In the news

This is a summary of recent technology news:

• Intel announces huge layoffs (including 1000 managers) in an attempt to streamline operations into their core CPU business
• AMD acquires ATI, the graphics card and chipset manufacturer: this would lead to higher growth over the coming years
• HP acquires Mercury Software, the enterprise software company
• Microsoft declines to give release date for Windows Vista

The legend 'Zizou' lives on

The FIFA World Cup 2006 finals on Sunday night between France and Italy proved to be one of the fiercest battles in history. The game was much more than entertaining, with Italy having played better in the first half, and France controlling the game in the second half. In extra-time, both teams looked even and penalties were the only sure means of picking the champion. The red-card displayed to Zidane after the headbutting incident with Metarazzi happened to be the turning point in the game.

This incident has been in the news all over, and a lot of speculation is being made. It goes to prove that even legends are human afterall. Sportsmen of all type, are also driven by instinct. 'Zizou' is a man well-known for patience and calm temperament on the field. He has a maintained a clean record for most of his career. As an individual, he is admired for his humility off the field. It was only when Metarazzi provoked him beyond all means, Zidane was forced to react in a extremely wild manner. After being sent-off, he walked by the trophy full of tears, indicating this remorse for the incident.

In a ceremony held in Paris to reward the French football team, President Jacques Chirac honoured the team and glorified Zidane:
"France loves you and admires you. You have made us experience an unforgettable moment in the past month by allowing us to reach a second World Cup final in eight years."
"Dear Zinedine, in such a hard and intense moment for you, I would like to express the whole nation's affection and admiration for you. You are a virtuoso, a genius of football and an exceptional human being. That is why France admires you."
This would definitely give support to he World Cup's hero amidst the entire controversy. His words would go a long way to restore the entire world's faith back to Zidane. There would soon be an official investigation by FIFA into the incident, and the whole story would made clear for the good of the game.

Prior to the World Cup, both teams were not even the biggest contenders for the finals. It was the trio from the 98 winners - Zidane, Thuram and Makelele who came out retirement in 2005 to bring France into contention for the World Cup campaign. All three of them will be credited by France for their performaces throughout the tournament. FIFA awarded the Golden Ball award to Zidane for the best player of the tournament.

Zizou retired from his club career after playing his last game with Real Madrid in May 2006. Zinedine Zidane might not have had the opportunity for a dream ending of his international career with the trophy, but he will always be remembered for his footballing genius and style which graced the sport for years. The legend lives on.

VoIP explained for dummies

In case you did not know, the author of this blog is a developer of VoIP software for embedded platforms. He specialises in call control (SIP/H.323/MGCP) and media(RTP/RTSP) protocols. He has grand plans to contribute towards business development in this technology and make an impact on the lives of people who love to 'talk'. Do not try too hard to guess these protocol names, because it will not really enrich your vocabulary and make a big impact in your daily life. But some of you might find that RFCs make good bedtime stories. Anyway, the communications technology has a plethora of acronyms and I encounter new ones everyday. Other than protocols, voice codecs are the critical components of a VoIP system. Voice codecs (G.711,G.723,G.726 and G.729 are ITU standards) perform compression of digital voice data.

The technology has matured over the last 5 years and products have come of age. They are far more user friendly and readily available. The common VoIP endpoint devices are IPPhones and RGWs (residential gateways). IPPhones are digital phones which directly plug into a LAN connection. However, residential gateways connect to a LAN/ADSL or cable modem provide ports for traditional analog phones. Essentially, the call control protocols establish connections between two users overy the network, and then media protocols transmit your voice signals in the form of data packets. Most VoIP software have very good echo cancellation and jitter buffer algorithms to maintain excellent voice quality.

Voice (and not data) happens to be the biggest revenue supporter for most telecom carriers. The market has reached a tiliting point, where VoIP has gained universal acceptance, and people are dumping their outdated landlines at a fast pace. The biggest benefit to consumers is the cost savings. Gone are days of long distance calls costing a fortune. These days, PC to PC calls are abosutely free and international calls are charged a low price depending of the telecom carrier. In the PC segment, Skype is the universally leading VoIP service provider. In the home phone business, Vonage is the leading residential VoIP service provider in the US. The are several hardware providers like Cisco and TI providing chipsets and networking equipment.

After voice and fax, video phones are the next big technological leap for VoIP. Video phones would basically have webcams connnected to IPPhones or RGWs through USB interfaces. The future of voice communication lies in the emerging standard UMA (Unlicensed Mobile Access) - a combination of 3G mobile communications for outdoor services and VoIP over WLAN for indoor services.