on Monday you eat over your 2,000 daily limit and hit 2500 calories due to a cinnamon roll. On Tuesday, you think you're pretty low on your calories, but by dinner you see you're at 1500 calories, leaving only 500 calories for dinner. You know the previous day you went over 2000 calories, so you are less apt to do it again the next day. Or you can average it across a week. This allows you to have days where you are under 2000 calories and some days over. But unless you track it, you have no way of knowing. 2) Eat early in the morning & don't skip meals. I actually skip breakfast most days before this contest. They said to at least eat a banana or granola bar to get your metabolism going. Your metabolism won't jump start until you eat something. So the earlier you eat something the better. 3) Don't eat late (after 7:30pm) 4) Try and eat 4-6 times a day with smaller portions. if doesn't fit your daily lifestyle then just have a glass of milk. It's full of protein and will keep your metabolism going. 5) Do both cardio and weight training. By building muscles you'll burn more fat while at rest. 6) Change up your exercise routine. Don't do the same exercises. Hire a trainer for a week just to learn new exercises. You'd be surprised how many exercises they can teach you. 7) I play mind games on the treadmill. For instance for each 1 minute, I increase the speed up to 7.0mph. Then I decrease the speed to a walking pace (3.5mph) to catch my breath. Then I run full-out 10mph-12mph for 1 minute long then hit the stop button. This pushes your heart to the max and your lungs so it helps strengthen them. 8) Try to eliminate boredom. If you are a sports junkie, go to the gym when your favorite team is playing. Walk on the treadmill while watching the game. Mix in a few sprints but don't wear yourself out too quickly. 9) If gym doesn't have TVs use a video iPod or Microsoft Zune and watch your favorite TV programs that way. 10) Lastly, listen to your favorite music. Music can be a great motivator especially songs with an emotional/sentimental story to them. i.e. some rock tune that you and your high school sweetheart loved to listen to. Read more… |
Nuvio sues Garmin over nuvifone13.03.2008 03:08 - source: voipgadgets 
Nuvio announced a trademark infringement lawsuit against Garmin today. The dispute is against Garmin's uber cool GPS mobile phone called the Nuvifone just recently announced and due out later this year.? Nuvi claims they filed this lawsuit January 31st of 2008. Ok, I'll grant Nuvio that Nuvi is "close" in spelling.? Ok GPS fans, what's wrong with this picture? Could it be that Garmin has been selling GPS units with the name "nuvi" for years! You may have seen the nuvi spelled with the funky two dots about the letter 'u', i.e. n?vi 350. If you Google "nuvi" you'll see Garmin owns this term. If you look at Google Images for "nuvi", once again, all Garmin products. So if Garmin has been using this trademark for years, why all of a sudden is Nuvio suing them? The Answer? Drum roll please... Because the Garmin Nuvifone has generated a lot of media buzz (myself included) that while it isn't as rabid as the iPhone, it's still a pretty hotly anticipated product. Need I also remind you of the Cisco/Linksys lawsuit over Apple's use of the term "iPhone" which I covered here, here, here, and here. Cisco/Linksys already had a trademark on that exact same name. Unlike Nuvio which has a different spelling, the term "nuvi" is not exactly the same. Now you could compare this with Apple's iProductName, where they pretty much own the letter "i" in front of computer-related technology (iMac, iPhone, iPod). Same goes for McDonald's. I can't launch a frozen pizza called the McPizza without being sued. But certainly Nuvio doesn't have industry-wide acceptance as the owner of the phrase "Nuvio" or "Nuvi". So I don't see how they can win. Seems to be patent extortion to me, but maybe my analysis is off. If so, tell me. But I'll include the news release below so you can judge for yourself. OVERLAND PARK, Kan.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nuvio Corporation, a leading provider of on-demand business phone service, today announced that it has filed a trademark infringement lawsuit against Garmin International, Inc. (NASDAQ: GRMN) in the U.S. District Court of Kansas. Garmin’s recently announced Nuvifone infringes on the prior Nuvio trademark which Nuvio uses on Nuvio phones and its telephony services. Prior to filing the lawsuit, Nuvio attempted to reach a mutually satisfactory resolution with Garmin. No resolution was reached and Nuvio filed legal action to protect its rights. “While we would have preferred to settle this without resorting to a lawsuit, we felt it was important to ensure that our customers and potential customers are not confused by someone abusing our legally protected trademark,” stated Jason P. Talley, Nuvio’s CEO. “Our customers commonly refer to our service as the Nuvio phone.” Nuvio’s lawsuit alleges that Garmin knowingly and willfully appropriated Nuvio’s trademark. In addition to a determination that Garmin has infringed on the Nuvio trademark, Nuvio is seeking a permanent injunction that prohibits Garmin from using the Nuvi name. Nuvio issued a cease and desist letter to Garmin on January 31, 2008. As well as seeking a permanent injunction barring Garmin from using the Nuvio trademark, Nuvio has requested damages for past infringement. About Nuvio Nuvio Corporation, a provider of on-demand business communication solutions, distributes its products through direct, indirect and wholesale channels. Nuvio offers a reliable, stable communications platform providing unparalleled uptime for customers. Since 2003, Nuvio has provided PBX services for small to medium-sized businesses in a cost-effective manner. For more information, visit www.nuvio.com. Tags: Garmin, GPS, lawsuit, nuvi, nuvifone, Nuvio, Nuvio Corporation, nvi, patent Related Entries Garmin nuvifone - Feb 12, 2008 Volvo to carry Garmin nuvi GPS - Nov 19, 2007 Garmin n?vi 700 GPS - Aug 30, 2007 TopGear, Speeding, GPS, and Driving Blues in Britain - Oct 18, 2007 Ordered new Garmin Nuvi to replace stolen unit - Oct 11, 2007 Vonage vs. Sprint - Court Decision Reached - Sep 25, 2007 Garmin Edge 605 & 705 - Aug 29, 2007 Vonage warns it could file for bankruptcy - Apr 18, 2007 Magellan RoadMate 1425 - Mar 05, 2008 TomTom GO 930T & 730T - Mar 04, 2008 Comments on this Entry: (Howard Frost on Feb 27, 2008 5:36 PM) >>Jason P. Talley, Nuvio's CEO. "Our customers commonly refer to our service as the Nuvio phone." How does 'Nuvio phone' sound or even look like the word 'nuvifone'? Say it with me. newvee oh fone vs newvee fone It doesn't sound like it and it has an extra syllable. If they start issuing blanket patents or trademarks for things that are even closely spelled, ah heck - you think the patent lawsuits are crazy now? Stupid lawsuit if you ask me. (Peter Radizeski on Feb 27, 2008 6:42 PM) It sounds like NUVIO is so irrelevant that they need this lawsuit to either get some cash or get their name out there. But do you really want your name to synonymous with "Patent Troll"? (Dave E Anderson on Feb 27, 2008 9:03 PM) Sorry Charlie... You're wrong... So is Garmin. Nuvio is right... This is a slam dunk... Open and shut. Garmin has NOT been using the Nuvi name for phones... They use it for GPS devices... Nuvio has a solid registration for Nuvio for phones. It's not only registered, but they can clearly prove first in time usage, and potential for confusion... The acid test for trademark infringement is simple. First, they must be operating in the same trade class... which they would be... Second, there has to be a "reasonable chance" of confusion... Which there is... Third... it's first in time, first in right... Nuvio is clearly first, not only with the phone, but with the approved federal trademark registration... Nuvio is clearly in the right, and in a very solid legal position. A federal trademark registration makes their case almost water tight... It really would be very strong anyway, as long as they could prove first use, which they can... Even non-registered trademark usage provides the first user "common law" rights within their tradeclass.... The federal registration allows them also not only a solid open and shut case, but also the ability to collect treble damages and their legal fees from the defendant upon a judgment in favor of the plaintiff... How's that for legalese from a farm kid... Sorry your agreements in your article are all wet! Buy Nuvio... sell Garmin on this one. Of course, Garmin can clearly afford a huge settlement which they will have to provide, and it likely will both not be disclosed and never come to trial. Read more… |
