TeknologikL

Simulations and gaming have always been big markets in the digital community. Every year, an Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) is held to demonstrate the latest updates, news and products that various publishers release. During this year's E3, a new physics engine created a large amount of buzz. Developed by EA's Digital Illusions Creative Entertainment (CE), this new physics engine is called Frostbite 2.0.

This demo shows a bit of the real-time radiosity lighting that goes into the creation of each environment. At 2:45, you'll notice a series of floating "balls". Each of these balls represents the ambient color in each of their 3D volumes. This allows the engine to create very lifelike reactions to changes in light within a given system.

Here is footage of one of the few games/simulations that will be released within the year. The game is called Battlefield 3, a first-person shooter (FPS) that takes place in a variety of environments such as deserts, cities, and mountains. Whether you're a gamer or not, the video impresses how Frostbite 2 can flex its muscle with real-time lighting effects, detailed environments, and a dynamic world that can be altered by the level of destruction given to it.

In the video, pay particular attention to the dynamic destruction of the environment. Frostbite 2 uses "Destruction Masking", a technique that simulates the partial (or whole, depending on the area hit) destruction of a building or other piece of the environment. Destruction Masking begins by removing a piece of the geometry of the object hit. Next, a detailed mesh of the broken structure is added to the destroyed section. Finally, a destruction mask is seamlessly placed over.

The process happens lightning fast and is supplemented with particle effects and debris (which have physics properties of their own) to create a remarkably "real feel" for any simulation or game. Many older physics engines also use a form of destruction masking; however, what makes it so impressive in Frostbite 2 is the use of deferred rendering, allowing faster workflows and iteration times.

Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frostbite_Engine

http://advances.realtimerendering.com/s2010/Kihl-Destruction%20in%20Frostbite%28SIGGRAPH%202010%20Advanced%20RealTime%20Rendering%20Course%29.pdf

The GXV3175 from Grandstream is a multi-purpose Voice over IP (VoIP) phone that's probably unlike any other desk phone you've seen. Presented as the upgraded version of the company's award-winning GXV3140, the GXV3175 combines voice, video, social media, streaming radio, games and more all into a single device. Think of it as a tablet with a focus on voice and video calling.

The comparison doesn't stop there. You'll notice right off the bat that there are no buttons other than a singular 'home' key. Everything from dialing phone numbers to using features and applications is done using the 7" touchscreen LCD. The GXV3175 also has its own library of 'Apps' which you will find in the main menu under dedicated folders such as 'photos', 'music', 'videos', 'games', and 'social networks'. Note that a few of these applications seem incomplete, and there have been reports that some of them are entirely nonfunctional. Hopefully, new firmware updates will address these issues.

Compared to other touchscreens from competitors Polycom and Aastra, the touchscreen on the GXV3175 is similar in terms of accuracy and responsiveness. However, none of the desk phone touchscreens we've ever tested are quite on par with the touchscreens you're probably most familiar with - the ones on smartphones and tablet devices such as the iPhone and iPad. The GXV3175 comes with a stylus pen, which you will find tucked away in the back.

Users can provision up to 3 simultaneous SIP accounts. I would highly suggest using Grandstream's web configuration portal as it makes the process a lot easier. This phone also happens to support WiFi, which is rare for a desk phone even these days.

If you're familiar with the 'Spaces' feature on Mac computers or Linux machines, then you already have a good idea of how the UI works on the GVX3175. You are given 4 spaces to work with. Navigate between them by simply scrolling your finger or stylus pen across the surface of the screen. The GXV3175 has a selection of applications you can drag and drop into each space such as Account info, weather, RSS news feed, Internet radio, and Favorite Contacts. At the bottom of your screen you'll see a toolbar that stores shortcuts for up to 5 other applications. This includes selections such as 'PIP' (picture in picture), and Youtube, but you can easily switch out the default options with any other apps you find in the main menu of the phone.

