On Wednesday Jangl announced a new service called “Call Anyone” that allows you to get a phone number for someone just by entering their email address. With “Call Anyone” you enter someone’s email address on Jangl’s homepage www.jangl.com.  You are then given a local phone number to call them (even if they’re long distance, you get a number local to you).  During the first call, you leave a voicemail, which Jangl then delivers via email.  Once they receive that message, the person gets instructions to get a number – local to them – to call you back.  This service still keeps your personal number safe, enables text messaging via SMS and the easy exchange of voicemails, too. 

The service is free but the calls are placed and received on “real” phones so you pay the appropriate carrier or mobile airtime  fees.

I tried it and it seems to work just fine.  The email that Jangl sends to notify the person you’re calling looks a bit suspicious so I suggest customizing the subject and text of the message (you can do this in the first screen before sending).  Embedded in the email is a link to listen to the message. Once the person listens to the message, they can click another link to get the private number for calling you back.

I also noticed that Jangl updated their look and feel and it works much better for me. The control panel doesn’t seem as confusing as it was before. I have a problem displaying the Flash widgets however. They don’t appear in the preview area. 

This morning I was down in our basement office pecking away. It’s a great spot to hide. I am effectively cut off from the what’s going on in the rest of the house (a blessing at times). Can’t hear a thing…no doorbell, kids pummeling each other, or the kettle… I guess my husband got tired of the kettle screeching away so he sent me a text message from the kitchen PC. "Hi…water boiling". Now that’s practical IM.

Today SightSpeed went live with some great updates. If you’re already a SightSpeed user, you don’t have to do anything. All the new features will be there the next time you start the application.

Luca has already posted a great summary of what’s inside the new and improved SightSpeed so I won’t repeat. However, here’s a sample of the new video blogging feature. Rather than post a link to your video message, you can embed the video post right into your blog or web site. Great job!

By the way, to post this in Wordpress, I had to turn off the Rich Text Editor, and then paste in the code.

Did you know that for the year 2006, “J” was the most popular letter of the alphabet? Okay, I made that up. I have no idea if it’s true, but three out of ten most popular baby names last year started with J….

I had a comment a few days ago from Eric C. wanting to know about Jaxtr, Jangl and JaJah. What’s the difference? What indeed! People (like me) are starting to ask questions like this because…who can remember what these guys do! They sort of sound alike, they’re in the same industry space, they appeal to the same type of folks. Eric then wanted to know how the Js relate to GrandCentral. Oiy!

Jaxtr:

• Provides a click-to-call widget (button) for social networking sites like MySpace, web sites, and blogs. Visitors to your page have the option to call you, send you a text message, or leave you a voice message. They don’t need a microphone or headset. They call you by entering their phone number in the widget, Jaxtr then provides a local number for them to dial.
• Free registration, then you buy jax credits to forward calls to your phone. 100 free credits per month.  You can send unlimited calls to voice mail for free and unlimited text messages for free. Calls to other Jaxtr users are also free.
• No software download required.
• Unique feature is Voiceblast. You can record your own message or greeting that’s played automatically or on mouse-click when a someone visits your web page. I’ve added my voiceblast to my About page here.
• Like Jangl, Jaxtr has privacy options that allow you and the person calling to hide your phone numbers or email addresses.
• Like GrandCentral, you can block incoming calls or forward calls based on caller ID. Unlike GrandCentral, Jaxtr does not give you a 10-digit phone number that can be dialed from any phone. People calling you are given a special 10-digit number they can use, but they must use the same phone every time. If they call from a different phone, Jaxtr provides a different number.
• I like it.

Jangl:

• Provides a click-to-call widget (let’s call this widget dialing) for social network sites, web sites and blogs that masks the incoming and outgoing numbers. It’s a way for people to make and receive calls without giving out phone numbers. I guess the advantage here is privacy. For example, you can post the Jangl widget on MySpace without revealing your personal phone number.
• When you register, you receive a Jangl ID that people use to call you. Someone enters your Jangl ID in the online widget, Jangl then gives them a special number to call you on a regular phone. Your number and the calling person’s number are never exchanged.
• Registration is free, then you pay per call based on telephone company charges.
• You can choose from several cool looking widgets
• Not really like GrandCentral at all, except in that they both have widget dialing (GrandCentral recently introduced web buttons).
• Sounds a lot like Jaxtr but I still found Jangl a bit confusing and not a lot of info or online support. I haven’t used it much.

