« March 2007 | Main | May 2007 »


April 30, 2007

FDNY Drill Tests New Wireless Technology

New York Fire Department and Port Authority officials tested a new wireless system yesterday at the World Trade center. The system is designed to give first responders fast access to video and other data during an emergency.
Last year, city officials announced they had selected the Northrop Grumman to build and maintain the multimillion-dollar citywide high-speed wireless data network for police, fire and other city workers.
 
Some 100 firefighters participated in yesterday's simulated fire at 7 World Trade Center, which stands in the shadows of ground zero in downtown Manhattan. The exercise included 20 mock injuries and a rescue from an elevator shaft. Later today fire department officials will discuss how the testing went.
 
Source: WCAX 
 

Posted by Dal at 10:29 AM | | TrackBacks (0) Posted to WiFi / Wireless

April 25, 2007

Asterisk 1.2.18 and Asterisk 1.4.3 Released

Asterisk Version 1.2.18:

This release contains a large number of fixes, including:

 - A recently published security vulnerability in the manager interface
   (ASA-2007-012)
 - Another recently published security vulnerability in the SIP channel driver
   (ASA-2007-011)

A full list of changes is available in the ChangeLog.

Thank you for your support of Asterisk.org!
 

Asterisk Version 1.4.3:

This release contains a large number of fixes, including:

 - A recently published security vulnerability in the manager interface
   (ASA-2007-012)
 - Two recently published security vulnerabilities in the SIP channel driver
   (ASA-2007-010 and ASA-2007-011)

A full list of changes is available in the ChangeLog.

Click Here to Download the latest versions of Asterisk PBX 

Thank you for your support of Asterisk.org!

Posted by Dal at 02:28 PM | | TrackBacks (0) Posted to Asterisk Releases

City of Boston Censoring Municipal WiFi

Note: Very well put together points.  I am not sure what side of this issue I am on.  I can see from the cities point of view that filtering pr0n and other material could be needed.  The question is where the line is drawn and who gets too input on that line itself.
 
Various people (including David Sheets, a student of mine at MIT, and Seth Finkelstein) have pointed out over the last few days that the ‘free’ municipal WiFi service offered by the City of Boston comes with mandatory content filtering that blocks all kinds of sites which are not even close to illegal nor are they sources of pornography that might be considered harmful to children. One the one hand it’s not hard to see why city officials want to avoid the headline: “Boston’s free network a conduit to porn for city’s children, foiling parents’ filtering software.” But does that mean that it’s either wise public policy or constitutionally-permissible for the city to offer wifi to the public with such sweeping and arbitrary constraints?

If the City is allowed to do this, then they can block just about anything: Web sites operated by the opposing political party, critiques of the Big Dig, not to mention http://yankees.mlb.com/. One has to ask whether this is really a path that any city would want to open up for itself?

As a constitutional matter, it’s not quite clear whether the government can require government-funded Internet service providers to filter content. In United States v. American Library Association, 539 U.S. 194 (2003), the US Supreme Court decided that the Congress could require libraries receiving federal Internet access subsidies (the e-rate) to filter out porn. However, it’s not clear whether this case applies to the muni Wifi situation. The Supreme Court explained:

A public library does not acquire Internet terminals in order to create a public forum for Web publishers to express themselves, any more than it collects books in order to provide a public forum for the authors of books to speak. It provides Internet access, not to “encourage a diversity of views from private speakers,” … but for the same reasons it offers other library resources: to facilitate research, learning, and recreational pursuits by furnishing
materials of requisite and appropriate quality.

For what purpose is muni wifi offered? It’s it precisely to create an expanded public forum to increase the flow of information and new web services around the city?

This will be an interesting issue to watch.

Source: Dig 

Posted by Dal at 10:16 AM | | TrackBacks (0) Posted to WiFi / Wireless

The Idolizer II for American Idol Fans with Asterisk

Last year's demise of Kelly Pickler prompted us to put on our programming hat to conquer FOX TV® network's American Idol® and this year they've destroyed the singing career of poor Sanjaya Malakar. You'll have to agree that there's nothing quite as mind numbing as an hour of American Idol and 50 of your favorite commercials. As if that weren't enough, they expect you to sit by your telephone for TWO HOURS voting for your hero after the commercials end.

Since our original release of The Idolizer, much has changed. Not only are there new contestants, but now there's freePBX and TrixBox. Enter, The Idolizer II. So today's Asterisk project is for those that have better things to do than dialing a tollfree number for two hours every Tuesday evening now that we're getting down to the wire on American Idol.

And, no, the show's producers don't like autodialers. We don't like commercials (especially ten at a time), but they're still showing those. So here's the deal. Cut out the commercials, and we'll turn off our autodialer. And we'd bet DialIdol.com will, too. And, no, we're not affiliated with the Fair and Balanced® network nor the American Idol® show. We just don't want to waste two hours dialing the same phone number over and over ... when we could be doing our Honey-Do's to make the Little Mrs. happy.

Prerequisites. To use The Idolizer II autodialer with Asterisk, you'll need a free TrixBox PBX or at least a copy of the VMware version of TrixBox 1.2.3 for Windows or a Mac. Both run in a window on your desktop machine of choice. This works on any version of TrixBox or a plain Asterisk system running a current version of freePBX. Our tutorial will get you up and running in under an hour. Then you'll need an account with a hosting provider that gives you free calls to toll-free numbers or unlimited outbound calling in the U.S.

