Ooma update.

I am the first to admit that not enough people read this blog. Yet. But I can offer an interesting stat on what readership there is. Of all the search terms or referring URL's used to reach this page, the leading common denominator appears to be Ooma - the home appliance promising free calls for life, among other things.

Let me explain. A while back when Ooma came out from under, their PR folks did a real number on the launch. I picked up on it and penned a few posts on the topic. Now, it seems, when people are looking for Ooma reviews (I assume to maybe buy one) they land here. And then leave promptly thereafter.

So to my surprise (kind of) I read Om Malik this week concerned about whether Ooma was dooma'd. Seems they have gone through some changes at the top and are re-packaging and re-pricing their offering. Look, the free call market can be an unrewarding one. It's a fun space for making noise and for some easy enough to build a user population, but long term traction and revenue are challenging. The ladder two are pretty important when running a business.

Hmm. I have probably now just doubled the Ooma review-seeking crowd on my blog. Oh well. I hope they make it. Ooma, that is. If they can, it spells better days for the many others using free calls to start their dream business.

Tag, you're it. SimulScribe re-brands.

I am officially addicted to receiving my voice mail as text in my email. In fact, I can't recall the last time a technology won me over so quickly; it may have been voice mail itself, some 15-20 years ago.

SimulScribe - the folks that turned me on to it - re-branded to PhoneTag this week, rightfully so. As time passed, I imagine the need for a more consumer-friendly name became evident. With it they're adding a very intuitive feature to the mix. Assuming you upload your contacts to your account online, they'll use their technology to match your incoming message with a contact in your list. Why? So that the converted voice to text email comes to you in such a way that you can simply reply to the caller by email - to their email, that is. Brilliant. As a user, I can attest to the very natural tendency to want to hit 'reply'. Nice going.

There is one caution I offer. While this service no doubt offers productivity and convenience, it can lead to a voice-less transaction between you and your caller. You not bothering to listen to the wave file and catch any of the intended intonations, and then you replying by email. Maybe voice-to-text emailing will soon have etiquette rules of its own.

Social Networking + Voice = Equals.

Equals was born this week. Or at least made more noise that it has since dribbling out over the Winter.

While I have not used it yet, Equals promises to bring one click conferencing to the Facebook generation. Talk to your closest friends - all together - with one click (or so). Another indicator that voice conferencing has always and will always be the killer-app; it was just too hard to do for so long. Face it, it's more fun to be on a call with many friends instead of just one.

It appears though that Facebook is just a starting point; an instant PR firm for a company with bigger plans. 'Buzz Me', not yet generally available, is targeted at mobile professionals. BTW - I was at Web 2.0 this week. Mobile professionals (who isn't one) better look out. Everyone is after you.

But I digress. 'Buzz Me' smells of a voice portal that will get you hooked by being your automated assistant. As much as Wildfire and so many others failed in the past, I do believe that we are now ready to be married to one speed dial if it can do enough things for us. I for one am looking forward to trying it. Learn more about it here.

My very own telecom beat.

Now this is something to write home about. Today my first article - in what will be a series on telecom for small business - was published at www.smallbiztechnology.com. The publisher - Ramon Ray - is a New Yorker passionate about helping small businesses get the most out of technology. Alongside this growing publication, he produces a Small Business Summit every year in New York with plans to expand nationally. Recently he offered me the opportunity to muse about telephony, and its place in small business. Who am I to refuse?

Here is a link to version one. Thanks, Ramon.

Video is in the green.

In the first few years that I covered video conferencing - with precious few willing to believe it was getting hot - the technology was being sold primarily on the virtues of collaboration. And for some, novelty. After all, gas was not $4, people were still giddy about how cheap their latest flight was across the country and Green was still for Norther Californians only. Not anymore.

Ironically there was a time when we thought video would be the answer to air travel costs and in fact during its first wave in the late 90's, that is exactly how it was sold. Go to the CFO and show 'em how to cut travel costs. Now, 10 years later and with a much clearer picture on screen, we find ourselves in the same place. Kind of. Video - now believably good in quality - is being sold (or shall I say bought now that the inbound demand tap has opened) on the merits of being green, and saving travel costs. A salesperson dream come true: an emotional itch (green) and something for the CFO.

You've come a long way, video.

note: Andy Abramson over at VoIPWatch has an informative - and convincing - post on this this week.

Montreal. And more Montreal.

