Filed under: Audio, Hardware, Internet Tools
MacMice tries their hand at VoIP phones
Best known for their mice for obvious reasons, MacMice has taken a crack at the VoIP industry (Voice over IP) with the Danger Phone. This strange looking gadget is a low-cost, USB-powered VoIP phone that works on both Mac and PC and is compatible with Skype and any other VoIP service capable of recognizing standard USB phone devices. At a mere $30, it would be hard to go wrong with the Danger Phone to satisfy your VoIP urge.
[via Engadget]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
revo said 7:11PM on 10-14-2006
I'm still waiting for a decent cordless phone to be released for the Mac. I'll be first in the queue when I see one...
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Scott F said 7:34PM on 10-14-2006
In my experience, MacMice is best know for outragously crappy products and even more insanely bad service. A MacMice mouse I bought failed, and I received no support despite a one year warranty. Rudeness and insults were all I received.
DO NOT BUY ANYTHING FROM THESE BUNSHOLES!
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narco said 7:37PM on 10-14-2006
Hideous. It looks like they bought some cheap phone from swap meet, gutted it out, then rewired it to work as a VoIP phone. Plus most people know that MacMice has a really bad reputation. It has been said many times before that "you get what you paid for," but even $30 isn't worth the gamble.
Fishes,
narco.
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Dave said 8:02PM on 10-14-2006
Wow, that's UGLY.
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BillSaysThis said 8:12PM on 10-14-2006
"At a mere $30, it would be hard to go wrong with the Danger Phone to satisfy your VoIP urge."
Really? From the blog entry I don't think you've actually used this product and honestly it reads more like an ad, or at least gratuitous promotion.
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narco said 8:17PM on 10-14-2006
Bill, it's obvious he hasn't tried the phone. Hell, if the TUAW staff received everything they feature on this blog then it'd be a 24/7 party. This entry isn't a review, it's just letting Mac users know there's a $30 VoIP phone on the market.
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Travis Bell said 8:27PM on 10-14-2006
You know, for a company that specializes in Mac products they must have missed the part in the manual where it mentions "we care about how things look".
What is that thing? A toy for the bathtub? I wouldn't pay $15.00 to have that hideous thing in my house.
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Peter Payne said 8:49PM on 10-14-2006
I've had problems with MacMice products in the past, with poor build quality. I recommend caution dealing with them.
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Evgeny said 10:11PM on 10-14-2006
I do not understand the concept of IP Phones. What benefits it gives against dialing from the screen and talking via, as I do it, a bluetooth handsfree device.
Dialing is simple from Address book and you can walk around as there is no cables. Am I missing something here? what other people think?
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BillSaysThis said 9:29PM on 10-14-2006
Narco, people shouldn't write foolishly positive blog entries without being prepared to be called on it. This entry doesn't simply announce availability and list features, it suggests we ought to splash out real cash because we can't hardly go wrong. Your comment summary does not accurately reflect what David wrote--are we a bunch of spendthrift fanboys?
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Tawky Tawny said 10:03PM on 10-14-2006
The "Danger Phone" from MacMice. Good choice of name. :-D
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jbelkin said 11:45PM on 10-14-2006
The designer - was his earlier project the loading dock gate control for the Dunder-Mifflin warehouse?
It's nice they gave an East German designer who's been living in a damp cave for 30 years the opportunity to work on this new miracle material - plastic.
It's not as ugly as the Zune but maybe he knocked that off first so he's just getting warmed up.
Maybe he needs to start with something with a shorter track history than 100 YEARS behind the object ... maybe he should start with a bucket and work his way up from there ...
They did most of the numerical keypad correct ... I'd buy it at the $.99 store during no-tax days ...
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Thomas said 11:01AM on 10-15-2006
A VoIP phone designed specifically for the Mac by those that have worked with the Mac before? This seems to have a lot of other companies beat out. And for so cheap. It's on my wishlist even though the design is just so so. If it performs well with a Mac, that's all that really counts right now.
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Brady J. Frey said 2:31AM on 10-15-2006
That's painfully ugly. I might only be interested if it works with Gizmo and SIP without costing a couple hundred for a wifi phone. I use the USRobotics for skype (requires a secondary plugin app with a windows style dumb dock icon matted to a white background), but nothing works with me for the Gizmo.
Evgeny, I used to use a bluetooth phone - I don't know if it's all the other wireless I have around, but people notoriously noted it was choppy and horrible - much better wired atleast for now and atleast for me.
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R P said 2:51AM on 10-15-2006
Doesn't anyone remember MacMice? The fraud ... the re-purposing e.g. monitor stands as "Newfangled Laptop Stand Pro (tm)"?
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dulcie said 1:14PM on 10-15-2006
C'mon Thomas, that's got to be a joke, right? You do know this company's track record don't you?
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Evan said 1:24PM on 10-15-2006
I use the IPEVO Free-1 USB phone with Skype on both a Mac and Windows box, it works great and is $35. Not sure about this one but it doesn't seem too bad in relation to the IPEVO.
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Rus said 1:33PM on 10-15-2006
"Doesn't anyone remember MacMice? The fraud ... the re-purposing e.g. monitor stands as "Newfangled Laptop Stand Pro (tm)"?"
MacMice isn't owned by Jack Campbell anymore, he sold it off to creditors. It is now owned by an almost equally as shady - Mike Aljouny of Mac-Pro Systems who doesn't warranty and of the DVForge/MacMice catalog that he purchased.
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Mark said 5:16PM on 10-15-2006
I'm with Evan. Got an IPEVO Free-1 USB phone and will get 3 more for my cheap-ass family that never call me because they're broke!
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Scott F said 12:53PM on 10-16-2006
Mike Aljouny: Class A, solid gold, certified organic, high-octane, dual core PRICK.
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