Click Here for the Full Nerd 

Posted by Dal at 10:06 AM | | TrackBacks (0) Posted to Asterisk Help

Telenor Satellite Expands Mobile Satellite Equipment Portfolio

Telenor Satellite Services today added the Addvalue Communications Wideye SABRE 1 Broadband Global Area Network (BGAN) terminal to its inventory of On Demand communications technologies. The sub-laptop sized Wideye SABRE 1, recently certified for use with the BGAN system by satellite operator Inmarsat, is the most economical BGAN satellite terminal on the market and enables users to conduct simultaneous telephony and IP data communications. It is particularly effective for such applications as Internet access, file transfers, e-mailing with pictures and video clips, telephony, and SMS.

The Wideye SABRE 1 features a built-in user interface allowing rapid set-up and supports multiple data protocols including Bluetooth, Ethernet, USB and RJ11. The terminal, the most economical that is currently on the market, will enable businesses, organizations, and individuals to extend their networks to remote operational locations.

“The SABRE 1 combines an efficient mix of cost-effective communications functions with an exceptional all-inclusive package of accessories that will appeal to a wide variety of potential users – from enterprise customers and industries requiring remote connectivity to small businesses and home offices and individuals that need an easy-to-use means of communicating via satellite,” said Anders Kallerud, executive vice president for Telenor Satellite Services.

Telenor is a global distribution partner and provider of Inmarsat BGAN services, offering a full complement of satellite terminals from all major manufacturers.

“Telenor’s is a market leader for BGAN services and we work with our service providers and their customers to offer the right fit of BGAN equipment and services to meet their specific communications requirements. We also feature our exclusive Terralink IP Networking Platform and global points of presence, providing our BGAN users the widest range of service connection options, increased levels of security, and cost-efficient, high-quality communications services,” Kallerud said.

Iridium Sat Phone Rental 

BGAN offers users high-speed IP-based broadband communications plus simultaneous voice (telephony) calling via a portfolio of small, lightweight user terminals. The robust communications service from Telenor is especially useful for a variety of IP-based applications such as streaming video, videoconferencing and Web browsing. The service allows businesses and organizations to extend networks to their remote operations sites.

Source: Telenor 

Posted by Dal at 09:57 AM | | TrackBacks (0) Posted to VoIP Hardware

April 24, 2007

Asterisk PBX Project Security Advisory Process

Note: Kevin Fleming posted this to the list for a new process it reporting security bugs. 
 
Recent events, including vulnerabilities that were reported and the subsequent discussions about how they were handled, have made those of us that manage Asterisk development decide that it is time for the Asterisk project to have a formal security vulnerability and advisory reporting process.
Over the next few weeks we will begin to formalize and document this process on the asterisk.org website, but here are the initial steps we are taking:

1) We will begin to assign our own advisory numbers and publish our own advisory reports when security issues are reported to us.

2) All code changes committed to our Subversion repositories will be tagged with the assigned advisory number, so that anyone can see exactly what code was affected and in what way, thereby easing the process for people who cannot upgrade to a new release and want to just backport the specific fix required for that vulnerability.

3) The advisory reports will include all information that is reported to us, and all information we learn while verifying and correcting the problem, including known exploit scripts and code and any other relevant information.

4) We will attempt, as best we can, to provide an accurate high-level summary and severity level for each advisory, so that end users can quickly determine which vulnerabilities they need to be concerned about.

5) We will post our security advisories to (at least) these mailing lists:

    - asterisk-security
    - asterisk-announce
    - asterisk-users
    - asterisk-dev
    - VOIPSEC (voipsec@voipsa.org)
    - bugtraq (bugtraq@securityfocus.com)
    - full-disclosure (full-disclosure@lists.grok.co.uk)
    - vulnwatch (vulnwatch@vulnwatch.org)

6) We will post and archive all our advisories on the asterisk.org website, and provide an RSS feed for those who wish to watch the advisory listing page with automated newsreaders.

7) We will include the advisory numbers for every vulnerability that was addressed in any release of one of our projects.

This process will begin with three vulnerabilities that are being posted today; these advisories were given advisory numbers ASA-2007-010, -011 and -012. We intentionally skipped -001 through -009 so that we can
review this year's commits and publish official advisories for any other issues that have already been corrected and not properly reported.

We appreciate everyone who provided their input into the discussions regarding our previous handling of security advisories. While not everyone was cordial and courteous with their comments, every opinion
presented to us was taken into account and we are attempting to ensure that everyone will be satisfied with this new process. Obviously it is still a work in process and we welcome additional comments and input on
ways that it could be improved.

As always, thanks for supporting Asterisk, Zaptel and the other Asterisk-related projects!

Posted by Dal at 10:45 PM | | TrackBacks (0) Posted to Asterisk News

April 23, 2007

Skype Prime - Pay Per Call Service

Skype has a new service in Beta called Skype Prime. It allows you to accept calls from clients on a “pay per call” basis. Here’s how it works:  First, upgrade to the latest version of Skype, or download it from Skype.com. It’s free, just like Yahoo! Messenger or MSN Messenger. Once installed, look under Tools in the menu bar at the top, and click “Earn Money With Skype Prime”.

This will take you to a set-up window which will explain all of your options and allow you to set up your own account. Here are the details you’ll see there:

  • Accept calls from Skype users and charge them a fee for your service – easily and directly through Skype.
  • Register your payment details to receive your earnings directly through PayPal.
  • Set up your service and add optional extras with additional fees.
  • Choose various charging options such as per minute or one-off fees.

