| 
Results for phoneboy. Search took 0.52 seconds.
Alltop VoIP Coverage
in The VoIP Weblog, on July 11, 2008
An interesting aggregator site called Alltop recently launched, which lists a number of high-quality VoIP sites along with their headlines. It's designed for people that do not use RSS feeds, which is still the majority of web surfers.
While my personal technology blog is among the blo...
VoIP Farthest Thing From My Mind
in The VoIP Weblog, on May 24, 2008
I realize it's been several days since I've posted here. Part of the reason was that my son was admitted to the hospital on Tuesday. As such, I've been spending a lot of time at the hospital and not all that much time blogging.
The only VoIP thing I've touched this week is Gra...
TRITTON TRI-BH200 AX Micro Bluetooth Headset
in The Gadgets Weblog, on May 12, 2008
A while ago , the folks at TRITTON Technologies sent me one of their AX Micro Bluetooth Headsets to review. It is certainly the most comfortable bluetooth headset I've worn, but it is not without it's issues .
The headset has four hours of talk time, and I proved it last week ...
TRITTON TRI-BH200 AX Micro Bluetooth Headset
in The Mobile Technology Weblog, on May 12, 2008
A while ago , the folks at TRITTON Technologies sent me one of their AX Micro Bluetooth Headsets to review. It is certainly the most comfortable bluetooth headset I've worn, but it is not without it's issues .
The headset has four hours of talk time, and I proved it last week by u...
Qwest To Resell Verizon Wireless Service
in The Mobile Technology Weblog, on May 7, 2008
As I reported elsewhere , qwest is looking to get out of it's MVNO deal with Sprint. Instead, they will be simply reselling Verizon Wireless service . Qwest customers with more than one service will be able to retain combined billing once Verizon Wireless and Qwest get their billing ...
iSkoot Updates Symbian Software, Handles Security Incident Well
in The VoIP Weblog, on May 1, 2008
Last week, I discovered-quite by accident-that the version of iSkoot for the Nokia N95 was sending the entire session in the clear . In short, your Skype credentials, and everything you were using iSkoot for on Skype, was being sent unencrypted from your mobile phone.
For those who don't kn...
iSkoot Updates Symbian Software, Handles Security Incident Well
in The Wireless Weblog, on April 30, 2008
Last week, I discovered-quite by accident-that the version of iSkoot for the Nokia N95 was sending the entire session in the clear . In short, your Skype credentials, and everything you were using iSkoot for on Skype, was being sent unencrypted from your mobile phone.
For those who don't kn...
iSkoot Updates Symbian Software, Handles Security Incident Well
in The Mobile Technology Weblog, on April 30, 2008
Last week, I discovered-quite by accident-that the version of iSkoot for the Nokia N95 was sending the entire session in the clear . In short, your Skype credentials, and everything you were using iSkoot for on Skype, was being sent unencrypted from your mobile phone.
For those who don't kn...
Vapps Update Skype Extra: High-Definition Conferencing Tool
in The VoIP Weblog, on April 23, 2008
While I've recently covered the Vapps HighSpeed Conferencing service, which takes full advantage of Skype's wideband codecs for fantastic audio quality, Vapps has also updated their High-Definition Conferencing Skype Extra.
This add-on permits Skype users to schedule ad-hoc conferen...
Spam Isn't Free Speech
in I got Spam?!, on April 8, 2008
There's an article on Techdirt about how a spammer was convicted for violating Virgina's Anti-Spamming Law . Jeremy Jaynes, the spammer in question, tried to get the conviction overturned because their anti-spam law is unconstitutional. The Virginia Supreme Court upheld the verdict .
...
Skyfire To Start Beta
in The Mobile Technology Weblog, on March 28, 2008
I got an email from the folks at Skyfire letting me know that they were about to start making their web browser available for beta testing. If you signed up before 1 March, you will be among the first group. If you signed up for the beta after 1 March, you will be part of the second group an...
