1. A good read from the blogosphere on transcription quality

    Transcription quality does matter to users.

    Excerpt: “A few days ago I wrote about my first impressions of GoogleVoice. Now I have stopped using it. Here’s why…. transcription. I ran several tests to see how well the voicemail transcirption [sic] feature works. The bottom line is that it doesn’t work very well.”

    Read more:  http://nothing.golddave.com/?p=1122

     
  2. talk2.us ramping down beta testing, ready for go-live

    talk2.us has been in service for well over a year now with beta users in private testing.  This dedicated group of users has been with us through all the growing pains that happen with any new company.  We’ve created a web start up with telephone services, voicemails, transcription, a desktop app and lots more with their great input.

    Over the next few days, everyone who was in our private beta will be receiving a special thank you email along with a charter-member discount offer to join us as full members.

    Thanks again for all the help… Now here we go…!

     
  3. Blog tracks “Google Voice Screwups”

    We enjoy searching twitter and turning up stuff like this blog about Google Voice Screwups:  http://ow.ly/ybzB

    People have posted how Google Voice has butchered their voicemail.  Kind of makes it less useful, we think.  We all used to work in the speech recognition industry and while it’s getting a lot better, it’s still not anywhere near the Star Trek quality people hope for.  That might happen one day, but until then, real people do it better.

    Try ours out for free:  www.talk2.us/trial — No catches, no gotchas, no credit card required.

     
  4. Great news for users with Sprint.  Now you don’t have to pay the $0.20/min call forwarding fee from Sprint to use talk2.us.  The fee change is effective mid-November.  Speaking of which, if you sign up for talk2.us now, you can use the service for free for at least a month and get better transcription quality and a nifty app to manage all your voicemails!

     
  5. Roadtrip!!

    Everyone loves a good roadtrip.  And the entire staff of Talk2Us are all roadtripping this weekend — to different places — but all of us are on the road to the midwest and upstate NY and DC — to name 3.

    NYC has been overtaken by private bus companies that will take you to DC and Boston for $20.  And they have free wifi, which I’m using now to write this post.  So, as I make a few calls for work this afternoon on the bus, I’m getting inbound calls (which I can’t answer).  And lo and behold they are popping up on my Talk2Us desktop and I’m firing off responses.  Brilliant.

    Just one of those “wow, I’m more productive” moments that are fleeting but when you have one, it feels nice.  I had to share…   Enjoy your weekend everyone!

     
  6. Maria Shriver — Not to belabor the point, but we get a kick out of this stuff and everyone loves politicians not following their own laws.  So, Californians, seriously, no distracted driving.  Maria gets pranked on the Today show Monday.

     
  7. Hat tip to Techcrunch.   Google Voice made some user messages public (with their permission) and you can hear the actual voicemails — and see the transcription quality (or lack thereof—your call) and it seems some censorship (or maybe it’s a feature that curse words aren’t translated).

     
  8. Having just got back from a trip to LA, I can tell you that Californians are having a tough time coping with the hands-free law that went into effect Jan 1, 2008.  Everyone’s doing this, including Arnold’s wife.  I hear she’s getting a bluetooth headset and a personal driver… nice for her.  The common people maybe should try us out… text, email, and make calls with your voice.. easy.  done.

    Having just got back from a trip to LA, I can tell you that Californians are having a tough time coping with the hands-free law that went into effect Jan 1, 2008.  Everyone’s doing this, including Arnold’s wife.  I hear she’s getting a bluetooth headset and a personal driver… nice for her.  The common people maybe should try us out… text, email, and make calls with your voice.. easy.  done.

     
  9. image: Download

    Our user guide is transformed and living in a new place on our fledgling community space.  Feel free to click on through, and comment or give suggestions if you want.  It’s starter content for us, but we want users to participate in our growth.  Stay tuned for more.

    Our user guide is transformed and living in a new place on our fledgling community space.  Feel free to click on through, and comment or give suggestions if you want.  It’s starter content for us, but we want users to participate in our growth.  Stay tuned for more.

     
  10. Good article from the NYT that will amaze you with what people are juggling while working in the car!