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NIC fixes VoIP for Gamers - Ok if you say so
Is it me, or this $130 NIC optimized for VoIP overkill? The idea behind this network interface card (NIC) is that it optimize packets and prioritizes games while offloading the voice processing from the CPU.
According to PC World:
…at the 2009 Game Developer’s Conference, Bigfoot Networks has two announcements. The first: they are releasing the $130 Killer Xeno Pro card. The big deal this time around is that they’ve been able to get prices down, beef up the memory and pack on an additional chip that can offload the voice chat. A 400GHz NPU (as in Network Processing Unit — oh, joy, another acronym!) bypasses the Windows network stack while an integrated audio chip offloads VoIP.
I know gamers are all about low latency while trash-talking their opponents using VoIP, but $130? Aren’t PCs and NICs fast enough these days? Well, if you you have to have the every pico-second of latency minimized and want to shell out $130, then by all means have at it.
Tags: 2009 Game Developer’s Conference, Bigfoot Networks, games, gaming, latency, network card, Network Processing Unit, nic, npu, voip
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Greatest Linux Command Ever!
This is the greatest Linux command ever! Definitely my favorite.find ./ -name \*.html -printf '%CD\t%p\n' | grep "03/10/08" | awk '{print $2}' | xargs -t -i mv {} temp/
What it does is look (find) for files that end in .html uses the printf option to format the ‘find’ output, then passes it to grep for searching for a certain date, then awk for printing a certain field, and finally xargs for executing a certain command.
Let’s break it down…
The printf part within the find command has the format ‘%CD\t%p\n’.
%Cx = File’s last status change time in the format specified by x. x=D. D=date in the format mm/dd/yy
\t = Horizontal tab
%p = file’s name
\n = newline
So basically it outputs the file’s last status change followed by a horizontal tab, then the filename, and then a new line. But before it outputs it, it sends it to ‘grep‘ which searches the output and only outputs lines with “03/10/09″.
Example so far: (minus the awk, xargs and mv commands)
find ./ -name \*.html -printf ‘%CD\t%p\n’ | grep “03/10/09″
Outputs this: (notice the tab to separate the 2 fields)
03/10/09 ./2005/05/index.html
03/10/09 ./2005/03/index.html
03/10/09 ./2005/04/index.html
03/10/09 ./linked-in.html
03/10/09 ./consumer-electronics/samsung-bribery-news.html
03/10/09 ./technology/iptv/index.html
Now send this output into the awk command (awk ‘{print $2}’) which parses it and pulls out the 2nd column/field (hence the tab character), which is the filename, including the path.
Here’s the output you now have after adding awk ‘{print $2}’ in:
./2005/05/index.html
./2005/03/index.html
./2005/04/index.html
./linked-in.html
./consumer-electronics/samsung-bribery-news.html
./technology/iptv/index.html
Next, send this output of “exact path + filename” to xargs for execution in the Linux shell.
The “xargs -t -i mv {} temp/” part basically takes the input from the previous commands (files named .html modified on 3/10/09) and moves (mv) them to the temp/ folder.
The xargs command can do anything. So instead of moving the files, I could delete them, run chmod on them, or something else.
It took me awhile to write this command. I’ve used various methods of finding files on Linux servers over the years, but this one is one of the most powerful.
Definitely a command you should have in your Linux arsenal!
p.s. Here’s another tip. If you want to search ALL files (not just .html) then use the following command. Notice the \* and not * for the search. That part got me since I didn’t think the * (wildcard) had to be backslashed. Usually when you backslash a character that means you want the ‘literal’ character specified after the \ (backslash) character. I didn’t want filenames with a ‘*’ in it. I wanted the wildcard. That threw me for a minute before I figured it out. Anyway, here’s the command:find ./ -name \* -printf '%CD\t%p\n' | grep "03/10/08" | awk '{print $2}' | xargs -t -i mv {} temp/
Tags: awk, chmod, command, date, filename, find, grep, linux, mv, path
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Free snom Flexor CTI for Outlook Application offers Advanced Telephony Features
snom and Camrivox today announced free VoIP telephony integration with Microsoft Outlook with snom Flexor CTI software for Microsoft Outlook. Microsoft Outlook is the most widely used contact manager with a market share of over 60% of email users. A free CTI app for snom’s VoIP phones? I remember the days where you had to pay thousands of dollara for a CTI server. No CTI server required for this app nor the thousands of dollars!
The highlights of this integration are:
- On-screen Click-to-Dial makes calling really simple and screen pop-ups when someone calls
- Calls, made or received, automatically create a journal entry with the call details to build up a call log
- Supports Microsoft Outlook 2003 & 2007
snom Flexor CTI enables users of snom’s 3xx series and snom 820 VoIP telephones to integrate their telephony with Outlook. Benefits include click-to-dial, contact screen pop-ups and call logs. Once the snom Flexor CTI software is downloaded onto a user’s desktop it automatically integrates the snom telephone with Microsoft Outlook.
snom Flexor CTI for Outlook also enables click-to-dial of phone numbers dialed straight from Outlook, as well as on-screen call control, contact screen pop-ups for incoming calls, and call reporting. Users can also record notes in Outlook Journal entries during a call and have these saved against each contact record to generate a structured call log for each contact.
