OK, I can’t resist posting. I’ve been a good boy, done my day’s alloted work (OK, I should have phoned the VAT man, maybe tomorrow). The kids are asleep for their afternoon naps. The News Du Jour is that a company called FON are starting a “user-sponsored” public WiFi network. I saw their pitch at the ETel conference, and you have to be impressed by their passion, if nothing else. There’s plenty of places to ... continue reading.....

Knowing Skype and its competitors may earn you the Product Manager – Mobile Instant Messaging job at Verizon.VoIP News: Phil Wolff Talks Skypenomics at the O'Reilly Emerging Telephony Conference includes a few highlights.YASP (Yet another soft phone): voipstunt. Chinagate-Skype, for the Chinese diaspora. Jaanus' post on the new portal partnership. Smart alliance; helping families and commerce that cross the globe stay connected. BT's Broadband Voice outage for a few hours this week. What uptime constitutes ... continue reading.....

Phillip Zimmermann of PGP fame outlines the future for VoIP encryption. A few years ago it began with PGPPhone; now called zPhone. He's provides clarity on how to handle "man in the middle" attacks. His beta will be released at the end of February. This is definitely one to watch. (Note, this was recorded on my iPod with iTalk, it is not meant to be IT Conversations. In a few weeks I'm sure many of ... continue reading.....

The PayPal team outlined their approach to micro payements focusing on a new cost structure 5% + 5cents. They were the only eBay/Skype presence at ETel. (Note, this was recorded on my iPod with iTalk, it is not meant to be IT Conversations. In a few weeks I'm sure many of these will be available there) ... continue reading.....

Brad Templeton on CALEA, the threat to VoIP. Fun presentation. Part of three that dispensed with PowerPoint slides and better for it. See also David Isenberg. (Note, this was recorded on my iPod with iTalk, it is not meant to be IT Conversations. In a few weeks I'm sure many of these will be available there) ... continue reading.....

David on Freedom to Connect a conference scheduled for early April. If you listen to both David and Brad Templeton then you will understand that "forces" are trying to take the innovative opportunities away. I say join the movement! Fats Pipes! Always On! Get Out of the Way! (Note, this was recorded on my iPod with iTalk, it is not meant to be IT Conversations. In a few weeks I'm sure many of these will ... continue reading.....

Phil's facts on Skype for ETel. Skype was on everyone's lips at ETel and yet many knew little about it. "Closed" was an anathema to many in the audience. (Note, this was recorded on my iPod with iTalk, it is not meant to be IT Conversations. In a few weeks I'm sure many of these will be available there) ... continue reading.....

[Correction] Sean Egan leads the Google Talk Libjingle program. Before Google he led the GAIM open IM project. He talks of an API that is running ahead of client development. Great for developers. (Note, this was recorded on my iPod with iTalk, it is not meant to be IT Conversations. In a few weeks I'm sure many of these will be available there) ... continue reading.....

Yahoo's new Messenger head talks about where they are going. Best quotable quote. There are more people in the US still using rotary dial phones than there are Vonage customers. (Note, this was recorded on my iPod with iTalk, it is not meant to be IT Conversations. In a few weeks I'm sure many of these will be available there) ... continue reading.....

So far this conference has fueled more ideas (for me) than any VoIP related conference I've attended in the last two years! The O'Reilly crowd appears to have gotten the basic mix right for this first conference on Emerging Telephony. Perhaps the naming isn't perfect, but it is understood. On topics, they have continued to focus on the fringe and what happens at the edge. VoIP is a clear component but the discussion is pushing ... continue reading.....

There is plenty of interesting discussion going on here at Emerging Telephony. This is a quick post after a fun presentation. There is certainly a few marketing dollars targeted at this audience with T-shirts, postcards etc. I've been listening to the FON presentation which promises internet everywhere, Wi-Fi everywhere and the mission to build a WiFi nation globally. More than anything they are trying to build a community around shared access to Wi-Fi. Thus ... continue reading.....

I was really impressed by the pitch from Tellme earlier today. (Although, despite them being great voice usability experts, their web site is a pile of Flash-infested crud.) I’d assumed IVR stuff was dull. On the basis you’ll get the best insights from the session that superficially is least attractive, I selected this session. Turns out it was a good choice. I really liked the idea as telephony as the most intimate medium — a ... continue reading.....

Alec Saunders has a great writeup on the ballyhoo surround the recent Tello launch. He describes it thus: The easy way to think about Tello is to imagine what Skype might be like if it were built for a business user. It’s a voice and IM app that can federate across multiple networks, support a heterogeneous universe of endpoints(hardware and software), and reflect presence information throughout the network. It’s a big vision. Alec Saunders He ... continue reading.....

An interesting panel on design and usability. Most interesting is BJ Fogg sharing his useablity thoughts behind YackPack. This is really a neat application. I'd heard about it but not followed it up in the past. In his case he's actually subscri bed to twenty six packs right now. The interface is very simple. He keep reinforcing taking things out that people aren't using. Basically Yack Pack is a fun method for broadcast audio ... continue reading.....

I've just arrived at Emerging Telephony. Today various workshops and discussions are happening, tomorrow the conference formally starts. I've ducked in to an Asterisk hacks session. Not sure what I'll find. What I'm seeking is a sense of how adventuous the Asterisk community is and where they are going. There is a good crowd already here. I'd guess O'Reilly will be very happy with 1st show attendance. In the end I'm not sure how ... continue reading.....

We'll be blogging lightly this week. Bill is sick, so is my computer (blue screen after blue screen), Stuart is travelling and Martin's overwhelmed by Baby Geddes. Tips are most welcome. I have four more passes to O'Reilly's Emerging Telephony Conference to give away. Please leave a comment or Skype me with your contact info and I'll pass them along this week. If you're coming to San Francisco 24-26 January, please let us know; we ... continue reading.....

SpeechTEK West is coming up at the end of the month, January 30 - February 1, the week after the O'Reilly Emerging Telephony Conference. The SpeechTEK crowd has always fascinated me. Companies bring the many approaches to voice and speech recognition, language recognition, voice dialing, interactive voice response, signal enhancement and other technical challenges. Users are sharing their experiences too: medicine, retail, travel, manufacturing and logistics, finance, and telecom. What I don't know, and hope ... continue reading.....

Leave a comment and win a free pass to the O'Reilly Emerging Telephony Conference in San Francisco. Be sure to leave your email address, Skype name optional, so we can contact you. I'll pick a commenter at random on Monday and post the results. If you couldn't make last week's Consumer Electronics Show, compare the hundreds of photos on flickr to my photos: I have all the phone and software geek shots, while everyone else ... continue reading.....

Tom Online comes to Skype's aid in China (ChinaTechNews.com). Skype's closest partner in China is negotiating with China's telcom operators on Skype's behalf. US Verso Tech confirms sale of Skype-blocking software in China (Forbes). How do you say "negotiating power" in Mandarin? Microsoft roars into VoIP market (Computerworld). "Industry observers say the catalyst for this is Skype..." Radio Shack to offer a range of Skype-related Products (The New York Times). Skype to be featured ... continue reading.....