Ojo videophone: can you see me now?

If you are one of the people who bought an Ojo videophone from Telecom New Zealand (announced down here back in November 2006) then start worrying.

It seems Worldgate is in the path to bankruptcy:

Accordingly, on January 30, 2008, the Company shut down its operations as a first step to winding down its business, which will occur if the Company is not able to secure payment of the monies believed to be owed and/or new financing. The Company continues to explore potential financing opportunities and is also pursuing legal recourse against the customer. Thus, bankruptcy may be coming shortly, which would be another black eye for the VoIP industry...

And just minutes ago I read on Engadget that the service has gone dark.

Is anyone here in New Zealand still using the Ojo through Telecom New Zealand?

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Apparently, Yahoo is "considering revisiting talks it held with Google several months ago", saying that Microsoft's offer of $31/share was under-valuing the company (it's still quite a lot though).

http://tvnz.co.nz/view/page/536641/1570564

Haven't seen much other news as searching around just pops "Microsoft + Yahoo! = Bad/Good for Google".

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Opera Software has announced Opera 9.5, its new web browser version for smartphones. The software is not available yet, but it will be hosted at Opera Mobile sometime after the Mobile World Congress 2008.

In the meantime, there's a demo video available and shared below.

Opera Mobile 9.5

I am looking forward to having this installed on my Windows Mobile device.

Is just me or does it show all the features Internet Explorer Mobile should have had for the last few years already?

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I am in Warkworth (New Zealand) with other 150 technologists, developers, thinkers, writers, entrepreneurs participating in the second Kiwi Foo Camp, organised by O'Reilly's Nat Torkington and his crew.

It is an amazing mix of people and knowledge around here. Radio NZ is broadcasting live from the premises, discussions are going on almost around the clock - and this time we didn't get lost on the way here thanks to... technology (gotta love GPS, Google Maps Mobile and cellular data).

Talking about wireless data we have wireless LAN here, but you can imagine how a crowd of 150 technologists can quickly overload the tubes. So I am using my Telecom data card. I noticed that Telecom New Zealand has upgraded this site to CDMA EVDO since the same time last year, but Vodafone New Zealand still provides the same non-usable GPRS service around here.

The conversations around here are not NDA, but it's a matter of principle to only disclose things if you ask and receive a positive response.

I gotta go now for one of my sessions. Here are a few pictures from the opening:

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Yes... there is a data leak that just happens (I've experienced it 5 times already.) Video podcast of the Macworld 2008 leaked into my list of songs... weird. To this point, I've been unsuccessful in reproducing this. This is confirmed as a 'intended' function, but I sure didn't place it in my favourite playlist, which made me think this is a leak. It comes and goes and also temporarily screws up my playlist as well. Can't watch this video? Click here.

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