Gordon And Mike's Ict Podcast

Jajah, started by Roman Scharf and Daniel Mattes in 2004, is offering an interesting service that may challenge Skype and other similar products. Jajah provides a paid service that allows calls to be routed landline/cell to landline/cell in many parts of the world without long distance fees. Here’s how it works: Let’s say I’m a Jajah customer and I want to call my brother who is living in London. I log into my Jajah account at jajah.com, enter my brother’s landline or cell number and my landline or cell number. Jajah makes the connection and rings my phone and then my brothers phone over connections that are local to each of us.See www.nctt.org/blog for complete note set.

Many people have very strong - mostly negative - opinions about Powerpoint. The phrase "death by Powerpoint" has been used (some would say over-used) to describe the painful experience of sitting through a bad Powerpoint presentation. The sentiment can be summed up by borrowing and adapting a phrase from Security Consultant and blogger Steve Riley - Powerpoint is "... the place where knowledge goes to die." While we don't disagree with critics that the use of Powerpoint is part of an ever-present misconception that technology fixes things or makes things better, we're not here to pile on - instead we'd like to offer some ideas to make Powerpoint more effective in your classroom.

WiMax - Why Not? Craig McCaw is a visionary, who has had an uncanny ability to predict the future of technology.  WiMAX has the potential to do for broadband access what cell phones have done for telephony - replacing cable and DSL services, providing universal Internet access just about anywhere - especially for suburban and rural blackout areas. Just like in the early 1980's Clearwire's Craig O. McCaw has been buying up licensed radio spectrum. You may not have heard of Craig but in the early 80's he recognized local cell permits being sold by the the FCC were greatly undervalued and he started bidding cellular phone licenses. He did his buying under the radar screen of the telcos and, by the time they recognized what he was doing it was basically too late � Craig had already purchased and owned licenses in most of the major markets. Of course he had the money - in 1986 Craig and his brothers sold a cable television business their father had left them for $755

Since the launch of Gmail and the (at the time) unheard of storage space of 2 gigabytes, a number of developers have created tools to allow users to use their Gmail accounts for file storage.  Examples include the GMail Drive shell extension, an add-on for the Firefox browser - Gmail Space, and even an equivalent for Mac OS X.  Each of these add-ons/applications allows users to seamlessly email files to their Gmail accounts, while appearing to the native OS as another drive. Likewise, there's been a lot of buzz about Google's launch of Google Spreadsheets , and their acquistion and integration of Upstartle and their online wordprocessor Writely. In this blogcast we discuss some of these online tools.See www.nctt.org/blog for complete show notes.

The most recent issue of Wired magazine details six trends that are driving the global economy.  Not surprisingly, 5 of the 6 are spearheaded by ICT-enabled companies and rely on a number of technologies that we seem to be discussing with greater regularity (SOAP, AJAX and Web 2.0). In this podcast we discuss these important trends, and how they are reshaping the global economic landscape.

On July 13, 2006 Charlie Paglee claimed on the VoIPWiki Blog that a Chinese business has reverse engineered Skype's communications protocol. Rumor has it the un-named Chinese company will produce a Skype compatible soft phone and will go public with it by the end of this month. Complete shownotes at: http://www.nctt.org/blog/index.php#53 Also see NCTT Summer Workshop Resource Area for Workshop Content: http://www.ncttbuzz.org/NCTT_01/ NO LOGIN IS REQUIRED TO SEE CONTENT!

FON ( http://www.fon.com/), a Spanish startup that is building an international WiFi community, is selling and organizing WiFi access to anyone who wishes to join and connect to the Internet. According to their website: It all started as a simple idea: enjoy WiFi technology everywhere across a WiFi infrastructure built by same members of the FON Community. Joining us is just as easy. All you need is to register for free, have broadband connection and to download our software onto your router. This converts your router into a FON Social Router. If you do not have a router that is compatible with FON's software, you can purchase one of our subsidized FON Social Routers at our online store. FON launched early this year and has been successful in raising almost $22 million from companies like eBay (includes Skype) and Google.Complete shownotes at: http://www.nctt.org/blog/index.php#51

In the mid 1990's Oracle and Sun Microsystems developed and promoted the concept for a Network Computer (NC).  Unfortunately, the revolutionary idea did not make sense offering a fraction of the functionality provided by a regular Personal Computer (PC), at a similar purchase price and the networks of the day could not support it. Recent developments, including greater adoption of high-speed internet, a new programming model for web-based user interfaces called AJAX and a killer application for it — Gmail — are now bringing new life to this concept. The idea is pretty simple: use a generic web browser and a set of online services to provide all the functionality needed by a computer user, removing the need for any application or data for that matter to be installed on the computer itself. Thus is born Office 2.0.

This blogcast discusses low cost computers for emerging markets in developing countries. The term being tossed around by the major manufacturers is  the next billion and refers to the approximate number of low cost computers that will be sold in the next decade in coutries like China, Brazil and Egypt.

