Loading ...Talking the walk – make your cell do your bidding
By Joaquim P. Menezes 
In the 1965 - 70 sitcom, I dream of Jeannie, beautiful female genie (Barbara Eden) just blinks her lovely large eyes twice, and hey presto, wonders occur: a horribly messy room is instantly tidy, or Jeannie and her fiancé, astronaut Tony Nelson are transported to some exotic location, delectable dishes suddenly materialize on the dinner table….you get the picture.
While technology has a long, long way to go before it can duplicate those feats of fantasy, a company called UnWired Nation is offering us the next best thing – mobile phone voice prompts that can get quite a few things accomplished pretty fast.
In its nascent phase, this service – dubbed UnWired Buyer – has rather limited functionality.
It can be used to make shopping via your cell phone on eBay far more convenient than it currently is.
For instance, eBay shoppers can sign up on UnWired to get an automated phone call near the end of an auction.
After their phone rings, they sign in with a security number that they’ve previously chosen and can follow voice prompts to do anything they could do on eBay.com, such as find out the highest bid, make a new bid and exit the auction.
Not bad methinks, and a very convenient service for eBay shoppers – who in the past have had huge problems trying to participate in eBay auctions using mobile handsets.
As one self-confessed eBay junkie writes in his blog:
Being in front of the PC in those final seconds [of an auction] is crucial to my well being. There are snipe programs, and I can monitor the auctions on my mobile handset or Blackberry. But the problem is that the interface in many of these devices is just too slow for those times when I need to quickly enter a last minute (second) bid. I find myself yelling at the phone.
But with UnWired Buyer, he goes on to say, the phone might just listen.
Fundamentally, the service is all about making some common online data transactions voice-enabled.
The CEO of UnWired Nation, Indraj Grill, cites other examples of what’s possible.
- Media outlets providing cell phone users with audio versions of stories, and the ability to record voice comments at the end of stories, and send them to others – as well as to listen to others’ comments (a kind of audio blog?)
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Automated calls to banking/credit card customers notifying them of specific facts about their account – such as their balance dropping below a certain level, or their credit card being used outside the country.
Not jaw dropping by any means, and Jeannie might scoff – but hey, if it makes life a little easier, I’d say bring it on.
August 8th, 2007 at 4:58 pm
The abuse/misuse of “talk-the-talk / walk-the-walk” is a pet peeve of mine. Generally, the “talk” part means that you are blowing hot air and the “walk” part means that you know of what you speak & practice what you preach. Thus “Talk the Walk” implies (to me) that you know NOT of what you speak - which I do not think is your intended meaning. You should use either “walk-the-walk” or the lesser used, “walk-the-talk”. But then your subtle pun is lost.
Anyway, interesting article. Thanks.
August 15th, 2007 at 8:20 am
Try walking and physical world talking with a mobile application called ‘qode’. Instant information in one click.