Adobe Flash 10.1 Adds P2P VoIP, Social Networking, IM The latest version of Adobe Flash Player 10.1 (still in beta) adds support for RTMFP Groups. This is huge because it enables clients to easily communicate with other clients in a network in order to share the transport of media and communications without maintaining a connection to every peer in the group. Groups can be defined by their functionality and access can be controlled by the client application, whether it's a VoIP app, chat app or a social networking app.
They also added support for Directed Routing, which enables a developer to create communication applications and send data messages to a specific peer in the group. Critical features of RTMFP include low latency (critical for VoIP), end-to-end peering capability, security and scalability.
In the past, in order to scale you have to add additional Flash Media Servers, but with RTMFP Groups you can instead have application-level multicast for increased scalability. As seen in the graphic below, with Flash 10.1, you can have a very scalable 1-to-many (mesh architecture) leveraging the RTMP protocol, Status 2.0, and P2P communication.
According to the Flash Player 10.1 release notes, peer-assisted networking requires "Stratus", which you can read about on Adobe Labs. Because the RTMFP protocol now supports groups, this enables an application to segment its users to send messages and data only between members of the group. Application level multicast provides one (or a few) -to-many streaming of continuous live video and audio live video chat using RTMFP groups. Thus, you can imagine that you can build a scalable Skype P2P VoIP network using Flash Player 10.1 along with Status. You could even build a videoconferencing application that can scale to dozens or hundreds of video participants. Considering Skype isn't known for it's multi-party videoconferencing, this could have huge implications for videoconferencing service providers. According to Adobe, Stratus is a hosted peer introduction service that facilitates establishing communication between Flash Player clients or Adobe AIR endpoints using RTMFP. Flash Player endpoints must stay connected to the server during the entire time of communications. Unlike Flash Media Server, Stratus does not stream video or support media relay, shared objects, or scripting. Stratus is being made available as a beta service through Adobe Labs to allow the developer community to begin building applications using RTMFP.
No doubt you may be thinking, "What is the difference between Stratus and a Flash Media Server?" Adobe explains, "When using Stratus, all data is encrypted and sent directly from client to client without touching a server. In comparison, applications using Flash Media Server (and RTMP), data always flows through the server consuming both upload and download bandwidth from the server and clients. Stratus is a preview service that has limitations including no custom server programming and no remote shared object support."
Adobe said, "RTMFP groups let developers create interactive social experiences that can be used to increase engagement times within web applications or support higher quality media experiences within your company's network. Interactive applications like webcam chat, voice over IP, text chat can be built into solutions like live help, dating sites, company communication, marketing or advertising can all be created using RTMFP. RTMFP groups will enable new forms of communication including application-level multicast for scalable audio, video and data distribution."
RTMFP communication is UDP based. It is always encrypted, and can traverse NATs and firewalls. Alexey from Flaphone,com tipped me about the new Flash capabilities has some interesting perspectives on the new Flash 10.1 player. He said, "With new features of Flash Player 10.1 (RTMFP groups) everything changes, now peers from RTMFP group will help you to do P2P media transfer if direct P2P connection between some 2 peers from the group isn't possible. If you think a little it will become obvious that Flash Player (FP) can be used to create P2P-networks like Skype's one, root servers will only deal with signaling and will help clients to join groups with peers that can help in media delivery."
Of course, I wrote about Adobe getting into the VoIP space way back in 2006 and we really haven't seen a Flash-based VoIP application take off. Is Adobe finally going to crack the VoIP space with a killer P2P Flash Player that supports P2P VoIP, P2P IM, etc. that people actually use? It's no wonder Adobe is ticked that Apple won't allow Flash on the iPhone or iPad. Imagine a Flash-based VoIP app for the popular iPhone (or iPad) platform. That could have been a huge win for Adobe. It'll be interesting to see the adoption of Adobe's P2P technology. But for now, it'll be on the desktop only.
The House passed the "Truth in Caller ID Act of 2010", which under the bill, it makes it illegal "to cause any caller ID service to transmit misleading or inaccurate caller ID information, with the intent to defraud and deceive." According to the bill, "To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to prohibit manipulation of caller identification information, and for other purposes". That's funny, I didn't think they had Caller ID way back in 1934?
The bill states, "It shall be unlawful for any person within the United States, in connection with any real time voice communications service, regardless of the technology or network utilized, to cause any caller ID service to transmit misleading or inaccurate caller ID information, with the intent to defraud or deceive." So as shown in bold, VoIP is covered as well.
Fortunately, you can block your CallerID still, as the bill reads, "PROTECTION FOR BLOCKING CALLER ID IN FORMATION.--Nothing in this subsection may be construed to prevent or restrict any person from blocking the capability of any caller ID service to transmit caller ID information."
I guess no more spoofing the White House number or other famous people's phone number.
The bill gives an exemption for law enforcement, intelligence, and "political subdivision of a State". Not sure what that last one entails. Sounds like politicians get an exemption. Great, so now they can call my house and spoof their CallerID so I take their call.
Panoramic 360° Video Controllable Via Mouse We've all seen cool panoramic photos. Also, many of us may have been to amusement parks where they have white domes projecting 360° video on the dome. Though there is a lot of distortion when using curved walls. Not exactly a "true" life-like 360° experience. I've also seen real estate websites let you virtually explore a home with your mouse in 360°, but it's still photos - not video.
Well, a Dutch company called yellowBird has some very innovative technology that brings true life-like 360° video to the PC. I checked out the skiing demo and WOW! Amazing how I was able to use my mouse and while the video is playing drag my cursor and change my viewing angle a full 360 degrees! Now if only it were in 3D!
