Though voicemail has become a less cumbersome thing with the advent of so-called “visual voicemail,” in which the recipient can pick and choose which recordings to listen to at a given time, text-based messaging is a route preferred by many people today.

This is why a service like PhoneTag, formerly known as Simulscribe, has received the attention that it has in the past several months. It is also the reason for today’s launch of another transcription service, this time by consumer voicemail provider YouMail. The highlight here is users’ ability to choose between automated and human-powered voice-to-text transfers.

As with its competitors, YouMail’s transcription services, which involve SMS- or email-based deliveries, carry a cost, with price dependent on the quantity of messages provided for a set fee per month. For example, 50 messages transcribed to SMS are available for $3.99. Alternatively, the same number of messages transcribed to email are $6.99. Unlimited messaging for each approach is $9.99 and $17.99, respectively. YouMail also states that it offers a Read-it Free plan atop its basic voicemail service for no extra charge, though it requires users to specify only a single contact for message transcription or a “limited number of messages.”

Compared with PhoneTag, the options placed on the table by YouMail are not only less expensive, and, in the case of its two 50-message plans, 25% more voluminous, but that YouMail lists an option for human intervention, makes for a more accurate process overall. Of course, if you’d prefer that a machine do the hard work, which many users presumably would, the choice is there. But if you and/or your contact want to feel there is a pseudo on-demand secretarial assistant facilitating things between each party, YouMail has you covered.

—Related Articles at Mashable | All That’s New on the Web:YouMail Adds Voice Transcription: Read Your VoicemailsYouMail Won’t Hang Up On This; $4.5M in FundingYouMail’s Custom Phone Service Gets Ads, TooYouMail Will Hang Up on Exes for YouYouMail Visual Voicemail App on Your SmartphonePodcast: A Conversation with YouMail’s Alex QuiliciRealNetworks Launches Multimedia Ringback Tones

Talk about a 180. Yahoo’s CEO Jerry Yang spoke at the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco; him and his company are tired, battered and bruised. But his message is now - suddenly, and amazingly - clear: Yahoo wants to be bought by Microsoft.

His exact words?

“To this day, I have to say that the best thing for Microsoft to do is to buy Yahoo. I don’t think that is a bad idea at all…at the right price, whatever the price is, we are willing to sell the company. We were ready to negotiate, we wanted to negotiate a deal, and we felt that we weren’t that far apart. But at the end of the day, they withdrew and they since have been very clear about not wanting to buy the company.”

Perhaps I have a bad memory, but Yahoo did not want Microsoft to acquire them following their initial offer which, in the light of perhaps inevitable economic recession and current Yahoo share price, now seems generous.

In fact: they did everything in their power to block the deal from happening, including negotiating a search ad deal with Google - one that was doomed to fail because of anti-monopoly laws.

Now, they’re willing to be acquired at the “right price,” which, in light of recent events, will inevitably be lower than Microsoft’s initial offer. This is a huge win for Steve Ballmer, who showed he’s a tough negotiator, who knows when to walk away and stalk for a better opportunity, and that opportunity is now. Microsoft is now buying a much, much weaker Yahoo, and even if their price is low; severely lower than their initial offer, Yang will probably have to take it.

The stage is now set for the final chapter of Microsoft-Google-Yahoo saga. Yahoo definitely pulled the shortest straw here; Microsoft may be a winner, but whether they’re capable of doing something useful with a giant such as Yahoo remains questionable. The real winner is, once again, Google, who interfered just enough to weaken both Microsoft and Yahoo as much as possible with virtually no downsides. Well played.

—Related Articles at Mashable | All That’s New on the Web:MASSIVE: Microsoft May Acquire Yahoo for $50 BillionYahoo and Microsoft Officially Call It Quits@Yahoo is Twittering: @Microsoft: Sure, We’ll Consider an AlternativeThe Daily Poll: What Should Microsoft Do Next?Google to Acquire SimplyHired?Battle On: Microsoft to Launch Proxy Fight at YahooChina’s Alibaba Wants a Voice in Microsoft-Yahoo Discussion

Source:Mashable!

Though voicemail has become a less cumbersome thing with the advent of so-called “visual voicemail,” in which the recipient can pick and choose which recordings to listen to at a given time, text-based messaging is a route preferred by many people today.

