VOIP

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.

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.

 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."

Intel’s announcement regarding its support on the WiMAX technology became very popular as the company’s decision affected the concerns of many people. According to the Taipei Times (one of the leading newspapers in Taiwan), a government official said that the authorities are trying to look at the possible consequences that the Intel move will have on both local WiMAX equipment producers and on its own scheme on LTE, which were already quite obvious.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has called off its closed-door meetings with various tech companies after they failed to reach common ground on net neutrality. "We have called off this round of stakeholder discussions. It has been productive on several fronts, but has not generated a robust framework to preserve the openness and freedom of the Internet – one that drives innovation, investment, free speech, and consumer choice," Edward Lazarus, the FCC's chief of staff, said in a statement. "All options remain on the table as we continue to seek broad input on this vital issue."

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.

he Asterisk Development Team has announced the release of Asterisk PBX 1.6.2.10.  This release is available for immediate download at
http://downloads.asterisk.org/pub/telephony/asterisk/

The release of Asterisk 1.6.2.10 resolves several issues reported by the community and would have not been possible without your participation.

The following are a few of the issues resolved by community developers:

 * Allow users to specify a port for DUNDI peers.
   (Closes issue #17056. Reported, patched by klaus3000)

 * Decrease the module ref count in sip_hangup when SIP_DEFER_BYE_ON_TRANSFER is
   set.
   (Closes issue #16815. Reported, patched by rain)

 * If there is realtime configuration, it does not get re-read on reload unless
   the config file also changes.
   (Closes issue #16982. Reported, patched by dmitri)

 * Send AgentComplete manager event for attended transfers.
   (Closes issue #16819. Reported, patched by elbriga)

 * Correct manager variable 'EventList' case.
   (Closes issue #17520. Reported, patched by kobaz)

In addition, changes to res_timing_pthread that should make it more stable have
also been implemented.

For a full list of changes in the current release, please see the
ChangeLog:

http://downloads.asterisk.org/pub/telephony/asterisk/ChangeLog-1.6.2.10

Thank you for your continued support of Asterisk!

The Asterisk Development Team has announced the release of Asterisk 1.4.34. This release is available for immediate download at
http://downloads.asterisk.org/pub/telephony/asterisk/

The release of Asterisk 1.4.34 resolves several issues reported by the community and would have not been possible without your participation.  Thank you!

The following are a few of the issues resolved by community developers:

 * Allow users to specify a port for DUNDi peers.
   (Closes issue #17056. Reported, patched by klaus3000)

 * Decrease the module ref count in sip_hangup when SIP_DEFER_BYE_ON_TRANSFER is
   set.
   (Closes issue #16815. Reported, patched by rain)

 * First caller into a dynamic conference new enters the pin once.
   (Closes issue #15878. Reported, patched by pabelanger)

 * Send AgentComplete manager events in the event of blind and attended
   transfers.
   (Closes issue #16819. Reported, patched by elbriga)

For a full list of changes in the current release, please see the
ChangeLog:

http://downloads.asterisk.org/pub/telephony/asterisk/ChangeLog-1.4.34

Thank you for your continued support of Asterisk!

 

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.

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.

The telecommunications industry has been touting videoconferencing technology since at least 1964, when AT&T displayed its Picturephone at the New York World's Fair. In fact, the concept of the videophone is nearly as old as the phone itself, and prototypes predate the Beatles by many decades.  Given its long history, one might have expected that the public would have latched onto the technology, but that just hasn't been the case. While new modes of communication, from email to texting, instant messaging and wireless phones have been adopted at astonishing rates, video communications have lagged -- at least until now.

The Asterisk Development Team has announced the release of version 1.4.11.3 of libpri. This release is available for immediate download at:
http://downloads.asterisk.org/pub/telephony/libpri/

This release fixes a regression in the calling number assignment logic:

 * Calling Number assignment logic change in libpri 1.4.11. Restored the old behaviour if there is more than one calling number in the incoming SETUP message.  A network provided number is reported as ANI.
   (Closes issue #17495. Reported and tested by ibercom. Patched by rmudgett)

For a full list of changes in the current release, please see the ChangeLog:

http://downloads.asterisk.org/pub/telephony/libpri/releases/ChangeLog-1.4.11.3

Thank you for your continued support of Asterisk!

The Asterisk Development Team has announced the release of Asterisk 1.4.33.1.  This release is available for immediate download at:

http://downloads.asterisk.org/pub/telephony/asterisk/

The release of Asterisk 1.4.33.1 resolves a regression involving the use of FXO signaling in chan_dahdi where a channel could continue ringing after it has been answered.

