I used to test skype/tech/web soft- and hardware gadgets, but I got other things to do now and there is no money to be made with it anyways. Hence we keep this blog as side-show.
" Microsoft's Mediaroom is the company's IPTV solution that brings TV into to your house (much like cable and satellite) over IP." source news.
I think that systems and companies like www.joost.com cannot even think of competiting with Microsoft. After all Microsoft has got xboxes, pc's with their operating systems in virtually every room in the world... Business or consumer. They have a huge marketing gun too and they provide support.
Where does that leaves the like of Skype and Joost ? Product : [MediaRoom]
Got it from gizmodo.com/FCC Filing Teases WiMAX Option for Future Apple MacBooks "A new FCC filing for an Intel 5350 WiFi/WiMAX combo card that fits into
Mini PCI Express slots is probably the best evidence yet for future
WiMAX functionality in Apple MacBooks, but it's still far from a
confirmation. The bottom line is that with the new card, the WiMAX
option officially exists for MacBooks, but as of yet there are no
drivers written that would allow it to work with Apple's line of
laptops. You could actually hack your laptop and plug the card in just
fine as it is now, but without the drivers (which do exist for
Windows), it's pretty useless. That said, the drivers—especially with
Intel Macs—are a mere Leopard update or MacBook redesign away. [FCC Filing via ComputerWorld]"
" Skype is on the A-list at the Cannes Film Festival, no less. Not bad. Only last month, Skype had a supporting role in Nim’s Island, a Robinson Crusoe-style adventure on a remote South Pacific island. Movie stars, directors and other Hollywood royalty that don’t make
it to Cannes can make their video calling connection via Skype to the
American Pavilion, the business and hospitality center for the press,
filmmakers, stars and others attending the famed festival running from
May 14 to May 25." source.
Or maybe it's google that does not allow it... Maybe when google (now that was a rumour) would acquire skype this could all be solved...
My take is that the whole "import my address function" is a great feature for spammers who wish to find out which email-addresses are linked on Skype and then annoy the poor souls. Not that I have the impression that anybody over at Skype development seems to bother.
An application that provides perfect "find who is using skype based on email-addresses" is Skylook. I have written about this multiple times.
Interesting story here : " Using
P2P, Flash sites will be able to serve higher quality video than
YouTube at a fraction of the cost. Meanwhile, the combination of the
Speex audio codec and the Real Time Media Flow Protocol (RTMFP) will
enable sites to seamlessly integrate VoIP without requiring a Skype
install. The impact of this change is hard to fathom. We’re talking
about a fundamental shift in what is possible on the Internet, with
Flash demolishing almost all barriers to integrating P2P on any site.
Hank Williams and Om Malik have discussed the potential for Flash 10 to be used for P2P CDNs, and they’re largely right on."
"researchers from Taiwan have created a new baseball cap complete with embedded -bio-signal monitoring system. The purpose was to give a neural interface that could be useful in everyday life." via slashdot.
Probably it is. Nice and green, but still not interconnecting. Jamie Watson has got a point here : " The second addition is integrating even more external IM networks to
the Gizmo5 chat console. They were already the leader in this, and it
just keeps getting better. As I have mentioned before, I already have
my MSN and Yahoo accounts under Gizmo5, and its really nice to have
only one program running instead of three. Their list of networks is
now:
- MSN Live
- AIM
- Yahoo
- MySpace
- Jabber (includes Google Talk)
- QQ
- iChat
- ICQ
- Gadu Gadu
That's quite a list - the only thing of significance that is missing is
Skype, and how I would love for them to be able to do that, so I could
chat with the few remaining Skype contacts that I have without having
to load the infernal Skype program." source.
Newcomer Nimbuzz plans to outgun Gizmo and Skype ITProPortal, UK -May 15, 2008 ... sturdy than its desktop counterpart and works with Skype, Google Talk, AOL IM, Windows Live Messenger, Yahoo IM, Jabber and even Myspace and Facebook
It would have been better for marketing and PR that the location and time would point to the real location and time of the traveller.
Maybe the skype development and the 3skypephone guys can take a look at this time-sync-location issue, in the next release. Or maybe it's just a marketing / PR thing ?
What would have been even cooler is displaying the travel route on google earth also. I know that the have done it to spot or trackingwhales on google earth (with GPS-units attached). Maybe a phone can become a GPS collar ? The idea of people with RFID units and GPS-tracking device (plus image grabbing device) comes to mind again. My simple GPS Garmin Nuvi has that option.
