Google WiFi In Testing. Free Service To Launch?

Google To Launch Free Wi-Fi Service?Are Google about to launch a free wireless Internet service?

The rumours are running at fever pitch as pundits scour around for clues and hints about a forthcoming Wi-Fi service by the Internet search engine giant.

What’s really excited us is a set of pages on Google describing a new test service called Google Wi-Fi, containing instructions on how to use its wireless desktop software, Google Secure Access, which sits on their subdomain wifi.google.com.

Listed as a set of answers to questions, the pages include a list of features and terms of the new service, with examples including:

Google To Launch Free Wi-Fi Service?Q. “Is there a fee for using Google Secure Access? A. No, Google Secure Access is free.”

Q. “Where can I go to download Google Secure Access? A. The program can currently be downloaded at certain Google Wi-Fi locations in the San Francisco Bay area.”

Reuters picked up on the story and first ran an article saying that Google was preparing to introduce its own wireless Internet service, but this was later amended to say that they’d only begun a limited test of the wireless service.

Google To Launch Free Wi-Fi Service?So far, Google have only introduced two wireless access points in Silicon Valley, at a pizzeria and a gymnastics centre, but it has been reported that the company were in talks with San Francisco officials about setting up public wireless networks in the city (Google currently share a single access point in Union Square in partnership with Feeva.)

Typically, the company are keeping tight lipped about their plans, but with Business 2.0 reporting that Google had “quietly been shopping for miles and miles of ‘dark,’ or unused, fibre optic cable across the country” last year, the Wi-Fi service is looking increasingly probable.

A free Google Wi-Fi service would make sound business sense, providing another way for Google to sell targeted advertising, big up the brand, maintain their popular reputation for dishing out free stuff and importantly adding location-based information to their adverts.

Google To Launch Free Wi-Fi Service?Although rolling out a nationwide Wi-Fi service would be a formidable task, with Google’s energy, enthusiasm (and zillions of $$$), it’s entirely possible and would no doubt be supremely popular.

Investment site Motley Fool.com are voicing doubts about Google claiming an even bigger chunk of our online life, with their article, Why I Fear Google WiFi, investigating Google’s “big and potentially scary news.”

wifi.google.com/faq.html

eBay Buys Skype

eBay Buys SkypeIn a feast of conglomeration and convergence, Internet auctioneer giants eBay are swallowing up Luxembourg-based Skype, the world’s leader in Internet phone services.

The deal involves eBay slapping $2.6 billion (£1.42bn, €2.8bn) in cash on the table, with potential future payments of up to $1.5 billion (~£823m, €1.2bn~) in cash or stock if Skype hits certain targets.

Although only three years old, Skype has rapidly grown to become one of the fastest growing companies of any kind in the world, already boasting 54 million users.

The press statement revealed that Skype generated $7 million (~£4m, €6m~) in revenue in 2004 and was expected to rake in $60 million (~33m, €49~) this year, rising to $200 million (~£200m, €163m) in 2006.

Skype’s hefty price tag reflects the intense competition in the burgeoning VoIP market, and today’s deal sees eBay barging their way to the Numero Uno slot ahead of Microsoft, Yahoo and Google who are all frantically adding similar services.

Although large cable and telephone companies are already moving into voice over Internet services, these typically charge a monthly fee for unlimited local/national calls.

Skype’s service and technology, on the other hand, offers completely free calls to other Skype users anywhere in the world.

eBay Buys SkypeThe company generates revenue by charging small fees for calls to non-Skype users and for Skype users to receive calls from callers not using the software. Skype also charge a fee to provide a voice mail service.

“Communications is at the heart of e-commerce and community,” snapped eBay chief executive Meg Whitman.

“By combining the two leading e-commerce franchises, eBay and PayPal, with the leader in Internet voice communications, we will create an extraordinarily powerful environment for business on the Net,” she added.

With pockets bulging from today’s monster cash bonanza, Skype co-founder Niklas Zennstrom said that his vision was always “to build the world’s largest communications business and revolutionize the ease with which people can communicate through the Internet. We can’t think of a better platform . . . than with eBay and Paypal.”

Skype was founded by Zennstrom of Sweden and Janus Friis of Denmark who started the popular online free file-sharing service Kazaa.