This is a pretty cool new feature, dont ya think ;)

Of course, Skype already comes with tons of cool features and add-on options. Including neat gadgets, like bluetooth and voicemail and wifi phone packages. Mine even came with a cute canadian copywriter… but I’m not sure if that’s standard on all downloads.

Source: Click Newz

Posted by Dal at 09:08 PM | | TrackBacks (0) Posted to Skype

April 20, 2007

Helio Discontinues EV-DO / Wifi Access

Helio will shut down its Hybrid EV-DO / Wi-Fi service starting May 8th. Users of the service will still be able to access the Boingo Hotspots and 3G data service through May 7th, but afterwards, the cards will no longer work
Hybrid blended Wi-Fi and EV-DO radio technologies and used software to control which radio was connected to the Internet, automatically switching to the cheapest connection.
 
Helio put a notice on its site saying that users are welcome to keep their cards, and that all accounts will be billed a prorated amount up until May 7th. If accounts were already charged for service past May 7th, a refund will be issued.
 
Source: Phone Scoop 

Posted by Dal at 02:31 PM | | TrackBacks (0) Posted to WiFi / Wireless

April 18, 2007

Asterisk WiFi HotSpot Finder

The Asterisk WiFi HotSpot Finder retrieves name and address information for commercial, free, or all Wi-Fi Hot Spots for any zip code in the United States. Simply dial WiFi and key in a zip code using any touchtone phone connected to your Asterisk PBX. Then sit back and wait for E-Gor to read you the names and addresses of the 10 closest Wi-Fi Hot Spots.
 

Posted by Dal at 10:34 AM | | TrackBacks (0) Posted to Asterisk Help

Take Note! Asterisk Bootcamp Debuts July 23-27, 2007

Note:  Great News, I hope too see some more formal and specialized training programs.  My personal favorite with be "Dealing with CLECs Support 101" :P 
 
Big Nerd Ranch, Inc. is pleased to announce a partnership with Sokol & Associates to bring Asterisk training to the Big Nerd Ranch in the form of the new Asterisk Bootcamp, scheduled for July 23-27, 2007. The class provides a week-long, in-depth examination of Asterisk, the open source phone system, under the tutelage of Jared Smith, senior Sokol & Associates consulant and trainer, and Nate Osborne, resident Big Nerd Ranch Asterisk guru.
Jared Smith is co-author of O'Reilly's "Asterisk: The Future of Telephony," the definitive manual for learning Asterisk and the primary text for the class. The class is designed for Network and IT consultants seeking to service the voice/data convergence market, PBX technicians looking to enhance their skills to include Asterisk solutions and support, and Linux/Unix VARs who need a jump-start into telephony. The class also features the dCap certification exam at the end of the week.

Traditional commercial PBX and VoIP phone systems tend to be prohibitively expensive to implement and upgrade, especially for small to medium-sized businesses, and often contain limited feature sets. Asterisk, on the other hand, boasts a powerful, highly flexible open source alternative with minimal start-up hardware costs.

Asterisk supports scripts in various programming languages with customizable features that would easily cost tens of thousands of dollars in a traditional PBX system. In addition, as with many open source technologies, a little Asterisk expertise can go a long way in replacing expensive proprietary software licenses and allow telephony to be a viable solution for the small to medium-sized business.

"I am confident that by bringing together one of the best Asterisk instructors to the best technology training environment, the Big Nerd Ranch with Sokol & Associates have developed the best Asterisk training class available," commented Big Nerd Ranch founder, Aaron Hillegass. "Asterisk Bootcamp is a hands-on immersion class in an all-inclusive retreat setting that gives students the ideal experience for adding Asterisk to their skillset."

The syllabus includes intensive training in the following key areas:

*Understand the components involved in each call (the channel, channel configuration, dial plan, applications, etc.)
*Add, delete and modify user configurations (channel entry, extension, voice mailbox, etc.)
*Create IAX2 or SIP links to service providers and configure common SIP phone models
*Alter basic parameters for Zaptel devices; both FXS and FXO
*Implement new features like MeetMe rooms, a DID for DISA, access to voicemail, etc.
*Build and record prompts for IVR menus, audio text messages, etc.
*Implement queue systems and build a dial plan with a hierarchy of access to users
*Understand and prevent general security threats
*Configure a system to handle and anticipate potential issues related to emergency calls (911/E-911)

No previous experience with Asterisk is required but, for best results, students should have some telephony experience and familiarity with a Linux environment.

Visit the Asterisk Training Page to learn more about Asterisk BootCamp and Asterisk Instructor Jared Smith.

 

Posted by Dal at 10:21 AM | | TrackBacks (0) Posted to Asterisk News

Sprint Taking WiMax Indoors

Sprint Nextel Corp. is already examining a number of different options for providing robust indoor coverage over the WiMax network it is planning to launch in the U.S. at the end of the year and through 2008.
Although the company has already named its major cell site infrastructure vendors for the deployment -- Motorola Inc., Nokia Corp., and Samsung Corp. -- Shen says that the operator has been making "some inquiries" about WiMax "pico cells and micro cells" for in-building applications.
 
"We need to make sure we can address specific markets with WiMax," says Shen. As well as corporate in-building and campus deployments, these could include shopping malls and conference centers. To this end, the operator is examining a number of WiFi options -- from small cells that link to the Internet over Ethernet cable to more standard cellular-style distributed antenna systems.
 
