Jun 11
junctionUncategorized mobile VoIP, VoIP
With newer multitasking mobile devices comes VoIP applications which aim to replace carrier minutes as the preferred calling method of choice. There’s actually a pretty good argument to be made here about the viability of VoIP on mobile devices. In Europe, mobile VoIP solutions save people tons of money because lots of people make international calls there; rather than paying an inflated international calling toll, they use VoIP and get to save a pretty big chunk of change.
In the US where there isn’t as much international calling going, mobile VoIP isn’t nearly as attractive, at least not right now. The way I look at it, VoIP gets better and better as more people sign on. More people get SIP addresses, which many providers will allow you to call for free, and in a perfect world where everyone is using a standards based SIP service, all calls would be free.
Think of it like a well known carrier that gives free calls to everyone on the same network, but instead of a network, its the network of every standards based SIP provider.
There’s been talk about how mobile VoIP won’t be a game changer, and the current reigning mobile carriers are likely to blame for this. As they lose more and more revenue from their calling plans, they are likely to dial up data usage costs, which would mean that users pay the same amount anyway.
Business is business, and someone always needs to get paid. In all likelihood, the price of mobile calling will remain about the same, it’s just the way that calls are made that may change.
May 19
junctionUncategorized
That is, if you’re Microsoft. Luckily for the tech Giant, they own some ridiculously broad and generic patents that make any rational person ask the question, “How the hell was this patented?”
Microsoft is trying to sue the hell out of Salesforce, a company that is beating them out in CRM, by claiming that 9 patents were infringed. Each of these patents are so generic that Microsoft could theoretically also sue thousands of other companies specializing in web-based services. One of these patents is a patent on expanding menus which display more links in a web page. Chances are that your personal website even has something like this.
Frankly, the system’s broken. Software patents on technologies that were innovative years ago are so common sense nowadays that suing for infringements on something so seemingly trivial seems .. unfair. In a lot of ways, it is. Patents are there to drive innovation, to incentivize new ideas. But when you theoretically restrict access to what are now basic technologies, how the heck can you expect new and amazing products and services?
What’s to stop Microsoft from bringing down the hammer on any other of their competitors, once they see a threat? What is there to protect the small tech startup?
It sucks that the system allows for this type of corporate greed to take place. Shame on you Microsoft. If you want to beat Salesforce, develop a better product or buy them out without trying to fuck up their shit with this shady business.
Apr 20
junctionUncategorized
The recent incident between Gizmodo and Apple is causing quite a stir. If you haven’t heard already, Gizmodo announced yesterday that they had gotten their hands on the new iPhone to be released this summer. It was apparently found in a bar disguised a regular old iPhone 3GS. The person who found it tried to return it to Apple, but was later paid off by Gizmodo (somewhere in the neighborhood of $5000). What resulted will probably be the most widely talked about tech story this week.
However, Matthew Miller from ZDnet raises a good point that the phone, which has since been returned to Apple, might not be anywhere close to what the real new iPhone will be like. Matthew says in his short article, ‘Was Gizmodo Punk’d by Apple’ that photos of the same iPhone were released months ago in February. The only difference was that nobody seemed to care then.
In the end, however, it looks like everyone involved is getting something from this whole experience. Apple is getting another story about its new iPhone under circumstances that make it an instant in terms of publicity. There’s no doubt that these new mobile phones will be flying off the shelves. At the same time, this steals a little bit of the limelight from the HTC Droid Incredible. Gizmodo is also getting a healthy dose of publicity, and the person who found the phone is walking away with money in the bank.
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