Digital Technology for Digital Living.
February 21, 2007
Joost and Viacom make a deal
The online tv service, Joost has made a licensing deal with Viacom International Inc. Joost works in a peer-to-peer fashion and allows users watch television programs on their computers.
Many video sharing sites such as YouTube are constantly being asked to remove content that infringes broadcaster’s copyrights. Earlier this month, Viacom asked YouTube to take down over 100,000 clips from their programs.
This deal should help Joost coexist peacefully with content producers rather than operating at odds with them.
Reference for posting: http://www.pcworld.com
AndyD | Comments (0) | VOIP
January 12, 2007
iPhone: Cisco vs Apple
If you were paying attention to all the hype building up to the Apple iPhone announcement on Tuesday, then you might recall the little snag concerning who actually owns the “iPhone” name.
Even though Apple unveiled the iPhone in San Francisco this week, Linksys, a division of Cisco Systems Inc., announced a product called the iPhone on December 18th, 2006. The Linksys iPhone is a Web-enabled telephone handset capable of making calls over the Internet using voice over Internet protocol (VOIP).
So how can two different companies lay claim to the “iPhone” name? That’s the problem… they can’t.
Linksys, actually owns the “iPhone” trademark because of a Cisco acquisition. A company called Infogear registered the “iPhone” name in 1996. Then Cisco then absorbed the “iPhone” trademark when it acquired Infogear in the year 2000.
So what happens now? It’s all up to the lawyers. Cisco filed a lawsuit against Apple yesterday in the U.S. District Court in San Francisco. Basically Cisco and Apple need to reach a settlement or Apple will have to call their iPhone something different like iChat Mobile.
According to the NY Post, Cisco thought it had reached a deal with Apple. The two companies were reportedly engaged in heated talks over the “iPhone” name the past few weeks leading up to the Apple iPhone announcement.
“We sent them final terms on Monday, but we never got approval back,” Cisco spokesman John Noh told The Post. “We’re very open to sharing the trademark. We made that clear. But then they went ahead and used the name without our permission.”
Apple has been trying to get the iPhone name away from Cisco since 2001 when they first released the iPod. Will Apple finally be successful? They obviously have something up their sleeve or they wouldn’t have halted talks with Cisco and just announced the iPhone this week. It will be interesting to see what happens these next few months.
Apple plans on releasing the iPhone in June 2007.
methodshop | Comments (1) | Mobile Phone, Music, Wireless, Portable, VOIP
August 28, 2006
Free Google WiFi Internet
Thanks to Google, residents in Mountain View, California have one less monthly bill to pay every month… their Internet.
This month Google launched their free wireless Internet service called Google WiFi Mountain View. The service is completely free to the 72,000 residents of Mountain View and is not supported via ads. It covers the 12 square mile radius of the town and is comprised of some 380 access points.
Speeds have been reported at 1Mbps and Google is hoping that their product will convince many residents to drop their DSL & Cable offerings. Although these speeds aren’t super fast, Google’s free alternative will be something that most people will embrace. People who still want their high speed connections will have to pay for it.
If you’re not in Mountain View don’t despair, Google has teamed up with Earthlink for a more ambitious project - providing wireless Internet service to the San Francisco area. The San Francisco service will be a little different from the one now available in Mountain View in that it will be tiered. The free service (300 Kbps) will be supported by ads. If you want higher speeds (1 Mbps) without the ads, then you will have to pay monthly subscription fee.
So what is Google really up to here? Is Mountain View and San Francisco just beta cities for something much bigger like national WiFi? Google has been quietly buying up miles of “dark fiber” across the United States for years. Add that fiber network to the Wimax routers and chip sets slated to hit the consumer market next year and Google could wipe out the telecom and cable companies before they knew what hit them. Think about it… Google could instantly become a national ISP, phone (VoIP) and TV provider for the entire country.