"It depends on the situation," says Shen. "There is no kind of uniform way that we can do this." It is clear that if Sprint gets close to some of its indoor WiMax aims, the technology could become more of a threat to large-scale WiFi deployments than it has been before.
 
Shen says the operator wants WiMax in-building systems that are "as cheap as the WiFi solution." Sprint isn't saying yet who some of its suppliers might be for its varied mini-WiMax requirements. "We can't disclose that," Shen says. There are, however, a diverse collection of vendors working on smaller WiMax networking gear.
 
 

Posted by Dal at 10:17 AM | | TrackBacks (0) Posted to WiMax

April 17, 2007

Adomo Connects Asterisk PBX and Microsoft Exchange

Adomo announced the successful implementation of its solution with Asterisk IP PBX from Digium. Now integrating an open source IP PBX with Microsoft Exchange, Adomo is uniquely able to consolidate a company's voice and e-mail into a single messaging network. This combination provides ongoing reductions in overall total cost of ownership (TCO) to companies when they consolidate voice requirements into a single IP network.

"Adomo's new integration with Asterisk both illustrates and promotes an emerging model effecting widespread demand for and adoption of open source with its adaptability and economics," said Stephen Manetta, VP of Sales and Marketing of DigiNex, a service provider of Asterisk from Digium. "Our Asterisk IP-PBX customers now have Adomo to seamlessly consolidate their company's voice messaging and management with Microsoft Outlook."

In action, "Open Source Asterisk with Adomo has moved our company from a 90's style voice messaging system to a 21st century unified communications platform. The Adomo platform has changed the way we do business and communicate with both internal and external constituents," said Bill Ciminelli, Vice President, Network Development & Services of American Fiber Systems, Inc.

"Adomo especially impacts our mobile users who previously had to separately manage messages on laptops, office computers, office phones and cell phones. With the addition of Adomo, the four messaging points have been collapsed into one, with the e-mail inbox serving as the single repository for all messages."

Posted by Dal at 11:01 AM | | TrackBacks (0) Posted to Asterisk Software

5 Most Useful Plugins for Skype

Skype which is one of the most fantastic internet applications ever built. The beauty of this program enhances, because it lets third party developers to integrate more functionalities to it. Now, We’ll look at the 5 most useful plugins for skype, those plugins which will certainly help you in various situations. The list was long and most of the plugins were really good and it was difficult to choose the best of the lot, but still here is the list and I’m sure that you’ll find these plugins extremely helpful.

1. WhiteBoard Meeting : WhiteBoard Meeting is a plugin which allows you to draw vector graphics, it allows you to insert text and images and various other things. It acts as a white board and the person sitting on the other side, gets the real time updates and thus it comes real handy, when you want to point out something on a picture or draw something.

2. Skype Muter : Skype Muter plugin is helpful for people like me, who love to hear music while they are working and this plugin comes in real handy, when you get an incoming call and it lets you lower down the music or lets you pause it and whenever the call ends, the music starts from where it was stopped. It supports Winamp, Windows Media player, Itunes and others.

3. Fring - Mobile VoIP : Although, Fring is not a plugin of Skype, but it is one of the coolest mobile application built for Skype. It is a software which can be installed in supported mobile phones and using this application, you can use your skypeOUT as well. So, it lets you save money even when you are not at your computer.

4. Remote Call : Remote Call lets you share the desktop and lets the other users take control over the desktop and that way, you can get help from a person, who know a bit more about computers. I don’t see any other benefit of Remote desktop sharing but if you can make use of this service in any other way, then the only thing I’ll say, Good for you :)

5. SAM - Answering Machine : SAM - Answering Machine, is a great plugin which as its name suggests, acts as an answering machine and when you are away or when you are busy on another call, then it records the message for you. You can save the message in MP3 or WAV formats and add personalized messages. I’m sure that there will be various other plugins which will be of great use.

But, these are the ones, which I can’t live without. They offer great functionality and thus these are the must haves for skype. Feel free to tell others about your favorite plugins and the plugins which you think others should be aware of.

Source:  Review Sarus

Posted by Dal at 10:32 AM | | TrackBacks (0) Posted to Skype

April 16, 2007

Nokia Plans WiMAX Phones in 2008

Nokia expects to start selling mobile devices using WiMAX Internet technology in early 2008, the world's top handset maker said on Monday. WiMAX allows very high-speed Internet access from laptops, phones or other mobile devices over greater distances than previous technologies.

Nokia's closest rival in the handset market, U.S. based Motorola, also plans to bring its first WiMAX enabled mobile phone to the market in 2008.

Intel, Nokia, Samsung and Motorola all support the open-standard WiMAX as an alternative wireless broadband Internet connection alongside third generation mobile telephony networks, on which Internet access can be slowed if networks fill up with voice callers.

"Nokia plans to bring its first WiMAX enabled mobile device to market in early 2008," Nokia said in a statement.

WiMAX will make wireless broadband much cheaper to deliver -- up to 10 times cheaper than current third-generation cellular telephony networks. But, while it provides fast Internet access, it is not very well suited for wireless voice calls.

The radio spectrum for WiMAX networks is rented out by regulators at more affordable prices than for 3G mobile phone spectrum, and WiMAX equipment vendors claim the infrastructure and handheld devices will be cheaper than 3G systems.