Junction Networks Adds Inbound Bridge to onSIP Hosted PBX13.03.2008 03:08 - source: voipgadgets Junction Networks, provider of the hosted onSIP PBX service, has launched Inbound Bridge, an accessory service that ties in third-party providers of international and domestic DID numbers. Inbound Bridge saves money for Junction Networks’ business customers by allowing them to find the best per-minute price for inbound VoIP calling minutes in their chosen geographic regions. Essentially this bridging application lets hosting customers use third-party providers of DID numbers for best LD price in desired footprint. According to Junction Networks, "Inbound Bridge solves a vexing problem for companies that want local numbers and 800 numbers in foreign countries or specific domestic regions—numbers typically rented from other VoIP network providers. Many of these providers simply deliver calls from one end point to the other; they don’t implement the key function of the SIP VoIP signaling protocol that allows callers to navigate phone menus, transfer calls, put callers on hold and trigger other events. Without this function (specified in the IETF’s RFC 3515), inbound callers are disconnected when they “press 1 for sales,” or try to transfer to extension numbers for specific people. Or at the least the DTMF touch tones are not recognized. Junction Networks' Inbound Bridge performs the missing SIP function, maintaining the two-way SIP signaling needed for interactivity after a call is already established. It can therefore pass the entered touch-tone digits to the auto attendant and other PBX applications. It can integrate onSIP with any network vendor having an open SIP implementation (permitting communication with other SIP networks). “This is a perfect opportunity if you’re a company that wants a toll-free service from Europe or Asia, or you have some other reason to use a third-party phone number provider,” said Rob Wolpov, president, Junction Networks. “But you do want to use our hosted solution, because it works very well, you have company extensions in one or more sites, and you like the price of that.” ($39.95 a month for core voice applications and an unlimited number of SIP extensions, with free calling between them.) “You can get your toll-free origination from any provider that offers SIP delivery of inbound calls, and just have it go to us through the Inbound Bridge. We charge $1.95 a month per DID, and half a cent a minute to cover our cost of the Bridge. If you can get your toll-free for one or one and a half cents a minute, you wind up paying two cents a minute for toll-free, as opposed to paying almost four cents a minute to Junction Networks. “That’s completely OK with us,” Wolpov stressed. “Go somewhere else to get your minutes and then come to us for the auto attendant, the ACD queue, the voice mail, all those sorts of applications.” To date, Junction Networks has tested the Inbound Bridge with international DID provider Voxbone. Other third-party DID providers are to be tested and added in the coming months. “We’re happy to supply onSIP customers with our core value—locally dialed phone presence in more than 40 countries around the world,” said Rodrigue Ullens, Voxbone CEO. “With our intercontinental voice-only backbone, Junction Networks’ Inbound Bridge and onSIP platform, these enterprises can get the best value in DID numbers and international VoIP transport, plus all the convenience and flexibility of hosted IP PBX.” Tags: DID, Inbound Bridge, Junction Networks, onSIP, SIP, VoIP, Voxbone Related Entries SippySkype SIP-to-Skype Gateway - Mar 07, 2008 Talkonaut 4.0 native Symbian S60 edition released - Feb 28, 2008 SimplyWiFi SIP Phone - Feb 22, 2008 Zingaya Media Server enables Adobe Flash-based VoIP - Feb 19, 2008 Touchmods VoIP App for the Apple iPhone Sparks Controversy - Feb 08, 2008 Future of SIP to Skype Gateway in Doubt? - Feb 04, 2008 Iwatsu Adds SIP-Aware Firewall - Jan 25, 2008 SIP Trunking Not so Hot? - Jan 25, 2008 Dell VoIP Products Analysis - Jan 23, 2008 SIP Trunking is Hot! - Jan 23, 2008 Read more… |
Talkonaut 4.0 native Symbian S60 edition released13.03.2008 03:08 - source: voipgadgets The GTalk2VoIP dev team just released their VoIP+chat application for Symbian S60 phones that runs as a native (.sis file) application. I should stress that several Nokia smart phones come with a SIP stack, however they are limited to WiFi use only and won't work over your cellular network. You can thank the carriers for that one. Talkonaut on the other hand is not bound to WiFi only, allowing you to make calls over GPRS, EDGE, 3G or WiFi. Talkonaut has essentially developed their own VoIP SIP stack that allows Talkonaut users to make voice calls over most data connections your mobile phone might have, such as GPRS, EDGE, 3G and WiFi. The application also sports the ability to make free VoIP calls to Google Talk users, to SIP phones, to MSN, Yahoo, AIM and ICQ voice capable IM clients. I believe you can even chat with MSN Messenger, Yahoo, AIM, and ICQ users. Here's a list of the new features in the 4th release according to the release: - Talkonaut 4.0 was entirely rewritten in C/C++ and now runs on Symbian S60 3rd edition based Nokia smart-phones. Moving from Java to native platform allowed to reduce memory usage, improved speed and to add some functionalities that were not previously available for Jave applications, like VoIP, access to file local system (improved file transfer) and interaction with other applications (Web Browser for opening URLs right from chat window). - Using a set of narrow-band Speex codecs and relying on Jingle Audio extension to XMPP protocol (same as implemented in Google Talk), Talkonaut now brings to the world a very powerful combination of IM chat, Presence and VoIP calls made over data connection. - Talkonaut 4.0 allows to make free VoIP calls to Google Talk users, to SIP phones, to MSN, Yahoo, AIM and ICQ voice capable IM clients, as well as to other Talkonaut fellows. - Talkonaut 4.0 allows to receive free calls from SIP phones (or any other VoIP networks), from Google Talk, MSN, Yahoo, AIM and ICQ users. - Talkonaut 4.0 allows to make cheap VoIP calls to any mobile or landline phone number in the world. - Talkonaut 4.0 allows to define any number of SIP accounts and use them to make free or cheap calls over third-party VoIP/SIP carriers. A flexible Dialing Plan feature is helpful for choosing routes to destinations between different carriers. - Talkonaut 4.0 is fully equipped with all the features previously available in J2ME version of Talkonaut 3.0, inherits the same graphical user interface and menu structure. Talkonaut 4.0 runs on the following sets of Symbian S60 based Nokia smart-phones: o 3rd Edition: 3250, 5500, 5700, 6110, 6120, 6121, 6290, E50, E51, E60, E61, E61i, E62, E65, E70, E90, N71, N73, N75, N76, N77, N80, N81, N81 8GB, N82, N91, N92, N93, N93i, N95, N95 8GB Talkonaut 4.0 can be downloaded over-the-air using mobile web browser from http://get.talkonaut.com/, or via PC from http://www.talkonaut.com/download.shtml. Tags: GTalk2VoIP, mobile phone, Nokia, SIP, Symbian S60, Talkonaut 4.0, VoIP, WiFi Related Entries SimplyWiFi SIP Phone - Feb 22, 2008 D2 Technologies mCUE mobile convergence softphone launches - Jan 07, 2008 fring coming to Windows Mobile phones - Jun 19, 2007 Google Talk to offer PSTN phone calls? - May 19, 2007 VoIP on Apple iPhone a No Go unless over WiFi - Mar 11, 2008 SippySkype SIP-to-Skype Gateway - Mar 07, 2008 Junction Networks Adds Inbound Bridge to onSIP Hosted PBX - Feb 28, 2008 Zingaya Media Server enables Adobe Flash-based VoIP - Feb 19, 2008 Touchmods VoIP App for the Apple iPhone Sparks Controversy - Feb 08, 2008 JoikuSpot Turns Nokia phone into WiFi hotspot - Feb 06, 2008 Comments on this Entry: (priya on Mar 4, 2008 11:31 PM) This is definitely one of the better VoIP innovations. Can't wait to use it. But wouldn't it be better if the Gtalk guys developed it for all operating systems and not restrict themselves to Nokia phones? (William on Mar 6, 2008 8:51 AM) I've posted a blog entry about this application too. But they haven't finished 2nd Edition version yet. Read more… |
