When I had Vonage VoIP, I loved it’s CallVantage feature. It integrated with Outlook and let me select a contact and instantly dial it. Within seconds, my phone was ringing with the call in progress. But when I left Vonage due to lack of a data centers in the 209 area code (which it still doesn’t have) for Packet8, I lost my beloved feature. Sure, there are phone dialers that work with modems, but lots of good that does me on a MacBook Pro. Thankfully, a guy named Jon felt my pain.

Not to be confused with SvenOnTech’s own contributor, Jon is another famous Jon that develops some neat applications for the Mac. You may have seen his Docktop the last time you visited an Apple Store. You know, the little collection of applications in the middle of the screen that you could launch much like the Apple Dock but it’s in the middle of the screen. Ya, it’s sweet. Well Jon has applied the same sweetness to JPT, short for Jon’s Phone Tool.

If you’re a lucky Vonage user, you’ll be able to use JPT with it much like CallVantage which is great for Mac users since Vonage doesn’t have a Mac version of CallVantage. But if you don’t have Vonage, as I don’t anymore, then you have other choices to get that number dialed from your Mac. This list is long, but I’ll be brief with it. Methods include Bluetooth (sends the number to your mobile or one of the handful home phones with Bluetooth), VoIP, touch-tones through your speaker, and good ol’ analog modem. If you’ve bought a Mac recently, then the latter won’t apply to you as it doesn’t for me. That leaves good times with those tiny speakers (or VoIP for you Cisco cats)!

I played with JPT for maybe ten minutes before I found myself at Kagi’s site making a purchase of this fine tool. Jon knows how good his dialer is since he not only mentions the competition but even puts links to them on his FAQ page! With the its ease and power, it just was too easy not to even consider looking at the other dialers. For $15, ya, I’ll feel fine slapping out the credit card numbers via 1Passwd since it’s just that good.

A couple of things I do want to tell you potential dialer users before I conclude. First, its integration with various address books is great. It tapped right into my Entourage as well as Apple’s Address Book. Since I connect to an Exchange server, the dialer took a great amount of time to find my number I was searching for; however, Address Book was instant. Since Entourage now lets you sync with Address Book, I ended up just keeping JPT settings to use Address Book.

The other feature I wanted to let you know about is the ability to dial Mnemonics directly. For example, if you see a number that is, say, 1-800-GO-BEARS, you input that and off it dials. Very, very nice!

Again, you can’t go wrong with this dialer. It’s spot on. If you make frequent calls throughout the day and need a break on the dial-pad, let Jon’s Phone Tool help you let your fingers get a break. I did.

UPDATE: Jon let us known that Docktop was inspired by the very application found on the Macs at the Apple Store and is not the application seen there as earlier reported. Thank you, Jon, for the clarification!

Okay, we finally broke down and did the ROM update for our XV6700. Some things we noticed improvements (faster soft reset) and some things we noticed just pure silly. For example, the new voice activated software is great and works like a charm; however, when used in conjunction with the screen lock, guess what? Your Bluetooth headset button won’t work! Since the button on your headset mimics button one and that button is locked, the voice activation program can not be brought up! How lame is that?! Why bother? Shesh.

Other oddities we found was that our push mail didn’t come…even though we saw our 1xRTT connection constantly being connected. (We had to fix that real quick in the ActiveSync settings to help battery conservation.) Even though our Contacts, Calendar, and Tasks all synched from our Exchange Server, for the life of us we couldn’t get any E-mail. Finally in desperation, we unchecked the E-Mail setting in the ActiveSync Advanced settings and saved the changes and then went back and re-enabled them. Guess what we saw after a manual sync? 22 new messages found. Go figure.

We do like the Wireless Manager and how it added the Push Mail and how Wi-Fi and Phone both work together without the need of a registry hack. And oh yes, we can verify that our little Bluetooth DUN hack still works.

So you got a cell phone and an iPod, huh? You find yourself in need of a device to allow you to listen to your iPod but notify you of an incoming call and tend to that call. Guess what? Tekkeon’s got you covered with its myTalker.

We got one and gave it a whirl for a couple of weeks and boy did we love it. Find out why.

