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Posts Tagged ‘Voicemail’

Google Voice Competitor Ribbit Mobile Launches iPhone App (500 Invites)

Ribbit Mobile, which offers a set of VoIP services that is very similar to Google Voice, just launched its first iPhone app (iTunes link). The app allows users to check their voicemail, read voicemail transcriptions, forward voicemails by email and create a to-call list based on these messages. It uses the iPhone’s native phone app to make calls and the default SMS app to send text messages.

Ribbit also gave us 500 invites to hand out to our readers. If you would like to get one, just read on to find out how to claim it.

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In terms of features, Ribbit Mobile, which launched in November, compares very well to Google Voice. While the interface takes some getting used to, the ability to make and receive calls from Ribbit’s website through the Flash-based interface is extremely useful while traveling, for example. For a more detailed look at Ribbit Mobile, have a look at our in-depth review from November.

Focus on Voicemail

Your voicemail inbox is the central focus of the app, and the way the app handles these is exemplary. Once you click on a message in the inbox, the app switches to a new view that displays details about the call: name of caller, number, date and time. Here you can also listen to the message and read the transcript. (Ribbit offers both automatic and manual transcriptions.) From here, a small bar at the bottom of the app also allows you to respond to the message by phone, SMS or recorded voicemail. In addition, you can add the caller to your to-call list and forward transcripts and audio by email.

Playing it Safe

Given that Apple didn’t allow the Google Voice app into the store, Ribbit clearly played it safe with this app. While it provides access to all the service’s voicemail features, the app doesn’t replicate any of the phone’s calling or SMS features. The app also doesn’t allow you to access your Ribbit Mobile address book. Sadly, this also means that you can’t use your Ribbit phone number to make calls, and that the caller ID will always show your iPhone’s number. In the current version it’s also not possible to see a list of missed calls that didn’t result in a voicemail. You can, however, choose to receive alerts for missed calls and new voicemails by SMS, email and instant message. You can set your alert preferences in the app and through the service’s web interface.

We understand that Ribbit probably had to remove quite a few features to stay on Apple’s good side, but the result of this is that the app misses quite a few essential features. Hopefully – now that Ribbit managed to get this castrated version of the app approved – the Ribbit team will soon be able add more of the missing features into the app.

Invites

Ribbit Mobile is still an invite-only service. If you would like to give it a try, just head over to Ribbit’s sign-up page and use the following invite code: RWW09
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Put Your Startup on Holiday Autopilot with Twilio

Holidays can be a tough time for those of us with startup companies. While the rest of the world is carving turkeys, lighting Menorahs and singing carols, we’re sneaking moments away from family to check our messages. You’ve created your vacation responses, forwarded your phone to voice mail and emailed your emergency contacts to clients. But a good business person makes sure services run smoothly, even during the holidays. Twilio may be one company that can help.

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Twilio is a web-service API that allows businesses to build their own customizable phones services and communications apps. Hosted on Amazon Web Services, Twilio’s infrastructure grows depending on customer demand. The company’s per-call pricing model is affordable and after watching CEO Jeff Lawson demo the service, we were surprised to see how user-friendly it truly is. At this week’sSF New Tech Event, Lawson was given 5 minutes to set up a conference call. After 10 lines of code he had a call-in number, mute settings, admin prompts and more than 50 members of the audience calling in during his live demo. After seeing the audience respond to the service, we realized that Twilio would be a great for putting your company on holiday autopilot.

Twilio offers a variety of usages including notifications, phone polls, call forwarding, voice transcription and triaging. If a client needs a reminder during the holidays you can automate a message and pre-program it to call them on a specific date. If you want to remain available in case of an emergency, you can forward a list of pre-determined numbers to your mobile while leaving the rest in voicemail. And if you’re looking to create a simple directory, you can use Twilio to create a list of people, options or customer service contacts.