Source: PC World  

Posted by Dal at 11:29 AM | | TrackBacks (0) Posted to WiMax Hardware

iPod Rumored to Gain Wifi Capabilites

It is rumored that Apple will be releasing a WiFi enabled iPod before the end of the year. While WiFi iPods have been rumored in the past it may be that there is some truth to it this time. This rumor is fueled by component manufacturers claims of Apple orders for WiFi modules for the iPod.

Microsoft’s Zune has had WiFi capabilities since it’s introduction. However, Microsoft’s implementation of Zune WiFi has been criticized by both reviewers and users. I believe Apple could do a better job of merging this technology to the functionality of the iPod.

Will we also see a wide screen iPod as part of the same release? ;-)
Ah, a rumor is but a seed and we’ll have to wait and see if it germinates.
 
Source:  Meandering Passage 

Posted by Dal at 11:13 AM | | TrackBacks (0) Posted to WiFi / Wireless

April 13, 2007

Skype Looking For Beta-testers For Their Enterprise Offering

Skype announced yesterday that they are looking for companies with a 1,000 or more employees to test an enterprise class version of Skype. According to the release, Skype Enterpirse Edition has all of the standard Skype features, in addition to:
  • Enterprise Network Compatibility
  • Company-owned Skype Name Creation
  • Customisable to Corporate Requirements
  • Direct Skype Technical Support
  • Maintenance

Although this sounds like an excellent proposition, I wonder about the load that using Skype will take on an enterprise level data network, especially one that, presumably, was built to only handle PC related traffic.

While it seems that Skype *may* have built some sort of technology into the enterprsie client to alleviate this concern via their "enterprise network compatibilty", I know of 50-100 person companies that use Skype, who struggle with issues related to to voice/video calling on their PC data network.

If the load can not be adequetely handled by the enterprise network, it is fairly certain that latency, jitter, and packet loss will occur resulting in a less than favorable calling experience, and more than likely poor results from the Skype for enterprise program.

Source: VoIP Supply 

Posted by Dal at 11:19 AM | | TrackBacks (0) Posted to Skype

US Military and Cisco Plans to Launch Internet Router Into Space

The U.S. military plan to test an Internet router in space, in a project that could also benefit civilian broadband satellite communications. Cisco Systems and Intelsat General, a subsidiary of Intelsat, are among the companies selected by the U.S. Department of Defense for its Internet Routing In Space (IRIS) project, which aims to deliver military communications through a satellite-based router.

Potential nonmilitary benefits of the IRIS program include the ability to route IP (Internet Protocol) traffic between satellites in space in much the same way packets are moved on the ground, reducing delays, saving on capacity and offering greater networking flexibility, Lloyd Wood, space initiatives manager in the Global Defense, Space & Security division of Cisco, said Thursday.

To send a message from one remote terminal to another via satellite today requires the first terminal to send the data to the satellite, from where it is bounced back to an earth station for routing. The earth station retransmits it to the satellite on a different frequency, selected depending on its destination, and the satellite bounces it back to its destination.

With the router in space, the satellite can pick the channel used to send the message to its destination. By eliminating the message's round trip to the earth station, operators can increase satellite capacity and reduce transmission times between remote terminals by using fewer hops and fewer frequencies for each message.

For the IRIS program, satellite operator Intelsat will manage the three-year project, with Cisco will provide IP networking software for the on-board router.

Sat Phone Rental 

After testing, the technology will be available for commercial use.

Although satellites have been passively relaying IP traffic since the 1970s, the use of an orbiting satellite as an active part of the Internet is a more recent development, according to Wood.

Traditionally, communication signals that come up to a satellite in either the C-band or the Ku-band, go down in the same band, he said. They require separate transponders that don't communicate with each other.

Click Here to Continue Reading 

 

Posted by Dal at 11:10 AM | | TrackBacks (0) Posted to Cisco

April 12, 2007

Extending a WiFi Network with Two Macs and a FireWire Cable

Note:  Good read and classic solution.

Last night’s Oxford Geek Night went really well, despite more than the usual flurry of problems. It’s definitely true that the more geeks there are in a room the less likely it is that the projector will work! Thankfully we got everything up and running in time for the talks to start, although it was a pretty close call.

A few of the talks needed internet access from the stage—always risky at conferences, which is why I’ve taken to recording screencasts of anything I want to demonstrate just in case there’s a problem. For the last event we hooked up a mobile phone to a laptop running an ad-hoc WiFi network, which was slow but worked fine.

 

This time round we checked with the venue well in advance to confirm that their WiFi had been installed.

The wireless was indeed up and running, but there was one pretty significant problem: the stage was just out of range! We could pick up a network signal fine from about 10 feet away from the stage, but the layout of the building meant that the stage itself was a WiFi blackspot.

At that point the evening started feeling a bit like Apollo 13. We had a bunch of laptops, various cables (but sadly no 10 foot network cable; that’s on the list for next time) and about half an hour to go before the event kicked off. That’s when I remembered that Internet Connection Sharing under OS X has a “FireWire” option.

So here’s how to build your own WiFi repeater using two Macs and a FireWire cable:

  1. Connect Mac A to the existing WiFi network. Confirm with ping or a browser.
  2. Turn off the AirPort card on Mac B (for the moment).
  3. Run a FireWire cable between A and B.
  4. On Mac A, bring up System Preferences -> Sharing -> Internet.
  5. Share your connection from “AirPort” to “Built-in FireWire”.
  6. On Mac B, find System Preferences -> Network -> Built-in FireWire, and check that you’ve successfully connected.
  7. Confirm that Mac B can see the internet, using ping or a browser.
  8. On Mac B, browse to System Preferences -> Sharing -> Internet.
  9. Share your connection from “Built-in FireWire” to “AirPort”.
  10. Click “AirPort Options...” and set a name for the new network (and optional WEP key). This is the network that other machines will connect to.
  11. Hit “Start”.