The Ultimate MPU For Old Bally/Stern Pinballs!
in The Gadgets Weblog, on March 26, 2008
Chances are, you've played a pinball machine at some point in your life. They used to line the walls of an arcade when I was a kid. Nowadays, you're lucky if you can find one.
Pinball machines manufactured from 1975 onward contain electronics in it just like a computer or even a...
Jaduka Announces Free Telephony Widgets
in The VoIP Weblog, on March 7, 2008
Jaduka has announced a series of "telephony widgets" through Jaduka Labs :
dukaDIAL : Call any number in the U.S. and Canada for free.
dukaLINK : Create a link to allow someone in the U.S. and Canada for free while keeping your number private
dukaBUZZ : Allow U.S. and Canada vi...
Spam Over IM Invades Skype
in The VoIP Weblog, on March 6, 2008
Phil Wolff over at Skype Journal details something I've noticed happening to me a lot lately: to get my attention. I get "friend requests" and "chat messages" from these people. I, of course, block the contact and ignore them.
I've been in the computer industry long...
IP PBX Vendors Ratchet Up Their Marketing
in The VoIP Weblog, on March 5, 2008
This week, I have been contacted by two different IP PBX vendors to review their products: TalkSwitch and thirdlane . Ok, maybe this data point is meaningless, but it's not like I hear from IP PBX vendors every day asking my opinion. Maybe this little trade show called VON.x on the 17...
Report Speed Traps With Trapster
in The Smart PDA, on March 4, 2008
Trapster lets people with GPS-enabled phones document the exact location of a speed trap or red light camera. You can either run an application on your phone, access the mobile version of the site ( trapster.com/m ), or use in conjunction with Jott by speaking the details of the trap into t...
Report Speed Traps With Trapster
in The Mobile Technology Weblog, on March 4, 2008
Trapster lets people with GPS-enabled phones document the exact location of a speed trap or red light camera. You can either run an application on your phone, access the mobile version of the site ( trapster.com/m ), or use in conjunction with Jott by speaking the details of the trap into t...
Rumor: Nokia N95-3 To Be Sold At AT&T
in The Smart PDA, on March 3, 2008
Engadget is reporting that AT&T will finally get the Nokia N95-3 sometime in the second quarter of 2008. The Nokia N95-3 is the U.S. version of the Nokia N95-1 (i.e. the original N95), which has a bigger battery, U.S. 3G frequencies, but is missing the lens cover for the camera.
While...
Rumor: Nokia N95-3 To Be Sold At AT&T
in The Gadgets Weblog, on March 3, 2008
Engadget is reporting that AT&T will finally get the Nokia N95-3 sometime in the second quarter of 2008. The Nokia N95-3 is the U.S. version of the Nokia N95-1 (i.e. the original N95), which has a bigger battery, U.S. 3G frequencies, but is missing the lens cover for the camera.
While...
High Definition Audio? Priceless!
in The VoIP Weblog, on February 15, 2008
After mucking about with the various VoIP tools, I have realized that a Skype-to-Skype, under ideal conditions, is righteous . While I realized I panned the whole concept of HD VoIP a while ago , no other tool comes close to sounding as good as Skype. There's something to be said for it.
T...
Where Does Skype Fit Into Unified Communications
in The VoIP Weblog, on February 13, 2008
A while ago, I had ranted about how Skype really needs to be part of any so-called Unified Communications platform. Skype Journal picked up the rant and made a very salient point: "Skype makes no attempt to position itself as a Unified Communications platform."
Probably for the sam...
Sell Your Old Mobile Phone To Junkyard Wireless
in The Gadgets Weblog, on February 9, 2008
When I was trying to find a picture to go with a piece I wrote on AT&T suing a place over unlocking their prepaid phones and reselling them , I ran across a site that might be useful for those people who have old cell phones sitting in a drawer, wondering what to do with them.
Junkyard Wire...
RingFree SIP-Enables Your iPhone
in The VoIP Weblog, on January 24, 2008
RingFree is a newly launched "application" for the iPhone that enables SIP-based calling from your iPhone. You can call people using your SIP-based IP PBX or other SIP-based provider. You can also make free VoIP calls to FWD, MSN, Yahoo, Google Talk, and anything with a SIP URL.