JaJah

• Provides web-based dialing, or dialing from a web page, without a microphone or headset. All calls are made phone to phone, whether landline or mobile. This means the person you’re calling does not have to be connected to the internet.
• You log in to your Jajah account, enter your friend’s number, and click the CALL button. Your phone will ring, you pick up, then your friend’s phone will ring.
• No software download required.
• Other Jajah services and tools include conference calls, call scheduling, access to Jajah phone book from the web browser on your mobile phone, Jajah plugins for Google, Outlook, Mac OS X Address Book, Firefox, and Plaxo
• Registration is free, you get 5 minutes free calling anywhere, then you pay as you go. Calls to Jajah users are free.
• I have an account but haven’t used it.

I’ll leave TalkPlus, Talkster, and Talk-Now for another time….”Tango of the Ts” perhaps? 

I’ve been wondering about the GrandCentral “One number for life” mantra, and TalkPlus‘ second number for your mobile phone. While I understand these products target different markets, I find it hard to keep them distinct in my mind. It dawned on me that this could be a problem that consumers have as well.

There’s a lot of chatter about Voice 2.0 applications–the user in control not the network–but that is the VOIP blogosphere talking. Me, I think okay, I get another number, it’s free for now, and it’s solving what problem exactly? 

GrandCentral:

Provides a phone number not tied to a device or location. When people call this number, the phones you have “attached” to it ring, like your cell phone, home phone, and office phone. Up to six phones can be linked to your GrandCentral number. The service is all about giving you control over how people reach you (inbound calling) as opposed to how you place calls. Callers can leave voice messages that can be checked by phone, email or online. You’re notified of a voice mail via email or text message to a cell phone. And you can flag unwanted callers as spam. It’s also free.

You need it if people have a hard time tracking you down. You find yourself playing telephone tag. You WANT to be found but heck, you’re always bouncing between work, home, and on the road.

TalkPlus:

Provides a second number for your cell phone so you can separate personal life and work life. The number can be used as a second line for business, dating, classified ads, online auctions, social groups, or a second residence. Like GrandCentral, unwanted callers can be blocked while priority numbers ring through. When making outbound calls, you can specify which caller ID to use so that the person you are calling doesn’t know how or where you’re calling from.

You need it if your mobile phone is your primary means of communication but the  separation of work and play is important to you. You want people to know that you’re calling from the office (the caller ID says this is a work-related call) even though you’re calling from home or the beach in Maui. You are also concerned about personal privacy and want to make sure that your personal number is only available to the people you want to have it.

***

In talking with Craig Walker, GrandCentral CEO, he tells me they couldn’t be more different than TalkPlus.

“Our philosophy is that we don’t need MORE numbers for people to reach us at…we need less.  As long as I have the control over my inbound calling that GrandCentral gives me, there’s no reason that I would want to juggle different personas. I don’t want phone numbers that identify me as being located at a certain place or doing a certain thing, I want a phone number that is personal to me.  If you want to reach me, call my ONE NUMBER.  I’ll be able to answer it wherever I want…I will be able to know who’s calling every time, and I’ll even be able to listen in on the voicemail as its being left if I’m still unsure whether I want to take the call.  When somebody calls me, they shouldn’t be able to “figure out” or know where I am based on the number…if I’m in the office, working from home or on the beach, that’s my business.” 

Obviously there’s more to both GrandCentral and TalkPlus than what I describe here, and the enthusiasm voiced by many in the VOIP blogging community seems to be not so much what these services are doing today, but what we can expect from them in the future.

To set up a free GrandCentral account, click here. To sign up for a TalkPlus sneak peak beta (for Cingular, T-Mobile, and Sprint customers in select U.S. states only), click here. TalkPlus won’t be a free service like GrandCentral and pricing is to be determined.

