Among her accomplishments that have brought her so far in life, she’s now recognized as a published author. I’m so proud to have her join me among the authors at Realtimepublishers.

Sheryl Breuker has more than 15 years of experience working with communications and information technologies. As an independent consultant and analyst, Sheryl is an experienced thought leader who studies emerging communications technologies and how they integrate with existing operations in both enterprise business and society at large. Sheryl has crafted strategies globally for both public and private sector organizations, providing written analysis of complex technology and business integration strategies. Sheryl consults with a number of vertical market segments ranging from high-tech innovators to winemakers and restaurateurs. She has successfully guided a number of these organizations in integration of new technologies into their legacy voice and data networking environment in support of an emergent competitive corporate culture. Sheryl’s series of Incidental Interviews have been widely acclaimed as she probes how technology leaders see their vision of the future. Sheryl consults, writes and speaks about the rapid evolution of unified communications in areas of mobility, video collaboration, and convergence with existing business applications. Sheryl is deeply entrenched in the evolution of social media and how evolving conversational tools reshape business operations and work flows. She lives in Olympia, WA. Sheryl is a principal with Stardust Global Ventures (http://www.stardustglobalventures.com) working on technology, social media, and the impact on business and society. Her Gabby Geek Weblog, home of Incidental Interviews, is online at http://www.thegabbygeek.com.

Filed by Ken at 2:33 pm under General
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I got a note from my good friend Pat Phelan, CEO at Cubic Telecom, yesterday afternoon while out running an errand about a new service called Twitterfone. You can see the press release down below. It isn’t VoIP, but this is a really fascinating example of where voice services are heading.

Please bear in mind that I was out in mobile mode, with only my Blackberry, so all I’d actually seen initially was the flurry of chatter on Twitter about Twitterfone and the expected flurry of test posts as people try it out. Sheryl and I got invitations to join the beta, but weren’t back at the office until last night to actually get that done. For those of you who follow me at all, you know I’m an avid Twitter user, and have been since it was Twttr, long before it caught the wave of popularity. Sheryl and I use Twitter as part of our work at Stardust Global Ventures, and it’s an integral part of our daily life.

When I started using Twitter, it was SMS only, so it required a mobile phone to use. Now it seems to have come full circle, as Twitterfone enables people to use their mobile phone rather than the browser/. Huh? Yep/ The difference is that you can now phone in a message and have it post rather than key in an SMS text message. It also posts a short URL that links to your recorded audio.

Like a great many people, I use Twitter almost entirely via mobile on my Blackberry, and I like the raw simplicity of the SMS interface. I find many add-on tools make Twitter more complex and are something of a nuisance. The web interface enhancements seem to wipe out the simple elegance of Twitter with undue complexity. But adding voice to the mix is a very different enhancement and opens new vistas in human-to-network resource interaction.

I’m not sure the concept bedazzles me initially, but it’s interesting. I’ve played with SpinVOX and Utterz in the past. Both can do a similar type of thing - variations on a theme. Both of those implementations work pretty poorly in my experience. Speech recognition software however is improving at a rapid rate and if Twitterfone can do speech to text conversion cleanly, there could be some real value. Given the global audience on Twitter, the language and pronunciation variations could prove challenging.

That challenge was on my mind while I out in mobile mode, only on my Blackberry. That’s when I got this message via Twitter on my mobile -

To be fair, it’s the only one of those I saw, but very few of the people I follow on Twitter are using Twitterfone so far. I know it’s in invite-only beta mode, so I expect some glitches.

This morning I tried it out myself for the first time. Here’s what Twitterfone posted. If you click the graphic, you can hear what I said.

Twitterfone did a reasonable, but not quite perfect job of speech-to-text conversion.

Given that both Twitter and Twitterfone are free services, and Twitter has proven time and again that it’s not entirely reliable, they make an interesting match for social networking tools. Now it’s pretty easy to make a phone call and post to Twitter. You can actually speak a three minute message and the beginning will post to Twitter (140 character limit). People who want to hear the whole message can click through on the web to do so. On my Blackberry, I can click through and read the transcribed text, but not play the audio.

Being able to post to Twitter via a phone call somewhat troubles me as much as it intrigues me. The stream of Twitter messages is filled with useless drivel as it is. I’m as guilty as the next of posting useless information that’s only noise to the world at large. Now we all have an easier way to post as we drive or are otherwise occupied. That’s a mixed blessing.

I know two of the founding investors, both friends I think highly of. I’m really curious what their long range plans are. Is this for publicity or do they envision a monetization scheme that enables monetization. So far Twitter doesn’t have any monetization mechanism, so now we have another free service enhancing a free service. I’m not sure where the survivability might be. It seems potentially rather tenuous. But Pat and Florian are very bright guys with a great handle on the business, so I’m interested in what their vision is.

Pat and Florian, how about a podcast briefing on here?

Twitterfone inaugurates voice-to-Twitter service

• Allows anyone to send updates to Twitter by calling a number
• Voice is automatically transcribed to text

Twitterfone www.twitterfone.com - an Internationally backed voice to text message service launched today in the US, UK and Ireland.

Twitterfone voice-enables Twitter, a text message rebroadcast service and the hottest social networking service at the moment. With Twitterfone, people can dictate text messages via their mobile to be sent out to everyone on their Twitter social network.

Twitterfone investor and Cubic Telecom President Pat Phelan stated “Right now the million active users of Twitter use cell phones or computers to send and receive short bursts of texts to each other. Millions of messages each day are sent like this but while Twitter is one of the truly mobile social networks out there, there are times when users on the move cannot stop what they are doing to key in a message.