PBXtra 4.0 Released13.03.2008 03:08 - source: voipgadgets Fonality today announced the release of PBXtra 4.0. New features in PBXtra include FindMe with Boomerang Mobile Integration, a feature that uses presence detection to automatically find employees on their mobile devices, allowing them to answer the call or bounce it to another extension. Other new features include tighter integration with mobile phones and web browsers, and enhanced support of branch offices. One really cool feature that is part of the Boomerang Mobile feature is that you can dial *1 to record the mobile phone call and have it automatically stored on the PBXtra server. Another cool feature that Chris Lyman CEO of Fonality gave me a sneak preview a few weeks ago was FONcall, a new PBXtra plug-in for the Firefox web browser. It turns any phone number on any site into a link. When you click the link, PBXtra will automatically take an Aastra and Polycom off the hook and dial out to the number hands-free. I pointed out to Chris that there are similar plug-ins out there including Skype's browser plugin, and I added that Skype's plugin often brings your computer browser to its knees. Chris said he was well aware of that fact and they spent countless hours developing their plugin to make sure it wasn't a CPU hog. Also, no support for Internet Explorer yet - possibly never since Chris stated it was much harder to develop plugins for IE. (though I should point out that Skype's plugin works on IE) Greg Galitzine has more on this news and was the first to post the story about this new release. Tags: Asterisk, Fonality, PBXtra 4.0, VoIP Related Entries Schmooze the Yiddish Asterisk - Feb 01, 2008 Asterisk-based FreePBX clones Microsoft Response Point's Easy Button - Jan 31, 2008 Dell VoIP Products Analysis - Jan 23, 2008 Dell picks Fonality VoIP Phone System - Jan 23, 2008 trixbox CE 2.4 Released - Jan 04, 2008 Digium Acquires Switchvox - Sep 27, 2007 PIKA launches PIKA Appliance for Asterisk - Sep 18, 2007 Selecting an open source VoIP solution for the SMB Market session - Sep 11, 2007 Avaya #1 VoIP PBX Vendor? - Aug 21, 2007 Mitel sues ShoreTel - What does it mean? - Jun 28, 2007 Read more… |
TomTom GO 930T & 730T13.03.2008 03:08 - source: voipgadgets 
TomTom, today launched the new TomTom GO 930 and TomTom GO 730, where are updates to the popular 720 and 920 TomTom models. These new TomTom GPS units will feature TomTom's IQ Routes technology and Advanced Lane Guidance. According to TomTom the IQ Routes technology is based on actual average speeds measured on roads, rather than posted speed limits. Thus, the new TomTom GO range determines a route by considering all possible routes and then selecting the one that takes the least time based on recent historical data. This sounds eerily similar to my 2004 post where I said GPS units would one day use actual real world traffic data to calculate the optimal route. I actually stated P2P technology would be used to "share" GPS data amongst the GPS units. In any event, according to TomTom, in almost 50% of all trips, their IQ Routes technology results in a faster route. In addition, the new TomTom GO series includes TomTom's Advanced Lane Guidance feature. Advanced Lane Guidance provides users with realistic representations of complex highway junctions and lane-specific visual directions. TomTom IQ Routes Explained: The new TomTom IQ Routes technology is based on actual average speeds on roads, rather than the posted speed limits. This intelligent routing technology is based on anonymous historical speed profiles of over 6.2 billion miles of driven roads, gathered over the years by millions of TomTom users. It takes into account all the factors that may influence the time it takes drivers to get to their destination, including traffic lights, rotaries, steep slopes and speed bumps. The TomTom IQ Routes speed profile database continues to grow at the rate of over half a billion measurements per day, so the time and spatial accuracy of TomTom IQ Routes(TM) technology will continually increase. Drivers can be confident that they will always be given the smartest route, incorporating detailed local knowledge. This allows for more efficient daily route planning, in particular when driving through urban and mountainous areas. Other Features: -- TomTom Map Share technology, enabling users to make updates and corrections to their own maps instantly and to benefit from improvements made by other users, completely free of charge. New Map Share features include the ability to change turn restrictions and posted road speeds -- Latest map guarantee so users always have free access to the latest map at time of purchase -- Voice address input so that users can drive to millions of cities and street names by simply announcing the address of their destination -- Clear voice instructions and text-to-speech to enable street names, places, traffic alerts and SMS messages to be read aloud as part of the spoken instructions -- Enhanced Positioning Technology (EPT) for uninterrupted navigation even in tunnels or highly-built areas (TomTom GO 930 only) -- TomTom RDS-TMC Traffic Receiver, as a compatible accessory, for detailed traffic information -- Large 4.3 inch touch screen with new generation icons and an updated user interface to navigate drivers to their destination even more easily -- Enhanced hands-free calling with high-quality sound system via Bluetooth(R) to allow drivers to keep their eyes firmly on the road while making phone calls in the car -- Extensive safety features, including the 'Help Me' menu that gives drivers direct access to emergency services and roadside assistance -- Built-in FM Transmitter to play music and navigation instructions seamlessly over the car stereo -- New smart & fun extras to personalize users' devices, including recording your own driving instructions, view documents, exchange positions via SMS and Bluetooth(TM) wireless technology and select a favorite car icon on the screen -- Free TomTom HOME software and content from the TomTom community to keep your TomTom device up to date at all times -- Full range of accessories to match the design and finish of the updated GO range Map Coverage -- The TomTom GO 930 comes pre-installed with the most up-to-date maps of US, Canada and Western and Central Europe stored on the internal memory -- The TomTom GO 730 includes new expanded map coverage, including the latest maps of the US and Canada Availability The new TomTom GO range will be available across North America and Europe starting at end of April 2008. TomTom product technical specifications -- 4.3" widescreen 16:9 format LCD (WQVGA: 480*272 pixels) -- CPU 400 MHz -- TomTom GO 930: 4 GB internal flash memory, TomTom GO 730: 2 GB -- SD card slot -- High sensitivity GPS receiver -- Bluetooth(TM) -- Lithium-polymer battery (up to 5 hours operation) -- Dimensions: 118 mm x 83 mm x 24 mm- convert to inches 4.6 x 3.2 x 1 -- Weight: 7.7 ounces Tags: GPS, IQ Routes, TomTom GO 730, TomTom GO 930 Related Entries Magellan RoadMate 1425 - Mar 05, 2008 Nuvio sues Garmin over nuvifone - Feb 27, 2008 Garmin nuvifone - Feb 12, 2008 Sony PSP GPS - Jan 09, 2008 Sprint Novatel Wireless Ovation U727 Review - Jan 11, 2008 GPS + Google Android = Wi-Fi Army - Jan 02, 2008 Volvo to carry Garmin nuvi GPS - Nov 19, 2007 TopGear, Speeding, GPS, and Driving Blues in Britain - Oct 18, 2007 Ordered new Garmin Nuvi to replace stolen unit - Oct 11, 2007 Garmin Nuvi 350 stolen in Disney World - Oct 06, 2007 Read more… |
