Developages - Development and Technology Blog

ErikTheRed writes “In an audio clip discovered by NewsBusters, then-Deputy Attorney General Eric Holder advocated federal censorship of the Internet. This was in the aftermath of the Columbine High School shootings. From the clip: ‘The court has really struck down every government effort to try to regulate it. We tried with regard to pornography. It is gonna be a difficult thing, but it seems to me that if we can come up with reasonable restrictions, reasonable regulations in how people interact on the Internet, that is something that the Supreme Court and the courts ought to favorably look at.’” Holder is reported to be Barack Obama’s choice for Attorney General of the United States.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Original post by timothy

CSMatt points with this excerpt from the EFF’s page: “Last week, the RIAA celebrated the signing of a ridiculous new law in Tennessee that says: “Each public and private institution of higher education in the state that has student residential computer networks shall: […] [R]easonably attempt to prevent the infringement of copyrighted works over the institution’s computer and network resources, if such institution receives fifty (50) or more legally valid notices of infringement as prescribed by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 within the preceding year.” While the entertainment industry failed to get “hard” requirements for universities in the Higher Education Act passed by Congress earlier this year, the RIAA succeeded in Tennessee (and is pushing in other states) with this provision that gives Big Content the ability to hold universities hostage through the use of infringement notices. Moreover, the new rules will cost Tennessee a pretty penny — in the cost review attached to the Tennessee bill, the state’s Fiscal Review Committee estimates that the new obligations will initially cost the state a whopping $9.5 million for software, hardware, and personnel, with recurring annual costs of more than $1.5 million for personnel and maintenance.”

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Original post by timothy

An anonymous reader writes “TorrentFreak reports that Toyota’s lawyers have recently contacted computer wallpaper site Desktop Nexus in a blatant example of DMCA abuse. Toyota issued a blanket request to demand the immediate removal of all member-uploaded wallpapers featuring a Toyota, Lexus, or Scion vehicle (citing copyright violation), regardless of whether Toyota legally holds the copyright to the photos or not. When site owner Harry Maugans requested clarification on exactly which wallpapers were copyrighted by Toyota, he was told that for them to cite specifics (in order to file proper DMCA Takedown Notices), they would invoice Desktop Nexus for their labor.”

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Original post by Soulskill

Stephan Schulz writes “A German Member of parliament for a left-wing party, Lutz Heilmann, has obtained a preliminary injunction against the local chapter of the Wikimedia foundation, Wikimedia Deutschland e.V., forbidding the forwarding of the popular http://wikipedia.de to the proper http://de.wikipedia.org. Apparently Heilmann is not happy with the fact that his Wikipedia article (English version) contains information on his work for the former GDR Stasi, the much-hated internal secret service. Wikimedia Germany displays a page explaining the situation, and has announced that it will file an objection to get the injunction lifted. The German Wikipedia has more than 800,000 pages, and is hosted, like all Wikimedia projects, by the Florida-based Wikimedia Foundation, and hence beyond the effective reach of at least German politicians and judges.”

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Original post by kdawson

Registration to the upcoming Digium|Asterisk World conference is now open, according to an announcement today from Technology Marketing Corporation (TMC) and Digium, the open source Asterisk Company. So you early bird types can now register and add it to your Calendar now, lest you forget. TMC and Digium also announced the launch of the new event Web site at www.digiumasteriskworld.com.
 
Digium|Asterisk World is collocated with TMC’s INTERNET TELEPHONY Conference &amp EXPO East 2009 and is a 3-day event commencing on February 2, 2009 in Miami, Florida.
 
According to TMCnet reporter Michelle Robart: Entering its third year, Digium|Asterisk World is the conference that educates business users, resellers and executive decision-makers on “Everything Asterisk.”

Michelle also gives more interesting details about Digium|Asterisk World:
 

The conference will feature booth exhibition space and a Presentation Theatre on the EXPO floor where attendees can learn more about Digium’s open source communications solutions. In addition, TMC and Digium will join forces to create the conference track agenda, which will be revealed in the upcoming weeks.
 