Check out this 360 degree panoramic video which is a collage of various videos yellowBird took. Make sure to click & move your mouse on the video:
"We have completed 360 projects for a variety of projects including capturing music festivals, landscapes, advertising concepts for big business and exclusive parties all in interactive 360 video. We have been covered in the BBC's Click and will soon be featured on Channel 5's The Gadget Show (UK)."
They added, "From creating 360 degree adverts to unique concert experiences using live streaming, the yellowBird 360 Video system films and presents in nearly double HD quality whilst also letting users interact and create their own movie."
The special 360° camera rig can be mounted on a car, helicopter, high rig, or even to a person skiing down a mountain capturing passing skiers. For you skiing fans check out the skiing footage at player.yb.nl/laax
YellowBird told TMCnet, "Once the footage is recorded it's stitched and polished in our post-production studio in Groningen, The Netherlands and then pasted onto a virtual sphere wherin the user is positioned in the centre. Our yellowBird Flash Player enables the viewer to interactively control which direction they see without stitching lines. We host the content on our own servers in order to virtually eliminate buffering times."
The added, "The applications of this technology are truly limitless. We are currently working with established music artists to provide a new dimension to the live concert experience that can also generate another source of income. Additionally, this creates a new opportunity for viral marketing campaigns which now can be truly interactive and draw the viewer closer to the brand's message in a fun and engaging way. Our 5 minute video for T-Mobile 's "Sing-a-long" in London was watched on average for 7 minutes, for example."
Cool technology. Not sure if this will take off, but definitely worth checking out for the coolness factor.
Twitter's Biz Stone just reeled off some key, and very long awaited stats at Chirp. The stats:
Twitter has 105,779,710 registered users.
It gets 300,000 new users a day.
It receives 180 Million Unique visitors a month.
And 75% of traffic comes from outside of Twitter.com
Can I call major BS? I'm a fan of Twitter, but there's no way there are 300,000 legitimate new users each day.
Let me fix it for ya:
It gets 300,000 new users a day, including 120,000 spammers/gamers/bots, 100,000 real users, and 80,000 real users who will use Twitter for a day and then abandon it wondering "What's the big deal with Twitter? I don't get it." So really 80,000 legit long-term Twitter users per day. But that's just my opinion.
Opera Mini iPhone Review Opera Mini has just been approved and is available in the Apple App Store. I have to admit Opera Mini was my favorite browser on my old clunky Apache 6700 Windows Mobile 6.5 phone. It was lightning fast. Opera Mini uses caching servers to compress images and text before sending the content down to your mobile device, which is what makes it so fast.
I downloaded and tested Opera Mini on my iPhone 3GS this morning and here are my thoughts. First, the speed is indeed lightning fast - Safari doesn't hold a candle to the speed of Opera Mini. However, on occasion when trying to open a link Opera Mini hesitates - probably because their caching server is over loaded. But once a page starts loading, don't blink because it's that fast.
It supports full screen mode, but unless I'm missing something it isn't truly full-screen. All it does is hide the bottom Opera Mini taskbar (Back, Forward, tabs, Settings). The top taskbar shows the typical AT&T text + number of signal bars, clock, and battery life as shown here:
I'm not sure why Opera Mini doesn't hide these like other full screen browsers for the iPhone do. For example, my favorite iPhone browser is iCab Mobile and it sports a truly full-screen experience as shown here: Note how there are NO taskbars at the top or bottom and all you see for controls are the faded-out controls in each of the 4 corners, plus slightly off-center at the bottom. (Back, Forward, full screen toggle, tabs, and bookmarks). This is how full-screen browsing should look on the iPhone!
One big plus for Opera Mini over Safari is that is has a built-in History feature. Why Safari doesn't have it is beyond me. (Update: Safari has a History feature as well, I just never noticed it under Bookmarks) The History feature is quite handy. Relatedly, the Bookmarks feature worked as expected and is identical in functionality to just about any iPhone browser's bookmark feature-set, including Safari.
One really nifty feature is the Search on page feature. You enter your keyword and it'll highlight the first keyword. You can then click Next to view the new occurrence, as shown here:
Opera Mini also lets you Save Pages for offline viewing - very nice if traveling. I tested this and loading Saved Pages is blazingly fast.
I should point out that there are only 2 zoom levels with all Opera mini browsers. This is due to how they cache the web page. They basically cache a full-screen version and a zoomed in version. This takes awhile to get used to if you are used to the traditional pinch and zoom to set your level of zoom. However, most savvy iPhone users only really use 2 zoom levels - even in Safari. Typically you double-tab a column of text to zoom to that column with the text zoomed to fit the entire iPhone screen width. So the 2 levels of zoom isn't really a drawback.
Any video supported on Safari is supported on Opera Mini. So if you see an embedded YouTube video, .mp4, etc. Opera Mini will kick off the Quicktime player to play the video. It doesn't support embedded video playback, but neither does Safari.
While Safari is limited to 8 number of tabs, Opera Mini gives you a couple more limiting you to 10 tabs. The tab preview is pretty cool showing you a card deck with graphical representations of each of your tabs as seen here:
You can copy text on a web page similar to Safari, though with a minor extra step. You first hold your finger on the screen and then choose Select Text. Then you highlight the text you want. Unfortunately, you have to select correctly in one shot, since it doesn't let you move the selection window. Lastly, you are presented with the option to Copy. However, it gives you a couple of other options, including: Search (via Google), Search With (Google, Amazon, eBay, Wikipedia). This is a nice feature. You can also manage your Search Engines. Interestingly, you cannot delete Google, but you can delete any of the others. You can also edit them and in put in your own favorite search engine. However, the icon is locked, so if you edit the Amazon entry to search somewhere else, it'll still have the Amazon logo. It doesn't appear you can add a new search engine. In fact, I deleted the eBay search engine just as a test and now I can't get it back. I would have liked to have used the eBay search entry and mapped it to Techmeme or Yahoo! or somewhere else. Might have to reinstall to get it back.
