Switchboard server for ACCESS/BRIC-Link Lives!

If you're an active user of our BRIC-TS service for finding and connecting your audio codecs together, you might notice some changes on your account interface today.

We've had a project going for a few months in modernizing how the system works, and it went live today. Most users should notice nothing, but if you log into your account you'll notice the new structure right away.

It's also moved to a new, more reliable hosting company. Our Sales Director Chris Crump has this quotable nugget about the project coming to fruition:

"Yippee!"

Why Opus is Important

Here's a secret: We're currently working on integrating the Opus codec into ACCESS and STAC-VIP. Why?

Not because Opus sounds better or is easier to use, but in fact it sounds almost as good at the AAC family of algorithms, and it's not encumbered by expensive patent licenses.

We're integrating Opus to ACCESS because it's the key to mobile app support. Many new Android and iOS softphones support it, including a particularly new one I'll be blogging about soon.

For STAC-VIP, Opus compatibility opens up huge possibilities in creating phone/web integration. If you're viewing this blog with a Chrome or Firefox browser, you actually have an Opus audio codec embedded in there, and it just takes a few more pieces in the chain to link it all together.

That's pretty exciting stuff and we'll be focusing on it a lot as we run up to our yearly big event, NAB. Watch this space for more as news develops!

When iOS Becomes the Problem Instead of the Solution

Time for some more developer whining today. We've hit quite a number of situations lately where we have a great idea to support customers better, and while gaming the concept out we hit a wall. And that wall is increasingly becoming iOS.

So many of our products have a significant web component to them now, and it's growing fast. User interfaces, support services, cloud-based registration servers etc etc. And we're actively developing apps for mobile devices that make our products easier to use.

You'll see a lot of opinion on the web about which major ecosystem- iOS or Android- is easier for developers. But what's not always mentioned is the annoying tendency for Apple to say "no way" to your idea. Sometimes it's because it crosses a technical boundary that Apple truly has installed to protect their products and users. I can sympathize with that to some extent.

But so many times it's apparent that the decision comes from a desire to control and point the user only to products that are from Apple. That really stinks. It's hard enough trying to keep my Internet provider from deciding which websites get the most bandwidth to me, and my cellular company from deciding which mobile apps I can use. But in that mix is Apple, holding a hatchet over any innovation that threatens their business model.

One example is WebRTC, which I'll blog a lot more about soon. It's about the most exciting technology to come along in our domain (wideband audio transmission) in a long time. Google's leading the drive, but a host of smaller companies are investing and innovating with it. It's a crazy, wild ride right now.

Except with Apple. WebRTC threatens their control over videoconferencing with FaceTime. So no native WebRTC in iOS browsers.

Anyone trying to innovate in the mobile space needs Apple's support to succeed. There's just so many iProducts out there. Designing only for Android leaves half the market unserved. To their credit, Apple led the charge and created the market for mobile apps. But their absolute control over their ecosystem has doomed a lot of innovative ideas, including a few in our lab. It's getting worse and under normal circumstances I would expect a backlash against this behavior. But users and the press are so enamored with the company and the products it's hard to see that happening soon.

Sensorly is the only truly useful 3G/4G coverage map

Cellular provider's coverage maps can be a real exercise in frustration. Beyond the expected exaggeration of their coverage zones, they often are quite obtuse in their user interfaces, as well as slow.

A coverage project called Sensorly makes me really happy. It delivers clear coverage maps based on actual user's experience. Sensorly maps are automatically updated by folks who carry the app in their phones, so the data is raw and unmanipulated. And from what I've seen so far, crazy accurate.

Sensorly has it's limits--it pretty much just shows coverage on roads that have been traversed by its app users, but once you get the hang of it, interpolating these maps into real coverage zones is pretty easy. I highly suggest a quick look-up before heading our to do that next 4G remote in a new area.

Sensorly predicted VZW 4G coverage at Comrex headquarters

Provisional Support for those modems we've been promising

We've got test firmware for our LiveShot video codec that supports the latest LTE modems from Sprint and AT&T. As you might recall, I blogged about these over the summer, and although it wasn't easy, we've integrated the drivers and they seem to be working. LiveShot support is available currently only in our "unstable" branch firmware, but if you're eager for these contact our support department and they'll set you up.

ACCESS support is a bit more complex, but we're on the path. It required a Linux kernel upgrade on our side, which has the potential to break any number of the dozens of ACCESS features, so we're testing that now. We should have support for ACCESS 2USB within weeks, and ACCESS Portable Classic (Hopefully) sometime over the winter.

The UML295 is an ornery critter

Comrex cleverly added support for the Verizon flagship modem UML295 to our products the week it was released. We found the previous modem (UML290) lacking in several regards and were eager to have folks use the newer, better version as soon as possible.

