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After Google's acquisition of Gizmo5 back in November, people could not help but wonder if and when it would be fully integrated with Google Voice. Ever since the announcement, speculation has flooded the Internet. Rumors about Google's upcoming phone being VoIP only began circulating, and excitement has continued to build. Today, those rumors are all beginning to come together. In a post on eWeek, Google executive, Bradley Horowitz, has openly admitted that Google plans to implement VoIP into their Google Voice service sometime in 2010. This will allow users to make phone calls via any data connection, regardless of a voice plan.
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After the xpPhone was announced back in May, word of its development went surprisingly quiet - enough so, in fact, that I'd been convinced the project had gone the way of Duke Nukem Forever.
With this recent media dump, however, the xpPhone is looking more real than ever. ITG released a handful of prototype images just weeks ago, and followed it up shortly thereafter with a video of the Windows XP-powered handset booting up. This latest video goes on to show a bit of what the phone can actually do -- that is, make phone calls in Windows XP.
Bluetooth headsets are great in a car but even more awesome on a motorcycle. It’s not like you can use your phone while cruising down the road on a bike. You might drop the phone and no one wants that. BlueAnt is the latest company to release a system that fully utilizes all the capabilities of Bluetooth for motorcycle riders. These days, Bluetooth isn’t just for phone calls. With the A2DP profile, the systems can stream all sorts of audio which makes a lot of sense for the average rider. The Stereo F4 Interphone Motorcycle Kit has an intercom mode, can receive audio from some GPS units, stream music, and of course connect to your phone for calls. The system works both full-faced and open-faced helmets, is fully weatherproof and can connect to two devices simultaneously. All this Bluetooth fun doesn’t come cheap though. The system has an MSRP of $225.
My inbox is in pain. Almost immediately after I hit the publish button on last week’s iPhone 3GS vs Motorola Droid Smartphone Showdown, a torrential blast of comments and questions has been barraging just about every communication inlet I’ve got. Phone calls. Twitter DMs. Lots, and lots, and lots of emails. Across the board, it all seems to indicate one thing: people want more. We hear you. There are a number of worthwhile topics I simply didn’t get a chance to touch on, and a few observations I’ve made since that are worth mentioning. For those, may we present: Round 2.
The Ooma Telo base station costs $249. That gets you the unlimited calling, caller ID, a new phone number, and access to online call logs. If you want to port your existing number, that costs another $40. The Ooma handset is another $50 too. But wait, there’s more. Ooma is banking that at least some buyers will opt for the $10 per month Ooma Premier Service that adds on a few extra features. You get one-touch access to voicemail, call screening, remote access to messages, 3-way calling, free 2nd number, backup number, personal blacklist, call forwarding. The Telo comes with a three month trial of the Premier Service, btw. But when you start to look at the numbers, it makes sense. Vonage is about the only direct competitor to the Ooma anymore (MagicJack doesn’t count, sorry) and it’s least expensive unlimited plan is $25. Let’s say you port your number to Ooma for $40, but don’t buy the branded handset. You only owe Ooma $290 total, where you’re out $25 every month to Vonage and so it only takes you 12 months to recoup your costs with Ooma. Sure, the Vonage system does have more premium features included and now lets you call more than 60 countries with for no additional charge, but there is a one-year agreement that covers the free hardware. The high price might turn some off to Ooma Telo at first, but my goodness, the numbers don’t lie. It makes sense. The base station should be available at all major electronic outlets now (or real soon) with the handset launching in November.
Google Voice helps you manage your communications with a unique phone number that rings all your existing phones, a single voicemail inbox with online access and automated transcription, and lots of handy features like the ability to block spammy calls and easily record personalized greetings for your callers. Think of it as Gmail for your phone calls and text messages (watch this video to learn more). Google Voice is currently available via invitation, which you can request here. For those of you who already use Google Voice, you're probably used to receiving voicemail notifications via email. A couple of minutes after someone leaves a voicemail on your Google Voice number, you'll receive an email showing who called, an automated transcript of the voicemail, and a link to play the message. You can click the link to listen to the message right from your computer. Previously, clicking "Play message" opened a new page in your browser, but starting today, you can play voicemails right in Gmail. Just turn on the Google Voice player from the Gmail Labs tab under Settings and whenever you get a voicemail notification, the player will appear right below the message itself.  Best of all, your message status will stay synced: messages played from Gmail will appear as read in your Google Voice inbox and won't be played again when you check new messages via your phone. If you already use Google Voice, try it out and let us know what you think. If you don't have a Google Voice account yet, sign up for an invitation and we'll get you one ASAP. 
Welcome to the world of the future! In the future your iPhone will be able to tell you where you are and then adapt to those locations, turning things on and off (ringer, etc.), changing wallpaper (from Megan Fox to cute kittens in church), and from earth to space when you go on an intergalactic trip to free the citizens of Mars from the evil Cohaagen. Perhaps you ringtone could change to this? Basically this is a patent for something folks have been thinking about for years - targeted messaging based on time and location. Advertisers would love this but I doubt many of us want to be reminded by our iPhone to turn off our Shout The Devil ringtone while talking to the Dalai Lama. The iPhone would show “life events,” life events being:
That’s not all! Another patent adds phone calls to the calendar, ensuring you can dial your appointments with one press. In addition to this you’ll also see a screen that shows what your contacts are currently doing - working out, dancing, seeing a man about a horse - and will adjust your contact methods accordingly. This is obviously all pie-in-the-sky stuff and far too complex to ever make it into the iPhone in the form advertised. We’ll see how it pops up later when they streamline the actual interface.
More proof (see: the Perfect Pushup and the Snuggie.) that having a quirky, on-all-the-time commercial is a step in the right direction toward Big Success. MagicJack (commercial here) is selling something at the rate of 9,000 to 10,000 units per day, making its parent company, YMax Communications, some $100 million this year alone. But, in this age of Skype, who’s buying this thing? Two points for you if you guessed “older people.” The company’s average customer age is 50, and and live in retirement-friendly places like California or Florida. MagicJack, if you have no idea what I’m on about, is a device that plugs into your computer’s USB port that in turn lets you make and receive phone calls through your Internet connection. The reason why it’s so popular, I guess, is that you get the first year of service for free, and after that it’s only $20 per year. That low price is especially appealing to people on fixed income, or for people whose regular phone bills are too high. One side note: you do need to keep your computer on all the time for something like the MagicJack to work, so all that savings you’re getting by freeing yourself from the phone company may go straight toward powering your computer.
These tools offer an easy way to communicate incognito with Internet surfing, e-mails, phone calls and text messages.
Perhaps your daily commute is so boring that you need three gadgets to keep you entertained on your way to work. Funny, though, that not even the manufacturer of this triple gadget mount could find a third gadget to include in the photo. I might suggest a digital camera in the third slot so you can take photos of yourself while you’re weaving in and out of traffic. The “Super Universal Car Mount” features “flexible goose-pipe” which allows you to position your devices in landscape or portrait mode. Maybe add a GPS system to the third slot there. Then you’ve got all your bases covered: in-car movie watching, phone calls, and turn-by-turn directions. And don’t forget blocking your field of vision with what looks like a giant candleabra hanging from your windshield. Available at USBfever.com for thirty bucks, plus the cost of the ticket(s) you get for any laws you might be breaking while driving. Super Universal Car Mount [USBfever via GearDiary]
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