After selling off Kazaa in 2002, the two hotshots built Skype, and according to today’s announcement, they will continue heading up the VoIP service, which will be run as a separate business under the eBay umbrella.

Skype

HBH-608: Sony Ericsson Bluetooth Headset For VoIP Calls

Sony Ericsson Bluetooth HBH-608 Headset For VoIP CallsNo matter how hard we try, when we see someone wandering about with a Bluetooth headset in their lughole we don’t think, “there’s a cool, go-getting professional”; we tend to have an irresistible urge to shout unprintable things in their direction.

But we understand that for some, these ear-hugging lumps of plastic have become indispensable work tools, so with a suppressed sneer of derision, let us tell you about the Sony Ericsson HBH-608 Bluetooth Headset.

Sony Ericsson Bluetooth HBH-608 Headset For VoIP CallsDesigned to be compatible with Sony VAIO BX laptops, the HBH-608 connects the computer with the headset via Bluetooth making it possible to handle calls over the Internet (VoIP) without faffing about with troublesome phone cables.

The small and light HBH-608 can apparently give you up to ten hours of re-enacting your favourite Nathan Barley scenes.

Ulf Persson, corporate VP for Sony Ericsson Accessories, extols the virtues:

Sony Ericsson Bluetooth HBH-608 Headset For VoIP Calls“The knowledge from two strong brands in the communications industry comes together in this solution. We believe that our joint experience benefits the user, making telecommunication as smooth as possible.”

The HBH-608 connects to a VAIO using the computer’s own software, with the wireless connection allowing users to amble up 10 meters from the laptop.

Sony Ericsson Bluetooth HBH-608 Headset For VoIP CallsBest of all, when you need to pop out for a double skinny frappuccino with Bolivian gnu’s milk, the same handset can be kept in your ear and used with your Bluetooth mobile phone on the street.

Like way, err, cool dude.

Sony Ericsson

eBay To Buy Skype? $5Bn Alleged

EBay To Buy Skype? $5Bn AllegedRumours hotter than a double strength vindaloo are circulating major news organisations like the Wall Street Journal, Reuters and the Web that online auctioneers eBay are in talks to acquire the Internet-telephony company Skype.

The Wall Street Journal is reporting the world’s largest online auction site could be heading for a major shift in strategy in a deal involving truly stratospheric figures of $2 billion to $3 billion. If you think that’s high, the New York Post are quoting $5 Bn as the price.

The paper reports that the talks are in a “sensitive stage” and – mindful of Skype’s earlier failures to close deals with other technology companies – could “fall apart” at any given moment.

(Simon Perry – The very fact that eBay could be getting around the table with Skype either reflects the company’s quest for new product categories and international markets, or they could integrate Skype into the service, offering purchaser and seller to talk to each other. Another option could be to use Skype’s ability to host group discussions as a way of strengthening communities with the same interests.

Although they still rule the roost for online auctions, their core business is maturing, leading the company to diversify into new markets such as rental-property listings, online classified-ad listings and comparison shopping.

Despite other online leaders such as Yahoo and Google ramping up the feature set and expanding into new territories, eBay has remained focussed on the task of acting as middleman between individual buyers and sellers. EBay To Buy Skype? $5Bn Alleged

Their acquisition of the electronic-payment processing service PayPal in 2002 echoed their aim to simplify the business of buying and selling goods online, and an integrated VoIP service could provide a key element of that strategy.

Such a deal would also massively increase Skype’s presence, with eBay’s huge user base of 157 million technology-literate subscribers likely to be keen to adopt.)

Although market leader Skype currently enjoys huge popularity, their Big Cheese position is coming under considerable pressure as Google (Google Talk) and Microsoft (after recent Teleo VoIP purchase) tool up with their own VoIP offerings.

Optimistically, we gave Skype a call for their opinion (on Skype naturally) and got the expected, “Skype doesn’t comment on rumours” answer.

The ‘Skype for sale’ rumours are unlikely to go away after it was recently reported that they had hired investment banking firm Morgan Stanley & Co. to examine their options – including floating an IPO.

Back then Skype flatly denied that the company was for sale. Today, they didn’t confirm or deny this.

As Apple know, this is the best way to get written about, isn’t it?

We’ll see.