For Palm(R) Treo(TM) smartphone users and GPS enthusiasts, Palm Inc. (Nasdaq:PALM) today announced the Palm GPS Navigator Smartphone Edition, featuring new TomTom NAVIGATOR 6 software. Drivers using the new GPS Navigator with their Treo smartphones can rely on voice-guided, turn-by-turn directions to easily find their destinations as well as millions of points of interest, including gas stations, restaurants, parks, airports and more. TomTom NAVIGATOR 6 is available today exclusively for Palm’s GPS Navigator Smartphone Edition.

Palm’s new Bluetooth(R) enabled SiRFstarIII(TM) GPS receiver, which features a sleek design and easier-to-see LED lights, seamlessly pairs with Palm Treo 650, Treo 700w and Treo 700p smartphones. The product is simple to set up, thanks to a 1GB memory card preloaded with maps. Travelers simply pop the memory card into their Treo smartphone and pair the GPS receiver to access highway and street-level maps covering the United States and Canada. No desktop syncing or downloading of maps is required. Using the smartphone’s high-resolution screen, TomTom’s NAVIGATOR 6 software automatically shows the receiver’s (and hence, the car’s) current location.

“Smartphones are expanding the market for mobile navigation,” said Jim Schwabe, general manager of accessories for Palm, Inc. “The beauty is that this powerful GPS solution is always readily available because it’s part of something people are carrying anyway — their Treo smartphone.”

“The convergence of portable navigation devices is growing in the United States,” said Jocelyn Vigreux, president of TomTom. “Palm’s bundle offering with TomTom’s new NAVIGATOR 6 software reflects our joint efforts to continue providing customers with essential smartphone solutions. The Treo smartphone series provides an ideal platform for portable navigation.”

TomTom is the leading provider of personal navigation products and services. TomTom NAVIGATOR 6 software offers coast-to-coast and cross-border navigation, as well as new and enhanced options. New features include trip planning based on preferred arrival time, speed-limit information and integrated navigation to the smartphone’s contact list.

How It Works

The Bluetooth technology-enabled receiver identifies the car’s position using satellites. By communicating with the GPS receiver via Bluetooth, the Treo smartphone obtains real-time location information and displays 3-D maps on the Treo smartphone’s high-resolution screen. After a destination has been programmed, TomTom NAVIGATOR gives voice-guided, turn-by-turn instructions in one of more than 30 available voices. It will also automatically recalculate a route after a wrong turn, avoid roadblocks or circumvent traffic congestion.

Pricing and Availability

At $299 (estimated U.S. street price), Palm’s GPS Navigator Smartphone Edition includes a Bluetooth enabled SiRFstarIII GPS receiver, TomTom NAVIGATOR 6 software featuring the latest Tele Atlas(R) maps, a 1GB memory card with preloaded maps of the continental United States and Canada, a vehicle device cradle with windshield mount and a charging system.

The GPS Navigator from Palm is now available at Palm’s online and retail stores.

Source Palm, Inc

iGo manages to take all of your various power supplies of all your electronic items and condense it into one “brick” with individual small little tips to match your devices power input. By doing this, you lighten your load for powering your devices on the go to nearly nothing and add smart to your tech warrior title.

You once had to share power time with the iGo strip and wait until your little gadget was done charging before hooking up the next one to replenish its battery. Well, now you can juice up two at a time with the new iGo Splitter!

iGo told SvenOnTech that the new splitter when used with a compatible iGo adapter will, “charge and power two mobile devices simultaneously, such as a mobile phone, Bluetooth accessory, MP3 player and more.” Compatible devices would include iGo auto/air40, everywhere15, auto15 elite, everywhere, auto and wall power adapters and dualpower accessory.

For $15, this is a great addition to an already excellent family of power accessories. If you don’t have an iGo set-up for your electronics, then I highly recommend you go purchase the whole package before your next trip. You’ll thank me for it!

Okay, here’s one we at SvenOnTech got way wrong. We thought the Mighty Mouse would go wireless back in January at Macworld but as you all know, it didn’t. Well Apple has finally done the little critter justice and removed its tail so the Mighty Mouse could fly…or get lost because one of your children removed it from your desk for a play toy. The Wireless Mighty Mouse doesn’t add much to the white Apple mouse with one small little ball on it other than two AA batteries and an extra $20 to the price.

So if you need the mightiest mouse off all time to be not tethered down, then hit the Apple Store and slap your $69 down today and get it!