It sounds easy, but consider the deployment difficulties of a national wireless network. A single WiFi base station can only cover a limited area. With overlap you are probably talking about 300-500 base stations per square mile depending on terrain. I’m no math major, but how many base stations would Google need to cover the entire United States? Over a billion? If Google did decide to build a national network, they’d probably have to hire all those former cable and DSL employees just to repair and maintain this massive network.
National WiFi domination… something to think about.
Sources: Techie Diva, News.com
methodshop | Comments (0) | General, Broadband, Wireless, Video, VOIP
August 29, 2005
iiNet Realeases iiNetPhone
29 August, 2005 – iiNet Limited (ASX: IIN) today unveiled its new Voice Over
Internet Protocol (VoIP) service, enabling customers to save money
by making and receiving calls via the Internet instead of over the traditional copper telephone network. iinetphone, is the first large-scale national offering of VoIP by an Australian telecommunications company, and is available to new and existing iiNet and OzEmail customers.iinetphone is available with no monthly rental fee and low cost call rates. Bundled
with iibroadband2 and iiphone — iiNet’s traditional phone service — the new VoIP
service provides customers with an additional phone number for premium-grade
Internet-based calls at substantially lower rates.iinetphone works by converting an analog voice signal from a regular telephone into a digital signal that travels over the Internet before being converted back to the analog format at the other end. Using additional equipment, such as an ATA (Analog Telephone Adaptor) plugged into a regular phone with a standard broadband router, a special VoIP-enabled router, or a VoIP handset, customers can make VoIP calls to anyone, anywhere at greatly reduced rates over traditional phone calls. VoIP calls from one iinetphone customer to another are free.
“We are proud to be the first Australian communications company to offer a premium grade,large-scale VoIP solution that’s easy to use, complements existing services and will result in significant call savings,” said Michael Malone, Managing Director, iiNet Ltd. “By using iinetphone, customers can economically contact friends and family all over the world – and that’s the best part about this innovative communication solution.”
Benefits of iinetphone include:
• Free second phone line and number using VoIP technology (not provided by
the “free” and other earlier VoIP providers)
• Low cost calls such as 10 cent untimed local calls, 10 cent untimed calls
Australia-wide to national capital cities and five cents per minute national calls
outside capital cites over fixed lines
• Free VoIP calls to other iinetphone VoIP users
• Premium-grade voice quality (unlike most “free” and earlier VoIP services)
• Free bonus phone features such as voicemail, caller ID and many others
• Online call cost calculator to determine call prices worldwideiiNet is using special VoIP hardware from its selected vendor Belkin, a technology
leader for computer and consumer electronics. Under an exclusive arrangement,
iiNet will provide leading Belkin VoIP-enabled modems and routers and ATAs to help customers easily set up their VoIP service.“We’re excited to be a part of iiNet’s innovative VoIP offering,” said Mike Bell,
Managing Director – ANZ for Belkin. “Leading VoIP hardware combined with iiNet’s premium quality voice service will enable customers to make calls in a revolutionary yet seamless manner, and reap the savings.”Customers can register for iinetphone from today, with standard connection
time for new customers averaging five to 10 working days. The Belkin VoIP hardware is available from iiNet from mid September 2005.
Gadgetman | Comments (1) | VOIP
April 13, 2005
Where is my Gadget?
You should be starting to get excited…. its out there… the technology ingredients are falling into place…
Hard Drive capacities are increasing (This animation is a crack-up)
Liquid lenses will allow small devices to zoom & focus without the need for traditional bulky glass lenses – just like your eye! (well.. for those of us without glasses at least)
WiMAX should provide DSL equivalent speeds (for those of us living close enough to cities anyway).
And then with VOIP we should be able to slash the costs of calls – to anywhere in the world!
Screens are getting more flexible
And there is even some decent software to run the thing with!
Add in to this companies like HTC (the makers of the O2 mini, and other things), Samsung (making phones with hard drives and high resolution, 7Megapixel! cameras), and Archos (who have been pushing the boundaries on portable media products ), along with many, many other companies….
And the final result of all this?
