AudioCodes MP-118 FXO with Asterisk Voicemail Problem Solved!

So I got a nice little AudioCodes MP-118 FXO gateway to plug into the analog lines so that they can go all voipish. Everything was going fine once I figured out how to make the thing plug into the system through it's configuration. All the docs I found online were for different versions of the AudioCodes firmware so there's wording differences and it makes it hard to configure. Once I had everything going it was fine and then I moved the lines to the system and then found a tragic bug. Apparently the AudioCodes box considers the call broken after 10 seconds in Asterisk's Voicemail application so the solution is to click on Search and search for Disconnect and then you can locate the "Disconnect on Broken Connection" setting under the Advanced General Settings page and then turn it to No. This solved the problem immediately and I could then leave 3 minute messages like before.

New iPod Shuffle Handles Play Lists and Tells You What You Probably Already Know

The new iPod Shuffle now tells you the track you're listening to and once you sit through that text to speech engine they call VoiceOver interrupting your track, it reads off any play lists you've got synced up and then with a click on the headphone controls, you're listening to that track. Not sure why they didn't include a mic in the headphone controls so that you could use it as a headset for your iPhone as well. Must say that the new little tiny shuffle is little and tiny and pretty slick looking.

Google Adds Default Theme to Apps

Looks like the wait might be close to over for the Gmail themes to come to Google Apps users as today when everyone opened up their Apps Gmail we all had the default theme in place. Still no link to change it (or for the new Offline Gmail for that matter) but soon grasshopper, soon.

Voice Controlled Helicopter

Engadget reports of a voice controlled helicopter. Very cool. Read more

Picasa 3 Updated

Google has just announced that their new version of Picasa 3 is up and running in all of the languages that they support. They boast about their name tags feature on the web but I for one want it in my PC. I take a lot of photos and I'm sure you do too and there just isn't enough storage on Google's web albums for everything I've got and I certainly don't want to share it all with the world either. I want to be able to take those cool name tags which relate automagically to the contacts in your Google Contacts list and have all of my local photos store that information. Is that too much to ask?

Google Chrome no longer in Beta

I wasn't sure if Google Chrome would end up being another perpetual beta just like a lot of Google's other endeavors but apparently not. I'm running Windows Server 2008 and Chrome is constantly crashing. As soon as it's open for about five minutes now, it crashes. Quite tired of seeing that message and I was hoping the SP2 beta I installed or the new Chrome would fix it. Not so much. Of other interest is the fact that when I open up the About Chrome dialog box the message says it can't connect to the update server.

Ted Rogers Jr. Dies of Conjestive Heart Failure

The richest man in Canada has died today with his family by his side. The Rogers media empire founded by his father will surely miss his leadership. Having seen his presentations, he had an amazing understanding of his business and the technology behind it. It will be interesting to see how much of an influence his board of directors had on the company after a period of mourning has passed. Will they follow the new Fido's trend to compete with Koodo?

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