Oh! Gizmo

By Chris Scott Barr

It would appear that the forecast in Hell is cold and snowy. AT&T announced yesterday that they have officially decided to allow VOIP applications on the iPhone which use their 3G network. Yes, you did in fact read that correctly. You’ll be able to use a service such as Skype to make phone calls which don’t actually count towards your minutes.

They just informed Apple and the FCC of their decision yesterday, so don’t expect for apps to show up right away that take advantage of this. My biggest concern is how well AT&T is prepared for the extra load this is going to put on their network. It’s been proven time and again that their 3G network can be brought to its knees by a large gathering of iPhone users. Just imagine if they’re all using Skype for their calls.

[ AT&T ] VIA [ Dvice ]

By Andrew Liszewski

Obviously timed to cash-in on the resurgence Star Trek will be experiencing thanks to the upcoming movie, Dream Cheeky will be releasing a USB VoIP/Skype phone that’s a perfect replica of the communicators used on the original Star Trek TV series. Due out in April, the ‘phone’ is compatible with XP, Vista and OS X Tiger or greater, and comes with speakerphone, mute and volume control functions, as well as an assortment of Star Trek related sound bites like “Transporter room ready to beam up.” I have no pricing info at this time, but don’t expect it to break the bank.

[ Everything USB - Incoming Transmission Captain, FTW. (Set Phaser's to Thrill) ] VIA [ Digital Drops ]

By Evan Ackerman

ShowStoppers Macworld, which was the only selection of exhibitors I had a chance to see since I had to get my ass out to Vegas for CES, was kinda disappointing. There were perhaps 15 exhibitors in a room which felt the size of a small closet, and most of them were selling services of one type or another. We don’t generally like to write about services, mostly because they don’t tend to come with switches or buttons or LEDs or anything. But, there were two things that caught my eye:

Truphone is a VoIP company (i.e. works on the iPod touch) that specializes in cheap international calls. Much like Skype, Truphone users can call each other for free over the internet, and pay a little bit per minute to call regular phone numbers. Truphone bases its rates on your phone number and the number of the phone you’re calling, not your physical location. So, if you’re in Azerbaijan with your US based cellphone and you want to call your friend in the US, Truphone bills you for a US to US call. Downside is, if you’re in Azerbaijan and want to call across the street, it works the other way. What I found entertaining, though, is that Truphone has predefined call rates for Antarctica, which is not only not a country, but I’m not entirely sure that it HAS cell service, much less landlines. But if it does, $2 a minute is probably pretty damn cheap to call there.

One more mildly interesting thing, after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »

By Andrew Liszewski

Panasonic recently announced their KX-WP800 Skype phone and while it will currently only be available in Japan, let’s hope it will eventually be sold in other markets too. Besides the decent sized LCD color display, the 55 hours of standby and the 4.5 hours of talk time, the KX-WP800 includes built-in support for the FON wifi sharing network. So if you happen to be a FON user you can take the handset with you and it will automatically log onto any FON hotspots you come across, allowing you to make wifi calls.

The handset also includes a compact wifi router for setting up a FON hotspot in your home. But if you don’t feel like sharing your net connection, the handset will work just as well with other wifi networks as long as you have the necessary login info. At about $296 it’s definitely not cheap, but in the long run it could end up saving you money if you use it enough to offset your regular phone bill.

[ Panasonic KX-WP800 ] VIA [ TechRadar ]

By Andrew Liszewski

If you’re a heavy Skype user this travel mouse will slightly reduce the number of laptop accessories you have to carry while away from home. It’s a pretty basic 800dpi optical mouse, with two buttons and a scroll wheel but it’s the Skype features that set it apart.

First off there’s a 128×64 pixel LCD display on top which can display caller ID and other info. The mouse also slides open to reveal a standard numeric keypad, allowing you to answer a call or dial a number without having to use the computer it’s connected to. Of course if you feel stupid holding the mouse to your head to answer a call, it also has a hands free speakerphone option. And besides not looking stupid, it also allows you to use the computer while talking to someone.

