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Congrats, I think, to Alec Saunders as RIM’s New VP of Developer Relations
Continue Reading: Congrats, I think, to Alec Saunders as RIM’s New VP of Developer RelationsCongratulations (I think) to my friend Alec Saunders for taking a new role as “VP of Developer Relations and Ecosystem Development” for Research In Motion (RIM), makers of the Blackberry line of mobile devices.Or perhaps condolences are in order… somehow he has to make developing for the Blackberry sexy again to all the app developers who focus these days on the world of iOS/iPhone/iPad and the Android platform.
Alec certainly has his work cut out for him. As he writes in his post today announcing the news:
Over the last few days I’ve been in San Francisco at the Mobilize conference, and speaking with developers. It’s clear from those conversations that the primary problem we face is lack of support from application developers. My team’s job is to correct that – to win the hearts and minds of mobile developers again.
“Lack of support” probably doesn’t go far enough as a statement. Any of a zillion charts will show you Blackberry’s rapidly declining marketshare (particularly in the US). iPhones are dramatically outselling Blackberries and Apple is poised to launch iPhone 5 / iOS 5 / iCloud next week, pretty much assuring even more of a boost to…
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Video: Using an iPad to Create Tropo Applications
Continue Reading: Video: Using an iPad to Create Tropo ApplicationsStuck somewhere without a computer but with an iPad? My former colleague Chris Matthieu just posted this amusing video today of how he used only his iPad to create and deploy an application using the Tropo cloud communication service. I don’t know what amused me more – that he wrote the app using his iPad… or that he filmed himself using his iPhone! Quite a deft bit of handling to make it all work:You can, of course, register for a free Tropo.com account and start creating your own voice/SMS/IM/Twitter apps using languages like PHP, Python, JavaScript, Groovy and Ruby…
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Mitel Rolls Out UC Apps for iPhone and iPad
Continue Reading: Mitel Rolls Out UC Apps for iPhone and iPadGood to see that Mitel is joining the iOS application space with Unified Communications apps for the iPhone and iPad. These apps will work with Mitel’s “Freedom” architecture to allow people to use their own iPhone or iPad device with the Mitel corporate phone system.Per Mitel’s news release, the app allows users to:
- Search the corporate directory and click-to-dial from corporate contact list to place calls through the corporate network.
- View missed, dialed, and received calls.
- Access visual voicemail from your office extension and manage messages by preference rather than sequence.
- Automatically update presence status and call routing preferences based on your location, or time of day.
Given enterprise users’ desire to use their own devices, it is not surprising to see these type of apps coming out from a vendor like Mitel. It will be interesting to see how this helps Mitel in the marketplace.
Kudos to the Mitel team for creating the apps.
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Ch-changes – Taking A New Job At The Internet Society To Join The Fight For The Open Internet
Continue Reading: Ch-changes – Taking A New Job At The Internet Society To Join The Fight For The Open InternetIn the end, my impending job change is perhaps best explained by two quotes: this prescient quote from the 1992 film Sneakers:
“There’s a war out there, old friend. A world war. And it’s not about who’s got the most bullets. It’s about who controls the information. What we see and hear, how we work, what we think… it’s all about the information!”
and this quote from poet Mary Oliver:
“Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”
For a longer explanation, read on… but perhaps not on a mobile phone… this one’s a bit on the lengthy side…
Bleeding “Voxeo Blue”
Just shy of four years ago, I wrote here about joining this incredibly remarkable company, Voxeo, that probably none of you had ever heard of.
I hope I changed that a wee bit. 🙂
Around a thousand blog posts later, a hundred videos, too many speaking engagements and webinars to count, many articles, a ton of analyst briefings and media interviews … and countless tweets, Facebook posts and other updates later… it has been truly an amazing journey.
Along the way I have come to truly love the company -…
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Video: My Talk on “How IPv6 Will Kill Telecom” from eComm2011
Continue Reading: Video: My Talk on “How IPv6 Will Kill Telecom” from eComm2011At eComm 2011 this year, I spoke on “How IPv6 Will Kill Telecom – And What We Need To Do About It“. I enjoyed giving the talk and have received great feedback about the session (including being asked to give a similar session at other conferences). Organizer Lee Dryburgh has now posted the video:
If you are interested in learning more about IPv6, I put together an IPv6 Resource Page over on Voxeo’s Speaking of Standards blog. Enjoy!