ITEXPO East 2009 is the world’s largest and most significant communications technology event. It features more than 200 companies exhibiting on the EXPO floor and hundreds of sessions led by the industry’s most well-known thought leaders. The show provides a forum for assessing the latest products and services and offers numerous opportunities for face-to-face networking that service providers, carriers, resellers, distributors, equipment manufacturers and IT executives from enterprise and SMB companies need to create new business relationships.

Tags: asterisk, digium, Digium|Asterisk World, open source, tmc, voip

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Original post by nafiz

Filed under: Peripherals

It’s been almost exactly a year since Razer introduced its Lycosa gaming keyboard and it looks like the company’s decided to celebrate by rolling out a new, slightly updated model. From the looks of it, the Lycosa Mirror (pictured above) is identical in most respects to its predecessor, with the exception of of a new high-gloss mirror finish on the keys (as opposed to rubber), and some “enhanced backlighting.” Those looking to head in the opposite direction can also now opt for Razer’s new Arctosa keyboard (check it after the break), which does away with the backlighting and non-slip rubber finish altogether but hangs on to the usual programmable macro and media keys. You can look for it to be available in both silver on black and black on black versions for $50 next month, while the Lycosa Mirror will set you back $80 when it lands in December.

Continue reading Razer rolls out Lycosa Mirror, Arctosa gaming keyboards

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Original post by Donald Melanson

Filed under: Peripherals

We′ve seen a boatload of wireless keyboards shuffle past, but we′ve gotta hand it to you Brando, the itty bitty factor joined with an array of useful features reminds us your heart is in the right place. The USB 2.4Ghz RF Wireless Multimedia Tiny Keyboard is around half the size of an ordinary keyboard and features a 33-foot range, 1000dpi trackball and media player hot keys. This tight little number can be had for $48 — throw in an ice cream cone and we′re sold.

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Original post by Stephanie Patterson

Filed under: Peripherals

Oh Brando, what will you think of next? On second thought, we’re just going to do our best to soak up the awesomeness that’s beaming from your latest concoction, the Super Tiny Keyboard. This palm-sized (or so they say) input peripheral measures in at just 6.7- x 2.8- x 0.6-inches and features a mini-USB port and a retractable cable. We’d expect this would only be good for typing emergencies, but for $25, it might not be a bad backup to have around.

[Via OhGizmo]

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Original post by Darren Murph

First, T-Mobile CEO Robert Dotson discloses that over 30% of T-Mobile phones in NY are unlocked. Strangely, he also declares that this isn’t a good thing:

“If you look at just unfettered access in an open world, all of us would probably agree you have a pretty poor experience at the end of the day,” he said. “you realize that [technology] is most productive when it happens in an environment that has some stewardship and control in it.”

Whut? Isn’t that basically saying you don’t approve of what a large number of your customers are doing? It’s so easy to dismiss this statement as a knee-jerk reaction to profit-hostile open usage, but this could also be a troubling sign.

This may be an exaggeration—or a quote taken way out of context—but if you have a CEO openly admitting he doesn’t approve of unlocked phones, is that representative of the entire service provider industry in the US? Dotson may really believe that cellular usage free from lock-ins may lead to a worse customer experience—for reasons that are not immediately clear.

Worse, could this be some crazy talk generated by the apparent high-profile success of the iPhone? We all know how hard AT&T and Apple work to keep the phone locked onto one network. It seems that the “we are not amused” outlook towards contract-free setups is expanding beyond the iPhone.

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Original post by Rico

Filed under: Laptops, Peripherals, Wireless

Lookin’ a USB docking station for your VAIO (or other machine)? Look no further than the VAIO-branded VGP-UPR1, which is compatible with a whole alphabet worth of Sony’s laptops. The unit boasts a VGA / DVI port, four USB sockets, an Ethernet jack and headphone / microphone connectors; furthermore, it supports resolutions up to 1,600 x 1,200, and of course, DisplayLink’s USB graphics technology. Not too terribly painful at $199.99, and it’s out now for folks in the US, EU and Japan.

