Geekspeak’s Geeks and Fans talk about the usability of passwords, what makes a good more likely unhackable one or not; insight into the current questioning of Android and Apple’s storing of your personal location information and Facebook’s Places; and how to help newbie adults kids get experience with and enjoy programming languages. Listen to their most recent podcast on all three topics. Summary is listed below.

The Usability of Passwords
SHOCK! Nothing is what you have been thinking in 2011. “Security companies and IT people constantly tell us we should use complex and difficult passwords. This is bad advice, because you can actually make usable, easy to remember and highly secure passwords. In fact, usable passwords are often far better than complex ones,” say some of the geeks in Santa Cruz, California.

Personal-safety GPS device presents security risk
SECOND SHOCK! Bailey hacked a GPS device and learned that by exploiting security weaknesses in it, he could monitor the movements of a known device, impersonate it to the Zoombak tracking system, and even look for devices in his immediate vicinity to target.

Learn to Program
GEEKSPEAK lets down gently at the end … A 12-year old from Santa Cruz asks, “What programming language do you suggest I learn?” Geekspeak.org endorses Processing, which is a simply awesome beginning to learning how to program. Other examples might be the stuff over at MIT’s Scratch, open source programming for kids, and O’Reilly’s recommendations.

Around a week ago, Apple removed an application Scratch from the iPhone and iPad App Store. The Scratch app was full of stories, games and animations made by children using the MIT’s Scratch platform. This platform Scratch, keep in mind …  was built upon tech legend Alan Kay’s programming language Squeak. He is the one credited with inventing the idea (1968) of a lightweight tablet computer that children could use to learn programming.

Supposedly, “Apple removed the app because it allegedly violated a rule in the iPhone developer agreement — clause 3.3.2, which states iPhone apps may not contain code interpreters other than Apple’s.”

Listen to Geekspeak.org podcasts every Saturday. Download them like the DIDX podcasts, to your mobile or other type of device for listening to now and in the future or listen by streaming from the Net.

Vu TelePresence® shares an ideal way to say “NO” to impersonal voice conference calls and unnecessary expensive and exhaustive travel. For many reasons, it is a better way to do business. For example, it provides a luxurious experience of HD quality video among all parties on calls — and even, surprisingly on low bandwidth and a low budget.

A major part of their aim is to replace one of the most revolutionary inventions ever: the Telephone.

Vu TelePresence and their CEO Devita Saraf, wish to transform the way businesses connect with their clients by replacing everyday voice calls with face-to-face interactions in true high definition quality. The convenience of HD quality conferencing with eye contact, life-like images, and distortion free sound are just a few of the advantages.

The company has the ability to display presentations, documents, browsers, and any application. It also provides an excellent platform for events such ones recently planned with PGA* and also in large numbers of participants such as in a Web conference.

Techistan’s technology entrepreneur Suzanne Bowen grabbed the opportunity to interview Devita Saraf of Vu TelePresence who is herself a two-time founder and entrepreneur. A third female entrepreneur Christine Oneto of GirlsinTech recently wrote about Devita, “Her amazing journey from USC undergraduate to corporate leader is one I am lucky to begin following.”

Topics discussed and a summary follow, but if the reader (you) prefers to listen, feel free to click on the “Podcast” link just ahead. Listen and keep working on other things at your office, home, in your car, while waiting in line anywhere …

Part one of the audio podcast with Devita Saraf of Vu Telepresence:

Part two of the audio podcast with Devita Saraf of Vu Telepresence:

On verveonline.com, Ms. Saraf does show her well-deserved confidence when asked about being a young woman in a male-dominated field. She replied, “Since everyone is highly educated they treat me with respect…and of course, my visiting card commands deference.”

So true, Devita! She was born in India with a family who has a successful history in business. She studied in USA with an emphasis in marketing. Ms. Saraf just has a natural inclination for entrepreneurship and even began testing her ideas as a teen-ager.

Vu Telepresence, her newest company, is a part of the Zenith Group.

Vu Technologies, Ms. Saraf’s first company, is a luxury technology. It is a high-end television brand targeted to India — the youngest television brand in India, but much more premium than older brands. Thinking on a more global plan, she next, launched Vu Telepresence. It is headquartered in Pittsburgh, PA. in the USA. The co-founder is Devita Saraf’s brother Akash Saraf. Together, they have taken the brand to increasingly popularity in Asia Pacific, the Middle East, India, and Europe. Singapore is next.

An interesting fact is that Vu Telepresence was created with a codec that the company developed on its own. It allows compression of data, overcoming problems regarding bandwidth, jitter, and other issues. The service delivers in HD quality.

The Vu Telepresence customers are in the industries of medicine, law, enterprise and business, those with remote workers, education, and hospitality.

Using an HD quality video service such as Vu Telepresence makes users not want to go back to just audio conference calls. People can see each other’s facial expressions and body language to understand more about the conversation taking place, for example. Plus, the service includes document sharing, too.

Devita says, “Another thing that we have done that no one else has done in the telepresence industry is what we call the ‘Vu Telepoint.’ It is a physical point in a business center room, about 120 square feet. Go to VuTelepoint.com. Choose a location you are at. Then choose a location of where you want to view someone at. Choose the time for all to be online. Then, just walk in and use it … It’s a great tool for interviewing those I want to hire or for conducting a sales review or maybe to see samples of a particular product and to be able to talk about them while browsing.”

