Wednesday, July 29, 2009

10 Tools of VoIP Success, How to Get More

What has led to the success of so voIP entrepreneurs even in a time of "global recession"?

1. The proliferation of broadband, Internet and wireless
2. Open source technologies such as Asterisk, freeSWITCH, Yate, OpenSER (now OpenSIPS)
3. Free or near free calling tools: the Internet Phone of VocalTec in 1995, BuddyPhone, Skype, Gizmo Project, MagicJack
4. The power and magic of SIP
5. Local presence and virtual presence promoted by Virtual Phone Line (2000)
6. The ability for any entrepreneur or company to become a global provider via local international phone numbers that give a local presence to their users from DIDX (2005) (VPL and DIDX, inventions of Rehan Allahwala Ahmed)
7. Codecs G723, G729
8. Jeff Pulver, Vonage and VON and Jeff's insistence on breaking the mold, never be satisfied
9. IP PBX, a.k.a. IP PABX less expensive and more flexible than traditional PBX
10. ITEXPO and TMCnet.com under the modest but innovative leadership of Rich Tehrani

We've not even touched the edge of what's possible. Who knows what mind-blowing, life-improving innovations lurk in the minds of those in remote and rural areas, emerging countries, third world countries, developing countries? A shameless plug for a conference to consider whose discussion will include this very important topic: ITU Telecom World 2009.

... browse some of our team's other blogs at http://blogs.didx.net and http://blog.tmcnet.com/monetizing-ip-communications/. You're welcome to comment, contribute, and collaborate any time.

Sunday, July 26, 2009

HR Nightmare Episode 2 and taking submissions

Wow, I already got a new HR Nightmare story. Names have been changed to protect the innocent.

A company in Whoville Commons, hired a thirty - eight year old MSSQL server DBA not from an advertised job but because she put her resume in at the human resources department. She was fresh out of a local college and had just become a "Certified Database Administrator" of her chosen application. While she had held one job part time in the past it was working for another firm in another town while she went to school. Unfortunately at this firm she really only was allowed to do low end workstation maintenance.

While she had been thru college and had a four year degree in computer science she really didn't have that much experience with MSSQL and while she had taken the tests she went to a training school that one of her teachers recommended and instead of going thru the book they basically handed her the answers and read them aloud in class for the time period she was in the training company's boot camp. They do this as they have a guaranteed 100% pass rate. She really didn't realize this was a problem or illegal as the training company presented it as authorized materials.

Since this woman had a fairly good resume and was certified, the company jumped at the chance to get her. It was an amazing opportunity for them as they had a twenty four hour seven day a week mission critical database that had been installed just two years before and they were paying a local company four times what she was making in salary to maintain it. The woman is extemely intelligent and actually had fully memorized the answers to all the test questions which basically gave her a good understanding of the system. She knew enough literally to maintain the system with little or no assistance.

Everything went well for almost two and a half months. After this period of time during a routine weekend morning maintenance the database server started experiencing major high process and blocking locks. The system was virtually crippled, she still apparently had everything under control. She verified what was causing blocking locks and killed the spid. She then ran queries and analysis to try and find out why this kept happening.

Unfortunately she had changed the logging mode of the database when she first arrived to simplify so no changes were recorded. She really didn't understand this as she hadn't read the books and was being kept so busy at work and home because of the company backlog that she couldn't do what ten years ago most people would have considered a normal amount of research for a computer or programming position.

Her backups which were being handled by tape and by the jobs previously setup before her arrival were filegroup and .bak files only to tape and were only backing up one section of the database which she didn't realize. Needless to say during her analysis because she really didn't know how to verify integrity of the data or the specific commands related to the MSSQL server system as they hadn't been test questions she decided to delete the data and readd records as a test.

Well in this instance she deleted over half the database by accident. When she went to do a recovery by restoring the database she had only one filegroup. The company was at a complete loss they relied on their database for multi-site inventory and customer maintenance. The employer called another outside company as she didn't have any other answer than a four or five month reentry of all data.

The outside company sent another certified individual to meet with her and try to look at the system for a possible recovery but it became apparent to the outside company and the owner after they talked that she knew little or nothing about the system. She was fired for the data loss and there was no recovery. The only reason that they knew of the school was because she encouraged the other systems administrators who maintained the system to go get certified thru this company because it was "super quick and super easy" and you didn't even need to read the book, see she had gone into detail with her supervisor and the Systems Administrators.