One last cool feature is the Start Page which gives you a 3X3 grid with 9 total thumbnails of your favorite websites. This gives you nice quick access to your favorite sites. It comes pre-loaded with a few - including My Opera, Facebook, Twitter, New York Times, and Accuweather as shown here:
Conclusion: Is the Opera Mini speed over Safari worth switching? Good question. Without trying to hedge my bets, I would say "maybe". If you've got a really fast Wi-Fi connection, there may not be much of a speed performance to switch. However, if on a slow 3G or Edge connection, you'll definitely want to switch. But then the issue arises "who wants to have multiple browsers open?". You use more RAM and it can be a PITA to keep switching. So for that reason you may just want to simply jump ship off off Safari and go with Opera Mini. Plus when you add in the Saved Pages feature, search in page feature, History, and pseudo full-screen mode and you have some seriously compelling reasons to switch. I still like iCab Mobile though because it has more screen real-estate due to the "true" full screen mode. But I will play with Opera Mini for a few weeks and see if it's time to jump ship.
maybe I misunderstood what you're saying but Safari on the iPhone certainly has a history function and it works as one expects, you can access it via your bookmarks. Am I crazy?
(Big T on
Apr 14, 2010 12:54 PM)
Unless I'm missing something you can't play QuickTime movies in Opera. Links either don't show up or show a link to the QuickTime download page. Does it work for you? If so, did you do anything special to make it work?
Whatever videos play in Safari ALSO play in Opera Mini. Both browsers simply launch the Quicktime player. Not all Quicktime movies play on the iPhone, so maybe you're hitting a website with a Quicktime format not supported by an iPhone in either Safari or Opera Mini.
Ok, that's odd. I had this working the other day, now I can't get videos to play. Tried Youtube and Collegehumor.com. I forget what site I had the video working on though.
(Big T on
Apr 14, 2010 4:47 PM)
I tried it on Youtube and the Apple site which I know they work on and I just got blank links. I did try the same sites using Safari and the videos played. I'm sure they'll fix it with an update soon if enough people complain about it.
I checked my history to try and see which site it was that worked for me, but it doesn't appear that Opera Mini keeps a very long history. Hopefully they fix this soon.
Blackra1n on iPad Jailbreak!
George Hotz, aka Geohot has done it again - an iPad jailbreak! Geohot released an image (above) showing his jailbreak tool blackra1n on the home screen of his iPad. I'm a huge fan of Geohot since I used his blackra1n tool to jailbreak my iPhone to get glorious Categories, background apps/multi-tasking, theming, and all the other joys that come with jailbreaking. Interestingly, he's a fan of VoIP since I see Skype on his home screen. Even more reason for me to like this guy.
This is huge news for iPad users and iPad owner wannabees looking forward to a public jailbreak for the iPad. He has hasn't released the tool yet for download, so he must be working out the kinks -- but fear not iPad fans - it's coming... it's coming. And make sure when it does to give geohot a nice donation for his hard work.
Skype recently released a new version that includes more stability,
iPad support, landscape mode improvements and more. Still no push
notifications and there never will be. But that is a story for another
day.
Netflix on iPhone Tease The big news last week was Netflix's announcement of a Netflix app for the new Apple iPad. Meanwhile, iPhone fans groaned that Netflix still hasn't released a streaming app for the popular and much more prevalent iPhone mobile phone. Fortunately Netflix has heard your cries and responded with the following:
Steve Swasey, VP of Corporate Communications, here. Terrific response to our news today about Netflix on the iPad. For those of you asking whether Netflix will be on the iPhone and iPod Touch: We wouldn't invite you to dinner without planning to serve dessert. In other words, we're working on it so stay tuned.
Netflix is one of my favorite methods for streaming movies and catching up on TV series I hadn't watched before, like Heroes, which I just started watching. I was curious if 'maybe' Netflix might have released the iPhone version sooner than people thought, so thought I'd search the App Store. Even if it wasn't there, there might be any new Netflix queue management apps for the Phone I want to check out (I currently use PhoneFlicks). So I searched the App Store on my iPhone and Lo and behold, I saw a new one called 'netflix, Inc."!
Whoah! I immediately realized this had to be Netflix "corporate" and not a 3rd party Netflix application. Netflix has never had an official app on the iPhone. Did they release the streaming app for the iPhone already? Check out the screenshot from my iPhone:
New reports from Infonetics that I thought I'd share. They discuss how hosted VoIP services and unified communications will increase and they talk about capital expenditures on enterprise VoIP equipment. One point I'd like to highlight is they stated "Service provider revenue from residential/SOHO and business VoIP services increased 20% between 2008 and 2009, to $41.6 billion". Even in this prolonged recession, VoIP is still growing strong with no signs of slowing down! Although they also stated that in 4Q09, worldwide sales of enterprise unified communication, VoIP, and TDM equipment together only grew 3% sequentially. Also, For the 2009 year, revenue dropped 21%, from $10.4 billion to $8.2 billion. Not good.
Interesting how hosted/service provider VoIP grew by 20%, while enterprise VoIP languished with only 3%. Of course, companies that are looking to save money on short-term expenditures will look at hosted VoIP since it has a much lower upfront cost vs. purchasing an IP-PBX. The good news is that Infonetics predicts that revenue to grow in 2010, led by pure IP PBX phone systems, as worldwide economic conditions improve.
