Archive for September 20th, 2008
Im Back!
Its been a while, but I woke up the other morning feeling that I was no longer going to watch the world from the sidelines. The time has come for me to re-engage myself with the world and opportunities around me. Truth be told, I never really left and I was never really away. Yes I traveled and I will continue to travel but I woke up one day six months ago feeling an immediate need to re-engage with the world and then a realization that it was my time to watch and not do. And this was somethi...
A few thoughts on Skype interop tradeoffs
Interoperability comes at the expense of innovation. Once you have multi-network interop, you can’t drag a whole industry with you as you improve technology. For example, Skype keeps improving their codecs with a team of PhDs in Stockholm. The team (still hiring) updates Skype’s proprietary codecs, and their configurations, to the whole Skype network every few months. Same with Skype’s p2p engine configuration, and with NAT traversal as new routers and firewalls are discovered...
The Financial Crisis: A Survival Guide for Startups
Entrepreneurs often focus so much on running their companies that they don’t have time to worry about events in the outside world. Normally, this is how it should be, but the credit crisis slamming Wall Street right now is an exception, and it has deep implications for any startup. The current mayhem actually began back in 2001. In an attempt to mitigate the economic impact of the dotcom collapse and the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the Federal Reserve began a series of interest-rate cuts...
Cisco is Jabbering
In 2007, Cisco integrated Jabber components into its conferencing platform. Today, Cisco buys Jabber, “an open-source IM and presence protocol used by Google Talk and Gizmo, for an undisclosed sum”. On our panel at IT Expo, The Role of Apps in VoIP, we talked about Gen Y not liking to talk on the phone. My conclusion is that you will need to incorporate XMPP and XML to enable chat, instant messaging, SMS messaging to IP phone - all to communicate with employees, customers, vend...
Guitar Hero To Add Hendrix, Metallica — Like It a Lot!
With the much-anticipated Rock Band 2 now on store shelves, rival franchise Guitar Hero is sneaking into the news on several fronts. Most recently, Velvet Revolver guitarist Slash let it slip to Rolling Stone that Guitar Hero is working on a Jimi Hendrix special edition akin to what it did with Aerosmith. Metallica is another band previously identified as heading for its own Guitar Hero title. Both are expected after the holiday release of Guitar Hero: World Tour. (Expect to see an in-game play...
Make Mine Memorex: Nice Blu-ray for $269
Memorex is doing its part to lower Blu-ray prices with the upcoming release of its MVBD-2510 Blu-ray player. The MVBD-2510 features 1080p playback at either 24p or 60p frame rates. Audio playback includes: Dolby TrueHD, Dolby Digital Plus and DTS-HD High Resolution Audio decoding and bit stream output, as well as Master Audio bit stream output. The MVBD-2510 also includes 7.1 HDMI digital audio output and 5.1 analog audio output. The player will be available in November for $269, which certainl...
Comcast to Install Speed Bumps for Bandwidth Hogs
Updated: Comcast has filed its plan with the Federal Communications Commission detailing how it intends to govern traffic on its network, and says it should affect less than 1 percent of its users. As expected, the plan hews closely to what Om laid out back in March in a piece he wrote after sitting down with Comcast CTO Tony Werner. Essentially, folks using a lot of bandwidth at any one time will see their traffic slowed temporarily. The management will affect uploads and downloads and will be...
Thanks to our GigaNET Sponsors
We’d like to say thanks to this month’s GigaNET sponsors: Accenture: “The Innovation Dilemma: How to Achieve High Performance through Superior Research & Development” (free download) Server Beach: By geeks, for geeks Volo Media: Dynamic advertising for downloadable audio and video Ki Work: Take control of your online business Brain Keeper: Collaboration that works Rackspace Hosting: Experience fanatical support Acquia: Commercially supported Drupal Django: Server assembly and clo...
Solar-Powered iPhone Case: What Would Q Think?
Now this makes a lot of sense in this day and age of energy efficient and seeking out alternative energy sources — using solar power to charge your cell phone. After taking a look at the specs for Solar Cases that can power the Apple iPhone, a few pop out right off of the page, including a charge time of less than three hours and a weight of less than a quarter of a pound (100 g). And while it looks simple to use, it actually is. Here’s how it works, using the built-in recharge...
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News, opinions and announcements about fast changing communication tools and technologies, from various blogs and ezine.