VoIP – Page 8 – Digital-Lifestyles

Yahoo Messenger Goes Collaborative

Hot on the heels of Windows Messenger Live comes Yahoo’s new upgrade to their own Instant Messaging service, offering plug-ins to let users share more information.

Currently residing in beta, Yahoo! Messenger with Voice (version 8), will let users embed collaborative programs into their Messenger experience.

The Yahoo Messenger update will let users run some software packages simultaneously, so groups of chums can all settle down to watch movies together, or get all interactive on each other’s Yahoo Calendar listings while yakking over the messaging system.

Early reports suggest that the service will also allow up to 1GB for file transfers, with the maximum number of contacts available to punters reaching a dazzlingly popular 1,000.

Widgets and Plug Ins
Yahoo is looking to add competition-crushing extras to their new service by getting third party developers to create mini-applications (or ‘widgets’) to let users do groovy things like combine Yahoo Messenger with Yahoo Music, News, Finance, track and share wish lists on Amazon or keep their beady eye on an eBay auction.

With this new ‘plug-in’ approach, Jeff Bonforte, the big cheese in charge of Yahoo’s instant messaging products, reckons that future innovations on Messenger will most likely come from these new widgets rather than complete program upgrades.

Of course, there’s nothing new to all this embedding malarkey, with the industry boys – Microsoft, Google, AOL and Skype – all falling over themselves to make desktop-based applications shareable over IM services, but Yahoo are hoping that by opening up Messenger to become more of a distribution platform they’ll be able to attract punter-luring new services.

Yahoo Messenger is currently number three in the chatty world of Instant Communications, with eBay’s Skype in the second slot and AOL’s AIM still ruling the IM roost.

Yahoo! Messenger

Skype-me in eBay Auctions?

Skype-me in eBay Auctions? Word is spreading that the long-antcipated integration of Skype into eBay’s auction site is close at hand.

eBay are holding their annual developers conference, eBay Live, this week in Las Vegas. There are an amazing 10,000 people going along to the sell-out event.

John Donahoe, president of eBay’s Marketplace unit told the assembled eBay-fans and software developers that there would be a significant announcement about it on Tuesday during Bill Cobb’s keynote speech.

The inclusion of a SkpyeMe, click-to-call button is a no-brainer. Anything that makes the potential purchaser more relaxed about spending their money is good for all concerned – the seller, purchaser and of course, eBay.

Beyond actually physically meeting the seller (you know, like people used to do in shops), voice gets closer to the norm, and the video conference feature currently in Beta with Skype gets as close as you can. The added advantages of video is the ability of the purchaser to ask the seller to turn around the object for sale and ask what the ding in the back of it is.

Skype-me in eBay Auctions? Skype recently introduced Skypecasting, the ability to broadcast to up to 100 Skype users. While it’s being used for a wide variety of innovative application such as learning of languages and small music concerts, we see the eBay-centric usage being live auctions.

Other things that have come up at eBay Live include eBay Blogs and Wiki’s.

Wall Street hasn’t been that keen on eBay of late with their stock dropping over 20% since they bought Skype.

Skype Security Hole Patched

Skype Security Hole Patched Skype users are advised to upgrade their software in double quick time after a security bug was reported late last week by a security researcher in New Zealand.

Rating the vulnerability as ‘medium risk’, Skype says that the bug affects several versions of the Skype client for Windows and could allow an evil attacker to download a file from an affected PC without permission.

It has to be said that it’s a little bit obscure – to get stung by this fella you’d have be first tricked into visiting a nefarious Web page set up by the attacker who would need to have already added the victim to his contact list.

Danish bug tracking firm Secunia said that the “moderately critical” flaw was in Skype’s parsing of URLs, so a malformed link – sent in a Skype message, for example – could begin the transfer of a file without the victim’s consent,

Skype Security Hole Patched The bug affects all releases of Skype for Windows up to and including version 2.0.x.104, as well as version 2.5.x.0 up to and including 2.5.x.78. Skype advised users to upgrade to Skype 2.5, release 2.5.x.79 or later, or Skype 2.0, release 2.0.x.105 or later.