The snom Flexor CTI software is also available to integrate snom VoIP telephones with professional solutions for Customer Relationship Management (CRM) such as Microsoft Dynamics CRM, NetSuite and Salesforce.
To download free snom Flexor CTI for Outlook head here.
Tags: Camrivox, click to dial, crm, Flexor CTI, Microsoft Outlook, screen pop, snom, snom Flexor CTI for Outlook, voip
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Black Friday Results are in!
It appears it just might be a Merry Christmas even with the doom & gloom surrounding the economy. I guess President-elect Barack Obama must be the Messiah, since he’s already creating miracles and he hasn’t even been sworn in yet.
Check this out:
NRF Survey Finds Black Friday Gets Holiday Season Off to Energetic Start
– Great Bargains, Pent-Up Demand Drove Shoppers to Stores, Web
Though the holiday season is far from over, retailers across the country are breathing a collective sigh of relief after shoppers headed to stores and websites in droves over the weekend. According to the National Retail Federation’s 2008 Black Friday Weekend survey, conducted by BIGresearch, more than 172 million shoppers visited stores and websites over Black Friday weekend, up from 147 million shoppers last year.*
Shoppers spent an average of $372.57 this weekend*, up 7.2 percent over last year’s $347.55. Total spending reached an estimated $41.0 billion.
“Pent-up demand on electronics and clothing, plus unparalleled bargains on this season’s hottest items helped drive shopping all weekend,” said NRF President and CEO Tracy Mullin. “Holiday sales are not expected to continue at this brisk pace, but it is encouraging that Americans seem excited to go shopping again.”
Friday was clearly the busiest day of the weekend with 73.6 million people hitting stores and websites for doorbuster sales. Though traffic did subside after Friday, retailers were also buoyed by two-day sales as 56.9 million people shopped on Saturday, up from 48.3 million last year, while another 26.2 million people planned to shop on Sunday. Thanksgiving Day also continues to increase in importance as the number of people who shopped on Thursday was up 48 percent over last year (16.2 million people vs. 10.9 million people).
Those who shopped on Friday lived by the adage that the early bird catches the worm. The survey found that 23.3 percent of shoppers were at stores by 5 a.m. while more than half (57.6%) were at stores by 9 a.m. Bargains appeared to be so good that people have more of a jumpstart on shopping.
According to the findings, Americans have completed slightly more shopping than they had one year ago (39.3% vs. 36.4%), indicating that traffic and sales over the next several weeks will moderate.
“Though retailers should be encouraged by strong traffic and sales over the weekend, consumers are still being cautious,” said Phil Rist, Executive Vice President, Strategic Initiatives, BIGresearch. “Weekend shoppers indicated that they are still sticking to a budget and thinking carefully before making any holiday purchases.”
Though retailers in all categories were featuring big bargains, a majority of shoppers visited discount stores for holiday deals. According to the survey, more than half (54.7%) of this weekend’s shoppers visited discount stores. Nearly half (43.0%) shopped at a traditional department store, up 11.1 percent from 38.7 percent last year. About one-third of shoppers visited specialty stores like clothing or electronics stores (36.0%) and shopped online (34.0%).
As expected, many shoppers (50.9%) purchased clothing and accessories over the weekend while 39.0 percent bought books, DVDs, CDs and video games and 35.9 percent purchased consumer electronics. Toys were also big sellers, as 28.5 percent of shoppers bought a toy. Gift card purchasing dropped ten percent with 18.7 percent of shoppers purchasing a gift card over the weekend, down from 21.0 percent last year.
NRF continues to project that holiday sales will rise 2.2 percent this year to $470.4 billion.
About the Survey
The NRF 2008 Black Friday Weekend survey was designed to gauge consumer behavior and shopping trends related to the winter holidays. NRF defines the weekend as sales from Thursday, November 27 to Sunday, November 30. The survey, which polled 3,370 consumers, was conducted for NRF by BIGresearch from November 27-29, 2008. The consumer poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 1.7 percent.
BIGresearch is a consumer market intelligence firm that provides unique consumer insights that are gathered online utilizing very large sample sizes. BIGresearch’s syndicated Consumer Intentions and Actions survey monitors the pulse of more than 8,000 consumers each month to empower its clients with unique insights for identifying opportunities in a fragmented and changing marketplace.
The National Retail Federation is the world’s largest retail trade association, with membership that comprises all retail formats and channels of distribution including department, specialty, discount, catalog, Internet, independent stores, chain restaurants, drug stores and grocery stores as well as the industry’s key trading partners of retail goods and services. NRF represents an industry with more than 1.6 million U.S. retail establishments, more than 24 million employees - about one in five American workers - and 2007 sales of $4.5 trillion. As the industry umbrella group, NRF also represents more than 100 state, national and international retail associations. www.nrf.com
Via NRF
Tags: Barack Obama, Black Friday, Christmas, National Retail Federation, Thanksgiving
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Force Skype HQ Video Mode with any webcam
So you want Skype High Quality (HQ) video, but aren’t willing to shell out for a nice dual-core processor and a high-end Logitech camera, eh? Well, no worries - Nodewave has a Force ‘Skype’ HQ Video app that allows you to Enable/Disable (and even configure) High-Quality Video in Skype, and even High-Definition Video regardless of your camera or processor.