[Via CNET]

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Original post by Darren Murph

Saw this news on http://www.freeworlddialup.com/ stating that Free World Dialup, often referred to as FWD is now no longer “free” but now has a $30 annual “fee”. Well, at least they get to keep the FWD acronym since both have the letter ‘f’, but the domain name is no longer accurate.

Anyway, FWD was one of the first free SIP-to-SIP calling services using their SIP registrar (fwd.pulver.com:5060). It seems to me that FWD has had its loyal but small fanbase, but honestly I think it’s outlived its usefulness. I can setup a FREE account here on FreeCall.com and not only get SIP-to-SIP calls for free, I can also get free calls to many PSTN destinations around the world! FreeCall.com is a relative unknown in the VoIP world, but their service is something I’ve been meaning to blog about. Well, I guess I just did.

Point being, who is going to continue with the FWD service if they switch from “free” to “fee”? My guess is that the vast majority of FWD users are technically savvy folks that know how to configure SIP settings and signed up because they were looking for free SIP-to-SIP calling. So converting them to paying customers isn′t going to happen. They will look elsewhere for free SIP services. FreeCall.com just being one example.

According to their website, ”Look for changes to FWD in the coming months. We started an effort to spin FWD off as a standalone enterprise after 12 years of incubation within pulver.com. You will find increased emphasis on hardware IP phones. Softphones and interconnecting with the PSTN represent mere half measures. The full potential of VoIP arrives when we have 4 billion IP phones in circulation.

Also check out this announcement on voip-info.org.

Fee Announcement from Free World Dialup

Dear FWD’er:

Free World Dialup is implementing a $30 USD annual membership fee during the month of August after 12 years as a free service.

A startup taking over a decade to reach conviction about a business model likely sets a record, but we believe $30 USD per year is the magic number. It is 10% of the cost for Vonage’s unlimited usage plan. FWD provided the inspiration for the founding of Vonage in 2001, and Vonage’s hybrid Internet-PSTN offer now generates nearly $1 billion in annual revenue. FWD’s voluntary paid membership experiment last summer demonstrated the demand for a complete break from telephone network. FWD’s future as a Communication ISP will include only those services that do not have a per minute charge. Rather than competing directly with the telco’s or even Vonage, the mission of a Communication ISP is creating new opportunities and modes of communication. FWD will relaunch the website during August to focus on services, applications, and content available to people with VoIP SIP devices connected directly to the Internet.

See FWD CEO, Daniel Berninger’s Communication ISP Manifesto.

If you wish to retain SIP registration and support FWD, please click through the paid membership banner at the top of the home page which links to the Acteva registration service.

Make sure you use the email associated with your FWD account (the one on which this message arrived.)

If you lost your FWD account info, you can use the password retrieval process or simply create a new account.

The first 1000 paid members get “founder” status, but FWD will retain existing free accounts through August 31, 2008. The new paid membership requirement allows for associating any number of accounts with the email address used for payment, so you can keep the free ride alive by finding a friend with paid membership.

I hope you will join in transforming FWD’s nearly one million free accounts into paid memberships as we work to make the Communication ISP the next big thing in VoIP.

Best regards,

Jeff

According to their website, FWD will soon be offering FWDout which will allow users to call out to regular phones with their FWD service for a monthly fee. FWD will also soon be offering a seperate FWDin service which allows users to buy a regular phone number and connect it with their FWD service, so that people can call from their regular phones to an IP phone.

So what are your thoughts? Does FWD have a prayer as a pay-based model? Or have free SIP-to-SIP services plus the plethora of inexpensive SIP-to-PSTN services (Vonage, Packet8, BroadVoice) — not to mention Skype — make FWD pointless? Of course, magicJack charges $20/year for unlimited calling and is quite successful, so maybe Jeff Pulver is onto something here. Though it looks like FWD with be more expensive than magicJack since its $30 for the base package plus a monthly fee for FWDout and/or FWDin. Still, I’m not one to count Pulver out, especially now that VON is gone and Jeff can focus on new opportunities. I wish him luck.

