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Polycom Communicator: Other VoIP Support Beyond Skype
As you may remember, we at Digital-Lifestyles are big fans of the Polycom Communicator. It’s a well made USB-addon for Skype that lets you carry out clear, hands-free conversation over Skype – it also doubles as a quality speaker to listen to music when travelling.
Polycom have announced that they’re going to support more VoIP software than just Skype on the current Polycom Communicator C100S and bring out a non-Skype version of it too, subtlety called the C100 (no S). The outside of the C100 only differs by not having a (S) Skype button on the left of the cluster in the middle.
The newly supported VoIP packages are scheduled in two lumps – CounterPath’s eyeBeam and X-Lite IP soft phones and the Polycom PVX PC-based desktop video conferencing application, becoming available in April this year and BroadSoft’s BroadWorks Communicator IP soft phone anticipated in July.
Current owners of the C100S will be able to download software drivers to enable support.
The Polycom Communicator C100 is scheduled for worldwide availability in April, with a suggested retail price of $149, 124 Euros, £84.
C100
22 March, 2007
Skype Downloaded Over 0.5 Billion Times
Skype has announced that its VoIP software has been downloaded over 500 million times since its inception in August 2003.
A pretty staggering number, even when you realise that it includes all of the downloads and possibly all upgrades of the software (* We’re in the process of checking this with Skype HQ).
Working out that this averages just under 11m downloads per month is pretty meaningless, as in the early days there were very few people knowing about Skype, or even how to pronounce it. In the early days some numpties called it Skype-eee – and we bet that the guilty keep that one quiet these days.
Some numbers that are worth looking at – because they’re pretty mind blowing – are that Skype is being downloaded at the rate of six times per second; Skype to Skype minutes in Q4 2006 alone totalled 7.6 billion minutes; and in September 2005, Skype had 54 million registered users. Today it has over 171 million registered users worldwide.
Skype CEO and co-founder Niklas Zennström shares the love and enthused, “The entire Skype team owes its success to the global community of registered users we have today who tell their loved ones how much they enjoy using Skype.”
The original Skype users were mostly people who had used Zennström previously wildly popular product, Kazza, a P2P file-sharing application. Much of the knowledge his team had built up in handling considerable amount of data sharing between machines was invaluable in building the bones of Skype.
Skype is now just part of everyday life. A product that you couldn’t imagine being without. A pretty impressive feat in anyones book.
8 March, 2007
Sky Remote Record Via The Internet
Sky has gradually been increasing the number of ways to program your Sky+ and HD boxes to record. The latest, via the Internet, joins interactive via mobile phone and the rather convoluted mobile text message services.
In those situations where Sky subscribers find they haven’t set their boxes to record the latest episode of Celebrity Trouser Press, and can’t live without seeing it, relief will now be at hand.
By grabbing the closest (compatible) Web browser, Sky subscribers bring up the Sky site, login and take themselves to TV Listings. The next seven days of TV programming will be brought up, and, when Celebrity Trouser Press is found, by clicking on the title, the description of the programme and its options are brought up.
All that is needed to program the box is a click on Remote Record, and a subsequent confirmation to send the request to the box nestled under the TV at home.
Sky tell us that it can take up to 30 mins for the programming request to reach its destination, but it’s highly likely to be significantly quicker than that.
Strangely they have decided to impose a limit of 10 recording request a day via the Internet – but, in our view, anyone who need to remotely programme their box more than that needs help anyway. Those afflicted can reach for their mobile to carry on programming until their thumbs bleed.
Well that’s it. The remote programming circle is now complete. All ways to program your Sky+ box are now available … err, except the direct brain method. We await the call from Sky on that one.
Sky Remote Record
2 March, 2007
YouTube Traffic Surges
It may have suffered more law suits than slippery Jeffrey Archer, but new figures reveal continuing growth for the video sharing site, with many visitors seeking out user-generated content.
Research firm Hitwise reported that online traffic to YouTube soared past rival US TV websites, with the site recording more visits than all the television network Web sites combined during the week of Feb. 3rd.
Whipping out their big calculators and pulling out a few pencils from their white coat top pockets, Hitwise calculated that YouTube’s share of internet visits leapt to 0.6031% during the week of February 3.
By comparison, traffic to the whole bloomin’ lot of US TV network websites could only muster a measly 0.4865% share.
Remarkably, YouTube’s US market share actually jumped 13.9% in the two weeks after MTV and Comedy Central parent Viacom had made the company remove 100,000 of its clips.
Hitwise researcher LeAnn Prescott, commented, “This is a landmark event in the changing face of web traffic and entertainment consumption, now that entertainment seekers are now more likely to go to YouTube than any other television network or gaming website.”
