Archive for August, 2008
Introducing Digital Sushi Man
Advice on shooting digital photos in RAW format from professional photographer Pinto Meir. Pinto Meir recommends using Adobe Lightroom when working with the RAW format. Tags: lightroom, photography, RAW, adobe, Jeff Pulver ...
Don’t Like Apple’s iPhone? Check Out the Touchscreen Phones of These 3 Companies
Apple shook up the mobile phone playing field with the introduction of the original iPhone a year ago. Phones with touchscreens were nothing new; most Windows Mobile phones have used them for years. But the older phones used resistive digitizer screens, which were operated by a tiny metal stylus. The iPhone uses a capacitive digitizer that’s operated by touching fingers to the screen — a remarkably convenient option, by comparison. It didn’t take consumers long to figure o...
Coming Soon: PC-as-a-Service over Broadband
Broadband service providers are looking to add higher-value services to their offerings, services that could soon include a virtual desktop for consumers. Indeed, the idea of a service provider offering a PC as a Service (PCaaS), essentially a PC in the cloud, may be coming to your broadband connection sooner than you might think.Here is how a virtual desktop would work: You’d have an access device at your location, called a thin client, which would connect your keyboard, video screen and...
Celebrate Blogday 2008!
In the spirit of BlogDay 2008, I recommend the following 5 blogs to my friends: - Kfir Pravda: Pravda on Media, Technology and Rebel Filmmaking. Kfir is a friend of mine and we share a common passion on Internet TV, innovation and technology. I enjoy reading his insights. - Rebecca Bollwitt: Miss 604. I met Rebecca during a breakfast I hosted in Vancouver back in June. Her drive, dedication and vision in making Blogathon 2008 got my attention. - Liz Strauss: Liz Strauss at Successful Blog. Liz i...
What’s the Big Deal About Jaiku?
For months, there’s been this subtle but persistent buzz about Jaiku, the microblogging service that Google acquired last October, and then took into stealth mode. Having not used Jaiku before Google swooped in, I didn’t have a feel for what Jaiku did or how it was any different from Twitter or Pownce. But I was curious to see why there was so much interest in it. Step one was getting an invitation, which happened a few days ago. Step two was signing up, a process that involved get...
Five Questions with…BackType Co-Founder Chris Golda
Once in awhile, you come across a startup that jumps out because it’s such an interesting concept. BackType falls into this category. Dubbed the “Twitter of Comments”, BackType lets you follow people who leave comments on blogs, as well as search for comments about people, trends, companies, etc. The reason it’s so intriguing is I’m trying to figure out which feature will resonate more with users. To me, search should be the “killer app” because itR...
i looooove being a girl!
amuta2.0 - Social Media for Not-for-Profits: August 31st in Jerusalem
Tomorrow morning I will be in Jerusalem at amuta2.0 - Social Media for Not-for-Profits. Everyone attending amuta2.0 will have a chance to experience real-time social tagging at the breakfast I am hosting during amuta2.0 My talk at amuta2.0 will look towards the future of social media in a session. My topic is: New Trends in Social Media in the post-facebook era. Over the past few months I have met with a number of not-for-profit organizations in the metro NYC area and have looked at w...
took fax and desk phone off the front
Double Whammy for Gulf Coast
It looks like the Gulf Coast is getting set up for a double whammy even closer together than Katrina and Rita were three years ago. Gustav is predicted to come ashore on Tuesday, and Hanna is predicted to follow on Friday. The pix below are from the European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts. Here’s Gustav hitting near New Orleans on Tuesday, with Hanna strengthening in the southern Bahamas: Here’s Hanna coming ashore on Friday. The remnants of Gustav are now minor precip in ...
good old skype
creepy chick
skype is dead
Uh, in a good way! ...
free recorder for skype video?
Skype hates me. :(
Reminder: August 31st is BlogDay
BlogDay was started by Nir Ofir in 2005 with the belief that bloggers should have one day dedicated to getting to know other bloggers from other countries, cultures and areas of interest. I celebrated BlogDay in 2007 and I look forward in joining the celebration again in 2008. What will happen on BlogDay? On August 31st, bloggers are asked to post recommendations of 5 new Blogs, preferably Blogs that are different from their own culture, point of view and attitude. On this day, blog readers wi...
sibling bonds
F|R Crib Sheet: 5 Guerilla Tactics for Good Marketing
With the tech conference season upon us, Found|READ thought some tips for how to master conference marketing on the cheap would be useful. Today’s tips are courtesy of serial entrepreneur Pete Grillo, currently founder of iterasi, a one-and a-half-year-old startup in Portland, Ore., that has built a hosted storage service to capture and archive web pages. It’s a seemingly simple tool, but it allows you to save web pages in perpetuity — personal archives for individuals and bus...
freaking
10 Things to Know and Hate About Metered Broadband
Since we’re getting in a huff over Comcast’s 250 GB cap, we thought it would be helpful to lay out why capping broadband is a bad idea today and a worse one for tomorrow, how it can benefit ISPs, and why it’s not really necessary on most networks. Check out our handy overview and links to our past coverage on the topic. Time Warner got the ball rolling back in January, and in June it announced a trial limiting folks to tiers from 5 GB per month to 40 GB per month. Billing beg...