The reports also highlight how NEC and Aastra made "big gains" in the IP-PBX space. Well, Aastra is new to the IP-PBX game, so no doubt they'd see a huge percentage increase. However, NEC has been in the game awhile, so good to see them getting some market share. The more competition the better. Can't all be about Cisco and Avaya (and soon perhaps Microsoft with Wave 14 OCS)
The 3 voice over IP and unified communications reports Infonetics Research published include:
- Communication Expenditures and IP PBX Vendor Ratings: North American Enterprise Survey
- VoIP and UC Services and Subscribers, a market size, share, and forecast report tracking business and residential/SOHO (small office/home office) voice over IP services
- Enterprise Unified Communication, VoIP, and TDM Equipment, a quarterly market size, share, and forecast report (fourth quarter edition)
ANALYST NOTES
"The enterprise telephony market was hit hard in 2009 due to the recession, but based on the latest quarterly shipment figures and results from our March 2010 survey of North American enterprises about IP PBX spending, it appears that the bleeding has stopped and 2010 promises to be a better year, good news for vendors and service providers alike. From our IP PBX survey, it appears that businesses are increasingly embracing a hosted services model, as their capacity needs will depend on how robust the economic recovery is, and hosted services allow them to more easily ramp their capacity needs up and down without a huge cash layout for equipment," notes Matthias Machowinski, directing analyst for enterprise voice and data at Infonetics Research.
Diane Myers, directing analyst for service provider VoIP and IMS at Infonetics Research, adds: "VoIP services sold to the residential/SOHO market still make up the lion's share (about three-quarters) of total VoIP service revenue, but we saw a pickup in business VoIP service revenue growth in late 2009 and service providers report that they are seeing increasing interest in hosted VoIP services across all sizes of businesses, including large enterprises. We expect this trend to continue as more companies turn to hosted services for their voice needs, with business VoIP services making up almost a third of all VoIP service revenue by 2014."
IP PBX ENTERPRISE SURVEY HIGHLIGHTS
- Most phone extensions today are delivered via IP PBXs, having out-shipped TDM PBXs for years, and are finally taking up a sizable share of the installed base
- Businesses expect to increase their phone extensions at a slightly higher-than-normal growth rate over the next 2 years (15%), which can be attributed to hiring and growing following the recession
- Virtually all future growth in phone extensions will come from IP platforms, whether hosted or customer-owned
- Applications expenditures are expected to rise 14% in 2010; they will play a crucial role in increasing an organization's efficiency and employee productivity
- Cisco leads the list of deployed IP PBX vendors by far, with 18% of respondents have Cisco installed today
VOIP AND UNIFIED COMMUNICATION SERVICES MARKET HIGHLIGHTS
- Service provider revenue from residential/SOHO and business VoIP services increased 20% between 2008 and 2009, to $41.6 billion
- IP connectivity services are the fastest growing segment of the business VoIP services market, followed by hosted VoIP and unified communication services and managed IP PBX services
- The sweet spot of the North American IP Centrex services market continues to be small businesses (fewer than 100 employees), although service providers are increasingly signing new customers with more than 100 employees
- Central and Latin America (CALA) saw the strongest revenue growth for VoIP services in 2009, led by the residential VoIP segment, which jumped 84%
- The number of residential/SOHO VoIP subscribers grew 24% in 2009 to 132 million worldwide
- Japan's NTT, Comcast in North America, and France Télécom are the world's largest VoIP service providers, together holding roughly 20% of the world's residential and SOHO VoIP subscribers
4Q09 ENTERPRISE VOIP AND UC EQUIPMENT MARKET HIGHLIGHTS
- In 4Q09, worldwide sales of enterprise unified communication, VoIP, and TDM equipment together grew 3% sequentially, to $2.2 billion
- For the 2009 year, revenue dropped 21%, from $10.4 billion to $8.2 billion
- Revenue is expected to see a lift in 2010, led by pure IP PBX phone systems, as worldwide economic conditions improve
- Cisco continues to lead the pure IP PBX system market, although their annual revenue is down in 2009 from 2008, while NEC and Aastra made big gains in this segment
- Worldwide IP phone shipments continue to recover from their low point in early 2009, up 8% in 4Q09 from 3Q09 and up 7% from 4Q08 (one year prior)
REPORT SYNOPSES
For the Communication Expenditures and IP PBX Vendor Ratings: North American Enterprise Survey, published in March 2010, Infonetics asked IP PBX phone system purchase decision-makers at 113 US and Canadian companies about their 2010-2012 buying plans, the type of equipment being deployed, expenditures, communication infrastructure requirements, and vendors - including vendor brand awareness, vendors installed and under evaluation, vendor familiarity, vendor ratings, and top three IP PBX vendors. Respondents rated 6 IP PBX vendors (Avaya, Cisco, Microsoft, Mitel, NEC, Nortel) on 8 criteria: reliability, security, features, price-to performance ratio, pricing, financial stability, service and support, ease of use.
Infonetics' biannual VoIP and UC Services and Subscribers report provides worldwide and regional market size, forecasts, and analysis of residential/SOHO VoIP services, business VoIP and UC services, and residential/SOHO VoIP subscribers. Business voice services tracked include managed IP PBX services, hosted VoIP and unified communication services (IP Centrex by business size, UC applications, UC telephony), and IP connectivity services (VoIP VPN/IP access, SIP trunking, IP integrated access). Consumer VoIP subscriber market share is provided for AT&T, Cablevision, Charter, Comcast, Cox, Embratel NetFone, France Télécom, Free, KDDI, LG Dacom, LibertyGlobal, NTT, ONO, PCCW, Portugal Telecom, Rogers, SFR, SK Broadband, SoftBank, Tele2 Netherlands, Telecom Italia, Time Warner Cable, Vonage, and others. The report includes a VoIP Service Provider Leadership Matrix for North America and EMEA, analyzing and ranking the top IP Centrex and IP connectivity service providers.
