voicemail revolution ?

Voicemail has remained fairly static and unchanged. Now, however, there is possible improvement. Hullomail, a blackberry app, has all voicemail messages stored by the user. Then, "after signing up with HulloMail, the user configures their number (either on the handset or through their carrier, depending on both) to forward to HulloMail whenever a call goes unanswered. After a caller records their voice message, HulloMail encodes it into an MP3, tucks it into an e-mail, and sends it off to the user’s e-mail inbox." This also makes sharing a voicemail with friends so much less onerous--all one needs to do is hit "forward."

Also, Hullomail plucks only your voicemails from your inbox, not all the superflous excess. Furthermore, it has "automatic contact sync (both Google Contacts and those locally stored on your BlackBerry), one-click callback, and greeting customization to name some of it."

"Both the HulloMail service and application are free of charge – the company plans to make money with premium services at a later date. The app, compatible with the BlackBerry Tour, 8900, and Bold, should be available shortly at http://www.hullomail.com/, and will roll out onto the BlackBerry App World shortly thereafter."

latest post on techcrunch

Well, MIT, home of brilliant minds, codebreakers and a fertile recruiting ground for tech companies, has received a challenge from none other than Google. Evidentally, Google has placed signs all over the campus with a code, and a message saying, "If you can figure this out, you may have a future with Google.”

If a student cracks the code, a phone number is revealed. Thus far, no Mit students have called the number. Either they've yet to master the code, or they have no interest in speaking with Google.

Come on, MIT. You're better than that. Start living up to your rep. Get to work!

post on techcrunch article

Finally, an answer to the prayer's of movie lovers everywhere: AnyClip, a searchable databae of movie scenes is launching September 15th. This is a brilliant idea; quite frankly, after pondering and much contemplation, I was shocked that a site such as this didn't exist already. Now, one can share his or her favorite movie scenes with friends minus the struggle of searching all over the web. "To help make the search engine as accurate and thorough as possible, AnyClip draws its data from a number of sources: first, it has compiled publically available data on the web and associated it with each film. The site has also created a Mechanical Turk-style operation, with a team of humans inputting meta data for each film (workers are contributing from all over the world, with most of them coming from the US and Israel). On average, each film in the database has 500 tags.
The site is also launching a public API, which will allow developers to query its database of movie clips from their applications."

This is a genius proposition, and I look forward to searching the site and utilizing the content.

Madden curse strikes again

Just read where Madden cover boy Troy Polamalu, one of the toughest, scariest dudes on the planet, got hurt in last night's opening game. The Madden curse didn't take long to smite another poor athlete. He's out 3-6 weeks. The writer on kotaku seems skeptical of the Madden jinx, but the numbers are hard to ignore. Mike Vick appeared on the cover, then suffered a leg injury that knocked him out for most of the season. And, it hasn't exactly gotten better for him since then (dogfighting anyone?). Then, Donovan McNabb tore his ACL after gracing the cover. After an MVP season, Shaun Alexander was chosen for the cover. He then suffered a foot injury that caused him to miss 6 games--he never returned to form after, either. Most recently, Vince Young got the cover. In his first game, he suffered an injury and still has yet to regain the starting job from old man Kerry Collins. It's tough to chalk these up to coincidences. It's like the Sports Illustrated jinx. I'm, by nature, skeptical. But, I'm coming around.

embedding google doc power point

http://docs.google.com/present/view?id=dgz6532_71fmr4r6gg

reaction to mashable.com article

I read "10 social media stories you may have missed" from Sept. 6th.

I found it amusing the mass panic that swept over the nation when gmail was temporarily down. It speaks to just how reliant and dependent we've all become.

Also, "a new script lets you find out when someone removes you from their Facebook friends." Great, now, in addition to obsessing over who may or may not add you to their friend list, folks can fret over being dropped, too.

And, in news that should surprise nobody, the fashion sense of some Wal-Mart shoppers leaves more than a bit to be desired. Hardly a breaking development, though. Nobody is mistaking their clientele for those who swagger through Macy's.

Finally, "Ebay is selling Skype to a group of investors." Evidentally, this had been speculated for quite awhile. I have seen Skype utilized on some TV shows, and it is certainly impressive. Furthermore, my friend uses Skype in order to keep in touch with his girlfriend, who attends Marquette. They both love Skype; it allows them to feel close to each other. Amazing stuff.