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