Infonetics' quarterly Enterprise Unified Communication, VoIP, and TDM Equipment report tracks 3Com, Aastra, AudioCodes, Alcatel-Lucent, Avaya, Cisco, Dialogic, D-Link, Mitel, NEC, Nortel, NET/Quintum, Samsung, ShoreTel, Siemens, Tadiran, Toshiba, Vertical, and others. The report provides worldwide and regional market size, market share, analysis, and forecasts through 2014 for TDM PBX and KTS systems, hybrid and pure IP PBX systems, IP PBX by system size, VoIP gateways, unified communication applications (communicator, unified messaging), IP desk phones and IP soft phones.
FaceTime Vantage - The Ultimate Unified Communications Compliance Tool As I have mentioned in the past, controlling and monitoring Skype usage in the enterprise is very difficult. It is Skype's ability to work on any network, regardless of the types of NAT, proxy, firewall, or intrusion prevention systems that have helped make Skype such a popular application. It is this same set of characteristics that has made Skype the bane of many corporate network managers that wish to control what applications run on their network.
FaceTime Communications (www.facetime.com) today announced the release of Vantage, a software solution for the security, management and compliance of real time and unified communications, including Skype. Vantage is the successor to FaceTime's IMAuditor, (note the name change) and it expands the support for UC platforms such as Microsoft Office Communications Server (OCS) and IBM Lotus Sametime and for the first time provides stringent security and compliance controls for Skype in the enterprise.
Most notable among the features integral to Vantage are extensive support for OCS Group Chat, compliance archiving and ethical wall creation for Microsoft Live Meeting and support for Call Admission Control (CAC) to manage resource allocation. Support is also provided for logging IBM Lotus Sametime announcements, file transfer capture, scanning and controls and a host of compliance features including ethical walls, inline disclaimers and data leak prevention.
In addition to controlling who can use Skype, the software also records the Skype instant messages, controls whether file transfers are allowed, and can control when VoIP or video can be used. Importantly, you can even prevent Skype clients from becoming a supernode.
Vantage lets you map Skype buddy names to employees for ease of tracking and reporting. In fact, integration with Microsoft's Active Directory enables you to easily link the Skype buddy names to individual employees. Additionally, you can insert disclaimer message into IM conversations.
In addition to logging the IM messages sent out, you can prevent confidential information from leaking out by scanning IM messages for words or phrases. The software supports regular expressions for powerful filtering capabilities. Relatedly, you can filter URLs sent by employees.
How does it work? Because Skype traffic is encrypted the software uses a desktop plug-in that interacts with Skype allowing it to process all messages. If a user attempts to launch Skype without the Skype add-on, they can be blocked from accessing the Skype network.
The Dashboard provides a nice overview of IM interactions going on in your organization and includes the most active chat employees and flagged transcripts.
Vantage claims to be the first security and management solution to support Skype, including logging and checking of all messages according to company policy, while still allowing Skype traffic to be transmitted and received encrypted as usual. Should an employee use unsanctioned content in a Skype conversation, the text is automatically replaced with a customized phrase. Vantage enables the control of Skype features (chat only, no file transfers, no voice access, etc.) and integrates with Microsoft's Active Directory to link Skype buddy names to individual employees. I asked about Cisco Unified Presence (CUPS) support and they said that they are currently working on it.
As organizations look to extend their collaboration outside of the enterprise network, the Vantage policy framework allows granular policies to be defined between groups of employees and for communications with non-employees through federation and PIC (public IM connectivity). Vantage enables the management of users outside of the organization through either domain-based groups or through the concept of registered non-employees - protecting and restricting communications by employees with unregistered individuals.
New Unified Communications features incorporated in Vantage include:
Compliance disclaimers, ethical walls, archiving and auditing for Microsoft OCS Group Chat;
Microsoft Live Meeting archiving and reporting;
Configurable "Poison Room" policies for ethical wall enforcement in Live Meeting sessions;
OCS session data recording and reporting;
OCS Call Admission Control policy management and reporting;
IBM Lotus Sametime announcements logging and auditing, and;
Ethical wall, custom disclaimers, file transfer support for IBM Lotus Sametime
Vantage offers granular security, policy controls and compliance features for real time and unified communications (UC) - providing management for the widest variety of UC and real time communications platforms; including Microsoft OCS and IBM Lotus Sametime, public instant messaging platforms such as Windows Live and Skype, web conferencing and industry focused networks like Reuters, Bloomberg and YellowJacket.
Even cooler, their platform can read the SMS messages on a Blackberry (BES) server (.csv format), pull it into their database for reporting and full HIPAA compliance. Thus, their solution also addresses another major communications angle - namely mobile phones - if you use Blackberries in the enterprise. Currently, for SMS support they only support Blackberries since Windows Mobile, iPhone, and other mobile O/Ses don't have a method of sharing or accessing the SMS messages in a reliable fashion that cannot be disabled by the employee. For instance, they told me that they are evaluating an iPhone app that can access the SMS messages and copy them to their platform, but the problem is that an employee can uninstall the app.
Pricing and Availability Vantage is available immediately through FaceTime's authorized partners from $8,675.