Maybe in 2090 skype enable p2p voip / voice / video androids with built-in video will roam the earth, transmitting live video via their sensors to x,y,z. Imagine putting such a skype-device behind the human eye, ears and hands. Make sure to put it in Skype me mode and auto-respond. I am thinking of a Linux device that has multiple Skypes running with different webcamera's built in and you would put all this in autorespond mode. Imagine having this inside a phone. Back to 2008 now...
Remember www.gatagata.jp... Instead of have made their propietary "look at me, the skype nomad " on the globe (still a great stunt), instead the skypers could have mapped the route of the skype ID of the skypenomad to this www.gatagata.jp. overlay and map out the live skype ID's around the walking skype-ID. See http://skmap.gatagata.jp/. The lucky skype users who could then spot the travelling nomad it's skype ID would then get some free calling credit and this would be published on the skype blog. That would have been something that attracts more people. On top of the guys from 3skypephone Hutchison Whampoa would have given away one skype per country...
It just did not happen... (yet). Maybe for the skypenomad version 2 ? It could be a sequel like Rambo 1, Rambo 2 etcetera...
Even better would have been to setup the virtual representation of the travelling skypenomad in real web geographical 2.0. social webstyle www.unype.org is the perfect example of that.
Final "sting" : when is skype going to open up to the other IM channels ? MSN and Yahoo are already interlinked ? What about Skype ?
Can MySpace revive Skype? GameSHOUT -May 15, 2008 Launching in over 20 countries, where MySpace has localized communities, Skype will partner with MySpace to launch "MySpaceIM." The deal will enable MySpace ...
It seems that all but 4 of the 13 ISPs that block or interfere with Bittorrent traffic are in the US. The others are in Singapore, Malaysia, Canada and Ireland (1 each) http://broadband.mpi-sws.mpg.de/transparency/results/
"The map plots the geographic location of the 8,175 nodes that ran
our BitTorrent tests. These hosts are distributed across 90 countries
and 1224 access ISPs. Hosts that found their BitTorrent transfers being
blocked are marked in red."
Maybe somebody could overlay this map on google earth.
It would be interesting to see a list per country of the provider who interfere/block p2p skype/voip. I am sure this would show some interesting results... "Sharing is good, telephony must be free". Who said that again ?
"Canonical today hoped to preempt all comers today with news of Ubuntu Mobile.
Its first Linux variant aimed at handhelds, the software is tailored
for the Mobile Internet Devices (MIDs) expected to launch in spring
based on Intel's Silverthorne
technology and is designed to recognize basic iPhone-like gestures such
as swiping to scroll through menus and websites. A scrolling visual
front end based on Flash or Clutter replaces the traditional Ubuntu
desktop and is designed to be used solely with fingers, including with
an on-screen keyboard."
Soon we'll have a skype phone... on an open source platform.
In all of my trips to China, I encountered the language and cultural barrier when trying to talk to the locals. In that perspective, these kind of software-language-overlays can be very useful.
The next thing that strikes about the UUSKYPE.COM.CN is the name. Interesting how they are allowed to use the logo and the name in their software...
Skype Will Comply With GDL VoIP-News, CA -May 10, 2008 Skype
got in trouble in Germany last year because they violated a German law
that requires the release of source code with open-source products
CuPhone releases USB Skype adaptor. Any phone can now be used to make Skype calls with the help of the “Echo Free” USB-to-Phone Adaptor just released by CuPhone.
" The company lost 1.09 million subscribers to the competition, while
also losing a bit of ground on its average revenue per customer, now at
$56 a month." source.
More "Sprint lost 1.07 million contract customers last quarter,
fewer than forecast, and said the declines will improve
``marginally'' this quarter. Customers have fled over complaints
about service after the $36 billion acquisition of Nextel
Communications Inc. Nextel may be worth as little as $5 billion
now, according to Cowen & Co. analyst Tom Watts in New York." source : Bloomberg.
My take : Did they go to Skype and other VoIP solutions ? it's all about ARPU for the Telecom and soon that will be the same story for the like of Skype, but for the users of Skype, well telephony should be "free" and it is virtually free. Revenues will have to come from somewhere else. Currently I am using my Skype/Ipevo full blown phone and when I am lucky in the office or on other WIFI I can access, I have a free global signal. It is even linked to real phone-numbers, so normal people can call me.
Somebody said that Iphones are EGO friendly devices, instead of ECO friendly. Funny remark for the time of web 2.0. and social webspaces....
I like it.
I don't like it.
" Microsoft's Mediaroom is the company's IPTV solution that brings TV into to your house (much like cable and satellite) over IP." source news. 
Hackers target VoIP accounts
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