Plug your colored Simply Phone into a USB port on your computer and use Skype as you would use any normal phone. Skype is operated directly from the phones keypad – fun and easy and no need to touch your PC. Choose your color and Skype away.

OK, now I am on record as saying that Skype has cheaper calling plans than the Gizmo Project. But what about the user experience? Or, as we geeks call it, the UI? (User Interface).

On this count, any objective observer would have to say that the Gizmo Project rules.

Macromedia on Monday introduced a new version of its Breeze Web conferencing software and hosted service, featuring support for VOIP.
Breeze 5 includes a telephone gateway that lets companies connect to their existing telephony bridges. Also, the updated offering provides integrated audio conferencing through a partnership with Premiere Global Services.

NEW YORK, April 19 /PRNewswire/ -- tel(x), the premier operator of telecom "meet-me" network interconnection facilities, and Stealth Communications, owner and operator of the Voice Peering Fabric, announce the launch of The Big Apple Peering Exchange(SM) (or The Big APE) at tel(x) New York's core interconnection facility located at 60 Hudson Street.

An internet telephone. As simple as an instant messenger. Now you’re talking.

Make all your calls from the comfort of your desktop. With Gizmo, it’s point, click, talk. For free.

Skype seems to be willing to go for the GSM/GPRS users according to Skype CEO Niklas Zennstrom. Building on its strategy of making voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) calling as widely available as possible, VoIP firm Skype has struck a deal to have its Internet calling software installed on a versatile line of mobile smartphones.

MobilePipeline mentioned that IBM and Airespace Join Group to Speed Mobile VoIP Adoption. The group members will perform interoperability testing to speed the process of providing VoIP that seamlessly switches between different types of networks such as Wi-Fi and cellular.

An interesting article by Joel Snyder of Network World, explains why (according to the author) VoIP from a security viewpoint is a nightmare combining the worst vulnerabilities of IP networks and voice networks. Some examples are given and a methodology for solving the VoIP security challenges is also given.

BOSTON, MA – October 21, 2004 – Sipura Technology and BroadVoice Communications announced today, at the Fall 2004 VON Conference and Exposition, that BroadVoice will immediately deploy Sipura’s new SPA-1001 analog phone adapter (ATA) to BroadVoice voice over broadband customers. Measuring about the size of a deck of playing cards at 94 x 63 x 28 millimeters, the SPA-1001 provides the capability to connect analog telephones and fax machines to the Internet via its single RJ-11 FXS phone port and an neighboring RJ-45 Ethernet port. The SPA-1001 software implementation encompasses the hundreds of programmable features found in all of Sipura’s VoIP endpoint products, but at almost half the size of the currently shipping one port SPA-1000 and the two port SPA-2000 ATAs. This combination of the ultra compact form factor and feature rich software architecture makes the SPA-1001 the world’s smallest most advanced VoIP ATA. In the future, Sipura will support multiple logical services on the SPA-1001, so that customers can utilize more than one service on the tiny single port ATA.

There were over 5m VoIP subscribers worldwide by the middle of 2004, with the majority of customers shared by a half-dozen or so operators, according to figures from broadband research firm Point Topic.