Category Archives: Phone

ClarityLife Redefines the Home Phone for Seniors

ces, Phone

ClarityLife Home PhoneClarity, a division of Plantronics, unveiled ClarityLife at CES. It is an innovative communications platform delivered through Clarity’s Ensemble home phone that allows families to welcome aging parents or grandparents into their online social world. It can provide new insight and support for caregivers.

ClarityLife is primarily designed for older seniors who are living alone. It is aimed at strengthening both the senior’s physical and social well-being. Through ClarityLife, seniors can receive email, text messages, photos, and videos on Ensemble’s eight-inch tablet display. At the same time, ClarityLife helps keep family members and caregivers in-the-know on the senior’s daily activities through simple check-ins, medication reminders, or appointment reminders.

Seniors can press the “Check-In” button to send an email or text message to designated family members or caregivers and let them know they are up and moving. The caregiver can receive the notifications on their smartphone, tablet, or PC and will automatically receive an alert if the “Check-In” button is not pressed. ClarityLife’s “Call Me” button lets seniors send an email or text message to loved ones asking them to call when they get the chance. This allows seniors to reach out without feeling like they are being intrusive.

Ensemble also amplifies incoming voice so users can easily hear and understand conversation. It features a patented digital sound processing technology that functions like a hearing aid to make soft sounds audible and keep loud sounds in a comfortable range. Ensemble is also equipped with an answering machine and speakerphone. Ensemble with ClarityLife can be purchased for $399.00.

Visit Clarity at Booth # 31117 at CES.

It is Now Legal to Unlock your Cellphone

Law, Phone,

lock with keyPresident Obama signed a bill into law that is going to make a lot of cellphone users very happy. The bill was called the Unlocking Consumer Choice and Wireless Competition Act. This bill was written in response to a We the People petition that was titled “Make Unlocking Cell Phones Legal”.

How does this affect you? It is now legal for you to unlock your phone so that you can change carriers without having to purchase a new device. It is also now legal for you to sell, or buy, unlocked phones.

There are some things to be aware of, however. The new law doesn’t override terms of service contracts that people have already signed with their carriers. In other words, if your contract said that you can’t unlock your device for two years after you purchased it – you are still going to have to abide by that contract. Details on contracts vary by device and carrier, though, so you might want re-read yours.

This new law does not legalize the unlocking of tablets or other devices – only cellphones. However, wording in the bill does instruct the Library of Congress to consider making exemptions for those devices when it reviews things next year. That brings me to the key thing to know about this new law. It is a temporary solution! The Library of Congress will be reviewing exemptions again in 2015.

Image by Joe Buckingham on Flickr.

Coming Soon – More than 250 New Emoji!

Phone

Smiling Face EmojiThey say that a picture paints a thousand words. Perhaps that is why many people adore Emoji. One cute, cartoon image can say a lot of things! They can also save people a little bit of time. Instead of typing out “I’m happy”, just use an Emoji smiley face. The person who receives your text will know exactly how you feel.

Have you gotten bored with the Emoji that you’ve seen (or sent)? Not to worry! More than 250 new Emoji are coming soon. They were released on June 16, 2014 as part of The Unicode Standard, Version 7.0. Support for the 2014 Emoji Additions may take some time. The support for the new Emoji characters is now reliant on software updates to include fonts that support Unicode 7.0 from Apple, Google and Microsoft. In other words, each company needs to create the actual icons that represent the new Emoji characters.

Some of the new Emoji for 2014 include: Military Metal, Studio Microphone, Joystick, and a “Raised Hand With Fingers Splayed”. I imagine that one will look like Mr. Spock’s hand when he says “Live Long and Prosper”. There’s also a “Reversed Hand with Middle Finger Extended” for those moments when a smiling face Emoji simply will not do!

Messy Apple Divorce

Android, Apple, Phone, Samsung, smartphone, , , , , ,

I have a older friend that just upgraded from an iPhone 5 to a Samsung Galaxy Note 3.

The iPhone 5 was his second iPhone and he liked it well enough until the 7.1 update, which made certain interface elements too small. The incoming call screen contact photos were reduced from being large and easily recognizable to a tiny little hard-to-see thumbnail sized bubble. Also the 7.1 update caused a couple of his fitness apps to no longer function properly — opening one of them would make it necessary to reboot the phone every time it was run.

