telephone

Powerful planner

We review a lot of programs, and it's not often that we come across one that we like well enough that we want to keep it for our own use. Time & Chaos is one such program. This planner and contact manager offers plenty of features without becoming cluttered and unwieldy.

The program's interface is sleek and very intuitive, and we absolutely love how everything is displayed in separate panes in one screen. At a glance we can see our calendar, contacts, appointments, and tasks. Need to schedule a meeting with George, or put calling Betty on your … Read more

Gaudy French millionaires drool over Yubz solid gold phone

The Yubz telephone makes the argument that even iPhones can't escape irony's tacky, far-reaching arm. For $50 and the cost of shipping from France, you can own this ridiculous handset that plugs into your iPhone and lets you pretend you're Donald Trump in the early 1970s.

It'll be out in mid-November on the Yubz Web site, but if you simply can't wait until they inevitably show up in your local mall's Spencer Gifts, they're also available for preorder.

Finally, if a solid gold telephone triggers your gag reflexes as much as it does … Read more

Phonesheet: A nice, simple, overpriced call board

Here at Webware, we are occasionally guilty of neglecting our real-world friends who use real-world platforms. We talk about Twitter and we forget that about 0.0001 percent of the population uses it. But nearly every working stiff still uses a business phone. For those of you still struggling with a barrage of incoming office phone calls (Luddites), we have this review for you: Phonesheet.

This is a simple Web-based service that lets you take a call and record who called, when, and why. Then you, or anyone else in the office you give the access to, can see the … Read more

Does anyone know of VOIP that actually works?

Voice-over-IP (VOIP) has long promised to significantly disrupt the telecommunications market. And so it has. Never before have so many people paid so little for technology that doesn't work.

Yes, I know. You probably have a VOIP provider that works. All the time.

Guess what? I don't believe you. I've used Skype, Comcast Digital Voice, Vonage, a commercial service my company uses, and it's all rubbish. The problems vary, but one thing is clear:

Plain old telephone service (POTS) may be pricey, but at least it works. All the time.

It's amazing how much pain … Read more

Why Uncle Sam must stop subsidizing inefficient companies

From time to time, I'm going to open up this space to guest writers with an interesting point of view. This week, Gregory L. Rosston is taking a turn in the spotlight. Rosston is the deputy director of the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research and of the Public Policy program at Stanford University. He served as the deputy chief economist of the Federal Communications Commission from 1994 to 1997.

The Federal Communications Commission is about to continue its anticompetitive policy of protecting incumbent telecommunications providers at the expense of consumers. The FCC has one focus--making consumers better off … Read more

HP printers can't stop, won't stop

HP is poised and ready to send a barrage of printers to our office, and to that we say, "Bring it on!" This won't be the first time we've been deluged with printers from HP, and we're eager to get back in the ring. Need proof? Just last August, we became a storage shed for HP's massive photo printer rollout. This time around, it's the small and medium business side that gets a product boost with 11 new inkjet and laserjet printers that HP claims will increase flexibility and grab attention at a … Read more

Alexander Graham Bell--phone thief?

A book that's due out on January 7 claims the unthinkable--Alexander Graham Bell didn't really invent the telephone by himself. In The Telephone Gambit: Chasing Alexander Graham Bell's Secret, author Seth Shulman claims that corruption at the U.S. Patent Office allowed Bell to take ideas from a patent application filed by Elisha Gray. And further shenanigans allowed Bell's patent to be filed first.

Read the full story on MSNBC: "New book claims Bell stole key telephone idea."

Let's drag office phones into the 21st century

Why is it that your typical office phone stinks compared with the one you have at home? Here are a few of the ways they are harder to use, do less, and look uglier.

Office phones are ugly: They are typically anonymous black blobs with boring key shapes and colors and utilitarian speaker grills. Stylistically they are circa 1985 and made with shiny black textured plastics that would embarass a home phone or cell phone.

Office phones are hard to use (part one): They typically come in two types: Those with just one cryptic "function" button that through … Read more

Facebook gets more VoIP with babyTEL

VoIP and telephony service babyTEL is launching a new Facebook application this morning called Telephone that gives you access to a phone and answering machine without leaving Facebook. Instead of going the embedded route, like YackPack, babyTEL instead relies on a small Java runtime that sits in your computer's taskbar, or the dock if you're on Mac OS X. Once you fire it up, there's a simple authentication process to pull up your list of friends on the social networking service, and allow you to call them for free--assuming you have a headset or speakers and a … Read more