New Samsung phone can’t set MP3’s as Ringtones…
Wow, this is awful, the Samsung phone from T-mobile only plays DRM’d ringtones, you can’t make your own – “The new slim Samsung RAZR-like slider phone just released today won’t let you play our own mp3s as ringtones, they have to be the DRM’d version to work. which means, you have to pay for ringtones, even if you already have your own mp3s to load on there. There seems to be a solution in the discussion, but seriously, it feels like T-mobile is trying to suck every bit of money out of their customers after they already shelled out 300 bucks for this phone and also make you pay twice for a song you already bought.” Thanks Phil! Link.
Here’s how to emulate the telezapper by using SIT tones on your answering machine or voice mail messages…“Predictive Dialers are used by telemarketing firms to gain more ‘dialing efficiency’. About 75% of junk calls are made with a predictive dialer (PD). One thing a PD does, is monitor what happens when the phone is answered. The Telezapper can emit a ‘disconnect’ tone when your phone line goes off-hook. The tone it transmits is either a single ‘ultra-modulated’ tone or an actual set of 3 ‘Special Information Tones’ (S.I.T.) common to the telecommunications industry: depending on the setting you seletct. It works… now… in some situations. You can get a set of all three Special Information Tones from Private Citizen. Just record the tones at the beginning of your answering machine message and put your greeting right after it.” 
Rob solved a phone ringing problem in cubicle land “I work in an office of several cubicles. Often someone is on the other side of the room, and a phone rings. Who’s phone is it? All the phones sound the same, and the cubicle walls block line-of-sight to the indicator light on the phone. That is, unless it’s remotely located in a picture of a deer, up where I can see it. Now, with Caller Eye Deer, I know whether or not to run across the room.” 
From Nat “Are you hacking something cool around voice-over-IP, Skype, Google Talk, gaim, Asterisk, VoiceXML, or similar technology? We want to know about it! We’re looking for participants in the 
“…Skype has struck a partnership with consumer electronics chain RadioShack. Skype Starter Kit More than 3,000 RadioShack locations nationwide on Monday will begin offering the Skype Starter Kit, which includes the software that enables a customer to use Skype’s free computer-to-computer telephone service, a headset and 30 minutes of Skype’s premium service, with which a user can call a landline or cell phone, company executives said.” [
Surj Patel is working on a homebrew GSM mobile phone project – so far it looks like they’ve found a few candidates for the hardware to start tinkering with. Awhile back I was playing with the 
“This article describes how to build a Linux-based telephone answering machine using a low cost winmodem (softmodem) for the telephone interface. We describe how to install the drivers and libraries, and how to select and install the proper modem card. Our answering machine program is a couple of hundred lines of C code in a single file. If you’ve ever used a telephone you should have no trouble understanding the code.” 
