TELECOM Digest     Thu, 24 Nov 2005 01:43:00 EST    Volume 24 : Issue 532

Inside This Issue:                                Happy Thanksgiving Day!

    Personal Computers Enlisted to Fight AIDS (Reuters News Wire)
    Meet Jane Geek (Pallavi Gogoi)
    Microsoft Reports Isolated Xbox Glitches (Associated Press News Wire)
    Skype - H.323 or SIP (Lasse)
    WSJ Guide to the Blogs Insiders Read to Stay Current (Monty Solomon)
    GAIT vrs. GSM and Other Cell Phones (TELECOM Digest Editor)
    Re: Voicepulse Owns Your Number (Ken Abrams)
    Re: Voicepulse Owns Your Number (Michael D. Sullivan)
    Re: Showdown with USA Over Internet Control (nospam4me@mytrashmail.com)

Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the
Internet.  All contents here are copyrighted by Patrick Townson and
the individual writers/correspondents. Articles may be used in other
journals or newsgroups, provided the writer's name and the Digest are
included in the fair use quote.  By using -any name or email address-
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               ===========================

Addresses herein are not to be added to any mailing list, nor to be
sold or given away without explicit written consent.  Chain letters,
viruses, porn, spam, and miscellaneous junk are definitely unwelcome.

We must fight spam for the same reason we fight crime: not because we
are naive enough to believe that we will ever stamp it out, but because
we do not want the kind of world that results when no one stands
against crime.   Geoffrey Welsh

               ===========================

See the bottom of this issue for subscription and archive details
and the name of our lawyer; other stuff of interest.  

----------------------------------------------------------------------

From: Reuters News Wire <reuters@telecom-digest.org>
Subject: Personal Computers Enlisted in AIDS Research
Date: Wed, 23 Nov 2005 22:16:57 -0600


A new project in the fight against AIDS will tap into the unused power
of individual and business computers to help research and identify
drugs used to combat the HIV virus.

An Internet-based initiative, called FightAIDSatHome, aims to enlist
about 100,000 computer users to donate the use of their machines when
they would otherwise be idle.

Participants' machines can request data from a central server, process
it and send back the results.

The organizers hope to develop new chemical strategies to treat
HIV-infected individuals, according to the San-Diego based Scripps
Research Institute, which is behind the effort.

By being able to tap into a vast reservoir of computer processing
power, researchers will be able to approach problems more aggressively
and quickly, Scripps said.

It is the second research project using the network of computers,
called the World Community grid, which is funded by IBM.

Copyright 2005 Reuters Limited.

NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the
daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at
http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new
articles daily.


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: This seems to be a very useful project; 
I hope some readers will decide to help with it. There was a project
going on (maybe still is?) where computers were enlisted during
off-hours to listen to random radio static from outer space and
attempt to find some intelligence in it all. Is that project still
going on?  This latest effort, to find some cure for AIDS seems to
be worthwhile also.  PAT]

------------------------------

From: Pallavi Gogoi <businessweek@telecom-digest.org> 
Subject: Meet Jane Geek
Date: Wed, 23 Nov 2005 22:18:19 -0600


By Pallavi Gogoi

Managers from Dell Inc.'s marketing and public relations staff flew
from their Round Rock (Tex.) headquarters to New York earlier this
year to meet with editors and sales reps at a dozen
publications. Their mission wasn't too surprising: Get editors to
print more about their computers, televisions, and pocketPCs.

It was the choice of magazines that was unusual, including Oprah
Winfrey's O at Home, Ladies' Home Journal, and CosmoGIRL -- not
exactly publications on the company's regular radar screen, despite
the obviously large number of women tapping keyboards in offices and
cafes. In barely six months, though, Dell's laser printer, plasma TV,
and notebook computer were featured as must-haves in gift guides in
shelter magazines Real Simple and O at Home.  And in August, CosmoGIRL
gave Dell's 700m, 4-lb. notebook a "kiss of approval."

