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IPhone (internet Appliance)
The iPhone is a discontinued internet appliance line introduced by Infogear in 1998 and between 2000 and 2007 manufactured by Cisco. It combined the features of a regular phone and a web terminal. The company was later purchased by Cisco and no new products were marketed under the name between 2001 and 2006. At the end of 2006, Cisco rebranded its Linksys VoIP-based phones under the name, shortly before Apple released an iPhone of its own. This led to a trademark dispute between the two companies, which was resolved on February 20, 2007. History InfoGear iPhone The first iPhone was released in 1998 by InfoGear Technology Corporation. In 1997, prior to the release of iPhone, Infogear entered into a partnership with Cidco of Morgan Hill, California. The iPhone was an innovative internet appliance that featured a sliding keyboard and an LCD touchscreen that accessed an embedded web browser and an email client. It was one of the first wave of internet appliances, preceding the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
IP Phone
A VoIP phone or IP phone uses voice over IP technologies for placing and transmitting telephone calls over an IP network, such as the Internet. This is in contrast to a standard phone which uses the traditional public switched telephone network (PSTN). Digital IP-based telephone service uses control protocols such as the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP), Skinny Client Control Protocol (SCCP) or various otheproprietary protocols. Types VoIP phones can be simple software-based softphones or purpose-built hardware devices that appear much like an ordinary telephone or a cordless phone. Traditional PSTN phones can be used as VoIP phones with analog telephone adapters (ATA). A VoIP phone or application may have many features an analog phone doesn't support, such as e-mail-like IDs for contacts that may be easier to remember than names or phone numbers, or easy sharing of contact lists among multiple accounts. Generally the features of VoIP phones follow those of Skype and other ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
I-Opener
The i-Opener is a discontinued low-cost internet appliance produced by Netpliance (later known as TippingPoint) between 1999 and 2002. The hardware was sold as a loss leader for a monthly internet service. Because of the low cost of the hardware, it was popular with computer hobbyists, who modified it to run desktop PC software without the internet service. History Netpliance introduced the i-Opener in November 1999 at a $99 promotional price. It was designed to be an easy-to-use, low-cost internet appliance for first-time users of the World Wide Web. Access to the internet was limited to Netpliance's own $21/month service plan, and users were limited to Netpliance's own web browser. There was no provision for installing third-party software. The keyboard had a dedicated key for ordering pizza from participating pizza parlors. The hardware was sold below cost as a loss leader, with the expectation that Netpliance would recoup the money lost in manufacturing costs via its ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
VoIP Hardware
Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), also known as IP telephony, is a set of technologies used primarily for voice communication sessions over Internet Protocol (IP) networks, such as the Internet. VoIP enables voice calls to be transmitted as data packets, facilitating various methods of voice communication, including traditional applications like Skype, Microsoft Teams, Google Voice, and VoIP phones. Regular telephones can also be used for VoIP by connecting them to the Internet via analog telephone adapters (ATAs), which convert traditional telephone signals into digital data packets that can be transmitted over IP networks. The broader terms Internet telephony, broadband telephony, and broadband phone service specifically refer to the delivery of voice and other communication services, such as fax, SMS, and voice messaging, over the Internet, in contrast to the traditional public switched telephone network (PSTN), commonly known as plain old telephone service (POTS). Vo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Information Appliances
An information appliance (IA) is an appliance that is designed to easily perform a specific electronic function such as Digital audio player, playing music, photography, or text editor, editing text. Typical examples are smartphones and personal digital assistants (PDAs). Information appliances partially overlap in definition with, or are sometimes referred to as, smart devices, embedded systems, mobile devices or wireless devices. Appliance vs computer The term ''information appliance'' was coined by Jef Raskin around 1979. As later explained by Donald Norman in his influential ''The Invisible Computer'', the main characteristics of IA, as opposed to any normal computer, were: * designed and pre-configured for a single application (like a toaster appliance, which is designed only to make toast), * so easy to use for untrained people, that it effectively becomes unnoticeable, "invisible" to them, * able to automatically share information with any other IAs. This definition o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Apple Inc
Apple Inc. is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California, in Silicon Valley. It is best known for its consumer electronics, software, and services. Founded in 1976 as Apple Computer Company by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne, the company was incorporated by Jobs and Wozniak as Apple Computer, Inc. the following year. It was renamed Apple Inc. in 2007 as the company had expanded its focus from computers to consumer electronics. Apple is the largest technology company by revenue, with billion in the 2024 fiscal year. The company was founded to produce and market Wozniak's Apple I personal computer. Its second computer, the Apple II, became a best seller as one of the first mass-produced microcomputers. Apple introduced the Lisa in 1983 and the Macintosh in 1984, as some of the first computers to use a graphical user interface and a mouse. By 1985, internal company problems led to Jobs leavin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Steve Jobs