So if Santa doesn’t stick a high-end Logitech Orb AF webcam (my favorite webcam) in your stocking for Christmas, then this hack might just be the way to go! 
Tags: hq video, Logitech, Orb AF, Skype, voip, webcam
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Killing off Vampire Power for Good!
It’s been called both “vampire power” and “phantom load” – likened to the power-hungry HAL 9000 computer (at left) in Stanley Kubrick’s classic film 2001: A Space Odyssey.
It’s the little unblinking red light on the television set that is silently drawing energy from the grid; studies have shown it can add 10% or more to a household energy bill.
Now Spanish entrepreneurs claim to have invented a way to end the problem that has bedeviled energy regulators, environmentalists and appliance manufacturers. They have patented an algorithm that can detect when an appliance is in standby mode and automatically switch it off completely.
The standby-mode killer has yet to be proven commercially and must contend with other new products designed to tackle the same problem. But, despite some doubters, the Spanish inventors say theirs is the only product able to completely do away with a large, and growing, world-wide problem.
Now how about that!
Get more at the Wall Street Journal.
Tags: 2001: a space odyssey, Hal 9000, phantom load, stanley kubrick, vampire power
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PC Magazine Stops the Presses - Online Only
I grew up reading PC Magazine and I looked forward each couple weeks to picking up my copy of PC Magazine at the local grocery store. But today, Ziff Davis has announced that the legendary PC Magazine print publication is shutting down its print publication and focusing exclusively on online content. This is truly a sad day… 
Hold on while I grab some tissues…
PC Magazine started the whole in-depth comparative reviews of PCs and Microsoft software. They expanded later to including gadgets, MP3 players, mobile phones, GPS, and other technology. PC Magazine offered insightful tech tips and great columnists like John C. Dvorak. Back in the 80s and 90s the print publication was 400-500 pages, making for hours of tech- reading pleasure. Today, it’s down to 150 pages and soon to be 0 (January 2009).
Well, I guess it’s “greener” that way. But I for one will miss my print copy of PC Magazine.
Tags: John C. Dvorak, PC Magazine
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Let’s See How Crazy Black Friday Gets This Year!
Crazy Eddie take note!
The Friday immediately following Thanksgiving has long been known as “Black Friday” because it represents the unofficial beginning of the holiday shopping season, or the day when retailers hold massive sales in hopes of steering their (red) losses into (black) profits.
And from what I’ve been reading about holiday shopping this year, gadgets may be one of the few bright spots … 
Among the most heavily discounted electronics items poised to dominate this year’s sales are low cost notebooks, according to sources, who note that Dell plans to offer $299 linux model via its website, while Wal-Mart markets a $299 Compaq and Best Buy a $299 eMachines portable.
And do yo think Apple will be sitting quietly …
… Didn’t think so; so check out AppleInsider.
And thanks to blogs.phillynews.com for the image.
Hopefully, these prices are insane!!!!!
Tags: apple, best buy, black friday, compaq, crazy eddie, dell, emachines, notebooks, wal-mart
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Notice Less Spam Today?
The volume of junk e-mail sent worldwide dropped drastically today after a Web hosting firm identified by the computer security community as a major host of organizations allegedy engaged in spam activity was taken offline, according to security firms that monitor spam distribution online.
Immediately after two Internet providers cut off MoColo’s connectivity to the Internet, security companies charted a precipitous drop in spam volumes worldwide.
E-mail security firm IronPort said spam levels fell by roughly 66% as of Tuesday evening, and Spamcop.net, another spam watch dog, found a similar decline, from approximatley 40 spam e-mails per second to 10 per second.
Did you notice?
And let us all say, Amen.
Click The Washington Post for more.
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Wow! A Quick Boot PC — About Time!
It is the black hole of the digital age — the three minutes it can take for your computer to boot up, when there is nothing to do but wait, and wait, and wait some more before you can log on and begin doing anything at all.
Now the computer industry says it wants to give back some of those precious seconds. In coming months, the world’s major PC makers plan to introduce a new generation of quick-start computers, spotting a marketing opportunity in society’s short attention span.
Hewlett-Packard, Dell and Lenovo are rolling out machines that give people access to basic functions like e-mail and a Web browser in 30 seconds or less.
Now, can you remember back when you’d boot up the PC and then head to make a pot of coffee … 
Asus, a Taiwanese company that is the world’s largest maker of the circuit boards at the center of every PC, has begun building faster-booting software into its entire product line.
Even Microsoft, whose bloated Windows software is often blamed for sluggish start times, has pledged to do its part in the next version of the operating system, saying on a company blog that “a very good system is one that boots in under 15 seconds.”
Today only 35% of machines running Windows Vista, boot in 30 seconds or less, the blog notes.
Apple Macs tend to boot more quickly than comparable Windows machines, but still feel glacially slow to most users.
Now, if we could just solve global warming …
More at the New York Times.
