I caught the tail end of Jeff Pulver’s speech. As usual, a wide ranging overview of convergence trends.
When I walked in he was talking about the Hurricane Katrina experience. He moved from there to television. Jeff observed that during Live8 you could watch the VH-1 or MTV broadcast, or go to AOL and make your selection of any of the live streams available from all over the world. Forget about better than voice quality, Jeff says! How about better than broadcast quality? TV is just another application, like voice, and as proof, Jeff cites disruptive broadcasting technologies like Slingmedia, Current.tv, and Roadcasting.
From there he switched to the Internet Freedoms. A recent experience having his SIP ports blocked (but not his video ports) at the Meridien Hotel in London, has convinced him that it’s even more important than ever to be vigilant about preserving these rights.
Jeff also announced that he is reintroducing Free World Dialup. It’s rebranded as "Communications for Geeks by Geeks". It includes a new opt-in directory structure that any service provider, or individual can use to list their personal SIP phones, IP DIDs, and so on. Kudos! You can connect at listyourself.net, "The Listing Service for the Unlisted".
Alec Saunders is the Vice President of Developer Relations for BlackBerry maker Research in Motion. This is his personal blog, with his personal viewpoints. Prior to this Alec was the CEO and co-founder of Calliflower — the easiest way to hold a meeting, online, on a conference call, or on the go. A double-decade veteran of product management and marketing, he spent nine years at Microsoft where he helped launch Windows 95, the first two versions of Internet Explorer, the Universal Plug and Play initiative, the push into home markets, opt-in email marketing and what might well go down in history as the very first direct email list ever.