Because of this the company had to do a paper reentry of which some records were just lost due to age. They felt that since she was so knew that a lawsuit against her would not be profitable or much likelihood of winning. She also did not get turned into the certification company or Microsoft but she helped to make a worse name for the product and the company which had invested in it than anyone could imagine. Can you imagine calling a service company because they forgot to send you a monthly bill?

If you wish to post feel free to edit my horrible writing just don't use my name as one or two of the guys from Whoville would and I quote "never talk to me again" and he is still laughing at the situation. The customers and the poor half bankrupt company are still not amused.

Thanks to the guy from Whoville for submitting. The first HR Nightmare story is at http://suzanne.supertec.com/2009/07/hr-nightmare-episode-1-and-taking.html.

... browse some of our team's other blogs at http://blogs.didx.net and http://blog.tmcnet.com/monetizing-ip-communications/. You're welcome to comment, contribute, and collaborate any time.

Mary Anne Tolention's Facebook, Nokia or iPhone?

Want to eavesdrop?

Copy of Mary Anne Tolentino's Facebook wall discussion on Nokia or iPhone...

Mary Anne Tolentino... someone told me Texting in iphone is quite challenging. I tested it a few days ago in the apple store, medyo hard nga....easier with N97. Ergo, I need to decide will it be N97 or Iphone 3GS? Of course iphone looks sexier :)
7 hours ago · Comment · Like

Edwin Sallan... i'm getting used to it now. tiyaga lang, Maan. =)
7 hours ago

Edwin Sallan... although I don't think you'll regret opting for the N97, too. nice phone as well. did i just confuse you? =)
7 hours ago

Jerry RiveraN97 it is
7 hours ago

Suzanne Bowen... Mary Anne, Perry Ismangil said the Nokia series is easier to text and use Internet on than the iPhone. He's at http://perry.ismangil.com/. I use Nokia e61i, a little older than the 97. Enjoy, whatever you decide!
7 hours ago · Delete

Jed Domingo... My humble vote goes for the N97...8-)
7 hours ago

Travelife Mag... We find Nokia much easier for texting too.
7 hours ago

Eric Tiongson... @Maan, you buying or Globe giving you one?
7 hours ago

Mary Anne Tolentino... My handset upgrade of course am broke :) So which one? I like both! But I need to choose just one
7 hours ago

Mary Anne Tolentino... Txtng is impt but there are other considerations. Read a lot of reviews. Checked it out in apple store and nokia but briefly. I dont like to make a mistake cause will be tied up 2 yrs..........so
7 hours ago

Elmar M. Gomez... iPhone. Use N97 for your other SIM. :)
6 hours ago

Eric Tiongson... If texting is that important, I'd suggest the N97. :-) I'm using an E71 and I can't imagine doing as much typing as I do on an iPhone.
6 hours ago

Mary Anne Tolentino... voice calls, SMS, email very impt, internet sufing, FB of course, video, camera those are the impt stuff I use it for. Not music, mauubos battery agad. Another consideration is, can I get a spare battery at once? mpt for me. cant wait to have it charged before i use it again.
6 hours ago

Eric Tiongson... iPhone's cannot have their battery replaced, so usability-wise N97 is looking good for you. :-)

Catch though is that if you don't get an iPhone from Globe now, you might not get one in the next 2 years. Whereas Nokia's can be purchased anytime anywhere.
6 hours ago

Mary Anne Tolentino... so you mean they wont sell iphone in the open market? will u not get an iphone for u?
6 hours ago

Eric Tiongson... they offered the older iPhone model, i want the new one. not sure if they have any on stock by now. :-)

and, nope, not aware of any plans to open up iPhone anytime soon.
5 hours ago

Mary Anne Tolentino... end of july or early august ang dating ng iphone 3gs. N97 was released this week or was that last week? kaya ang hirap mag decide
5 hours ago

Suzanne Bowen... This is an excellent discussion on cell phone choice, Mary Anne. Small favor? Can I copy this discussion to my blog? Can I leave your names in or do I give a pseudo name for each? The content is something people should read.
14 minutes ago · Delete

Mary Anne Tolentino... suzanne go ahead :) may help others in making a choice
5 minutes ago

Mary Anne Tolentino... but some of the sentences are in the vernacular :)

... browse some of our team's other blogs at http://blogs.didx.net and http://blog.tmcnet.com/monetizing-ip-communications/. You're welcome to comment, contribute, and collaborate any time.

