VoIP Alt's!

Thanks to MyVoIPprovider.com, a list of 250 alternative VoIP providers has been made available to the masses. This might be useful for those of you who will be affected by Verizon's assanine patent suit.

http://www.myvoipprovider.com

Vonage gets a break...

Apparently the Appeal Courts have decided to allow Vonage to continue to sign-up new customers while it attempts to win the patent suit from Verizon. As report earlier, Verizon had won the patent infringement case and the court had ordered Vonage to discontinue the signing up of any new customers until the case was completely resolved.

Although this is GREAT news for Vonage and its current customer base, it will definitely be interesting to see how things pan out from here on. The ultimate result could change the way other VoIP companies do business as well. If Verizon's patents hold up in the appeals court, it would seriously jeopordize the ability of other companies (such as Packet8 or SunRocket) from continue to provide their service of connecting internet based calls to classic land-lines.

Some analysts and VoIP supporters believe Verizon's claims will ultimately fail, but its still too early to tell. Verizon will be the sole owner of USEFUL VoIP technology if they win.

I for one, hope Verizon loses. Winning would hurt the consumer's severely, basically forcing them to 1 provider for home phone service, which is really whoever "owns" their territory. Talk about a monopoly.

HD-DVD and BluRay Players @ $300

And thus the real price war begins. I can finally say that BluRay and HD-DVD players have hit the sub $300 market (well its probably $299.99 but you know how marketing tricks work). With a significantly improved pricing model, more and more people will be buying the high-def players over the next 6 months. But which one will win? Well according to reports, Wal Mart has purchased a player that will sell at $300 in their stores around the country. This player is your typical home entertainment player that will connect directly to the TV. The BluRay player, however, will be an internal drive for your PC.

Seeing as though most people aren't savvy enough to buy the BluRay drive and then hook their PC up to their TV, I'd say that the $300 HD player has the instant advantage. Additionally, the BluRay player is not even available in the United States market yet but its expected very soon. That wont stop people from importing it from China of course :)

I gotta go Wii

Congrats go out to Nintendo today for having the Number 1 console (based on sales) in the United States for the month of March. Wii sales topped 259,000 units, where only 199,000 and 180,000 units were sold for Xbox360 and PS3, respectively.

Its amazing that even though the Wii doesn't have all this high end gadgetry, its still stomping Microsoft and Sony's consoles. Just goes to show you that its not always about the "flash", its also gotta be fun. And while I cant DIRECTLY comment on the fun portion, from friends of mine that own it, they say it is a blast :)

So Kudos to you Nintendo! Now just start releasing some games..

[Source]

The iPod Rumor mill is in full swing

With the Video iPod being on the market for quite a while now, the rumor mill over the 6th generation iPod are already in full effect. CNet has compiled a few of the following "biggest" rumors that we might see in the next gen device:

1 - iTunes subscription service --> This would basically be a "rental" service where customers can, I suppose, download movies (and possibly music) on a purely rental basis. The file will most likely have some type of built in code that allows it to only last 10 days or something like that. Decent idea but somewhat of a pain if you dont have broadband. And even if you do have it, the time to download a full DVD movie may turn some folks off (like me).

2 - Widescreen Vid iPod --> THIS would be cool. The screen on the current gen iPod is beautiful but as those lovable Texans proclaim: Bigger is BETTER!

3 - Wi-Fi enabled Vid iPod --> This would also be an awesome feature. Of course it would take about a month (or most likely less with the amount of hacker types running around) to figure out how to enable full web browsing which is what I'd want. Based upon the rumors, it appears that this wi-fi feature would simply be for browsing the iTunes library and downloading songs wherever and whenever you want.

4 - 100GB iPod --> Not much to say about this except duhhh. As storage space becomes more advanced (more capacity in a smaller unit), its only logical that Apple will grab a hold of it. Toshiba has recently announced its release of a 16GB flash memory chip (yeah 16GB!) which is supposedly slated for inclusion into the next/newest iPod nano.