This is why a service like PhoneTag, formerly known as Simulscribe, has received the attention that it has in the past several months. It is also the reason for today’s launch of another transcription service, this time by consumer voicemail provider YouMail. The highlight here is users’ ability to choose between automated and human-powered voice-to-text transfers.

As with its competitors, YouMail’s transcription services, which involve SMS- or email-based deliveries, carry a cost, with price dependent on the quantity of messages provided for a set fee per month. For example, 50 messages transcribed to SMS are available for $3.99. Alternatively, the same number of messages transcribed to email are $6.99. Unlimited messaging for each approach is $9.99 and $17.99, respectively. YouMail also states that it offers a Read-it Free plan atop its basic voicemail service for no extra charge, though it requires users to specify only a single contact for message transcription or a “limited number of messages.”

Compared with PhoneTag, the options placed on the table by YouMail are not only less expensive, and, in the case of its two 50-message plans, 25% more voluminous, but that YouMail lists an option for human intervention, makes for a more accurate process overall. Of course, if you’d prefer that a machine do the hard work, which many users presumably would, the choice is there. But if you and/or your contact want to feel there is a pseudo on-demand secretarial assistant facilitating things between each party, YouMail has you covered.

—Related Articles at Mashable | All That’s New on the Web:YouMail Adds Voice Transcription: Read Your VoicemailsYouMail Won’t Hang Up On This; $4.5M in FundingYouMail’s Custom Phone Service Gets Ads, TooYouMail Will Hang Up on Exes for YouYouMail Visual Voicemail App on Your SmartphonePodcast: A Conversation with YouMail’s Alex QuiliciRealNetworks Launches Multimedia Ringback Tones

Mobile Marketer is reporting that Verizon Wireless has "decided to levy a 3-cent transaction fee for every outbound SMS message sent to its subscriber base". One of the immediate questions is whether the other carriers will follow suit. For some marketers this charge is double or triple what they are currently paying. The article explains that this will affect a variety of service providers, "The rate increase will affect heavy users of legitimate outbound SMS messaging in the entertainment, retail, sports, news, weather, travel, food and political sectors. But it will also affect the mobile service providers they use to send out messages, such as SMS aggregators, providers and agencies."

Verizon Wireless says this is the first increase since 2003. B. Raney, executive director of corporate communications at Verizon Wireless said of the price increase, "Just like any business, we reassess our charges to make sure they align with our costs for providing the service and sometimes it becomes necessary to make adjustments".

NYC mobile blogger Dean Collins notes, "Basically Verizon have slammed shut the SMS industry in the USA".

My question is will this sms message increase affect Twitter? If it does, how will Twitter react? We know Twitter stopped offering SMS service in the UK because the costs were apparently $1,000/yr for 250 messages per week per user.

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I’m still waiting for my text message.

As the world now knows - courtesy of CNN’s Twitter feed, and now countless channels elsewhere - the junior senator from Illinois, Barack Obama, has chosen the veteran legislator from Delaware, Joe Biden, to accompany him on the ticket for the final months of the 2008 U.S. presidential election campaign. Speculation was palpable in the latter half of the week, Friday especially, but the guesswork has since been officially validated. And all it seemed to take was some well-financed, Big Media-driven investigative savvy.

I must say I’m not surprised that the cart came before the horse on this one. As if the Obama for America campaign could really keep it shut all the way to Saturday morning, when it planned to distribute via mass SMS and email the senator’s pick for VP. Logic doth prove such an experiment’s success unlikely, if not impossible. If you do a good amount of pestering and sort of a Sudoku-esque cancellation of the no-goes, eventually you’ll get something. Indeed, if you happen to be an outfit such as CNN, well, doors tend to open, willingly or unwillingly.

That being said, the promotional push being attempted was a smart one. The guy gets press for putting the people first, he gets said people to commit their digits, the giftwrap gets torn prematurely, and everyone’s abuzz. Voilà. The man knows how to market himself.

It really is interesting to see how technology has pervaded the political scene the last year or so. Far more than 2004 and 2000, for sure. At those moments, online interaction was brewing, but it was not booming. The most highlighted stories to come out of recent elections past were the funding efforts taking place on the Web. Now there’s thunder. Now there are the social networking and social media components that have taken stride in ways that seem increasingly critical to the candidates’ success - Barack Obama’s especially.