You'll also find an Internet browser application that works surprisingly well. It may be a little slow at times - which could either be a reflection of processing power of the device or my WiFi connection - but it does most of the tasks you would expect from a standard browser (there are limitations of course; plug-ins like Flash are not installed in the browser app). For example, I can easily log in to my Gmail account, and conduct XMPP chats with my Google chat contacts from this phone.

The GXV3175 supports all the codecs you would expect from a recently released VoIP phone, including the G.722 wideband or 'HD' codec. IP calls with other 'HD' capable desk phones, soft phones, or mobile SIP clients sound incredibly good. For video, this phone supports H.264, H.263 and H.263+ video compression standards. We were able to conduct a 30-minute video call with VoIP expert and blogger Michael Graves at around 20 frames per second with absolutely no issues or interruptions.

The GXV3175 also supports multiple video streams, which means that it can natively do video conferencing. We conducted a series of video interoperability tests on this phone with the Bria softphone and Polycom VVX 1500, and have no major problems to report.

About the author: Leo Zheng writes SIP user agent reviews using the OnSIP business VoIP service. More VoIP phone reviews can be found at OnSIP Team Reviews.

Last week's big news regarding AT&T's $39 Billion acquisition of T-Mobile from Deutsche Telekom has received a lot of media attention and for good reason. The new AT&T-Mobile will leapfrog over Verizon's 101.1 million subscribers to become the largest wireless provider in the U.S. with 130 million. In the coming months, this deal will be scrutinized by the FCC for possible anti-trust violations, but AT&T has virtually assured that the deal will go through even though they are on a slippery slope.

Keep in mind this is the same AT&T that was broken up once already in 1984, virtually all of which (plus more) are now combined again into "at&t." Stephen Colbert's take on AT&T from 2007 is just as relevant today, "AT&T is the T-1000 of corporations, no matter how many pieces you break it into, it always comes back together."

Feeling Confident
AT&T is so sure this deal will be approved that they've offered T-Mobile $3 billion if it doesn't. AT&T has already convinced President Obama and the FCC to change their stance on net neutrality last year and they are confident that they have deep-enough pockets to appease any naysayers yet again. Since 1989, AT&T has been the #1 corporate donor to congress, spending over $46 million.

After the merger, which will take over a year to complete, T-Mobile's 3G wireless towers will be repurposed for AT&T's 4G LTE network. This means at that time, any current T-Mobile handset will stop working, although AT&T has pledged to help those customers obtain a replacement phone.

What Does it Mean for the Existing Networks?
If this acquisition is approved, there will only be a single GSM-based carrier in the U.S. This technology runs the majority of the world's current cell networks, so this announcement increases handset manufacturer concerns of a monopoly. Verizon and Sprint both use the competing CDMA technology.

AT&T claims that the combined clout of both companies will help alleviate many of its customer's complaints about AT&T's network. However, if T-Mobile's 3G towers will be used for the 4G LTE network, it remains to be seen how this will help current customers on their lagging 3G network. Even AT&T or T-Mobile customers who currently own a "4G HSPA+ phone" will be out of luck when AT&T's real 4G LTE network launches near the end of the year.

Competitors Watching Closely
Sprint has gone on record to formally oppose the deal, saying it will stifle competition and innovation in the industry. Verizon has remained neutral on the subject, saying they are neither for nor against the acquisition. This move has brought speculation that Verizon will snatch up Sprint, but Verizon has expressed little interest so far.

What are your reactions to this news? Should AT&T's uncontrollable appetite bring down the anti-trust hammer on them, or is infrastructure too expensive for more than one or two companies to maintain?

Enterprise VoIP phones have become more affordable over the years. For every $600 + Polycom VVX 1500, there is a < $100 desk phone that accomplishes 90% of what the Polycom will. Of course, the LCD may not be as nice, and the video functionality is completely absent, but those finer details probably only really matter to a small minority of the target market.

