Alec Saunders SquawkBox

Through an unfortunate twist of fate, it's nearly impossible to find out anything about Jeff Pulver and his company this morning in Google Blogsearch.  You see, in a bizarre twist of fate, all searches on Pulver are being eclipsed by the recently announced mixed martial arts match between Urijah Faber and Jens Pulver. 

My search this morning was for any news on Pulvermedia.  I consider Jeff a friend and mentor, who on countless occasions stepped up to challenge the status quo, and lead the VoIP industry.  The rumours swirling the last few days about his organization have had me worried for my friend and his colleagues.  This isn't good news, if true, for our industry at all. 

And Jeff, if it gets ugly, this guy Jens Pulver (any relation?) might be worth knowing.  Apparently he's something of a phenomenon in ring.  

Most of us have noticed that Om Malik has been writing for the last couple of months, and getting back into the swing of things over at GigaOm.  This morning he's written an personal piece on his past 90 days as a cardiac patient.  He's delegating more and living a healthier lifestyle.  It's an introspective and cautionary piece for all entrepreneurs.  

Welcome back Om. 

I feel pretty fortunate this morning to be hosting Enderle Group Principle Rob Enderle on the SquawkBox. His very provocatively titled blog posting Another Look at Microsoft/Yahoo: With Iraq as the example, is the Google War Smart? will be the topic. Needless to say, with a provocative opener like that, this promises to be a lively discussion.

Our guest this morning was Irv Shapiro, CEO of Chicago based Ifbyphone.  Ifbyphone is a converged voice and web solutions company that made some big announcements at eComm a couple of weeks ago.  Irv told us a little about his company's vision for creating voice mashups, and then his offer to give away up to 1 million minutes of telephony per month to developers at eComm.  The Mashup API they use is analagous to a web form, which makes it simple and easy to use.  AND, perhaps most interesting to readers here, they have a partner program that will share revenue with developers.

Enjoy! 

 

 Squawk Box March 27 [34:23m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Cubic Telecom's Pat Phelan asks Will iPhone become the junkyard for Facebook's failed voice applications?  Perhaps a better question might be simply for "failed voice applications". After all, Facebook is an environment where the expectation is free.  If the experience isn't sufficiently compelling that it can't be given away, then perhaps it needs a rethink.

Food for thought.