Month: June 2008
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Squawk Box conf call/podcast calls this week – please join us!
Continue Reading: Squawk Box conf call/podcast calls this week – please join us!With Alec Saunders away on vacation, I agreed to step in to host our daily “Squawk Box” conference calls this week and next. I’m working on lining up some interesting guests and in the meantime we’ll also have our regular tech conversations that have always seemed to go well. (FYI, if you or someone you know would like to be a special guest either this week or next, please do let me know.) I’m particular excited about our show on Tuesday, July 1st, where we’ll have author and researcher Jonathan Zittrain on our show. I’ve started reading his new book, “The Future of the Internet – And How to Stop It“, and I have to say that so far it strikes at the core of what we’ve talked about frequently on the show… the move from “walled gardens” to open networks and now the frightening potential re-emergence of walled gardens and proprietary “lock-in” business models. More information about the book – and video of Jonathan Zittrain – can be found on: http://futureoftheinternet.org/ As has been the practice, here are the URLs for the shows this week – I’m looking forward to seeing many of you on the calls: MONDAY… -
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Skype 4.0 to be the subject of tomorrow’s Squawk Box…
Continue Reading: Skype 4.0 to be the subject of tomorrow’s Squawk Box…For those looking to discuss the recent Skype 4.0 beta release, Skype’s Product Manager for Skype for Windows, Mike Bartlett, (a.k.a. “the guy in the Skype 4.0 demo videos who likes to play football/soccer”) will be the guest on tomorrow’s Squawk Box conference call/podcast at 11am Eastern US time. Jim Courtney has the details over on Skype Journal.I have another meeting at that time and don’t anticipate being able to participate tomorrow, but it should be an interesting conversation. Given that I’m on a Mac these days, the Skype 4.0 beta for Windows is pretty much irrelevant to me, although I may fire up a virtual machine just to take a look at it briefly.
In any event, it should be a good Squawk Box. Please do join if you’re interested in Skype.
Technorati Tags: skype, squawk box, skype 4.0, mike bartlett, voip
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Skype 4.0 seriously disrupts the Skype UI – is this a good thing?
Continue Reading: Skype 4.0 seriously disrupts the Skype UI – is this a good thing?Will Skype’s new Skype 4.0 user interface simplify the experience and brings in masses of new users? Or will it annoy and alienate the longtime (and often paying) users of Skype?As a Mac user perpetually left behind in Skype’s development process, I can’t personally report on the new 4.0 beta which is Windows-only and apparently due out tomorrow, but reports are starting to come out… TechCrunch says “Skype 4.0 Beta: It’s All About Video” and Andy Abramson discusses how this might allow future video advertising (and how Skype needs a CTO). I expect we should be hearing from the Skype Journal folks soon as well.
In watching Skype’s three Daily Motion videos about the release, I had these quick thoughts:
- The Skype window now covers the full screen. Instead of having a separate window for your contacts, separate windows for each chat (which we Mac users have had collected together in a single chat window with a “drawer” for some time) and a separate window for each call, it’s all in one window. While I can see this being a benefit for new users, as someone who has been using Skype for now… what?… 3 or 4 years?…
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It’s all about syncing to the cloud – Apple’s MobileMe was the most interesting part of the iPhone 3G WWDC keynote
Continue Reading: It’s all about syncing to the cloud – Apple’s MobileMe was the most interesting part of the iPhone 3G WWDC keynoteOkay, so the iPhone got better – so what? To me, the new iPhone 3G was NOT the most interesting part of yesterday’s Steve Jobs keynote at the Apple WWDC event. Sure, the blogosphere (and mainstream media) is buzzing like crazy about it (and we discussed it at length on yesterday’s Squawk Box). Sure, it’s great that the iPhone costs a lot less (at least, up front), is available in more countries (but still not in Vermont!), has GPS and now will work over 3G networks. Sure, all that is great.
<Donning flame-proof clothing> But at the end of the day, it’s still just a mobile phone! Sure, it’s an incredibly sexy one and yes now that I live in New Hampshire I admittedly am considering getting one. But it’s… still… just… a… phone. (And yes, I realize such a statement is heretical in defiance of the Cult of Apple (of which I am increasingly becoming a member).)
To me what was far more intriguing was Apple’s launch of “MobileMe” at me.com. Why?
Apple is getting into the “cloud” in a major way.
Let’s take a look at what Apple is offering (watch the Guided Tour to see it in…
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VoIPInsider: “101 Things You Can Do With Asterisk Contest”
Continue Reading: VoIPInsider: “101 Things You Can Do With Asterisk Contest”Garrett Smith and the team at VoIP Supply have partnered with Digium to have a little bit of fun with a new contest: “101 Things You Can Do With Asterisk Contest“. They started out looking for 101 unique things you could do with Asterisk and the idea that when they got 101 submissions they would pick one random winner for a $1500 VoIP Supply shopping spree.
However, they discovered there are a lot of people out there with ideas for what you can do with Asterisk. They put up their blog post at 11:08am and their 101st comment came just over two hours later at 1:21pm (a few comments had multiple ideas). As I write this, the list has grown to 151 comments and Garrett and crew have indicated that they will be leaving it open until Friday and then making their drawing.
Some great ideas in the comments to the post – well worth a read!
Technorati Tags: asterisk
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Is Craigslist blocking VoIP, Prepaid phone numbers in anti-spam effort?
Continue Reading: Is Craigslist blocking VoIP, Prepaid phone numbers in anti-spam effort?Is Craigslist really blocking phone numbers from VoIP service providers or pre-paid cell phones as an anti-spam measure?Last night over on the VoIPinsider blog, Cory Andrews wrote that Craigslist is apparently blocking VoIP or prepaid cellular numbers as part of their anti-spam measures. Now I’m a huge fan of Craigslist and we’ve sold lots of items (including, now, our house) via Craigslist. But we’ve also seen the spam out there and personally been contacted in response to one of our ads by a sleazy individual who was trying to scam us out of money. Techdirt, in fact, says that the battle has been lost and that the spammers are taking over Craigslist. While it wasn’t that dreadful in the Vermont Craigslist area, there certainly was some spam and you can understand the folks there wanting to do all they can to block spammers.
But to block VoIP service providers? Just as increasingly large numbers of users move over to VoIP services?
THE APPARENT ACTIONS
It seems a rather draconian – and misguided – measure. As the VoIP Insider article states:
A few months back, Craiglist instituted a telephone verification process that places an automated outbound call to a user placing…