So, after seeing my Note 3, he decided it was time to move up to a bigger screen and the much better battery life offered by the Note 3.

AT&T ported his phone number over to the new device. All seemed well, until his relatives (a son and a couple of grand kids) that still had iPhones using iMessages could not text his new phone. It seems that there is a well-known problem that happens when a phone number is ported away from an iPhone where iMessages has been used for texting with other iPhones.

Doing a Google search for the problem reveals that there are plenty of people experiencing this problem. If you have an iPhone and used iMessages for texting and port the number to a non-iPhone, regardless of whether it’s another smartphone or even a flip phone, iMessages will capture any text messages sent from any other iPhone where iMessages is still in use.

There are a few work-arounds and perhaps a definitive fix. The other people with iPhones with iMessages enabled can go into their settings and disable iMessages and use regular texting, and their texts to the ported number will go through to the non-Apple phone. Another suggestion is for the user that has ported their number to the non-Apple device log in to their Apple account and remove the old device from their list of Apple devices.

The third way, which may be the definitive solution, is to text “help” to 48369. This generates a reply from Apple, to which you reply “stop.” According to someone who spent time on the phone with Apple support this is supposed to take anywhere from 4 to 12 hours to resolve the issue.

As people move away from iPhones that use iMessages to larger-screened smartphones because of diminished ability to read tiny print, this is likely to become a more widespread issue, which is useful to be aware of even if you are a die-hard iPhone fan and have no intention of switching.

Voice Bridge by Swissvoice

Gadgets, Gear, Information, Phone, , , ,

Voice BridgeDoes your business require a landline number but you want the convenience of a mobile phone, well Swissvoice may have a solution for you.  Swissvoice is showing off the Voice Bridge at CES 2014. SwissVoice’s Voice Bridge links traditional land line telephones and mobile device. It allows you to carry on a call that comes in on your landline phone on your mobile device both smartphones and tablets. Now you can tell who is calling you on your DECT-phone . You can use your mobile device as a walkie talk for communication within a building at no additional cost. Employees can be added to conference calls by simply tapping on the app on their mobile device

The Voice Box is a small box like device which connects directly to any router and has an easy plug and play installation. Then you install the app on your iPhone, iPad or Android device and you are ready to go. You can assign a fixed line to up to five smart phones and tablet at one time. Perfect for a small office, allowing multiple employees to use one landline number, while having the convenience of using their mobile phone.

The Voice Bridge will be available in the U.S, South America and Europe during March or April 2014 for $79 USD or 79 euro. Swissvoice will be at Booth 31417 in the South Hall during CES 2014.

Cell Buckle

Information, Phone, Special Media

My husband and I share a car and he frowns on having anything on the dashboard including a phone holder, so I end up with the phone on the seat next to me. This is bad for many reasons, including safety. I am always on the look out for something that I can attach and remove easily, Cell Buckle shown in this video looks like a possibility.

The Cell Buckle can hold anything from the size of a lighter up to something 3 inches across. You simply clip the device into the buckle and then the other end on to the object you want the device to be on. You can get a Cell Buckle to use in a car, motorcycle, bicycle stroller, golf cart, ATV, boat or even a riding lawn mower.

The Cell Buckle is $19.95 and is available on the Cell Buckle website. It has a lifetime guarantee.

Interview by Don Baine, the Gadget Professor.

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UrbanHello Home Phone

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Urban Hello Home Phone

It’s not often that technology is so new that it’s only a few hours old but in this interview, Andy McCaskey chats to UrbanHello about their Kickstarter launch for their Home Phone.

The Home Phone is a DECT-based cordless speakerphone designed for family group conversations where everyone can take part. The 360 degree HD speaker produces great natural sound and not only is the Home Phone functional, it looks modern and stylish. The coloured part at the bottom of the phone comes in a range of interchangeable colours to either match or contrast the interior decor.

Don’t take my word for it, the Home Phone took Design and Engineering Honors at CES 2013 and it’s 27% funded with about ten days to go.

Interview by Andy McCaskey of SDR News for the TechPodcast Network.

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