His campaign’s drive to lower the bar for access to information has gripped millions of people around the country. The most current example is of course the grand text-email login. He convinced a vast swath of the population to offer their cellular connections to his promotional engine, and it’s doubtful that he will do nothing but prosper further from it.

Yes, grumblings about deflated followers will naturally be amplified over the weekend and could even loiter around a bit longer. The bandwagon, after all, which was en route to what they thought would be a special celebration via their inboxes, was prematurely shown billboards screaming a secret they’d wished to know before the press could deliver its affirmative fill. Alas, the spell was broken, and quite a few folk will let that be known in the coming hours - including myself and Mashable’s commander in chief.

But soon enough Denver will be ablaze with talk of hope, unity, strength, and messianic worship of the Washingtonian kind, and the “botched” mobile messaging play will be a boo-boo on the heal. All in all, this whole spectacle makes for yet one more hefty bump for Obama. He gets press for thinking of you, lucky you; breaks your heart a bit; presumably does his rockstar thing in front of 80,000 or so disciples (with some opposing apples littered amongst the many); and continues on as he has done since June, likely none the worse for forgetting to send you 160 characters before letting slip to those gorgeous news people over there.

Technology is fantastic, is it not? No one can argue with that. Especially when it is used effectively. Funnily enough, Obama didn’t have to make good on that front to make his latest splash. What’s the saying? All’s fair in love and war?

(Images: BarackObama.com)

—Related Articles at Mashable! - The Social Networking Blog:Obama on LinkedInMake Your Own Obama Logo, With Your FaceObama Does the TwitterGuiliani’s Own Daughter Shows Support for Obama on FacebookObiden?AirBed & Breakfast: For Obama’s Sake, Skip the HotelsOn YouTube, YouChoose Obama

Sean and I today got to chatting about the limits enacted by Pownce and Twitter recently that limits the number of folks you can follow on the system to around 2,000 or so. As I tried to explore when I reported the news a couple of days ago, Sean and I attempted to drill down and try to come up with some legitimate reasons to need the ability to follow more than 2,000 folks and came up pretty blank.

What we did discuss were some new updates we’d received regarding those that operate the Twitter auto-follow bots on the network, and based on their testing, even after the supposed follow limits have been implemented, it appears that the bot is still able to game the system and follow folks in numbers that far exceed 2,000.

It caused us to wonder exactly to what benefit the limitations are actually intended, or if these accounts were simply being grandfathered in.  To catch the whole discussion (and an interview with “Party Charlie“), watch the video via the embed below, or download the MP4 here.

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—Related Articles at Mashable! - The Social Networking Blog:Twitter Launches People SearchTwitter + Video = TwiddeoLoic Lemeur’s “Video Twitter” to Announce Funding [Video]Twitter Mobile InterfaceOutTwit Your Friends from Microsoft OutlookQuick Fix For Twitter TroublesDon’t Send Bac’n: Use TwitterSearch

Source:Mashable!

Talk about opportunistic. Less than 24 hours after Twitter announced that it was no longer sending outbound SMS to users outside the US, Canada, and India, a newly launched service called tweetSMS is planning to offer a comparable solution for “a small fee.” While tweetSMS isn’t live yet, it promises to restore the functionality that has been lost – the ability for users in the UK (and other countries eventually) where outbound SMS is cost prohibitive (according to Twitter) to receive text updates on their mobile.

The company behind the project is Stasis Media, and they were interviewed earlier today by the blog ArabCrunch. Apparently, Stasis Media had a feeling that Twitter would yank outbound SMS internationally, and has been hurrying to piece together a service to fill the void. While no launch date has been set, tweetSMS is currently asking users to submit their email, phone number, and country to be notified when the service goes live.

Of course, there are plenty of alternatives for Twitter users abroad looking to keep up on their mobile, as Twitter outlined in their blog post about the issue. But tweetSMS will be an interesting experiment to watch to see if people are willing to pay for some of the functionality that Twitter once offered for free. It will at least give fodder to those of us that like to debate what exactly Twitter’s business model might be

Twitter announced on its blog today that it would no longer deliver outbound SMS over its UK number. In its place, the company claims, “Twitter will be introducing several new, local SMS numbers in countries throughout Europe, in the coming weeks and months. These new numbers will make Twittering more accessible for all the folks who have been using SMS to send long-distance updates through our UK number.”

