At work

GeoWeb

In an exhibition for analysts and the press in November 1999, I demonstrated GeoWeb, a system that incorporates some of the VoiceXML processing software that I was working on.   Here I am getting ready to show off the system, standing in front of a misleading flat-panel display (misledaing because the service is delivered over the phone, and does not depend in any way on a graphical web browser).

ATT 8130

A few years ago I worked on the AT&T 8130 phone. This is one of the first models ever built. It obviously does not have its case, but it did work. Please excuse the poor photographs.
   

In its case, The 8130 phone looks much like other AT&T phones. What is special about it is that it connects to the PC. It comes with Windows software that allows the PC to control the phone.
 

The application has a directory, from which you can dial, a log of all incoming and outgoing calls (from which you can dial), and a display that retrieves directory information based on the incoming call. You can take notes on calls, and these notes later show up in the call log.

Unfortunately the higher-ups discontinued this product after it had been on the market only one month -- too soon to even judge how well it would do.  The decision had more to do with a desire to reorganize the Consumer Products business unit so that it could be sold to Phillips.

AT&T built a whole factory to manufacture this phone in Guadalajara, Mexico.   They ran the factory one day, producing seventeen thousand phones.  I think they sold a substantial number of these the first month, and then wound up selling most of the rest to a "clearance catalog" reseller.

Note: Many people ask me how to get the Windows 95 software upgrade.   Since AT&T and Lucent have stopped distributing it, I am unofficially providing a copy here.

Virtual Telephone

Virtual Telephone was announced at CT Expo in March 1998.  Here are a few pictures of our booth.

That is Kevin on the right at out table, getting our software set up.  This was taken the day before the show opened.

Taken after the show closed, Kevin and Lisa are celebrating our success.

Holmdel

This is a picture of the building in which I work.  It is a beautiful building, set in farmlands.  The walls and ceiling are glass, with terrific views of the countryside in every direction.  This shows a view across the atrium on a sunny day.