5 Devices That Spell Trouble For Your Comcast Bandwidth Cap
Comcast’s new 250 GB bandwidth cap is that, as Om points out, is metered without a meter — Comcast doesn’t provide you with a central tally of all your data use. The company instead suggests its customers install bandwidth metering software on their machines and then add up the numbers. Got multiple home machines consuming data every day? Better bust out that spreadsheet — and get ready for some wild guesstimates. After all, you can’t just install a bandwidth metering application...
F|R: What Startups Can Learn From Michael Dell
It’s not a new idea to make hay by seizing the messy business opportunities no one else wants. Innovating the distribution of a technology, rather than inventing the technology itself, isn’t novel either. This is the model that made founder Michael Dell a billionaire. Now, San Francisco-based Sungevity is taking a page from Michael Dell’s playbook in an effort to do to solar panels what Dell did to personal computers. Solar installs are typically custom jobs — labor intensive an...
Roasting AT&T over iPhone Problems
“A phone is only as good as the network it’s on,” said a full-page Verizon Wireless newspaper ad on Thursday, lobbing a shot at AT&T’s 3G, or third generation, high-speed network. (And ain’t that the truth — we know if well where I live!) Apple sold more than a million iPhone 3G cellphones its first weekend — with some stores running out — and two million more since then, analysts say. But its July debut has been nothing less than a public...
going to malta
Remember When Labor Day Meant Noisy Beach Parties???
It really wasn’t all that long ago when you could bring an AM radio to the beach for Labor Day, tune in Cousin Brucie and rock the sand dunes! (Remember all of those beach party movies? Can anybody name one? Now, with all of the anti-fun measures that are posted at the beach (no noise, no ball playing, etc.), it’s amazing that you can still go in the water and swim (only between the green flags, please!). Anyway, looks like the 2008 end-of-summer beach look is an iPod or other MP3 pl...
Thanks To Our GigaNET Sponsors
We’d like to say thanks to this month’s GigaNET sponsors: Brightcove: “The 2008 SEO Video Playbook” (free download) Accenture: “The Innovation Dilemma: How to Achieve High Performance through Superior Research & Development” (free download) Peer 1: ValuePro Managed Hosting Plan, $299 per month Interop: Register for a free expo pass — New York, Sept. 15 - 19. Server Beach: By geeks, for geeks Volo Media: Dynamic advertising for downloadable audio and ...
my mom nearly cried
woo hoo!
Automated Phone Polling Using Voice Broadcast & Hosted IVR
Now that the 2008 Presidential and Vice Presidential candidates have all been announced, let’s briefly look at an emerging phone technology in the political polling space. Recently, Carl Bialik at the Wall Street Journal wrote an article and blog post highlighting the use of automated phone polling using voice broadcast and interactive voice response technology for political campaigns. Here are the benefits of voice broadcasting that were mentioned in the article & post: 1. “Auto...
Microsoft OCS 2007 R2 (next release) to be 64-bit Only
It was just announced on the Office Communications Server Team blog that the next release of OCS 2007 (rumored to be called OCS 2007 R2) will support 64-bit operating systems only. Customers who are using 32-bit hardware systems to run OCS 2007 will have to upgrade to x64 systems to install and run the next release of OCS. From Microsoft: As a part of the broad initiative across Microsoft to support 64 bit versions across many of its product lines, the next release of OCS will support 64-bit op...
Dan York: Skype’s 5 Years of Disruption
OK, so it’s the fourth post this week where I’ve referenced Dan York. But over the two years I have known Dan I have to say he is, in my view, one of the most respected authorities on the technology behind today’s communications revolution. Yet he also understands the value of the user experience. In celebration of Skype’s fifth birthday Dan has written the most thorough post yet on Skype’s accomplishments and how it has changed not only his life but also the commun...
peer pressure
Analyst 2.0 - I Like That Term - Thanks Andy
I had to smile when I saw this post from Andy Abramson this morning. The topic was about Yankee Group laying off 20 analysts, which is not a good news story, but Andy captured the essence of what it really means. I wasn’t aware of the news as I don’t have that much day-to-day contact with the U.S. analyst community. For the most part, indies like me are invisible to these firms, but at times like this, I’m happy to be in my shoes rather than theirs. As Andy notes, the economics...
The GigaOM 250 GB Challenge & 5 Tools To Monitor Your Bandwidth Consumption
With Comcast announcing a 250 GB cap on its broadband service and Time Warner trialling a tiered service with limits that range from 5 GB to 40 GB, we’ve decided to challenge people to break those caps. Obviously we can’t verify if someone actually downloads everything they claim to, but we’re looking for real examples of how a heavy bandwidth user could breach either the 40 GB or 250 GB limit. Leave your attempts in the comments. Unless you have a large family that consists ...
