Here’s an interesting article in Wired about getting podcasts right on a cell phone. There aren’t a lot of phones that are set up for this now (and they are expensive), but this is something that I think will get cheaper and more ubiquitous in the near future.
I’ve thought a lot about cell phones as a kind of future computer that could be used for communicating with parents, sending assignments to kids, keeping digitial portfolios, making and receiving podcasts, etc. Applications like AudioBlogger already let let you post a digital audio file directly to web page from any phone with no computer required for free. What could be easier than that?
In order to reach its potential to revolutionize education, technology needs to be simple, easy to use, cheap, and ubiquitous. Phones meet all these criteria.
Hi Karen–
Your concept may be closer than you think! For several years now we have been working on a technology that dramatically enhances the capabilities of a “good old” cell phone. It’s called Adondo Personal Audio Link (www.adondo.net), and it’s software that goes on your PC, not on your cell phone. Once installed and running, you literally can call your own PC (it really answers), and then have your PC do all kinds of things for you: read you your e-mail, get instant weather and traffic reports, play podcasts, call any of you Outlook contacts and “patch you through” (no long distance charges).
You send commands to PAL either by pressing the buttons on your phone, or by saying simple commands like, “What’s the weather in Denver?” or “What’s the traffic on I-95N?” PAL answers instantly with the latest information. How about “Play NPR Books (a podcast)” or “Call Tony Davis at the office?” It’s really cool.
PAL uses Skype or any other VoIP softphone service for the connection between your cell phone and your PC. Once connected, you cell phone has more power than any handheld device ever thought of having!
Again, Adondo PAL is new technology. Most features are completely free if you already have Skype or another VoIP service.
Chris