Telecom

An interesting solution to unwanted Robocalls and other telephone irritations has emerged in the form of the Banana Phone Project. Developed by Alex Ruiz using the ever versatile Raspberry Pi computer, he describes this as the evolution of caller id.

The device itself is not actually a phone that looks like a banana (I used to have one of those) but is instead a means of screening your calls to ensure that only worthy humans get through. It does this by playing an audio file to callers who have not been already been white-listed or approved as a human caller. The audio file is complicated enough to fool a machine, but the four letter code that is played on top of other noise is easy for the human ear/mind to pick up.

As a metaphor the internet affords all sorts of sensational and melodramatic language. I regular receive emails from public relations professionals representing clients who claim they are starting a revolution or changing the world forever.

Last week I got such a message regarding an announcement from Cisco, who are "the leading supplier of networking equipment and network management for the Internet." In this email, I was told that Cisco would make an announcement that would "forever change the Internet and its impact on consumers, business, and government" and that was all they could say.

Yesterday Cisco made their announcement, the introduction of their next generation router, the CRS-3, and the media seemed to walk right into the hype.

In their recent speech from the throne, the Canadian Government indicated their intention to raise foreign ownership limits with regard to the telecom industry. This is a decision long overdue, although one that requires balance and diplomacy when it comes to achieving the desired goal, something that the ruling Conservative Party has not been able to accomplish.

On the one hand they want to increase competition so as to lower consumer's monthly bills, yet on the other hand they also want to spur innovation by allowing existing companies access to foreign capital investment.

The demand for Internet and mobile networks is growing far faster than companies had anticipated and they will need to continually invest and expand their infrastructure which requires a lot of capital. The fear is that without foreign investment there would be further consolidation so as to pay for ongoing upgrades.

After many weeks of anticipation I was finally able to obtain a Nokia N900, the new Maemo Linux-powered tablet computer. This is the device I wanted fifteen years ago, when the web was just taking off. While it resembles the smart phones that currently dominate the mobile marketplace, the N900 is more like a mobile computer because it runs on an open source operating system that potentially enables it to evolve faster than others.

When buying any new technology an important evaluation metric to is the health of the supporting community, including user groups, developers and the companies around it. This logic is even more important when it comes to open source projects, as community health and dynamics are explicitly tied to their usability and the direction of future development.

A few months ago I was fortunate to get my hands on a Google/HTC Android Dev Phone. I got this device by registering as an Android developer and buying an unlocked phone. I always buy phones independent of any carrier as I often find that unlocked versions have far more features than branded devices you'd get from a mobile carrier like Rogers.

What fascinates me about Android is that it's open source, and from an innovation perspective has the potential for speedy evolution, as apps and improvements are contributed from diverse development communities. Unlike the iPhone, Android is open, and therefore easier for developers to contribute and make it a better platform with better applications.

I cover a lot of subjects on my weekly CBC Radio column, and I'm always fascinated by which ones garner the greatest listener response. Something that is particularly interesting to me, and apparently a lot of listeners, is the upcoming explosion of wireless devices making use of the spectrum called White Space.

For those who missed it, or want to hear it again, you can download my CBC Radio Toronto appearance on Metro Morning with Andy Barrie.

And these are some of the articles that came out around the time of the announcement.

The past two weeks have seen a number of announcements by Microsoft, Google, and Facebook that have set the stage for an incredible clash of the titans when it comes to the future of the Internet.

On one side, reigning champion Microsoft, monopolist of the personal computer era, backing young upstart Facebook, the early leader in the emerging social computing era.

On the other side, reigning search engine and online advertising king Google, and instead of backing a single emerging player, they've taken the longer tail and have embraced the concept of Open, which while including open source, also includes a broader philosophical approach to open internet development and initiatives.

Well, I'm getting kind of fed up with all the iPhone hype. Apple is not a company I've ever been fond of, because I see right through their marketing machine and understand just how bad and manipulative their message actually is. When the device was initially announced, I wrote a post pointing out that the actual cost of the device would be way higher than advertised, given that you have to sign up for a minimum 2 year contract with AT&T.

Yesterday started like any other day. I got up early, went out to the Y to workout, then to the grocery store for some food. Just as I was about to checkout I got a call from Joe Solway, a producer at CBC Radio's Metro Morning. He wanted to know if I could go on air in 20 minutes to talk about the outage experienced by Research In Motion that affected all North American Blackberry users. Naturally I obliged, and during the local news segment, Jill Dempsey interviewed me, and to the best of my ability I speculated on what could have happened.