talks

Kindle? Here comes the Talking Book!

Everyone's talking about the new Kindle, but here's a product that may present an even more radical innovation in the e-book sector: The Talking Book, created and distributed by the non-profit Literacy Bridge, is a low cost audio player/recorder with special features for Knowledge Sharing and Literacy Learning. It was developed entirely by volunteers and costs less than $10. The device involves an ecosystem to produce and share locally relevant audio content, allowing users to record their own messages and distribute them within local networks through a device-to-device copying capability. Other features include slow play for reading … Read more

Sprint changes Direct Connect plans

Sprint Nextel's Direct Connect service may not be sexy, but the push-to-talk network has a staunchly loyal following. And if Sprint knows what it's doing, it will leave the basics of Direct Connect alone.

Yet, the carrier did announce Thursday that it was tweaking the Direct Connect plans for its customers. The basic plan, which goes by the mouthful name of Unlimited Workgroup Communications, offers unlimited Direct Connect and Group Connect calls, plus unlimited text messaging, for $29.99 per month per line. For regular voice calls, you'll also get unlimited mobile-to-mobile minutes and free nights and … Read more

The 404 257: Where Vegas chewed us up and spit us out

Now that we've survived the frigid beast that is Las Vegas, we can finally get back into our everyday groove. Today's show is all about recovery and recollection, as we desperately try to piece together the last week of our lives. Listen in for a full CES 2009 recap with tons of juicy details and a few Internet stories on the side.

What. Just. Happened?! The past five days are completely a blur, and we collectively remember about four hours total. Did we really see a blind guy at a club where vision is a necessity? Did we really stay in a hotel room with double HDTVs and a third TV in the bathroom? Did we really eat more than 300 crab legs between the three of us? And most importantly, did we really lose that much money on the blackjack tables?

We ponder these questions and more on today's CES wrap-up show. If you didn't have a chance to watch the live shows, I've posted them below for your enjoyment. It's definitely good to be back after such a long vacation. Now let's try to forget what just happened again.

EPISODE 257 Download today's podcast

Live video from CES Day 1: Where no one cares about MacWorld

Live video from CES Day 2: Where we all wish we were at the OTHER conference

Live video from CES Day 3: Where we've jumped the virgin shark

Live video from CES Day 4: Where we celebrate good juju bad juju

… Read more

Testing CrystalTalk

While visiting the Motorola booth at CES, I had very my own Miss America experience. The company invited me to test its CrystalTalk Plus feature, which is a top feature of its new Tundra VA76r rugged phone. Since I've had good experiences with CrystalTalk before, I accepted the opportunity to see how it could be improved upon. CrystalTalk Plus promises, and as I found also delivers, an even better audio experience by adding a second microphone on the phone's rear side. Along with the primary microphone, it cancels out background noise to enable you to hear your caller, … Read more

The easiest international call you've made

The VoIP solution to international calling isn't for everyone. Luckily, Packet8 offers an easy alternative with Mobile Talk, a no-fuss app that nestles onto your phone and connects you to a local number for a cheaper international call.

MobileTalk lives inertly on your phone until you dial your number, then delays the call by a few seconds to connect you to a local number, then pushes the call through to your destination. Payment conveniently arrives as a separate credit card charge on your statement when you set up your account. The costs are comparable to other phone card and … Read more

Buzz Out Loud 872: Butt-squeezing death trap

It's a racy Buzz Out Loud as Natali Del Conte and Molly Wood double-team Jason Howell. Yes, by the way, that was the most blatant click-bait I've ever written. We discuss who's the bigger liar: Google or the Wall Street Journal. Plus, mobile news galore, including FCC approval of the Garmin Nuviphone. And then it gets too hot to remain in the studio and we flee to cooler climates.

Listen now: Download today's podcast EPISODE 872

Does Google want Net priority? http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122929270127905065.html http://googlepublicpolicy.blogspot.com/2008/12/net-neutrality-and-benefits-of-caching.html … Read more

Free and cheap iPhone calls

The free Fring for iPhone is a compelling VoIP caller and multinetwork chat app in one. Tap over to the add-ons section to talk to friends using Skype, SIP, and Windows Live Messenger (MSN), Google Talk, and ICQ's protocols. Like plugging a headset into the PC, Fring's app spells cheap calls to international contacts. Beware though, you'll need a strong Wi-Fi connection to make or receive VoIP calls.

In addition to stretching out your vocal chords, Fring can open conversations for the IM networks above, as well as for AIM and Yahoo. Signing into Twitter from Fring … Read more

Google chat afflicted by spotty service

Google's instant-messaging service suffered intermittent outages Monday, behaving inconsistently for several hours.

The issue began about 10:30 a.m. PST and affected a subset of users of both the Web page-based Gmail Chat and the installed Google Talk software, spokesman Andrew Kovacs said. Because of the problem, sometimes when people sent a message they'd get an error message it wasn't sent and the recipient didn't receive it, but often resending the message worked, he said.

"This issue has been resolved for most users, and we expect a resolution for all users within the next … Read more

Daily tidbits: MySpace ate my degree; Mogulus goes pro, and more

Footnote.com, a company that provides original historical documents online, announced Friday that it has inked a deal with the National Archives to launch the Web's first-ever interactive World War II collection. It will include an interactive version of the USS Arizona Memorial, World War II Hero Pages, and World War II photos and documents previously unavailable on the Web. The collection will be free to access for a limited time, but Footnote's annual subscription fee of $69.95 will apply after the introductory period has ended.

A would-be college grad was denied her Bachelor's degree in … Read more