For a full list of changes in the current release, please see the ChangeLog:

http://downloads.asterisk.org/pub/telephony/asterisk/ChangeLog-1.4.33.1

Thank you for your continued support of Asterisk!

  EB, Elektrobit Corporation, a developer of cutting-edge embedded technology solutions for automotive and wireless industries, today announced two new VoIP phones to its EB Tough VoIP(TM) product portfolio with EB Tough VoIP Field Phone and EB Tough VoIP Desktop Phone. Introduced today at EuroSatory 2010 in Paris, these rugged products increase the ability of militaries to communicate and bring broadband data connectivity to the field, vehicles and command posts.

  Elektrobit has announced that its EB Tough VoIP system has been delivered to the Finnish Army, who will commence a series of field trials on the system during 2010 to evaluate its performance in varying military scenarios.

EB Tough VoIP will operate under demanding environmental conditions for the Army branch of the Finnish Defence Forces. It will work with the Finnish Army on various testing phases throughout this year “in order to ensure proper usage and meet system requirements.”

The Asterisk Development Team has announced the release of Asterisk PBX 1.6.2.8.  This release is available for immediate download at:

http://downloads.asterisk.org/pub/telephony/asterisk/

The release of Asterisk 1.6.2.8 resolves several issues reported by the community, and would have not been possible without your participation.

The following are a few of the issues resolved by community developers:

  * Enable auto complete for CLI command 'logger set level'.
    (Closes issue #17152. Reported, patched by pabelanger)

  * Make the mixmonitor thread process audio frames faster.
    (Closes issue #17078. Reported, tested by geoff2010. Patched by dhubbard)

  * Add missing 'useragent' field to sip-friends.sql file.
    (Closes issue #17171. Reported, patched by thehar)

  * Add example dialplan for dialing ISN numbers (http://www.freenum.org)
    (Closes issue #17058. Reported, patched by pprindeville)

  * Fix issue with double "sip:" in header field.
    (Closes issue #15847. Reported, patched by ebroad)

  * Add ability to generate ASCII documentation from the TeX files by running
    'make asterisk.txt'.
    (Closes issue #17220. Reported by lmadsen. Tested, patched by pabelanger)

  * When StopMonitor() is called, ensure that it will not be restarted by a
    channel event.
    (Closes issue #16590. Reported, patched by kkm)

  * Small error in the T.140 RTP port verbose log.
    (Closes issue #16998. Reported, patched by frawd. Tested by russell)

For a full list of changes in the current release, please see the
ChangeLog:

http://downloads.asterisk.org/pub/telephony/asterisk/ChangeLog-1.6.2.8

Thank you for your continued support of Asterisk!

--

Snom technology AG, a leading developer and manufacturer of advanced voice over IP phones for enterprise and residential markets, announced today the launch of the snom 821, a new desktop Internet protocol (IP) phone with all the advanced functionality and interoperability of other snom 8xx series phones, as well as a new integrated gigabit switch.  In addition to the technological advancements to the phone, the snom 821 also comes in both light and dark colors, just like its big brother the snom 870. The snom 821 is expected to be fully available in the U.S. by the end of the second quarter.

First and foremost, there is no "iPhone 4G." This is a misnomer created by people who don't know what's what. Whatever Apple decides to call the next version of the iPhone, it most likely won't be the 4G -- for several reasons. The iPhone 3G was called the 3G because it added 3G to what was previously a 2.5G device. T he likelihood of Apple adding a 4G radio to support 4G networks that aren't even available yet is slim to none. And while the 2010 iPhone will be the fourth version of the iPhone, I believe Apple is smart enough to avoid the 4G label. So what, then, is 4G?

Fresh off its sale by eBay to a private equity firm, Skype is making big plans for the business market. The provider of Internet communications services – mostly over personal computers for non-business purposes – is looking to make serious inroads in the business space, starting with an offering of corporate subscription packages this fall.  The packages will include tools for IT managers to incorporate Skype into their existing telecommunications and IT infrastructure and a line of Skype-enabled televisions, which the company hopes corporate customers will use in their conference rooms.

It's not just Google who has taken the leap into consumer appliances. Just the day after the search company launched the Google TV, Cisco has announced trials of a consumer version of its TelePresence videoconferencing system according to a Reuters report. The company has also announced that TV channel ESPN will be using Telepresence to transmit World Cup football from South Africa.

In January, the company announced that it would be running trials of a home Telepresence system with Verizon in the US and, later in the year, France Telecom.