I think the flowchart below will be “version one” of the IAM voice tie-in… It's fairly basic, but it'll let you do the two things that I think are important “on the road” — you'll be able to send and receive messages (ie. IMs can be read to you, and you can send audio replies), as well as making audio updates to your page which people can hear as MP3 files.
Anyway, the contract to develop that will be solidified this week I hope (I'll do just the server-end, with most likely Derek tackling the client-end), meaning we'll have something up for BBQ season I hope. It'll probably start as a one line system, but will be designed to scale up should we need to.
Common quick questions:
- Will this be on a 1-800 number? No… It'll most likely be on a 416 area-code number to start. If it becomes popular we'll probably place the server or a second server in the US as well. Putting it on a toll-free number would be very expensive — just buy a phone card.
- Will I need a special internet cell phone? No… This isn't a WAP or wireless system. It's 100% voice and touch-tone driven and will work from any standard phone (even crappy payphones). There are some vague plans to add WAP features, but this is entirely unrelated.
- Will this cost anything to use? The hope is that it will be free to use (for active members). Assuming people don't abuse it, the costs of maintaining it shouldn't be that high; realistic estimates put it at about $2000 a year I think.
Anyway, I will of course keep everyone updated.
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