Author: Dan York
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Skype and secure SIP? (Why would I see this message?)
Continue Reading: Skype and secure SIP? (Why would I see this message?)Whenever I’m using Skype, I have the “Display technical call info” setting enabled so that I see technical stats about the calls I am on. Those windows tend to stay around after a call… and I noticed this one still around with an identity of “securesip”. (click on the image for a larger version) I’ve tried to replicate this with calls that I’ve recently made to see if I could get the window again, but can’t seem to do so. Anyone know why I might be seeing this?
I’m curious…
Technorati Tags: sip, skype, voip security
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Use Skype from anywhere (providing you have GSM coverage) – Skype releases “3Skypephone” and joins the mobile game
Continue Reading: Use Skype from anywhere (providing you have GSM coverage) – Skype releases “3Skypephone” and joins the mobile gameThe big news out today in the world of Skype is that Skype and the mobile carrier called “3” have released the “3 Skypephone” that lets Skype users take Skype truly mobile. Skype-to-Skype calls and IMs are “free” provided that you are on “3”‘s mobile network. I say “free” in quotes because of course you have to have a wireless plan through 3. There are actually two options in the UK, which is the only country in which it will initially be available:
- Monthly – With this plan, the 3 Skypephone hardware itself is free and the rates are 12-17 British pounds per month. Apparently you have unlimited data connectivity with this plan, so you can in fact make unlimited numbers of Skype calls or IMs.
- Pay-As-You-Go – With this plan, you pay 50 pounds for the 3Skypephone phone itself and then keep your account filled with credits. Apparently data usage decrements this account (but it’s not clear by how much), so you have to wonder how often people will need to recharge the account. (UPDATE: Julian Bond, who is in the UK and has a 3 Skypephone to experiment with, informs me that there is apparently…
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At Fall VON this week… speaking on Thursday
Continue Reading: At Fall VON this week… speaking on ThursdayI’m in Boston this week at Fall VON. I’ll be speaking on Thursday at 12:45 on (predictably) ” Strategies for Solving Security”. If any readers are at VON, feel free to drop a note. I’m always interested in connecting with readers.
Technorati Tags: conferences, fallvon, voip security, voipsa, von
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It’s nice to have a boss who blogs…
Continue Reading: It’s nice to have a boss who blogs…It’s nice to have a boss who blogs, because then he writes things like this! 🙂
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RIM *almost* gets it right with its Facebook app for Blackberries… (but it’s missing a good bit)
Continue Reading: RIM *almost* gets it right with its Facebook app for Blackberries… (but it’s missing a good bit)When I first heard from Jim Courtney and then Alec Saunders that RIM had released an official Blackberry application that let you use Facebook, I naturally went to look at the information and then downloaded the app (which you do on the Blackberry itself after you go to m.facebook.com).
I was initially extremely excited… and then almost immediately incredibly disappointed…
First, I have to say that I applaud RIM for putting this application out. I think this can be a great tool for those of us who use Facebook. I realize this is its initial deployment, so hopefully feedback like this can help the folks at RIM improve the app so that it is truly useful to us.
Before I get to the main screen, let me address the major source of my disappointment. After you have installed the app, you start getting notifications such as friend requests. Here’s the problem:
You MUST act on the friend request (Confirm or Ignore) before you can access the rest of the app!
So when I just wanted to zip into the app to change a status message, I was suddenly confronted by the fact that I had to act on a friend…
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Heading to New York today for Interop… speaking tomorrow on VoIP Security
Continue Reading: Heading to New York today for Interop… speaking tomorrow on VoIP SecurityIn a few hours I’ll be boarding a plane back to New York where I’ll be attending Interop New York this afternoon and tomorrow. If any of you reading this will be there, please do drop an email. Tomorrow, I’ll be on a panel at 2:45pm with Jonathan Rosenberg about “Voice-oriented Attacks”. (Side note to Interop: Please make it so that we can link to individual sessions instead of having to link to the entire list of “security”-related sessions!) If you aren’t aware of who Jonathan Rosenberg is, he works for Cisco and is a huge contributor to IETF efforts related to SIP and in fact was one of the co-authors of RFC 3261 which is the primary RFC defining SIP. He’s also the author of “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to SIP” which aims to help guide people through the maze of the many, many documents that now are part of “SIP”. More relevant to tomorrow’s session, he’s also the author of a series of NAT traversal protocols for SIP, namely STUN, TURN and now ICE. Eric Krapf, the moderator of the session, is aiming to make it a more interactive and discussion-focused session (i.e. no slideware-to-death)… we’ll see…
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My new employer is……….