Vu Telepresence has 60 operational Vu Telepoints across the USA. The company expects this number to increase to 400 by the end of 2010. The service has partnered with India’s largest national telecommunications provider Bharti Airtel to build new Vu Telepoints.

Why do so many thousands such as Vu Telepresence and DIDX choose to participate in CommunicAsia, a conference based in Singapore and this year 2011 from June 21-24?

Devita Saraf reaffirms what many say … that Singapore is a hub for technology business. The Zenith Group has had an office in Singapore since the early 1980s. There are just so many opportunities to meet with current and potential high quality resellers, dealers, and even end-users. There is this assurance of congregrating with and among the top performers and innovators in technology.

Another of the many reasons is the fact that for example, companies like Vu Telepresence need to be able to give demonstrations of their products.

Last, Devita mentions that CommunicAsia does a great job bringing together the diverse markets throughout Asia.

Ms. Saraf says, “Asia is a diverse and populous continent. We felt that a product like ours … Vu Telepresence … with HD video conferencing that works well even on low quality bandwidth is perfect for the Asian market. It’s a market where you may have some companies with headquarters in Singapore with a good broadband connection, but he needs to communicate with his back offices in Malaysia, China and India where he may not have the same infrastructure and bandwidth. Then, what is he going to do? In many cases, they may not be able to pull up the phone lines from any certain location from where they are.”

She adds, “We have done in our specialty is to help both sides have the same video conferencing experience as you may have with, for example, Polycom, but on lower bandwidth. So, no matter where you are, what your challenges are in your local broadband, you will not have a loss in quality. I understand this. We have the best Internet in our offices, but where our factories are … there is nothing. This is one reason we are so successful. We don’t address large companies and their national and global footprints. We have also created something new for the small and middle-sized company businessmen who say that they have to work within the constraints of the infrastructure in the area that I am.”

Vu Telepresence has truly revolutionalized the way people do business. Conferences such as CommunicAsia give companies such as Devita’s to connect with Asians who may not participate in other important global events but also Americans, Australians, Europeans and Middle Easterners.

Back to video conferencing, how is video conferencing changing the way people do business and work to reach institutional and person goals?

Many hospitals are using video conferencing and telepresence to meet the needs of staff and patients. For example, it obviously works better than strictly voice telephony for deaf people.

In other cases, schools will share issues such as the fact that they do not have the best teachers where they are physically located. Telepresence can increase meaningful interactivity between students in those schools with excellent teachers at remote locations.

Telepresence has immense potential whether for government, education, healthcare, etc. But … Vu is the only company that has been able to democratize it. Their products are more affordable and have been created with these variable usages in mind.

Meet with inspiring individuals and organizations who Techistan has interviewed such as Devita Saraf of Vu Telepresence, Russell Perry of Emerson Networks, and Simon Yeung of Comba Telecom at CommunicAsia. Sign up to sponsor, exhibit and participate at http://www.communicasia.com.

Rich Tehrani of TMCNET interviews Akash Saraf, who is Devita Saraf’s cofounder of Vu Telepresence.

A fabulously freaky feat is how the story of Kolachi was created by accident, from choices of taking roads less traveled by everyone involved in the making. Filming begins in April 2011, the first science fiction film in Pakistan.

The trailer, now posted on Youtube and embedded on hundreds of other websites, starts with some great music with a sound like indie musician Sean Wright. Viewers are immediately and virtually pushed to the edge of their seat and then boom!

Feel the flight from the uncertain science fiction of the future to being plopped like in a time machine to present every day Pakistan where a young, cheeky, smarter than average college student is the DJ for a local radio station notes with a bit or sarcastic glee, “”Today instead of making fun of what happens in this great city of ours …”

People make fun of Karachi? Do the Oscars provide perfect fodder for movie critics? Du uh! What do people inside and outside Pakistan make fun of about the nation? Outsourcing such as in the FoneJacker videos, camels carrying wholesale sets of laptops, buses filled to the brim with dozens, even sitting on top of the vehicle and hanging off the sides. (Thank you, Jamal and Travel-Culture Pakistan, for the picture.)

Kolachi time-warps us through a cunning weave of reality and fiction, magically mixing possibility, culture, history and hope in the Land of the Pure.

Summer Nicks wrote the story of Kolachi, which is being made into a movie. He is one those people who one cannot be labeled, yet when talking with him, we don’t hear or see any false airs. He’s quite an entrepreneur, actor, musician, writer, and works with Bodhicitta Works, a company based in Australia.  Techistan recorded an audio podcast interview with Summer to find out how he accidentally stumbled into writing Pakistan’s first science fiction film Kolachi.

Techistan also interviewed others who were involved technically, about the use of 3DAnimation and VFx studio. Summer Nicks, for example, was also integral in the making of the trailer for Kolachi. There are two parts to Summer’s interview podcast below.

For many Star Trek, Star Wars, Twilight Zone, Asimov, and other science fiction fans in and outside Pakistan, this is exciting!

Part 1 podcast interview with Summer at

Part 2 interview with Summer at

In addition, feel free to listen to more technical talk about the type of 3D animation and vFX Studio work involved in creating a trailer like that for Kolachi at

Production Company: Bodhicitta Works (Summer Nicks, Meher Jaffri, Craig Peter Jones)
Trailer technical work: Summer Nicks
Director: Mansoor Mujahid
Country: Pakistan, Australia

Suzanne Bowen asks Summer Nicks: You’re in Karachi right now, right?