Skype
eBay

Siemens SL75 Gigaset WiFi VOIP Home Phone Announced: IFA

Siemens Gigaset SL75 WLAN VOIP Home Phone Announced: IFASiemens have announced their new Gigaset SL75 WLAN Voice-over-IP (VoIP) cordless telephone for the home.

The Gigaset SL75 WLAN is one of a new generation of cordless VoIP phones that lets users wander free from the limited range of base stations, with the phone being able to access any open Wi-Fi points.

Ideally suited for workers ambling around corporate Wi-Fi networks and cuddling sofa lovers (see photo), the SL75 will hook up to any public WLAN access point (gateways/hotspots) and store profiles of hotspots for fast retrieval when shuffling between networks.

Users will be able to make VoIP calls from any of these access points without the need to have a PC rattling away in the background.

Siemens haven’t held back on the feature set, with the Gigaset SL75 WLAN handset offering an instant messaging service and the ability to receive and send emails, complete with photo attachments.

Blurring the distinction between a mobile phone further, there’s an integrated digital camera onboard and the usual 16 polyphonic ring tones, with personalised caller tunes.

The handset can store 200 names, phone numbers, addresses, and email addresses, with the information niftily synchronised with the desktop via WLAN.

Siemens Gigaset SL75 WLAN VOIP Home Phone Announced: IFADecked out in (ahem) “the season’s high fashion colour night grey”, the Gigaset SL75 WLAN sports a colour display (128×128 pixels, 4k/65k colors) and comes with a small docking station.

Now you might be wondering, “if it’s a home phone, why haven’t they made the thing more useful by bunging in a DECT phone too – like their earlier Siemens M34 Wireless DECT Handset?

The answer is simple. This is the future and, as Siemens explains, this puppy is going to “dispense forever” with the traditional concept of a “home phone.”

So now you know.

The Gigaset SL75 WLAN will be available in Europe from November 2005 for approximately EUR 299 (~$370, ~£205).

Siemens

Skype Secures Deal With 3G Mobile Partner, E-Plus

Skype Secures Deal With 3G Mobile Partner, E-PlusSkype has slapped hands and manfully patted backs with German network operator E-Plus as the VoIP giant secures their first 3G partnership.

The exclusive offering will see Skype bundling in their Internet telephony software with E-Plus’s flat-rate data subscription.

This will let subscribers to the Skype/E-Plus deal benefit from a fixed-rate mobile Internet access, freebie Skype calling and the ability to control call costs using the E-Plus flat-rate data subscription.

Niklas Zennström, Skype CEO and Co-founder was ready with a quote: “We look forward to working with other innovative mobile operators around the world to bring the value and convenience of the Skype global Internet communications experience to their millions of mobile phone subscribers.”

Skype Secures Deal With 3G Mobile Partner, E-PlusThe busy-bee Skypesters are said to be already hatching up schemes with a number of major handset and headset manufacturers – including Motorola – to develop a broader range of offer Skype-ready devices

“The use of Skype is growing strongly. Through our co-operation we are combining the advantages of mobile and stationary Internet access,” said Uwe Bergheim, Chief Executive Officer of E-Plus.

The flat-rate data subscription from E-Plus will be offered to its 9.8 million subscribers for €39.95 (~£27~$50) per month in October.

The company hopes to attract revenue from the fixed network and lure people off their landlines by persuading customers to make mobiles their de facto choice for making calls.

Skype Secures Deal With 3G Mobile Partner, E-PlusSkype currently claims more than 2.8 million Skype users in Germany.

Elsewhere, Skype has added a call forwarding function to the latest release of its VoIP software.

This lets users forward incoming Skype-to-Skype and SkypeIn calls to another Skype Name or to any landline or mobile phone.

The call forwarding is free so long as users have sufficient Skype balance available to forward the call to landline or mobile numbers.

Skype
E-Plus

Teleo, VoIP Startup Grabbed By Microsoft

Microsoft Grabs VoIP Startup TeleoFrom deep within the Microsoft base, Bill Gates has pulled a few levers and dispatched a corporate grabbing tentacle in the direction of Teleo, a privately held provider of VoIP software and services.

The move comes hot on the heels of Google’s recently announced Google Talk service and suggests that Microsoft is ready to start slopping its considerable weight around the crowded VoIP market and give Skype a run for its money.

