Digital Technology for Digital Living.
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.¬†”
Gadgets boy | Comments (2) | Software, VOIPgadgets,gadget,gadgets shop, latest gadgets, new gadgets
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.
Gadgets boy | Comments (1) | Broadband, Software, VOIPgadgets,gadget,gadgets shop, latest gadgets, new gadgets
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.
Gadgets boy | Comments (0) | VOIPgadgets,gadget,gadgets shop, latest gadgets, new gadgets
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.
Gadgets boy | Comments (0) | Broadband, VOIPgadgets,gadget,gadgets shop, latest gadgets, new gadgets
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.
Gadgets boy | Comments (0) | Broadband, VOIPgadgets,gadget,gadgets shop, latest gadgets, new gadgets
August 30, 2004
Vodafone’s Future.
Vodafone has a fun site exploring what some devices might be like in the near future. Vodafone Future Site has not-yet-invented devices like personal communicators, visual bracelets, robotic cleaners, virtual billboards, location based digital maps showing a friends location, electronic paper that’s connected to the network, and a heads up display for those ever important family gatherings. It’s a Flash based site that allows you to experience some of the possibilities. Most of this technology isn’t too far off with some of the technology already in the labs, and others that we already own.
Thanks to we make money not art for the link.
Gadgets boy | Comments (0) | General, Mobile Phone, Music, PDA, Portable, VOIP, Video, Wirelessgadgets,gadget,gadgets shop, latest gadgets, new gadgets
August 25, 2004
Swiftbroadband Releases VOIP In NSW.
We mentioned on Monday Telstra’s plans for VOIP next year. Well Swiftbroadband must have listened to our advice to other ISPs and have launched their service to NSW. They recommend their 512/128 or 1500/256 ADSL connections because of at least 128 upstream data rate, which they claim is needed for the voice quality. The fees are $5.50 a month, on top of the ADSL and Telstra line rental charges, free calls to other SwiftvoiceIP customers, 15 cent local calls, 6 cents per minute nationally, 30 cents per minute to mobiles, with varying rates internationally. If you’re a heavy phone user it might be compelling. You can order online today. We’ll see more announcements from other ISPs soon.
Link via Whirlpool.
Gadgets boy | Comments (0) | Broadband, VOIPgadgets,gadget,gadgets shop, latest gadgets, new gadgets
August 23, 2004
Telstra To Offer VOIP To ADSL Customers.
It seems that all those other ISPs that are in the middle of trials before they release VOIP to their ADSL customers might want to speed up their release. News.com.au is reporting that Telstra will offer Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) for their ADSL customers starting in March next year. No pricing is available, but the report suggests 000 dialing won’t be an option, which Gadget Lounge wonders just what legal ramifications this will raise. One major issue VOIP will face is the quality of service that companies offer, and just when the first court case is held because the service didn’t work in an emergency. It’ll be interesting to see if their are any subscription fees, as call costs and hardware will play a major factor in how attractive it is to the market.
Gadgets boy | Comments (0) | Broadband, VOIPgadgets,gadget,gadgets shop, latest gadgets, new gadgets