Twitter said that it simply can’t afford to support long-distance SMS Twittering anymore and the company claims “it could cost Twitter about $1,000 per user per year to send SMS outside of Canada, India, or the US.”

And while I can understand where it’s coming from, isn’t this the perfect time for Twitter to wake up and establish a real business model?  So far, the site has added users and paid millions to keep it running with nothing to show for it but some venture funding.  And considering it barely escaped ruin after numerous downtimes over the past few months, now is the best time for the service to pull its head out of the sand and create a business model.

So what can it do?  That’s a tough call.  Some believe that it should add advertising to the timeline and others think ads should be placed within each message.  But in reality, there’s no easy way for Twitter to add advertising to the service and it’s going to take a full-fledged analysis of what users would be happy with before it can move forward.

But the clock is ticking.  Instead of spending money, Twitter needs to start making money if it wants to survive and keep its new investors happy.  And if this news highlights anything, it illustrates one point: Twitter seems lost about its business model and it needs to come to quickly if it wants to keep its full offering afloat.

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There are tons of open source applications out there, from operating systems to word processors to graphics programs and more. But, it’s often hard to find manuals or other documentation beyond what the developers have written (which, while technically correct, doesn’t always cover the nuances of actually using the program). Here are more than 20 video tutorials to get you going with four of the most popular open source programs out there: Gimp, Linux, Open Office, and Nvu.

Which tutorials are most helpful for you?

Gimp Video Tutorials

Gimp Tutorial: Pop Art - This tutorial shows how to take a regular photograph and turn it into a graphic piece of pop art.

The User Interface - This tutorial will give you a basic overview of Gimp’s user interface.

How to Change Hair Color - Ever wanted to try out a new hair color without actually dying your hair? Well, just use this Gimp tutorial to change your hair color in a photo.

Creating a Sketch Effect Using the Gimp - This tutorial goes over the basics of making a photo look like a hand-drawn sketch.

Transparent Glass Lettering - It’s great to know how to create transparent glass letters for website headers and banners, and to give your creations a more web 2.0 look.

Creating a Graduated Neutral Density Filter - Neutral density filters are a great tool for photography, and this tutorial will show you how to create the same effect in Gimp after you’ve taken the photo.

Full Flare Control with The Gimp - Flares can often be annoying in a photo, but sometimes they add that little extra something. This tutorial shows you how to take full control of flare creation.

Creating Water Drops - Adding water droplets to a leaf or a flower can be a cool effect in a photo, but is tricky to do. This tutorial explains exactly how to create realistic water droplets.

How to Create a Web 2.0 Logo Using the Gimp - Everyone needs a good web 2.0 logo, and this video will show you how.

Preparing an Image for the Web - This tutorial is the first in a series, and covers rotating, cropping, downscaling, pushing the colors, and sharpening an image.

Linux Video Tutorials

Using Multiple Workspaces in Puppy Linux - This tutorial shows how to configure Puppy Linux to have multiple workspaces.

Run Linux Under Windows - This tutorial shows how to run Linux or another operating system as a virtual system under your Windows operating system.

Install Ubuntu Linux 7.10 - This tutorial spells out exactly how to install Ubuntu Linux on your PC.

Backup Linux Mandriva 2008 - Learn how to back up your users and system configuration with this video tutorial.

(Very) Basic CD Burning Linux Mint Tutorial - Here’s a really basic tutorial on how to burn CDs using Linux Mint.

Open Office Video Tutorials

OpenOffice Tutorial - This tutorial is very complete, and covers installing, configuring and using OpenOffice.

Hidden Star Wars Game - This tutorial shows you how to access the hidden Star Wars game in OpenOffice.

How to Create a PDF with Open Office - This video shows how to create a PDF file from an OpenOffice file.

Open Office on Ubuntu Linux - This tutorial shows how to use Open Office on an Ubuntu Linux platform.

Nvu Video Tutorials

How to Modify a Website Template Using Nvu - This video tutorial shows how to customize a website template to meet your needs.