Twitterfone improves upon Twitter by allowing us to make a voice call which is turned into text and sent out to our network of friends. This only costs the price of a local call, no matter how many it is sent to. With hands-free kits common in cars it now means we can text each other without taking our eyes off the road and our hands off the wheel.”

How Twitter works:
Once people sign up to Twitter, they can subscribe to receive updates of users and receive them via the web or a text message. Web gurus Jason Calacanis and Robert Scoble have over 20,000 subscribers each and even the Los Angeles Fire Department and the English Government are now sending out text updates to people via their Twitter account.

An alliance of international high-tech and telecom companies provide the technology platform behind Twitterfone. Geneva-based VOX telecom provides calls routing, Redwood City, California-based Zong powers mobile enrollment and transactions, MAXroam powers the telephony intelligence system and Dublin firm Dial2Do supplies the core speech recognition which is at the heart of Twitterfone. Dial2Do CEO Ivan MacDonald stated

“We’ve been involved in the space where the phone system meets the web for a long time now, and naturally we’ve been fascinated by the rise of Twitter. Increasingly, we’ll see “web 2.0″ services that people use primarily from their phones. Projections are that mobiles will become the dominant way of accessing the Internet, and a lot of this will be done via voice interfaces. We are very pleased to see Dial2Do add even more value to an already extraordinary service.”

Phelan added “We built this because we are all avid users of Twitter and have made some excellent business connections and friendships from it. We decided to see what we could contribute to the service and with our telecoms backgrounds the Twitterfone idea fitted perfectly”.

Twitterfone is in invite beta at the moment meaning that only those that have been sent invites can join up. There will be regular releases of invites and Twitterfone says they have planned for a million sign-ups over the next year.

Twitterfone inc is a privately owned corporation

Twitterfone investors are Pat Phelan, David Marcus, Florian Seroussi, Sean O Sullivan and Ivan MacDonald.

Technorati Tags: Twitterfone, Pat Phelan, Twitter, speech-to-text, voice recognition

Filed by Ken at 2:49 am under Mobility & Handheld, Unified Communications
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I’ve been watching Zobni closely ever since my friend Jeff Bonforte took the reins as their CEO in February. I’ve been waiting for a peek at how Xobni will turn Outlook from a pain into a really productive and useful tool.

Today I finally got the email telling me I’ve got an invitation to join their invite-only beta testing. I immediately went to the download install and set up, and I have to szy they’ve done a dazzling job and Outlook suddenly seems…well…useful.

I’ll keep testing and playing, but so far, given my use of MS Outlook dating back over ten years, this is the best add-on I’ve seen. LookOut as a search add-on is the only other one that I found exciting, and since Microsoft bought them, that tool died. Crushed out of existence by aquisition, a phenomenon not unheard of in the industry.

Keep your eyes out for Xobni. I know I’ll keep testing and be using it. Consider me impressed.

Filed by Ken at 12:15 pm under Technology
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Posting a reminder about this free webinar tomorrow in which I’ll be one of the panelists, and since my pals over at TMCnet are putting this on with sponsorship from other friends at Jaduka, I’ve copied wholesale again. The webinar is tomorrow - Tuesday, April 29, 2008, 2:00pm EST 11:00am PST.

You can find the TMCnet page here.

Free Webinar Register Now!

Communications Enabled Business Services Tuesday, April 29, 2008, 2:00pm EST 11:00am PST Companies are more productive and more successful when their employees and customers are better connected to the processes that drive business. Communication Enabled Business Processes (CEBP) combines communication technologies with business processes and applications to more effectively communicate between customers, suppliers, and employees. And, integrating new tools shouldn’t be a difficult or risky proposition. It should be easy to implement and compatible with the latest technologies. By connecting people, information, and the workflow process, a business can streamline operations, provide better customer service, and make a positive impact on its bottom line. After the presentation, the Webinar will be open for a live Q&A. Be sure to have your questions ready! Register Now! PRESENTERS: Trevor Baca Vice President of Software Engineering Jaduka Trevor Baca is Vice President of Software Engineering at Jaduka and oversees software engineering, real-time systems engineering, telephony services development, information architecture, usability, and user-experience engineering teams. He has ten years’ experience in telephony and software development and has held senior leadership roles in software development, systems engineering, strategy, product development, and human-computer interaction. Baca also holds a similar title at NetworkIP, the parent company of Jaduka, and a leading platform provider of prepaid telephony since 1998. At NetworkIP, he led research and development of the second-generation Kodiak services platform. He was instrumental in bringing both metrics-based and user-centered development to the product life cycles of the different parts of the Jaduka technology portfolio. Baca also researched and directed the development of the NetworkIP iQT® realtime QoS analysis and correction system, registered as U.S. Patent #6,914,967. Baca received a Bachelor of Arts in the honors program from the University of Texas. Ken Camp Independent Consultant Ken Camp has more than 25 years of experience in information technology. Ken spent 17 years with AT&T and Lucent Technologies successfully designing and implementing voice and data networks. He later worked in the security marketplace and played a key role in early IPSec VPN deployments. As an independent consultant, Ken’s primary focal areas include network performance improvement, security practices and the design and deployment of integrated voice and data solutions. He may be contacted at: ken_camp@realtimepublishers.net Erik Linask Associate Editor Technology Marketing Corporation In addition to his work with TMC’s IP Communications publications, Erik is a contributor to TMCnet. Prior to joining the TMC team, he was Managing Editor at Global Custodian, a global securities services publication, where he also managed the magazine’s survey research. Erik began his professional career at management consulting firm Leadership Research Institute.

Filed by Ken at 1:11 pm under Technology
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This may sound like a silly quesiton, but every now and then I get an email from FON because since moving I haven’t reconnected their WiFi access router.

