Yes Men and Women, Quality vs Quantity... Social Networking 2008 (Part 1?)

It's 6:39 AM on Dec 31, 2008, and I don't have much time to blog. It's New Year's Eve. I have a slightly nervous feeling like I haven't done everything this year I should have. Actually I feel like that all the time. It keeps me hopping!

You all have helped me, influenced me, inspired me ... more than you know. In fact, as always this is about YOU (not me).

Quality rules. Quantity for the sake of quantity is wasteful. The quality of my social and business networks on platforms such as Facebook and Twitter rock. I don't collect people ... (thanks, Charles Wu, for that discussion, you are one of the great quality). Meaningful interaction that is natural and and not forced, I love.

Time is everything to me and you. What was I thinking?

When you critique me, my familiy, my company, my team... fairly, I grow. In fact, I discussed with Muhammad Bilal, Syed Talha Izhar, Bilal Khalid Qanungoh, Riccard Cirello, Binodan Sarma, Peter Radizeski, Ali Hadi and Rehan Allahwala these questions on Facebook after watching Marley and Me:

Who really listens to you?

Who is really interested in what you have to say and wants to truly collaborate with you?

Who in your life makes you feel extraordinary?

We need those who make us feel extraordinary but not good to have all YES people around, right? What do you think?

I will memorize this answer: Binodan Sarma at 12:28pm December 26
Couldn't agree more Suzanne... All 'Yes' often smell of disdain and uncared under the garb of 'Loyalty'... :)

AMEN, brother Binodan!

What else is cool and full of quality in my social/business networks?

The women in voIP group on Facebook, no women's lib about it... it's just absolutely exciting to see what other women are accomplishing in our industry and the opportunities to collaborate are very cool: Megan Zoback now with a bluetooth headset co., Ilissa Miller and Jaymie Scotto with Jaymie Scotto and Associates, Hina Iqbal Siddiqui of Super Technologies, Inc., Jessica Ruiz (just had a baby and worked as translator for Supertec at conferences in Portuguese, Spanish, English, and Italian), Catriona Harris (just had a baby, is with Vantage Communications, and is a great Twitterer), Susan Hancock of Intelliverse, Ksusha Carmes (a good inspiration for being happy that we are women), Brooke Afick of Bezeq (I have to meet this lady!!!!)...

Karen Campagna of Cisco (who is a BLAST to hang out with, very cool!), Monica Dytko Haley of VoicePulse (who has really interesting, creative Facebook statuses), Tehila Frenkel of Russtel S.A. (and one of my lovely Jewish friends), Connie Terwilliger (always young, fun to be around, great voice), Lynda Starr of Vantage Communications (can't wait to her give a presentation at a conference), Carrie Hartford of IPSMARX (a lesson in professional character), Eliana Gonzalez of Verizon Europe (I'm taking Spanish lessons incognito from her wall... actually I'm taking lessons in Urdu, German, French, Malay, Hebrew, and Spanish from several on Facebook, same method ;-), Anne Stobaugh of San Diego, Isabel Gonzalez Cancela of Belgacom ICS, Dunia Campos of Ultracall (an inspiring entrepreneur and a blast to hang out with), Jenny Callicott of Celtrek and Global Roaming (smart, tons of fun to work with and hang out with, we won't forget Dubai!)...

Sheryl Breuker of Stardust Global Ventures (an inspiring and smart evangelist for effective voice innovations and unified communications), Laurie Kennady Hilt (excellent support for conferences, hire her!), Ekram Megdiche and Najia Yahyaoui of Acropolis Telecom (great professional attitude to work with), Joann Varello of Crossfire Media (fun to hang out with and one of the few who will run with me), Beth Hoskin (dynamite at conferences), Kathleen Reed of Sangoma (extremely effective marketing director, must be a mega-multi-tasker), Anne Tredway (a mind full of the history of telecom, fun to hang out with), Zhu Jessica (remember the Golden Gate Bridge!), Nora Ouchen and Sandrine Roullet of Acropolis Telecom (I'm looking forward to meeting),and also Cassandra Hamilton, Susan Kurzyniec Tlacil, Maria Teresa, Elesabeth Salemi, Nanette Monty who I haven't met yet but am looking forward to.

It's 7:16 AM. I must get to work. I hope to continue this discussion, soliloquy, whatever you want to call it ... soon.

... 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.

Out of Five Best Girl Friends, 3 Don't Have a Landline

Seriously! One is using Verizon on a Blackberry Curve. One is using T-Mobile. Another AT&T on a Nokia E61i like me. The first is not interested yet in using mobile VoIP. I need to check out her Blackberry to see if it is capable even. The second two are using Truphone, Fring, and checking out Nimbuzz since my blog comparing mobile VoIP. One of them uses Celtrek because she travels all over Europe and Latin America and wants the reduced roaming fees and local phone numbers, something that makes Celtrek very unique.

The only reason the other 2 still have a landline is that Cox has convinced them that they have to buy cable, Internet and phone all in one from them where the phone service is app. $35 USD/month and does not offer unlimited calling to anywhere in the USA. I'm not one to force anyone to do anything. Lead by your example.

So read this blog post at Joop, very professionally done ... http://www.joopdorresteijn.com/Archive/why-embracing-mobile-voip-is-vital-for-carriers/





... 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.

What Cell Phone are You Using? 2

Following the DIDX Dinner and Desert Safari during Gitex 2008, Jenny Callicott of Celtrek and some guys from Snom discuss their cell phones and using or choosing to not use them while roaming in United Arab Emirates.