Summer Nicks: Yes, I am. Actually, I am originally from Australia. I came over here to work on a project a couple of years ago.  Unfortunately, the day after I arrived the earthquake happened in 2005. I spent a lot of time working in relief camps, helping to rebuild schools and stuff. Then, I fell in love with the country. I love the culture (pronounced “culcha”), hospitality of the people and it has been my home ever since.

Suzanne Bowen: I’ve been to Karachi and through the countryside. It is beautiful. Everyone, it seemed, was always looking out for me. So friendly, very warm and welcoming.

Summer Nicks: There are a lot of lessons in this country that the rest of the world could learn from …

Techistan commentary and research insert: And .. what about the possibility of a science fiction … Star Trek conference in Karachi? Such would build upon the growing popularity of sci fi, crowd sourcing for investment in the film and other types of participation.

Why name the movie Kolachi? It was originally named Swift Total Bang. Mr. Nicks tells about another film he wrote while in Pakistan … twin doctors working on the Pakistan/Afghanistan border. Summer’s professional history began at age 12. The discussion moves on to conspiracy theories and the capacity that each of us have in ourselves to do great things … the movie is about HOPE.

Switch from the verbal and creative genius behind Kolachi to one of the technical gurus Ali Asad Jafri podcast interview …

Sarah Dawood (Techistan and DIDX ‘what’s hot among colleges and universities’ reporter) and Suzanne Bowen (VP and co-founder of both) interview Syed Ali Asad Jafri who is a co-founder of Inverse Studios. They specialize in 3D Animation and VFx studio. They were the ones who did the 3D work and were not involved in the making of the Kolachi trailer that is published. (We at Techistan apologize for mistaking this in the first place.)

Ms. Dawood: Tell us about the kind of technical work that would be involved with a trailer such as that for Kolachi, Ali Asad.

Syed Ali Asad Jafri: We were basically to make CGI effects for films. Firstly, developers would create the trailer sequences and some of the shots. There are some shots they would choose not to put on the trailer because of creative reasons.

Our company Inverse Studios started in 2009. I would imagine that the overall thinking and planning behind such a fantastic trailer as Summer Nicks created was to make something that would be of interest to the audience and would boost our profile to make catch the fancy of the greater public.

Suzanne Bowen: Share with us for the more technical-thinking listeners of this podcast, especially in the areas of CGI and animation … more technical details of what might be involved?

Syed Ali Asad Jafri: Our basic pipeline for visual effects uses Adobe Creative Suite, 3ds Max, and Maya. For major effects, we use plugins like Fume FX for 3ds Max. We also use Afterburn. Overall, we composited most of our data into Adobe After Effects.

The cached data for the sequences that you see in the trailer got up to around 2-3 GB per frame. That was an issue to tackle. It was really pushing the envelope on a certain scale because when you are working for TV commercials, you are only in a certain canvas. When you are working on an HD format, renders shoot up. Your time shoots up, and you have to really make things as efficient as possible to bring it all together.

Suzanne Bowen: The trailer that Summer Nicks created has been passed around the Internet like crazy. I can see the momentum really building.  Many are poised excitedly waiting for the final results of the movie. We realize filming does not start until April and will take quite a while. My colleagues who are in Pakistan and outside … I’ve asked them to show the trailer to others … via their cell phone and Youtube, and let me know the comments or to blog on that conversation … themselves.

One quote in the trailer, “In the end, everything matters because something always come from it.”

Such a simplistic statement but true. We are really looking forward to what is going to come from this.

Syed Ali Asad Jafri: What you and I hear in the popular in the USA and in Pakistan … about Pakistan … is only 10% of what is really going on in Pakistan. For example, Pakistan is much more different from Bangladesh and India than what people think. Bollywood is not usually the kind of content that Pakistanis are looking for. They are hungry for unique content. They have already seen Hollywood, Bollywood. The industry wishes to revive itself up.

Summer Nicks is an excellent writer, technical developer, musician, and actor. He’s doing a great job. He is in the trailer, too. The bald guy you see acting in the trailer.

Suzanne Bowen: What are the most common questions that people ask you about trailers such as that for Kolachi and the upcoming movie Kolachi?

Syed Ali Asad Jafri: Yes, they often ask … what kind of software would people use? How much time would it take? At least a month and this trailer that Summer Nicks made was 2 minutes and 51 seconds in length.

Syed Ali Asad Jafri continues: We don’t really think that software used is the dominant reason for a successful trailer or movie by animation studios like ours. It is the people who are using the software and their talents and how they put them to use.

Software is often advertised with emphasis on ease of use, but it really depends on the people in production who will test and use and see if they really do work well. There are hiccups in the production pipeline that must be tackled one by one.

Suzanne Bowen: So you have to be “determined” in nature and to be brave and think “out of the box.” Don’t just follow the directions. Try this. Try that. It make not work, but if you didn’t try, you would never know.

Syed Ali Asad Jafri: Yes, exactly. Whatever movie we see today … like people usually only see the last draft, the best part according to a group of people of that movie. People usually don’t see the many nights that people spend. The “crunch hours” …

Suzanne Bowen: Another thought-provoking quote in the trailer is where one guy says to another guy, “What do you want?”

The second guy answers, “What do I want? I want to tell you what I believe.”

It’s like the second guy cannot get an audience of one or more to listen to the ‘important’ thing or things that he believes, and he wishes for this so much.”

So, Ali Asad, be sure to get all your geeky CGI friends to visit Techistan to listen to the podcasts and read about Kolachi.

