Tom Keating : VoIP & Gadgets Blog
Tom Keating
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December 7, 2005

GotVoice consolidates all your voicemail accounts

December 7, 2005

Someone passed a tip on a company called GotVoice that allow users to retrieve their voicemail from any source, residential, office or mobile phone, consolidate them to a single voicemail account, and then access it within their email or on our web page. According to GotVoice, "Multiple accounts - corporate voicemail, cellular voicemail, residential voicemail, even home answering machines - can all be consolidated into a single voicemail box, forwarded from one voice mailbox to another, or forwarded into an email account." It's an interesting concept. It is a bit tedious to have to have to check your cellphone voicemail, your work voicemail, and even your home voicemail/answering machine periodically.

I'm not sure exactly how this product works, but a quote from their website states, "GotVoice's patent pending technology is based on the concept of software agents called "voice recognition robots." These software robots can be trained to interact in real-time with any voice-response system to provide web-based management of existing voicemail accounts."

I read this to mean their software will traverse any IVR/auto-attendant by passing along the appropriate DTMF/touch-tones to get to your voicemail box, including the DTMF digits for your voicemail password. Thus, I would assume you would need to give GotVoice your voicemail password(s) to your various voicemail accounts (cell phone, work, etc.) There are definitely many that will be unwilling to "trust" a third-party with knowing their voicemail password.





Listen to email on your iPod or mobile phone

December 7, 2005

MagneticTime announced their MT1 software that lets you listen to your emails and Word docs on iPods, Cellphones, PDAs & PCs in MP3 format. MagneticTime’s MT1 allows you to listen to your Outlook, Outlook Express & Word documents like 'songs,' since they are automatically converted to MP3 files on your iPod, cellphone, PDA or PC. I couldn't determine whose Text-To-Speech (TTS) algorithm they use when I checked out their website.

How it Works
MT1 automatically creates a new Outlook folder. Once a new email arrives in your inbox, it’s automatically selected & copied to that folder, where it awaits processing and translation to audio.


Electromagnetic fields (EMF) affect your positive Chi man!

November 30, 2005

With so many gadgets and electronics, this site wonders, "Are you exposed to computers, TV, mobile phone, microwave oven and other electronic appliances everyday? In today's lifestyle, you are exposed to man-made electromagnetic fields. The growing demands of ever-changing technologies and changes in social behavior have created more negative electromagnetic fields around you.Electromagnetic fields (EMF) above certain levels can trigger biological effects!"

The site goes onto explain that electromagnetic field sources have become the focus of health concerns and building mass hysteria by exclaiming, "Electromagnetic fields (EMF) is everywhere!" (nevermind the poor grammar).

But never fear, these crackpots have the EMF blocking solution for you!

'Chi' WaveGuard is a health-protector that contains 'chi' technology material. It is the result of a state-of-the-art bio-wave technology that was developed in Japan.





Volvo technology to prevent falling asleep at the wheel

November 30, 2005

Volvo Cars has developed a system to prevent drivers from falling asleep at the wheel. The system, called 'Driver Alert', gives an audio warning if the car appears to be losing control. A camera installed on the windscreen measures the distance between the car and the markings on the road surface, while the sensors register the car’s movements.

This is probably an exorbitantly priced extra option. Why not just roll down the window for some fresh blowing air and then blast some Journey, Metallica, Guns N' Roses or Barry Manilow?

What's missing from the XBox 360?

November 23, 2005

By all early indications, the Microsoft XBox 360 is a resounding success despite some stories of some XBox 360 muggings and even an Electronic Boutique store held at gunpoint until two XBoxs were handed over. My wife told me a story about her co-worker that witnessed two men "cut the line" to receive a ticket voucher for an XBox 360 resulting in some people in the line getting a baseball bat and beating them up. The police arrived and cordoned off the parking lot entrance preventing any other naive XBox 360 wannabees from entering and hoping beyond hope that they might get one.

In any event, Microsoft has been trying desperately to get a foothold in the living room, which has made the cable companies a bit nervous as Microsoft is trying to get more market share in the increasingly important home-entertainment market to compete with Apple, Sony, and others. In fact, last week's announcement between Microsoft and CableLabs to allow Microsoft
and PC manufacturers to bring to market digital-cable-ready (including
HD) content to Windows Media Center-based PCs and XBox's bypassing a cable set-top box could be another "foot in the door" to your living room by Microsoft.



Microsoft XBox 360 vs. Sony Playstation 3 - Game over man!

November 18, 2005

With the impending launch of Microsoft's XBox 360, inevitably comparisons will be made to Sony's Playstation 3 due out next year. But the battle has already been won by Microsoft without firing a single shot - without a single needle from the Needler gun (Halo) pricking Sony and without a single Covenant Energy Blade (Halo) slicing and dicing up the Sony competition. No, the reason is not because XBox 360 is launching this year before the "all important" holiday season, although that certainly gives Microsoft a huge advantage.

"So you're saying the XBox 360 has better graphics than the Playstation 3, right?"

Nope, I ain't saying that either.

"Ok, so you're saying the processing horsepower on the XBox 360 is better than the Playstation?"

Nope, try again.

"Better features? more multimedia capabilities?









Top XBox 360 Games to Buy for Christmas

November 17, 2005

Wondering what XBox 360 games to buy your kid(s) for the Christmas holiday season? (ditto for Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, etc.) Well, IGN Entertainment's GamerMetrics has pulled consumer data from three leading video game sites (IGN.com, GameSpy.com and TeamXBox.com) to rank the most anticipated XBox 360 launch titles. GamerMetrics tracks the awareness and activity of over 25 million gamers across IGN Entertainment's network of video game news and information sites, with the largest audience of video gamers online. Check out the Top 18 XBox gaming titles list below.

Live TV on Motorola RAZR V3c

November 17, 2005


Alltel
, operator of one of the nation's largest wireless networks, and MobiTV, Inc., an up-and-coming provider in mobile television and digital radio services, will now offer live television broadcasts andmade-for-mobile content to wireless customers starting Monday. Customers can view the broadcasts initially on the new Motorola RAZR V3c, and the service will be available on additional handsets next month. <more...>

I previously wrote about MobiTV and how a friend of mine uses MobiTV to stream to his Treo 650. I'm in the market for a new phone, but will go going the low-end route <sigh> due to some other expenses coming up.

Nickelodean and Cartoon Network download shows

November 14, 2005

What's with all the TV and movie downloading announcements today from major broadcast media and Internet media companies? Seriously... Today, I wrote about AOL offering classic TV episodes for free download, and now cable television channels Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network will offer the online sale of several half-hour programs for $2.99 per download to a Hasbro Inc.device, VuGo portable media player (pictured below).

Did all the Hollywood cronies get together in a big boardroom and say "Ok, fellas, we can't stick with the old model and we can't stop kids from downloading our copyrighted material on P2P networks. We have to do something.

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