In late September ReadWriteWeb covered Buzzeromatic’s latest Twilio-based door application. In this case, users can grant timed building access to visitors by programming the door buzzer with a password. Rather than waiting for deliveries, Twilio ensures that you’re warm at home when deliveries arrive to your building entryway.

At this early stage, we know we’re just scratching the surface on all of Twilio’s capabilities. If you’ve hacked together a cool application or holiday game plan using Twilio or a similar service, let us know in the comments below.

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Unified Communications: Saved by the Cloud?

Unified communications was a notable absent In Gartner’s top 10 strategic technologies for 2010. For years, the idea of a common platform for seemingly all communications seemed bewildering. Cisco CEO John Chambers said that even CIO’s were unsure what unified communications really meant.

But now here it is raising its flag once again with predictions from ABI Research that the unified communications market will jump from $302 million in 2008 to $4.3 billion by 2014. Seems like a big jump? Not really if you compare it to what at least one other analyst group is predicting.

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Interestingly, the reason for the growth may be in part due to cloud computing, which not surprising is the number one technology on Gartner’s list for 2010.

For years, unified communications has held promise as a product or suite of products that had a unifying user interface that, according to Wikipedia, would integrate real-time communication services “such as as instant messaging (chat); presence information; IP telephony; video conferencing; call control and speech recognition with non real-time communication services such as unified messaging (integrated voicemail, e-mail, SMS and fax).”

Over the years, camps divided as people grappled with the idea of how all these technologies come together. Cisco recently dumped the term “unified communications,” in favor of “Cisco Collaboration.” They are smart over at Cisco. Collaboration is definitely the new black. There’s not a lot new behind the curtain but collaboration has an edge to it that is getting the attention of the enterprise.

But now comes along cloud computing and the vendors seem to be learning that perhaps unified communications should be treated as a service.

Vendors like Cisco are teaming up with SaaS services like Salesforce.com and VOIP providers such as Skype. The potential proves to In-Stat that the market for unified communications will jump to $39 billion by 2013.

It may be easy to poke fun a the hype around cloud computing these days. But there is actual proof that whatever you want to call it, cloud computing is playing a significant part in the growth of unified communications. Services that interconnect across devices and provide the capability for collaboration are emerging in a variety of flavors.

More proof of what is to come? Aire-Spring represents a new breed of telecommunications companies. They are also one of the fastest growing operators. The comany has built an IP network from scratch. The company is processing 4 billion calls annually.

Those are big numbers fitting for a market that is just about to burst.

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How Google Voice Violates Google’s Own Privacy Policy

I’ve had a nagging frustration in my otherwise perfect relationship with Google Voice. The service systematically replaces my friend’s phone numbers with their Google Voice numbers when they call, even when they aren’t calling from Google Voice. Not only has this led to a lot of confusing and time wasting “how did you get my Google Voice phone number?” conversations, it is a clear violation of Google’s own privacy policy.

Here’s how this works: Let’s say you signed up for Google Voice sometime in the past. The main benefit of Google Voice is that it forwards calls to your other phones – the whole “one number for life” thing. So you probably told Google Voice a few of your other phone numbers – home, work, mobile, etc. And then perhaps you stopped using the service after testing it.

Now if you call my Google Voice number from any of those real phone numbers that you told Google about, the caller ID and archived information on Google Voice (missed and received calls, voicemails) says your Google Voice number, not the number you are calling from.

That creates confusion. If I have your mobile number stored in my phone, it doesn’t recognize the Google Voice caller ID and I tend to ignore the call. Then I read the transcribed voicemail and realize it’s someone I know. I check my address book and the number isn’t right, though. I add the new number and maybe delete the old one, thinking you’ve changed phones. It’s a mess.

Inbound text messages have the same problem. And if I return the text message and you don’t have the feature turned on to your real mobile phone, you won’t get them.

I get why Google is doing this. They want people who have Google Voice to use that number, and this is a helpful way of pushing the issue. It’s free marketing, and there is a logic behind the “feature,” too.