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

PortaOne's 24/7 NOC Answer for DIDX Client

This is a thank you note to PortaOne from me and our DIDX team. Recently the 24/7 NOC at PortaOne came to the rescue for a client of ours. They are a little different from others in the industry in that they allow their clients to make any modifications in their code for your own use. (Just can't sell it, obviously.) After successfully completing the project for the client, a nice surprise was the interop compatibility that resulted. Portaone will soon post this in their documentation pages.

Listen to an interview between me Suzanne Bowen of DIDX and Roman Khalenkov of PortaOne at DIDX, PortaOne Record a Podcast to Discuss the Unique Advantages of PortaSwitch: Source Code, 24/7 Technical Support and Maintenance.

We will both be at ITEXPO West Sept 1-3, 2009, with PortaOne at booth 427 and DIDX at booth 125. ITEXPO West in Los Angeles looks like one of the best IP communications meetups. We must see you there, too!


... browse some of our team's other blogs at http://blogs.didx.net and http://blog.tmcnet.com/monetizing-ip-communications/. You're welcome to comment, contribute, and collaborate any time.

Monday, July 20, 2009

IPhone Application Development with ITGulfcoast in Pensacola!

ITGulfcoast's JULY 22 MEETING -

PENSACOLA, FL – ITGulfCoast, an Information Technology Association for the Gulf Coast, will hold their regular monthly meeting on Wednesday, July 22, 2009 at PJC Downtown. Charles Armour, an entrepreneurial consultant , will discuss Apple's iPhone Ecosystem.

Presentation Abstract

With an almost perfect combination of features and marketing the iPhone has been taking the mobile market by storm, selling over 30 million devices to date. However, bringing an iPhone App to this profitable market is an involved process with many caveats and pitfalls to avoid. Charles Armour, an iPhone App developer and consultant, will lead the audience in building a simple iPhone App while discussing the iPhone ecosystem and its relevance to your business. Topics will include development cycles and costs, monetization from sales and advertising, design and style considerations, common pitfalls, and the iPhone 3.0 platform.

The presentation, source code, and more information will be available on http://www.charlesarmour.com/itgc-iphone following the event.

Presenter

Charles Armour is an entrepreneurial consultant with a strong background in systems integration, distributed computing, mobile applications, and web technologies. Having successfully launched three technology companies here in Pensacola, Charles is now independently consulting with area firms to address their needs in mobility, big data, and integration. For more information, please visit the CWA Consulting website at http://www.charlesarmour.com.

Meeting Details

This meeting will be held at PJC Downtown (4th floor) . The meeting starts at 11:30 am and ends at 1:00 pm. The cost for lunch is $12 per person. Cold box lunches will be provided from Aegean Breeze. The fee to attend without lunch is $5 per person.

Register for this event online at itgcjuly2009.eventsbot.com. Payment can be made by cash or check (made out to ITGULFCOAST.ORG) at the event or during registration with Paypal. No-shows should send payment after the event via Paypal to payments@itgulfcoast.org.
The meeting is open to all ITGULFCOAST members, guests and to the public. If you are planning on attending, please register in advance. We may be short on lunches if we get too many "drop-ins".

Sponsors of ITGulfcoast include:

Bit-Wizards
CED Technical Services
Cox Business
General Dynamics IT ASD
H2 Performance Consulting
Spherion Staffing
Super Technologies (DIDX and Virtualphoneline)
TECHSOFT

You can become sponsor, too.

Subscribe to future newsletters.

... browse some of our team's other blogs at http://blogs.didx.net and http://blog.tmcnet.com/monetizing-ip-communications/. You're welcome to comment, contribute, and collaborate any time.

DIDX Members' Voice Mashups and Business Models

Thomas Howe's definition of voice mashup (listed on Youtube) ... an application that is written on top of other services usually involving APIs somewhere that integrates voice with something else that makes that something else more valuable. A few of the many examples among 12,500 DIDX members of Voice Mashups are listed at...
1. http://www.didx.net/podcast
2. http://www.tmcnet.com/channels/did-ddi/
3. http://didx.net/casestudy/


... browse some of our team's other blogs at http://blogs.didx.net and http://blog.tmcnet.com/monetizing-ip-communications/. You're welcome to comment, contribute, and collaborate any time.

