calling

iPhone Gets Voice Dialing With iSpeak

Having third-party apps fill in the missing holes in iPhone's functionality seems to be a genius idea, since Fonix has done the voice dialing legwork for Apple with their iSpeak app. The app consists of "a run-time engine that sits on the phone," which says always-running app to us, that can listen for names on your contact list and dial them. Also, you can look for songs in your music library by saying the name of the artist, song or playlist. More »

1:22 PM on Wed Jul 9 2008
By Jason Chen
13,919 views, 57 comments

Latest by SpudMills: Blah blah iPhone blah blah blah. How many people googled John Mizzeria, then became hungry for some delicious pizza? more »

iphone wishlist

Our iPhone 2.0 Wishlist

Sometimes reading rumors about the second iPhone is exactly like reading a wishlist of features people want. Whether it's subconscious or not, the rumors do get us thinking about what we want from a 3G iPhone. In short, we want an iPhone done right. Here's what we want to make the 3G iPhone faster, better and stronger. More »

12:01 PM on Thu Jun 5 2008
By Jason Chen
64,491 views, 142 comments

Latest by smokeonit: i want/need the bluetooth GPS stack that is misisng in the old iphone osX 1.1.4!!! i want to run my tomtom bluetooth GPS mouse with my iphone 2G!!! more »

video phones

Nokia Points to Users' Fatness To Explain Lack of Interest in Video Calling

Katherine over at Tech Digest caught this very interesting quote by a Nokia VP over at the S60 Summit today, explaining why their users aren't quite as interested in video calling as Nokia's sales department would hope. Here's the reason: the angle you're forced to hold the phone at when you're making video calls "isn't very flattering," leading us to believe that it's the work of old double-chin fatness that's deterring the acceptance of more video phones. If only Nokia would make phones that shoot a foot above your face into the well known MySpace position, capturing your visage from above, then we're sure these phones would sell like hotcakes. Extremely vain hotcakes. [Tech Digest]

12:50 PM on Wed May 28 2008
By Jason Chen
2,083 views, 15 comments

Latest by n/a: Did anyone ever consider that most people don't WANT video calling. It's actually kinda stupid on a cell phone with a lot of people using bluetooth earpieces and keeping the phone in a pocket or even using a wired headset. more »

cellphones

Roll Out Of Air France's In-Flight Cellphone Service Experiences Turbulence

Air France's in-flight cellphone trial has finally taken off, but with bumpy results. The New York Times hitched a ride on the French carrier recently and found several bugs in the system: More »

3:30 PM on Sat Apr 19 2008
By Elaine Chow
7,783 views, 22 comments

sprint

Sprint Finally Offers $99 'Simply Everything' Flat Rate Calling Plan

It's not the super cheap $59 plan everyone was hoping for, but it has finally joined the other three carriers in offering a $99 unlimited plan. Sprint's version includes unlimited voice, data, text messages, Sprint TV, Sprint Music, GPS, Direct Connect and Group Connect. This seems like it's even better than most of the other plans (Verizon and AT&T's are for voice only, and T-Mobile's is for voice and messaging). Good job Sprint! [BusinessWire]

12:11 PM on Thu Feb 28 2008
By Jason Chen
6,693 views, 44 comments

cellphones

Sprint May Be Bringing a $59 Unlimited Flat-Rate Plan to Spite Other Carriers

Now that all the major cellphone carriers except Sprint have a $99 flat-rate plan for unlimited calling, Sprint wants to one-up everybody and undercut the competition by up to 40%. According to Reuters, analysts are saying that a plan could be coming that either hits the $60 or $80 price point, which would be hard for Verizon or T-Mobile to match. Again, it's all rumor and speculation now, but wouldn't you love a $60 unlimited talk plan? [Yahoo]

