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Filed under: Gaming

We already know that NeuroSky is bringing us the mind-reading Mindset for your gaming pleasures, but we got a first-hand look at the device here at TGS. At first glance, the headset may appear to be just another white set of over-the-ear headphones, but a little boom that gets all cuddly with your forehead measures how well you are concentrating on in-game objects. While this may sound like a bunch of hoopla, keep in mind that mega-developer Square Enix is already on board with “Judecca,” a zombie thriller that forces you to concentrate your way into seeing your enemies. After holding up your hand, you then concentrate on a glyph that glows in direct relation to your ability to concentrate, opening up what’s called your Devil’s Eye. Once you’re in a zen-like state, you can see Judecca’s zombies and unleash some kill. You can also show your concentration skills enough to walk through walls, naturally. In our limited time trying the tech with Judecca, we were indeed able to induce some sort of concentrative state, even with the distractions of a giant Japanese gaming convention. As for how long we’d want to play something like this before switching to something involving, say, just pushing buttons and killing enemies, we’re not so sure. NeuroSky promises the device in Spring 2009 for a price somewhere between $50 and $80. Hit the break for a couple shots of the device and a very tense gamer.

Continue reading Brains-on with NeuroSky and Square Enix’s Judecca mind-control game

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Original post by Joshua Fruhlinger

Gizmћ SIP trunks have always been available in trixbox CE, but it was a manual process. The Gizmћ team has built a module to be part of the trixbox package manager that allows you to purchase your trunks, see your account balance, purchase more minutes, and automatically setup your inbound and outbound routes. The module is now available via the trixbox package manager and will be built into all upcoming ISO builds.

Additionally, the calling service for trixbox CE is pre-configured to use the Gizmo5 calling network and includes a new UI for easy administration. Also included is a Tech Check system that confirms basic setup of a trixbox CE system and notifies users when new Gizmo modules are available. Finally, the new offering also includes pay-as-you-go and Gizmo5 has also joined Fonality’s FACE program (Fonality Authorized Certified Ecosystem) as a Gold partner to ensure its products are optimized and compatible with the trixbox CE platform.

Tags: gizmћ, IP-PBX, SIP trunking, SIP trunks, trixbox CE, voip

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Copyright VoIP & Gadgets Blog

Original post by nafiz

I discovered two Microsoft job postings several weeks ago and have been meaning to blog the discovery that Microsoft Office Communication Server ̶ will ship in December of this year. One is for ’Software Development Engineer in Test - MBD - RTC’ and the other for ‘Lead Software Develpment Engineer in Test - Office Communications Server’. One of the job posting says:

“The Office Communications Server team is starting a new deployment/management/administration team at Beijing. The Office Communications Server product team must deliver both an on-premise version of the Server as well as offering a hosted Service for Small and Medium Businesses. The test lead needs to understand current infrastructure (MMC, Setup.Exe, MOM, etc.) to help out in next release called wave13 due to ship in December 2008.

As the team ramps up in MBD China, the team gain experience in these areas and can form opinions/ideas as to how best to architect a new solution for the future. The test lead will work with PMs and Devs to identify scenarios, architect and build a new solution for both on premise and hosted offerings due to release in Q2 2010 for deployment/administration/monitoring. The new team would to build a new infrastructure that is conducive to hosted environments.

Examples include: web based flavor of management tools, a topology builder that can visually display a topology and once the solution/topology ‘compiles’, settings can be rolled out across the server farm (as opposed to admin’s having to run setup.exe on every machine out there). Monitoring also needs to be addressed in such a way that the server or service can be somewhat self correcting when alerts fire notifying administrators of a problem.

Key Areas of Responsibility:
Attract, Lead, Train, mentor, grow, and retain SDET talent at all levels
Work closely with the program management and development teams to drive quality through design and implementation
Participate in product spec reviews, design, triage, scheduling, and other product development process
Develop comprehensive test plans assuring the overall quality of the project, including functionality, security, performance and scalability
Hands-on writing test cases and test code
Lead the SDET team in implementation of a scalable, efficient test automation strategy
Work closely with program management and development teams to ensure appropriate quality metrics and goals are defined and tracked throughout the project lifecycle
Drive quality criteria for release and signoff
Work with other SDET leads and managers to ensure engineering excellence initiatives are driven effectively across the Commerce Platform Group.”

Apparently, Beijing, China will host some core Microsoft OCS 2007 R2 folks instead of Redmond, Washington in the U.S. I’m not sure how I feel about that. Seems like American IT jobs are constantly being outsourced. But I guess it’s a global economy and I’m certainly not for protectionism either. Just very sad that IT jobs are outsourced because labor costs are less expensive than in the U.S.

One very fascinating part of this job posting is where it says, “architect and build a new solution for both on premise and hosted offerings due to release in Q2 2010 for deployment/administration/monitoring. The new team would to build a new infrastructure that is conducive to hosted environments.“

It would appear Microsoft wants to take OCS 2007 into hosted environments by 2010. Many service providers offer very successful hosted Exchange 2007 services, so offering hosted unified communications (IM, VoIP, video, collaboration, etc.) via a hosted OCS 2007 offering is a natural progression. Hosted OCS 2007 is a much higher value proposition than hosted Exchange email services and could be a boon to service providers. One advantage of a hosted OCS 2007 offering is that it removes the complexities of deploying OCS 2007 in the enterprise.