Sunday, July 19, 2009

Interview with Joel Driver, Asterisk Developer and Entrepreneur

Joel Driver first started playing with VoIP in 1995. Today he runs one of the web's most popular call forwarding service at myDivert.com. Listen to our discussion on the DIDX podcasts.

myDivert is a hot spot for startup entrepreneurs who need a local presence in as many as 60+ countries. myDivert makes it easy for its customers to start receiving phone calls from those who are most important to them. Their business partners, potential and current customers, friends and family will make a local call that myDivert's solution will route to where its customers has chosen to forward to ... SIP, IAX2 or a cell phone or landline phone.

Joel shares his experience with a history of his business ventures, what he is doing now that he is most excited about, websites he uses the most, how he as a service provider and experienced Asterisk developer has helped DIDX to improve, and advice he gives to other service providers or carriers who want to use DIDX to buy or sell phonenumbers.

Joel of myDivert.com is a good example of quick understanding of SEM (search engine marketing) and makes good use of tools such as Facebook, blogs, Twitter and Youtube. You can find Joel to business with and learn from by "googling" "buy DID number" or visit http://www.mydivert.com


.... browse some of our team's other blogs at http://blogs.didx.net and http://blog.tmcnet.com/monetizing-ip-communications/. You're welcome to comment, contribute, and collaborate any time.

Friday, July 17, 2009

Friends become Business Partners and Vice Versa

Sometimes your friends become your customers, business partners or suppliers or vice versa. We think the world of VoIPSwitch as friends but also as inspiring innovators in IP telephony and IP communications. We met online through DIDX back in 2005, but we met Chris, Lukasz, Michel, Michael and more from VoipSwitch in person finally at ITEXPO East in Miami.



VoipSwitch and we met again at CommunicAsia 2009 in Singapore in February and had the most amazing time referring clients back and forth, helping entrepreneurs make their mash-up ideas a reality, and bringing on new global carriers to sell DID from new countries on DIDX!

Check out their video that explains how to leverage the wholesale DID marketplace on Youtube with DIDX's new API, and the great article that TMCnet editor Tim Gray edited on the DID/DDI channel.

So, what else are DIDX and VoipSwitch doing? Co-sponsoring a Lucky Strike Bowling Party during ITEXPO West 2009 in Los Angeles! ITEXPO West is a great conference for consumers, early adopters, carriers, voip companies, ip communications companies, ip pbx vendors, wireless operators and more. It's Sept 1-3. You can sign up for free expo passes, but even better get a conference pass which includes great educational sessions, breakfast, lunch, receptions and more close proximity to others who are serious business development and procurement. Sign up at http://www.itexpo.com.

... browse some of our team's other blogs at http://blogs.didx.net and http://blog.tmcnet.com/monetizing-ip-communications/. You're welcome to comment, contribute, and collaborate any time.

Monday, July 13, 2009

High Engagement Equal Better Revenue Growth and Bigger Market Share

What does this mean in every day language? No matter how cool your IP communications or other business mash-up, invention, business idea, or service is... if you do not think that taking time to talk and communicate with your team members, especially management, is important, via email, IM, voice, and video (a combination is best), you will not make as much as money nor grow your market as big and well as if you did take the time.

You cannot just dictate to everyone regarding every minute detail of work what will be done and how it will be done.

What was that again? "High engagement equal better revenue growth and bigger market share," says DHL's vice president of human resources Richard Hediger

In fact, leaders in a company who communicate with their team on a regular and meaningful basis, are the best of leaders. This is one of the best ways to keep GOOD employees. When you avoid voice conversations, face to face conversations and DO NOT allow any discussion of issues that will have an important impact on the employees, customers and suppliers, you are basically telling your team that they are do not matter, you don't care if they stay, and you are living in "La Dee Da" land.

Note to self: Think about this extremely important wise saying by DHL's vice president of human resources Richard Hediger and put it to work, Suzanne.

... browse some of our team's other blogs at http://blogs.didx.net and http://blog.tmcnet.com/monetizing-ip-communications/. You're welcome to comment, contribute, and collaborate any time.