Egypt Bans Mobile VoIP Egypt has banned international calls made through mobile VoIP internet connections, including Skype. This is obviously a big win for landline monopoly Telecom Egypt.
"The ban will apply to the three mobile operators in Egypt -- Mobinil, Etisalat Egypt and Vodafone Egypt -- who offer internet access for computers via USB and other mobile modems, as well as via mobile phone."
"The ban is on Skype on mobile internet, not on fixed, and this is due to the fact it is against the law since it bypasses the legal gateway," said Amr Badawy, the executive president of the National Telecommunication Regulatory Authority (NTRA).
Under Egyptian law, international calls must pass through a network controlled by majority state-owned Telecom Egypt, which this week reported disappointing earnings.
While only mentioning Skype by name, Badawy did not rule out extending the ban to other services in the future.
"We are targeting any illegal voice traffic on the mobile (internet)," Badawy said, adding that the ban was communicated to the three mobile operators earlier this week. "Any traffic outside the international gateway is against the law."
What's interesting is that according to the article, the NTRA had "tolerated" mobile internet telephony until they recently saw a drop in international call volumes. They then pushed them to tell Egypt's operators to enforce the ban. apparently, the United Arab Emirates said on Monday it would not yet give VoIP licenses to international companies like Skype. Is there any free market competition in the Middle East?
Hmmm... Free market enterprise (competition) vs. Government controlled (monopoly)
Reminds me of this contentious debate: Free market enterprise in healthcare vs. Government controlled healthcare
Glad I live in America where the majority of Americans still support free market enterprise. After all, who is it that works at the these enterprises? We do! We the People do. I love it how some 'spin' it as the big evil corporations. So are the people who work there 'evil'? Granted, corporations can be greedy, but at least they're greedy with their own money. They at least try to be the most profitable by keeping costs down and running efficiently. Government on the other hand, which spends "other people's money" via tax dollars, is notoriously bad at keeping costs down and running a tight ship. The Pentagon spent $600 on a toilet seat and $750 for a hammer. You really think government-run healthcare will cut costs?
Truly, I want to believe my government can help the needy and uninsured - who doesn't feel for someone who can't afford health insurance? But I fear they'll screw it up, just like every other major entitlement program, including Social Security going bankrupt, Medicare going bankrupt, and Medicaid going bankrupt.
Heck, just today, Walgreens announced no more Medicaid patients as of April 16th, because "filling their prescriptions is a money-losing proposition." That is the future under ObamaCare!
There is no utopia where everyone gets healthcare... there is no unlimited tax revenue... there is no unlimited printing of American dollars to pay for this.
I say we do healthcare reform, but sensible reform. Start with these 3 things: 1) Allow purchasing of insurance across state lines. This will increase competition and drive costs down. 2) Malpractice Tort reform. Frivolous lawsuits will cause the suing party to pay the defendant's lawyer fees. They'll think twice about trying to make a free buck. 3) Offer up to a $5000 tax credit if you purchase health insurance.
Ok, I'm going to end my rant now. Let's end on a positive note...
Go democracy! Go free market enterprise! Go mobile VoIP. Go Egypt hackers to enable mobile VoIP freedom!
Windows Phone 7 Series - No Copy / Paste? WHAT??? Remember how Apple blew a lot of good will with their iPhone fans when Apple didn't include copy & paste and arrogantly claimed it wasn't needed? Other than background app support (still not available unless you jailbreak), copy/paste was the #1 complaint for the iPhone. Apple finally relented, added copy/paste and iPhone users around the world rejoiced!
Surely, Microsoft would not make the same mistake with their new forthcoming Windows Phone 7 Series mobile phones, right?
Well, would you believe Windows Phone 7 Series won't have copy/paste functionality? Are you freaking kidding me? Are you serious?
Having Netflix streaming (using Silverlight) on the Windows Phone 7 Series was making me consider switching from my iPhone to a Windows Phone 7, but my dreams have been dashed once I learned of no copy/paste. You just lost lost a potential customer Microsoft. Great job! Let me add this to my list of things wrong with Windows Phone 7.
Debit Card Fraud - No Wonder They Get Away With It - Banks are Clueless! I'm a busy guy, so sometimes I don't check my bank statement and debit purchases for a couple of months. Well, today I see a strange debit charge for $146.25 made on 1/12/2010 - over 2 months ago. Here's the strange part - the address for the debit charge was listed as "110 Richards Ave Norwalk, CT." "Boy," I thought to myself, "that address sure sounds familiar. I think it's the Trans-Lux building."
Sure enough, I Google the address and it's for the Trans-Lux building I used to work in several years ago - so I'm quite familiar with this building and its tenants. TMC moved its editorial staff, art department, and TMC Labs into this additional building for awhile due to fast growth. This building, known as the Trans-Lux building had several corporate tenants, however the property filed for foreclosure, so there are no more tenants there that could possibly charge my debit card.
Not only would I remember if I used my debit card at my prior office, but again, there are no more tenants there - it's abandoned and even has some graffiti on its walls. Maybe it's backpay for the damage I did in TMC Labs while hammering and testing products at the ole' Trans-Lux offices. I may have chucked a product or two against the wall, floor, etc. - for you know - durability testing. Or that time I nearly burned the building down - or at least took out the building's electrical grid. Ok, so I exaggerate.
Damn it, has my debit card and PIN been cloned? Surely, the banks wouldn't allow a bogus address to appear on my bank statement.
I asked my wife if she knew what this charge was for and she had no idea. She would have to drive 32 miles from home to use it at this location, so I was doubtful she was to blame.