But we got blindsided by a firmware update that's now being applied to these modems by "Big Red". In our driver for ACCESS codecs, it turns out we send a command that is interpreted differently once the new modem firmware hits, and the results aren't pretty.

Note the modems won't update on their own--you need to attach them to a PC and explicitly authorize that the firmware be updated.

But once that's done, the next time you apply the modem to your ACCESS, it will become locked in a mode that will kill future LTE connections. Even when attached to other devices. That's not good.

You'll notice a big banner on our website these days warning of this situation. We'd hate to be the cause of modem heartache, so we're trying to get the work out as quickly as we can.

The fix is easy--upgrade your ACCESS to new firmware (2.8p24 or higher) and the next time you plug in your modem it will instantly heal itself.  Other fixes are listed in our appnote on the topic.

The culprit

Off Topic-Adventures in Product Support

It's a pretty big challenge providing support for hardware in the broadcast market--we need to supply top level people at the basic support level (no script monkeys) with high amounts of training. This is expensive and not conducive to the current employment environment where people expect to work somewhere for a few years before jumping ship.

And our support is free to the customer, which means that the customer often now assumes you can grapple all his IT issues, related to product performance or not.

Another field where all this is true is consumer devices like phones and tablets. Unlike computers, the expectation of the customer is free support for their device, and I'm certain that with the vast spectrum of technical capability of the average iPad user, this can be quite the handful. Wouldn't it be tempting to aim your mother-in-law toward the local genius bar instead of trying to figure out why Facetime isn't working for her down in Florida?

I suppose folks like Apple have thought hard about this, and I imagine the prices one pays for their products builds this cost in, as do the products built and sold by Comrex.

I got a little education on this last night. Now, I'm an Android fan and have big issues with the restrictive nature of the iProducts, but I certainly see their value in equipping non-techie wives and children with devices they have less chance of messing up. But my wife's iPhone 5 went rouge this week, suddenly downloading multiple gigabytes of nothing from the app store for no reason I could discern. Verizon had no clue and couldn't tell me the nature of the data, so I found the switch within the OS to turn off app store capabilities over cellular.

Well that's not a very elegant fix, so when we found ourselves in the local mall, I thought to stop by the Genius Bar to inquire what could cause such a thing. My grouchy engineering nature always re-appears when met by those bluetooth wearing, iPad toting, way-too-eager kids milling around the Apple store, but I hunkered down and entered. The "greeter" asked if he could help, and I inquired if I could speak to a Genius briefly.

"Do you have a reservation?" he asked, the ear-to-ear grin not flinching. Odd, I thought, but pressed on. "No, we were just walking by". His expression changed to one of concern.  "Walk that way and talk to Johnny. I'm sure he can help".

"How to I find Johnny?" I asked. "Easy!" exclaimed the greeter, his smile returning. "Johnny has the green iPad cover!". Apparently, the color of your iPad cover signifies your rank in the iStore. Kind of like a Star Trek uniform. At least it wasn't red.

So we ventured further into the store, and found Johnny located near the end of the Genius bar, studiously tapping on his green-covered iPad. I re-inquired about talking to someone about the rouge iPhone.

"Do you have a reservation?" he asked, displaying what I started to label an iGrin. "No". Johnny looked down at this iPad, which I could now see was running a calendar system with lots of colored blocks on lots of grids. He started scrolling. And scrolling. Johnny scrolled for about 10 straight seconds. This was not looking good.

"The next Genius I have available is at 8:30 PM". It was 6:30 PM. I made my grouchiest engineer face (I'm very good at that, I'm told). I turned to my wife and told her (with no effort at volume reduction) "That's ridiculous and annoying. Let's go."

On my way out, I heard Johnny doing his best to appease. "If you make it back, call for an appointment ahead and you'll have an easy time" he called.

Although I left pretty unhappy, on reflection I can sympathize with Johnny and the gang. Offering deep tech support in a mall has got to be a challenging effort. And no doubt the support load comes in fits and spurts during peak hours. And there's also no doubt that the typical iPhone customer enters with an expectation that the "Genius" will solve all their phone or data-related issues, whether it's Apple's fault or not.  And I guess making a reservation isn't the dumbest idea given these factors.

At Comrex, we've taken to bringing one of our support personnel to our NAB stand. This is mainly due to the expectation that some customer's have that we're there to discuss issues they're having with our products. It helps us meet those expectations, while still able to do all the other good NAB stuff, like selling, learning about customer's needs, and general hobnobbing.

My experience at Apple was definitely colored by my personal "ick factor" when presented with overly-helpful staff. Maybe I'll give the Genius bar another try (with a reservation).