Friday, July 10, 2009

What an Awesome Speaker List 4G World

PARTICIPATING OPERATOR SPEAKERS AT 4G WORLD 2009

• Farid Arifuddin, Managing Director, Vavasi (India)
• Mike Fitz, VP Converged Services, Sprint
• Matt Oommen, VP-Device and Technology Development, Sprint
• Stephen Bye, VP of Wireless, Cox Communications
• Keith Cowan, President, Strategic Planning, Corporate Initiatives &
CDMA, Sprint Nextel Corporation
• Kevin Curran, SVP, Wireless Product Management, Cablevision Systems
Corporation
• Dr. Rafael del Villar Alrich, Commissioner, COFETEL
• Cliff Dinwiddie, Director, Data & IP Strategic and Business
Development, Qwest Communications
• Kelley Dunne, CEO, DigitalBridge Communications
• Erik Hallberg, SVP & Head of Mobility Services Sweden, TeliaSonera
• Joel Hariton, Chief Technology Officer, Reliance WiMAX World
• John Horn, National Director, M2M, T-Mobile USA
• Dr. Teddy Huang, President & CEO, VMAX Telecom
• Hank Hultquist, VP, Federal Regulatory, AT&T
• Magnus Johansson, Wireless Broadband Group Director, Digicel
• Milan Kovačević, Deputy Executive Manager, Saga d.o.o,
• Michael Lai, CEO, Packet One Networks (Malaysia)
• Glenn Lurie, President—Emerging Devices and National Resale, AT&T
Mobility
• Gerard MacNamee, CTO, UK Broadband
• Joan Marsh, VP of Federal Regulatory Affairs, AT&T
• Alejandro Mayagoitia, Manager, TELECOMARCA (Mexico)
• Tajit Mehta, Spectrum Negotiator, Spectrum Development, Clearwire,
and Co-Chair, WCAI’s GDC
• Mike Mies, CEO, Mainstreet Broadband
• Bill Morrow, Chief Executive Officer, Clearwire
• Ing. Javier Fernandez Noriega, National Technical Manager,
Multivision S.A. (Bolivia)
• Hyacinth Nwana, Managing Director - Mobile Media Solutions, Arquiva

• Mark Pagon, CEO, Xanadoo Company
• Neville Ray - SVP of Engineering and Operations, T-Mobile USA
• Scott Richardson, SVP and CSO, Clearwire
• Kristin S. Rinne, SVP – Architecture & Planning, AT&T
• Michael Rocca, Group Managing Director, Telstra Networks & Services

• Mike Roudi, Group VP, Wireless Services, Time Warner Cable
• Gerard Salemme, EVP and Director, Clearwire
• Mike Sievert, Chief Commercial Officer, Clearwire
• Dr. Ahmed Abbas Sindi, CEO, Etihad Atheeb Telecommunication Company

• Lee Sparkman, President, Enforta (Russia)
• Dennis Sverdlov, CEO, Yota
• Maurice Thompson, Director, Open Development, Verizon Wireless
• Dave Williams, SVP of Wireless Technology, Comcast Corporation
• Mike Wright, Executive Director, Wireless, Telstra Networks &
Services
• Naeem Zamindar, VP and Head of Broadband, Mobilink (Pakistan)

DIDXchange is a media and press partner via its media tools at podcasts, TMCNET, events, blogging sites, and more.

Thursday, July 09, 2009

Dust Yourself Off and Try Again

Feeling a bit ignored? Not recognized? A failure? Laughed at? I've been through so many of those times in my life where I started a business, it didn't work out... I started a new career and something went wrong... but I just keep thinking about Zig Ziglar's quote that Jonathon Hewitt (SEO expert) reminded me of today: "Other people and things can stop you temporarily. You're the only one who can do it permanently."

There is much experimentation, change, and chaos in the telecommunications industry right now, but it's exciting. You have so many online tools and so much more clout as an SMB and as a user! Users are actually driving all the change because of the opportunities that the Internet in general and online social networking tools offer.

Would you give up? Or try again?

From Aaliyah...

