Skype Planning A Big Social Advertising Upgrade, Starting First With Windows 8

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Today the company unveiled Skype Ads for Windows 8, a new initiative it plans to launch formally in 2013 that will see a number of new ad formats enter the service that play on social interactivity. They include promotions that will appear in conversation streams and ways for two people talking to each other to share sponsored content while communicating on the platform. (Yes, it sounds a lot like what Facebook is doing.)

via Skype Planning A Big Social Advertising Upgrade, Starting First With Windows 8 | TechCrunch.

Book Review: Presentation Patterns

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Presentation Patterns aims to apply patterns to the task of creating and delivering presentations and for the most part it succeeds. The format of the book is slightly biased towards those in the software industry as the authors all have software backgrounds. However after reading the introduction which explains the rationale behind patterns in general, as well as the specifics of how they are covered, this book should be useful to anyone interested in improving their presentation skills.

via Book Review: Presentation Patterns – Slashdot.

Cisco Takes Location Indoors

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Cisco is using its Mobility Services Advertisement Protocol (MSAP) client as the frontend to triangulate location data from small cells and Wi-Fi so that it can map out the locations of stores and more on different floors inside a building. Qualcomm will build this capability into the next generation of its Snapdragon chips for mobile devices, but Cisco is offering the software to enterprises now.

via Cisco Takes Location Indoors – IP & Convergence – Telecom News Analysis – Light Reading Mobile.

Feature phones dwindle as Android powers ahead in third quarter

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But Samsung dominated that field as it does the rest of the market: Apple made up 13.9% of the smartphone market, slightly down in share even though its shipment numbers grew by 36%, giving Samsung 32.6% of the entire smartphone market.

via Feature phones dwindle as Android powers ahead in third quarter | Technology | guardian.co.uk.

Chicago options market goes nuclear, files $525 million patent suit

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However, a few key financial institutions have embraced patents enthusiastically. This week, the Chicago Board Options Exchange has taken finance-patent wars to a new level. CBOE filed a lawsuit against a competing options exchange, International Securities Exchange (ISE), demanding $525 million for the infringement of three patents: US Patent Nos. 7,356,498, 7,980,457 and 8,266,044. The board asked for the first patent in 1999, at the height of the patent-everything craze, and the patents were issued between 2008 and 2011.

via Chicago options market goes nuclear, files $525 million patent suit | Ars Technica.

New WiFi protocol boosts congested wireless network throughput by 700%

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To solve this problem, NC State University has devised a scheme called WiFox. In essence, WiFox is some software that runs on a WiFi access point (i.e. it’s part of the firmware) and keeps track of the congestion level. If WiFox detects a backlog of data due to congestion, it kicks in and enables high-priority mode. In this mode, the access point gains complete control of the wireless network channel, allowing it to clear its backlog of data. Then, with the backlog clear, the network returns to normal.

via New WiFi protocol boosts congested wireless network throughput by 700% | ExtremeTech.

Big Switch Girds for SDN Battle

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As expected, the company is promoting a network architecture that uses OpenFlow to program Ethernet switches. As has been fashionable in SDN circles lately, Big Switch is also espousing the idea of a hybrid network — one where OpenFlow-enabled gear is installed next to traditional routers and switches.

via Big Switch Girds for SDN Battle – Telecom News Analysis – Light Reading Service Provider IT.

Service providers would prefer to see the northbound and southbound interfaces be open, Griliches says. That’s because a groundswell of applications is expected to emerge now that SDN has become a hot and venture-fundable area, and no carrier wants to suddenly find out its applications don’t work on a particular vendor’s gear.

Africa’s Wireless Gold Rush

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It’s no surprise to find multiple network expansion investments, given the rate of mobile growth in the region: According to a new report issued by the GSM Association (GSMA) , sub-Saharan Africa is “the fastest-growing mobile market in the world,” with an average annual growth rate of 44 percent since 2000. The region now has 475 million mobile connections, compared with 12.3 million fixed lines.

via Africa’s Wireless Gold Rush – 4G/LTE – Telecom News Analysis – Light Reading Mobile.