Free Republic

Well I tried to migrate away from GV as a free service for my husband's micro business. I was annoyed with the lack of support and that occasional wonky issues would crop up (having to do with ring tones; all settings were perfect on my android) that I would research and resolve. Obviously having to use the Google cabal wasn't too thrilling either. I ported to Ooma. Here are the issues with Ooma: 1. Ooma Telo only supports one POTS port (not really an issue for me any more since I have an extra phone line as I now use...

Omarosa Manigault Newman secretly recorded nearly all the conversations she had in the White House — including those she had with “all of the Trumps,” according to a report Monday. The ousted White House aide carried two devices — a government-issued phone and a personal one she would record on, a source who witnessed her make many of the recordings told Axios. Manigault Newman would hit record before walking into meetings and tuck her personal cell into a pocket or small purse, the source said. She would also put calls on her government phone on speaker and record with her...

I am getting a lot of spam phone calls lately, with a sprinkling of new Doctor's offices calling to confirm appointments, prescriptions etc. Most are not showing caller-ID. I used to have reasonable success using DuckDuckGo to find out if the telephone number was spam or a collection agency, but now the free "Who Is Calling Me?!" websites are all returning long ranges of telephone numbers, and/or non-specific names. Wondering if anyone here has subscribed to one or more of those online reverse directory services, and are they worth it? Thanks in advance.

MOSCOW, July 8 (Xinhua) -- A Russian company has launched a special edition of a cellphone to commemorate the first meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his U.S. counterpart, Donald Trump, media reports said. On the sidelines of the G20 summit in Hamburg, Germany, the two leaders held their first ever and much-anticipated sit-down discussion Friday, focusing on the situation in Ukraine and Syria, the fight against terrorism and cyber security. The portal of Caviar phone's website displays the special edition for iPhone 7, iPhone 7 Plus and Nokia 3310, which has gold-plated portraits of the two leaders embedded...

We've seen Android malware that takes your photos and videos for ransom, and there's one that can mimic your phone's shutdown process and spy on you even though the phone appears to be off. But a new family of malware, detailed by security firm Lookout on Wednesday, is probably the scariest we've heard of: It's so hard to remove that, in some cases, victims might be better off just buying a new device. Lookout's researchers have found 20,000 samples of three pieces of malware, named Shedun, Shuanet, and ShiftyBug, which share a lot of the same code and use similar...

(Thomas Dishaw) As a blogger and concerned citizen I try to put my money where my mouth is. I believe voting with my dollars is a way of life, therefore I do my best to only support companies, products, and people who I truly stand behind morally and politically. I came to an understanding long ago that the only way to get a point across criminal corporations is to affect their bottom line. Over the last few months I have been having discussions with friends and family about getting rid of my smartphone and downgrading to a cheaper, less traceable...

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission on Tuesday filed a complaint alleging that T-Mobile US failed to remove unauthorized charges on its customers’ phone bills. The charges stem from text-message scams that send content like celebrity gossip to mobile devices. According to the complaint, T-Mobile received 35% to 40% of the total amount charged to users for the subscription, which costs $9.99 a month. T-Mobile continued to bill customers for those services years after becoming aware of the fraudulent charges, the FTC said. The nation’s fourth-largest wireless carrier received a high number of consumer complaints as early as 2012. In a...

Techies - I seek a software solution that will do this: Enable my Windows PC to be a telephone/ speakerphone plugged in to the PSTN via an UTP/RJ-11 jack out the modem, NOT a VOIP ( a la Skype ) phone emulator connected to the Internet via RJ-45/TCP/IP. I recognize this involves a modem. This stuff used to be bundled freeware with PCs and has fallen out of fashion. What's out there now?

Until now, only users of Google's tragically short lived Nexus One had access to Android 2.2 (codenamed Froyo), but according to a communiqué from Verizon, the original Droid will be getting the update next week. This is big news for a large segment of the Android user base as the Droid was a very popular phone.  Android 2.2 brings some useful new features to the platform. For instance, Google's new Jun-in-time compiler speeds up applications dramatically, and the browsers new JavaScript V8 engine makes web pages render much faster. We're going to be very interested to see how Motorola handles...

You have to hand it to Motorola; as little as a year ago their future looked bleak. Android was still in its infancy and lacking polish, mainstream devices running it were few, and there weren’t public or visible signs of any forthcoming devices which would challenge the dominance of BlackBerry or iOS, especially from Motorola. A few months later, they launched the Motorola Droid, and a few months after the floodgates opened up - out has poured a steady stream of relatively polished devices running Android 2.x. It’s been breakneck almost, with new flagships every 3 months on average -...