6:40 PM on Wed Feb 20 2008
By Jason Chen
5,434 views, 30 comments

cheat sheat

Unlimited Calling Plan Cheat Sheet

Okay, so every major provider now has unlimited access plans. But what do you really get with each provider, and for how much? Here's everything broken down into a single chart. Note: These are for your phone only, and don't include tethering. More »

7:20 PM on Tue Feb 19 2008
By matt buchanan
46,907 views, 49 comments

Latest by n/a: Metro PCS has the same all you want to use plans for $35 - Unlimited Local Voice Only, $40 - Unlimited Voice Anywhere, $45 - Unlimited Voice/Text, $50 - Unlimited Voice, Text, Photo, etc. more »

belkin

Belkin's Desktop Internet Phone Negates the Use of a Computer for Skype Calling, Again

The Brief: Belkin's Desktop Internet Phone allows Skype calls to be made simply, by plugging straight into a wired/wireless router or live Ethernet port. The internet phone can store 500 contacts and initiates automatic login to Skype when your PC is started. More »

9:01 PM on Sun Jan 6 2008
By Haroon Malik
3,004 views, 5 comments

roundup

Afternoon News: Broadband Gridlock, Palm's Black Friday, and Cheap HDTV

• Broadband gridlock caused by increased bandwith demand could force us to return to dialup by 2010. In other "news", the sky is falling and 9/11 was an inside job. [BBC]
• Palm TX for $199 ($100 off) and Tungsten E2 for $149 ($50 off) from now until 11/26. [Crave]
• Insignia 26" 720p Widescreen Flat-Panel LCD HDTV on sale at BestBuy.com for $380, a savings of $170, until tomorrow. It's a solid deal, but you should see how excited Doug Aamoth is about it. [Best Buy via CrunchGear]

7:00 PM on Tue Nov 20 2007
By Benny Goldman
2,087 views, 4 comments

Latest by firesign: slow news day in the uk it would seem. besides, everybody knows wearing a foil hat increases your bandwidth. more »

exclusive interviews

Pear Cable Chickens Out of $1,000,000 Challenge, We Search For Answers

When we first criticized the $7,250 Pear Anjou speaker cables, little did we know it would stir up such a hornet's nest of controversy. James Randi, former magician and professional debunker, responded to our post by offering $1 million from his James Randi Educational Foundation (JREF) to anyone who could scientifically prove in double-blind testing that those exotic cables sound any better than run-of-the-mill Monster cables. Next, Pear Cable CEO Adam Blake stepped up, calling Randi's offer a hoax. Later, he announced that audiophile journalist Michael Fremer, senior contributing editor of Stereophile Magazine, was willing to undergo the double-blind testing in an attempt to prove there is difference between Pear Anjou cables and those Monster cables that cost about $7,100 less. Then, things got complicated. We interviewed James Randi, Michael Fremer and Pear CEO Adam Blake, trying to understand why this test may not even take place at all. More »

6:40 AM on Fri Oct 26 2007
By Charlie White
51,402 views, 108 comments

Latest by n/a: I saw this guy at SEMA in Las Vegas. He had a tiny, sparsely decorated booth with nobody stopping by and looking at his products. Total crock of shit! more »

calling bullshit

UPDATED: Journalist Accepts $1 Million Challenge: Do $7250 Cables Sound Better or Not?

Pear Cable, makers of the $7250 audio cables we showed you a couple of weeks ago, has accepted debunker James Randi's (pictured at left) challenge, where the former magician's JREF (James Randi Educational Foundation) promised $1 million if anyone could prove the difference between Pear cables and their Monster Cable equivalent. Today we received an answer to that challenge from Pear Audio CEO Adam Blake (pictured above right, the guy who called Randi's challenge a hoax), saying the double-blind tester will be Michael Fremer, a Stereophile Magazine writer whose work also appears on musicangle.com. More »