A free upgrade is available online now (select ‘help’ and ‘check for update’ from the drop-down menu).

This is the first security bulletin issued by Skype in around seven months – good news for us as we use the program every day.

Skype security bulletin

The Wireless Event Recapped

The Wireless Event took place on Wednesday and Thursday at Olympia in London, it’s an industry show that stands out for exhibitors trying to sell to other exhibitors – who probably outnumber visitors (well maybe a slight exaggeration).

The theme of the exhibition is WiFi, WiMAX, 3G and VoIP and it comes with all the hype that surrounds them. There was little of anything new at the show, and wandering around upstairs, showed half the floorspace hadn’t been sold.

Unfortunately for a wireless show, getting a working connection to a WiFi network was almost impossible, mainly due to the number of networks available all interfering with each other. Maybe it should have been called the Wire Event or the Wireless Less Event. If metro WiFi is going to succeed then all the access points better be smart enough to not ‘tread on each others toes’ or it just isn’t going to work.

The Wireless Event Recapped There were a lot of infrastructure companies trying to sell WiFi or WiMAX systems, some in the consumer space, but mainly for service providers. Of the mobile networks, only T-Mobile had a big stand, Orange had a small “business” services stand and O2 had a section of the Cloud’s stand.

There were some interesting products, but only a few. Here’s the cream of the crop.

Our pick of the show
Ruckus sell a WiFi access point, however the guts of the Ruckus system is what Netgear use for their RangeMAX range, which uses multiple antennae to steer the radio signals. Ruckus’s own version is more advanced and they are supporting things like streaming video. As an example of use, you can connect a media converter to a Sky TV box and then get decent quality through the WiFi connection to a TV several hundred feet away. Here the stream is converted back to a TV signal with another media converter. The access point looks quite pretty too – good for home use.

The Wireless Event Recapped USR aka (US Robotics) have announced a USB handset that works with Skype. It’s really just a USB sound-device, but looks like a phone and has Skype integration (i.e. you can pull your contacts etc from Skype and they show in the phone’s display). They’ve also got a USB Skype conferencing device so several people sitting around a table can listen and speak on the call. Their ADSL/ADSL2+/Wireless routers are all now very simple to configure with wireless security turned on by default and basic ISP settings pre-configured.

Nokia had their new E series phone, with the E61 standing out from the pack. It runs Symbian and has support for several push Email systems included (Nokia Business Centre, Blackberry, Visto, Seven, and others). It’s about the same size as the Blackberry, but thinner with a metal casing and very bright colour display. It’s also a nice 3G phone.

The Wireless Event Recapped The Cloud were there with a HUGE O2 Exec (aka i-mate JASJAR), anyone using the Exec can log-in to the Cloud’s homepage through WiFi, hit the O2 logo, enter their mobile number and the user will be phoned back. If they enter the digit 1 they’ll be granted access (and billed to that number).

BT Openzone had just announced their Wireless Cities initiative whereby Birmingham, Edinburgh, Leeds, Liverpool, Cardiff and Westminster are being made into hotzones. BT Openzone have a roaming agreement with the Cloud, but this puts them in direct competition (The Cloud are also offering wireless zones in various cities). Let’s hope the zones don’t overlap or connectivity issues will be as big a mess as the exhibition coverage was.

The Wireless Event Recapped Zyxel had a their normal range of wired/wireless and security products. The star of their stand was their keyfob wireless hotspot locator. It works with all modes of WiFi (i.e. 802.11a/b/g) and supports unsecured and secure networks (WEP, WPA etc) showing what networks are available (at least 9 were available around the Zyxel stand).

The best bit of the show by far was the massages provided by Urban Chill. After a day wandering around Olympia it was just what was needed (thanks Lucy). To be honest had the massage come first, the rest of the show would have been a write-off.

Nokia 770 Adds VoIP and IM

Nokia 770 Adds VoIP and IM Nordic mobile goliaths Nokia have unveiled an upgrade for their Nokia 770 Internet Tablet which gives the chunky device VoIP and instant messaging capabilities through Google Talk.