Rin...
Pay Per Use Or Minute Bundles?
in The Mobile Technology Weblog, on January 18, 2008
... course of a year or two, the overall cost is likely going to be lower. More details about this on phoneboy.com .
What do you think makes the most sense for you, pay-per-use or minute bundles? Let m...
Wireless Service In Indonesia Compared To The U.S.
in The Mobile Technology Weblog, on January 15, 2008
...iggest country in terms of population, behind the U.S., India, and China. Quoting from my piece on phoneboy.com :
Each outbound minute of calling to a landline costs Rp. 531/minute for the thre...
CTIA To US FCC: We're #1!
in The Mobile Technology Weblog, on January 14, 2008
The ctia , otherwise knows as the industry association representing the wireless carriers in the U.S., recently told the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) that based on some key factors, the U.S. wireless market is leading the way . They compared our wireless market to the top 10 w...
The Year In VoIP: My Final Thoughts On 2007
in The VoIP Weblog, on January 1, 2008
Now that I've gone through 2007's VoIP-related stories, at least through the eyes of my blogging, I have a few thoughts about the year.
It amazes me how my opinion of things can change so quickly. In the VoIP space, I was not hot on Jangl earlier in the year, but after some conversations...
The Year In VoIP: Q3 2007
in The VoIP Weblog, on December 28, 2007
Here are some highlights from Q3 2007:
Sunrocket Flameout : My first post on The VoIP Weblog was about SunRocket and whether or not they were going to live . And, of course, they ended up in the dead pool . Even after their service got subsumed by TeleBlend, SunRocket's web site lives on...
The Year In VoIP: Q2 2007
in The VoIP Weblog, on December 27, 2007
Here's some highlights from 2nd Quarter 2007:
GrandCentral Goes Mobile, Get's Bought By Google : In March, I got to meet Craig Walker of GrandCentral, where he showed me their new (at the time) mobile interface , bringing "visual voicemail" to any web-enabled handset. The...
The Year In VoIP: Q1 2007
in The VoIP Weblog, on December 26, 2007
Let's face it: news is slow around the Christmas holidays. And, of course, everyone does these long, massive "year in review" posts. Instead of doing one gigantic one, I am going to do a few smaller ones, using my blog posts as a guide for "what happened."
The initia...
Legitimate Companies Contributing To The Spam Problem
in I got Spam?!, on December 15, 2007
In order to get a copy of this program called Stuffit Expander , you have to agree to give your email address, which is then added to an "opt-in" mailing list where the manufacturer, Smith Micro , sends you email about their products .
Oh sure, you are given the opportunity to opt...
SpinVox: Speech To Text For Your Mobile
in The Mobile Technology Weblog, on December 14, 2007
Mark Rollins over on The Gadgets Weblog wrote about a service I wrote about a while ago : SpinVox . SpinVox has a number of ways you can utilize their speech-to-text technology. One way is to use it to send text messages . The picture here gives a rough idea of how it deals with words i...
Bootstrapping Your Business Is Better
in Businesspundit, on December 14, 2007
Shawn Hessinger over at BootStrapMe brings to light an interesting observation from Forbes Magazine about whether or not to bootstrap your business. In short, if you can bootstrap it, you don't have to be sidetracked by the demands of raising money or give up equity in your new venture.
...
Abbeynet's Mozilla VoIP Extension: Open To Anything
in The VoIP Weblog, on December 13, 2007
I have to give credit to Luca Filigheddu and his team at Abbeynet for continuing to do their part to bring the power of voip to more people.
Originally when Abbeynet's Mozilla VoIP Extensions came out, I panned it . And while I will admit I'm still not a huge fan, I do like the ...
Jajah Direct Had Nothing To Do With Jangl
in The VoIP Weblog, on December 10, 2007
On Friday, I had a conversation with Jangl CTO Ben Dean . While we primarily were discussing some of the privacy issues surrounding integrating your various Jangl-enhanced identities in your social networks , the topic of the Jangl/Jajah partnership also came up.