... 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.

Hobsin & Holtz Report and Voip Users Podcasts

Wow, I like these...
** http://www.forimmediaterelease.biz/, the Hobsin & Holtz Report
** http://www.voipuser.org/btn/ podcasts of James Tagg of Truphone, Dan York, Pat Phelan of Roam4Free, Jeff Pulver, Bill Tam of eqo, Boaz Zilberman of Fring, and Alec Saunders of Iotum.

My Ipod is full now alongside John Mayer*, Louis Armstrong, Sarah Bareilles, Geekspeak, etc.

* His blog is at http://johnmayer.com/blog.

Yes, it's Double Posting, but I just gotta share

http://blogs.didx.net/2008/09/weiland-underground-during-itexpo.html ... more great times with people in your and my industry. We should do this more often!

ITEXPO West 2008 - See for yourself!

... pictures will be added regular on many Facebook friends' ITEXPO West 2008 photo gallery folders such as mine, Max Glucksmann's, Suzanne's Picasaweb, and on ITEXPO site. Know someone in the Facebook or Picasaweb galleries? Feel free to tag and comment. (Be nice please.)

Check out the Toyota Prius that someone will win on Thursday. You can join the ITEXPO Group in the groups section and Networking Event Area in the events section on Facebook now.

Live in the Los Angeles Area? Come to ITEXPO

If you live anywhere near Los Angeles, I recommend going to http://www.itexpo.com right now before it's too late, sign up for a free expo pass or for a great deal on full conference pass to Internet Telephony West 2008. Message me on Facebook and let me know you'll be there!

A friend of mine on Facebook named Tinu Abayomi-Paul tells everyone that Suzanne's the voIP guru in her network. I think she needs to add Rich Tehrani, Mark Spencer, Rehan Ahmed, or Jeff Pulver (whose birthday is one day before mine, and I have somehow disappeared from his Facebook network a second time ;-) and then Tinu will have a real "Oh Wise One." Thank you much, Tinu, for the praise you gave me on Blog Radio.

I am writing this blog after having had revueltos y cafe muy negro in a park with some homeless people. I really enjoyed talking with them. (See a video of one of my interesting homeless friends in San Jose.) Topic for today... talking on the phone! (I'm in Mexico City seeing Daniel Reyes, CMO for MCM Telecom and Alejandra get married. We met running at Spring VON San Jose 2006. Yes, people who sit at computers to work also might run.)

We all were talking about our careers. My turn? I said that I'm in the business to make sure the people who are important to us start calling us and I also use telephony to help people get jobs and start businesses with the magic of the most special piece of our identity, the telephone number. Many of them had heard of Skype, Yahoo, MSN, Vonage and were curious about other internet-related telephony services.

I demonstrated with my cell phone the services of Celtrek, Truphone, Fring, Gizmo5 and MobileMax. Then with my laptop, I let them try Skype, Virtualphoneline, Groovytel, Comtel Networks, and FWD (a service our company is a corporate sponsor for).

They had so many questions. I referred them to a couple friends in Mexico who are in the voIP business. Who knows? Maybe one of them will startup some new mashup. They're better at thinking out of the box than I am.

Meanwhile, I really meant this blog to be to my friends on Facebook, in Pensacola, Florida; on Linkedin, on Emerald Coast Racing Team, my family (well, they all use Super-phone and Gizmo5), and the world ... the best way to learn...

is to mix in with the brightest minds in telecommunications. Whether you are a consumer, student, entrepreneur, traditional telco, or what?

Sign up now at http://www.itexpo.com to attend the ITEXPO West Sept 16 -18, 2008 next week in Los Angeles, California. If you live anywhere between Silicon Valley and Tijuana or over to Las Vegas, etc... that's a short trip. Learn how to start a new career, check it out.

Cell Phone for Runners and other Energy Expenders

Really, not joking... a collaboration announced in mid-2007 to be rolled out mid-2008 by Samsung and Adidas. Check it out... at Monetizing IP Communications TMCNET blog.

Blog Day 2007, Global Bloggers Collaborate

December 2006, Jeff Pulver, anything and everything over IP guru, VoIP Daddy, and friend of millions, started the Blog-Tag. It's in honor of Blog Day which was invented by Nir Ofir in 2005 "with the belief that bloggers should have one day dedicated to getting to know other bloggers from other countries, cultures and areas of interest.”

Love to see global bloggers participate, so here's how it works.

When creating your BlogDay blog entry, try to follow these instructions:

1. List five Blogs that you find interesting and if you can tell, include the city/country where they are from.
2. Identify five Bloggers to tag to join in this game with you. I recommend emailing the bloggers you tag to give them a heads up of you tagging them.
3. Use the tag: BlogDay2007 in your blog post.
4. (Optionally): Contact the owners of the blogs you shared as your "blogs to take a look at."

I invite you to read these voices in Miami and Pensacola, Florida; Karachi, Pakistan and not sure about Christine yet. I read these blogs regularly, have much respect for them.

1. Florian Seroussi of Miami, Florida and Israel

2. Rich Tehrani of Miami, Florida

3. Rick Outzen of Pensacola, Florida

4. Tariq Mustafa of Karachi, Pakistan also known as the Father of Pakistan Blogging

5. Christine Herron

I’m tagging the following people who always have something interesting to share and asking them to join in this game of BlogDay Blog-Tag: Rehan Ahmed, Muneeb Iqbal, Andy Abramson, A Conglomerate of Authors at Karachi Metblogs, and Michael Bowen.