Sony PS3 Gets In-Game VoIP13.03.2008 03:08 - source: voipgadgets The Sony PS3 will finally get in-game VoIP communications with the release of firmware update 2.4. Sony Computer Entertainment UK boss Ray Maguire stated: “Our momentum will continue with the introduction of in-game communication in the summer, firmware update 2.4 and the strongest line-up of games through our third party partners and our own studios. I’d personally like to thank our trade and business partners for helping us on the start of the PS3 journey.” Now the question is "what took so frickin' long?" Both the Xbox and the Xbox 360 have had in-game trash talking VoIPing via Xbox Live since like uhh forever. On the Xbox 360, there's memory reserved just for the guide blade functions, including pulling up friends list, enabling voice chat and custom soundtracks in all games. The Playstation 3's initial design never took this into account so it is much more difficult to add this to the design after-the-fact without causing game instability, affecting performance, etc. But if the 2.4 firmware adds voice chat and IM, without sacrificing game stability, then this will be a huge hit amongst PS3 fans. There's also going to be improved in-game chat perhaps via an in-game Xross Media Bar (XMB). PS3 fans have also been clamoring for in-game XMB GUI, which alas right now you cannot do. Trivia: the XMB actually won an Emmy award for it's graphical user interface. Via MCVUK Tags: in-game XMB, Playstation 3, PS3, Sony PS3, VoIP, XMB Related Entries HD DVD RIP, Long Live Blue-ray! - Feb 21, 2008 SureWest Communications Launches Combined VoIP, TV, and HD DVR - Mar 12, 2008 Ojo Phone Lives! - Mar 12, 2008 Voiceroute Druid Open Source Edition Launches offering New Open Source Asterisk GUI Front End - Mar 12, 2008 VoIP on Apple iPhone a No Go unless over WiFi - Mar 11, 2008 SippySkype SIP-to-Skype Gateway - Mar 07, 2008 Yahoo Messenger for Vista Adds VoIP - Mar 07, 2008 Asterisk 1.6.0 beta5 - Mar 06, 2008 PBXtra 4.0 Released - Mar 04, 2008 Talkonaut 4.0 native Symbian S60 edition released - Feb 28, 2008 Read more… |
Magellan RoadMate 142513.03.2008 03:08 - source: voipgadgets 
The Magellan RoadMate 1425 is nearly identical to RoadMate 1415 however, the RoadMate 1425 adds an integrated live traffic feature and lifetime traffic subscription that uses real-time traffic update information to display incidents and suggest alternative routes. The lifetime subscription to traffic reports is a nice edition. One million POIs (points of interest) are included with this GPS unit. Importantly the entire RoadMate series comes preloaded with NAVTEQ? road maps, of which I am a huge fan (over TeleAtlas maps). It's why I won't ever buy a TomTom GPS because most of their products use TeleAtlas maps which are less accurate in my opinion. Anyway, here are the full set of features for the Magellan RoadMate 1400 series: New 4.3-inch WQVGA full-color, anti-glare touch-screen display Acclaimed, easy-to-use, intuitive user interface Fast and precise Centrality Atlas III GPS chipset delivering superior GPS performance and navigation 2-D and 3-D map views with auto day/night mode switching Trip computer and trip planner QuickSpell, which intelligently searches and checks spelling when entering addresses SmartDetour to route drivers around heavy or stationary traffic Postcode search: 7-digit postcode searches in the United Kingdom and 6-digit postcode searches in the Netherlands Pre-loaded speed-trap database providing known camera locations for each region SD card slot for maps USB port for PC connection and in-vehicle power Worldwide reversible maps (where U.S. maps are compatible with EMEA products, and vice-versa) The Magellan RoadMate 1400 series ship with a windshield mount and cradle; a 12-volt car power cigarette lighter adapter; an adhesive disk for alternative, on-dash mounting; and of course user manual + quick reference guide Magellan RoadMate 1425 will be available in Europe and retail for €279 euros. In other news, the RoadMate 1217, which is being premiered at CeBIT, adds text-to-speech that announces the street name and direction of the next turn. It also includes one million searchable of points of interest (POI), including petrol stations, hotels, restaurants, and airports with contact details such as phone number, address and the travel distance. The MRM 1200 series features a compact-sized 3.5-inch anti-glare touch screen and mirrors the features of the RoadMate 1400 series, including the worldwide reversible maps, within an even smaller pocket-sized form factor. The MRM 1217 compliments the existing RoadMate 1200 and RoadMate 1215 products. MSRP RoadMate 1200 €129.00, RoadMate 1215 €159.00, RoadMate 1217 €179.00. Tags: GPS, Magellan, Magellan RoadMate 1425, RoadMate, Roadmate 1400 Related Entries TomTom GO 930T & 730T - Mar 04, 2008 Nuvio sues Garmin over nuvifone - Feb 27, 2008 Garmin nuvifone - Feb 12, 2008 Sony PSP GPS - Jan 09, 2008 Sprint Novatel Wireless Ovation U727 Review - Jan 11, 2008 GPS + Google Android = Wi-Fi Army - Jan 02, 2008 Volvo to carry Garmin nuvi GPS - Nov 19, 2007 TopGear, Speeding, GPS, and Driving Blues in Britain - Oct 18, 2007 Ordered new Garmin Nuvi to replace stolen unit - Oct 11, 2007 Garmin Nuvi 350 stolen in Disney World - Oct 06, 2007 Read more… |
The Biggest Loser Week 813.03.2008 03:08 - source: voipgadgets Continuing my updates for my local gym's The Biggest Loser competition, here's Week #8. Week 1 (Jan 14th) - weighed in at 198lbs (original weight) Week 2 (Jan 21st) - weighed in at 189lbs (-9 lbs) Week 3 (Jan 28th) - weighted in at 189lbs (0 change) Week 4 (Feb 4th) - weighed in at 186lbs (-3 lbs) Week 5 (Feb 11th) - weighed in at 186lbs (0 change) Week 6 (Feb 18th) - weighed in at 184lbs (-2 lbs). Week 7 (Feb 25th) - weighed in at 183lbs (-1 lbs). Week 8 (March 3rd) - weighed in at 180lbs (-3 lbs). Surprisingly, after I predicted my weight loss would slow down, I pulled a 3 pounder this week. This even though I was away this weekend in Maine and didn't go to the gym for 4 days. Total percentage loss is 9.09%. Tags: contest, fat, The Biggest Loser, weight loss Related Entries Biggest Loser Week 4 - Feb 05, 2008 Biggest Loser Update #1 - Jan 30, 2008 Joined The Biggest Loser - Jan 17, 2008 The Biggest Loser Week 9 - Mar 11, 2008 The Biggest Loser Week 7 - Feb 27, 2008 Comments on this Entry: (John Hannon on Mar 5, 2008 4:49 PM) Maine, huh? Kennebunkport I presume, to make up for that trip to VT! Nice job with the weight loss, pal. Keep up the good work! John (Tom Keating on Mar 6, 2008 10:03 AM) >>Kennebunkport I presume, to make up for that trip to VT! LOL! No, I went way past Kennebunkport - up to Bangor. Was visiting my wife's grandmother and attending my wife's grandfather's funeral. >>Nice job with the weight loss, pal. Keep up the good work! Well, while on the treadmill I keep saying in my head in your (Hannon's) voice, "No balls Keating to lose 20 lbs in 12 weeks!" seems to work. ;) Read more… |
British padding lampposts?13.03.2008 03:08 - source: voipgadgets 