I specifically asked Ben if...
VoIP Can Be Sniffed? Get Real!
in The VoIP Weblog, on November 27, 2007
This mass hysteria about being able to make WAV files of VoIP conversations, while only recently brought into the forefront with a tool called SIPtap , is completely unwarranted. In short: if someone can run this tool on your network and make WAV files of your phone calls, you've got far bi...
fringME! Gives A Whole New Meaning To Find Me
in The VoIP Weblog, on November 26, 2007
Fring , an application I've written about before , has introduced something that isn't VoIP related, but is scary all the same: now folks can see exactly where you are thanks to the handy, dandy GPS in your mobile phone. It was only a matter of time before someone did this.
This fe...
Numbr Expanding Their Service?
in The VoIP Weblog, on November 15, 2007
A little birdie told me some interesting news about Numbr , a service I've previously written about . While I can't really go into the details, I can say they are looking at bringing their service to a whole new audience.
Whatever Numbr does, I hope they don't make it complic...
RSS Debate
in Creative Weblogging, on November 13, 2007
...ng the Gadgets Weblog , the VOIP Weblog , and I Got Spam , had this to say at his own blog, The PhoneBoyBlog , about RSS and one of the big issues he has had to deal with full RSS feeds:
One of ...
Defensio Launches Comment Spam Filtering Service
in I got Spam?!, on November 12, 2007
Defensio claims their solution will "end annoying comment spam." Unlike many one size fits all solutions, Defensio customizes itself to a particular blog and the preferences of the author(s). In short, it treats a particular post on one blog as spam, whereas on a different blog, it mi...
Skype Not Always Effective In Hotel Rooms
in The VoIP Weblog, on November 7, 2007
In my most recent trip, The broadband available at the hotel I was staying at wasn't really broadband. Or at least it wasn't reliable. I ended up using a Sprint AirCard 595U to get online, which was far more reliable.
I wasn't trying to use Skype like Dan York was, though. On o...
Should Your Next Mobile Phone Be WiFi Enabled?
in The Gadgets Weblog, on October 28, 2007
I recently wrote a piece on whether or not you should get a WiFi-enabled mobile phone . It seems to have gotten a fair amount of play, and it certainly can't hurt to get more. :)
My basic thesis is that for the average person, unless you have a specialized service that actually uses...
The Nokia Lifeblog-Wordpress Experience, Now Available to Macs
in The Smart PDA, on October 27, 2007
...
There isn't anything complicated about Phoneboy's Nokia Lifeblog Wordpress plugin: it basically allows users to post their Lifeblog content on a Wordpress blog. But this straightforward pro...
Yak4Ever/AllFreeCalls Still Going Strong
in The VoIP Weblog, on October 26, 2007
It's been a while since I've written about Yak4ever/AllFreeCalls, Pat Phelan's scheme to "end the rip off" of expensive long distance calls to 48 countries . The service is available in the US , UK , and Ireland .
In the UK and Ireland, AllFreeCalls works fairly simp...
Use Nokia Lifeblog or Online Share To Post To Wordpress Blogs
in The Gadgets Weblog, on October 17, 2007
In addition to writing blog posts, I can occasionally write code. Or at least hack on someone else's. I think this particular hacked code might be of interest to some of the readers here.
Nokia Lifeblog and Nokia Online Share are two different ways to do the same thing: share content gener...
Alaska Airlines To Bring WiFi To Planes
in The Gadgets Weblog, on October 8, 2007
As someone who flies on alaska airlines occasionally, I look forward to the day when my laptop and/or mobile phones can be connected to the Internet at 35,000 feet. Previously, I had blogged about this , but it recently came out that Alaska plans on testing it on a single Boeing 737 next...
GotVoice: Voicemail to SMS
in The VoIP Weblog, on September 24, 2007
GotVoice provides a rather interesting service: they retrieve voicemails off of the various voicemail systems and provide you with a single, unified view of your voicemail. I've written about them previously . If you're not quite ready for the one-number approach of GrandCentral , it&...