Finally, I decided to call Citibank. Let me just say they were absolutely useless. Let me recite the conversation. [trimmed for brevity]
another bad debit card out there is NEXIS Card. Folks,Stay away from this card. They charge for everything, They decline your credit even if your account is reloaded. The consumers department should be alerted!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I know what you mean. I recently noticed a $15(est.) charge to my debit card that I couldn't account for. With little to go on other than what was under the description section on my online account, which read "www.freec..." and nothing after the "c", I tried Googling, but found nothing of relevance. The next day it dawned on me that a few months ago I had ordered my so-called "free" credit report for something like $30 from www.freecreditreport.com (www.freec). The problem is that somewhere along the way they tricked me into siging up for a $15 per month identity theft/credit protection program, which I've since cancelled. Jerks!
Microsoft today announcedTrueColor Technology which they claim enhances the color and brightness of webcam video in the worst of lighting conditions. True Color Technology is a new image processing technology that automatically adjusts the picture quality to provide more colorful video. It does this through a proprietary combination of software and firmware technology. TrueColor Technology actually leverages face tracking technology developed by Microsoft Research, which can detect a person's face and help ensure it's not overexposed or underexposed, so the video call picture looks great even in the most challenging lighting scenarios.
Microsoft also announced 3 new LifeCam models that support TrueColor Technology. All of these new LifeCam models support TrueColor Technology, , 720p HD sensors, and Auto Focus technology.
LifeCam HD-5000
LifeCam HD-5001
LifeCam HD-6000 for Notebooks
Not used to the square 'boxy" look for a USB camera, but if the resolution and quality is as good as they say it is, I might buy one even if isn't as "sleek" looking as i would like. The LifeCam HD-5000 and the LifeCam HD-5001 will be available later this month for the estimated retail price of $49.95 and the LifeCam HD-6000 for Notebooks will be available in May for the estimated retail price of $59.95. The LifeCam HD-5000 and LifeCam HD-6000 for Notebooks will be available for pre-sale on Amazon.com and Buy.com starting today.
TrueColor Technology will be available via a software download for LifeCam Cinema, which is already broadly available at http://www.microsoft.com/hardware/downloads/default.mspx.So if you're a current LifeCam user you'll be able to get the LifeCam software and a firmware update for the LifeCam Cinema available now that adds the TrueColor Technology. Sweet!
AudioCodes SPS Brings Microsoft OCS Features to Legacy SIP Phones Some very interesting news from AudioCodes with the launch of AudioCodes' SIP Phone Support (SPS) for Microsoft Microsoft Office Communications Server (OCS). AudioCodes is well known for their VoIP gateway products - well think of SPS as a gateway between SIP IP phones and Microsoft OCS. Essentially, AudioCodes' SPS enables connectivity to Microsoft Office Communications Server using standard SIP IP phones, which then adds OCS's powerful UC functionality, including presence into your existing IP phone infrastructure.
You get even more powerful features if you use AudioCodes phones, including support for Microsoft's wideband RTA codec. SPS enables the connection of the AudioCodes 300HD IP Phone Series with Microsoft Office Communications Server, while providing Office Communications Server features, such as enhanced presence, active directory, and support for Real Time Audio (RTA) - Microsoft's high-definition, wideband coder. A direct connection to Office Communications Server is supported both for currently installed phones and newer models, as well as connecting mobile phones using AudioCodes' Mobile Clients, utilizing AudioCodes' gateway technology.
This isn't the first time a SIP phone has integrated Microsoft OCS functionality. snom has a special firmware load that enables OCS functionality, however it is a special firmware load and it only works on their SIP phones. The AudioCodes SPS product changes the game by allowing any major SIP phone to work with Microsoft OCS.
"Office Communications Server 2007 R2 has been a game changer for our customers, providing enhanced communications, significant ROI, and short time frames for payback. The ease by which any telecommunications environment can be UC-enabled with Office Communications Server 2007 is truly unique in the industry", said Hugh Oakes, Managing Director Time2Market.
"Now with AudioCodes' SPS, it's even easier and more cost-effective to migrate to Office Communications Server 2007 R2. The requirement of changing out your legacy handsets is mitigated, we can leverage the SIP handsets already in place. The ability to use the existing handsets makes the migration to Unified Communications even more cost-effective and provides yet another reason why we always recommend that our customers deploy Office Communications Server with AudioCodes' gateways". Time2Market is a Microsoft Gold Certified partner with the coveted voice specialization.
Enterprises migrating into the Microsoft Unified Communications environment have been showing great interest in enabling cost-effective IP Phones to connect to Office Communications Server. According to Synergy Research, the current installed base of IP Phones in the market is approximately 65 million. By 2014, around 20 million new IP Phones will be sold annually. Most of these phones have not had direct access to Microsoft Office Communications Server. Gartner Magic Quadrant for Unified Communications 2009 stated that "Enterprises looking into UC, particularly those with Microsoft applications already in place, should understand the Microsoft portfolio, because it represents a new paradigm for communication by a market leader. Microsoft's solution, while comprehensive, is also the basis for a range of partner offerings". Based on the Microsoft leadership and customers' demand for partner solutions, customers can now protect their existing investment in third-party IP-Phones, while enjoying the full benefits of the Microsoft infrastructure, including unified call control, integration with their Microsoft Office Communicator, presence information and more.
IP phones connected to Office Communications Server through SPS can be used as a desktop phone for Microsoft Office Communications Server, for locations without PC workstations or for users that prefer the convenience of using a phone handset. Making and receiving calls using the IP Phone updates user presence just like using Office Communicator. The user can change presence status and search for contacts from the phone directly. The user's contacts presence can be displayed on the phone. (requires BLF support from the SIP phone).