Dell isn't the only consumer electronics giant to have slept through
the alarm when it comes to realizing that women are as interested as
men in personal computing and home entertainment. RadioShack and Best
Buy recently begun to make big changes to their marketing plans, store
designs, and products with women in mind. In an effort to avoid
commodity status in crowded categories like TVs and PCs, they have dug
deeper into customer's heads. Marketing executives noticed that women
are much more involved in buying electronic gadgets but are completely
underserved. Indeed this year, for the first time, women are expected
to outspend men in the $122 billion market, according to the Consumer
Electronics Assn.

It didn't take long, once it tuned in, for Dell to register that women are
its fastest-growing customer group and key to its growth strategy,
especially as it branches out to TVs and MP3 players. Its own research in
2004 showed women made up half of its buyers and were as likely as men to
prefer buying PCs online. So besides the women's magazines, Dell is running
ads on women-centric cable-TV channels such as Oxygen and Lifetime
Television. It also placed a Dell TV and laptop on the set of Martha
Stewart's new NBC daytime show. Before that, says Bobbi Dangerfield,
director of customer experience, "you wouldn't have seen any Dell ads on
these women's channels."

Blame the male geek culture at digital hardware marketers for ignoring
women in the past. As recently as early 2003, Samsung Electronics
tested its phones, TVs, and home theaters with all-male focus
groups. Today, the company makes sure half its reviewers are
women. The payoffs: Samsung designed its DuoCam -- the first two-lens
digital camera and camcorder -- after women reported they liked to
record "life events" both in photographs and video but didn't like to
lug around two gadgets. The camera recently became lighter by 40%,
again the result of female feedback.

Chief Purchasing Officer Samsung has bested its rivals in design
awards the past two years, an accomplishment that Peter Weedfald,
senior vice-president for sales and marketing at Samsung Electronics
America Inc., attributes to listening to women. "Have you ever heard a
man say: 'I wish they would change the design and color of this
product and make it easier to use?"'

Demographics have a role to play in this shift. Women now head 33
million households, up from 21 million in 1980. Their buying power has
grown, too.  In the past three decades, men's median income has barely
budged, up just 0.6%, while women's has soared 63% (though women still
earn less than their male counterparts -- 78 cents for every dollar a
man gets). And women need plenty of computing power given they are
starting businesses at twice the rate of men, according to the Center
for Women's Business Research.

The digital home has also come to confer on women the role of chief
purchasing officer of computing and entertainment gear. They're
judging the user-friendliness of computers and wireless networks just
as they would stoves and refrigerators. "Last week my 11-year-old came
in and said she needed a JumpDrive to transfer digital files back and
forth from school, and who buys it? My wife," says Paul Rand, chief
development and innovation officer at communications firm Ketchum
(NYSE:OMC - News), which led a standing-room-only marketing-to-women
forum at the Consumer Electronics Show last February.

Best Buy has caught on to the women's digital mind-set, too, launching
its "Jill Initiative" to focus on what women want. "Jill," according
to the retailer, is a time-pressured suburban mom who prefers shopping
at Target Corp. because of its focus on style, over, say, Wal-Mart
Stores Inc. In the past year, Best Buy relaunched 60 stores, changing
their look with pastel colors rather than the chain's traditional
dark-blue and yellow scheme to create a more soothing
experience. Personal shopping advisers whisk mostly female shoppers
around the stores, steering clear of tech jargon. "The language of
bits and bytes is a thing of the past," says Ketchum's Rand. A Best
Buy salesperson doesn't talk megapixels but instead asks if a digital
camera is primarily for still photos or soccer games and if buyers
plan to print their own photos.

Remote Fix-It Women are far less likely than men to feign  understanding
of new technology, and thus they expect a high level of customer
service. So Best Buy launched the Geek Squad service, whose men and
women in white shirts and ties go so far as to offer home visits in a
white-and-orange Volkswagen Beetle to fix, upgrade, and install
hardware and software. Dell, meanwhile, last week rolled out Dell On
Call, which allows its help desk to take over a computer remotely and
fix it for customers who sign on.

Perhaps consumer electronics marketers wouldn't have taken so long to
appreciate women if they had a few more in their ranks. Dell, for one,
laments that women are only a third of its management ranks. Last
March it held a diversity summit with 30 other companies to form a
strategy to attract more women as employees, not just customers. "It's
important that our employees reflect our customer base," says
Stephanie Mims, senior manager of global diversity at Dell.

