Voice Mail Upgrades - Technology

1) Pinger

What is Pinger?

Pinger is a free service for your mobile phone that connects you with friends so you can find, see and hear their profiles right on your phone. You can even send your own voice messages directly to any mobile phone.

How does it work?

Go to m.pinger.com from your mobile phone and explore profiles of people in your area or around the country. Look at pics, listen to their voice intros and even reply with a personal voice message to start Pinger conversations with people you’ve seen and heard. Or if you’re a bit shy, “tap” the people you like with funny audio clips that go right to their mobile phones. get discovered by customizing your own profile. Upload your picture, record a voice intro and share your interests so other people can find you. Invite your friends to check out your profile, comment on it and even rate it all from their mobile phones. Of course, your mobile number is always kept private. call 858-2PINGER (858 274-6437) trade voice messages with anyone you find on Pinger, or anyone whose mobile number you already know. Just call 858-2-PINGER from your mobile phone, say the name of the person you want to message and talk. They get your message on their mobile phone and can reply with just one button.

Is it free?

Yes—we don't charge anything to use Pinger, but your carrier may charge for phone calls, text messages and web browsing.

When would I use Pinger?

Pinger is a great tool for when you are looking for something to do on your mobile phone or when you want to communicate with someone. Use Pinger to browse other members’ profiles, reach out and tap them or send voice messages. It's always a good time to use Pinger:
when you want to reach out to your friends.
while you are waiting for something to happen.
to stay in touch with people in faraway lands.
now that you need a new crush

How do I get started?

There are two ways to get started, from your mobile phone:
go to m.pinger.com from your phone's browser, or
dial 858 2 PINGER and follow the prompts.
Whether you connect to Pinger via your browser or via a phone call, you’ll immediately be able to browse profiles and send messages.Make sure you tell or invite your friends to register as well—that way they can create their own profiles and send their own messages, in addition to responding to yours.

Does it work on my phone and carrier?

Pinger works with nearly any US phone that can receive text messages and have data plans.Phone providers include: AT&T, Sprint/Nextel, T-Mobile, Verizon, Alltel, Metro PCS, US Cellular, Cellular One/Dobson, Unicel, SunCom, Cincinnati Bell, Cellular South, Virgin Mobile, Boost Mobile, NTELOS, Cricket Wireless and Tracfone.

For More information go to http://www.pinger.com/

2) Jott

Jott Networks operates a voice to text service that makes staying organized and in touch easy. Jott allows consumers to easily and safely send emails and text messages, set reminders, organize lists, and post to web services with their voice.

For Example;

Jott to Self Send emails to yourself

Jott to Someone Else Send emails and texts to your contacts

Jott Reminders Get text message and email reminders

Jott to Group Email and text a group of contacts
Jott to List Add items to your to-do list

Jott to Link Send messages to web services

A review on Jott.com;

Why You Should Jott Yourself

Free voice-to-text service is an excellent productivity tool for busy mobile professionals.
James A. MartinPC World Wednesday, April 16, 2008; 2:19 PM

