Asterisk 1.4 introduces a new level of Jabber integration, developed by Matthew O’Gorman at Digium. The Asterisk Open Source PBX integrates with Jabber/XMPP in many ways.

* Google Talk channel driver: chan_gtalk. Google Talk is based on Jabber protocols, in the IETF named XMPP. Google extended Jabber with multimedia support and named the new extension Jingle. In the XMPP Foundation standardization process this standard has been developed a bit further, so in a coming release of Asterisk there will be separation between the “old” Google Talk channel driver and a standard-compliant Jingle channel.
* Jabber presence support in the dialplan: By letting your Asterisk connect to a Jabber server by using a Jabber account, you can add buddies to that account and check the buddies presence in the Asterisk dialplan. This way, call routing decisions can be based on the status of Jabber accounts. If Alice sets her presence to Away, Asterisk can send her calls directly to voicemail without ringing her desktop phone.
* Asterisk as a Jabber module: In a more advanced mode, Asterisk can register itself as a module to your Jabber server (as a Jabber component). This mode means better integration to Jabber, but requires more from the Jabber clients.
* Sending text messages: Asterisk supports sending text messages to Jabber clients from the dialplan, maybe alerting about upcoming conference calls, voicemail or missed calls. With Jabber clients making its way to cell phones and all kinds of devices, this means reachability everywhere.

Don’t forget that Jabber is an IETF/XMPP foundation standard that is implemented in both commercial software (like Apple’s iChat) and Open Source. Many libraries exist for Jabber development. There are also gateways to all kinds of presence platforms, including MSN and SIP/Simple. By integrating Asterisk and Jabber, you can now easily build Asterisk solutions with integrated presense and instant messaging support!

Discover Asterisk 1.4 :: Jabber integration!

First up was a brief revival of last year's hit musical "Oh God, my smartphone is dead" as RIM's Blackberry network bit the big one for a second time in less than a year, leaving millions of addicts — including a certain Leader of the Free World who shall remain nameless — without their beloved Crackberries. RIM — anybody else think they should rename it RIP? — is blaming it on a routine upgrade gone wrong, but we're thinking it's time to switch to Android, 'cause everyone knows crack is wack.

Speaking of all things wack, the UK is planning an ISP-level game of Wack-A-Mole with file-sharers under a new proposal that would require ISPs to disconnect users who access pirated materials under a three-strikes-you're-out system. The ISPs say the plan just isn't cricket, as cutting off pirates could cost them billions of pounds in lost revenues. Meanwhile, New York is moving to cut off registered sex offenders from sites like MySpace and Facebook, which frequently act as an online smorgasbord for predators. The plan — which would require registered offenders to hand over their screen-names to the government so they can be blocked by social networks — seems a bit naïve given the technical loopholes available online, but if passed would be the first of its kind.

While we're on the subject of government regulation, Intel's German offices felt the sting of regulation yesterday as EU investigators raided several locations and and collected evidence for the Commission's ongoing anti-trust probe. Intel says it's "cooperating," but we suspect that means "hiding the evidence while they climb the stairs." Comcast, meanwhile, has , admitting openly to the practice in their response to the FCC's probe, despite several months spent denying the practice to everyone from customers to Congress. Here's hoping they get what they deserve.

Last but not least, it's your daily dose of Yahoo news, with the shocking announcement that the stock-picker in charge of the investment fund that owns the second-largest share of Yahoo wants Microsoft to offer more money. Gasp — how could we not have seen that coming, a stockbroker wanting to sell high? Meanwhile, Yahoo finally scored one on their arch-competitor, convincing T-Mobile to drop Google for Yahoo as fast asStarbucks dropped T-Mobile for AT&T. The day wasn't a total bust for the number-one searcher, though, as Nokia announced they still have love for Big Daddy G.

That's about all the wack we can take, so we're out.

Crackberries Go Wacked, Downloaders Get Smacked, and Intel's Been Jacked

We all thought it was time to party, that the enemy was finally vanquished, that it was time for Champagne and cigars. We learned our lesson yesterday afternoon, though, when SCO smacked us all in the face with a hundred million dollars.

That's right, SCO suddenly has deep pockets, courtesy of their friend Stephen Norris, the uber-finance geek. Norris and his private equity firm — Stephen Norris Capital Partners, LLC — have decided to buy a stake in SCO, though the exact amount won't be clear until the Utah courts decide how much SCO has to pay IBM and Novell. What is clear is that they suddenly have a $95 million line-of-credit to pursue all the litigation their cold, black hearts desire. Others have pointed out that these guys are the biggest, baddest, beat-the-crap-out-of-anyone-in-their-way-ist, and won't have a moment's pause about coming after everyone in the Linux world, from IBM and Novell right down to us, the everyday users.

As the ever-vigilant White Knights over at Groklaw point out, there's still some hope — the all-powerful Bankruptcy court can quash them with the stroke of a pen, and the European Commission not to mention the SEC may well have a thing or two to say — but the outlook certainly isn't as rosy as it was on Wednesday.

Lord have mercy..

I think i am going to vomit...

SCO is Back, and This Time It's Personal | Linux Journal

A few weeks back, I reviewed the ZipIt Z2 Wireless device. It was a neat little gadget, and in the review I stressed how much cooler it would be if it were open for developers to add 3rd party functionality. (Much like jailbreaking an iPhone allows for awesome additions to an otherwise inaccessible device)

Here's the skinny:

* Check out linux.zipitwireless.com.
* Some 3rd party apps are available, but right now they're largely proof of concept. (Doom, mplayer, etc)
* Programs run from the MiniSD card (not included)
* Developers are welcome, encouraged, and thought upon fondly. :)

One of the things I really like about the ZipIt company, is that instead of trying to lock out hackers (which is sorta silly), they are trying to accommodate tinkerers, while maintaining their commercial investment. In my opinion, that's very wise.

