When I first read at work about the free Zultys IP Soft phone for Linux (in Internet Telephony?), I decided I needed to check it out. Then when I saw another mention of it in Voxilla’s RSS feed while I was sitting at my Linux box tonight, I decided it was time to give it a try. If I can get a SIP-based soft phone running on Linux, I will be a lot less interested in trying to figure out how to get Skype running on Linux.
Ever since I got the Treo 600, I’ve been neglecting my Sony Clie T615C, a very nice PDA that runs Palm OS 4.1. A few months ago, I spent way too many hours trying to figure out how to sync the Clie to Evolution on Red Hat 9 Linux. I updated to new versions of… Read More »
For my needs and tastes, the Treo 600 is a far better PDA phone than any other Palm, Pocket PC, Windows Mobile, Symbian, etc. device I’ve checked out. But of course, there are still a couple things that bother me or I wish had been better implemented. Although this might look like a long list,… Read More »
Review of PdaNet from the June Fabrics PDA Technology Group. PdaNet allows a Windows laptop to browse the web via a Treo 600’s wireless data connection.
Overheard yesterday in the checkout line at Safeway: Mother to young son and daughter: ” Now, you kids go get some of that Neopoleon ice cream.” Heck, what do I know know? Maybe Ben & Jerry’s have come out with a Neopolitan ice cream that’s made with French General Vanilla. Or maybe it’s a co-branding… Read More »
Matz’s presentation at OSCon 2003 on The Power and Philosophy of Ruby lists three basic principles of programming language design. Choose good names Understanding humanity Embedding hidden messages Some of his points that really hit home relate to succinctness, fewer bad surprises, reduction of stress, consistency, and offering more than one way to accomplish a… Read More »
There are tons more photos and some reviews of the SRL show in Berkeley at the SRL website. The people taking these photos were much closer to the action than me, so you should definitely check them out. They also took a bunch of very cool pre-show photos. Also, because of where I was standing,… Read More »
On November 12, 2003, I attended a live performance by Survival Research Labs at the Berkeley Art Museum. In addition to taking a couple photos, I used my Canon S400 to shoot some video. I’ve finally gotten around to scaling the video down enough in iMovie to post here. Get ready to see and hear the firing of a V1 rocket engine, a Tesla coil sending 20+ foot sparks into metallic sheets hanging from trees, and a set of 150 dB pulse jets.
If you need to install Movable Type on a DreamHost shared server, you might find my installation notes to be of use. They might even be helpful if you don’t use DreamHost, but no promises. The web page for my notes currently comes up fifth when you google on “install movable type”. It’s a mystery… Read More »
VoIP in ’04 :: Voxilla.com :: A user’s guide to the VoIP revolution
The staff over at Voxilla have put together a compelling set of predictions for big VoIP-related happenings in 2004. Here are a couple I found most interesting.
2. Many new VoIP enabled routers hit the market.
I think this will be a huge boon to Skype’s competitors. If more routers came with out-of-the-box configurations for VoIP, that would take away Skype’s only serious advantage.
9. Broadband service providers up their uplink speeds.
I can only hope. I would gladly pay more to get a boost to my average 500 kbps download speed, but my broadband provider, Earthlink (via Covad), has a big gap in price between the plan I have and the cheapest SOHO plan. Even worse, when I check the Earthlink site to see if I can upgrade to that plan, it tells me that they offer only dial-up access to my address. Never mind the fact that they have provided me with DSL service for years. As much as I dislike SBC, their prices look pretty good and their wide variety of offers blow Earthlink away.
10. FCC steps in on regulation.
Maybe I will be proven to be a fool, but I’m not quite as worried about this as most people. Regulation isn’t all bad. If one of my neighbors develops a new kind of death ray device that doesn’t use the old fashioned death rays that the Regional Death Ray Operating Companies have been relying on for years, I’m going to want to see some regulation imposed. Just don’t go crazy on me and ban all kinds of Death Ray research and development or make it where only the big guys can compete.
In the comments section, someone added:
11. VoIP Spam
This is so sad, but so true. As other commenters also point out, super cheap international calling rates will open us up to unregulated telemarketing calls from locations where English-speaking labor is cheap. Like North Dakota. Wait, they’re still regulated. Okay, then, India, Jamaica, and the Philippines. The Do-Not-Call list. Hmmm, maybe that regulation thing isn’t so bad in every case. The most important feature you’re going to need on your VoIP phone is an effective form of Caller ID.