Om has a nice post about how AOL is making available an API for web-integrating IM and realtime communications between your web site and the popular AIM instant messaging network. Om has some great thoughts, but I don’t believe he pointed out how this seems like a response to Adobe’s announcement of adding VoIP to Flash. Now maybe I’m misunderstanding what AOL is actually offering here, but it does look like a shot right back at Adobe to me.
This time, it’s not me (I got my issues resolved courtesy of Apple’s repair department in sunny California). This time, it’s Liz from GigaOm. The heatsync inside the MacBook apparently expands, touching a groundwire, shorting the whole computer, and shutting it down instantly. Same problem mine had. Fortunately, I got mine fixed and it has been issue-free for about two weeks. Unfortunately, I had to wait a week and a half to get it back from Apple. No loaner, no nothing. (My wife has the same laptop, so it was really her who suffered through the repair period… I “borrowed” hers.)
In a sign that things are getting better, the Apple guy told me that this issue is now being repaired in-store, cutting the turnaround time on a new mainboard from upwards of two-weeks to about 24 hours. Better.
Alec has a write-up on Talkster. The service might be of interest to Ken Camp, who doesn’t want to be forced to have more phone numbers, and to others who would sure love to save on LD if only it was practical for them to do so. Alec includes a couple of photos of the service in action–they appear to be web-page-driven user interace elemtents but I could be wrong.
I first saw a reference to the new Mac Mini-based IP PBX, iBlue, on Andy’s blog. This is cool. Of course, if you’ve ever read VoIP Hacks, you already know how to build one. Asterisk on a Mac Mini is a swimmingly good idea for a microPBX (but they didn’t use Asterisk). And loading the restore media onto an iPod Shuffle–well, that’s just cute, as any USB solid-state dongle drive would’ve sufficed.
Check out Om’s comments on the iBlue:
The iBlue is based on the 4S IP PBX, a software-based IP PBX. It uses SIP for VoIP and runs on a Mac mini. The device boots off the iPod shuffle, and basically turns the Mac Mini into a PBX. I am guessing it could work on any old Mac that can support OS-X. You can install the software on a Mac as well. The 3000 Euro version of the package (including Mac Mini and iPod shuffle) can support 250 users and 30 parallel calls.
Of course, as the old saying goes, I’ll believe it when I see it. I wonder if these are hard limits or performance limits? 30 parallell calls on a EU 3000 PBX? Sorry, that’s not a huge leap forward. There are lots of $1500 Toshiba hybrids that you can slap up on your plywood mounting board and make 30 simultaneous calls, albeit without the benefit of VoIP. Plus, in 90% of the installations, people are going to have to trunk to the PSTN, which means adding a couple 4-port FXO gateways at five or six hundred bucks a pop (something that $1500 Toshiba just HAS). So, really this is a $4500 solution in all reality. Now I know it comes with a few IP phones–which is nice I guess–but I’m not seeing the superior value proposition here. Especially considering Asterisk@home, which provides similar functionality, has no hard limits on utilization, and is free. Pop that on a $500 Intel Mac Mini, add a pair of FXO gateways, and you’re off and running for three grand less than what the iBlue will cost.
So they painted a Mac Mini, loaded their IP PBX and front-end, pledged tonight a big chunk of the proceeds of the first thousand units sold to some VoIP competence center in Germany. OK, that’s cool. But what would be even cooler is if I could spend half the dough and donate the money to the charity of my own choosing. Oh wait, I guess I could, if I bought LinksysOne or loaded Asterisk on a Mini myself.
But rah rah for doing it on a Mac guys. The coolness factor can’t be denied.
Regarding the price, Andy does have a great point:
This is similar to a Voxilla offering based on Communigate Pro.
The interesting point of distinction is how much less expensive Voxilla’s system is. So you don’t get the iPOD….
[Missouri Counsel] Van Eschen said the ruling barring state regulation is based on a Vonage customer’s ability to “plug in anywhere in the broadband world.†Not so with a local cable operator, such as Comcast and Time Warner Cable. Their customers must initiate a call on their plant, located in Missouri.
So, Missouri’s case is based on a literal technicality. This begs a more fundamental question: just what constitutes eligibility for public utilities regulation? With the glaring exception of emergency calling, the Internet has done a pretty good job of governing itself in its two-decade existence. So, just what are the underlying reasons for regulation of Internet-based voice services such Comcast’s:
So, you could conclude this is all about two things: money and power. But there’s another question that needs to be answered, and fast: How does the consumer community benefit when IP voice services are regulated? I argue that further encumbrance of innovative technology hampers the ability for thought leaders to get that technology out to the masses. Cases in point:
So am I big fan of telco regulation? It think it’s fair to say that IP communications technology has the best impact when politicians keep their grubby hands off. And yes, for those of you keeping track, I DID just defend Comcast.
Set your rewind button for 2000. At this time folks were doing multimedia packet delivery on IP networks. Internet Phone was all the rage, Real and Microsoft were fighting over who could stream video the best. And Novell was figuring out more and more effective ways to lose the data networking race. There you, triple play. Is it so hard to think that the idea wasn’t new? That television programming, data transfer, and voice delivery couldn’t be all accomplished on the same network. Despite popular belief, some triple play providers existed before the emergence of “converged networks, especially in rural areas where small telephone companies were often ISPs and cable providers. Granted, the delivery infrastructure wasn’t the same. But you can’t tell me IP light bulb didn’t go on before Cisco’s patent application. H.323 existed as a spec for delivering voice and video, too. From a purely technical standpoint, there may be some credibility to Cisco’s claim on the marriage of voice, video, and data, but let’s be practical. US Trademark and Patent office–is this a practical patent award?
