Radio Handi

New Features Coming Soon

We've been busy working on a major upgrade to our service, and will be unveiling our new site soon. We're planning a lot of additions and refinements to the service this year, among them:

• Speech recognition : just call any access number, say the name of the group you want to join, and presto, you're in. No more access codes to remember.
• Web based streaming : listen to any conference call from your web browser, no plug-ins, external software or phone line needed.
• Improved invite and call scheduling features : we're working on a number of ways to make organizing a call or group IM session even easier.
• New flat rate plans for international users : we're expanding our international footprint to over 30 countries and hundreds of cities. With our flat-rate plan for businesses, you'll pay a simple monthly fee with local access worldwide.
• All new web design : we're overhauling our web design to make the site easier to use and navigate.

So stay tuned, more news about the upgrades are coming soon.

Hail Mary

This weekend the Queen Mary 2 sailed under the Golden Gate Bridge. It is the largest ship ever to visit San Francisco. I took this picture from Land's End.

A very impressive sight.

Phreak Out! - Tue Oct 10th @ The Phone Booth

Radio Handi is hosting a happy hour for phone geeks. Tuesday Oct 10th at the Phone Booth, 25th and S Van Ness in San Francisco.

This is a phreak potluck. We're asking everyone to bring an interesting fixed line phone (rotary phones especially), and one person to bring a small KSU or PBX that can power rotary phone ringers. We also need lots of RJ11 extension cords. We'll be setting up a temporary PBX with table to table and table to bar dialing.

So stop by and throw back and pint or two....

Live Phone to MP3 Broadcasts - If You Have A Phone, You Have A Radio Station

We are testing a new feature that turns any public conversation on our system into a live MP3 audio feed.  If you have a phone, you have an Internet radio station, great for doing live on-the-spot broadcasts.

Sublists : A How-To

This week we added the ability to create mini-groups within your Radio Handi communities. You can use sublists to blast an email or text message to a subset of your community. For example, you can create a mini-list for an upcoming party, then check off the people you want to invite from your main group.

PhoneGnome Users Dial **HANDI

We're peering with VoIP providers worldwide, so that no matter where you are, you can dial into Radio Handi toll-free from your computer or Internet phone service. We'd like to welcome PhoneGnome as the newest addition to our network. If you're a PhoneGnome user, just dial **HANDI (**42634) to reach our system. And remember, if you're using a SIP compatible softphone like Gizmo, you can always direct dial a group via groupnumber@radiohandi.com

Group Messaging Now Online

This week we turned group messaging on for all public and private groups. You can now use your group as a general purpose message board, and can:

• Send an email to everyone on your group by sending an email to groupnumber@radiohandi.com
• Send an SMS to everyone on your group by sending an SMS to +1-866-687-2373 with the format "groupnumber your message follows"
• Record a voice message on your community's phone message board, anyone else can call in and listen to, and record messages as well (voice messages will also be forwarded via email soon)
• All email, SMS and voice messages will be displayed in your web inbox

See your group's web landing page for specific instructions on how to use group messaging features, as we'll be fine tuning these throughout June.

Public Access and Radio Handi

Radio Handi is a great way to make meetings, conference proceedings and other events accessible to the public. Next time you're hosting a neighborhood association or town council meeting, you can use the service to telecast and archive your meeting.

Radio Handi - Now Open

Radio Handi is now open for public use. We're still in our test phase, so some features (such as SMS messaging) are not yet turned on, but will be soon. Enjoy the new service, and if you have any questions, drop a line to our founder Brian McConnell (brian at radiohandi.com).