Digital Trends
Iconic singer-songwriter Bob Dylan is in negotiations to become a voice giving directions on a satnav. At least that’s what he told listeners to his The Time Radio Hour, claiming he’d been approached by more than one manufacturer. He said:
“You know I don’t usually like to tell people what I’m doing, but I’m talking to a couple of car companies about the possibility of being the voice of their GPS system.”
In another indication of how awkward things might be getting for Apple and Google, last week Apple not only rejected Google’s Google Voice application for the iPhone, but also tossed out third party applications that used Google Voice. Now, the Federal Communications Commission wants to know what’s going on, sending an inquiry (PDF) to both Apple and AT&T why the Google Voice applications were rejected. The letter focuses on what role (if any) AT&T may have played in the rejection of Google Voice applications, and asks for details of conditions and contracts between Apple and AT&T that may impact iPhone application approval.
Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), or Internet telephony, is certainly growing rapidly, as more and more people use their broadband connections to make phone calls. But in the wake of that has come an entirely new form if identity fraud, according to VoIP equipment maker Newport Networks.
People are hacking into VoIP accounts and stealing usernames and passwords, which are now selling online for more than stolen credit card numbers. While credit card numbers go for around $12, stolen VoIP accounts sell for around $17.
Quickly leaping in line behind Verizon, which announced $99.99 unlimited wireless voice plans on Tuesday morning, both AT&T and T-Mobile have unveiled their own competing plans less than a day later. All three carriers now offer plans at the same price that allow subscribers to make as many calls as they want without restrictions.
AT&T’s plan will cost $99.99 a month, with no long distance charges or domestic roaming charges. Like its other voice plans, the unlimited plan can be combined with any of AT&T’s other packages, including its data and texting plans. According to Electronista, special phones such as BlackBerrys, Windows Mobile handsets, and iPhones will see slightly different pricing, ranging from $120 for an iPhone with unlimited voice and data, to $145 for a BlackBerry with unlimited voice, data, and corporate e-mail. The plans will become available February 22.
For some people, voicemail is a convenient and more personal way to leave a message for another person when they’re not around. To others, listening to these sometimes drawn-out messages is just another speed bump in their fast-paced lives.
Alltel is hoping to appeal to the latter crowd with its new Voice2TXT service, which uses voice recognition software to convert voicemails into ordinary SMS text messages. “Our customers will appreciate the fact that they no longer have to wait for the opportune time to listen to a voicemail," said Craig Kirkland, director of messaging and voice services for Alltel Wireless, in a statement. “With Voice2TXT, our customers have an easier way to manage their voicemails via text messages when they are in a meeting, on the go or anyplace where they cannot or do not wish to use traditional voicemail.”
BlueAnt Wireless has released its Z9 Bluetooth Headset in the United States, which offers dual microphones and patented voice isolation technology to cancel out background noise, wind, and echoes that can make calls placed on phone headsets almost incomprehensible to listeners.
“BlueAnt has dedicated over two years to the developmental and testing phases for the Z9 to ensure the highest quality noise elimination and call clarity is achieved,” said BlueAnt senior VP Peter George, in a release. “We’ve developed the technology and made the comparison. The Z9 has come up trumps in terms of its performance giving consumers the quality they want in this type of personal device.”
Creative Technology last week unveiled a new web camera with enhanced voice clarity and noise reduction technologies for video instant messaging. The new Live! Cam Voice is priced at $99.99 and should be available this month.
The Live! Cam Voice, said Creative, integrates dual adaptive array microphones to capture the user’s voice while reportedly eliminating background and environmental noise coming from outside the webcam’s field of view. The camera has 1.3 megapixel resolution for photo and video capture and users can snap still photos up to 5.0 megapixels. It also incorporates video technology to maximize the number of frames that are displayed per second so that it can reportedly deliver a better picture.
Research firm In-Stat reports that revenues for wireline services are in steady decline in the United States, and that growth in wireline broadband services like DSL is not enough to offset declining revenue from wireline voice services.
“Voice services, which have experienced persistent pressure from wireless alternatives, are increasingly being challenged by VoIP solutions,” said In-Stat analyst David Lemelin “Long distance revenues are increasingly becoming irrelevant as ‘any distance’ calling plans for wireline and wireless services take hold.”
Overall, In-Stat forecasts overall wireline revenues
In a move sure to rankle Skype’s new corporate masters over at eBay, online titan Yahoo has let slip that the forthcoming version of Yahoo Messenger (due any day now at voice.yahoo.com) will offer a “Phone Out” capability which will enable users to place one cent per-minute voice calls to the United States from anywhere in the world, and 2 cents per-minute voice calls to other countries, including China, South Korea, Japan, Germany, Italy, and France.
The pricing significantly undercuts voice-over-Internet leader Skype’s 2.1 cents per-minute rate in the U.S., although is basically on par with Skype for placing calls to countries other than the United States.
Nokia today announced three new mobile phone models geared towards the business user. Full of cool features and functions, the new Eseries
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