I just had a look at SightSpeed’s brand spanking new video community called Vlip, and not surprisingly, Peter the SightSpeed Guy is in there like a dirty shirt (or t-shirt, I should say). It looks like a sort of video message board where you can post your own videos and allow others to reply to you with their own cinematic responses. Just like SightSpeed, the video generation tools are built right in–all you need is a web cam.

They say it’s for adults only, 18 years and older, but I don’t know how they’ll enforce that exactly. The terms of use indicate they want to see respect for all opinions, but they will police the posts and take down vlips considered inappropriate.

You can read the official Vlip Manifesto on Peter Csathy’s blog (SightSpeed CEO). The VOIPGirl doesn’t vlip yet, but stranger things have happened.

By now the VOIP world knows of Truphone’s victory in court over mobile giant T-Mobile. Yesterday, UK Truphone won an injunction against T-Mobile blocking calls to Truphone users: For the last month, anyone calling a Truphone number on T-Mobile network would hear a "Number not in service" message. By Monday, July 23, T-Mobile has been instructed to start routing these calls.

There’s plenty of cheering on the Truphone website, http://truphone.blogspot.com/2007/07/truphone-wins-court-injunction-against.html but I have yet to find T-Mobile’s official or unofficial response. I couldn’t find anything on their website. In the spirit of gathering the whole picture, let me know if you find a company statement or interview anywhere. 

“Sahweet” as my son would say. For once I had no trouble with the setup of the Nokia N800 internet tablet. I’m hooked up using Wi-fi and was able to make calls right away using Google Talk. I haven’t yet hooked up via bluetooth to my phone, but that’s next. As you can see, the screen is a great size and remarkably crisp and clear. Another neat feature is the full screen finger keypad, which I found somewhat bizarre at first, but I think there’s a bit of a knack to it. A little more practice and I’ll be a pro in no time.

There’s so many great features to explore on this device, like web cam, media player, internet radio, email and text messaging, internet calling with video. I’m trying to be systematic but it’s hard! The design is sleek, fits great in your hand, and the snap out desktop stand doubles as a hand grip. I checked on Amazon and the N800 can be had for around $379.

The newest release of GrandCentral has some great (and useful) features. I’m doubly excited becuase GrandCentral is available to me now as a Canadian. They’ve added web buttons to their line-up. Not a breakthrough feature, but one that has come to be expected. Basically, you add a button to your website or blog that visitors to click to call you (on your GrandCentral number of course).

What’s great is that you can connect with people this way OR you can send them to a voice recording. Like this:

GrandCentral gives some other examples:

• eBay auction: GrandCentral button can send callers to a voicemail with a description of the item on sale. Callers can leave a message and the GrandCentral user can decide whom to call back.
• MySpace page: profile can let people calling without sharing GrandCentral user’s phone number

Time and time again, web marketers show that if you can get your vistors to interact with you (your site), like answer surveys, click a button, answer a question, you’re more likely to make sales, or whatever else your site goals are.

I’ll be adding oneto my About page on this blog, and to my info site www.quickstartvoip.com.

I was following the thread started by PhoneBoy and SightSpeed’s Peter Csathy about the obvious advantages of communicating with someone in person. Facial expressions, hand gestures, and body language are huge non-verbal cues that say a lot. But, when face time isn’t an option, then real-time video calling (using SightSpeed of course) is the next best thing. Peter himself runs his Berkeley-based  team from San Diego, and couldn’t do so effectively without SightSpeed. PhoneBoy agrees and thinks that SightSpeed rocks, “Almost like being there”.

But, I’m curious to know if the folks who use SightSpeed today are making spontaneous or pre-planned calls. I confess that when I use it, it’s usually a planned thing. I’ll email or text someone and say, “OK to SightSpeed you now?”, or I pre-arrange a call at a certain time.

My guess is that live video from the desktop is still so new that people hesitate at “surprising” someone with a video call. Unless of course you’re The SightSpeed Guy. You may want to check out his latest blog post. He’s wearing a tie. Must be the staff Christmas lunch.