Microsoft Grabs VoIP Startup TeleoThe San Francisco-based outfit Teleo was founded just two years ago and got as far offering a beta PC to PC or standard phone Skype-like VoIP service with click-to-call dialing through Microsoft Outlook and Internet Explorer before Gates grabbed the product.

Microsoft are expected to integrate Teleo technologies into the infrastructure that supports MSN, aiming to eventually deliver new VoIP consumer apps in future releases of MSN services.

“Teleo has great technology to deliver superior VoIP quality and an excellent overall customer experience. This acquisition opens up infinite opportunities for Microsoft to enable even more relationship-centric communications experiences for our customers in the future,” commented Microsoft’s corporate vice president of the MSN Communication Services and Member Platform group Blake Irving.

Microsoft Grabs VoIP Startup TeleoTerms of the deal haven’t been disclosed, but Microsoft have said that members of the Teleo executive team will continue to work closely with MSN, while some Teleo product developers are expected to shuffle across and join MSN.

“It’s going to be very exciting to see Teleo software extended into MSN products and services that millions of consumers worldwide rely upon every day for their information and communication needs,” purred Wendell Brown, co-founder of Teleo. “The union of our respective technologies and talents has the potential to deliver great value to customers.”

Teleo MSN

EV5203-C: Thomson’s Linux VoIP DECT phone: IFA

EV5203-C: Thomson's Linux VoIP DECT phone: IFAThe acceptance of VoIP into the mainstream moved up a gear today with the release of a DECT VoIP handset, the plain-badly-named EV5203-C, from Thomson, the _huge_ French all-encompassing media company. The product is the first fruit from Thomson’s purchase of Inventel, earlier this year.

An area pioneered by Siemens with their M34 and companies such as DU@LPhone, the difference with this is there is no need to be running Skype or similar VoIP software on your PC, with the clear advantage that the PC doesn’t have to be on, or even in existence.

Where Thomson are following the same route as Siemens with their method of sales, we were told that initially the handsets will be sold direct to service providers, not the public.

This baby is spec’d – colour screen (natch); it can handle two VoIP calls; and has two ethernet ports that can be plugged directly into DSL or cable modem or router. Up to five can be connected, each with a separate VoIP number.

The management of the handset, and the updating of its software can be handled remotely, by the service provider.

A PSTN connection is also provided on the base, neatly tackling the problem of VoIP services not providing 411/911 emergency service.

The fact it runs on Linux give the operators (who this product is aimed at) the ability to customise the handset to their requirements offering ‘network phonebook synchronisation, mail notification, Web browsing, SMS and MMS over IP and single remote management interface for home entertainment.’

As to whether customers will be able to ‘officially’ make changes to their own handset was an unanswered question. As it’s being supplied via telcos, I think we know the answer, don’t we?

Thomson are busy at the IFA show – this is one of the over 50 products that they are launching.

As it’s available via service providers, there are no details on pricing as yet, but should hit the worldwide market in November 2005.

Thomson

Google Launches Online IM And Voice Chat Service

Google Launches Online IM And Voice Chat Service

Thanks to Mathew for corrections to this piece

Google has slapped down a big leathery gauntlet to the communications industry with the beta launch of its instant messaging service with voice-over-IP capabilities today.

Currently in beta, the Google Talk program will link its instant-messaging service to its e-mail service, Gmail, letting users contact each other over email, IM or a VoIP call.

Google Launches Online IM And Voice Chat ServiceThe program, Google Talk, is based on the open source Jabber protocol and competes directly with the three major providers of instant messaging – AOL, Microsoft and Yahoo.

With the company trumpeting the service’s integration with GMail, Google Talk will use the same log-in information as their email account, with users able to access their inbox from within the Google Talk interface and send e-mails from there too.

Interestingly Google appears to refer to the accounts as a Google User Account – an interesting shift, pointing to the continued rise of additional Google services.

Users will be able to chat via IM and then talk to contacts on Google Talk by clicking on a “call” button in an open chat window or by clicking on the phone icon next to names on the contact list.

Google Launches Online IM And Voice Chat ServiceThe software will let users have multiple voice sessions open at the same time, but only one can be active at any given time.

Gmail contacts will be loaded automatically into the Google Talk interface, letting users exchange instant messages with those who have downloaded the IM software.