Sarah Dawood: Thank you, Ali, for the brilliant technical work in the movie trailer for Kolachi. (She speaks some Urdu here. ) We wish you all the best in this project. (More Urdu …)

Syed Ali Asad Jafri: Thank you for having me. Be sure to get everyone to watch the trailer and go to the theatre to watch the movie. It will be great!

Other topics you can hear about in the podcast 1 and 2 with Summer include breaking negative stereotypes in the Kolachi movie trailer, a film studio he started with Meher Jaffri, his history as an actor and film producer, the process of writing the story of the first science fiction film set in Pakistan, film in Pakistan in general, and difference between this film and the typical Bollywood films.

Interested parties who wish to invest and participate in other ways may contact Bodhichitta Networks or Summer Nicks.

Should be a video game, too!

BTW, buy Sean Wright music at Jamendo and Summer Nicks and Essa Saulat.

Never a dull moment at Techistan and DIDXchange headquarters in the virtual and physical worlds! What an informative talk with two bright business people of the user-empowering company Golden Frog: Liz Kintzele, the Director of Sales and Affiliate Marketing at Golden Frog, Inc., and also Sunday Yokubaitis, the President. Where did Techistan meet them? At one of Jaymie Scotto and Associates’ Telecom OneonOne events during the week of ITEXPO East 2011.

Questions, topics and a summary of the discussion follow. Listen to the DIDX audio podcast interview to hear the complete interview.  

1. What is Golden Frog? What is a VPN, and what does it enable?

The company develops software. It was originally based in the Caymans with a service called VyprVPN. A VPN secures one’s connection to the Internet and to increase privacy. Probably most people think of a corporate VPN.

Golden Frog’s VPN product is a personal VPN for consumers to use while traveling, in a coffee shop, or any time they need increased privacy on the increasingly public Internet.

2. Who would be the typical customers? A description of them?

Sunday shares that the typical VPN consumer customer is a little more tech-savvy than most for various reasons. This person may realize how insecure the Internet really is such as one’s traffic can be tracked and one’s location can be targeted. These customers are sensitive to privacy, more so in Europe and Middle East than in the USA.

3. What areas of the world is this most popular in and why do you think that is so?

Privacy, security and/or freedom.

“Three reasons that people are using it. A desire for increased privacy first. We use the metaphor of “drawing the shades at home for complete privacy.” You are in your home, so you’re not anonymous. People know where you live, but you just want a little more privacy while you are out in the public Internet,” Mr. Yokubaitis responds.

People can prevent geo-targeting, hide their location and IP address. Looking at some of the geo-political stuff that has occurred around the world in the last 12 months … customers want to assert their individual rights.

Second reason is security which is probably the most common reason people use VPNs. For example, when we access our bank account online in a public place such as a coffee shop … we may want to secure that last mile of the Internet. Stop third party snooping into my connection. This encryption of the VPN secures your entire Internet connection: your email, the web …

The final reason is what we call freedom. The public Internet is increasingly becoming more restricted, areas are being blocked off, countries are blocking websites, social tools, and Internet services like Skype.

By connecting to a VPN outside one’s region, customers free up their connection and view websites in one’s language while traveling …

4. What conferences do you plan to participate in … in 2011? In what way? Website? Contact info?

“Visit http://www.goldenfrog.com. We can keep people updated on our Linkedin group of places where we will be in 2011,” says Liz Kintzele.

More about Golden Frog and the VyperVPN for consumers around the world? Their team cares about the Internet. Golden Frog lives online and recognizes deeper, broader uses for Internet technology in the broadband era. They’re passionate about cultivating and sharing the full potential of the Internet.

More about the two interviewees from Golden Frog:

Sunday Yokubaitis is President of Golden Frog. Mr. Yokubaitis is responsible for setting the company’s strategic direction and also leads future growth and expansion initiatives. His broad experience in business, technology and law brings a wealth of knowledge to Golden Frog.

Since 2004, Mr. Yokubaitis has also served as Vice President and General Counsel of Data Foundry, a provider ofwholesale and retail data center outsourcing, colocation and disaster recovery services. Previously, Mr. Yokubaitis practiced Intellectual Property law for a large law firm in San Francisco, California from 2001 to 2004.

Mr. Yokubaitis is licensed to practice law in Texas and California. He is a member of the U.S. Patent Bar, admitted to practice law before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

A Texas native, Mr. Yokubaitis received a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from Rice University in 1998. He earned his J.D. from the University of Houston Law Center in 2001.

Elizabeth Kintzele demonstrates the company’s value proposition to partners, customers, and media.  While managing the Golden Frog sales and affiliate teams, Ms. Kintzele works diligently to drive revenue for the company via strategic affiliate relationships. She also administers the relationships among the company and global resellers, ISPs, and carriers. She takes great interest in Internet neutrality, online and personal privacy, security and freedom.

Get psyched about Golden Frog’s VPN while experiencing a virtual bike tour of Lyon, France.

Podcasts are produced by DIDX.net.

 PART ONE: Michel Poignant is the CEO of Paymotech, a service worth “paying” attention to. A large majority of people on planet Earth have a cell phone, but not everyone has a bank account and credit card. Suzanne Bowen, VP of DIDXchange interviews the astute and gregarious businessman at the beginning of a beautiful spring day in March 2011 on mobile payments and  its universal wallet solution that includes a contactless sticker option. Tap, tap. PIF (paid in full)!