The announcement, made at the VON Europe conference in Stockholm, marks Nokia’s first foray into Voice over Internet Protocol, with Ari Virtanen, vice president of Nokia’s Convergence Products commenting, “VoIP has really been the No.1 request for us.”

Despite the enthusiasm from Ari at the launch for the upgraded Nokia 770, he insisted that the technology wasn’t expected to cut into the market of traditional mobile telephones.

“I would not say this kind of technology competes with traditional mobile telephony. There will always be stand-alone devices where telephony is the main function,” he said.

Originally unveiled in May 2005, the Linux-powered Nokia 770 was the company’s first non-phone mobile device, designed for users to access the Internet around the home over a wireless broadband connection.

Nokia 770 Adds VoIP and IM Sales weren’t too hot though, but Nokia reckon that by bolting on VoIP phone capabilities they can turbo charge unit-shifting, with Virtanen insisting that internet telephony is “the key for us to reach higher sales volumes.”

Customers who already have bought the 770 can upgrade their device to use the new Google Talk features for free over the Internet.

Updated OS
The newly introduced OS 2006 edition with Google Talk pre-installed gives users access to Google’s free instant messaging service so they can chat and make calls through the Internet on the 770.

Nokia 770 Adds VoIP and IM The updated OS also boasts enhanced text typing with full-screen finger keyboard, improved memory performance and a ‘refreshed’ look (did they throw a bucket of water at it, or something?).

The upgraded device is expected to knock out for about €370 (US$470), Nokia said.

Nokia 770

Palm OS Treo 700p US Launch

Palm OS Treo 700p Launches In US Palm have announced the successor to their hugely successful Palm OS-powered Treo 650 smartphone, the Treo 700p.

Although more of a refinement that a full-on product upgrade, the 700p retains the same winning form factor that convinced many people that the Treo 650 was the best smartphone around.

After Palm released its Windows Mobile-powered Treo 700w in January this year, some Palm OS aficionados feared it might mark the end of their favourite operating system, but the 700p sees the company sticking with the highly capable – if rather elderly – Palm OS 5.4.9 OS.

With a feature set marrying up with the Windows version, the 700p comes with EV-DO, a 312MHz Xscale CPU processor, beefed-up 128MB flash memory (60MB usable), streaming audio/video, an upgraded 1.3 megapixel camera, Bluetooth and a SDIO slot.

Unlike the smaller-screened Windows version, the 700p serves up a bright, crisp 320 x 320 pixel, 65,536-colour display, with the chunky antennae (much loved by Americans, apparently) remaining in situ.

Palm OS Treo 700p Launches In US Bundled with the phone is DataViz’ Documents To Go for reading and editing Microsoft Office files, a PDF viewer and an email client that works with Exchange Server 2003 via ActiveSync, plus POP and IMAP accounts.

Yahoo!, AOL and Gmail accounts are also supported.

Wherefore art thou Wi-Fi?
Way back in the midst of time, a Palm executive faithfully promised us that the Treo 650 would support SDIO wi-fi cards, but the long, long wait for the (non-existent) Palm Wi Fi card to materialise saw us shift over to the Windows mobile platform.

Our experience with the i-mate JAM phone wasn’t entirely pleasurable, and after getting fed up with its ‘undocumented features’ we recently took the unheard of step of buying technology over a year old(!), in the shape of a Treo 650 scooped off eBay for £185.

After a year fumbling about with fiddly Windows interface and the stylus-reliant functionality of the JAM, we soon found the ease-of-use, one-handed ergonomics and all-round design features of the Treo to be an absolute revelation.

Palm OS Treo 700p Launches In US So much so that we’re even prepared to forgive the omission of Wi-Fi in the latest Treo (Palm in the US insist that EV-DO should be enough.)

Many will disagree, but since we moved over to T-Mobile’s unlimited data usage miserable time battling with Skype for Pocket PC.