Continue Reading: My new employer is……….So here’s the story… after my layoff from Mitel and the corresponding job hunt, I became very convinced that I should go down the consultant/analyst route. I had purchased equipment, started setting up the legal side of things and was in serious discussions with several others about allying (and aligning) myself with their own efforts. All looked good and I was excited to get going.
Then I got this email from a CEO of a company I’d never really heard of who said he’d found my blog posts and that it so happened that they were looking for someone doing essentially the roles that I outlined in one of my posts. As they were growing strongly they were looking to expand their “Office of the CTO” and add to their capabilities. I looked at their website and initially wasn’t too sure about what I saw. But as I dug in a bit more I was pretty blown away by what I started to see… and got back in touch.
It turns out that there’s this company based in Orlando, Florida, whose VoIP application platform is used by one of the world’s largest telecom vendors, two of the worlds largest software…
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So I should stop teasing about my new job, eh?
Continue Reading: So I should stop teasing about my new job, eh?So I should stop teasing about what I’m doing and just blog about it, eh? I will… today. I had every intention of doing so last night but what appeared to be the onset of a severe migraine headache sent me back to my hotel room early to try and escape it. Thankfully, the migraine never materialized and the symptoms gradually went away… but in the meantime I was out of writing commission and my post is only half done.
I do have to admit that it is tempting to continue teasing when a friend says she is thinking of calling every VoIP company in Florida (I’ve given that info away via Twitter) asking receptionists if she can speak to “Dan York”… that would be mildly entertaining, especially if there was another Dan York out there at another company.
However, I have a whole queue of articles I want to write and I need to get this major one out first, so I will.
Soon. Today.
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It’s the (app) platform, stupid!
Continue Reading: It’s the (app) platform, stupid!“Phone systems” are dead. PBXs are dead. IP-PBXs are dead.
Well, okay, not really… people will still be buying “PBXs” for quite some time. Just as there are certain communities out there who still buy horse-drawn wagons. But the reality is this:
“Phone systems”, PBXs and IP-PBXs without easy application programming interfaces (APIs) are a dead branch on the evolutionary tree.
The future of communication belongs to mashups. To quick and easy ways to interconnect disparate systems. To integration of communication systems with business processes and other applications. In a world where voice is no longer always the primary mode of communication, we have to stop thinking about “phone systems” and take a larger look at how “communication” in general fits into our infrastructure. More than just how we use the system, we have to look at how we can get data in and out of the communication system. To borrow from the 1992 Clinton campaign:
It’s the platform, stupid!
As you look at communication choices, the question is really about who has the “best” APIs… whose system is easiest to integrate with…. who lets you get data out of their system easily – and also lets… -
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A heck of week to choose to go dark! (Microsoft, MySpace/Skype, iPhone… )
Continue Reading: A heck of week to choose to go dark! (Microsoft, MySpace/Skype, iPhone… )Boy, did I choose the wrong week to go dark! Way too many amazing things going on out there this week… here is a quick view of some of the disruptions with relevant links:
- Microsoft formally announces release of Office Communication Server – tons of coverage out there but I recommend the analysis by the UC Strategies team.
- Skype will be providing voice to MySpace IM – again tons of coverage – Skype Journal has more info and a screenshot. See also the Skype blog.
- Per Business Week this morning, Skype will be rolling out its own mobile phone, starting in Europe.
- MySpace
- Apple, meanwhile, announces an upcoming developer kit for the iPhone via a note from Steve Jobs (some reactions here and here).
- And finally MySpace says it will open up to application developers in a similar manner to Facebook.
All in all a rather busy week! (And it’s not over yet…)
Technorati Tags: apple, applications, facebook, iphone, myspace, microsoft, ocs, unifiedcommunications, skype, voip