Bell-Me and Global FREEdom Phone: Two More Me-Too Products
in The VoIP Weblog, on September 21, 2007
There's a fine line between participating in a discussion on a blog and spamming. Surely when I comment on other people's posts, I include a link to one of my many blogs . That's what makes the blogosphere go 'round. Creative Weblogging , the folks who own this blog and a wh...
My Lunch With Alec Saunders of iotum
in The VoIP Weblog, on September 14, 2007
This week, I'm up in Ottawa for my day job. This presented me with the opportunity to have lunch with Alec Saunders of iotum . Alec is well-known in the VoIP blogosphere with his Saunderslog blog.
The conversation? Hardly about tech. It was about travel. All the cool places him and his fa...
What's a QRCode?
in The Gadgets Weblog, on September 4, 2007
This entry isn't about a specific gadget, but rather something some gadgets can actually read: QR codes . Quick Response codes are similar to barcodes. They are designed to make it easy to input data into a mobile phone. The included picture is a QR code.
QR codes have been used in manufact...
Finding The Best Online Price While Window Shopping
in The Gadgets Weblog, on August 28, 2007
Have you ever been shopping for an item in a brick-and-mortar store and wonder if you can get it cheaper online? If you got a mobile phone, you can check it out, even if your mobile phone doesn't have Internet access!
Frucall gives you the ability to SMS to FRU11 (37811), telephone to 888-DO...
Linksys WRE54G
in The Gadgets Weblog, on August 9, 2007
The Linksys WRE54G is a neat idea. When you get it configured right, it works well. The trick is: getting it configured right.
For those of you whom have never tried using a wifi repeater, the basic idea is that the repeater uses the exact same settings as your master WiFi router. The r...
Get a Numbr
in The VoIP Weblog, on August 7, 2007
From relationship-based numbers, a-la Jangl, we now move to transaction based numbers with a service called Numbr (pronounced Numb-ar).
Numbr, which was originally called craigsnumber, provides a service that allows you to generate a short-term telephone number . When I interviewed t...
Sitofono: Now Easier To Get
in The VoIP Weblog, on August 6, 2007
Sitofono is a rather unique product in the VoIP marketplace. It enables customers to click on a button on your website and they can connect with you. All a customer has to do is input their phone number into the computer and their phone rings, connecting you! Check out my own Sitofono, which ...
Ooma Wants to Pwn Your Phone Service
in The VoIP Weblog, on August 1, 2007
Many people don't read through the end user license agreements (EULA) that come with, well, just about anything. Including VoIP service. Mostly, they get ignored and clicked-through.
Lucky for Andy Abramson, he did . He found quite a doozy in the one for Ooma . I've written about ...
Who Am I, Anyway?
in The VoIP Weblog, on July 23, 2007
..., I mostly write and edit articles for a support knowledge base , not to mention blogging on phoneboy.com and elsewhere (and yes, I refer to myself as PhoneBoy).
When I'm not blogging or...
Why I Won't Go Near Ooma With a 10 Foot Pole
in The VoIP Weblog, on July 20, 2007
I can't believe anyone is actually taking the whole idea of Ooma seriously. The more I think about how this product reportedly works, the more I simply cannot see why anyone thinks this is even remotely a good idea. Granted, I am not immune to changing my mind. I certainly wasn't a fan...
Ooma: Well Funded, Stupid Ideas Are Still Stupid
in The VoIP Weblog, on July 19, 2007
...ting public. But let's face it: well-funded stupid ideas are still stupid. And, as I explain on phoneboy.com, I believe Ooma is even dangerous .
Some other coverage on this:
Ooma? Oh my... ...
SunRocket Refugee? Try VoicePulse!
in The VoIP Weblog, on July 17, 2007
If you're a SunRocket customer looking for a new place to go after their recent demise , you may want to give VoicePulse a look. Having worked with the guys on a number of projects for Voxilla and having used their service for a while, I can say without a doubt that VoicePulse is worth ...