"And if at first you don't succeed
Then dust yourself off and try again
You can dust it off and try again, try again
Cause if at first you don't succeed
You can dust it off and try again
Dust yourself off and try again, try again"



Check out a new career, revenue, market, business of owning your own brand of CFMS (call forward management) where you rebrand http://www.virtualphoneline.com and Super Technologies hosts it. We also offer the choice of becoming a Reseller. The globe of consumers and businesses are hungry to have a local presence all over the world without having to own a home or open a business there. Give them a virtual phone number in any of up to 50 countries so they can start receiving phone calls from the people in those international areas right away. They can put their new international phone numbers on their business cards, on their website, on their social networking portal sites, and more. It's more than a status symbol! Contact sales@virtualphoneline.com.

... browse some of our team's other blogs at http://blogs.didx.net and http://blog.tmcnet.com/monetizing-ip-communications/. You're welcome to comment, contribute, and collaborate any time.

Wednesday, July 08, 2009

ITGulfcoast Meeting IPhone Applications

JULY 22 MEETING - IPhone Application Development in Pensacola, Florida!

PENSACOLA, FL – ITGulfCoast, an Information Technology Association for the Gulf Coast, will hold their regular monthly meeting on Wednesday, July 22, 2009 at PJC Downtown. Charles Armour, an entrepreneurial consultant , will discuss Apple's iPhone Ecosystem.

Presentation Abstract

With an almost perfect combination of features and marketing the iPhone has been taking the mobile market by storm, selling over 30 million devices to date. However, bringing an iPhone App to this profitable market is an involved process with many caveats and pitfalls to avoid. Charles Armour, an iPhone App developer and consultant, will lead the audience in building a simple iPhone App while discussing the iPhone ecosystem and its relevance to your business. Topics will include development cycles and costs, monetization from sales and advertising, design and style considerations, common pitfalls, and the iPhone 3.0 platform.

The presentation, source code, and more information will be available on http://www.charlesarmour.com/itgc-iphone following the event.

Presenter

Charles Armour is an entrepreneurial consultant with a strong background in systems integration, distributed computing, mobile applications, and web technologies. Having successfully launched three technology companies here in Pensacola, Charles is now independently consulting with area firms to address their needs in mobility, big data, and integration. For more information, please visit the CWA Consulting website at http://www.charlesarmour.com.

Register at http://itgcjuly2009.eventsbot.com/.

... browse some of our team's other blogs at http://blogs.didx.net and http://blog.tmcnet.com/monetizing-ip-communications/. You're welcome to comment, contribute, and collaborate any time.

After Hours Networking During ITEXPO West | 4G Wireless Evolution

The location to post your after hours networking activities during ITEXPO West | 4G Wireless Evolution as we receive them. Send me your company's party, dinner, or other after hours business networking activities during this co-located conference on my Facebook email. You can also join the ITEXPO West | 4G Wireless Evolution groups and events area on Facebook.

Please send the details in this format and keep in mind that ITEXPO West | 4G Wireless Evolution is scheduled for Sept 1-3, 2009 in Los Angeles, CA:

Date, Time, who is sponsoring, name of event, website address if applicable, location of event, and if it is OPEN or RSVP or INVITATION ONLY.

Date and Time, to be announced soon... DIDx & Voipswitch Bowling Party at Lucky Strike Bowling Alley in Los Angeles, get your invitation at booth 125 of DIDXchange.

Monday, August 31:

7:00 pm - 9:30 pm, Paul Dunay talk, sponsored by Avaya, at Westin Bonaventure, 404 W. Figueroa, must register at this link to get in: http://www.tmcnet.com/voip/conference/west-2009/attendees/w09-avaya-workshop.htm. You also need to be an http://www.itexpo.com attendee. Get a free signed copy of Facebook Marketing for Dummies and after the presentation, enjoy handcrafted on the rooftop patio of the Bonaventure Brewing Company.

Tuesday, September 1:

6:00 pm – 7:00 pm, sponsor to be announced, in the Exhibit Hall, OPEN to those with passes that enable visit to Exhibit Hall

Wednesday, September 2:

6:00 pm – 8:00 pm, sponsored by Aculab in the Exhibit Hall, OPEN to those with passes that enable visit to Exhibit Hall


... browse some of our team's other blogs at http://blogs.didx.net and http://blog.tmcnet.com/monetizing-ip-communications/. You're welcome to comment, contribute, and collaborate any time.

