Proof is in the Pudding.

Voice recognition is finally everywhere you look, or listen, these days. And I can say 'finally' as someone who tried to sell it to anyone who would listen some 10 years ago. It's in your cell phone. It's in your car. It's of course at the other end of the line of every major call center you call. And increasingly, it plays a role in the myriad of new 411 services (including Google's) popping up here and there.

The 411 services are remarkable not so much for their use of speech technology but more so for being free. Almost. You just need to listen to strategically inserted ads which is another one of those things everyone said would never fly. Well, it's flying.

Now here's the real news and the reason for my long intro. A new PR machine (read as start-up) is using very advanced speech algorithms to deliver contextual (also known as Google) advertising. But you don't have to listen to them. You see them the old fashioned way, on the screen in front you. ThePudding offers free phone calls from your PC in exchange for the privilege of listening in on your conversation. Using the fancy algorithms, it pushes relevant ads and information at your PC. And voila!

I'm all for new companies doing anything in voice. And I believe in extending the ad-based model wherever it works. But this might be a stretch or maybe they have bigger plans for the technology and this is just a test run.

One last thing that makes me scratch my head. When will free calls become less interesting? Are there that many late adopters out there still paying meaningful long distance bills?

More Pudding anyone?

Let the shopping begin. The loonie turns 1(.00).

Congratulations to my fellow Canadians back home. The Canadian Dollar is officially at par with the US buck. Too many houses for sale here, a whole boatload of oil there and bunch of other stuff I don't understand well enough made this happen.

I happen to be in Canada this week for this New Year's eve-like moment. And that is was. After all, for some 30 years now Canadians have been lugging calculators across the border to figure out the delta between cheap retail and a weak loonie. The weak loonie prevailed more often than not. Some had to stop flocking altogether.

The celebration is not for everyone though. Exporters of goods and services alike have operated on a built-in, currency driven margin for what seems like ever. And US buyers have benefited at the other end. All that stops, for now.

Now if only we could get the Euro down.

What do I do? Good question.

Ever had trouble telling someone what you do for a living, between floors on an elevator? Not easy. And that's if they're interested.

Well, I'm told by the SEO powers that be, that if a blog is going to have any impact on your search rankings (don't worry, I only sound like I might know anything about search), you need to 'backlink' to your home page. It seems that one way to do that is to post an entry on your business. This is not something I ever really planned to do as this blog is meant to be informal, but if this backlinking works, it's cheaper than paying Google to send me uninterested browsers.

I founded ChannelStrength back in early '05 partly to serve a lifestyle purpose. More specifically, to spend more time with my young children. Novel thought. You see, for many years pre-blog, I traveled over 100K miles year in, year out. Too much (as I sit writing this from an airport lounge). Anyhow, I wanted more control over my schedule and so far, the plan is working. Kind of.

ChannelStrength helps emerging telecom providers and Web 2.0 companies identify, engage and launch indirect channels to market. In simpler, less marketing speak terms, we help young companies figure out what they have and why a channel would want to partner with them or resell their services. From there we package up their strengths - in channel friendly wrapping - and head out to find and secure channels, and turn them into sustainable revenue generators. When we're not doing any of this, we're lending our extensive experience and relationships to help these clients in any way we can.

Like I said. So far so good. The best part is being so close to such innovative companies and the entrepreneurs that lead them. Oh yeah, and being home a little more often.

To learn more, I invite you to 'backlink' to ChannelStrength. Hopefully Google will notice.

Skype Alternatives. 10 of them.

The Skype meltdown of last month seems well behind us and, as a regular user of the service, I can say that it has not changed my habits in any way. That said, had I been bothered by it, the paltry 7 days of free calling would have done little to restore my loyalty. That seemed weak.

For those of you who do like to be prepared for the worst, here is a comprehensive list I stumbled on of Skype-like alternatives, including some focused increasingly on video. None of these free services are perfect; I recommend using the one you and your surrounding community are most at ease with.

The Jetsons?

Telepresence at home? Who would ever go to work? Not me.

Melanie Turek from Collaboration Loop has this to say about Cisco's musings of telepresence in the home. Yes, telepresence for home workers is a nice for Cisco's networking business but perhaps a little ways away. Too bad.

"Telepresence is a unique set of technologies and architectures that deliver a truly immersive experience to participants. This is achieved with more than HD technology—it includes the design of the room, the placement of furniture, the type and arrangement of microphones and speakers, and the life-like effect of multiple screens placed at eye level, with cameras, to ensure that participants feel as though they are talking to people across a table, rather than a continent.

A single screen set up in your living room six-feet from your Lay-Z-Boy doesn’t accomplish this."

Read Melanie's whole post here.

CallButler goes mobile.

I saw my friends from Telephony2 at the IT Expo this week. They were there partially to promote their new release - CallButler 1.9.

CallButler has to date held a unique position in a market so uber-focued on hosted services. They offered - and still do - a software downloadable (remember those?) application that allowed you to go from no phone system to a fully featured one in about 20 minutes. And for under $300. Frankly, the best user interface I have ever seen on a telephony solution.