6:10 PM on Mon Oct 15 2007
By Charlie White
112,706 views, 137 comments

Latest by n/a: I think its classic that anyone would fall for such insanity. it makes me wonder if people research anything at all before they spend thousands of dollars. Salesman are taught a pitch to sell an item and most of the more »

calling bullshit

James Randi Offers $1 Million If Audiophiles Can Prove $7250 Speaker Cables Are Better

Our rant about those $7,250 Pear Anjou speaker cables found its way to the James Randi Educational Foundation (JREF), and Randi offered $1 million to anyone who can prove those cables are any better than ordinary (and also overpriced) Monster Cables. Pointing out the absurd review by audiophile Dave Clark, who called the cables "danceable," Randi called it "hilarious and preposterous." He added that if the cables could do what their makers claimed, "they would be paranormal." More »

11:22 AM on Mon Oct 1 2007
By Charlie White
165,812 views, 89 comments

clips

VoIP Comes Again For the iPhone

Although this isn't the first VoIP solution for the iPhone (that belongs to either SoonR or that one videoconferencing winner), TruPhone seems to be the most elegant (in theory) VoIP app so far. Although the service is really early on in its development stages, the end product will be able to switch seamlessly between VoIP calling on Wi-Fi and standard calls using your SIM whenever you're in Wi-Fi range. Not many details are available about how they're doing this, but we're watching intently. [TruPhone via Blognation]

10:00 AM on Wed Sep 26 2007
By Jason Chen
736 views, Comment

prank calling

FoneJacker: Naughty Tech Support Prank (NSFW)

Fonejacker, or Kayvan Novak, has a new entry in his prank call series where he prank-calls a tech support line to try to figure out how to play back a video that may or may not be naughty. He uses a Mac Genius as a stand- in this time, and one of our readers tells us that he actually knows who the guy is and showed him the video. For more, see his previous videos. [FoneJacker]

4:20 PM on Thu Jul 26 2007
By Jason Chen
20,500 views, 19 comments

Latest by lightshow: @ninjamurf: I can read, but apparently you didn't read my post 2 above yours. more »

prank calling

Fonejacker Prank Calls A UK Electronics Store

Kayvan Novak probably isn't a name you're too familiar with. If you recognized the name as the guy who played Arash in the film Syriana, stop reading this post and go try out for Jeopardy or something. For those of you still here, Kayvan has a new series kicking off in the UK called Fonejacker, a run-of-the-mill prank-call show that looks like it may rise above its failed predecessors (think Comedy Central's "Crank Yankers"). In this clip, he plays a linguistically challenged foreigner trying to buy some electronics, most notably a "Joovcuh Doovdé player" and a "Joovcuh Lookada Tuv." Don't get it? You will. [Fonejacker via Nothing To Do With Arbroath]

3:01 PM on Wed Jul 25 2007
By kthompson
26,017 views, 13 comments

Latest by sporkguy: alt.binaries.tv.comedy.british ;) more »

plants

Botanicalls Let Your Plants Call When Thirsty

Instead of having to remember to water your plants every day, how about installing a gadget that allows them to call you when they need water? Botanicalls does just that, with a soil-moisture sensor that detects whether a plan needs water and call you (on the phone that's connected to the plant) with the results whenever you want.

More »

2:50 PM on Thu Jul 19 2007
By Jason Chen
2,815 views, 6 comments

luxury calling

New Samsung Fashion Phones With Touch Sensitive Keypads

Here's more Samsung cellphone porn for us to drool over. Three Korean-only-for-now luxury models just released today, the SGH-E950, E840 and J600. The SGH-E840 in the image is allegedly the thinnest slider in the world at 0.41 inches (10.6mm), even thinner and shinier than Posh Spice. They come loaded with features and a new twist to their keypads. More »

3:40 AM on Tue Jun 19 2007
By Addy Dugdale
6,424 views, 13 comments

Gizmodo

Steve Jobs Says He Doesn't Have Cancer (And Why It's Not Your Business...

Gizmodo Team

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