Borrowed a Friend's IPhone

Why? Because I wanted to use it on my morning run today, and I wanted an excuse to get her to try making phone calls on the "Internet" side of her cell service. I gave her my favorite running tunes which she downloaded to it: "Crazy" by Gnarls Barkley, "Lose Yourself" by Eminem, Gnarls Barkley, "Gonna Make You Sweat" by C&C Music Factory, "Hips Don't Lie" by Shakira & Wyclef Jean, "Home Life" by John Mayer, "Satisfaction" Club Mix byBenny Benassi, "The Humpty Dance" by Digital Underground, "I'm Too Sexy" by Right Said Fred, "Let's Get it Started" by Black Eyed Peas, "Rock Me Amadeus" by Falco, "Crazy" 2001 Club Mix and also "Killer" by Seal and ending in "Down to the River to Pray" by Alison Krauss.

In return, I set up her with a few voip applications, Fring, Nimbuzz (which the voip-sol blog doesn't mention but is quite good) and Truphone. An IPhone will truly augment the tough humid weather in Pensacola while running. Don't worry, I don't run fast enough to mess up an IPod or an IPhone. ;-D


... browse some of our team's other blogs at http://blogs.didx.net and http://blog.tmcnet.com/monetizing-ip-communications/. You're welcome to comment, contribute, and collaborate any time.

New Orleans Band Does Michael Jackson and Memories Shake us Up

Memories, thinking of my own, listening to others' make me want to care more about every one around me right now.

A couple dozen friends, family and I did the Crescent City Classic 10K in 2009 and later that evening visited all the pubs, museums, art galleries and more. We ran into this band.


The sound is a bit distorted, but you can tell who he is mimicking on each song. See the QIK area on the right side of my blog? Click there to watch and listen. It is the most recent video as of July 7, 2009.

In the midst of the chaos of daily work of generating revenue to pay you and your work team's salaries and pleasing your customers, you and I might stop and cherish a few moments here and there. Let's do it more often.

... browse some of our team's other blogs at http://blogs.didx.net and http://blog.tmcnet.com/monetizing-ip-communications/. You're welcome to comment, contribute, and collaborate any time.

Tuesday, July 07, 2009

ITEXPO and 4G Wireless Evolution Conference Team Plan

ITEXPO and 4G Wireless Evolution conferences are co-located Sept 1-3, 2009 at the Los Angeles convention center. Not exhibiting? We are at #125. At least invest in bringing five or more from your company and business partners on the Diamond Team Plan. What do you get?

1. All the conference sessions where you will gather excellent information and connect with people and businesses all around who are serious about business development and collaborating with you, providing services to you, or purchasing services from you.

2. Complimentary and delicious lunch and breakfast each day.

3. Full expo pass to visit the exciting companies who are providing excellent opportunities for helping you take your business to more success.

4. All breakout sessions

5. All workshops

6. All keynotes and panel sessions

7. Unlimited exhibit hall access

8. All networking receptions

Sign up and start making concrete plans to place your company, entrepreneurial idea, and business development to ITEXPO. BTW, DIDX is hosting a Lucky Strike Bowling Alley Party with few other exhibitors at ITEXPO and we are looking forward to seeing you there.

Friday, July 03, 2009

Jack Materna's 2007 VoIP Vendor SLA Showdown

I'd like to see Jack do more VoIP Showdowns. I've read each one as soon as they were posted. It's been a while, Jack. Check out his 2007 Multi VoIP Vendor SLA Showdown among Qwest, Axiowave (gone in 2005 I thought), Virtela, Verio and Internap. Include the opportunity to leave a public comment on the showdowns instead of only offering to email comments and responses.

Wednesday, July 01, 2009

Google Translate will Detect the Language

Awesome, bad to the bone, Google Translate. I tried it after reading this item on one of my Facebook friends in the telephony industry had this in his status: Jdeme do Prahy v pátek.

I chose DETECT Language and translate to English: Come to Prague on Friday.

So, is this making it tough for those who make a career out of translation? Could, but then again, I am never sure when I use Google Translate if it is really translating to share the meaning that I intend when translating from English to another language except maybe Spanish and Japanese, my second and third languages.

Working on Urdu too with the help of my little entrepreneurial friend Momina Rehan.

Take a Chance on Winning a Garmin

VendorRate is offering opportunities to win a Garmin Nuvi 750 when you rate an IT vendor.