Skype’s 5 years of disruption… (Happy Birthday, Skype!)
Five years ago today, the first public beta of Skype launched, and in a blog post today new Skype CEO Josh Silverman celebrates with “Five Years of Wow“. It’s a bit of the “Ra-Ra” celebratory kind of post I would expect from a CEO but ends nicely with this: So, as we celebrate the first five years of Skype, let’s raise a toast to the human desire to connect. Indeed! Skype has done a great amount to help people easily connect to each other. It’s also ca...
now i have a phone number in my parent’s home town
Rogers Spinning its iPhone Story
One of the most interesting things about how badly Rogers handled the introduction of the iPhone in Canada is how it was totally mauled from a public relations perspective. While Rogers was assailed for its ridiculous data plans, the company essentially did nothing to respond. Only when the assault turned into a hailstorm did Rogers finally relent and offer a limited time 6GB plan for $30/month. Clearly, Rogers has learned its lessons if a story in today’s Globe & Mail is any indicati...
Happy 5th Birthday Skype!
Just want to wish Skype a Happy 5th Birthday. Skype has helped make VoIP a household name and has carried more VoIP minutes than any other VoIP software application out there. Well done Skype. I hope you continue to innovate, though Andy Abramson writes today Skype is dropping Skypecasts, a nifty feature. Andy poo-poohs the move when he writes: What’s puzzling though is that Skypecasts are one more example of how eBay really missed the mark with their purchase of Skype. For example, ...
old people and aliens
Off Topic: Why People, Not Technology, Matter
I know this is a technology blog rather than a political or personal blog, but two things are weighing on my mind. First off is Obama’s speech last night. Regardless of your political leanings, his call for people to come together and take action for the greater good was inspiring. The second is Hurricane Gustav. These two events have the potential to reinforce the power that individual people have. For as long as I’ve been paying attention, our politicians have asked little of us a...
Skype for Daleks
Cyprien Lomas: What Skype means to me
On the occasion of Skype’s fifth birthday, Skype Journal will publish a series on "What Skype Means To Me." You are invited to email your essay or short thoughts to editor@SkypeJournal.com. Cyprien Lomas is the Director of The Learning Centre in the Faculty of Land and Food Systems at the University of British Columbia. I first met Cyprien at the annual Northern Voice blogging conference held in Vancouver. Skype is the communication application that is most likely to work. It ...
SquawkBox Discusses Skype’s Fifth Anniversary
Over the past few months I have been a frequent participant on Alec Saunders’ daily SquawkBox conference call where several of those involved in following today’s communications and web developments will discuss topics of the day. Subjects for yesterday’s call were the impact of the Internet on this years U.S. President campaign and Skype’s fifth anniversary today. Participants included Dan York of Voxeo, James Body of Truphone, William Volk of MyNumo (one of the more suc...
Harry Potter Secrets
Letter to the Editor - Reconsider Skypecasts
August 27, 2008. To whom it may concern. It appears Skype has decided to end all SkypeCast as of September 1, 2008. Skype we believe is an International Company owned by EBay. We your clients, and supporters of your company, are devastated by your decision to stop SkypeCasts. This action, has been a decision that will affect your standing in the industry; simply put it is a terrible decision that affects millions. Letters are already being sent to the International Press and Television sta...
Josh Silverman on Skype’s next five years
Skype CEO Josh Silverman wrote Five Years of Wow, reflections on Skype’s history and promise. About the future… When I think of the future, I think of Skype as liquid communication. Instead of being condemned to a frozen shape like the telephone, it will flow into any device whenever you want and wherever you are. And, like water can turn into ice or steam, Skype can shift its form to match what you need at the moment: from voice to video to IM to SMS to filesharing. Skype blurs th...
Microsoft Sets Sights on Europe With Shopping Site Buy
Greenfield Online, the parent company of Munich-based comparison shopping site Ciao, said this morning that Microsoft would spend $486 million to acquire it, derailing an earlier offer from a private equity firm to buy the company. The Ciao sites operate in France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and the UK. For Microsoft, the hope is that the deal will help boost its search business overseas. After the failed bid for Yahoo, Microsoft has been reeling around like a spurned lover ...
world peace and harmony
Michael Bartlett: What Skype means to me
On the occasion of Skype’s fifth birthday, Skype Journal will publish a series on "What Skype Means To Me." You are invited to email your essay or short thoughts to editor@SkypeJournal.com. Mike Bartlett is Skype’s Director of Windows Product Management, working from London. Having worked at Skype for over 3 years, sometimes you forget the human power of communication. I had a powerful reminder of it a few months ago. My girlfriend’s father moved to Australia last ye...
Zennie on CNN before #DNC08
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News, opinions and announcements about fast changing communication tools and technologies, from various blogs and ezine.