VoIP Tech Chat

The VoIP Users Conference celebrates it’s 3rd anniversary on March 26th with a good ol’ fashioned sleep over. Ok, well it’s not really a sleep over, but it’s just as cool. That’s right, starting on March 26th, 2010 at 3am EST,  get ready for the 24 Hour Live Voipathon Podcast and Phone In.

24 Hour Voipathon

Use the Internet to bring voices together

Voipathon is a simple idea: To unite people from as many parts of the world (and time zones) in a 24 hour long discussion about the Internet, voice over the Internet and how communities can and do use these tools.

We will talk about

• Content creators, their rights and how important they are to the Internet
• ways to connect your voices together (including free phone calls)
• ways to get around obstacles to voice connections put in place in some countries
• communities that use the Internet to make the world a better place
• keeping the Internet free of censorship by spreading understanding of the principles of freedom
• piracy, copyright, takedown notices etc

We will hear from

• People from all corners of the planet sharing their experiences
• Experienced telephony users who can help you make a connection, free
• Members of communities who are helping improve lives everywhere

Join us on March 26th, 2010

For more information, please visit:

• voipathon.org
• VoIP Users Conference

Every now and then a weakness becomes exploited in a manner that deserves recognition. A 41 year unemployed systems admin from Moscow did just this — he exploited a weakness in a video billboard and rigged it to play a pornographic movie. A traffic jam followed as Moscow drivers slowed to watch. The man was arrested, any negatives in his history brought to light, and then all video billboards in the Moscow area were banned.

Here’s the article, from The Moscow Times: Read the rest of this entry »

Smart's phone

Between Apple’s iPhone, Google’s Android, and the new Microsoft Windows smart-phones, Blackberry certainly understands that market domination may be nothing short of a historical footnote. As of December 2009, RIM maintained a large share of the smartphone market. With competition coming from some very large names, Blackberry had to strike both hard and fast. First strike? The wallet.

Blackberry Enterprise Server Express Edition

RIM recently introduced a free version of the “popular” Blackberry Enterprise Server (BES) software — the Express Edition.  Additionally, RIM promises that there will be no additional user license fees for using this software. In the past, after spending $3k on the Blackberry server software, you would then purchase client usage licenses at $55 – $100 per license (depending on how many you bought). These costs added consideration for many people to avoid the Blackberry system whatsoever. Although an enterprise may not hesitate to spend more than $25k on user licenses, a small to medium sized business would much rather use a smart-phone with imap capabilities than worry about such an expensive integration. Read the rest of this entry »

Be careful out there

A older scam gains popularity — or at least that’s what recent reports indicate. Targeting American cellphones, the goal of the scam is to have you make an international call and rack up your phone bill. Here’s how it works:

1. Your phone rings and becomes a missed call within 2 rings
2. You call back the number, assuming it’s in the US
3. Your phone bill imitates Cheech and Chong (aka becomes very high)

The recommendation is that you only call back numbers you either recognize or can identify by area code.

Here’s the FCC release: Read the rest of this entry »

Dave Michels posted a great summary about AstriCon 2009 on Pin Drop Soup:

http://www.pindropsoup.com/2009/10/astricon-update.html

Now that we’ve returned from the Phoenix sun, we’ll probably write our own summary in the future.

In case you’re living under a rock, here’s the 20 word or less version:

Google Voice blocks numbers that have high fees, such as free conference calls, etc. AT&T hates this. (17 Words)

So, remember how Google wrote that letter to the FCC complaining that AT&T blocked it’s voice app? Well, look at those tables and watch them turn. FCC now gets to play mommy/daddy to AT&T complaining about Google’s blocking of numbers that AT&T is required to connect. Read the rest of this entry »

T-Mobile, providers of the T-Mobile Sidekick smartphone, recently announced an outage blocking user access to address books, calendars, photos, etc. After more than a week of “working around-the-clock,” T-Mobile announced today that the user data will most likely never return.

In an announement released on October 10th, T-Mobile advised users: Read the rest of this entry »

Oh no... Sync Error

Recently, RIM announced the software that allows Mac users to do what Windows users have done for years — sync there desktop with their Blackberry. A long time in the running, those who used Blackberry and Mac had to rely on either 3rd party software, virtualized desktops, or hacks to sync their address book, calendar, etc. outside of a wireless corporate sync.

So, with software that’s only a week or two outside of Beta, new “undocumented features” aka Bugs are certain to pop up. And when they do, instead of navigating the endless IVR hell of your carrier (and then Blackberry), you can simply fix it yourself. Read the rest of this entry »

Dan York wrote a fantastic post today over at Disruptive Technology…

Humorous video – in how many movies is the “No Signal” theme over-used?

Its Friday, so here’s a bit of humor… I admit that I had not really paid attention to how incredibly over-used the “my cellphone has no signal” theme has been in recent movies until I saw this video. Keep watching, though, because after the “no signal” theme, it does go into other amusingly over-used themes like dropping mobile phones in water, ripping them apart, burning them, etc…

Kudos to someone named Rich Juzwiak for apparently editing together pieces of 66 movies!

Posted from: http://www.disruptivetelephony.com/2009/09/humorous-video—in-how-many-movies-is-the-no-signal-theme-over-used.html

Google’s letter to the FCC regarding being blocked from the Apple Store.

Kind of boring… but I think the key here is that google announces their voice is an “enhanced” product for “existing” phone service. Maybe this is to avoid USF fees and FCC regulation?

Download the PDF