It begs a question, though. Has anyone ever seen a Fonera connection in the wild? I haven’t, and expect I’ll just toss this thing in the dumpster when we move later this week. I know I could reflash it and make it useful, but it’s hardly even worth the bother.

Earlier today I saw someone mention how available FON hotspots are, but I’ve never seen one in any part of the country I’ve visited. Ever. The only one I have ever noted was my own.

So what’s the point>

Filed by Ken at 1:08 pm under Technology
3 Comments

Because Sheryl and I have friends all over the world we hope may be able to join us, we’ve decided to share our wedding date and let everyone who might share this very special day with us have lots of time for travel plans. We haven’t set the precise location yet, but there’s plenty of time for that. Definitely in Washington.

Thank you to all our friends for the support and encouragement as our love has grown and you’ve shared in our life together. We know that you’ll be seeing more of us, but we hope many of you will be able to come share our wedding in person.

Technorati Tags: Ken Camp, Sheryl Breuker, wedding

Filed by Ken at 5:59 pm under General
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For folks who may not be on top of the changes, I’m blogging here less these days. More and more of what I do is working with Sheryl on our projects. Here’s an example -

This evening we sat down to talk about what social media is. It seems to mean many different things to different people. We took some time to think about what it means to us and try to give broader definition than we see in most conversations.

In this episode, we also unveiled our new look for the show and new them music. We want to thank our friend Dan Lynch for the great music.

Click To Play

If you haven’t already done so, please also take a minute to go vote in our poll here.

Technorati Tags: GeekSpeakTV, Sheryl Breuker, Ken Camp, Stardust Global Ventures

Filed by Ken at 8:10 pm under General
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We got word this afternoon about an upcoming webcast on TechWise TV with our friends (at least in the Web 2.0 sense) Jeremiah Owyang and Robert Scoble coming soon to a screen near you. This webcast will be done in conjunction with Cisco and include live Q&A on how web 2.0 applies to contemporary business practices.

Beneath all the hype about Web 2.0, a real revolution is taking place. And, regardless of your job function or industry, it can potentially change the way you manage technical projects and conduct business. Are you ready?

Join us for a fascinating 60-minute video Webcast that reveals how wikis, blogs, social networking, and other Web 2.0 applications are creating a “mass collaboration” paradigm. Learn how you can apply this model to solve technical challenges and promote innovation. Discover how other organizations are already using it to transform their business operations.

Interviews with Industry Experts
Learn about the technologies available to you now that you can put into action. Get valuable insights and practical game plans from the thought leaders in Web 2.0 applications, including:

• Don Tapscott, coauthor of Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything
• Jeremiah Owyang, Forrester Research’s Senior Analyst for Social Computing
• Robert Scoble, new Managing Director of FastCompany.TV and author of How Blogs Are Changing the Way Businesses Talk to Customers

WebEx Connect Demonstration plus Live Q&A with Web 2.0 Experts

You will also see an exclusive demonstration of the new WebEx Connect solution, a powerful new collaboration workspace. And, David Knight, Jeremiah Owyang, and Robert Scoble will be on hand to answer your Web 2.0 questions during the broadcast.

Here’s a YouTube trailer for the show:

The URL for the show is:
https://event.on24.com/interface/registration/autoreg/index.html?eventid=104693&sessionid=1&key=A4F0A0445A3013006F9A2B102EFFA804&partnerref=4063

Filed by Ken at 10:53 pm under General
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I’m not always keen on copying and posting a complete entry from another site, but since this is really a commercial for an upcoming free webinar in which I’ll be one of the panelists, and since my pals over at TMCnet are putting this on with sponsorship from other friends at Jaduka, copying seems best. The webinar is on Tuesday, April 29, 2008, 2:00pm EST 11:00am PST.

You can find the TMCnet page here.

Free Webinar Register Now!

Communications Enabled Business Services Tuesday, April 29, 2008, 2:00pm EST 11:00am PST Companies are more productive and more successful when their employees and customers are better connected to the processes that drive business. Communication Enabled Business Processes (CEBP) combines communication technologies with business processes and applications to more effectively communicate between customers, suppliers, and employees. And, integrating new tools shouldn’t be a difficult or risky proposition. It should be easy to implement and compatible with the latest technologies. By connecting people, information, and the workflow process, a business can streamline operations, provide better customer service, and make a positive impact on its bottom line. After the presentation, the Webinar will be open for a live Q&A. Be sure to have your questions ready! Register Now! PRESENTERS: Trevor Baca Vice President of Software Engineering Jaduka Trevor Baca is Vice President of Software Engineering at Jaduka and oversees software engineering, real-time systems engineering, telephony services development, information architecture, usability, and user-experience engineering teams. He has ten years’ experience in telephony and software development and has held senior leadership roles in software development, systems engineering, strategy, product development, and human-computer interaction. Baca also holds a similar title at NetworkIP, the parent company of Jaduka, and a leading platform provider of prepaid telephony since 1998. At NetworkIP, he led research and development of the second-generation Kodiak services platform. He was instrumental in bringing both metrics-based and user-centered development to the product life cycles of the different parts of the Jaduka technology portfolio. Baca also researched and directed the development of the NetworkIP iQT® realtime QoS analysis and correction system, registered as U.S. Patent #6,914,967. Baca received a Bachelor of Arts in the honors program from the University of Texas. Ken Camp Independent Consultant Ken Camp has more than 25 years of experience in information technology. Ken spent 17 years with AT&T and Lucent Technologies successfully designing and implementing voice and data networks. He later worked in the security marketplace and played a key role in early IPSec VPN deployments. As an independent consultant, Ken’s primary focal areas include network performance improvement, security practices and the design and deployment of integrated voice and data solutions. He may be contacted at: ken_camp@realtimepublishers.net Erik Linask Associate Editor Technology Marketing Corporation In addition to his work with TMC’s IP Communications publications, Erik is a contributor to TMCnet. Prior to joining the TMC team, he was Managing Editor at Global Custodian, a global securities services publication, where he also managed the magazine’s survey research. Erik began his professional career at management consulting firm Leadership Research Institute.

