Mac Mini, the cheapest mac ever has been introduced and it clearly is a powerhouse. It is better than a iBook 14 inch and is competitively priced to some of the equally powered Windows machines. Scoble thinks it is a tad more expensive than machines sold in Wal-Mart. Same logic as why is Toyota more expensive than Kia. I don’t think Apple is going to get many switchers for the device is priced $100 too much. That doesn’t meant it is not a great little computer. MORE »

Is Apple Mac, John Kerry of computers? My Business 2.0 colleague Damon Darlin thinks so. “The Mac is to technology journalists what John Kerry is to journalists covering politics. They get all weak in the knees and suspend all critical analysis about what real people really want because they so want the Mac to win.” Check out the photo and rest of the post!

Okay I have been obsessing about BitTorrent a bit too much these days, but I guess it is a technology which puts me in the media. It is also an area rife with innovation. Sajeet Cherian, emailed about his new software program, Videora. MORE »

Andy points to a report on Pacific Epoch which says that there might be 2 million users of Skype’s chinese version. And then asks the most important question: “Everyone looks at Skype’s impact on telephony, but what about on IM? Of late I personally have been having more chats with people using Skype, than on the other services. While some of my ‘buddies’ seem to still be tied to older IM clients, the rest of the people I have been chatting with seem to be appearing on Skype.” Oh Oh… it is time for Yahoo, MSN and AOL to get their VoIP groove on, fast!

Broadband and the presence of always-on connections is changing consumer behavior. From making phone calls over the Internet, to buying clothes online and downloading songs for 99 cents a track, the always on lifestyle is finally become pervasive. “People are more able and willing to just walk up to the Internet to get a quick snippet of what they need, send a quick e-mail, read a quick news article, check a sports score,” Jim Bankoff, executive vice president for programming at America Online told the Associated Press. (Ironic, considering that death of dial-up is smacking AOL pretty hard in the face!) Nearly 69% of Broadband users go online every day and stay there for 107 minutes, versus 51% of dial-up users who barely manage 21 minutes, I am guessing mostly to check email. MORE »

This battle is as old as broadband in the US. Cable companies want to shut out independent ISPs from their cable networks, for good. ISPs are not taking it sitting down. Back in March 2002, the FCC defined cable modem service as an “information” service and not a telecom service, which helped the cable companies escape the draconian rules that regulate the phone operators. This was one way from preventing ISPs any access to the cable networks. Anyway then the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit overturned the FCC’s decision, and things got all crazy. Now this battle is going to heat up again. According to Wired News, the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday is going to consider “whether the cable companies should be forced to give third-party ISPs access to their networks.” MORE »

Forget wireline, when you can get 3G wireless. Novatel Wireless has just launched a series of new products that use 3G wireless as their primary pipe for voice and data connections. Novatel, more known for their wireless cards calls this offering, Ovation. These products hook to the Internet at about 384 kilobits per second and are good enough for VoIP calls. The San Diego company is targeting European markets where DSL and Cable are hard to get. Primary buyers are SOHO and small businesses. Folks like Vodafone are going to love a product like this. In US, there are some others who have developed these kind of products. MORE »

A few days ago I had written a post about why Baby Bells are thrilled with the Vonage ruling. And now you can see why. SBC Communications has announced launch of its residential VoIP service. While the service is in trials right now in Los Angeles, Dallas, Chicago and San Antonio, the full-scale VoIP service rollout will take place in early 2005. “Over time, we expect that VoIP will be a preferred voice service because of the features and benefits this technology enables,” said Randall Stephenson, SBC chief operating officer in a press releases. MORE »

John Dvorak is a, make that was a great columnist. In the PC era, no one could hold a candle to the man. He was quick, witty and had a real sense of what was going on in the history. But these days it is a chore reading his stuff. Take his most recent, muddled, opinion-without-any-knowledge column in PC magazine about VoIP. MORE »

The whole VoIP industry is breathing a sigh of relief. The Federal Communications Commission has voted that Vonage’s Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) phone service is “interstate” in nature, meaning that individual states cannot regulate Vonage as it would a traditional telephone company, nor regulate the rates, terms and conditions of Vonage’s service. This decision is the kind of boost the VoIP sector has been looking for, and will for at-least some time prevent states and cities from meddling in the technology which has barely cracked the half-million mark. FCC voted 5-0 in favor of Vonage. As expected, we can expect this decision to be challenged by the states and also by the cities, who are seeking their pound of flesh. MORE »