The first time I drank a bottle of Chateau de Paraza came shortly after it was found in a best buys under $10 list from Robert Parker in the 80s. I'm guessing that wine was from the 85 vintage and the wine was so good I bought a case and over the next ten years … Read more
Deja Vu…Right after the Amazon Echo came out, I forsaw the device being the ultimate speakerphone. Back then I was an advisor to Los Angeles VoIP startup, Telzio, and I encouraged their founders to embrace the Amazon Echo and Alexa as a calling platform. About a year later the company rolled it out, being the … Read more
Back in the day there was GrandCentral, TalkPlus, PhoneGnome, Iotum and even Jangl. The first four were all clients of Comunicano, with Iotum and GrandCentral still enjoying life under different names and different ownership. The four all had various ideas on calling, totally in line with Jeff Pulver's Purple Minutes idea that IP calling would … Read more
Over the past few years I've seen corporate America, especially banks and now even Amazon, begin to use SMS as a mode of verification that you are you. Unfortunately, the current approach, using mobile numbers tied to a mobile operator is both antquated and very faulty. For many years VoIP companies have had access to … Read more
Over the past few years I've seen corporate America, especially banks and now even Amazon, begin to use SMS as a mode of verification that you are you. Unfortunately, the current approach, using mobile numbers tied to a mobile operator is both antquated and very faulty. For many years VoIP companies have had access to … Read more
Back in the early days of VoIP, there was a horrific incident involving a death, a baby and Vonage. This led to regulatory oversight of VoIP by the FCC. This was something that then fellow VoIPWatcher, Om Malik, had pretty much predicted while my archives show that there were efforts being taken earlier by Vonage and others. So … Read more
For many years I've used the rule of 3x to stop buying wines that have just gotten too pricey. A great example these days are Chateauneuf du Papes which are now at that point. Given I was buying them at under $20.00 and now many of those are now over $60.00 I'm back looking for … Read more
This is belated news and still sad. I just learned via the Kevin Tofel and Matt Miller's podcast that James Kendrick passed away. I will admit that after James departure from GigaOm that my interaction with James had been reduced. While we periodically exchanged some messages in social media, James and I hadn't really spoken in … Read more
In what has been a long time coming, Uber, the world's largest ride sharing service, has added VoIP to their mobile apps reports Engadget and RedmondPie. There's a couple of benefits that come to mind almost immediately. First is the fact that those of us who have multiple phones and phone numbers will be more … Read more
I have for years loved spending time in Lyon. The city is walkable. Has a great transit system and without question some of the best dining of any major city in the world. In many ways as much as I enjoy Paris, I find Lyon much more to my liking as the old school meets … Read more