Filed by Ken at 4:05 pm under Unified Communications
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On Sunday evening before VON, Sheryl and I had the pleasure of sitting after dinner chatting with Jeff Pulver for an hour or so. Jeff’s a fascinating man with many diverse interests. He’s someone we’re proud to count among our friends. For those of you who either know Jeff or have heard him speak, he’s passionate about a number of things. When Jeff’s passion kicks in, his excitement really shows.

Jeff shared a bit of information about the concept and drivers behind one of his new projects, FWD’s Global Communicator Project.

Announcing FWD’s Global Communicator Project:

I meant to kick off Spring 2008 VON.x with the announcement of FWD’s Global Communicator Project. But I didn’t, as I spent a few minutes honoring the passing of Russell Shaw, who passed away on March 14th. I had hoped to see Russell at Spring 2008 VON.x and talk to him about this project before talking to anyone else about it.

Announcing FWD’s Global Communicator Project:

I want to thank the visionary participants of the first official planning meeting of FWD’s Global Communications Project.

- Chris Anderson, Editor-in-Chief, Wired Magazine
- Yves Behar, Founder, Chief Designer, fuseproject
- Daniel Berninger, CEO, FWD
- Tom Evslin, co-founder, CTO, FWD
- Stuart Gannes, founder, Stanford Digital Vision Program
- Mike Masnick, CEO, Techdirt
- Mitch Pergola, Managing Partner, fuseproject
- Tim Pozar, Partner, Late Night Software
- Michael Spencer, co-founder, i2 partners
- Emy Tseng, Director, San Francisco Digital Inclusion Program
- Roland Van Der Meer, Partner, Velocity Interactive Group
- Yossi Vardi, Principal, International Technologies Ventures

fuseproject hosted the meeting in their San Francisco studio toward the creation of a new category of device capable of delivering communication to the billions of people presently unserved by the communication industry.

I have suffered plenty of abuse over the years about the supposedly naive sentiment that led to the founding of Free World Dialup in 1995, so it is gratifying to see the caliber of people excited by continuing the vision. Yves Behar and fuseproject, for example, created the design of the XO Laptop for Nicholas Negroponte’s OLPC and routinely gets featured in art exhibits around the world.

FWD’s Global Communication Project (GCP) seeks to leverage VoIP and open standards in a device that delivers affordable communication beyond even the very rapid and ongoing price performance improvements achieved by the cellular industry. We have in mind a device costing a fraction of the $25 price point associated with low end SIP phones, and a business model without monthly service charges. The design requirements call for a device that copes with rural realities or urban environments and supports deployment scales from a few dozen to billions of devices.

[Read Jeff’s Full Post]

Jeff’s unbridled passion about putting telephones in the hands of everyone on the planet is infectious and gigantic. That’s one of the things I like most about Jeff - he doesn’t think small.

Jeff and the brain trust behind this effort are looking for help from all of us. Grand ideas require grand efforts and teamwork to succeed. I urge everyone to contact Daniel Berninger (dan@danielberninger.com) and ask how you can help. I’ll be sending him a note shortly.

Filed by Ken at 10:51 am under General
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Filed by Ken at 8:31 pm under General
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Filed by Ken at 8:12 pm under General
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Filed by Ken at 8:10 pm under General
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Robert Scoble at VON, originally uploaded by kencamp.

This is either Robert’s reaction to Brad Templeton’s calling him a social application slut or one of the other panelists farting. Either way, the photo moment was irresistible.

Filed by Ken at 12:07 pm under General
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I’m deeply saddened to learn of Russell Shaw’s unexpected passing. I just learned of this from my friend Andy Abramson.

Russell Shaw R.I.P.

It is with the most profound sadness that I have to report the the untimely passing of Russell Shaw, a blogger, journalist and friend.

Russell passed away suddenly in his hotel room in San Jose Thursday night or early Friday morning. According to his girlfriend whom I spoke with after being advised of Russell’s unexpected death by CNET Editor in Chief, Dan Farber just moments ago.

Sheryl and I were looking forward to seeing Russell at VON next week. I hadn’t seen or spoken to him much since we saw each other last at the ITExpo in Los Angeles.

RIP my friend. You will be sorely missed.

Russell’s insights and keen watching of the industry will be sorely missed.

Filed by Ken at 5:48 pm under General
6 Comments

Lots of people have taken swipes at Robert Scoble when he’s blogged or Twittered his own importance and busy-ness. It’s one of the dangers of hitting the big time. And Robert’s certainly taken his fair share of backlash in good spirits.

He’s not the only high profile person to ever bang his…ummmm…ego on the table. Tonight Jeremiah Owyang steps up to the plate and hits his own home run.

There are a lot of busy people on the web. I know fifty offhand who qualify. But I always wonder why bragging about not being able to keep up seems a good thing.

Do you brag about how many people whose messages you haven’t read? And if so, do you think you’re sending a message about how much you value their time and thoughts? I realize Jeremiah’s Yahoo email is probably just a crap catcher, but Tweets like this are perfect examples of why the signal-to-noise ratio from folks like Jeremiah is so skewed to the noise side of the equation.

