What’s the point of calling your Mommy if you live in the same house? There are two reasons, actually.
On May 13th, which is Mother’s Day if you don’t remember (you ungrateful prick), Skype is offering free phone calls to Moms around the globe. Will yours be one of them? — Andrew Dobrow
Uh oh, we all know how Microsoft loves to be in control of everything. And in VoIP and Internet telephony, Microsoft has lagged behind the likes of Skype. When it was rumored that Microsoft was working on a VoIP phone, it wasn’t a surprise, and seemed rather uneventful. Now that details are starting to appear of the Microsoft Roundtable phone, we can see that they are not playing around.
The Ringcam was originally showcased last year as a slightly ugly prototype, but things are looking sleeker these days for the newly-titled Roundtable. The Roundtable features a 360 degree camera capable of video conferencing in a panorama type view. The Roundtable would probably sync seamlessly with Outlook contacts for easy dialing control. Much work is still needed for sure, since this is Microsoft’s first serious journey into the VoIP zone, but it seems to be coming along nicely. The Roundtable is expected to go into public testing this week, starting as early as today. — Andrew Dobrow
Linksys presented its VoIP phone, the iPhone CIT 400 at CeBIT 2007. You might know it as the uglier iPhone. This is the first time the Linksys iPhone has been publicly presented. It earned much more attention than it would have because of the legal uproar between Linksys and Apple over the iPhone moniker.
The Linksys iPhone is an internet telephony VoIP phone that is meant to be used with VoIP services such as Skype. There really isn’t anything to overly impressive about the CIT 400, but it is worth mentioning because of the coveted iPhone branding. Although much criticism has been wrought over the Linksys iPhone, compared to the Apple iPhone, any product seems to dim, but we are sure it’s a well made product, much like the popular Linksys routers and wireless internet cards.
Food and recipe blogs have become an underrated force in the blogging world. The Yummy Kitchen Connect, an entry in the Microsoft / IDSA Design Competition, might win the food talk a little extra recognition. We’ve seen some really cool kitchen design in the past, but the Yummy might be the most usable of the bunch for every day life. The Kitchen Connector will join you and your kitchen to the food blogging network. Specially designed for the kitchen, the Yummy takes up very little room, fitting on the wall like a wall calender. The Yummy takes the information from your kitchen and food life, such as food you have available, diet schedule, and saved recipes and recommends food to make that you might like. Think of it as your kitchen Tivo. The Yummy can also access media such as podcasts, video blogs, music, webtv, and Skype for kitchen calling. All in a useful touchscreen interface.
Don’t lie to your lover on Skype [iTWire]
There are some places where lugging your laptop around with you isn’t appropriate. Church for example. Funerals are another no no. So what are we to use when we are in these situations, but don’t want to sacrifice our wireless communication? Ding, ding, ding…you guessed right…the Mylo. This Sony gadget bring’s along some cool features, and looks pretty cool as well. Read more for details and thoughts.
If your still busting your head over what to get that special someone for their stocking or just as a general Christmas gift, a Skype cellphone is a pretty neat idea for Skype users. The phone allows you to call any other Skype user for free when you’re within a WiFi enabled area. For a minimal cost, you can buy pre-payed minutes to use for calling land-line phones as well as other Skype users. Take wireless internet phone technology with you everywhere with this white and slim little gadget and get some nice cheap holiday phone time. Want to preview more?