I hope that developers do come on board, and extend the usefulness of the Z2. On a larger scale, however, I hope that other companies follow suit. Hackers (not pirates, there is a big difference) are surprisingly respectful people. If you don't try to lock them out, they won't try to break in. It's pretty simple. :)

Well done ZipIt Wireless. Here's hoping other companies follow your example.

The price is a little high but the device is cool... and it does have audio/video hardware support!

ZipIt Wireless -- Keeping Promises, Opening Doors

Ze Frank is a marvel. We love him to the depths of our little, bursting hearts (eww! gross!). And on this day, every year, our little bursting hearts splatter in pretty little explosions of love for this video. If you look closely, the viscera spell out 'Ze Rocks'. Happy Valentine's Day, everyone! Proper, if you haven't already, you really should go check out the archives of (the now sadly defunct) The Show....

On Valentine's Day From Zefrank.com

What is Zipit Forge ¶

Zipit Forge is the online collaboration area for the Zipit Wireless series of products. Here you will have access to:

* Wikis, Message forums and mailing lists to help you collaborate.
* Content management systems and other publication mechanisms.
* Storage facilities and webspace including versioning systems and databases.
* A project framework with mechanisms to control access and structure work.

Hell yea! The new Zipit2 is a bad ass device, the cost is a little high for what it is, but now the hacking can start.... :P

ZipitForge

Del.icio.us was a big discovery for me. The ability to access my bookmarks anywhere, share them with others, and discover my friends’ favorites: Wow!

But I had a moment of truth the day I clicked a months-old bookmark only to discover that one of my favorite pages on Web design had vanished. D’oh! I’d really depended on that material! Suddenly apprehensive, I started going through all of my del.icio.us links one-by-one, discovering that a large percentage had vanished off the face of the Web.

It felt almost like I’d had a hard drive failure. Only then did I realize how much I’d come to depend on Web-based content.

Sure, for finding the odd missing page, there’s always Archive.org, but that saves pages intermittently and it’s a fairly clunky solution for an ongoing problem. What I really needed was a social bookmarking service that cached a full version of each bookmarked page with all the graphics and formatting intact.

Get Digging

Enter Diigo. I’m surprised this excellent social bookmarking service doesn’t have a higher profile online. It’s fast, easy, and it saves a cache of every page by default. I really don’t see how del.icio.us can compete, considering that Diigo looks much nicer and still manages to respond more crisply.

(Yes, there are other social bookmarking sites out there, and were I a true productivity blogger and not a dilettante, I’d give you a point-by-point feature comparison with a nifty chart. In this case, I’m going to fall back on “trust me.” Diigo’s the best I’ve tried, and I’ve tried a bunch.)

But getting the most out of Diigo isn’t as simple as swapping out your del.icio.us quick bookmarks and moving on. Strategy counts.

Hmm interesting idea... It would be cool to see an idea like this be implanted to memestreams

Archive the Web with Diigo

After marveling at Michelangelo’s statue of Goliath-vanquishing David, the Pope asked the sculptor, “How do you know what to cut away?”

Michelangelo’s reply? “It’s simple. I just remove everything that doesn’t look like David.”

While I’m not totally sure of its accuracy, the conversation still offers three very sage design lessons:

1. Good design starts with a goal

Before David could physically exist, it had to first exist in Michelangelo’s mind. In other words, a mental model, a goal. Michelangelo then prototyped through sketches and, presumably, miniature models of the final David. Why not just go with your gut? Because there are no Undos when carving a block of marble.

2. Good design removes the unneccesary

Instead of piling on more and more doodads and features on your design, ask yourself, “Do I really need this?” and “What can I take away and still achieve my goal?.” Remember, less is more.

3. Good design isn’t magic

Since we have such fancy computers now, good design must happen with just the press of a button. Not. Like Michelangelo’s David, design masterpieces don’t magically take form overnight. It takes tons of time, prototyping, and iteration. So how long did it take Michelangelo to sculpt David? Three years.

Great reading ...

What Michelangelo Can Teach You About Good Design

It’s an oft-quoted truism in books on learning and productivity that it takes 10,000 hours to achieve true mastery in any skill, from composing symphonies to playing tennis.

Is it true? I have absolutely no idea. It’s certainly an appealing concept, though. We’re used to thinking of genius as an elusive, magical thing that springs fully formed. Boiling down Mozart’s greatness to a regime of dozens of hours a week at the piano until he he’d hit the 10,000-hour mark (before his voice changed) makes the idea of learning to play the piano seem more approachable. It gives you a sense of the distance between point A and point B.

Still, at the rate of 20 or 30 minutes every week or two when you’re feeling restless won’t add up to even Yanni-level playing any time this decade.

Let’s take the baby steps approach.

Read on...

Master a Skill in Stages

Songbird is a desktop media player mashed-up with the Web. Songbird is committed to playing the music you want, from the sites you want, on the devices you want, challenging the conventions of discovery, purchase, consumption and organization of music on the Internet.

Songbird is a player and a platform. Like Firefox, Songbird is an open source, Open Web project built on the Mozilla platform. Songbird provides a public playground for Web media mash-ups by providing developers with both desktop and Web APIs, developer resources and fostering Open Web media standards, to wit, an Open Media Web.

Check this out... I think that it will become my default media lib. and player because it's tight integration to music blogs like 'the hype machine'...

check it out... :)

Songbird Media Player