Jabber is an open standard messaging protocol called eXtensible Message and Presence Protocol, or XMPP, and Google have stated that the company hoped to use the standard to interconnect the messaging industry. Many feel XMPP have advantages over SIP (Session Initiation Protocol, commonly used for VoIP) for voice communications.

Google Launches Online IM And Voice Chat ServiceCurrently, the three major messaging services are closed shops that generally don’t permit users to send messages to and from competing services – a source of continuing frustration for many IM users.

Jabber have been reported as preparing to interconnect with AOL, whose AOL Instant Messenger system is the largest provider of messaging.

“We are going to start working to federate all the other networks,” said Georges Harik, a Google director of product management who is responsible for Google Talk and several other services.

According to figures from comScore Media Metrix, more than 80 million Americans chattered on instant-messaging services in July, with 30.9 million using AIM, 23.3 million chatting on MSN Messenger and 23.2 million connecting via Yahoo Insider.

Google Launches Online IM And Voice Chat ServicePeter Saint-Andre, executive director of the Jabber Software Foundation, estimated that 13.5 million use the Jabber standard, based on figures from Osterman Research.

The company is yet to announce how the new service may earn its keep, but Google has stated that it intends to look for revenue opportunities in the future.

Google Talk reveals the company’s continuing ambitions provide to extend beyond Web searching, with some analysts predicting that Google will soon be taking on voice-over-Internet phone services like Vonage and Skype as well as the communication industry big boys.

How the industry reacts to this onslaught should be entertaining.

Google Talk

HTC To Build Windows-Based Palm Treo 670/700?

EU Rules HTC are rumoured to have won the contract to manufacture the much-hyped Windows Mobile-based version of Palm’s Treo smart phone.

The combination of Windows OS and the Treo’s fabulous form factor could prove a real market winner, although the device’s release is believed to some way off.

An article in the DigiTimes Website reported that the Treo/HTC hybrid was announced in the Chinese-language newspaper the Commercial Times.

HTC To Build Windows-Based Palm Treo 670/700?The Taiwan-based High Tech Computer (HTC) firm already manufactures its own popular suite of Windows Mobile-based smart phones and PDA-style communicators, which go under a mass of different names worldwide, depending on the mobile networks operators and handset vendors.

Their big-selling models include the XDA Mini (MDA Compact/ HTC Magician/ i-mate JAM/Qtek s100), XDASII (Qtek 2020/i-mate/Orange SPV M1000/Movistar tsm 500) and XDAIIs (MdaIII/iMate PDA2k/Qtek 9090/HTC Blue Angel/Audiovox 6600/Siemens SX66/Orange SPV M2000).

HTC also undertakes contract manufacturing on behalf of a number of partners, and was said to be producing the Palm OS-based Treo 650 back in September 2004.

Rumours quickly spread that HTC would be creating a Windows Mobile-based Treo called the Treo 670, with a host of fuzzy images purporting to be the new device appearing on the Web.

Both Palm and HTC have staunchly refused to confirm their collaboration.

There’s no denying that HTC would be a logical choice to create a Windows Mobile-based Treo, with some pundits suggesting that the company may have lent some Windows Mobile development expertise to Palm’s design team.

The Commercial Times article suggests that HTC may well have designed the 670 itself, working to the parameters of the standard Treo feature-set and case design.

HTC To Build Windows-Based Palm Treo 670/700?Just as we went to press, another rumour flashed across the Web, with Cool Tech Times showing a fairly convincing photograph of what it reckons is the new Treo 700.

Naturally, large opencast excavations of salt are needed when it comes to these things, but for the record the site claims that the Treo will feature a 1.3 megapixel camera with 8x digital zoom and EVDO capability (EVDO stands for Evolution Data Only, and is the wireless broadband protocol of choice for CDMA networks).

Although the design could have come straight off the screen of some time-rich spoddy Photoshop kid (and we definitely have some doubts about its authenticity), it’s still a pretty looking affair, reflecting the strong points of the Treo’s long standing design ethos.

Whatever the final Treo looks like, it’s only Palm’s hopeless feet-dragging over implementing consumer-demanded features like proper Wi-Fi support that reluctantly sent us to the Windows dark side a few months ago, so whenever the next Treo 670/700/whatever-you-want-to call-it ever surfaces, we’ll take a boxful please!

DigiTimes.com