iPhone Spotted in the Wild

iphonesighting.jpg
Okay, here’s the blurry pic, supposedly taken on a commuter flight between San Francisco and San Jose (which also goes to other southern points). This image was taken by a regular Flickr poster, chasingfun.

It is speculated that chasingfun got this picture due to the double-decker layout of Caltrain flights. Seated across the isle and one level up, chasingfun would have no difficulty in getting just such a shot.

Though it seems doubtful that this is an Apple employee, due to the fact that Apple is based in Cupertino and not close by, it could be an AT&T Wireless employee, perhaps testing the new iPhone.

What do you make of this picture?

Fusion CEO at VoIP World Conference

A keynote address by Fusion Telecommunications CEO, Matthew Rosen, is scheduled for the VoIP World Middle East conference in Dubai, UAE on Monday, June 18.

This VoIP World conference marks the first major event in tht area that will highlight VoIP business strategies. Expected attendees will include many VoIP senior executives, ISPs, mobile operators, government officials and regulators, as well as equipment manufacturers from around the world.

From Fusion,

Mr. Rosen’s keynote address will focus on VoIP’s advantages and disadvantages from the perspective of each of its relevant stakeholders. It will also cover the challenges faced by the incumbent service providers in the region, as well as the many opportunities available to forward-thinking, quick-acting companies seeking to capitalize on the potential of this new technology. The session will also review VoIP’s market demand and revenue potential, the current state of affairs with regards to VoIP in the countries of the Middle East and North Africa, and ‘Strategies for Success’ that can be embraced by companies seeking to aggressively compete in the world of ‘Next Generation Networks.’

How Well Will the iPhone Do?

The iPhone is scheduled to come out at the end of the month, and hopes to capture about 1% of the cell phone market for 2008. What exactly does this figure mean?

It’s amazing how much 1% can turn out to be. 1% of the cell phone market equals 10 million units. If only 1 million units are sold in the first year, this will add over 500 million dollars of gross revenue for the company. This, in turn, is likely to increase the share price due to shareholder confidence.

If Apple wants to sell a million units by the end of their fiscal year (September 30), that equals about 11,000 units each day. Seeing as Apple is expecting to move a million units each month of 2008, selling a million in the first three months shouldn’t be difficult.

International Calling Just Got Cheaper

skype_logo21.pngSkype recently introduced Skype Pro. Now using Skype To Go will save you even mroe money when making international calls. With a Skype To Go phone number making international calls from your cell phone can be nearly as affordable as local calls.

As Stefan Oberg, VP & GM Telecoms at Skype says,

Millions of Skypers around the world already make cheap international calls from their computers. With Skype To Go, you don’t have to think twice about the cost of making an international call from your mobile phone. If you have a friend living abroad, you can now talk to him or her anytime and anywhere you want.

Simply download Skype to your computer and sign up for Skype Pro to get your Skype To Go number for free. To activate the number just choose someone you want to call who lives abroad and enter their international number. Skype To Go will then give you a local number to use instead of the international number.

“If you’re here you’ll get an iPhone”

An AT&T store in Midtown Manhattan is currently taking orders for hopeful iPhone buyers. Located in Times Square, and surely has seen more than a few desperately interested, would-be iPhone buyers.

So far there are 100 people on the store’s list. Though the store’s phone number is listed below, don’t get too excited unless you live in or plan to visit New York on June 29. Apparently you must be present in order to qualify.

A store employee had this to say in response to queries about how they are going to guarantee priority for buying an iPhone,

It depends how accessible you make yourself. I’m going to call you. If you’re here, you’ll get it.

Phone: 212-921-1984

Gizmo Project Supports Nokia N95

The popular VoIP software, Gizmo Project, has recently been updated to include a number of new features. Now the software supports the Nokia N95 and is available for beta users.

Gizmo Project software is also supporting MSN Messenger buddies and AOL Instant Messenger. This means users can make free voice calls and chats to these IM users.

The Gizmo Project also has plans to provide similar services for Google Talk, iChat and Yahoo! Messenger.

How to Get an iPhone on June 29

Though Apple has contracted to build 6 million iPhones in the first year, there is some speculation about purposeful demand boosting, by way of limiting the number of iPhones that will be available on release day.

Whether this speculation has a shred of truth or not, everyone and their grandma will be out looking for an iPhone on the big day. So what can you do to improve your chances of actually getting one that day?

Don’t go to an Apple store

Though many people don’t know it, AT&T/Cingular stores will be selling iPhones as well. So rather than stand in a neverending line or sleep outside of an Apple Store, why not check out your local AT&T/Cingular instead?

There are also some pre-sale offers to be found on eBay, but you should definitely be careful about buying something that doesn’t even exist yet. Some of the offers sound legitimate, but whos to say how these sellers can afford to be so confident about fulfilling orders on an in-demand product that hasn’t been released.

Apple iPhone’s 12th Icon?

iphone.jpgCurrently, the mockup for the Apple iPhone includes only 11 icons, with a blank spot where number 12 will be. Though some (such as Gizmodo) think that the 12th icon will be YouTube, the only thing we can really glean from the absense of a 12th icon is that it hasn’t been decided yet. –or not when the mockup was released. Surely if Apple had this decided they would have completed the picture for us.

Though YouTube uses the H.264 codec that Apple uses, and both Google and Apple share a common foe: Microsoft, I agree with Russell Shaw, in that it wil most likely be a general featrue icon, suchas ‘Movies’.

Global Crossing Expands to Nine More Countries

global-crossing.jpgGlobal Crossing has extended its VoIP service to include 6 more European countries and 3 more Latin American countries. Previously, Global Crossing serviced 20 countries Europe, South America, China, the UK and the US.

Global Crossing’s managing director for the UK and Europe, Anthony Christie, says that the UK is a critical growth market for Global Crossing,

As we extend our VoIP footprint deeper into the UK and continental Europe, we’re delivering that functionality — along with the security, reliability and network coverage of Global Crossing’s high-quality, global IP network.

According to Camille Mendler, vice president of enterprise research at Yankee Group, these latest enhancements to Global Crossing VoIP services in the UK stand to provide significant benefits to customers in terms of quality, convenience and feature-rich services.

Yahoo! Messenger Security Vulnerabilities

Researchers at eEye Digital Security have been reporting vulnerabilities in Yahoo Messenger that sllow hackers to remotely execute code. Version 8.x of the messaging client is at risk.

Given a threat level of “high” by eEye, the flaws were reported to Yahoo on June 5th. There is no evidence yet that these vulnerabilities have been exploited in the wild.

Though eEye was unwilling to supply details about security holes that have yet to be plugged, Denmark-based Secunia has provided more information. According to Secunia a boundary error within the Yahoo Webcam Upload (ywcupl.dll) ActiveX control can be exploited to cause a stack-based buffer overflow by assigning an overly long string to the “Server” property and then calling the “Send()” method.

A boundary error associated with Yahoo Webcam Viewer (ywcvwr.dll) ActiveX control, can be used to cause a stack-based buffer overflow by assigning an overly long string to the “Server” property and then calling the “Receive()” method.

IM, like the web or email has become a fully accepted form of communication. As a result, IM has certainly become another threat vector.

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