They really do a great job giving people an opportunity to tell the world about your vendors and while you're at, you might win a prize. Other prices in the past have been Ipods, 32 inch HD TV, Dell laptop... Pretty cool!

We first met VendorRate at an ITEXPO event where they were an exhibitor. Hope to see them again at ITEXPO West as exhibitor. Figures TMC always connects the most interesting companies.

No Jealousy Among the Super Technologies Team

One of the many things that I have always admired about our Super Technologies, Inc. team (who work with clients on DIDX, Virtualphoneline, Super-phone, IP-pabx, etc.) is the fact that I have never seen anyone express jealousy toward another. It's more like everyone can't wait to see each other do well. When one person succeeds in composing the right words written or spoken that:

1. Helps an angry customer.
2. Solves a problem.
3. Sells in a soft enough way that does not turn off a client.
4. Settles a row among the team.
5. Debates an internal issue with a neutral third party point of view.
6. Responds in a kind and intuitive way to customers and suppliers who make prejudicial remarks about accent, nationality, religion or other characteristics of our team who have or are in many areas of the world: China, Malaysia, Mexico, Pakistan, Poland, Singapore UK, and UAE.

I can't help it. I really love our team at Super Technologies, Inc. from developers who know how to think like customer service representatives and CSRs who know how to suggest development improvements. I am a very lucky lady.

... browse some of our team's other blogs at http://blogs.didx.net and http://blog.tmcnet.com/monetizing-ip-communications/. You're welcome to comment, contribute, and collaborate any time.

Social Media Marketing Mistakes Debate

Good job, Pam Lontos and Maurice Ramirez, Ph.D! They are the authors of "The Top 5 Mistakes of Social Media Marketing." What do you think?

Summary:
1. Have one image of yourself (brand) broadcast across the different SMM Internet platforms. I admit that I do have a different picture in a few places: Linkedin, Twitter, Facebook, Hi5, Plaxo, etc. and when I get a chance I'll streamline the profile pics, but it should be me, not what someone else wants me to be. I would never tell you what you should be. Besides, here ... I think image ... is mental, not physical (visual).

2. Don't just collect people. Make each relationship meaningful. Doesn't mean you have to be BFF with every single one, but know who they are and interact occasionally in ways that help you both.

3. Make your Facebook updates and Tweets, etc. helpful to your readers and observers and those interacting with you. Actually I disagree a bit with them on this item. They state saying something like this for a Tweet, "I'm watching a movie and eating popcorn," might not be a good idea. I think a little personal information mixed in with your commercial messages make us all fit a bit more connected. Maybe be a little more specific... like, "I'm watching Yes Man and eating some lime salted popcorn." Hmm... I might go watch that and try that popcorn, and I realize you are just as human as I am. I feel a bit more ... connected? ;-)

4. Posting inappropriate messages. Be as conservative as your most conservative client. Wait! There's such a thing as being boring and too safe. Be a bit of a risk taker. Be a little bit yourself. That's my opinion. Okay, so never post anything you wouldn't want your grandmother to see? What goes through my head is... what would I be willing to share with my Dad who is a preacher for the church of Christ. He's pretty funny himself and quite down to earth even though this particular church is known to be very conservative. Well, he's not my client, but he's a good measure of what's appropriate for me.

5. The last one... If you have something that is important to you to say and you think others can benefit from it, post it somewhere it feeds into all your social media marketing platforms you use. Ping.fm does a pretty good job at this. Facebook newsfeed can go automatically to Plaxo, etc.

I was thinking of a few more:
1. Making too many rules for those who follow you, add you, or want to befriend you. That's so negative, like I don't do NDAs or anyone who Tweets too much is off my network, or I don't accept people who don't add the TM mark on marks that require it.

2. Adding everyone, accepting everyone into your networks, even though you totally do not support their image. I.e., those who are constantly proselytizing their religion, politics, lifestyle or who put their company commercials on your wall without a real business relationship to begin with. You can say, "No." You can delete. You can block. You have the right. So I guess I do have a few rules.

You probably do, too. Debate is welcome as always!

Again, what do you think?

... browse some of our team's other blogs at http://blogs.didx.net and http://blog.tmcnet.com/monetizing-ip-communications/. You're welcome to comment, contribute, and collaborate any time.