Industry veteran Grandstream has proven time and time again that full-featured VoIP hardware doesn't have to be expensive. Their growing GXP line has a phone for nearly every type of user. Need something for your lobby or your employees who rarely ever pick up the phone? You can pick up the 2-line GXP 1450 for less than $70. What about your executives and sales representatives? Grandstream's new extensible 6-line GXP 2120 might be the perfect fit for your power users. The GXP 2120 can be found for a little more than $100.

Here, we're going to be reviewing the relatively new Grandstream GXP 2100. First demoed back in October 2010 at IT EXPO West, the 4-line 2100 is Grandstream's middle-of-the-pack offering of its GXP series. This < $100 phone more or less comes with all the features you'd expect from competing manufacturers' models that will probably run you anywhere from $150 - $300. These features include a back-lit 180 x 90 LCD, 3 programmable XML soft-keys, 7 programmable busy lamp field and speed-dial keys, speakerphone, high definition audio, and built-in support for up to 4-way conferencing.

Provisioning the GXP 2100 for individual users is easy enough. Users can easily log into Grandstream's phone admin portal by typing in the IP address of their phone into their web browser. From there, simply enter in the SIP credentials given to you by your provider for each account you'd like to have registered on the phone. The GXP 2100 allows up to 4 simultaneous registrations.

Call quality on the GXP 2100 is excellent if you are able to take advantage of high definition calling. HD or wideband audio only works when all of the endpoints in the call support the same wideband codec-in this case, G.722-and when the call is handled by IP from end-to-end. This basically means all on-network calls (extension-to-extension dialing), and anyone you call using the "Direct IP Call" feature on the phone. Unfortunately, it does not seem like the GXP 2100 is capable of dialing by SIP URI.

The GXP 2100 is easy to use. The phone has hard keys that correspond to many of the call handling features that users will need throughout their day-to-day. You'll find a key for transfer, conferencing, intercom, voicemail messages, headset (the phone has support for both 2.5 mm and RJ-9 headsets), contacts, etc. Also included is a volume dial that allows you to save separate volumes for your handset, headset, speakerphone, and ringer, and a wheel with built-in shortcuts that you can use to navigate the menus on the LCD. At 180x90, the LCD is a bit smaller than I would like, but it's not so small that it feels limiting; 3-4 menu options fit on the screen at once. The GXP 2100 also includes support for integrating real-time web applications. I understand that Grandstream intends to expand this feature, but for now the phone comes preloaded with currency exchange rates, and weather and stock reports.

About the author: Leo Zheng writes SIP user agent reviews using the OnSIP hosted PBX service. More VoIP phone reviews can be found at http://www.onsip.com/onsip-team-reviews.

Once upon a time, owning a cell phone was considered a luxury to compliment people's traditional home phone. Fast forward to today and the exact opposite is true with the home phone being a luxury and a cell phone a necessity. The latest available numbers show that at 22.7% of US households no longer has a traditional land line phone service, something that was unimaginable a decade ago.

Verizon, one of the largest telecom companies in the US has gone as far as to give up on their landline business almost completely. In the 2^nd quarter of 2010 Verizon's landline business had operating income of $214 million, but that was before they sold off much of their landline business to Frontier Communications. Verizon's most recent quarterly report shows their landline division income is down to a paltry $19 million, compared with their wireless income of $4.9 billion.

Here are a few popular voice-over-IP options for home phone service:

Vonage
Vonage made a big splash when they first came onto the scene, being the first major phone service to offer unlimited long distance calling for a low monthly fee. Before that, people were used to being billed by the minute for long distance which made chatting with relatives across the country quite the expense.

I actually subscribed to Vonage for the past few years but just cancelled last week after months of my wife complaining about the call quality. Even after buying a new router with QoS (Quality of Service) settings, her work VPN caused enough interference on the phone line that she would get many complaints on the call signal.

Skype
Skype is a similar service to Vonage but with a few major differences. Instead of having their own servers, the eBay owned company utilizes the computing power of its users. This is where they got the name Skype from, which is short for Sky Peer-to-Peer.

