General discussions

Wideband Audio Codecs Gaining Steam

Matthew Nickasch — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 11:23:32 -0500

Wideband audio codecs have become nearly standardized in the IP communications field in the last few years. With the "more for less" quality vs. bandwidth needs, high-definition and low-bandwidth codecs are in high demand. Garrett Smith, on his blog, "Smith on VoIP", posted an interesting interview with Polycom Co-Founder, Jeff Rodman. In this interview, Rodman discusses the importance of high-definition codec development, and also outlines Polycom's HD Voice strategy.

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Telemarketing poppycock elimination laws take effect today

Layer 8 — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 11:03:37 -0500

New tools to battle the ever-present telemarketing drivel take effect today. The main weapon is the requirement that telemarketers must now include a prerecorded message that offers a quick and easy way to opt-out of receiving future calls. The opt-out must work for consumers who answer these calls in person and for those whose answering machines or voicemail services receive the calls, the Federal trade Commission stated.

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Google Earth as terrorist tool?

Google Subnet — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 10:10:38 -0500

Computerworld reports that the terrorists who attacked Mumbai last week used Google Earth to learn their way around. They also used other technologies, such as satellite phones and GPS systems. The story infers that by making high-tech tools like Google Earth easy to use and Internet-accessible, Google is somehow aiding terrorists.

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Microsoft: Vista Saves World One Car At A Time

Mitchell Ashley — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 16:40:49 -0500

Did you know that by converting from Windows XP to Windows Vista, you are helping the environment? I didn't either but Jan Meuhlfeit, Microsoft's European Chairman, says it's so. (So it must be, right? lol) Apparently the power saving features in Vista can add up to some environmental savings.

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NASA blasts iTunes with free podcasts

Layer 8 — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 14:07:27 -0500

NASA today said it would pump up the volume on its latest space exploration technology by dumping a pile of free podcasts on Apple's immensely popular iTunes site.

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Just How Dead Is OneCare, Really?

Mitchell Ashley — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 01:55:12 -0500

Okay, I’ve read all the news stories about how Microsoft is backing out of the retail Anti-Virus market by sending Windows Live OneCare packing and putting the free malware program Morro in its place. I don’t believe it’s really all that simple. How many times does Microsoft drop a product just a few years into its introduction? Almost never. On the contrairy. Microsoft is famous for its tenatious approach to slogging it out for 2, 3 or 4 versions of a product until they get it right. So why suddenly drop OneCare?

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Google laying off 10,000 ... or is it?

Google Subnet — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 09:46:28 -0500

Reports have been flying about the Web that Google is set to lay off 10,000 workers. The news stemmed from a WebGuild Silicon Valley report that "since August, hundreds of employees have been laid off," about 500 of them recruiters. But there's more to the story than that.

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Resources for Incident Handling

Matthew Nickasch — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 07:59:24 -0500

Security incident handling, after many years of exposure, is still one of those 'sticky' subjects that can get any organization in a lot of trouble. Other than phreaking and other switch or voicemail-related mischief, the rather isolated telecommunications networks of yesterday aren't nearly as susceptible to the coordinated attacks that plague servers, routers, and UC and IP-PBX platforms these days.

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Upgrade Woes for iPhones... Again

Mitchell Ashley — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 02:09:33 -0500

Apple and business users. Are we there yet? Is Apple really ready for the enterprise? Nagging doubts won’t go away as long as Apple struggles with reliably delivering software, upgrades and enterprise features.

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It's not a successful launch unless the order system gets hurt

Mitchell Ashley — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 03:04:18 -0500

Well, it looks like the Blackberry Storm's debut on Friday was a hit. The Blackberry cult is still alive and well, with thousands of Crackberry users showing up to upgrade their CBs and new recruits ready to join the throngs of The Berry. But a disturbing trend has emerged; crashing the order system. Reports are that Verizon offices and online Storm purchasers were stopped in their tracks by an overloaded back office ordering system. Did Verizon not anticipate the iPhone-like frenzied demand?

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IBM supercomputers greenest, fastest

Layer 8 — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 22:11:31 -0500

It's hard to imagine some of the world's most massive, powerful supercomputers can be classified as energy efficient or green. But researchers have done an impressive job of squeezing serious power out of some major systems. And according to the Green500.org group, Big Blue it seems can be called Big Green as IBM's systems nailed down the top 20 most energy efficient supercomputers in the world.

