Archive | Communications Stories

RSS feed for this section

VoIP Blocking Explained

Dan York, Director of Emerging Communication Technology at Voxeo, but also on the Board of the Voice over IP Security Alliance (VOIPSA) has written two excellent pieces in another of his blogs, Voice of VoIPSA, discussing the blocking of VoIP calls by Aircell. The first explains how they can block Skype calls, even though they [...]

Read full story · Comments { 0 }

Voxeo: A Textbook Case for Voice 2.0 and Telecom Partnering

When fellow blogger Dan York joined Voxeo Corporation last October, very few of us in the IP-based communications blogging space had heard of this rapidly growing service provider. Over the next few months, sometimes with Dan’s assistance, Voxeo has become a familiar name identified with a self-financed startup, a profitable business and a very large [...]

Read full story · Comments { 0 }

Skype on the Airplane: Chat But No Voice

I’m constantly amazed at how some mobile phone users insist on having their cell phone conversation take priority over social niceties such as paying attention to the cashier at a store checkout, yakking out loud in an airport (or doctor’s) waiting room, or worse still, due to the implicit safety issue, holding the phone on [...]

Read full story · Comments { 0 }
Catching Up: Mobivox – Launching Voice-Enabled Conversations.

Catching Up: Mobivox – Launching Voice-Enabled Conversations.

About three weeks ago I had the opportunity to interview Mobivox’s new CEO Peter Diedrich, a telecom industry veteran who brings both telecom executive and VC-funded startup experience to the table. Mobivox has traditionally provided a low cost worldwide calling service, including free calls to Skype contacts. Key features included (i) no client downloads, (ii) [...]

Read full story · Comments { 1 }

The Reality of Convergence is Still Divergence.

I spent yesterday at a Nokia marketing event in Toronto and decided to only take my three mobile devices to see how I would deal with maintaining essential contacts and information flow (email, Twitter, Facebook, voice calls, web browsing) without having a full laptop available. The devices: a Blackberry 8820 (GSM/EDGE/WiFi), a Nokia N95 (WiFi [...]

Read full story · Comments { 0 }

Phweet – Ruthlessly Simplified Disintermediation

When I received this Twitter message earlier this afternoon: clicked on the embedded URL and immediately was listening in on a conversation involving not only Stuart Henshall but also David Beckemeyer of Televolution (producer of PhoneGnome – now known as the PhweetGeek), I found I was in for a most interesting conversation experience. Within minutes [...]

Read full story · Comments { 0 }

Toronto iPhone Launch Event: Elation and Disappointment

Last Friday morning, iPhone 3G launch day, I caught the earliest commuter train into Toronto and arrived at the Rogers “designated” Toronto iPhone launch store about 30 minutes before opening at 8 a.m. A lineup of about 150 to 200 potential customers (awaiting what turned out to be 100 units with a cap of 2 [...]

Read full story · Comments { 0 }

It’s About the User Experience I: Huh?

Over the past two weeks there have been several announcements and activities related to the personal conversation space: Skype announced its Skype 4.0 beta program trialing a “full desktop” interface. SightSpeed announced an improved SightSpeed client with many engineering improvements to enhance video and audio quality SightSpeed for Business announced a 9-party video conferencing capability [...]

Read full story · Comments { 0 }

Road Warrioring with Blackberry: Email Access in Kyrgystan

Later today my family will be celebrating the marriage of my son, a computer engineer and medical doctor, to his fiancé, a materials engineer and MBA by training, and now employed in the financial division of a resources company. Talk about how to win over the heart of her future father-in-law — she recently traveled [...]

Read full story · Comments { 0 }
IT Gets Personal: Jonathan Christensen’s Personal Experience

IT Gets Personal: Jonathan Christensen’s Personal Experience

Our choice of PC’s and the associated applications are becoming a factor in the definition of our personality:: Windows or Mac? IBM or Dell? Our smartphone choices are becoming a factor in the definition of our personality. Blackberry, iPhone or, Nokia? But just as important is how these associations are also playing a role in [...]

Read full story · Comments { 0 }