Tags: apple, dell, hp, lenovo, macintosh, microsoft, quick-start computers, windows vista
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Run Mac OS X on a PC
![mac-os-x[1].jpg](http://blog.tmcnet.com/blog/tom-keating/images/mac-os-x%5B1%5D.jpg)
Want to run Mac OS X on a PC? Well, Steve Jobs notorious for forcing his loyal fans to run only Apple-approved hardware let the cat outta the bag once he announced Intel support (previous utilized PowerPC processors.). It was only a matter of time before some hacker found a way to run Mac OS X on PCs with Intel processors.
Of course, the version of Leopard sold by Apple only includes drivers for Apple provided hardware and it requires an Apple Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI), which replaces the traditional PC BIOS. So how do you get around these limitations? Well, using Kalyway DVD, a hacked version of OS X, it removes the EFI restriction and includes many device drivers for common PC hardware.
Want to learn more about running Mac OS X on a PC? Well check out the tutorial here!
Also check out the Kalyway DVD thread in forums.
Tags: Apple Extensible Firmware Interface, device drivers, dvd, EFI, Kalyway, Leopard, Mac OS X
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Is Your City One of the Most Connected?
Among the top designated marketing areas (DMAs), San Francisco, Miami and Los Angeles are the most connected cities based on home networking adoption.
What does connected mean: A wired or wireless home network allows consumers to connect multiple PCs and printers, and to share Internet access among computers.
MultiMedia Intelligence’s research identifies significant variations among major metropolitan areas. San Francisco has the highest household home networking adoption rate of 28% among the top DMAs. In contrast, the San Antonio, Chicago and Cleveland DMAs have among the lowest home networking adoption. This reflects, in part, the varying regional demographics.
Home networking adoption correlates directly with household income. Households with incomes greater than $250,000 have an adoption rate exceeding 40%, while only 7% of households with incomes below $25,000 have home networks. (Surprised that is so low …)
For more information, visit www.MultiMediaIntelligence.com.
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How About OS X on EEE?
Feel like stepping beyond the limits of Apple hardware?
Want a Mac netbook for under $650?
How about an EeePC running Mac OS X?
If you answered “Yes!” to any of these questions, then read on!
At least part of the appeal of the dimunitive EeePC netbook is its hackability – from Linux to Vista, intrepid hackers have figured out how to run just about everything on the EeePC.
While many would question why you’d want to go to the trouble of installing OS X when there are many Windows and Linux distributions available out of the box?
Maybe you’re looking for a challenge. Installing OS X on non-Apple hardware provides plenty of chances to flex those (very metaphorical) geek muscles.
More at Wired.
Tags: apple, eee, linux, mac, netbook, vista, windows
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PIKA WARP Appliance for Asterisk Review
There is no doubt that open source Asterisk has taken IP telephony by storm resulting in many vendors offering solutions based on Asterisk. Because the “free” Asterisk software is open source, it has helped drive down the cost of installing an IP-PBX. Only one major cost factor remains - the hardware. If you install Asterisk on a traditional PC, you have several hardware components - the motherboard, the CPU, the memory, the hard drive, the power supply, CD/DVD drive, etc. Some of these hardware components aren’t necessarily required to operate a fully-functional IP-PBX or could be replaced with inexpensive alternatives. For instance, instead of a hard drive, why not use Flash memory? It’s cheaper, more reliable, is more easily upgraded, and can be easily swapped after a failure. It also uses less electricity than a hard drive resulting in a “greener” Asterisk solution. When you consider how tight profit margins are when offering an IP-PBX to the SMB market, shaving off a few dollars in hardware costs can be a huge pricing competitive edge. For these reasons, PIKA Technologies offers an embedded Asterisk appliance called the WARP Appliance targeting the SMB market with a cost-effective telephony development platform. PIKA pointed out that WARP is not exclusively tied to Asterisk explaining, “Our customers have developed call logging system, IVRs, predictive dialers and 50% of them use Asterisk, 50% don’t.”
The PIKA WARP Appliance isn’t a turn-key Asterisk IP-PBX, but instead is a development platform that enables resellers and VARs configure Asterisk 1.4.x to their liking, and then offer a customized version of Asterisk through their distribution channel. In fact, PIKA sells what they call the “PIKA WARP Appliance for Asterisk Developers Kit”, which includes a PIKA WARP Appliance for Asterisk, one 4 port FXO (trunk) module, one 4 port FXS (station) module, one SD Memory Card (1Gb), one Serial Cable (programming), a network cable, and Getting Started Guide. The PIKA WARP Appliance for Asterisk Developers Kit is discounted to $550 (limit 1 per company) to encourage developers. The normal non-discounted list price is $725. The main concept behind the WARP Appliance is to offer resellers and VARs an inexpensive Asterisk hardware platform that they can OEM and offer under their own brand name. I should also mention that the WARP Appliance now also works with FreeSWITCH, so developers can also choose to embed FreeSWITCH instead of Asterisk. In fact, any telephony application such as IVRs, call logging, predictive dialer etc. built using PIKA’s telephony APIs can be integrated onto the appliance, whether it is a proprietary application or based on an open source platform.