"We believe that this is a very significant announcement since many enterprises are dependent on Microsoft desktop applications and have been forced to live in two separate worlds, one for their phone technology and the other for their desktop software environment", said Elka Popova, North American Program Director, Unified Communications & Collaboration, Frost & Sullivan. "Many enterprises are looking for integrating the two worlds by connecting their existing installed base of IP Phones directly to the Microsoft Unified Communications environment."
The IP phones supported by SPS include AudioCodes' 300HD family of High Definition IP Phones, as well as other third-party IP Phones, such as Cisco, Avaya, Aastra, Polycom and other standards-based SIP phones. The mobile smart phones support is enabled using AudioCodes' Mobile SIP clients, supporting all major smart phones' operating systems, including Windows Mobile, iPhone OS, Symbian and Android.
AudioCodes' 300HD family of IP Phones offer integrated, DSP-based support of Microsoft Real Time Audio (RTA) codec and the support of Secured Real Time Protocol (STRP) and SIP over TLS, enabling maximum security, high definition calls between IP Phones and Office Communicator clients. In addition, AudioCodes' phones provide enhanced presence and Active Directory support in the phone user interface, offering enhanced user experience for the Microsoft clients.
Importantly, with SPS you get support for Remote Call Control (RCC). Incoming calls will simultaneously be received at both the IP Phone and Office Communicator, giving the user the ability to pick the call using either.
"Utilizing AudioCodes' Mediant family of Media Gateways, SPS can enable connectivity of other vendors' SIP phones into the Microsoft environment", stated Lior Aldema, Chief Operating Officer at AudioCodes. "Supporting Secure RTP and enabling a wide variety of narrowband and wideband codecs, AudioCodes' SPS can connect legacy SIP phones into the Microsoft Office Communications Server environment, while maintaining security, providing high quality voice and user presence."
Existing customers of AudioCodes' Mediant gateways can now upgrade their existing installed base to support SPS. The same gateway can support the SPS functionality while providing a Media Gateway function between Microsoft Office Communications Server and/or Microsoft Exchange Server and the enterprise TDM PBX and/or the PSTN. SPS can scale from small demos of a few users all the way up to supporting enterprise installations of thousands of IP Phones and SIP Mobile Clients. By optionally integrating it with the different AudioCodes' Mediant Media Gateways it can scale from 120 concurrent RTP to SRTP calls on the Mediant 1000 all the way up to 884 calls on the fault-tolerant Mediant 3000.
For more info on AudioCodes' SIP Phone Support for Microsoft Unified Communications, check out www.audiocodes.com/SPS
Uganda’s epidemic of child sacrifice Gruesome stories of people, especially children, being killed by parents, friends, and strangers in horrific ritual practices have become common in the news from Uganda in the last four months.
At least 25 ritual murders involving children were confirmed in Uganda in 2006. In the same year, there were 230 cases of child abduction. The cases dropped to 108 in 2007, but then increased to 318 in 2008. So far in 2009, 18 cases of child sacrifice have been recorded, 15 of which have been investigated.
Cult orders teens to put faith before family Teenage members of Australian church have been ordered to put the church’s teachings before family or risk excommunication. The church is under control of the Brisbane Christian Fellowship. Theologically cult of Christianity, sociologically the 'Fellowship' movement has cult-like elements as well.
Last year the fellowship made Australian headlines after the ABC’s Four Corners ran an expose of its teachings and doctrine. The Church is also featured in a book by Morag Zwartz, Apostles of Fear: A Cult Church Exposed.
Self-proclaimed pastor gets 8 years for fraud Benjamin J. Seigler claimed to have earned $40 million as a solo investor. He told clients he had "more gold chains than Mr. T," bought mansions and owned 10 cars.
But the truth was that Seigler lived in a small apartment, had no income and himself had been swindled by the same scheme he had perpetrated on others - 5,600 others. In a span of just six months, Seigler collected more than $1.4 million.
Vatican: Holocaust denier’s apology not enough The Vatican said Friday it is not satisfied by the apology issued by a Catholic bishop who denied the Holocaust, saying the cleric must still clearly "distance himself" from the controversial comments.
Bishop Richard Williamson, who is now in England, issued a statement Thursday saying he regretted making the remarks. But he did not retract them or say he had changed his mind about the Holocaust.
Some outside observers were not convinced by Bishop Williamson’s statement. “He does everything except confront the central issue of this whole crisis,” said Rabbi Marvin Hier, the founder of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles. “Has he changed his mind about the Holocaust, and does he believe that the Holocaust is a historic fact?”
Blackmore's new lawyer is Joe Arvay, a well-known human rights and constitutional lawyer, whose firm successfully argued before the Supreme Court of Canada that the Constitution protects gays and lesbians from discrimination.
Malaysia to allow Christians to use the word ‘Allah’ The Malaysian government has softened an earlier ban on the use of the word "Allah" by Christian publications to refer to God and is allowing them to use it as long as they specify the material is not for Muslims.
The government had earlier argued that the use of Allah in Christian texts might confuse Muslims, who might think Allah refers to their God.
Muzzammil Hassan, 44, is charged with second-degree murder in the death of his 37-year-old wife, Aasiya Zubair Hassan, days after she filed for divorce and was granted a restraining order against him.
Jehovah’s Witness sues over unwanted blood transfusion A Jehovah's Witness being treated at St. Vincent's Medical Center was administered a blood transfusion despite his explicit request not to be given that procedure, which violates his religious beliefs.
In the lawsuit Geyer filed in Superior Court, he contends he has suffered extreme emotional and physical trauma as a result of the transfusion.
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Ok, so I exaggerate.
