Webware

Fonolo, the Web service that helps you reach the inner depths of even the largest company telephone directories, has put out a big update that adds new tools for users and companies alike.

The biggest new feature of the bunch is call recording, something I pined for in previous looks at the service. You're now able to record the entire call for playback later, something that can be helpful when citing good or bad customer service experiences. It's honestly one of the most fantastic features I've used in a long time.

The best part is that call recording is free and does not require any special phone equipment. To record any call you're on, you can just hit a big red button as soon as it's connected. It then saves it to the cloud where you can either listen to it in your browser, or download it as an MP3.

Earlier this morning I did it with a call to Amazon.com, and it connected me three levels of phone menus deep to the right person. The only downside was that they such a strong accent, listing off my personal information became a game of trying to remember letters in the NATO phonetic alphabet.

You can now save customer service calls and listen to them in your browser or download them.

(Credit: CNET)

Along with call recordings, Fonolo has another new trick up its sleeve called Quick Tones. This is basically autofill, but for phone menus. So say you know you're calling Comcast; you can add any account, order, or phone numbers into Fonolo's system as bookmarks. Then, when you're on the call, you can choose to dial one of those bits of information into the call, without having to do it all on your phone. Honestly, this is only helpful for frequent users, but if you anticipate having to enter a lot of that information, saving it once can mean not having to enter it on future calls.

For companies, there's also a new way to embed their own phone trees on their site using a special widget. This lets users peruse the entire directory, then make a call without having to register with Fonolo. After the call is done it pops up with a customer service questionnaire that asks how their call was, which the company can then monitor back on Fonolo's site.

Fonolo is still only available on the Web and on Android phones and limited to around 500 North American companies. There's not yet a version for iPhone, Symbian, or Windows Mobile handsets, but the service has a way to add Fonolo quick call links to a company's mobile site that will let users jump to that part of a phone directory without having to use Fonolo proper.

Screensharing comes to Skype

(Credit: Skype)

Skyper users, it seemed, either loved or hated the revamped Skype 4.0 for Windows. With Skype 4.1 beta (download), unveiled Wednesday, Skype hopes to earn a little more love by reinstating some beloved extras and adding one big new feature: screen sharing.

Skype's screensharing feature is a clever addition to the VoIP communications application. In our tests it was engaging, especially when paired with Skype's voice calling and chatting capabilities. The fair screen quality and few seconds of lag time won't bother most casual users, but at this point we wouldn't recommend Skype's new feature for replacing a dedicated screensharing application or service for frequent collaborators. Skype's screensharing is view-only; it is not a remote access tool like CrossLoop, which is geared for providing technical assistance. For demonstration purposes, however, Skype's screensharing is just one more way to connect with faraway contacts.

Screensharing begins by clicking the "share" drop-down on a contact screen and choosing "Share your screen." Skype then gives you the choice to record the full screen or a region. Pressing the button to initiate the screen share also launches an audio call. You can later resize by clicking and dragging the thick red borders. During a session, a button toggles you between full and partial screen modes. Because screensharing essentially broadcasts a video recording of your screen to your contact, you can't place a video call and share the screen at the same time--you'll choose one or the other.

You can share all or some of your screen.

(Credit: CNET/Screenshot by Jessica Dolcourt)

It's also worth noting that Skype's screensharing feature, like many others, is unidirectional, view-only, and by invitation, which gives the host control over beginning and ending each session. With one-way viewing, your guest sees only the screen that's bounded by the recorder's borders. Because it's unidirectional, Skypers won't see each others' screens simultaneously.

Skype's screensharing addition begins to offer an inexpensive alternative for international business communications, though right now it works between two users--one host and one guest--at a time. You can switch roles easily and often. We're guessing that the screensharing capability will be expanded in the future to group calls, so a host can share their screen with multiple recipients. (It will be interesting to see if Skype will then follow that enterprise breadcrumb to compete with well-known collaboration and Web meeting software in the future--but right now this is all conjecture.)

Other changes

Skype 4.1 beta also reintroduces birthday reminder alerts and contacts-sharing, which were two features left out of Skype during its upgrade from version 3.8 to 4.0. Birthday reminders are automatic notices you receive on a contact's birthday if they've added this information to their profile. The send-a-contact feature can be found in the Conversation navigation menu under the "Send" option.

Two other notable reinclusions are the ability to import contacts from Gmail, Windows Live Hotmail, AOL, and LinkedIn in addition to Skype 4.0's support for Yahoo and Microsoft Outlook products; and a screen reader accessibility tool to help visually impaired people use Skype.