Verizon's Motorola Droid X is a hot commodity these days. Despite what you may have read, though, the phone isn't too hot to get your hands on -- if you know where to look. Within a day of the Droid X launch last Thursday, Verizon's online store had to push its shipping date back to July 23 in order to keep up with demand. Now, Verizon appears to be extending that delay: Big Red has just bumped its Droid X shipping date to August 3 for all orders placed online. Verizon Wireless locations around the country are reporting the same...

Motorola and Verizon Wireless on Wednesday unveiled the Droid, a smartphone that will test whether the companies can use software from Google to chip away at the dominance of Apple's iPhone. The Droid, a svelte slider with a full keyboard and an expansive touchscreen, will be available at Verizon Wireless Nov. 6 for $199.99 after a $100 mail-in rebate. Customers have to sign up for a two-year contract and data plan. Success of the new phone, which is being launched in a competitive holiday season, is crucial for Motorola, where co-Chief Executive Sanjay Jha has placed a heavy bet on...

It's hard to look at the DROID without looking at the company which brought the device to life. Motorola: for years the name has been synonymous with... well, disappointment. While the industry-stalwart made cellphones sexy with the RAZR, the days which followed have not been especially fruitful or compelling. Over the past year or so, we've seen Motorola beating its way back into the mainstream through a series of smart plays: first embracing Android as a platform, then shucking off the weight of Windows Mobile and finally bringing some desirable (and high profile) devices to market. With the DROID, the...

Motorola's eagerly anticipated Droid X smartphone is expected to hit the hot summer streets in just a few hours. But don't plan on hacking, rooting or modding the Android-powered device anytime soon. 
In addition to locking down the smartphone with an encrypted bootloader, Motorola has instructed its obedient Droid to brick itself if the kernel, bootloader or ROM becomes noticeably compromised.

There’s nothing wrong with the iPhone 4 that isn’t wrong with its rivals. That claim, made by Steve Jobs at the special iPhone 4 press conference Apple held last Friday, drew a loud round of catcalls from the smartphone industry, which clearly didn’t appreciate being tarred with the same brush that has smeared Cupertino these past few weeks. Nokia (NOK), Research in Motion (RIMM), HTC, Samsung and Motorola (MOT) have all issued statements taking issue with Apple’s claims and accusing it of unfairly trying to draw them into its death-grip drama. Here are their rebukes. -snip- Research in Motion: Apple’s...

For every iPhone, there's always a Verizon response. With the iPhone 4 out in the spotlight, Verizon has a new flagship device launching on July 15th: the Droid X. Like the iPhone 4, it's getting put through the paces, and the folks who have gotten to play with it are loving it just as much. How does it match up, though? Hit the link below to find out. The Odd Design The Droid X isn't shaped like other phones. It's got a fat top and a tapered bottom, yet it doesn't make it feel awkward. "The bottom is super...

The Motorola Droid X launched Thursday and is already sold out, exceeding Verizon's demand expectations. The carrier had said that there would be no Droid X shortage, but the initial online stock of the hot Android smartphone is now exhausted, with the next shipping date pushed back to July 23. Many Verizon Wireless retail stores and Best Buys around the U.S. are reporting low or no stock. The Droid X is this summer's flagship Google Android phone, selling for $200, after a $100 online discount on Verizon's site. It has a roomy 4.3-inch display, an 8-megapixel camera with dual LED...

Sure, you read reviews and take recommendations from friends before you buy a new cellphone, but have you ever stopped to consider what the inventor of the cellphone uses on a daily basis? C-SPAN has, and recently took the opportunity to ask the man himself, Marty Cooper, that very question during a wide-ranging interview. While Cooper said that he has used an iPhone previously, he recently passed it on to his grandson in favor of a Motorola Droid, which he says he chose because he wanted to get more experience with Android. But that's not all, Cooper also revealed that...

The technological and economical development of Scandinavia (including Finland) is today more groundbreking than anywhere else in the world. The investments being made in relation to population size is mind-boggling. Despite a mere population of 25 million inhabitants, the combined GDP of the Scandinavian countries today ridicules that of a Russia often viewed to be a "reborn" super power "on the go" (combined Scandinavian GDP is actually 125% that of of Russia - and the gap is widening!!) But, let's focus on telecommunications here; Five bidders have paid €226 million ($346 million) for fourth generation (4G), super-fast mobile telephony licences,...

Despite SunRocket failure and Vonage trouble, startup says it’s poised for success.Even with SunRocket’s spectacular demise and what could be Vonage’s imminent collapse, VCs are still not convinced VoIP is a bad investment. Exit SunRocket stage left. Enter Ooma stage right. Ooma is a new VoIP startup armed with $27 million in funding from Draper Fisher Jurvetson, an early Skype backer, and The Founders Fund. Palo Alto, California–based Ooma launched a beta of its product on this week, and its CEO and founder, Andrew Frame, talked to Red Herring about what makes his company different. “Comparing Ooma to SunRocket or...