VoipNews.org

Yesterday we wrote about the soon to launch Google Phone, a Google branded Android phone that we believe will hit the market in early 2010.

Lots of people are saying there’s no way Google will enter the phone market directly and compete with all these handset manufacturers who have bet on Android. Daring Fireball, PC World and IntoMobile are among the doubters. And a lot of people are pointing to a Tom Krazit/CNET article last month that quoted Google’s Andy Rubin: “We’re not making hardware¿We’re enabling other people to build hardware,” and “Rubin, vice president of engineering for Android at Google, scoffed at the notion that the company would “compete with its customers” by releasing its own phone.”

Read the rest of this entry »

The debate over Droid v. iPhone rages on, but lots more Android surprises are on the way. Get ready for the Google Phone. It’s no longer a myth, it’s real.

The next “super” Android device will almost certainly be a HTC phone that’s much thinner than even the Droid or iPhone – The Dragon/Passion. This is the phone the senior Android guys at Google are now carrying around and testing, at least as of a couple of weeks ago. If you’re willing to give up the Droid’s keyboard, the Dragon/Passion is going to be a really cool phone. It should be fully available very soon.

Read the rest of this entry »

Last month Skype was in talks to acquire VoIP startup Gizmo5. It was a perfect backup plan in case all that IP litigation didn’t work out. – Gizmo5’s SIP infrastructure could theoretically replace Skype’s proprietary P2P back end.

After the Skype settlement, though, Gizmo5’s strategic value to Skype sort of plummeted. In the meantime, Google bought them, say multiple sources with knowledge of the deal, for around $30 million in cash. The deal is done, say our sources, and will be announced shortly.

Read the rest of this entry »

People who use public WiFi to make iPhone calls or conduct video conferences take heed: It just got a lot easier to monitor your conversations in real time.

At a talk scheduled for Saturday at the Toorcon hacker conference in San Diego, two security researchers plan to show the latest advances in the open-source UCSniff tool for penetrating voice-over-internet-protocol systems. With a few clicks of a mouse, they will eavesdrop on a call between two audience members using popular iPhone applications that route the calls over the conference network.

Read the rest of this entry »

A Venezuelan citizen arrested in Mexico last February on hacking and wire fraud charges has been extradited and is expected to appear in court tomorrow in New Jersey, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman, announced.

Edwin Pena, 26, is scheduled to appear tomorrow at 2 p.m. before U.S. Magistrate Judge Claire C. Cecchi for an initial appearance. A 20-count Indictment charges Pena with conspiracy to secretly hack into the computer networks of unsuspecting Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) phone service providers; conspiracy to commit wire fraud by transmitting telephone calls over the victim’’s networks; and individual hacking and wire fraud counts.

Read the rest of this entry »

VoIP startup TringMe has launched a Facebook application that lets users make calls from the social network using its Flash-based web phone for browsers. The app also lets you embed widgets to your profile for your Facebook friends to call or SMS you.

Read the rest of this entry »

Vonage is expanding its horizons beyond delivering VoIP over broadband Internet, and hoping to expand its customer base and revenue at the same time. The new app from Vonage allows Blackberry and iPhone users to place cheaper international calls from their mobile phones. It also highlights the shifting competitive landscape between previously separate technologies.

Read the rest of this entry »

Rocket Technology Labs, developer of the Rocketvox unified communications platform, announced today the release of Rocketvox Beta, available by request at www.rocketvox.com. Rocketvox provides oneplace to view and securely manage all of your communications streams with channels for any POP or IMAP email, VoIP, voicemail, visual voicemail, voicemail-to-text, Twitter, and Facebook accounts. Rocketvox Beta also provides a cross channel address book to support the wide variety of ways we communicate on the Internet and on our mobile devices.

Read the rest of this entry »

AT&T reversed course on Tuesday and said that it would no longer prevent iPhone customers from using Voice over IP protocol (VoIP) services that bypass its own voice network.

Prior to this, the only way to use Skype’s VoIP telephony service was to use a Wi-Fi network, which could be spotty or unreliable. In announcing the news, AT&T (NYSE: T) noted it has offered a variety of other wireless devices that enable VoIP applications on its 2G and 3G networks for other phones, like Windows Mobile devices. AT&T this afternoon informed Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) and the FCC of its decision.

Read the rest of this entry »

Yesterday, the Federal Communications Commission sent a letter to Google, asking the search giant to explain how its Google Voice service works, how many people are using it, and how much money it makes — information Google has not disclosed publicly. The inquiry was launched a couple of weeks after AT&T sent a letter to the FCC, alleging that Google may be “systematically blocking telephone calls…. in certain rural communities.”
Read the rest of this entry »