Some may view these efforts as pandering, the way auto makers in the
1950s tried pitching cars with matching handbags. But some see clear
differences between the genders. RadioShack Chief Marketing Officer
Don Carroll says women behave differently from their first step in the
store, based on studying his in-store-motion cameras. "Men look left
and right, identify their product, and head towards it, but women
really shop the store before reaching their goal," says Carroll. He's
changing lighting at the company's 5,000 outlets and making the stores
less cluttered, a leading complaint among women and a move that will
no doubt make it easier for men to shop as well. It's Mother, it
seems, who knows best in the gadget aisle.

Copyright 2005 BusinessWeek Online. All rights reserved.

NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the
daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at
http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new
articles daily.

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------------------------------

From: Asociated Press News Wire <ap@telecom-digest.org> 
Subject: Microsoft Reports Isolated Xbox Glitches
Date: Wed, 23 Nov 2005 22:19:17 -0600


Microsoft Corp. said Wednesday it had received isolated reports of
technical problems with its popular new Xbox 360 videogame system.

Some owners complained that their systems were crashing during game
play, sometimes with error messages popping up. On
http://www.xbox-scene.com, a site dedicated to Xbox gaming, a member
called jsgongwon reported that he could not finish the first lap of
"Project Gotham Racing 3."

"It's a few reports of consoles here and there not working properly,"
said Molly O'Donnell, a spokeswoman for Microsoft's Xbox
division. "It's what you would expect with a consumer electronics
instrument of this complexity ....  par for the course."

Gaming fanatics lined up for hours Monday to be among the first to
purchase the next-generation system, which was in short supply despite
its starting price tag of $299.99. Microsoft hopes to sell 2.5 million
to 3 million of the new systems in the first 90 days.

O'Donnell urged anyone with Xbox problems to call 1-800-4myXbox or go
to http://www.xbox.com. If the problems can't be resolved immediately,
Microsoft said it will pay to ship the console overnight to a repair
center, overnight it back once it's fixed, or ship a replacement.


Copyright 2005 The Associated Press.

NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the
daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at
http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new
articles daily.

For more Associated Press news reports, please go to:
http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/AP.html

------------------------------

Reply-To: Lasse <Lars.Kalsen@jubii.dk>
From: Lasse <Lars.Kalsen@jubii.dk>
Subject: Skype - H.323 or SIP
Date: Thu, 24 Nov 2005 00:47:54 +0100
Organization: TDC Totalloesninger


Hi all you gurus,

Does anyone know if Skype is based on the H.323 protocol family -- or
the more modern SIP protocol?.

Lars Kalsen 

PS: You might also review:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skype

Vi leverer viden! Lars Kalsen IT-consultant, Cand. scient. & HD IT-gruppen 
Brorsonsvej 19 9490 Pandrup Lars.Kalsen@itgruppen.dk www.itgruppen.dk tel: 
fax: mobile: +45 96 73 01 02 +45 96 73 00 31 +45 40 15 66 02 Add me to your 
address book ... Want a signature like this? 

Greetings from Denmark!

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 23 Nov 2005 17:22:49 -0500
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
Subject: WSJ Guide to the Blogs Insiders Read to Stay Current


What the In-Crowd Knows

 From Hollywood to Wall Street,
Our Guide to the Blogs
Insiders Read to Stay Current
November 16, 2005; Page D1

(See Corrections & Amplifications item below.)

The music industry has one, Wall Street bankers have several and even
CPAs have come around.

No self-respecting industry these days is without a must-read blog.
Although they vary wildly on fine points like accuracy, they are now
so widely read that it's assumed anybody in the business is up to
speed on the latest postings. For outsiders, they are also a window
into the inner workings, preoccupations and gossip of fields ranging
from real estate to mergers and acquisitions.

http://online.wsj.com/public/article/0,,SB113210326581498377-hYdxWrJpCM7l9BnBsozDM5Qf__U_20061123,00.html

------------------------------

Subject: GAIT vrs. GSM and Other Cell Phones
Date: Wed, 23 Nov 2005 22:43:52 EST
From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor)


Some of you may recall last week here I made some inquiries about my
original cell phone (Nokia 5165) and my new cell phone (Nokia 6010). My
complaint was that (a) none of my accessories from the 5165 would fit
on the 6010, and (b) when using the 5165 I generally got a stronger
signal. 