Back Panel and the cover taken off to show the inner guts of the WARP Appliance
Importantly, the Kit comes with 4 analog phone ports and 4 analog trunk lines, or essentially a 4×4 “development” phone system, which is perfect for many SOHO and SMBs. In fact, considering many IP Phones are >$200 and analog phones can be had for $20, one should not underestimate how many small businesses would like to dip their feet into VoIP but aren’t ready to commit to expensive IP phones. The PIKA WARP Appliance allows them to get a fully-featured Asterisk IP-PBX while offering up to 4 analog phone stations and 4 analog trunk lines. In fact, resellers can even offer 8 analog stations by swapping out one FXO card and instead including two FXS cards - all modules can be mixed and matched in any combination, including BRI in future For inbound and outbound calling the reseller can offer 100% SIP for the trunking side, which has the added benefit of lower per minute charges compared to traditional PSTN dialing. The configuration of the appliance is modular and can include up to 9 ports of a combination of FXO/FXS/BRI plus VoIP stations and trunks.
Top View looking inside the WARP Appliance
While there are many DIYers (Do It Yourself) out there that have built their own home-brewed embedded Linux Asterisk appliances, PIKA has spent considerable resources on choosing reliable embedded hardware and performing quality assurance (QA) testing. When building your own appliance, DIYers have to be concerned with EOL (end of life) on components such as motherboard, memory etc and have to deal with software installation issues and integration with the hardware (ie. drivers)
WARP comes pre-loaded with the 2.6x Linux Kernel (stripped down PIKA version) and includes SSH (Dropbear), Asterisk and Asterisk GUI (1.4.x), database (SQlite3), Httpd (webserver), PHP5, NTP, DHCP, TFTP server & client, as well as VLAN and DNS. As previously mentioned, you have the ability to add any software package that your application requires.
I got to test drive the PIKA WARP Appliance in the lab and was pretty impressed how easy it was to load firmware, add packages, and build a fully-functional copy of Asterisk. The unit includes a RAM disk, full root access, 256MB of RAM, and 256MB of Flash for loading the Linux kernel. Additionally, you can add an SD memory card for additional memory storage, useful for storing voicemail. The processor is powered by a AMCC Power PC 440EP, which operated at 533MHz. The outside of the unit features a 2 x 20 backlit LCD display, with API-controlled front-panel scroll button. You can even control the LED with simple shell commands.
Make the LED red:
echo 1 > /sys/class/leds/warp-red/brightness
echo 0 > /sys/class/leds/warp-green/brightness
Make the LED green:
~ #> echo 0 > /sys/class/leds/warp-red/brightness
~ #> echo 1 > /sys/class/leds/warp-green/brightness
Make the LED orange:
~ #> echo 1 > /sys/class/leds/warp-red/brightness
~ #> echo 1 > /sys/class/leds/warp-green/brightness
To turn the LED off you just echo 0 to both.
I learned this tip on David Clarke’s blog/community. David is the Business Development Manager at PIKA Technologies and he started the blog of a place where developers can find 3rd party add-ons such as various Asterisk GUIs and WARP tips. It is relatively new but content is growing daily. You can check it out here: www.pikawarp.org
The back of the unit includes Music-on-hold audio in, paging system audio out, an SD slot, a single Ethernet port and one USB port. I’m told PIKA is working on a dual-Ethernet port WARP Appliance in the near future. This would allow the appliance to add NAT firewall capabilities. Importantly, the unit includes a power failure switchover emergency PSTN port. In the event of a power failure, you can still make an outbound call, i.e. 911.
The appliance can run software from flash memory or via a network file system (NFS) located on your development computer. According to PIKA, “Initially, you will use NFS to execute the software( kernel and ramdisk). NFS will be the primary method for running software on the appliance during development. It is faster to boot using NFS, updates to files can be done without taking the time to write new images into flash and, depending on the file type being modified, without rebooting.” There are 3 methods available to load software onto the Appliance.
a) svn checkout of PADS
b) tarball of PADS
c) pre-built images file for the appliance
Building the software is very straightforward using PADS (Pika Application Development Suite) to compile the various packages and then transferring it to the WARP Appliance. You can also compile directly on the WARP Appliance itself using gcc. (See: http://pikawarp.org/?p=53) If using PADS, your development computer requires the following Linux packages in order to use PADS:
• A serial client (e.g. minicom on Linux or HyperTerminal on Windows)
• TFTP (Trival File Transfer Protocol) Server
• NFS (Network File System) Server
• WGET
• Subversion (SVN)
• AUTOCONF
• AUTOMAKE
• LIBTOOL
• NCURSES
• SSH client
• GCC 4.x or greater
On your development Linux PC you go to the location of your unpacked source or SVN checkout of PADS and simply type:
#make menuconfig
This command displays the package selection menu. This will include default menu selections, but you can easily add/remove packages from the Appliance. Next you select ‘Exit, choose ‘Yes’ when asked if you want to save your configuration and then enter the command:
#make
This will build the software with the packages you chose. When the build is complete, you will have an NFS mount point at <Your PADS path>/build_warp/root.
The software image for the kernel (cuImage.warp) is created during the previous step. To create software images for the ramdisk and the persistent file system, you simply enter the command:
#make image
The following compressed images will be located in <Your PADS path>/images:
• cuImage.warp (kernel)
• uRamdisk (ramdisk)
• image.jffs2 (persistent filesystem)
The next step is loading the images into the appliance. There’s a few ways of doing it, including entering a special bootloader mode called U-Boot and using a serial cable and software like HyperTerminal. But a much easier method is doing it across the network using TFTP or SCP to transfer and load the software onto the appliance. To actually write software to flash you use warploader. warploader is a PIKA’s tool that allows you to write software into flash memory while the appliance is running. The tool provides a single step to replace software eliminating the need to enter the special U-Boot prompt and a serial connection to load new software.