Technorati Tags: Robert Scoble, Jeremiah Owyang, signal-to-noise, Twitter

Filed by Ken at 10:20 pm under General
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One of the best parts about working in the unified communications industry is the great people you get to meet. Two of my friends and colleagues, Jon Arnold and Marc Robins are two of the sharpest minds and keenest independent analysts I’ve ever had the pleasure of working with. When we talk about mashups, we think technology, but when two talented people work together, we get the benefit of a mashup of a different sort.

This morning Jon and Marc announced the opening of their new IP Communications Insights portal. They’ll be producing a monthly newsletter and targeting a business void that’s been around for a long time. If you’ve ever read a market report from a company like IDC or Gartner, you know how valuable this sort of document can be in planning stratgey. But if you’re in a small or medium sized business, it’s a pretty good bet you’ve never bought one because they are hugely expensive.

Jon and Marc are launching their own branded industry studies. I agree with the, These studies will fill a growing need for independent analysis. The best part is that they’re targeting an affordable price point.

There’s quite a bit more to explore at the portal, so take your time and look around. I know I will.

IP Communications Insights is Launched
Well, the day has finally come. The venture I’ve been working on with fellow indie consultant, Marc Robins is finally hatched. We remain indie consultants, but are pitching our tent a bit further out under the guise of IP Communications Insights.
[Read Jon’s post]

I’ll be talking with Marc and Jon in the next week or two about how I may be able to contribute to their work as well. I love working with these guys and seize every opportunity to do so.

Here’s the full press release.

Robins Consulting Group and J Arnold & Associates Announce the Launch of IP Communications Insights

New Web Site is Home to IP Communications Industry Newsletter, Blogs, Podcasts, Newsfeeds, and Market Research and Intelligence

NEW YORK and TORONTO, March 10, 2008— Robins Consulting Group (RCG) and J Arnold & Associates (JAA) – both prominent IP communications industry research, marketing and consulting firms – have proudly announced the launch of their new independent Web platform “IP Communications Insights”, located at http://www.ipcom-insights.com.

IP Communications Insights is the culmination of a partnership between the two firms that includes an array of marketing, communications, advisory, consulting and research services for IP communications technology vendors and service providers.

Designed to be an independent platform for industry thought leaders and market intelligence, the goal for IP Communications Insights is to offer valuable coverage, analysis and information not readily available elsewhere.

In addition, IP Communications Insights will publish an ongoing series of industry reports designed to be very topical, highly strategic, concise and affordably priced. One study in the works, “VoIP Mashups - Where’s the Money?” is a critical evaluation and insider view of this rapidly evolving space. The possibilities for VoIP mashups are limitless, but the business case scenarios are not. This ground-breaking report will survey today’s landscape and provide a strategic roadmap for making VoIP mashups a viable business.

Marc Robins, IP Communications Insights Co-Founder and Chief Technology Evangelism Officer of RCG, has been involved in the IP communications industry since its inception, and has served the industry as a reporter and analyst, conference producer and magazine publisher, and marketing executive and consultant. Mr. Robins also serves as the Managing Director of the SIP Forum, (http://www.sipforum.org), a prominent IP communications industry association that engages in numerous activities that advance and promote SIP technology, such as the development of industry recommendations, the SIPit interoperability and testing events, special interoperability workshops, and general promotion of SIP in the industry.

“I’m extremely proud – and excited — to be going “live” with IP Communications Insights,” says Marc Robins. “I believe it accurately represents the vision that both Jon and I share, and creates a new environment for independent analysis and thought leadership that we feel is sorely missing in the marketplace of information. I look forward to working with Jon to continuously refine and add value to our platform, and to working with the many extremely talented individuals who have supported our efforts over the past year.”

J Arnold & Associates, founded by Jon Arnold, one of the IP communications industry’s most highly regarded analysts, is closely associated with VoIP, for both consumer and business applications. His marketing and strategy advice on the broader IP communications market is widely sought from vendors, carriers, the investment community, PR agencies and many facets of the media community.

“For some time now, Marc and I have felt there is a void in the market for independent analysis, and together we believe we can address it,” says Jon Arnold. “More than ever, with so much disruption, innovation and competition, we see a need for this type of perspective, and our intention is for the Web portal to become a focal point of clarity.”

About IP Communications Insights
IP Communications Insights is a portal for independent thought leadership and market intelligence not readily available elsewhere. IP Communications Insights hosts an IP communications industry newsletter, blogs, podcasts, and newsfeeds. The portal is also a new source for industry reports that are independent, authoritative, strategic and affordable. For more information about IP Communications Insights, visit www.ipcom-insights.com.

About RCG (Robins Consulting Group)
RCG, founded in 2003 by Marc Robins, is one of the leading consulting firms for companies in the IP Communications industry, offering market intelligence, high-value strategic planning and communications, messaging and branding expertise, and a variety of marketing consulting services including awareness and demand creation, distribution channel strategies and development, public relations support, and market research and intelligence. Mr. Robins also serves as the Managing Director of the SIP Forum, a leading IP communications industry association. Prior to founding RCG, Marc served as Vice President of Publications and Trade Shows, Associate Group Publisher and Group Editorial Director at TMC (Technology Marketing Corporation).

Over the course of his career, Marc has authored hundreds of articles and columns for leading industry magazines, and he continues to evangelize new IP communications trends and technologies as a contributor to trade, mainstream and business publications. Marc is also a frequent moderator and speaker at leading industry events. For more information about RCG, visit www.robinsconsult.com.