There are a few other items including access to movie downloads in the UK and flash enabled interfaces but those are a little less exciting IMO.

For additional info, check out the full article at Cnet.com

Verizon Destroys Vonage

For those of you who haven't heard, Verizon sued the internet phone giant Vonage for patent infringement regarding Verizon's technology over connecting internet placed phone calls to typical land line customers (so VoIP customers calling regular old land line customers). The US Court awarded the win to Verizon and Vonage was forced to pay a large sum in damages. On top of that, Verizon ordered Vonage to cease and desist any additional use of its technology, basically putting Vonage at a standstill.

Now, it appears that Vonage is up a creek without a paddle. They cannot find an alternate technology to solve their problem. What does that mean for you current Vonage customers? Well if you haven't already, I'd start looking for a different provider. Based upon a statement from Vonage, they lose about 2.5% of their customers every month which based upon the estimated 2.2 million customers total, is about 650,000 every year. Not good at all.

As quoted from the article:

Even if Vonage "was somehow able to implement a design around, and was able to ultimately prevail on appeal, it would have no hope of regaining its lost customers, or its lost goodwill, and its loss of revenue would be permanent and …"

The rest of the sentence was apparently removed due to "confidential materials".

[Source]

Apple TV unlocked

I was reading a little article this morning in USA Today about the Apple TV and how its already been hacked to perform much more than originally advertised. As most of us know, the Apple TV is supposed to provide a link between all your digital media stored on your PC/Mac to your fancy High-Def TV, including pictures, movies, and audio. As with all new fancy products, hackers have already ripped it apart and found some nifty new features.

1 - First off, people complained about the lack of storage space. The Apple TV comes with 40GB of space by default. However, just like the original Tivo, people want more. Apparently all you need is a bigger hard-drive (unknown whether it is SATA or IDE) and the proper software update to the drive and you're ready to go.

2 - The Apple TV at its core still has all the components of a typical fully functioning computer but it runs a stripped down version of Apple's OSX. Essentially the same hardware as a laptop (all very integrated components), hackers figured they could get a fully functioning computer for the measly price of $299 (considering Apple's cheapest Mac Mini is $599, this is a good deal). Of course, they were successful. So now it appears that with a little know-how and some time, you can buy you're very own Mac computer for $299 :)

Other features people have worked on is creating a Tivo like box simply by adding a software add-on or two to the Apple TV.

Wondering how you can get all the info on how to do these mods? Well I'd check out the following sites for the necessary info:

Appletvhacks.net
Twenty 08 Blog

Please remember that this will obviously VOID any warranty that Apple provides. However, based upon the low risk of some of the modifications, I'd guess even the most basic techy person would be able to do it.

With that, have fun modding!

[Source]

Nokia E61i shipping...

While perusing through E-Series.org I was extremely excited to hear that the Nokia E61i, the next big "business" phone from Nokia, started shipping in Europe. While I cant necessarily get my hands on one just yet, it shows that within a few months (*crosses fingers*) the E61i will most likely be available here in the US. For those of you who are fans of the device this will surely be a decent upgrade. It comes with updated hardware that reportedly makes the UI a little bit quicker. It also has a slightly different keyboard configuration as well as the highlight: a 2MP Digi-cam on the backside of the device. It also has the standard 3G network support as well as a Wifi adapter built in when youre looking to not spend so much on a cell internet connection.

Check out more of the features at the European launch site.

You can also sign up to be alerted via email of when the USA version of the E61i is released at this site

Shame on you Verizon

Well apparently there is some FINE writing within the Verizon EVDO connection limitations that most people are unaware of. Basically what it says is that the internet service that it is providing through its cell network is severely limited...meaning you can basically only check websites and send/receive emails. According to CyberNetNews, the author of the article had found that people were having their accounts terminated, thats right terminated, for going over the 5GB bandwidth cap per month. When complaining about it back to Verizon, they pointed out that although the plan is advertised as "unlimited" it is still capped at 5GB. The EVDO policy further describes how they came to this magical number, which in my mind is ridiculous.

