Audio

Newbie’s Roadmap to Streaming Audio and Music

Newbie’s Roadmap to Streaming Audio and Music

Monday, July 31, 2023

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We’ve been a diehard audiophile beginning with our in-person autograph from Elvis on a Sunday afternoon while he was playing touch football in the vacant lot beside his mother’s home in Memphis. My first serious setup was a law school graduation present that included a McIntosh amp, preamp, and tuner with Bozak Concert Grand speakers in the early 70’s. From there we added Revox, Tandberg, and Nakamichi tape machines. And then along came MP3, Napster and 10¢ music downloads from… Read More ›

An Electronics Home Makeover for the 21st Century

An Electronics Home Makeover for the 21st Century

Saturday, October 23, 2021

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It was a sad day when we finally sold our Bozak Concert Grand speakers this year after enjoying them for over half a century. They were a graduation present from "Papa Gene" Newsom of Newsom’s Music Center when I graduated from law school in 1971. The sale got me thinking that I really needed to write about what has changed in home entertainment now that we’ve turned the page to another century. Back then, there was no Internet or Spotify,… Read More ›

2019 Technology RoundUp: What’s Hot and What’s Not

2019 Technology RoundUp: What’s Hot and What’s Not

Monday, December 23, 2019

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The Ultimate Voice Dialer for Asterisk and Incredible PBX

The Ultimate Voice Dialer for Asterisk and Incredible PBX

Monday, October 9, 2017

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Let’s face it. Voice recognition with Google has been hit and miss, and that’s on a good day. So we’re delighted to shift gears and introduce a new platform powered by IBM Watson’s Speech-to-Text (STT) engine. While it’s not free, that’s really theoretical for most of our readers. Your first month on the platform is entirely free. And, after that, you get 1,000 minutes a month of free voice recognition services. If you still want more, it’s 2¢ a minute.… Read More ›

Best of the Internet: American Road Warrior’s Fall Roundup

Best of the Internet: American Road Warrior’s Fall Roundup

Friday, September 1, 2017

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The Internet is all about sharing the best finds and once a year we like to take a fresh look at what’s new and exciting whether you travel frequently or not. While the primary focus of Nerd Vittles is VoIP technology, you can’t provide the best VoIP solutions without also exploring network and cellular technology. And, as the old saying goes, all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. When we travel for more than a day or… Read More ›

IBM’s Speech Recognition Engine Comes to Asterisk

IBM’s Speech Recognition Engine Comes to Asterisk

Monday, March 20, 2017

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Eight years ago, we introduced transcription for Asterisk® voicemail messages. When the messages were delivered by email, you got both a recording and the transcribed text courtesy of Google. As with most things Google, the licensing terms changed regularly and voicemail transcription became more convoluted until it became next to worthless. Today we begin our new exploration of IBM’s Watson Developer Cloud. It offers a rich collection of services at unbelievably low price points. We’re kicking things off by introducing… Read More ›

Santa’s Technology Roundup: The Best Products of 2014 with Some Surprises

Santa’s Technology Roundup: The Best Products of 2014 with Some Surprises

Monday, December 22, 2014

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View image | gettyimages.com Once a year we like to pause and take a look back at 10 technology products that really grabbed our attention. 2014 will be remembered as a spectacular year. So here’s what made the Nerd Vittles short list for 2014… Smartphone of the Year: It’s a 5-Way Tie And the winners in no particular order… Galaxy Note 4, iPhone 6+, LG G3, HTC One M8, and Moto X.1 So which should you choose if you can… Read More ›

Siriously: It’s Wolfram Alpha for Asterisk

Siriously: It’s Wolfram Alpha for Asterisk

Monday, January 16, 2012

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Move over Siri! Today we’ll show you how to harness the power of a 10,000 CPU supercomputer to answer just about any question you can think up. And it’s all brought to you courtesy of Asterisk and your nearest telephone.