You can find the Skype Travel Mouse at Gadget-usb.com for $42.50.

[ Portable Skype Travel Mouse ]

By David Ponce

Well, hell, maybe not; once you’ve got Skype’s momentum, it’s hard to come into the scene and kick some ass. Still, MagicJack is a promising new VoIP service that rests its strategy on a USB dongle with a regular, analog phone jack on one end, and… well, a USB connector on the other. It’s supposed to be simple: plug the dongle in the computer and your regular phone in the jack. Wait 60 seconds (or minutes in a spyware infested PC) for the software to auto-install, and you’re ready to make phone calls with your house phone. If it works properly, it’s something we can see the elderly and the otherwise PC-challenged crowd getting into.

Pricing is rumored to be between $29 and $39, which includes the dongle and one year subscription to the service, with the plan costing $19 a year afterwards. This would give you unlimited calling in Canada and the US, though extra charges apply for other destinations.

Of course, $30 doesn’t beat free any day of the year, and with the immense installed base Skype already has, it’s going to be tough “killing” it. But we sure do wish them the best of luck.

Official launch is set for April ‘07.

[ MagicJack Website ] VIA [ EverythingUSB ]

By Andrew Liszewski

Here’s another great little gadget designed to stow away in your laptop’s PCMCIA card slot. The Vo200 from Kensington is a bluetooth enabled wireless phone that lets you make calls on any of the popular VoIP services like Skype, MSN, Yahoo or Google. The phone’s mouthpiece can fold out allowing the Vo200 to be used like a cellphone or it can be flipped all the way around and serve as a stand so it can be placed on a desk and used as a speakerphone instead.

While inside a PCMCIA slot the Vo200 is constantly charging and Kensington claims when removed it has over 3 hours of “serious” talk time and up to 30 hours of standby time. It includes echo cancellation and noise suppression technologies which should help make your conversations sound a bit clearer and even has a blinking LED light that will warn you when you only have about 10% of your talk time left.

The Kensington Vo200 BT VoIP Phone is available on their website for $89.99.

[ Kensington Vo200 BT VoIP Phone ] VIA [ Popular Science ]

By David Ponce

Didn’t even take a day and Apple managed to get itself sued. Here’s what happened.

Apple doesn’t own the rights to the name “iPhone”. Cisco does. They acquired the rights back in 2000, when they bought Infogear, a small Redwood City, Calif., start-up and now use the name through a Lynksys line of VoIP handsets. Up until 8PM, Monday evening, Cisco and Apple representatives were in negotiations over the use of the name. Seems Cisco was (reluctantly) open to letting Apple use the name, but only if they made their iPhone compatible with Cisco products.

Cisco made it clear they did not want Apple to announce the phone until negotiations were done. So, of course, on Tuesday, the iPhone is announced.

Not even a day later, and Cisco’s filed a lawsuit seeking temporary injunction against Apple to stop them using the name, and seeking damages. Apple’s defense? “Plenty other companies use the name, and Cisco’s claim to it is ‘tenuous at best’”.

Them’s fighting words, Apple…

[News.com ]

By David Ponce

It’s not often we get our panties up in a bunch over an MP3 player these days. Let’s face it, aside from memory upgrades and different designs, we’ve just about seen every (useful) feature crammed into them already. Not that we’re hating on the music players, but here at OhGizmo we’re always after something special. And we think we might have found a little nugget in the Rimax Mystic. It’s got all the features a good MP3 player should have, including video on a 65k color, 1.5 inch screen. But it also happens to double as a Skype phone. Simply connect the device to any PC via USB, and the pre-installed Skype software will let you use the Mystic as a VoIP phone. There’s a microphone on the player, and the headphones will act as, well, as the headphones, so you can easily stay in touch on the go.

It comes in sizes of 512MB up to 2GB, and starts at ?56, or about $106 after conversion.

[Rimax Mystic] VIA [Xataka]