I love the Brits. I most admire them for their World War II toughness & fierce determination and can-do attitude against seemingly overwhelming odds. There is also something to be said for their "properness" and manners. Britain, a tiny island once held the mightiest navy in all the world and explored and colonized much of the world spreading for better or worse the English language and culture. Britain gave this world some of its greatest free-spirited explorers. With this in mind, I never would think of the British as the type of people that sues McDonald's for spilling hot coffee like America's over-litigious society nor would I expect them to be granted a free government hand-out. But it appears Britain has lost much of that free spirit. Like the rest of Europe they have become more socialist than capitalist. Whether you agree or disagree in nationalized health care, we can all agree that Britain's nationalized health care system is a disaster. So perhaps I shouldn't have been surprised that the British government has now issued an order to wrap their lampposts in padding because the Brits were walking into lampposts while texting. No doubt some probably sued and won millions complaining there was no radar-induced audible alert that they were about to bash their forehead into the post. Oy! Let's assume there are 1 million lampposts in Britain and the padding costs $100 + $50 labor to install. That's $150 million to pad lampposts to protect someone from getting a bump on their head? C'mon! What a waste of British taxpayer money. Even if it isn't that much money, I still say Survival of the fittest. Let the dumb ones who walk into lampposts fall backwards onto a busy street and be weaned out of the human gene pool. Ok, that was a little harsh. Well, perhaps they can just fall all on their arse and it'll knock them sense into them to not text while walking or at least look up every few seconds. Where have the Brits I have come to admire and love gone? [via Yahoo!] Tags: Britain, British, Brits, lamppost, padding Related Entries TopGear, Speeding, GPS, and Driving Blues in Britain - Oct 18, 2007 Read more… |
Asterisk 1.6.0 beta513.03.2008 03:08 - source: voipgadgets The Asterisk.org development team just released Asterisk 1.6.0-beta5. According to the announcement with beta5 of 1.6.0 the feature-set is frozen. One thing still missing is "caller name screening" where you can screen the call and accept/reject the call. I'd also like to see?"voicemail call screening", which would allow me to screen a caller leaving a message and pull them out. Here's the announcement according to Asterisk.org: In addition to a number of bug fixes, the following new features have been added since beta4: The SMDI interface in Asterisk has been reworked to fix a number of issues as well as add some new features. SMDI message information is now accessed in the dialplan using some new dialplan functions. New options have been added to map Asterisk voicemail boxes to SMDI station IDs. Also, MWI will now properly be sent for systems that have some external interface modifying voicemail boxes, such as a web interface, or with an email client in the case of IMAP storage. The Postgres CDR module now supports some of the features of cdr_adaptive_odbc. Specifically, you may add additional columns into the table and they will be set, if you set the corresponding CDR variable name. Also, if you omit columns in your database table, those fields will be silently skipped when inserting the record. The ResetCDR application now has an 'e' option that re-enables the CDR if it has been disabled using the NoCDR option. A new CLI command, "devstate change", has been added which allows you to change the state of a Custom device. Custom device states were previously only settable by using the DEVICE_STATE() dialplan function. The Originate manager action now has its own permission level called originate. Also, if you want this action to be able to execute applications that call out to a subshell, it requires the system privilege, as well. These changes were made to enhance the security of the manager interface. For a full list of features that have been introduced from Asterisk 1.4 to Asterisk 1.6.0, see the following file: http://svn.digium.com/view/asterisk/branches/1.6.0/CHANGES?view=markup For a full list of changes to Asterisk 1.6.0 from beta4 to beta5, see the ChangeLog: http://svn.digium.com/view/asterisk/tags/1.6.0-beta5/ChangeLog?view=markup And if you're really curious, you can view the full feature-set changes after the jump...Continue reading Asterisk 1.6.0 beta5... Tags: Asterisk, Asterisk 1.6.0 beta5, IP-PBX, open source, VoIP Related Entries Digium launches Switchvox Free Edition - Oct 31, 2007 Predictive Dialing on Asterisk? - Jun 13, 2007 Digium - The Showstopper! - May 18, 2007 pbxnsip IP-PBX Review - Feb 21, 2007 Digium podcast of Mark Spencer's new role - Jan 30, 2007 Voiceroute Druid Open Source Edition Launches offering New Open Source Asterisk GUI Front End - Mar 12, 2008 Schmooze the Yiddish Asterisk - Feb 01, 2008 Dell picks Fonality VoIP Phone System - Jan 23, 2008 PIKA for Asterisk boards now trixbox CE compatible - Jan 22, 2008 trixbox CE 2.4 Released - Jan 04, 2008 Read more… |
Yahoo Messenger for Vista Adds VoIP13.03.2008 03:08 - source: voipgadgets 
If you recall in my December Yahoo! Messenger for Vista post, this version which was pretty much completely rewritten didn't have VoIP yet -- unlike the XP version which does have VoIP capabilities. Well good news my friends! I learned via Josh Jacobson, Senior Product Manager, Yahoo! Messenger for Vista on his blog that PC-to-PC VoIP (free calling) is now available as well as PC-to-PSTN (Yahoo MessengerOut?) It also features "Phone In" number so you can receive calls. This latest beta of Yahoo Messenger for Vista will have cool voice visualizations for the product that leverage the WPF 3D integration. (see image right) SMS will also be part of this next release, allowing users to send text messages from Yahoo! Messenger for Vista to a friend’s mobile phone for free. The plan is to add Yahoo! Mail alerts to this next version as well. I'd like to see Yahoo! Messenger for Vista be able to make VoIP calls to Microsoft Live Messenger. They're both SIP-based after all and they already interoperate with IM. But then again, Yahoo! and Microsoft have been butting heads lately with Microsoft trying to acquire Yahoo and Yahoo playing "hard to get" wanting to be courted for more cash. Anyway, you can download and try out the preview version available at http://messenger.yahoo.com/vista Also, read more about the new features on the Yahoo! Messenger blog. Tags: Microsoft, Vista, VoIP, Windows Live Messenger, Yahoo, Yahoo Messenger for Vista Related Entries Yahoo Messenger for Vista - Dec 06, 2007 Gizmo offers VoIP on Blackberry with Free Calls - Sep 27, 2007 Windows Live Messenger Now works with Xbox LIVE - May 09, 2007 Yahoo Messenger revamps for Windows Vista - Jan 08, 2007 Voice Mobility UCN Vmerge takes on Microsoft OCS - Feb 13, 2008 FaceFon Video Phone on its way? - Feb 07, 2008 Yahoo Overture Keyword Selector Tool Outage - Feb 01, 2008 Microsoft assimilates Yahoo - Feb 01, 2008 Asterisk-based FreePBX clones Microsoft Response Point's Easy Button - Jan 31, 2008 Dell VoIP Products Analysis - Jan 23, 2008 Read more… |