Skype's popularity has shot up in recent years with over 500 million user accounts at the end of 2009. Although users may have more than 1 account, Skype has become the largest international voice carrier in the world.

Ooma
Ooma is the new kid on the block as far as VOIP goes and has been making headlines since it launched. Where Ooma differs from its competitors is that after you pay for the Ooma box up front, calling anywhere in the US is free. A $10 per month upgrade to Ooma Premier will add features like call forwarding and a 2^nd line.

Another huge benefit of Ooma is being able to pair the device with your Google Voice number adding advanced features without a monthly fee.

Have you canceled your land line service yet or do you still consider it an essential method of communication for your household? Has anyone tried one of these VOIP options?

More Info:
How to Replace Your Landline with Google Voice
Vodafone Tempts Phone Customers to Hang up on Landline

For the most part, video conferencing solutions can be divided into two categories. There are prohibitively-expensive video conferencing room kits that cost tens of thousands of dollars. Then there are software programs that run on your PC or Mac (think Skype, GotoMeeting, or Bria).

But now a third category is emerging. Some of the most popular VoIP hardware manufacturers are releasing VoIP desk phones with video capabilities. Industry leader Polycom released its VVX 1500 business media phone back in 2009, a little ahead of the pack. If your Polycom executive desk phone had a baby with a video conferencing system, it would probably turn out something like the Polycom VVX 1500.

This phone can be split into two parts. First, there's the phone itself, which features a very sleek, professional design. All of the hardware components are done exceptionally well. The handset is just the right weight. The hard keys are big, clearly labeled, and satisfying to use. The speakerphone is probably one of the best we've ever encountered on a desk phone.

Strapped to the back of the phone is the second part of the device: the 7-inch touchscreen TFT-LCD and 2-megapixel camera. The display is connected to the phone on a hinge so users can adjust it to get the perfect viewing angle for video calls and menu options. The camera can also be tilted up or down independently.

The LCD on the VVX 1500 is probably the nicest one I've tried on a VoIP phone. The touchscreen is very responsive – rarely did I ever have to tap an option more than once to get it to register. Scrolling through menus on the VVX 1500 by running your finger across the screen can be a little frustrating, however. Luckily, users can just as easily navigate through any of the menus on the LCD using the hard keys provided on the phone. Some may even prefer to use the hard keys exclusively, and to forego the touch screen altogether. It's really up to you.

In Use

The Polycom VVX 1500 uses the G.722 wideband codec as the default audio codec. So, if you're VoIP-calling someone else on a phone that also supports G.722, you can expect fantastic audio quality. Polycom's "HD voice" is more than just audio codecs. The company has spent a lot of effort incorporating hardware and software enhancements into its executive phones that work together to deliver the best audio quality, and you can bet that some of those enhancements are in the VVX 1500.

As already mentioned, the speakerphone on the VVX 1500 is fantastic. The quality is akin to what you get from Polycom's dedicated conferencing solutions.

We also conducted a number of video-calling interoperability tests. As expected, video calls between VVX 1500s were exceptional in both audio and video quality using the H.264 video compression standard. Video calls using H.264 didn't seem to work when we tested the VVX 1500 with the Bria for Mac and the Grandstream GXV 3175, but we were able to get full interoperability when we switched to H.263.

Other highlights of the phone include business productivity applications. Polycom has its own licensed Productivity Suite that users can try out when they boot the VVX 1500 by using a provisioning server that has a correct license file. Companies can also use Polycom's open developer API to build customized business applications for this phone.

Finally, we come to the microbrowser, which allows users to easily navigate to customized web pages. It is also possible to browse the Internet, but I wouldn't recommend it. Load times can be slow, and the processing power on the phone isn't quite high enough to handle some web pages.

About the author: Leo Zheng writes SIP user agent reviews using the OnSIP hosted PBX service. More VoIP phone reviews can be found at http://www.onsip.com/onsip-team-reviews.