VoIP

Overheard - VoIPSA

“Some computer viruses have a crude but scary ability to spy on people by logging every keystroke they type.  Now hackers and potentially law enforcement have another weapon: a virus that can eavesdrop on voice conversations that go over computers instead of a regular phone line.” Jordan Robertson, Wiretapping Skype calls: virus eavesdrops on VoIP

Today’s WhatIs.com Word of the Day is VoIPSA.

Overheard - Web self-service

“More and more organizations are finding that, while a dedicated customer service staff is still an integral part of any company, customers can do a fine job answering questions and service issues for themselves and for one another.” Barney Beal, SaaS CRM vendors get serious about Web self-service features

Today’s WhatIs.com Word of the Day is Web self-service.

Overheard - RealDVD and the power of the MPAA

“It’s perfectly legal to rip music from a CD and upload it onto an iPod for personal use; why can’t a person do the same with their own copies of movies?” Brennon Slattery, Why Pick on RealDVD?

It’s sad that RealDVD, with its sophisticated and lawful approach to DVD-copying, had to swallow the wrath of the MPAA. It’s also clear that the DMCA [Digital Millenium Copyright Act of 1998] needs to be updated to reflect the changes in media distribution 11 years later.

Overheard - Difference between CDMA and GSM

“The two biggest differences between the CDMA and GSM standards are international compatibility and how the networks handle activating phones.” Adama D. Brown, Brighthand FAQ: What’s the difference between CDMA and GSM?

Outside the U.S. and Canada, most GSM phones will still work, while almost all CDMA phones simply can’t be used overseas.

CDMA phones are activated remotely, by the carrier, using the phone’s serial number, known as the ESN. Since each carrier has a database of all the ESNs that are approved for its network, this lets most CDMA carriers refuse to activate phones not originally intended for their network.

GSM phones are activated differently. Each account is associated with what’s called a SIM card, or Subscriber Identity Module. This card, about the size of a fingertip and the thickness of a piece of paperboard, carries an encrypted version of all the information needed to identify your wireless account to the network. You slip it into the appropriate slot on a GSM phone (usually under the battery) and that phone is ready to use.

Overheard - Deep fiber

Pushing fiber close to the customer is generically called “deep fiber,” and various acronyms are used to indicate just how deep the fiber is. FTTH means “fiber to the home,” which is the extreme of giving every user an optical-electrical termination. FTTC takes “fiber to the curb,” serving a group of homes, while FTTN means “fiber to the node” or “neighborhood.” Tom Nolle, Fiber-optic networks: Access network design

Overheard - WiMAX and LTE

For most service providers and consumer, 4G wireless has the potential to deliver 40 Mbps or more of broadband connectivity per user. There are two technologies capable of supporting this requirement: WiMAX from the IEEE and the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP)’s Long-Term Evolution (LTE). Tom Nolle,  Three 4G business models emerge for LTE and WiMAX

Operator studies suggest that the migratory WiMAX model is most valuable in cities with large student populations, areas where mass transit is used for commuting in preference to private automobiles, and areas where online video usage has been well-socialized among wireline broadband users.

Where there is a strong wireline content appetite, sustaining that appetite in other places where the user may relax is far easier. On the other hand, in locations where much of the population commutes by car, where the user is older and less likely to view content online at home, and where a large segment of the population of a service area may be moving in from a different area, the mobile-evolution or LTE model is easiest to validate.

Overheard - High Speed Packet Access

It’s no secret that 4G wireless technology - aka Long Term Evolution and WiMax - is in the works and actually starting to see some deployment. But until then, a 3G technology called High Speed Packet Access, or HSPA, is seeing the big growth numbers around the globe. Sam Diaz, Growth of 3G wireless broadband illustrates demand for 4G connections

HSPA is a general name for the High-Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) and High-Speek Uplink Packet Access protocols. They are packet-based mobile telephony protocols used in 3G to increase data capacity and speed up transfer rates. One of the primary differences between HSPA and EV-DO networks is that HSPA allows mobile handsets to transmit voice and data simultaneously.

Jonathan Morgan has written a very interesting post explaining why HSPA is so important.  It all comes down to dollars.

LinkedIn - social networking for business

I have a strong belief that starting businesses during an economic downturn is the exact right time to do it because it gives you runway. It’s harder to raise capital, but if you can do it, it gives you an advantage. Reid Hoffman, as quoted in LinkedIn’s startup story: Connecting the business world

Today’s WhatIs.com Word of the Day is LinkedIn.   If there’s an economic downturn, it makes a lot of sense to put your energy into a business model that helps people connect professionally.  You make money…they find a job or a person to fill a job…everyone wins.

LinkedIn’s membership goals are pretty high — they’re after 1 in 4 people of the world’s population.  Currently, LinkedIn is gaining members at the rate of 1 per second.  That’s a million new members approximately every seventeen days.

The business, which is profitable, has three revenue streams: subscriptions on the site (providing better search functionality and a better way to contact members at large in the database), advertising (their demographic is similar to that of the Wall Street Journal) and a SaaS for recruiters and departments of human resources called LinkedIn Talent Advantage.

Voice dialing - coming to an iPhone near you

Sources speaking to Ars have discovered evidence of new voice control features coming to iPhone OS 3.0. Apparently going by the code name “Jibbler,” it looks like it will provide not just voice synthesis, but also voice recognition for the upcoming iPhone OS 3.0. Chris Foresman, iPhone OS 3.0 to feature voice control and feedback

I can’t wait for the 3.0 upgrade!!!

Overheard - When should you use streaming video?

Streaming is the better solution when your clips are more than a few minutes long, when you want to enable interactive applications like video search or linking deep into a file, or you want to collect statistics on what’s actually being watched. Larry Bouthillier, Streaming vs. Downloading Video: Understanding The Differences

Streaming is the way to go when you want to control the impact of video on your network, or when you need to support large numbers of viewers. And of course, it’s the only way to do live webcasts and multicasting.