YouMail - VoiceMail Transcription - Expensive But Worth It

I have lots of digital era pet peeves. Phone books are one of them. I came home from work yesterday to find this giant yellow dead tree sitting at my door step. Horrible. Who uses those things anymore? Another is junk mail, for a lot of the same reasons. Please, make it stop. One more, and the focus of this post, is listening to voicemails. I've been horrible for years. Caller ID was the death of voicemails for me. I see who called, and call them right back, rarely (OK never) listening to their message. I tried leaving a VM recording asking people to text me instead of leaving a voicemail, but that only pissed off my doctor and auto mechanic. There have been a few transcription services for the iPhone that never quite made it. I recently did some more investigating on VM transcription services, and came across YouMail. You install the app, and to configure it, you basically allow it to hijack the voicemail from your carrier, and redirect callers to the YouMail servers. Overall the app is pretty easy to use, and gives you lots of VM management features not available on the iPhone (folder, archives, forwarding, etc. . .). I tried the transcription service for the 1 week trial, and loved it. My biggest gripes are the cost and pricing tiers (which go hand in hand!). The saver package provides 20 transcriptions a month and only transcribes the first 20 seconds of the message for $5/month or $55/year. The unlimited package transcribes unlimited VMs of unlimited length for a whopping $40/month or $450/year. That's as much as some cell minute packages. I went for the plus package that transcribes the first 60 seconds of 100 messages a month. Still pricey, but I bit the bullet, and with a discount code, it cost me $180 for the year. Pricey, but worth it if you hate listening to voicemail.

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Our Latest Launch - Almond Board of California Health Professional Toolkit

This week we launched a simple and sweet mobile app for The Almond Board of California. The Health Professional Toolkit was built to provide and easy way for nutritionists to provide basic diet and tracking information to their patients. Using jQuery Mobile we created an adaptive web design that looks good and scales well regardless of your browser and screen size. Once you load the app, size the screen in any direction, and the app looks great. Don't take my word for it. Check it out!

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SquareUp: Runaway Success or Soon to be Has Been?

In a fit of late night careerdom I became enamored with a really cool personal payment tool called SquareUp. It's a card reader that's about 1"x1" that you plug into your mobile device. Using the free SquareUp app, you can now accept credit card payments for a low, low, 2.75% service fee per transaction. The best part? The car reader is FREE! I may never take a personal credit card payment ever, but just knowing that I can is pretty damn cool. If you owe me money, watch out! I now take Visa, MasterCard, and Amex.

At first I was completely blown away by SquareUp. I ordered one immediately, of course. I've since reconsidered. Once NFC becomes mainstream, SquareUp better be well poised to be the PayPal of mobile personal payments or they'll easily be passed over by integrated hardware services. Maybe not. Either way, pay up suckers!

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Our Latest Launch - Tervis Smart Cup

Recently we launched a unique and engaging campaign for Tervis Tumblers, everybody's favorite double walled insulated cup. The campaign brought to life both the Tervis lifestyle and the functional benefits of the Tervis Tumbler. Using the 3D panoramic platform KRpano, we built a series of immersive environments that really encouraged the consumer to engage and explore. Don't take my word for it, check it out!

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Our Latest Launch - Children's Hospital Colorado Heart Institute

Today we launched the first in a series of updates to the Children's Hospital Colorado Service Lines web site. This marked the launch of the new site for the Heart Institute. Sporting an overhaul of navigation, architecture, and look and feel, this is a huge step forward for CHC. Don't take my word for it! Check it out!

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Google Image Search Virus Leads to AV Showdown

The last few months we have seen a huge spike in viruses coming from Google Image Search. Our current solution just was not cutting it, so I took a day to test out some of the better known anti-virus programs. Here are the results:

- Microsoft Security Essentials: doesn’t block any virus sites, lets installer install and infects computers. Doesn’t catch virus if it’s in a USB. System down – Boo.

- Kaspersky: blocks about 20% of the viruses sites, allows installer to run and infect computer. Doesn’t catch virus if it’s in a USB either. System down – Boo.

- ESET NOD32: blocks all sites and infected downloads. Scans USB sticks for virus, but takes a little bit. If it has a virus on the stick, it will delete it. I can force the virus install if I really try, but it actively removes parts of the virus that send data, etc. during install. No real system downtime, but still need to manually remove a file so it doesn’t give an error at start-up – Very good, but a little room for improvement.

- Symantec Endpoint Protection: not only blocks sites with infected viruses, but actually bans the IP from their computer as well for one day (can be adjusted). Blocks infected downloads and bans IP from that as well. It doesn’t remove infected files from USB sticks, but at the same time it won’t allow the install at all like NOD32 did. No effect on the system at all – Very good and less room for improvement than NOD32!

Of course the above was just testing against the Google Image Search virus that is running rampant. If we take into account all aspects (computer resources used, track record for stopping viruses, as little user interaction as possible) there was one clear winner: ESET NOD32.

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Our Latest Launch - Calmacryingbaby.org

Today we launched an important informational site for Children's Hospital Colorado. Calmacryingbaby.org addresses the issue of  Shaken Baby Syndrome, serving as a prevention resource for parents and caregivers giving them the tools they need to stay cool and calm a crying baby without resorting to shaking. Shaken Baby Syndrome is a real problem, and this site aims to solve it. Click here to learn more.

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