About JAA
Jon Arnold is Principal of J Arnold & Associates, an independent analyst and marketing consultancy with a focus on IP communications. JAA works with a wide variety of clients in this sector, with expertise in VoIP, cable telephony, IPTV, Triple Play, enterprise IP, WiFi/WiMax, Peer-to-Peer, Web 2.0 and Open Source. His views are frequently cited in the business and trade press, and he regularly speaks at leading industry events. He also maintains an active profile through his widely followed blog and podcasts. Previously, he was the VoIP Program Leader at Frost & Sullivan, where he was responsible for managing their subscription service for Global VoIP Equipment Markets. The consultancy was launched in March 2005. For more information about JAA, visit www.jarnoldassociates.com.
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Technorati Tags: IP Communications Insights, Jon Arnold, Marc Robins, industry analisys

Filed by Ken at 9:36 am under General
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Here’s a post that caught my eye earlier today. For those of you who’ve never seen writing from Rohit Bhargava, he’s one of those folks who really understands the intersection between blogging and traditional media marketing. He leads the interactive marketing team at Ogilvy Public Relations. Rohit is one of those folks that should be heard better across the public relations field.

He ran a session at SxSW that I would love to have been part of. I’m really glad he wrote it up, and here’s what came from the meeting. More comments below.

10 Easy Ways to Piss Off A Blogger (from SXSW)
At SXSW yesterday, I ran a “core conversation” called 10 Easy Ways to Piss Off a Blogger.  This year at SXSW, these aptly titled “conversations” were a type of speaking slot where there was a round table and the challenge of engaging people in a discussion about a particular topic.  Mine was one close to my heart … the best way to piss off a blogger.  I had created a Facebook event page before the session to try and build the buzz and going into yesterday I had almost 50 people signed up.  So I figured we’d get about 20 to 25.  After the session, I spoke to one of the participants who said he counted about 70 - so we had a really tough challenge of having a conversation with 70 people.

Learning from some of the feedback that came from a panel on Social Media Metrics that I had participated in a day earlier, my main aim was to make sure everyone walked out of the session with what I had promised them … the 10 easy ways.  The format of the session was a bit different too - as there was no presentation or powerpoint, and I didn’t walk in with the 10 ways.  Instead our aim was to collaborate, discuss and walk out with the ten.  I think we managed to make it to more than ten.  A few folks kindly offered to take some live notes and have posted about the ten, but without further ado … here are the 10 Easy Ways to Piss Off a Blogger, as defined by a group of super smart and engaged folks who all made it to be part of this conversation:

1. Invite bloggers to participate in something and don’t give them a chance to talk about themselves. This was what I opened the session with, followed by letting people around the group introduce their name and their blogs.  A list of people who chose to share their names and blogs is at the end of this post.
2. Pretend to be a “long time reader” when you actually just visited the blog once and read a few posts.
3. Use a blogger’s content or identity without giving proper attribution
4. Send irrelevant information that exhibits no understanding of what they care about or fail to personalize it
5. Add them to a PR list and don’t let them get off of it
6. Make it hard for them to link to something by hiding your content behind usernames/passwords, giving them uncertain directions or requiring them to take multiple steps
7. Ask for favors as part of your first outreach to them without building a relationship or earning the right to ask them to help you
8. Fail to identify yourself or falsely represent yourself as something or someone you are not.  This includes failing to mention something about your or your employer that is relevant.
9. Set an unreasonable expectation for a blogger and expect things in an unreasonable amount of time … ie - sending informaiton and expecting them to post within a few hours.  Quick poll of our session showed that for the vast majority of bloggers, it’s not their day job.
10. Get the journalism relationship right.  Some bloggers consider themselves journalists and others don’t.  It was clear from the participants that this is a tricky subject, as some people also noted after the session.

[Read Rohit’s Full Post]

As one of those bloggers who has been pissed off at some of the things above more than once, and one who will step out and lash back freely when some company is just boneheaded (I call them cluetards) about dealing with the non-traditional media, I can’t stop myself from commenting. I’ll number my thoughts to coincide with Rohit’s numbering, but what follows are my comments with regard to his Top Ten.

1. Makes us feel like the cobbler’s stepkids. Do this and you’ll disenfranchise the people who will be talking about your event live and in progress.
2. Amen. If you aren’t familiar with our blogs, say so, then go find out what we write about. Why did you invite us if you don’t know who we are and how we might write about you?
3. Identity theft is just that. Don’t steal from us any more than you would anyone else. Most of us are happy to have our ideas and words quoted.
4. See #2. If you don’t know what I do or write about, why did you invite me? And why do you want to pitch things I have no interest in?
5. This is really important. Make me feel like you respect me and want me engaged in talking about your solutions and you earn goodwill. We all need goodwill. Bloggers are more likely to be forgiving and develop relationships with companies who treat us as being valuable.
6. Big mistake. Hide your stuff and make it hard, and I’ll quickly stop writing anything about you. As a blogger, most of what I do is connect readers with sources of information. If yo umake it hard for me, it’s even harder for my readers. Frustrate me and you never get to them. They’re the ones you really want to reach.
7. If I don’t know you and you approach the first time looking for a favor, odds are I won’t even respond. Would you?
8. Do this and you’re more likely to get one flaming bad writeup calling you out, then vanish to the abyss of companies bloggers don’t write about.
9. This is more important than most companies realize. Sending a press release a few days early gives us a chance to be thoughtful in what we say, and give you better coverage. If you just dump press releases at the time of release, some of us may not even get a chance to read it for a few days. Then we’re behind the game and why bother writing? Respect that we’re busy too.
10. This is a tricky area. I don’t think of myself purely as a journalist. While I can do journalistic reporting, it’s not what I do for the most part. I editorialize and give opinion…freely. It’s nice when you understand that I’m going to add my opinion. If you come to me telling me you have the coolest thing since sliced bread and I recognize it for smoek and mirrors, don’t be surprised when I write it up as a waste and don’t give you the glowiong reviews you’d hoped I would parrot to the world.