Read on. Click the Listen button on this page to hear the article read to you, OR click to hear the original audio podcast interview between Michel Poignant, CEO of PaymoTech and Suzanne Bowen, Chief Editor of Techistan and VP of DIDX in part one and part two. and …

So how does Paymotech work? Michel states that the current service came originally from two different markets. One is the stored value count … debit bank cards people are using for general purposes such as receiving their payroll. The second is VoIP on mobile SIM card business. Paytoo was a pioneer in both since 2004.

After a few years, some customers for the prepaid card wanted VoIP services and also vice versa, so they started a mix of the two services.

“We started to think of providing services like an incoming phone number from anywhere the client needs even when that phone number is of a city in another country that the client is not currently living in,” states Mr. Poignant. “That is how we came to DIDX.”

Mobile payments, mobile transfers, mobile everything is in the works for Paymotech set of services. The company is an MVNO with services available with roaming in over 190 countries. They decided, why not merge all the services they are providing into one mobile wallet solution.

Why not make money available any time and not just when one wants to make a phone call?

Michel says, “Seventy percent of business in the mobile world is pre-paid. Three billion of them do not have a bank account. It is simply a matter of transferring credit from the user to someone else for anything using the mobile phone, to pay merchants, to make a payment, to have cash access! We offer a real mobile wallet (Paytoo) since November 2009. It was the first in use world-wide.”

This is at least 17 months earlier than Google who recently announced a Google-backed system for mobile payments, expected to be released later in 2011.

Paymotech has millions of users already in Asia, Middle East, Africa, Australia, and Europe and the service is catching fast in major cities of the Americas. It is not plan, not a dream. It is a real product already marketed, in use and very popular. In fact, for example, it is extremely popular in Japan in a time when services like PaymoTech’s are very important.

One guy in New York City has a Paytoo account. He has a flexible choice of using PaymoTech mobile telecom services of that of another third party. If he uses PaymoTech, he has one bill, but even if he uses another telecom, he goes to a store to make a deposit of $500 to his account. This transaction typically cost four dollars.

Now, his Paytoo account has a $500 balance. Michel adds, “Ah, I need to add $25 to my mother’s telecom service account in Mexico City. I can do this anywhere, whether I am on the street, at home, at a football game, I can do this transaction on my mobile phone via an SMS. Maybe I need to send another $50 to my daughter who is doing her masters’ studies in China. Next, let’s buy some groceries at Publix. I use my prepaid card for everything. I don’t waste time in lines to top up my card. I don’t spend $20 – $50 just to transfer money to people and organizations I need to pay.

Now, what is a contactless sticker? Paytoo’s offers end users a fast, convenient and fun way to pay. The sticker is equipped with a contactless application, allowing it to be used as a normal payment card at any point of sale terminal accepting contactless. Payments are made by placing the smart sticker a few inches away from the contactless reader. Simply “tap and go.” Just tap the device. No credit card needed.

The Paytoo “contactless sticker” is used in NYC, Japan, Australia, and more. Nepal is one of the new areas where the service is very popular. It is an undeveloped country where normal transaction fees make it not worth to even use a credit card or transfer funds via standard methods.

For a Nepalese person to receive money in standard methods, she will get a notice that her family in the USA, for example, is sending home $200 to the capital of Nepal because her village does not have a money transfer station. She has to take a train to the capital city. A big hassle which takes about 3 days round trip. In addition, typically in Nepal if someone sends you $200, you will actually receive $150 after fees.

On the other hand, with a Paytoo account, even in Nepal, will have a telecom connection on her cell phone. In fact, 35 million people in Nepal have an account on their hand set. She will receive the money through her Paytoo account via the mobile telecom network. She can use the money for things she needs at any store with the POS service compatible with Paytoo. She saves three days’ time and fees.

Michel Poignant mentions his visit with the Minister of Senegal who told him that, “We receive every month, 600 million francs. Ten to fifteen percent are spent in fees. These are not going inside our economy … The people who do not have any money are paying the most for their services.”

“You can avoid standing in lines because you have a bank account, a credit card, but the people who don’t … tend to be the ones who are paying the most for all of us,” adds Mr. Poignant.

“We need to start providing services that are fairer to all people of this planet.

Paytoo offers to Point of Sale device and the contactless sticker that integrate with the contactless technology.

According to a survey done in January 2008, there is a significant consumer interest for the sticker concept. Consumers rated “ convenience” and “easy to use” as the most important benefits of the sticker, followed closely by the ability to experience a “ faster checkout”. Moreover the contactless sticker concept has wide appeal across demographic groups, without much significant difference in demand by age, gender or income. For the first time consumers will not fear to lose cash or their card and leave their wallet at home.

Learn more about Paytoo Mobile Wallet at http://www.paymotech.com/en/services/paytoo.html.

PART TWO :

In part two, Michel Poignant, CEO of Paymotech who, as an MVNO, offer the complete Paytoo mobile VoIP, mobile international phone numbers and mobile payments answer for a complete lifestyle communications and exchange technology and service with contactless feature even … and POS at least 17 months earlier than the world’s technology giant Google.

Michel says, “We give the mobile wallet to our wholesale clients so that they can integrate the technology into their SIM card. If a bank wants to offer a mobile wallet or mobile payments system, we do the same. We look to integrate easily with existing services after you are connected to the cloud of PaymoTech. Every partner is automatically connected with other partners that we have.”

