Voicemail to Text: Callwave, PhoneTag, and You

For about a year I was a mildly happy user of CallWave.  To be honest, their service didn't do a great job of converting my voicemails to text - and it usually messed up the transcription in ways that made me laugh.  So I kept their beta service active on my phone, figuring it would get better.

After about a year, I never saw much improvement in the service.  They did send me a nice email asking if I'd be interested in upgrading.  It seemed that the only plan that would "cover" my needs was around $40/month - eek!  I opted to continue using the free "beta" service, as I saw nothing that led me to believe the actual transcription quality was any better on their premium offering.

Then, about two months ago, they sent me a fairly nasty note saying I had 48 hours to upgrade before they discontinued their beta service.  This didn't rub me the right way: I don't like having a gun held to my head, wasn't pleased with their offering or pricing, and felt that if they were going to put me (a free, leechy user) over a barrel once, they'd probably do it again.  So I started shopping. [To be fair, a day later they ended up extending this period to 2 weeks, but I was already gone by then...]

I came across several, but Simulscribe (now PhoneTag) and SpinVox were the only two that stood out as viable options.  I liked what both services offered and intended on trying them both.

However, after nearly two months with Simulscribe/PhoneTag - I have been very, very happy.  The quality of the transcription is excellent, and the service consistently works well!  I'm going to stick with them - and hopefully convince someone else to try SpinVox at some point in the future so I can compare.

Signup with Simulscribe using this link, and you and I will both get 30-days free.  Yay!

MC Yogi's "Vote For Hope"

A friend of mine forwarded this great video of MC Yogi's "Vote For Hope" - written and performed by MC Yogi and produced by Robin Livingston.

The production quality impressed me, and it's a good tune too!  I actually d/l'd the track from Yogi's site and have it in today's playlist.  :)  Check it out!

Even Google isn't very optimistic today...

I realize the Dow is down Goog, you guys included.  But you really couldn't find one more or less article related to this to report on?

 

Artists + Technology = Hilarity

So a good friend of mine is an excellent artist - with talent (and hair) flowing freely from his ears.  But sadly, when it comes to technology he can be all thumbs.  To be fair, he's actually better than what I would expect from his paintbrush wielding brethren - but if I had a quarter for every time I told him to "Google it," I'd be Larry Brin.

This is the Callwave transcript (which is about as accurate as a Magic 8-Ball) from a voicemail I received from him today.  It makes me laugh, out-loud, every time I read it.

know I'm curious to know if you've ever come across, somebody you know client or whoever that is literally taking their computer and like throwing it out window or just like rush it was a baseball bat, or something like that because, I'm really about to do that and secure snow, if anybody's ever really done that I'm sure you got some stories it's will after one and I'm it's still trying to figure out this Microsoft contact me see outlook, and I'm when I type in the phone number of the client, in is here all the stupid noises from my computer it like he wants to dial the number like the computer wants to dial the number and then it gets locked into this setting that I can't get out of you want to cancel yes so you understand, if you do see that and you sure you want to cancel, yes and it just takes me back it's like the cycle won't let me do it even control alt delete any more like unplug the computer so I'm gonna stop reason long winded, voice mail and just I hope you give me a call back when you get a chance give me some tips.

Fortunately he doesn't know how to use the internets, so I doubts he'll ever find this post.

This is Jesus - and you've been a very naughty boy

As if we don't already all hear enough strange voices in our heads, The Sierra Nevada Corporation has decided that instead of just working on their seasonal brews they would instead ramp up production on a super-scary ray gun that makes you hear things by turning your skull into a giant woofer. Great.

The best quote of the whole Gizmodo article has to be this one:

"The pulses create a shockwave inside the skull that's detected by the ears, and basically makes you think you're going balls-to-the-wall batshit insane."

Nerd Tats

That's right, you can have yourself laser engraved.  Sweet.  And I bet they'll still bury you in a Jewish cemetery.  Bonus!

In Soviet Russia, moleskin engrave you!

The Losing End of Hockey Bets

So this is what the losing end of a hockey bet looks like?  Seems the Pennsylvania Governor was a little overly confident in the Penguins, eh?  What a good sport for going through with it.  I love the fact that he is drinking Faygo Rock-and-Rye - brilliant!

And to think that I won my hockey bet (with myself?) and you all know how that ended up...