After transferring the image to the appliance, you just type this command to load the software into Flash:
#warploader -p <partition name> filename
For instance:
#warploader -p kernel /root/cuImage.warp (kernel)
#warploader -p root /root/uRamdisk (RAM Disk)
Flash memory has a limited number of write-erase cycles. A utility is provided to track the writes to the NAND flash and can be used to monitor excessive or rapidly increasing amounts of data written to flash which may indicate a problem with an application.
To view the amount of data written, enter the following at the Linux prompt on the appliance:
cat /proc/driver/ndfc
or on my version:
cat /proc/driver/pikasd
Unfortunately, the number of writes is reset to zero after a reboot, but still a useful utility.
Two additional partitions called persisent1 and persistent2 are provided in flash memory for user-defined purposes. This space can be used for additional persistent data or for files that will not fit into the ramdisk image. I should point out that when the system is booted, the ramdisk is read from flash or NFS into memory and therefore, the size of the ramdisk is an important consideration for system performance. The maximum size of the ramdisk, using the current settings is 64 Megabytes, out of the total 256M of RAM. PIKA claims that this size is sufficient for a load that includes all of the packages currently made available by PIKA in PADS, with the exception of GDB (GNU Project Debugger).
I hooked up some analog trunk lines using a Teltone analog simulator as well as a few analog phones. I also registered a Polycom IP650 and an Aastra 57i IP phone. I was able to make extension-to-extension calls, outbound calls through the Teltone simulator, and inbound calls to the auto-attendant. In my testing of the PIKA WARP Appliance, it handles fax just fine. It doesn’t currently support T.38 real-time fax over IP because T.38 is very processor intensive, but PIKA told me T.38 support is in the works. PIKA includes some special built-in extensions to speed development and testing. For instance, I was able to dial 500 and make an IAX VoIP call to Digium’s corporate auto-attendant (misery.digium.com) with no firewall configuration. I’m always impressed how IAX is able to traverse NAT firewalls without messing with the firewall.
Here’s a list of the built-in testing extensions:
Extension Purpose/Destination
2222 - Connects to the audio in port to listen to the audio sent from an external device such as an MP3 player.
2233 - Connects the handset microphone to the audio out port on the appliance, used for paging.
2244 - Begins playing pre-recorded prompts to the audio out port on the appliance. After dialing, if you hang up, the prompts will continue to play.
2255 - Stops the pre-recorded prompts started by dialing extension 2244.
4001 to 4005 - These extensions call FXS lines 1 to 5, respectively. If the FXS module is not present, the call will be routed to voice mail.
4006 to 4010 - These extensions call the sample SIP Agents defined in sip.conf. If the SIP agent associated with the extension is not registered, the call will be routed to voice mail.
4060 - PIKA FAX receive test. Connect a FAX machine to one of the FXS ports, dial this extension and the
appliance will receive the FAX. A tiff file will be stored in /tmp/warpfax.
4061 - PIKA FAX transmit test. Connect a FAX machine to one of the FXS ports, dial this extension and the appliance will send a test FAX (the PIKA logo) to your FAX machine.
9<number> - Calls out on an available FXO extension. If no FXO extensions are available, congestion will be received.
500 - IAX test call to Digium’s auto-attendant.
Features/Specs:
- Operating system — Denx ELDK, with a 2.6.19.2 Linux kernel
- AMCC Power PC 440EP Embedded 533 MHz Processor 1200 mips
- Supports floating point and MMU (memory management unit)
- Internal flash 256 MB NAND(OS + apps) plus 4 MB NOR memory (uboot)
- 256MB RAM
- External removable 1 GB SD flash memory (no hard drive improves reliability) for additional voice mail prompts / storage
- back -up of configuration files and custom settings (facilitates unit replacement)
- Reset function remotely controlled
- Maximum IP ports 75
- Maximum FXS ports 9
- Built-in FXS ports 1
- Maximum FXO ports 8
- Maximum BRI ports 4 / channels 8 (future)
- Simultaneous calls 32
- Dynamic thermal management (fan)
- Power failure transfer
- Music on Hold input
- Paging system output
- Echo cancellation
Connectivity
- WAN/LAN ports 1
- RS-232 interface
- USB ports 1
Display
- Size 2×20 character
- Backlight
- ScrollButton
- API
Physical
- Brandable
- Desk mountable
- Wall mountable
- 9.25″ W x 6.65″ D x 2.18″H
|
Conclusion
Comparisons will no doubt be made with Digium’s Asterisk Appliance 50 (AA50), so I thought it might be useful to offer my own comparative analysis. I haven’t tested the Digium Asterisk Appliance, so I can’t compare the development environments between the two. Though, I am under the impression that Digium not longer supports an open development environment. Looking strictly at feature-specs, I see that the PIKA WARP Appliance does have some key advantages, including built-in Music-on-Hold, paging, LCD display, 5 more FXS ports, and higher scalability (75 vs. 50). The Digium Asterisk Appliance does however have 4 LAN ports to the WARP’s single WAN/LAN port and the Digium Asterisk Appliance has an additional WAN port which currently the PIKA WARP Appliance does not have. The PIKA WARP Appliance offers 256MB of RAM to Digium’s 64MB of RAM and WARP offers 256MB of Flash memory to Digium’s 8MB of Flash.