Even huge companies with the most popular brand names one can think of right now … are talking with PaymoTech about investing and/or partnering because the company has connections where they do not for SIM, voice, international phone numbers, payment exchange, contactless technology, and POS device and services.

Companies can spend time and money to re-invent the wheel or work with the pioneer, the successful veteran PaymoTech and its Paytoo wallet. Mr. Poignant is offering invitation to other parties to sign on and be immediately connected with the current list of countries now on board.

“We can implement the payroll payment through Paytoo, voice over IP services on mobile, international phone numbers, and/or other combinations. We are working on a new share revenue program for some time in second quarter 2011,” says Michel. “We do not sell the technology. We give it. Only payment needed is for develpment. Comply with necessary regulations.”

More discussion takes place about complying with regulations and the shared concern and certain measures that DIDX, PaymoTech and other companies have regarding the same such as in money laundering and tax evasion. Michel explains how they monitor which is smartly done via its combined mobile voice and mobile payment services.

Watch the video about Paytoo. Visit http://www.paymotech.com.

Music writers, entertainers and producers will want to check out a new project they have launched in 2011 that will integrate beautifully with their MVNO mobile voice and mobile wallet … music social network for those who want to sell music to the three billion people who do not have a bank account. Visit http://www.muzicol.com/. 

Customer, provider or partner, no matter who you are, go to http://www.paytoo.com. Click on Create an Account which will take you to https://www.paytoo.com/members/signup where you can sign up now! Check the mobile coverage area, mobile rates, SMS callback rates, voIP rates, and availability of international phone numbers. PaymoTech has signed agreement with over a 1000 USA stores and began massive new deployment as of March 22, 2011.

Daniel-Constantin Mierla of Kamailio FKA OpenSER

Part 4 of 4 podcast with Daniel-Constantin Mierla (Core Developer at SIP Router Project, CEO at ASIPTO, Co-Founder and Core Developer at Kamailio (OpenSER))  on Rich Communications, a Party to Celebrate Kamailio Developers and More:

This is part four of four, a discussion with Daniel-Constantin Mierla, on the historical timeline that led to Kamailio, what the open source platform wished to achieve, and looking back at best results in 2010. Part four focuses on rich communications and plans for 2011.

Daniel mentions that people want to share their location and more while communicating with current and potential friends, family, research and business partners.

Some news: Many large mobile operators committed to the use of session initiation protocol during GSMA Mobile World Congress 2011, Daniel shares. Kamailio also has an embedded Xcap server. This helps users to decide how much of their presence they want to be available to any certain persons or groups of persons. SIP enables this kind of thing.

Kamailio has many extensions and modules now such as for instant messaging, conferencing, user to user presence, user to machine presence, machine to machine presence …

When a provider must deal with a large number of subscribers, there are new challenges, and Kamailio is poised to meet them. The manpower needed is amazing though.

Since October 2010 at the last release, the Kamailio depository has added 15 new modules. None were written by Daniel-Constantin Mierla.

1 & 1 VoIP services uses distribution partition location services with Kamailio which is a challenge to manage. Check http://www.kamailio.org/events/2010-linuxtag/presentation.pdf. 1 & 1 VoIP has over 5 million customers and performing over 2 billions minutes routed per month. In 2009 they merged with the Freenet service, adding extra 0.8 million new subscribers. 

More and more big companies look seriously to open source IP communications platforms … Asterisk, freeSWITCH, Kamailio, OpenSIPs, Yate … amazing features.

A collaboration was announced on March 1 perfectly timed before CEBIT 2011 between SipWise (a telecom vendor) from Austria and Asipto. SipWise has the carrier connections and Asipto the open source experience and expertise.

With Asipto’s know-how and role in the SIP routing development process, and the experience of Sipwise in integrating and operating highly available communication systems based on Sipwise carrier grade communications platforms portfolio, the newly formed joint-venture positions itself as an extremely competitive vendor in the IP telephony market. This is a solid base for further growth and adoption of new technologies to become the reference in Open Source IP telecommunication industry.

 With SIP, developers and entrepreneurs can work together to offer more than just voice over Internet to people and organizations. A rumor that Daniel said is a fact … there will be a party for sure in late summer 2011 to celebrate the successes of open source telephony and especially for those who have implemented it for business and for life. Could it be during Cluecon in the USA or will it be in Germany?

Hear parts 1, 2, 3, and 4 of the podcast with Daniel.

Visit http://www.asipto.com, http://www.sipwise.com, http://www.kamailio.org and also the website of the wholesale DID platform that sponsors this podcast channel http://www.didx.net. Find an article detailing more on http://www.techistan.com online magazine.

Several key organizations recommended Techistan to connect with Dietmar Fuchs of FancyFon on Linkedin social business networking platform. Trends in technology and business are a favorite research item on the net in any industry, and Dietmar has a keen eye trends in “mobile.”

FancyFon, with headquarters in the southern part of Ireland, provides a portfolio of solutions for the mobile device lifestyle, management and market such as in the areas of applications and security management. They work on Blackberry RIM, Symbian, Apple, Windows Mobile, and Android.

Smartphone adoption he states is increasing 60-70% at an annual rate now offering much of the same functionality of one’s laptop or tablet.

On-site behind firewall solutions were previously their main provision for larger enterprises and for the SMB market, a hosted version.  A goal is to make sure that company have access to corporate data in a secure manner on their smartphones. The issue is that there are at least ten different operating systems available.

As of recently, companies are allowing their employees to bring in their own smartphones to the workplace with access to corporate email and such.