I mentioned my complaints here, and John Levine suggested trying to
purchase a Nokia 6340-i on E-Bay or wherever. I did get one on E-Bay
for the grand total of $15.00 (fifteen dollars), in very good
condition I might add. Not knowing that much about these things my
next inquiry was about the SIM card. If I inserted the SIM card which
came with the 6010 into the newer 6340-i would I need to report this
to Cingular, or just use it as is?  Everyone said it will work fine,
no hassles, Cingular does not care what you use, etc. So when the
E-Bay purchase showed up a couple days ago, first thing I tried were
my various accessories, car kit, headphone, Cell Socket, etc.
Everything fit togehter okay, and it all worked fine _with the
exception of Cell Socket (6340-i fit in it okay but something was
different about the pin outs so it would _not_ charge the 6340 nor
allow the other main function of cell socket (use of regular phones
around house in place of cellular). But not so bad, two out of three
accessories worked fine.

Then I tried making an actual _phone call_ on the 6340. By coincidence
I guess I was within range of a GSM tower, the phone call worked fine,
although the signal strength was much less than usual. Later in the day
I went outside and it worked fine on a call there also, but again, very 
poor signal strength. 

Turned off the phone, went to bed, went outside today over in the 
direction of Walmart, the other side of town. Tried to make a call to 
get the cab driver to come pick me up to go back home. Tried several
times; kept getting the little jingle and the message, "We do not
recognize your cellular number, if this is an error or you are a new
customer, please call us, etc.

Got back home, called Cingular and asked them what was up. YES, they said,
put the SIM card in your phone and it should work fine, but you should have
called us to let us know and change your ESN, etc on our records, that
is, if you want a _wider_ coverage area. 

Why?  Well because, she said, what you have is a GAIT phone (which I 
think means [G]SM, {A]mps [I]teroperability [T]eam. For those phones,
and considering the area you are in (mostly rural), you are still quite
frequently going to get the 'older style' service. Instead of having a
phone good for only one class of service or the other, the phone you
bought is good for all kinds of service. She then launched into a 
discussion (and make a reference to a web site to look at yet!) to
read about these GAIT phones. She discussed how this type of phone
will 'seamlessly' go between 800-1900 and work 'wherever you are at'.

I asked her, is this phone, the Nokia 6340-i that I got on E-Bay in 
essence then a 'world phone'?  Well, not quite, she said, but it does
insure that _anywhere_ you go in North America you will always get
someone's tower, either Cingular or whoever. And she said it would
work in many other countries as well, 'just not everywhere'. The map
she referred me to on the net was for North America and it showed
coverage _everywhere_ except a couple of tiny 'no coverage' areas in
Idaho and British Columbia. She said the GAIT style of phone was
intended to be a 'transitional' thing between GSM and AMPS. I said I
must have scored pretty well, gettng an unlocked one for fifteen
dollars. She agreed that was true.  I mentioned that my old Nokia 5165
always got great signal strength, why not this new GAIT phone. She
said to give her my ESN as well as my IME number and the phone's
serial number. I did so, and presto, about a minute later my phone
chirped at me and said in a screen message to 'recycle power'. I did
so, and the signal strength shot up quite high and has been there 
since. 

She did mention that with 'regular' GSM I got wireless internet at no
additional charge on minutes because they measured it by the kilobytes
used rather than in minutes, but with GAIT it would cost me $3.99 per
month _and_ the minutes of usage as well, but 'considering you have
5000 minutes of overnight usage, you could stay on internet all night
long for the $3.99 per month.'

I guess my question would be, are you familiar with this GAIT thing
as a 'transitional' thing between GSM and other types of cell service
and do you have any experience with it?

