OnSIP, the virtual PBX service that we use, has a web page that allows you to test your VoIP connection.
It simulates a voice conservation to OnSIP’s remotes, measuring packet loss and jitter or variation in transit times.
My performance over my information cable provided by Comcast here in NJ was pretty good: no packet loss and .9 ms in jitter. Continue reading
It’s Friday, and what better way to end the week than to learn that another angel investor is doing business in NYC.
Haig Kayserian is an Australian web entrepreneur, who according to the press release we received, is making investments in three US startups though his new NYC-based KAYWEB Angels.
He is divvying up $900K to Cafrino (gaming), Minute Lister (mobile ecommerce), and You Need My Guy (business networking).Continue reading
I was at Google last night, at their 8th Ave. location in NYC, attending a JavaScript Meetup.
I almost didn’t make it: I was on the waiting list up until the last minute.
So what brought over 125 people into the 10th Floor of Google’s Manhattan franchise?
(By the way, Googlers know how to dress for a NYC summer: they were pouring out of the building around 6:30 all wearing cargo shorts and comfy T-shirts.)
Anyway, we were all there to hear about their JavaScript in-the-cloud service, called Apps Script.
Who would have thunk so many so many passionate developers would be coming out on this rainy night, and why would Google put a client-side language into the stratosphere?
It all became clearer by the end of the talk.
I haven’t been attending New York Tech Meetups lately but there was one demo at last night’s gathering I would have liked to have seen.
Idea Flight from the folks at Conde Nast Digital turns the iPad into a collaborative document and screen sharing tool—think of it as WebEx for tablets.
One person is the host, or as Idea Flight calls it, the pilot, and the attendees are known as “passengers”.
I’m not sure I entirely get the flight metaphor, but this iPad app looks to be an on-the-fly approach to do shared presentations over a WiFi network.
The 200+ page response to Bloomberg TV’s complaint that it had been exiled in Comcast’s lineup from the major players news neighborhoods —Fox, CNN, CNBC, etc.— has been submitted to the FCC.
The lawyers must have had loads of fun writing this thing.
The gist of Comcast’s argument is that it all depends on what you mean by news and a neighborhood. Continue reading
Pavan Katepalli had his ‘aha’ moment about blogs when he was running his second startup, a search engine marketing service.
In trying to expand the online marketing presence of one his clients, he discovered that bloggers hold a lot of power in terms of directing traffic and boosting visits.
After selling the SEM company—his first startup, by the way, was hatched while he was a Rutger’s undergraduate—Pavan then went on to found BloggersCompete.
The idea is simple: advertisers initiate a contest for bloggers, suggesting general themes to write about. Bloggers get exposure by being part of the contest, and the winner or winners receive cash, while runner-ups get some non-cash swag or other prizes. Continue reading
Taap.it, the geo-aware classified mobile app that launched at TechCruch Disrupt in late May, has experienced impressive growth in the last two months.
They’ve seen $2.4 million in transactions cleared through their online marketplace
With the Taap.it iPhone (and Android) app, sellers post a picture of the item they wish to sell along with embedded geo-data. Buyers search using distance and keyword parameters.
The focus here is, of course, on local business, and the assumption is that delivery and payment can be handled without any messy third-parties—perhaps the whole transaction can be settled at the local coffee bar.Continue reading
