Source: alanweinkrantz.typepad.com
Yesterday’s announcement by AT&T offering a great site where you could watch online shows was just a tip of the iceberg. Here’s 25 Places to Watch the Fall TV Season Online
Source: alanweinkrantz.typepad.com
Kudos to AT&T, who is announcing today the launch of AT&T Entertainment – a new website that lets you watch streaming TV shows and movies on your PC for free. Any online user in the U.S. – whether or not they are an AT&T customer – can visit the site and watch free online content.
AT&T Entertainment has popular content from ABC and NBC Universal (through an agreement with Hulu), CBS Interactive and MTV networks.
This launch is part of AT&T’s three-screen strategy to deliver quality video content to consumers across the TV, PC and wireless phone.
Is AT&T disrupting itself?
Yes, and in a positive way. It is clear that the shift to more web based content makes sense and that offering customers great content, associated with AT&T is a way to keep and grow a customer base.
Source: alanweinkrantz.typepad.com
the new boxee API enables developers to build and publish apps for boxee users. while people are working on a variety of boxee apps, the folks from boxee thought it would be a good idea to provide some extra incentive for the developers.
the boxee dev challenge will have 3 categories: Video, Music and Photos.
in each category we will have a People’s Choice award and a Judge’s Choice award:
People’s Choice Award: Drobo
Judge’s Choice Award: Sony Bravia XBR9 46″
the deadline for submitting your application is June 14th at 11:59pm PT, but they encourage you to submit early and often as they’ll be talking up cool applications as they come in.
voting will take place between June 15th – June 22nd.
on June 23rd they will have a boxee event in San Francisco (RSVP here) announcing the People’s Choice and our esteemed judges will choose a winner from the 10 most popular apps in each category.
the judges at the event will be:
Veronica Belmont - Tekzilla, Qore
Ryan Block - GDGT, former EIC Engadget
Avner Ronen - boxee founder and CEO
couple more judges (we are interviewing prospects: Obama, Oprah, AplusK)
looking for more info on how to develop boxee apps: check out http://developer.boxee.tv and take a look at the sample app (we will publish additional sample apps). please submit your app to dev_challenge@boxee.tv.
whether you’re a developer or just a boxee fan, they’re looking forward to seeing you @ the event. RSVP here.
* the challenge is open to residents of the milky-way galaxy except for employees of boxee, and any other organizations involved in sponsoring the contest, as well as their parent, subsidiary, affiliated and successor companies, and those employees’ immediate family and household members. exceptions extend also to those who think they might become a boxee employee, or an employee of the aforementioned parent, subsidiary, affiliated, or succesor companies in the future. “Immediate family members” of employees shall mean their parents, step-parents, children, step-children, siblings, step-siblings, pets and spouses. “Household members” of employees shall mean people who share the employee’s residence at least three months a year sleeping on a couch or a bed (blow up mattresses do not ap.)
Source: alanweinkrantz.typepad.com
Even though I am sure we are going to get through this financial mess, economic reality does set it and there are times when families or individuals need to cut back on their cable / IPTV bills.
If you decide to totally unplug from TV here are some other alternatives Some are free.
Some cost money.
Your mileage may vary.
If you need to totally unplug, then give it a try for a month and see if you can do something else, like reading! Personally, I can see giving up TV, but not DSL for the family.
If it’s just you, then get a wireless aircard so you can have broadband access at home and wherever you go.
Here are some choices:
AppleTV: I’ve got an AppleTV device and I really like it. I find myself watching YouTube videos, including my own, on my big screen (free) and renting movies from Apple, instead of from AT&T, as they are less expensive. Also, you can port your movies for viewing on your computer or your iPhone for when you travel.
Hulu. I’ve noticed that I’ve started to watch The Daily Show on Hulu rather than on my big screen. Sometimes I just need a break at work and want to see an episode, or part of an episode I missed. Hulu’s interface is great and easy to navigate.
Joost. The new and improved Joost is somewhat akin to Hulu. In its opening pitch, they are even talk about "social stuff" so I supposed they are trying to help like minded viewer communities.
DailyMotion They bill themselves as being about finding new ways to see, share and engage your world through the power of online video. You can find – or upload – videos about your interests and hobbies, eyewitness accounts of recent news and distant places, and everything else from the strange to the spectacular.
Vudu. You still have to buy the $299 set top box, but can rent movies for $1.99 each. I guess it saves a trip to the video store and is less than renting a video from AT&T.
Netflix. No web access required. You get your videos in the mail. Or, you can buy their $99 set top box from Roku and download their movies.
PrimeTimeRewind.com. This is from my pal, Jeff Pulver, who’s always out there on the next thing in disruption. Jeff’s site is really cool because, like its name, you can get free prime time shows and re-wind them. Hate to miss Family Guy? No problem, Jeff’s got ‘em.
These are just a few samples of the best of the best.
If you are hunkering down, but still want to scale back on your monthly bill, try going to a less expensive package. In the case of U-verse pricing, you can save money by going from the U400 to the U100 package.
Packages start at $44 per month.
Source: alanweinkrantz.typepad.com
There’s been quite a bump in readership and media coverage because of my coverage on the first AT&T WiFi / Starbucks store in San Antonio.
While I am very excited about the notion of having free WiFi at Starbucks, there is more to the story here. From the start, I have always felt that AT&T was about to give me more than just an alternative to cable.
Starting next month, I will be going on my third year of writing from the mind’s eye of the consumer of what it’s like to be a ‘three screens" customer.