The Treo 650 still floats our boat
With the new Palm 700p offering few real benefits over the 650 – and the very real possibility that the phone may not appear in the UK for some considerable time – we’d still recommend picking up a Treo 650, especially if the prices start to drop.

In fact, it’s still our number one all-round smartphone choice – an opinion shared by PC World, who recently put the Treo 650 at the top of the pile in a comparison against smartphone big hitters like the T-Mobile MDA, Nokia 9200 and Blackberry 8700c.

Specifications:
Operating System: Palm OS® 5.4.9
Memory: 128MB (60MB user accessible) non-volatile
Processor: Intel® XScale™ 312MHz processor
Screen: 320 x 320 color TFT touchscreen display 16-bit color displays displays up to 65,536 colors
Wireless:
CDMA 800/1900MHz digital dual-band
CDMA2000 EvDO network-backwards compatible with 1xRTT and IS95 networks
Bluetooth® 1.2 wireless support
Phone Features:
Personal speakerphone
Hands-free headset jack
Microphone mute option
TTY/TDD compatibility
3-way calling
Digital Camera:
1.3 megapixels with 1280×1024 resolution
Automatic light balance
2x digital zoom
Integrated self-portrait mirror
Video capture with 352 x 288 resolution
Audio:
2.5mm headset jack is stereo headset compatible-requires a stereo headset adapter
Speaker
Polyphonic MIDI, MP3, WAV & video ringtones
External ringer on/off switch w/ vibrate mode
Keyboard:
Full QWERTY key layout with backlighting
Integrated number dial pad
Keyguard feature
Other:
Support for MultiMediaCard, SD & SDIO cards
Expansion Slot
Removable, rechargeable lithium-ion battery
Talk time: up to 4.5 hours
Standby time: up to 300 hours
Battery
Multi-connector on device
USB sync cable
AC adapter (108-132 VAC/60Hz)
Power/Sync
Size
2.28″ W x 5.08″ H (excluding antenna) x 0.89″ D
58mm W x 129mm H x 58mm D
6.4 ounces / 180 grams

Palm Treo 700p
Treo 700p/700w/650 comparison

Skype On-The-Fly Translation Service Introduced

Skype Introduces On The Fly Translation Services Skype’s new Language Line Personal Interpreter service claims to make it easy to “talk instantly to anyone, anytime, anywhere in the world, regardless of language.”

Sadly nowhere near as cool as Star Trek’s Universal Translator, Skype’s new offering uses human translators who can collectively offer on-the-fly translation services for more than 150 languages.

The service comes courtesy of a partnership with Language Line Personal Interpreter Services and promises to make it easier for businesses and individuals to babble in tongues to each other over VoIP for just $2.99 per minute.

Subscribers to the service can take part in online conferences with up to five other Skype users with a live Language Line Services interpreter doing all the translation stuff.

The new service, which uses Voxeo’s Prophecy voice platform to automate the process of transferring the call from Skype to Language Line Services, will be available around the clock, with costs being automatically charged to the caller’s SkypeOut account.

Saul Klein, vice president of marketing at Skype, whipped up the PR froth: “Language Line’s Personal Interpreter Service greatly enhances the Skype experience for our growing multilingual customer base.

Skype Introduces On The Fly Translation Services “Our consumers can now use the Skype technology to easily communicate in the languages their customers and friends prefer to speak,” he added.

In the multinational corporate world, there’s certainly big bucks to be earned from translation services, as Louis Provenzano, senior VP, sales and marketing, Language Line Services, noted:

“Every day, virtually all Fortune 500 multinational corporations, and businesses of all sizes around the world, depend on Language Line Services to assist them in communicating with their customers in their own languages.”

Personal Interpreter Service” for Skype

Judge Harry Edwards Attacks FCC Broadband Wire-Tap

Judge Harry Edwards attacks the FCC Broadband Wire-Tapping EFF-fans and electronic freedom groupies have a new poster boy who comes from an unlikely profession. They’re normally attracted to open-source code-a-holics, or white hat hacker, but this one’s a judge.

