Smartphones

Mobile Internet: A 2015 Update on Caribbean Cruising and WiFi-Enabled Travel

Mobile Internet: A 2015 Update on Caribbean Cruising and WiFi-Enabled Travel

Monday, December 28, 2015

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We decided to spend Christmas a little differently this year and joined 10,000 of our closest friends on cruises to the Western Caribbean taking in Cozumel and Grand Cayman with a few extra days at sea. If you haven’t tried it, put it on your bucket list. Christmas week is a bargain and about 50% cheaper than the same cruise to ring in the new year. Rates start at about $300 per person for the 5-day cruise. You’d be hard-pressed… Read More ›

The Voice Recognition Revolution: Move Over Siri and Meet the New Kids

The Voice Recognition Revolution: Move Over Siri and Meet the New Kids

Tuesday, October 6, 2015

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The automobile manufacturers had the right idea years ago. Make it easy to change the temperature in your vehicle. Just say "cooler" or "warmer." That project went about as well as their GPS interfaces are progressing today. So let’s give credit where credit is due. Apple’s Siri revolutionized voice recognition by making it something really useful on the smartphone. If you’ve wondered who Siri actually is, wonder no more. You’re in for a pleasant surprise. Meet Siri from Australia. And… Read More ›

A Firsthand Look at Disaster Recovery: Tethering and IAX with Asterisk

A Firsthand Look at Disaster Recovery: Tethering and IAX with Asterisk

Monday, October 20, 2014

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One of the exciting challenges of building a swimming pool is knowing that it’s just a matter of time until your Internet connection dies. As you might imagine, swimming pools are major construction and involve a lot of digging. And digging usually means some oops moments when cables get cut. In our case, we had watched the folks digging the trenches for all of the pool plumbing to be sure they didn’t accidentally whack one of three coax cables coming… Read More ›

The Disappointing iPhone 6: Eight Generations of iOS and Bluetooth Still Sucks

The Disappointing iPhone 6: Eight Generations of iOS and Bluetooth Still Sucks

Monday, October 13, 2014

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Our technology reviews are a little different than the dozens of reviews you’ve probably already seen that read more like Apple press releases. First of all, we typically buy products to actually use. And second, we base our smartphone evaluations on real-world requirements rather than best case scenarios that you’re unlikely to ever experience in the real world. So we begin our review of the iPhone 6 with the simple question: "Can it make calls?" Funny as this sounds, it’s… Read More ›

Hardware Device of the Year: Meet the CuBox-i with Incredible PBX for Ubuntu

Hardware Device of the Year: Meet the CuBox-i with Incredible PBX for Ubuntu

Monday, September 1, 2014

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It’s been many years since we’ve written back-to-back articles about the same device. That should tell you how really special the CuBox-i is. After two weeks of 14-hour days developing the new Incredible PBX platform for CuBox, we are thrilled to crown this jewel as Nerd Vittles Hardware Device of the Year. Flawless design, incredible performance, tiny size, feature-rich components, minimal power consumption, and completely silent operation are merely the tip of the iceberg with this 2x2x2 cubic zircon. On… Read More ›

The Poor Wise Man's Burglar Alarm System with Asterisk: Under $10/month

The Poor Wise Man’s Burglar Alarm System with Asterisk: Under $10/month

Monday, July 14, 2014

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If you’re like us, spending $50 a month or more on a home security system is a bit like pouring money down the toilet. Add to that the complications of getting one to work reliably with VoIP without spending another $50 a month on a Ma Bell vintage telephone line just adds insult to injury. So perhaps you can share our elation when an email arrived last week announcing Straight Talk’s new Remote Alert System, a $10/month cellular-based system that… Read More ›

Knock Three Times: Pain-Free Remote Access to Your Asterisk or Linux Server

Knock Three Times: Pain-Free Remote Access to Your Asterisk or Linux Server

Monday, July 7, 2014

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No. We’re not going to make you relive the 1970’s with us today although now you can listen to this Number 1 Hit and a million others for free with Amazon’s new Prime Music. No, we don’t get a commission if you sign up for Amazon Prime. Yes, we make millions when you buy something from Amazon using our links. Thank you! What we have for you today is a Number 1 Utility, and it works on virtually any Linux… Read More ›

FMC: The Future of Telephony with Vitelity's vMobile and Asterisk in the Cloud

FMC: The Future of Telephony with Vitelity’s vMobile and Asterisk in the Cloud

Thursday, May 15, 2014

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If making phone calls from a web browser is what you’ve always longed for, then you’re in good company with Google and its future direction in the telephony space. Call us old fashioned but this strikes us as a solution in desperate need of a problem. What’s wrong with a Plain Old Telephone or a smartphone for making connections with friends and business associates? The real head scratcher is the fact that the WebRTC and Hangouts push demonstrates that the… Read More ›

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