All these additions make Skype's latest a substantial beta update. But since it's in beta, there may be bugs and some stability issues--we experienced a couple crashes ourselves during testing. Frequent Skype users will want to experiment with 4.1 beta. So will those who have lamented the absence of birthday reminders, even if you don't intend to use the screensharing feature.

We don't do too many screencasts here on Webware. But when we do, my personal favorite is Telestream's Screenflow. It's a nice app, but it's Mac-only which means I can't use it when I'm on my office PC. In keeping with the mission statement of this blog, worth a look is software-free alternative Screencastle. This Java-based tool will record a select region of your screen and any audio from your computer's microphone. It then hosts it for you, complete with download links so you or your users can download a local copy for offline viewing.

Sure, it doesn't have all the bells and whistles of a standalone screencasting application such as editing, adding on-screen text, or being able to scale the video to highlight details. But if you want to create a how-to video for a friend or family member this is hands-down one of the easiest solutions out there. Just look at this video I made in less than a minute:

Screencastle is a consumer-friendly demo of Skoffer, an open service for adding software-free screen recording to Web apps or support sites to make it easier for people to create how-to's or document problems. There's even a WordPress plug-in which puts a small recording button in the compose window so you can record something on the screen to drop into your post.

See also: Screencast-O-Matic

(via MakeUseOf)

Updated March 5 at 10 a.m. to clarify link policy, and at 12:20 p.m. to address privacy concerns.

Google Health has introduced a new feature that lets people share their online health records with designated doctors, friends, and family members.

Google said the move is in response to people's concerns that caregivers and loved ones might not be up-to-date on all the details of a patient's health situation, especially in the event of an emergency.

Google Health now lets people share medical information online with caregivers and loved ones.

(Credit: Google)

Sameer Samat, director of product management at Google, explained his personal impetus behind the new feature in a company blog post on Wednesday:

Just a few years ago, my father suffered a minor heart attack and was sent to the ER. I arrived on the scene in a panic, and was asked what medications he was taking. To my surprise, I had no clue. If my father had a Google Health account, and had shared his profile with me, I would have been up-to-date on his current medications.

Along with the sharing feature, Google added a graphing feature that lets people enter lab results and visually track trends in their medical test results, such as their cholesterol levels.

Google Health also lets people create graphs to track trends in their medical test results.

(Credit: Google)

Recognizing the sensitive nature of sharing health records, Google said it has built in several security measures to preserve privacy. Users choose who can view their histories, and the link to the patient's profile will work only in connection with those people's e-mail addresses--meaning the link won't work if it is forwarded to a third party. Users can also decide what information they want to share, and those allowed to view the profile will not have the ability to edit the data. Users will also be able to see exactly who has reviewed the profile.

However, one security measure that is a bit confusing is a feature that restricts the usability lifespan of the e-mailed link to only 30 days. Unless the user is diligent about regularly sending links to loved ones, this protection could negate the feature's value in the event of an emergency. While this was initially interpreted by some to refer to a continuous process of sending e-mail links to partners, it apparently applies only to the initial invitation.

Google also announced a feature that lets users print wallet- and letter-size hard copies of their profile, including medications, allergies, conditions, and treatments. But the value of these printouts may be questionable if they are not updated regularly.

Users concerned with privacy should also note that Google Health isn't regulated by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, a federal law designed to protect patients' privacy. Google also admits that some employees will have access to users' records.

"Within Google, only the people who are operating and improving Google Health have access to user information, and they are bound by strict policies to not disclose this information to others, either within Google or to the outside world," Google said in a help page.

Google Health, which is dedicated to the digitization of health records, launched in May 2007. Microsoft has also planned a medical records service called HealthVault. President Obama, meanwhile, has made it clear that he plans to make digital health records part of his health care reform agenda.

It's going to get easier for Google to keep tabs on your health.

The ubiquitous tech conglomerate has signed on to a new software product created by IBM with help from the Continua Health Alliance, an organization that promotes interoperability of medical devices. It'll take data from personal health monitoring devices, like blood sugar meters for diabetics, and share that directly with the patient in question's Google Health file (and the patient's physician, if he or she uses Google Health as well).

Other personal health record (PHR) services will also be able to use the IBM software, which was built partially on open-source standards.

"Our partnership with IBM will help both providers and users gain access to their device data in a highly simplified and automated fashion," Google Health director Sameer Samat said in a release. "IBM has taken an important step in providing software that enables device manufacturers and hospitals to easily upload recorded data into a PHR platform, such as Google Health."

Google Health, dedicated to the digitization of health records, launched in May. Microsoft has also planned a medical records service called HealthVault. President Barack Obama, meanwhile, has made it clear that he plans to make digital health records part of his health care reform agenda.