P.S. And yes, those of you who have seen previous videos of my presentations will note that my running has paid off… 🙂
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Awesome 1954 Bell System Video – How To Dial Your (Rotary) Phone
Continue Reading: Awesome 1954 Bell System Video – How To Dial Your (Rotary) PhoneStarted off this morning getting a great laugh out of this classic 1954 Bell System video tweeted out by Larry Cannell. Amazing to think back to the time when the system was changing from just picking up the phone and speaking with an operator to a new system where you “dialed” the phone.Really the start of the self-service automation of the phone network that we take for granted today.
Fascinating to see the glimpses, too, of the “internal networks” as they “pulled the fuses” from the manual systems and flipped switches on the dial systems. I love the guys pointing a “Go!” finger at the teams to make the transitions!
Of course, you have to wonder how many young people growing up today in the United States have even seen a true rotary dial phone! (We who used them should write down some of our memories before they are forgotten…)
Anyway, enjoy this window into a different time:
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Video: Chris Pirillo to Emcee Voxeo’s Customer Summit, Oct 10-12
Continue Reading: Video: Chris Pirillo to Emcee Voxeo’s Customer Summit, Oct 10-12As I mentioned previously, Voxeo’s annual Customer Summit 2011 is coming up October 10-12 in Orlando, Florida. One of the latest bits of news is that Internet entrepreneur and über-geek Chris Pirillo will be the emcee for the event. He recently recorded this video intro talking about his upcoming trip to Orlando:Chris is a high-energy and highly entertaining guy… and it will be fun to see him in action at the event!
P.S. If you want to attend Voxeo’s Customer Summit 2011, space is filling up quickly but there are still a few slots open – register today!
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Video: What’s New in Voxeo Prophecy 11 and VoiceObjects 11?
Continue Reading: Video: What’s New in Voxeo Prophecy 11 and VoiceObjects 11?Want to know the newest ways to build communications apps using Voxeo products? Want to know about IPv6, wideband audio, fax support and large-scale management of servers?In a recent Voxeo Developer Jam Session, I explained what is new in Voxeo’s Prophecy 11 and VoiceObjects 11 and how you can use them to build even larger-scale communications apps than before.
The session is available for download, as are the slides. It is also available for viewing on YouTube. If you don’t know anything about Voxeo, this is also a great way to learn more about its core products.
Oh, and when you’re down watching, you can download Prophecy 11 or VoiceObjects 11 for free for Windows, Linux or Mac OS X. 🙂
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Skype Now Using “@SkypeSupport” on Twitter
Continue Reading: Skype Now Using “@SkypeSupport” on TwitterGiven that last week I received two more phone calls from people looking to speak with Skype, I was very pleased to learn that Skype has recently started providing a support channel via Twitter – @SkypeSupport. Sure, it’s not a phone line – which probably means I’ll still be Skype’s unofficial receptionist, but at least now I have another channel to send people to in addition to Skype’s community forums.
Great to see Skype providing this channel to support customers.
P.S. Jim Courtney noted last month on his site that Skype also now has a Facebook page for customer support as well
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Happy Birthday, Skype! Celebrating 8 Years of Disruption
Continue Reading: Happy Birthday, Skype! Celebrating 8 Years of DisruptionIt was 8 years ago today that the first public beta version of Skype was released… and so began the amazing journey of a product/service that has truly disrupted the telecommunications industry. The Wikipedia page on Skype has a good record of the history, which is interesting to look back upon now.
I started using Skype sometime in early 2005 or so… working in Mitel’s Office of the CTO charged with evaluating new technology – and seeking to understand what Skype was all about. I started writing about Skype then… and still continue writing a good bit about Skype as it is certainly one of the more disruptive players in the industry. Skype today is a HUGE part of my daily life and truly is one service that is integral to my daily workflow and life online.
Skype’s blog post today, of course, focuses on their current fixation on video calls… even including the strange text (my emphasis added):
What started off as a little idea to connect the world over video calls has turned into something so much more, and we believe this is making a huge difference in making the world feel smaller and a lot more connected.
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Disruptive Telephony
Dan York on how Voice over IP is rewriting (almost) everything you thought you understood about telephony…