Skype and Warner ring VoIP tones together

Skype has signed a deal with Warner Music in which it will licence all of the Warner's music to make any of it available as Skype ring tones.

Each 30 second ringtone will sell for US $1.5 These are to be available within the next 2 months with the first 'featured artist' being Madonna.

Banks banking on VoIP

It is readily apparent that internet telephony is clearly advantageous to regular home user but VoIP for business is quickly becoming the preferred way of carrying business phone calls as well.

A clear case in point are banks with Bank of America (BOA) and investment bank Merril Lynch reorganizing their internal bank telephony to be carried through the means of voice over IP calling. BOA is now deploying 180,000 Cisco equipment based IP phones

This VoIP trend is clearly global, for example the Chinese internet telephony market is predicted to grow by some 25% by the year 2011, including that way over 60 million people.

Philips' new cordless VoIP video internet phone

It is called VP5500 and can function both as a Wi-Fi internet phone or videophone with a click of a button. The video-phone utilizes Linux operating system and is intended for use through high speed internet connection at home with or without a computer.

The camera on it rotates 240 degrees, sports a zoom feature and captures still images in addition to the video.

New Sony mouse-phone

Sony Japan has made a mouse that is also an internet phone handset to be used with internet phone services like Skype, Google Talk, Yahoo Messenger, etc.

The design of it is similar to the Sysgration one, which I mentioned here. It doesn’t feature a dial pad but comes in assorted colors featuring blue, black, red, silver and green.

Google Talk joins Open Federation

Google has announced today on their blog that is has joined open federation' which is a term referring to a VoIP standard allowing the sharing of voice data between otherwise non compatible computer messenger programs.

The federation supports the industry standard XMPP protocol which includes Earthlink, Gizmo Project, Tiscali, Netease, Chikka, MediaRing and number of others.

Google is also planning to be supporting the SIP standard for internet calls sometime in the future.

Skype now selling $318,000 a day

Since the acquisition of Skype by eBay in October last year it has sold $24.8 million worth of VoIP servicing in 78 days.

Skype, founded by a Luxemburg company is still most popular in Europe with 87% of users being outside of the United States. The total number of Skype users has also climbed a little in the fourth quarter of last year to 74.7 million.

VoIP Chips

The market for VoIP microprocessors is predicted to add $2.4 billion by the year 2009. As it happens the internet telephony feature will become ever more mainstream and embedded into a number of devices like cellphones, PDAs, cars and even cameras, portable audio and video players and the many combinations and variations of such.

Also aiding the integration process will be undoubtedly decreasing cost and ever more increasing sophistication of the processors at the same time. Who knows what's gonna be next - digital telepathy anyone?

Now it's a mouse, now it's a VoIP phone

Taiwanese company called Sysgration has developed a device that is both a computer mouse as well as an internet phone. This VoIP compatible prototype model has a turquoise color and a dial up keypad inside the openable mouse top.

Source: Aving.net

Almost Free USB internet phone set

Computer Geeks, an Oceanside, California based online discount electronics store has an AU-100 USB VoIP phone going for $39.99 - but till the end of January now, it also offers a mail in rebate for $39.99 - on that same phone. So that comes to zero dollars except for the shipping costs and taxes.

This VoIP phone comes with one year warranty and is fully compatible with Skype, Vonage soft phone, Net2Phone,X-Ten, StanaPhone, SJPhone, MSN Mesenger, AOL Instant Messenger, Firefly and eyeBeam.

It also features a USB 2.0 suppport, built in 16 bit sound card, adjustable volume, echo cancellation, noise reduction and full duplex communication and approvals by FCC (Federal Communications Commision) and CE (Confrormite Europeenne - French for 'European Conformity')

Internet phone wedding

Wiriadi Sutrisno, a physiotherapist in California and Rita Sri Mutiara Dewi in Indonesia, both in their 50s - exchanged wedding vows using Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) connection.

"We've exchanged photos, chat almost daily and often call each other, but we've never met," said Dewi.

A religious official supervised their exchange of vows, stated Jakarta Post, yesterday.

Video monitors, speaker phones and web-cams were provided by PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia

Comcast expecting 1 million new internet phone customers in 2006

In the last year Comcast added 202,000 new VoIP personal accounts to its payroll while this year their plans are to boost it by another one million.

Comcast begun their internet phone service in June of last year with centres in just two cities. Meantime their plans are to expand their VoIP service to all of their markets totalling some 40 million households, by the end of 2006.

Uniden showcases new wireless internet phone box

Uniden America in conjunction with 8x8 has developed a new household VoIP package, called UIP 165P going for $130. It is a 5.8Hhz cordless communication system having the ability to link up to 10 Wi-Fi VoIP internet phones to a single wireless base station while giving each user their own distinctive ring-tone.

It is compatible with Packet8 VoIP service featuring unlimited North America calling for $20 a month. It is one of the many new joint venture entries showcased at the current Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

WiFi internet phone for Skype

NetGear Inc., well known for its router related products - introduced a cordless phone for internet voice comunication through the WiFi hot spots connections and Ebay's Skype.

It has been announced now at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. Also at that show Panasonic and Phillips announced their own wireless VoIP phones. All these will be simmilar to the Vonage WiFi phone I wrote about here last month.

NetGear is to announce the availability and pricing of this new cool internet phone by the end of March. Yes, WiFi internet phone for Skype beautifully examplifies the future of VoIP technology.

Skype contracts Escalade

Ascalade Communications Inc., a wireless phone manufacturer announced today having signed an agreement with Skype to develop and deliver multiple Skype certified telecommunications products including wireless VoIP phones.

"We are very excited to announce our partnership with Skype," said Edmund Ho, president and CEO of Ascalade. "Our involvement with Skype signifies our commitment to the development of products in new and growing market segments. With the exponential growth in the number of Skype users, Ascalade is looking to meet a growing demand for innovative Skype products, such as our Companion Series of VoIP phones and next-generation Skype products that are currently under development."

One of the products is already available. It is a cordless internet phone device allowing user an access to Skype contact list, making Skype calls, changing online presence and remote activation of email. The features of it include color screen, speakerphone, polyphonic ring tones, and caller line identification.

"Skype is more than just a company or software phenomenon - there's an entire ecosystem of important companies building products around it," said James Bilefield, vice president of business development of Skype. "Collaborating on development with leading designers like Ascalade will continue to be critical to the success of our business as the Internet communication market grows and matures."