I wish I’d been at this session.

This is one of the few at SxSW that looks worthwhile.

Technorati Tags: bloggers, Rohit Bhargava, SxSW

Filed by Ken at 3:49 pm under General
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One of the most anticipated events people are looking forward to at the upcoming VON.x conference in San Jose is the Unconference. Yesterday someone asked me what it was all about, so I thought I’d post a note describing what it is.
What is Unconference (code named VONCamp) all about?

For years Jeff Pulver has been running executive summits and other get togethers with the idea of having a free exchange of ideas. This dialogue has been at the heart of VON. These two tracks are intended to pump up the volume of the dialogue.

The Innovators Forum is a series of sessions that show case companies in our more traditional format. However dialogue in these sessions is encouraged. The VONCamp Unconference is harder to describe, because it gives people a chance to self identify as a speaker. At the present time there are 12 speaking slots. If you’ve got something you want to discuss that’s outside the formal program, VONCamp Unconference is the place to do it. We also have a SpeedDating session.

VONCamp Unconference Rules

• There are no rules.
• Everyone is equal. Everyone is a rockstar.
• Give back to the conference by participating actively. “Active participation” might mean giving a presentation, helping with a presentation, blogging or podcasting the event, or whatever other creative ways. While everyone is encouraged to lead a session, there are only twelve slots available.
• All sessions must obey the Law of 2 Feet - if you’re not getting what you want out of the session, you can and should walk out and do something else. Hopefully you will walk the show floor!

That law of two feet has become a really intriguing change agent for conferences in the past year or so. As people vote their interest in sessions with their attendance and participation, this approach has really helped improve the quality of a number of sessions. It’s a pretyt sure bet that if someone starts a sales pitch, feet will quickly wander out the door.

If you are new to an unconference, here’s some places to start learning about them:

• What is an unconference?
• What’s an unconference all about?

The Unconference schedule is fluid. Part of the value of this approach is that it can stay fluid even while it’s underway. Here’s what’s proposed at the moment.

1. Recruiting the Web guys: How to create and grow your developer ecosystem - led by Dave Nielsen (PayPal/StrikeIron etc..)
2. Facebook the perfect sandbox for applications - led by Alec Saunders
3. Google’s Android; Where do we stand? - led by Tom Howe
4. Business model mayhem.. Is there a VC or 2 or 3 in Silicon Valley willing to talk about this topic?- lead needed.
5. Will a US telco follow BTs lead with APIs?
6. Rethinking Broadband Internet Connectivity - led by Brough Turner. Look at the image on Rethinking Broadband Internet Connectivity.
7. Does AWS, Google, Microsoft, or someone else provide all the application layer infrastructure that is needed?
8. Can Telephony Be Free? Led by Gene Cohen, CTO, and J. Scott Hamilton, CEO, VoodooVox.
9. Is there any benefit on connecting Social Networks via telecom networks? If not, why? If so, how? - Arjun Roychowdhury (HSC)
10. Real World Impact of Social Media - Ken Camp
11. Unified Communication; do we have the technology for business? - Paul Sijben (Perzonae)
12. 16 Ways to Compete With Skype

Technorati Tags: VON, VONCamp, Unconference

Filed by Ken at 9:24 am under General
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I wrote this series of questions a few years back for the candidates. I did this at a time Joe Trippi assured me that I’d have an online interview with then candidate, Governor Howard Dean. I lived in Vermont at the time and had done a great deal of work with Governor Dean’s staff, and had met him personally several times. Yet neither Trippi, nor Governor Dean made the effort to step forward and answer questions from the tech sector.

I reposted the questions some time ago, yet they remained unanswered at every turn. Now we seem to be closing in on a time when the junior Senator, Obama, seems on track to charge against McCain in the election. Neither are candidates I especially like or support. McCain scares me…a man riding on his past with zero visio for the future. Obama seems to be winning it all too easily. he’s too glib and frankly, I haven’t seen substantive answers to big questions.

So once again, I’ll pose these questions to the candidates.

April 4, 2006

Quite some time ago I posted a set of questions for the Presidential candidates. I did so after engaging in some conversation with Joe Trippi about Howard Dean’s campaign. At the time I lived in Vermont and had been engaged with Governor Dean and his staff as some levels. Joe committed to an interview with Governor Dean to address my questions online, but that never materialized. This static page is to carry those questions forward for the next cycle of political candidates and is a copy of a recent post reiterating my questions.

Dean’s use of the Internet brought some energy and visibility to blogging at the time. More importantly, it painted a vision of a re-energized political campaign process. It revitalized many and really opened the doors to what our next election might bring.

We recognize the significance of these trends on the Internet and on how we communicate. We’ve come a long way in the four intervening years. We the people have come a long way. We the technology have come a long way. They, the adminstration have deon everything possible to lead us into the dark ages. We’ve achieved a level of communication at the grassroots level not seen since our national population was small enough for town meetings and small gatherings. We are connected. The ends of the fragmented network are loosely joined together by technology. But the use of the technology in a campaign like Governor Dean’s, and the ramifications of these change aren’t enough to win my vote. They aren’t enough to win the vote of a huge swath of the population. There are some key underlying issues that I want to see addressed and articulated (articulated well, in words pronounced properly, using complete, thoughtful sentences) before any candidate is going to win my support as a voter.