We mentioned in the audio podcast interview that employers often expect their team to be available 24/7 even in non-critical careers. Or some employees are so dedicated to their work, that they choose to work even from home at night and on the weekends.

Dietmar said, “This is why employers are pushing for better and easier mobile access on smartphones, to be productive outside of regular business hours. This is also true while traveling, he added. This offers a great return on investment to organizations.”

Other issues that FancyFon assists with are the management of SMS, configuration, application, blocking certain “things,” remote control, backup, restore, activation and de-activation, billing, and security.

Most of FancyFon customers are government-related such as some U.S. government agencies and others in the financial sector. In addition, they serve companies such as Vodafone.

Trends that Dietmar believes are obvious? Tablets will rule in 2011, not just the iPad. There are Google, BladeBook, Blackberry RIM’s and more to come. Expect new players in the market which will result in more empowerment for businesses. Even Cisco and Avaya are getting involved.

Second, how to control mobile access in a controlled manner for organizations that need security and so on. The problem is so many operating systems. Proper handling of certificates of the mobile handsets that will enable one to define which applications are used and who has access.

Dietmar mentions tablets boot up fast, obviously because much of what one normally works with on a traditional desktop or laptop … is done in the cloud with a tablet. Less STUFF on the offline drive.

The company recently launched a Remote Access Console for iPad devices. The console will be incorporated into FAMOC, allowing administrators to manage, via Remote Access, their fleet of smartphone devices directly from an iPad, without the need for a desktop or laptop.

FancyFon will be at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona in 2011 and Crackberry events. He was interviewed by Bnet TV in 2010 at the GSMA event.

Our interviewers mentioned to Dietmar he should consider participating in CTIA Wireless in Orlando, Florida March 21-24, 2011, too. DIDX wholesale global phone number marketplace will be an exhibitor and the company’s other services of DIDX podcasts and Techistan online magazine are media partners at CTIA.

Dietmar Fuchs, COO
dfuchs@fancyfon.com
+353-21-234-8620

Thanks to WeCreateGames for use of the image.

Max Schroeder is the Sr. VP of Faxcore, a founder of the Fax Server industry, FoIP Interopability Task Group Whip for SIP Forum, and popular speaker.  Suzanne Bowen is the vice president and co-founder of Super Technologies, Inc. and all of its services since 1999. Max and Suzanne frequent many of the same global IP telephony-related conferences since 2004. Fax is still a necessity for some industries and a preferred method of communications by us, and while it is, vendors are available to provide services that enable it, whether traditional of Internet-protocol based.

Listen here.

Faxcore, Max’s company, is headquarter in Colorado with an additional office in Kuala Lumpur as well as virtual offices in other areas. They are a believer in virtualizing and being able to work from wherever the Team happens to be.

Fax oIP saves time and money, is green, flexible for mobility and can take advantage of cloud computing.

Faxes in digital formats, take advantage of digital compression methods to greatly reduce transmission times.

Group 3 type faxes conform to the ITU-T Recommendations T.30 and T.4. Group 3 faxes take between six and fifteen seconds to transmit a single page (not including the initial time for the fax machines to handshake and synchronize). The horizontal and vertical resolutions are allowed by the T.4 standard to vary among a set of fixed resolutions:
Horizontal: 100 scan lines per inch
Vertical: 100 scan lines per inch (‘Basic’)
Horizontal: 200 or 204 scan lines per inch
Vertical: 100 or 98 scan lines per inch (‘Standard’)
Vertical: 200 or 196 scan lines per inch (‘Fine’)
Vertical: 400 or 391 (note not 392) scan lines per inch (‘Superfine’)
Horizontal: 300 scan lines per inch
Vertical: 300 scan lines per inch
Horizontal: 400 or 408 scan lines per inch
Vertical: 400 or 391 scan lines per inch (‘Ultrafine’)

Group 4 faxes conform to the ITU-T Recommendations T.563, T.503, T.521, T.6, T.62, T.70, T.72, T.411 to T.417. They are designed to operate over 64 kbit/s digital ISDN circuits. Their resolution is determined by the T.6 recommendation, which is a superset of the T.4 recommendation.

Fax Over IP (FOIP) can transmit and receive pre-digitized documents at near realtime speeds. Scanned documents are limited to the amount of time the user takes to load the document in a scanner and for the device to process a digital file. The resolution can vary from as little as 150 DPI to 9600 DPI or more. This type of faxing is not like the e-mail to fax service that still uses fax modems at least one way.

In practical scenarios, a T.38 (fax over IP) fax call has at least part of the call being carried over PSTN, although this is not required by the T.38 definition, and two T.38 devices can send faxes to each other. This particular type of device is called Internet-Aware Fax device, or IAF, and it is capable of initiating or completing a fax call towards the IP network.

The typical scenario where T.38 is used is – T.38 Fax relay – where a T.30 fax device sends a fax over PSTN to a T.38 Fax gateway which converts or encapsulates the T.30 protocol into T.38 data stream. This is then sent either to a T.38 enabled end point such as fax machine or fax server or another T.38 Gateway that converts it back to PSTN PCM or analog signal and terminates the fax on a T.30 device.

The T.38 recommendation defines the use of both TCP and UDP to transport T.38 packets. Implementations tend to use UDP, due to TCP’s requirement for acknowledgement packets and resulting retransmission during packet loss, which introduces delays. When using UDP, T.38 copes with packet loss by using redundant data packets.