PAT

------------------------------

From: Ken Abrams <k_abrams@[REMOVETHIS] sbcglobal.net>
Subject: Re: Voicepulse Owns Your Number
Organization: SBC http://yahoo.sbc.com
Date: Thu, 24 Nov 2005 00:06:21 GMT


Fred Atkinson <fatkinson@mishmash.com> wrote

> So, our friend Jason put me in touch with Carolina Net.  I've got
> their phone installed and put in a request to report my NC number to
> it.

> Voicepulse says that they own the number.  Apparently they have some
> legalese that says they won't release it to another carrier.  I went
> to considerable trouble getting that number listed with Verizon's
> directory assistance and I feel that number belongs to me.

Just because you FEEL that way doesn't make it true!

VOIP is, for the most part, not defined by law or regulation.  It is
not "real" phone service and it is not "real" internet service.  It is
an implementation of a technology that was never meant to be used for
Public Switched Telephone service.  It has been a virtual gold mine
for those selling the (so called) service and a nightmare for anyone
who expects "real" phone service.  You have discovered yet another
"glitch" with VOIP in that the regulations covering number portability
for land-line and cellular phone companies don't (necessarily) apply
to VOIP providers ... and they want to keep it that way because it
would cost them multi-millions of dollars to participate, both in
technology costs and administrative costs.

Caveat Emptor.

IMHO, you are kicking a dead horse.  Rather than waste your time and
energy fighting a loosing battle with Voicepluse, you need to "take a
chill pill", do a realistic assessment of your needs and plan for
something different.  Take your lumps and move on.

You should have asked about number portability BEFORE making all those
other arrangements ... not AFTER.

------------------------------

From: Michael D. Sullivan <userid@camsul.example.invalid>
Subject: Re: Voicepulse Owns Your Number
Date: Thu, 24 Nov 2005 04:10:40 GMT


Fred Atkinson wrote:

> So, our friend Jason put me in touch with Carolina Net.  I've got
> their phone installed and put in a request to report my NC number to
> it.

> Voicepulse says that they own the number.  Apparently they have some
> legalese that says they won't release it to another carrier.  I went
> to considerable trouble getting that number listed with Verizon's
> directory assistance and I feel that number belongs to me.

> I've sent Voicepulse notice that I expect them to release my number.
> They say they will not.  In fact, they called me just a few minutes
> ago and said that the porting request from Carolina Net would be
> declined.

> I'm looking for recourse and I'm not interested in hearing that there
> is no recourse.  Can anyone here make some suggestions as to most
> effective avenue to pursue?

Fred, you can file a complaint with the FCC electronically (online), by 
mail, by email, or by fax:  http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/complaints.html . 
It can't hurt and it might just help.


Michael D. Sullivan
Bethesda, MD (USA)
(Replace "example.invalid" with "com" in my address.)

------------------------------

From: nospam4me@mytrashmail.com
Subject: Re: Showdown with USA Over Internet Control
Date: Thu, 24 Nov 2005 00:42:20 UTC
Organization: PANIX Public Access Internet and UNIX, NYC


So what would you have ICANN do about spam and other forms of
anti-social net behavior?

 From what I see, about all ICANN has authority over is the DNS Roots
and the top level domains.


Herb Oxley
From: address IS Valid.

[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: ICANN _does_ deal with the DNS Roots
and the top level domains, but part of that dealing includes the fact
that _all registrars_ must go through ICANN and are forced to require
of all web sites that they sign a contract turning final control of
their web sites over to ICANN. You, as a web site owner must agree
that ICANN's word is final and that disputes are to be settled by
an arbitrator ICANN chooses. If ICANN decides you are a cybersquatter
(which is to say that you have taken a name for your web site which
_they_ (ICANN, in their sole discretion) thinks would be better off 
assigned to someone else, they can -- and have -- taken it away and
given it to the recipient of _their_ choice. Yes, you can demand 
arbitration and go to some expense to defend your right to the web
site name, but it is a vain effort on your part. Either you as a web
site owner, or the registrar, or some other person is required to
pay a sum of money to ICANN for their 'administrative fees' for the
priviledge of being allowed to have a web site (even though they at
ICANN can take it back from you as they wish.) Nota Bene: their 
'administrative fees' typically include a trans-global 'working 
vacation' in some esoteric spot two or three times per year. Earlier
this year, for example, they held a conference in some remote area
of Argentina. All of their staff packs up and goes to wherever this 
spot is. It wouldn't occur to them to have their 'working vacation'
in the USA.

