Talking Caller ID is a shareware program that
actually talks to you, telling you who is calling before you pick up the
phone. It also includes a full featured answering machine. You must
subscribe to the caller id service from your local phone company and have a
caller id capable modem or other supported caller id computer hardware
device. The program supports TAPI which lets you share your modem with
other programs that use your modem. It can also work with 2 phone lines at
the same time.
The program can also notify you via pager or
e-mail of calls received. There is no need to run over to your caller id
display to see who is calling. The program uses the new Microsoft Agent
technology with animated talking characters and a very nice text-to-speech
engine which pronounces the name and/or number received from your caller id
service. A window pops up showing you who is calling. You can configure
this window to be minimized, normal size or maximized to the largest font
which will fit on your screen. You can record a custom greeting in your own
voice for each caller that the program will say on your speakers whenever
you receive a call from that person. You can attach a photo or text file to
any caller which will be displayed whenever a call from that person is
received. The program even supports speech recognition when the free speech
recognition engine is installed. With the optional free speech control
panel you can modify the pronunciation of any words that you want. You can
train the speech recognition for your voice for higher accuracy.
Talking Caller ID also keeps a database
containing every person who has called containing their name, phone number,
date, time and number of rings. The main screen shows this list of callers
with the most recent at the top. You can also view an alphabetized phone
directory of all of the callers. It shows how many times each person has
called and if there is a custom greeting or photo associated with this
number. You can also print out this database and the phone directory. You
can dial anyone on the list by simple double clicking on their name.
Talking Caller ID can send caller id
information to your pager, email, or text messaging on your cellular phone.
You can select to have all calls received forwarded or just calls from
certain people that you put into the database. It supports both Numeric and
Alphanumeric pagers. With Alphanumeric pagers, the persons name, number,
date and time are transmitted to you. It also supports PCS digital cellular
phones with text messaging service. The paging features automatic retries
if the page does not go through the first time for both Numeric and
Alphanumeric pagers. You will find that the paging performance of this
program is unsurpassed. It uses the best and most reliable paging program
in the industry called PowerPage.
Talking Caller ID works with both name and
number caller id service and number only service. The program has the
ability to look up names that you store in a database. This feature allows
those with number only caller id service to see and hear the name of the
caller. It also allows the name and number to be sent to your pager. This
feature also works with name and number caller id service. The program can
show a different name than the name sent by the phone company.
Talking Caller ID can display a picture of
the person who is calling. All you need is a bitmap file for each person
you want displayed when they call. Just highlight the person you want, go
to Edit, Import Photo or Sound and point to the bitmap file you want
associated with that phone number. From then on, that person's bitmap file
will be displayed when ever they call.
Call blocking (by number or by name) has been
added to screen out unwanted callers. There is a database in which you can
add people from whom you do not want to accept calls. When any of these
people call, the modem picks up the line and hangs back up. The program
announces to you that the call was a blocked call and tells you who was
trying to call.
Talking Caller ID can announce the State and
major cities from which a long distance call is originating. You can
now keep notes when people call and pop them back up when they call again.
The program also supports international phone numbers and dates. .
The E-mail notification feature can send E-mail to any
internet mail address when you receive a call. You can send this to
multiple E-mail addresses. This is great if you want to be notified of
calls when you are away from home and have E-mail access. The program also
supports DDE so you the program can pop-up records from any program that
supports DDE which includes most of the major program including Microsoft
Office applications. Talking Caller ID 32 includes TAPI "modem sharing"
support so you can run other TAPI compliant programs at the same time. For
example, you can dial out to the internet while Talking Caller ID is still
running. You could also run other programs such as fax or answering machine
programs at the same time.
The kids will love the free "Say What I Type" game included
with the program where you can type a phrase and the talking character will
read it to you. The pitch and speed can also be changed. The talking
animated characters can also read the contents of the clipboard, tell jokes,
sing songs, introduce themselves and move around the screen. They even
support speech recognition.
