VOIP

Report: Skype service in China recording, censoring messages

TOM-Skype, eBay's joint venture in China, is recording customer text chats and censoring them if they contain certain keywords related to topics the government deems objectionable, according to a report released on Wednesday (PDF) by researchers in Canada.

"TOM-Skype is censoring and logging text chat messages that contain specific, sensitive keywords and may be engaged in more targeted surveillance," the report concludes. "What is clear is that TOM-Skype is engaging in extensive surveillance with seemingly little regard for the security and privacy of Skype users. This is in direct contradiction of Skype's public statements regarding … Read more

Skype 4.0 beta 2 gives you more say

Skype 4.0 beta 2 (download) has done a lot of growing since the first beta for Windows rolled out this past June. While that release showed some success reorganizing Skype's services, we predicted that folks would protest the gawky layout. We were right.

The ability to switch into the classic compact view is one concession to user demand that shows up in Skype 4.0 beta 2. Now you can toggle between the expanded default view that fuses the contact list and active conversation, and the traditional view, which breaks them into separate windows. This change definitely improves … Read more

VoIP system users can be targeted in attacks

Jason Ostrom of VoIP Hopper on Saturday plans to release his next-generation VoIP sniffer at Toorcon in San Diego to help raise awareness of the type of vulnerabilities businesses face as they adopt unified communications (UC) technology.

He told CNET News that the tool, UCSniff, has two settings. One is a learning mode, sniffing all the IP traffic then mapping telephone extensions to specific addresses. By default, it is capturing all the calls and saving them to wave files.

The other setting is a bit more creepy: targeting conversations. After learning the IP addresses of the phone system, someone using … Read more

The 404 191: Where we're finally on time

Jeff almost doesn't make it into the show today due to this 24 flu bug, but I think his daily dose of Vitamin Backayutang was enough to pull him out of the trenches. After a false start, Wilson gives us a a lengthy review of yesterday's Google Android debut, and I'll let you in on a secret: he's disappointed. I don't think any of us will be trading in our iPhones for this little guy, especially not for something that looks like the T-Mobile Sidekick 1.0.

This is the show where we're finally on time. In case you didn't grasp that subtle sarcasm, we actually start the show a half an hour late only to be interrupted halfway through the show by Jeff messing up the recording...so we start again! This time around, it's better than ever; we've got Wilson' initial review of the T-Mobile G1 with the Google Android OS, Prank VoIP calls, Dark Knight DVD details, and a tasty new Ben and Jerry's ice cream flavor. Also, we uncover another huge helping of East Cost/West Coast beef! YUM!

EPISODE 191 Download today's podcast … Read more

HoaxCall.com adds VoIP flavor to prank calls

I've been playing with the most wonderful and devious service this morning. It's called Hoax Call, and it lets you prank call people right from your browser. If you're familiar with soundboards, the Flash-powered array of links that play small sound clips from popular movies, you'll feel right at home with Hoax Call. It offers three of these boards that can control, then use to connect you to any number in the U.S., Canada, or the U.K.

Each soundboard scenario has a different theme. The site has launched with just three, one that fakes … Read more

Use your PC as a phone

The Internet is a great big data pipe that can carry a lot of things, including phone calls. Watch our video, then come back here to learn how to use your computer as a phone.

Assuming you have a computer, you'll need three things: the Net, some software, and some hardware.

The Internet

First the Internet connection. The higher the speed, the better. Unlike regular phone service, there's never a direct connection between you and the person you're calling. Like other Internet traffic, your call arrives in packets. The faster you can receive and send those packets, … Read more

Battle of the wireless headsets

We recently took a look at two new wireless headsets available on the market and pitted them against one another. The Creative Digital Wireless Gaming headset HS-1200 and the Logitech ClearChat PC Wireless headset both offer similar functionality, but only one can be worth your hard-earned cash.

Both the Creative and Logitech are rechargeable units that use USB dongles to transmit audio to their respective headset. However, we were much happier with the transmission radius of the Creative. The Logitech gave us up to 20 feet of freedom, but the Creative was able to let us travel up to 60 feet away from our PC. This was especially nice while using the VoIP chatting program Skype.

Speaking of Skype,… Read more

Google, Verizon, others sued over voice mail patent

A patent holding company that has won settlements from Apple, AT&T, and others sued Google, Verizon, and a handful of other companies on Tuesday for allegedly infringing on patents related to voice mail, according to a report from Reuters.

In addition to Google and Verizon, other defendants in the lawsuit filed by Klausner Technologies are: Cox Communications, LG Electronics, Comverse Technology, Embarq, PhoneFusion, RingCentral, and Grand Central, which was acquired by Google last year.

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Tyler, Texas, alleges the companies are infringing his patents related to visual voice mail.

Representatives … Read more

The Digital Home Video: When will VoIP supplant cell phones?

Will VoIP become the technology of choice for the future of cell phones? I certainly think so.

And as always, drop me a line or follow me on Twitter!

Crave: Can you freestyle on an iPhone?

It's everything you Crave and more. Brian Tong brings Ariel Nunez back to the show to talk about Wii Music, becoming invisible, making beats with the iPhone, and even better VoIP on that same Apple phone!