The Download Blog

Talkster has been getting some buzz from fellow CTIA-goers. The new international dialing service is offering free global calls in exchange to listening to a few ads. The VoIP-based, phone-centered service feels like the perfect Skype (download) and Pincity mashup. It's free like Skype, and also relies on a VoIP backbone, but like Pincity, Talkster makes use of local numbers to initiate mobile and landline calls.

It sure sounds irresistible, and I've read a few glowing reviews, but in actuality it's a bit tricky. Talkster members enter their number and the number they're calling, and Talkster assigns a new, local number for callers on each end of the line. Say what?

If I want to call my sister in England, I enter both our phone numbers and receive a third number in my 415 area code. That's my permanent number for the phone number I just entered. My sister will get a number for me too. If I want to catch her at home, work, and on her cell phone for free, I'll need to enter each phone number and get three separate Talkster lines.

It wouldn't be so confusing if that were all, but of course it's not. Initiating a call isn't merely the result of dialing one of my Talkster-issued local numbers. There's an order to the calling system. Let's say I initiate the call to my darling sib using a Talkster phone number. I dial the appointed number in my area code and she picks up. But we can't talk yet. She first has to hang up while I stay on the line. My sister then quickly locates her local number, and while Talkster servers do some speedy math to connect our loose ends together, we both listen to an ad. Or that's the plan as soon as Talkster's ad deals are in place.... Read more

David Goldfarb's phone won't stop ringing.

The Vringo CTO is giving me a demo of Vringo's video ringtone service, now in public beta, to demonstrate how users can assign phone-formatted video clips as their outgoing ringtones. David has chosen a humorous singing cartoon of a green bear as his video calling card. He's set it up so that any phone he calls with a Vringo client will light up with his chosen video. If so desired, he could limit the output to his wife and send everyone else a much more sober video to announce his call.

Vringo reverses the conventional ringtone concept of users choosing songs to differentiate between contacts, entertain themselves with favorite songs, or make a stylistic statement. Here individuals control how they're perceived by friends, and can use "vringos" as a gift or personalized greeting. Users can upload their own clips on Vringo.com or record clips from within the Vringo phone app. It's easy to see how users could create happy birthday messages or video gifts.... Read more

The only things you need to send a Facebook photo to any cell phone is 3Guppies' (review) Facebook app and a working US or Canadian phone number. The app does a curious thing, pulling up all the photos in your friends' albums as well as your own. Grabbing the photo previews it in a mobile screen frame, though you needn't worry too much about it fitting--3Guppies Mobile automatically scales photos on the destination phone.

You can crop, title, and tag the image and choose to store a copy in the 3Guppies locker for later reference if you have or sign up for an account. Once the photo has landed on the phone, it can be downloaded or sent on its way to sunnier pastures. 3Guppies has hustled behind the scenes, striking compatibility deals with 28 carriers for 1,200 phones in North America.... Read more

Cellfire is smart. The free mobile coupons company knows three things it needs to entice users to use its digital chits instead of stuffing paper cutouts into wallets, purses, and pockets.

1. Provide multiple ways to get the product. Cellfire is a downloadable PC-to-mobile app for BlackBerry, Symbian, and Windows Mobile, but it also offloads into the phone via WAP (point browsers to www.cellfire.com/) and through some carrier agreements.

2. Offer compelling brands. In addition to dozens of national chains, like TGIF and 1.800.Flowers, Cellfire's service gets local, offering discounts for hundreds of neighborhood merchants and regional chains in metro areas to total 10,000 merchant partners across the U.S.

3. Make coupons easy to redeem. The coupon for San Francisco's North Beach Pizza gave me two ways to collect savings. I could select "in-store" to get a coupon code to flash the cashier, or click to call the vendor and read back the code. I could also clearly see how many more offers I could collect and (2) how many more days I had before each coupon expired (5).

Cellfire's coupons update every two weeks. Although the service itself is free, users will get slapped with the cell phone carrier's data charges. Better stick with those paper coupons if you don't have a data plan.

WeatherBug knows how to get around. The detailed weather reporting application for most combinations of desktop and mobile downloads, plus a WAP site, has let iPhone into the club. Now iPhone users can check out seven-day forecasts, animated radar maps, and real-time images from street-level weather cameras.

Incidentally, I learned an interesting factoid about WeatherBug. It began as educational curriculum and still has a strong program for schools and organizations subscribing to its weather warning alert system (e.g., "chance of lightning, soccer canceled.") That explains why the view of Sunnyvale, Calif., is taken from what looks like the roof of the South Peninsula Hebrew Day School, a small private school, rather than this well-known landmark.

Migo Software has announced a new, beefier version of its PC-to-device syncing software slated to unveil in beta form in January 2008. I got to preview the Windows app, code named SlingShot, at the CTIA Wireless conference.

The slick new interface will bring together back-end tools of smart device and format detection that will operate at every stage of the media transfer experience. It will include, for example, a smart setup wizard that helps configure your cell phone or external hard drive to play your music and video, and on-the-fly format conversion for your cell phone or external hard drive.

Sneak peek at project 'SlingShot'

(Credit: Migo Software)

"SlingShot" will start by pulling content from your existing media storehouses; iTunes, MediaMonkey, and Napster, for example. It then syncs to your device, where Slingshot's mobile component takes over, making engagement as high a priority as getting the media content onto the device.

Migo Software has several syncing and secure storage products available now on CNET Download.com, including Migo Sync and Digital Vault.

NoiseFree VoIP has just launched a fresh all-software solution to those often noisy VoIP calls. Skype, Yahoo Messenger with Voice, and Google Talk are great ways to save money on long distance, but if you're calling anywhere near civilization, you're bound to get interference. A noisy line can undo the advantage of free Internet calls.

Until December 31, 2007, NoiseFree VoIP is offering a free beta of its noise-canceling software to registered users. I gave it a go at CTIA (coverage), and was impressed with the demo. There was noticeable improvement in call quality when I toggled the software on and off, though the background buzz in the busy room didn't and couldn't have faded completely.

NoiseFree VoIP launches as a window that detects when you use VoIP. It doesn't add on to or interfere with your voice program of choice, operating invisibly. The app window can be set to start with Windows or with a browser launch. It minimizes to the system tray and can be called on for a few very minor tweaks.

NoiseFree VoIP is Windows XP and Vista-ready. Download NoiseFree VoIP for free from CNET Download.com.

Digby has partnered with well-known retailers like Barnes & Noble and Fossil to create a downloadable shopping app that lets you purchase goods from your (RIM 4.1 or above) BlackBerry smartphone.

Digby has done a good job minimizing typing and fast-tracking purchases with select retail partners. Simply scroll through the brand list, clicking deeper within the stripped-down interface to see items and special deals. You can set the alert function to nag you to buy a gift before an important occasion. You'll have to do much of that buying on faith, though--there's no built-in functionality to preview an item or research product ratings for items, at least none that I perused.

When the purchase is nigh, enter your locally-stored password and Digby will do the rest, passing the transaction along to the vendor to process. Credit card information is password protected and stored, encrypted, on the device.... Read more