On Friday, Judge Harry Edwards tore a few strips off the associate general counsel, Jacob Lewis, representing the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). He was one of three judges at a hearing of the federal appeals court, investigating whether the US government have the same right to tap VoIP phone conversations as they currently have with ‘normal’ phone lines.

The quotes that Reuters are reporting are pretty choice. In a response to hearing their arguments, he replied, “This is totally ridiculous. I can’t believe you’re making this argument.”

He didn’t stop there, later letting them have it with both barrels.

“Your argument makes no sense,” Edwards told Jacob Lewis, an associate general counsel with the FCC.

“I’m sorry I’m not making myself clear,” Lewis said.

“You’re making yourself very clear. That’s the problem,” Edwards replied.

Wow, that is cutting.

Judge Harry Edwards attacks the FCC Broadband Wire-Tapping The ride wasn’t so rough from the other two judges, with the second, David Sentelle, appearing to side with the FCC, especially for Internet phone services. The last, Janice Brown kept her thoughts to herself.

We await the T-shirts flooding the market.

FCC
EFF

Skype Scoops Up EMI Music Deal

Uber music giants EMI Music Publishing have announced a deal with hotshot VoIP upstarts Skype to sell music on Skype’s new retail website.

Skype’s new international digital music service will make tunes from EMI’s hefty catalogue legally available on a worldwide basis.

When it comes to songs, EMI – the world’s largest music publisher – has tons of the puppies (we’re talking over a million copyrights), including drunken karaoke favourites like ‘New York, New York’, ‘Singing in the Rain’ and ‘Over the Rainbow.’

The deal includes downloads, ringtones and subscriptions, with EMI Music Publishing being employed as a music consultant for the new service.

The deal is significant as it’s the first major online music deal to be agreed on a global basis – previously, music retailers had to laboriously license songs individually on a country-by-country basis.

Roger Faxon co-CEO of EMI Music Publishing was ready and willing for some Monday morning gushing, dishing out the kudos to Skype, EMI and composer royalty collectors the MCPS-PRS Alliance for their help.

“We could not have better partners than Skype and MCPS-PRS in our ongoing effort to break down the barriers of online licensing of music. EMI is committed to bringing the best music in the world to all the consumers of the world and this deal is a major step in fulfilling that goal,” he gushed.

Skype is yet to set a launch date for its new online store.

Skype
EMI Music Publishing

Carphone Warehouse To Offer Free Broadband?

Carphone Warehouse To Offer Free Broadband? Carphone Warehouse are going to stir up a hornet’s nest in the telecoms industry if they go ahead with rumoured plans to introduce a free broadband package in the UK.

According to the Sunday Times, the company is expected to offer the public “free” broadband as part of their Talk Talk landline package.

Backed by a huge advertising budget, the promotion is seen as part of Carphone Warehouse’s strategy to elevate their Talk Talk brand into the leading consumer alternative to BT Group.

Carphone Warehouse’s current tally of 75,000 broadband customers puts them miles behind big boys BT Retail and NTL, who boast a mighty 2.3m and 2.8m customers respectively.

Not us, Guv.
At the moment, the company are denying everything about the new free service, although an announcement is expected on Tuesday.

Carphone Warehouse To Offer Free Broadband? Some industry experts believe that Carphone Warehouse are looking to repeat the soaraway success of fabled freebie ISP Freeserve, who came out of nowhere to overtake BT in the late 90s.

Up until now, Carphone Warehouse have been hampered by having to resell BT’s wholesale broadband product, but a hefty £60m investment will see the company having its own broadband gear in up to 1,000 BT exchanges – potentially reaching 70% of the population.

Carphone Warehouse To Offer Free Broadband? PR spin-mesisters at Carphone are thought to have christened their broadband campaign “Independence Day”, based on a feeble pun that it will give customers independence from BT.

Some are suggesting that the tag has greater significance, insisting that it reflects the proposed launch date for the new broadband deals – July 4, America’s Independence Day.

Talk Talk
Carphone Warehouse