So look for a hosted OCS offering in 2010. You heard it here first!

Tags: Exchange 2007, hosted, hosted communications, microsoft, OCS 2007, OCS 2007 R2, unified communications, voip

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Copyright VoIP & Gadgets Blog

Original post by nafiz

OnRelay today announced its support of sipXecs, an open source platform to provide low-cost business telephony with mobile extensions. OnRelay’s Hosted MBX with sipXecs allows businesses to deploy a mobile office communication system (mobile PBX) with no additional investment in infrastructure: no desk phones, proprietary PBXs or cabling. With MBX the mobile phone is the only “desk phone” employees require.

Interviewing CEO Ivar Plahte he stated, “The reason why we chose sipXecs over Asterisk is the architecture and the philosophies behind the software was very similar to how we think and how we work here. Because we are pretty fanatic about object-oriented (programming). It seemed to be a good fit in how things were designed and modeled. It has some very strong focus on SIP and we figured it could do what we needed it to do. We did some feasability studies and it really came out on top when we did some proto-typing.”

OnRelay′s software supports LDAP and Active Directory for automatic provisioning. It also leverages IMAP for unified messaging capabilities. The current MBX system allows an enterprise to keep their PBX but replace their desktop phones with cellphones for true mobile productivity. MBX connects to an existing PBX via a CTI interface and “mobilizes″ it, giving full PBX functionality on the mobile phone itself via an application you load onto supported mobile handsets. It’s not a WiFi or softphone application. It actually works directly over 3G and EVDO. It uses the standard mobile network as the voice bearer but uses signalling across the mobile data connection which is handled in parallel by the software application loaded onto supported smart phones.

Today’s open source announcement opens the benefits of OnRelay Hosted MBX to the small to medium enterprise (SME) market. By choosing the leading open source PBX sipXecs, OnRelay can offer a plug and play office communication system at a SME segment price-point.

“OnRelay’s support of open source means that SMEs can benefit from the flexibility and features of a fully fledged mobile PBX,” notes OnRelay CEO, Ivar Plahte. “Other hosted PBX alternatives such as Centrex take an over simplified, cookie-cutter approach to enterprise telephony. They fail to offer the rich functionality SMEs require in today’s converging world. Open source brings feature richness and internet-level scalability to OnRelay’s mobile PBX platform.”

According to Ovum’s practice leader for mobile, Jeremy Green, “Hitherto many SMEs have been reluctant to consider mobile-only strategy for telephone extensions, because they’ve been concerned that the functionality of existing PBX add-ons and hosted platforms didn’t offer them the controls and tools that they needed. New developments in this market mean that mobile-only strategy is worth a second look.”

SipXecs is a stable and scalable voice over IP (VoIP) open source system built for enterprise users. Based entirely on the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) standard, sipXecs brings an extensive feature set to OnRelay MBX, including active directory integration, presence and Microsoft exchange support. SipXecs uses internet techniques and a distributed architecture to ensure a highly secure IP voice system.

OnRelay’s Hosted MBX with sipXecs is targeted particularly well to the next generation of telecom providers. In lowering the cost of entry, it allows innovative players to host enterprise-class telephony for the SME market.

Tags: mobile, office communications, OnRelay, OnRelay Hosted MBX, pbx, sipXecs, voip

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Copyright VoIP &amp Gadgets Blog

Original post by nafiz

Home phone systems haven’t kept up with the latest innovations in mobile handsets, such as Internet access, streaming video, camera, etc. Considering many people are now choosing VoIP providers such as Vonage, Packet8, Skype, etc. which already sit on the Internet, wouldn’t it make sense to have more advanced home phone systems? Where is Phone 2.0 for the home?

In fact, most VoIP providers simply use an analog telephony adapter (ATA) that lets you use your home analog cordless phone system. If you think about it, that’s pretty kludgy. You’re using an analog phone system on a digital IP network. Not only do you lose voice quality (wideband codec), but you also lose advanced functionality. Though I should point out that Packet8 has made strides in offering advanced phones that are not analog, such as the Packet8 Videophone. They also offer the Packet8 Tango, which is still analog, but ads videoconferencing, digital picture frame on the LCD, and other functionality.

That said, wouldn’t you expect AT&T with their Uverse triple play (voice, video, data) service and Verizon with their FiOS triple play service to bundle advanced phones with their $80+/month service offerings? Well, John Sculley, former Apple CEO has visions for advanced home phone systems using OpenFrame created by OpenPeak. The OpenFrame devices are based on Freescale MX31 processors with two 600-MHz ARM11 chips and a proof of concept phone was developed that emulates the Apple iPhone interface.

Features like view TV schedules, send SMS, streaming video, music, web surfing, and more are possible. The phones will be heavily subsidized phones and could be shipping out in four or five months direct from the carriers.

OpenFrame is based on an "open" platform, using a custom hacked Linux kernel, however all of the software above the kernel is closed and proprietary - until the hackers hack it of course. OpenPeak will offer a full API for developing third-party apps, but only carriers need apply, not end-users. I wonder if the cordless handset depicted in the pictures is WiFi or DECT 6.0?

Update: I neglected to mention Rich’s blog post from yesterday (Comcast 2.0), which reiterates my call for home "Phone 2.0" devices. Go check it out.

Tags: analog, Apple iPhone, DECT 6.0, home phone system, OpenFrame, OpenPeak, Packet8, phone, Vonage

Original post by Eric