Voice Apps For Learning Language

November 28, 2006Voice Apps For Learning Language

Download Squad talks about FriendsAbroad,a beta web service that is a social network aimed at people who wouldlike to learn a new language. There’s no voice mode yet, but it’scoming. For now, there’s only email and text chat. But what a great wayto learn to make the global village even smaller.

My suggestion to FriendsAbroad: integrate SightSpeed’s free video click-to-callfunctionality. Learning
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VoIP Roundup - Tues Nov 28/06

November 28, 2006VoIP Roundup - Tues Nov 28/06

Internet TV Middleware: An Telco Provider Necessity?
Whilemost Internet surfers are probably still learning about IPTV (InternetTV), telcos should scramble to offer the service, to keep up with cableproviders’ triple play offerings. So says Light Reading, who say it’s a necessity to telecoms:

IPTV middleware is the technology that can deliver that advantage to telecom carriers.

In other words, don’t fear IPTV, embrace it?

Mac OS X iPhone?
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Palm Hurting, Apple Smiling

November 28, 2006Palm Hurting, Apple Smiling

It’s just a few minutes after noon in the New York time zone, and CNBC TV just reported that Palm’s share price is down 7.4%. RIM is down about 0.5%, Appleis up a couple of %. Palm was downgraded, triggered by theirannouncement that they were delaying the release of a new Treo. Whilethey’ve release several this year, including the Treo 680 (which was partly recalled, I believe) and the Treo 750,they had
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Show Me The Money In VoIP - Small Business Services

November 28, 2006Show Me The Money In VoIP - Small Business Services

With all the innovative VoIP companies popping up, it’s hard to keeptrack of them all, let alone the ones getting venture capital. One suchcompany is the Canadian-based Natural Convergence,who recently acquired US$10M in Series “C” funds. They’ve been inbusiness five years, serving SMBs (Small and Medium Businesses) inNorth America, parts of Europe and the Caribbean. [Light Reading].

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Grand Central Gets Even Better

I confess. I’m a fan of Fremont, CA-based Grand Central’s one-number calling service. It’s not just that you can route your calls easily anywhere you want. It’s the cool features that GC offers — like the ability to annotate your stored voicemail messsages or email people at their GC phone number — that makes the service such a hit.

Today GC just announced a raft of new features that will further endear them to fans.

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Calling Home for the Holidays

Want to remind kids to phone home for the holidays? Or connect with people you haven’t spoken to in a while?

Dallas-based Jaduka wants to make it easy. The provider of click-to-call services has a special promotion going for the holidays: free e-greeting cards that let the recipient call you back from any number with a single mouse click.

The subsidiary of Network IP — a pre-paid calling service provider — is offering 60 minutes
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PhoneGnome Special Offer

November 22, 2006PhoneGnome Special Offer

Several Canadian VoIP bloggers are raving about PhoneGnome’s new 2.0 look, features and price, including Alec Saunders and particularly TheVoIPGirl.(Though Americans can use it too.) PhoneGnome is a plug-and-play VoiPadapter that hooks up to your regular phone line and to your broadbandInternet connection to give you free and cheap calling. They also have a soft client, a Jajah-like VoIP bridge forfree phone-to-phone
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Call Anonymity Thy Name Is Jangl

November 22, 2006Call Anonymity Thy Name Is Jangl

My first reaction to Jangl, ananonymity proxy service for phone numbers, was is that necessary? Butdig a bit deeper and you find out there is value - albeit probably to aspecific niche. But as niches go, it’s potentially a big one. Janglcreates a unique phone number for any pair of people. It saves you fromhanding out your real phone number to someone, if you’re not ready forthat, but allows you
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VoIP Lowdown - Fri Nov 24, 2006

November 24, 2006VoIP Lowdown - Fri Nov 24, 2006

BlackBerry As Crisis Management Tool
The BlackBerryas a mass messaging tool is an application that Send Word Now andWallace Wireless have come up with. The software they’ve developedjointly is to be used for crisis management, and the activity is called”PIN blasting”. Asterisk VoIP News has more details.

Wireless Energy Transfer
21Talks discussesa new technique devised by researchers from
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Skype VoIP + Spam = Skam

November 24, 2006Skype VoIP + Spam = Skam

Today, someone sent me my first real Skype spam (skam?) from Khurana +Company, possibly from Austin, Texas. (Text mode, not voice.) You spam me and I’ll reveal youto everyone. I didn’t bother reading the Skype message, but I thinkhe’s a lawyer, or offers some sort of legal services by Skype andemail, not surprisingly. But don’t assume that just because I have anEast Indian (or similar) name like you that
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