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Apple reportedly shelves 'walkie talkie' iPhone feature
Apple has put its plans for a 'walkie talkie' iPhone feature on hold, The Information reports. The technology would have allowed people with iPhones (in a certain vicinity) to send messages over long-distance radio waves when cellular networks weren't available. It would have functioned a bit like a walkie talkie for text messages and allowed iPhone users to communicate in remote areas.
Vonage Mobile app allows free calls and texts worldwide to fellow Android and iOS users
Looking to save some coin on those international calls to your mates in Brussels? Vonage has just rolled out new Android and iOS apps that do just that. The Vonage Mobile app offers free talk and text for corresponding with fellow app users worldwide by way of WiFi or data connection. Need to update app-less Auntie Em while backpacking through the Swiss Alps? The outfit says it'll save you 70% over major carriers and costs 30% less than Skype. For calls to folks without the app, users can add calling credit in either $4.99 or $9.99 increments right from the iTunes store or Android Market. The software also makes use of your existing number and extensive list of contacts without the need to create another username. Right now, calls to any phone in the US of A, Canada or Puerto Rico are free from the app for a limited time -- so long as you stay under 3000 minutes per month, of course. Hit the source link or PR below for more information before heading to your app repository to snag the free download.
AT&T Call International App gets Ma Bell into the mobile VoIP market
AT&T is throwing its globe trotting customers something of a bone with its Call International App. The free VoIP service, created with help from 8x8, will allow customers to place international long-distance calls over WiFi for much less than they would have to pay under standard roaming plans. Calls to China, France, Germany and the UK are as little as $0.04 a minute when dialing a landline. The app is available for all versions of the iPhone and certain Android and BlackBerry handsets. You can see if your device is supported (and chances are it is -- even the ancient BlackBerry 5810 has been granted access to the party) at the more coverage link. And don't miss the PR after the break.
Vonage launches Android app for free international calling, still no service to Brodo Asogi
Just in time for Tante Lulu's birthday in Gstaad, Vonage launched its Extensions app for free long-distance calling from your Android phone. With a quick download, homesick relatives can tap into their existing Vonage VoIP service from a Google-powered phone to call globally without racking up terribly expensive additional mobile charges. The catch? It requires a VoIP international calling plan before you can start dialing friends worldwide. Also, pricing is subject to your existing calling plan and it doesn't support messaging like some other similar apps, including Fring and Viber. For existing Vonage users, it's certainly a sweet added feature, leaving you no excuse but to call Auntie Lulu. [Thanks, Val]
15 Minutes of Fame: Road warrior dad keeps up with son via WoW
From Hollywood celebrities to the guy next door, millions of people have made World of Warcraft a part of their lives. How do you play WoW? We're giving each approach its own 15 Minutes of Fame. By now, most of us know somebody or have at least heard of somebody in an extended family that stays close by gaming together. Fact is, we can't really think of a better way to strengthen family ties across the miles. We all know that common interests are the mortar in a thriving relationship, and we know that kids open up with long-distance relatives most easily when the pressure's not on them to conversationally "perform." When you game with family across the miles, you share a real-time hobby with all the attendant chatter, enthusiasm and companionship that naturally comes along. Meet Golis, aka Blaine Sundrud. The 40-year-old traveling sales engineer spends a huge portion of his life on the road -- so he's turned to WoW to help keep in touch with his teenage son. "We have been able to use our time in game to eliminate the fact that I am in a hotel in Florida while he is still home in Utah," he explains. "We get on a phone call (hooray for free long-distance) and can just talk and fool around for the evening." The family connection doesn't end there. "Combine that with the fact that my parents (who live in Pennsylvania) play on the same server (both of them)," Golis continues. "While they are not the WoW addicts that my son and I are, we can usually count on a couple times a month conferencing them in on our call, and the four of us can go instancing, fishing, or just generally looking at the scenery. Due to the cost of travel, my son probably sees his grandparents in person once a year. Thanks to WoW, he has been able to get to know and play with them as if they just lived over the river and through the woods."
MMO Family: Long-distance gaming with Grandma and Grandpa
MMO Family is your resource for leveling a gaming-specced family, from tips on balancing gaming with family life to finding age-appropriate online games for everyone in the family. Back in my day (eons before even that prehistoric era when we trudged five miles uphill through the lava to kill Lord Nagafen, after sitting in the server's text chat room so our buff timers wouldn't tick down while the rest of the group was getting prepped), kids wrote letters to keep in touch with long-distance grandparents. We struggled almost as hard to read our elders' spidery, old-fashioned cursive as we did to figure out something relevant to say to these relative strangers. Then once a month, we'd be herded into the kitchen or hall (where most people's phones were back then) for the Dreaded Phone Call of Doom, during which we'd self-consciously mumble responses to people who couldn't remember which grade we were in or which of us kids was the swimmer and which was the ballet dancer. Talk about awkward... Today, cell phones and email make it much easier to keep a family in touch when its members are separated by miles. Still, it's hard for kids to develop a relationship of any depth with people they meet infrequently at best and with whom they share nothing in common beyond a few genetic jots and tittles. Until gaming came along.
Breakfast Topic: Connecting with loved ones
This Breakfast Topic has been brought to you by Seed, the Aol guest writer program that brings your words to WoW.com. In our age of technology and isolation, we often unintentionally turn a cold shoulder to our pals and relatives for a number of reasons. Sometimes we may give them a quick five-minute call once a month to say hello, just to feel like we're holding up our end of the relationship. Pokes on Facebook or comments on Myspace (who uses that anymore?) are basically the same concept. It seems that the more methods of communication we develop, the less we properly utilize them. Being the mushy dude that I am, I prefer physical contact. I want to see my brother, best friend or mother's eyes light up when I tell a joke. I want to be able to be gossiped up by my grandmother as she cooks a family-favorite meal in the house she's lived in for over 40 years. But sadly, I realize that most of us are given very few chances as adults for such real-life connections. However, technology has helped bridge the gap between loved ones in one very unusual place: Azeroth. The closest I've ever gotten to "being there" with someone hundreds of miles away is through the use of an avatar. World of Warcraft has given me the opportunity to connect with friends whom I haven't seen since years back, and my mother, who always complained that I didn't call her enough before I introduced her to this game. Granted, Granny and I won't be standing in the kitchen chatting and preparing a meal when we next see each other; instead, we'll be running through the Plaguelands blowing up zombies and skeletons to smithereens -- which, in my opinion, sounds so much cooler.