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Busting IT Myths - Redibusters Supersized (Series #1)

ronaldxbartels — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 00:15:19 -0500

In the age of bulk convenience and instant gratification here is the first supersized series of Redibusters. The Redibuster methodology is a way to gauge opinion about common IT myths.

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Getting to the why behind Google's SearchWiki

Google Subnet — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 13:41:35 -0500

When Google launched SearchWiki, a new tool that lets users edit and mark up their Google search results, the company said its aim was to let users tailor their search results for their own specific needs, making the results more useful in the long run. But as with everything Google, there's another side to the story.

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Brewing up a Green Revolution: Biofuel for the Masses

Green Your Network — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 09:51:04 -0500

Whether a paragon of the overexuberant eco-chic or a bright ray of hope in a failing economy, Amyris stands out from the pack for the sheer ambition and scale of its plan for biofuel production.

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Storm Rumbles Across iPhone Plains

Mitchell Ashley — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 08:01:19 -0500

Well, the Blackberry Storm is finally here. I've had a chance to use both and here's my honest assessment of the Blackberry Storm compared with the iPhone. I know, you're probably wondering how I know what an iPhone is like after all the ranting I've done about Apple and it's black box iPhone and socialistic company behaviors towards end users. Well, I actually have both a Blackberry Storm and an iPhone.

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Simple Ways To Improve Website Performance For Google

Jon Rognerud — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 01:01:12 -0500

What are the ways to improve my website performance? And, especially for Google? This is a very common question, and I get questions about it all the time. I also test search strategies continually to provide the best solutions and answers for myself. Since there was a recent announcement from Google regarding SEO (search engine optimization) and how to best use a White-Hat approach to tuning your website for search engines, I wanted to provide that and other information that you can put to use immediately.

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Predictions for the next few months, Riverbed and Nortel get purchased plus more

Larry Chaffin — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 22:38:04 -0500

Predictions for the next few months, Riverbed and Nortel get purchased plus more

Yes, I said it and this is what I am thinking. Juniper is looking at Nortel as a buy, buy, buy (as Kramer would put it) to compete with Cisco in voice and unified communications. Also they would get the optical unit at Nortel which would just get under the skin of the Cisco people. But there could be another company who might buy Nortel, remember that Nortel does allot of carrier class switching. This could be a great time for AT&T to buy a vendor or even Qwest.

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Wal-Mart blows into wind power in a big way

Layer 8 — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 12:16:20 -0500

Wal-Mart today said it will power up to 15% of its massive stores in Texas and other locations with 226 million kilowatt-hours (kWh) of wind power. The power will come from wind farm being built by Duke Energy in Notrees, Texas. The site is expected to be producing electricity by April, 2009.

Duke said the Notrees project includes 55 Vestas turbines that operate 1.65 MWs each.

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5 reasons why Google put voice search on the iPhone first

Mitchell Ashley — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 00:34:29 -0500

Google has announced a new search capability for iPhones, the ability to search by speaking your search term into the iPhone. Google shoots the recording of your voice up into the cloud, translates it to text and returns the search results. But wait, there's more. The new Google iPhone search app utilizes the iPhone's accelerometer to detect when the iPhone has been moved up to the user's ear, then it begins listening for the search term. The search results are then returned to the iPhone in the standard Google search-results format.

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Fence-sitting on new Star Trek movie (new trailer)

Keith Shaw — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 20:55:30 -0500

I have mixed feelings about whether I'm going to go see the new Star Trek movie (May 2009), directed by Lost's J.J. Abrams. On the one hand, I'm a Star Trek fan, and I've seen all of the other Star Trek movies (even Nemesis, brrrrrr). So trekking to this one would seem like a normal thing to do. On the other hand, I've always been annoyed at "prequels" and other attempts at "rewriting" a show's (or comic book's, for that matter) history or "canon". That's one reason I never watched the "Enterprise" TV show (the one with Scott Bakula), because I like it when a series franchise moves forward, rather than looking back. So the storyline in the new movie, in which we get to meet Kirk, Spock, etc., as they meet each other, doesn't really appeal to me. But then again, the action scenes look pretty cool. I'm still on the fence, what do you other Trek fans think?

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