All we had to do then was position our pair of laptops somewhere that was in WiFi range of both the venue network and the stage. Job done!

Except for one thing... we forgot to factor in the dampening factor of human bodies. As the area filled up the signal strength from the venue WiFi reduced, leading to intermittent network failures.
 
 

Posted by Dal at 10:48 AM | | TrackBacks (0) Posted to WiFi / Wireless

April 10, 2007

WiMax Case Study - Delivery Industry

Note:  Found this little nugget on WiMax.com.  I love this type of material, helps get the crank turning.

I love tracking a package from FEDEX or UPS online. Online tracking has no doubt been one of the delivery industry's singular pieces of customer service genius. As you know the package is assigned a tracking number and a bar code is attached. Every stop along the way, the package bar code is read and the time and location of that reading is fed into a database which is then accessed online by all parties involved.

How could WiMAX improve this picture?

1.    The delivery companies could cooperate and graduate and build a nationwide WiMAX network (or at least in the most dense urban areas).

2.    Step 2 is where delivery people have WiMAX tablet type notebooks that scan the packages as they are delivered such that as packages are delivered that info is fed into the customer-accessible online database that would read "Package delivered 2:42 PM delivery truck #345". That device could be SMS and/or VoIP enabled providing real-time communications with a driver. Customers expecting a package that they would have to sign for could drop a short message to the driver "Yo, goin' out for a Starbucks back at 3 PM sharp, I promise! See ya then!"

3.    WiMAX telematics could be brought into play so that dispatchers would know where each delivery truck was in real time without having to radio the driver for his or her "20" (location). Many inefficiencies could be taken out of the system thus boosting profitability.

4.    Most delivery companies use bar code now but want to move to RFID. RFID readers could then relay that info via WiMAX as a backhaul to the larger network. That way, the reader could even be mobile and some packages might not even have to go through a warehouse for barcoding/scanning/logging. RFID could also interface with a WiMAX subscriber device in the delivery truck so that the delivery company could tell customers in real-time exactly where the package was.

5.    The first WiFi phones were incorporated into Symbol's bar code reader so that warehouse people could scan and talk at the same time. Really. WiMAX could be used to blanket enormous warehouse facilities with WiMAX such that multiple WiFi access points need not be installed and managed over that great complexes.

6.    Now lets stretch it a little further: ground-based WiMAX base stations in ground-to-air mode with cargo planes to track airborne planes over their predictable air routes. In other words, no more scanning and entering into a database. Just stick RFID tags on 'em, load and go. Tag reading and database reading can happen while airborne. Forget overnight delivery, we'll have it there Tonight.
 
Source: WiMax.com
 

Posted by Dal at 04:23 PM | | TrackBacks (0) Posted to WiMax

April 09, 2007

Linksys Announces WRT150N - New Wireless N Router

Linksys today announced the immediate availability of a new member of its Wireless-N Family - Linksys Wireless-N Home Router (WRT150N), which presents three devices in one box. The WRT150N is a Wireless-N (draft 802.11n) access point, a 4-port full-duplex 10/100 switch and a router which ties it all together and lets users’ whole network share a high-speed cable or DSL Internet connection. 

The Linksys Wireless-N Home router is designed to deliver more speed and range without the high cost of new technology. It is a reliable choice for home users.

Incredible speeds with Wireless-N Technology
Utilizes the latest Wireless-N (draft 802.11n) technology, the WRT150N is designed to deliver faster speeds at up to 9 times faster and 3 times the range of Wireless-G* when teamed up with the Wireless-N Notebook Adapter (WPC300N), Wireless-N Desktop Adapter (WMP300N) or the Wireless-N USB Network Adapter (WUSB300N).
 
Wireless-N is the next generation of wireless with advanced radio technology that can increase speed with coverage that virtually helps to eliminate dead spots in the wireless coverage area. The level of speed that Wireless-N offers makes it ideal for media-centric applications like streaming video, gaming, and Voice over IP telephony, even all at the same time.

“The new WRT150N is Linksys’ answer for consumers who wish to utilize the Wireless-N technology and connect multiple devices in their home network at incredible speeds. This is a sign of the many wireless home networks that have come to include various lifestyle and consumer appliances with wireless access. The Linksys Wireless-N Home Router is an affordable solution which provides a higher level of convenience, security and performance to your own home wireless network.” said Sanjeev Gupta, Linksys Regional Sales Director for Asia Pacific.

Secure and Convenient
The Linksys Wireless-N Home Router can encode all wireless transmissions with industrial-strength 128-bit encryption which helps to protect data and privacy. Setup and configuration is quick and simple with the web browser-based configuration utility. It can also serve as user network’s DHCP Server, has a powerful SPI firewall to help protect user PCs against intruders and most known Internet attacks, and supports Virtual Private Network (VPN) pass-through.

Pricing and Availability
The WRT150N is available immediately through authorised distributors, key retailers and value-added resellers for an estimated street price of $179.00.
 
