Michael Graff <graff@mlpvm2.iinus1.ibm.com> (08/15/90)
Last Sunday's Macy's insert in the {San Jose Mercury News} has an
interesting item on page 59. It's a new Phonemate answering machine
that records incoming and outgoing messages digitally, without
cassette tapes. I've seen machines that used a digital recording for
the outgoing message, but this is the first one I've seen that records
the incoming messages digitally. Some of the highlights:
"Listen to messages at a faster speed without that distorted
'chipmunk' effect."
"You no longer have to wait for rewind or reset."
"Save, skip, or repeat individual messages with voice
confirmation."
The ADAM has a built-in phone and is "sale" priced at $200.
Speaking of answering machines, I know the Caller ID discussion in
TELECOM is closed for the time being, but here's a twist I don't
recall seeing discussed. Since many new answering machines tell you
the date and time when a call was received, it seems like it would not
be much more trouble for an answering machine to have Caller ID built
in and tell you the phone number of the caller.
Michael
[Moderator's Note: Nothing is technically wrong with your idea, except
of course that unlike the date and time, derived from the answering
machine's own resources, the caller identication would have to be sent
from the telco. I'm sure the information sent by telco could be stored
on a chip somewhere and read back to you with the time and date. PAT]dave%westmark@uunet.uu.net (Dave Levenson) (08/19/90)
In article <10990@accuvax.nwu.edu>, graff@mlpvm2.iinus1.ibm.com (Michael Graff) writes: > Speaking of answering machines, I know the Caller ID discussion in > TELECOM is closed for the time being, but here's a twist I don't > recall seeing discussed. Since many new answering machines tell you > the date and time when a call was received, it seems like it would not > be much more trouble for an answering machine to have Caller ID built > in and tell you the phone number of the caller. ... and Pat adds: > [Moderator's Note: Nothing is technically wrong with your idea, except > of course that unlike the date and time, derived from the answering > machine's own resources, the caller identication would have to be sent > from the telco. I'm sure the information sent by telco could be stored > on a chip somewhere and read back to you with the time and date. PAT] If you have Caller*ID, you receive the date and time on every call, and the calling number on some calls. The time and date, therefore, would not have to be generated internally by the answering machine. The commercially-available display units have memory, allowing you to scroll back through the last several calls received (30, in the case of the one I use) and display the date, time, and calling number of each. It has been very useful, at times, to be able to correlate the memory of the unit with the tape on the answering machine, when the call-back number in the recorded message was garbled or incorrect. Combining the display unit into the answering machine is probably a very sensible product design ... though of limited marketability until Caller*ID service is more widely available. Dave Levenson Voice: 908 647 0900 Fax: 908 647 6857 Westmark, Inc. UUCP: {uunet | rutgers | att}!westmark!dave Warren, NJ, USA AT&T Mail: !westmark!dave