I hope my perspectives are helpful to you and welcome your continued participation in the conversation.
My instinct tells me that I am just getting going…..
Photo by Alan Weinkrantz (c) 2008 – All Rights Reserved
Source: www.voip-news.com
So I saw a semi-coherant item on TMCnet about SkySipTel and was curious . . . what is this thing? The item – for lack of a better word – seemed to be somewhere between press release and ESL practice essay.
I did what any good reporter would do: Searched SkySipTel.
Apparently it’s a VoIP provider that offers softphone PC-to-phone calling for cheap rates (it seems) as well as other services like call forwarding and voicemail. And they have at least one misspelled word on the website. Hello, pet peeve.
Oh and they have a new softphone update available too . . . Click here for that.
Source: www.voip-news.com
Radware, a company that does integrated application delivery solutions, and IPTEGO, a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP)-based VoIP solutions provider, have forged a partnership. They are now have a strategic original equipment manufacturer agreement.
“This OEM agreement with IPTEGO is another proof point for the carrier market need for intelligent layer-7 application delivery controllers”, said Yossi Vardi, Vice President Business Development Radware. “IPTEGO’s expertise in deploying SIP-based VoIP network solutions combined with Radware’s expertise of providing intelligent and innovative ADC solutions for both application and network layers, will provide a more complete SIP-based solution to fulfill customer needs.”
The companies will work together to create an SIP-based solution that will result in a more cost-effective carrier-grade solution, which will integrate optimal performance and security.
“Radware represents a critical partnership for us, as they help differentiate our product and solutions portfolio through their robust, state-of-the-art SIP capabilities,” said Alex Hoffmann, CEO, IPTEGO. “This yields high significance for us, as we set out to service for millions of users across our SIP-based VoIP framework. Furthermore, this partnership allows us to bring SIP-based services faster-to-market and with minimal development costs.”
Source: snapvoip.blogspot.com
Via AP Newswire
babyTEL, a leading Canadian provider of VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) phone service, is expanding into the United States market; offering retail customers freedom from both expensive traditional phone lines and big VoIP players with their service challenges.
"We are nimble. We are customer focused. And we have a proven technology that our loyal Canadian customers love," says Stephen Dorsey, babyTEL President and MIT engineering graduate. "Now we are open for business in the U.S. supplying Americans with no hassle VoIP service, U.S. phone numbers and responsive tech support, something the so-called giants have trouble delivering. We know the key to success is serving, not alienating, the customer."
Beyond the boring "lowest price" mantra in the industry, babyTEL is about innovation and supplying customers with true VoIP benefits that traditional phone lines can’t deliver and big VoIP companies don’t deliver.
Out of the gate, in addition to including all the expected features of a VoIP service, babyTEL is offering advanced services like fax-to-email and multiple devices that ring simultaneously. This "virtual extension" service is akin to extension lines in your home, but unrestricted by geography: they ring in your home, at your office or thousands of miles away on your laptop’s soft phone all at the same time.
babyTEL will be continuously introducing other exciting advanced services that exploit VoIP throughout 2007 to further empower its users. All at a market competitive price beginning at $21.95 per month with unlimited calls in the U.S. and Canada.
babyTEL is also known as a "provider of Providers" by supporting resellers and agents through its partner program with white label and branded VoIP services.
Source: snapvoip.blogspot.com
NTERNET TELEPHONY, a leading VoIP authority since 1998, is awarding the product of the year in many a fields related to VoIP IP Telephony during TMC’s IMS Expo is recognized as a distinctly important forum on next generation networks, and is being held at the Broward County Convention Center in Ft. Lauderdale, FL.
"INTERNET TELEPHONY is the only magazine that focuses on providing information in IP communications technologies. INTERNET TELEPHONY magazine provides readers with the best information necessary to learn about and purchase the equipment, software and services. INTERNET TELEPHONY offers rich content from solutions-focused editorial content to reviews on products and services from TMC Labs and Miercom. The only BPA-audited publication that’s 100% dedicated to providing the highest quality content for the IP communications market, INTERNET TELEPHONY has 55,000 dedicated readers." And the Editor-in-Chief, Rich Tehrani, has been a leading figure in the communications field for a long time.
Internet Telephony Mag will have full list of awards on it’s February issue. Many a companies and products have been recognized and awarded for their work in the field of VoIP IP Telephony.
I have been a reader of the magazine for almost a decade and it is one of the print magazines that I still read!
The 2006 award receivers include;
Dialogic, Teletech, Nominium, Patton, SIPdev.org, objectworld, Centillium, CTI Group to name a few.
The complete list will be available online at ITMAG site. Follow the links.
Source: snapvoip.blogspot.com
IPtimize, Inc., a Managed VoIP (Voice-over-IP) Solutions Provider serving small- and medium-size businesses (SMBs), announced today that it intends to merge with Simmetech, Inc. (OTC.PK: JGRT), a Minnesota corporation. Financial terms of the proposed merger were not disclosed.
Upon closing of the proposed merger, which is expected to occur shortly, the continuing entity shall be known as IPtimize, Inc., a publicly traded entity (new ticker symbol to be determined) possessing core operations as a Managed VoIP Solutions Provider. The company’s portfolio of VoIP-based communications solutions – including Hosted VoIP (Voice Pilot), Telephone Line Replacement (VoIP Connect) and VoIP business communication systems – help customers improve productivity, reduce costs and minimize risks.