It makes sense that Verizon wants to cap their internet usage on their cell network. Its probably very demanding on resources and if people are abusing it, the majority of those simply using the phone side of the network could get crappier service. But come on...advertising as unlimited is somewhat ridiculous.

Cingular Im almost certain has something similar. Im in no mood to seriously consider searching through their bible-sized policies for such a limitation but suffice to say if one company has it then most others do as well.

Click here for more...

New Google Mobile Search Site

Google has updated yet another one of their services. This time it is the mobile version of their search page. Updates include a simpler interface, new result page layouts, location awareness, quick links to build a mobile customized homepage and easy access to Gmail mobile.

Simply point your mobile browser to http://www.google.com/m

Nokia PC Suite now for Vista

A new version of PC Suite has been released! The main update it seems is the support for Windows Vista enabled machines. As indicated on Nokia's site, here are the updates for v6.83:

Latest update: Version 6.83
--> New version of Nokia Content Copier lets you select the content types you want to -back up and restore
--> Notification when new phone software (firmware) updates are available
--> Support for Windows Vista added
--> Released 04 April, 2007

You can download the newest version HERE

Biofuels not the Answer?

I'll admit when I first learned of Biofuels (E85/ethanol) I was pretty excited. Being quite the car enthusiast, I thought it a great idea that with E85 cars could easily produce less greenhouse gases while still maintain very decent power output and gas mileage.

However, recent stories throughout the net have been published and backed by various economists stating that Biofuels are not going to be the answer. Their arguments are sound but Im stuck in the middle at this point.

Basically it appears that because the agriculture industry would be in such high demand by the oil companies, lower income areas and other livestock farmers who rely on access to cheap agriculture -- corn for example -- will have to suddenly pay higher prices. This will then effect the price of livestock (chickens, beef, etc) and cause lower income areas to be forced to seek alternatives.

An excerpt from an article in the British "Guardian Unlimited":

"Since the beginning of last year, the price of maize has doubled. The price of wheat has also reached a 10-year high, while global stockpiles of both grains have reached 25-year lows. Already there have been food riots in Mexico and reports that the poor are feeling the strain all over the world. The US department of agriculture warns that "if we have a drought or a very poor harvest, we could see the sort of volatility we saw in the 1970s, and if it does not happen this year, we are also forecasting lower stockpiles next year". According to the UN food and agriculture organisation, the main reason is the demand for ethanol: the alcohol used for motor fuel, which can be made from maize and wheat."

You can read the full article here

360 Elite

Well it appears Microsoft is preparing to release a suped up version of its hit Xbox 360 console, appropriately dubbed the "Xbox 360 Elite."

The basics (according to Engadget.com) are as follows:

- The Elite will be limited quantities only; that may be as much or as little as a couple hundred thousand.
- The case, controller, and Live headset will all be black. It will have all new packaging.
- Elite will cost $479, and will be a 3rd SKU; it will be sold alongside Premium and Core packs.
- Eventually Elite hardware (in white plastics) will take the role of the Xbox Premium. That is to say, after the Elite is launched and sold out, future Xbox Premiums will have 120GB / HDMI.
- We do not yet know exactly when 120GB / HDMI will become the standard for Premium, but it is loosely estimated to be late summer or fall.
- Elite models run cooler than normal 360s, but they are not yet confirmed to have 65nm chips.
- Prices may remain the same with the 120GB / HDMI hardware upgrade in the Premium Xbox, but we may still see a price cut on the line when 65nm chips start shipping.
- The HD DVD drive will not be internal or bundled -- Microsoft never did or nor does not currently have plans to put an HD DVD drive in the 360.
- There are no current plans to integrate WiFi into the Elite or future Premiums (although that can always change).