Dittybot for Windows

I haven't quite got my head around any potential commercial applications for this, but Henry over at http://www.voxu.com has mashed up a Dittybotlike MP3 to Cell phone app., over Skype using Virtual Audio Cables (which quite honestly scare me) and SMS.

Looks pretty slick.

Gizmodo's Gold medal office Prank.

This is just pant wetting hilarious. Well worth the download.

What to do with a 2000 Superballs? Why - drop them on a co-worker of course.

You can download the video from here.









Skype is Half of all NA VoIP traffic

According to an analysis done by broadband management company Sandvine Inc. , Skype currently accounts for 46. percent of all VoIP traffic in North America. “So this is not like five guys who figured out they could call Slovenia 24 hours in a row; this is a mass market phenomenon,” says Sandvine’s Steve McGeown.

With this kind of penetration, Skype is established and staying. It will be near impossible to knock Skype off its pedestal now. Carriers better wake up, the writing is on the wall.

Below is listed a graphic detailing the Top VoIP customer acquisition companies. The Skype numbers, some would argue are slightly skewed, as the other provider have ARPU, whereas Skype is a pre-paid service. Regardless, they are dwarfing all others in usage, and the company plans to extend far beyond voice. Something the other PoIP companies have failed to realize.



Table 1: VOIP's Leaders

VOIP Provider	Paying Customers
Skype Technologies SA	1,000,000
Vonage Holdings Corp.	500,000
France Telecom SA	330,000
FastWeb SpA	300,000
Cablevision Systems Corp.	189,000
AT&T Corp.	53,000
Source: Sandvine and Point Topic

Introducing the Bangalore Operating System 2007 SP2

I had a great conversation with a colleague Vir Bhanu of Knowledge Systems, located in Bangalore India. Vir is a great guy, and I hope to do business with his firm in the future on a number of projects we are currently working on. Vir shared with me a great article from Thomas Friedman, the author of "The World is Flat" (recommended by another colleague, but I digress) - Freidman shares the perspective that "ideation" and sales and marketing are spawned via the Western companies and the core development is best done no where else in the world other than Bangalore. Vir had an interesting perspective on how the value add of Offshore Development actually increases the GDP of the countries using it as they essentially have all this found margin, that they can invest and spend in their countries of origin, continue to innovate etc., I would imagine some of that goes back to development in India, so it is a pretty good model - depending how you look at it.

This brings me to the original point of my post - which became very apparent to me when I read this article written by Jo Best of Silicon.com. The article states that M$ is going to offer amnesty to the Indian government via a licensing deal for the illegal copies of Windows currently being used in the Indian Government for 1$, an install. As long as they agree to in the future purchase valid licenses. My first thought was "wow neat", my second thought was 'Wow, huge opportunity for Linspire or Xandros to possibly move in and score a huge deal", my third thought was "WOW, the Indian government in conjuction with the top software companies in Bangalore, have the opportunity to take an ownership stake in a Unix based OS and get it on par with Tiger and XP". Why woudn't they do this? It isn't like they don't have the knowledge workers, or base to do it. If anyone is going to take a run at M$'s OS domination they might be the only ones that can do it. (Imagine embedding Skype in an OS.... *drool*)

Perhaps it is just a pipe dream, but I firmly believe that the Indian development community needs to think a little more like the American marketing machine and take some ownership stakes in developing technologies like Xandros and other Unix based OS's and distance themselves from M$ a little. With that many uber talented programmers available, Opensource solutions could explode and free us all from M$ like monopolies. This is a good thing, and opens the door for true universal and open IT communication technologies. They need someone to plant the seed, and help with the capitalist side of it... I would gladly volunteer.

ASUS P505 PDA Smartphone Ships with Skype - (well maybe not)

Tony Dennis of the Inquirer, reportedly stumbled across a Skype Enabled PDA/Smartphone at the ASUS booth at Computex in Taipei.

Surprisingly, pre-installed with Skype. Most people feel that the handset manufacturers are scared to embrace Skype so as not to strain relationships with the wireless carriers that essentially have them by the short and curlys with respect to what they can and cannot do. Sucks to make a product that only a handful of companies can sell.

The chance to free themselves from the oppressive rule of the global wireless barons might be too attractive for handset manufacturers to pass up. Motorola (the Ivanhoe of this movement) has announced plans to work with Skype and rumours abound regarding Nokia. The writing might be on the castle wall for some Wireless Telco's, start delivering high speed reliable data, or "off with your head".