U.S. has 21 million VoIP subscribers according to FCC report

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission reports that there are 21 million VoIP subscriptions stateside, and that the vast majority of them are residential customers. But it didn't count Skype subscribers.

These figures were announced by the FCC to accompany the release of its highly detailed 31-page report, "Local Telephone Competition". The report, however, isn't exactly what you might call "fresh" — although it was released just last Friday, its data set ends on December 31, 2008.

Don't expect 2010 numbers to be higher than end-of-2008 numbers, however. In a report published earlier this year, analysts at the Dell'Oro group said the the VoIP market had suffered greatly in recent years due to the market meltdown, and was only beginning to recover — or even stabilize — in 2010.

The FCC's report come with one enormous caveat that it buries in a footnote: the stats don't include Skype subscribers, but only phone-to-phone communications that enable customers "to receive calls that originate on the public switched telephone network and to terminate calls to the public switched telephone network." This omission doesn't render the numbers meaningless — it just means that there's a lot more VoIPing going on than the FCC reports.

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Cisco releases new tablet called Cisco Home Energy Controller for smart home market

 

Tablets or just gadgets in the broad sense that do our work is finally coming close to being a reality especially with the Cisco tablet that has been released recently. Seated at just one single area of the house, the tablet provides the user with complete control of all the other utility items in the house.

Named the Cisco Home Energy Controller, the tablet is an even more specialized product from Cisco that comes hot on the heels of the other tablet offering from the same company in the form of the Cius that has been built purely with a business scenario in mind.

This one is more focused towards monitoring the electricity usage of all the gadgets in the home from a single location while also suggesting means that will lead to optimum usage of electricity.The launch of the tablet can be seen as an extension of Cisco’s Home Energy Management Solution Suite which is a part of its Connected Grid portfolio of smart grid products as well as technologies that it had recently unveiled.

A 7 inch screen with a resolution of 800 x 480 forms the main display area of the tablet. The screen is capacitive and incorporates touch screen features. An Intel Atom processor with a clock speed of 1.1GHz provides the Home Energy Controller tablet with its computing power and runs the open source Linux operating system.

The way the tablet works is this: the tablet connects to smart thermostats and appliances via 802.11n WiFi or gigabit Ethernet connection so as to form a successful interconnected web. It then allows the user to view on its screen which device is consuming how much of power. Based on this, the tablet in turn will allow the user to decide which of the gadgets needed to be turned off or slowed down in order to save power. The device itself can suggest methods for optimum usage of power.

For instance, with the air conditioning on during summer, the lights can be dimmed a bit to conserve electricity and hence, save money. The appliances that need to be monitored also have to be compatible to this device. In any case, the Home Energy Controller is a far cry and a lot more sci-fi in comparison to the current practice of monitoring electricity usage by sensing the rotation of a thin disc inside a meter placed on the exterior of the house and rotates as per the power consumption that is taking place in the house.

“With its simple and elegant user interface, the Cisco Home Energy Controller is like a virtual energy assistant for consumers, giving them valuable information about, and more discretion over, their energy use,” says the general manager of Cisco Smart Grid, Paul Fulton.

But then, the Cisco Home Energy Controller is not only about saving electricity, for the tablet can also playback videos via Mediafly. Then there’s also a dedicated application store to pick up applications from while it is also rumored the tablet can be used for VoIP processes as well.

Price for installation is likely to be around $900 per installation at home though there are expectations the cost will drop down further with subsidies from power companies. And if there are federal tax credits, things can be even more juicy. But in any case, the cost should be offset by the reduction in power bill. So there are savings to be made whichever way you look at it.

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Cisco making a play for Skype?

 Cisco is reportedly looking to buy Skype before the Internet phone provider goes public.  The blog TechCrunch posted over the weekend that Cisco made an offer for Skype before it completed its IPO process. The site attributed the unconfirmed information to "reliable sources."

It would be a multibillion purchase as Skype is looking to raise $5 billion in its initial offer, according to TechCrunch.Cisco declined to comment. Skype was not immediately available for comment.