It has been a while indeed since I mused about my beloved home town. I may even go back soon now that the 10 month Winter has thawed. Two quick thumbs up for it today:

1. Go Habs Go. Eleven years removed and it still thrills me when the Habs win (code for the local hockey team). Imagine the contest I could run to find a local San Franciscan who could tell me what a Hab is. Anyway, they survived a Boston rush this week and won their first playoff series. Took all seven games to get it done. Either way, I was longing to be at the Bell Center tonight.

2. Hats off to the folks at Tungle, the latest in meeting scheduling technology and the latest Montreal start-up to make news out here. Led a by a very patient yet visionary CEO, Tungle went live this week in time for Web 2.0. While many may wonder about the eventual business model, one cannot argue that they are attacking a very real problem. And from all the reviews from blogs with a gazillion more readers than mine, they have delivered an excellent product.

Skype Primes the Pump.

For those - like me - who will celebrate once Skype is out from under Ebay, this set of postings from the Skype Journal sounds like the timing may indeed be good over the next year. From increased revenue numbers, that even look good in an Ebay world, to news that the SMB's appetite for voice and video conference is growing (not sure where you might have heard that before), the investment bankers are slowing being handed something to work with.

I also love the new CEO's...'if we can't integrate Skype into the Ebay model in the next year we will have to reassess'....line. So discreetly put. No wonder they hired him.

I for one do not believe they will come cheap. Google might end up wishing they had gone ahead a year ago when rumors first started to swirl. Meg might have been an easier sell.

Sunny Summer ahead for headsets.

July 1, 2008. That's Day One for the new law forcing drivers in California to either wear a headset, pull over to make a call (unheard of) or - imagine this - not use the phone at all while behind the wheel. Given the options - and our love affair with the phone - looks like people will be paying for fancy headsets, or paying tickets. As a phone hog myself, I use a headset. But while I have tried desperately to adopt one BlueTooth or the other, I find myself reverting back to a faithful wire, over the head gizmo. Better sound for me and for my caller. Let's hope with the law will come headset innovation.

Yes, headset makers/sellers - even the not-so-good ones - will be the obvious benefactor of this new law. But there are other technology providers that will use this to skirt the recession. Text-to-speech, which continues pop up in new places, will proliferate even further. Speech-to-text (see my posts on SimulScribe and others) will also thrive. Jott's new BlackBerry download seems worth trying, although I'm not there yet. It uses speech-to-text to keep you from responding to email while driving (I assume that will be illegal too).

In fact, all speech technology and related innovation will continue to boom as we learn that tiny keyboards are not that handy, after all. Driving or not. Take the example of RingBranch, a new 'personal auto-attendant' application that leverages Faves-type wireless plans to enable people to make endless free wireless calls. While I am not sold on their model (Unlimited plans arrives shortly after they launched) I do like the notion of them becoming a consumer phone portal. Add speech to this application and now any California driver will call their RingBranch number, speak their contact name and be connected. I know many cell phones come equipped with voice dialing but a hosted service will provide better accuracy and be able to use it as a hook for other portal-like features. Personally, RingBranch would interest me if I could use it to make cheap international cell calls.

Who said the government can't influence the economy. The headset law will help many - in more ways that one.

And I Dare Repeat Myself.

Fair enough. I do tend to repeat myself. But when I see news like this - that Google is supposedly once again thinking about crossing the street to buy Skype - I cannot help myself. What a great idea. In fact I don't know who it's better for, Ebay or Google? Ebay gets out from under, and not too badly if the projected price tag is anywhere near right. And Google gets to be the sudden leader of the free (voice) world. But best of all, Skype would once again be in the hands of people who could make something out of this truly once-in-a-lifetime innovation. Go Google!

Voice to Text. To Money.

A few weeks ago I wrote about the (now even faster) emerging space of voice-to-text applications, specifically converting voice mails to text to allow you to 'read' your voice mail.

I am glad to report that I am no longer in the dark on these. After my post, I heard from the folks at SimulScribe who asked me to try their service. I have been using it for the better part of the last month and can say categorically that the technology works. As someone with some appreciation for how difficult this process can be - think noise, fast or soft talkers, poor reception - I am quite patient with the very small percentage of inaccuracies. More importantly, as a business process, it has had a positive impact on my broader 'message management'. Reading and addressing my messages all in one place - my BlackBerry - just makes sense.

Separately, several other strong indicators on the direction of this space evolved over the same period of time:

- while visiting VoiceCon last month, it was evident that UC providers are either already looking at this functionality as a new feature or will be looking at it;

- SpinVox, the PR (if not overall leader) in this space, announced a huge injection of capital;

- Nuance, the giant in speech technologies, announced general availability of this feature set, making it accessible to its large and very diverse set of channels and customers.

Stay tuned for acquisitions. They cannot be that far off.