The Hitwise research looked at the words and phrases used in Internet search engine queries that led surfers to YouTube videos.
Although amateur videos remain popular, the number one online video search in the four weeks up to February 17 was for television commercials shown during the recent US Superbowl game – something that will, no doubt, warm the cold steely hearts of their marketing dept.
According to Hitwise’s figures, the second most common video search was for “white and nerdy” while “Charlie the unicorn” came in at third.
We didn’t have a clue who the chuffin’ Nora Charlie the unicorn was so we looked it up. And boy, was it rubbish.
26 February, 2007
PURE DMX-25 DAB Micro System With MP3 Playback Launched
Those lovely people at Pure have launched another means of listening to DAB radio and other audio, this time in a compact micro Hi-Fi form.
The new PURE DMX-25 DAB Micro System with MP3 playback comes with the ability to playback MP3/ WMA files from portable USB flash memory drives, SD memory cards and CDs. Beyond those terribly modern means, there’s also two auxiliary inputs, letting you connect iPod, MiniDisc or MP3 player.
This micro system is Micro with the main unit being 140mm wide and 150mm tall – not much wider than a CD case.
All the DAB goodies are available including autotuning to all available stations and scrolling text showing news, sports results, artist names and track titles (as long as it’s supported by the broadcaster). Pure tells us that some areas of the UK have up to 55 DAB stations these days.
The CD player isn’t just for the run of the mill audio CDs. It will playback CD-R and CD-RW disks with support for CD Text and audio CD playlists. The DMX-25 also plays back MP3-CDs, including support for ID3 tags, giving significantly increased capacity.
For those of you who love to know about the guts of what you’re buying – The DMX-25 is powered by the Frontier Chorus FS1010, which incorporates the revolutionary META multi-threaded processor and Universal Communications Core technologies developed by Imagination Technologies. So there!
DMX-25 is on sale from April 2007 from major retailers and independent hi-fi dealers nationwide for just £129.99 (SSP inc. VAT).
Tech Specs
Tuner: Stereo digital radio with full Band III and FM reception. ETS 300 410 compliant and capable of decoding all DAB transmission modes 1-4 up to and including 192 kbps. Supports FM RDS and RadioText.
Frequency ranges: Band III 174-240 MHz, FM 87.5-108 MHz.
CD Player: CD-R and CD-RW playback compatible. Support for 20 track audio CD playlist. Multiple playback modes (repeat, shuffle, etc.). MP3 & WMA playback, including support for ID3 tags.
Speakers: 4 Ohms (nominal) impedance. 10W RMS power handling. Two-way design. Treated paper mid-bass driver. Custom-tuned crossover. Rosewood finish. Removable grilles.
Input connectors: Two 3.5mm line-inputs for auxiliary devices. USB host port for flash-based memory sticks (key drives) and powered media devices. SD memory card support.
Output connectors: 3.5mm stereo output for headphones.
Controls: Power on/standby, clock/sleep, source, tune/select, menu, timer, info, presets, volume, play/pause, stop, fast forward, rewind and MP3 directory navigation.
Remote: Fully featured infrared remote control. Uses 2 AAA batteries (supplied).
Presets: 30 presets (10 DAB and 20 FM).
LCD Display: LCD display with 16 x 2 characters, plus additional function icons.
Mains power supply: 240V. Euro/UK power socket adapter.
Approvals: CE marked. Compliant with the EMC and Low Voltage Directives (89/336/EEC and 73/23/EEC).
Dimensions (mm): Unit – 140 wide x 150 high (280 with CD compartment open) x 230 deep (including controls). Speakers – 130 wide x 205 high x 160 deep.
Aerial: Wire dipole DAB/FM aerial.
Warranty: Comprehensive two year warranty.
Pure DMX-25
23 February, 2007
Viacom Joost Deal Struck
US media giant, Viacom, have struck a deal with Joost, the VOD TV to computer previously known as The Venice Project.
Joost is currently in beta, and it’s understood that the Viacom material will be available for the yet-undefined launch date of Joost. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Joost users will have financially-free access to the content. Joost users will ‘pay’ by being shown brief adverts, that we call blip-verts. They only last a couple of seconds and aren’t _that_ offensive, if the video pieces that are being watched aren’t too short.
The Viacom channels covered by the deal are MTV, Comedy Central, VH1, Spike TV, Logo and BET.
