John Todd gives a preview of Astricon 2010, we chat about AMOOCON in Rostock next week and about various VoIP trials and tribulations. We have a special VUC discount code for you. Enter code AC10VUC for a significant discount.

We’ve been testing Skype for SIP open beta today. This allows you to connect Skype to your commercial PBX, much as Skype for Asterisk allows connection between Skype and Asterisk. Listen to the recording to learn more about the experiences to  date.

Many VoIP geeks aren’t into the social media part of the Internet, yet I find it to be an integral part of both business and pleasure today.

Stefan has posted the video of my presentation at AMOOCON. We all look at our talks and say “OMG, was I really that bad?” I warn you in advance, and have made note of it, my talk starts way too slowly.

The idea was to compare social networking in 1976, 1996 and 2006 and then today, 2009 by evoking my ham radio days in L.A. We used a 220 Mhz repeater and walkie talkies to talk on the phone from anywhere years before the cellphone became ubiquitous. In 1986, I was using the Internet without even knowing what it was with rlogin, rpipe, etc. In 1996, I built a PHP 2 site that basically did exactly what Twitter does, an open IM with a web interface. In 2006, Twitter came along and in 2009 we have a growing number of how to keep track of friends and more importantly, make new connections in our centers of interest.

The link with VoIP is that we now are able to meet people like Dan York, Jeff Pulver and many other movers in the VoIP space through all the usual channels and hopefully through the our own VUC as well. The VUC started around March 2007 and has grown in many ways since then, thanks to Mark Spencer’s immediate support and later, Digium’s realization of the importance of the whole social transformation that is taking place on the Internet. We have had some help from the people whose logos you see at the top of the page and I’m grateful to them and of course to every participant, especially the core group of “friends”, all of whom I hope to meet some day.

r/z

And now, hot off the FlipVideo, here’s a taste of Rostock and AMOOCON from a human perspective:

THE DIGIUM you didn’t know existed:

And then there was the “C Shanties”

[audio:http://media.blubrry.com/winelover/recordings.talkshoe.com/TC-22622/TS-219547.mp3|titles=Return from AMOOCON]

A great time was had by all, John Todd and I hash over some of the highlights. Part two: Diana and Paul from YATE.

[audio:http://media.blubrry.com/winelover/recordings.talkshoe.com/TC-22622/TS-222070.mp3|titles=A taste of YATE]

MP3 DOWNLOAD PART 1 MP3 OWNLOAD PART 2

IRC TRanscript 2009-05-08

[audio:http://voipusersconference.org/wp-content/uploads/amoocondiscussion.mp3|titles=AMOOCON 2009, Tim Panton, John Todd, Russell Brand, Kevin Fleming...]

Although I managed to herd a great group of people into the speakers’ lounge and record a wide-ranging discussion, the first part was lost due to a software glitch on the recorder. It seems that the low battery level shut things down and ditched the file. The part posted here is only the second hour (heh) but there are some interesting things to hear.

Topics covered include codecs, video, Skype for Asterisk, teleconference robots, “robot Mark”, presence, stereo codecs, and lots more. One side (Zoa, Diana Cionoiu etc) rags on the iPhone, the other side says “get used to it”.

MP3 DOWNLOAD LINK

Stefan Wintermeyer wrote The Asterisk Book (Das Asterisk Buch) and is working on a new book now. He’s a jovial guy with a great concept for throwing an entertaining as well as enlightening event. Here’s a little about how and why he does it.

Disclaimer, like the other videos, this was shot in the first experience with the new video tools and there are mistakes in switching. The spirit of these are linked to the fact that they are live (undeited) so please excuse ther warts.

Siemens Enterprise new OpenStage phones looked interesting. As the guys say, this is a desk phone (somewhere just under $500 retail)  made for the decision-maker (aka, “The Boss”, “Mr. Big”) yet it handles like an iPod. I’d love to check out the audio quality of this baby. OpenStage 80 is shown in the video.

More info here

[audio:http://media.blubrry.com/winelover/recordings.talkshoe.com/TC-22622/TS-198844.mp3]

IRC Transcript 2009-03-27

SIP hacking has escalated and there was a wave of it in recent times. John Todd published a simple common sense set of rules that are worth reading. One of the main risk areas is using user names and secrets that are too easy to guess (such as extension 200, username=2000,password=wakeme).

More on SIP for Skype etc. That looks like it will be an ongiung discussion. See the session with Michael Robertson above.

We briefly reviewed a new book called Asterisk Gateway Interface 1.4 and 1.6 Programming. John Todd and /me have both been looking at it and we both think it looks good. Since the discussion, I’ve read more of it and I will talk more about it in a future session.

Amazon link (beer money!)
Asterisk Gateway Interface 1.4 and 1.6 Programming

We also mentioned AMOOCON where we can meet up for those of you who will be in Europe or are already there. I will be presenting two papers, one on VoicePHP and one on the VoIP community and various social networking tools.

[audio:http://media.blubrry.com/winelover/recordings.talkshoe.com/TC-22622/TS-23423.mp3]

Practical Asterisk 1.4 & 1.6: From Beginner to Expert

Stefan and his translator Stephen Bosch will be with us to talk about this new book, already a best-seller in German and soon to appear in English. Stefan produced Asterisk Tag in 2008 now called AMOOCON in 2009.