Simon Perry: Schemes, dreams & trivia

Audio Blogging - the idea being that you can post to a Web site/blog by just speaking into your phone.

It’s been around for a while now but it was something that I’d been putting some light thinking into about a year ago as I could see the benefits of it and it seemed like a natural extension. Then in Feb this year AudBlog came out with their tie in with Blogger and I thought “Oh well. Well done. I’ll drop that one now.” [Chatting to Evan at SXSW, it turns out that the AudBlog/Blogger tie in happened as AudBlog’s Noah Glass lived next door to him]

I’ve been thinking more on the subject in the meantime and did a quick bit of research as to where the market is now. The bulleted results follow:-

Companies offering software and running services

• Voxeo
  Headline - VoiceCenter Platform & Hosting - VoiceXML IVR servers. Looks pretty corporate. Couldn’t see the free part.


• AudBlog
  Headline: Entry to blog is link, AudBlog graphic & time and date stamp. They host the audio. File size is about 1k/second. Have to dial a US number. Free trial - one call/posting.
  Cost: “$3 a month you can create 12, two minute audio posts. Additional posts may be purchased at any time in blocks of 12 for 3 dollars”


• Voicemonkey
  Headline:I signed up for an account. Worked pretty well. One message a day.
  Messages can be on either their server, or your own
  You can post to a blog and not publish
  Administrator backend that allows you to dial in and to, process/save, or delete messages and to listen to, record, enable or disable the Mailbox Greeting. This won’t remove the reference on a blog from them
  People leaving messages can be prompted for a password
  Signup is not for the non-technical
  Record phone calls and conference calls for wider distribution or archive purposes.
  Record longer-format content (e.g., radio shows, interviews) for online distribution.
  Playback can be password controlled
  Files are MP3’s and are named YYMMDDTTTT
  Cost: “Currently VoiceMonkey is in beta testing so all mailboxes are free to use. When and if I do start charging for mailboxes, it will be very cheap (under $10/month).”
  DEMO: Try VoiceMonkey now! Call in to (214) 752-7621, enter mailbox number 0000, then click here to hear your message


• PhoneBlogger
  Headline: “PhoneBlogger is a VoiceXML application. It uses speech recognition and text to speech to collect information from you over the phone concerning the blog to which you want to post.”
  It’s an open source project on SourceForge - currently at 3- Alpha, last update 17.mar.03. Blog entry on 6.aug.03 saying he’s feeling re-invigorated on the project.
  After you leave a message, it plays it back and asks for approval.
  “You need to have access to a voice server that provides a VoiceXML interpreter/browser. The easiest route to take is to get a free hosted developer account from a provider like TellMe, BeVocal, or HeyAnita. These voice servers include the speech recognition engine, text to speech engine, JavaScript engine, etc. that PhoneBlogger relies on. By the way, TellMe and some of the hosted providers also support VoIP and SIP access.”


• FoneBlog V1 by NewBay
  Headlines:Register over the WEB, WAP, SMS, MMS
  Post photographs, audio, video and text by Web, MMS
  Post text by SMS
  Multiple attachments per entry supported
  Billing options - Reverse SMS Billing, CDR creation, Periodic Billing, Bill per action


• PipeBeach just been bought by HP


• BeVocal


• TellMe


• PIMP - the Phone IndyMedia Patch system. Open Source.


• Open Source Voice Portal - may be out of date (2001)

More VoIPish


• Calligator - “Calligator allows you to call, fax and SMS via the internet. Calligator integrates traditional communication technologies with the internet and introduces advanced features such as conference calling, call recording, managing phone calls, etc. Just login and use all these functionalities - and a lot more - via your web browser.”
  Demo of how it can be used to record your phone calls

General background information


• Wombat also runs a phone blogging blog, which is pretty comprehensive.


• An audio interview on WebTalkGuys with Hugh Seagraves, founder VoiceMonkey.com


• Speech Technology Magazine
  Headline: Appears to cover the trade

Possibly related posts -

• Speeding up Blogging #1: Link library
• Lifestyle PC’s?
• No Time To Blog - Talk Instead

Posted in Schemes | Word count 932 Post ID 348 | 1,029 Views |

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