Month: October 2009
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FYI – you can sign up for my email newsletter…
Continue Reading: FYI – you can sign up for my email newsletter…I know that the concept of setting up an email newsletter sounds so… well… 1990’s… but as I outline on my Disruptive Conversations blog, I’m doing some experimentation with email management tools… and so decided to create a list as an adjunct to my online writing. If you’d like to join my little experiment, the form to do so is here: .link, .signupframe { color: #0E0B59; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; } .link { text-decoration: none; } .signupframe { border: 1px solid #000000; background: #ffffff; } Sign up for my e-newsletter * Email First Name Last Name * = Required Field var icpForm160 = document.getElementById(‘icpsignup160’); if (document.location.protocol === “https:”) icpForm160.action = “https://app.icontact.com/icp/signup.php”; function verifyRequired160() { if (icpForm160[“fields_email”].value == “”) { icpForm160[“fields_email”].focus(); alert(“The Email field is required.”); return false; } return true; }Over on my Disruptive Conversations blog, I do get into a bit more detail about what I’m doing (or think I’ll be doing) with this…
If you do choose to subscribe, thanks!
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Tim Panton’s VERY cool demo: Google Wave + Skype + Asterisk + Ibook
Continue Reading: Tim Panton’s VERY cool demo: Google Wave + Skype + Asterisk + IbookOver on Skype Journal, Phil Wolf posted about Tim Panton’s VERY cool demo which he gave at Astricon and then apparently just yesterday at eComm Europe. Tim from phonefromhere.com mashes up Google Wave, Skype, Asterisk (with Skype for Asterisk) and Ibook to make Skype calls from within a Wave, complete with recordings of utterances and, naturally, the ability to have an annotated collaboration session in Wave:Phil quotes Jason Goecke (a colleague of mine at Voxeo) describing how it works:
“it is a Google Wave Gadget with his PhoneFromHere.com IAX2 Java softphone as the client. Then, the IAX2 Java phone connects to Asterisk with Skype for Asterisk installed. Then, there is a server-side element, Ibook, that is breaking apart utterances into individual files. So that as each person speaks, it captures it into its own file. Then, as that happens, a text frame is sent from Asterisk to the softphone with the file details. The gadget then uses some Javascript to embed a link. IAX2 supports text frames.”
Read Phil’s full post for more info and for Phil’s views on what this all means.
VERY cool demo!
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Google enters the hosted voicemail game – Google Voice now lets you keep your existing phone number
Continue Reading: Google enters the hosted voicemail game – Google Voice now lets you keep your existing phone numberYesterday Google made another fascinating move in the telephony space… letting people use Google Voice with their existing phone number. This is key because previously if you wanted to try out Google Voice you had to get a new phone number that was different from any of your existing numbers.
Now a business or individual can move their existing number over to Google Voice… and Google can try to convert users over to their service from other services.
[UPDATE: Note that Google states that you can use Google Voice “with your existing mobile phone number“, i.e. not a landline phone number. Others have pointed out that essentially all you are doing is forwarding your unanswered calls to Google’s voicemail service instead of your mobile carrier’s voicemail service. In this way, Google Voice is basically just like Jott or any of the many other similar services out there. Except, of course, it is from Google.]
When you use an existing number, Google Voice gives you these services:
- Online, searchable voicemail
- Free automated voicemail transcription
- Custom voicemail greetings for different callers
- Email and SMS notifications
- Low-priced international calling
With a new phone number under Google’s control, you get additional services like conferencing,…
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Is anyone surprised Fairpoint filed for bankruptcy? (How’s that landline biz in 2009?)
Continue Reading: Is anyone surprised Fairpoint filed for bankruptcy? (How’s that landline biz in 2009?)From the “Duh! What were they thinking?” desk, the big news up there in the northeastern part of the US is that our major local landline provider, Fairpoint Communications, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection today. Last year, Fairpoint paid $2.4 billion for Verizon’s landline business in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont and formally took over the network earlier this year, with all sorts of ensuing service challenges which have been well-documented.As FierceTelecom points out, this bankruptcy has been expected for quite some time now. Last week there was much publicity up in these parts about Fairpoint working with its unions and banks to try to avoid the formal filing… but obviously today’s filing indicates that they couldn’t pull the proverbial rabbit out of the hat. This morning, Fairpoint issued a news release and set up a web site about their restructuring:
http://www.fprestructuring.com/
Now, I should mention that I am a Fairpoint customer and do have a landline from them – I’ve also not personally had any customer service issues with their service. I am also not at all surprised.
I thought Fairpoint’s acquisition of Verizon’s landline business last year was an exceedingly dumb idea then – and…
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eComm Europe in Amsterdam this week (Oct 28-30) – THE show for communications disruption
Continue Reading: eComm Europe in Amsterdam this week (Oct 28-30) – THE show for communications disruptionFor those out there interested in how telephony – and all communications – is being disrupted, the place to be this week is very definitely eComm Europe in Amsterdam. It’s definitely a gathering of the “tribe” of people who are on out there defining the bleeding edge of the communications space. Great speakers, great schedule… it should be a great event!Sadly, a schedule conflict prevented my attendance, but as I wrote about on the Voxeo Talks blog, Voxeo will have a presence there in the form of multiple speakers as well as a booth. More info can be found on the Voxeo event page at:
http://blogs.voxeo.com/events/ecomm-europe/
If you are at eComm Europe, please do say hello to RJ Auburn or Jay Phillips… or stop by our booth. Also, look for the fun giveaway in the eComm bag. 😉
And if, like me, you can’t get there… you can follow along in the eComm tweet stream and see info posted up on the eComm blog. It should be a great show, so I’m definitely looking forward to hearing and reading more about what goes on there.
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Of Skype, SIP, P2P and P2PSIP…
Continue Reading: Of Skype, SIP, P2P and P2PSIP…Over on Voxeo’s Speaking of Standards blog, I put up a post today on:Could Skype realistically replace its P2P algorithm with P2PSIP?
I decided to write it after reading the comments on Phil Wolff’s post last week over on Skype Journal… mostly to talk a bit more about what P2PSIP is and how it compares to what Skype is using now.
While it’s interesting to talk about on a technical level – and I admit to a complete fascination with the technology behind P2P networks – the reality is that none of us really know anything about what Skype is up to. 🙂
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