SippySkype SIP-to-Skype Gateway13.03.2008 03:08 - source: voipgadgets Last month I wrote about my strong disagreements with a guest blog post on Skype Journal that was titled "A SIP/Skype Gateway Is NOT In The Forecast". I disagreed with the premise that a SIP/Skype gateway isn't in the forecast. Well, Skype Inc. may not care about offering a SIP-to-Skype gateway, but that doesn't mean VoIP enthusiasts are going to sit around and not build their own SIP-to-Skype gateways! I've blogged on a few occasions where I discussed the desire for Skype users to have SIP connectivity and various home-brewed solutions. Well, we can add another SIP-to-Skype gateway solution to the mix. I just discovered SippySkype today, which is an open source & free SIP-to-Skype gateway. Check out the features: SippySkype is Java software that allows you to make and receive Skype calls from your SIP/VoIP adapter. Basically a Skype/SIP Bridge/Gateway/Proxy Call Skype Users using speed dial or use Skype out. SIP to Skype authentication/denial mappings via SIP caller ID and IP blocks - 1.1 or higher Skype to SIP authentication/denial mappings via incoming Skype User ID - 1.1 or higher Support RFC2833 touchtone decoding (DTMF) - 2.0beta or higher Could be used as an endpoint with Asterisk Auto play pre-recorded file(s) to SIP callers - 2.0beta or higher Incoming SIP Pin number authentication and dialing - 2.0beta or higher Open Source - You can modify/fix it if you like. It's free System Requirements: Skype Client Working Java 1.6.0 or better runtime mjsip/mjua 1.6 http://www.mjsip.org/ - Use those included with SippySkype as some bugs have been fixed. Skype4Java 1.0 https://developer.skype.com/wiki/Java_API - Unmodified SIP/VOIP adapter such as a spa-3102 to make and receive Skype calls or register with a provider or Asterisk. Should work where Skype4Java works (windows/linux/osx). (I'm using it on Windows XP) Tags: gateway, SIP, SippySkype, Skype, VoIP Related Entries Future of SIP to Skype Gateway in Doubt? - Feb 04, 2008 Skype SIP Gateway (PE) 1.0 Released - Oct 30, 2007 Skip2PBX, SIP-to-Skype Gateway, is here! - Aug 31, 2007 SkyStone bridges Skype and PBXs using only software - May 15, 2007 SimplyExchange Skype PBX Gateway - Feb 22, 2008 SkyStone releases new version of Skype gateway - Nov 14, 2007 Jajah native SIP client for EM-ONE phone - Oct 25, 2007 Actiontec VoSKY Skype Gateway adds FXS ports - Jan 25, 2007 Talkonaut 4.0 native Symbian S60 edition released - Feb 28, 2008 Junction Networks Adds Inbound Bridge to onSIP Hosted PBX - Feb 28, 2008 Comments on this Entry: (Bill Burke on Mar 9, 2008 11:38 PM) And there will be more and more.. Eventually Skype will see the "handwriting on the wall" .. The Team http://iserviceshop.blogspot.com (Lokesh on Mar 10, 2008 12:31 AM) Interesting post! I've read and heard about SippySkype. It seems cool - I have had the time try it yet. It is in my list of things to do... Btw, the Tag Cloud on the top looks pretty ugly. Especially the tag 'voip' pretty oversized because it is popular here I guess. Tag clouds on the side seem better. Read more… |
VoIP on Apple iPhone a No Go unless over WiFi13.03.2008 03:08 - source: voipgadgets 
At the Apple iPhone SDK event, Steve Jobs stated that if someone develops a VoIP program for the iPhone, Apple will allow it if it goes over WiFi and not the cellular network. Apple will in fact BLOCK VoIP applications from running over the cellular data network. What in the bloody hell kind of half-ass crippling of VoIP is that? Apparently, Steve Jobs aims to protect their cell network buddy AT&T from having VoIP calls be "minute stealers" from the regular cell network. Of course, AT&T and Apple have some sort of revenue sharing deal from what I understand, so Mr. Jobs doesn't want Apple's purse strings affected by VoIP bypassing the usage of cell minutes either. Seriously though, who the heck goes over their bucket of monthly minutes anyway? Only then does AT&T (& Apple) make extra money after you've used up your monthly cell minutes. If your consistently going over your bucket of minutes you should change your plan. And if you aren't going over your bucket of minutes, then making VoIP calls over your cellular unlimited data plan shouldn't affect AT&T or Apple in the least. Sure, you'll be using some bandwidth, but VoIP uses a heck of lot less data bandwidth than some Internet applications. Heck, get a 6mb email attachment and that's probably equivalent to a couple minutes phone call right there. VoIP exists on every other smartphone, including Nokia and Windows Mobile. With Steve Jobs handicapping VoIP to just over WiFi, VoIP on the iphone is pretty useless - it cant be used on EDGE. Even Truphone, which one of the first to "hack" the iPhone to allow VoIP on the iPhone only works over WiFi. I'm guessing Apple has protected the cellular data stack from running VoIP applications. Brilliant! Not! Tags: Apple, EDGE, iPhone, Steve Jobs, VoIP, WiFi Related Entries Congrats to Netgear - wins Top 10 Gadgets 2007 Award - Dec 12, 2007 100% VoIP on the iPhone - Sep 26, 2007 Touchmods VoIP App for the Apple iPhone Sparks Controversy - Feb 08, 2008 iPhoneGnome VoIP app for Apple iPhone - Feb 01, 2008 JAJAH Apple iPhone and iPod Touch App Launches - Dec 06, 2007 Will the Real Google gPhone Please Stand up! - Nov 01, 2007 Jajah native SIP client for EM-ONE phone - Oct 25, 2007 Skype on the Apple iPod touch - Sep 05, 2007 Follow Me on the iPhone using Bluetooth and trixbox - Jul 18, 2007 iSoftPhone VoIP App for the iPhone? - Jul 11, 2007 Read more… |
The Biggest Loser Week 913.03.2008 03:09 - source: voipgadgets Continuing my updates for my local gym's The Biggest Loser competition, here's Week #9. Week 1 (Jan 14th) - weighed in at 198lbs (original weight) Week 2 (Jan 21st) - weighed in at 189lbs (-9 lbs) Week 3 (Jan 28th) - weighted in at 189lbs (0 change) Week 4 (Feb 4th) - weighed in at 186lbs (-3 lbs) Week 5 (Feb 11th) - weighed in at 186lbs (0 change) Week 6 (Feb 18th) - weighed in at 184lbs (-2 lbs). Week 7 (Feb 25th) - weighed in at 183lbs (-1 lbs). Week 8 (March 3rd) - weighed in at 180lbs (-3 lbs). Week 9 (March 10th) - weighed in at 180lbs (0 change). No change this week, which I expected since I had a 12-day cold and couldn't do any cardio. I was also losing a little bit of my motivation to continue to strive to lose weight since I'm in 1st place for the gym's Biggest Loser competition and I'm close to my goal weight of 175 lbs. However, I have found a new motivation to lose more weight. A few days ago, a coworker was by my desk and I commented how he looked great from all his weight loss. He mentioned he lost 25 lbs from his participation in TMC's Biggest Loser competition. I thought about joining TMC's Biggest Loser competition as well, but it started 1-2 weeks after my gym's Biggest Loser competition and I didn't really need another contest to motivate myself. Besides, my gym is offering a free year's gym membership which is worth about $800, so that was also a huge motivating factor. I just assumed TMC's Biggest Loser competition with 5 contestants was just for "pride". It was then that my coworker mentioned it was a $75 buy-in to play. Nothing like 5 x $75 = $375 to motivate me even more to lose weight! So I told my coworker I'd like to play as well and he was game to having me join. He was kicking butt himself with his 25lb weight loss and no doubt he thought he'd be taking my $75 as part of his winnings. A few hours later, he came back to tell me some of the other players didn't want me to play. Bummer. I started around the same time and was willing to have my final weigh-in end date be 1-2 weeks earlier since I started earlier. I know 3 out of the 5 contestants read my blog regularly, so no doubt they saw my Biggest Loser blog updates and saw how well I was doing. I obviously scared them off. No wonder none of them invited me to play when they started their competition after I started mine. I was looking forward to some inter-office rivalry and collecting my $375 (+ $75 of my money), but alas it was not to be. But that's OK if some don't want me to play, because I'm going to play anyway. No, not for the money pot they're offering, since I can't get in on that. Nope, instead I'm going to offer my own inter-office bet. I'm going to bet each of the 5 TMC participants $100 that I can beat their total body percentage weight loss. If I don't beat a particular person they get $100, but if I do beat a particular person they don't