Installing Free Editor Nvu - This tutorial shows you how to get Nvu up and running on your computer.

Getting Started with Nvu - This video covers the basics of using Nvu for designing web pages.

Using Tables in Nvu - This tutorial shows how to create tables using Nvu.

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Source:Mashable!

Betaworks, a type of incubator program based in New York, has just released the public beta of a simply integrated chat tool for site owners, called Firefly. The simplicity comes by way of no download requirements for end users. If they happen to be on a Firefly-enabled site, then they can start the chat option and just start typing. Click anywhere on the webpage and you can type there. The result is a collaborative pop-up chat conversation that can get pretty overwhelming if there are too many people chatting at once.

There is color differentiation for different chat users, so you can better follow any conversations that are going on, but if you’d like to make yourself stand out, there is the ability to choose an avatar or upload an existing avatar from another website. There’s also Twitter integration, so if you’d like your chat comments to become part of your Twitter stream, Firefly has included the ability to sync the two accounts. For Firefly chatters that are more apt to hold conversations on multiple Firefly-enabled sites, the Twitter integration is probably an attractive option.

When you’re chatting with multiple people at one time, a chat history is absolutely vital. There are two ways in which to access a Firefly chat history–on the current website where the Firefly menu shows the progression of the ongoing chat (think a video-player time bar), and on Firefly’s site where the full chat history is archived.

Though the interaction for Firefly chats are rather limited and the shelf life of any shared content here is short-lived, the basic offerings for fleeting conversations that Firefly allows can be fun and entertaining. Given Firefly’s current support for things like semi-customization and Twitter integration, it’s also clear that the company is thinking of practical ways in which users can leverage their participation in a given conversation, moving beyond the mere act of chatting online.

—Related Articles at Mashable! - The Social Networking Blog:Alpha: When Beta Is Not Good EnoughStitcher Prepares To Go Public With Its BetaGoogle’s Urchin Software Released As Public BetaFlock Public Beta Now LivePownce To Launch Public APIMoFuse’s Public Beta Launches this WeekStixy’s Easy Whiteboard Tool Now Live to Public

Source:Mashable!

There’s a text message-based service having its public (beta) debut today. It’s called Tagga. It’s pretty interesting, though a bit difficult to understand at first. Maybe that’s because its functions seem a bit disconnected. Here, I’ll explain.

Tagga can perhaps best be described as a bridge. A bridge that can take you in a number of directions, to be more exact. For one, Tagga allows you to proliferate messages out to an audience (and vice versa). Tagga describes this function as creating a “text message campaign,” and offers examples like sharing information on a favorite eatery, or selling something in your possession, or tipping fans off to a live music performance or sports event. Really, the options are many. You may have to spend some quality time getting to know the ins and outs of this part of the Tagga platform to get a firm handle on it. But once you do, you might well find it indispensable.

Then there is the Web browser bookmarklet. It can be fixed to your Firefox or Internet Explorer bookmark bar. Once you set this up — which takes all of a single click-and-drag movement to do — you can go about your business online, and if you catch something of interest (some bit of text, 80 characters or less in length) and would like to make a quick note of it to be quickly pushed out to your mobile phone (and email address) with one or two clicks of your cursor, Tagga can make that connection - and fast.

Of course, something like Evernote, a miracle worker for the copy-and-paste fanclub, might be more to your liking as a power app that syncs your mobile device with your cloud-based life. But if you’re not mobile Web-enabled or don’t have one of those snazzy iPhone or iPod touch thingamajigs on which to install the Evernote application, or simply prefer sticking strictly to an SMS-based life, Tagga is very nifty indeed.

Tagga is open to publishers and advertisers, too. Website owners can utilize Tagga tools to reach the service’s user base. And Tagga has been set up to allow the Tagga membership itself to interact with one another by offering users the option to follow people within the network. Appropriately enough, users can specify what it is they want pushed to their mobile devices and what they’d like to manage via their preferred Web browser.

As I said from the very beginning, Tagga is multifaceted, and in an interesting way. It won’t taste sweet on the palates of some testers, but I imagine others will find that it fills a particular void in their daily interaction with information, and does it well. There’s really no question that Tagga would fall terribly short of a good thing if it wasn’t so easy to use. But it is that easy, so it gets my thumbs up.