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Update your Twitter feed by voice with Twitterfone

I just received an email from Pat announcing the launch of Twitterfone. Twitterfone is a voice-to-text service that lets you make a call to a number that then posts to your Twitter account. So the next time you are on the road you can place a call and post to Twitter. Now we need a way to have our Twitter feed read to us on the go as well.
Written by Matthew Miller, Contributing Writer

I first met Pat Phelan in Spain this year when he provided MAXroam SIM cards to us Nokia Nseries bloggers. They worked very well and I think he provides a valuable service to world travelers. I just received an email from Pat announcing the launch of Twitterfone. Twitterfone is a voice-to-text service that lets you make a call to a number that then posts to your Twitter account.

Your voice is automatically transcribed to text and I can see this being a valuable service for those on the road who cannot text on their device. The service is launching as an invite only service and is free to use with the only cost being your voice minutes used for the call. They stated that they plan on a million signups before the end of the year. I now need to find a text-to-speech program that will read my incoming messages too so I can stay fully connected with the Twittersphere.

The sign-up process was quick and easy and starts out by asking for your email, Twitter ID and password, phone number, and the password you want for your Twitterfone account. A verification text message is then sent to your mobile phone and then you enter it on the website form. You are then sent the phone number to call in and are off and running.

I called the number and a short message directs you to speak your message and then hang up. Their FAQ states it could take 5-10 minutes to post your Tweet. Mine appeared perfectly transcribed in about 3 minutes. I am seeing a lot of "Could not transcribe" messages on Twitter, but maybe people are testing out the connection.

140 characters of your message is posted and 15 seconds of audio. I also just saw that a hyperlink is included in your Tweet and people can listen to the original audio too. That is a bit embarrassing since my test Tweet was lame :)

I have bounced around a bit between different social networks, but have now standardized on Twitter because everyone I know is there and more active than at other places. If you want to follow me then feel free to add me to your Twitter feed.

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