have to pay me anything. It's a one-way bet. This means I could potentially lose $500 if they all beat me. The gauntlet has been laid. Oh and to quote Ivan Drago from Rocky IV who said to Apollo Creed - "You will lose"... (video of this quote below) The Camtasia Studio video content presented here requires JavaScript to be enabled and the latest version of the Macromedia Flash Player. If you are you using a browser with JavaScript disabled please enable it now. Otherwise, please update your version of the free Flash Player by downloading here. var fo = new SWFObject( "http://blog.tmcnet.com/blog/tom-keating/videos/drago-rocky/drago-rocky_controller.swf", "http://blog.tmcnet.com/blog/tom-keating/videos/drago-rocky/drago-rocky_controller.swf", "476", "311", "8", "#FFFFFF", false, "best" ); fo.addVariable( "csConfigFile", "http://blog.tmcnet.com/blog/tom-keating/videos/drago-rocky/drago-rocky_config.xml" ); fo.addVariable( "csColor" , "FFFFFF" ); fo.addVariable( "csPreloader" , "drago-rocky_preload.swf" ); if( args.movie ) { fo.addVariable( "csFilesetBookmark", args.movie ); } fo.write("flashcontent"); Tags: Apollo Creed, Ivan Drago, The Biggest Loser, weight loss Related Entries The Biggest Loser Week 8 - Mar 05, 2008 Biggest Loser Week 4 - Feb 05, 2008 Biggest Loser Update #1 - Jan 30, 2008 Joined The Biggest Loser - Jan 17, 2008 The Biggest Loser Week 7 - Feb 27, 2008 TalkSwitch Challenge - May 01, 2007 Comments on this Entry: (mike on Mar 11, 2008 7:04 PM) Gee, I guess I won't be looking for the fat little yankee fan at the bar next week. Congrats. (Gordon Loboski on Mar 12, 2008 12:22 AM) Wow, you go Tom! Glad to see you are taking lemons and turning it into lemonade when they wouldn't let you play. Give those coworkers a run and show them what's up. I'm rootin' for ya! (nicole on Mar 12, 2008 10:28 AM) I'm so happy you keep doing these updates. I am SEVERELY lacking motivation lately, due to no change and actually GAINED a pound this week...so I'm happy to see others in the same boat! good luck and keep at it! Read more… |
Voiceroute Druid Open Source Edition Launches offering New Open Source Asterisk GUI Front End13.03.2008 03:09 - source: voipgadgets 
Voiceroute gave me an exclusive first look at their latest Asterisk-based solution called Druid Unified Communications Server, which today launched their open sourced version at www.voiceroute.org. Druid UCS gives Asterisk fans a new and powerful open source Asterisk-based Unified Communications solution. Besides now being open source, one of Druid's highlighted features is a user-friendly admin graphical user interface that makes extensive use of AJAX for a rich user experience for easier setup and ongoing administration. I should point out that FreePBX is also open source and is bundled with Asterisk-based solutions such as trixbox, PBX in a Flash, and Elastix. It's become one of - if not the most popular GUI-based front-end to Asterisk. While Druid aims to take on FreePBX in this particular GUI arena, it goes far beyond simply adding a pretty web-based GUI. In fact, Druid adds functionality to Asterisk that is missing or lacking, such as IM based call control, rich end user communications portal, Shared Line Appearances (SLA), unified communications (UC) capabilities, and Microsoft Active Directory. Voiceroute visited TMC and gave me a full demo of their latest wares. In just 10 minutes Voiceroute demonstrated building a completely working IP-PBX system with auto-provisioning phones from Cisco, Aastra, and Polycom. In addition, I interviewed Ming Yong, CEO of VoiceRoute to find out more about Druid, including the reasoning behind making Druid open source as well as the new features that Druid brings to the Asterisk platform. First, I asked Ming what role unified communications would play in the Asterisk arena. Ming replied, "Honestly, nobody has done a good job, especially in the open source space with regards to unified communications (UC) and now in the commercial world dominated by Microsoft and to an extent Avaya, each provider has its own understanding of UC. We felt that there is a gap. We believe Druid is one of the best in its market right now for IP telephony and unified communications. In Druid we've recently added unified fax, IM, and we have mobile integration now." In speaking with Ming, it was apparent to me that Ming has lofty and yet truly noble goals for this open source unified communications project when he boldly claims, "The aim of the project is to present to the world the best open source unified communications project that people can actually have a say on what UC really means." Administrating Druid was a breeze. Adding SIP trunks, PRI/T1 trunks, etc. was very easy to do using the web-based interface that makes extensive use of AJAX. Here's a look at the main screen after you logon to Druid with the Advanced menu tab expanded just to demonstrate the AJAX functionality: I should also point out that you can check out the user interface by going to the Druid demo website where you can play with it online simply by logging in as the administrator with username "admin" and password "admin". Alternatively, you can logging in as extension 1000 with voicemail pin 1000 by using username “1000” and password “1000”. This next screenshot below shows how easy it is to edit/manage extensions. It too makes extensive use of AJAX making administrating Asterisk very easy to do. Ming would argue it's easier than FreePBX. I personally am so used to using FreePBX that it's hard for me to judge, but I will say FreePBX is a bit convoluted and Druid seems easier to navigate. As for features, the latest version of Druid UCS will feature " Mobile Bridging". Every time a call comes into the DID or the extension, the call will ring the cell phone at same time (dual-forking the call). From the cell phone you can perform call control via DTMF touchtones to do call parking, transfer, and even record the call. For the IM portion they are using XMPP via a Jabber server and have integrated it closely with the telephony functions to allow for example a popup window to display the incoming caller's CallerID. You can accept or reject the call from the desktop call control application. XMPP will act as the call control back to the SIP-based Asterisk server running Druid. Interestingly, Ming told me that they are working on integrating both XMPP presence as well as SIP presence together. So for instance, if you lock your workstation or set your status manually to "Away" (XMPP), it can automatically tell the SIP-based Asterisk that you are unavailable and do stuff like automatically route incoming calls directly to your voicemail (no ring), log you out of any ACD queues, etc. Ming stressed, "These features are all done using Asterisk and other open source components.? The whole point of Druid is 'open source UC' where people have a say and developers can contribute modules. Here's a screenshot of the open source Pidgin client (used to be Gaim) with an incoming call coming in as seen via the system tray screen pop-up. There are two different Druid versions. Druid OSE (Open Source Edition) and Druid UCS (Unified Communications Server). Ming explained "The philosophy we are taking is not the same as other commercial open source projects where you have the open source branch and then you have the commercial branch which is very similar to the open source branch except you have support. We're not doing just support. In fact, we're going many steps deeper." He continued, "We will be certifying, testing and making Druid UCS a focused product with clear roadmap and direction for enterprises. While this means Druid UCS might not have some bleeding edge features as our open source edition, it will still have other exclusive enterprise level functionality making it very competitive against other commercial solutions..." With the built-in IMAP