VoIP technology has transformed the telephone industry over the last half-decade. Now, VoIP is promising to make a similar impact on mobile communications.   RELATED ARTICLES:VoIP Over 3G Wi... Read more…

The aptly named find-me-follow-me function is one of the features that makes an IP PBX worth the price. Like a skilled executive assistant, this feature makes sure that incoming calls reach users no m... Read more…

Whether it’s a national crisis on the scope of Hurricane Katrina or an ice storm that knocks out power lines, a disaster of any size can easily cripple a company’s communications network,... Read more…

The Internet has proven to be a remarkable business incubator. Google, eBay Inc.and a variety of other companies, both large and small, owe their very existence to the open-network platform often desc... Read more…

If Big Brother isn't watching, he's most certainly listening.Thanks to the CALEA (Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act), U.S. federal, state and local police agencies now have far... Read more…

For many people, the terms "VoIP" and "Vonage" are synonymous, in the same way that "disposable tissue" and "Kleenex" have become interchangeable terms.  &... Read more…

Every industry has a story, and VoIP’s story circa 2008 is about a technology with growing business adoption, modest consumer success and an increasing dominance of the U.S. residential market b... Read more…

Big U.S. mobile providers including Verizon Wireless, AT&T Inc. and T-Mobile USA Inc. recently announced all-you-can-eat calling plans. These companies’ offers have varying bells and whistle... Read more…

On February 10, the International Herald Tribune published Kevin J. O’Brien’s “VoIP struggles to break into the mainstream,” which rocked a lot of people’s assumptions ab... Read more…

With much of the technology world barreling headlong toward open-source solutions, it's no surprise that VoIP technology is moving rapidly in the same direction. RELATED ARTICLES: Asterisk Re... Read more…

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…

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 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…

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…

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…

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…

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 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…

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…

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 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, 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…

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…

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, 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…