T.38 is not a call setup protocol; thus, the T.38 devices need to use standard call setup protocols to negotiate the T.38 call, e.g. H.323, SIP and MGCP.

Suzanne Bowen discusses in the podcast with Max Schroeder, the topics of Faxcore, reseller opportunities, ITEXPO conferences, DIDX fax over IP phone numbers, and the free Reseller Week on DIDX podcasts.

Risalpur, Pakistan (in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province) received the most rain at *415mm or 16.3 inches during the Pakistan floods in 2010, and many struggle for basic survival. 

Techistan has made agreements with several important Pakistan government officials for a series of podcast interviews regarding the floods, inflation, the increasing use of Internet and social networking sites such as Facebook, and the silent good deeds that fill the country’s growing middle class.

Often in history, the few who commit crimes are given the attention; whereas, in the background there are hundreds, thousands, and millions attempting to change things for positive good.

“Assalamalaykum,” Techistan reporter Ms. Bowen said to Pakistan’s once Speaker of Sindh Assembly, now one of provincial ministers. His concern is restoration and not refugee-making re: the Pakistan flood victims. Cell phones? Internet? Infrastructure? Education?

Mr. Ghous bux Khan Mahar is a well-known member of the Pakistan Muslim League political party of Pakistan. He is the Provincial Minister of Food, Agriculture, and Livestock, and was the Speaker of Sindh Assembly.

We didn’t get a chance to have a very long conversation. He did explain that he is a member of the Pakistan Parliament. He is the Chairman of Industry Information Committee as a result of new constitutional act. There are four members from the opposition party and four from the current government.

“One from the opposition is me,” stated Mr. Ghous Mahar.

Faced with a question about the accomplishments and plans for the improvement of opportunities of those in Pakistan, Mr. Mahar added, “But actually, many are still not relieved from the devastation of the floods … many have lost their land … with 2-3 feet of water still standing …”

“It’s cold and freezing there now,” replied Suzanne Bowen. “What about cell phones and solar power to keep them charged as needed? How many have a cell phone?”

About 20 million people are still affected. (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/f/floods/2010_pakistan_floods/index.html)

“Almost everyone as a necessity … farmers, laborers have cell phones,” Mr. Mahar answered.

“Then, they have Internet, too?” Suzanne Bowen asked.

“No, not everyone has Internet on their cell phone,” the PML member and Mr. Mahar. An agriculturist by profession, during 1997, he was elected MNA and Chairman of National Assembly Standing Committee on Cabinet Secretariat and a member of the Federal Cabinet as Minister of Narcotics Control and previously held the portfolio of Railways. He is now Chairman of the National Assembly Standing Committee on Industries and Production.

The conversation continued on restoration and opportunities versus refugeeism. The voice was not clear enough on the recording to include. So what is the answer to the lingering hardships and lack of basic necessities and next, opportunities to improve lives of flood victims?

Sites to find out more about Mr. Ghous bux Khan Mahar:

http://elections.com.pk/candidatedetails.php?id=1390

http://www.pakistanileaders.com.pk/profile/Ghous_Bux_Khan_Mahar

http://www.apnatime.com/5151/2010/03/11/general/national-assembly-standing-committee-industries-visits-imc/ on recommendations made by the auto sector which included the elimination/removal of ‘mandatory localization’ under the Auto Industry Development Program, the protection of the local industry through Government Policy and Taxation, negative list of the Afghan Transit Trade be maintained and strictly implemented, strict restriction on import of used vehicles/spare parts and the involvement of industry in ‘Policy framework’ like Trade Agreements etc.

Listen to Suzanne Bowen and PML ‘s Ghous bux Khan Mahar discussion at http://www.didx.net/podcast/?p=episode&name=2010-12-28_pml_housbuxkhanmahardec282010b.mp3[/podcast

There is something about French and English-speaking social networker and world traveler Thystere Bangue-Tandet (pronounced like Thisteer Banguh Tandeh) that puts everyone at ease and inspires others to take risks at growing in mind, spirit and body. The young man was noticed by a company called Super Technologies, Inc. via a video he created in which he was looking to travel and work with different companies.

This time … it would be Karachi, Pakistan and Pensacola, Florida, USA. (Online social video such as Youtube, Muntwo, and Viddler is a great way to let others know what you are looking for in life. You never know what good will happen.)

The DIDX and Techistan podcast team interviewed Thystere on world travels, living and working Pakistan; IP communications versus traditional service in France; the value of Virtual Phone Lines for keeping close to your French friends, family and potential business; and doing business with French-speaking people. Listen here.

In France, feel free to shake hands when meeting and parting, but in social settings with French friends, kissing is the norm. ‘Faire la bise’ is the quick  little air kiss people share with each other upon meeting usually to side of the cheek. Use Monsieur or Madame followed the surname until you have gotten to know the person well enough in business. Remember that meals are a time for relationship building.

Thystere mentioned the fact that while you are making your case in business, they will nod their heads and seem to agree with what you want. When it is their turn to respond, they will often say something like, “Yes, but no, not like that. We need to have this … or that … in order to be able to complete this deal.”

Be ready with a logical and rational reason to go with your idea or to compromise. Don’t get upset if they become suddenly loud and passionate acting about their belief in what should happen between the two of you in business. They will appreciate more if you stay calm.

And most of all, do NOT be late to a planned meeting.

Bonne année à vous, et puissiez-vous avoir beaucoup de succès dans la carrière, la famille et l’amitié. X X X