Feature-specs aside, perhaps the WARP’s greatest advantage is that is flexible and customizable while the AA50 supports Asterisk only. I asked PIKA why the AA50 isn’t conducive to 3rd party applications and development and PIKA told me, “With such a small amount of memory and a more complex development environment, allowing 3rd party apps is not realistic to the typical Asterisk developer and Digium likely found it too difficult to support. PIKA has made the development process easy with PADS so it is a more viable option for Asterisk developers.”
The PIKA WARP Appliance for Asterisk is a compelling platform for developers, resellers, and VARs looking for a low cost, reliable, feature-rich Asterisk appliance to offer to the SMB market. The complete customizability and its ability to support analog trunks, analog phones, as well as IP phones and IP trunks makes it a great solution for small businesses that don’t have voice T1/PRI lines. Further, unlike Asterisk on a traditional PC, the WARP Appliance comes pre-installed with Music on Hold (MOH) and Paging built-in, as well as power failure transfer (PFT). Another key advantage is that it is modular allowing you’re the choice of up to 9 ports of a combination of FXO/FXS/BRI ports. Further, the WARP Appliance can handle up to 75 IP phones and 32 simultaneous calls, which is quite impressive for this very small and surprisingly light device. I should point out that many new small businesses are started each day and these “green fields” are looking for a cost-effective and feature-rich phone system. The PIKA Warp Appliance fits the small business market segment quite nicely both from a price and feature perspective.
Further, medium-sized businesses that have outgrown their current key system or PBX could be enticed to switch to the PIKA WARP Appliance even if their current phone system lease isn’t up yet. The reason is super low-cost of the WARP Appliance. Of course, resellers, VARs, and developers will no doubt package together their own applications and offer a profit premium over the $725 list price. Still, I’d expect the PIKA Appliance to allow developers to offer a full-fledged Asterisk IP-PBX with strong analog support for around $1000, which is a very competitive price. All-in-all, I really liked the PIKA WARP Appliance and I think developers will too.
Tags: AA50, Asterisk, Digium Asterisk Appliance 50, ip-pbx, PIKA Technologies, PIKA WARP Appliance, VoIP, WARP Appliance
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Seinfeld To Battle Mac Guy in Ads
Microsoft, weary of being cast as a stodgy oldster by Apple advertising, is turning for help to Jerry Seinfeld.
The software giant’s new $300 million advertising campaign, devised by a newly hired ad agency, has been closely guarded.
But Mac-loving Seinfeld will be one of the key celebrity pitchmen, say people close to the situation. He will appear with Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates in ads and receive about $10 million for the work, they say.
(If you offer enough money …)
I say, “No soup for you!
See more at the Wall Street Journal.
Tags: apple, bill gates, jerry seinfeld, mac, microsoft
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GTA IV for PC To Feature Expanded Multiplayer System
Gamers will see the release of Grand Theft Auto IV (GTA IV) for their platform of choice this fall. Game developer Rockstar Games and parent company Take-Two have announced that the popular title will hit store shelves on Nov. 18.
Naturally, gameplay in GTA IV will be a little different on the PC than it is on the PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360, principally because gamers often use keyboards and mice instead of specialized controllers.
However, Rockstar is adding what it calls a newly expanded multiplayer system just for the PC.
One of the big draws for PC gaming is multiplayer, so if they can create a unique PC-oriented multiplayer experience, it could pull more people in. If it’s something substantially different, and it’s great, it could even convince some of the people who bought the console version to buy the PC version just for the multiplayer.
Wait and see …
Check out more at eCommerce Times here.
Tags: grand theft auto, playstation 3, Rockstar, take-two, xbox 360
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Seeing a Windows-less Future …
Hard to image (but many have thought about it, I’m sure), but Microsoft has kicked off a research project to create software that will take over when it retires Windows.
Called Midori, the cut-down operating system is radically different from Microsoft’s older programs, being Internet-centric rather than depending on being tied to a single PC.
Although Midori has been heard about before now, more details have now been published by Software Development Times after viewing internal Microsoft documents describing the technology.
Midori is believed to be under development because Windows is unlikely to be able to cope with the pace of change in future technology and the way people use it.
Windows worked well in an age when most people used one machine to do all their work. The operating system acted as the holder for the common elements Windows programs needed to call on. It’s lot different now!
When asked about Midori by BBC News, Microsoft issued a statement that said: “Midori is one of many incubation projects underway at Microsoft. It’s simply a matter of being too early in the incubation to talk about it.”
Tags: bbc news, microsoft, midori, windows
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Cool (Cuil) New Search Engine Launches
Seems like everyone and their brothers and sisters is writing or blogging about the launch of a new search engine today that apparently digs even deeper into the Internet to bring more accurate searches.
The new SE, called Cuil (and pronounced “Cool”) has a different look, with more text after each returned search, rather than Google’s list of links and links and links.