Tags: FreeCall, FreeCall.com, FWD, FWDin, FWDout, jeff pulver, sip, VON, www.freecall.com

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Copyright VoIP & Gadgets Blog

Original post by nafiz

ITEXPO is still two months away (September 16-18, 2008 — Los Angeles, CA) yet Rich reports that the exhibit booth space is already 90% sold out.

Rich is pretty excited when he writes, “There has been more interest in ITEXPO Fall 2008, Los Angeles, CA September 16-18 than any other Internet Telephony Conference & Expo I can remember in recent years.”

At first I thought perhaps Rich is being a bit too exuberant. After all, one well-known communications show (VON) faltered this year, so surely ITEXPO might not have its strongest show - at least if VON is any indication. But ITEXPO has been growing steadily and hasn’t truly had a bad show (yet).

Also, the economy is certainly slowing, so many companies are holding back on their advertising and marketing budgets. However, if anything companies are looking to increase productivity in their communications to help reduce costs. One sure-fire way to do that is to deploy VoIP or unified communiations solutions. So perhaps that explains why in addition to the exhibit hall space being 90% sold out, pre-registration for attendees is actually ahead of last year at this time by 30%! Our VP of Marketing, Mike Genaro gave me these latest pre-attendance numbers.

Perhaps with one less IP communications show, that could have something to do with it. Rich had the same thought when he wrote, “It seems people are beginning to realize this show is the only major IP communications event left — it is growing quickly and it draws attendees from around the world.”

Here’s a floor map:

Tags: Internet Telephony Expo, ip, IP Communications, ITEXPO, Mike Genaro, Rich Tehrani, voip, VON

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Copyright VoIP & Gadgets Blog

Original post by nafiz

Filed under: Handhelds

Willcom’s Atom-based D4 MID has been out and about for a little while now, but the folks at Direct From Japan have now thankfully gotten their hands on a Sharp-branded version of the device and offered up some of their initial impressions by way of UMPC Portal, along with a video. On the upside, they say that size and weight of the device is “perfect for a big pocket,” and that the screen quality and pixel density is “amazing.” They also seem to have been particularly impressed by the dock, which’ll let you charge a second battery, and by the device’s rather unique touchpad on the side of the screen. They were less impressed by the hefty $1,200+ price tag (or more when you factor in the optional dock), however, and by the small keyboard, though we doubt many were expecting anything otherwise there. Those outside of Japan also won’t be able to do much with the included W-SIM card but, if you’re still curious about the device, you can check out the video after the break.

[Thanks, TareX]

Continue reading Sharp-branded Willcom D4 MID gets examined, shown off on video

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Original post by Donald Melanson

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds, Tablet PCs

Akihabara News had the chance to take the Atom-based Willcom D4 / Sharp WS016SH for a spin in Tokyo. Although they only got hands-on with a near-final, engineering prototype, the kids at Aki came away impressed. Sure, the yet-to-be-optimized hardware still struggled a bit with Vista. Nevertheless, Aki remains enthusiastic about the OneSeg device toting a sliding / tilting 5-inch, LED-backlit 1,024 x 600 touchscreen display with WiFi and Japanese W-SIM. With this, Lenovo’s ideapad ͚, and other Intel Atom-based MIDs on the immediate horizon, these bigger than a cellphone smaller than a laptop handhelds look to be fulfilling the ultra-portable 2006 Origami promise… finally, in the second half of 2008. Lengthy video available after the break.

Continue reading Video: Willcom’s D4 Vista MID previewed

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Original post by Thomas Ricker

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

You’ll never believe this, but it looks like Cupertino might be getting ready to drop a bomb this summer — a 3G bomb, in fact! The latest beta release of firmware 2.0 for the iPhone has apparently revealed a preference screen that allows users of the new model to disable the 3G radio and fall back to GPRS / EDGE because the faster service “decreases battery life.” Gotta pay to play, as they say. The ability to disable 3G service in favor of improved standby performance is a pretty common one in modern phones, so we’re not surprised to see it here — just a little disappointed that Apple hasn’t incorporated enough fairy dust to magically make the problem go away.

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Original post by Chris Ziegler