Michael C's List: EBSCOhost sources

• If you've yet to launch even a voice over internet protocol pilot, you're  missing out on productivity enhancers such as graphical user interface-based  soft phones that can integrate with desk phones and  address books, presence features that provide information about the availability  of others on the System.
• Microsoft, an early SIP adopter, says that Istanbul, its new desktop software,  includes rich presence, video and phone capabilities,  and integrates with SIP phones and IP PBXs as well as Microsoft Desktop  applications.

• Superconnect's real-time technology is life-altering  for VoIP system operators because it allows them to  know about problems before their customers do and prevent outages from  occurring, a critical issue for providers offering lifeline  VoIP telephone service.

• This article relates how Pacific Capital, a local real  estate finance company in Pleasanton, California, took advantage of voice over  IP (VoIP) technology through  a service provider's Web-based system, and how the  technology helped Pacific's operation.
• The new technology brings instant voice connections  and creative exchange together with the convenient sharing of Web views,  documents, files, presentations and other features in the world of mass data  exchange. Business-class, managed VoIP services  combine local and long-distance voice with e-mail, voice mail, instant  messaging, find-me/follow-me functions, audio conferencing, Web-based  conferencing, video, click-to-call and fax  capabilities. All are integrated onto the computer screen on the desktop or  anywhere in the world where the user can get on the Internet. Most early  adopters of VoIP technology  were initially attracted to it because of cost savings, but Pacific saw much  more potential.

• This article reports that Qwest Communications International Inc. plans to be  the first telephone carrier to integrate Microsoft  Corp.'s software for enhancing voice over IP (VOIP),  aiming to make the combined technology available to  small and midsize businesses next year.
• . The goal is to give SMBs the kinds of con converged networking options that  only large enterprises typically enjoy, by offering those options on a hosted  basis. Together, the companies' technologies will provide services that combine  VOIP, e-mail, instant messaging, collaboration and  presence, among other desktop functions.

• Communication changes following the teaching  intervention were demonstrated through significant improvements in residents'  performance with simulated patients pre and post teaching and feedback. Using  paired t-tests, differences include: reduced verbal dominance; increased use of  open-ended questions; increased use of empathy; and increased partnership  building and problem solving for therapeutic regimen adherence.

• Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) over a wireless  local area network (WLAN) is poised to become an important Internet application.  However, two major technical problems that stand in the way are: 1) low  VoIP capacity in WLAN and 2) unacceptable  VoIP performance in the presence of coexisting traffic  from other applications.
• A touted advantage of VoIP over traditional telephony  is that it enables the creation of novel applications that  integrate voice with data. The inability of  VoIP and TCP traffic to coexist harmoniously over the  WLAN poses a severe challenge to this vision. Fortunately, the problem can be  largely solved by simple solutions that require only changes to the  medium-access control (MAC) protocol at the access point.

• (Voice over Internet Protocol) service is generally accepted as an alternative  for people seeking cheaper means to make a phone call.
• Users of VoIP service may fall anywhere along a spectrum between types at two  extremes: one of which is an ordinary caller who doesn’t use the telephone for  commercial purposes, while the other is a person who generates spam calls for  commercial purposes

• The free version of ooVoo supports voice and video  calls with other ooVoo users, and lets you have two or  three people on a call. You can record video messages, set up a video chat room,  and share files (up to 25MB), too.

• Friends who do not have ooVoo  software installed can now call you over the Web. Within  ooVoo, you click a button and type your buddy's e-mail  address and a message. Your pal can then call you, via their browser. As long as  your friend has a Webcam, the same video-call window pops up, and the experience  is identical to that of a regular video call.
• Skype 4.0 shows contacts and conversations in a single pane. You can split the  pane, but the separated halves still feel bulky. More stuff is on display by  default, and the panes are larger to hold all of it. For example, during a call,  you get a box with your photo (or icon) plus a message window and buttons for  your Skype account and personalization options.
• The Conversations tab lets you flit around from video calls to voice calls to  IM chats

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