On my first searches, very fast results, but with mixed results — some odd balls, some right on the money.
So, you try it, and see what happens.
Oh, and get back to me on it, will ya?
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Is Now the Time for e-Book Readers?
With Sony announcing today that its Reader Digital Book will be able to read electronic books published using the .epub format — the same that many of the largest book publishers are using — ring in a new age for e-books?
Until now, Sony’s e-book reader could only read books available from the Sony e-book store, PDF documents and digital rights management (DRM)-free text.
Starting next month, the new PRS-505 Sony Reader will be able to access secure DRM- and non-DRM-protected content in the .epub format, formerly called the Open eBook format.
The Sony Reader Digital Book is the first e-book reading device to support the .epub format, which is the XML-based standard format proposed by the International Digital Publishing Forum. It allows publishers to convert books to different formats, protect the copy using DRM and adds the ability to resize PDF e-books and other text to better fit the reader’s screen size.
Such publishers as Harper Collins, Random House, Simon & Schuster and Penguin are offering texts in the .epub format.
CNet has more on this development here.
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Malware & Hackers Heading to Mac Land
News that I’d rather not think about, but have to, is the new upsurge in malware written specifically for Apple users. 
Still a drop in the bucket compared to Windows vulnerabilities, but Mac nastyware is on the rise.
Two new Mac-ware Trojans that emerged in February and June ought to shake Mac users of their misconceptions that their computers (and, eventually, iPods and iPhones) are impenetrable.
To put this in perspective, the first really pernicious piece of Mac malware emerged only in October 2007, suggesting that a worrisome trend is about to get worse.
Read more of this sad development here at TimesOnline (UK).
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A Crapware-Free PC? Now, You’re Talking!
Sick and tired of getting a new PC and discovering all of the free trial software and other stuff you don’t need, didn’t ask for and now have clogging up valuable drive space on your new baby?
Well, looks like Sony has taken the noble step of making it possible to configure your own PC (like the VAIO notebook) without any of that extra stuff included. And they do it for free.
Like the concept? Then read more about it here.
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CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X4 — Gettin’ Better All the Time …
We get all excited about Adobe PhotoShop and the suite of related products that make it such a great graphics program, but there are other solid choices out there for you to take into consideration.
CorelDR
AW Graphics Suite X4 is at the top of that list!
Drawing on its years of expertise, CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X4 delivers all the essential tools for today’s busy designer.
You can do whatever you need to do — create illustrations, logos, brochures, newsletters, flyers, signs, Web images and more, more, more!
You can create powerful designs using intuitive vector illustration and page layout tools or retouch and enhance photos with professional photo editing software.
How about easily converting bitmap images to editable and scalable vector files? Sure …
Whatever your project, CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X4 will streamline your workflow. It’s got enhanced Windows Vista integration, which sure helps you avoid an hiccups.
Alas, it’s only for 64- or 32-bit Windows Vista (sure would be nice to see a Mac version). 
MSRP: Full — $429. Upgrade — $199.
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What’s Your Favorite Widget?
We’ve got widgets for the Mac and widgets for the PC.
These little apps can be very helpful!
I’ve got these widgets — calendar, gas price finder, calculator, my local weather, iTunes, Stickies, clock and the very cool GuitarChords.
Some days I use some of these a lot, others not, but good to know they are there.
Do you use widgets?
What’s your favorite?
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Microsoft Equipt includes Office, OneCare for $69.99/Year
Microsoft will start selling its Office programs to consumers on a subscription basis starting in mid-July. According to the news, it’s a a bid to reach “thrifty PC buyers” who would otherwise pass on the software.
The software bundle, formerly code-named “Albany” , includes Microsoft Office Home and Student 2007, giving them the latest versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote. Additionally it comes with Microsoft’s Live OneCare computer security software, Windows Live tools, such as Windows Live Mail, Windows Live Messenger and Windows Live Photo Gallery, and will be sold at Circuit City stores for $69.99 per year.
Bryson Gordon, a group product manager for the Office group, said in an interview that the agreement with Circuit City Stores Inc. is not exclusive, and that the bundle will be available at other retailers and on PCs sold by the likes of Dell Inc. in the future.
The Microsoft Equipt bundle includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote, plus OneCare and a handful of existing free Windows Live applications.
Buying those programs the traditional way would cost about $200. Further the news says consumers who want to replace Office 2007 with “Office 14,” rumored to be set for a 2009 release, would have to pay full price and not an upgrade price. That should rankle a few feathers if indeed true. Contrast that with the subscription model, where upgrading to a new version is included in the annual cost.
Obviously, with security & anti-virus features built into OneCare, this also puts Equipts squarely in the sights of popular subscription-based security programs such as McAfee and Symantec. It’s worth mentioning that Equipt can be installed on up to three computers.
Of course, for free you can install and use Open Office for your Office productivity suite. Then you can install ClamAV, a free open source anti-virus tool, or even AVG Free Edition. So if Microsoft is targeting the “thrifty” they may not get many takers. Then again, people will pay for stuff if it’s good quality and cheap.
Check out Microsoft’s site for more
Tags: circuit city, mcafee, Microsoft, Microsoft Equipt, Office, Office 2007, OneCare, OneNote, software, subscription, symantec
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