Steven Paul Jobs (February 24, 1955 – October 5, 2011) was an American businessman, inventor, and investor best known for co-founding the technology company Apple Inc. Jobs was also the founder of NeXT and chairman and majority shareholder of Pixar. He was a pioneer of the personal computer revolution of the 1970s and 1980s, along with his early business partner and fellow Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak. Jobs was born in San Francisco in 1955 and adopted shortly afterwards. He attended Reed College in 1972 before withdrawing that same year. In 1974, he traveled through India, Hippie trail, seeking enlightenment before later studying Buddhism in the West#Emerging mainstream western Buddhism, Zen Buddhism. He and Wozniak co-founded Apple in 1976 to further develop and sell Wozniak's Apple I personal computer. Together, the duo gained fame and wealth a year later with production and sale of the Apple II, one of the first highly successful mass-produced microcomputers. Jobs saw ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Skype
Skype () was a proprietary telecommunications application operated by Skype Technologies, a division of Microsoft, best known for IP-based videotelephony, videoconferencing and voice calls. It also had instant messaging, file transfer, debit-based calls to landline and mobile telephones (over traditional telephone networks), and other features. It was available on various desktop, mobile, and video game console platforms. Skype was created by Niklas Zennström, Janus Friis, and four Estonian developers, and first released in August 2003. In September 2005, eBay acquired it for $2.6 billion. In September 2009, Silver Lake, Andreessen Horowitz, and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board bought 65% of Skype for $1.9 billion from eBay, valuing the business at $2.92 billion. In May 2011, Microsoft bought Skype for $8.5 billion and used it to replace its own Windows Live Messenger. As of 2011, most of the development team and 44% of all the div ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Internet Phone
Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), also known as IP telephony, is a set of technologies used primarily for voice communication sessions over Internet Protocol (IP) networks, such as the Internet. VoIP enables voice calls to be transmitted as data packets, facilitating various methods of voice communication, including traditional applications like Skype, Microsoft Teams, Google Voice, and VoIP phones. Regular telephones can also be used for VoIP by connecting them to the Internet via analog telephone adapters (ATAs), which convert traditional telephone signals into digital data packets that can be transmitted over IP networks. The broader terms Internet telephony, broadband telephony, and broadband phone service specifically refer to the delivery of voice and other communication services, such as fax, SMS, and voice messaging, over the Internet, in contrast to the traditional public switched telephone network (PSTN), commonly known as plain old telephone service (POTS). ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nortel
Nortel Networks Corporation (Nortel), formerly Northern Telecom Limited, was a Canadian Multinational corporation, multinational telecommunications and data networking equipment manufacturer headquartered in Ottawa, Ontario. It was founded in Montreal, Quebec in 1895 as the Northern Electric and Manufacturing Company, or simply Northern Electric. Until an antitrust settlement in 1949, Northern Electric was owned mostly by Bell Canada and the Western Electric, Western Electric Company of the Bell System, producing large volumes of telecommunications equipment based on licensed Western Electric designs. At its height, Nortel accounted for more than a third of the total valuation of all companies listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX), employing 94,500 people worldwide. In 2009, Nortel filed for bankruptcy protection in Canada and the United States, triggering a 79% decline in its corporate stock price. The bankruptcy case was the List of corporate collapses and scandals, larg ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alcatel (mobile Device Brand)
Alcatel is a French brand of mobile handsets owned by Finnish telecommunications company Nokia and used under license by Chinese electronics company TCL Technology. The brand originates with former French conglomerate Alcatel, who began building mobile phones since at least 1991. At the time known as Alcatel One Touch, the brand was licensed in 2005 to TCL, who have ever since held sole rights from Alcatel's successors, Alcatel-Lucent and Nokia, having produced various handsets as well as other handheld devices mostly in the budget sector. Brand and company history Alcatel/CGE introduced its first cellular phone in the 1980s under France's analog network. As of 1996, Alcatel sold approximately one million mobile phone handsets. Handsets were manufactured in France at factories in Illkirch and Laval. In the year 1998, Alcatel became the 5th largest global mobile phone maker with a share of 4.3%, shipping between 7 and 8 million handsets. In 1999 it sold 11.5 million for a 4.1 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
3Com Audrey
The 3Com Ergo Audrey is a discontinued internet appliance from 3Com. It was released to the public on October 17, 2000, for USD499 as the only device in the company's "Ergo" initiative to be sold. Once connected to an appropriate provider, users could access the internet, send and receive e-mail, play audio and video, and synchronize with up to two Palm OS-based devices. ''Audrey'' was the brainchild of Don Fotsch (formerly of Apple Computer and U.S. Robotics) and Ray Winninger. Fotsch and Winninger had a vision for a family of appliances, each designed for a specific room in the house. The brand ''Ergo'' was meant to convey that intent, as in "it's in the kitchen, ''ergo'' it's designed that way".Direct Knowledge - I was there at the time that it was said. - Rob Hudson There were plans to serve other rooms in the house as well. They considered the kitchen to be the heart of the home and the control room for the home manager. Fotsch coined the phrase "Internet Snacking" to descr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