On Thursday the U.S. House of Representatives voted 269-152 against the net neutrality amendment, a bill sponsored by Massachusetts Democrat Ed Markey. A yes vote would have required broadband providers (Telco's, Cable Companies, etc) to offer the same service speeds to competitors that they provide to partners. The telcos and cable companies in particular lobbied heavily inside the beltway and it appears to have paid off. This was not without some push back - according to CIO.COM at the last minute several technology and service companies sent a letter to House members asking for net neutrality support. Among those companies signing that letter were Microsoft and eBay and Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers – a large and influential venture capital firm.

Todays gamers are not the gamers of the old pong days. High performance graphics, processors, controllers, I/O and network connectivity make many games appear anything but virtual. This show gives updates on new products from Sony and Nintendo and also discusses Microsoft's Xbox 360.

This show brings technology updates on past shows along with recent news items that affect Information and Communications Technology and Information and Communications Technology enabled industries.

With increasing business and consumer adoption of internet telephony (more commonly called voice over internet protocol or VoIP) and recent revelations regarding the NSAâ??s domestic spying program, one begins to wonder - how secure are VoIP calls?  In this podcast we discuss the differences between public switched telephone networks (PSTNs) and VoIP, security concerns regarding VoIP traffic, the potential for blocking voice traffic and potential security threats posed by Skype and other VoIP clients.

Local governments are looking closely at different technologies and business models in efforts to provide wireless broadband access. The current number of U.S. municipalities sponsoring access is small but growing. In this, our fourteenth podcast, we discuss some of the methods currently being used and considered to provide access.

Organic Light Emitting Diodes and Light Emitting Polymers are set to revolutionize the display industry. They don't require a backlight, and are more energy efficient and offer a higher contrast than traditional LCD displays. This is a relatively new display technology that promises to deliver thin, power efficient and bright displays. These new displays, already popular in MP3 players and cell phones, have amazing potential - thin TVs, flexible displays, transparent monitors, white-bulb replacement, and more.

A new consumer goods tracking system called Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is poised to enter all of our lives, with profound implications for consumer privacy. RFID couples radio frequency (RF) identification technology with highly miniaturized computers that enable products to be identified and tracked at any point along the supply chain. The system can be applied to virtually any physical item, from pets and people to ballpoint pens and toothpaste, each potentially carrying a unique identifier embedded in a chip. Uniqueness of RFID tags enables individual tracking of a product from location to location, even to the consumer, aids in combating theft and other forms of product loss, and facilitates quality control and product recalls. There may soon come a day when RFID will be used to identify and track every item produced on the planet, contributing to concerns over post-sale tracking and profiling of consumers. If you’re skeptical, consider the following quote: “I think the industry has sold itself

Technology updates on past shows along with recent news items that affect Information and Communications Technology and Information and Communications Technology enabled industries. We will do these update shows every five weeks, with the next one scheduled for Show 16.

Though not as memorable a question as that faced by Shakespeare's Hamlet, many companies are now confronted with critical decisions regarding adoption of Linux and other open source software. This podcast, the fourth in a 10-part series detailing technologies to watch for 2006, examines Linux and open source software. Though originally developed and used by individual enthusiasts for Intel 386 microprocessors, Linux and two subsequent generations of open-source software have gained support from IBM, Sun Microsystems, Hewlett-Packard, and Novell. These products are used in servers and have been successfully deployed in virtually all popular computer architectures, ranging from embedded systems (routers, mobile phones, Private Branch eXchanges [PBXs] and personal video recorders) to PCs and supercomputers. With increasingly competitive economic environments and continued pressure to cut costs and streamline operations, many organizations find the issue of open source adoption a question of to be or not to be.

How many times have you saved a file on your local machine and, a few days or weeks later wasted time trying to find that file? Modern operating systems have search capabilities but most are not very user friendly and they are typically slow. Today third party desktop search engines are adding new features and functionality, finding their way on to business and personal machines. These tools work similarly to the popular Internet search engines only they allow you to search your local computer. As we will discuss in this podcast, our third in a 10-part series detailing technologies to watch for 2006, well known companies like Google and Yahoo and some other not so well known companies are making inroads onto our computer desktops.

There's a disruptive new technology on the horizon, and it's called micro-commerce. Microcommerce allows vendors to sell low-ticket items at a profit, changing the way e-business is conducted, allowing for value-added content and providing new business models for online sellers. As we will discuss in this podcast, our second in a 10-part series detailing technologies to watch for 2006, one need only look to Apple’s iTunes as evidence that microcommerce has already become big business. By offering products, information, or services for a small subscription or a one-time fee, many businesses see great potential for phenomenal growth. Online retailers aren’t abandoning the cash cow that e-commerce has become, but they’re paying a lot more attention to micro-commerce’s potential to become cash mice.