But just because someone gives me one of their phone numbers doesn’t mean they want to give me their Google Voice number. Maybe they abandoned the service. Or maybe they just don’t want me to have that number.

What if you sent me an email from your work account to my Gmail account, and Google automatically changed the from address to your Gmail account? This is a direct analogy to what’s happening with Google Voice.

And it’s a clear violation of Google’s privacy policy, which states:

Information sharing

Google only shares personal information with other companies or individuals outside of Google in the following limited circumstances:

• We have your consent. We require opt-in consent for the sharing of any sensitive personal information.
• We provide such information to our subsidiaries, affiliated companies or other trusted businesses or persons for the purpose of processing personal information on our behalf. We require that these parties agree to process such information based on our instructions and in compliance with this Privacy Policy and any other appropriate confidentiality and security measures.
• We have a good faith belief that access, use, preservation or disclosure of such information is reasonably necessary to (a) satisfy any applicable law, regulation, legal process or enforceable governmental request, (b) enforce applicable Terms of Service, including investigation of potential violations thereof, (c) detect, prevent, or otherwise address fraud, security or technical issues, or (d) protect against harm to the rights, property or safety of Google, its users or the public as required or permitted by law.

None of these exceptions apply here. Google needs to add an opt in for this feature, and do a better job of syncing these calls in my address book, or abandon the practice.

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HTC Hero for Sprint hands-on and impressions

When we first caught wind of HTC’s Hero coming to Sprint, we were more than a little hopeful that the issues we experienced with the European version would be alleviated. If you’ll recall, we had a bit of a love-hate affair going on with the chinny, wine-drinking iteration of the Android-powered phone due to a seeming lack of horsepower required to push HTC’s totally amazing Sense UI. In the last few weeks, we’ve heard lots of chatter about the forthcoming Hero update and the wonders it would do for the speed of this phone… but unfortunately there’s no such luck in the US, CDMA version of this device.

So, the point here is we were planning on doing a whole new review to showcase the differences between the old and new version of the Hero, but there really aren’t any besides the obvious physical changes. Sprint has added some great new apps, like its visual voicemail, which works like a charm (oh by the way Coleen, you got that job — maybe you should give them your new number too), and Sprint Navigation, though it’s also muddied up the mix by including the yawn-maker NASCAR app. Of course, this phone provides a full-on 3G experience, unlike the European version (for obvious reasons), and Sprint’s network seems as snappy as ever — general web browsing was a noticeably more enjoyable experience, for instance.

Here is what we can say about the phone: the industrial design of this version versus the older model is a marked improvement, chucking that awkward chin shape for a proper bottom half, and rearranging the hard buttons so that you’re not constantly getting your hands cramped up. We also have to mention the trackball, which is the most comfortable we’ve ever used. While the performance is still not where we think it should be, the Hero is an awesome addition to Sprint’s growing line of serious contenders in the smartphone game. If that new update is all it’s supposed to be (and if Sprint is expedient in bringing it to market), many of our complaints should be quelled — and this will be the killer device we know it can be.

Gallery: HTC Hero for Sprint hands-on

Filed under: Cellphones

HTC Hero for Sprint hands-on and impressions originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 17 Sep 2009 00:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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AT&T & MMS: So close, some of us can taste it

Filed under: iPhone

Well, it looks like they were telling the truth, for once. Last weekend, a friend of mine just happened to forget that my iPhone couldn’t receive MMS messages, and sent me a picture he had taken. So needless to say, I was surprised when I saw the MMS notification, complete with picture, show up on my phone.

I was fully prepared to hop on to TUAW and write up a post, letting everyone know that MMS was turned on a full three weeks ahead of schedule. To be on the safe side, I decided to check with others to see if MMS was working for them. Unfortunately, everyone I asked said MMS was still not working on their phones.