Also, they are a bit (to say the least!) evasive about their plans for
the net over the years past. In 1994 for example, they had a meeting
at which Vint Cerf presided, in which he tslked with much pride about
how the net would become a commercial endeavor. It was like a call-in
conference; I called in as many netizens did, was pretty much ignored
in the question/answer session, but finally I was able to get a word
in edgewise, after Mr. Cerf had talked for 30-45 minutes about his
visions for the 'new net' (the one that Vice-President Al Gore spoke
so lovingly of [thus the fallacy several years ago that Al Gore had
'invented the internet']) and I asked Mr. Cerf "what about us little
guys, who run not-for-profit web sites, mailing lists, etc? What is
_our place_ on this new commercial internet you have planned?"
Mr. Cerf thought about it for a minute or so, and his reply was "that
is a good question, I do not know where or how you guys will fit into
the picture." (click, and cut me off the phone.) I still remember, to
this day, how evasive he was in answering me, given the elaborate
answers he had for all the corporate interests who were present at
that meeting, and the politicians, etc. I guess he still hasn't
figured out where we fit in, or if we do at all. Since about 1995,
after he had been given about a year or so to think on "where you guys
will fit in" I wrote him off as a simple traitor to the rest of the
net. _Yes_ he has done a lot in the history of the net. _Yes_ he is
a very intelligent person, but he is still a traitor where most of the
rest of us are concerned.

Also, in the late 1990's, there was a period of a few years where
ICANN was perpetually broke, out of cash money. Mr. Cerf somehow or
another convinced his employer at that time -- MCI, itself a bunch of
bums with its 'creative accounting' scandal a couple years ago, to
'loan' a substantial amount of money -- two or three million dollars
 -- to ICANN for one of their 'working vacations'. I do not think ICANN
ever did pay it back, which I guess is neither here nor there, except
that MCI had their eyes set on taking over the commercial aspects of
the net for themselves at one time in those days, and they hired Vint
Cerf to be their mouthpiece for that endeavor, giving him some sort of
flaky title or another: vice-president of some esoteric function. He
was there for several years, tapping MCI for money to give ICANN for
their international vacations, etc, then shortly before MCI went belly
up after that accounting scandal he left there and is now at Google in
a highly placed position, more than likely to sodomize them from time
to time on ICANN's behalf.  So what do Google and the late MCI both
have in common? Well they both lust after commercial control of the
net and they both have (or had) Vint Cerf in their employ on account
of his reputation, his intelligence, his history from the early years.

But I digress: what would _I_ have them do? That was your question?
Well, if ICANN is going to remain at least for the time being as the
de-facto governor of the net (and again guys, puh-leeze do not start
that whimpering about ICANN's role, no one is fooled any longer) then
I would suggest that as soon as it is administratively convenient to
do so, they begin amending their contracts which all of us have to
sign firmly denouncing and repudiating spam/scam/phishing and all that
stuff. Their contracts which we all have to sign now giving ICANN the
ultimate authority and say-so or risk being taken to arbitration and
sent afterward to burn in hell-fire can be amended or rewritten to
deal with the problem of insect abatement. Let them push it off on the
registrars if they wish; let the registrars in turn push it off on the
large ISPs; just do it. Let's hear our governor -- if it wishes to
remain our governor -- firmly renounce and repudiate all that stuff.
If they try it and it fails, well that's another matter. But now we
hear nothing from them except they are going on another vacation and
need more money and that their monthly meeting minutes will be late
getting up on their web site.

Why do I feel Vint Cerf and Esther Dyson would never go along with
this proposal?  PAT] 

------------------------------


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The MSTM degree draws on the expertise of the OSU's College
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End of TELECOM Digest V24 #532
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