The acquisition would be key to Cisco's thrust into the unified communications and collaboration, and consumer markets. It would bring to the company what is now a free and consumer friendly voice and video capability to augment the IP telephony and unified communications systems it now provides to corporate enterprises.

Integrated with a device such as the Flip pocket videocamera -- which would need an Internet access connection like the expected Wi-Fi capability -- Cisco could offer a handheld voice/data/video device for the consumer and perhaps enterprise market.

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Crestron offers new MTX-3 wireless touchpanel remote

The MTX-3 offers seamless interaction with AV and environmental systems, providing true feedback of all settings, and displaying metadata information for all digital media.  Crestron’s infiNET EX wireless technology provides reliable two-way communications throughout a residence or commercial structure utilising a 2.4 GHz mesh network.

A complete infiNET EX network uses the lighting dimmers and other devices throughout the structure as wireless relay stations, each receiving and passing on wireless commands to the central gateway.

Every device that is added to the network effectively increases the range, strength, and reliability of the entire network by providing multiple redundant signal paths, ensuring that every button press is executed instantly and consistently.

The MTX-3 can also communicate directly with the gateway if no other infiNET EX devices are installed. Up to six MTX-3s can be assigned to a single gateway.

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A Few Tips for Developing Web-based Applications

August 17th, 2010 by John Reeve

Take a quick look at the online productivity software landscape and you will see there are plenty of options to choose from. This as a good thing, after all, project managers, web designers, web developers, and creatives are a thorough and intelligent bunch and highly capable of vetting out the best web-based applications that will work for their needs. The large number of online software options available means any small business can find a unique set of features — time tracking, task management, document sharing, reporting, invoicing, and so on — to match their workflow.

Technographic Profile of an Online Project Management Application

August 24th, 2010 by John Reeve

Ever wonder what type of technology is used by a web-based project management application’s customers? What browsers do they prefer? What operating systems are favored? Where in the world they are coming from? We’ve got some of those numbers to share with you, based on our own online project management software Intervals. We’ve crunched Intervals’ numbers to give you an idea of what the typical technological profile of our customers — web design, web development, creative agencies and professional services small businesses — looks like. Keep in mind, these numbers represent a niche — creative, computer and professional services oriented companies using online time, task and project management software. These numbers do not apply to the world at large.

Web Browsers

No surprise here. Firefox has been edging out Internet Explorer for the last year or two. What’s fascinating is seeing that Internet Explorer may soon drop to third place, usurped by the little V8 Javascript engine that could… Google Chrome. Safari is still hanging in there, but will have to stop trying to force its way into the iTunes install before small businesses start letting it anywhere near their Windows desktops.

What Qualifies as Project Management Software?

September 8th, 2010 by John Reeve

Several months ago I reviewed five different open source project management applications. A commenter recently pointed out that, from his perspective “what you have here is a review of ticketing systems, some of which have some additional features that might help in a project environment.” And this got me to thinking… we all have different definitions of what a project management application should be. We all come from different sized businesses where we’ve handled different sized client rosters, managed different sized projects, and have reached our own conclusions on what project management software should do. Fortunately, the landscape of available applications is enormous and the features available are diverse enough to satisfy most any small businesses’ needs.

Can an issue tracker or task manager be used as a project management tool?

Most certainly. Just look at the success Basecamp has had in marketing itself to web designers and developers who need something simple for managing projects. With Basecamp you get a basic to do list, maybe some time tracking functionality, and you are on your way to collaborating and managing projects online. It’s worked for a lot of people who have simple needs when it comes to keeping their clients and projects organized.

Are Gantt charts and resource management a must-have for a project management application?

No. Not unless you are managing projects at the enterprise level. If you’ve got a thing for tossing around acronyms and printing out giant Gantt charts to impress executives at meetings, then an enterprise level project management tool like Microsoft Project is going to be better for you. I know I’m poking fun at traditional methodologies, but most small businesses don’t need them. What they usually need is something akin to an issue tracker or task manager, with some time tracking, document sharing, and reporting thrown in the mix. It’s not that we have to make do with less, it’s that we have less to manage in the first place.