No one knows yet… but its a fair bet that Gadget Lounge readers will be lining up to order one!
Tell us what you’d like to see in your device in the forum.
Random | Comments (1) | General, Mobile Phone, Broadband, Music, Wireless, Portable, PDA, Digital Camera, VOIP
March 16, 2005
Skype Beta for OS X.
Skype 1.0.0.15 Beta for OS X has just popped up for download which includes the SkypeIN and Skype Voicemail that Windows users got last week. We’re still unsure just how much we would use either of these additions, and most will depend upon the location of the SkypeIN number, which still currently only includes France, Hong Kong S.A.R., China, and the United States (all U.K. numbers are currently sold out). Honestly, why everyone isn’t on Skype yet is beyond us.
Gadgetman | Comments (3) | VOIP
March 10, 2005
Aussie VOIP List.
Anthony J Hicks mentions today a great resource for all Aussies interested in using VOIP. OZ Internet Phones has a list of providers with Local, National, Mobile rates, and if applicable the Setup and Monthly fees. Very worth while monitoring as the options expand for us across the country. One thing’s for sure, they’ll have their work cut out keeping up with all the announcements over the next few months.
Gadgetman | Comments (0) | VOIP
March 07, 2005
Freshtel, VOIP For Australia.
Channel 9’s “A Current Affair” had a story on Freshtel tonight. Another Voice Over IP technology just made available in Australia. The great thing is the story brings the news in to the main stream, and highlights the Telstra’s strangle hold on communications around the nation.
“The big telcos have been delaying this type of technology for quite some time because it would erode their profit margins and revenue streams,” he says.
SkypeOut is still cheaper.
Gadgetman | Comments (5) | VOIP
March 04, 2005
Skype Journal.
For anyone interested in VOIP technology, you’ll be very aware of Skype. With between 1 and 2 million concurrent users at any time, the application has exploded onto the net. Recent news suggests that it is the single fastest growing application by user, with “24 million registered users” and “130,000 downloads per day today, compared to 90,000 per day in October last year and 30,000 in March”* that’s an easy stat to believe. Well today’s good news, for those who like to watch the details just like the statistics, Stuart Henshall has announced his new Skype Journal. It’s fair to say that Stuart is the most vocal Skype watcher, and certainly is the expert on the topic. All the news you could want about the technology, and definitely worth subscribing to the feed.
* Statistics from the Skype Journal.
Gadgetman | Comments (0) | VOIP
March 03, 2005
Telstra’s VOIP Trial.
We’re getting close to an all out war on residential VOIP. Currently several ISPs are running trials, and Telstra’s just announced their Melbourne trial that includes 200 users.
Telstra has revealed some details of the trial, which began this week and is due to complete in mid-April. Telstra planned to offer services to the wider public by mid-year, a spokesman said.
The trial uses IP-based soft switches, which allow home services to carry multiple phone lines and call control features. IP based home services would eventually carry other “value added” services, outgoing Telstra chief executive Dr Ziggy Switkowski said.
Services that may be added include click to call, email notification and video calling.
By mid-year we’ll have a bunch of options in the market. Our guess is that Telstra won’t be the first ISP to the market. The driving force for the service will be cheaper calls, and the range of new features.
More at AustralianIT and Telstra’s Media Release.
Gadgetman | Comments (0) | VOIP
Telstra’s VOIP Trial.
We’re getting close to an all out war on residential VOIP. Currently several ISPs are running trials, and Telstra’s just announced their Melbourne trial that includes 200 users.
Telstra has revealed some details of the trial, which began this week and is due to complete in mid-April. Telstra planned to offer services to the wider public by mid-year, a spokesman said.
The trial uses IP-based soft switches, which allow home services to carry multiple phone lines and call control features. IP based home services would eventually carry other “value added” services, outgoing Telstra chief executive Dr Ziggy Switkowski said.
Services that may be added include click to call, email notification and video calling.
By mid-year we’ll have a bunch of options in the market. Our guess is that Telstra won’t be the first ISP to offer the service for real. The driving force for the service will be cheaper calls, and the range of new features.