Songbeat, a new start-up that takes aim at the file-sharing industry, has launched in the United States. Although it claims that its stream-recording functionality is legal because it doesn't use peer-to-peer technology to bypass copyright protection, it may not be so clear-cut.

Songbeat's software is downloaded to the user's Windows-based machine and allows the user to search for any music they desire, and then stream it directly to their computer through services like SeeqPod and Project Playlist. They can then record it to their hard drive or burn the song directly to a disc.

The software also allows users to record songs directly from Last.fm, owned by CNET News publisher CBS. By entering the name of an artist in Last.fm, the service will start streaming songs, which can be recorded in Songbeat.

Viability of downloading streaming songs aside, the legality of using Songbeat is in question. Songbeat claims that this form of "downloading" is legal in Germany, where it is based, and is nothing more than "the digital version of sitting by your old radio, waiting for your favorite show, armed with a blank cassette."

I doubt that the RIAA will approve of a desktop service downloading tracks directly from popular Web music streams without paying royalties. But for now, the company is operating without any interference from the music industry.

Recording the first 25 songs is free on Songbeat. Once that limit is reached, users will be required to make a $29.99 one-time payment to record an unlimited number of tracks.

Free music mixtape service Muxtape has temporarily been shut down due to pressure from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). There's not much more information about downtime besides a small note on the front page of Muxtape.com saying that "Muxtape will be unavailable for a brief period while we sort out a problem with the RIAA."

Presumably the RIAA had gotten wise to the considerable amount of music that was being hosted and played on the service, bringing it into the same tier as some of the streaming radio services that have had to pay considerable licensing fees just to stream tracks to its users.

Back in April, my colleague Daniel Terdiman chatted with the Electronic Frontier Foundation's senior intellectual property attorney, Fred von Lohmann, who said that a site like Muxtape was only able to scrape by if it did not reach a critical mass, and if it had good legal ground both in principle and on paper. We may be only beginning to see if the latter holds true.

Update: Muxtape's blog has posted a tidbit of information about the downtime:

No artists or labels have complained. The site is not closed indefinitely. Stay tuned.
Beta users of Muxtape For Bands: you are unaffected by this outage.

Visitors looking to play some free mixtapes on Muxtape will have to look elsewhere. The site has voluntarily shut down while working out some legal kinks with the RIAA.

(Credit: CNET Networks)

Tim Westergren, the founder of popular Web radio start-up Pandora, has said in an interview with The Washington Post that his company may be close to a shutdown.

"We're approaching a pull-the-plug kind of decision," Westergren said in the article, published Saturday. "This is like a last stand for webcasting."

The problem, he explained, is last year's royalty hike for Web radio, which makes it extremely expensive for an independent start-up to stay afloat in the business. The royalty increase will eat up 70 percent of Pandora's $25 million in revenue, Westergren said.

SoundExchange, an organization comprising representatives from record labels and performers, believes that Internet radio owes a bigger cut of profits than traditional radio does. Activist groups like the SaveNetRadio Coalition, along with start-ups like Pandora, have fought the fee hikes.

A few Web geeks weren't convinced that Pandora's situation is as dire as Westergren says it is. "I love Pandora like my old baseball glove, but they can only pull this Chicken Little move so many times," marketing consultant Brian Oberkirch posted to Twitter on Monday morning.

But Westergren assured in the Post interview that he's not exaggerating. "We're funded by venture capital," he explained. "They're not going to chase a company whose business model has been broken. So if it doesn't feel like it's headed towards a solution, we're done."

If you want more proof that software as a service and ad-supported business models are shaking things up, check out Practice Fusion. This week the small company announced the availability of its free, on-demand suite for physician practices.

Practice Fusion CEO Ryan Howard touts the software suite as Google Apps for physicians. It's a radical departure from the established and costly software packages used by physicians to manage their offices and patients records.

Practice Fusion includes practice management, scheduling, patient management (electronic medical records) and e-mail applications. The Web interface takes advantage of Flex 3, Adobe's rich Internet application platform.

Howard is betting that he can make money on free software by connecting advertisers with doctors while they are working via ads. So far Practice Fusion has about 1,000 physicians signed up for the service and about 20 advertisers, including Johnson & Johnson, AstraZeneca LP and Ortho-McNeil-Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

"The campaigns range between a $50 and $150 CPM, and we are starting to do a significant amount of lead generation, where there is typically an ongoing revenue sharing component," Howard said. Given how difficult it is for a drug salesperson to get a doctor's attention, Howard may have tapped into a rich vein.