As CallButler is targeted towards the SoHo crowd, Jim Heising (Telephony2) CEO knew he would need to ultimately offer a managed or more turnkey service to satisfy the 'all-in-one' segment of the market. CallButler's new hosted version makes a dedicated server and pipe (off premise) available to each customer, allowing them to configure and manage the application remotely (like a web service). A couple of key highlights:

- For $150/month, the usage is unlimited. For those with a few employees but looking for cost predictability, this is a very valid alternative to look at;

- MobilePBX features: Us SoHo types are far more mobile than not, so sounding like we're in a real office when we're not can be critical. This new version is packed with features that do just that.

Good work, Jim. May the Bulter's dreams come true..

And More on Video.

As a self-professed video evangelizer, I am always happy to report when others jump on the bandwagon. Have a peak at The Future is Video by Greg Galitzine. Excellent points.

What's most exciting about the future of video calling and conferencing is just how many people - people who are online friendly - have yet to truly experience it. Just recently, I brought several old friends into a video call to help celebrate a dear friend's milestone birthday. They were equally amazed by the quality (even on Skype), by the ease of it, but most importantly by how close it brought them to each other. Much more so than a phone call. Imagine the viral marketing power of each incremental believer.

I went to IT Expo this week in LA (see entry above) and while there were some interesting things there, there was remarkably little on video. Yet, the video providers that were there received far more than their share of attention. If nothing else gets you on board, think about how incredibly green it is.

Did I just plug green? Things are changing. Or I'm getting older.

More 2.0's

Web 2.0. Voice 2.0. Business 2.0 (not anymore). And Office 2.0. This one even has a show named after it.

I went to Office 2.0 last week and, as I told the organizer the other night, it was the most interesting exhibition floor I have visited in some time. I actually came away with applications I can use in my business right away. And, for the most part, for free. For now. Here's a sampling of companies worth your time to check out:

- Huddle (Couple of nice young guys from London trying to make teamwork much easier to accomplish from anywhere)

- TimeBridge (Berkley-based start-up with a bunch of Yahoo! guys behind it, out to fix the problems we all have getting meetings scheduled)

- Veodia (My French friends who are making it dead easy to make your own video content. Can't wait to try video-blogging)

- Diigo (My absolute favorite. Bookmarking 2.0. Sticky notes, annotations and more. Amazing online reseach tool)

These are just a sample of the companies I saw. For more, check out the sponsors at Office2.0

I almost forgot. OCS or not (hosted services from Microsoft) the world is moving its office apps online. Check out EditGrid, Sheetster (how 2.0 is that one) and Preezo.

Got to go.

The Ooma Files.

Wow. I don't know about their fancy box but their PR machine is up and running. Check out this interview with their founder on Ooma versus the incumbent (PhoneGnome). Stay tuned.

Steroids are boring me.

Rick Ankiel. Troy Glaus. And everybody else. Even Marvin Bernard (Marvin who?). It's boring. Yes, all of baseball uses or used performance enhancing drugs. All of baseball also gets overpaid, but we put up with that. And all the parks overcharge for beers. We also put up with that. Can we just go back to enjoying baseball, enjoying overpriced beers to watch overpaid kids, and forget about the drug piece?

If it's kids you're worried about, look out for them yourselves. If as a parent you're depending on pro athletes as role models, think again. Be the role model yourself.

I'm a big fan of baseball, as I think some of my earlier posts will attest to. But I am sick and tired of drug-related stories. It is a reality. Just like it's a reality that we have not heard the end of Michael Vick-like stories coming out of football or basketball for that matter. Either enjoy the game for the physical gifts these players received at birth, or move on. But don't complain about it anymore. Please. The complaining - more than the actual offenses themselves - are ruining it for everyone else.

Ooma reviews are in.

For those keeping score on what's next in home-based VoIP (or for those who read my Web 2.0 Meets VoIP post), here's an update on Ooma - specifically what it's like to install. Ooma's not so easy, it seems.

I'm still waiting for my trial box.

Quick Link.

I read this blog entry, related to my post on 'Canadian Conferencing' and thought it was worth posting here. Good insight into why Iotum is doing what they're doing along with other perspectives on Voice 2.0.

Finally someone else writing about the robust future - yet still relatively quite nature - of web and telephony integration. As I mentioned below, this Facebook app is just the beginning. Voice communications will add huge momentum to the usefulness of social networking, particularly for those networks hoping to capture some of the business networking market.

Blogger's Block.

I am suffering from a little of this, this past week. Could be busyness. Could be the incredible weather we have been luxuriating in since Fog-ust ended. Or could be just a phase (something I hope for just about every week with my children). Whatever it is, I'm hoping it will end.

I think I have just the cure. Trade shows. Is it me or are trade shows popular - and very well funded - again. Yet another notch in my 'it's getting frothy around here again' theory. While I am looking very forward to my visit to Office 2.0 this week (you must check out some of the attending companies - very cool stuff) and to returning for the first time in a while to the IT Expo in LA next week, it can be considered concerning that everyone has so much trade show budget. Well, enjoy it while it's here.

BTW - I want to congratulate my friends in Montreal at Embrase and Parela on their recent merger of operations. Both great teams that do superb work in helping emerging technology companies get to market faster and stronger. Good luck, guys.

See you after the show(s).