More at AustralianIT and Telstra’s Media Release.
Gadgetman | Comments (0) | VOIP
February 10, 2005
NetComm’s VOIP Adaptor.
ARNnet has details of NetComm’s leap into VOIP technology in Australia.
he V100 analog telephone adaptor (ATA), released this week, allows users to make VoIP calls with their standard telephone handset. The device plugs into a modem/router and uses a standard telephone port.
While some vendors have pinned their hopes on IP handsets for their first consumer VoIP product, NetComm hopes to snare them with the ATA device. “It’s cheaper than buying a new handset,” managing director, David Stewart, said.
The handset will retail for $129.
Apparently they’ve got six new VOIP products on the horizon, including a couple of handsets.
Gadgetman | Comments (0) | VOIP
February 01, 2005
Skype 1.0 for OS X and Linux.
Skype has finally come out of beta for OS X and Linux and is available as a 1.0 release. There aren’t many changes since the last build, but the important factor is the incentive for greater support.
Previously available in beta versions, Skype for Mac OS X and Skype for Linux software includes free Skype to Skype calling and conference calling for up to 5 participants, cross-platform communications, rich presence and personalization features, and the pre-pay SkypeOut service, allowing users to call any landline or mobile worldwide for the price of a local call.
Given that only 3 months ago they were celebrating their first 1 million simultaneous users and we notice they’ve got 1,718,014 as we write this, the growth is astounding.
Gadgetman | Comments (1) | VOIP
December 17, 2004
D-Link’s Image Of The Home Hub.
In the enterprise computing world there is an all out bun fight about where storage software should be run. In the servers, the switches or the disk. Each vendor has a better idea, depending on which of these they manufacture. It seems D-Link sees the same thing in the lounge room. The only difference is, they just might be on to something.
Companies like Dell and Hewlett-Packard, and software behemoth Microsoft envision the PC to be the cornerstone of digital home entertainment, capable of everything from video recording to wirelessly streaming music and pictures from desktops to stereos and televisions. On the other hand, firms like Sony and Panasonic are increasingly adding Wi-Fi connectivity and storage features to TVs, DVD players and Hi-Fi sets in their quest for living room dominance.
Both camps have their inherent weaknesses, Kao said. Given his firm’s expertise in networking products, it is of little surprise his key to unlocking the digital home rests in a “box” which combines the functionalities of many of today’s Internet-related appliances.
“There should be a box with everything in it. It acts as a firewall, router, switch, wireless access point, and can handle not only data but also voice, images and videos,” he said.
Now D-Link, it’s time to put your money where your mouth is. It isn’t that hard to converge these functionalities.
Story and interview with the D-Link CEO, Ken Kao, at CNet.
Gadgetman | Comments (0) | General, Broadband, PVR, Video, Digital TV, Console, VOIP
November 04, 2004
iiNet Re-brands And Announces Future Products.
iiNet have re-branded to”ii”. Looks nice and neat, but it’s the future announcements that will make it more compelling for the users. In an email to it’s customer base they elaborate.
“In the coming months we will be launching a new full phone service. This means you can bundle your Internet access with a very competitive and reliable home telephone service including local and distance calls, and calls to mobile.” Currently they run their iiPhone service, but it only covers mobile, national and international calls. Customers have been asking for the local service so they aren’t split between service providers.
“We have been investing in our own new broadband infrastructure. So in the very near future, we will offer extremely fast and attractive new broadband plans. If you think 1.5Mbps is fast … think again, we know you’ll be very impressed.” This is using their new hardware (known as iiSlams, more info at dslamwatch) they are installing in major exchanges around the country, using DSL2+ to get speeds up to 8Mbps. Perhaps faster.
“Early next year we will also introduce new products that will enable you to talk over your broadband Internet service (Voice Over Internet Protocol - VoIP). This will virtually give you a second phone line and very cheap call rates.” Following the trend that others are setting, and a logical step for all ISPs. It’ll be interesting to see the fees they charge for this service, and the handset hardware they’ll support in people’s homes.
