sylvar

I've had a GrandCentral number for a while, but I'm thinking I might just make it my new public number. Call 404-287-2692 to leave me a voicemail, and Google will attempt to transcribe it for me and send me a text message.

Someone called and tried to send me a smiley, but Google Voice got it slightly wrong, transcribing it as call in dash right parentheses hello instead of :-) hello. But at least it greyed out call in to indicate its diffidence about that part.

It failed to transcribe this voicemail, but I like to think the Googletronic Voicemail Devoiceifier is too busy laughing its cyber-ass off:

(Some language may be inappropriate for small children or immature adults. Quoted with the kind persimmon of

recycler1973.)

Arthur C. Clarke, of blessed memory, predicted a world in which people would have classes over satellite communications—only he pictured it being over the television. What he could never have predicted was the way in which so many media have combined. I was listening to a lecture that was originally recorded who knows where. I was listening on CD as I was driving around. I heard the professor mention a book called Way Up North in Dixie about the possibility that the Southern anthem "Dixie" was actually written by a couple of African Americans living in Ohio. I used my cell phone to find out over the Internet that that book was available at the DeKalb library system. I then called the library to ask them to hold it for me. It happened to be on the shelf and using an elevator—a regular elevator, not a space elevator, I'm afraid—I went up to the 3rd floor when I got to the library, and picked up my book, and checked it out, and just that fast, within the space of an hour, I heard about a book that had more information and now I've got it right next to me. I love this world.

UPDATE: The library found out that there's a donor center at 1955 Monroe Dr., which is a lot more convenient than the Sandy Springs donor center. Yay!

This story comes from the Palm Treo newsletter:

A Pizza Worth 1,000 Words
I was in Northern Italy at an Italian restaurant and could not order off the menu as I do not speak Italian. Nobody in the restaurant spoke English. So, I pulled out my Treo 650 and went online to Google and downloaded a pizza image. Showed the picture to the waiter who proceeded to show it to everybody in the kitchen (and rest of restaurant!). A pizza showed up a half hour later!

Are you KIDDING me?! This guy doesn't know how to say PIZZA in ITALIAN?!

And the silly part is that he's apparently got a better PDA than I do.

I told this story to my executive director and concluded with "He could have at least said 'I want pizza' in English and the waiter would have understood the important part. This guy isn't even trying!"

He said, "Trying? He's downright exasperating!"

Current Mood: exasperated

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Entries tagged with technology

Testing Google Voice

Voice Post: Arthur C. Clarke and modern telecommunications

Voice Post:

A Pizza Worth 1,000 Words?

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November 2010

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