What if neither of these two approaches work for you?

You have plenty of options. An entire marketplace has been created and evolved over the last four years, filled with online project management applications that cater to small businesses who need more than “simple” and less than “enterprise.” Our own software, Intervals, is an example of such an offering. These online tools have jettisoned the features that small businesses weren’t using (i.e. the Gantt chart, resource management) and improved the features offered by simpler applications. What we’ve ended up with is better task management, more thorough time tracking and less cluttered projects overall. And it seems to be working great for small businesses.

Can you answer the question?

Certainly. There is no single right way to manage a project. There are plenty of great methodologies that can be combined into a work flow that fits your way of managing projects. Many of the online project management applications available are trying to do just that. They are saying simple is often times not enough and enterprise is often too much, so try this blend of features we’ve brewed together to see if it is a good fit for you. What qualifies as project management software is any tool at your disposal that enables you to effectively and efficiently keep project deliverables under budget and on time. If you are accomplishing this as a project manager, semantics really don’t matter.

Tags: online, project management, software
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Do Web Designers Need to Know Web Development?

September 16th, 2010 by John Reeve

“…basic front-end knowledge should be possessed by anyone who calls themselves a web designer”
— Elliot Jay Stocks
Web designers who can’t code

Most web developers, including myself, have gone through the experience of working with a web designer who is completely unfamiliar with web development. The comps arrive as an EPS at some random screen resolution with instructions to use the latest trendy and obscure typeface for every word of text (why must our SEO efforts so often be sacrificed to the god of Brand?). Although the pursuant interaction is usually positive, there are some frustrating moments as the submitted design is kneaded into a more usable format that will translate onto the web. Which brings me to a question that myself and others have asked; should web designers also be competent web developers? And I don’t mean the server-side stuff, just the client-side basics. Unfortunately, it’s not a simple question to answer. Web designers don’t need to be competent web developers, however, they should have a basic understanding of client-side development.

Why wouldn’t a web designer want to understand web development?

A web designer who understands web development is only going to find it that much easier to find a job. Simply put, web development skills are a good resume builder. I would guess that most creative agencies who employ web designers are going to agree that the web designer with development skills is the more attractive candidate. At Pelago, where I work, we would never hire or subcontract a web designer who did not “get” the basics of web development. In the interest of self-preservation and career advancement, web designers should be learning as much as they can about web development. If only web designers were as eager to learn web development as developers seem to be to learn web design, Web 2.0 wouldn’t be synonymous with bezels, drop shadows and gradients.

An understanding of both web design and development does not equal mediocrity

There is a myth that someone can’t be good in more than just one thing. That if you are going to learn both web design and web development you will have to settle for mediocrity in both. Any freelancer or anyone who has ever run a small business and has had to wear multiple hats can tell you this is wrong. Besides, no one is saying you have to be an expert in both. A web designer can still be a rock star while dabbling in web development. It’s always good to have a core competency, whether you are an individual or a small business. But it also helps to cross train in areas of proximity to your expertise. Web designers don’t need to be experts in web development, they just need to understand the basics of how the web works.

Why a basic understanding of client-side development is necessary

The analogy of the print designer works well for explaining why web designers should understand basic web development concepts. Print designers work against physical limitations of the client’s budget and the printing process. Good print designers work very closely with printing companies and have a good understanding of how the printing process works. Print designers will use this knowledge to squeeze the most visual appeal from the client’s budget. They will make a two-color design look like three or utilize different paper stocks, such as cardboard, to an advantage. Web designers have limitations, too. They must design within the constraints of the square pixel, screen resolutions and image sizes. When these constraints are ignored the web designer will end up with a web site that is extremely difficult to build with HTML/CSS or that is too large for anyone to wait around while it loads into their web browser. In the end, the effect on the client’s budget is the same. It runs out before the project is completed.

What is the bare minimum a web designer should know about web development?