All in all a great indication of the way broadband service providers are heading in Australia.
Gadgetman | Comments (0) | Broadband, VOIP
October 22, 2004
Skype’s 1 Million Simultaneous Users.
Gizmo has a nice little article on the current state of Skype’s growth.
“October 20, 2004. Today Skype reached a new milestone and had more than 1 million simultaneous users globally connected to each other at the same time. As of Tuesday, October 19, Skype has served more than 2 billion minutes of free Skype-to-Skype calling.
Skype is the fastest growing, globally available communications tool in history, the previous others were Netscape, ICQ, Hotmail & KaZaA. More than 12.9 million users from every country in the world account for over 28 million downloads of Skype software in the first 14 months. ”
Gadgetman | Comments (2) | Software, VOIP
September 27, 2004
Engin Voice Box For Sale At Dick Smith.
ARNnet has a story on Dick Smith stocking the Engin Voice Box, a Voice Over IP phone system that has the potential to reduce the cost of phone calls.
From Dick Smith’s web site :
- The Engin Voice Box can be attached to an analog, cordless or dect telephone, allowing you to make and receive phone calls as you normally would. Using Engin, you can start saving money when you make calls to other Engin customers, landlines, mobiles and international destinations
- To be able to use the Engin Voice Box you need a broadband internet connection; a modem or router; an Engin Voice Box and a credit card
- Plans start from as low as $19.95 a month
- 10c local calls untimed anytime
- 10c intercapital calls untimed anytime
- Free calls to Engin customers worldwide
- No call connection fees
- On line real time billing
- Current Engin areas where a Local geographic telephone number are allocated are Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth, Canberra, Gosford, Newcastle, and the Gold Coast, excludes Hobart.
It also has the ability to record voicemail, filter calls, caller id and forwarding.
An alternative to the hardware is a software version, they’ve sourced from Xten, that works on Windows (98, ME, 2000, XP) or Mac.
VOIP services are hitting the market thick and fast at the moment, by the end of the year we’ll have several competing services, well before Telstra’s release, which they claim won’t save people money. Though the call costs are less, it still requires that you have a broadband connection, which usually means you need to pay Telstra for a phone line anyway.
The Engin Voice Box is for sale now on Dick Smith’s web site for $AU149.
Gadgetman | Comments (1) | Broadband, Software, VOIP
September 14, 2004
VOIP Will Be Cheap, Despite Telstra.
Last week when Telstra announced their VOIP offering due next year, there was noise made by the company that calls wouldn’t be cheap as everyone expected. Fortunately there are other solutions, some due from other ISPs real soon, and other that already exist, just like Skype. DCN does a great job of rebutting Telstra’s suggestion in an article they just published.
Learn More: Cheap Cigarettes Only at Buy Discount Cigarettes
Gadgetman | Comments (0) | VOIP
September 07, 2004
More On Telstra’s VOIP Service.
We recently pointed to an article at news.com.au about Telstra’s Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) last month, and now Telstra have made it official with today’s press release. Not much more information is provided, still no pricing, but they’ve announced Lucent as their partner. More interesting is what their Technology Manager has to say. “Telstra’s investment in this area, through our partnership with Lucent Technologies, will see steady introduction of broadband voice, new services like click-to-call, email notification of voice mail, a self-service web interface for management of calls and functions, and eventually multimedia services such as video conferencing, to customers of our broadband services.”
What’ll be interesting to see is which VOIP handset they choose to sell to the end user.
Gadgetman | Comments (0) | Broadband, VOIP
August 31, 2004
Skype For OS X.
Skype for Mac OS X (Beta 0.8) has been released today. Now they have a Windows, Linux and OS X version. It includes the new SkypeOut service which allows you to call mobile phones and land lines at lower rates that most telcos. Check out our last post about the pricing for a bit more detail.
Gadgetman | Comments (0) | Broadband, VOIP
