AudioCodes Gateways are now being used in conjunction with Blackberry to provide mobile voice over Wi-Fi.
By Integrating AudioCodes Mediant line of gateways with BlackBerry’s Mobile Voice System 5 (MVS), businesses can extend their IP PBX phone systems to BlackBerry smartphones.
For further details about BlackBerry MVS 5 integration with phone systems via AudioCodes, click here.
For Apple’s triple threat ACTi is now providing a surveillance app for use on the iPhone, iPad, and iPod:
ACTi MobileGo! allows you to view and control cameras on iPhone, iPad, and iPod. It provides easy access to live video and playback of recorded video for remote and real-time surveillance applications.
ACTi MobileGO! is available on iTunes and features:
Recently we kicked off another round of trainings here at VoIP Supply from some of our new hires.
New hire trainings, especially ones designed to teach them about VoIP technology and solutions, are always interesting for me (even though I’ve covered the same or similar material dozens of times before). These trainings are interesting because they provide me with fresh perspectives as to how those unfamiliar with VoIP view the technology and how to go about implementing it.
Like how the majority of people totally forgot the grand importance networks play in VoIP. In fact most people look at me a little dumbfounded when we start our trainings out with a thorough dive into networking.
You see the thing with VoIP is that implementations that provide easy on-going management and consistent, continuous call quality are more a function of your networks (LAN and WAN), than your VoIP system.
High quality VoIP is more about what you don’t see: your network preparedness, your bandwidth availability and the reliability of your service providers than what you do see. That VoIP phone you’re salivating over is really nothing more than a figure head; symbolic of the system, but rather powerless to make the use or experience with VoIP easier.
So if you’re considering making the switch to VoIP and haven’t had a site assessment complete or considered your network preparedness, please do. Because a successful VoIP deployment by an large is all about your network.
There’s a small two-wheeled surveillance robot that’s been used by the military in combat zones called the Throwbot made by Recon Robotics.
The name implies that you can physically hurl this device wherever it’s needed and that’s true. Check out the video for a demonstration.
Matthew Lasar’s article, Army sruveillance bot approved for use by police, fireman, at Ars Technica explains that while military tools are often just as useful to local law enforcement and fire departments, the problem Recon Robotics had with putting the Throwbot into domestic use was getting permission from the FCC to allow live video feed transmission from the device.
Emergency responders urged the FCC to allow them use of the Throwbot as a “life saving tool” that would help them save themselves from injury, or worse.
Despite opposition from petitioners, the FCC issued a waiver that allows limited use of the contested spectrums to broadcast live surveillance video.
Recognizing that parking lots are areas of high traffic, accidents and crimes IP Video Market Info has put
together a Parking Lot Shootout testing IP camera surveillance kits from leading manufacturers like Axis, Bosch, IQinVision, and Sony.
Monitoring a wide area to simulate everyday activity, they then analyzed 12 different scenes from midday to nighttime to twilight hours with several variables.
Click here for the full report.
Because Facebook wasn’t happy with just being the “home to more than 500 million-plus of your family barbecue photos or updates about cats” they’ve teamed up with T-Mobile to deliver a new app. Also, a survey says that 88% of Facebook fiends want to have voice capabilities from the site.
T-Mobile has announced a new brand called Bobsled with the intention of “bridging traditional telecommunications and Internet-based voice and data services” with it’s first product being an application that allows free calls through Facebook’s chat window.
The highlights:
So, another avenue for making free calls over the internet has entered the fold with new applications including, possibly one day, calling your favorite VoIP Expert for free via Facebook?
ClearOne CHAT speakerphones feature a simple USB connection so you can enjoy plug-and-play installation with with quality full-duplex audio and great microphone sensitivity all with the hands free comfort and convenience in a small package that easily travels wherever you go.
In recent news, the ClearOne CHAT 50 and the ClearOne CHAT 150 USB speakerphones have been validated by IBM assuring interoperability with their UC platform – Sametime Unified Telephony. Chris Wildfoerster, ClearOne’s VP Business Development remarks:
“The IBM validation immediately increases the appeal of our products to Sametime users, and we look forward to working with IBM and its partners to evangelize our Sametime Unified Communications interoperability to the SMB and large enterprise communities.”
The ClearOne CHAT 50 is great for personal use while the ClearOne CHAT 150 works for both personal and small group environments with three built-in microphones for full 360-degree voice pickup. Both are highly portable and versatile and offer noise and echo cancellation to optimize clarity.
There’s a detailed tutorial by John Honovich at IP Security Market Info titled “Designing Intrusion Detection / Alarm Monitoring” where he answers fundamental questions and shares understanding of the options and tradeoffs when designing this system such as:
If you’re considering using alarm monitoring devices as described in the tutorial and wondering how to integrate them into your IP camera or video server systems, read this post for more details:
Requests by law enforcement agencies for traditional types of surveillance such as wiretaps are reported to U.S. Congress as mandated by U.S. federal law. Modern types of surveillance (electronic surveillance methods) like accessing stored data from email, IM’s, and cell phone locations require no such reporting.
A paper published by Christopher Soghoian, Indiana University Bloomington – Center for Applied Cybersecurity Research, titled “The Law Enforcement Surveillance Reporting Gap” explores the issues:
“Third party facilitated surveillance has become a routine tool for law enforcement agencies. There are likely hundreds of thousands of such requests per year. Unfortunately there are few detailed statistics documenting the use of many modern surveillance methods. As such, the true scale of law enforcement surveillance, although widespread, remains largely shielded from public view.”
Via PCWorld, Jeremy Kirk goes on to highlight the growing number of requests by law enforcement for stored communications:
Expect privacy concerns and legal issues of proper reporting and use to mount as surveillance methods, be they in the form of video from IP cameras or tracking electronic data, continue to expand.
In his article “Video Phones In The Office?,” Frank Ohlhorst reveals that in addition to there being little to choose from in the way of affordable video phone solutions, the question remains if what’s currently being offered can make sense for desktop office workers?
5 FREE SIP Softphones and affordable deskphone options
What's my IP Camera's Default Password?
FXS and FXO – You should be in the know…
How To: Upload Firmware to a Polycom Unit
Tech Tip: Converting a Cisco IP Phone from SCCP (Skinny) to SIP Firmware
Setting up an Audiocodes MP-114/118 FXO with Asterisk and FreeSwitch
Setting Up an AudioCodes MP1xx FXS With Asterisk
Bluetooth Headsets for Polycom VVX 500
5 Reasons Why You Should Sell The Poly (Plantronics) Headsets – Webinar Recap
