Category: Phones
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Giving old VoIP equipment new life in developing countries?
Continue Reading: Giving old VoIP equipment new life in developing countries?Over on one of Google’s blogs, there is a post “New life for network equipment” about how the Network Startup Resource Center helps take networking equipment that is “old” by Western standards and give it new life in other parts of the world where equipment such as routers and switches may be too expensive to easily purchase. First off, kudos to Google for supporting such an organization with their own donations. As they say in the blog entry, it’s very easy for those of us in the always-on part of the world to take that connectivity for granted. And yet for a very large portion of the world, there is no such guarantee for connectivity.
This post, though, did make me think… what happens to all the “old” VoIP gear when it is replaced? We are at the stage now in the evolution of VoIP where people are replacing IP-PBXs with newer models (from the same or different vendors). SIP phones have been out long enough that they, too, are being swapped out for newer models.
Where are they going? Landfills? Probably.
But yet some of those pieces of equipment may work perfectly fine in other parts…
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So, Ken, how do you *really* feel about Apple’s iPhone?
Continue Reading: So, Ken, how do you *really* feel about Apple’s iPhone?As everyone has been hyping the iPhone, it was entertaining to see that Ken Camp is decidedly not a fan: “iPhone? iThinkNot” After providing links to a number of the VoIP bloggers who wrote about the iPhone, Ken starts tearing apart what he’s seen and read. Here’s a taste of the full post:
It will be mediocre at anything, at best. In my words, it will be crap.
The touch screen will be a disaster. The closed interface assures that it’s another all your tunes calls stones Apples are belong to us. Apple is the worst offender and not understanding open standards and extensibility on the planet. Worse that Microsoft.
The iPhone is just an iPod. With a jazzier, and doubtless a less functional interface. And yep, it might make phone calls every now and then too. If you’re on the right carrier in the coverage area. We’ll lock you in to Apple and Cingular proprietariness all with one key.
Limited features, locked in to a single carrier, not open to third party software. And using the argument that third party software might take the telephone network down? Gimme a break.
So how do you really feel, Ken? 😉
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Apple’s iPhone as a platform for Skype, Gizmo, Jajah and everyone else…
Continue Reading: Apple’s iPhone as a platform for Skype, Gizmo, Jajah and everyone else…With the torrent of media hype about Apple’s new iPhone, one of the things that has surprised me is the lack of discussion about one of the aspects of the device that I find truly disruptive… it will be running a full version of MacOS X. Now, granted, with 15 million blogs and countless web sites commenting on the iPhone in the past few days, I’m sure I’ve missed some where people have discussed this aspect, but to me it’s a key element.
Consider this… if you have the full capabilities of MacOS X (which we don’t yet know for certain but all of the Apple info seems to indicate it will have full MacOS X) – and you also have WiFi support and/or Cingular EDGE support – why not simply run the Mac version of Skype or Gizmo? Or Yahoo Messenger or AIM? Or anyone else’s softphone that runs on MacOS X?
The phone then becomes an extension of your contact/buddy list and can provide that kind of connectivity wherever you can get a WiFi or EDGE connection. That to me is one of the fascinating aspects of the whole play. The phone as an application platform – with a “standard” commercial operating system.
I…
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Is the Skype- and webcam-equipped R2D2 for real? (with a light saber as a phone?)
Continue Reading: Is the Skype- and webcam-equipped R2D2 for real? (with a light saber as a phone?)After seeing this post at Engadget, I, too, have to truly wonder whether this is for real or some sort of very elaborate hoax. The Nikko Home Electronics website has more info… well… actually it has a big Flash object that obviously took some time to create.
It appears there are two models: 1) The “C.S.” or “Communication System” and 2) the “M.E.S.” or “Mobile Entertainment System”. Gizmodo has a video of the MES from the floor of CES this week out in Las Vegas, proving that there is at least one working model of that system.
I have to say that the light saber as a phone is certainly amusing and destined to warm the heart of any Star Wars fan.
I don’t know if it is actually for real, but hey, it would be amusing if it really is. (And if Nikko wants to send one my way for review, my shipping address is…. 😉
Technorati tags: skype, voip, nikko, r2d2, star wars -
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The Cisco – Apple "iPhone" naming clash (and now lawsuit)
Continue Reading: The Cisco – Apple "iPhone" naming clash (and now lawsuit)You would think that Apple, being as big as they are, would certainly have taken care of the right to use the name “iPhone” before they launched, wouldn’t you? The fact that Apple went ahead and launched anyway really astounds me in light of Cisco’s ownership of the trademark. Instead there is first news of ongoing negotiations and then today’s news of a Cisco suit against Apple. It boggles the mind a bit… I mean, obviously Apple had a very hard deadline of MacWorld, and I could imagine someone at Cisco playing hardball knowing that Apple had to sign before MacWorld and holding out for the best deal.
But now what? I mean, now that the product is announced and everyone is all excited about it, what kind of bargaining position is Apple in? You could easily see someone at Cisco now saying “Well, since the product is going to be so popular, let’s add a few more zeros to that licensing agreement price.” Is Apple perhaps counting on public opinion to paint Cisco in a bad light enough that Cisco will relent? Hard to see that happening, especially given Cisco’s own “product launch” of the iPhone name a few…
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Round phones and other glimpses of the ITU fair in Hong Kong from Jan in Malaysia…
Continue Reading: Round phones and other glimpses of the ITU fair in Hong Kong from Jan in Malaysia…If you don’t follow Jan Geirnaert’s weblog, which he is now branding as www.skype-gadgets.com, it’s worth checking out. He’s a Belgian living in Malaysia and he mixes in commentary on Skype and VoIP hardware along with interesting notes about Malaysia, Hong Kong and that whole part of the world. Living on almost the other side of the globe from him, I find many of those posts quite interesting.
And he’s often finding interesting news out about Skype… and pointing us to interesting gadgets. Take today’s post on the “Cat-iq” phone from the ITU fair/trade show he’s attending in Hong Kong. He has this picture and another, both of which you can click to see larger views. He doesn’t yet provide more details or links… but it’s interesting to see a glimpse into some of what people are coming up with over there. (And I’m guessing from the fact that it says “Wahlen” that this is perhaps from a German manufacturer.)
Anyway, do check out Jan’s blog as he’s often got interesting information.
