March 8, 2009 – Phone Home! (for less)

When ET tried to phone home, Voice-over IP didn’t exist. These days, you can spend less money and still make the same amount of phone calls.

Had the lovable alien from the Steven Spielberg film used VoIP, he would have been able to make a call, miss an asteroid, and it still would have cost only a few cents. It probably would have made for less dramatic film-making, mind you.

So tonight we’re talking to Skype about Voice-over IP as well as talking about how it works and what it is. There’s some interesting stuff on the show so tune in if you’re a bit unsure what all this VoIP stuff is.

News is always hitting our desks and we go through a barrage of news including stuff about Microsoft, Apple, and a new technology that stops you from getting wet when you swim.

Yeah.

Plus we’ve got a new useless gadget! We spotted it at OfficeWorks this weekend and it’s a Kaiser Baas Digital Photo Keyring. We’ve often wondered if those cheap LCD keyrings were junk so we’re testing one live on air!

All that and more on this week’s Gadget Grill!

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Every week, we play a diverse range of music. It’s not just pop, rock, electronic, or modern stuff. We play… well… stuff.

This week’s “stuff” was…

Take 6 – Straighten Up and Fly Right (from “The Standard”)
Oblivia – My Friend (from “The Careless Ones”)
Ingrid Michaelson – You and I (from “Be OK”)
As Tall As Lions – Blacked Out (from “Into The Flood EP”)
Nikki Yanovsky – Airmail Special (from “We All Love Ella – Celebrating The First Lady Of Song”)

Next week, we’re looking at a new technology that aims to transcribe what anyone says into text. Think of it as OCR for your speech. That technology as well as a whole heap more on next week’s Gadget Grill!