There’s always been something about Nintendo and their games. There’s a sense of quality and concern for the gamer that exists in Nintendo’s software that the other consoles just can’t touch. Think about Zelda, Mario, and Donkey Kong. Think about Metroid. Think about kart racing. Genres and franchises that are accessible to all players young and old. And they all have one thing in common: Nintendo created them.
(A grab from the newest Zelda game, for the Wii.)
Maybe it’s just me, but fight-em-ups, horror survival titles, and first-person shooters, which are plentiful on non-Nintendo platforms, just don’t have the pure fun value of a Nintendo platformer or racer. Why do I suppose that is? I look at how my family spends its entertainment time. Now, I very rarely get a chance to play a game, and when I do, it’s usually World of Warcraft. So, the fact that I’m actually excited about the Nintendo Wii (that’s Nintendo’s new console, pronounced “we”, by the way) is very telling. So is the fact that my kids, who have both a PS2 and a Nintendo DS, have gradually migrated away from the PS2 toward the Nintendo portable. About the only time they dust off the PS2 is to play Battlefront (Star Wars mania runs rampant in our household). And if Battlefront ran on the DS, something tells me they’d never have a reason to power up the old slate-black PS2 any more.
Why? What’s the appeal of Nintendo. For starters, the games are accessible. Most games have simple controls that don’t take a 15-minute tutorial level to understand. Left, right, up, down, action1, action2–Nintendo games tend to be self-explanatory. This allows younger (and older) audiences to get into Nintendo faster than they would a PS2. Now granted, there are certain cross-console franchises that have crappy, overcomplicated controls no matter what (Madden comes to mind, so does Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater series), but on average, the games bearing the Nintendo logo are just easier to play (not defeat, mind you).
(One of the games that comes with Wii is a tennis game.
It allows you to hold and swing your Wii controller
like a tennis racket.)
And I think this is the clutch idea behind the Nintendo Wii. Nintendo is smart enough to realize that they probably can’t grow their slice of the pie by competing directly against the technologically superior Playstation 3 or the entrenched XBox 360, both of which have better onboard gear than the Wii. Nintendo is taking a different tack: convert non-gamers into gamers by making a gaming experience that is immediately accessible and broadly appealing. Hmm, sounds like a great idea. After all (and I’ve argued this before, having played some gorgeous but uninspiring RPGs on the PS2), it’s better to truly have fun than to look like you’re having fun.
It seems that at least some of you agree. I recently had a poll on my site, where you could pick your favorite next-gen console–the XBox 360, the Wii, or the PS3. Six-to-1, you picked the Wii. It doesn’t have blu-ray or HD like the PS3, and it doesn’t have Halo like the Xbox 360. But what it does have is unique:
The Controllers
Nintendo is breaking the rules of console control with the introduction of its WiiMote, the de-facto controller for Wii games. It is shaped like a remote control wand, and can be swung around in the air to simulate in-game motions. It can also be held sideways to simulate an old-school control-pad. Driving games will benefit from the tilt-sensivity of the wand when it is used in this fashion. Remember watching your friends tilt the controller while rolling into a tight turn in Outrun or Pole Position? Now, that tilt will actually do something. Nintendo is also offering the Nunchuck controller, which provides an analog joystick. In addition, the WiiMote has a built-in-speaker (which adds a whole realm of possibilities) and can vibrate (unlike the PS3′s new controller).
The best thing about the controller setup? Each controller has a light indicating which player it belongs to–no more “who’s got player 1, who’s got player 2″. Oh yeah, and the controllers are wireless. So you’ll be completely untethered to toss that virtual bowling ball and swing that virtual sword.
The Console
Not much larger than hardcover book, the Wii console allows you to connect Gamecube controllers and even plays Gamecube games. In the rear are USB ports, and Nintendo has already let it slip that, in addition to the Wii’s built-in WiFi, you’ll be able to obtain a wired Ethernet adapter to plug in here. And considering the rumor that the Wii runs a form of Linux, count on keyboard and mouse support to surface soon, too.
The Extras
The Wii is also the most Internet-aware console to date. It offers several net-leveraging applications, which Nintendo calls Channels. These include a weather forecast channel (no more waiting for Local on the 8′s?), a “Mii” channel, which allows users to create a cartoonish caricature that will appear across many Wii titles, as well as be used to interact on Nintendo’s new online game matching service, WiiConnect24. Nintendo is even throwing in a (RSS-based, I suspect) news channel that lets you build a personal news portal. Then there’s the Virtual Console Channel, which lets you download any previous-generation Nintendo console game, as well as any Sega game or Turbografx game, and play it on your Wii. Pretty. Cool. Stuff.
(Double Dragon from the old Sega Master
System–download and run on the Wii.)
Too bad I can’t download and play Lemmings or Shadow of the Best. Maybe that will come next year. Say, why hasn’t Amiga licensed their ROM images to Nintendo? There are 5,000 awesome Amiga games worth playing on the Wii…
The Web
For the first time, living-room web browsing is actually realistic, or so I’m told. The Wii is going to come with Opera, the web browser. With the point-and-click capability of the WiiMote, this should be practical. Let’s just hope YouTube is compatible.
The Price and the Verdict
Nintendo has hit the $249 price point, and unlike Sony, which is going to sell its top-end PS3 for $600 at a loss, and Microsoft, which has never made money selling Xboxes, will actually see operational earnings as soon as Wiis start shipping on November 19. I think this says a lot. (Pre-orders start tomorrow, October 13.) Though its IBM PowerPC is (far) less powerful than the PS3′s behemoth (and in short supply) Cell processor, I think it’s safe to say that Nintendo realizes that it isn’t processing power that sells games. It’s fun.