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OVOLAB Phlink – Mac Telephony Returns

Remember the [Apple GeoPort](http://macintosh.otago.ac.nz/OMUG/XoN1996/News63.html#GEOPORT)? It was a modem-like adapter for early PowerMacs that enabled you to use your Mac as a telephone receiver, dialer, fax and answering machine. I had one, and it worked pretty well. Enter OVOLAB Phlink, a slick new telephone answering "system" (for lack of a better term). I haven't had the chance to use it yet, but it features two Automator actions, *Dial Contact using Phlink* and *Dial Number and Play Message*, opening up a host of very cool possibilities that my old [Powermac 6100](http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/powermac/stats/powermac_6100_60.html) could only dream of.

According to Ovolab, "Use Phlink's actions for Automator as building blocks that add powerful telephony features to your own workflows:

- Call your cell phone and play a message when a lengthy operation is over;
- Call a list of contacts automatically, playing a prerecorded message - such as an invitation to the next meeting.

Phlink, combined with the Ovolab Telephone Adapter, can answer telephone calls and identify the caller using Caller ID and Apple's Address Book. After answering a call, Ovolab Phlink records a message and stores it on your Mac for later retrieval."

Phlink has an insane number of [features](http://www.ovolab.com/phlink/features/), but sports an iTunes-like interface that should make it easy for users to jump right in–check it out.

Comments

2 Comments »

  1. I also had – actually still have kicking around somewhere – a GeoPort and 660av. I remember using a combo of AppleScript and the GeoPort software to recognize DTMF tones and initiate applescripts on my machine. I even connected it to Quark to create a fax-back system. Those were the days…

    But enough idle banter. I’ve been looking at this software and have noted one glaring hole in it: it doesn’t do speakerphone capability (at least previous versions didn’t). So while it makes for a great answering machine and even lets you create a full-featured phone-hell system to help dissuade any potential customers or dates, it doesn’t actually let you speak on the phone. They keep saying they’ll add this soon, but until then, seems like a non-starter for me. You can do everything except the most important functionality of a phone.

    If anyone knows of a working OSX speakerphone solution I’d love to hear about it.

    Comment by H-Dog — June 2, 2005 @ 8:12 am

  2. Same comment as H-Dog but since we are soon to go 100% mobile phones and have no landline (with internet telephony both free and fee as well as my omnipresent mobile phone…why?) I wonder if there is a way to use a bluetooth or wired connection as the phone through the Mac (my digital hub, as they say).

    I’d love to come in and plug up my phone via USB (which also charges) and let my iMac play speakerphone as well as answering machine.

    Its all about flexing to the market need…

    jw

    Comment by JW — September 10, 2006 @ 5:59 pm


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