support, Voiceroute is working on making Druid UCS capable of synching voicemail that resides on the Asterisk server or on the Exchange Server with Exchange UM (Unified Messaging) running. Thus, if you delete the voicemail from Asterisk it will also delete it from the Exchange Server and vice-versa. This is a critical integration feature not yet seen in other Asterisk-based solutions. More importantly, Druid UCS currently has basic integration with Microsoft Active Directory. We plan to improve on this such that you can provision phones based on Active Directory, and you can provision Druid users so that a single Druid user can log in and use his logon PIN for his voicemail and that same PIN for his web portal and SIP softphone. Basically one unified PIN for all of your communications. Voiceroute has done all of this inside Asterisk along.. For faxing Druid uses IAXmodem softmodem along with the HylaFax faxing software. Additionally, this platform supports the Linux 'yum' command for performing updates. Ming explained, "We were the first to actually do a repository-based upgrading in Asterisk" On a related note I asked Ming, "I know there's a lot of issues with some of these Asterisk-based distros, where if I want to customize the configuration files and then use the web interface it overwrites my manual changes to the configuration file. Have you solved that problem where you want to use the web admin inteface but you also want the granularity to be able to customize the config files?" Ming responded, "Actually, we've solved all of those problems. Like you say, some Asterisk users like to tweak their .conf files. What we've done is built a very sophisticated parser. I would argue our parser is probaby better than what Asterisk has. It actually parses through it and leaves your edits there. So when you upgrade, our system will leave your .conf files unchanged and we just append. So every time you upgrade you simply type 'yum -y upgrade' and you're done!" Ming proudly added, "We've pretty much solved this whole config file and upgrading issue, which is why we feel we have the best Asterisk-based telephony distribution out there and that's why we wanted to open source the Druid web user portal as that is a key strength of Druid UCS. Here are some screenshots: Druid user portal with all the main functionalities such as Unified mailbox for fax & voicemail, time based call routing, recordings, settings. Unified mailbox where both voicemail and fax are stored. Click on “Send Fax” allows sending out of fax from Druid user portal Time based call routing that has full AJAX support. Mobile bridging is available by checking the option. Call forwarding, follow me is also available. According to Voiceroute, they have users who set over 15 time based call rules for lunch time, dinner, etc. In Druid they support auto-provisioning of phones and Ming stated they were the first to support mDNS. They also support CDP (Cisco Discovery Protocol) so you can plug-and-play Cisco phones. Unlike many Asterisk distros which only auto-provision a limited set of brands, Druid can auto-provision Polycom, snom, Aastra, and Cisco phones, which covers the most popular IP phones. Additionally, Druid has XML application support and shared line appearance (SLA) support. On of the biggest issues in SIP-based telephony is SLA. Druid supports SIP, PRI, FXO-based shared lines. So you can actually do a "SIP shared line", which is a rare feature in SIP-based phone systems. Voiceroute took Asterisk 1.4's SLA capabilities and actually improved upon it at the dial plan level, such that when you have SLA on PRI you can group the PRI trunks together such that you can round robin the SLA softkeys that you have on the phone. For example SLA Line 1 comes in (i.e. PRI channel 1), say channel 2 rings, it'll go to the second shared line button on the phone, the 3rd call goes to the third shared line button and so on. Even more impressive suppose shared line 1 is occupied, all of the other phones that share this BLF (Busy Lamp Field) subscription will see that this line is busy but you can actually join the call simply by pressing the line and Druid will automatically create a dynamic conference with that shared line. Ming addressed the scalability and security issues often brought up when discussing Asterisk with potential customers. Ming explained, "We feel Asterisk is not given enough credit for its scalability and its security. It's actually pretty good in security as compared with proprietary solutions since bugs are fixed much more quickly. We feel it's not given enough credit in the medium to large enterprise level. A good example of a large implementation is what we did in the case study with one of our customers where they had 380 seats with 20 Blackberry extensions." I asked, "So does this mean you are going after the medium to large market?" Ming stated, "Yes, we want to go after the medium to large enterprise who wants a open source unified communication solution but do not want to be spoon-fed a proprietary vendor's solution whether that's Microsoft, Cisco or Avaya. We find quite a number of these large enterprises who heard about Asterisk and want to adopt Asterisk." The obvious stumbling block for them is the mentality that Asterisk cannot scale. Ming explained that Asterisk with Druid UC gives medium to large enterprises a scalable and reliable open source unified communications solution. Conclusion Clearly, Ming aims to take on Microsoft, Cisco, and Avaya in the unified communications realm. Asterisk and open source telephony in general has up to this point been weak in UC, so Voiceroute may be onto something here. Importantly, Voiceroute is currently working on integrating Active Directory so tightly that when you add a user to Active Directory it will actually sync with Druid's LDAP server and actually provision the phone, the web interface, and the softphone all at the same time. They are also working on the ability to completely negate the need for a Microsoft OCS 2007 solution. Ming stated, "Microsoft is very dominant in the office space. I don't think that will change, which is why their OCS positioning on the client side is extremely strong with Office Communicator. They have full integration with Outlook, presence, etc. and it's a very nice client. So what we want to do in fact for the commercial Druid is swap out the OCS server. Why don't you use Druid UCS as the back end for call control as well as unified messaging and then use a powerful client like Office Communicator, all in one integrated package? That is one of our major goals." This tight integration with Active Directory (AD) positions Voiceroute well and could give this particular flavor of Asterisk a much needed boost within the Asterisk community since VARs & resellers are clamoring for AD support - not to mention the SLA support which VARs and resellers also want. It'll be interesting to see if the Asterisk community embraces this new open source GUI front-end alternative to the popular FreePBX. Though again, I shouldn't pigeonhole Druid as simply an Asterisk GUI front-end since it adds functionality to Asterisk. Only time will tell, but I like what I see so far... [Download Druid Open Source Edition] Tags: Asterisk, Druid, fax, FreePBX, IM, open source, unified communications, VoIP, XMPP Related Entries Asterisk 1.6.0 beta5 - Mar 06, 2008 Asterisk Wake-Up calls and Web Scheduling - Feb 25, 2008 Asterisk-based FreePBX clones Microsoft Response Point's Easy Button - Jan 31, 2008 Dell picks Fonality VoIP Phone System - Jan 23, 2008 trixbox CE 2.4 Released - Jan 04, 2008 Digium reaches 1 million download milestone - Dec 19, 2007 Digium launches Switchvox Free Edition - Oct 31, 2007 Astfin announces Asterisk Appliance based on Blackfin - Oct 30, 2007 Microsoft OCS 2007 Review - Oct 16, 2007 Digium Acquires Switchvox - Sep 27, 2007 Read more… |