If you have a MacBook Pro (or even a MacBook), then you know you have no chance using those EV-DO PC Cards for Verizon (or Sprints) EV-DO networks. Even though there are Mac drivers for some of the cards, those cards don’t fit into the ultra-small ExpressCard slot on the MBP. (Here’s a post on what does fit in there.) So if you’re hooked into Verizon and you’ve got that network all behind ya and all, what does a cutting edge Mac head do to get some of that Broadband Access? If you have a UTStarcom XV6700, you use Bluetooth, baby! ‘But Verizon killed the DUN profile,’ you say. Doh! Okay, we got that worked out, too.

Most people aren’t aware in order to have something on a device that uses the radio signal named after a Viking king, the manufacturer must fully support the protocol to its fullest. Thus, all Verizon phones that have Bluetooth in them started its life as a fully Bluetooth compliant device. It’s only after Verizon gets its greedy hands on the device is when it loses its DUN profile.

Knowing that much, it only takes a quick Google search and one will find the answer on how to bring that DUN profile back to your phone. In this case, the XV6700. Like the Motorola E815, you simply dial in a number and “send” it. Unlike the Moto, you need to verify your request with a passcode. After that, you’ll have full access to enabling DUN on the XV6700.

In fear the link to the magic of DUN will disappear, SvenOnTech will happily reprint the directions for you below.

• Go to the PHONE application (hit the green phone button on the XV6700)
• Enter ##3328873 (or ##feature) and press “TALK” (or Send)
• Enter six zeros for the code (000000)
• Now select BT DUN and Wmodem
• Click EDIT
• Select ENABLE from the drop down menu
• Tap the OK button (top right corner)
• Tap the OK button (again)
• OK the prompt to soft reset your device

Your XV6700 is now enabled to use its Bluetooth DUN profile. Now you just need to find the modem application and make a shortcut for easy activation.

• Using Explorer (be sure to enable “Show hidden files”), go to the Windows folder
• Find the file WMmodem. You’ll see an EXE and a LNK version. Make a shortcut of the EXE version (Resco Explorer 2005 does this and sends it to your Start Menu.)
• Move the shortcut to your \Windows\Start Menu folder

Now you’ll see the WMmodem application in your start menu (Programs). Tap on this and it’ll bring up a screen with mostly text, a drop down menu, and three traffic boxes. In the drop down, select Bluetooth. Then click the START button. Your XV6700 is now a full out Bluetooth modem waiting to be connected to.

On the Mac side, you’ll first need to pair your XV6700 and Mac to each other. You should be able to do this easily, but if you need some help, check out Apple’s site for direct documentation on how to do this. When pairing, select “Other” device from the list, not “Phone”.

Once paired, the last screen will ask if you wish to use the device as a modem and headset. Uncheck headset (unless you wish to use your phone to communicate with others on applications such as Skype.) Now follow these instructions for setting up the modem:

• Username: (Your full phone number) 408-555-1235@vzw3.com
• Password: vzw
• Phone Number: #777
• Mode Script: au cdmaOne Bluetooth Adapter
• Leave all check boxes checked
• Click CONTINUE
• Click QUIT

You’re now all set on the Mac side. You’ll now see a phone with a dot slash icon on your menu bar. Select it and choose “Connect”. Remember to have your XV6700 on, Bluetooth enabled, and the WMmodem application running Bluetooth mode with the START button activated. If all this is the case, you’ll be connected in seconds and your modem icon will display a counter next to it once connected. Enjoy the EV-DO!

Now a couple of notes. Not all areas have EV-DO yet. Verizon claims by the end of the year, nearly its entire network will have it. But until that time, you may only get 1xRTT speeds. While not true broadband (in the DSL sense), it’s still better than dial-up (which can’t be done out-of-the-box with the MBP anyway.) Further, you must have a data plan in order to connect to the Internet. You’ll want to have the unlimited plan as you’ll probably hit the 20 MB plan top end within minutes of surfing on your Mac. You can get it as low as $59 if you call and whine and as cheap as $30 if you have a business account (a little known fact that even most Verizon employees don’t know about.) Rumor has it the price will come down to $20 soon someday.

So, if you’re in an area that has no Wi-Fi and you have a Verizon XV6700, you have an alternate Internet connection. There probably is a hack for the Palm Treo 700w, too, but since we don’t have one of those here at SvenOnTech, we haven’t looked for it. Again, the Motorola E815 also has a hack you easily can find as well.