 

Posted by Dal at 09:22 AM | | TrackBacks (0) Posted to Wireless Hardware

April 06, 2007

Bucking the Conventional WiMAX Wisdom

Note:  Good Read, I like the observations and statistics used to make the case.
 
For a technology that is just emerging into commercial deployment, WiMAX already has a lot of conventional wisdom congealed around it. Most of it has to do with the wireless technology's fabled ability to span great distances in a single hop.
 
For one thing, that's supposed to let WiMAX blanket big chunks of territory using far fewer cells than can WiFi, with its pathetic need for hotspots on almost every corner. For another, it supposedly makes WiMAX ideal for connecting nodes in the mesh networks that are the only practical approach for providing municipal wireless broadband access.
Tropos Networks begs to differ with both bits of wisdom, and has come out with a product that backs up its beliefs. After running some simulations about six months ago, the metropolitan mesh network vendor concluded that even WiMAX will need picocells, which are small enough that it takes 20 or more to cover a square mile of urban turf to provide true mobile broadband connectivity.
 
Part of it has to do with the changing nature of the Internet, with its two-way video, photo uploads and the like. "With Web 2, we're moving away from Internet access and towards Internet interaction," says Tropos marketing vice president Bert Williams. That means uplink speed has to be as substantial as downlink speed, to the tune of at least 1 Mbps, according to Williams. That's hard to do with mobile devices for a couple of reasons. One is the inherent limitations of the devices.
 
"They're constrained by physical size and battery life, and so their transmit power is very low," explains Williams. "So while they may be able to hear the big stick talking down to them, they can't talk back. For a traditional cellular system that's not a problem, because they need about 8 Kbps to get your voice through. But for high-speed data it turns out to be a big problem."
 
Besides, big cells, or macrocells, are inconsistent. While devices near the center of a cell get great bandwidth, those near the edge "starve," Williams claims. In fact, the tests showed that only 25% of devices in a WiMAX macrocell network get broadband connectivity at or above the 1 Mbps threshold. With picocells, the number rises above 90%.
 
In short, its tests convinced Tropos — to its surprise — that macrocells wouldn't work very well for WiMAX-based broadband access. Tropos also thinks WiMAX won't take over as the predominant method for connecting wireless mesh access points to each other. For one thing, there's lots more unlicensed WiFi spectrum, than licensed WiMAX spectrum available. "It's a case of 30 Mhz versus 500 Mhz of spectrum, and by the way it's free," states Williams. "So we believe the availability of spectrum is going to continue to make WiFi the technology of choice inside the mesh."
 
 

Posted by Dal at 12:00 PM | | TrackBacks (0) Posted to WiMax

April 05, 2007

Don't use WEP for Wi-Fi security (LOL)

Note:  3 Seconds is not much time.  Forget War Driving, now we will have "War Walking".  I run everything over WPA and only run sensitive data over a hardline.
 
The Wi-Fi security protocol WEP should not be relied on to protect sensitive material, according to three German security researchers who have discovered a faster way to crack it. They plan to demonstrate their findings at a security conference in Hamburg this weekend.
 
Mathematicians showed as long ago as 2001 that the RC4 key scheduling algorithm underlying the WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy) protocol was flawed, but attacks on it required the interception of around 4 million packets of data in order to calculate the full WEP security key.
Further flaws found in the algorithm have brought the time taken to find the key down to a matter of minutes -- not necessarily fast enough to break into systems that change their security keys every five minutes.

Now it takes just three seconds to extract a 104-bit WEP key from intercepted data using a 1.7-GHz Pentium M processor. The necessary data can be captured in less than a minute, and the attack requires so much less computing power than previous attacks that it could even be performed in real time by someone walking through an office.

Anyone using Wi-Fi to transmit data they want to keep private, whether it's banking details or just e-mail, should consider switching from WEP to a more robust encryption protocol, the researchers said.

"We think this can even be done with some PDAs or mobile phones, if they are equipped with wireless LAN hardware," said Erik Tews, a researcher in the computer science department at Darmstadt University of Technology in Darmstadt, Germany.

Tews, along with colleagues Ralf-Philipp Weinmann and Andrei Pyshkin, published a paper about the attack, showing that their method needs far less data to find a key than previous attacks: Just 40,000 packets are needed for a 50% chance of success and 85,000 packets for a 95% chance, they said.

Although stronger encryption methods have come along since the first flaws in WEP were discovered, the new attack is still relevant, the researchers said. Many networks still rely on WEP for security: 59% of the 15,000 Wi-Fi networks surveyed in a large German city in September 2006 used it, with only 18% using the newer WPA (Wi-Fi Protected Access) protocol to encrypt traffic. A survey of 490 networks in a smaller German city last month found 46% still using WEP and 27% using WPA.

Click Here to Continue Reading 

Posted by Dal at 10:01 AM | | TrackBacks (0) Posted to VoIP Security

HDTV Over Mobile WiMax

Note: Okay we should expect this to hit the U.S. market sometime in 2017 :) 
 
Japan Radio Company and Runcom Technologies have completed the development of WiMAX base station equipment and user terminals and jointly demonstrated the highest throughput ever achieved over Mobile WiMAX networks at the recent CTIA Conference. Based on an advanced version of the IEEE802.16e-2005 standard, operating at 2.5GHz, they achieved a record throughput of 30 megabits per second.

A better solution than Google’s TISP, which apparently is not ’so’ far fetched after-all.

