Never Lose Your Cellphone Phonebook

A new product by Spark Technology, called Cellstick, plugs in to your cellphone and backs up your phonebook contacts. According to the product description, Cellstick "works with virtually any cell phone. It'll let you backup, enter, edit and transfer your cell phone contacts. So no matter what happens to your cell phone, your phone book survives. "

The product received a positive review from Walt Mossberg at the Wall Street Journal. According to Mossberg, Cellstick is "A smart solution that really works, and it's about as easy to use as possible... CellStik is a fast and simple solution that could save users from the frustrating ordeal of losing a cellphone and every name and number on it."

For more information and to see if it supports your model of cell phone, visit the website at: http://www.sparktech.com/

Easily Add Speech Bubbles to Your Photos

Adding "speech bubbles" to digital photos used to involve learning how to use a sophisticated graphics program. But now there is a free service called Kyolo that makes it easy.

With Kyolo, all you do is upload the photo, add your choice of speech bubble shapes, enter the text you want for each bubble... and that's it. Once you are finished you can save or e-mail the updated photo.

click here to go the the site

Source: Download Squad

Wireless Headset for Internet Phone Calls

Wireless Headset for Internet Phone Calls
By ROY FURCHGOTT
Published: March 27, 2008
The Logitech ClearChat wireless headset, which the company says is the first of its kind with Internet calling in mind, is also meant to be faux-pas-proof.

The addition of an unusual feature can keep you from speaking out of turn. When the headset is muted, the microphone glows red. This confirms that the microphone is off, so you won’t have to ask, “Can you hear me now?” They can’t.
This stereo headset, with a retail price of $100, has over-the-ear padded phones and a boom microphone. Compatible with Macs and PCs, it requires no setup, although a small receiver will occupy one of your computer’s U.S.B. ports.

The headset broadcasts over the 2.4-gigahertz band, just like many portable phones, and Logitech estimates that the signal will carry more than 30 feet. The microphone has noise canceling to diminish background sound, so people can hear you clearly when they are supposed to.

Source: NY Times

Different greetings for different callers

YouMail is a free service that lets you customize your cell phone voicemail messages. You can have one standard greeting and also a different greeting depending on who is calling you.

YouMail, Inc. (www.youmail.com), the mobile industry's premiere consumer voicemail service, announced in September the addition of two new voicemail features to greatly expand users' control over their cellular worlds. The features -- "smart caller ID" and "personalized away messages" -- allow voicemail to be a much more effective method for personal communication.

SMART CALLER ID
YouMail provides enhanced notification of incoming voicemail through text messages and/or e-mails. Now when voicemails are left, YouMail's "smart caller ID" automatically tells its users not only the number of who called, but also the caller's name, and the length of the voicemail message -- all without the need for any set-up on the user's part.
"Caller ID information has generally been very limited on cell phones, with mobile users knowing only the phone number that left a voicemail," said Ken Brickley, VP of Marketing for YouMail. "With YouMail, users know exactly who left them voicemail, allowing them to save time by retrieving only the voicemails that matter and help verify that callers are who they say they are."

PERSONALIZED AWAY MESSAGES
YouMail allows users to set up personalized greetings for their callers, whether for a single caller or a group of callers like family or friends, and they can record their own outgoing messages or choose from a growing library of thousands of pre-recorded greetings. Now users who will be unavailable can quickly and easily arrange away messages for their cell phone -- akin to the similar ability in instant messaging, but tailored to different groups of people in their lives.
"Cell phone users often find themselves knowing they'll be unavailable or out of coverage for a period of time," said Brickley. "Now a user can simply choose an appropriate message and with a couple of clicks let their friends know they're away on vacation or out surfing, and co-workers or clients know they're in a meeting or on a plane."

USER FEEDBACK
Both innovations were inspired by recommendations from YouMail user feedback.
"YouMail is about cell phone voicemail that truly satisfies its users," said Alex Quilici, CEO of YouMail. "Whether it's knowing everything about who's leaving you messages or easily letting incoming callers know when and where you'll be out of reach, with the touch of a button you're in complete control of how you connect with everyone in your life."

About YouMail
YouMail replaces your cellular voicemail with a free and dramatically better voicemail system that helps you save time, simplify their life, and have fun. YouMail is transforming voicemail into something that's amazingly useful and incredibly fun, providing personalized greetings and away messages for individuals or groups of callers, a library of greetings uploaded by its users, and online voicemail access with the ability to share and save special voicemails easily. To learn more and sign up for the free YouMail service, go to www.youmail.com.

MagicJack - A Jack That Lets Regular Phones Take Advantage of Those Cheap Internet Long-Distance Rates

Computer-based phone services like Skype allow you to call friends and family free — as long as they have a PC with a sound card and a microphone. A little device called MagicJack will let you make calls from your phone to other phones in the United States for fractions of a penny a minute.

The device costs $39.95, a price that includes a year of unlimited domestic calls; additional years cost $20. MagicJack, which looks like a U.S.B. memory stick, plugs right into your Windows PC, which immediately displays a telephone keypad. (A Mac version is planned.) Each MagicJack is assigned its own phone number, and the price includes voice mail and call waiting. You can also use the MagicJack overseas to reach numbers in the United States and receive calls from there.

These sorts of Internet calling devices aren’t new. The MagicJack, however, has a real telephone jack on the side, letting you quickly bring almost any corded or cordless phone into the 21st century

Source: New York Times (By JOHN BIGGS)