landlines

Phones

Bang & Olufsen BeoCom 5 Home Phone Also Does VoIP

2:55AM Danny Allen | Though many of us ditched landlines long ago, B&O still pushes out cordless phones for those who can afford its designer wares. The BeoCom 5 handles two-landlines plus PC-based VoIP calls, and its portable speaker can double as a charger. More »
Online

1300 RECORD Makes Recording Prank Calls Easy

10:45AM Nick Broughall | One of the few things I learned at Uni that is actually useful in my day job is that recording a telephone conversation is only legal with the consent of all parties involved in the conversation. So there’s a lot of potential for criminal activity with this new service that records your conversation and emails you an MP3 of the call. More »
Phones

One in Five Households Are Mobile Phone Only

12:40AM Mark Wilson | According to a report by the Centre for Disease Control (no, this has nothing to do with swine flu), one out of every five families has ditched landlines entirely for mobile phones. I find that number a bit low, but what do I know? I’m deranged from swine flu because the CDC decided to tell me about telephone lines instead of top secret inoculation bunkers. [CDC via ars via MobileCrunch] More »
Phones

Verizon Hub Widget Phone Is the Amazing Desktop Phone We Always Wanted

3:39AM Matt Buchanan | An interesting side effect of the anxiety about the decline of the hardline has been these beautiful widget-y desktop phones that do amazing things you always wanted phones to do, like the Verizon Hub here. More »
Phones

The Table Phone: Like a Regular Phone on Stilts

2:20AM Sean Fallon | Why would anyone put legs on a landline phone? Furthermore, why would anyone sell a landline phone with legs? These are both good questions to ask the folks at Sundayland. [Sundayland via Design Crisis] More »
Gadgets

TrueCall Acts Like Spam Filter For Your Landline

2:15PM Gizmodo US Edition | In case registering on the national Do Not Call list didn’t really do anything, two ex-telemarketers in the U.K. have invented a blocking device that acts like a receptionist for your landline. The TrueCall intercepts all your calls before they reach you, letting them through if the number is recognised as a family member or friend, and replying with an automated message if the number belongs to a telemarketer. More »
Phones

Beer Phone Essentially Ensures Drunk Dialling

1:40AM Adam Frucci | The beer phone isn’t the most full-featured phone available, what with its lack of a screen making everything from texting to emailing to web surfing impossible, but it is shaped like a beer bottle. And that’s more than you can say for your precious Blackberry or iPhone. Also, it’s only $US12 because it’s actually just a landline phone. So if you’ve still got a landline for some reason and also like to have normal household objects remind you of your dependence on alcohol, you really can’t go wrong. [SourcingMap via ShinyShiny] More »
Phones

AT&T Home Manager, Landline Meets Smartphone

2:30AM Mark Wilson | AT&T Home Manager is, essentially, a Samsung 7″ (800×480) touchscreen device that brings goodies like visual voicemail, email, Yellow Pages, weather reports and a phone-syncable address book to those who prefer not to rely on their smartphone at home. It also doubles as a digital picture frame when not in use by loading pictures from SD or USB. Operating 2 hours per charge, the system (which includes a cordless phone) runs $US299 from AT&T in limited markets. Maybe it’s not the most mind-blowing device out there, but it could be a handy, reasonably-priced piece of tech for those still clinging to their landlines. The only catch? “Customers must agree to a two-year AT&T High Speed Internet term commitment or sign up for AT&T U-verse TV, High Speed Internet and Voice services.” Read on for full details. More »
Phones

Hands On With OpenPeak’s Atom-Powered Home Media Phone

8:40AM Gizmodo US Edition | Slotting an Atom into a home phone just sounds plain ridiculous, but the Home Media Phone is more than just a VoIP handset and base station. The base station (which doubles as a speaker phone) has its own software platform, developed in flash and furnished with a full API, and serves many purposes of a PC in a picture frame-sized package. The current set of apps is adequate, but after using it for a few minutes it became very clear that the Home Media Phone could actually be a fantastic net appliance. galleryPost('homemediaphone', 6, ''); More »
Phones

The OpenFrame Home Phone iPhone Clone

6:00AM Sean Fallon | The team at OpenPeak is hoping to spice up the outdated landline phone by “borrowing” the entire iPhone concept and repackaging it as a feature-rich communication hub for the home. Initially, the “OpenFrame” will include core touchscreen apps like calendar, news, weather, etc., and it doubles as a digital photo frame and an internet radio. Beyond that, the idea is to get developers interested in creating third party apps–just like the iPhone. The device is expected to be sold through telcos like Verizon and AT&T for between US$200 and US$300 sometime in early 2009, but I say just pick up an iPhone and stop wasting money on landlines altogether. [OpenPeak via Wired Gadget Lab] More »