Fun With Callwave: Call # 1
November 29, 2007
I’m pretty busy today, and not much in the mood to write about poker, so I’m going to introduce a new series of posts I plan to do here every so often. This has nothing to do with poker, but I still want to do it on this blog. If it gets annoying - and you guys just have to let me know in the comments - then maybe I’ll start a new blog just for these types of posts. ‘Cause that’s just what we need in this world…one more friggin’ blog.
So anyways, the series of posts are born from an idea my buddy brought up to me recently. A few months ago I signed up for a service by Callwave. In essence it is just a free voice mail service that gives you an alternative to your current cell phone voice mail. I love our Alltel service, but I despise their voicemail. I did some research a while back and determined Callwave was the best available - and free - option out there.
One of the features of Callwave is their Vtxt GIST. Rather than butcher explaining what their GIST feature is, let me just pull the explanation straight from their site.
~ VtxtSM GIST is a new CallWave feature, currently in Beta release, that transforms voicemail into readable text. It is designed to provide the key words and phrases of a message – the gist – to enable you to decide if you need to call back right away, wait until later, or ignore the message entirely. Our automated system transcribes your callers’ messages and delivers them to your cell phone as SMS text. You can read and search your voicemail on your Phone Page.
Now let me first say that I love this service. Most of the time I can read the quick text and know whether I need to call a person back right away, or even at all. While it does add more texts to my service plan, the voice minutes I save each month more than make up for it. Plus, under the plan I’m on, I have plenty of texts to use each month and I never exceed my limit. Okay lets just tell the truth…I’m not very cool, so I don’t get many calls in a day.
Here’s the thing about the service that is prompting this and future posts. Sometimes the “gist” is way off from what the person was trying to say on the voice mail. And sometimes it is just plain hilarious. So much so that, at times, I avoid answering my phone just so I can see what Callwave makes of the voice mail.
Now don’t get me wrong, like I noted above, I LOVE the service. It is so much better than Alltel’s service and, most importantly, it is FREE. So if you hate your current voice mail service, then check these guys out. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy this series of posts I will call, Fun With Callwave. Here is the first message I got this morning. This one is rather tame, but still…
The GIST As Texted To Me:
…chicken which’ll punk ass to see if you want to go get some long sometime this week a next - get back in touch with me and I want to know if you did playing poker lately and - how you doing I’m in they don’t.
My Initial Take After Reading The Text, But Prior To Listening To The Voice Mail:
~ What the hell is a chicken which’ll and why is it a punk ass?
~ There’s a good chance I don’t want to get long with anyone…that sounds kind of dirty.
~ I’m in they don’t? Okay.
The Actual Voice Message:
Yooooo….what’s up dog…just checking in with your punk ass to see if you want to go get some lunch sometime this week or next. Uhhh…get back in touch with me…and uh…I want to know if you been playing poker lately and uh…how you doin’. Alright man…later.
Like I said, this is a tame one, but it gives you a taste of how their software can butcher parts of a message and even add stuff that wasn’t even close to being in the actual voice mail, but still somehow effectively let me know what the gist of the message was. Successful and fun!
Until next time, may the felt be with you.
Comments
Got something to say?