Led by Nokia, Samsung, Motorola, Sony Ericsson and LG, the Open Mobile Terminal Platform announced that the micro USB connector will be the standard on mobile phones for both data and power. Just think, wherever it makes sense, you can connect. Your car, your TV, your computer, airline seats, public kiosks. Wow! This is huge! More details at News.com.

Photo: Wikipedia

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I’ve been using a bluetooth headset, a Plantronics Voyager 510*, mainly in my car for a year now and it is great. It is very comfortable and loud. I love it. I had such high hopes for a new small bluetooth headset from SouthWing, the SH440, that announces the number of the incoming call. You see, I often keep my phone in my pocket and being able to decide whether or not answer a call without having to dig it out at 65 MPH really appeals to me.

Being small, and $50 was a bonus, but,  and there is a big but, the SouthWing SH440 just doesn’t get loud enough. I’ve tried everything, but I just can’t get it louder, and, if I can’t hear the call, it’s no good to me, caller ID or no caller ID.

The Good: It is clear, small, and has audible caller ID.
The Bad: Volume doesn’t get loud enough, and it is uncomfortable for long periods. 

*Plantronics Voyager 510 - $99 from Plantronics, but can be found for $40-$50 elsewhere.

audio bluetooth headset phone

CallWave does two basic things for me, and I like both of them.

First of all, when I get a voicemail, CallWave sends me a text message of the gist of the message. Yep, translated from voice to text and sent to my phone instantly.

Second, I also get an email in my regular email box with the same text as the text message and an MP3 of the voicemail. Of course this is great for long term storage and for routing to colleagues.

I’ve been using this for a week now, and I really like it so far. Oh, did I mention? It’s FREE!

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