According to the company press release:

“By running a High Definition TV application over a Mobile WiMAX Network enabled us to demonstrate the fantastic potential of Mobile WiMAX as a Broadband Access Technology ” said Israel Koffman, Runcom’s VP of Marketing; “The collaboration with a leading company in Radio technology such as JRC enabled the team to bring OFDMA technology to perform one of its highest records.”

Dr Fumio Murakami, General Manager of WiMAX Project at JRC noted: “Japan, as a Sophisticated Communications Markets is expecting superior performance from the WiMAX networks to compete with the existing broadband wireless networks in the country; The collaboration with a pioneer in OFDMA technology such as Runcom supported JRC in its plan to demonstrate such performance to the leading operators in Japan.”

 Source: Wireless Watch

Posted by Dal at 09:42 AM | | TrackBacks (0) Posted to WiMax

April 03, 2007

Whereabouts of Kinmirai Tsushin Boss Unknown

Note:  Well with $30 Million dollars lets hope he knows how to be lost.  I do hope the investors recover some of their lost investments.

Masaru Ishii, the president of the Internet-protocol phone service provider Kinmirai Tsushin Inc., which is suspected of defrauding about 2,000 people out of about 30 billion yen, visited China in late November, and his whereabouts are still unknown, sources said Monday. Ishii, 50, went directly to China after a visit to South Korea, before the company was officially declared bankrupt, the sources said.

The Metropolitan Police Department plans to obtain an arrest warrant for Ishii on suspicion of fraud. If he does not return to Japan, the MPD will ask Interpol to place him on its international wanted list. The MPD also plans to build a fraud case against former executives of the company.
 
Kinmirai Tsushin collected a large amount of money from investors by selling telecommunication servers and falsely promising investors returns through fees from IP phone users. Bankruptcy procedures began for the company on Dec. 20. The MPD searched Kinmirai Tsushin's headquarters in Chuo Ward, Tokyo, and about 20 other offices on suspicion of fraud on Dec. 4.
 
The police seized almost all 1,389 phone servers located at 94 relay stations across the country. Most of these servers were of an old type no longer used, meaning they cannot generate profits from fees. The MPD has questioned former Kinmirai Tsushin executives over what the company did with the money collected from investors. However, Ishii has been out of contact since he left for South Korea on Nov. 17.
 
The MPD's investigation found that Ishii entered China, where one of the company's servers is located as an overseas relay station. The MPD has concluded that Ishii instructed his employees to sell the old-type servers. When the arrest warrant is issued, the MPD said it will request related authorities to confirm Ishii's whereabouts and start preparations to place him on the international wanted list.
 
According to the Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry, Kinmirai Tsushin recorded sales of 18.1 billion yen in the business year ending in July 2005, with only 300 million yen of that from telecommunication fee profits from IP phone users.
 
Source: Yomiuri 
 

Posted by Dal at 10:16 AM | | TrackBacks (0) Posted to VoIP News

April 02, 2007

5 Steps to Starting Your Own Telephone Company with Asterisk

Note: Now that is a disruptive idea 
 
Fed up with your local Telecom provider? Tired of poor customer service? In 5 easy steps you can start your own Telephone Company. In the new world of Open Source software, low cost hardware technology and the Internet, it is very easy for anyone to start their own Long Distance telephone company.
 
Yes! You can start your own Long Distance Telephone Company for under $5,000. With the big boys charging 5 to 10 cents a minute North America wide, you can make money when your actual costs are less than 2 cents a minute. Let’s take a look where we can spend our start up funding.

Your office costs will be pretty minimal as all you need are some business cards, a decent website, a maildrop and tab with your local coffee shop. This will set you back for less than a few hundred bucks.

Your biggest and monthly recurring cost (don’t forget marketing costs) will be your Telecommunication Infrastructure costs. The two elements of these costs are co-location and local access or T1/PRI circuits. You need to locate your Telephone Carrier PBX in a Telco hotel or managed host environment. They provide the power, environmentals and the access to the various carrier circuits all in one place. Your carrier equipment sits right beside the racks used by the “Big Boys” in the industry.

You can probably negotiate all of this with a couple of PRI circuits for under $2000 per month. The MCI sales representative will be very happy to buy you lunch after you tell him that you also require LD termination. Now, take your credit card and stop buy Radio Shack for some hardware and software.

You now need to assemble your Telephone Carrier PBX. Thanks to the team of open source developers it is possible to get yourself a low cost solution. No need to call Nortel for a Central Office switch. First, you need to get a decent Intel P4 server and some LINUX software. This can be had for under $2000. Don’t forget a back up drive.

Second, you need some software and the one you want is from Asterisk. Asterisk is the developer of software for an open source TDM/VOIP PBX. This is a free download but add $200 to get yourself some books and manuals as you will need them.

Third, you need to install network interface cards. You can get these from Digium or other manufacturers. They sell cards for the Asterisk TDM/VOIP PBX. You will need some cards for say 2 PRI cards. These will cost you about $800 each. If your marketing guys are optimistic, get a quad card.

Fourth, get a telecom technician that knows voice, data and Linux and start assembling the platform and making your interconnections.

Fifth, start your advertising campaign to your target market and start answering sales calls.

Congratulations! You are now the president and CEO of your own Telephone Company.
 
Source: Virtual PBX 

Posted by Dal at 11:32 AM | | TrackBacks (0) Posted to Asterisk News

Search



Recent Posts

Tech Topics

Archives

Subscribe to this blog's feed
[What is this?]
Powered by: Dal