Using BlogTalkRadio to send TwitterGrams 
BlogTalkRadio has created a new dial-in service for TwitterGrams.
Here’s how it works…
1. Decide which phone you want to use to call in TwitterGrams. The phone must have Caller ID.
2. Visit the new phone signup page. Enter the phone number from step 1, and your Twitter username and password.
3. When you want to leave a TwitterGram using your phone, dial 646-716-6000. Leave a short message, less than half a minute (remember the 200K limit). Hang up when you’re finished.
If all goes well, your “gram” will be posted on Twitter within seconds.
Just to be sure everything is working, I recorded one of my own this morning. No problems! 🙂
iPhone, the cell phone
Consumer Reports: “With all the attention given to its multimedia features and innovative touch screen, it’s almost easy to forget the iPhone is, well, a phone.”
iPhone is a tablet computer
This idea snuck up on me. I was watching an Apple ad on TV, while washing dishes, so I caught it at an angle, and lost the sense of scale, and thought the iPhone was a tablet computer. Then I realized that it is!
Skype to TwitterGram?
William Brehm wants to use Skype to phone-in a TwitterGram from Taiwan.
You can use Skype to call numbers in the U.S.
That used to be free, is it not free now??
Phil Wolff explains, Skype can’t send a unique Caller ID.
25 web apps for iPhone
Useful list of websites for newbie iPhone users.
Thanks for the notice of nytimesriver. 🙂
nytimesriver.com in an iframe
Scripting News Annex 
Posted by William Brehm on July 3, 2007 at 7:01 am
I want to join the TwitterGram fun, but I am all the way in Taiwan! I sure don’t want to run up a huge phone bill! So, Is it/will it be possilbe to use SKYPE to post a TwitterGram? If so, how?
Posted by Dave Winer on July 3, 2007 at 7:17 am
William, Skype to U.S. numbers used to be free — I think it might still be.
In any case, you won’t run up a huge bill. With SkypeOut all calls are local.
I’ve linked to this from Scripting News, so we should find out soon. 🙂
Posted by dansays on July 3, 2007 at 7:54 am
Flip through your albums with your fingers using Cover Flow on your iPhone. Then look at the new Cover Flow-like UI for the Finder in Leopard, and tell me Apple doesn’t have a multi-touch tablet up their sleeves.
Posted by Tim Sadler on July 3, 2007 at 8:14 am
Of course the iPhone is a mini tablet. I had a similar ephiphany a few weeks ago after watching all the iPhone pitches showing coverflow. I went to show my wife coverflow in iTunes on my MBP and instead of grabbing the mouse, I instinctively reached up to my 24″ display and slid my finger over the cover images. Eureka! This is what Steve is working up to! Why else is coverflow in the Leopard Finder. It’s cute, but not that useful…UNLESS…we’re going to control the Finder with our FINGERS!
The multi-touch interface will be the consistent GUI across all Apple platforms, from iPhone to UMPC (Tablet?) to MacBooks to iMacs to big-ass displays.
With the “Back-to-my-Mac” feature in Leopard, it’s only a matter of time before the iPhone is a window (no pun here) into your personal VPN.
That’s my story and I’m stickin’ to it. How’d ya like them apples?
Posted by Phil Wolff on July 3, 2007 at 9:08 am
About Skype.
They ran a one year promotion for SkypeOut in the US and Canada. Free.
That ended 31 December.
Now it is 2cents per minute for SkypeOut to landlines in the US, Canada and most countries. More for calling mobiles.
Skype also has flat rate plans. SkypePro in 14 countries. A different plan for US/Canada and a third plan for the UK. The US/CA plan is all you can eat SkypeOut for about $30/year. Includes voice mail.
Caller ID. SkypeOut sends the same number for all calls. This will change for some SkypeIn users: at some point SkypeOut caller ID will show one of your SkypeIn phone numbers.
Phil Wolff
managing editor, Skype Journal
http://SkypeJournal.com
http://PresenceNext.com
skype:evanwolf
+1-510-444-8234 San Francisco
+1-646-461-6123 New York
+44 020 8816 8780 London
http://www.linkedin.com/in/philwolff
Posted by Bob Charish on July 3, 2007 at 9:14 am
The challenge with Skype is that it does not pass the caller id so we would not know which twitter account to associate the message with.
Posted by Don Hopkins on July 3, 2007 at 10:07 am
…Except that you can PROGRAM a tablet computer to do other stuff than Apple has pre-ordained.
Posted by Don Hopkins on July 3, 2007 at 10:09 am
…If multi-touch will be consistent across all of Apple’s guis, then is there an API for it in Safari JavaScript? Or will all the wonderful web based interfaces you use in Safari be single-touch?
Posted by Kevin C. Tofel on July 3, 2007 at 10:29 am
RE: TwitterGram via Skype Out. I’ve noticed over the past year that when I call someone on Skype Out, the caller ID ‘number’ that’s passed is: 000-012-3456. Unfortunately, I had already set up my account at BlogTalkRadio with my cell phone number and Twitter account, so I can’t test a registration with this generic Skype Out number. Perhaps someone else can?
Posted by Keith Jenkins on July 3, 2007 at 11:17 am
Well, it is and it isn’t. What it truly does is show the potential of what an Apple tablet could be.
I’d like one, minus the monthly service fee!
Posted by lemon obrien on July 3, 2007 at 12:46 pm
funny, but twittergram sounds like an answering machine; give’n, you call in to leave a 200k sound bite, then call in to hear it. I’m guessing the big difference is the mass-messaging/broadcasting of the message (one to many, rather than one to one). If that is the case, then, you can make the case that after twitter, will come a messaging service of many-to-many (is that possible?)
Posted by lemon obrien on July 3, 2007 at 1:07 pm
@Tim Sadler
buy a wacom tablet…(assuming you don’t have one). Makes life much easier; especially if you tend to get carpel-tunnel
Posted by Paul on July 3, 2007 at 1:20 pm
Dave,
A quick & free fix for your existing headphones for use with the iPhone here:
http://iphone.macworld.com/2007/07/minor_surgery_enables_bose_hea.php
Not sure if this will render them useless for other devices or not. Might ask the author.
Posted by Dan Gillmor on July 3, 2007 at 1:52 pm
A tablet computer that won’t let you use a stylus? And that refuses to work with 3rd-party apps? The Nokia N800 is a tablet computer. I don’t think this one is, at least not yet.
Posted by Jim Roepcke on July 3, 2007 at 3:56 pm
FYI, Apple just (finally) posted their iPhone page on the developer site with information about developing for iPhone’s Safari browser.
http://developer.apple.com/iphone/
Posted by Neville Hobson on July 4, 2007 at 6:37 am
In my experience, Caller ID with Skype works just fine, depending on what SkypeOut number you have.
I’m in the UK and have UK and US SkypeOut numbers. Call ID does not work with the US number but does with the UK number.
It’s not foolproof, though, especially on calls to some countries. At times, caller ID does not show to the receiving party. Skype says: “Sometimes we use regional telecoms companies to deliver the last leg of the call to the person you have dialled, and sometimes telecoms companies aren’t so great at picking up the caller identification.”
In any case, I registered my UK SkypeOut number with TwitterGram, called the BlogTalkRadio number via Skype and left a recording. That was about 30 mins ago and that post hasn’t yet appeared in my Twitter account.
I guess one of those times where Caller ID isn’t working.
Posted by James Lynch III on July 5, 2007 at 8:02 am
Congrats… you’ve been ripped off already! Pretty little UI widget, don’t you think?