SPAM of the week

So on occasion I find a POS (Piece Of SPAM) in my inbox (thanks a lot Exchange) that I truly enjoy.  This week it was one titled: 'shore girl'

1. Find a girl
2. Invite her to your appartments
3. Use subject product V (or C)
4. Have fun
5. Take her number
6. Profit?

While inviting her to my appartments sounds pretty solid, step 6 is clearly my favorite.  I hope shore girl will reply to my internets.

Cocoa and Me

Part of my brain keeps saying "go code in Cocoa and leave the rest all behind".

I beat that part of my brain with a stick.

Me and My Moleskine - How I Avoided the Mohel

So the fine folks over at KCAL wanted to do a piece on nerds rediscovering non-nerdy devices - like the pen and paper.  As an avid Moleskine advocate, they shot some (B) roll of me on Tuesday for their Tech Check segment.  Other than looking like Brother Ishmael from Kingpin, I think I pulled it off - only breaking out words unsuitable for their viewership once.

Stop reading and watch the video here or here.  Now go watch it again - yes, it's that good.

I also got to spend some time with the creators of LaserMoleskine (subsidiary of equally cool EtchStar). Very cool folk with an equally cool product.  If you want the coolest damn Moleskin around, are looking for awesome giveaways or gifts, or just want to make your iPod yours in a way that Steve Jobs won't let you, then go see these guys.  I'm having them build a machine large enough for my car to fit in - but I digress.

My PriceLine Review

Sure PriceLine, I'll click through your review of the Grand Hyatt I stayed at in SF last week.  I'll even spend 5 minutes giving you honest feedback.  But then you got a little snippy with me, didn't you?  You told me to write a review.  Well ok, here are my thoughts:

The Grand Hyatt is a perfectly adequate go-to hotel for business travelers that need easy access to the city.  Outfitted with the latest furniture from the 80's, you'll feel like the lead singer of The Scorpions as you walk the halls of this awesomely dated hotel.  Be sure to say hi to Dee Snyder for me too.

Google App Platform

As a rabid technophile, and systems/information architect I welcome our new Google App overlords and look forward to consuming their new App Platform. But then again, in the spirit of full disclosure, I’ve been drinking the software-as-a-service Kool-Aid for quite some time. But just because the brain-trust that is Google is providing a platform doesn’t solve every underlying problem.

Stacey Higginbotham on Gigaom postulates:

“It could also cause problems for startups such as online storage company ElephantDrive”

But the truth of the matter is that the exact opposite is true. At ElephantDrive we have created systems and infrastructure to provide global access to a secure, archival-grade version of your data, no matter what device you created it on. That means we encapsulate: encryption; file differentiation; global de-duplication; access logic with credentials; and an entire sharing platform. Google’s platform doesn’t displace us, it just gives us one more potential bucket to use as underlying storage for our product - our infrastructure is still the most relevant and necessary piece of the puzzle. But then again, I’m clearly biased. :)

And we support files larger than 1MB already. Hooray! :D

More:
ElephantDrive Blog
Jose Miguel Cansado at Tech-Talk Biz
Marshall Kirkpatrick at ReadWriteWeb

Non-Optimal Display Resolution on Vista

This has to be one of my favorite errors on Vista thus far.  I love the fact that the OS is trying to help users that don't understand the importance of matching native resolution on LCD's, but it sure is amusing when the stack gets a little screwy.  :)

TV Size Calculator and Comparator

I found this link while looking for a quick comparison of 16:9 TV surface areas. I found the output from this tool very useful, but haven't checked it for accuracy. For example, it told me that a 50" 16:9 TV (vs. a 32" 4:3 TV) is 63% larger when viewing 4:3 content (SD), and 190% larger when viewing 16:9 (HD) content.

Apparently I need $1,000 bail

It looks like an 'oil-man' has been running around committing larceny using the moniker that I've grown quite so fond of. But not just any larceny, grand larceny my friends.

I found this abstract on the NYT site, which was pretty cool. The link to the PDF of the actual article is far cooler however.

WTF is an oil-man anyway?

What you missed during your childhood..

If you were barely alive during the 80's, constantly stuck in a quandary between feasting on paste for lunch or hypnotically snapping and unsnapping your Members Only jacket, then this article may be for you.

Rebecca Kelley has written this little gem, known as The 8 Most Unintentionally Erotic Atari 2600 Games, over on Topless Robot. She is presumed hawt.

If you can make it through the drawing on top of the Bowling screenshot without cracking a smile, then your are very, very dead inside.