Skip to: Content
Skip to: Site Navigation
Skip to: Search

September 8, 2008 12:39:26 AM CDT

Learn about Newser Points »

« Back to the grid | Next story »

Gabbers Can Make (Mostly) Free Calls With New Gadgets

Posted Sep 23, 07 3:47 PM CDT in Technology 

(Newser) – Gabbers have a couple of new options if they want to use the 'Net to make free (or cheaper) phone calls. Each is a box that connects to a home phone and a computer to route calls through cyberspace. One is a modest and low-cost, the other a chic machine boasting Ashton ("Punk'd") Kutcher's name as creative director. A third has been around awhile, but comes with one major caveat.

Buyers can pick up MagicJack for less than a steak dinner but will be stuck with a Northern California phone number for now; the company promises to add nationwide numbers soon. An elegant box from Ooma is a $400 option, but without extra charges down the line. PhoneGnome's calls are also free, as long as the caller on the other end is using PhoneGnome too.

Source Los Angeles Times

0 comments | Print E-mail | Digg Seed this on Newsvine Add this link to Del.icio.us StumbleUpon

Related Newser Stories

  • Tips for Candidates on Cyber Security

    Aug 7, 08 4:23 PM CDT
    Tips for Candidates on Cyber Security Noting that both candidates have plans to ensure our collective cyber security, Bruce Schneier, in Wired, lays out some essential policy advice for the next president:

    • Use the government’s enormous purchasing power to make security software producers do better. Make security requirements for government software high, and those improvements will be included in the security products offered to the public.
    More »

  • Search Engines: How They're Reshaping Your Brain

    Jun 11, 08 10:42 AM CDT
    Search Engines: How They're Reshaping Your Brain Although he’s thrilled with all the time he saves using the Internet for research and awed by the vast intellectual opportunities available to every web surfer, Nicholas Carr is a bit disconcerted that he no longer has the patience for reading books or long articles. With his netizen mind fidgeting and losing the thread after a few pages, Carr wonders in the Atlantic: What is the net doing to our brains? More »

  • Get Over XP 'Worship'

    May 15, 08 4:04 PM CDT
    Get Over XP 'Worship' Nostalgia for Windows XP is misplaced, Rob Pegoraro argues in the Washington Post: Vista has its problems, but they’re not solved by XP, which is ill-equipped to face the “busy” and “brutish” modern Internet landscape. “XP is not something that needs to be ‘saved,’ as if it were some architectural triumph in need of historic preservation,” he writes. More »

  • Quantum Internet Gets Closer

    Apr 15, 08 12:40 PM CDT
    Quantum Internet Gets Closer A recent quantum computing breakthrough is a step towards creating a quantum Internet—which would be "automatically secure," a researcher told Technology Review. A Northwestern University professor has created a fundamental element of a quantum computer, a quantum logic gate, within an optical fiber, where previous gates used laser passing through air. This “could lead to distributed networks,” said one expert. More »

  • Silicon Valley Unplugs for Meetings

    Mar 31, 08 1:09 PM CDT
    Silicon Valley Unplugs for Meetings Tired of competing for attention with iPhones, BlackBerrys and laptops, some Silicon Valley companies are banning them from meetings. One exec calls it going "topless," short for laptopless, and the Los Angeles Times reports that it's boosting some companies' efficiency. "Aside from just being rude," an exec wrote, "partial attention generally leads to partial results." More »

  (Associated Press)
Briefly speculated to be the work of Russian hackers, the Skype network went down yesterday after simultaneous log-in from millions of users who had just rebooted due to a Windows restart.   (Shutterstock.com)
A woman talks on the telephone between desktop computer monitors.   (Getty Images)
An undated file photo provided by ooma Inc. shows ooma's Hub. The $399 device provides free, unlimited domestic phone calls for homes with broadband Internet service. The Silicon Valley startup will...   (Associated Press)
Briefly speculated to be the work of Russian hackers, the Skype network went down yesterday after simultaneous log-in from millions of users who had just rebooted due to a Windows restart.   (Shutterstock.com)
The Phone   ((c) Spicks & Specks)
« Prev« Prev | Next »Next » Slideshow
Our editors also recommend:

Related News

Tags

Internet  • computer  • telephone  • Ashton Kutcher  • Cyberspace


Loading...

Premium Articles from HighBeam

Find more articles like this

Today's Most Popular


Other Technology Stories

What is Newser?

2008 Codie Finalist

Newser gives you more news in less time. We search for the best and most important stories all over the web, read them for you, and deliver concise and sharp summaries—along with links to the full text. Newser provides a way to stay on top of an ever-expanding horizon of news and opinion—politics, sports, business, trends, technology, personalities, crimes, and controversies. Newser keeps you not just better informed, but, with our signature graphic interface and smart condensed format, more enjoyably informed.

Learn more »