Clearly Philippe Dauman, Viacom President and Chief Executive Officer, is showing his excitement at being involved, “We’re extremely pleased to be working with Joost, and couldn’t be prouder to be a key partner in the launch of the next generation in broadband video technology.” He’s not looking at the Joost deal as an exclusive though, “we’re determined to keep pushing and growing our digital presence and bring our programming to audiences on every platform and device that they want. In addition to strong partnerships we have with traditional distributors, we will continue to seek out partners like Joost, which has created an exciting breakthrough platform that represents not only a fantastic user experience, but one that is built on a compelling and sustainable business model that respects both content creators and consumers.”
All of this comes only a couple of week after Viacom threw their legal department at YouTube, insisting that they remove their content from the video sharing site and accused Google-owned YouTube of knowingly profiting from material stolen from them.
Joost recently introduced a version of Joost to run on Apple’s Mac. Version 0.8.0.1 for Mac came out on Monday, following a brief period in Alpha test. They describe it as looking “very much like Joost for Windows, while behaving very much like a Mac application.” A growing number of Mac Beta testers are complaining that the software only works on Intel-based Macs.
Joost
21 February, 2007
Twelve Steps To Beat Email Addiction
Apparently the problem of ’email addiction’ has got so bad amongst some permanently-connected workers and Blackberry toting bosses that some “executive coach” dudess in Pennsylvania has come up with her “12 steps to cure e-mail addiction” plan.
The 12 step plan was devised by executive coach Marsha Egan after several of her clients revealed how their email addiction was taking them right off the rails.
One exec found he failed to impress a client on the golf course after he simply had to check email on his BlackBerry after every single shot, while another was unable to walk past a computer – any computer – without reaching for the ‘check email’ button.
One seriously twitchy email addict was so desperate to receive email, that he regularly sent himself messages just to check that the email system was working.
Thankfully ol’Marsha’s on hand to help cure these poor souls, and with an eye to opening up future business opportunities, she wasn’t one to underplay the ‘problem’ for big businesses.
Ratcheting her hyperbole control up to eleven, she warned that, “There is a crisis in corporate America, but a lot of CEOs don’t know it.”.
“They haven’t figured out how expensive it is,” she added.
That’s as maybe, but we suspect clients who need someone to tell them how to sort out their own email might soon learn how expensive her “executive coaching” courses might be.
The Twelve Steps (our comments in italics):
1. Admit that e-mail is managing you. Let go of your need to check e-mail every ten minutes.
What?! And miss out the prospect of being the first to tell the office a freshly emailed joke?!
2. Commit to keeping your inbox empty.
Oh right. That’s a bit like saying, ‘commit to only taking one phone call a day’ or ‘only have the one beer in the pub.’
3. Create files where you can put inbox material that needs to be acted on.
We’ve already done that. And now it’s full of hundreds of unanswered mails.
4. Make broad headings for your filing system so that you have to spend less time looking for filed material.
Surely it’s easier just to use the email program’s search function?
5. Deal immediately with any e-mail that can be handled in two minutes or less but create a file for mails that will take longer.
Oh great! Let’s make another big directory for unanswered mails!
6. Set a target date to empty your in box. Don’t spend more than an hour at a time doing it.
An hour? A week more like!
7. Turn off automatic send/receive.
Are you mad? Without a regular stream of office jokes and links to pointless website distractions the office would grind to a halt.
8. Establish regular times to review your e-mail.
We already do that and it’s set to ‘whenever we can’
9. Involve others in conquering your addiction.
People! Quick! Stop us opening this email!
10. Reduce the amount of e-mail you receive.
Er, hello? How do we do that? Go around unplugging our co-workers computers?
11. Save time by using only one subject per e-mail; delete extra comments from forwarded e-mail, and make the subject line detailed.
We’re lucky if we even manage to include anything in the email subject line. Most usually say something like, “FW:FW:FW:”
12. Celebrate taking a new approach to e-mail.
That’s the best idea you’ve come up with so far. Let’s get down the pub!
CNN
21 February, 2007
Skype Pro: Europe Details Emerge
As you know, Skype Pro was announced in the middle of January. Today the pricing was confirmed.
For €2 + VAT per month, subscribers will be getting
- Zero cents per minute calling to domestic landlines in the UK previously 1.7c per minute
- Free Skype Voicemail (normally €15 per year)
- €30 discount on SkypeIn numbers
- €5 Skype Credit included as part of the introductory offer (see below)
- A €30 discount on a Philips VoIP 841 cordless phone
- A €10 discount on an SMC WiFi phone
- Additional discounts on a series of Skype Extras are also available including desktop sharing, avatars, emoticons and ring tones
It’s not all free on the calls to landlines, as each call made will have a 3.9c connection charge made against it.
The lucky dwellers of Europe (specifically Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, Portugal, Spain and the UK) will benefit from this first.
Other countries worldwide will follow in 2007.
