Broadcast #12 of T&A's Chicken Lips is in the can.  We are DJs at the local community radio station here in Salida, Colorado: KHEN-LP 106.9 FM ( website).  You can catch our show, T&A's Chicken Lips, on Wednesdays at 7 am - 9 am Mountain Time here in Salida.  KHEN also stream's it's signal on the World Wide Web.   Our show include a weekly audio "editorial" on technology called "Tech Kernels from the Chicken Lips." The "column" appears in text form below and is pretty close to what I read on the air.

Attached is a low quality (48kbps) copy of the show.  Where is the audio? Check enclosure or "Attachment(s)" links at the bottom of this entry for the audio!  (NOTE: Somehow, the audio signal got clipped [sounds distorted] sorry about that!)

We have underwriters!  Big thanks to our underwriters, First Street Flooring at 139 W First St, Salida, CO 81201 - (719) 539-6182

Here our play list:

Tech Kernels from the Chicken Lips

June 25, 2008
SPIT and Internet Telephony

I probably don't need to explain what spam is. It is more officially known as unsolicted bulk e-mail. I actually tried to figure out if spam was an acronym.  Well not officially, but I do like this definition: S P A M - Superfluous Pieces of Additional Mail.  :-)

As if SPAM wasn't bad enough. Now there is SPIT. SPIT stands for SPam over Internet Telephony.  Internet telphony is basically like a phone call, but instead of occurring over typical telephone lines, it occurs over the internet.  Services like Vonage make it extremely simple.  All you need is a standard telephone and an internet uplink.  Vonage provides you with a telephone number that rings on your connected phone.  Plug an ethernet cable and a telephone into the Vonage box, and the phone works like a normal telephone.  I run Skype on my computer at home for internet telephony.  Although it's a bit harder to use, it's free.

So if you use internet telephony, you can now look forward to SPAM-like attacks on Internet Telephony devices and software.  Some experts fear SPIT (SPam over Internet Telephony) could become worse than SPAM.  But frankly, I disagree.  Why?  Well... something like Skype works on a white list, where you tell skype who you want to receive calls from.  Services like Vonage require that you open an account with them... and Vonage devices have to authenticate with the Vonage service, so there is traceability.  Someone would have to figure out how to get a Vonage device to accept a call from a source other than Vonage.  According to Vonage, because anyone using the their service has to be authenticated with them, this would be nearly impossible.  But, given enough time and motivation, some hacker will figure it out.

Of course, if you get Vonage or pay for a Skype telephone number that rings on your computer, you can always receive unsoliced telemarketing calls.  I guess there is really no escaping SPAM, whatever form it takes!

We appreciate any feedback you have on our shows thus far.  Thanks to all our listeners!