There are a few basic things about web development every web designer should know:

Pixel Resolution
The target pixels per inch (ppi) that web designers should work with is 72ppi. This is similar to dpi, except that you can’t really squeeze more pixels into a one inch square on the screen like you can on paper. More importantly, the web design should fit the desired screen resolution, whether that is 800×600, 1024×768 or higher. The elements in your design should take up the same amount of pixels as they would on the finished web site so that there is no need for scaling up or down during development.Image Optimization
Take a moment to read up JPG, GIF and PNG image formats and when it is best to use each one. For example, JPG uses a lossy compression and is better for photos where the compression is masked by the details of the image. GIFs and PNGs, on the other hand, use a limited color pallet and work better for illustrative images and rasterized text. Learning how to optimize images for the web — and achieve that perfect balance between low file size and high image quality — will go a long ways in designing for the web.HTML Basics
Get to know the basics of HTML, how web pages are structured with markup language. It also helps to know about some of the basic HTML elements such as headlines, lists and paragraphs. A simple understanding of how the web design will be translated into equivalent HTML tags will help web designers take full advantage of the medium.CSS Basics
CSS can do a lot. It gives us leading (aka line height), pixel precision over type size, and more control over layout. What it does not give us is control over widows and orphans, kerning or tracking (letter spacing in CSS never looks good in my opinion). CSS works best when the web designer tries to control it less. It’s the nature of the web that browsers will do what they want with the content on a page. If you don’t like the way the type looks, blame the browser, not the developer, and please don’t try to fix it by forcing line breaks or replacing elements with graphical equivalents.What about web developers? Shouldn’t they also learn web design?

Yeah, but that’s another blog post I’ll have to write another day. Or you could just take this blog post and invert the references to web designers and web developers and there’s your answer ;)

Tags: web design, web development
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Meet The 2600hz Project, The New Sound of Open Source Telephony

I really miss my Bluebox and the days then that would work.  Gotta love the $5 rRdbox from hallmark or the infamous Blotto Box that was no joke at all.  We salute you Captain Crunch!
 
Gigaom - Some of the core developers behind FreePBX — a well-known, open-source phone system — have teamed up and started The 2600hz Project, a commercial entity promoting a collection of open-source telephony applications and libraries. Today, they are releasing blue.box, a reworked version of open source FreePBX. The new venture is co-founded by Darren Schreiber and is also a subsidiary of newly formed VoIP Inc. The 2600hz Project received $250,000 in funding from an unnamed investor.

2600 Hz is the frequency that the phone companies used back in the day and was hacked by those seeking to make free long distance phone calls. In order to do so, one needed a device that generated the 2600 Hz tone, called the blue box. The new venture is an homage to that heritage.

From what I understand, the new company was formed after some disagreements between the FreePBX developers and the original backers of the project. FreePBX is a graphical user interface that sits on top of open-source telephony software such as Asterisk. FreePBX was promoted by Bandwidth.com.

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Skype Introduces 10-Way Video Calling

Skype — apparently pleased with its five-way beta group video-calling functionality — has just released a new version of Skype 5.0 for Windows that doubles group support. It now allows for up to 10 video callers.Skype 5.0 beta two is already available for download; it includes 10-way video calls, automatic call recovery and a cleaner user interface. The update is also said to improve call quality and includes a number of bug fixes to make the overall experience much smoother.

Of course, the standout feature is 10-way video calling, something that certainly one-ups their own previous offering and makes it suitable for even larger virtual team meetings and mini family reunions. Of course, it also makes Gmail’s (Gmail) video-calling functionality look like the ugly step sister — a proactive move on the part of Skype (Skype) to combat recent buzz surrounding Gmail Voice Calling.

Still, Skype does caution that 5.0 is beta, and hence, very buggy. It’s also limited to Windows (Windows) users, and 10-way video calls require all group chatters to be using the same second beta version of the app. Have you tested out five-way video calls? Are you ready to upgrade to the 10-person variety?

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Burning Man's Open Source Cell Phone System Could Help Save the World

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