Skype Pro
20 February, 2007
Blair To Write To Each Road Pricing Petitioner
Over the last few weeks there’s been a lot of attention drawn to the huge number of votes cast by the British public in an online petition calling for the “Prime Minister to scrap the planned vehicle tracking and road pricing policy.”
Over 1.5 million people have signed to show that they reject the idea from the UK government to force UK drivers to have to pay £200 for the privilege of having all of their car journeys monitored, recorded and charged accordingly.
On Saturday, the Guardian newspaper picked up on the idea that, as part of the registering views on the site, users had to enter their names, postal and email addresses, giving the UK government direct contact with each and every person who used the petition to voice their disapproval on the road usage charging scheme. They postulate that this gives them the opportunity of contacting the objectors directly to try and cajole them into changing their minds.
Quite if this is something that the petitioners realised when they placed their votes is unclear.
The site itself isn’t doesn’t really help either “our email will not be published, and is collected only to confirm your account and to keep you informed of response to this petition.”
Closer examination of the Privacy Policy makes it a little clearer- “unless you ask us not to, to write to you a maximum of two times about the issues raised in the petition.”
The straw poll that we’ve taken among some of those who had placed their votes, felt their email addresses were only required to validate the vote. They weren’t aware of the chance to opt-out of being contacted at a later date.
Blair writes about writing
Sunday’s Observer sees Tony Blair publishing a piece explaining what a great idea it is to have over 1.5 million people telling him he’s wrong, and how it has sparked debate … which luckily enough was just what he wanted … he tells us now. (Let’s hope he doesn’t mean like his nuclear power debate).
He goes on to say “What it has given us is the ability, which was simply not there before, to engage with those who have signed the petition,” he then confirms that “Over the next few days, I will be sending out a response to everyone who has signed the petition against road charging, explaining the problems the country faces and why I believe road charging is surely part of the answer here as it is in many other countries.”
So is the whole e-petition idea a ruse just to find out who opposes government policy – then use this information to write to them directly to ‘inform them of why they’re wrong not to be thinking the same way as the government.
If they find out this isn’t successful with all of the voters, they will be taken into detention centers and have it beaten into them (OK, I made this last bit up)
I suspect people will want to have their say, but when they receive government spin in return, will stop using their real email addresses and start taking advantage of temporary email addresses like Temporary inbox.
The Petition
Many people have also questioned whether they should pay yet more money to use their cars as there’s already an effective tax per mile of car usage – the heavily taxed petrol that the UK government already imposes.
19 February, 2007
Amazon Unbox On TiVo Bound For US
Amazon are expanding their Amazon Unbox service to the TiVo platform. It’s being described as a “soon-to-be-launched service.”
Unbox offers TV programmes and films for rental or purchase, delivered down a broadband connection.
Amazon are taking a route much the same that Sky is in the UK. They initially offered the Sky Anytime service on PC first, and are now in process of moving it to their Sky+ box. TiVo are claiming 1.5m broadband-ready TiVo boxes in the US, significantly less than the number of Sky+ boxes in the UK.
The straight Amazon Unbox service (omitting the Tivo part) was launched in September 2006, delivering content to PCs and, by way of difference from Sky, portable device (as long as they were Windows Media Video-compatible).
The line-up of content providers includes the usual suspects – CBS, Fox Entertainment Group, Lionsgate, Paramount Pictures, Universal Studios Home Entertainment and Warner Bros. Entertainment.

How do you get it?
Sign up for the service sounds pretty easy. TiVo subscribers simply log on to Amazon.com and follow a few simple steps to establish a link between their broadband connected TiVo Series2 or Series3 box and their Amazon account. The list of available content will then make its way down the broadband pipe, to be displayed on the usual TiVo “Now Playing” list.
Prices for television episodes are $1.99, with most films costing between $9.99 and $14.99 for purchase. Film rental starts at $1.99.
Respect for the customer
In a move that shows that TiVo/Amazon look at things from the consumer perspective, all purchased videos are automatically stored in each customer’s “Your Media Library” at Amazon.com for future access and download. This is absolutely the right way to do this, rather than forcing the consumer to buy it all again in their hardware gets into difficulty.
Impact
We suspect that Amazon won’t be stopping at delivering Unbox to TiVo and are likely to offer it on other PVR platforms after a period of exclusivity.
Given the straight Amazon Unbox service is wrapped in Microsoft’s DRM, we assume some kind of content protection will be applied to the Amazon Unbox on TiVo content. What is unclear is if this will also be by Microsoft – highly unlikely given TiVo runs on a Linux platform.
Potentially having to apply a second form of DRM to all of the content will be a major overhead for Amazon.
TiVo on Amazon Unbox
Amazon on Amazon Unbox
8 February, 2007