In a recent column,Memos on the Go, I briefly mentioned Jott. It's a free service that transcribes voice messages you send it into text, then e-mails a transcription of the message to you. The idea is to make it easy to record memos and reminders for yourself. I didn't have the space to get into more detail about Jott then, but the service is definitely worth a longer look. In fact, like PC World' sSteve Bass, I've become a fan. In my opinion, Jott is a fantastic productivity tool that every busy mobile professional should try. Here's why. Jott's concept is beautifully simple and extremely useful. After registering online for the service, you can easily create reminders or dictate memos for yourself--or others--using the cell phone that's attached to your hip. Let's say you've had a "Eureka!" moment while in the car. Dial Jott's toll-free number (866/568-8123) or, even better, push the speed-dial button you've assigned to it. Almost immediately, a female voice responds: "Who do you want to Jott?" If the message is for yourself, just say, "Myself." After the beep, start talking. Messages can be up to 30 seconds long. When you're finished, simply stop talking. A few seconds later, the voice will say, "Got it." Then hang up or continue with additional memos. Within a few minutes, the message you dictated is transcribed and delivered via e-mail, text message, or both. That's just one way to use Jott. Here are some others I've tried: You can tell Jott to create a reminder for a specific time. Jott will send you an e-mail and text message reminder 15 minutes before the event. After linking my Jott account to myTwitter microblogusingJott Links, I dictated a new Twitter post using Jott. Within 3 minutes, Jott had flawlessly transcribed my voice message and posted it to my Twitter page. The microblog post even had the commas I had dictated. Need to send an e-mail or text while you're driving? Not a problem, as long as you've previously imported your Outlook or other contact database entries into Jott. When you're ready, press your Jott speed-dial button on your phone and tell Jott to whom you want to send a message. The service will verify the name or ask for clarification. Dictate your message, hang up, and your contact will receive your message as a transcribed e-mail and/or SMS text message. You can send one message to multiple people, too, as long as you've set up a Jott Group. Jott had some difficulty identifying my requested contacts when I was in a moving vehicle. Most likely, the ambient noise interfered with its speech recognition system. When I was paused at stop lights or driving along quieter streets, Jott understood my contact names without a problem. After setting up a Jott Link to your Google Calendar, you can dictate new calendar entries using Jott. The entries will automatically appear on your Google Calendar within a few minutes. Google recently released a tool thatautomatically syncsGoogle Calendar with Microsoft Outlook at user-specified intervals. The combination of the Google sync tool, Outlook, Jott, and a smart phone creates an almost surreal circle of convenience. For instance, I recently dictated a new calendar entry to Jott. The entry was automatically added to the correct date and time on my Google Calendar, and then appeared in my Outlook calendar on my PC. Once I synced my Palm Treo 755p with Outlook, the calendar entry appeared on my Treo, too--the same device I had used to dictate the calendar item in the first place. Be careful to clearly enunciate "Sunday" and "Monday" when dictating calendar items. On one occasion, Jott added my Sunday calendar entry to Monday on my Google Calendar. I'd appreciate receiving my original Jott recordings as audio file attachments to e-mail, just in case I want to archive or share them via e-mail. But the audio recordings are accessible for playback from the Jott site, so this is a minor complaint.
At any rate, that's all the griping I can come up with. Jott's transcriptions of my voice messages have been nearly always 100 percent accurate. The service is especially useful for use with basic cell phones or smart phones with awkward keyboards. With either device, Jott eliminates the need to tiresomely tap out e-mail or text messages. Some might worry they'll get hooked on the free service, only to be charged for it down the road. When I asked about paid versions of Jott, the company's founder John Pollard responded: "Someday we will offer a premium version of Jott for a reasonable price in addition to a free version. The feature set of a fee-based service has not been set in stone, but I can tell you it will include the ability to record longer Jott messages, as well as some nice additions we're cooking up." So there you have it. Honestly, I can't think of a single reason why you shouldn't, pardon the expression, Jott yourself.

For more information go to http://www.jott.com/

3) GrandCentral by Google

GrandCentral gives you 'One Number...for Life' --

a phone number that instead of being tied to a device or a location, is tied to you. Use randCentral to centralize your communication, customize your callers' experience, and make sure you never miss a call you want to take (or take a call you want to miss).

GrandCentral isn't just another VoIP call service. We've tapped into VoIP technology to build our service, but GrandCentral works with cell phones, desk phones, VoIP lines, and everything in between. There's nothing to download, upload, or install, and you don't have to make or take calls using a computer.

GrandCentral will let you define which phones ring, based on who's calling, and even let you ListenInTM on voicemail before answering the call. We use smart technology to route your calls. So, if you're already on a GrandCentral call, we'll recognize it and use call waiting to reach you on the phone you're on.

Note: At this time GrandCentral is only available in the U.S.

Screen Callers Know who's calling and screen unknown callers

ListenInTM Hear why someone is calling before taking the call

Call Record Record calls on the fly and access recordings online

Block Callers Unwanted callers won't be able to reach you anymore

Notifications Receive voicemail notifications via email or SMS

Ring Different Phones One number that rings different phones based on who's calling

Greetings Personalize your voicemail greetings by caller or group

RingShareTM Go beyond the ring and choose ringback tones for your callers

WebCall Button Let people call you from a web page without showing your number

CallSwitch Switch phones in the middle of a call

Click2Call Call from your addressbook and save your typing

Mobile Access Visual voicemail for your mobile phone

Learn more about GrandCentral by visiting www.grandcentral.com