Here at TUAW, we have received several tips over the past few months from individuals who have indicated MMS had suddenly started working for them. Many of these were from people who had also installed an updated carrier settings profile to their phones, which has produced mixed results across the board, ranging from MMS actually working to accidentally removing Visual Voicemail and even the basic ability to make phone calls. Even with these profiles installed, however, most people were still unable to use MMS due to settings on their AT&T account which prevent iPhones from sending media messages and filter incoming messages through their web-based “Multimedia Messaging” platform.

For the record, I was running the iPhone 3.0 software, and I had previously modified my carrier settings, although that hadn’t really made much of a difference until now. I had been lucky, in that I had found a profile that did not break anything, and had even temporarily enabled tethering on my phone, which I successfully used for about five minutes to try it out (although when I later tried to use the tethering during a recent power outage, the option mysteriously disappeared from the settings panel after I turned it on). So I had to draw the conclusion that my newfound ability to send and receive MMS messages was probably related to the carrier settings I had previously tinkered with, and I was doubtful that it would last.

Now here we are a week later, and MMS is still working for me. But what’s even better: reports are flowing in from around the country that MMS has started working in different markets. There are still quite a number of people out there that don’t have it yet, but it looks like AT&T is actually serious about meeting the September 25th deadline. Yeah, it’s definitely not “later this summer” as promised, but at least we are finally seeing some progress instead of just vapor dates and promises.

For those who are wondering where MMS has landed, HowardForums has a thread running with many people reporting which locations are up and running. Also, it’s worth mentioning that the majority of users who have reported MMS as working have the “AT&T 5.0″ carrier profile installed, which is included as part of the iPhone 3.1 update. So be sure to update if you haven’t already!

Thanks to everyone who has sent tips in regarding MMS in their area.

TUAWAT&T & MMS: So close, some of us can taste it originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 14 Sep 2009 00:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Google Voice Creeps Me Out On My Mother’s Birthday

Like most children I think my mom walks on water. She’s beautiful and kind and makes really excellent cookies. So like any good son I sent her roses today for her birthday. And she called to thank me, because she is always very polite. Everything was just peachy.

Except that I didn’t catch her call. And then Google Voice, which I have recently adopted, took her voicemail and auto-transcribed it. And then things just got creepy.

Her message, as translated by Google Voice:

Hi Mike, It’s Mom Mom, I got three dozen roses, I can’t believe it. Gosh I’m gonna have to get up on you or something. You need to save your money for your house but they’re beautiful 3 dozen. I can’t quite 31, half a dozen within funny. Thank you so much. I’m not gonna. I’m not going to be able. I’m on my next birthday because you can’t afford it, so I’ll talk to you soon. I love you, thank you bye.

I listened to the actual voicemail and, thankfully, my mother did not actually say “Gosh I’m gonna have to get up on you or something” to thank me for the flowers. What she really said? “I’m going to have to give up on you or something,” referring to me wasting money on flowers.

I love you mom. But Google, this is just wrong. I’m probably going to need therapy now.

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Now SpinVox’s Blogger-In-Chief Jumps Ship

James Whatley, SpinVox’s head of digital and social media, has quit. Why does that matter? Whatley’s job was to interact openly with the public and the industry about the voicemail-to-text company, both on the company blog and on Twitter. His departure – at a time when Spinvox is being buffeted by a wave of bad press – suggests that he no longer feels able to do so, having recently crossed swords with the media a number of times. The company has already appointed, then lost, its CFO, former Alcatel-Lucent CEO Patricia Russo, in the space of three months.

SpinVox is currently facing a tsunami of allegations about the way the company has been run. The UK’s Sunday Times has seen a copy of the company’s unaudited 2008 accounts, which suggests that SpinVox’s losses widened by 30% that year. The four-year old company has more than $200m in backing from private equity houses. In addition, a dossier is currently circulating that allegedly contains explosive claims about misappropriated resources.

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