Daily CommBytes 5/29/07 

Your smartphone just got smarter. Toronto-based Voice On the Go just announced its hands-free service that lets you:

• Listen to email, both a summary and details
• Compose, reply and delete emails
• Review your calendar and make appointments
• Search contacts and place calls
• Dial a phone number

Voice on the Go works with any phone or BlackBerry smartphone on any network and no download. It’s available in the US and Canada and some European cities. The company also offers an enterprise version.

And now that every mobile phone is as smart as a PDA and a whole lot cooler, it’s easy to forget PDA pioneer Palm. This week Palm founder Jeff Hawkins unveils what the company is calling a “new category of mobile device.” A webcast is scheduled for 11:30 a.m. PDT on Wednesday.

When is the Internet not democratizing communications? When it’s delivered by a big telecom company apparently. AT&T and Qwest have been accused of “cherry picking” affluent neighborhoods for IPTV offers, says PC World’s Mark Sullivan.

Nevertheless, almost 60 million people are going to be watching some kind of IPTV by 2012, says research firm Parks Associates. And if they’re in Japan, they’re going to have a lot of choices because a Japanese panel has proposed loosening copyright laws to allow anyone to post broadcast content as long as they pay a compulsory fee.

If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em. Apparently that’s what Deutche Telecom is thinking as it joins in a $20 million funding round for Web-based VoIP startup (or is it upstart?) Jajah. Intel is also in on the party.