What follows are an evolution of the questions that I prepared for Governor Dean back then. I’ve edited or revised where appropriate. I believe these questions have been utterly ignored for the past four years by the administration. Then agan, I think in too many ways the American people have been ignored for the past four years. Ignored by the administration, and ignored by our elected officials. I’m prepared to throw them all out. It is time for a clean slate. All major candidates from all political leanings are welcome to address these issues. Jon Tester in Montana is welcome as he pursues a US Senate seat. Governor Bill Richardson of New Mexico is invited to respond as he considers his future goals. I certainly invite anyone running for office in Washinton to respond. Senators…Congressmen, heed the call, for the tech sector can propel you to success or impede you progress based on how you are either welcomed or rejected.

I’ll be happy to aid early on in giving voice to those who present a solid undestanding of these issues. I believe they’re been ingnored too long.

I will post all replies, with no edit other than cosmetic, from any viable candidate who might choose to respond here for reference and comment. I will do reasonable validation that responses came from actual candidates. Reponses from staffers will probably be discarded unless I can validate the candidates involvement.

Candidate Interview Questions

1) The current Federal Communications Commission has come under considerable fire at times due to their blatant support of big business and utter failure to listen to Americans. What specific changes do you envision in the FCC under your administration? What do you see their role being in the future?

That’s how I worded the question four years ago. This election cycle the question is “What will you personally do to divest the Federal Communications Commission from being a fully owned subsidiary of the legacy telecommunications industry?” How will you reshape the charter, mission and role of the commission into an effective body that serves the people?

2) The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) has had technologists around the country disturbed for some time. The RIAA has garnered considerable support from the legislature. How do you propose we achieve balance between the author or performer’s rights, the publisher or recording studio rights and the wants of consumers?

Not much has changed in four years. The industry has shown they view their customers, we the people, as miscreants and thieves.

3) The Telecommunications Act of 1996 was implemented to theoretically open the telecom industry to competition, yet failed miserably. The major incumbent telcos remain the dominant force in that industry, yet have done little to advance communications infrastructure in the United States. They invest little in R&D because the incentive remains for them to maintain the status quo. Other countries are embracing new technologies at an ever-increasing rate, and our margin of advantage is rapidly shrinking. What specific steps would you take to promote and advance these technologies in our country?

That was then. Today the question has identity and the identity is Net Neutrality. What will you do to guarantee that the neutrality of the Internet is assured for the next generation and that the legacy carriers do not leverage avarice and greed to swallow the Internet into their quagmire of overpriced, undervalued, questionable services? How will you protect the freedom of the Net?

4) The Patriot Act has come under much criticism as we citizens watch our personal liberties erode. While we all want a secure country, we also fought for our personal freedoms, which no other country has ever provided to its citizens. How would your administration revisit the Patriot Act to create a reasonable approach that would achieve balance between national security and personal liberty?

In the past four years, we’ve watched our personal liberties erode further. We do not trust the administration. We do not trust our legislators. You, the incumbents have shown repeatedly that you do not trust we, the people, your employers. Your jobs have been declared at risk and many of you will be downsized. Those of you who aspire to employment here in public service need to explain. How will you create a reasonable approach to bring balance between national security and personal liberty?

5) In conjunction with those personal liberties, we as citizens find our personal information threatened in our own country. Hotels often require a copy of our driver’s license or passport to check in. Companies increasingly ask for a social security number, which is clearly protected information and was never intended to be used for anything but taxpayer identification. What personal information do you feel the individual should have absolute control over? Where do you feel we, as citizens should have the power to draw the line and protect our own personal information? And from whom do you think it should be protected? (i.e. what do you feel is reasonable access to personal individual information for a law enforcement or intelligence gathering agency outside the course of active criminal investigation?)

How will you protect our identity? Please think in specific terms, not the platitudes and vagaries of the Bush administration.

6) Our First Amendment rights have long been a mainstay of our society. Ongoing changes in federal regulation have required libraries to implement filtering software in an effort to protect children. Libraries that refuse now lose federal funding. Most technologists, and many librarians agree that this action is (a) inadequate due to the inability of software to properly perform this task, and (b) improper because the government is effectively implementing forced censorship of information. How do you feel we can effectively walk that thin line between protecting our children online while ensuring free and open access to information?

Couple that with so many areas where we the people have been trampled on in recent years, it is fair to say there has been no child left unscathed. How will you protect our children while simultaneuously protecting the freedom of speech and information sharing?

7) What steps will your administration take to embrace what have been referred to as the disruptive technologies as tools to build our economy and stimulate growth? We’ve seen tremendous interest in segments of unlicensed spectrum. IP telephony presents a potential new voice communications medium for the future. WiFi technologies provide a potential for universal broadband service. All these require optical networks that reach much farther to the ends of the network than the current infrastructure. Free market enterprise has shown that growth in these market segments is terribly slow to deploy, leaving a tremendous percentage of the population relegated to slow-speed dial-up connections to not just the Internet, but corporate and government networks as well. How will you change that? How would you respond to the suggestion of a regulated monopoly broadband provider, similar to the monopoly once granted to the Bell system of old?

Will you lead us to the true information age? Or will you try to lead us back into the dark ages as has been the case?

8- The Internet has clearly played a role in this election process. It has proven to be a tool for community and global conversation. The Internet has enabled discussion among individuals in a way that almost allows the same level of discussion that town meetings and local gatherings did when our population was much smaller. How do you envision using Internet technologies as a tool for bringing people together? Can you give some examples of advisory groups you might pull together to consult with your administration? How will you achieve balance between the talent of the incredibly learned tech sector and the dollars behind some of the large, monopolistic companies in the telecom and tech sector?

Technorati Tags: Technology, Politics, Candidates, Election. Questions for the Candidates, Political Process, How to win tech sector support

Filed by Ken at 6:49 pm under General
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