News Briefs – Tues Oct 10, 2006

VoIP.com Affiliate Program
VoIP.com is now offering an Affiliate and Outside Sales Agent program. It has weekly payouts and competitive affiliate rates based on volume. This includes Internet promotion, whereby you promote their services on your website. [VoIP.com via PR Web] So if you don’t want to be a full-fledged VoIP provider but want to dabble, this might be something to consider.

Monster Einstein: The All-In-One Home Automation Device
Monster Cable, a maker of high-quality cable components for home entertainment systems, has moved into the home automation system. Their Monster Einstein, which will go for about US$4000, has a gigabit Ethernet interface, 802.11n networking (the new draft spec), and a VoIP interface. Get more details at Engadget HD about this and add on devices (such as a 200-DVD changer, 960Gb RAID storage box, satellite tuner, and more). Plan on a second mortgage to get it all. Could be quite the device for IPTV.

Ten Things To Hate About Telecom
Alex Saunders points to James Encks’ Telco 2.0 Conference presentation 10 Things I Hate About You. My two faves: (8) Telcos can’t innovate; (9) Telcos shouldn’t try to innovate.