Filed under: iPhone
This morning, TUAW reader Matt dropped a note in our inbox saying that Fring has delivered VoIP on the iPhone. Sure enough, their blog claims integration with Skype and more. So does Fring deliver the WiFi VoIP solution for iPhone we've all been hoping for? This morning, I give it a try -- live! Here's our TUAW Labs liveblog. Put on your white coats and get ready to give the software a spin.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Adam said 11:31AM on 4-15-2008
This sort of thing makes me want to jailbreak my iPhone again... :-)
Reply
Neckaros said 12:08PM on 4-15-2008
Don't eat the apple just yet Adam :)
Roy said 11:40AM on 4-15-2008
I got to talk to Erica! SWEET!
Reply
Sean Flanagan said 11:58AM on 4-15-2008
This Cover It Live is really irritating.
*click click click click*
Is there some other solution TUAW can use for liveblogging?
*click click click click*
Reply
Michael Rose said 12:02PM on 4-15-2008
Hi Sean --
Try turning off the audio for Coveritlive via the audio icon at the bottom of the widget. We have a feature request in to default to audio off, or make the button bigger. :-)
thanks, --M.
Bob S. said 2:28PM on 4-15-2008
Open Terminal.
Type (we all know it's without the quotes) "sudo pico /etc/hosts" and press Return.
Enter your password.
Use the down arrow to find a blank line after where it says "127.0.0.1 localhost"
Type
127.0.0.1 www.coveritlive.com
127.0.0.1 coveritlive.com
Ctrl-x will get you out of pico. Just press Y when it asks if you want to overwrite the file. If there are any other questions, you can use the default prompts, I believe. (I'm not on a Mac right now -- this is significantly easier on Windows XP, where I use Notepad to keep my hosts file updated.)
Now, if you ever want to reach coveritlive.com for some unearthly reason, you'll need to delete those lines; they permanently block your Mac from finding it. 127.0.0.1 is by definition the computer you happen to be using, and by editing the hosts file like this, you've told your Mac that coveritlive.com is actually hosted on your Mac. (Or Windows system or whatever.) When you load a page that calls a resource hosted by coveritlive.com, Safari asks your computer for that resource and, when it obviously isn't found, just displays nothing, or a frame where the resource should have appeared.
Your router may also be able to block sites using its Web maintenance interface. That will actually be a little easier and will cover all of the computers in your household regardless of their OS or connection type. Since routers are all different, I leave it as an exercise to the reader.
Zimmie said 3:48PM on 4-15-2008
Actually, on a Mac, putting 127.0.0.1 in the hosts file will cause the machine to try to connect to itself. If it happens to be running a webserver, your browser will have to wait for the timeout or for the server to return a 404 page. It's better to use a multicast address. Browsers know that multicast addresses can't host web pages, so that will fail immediately.
Bob S. said 3:56PM on 4-15-2008
Point taken. But if you're running a Web server on your Mac, you're likely to be aware of the issue. And if you aren't, it isn't an issue.
Robert Jones said 2:26PM on 4-16-2008
There definitely is an alternative solution for liveblogging: TUAW can shoot the annoying meme repeatedly in the head and bury its zombie corpse in the backyard. I know all the cool kids are doing it, but really, "liveblog this", "liveblog that", it all gets tiring after a while. Sure, you *can* post every moment of an activity as it happens, but why *should* you? News stories aren't supposed to cover a complete play-by-play of an event, but instead the summary details so that you can know what happened in a minimum of time.
Liveblog FTL.
Thomas Little said 12:19PM on 4-15-2008
I tested this using google chat and had a conversation with little to no lag with a co-worker a few minutes ago. Very cool!
Reply
Alex said 12:39PM on 4-15-2008
Takes fooorever to subscribe and it is way too easy and irritating to unsubscribe to Skype. Also, it crashed when I tried to place a call. Can't wait for this to get out of pre-release
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Richard said 1:12PM on 4-15-2008
I have an iVoice III mic that has been hacked to work on the iPod Touch. I am running a GodPod with version 1.1.1 (3A110a) with VNotes installed. (it runs so sweet I haven't messed with it) I have done recordings that are extreamly loud and clear but it does have a habit of crashing the Touch.
Like Erica (my hero) I've tried SIPVoip with very little success. I can talk but can't listen. Voip forum have given a zillion reasons why but no joy on getting it to work. I've tried several SIP servers to no avail.
As I understand it, this will not work due to my version 1.1.1. Is that affirmative? I'd love to give this a go. I'll have some free time tonight and if it is possible I'll give it a shot.
Richard
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TVRabble said 1:24PM on 4-15-2008
Just a note. You cannot listen to music while Fring is running in the background and movies wont open at all.
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TVRabble said 1:31PM on 4-15-2008
Okay if you reboot after you install music and movies will work.
Mat said 1:52PM on 4-15-2008
I was hopeful when I read this so I installed it and wished I'd not bothered. I dont understand why I need to sign into a third party to use any of these functions. Why no connect directly?
I want a SIP client that can talk to my Asterisk server. Just a basic, simple SIP client on the iPhone. Seems to be too much to ask, but if someone knows of one I'd be happy to try it.
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Welly said 2:53PM on 4-15-2008
While I've not tried it yet, it looks like Fring comes with a built in SIP client. At least it lists it as having one.
ranova said 8:29PM on 4-15-2008
paranoid much?
Tony said 9:19PM on 4-15-2008
The SIP support just plain sucks at the moment. As you point out it's sending your login details to a 3rd party, apparently unencrypted (over public wifi... prepare to get pwned).
There's no incoming suport, and the outgoing support I've only ever got to work once - the app just crashes half the time if you tried to dial (and now I can't reregister - a packet trace shows no attempt to contact the sip server whatsoever).
It's also worth noting that this will kill your battery - it holds the wifi connection open when it's running in the background (obviously it won't work over GPRS/Edge). Given its lack of incoming call support that's suprising... it could just shut down.
Nice idea but very much alpha quality. Still waiting for a decent SIP client.
Richard said 2:04PM on 4-15-2008
The AIM chat works with the ipod touch. just had a text chat with my daughter. have google talk signed up but no one to test it with. will sign up for skype later today and try that. I've got to get back to work but I'll try some more later.
Richard
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Alex said 2:07PM on 4-15-2008
Are there firmware requirements to get this up and running?
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